Voice of the Nazarene 8-6-23

I'm coming to you from North Central Ohio, we share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio, Church of the Nazarene, we join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

Just set goals, the fiscal year we're just a little bit halfway through the fiscal year. And it's been on my mind all week, the danger of just coasting.

Having no vision in mind, and no destiny in mind, no dream in your heart. One of the problems with a mid activities of life.

And you see marriages crash and somebody makes a fool out of themselves. They have aspirations and by the mid activity of life, they haven't accomplished them. And they do crazy things trying to find themselves that dream. They're in that stage where they're just coasting, and nothing's happening and life is going by them. May I just say to you don't reach that coasting stage.

Every individual, I'm convinced needs to have a goal. And we need to fix in our mind just where we believe that God wants us to be at our home and our marriage and our independent individual life and even this ministry. What do we need to be by the end of this year? Now, I hope that you'll come alongside of me and join with me in having some dreams and destinies and some goals in mind. Things that you believe need to be accomplished. Even in our lives.

I think we need goals so big that they would fail without God. Listen, if your prayer and prayers are not impossible with man, then they're almost nearly an insult to God. We want to make our plans and set our goals so big that without God, we're destined to fail. We need goals.

I heard about a young preacher.

His goal in life was twofold. He wanted a pretty wife and a big church. Somehow that got twisted around. He got the big wife and the pretty church. But at least he had goals. Here in the Old Testament, we have two men side beside Caleb and Joshua. I don't know if you remember their background. But when they had come to Kadesh Barnea, Moses and all those Israelites, on the other side of the Jordan was the promised land, the dream, the goal. And when Moses sent 12 spies into the land, and they returned 10 of them said this is impossible. We just don't need to go this route. We don't want to go there. We'd rather have church pews We'd rather have a psalm book. Rather just our family attend. And rather just be about us, we're comfortable.

Two said, God's got something bigger. God wants us to inhabit that land. Those giants they're saying they make us look like grasshoppers, but we can take them. There's all kinds of things there that we need. Do you know those two men never got over that trip into the promised land? Years later Caleb is 80 years old and all he can think about was that mountain. He had seen a mountain and he couldn't get that mountain out of his mind. And years later, now he's got a goal. He said, I want that mountain. They tried to talk him out of it. It's covered in giants, it doesn't matter, I want that mountain. Caleb, he said we can. Tim said we can't, two said we can. And then there's Joshua, he never got over it either. And he had been to the land. And this man in the Bible that had a great, great goal. I want to talk to you about him for a few minutes.

Joshua by name. And to give you a little background on the story, the Bible said that Moses had died. And Joshua had followed him for 40 years. And I want you to know that Moses raised up a Joshua to follow him. The problem was Joshua never raised up another Joshua.

And really there's no success unless there is a successor.

There's no success in ministry or anything else if it dies with us. That's what leadership is, ladies and gentlemen, leadership is not building something that will die with us. Leadership is making it last long after you're gone. Moses raised up Joshua, Joshua never raised up, anybody.

Now here's what the Bible says about Joshua. In chapter 24, verse 29, it came to pass after these things that Joshua, the servant of the Lord died, the servant of the Lord died. Being 110 years of age, about time wasn't it. And then in Joshua, one, two, it says that Moses was a servant of the Lord. The individuals that God uses are individuals that are servants.

If we want to be used of God greatly, we have to become a servant. And if you're feeling like you're overlooked, and you're underrated, and you're not getting enough spotlight, chances are God is not looking to use you. We've got to become people who are willing to wash feet, because that's the person that's the individual that God uses. And he wants to use people who say, I need to decrease that he might increase, and you haven't really served God until somebody else gets the credit.

And God gets the glory do I need to repeat that? You haven't really served God until somebody else gets the credit. And you're alright with that, and God gets the glory. And if it's about me, or if it's about you, then that isn't a servant leadership. So God uses this man named Joshua, and he leads 3 million Jews into the promised land. That's the man that God used. Now what allowed Joshua, to accomplish this great goal, the same thing that will allow you and I to accomplish our goals in life as well. Let me give you quickly six steps that Joshua used. And before you can accomplish anything, number one, you have to identify your goal, your dream, your vision, and that vision and that goal ought to be the one that God placed in your heart. And the goal for Joshua, according to verse two, was to lead these people across the Jordan River. And before you accomplish any goal, first of all, you have to identify what that goal is. Yogi Bear, now he's not a theologian. But he said, If you don't know where you're going, chances are you'll be somewhere else. I heard about a pilot on an airplane and it had flown and flown and flown.

