Thanks for checking out the anchor faith message podcast
from St Augustine, Florida. Now
enjoy this message. So it's kind of my title. The
message today is called the power of a day, the power
of a day and it's extending your reach,
extending your reach. And it's been a full day for
me. Hallelujah. And there's power in every
day if we handle things right. I
want to open up with this thought. Your
life is composed of your choices, constructed by your
words and revealed by your character. I'll
say that again. They should have that on the
screen for you. Your life is composed of your
choices, constructed by your words and revealed by your
character. Now compose means to form or
to put together or to fashion. So
when you're composing something, you're putting it
together, you're fashioning it. It
makes me think of the symphony when they compose
music, right? It's in harmony and it's in
unity if they're all together. If
they're all together. If one instrument is off,
guess what? There's disunity or disharmony. But
your life is composed of your choices. So
if you want your life to be in harmony with God, if
you want it to be fashioned for God and you
want God to be putting your life together, you got
to make the right choices. And
all of us every day have multiple opportunities to
make different choices within a day. And
a choice is the act of selecting or making a
decision when you're faced with two or more options.
Alright? It's really a choice
considering and deciding what you're going to do.
Joshua in his book, the 24th
chapter, he said, As for me and my house, we choose
to serve the Lord. So guess what? He
just composed part of his life by making the right
choice. You make the wrong choices,
you're going to have the wrong results. If
you make the right choices, you're going to have the
right godly results. It's also constructed by your
words. Construct means to build up or to
put something together or to make something whole, W
-H -O -L -E. Your life is constructed by your
words. What are you saying? We
know this in Genesis. In the creation of the world,
we know that God spoke it into existence. You
can see the pattern in Genesis chapter 1. It
said, God said it, then he saw it, and it was good.
God said it, so he constructed
the world by his word. The Bible says in Genesis
chapter 1 verse 28 that we're made in his image.
So we know there's power in
our words. So if you're saying, I'm never
going to mount anything, guess what world you just
created? Or I'm never going to get
past this situation. I'm never going to get past
this hurt. You're constructing your world by
the words that you speak and the choices that you
make. And it's also revealed by your
character. That revealed means to open up
or to make known publicly, to bring into full display.
Your character is really going
to manifest publicly over time. And
you can only perform in public to the degree you're
willing to practice in private. So
your private life matters. What
you do at the house, what you do in the car, what
you do in the marketplace, matters because it's your
character. Matter of fact, I'll say this
when you're called, and everybody's called to a
certain assignment with the body of Christ. Your
call and your character line up, you have a thing
called credibility. If you're called and your
character don't match, there's no credibility. If
there's moral failure, that's a character issue,
guess what? It diminishes your credibility.
Can it be restored? Thank
God for second chances. Thank
God for his redemptive work. Thank
God for forgiveness. But how much better just to
make the right choice, speak the right word and
have the right character? Your
life is going to be formed by these three things. So
we're talking about the power of a day. It's
important as you go on in your life with the Lord,
your journey with Him, is to make sure that you're
making the right choices, speaking the right words
and developing the right godly character. I
want to launch out as an appetizer, hallelujah, cheese
sticks with marinara sauce. I
don't eat like that too often. Or
if you like spinach artichoke dip with organic
blue corn chips, our appetizer's going to be
Moses. But Moses, when we look at
this man's life and we're talking about the power of
a day and extending your reach, the reason we're
going with this is to stay in the theme of the
prophetic word that was spoken to Pastor Earl by
Marvin Yoder, which he's been talking about for
several Sundays about the branches video, right? And
so, you know, branches extend in different
directions from the main part, but they spring out
and they have an impact and an influence. And
we want to extend our reach. Your
reach is you stretching out in a specific direction in
order to touch or grasp something. Your
reach is your hand reaching out to make an impression
or influence. And so it takes all of us,
this branch is prophecies just not for one person.
This is for the anchor fate
church. So you need to ask yourself
as you're listening to Pastor Earl as we're going
over this tonight, what is my assignment within this
branch? Because it takes all of us working
together to make a maximized impact for the
kingdom of God in the earth. And
when you're not in your assignment, you're not
making the right choice. You
just put the symphony out of order and we need to
find somebody, a replacement player to come in and do
your part. God's called you to do something.
The question is, are you going
to cooperate and participate with Him in what He's
called you to do? And never despise a day of
small beginnings. So we launched out with Moses
tonight and Moses lived three 40 year period, a
total of 120 years on the earth. 120 years. So
I'm just trying to get you to think in the concept
and the scope of time. God is infinite and beyond
time, but yet we're finite and we live in time. So
God knows how to work with humanity even though He's
infinite. And my question is to you, are
you maximizing every day? Are
you maximizing every day with the assignment and the
purpose and the plan that God has called you to?
Don't get stuck on repeat. Move
on with God. So Moses lived 120 years on
the earth and God said about Moses, if we go to
Joshua, the shortest eulogy I've ever heard, when Moses
passed away, he said, Moses, my servant is dead.
