Sunday Message - Pastors Skip and Debbie Rotert (October 13, 2019) | Life Bible Church

No further ado, I want to let Skip preach the

word this morning. Skip Rotert from Brazil and

his wife, Debbie, all the way from Brazil. We

love them. Would you just give them a Life Bible

welcome? Just welcome them to the platform this

morning. God bless you guys. Come on up. Good

morning. It is such a pleasure to be here. We

had an amazing time with the couples, with the

singles. You guys are just awesome. Love you

guys. Love your pastors. You have awesome pastors,

you know. They are very famous all over the world.

And amazing, amazing people. And, man, we really

feel at home here, you know. It's like it's not

every place that you go that you feel at home.

But, you know, it's like. We're ministering in

Brazil, but we come all the way from Brazil,

and we feel like, hey, we're at home. We serve

the same God, don't we? Just amazing. You know,

I'm a missionary's kid. My parents went down

to Brazil in the mid-'60s, and so I grew up there,

and then I came up to Portland Bible College.

In Portland Bible College, I met this wonderful

man, and we got married. And then we youth pastored

in Stockton, California for about three years.

And then we moved to Brazil 26 years ago. So

we've been there 26 years. And about 15 years

ago, we started our own church in a city called

Joinville in the state of Santa Catarina. So

it's in the southern, southern part of Brazil.

It's been amazing what God's doing. We started

the church in the living room of our home and

slowly, you know, went to a building, another

building. And now, you know, we have our own

building that we've been able to purchase and

working on all kinds of things. But the neat

thing is to see what God's doing and all that

he's going to do. And we're just so excited.

It's just an amazing, amazing time. And one thing

I wanted to ask, if you remember us, remember

to pray for us. Pray for our church in Brazil.

We believe God has amazing things that he's wanting

to do. We just started a social project in the

neighborhood of our church. connected to a local

school. They're a big local school. So we're

starting to do all kinds of things, teaching

kids, teaching the parents different things,

and trying to reach those kids and those parents

through the social work that we're doing, believing

that not only are they going to get help in the

natural, but they're going to get the real help,

which is knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Amen? So remember to pray for us. Love being

here. God bless you guys. Well, we had a good

time this weekend, huh? Oh, my goodness. And

this is our first time here. We were just overcome,

just even the natural part of the church and

the river and the apartment and everything. We

were almost embarrassed of how well you guys

have taken care of us. It's just been such a

privilege for us to be here. It's interesting,

though. We're church builders, and so we appreciate

so much a building. One thing that has been very

interesting, even for Debbie and I, we've been

talking about it so much, is that this building

pales in comparison to the beauty of this congregation

that you have here, Pastor Brad. Unbelievable.

We felt a connection just from the get -go. It

has been so enjoyable for us to be here. Just

your friendliness and connection has just been

so, so good. We have been so, so blessed. You

know, we... You know, your pastors, you probably

know, you know, they're like Debbie said, they're

just like total famous. And so when we got this

invite for Life Bible Church, man, I'm telling

you, it was like the fear of whatever just came

into me. It's like, what in the world? I was

just very, extremely nervous, Drew, very, very

nervous. And so, you know, just kind of to prepare

for the time here, you know, We have a lot of

friends that have been here. And so I just asked

different people that know Pastor Brad and the

congregation. And it was like, give me just kind

of a clue of something maybe I should talk about

or this and that. And the first person that I

talked with, they said this. Look, Pastor Brad

is very prophetic. So make sure that you are

really prophetic. So I'm like, okay, okay, man,

I just praying it fast and I gotta get ready

to prophesy. And I thought, you know, I'm gonna

ask some other people. And the next person I

asked, they go, Pastor Brad, he teaches so good.

It's so profound. And so I'm like, okay, okay.

So I have to prophesy and I have to teach. And

then it was like, I ventured out to a third person

and he says, Pastor Brad, He preaches so good.

He like raises a voice at the right time. So

now the pressure's on for me. It's like I got

to prophesy really good. Then I got to teach

really profound. And then I got to preach really,

you know, dynamic. And I'm thinking, the first

thought in my mind was like, I have a solution.

