Seize the Day

What is courage? ( maybe a cat with a pack of dogs, crossing a tiny rope bridge, rescuing a child from a burning building, standing up to do what is right when everyone else is doing what is wrong)

One of the most courageous people I have ever heard of is Corrie Ten Boom. She was a survivor in a Nazi concentration camp during the second world war. She was a beacon of peace and joy and light in a time that there was no peace or light or joy. She was a single woman who still lived with her father and worked in his watch shop. She helped Jewish people escape from the Nazi regime through an underground network. She was not Jewish herself, but could not stand aside and watch what was happening to these people. She smuggled dozens and dozens of people through her home to safety. She took a stand against evil in a world that where evil was in charge.

Years after her concentration camp experience, after losing her entire family to Nazi brutality, Corrie Ten Boom had an interaction with a guard who had treated her so cruelly. When face to face with her torturer, she battled emotionally with a decision to spew hatred or extend grace. In the end, she shook his hand. This is what she wrote about that experience.

"For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then."

To me, Corrie Ten Boom had to have courage smuggle people through her home. She had courage to survive the Nazi concentration camp. She had courage to continue to believe in a loving God when her world was filled with pain and sorrow and loss and hunger and cold. But in my opinion, reaching for that former prison guard’s hand was the decision that took the most courage.

Tonight we are talking about having courage. Courage to do the great things that God has called you to do, but also courage to do the small things, the personal things that cost a lot. Courage to surrender.

Jesus was a man of incredible courage. He came in a courageous time and in a courageous manner. Even being born to a poor girl, He was brave in knowing that Mary would tend to Him. Imagine, the King of Kings taking an infant form and depending his very life to a teenager.

Jesus’ courage didn’t stop there. He lived a brave life. He was moral, good. He never sinned. That takes courage, doesn’t it? I’d imagine He was called the Hebraic equivalent of a “brown noser” or “goody two shoes” many times. He never fought back. He never held hatred in His heart. The Word tells us that He was sinless. He lived a life of unparalleled moral and spiritual integrity. And yet, He was constantly criticized for this, documented from the time He was twelve, preaching in the temple, all the way up to His death on the cross.

How did Jesus succeed at this life of character? He lived focused on His cause. Do you remember what His cause was? I’ll give you a hint, we discussed it a few weeks back. It’s found in Matthew 28:19.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

A few weeks back we discussed these verses. They have name, right? The Great Commission. Remember that the Great Commission needs to be our highest priority in life – because it’s God’s highest priority.

To Jesus, sharing the love of God was so important that He was willing to lay down His life for the opportunity for you and I to restore relationship with our Creator. Jesus seized the day, He showed courage to love the unloved, to put the welfare and eternity of others in front of His own needs and desires.

Tonight, how important is the Great Commission to you? Are you willing to seize the day? Or do obstacles, like your own attitudes and hurts and feelings or the comments or criticism of others stand in your way. The reality is that as much you have a God-given priority to the Great Commission, when you received Jesus and that priority, you put a target on your back.

(video, in the trenches)

It’s important to realize that we have a spiritual enemy that is bent on keeping our friends and family in darkness. The enemy of your soul is fighting your commissioning with everything he has. The Word tells us:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The enemy has come to rob, kill and destroy. We cannot forget that is his highest priority. You and are commissioned to fight to reach the lost with God’s love. In order to fight we must be bold, strong and courageous like Jesus. We must seize the day!

When God first spoke to my heart at camp about my calling I thought maybe He’d confused me with Rob. I mean, we were both in the tabernacle that night, we’re one flesh, He could have got His wires crossed, right?

Then I remembered God doesn’t make mistakes. It falls under that “infallible” quality of His. Incapable of mistakes. He really was calling me, Anna.

Since then I’ve had a very personal lesson in that God really doesn’t care so much about your ability as much as He cares about your availability.

Being available is key to seizing the day. Being available is the A in FAT that we always talk about. Remember, we want to be FAT Christians; Faithful, Available and Teachable?

Being available is more important to God than being able. God will make you able. You just have to make yourself available. One of the easiest, and simultaneously most difficult choices you can make in your walk with God is that of surrender. Surrender is simply saying “God, I’m available, use me.”

I say that surrender is easy because it’s kind of like putting a boat on auto-pilot – just push a button and let the computer take over. You are telling God, “hey, this is your boat, have at it!” Surrender is also incredibly difficult because like the boat on auto-pilot, you are constantly fighting the urge to take control of the ship again. Surrender is a daily, moment by moment decision. You need to remind yourself over and over again that God’s will and purpose for your life is greater than your will and purpose for your life.

Jesus set the example of surrender when He surrendered Himself to God, and then again when He gave Himself sacrificially for others. Jesus valued God’s will far above His own. We see this in John 4:34.

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.”

Jesus valued God’s plan more than His own well-being. He committed to a life of total surrender.

What about you? Have you made yourself available to God? Or have you decided that your abilities are too inconsequential that God would have use for you?

(video: it starts with one)

Jesus’s single minded devotion and commitment to the will of the Father was the result of surrender in His will and life to the Father’s agenda. This was an answer to Jesus’ prayer in the garden the night before His crucifixion. He prayed “Not my will, but your will be done.”

Before we can seize the day and influence our family and friends, we have to yield our hearts completely to God’s will. We pray “Send me where the need is, send me where you want me to go.” Taking a stand against the devil starts with laying our will down to God.

The incredible thing is that when we lay down our will to God, we stand up with Christ. And we know that in Christ, the enemy is defeated. See, when we go with God, we go with His full authority. God has the final say and Satan will fall. He has no authority over us. We can speak life and truth to our friends and our family when we speak the gospel, the good news. When we go and tell.

Tonight I want to give you three practical steps to seize the day.

First up, you guys know this one, witness. Like a witness at a crime scene, you just share your side of the story. What did Jesus do in your life? The word of God assures us that there is power in our testimony!! Remember, God is looking for your availability here, not your ability.

Secondly, you can pray and intercede. Set aside some time each day to pray. You can get up early and spend time with God, or you can find a time that you aren’t using to it’s fullest. Like for me, I pray while I wake up in the morning in those first few moments where I am conscious, but not quite ready for my feet to hit the floor. I pray in the shower and while I do my hair (especially blowdrying). And I pray in the car on the way to work. This way I feel fully prepared to rely on God throughout the day, because I’ve already been talking to Him all morning!

James 5:16 says “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” That means prayers of people walking with God get it done!

Charles Spurgeon said “”Groaning which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.” Praying in the spirit is your lifeline to God. It’s like the red phone on the president’s desk. You have an immediate connection with the Creator when you use your prayer language.

Prayer changes things. “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.” J. Sidlow Baxter said that.

I read an email from someone this week about a man who refused prayer. I just laughed, because refusing prayer is like refusing mail or refusing air. It just can’t be done. You can pray for anyone, no matter how much they hate God or you.

The last step in seizing the day is perhaps the most important one. It’s being willing to lay your life down. Spend time and energy lovingly serving the people around you. Your love will send a much louder message than even your testimony.

So these three things will empower you to seize the day; witness, pray and lay down your life. I’m going to give you an opportunity now to start from here. Take a few moments and spend some time in surrender here at the altar.