This is an excerpt of this talk. The whole thing is a little shy of 2 hours, but it is SO good! To see the whole thing, click here. The notes below are from the entire sermon, not just the excerpt.
SERMON NOTES
If everybody forsakes me, and everybody leaves my room--as long as JESUS is in the room!
For the eagle “soar” is about flying, but for the eaglet “soar” is about falling.
Crushing is the process, and soaring is the promise. You cannot have promise without process. Those that God is going to anoint the most, He always crushes the most severely. The further the arrow is going to be shot, the more it must be pulled back. I have learned how to abase and abound. Whatever state I’m in, therewith to be content. Some things you learn are not for you, but for you to help someone else. Anytime he’s going to exalt you, he humbles you.
Obscurity is a great gift. There’s a reason that God develops an embryo in obscurity. That moses was hidden in the tent for 3 months. That Christ didn’t start his ministry until he was 30. To fight your own devils. To get your priorities in alignment. People want success that they have not been groomed for. It’s like birthing a baby prematurely. The chances of survival go down the earlier the baby is exposed. You don’t want anything before it’s time. It’s not punishment, it’s preparation. Because he loves you, he hides you in obscurity.
The pressure of success. The reward you get, for overcoming your last challenge, is your next challenge. I never wanted to be famous, I wanted to be effective. You cannot be so driven by ambition that you see obscurity as punishment. The hardest part is managing “success”. The expectations are as different as there are people. Your normal is somebody else’s weird.
You’re either going to reach the world, or you’re going to honor your traditions. You have to go beyond your traditions in order to be effective. It is the crushing that prepares you not to be more loyal to your traditions than you calling.
Church people get amnesia quick. Jesus was so relevant that the Romans had to hire someone to point him out, because he looked so ordinary in his environment. Jesus wasn’t into standing out, he was into fitting in. What makes a minister effective and not condescending….the most effective ministers are the ones who see a little bit of themselves coming down the aisle. KINSMEN with them.
The pressure of fitting into a religious environment can tempt you to hypocrisy..because...we become more concerned about being accepted by the people we worship with, than we are about being used by God!!
PRE Message Syndrome
POST Message Syndrome
Pressure Management System
Fruitfulness is not the end. The process of pressure, if not managed correctly, it can shut you down.
I refuse to allow how I feel to abort what I’m called to. You can’t see yourself. When you are truly gifted, it is your normal. The more gifted you are, the more vulnerable you are, and the more affirmation you need from your inner circle…You should hear the guy that’s preaching IN me. I’m preaching against the guy who’s preaching inside of me.
Gifted people are sensitive and vulnerable. They can’t see themselves.
Insulate yourself with a few inner circle people who love you enough that you can be vulnerable in front of, and yet are honest enough..
Jesus & the blind man at Bethsaida. The healing is ALL based on honesty. The man has to take the first steps in the dark.
You cannot let your fear hold you back from your destiny. You have to feel the fear and do it anyway. Do it broke. Do it scared. Do it on your knees. Do it on crutches.
Anytime you won’t hear God’s warning, he will chasten you. Sometimes God uses His hand and sometimes he uses yours. But you cannot get God’s people out of God’s hand. God knows exactly where to cut you to make you more productive. In between fruit & more fruit is always a knife. There will be some exodus, some loneliness, some crushing place...weeping/wallowing stage of life. Because you are His. And He knows exactly where to cut you.
Knowledge from the divine always comes in waves, not in reason. “BEHOLD” is a download. All of a sudden you know something that you didn’t know before.
No one else is as up front about the crushing as God! The EMBLEM of Christianity is the cross! Not a crown. God puts the pain up front. Pay something for promotion, process for promise.
The same part of the brain that processes physical pain, is the same as emotional pain.
The crushing is not the end. The cross is not the transportation, not the destination. He’s not on the cross anymore!
When you hear a writer think, it impregnates you with thought.
Greatness always needs a friend. Someone to say, “I’m scared.” Sometimes being great ain’t so great. Being crushed and not being allowed to whimper. When you are superman, nobody knows you’re Clark Kent.
DISCUSSION
What do you do to get through crushing seasons?
Can you look back and see a time when God pruned you? What happened?
What is your “pressure management system”?
What spoke to you the most out of this conversation?
STUDY AT HOME:
Study & meditate on Matthew 9:14-17. What do you think it means for you right now?