GPS- God's Positioning System

Psalms 1:1-4

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

 

As humans, we all want to know where we have come from, where we are now and most importantly, where we are going. In our cars and on our phones we all now have GPS devices, but what is a GPS and how does it work, and does God offer a GPS?

 

 

GPS- GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

 

 

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a network of about 30 satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 20,000 km. The system was originally developed by the US government for military navigation but now anyone with a GPS device, be it a SatNav, mobile phone or handheld GPS unit, can receive the radio signals that the satellites broadcast.

Wherever you are on the planet, at least four GPS satellites are ‘visible’ at any time. Each one transmits information about its position and the current time at regular intervals. These signals, travelling at the speed of light, are intercepted by your GPS receiver, which calculates how far away each satellite is based on how long it took for the messages to arrive.

Once it has information on how far away at least three satellites are, your GPS receiver can pinpoint your location using a process called trilateration.

So this gives rise to some pretty accurate information about where we are and where we are going, although this doesn’t always work.

 

GPS- GOING PLACES STUPIDLY

Japanese Tourists Drive Straight into the Pacific Thanks to His GPS

 

Three Japanese tourists in Australia found themselves in an embarrassing situation after their GPS navigation system lured them down the wrong path. The three students from Tokyo set out to drive to North Stradbroke Island on the Australian coast Thursday morning, and mapped out their path on their GPS system. The road looked clear, at low tide — but the map forgot to show the 9 miles of water and mud between the island and the mainland.

As the three drove their rented Hyundai Getz into Moreton Bay, they found the GPS device guiding them from a gravel road into thick mud. They tried to get back to solid ground, but as the tide rose they were forced to abandon their car. Passengers on passing ferries watched in amazement.

 

 

GPS- GOD’S POSITIONING SYSTEM

 

The GPS is a phenomenal tool which all of us can now access. We don’t have to know how it works, we just have to learn how to use one. But in order for God’s Positioning System to work certain things must happen…

 

 

1.      YOUR GPS HAS TO BE CONNECTED

 

 

I know this sounds basic, but if your GPS has no power, if it is disconnected or if the satellites are down, your GPS won’t work.  In the same way, unless you are connected to God, your GPS isn’t God’s Positioning System it’s a paperweight!

 

John 16:13

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

 

For your GPS to work, you must be plugged into Christ. We talk often about asking Jesus into your life as your Lord and Saviour, and from that moment your sins are forgiven and you have the gift of eternal life. But the really cool thing is you get the Holy Spirit living within you..

 

2 Timothy 1:14

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

 

God gives us the deposit of the Holy Spirit, and once you have the Holy Spirit within you, you’re connected to God, and your God Positioning System is ready to guide you.

 

2.      YOU HAVE TO WANT TO MOVE FORWARD

 

A Sunday school class was once asked why the people of God wandered in the desert for 40 years. One young girl answered, “Because Moses was a boy, and he would never stop to ask for directions.”

 

 

You can sit and look at your GPS all day, but unless you want to use it to actually move forward, the GPS is useless.  And so it is with your life, and with this church.

 

God’s Positioning System is like the rudder of a boat. If you are stationary, it doesn’t work. You cannot steer if the boat isn’t moving. But when it starts to move the rudder bites and you can begin to steer.

 

Psalms 25:4-5

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.

 

Hebrew for wait is qawa, meaning to bind together, wait eagerly in hope or to lie in wait expectantly. Wait doesn’t mean sit and wait, it means keep doing what you’re doing, keep moving forward eagerly expecting to be led and guided in the right way. It means if you haven’t got a job, keep applying for them. If you haven’t got a ministry in church, start serving others.

 

I could look at our church and say, “Hey were basically full, everyone is happy, job done.” But I am not content, because God has given me a vision and we’ve only just begun!

 

Wikipedia defines inertia as the resistance of any object to any change in its state of motion.

 

If I resist change, I cannot move forward. And neither can this church.

 

No one likes change, especially if we are comfortable and content with the current situation. Change can be painful, it can be scary, it’s almost always uncomfortable. Yet most of us recognise that progress always involves change, and maintenance usually involves no change. So when faced with the prospect of change, how do you face it in a godly way?

