Sunday, September 09, 2007

Psalm 78:70-73 Greatness starts in the Pasture

Note: as always this is what i started with , but what happens in the pulpit is not ways waht is written down. for some reason i used the words "deep doo doo" and wmy wife and daughter feel that is not very pastoral. oh well. here is the "doo doo" free version.

When you woke up this morning, did you have a sense of awe? A feeling that God was going to something awesome n your life? Did you feel that sense of purpose ready to burst forward in your life.

Well, most of us feel that are lives are boring. Hum-drum. Nothing special about them. We get up brush out teeth, get dressed, have a little breakfast and drive to work. We toil at work, have some lunch, go back to laboring, and drive back home. Nothing special about it. Nothing to write home about. Nothing newsworthy.

For David his days were pretty much like this too. He got up, washed up at the brook, had a little something for breakfast and watched the sheep. Sometime in the day he would find a shade tree and eat some leftovers for lunch. Afterward he would go back to watch the flock. Talk about unexciting, dull, lack luster, dreary task.

Occasionally he would chase off a predator or have to track down a way ward sheep. But that is about it. For David this was about dull as a job on the manufacturing line. Over and over it was pen the sheep, chase the sheep, herd the sheep, protect the sheep, water the sheep, feed the sheep, and do it all over again. But this servant sheep herder had a future that was beyond his belief and a destiny to fulfill.

I bet some of you feel taken for granted. You feel that what you are doing does not matter. And maybe your not even sure that God is on your side because you have no clue what you are suppose to be doing let alone how he is working in your live. The Bible tells us that if our victorious God is for us then who can be against us. The problem seems to be that we will not release ourselves to him and allow him to work. We tend to want to fight Him instead. We try to do own, we say we that we can do it, but we really can’t

Listen to a simple sheep herder turned king as he write a quick summary of his life and how God worked in it.



Psa 78:70-72 He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; (71) From following the ewes that had young He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. (72) So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

So do you know where you are going in life, what your destiny or God’s plan is. Probably not, most of us are just floating along. But I feel that we can learn from David that we need to take the time to prepare for the greatness God has for us even when we don’t know what it is. Through faithfulness and obedience we will be prepared for the opportunities that God ushers us forward into. If we rush, and hurry, and push when it is not there then we will miss out on the little things that count as well as the important opportunities that we desperately need

But, we won’t be able to make the most of them and enjoy the blessing if we rush by. We will miss the little things and we will lose out on the important ones too. It’s like the song that the music group Alabama sings “I hear a voice It says I'm running behind I better pick up my pace It’s a race and there ain't no room for someone in second place I'm in a hurry to get things done Oh, I rush and rush until life's no fun All I really gotta do is live and die But, I'm in a hurry and don't know why”

You might not be sure of what you are doing with your life, where you are going or what your purpose is. I ask you, be patient. Be patient and don’t force the issue.

Moses was a man who forced the issue. Go had a plan for Moses life, but Moses just could not wait. He was in a hurry and tried to push God’s time line ahead. In the process he ended up killing an Egyptian man had to flee for his life and his freedom. By the time he was able to fulfill God’s will for his life he was now 80 years old. Don’t be in such a hurry that you take short cuts that will cost half your life and make you wait 40 years before you can do what you need to. Just because everything is not popping and zooming and happening just like you think it should, does not mean that God has lost sight of you. God know where you are at and what is going on. You are not insignificant or meaningless; you are his creation that he bought back with the blood of His only Child, Jesus. You matter and everything you do matters

We must realize that nothing God has you do is inconsequential, it all matters. Who you date, what you do, where you work, how you life, who you marry, how you treat others, where go, what you buy and most importantly, what or should I say, who come first in you life.

David’s skills were learned in a season when did not have the most glamorous of jobs. Every talent and ability that David needed for his future kingship he honed in the meadows and pastures. In those fields of green filled with grazing and bleating sheep he was not only learning to be the Shepard of the flock but the Shepard of a nation.

So do you know where God is taking you? Probably not, but if we don’t take the time to prepare and make the most of the opportunities to we won’t be ready for the big break in life that God provides. We will not be able to enjoy and make the most of the blessing that God presents us with.

Let me share Psa 32:8 with you,”I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”

We need to understand that our vision is limited, but our Eternal God is able to see all space and time. God knows where the pitfalls of life are and he can guide us through life if we are will trust Him and not fight Him to have our way. God, as a loving heavenly father will direct us, he will instructing us and show us our life’s path.

But in the process of waiting to see God’s plan revealed and the details come forth, we must all so be very care full that we don’t develop and attitude that we are owed something by God. That we have something due to us from Our Creator, the one who gives us each breath and gives us faith. I want to share with you a lesson that a gentlemen, Mr. Patterson ad retired military trainer, taught me while I worked with juveniles. His wisdom to me was that there were only two things I had to do in life. Stay Black and die. All we have to do is be ourselves and die. Just be you, and I’ll be and live to the end. I don’t have to be popular, successful, fruitful, famous, or glamorous. God owes us nothing, but he gave us everything in Jesus and his death you us. God’s treatment of you and me is way better that we honestly deserve.

As David was stepping in sheep manure, he was earning lessons not just it sheep care, but lessons that taught him to be as strong and compassionate leader.

For me I didn’t learn lessons in the pasture, I learned them in prison. I would have never believed you if you would have told me that I would be training to be a pastor when I enrolled to correctional officers academy for TDCJ. But it was there that I learned lessons that molded me as a pastor and improved my shepherding skills. God used some of the worst people in the state of Texas to teach me life lessons about people that come in really handy. Oh, and the inmates were not that nice either.
I would have never thought welding would teach me about marriage of that, sacking groceries would help me as a father, but God did. He knew.

Look at the last verse - So he shepherd them - He performed toward them the office of a shepherd.
According to the integrity of his heart - literally, “According to the perfection of his heart.” That is, he was upright and pure in the administration of his government. Deal fairly, and rightly. Treat people right
And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands - literally, “by the understanding of his hands” - as if the hand had been endued with intelligence. The skill he needed to be king, he learned in the field.

While you may realize it, God is preparing you through various life experiences to be victorious in life and to minister to others. He is preparing you to lead others through seemingly normal situations. In the every day life scenario of wake up, brush teeth, got work, eat lunch come home, eat dinner, wash clothes, go to bed and get up and do it all over again – in the middle of what you think is a boring, tired routine – God is fashioning you for greatness and service.

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