Voice of the Nazarene 3-23-25

Voice of the Nazarene 3-23-25

Transcript

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Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene. Wanna talk to you for a few minutes about finding God's will for your life, letting him have his way in your life, but you gotta find God's plan for your life. John Maxwell, the leadership guru and preacher, he was graduating, and a lady gave him the gift of a book, and when he looked at the book, it said the greatest story ever told. And he loved to read. He was excited when he got home that evening, he opened that book entitled The greatest story ever told. To his amazement, it was all blank pages, and he realized there'd been a mistake, and so when he saw her the following week, he said, Ma'am. He said, I appreciate the gift, but there's been a mistake. Said the it's titled The greatest story ever told, and it's all blank pages. And she said, John, it's not a mistake. It's the story of your life, your life. You're going to write your story. What kind of story, John, are you going to write? Are going to leave blank pages? Are you going to write the greatest story ever lived? When I get to the end of my life, I want to say I'm glad I did, rather than to say I wished that I had Steve Jobs. When he died, he was worth around $7 billion like many of you folks, he lived to be 56, years of age, died of cancer, and shortly before his death, Steve Jobs said these words. He said, I've reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In other people's eyes, my life is the epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have a little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I'm accustomed to. At this moment, lying on my deathbed and recalling my whole life, I realized that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in has paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death. I don't want to die that way. I want to be like David in Acts 1336 that said, David served his generation and he died. I want to complete God's purpose for my life, because God has a plan and God has a purpose. You say, Well, Pastor, how can I find my purpose or God's purpose for for my life? Can I give you just six words? I'm kind of a simple guy, but I believe very important and can make all the difference in the world and finding God's purpose for your life. And the first word, very simple, is purpose. Now, I've said before, there's accidental parents, but I do not believe in accidental children. I believe that every person was made for a purpose, and when you're talking about purpose, look there again at verse three of chapter five of Psalms. And notice he said, My voice shall thou hear in the morning? And then catch these words, oh Lord, what does it mean? Oh Lord, it's talking about the person of authority. You need to have someone in your life that has authority. We certainly don't. We scramble around and go through life frustrated trying to get on top of things and being the guy or being the voice of authority. There in Colossians, 116 for everything, absolutely everything above and beneath, visible in. Invisible. Everything got started in God and finds its purpose in him. Finds his purpose in him. Bertram Russell, the atheist, said, Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless, and without God in your life, life is going to be purposeless without God and His plan. So you need to find a person of authority, and that person we know is God. And do you realize that there's nobody like you, and we go through life frustrated, trying to be like everybody else, look like somebody, and be like somebody, and act like somebody, respond like somebody, and yet God made you wonderful and made you unique and made you to be the person he wanted you to be. So why don't we just be the best version of who God wants us to be, because God made you to be you. You're not a wondering generality. You're a, what I call a meaningful, specific person. Every life has a story. Your story? What is your story? You say, Well, Pastor, I'd like to know what my story is. Well, if you've been around me, I'll either use alliteration or I use a caustics, right? Unless you're new here, you don't know that I've tried to make it so simple that if I get lost, nobody else will. But take the little word story, and let's use a caustics, and just go through the s, t, O, R, Y, and it all begins with scripture. If you want to know what God's plan and fulfill God's plan in your life, you need to get into divine rich. You need to get into the Bible. You need to study the Scripture. Back to the matter of Psalm 119, verse 105, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. So if you want to get some light on your life, and you want to have a lamp to go through the darkness, get into the brilliant light of the Word of God. You say, Well, Pastor, I don't believe the Bible will specifically give me my occupation, probably not unless you want to be a tax collector or a shepherd, but I believe the Bible help us to get into right thinking, to get us thinking right. And when you get into the Bible, you