 

As pastor of this church, I have to face the prospect of change if we are to move into all that God has for us, and I choose to do so along with my leadership team, elders and especially the board. In the next few weeks we face the prospect of many changes… seats, our name, other things too. So let’s look at how the apostle Paul faces changes…

 

Acts 16:6-10

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

 

THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN

 

Paul had plans, big plans. He wanted to take the gospel to Asia, but the Holy Spirit forbade them. Next he decided on Bithynia. But even before he could write “Bithynia or bust” in the dust on the back of his donkey, the plans were changed again by a vision.

 

We see in Paul a model of how we should face changes, in our lives and in the church.

 

Proverbs 19:21

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

 

And we make our plans as best we can, but we must be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. So is it wrong to make plans? Of course not, if you aim at nothing you’ll hit it, right? So can we allow ourselves to become discouraged if changes happen we don’t expect? No, we have to trust God!

 

What stops us from moving forward is contentment or fear, or fear of losing contentment.

 

Lot’s wife was content in Sodom, as they were fleeing the doomed city, she lagged behind and then

 

Genesis 19:26

But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

 

She was happy, she was content, she resisted God ordained change. If you are at this church to cruise along and be content, I’m sorry because, while I want you to be happy here, I don’t want any of us content with the status quo. Nice band, but that’s going down, down!

 

There’s a world to be won for Christ, there are people next door and in the next street and across the world going to hell, and I will never be content to just save me and mine! Remember the symbol for Christianity is a cross, not a cushion, so comfort is not the highest calling here!

 

But often we resist change because of fear. Raymond just changed countries, to a people he doesn’t know, in a land he doesn’t recognise, to a situation he doesn’t understand, but he had courage to face that change and step out in faith.

 

Christian business consultant Sam Voorhies offers five essential principles for “growing through the change process.”

(1) Don’t take things too personally. Changes in this church are not against you personally… we are making the calls we believe God wants us to make, not rattling your cage!

(2) View things in light of eternity, from God’s perspective. Colossians 3:2

(3) Focus on your call, not your career. If God calls you to serve in this church, it’s not about you!

(4) Take responsibility for how you respond. If you don’t agree with something, seek God and respond the way He wants you to, don’t become like a petulant child! You cannot control what others do or decide, but you can control your response.

(5) Know that God will never forget nor forsake you.

 

Change is inevitable if we are to continue moving forward. You don’t have to agree, but if you disagree, do so agreeably!

 

 

3.      KNOW WHERE YOU ARE NOW

 

If you turn in your GPS to go to a Brisbane, and it navigates from Vladivostok, it is useless. Guidance needs to take you from where you are now into the future.

 

So where are you now? Are you close to God right now? Are you spending time each day with Him? If you don’t stay close to God, how can He guide you in your life?

 

God longs to lead you,  guide you, and to teach you, but you must find yourself close to Him.

 

James 4:8

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

 

So many people today are double minded, they change like shifting sands, dependent on fashion and the opinions of others. We see it in our country with the same sex marriage issue, and Christians, if they are not Clos enough to the Lord, are double minded.

 

Listen to what James says about being double minded…

 

James 1:6-8

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

 

If you don’t draw close to God, you get no guidance, no direction and no peace, you just get confusion. For God’s Positioning System to work properly, you must draw near to God!

 

 

4.      KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO GO

 

 

Are you on the road to nowhere? Are you confused about where you are going in life? I don’t have a plan for your life, but I know who does!

 

Proverbs 3:5-7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

 

If you make decisions in your own strength and wisdom, if you don’t turn away from evil, then you won’t know where you are going, and you will be like this…

 

Ephesians 4:14

so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

 

So where are you going? Where is this church going? If our aim is to have a great life, or be happy, or grow a big church. That’s not an aim, that’s nothing more than a wish.

 

Luke 18:8

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

 

I don’t want to be successful. What I want is to be faithful…

 

Luke 16:10

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

 

If you are faithful in the small things, you will be entrusted with great things. Do I want our church to grow? Of course, but that’s not my aim. I just want to be faithful. God can grows things as He sees fit, but we must be faithful.

 

My aim is not to grow a kingdom here. My reason for being in ministry is not to build a big church or bigger buildings. While ever there is one person in pain, one person lonely, one person going to hell, my calling is to serve the Lord with all my heart and all my being. My calling is to be faithful…

 

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

 

That’s where my GPS is set to. So what about you? Will you join me?

