What an incredible privilege to share the Word of God with you today!
Thank you all, for joining us.
Heavenly Father,
I give You thanks and praise, for all those gathered today
I have been so incredibly blessed for some years now
to serve You and them
In the course of my journey, through the hills and valley's
I have discovered a great many things
about You, Your Word and myself
I must admit, I find myself amazed at what You have accomplished in my life,
and only when I pause to look back, I see just how far I have come
I have learned some astonishing truths that have kept me strong
You have allowed me to persevere in spite of myself
You have allowed me to encourage others, comfort them and instill hope
You have given me a platform in which to share Your Word
in my commitment to uphold Your truths
I pray that You give a deeper understanding for Your church
we need Your wisdom, perseverance and strength in order to accomplish it
Lord, thank You for the consistency of Your truth.
For it all, Lord, I give You the glory
Amen
"Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation."
Acts 2:38-40
I remember some years ago, when I was in Jamaica, I hailed a taxi to catch my return flight home.
I was running a little behind schedule, I jumped in the taxi and told the driver, "Hurry, drive fast or I'm going to be late! As the taxi drive rushed through the streets, I noticed we were traveling in the wrong direction. I then in a rather loud voice said, "Do you know where you are going?” Without delay, he looked back, smiling and the taxi driver quickly responded, “No, but I am going very fast!”
Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, admonished the people to save themselves from this untoward generation, Acts 2:40. It was a generation going somewhere. They did not know where, but they were going very fast. We can get caught in the same situation. It has been said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” It could also be added, “And you’ll never know when you get there.”
I remember as young boy, while I was riding my new bicycle, in a parking lot near to our house, going round and round in circles. An older gentleman was passing by and asked, “Where are you going?” To which, I responded, “Nowhere,” and as I continued to ride my bike around in circles. The gentleman repeatedly asked, “Where are you going?” And each time I responded, “Nowhere!”
It became some sort of a game.
Unfortunately, life is not a game. And this is the sad predicament of many people today, they're running in circles, going nowhere.
I've called today's message: Where Are You Going?
Do you have any idea where you are going in life?
Do you understand your purpose in the journey?
In order to understand where you are going, you must first look at where you have been, your past
and also where you are now, the present.
In Genesis 3:9, after Adam and Eve transgressed in the Garden of Eden,
God asked, “Adam, where art thou?”
Today, I ask the same question of each of you, "Where are you?"
And by that I mean in your walk with Christ?
We are most effective when we are in the center of God’s will.
Going through life, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
we are essentially going through life, blind-folded, with no clear direction
or purpose.
But, when are being lead, rather just aimlessly wondering around
we can know with certainty, where we are and where we're headed.
Would any of you get in a vehicle, in which the driver is blind-folded?
What about if the driver was always becoming distracted by turning around to talk to others instead of focusing on the road ahead?
The truth is, no one wants to follow a leader who is blind-folded, or without a vision!
Not a spouse; not your children, a member of the family; not students in the classroom; not workers in the workplace; not saints in the church; not members of any organization.
NO ONE!
Followers will always be afraid of the proverbial “falling in the ditch.”
"Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
Matthew 15:14
A vision is a clear picture in our minds of what life will be like down the road. It gives us an understanding of where we are going. Vision sets direction and serves as our roadmap. Once we understand where we are going, we must know how to get there from where we are. We fix our eyes on our destination and start working on a PLAN to get there. Our destination needs to be kept clearly in sight. We need to focus!
Many people, and even some spiritual people have a problem with planning. They think that “walking by faith,” means that you have no plan. It has been aptly said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Beloved, planning and faith go hand in hand. Effective, biblical faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
Faith involves having something that you hope for, a goal, plan, or vision. Look at the heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. Notice that many of them had a vision. God used men of vision to bring the church into existence, Acts 2.
Nehemiah was a visionary leader who prayed and planned. He did not ask God for a miracle; he asked for an opportunity.
Beloved, we are given lots of opportunities, that come our way. We need to take advantage of the ones that will enable us to fulfill the vision God has given us. Each opportunity and open door should be assessed by asking, Him, “How will this help me fulfill Your calling on my life and Your vision?”
We must be able to discern, what of God and what is not!
Not all, so-called good ideas are God’s ideas, so we must be careful.
I can testify, if it seems impossible to accomplish, if it's calling you out of your comfort zone,
it's likely God. When God called me to ministry, I literally laughed, out loud.
I didn't believe that He could use me, then I was reminded, of Moses, the twelve and Paul.
He assured me, through His Holy Spirit, He can use anyone, regardless of their past failures.
You see, our ability to accomplish greatness, lies not within us, but in Him!
Everything that moves us forward toward accomplishing our His plans for us, gets a green light.
That which is not, gets a red light, or is blocked, leaving us feeling that everything we do, ultimately fails, and falls short of accomplishing our goals.
Therefore, we need to be continually aligning and realigning ourselves and keep in focus with His vision for our journey. This way we will conform our lives to following the roadmap and plans that God has prepared for us.
Once we understand where we are going, it is only natural for us to ask, “How will we get there?”
