Sermon
The Power of a Day - Extending Your Reach with Pastor Mike Krulcik
Publisher transcript
Transcript
-
Thanks for checking out the anchor faith message podcast
-
from St Augustine, Florida. Now
-
enjoy this message. So it's kind of my title. The
-
message today is called the power of a day, the power
-
of a day and it's extending your reach,
-
extending your reach. And it's been a full day for
-
me. Hallelujah. And there's power in every
-
day if we handle things right. I
-
want to open up with this thought. Your
-
life is composed of your choices, constructed by your
-
words and revealed by your character. I'll
-
say that again. They should have that on the
-
screen for you. Your life is composed of your
-
choices, constructed by your words and revealed by your
-
character. Now compose means to form or
-
to put together or to fashion. So
-
when you're composing something, you're putting it
-
together, you're fashioning it. It
-
makes me think of the symphony when they compose
-
music, right? It's in harmony and it's in
-
unity if they're all together. If
-
they're all together. If one instrument is off,
-
guess what? There's disunity or disharmony. But
-
your life is composed of your choices. So
-
if you want your life to be in harmony with God, if
-
you want it to be fashioned for God and you
-
want God to be putting your life together, you got
-
to make the right choices. And
-
all of us every day have multiple opportunities to
-
make different choices within a day. And
-
a choice is the act of selecting or making a
-
decision when you're faced with two or more options.
-
Alright? It's really a choice
-
considering and deciding what you're going to do.
-
Joshua in his book, the 24th
-
chapter, he said, As for me and my house, we choose
-
to serve the Lord. So guess what? He
-
just composed part of his life by making the right
-
choice. You make the wrong choices,
-
you're going to have the wrong results. If
-
you make the right choices, you're going to have the
-
right godly results. It's also constructed by your
-
words. Construct means to build up or to
-
put something together or to make something whole, W
-
-H -O -L -E. Your life is constructed by your
-
words. What are you saying? We
-
know this in Genesis. In the creation of the world,
-
we know that God spoke it into existence. You
-
can see the pattern in Genesis chapter 1. It
Genesis 1 chapter mention
-
said, God said it, then he saw it, and it was good.
-
God said it, so he constructed
-
the world by his word. The Bible says in Genesis
-
chapter 1 verse 28 that we're made in his image.
-
So we know there's power in
-
our words. So if you're saying, I'm never
-
going to mount anything, guess what world you just
-
created? Or I'm never going to get
-
past this situation. I'm never going to get past
-
this hurt. You're constructing your world by
-
the words that you speak and the choices that you
-
make. And it's also revealed by your
-
character. That revealed means to open up
-
or to make known publicly, to bring into full display.
-
Your character is really going
-
to manifest publicly over time. And
-
you can only perform in public to the degree you're
-
willing to practice in private. So
-
your private life matters. What
-
you do at the house, what you do in the car, what
-
you do in the marketplace, matters because it's your
-
character. Matter of fact, I'll say this
-
when you're called, and everybody's called to a
-
certain assignment with the body of Christ. Your
-
call and your character line up, you have a thing
-
called credibility. If you're called and your
-
character don't match, there's no credibility. If
-
there's moral failure, that's a character issue,
-
guess what? It diminishes your credibility.
-
Can it be restored? Thank
-
God for second chances. Thank
-
God for his redemptive work. Thank
-
God for forgiveness. But how much better just to
-
make the right choice, speak the right word and
-
have the right character? Your
-
life is going to be formed by these three things. So
-
we're talking about the power of a day. It's
-
important as you go on in your life with the Lord,
-
your journey with Him, is to make sure that you're
-
making the right choices, speaking the right words
-
and developing the right godly character. I
-
want to launch out as an appetizer, hallelujah, cheese
-
sticks with marinara sauce. I
-
don't eat like that too often. Or
-
if you like spinach artichoke dip with organic
-
blue corn chips, our appetizer's going to be
-
Moses. But Moses, when we look at
-
this man's life and we're talking about the power of
-
a day and extending your reach, the reason we're
-
going with this is to stay in the theme of the
-
prophetic word that was spoken to Pastor Earl by
-
Marvin Yoder, which he's been talking about for
-
several Sundays about the branches video, right? And
-
so, you know, branches extend in different
-
directions from the main part, but they spring out
-
and they have an impact and an influence. And
-
we want to extend our reach. Your
-
reach is you stretching out in a specific direction in
-
order to touch or grasp something. Your
-
reach is your hand reaching out to make an impression
-
or influence. And so it takes all of us,
-
this branch is prophecies just not for one person.
-
This is for the anchor fate
-
church. So you need to ask yourself
-
as you're listening to Pastor Earl as we're going
-
over this tonight, what is my assignment within this
-
branch? Because it takes all of us working
-
together to make a maximized impact for the
-
kingdom of God in the earth. And
-
when you're not in your assignment, you're not
-
making the right choice. You
-
just put the symphony out of order and we need to
-
find somebody, a replacement player to come in and do
-
your part. God's called you to do something.
-
The question is, are you going
-
to cooperate and participate with Him in what He's
-
called you to do? And never despise a day of
-
small beginnings. So we launched out with Moses
-
tonight and Moses lived three 40 year period, a
-
total of 120 years on the earth. 120 years. So
-
I'm just trying to get you to think in the concept
-
and the scope of time. God is infinite and beyond
-
time, but yet we're finite and we live in time. So
-
God knows how to work with humanity even though He's
-
infinite. And my question is to you, are
-
you maximizing every day? Are
-
you maximizing every day with the assignment and the
-
purpose and the plan that God has called you to?
-
Don't get stuck on repeat. Move
-
on with God. So Moses lived 120 years on
-
the earth and God said about Moses, if we go to
-
Joshua, the shortest eulogy I've ever heard, when Moses
-
passed away, he said, Moses, my servant is dead.
