Ps Darin Browne brings life changing messages from Ignite Christian Church Woombye, Australia, packed with scripture and powerful teaching that will change your life forever!
Episodes
Monday Nov 11, 2019
Monday Nov 11, 2019
We’ve been talking about glass ceilings, these limits that appear in our lives that stop us becoming who God wants us to be. I wanted to contrast Saul and David, 2 kings who had ceilings, but very different outcomes.
So we’ve looked at Saul’s glass ceilings, things like fear, impatience and jealousy, and Saul showed many more ceilings, things like deceit and anger. These placed limits on his potential and the tall, good looking, charismatic King Saul lost both his throne and his life because of these glass ceilings.
To wrap up this series, I want to focus on David. He too faced glass ceilings, but he was dealin’ with the ceilin’ differently!
CEILINGS DAVID PUNCHED THROUGH
Facing Goliath, Saul and the army quivered in fear…
1 Samuel 17:11 (ESV Strong's)
When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
But David, faced with the same situation, punched through this ceiling,
1 Samuel 17:36 (ESV Strong's)
Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
He drew on past victories, he drew on a deep faith in the God he knew intimately and trusted completely to overcome the fear and gain victory!
Saul got impatient and offered an unlawful sacrifice in 1 Samuel 13, but many times in Scripture it says this of David…
1 Samuel 30:8 (ESV Strong's)
And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?”
David made better decisions than Saul because he had a different heart.
GLASS CEILINGS THAT LIMITED DAVID
But he still had glass ceilings in his life. He still had major character flaws that limited his potential. We all do of course, but David’s flaws were spectacular!
Sexual sin proved to be a glass ceiling for David for quite a while, And was very nearly his downfall. Then he arranged for the murder of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah to cover it over and legitimise it…
2 Samuel 11:27 (ESV Strong's)
And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
How many men are undone by sexual sin? David tried to legitimise his sin, explain it away, but let’s not make the same mistake today. With over 35% of all data transferred on the internet related to porn, with Porn sites receiving more regular traffic than Netflix, Amazon, & Twitter combined each month, men, we need to say no! This is a ceiling in many people’s lives today! You might feel the temptation, but rather than letting it become a glass ceiling in your life, you need to be the one who says NO!
David also had a glass ceiling in his parenting. He was a great king and a lousy parent, with his kids raping, murdering and trying to usurp his throne.
Yet even with these and other spectacular glass ceilings limiting aspects of his life, most of them being “worse” in our eyes than Saul’s ceilings and sins, things panned out differently for David. I want to discover why!
DEALIN’ WITH THE CEILIN’
So Saul never broke through the glass ceilings in his life, yet David, whose sins and ceilings seemed to us a lot more difficult, overcame them. Offering an incorrect sacrifice doesn’t seem on the scale of adultery or murder, but David found a way through where Saul did not. What made the difference?
There are 2 main differences, and the first can be seen in their responses.
SAUL’S RESPONSE
When confront with his sin, Saul responded with excuses and blame shifting, as most people do today in our society. It’s never my fault, it’s my upbringing, my parents, never my mistakes.
It’s like Charles and Purnella Bull of Minnesota, caught stealing TV’S and computers who claimed a friend told them it was all free. Or a guy who was clocked speeding at 103 miles per hour, and he claimed he’s dyslexic and thought is was 031 mph. Or the nan who sued his neighbour fir driving over both of his hands… He was stealing his neighbour’s hubcaps at the time.
This is what happened with Saul…
1 Samuel 15:19-22 (ESV Strong's)
Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
God makes it clear, He wants obedience, he wants repentance, not excuses, not blaming others, and not an argument as to why you did it and your motives. Just repent, and be obedient, because obedience is worth more than religious acts or excuses!
DAVID’S RESPONSE
David too faced a stern rebuke by the prophet Nathan after he had sinned with Bathsheba. But he handled it completely differently…
2 Samuel 12:7 (ESV Strong's)
Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
2 Samuel 12:13 (ESV Strong's)
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
David didn’t make excuses, didn’t blame his upbringing or drugs or parents or church or school or dyslexia, he just said, yes, Lord, You’re right, I’m wrong, I repent!
And that right there melts God’s heart. People are always running around, trying to get God to give them what they want, and the answer is right there!
Repent and be obedient, do whatever it takes to be close to the Lord, and repentance, being truly sorry and acting on it (the important bit), is what opens incredible favour with God.
THE HEART OF THE MATTER
When Samuel was searching for the future king, he had it narrowed down to a single family. He saw a likely candidate in one son,
1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV Strong's)
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
When God looked at Saul and David, what did He see? When He looks at your heart, what does He see?
SAUL’S HEART
Saul’s heart was shown to be fearful and self centred early on, but God gave Him chance after chance…
1 Samuel 10:9 (ESV Strong's)
When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.
Even later in his reign, Samuel encouraged him, with these words…
1 Samuel 12:24 (ESV Strong's)
Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.
Saul had a chance, he had more than a fair go, but time and again he acted impulsively, selfishly, disobediently and he hit the glass ceiling of fear…
DAVID’S HEART
When Saul proves his heart to be faithless, Samuel told Saul that the kingdom would be taken from him and given to another…
1 Samuel 13:14 (ESV Strong's)
But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
David was described as a man after God’s own heart. The apostle Paul, who ironically was called Saul previously, used the same phrase for David,
Acts 13:22 (ESV Strong's)
he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
The last phrase is the key… Who will do ALL my will. A man after my own heart for God is someone intent on doing all the will of God. Will he be perfect? Nope. Will he ever sin? Sure to. God’s not looking for perfection, or religious observance, or people trying to manipulate a blessing out of Him, He is looking for a man or woman whose heart fully belongs to Him!
BUT WHAT IF I’VE …
The incredible thing to me is that, despite what David did and the spectacular sins he displayed, God’s favour was there for him all of his life. And the reason is that David was a man after God’s own heart… It all came down to his heart.
What’s your past like? Have you got sins that the devil keeps throwing in front of you? Have you sought God, repented of your sin and known His forgiveness? Some of you here may have sinned as spectacularly as David, but David repented and truly knew the forgiveness of God, and you can too. Maybe some of you have been forgiven by God but you need to forgive yourself.
1 John 1:9 (ESV Strong's)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Psalms 103:12 (ESV Strong's)
as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Whatever sin you’ve committed in your past does not disqualify you from dedicating your life to serving Him now, and being used by God to impact your world. Nothing in your past, not divorce, not an affair, not an abortion, not stealing, lying, anger, faithlessness, nothing disqualifies you from recommitting you’re life right now, and starting afresh!
IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR RESPONSE
Throughout his life David wasn’t perfect. He sinned and repented time and again. But he sought God, worshipped God, honoured and obeyed God. He lived his life for God, he asked God for guidance and he wrote Psalms about this same God, because he had a close and intimate relationship with God.
David committed incredible and devastating sins, ones that today’s church would write him off for, but because of his heart, God forgave and restored him.
And this same God is looked for such a man or woman right now. Whatever you’ve done, whatever you’ve been in the past, you are not lost, you are not written off, God has a plan for you, and this same God is searching for those after His own heart.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (ESV Strong's)
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.
