Spring Broke - Week 4

We're gonna be finishing up our series today. Spring broke, So we're gonna

start at Ephesians chapter five, like we have the last three weeks. So

go over to Ephesians chapter five, and we're going to we're gonna conclude this

series. And basically the whole thrust of this series has been maximizing the moment

so that we don't have that slow drift into brokenness and dysfunction, and that

we don't wake up one day and realize if we had only tried, we

could have positioned ourselves better for success and the blessings of God. So Ephesians

chapter five, verse fifteen, it says, see then that you walk circumspectly,

not as fools, but as wise redeeming the time because the days are

evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of

the Lord is. Father, We thank you for your word. See only

change agent on the face of the planet day. I pray that it shapes

us, it molds us a little more into your image, That something is

awakened deep on the inside of us, that we are called into action,

that destiny is revealed, that there is a determination at the very foundation of

our being, to step into all that you have for us in Jesus' name.

Amen, Amen and amen. It says that to walk circumspectfully, to

redeem the time. And listen, the only time you can redeem is right

now. You can't redeem yesterday, it's still too early to redeem tomorrow.

The only time you can redeem is what God has given you right now,

in this moment, this capsule, right now is the only time that we

have to work with. It's the only place we can make a difference is

right here in this moment. So I want you to just think about that

for just a moment. And so so you know, back just a few

minutes ago when I said, hey, go shake hands, smile and be

friendly, and you didn't do that. You didn't maximize that moment. See

you see even the little things you walk through life and you say, oh,

I don't have any friends. I'm so longly, but you just missed

a moment to show yourself a friend, to make a friend, come on,

somebody. See it's it's being present in those moments and understanding that God

is working in that moment and that every moment is pregnant with the miraculous potential

of God in our lives, that every person we meet could be a Kingdom

connection, that every opportunity can grow our faith and expand how we see and

the way we believe and have new dimensions of God's holiness, new levels of

His power revealed to us in every single moment. For some reason, we

as modern believers, we think that those moments are always in the future.

We're always believing for a time that we're praying that God will send revival next

week, We're praying that God will do something at the end of the worship

experience. Where we're always looking ahead, but we're not redeeming the moment and

completely engaging our faith right now that God does the revival in me in this

moment. What if we believe to the place where God so awakened us to

His presence that we experienced a personal revival right now in the introduction of this

message, and I became the catalyst of that revival because of what happened to

me. Now, just a hypothesis. I'm just throwing those things out there

for food for thought. I certainly want you to I wouldn't want to stretch

you to believe God for more right now in this moment. I mean,

just keep waiting for him to do something in the future, because after we

may be ready for it in the future. Right God, I want you

to move, but I'm not sure that I want you to move right now,

because I don't know if I'm ready for you to move if revival hit

right now, God, I still got all those things that I do HM.

Philippians, chapter three, verse twelve. Philippians, Chapter three, verse

twelve. That says, not that I have already attained or am already perfected.

Now this is the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was already pretty big

deal at the time of this writing. At this letter. The writing of

this letter, he was well known across the face of that part of the

world. News of him had spread. He is writing letters to the churches,

and these churches are impacting the way people are worshiping and experiencing God.

And Paul says, listen, it's not that I've already attained and I'm not

already perfected. I'm still I'm still in the process of getting where God wants

me to be. And you know, I'm not gonna really, I'm not

really gonna throw my hands up and celebrate anything because I've still got a ways

to go. Wow. You know, I don't know about you, but

sometimes I just feel like I've done so good. Come on, somebody.

You never had those moments where you just feel like, wow, that was

something I just did. I mean, I just changed that diaper and cleaned

up baby throw up and it was like in thirty seconds and I survived.

H Now I'm just gonna sit and just coast for a minute. I'm just

gonna just gonna take it all in. My wife is gonna come home.