Instead of preaching, introduce Pastor Brad and

let him take my place. You know, it's like, that

was the first thing that came into my mind. The

second thing that came to mind, I know what I'll

do. I will start off talking about something

that in the history of this congregation, Pastor

Brad has never talked about. And it is my family.

No. Actually, I forgot. I forgot this is my family.

Debbie. Debbie made sure to tell me to make sure

and show my family because she wanted to do that.

Okay, so he has never talked about our family,

and has he ever started a sermon talking about

a parakeet? Ever? All right. So now I feel comfortable

because I cannot be compared, okay? How many

of you have had a parakeet in your life? Okay,

how many of you guys like kind of birds and that

kind of stuff? And when I was younger, I was

probably in junior high school, and I really

wanted a parakeet. And this is the kind of parakeet

that I wanted. I wanted one. I just kind of wanted

a bird that would just like show me. kind of

love and would eat out of my hand and would just

sit on my shoulder and do all that, right? And

so I had this, I don't know if you could call

wanting a parakeet a dream, but I had this kind

of dream, this goal or whatever, however you

say it, of having this really amazing parakeet

in my life. And my family, especially when we

were younger, we were very, just financially

a little bit tight. And it was coming close to

my birthday. And my parents is like, they just

kind of wanted to take all the mystery out of

a birthday present. So they would ask, what do

you want for your birthday? And so I said, look,

this year I want a parakeet. Okay? I want a parakeet.

Is that all right? And they said, yes, you can

have a bird. And you know the thing parents do.

They can't say that's what I'm getting you, but

you know that's probably what they're getting

you. And if they don't, you'll need inner healing

sessions the rest of your life. You know, kind

of like that kind of thing, you know? So I had

this vision of what I wanted. I wanted this parakeet

that kind of, you know, like this, that was gentle

and nice and loved me and I loved it and all

that. And my birthday was about 10 days away.

And I had a best friend across the street from

my house, Jimmy Smith. Now Jimmy Smith, man,

he was just a nice guy for me. He always treated

me nice. And Jimmy, he always bought new things

and then he kind of got tired of the new things

and then he got rid of them and he got other

things. And Jimmy had two parakeets and a cage.

Because I was asking for a parakeet. I don't

know where I was going to put it. But, you know,

it was like. And Jimmy came to me and he goes,

look, I don't want my parakeets anymore. I know

you like parakeets. I will sell you my two parakeets

and the cage for $10. Which was awesome because

I had $10. And I mean, I don't know how much

cages, I don't live here in the States, but I

assume pretty expensive. It was kind of big.

It was really tall. It just was perfect. And

as everything that is perfect like that, we say

glory to God. Thank you for your confirmation.

Because we know that the Holy Spirit is in it

when it's a good deal, right? I mean, I'm sure

in the Message Bible it says something like that,

you know? And so it's like, I got confirmation

from the Lord. I'm excited because it's like

he knew. It was just like the testimonies at

church. He knew I had $10, and Jimmy Smith offered

it for $10. And so I go to my mom. who she kind

of controlled birthday present stuff in our family.

And I said, Mom, Jimmy offered me two parakeets

and a cage for $10. I know it's 10 days before

my birthday, and I know I asked for a parakeet,

but can I buy that instead, and you guys give

me a different present? And my mom did the cruelest

thing possible that a parent can do. My mom said,

Are you sure? Oh, I hated that. Like, give me

a yes or no, but don't go, are you sure? Because

then I was like, I didn't know if I was sure.

I was pretty sure that I was sure. You ever be

in that spot where you're pretty sure you're

sure, but you're not sure? And so that's where

I was at, and I was like, and I didn't quite

know how to. And then I'm thinking about it.

Okay, 10 bucks, man, 10 bucks. Instead of getting

one bird, I'm getting two. That's a blessing

of the Lord. Confirmation, $10. I'm sure. And

she said a second time, are you sure? Oh, man,

I didn't like that. But, you know, the devil

tempts us sometimes, and we have to stay strong.

And so I stayed very strong with my resolve.

And I said, Mom, and by that time, I am sure

that I'm sure. And I'm saying, I'm sure. And

she goes, okay. Man, I hate it when they talk

that way. Okay. And so I went and I paid the

$10. And this is like awesome, too, because it's

like instead of having to wait 10 days, man,

when you're a kid, that's like. like dog years

or something. That's like 70 years or something,

you know? So 10 days, I got my two parakeets.