find that word, the word is capitalized, in some cases, in capital letters. And when you find that its background is Greek, and there's two Greek words for that word in the English said word, and one of those is logos. And what that means is, when it's talking about the logos, it's talking about the written word, the written word, and then there's another Greek word, and it's Rhema. And when you find that word Rhema, it means that you have a word for your current situation, telling you what you need to do. Let me just stop here long enough to say the word of God is truth. If you're looking for truth, get into the Word of God. Timing has to do with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit can step in and guide you in these moments of your life and show you what is for you for a current time, timing is everything, and we need his direction. So we need to get into a Bible study. We need to get into church. We need to get into studying the Word. If you want to know what your story is going to be, it starts with the Scripture and then talk to others. Sometimes what God wants you to do, he'll voice through other people to you the wisest man that ever lived. They said, We're Solomon. Now there's been times that I've questioned that any guy that marry 700 wives, I gotta wonder about him, that means 700 mother in laws. I'm not a brilliant guy, but I think you'd have a little bit of a problem. But the wisest man that ever lived, by the name of Solomon, said more about the Council of others than anybody else. He said, in a multitude of counselors, there is safety. If I want to know how to fix something, I'll call up several people, because I I need a little advice, and I try to call the right people that know about those kinds of things. And he said that sometimes we need an outside. Did counsel, and many times God will use others to speak to you. I had a chap that I'd known in the yester years, probably, probably 40 some years ago, I held a revival for him. Great speaker, got away from God, left everything behind the call the voice and the will of God for his life. While pastoring here, when I was married to my first wife, before she died, I got a burden on my heart to see what, about a year ago, I got a call from a conference president of another denomination. He said, la salle. I'm not asking you to come to our conference, but I want you to tune in. And I think it was either Facebook or YouTube. I want you to listen. There's a guy that we're restoring his credentials. He's gotten back to God, and he said God's Bible college, or their president is coming as going to award him his bachelor's degree. He said he never walked for it. And they got to looking at his hours. He had enough hours to receive his graduation, his bachelor's degree. I think you'll be interested. I don't want you to miss this. He said, You got it? I said, sort of. So I tuned in and it was this guy back over that had moved and lost his way clear out in the boondocks of around Warsaw, Ohio, and a little Warsaw. You gotta watch for it, or you'll miss it. If there's a street light and it comes on, and I'm not sure there is one there, I'm sure it would dampen the Coke machine from working. And I'm over there. I'd heard that he had drifted away and was living somewhere over there in one of those back roads. And I got over there, and I asked around, and have you seen a red headed guy that might have used to have been a preacher? Nobody seemed to know what in the world I was talking about, nor were they interested. Finally, one guy said, I think it might be up that road somewhere in a mobile home, an old mobile home on the side of a hill. And I drove that road, and I went several miles, and I came to a mobile home, and I felt impressed. This could be in the mobile home is just would have fallen over the hill, but they had propped it up on that side and and you just walked off the street and walked out just a few feet, and there was this door had one of these old clasp and you could put a plain old lock on it. And I pulled up and hit my horn and out step, George hadn't seen him in years, and he said, Ray la salle. He said, How did you find me? I said, I don't know. I honestly don't know how in this world that I found you, but I wanted to tell you I've never forgotten you, that I love you. He bowed his head. I said, I'll go, but I've been looking for you for a long, long time. Just felt like God sent me to you. I drove my way all the way back home feeling kind of stupid. I tuned in to this conference, and they're awarding the degree, his bachelor's, and then they're said, we're restoring your credentials. You got back to God? Would you tell us your story? Everybody has a story. And he said I was away from God more than 20 some years, and I told God one night, if you want me back, send somebody to talk to me. Just send somebody to show up to have a little interest in me. Everybody's forgotten me. The church. I left it behind, and now they left me behind. Send somebody. Few days later, after that, he knelt, and he said, God, I told you, if you wanted to save me, send somebody. And the