Today’s message is called; Leading people.
Good Morning
Let’s cast our cares on the Lord today and be encouraged by His word.
Amen?
Stand with me and lift up your bible and repeat after me.
This is my Bible.
I am what it says I am.
I can do what it says I can do.
I am going to learn how to be what it says I can be.
Today I will learn more of the word of God.
The indestructible, never ending, living word Of God.
I will never be the same.
I will never be the same.
In Jesus Name
I have a question.
How does the Lord lead the people He loves?
Lead people?
“Wait a minute Pastor.”
“I, I, I don’t do that. “
“That is not for me.”
“No way. Not happening.”
“I don’t want the Lord to lead me, just to show me things,”
“I just don’t have it in me. There is just too much going on and I don’t have time and I am not good enough.”
I have a question for you.
Do you need some more “drive” in your life?
The Lord leads us by putting a “drive” in our lives.
Most dictionaries define the verb “drive” as “to guide, to control, or to direct.”
The drive that is already in people can do that.
Here is a couple of examples: some are driven by a problem, a pressure, or a deadline, and others are driven by a painful memory, a haunting fear, or an unconscious belief.
There are hundreds of circumstances, experiences, values, and emotions that drive people’s lives.
Our lives are different. Each of us.
Here are five common “drives” in life:
The first one is that some people are driven by guilt — They spend their entire lives running from regrets or hiding their shame from the past. Guilt-driven people are manipulated by memories.
They allow their past to control their future, believing their past mistakes to be bigger than what God wants in their life. They often unconsciously punish themselves by sabotaging their own future success.
When Cain sinned, his guilt disconnected him from God’s presence, and God said, “You will be a restless wanderer on the earth” (Genesis 4:12 NIV). That describes many people today, wandering through life without a purpose.
The second one is that some people are driven by resentment. They hold on to their hurts in life and never get over them. Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness, they rehearse it over and over in their minds.
Some resentment-driven people “clam up” and internalize their anger while others “blow up” and explode. Both responses are unhealthy and unhelpful for them. Resentment always hurts you more than it does the person you resent.
While the person who hurt you has probably forgotten the things they did to hurt and gone on with life, you continue to feel your pain, still remembering the past.
The third one is that some people are driven by fear. These fears may be the result of a traumatic experience, unrealistic expectations, growing up in a high-control home, or just every day habits that have become part of life. Regardless of the cause, fear-driven people often miss great opportunities because they’re afraid to venture out. Instead they play it safe, avoiding risks and trying to maintain the status quo. They may become dependent on things to help them through the day, like alcohol or drugs.
The fourth one is that some people are driven by materialism. Their desire to acquire becomes the whole goal of their lives. The best new car. New clothes, hair style, tattoo, the most popular website, how many “friends” are on their Facebook account. This drive to always want more is based on the misconceptions that having more will make me feel happier, more important, and more secure – but all three ideas are untrue.
Possessions only provide temporary happiness. Because things do not change, we eventually become bored with them and then want a newer, bigger, better version.
The last one is the tough one.
Some people are driven by the need for approval.
They allow the expectations of parents or spouses or children or teachers or friends to control their lives. Many adults are still trying to earn the approval of unpleasable parents. Others are driven by peer pressure, always worried by what others might think. Some use social media to get the attention they need but they find it is not quite what they need. They have thousands of “friends” but they are missing the real one.
Unfortunately, those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it. I don’t know all the keys to success, but one key that leads to failure is to try to please everyone.
Being controlled by the opinions of others is a guaranteed way to miss God’s purposes for your life. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24 NLT).
There are other forces in life that can drive a person’s direction in life but they all lead to the same dead end: unused potential, unnecessary stress, and an unfulfilled life.
Many of the problems we face in life today are caused by people driven by the wrong things. We need to lovingly look past the problems, and reach for the fullness for which the Lord has shaped for us.
I have seen many times over the years, bumper stickers that say, “God is my co-pilot"
Sorry for you that may have one, but that is wrong. God is the pilot and He teaches us, the “co-pilots” how to direct the, “plane”.
As a person who believes in and knows the Lord, we start to realize that one of the greatest gifts is to live our lives guided, controlled, and directed by the Lord. Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them—not success, wealth, fame, or pleasure.