It was awesome. I had a place in my bedroom for

it. And I put my finger in there to kind of create

this, you know, get them to know me. And that

bird bit me so hard, blood gushed from my finger.

Your pastor, you know, he knows the Bible better

than me, and I don't know the full doctrinal

thing, but I think that parakeet was demon -possessed.

I'm not preaching doctrine, but you can ask your

pastor later and kind of discuss it theologically.

If a parakeet can be demon -possessed, but if

there was, if it was possible, this parakeet

was the most horrible animal on the face of the

planet, okay? After my birthday came and went

and after I sold those horrendous beasts for

$5 for a friend of mine, my mom put salt in the

wound and she sat me down and she said this.

She said, I want you to know something. It's

okay what you did. Totally okay. It's your decision.

It's your room, your birds. It's your decision.

But I just wanted to let you know something.

Your dad and I, because we knew you wanted a

parakeet, we had gone to a breeder. And anybody

that understands birds and stuff, if you get

a bird really young, they just kind of bond to

you, and it's very easy to have... a bird that

does this kind of stuff. And they said, we'd

gone to a breeder and he asked me the day that

we needed to pick it up. And he had several options.

And one option was that he would have a bird

that was fully weaned on the very day of my birthday.

And he had the perfect parakeet for me. And I

don't mean to say this to hurt your feelings.

Parents always say that, but it does, right?

And then I'm going through these things in my

head, and I'm thinking, my mom knew this information,

right, before, didn't she? Yes, she did. So I

felt like it was almost unfair. It's funny how

we just go into the victim, right? It was unfair

of her. It was unfair treatment. She knew. what

I could have had, and she did not give me that

full information. And I had like two questions

that I just kind of want to start off. I'm just

going to go like that, and then you guys switch

the slide when it's, there we go. The first question

I had was, why didn't I just wait 10 days? Why

didn't I just wait? And the other question, which

is even more, When I go like that, that's the

next slide. There you go. Why did I settle? Why

did I settle? Why do we settle for less when

more is our destiny? That's what I want to talk

about today. Why do we settle for less when more

is our destiny? If there's a name. For this,

I'm just kidding with you. Don't make those guys

mad. They can make your life really bad. Almost

as bad as a sound guy, you know? It's like, everybody's

against me today, Pastor Brad. I don't understand.

No, I'm just kidding. If we were made for more,

then why do we settle for less? And then I'm

going to use this verse, and we'll get into that.

We all know this story. Moses, Red Sea, Dead

Sea, the water. Everybody's walking through on

dry ground, like unbelievable miracles happening,

right? It's so interesting. When we read the

Bible, we see the miracles and the miracles happening,

and it's like, wow, you know, if I was there,

I would have more faith. And so what happened

is they go through on dry ground. They see the

land. They send the 12 spies in. 10 of the spies

come back. And they say, you know what? It's

really amazing there. But there's giants and

there's really some big people and some really

walled cities. And I think that we should settle

for less. And it's really interesting. You know,

Israel did all kinds of bad things all the time.

Sometimes it's amazing that God had so much patience

with them. But on this day, when they brought

back a bad report, it says, the Bible says, the

Lord's anger burned. And what he did is he condemned

them, a whole generation, to die. This is the

map. This is where Egypt and Israel is in a map.

