Okay, so what's the plan?
Has God ever asked you to do something that was probably bigger than what you could have
imagined or thought?
Yeah, he's done it with me.
And you know what?
I'm so grateful looking back now that when I've really first started walking with the
Lord that he didn't really kind of clue me in on how he was going to use me because honestly
I think I would have run.
I think I know I would have run and you know honestly I think there was a lot of things
probably I ran from out of fear because I didn't think I was able to do it or I didn't
have the skill set to do it yet or it was just bigger than what I could have imagined
or you know sometimes the enemy starts really beating you up and you're consumed with everything
you can't do instead of this big wonderful glorious God that wants to use us in spite
of ourselves you know.
So I want to talk to you about making a plan.
Okay number one do you have a vision for it?
What's the vision?
What do you feel like he's telling you to do?
It might you know it might seem kind of scary but you might want to write that down.
Okay next you got to think about what is it going to take to get you there.
Days of preparation are never wasted days.
Days of organizing your steps you know I can remember when I first got born again I had
older Christians in me say things like oh Jesus is coming soon and there isn't time
to get ready.
I mean that's kind of okay we yeah things are accelerating kind of fast right now but
if there's something that you feel like you're supposed to be doing and that doesn't necessarily
even mean ministry you need to get ready for it.
What does that look like?
Okay what are the steps?
What are what's the training?
What's the skill set?
What's the doors that have to open?
If God is wanting to open doors for you then you need to get ready for them now because
when you're ready and you can walk through those doors you're going to be able to go
into it successfully and it will happen.
You know if you're really getting ready for some stuff don't don't compromise and this
really has more to do with believing God for a spouse.
You know if when you're in the in the process of seeking the Lord and remember I work for
teenagers for years okay that's my heart.
Teenagers need to think about going to college and getting a degree and getting some training
and thinking about what kind of skill set do I need for ministry.
You know if you're really called into the ministry just think about it.
We are called to manage people and we are called to market our message.
Our message is Jesus is Lord.
He has come to die on a cross and save us from our sins and if we will repent and receive
him we can have eternal life but we market our message and we manage people.
So really ministry is good business.
You cannot go wrong getting some sort of training in business.
You can't go wrong learning how to manage money.
You know one of the things that's probably most important if you're really going to go
and step into ministry is how are you going to handle the business end of things.
I can remember years ago I was really really young I just come to Tulsa and I'm working
at the prayer tower and in walks Myles Monroe.
He's waiting for his congregation to show up and they're going to do a tour of O.R.U.
and he's got about an hour on his hands before his group arrives so he just kind of sits
down at the counter and starts up a conversation with some random O.R.U. student and the next
thing I know I'm having an opportunity to really ask him about his life.
It was amazing.
I love Myles Monroe.
I ended up having his nephews in Bible class years later and you know the cool thing and
he really inspired me to write books.
I am a huge Myles Monroe fan.
The thing that he left me with on that day was number one how much he loved his people
and then number two he told me the most important degree that he got while he was at O.R.U.
was accounting.
I was like wait a minute timeout aren't you like you know this theologian that's gone
all over the world and preached the gospel and shared the ministry all over.
Yes.
This is a preacher's preacher.
He was a teacher's teacher.
He had kingdom mentality and he knew how to love his people.
I really hope I get to the Bahamas someday and I get to see the work.
But he told me that the degrees in accounting and the ability to manage money actually what
put him into a position within the government of the Bahamas.
of Bahamas, which opened the doors for him to be in charge
of financial things and business and administrative things
within the Bahamas, which gave him an ambassador's passport,
which enabled him to do all kinds of things with ministry
that he couldn't have ever imagined.
You see, days of preparation are vital days.
And if God is telling you to get ready in a specific area,
you have no idea how down the road,
God will use that to share the gospel.
So my encouragement, my invitation for you today is,
what's the plan?
Make a plan.
If the plan seems scary or bigger than you, well, guess what?
God generally asks us to do things
that we don't have the capacity, strength,
or skill set to do it.
We do it anyway.
He's faithful.
Days of preparation are never wasted days.
Have a good day.