More: Adventure

Hi everyone.

I'm Megan, if we've never met.

I'm really excited to be here with you guys again, seeking more of God together.

It really is a special thing for all of us to be in the room asking God for more.

Because when we ask God for something He already wants to give us, He shows up.

Last time we met together about a month ago, we talked about having more communication with God.

We talked about spending time and letting our spirits grow and listening to God's voice and learning to hear from him and what he has to say, letting him out of the box so that he can just tell us how he wants to tell us when he wants to tell us.

So I hope you had some time over the last month to listen to God, to spend some time letting that spirit rise up and hear his voice.

Tonight we're going to be talking about more adventure and having more adventure with God.

When you walked in, you probably saw the lines on the floor.

If you didn't, they're back there, you can turn around and see them now.

But I want a show of hands, if you don't mind.

How many of you, and I watched, how many of you participated and actually followed the line all the way to your seat?

Oh, that's good.

That's pretty good.

Okay, how many of you followed the line halfway there, but then you saw someone you knew, and so you left the line and just went and sat down, right?

Okay?

And then how many of you walked in and went, you can't tell me where to sit, and you went and sat down wherever you wanted anyway?

Okay?

Yes, you have a seat, and but you weren't sure if the line was gonna make it to your seat.

Um, yes.

So that was just kind of a funny illustration to demonstrate something that's very real.

Our ability to have adventure and our ability to be in control are in adverse relationship to one another.

The more adventure you want to experience, the less control you're gonna have.

And the more control you want, the more adventure you're gonna forego.

Does that make sense?

We've all kind of experienced that, even with the silly lines on the floor.

If you want to let it out of control, then you're gonna end up somewhere you never thought you would be.

When I was little, we used to go on family vacations and we always drove.

Um, every summer my parents tried to take us on vacation, and if my mom won, we went to the beach.

If my dad won, we went to the mountains, so we kind of alternated back and forth.

But everywhere we went, we drove.

And before GPS and Siri and Google Maps and all of that stuff, we just printed directions at the beginning of the trip, and then you hope that they were right to get you to where you needed to go.

And I often remember sitting in the back seat of the minivan and feeling the tension in the front seat.

And as kids, me and my sister and brother, we're all sitting back there, like, we think we're lost.

I think I don't think dad knows where he's going.

And so we go, um, Dad, are we lost?

And he would turn around and he would look over his shoulder and go, No, kids, we're on an adventure.

And my mom would roll her eyes and we all laugh.

But it happened so many times, it became a running joke in our family.

You're never lost, you're just on an adventure.

If you're already out of control anyway, you might as well call on an adventure and have fun.

So our family vacations were often adventures.

It normally took us a couple hours more to get to wherever we were going.

And um, I don't know if it felt the same for my parents in the front seat, but for kids, we loved it.

We loved going on those adventures.

But when I think of going on an adventure with God, I don't think about getting lost or anything like that.

I think about the people in the Bible that had these incredible experiences with God, these divine big adventures, that they got to see things and do things that I don't even know if I can really imagine in my mind.

You know, I think about Mary, when the angel came to Mary and said, You're going to give birth to the Messiah.

What was that like to look an angel in the eye, first of all?

That's kind of crazy, and then for him to tell you that you're gonna give birth to the Messiah.

What was going through her mind?

Like what thoughts, how long did it take for her to process that?

Did she sit there for a little while before she could respond?

How did that feel?

I think about Peter stepping out of the boat and walking on water.

What was that like?

That was a big boat.

He had probably had to jump out.

I don't think he like touched the water with his toe, you know?

Jumps over the side of the boat and hits solid water under his feet.

What did that feel like?

That had to be so exhilarating.

What was it like to be Esther?

She's one of my favorites, knowing that she was the only person that could save her people, the whole nation of Israel, but she had to do it at risk of her own life.

She had to walk into the king's throne room, and if you walked in unasked for, he could kill you instantly.

And she's standing outside those doors, takes a breath, and then walks in.

What was it like for her to step in and just go?

My favorite, though, of all of the adventures in the Bible, my personal favorite is Moses.

I can't imagine having a life like Moses.

Instead of reading all of Exodus tonight, where his story is, I made a short list of Moses' adventures with God.

And here they are.