That's it. But
there's no greater compliment and honor that
God could have gave to this man who lived 120
years for the Lord than to say my servant is dead. We
know the greatest in the kingdom is what? Servant
of all. So basically he's saying he
gave 120 years of his life to me. He
didn't deviate. He started right. He
stayed right. And so the first 40 years of
Moses' life, he was in Egypt. And
really during this time, he learned how to be somebody
was trained as Pharaoh's son, Pharaoh's daughter's
son in all the culture and education in the Egyptian
life. But then after 40 years, he
understood what his mission was, what his assignment
was. And he tried to make things
happen on his own at that time. And
he actually ended up slaying or killing an
Egyptian who was harming another Israelite. And
the thing became publicly known. So
he tried to force the issue. He
kind of knew what God had called him to do. But
the timing wasn't quite right yet. So
all of a sudden he had to flee Egypt because Pharaoh
said you just killed one of our citizens. Now
you're going to have to pay the penalty. So
he fled on the backside of the desert. So
in Egypt, he learned how to be somebody. But
then 40 years on the backside of the desert, he
learned how to be nobody. And
God has a way in his plan to make sure that we walk
a humble existence on the earth. Some
people say about Moses because he wrote about
himself that he was a meek man or one of the meekest
men on the earth. Well, he had a 40 year breaking
cycle to learn how to depend upon God. So
I don't mind his quote because it was inspired to
write it. There was a meekness about him,
but there was a process how he learned how to be
meek and depend on God. His
last 40 years was his best 40 years. Say
my next 40 years are going to be my best 40 years.
Say to get my next 40 years
are going to be my best 40 years. He
did more in his last 40 than he did in the prior
80. And the last 40, he led the
children of Israel out of Egypt through their
wilderness into the brink of the promised land. Not
only that, but he got the blueprint and the plan from
God for the Tabernacle from Exodus chapter 21 all the
way to Exodus chapter 40. He
got the plan for the Tabernacle where God's
presence dwelt in the Old Testament. I
bring all that up because we go to Moses wrote two
Psalms out of the 150 Psalms that we have, two
of those he authored. And I should give a test right
now. Does everybody know what one of
those Psalms was? This is participation time. We
don't get much of this in the sanctuary. Christopher
LaRoch, BAM! Psalm 91. Thank
you. Good job, Chris. Awesome
job. And he also authored the Psalm
before that Psalms 90. And there's one verse in there
I want to highlight. Verse 12. So
we think about him 120 years and Moses said this
in Psalms 90 verse 12. He said, So teach us to
number our days. Teach us to number our days that
we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Another
translation, the New Living translation reads it like
this. Teach us to number our days and
recognize how few they are. Now
a lot of people think 120 years, that's a long time.
And the scope of eternity, it's
not long. Teach us to recognize how few
they are and help us to spend them as we should.
The Amplified says it like
this. Teach us to number our days that
we may cultivate and bring you a heart of wisdom.
Someone to counteract the world
philosophy, which I think is YOLO. Did
I say that right? I got IDK years ago, I
didn't know what that was, I had to put in a Google
search engine. I don't know. I
think it's your only, you only live once. Now
you could take that in the wrong way and do some
stupid things. You could take that in a
kingdom perspective and do some great things. You
know, when I was younger, sometimes we'd go to
Cumberland Lake and you could jump off a certain
height into the lake, right? And
you didn't think much about hitting the wrong way when
you're 18 years old. When you're going on 50 like I
am though, you know, it may make you stop and
think twice. Do I want to do this? No,
I don't want to do this. So,
but we are to number our days that we would gain a
heart of wisdom. And it's unwise if you don't
recognize, Lord, you put me on the earth for a certain
amount of time. And thank God for Psalms 91,
what he authored, he's going to satisfy you with
a long life and show you his salvation. So,
unless martyrdom happens and you're taken out early for
an assignment, you can expect from God to live a
long, healthy, full life. But
still in that, I want to make sure every day is
maximized. And Moses is telling us, teach
us to number our days that we could bring a heart of
wisdom. You're not wise if you don't
recognize God. Every day is a gift from you.
The Psalmist said, this is the
day the Lord has made. This
is the day the Lord has made. When
you wake up tomorrow, God, you've given me 24 hours
today, 168 hours this week. I
want to maximize. I don't want to spend time
on the unimportant. I don't want to be offended.
I don't want to be
distracted. I want to be on point. I
don't want to be on purpose to what you've
called me to do. Sometimes when I counsel people, I
say, don't ever say you're killing time. Even
if you're resting, rest on purpose. Don't
kill time, you invest time. And
so if you're not numbering your days and recognizing
that every day is a gift from God, you're never
going to have this thing called wisdom in your life.
But if you understand in the
kingdom of God that you've been born again, he's put
his spirit in you, and now there's an assignment, an
assignment, and task that he has for me, I want to
maximize those. When you have that mindset every
day, there's going to be a thing called wisdom that
shows up in your life. Now wisdom is shrewdness,
prudence, and skill. Wisdom is shrewdness, prudence, and
skill. Shrewd means you're able to
understand and judge a situation quickly, you're
sharp. Prudence means you have the ability
to govern and discipline yourself. Hallelujah.