-
That's it. But
-
there's no greater compliment and honor that
-
God could have gave to this man who lived 120
-
years for the Lord than to say my servant is dead. We
-
know the greatest in the kingdom is what? Servant
-
of all. So basically he's saying he
-
gave 120 years of his life to me. He
-
didn't deviate. He started right. He
-
stayed right. And so the first 40 years of
-
Moses' life, he was in Egypt. And
-
really during this time, he learned how to be somebody
-
was trained as Pharaoh's son, Pharaoh's daughter's
-
son in all the culture and education in the Egyptian
-
life. But then after 40 years, he
-
understood what his mission was, what his assignment
-
was. And he tried to make things
-
happen on his own at that time. And
-
he actually ended up slaying or killing an
-
Egyptian who was harming another Israelite. And
-
the thing became publicly known. So
-
he tried to force the issue. He
-
kind of knew what God had called him to do. But
-
the timing wasn't quite right yet. So
-
all of a sudden he had to flee Egypt because Pharaoh
-
said you just killed one of our citizens. Now
-
you're going to have to pay the penalty. So
-
he fled on the backside of the desert. So
-
in Egypt, he learned how to be somebody. But
-
then 40 years on the backside of the desert, he
-
learned how to be nobody. And
-
God has a way in his plan to make sure that we walk
-
a humble existence on the earth. Some
-
people say about Moses because he wrote about
-
himself that he was a meek man or one of the meekest
-
men on the earth. Well, he had a 40 year breaking
-
cycle to learn how to depend upon God. So
-
I don't mind his quote because it was inspired to
-
write it. There was a meekness about him,
-
but there was a process how he learned how to be
-
meek and depend on God. His
-
last 40 years was his best 40 years. Say
-
my next 40 years are going to be my best 40 years.
-
Say to get my next 40 years
-
are going to be my best 40 years. He
-
did more in his last 40 than he did in the prior
-
80. And the last 40, he led the
-
children of Israel out of Egypt through their
-
wilderness into the brink of the promised land. Not
-
only that, but he got the blueprint and the plan from
-
God for the Tabernacle from Exodus chapter 21 all the
Exodus 21 chapter mention
-
way to Exodus chapter 40. He
Exodus 40 chapter mention
-
got the plan for the Tabernacle where God's
-
presence dwelt in the Old Testament. I
-
bring all that up because we go to Moses wrote two
-
Psalms out of the 150 Psalms that we have, two
-
of those he authored. And I should give a test right
-
now. Does everybody know what one of
-
those Psalms was? This is participation time. We
-
don't get much of this in the sanctuary. Christopher
-
LaRoch, BAM! Psalm 91. Thank
-
you. Good job, Chris. Awesome
-
job. And he also authored the Psalm
-
before that Psalms 90. And there's one verse in there
-
I want to highlight. Verse 12. So
-
we think about him 120 years and Moses said this
-
in Psalms 90 verse 12. He said, So teach us to
-
number our days. Teach us to number our days that
-
we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Another
-
translation, the New Living translation reads it like
-
this. Teach us to number our days and
-
recognize how few they are. Now
-
a lot of people think 120 years, that's a long time.
-
And the scope of eternity, it's
-
not long. Teach us to recognize how few
-
they are and help us to spend them as we should.
-
The Amplified says it like
-
this. Teach us to number our days that
-
we may cultivate and bring you a heart of wisdom.
-
Someone to counteract the world
-
philosophy, which I think is YOLO. Did
-
I say that right? I got IDK years ago, I
-
didn't know what that was, I had to put in a Google
-
search engine. I don't know. I
-
think it's your only, you only live once. Now
-
you could take that in the wrong way and do some
-
stupid things. You could take that in a
-
kingdom perspective and do some great things. You
-
know, when I was younger, sometimes we'd go to
-
Cumberland Lake and you could jump off a certain
-
height into the lake, right? And
-
you didn't think much about hitting the wrong way when
-
you're 18 years old. When you're going on 50 like I
-
am though, you know, it may make you stop and
-
think twice. Do I want to do this? No,
-
I don't want to do this. So,
-
but we are to number our days that we would gain a
-
heart of wisdom. And it's unwise if you don't
-
recognize, Lord, you put me on the earth for a certain
-
amount of time. And thank God for Psalms 91,
-
what he authored, he's going to satisfy you with
-
a long life and show you his salvation. So,
-
unless martyrdom happens and you're taken out early for
-
an assignment, you can expect from God to live a
-
long, healthy, full life. But
-
still in that, I want to make sure every day is
-
maximized. And Moses is telling us, teach
-
us to number our days that we could bring a heart of
-
wisdom. You're not wise if you don't
-
recognize God. Every day is a gift from you.
-
The Psalmist said, this is the
-
day the Lord has made. This
-
is the day the Lord has made. When
-
you wake up tomorrow, God, you've given me 24 hours
-
today, 168 hours this week. I
-
want to maximize. I don't want to spend time
-
on the unimportant. I don't want to be offended.
-
I don't want to be
-
distracted. I want to be on point. I
-
don't want to be on purpose to what you've
-
called me to do. Sometimes when I counsel people, I
-
say, don't ever say you're killing time. Even
-
if you're resting, rest on purpose. Don't
-
kill time, you invest time. And
-
so if you're not numbering your days and recognizing
-
that every day is a gift from God, you're never
-
going to have this thing called wisdom in your life.
-
But if you understand in the
-
kingdom of God that you've been born again, he's put
-
his spirit in you, and now there's an assignment, an
-
assignment, and task that he has for me, I want to
-
maximize those. When you have that mindset every
-
day, there's going to be a thing called wisdom that
-
shows up in your life. Now wisdom is shrewdness,
-
prudence, and skill. Wisdom is shrewdness, prudence, and
-
skill. Shrewd means you're able to
-
understand and judge a situation quickly, you're
-
sharp. Prudence means you have the ability
-
to govern and discipline yourself. Hallelujah.
