Positioning Your Life for More

Amen, Amen, and amen, somebody to give the Lord one

more hand clap.

All right?

If you uh, if you, if you have a Bible today,

go to Ecclesiastes chapter seven.

Ecclesiastes chapter seven.

That might not be one you go too often, So

use the index if you need to. It's okay. Nobody's

gonna think bad if you use the index. That's why

they put it in every book.

Amen. Amen, and Ecclesiastes chapter seven. And uh.

As we approach the end of the year and moving

to the new year, I know that everybody's setting goals.

I know that everybody's looking ahead. As a matter of fact.

Uh.

Pastor Clay and I are gonna be doing a group

together next year that will launch, I guess on the fifteenth,

and we're gonna be talking about just kind of having

creating your own personal operating system, just organizing your life

for success and personal leadership and those kind of things.

So if you want to be part of that group,

he and I are going to be doing that together.

I'm gonna do the first few weeks, and then I'm

going to also go back and and do UH and

meet with the high schoolers that want to continue the

group that we've been doing. So listen, high schoolers, if

you want to come to my group, that's great. If

you don't, you don't have to. I know I'm made

you last time. You don't have to this time. But

if you want to do that, we're going to continue

to do that, and it's going to be We've got

a great slate of groups coming up. We're adding some

things that we're excited about. We've got some new group

leaders that are stepping in to lead some groups that

we've had for a long time. It's just going to

be a great season, I believe of what the Lord

is gonna do in groups. Because listen, if you want

to walk in freedom, it's one thing to come to

an altar and get free, But if you want to

walk in freedom, you join a group and you surround

yourself with a support system people that will pray for

you and encourage you and lift you up and and

hold you account. That's how we walk in freedom. So

make sure that you're connecting somewhere to a group. But

I'm gonna preach about that in two weeks. Uccles Ecclesiastes,

chapter seven. When we move towards something new, one thing

that we forget many times is that when we are

adding new things to our lives. Well, let me just

let me take a survey. How many of you would

define your life as busy? Raise your hand, So, I

mean there's a couple of you guys that think you're busy,

that you have enough to do, that your life is full,

that there's that there's usually more things than there is time.

And when we start trying to transition our lives to

increase or to improve, or to do more, it doesn't

matter what area spiritually, relationally, physically, it doesn't.

Matter what area you're looking at.

We set this whole series of things in front of

us and we write these things.

Hopefully you write them down.

It is the most spiritual thing I ever teach you write,

is to write it down. We write these things down.

And what we're trying to do is we're trying to

add more things to our life, and we can't even

accomplish the things that we're already doing. So what we

have to understand is that when we are starting something new,

there has to be often an ending to something old.

We have to let go of things and turn loose

of things in order to embrace whatever's next.

And I want to share just.

A few minutes with you today about positioning our life

for more. Ecclesiastes, chapter seven, starting in verse eight, it says,

the end of a thing is better than its beginning.

Now listen, that's all.

We could just read that, and I could preach for

the whole next year about that the end of the thing,

the end of a thing is better than the beginning.

And that seems kind of counterintuitive. That doesn't really feel right,

because after all, I mean, when I sit down in

front of a ribbi, I come on, now, the beginning

of it is better than the end of it, because

when you get to the end of it, it's gold.

It's not there anymore. But the satisfaction that is built

the thing that I learned that I want another one.

Come on, somebody is better at the end. And everything

we do, we have to understand that as it progresses

and as it matures and as it develops, that the

end is better than the beginning, because in the beginning

we're just trying to figure out, especially this thing we

call life, the end of a thing is better than

its beginning.

The patient and.

Spirit is better than the proud and spirit do not

hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rest

in the bosom of fools. Do not say why were

the former days better than these? For you do not

inquire wisely concerning this. Wisdom is good with an inheritance. Father,

we thank you for your word. This word, this love

letter to humanity, is the only change agent on the

face of the planet. And I pray that today we're changed,

that we're molded and shaped into your image, that when

we leave here we're a little more like you and

a little less like us. That we are beginning to

understand the character and the nature. Lord, help us understand

the importance of knowing your ways.