She's gonna tell me what an incredible father I am, how good I provide,

and the husband that I am. And then your wife comes home and

you're like, hey, baby, I cleaned up a dieper anthrop She's like,

yeah, what about the trash in the yard. But the Apostle Paul

says, I'm not going to rest on what I've already done because there's more.

I'm not gonna rest in this moment because there are other things to be

achieved. But I press on that I may lay hold of that for which

Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Sounds like he's talking about the

will of God redeem the time because of the will of God. Understand what

the will of God is, and redeem the time that I've been given.

I'm going to press through whatever is currently surrounding me because there is still more

ahead. Brethren. I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one

thing I do now. Listen, for some of you, this next line

that I read is what you need to allow to sink deep down in your

soul, because for many of us in this room right now and online,

we are either still reeling from trauma of the past are celebrating the successes of

the past that were seasonal. You know, I used to have a really

good friend. He is he's passed away now, but he used to have

a really good friend. And every time we would get together. Now listen,

he's older than me, and every time we'd get together, all he

would talk about was high school football, not like now. When he played,

he remembered every block, every snap, he remembered everything, and he

would relive these games like it was a play by play. In that street,

Steve, remember what And I pulled around it and I smashed that kid

and he snopped bubble and it was just like I'm like no, I don't

remember that at all. Maybe I was the kid, I don't know.

But he lived that past in such a glorious way that the thrill and the

excitement and the vivictories and the glory of that time robbed him of the potential

of the glory of today. And we must understand that we're we're positioned right

now is strategically designed by God. That he places us, both geographically and

chronologically for such a time as this to maximize the moment that we're given.

I don't know if that's tweetable, but somebody can tweet that if that's not

too many characters. But God has something for us now. The best is

yet to come, and it starts with the decisions we make right now.

Now listen to listen to what he says forgetting those things which are behind my

failures and my victory. Now listen. I'm not talking about wiping them away,

but I'm talking about not living and being incarcerated by those things. There

are things that shape us and mold us into who we are from our past,

but we can't allow those things to be a bridle to hold us back.

We have to understand that those things happen, and they were launching pad

springboards. For this moment that we have, we don't have to make those

mistakes again. Come on, somebody, we don't need that victory again because

we've already had it. Now is the time we can have something new.

Reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for

the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He says,

the place that I'm trying to get to, it's not easy. I'm having

to to press through those things. I'm having to I'm having to to engage

effort in order to get there, in order to see there, in order

to clear a path to under to even understand that there's more than just what

I've always had. That that I'm putting forth. Physical effort is what he's

talking about there, not just not just simply praying more. Come on,

somebody. Prayer changes things, but some points you've got to have the You

got to make the decision to act upon the faith that was gained during those

prayers and begin to make movement from where I am into the future into what

God has for me. Because the enemy is happy with you sitting right where

you are and not taking any more ground. See, there's simply people in

this room that are called to more than what you've already attained. That there

is a destiny and a purpose that lies ahead of you that's so much greater

than anything you've had or anything you can imagine. And the apostle Paul says,

the way you get through there is that you have to learn to press

in the moment that the circumstances and the situations of today will not rob me

of God's promise tomorrow. I think we see a pretty good picture of this,

and I want to read it to you, and then we'll preach about

it a little bit. I may actually preach Matthew chapter twelve, verse nine.

Now, when he had departed from there, he went into their synagogue,

who's talking about Jesus? Here? And behold there was a man who

had a withered hand. And they asked him, saying, is it lawful

to heal on the Sabbath? That they might accuse him? Then he said

to them, what man is there among you who has one sheep, and

if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of

it and lift it out? Of how much more value? Then? As

a man than a sheep. Therefore, is it lawful to do good on

the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, stretch out your hand,

and he stretched it out, and it was restored as the as whole as

the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might

destroy him. So Jesus is having this conversation about the Sabbath, and what's

actually being taught here is the principle of doing good on the Sabbath, that

we're not forbidden from doing what God wants us to do in times of rest,

that that's actually part of resting in God. But what happens is what

I want to talk about, not the principle that Jesus is teaching, but

the way and the object lesson that he do. You know that Jesus literally

healed this man as an object lesson about the principle he was teaching. That's

an illustrated sermon. Amen. He uh, he sees this man, He

identifies this man with a withered hand, hand that wasn't like the other hand.