Prudence means you have the ability to govern and
discipline yourself for use of reason. Prudence
means you have management of affairs. And
good management attracts resources, but bad managers
just put at bay resources. When
you manage your life, understand every day is a
gift from God, guess what, you maximize your day. When
you mismanage, God can't work with that. He
also, when you're wise, you have skill, which means you
have the ability to use one's knowledge effectively
and readily in execution or performance. So
when you're wise, you have shrewdness, prudence, and
skill, but that only comes with understanding that each
day is a gift from God. Let's
jump over to Ephesians chapter 5 and look at a
similar verse in the New Testament the apostle Paul
wrote in verse number 16. Ephesians
chapter 5 verse number 16. It
says this redeeming the time because the days are
evil is how the new living translation reads it. The
amplified says this make the very most of your time
on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each
opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence
because the days are filled with evil. The
JB Phillips says it like this, live life then with
a due sense of responsibility, not as men
who do not know the meaning and purpose of
life, but as those who do. Make
the best use of your time. Despite
all the difficulties of these days, don't be vague
but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of
God. What wonderful verses of
Scripture to chew on and think on. Now
the meat of the message I want to give you today is
that the greatest example of leadership and manhood
we could have which is the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is no greater example that we could live up to or
look to as far as trying to imitate how he operated
and how he moved. And this is why the gospels
are so important because you get to see his life
and how he interacted and how he was on a mission.
We know that he lived 33
years, but really his ministry is only 3 years
from 30 to 33. So I want to go to Matthew
chapter 9 and I just want to look at this because
this is a day in the life of Jesus. So
I'm going to read and I'll have you stay with me. 38
verses, this could help some of you with your
Bible reading plan. Because we're going to read a
whole chapter together to see a day in the life of
Jesus. What did a day look like for
Jesus? So starting in verse 1, But
Jesus, knowing the scribe's thoughts, said, Why do you
think evil in your hearts? For
which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you
or to say arise and walk? But
that you may know that the Son of Man has power on
earth to forgive sins. Then Jesus said to the
paralytic, Arise, get up, take up your bed, go to
your house. And this paralytic arose and
departed to his house. Now when the multitude saw it,
they marveled and glorified God who had given such
power to men. As Jesus passed on from there,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office
and he said to him, Follow me. So
Matthew arose and followed him. Now
it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house
that behold many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat down with him and his disciples. And
when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Jesus'
disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax
collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said
to them, Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. But
go and learn what this means. I
desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
I came to call sinners to
repentance. Then the disciples of John came
to him saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast
often, but your disciples do not fast? And
Jesus said to them, Can the friends of the
bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with
them? But the days will come when
the bridegroom will be taken away from them and
then they will fast. No one puts a piece of
untrunt cloth on an old garment for the patch pulls
away from the garment and the tear is made worse.
Nor do they put new wine in
old wine skins or else the wine skins break and the
wine is spilled and the wine skins are ruined. But
they put new wine into new wine skins and both are
preserved. While he spoke these things, to
them behold a ruler came and worshiped him saying,
My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand
on her and she will live. So
Jesus arose and followed him. And
suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood or an issue
of blood for 12 years came from behind and touched the
hem of his garment. For she said to herself, If I
only may touch Jesus' garment, I shall be made
well. But Jesus turned around and
when he had saw her, he said to her, Be of good
share, daughter, your faith has made you well. And
the woman was made well from that hour. Then
when Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the
flute players and the noisy crowds wailing, he said to
them, Make room for the girls not dead but sleeping
and they ridiculed him. But when the crowd was put
outside, Jesus went in and he took her by the hand
and the girl arose. And this report of this went
out into all that land. When
Jesus had departed from there, two blind men came
and followed him crying out and saying, Son of David,
have mercy on us. When he came and when he had
come into the house, the blind men came to him and
Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I'm able to
do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord.
Then he touched their eyes
saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. And
their eyes were open and Jesus sternly warned them
saying, See that no one knows it. But
when they had departed, they spread the news about
him in all that country. As
they went out, behold, they brought to Jesus a man,
mute and demon possessed. And
when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke and
the multitudes marveled, saying it was never seen
like this in Israel. But the Pharisees said he cast
out demons by the ruler of demons. Verse
35, Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages
teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and
every manner of disease among the people. But
when Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved
with compassion for them because they were weary and
scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Then
he said to disciples, The harvest, the harvest, the
harvest, the harvest is plentiful or abundant, but
the laborers are few. Therefore,
pray the Lord of the harvest to send out
laborers, workers into his harvest a day in the life
of Jesus. How busy is your day? I'm
going to make some points from how many people we
interacted with in just a second. But
I want to cue in on verse number 36 quickly. He
saw the multitudes. He was moved with compassion,
not just empathy. Empathy can say, I know you have
a problem, I sympathize with you, but compassion is
a hand of truth that's going to pull you up,
stabilize you, get you strong, and get you on the
mission for God. The model of Jesus Christ's
ministry was coming, come, follow. And
follow is an invitation, really it's an authoritative
command where you're saying, I'm siding with your party.
