Following God’s time in our life

Pastor Mike will be speaking on “Following God’s time in our life”. He will be in John 7:1.

Remember the words of the Apostle who said this about our Savior, that he died for all, that they which live, that you and me should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him Christ who died for them and rose again.

Don’t live for self, but live for the Lord Jesus Christ, following his timetable for your life. Well it’s that time and the time is Hopeworth having. It’s time to study God’s word together. This is Pastor Mike Sanders and we welcome you to our Hopeworth having broadcast.

We thank you for coming and being a part of this special broadcast today and I pray that God will work mightily in your life. Today we’re going to be in the Gospel of John chapter 7. We’re starting a new chapter in the Gospel.

We’re just kind of going through the Gospel verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We’re learning what God is teaching us and as we come to chapter 7 in the Gospel of John we’re going to be talking about following God’s time in our life.

You know, so many times we get ahead of God or we’re not in step with God and as a result we find ourselves out of tune with God and it affects our walk with God. Well we’re going to look at the life of Christ and we see that all the people, even his own family, they were trying to get Jesus to do something that would not be in the will of God and not in the timetable of God and as a result it would have led to disobedience but Jesus Christ who lived a sinless life,

he always was in step with the Father and as he declared, I and the Father are one. Christ and God the Father, one. One in nature, one in purpose, one in essence. So we have this wonderful privilege to see this unfold today.

So join me in John chapter 7. as we study together. So when we look at this text this morning, we are learning from the life of Christ. And we are learning some great truths of how Jesus always acted in accordance to God’s divine schedule.

And I want us to imitate Christ this morning. I want us to follow God’s timetable for our own lives. So let me give you three things that will help all of us to do that. First, we must always assess the risk.

We must assess the risk within the time frame of what is before us. Now we read this text and we go back to verse 2. The Bible says it was the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacle was at hand. Now we know that this time of the year for the Jews was approximately in the fall, somewhere between September and October of our months.

And it was one of the three pilgrimage festivals that took place every year that the Jews would travel to Jerusalem. And so it was kind of like a, this feast of tabernacles was like a camping festival.

How many of you like to go camping? Are there a few of you left? Yes, there are a few of you left. That’s great, that’s great. I offered to take my wife camping once and she said no. I said, okay, I gotcha.

All right, so no camping, but if we lived in this time, we would have to participate as a Jew, the Jewish camping festival. And that’s what they did. They came from all over to Jerusalem and they set up little houses, little tents, little booths that they lived in and they camped out all around Jerusalem and they celebrated the feast of the tabernacle.

They celebrated God’s grace and God’s goodness to their life. It was part of the celebrations, the three big celebrations that the Jews had all year. The first was the Passover, the second was the Feast of Pentecost and then finally was the Feast of Tabernacles.

And so this is what’s taking place. John often tries to help us understand the circumstances that are surrounding the life of our savior through the timetable of the feast. And you’ll see him mention that several times.

As we go through chapter seven, as we go through chapter eight, remember it’s all within this timeframe of the Feast of the Tabernacles. So literally thousands of people have gathered into Jerusalem and as they have gathered into Jerusalem, Jesus’s brothers say, hey, you need to get up there.

What are you doing down here in Galilee? what are you doing here in Galilee in this small town where nothing is happening and you need to get to jerusalem and you need to let everybody know how powerful you are how miraculous the miracles you can do and you need to start promoting yourself and you need to get your name out there and you need to make sure that everybody knows about you well jesus had to look at this situation and he had to assess the risks and there were two risks that were upon Jesus not only was there the risk of his own safety look at verse one again verse one says that after these things Jesus walked in Galilee meaning he’s out he’s down in Galilee he’s ministering and he would not walk in Judea because the jews sought to kill him his own life was in jeopardy and so Jesus was under this potential risk of his own safety but not only did he had to assess the risk of his safety but he had to access the risk of his opportunity.

His opportunity to be able to reach the most people for the maximum result for God and so Jesus in correspondence with his brothers first reminds us that as he was facing this risk he had the problem of the antagonism of the Jewish leaders, the religious leaders who were seeking to kill him.

When we look at that text and we see that word sought or seeking it’s in the continuous action verb which means that they kept on seeking, they were looking always for an opportunity to where they could grab Jesus and they could get him away from the people and they wanted to shut him down, they literally wanted him dead.

Why? Because Jesus’s message, it contradicted the message of religion. Jesus’s message was counter -cultural. Jesus’s message was a message of grace and forgiveness and salvation. Jesus’s message was a message that the father has a love not just for the Jewish people but he has a love for the entire world.

