Designer God: Designed to Advance
[powerpress] Deuteronomy 1:1-8 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them, after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’
The Obstacles to Advance
What are the areas in your life where you've been going in circles and need to commit to forward progress?
Has it been your relationship with your spouse or children? Has it been a sin habit that needs to be overcome?
You need Jesus and you need consistent Christian community.
We don't advance when we get lulled to sleep by the distractions that surround us.
We need a biblical commitment and perseverance.
The Grace to Advance
"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." -Muhammad Ali
"By perseverance the snail reached the ark." -Charles Spurgeon
Advance begins with conversion meeting Jesus at the cross allowing yourself to break and receive His aid.
The Need for Conversion
Timothy Keller made reference to John Stott's teaching in Basic Christianity saying that there are only three responses that you can have to Jesus: 1) Run away 2) Kill Him 3) Sell everything to follow Him when you understand who He is.
There is a difference between being around Jesus and meeting Jesus.
Luke 20:9-18 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Life is just better when you do it together.
Whenever there is advance, there is pushback.
What does it mean to fight together?
We need to be an environment and a people who are quick to encourage. We have enough critics in life. In Christ, you need some cheerleaders.
Hebrews 3:12-14 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Those with prophetic gifts need to arise (I Corinthians 14:1-5).
Constructive criticism is fine but who will remind their brother or sister of the promise of God?
Fall on the rock of Christ, meet Him at the cross and allow Him to define your life in His purposes.
Second City Church- Designer God Sermon Series 2015