WILL YOU BE THE ONE?
Are you this person? Are you the one fully committed and blameless before Him? Right now, centuries later, God is still looking for a man or a woman after His own heart.
150 years ago evangelist DL Moody was challenged about his relationship with God, and he famously said…
The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”
— D.L. Moody
I aim to be that man for mygeneration! And I’m asking you to join with me.
In every generation it falls to some people, a man or a woman after God’s own heart, to rise up and proclaim the gospel to a sick, twisted and dying world. You can be that person. And we can help you do it!
The people you meet, the family, the workmates, the ones you pass in the shopping centre. We call them non Christians, unbelievers or the unchurched, but they are lost, destined to a eternity in hell, separated from God, from love, from life. And God is still looking for those fully committed, ready to pay any price to stand for Christ and reach out to their community.
This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls right across the world, and today I’m asking you to join with me and be that one, the man or woman after God’s own heart.
And it all starts now. I’m ready to dedicate my life to Jesus afresh. To be that man after God’s own heart. To be the man fully consecrated to Him. My question is, are you?
Will you stand with me and commit yourself to whatever God leads you to be to serve Him, to commit to being a man or woman after God’s own heart, at any price. Ignite is a church that wants to win souls and wants to impact our community. Will you join us?
You can pursue many good things in life, career, family, wealth, but let commit to a higher calling, and let us pursue God and His will first…
The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”
Sunday Nov 03, 2019
Sunday Nov 03, 2019
We’ve been looking at Kings Saul and David and examining the glass ceilings they had in their lives, particularly Saul. We have looked at fear, which is probably the biggest ceiling of all, and also impatience, one that’s particularly big for me. Today I want to talk about a ceiling most of us rarely discuss, but one that was huge in Saul’s life, and if we are honest, is pretty big in our lives at times… The glass ceiling of jealousy.
Jealousy is a glass ceiling that drives fear, drives separation and causes pain, both for the one who is jealous and the one over whom words of jealousy are spoken.
SAUL’S CEILING
1 Samuel 18:6-12 (ESV Strong's)
As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they celebrated,
“Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”
And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” And Saul eyed David from that day on.
The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.
Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.
Jealousy consumed Saul to the point where it opened the door for an evil spirit to enter his life. Jealousy is subtle, often clothed in things like criticism or gossip, and unbelievably destructive!
Saul was king, he had everything you could want, but he was terribly envious of David, he knew the Lord was taking the kingdom from him, and giving it to David, so this jealousy allowed Satan access to him. Jealousy both hurt Saul and David.
JEALOUSY AND ENVY
We recently had a conference, and I have jokingly suggested that I experience toilet envy, because they have cubicles, urinals, hot water and even showers, where we have 2 x 100 year old toilets. I experienced car park envy, because they have a nice big one and we have Max playing car tetris. My latest is foyer envy, because their foyer is larger than our auditorium!
We can joke about it, but behind the joke is a little stab of envy, wishing we had what others appear to have. Solomon said,
Ecclesiastes 4:4 (ESV Strong's)
Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Jealousy is futile, vanity and a destructive emotion.
WHAT ARE WE JEALOUS ABOUT?
Jealousy can be a good thing. God is described as a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24), loving us so much He refuses to let us go. We can also be jealous for Him, as Elijah said,
1 Kings 19:14 (ESV Strong's)
He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts.
But mostly in our modern society we are jealous not about God, but about lots of other things, most of which are temporal and do not matter in the long run. We are jealous about cars, houses, boats, rewards, honour or promotions. Jealousy is everywhere, and we’d be lying if we said we never felt it.
Most of us feel it, recognise it as a sin, repent and move on, but sometimes we feel justified hanging on to it, even though it leads to bitterness and destruction.
So what kind of things can we be jealous of?
1. THE POSSESSIONS OF OTHERS
It’s easy to envy other people’s stuff, because the world tells us that success is measured by stuff. I saw a sticker once saying, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” That’s ridiculously far from the truth!
Possessions tend to come with strings attached. I’ve known some very rich but very miserable people. They have a lot, but really they have very little. Like the rich young ruler…
Matthew 19:21-22 (ESV Strong's)
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
He didn’t have possessions, his possessions had him. We get envious over things that ultimately are not important. We forget the 10 commandments,
Exodus 20:17 (ESV Strong's)
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
2. THE POSITION OF OTHERS
We often envy the position others find themselves in, especially if they are in leadership. We envy the respect, the trimmings, the honour, the favour they seem to get, but we have no idea of the pressures they face. Joseph’s brothers were insanely jealous
Genesis 37:4 (ESV Strong's)
But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
Even to the point of doing away with him. Families can be like that!
3. THE PRAISES OF SUCCESS OF OTHERS
When someone gets a reward we thought we should get, acknowledgement, praise, promotion, we can get jealous.
1 Samuel 18:8 (ESV Strong's)
And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?”
Saul was jealous of David because people praised him more. They still praised Saul, but he couldn't focus on that because he was second, and to many people today coming second is just being the first loser!
ULTIMATELY, JEALOUSY IS ALL ABOUT YOU
Jealousy is never about someone else, it’s always about you.
James 4:2-3 (ESV Strong's)
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
James pulls no punches, and he’s writing to Christians! 9 times in 2 verses he uses you of your. Dress up your jealousy as you like, frame it in neat, religious, pious language, ultimately it’s still all about you!
And because it’s so self centred, it robs you of your joy. Jealousy causes misery, mostly in the one who is jealous. Look at Saul, how happy was he, hurling spears at people or alienating his own children, all because of jealousy of David. How about Joseph’s brothers? Or Cain, whose jealousy drove him to murder his brother.
Jealousy is a poison that infects your life and then slowly but surely destroys you,
Job 5:2 (ESV Strong's)
Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.
WATCH OUT FOR SECONDARY INFECTIONS
Jealousy is often the primary infection, but it strips away your spiritual protection from the evil one and exposes you to secondary infections which are even more destructive.
Years ago we talked about AIDS killing people, but AIDS didn’t actually kill. The virus lowered immunity, and then the host was killed by something as common as a flu or pneumonia. Jealousy is like that, it removes your spiritual immunity and gives rise to secondaries like…
1. FEAR
Saul saw his huge glass ceiling of fear fed by the glass ceiling of jealousy, which he never broke through…
1 Samuel 18:14-15 (ESV Strong's)
And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him.
If you compare yourself, if you are jealous of someone else’s success, you place undue weight upon your own back, with the fear that you will never reach up to their level.
2. BITTERNESS
Jealousy, if you hang on to it, will lead to bitterness, and bitterness is a secondary that will destroy you.
Hebrews 12:15 (ESV Strong's)
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
So not only is jealousy a glass ceiling, stopping you from becoming who you are destined to be, but it is also a root that digs in and infects your whole being. Trying pulling out a plant who has roots entwined around a pipe or something else, is a big task.
3. SEPARATION
Jealousy drives people away from you. It separates friends, blows apart churches, ruins families and destroys everything in its path. Look at Saul,
1 Samuel 20:30 (ESV Strong's)
Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?