Do you understand friends how much that opposed the religious elite of that day. They believed in their minds that the only ones that could be saved are those who were Jewish and that the rest of the riff -raff, they could never be saved.

They could never come to a true knowledge of believing in God. And so when Jesus looked at his situation he realized that these Jews were trying to take his life. We even jump back to chapter 5 and we look at verse 16 and we’re reminded again what the Bible says and therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus?

They sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath. They didn’t like that Jesus did miracles on the Sabbath, jumped down to verse 18, therefore the Jews sought to moor to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath but he said also that God was his father making himself equal with God.

So they were upset with Jesus because of his message, they were upset because of his miracles, they were upset because he claimed to be equal with the Father, that he claimed to be God himself. There was no delusion, there was no misunderstanding of Jesus’s message.

It wasn’t that somehow Jesus got caught up into a series of bad events that simply ended up taking his life. Jesus was bold. Jesus was out there that he was God and that he was sent from the Father and that the Father sent him to bring salvation to mankind and this was important that this message and this mission be proclaimed and the Jews understood that message and so he had the antagonism of the religious but he had the skepticism of his own family.

He had the skepticism of his own family. You saw that in the text in chapter 7. Jesus’s brothers were skeptical about him. They taunted Christ. They mocked him. They were unbelievers. They challenged him to publicize his identity.

If you’re such a big shot Jesus go to Jerusalem then. That’s where all the action is. That’s where all the people are Jesus. Go up there and make yourself know. We know as we read the newspaper headlines that our chaplains in the military are not allowed to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.

We know that parents have been separated from their children because they teach them their values and they believe in their faith and they are trying to pass it on to their children. We know that school systems have turned aggressively not just being neutral but aggressively turned against our biblical Christian heritage and they are aggressively trying to teach our children a whole different system that is anti -God and anti -Christ.

We understand this. That is why we must assess the risk. That is why if we’re gonna follow God’s timetable we must assess the risk not only for the… safety, our children’s safety, our family’s safety, but we also assess the risk for opportunity.

Because we never want to get ahead of God. We never want to get behind God. We want to be in step with God. We want to make sure that we are moving in sync with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I know it can be very discouraging sometimes, because how can you and I move forward when our family is always pulling us back?

When our family is always criticizing us. Many of you are trying to be faithful to the Lord and serve Jesus Christ, but you find the religious crowd to be a great hindrance to the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we handle all this? Family, religious people, how do we handle all this? I want you to write this down. We are called as believers to balance trust in God. danger in the world. We must balance trust in God and danger in the world as we serve Christ.

We must not be, again, blinded to the dangers that exist, but we are well aware, astute to the potential pitfalls and schemes of Satan, whether they are happening on a cosmic level or a level of government or a level of within our community, or it’s happening personally.

We must be aware of the schemes of the devil to trap us and destroy us. We must walk circumspectly, we must be alert, we must maximize the day for Jesus, and we do not go into this day knowing that Jesus wants to be honored and glorified, that somehow we’re gonna just go into this day frivolously and without a strategy, and that we’re gonna step on mindlessly, bombs, spiritual bombs, emotional bombs that are gonna blow up our family and destroy our lives.

Friends, the devil every day is trying to set traps to destroy your family and destroy your Christian testimony and to destroy everything that you’ve been building for your faith year after year as you walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, and you must be alert.

And how is it that we stay alert and assess this risk? I want to tell you the most important tool you have is prayer, because praying people are alert people, and alert people are praying people, and we are called to be a praying people and ask for that spiritual guidance from God and the Spirit of God to help us to be alert to what is before us.

Jesus said, my time is not yet come. Jesus lived with absolute dependence and commitment to the Father’s perfect divine schedule. Are you committed to that? Are you assessing what is before you? Are you evaluating so that you can A, make sure that you are spiritually safe, that you are physically safe?

Are you assessing so that you can maximize opportunity to reach others so that you may make the most of every day for Christ and make the greatest impact that you can for Jesus? I’m telling you this morning to follow God’s timetable, assess the risk, but number two, devise a strategy.

Devise a strategy. A strategy is a plan. Don’t be scared of the word, but every day have a plan. The Bible says in verse 8 of John chapter 7, Go ye up unto this feast, Jesus told his brothers. I go not up yet unto this feast, for my time is not yet full come.