And not just your acts. Lord, we love you, and

we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

He says, the end of a thing is better better

than the beginning. And we have to understand that when

we look back on things, that we romanticize certain things

that happen in our lives. In other words, when we

look back, things probably never really were as good as

we make them out to be in our minds. Amen,

the good old days, you know, we look back at

those at those days. I have people in my life

that like the pinnacle of their life was high school.

It's like that was like and they look back and listen,

I'm over fifty years old. Come on, somebody, high school

was a long time ago. It's getting further and further

away every single day. I move ahead, and I still

have people that look back and that is like the

epicenter of their life. They talk about high school football

like it was the only thing that they've ever.

Done or accomplished in their entire life.

They remember every single play that they played, every block,

every bad call that the official gave them, and they

have built it.

And listen, I.

Watched them play and they weren't very good. They weren't

very good, but I mean, you know, they're all Americans.

In their mind.

The only reason they didn't play pro ball is because

they just didn't get a break. The break was, yeah,

they didn't get a break. They didn't get you know,

that break in their genes. They didn't get that break

in their ability. That's where they didn't get a break.

They weren't that good. But we make our minds think

that all of these things are so great.

Even bad things.

We embrace and we help or let them shape our

identity and who we are now, and we hold on

to those things in such a way that we define ourselves.

It's the natural process of humanity. Even when we read scripture.

We read scripture and we identify people in the Bible

that went through transformation according to their old self. We

call him blind Bartimaeus, but he was healed.

We call her.

The woman with the issue of blood, not the woman

that had an issue of blood. And we identify people

by their conditions because that's what we do. We look

for the most profound thing in our lives and we

grasp those things, and we hold on to those things,

and we marry those things into our identity or into

the identity of others, and those things hold us from

progressing forward, because the end of that thing is better

than the beginning of that thing. To release thing, to

release hurt and trauma, to release successes, To release people

from our lives that are not allowing us to move

where God wants us to move and accomplish the things

that we want to do is something that every single

one of us must do. In Isaiah chapter forty three

and verse eighteen, it says, do not remember the former things,

nor consider the things of old. Let me just let's

stop right there. Do not remember those old things. Don't

don't don't don't don't hold on to those things with

your mind. Don't allow those things to influence us moving forward.

Let go of those things, those things that are holding

you in place. Now, are there good things that move

us forward. We all have those things, and that's not

what it's talking about. It's talking about do not look

back on those limiting factors, that thing that that person

said to you, that curse they spoke over you, where

they said you'll.

Never amount to anything. Listen.

I had a teacher in school one time that uh

just looked at me in the middle of class and said,

you're the dumbest person I've ever met. And what I

wanted to say is, well, I've made an A on

every one of your tests, so I'm smarter than you.

And we hear these things, and these things are spoken

over us, and a lot of times those.

Things define us.

They manage our perception of the future. Now, that teacher

had been wrong about everything, so I knew she was

wrong about that too, Amen, So I didn't. It didn't

mar me. But those are things that are spoken over people.

I had an experience with uh with with one of

my daughters, the oldest one. One time she was in

school and the lunch room, you know, I had one

of those green light, yellow light red lights, and if

it's green, you talk as loud as you want to,

and if.

It's yellow, you gotta talking a hush, don't know. If

it's red, there's no talking.

Well, evidently the light went red and she maybe talked

her She says she didn't. It doesn't matter, and she

got in trouble. But the form of punishment, it is

what I was upset about. She got upset because she

never broke a rule. She's not a rule breaker, and

she got upset and she started crying profusely, and they

took her and they stood her up in front of

the entire lunch room. And the harder she cried, the

more everybody stared, which made her cry harder, and it

embarrassed her badly. And when she came home and she

told me that I got upset not because she got

in trouble, because if.

She did it, she should have been punished. Amen.

But the form of punishment couldn't be embarrassment, because that's

not a tool of punishment.

Because I spend most of my days talking.

