The Holy Way Week 2

- Thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Tim Powell and I have the privilege and the honor of being the campus pastor at our new life church, Greenbrier Campus. We are a non-denominational church located in the state of Arkansas with 19, about to be 20 campuses across the state. Our heart behind partnering with Pando through God Behind Bars is to allow your family an opportunity to connect to biblical community so that they can be growing in their walk with Christ at the same time that you were growing. So if you do have family in Arkansas, encourage them to check out newlifechurch.tv to find a campus that fits them. Thank you so much for being here. Now let's listen in to today's message. - We're so good to see you guys in church on today. Come on, let's thank God and praise them for those that's listening in through God Behind Bars ministry on the Pando app. If you're visiting with us, look, we wanna just thank you. Thank you so much for just thinking about us and coming in to give us a chance. We don't take this for granted because we have the opportunity to get into God's presence and you're here and we're really, really thankful for that. My name is Byron Burrell and I am the pastor over our connect and our serve teams.

If you have questions about getting connected, about getting involved, I would love to sit down and talk with you to see exactly where God wants you to be. I would love to have the opportunity to do just that. Let's go ahead and jump in. We're gonna go to Isaiah 35 and eight. Isaiah 35 and eight. And it says, "A highway shall be there and a road "and it shall be called the highway of holiness. "The unclean shall not pass over it, "but it shall be for others. "Whoever walks the road, although of fools, "shall not go astray. "No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beasts "go up on it, it shall not be found there. "But the redeemed shall walk there "and the ransom of the Lord shall return. "And come to Zion with singing with everlasting joy "on their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness "and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Last week, we began a series called, our vision series called The Holy Way. Everybody say The Holy Way. Today we're gonna dive a little deeper to understand what that means and what God has in store for us. In Joshua three and five, Joshua says, Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow, "the Lord will do amazing things."

What Joshua's saying is that we serve a holy God and that we are a holy people and God has amazing things for us to do if we allow him to. For a quick recap of last week, Pastor Tim, he shared with us from Leviticus 1144 that I am the Lord your God. "Consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy." And what we learned is that God is still leading the way. God is still directing, God is still guiding, God is still showing us what it is that he wants us to do. We learned that God is still tearing down walls. All of us have something in our lives that need to be torn down, something in our lives that need to be removed, something that needs to be taken out of the way so we can do what God has called us to do. Some of those walls, only God can tear down. And we learned that God is still redeeming the time. That it's not too late. That there's still time for us to get in the game, there's still time for us to get into God's presence. There's there's time for us to give our lives to God for him to do what he wants to do in and through us. In the book of Joshua, chapter one, it begins with God appointing Joshua to take the children of Israel across the Jordan right after the death of Moses. Then it goes into chapter two where Joshua sends two spies to Jericho

and they meet this woman by the name of Rahab who hides them from the king and then helps them to escape only with them saying that they will save her family. And here in chapter three, Joshua's preparing to take the children of Israel across the Jordan River, but he tells them to consecrate yourselves. Consecrate yourselves. Now, what does this word consecrate mean? Because it can sound super easy. But to consecrate yourself is to intentionally set yourself apart for God. To intentionally set yourself apart. It's saying that, Lord, my life is not my own. It's yours. That all of my plans, all of my desires is yours. That I'm going to take anything and everything that will keep me from being in your presence and I'm going to take that and put it to the side. Because I need you, I need to set myself apart from you. Consecration is not merely giving up something that's bad, but it's giving your whole life to God for His purpose. We all know that God created us on purpose and has a plan for us, but there's a time where we have to consecrate ourselves so God can do what He wants to do in and through us. Let me ask a question. When you're watching a movie, or if you're watching a game, preferably not the game last night, but you're watching a game, you have a favorite snack that you like to munch on, right? What's that favorite snack? Beef jerky, okay, what am I healthy people at though?

I mean like apples and hummus and celery. Alright, I see a couple of hands. I'm going to remember who you are to bring my snacks with when I come to visit you at your house. But where are my nacho people? My candy people. Bonbons. Peanut M&Ms. What about milk duds? That's the good stuff, right? In my house, we have a few people that's there. We have one person that when we're watching a movie or a game together, they have their snacks. And if I reach over to grab a handful of cheeses, mea slaps my hand, you got it. Like hold on now, that's mine, that's mine. Then I have another person where they like to share, but they are one at a time share, especially when it comes to their sour gummies. You can have one, but just one. It may be one later. So their heart is in a good place and I think all of us have at least one of those in our family, right? We're going to keep praying for them. Then we have the person, which is my son, where it doesn't matter what he has, he's going to pour it all out. And then he's going to look at you and say how much do you want. When we think about the definition of consecration, it literally means to feel the hand. It's like taking a box of candy and it's pointed into someone's hand until they say, okay, that's enough. It's saying, God, everything that I have, you gave it to me and I'm giving it all back to you. That God, I mean consecrated myself because I only have it because you gave it to me. That is a consecrated life. That is a life where we are allowing God to do what God wants to do. That we're not blocking him out, we're not putting him in the box. And when you do this, you become bigger than a person.

You become a vessel. You become a vessel for God to do some amazing things to work through. But I want you to understand that consecration begins with a decision. That decision is I'm setting myself apart for you, God. I'm giving myself to you. But understand what this really means because we don't want to become over-legalistic about this. This is not being holier than thou, this is not saying that I'm better than someone else. This is taking our rightful place for how God initially designed it to be. For us to be close to him, for us to be in right relationship with him because he is a holy God. Amen. 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 20 and 21. It says, "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor, and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, meaning the dishonor, he would be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master prepared for every good work. We can literally take everything that we have, every ordinary thing and put it in God's hands and consecrate that thing. If we give it to God, from ordinary to extraordinary. And this is what God wants to do with everything that we have and everything that we do. And I believe that there's four areas in the Bible where we're gonna see that God is asking us to consecrate. That is us as a people, that's our place, our times and our things. And we're gonna walk through each one of those. Let's pray. Father, thank you. I thank you for your presence. I thank you for being here, for giving us another opportunity just to get into your word. I pray that you attach our hearts in our minds

so that we can hear what it is that you want us to hear. We give you all glory, honor, and praise. In Jesus' name, amen. The holy way. First Peter one. Peter tells us that trials test the genuineness of our faith just as fire refines gold. He tells us that we will face trials and tribulations. And sometimes you will never really know what you believe until what you believe is tested. Trials can accomplish three different things in our lives. They can prove your faith because pressure reveals what you truly trust and not merely what you say that you believe. Trials can also develop your faith. Trials can strengthen and mature your trusting God. And James one, it says that the testing of our faith produces perseverance so that we may become mature and complete. There's times when our faith will be tested. In Romans five, it also says that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope. It's not bad to go through but it's bad not to see God as we go through. And that's what God wants us to do is to see Him in the midst of the trial. And trials also, it helps us to glorify our Savior. Trials gives us an opportunity to demonstrate Christ's worth as we go through how we respond. When we trust, obey and praise Him in the difficulties, our lives point to people and not to our circumstances. And sometimes it's easy to focus on the things that we're going through versus the one who created us. But He wants us to remember that He's always there.

Trials do not automatically produce spiritual growth. How we respond matters. How we react to the trials, they matter. Let's look at Esau. Esau and Jacob were twins of Isaac and Rebecca and the grandson of Abraham. One day Esau, he came in after hunting. He was hungry, he was tired, he was fatigued. And Jacob, he was cooking. The Bible said it was stew, I think it may have been red beans and rice. (Laughter) Jacob walked in, he smelled the aroma in the house. And Esau walked in and he told Jacob, "I want some of that right now. Give it to me immediately." And Jacob said, "You know what? I give it to you in exchange of your birthright." Esau responded, and here's what things changed for him. He says, "Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?" That statement that he made was because of that circumstance that he was in. Esau, he had a temporary circumstance, but he made a permanent decision that changed the trajectory of his life. His hunger became more than just, it became more important than his inheritance. I get it, we get hungry, we get fatigued. But that's only for a season. Esau, he focused so much more on what he wanted right now, that he gave up his inheritance for the future. He gave up his birthright for a bowl of red beans and rice. And that's something guys that we got to think about.

Because Hebrews 12 and 16, it warns us not to be godless like Esau, who basically turned down his birthright. All of us have a promise. God has placed something on each and every one of us that he wants us to do. We have to be careful as not to curse what God has given us. Esau, he allowed a temporary appetite to the dead. Trials, they can prove our faith. They can develop our faith. They can also help us to glorify our savior, but only when we respond to them by trusting God. Don't sacrifice what God has given you for a relief from something that you're experiencing right now. All we have to do is just hold on and trust God. So how do we focus on what God has promised us? If you're taking notes, point one is consecrate as a people. We have to consecrate as a people. First Peter, two and nine, he says, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And if you have been saved, if you're giving your life to God, God sees you as a king. He sees you as a priest, but the question is, are you a good priest or are you a bad one? A priest would do three things to consecrate themselves to be used by God. They would wash themselves,

they would clothe themselves, and they would anoint themselves. I want you to imagine that you're going in for surgery. That says day surgery, so it's not anything extreme. And you lay down on the table, you're getting ready, you're getting prepared, they're getting ready to give you the propofol to knock you out. And you happen to look over and you see the surgeons standing there with a piece of barbecue chicken in it one hand and a scalpel in the other. I don't know about you, but I'm coming off that table. Because to do this job right here, you have to be clean. I want him to scrub, I want him to wash, to get all the dirt, the ground, the barbecue sauce, all of his hands to do the job that he was called to do. And when we wash, what that mean is that we are getting honest about our sin and our lives with God. That we're asking God to cleanse us, to forgive us, to wash us. We're asking God to give us back the innocence that he has for our lives. And if we ask for it, he would do just that. God wants us to be clean, he wants us to be clean, he wants us, he wants to use us, but he can only use us if we are set apart. Then we have to clothe ourselves. How did the priest clothe themselves? They put on the robes of righteousness. A few weeks ago, we had our week of prayer. And in the week of prayer, we talked about

putting on the whole armor of God. How we have to suit up and prepare ourselves because we all walk through spiritual warfare. We have to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit. We have to prepare ourselves because we are going into battle and we have to protect ourselves from the top of our heads to the soul of our feet. So us probably clothe ourselves, it matters. It makes a difference. And then we have to anoint ourselves. And how do you anoint yourself? How do you get fresh anointing each day? One way is through the word of God. It's through reading the word, studying the word, having personal devotion. The Bible tells us that it's to hide the word in our heart. This is something that we have to do to have fresh anointing. To take a time of worship, to get together to praise God just to bask in his presence. Before we went into the week of prayer, we came together and we had a night of worship where we sung songs and we literally got into God's presence and his anointing fill. This is something that we could do anytime, anywhere because we have to anoint ourselves.

We have to receive the anointing that God has for us. Another thing that the priest does is they take care of the temple. They consecrate their bodies. They make their bodies available for God. 1 Corinthians 6, it says that I have the right to do anything, you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything. 1 Corinthians 6, 19, and 20, they say, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples or the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have received from God? You are not your own. You are bought at a price, therefore honor God with your bodies." Look, I am not going to be mastered by anything. I'm not going to let anything be a master me, and maybe because I'm strong will, maybe because I'm prideful, I just like to be in control. So I'm not going to let alcohol master me, I'm not going to let drugs master me, I'm not going to let sugar master me, I'll let torsham base, my mom was peach cobbler. That's a different story, but I am working on that one. But we have to be careful. We have to choose to honor God with our bodies. We have to choose to honor God so that we could do the things that He has called us to do. And God has called all of us to do a great work, amen? Number two, consecrate your place. Consecrate your place. Second Chronicles 7, 15 and 16, now my eyes will be opened and my ears are tentative to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. This house, this place, this building that we in right now, we will always dedicate it