Jesus had a plan. Jesus had a plan. It was not the world’s plan. It was not his brother’s plan, but he had a plan. He would eventually, as the text tells us, go up to the feast, but he would not go publicly.

Because it wasn’t time for him to go into Jerusalem. His ministry in Galilee was not done. There were still more people to reach out to. There were still more lives to touch. There were still more individuals to see that their life was to be transformed in Galilee and Jesus was not done in Galilee.

His brothers were pushing him. His brothers were goading him. His brothers were trying to get him to step out and go do what they wanted. But Jesus said, my time’s not come. What is interesting about that word time is that when we look at it, we see that it can not only be translated as my time or my hour, but my season as well.

We have seasons in our life and God has opportunities for us and we are called to walk into those seasons. When God brings a new season in your life, don’t shut the door. Don’t quit and give up and don’t say, hey, I’m done.

If I can’t do what I used to always do, then I’m done. No, my friends, listen, I want you to finish the chapter. I want you to start writing the new chapter. I want you to embrace the new season God has for you in your life.

Because you must always be on God’s timetable. Jesus had a plan. He would go to the feast. It would be later, but it would be privately. It wasn’t time for him to come into Jerusalem and to fulfill prophecy.

It wasn’t time for him to be exalted as a king. It was not time for him to be praised. It was not time for his entry into Jerusalem in a public procession. As the Jews were traveling from town to town, headed to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, they would travel in groups.

and they would travel together and as they were traveling to Jerusalem they would sing songs of praise to God and they would exalt him as they were in these groups families upon families just walking towards Jerusalem and his Jesus his brothers are saying hey go join the crowd and go do what the crowd is doing and make your entrance and declare yourself to be a Messiah and perform your miracles and let them make you a king and let them do it now and Jesus said my time does not come he operated on a different schedule he had a different strategy Jesus would come but it would be later now I think there are three things that drove or guided Jesus a strategy I want you to write these down because as you’re putting a plan together for your life I think these truths need to be true in all of your planning and strategy every one of us needs goals As I tell people as I try to help them in life God has not called us to go backwards.

He’s called us to move forward And therefore you need a plan and you need goals and listen to me. You need steps to your goals These are not my three things for your strategy. By the way This is just what i’m telling you from mike sanders that you need steps to your goal and then you need accountability Okay, but what is it that really guided jesus’s strategy number one glory to god?

Jesus was not about exalting self He was about exalting god the father I know that might sound strange to you, but remember That jesus kept telling his disciples and all those who were there i’m here I’m sent from the father and i’m here to do what the father told me And I am here to bring glory to god when i’m putting a strategy it has to not be about you It has to be about god And I know that the world is telling you that you need a pr consultant and you need this great marketing strategy And you need all these things to make sure that you are elevated and that you’re promoting self But my friends in the work of god in the timetable of god in the schedule of god The last thing we need is exaltation of self.

Amen And john the baptist said he must increase and I must what? My friends when you put your plans together when you put your strategies together make sure that you’re decreasing and jesus is increasing That god is being glorified in all of your plans And if it’s all about you and it’s not about god, then I think your strategy will fail And I don’t care what terminology use I don’t care what book you read and I don’t care else is doing it?

If it’s not about Jesus, it’s not going to work. The second guiding principle for his strategy was obedience to God. It was not only glory to God, but it was obedience to God. Obedience to God. Jesus not only chose to bring glory to God, but he always chose to do the will of God.

Jesus told his own family in Mark chapter 3, verse 35. He said, whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. Can I tell you something? When you do the will of God, sometimes it’ll take you away from your family.

Sometimes it’ll go against your family. Sometimes your family won’t like it. Did you know when you study the Gospel of Mark chapter 3 that Jesus’ own family, even his mother thought he was a little crazy.

They thought Jesus was losing it. But Jesus was committed to obedience to the will of God. Are you committed? Whatever and wherever God’s will is the safest place for you to be. And not only when you are doing the will of God and you are obeying God, I’m here to tell you, it is the most opportunities you’ll have to maximize every day for Jesus Christ.

There are people who are not living in the will of God. You know why? They chose money. They chose fame. They chose their own selfish desires. And hear me, I know you’re not gonna like this. They chose their family, and therefore they are not living in the will of God.

Jesus said that he must be more important than your mother and your father. He must be more important than your family. He must be number one in your life. You and I are called to seek God’s will for our life, and we are to be content with his will.

The third guiding principle for Jesus and his strategy was the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the advancement of the gospel. When Jesus put his strategy together, he knew that whatever he did, it had to maximize the advancement of the gospel.

If Jesus prematurely would have listened to his brothers, who were misguiding him, misleading him, if he would have followed their will instead of the father’s will, he would have gotten ahead of God’s schedule.

But my friends, he chose to follow the divine timetable of God, and it brought the maximum, the maximum opportunity to bring about salvation for you, and for me. And when you think about going down the quarters of history, because Jesus was a warrior, obedient to the Father because he was willing to advance and move the ball of the Gospel forward rather than backwards.

The impact is still felt today. Can God’s people say amen? Number three, I gotta hurry. I gotta hurry. I have to give you an honest confession that every Saturday night I have the biggest fear that I never have enough material for you.

And I’m always afraid that I’m gonna shortchange you. And so I just, it just, and then I get in here and I’m like, man, Mike, you gotta hurry. I don’t know, maybe they moved these clocks up more on me.

I don’t know what they did. But here’s my third and final point and may God be blessed with this. Stay on mission. Jesus says in verse 10, the Bible says, when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were, in secret.

We’re going to learn that Jesus stays on mission in Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 as He’s up at the feast. But the mission of Christ was already planned by the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Spirit. Jesus had a strong sense of His mission.

He stayed on task. He was not discouraged or distracted. This is what the devil does. He wants you to get off mission. He wants me to get off mission. Our teenagers today are on mission for God. Aren’t you thankful?

I am. They’re on mission. But what the devil does is try to distract you. He tries to get you off mission. And you say, well, what do I do when my family has a different agenda than I do? Follow God’s agenda.

Follow God’s will. Christ did not make it His mission. Hear me. Christ did not make it His mission to please His brothers and His family. He made it His mission to please His heavenly Father. And I want to challenge you.

Yes, your family may critique you. Your family may try to discourage you. Your family may find fault with you. But listen to me. Stay on mission to what God has called you to do. Do not quit. Do not give up.

And stay on mission and finish what God has called you to do. Hebrews 12 .1. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

I’m on a race. You’re on a race. We are all on mission. Let’s get going. Jesus was mischaracterized. But He never allowed the mischaracterization of the religious elite nor the family to deter him from his mission.

People are going to mischaracterize you and they are going to try to find fault with you and sometimes you’ll find them in the family of God and all they want to do is bring you down because little people find fault with people trying to bring them down to their size.

But Jesus avoided trouble. He assessed the risks and he made sure that he could stay on mission for God. What I’m saying to you church is stay on task until your mission is completed. We all have assignments.

We all have a job. We all have different things that we do and we have seasons of life and we have different chapters in life and we have different assignments in life. Whatever that is and however that works for you, stay at the task.

And I would say to you in conclusion This morning look to the cross for your motivation. Jesus stayed on mission and he endured the cross and he kept his eyes on the mission to finish. Remember the words of the apostle who said this about our savior that he died for all that they which live that you and me should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him Christ who died for them and rose again don’t live for self but live for the Lord Jesus Christ following his timetable for your life.

Jesus followed the timing of the father again he never got ahead of the father he never was out of sync with the father frequently Jesus referred that it is not my hour or it is not my season and that was designed to let people know that he was always wanting to follow the sovereign timing the perfect direction of the father how wonderful it is when we as Christians can follow the example of our savior that you and I can simply say we’re going to follow God’s will we’re going to do it in his timetable that is a blessing friends we get anxious we want to get ahead we want to get it done yesterday but many times God tells us to wait because his time is better and his way is superior so I hope today’s message has been a blessing to you and I want to encourage you to continue to stay with us week after week and let’s continue to study together as we learn God’s word now let me mention to you that every Every Sunday we’re streaming live.

You can go to HopeWithHaving .com, you can go to our Facebook page, and we are streaming live at 11 a .m., and you can come right into the service at the Open Door Church, and you can have a privilege and an opportunity to worship together.

We know that some of you are not able to get out because of health reasons. We understand that some of you have different work schedules, and so maybe you’re listening to us in the car, and whatever the means might be, we understand that this broadcast is reaching a lot of people, and so not only do we appreciate you tuning into the radio broadcast, but remember you have options, and you can stream live right through your device,

and you can listen as we’re teaching God’s Word, and we hope that you’ll take advantage of that. You can go to our website and see so many other options and alternatives and opportunities for you to grow in your faith, so please take advantage of that and let God use these things to equip you to love Him more and to love people more.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders. reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.