Jealousy is particularly strong in families, such as with Cain and Abel.
4. CONSUMING
Jealousy and envy turn to bitterness and consume you, like a wasting disease, and the Bible describes it as like rotting bones.
Proverbs 14:30 (ESV Strong's)
A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.
5. DEATH
Jealousy, if left to run is course, will lead to death. Make no mistake, jealousy is not just a ceiling, it’s a death sentence!
Song of Songs 8:6 (ESV Strong's)
for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
It was for Saul, and it will be for you if you don’t deal with it.
SMASHING THROUGH BOTH SIDES OF JEALOUSY
Jealousy has been around since time began, since Cain and Abel, so we all feel it. The flu virus is around everywhere too, but some get infected while others don’t. Some fight it off naturally, but others need a vaccine.
The vaccine for jealousy, the drug that removes this ceiling from your life, comes in 4 parts.
1. STOP COMPARING
Comparisons are almost always wrong. Compare yourself with someone lesser and it fuels your pride. Compare yourself with someone superior and it fuels inferiority. No one wins in comparisons.
Especially in a family. One of the most hurtful things a parent can say to a child is, “Why aren’t you like your brother or sister.” If this has happened to you, it’s hurtful, but today is the day you forgive and quash sibling jealousy forever.
Galatians 6:3-4 (ESV Strong's)
For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
The first step in breaking through this glass ceiling is to stop comparing yourself to others, especially when it come to serving the Lord.
2. BE CONTENT
If you have a contented spirit, you will tend not to be jealous of anyone. Paul discovered this,
Philippians 4:11-13 (ESV Strong's)
I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
If you are content in Him, jealousy is a non event, and you are inoculated from the poison of jealousy…
Hebrews 13:5 (ESV Strong's)
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
3. CELEBRATE OTHERS
In church, we say we love others and put them first, but it’s about time we started living it. Can you be genuinely happy for someone who has success… I mean genuinely?
It’s like the academy awards, and the forced cheesy smiles of the runners up! Even in the church it can be like this, but Paul says…
Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV Strong's)
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Aussies are particularly bad at this. We don’t put others first, and the Tall Poppy syndrome ensures that we are quick to criticise and slow to build up. As believers, we should be speaking words of encouragement to one another, not criticism, and especially when it’s motivated by jealousy…
Ephesians 4:29 (ESV Strong's)
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
We are so quick to cut down those who have success, and the basis of this is jealousy. We should be better than that, and speak life and words of encouragement, especially here in church.
4. SEEK GOD’S APPROVAL, NOT MAN’S
The final step is at the core of the glass ceiling of jealousy… are we seeking man’s approval, or God’s. Saul was constantly seeking man’s approval, and fear of what people thought of him was the glass ceiling that eventually ruined his destiny. But Paul said,
Galatians 1:10 (ESV Strong's)
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
SET FREE FROM WORDS SPOKEN OVER YOU
I asked God where I should go with this message, and I believe His Anointing is here this morning to break the power of negative and jealous words spoken over you in the past.
Many of us have know the destructive power of words spoken over our lives, much of it stemming from jealousy. Sometimes words were spoken that made you jealous, but often someone else was jealous of you and their words of jealousy were designed to bring you down a peg or two, much like Saul’s jealousy tried to destroy David. Many of us carry scars caused by someone else’s tongue,
James 3:5-6 (ESV Strong's)
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.
Today I want to heal those hurts, and some of you have had words spoken over you years ago that still keep you in bondage today.
Many years ago I was up for credentialing as a pastor, but was told by a particular pastor who stopped me at the last hurdle that I would never be a pastor, and could never be a leader. I was devastated, but kept serving and ministering as I had opportunity. But those words (based on jealousy) haunted me for more than a decade… You’ll never be a leader or pastor.
Years later when God asked me to step into this position, someone else attacked me, saying I’ll never be a pastor, I’ll never be a leader. Words, based on someone else’s jealousy and insecurity still had power, still resonated in my ears. I had to give those words to God, and allow Him to destroy their effect on my life, and that’s why I stand here today, because by the power of God I am called, and chosen and those words have no power over me any more.
What negative words have been spoken over you in the past? Jealous words can kill both the jealous person and the one they are jealous of. We Aussies are good at cutting others down to size with our words, but we Christians should never be like that!
Today I want to break the power of those words.
Isaiah 54:17 (ESV Strong's)
no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”
Monday Oct 28, 2019
Monday Oct 28, 2019
We’ve been looking at the glass ceilings we place in our lives. These are the limits we bounce off every time, flaws in character and belief that place a glass ceiling in our lives preventing us from reaching our full potential in Christ.
Today I want to look at Kings Saul and Davis again, and at the ceiling of impatience. I don’t know about you, but I really need to hear this because this is a ceiling I hit time and time again!
GIVE ME PATIENCE, LORD… IMMEDIATELY!
A young girl was praying with her mum, and she asked for a new doll. When the prayer finished, she demanded to know where the doll was. Her mum told her that God sometimes takes time to answer us, and that she should be patient, but the girl answered, “Great, I’ve been praying to an answering machine!”
And some of us feel like that. We feel like God doesn’t answer because He is not listening. For many of us, He has great things planned for us, a great destiny into which we should walk, but we get impatient! He hears, He is lining things up, He is preparing the way for us, but we get impatient and act on our own instead of waiting for and trusting in Him.
This was a huge glass ceiling for King Saul. Here’s an example… Saul faced the Philistines, and Samuel told Saul to wait until he came and offered sacrifice.
1 Samuel 13:8-9 (ESV Strong's)
He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.
Saul knew he had to wait, but once again fear rose up and he bounced up against this glass ceiling of impatience. Samuel then arrived and asked, “What have you done?”
1 Samuel 13:12-14 (ESV Strong's)
I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Impatience cost Saul his destiny, and it will cost us if we are not open to God!
I WANT MY MARSHMALLOW NOW!
Stanford University conducted a famous psychological experiment in 1972 on preschool children, where they were given a marshmallow and told that they could eat it now, but if they waited and didn’t eat it for a time, they would get 2 marshmallows. It’s called delayed gratification.
Many kids were impatient, taking the here and now over the promise of greater things to come, but a few waited. Then researchers tracked these children over decades, and found those who could wait scored higher academically, we’re less prone to obesity and poor heath and generally achieved more in life.
THE FRUIT OF IMPATIENCE
Patience is a virtue that carries a lot of WAIT. As we learn to be patient and wait on the Lord, we can actually be renewed, strengthened and grow in wisdom and spiritual maturity.
Isaiah 40:31 (ESV Strong's)
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Patience is listed in Galatians 5 as a fruit of the Spirit, which makes impatience a fruit of the flesh. And the fruit of impatience can debilitated our lives and rob us of our destiny…
1. IMPATIENCE IS SELFISH
At its root, impatience is selfishness. It’s all about us! We are impatient with other drivers because they are in our way, especially when we are late. We are impatient with friends and family because they’re not keeping to our time frame.
Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV Strong's)
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
We live in the most impatient time in history. Today, if it doesn’t happen fast enough we move on, and according to Time Magazine, the average attention span of a person is eight seconds, compared to a goldfish at 9 seconds! We have microwave meals, instant downloads and instant coffee. We have fast cars, fast food and fast morals. I heard about a microwave TV, where you can watch 60 minutes in just 3 minutes.
And, in the age of the selfie, our fast paced life is centred on us, and what we want! Never before have so many photos been taken of so many people doing so little! Impatience is selfishness, not wanting to wait for what I want, and it is not looking to the interests of anyone else except you.
2. IMPATIENCE CAUSES ANXIETY
You’re in the check out line, there are people everywhere and the store has 2 lines open. And yours is the longest, with a checkout person moving at glacial speed. This is where you’ll feel impatience causing anxiety.
Proverbs 12:25 (ESV Strong's)
Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.
Impatience increases blood pressure, brings about release of stress-related hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol, etc, increases risk of heart disease and causes many more effects. Eventually weight gain, high blood sugar and high blood pressure, and often early death. Impatience weighs you down with anxiety and stress, but the Bible says,
Psalms 37:7-8 (ESV Strong's)
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
The Hebrew for “fret” means heat, to burn, and when we are impatient you can feel that heat rising, can’t you! Surely we have enough stress in life from without that we don’t need to pile more stress upon ourselves from within by virtue of impatience!
3. IMPATIENCE CAUSES DISBELIEF
Impatience robs us of the results we want, we start to lose belief if what we are trusting for seems delayed.
Habakkuk 2:3 (ESV Strong's)
For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
The more impatient we get with God, the more we will lose what He has for us, because impatience is actually disbelief. I place a seed in the ground, and I have to be patient. If I keep digging it up to check on it, I won’t see the fruit I desire. James says this…
James 5:7-8 (ESV Strong's)
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Impatience robs us of our belief, and belief is faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
4. IMPATIENCE CAUSES DISUNITY
Ephesians 4:2-3 (ESV Strong's)
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
When you get impatient, others pick up on it, and trust me, they are not drawn closer. In fact, they are often turned off and driven away by your impatience, and disunity results.
5. IMPATIENCE CAUSES IMPETUOSITY
Proverbs 14:29 (ESV Strong's)
Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
Like Saul, we might see a need, hold a promise or sense an opportunity, but rather than waiting and being directed by God, we jump in an do God’s job for Him. It’s like when you ask your spouse to do something for you, and they say, “In a minute,” and you wait and wait, then decide to get it yourself!
Saul stepped illegally into the role of priest and offered sacrifices, because of impatience.
6. IMPATIENCE CAUSES LOSS
Ultimately, impatience causes loss. Saul lost trying to hasten things. David saw victories because he stopped, asked God and waited on Him.
Proverbs 19:2 (ESV Strong's)
Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
Hebrews 10:36 (ESV Strong's)
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
HOW TO SMASH THE GLASS CEILING OF IMPATIENCE
This is a ceiling many of us bounce off time and time again, and I’m sick of doing that. So let me outline steps we can take to smash through this glass ceiling of impatience and start to move higher into our calling in God.
1. CONSCIOUSLY SLOW DOWN
We live in a fast paced world, and even in our leisure time we are bombarded by ads, social media and pressure. It is time that we consciously disconnect for a time, put our lives on flight mode, and allow peace and tranquillity to settle on our hearts, not anxiousness and stress.
Isaiah 26:3 (ESV Strong's)
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
The first step in removing the ceiling of impatience is to slow down, find some peaceful moments in your day, disconnect from the rigours of life and put your life into flight mode.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 (ESV Strong's)
Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
Grab a handful of quietness today.
2. STEP BACK AND SEE THE BIG PICTURE
Much of our impatience comes from our inability to see the big picture. We see only our small portion, but God sees everything.
In the civil war, President Lincoln used telegraph to piece together information from across the entire front. General McClellan refused to obey his commander and made localised decisions based on what he could see, so President Lincoln dismissed him in 1862. The President saw the big picture, and could make far more strategic decisions than any local commander.
Isaiah 46:9-10 (ESV Strong's)
I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
3. FIGHT THE NEED TO SOLVE GOD’S PROBLEM
He is God, you are not, He sees all, you see only your small bit, so you need to fight the urge to step in and take control of things yourself.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV Strong's)
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.
I know it is tempting to step in and solve God’s problems, but this is impatience, and it is sin. Saul did it and lost the kingdom,
4. DEVELOP A GRATITUDE ATTITUDE
The greatest sin of the Western world is an ungrateful spirit, and this manifests itself as impatience. We don’t usually count our blessings, we are just impatient for more blessings!
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV Strong's)
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
What does the Bible say?
Psalms 118:24 (ESV Strong's)
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us (be impatient) rejoice and (demand more) be glad in it.
If you develop a gratitude attitude, you instantly weaken the ceiling of impatience. If you become truly grateful, you can smash that thing out of the park!
5. CHOOSE TO TRUST GOD, NOT MAN
Like all of these ceilings, you face a choice today. You can let yourself be impatient, or you can choose to trust God and wait for Him to open the way.
Psalms 27:14 (ESV Strong's)
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
It takes strength to be patient, it takes heart to wait for God, but if you truly trust Him, you will see incredible miracles. Wait doesn’t mean be idle, it means keep doing what you’re doing with an expectant heart. It means laying aside you agenda, your desires, your impetuosity and saying, not my will but Yours be done.
SMASHING THE CEILING OF IMPATIENCE
Some of you have waited a long time for a promise of God. It might be for a loved one to come to Christ, it might be for an opportunity at work or in church, it might be for a physical thing like a car or house, or maybe the right partner to marry.
Psalms 130:5 (ESV Strong's)
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
Some of you feel like your soul has been waiting and groaning, and like you’re losing hope and becoming more impatient. Today I’m going to ask you what it is that you’ve asked God for that seems to be tarrying?
2 Peter 3:9 (ESV Strong's)
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The hammer with which you can smash the glass ceiling of impatience is seeking and trusting God. I know it’s hard, I’m impatient too, and I want everything right now. I want a new building for the church, and it’s taken way longer than I planned, but I trust God that He has he situation well in hand, and He may very well open up something I would never have considered. But let this encourage you…
Lamentations 3:24-25 (ESV Strong's)
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
So, whatever it is you are waiting for, today we are going to give it to God, tell Him we trust Him, and refuse to become impatient.
Micah 7:7 (ESV Strong's)
But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Sunday Oct 20, 2019
Sunday Oct 20, 2019
I spoke last week about the glass ceilings we face in our lives, and how we are the ones who placed them there, usually as a result of the influence of others. God doesn’t place these limits on our lives, we do, but He has plans and hopes and dreams for our future far beyond anything we could even imagine!
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV Strong's)
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
We will hit glass ceilings every time unless we commit our lives to the Lord and let Him control and direct us.
Today, I want to compare and contrast 2 kings of Israel, King Saul and his successor, King David.
A TALE OF 2 KINGS…
Saul and David were in their time both anointed of God, and both appointed king. Both attractive, both charismatic, and Saul was probably the pick…
1 Samuel 9:2 (ESV Strong's)
Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.