To people who have a diminished view of themselves, who

were heard and broken because they perceive that they have

done something wrong and they have a hard time overcoming

that that they did wrong. And I talk a lot

about how we must erase the shame and the guilt

that's in our lives, because when we're washed by the

blood of Jesus, that's what happens. He watches away our

sin and the guilt and the shame is gone. But

we live in a society that wants to marry us

to those old failures and those old traumas, and to

hold us in place because of those things.

And we even hang out.

With people that don't want the best for us because

somehow we find validation in the fact that they answer

the phone when we call.

But all of those things.

Us towards more of the same thing that we've always had.

And I want you to know that the Lord has

more for you. If you're still alive on the face

of the planet right now. The Lord has more. Why

because Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven says, I know the

plans I have.

For you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

Plans to give you hope and a future that wherever

you are, if you're still here, there's still a plan,

there's still prosperity, nothing missing, nothing broken. Holeness is what

that means. And there's hope, the promise that tomorrow can

be better than today, and a future at least an

hour from now. Come on, somebody, that you still have

something ahead of you.

That the Lord is involved.

And he says, do not remember the former things, nor

consider the things of old, because those things take up

the space.

Of our destiny.

And in verse nineteen, he says, behold, I will do

a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you

know it. I will even make a road and the

wilderness and rivers in the desert that where there is

no life, that where there is isolation, I will open

those things and bring the things that cause life, bring

the things.

That hold on. Just say it, listen.

I need y'all to help me with something over the

next year. I have this problem when I preach that

I stand right here, and every time I stay here,

Glenn makes this face back there, and it's somewhat disconcerting

because he thinks I'm gonna fall over forward. But I'm

not as front heavy as I used to be.

Amen.

So I mean the belly is not quite out there

the way it was, and it's getting smaller. But anyway,

so listen, I need you all to make some kind

of face when I walk up here, because it just

he can't even listen when I'm doing that, and I

care for Glenn's soul. So I'm gonna start trying to

not walk to the edge of the stage.

Amen.

I love you, buddy, because I know you love me,

and that's I don't want to be a stumbling blocked

to anybody, even though if I've hurt you, I'm sorry.

But we have this great and powerful thing that lies

ahead of us, this new thing, this thing that has

never been done before, that it's never been accomplished before,

this thing that's going to impact humanity and the humanity

around us, the influence that we have. God has given

us that influence for the purpose of making a difference.

And we haven't made the ultimate difference yet. Because when

we make the ultimate difference, He's going.

To allow us to come home.

See, when I get to the end of my days,

I want to go see the Lord, not because I'm

sick or because i'm tired, but because I'm finished, I

want that to be the culmination of my efforts. And

if we don't understand that God has got something more

for us in the future, but in order to achieve that,

in order to hold on to that, to grasp that,

we have to turn loose of some things in the past.

So you have to do some self evaluation and you

have to get along with the Lord and say, Lord,

what are the things I need to turn loose off?

What are the things I need to let go of?

And I guarantee you some of those things are going

to be scary. It could be a job, it could

be a relationship that's been in your life for a

long time. It could be those work friends. It might

be I need to transition from this church to another church.

Listen, we truly want what's best for you.

Whatever that thing is in your life you have to

transition from. And now, listen, I know that I'm gonna

get emails, So I'm gonna go ahead and talk about this.

When we talk about.

Turning loose of people, I'm not talking about giving up

on people just because they give you a hard time.

That's not what I mean.

But I'm talking about repositioning the relationship and structuring the

relationship so that you're the one with influence and not them,

because a relationship that's holding us back usually means that

relationship is the influence holder in that conversation, and you

need to switch that so that you have the influence,

so that you begin the narrative, so that when those

things happen and you start talking about the future and

they start talking doubt and they start speaking death to

your dreams and your vision, that you reclaim the authority

and say it really doesn't matter what you say.

Because this is what God says.

No, I'm not going to do that anymore, because God

has a better plan for me, and I'm bringing I'm

onboarding new people into my life that can help pull

me in the positive direction, that can help me get

where I want to go. See, you got to turn

loose of some relationships in order to onboard new relationships

that can move you forward towards God what God wants.

