SUMMER TOGETHER | Part 8 | Consecrate

Hey, welcome to Grace Summit Church

podcast. We're so glad you're here.

We're all about helping people know

Jesus, grow in their faith, and live out

his love every day. No matter where

you're at in your faith journey, our

prayer is that this message helps you

know Jesus more and live with greater

purpose and conviction. Let's jump in.

>> Oh my goodness, Grace Summit Church. How

we feeling today?

>> Hallelujah. It's a good day to be alive,

isn't it?

>> It's a good day to be a Christian

>> and in the house of God.

>> Sorry, that was crooked. Praise the

Lord. Hey, if you're a first- time guest

with us, my name is Ben. I have the

opportunity to serve as lead pastor

here. And can I say thank you for

choosing Grace Summit Church this

morning. A lot of churches in the in the

city of churches. Amen.

>> But hey, we're going to dive in the word

of God. Are you guys excited for the

word?

>> What? What happened there?

>> You guys excited for the word of God?

>> Praise the Lord. Pray with me. Father,

we thank you Lord for revival breaking

loose on the inside of our spirit.

Father, we thank you Lord for stirring

us aresh today. Father, we didn't come

to hear words from men, but Father, we

came to hear from heaven. And so, Lord,

I pray that your anointing, Father,

would be upon the preaching of your

word. Praise you, Jesus. Father, I thank

you for the spirit of the living God

dwelling in this place. Lord, tune our

ears to heaven. Let us hear what the

spirit says to the church. We pray now

in Jesus name. Amen. Here's the sense

that I have in my spirit this morning.

Somebody needs to hear this. There's a

scripture that says, "No weapon formed

against me shall prosper."

>> Amen.

>> No weapon formed against me shall

prosper. You know, the enemy is busy and

the enemy is after us and he'll continue

to throw darts at us and to mess with

us. I don't know what your week is like.

Last week we talked about seasons and we

talked about uh kind of suffering and

obedience and suffering and then all of

those different things. But I got to

tell you, I've had a lot of people come

to me this past week talking about the

opposition, the struggles, the hurts.

And here's my declaration.

No weapon formed against me shall

prosper. You are a child of the king.

Amen. And I don't know what kind of

fathers we have in this space, but if

somebody messes with my children, old

papa bear shows up. Amen,

man. I'm saved, but I'll smack you. I

need you to know.

Don't be messing with my babies.

>> Amen.

>> And we are children of the most high

God. And the father doesn't let the

enemy just mess with kids. No weapon

formed against me shall prosper.

My goodness. You know, this last week,

uh maybe even the end of last week and

at the beginning of this week, God was

ministering to me in my spirit. And

initially, I thought it was just for me.

And then we had this amazing staff

meeting. Man, we were downtown and all

sitting out at the restaurant and and

having just a nice time. And as I began

to speak, God quickened it in my spirit

that this is also for our staff.

And then we had some conversations with

my family and then I started to go, "Oh,

I think this is for my family as well."

And as I was praying and preparing what

God would have me to share this morning,

I think it's for you.

>> Amen.

>> Say, "It's for me."

>> It's for me.

>> Title of the message this morning is

what's God and what's not. What God

ministered to me this past week is that

in this next season, God is challenging

me to be laser focused, to be very

intentional on who I'm allowing into my

life, what I'm allowing into my life,

and when I'm allowing things into my

life.

You know, this life is but a mister of

vapor

in the eyes of eternity. That's what my

Bible says. The time is short. It's too

short to be distracted, to be

sidetracked, to be caught off guard.

Amen. But I think in this season, God is

asking us to have laser focus. Hebrews

12 and verse one is where we'll start

this morning.

The Bible says, "Therefore, since we are

surrounded, say surrounded."

>> Surrounded. surrounded by so great a

cloud of witnesses. Let's pause there.

Who is this cloud of witnesses?

Yeah, this is Hebrews 12. Hebrews 11

tells the story. It's the heroes of

faith. And so, it's going through

Abraham and Moses and all the different

heroes that we read about in the Old

Testament. It says since we're

surrounded by such a great cloud of

witnesses. Now, I want to pull back the

veil a little bit in the spiritual

realm. I've studied the Bible for a

little bit. If you pull back the veil,

there is a balcony in heaven of saints

that have gone before us

>> that are watching you. Amen.

