It’s Game Time-Calling An Audible
January 16, 2011 Genesis 32:1-8 Acts 16:6-15
How many of you have ever been in a situation in which you were going to do something with another person and at the last minute you realized what you had planned was not going to work, so you needed to get in touch with the other person right away to let them know of the change of plans? Well today we have the cell phone which makes it very easy to contact the other person, but before the cell phone there were other ways of getting our change of plans across.
For those of you who have been to a football game, you may have heard a quarterback walk up to the center and start yelling out numbers and colors. He may look at the defense and then shout down one side, red 47, red 47, hut1, hut 2, hut 3 and off goes the play. The next time its green 84, green 84, hut 1, hut2, hut 3. Then a play is called into the huddle, to run the ball up the middle, but when the quarterback comes to the line, he notices two big linebackers have lined up right where his team is going to run the ball.
He has the option of running the play they had planned to run, and getting squashed in the process, or he could change the play. All those colors and numbers he has been calling has been setting up a chance for him to call an audible and change the play. For the first time he uses the color blue followed by the number 38. Blue tells the other players on his team, that this is a real audible, and we are really going to change the play. So now all the other players on his team know, they are no longer running up the middle, instead they are going to run around the end. Knowing when to call an audible can help you tremendously in the game. Likewise, knowing when to call in audible in your life can save you from some serious setbacks.
We are in the series “It’s Game Time”— and today’s message involves “Calling An Audible.” If you have not discovered it yet, you will discover that you are going to come up with some great plans for how you intend to do things in your life, and somebody or something is going to get in the way. You will have the choice of either trying to go ahead with your plan as originally planned and getting hit by the linebackers of life or you can call an audible and choose to go a different way. Your goal is to still win the game, but you are smart enough to recognize, this play just is not going to work. I’ve got to make an adjustment. Sometimes the mistake of others, will force you to make an adjustment.
Right now, many of us need to make some adjustments in our lives. The financial plan we had going is not working. The relationship we thought we had, is crumbling. Our walk with the Lord is drifting far from center. The career we thought would last is coming to a close. We’re about to graduate from high school and the grades we need for college are not there, so the scholarship money is not going to come. We had not planned on getting pregnant, but the child is on the way or already here . We had not expected to be put in the position we are in because of the poor choices our kids or family members have made. We find ourselves playing against a different team than who we thought we were going to be playing against in this stage of our lives. How many of you know, it may be time to call an audible? The good news is, God still has a plan for your life and you can still make it.
We want to know okay God, what’s your will for my life right now. We want to know if it’s this school or that one, this job or that one, this person, or that one, this car or that one and on and on the list goes. We are under the delusion that 1) if we knew what God’s will was for our lives, we would always do it and 2) that if we were doing God’s will, then everything would be easier for us and life would fall in place and we would live happily ever after. For those of you who came to church today wanting to know God’s will for your life, I can give you 5 things that is God’s will for you for this week, and that if you do them, you will be a stronger believer next week than you are right now. God has revealed these things to us in His word.
I can say with certainty, 1) It is God’s will for us to give thanks in the situation we are in right now, because the bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You don’t have to be thankful for the circumstance, but be thankful in it, because God is working on your behalf and you need to thank Him for what God is seeking to do in you. If you’re complaining about everything around you, you’re violating God’s will. It’s time to call an audible for you to change your play. Start saying what you are thankful for.
Dr. King’s dream looked pretty dismal in Ohio when our new governor took us back 49 years this week and gave us a cabinet without a single black or brown face in it and declared his goal was to get the best qualified people. I wonder how many of us did he interview. I am thankful that because of the efforts of Dr. King and The civil rights movement, we can organize and vote him out of office. I am thankful that God may use this governor to help us to recognize we need to take more responsibility for ourselves, and quit thinking somebody else is looking out for our best interests.