In fact, we can "how" ourselves to death. One thing you can be sure of, if God has called you it,
He will take care of the "how!"
What God has ordained, He will bless it and bring to pass.
"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11
For each man of faith in the Bible, God provided not only the “what,” but also the “how.” Moses was asked to deliver God’s children from Egypt. He was told what to do and how to do it. Noah was told to build an ark. He was told what to do and how to do it. In the construction of both the Tabernacle and the Temple, men were told what to do and how to do it. The disciples were called to take the gospel to the whole world. They were also told what to do and how to do it.
We are certainly in no shortage of people who want to change.
Whether it be physical appearance, mental state, financial status, organizational or relational, there are a vast range of self-help industries that have sprung up in recent years around the world, claiming to fulfill our insatiable demand for self-improvement and change. In effect, they perpetuate a lie that dominates the world: You can change yourself.
And of course, we know it to be possible, that we can change our hairstyles, get makeovers, lose weight, work out, make more money, find love, more education and change careers, or move into a new house or city and start all over. But the core of our problem always remains, an inner sinful nature that refuses to change.
However, many of the changes in our life are the direct result of self-restraint or self-discipline. If you earnestly want to change your physique, lose weight, stop smoking, or find a better job, you can achieve those goals but in order to change them, it requires an act of desire as well as willpower.
But we must realize, that no amount of willpower can essentially change who you are.
Jeremiah, the prophet understood the issue we face, that all men are sinners by nature. He knew that we have as much chance of altering our own nature as changing the color of our skin or removing the spots from a leopard's skin.
There is nothing you can do to shed your sin nature.
And apart from God, there is very little we can do ourselves to control it.
In our desperation to become something more than we are, to "change ourselves," the rising popularity self-help 'gurus' such as Tony Robbins, Angela Duckworth continue to profess that “we can change ourselves and change our lives." Proclaiming, bogus promises built upon a bankrupt theology to a desperate culture, that "we can do, have, and be exactly what we wish.” But it’s nothing less than false claims. While others, like Jane McGonigal, a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games, claims that what we really need is to make our lives work more like a game.
And there is certainly no lack of "counterfeit preachers" who have seized the opportunity to market a false “Christianized” theology, perpetuating their versions of the same lie. And perhaps, these so-called biblical truths, wouldn’t be so offensive if they were properly categorized as fiction. Yet they continue to dominate the airwaves, shelves of many Christian bookstores.
The Bottom Line Is: Spiritually Dead Men Need Resurrection, Not Reform.
In order to incur any lasting change within us, we need nothing less than divine regeneration.
It is equally important to wait on the Lord, in prayer.
Perhaps, at least in your mind, have already made a list of “why” the vision cannot be accomplished through you. Once you have completed your well thought out list of "vision killers", you need to give it a befitting burial!
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Philippians 4:13
If we look at the history of visionary leaders throughout the Word of God and throughout time, we conclude, that the 'what' came before the 'how'.
In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel was sent from God and appeared before a virgin, named Mary. She was given a vision for her life. That she would bring forth the Messiah and call his name Jesus. Quite naturally, the first thing that came into Mary’s mind was, “HOW shall this be?” The angel Gabriel gave her a brief explanation and wrapped it up with, "For with God nothing shall be impossible."
In Ephesians 2:1-2 , the apostle Paul says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience."
Let's face it, all a dead man is capable of doing is remain in his present state, dead!
That unless God raises the dead and makes him a new creation.
Therefore, no amount of self-help or positive confession propaganda can change the nature of a sinner.
I believe, the passage found in Ezekiel 37, is an amazing picture of what evangelism really is.
"I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord."
Ezekiel 37:14
That passage summarizes, what we do. We stand before those who are dead in sin. We aren’t called to persuade them back to life, or to modify their godless behaviors, but rather called proclaim the gospel, the Word of God and then we trust God to raise His people from the death of sin to new life in Christ. And only that regeneration wrought by God, can produce any meaningful and lasting eternal change in the lives of a sinner by conversion. Everything from regeneration to sanctification!
God’s repeated use of personal pronouns, such as "I Am" gives us a clear picture, that the power to make change, lies in Him alone. We are just His messengers!
Man-made attempts at personal transformation are about as useful as rearranging the seas shells at the bottom of the ocean.
Spiritual cleansing is wholly a work of God, and is not the result of human effort, a point Jesus emphasized in His earthly ministry.
"Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’"
John 3:5-7
Many Christians would do well to focus on one thing: faithful proclamation of the message we have been commanded to preach, rather than judgement, condemnation, and that "holier than thou" attitude.
Beloved, the reality of the hard to swallow truth, is this:
We are ALL sinners. And because you or I was saved first, is not an indication of our holiness.
I know a great many who are exactly where they were upon their conversion, claiming,
"I just don't understand what God is saying."
Not one of are worthy of judging the sins of another.
That job, belongs exclusively to the Lord, our God alone.
And weren't we all condemned to the fires of hell before our own conversion?
We must each one do our part, and let God do His!
The result is not up to us...
And those who continue to live in sin,
are just as those we have loved have rejected us,
as they have rejected the love of Christ
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries