Text: Luke 9:23-24
Theme: When Talk Just Is Not Enough
Luke 9:23-24 Then he said to all, "Anyone who wants to follow me must put aside his own desires and conveniences and carry his cross with him every day and keep close to me! 24Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it, but whoever insists on keeping his life will lose it;
Many of us want God to work mightily through us. We want God to accomplish great things through our lives. Some even pray " God use me for your glory" Unfortunately, many of us have no idea what we ask. If God must use my life He must have my life. If God must have my life, my life must be adjusted to His way of living; to His way of thinking; to his way of being. I must make all the adjustments. Once the adjustments are made, God can use me to accomplish his purposes through me.
Last week we discussed the first of two turning points necessary in order to do the will of God.
1. To believe that what God says, he will do.
2. A call to action. Action involves making adjustments.
John 8:31 Jesus said to them, "You are truly my disciples if you live as I tell you to,
Once we adjust, we are now in a position to obey. Adjustment simply prepares you for obedience. You cannot stay where you are, and go with God at the same time.
Noah could not continue life as usual and build an ark at the same time.
Abraham could not stay in Ur and father a nation in Canaan.
Moses could not stay and enjoy the comforts of the desert yet stand before Pharaoh at the same time.
David had to leave the sheep to become king.
Peter, Andrew, James and John all had to leave their positions as fishermen to follow Jesus.
Even Jesus had to make adjustments in order to follow His father’s will
2 Cor. 8:9 You know how full of love and kindness our Lord Jesus was: though he was so very rich, yet to help you he became so very poor, so that by being poor he could make you rich.
I. The Rich young ruler refused to adjust
Luke 18:18-27 Once a Jewish religious leader asked him this question: "Good sir, what shall I do to get to heaven?" 19"Do you realize what you are saying when you call me ’good’?" Jesus asked him. "Only God is truly good, and no one else. 20"But as to your question, you know what the Ten Commandments say--don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your parents, and so on." 21The man replied, "I’ve obeyed every one of these laws since I was a small child." 22"There is still one thing you lack," Jesus said. "Sell all you have and give the money to the poor--it will become treasure for you in heaven--and come, follow me." 23But when the man heard this he went sadly away, for he was very rich. 24Jesus watched him go and then said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." 26Those who heard him say this exclaimed, "If it is that hard, how can anyone be saved?" 27He replied, "God can do what men can’t!"
The issue here was that this man made his money his god
His money and his wealth were more important to him.
So many today are willing to gamble with the most precious thing on earth, their souls. The attraction and the call of things so blind them and deafen them to the call of God.
Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
2 Peter 3:10 The day of the Lord is surely coming, as unexpectedly as a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the heavenly bodies will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be burned up.
Matthew 6:24 "You cannot serve two masters: God and money. For you will hate one and love the other, or else the other way around.
II. Elisha made the major adjustments.
1 Kings 19:19-21 So Elijah went and found Elisha who was plowing a field with eleven other teams ahead of him; he was at the end of the line with the last team. Elijah went over to him and threw his coat across his shoulders and walked away again. 20Elisha left the oxen standing there and ran after Elijah and said to him, "First let me go and say good-bye to my father and mother, and then I’ll go with you!" Elijah replied, "Go on back! Why all the excitement?" 21Elisha then returned to his oxen, killed them, and used wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the other plowmen, and they all had a great feast. Then he went with Elijah, as his assistant.
When God calls you to a task you will face a crisis of belief, here you must decide, "do I trust God?"
Your response to that crisis will require faith.
Faith must be demonstrated by action.
James 2:20 Fool! When will you ever learn that "believing" is useless without doing what God wants you to? Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.
Action involves adjustments.
Adjustments prepare me for obedience
1 Kings 19:21 Elisha then returned to his oxen, killed them, and used wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the other plowmen, and they all had a great feast. Then he went with Elijah, as his assistant.
What kinds of adjustments are required of me?
In your circumstances ( job, home, finances)
In your relationships (family, friends, business associates)
In your thinking (prejudices, thought life)
In your commitments (family, job, church)
In your actions (feelings, doings)
Three things that must happen as I adjust to Him
1. I must absolutely surrender to Him.
Romans 12:1-2 And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy--the kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? 2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.
Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins.
God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume--it is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever. Vance Havner
2. I must depend totally on God
John 15:5 "Yes, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in me and I in him shall produce a large crop of fruit. For apart from me you can’t do a thing.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Psalm 81:10 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
A widow who had successfully raised a very large family was being interviewed by a reporter. In addition to six children of her own, she had adopted 12 other youngsters, and through it all she had maintained stability and an air of confidence. When asked the secret of her outstanding accomplishment, her answer to the newsman was quite surprising. She said, "I managed so well because I’m in a partnership!" "What do you mean?" he inquired. The woman replied, "Many years ago I said, ’Lord, I’ll do the work and You do the worrying.’ And I haven’t had an anxious care since." We could all profit by following the example of that mother. When we carry our part of the load, we need not be disturbed by the demands of life.
3. I must wait patiently on the Lord
Psalm 33:20 We depend upon the Lord alone to save us. Only he can help us; he protects us like a shield.
Isaiah 40:30-31 Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the young men will all give up. 31But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
When God calls you to a task you will face a crisis of belief, here you must decide, "do I trust God?"
Your response to that crisis will require faith.
Faith must be demonstrated by action.
Action involves adjustments.
Adjustments prepare me for obedience
1 Kings 19:21 Elisha then returned to his oxen, killed them, and used wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the other plowmen, and they all had a great feast. Then he went with Elijah, as his assistant.