And Jesus is calling the attention of everybody in the building because there's a

there's a disagreement happening here, and how many of you know. Everybody's looking,

always looking for a good argument to watch or a good fight. That's

why y'all watch Nascar. It's not a seat a certain that cars going to

circle. It's for the crash. It's for the violence. That's why y'all

watch Nascar. Amen, The circles don't matter, it's always the crash.

Where always looking for that, And so it has called a spotlight. So

now everybody is watching Jesus. And no doubt, in those days, this

man felt less than a first class citizen because anyone in those days that had

a physical deformity it was seen as some type of curse upon their family or

them as an individual. And oftentimes people with any kind of deformity would just

kind of shrink back into the shadows and not really exert themselves or extend themselves

into public life. And now Jesus looks at this man who was in the

synagogue, who had a withered hand, all eyes upon him, and he

looks at this man and he says, stretch out your hand. You know,

right now God is calling every single one of us to press or to

reach or to strey to maximize the moment we have. Now, somebody came

into this place and you made eye contact with somebody that you've never spoken to,

and something on the inside of you said, I need to go speak

to that person. But you're still debating whether you should do it or not,

whether you should press, whether you should stretch, whether you should reach.

God dropped that vision, that dream that promised that thing that destiny down

deep in your heart, but you're still wondering about whether it's God or not.

How could I ever achieve it or not? Listen, I had one

of those God moments and and I was I have my best, really my

best ideas in the bathroom. I don't know why that is, but that's

just where they happened to me. And I remember that I walked up.

It was in a church, and I walked up to the urinal to use

the bathroom, and there was a mirror on the wall, and I was

looking at myself in the face as I was going to the bathroom, and

I was thinking to myself, this is the most wasted time anybody could have

going to the bathroom. You can't accomplish anything, you can't move destiny forward.

You just have to stop everything you're doing to go to the bathroom.

And I was just looking at myself in the face, probably not sure,

but probably having that conversation out loud. Anytime I see myself, I talk

out loud to myself if I'm looking in the mirrors, say you look nice

today, thank you. I just like to every moment of encouragement I can

get. I like to maximize that moment amen. And I remember thinking,

Wow, what if the church could leverage this time that everybody has, everybody

has to go to the bathroom. What if we put an LCD monitor on

the wall and when somebody walked up to it, it played like a thirty

second Salvation commercial from a pastor in a local church. And we could put

them in restaurants, and we could put them in gas stations, and that

would give thirty seconds of undivided attention where somebody could present the gospel, make

an alster call right there in the bathroom. And I thought, man,

this is a great idea. And I walked out of there, and you

know, I didn't know how to do that. I didn't know how to

make the TV come on when I walked up to it. I don't know

where to get the TV. I didn't know how it was going video,

this is a long time. I don't know how it's going video, the

Salvation commerci I didn't know how it's going to do those things, So,

you know, I just kind of let it pass. But that's one of

those God moments that I know it was a God moment because I've never been

able to get away from it. About a year later, I'm riding down

the road and the radio is playing and the guy says Ted Turner poised to

make another billion dollars by placing LED screens in restaurant and convenience store bathrooms and

selling commercial time on them. A billion with a B, not him.

And God gave me that idea a year before he gave it to him.

But I didn't maximize it and he did. I didn't redeem that time.

And now everywhere you go, these things happen in bathrooms. When you pump

gas, there's a TV that plays some kind of commercial and wants you to

get the seven dollars additive in your gas tape that'll make you get better gas

mileage. I think it makes the gas go faster. But it was a

moment in time where I just simply let it pass because I didn't have the

skills. I didn't. But you know what, as far as I know,

God was sending someone with a skill to do it the very next day.