Why did Saul fail as Israel’s king, while David succeeded? It all has to do with the glass ceilings they faced and how they decided to deal with them.
While David smashed many of the ceilings he faced, Saul’s attitude meant he kept bouncing off them and never penetrated them. Take a look at the similar paths the men traveled:
1. BOTH RECEIVED GODLY COUNSEL
Samuel, the last judge of Israel, anointed both men, and gave both godly counsel. When Samuel died, David continued to receive advice and direction from Nathan the prophet.
2. BOTH FACED GREAT CHALLENGES
Every leader faces obstacles, mountains to climb, tests and trials, and these 2 kings were no exception. In fact, Saul and David sometimes faced the same challenges. Take Goliath, for example: When the huge Philistine offered to fight Israel’s champion, both Saul and David heard the challenge.
Saul, Israel’s greatest warrior and leaders, hid in fear.
1 Samuel 17:11 (ESV Strong's)
When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
But David, a mere boy, eagerly faced the challenge and won honour for God.
1 Samuel 17:45 (ESV Strong's)
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
Same challenge, different response!
3. BOTH FACED CHOICES TO REPENT, CHANGE AND GROW
Saul and David reacted very differently when confronted by their failures.
Samuel rebuked Saul for making an unauthorized burnt offering to God, and then towards the end for keeping the spoils for himself and faking a sacrifice. When confronted the king didn’t repent but offered excuses, reasons why he’d sinned and tried to couch them in religious language.
1 Samuel 15:19-22 (ESV Strong's)
Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
Evidently Saul stayed on the same course, lost the kingdom and his life.
David possessed an entirely different kind of heart. When Nathan confronted the king after the sordid incident with Bathsheba, David broke down and sorrowfully repented.
2 Samuel 12:13 (ESV Strong's)
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Psalms 51:10 (ESV Strong's)
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
David chose to repent, to change and to grow, because he was a man after God’s own heart, but Saul hardened his heart and offered explanations why and excuses why not, instead of repentance. Today, as I share about this first glass ceiling, please don’t harden your heart, or make excuses, just do honest business with God, and let Him punch through the ceiling.
SAUL’S BIGGEST GLASS CEILING
Saul faced many glass ceilings which limited his life, and today we will start with what to Saul was probably the biggest ceiling he faced, and is also probably the biggest we face, the glass ceiling of fear…
SAUL… A PRODUCT OF HIS OWN FEAR
1 Samuel 10:21-22 (ESV Strong's)
Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
Pretty inauspicious start… Where is the anointed one? Oh, he’s nicked off and is cowering in fear. And this fear became a ceiling Saul never broke through! This same fear is seen all through his life, such as with Goliath.
What about you? What do you fear? Do you fear sickness, failure, financial collapse, loneliness or criticism? Fear is what gives most people glass ceilings, limits which they never break through because they cannot control their fears, the fears control them! But…
2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV Strong's)
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
FEAR- FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL
If fear is controlling you, if fear is placing that glass ceiling before you, then today I want to give you the chance to smash through that ceiling forever!
An anagram for fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. The vast majority of what we fear never actually happens, but this fear, even though it is not real or factual, actually enslaves us.
I remember doing an activity as a youth leader where we had to go to a dark corner of a graveyard at night and record a particular grave’s details. My group went through, terrified, but I saw the lights of the next group led by my friend, so doubled back and hid behind a tree. I jumped out and screamed, “Don’t be scared!” But their group were scared, not because I said something scary, but because their fear was heightened being in a graveyard… All in their minds.
Everyone experiences fear, just like Saul. It’s how you respond to the fear that counts. Saul let fear be a glass ceiling in his life, and this fear controlled him, he never broke through and ultimately robbed him of his destiny.
If you tolerate the glass ceiling of fear, it can even become a self fulfilling prophecy, and a Job said,
Job 3:25 (ESV Strong's)
For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
Experiencing fear doesn’t mean your ungodly, but you need to realise that letting it control you robs you of blessing, while mastering it smashes through the glass ceiling!
SMASHING THROUGH THE FEAR GLASS CEILING
Saul faced the glass ceiling of fear, as did every Bible character, as do you and I! Fear is normal, but it is a ceiling begging to be obliterated!
Now not all fear is controlling and irrational, many fears are good and healthy.
Proverbs 9:10 (ESV Strong's)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Fear of God is healthy. Fear of snakes is too, as are many fears. Fear of electricity, fear of massive surf, fear of upsetting your wife, these are rational and healthy fears that ensure survival. The problem is not that you have fear, the problem is when the fear has you and limits you.
Fear produces glass ceilings because it causes us to battle against ourselves. The rational part of our brain wars against the fearful emotional side, and the struggle causes anxiety and exhaustion within us. Fear costs you, in worry, lack of sleep, medical bills and, in Saul’s case, it can even cost your destiny and life!
Whether it’s fear of failure, or people, or consequences, or the future, what are the steps towards breaking through the glass ceiling of fear?
F- FACE THE TRUTH
Ignoring fear might seem to solve the immediate feelings, but it never works for long. Burying your fear causes it to grow strong roots and sprout! Fears that create glass ceilings in your life have usually been there a long time and never dealt with.
Saul would not face his fear of Goliath, so he hid. David looked at the same fear and said,
1 Samuel 17:26 (ESV Strong's)
who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
Today I’m going to ask you to face that fear which has become a glass ceiling in your life. Don’t run, don’t cower in terror, but we are going to look it in the eye and say, “Who are you to defy the living God!”
E- EXPERIENCE
Our fears are based on experiences we’ve had. Children are often fearless, because they haven’t experienced the consequences of their actions. They dive into your arms, but us adults refuse to trust like that.
That glass ceiling of fear is there because you’ve reinforced it over the years by experiences. But experiences can also shatter that very ceiling. Look at David…
1 Samuel 17:37 (ESV Strong's)
And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
He’d seen God give him victory over smaller fears, so he could trust God for more.
A- ADJUST
Some of you are fearful of change. But if you don’t adjust, if you refuse to change, you will not break through the glass ceilings in your life.
And some people are just content with the devil they know. I know this fear is limiting and ruling my life, but I’m comfortable here. At least I know how bad it is. I can live with this fear, with this sickness, with this poverty. It might be worse on the other side!
Psalms 23:4 (ESV Strong's)
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Are you walking through a valley of fear, the shadow of death, or are you camping there? Have you set up a house there? Moving forward to your destiny involves change, it involves risk, but it involves you moving ahead. Is it a risk if you are walking through the valley of death with the good Shepherd?
R- RELAX
We are so stressed out in our society, we worry about moral declines, finances, relationships, bills, life. We literally don’t have time to relax. It’s all go, go, go and activity drives stress and activity.
Isaiah 26:3 (ESV Strong's)
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
It’s time to step back from the worries and fears and stress of life and disconnect. It’s time to put our lives into flight mode. In flight mode on your phone, everything still works, but you don’t get all these messages and stresses from the outside. For a short time you do well to disconnect, relax and soak in God!
Psalms 46:10 (ESV Strong's)
“Be still, and know that I am God.