I'm choosing to learn. That's
really the second model. Jesus
not only come, follow you, but learn of me. And
really in the rabbitical style of teaching or rabbi,
the disciples wanted to know what their master
know, but lived the way that he lived. And
so there's always a learning process in kingdom
education that you're never going to graduate from. You
should know more about God now than you did last
year. Next year this time you should
have greater revelation and intimacy about who he is.
Ten years from now it should
be even richer, the lead in his spirit should be
even sharper, and you should have even more
influence. I believe in the kingdom of
God we don't retire, we refire. I
believe in the kingdom of God that your best years
are ahead of you if you make the right choices,
speak the right words, and develop the right character,
and live every day and maximize potential. I
believe in the story of Smith Wigglesworth, who did
many great things for the kingdom of God. Over
23 people erased from the dead in his ministry. I
believe in his 80s when nobody else was seeking him
out. There was a man named Lester
Somerall that traveled to England to search him out
to be mentored by him. And at 80 a younger man was
seeking him because there was still fruit in his
life and impact and influence. And
Lester Somerall, because he gleaned from, received
instruction and amortization from Smith Wigglesworth,
guess what? He was able to go out and
get his ten thousands where only he got his thousands.
And I know this for a fact,
when Lester Somerall was later in life, he had an
impact on the dean of our Bible school when we were
going there in 2000, Dean Crow. Because
Reverend Crow went on a mission trip with Lester
Somerall, and Lester Somerall was in his 60s at
that time. And Dean Crow was probably in
his late 20s, early 30s, and he said, the guy wore
me out. So I do believe your greatest
years are ahead of you and your most fruitful years
ahead of you if you maximize every day. But
going to this verse, he said he was moved with
compassion. Compassion is a hand of truth that
gets you up, supports you, gets you strong because
Jesus wants you to come unto him, fall of him,
learn of him. The third thing was go ye.
Come ye, learn of me, go ye.
There was activity and action in
the ministry of Jesus' life that he expected his
disciples to go out and make a difference in the
world. Listen, the world shouldn't impact
us, the kingdom should impact the world. The
world should not impact us, the kingdom should impact
the world. The question is, are you
getting sucked too much into the culture of the
world, or are you renewing your life to the culture
of the kingdom? Because the kingdom came to take
over, the king's domain. And
God wants to use you. We are his body and the
earth. So this verse is vitally
important because he saw that people were wary and
scattered like sheep having no shepherd. And
this is important because Jesus understood through the
Father and the lead in the Holy Ghost that he was
going to assign the five -fold ministry in his body.
So if we go to Ephesians 4,
we're going to come back to Matthew 9 in just a
second. Ephesians chapter 4, hallelujah, thank
God for His Word. Ephesians chapter 4, we're going to
start in verse number 8. And
it says this, let's start in verse number 7. But
to each one of us grace was given, to each one of
us, to each one of us, that includes everybody
that's born again in the body of Christ. To
each one of us grace was given according to the
measure of Christ's gift. Therefore,
he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity
captive, he gave gifts to men. Now
this he ascended, which does mean, but that he
also first descended into lower parts of the earth.
He who descended is also the
one who ascended far above all heavens, that he might
fill all things. And he, Jesus himself, gave
some, not all, he gave to all a gift, but to some,
he gave to be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, some pastors and teachers. This
is what we call the five -fold ministry. The
five -fold ministry are those that God has ordained
and appointed to be placed in His body to equip the
saints. If we read this, it says they
were given for the equipping the saints. Number
two, for the work of the ministry, number three, that
the body of Christ would be edified or built up. So
this five -fold ministry is giving for the equipping,
the furnishing, the setting, the position of the saints
in the body, so that you would have everything you
need to do what God's called you to do. He
equips you. God is not putting unequipped
merchandise on His market. Let
me put it this way. Jesus and Matthew nine had the
ability of the word of wisdom to see beyond where
he was at. He operated all twelve or nine
gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12, but he's
able to say people are like sheep without a
shepherd. They're feigning, they're scattered.
That means they're exhausted,
they're worn out, they're tired, they're getting flung
down and thrown down quickly. They
have no stamina, no strength. And
so what do you say? They're
like sheep without a shepherd. And
I bring up Ephesians four because one of the gifts
that he gave the pastor is like a shepherd over the
sheep. God assigns local body churches,
and this is why it's so important for you to come
on a Wednesday, a Sunday. This
is why it's so important to come to discipleship
classes. Why? Because God cares about
you. He doesn't want you to be
fainted and scattering. If you're not connected to a
local body church that has a true shepherd and that
anointing that goes with it, you're going to be
scattered, you're going to be fainted. You're
going to be tired, you're going to be exhausted,
you're going to be all over the place. You're
going to be a yo -yo Christian. Fruit
loops, scattered. I've seen some interesting
Christians. Right? But a true pastor is going
to say, you're doing great, or no, that's not right.