to God, always. This place is a place of worship, it's a place of prayer, it's a place of hope. It's a place where we come to be forgiven, a place where we come to be delivered. And we have to treat it as such. This house is a holy house and will always be. There was a time when Jesus walked into a temple and it was unconsecrated. And the Bible said that He turned over tables and He threw people out. Why? Because they treated it as unholy and He says that His Father's house is a holy place. And we have to treat it as that. We have to treat our houses, the places that we are as holy, because we want God to be in the midst, amen? Joshua 24 and 15, it says, "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourself this day who you will serve, whether the gods with your fathers serve that work on the other side of the river or the gods or their amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." You know, when we invite people over to our home, Tasha and I, our prayer is that they will feel the presence of God, that they will feel God's presence, His love, that they will feel God's peace, that they will feel God's hope. Because when God blessed us with that house that He allowed us to turn into a home, we gave it right back to Him. We consecrated our house for Him and we want people to feel God, to experience God when they come there. And what if every room in your house was dedicated to God? Even if you consecrated every square inch to Him, what would the dining room table look like at dinner? What would dinner conversations sound like? What would eye contact look like? How would it be if God's presence was there the entire time? We love to have life groups at our house, mainly because we love hanging out with people.

We love breaking bread, spiritual bread with them, as well as physical bread. But we dedicate our home so we can invite people in so they can experience God. We can do this with our home. We can do this at our jobs. We can do this in our businesses, at our schools. Every place that God allows us to go to, we can dedicate that to Him. We can consecrate that to Him so that He can get the glory out of it. And I think many of you will agree that you need more God at the places that you go to. And I want to encourage you to do just that, just to remember, wherever you are you're taken with you. And you want people to experience God no matter where you are. Number three, consecrate your time. [BLANK_AUDIO] I say, "You are my God, my times are in your hand." David is saying here that I choose to put all of my time on earth into God's hands. And we know that David had his ups and downs. He had his good days and his bad days. But regardless of what David was experienced, he said that he was making an intentional decision to put all of his times in God's hands. Because he knew if God had him in the center of his hand, that he was going to be fine. That it doesn't matter how bad the trial was, God had him. God said that he was taking all of his time and putting it in his hands. And then this is something that we can practice day in and day out. So when we're consecrating our times, what times can we consecrate? What can we set apart? It can begin with the Sabbath. Because the Sabbath is something that God set aside for us. It's a day for us to get into his presence, to just push away from work, to push away from distractions. And for me, that is Monday.

Every Monday, it's a Sabbath for me. I choose to make him a priority in the beginning of my week. In some way, somehow, he makes the rest of my week go as well. Every morning, Tasha gets up before me, mainly because the dog has to go out, but she takes the dog out. And after that, I know exactly what she is. You have her place where she have a Bible, her coffee, and God, like clockwork. I know exactly where she is. And this is something I want to encourage you to do. Pray about when you can take the Sabbath, when you can experience God. Don't be legalistic about it. Just basically get rid of all distractions. Find something that you enjoy doing where you can experience God and basically be filled with his presence. Times of fasting, sometimes we do here at church corporately, but we also get fast individually. And I encourage you that certain times, certain seasons that we may be in, that we need to just push away from the table. And to have a moment of just you and the food that God has for you and his word. Because when we sacrifice that the physical meal, God will bless us with something spiritual that we need, and we have to have it day in and day out. I want to encourage some of you that are moving into this retirement stage. There's an American dream around retirement that I don't see in the Bible. The American dream is, is to get all you can get, sorry, get all you can, can all you can get, then spend the rest of your life sitting on your can. It's true for some people. But I tell you that that is a recipe to evaporate from this earth. That's a recipe to not be used by God, to not finish your race. I want to encourage you guys not to retire, but to aspire. God has given you wisdom, he's given you talent, he's given you margin on your calendar to be used by him.

And there's so much that need to be done. Don't fade out, don't drop the baton, but continue to press forth and let God use you the way that he wants to use you, because there's a lot that's still there. There is a lot of the enemy that says that as we age, that we matter less and less. I don't agree with that. God said that the gray hairs on your head are crowns of glory. For me, the gray hairs on my face. Look, the older we get, the more and more we matter. There's wisdom on the top shelf of your heart. There's anointing from every battle and every bruise that you experience throughout your life. And I want to encourage you to stay in the game and stay in your spot, because we need you. And then number four, consecrate your time. 1 Corinthians 15 and 10, it says, "By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No. And not I, but the grace of God that was with me. You know, sometimes we can get the impressions that the grace of God is some sort of license to be passive or to be nonchalant. That I just don't have to give it all that I have. I could just do a little bit in God's grace is gonna take care of everything else. But that's not what Paul is saying. Paul is saying it's because of the grace of God that he give it all that he has. Because of God's grace, he can leave it all out on the field. Because of God's grace, he remains laser focus. That he empties his tank because he knows

