Sermon
Lanier Christian Church
January 15, 2017 – Series: Revive! Sermon #1
The Lord Will Guide You Always!
Isaiah 58:11
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Have you ever been lost? I have. I once got lost in Grady Hospital. I got on the wrong elevator that went to the lab floor then ended up on the morgue floor and finally found my way to the loading dock door and outside to freedom. To this day, I don’t know where I got turned around but I was happy to be outside where I knew my surroundings.
On another occasion, I was responsible for giving poor directions and getting a car-load of teenagers lost. It happened when I was sixteen and I thought at that age that I knew it all.
The church I grew up in, Hardwick Christian, was invited to an area Missionary Rally at Antioch Christian Church in Oconee, GA. A good crowd from the church was going so several cars left the church parking lot and headed down the road. A group of teens, including me, decided to ride together with the older brother of another teen. We were waiting for someone so we left a few minutes after everyone else. First question asked by the driver as we left the parking lot: “Anyone know how to get there?” I spoke up and said, “I do. I’ve been there before.” So I became the navigator. This is before cell phones and GPS devices. Also, on this lonely country road, there were few stores open on a Sunday; places where you might normally stop and ask directions. So, as we headed down State Highway 22 we came to a fork in the road. Go left or go right. I confidently said, “Go left.” That was wrong. So, rather than go another 15 miles and arrive at our destination, we went through Deepstep, Sandersville, Tennille and Wrightsville before finding someone in Wrightsville who pointed us in the right direction. It became a thirty-mile detour and we finally did arrive at the church – at the very conclusion of the service, only to be confronted by some worried parents!
Have you ever been lost? Have you ever come to a fork in the road and chosen the wrong direction?
If you haven’t done so on the highway, perhaps in your life. So let me ask you again – this time considering your life.
Have you every come to a fork in the road and chosen the wrong direction?
One direction is somewhat well traveled and seems wide and offers plenty of travel room. This way is especially appealing to those who have planned and determined their course, but ironically it also appeals to those who don’t care a whole lot about in which direction they travel. It is a way that looks right, feels right and appears easy breezy.
So, you choose this broad way. And at some point, as you travel down this broad and easy way, you realize you are off course. You experience feelings just like those of being lost:
helpless, uncomfortable, uneasy, frustrated, restricted, desperate and stuck.
And then it hits you. YOU have chosen. You have chosen poorly and selfishly. You confidently decided that you would do it “your” way.
The other direction, at this fork in the road of life is not necessarily an easy way. In fact, it doesn’t look well travelled and it is very narrow. You can’t see everything that is up ahead, but you know it to be the right way. You know it to be the right way because you have used your GPS – God’s Positioning System. You have yielded control to a professional and eternal navigator. God has become your guide. You chose Him as your navigator and He is leading you each step of the way, through the unseen valleys and the towering mountaintops. And he leads you and strengthens you in ways you never thought possible. And you find as you travel that you are at peace, you find joy in the journey and a purpose in your travels.
We have come to a fork in the road today. Either you want to be revived or you don’t. There is no third option. If you don’t want to be revived, then you will be very uncomfortable here week in and week out. It’s very much like pulling your car up to a gas station and refusing to put gas in the tank. Just sitting in the parking lot of a gas station will not provide fuel to fire up your engine and get you down the road. You have to open the gas cap and put the fuel in your tank!
We have got to set aside our stubborn ways and resist apathetic attitudes that challenge us to do nothing more than sit at the fork in the road and never move. You might as well have a car with no gas that is parked in your driveway. It won’t get you anywhere.
Andrew Murray once said, “A revived church is the only hope for a dying world.” The Lord’s church is a revival station. We come here each Sunday to be recharged, renewed, refreshed and revived. We leave this place every Sunday to journey into the world to fight the good fight, to stand strong against the evil one, to spread salt and shine light into a world that needs Jesus. But, God knows that there is none among us that can carry on that type of effort without HIS replenishing. Simply said, “I need Him and His strengthening Holy Spirit to revive me ever week. That’s my spiritual fuel. I have to open myself up for Him to pour into me. But, in addition to that, I need you and you need me. We need the encouragement and prayers that we offer each other. We are in this together.