>> Not to mention, the Bible talks about

ministering angels among us.

How quickly the enemy can get us so

focused on the here and now in the world

we live in with the schedules and the

stuff that we forget that somebody's

watching.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so

great a cloud of witnesses,

let us lay also aside every weight and

sin that clings so closely. Catch this.

And let us run with endurance the race

that is set before us.

Moses had his race. Abraham had his

race.

And you have your race. Amen. And if you

look in the Old Testament, man, Abraham

and Moses and all the different ones,

Joseph, man, they all had a different

race to run. They lived at different

seasons, different times. And that's why

we get to read the multiple stories

because there's no two stories alike. Do

you know that you have a specific race

that God has set before you to run? Say,

"My race,

>> my race."

>> Let us run with endurance the race

set before us. Verse two, looking to

Jesus,

the founder and perfector of our faith.

Can I say that you'll never successfully

run your race if you're allowing

everyone and everything to influence

you?

It says, "Looking unto Jesus, the author

and the finisher, the founder and the

perfector of our faith,

who for the joy set before him endured

the cross, despising the shame and

seated and is seated at the right hand

of the throne of God."

I think it's a fair question to ask this

morning. Who's calling the shots in your

life?

Amen. You know, we do it at salvation.

We go, man. We pray and Jesus, I receive

you as Lord of my life. And then and

then something happens where the enemy

shows up uh a year later, a couple years

later or 30 years later. And and and the

question is is he actually lord over

your life? Who calls the shots? Who

makes your calendar? Who sets your

budget?

Oh man, I just felt some toes curl back

a little bit.

Colossians chapter 3 23.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Whatever you do, that's a pretty wide

canvas.

Whatever you do, work hardily.

That means with all of your heart,

as for the Lord and not for men.

As for the Lord and not for men. Who do

you work for? With all of your heart.

Says, "Work heartily as for the Lord,

not for men. knowing that from the Lord

you will receive the inheritance

as your reward. You're serving the Lord

Christ.

You know, when you work for a

corporation,

depending on who you're working for,

they set and establish your salary. They

set your vacation days. They have

standards on how many breaks each day

you take, uh what overtime looks like,

all of those different things.

If we position ourselves

as children of the most high God and

say, "God, you're Lord of my life. I

work heartily unto the Lord, not unto

men." What it means is that Jim in

corporate is no longer your boss. Now,

listen, Christians should be the best

employees on the planet. Amen. But what

I'm saying is there's a position. First,

I serve God and God calls the shots.

Sometimes God's telling me to take a

break and I don't want to take a break.

And then he says, "But you need a

break." Amen.

Working as unto the Lord, we fix our

eyes upon Jesus. I look to him to be the

master of my life. I need you to hear

this. Jesus is not a side dish.

He's not an addition to your life. He is

Lord over your life. And he set the race

before me. Colossians 3 calls for

wholehearted service to the Lord. But

it's interesting that John 15 talks

about abiding in him. That fruit comes

from abiding, not striving. So what does

it look like to work heartily to the

Lord? Sometimes we get confused. We go,

man, I got to I got to work with all my

heart and I got to just keep going and

keep going and keep going and keep

going. And when I was young in ministry,

that's what I did. Kept going, kept

going. There's more. There's more.

There's more. Can I tell you I'm not

preaching some idea that I read about.

I'm preaching something that I've lived

through. I've been through spiritual

burnout three times in my life. And I

don't mean we need to take the weekend

off. I mean I can't get out of bed in

the morning. I mean that there's a dark

cloud of depression hanging over my

life. I mean that eldership had to step

in and I had to take three months off to

recoup because I didn't know how to say

no.

Amen.

Working heartily as unto the Lord does

not mean doing everything for everyone.

What it does mean, it means abiding in

him and bearing fruit, catching the

rhythm of the spirit. And what the Bible

talks about being led by the spirit. The

Bible says, "The steps of a good man are

ordered by the Lord." That means my

steps are ordained by him. Amen. I'm

just talking to you Christianity 101.