I can tell you it is God’s will for you to live holy. God says for us to avoid sexual immorality. This means if that person is not your husband or not nor your wife, you are not going to have sex with them. It means you’re not going to spend a large amount of time lusting and fantasizing over another person, book, or computer screen. Why because it’s God’s will for you to be free from all the bondage that comes from sex out of control. Lust is a desire that can never be satisfied. Satan is always going to make it look more wonderful than it is. We may eagerly go in with a smile on our face to sexual temptation, but the way we leave it is often going to be one of pain and sadness if we truly are seeking to follow God.
This week when that temptation comes you way, It’s time to call an audible. Don’t walk with them, don’t call them, don’t text them, don’t visit them, and, don’t give the devil an opportunity to ruin your plans. All of us are counting on you to make the right choice. The greatest betrayal of the civil rights movement is not the election of our governor, it has been the irresponsible use of sex in our community. How on earth can you be having sex when you don’t even have a job or an education. You need an audible so that you can move in the direction of holinesss. You benefit from a holy lifestyle.
3) It is God’s will for you to allow God to develop generosity in you. It is God’s will for you to be a cheerful and faithful giver. Your happiness in life is not going to depend on how much you hold onto for yourself, but on how generous you are in being a blessing to others. God has told us if you want Him to multiply what you have, then give him the first part of what you have. Bring in a tithe and see if he will not bless it. Some of you are going to receive more than you expected because of your faithfulness in keeping your pledge to the Excelling in Giving Campaign.
Some of you keep sitting back and saying, “I don’t have.” If you really believe that, then I fell sorry somewhat for you. Our campaign has never been about rich people giving money. Our campaign has been what can I sacrifice of doing without for two years, so that the kingdom can make a difference in the lives of others. Faithful giving, keeps us from being possessed by things. Things like lust for material things, will never truly satisfy us. There is always a new thing on the horizon. If your life is consumed with wanting to be rich in order to have things, then it’s time to call an audible.
4) It is God’s will for us to suffer for trying to live godly in Christ Jesus. Did you know that God intended for people to laugh at you for going to church? Did you know God gets excited when others call you “choir boy”, “holy girl”, “da preacher”, “the deacon”, “ms goody two shoes and the like”. Did you know God expects people to try to take advantage of your goodness and love? Did you know that when others exclude you because of your faith, you are actually within the will of God for your life? When your husband or wife or kids or parents, or friends attempt to humiliate you because of your love for Jesus, they are actually fulfilling God’s plan for your lives. We often think that when we allow our lights to shine, that it’s going to draw people to Christ, but sometimes our light shine, gets the attention of the enemy and Satan launches an attack to get rid of our light.
In our New Testament Reading, Paul had received a vision from God, to go to Macedonia and preach the gospel. Paul had wanted to preach in Asia, but God said no. Paul and his companions wanted to go into Bythinia to preach, but God said no again. You can want to do the right thing for someone, but the Lord may say no don’t do it. It is not always God’s will for you to make a sacrifice of yourself to meet someone else’s need. Your motive may be right and your desire to help may be good, but it would not be the best thing for you or the other person for you to intervene.
There were people in Asia that needed to hear the gospel and there were people in Bythinia that needed to hear it. But God did not want Paul and his companions to take on that responsibility. Part of living godly in Christ Jesus involves saying no, and being assaulted by others verbally for your choice. “ I thought you were suppose to be a Christian.” Every opportunity to help out does not come from God. God forced an audible upon Paul to walk away from the good he wanted to do.
Paul and Silas went to Macedonia within God’s will for their lives. They got there, and they met with some initial success. But because of their faithfulness in preaching, they ended up being arrested and nearly beaten to death. All because they were living godly in Christ Jesus. Out of that beating, the Phillippian jailer and his family got saved, the church at Phillipi was born, and the book of Phillipians was written in which we have Paul saying, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
How many times have we ourselves claimed that promise. If you are being persecuted because of your love for Christ, and you’re getting ready to quit, you need to call an audible and start looking at this thing from God’s perspective. Instead of being discouraged, recognize that your light is doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing. Shining. If your unsaved friends and family members never mock you or laugh at you, then something is wrong. You need to call an audible. Sometimes we go through some hard times in order for God to put us in a place to cross with someone else’s life. God had a plan for the accident Anita and Doris went through this week. God’s hand of protection was around them and now they are in a place to touch people’s lives that they would not have otherwise come into contact with.