When Moses was an infant, he was miraculously saved from mass murder in a basket on the Nile.

He saw God speak from a burning bush.

He stood on holy ground.

He saw his staff, his shepherd's staff, turn into a live snake and back into a staff, and that happened twice.

He delivered the ten plagues to Egypt.

He led an entire nation out of slavery.

He saw God lead as a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud.

He parted the Red Sea.

He received the Ten Commandments written by the hand of God.

He saw God's glory on Mount Sinai, so much so that he physically glowed for days because of the glory of God.

He delivered water out of a rock.

He witnessed daily bread and birds delivered from heaven to feed the people.

He wrote the first five books of the Bible.

He took Israel to the Promised Land, and at the end of it all, he was buried by God Himself.

What an incredible adventure.

Can you imagine?

I can't imagine seeing even one of those things.

And he got to live all of them.

And I wonder sometimes, if it had been me, if I had been Peter, would I have stepped out of the boat?

If I had been Moses and I saw the bush burning and a voice come out of it, would I have gone closer?

If God had said, go to Pharaoh and say this, would I have left at that point?

Would I have done it?

And I hope I would have.

I hope I would, but I don't, I don't know.

Those are really crazy places to be.

And part of me wonders, could God have that kind of adventure for me now?

Is that possible?

And just a small part of me wonders that.

Because it says in God's word that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And if God, the same God, did that with people in the Bible, we're the same kind of people, couldn't he do that now?

Right?

Technically, like that should work.

Would I do it?

Would I do it?

Does he really have adventure for me?

So I was looking this up, and I came across 1 Corinthians 2, 7 through 10.

And this is what it says.

No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God, his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.

But the rulers of this world have not understood it.

If they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.

That is what the scriptures mean when they say, No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

That's us.

He loves us.

But it was to us that God revealed these things by his spirit, for his spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets.

He has a plan that we can't even imagine, deep secrets that he wants to share with us.

I like how the message puts it.

I'm gonna read it in the message again.

Um, the message takes it from like us collectively and makes it a little more personal.

So just let it sink in.

God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes.

He wants to let us in on the interior of his purposes.

You don't find it lying around on the surface, it's not the latest message, more like the oldest.

What God determined as a way to bring out his best in us long before we ever arrived on the scene, the experts of our day haven't a clue about what his eternal plan is.

If they had, they wouldn't have killed the master of this God-designed life on a cross.

That's why we have this scripture text.

No one's ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it, what God has arranged for those who love him, but you've seen and heard it, because God by his spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.

Hold on.

Wait there, later I do.

Okay, I got off.

I got excited.

Okay.

So the question is: if this plan is true, if there's a plan before the foundation of the world, if there's something that we get to have an adventure with God, how do we do that?

Because I'm not walking around my backyard finding burning bushes.

It's not happening.

So, how do we take hold of an adventure with God?

And it's very simple.

We do the same thing that Peter and Mary and Esther and Moses did.

It's very easy.

We say yes.

We say yes.

Um, I was praying the other day, like I talked about last time, lying on my floor with my head in my arm and trying to concentrate on God's presence.

And I was praying and I was overwhelmed with the fact that God loves us.

He just started like washing his love over me.

And I was thinking about all the things he had done for me personally, all the things Jesus had done, all the things Jesus has won for us.

And I just became overwhelmed with his love.

And I'm laying there and I was like, God, what do you want from me?

What do you want me to do?

There's no way I can show you how much I love you.

There's no way I can give back to you anything that compares to what you've done for me.

And he whispered something in my ear that changed me.

And he said, Give me your yes.

And sometimes when God speaks to me, he gives me like a little phrase, but then gives me like a bunch of information in my head at one time.

So I know it's from him.

I can't process that fast, I can't think that fast.

And when he said, Give me your yes, I realized I had given God my yes.

He's my savior, I love him.

I had given God my yes in my marriage, I had given God my yes as a teenager before I was married and relationships, I had given God my yes as a parent, I had given God my yes in work, but there was more.

I was missing something.

And what I was missing was that when I am in front of God, does my heart sit in a position of preemptive yes to whatever he asked me to do?

He was asking me to position my heart in the seat of yes.

That when I come to him, I've already decided whatever you ask, however you ask it, whenever you ask it, my answer is yes, period.