Are you serving him? Is he your master?

Is he lord over your life? And I think

one of the number one things the enemy

does is to try to get everything else to

influence us to be our master. I want to

give you two words today. One we're

going to spend a little more time on,

but the first word is sanctification.

Good old Bible word.

Sanctification. It means set apart from

sin. It's a two-part definition. and set

apart from sin first and then delivered

to God. Consecration is a little

different. They're similar in nature,

but consecration is to dedicate or to be

set apart for sacred use, divine

purpose. Amen. I know what kind of house

you grew up in. Did anyone grow up in a

house with a mother that had certain

things for everyone and then certain

things only for guests?

>> You guys know what I'm talking about?

Like the like the certain plates, the

china, right? That's only for guests.

And if you grew up in my house, we had

five kids and we were bad little kids,

man. As soon as mom would leave, we get

the good china out and we'd be eating

spaghetti os off of it cuz we weren't

supposed to. Yeah. Tell us not to now,

mom. And we're getting all that, you

know. Yeah.

The good towels. You know the good

towels? Anyone grow up in a house that

had dessert that sat there, but it was

only for guests?

>> Walk by with a sweet tooth.

Soon as the guest would co show up, we

don't even care who it is. Get the cake

out.

Yeah.

See, they were dedicated for a specific

purpose. And I want to say this that

sanctification and consecration are

separate from salvation. You can be

saved and not sanctified. Amen. You can

be saved and not consecrated.

>> Because you prayed a prayer back in

1984, gave my doesn't mean you're

consecrated, man.

>> Amen.

set apart,

dedicated for a holy purpose.

Consecration is when we're no longer for

common use, but we're set apart for a

holy cause, a specific purpose,

a divine purpose.

What this doesn't mean is that you leave

your job and become a missionary

or a preacher

dedicating my life to God. I'm going to

be in service to God. That doesn't mean

that. It means where you are now, where

you work now, becomes your mission

field.

>> Yes.

>> Amen.

>> And I gotta tell you, life looks

radically different when you catch this

revelation that my life is his and he's

Lord of my life

and I'm called where he set me and

that's my mission field. Amen.

Today, I want to give you four ways to

consecrate.

Four ways to live the consecrated life.

Number one is receive the assignment.

Receive the assignment. First, we have

to understand what the assignment is.

And man, there's a lot in here. Uh we

could spend the next six months

unpacking the assignments that are laid

out in here, the great commission and

and all the different things, but I want

to zero in on one as it pertains to the

topic at hand. Ephesians chapter 5 and

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

verse 18 says, "Be filled with the

spirit."

Be filled with the spirit. The Bible

says that we are the temple of the Holy

Spirit. That the Holy Spirit dwells on

the inside of us. The Bible challenges

us to be led by the spirit because we

are the sons of God. Amen.

>> Ephesians 5, it says, "Be filled with

the spirit." That's a present tense verb

in the original Greek. What it doesn't

mean is

many years ago, I had somebody pray over

me and I received the Holy Spirit.

What it means is that daily I'm going,

"God, fill me with your spirit." As I'm

face to face in that moment that seems a

little bit too much to me, I'm saying,

"God, fill me with the spirit." Before I

stand up here and preach, I'm saying,

"God, fill me with your spirit."

It's present tense. Amen.

An ongoing reality of our life. John

John 7:38

chapter 7

verse 38, Jesus said, "Whoever believes

in me," say believe.

as the scripture has said out of his

heart will flow rivers of living water.

Now this he said about the spirit whom

those who believed in him were to

receive for as yet the spirit had not

been given because Jesus was not yet

glorified.

Be filled with the spirit.

It's interesting that we see the word

believe in there tied with this rivers

of living water the holy spirit flowing

in our lives. Why is it that American

Christianity has simplified believing

with salvation?

Believe in your heart that God raised

Jesus from the dead. Thou shalt be

saved. Right? And while that's true,

there's more things that happen when you

authentically believe in the same God

that I believe in.

>> And rivers of living water flowing from

your belly. Jesus said the Holy Spirit

infiltrating your life, infiltrating

your job, infiltrating your marriage,

infiltrating your relationship with your

children. Let the Holy Spirit free.