-
Prudence means you have the ability to govern and
-
discipline yourself for use of reason. Prudence
-
means you have management of affairs. And
-
good management attracts resources, but bad managers
-
just put at bay resources. When
-
you manage your life, understand every day is a
-
gift from God, guess what, you maximize your day. When
-
you mismanage, God can't work with that. He
-
also, when you're wise, you have skill, which means you
-
have the ability to use one's knowledge effectively
-
and readily in execution or performance. So
-
when you're wise, you have shrewdness, prudence, and
-
skill, but that only comes with understanding that each
-
day is a gift from God. Let's
-
jump over to Ephesians chapter 5 and look at a
Ephesians 5 chapter mention
-
similar verse in the New Testament the apostle Paul
-
wrote in verse number 16. Ephesians
Ephesians 5 chapter mention
-
chapter 5 verse number 16. It
-
says this redeeming the time because the days are
-
evil is how the new living translation reads it. The
-
amplified says this make the very most of your time
-
on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each
-
opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence
-
because the days are filled with evil. The
-
JB Phillips says it like this, live life then with
-
a due sense of responsibility, not as men
-
who do not know the meaning and purpose of
-
life, but as those who do. Make
-
the best use of your time. Despite
-
all the difficulties of these days, don't be vague
-
but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of
-
God. What wonderful verses of
-
Scripture to chew on and think on. Now
-
the meat of the message I want to give you today is
-
that the greatest example of leadership and manhood
-
we could have which is the Lord Jesus Christ. There
-
is no greater example that we could live up to or
-
look to as far as trying to imitate how he operated
-
and how he moved. And this is why the gospels
-
are so important because you get to see his life
-
and how he interacted and how he was on a mission.
-
We know that he lived 33
-
years, but really his ministry is only 3 years
-
from 30 to 33. So I want to go to Matthew
Matthew 9 chapter mention
-
chapter 9 and I just want to look at this because
-
this is a day in the life of Jesus. So
-
I'm going to read and I'll have you stay with me. 38
-
verses, this could help some of you with your
-
Bible reading plan. Because we're going to read a
-
whole chapter together to see a day in the life of
-
Jesus. What did a day look like for
-
Jesus? So starting in verse 1, But
-
Jesus, knowing the scribe's thoughts, said, Why do you
-
think evil in your hearts? For
-
which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you
-
or to say arise and walk? But
-
that you may know that the Son of Man has power on
-
earth to forgive sins. Then Jesus said to the
-
paralytic, Arise, get up, take up your bed, go to
-
your house. And this paralytic arose and
-
departed to his house. Now when the multitude saw it,
-
they marveled and glorified God who had given such
-
power to men. As Jesus passed on from there,
-
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office
-
and he said to him, Follow me. So
-
Matthew arose and followed him. Now
-
it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house
-
that behold many tax collectors and sinners came
-
and sat down with him and his disciples. And
-
when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Jesus'
-
disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax
-
collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said
-
to them, Those who are well have no need of a
-
physician, but those who are sick. But
-
go and learn what this means. I
-
desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not
-
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
-
I came to call sinners to
-
repentance. Then the disciples of John came
-
to him saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast
-
often, but your disciples do not fast? And
-
Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the
-
bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with
-
them? But the days will come when
-
the bridegroom will be taken away from them and
-
then they will fast. No one puts a piece of
-
untrunt cloth on an old garment for the patch pulls
-
away from the garment and the tear is made worse.
-
Nor do they put new wine in
-
old wine skins or else the wine skins break and the
-
wine is spilled and the wine skins are ruined. But
-
they put new wine into new wine skins and both are
-
preserved. While he spoke these things, to
-
them behold a ruler came and worshiped him saying,
-
My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand
-
on her and she will live. So
-
Jesus arose and followed him. And
-
suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood or an issue
-
of blood for 12 years came from behind and touched the
-
hem of his garment. For she said to herself, If I
-
only may touch Jesus' garment, I shall be made
-
well. But Jesus turned around and
-
when he had saw her, he said to her, Be of good
-
share, daughter, your faith has made you well. And
-
the woman was made well from that hour. Then
-
when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the
-
flute players and the noisy crowds wailing, he said to
-
them, Make room for the girls not dead but sleeping
-
and they ridiculed him. But when the crowd was put
-
outside, Jesus went in and he took her by the hand
-
and the girl arose. And this report of this went
-
out into all that land. When
-
Jesus had departed from there, two blind men came
-
and followed him crying out and saying, Son of David,
-
have mercy on us. When he came and when he had
-
come into the house, the blind men came to him and
-
Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I'm able to
-
do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord.
-
Then he touched their eyes
-
saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. And
-
their eyes were open and Jesus sternly warned them
-
saying, See that no one knows it. But
-
when they had departed, they spread the news about
-
him in all that country. As
-
they went out, behold, they brought to Jesus a man,
-
mute and demon possessed. And
-
when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke and
-
the multitudes marveled, saying it was never seen
-
like this in Israel. But the Pharisees said he cast
-
out demons by the ruler of demons. Verse
-
35, Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages
-
teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
-
gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and
-
every manner of disease among the people. But
-
when Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved
-
with compassion for them because they were weary and
-
scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Then
-
he said to disciples, The harvest, the harvest, the
-
harvest, the harvest is plentiful or abundant, but
-
the laborers are few. Therefore,
-
pray the Lord of the harvest to send out
-
laborers, workers into his harvest a day in the life
-
of Jesus. How busy is your day? I'm
-
going to make some points from how many people we
-
interacted with in just a second. But
-
I want to cue in on verse number 36 quickly. He
-
saw the multitudes. He was moved with compassion,
-
not just empathy. Empathy can say, I know you have
-
a problem, I sympathize with you, but compassion is
-
a hand of truth that's going to pull you up,
-
stabilize you, get you strong, and get you on the
-
mission for God. The model of Jesus Christ's
-
ministry was coming, come, follow. And
-
follow is an invitation, really it's an authoritative
-
command where you're saying, I'm siding with your party.