5) It is God’s will for you to trust him no matter what. Pastor Toby had us saying last week, “I Will Trust Jesus.” Sometimes things from our past come to mess up our current situation. How many of you have had something from your past come up again that forced a change in your plans. In our Old Testament Reading we ran into Jacob. Now those of you who remember Jacob, you can recall that he was a sneaky little fellow. 21 years before we found him in the bible story today, Jacob had tricked his blind father Isaac into thinking Jacob was his twin brother Esau. In the process, Jacob stole the blessing that his father intended to give to Esau. Esau was furious with his brother Jacob, and vowed to kill him as soon as their father died.
Jacob’s mother sent him far away to live with his uncle Laban so that Esau would not kill Jacob. At first things went well for Jacob. But then Laban turned out to be just as a much a deceiver and sneaky guy as Jacob was. Over a period of 21 years he had tricked Jacob and changed his salary for the worse over 10 times. No doubt Jacob spent time in prayer to God telling him about how bad things had gotten. Then God told Jacob, “you have been with Laban long enough. Go back to the land of your fathers and relatives and I will be with you.” That sounds like good news. But Jacob does not fully believe God will be with him exactly as Jacob wants God to be with him.
Instead of telling Laban that he was leaving, he tries to sneak away. On the third day Laban found out that Jacob was sneaking out and he went into hot pursuit and caught up with him seven days later. He was planning on taking back everything that Jacob had left with, all the sheep, the goats, as well as Jacob’s wives and children who were Laban’s children and grandchildren. He had the power to do it and there was nothing Jacob could do about it. What saved Jacob was that 1) he was acting in obedience to God’s will and 2) God had said I will be with you.
We get ourselves into all kind of problems when we think the answer to my problem is to just do this for a little while until I can get myself together, and then I’m going to get back with the Lord. Problem is, whatever it is that we see as our answer does not provide what we really needed. When we leave the Lord, it makes it difficult for us to see what God intended to do on our behalf.
Jacob started to get worried when he saw Laban and his men getting closer in the cloud of dust on the plains. What he did not know, and could not have caused, was that God appeared in a dream to Laban and told him,” Be careful not to say anything to Jacob either good or bad.” I want you to see that God is saying to Laban, “Don’t you try to offer him such a good deal to return back with you, and don’t you dare threaten to harm him to make him turn back either.” When he did catch up with Jacob, Laban could do nothing to him either good or bad. The two men left each other with a peace treaty.
Jacob had seen that God could provide for him. But on the way home, Jacob remembered what he had done to his brother Esau some 21 years earlier. He decided he would try to get on his brother’s good side by sending him the message, I’m coming home and the Lord has blessed me so I am rich. In other words, I’m coming with so much wealth, not only can I bless you with some of it, I don’t even need anything our father may leave to me when he dies so you can have it all. Jacob is trying to pay off his brother for the wrong he had done to him without admitting his guilt. The people who took the message to Esau came back to Jacob and said, “we told your brother what you said, and he is coming to meet you with four hundred armed men.”
“How many of you know, this does not look like a good sign. Jacob was terrified of what his brother might do to him.” The thing is, when we are walking in obedience to the word of God, and we have the promise that God is with us, when situations like this come up, we look to God to call for an audible. Even though we may not know what to do, God knew what was going to happen when He told us to go and do something. God knew that Esau still wanted to kill Jacob. So why did God tell Jacob to go home? Because God could not complete in Jacob what needed to be done, as long as Jacob stayed with Laban.
God will force us to confront some situations, because that’s the only way we can move beyond the situation and into the next level of things God has for our lives. I am just as convinced as Jacob was that when Esau left with those four hundred men, he was determined to wipe out Jacob. But the Bible does not tell us what God did in Esau, between the time he left full of anger toward his brother until the time he reached Jacob one on one.