And he comes over the PA system he said, I've got bad news and I've got good news. And he said, The bad news is we're lost and we don't even know where we're going. And the good news is though, we're making really good time. What is so important to accomplish a goal is that you identify your goal, you know where you're at, you know where you need to go. And really no person really is any more exceptional than another except the fact that God puts a dream in some people's heart. And he puts a goal in their heart. And he gives them aspirations, and a vision. Now, someone's goal this morning might be to get a master's degree, and you're working toward that goal.

Somebody else's happy if they can just have a beautiful marriage, somebody else's dream might be to have a lovely little baby to smile back up to them.

And they can hold that child in their arms and grow it across the years in the manhood or womanhood. Someone else's dream might be to start a new business, somebody else's goal if I can just get my marriage back on track. You know, there are people who are together and they live together, but they really don't have a real marriage. But the good news is God can restore that respect for each other. And he can renew that love and that fervor that's the good news. Let's get back to goals. Pastor, do you ever write down your goal? I do. And if you get one, you need to write it down, you need to remember it, you need to place it somewhere where you'll see it. And you need to look at it. You need to pray about it, you need to fast for it.

You say, Well, how did you come up with a goal? And where'd you come up with the idea of writing it down? I got it from the Bible. It's Habakkuk chapter two, verse two, Write the vision, make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it, I got it out of the Bible. And God is saying identify your goal. In other words, write it down. Little boy named Stevie was in school and Stevie's teacher told all the students today, I want you to pull out a sheet of paper clean sheet, put it on your desk, take your pencil, and think for a moment and write down what you would like to become in life.

And the kids begin to write away and this little boy named Stevie picked up his pencil and wrote, I want to be on TV. And the papers were passed in and the teacher when she came to Stevie's paper, she dropped it on her desk and said, Stevie, come up here, son, and in front of everybody said, this is an unrealistic goal, you being on TV, you'll never be on TV. Now get a realistic goal, like I want to be a policeman. So he wrote down, I want to be a policeman. He went home. And his mother said to him how did school go today? He said, well, the teacher asked us what we wanted to be in life. And I wrote down, I want to be on TV.

And she said in front of the whole class, that's not realistic. She said, You need to want to be a policeman, for instance. Well, the mother said, I think she's right. I think that is very unrealistic for you to think you ought to be on TV, you just want to be a policeman.

So when his dad came home that night, Mama wasn't looking, he slipped in to the front room and sat down by his dad and said, the teacher and Mama both said that, when I wrote down on my sheet of paper, I want to be on TV. That really I ought to want to be a policeman. And the dad said, That's right, Your mother and your teacher are right. You want to be a policeman. He said, Come outside son. And when they got outside, beyond mother's hearing, he said, Now really, whatever it is, you really want to be you write it down on a sheet of paper, and you put it in your drawer next to your bed.

And when you get up in the morning, open that drawer, pull out that sheet of paper and look at that, that dream that you have that goal that you have, and you begin to dream about it and think about it and plan toward it all day long. When you come home at night, and supper's over and you're going to bed, open that drawer, take out that sheet of paper. And read it again, I want to be on TV, if that's what your goal is. And guess what? Steve Harvey is on TV. Fact of the matter he's the only one that I know of that's on all of the different programs like Steve Harvey, morning show, Family Feud, Celebirty Family Feud, Family Feud Africa, court comedy judge Steve Harvey. I'm saying write down your goal.

Everybody ought to identify what that goal is for your life.

Being a better dad or getting that business going or becoming a spiritual leader in the church, have a goal. And here's the second thing, not only identify your goal, but isolate your obstacles. Think about this. They're going across the Jordan River. But you got to understand this. The river was at flood stage, the spring rains, the melting snow from the mountains. And according to Deuteronomy, chapter seven, verse one, they had no more than crossed over into the promised land, and seven greater nations gathered around them to fight them. And the crowd began to say, Joshua, you're supposed to be our leader. When Moses was our leader for forty years, He could just stretch a rod out and God would jump out of the other end of it and part the Red Sea.

What kind of a leader are you?