Spirit whispered to him, I sent Ray la salle. Oh. He said, You did, didn't you? He's telling the story. He said, I fell on my knees and I get my heart back to God. Sometimes God uses other people to speak into us. Don't just tune everybody out. Now, be careful who you're listening to, but if you want to find God's plan for your life and you're trying to get your story written, sometimes God speaks your story to you through others, and then obey your passions. Psalm 37 verse four, Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the what desires of thine heart. You see, you're a unique person. You. And God has given you a unique passion and made you for a unique purpose. Don't ask yourself, what the world needs? Ask yourself, what is it that lightens up my life? And then simply go do it. And here's a fourth thing, recognize your gifts, what you do the best with the least amount of energy. That's what God's gifted you in and if God has gifted you, always acknowledge it's a gift from God. You see, if you don't turn it into praise, it'll turn into pride, and then yield to the Holy Spirit. That's how you determine your story. You have to yield and say, Holy Spirit. What do you want with my life? How do you find what God wants you to do with your life? It starts with purpose, and then it moves to prayer, to prayer. Look what David said, my voice, shall thou here in the morning, oh Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee. Jeremiah, 33 three says, Call unto me, and I will answer thee. I will show you great and mighty things that thou knowest not to find God's plan. You have to live a life of prayer. You have to be seeking the mind of the mood and the direction of God. Now, if your motivation in prayer is need based, then when you don't have any needs, then you're not going to keep praying. So your motivation needs to be to know Him, to seek Him, to have a relationship with Him, time with him. Now, as your pastor, I I'll, I'll tell you I never pray long prayers, but I never go along without a prayer, because I need that connection, that relationship, I don't want it to get drifted away from. And then God's plan with life starts with a purpose, moves on to prayer, and then there's potential. You see, life is what God gives you, and what you do with that life is what you give back to God. What are you doing with your life? God gave you life. What are you doing with your life? Are you giving it to God or squandering life? So God gives us gifts. God gives us abilities, and we have the responsibility to develop those gifts and those potentials and and those uniquenesses, those abilities. Now I meet people that tell me that they've got 30 years of experience. After I'm around them a little bit, I realize they've got about a year of experience, about 29 years of repeat. They have never grown, they've never advanced, they've never developed, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, they're no better than they used to be. Have you ever heard of the koi fish? Koi? Do you know you put it in a bowl and it'll grow to four inches? Makes you want to go fishing, doesn't it? That's about the size I catch. But if you put it in an aquarium, it'll grow up to eight inches. Now, you get it out of the aquarium and put it in a pot, it'll grow to 18 inches to its surroundings. But if you take it out and you put it in the lake, it'll grow to 42 inches. And a lot of church folk are like the koi fish in their little fish bowl, their little narrow, confined surroundings, their small mindset and stunted mentality and dwarf outlook. You know, a lot of people are still on milk, and Paul said, It's time we get on some strong meat. It's time we grow. It's time we develop. He said, Grow in the grace of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I meet people that if anything happens beyond what they're used to having happen. They're crying over spilt milk, they're over in a baby crib, and they've just all been out of shape. And sometimes God might send a leader along or a pastor along that's got a dream or a vision. But if we're stunned in our thinking and and dwarfed in our outlook, we'll do everything we can. Kill that dream and eventually broken, he'll leave, and another will come, and we'll endure them, and one day the church dies, and we don't have a clue as to why it's died. Now I want to tell you something. You go across the landscape of America and the churches of America, you'll be amazed at how many have died over time because of the coy fish mentality? It's what we're used to, our little group, our little family tree. We know each other, but I want you to know something. Heaven's a whole lot bigger than just each other. Heaven's a big place, and you're going to spend eternity getting to know new people, and if it bothers you getting used to them down here, you better get out of the fish bowl. We ought to be developing, and we ought to be better. And I'm talking about purpose. I'm talking about prayer. I'm talking about potential. But what about positive? Is there anything wrong Keith was talking about being positive? Is there. Is there something