You don't abandon them, don't condemn them to hell. Manage

that relationship, but you don't have to be as invested

emotionally in that relationship. That's what I mean when I

talk about allowing people to be turned loose so that

you can move on to new things. Because we all

have a I'm gonna ask a question and and a

name is gonna pop into every single one of your

minds or or somebody's picture. Who is the person that

when the phone rings and you look down and see

their name pop up, you breathe heavy before you answer

the phone. That's the person I'm talking about right now.

That's the person I'm talking about right now, because we

all we all got one there are I could I yep,

The camera.

May pull, may pull in.

Close enough for for for so I was gonna pull there,

but I'm not gonna do that.

We all have that person or people. And the reality is.

If you have more people that are pulling you back

then you have that are pulling you forward.

You got to own you got to off board a

whole lot of things.

Because where you're headed is more important than where you are.

And you are where you are because of the people

and the circumstances you've surrounded yourself by. That's why you're

where you are. If you're miserable but you're making good money,

If you're miserable but you're making good money, then money

is not what makes you happy.

Make less money.

And surround yourself with a career or people that bring

you joy, that push you a head towards God's plan,

because you can be broke and fulfilled.

And I know that sounds like stupid preaching.

I know that sounds counterproductive from the American dream. But

we have become so married to the American dream that

we have forgotten the vision of heaven, that we've forgotten

the vision of destiny and the spiritual significance that Christ

has in our lives.

And we have.

Taken the name of Christ without the responsibility of the relationship. Philippians,

Chapter three, starting in verse twelve, it says, not that

I have already attained or am already perfected. I'm not

there yet. That's what the apostle Paul said. Listen, not

where I used to be, But I'm not there yet.

Not that I've already attained or am already perfected. But

I press on, I press on. The imagery here is

that it is effort to move ahead, that I press on.

That I'm not running downhill, but it is a struggle

up an incline. I press on. And why do we

press Why do we do the hard things. Why do

we turn things loose? Why don't we break loose from

those things that we've always associated with our identity? Why

is it important to move ahead? Why can't I just exist?

And you can? By the way, you can just exist,

You can live the unfulfilled life that you're currently on

track for, or you can learn to press Not that

I've already attained or am already perfected, but I press

on that I may lay hold of that for which

Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. I press

on because I know that Jesus has something else for me.

I press on because there is a reason that he

reached down and tore a hole in reality and grabbed

my heart whenever he did, and changed me and transformed

me from a natural being on my way to hell

to a spiritual being on my way to Heaven. There

is a there is a point and a purpose for

him doing that, and it is ahead of me. It's

not behind me, because if it was behind me, I

would be with him. I want to press I want

to do the hard things. I want to put forth

the effort because Jesus picked me. Now listen to me.

He didn't just pick me. Jesus picked you, And I'm

not talking about the person. I'm not talking to the

person sitting next to you. I'm talking to you. I'm

not talking to the person that you think has everything together,

because they don't.

When you walk in and.

You're discouraged because it looks like everybody has got their

stuff together, I want to assure you, because I know

people they don't. We put on our best shirt and

we put on some clean blue jeans and white shoes,

and we come and we smile. But the same issues

that are going on in your life are going on

in our lives. We're all hurting, broken people trying to

achieve destiny, that thing for which Christ Jesus laid hold

of us. Would None of us are a finished work.

Nobody here is perfect. We don't even allow perfect people

to come to this church. We're all in progress. It's all.

It's all a work.

It's listen.

People are going to make mistakes and they're going to

mess up, and somebody here may even hurt you. But

if you have laid hold of that for which Christ

Jesus has laid hold of you, you're going to choose

the people you're in relationship with and the things you're

in relationship with that will move you ahead towards your destiny. Brethren,

I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one

thing I do. Well, let's just talk about that for

just one second. Clay, you guys can come and get ready.

I'm about to wrap it up. This is the Apostle Paul,

and he's writing, and he said, listen, I'm not gonna

be bound by by by the things I've done. I'm

gonna press ahead. I'm gonna I'm going to forget some things.

I'm gonna I'm gonna position myself to be the very

best I can for Jesus. And when we talk about

the Apostle Paul, the things he's forgetting are probably worse

than the things you need to forget and move past.