-
I'm choosing to learn. That's
-
really the second model. Jesus
-
not only come, follow you, but learn of me. And
-
really in the rabbitical style of teaching or rabbi,
-
the disciples wanted to know what their master
-
know, but lived the way that he lived. And
-
so there's always a learning process in kingdom
-
education that you're never going to graduate from. You
-
should know more about God now than you did last
-
year. Next year this time you should
-
have greater revelation and intimacy about who he is.
-
Ten years from now it should
-
be even richer, the lead in his spirit should be
-
even sharper, and you should have even more
-
influence. I believe in the kingdom of
-
God we don't retire, we refire. I
-
believe in the kingdom of God that your best years
-
are ahead of you if you make the right choices,
-
speak the right words, and develop the right character,
-
and live every day and maximize potential. I
-
believe in the story of Smith Wigglesworth, who did
-
many great things for the kingdom of God. Over
-
23 people erased from the dead in his ministry. I
-
believe in his 80s when nobody else was seeking him
-
out. There was a man named Lester
-
Somerall that traveled to England to search him out
-
to be mentored by him. And at 80 a younger man was
-
seeking him because there was still fruit in his
-
life and impact and influence. And
-
Lester Somerall, because he gleaned from, received
-
instruction and amortization from Smith Wigglesworth,
-
guess what? He was able to go out and
-
get his ten thousands where only he got his thousands.
-
And I know this for a fact,
-
when Lester Somerall was later in life, he had an
-
impact on the dean of our Bible school when we were
-
going there in 2000, Dean Crow. Because
-
Reverend Crow went on a mission trip with Lester
-
Somerall, and Lester Somerall was in his 60s at
-
that time. And Dean Crow was probably in
-
his late 20s, early 30s, and he said, the guy wore
-
me out. So I do believe your greatest
-
years are ahead of you and your most fruitful years
-
ahead of you if you maximize every day. But
-
going to this verse, he said he was moved with
-
compassion. Compassion is a hand of truth that
-
gets you up, supports you, gets you strong because
-
Jesus wants you to come unto him, fall of him,
-
learn of him. The third thing was go ye.
-
Come ye, learn of me, go ye.
-
There was activity and action in
-
the ministry of Jesus' life that he expected his
-
disciples to go out and make a difference in the
-
world. Listen, the world shouldn't impact
-
us, the kingdom should impact the world. The
-
world should not impact us, the kingdom should impact
-
the world. The question is, are you
-
getting sucked too much into the culture of the
-
world, or are you renewing your life to the culture
-
of the kingdom? Because the kingdom came to take
-
over, the king's domain. And
-
God wants to use you. We are his body and the
-
earth. So this verse is vitally
-
important because he saw that people were wary and
-
scattered like sheep having no shepherd. And
-
this is important because Jesus understood through the
-
Father and the lead in the Holy Ghost that he was
-
going to assign the five -fold ministry in his body.
-
So if we go to Ephesians 4,
-
we're going to come back to Matthew 9 in just a
-
second. Ephesians chapter 4, hallelujah, thank
Ephesians 4 chapter mention
-
God for His Word. Ephesians chapter 4, we're going to
Ephesians 4 chapter mention
-
start in verse number 8. And
-
it says this, let's start in verse number 7. But
-
to each one of us grace was given, to each one of
-
us, to each one of us, that includes everybody
-
that's born again in the body of Christ. To
-
each one of us grace was given according to the
-
measure of Christ's gift. Therefore,
-
he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity
-
captive, he gave gifts to men. Now
-
this he ascended, which does mean, but that he
-
also first descended into lower parts of the earth.
-
He who descended is also the
-
one who ascended far above all heavens, that he might
-
fill all things. And he, Jesus himself, gave
-
some, not all, he gave to all a gift, but to some,
-
he gave to be apostles, some prophets, some
-
evangelists, some pastors and teachers. This
-
is what we call the five -fold ministry. The
-
five -fold ministry are those that God has ordained
-
and appointed to be placed in His body to equip the
-
saints. If we read this, it says they
-
were given for the equipping the saints. Number
-
two, for the work of the ministry, number three, that
-
the body of Christ would be edified or built up. So
-
this five -fold ministry is giving for the equipping,
-
the furnishing, the setting, the position of the saints
-
in the body, so that you would have everything you
-
need to do what God's called you to do. He
-
equips you. God is not putting unequipped
-
merchandise on His market. Let
-
me put it this way. Jesus and Matthew nine had the
-
ability of the word of wisdom to see beyond where
-
he was at. He operated all twelve or nine
-
gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12, but he's
-
able to say people are like sheep without a
-
shepherd. They're feigning, they're scattered.
-
That means they're exhausted,
-
they're worn out, they're tired, they're getting flung
-
down and thrown down quickly. They
-
have no stamina, no strength. And
-
so what do you say? They're
-
like sheep without a shepherd. And
-
I bring up Ephesians four because one of the gifts
-
that he gave the pastor is like a shepherd over the
-
sheep. God assigns local body churches,
-
and this is why it's so important for you to come
-
on a Wednesday, a Sunday. This
-
is why it's so important to come to discipleship
-
classes. Why? Because God cares about
-
you. He doesn't want you to be
-
fainted and scattering. If you're not connected to a
-
local body church that has a true shepherd and that
-
anointing that goes with it, you're going to be
-
scattered, you're going to be fainted. You're
-
going to be tired, you're going to be exhausted,
-
you're going to be all over the place. You're
-
going to be a yo -yo Christian. Fruit
-
loops, scattered. I've seen some interesting
-
Christians. Right? But a true pastor is going
-
to say, you're doing great, or no, that's not right.
