The Ascent of the Sent // Marked (Part 6) – Pastor Michael Todd – Transformation Church

New Direction vs Old Obedience

• 1 Samuel 17:15: but David went back and forth so he could help his father with the sheep in Bethlehem.
  • What made David so great was that he was able to go “back and forth” – going forth to the palace and rising on the stage and back to tending the sheep, continuously because he followed where God led him to.
  • We can be so desperate for the “next direction” from God when we should be following “old obedience.”

The Secret of Being Sent is Sub-mission

• We have to be low to do the mission God sent you for; your feelings are sub to the mission – your comfort(s) are sub to the mission.
• You can forfeit the mission by doing the mission but then disqualifying it by opening your mouth.
• Luke 22:42: “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
  • Submission sucks; even Jesus felt that, but He still submitted to the Cross because He wants His Father’s will to be done above His own.
• 1 Peter 5:6: So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.
  • If we don’t humble ourselves, He will humble us. As Christians, we can’t only do what we want to do.
  • To submit, we have to “honor up, honor down, and honor all the way around.”

Don’t Be Stupid About Stewardship

• 1 Samuel 17:20: So David left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts, as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries.
  • God will never take you to your next without handling your now. David never neglected, mismanaged, etc. his role as a shepherd just because he saw the opportunity to move to the higher role on the battlefield.
  • Whatever we do will be a reflection of God’s name, so we can’t be “onto the next” without handling what God wants us to do now.

Opportunity is Wrapped in Obedience

• If you’re going to ascent to be sent, your next opportunity is going to wrapped in obedience not skill, connection, or anything logical.
  • EX.) David’s “next” was facing Goliath, but he didn’t get there without obeying his father, by giving his brothers food. The only connection between Goliath and delivery was obedience. David was available to obey God, are you?
  • Your moments of obedience God gives you won’t be extravagant, but small and normal, but those moments of obedience God will use to do something great.
• Normal obedience creates incredible opportunities.

Obedience Doesn’t Require Details

• By asking for details, you’re delaying the promise of God.
• “When you move, I [God] move.” – Prophet Ludacris
• The details are only determined by God, but the disclosure of these details are revealed by obedience.
• Remember Proverbs 16:9
  • Proverbs 16:19: We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.
    • It is better to wait on God than move on your own.
    • God is dependable! Do the last thing God told you to do and depend on God.
• You don’t need to make a way when you got the Way-Maker by your side, just don’t be in the way of His way.

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