And he must have felt about like a penny waiting for some change.

But the objective was the cross the Jordan River now listened to me. We've come a little ways as a church and I appreciate your support. I've had some support and across the years I've been without some support from some that's part of it in't it. Part of leadership. And you're supposed to put some glue on your lip and never say anything about it. I understand all that.

But everything that's happened here has caused some hide and cost some blood to somebody. You don't start a preschool and a childcare ministry without everybody agreeing to it. You can't put a sign up out front with everybody agreeing to it.

You can't bring on upward basketball or all these other things. Friend Day Weekend had it's challenges. I remember a few people set out to spread the word don't come it's just a playdate and 50 people of my own people dropped out and never showed first couple years of Friend Day Weekend. But we broke our record 778 and a little over 900 the next year and over 1000 the next year. And it kind of moved us to understand a bigger crowd made us a little dissatisfied with small crowds.

And we can reach people and the ministry here could actually do some things. I'm just simply saying, anytime you're trying to do something for God, you got to isolate the obstacles, it's just a part of it. Now, here's an obstacle Moses died, Moses died.

I want to tell you something, you can't always depend on Moses, he's not always going to be around. You got to look to the Lord. You gotta look to God.

If a leader is a real leader, they won't point to themselves anyway. They'll say no, don't depend on just people depend on God. If a leaders a real leader, they'll deflect all the praise, they won't be soaking up all the praise, they'll begin to give God the glory, they'll say, don't look to any one man, or in any one woman. They'll always be obstacles. And wherever God has placed opportunities, obstacles will always arise, and the devil will come and he'll whisper in your ear. He'll try to discourage you. Did you know something? That's his job.

That's what he does, kind of expected. And that goal that God put into your heart, the enemy will come and he'll tell you shouldn't, couldn't, wouldn't.

And you're not smart enough and you don't have the ability and on and on he'll talk. Folk,, we may not always do our job, but the devil will always do his. So identify the goal, isolate your obstacle. And may I just throw a third thing in, investigate the benefits. What's the benefits?

If the benefits don't outweigh the obstacles you won't accomplish the objectives.

Here's what I want you to understand. To get into the promised land, there was all kinds of milk and honey. The grapes were as big as oranges, from what many of them say.

Everything, water everywhere, streams, beautiful land, they can build houses. And it only took 11 days to get there. But when the 12 spies came back, 10 said we can't do it. And guess what the people did, they listened to the negative crowd, the I can't crowd and they begin to circle I275 going in circles for 40 years. It was only 11 day trip from where they left to crossing over into the promised land. From the Red Sea to the Jordan River just 11 days. And what God is saying you've got to stay focused on the benefits.

The benefits. I heard about a 60 year old man marrying a 25 year old girl. Y'all still there?

Your mind just took off, didn't it? And somebody said to him, you're 60 she's only 25. How in the world did you get her? Did you lie about your age? He said I did. I told her I was 90 They were both focused on their goals. Okay, pick up your eyes and I'll roll them back to you.

Now I love reading about David.

Before he was king after he was king, he killed Goliath. And you need to read some time First Samuel Chapter 17 and read the story. I mean, he killed that Giant because whoever killed the Giant was promised three things.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

One, you got the king's daughter. She was a knockout.

Her name was Michal. She had it going on. And secondly, you were paid a lot of money. And thirdly, you would live tax free the rest of your life. He was in it for the babe, the bucks and the tax breaks. And it motivated David to slay that Giant.

Charles Spurgeon, he was called the prince of preachers. He would have 6000 people in that great tabernacle, and there'd be 6000 standing on the outside wanting to get into hear him preach, Prince of preachers, but he died when he was 58 years of age because he didn't take care of himself. So you got to identify your goal, isolate your obstacle, and then investigate your benefits. And may I add another. I did it in my office, that's involve other people.

It's here in verse two. And it said and all the people. You know, I was reading a little bit this week about Joseph back there in Genesis chapter 37. I really liked the story of Joseph in the Old Testament, he was a dreamer of dreams and his brothers, they didn't dream dreams, they hated his dreams.