-
Listen, a pastor is going to help
-
oversee your soul. And if they see you getting
-
off a few degrees, they're going to say, course
-
correction. Why? Because if you're off just
-
a few degrees, when you leave Orlando on a plane
-
trying to go to Los Angeles, you're off a few
-
degrees by the time you are meant to reach your
-
intended destination, you're way off. And
-
a true shepherd is going to have that anointing and
-
that...you're not going to get this off a TBN. Thank
-
God for a TBN, but they ain't calling your house,
-
they're envisaging the hospital. They're
-
not doing face -to -face counseling meetings. I
-
like Christians tackling the airways, but a local body
-
church is the stake. These other things are
-
supplements. They can add some enrichment,
-
but you can't live off of vitamins. Hallelujah.
-
So, he loved you so much. Matter
-
of fact, it puts way that the fivefold ministry is
-
God's love gift to you. Thank
-
God for those that are called and those that are
-
living out. Now in the body of Christ,
-
we've had some that weren't called. We've
-
had some that were called that didn't live it out,
-
their character failed. But we've had some that have
-
lived it out and are living it out. And
-
thank God for those people. I
-
personally have been in three churches in my...in
-
my 24 -year walk with God. I'm
-
trying to do the math. 97, yeah. And
-
three churches. The only reason I left the
-
church is not because I was offended, because God
-
said when I was in Ramah Christian Center in
-
Columbus, Ohio, He said, you need to go to Bible
-
school. So, I listened and left on a
-
good note. How you leave determines how
-
you enter. You leave today offended, you
-
enter tomorrow offended. The Bible says, be angry. Don't
-
let the sun go down your anger. You
-
want to live a maximized day, you better live an
-
unaffended life. If you lie to offense or
-
unforgiveness, one of the devil's major tools and
-
strategies is to get you sideways some way. You
-
know how divorce happens? You
-
know how somebody leaves an employer? You
-
know how somebody leaves a church? Typically,
-
because they get offended. Something
-
said, they get rubbed the wrong way. And
-
you don't want to let that happen. Be
-
man enough or woman enough to get a backbone of love
-
and let things go. Has God forgiven you for some
-
things? We're dealing with humanity. And
-
all humans are human beings, not human doings.
-
And they're a pro to
-
malfunction at times. But as you grow on with God,
-
you should have a thing of maturity that comes. And
-
there should be perfection in your life. Now
-
let me define perfection real quick. Perfection
-
does not mean that you're without fault. If
-
you look at this up in the Greek, it means fully
-
developed. Or we could put this way,
-
mature. When I didn't get my way when
-
I was a kid, you didn't get your way when you're a
-
kid. How did you respond to those
-
who didn't let you have their way? You
-
would throw a thing called a temper. Temper,
-
you may cry. You may throw a fit. Now
-
it's one thing to do that at eight. It's
-
another thing when you're married to do that at 38.
-
I'll let that soak. The
-
marriage conference for those that signed up is
-
Friday night. It's one thing for you to wet
-
your bed at three years old. It's
-
another thing for you to wet your bed at 53 years
-
old. All right? But
-
maturity means that I'm taking responsibility. And
-
I'm becoming more mature, so I have more of the
-
word in me. I'm more led by the spirit. I
-
have better control of my emotions. When
-
you're young in Christ, guess what? It's
-
like you're an infancy. And we're going to have people
-
coming to this church that are all different seasons
-
and stages of the walk with God. But
-
to whom much is given, much is required. So
-
it's one thing for somebody who's one year old in the
-
spirit to spit up on you. It's
-
another thing for somebody who's been walking God for
-
20 years to throw up on me. We're
-
going to have a conversation. And
-
you're buying me new clothes. Hallelujah.
-
Are you with me? So perfect means that you're
-
just growing. You're taking responsibility. Don't
-
do the blame game. Don't do the blame game. Adam
-
did this with Eve. Well, it's the woman you gave
-
me. He is basically blaming God.
-
No, take responsibility. What
-
would happen if Adam would have said, you know what,
-
Lord? I blew it. There's
-
a man in the Bible when he was confronted by a
-
prophet, had done wrong. God
-
restored him because he took responsibility. His
-
name was King David. Nathan the prophet, out of the
-
love of God, the love of God, the love of God. This
-
guy broke the six and seven commandment. Something
-
that King Saul never did. But
-
he had such a heart for God, and he never did it
-
again. That's maturity. Psalms
-
51 is his psalm of repentance. And
-
he got right before God and stayed right before
-
God. But when he was confronted with
-
a word from God, he said, I am that man. Took
-
full responsibility, and God's able to work with a
-
person that takes full responsibility. And
-
that is perfection in the sense of maturity. An
-
immature person passes the blame, passes the buck,
-
blames others. Always isn't a victim mentality.
-
Always is woe to me. I'll
-
put it this way. The proverb says they're a
-
leech. They suck. Hallelujah.
-
Hallelujah. So he loved you so much,
-
though, that he put a pastor, an apostle, a
-
prophet, a teacher, an evangelist, in the body of
-
Christ so that you're not scattered and that you're
-
not faint -hearted. Because God wants you stable,
-
strong, and on the mission for him. Now
-
let's go back and look at the day in the life of
-
Jesus. Because I'm talking about the power
-
of the day in extending your reach. If
-
nobody reaches, nobody gets touched. If
-
nobody reaches, nobody gets touched. So
-
let's just go back. In this day, Jesus has
-
interactions with about 17 people or people groups.
-
And we're just going to
-
highlight some of this. The first thing I love about
-
this is in verse 1 it said, He came to his own
-
city. And I like that because our
-
vision is to ignite the city, impact the nation,
-
and influence the world. And
-
the pastor just said this on Sunday. There's
-
nothing like, he loves being at Anchor Faith
-
Church. Now does he impact the nation,
-
influence the world? Yeah, but home base is always
-
most important. And I'll say this, how are you
-
going to influence the world if you're not taking
-
even care of your own house? In
-
Acts 1, 8, if we look at this, it says they were
-
filled with the Holy Spirit. The
-
Spirit of God came upon them and do them with
-
power from on high. And then it says they were
-
witnesses, first to Jerusalem, their own
-
hometown, their own home. Then
-
Judea, then Samaria, then to the other most parts of
-
the earth. How are you going to touch the
-
other most parts of the earth if you're not
-
impacting your own home? So I believe it starts in the
-
house. Being a real man, being a real
-
woman of God, being real parents, bringing your kids
-
to church, living it out the house, the atmosphere
-
you permit is the atmosphere that's produced.