Amen.

>> But see, we're too civilized.

We're too We're too conscious of what of

the people around us. We're concerned

about what they'll think and what they

say. All these different things are

influencing our life instead of giving

ourselves to the lordship of Jesus

Christ. I'm really believing on you.

I almost started preaching.

Whoever believes in me. Isn't that

interesting?

Rivers of living water.

So what does that mean to be filled with

the spirit? Man, I've been in some

church circles. Hallelujah.

Filled with the spirit means, oh, Pastor

Dan, you've been there, too. We

wiggling.

>> Oh, man. There's a preacher spitting on

us and somebody's talking in tongues.

I'm full of the Holy Ghost.

>> Is that being filled with the spirit,

man? Getting filled with the spirit.

Lindsay be up here flopping like bacon.

Yeah, this one right here. You got to

watch this one. She'd be running around

with a flag doing victory laps.

Is that being filled with the spirit?

I don't know.

I think being filled with the spirit

means producing fruit by the spirit.

That love, that joy, that peace, that

patience, that gentleness, that

goodness, that self-control.

I think that's evidence of the spirit.

Amen. And yeah, there's spiritual gifts

that come along with that that God might

use you in a powerful way in a specific

moment. Conscious of that. But it's

interesting in theology, there's a law

of first mention.

Teaching you guys today, the law of

first mention. What it says is that the

first time that it's mentioned in the

Bible is the most significant time that

it was mentioned in the Bible. Amen.

Well, let's look at the first time the

Bible cites somebody being filled

with the spirit. Exodus chapter 31.

Exodus 31 · chapter mention

This is, if you're familiar with the

text,

God is giving Moses the blueprints for

the tabernacle.

It's powerful place where people could

worship. It's one of the most incredible

construction

sites that have ever been in human

history because it was designed by God

for God for the holiness of God to dwell

in the Holy of Holies. Amen. So God's

been giving these blueprints in Exodus

31 and verse two says this. See this is

God speaking. I have called by name

Bezale, son of Uri, son of her, of the

tribe of Judah. And I have filled him

with the spirit of God. Did you catch

catch that?

I have filled him with the spirit of God

with ability and intelligence with

knowledge and all craftsmanship to

devise artistic designs

to work in gold, silver and bronze and

cutting stones for setting and in

carving wood to work in every craft.

So wait a minute, the first person that

got filled with the spirit, God didn't

fill him with the spirit so he could be

a a great prophet to the land and preach

his word. didn't anoint him and fill him

with the spirit to be a king and lead a

great nation to lead the nation of

Israel.

You mean that God the first time that

it's mentioned that somebody was filled

with the spirit, we're talking about a

blueco collar worker?

I'm picturing a guy with ripped blue

jeans and dirt under his nails. Amen.

>> Just a common guy. And God's speaking

this to Moses saying, "Listen, I filled

this guy with the spirit of God." Amen.

I I anointed him with intelligence, with

wisdom, with understanding.

First anointing of the Holy Spirit in

scripture

didn't fall on what in America we

consider clergy

or those serving in ministry. I got to

clear something up. It aggravates me

when people in the church world talk

about this vast difference between

clergy and ley.

Well, I'm just a lay worker. I'm just

ley. But there's the spiritual. There's

the man of God there.

Read your Bible. There's no such thing

as ley in scripture. Amen. All are

called. All are chosen. All have a

specific race to run. all have the

opportunity to be used by God in a

powerful way in every arena.

Man, we need spiritfilled people

everywhere.

Too many people think, well, just doing

my 9 to5,

just doing my job, just paying my bills

till I get to heaven. Hallelujah.

You're called to ministry.

Amen. You're called to men. I don't care

if it's in the nursing home,

on the truck route,

wherever it is.

You're called. And the opportunity we

have is to be filled with the spirit.

He gave God gave Bezel

not a sermon to preach, but three

specific gifts.

Wisdom,

understanding,

and knowledge. Catch this. for his

craft.

Amen. How to work with gold and silver

and bronze, how to craft things. There

was a specific unique anointing filling

of the spirit for his craft. God needs

spiritfilled accountants.

Amen. That don't cook the books, baby.