L- LISTEN TO GOD
You cannot hear God in the maelstrom that is your regular life! He will not shout above the noise, He patiently waits for you to get alone with Him.
Isaiah, after the triumph of Mt Carmel, cowered in a cave, full of fear that Jezebel would find him and kill him. He sought God, he needed to hear from God, and God met him in his hour of need…
1 Kings 19:11-12 (ESV Strong's)
And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.
To smash the ceiling of fear, you need to relax, step back from the storm that is 21st century life, and connect with God. You need to listen, really listen for the still small voice of God!
E- ENACT
You can pray all you like, you can live with your fear, you can share it with others, you can think and discuss solutions, but until you take action, until you enact God’s solution to break through the glass ceiling, nothing will change.
Today is the day to conquer that fear that has limited for so long, and to take any action required to make it so.
James 1:22 (ESV Strong's)
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
I know some of this talk makes you uncomfortable. My role as pastor is to challenge you, not make you comfortable, otherwise we will all sit under our glass ceilings contentedly miserable.
God has more for you. God has a destiny, but you need to enact it. You need to be obedient, not just hear, not just give mental assent, but do whatever it takes to shatter this ceiling of fear. To smash this ceiling you need to say, Yes Lord, whatever it takes. Are you willing, or are you content to live under the thumb of the devil who uses fear to limit your life?
S- SEE CORRECTLY
Perception is your version of reality. Fear distorts your perception, and like a warped price of glass, the glass ceiling of fear distorts everything you see through it. And what affects how you see things and your fears? Experience, especially bad ones.
Bad experiences thicken and warp the glass ceiling of fear. And some of you have had your share of bad experiences. King David, however, smashed though the fear ceiling by remembering what God has done in the past.
1 Samuel 17:37 (ESV Strong's)
David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Take a chance, trust God and remember all the times He has brought you through. If you have none of those, start now trusting Him to build those fear destroying memories, because you can trust God!
S- SECURITY IN GOD
Psalms 27:1 (ESV Strong's)
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When you know God, when you truly draw close to Him, you can break through the glass ceiling of fear, because you have the security of trusting the God of creation, your father who loves you and cares for you and has a plan for you. David also wrote,
Psalms 34:4 (ESV Strong's)
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Today is the day you can be delivered from all your fears. Finances, health, relationships, those glass ceilings that limit you, the fear that holds you back from all God has for you. And we are here to walk this road with you.
You can be FEARLESS in the power of the Lord. Decide today that that glass ceiling of fear has no power, it’s weak and about to shattered.
Today we hit it hard and smash it into tiny pieces.
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Today I want to start a short series looking at how we can break through the glass ceilings of our lives.
2 Samuel 5:1-3 (ESV Strong's)
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.
Why is it that Saul had limits that ultimately defeated him, but David broke through and conquered his limits? That’s what I want to look at in this series, because like glass Ceilings, we can see beyond our limits, see through them to where we should be, but this invisible barrier seems to stop us every time.
THE GLASS CEILING
When people use the term "The glass ceiling", they are referring to an invisible barrier that prevents them from attaining the success they see others around them achieving. You know what that's like, when you try and try but you just seem to bounce of this invisible barrier.
So what is your "glass ceilings"? We have so many things we can do for the Lord, and really none of us are at our full potential, but if we are to reach God’s potential for our lives, we must realise that we all have "glass ceilings" in our lives, and that to move ahead these need to be shattered.
Over this series I want to look at the lives of these 2 kings, and learn the truth about the "glass ceilings" in life and how they can be broken forever.
Ephesians 3:20 (ESV Strong's)
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
God’s plans for us don’t have ceilings, and He promises exceedingly abundantly more, but never the less these ceilings exist, not in God but in our minds.
STEPS TO BEING A SMASHING SUCCESS
The thing about a glass ceiling is that you can see through it, but you can’t smash your way through it. You can see where you should be, but every time you try and reach for it, you hit this barrier. I remember running into a glass door because it was so clean I couldn’t see it! This is why I rarely clean windows at my house.
Psalms 138:8 (ESV Strong's)
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
God wants to fulfil His purpose for you, and he doesn’t want you limited by glass ceilings and barriers in your life. He wants you to conquer them, not by your own strength, but by His power. So let’s examine some steps towards overcoming glass ceilings in our lives.
1. ACKNOWLEDGE GLASS CEILINGS EXIST
Most people cannot see the glass ceilings in their lives because they’ve trained themselves to ignore them. I remember reading Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and when a space ship appeared above a Test Match at Lord’s Cricket ground, no one could see it because it had an SEP field around it. That stands for “Someone else’s problem,” and the writer stated that people’s brains dismissed the image of a space ship because it wasn’t their problem.
Many of the glass ceilings we face are as a result of society, and society’s standards and expectations. We are not even aware of these ceilings, because our world tells us these barriers are normal. You can’t become an evangelist because religion is personal and we don’t talk about that. You can’t bring children up in the Lord because that’s brainwashing them. You can’t make more of your life because you’re just a worker, just a mother, or you have this sickness, or you’re too old, or too young, or divorced or disabled.
Romans 12:2 (ESV Strong's)
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Part of renewing your mind is a acknowledging that these glass ceilings even exist, but also recognising that though they may limit us, they won’t limit God! The first step in overcoming them is simply admitting they exist.
Why does it seem so hard for us to admit that we are not perfect? Why do we want to paint on a happy face when we come to church, and pretend that all is well, when in fact, there are many areas in our lives that hinder us and cause us to stumble? Our "glass ceilings" will never be broken until we first accept the fact that they exist!
2. IDENTIFY YOUR GLASS CEILING
The next step is to identify your ceilings. What are the invisible barriers you face to spiritual maturity? You may not even see them, so you may need to ask God where they are.
As we explore this over the coming weeks, we are going to identify the barriers Kings Saul and King David faced. Like them, we all face glass ceilings in our lives, and it’s important we identify where and what they are.
Is it fear, impatience, denial, stubbornness, your upbringing, your finances, or your spouse? Is it your job, your church, your need to control, or your need to be needed? What is it that becomes a ceiling in your life that stops you becoming the person God wants you to be? God says,
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV Strong's)
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
He has great plans for your life, your ministry, your part in His great plan of bringing our nation to Him. But He hasn’t put ceilings in our lives, we have, and if we trust Him and look to the future, if we are obedient and serve Him, we can and will break through those self imposed ceilings.
3. DECIDE THAT IT’S TIME TO BREAKTHROUGH
While you are pondering these ceilings in your life, let’s look at the 3rd step… Make a decision that is time to smash these glass ceilings.
I remember years ago meeting a young lady in Pune, India. Serving on the mission field with 2 small children. She told me she was a single mum, with no fixed income, and there she was in missions. I asked her how she managed this, and she said she didn’t see why being a single mum should stop her from what God had for her.
I meet so many people who want to serve God, want to make a difference, want to win their community to Jesus, but other things demand their attention. Some of you here know God has great things for you, but you seem to hit a barrier every time you try to move ahead. Sometimes its the tyranny of the urgent, many times it’s you wanting to do something else first.