-
You let discord, division,
-
frustration, lack of communication, lack of the
-
word in your house. It's going to trickle down to
-
your kids. I don't care how much you
-
tell them about Jesus. They're
-
always going to imitate you. When
-
Abby was little, I was outside working, she was a
-
chatterbox. And I was doing something, and
-
she's young, you know, she's in the princess
-
phase. And I remember I spit, so she
-
spat. Your kids will not always listen
-
to you, but they'll always imitate you. If
-
you're a jerk of a husband, marriage conference
-
is Friday. Registration is passed. But
-
those who are coming, get ready. Put
-
your seatbelt on. If you're a wife that's riding
-
on a broomstick. See you later. See
-
you later. The Bible says a wise woman
-
builds her house, but a contentious one. The
-
guy wants to get on the roof, a little corner, out
-
in the elements instead of being at the house. So
-
the question is your house a home? Because
-
not every house in the kingdom is a home. So
-
Jesus came to his own city. And
-
I believe ministry really starts in the house. And
-
a real man and woman of God that has kids is going
-
to live it out day by day. I'm
-
just giving you a little taste of the marriage
-
conference. I won't linger too long. But
-
you know, we've lived this out before our kids. Others
-
have lived it out before their kids. And
-
the word of God does not fail. It
-
works every time. Jeremiah said he watches over his
-
word to perform it. You know, we've had to go to
-
our daughters at times. If I'm on the phone too much
-
or I've had a little more intense day and I feel the
-
edge and I realize in my parenting that that wasn't
-
really the way I set it in line up with what they
-
did because there was intensity carried over from
-
maybe someone on the day. I've
-
literally had to go say I'm sorry. Why?
-
Because I want to be perfect. I
-
want to take responsibility. Now
-
do I do that every day? No.
-
But there's been seasons where I said, listen, I'm
-
sorry or we've been I've recognized I've been on the
-
phone too much. I need to slow down and
-
spend time with you. Hallelujah.
-
You know, body context has a lot even in the
-
marriage. And if if your spouse trying
-
to talk to you on the phone, your kids are trying
-
to talk to you on the phone and there's no eye
-
to eye at some point. You're
-
really communicating. I don't care what you're
-
saying. You know, interesting thing
-
about this. So one of my daughters some
-
years ago asked her to take out the trash and she
-
took it out and she came back to me and said, Dad,
-
I'm sorry. I said, what? Well,
-
he told me to take out the trash, but my heart
-
wasn't really in it. Why? Because you live it out
-
before them and the atmosphere you permit is
-
the atmosphere that's produced. So
-
back to Jesus, how busy was his day? How
-
busy is your day? If nobody reaches, nobody gets
-
touched. So the first thing he
-
encounters when he comes is somebody that's sick of the
-
Palsy. And this is a paralytic. And
-
when you have paralysis, it's either complete or
-
partial loss of a function of your body and it
-
involves motion or sensation. This
-
guy obviously was on a bed so he was really confined.
-
But the first thing that
-
happens is, guess what? There's
-
going to be a gift of healing that takes place
-
with this man. It's important to stay built up
-
in the things of God. And so they bring him this man
-
that's a paralytic. And the first thing Jesus said,
-
he mixes some doctrine or teaching in with it. Not
-
only is he going to do a gift of healing, but he
-
mixes some teaching because instruction helps you with
-
life. If you have no instructions,
-
you're going to perish because people perish for a
-
lack of knowledge and knowledge comes through
-
instruction or truth coming to your life. And
-
so he said, son, your sins be forgiven. Well,
-
the second group being crowned as his ascribes,
-
well guess what? This made the scribes mad. Now
-
they didn't know that he knew what they were
-
thinking. The scribes in their heart were
-
complaining. Have you ever had to deal with
-
complaining people before? And
-
the scribes who were supposed to be interpreters
-
of the law said he blasphemes because he said
-
your sins were forgiven. They
-
said, who can forgive sins? And
-
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, why are you
-
thinking evil in your heart? And
-
then after this, the multitudes, after the
-
paralytic was healed, the multitudes, so multitudes
-
saw the interaction between the paralytic and the
-
paralytic. And they saw the interaction
-
with the scribes and the multitudes glorified God who
-
had given such power to men. So
-
we see in this first section of the day in life
-
of Jesus that he healed somebody and he brings
-
correction and doctrine. The next encounter he has is
-
with Matthew, who actually pinned the gospel of
-
Matthew. Now Matthew, whose name was
-
Levi, was a tax collector. And
-
listen, tax collectors were despised by Jewish people
-
because this was a Levi from the tribe of Levi who
-
worked for the Roman government, part of St.
-
John's County tax collectors. We
-
could put this way, Matthew worked for the IRS. And
-
in that day, the tax collectors not only could
-
demand the money of the government, they would take
-
additional money to line their own pockets. This
-
is a well -known practice. So
-
they were rich people who got their riches by unjust
-
means. So it's bad enough that the
-
Roman government did this, but when one of your own
-
nationality born a Jewish person is collecting from
-
other Jewish people and pocketing their own
-
pocketing your money with extra taxes, guess what?
-
You're going to be upset. But
-
when Jesus saw Matthew, he said, follow me. So
-
Matthew arose and followed him. Now
-
it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house
-
that behold many tax collectors, many tax
-
collectors. So guess who Matthew hung out
-
with? Those like him. And
-
sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his
-
disciples. And the Pharisees were really
-
happy about it. No, they said, why? So
-
encountering once again another group of religious
-
people already dealt with the scribes. You're
-
going to have to deal with people in the course of
-
your day. So don't get frustrated. Don't
-
get fussy. Don't think everything's an
-
interruption. Not everything's an interruption.