negative about being positive? Well, look at what David said. I'm going to direct my prayer to the end. We'll look up what's he saying. He's expecting something. You know, some people's Expector, I think, has expired and Well, I heard about a lady she was on a cruise ship, I'll tell you something. And she saw this guy that looked like a movie star, barrel chested, broad shoulder, narrow waist, little bit of hair in his shirt, and he had it open down his belly button, and she just walked up to him. She was all over him. She said, You look just like my third husband. And he said, Ma'am, how many times you've been married? She said, twice. Well, folk, I've never known God to use a negative person, never I've been around a while. I didn't get out of the patch yesterday, but I've never known God to use a negative person. He said, I'll lift up my voice under thee, and I'll look up. I'm going to expect, I'll believe for positive things. Because if you think you're beaten, you are, and if you think you dare not, you. You don't. And if you like to win, but you think you can, it's almost certain you won't. Life's battles don't always go to the strongest or fastest man, but soon or late, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can centenarians. That's those that live to be 100 plus years of age. I haven't gotten there yet. Don't look at me funny. What's the commonality of those that live to be 100 Is it their genetics? Is it exercise DNA? What is it do you know the commonality among all of those who live to be centenarians seems to be a positive outlook on life. Now, do you know what medicine said could never happen? What science said could never happen, what doctors said could never happen. Up till 1964 Medicine said that a human body could not run a four minute mile till a Brit by the name of Roger Banister ran it in 3.5 9.4 The interesting thing The next year, more than 300 broke the record because they believed you could let's get positive. Now, 1755 athletes had broken the record. I say again. I've never known God to use a negative person in a great way. Gotta be positive. What about the power of words? If you're going to find the will of God, what his plan is? What about the power of words? Look at what verse. That verse says, my voice. Apparently, ladies and gentlemen, words are powerful. He didn't just pray. He voiced it. Did you ever pray out loud? Just give God your voice once in a while. If you don't like doing it in public, at least do it in private, but voice it, because apparently, words are powerful. The Bible says life and death is in the tongue, a little boy was told by the preacher. He said, curse words send a chill up my back. The little boy looked up, he said, Preacher, I'm glad you weren't our our house. Saturday, Dad hauled off with a hammer and missed the nail and hit his thumbnail. He. He said, If you'd been there, you'd have froze to death. Words are powerful, and here's what I believe God's trying to teach me here lately, God's been showing me the words that I speak are powerful because worlds. Worlds were created with words. God spoke the Word, and the world was created. And your world is created by your words, what you say at your house to determine what kind of atmosphere that happens there, whether it tenses up or whether there's freedom and love this thing of bullying people using words and even getting on Facebook with words, destroy the world of others. Incidentally, I'm sick of the political world that wants to do nothing but bully, burning up somebody else's city, burning down their businesses to get their way, nothing but a bully moving along while you're shouting happy. Do you realize that Romans 417, call those things which are not as though they were, that which wasn't, but call it as though it were. Do you realize that Mark 1123, is talking about the mountain, verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea. And shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever. He's saying, Maybe instead of telling God out how big your mountain is, just tell your mountain how big your God is. Just a thought, Alright, now not to use that in the next service. If all we do is saying, you know, my ministry will never grow, and my class will never grow, and I'll never find the right mate, and I'll never get the right job, and I'll never why don't we just start saying Philippians, 413, I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. Why not say Romans, chapter eight, verse 31 if God before us, who can be against us. What about Romans? 837, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. In the Bible, there's a man by the name of Zechariah. Zacharias. Zachariah. He was up in years wall stricken when I looked in on this, to the window into this page of the Bible, he's an old man. He's married to a woman by the name of Elizabeth, by the way. And God came sent an angel to him and said, You're going to have a baby boy. The two of you, John the Baptist, you do read your Bible, right? I'm not making all this up. Part of it's true. And he said, You're going to have a baby boy. He said, What are you talking about? I'm old. It'll never happen. And you know what happened? He couldn't say anything. He lost his voice, he couldn't speak anymore, and he never spoke again until that son was born. Why? Because God knew the power of negative words, and he wouldn't let him speak again. I know a whole lot of folk. I went, don't leave your notes up here anymore. I slipped and nearly read it in the Bible I was reading this last week. Never saw it before. Do you remember the story of Jericho walls collapsing and they marched around and around and around six times around the walls of Jericho, and on the seventh time around, the walls collapsed, and in Joshua 16 and Joshua had commanded the people, saying, You shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout. Then shall you shout? Now? Why in the world were God's people silent for six days? I never saw this, but I think I know, because when they started marching around this one guy saying to another guy, I don't believe this is going to work. And day two, he said, I told you nothing's going to happen. See the walls. Boy, when you get these pastors, they get all these dreams and they want to hype em up and sell us on em, and nothing ever happens. We gotta get rid of this guy too. You. It so they're marching around. That was a pretty good point, and you're not responding as good as I'm preaching. Sometimes when we get the talking and we kill what God wants to do? You say, Pastor, I want to know God's plan. Well, you have to find the purpose. It begins by praying and finding and using your potential being positive power in in words, and then, may I say, provision, whatever God wants you to do, he'll provide the resources for you to do it. Understand, if it's God's will, it's God's bills, God's going to tell me his will. He's got to pay the bill. Where God guides, he provides. If God leaves, we'll succeed right now. Let me just throw a little thought at you, and I'll move toward a conclusion, I'll bring my boat in. I don't live off of your giving. I get a salary here. I don't get a increase because the attendance grows. I don't live off of your giving. I live off of my own giving. I want you to get this, and I hope it happens in your life, because the Bible says given and shall be given you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. Shall men give unto thy bosom? And here's what I want you to know, God will give you the provisions to do everything he wants you to do, and then he provides so that you provide for other people. Somebody said, we give a 10th to God, we save a 10th, and then we'll work 10 times harder. But whatever I'm saying, if you learn how to meet the needs of others, the blessings of God begin to come. Let me. Let me just throw something at you. Interesting, I think so you gotta think it's interesting. Jesus, when he died, two men showed up. Two men came and they requested the body of Jesus. You remember that you they weren't scribes, they weren't teachers of the law. They weren't even one of the 12 apostles. And Jesus died, but two businessmen showed up and said, We want his body just businessmen. They were wealthy, by the way. They were businessmen. They said, give us his body. And they took his body down from the cross, and they washed his body, and they perfumed it and spiced it, and they wrapped his body up. And then they took his body and they put his body in Joseph's hewn out tomb that no man had ever laid in. He only needed it for three days, so he borrowed it. Two men came. They were not theologians, they were not preachers. They were just too busy to spend that had made a bunch of money. You say, Well, why did God bless them? I'm glad you asked, because I was thinking about telling you, for you, that's me. You say, Well, I'm a businessman. Well, can I just say this? He'll bless you, He'll bless you so that you can care for his body. You He will bless you so you can care for his body. This church is his body. The mission fields where the missionaries are is a part of his body. When we give we're taking care of the body of Christ, and I want to tell you something. He blessed you so you can be a blessing. And when He blesses us, he has a lot more than us in mind when he does Pastor, I want to fulfill God's plan for my life. Purpose. Have you figured out his purpose? Move into prayer and ask him about it. Look at the potential that that you have. Get positive about it. Remember there's power in words. And remember one thing, if it's God's will, he'll provide the provisions, because he'll pay the bills. And if you'll take those simple things, you can begin to write your own story, the greatest story ever written, being in the very will of God. And can I say to you as a. Church, not to lost people, but to you, I want you to write the greatest story ever written. And each one of us have our potential and our abilities and our prayer life, and if we find our purpose, God will provide, and God will use us to take care of his body. Father, thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor, Ray LaSalle, for more information regarding B and C, visit bucyrusnazarene.org, you.