And may I be so bold as to say: If you’re not fighting the good fight, if you’re not standing strong against the evil one, if you’re not spreading salt and shining the light of Christ in all you do and say, if you don’t depend on God for your spiritual fuel, if you don’t depend on each other for encouragement, then why are you here?
Folks, church is not just an event on your calendar. You don’t attend church. You ARE the church. You are the salt and light. You are ambassadors for Christ. You are not only children of God by you are servants of the most high God. If you didn’t know that, then I hope today and the weeks to come will prompt you to get on the right path that will make a difference for you and everyone around you.
So again I ask you. Have you ever chosen the wrong direction? Of course you have, and so have I!
Jesus said: Matthew 7: 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
But, as you stand at the fork in the road, I want to challenge you to choose the narrow way and let God be your navigator through life. The Marines have a slogan: “The few, the proud the marines.” I want to borrow from that and say that we are, “the few, the selfless, the available ones – Christians.”
This Isaiah 58:11 passage is a powerful verse. I only want us to remember the first part of the verse for today. The rest of it I’ll speak about next week.
The Lord will guide you always; (Say it with me)
He will indeed. Step out of way. Choose the narrow way and let the Lord lead.
After my failed navigator attempts at leading a group to Oconee, GA, I was surprised with a special gift the following week at the conclusion of the Sunday evening service. Everyone in that car stood on stage – called me to the front and presented me with a gift. Here it is. A compass.
Why a compass. Because it always points in the right direction – true North. It will never mislead you. It isn’t affected by the weather, by the obstacles, by the terrain. It is always reliable. That’s exactly what God is for us. He is our true North. He is never affected by the weather, the obstacles or the terrain. He is always reliable.
I’m going to give you a compass. It’s not a real one. It’s a symbolic one. But I want it to serve as a reminder to you as we begin this REVIVE journey that God will guide you always.
Now, here’s your assignment. Put this compass somewhere where you see it every day. Tape it to your mirror, the dash of your car, put it on your desk, keep it in your pocket. It’s up to you. But, do not put it aside. And every time you look at this compass I want you to say this verse from Isaiah 58:11: “The Lord will guide you always.”
And next Sunday, I want to hear from some of you exactly how God indeed guided your life at some point during these next seven days. That’s right, we’re going to have some sharing time next Sunday as to how God guided you.
Mark Batterson said in his book: “All In” – “Most people in most churches think they are following Jesus, but I’m not so sure. They may think they are following Jesus, but the reality is this: they have invited Jesus to follow them.”
Too many times I want Jesus to follow me, to serve my purposes, to do my will. But, I want you to join me in saying: “God, I want you to revive my life. I want to follow you. Help me to get out of the way. Navigate my life into following your will.”
And as the next five or six months go by, I pray God will guide you in ways you never thought possible. Mac and I and other leaders within the church will be offering you opportunities in which the Lord can use you to stretch your faith. So, this REVIVE theme will be a gradual role out as the year progresses.
For instance, this week, the Lord may guide you to become involved in the Grief Recovery program on Tuesday morning or Wednesday night. He may lead you to participate in our prayer time on Thursday morning. He may guide you to become involved with the Family Promise program. He may guide you straight here to church to be a part of the Ladies LIFT program.
He may use you at church in some way. He may use you at work in some way. He may use you in your neighborhood in some way. He may use you at school in some way. He may use you in your family in some way. Bu,t for sure, we are going to let the Lord lead and we’re going to pray that we willingly follow.
So, stand and say this together with me….”The Lord will lead you always.” Let’s pray.
Song: Where He leads me I will follow