-
Some things are divine
-
appointments. Have the discernment to know
-
this can wait till later or I need to address this
-
now. Well, how do you know that?
-
Because he's given you the greater
-
one on the inside, the Holy Ghost to lead you.
-
And this can be something we're
-
setting up in the future. We
-
don't need to talk about this now. It
-
could be a Holy Ghost prompting that says you
-
need to deal with this person now. I
-
try to plan my day, but I always plan for some
-
interruptions. I learned years ago if I try
-
to plan everything, it gets me frustrated because
-
there's interruptions during the day. Now
-
I'm in the season discerning. Does
-
this need to be addressed now? Is
-
this an emergency or can this wait? Hallelujah.
-
So the Pharisees said, why does your teacher eat with
-
tax collectors and sinners? If
-
nobody reaches, nobody gets touched. I'm
-
in the church all day. I expect sanctified, saved,
-
spirit filled, bloodbought, tongue talking people to be
-
around me. Matter of fact, the other day,
-
one of our employees in his pocket had a little
-
round look like a can. I went up and grabbed the
-
thing real fast and said, what is that? And
-
it was actually electrical tape. We
-
saved, still sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost,
-
tongue talking. Now guess what? I
-
don't know if I'm out in Walmart and I see somebody
-
with that in their back pocket. If
-
nobody reaches, nobody gets touched. But
-
I could see by what you're carrying in your pocket,
-
you're serving the wrong God. Right?
-
So I can address that person, not so much dealing
-
with that, but dealing with our Redeemer and what his
-
truth will do in your life. So
-
the Pharisees got mad because he was around tax
-
collectors and sinners. How are people going to get
-
saved? Come to truth. Come
-
to the knowledge of Christ if you don't touch anybody.
-
Listen, you got an hour and a
-
half on a Sunday, two hours, you got an hour and
-
a half, maybe an hour and a half on a Wednesday.
-
We're in the community primarily,
-
or predominantly most of the time. And
-
that's where mission works takes place. We
-
are to ignite this city. I'm
-
at the gas station sometimes. I
-
hear some very choice music, but it doesn't move
-
me. They're sinners. I
-
don't jump in my car, put my hands in my finger and,
-
or my fingers in my ears and start praying in the
-
Holy Ghost. That's what they do. Lord,
-
do you need me to say something to them? Some
-
people, some sow, some water, but it's God that
-
gives the increase. You could be at the gas
-
station and you hear that and then God may say, you
-
may as well ask them how you're doing today. Is
-
everything all right? If nobody reaches, nobody gets
-
touched. Well, the Pharisees got mad just
-
because Jesus was around. Tax
-
collectors and sinners. And he said to them, I didn't
-
come to call the righteous. And
-
what he was saying, you Pharisees, all you do is
-
an outward show of self -righteousness. I
-
really came to call people that truly repent. And
-
that's the first word in the kingdom's repent. Turn
-
the way from where you're going and head the other
-
way. But the Pharisees just put on
-
a show. They didn't really live it out.
-
And then after this, the next
-
group he encounters are the disciples of John. And
-
real quick, the disciples of John got mad because
-
Jesus was eating and they were fasting. And
-
they start asking questions about why aren't your
-
disciples fasting? You're all over there enjoying a
-
meal with the tax collectors in the center.
-
So what's Jesus do? He
-
brings more instruction. Is there room in your day? Is
-
the Holy Ghost leading you in your day to reach
-
people? This house should be packed.
-
This sanctuary. This
-
church, because you are going out in the community.
-
And you're doing like Jesus
-
did. And impacting and influencing
-
the lives of people. And then you're saying, don't
-
be scattered and don't be faint anymore. Come
-
get under a good church. Come
-
get connected so you can get equipped. So
-
you could do the work of the ministry so the body
-
of Christ could be edified. After
-
the disciples of John complained that Jesus'
-
disciples weren't fasting, the next thing said that
-
their ruler came to worship him saying, my daughter has
-
just died. But come, lay your hands on
-
her and she will live. So Jesus arose and he followed
-
the ruler and his disciples. But
-
suddenly there was an interruption. He's
-
on his way to the ruler's house. But
-
this woman with an issue of blood, she was had a
-
cycle for 12 years did not quit bleeding. She
-
spent all she had. She didn't grow any better, but
-
she grew worse. But she heard something about
-
Jesus and said, if I could just touch, connect with
-
him. I will be well. So
-
Jesus is on his way somewhere else, but he felt
-
power go out of him. And he said, who touched me?
-
And he said, be a good share
-
daughter. You are made well. And
-
then when Jesus came to the ruler's house, he saw
-
the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing. Another
-
encounter with a different group of people. I
-
call this professional mourners. They
-
were wailing, crying, snotting, complaining. And
-
Jesus had to deal with these people. And
-
you know what he did with them? He
-
told them the girl's not dead, she's just sleeping.
-
They laughed at him. He
-
said, get out. What do you say? I
-
don't need any distractions for what I'm about to do.
-
And I don't need your doubt,
-
your unbelief in the room when I'm getting ready to
-
do a miracle of God and show a demonstration. And
-
there's some things you need to get out of your
-
life that are hindering you. And
-
professional mourners, complainers, backbiders,
-
seditious people will ruin your life. They
-
ruin your walk. The devil undermines. So
-
when you're undermining authority, guess whose
-
territory you're in? You're in the devil's territory.
-
There's some things you got to put
-
out if you're going to operate in the fullness of
-
what God wants you to do. So
-
he went in, he touched the girl, picked her up and
-
she arose. Then when Jesus departed from
-
there, two blind men followed him, crying out
-
and saying, Son of David, have mercy on us. And
-
when he had come into the house, the blind men came
-
to him and Jesus said to them, do you believe that
-
I'm able to do this? And they said yes. And
-
he said, according to your faith, be it unto you. And
-
when their eyes were open, Jesus sternly warned them
-
saying, make sure no one knows this, but when they
-
departed, they spread his fame all over the place.