I met a man once who I sat next to at a church service. He appeared to have it all.
A nice suit, rings on his fingers, a nice watch, shiny new shoes, and even a great looking leather bible. The pastor of the church introduced me to the congregation and I shared a message of hope at that service. The man I sat next to did not know that I was the one sharing the message that day.
After the service he was waiting for me and approached me in the parking lot and came over and shook my hand but would not let go and said, “I want what you have.” That caught me off guard.
He told me about his life and each thing was about wealth but he said he was missing something. I asked what it was and he said it was what I had.
He said that he needed to have a relationship with Jesus like I had. I told him it was easy and he looked at me and shook his head and said, “Not for me.”
I asked him if he ever asked the Lord to take over his life and he stood for a moment and then said, “No”
I asked him why not and he said that he never thought he needed to until then. His name was Jason and he and I prayed together right then and there for the Lord to be first in his life. He got it. He is now a missionary in the Philippines.
God leads us with a purpose. Without a purpose, life is in a constant motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. In the Bible, many different people expressed this type of hopelessness.
Isaiah complained, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing” (Isaiah 49:4 NIV).
Job said, “My life drags by—day after hopeless day” (Job 7:6 TLB) and “I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense” (Job 7:16 GNT).
The greatest tragedy is not death, but having a life without purpose.
Each of us, you and I, have been called by God to live a life with Him being the center of it. It means loving God first over your spouse, your kids, your job, your home, your friends.
Jesus must be first.
Not next.
He will then give you a purpose that you may not expect, but one that will may include what you have desired or what you did not think you were capable to be able to have. Or what you were meant to be by your expectations.
A pastor named Rick Warren was led by the Lord to write a book a while back called, “A Purpose Driven Life.” Many people have read the book. I have and I still reread it every once in a while.
That is what we each need.
A purpose driven life.
How do we look for and persevere until we are blessed with that purpose?
There is a great song by a Christian group called, “Mercy Me”.
They have a song called, “Finish what He Started” and it some of the lyrics are as follows,
Our God is Able, more than capable
And faithful until the end
And finish what He started,
No matter what you’ve done
Grace comes like a flood
There’s hope to carry on
He’ll finish what He started
No matter what you face
His mercy will not change
He’s with you all the way
To finish what He started.
God prepares us for things to happen when they need to. Not when we want them to.
God does not abandon us.
He does not just let us flounder on in life with no love because we have not responded to Him before. He is going to keep calling us.
God leads us through our life. When I was younger I personally turned away from hearing about God many times in my life before I stopped and listened.
You know what I found out over the years. He is persistent.
He is loving.
He is living.
He is a part of our lives.
All the time.
Not just a part or in pieces where we have to do this or that to get more of His love or attention.
I know that if I died right now, He would be happy to see me.
And you.
Not because I’ve had a perfect life or I have done great things.
I have just been learning to put things in order.
But do you know what is exciting every day when we wake up?
It is that we know Him.
Every once in a while, I think about where I would be in life if I had not made a personal commitment to Him over 27 years ago.
I would not be alive.
Do you do that?
I do.
I should not be standing here today without Him leading me through life.
I would have died many years ago.
God has had a plan the whole time for you and I and He has gotten us through many things because of it.
Such as saving me from dying after being struck in the head with a stone.
Or from falling and hitting my head on a concrete wash basin and missing a metal door that was open by a quarter of an inch away from where I fell. I would have died instantly.
He guided a surgeon’s hand to remove a brain tumor from my head.
He has been there in every part of my life.
Even keeping me from dying due to an addiction.
And from having my health failing and being renewed due to the love and caring heart of a wonderful woman who is now my wife and best friend.
How are you doing in your walk?
Where are you going in life?
How are you with the Lord?
Is it time to listen a little more to what God’s love and purposes are in our lives?
He is going to keep leading people that He loves, you and I, in the direction that He wants us to go in. He will be with us in all things.
Through the good and the bad things that will happen in our lives here on earth.
He will suffer and celebrate with us.
Now I have another question?
Do you really want to truly dedicate your life to the Lord and try to grow in your relationship with Him?
If you do, please stand with me now and let’s pray together.