I will always say yes.

And I hadn't done that.

But there are great adventurers in the Bible who had.

Daniel, you guys know the story of Daniel the Wyans Dun.

That's a pretty big adventure.

In Daniel 1.8, it says, But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king.

You see, Daniel had been captured by a foreign king who was asking him to break God's law.

He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.

Some translations say, but Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself.

Daniel decided ahead of time, before he asked for permission, I'm going to do what God said.

God has my yes, which means I have to say no to some things.

God had given Daniel his, Daniel had given God his yes by purposing it in his heart.

Joshua, another big adventurer with God, Joshua 24, 15, says, But if you refuse to serve the Lord, and he's talking to the Israelites before they go into the promised land.

Moses took them to the edge of the promised land, and then Joshua got to take them in.

He says, But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve.

Would you prefer the gods of your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or will it be the gods of the Amorites whose land you now live?

But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua decided ahead of time.

God has my yes.

It doesn't matter what's coming, it doesn't matter what's on the other side, it doesn't matter what's in the promised land for us to fight, God has my yes, period.

So decide.

Okay, and he was calling the people to that decision.

And I know in the Old Testament it says a man makes plans in his heart that God determines his steps.

I'm not talking about planning things out in your heart.

I'm talking about purposing in your heart.

Planning and purposing are different things.

You kind of have to let go of the plan to let your heart just say, I will say yes to whatever God says.

Purpose in your heart.

Now, as I was laying on the floor and God is saying this to me, there was still, I wanted to, I wanted my heart to sit in front of God with just a big blank check that says yes across it.

But um, though my spirit wanted to, my flesh doesn't always follow along.

And there were some hurdles that He's been getting me through, and I've been overcoming so that I can do what my spirit wants to do.

And if you're like me, you probably have some of these hurdles.

So I want to go through them.

One hurdle that we have to overcome, if you just want to give God that perpetual preemptive, yes, you've got me.

One of them is I'm not enough.

That thought goes through my head often, and it sounds different.

Sometimes it's I'm not enough, sometimes it's you're gonna look stupid, sometimes it's you don't have what it takes, sometimes it's something someone said to me a long time ago.

And that can run through my mind that when God calls me to something, when he whispers in my ear, Megan, I want you to do this, I go, I can't, I'm not enough, I can't do that.

You know what I'm talking about, right?

Am I the only one that talks to myself in my head?

Or do you guys have okay.

Um if I am, that's all right.

I can I can live with that.

Um but I think to myself, I don't, I don't have it.

I don't have what it takes to do that.

That's too much, it's too big.

But then we start to look at Romans 8.

Oh, I love Romans 8.

Romans 8, 29 through 31.

If this is one of your hurdles, if you had that ticker tape running through your head, listen to this truth.

For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his son, so that his son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

God chose you to be a sister of Christ.

God chose you to be Jesus' brother.

You're enough.

And having chosen them, he called them to him.

And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself.

If there's any part of you that says, I'm not enough, you don't know what I did.

You don't know where I've been, you don't know where I've come through.

God gave you right standing with himself.

That's enough.

And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

It's enough.

What shall we say then about such wonderful things as these?

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

You are enough.

God chose you, he called you, he wants adventure for you.

So stop those lies going through your mind that say you're not enough, because you are, because God said so.

Ephesians 2.10 says, For we are God's masterpiece.

He created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.

Those good, amazing, mysterious things He planned for us, He's called you to that.

He created you anew.

When you said that first yes to Jesus be my Savior, He created you anew and you're His masterpiece.

You are enough.

But I had some other hurdles.

I don't know how.

That's a big one.

God asks me to do something or calls me to do something, or whispers in my ear a little nudge nudge one way, and I go, I don't know how to do that.

Or God, I don't know how you're gonna do that.

I don't have the training to do that.

I don't have the education to do that, and I've never done that before.

He often calls us to things that we don't know how to do.

So what do we do when that happens?

If you look at Luke 12, 11 through 12, Jesus is talking to the disciples, and there's a lot of political turmoil happening at this time, and he's talking to them about hey, if you get arrested for following me, here's some instructions.

Okay, it says, when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, don't do not worry about how or what you are going to speak in your defense or what you're gonna say.

I mean, think about this.

These are fishermen by trade.