Genesis 37 · chapter mention

And they hated him. Joseph dreamed dreams. There was also a baker in his life that had a dream, there was a butler in his life that had a dream. And then over here was Pharaoh had a dream. If you're going to have dreams, you're going to have to get around some dreamers. I mean, if you're going to accomplish something of significance, you can't have 11 by 14 vision, and be associating with people with a 4 by 7, vision. You got to involve people that can think big, and believe big. And listen, if somebody is not proud of you, if somebody doesn't celebrate your success, may I just give you a newsflash, they're probably not your friend. Jealousy is an awful thing. If they're not happy when you get a new car, and when you get a promotion, and when you have a vacation, I've found out sometime just X them out of your life, you don't they're not a friend, anyway.

Friends, encourage one another, friends lift one another up.

Jealousies of the devil. And then here's a fifth thing that I wrote down, initiate a completion date. If you've got a goal in mind, you need a completion date. You say I'm going to lose weight. Yeah, the diet starts tomorrow. Unless you put a date to it, a completion date to it. A goal needs a deadline on it. And that's what he did here in verse 11. He said, prepare you food. For within three days, we shall pass over this Jordan. Three days, he put a date on it, a deadline on it. That's what John F. Kennedy did back in the early 60s, he stood up and he said, We need to get ahead of Russia. We need to put a man on the moon by the end of this decade. And he put a deadline on it. And in July, I think it was the 20th 1969 we put a man on the moon and we had a deadline on it, and we accomplished it. Now, here's the most important point of my little message about accomplishing your goal. You need to involve God's power. You nor me can or anyone else can do anything of significance outside of God and his help in our life.

In my life in your life, we can't do anything of significance without God. We need God more than we've ever needed God and think about this, verse six, verse seven, verse nine, God said, Joshua, you be strong and courageous. You say, Well, Pastor, humanism teachs us that. Listen to the power that's within you. What is it that makes a difference? How can I be strong and courageous? We'll look at what God is saying to all of us in verse five. There shall not any man be able to stand before the all the days of our life as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. And the secret to accomplishing is God's power. And the secret is God's presence. I think we need God's presence more than we need anything else. Your career, hey, you need God to dream. You need God's wisdom. You need God's safety. Your marriage, you need a lot of wisdom for your family, you need God's presence. And the only one that can handle some of the situations in our life is God Almighty. We'll never get through things on our own. So pastor, how can I experience more of God's presence? I want more of God, I do to. So how can I do that? Well look at what the scripture says. I'm over here in Matthew chapter nine, verse 14, then came to Jesus, the disciples of John saying Why do we in the Pharisees fast often, but I disciples, they don't fast. John's got all of us all along fast, Pharisees over here fasting and maybe we need to join you your disciples don't fast. And they said, Why? And get this fasting is abstaining from food basically for spiritual purposes. So why don't your disciples fast? Here's what Jesus said, verse 15, he said unto them, can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

Now he said, The day will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. In other words, I'm right here with them. They can touch me, they can talk to me, and I can talk to them. And so we're celebrating, we're not on this. But he said, The day will come when I'll be taken away, and then shall they fast. So why don't we fast it's for his presence. I don't fast to have things happen in my life, I fast so that my heart and my life can be what it ought to be, I want his presence. Now, in another place, a boy was demon possessed had a demonic spirit, and the disciples tried to cast that spirit out of him and they couldn't. And Jesus comes and he casts out the demons. And they ask, why couldn't we do it in verse 21, he said, some things happen by prayer and because of fasting. Sometimes prayer is not enough. And more than anything else, we need God's presence.

Whatever your goal is, don't give up on your goal. That's my thought this morning. Just be sure you have one. Let's begin to ask God where He wants to take our marriages and our lives, this ministry over the months ahead. God what do you have in mind? Would you put that in my spirit and into my heart and help us as a ministry and as a church, help us to find your direct will and help us Lord to walk in your will. Whatever your goal is, whether it's for your marriage, whether it's for your home, don't give up your dream for a wayward member of your family that's away from God and going the wrong direction. Keep praying, keep believing. Keep fasting if you need to, but whatever, let's have God and let's not give up on that dream that they'll come back keep trusting. God can restore the years that the locusts have eaten. God can make bad things and turn them around into good things. The poet said great it is to believe the dream as we stranded youth by the stary stream. But a greater thing is to fight life through and say at the end the dream is true. God raised up Joshua said I want you to get these people over into the promised land. And I believe that God wants to get us through the remainder of this year in great victory and not in defeat.

Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's pastor Ray LaSalle. For more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org.