Listen, a pastor is going to help
oversee your soul. And if they see you getting
off a few degrees, they're going to say, course
correction. Why? Because if you're off just
a few degrees, when you leave Orlando on a plane
trying to go to Los Angeles, you're off a few
degrees by the time you are meant to reach your
intended destination, you're way off. And
a true shepherd is going to have that anointing and
that...you're not going to get this off a TBN. Thank
God for a TBN, but they ain't calling your house,
they're envisaging the hospital. They're
not doing face -to -face counseling meetings. I
like Christians tackling the airways, but a local body
church is the stake. These other things are
supplements. They can add some enrichment,
but you can't live off of vitamins. Hallelujah.
So, he loved you so much. Matter
of fact, it puts way that the fivefold ministry is
God's love gift to you. Thank
God for those that are called and those that are
living out. Now in the body of Christ,
we've had some that weren't called. We've
had some that were called that didn't live it out,
their character failed. But we've had some that have
lived it out and are living it out. And
thank God for those people. I
personally have been in three churches in my...in
my 24 -year walk with God. I'm
trying to do the math. 97, yeah. And
three churches. The only reason I left the
church is not because I was offended, because God
said when I was in Ramah Christian Center in
Columbus, Ohio, He said, you need to go to Bible
school. So, I listened and left on a
good note. How you leave determines how
you enter. You leave today offended, you
enter tomorrow offended. The Bible says, be angry. Don't
let the sun go down your anger. You
want to live a maximized day, you better live an
unaffended life. If you lie to offense or
unforgiveness, one of the devil's major tools and
strategies is to get you sideways some way. You
know how divorce happens? You
know how somebody leaves an employer? You
know how somebody leaves a church? Typically,
because they get offended. Something
said, they get rubbed the wrong way. And
you don't want to let that happen. Be
man enough or woman enough to get a backbone of love
and let things go. Has God forgiven you for some
things? We're dealing with humanity. And
all humans are human beings, not human doings.
And they're a pro to
malfunction at times. But as you grow on with God,
you should have a thing of maturity that comes. And
there should be perfection in your life. Now
let me define perfection real quick. Perfection
does not mean that you're without fault. If
you look at this up in the Greek, it means fully
developed. Or we could put this way,
mature. When I didn't get my way when
I was a kid, you didn't get your way when you're a
kid. How did you respond to those
who didn't let you have their way? You
would throw a thing called a temper. Temper,
you may cry. You may throw a fit. Now
it's one thing to do that at eight. It's
another thing when you're married to do that at 38.
I'll let that soak. The
marriage conference for those that signed up is
Friday night. It's one thing for you to wet
your bed at three years old. It's
another thing for you to wet your bed at 53 years
old. All right? But
maturity means that I'm taking responsibility. And
I'm becoming more mature, so I have more of the
word in me. I'm more led by the spirit. I
have better control of my emotions. When
you're young in Christ, guess what? It's
like you're an infancy. And we're going to have people
coming to this church that are all different seasons
and stages of the walk with God. But
to whom much is given, much is required. So
it's one thing for somebody who's one year old in the
spirit to spit up on you. It's
another thing for somebody who's been walking God for
20 years to throw up on me. We're
going to have a conversation. And
you're buying me new clothes. Hallelujah.
Are you with me? So perfect means that you're
just growing. You're taking responsibility. Don't
do the blame game. Don't do the blame game. Adam
did this with Eve. Well, it's the woman you gave
me. He is basically blaming God.
No, take responsibility. What
would happen if Adam would have said, you know what,
Lord? I blew it. There's
a man in the Bible when he was confronted by a
prophet, had done wrong. God
restored him because he took responsibility. His
name was King David. Nathan the prophet, out of the
love of God, the love of God, the love of God. This
guy broke the six and seven commandment. Something
that King Saul never did. But
he had such a heart for God, and he never did it
again. That's maturity. Psalms
51 is his psalm of repentance. And
he got right before God and stayed right before
God. But when he was confronted with
a word from God, he said, I am that man. Took
full responsibility, and God's able to work with a
person that takes full responsibility. And
that is perfection in the sense of maturity. An
immature person passes the blame, passes the buck,
blames others. Always isn't a victim mentality.
Always is woe to me. I'll
put it this way. The proverb says they're a
leech. They suck. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. So he loved you so much,
though, that he put a pastor, an apostle, a
prophet, a teacher, an evangelist, in the body of
Christ so that you're not scattered and that you're
not faint -hearted. Because God wants you stable,
strong, and on the mission for him. Now
let's go back and look at the day in the life of
Jesus. Because I'm talking about the power
of the day in extending your reach. If
nobody reaches, nobody gets touched. If
nobody reaches, nobody gets touched. So
let's just go back. In this day, Jesus has
interactions with about 17 people or people groups.
And we're just going to
highlight some of this. The first thing I love about
this is in verse 1 it said, He came to his own
city. And I like that because our
vision is to ignite the city, impact the nation,
and influence the world. And
the pastor just said this on Sunday. There's
nothing like, he loves being at Anchor Faith
Church. Now does he impact the nation,
influence the world? Yeah, but home base is always
most important. And I'll say this, how are you
going to influence the world if you're not taking
even care of your own house? In
Acts 1, 8, if we look at this, it says they were
filled with the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit of God came upon them and do them with
power from on high. And then it says they were
witnesses, first to Jerusalem, their own
hometown, their own home. Then
Judea, then Samaria, then to the other most parts of
the earth. How are you going to touch the
other most parts of the earth if you're not
impacting your own home? So I believe it starts in the
house. Being a real man, being a real
woman of God, being real parents, bringing your kids
to church, living it out the house, the atmosphere
you permit is the atmosphere that's produced.