that he's making a difference by God's grace. He say, I'm taking everything single thing that I have in my life and I'm using it as a kingdom tool. And we can do the same thing. Colossians three and 23, he says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters. God has a lot for us to do and he has basically allowed his grace to fall on us to do just that. Because the things that he wants us to do, we can't do it on our own. We have to have him to do it. Two things I want to leave you with. One, I want you to think about your skills. I want you to think about your talents. Whatever talent God has given you, look, be the best that you can possibly be with them. I tell you that we all have spiritual gifts. And if you're saved, if you're giving your life to God, you have at least one. Do your very best with that talent. Do your very best with that spiritual gift. Honor God with it. Honor God with your skills. Honor God with your talent. You know, when we think about the people who built the tabernacle, they were named. Why? Because they developed the skills to degree, to the degree that God says, I want that person involved

in building what I'm building. The people that built the temple, they were skilled. They were skilled with using wood. They were skilled with using rock, metal. They were the best on earth because they developed themselves. The armies of Israel, the Bible recognized some of them who were left handed. And when you studied that, you would find out that they became left handed, that they practiced with their left hand. They got good with their left hand. And they got so good that when they went to battle, that they were just as good with their left hand as they were with their right hand. Because they developed their skill. And we need to do the same thing. If you're a teacher, a coach, a principal, continue to develop your skill for God. Continue to do it for God's glory. If you're a business leader, a nurse, a stay at home mom, continue to do what you do by giving God glory. Because he's given us everything that we have so that we can honor him, so that we can lift him up. The second thing is our finances. I want you to imagine that I have 10, 10 dollar bills here. 10, 10 dollar bills. How many of these belong to God? All of them. Every last one. To consecrate your money means to recognize

that God owns everything. Everything. Money problems, they don't begin at the point that money is not enough. Money problems begin when we don't consecrate it to God. All of it belongs to him. And God only tests us to return only 10% to him. Just 10%. Everything that we have, when we give it to God, when we consecrate it to God, he anoints it and he favors it. What I've learned is I could do more with God with 90% than I ever can on my own with 100%. And God has showed me that time and time again. I would encourage you guys that over these next three months. God wants us to do those four things. He wants us to consecrate our place, consecrate our things, consecrate our time, and consecrate our places. I want to encourage you to consecrate your finances. Over these last 90 days, commit to giving, commit to the tide, and I promise your God is going to move. He always does. The Bible tells us that His Word cannot come back void. Everybody, close your eyes, bow your heads. Father, thank you. I thank you for another day that we have an opportunity just to come into your presence.

There's somebody that's here today who haven't consecrated themselves to God, who haven't given their lives to God. You haven't surrendered yourself to it. We want to give you that opportunity. So if you never have given yourself to God and you want to do that today, you want to receive salvation, I want to pray with Him. I actually have to raise your hand really quickly so I can pray with you. If you're never giving your life to God. For some of us, there's an area that we need to consecrate to God. And maybe a place could be a time, maybe something in our life, or even our finances. If that's you, I want to pray with you. So if you need to consecrate an area of your life, I can actually raise your hand so I can pray with you. I see you all over the room. Father, I thank you for how you just continue to show yourself to us in your Word. And Lord God, we know that as we consecrate ourselves, we're setting ourselves apart, Lord God, to be used by you. And I pray, Father, that you would just show us that area. Show us exactly what it is that we need to set apart. And I thank you, Lord God, that when we do that and we do it for you, that you will move, that you will make a difference, and we will see you in it. So Lord God, for every hand that went up, for every person that's thinking about that,

that thing that needs to consecrate, I pray that you will meet them right where they are. And you show them what it is, and you'll give them the confidence to make it happen. In Jesus' name, amen. (silence) You You