But I allowed that moment to pass. I had a decision to make

in that moment about whether to stretch, whether to press, or whether to

go on about my business. This man in this synagogue, this man with

a withered hand, was called to make a decision in that moment, with

every eye on him, his dysfunction, his infirmity on full display, and

Jesus looks at him and says, stretch out your hand. Now he was

faced first of all with this decision whether to just even acknowledge that Jesus was

talking to him or not. And then the second decision, the more profound

decision, was which hand would he stretch forward. He had two hands,

he had a withered hand, he had a good hand. He had a

hand that caused him the situational discomfort that he was in. Now that he

could have kept hidden and stretched out his good hand and just saw what happened,

because after all, what if Jesus was just going to give him a

high five. But in that moment, he had to decide whether to maximize

and redeem the opportunity that was presented to him, And the Bible says that

he chose to expose the frailty of the moment and to stretch out his withered

hand toward Jesus. And it was through that decision and that pressing, reaching

that effort that he had to extend past anything he had ever known, because

that was not his custom to stretch that hand out, because it was withered.

And he began to stretch out that withered hand, and I believe that

that inch by inch, the hand gained a little more strength in the fingers,

a little more flexibility. And as he reached and as he stretched,

his perspective on the situation changed, and his faith grew inch by inch,

moment by moment, as he continued to stretch out by hand until it was

completely extended, and it looked just like the other one. But he had

to make a decision in that moment. There was no promise of the miraculous,

There was no promise that he wouldn't be embarrassed. There was only the

opportunity to do something that he had never done, to get something that he

had never gotten. But we are paralyzed by most every decision that calls us

into the unknown. That we like Peter when he was called out of that

boat, that we hesitate because nobody's ever walked on water before, you know,

before the Right Brothers. Nobody had ever flown before before. True at

Kathy, nobody ever put a piece of chicken on a bun and ate a

chicken sandwich before. I don't guess the only reason something is still impossible.

Everybody, look at me, give me your eyes. The only reason something

is still impossible is because you haven't done it yet. Everything was impossible until

it was done, and it's going to be somebody, So why not you?

Why not maximize this moment to step into something that can revolutionize the world.

I retired this story, but I'm bringing it back out. I used

to tell this story so much that people would just be like, you know,

it's like gag reflets what I would tell it. But you know,

when McDonald's was first created, McDonald's was a dine in restaurant. It's a

foreign concept. I mean, it's like you pulled up in the parking lot

and you got out of your car and you went in the restaurant and ate

just mind blowing to me that that's how that restaurant used to operate. And

one day this guy had an idea. He carried it to the board of

directors and he said, Hey, this is what I want to do.

I want to knock a hole in the side of one of the restaurants,

put a window in so people can drive up and order from their car,

and we hand them the food and they can eat in their car. And

this is what these titans of business said to him. Nobody wants to eat

in their car. Everybody wants to get out and sit at the table and

relax. So they laughed him out of the boardroom. He came back eleven

more times, and on that final trip, out of pure fatigue of having

the conversation, they said, okay, we're going to try it in one

restaurant, and they literally knocked a hole and put a piece of plastic over

it because they didn't think it would last a week. And now, from

that decision that man made and repeatedly made to press and keep pressing, eighty

seven percent of McDonald's business is done through the drive through window. Not to

mention all of the other restaurants that copied what they did. It was one

idea in one moment, one moment where a man chose to stretch and press

through the adversity of the moment, and it revolutionized an entire industry. What

if you have an idea that could revolutionize the way we minister to people in

this community. What if you have an idea that can revolutionize your industry that

you work in and make you a distribution center for the wealth and the Kingdom

of God, and that we can reach around the world and we can dig

well and we can give food, and we can build homes and hospitals and

all of those things. Because you stratch just throwing it out there. What

is your infirmity today, that dysfunction in your life that you don't want to

show anybody, and you certainly don't want to stretch it out before God and

give it to him today. So you have to make that determination. You

have to realize and decide what is that thing that has held me back?