You let discord, division,
frustration, lack of communication, lack of the
word in your house. It's going to trickle down to
your kids. I don't care how much you
tell them about Jesus. They're
always going to imitate you. When
Abby was little, I was outside working, she was a
chatterbox. And I was doing something, and
she's young, you know, she's in the princess
phase. And I remember I spit, so she
spat. Your kids will not always listen
to you, but they'll always imitate you. If
you're a jerk of a husband, marriage conference
is Friday. Registration is passed. But
those who are coming, get ready. Put
your seatbelt on. If you're a wife that's riding
on a broomstick. See you later. See
you later. The Bible says a wise woman
builds her house, but a contentious one. The
guy wants to get on the roof, a little corner, out
in the elements instead of being at the house. So
the question is your house a home? Because
not every house in the kingdom is a home. So
Jesus came to his own city. And
I believe ministry really starts in the house. And
a real man and woman of God that has kids is going
to live it out day by day. I'm
just giving you a little taste of the marriage
conference. I won't linger too long. But
you know, we've lived this out before our kids. Others
have lived it out before their kids. And
the word of God does not fail. It
works every time. Jeremiah said he watches over his
word to perform it. You know, we've had to go to
our daughters at times. If I'm on the phone too much
or I've had a little more intense day and I feel the
edge and I realize in my parenting that that wasn't
really the way I set it in line up with what they
did because there was intensity carried over from
maybe someone on the day. I've
literally had to go say I'm sorry. Why?
Because I want to be perfect. I
want to take responsibility. Now
do I do that every day? No.
But there's been seasons where I said, listen, I'm
sorry or we've been I've recognized I've been on the
phone too much. I need to slow down and
spend time with you. Hallelujah.
You know, body context has a lot even in the
marriage. And if if your spouse trying
to talk to you on the phone, your kids are trying
to talk to you on the phone and there's no eye
to eye at some point. You're
really communicating. I don't care what you're
saying. You know, interesting thing
about this. So one of my daughters some
years ago asked her to take out the trash and she
took it out and she came back to me and said, Dad,
I'm sorry. I said, what? Well,
he told me to take out the trash, but my heart
wasn't really in it. Why? Because you live it out
before them and the atmosphere you permit is
the atmosphere that's produced. So
back to Jesus, how busy was his day? How
busy is your day? If nobody reaches, nobody gets
touched. So the first thing he
encounters when he comes is somebody that's sick of the
Palsy. And this is a paralytic. And
when you have paralysis, it's either complete or
partial loss of a function of your body and it
involves motion or sensation. This
guy obviously was on a bed so he was really confined.
But the first thing that
happens is, guess what? There's
going to be a gift of healing that takes place
with this man. It's important to stay built up
in the things of God. And so they bring him this man
that's a paralytic. And the first thing Jesus said,
he mixes some doctrine or teaching in with it. Not
only is he going to do a gift of healing, but he
mixes some teaching because instruction helps you with
life. If you have no instructions,
you're going to perish because people perish for a
lack of knowledge and knowledge comes through
instruction or truth coming to your life. And
so he said, son, your sins be forgiven. Well,
the second group being crowned as his ascribes,
well guess what? This made the scribes mad. Now
they didn't know that he knew what they were
thinking. The scribes in their heart were
complaining. Have you ever had to deal with
complaining people before? And
the scribes who were supposed to be interpreters
of the law said he blasphemes because he said
your sins were forgiven. They
said, who can forgive sins? And
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, why are you
thinking evil in your heart? And
then after this, the multitudes, after the
paralytic was healed, the multitudes, so multitudes
saw the interaction between the paralytic and the
paralytic. And they saw the interaction
with the scribes and the multitudes glorified God who
had given such power to men. So
we see in this first section of the day in life
of Jesus that he healed somebody and he brings
correction and doctrine. The next encounter he has is
with Matthew, who actually pinned the gospel of
Matthew. Now Matthew, whose name was
Levi, was a tax collector. And
listen, tax collectors were despised by Jewish people
because this was a Levi from the tribe of Levi who
worked for the Roman government, part of St.
John's County tax collectors. We
could put this way, Matthew worked for the IRS. And
in that day, the tax collectors not only could
demand the money of the government, they would take
additional money to line their own pockets. This
is a well -known practice. So
they were rich people who got their riches by unjust
means. So it's bad enough that the
Roman government did this, but when one of your own
nationality born a Jewish person is collecting from
other Jewish people and pocketing their own
pocketing your money with extra taxes, guess what?
You're going to be upset. But
when Jesus saw Matthew, he said, follow me. So
Matthew arose and followed him. Now
it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house
that behold many tax collectors, many tax
collectors. So guess who Matthew hung out
with? Those like him. And
sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his
disciples. And the Pharisees were really
happy about it. No, they said, why? So
encountering once again another group of religious
people already dealt with the scribes. You're
going to have to deal with people in the course of
your day. So don't get frustrated. Don't
get fussy. Don't think everything's an
interruption. Not everything's an interruption.