People say to me, just let me build my business, just let me bring up my family, just let me buy that house that car, that at computer first, then I’ll serve God. Then I’ll get involved in church. I’d love to be more involved, but I have things I need to do. But Paul says,
2 Corinthians 6:2 (ESV Strong's)
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Stop offering excuses, instead of your body as a living sacrifice! It’s time to stop letting other ultimately less important things in eternity stop you from fully engaging for God right now.
Money, work, family, careers, houses, possessions, reputations, all these are important, but none of them, not a single one is more important than obedience to God. And here’s Jesus’ promise… If you put Him first, and serve Him first, you get the lot…
Matthew 6:31-33 (ESV Strong's)
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So today I urge you to stop putting it off and decide to break through the glass ceilings go for it!
4. TEST THE CEILING
When you detect a ceiling in your life, this is when you need godly wisdom. Any boundary can be broken through, but there are ways to do it and ways to not do it.
Don’t just dive off the high board and hope you make it. Solomon wrote,
Ecclesiastes 11:6 (ESV Strong's)
In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
There are always a number of things you can do to break through your glass ceiling. Some things are more effective than others, some more costly. I don’t know the best way for you to breakthrough in your situation, and neither do you… But God does!
So try things, test them, see what works. But if you want to fast track the process, and minimise the pain and the cost, seek God’s wisdom, not man’s. Come to church, listen to the sermons, get into the app, seek godly advice, read His Word, if you’re smart you will do whatever it takes to gain godly wisdom and insight and fast track your breakthrough…
James 1:5 (ESV Strong's)
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Get God’s wisdom and perspective, and start testing the boundaries of your ceiling to see where the likely breakthrough points, might be.
5. START AND KEEP GOING
Many people fail to breakthrough their glass ceilings because they give up. They pray, they ask God, they try for a time, but they get tired, get discouraged and give up, often just as that ceiling is starting to crack!
Toughened glass is chemically or heat treated to make it super tough. A mega hard surface makes it Toughened, and they use to use this glass in windscreens. But what happens if you hit it hard enough or hit the same spot several times? Once that skin is penetrates the entire glass panel implodes into hundreds of tiny pieces.
In your quest to smash through that ceiling in your spiritual life, you need to not lose heart and not give up. Some of you are so close, so keep going. When you look back from eternity the ceiling that now seems so strong and so limiting will be as nothing. It’s temporal, it’s temporary and it’s there to be smashed through…
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 (ESV Strong's)
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
6. BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING LEADS TO MORE BREAKTHROUGHS
Here’s an exciting thing… once you break through your ceiling, once you one rate the barrier, you open the door to even more breakthroughs, and you’ll be amazed at what follows.
In 1956, Roger Bannister was the first to break the 4 minute mile. Within a few years, more than 20 other people had achieved this feat. Today, over 1,400 athletes have done it, and the current record is 3.43.13.
Fiona and I suffered tremendous financial loss 10 years ago, and for a long time it seemed nothing we did could even start our recovery. We worked hard, saved heaps, prayed loads and tried everything we could, but it felt like we had a glass ceiling. We continuously believed that God would restore our finances, and we kept slugging away, with few results.
The ceiling was smashed through after some years, when on Fiona’s birthday we opened an envelope which contained a cheque from what we though was a lost investment, for $55,000. After this we started to move ahead financially, and God is restoring what the locusts have eaten even today. Trust God, honour God, keep going and let Him break through those glass ceilings…
Malachi 3:10 (ESV Strong's)
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW, IT’S WHO YOU KNOW!
When it comes to breaking through those ceilings in your life, you can fight, you can smash, you can hit, you can scream, you can blame others and worry and fret and get discouraged. The world will say, “Come on, you can do it,” But I’m saying no you can’t, there’s a better way.
The better way is this… Seek God! That’s what made David different to Saul, he was a man after God’s own heart. When it comes to breaking through these glass ceilings, it’s not about you, your abilities and your hangups. In fact, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
The answer for breaking through whatever ceiling you are facing right now is knowing God more. The more you know Him, the more He will give you His power to live the life He has called you to live.
The more intimately you know Him, the more He can lead and guide amd direct your steps, and those ceilings, that seem so strong now, will be smashed to smitherines!
Today I want to challenge you to identify at least one of the glass ceilings you currently face. If you’re on the app, write it down, because I want to hear testimony after testimony in a few months time of the amazing shattering of these ceilings.
Today I want you to identify the ceiling, then come forward and give it to the Lord. Whatever it is, finances, relationships, fears, resentment, give it all to Jesus today.
Hosea 6:3 (ESV Strong's)
Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”
to hinder you, or will you conquer them? In the end, it's all up to you!
Monday Oct 07, 2019
Monday Sep 30, 2019
Sunday Sep 22, 2019
Sunday Sep 22, 2019
What God wants when He permits you to go through times of brokenness is not to punish you, but to refine you. Learn how God refines you using adversity as Ps Darin Browne shares this moving message
Monday Sep 16, 2019
Monday Sep 16, 2019
Geoff Van Dert Vliet, the Principal of Nambour Christian College, speaks on Truth, Love, and Purpose
Sunday Sep 08, 2019
Sunday Sep 08, 2019
What God wants when He permits you to go through times of brokenness is not to punish you, but to refine you. Learn how God refines you using adversity as Ps Darin Browne shares this moving message...
I’ve been speaking about brokenness, and many have told me how they have felt something shift deep in their spirit. We all face brokenness at some stage, and it is never pleasant, but in God’s economy it’s often necessary to allow Him to shape and form our lives. We talked about the potter smashing down the clay to reshape something beautiful, and we likened brokenness to the crucible within which God refines us as silver.
But many of us don’t see brokenness as a positive at all, but rather as a negative, something some might endure, but many just fall apart in. Today I want to look at brokenness as God’s pathway to maturity.
Romans 5:3-4 (ESV Strong's)
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
BLINKERS ABOUT BROKENNESS
The fact is, for many of us, brokenness is inherently negative, and we have blinkers on with regards the plans and purposes God has for brokenness in our lives. Blinkers stop a horse from seeing the big picture, and only allow them to see a small portion of their vision straight ahead. Likewise, we sometimes have blinkers on and only see brokenness as bad, and so we miss seeing the big picture God has for us.
Even our speech gives this away… We talk about mental or physical problems, we call it a breakdown. When we talk of relationship collapse, we call it a break up. When we suffer financial loss it is called going broke. Brokenness is all around.
So what kind of barriers stop us seeing brokenness as a crucible within which God refines us for future glory and service?
TRUSTING THE WRONG THINGS
In life, we all need to trust somebody or something. You trusted that your car would start this morning. You are trusting that chair you’re sitting on to hold you up.
Proverbs 3:5 (ESV Strong's)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
As Christians we would claim to trust the Lord, but frankly very often our actions contradict what our mouths say. God’s purpose in brokenness is for us to fully trust Him, and anything else we trust in, intentionally or unintentionally, becomes a flaw in the clay as He shapes our lives.
So what kind of things do we trust in that cloud our vision of brokenness?