The moment Esau got to Jacob, he ran to meet Jacob and hugged him. He threw his arms around Jacob’s neck and kissed him. Jacob did not have the slightest idea what was going on. Esau even told him, I’m rich too and I do not need all the stuff you’re offering to me. All that Jacob was trying to do with some of his audible calling didn’t make a difference. I want us to realize that even though we may make some audibles, it is still ultimately God that is our salvation. We are not smart enough to make all the right audibles. We are not strong enough to change the hearts of people. That is why we have to determine to trust God, no matter what.
You do not know how you are going to get through your situation. It might get tight, it might get tough, you might have to struggle, you might have to let go of somebody or some group but you have to determine to trust God no matter what. You’re not the quarterback calling the audible of your life, God is. God wants you to change the play and do what’s in God’s plan and purpose for your life.
Just as God told Jacob, I will be with you, Jesus tells us, I am always with you. It’s Game Time with your life. You can’t go and sit in the stands because the last play didn’t go as well as you wanted it to go. You can’t get upset because the other team is not in the places you want them to me. You can’t keep running the same play and expect to score when the enemy knows what you’re going to do. God is revealing different audibles, God wants you to use. God is saying 1) be thankful fist right where you are 2) live holy and avoid sexual immorality, 3) be a faithful and cheerful giver, 4) rejoice when you are persecuted for living godly and 5) trust God no matter what.
None of us are big enough to handle life and death on our own. That’s why Jesus said, I have come to give you life and give it to you more abundantly.
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick
It’s Game Time “ Calling An Audible”
1/16/11 Genesis 32:1-8 Acts 16:6-15
A. It’s Time To Make A Change
1. My Plan Is Not Going To Work
2. The Quarterback On The Team
3. Red 48, Hut 1 Hut 2
4. Linebackers-This Won’t Work
5. It’s Audible Time
B. Everybody Needs To Make Audibles
1. The Best Plans Are Not 100%
2. Audbiles Do Not Change The Goal
3. We Can’t Stop All The Changes
C. Wanting To Know God’s Will
1. Would We Do It?
2. Would Life Be Easier?
3. God’s Will Can Be Found
D. Giving Thanks In Everything
1. I Thessalonians 5:18
2. Complainer Or Thanker
3. Change Is Deceptive
E. The Choosing To Live Holy
1. Acts 15:20, 1 Peter 2:11
2. Choosing To Stop
3. Lust Cannot Be Satisfied
4. Joyful Beginning , Painful End
5. Call An Audible
F. Developing Generosity
1. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8
2. Cheerful And Faithful Giver
3. Joy Is Based On Generosity
4. Excelling In Giving Campaign
5. Equal Sacrifice
6. Giving Sets Us Free To Serve
G. Expecting Persecution
1. 2 Timothy 3:12
2. The Little Religious Names
3. Being Taken Advantage Of
4. Shining Light Draws Anger
H. Not Always God’s Will To Do Good
1. Paul’s Desire To Help Asia ,Bithynia
2. God Says No
3. You Are Not To Meet Every Need
4. Every Opportunity Not From God
5. Faithfulness Leads To Suffering
6. Our Pain Becomes God’s Glory
7. I Can Do All Things Through Christ
Who Strengthens Me
I. Trusting God No Matter What
1. Proverbs 3:5-6
2. When Our Past Returns To Haunt Us
3. Jacob The Deceiver & Liar
4. Jacob, Isaac, Esau
5. Laban-The Trickster
6. God Says Go Back Home & I Will
Be With You
J. Jacob’s Fears
1. The Fear Of Laban
2. Give God The Chance To Intervene
3. God Acts In A Dream
4. Not Anything Good, Not Anything
Bad
5. The Fear Of Esau—The Past
6. You Can’t Buy Your Way Out
7. God Pushes Confrontations
8. God Is The Ultimate Play Maker
9. What Happened To Esau
K. God Has A Promise For Us
1. Matthew 28:20
2. Don’t Quit
3. Audible Now
4. Thankful, Holy, Generous,
5. Expecting, Trusting