Some things are divine
appointments. Have the discernment to know
this can wait till later or I need to address this
now. Well, how do you know that?
Because he's given you the greater
one on the inside, the Holy Ghost to lead you.
And this can be something we're
setting up in the future. We
don't need to talk about this now. It
could be a Holy Ghost prompting that says you
need to deal with this person now. I
try to plan my day, but I always plan for some
interruptions. I learned years ago if I try
to plan everything, it gets me frustrated because
there's interruptions during the day. Now
I'm in the season discerning. Does
this need to be addressed now? Is
this an emergency or can this wait? Hallelujah.
So the Pharisees said, why does your teacher eat with
tax collectors and sinners? If
nobody reaches, nobody gets touched. I'm
in the church all day. I expect sanctified, saved,
spirit filled, bloodbought, tongue talking people to be
around me. Matter of fact, the other day,
one of our employees in his pocket had a little
round look like a can. I went up and grabbed the
thing real fast and said, what is that? And
it was actually electrical tape. We
saved, still sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost,
tongue talking. Now guess what? I
don't know if I'm out in Walmart and I see somebody
with that in their back pocket. If
nobody reaches, nobody gets touched. But
I could see by what you're carrying in your pocket,
you're serving the wrong God. Right?
So I can address that person, not so much dealing
with that, but dealing with our Redeemer and what his
truth will do in your life. So
the Pharisees got mad because he was around tax
collectors and sinners. How are people going to get
saved? Come to truth. Come
to the knowledge of Christ if you don't touch anybody.
Listen, you got an hour and a
half on a Sunday, two hours, you got an hour and
a half, maybe an hour and a half on a Wednesday.
We're in the community primarily,
or predominantly most of the time. And
that's where mission works takes place. We
are to ignite this city. I'm
at the gas station sometimes. I
hear some very choice music, but it doesn't move
me. They're sinners. I
don't jump in my car, put my hands in my finger and,
or my fingers in my ears and start praying in the
Holy Ghost. That's what they do. Lord,
do you need me to say something to them? Some
people, some sow, some water, but it's God that
gives the increase. You could be at the gas
station and you hear that and then God may say, you
may as well ask them how you're doing today. Is
everything all right? If nobody reaches, nobody gets
touched. Well, the Pharisees got mad just
because Jesus was around. Tax
collectors and sinners. And he said to them, I didn't
come to call the righteous. And
what he was saying, you Pharisees, all you do is
an outward show of self -righteousness. I
really came to call people that truly repent. And
that's the first word in the kingdom's repent. Turn
the way from where you're going and head the other
way. But the Pharisees just put on
a show. They didn't really live it out.
And then after this, the next
group he encounters are the disciples of John. And
real quick, the disciples of John got mad because
Jesus was eating and they were fasting. And
they start asking questions about why aren't your
disciples fasting? You're all over there enjoying a
meal with the tax collectors in the center.
So what's Jesus do? He
brings more instruction. Is there room in your day? Is
the Holy Ghost leading you in your day to reach
people? This house should be packed.
This sanctuary. This
church, because you are going out in the community.
And you're doing like Jesus
did. And impacting and influencing
the lives of people. And then you're saying, don't
be scattered and don't be faint anymore. Come
get under a good church. Come
get connected so you can get equipped. So
you could do the work of the ministry so the body
of Christ could be edified. After
the disciples of John complained that Jesus'
disciples weren't fasting, the next thing said that
their ruler came to worship him saying, my daughter has
just died. But come, lay your hands on
her and she will live. So Jesus arose and he followed
the ruler and his disciples. But
suddenly there was an interruption. He's
on his way to the ruler's house. But
this woman with an issue of blood, she was had a
cycle for 12 years did not quit bleeding. She
spent all she had. She didn't grow any better, but
she grew worse. But she heard something about
Jesus and said, if I could just touch, connect with
him. I will be well. So
Jesus is on his way somewhere else, but he felt
power go out of him. And he said, who touched me?
And he said, be a good share
daughter. You are made well. And
then when Jesus came to the ruler's house, he saw
the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing. Another
encounter with a different group of people. I
call this professional mourners. They
were wailing, crying, snotting, complaining. And
Jesus had to deal with these people. And
you know what he did with them? He
told them the girl's not dead, she's just sleeping.
They laughed at him. He
said, get out. What do you say? I
don't need any distractions for what I'm about to do.
And I don't need your doubt,
your unbelief in the room when I'm getting ready to
do a miracle of God and show a demonstration. And
there's some things you need to get out of your
life that are hindering you. And
professional mourners, complainers, backbiders,
seditious people will ruin your life. They
ruin your walk. The devil undermines. So
when you're undermining authority, guess whose
territory you're in? You're in the devil's territory.