1. WEALTH
In our society, wealth often brings with it power, and these two are something we often trust in. Those with money or possessions usually turn to them instead of God.
It is not wrong to be wealthy. Wealthy people can bless and use money to God’s glory, so money itself is not evil. John Wesley was once criticised for taking dirty money from bars and brothels, and he said, “Give me as much dirty money as you can and I’ll show how clean I can make it!”
1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV Strong's)
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.
It doesn’t say money is, it says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Why? Because when we love money we rely on it, we trust in it. But wealth cannot buy you out of trouble. Take the blinkers off, and realise that if you have wealth, you are blessed, but Wealth can disappear in a heartbeat.
I have an income in Optometry, and most of my peers are wealthier than I, and all they think about if making more money. But God has shown me that even my ability to earn wealth is from Him, so I must rely on Him not my profession.
Deuteronomy 8:18 (ESV Strong's)
You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.
If you have money, great! Use it for the Lord, but never lose sight of the fact that God gives you the ability to earn money.
2. IMAGE
Most of us care about our image or appearance. We generally look in the mirror at least once a day, we pay to have our hair done, and some pay for cosmetics or even cosmetic surgery. Going to the gym is often not about fitness, but about appearance. But beauty fades, folks, even with lipstick and makeup. Any coat of paint on an old barn helps, but it’s still an old barn!
Proverbs 31:30 (ESV Strong's)
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
If you’re beautiful, good for you, but don’t trust in beauty or appearance, because it fades.
3. REPUTATION
Many people don’t see brokenness God’s way because they are really trusting in their reputation. It might be built on your family, your success or your accomplishments, but reputation is precarious at best, and can be destroyed in an instant.
Proverbs 22:1 (ESV Strong's)
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favour is better than silver or gold.
Having a good reputation is wonderful, but we should not rely on it. In several occasions in my life, I have had to entrust my reputation to God when others have attacked me, because trying to defend it makes you look guilty. Take the blinkers off and realise that your reputation is nothing without God.
4. TALENTS AND GIFTS
Very often the most gifted people struggle the most with brokenness. They are determined to succeed, and see their talents as tickets to becoming someone special. The problem is not in having talents. It’s in relying on them. Talented people usually trust their talents instead of God, and God will use brokenness to realign their perspective.
As a singer I cannot tell you how many times I have been broken as an singer, or a pastor for that matter. I have received aggressive, accusing letters and emails, criticising and demeaning my abilities and talent. Through brokenness and humility God has taught me to not trust the talents He’s given me. Here’s the correct perspective on your gifts and talents… don’t trust them, trust God.
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV Strong's)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
WERE ALL CONTROL FREAKS!
Without doubt, you and I are control freaks. We would rather rely on ourselves, our own abilities and our own efforts rather than God. Even as Christians, we say we trust in God, but we tend to yield “almost all” of our lives. Lord, I give you everything, oh except this small bit. I want to control that myself!
So then we tell God how to bless us rather than trusting Him that He knows best. We control our lives and decisions, then blame God when it goes wrong.
Proverbs 19:3 (ESV Strong's)
When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.
The biggest blinkers we wear are our own inbuilt need to control our lives, and the only way to remove this or any of the blinkers we have is to be broken, as painful as that might be!
If a child has a favourite toy, and you try and gently take it from them, hey almost instinctively snatch it closer. Our natural tendency when God begins to target an area for breaking in our lives is to cling to that area even more.
Generally speaking, most of us know what it is that we must yield or submit to God. Whether we consciously acknowledge it or not, we kind of know when we are withholding an area of our lives. We reason it away, but deep down, we know we’re holding onto control!
I remember Fiona describing the time God asked her to give up chocolate. She fought, who wouldn’t, and eventually prayed and said, “God, it’s only chocolate, it’s not a big deal.” He replied, “If it’s not a big deal, why won’t you give it up!”
So today God is asking you to yield to that area to Him. Not just to speak it, but to do it. To yield every area of your life to Him, including that one.
James 2:17-18 (ESV Strong's)
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
He’s not saying you’re saved by works, but he is saying that genuine faith is accompanied by works. Saying you yield to the Lord is one hint, living a yielded life is another.
What is it He is breaking within you right now, that you need to yield to Him and say, as Jesus said,
Matthew 26:39 (ESV Strong's)
“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
BROKEN TO BECOME BETTER
I once had a horse called Sasha, and she was wild and out of control. I realised she needed to be broken in, so my dad and I spent a lot of time gaining her trust, and eventually got the bit in her mouth and the bridle on, then this saddle. I remember standing in the saddle, and my dad said, “Go on Son, throw your leg over.” I did, she went ballistic and I was thrown off, diving for cover beneath her kicking legs.
But we persisted, and eventually she was broken in and we were able to ride her. Unbroken she was useless, even dangerous, but broken she was useful and even happy. I broke her stubbornness, but it never broke her will. She initially refused to yield to my will, but when she did she became a blessing to everyone around her, she was more productive and she was even happier.
James 1:2-4 (ESV Strong's)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Take the blinkers off today and see brokenness as the crucible within which God is lovingly refining you. Can you trust God that He will not allow brokenness in your life to hurt you, or destroy you, but to create His own masterpiece in you? He longs to take the pieces of your broken, shattered life and put them back together, creating something far more valuable in the process.
BRING THE PIECES TO JESUS TODAY
There are areas of my life where I struggle to yield control to the Lord. Finances especially. I add things up, then see how I can solve God’s problem for Him! As we look to our future as a church, I have to yield this area to God!
Kingsurgi is an ancient Japanese art of repairing broken bowls using a special lacquer laden with gold. This repair method celebrates each artefact’s unique history by emphasising its fractures and breaks, instead of hiding or disguising them. The result is that the repaired piece is even more beautiful and valuable than the original, revitalising it with new life.
This is God’s reason for allowing brokenness into your life. He does not want to destroy or harm you, but He longs to take the shattered pieces of your life and create something new, something more beautiful and more valuable. But he cannot do this until you bring the broken pieces to Him, until you give them to Him and let go!
Today is the day for you to truly yield everything to Him, to take the broken pieces of your life and allow God to repair it and make something more beautiful and valuable.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV Strong's)
He has made everything beautiful in its time. (Your time may not have come yet, but it’s coming!) Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
You may not know what God is doing, you cannot see the beginning from the end, so you mustn’t trust your own control over His. It’s time to let go and let God, because He longs to make something beautiful out of your pain and your brokenness.
Stop trying to control that problem area you struggle with. Stop trying to do God’s job for Him, and just yield it. Give it to Him, step back and let God be God.
Some of you here have specific areas of control in your life that you have held onto for years. You love God, you’ve committed to serving Him, but there are areas where you choose to retain control, and where you are scared to give control to God, fearful He’ll take them away. God needs these areas broken and yielded to His will, and then He will work the miracle. Can you trust Him, knowing His ultimate desire is to build something more beautiful and valuable in you?
Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion He understood, All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life.
Today I’m asking you to stop controlling the shattered pieces, and bring them to God. Let Him repair you with His gold. All it takes is a decision to yield, truly yield to Him.