This is a blow -up of that spot. This is even

funner than a clicker. And the trip should have

taken 11 days. 11 days. It became the longest

funeral march in history with an entire generation

dying. If you do the math, it's 1 .2 million

people dying would average about 85 people a

day for 40 years. Imagine seeing death over and

over every single day until the very last except

for two died because they settled for less. It's

interesting in Exodus 14, it says as Pharaoh

approached, the Israelites looked up and they

saw the Egyptians marching after them. They were

terrified as we all would be. They said to Moses,

what have you done to us by bringing us out of

Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us

alone, let us serve the Egyptians? It would have

been better for us to serve the Egyptians than

to die in the desert. The first point that I

have, I have four points. Shortsightedness will

always make us be content with less than the

promise. We were born with a purpose. We were

born with a promise. God wants us to fulfill

that promise and that destiny that we have 100

% in our life. What is interesting is his part

is that you fulfill that. He has those things

waiting for you. But our part and something that

we will always deal with is, will I settle for

less? Excellent. The passage of the promise is

always uncomfortable. If it doesn't challenge

you, it won't change you. So what I did is I

kind of made this thing where we're in our comfort

zone. And it's really interesting, people in

their comfort zone. I put Exodus 14 here. Didn't

we say to you in Egypt... Leave us alone. Let

us serve the Egyptians. What happens to us when

we're underneath slavery that we say to somebody

that wants to deliver us to say, no, I don't

want to be delivered. I want to stay where it's

comfortable, even though we know where it's comfortable

is not comfortable. It's very interesting. So

this is where we are, and I don't know where

we get this as Christians. We just keep thinking

that God's direction is the most comfortable.

There's two choices. One's more comfortable.

It's always God's will, right, that we choose

the most comfortable, right? It's like that's

God's will for our life. Be comfortable. I don't

know where that says that, but, you know, we

get that thing. God's purpose for our life is

his promise for our life, our destiny, and he

wants us and he is cheering for us to do that.

So we come to the end of our comfort zone, and

to get to that promise, we've got to go through

that red zone right there, the uncomfortable.

So what happens? We move into the uncomfortable.

What happens is this. When we're in our comfort

zone, we're not built yet. To be able to support

all the things that the promise has for us. Our

character cannot take us and we can't keep it

with the current character that we have. So what

we have to do is we go through the, God takes

us to the uncomfortable. And I wrote here, all

growth and change that must happen in us so that

we can handle the promise happens here. So finds

a way to move forward. It's a really interesting

verse. It says, the Lord said to Moses, why are

you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to

move forward. There's a time for crying out to

him, but there is a time to move forward. What's

really interesting, though, is when you don't

want to move forward. So we'll just put a little

X right there. We don't want to move forward.

What happens is that's really complicated for

us because if I don't want to move forward, it

looks bad for me. So whenever I have destiny

and promise and I don't want to move forward,

I have a solution. And this solution, we all

know how to do it. We find someone to blame.

So what's going to happen is if we stay the course

and we go and I, Lord, I want all my destiny.

I want all the promise. I want all that you have.

I am not going to settle. What ends up happening

is those kind of people don't blame other people.

Those people don't have time to blame other people

because they're walking forward. But when we

don't, we got to do something. So they said to

Moses, was it because there was no graves in

Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?

What have you done to us by bringing us out of

Egypt and making us go to our promise? Can I

finish that phrase? Next slide. So this is what

happened. Okay, this is not step by step, but

in the Hebrew, I think that's the picture that's

in the Hebrew. Okay, next one. All right. So

what happens is they're gonna go in. So the old

generation dies. New generation's ready to go

in, right? And so to get to the Jordan River,

to go into the promise. Like, there's people

living there, and so God's got to give them some

victory, right? So they have these battles and

stuff, and they kind of move into this, the brown

area right there. So they had some battles and

stuff, and won those battles. Now, they're on

the river, they can see the promise, it's on

the other side of the river, and this so interesting

verse says this. The Reubenites and Gadites,

now these are the good guys, these are Israelites.

who had very large herds and flocks, saw that

the lands of Jazar and Gilead, the brown part,

were suitable for livestock. So they came to

Moses and they said, the land the Lord subdued

before the people of Israel, hallelujah, it is

confirmation, are suitable for livestock and

your servants have livestock. Confirmation. If

we have found favor in your eyes, they said,

let this land be given to your servants, this

beautiful land, amazing land, amazing building,

amazing place, but do not make us cross the Jordan.

Isn't that interesting? Can I, if I, if I, if

God ever called me to write the Bible, I would

just change that a little bit and it'd mean the

same thing. Please, do not step into our full

promise. Don't make us step into our full promise.

Please. You know why? Here is good. Those words

are ungodly words. Settling for less than the

promise. So that's how they ended up getting

divided. When the enemies came, those were the

first ones that went into captivity. There was

all kinds of problems. Don't need to go. Number

two, blessings can make us be content with less

than the promise. We had some friends in our

church in California. They were really having

struggles financially. They had all kinds of

problems, and God started blessing them. And

they always kind of wanted to do water sports,

and they ended up being able to buy two jet skis.