There's some things you got to put
out if you're going to operate in the fullness of
what God wants you to do. So
he went in, he touched the girl, picked her up and
she arose. Then when Jesus departed from
there, two blind men followed him, crying out
and saying, Son of David, have mercy on us. And
when he had come into the house, the blind men came
to him and Jesus said to them, do you believe that
I'm able to do this? And they said yes. And
he said, according to your faith, be it unto you. And
when their eyes were open, Jesus sternly warned them
saying, make sure no one knows this, but when they
departed, they spread his fame all over the place.
As they went out, behold, they
brought to Jesus a man, Mute and demon possessed.
And when the demon was cast
out, the Mute spoke and the multitude marveled,
saying it was never seen like this in Israel. But
the Pharisee said he cast out demons by the rulers
of demons, a day in the life of Jesus. It's
a good homework assignment for you to look at how
many people's lives he impacted that day and how
he impacted them. Two were healed by their own
faith. One, there was an operation of
miracles, a gift of faith. I'm
just trying to whet your appetite so you go study
the word yourself. There were several doctrine or
teaching moments that he used when it came to
helping the lives of people. There
were things that he corrected when somebody was
misspeaking what was being, what truth was. But
this is a day in the life of Jesus. But
he's our greatest model, and I want to end with
this thought that he says in verse 35, because after
he did all this in one day, it says in verse 35,
Jesus went about the simplicity of the kingdom
action of this man of God came down to three things
that he did he taught in the synagogue. He
preached the gospel of the kingdom, and he healed
every manner of sickness and every manner of
disease. The Bible says that we will do
the same works as Jesus and greater works because
the Holy Ghost is in us. So
if Jesus was teaching, preaching and demonstrating,
guess what we're doing in the community? Teaching
is explaining the kingdom of God. Preaching
is proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of
God, the redemption, being taken out of darkness and
being brought into the light. And
listen, there was also demonstration of the kingdom
of God. It says he went about healing.
The word healing is a therapy
where we get the word therapy from. And
the kingdom of God will bring therapy to your life.
If you've ever been injured,
hurt, you've ever had a joint out of place. Guess
what? It needs to get put back into
place. Some of those injuries or hurts
require a PT to restore range of motion and
strength. So what I'm saying is you
come to church, guess what? There
should be some therapy going in your life. Well,
that thought wasn't right, or that was out of
alignment, or that needs healed. You
know, James chapter 1 says, receive with meekness the
engrafted word which is able to save your soul.
That book was written to the
church. They were saved, but he said
your soul still needs saved, meaning your mind,
your will and motions. There's
still some therapy that your range of motion isn't
where it needs to be in your thinking. So
let's renew our mind to truth, right? So
therapy doesn't, and that always isn't done in one
session. If you've had major trauma or
major injury, that could be a while of therapy sessions
until there's enough strength to whatever was
injured is back to strong enough to operate
functionally on a daily basis. It
also said that he came to heal every sickness, and
the word sickness means this, a disease or sickness
or infirmity. Any disorder, unsoundness or
weakness, your day, your maximized day should have
some of these elements in it. As
you grow up, as you mature in the things of God, you
should be able to lay your hands on somebody. You
should be able to bring a word and do a season to
somebody. You should be in the
marketplace somewhere and let the Holy Ghost lead
you and prompt you to talk to somebody about Jesus, to
proclaim the kingdom, maybe to bring healing to
somebody's life. Maybe something's disordered or
weak that needs healing, right? And
the last thing that Jesus did, it says that he cured
every disease. Now this word disease in the
Greek means softness or effeminate. When
you look this up in the root word, it actually
means a catamite or a boy that has been penetrated by
an adult man. I'll keep it at that in the
Roman culture. That's created a softness. You
could look it up, Strong's 3119, for you Bible
students, and then you can look up the root word from
there. But I bring this up because we
are living in a day today, and I'm closing with this,
where the family unit is under attack like never
before. And because of this, Dad's
fathers, I'm beseeching you, know your role and be in
it. Malachi, last book in the Old
Testament, very last chapter, says this, if the
hearts of the fathers are turned towards the children,
then the children's hearts will be turned to the
fathers. It doesn't say anything about
mothers in that verse. But there's a great
responsibility to Dad's and husbands to be the
spiritual leader and pace setter in the house. Why
do I bring this up? Because
the children's hearts are never going to be turned
to the fathers if the fathers' hearts aren't
turned toward the children. Now
moms and wives have their role and it's vitally
important. But I bring that all up
because a devil, you can go to church Monday, 318,
you can come Wednesday and go Sunday. But
if you're not living this out at the house, if
you're not being an example in the home, there's going
to be dysfunction. And right now in our society,
people are confused. There's gender identification,
confusion. There's confusion in what marriage
is according to what the kingdom says. But
I believe a lot of this stems from broken homes. Or
homes that are dysfunctional, where a
husband and a wife aren't in the right position. But
there's good news tonight. There's
course correction tonight. Even
if you came out of that and you're later in life,
there's still good news because Jesus says He heals
every disease. So even if you came out of a
broken home, God can still touch your heart, turn you
around, strengthen you, get your mind renewed and your
feet heading in the right direction. So
church, I just admonish you. There
is power in every day. What
does tomorrow have in store for you? Thank
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