Taking Ownership With God

Acts 9:1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.

4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

5 And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads."

6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?"

Taking ownership with God.

Can you remember the last time you washed a rental car?

]Can you remember the last time you made the bed after spending the night at a hotel?

• Probably not.

• People don’t wash rental cars.

• People don’t make Hotel beds

• Why? The motivation of ownership is missing.

• The same principle is true in church & with God.

Until we feel a degree of ownership, we are going to treat the church & God like we treat a rented car or a hotel room.

The things you feel passionate about & love are the things in which you identify yourself with & feel a certain degree of ownership..

• In the school we attended ……… I got a block T

• In our family

• In our sports

• In our cars

• In our neighborhoods

• In our faith

These are things in which we take ownership in.

It is important concerning the things of God that we…

1. see God as the primary owner

2. that we “buy into” what he is doing (or be convinced)

3. That we become partners in what he is doing.

It is essentially seeking & knowing Gods heart & asking him to give you the same heart.

When you have the heart of God you will…

1. rejoice when others are joyful

2. be sorrowful when others are full of sorrow

3. Anticipate what God will be doing next.

Somebody told me just last week that after years of serving God they have finally discovered the art of anticipating God or expecting God.

What are you expecting?

• Are you expecting to meet with God this morning? If you are, I guarantee you, he will meet you

• Are you expecting to help someone in some way this week?

• Are you expecting to see that lost soul saved?

• Are you expecting to see our church grow?.....oh come on!!!!!

Are you anticipating?

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait (expect) upon the LORD…

• shall renew their strength;

• they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

• they shall run, and not be weary;

• and they shall walk, and not faint.

Anticipation comes when the heart of God is revealed to you.

• God may not have in his heart for you to begin an evangelistic crusade under a large tent.

• But he may have in mind for you to break out of a shell & speak out for him.

• God may not have in his heart for you to stand on a milk crate in the center of town

• But he may have in mind for you to offer yourself for your church.

You see God is and will be setting directives for our church….are you going to buy into what he’s doing?

• There was a night when I was just 12 years old that brother Walt trumbo spoke at a revival.

• I’ll never forget the anointing & the passion that he spoke.

• I neglected to respond to the alter call.

• However I was miserable the rest of the night.

• Mom & dad were changing into their night clothes

• I walked in their bedroom & asked if my mom could come & pray with me beside my bed.

• I got saved that night!

• Because the power of God was on me & I bought in to what God & Bro. trumbo proposed to me!

You see you have to be sold on what God is passionate about.

• Bob Pierce founded World Vision over forty years ago.

• His heart of compassion was born out of the suffering he saw during the Korean War.

• As a young minister moved by the pain he witnessed in innocent children, Pierce wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible…

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God."

• When he returned home with a broken heart he knew what God wanted him to do.