We need spiritfilled mechanics

>> that don't overcharge little old ladies

trying to get their brakes changed.

Right.

>> Make me want to smack a brother.

>> Spiritfilled construction workers,

contractors that don't cut corners, that

have integrity. We need spiritfilled

nurses that treat the grumpy old man

down the hall the same as the nice

person down this hall that have love and

joy and peace and gentleness because

that's a testimony of the goodness of

God.

How many more people might get saved if

all of us were full of the spirit and

went and served in our different vocs?

I'm just thinking that the world might

change.

>> People don't care about a theology

degree.

They see how you handle stress

with peace. Amen.

They evaluate that you don't take credit

for their work.

You've been around that guy. You did all

the work. And he steps in. No, I did a

great job talking to the CEO.

Yeah. Uh, you didn't do anything, dude.

Need spiritfilled Christians.

They need to see you treat the janitor

the same way that you treat the CEO.

Let me give you the how

might be hearing this going, "Man, I

sounds great, but how do we actually get

there? How do you receive

the infilling of the Holy Spirit?" Luke

Luke 11:13

11 verse 13, if you have a Bible like

mine, these are words in red which mean

a little bit more to me. Jesus said, "If

you then, though you are evil, know how

to give good gifts to your children, how

much more will your father in heaven

give the Holy Spirit to those who ask

him?"

Oh my goodness. You mean you don't have

to come up here and wiggle and have

somebody spit on you while they pray?

And again, this is an ongoing thing.

This is a reality. This is a lifestyle.

If you're hungry for more, if you're

hungry for the filling of the Holy

Spirit, for the presence of God, for

peace in the midst of absolute chaos,

for for for for peace that goes beyond

understanding, it doesn't even make

sense why I have the joy of the Lord

right now. If you're hungry for that,

then you ask Jesus and he will give that

to you. Amen. Because he's a good father

and he loves to get give good gifts to

his children.

Ask

and you shall receive.

So number one is receive the assignment

or be filled with the spirit. Number two

is repent from other assignments.

Repent from other assignments. Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and verse 10 says we are his

workmanship

created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Catch this. which God prepared

beforehand that we should walk in them.

We're back to that the race that's set

before you. Amen. God has prepared

things for you to walk in. So why aren't

we regularly asking God, would you have

me to walk in this? Where would you have

me to walk? Making him Lord of my life

that he calls the shots in my life.

There's a way to man that seems right,

but in the end that road leads to death.

There's a whole lot of good options out

there. Can I tell you for your life

there's one God option

which God prepared beforehand

that we should walk in them. God's not

asking you to do everything. God's

asking you to do his thing. I think

somebody's getting freedom in here.

>> Somebody's been running rampant. Amen.

And it's a season to be laser focused,

to strip back all of the things that's

not your assignment.

God had never meant for you to do that.

You're carrying too much of a load. But

God does have one thing that he wants

you to do. Mark 1:35.

Mark 1:35

And rising early in the morning while

while it was still dark, he Jesus

departed and went out to a desolate

place. And there he prayed.

And Simon and those who were with him

searched for him. And they found him and

said to him, "Everyone's looking for

you." And he said to them, "Let us go to

the next towns that I may preach there

also, for that is why I came out."

And he went throughout all Galilee,

preaching in their synagogues and

casting out demons. That's my Jesus

right there.

>> The old demon slayer walking around

casting out devils. Amen. I want you to

catch the scene here a little bit. Uh

Jesus early in the morning, he goes away

and he's just he's just in prayer. He's

in a desolate place and and gets in

prayer and everyone's looking for him.

And this is a scene where a whole lot

has been happening. The crowds have been

chasing after him. Amen. Miracles have

been done. Sermons have been preached.

There's been some really good stuff. And

the disciples come and say, "Man, where

have you been? Everyone's looking for

the whole the whole crowd is looking for

you. And there's more to do. We've got

spiritual momentum. Uh man, I got an

Jesus, I have an appointment at three

for you downtown.

Right?

And what does Jesus say? Pack up. We're

out of here. He says, "Pack up. We're

going to the next town to preach over

that. That's that's what I'm called to

in this moment." Now, a whole lot of

good things could have been done in that

space. Crowds, multitudes. Do you know

that Jesus didn't heal everyone in

Israel?

