Priscilla Shirer empowers you to intentionally plan on obeying God and what He’s been asking you to steward.
be obedient to God intentionally and
deliberately and then enlist
accountability so that you can have some
people around you this is what church
and family the family of God is all
about put some people around you who
will challenge you and ask you and get
all up in your business and say did you
do what God has asked you to do make a
plan to be obedient to God
[Applause]
I want you to be encouraged to know that
every single time I sit down to have my
quiet time which by the way as much as I
want it to happen every single day
sometimes it doesn’t because you know
life happens
but every time I do sit down I want you
to know that each time it doesn’t mean
that I just find
um God’s word spoken over my life just
leaping up off the page every single
time and it feels vibrant and fresh and
on fire every time no sometimes I’m
reading along and it’s about the
jebusites who were fighting the
hebusites and the amorites and the
Canaanites and the otherites ate those
ice and it just seems like a waste of
time what in the world does this have to
do with my personal life right now the
crisis that I’m facing or God what you
want me to do with what I’m dealing with
my child or my financial situation or my
health or the grief or the longing in my
heart what does this have to do with
that but I find that even Those portions
of scripture are vital to us because if
nothing else you’re still going to ask
yourself
what does this teach me about the
character of God
what did he do what did he not do
what did he say what did he not say what
did he allow what did he not allow
it shows you who your God is and getting
to know his character is what this is
all about a friendship develops intimacy
develops the more we know think about
your regular friends the more you know
that person the more you know the
nuances of who they are and how they
think and what they say and what they
wouldn’t say
then remember in John chapter 10 when
Jesus said the Sheep know my voice he
says they do not respond to the voice of
a stranger the only way to be able to
detect the voice of a stranger is if you
know God well enough that when the enemy
chooses to speak fear over your life or
when your ego tries to get a word in
edgewise or when your pride is trying to
sneak in there or when the opinions of
the culture in the world sound true
the only way you’re going to know if it
ain’t God is if you’ve come to know his
character so well that you can detect
the voice of a stranger a mile away you
know my God would never say or do that
my brother Anthony is named after my dad
so I got Anthony senior and Anthony Jr
and they walk alike they talk alike uh
there’s so much alike about the two
Anthonys and I’ve seen my brother use
this to his advantage and kind of fool
people I remember we were growing up
people would call the house and so he’d
answer the phone people thought they
were talking to Pastor Evans and so
they’d give him the whole story of
whatever they were calling for he’d get
all the juicy details before saying dad
somebody’s on the phone for you
I remember one time he went up to the
ticket counter at American Airlines so
that he could get his ticket to get on
the airplane and he said well my name is
Anthony T Evans and he showed the
license it said that he was Anthony
Evans
so they pulled up my father’s profile
and my father had executive Platinum
Status because he flies so much so
immediately they upgraded Anthony gave
him first class treatment put him in
first class let him eat the meal that
first class because he got all of that
because he was able to confuse people
because they are so similar to each
other but let me tell you who he can’t
confuse me and other members of the
family if the phone rings in the first
two minutes of the conversation or two
seconds rather of the conversation I’m
having with either Anthony I can tell
you exactly which Anthony I’m talking to
because no matter how similar they sound
I have known them for so many years and
been a part of their life and them a
part of my life in so many specific ways
that they cannot confuse me because I
know the two Anthony’s
do you see the more you know God
the more clearly and easily you’re going
to be able to put a finger on the voice
of the enemy when he comes by trying to
play you for the fool
so you pull out the spiritual principles
Once you pull out the spiritual
principles here’s the fourth p
ose the question
okay this is where you turn the
spiritual principle you just pulled out
you turn it into the form of a
personally directed question
man this is where the rubber meets the
road this is when the Holy Spirit starts
speaking because you say to yourself am
I living in a way that’s congruent with
that spiritual principle that I just
wrote down am I heeding that promise am
I behaving in that way is my attitude
adjusted to that have i forgiven that
person
have I been committed in my tithes
have I submitted to that Authority
maybe that verse said that I need to be
still and see the salvation of the Lord
have I been still or have I frantically
been trying to figure out everything on
my own Lord what is it that you’re
asking me to do ask yourself a
personally directed question and when
you start asking honest and authentic
questions of the text you will find that
the Holy Spirit starts giving you the
answers he starts shining a spotlight on
the areas of your life and mine that I
didn’t even know existed that I need to
get right with God that I need to line
up so that I am in line for the favor
and Promises of God to be experienced in
my life so that I have fresh revelation
of God’s truth so that I can see clearly
where in the culture or in the opinion
of my friends actually that is
antithetical to what it is that God is
saying uh in his word and listen there
are two answers to every question God’s
answer
and everybody else’s
and everybody else is wrong when they
are in contradiction to what it is that
God has said
so as the Holy Spirit starts answering
in your spiral notebook you write down
what it is that he’s been saying in your
notes write down the parts of your life
that are coming to life like the Salman
psalmist said search me o God and know
me
find out if there’s any way in me that
ain’t like you so that I can get back to
being in right relationship with you and
having the opportunity Lord to
experience everything you have for me
and after you pose the question
plan obedience
and pin down a date to obey
now the reason why that’s critical
is because we seem to plan for
everything else except
obeying God
we got a plan for our physical health
we’ve enlisted a trainer we’ve got our
meals planned out for the week
we’ve got a membership at a gym
we plan for our financial security we’ve
got a financial advisor to make sure
that we can retire at the age that we
want to so that we can save the way we
want to
we’ve planned for the project that’s due
at our job to make sure that we are
working incrementally and progressively
to make sure that the segments of the
project are each done well we plan for
everything
except honoring God
as God makes clearly what he’s asking
you to do forgive that person or write
that blog post that was on your heart to
write or move forward in starting that
business or stepping out in faith from
the place that you’ve been employed
whatever it is God’s asked you to do
make a plan
I mean on paper
be obedient to God intentionally and
deliberately and then enlist
accountability so that you can have some
people around you this is what church
and family the family of God is all
about put some people around you who
will challenge you and ask you and get
all up in your business and say did you
do what God has asked you to do
make a plan to be obedient to God
in closing let me just tell you that um
I was traveling you know back when we
traveled and I was packing some jewelry
and I remember trying to put this
jewelry together and I put it in my
carry-on case then when I got to where I
was going I pulled it all out and it was
all tangled every little string or a
little chain was Tangled together man I
was just jingling around trying to get
it all separated
my husband said as he watched me in
frustration trying to get just this one
necklace out he said Priscilla I think
if you stop massaging the whole wad of
Tangled mess
and you just grab onto one unhook that
one and then just start working to get
that one out of there I think it’ll be
more successful
he was right I grabbed onto one little
necklace and I just worked on getting
that one Unwound and you know what
happened when I not only worked on that
one did I get it out but the whole
Tangled mess started to loosen up
because it actually wasn’t about taking
care of everything all I needed to do
was focus on the one thing and the one
thing took care of everything else
brother sister
Focus once again on the one thing
I know you’ve got a tangled mess all
around you and your family and in the
culture and in your marriage with your
children and on your job and in your
finances and your health and your aging
parents or whatever it is that you’ve
got going on I know it’s a whole big
Tangled mess but if you will just get
back to the one thing you’ll find that
focusing on that one thing
untangles everything
Lord Jesus I thank you for your word and
I thank you that you desire to speak to
us through it Lord I pray for fresh wind
and fresh fire over your people
in Jesus name
amen