The Apostle Paul.

Requested permission to murder Christians.

He lived his life against the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul.

Was at the martyrdom of Stephen, the very first apostle

that gave his life for Christ. The Apostle Paul was there.

He was responsible for orchestrating it. He counted himself the

chief of the religious ranks, and he writes. He writes

this passage of scripture, knowing the things.

That he's trying to forget, and also.

Knowing that the people that will read the letter know

who he was. They knew him, and they knew his reputation.

And he said the thing ahead, the thing. The reason

Jesus knocked me off by horse on that road is

because there's more rather than I do not count myself

to have apprehended, but one thing I do. Forgetting those

things which are behind me, and reaching forward to those

things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for

the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus, the

ultimate pinnacle of our experience as a human, the call

of Christ on our life. And people aren't just called

to hold a microphone and preach on a stage. People

aren't just called to sing songs. People just aren't called

to do those overly spiritual things that we have defined

as professional ministry.

People are called to own their own businesses.

People are called to raise godly children to be champions

of the next generation.

People are called to work.

In companies so they can have an influence and the.

People around them.

People are called to do whatever it is that Christ

needs to be done. He has an intricate plan at

play in humanity, and every day we live, we're getting

closer to him closing down the window of opportunity, because

one day it will all come to an end, and

we are responsible for the things.

That He has given us. Influence over.

The apostle, paulses, I gotta forget all that junk because

there's too much to do. I don't have time to

be weighed down by those things, because I have a

destiny that is in front of me, and so do you.

You are too important to the Kingdom of God to

continue just experiencing one day after another, to be pressured

by culture, to be influenced by people.

But God has called you to be an architect of

your destiny.

God has called you to make some hard decisions and

to lay some things down so that you can pick

some things up and embrace the road ahead. I don't

know about you, but I'm ready for all of it.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to

live in just a peace of what God has for me.

I want to live in everything that God has for me.

I don't want to stand before Jesus and him look

at me and say, hey, man, you did some nice things,

but what about and listen? And I realized that Jesus

died for all those things, and I just wasted time

because I didn't make room in my life by cutting

things loose.

Maybe it's something as simple as this.

Maybe you just need to cut out one television program

every week that you watch. Maybe you need to cancel

your Netflix subscription. Maybe you need to cleanse yourself of

Facebook or Instagram for a while. Maybe you need to

go through Engage. Maybe you need to go through Engage

and find out those four things and then find where

you fit so that you can start living with purpose.

Maybe today you just need to make.

A decision that you're looping Jesus in for the first time.

Instead of setting a goal, you're making a plan with

Jesus to achieve something you've never achieved before. I don't

know what it is, but today you need to turn

some things loose so you can embrace some new things,

getting things in order so that you can be more

productive than you've ever been. Stop taking no for an answer,

stop just agreeing to everything. Listen, I just want you

all to know I've already determined that I'm saying no

a lot more next year, and I'm not and I

hadn't had a problem with it before. I'm gonna start

saying no because there's some specific things that I need

to focus on to carry me and our church to

the next level. We're going to get real, to go

where God wants us to be.

What is that for you?

Everybody? To stand with me all over the building? You

know right now, it's where I make that emotional appeal

pastors lay where I try to get people to come

to the altar.

But the reality is.

I can't lay my hands on you and pray purpose

into you. If I could, I would already be full

of it. It's a decision that you walk out each

and every day. It's a decision that you make maybe

in a room like this, Then you write down in

a little notebook somewhere and you read that every day

and you start walking it out day by day. So

for about twenty seconds, I want you to close your eyes,

allow the Holy Spirit to reveal that that thing, those

people that process that you need to let go off

in order to make room for your destiny.

You're just allowing to speak and reveal those things.

Somebody you just thought I'm too old and said in

my ways that is a lie from hell.

Old dogs learn the best tricks. Thank you Jesus.

We're gonna worship together, but don't leave here without finding

that thing.

Sitting cold.

Comitment for Lord the Lord to chase your destiny pastor

claph