-
As they went out, behold, they
-
brought to Jesus a man, Mute and demon possessed.
-
And when the demon was cast
-
out, the Mute spoke and the multitude marveled,
-
saying it was never seen like this in Israel. But
-
the Pharisee said he cast out demons by the rulers
-
of demons, a day in the life of Jesus. It's
-
a good homework assignment for you to look at how
-
many people's lives he impacted that day and how
-
he impacted them. Two were healed by their own
-
faith. One, there was an operation of
-
miracles, a gift of faith. I'm
-
just trying to whet your appetite so you go study
-
the word yourself. There were several doctrine or
-
teaching moments that he used when it came to
-
helping the lives of people. There
-
were things that he corrected when somebody was
-
misspeaking what was being, what truth was. But
-
this is a day in the life of Jesus. But
-
he's our greatest model, and I want to end with
-
this thought that he says in verse 35, because after
-
he did all this in one day, it says in verse 35,
-
Jesus went about the simplicity of the kingdom
-
action of this man of God came down to three things
-
that he did he taught in the synagogue. He
-
preached the gospel of the kingdom, and he healed
-
every manner of sickness and every manner of
-
disease. The Bible says that we will do
-
the same works as Jesus and greater works because
-
the Holy Ghost is in us. So
-
if Jesus was teaching, preaching and demonstrating,
-
guess what we're doing in the community? Teaching
-
is explaining the kingdom of God. Preaching
-
is proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of
-
God, the redemption, being taken out of darkness and
-
being brought into the light. And
-
listen, there was also demonstration of the kingdom
-
of God. It says he went about healing.
-
The word healing is a therapy
-
where we get the word therapy from. And
-
the kingdom of God will bring therapy to your life.
-
If you've ever been injured,
-
hurt, you've ever had a joint out of place. Guess
-
what? It needs to get put back into
-
place. Some of those injuries or hurts
-
require a PT to restore range of motion and
-
strength. So what I'm saying is you
-
come to church, guess what? There
-
should be some therapy going in your life. Well,
-
that thought wasn't right, or that was out of
-
alignment, or that needs healed. You
-
know, James chapter 1 says, receive with meekness the
James 1 chapter mention
-
engrafted word which is able to save your soul.
-
That book was written to the
-
church. They were saved, but he said
-
your soul still needs saved, meaning your mind,
-
your will and motions. There's
-
still some therapy that your range of motion isn't
-
where it needs to be in your thinking. So
-
let's renew our mind to truth, right? So
-
therapy doesn't, and that always isn't done in one
-
session. If you've had major trauma or
-
major injury, that could be a while of therapy sessions
-
until there's enough strength to whatever was
-
injured is back to strong enough to operate
-
functionally on a daily basis. It
-
also said that he came to heal every sickness, and
-
the word sickness means this, a disease or sickness
-
or infirmity. Any disorder, unsoundness or
-
weakness, your day, your maximized day should have
-
some of these elements in it. As
-
you grow up, as you mature in the things of God, you
-
should be able to lay your hands on somebody. You
-
should be able to bring a word and do a season to
-
somebody. You should be in the
-
marketplace somewhere and let the Holy Ghost lead
-
you and prompt you to talk to somebody about Jesus, to
-
proclaim the kingdom, maybe to bring healing to
-
somebody's life. Maybe something's disordered or
-
weak that needs healing, right? And
-
the last thing that Jesus did, it says that he cured
-
every disease. Now this word disease in the
-
Greek means softness or effeminate. When
-
you look this up in the root word, it actually
-
means a catamite or a boy that has been penetrated by
-
an adult man. I'll keep it at that in the
-
Roman culture. That's created a softness. You
-
could look it up, Strong's 3119, for you Bible
-
students, and then you can look up the root word from
-
there. But I bring this up because we
-
are living in a day today, and I'm closing with this,
-
where the family unit is under attack like never
-
before. And because of this, Dad's
-
fathers, I'm beseeching you, know your role and be in
-
it. Malachi, last book in the Old
-
Testament, very last chapter, says this, if the
-
hearts of the fathers are turned towards the children,
-
then the children's hearts will be turned to the
-
fathers. It doesn't say anything about
-
mothers in that verse. But there's a great
-
responsibility to Dad's and husbands to be the
-
spiritual leader and pace setter in the house. Why
-
do I bring this up? Because
-
the children's hearts are never going to be turned
-
to the fathers if the fathers' hearts aren't
-
turned toward the children. Now
-
moms and wives have their role and it's vitally
-
important. But I bring that all up
-
because a devil, you can go to church Monday, 318,
-
you can come Wednesday and go Sunday. But
-
if you're not living this out at the house, if
-
you're not being an example in the home, there's going
-
to be dysfunction. And right now in our society,
-
people are confused. There's gender identification,
-
confusion. There's confusion in what marriage
-
is according to what the kingdom says. But
-
I believe a lot of this stems from broken homes. Or
-
homes that are dysfunctional, where a
-
husband and a wife aren't in the right position. But
-
there's good news tonight. There's
-
course correction tonight. Even
-
if you came out of that and you're later in life,
-
there's still good news because Jesus says He heals
-
every disease. So even if you came out of a
-
broken home, God can still touch your heart, turn you
-
around, strengthen you, get your mind renewed and your
-
feet heading in the right direction. So
-
church, I just admonish you. There
-
is power in every day. What
-
does tomorrow have in store for you? Thank
-
you so much for listening to this message. If
-
you want more, subscribe to our message podcast on
-
iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and SoundCloud. Rating
-
and leaving a comment will go a long way with helping
-
our messages get better circulation. If
-
you'd enjoy watching our weekend messages, visit
-
youtube .com forward slash anchor faith. We'd
-
love it if you'd subscribe, leave a comment or a like
-
on the messages. If you'd like to find out
-
more information about us and how we're influencing
-
the world and help support the work we're doing by
-
giving, just visit anchorfaith .com.