Amen. He healed specific ones only as

the father told him.

Why is it we get in this place where we

feel like we're missing opportunities

and just because the opportunities there

we go instead of seeking God for

clarity.

Jesus

wasn't crowdled. He was spiritled.

You can write that down. Jesus wasn't

crowdled.

He was spiritled.

There'll always be another need in your

life. Amen. There'll always be more

people that have opinions about what you

should do with your life. You guys been

alive, right? Always somebody. Oh, you

should do this. That's good for you. You

should go there. You should do that. But

what did God say? Amen. Not crowdled,

but spiritled. Jesus didn't wake up

saying, "Man, what does everybody need

from me today?"

Jesus woke up and said, "Father, where

would you have me go

today?"

Jesus doesn't let the crowd define his

day.

Consecration is saying no to people just

as much as it's saying yes to God.

I need you to hear this. A need can be

very real and still not be your

assignment. Amen. Number three in your

notes is respect your limits.

Respect your limits. You're human and

God is God. Exodus chapter 18

Exodus 18:13

verse 13 says, "The next day Moses took

his seat to hear the people's disputes

against each other. They waited before

him from morning till evening.

When Moses's father-in-law saw all that

Moses was doing for the people, he

asked, "What are you really

accomplishing here? Why are you trying

to do all this alone while everyone

stands around you from morning till

evening?"

Moses replied, "Because the people come

to me." Isn't that interesting? Even

Moses gets sidetracked of all the needs.

He says, "Because the people come to me

to get a ruling from God." Sounds like a

noble task, Moses. He says, "When a

dispute arises, they come to me and I'm

the one who settles the case between the

quarreling parties. I inform the people

of God's decrees and give them his

instructions.

This is not good."

Ain't that interesting? Because it

sounds good. Moses is filling this need

in the community, man. All these people

and there's there's quarrels. You guys

been around humans, right? There's

always another dispute to handle. And so

they keep going to Moses and keep going

to Moses. And Moses finds himself from

morning till evening every single day

settling quarrels and disputes. Jethro,

his father-in-law, comes along and

evaluates. What are you what are you

accomplishing here, man? What what are

you doing? He looks at him. He says,

"This is this isn't good for you." Amen.

This isn't good for you. He says,

"You're going to wear yourself out and

the people, too.

This job is too heavy a burden for you

to handle all by yourself. Somebody

needs to receive that word for their own

life right now. This job is too heavy a

burden for you to handle all by

yourself. Now listen to me and let me

give you a word of advice and may God be

with you. So Moses is doing a good work,

a spiritual work, a necessary work.

Jethro, his father-in-law, calls him out

and says, "What you're doing isn't good.

And I need you to hear this. If the

devil can't keep you bad, he'll keep you

busy.

>> Amen.

A lot of people think that the devil,

man, when he comes, he he's he's like a

like the guy in the creeper van with

free candy for the kids.

You know, come here and smoke this

little girl. Come here and come here and

shoot this in your veins. I mean, like

that's what we think when the devil

shows up. Can I tell you the devil

masquerades as an angel of light?

Did you catch that? He masquerades. He

comes in. He says, "Man, this is a great

idea. This is a good, noble cause. Why

don't you fill your time with this? This

is good. Oh, and look at this. You don't

want to forget this. And then, oh, next

week there's this. And then there's

this. And then there's this. And then

there's that."

And we have so many good things and not

one God thing.

Respecting your limits

has to do with boundaries.

Sometimes we get so busy responding to

the needs of people, we stop listening

for direction from God. You can write

this down if you're taking notes.

Faithfulness is not doing everything for

everyone.

It's doing what the master assigned.

That's faithfulness.

The lie of the enemy is that non-stop

output equals faithfulness.

That is a lie from the devil. So, what's

the God solution? Thank God for

father-in-laws. Amen.

>> Hallelujah. My father-in-law is here

today. Thank God for father-in-laws

that can speak a word. And thank God for

son-in-laws that can hear a word.

That wasn't planned, by the way.

What was the God's solution for Moses?