And everybody knows the best time to drive your

jet ski is on Sunday morning. And we almost never

saw them in church again. The blessing, they

were satisfied with the blessing, but they weren't

going towards the promise. Selective memory always

makes us be content with the promise. So the

Israelites, in Numbers 11, the Israelites themselves

began to complain, if only we could have some

meat. If I could make a T -shirt, that's what

I would say. If only I could have some meat.

We remember the fish and ate in Egypt and it

cost us nothing. Interesting how we forget how

much things cost when we settle. If you're a

vegetarian, I'm trying not to judge you, okay?

So it's like God loves vegetarians too because

he obviously included this part. And we all have

the cucumbers, melon, leeks, and onions and garlic

that we ever wanted. So you are included in the

word of God. So that's all I got to say about

that. I put this, it's kind of heavy. I don't

mean to be heavy. I'm going to jump. I've seen

young people dating guys that treat them wrong.

And you know, Pastor, you don't know. He treats

me nice most of the time and this and that. And

it's like, you know what? If that's a dating

relationship right there, she's settling. Can't

go into that. Next. Instant gratification can

make us be content with less than the promise.

Let me just show this quick video. Quick video,

three -minute video. Have any of you seen the

marshmallow test? What they did is in the 70s,

they did a test with these kids. They brought

them in and they said, look, I'm going to give

you a marshmallow. With this marshmallow, you

can eat it. Or if you wait to eat it, I will

give you two marshmallows. It was 10 minutes

that they were going to have to wait. And they

filmed it. So I'm going to show you this quick.

It's a three -minute video. Let me ask you this

kind of hard question. What's your marshmallow?

You know, if you're single, you know, there's

so many marshmallows that tempt us. But there's

amazing things when we wait and do things in

the timing of the Lord. Just like that story

of the parakeets, you know, it's a crazy little

story, this and that. God has amazing things

for all of us. And we have to be careful of settling.

There's an interesting Bible verse that talks

about Esau. Go ahead and go to the next one.

In Hebrews 12, it says this, looking carefully,

lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, like

Esau, who sold his future blessing for only one

meal. Sometimes we do this. But there's... Another

verse that is just phenomenal that I just love

so much. 2 Corinthians says this, now the one

who prepared us for this very purpose, our purpose

in God and our promise, so that we'll never settle

for less. Isn't that beautiful? Can I just ask

you to stand up this morning? When I was young,

back in the day, There was this thing, I don't

know, I just kind of went through it. It was

like, are you a love child? And anybody remember

that phrase back in a long time ago? It was like,

what a love child was is that your parents said,

looked at each other and they said, let's have

a baby and then you were born. The alternative

was that you were not a love child and you were

an accident. or you were unwanted, or who knows

what the list, the list was everything else.

And so I remember going home to my parents, I

was really young, and I asked my parents, my

mom, and I said, Mom, am I a love child? Was

I a love child? And she's like, are you kidding?

You were like a mistake. It's playful. It didn't

hurt me at all. Like, it wasn't a hurtful thing.

It was like, you were a mistake, but she kept

going. But one of the greatest mistakes we ever

made. And she affirmed me. And then my mom said,

very interesting. She said, your sister is a

mistake, too. Like, my younger sister, I knew

she was a mistake, that's for sure. Who has a

younger sister that can say, yeah, amen to that

one? It was very interesting in the makeup of

my family. The only child that was planned was

my older sister, who was borderline retarded

and had huge problems physically. I say that

for this reason. You know what? It's not your

parents that planned whether you were born. It

was God. And I'm telling you, I wasn't planned.

My parents tried to abort me and I feel rejected.

The devil's getting happy that you're feeling

rejected because you are not looking at your

promise because you are looking at your past.

Quit looking at your past. Quit settling for

your present and look to your promise. Let's

fulfill 100 % of our destiny in God. Father,

I pray in the name of Jesus for every single

person here. Thank you for them. You have called

us for a purpose. You have a promise 100 % for

us in our life. I pray, Father, help us to never

settle for less than everything that you have

for us. Help us to hear you speak clearly. And

Father, help us to never settle for less the

rest of our days. Thank you for this church in

your precious name. Amen. interested in hearing

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