 

5.      YOU HAVE TO BE OBEDIENT

 

Mrs. Merv Grazinski , of Oklahoma City, purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an Oklahoma University football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set out for home, set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich.

"Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway at the first turn, crashed and overturned. Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set.

"The Oklahoma jury awarded her – are you sitting down? – $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home."

Or this one…

 

A GPS doesn’t steer for you, it doesn’t think for you, it doesn’t observe for you… it is not an autopilot. It guides you, it directs you to where to go, but you have to be obedient to it. If you disobey, if you ignore it, if you walk to the back of the vehicle to make a sandwich, how can God lead you in the right way? It’s like herding chickens!

 

John 14:15

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

 

It’s so simple… if you love God, obey Him. Don’t constantly disobey God’s will for your life and have to gall to say that you love Him! Love is not a feeling, it’s an act of the will, and obedience to what is right. And the thing is, if you obey Him, He works on your behalf to lead you into the greatest life possible. If you could only see things from God’s perspective, you would be obedient and trust Him.

 

If you are open, if your heart is seeking Him, His Word will direct your steps. I cannot tell you the number of times I have read something in my daily Bible reading in a way that I could use and apply for direction that very day. I believe in God’s GPS, I believe in His Word. That’s why I continually encourage you to do this Bible reading plan. Do it every day, and watch Him lead your life, you very own GPS for your life, and it’s all here!

 

But the reality is, that this is a constant battle, even for us who know God and read His Word daily. We start out trusting, we start following the GPS and moving forward, but our thoughts lead us away from God. Society attacks Christian values constantly, TV assaults our senses, the Internet and social media draw our attention from what is really important, so we constantly battle to be obedient. That’s why Paul writes…

 

2 Corinthians 10:5

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

 

Some of you here want to obey, you long to be led by the Holy Spirit, but you must learn to start taking every thought captive. Spending time with Christ every day is a great way to start centring your mind on God, and becoming more obedient. Without obedience, God’s Positioning System is useless in your life!

 

CAN YOU TRUST YOUR GPS?

 

 

But as we saw earlier, even obedience to a GPS can lead you down some pretty strange paths.

 

11 Pennsylvania residents sued a GPS manufacturer in 2013 because the charter bus they were passengers on slammed into an overpass near Boston when the device directed the driver onto a road with height restrictions less than the height of his vehicle.

 

 

When the new Apple Iphone came out , it had an identifiable Apple maps error directing people to drive right onto an active airport runway at an Alaskan airport. Two separate people courageously ignored security gates and signs reading,” Stop, Danger, Active Runways, Do Not Proceed” and boldly drove onto the runways faithfully following their GPS.

 

So the question to you this morning is, can you trust God’s Positioning System? Absolutely YES!

 

Lamentations 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

 

God is God, and as we saw last week, He is your loving Father. He will not give you everything you want, He will not direct you to every place you want to go, because He loves you, and know what is best for you. He is your loving Father, and He has plans to prosper not to harm you, so if you truly love Him you can truly trust Him to lead you in the right direction. Not under bridges that are too low, not onto active runways and not into Morton Bay. Let Him have control and let Him lead yo, because He is faithful.

 

Many of you struggle to trust God, and I get it. I understand how hard it is to trust Him when  don’t have the full picture. We all face the situations where it looks right, but God takes us another way, but the more experience you have of trusting God and the closer you are to Him, the more confident you become trusting Him. Many struggle to trust God not because He let them down, but because people let them down. People say and do things that God doesn’t approve of. So if you’ve been hurt or let down in the past, don’t blame God for what man has done. Paul addresses this very issue..

Romans 3:3-4

What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

“That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

 

GOD’S POSITIONING SYSTEM IS TRUE AND FAITHFUL

 

God is true. God is faithful, and God is the GPS your life needs right now.

 

And finally, the ultimate Bible verse on God’s Positioning system is this…

 

Isaiah 30:21

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

 

If you face major decisions in Your life and you need guidance, then today is the day to respond to His Word. Need a job, need a change of job, need a change of living situation? Need direction about whether to start or stop something? Are you facing financial decisions? Moral decisions? Worried about what to say to your kids or grandkids? Whatever you face, whatever decision you face, you need God’s GPS, not someone’s opinion.