God Will Get You There….
I was originally going to title this message “God can get you there”…. But there are many folks who would boldly tell you what God can do, but they never take it to the next level and declare what God WILL DO!!!! Hope says He can, Faith says He will….Yes, I can say God CAN supply my needs, but beyond that, do I believe He WILL supply my needs?!!!
Let’s begin with Acts 8:25 “And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. v26 And the angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is a desert”.
It doesn’t just say Gaza….It wants us to know that this is a barren, dry, unpopulated desert place…..Sometimes to reach your destiny, God will take you on the road less traveled! I’m sure Philip, must have looked around and thought, what in the world am I doing here?!!! But then he sees a cloud of dust coming down this trail, through the wilderness, and as it gets closer, he sees that it is an Ethiopian in a chariot.
Philip puts up his thumb and starts hitchhiking.(that’s the traveler’s bible) The Ethiopian eunuch picks him up, gets saved, they stop and Philip baptizes him, and God does a Star Trek “beam me up Scottie”…. And Scripture says God translated Him and he landed in Azotus where he hit the ground preaching. (remember, Philip wasn’t a pastor, this was just one of the members of the church, God was using here so mightly) The Eunic goes on to Ethiopia and shares the gospel, and in no time, Ethiopia is a Christian nation….that’s right!
Let me tell you something….In order to get you there, God will wreck your plans, so your plans don’t wreck you! There are lots of things I would have changed about my life, but then I would have missed some incredible stuff, God had for me!
t’s amazing how many things the word “Surrender” is the solution for! How do I get there….Surrender…. How do I get saved and forgiven… Surrender…How do I get set free….Surrender….How do I get healed…. Surrender!
How could Moses have ever known, that when he was being driven out of Egypt, into the desert, it was so that God could train him in the desert to bring the nation through the desert to the promised land!!!? He had to be delivered before he could be the deliverer!
Moses….God isn’t mad at you, He’s madly in love with you!!! Moses, just like us, had to discover that our brokenness is the place of our increase... Our brokeness is where the limits are taken off….Our brokeness is the place of becoming! It is where God is training us for reigning!
Sometimes it seems God has abandoned us or forgotten us, but the teacher is always silent when the test begins….however, you can always know the teacher is there, overseeing the test!
God knows how to get you there….. You shouldn’t ever label yourself by the stuff you’re going through. Hey, Moses was just another basket case before he was the bold and courageous man of faith and power!
And think of this…what if Moses had judged himself by his ability to lead the nation out of Egypt and into the promised land? Come on now, he took 40 years to make an 11 day journey! Most efficiency experts would call him a dismal failure!!!! (Perhaps I should have called this message, “How to take 40 years to make an 11 day journey”)
Moses was focused on getting the Hebrews out of Egypt, while God was focused on getting Egypt out of the Hebrews! Someone say….”God can get you there”….. Friend, many who started out, didn’t make it, and not everyone who started out with you will finish with you, and you may not leave with the one who brought you to the dance!
God told Isaiah to tell His people…. Isaiah 46:4 “And even to your old age I am He; and even to your grey hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear (naw-saw'…to lift, to accept, to advance, to bring forth, to exalt, to forgive, to equip, to hold up, to honor) even I will carry, and I will deliver you”.
Defining moments are happening right now in your life, that are turning you toward your destiny….usually, we don’t realize how much God has been and already is in control. He already has solutions to every problem that you’ll ever face, and He is orchestrating it all and bringing things together for you in a way you could never even dream…..
No wonder Paul told the Ephesian believers… Ephesians 3:20 “Now He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is now working in us”…. Would you tell somebody….”HE CAN GET YOU THERE”!
Isaiah 14:27 For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who can cancel it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
God is saying, “who can stop my plan, who is more powerful than Me, who can make a mistake so big that I can’t forgive it, or have a problem so large that I can’t solve it, a dream so great that I can’t bring it to pass?” God’s plan cannot be stopped by a bad break; all the forces of darkness can’t keep you from your destiny. No matter how small your boat, you can cross the largest ocean, if you just don’t let the ocean in the boat!!
Sometimes we think because we have made mistakes and we’re not where we want to be in life, we must have stopped God’s plan; you’re not that powerful. You may have made mistakes, but it wasn’t a surprise to God; He already had the mercy, the grace and forgiveness ready and waiting….shake off the guilt and move forward.
Nothing that you’ve done or haven’t done has cancelled your destiny. You are not powerful enough to stop God’s plan. God has the final say. You are coming into those destiny moments where you will see that God has supernaturally protected you, you are at the right place, at the right time, meeting the right people. That’s the favor of God moving you towards your divine destiny. it’s not a lucky break, it’s almighty God saying, “I’ve got a destiny for you to fulfill…. My plan will come to pass.”
