How To Lose An Argument With God (Part 2) Series

How To Lose An Argument With God

(Part 2, The Call)

Introduction:

These past two weeks, we’ve been talking about Vision, God’s Calling, and these things are somewhat abstract. I hope you understand the direction God is asking you to go. If you don’t, then don’t worry-you are not alone. Many Christians don’t know what God wants from them, not because aren’t trying to figure it out, but because they are trying and they are missing the message in the process. God has an agenda, God has a plan, God has a purpose and a vision, and God is calling. On the other hand, we often times have agendas, we have plans, but we lack God’s purpose and vision, and we can’t hear God’s calling. Does this make sense? When we allow our personal agenda and our plans for God’s kingdom to take priority over what God wants to do, we get in God’s way and we stop being effective for Christ; we start hindering God’s work. We start to argue with God about His purpose for us. What we are going to look at today is “How to lose an argument with God” and allow Him to take the priority in our lives, to allow Him to direct our plans, and to allow Him to set our purpose in line with His. Doesn’t that sound like a great way to live? Let’s look at our text.

Text: Exodus 3:11-4:17 (READ)

Two cows were grazing alongside a highway when a tank-truck of milk on its way to the distributor happened to pass. On one side of the truck in big red letters was a sign that read,

"Pasteurized, homogenized, standardized, Vitamin A added."

One cow turned to the other and remarked,

"Makes you feel sort of inadequate, doesn’t it?"

Step 1: Don’t make yourself FEEL INADEQUATE.

God understands our weaknesses, but He also knows His many great strengths.

I am not good enough to do such a thing! What did I ever do to deserve this? (Paraphrase Ex. 3:11)

We have become “3:11” Christians! As long as we allow ourselves to think of our roles in God’s kingdom as mediocre, we will never be able to do the great things God wants done in the church. If we forget who makes up the church, the church will become like a head of wilted lettuce. David Headley had a great lesson on the “lettuce” church last Sunday evening. In Hebrews 10:19-25, we find five ways can build up each other in the church, and through this we eliminate the “3:11” factor. We cannot expect to have great things happen in our church if we don’t believe we have the greatness in Jesus Christ to do so. Stop being a “3:11” Christian and become a student of God’s Word, because doing so will bring you in line with God’s agenda, His plans, and His purposes. This is our responsibility and our correct response to God’s call. There are other ways we can argue with God, and this one is probably the most familiar to all of us.

Step 2: Get your “BUT” out of the way.

God wants to use us to accomplish His good work. Don’t let your “other half” get in the way!

“But, but, but, but, but.” You’d get sick of it too!

(Ex. 3:11, 4:1, 4:10, 4:13)

There is a story about a farmer who was continually optimistic and seldom discouraged.

He had a neighbor who was just the opposite. Moody and gloomy, he faced each new morning with a heavy sigh.

The happy, optimistic farmer would see the sun coming up and shout over the roar of his tractor, " Look at that beautiful sun and clear sky!”

With a frown, the negative neighbor would reply, "Yeah! But, it’ll probably scorch the crops!"

When the clouds would gather and a much-needed rain would start to fall, our positive farmer would smile across the fence, "Isn’t this great! God is giving our corn a drink today!"

Again, the same negative response, "Oh! But if it doesn’t stop before long, it’ll flood and wash everything away."

One day the optimistic farmer decided to put his pessimistic neighbor to the test. He bought the smartest, the most expensive bird dog he could find. He trained him to do things no other dog could do. Then, he invited the pessimistic neighbor to go duck hunting with him.

They sat in the boat, hidden in the duck blind, and the ducks started flying in. Both men fired their guns and several ducks fell into the water.

“Go and get them!" ordered the dog’s owner.

The dog leaped out of the boat, walked on the water, and picked up the birds one by one.

“Well, what do you think of that?" The pessimist said. "He can’t swim, can he?"