What is that thing? Is it something? Is it the way people treated

me in the past, And I'm afraid they're gonna treat me that way again.

They might listen every single Sunday, I stand up and I preach,

knowing that last Sunday I ticked somebody off. Happens every week. Some of

my best friends have left the church, not the Capital c Church, this

church because they didn't agree with something I said from the pulpit, and they

get mad and they leave. But you know what, I don't worry about

whether y'all are going to get mad and leave, because it's just time to

stretch every Sunday morning. Everybody could not show up next week and God would

be okay with it. I probably wouldn't be, but God would because we

just choose to stretch. Man with a withered hand, lady with a withered

dream, young person caught in dysfunction? Is today the day you will decide

to stretch? Clay, you can get the band ready and come on back.

And Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse seven, it reads like this,

but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the

power may be of God and not of us. Let's take one of those

honesty moments from that who in here. You've ever messed up in your life,

you've ever failed, I mean, that's the rest of y'all. Lieing.

But yeah, I mean pretty much everybody. I mean, you know

that's that's the reality, every single one of us show of hands, for

every single person that's ever seen God fail, it's a much different count.

The power is not of you, it's of God. When you decide to

stretch, it activates faith. We are hard pressed on every side, yet

not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. You may be

persecuted, but you will not be forsaken. You may be struck down,

but you won't be destroyed. See the reality of what every single one of

us faith is the fear of what will happen if and our promise is that

when we stretch, God presses back the envelope, that when we put ourselves

out there, God puts a hedge of protection. That the moment we activate

our faith, which is belief in action. Come on, somebody, do

you know you can believe and not be a person of faith because faith is

action oriented. It's the fact that I refuse to sit where I am,

that I've got to go to the next place, and then the next place,

and then the next place and then the next place. Being transformed from

glory to glory to glory to glory, and right now, say what just

everybody on the counter, three I want you to say right now, on

the count of three, some of y'all so eager to stretch ya don't even

want to wait. Okay, on the count of three, you're gonna say,

right now, one, two, three, Right now, this moment

in time and space, I'm going to choose to stretch out my dysfunction and

lay aside my fear and my hurt and my pain and step into everything God

has right now, everybody staying with me all over the wild Now, listen,

I know what they said about you, but it's not true. I

know where you came from, but it's not where you are. I know

you probably watched it last night. But today's a new season, a new

opportunity, a fresh moment to spring past brokenness into the completeness of what God

hasked for you. And the only thing standing between you and that experience that

changes you forever is the decision to stretch out that infirmity, that dysfunction,

that trauma, whatever it is, in this moment, because every single person

is looking at you. Everybody look around. They got contact with as many

people as you can everybody's looking at you, and everybody's thinking, who is

that uh, who's that person? Who's that person that will step out,

that will reach today hungry for more? Is that you you right over here?

It's on the count of three. If you're ready to maximize this moment

in time to step out of your brokenness and into God's best, if you're

ready to start moving towards kingdom success, this is that moment where you make

that determination. So on the count of three, if that's you, I

want you to move out from where you are quickly and make your way to

the altar. Faith will begin to build with each step, and the hardest

step will be the first one. So on the counter of three, don't

wait look around to see if anybody else is moving this. It's not about

popularity, it's about faith. So when I get to three, if you're

ready to step into the to the fullness of what God has starts in this

morning, step out and move one. H two. You know some of

you right now, you're you're, you're, you're, you're having the conversation

in yourself and maybe with somebody should I go? Should we go? If

you're asking that question, yes, h three, Step out and move right

now. Come on, come on, when you get here, lift your

hands. Lift your hands, just to invite the presence of God. Thank

you, Jesus, Thank you Jesus. Come on, come on, come

on, come on. Everybody else, I need you to worship with a

reckless abandon Create a habitat for the Holy Spirit to stir destiny. Open the

eyes of vision hmm.