You have been chosen to walk the path you’re walking….He’s already got your defining moments lined up, to show you His hand of favor. When that problem you’ve had for years suddenly turns around… When the opportunity of a lifetime is suddenly in front of you…those are defining moments that God already has lined up as He moves behind the scenes and connects all the dots in your future.
A touchdown play is a beautiful thing to watch (especially if it’s your team that just scored!)… but how many tackles, how many struggles on the line of scrimmage, how many turn overs did it take to get to that touchdown play? You’ve been knocked down, you’ve struggled to hold that line, you may have even fumbled the ball a few times…. But there’s a touchdown ahead for you…. Count on it!!!
Listen to God’s instruction to Elijah….
*…..1 Kings 17:3 “Go forth, and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. v4 And it shall be, that you shall drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there”.
I do not believe that the ravens would have fed Elijah anywhere else, nor would the widow woman have appeared anywhere else except "THERE." God did not say, "Elijah, ramble around and go where you please and I will provide for you." "THERE" was the place of God's will for Elijah - the place of His Purpose, the place of His Power and the place of
His blessing and Provision.
Sir Thomas Lipton, founder of Lipton Tea, was also a very competitive English sportsman, who won many trophies sailing his yacht, but he never could win the one trophy which he desired the most….the American cup.
One day, while showing a friend his collection of trophies which had come so hard fought and at such great expense…. with a wave of His hand, he said, "And I would gladly give them all for the one I didn't get!"
What a statement!...No matter how many of earth's awards and crowns we may gain, if we miss the greatest trophy we can receive in this life, the reward of God's approval, the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, at the end of it all, we would gladly give it all for the one we didn’t get.
Aren’t you Glad that the God who can get you there, not only can, but will redeem your regrets, so you don’t have to come to that place, at the end of it all, without the greatest prize of all…The Trophy of His Redemption, the prize of all prizes, His salvation!
Mark 8:36 “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? v37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul”?
One of my favorite songs by Steve Green is “In Christ Alone”…. It says, “Oh, I could stop and count successes like diamonds in my hands, but those trophies could not equal to the grace by which I stand….In Christ alone, I place my trust, and find my glory in the power of the cross. In every victory, let it be said of me… My source of strength, my source of hope, Is Christ alone”…..
Let’s Go back to Elijah at the brook for a moment…..You see the brook of Cherith, in the Hebrew is “kaw-rath”….and it means Covenant, and Cherith wasn’t just any place it was a covenant place…. a place where God redeemed Elijah’s regrets…. God wanted him to know that no matter what had happened, there was no situation too great for him and God to handle together!
Cherith for you, may be across the street, across the country, or it may be across the sea. But know that the God who performed all those miracles for so many others, who led His children through the wilderness and brought them into the land of promise, is the same one leading you today.
Isaiah 46:4 “even to your old age I am He, and even to your grey hairs will I carry you, I have made you and I will sustain you and I will rescue you”.
We know and serve a God who can carry us, help us, lift us up, redeem us and save us, bringing us safely to our destiny. We are weak, frail and finite. We are so easily wearied and wounded in this unpredictable world! But even In our weak and wounded condition, God has us in His hands and He carries us!
God says to His children, in the words of the 1969 song by the Hollies, "The road is long, with many a winding turn. But I'm strong, strong enough to carry you. So on we go. Your welfare is my concern. No burden are you to bear. We'll get there. You're not heavy, you're my children."
It doesn't matter if you have been saved 30 seconds, 30 minutes, 30 months, or 30 years, God will carry you! We are His from the womb. And He has pursued after us and overshadowed us with His love and grace, Jesus said, "You must be born again!" and from the moment you trust in Jesus Christ as savior, you enter into covenant with Him and He is committed to carry you forever! God has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you!"
If the Lord has carried you this far, he's not going to drop you now. You might think, "I can't make it. I'm too weak, too broken, too wounded, too messed up, I’ve made too many mistakes." The Lord says, "We'll make it. I'll get you there," and He puts you on His shoulders and brings you to your destiny.
He didn’t bring you this far to leave you, He didn’t teach you to swim to let you drown, He didn’t build his home in you to move away, He didn’t pick you up to let you down!
When God brought the 2 million to 2.5 million people, out of Egypt on their way to Canaan, Someone calculated that it would take about 4000 tons of food every day to provide enough nutrition to avoid starvation. It would take the equivalent of two freight trains, 1 mile long each, to transport the food. It would take 11 million gallons of water a day for the people to drink, cook and wash with and then there was all the livestock that needed water. All of this, in a place with very little fresh water of any kind, and then there was the problem with what they would wear for 40 years.