They're not attorneys, they're not lawyers, they're not people that are used to standing in these court positions and speaking to all of these people.

They're fishermen in front of some of the most powerful people in their culture.

And Jesus is telling them, Yeah, don't worry about it, you're good.

And this is why.

It says, For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

So you don't have to have the training, you don't have to have the experience, you don't have to know how.

You have the Holy Spirit, and that's better than any how in the world.

He's gonna teach you what you need to do, he's gonna teach you what you need to say, he's gonna teach you what you don't need to do, he's gonna give you every step.

So often we want to see the steps ahead of us when we're asked to do something.

When God says, hey, this is this is kind of this is what I want you to do.

We want to see step one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

And often he just gives us one.

Sometimes a glimpse of one.

And you have to know that if you step out, the Holy Spirit will be there when you step.

He will give you what you need, no matter what it is.

Another hurdle that we often have to overcome is what if in saying yes to God, I have to give up on my dreams, on the things I've planned.

And there's kind of different aspects to that.

Because yes, when you want adventure, just like we talked about at the beginning, when you want adventure, you let go of control.

So you do have to give God control.

That's true.

Um, I grew up in church and went to a lot of youth stuff and went to Christian school.

So we had lots of youth speakers, and often they would talk about giving God control and lay your plans on the altar before God and let Him consume them and that kind of thing.

And I always remember feeling very guilty about things and feeling kind of manipulated into giving God control because there's something about that message that doesn't quite sit right.

And I was thinking about it and I realized what it was.

When we give God control of our dreams, it is like laying it on an altar before God, saying, God, here's my dream.

It's it's yours, I'm gonna let go.

The part that was off was the idea that God is then gonna take it all away from us and destroy it and like this mean God.

Because there was a story in the Bible where that actually happens, and that's not what God did.

Abraham had a son named Isaac, and Abraham had dreamed of having a family.

He dreamed of having a child that would carry on his name, and he prayed and prayed and prayed, and he waited, not always patiently, but he waited, and God gave him Isaac, and then he laid Isaac on the altar, literally, like put his kid on an altar before God.

And God provided another sacrifice.

God didn't take Isaac away, God turned Isaac into a nation.

When we give God our dreams, and I'm gonna steal this phrase from Nathan because it was so good, I have to steal it.

When we give God our dreams, our dreams don't die.

Fear dies, shame dies, anxiety dies, our dreams become alive.

God takes our dreams and makes them more than we could ever imagine.

If there's a part of you that dreams to be a big part of God's kingdom, if there's something inside of you that goes, I want a big part of what God's doing, if there's something inside of you that goes, I want more purpose, I want more for my life than what's going on right now.

I dream to be something bigger, I dream to play a bigger part, I dream, give that to God, and He will make it come alive.

He's not gonna kill that dream.

He gave you that dream.

He's not gonna take it away from you.

He's gonna see it actualize into a grand adventure with him.

Which brings me to the last hurdle, and this was a big one for me.

A big, big one for me.

And I know it's a big one for a lot of us.

I can't do it.

I'm scared.

If you're anything like me, fear comes to me in a couple of different ways.

When God asks me to do something, I often feel afraid.

Sometimes I feel afraid just because I feel palpable fear.

I don't know if any of you have experienced that.

Or it just hits you and you just feel it, you just feel the fear.

And you can't explain why, and you don't know why it hits you, or you're just scared.

You're scared of losing something, you're scared of it going wrong, you're f afraid of failing, or you just feel fear.

God has given us an answer for that fear.

And to be honest with you, just to be, this isn't in my notes, but um I have a fear, have had a fear, of speaking in front of people.

It's not something I like to do.

So what does God ask me to do, right?

Um, but here's the I actually had to read these verses out loud to myself all during this week because I could feel that fear.

I had already told God I would do it.

More was on the schedule, it's happening, I'm speaking.

So I gotta do it.

But I still felt the fear.

I had given God my yes, but I still felt the fear.

So I read these verses.

If fear is something you deal with, write this down.

It's Romans 8, 31 through 39, the back end of that verse we read before.

So we'll read the last one, it kind of overlaps.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

The plans God has for us.

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us, whom God has chosen for his own?

No one.

For God Himself has given us right standing with himself.

Who then will condemn us?

