05/14/2023 Church service

周日礼拜

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  Mind the Gap
Heb 10:35-39
Last week we started on the topic “a Magnificent Obsession “
“No matter who you are you can have a Magnificent Obsession.
Every living person can help others by sharing a part of himself. You don’t have to be rich or powerful to develop a Magnificent Obsession. Regardless of who you are, or what you have been, you can create inside yourself a burning desire to be helpful to others.”

There is still a Huge, BOLD, GOD-Sized Dream waiting to seize the driver’s seat of your time, your energy and your destiny.
“Develop an obsession — a Magnificent Obsession — to help others.”

Develop indicates a process.
Heb 5:14 - Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

So – if the development of an magnificent obsession is a process, that means that there must be a starting point…
and then what comes next might be described as The Gap
The Gap between where you start and where you find yourself at a measured level of accomplishment.
In England, wherever there is a tubestation (or underground subway) you will most likely find signs that say, “Mind the Gap”
Mind the Gap is an instruction used on the Underground in the UK to warn passengers to be careful when leaving the tube or train as there is quite a distance between the train and the platform.
From where we start to where we want to go, there is always a gap.
Most of life happens in that gap.
The Gap is important to the whole process
We know if a baby chick comes out of the egg too soon it would not be a good thing
A caterpillar requires a certain developmental process before breaking free of the cocoon…
Recognize and Respect this Gap Time
Only after the season has completed its process can we really appreciate and understand what we went though
At the risk of sounding whiny, we DO get anxious – we can become impatient at times
…and the danger is, when we do find ourselves impatient, we sometimes try to rush the solution ahead of God’s proper timing
“I should be further along than this!”
James 1:12 - If your faith remains strong, even while surrounded by life’s difficulties, you will continue to experience the untold blessings of God! True happiness comes as you pass the test with faith, and receive the victorious crown of life promised to every lover of God!
James 1:12 and Revelation 2:10 indicate that the Crown of Life is for those who persevere in faith through temptation, tribulation, and persecution.
The Crown of Life is a reward for special acts of service and perseverance under trial.
Gap Time is not idle time. Quite the contrary.
This is our time to ask, seek and knock.
To be led by God rather than our own carnal thinking
To become the sheep who hear Jesus’ voice and follow Him
Romans 8:6: “The mind controlled by the Spirit is Life and Peace.”
If our mind is controlled by the Spirit, we are walking in Faith.
Heb 10:36: You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
Perseverance and persistence are clearly attributes of those who achieve great accomplishments in life.
Without a magnificent obsession, people quickly give up.
Is there a Magnificent Obsession in your heart today? Out of it flows your life
Check your internal compass reading
Don’t judge your whole week by Monday. Monday’s overwhelm can become Tuesday’s rest.
Recognize and respect the gap time.
God says, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
Where is the battle during the gap time? (your mind)
During times of struggle, or times of limited results, we may experience stress, and we may be tempted to shrink back.
Stress doesn’t come from the facts. Stress comes from the meaning we give to the facts about a situation.
Only after the gap times will you realize why some things had to happen the way they did.
Titus 2:13 - awaiting and confidently expecting the [fulfillment of our] blessed hope
Phil 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing
Jesus tells us to “learn the unforced rhythms of Grace” (Matt 11:29)
“the unforced rhythms of Grace”
Are we resting – or are we fighting the process?
Could I actually be causing my lag time – sustaining the gap time – through my own reluctance to surrender?
My reluctance to rest – to trust - to let go and let God?
Remember: HE (Jesus) is the Vine – we are the branches.
Apart from Jesus we can do nothing.
Here’s the good news – Jesus paid it all.
The Vine supplies everything we need
2 Peter 1:3 - He gives us everything we need for life and for holy living. He gives it through His great power.
Do we believe this is true?
From the beginning, through the gap time, and onto completion, we must start from a place of fulfilled promises (that is faith)
This is how we get “un-stuck” during a time of transition
We don’t come from a place of lacking anything - we “lack no good thing”
Psalm 34:10 – “ …those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”
We are in this season for a reason
It should be a time of devotion.
Sticking to the basics. Keeping the main things the main things.
Acts 2:42 - The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.

Don’t wait for everything to be perfect
“are we there, yet?”
Use the gap time to keep moving forward
George Whitefield: "Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you."
from the Message translation:
So don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.


  

Hillside United Methodist Church
3739 US 80
Phenix City  AL  36870
United States
Pastor: Mike J Koger

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