The bible tells us that their shoes and clothing did not wear out for the entire 40 years! They had the “Wear Ever” brand of designer clothing!!!!
If God does not bring us on the shortest and most direct path to His goals for our lives—to the place that He has promised to bring us—then He has His reasons, and we can know that it is for our best good. With God, a straight line is not the shortest distance to anywhere….
We are never where we are, without it being part of the greater plan of God, which He has gone before us to prepare for us. He can get you there, to your covenant place from wherever you may be at any time or in any situation!
Job 23:10 “For He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold”.
On Tuesday night, I shared this with our home group….Suppose you take ten pennies and put them in your pocket and then shake your pocket, so they’re mixed up real good... But before you do, mark them in order, one through ten and then just shake them around for a while and mix them up good in your pocket.
Now try to draw them out in sequence from one through ten, the way you put them in. Putting each coin back in your pocket after you have taken it out. You draw out "one" you put it back, draw out "two" put it back, draw out "three"...and so on….
Your chance of drawing out number one is one in ten. Your chance of drawing number one and two in succession is one in a hundred. Your chance of drawing number one, two, and three in succession is one in a thousand. Your chance of drawing one, two, three, four in succession is one in ten thousand, until your chance of drawing number one through ten in succession would be the unbelievable figure of one chance in ten billion.
Now if we can't deal with ten pennies in your pocket, why do we worry about not being able to control everything in our environment? We can't. There are an Infinite number of complexities that are far out beyond our ability to control.
And yet our Father in Heaven works it all out on the Divine chess board of our lives every day, while keeping track of how that connection interacts and intersects with every other individual we encounter and affects their destinies….Wow!!!
The old song of faith declares….. “Tis grace that brought us safe thus far and grace will lead us on”!!!
God told Joshua to tell the people….Joshua 3:4 “You have not passed this way before. v5 And he said unto the people, prepare yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you”.
We have not come this way before….BUT GOD can get us there, and He will perform signs and wonders to orchestrate our ordained outcome!
The one who charts the path of the moon and the earth and the solar systems…The one who charts the course of the galaxies, the star constellations and the universes within the greater cosmos, has charted the path we take. The earth that is our home, passes through thousands of near cataclysmic perils every day and yet there are no critical collisions with other planets, astroids, comets or stars… and then we can go in the other direction….from the big things to the small things….
Matthew 6:28 “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. v29 And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. v30 Therefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
You and I might grab a rose and try to open it but all we would do is tear the petals out and destroy it….but God knows how to open the rose at just the right time and under the perfect circumstances. God has perfect timing as He aligns all the circumstances and events of our future
And from the great cosmic scheme, to the microscopic world, His hand is manifest…. And that same hand is guiding and orchestrating in all of our lives, as He has yesterday, as He is today and as He will tomorrow!
God Will Get You There!
Could you stand with me and give Him praise…..lay aside your worries and your fears…. And give Him praise….You can praise Him in the eye of the storm….I’ve been in a few hurricanes, and I’ve been in the eye of the storm… In the eye of the storm, you can see the devastation all around you… but you stand in a calm, still, peaceful and quite place….I sat out on the porch and watched as Hurricane Georges wreaked havoc on Key West….I watched as a roof flew by, signs, awnings, trees and many things which had been ripped away….but I was safe on the porch because the storm hit the back of the house and it blocked all the destruction from touching me… then the eye of the storm moved over… and it was perfectly calm… with destruction all around, I walked out into the street and surveyed the damage, IT WAS TOTALLY MINDBLOWING….
I remembered Psalm 32:6 “For every one that is seeking shall call unto You in a time when You may be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near me. v7 For You are my hiding place, You shall preserve me from trouble, You shall compass me about with songs of deliverance”.
A painter saw a homeless man on a street corner, and painted a portrait of him. When he showed him the portrait, the homeless man was shocked for the painting was not a picture of how he was, but what he could be. It depicted him in a tuxedo with expensive Italian leather shoes on his feet. The homeless man said “If you see me to be that, then that is what I will be”!!
Jesus told a group of unlearned fishermen, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”…. I WILL MAKE YOU….
God has a portrait of each of us, not as we are, but as we can be, and He is showing it to us through His word, and by the inward witness of the Spirit… I trust we will take a good look, for when we do, we too will exclaim, “If that’s what you see me to be, then that’s what I can be”!!
Friend, He can and will get you there!!!!