It was delegation. In other words,

you're not meant to carry this load all

alone. We see the same thing in Acts

Acts 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, right? These guys are

preaching. The church is just blowing

up, transformed, the new New Testament

church. And all of the apostles, they're

serving and and all of a sudden they

recognize this need and they're they're

they're really struggling. And Acts

Acts 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 and verse two says it's not

right that we should give up preaching

the word of God to serve tables.

A spiritual need, a very real need. What

they weren't saying, here's the issue

that was going on. Uh, widows weren't

being they weren't being fed, right? The

distribution of food and all this

different stuff and cleaning tables, all

this all these different needs that were

happening in the early church, it wasn't

being done sufficiently.

And so, they delegated

men and women of God to serve to help

carry that load.

spiritfilled

people to step up and do what God's

called them to do. The arrogant think,

if I don't do it, it won't get done.

Amen. What's the classic? If you want

anything done right, you got to do it

yourself. You know how many people have

wore themselves out because they refuse

to delegate?

If you want anything done right, you got

to do it yourself.

Respect your limits. Your limits are not

failures. Your limits are reminders that

you're human and that God is God. And

delegation is not abandoning

responsibility.

It's stewarding your responsibility

correctly.

I'll share this with you. Rest is not

lack of faith.

It's faith that God can carry out what

you're not able to. Amen.

So, what's the solution? Number four in

your notes

is reset your rhythm.

Reset your rhythm. Last week, we dealt

with seasons,

the different spiritual seasons that we

have.

And this week, we're dealing with

rhythm. Say, catch the rhythm.

Matthew 11:28

Matthew 11:28

Jesus said this. He said, "Come to me

all who labor and are heavy laden, and I

will give you rest." He says, "Take my

yoke upon you and learn from me, for I

am gentle and lowly in heart, and you

will find rest for your souls." Doesn't

that sound good? He says, "My yoke is

easy and my burden is light."

Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and my

burden is light." If your rhythm is

frantic and panic, you're probably not

in the right rhythm. And it's

interesting that he uses the word yoke

here in the Old Testament in that time,

the yolks were custom made for the

animals. And so, if they had two oxen

that were going to be pulling something,

they would they would measure the the

the shape and the size of the oxen's

neck. Then, this is that wooden thing

that they would lock the two heads in,

and the two would walk in tandem. Amen.

Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you."

What this means, if you're yolked

together with Jesus, number one, there's

a specific custom yoke built for you.

And if I'm yolked together with Jesus,

if I see something I think I'm supposed

to do and I go to run and Jesus says,

"No, I'm stuck with the master." Amen.

And if I'm sidetracked over here and

Jesus says, "We need to depart and go

over here." If Jesus goes that way, I

got to tell you, he's bigger and

stronger than me.

Lincoln started playing football. He got

his football helmet on. Man, you just

grab that face mask.

>> Poor little guy. I can drive him all

over the place.

Come here, boy.

Wherever the head goes, the body

follows. Amen.

>> When we make him Lord of our life, we're

choosing to be yolked together with

Jesus.

We're choosing to keep in step with

Jesus, to keep in rhythm with Jesus.

The burden is light

because Jesus is pulling the majority of

the weight.

Catching the rhythm means walking in

step with the master.

I'll say this. The Lord

of your work must also become the Lord

of your rest.

Amen.

Catching the rhythm as a faithful

believer, man, it's daily prayer. It's

fasting.

Let me share this with you. It's Sabbath

rest.

I don't know if you've read your Bible,

but from Genesis to Revelation,

we see the celebration of Sabbath rest.

Right in Genesis,

God created the world in six days. What

did he do on day seven?

>> He says, "Hey, you guys are on your own.

I'm going to take a nap."

Wasn't because God was tired and so wore

out, but it was because he was setting

and establishing a pattern for us to

live.

Those that have faithfully followed him

for generations have caught the

revelation of the rhythm of the Sabbath.

You work six, you rest one.

Boy, the devil tries to steal my Sabbath

on the regular.

It's the only day you can get the

appointment. It's the only day that you

can do this. It's the only time that we

can meet together. It's the only

I don't care

because I'm protecting my Sabbath. I'm

protecting the rhythm that God has

established for me. Amen.

Sabbath is a weekly declaration that

God, you're God and I'm not.

Similar to that tithe and offering that

Lindsay was talking about earlier in the

service. It's a declaration that God,

all of this is yours. My calendar's

yours. My schedule's yours. All of this

time is yours. And I know that it's

borrowed time. And so on one day every

week, I'm going to give that day back to

you.

Consecrate it and make it holy, a day of

rest.

I'll ask the worship team to join me up

here. And I want to close by giving you

some practical framework

for this next season as we're stepping

in and we're getting intentional to be

laser focused and to allow ourselves to

be filled with the spirit and to be

consecrated by God, devoted wholly unto

him.

It's an acronym

that I've used in my life. It's very

valuable. If you're a notetaker and you

like acronyms and practical application,

write this down.

The word is pace.

P A C E.

P

is for pray before you plan.

If he's Lord of my life, I will seek out

his direction before I make the

decision.

I pray before I plan.

Too many people go and do whatever they

feel to do the all the good things and

after they get there they say, "God,

will you bless this? God, will you bless

this?" God never assigned that to you to

begin with.

Amen.

Pray before you plan. A is for audit.

Audit your time and money. Audit your

calendar,

your bank statement, and your calendar.

tells the truth about your priorities.

C is for choose.

Choose your people.

Be intentional about who you allow to

influence your life. And let me tell you

this, Christian, be intentional about

who you're discipling in this next

season. Because if you've been serving

God for any length of time, the

assignment is to disciple others, to be

a blessing to others, to pour into

others, encourage each other.

And E is for eliminate.

Eliminate what crowds out the calling.

Not necessarily just sinful things,

but eliminate unnecessary things.

Let's stand to our feet all over this

house. Here's

the sense I have in the spirit. And if

you don't hear anything else today, I

want you to receive this word from God.

God is not looking for more activity.

He's looking for more authority in your

life.

Amen.

We serve a good God. I'm sharing this

with you because my heart is just to

serve him well. My heart is to lead a

people that serve him well, that are

steadfast after and that are hungry.

God, whatever you want, we want.

Whatever wherever you lead us, we'll go.

And the enemy comes with so many

distractions and so many things and it's

so easy to get off track.

So father

we pray for clarity

for understanding

for clear direction.

>> Lord I pray for those in this space for

all of us God that have become

sidetracked or distracted

with all of the other good things.

Father, I pray that you would help us in

this season to see the assignment, to

see the thing that you've called us to,

Father, that we might be filled with the

spirit, God, that we might be used by

you, that rivers of living water would

flow into our life, would flow into all

of the places, Father, that you could

reach a lost and dying generation, God,

that our life would have high impact for

the building of the kingdom of God.

And Father, I pray for those in this

space

that are carrying the weights and the

loads

that were never meant for them to carry.

Lord, I pray as this altar opens.

>> Lord, that your children would come and

lay those weights down

to lay down the distractions to make a

fresh declaration in the spiritual realm

that God, you are my God. You are Lord

over my life.

Father, we thank you for your presence

in this house.

I pray now as we've received your word

that you continue to do the work in the

hearts of the men and women in this

place

in Jesus name. Amen. We're going to

close the service with some light

worship. I'm going to ask our prayer

team to come forward. And if you're

hearing this and you're going, "Man, I

got some I got some junk in my life. I

got some stuff. I got some distractions.

I want to encourage you to come. Let us

pray with you and you can lay it down at

the altar. Amen. Maybe you're hearing

this and you're going, "Man, you're

talking about Jesus being Lord of your

life." And I might have prayed a prayer,

but I don't know if I've ever made him

Lord of all of my life. I want to invite

you to an altar this morning. We want to

lay hands on you and pray with you and

agree with you to make Jesus Christ Lord

of your life. Amen. The altars are open

this morning. Won't you come?

>> Thank you for listening to today's

message from Grace Summit Church. We

hope it encourages you to walk out your

faith this week. If you're in the Fort

Wayne area, we'd love to meet you in

person. Join us for a Sunday service at

9:15 or 11:00 a.m. on East Duvant Road

or connect with us online anytime at

graceummiturch.com.

Have a blessed week and we'll see you

next time.