No one.

For Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from God's love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death?

Those things were happening to the disciples at those times.

As the scriptures say, for your sake we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep.

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us.

If you're experiencing fear over anything that God's asking you to do, remember that.

That you have overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us.

For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today or our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below.

Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I don't know what you're afraid of, but it's covered there.

Nothing can separate you from God's love.

Not even your own fear, not even when you're scared.

That can't separate you from his love.

He meets you in your fear.

He comes to you and helps you through your fear.

He does that for me all the time.

But there's also the fear of vulnerability.

I don't know if any of you have that fear.

That when God asks you to do something, you go, yeah, but um, that's gonna kind of put me out there a little bit.

And I'm not super okay with that.

Okay?

It's hard.

It's hard to be yourself in front of people.

It's hard to give something of yourself to other people and just hold it out and say, okay, here's my heart.

But what God does for us is when we are vulnerable, when we bear our hearts for other people, for his glory, he shields us, he protects us, he's our fortress.

Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.

Let the oceans roar and foam, let the mountains tremble as the waters surge.

A river brings joy to the city of our God.

And I love that.

Let the waters rise, because it's going to bring joy.

A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High.

God dwells in that city, it cannot be destroyed.

You dwell in that city with him, by the way.

From the very break of day, God will protect it.

The nations are in chaos and the kingdoms crumble.

God's voice thunders and the earth melts.

No matter what is going on around you, God's voice thunders and the earth melts.

He is so much more powerful.

The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us.

The God of Israel is our fortress.

I'm gonna read that again.

The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us.

He is our fortress.

No matter what you're scared of, no matter what's going on, God's army is for you.

It's with you.

It goes ahead of you, it covers you from behind.

Whatever he's asked you to do, when you step out to do it, you're covered.

You don't have to be afraid.

And even if you feel afraid, you can step out in fear and know that God's got it.

Come, see the glorious works of the Lord.

See how he brings this destruction upon the world.

He causes wars to end throughout the earth.

For me, I just want him to end the war of fear, right?

He breaks the bow and snaps the spear.

No matter what the enemy throws at you, he breaks it.

He burns the shields with fire.

Be still and know that I am God.

I will be honored by every nation.

I will be honored throughout the world.

The Lord of heaven's armies is here among us.

The God of Israel is our fortress.

We don't have to fear when we adventure.

If God has whispered something to your heart about who you're supposed to be, about what you're supposed to do for him, about something you're supposed to overcome, if he's called you to that adventure, and he's called each of us to an adventure, you don't have to go alone.

God in all of heaven's armies goes with you.

We never, ever, ever adventure alone.

It's really beautiful to think about saying yes to God and letting your heart sit in that place of yes.

It takes trust.

You have to let go of control, you have to be willing to be vulnerable, you have to be willing to say, I'll do whatever, whenever, however.

And that's hard to do.

But we have a really big God who loves us, who is for us, who will not let us fall.

And you can trust him, you can say yes to God.

And not just in one thing, not in one thing as it comes, but to do like Daniel and purpose in your heart and to say, God, you have my blank check.

And it just says yes.

So I'll do it.

Even before I know what it is.

We can say yes to God because he has already said yes to us.

He's already said yes.

Whatever we need, however he can help, he will be there with us.

We can say yes to God because he said yes to us.

So if there's any part of you that wants to take that adventure, that wants to see what more God might have for you in your life.

I want tonight to be a night where you have some time to have that conversation with God.

To ask him to examine your heart.

God, where does my heart sit with you?

Do you have my yes every time, no matter what?

And we have lots of room because we cleared out the chairs for our lines.

So as we worship, the worship team can come back up.

But as we worship, I want us to have that conversation with God.

Open that dialogue with God.

God, where does my heart sit?

Have I given you my yes, my blank check?

Have you given him your yes in worship?

Do you worship however, whenever he asks you to?

So you can spread out.

There's room to spread out and worship tonight.

There's room to spend some time with God saying yes and giving him your yes.

And I really encourage you to do that.

Oftentimes we go, yeah, I'll think about that, I'll do it later.

But we actually have quite a few worship songs left so that we have time to do it now.

I'm gonna kind of be like Joshua and say, choose today.

Do it now.

Give him your yes and go on a grand adventure with God and see where he takes you.