Sermon Tone Analysis

The Father sees order where we see chaos

This week the message is based around the Father’s heart for you.

Specifically this week I feel the Father inviting us to allow our hearts to be open to His move, even if it is unfamiliar, or challenging to our status quo.

By looking at a few contemporary examples, as recent as this week, and the way that Jesus called and challenged his disciples, we will have an opportunity to say Yes to God, no matter what.

Carolyn and I have had an interesting week.

The water didn’t break.

We went to the hospital last sunday thinking it was time.

It wasn’t.

Thinking that she would get to release August, and be free from some of the discomfort that comes with being pregnant was an exciting prospect, but alas, it wasn’t actually God’s timing, no matter how much we wanted it to be.

Then our water DID break, in our cieling in the basement.

The Lord spoke to me that what we were experiencing has a Supernatural element.

What God wants to do will involve more flow than our little pipes can handle, and He wants to know if we as a church will allow Holy Spirit to break in, even if it is messy.

-talk about fields and harvests.

-tell the story from Camp.

Proverbs

In our culture we appreciate things being neat and tidy in our own eyes, but we have to ask ourselves, what happens when the Lord wants to mess up our plans?

In my own following Jesus, I have said to my leaders “you expect too much from people.

People have lives.”

I want to state publicly, that no body HAS to give anything that they don’t want to.

Not your time, not your money, not your availability, not your vulnerability.

You don’t have to give those things.

I also want to point out that the Lord may be asking you to give those things, and the argument I once made, “I would love to, but I have a life” falls apart right about the moment I say “Jesus, my life is yours”.

We have within us two natures.

The nature that is fleshly wants to be gratified.

It finds that gratification in worldly things.

The fleshly nature is at peace when the worldly order is followed.

The Spirit nature wants to follow God’s order, which often does not gratify the flesh, in fact it usually crucifies it.

At first we only know how to give our yes to the flesh, and giving it to the Lord is the challenge.

We know how to survive one way, and the process of learning how to eat from a different tree is hard

Along the way we cross a threshold of where we go looking for life.

Do we dig in to the world, and get our lives situated according to the standards of the world?

It’s good to have your house in order, so that the cares of life don’t choke us out before we even start, but if we can’t obey God because our lives are so full of other things, then we don’t have the Kingdom.

And if we don’t have the kingdom we never get to give the kingdom away.

The way to get to that threshold is to begin to trust God even when it is uncomfortable.

The disciples who were sent out first had a tough go.

They didn’t get to bring anything.

They had to trust in the command of Jesus

Why did Jesus send out the disciples?

Because the harvest was ready.

Why is Jesus calling YOU?

It’s as we pour out our lives, as we pour out our love, that the river of God comes and fills us.

His presence is released in increasing measure as you and I demonstrate our commitment to giving AWAY all that we have received.

the twelve were sent to the lost Israelites.

The 70 were set to “any house that will receive them”

Some of us will be called to minister “in God’s house” while some of us will be called to go “to wherever will accept us”.

The 70 may have had a number of responses to the 12 being sent.

Some would say “when is it my turn to do something” while others may have said “phew, I am off the hook.”

DON’T make a list and bring everything.

DON’T send out a support letter and wait to see how donations do.

GO and TRUST.

Do you want to live a life of authority?

Do you want to say Yes to Jesus when He asks you to lay down your life?

Let’s start with a

Your flesh will put up a fight.

When our ceiling collapsed, our flesh was unhappy.

The insurance company is going to take care of everything, we don’t have to worry, but things were not in order, and that was annoying.

But in a very real way, we have had to choose to not let that situation pull on us.

When God invites us to His MORE, to His version of ORDER, our flesh will have a hard time following, and we will need the help of the Holy Spirit to make it obey.

But when you order your life exactly the way the world wants, your spirit puts up a fight too.

At Catch the Fire Greensboro, we have invited Holy Spirit to move HOWEVER HE WANTS.

So what if he caves in our ceiling?

At Catch the Fire Greensboro we have given Jesus the presumptive YES to whatever he may ask.

Let our flesh argue, we will believe in Faith, and trust.

God is inviting us to be people of the Spirit.

So let’s put to death our fleshly nature.

This isn’t accomplished by focusing on ourselves and trying to “self help” our way into being spiritual, but by trusting God and moving by faith so that we can EXERCISE our faith, with causes us to grow.

AND it pleases God.

Greensboro needs the people of God to bring them the kingdom.

The places where you work are starving for the river to be released through you.

The Earth is groaning for the sons of God to be revealed.

That’s YOU!

God wants to move in our midst, but our pipes cannot contain Him.

(Call the people who are ready for God to burst their pipes).