SERMON VIDEO LINK
Giving Jesus Praise
We give Jesus a hand for [Applause]. That is amazing! Plus, I’ve gotten quite an education on Southern Illinois geography, which I knew nothing about. I’m from Georgia, by the way, but this is a very special place to me. I have lots of friends here. I’m so happy to see all of my friends here from North City.
As Chad said, I’ve known him and Dawn for almost 10 years now. I also have friends in places like Mount Carmel. Good morning, Mount Carmel! They’re on the feed this morning, so it’s really wonderful to be a part of what God is doing among you.
I want to thank you this morning, as Chad said, for your support of the work that we’re doing with The Morai Project. If you want to learn more about that, you can go online and look that up. We are dedicated to bringing the healing of Jesus, particularly to women who suffer from various forms of abuse and marginalization. I think you guys probably know that it’s pretty bad out there in some developing countries.
We are helping women who face domestic violence, economic abuse, abandonment, and all kinds of really rough situations. I just got back last week from Uganda, and I’m really happy to announce that we dedicated two new women’s shelters in Mendi and Katwe, Uganda. As a result, many women are finding the healing of Jesus, being discipled, and trained in different skills so that they can actually start their own businesses.
Thank you for being a part of what we’re doing, and I’m just grateful that The Roads Church has helped us so much. Thanks a lot!
Resources and Today’s Message
I also want to mention that I have some of my books in the back when you walk out today—discipleship materials, a Bible study on the Holy Spirit, and other resources.
This morning, I want to talk to you from God’s Word about persevering through the rough seasons of life. I want you to turn to your neighbor, look them in the eye, you can poke them if you want to, and say, “Lock your exits.” Just to be clear, I have not asked them to lock the doors. I’m talking spiritually this morning.
I want to show you a picture of a dear friend of mine. This guy’s name is Doug Bartlett. Doug and I have been really close friends for several years. He was a pastor of a church similar to this in a rural area of North Carolina. It was a very small place, yet it grew large, with people driving in from different parts of western North Carolina.
Doug became more apostolic, overseeing many churches in his region, and he and I became good friends. For many years, I served in ministry with him. Two years ago, I was supposed to be on a Zoom call with him on a Monday morning at 9:00 AM. I got up, ready for the call, when another guy called me right before and said, “Lee, I’m really sorry, but we’re not going to have this meeting this morning because our brother Doug has passed away.”
Dealing with Unexpected Loss
I was like, “What?” It hit me so hard. I couldn’t believe it. I was not expecting that. Doug was my age, in good health as far as I knew, and it was just something very unexpected. My world was rocked.
All of you know how that goes when you experience the loss of somebody close to you—whether a family member or a friend. I had to scramble, tell my wife, pack, and a couple of days later, I was driving to North Carolina to attend a funeral I never expected.
When I arrived in Mount Olive, North Carolina (yes, where Mount Olive pickles are from), I reached out to a younger pastor named Jeff. Jeff was very close to Doug. Doug had been Jeff’s spiritual father. Doug had pastored the church that Jeff was now leading, trained him up, and placed him in leadership. So you can imagine how devastated Jeff was by the sudden loss of his mentor.
We were having coffee, and Jeff was just being honest with me. How many of you know it’s important for us to be honest about how we feel? Praise God that He puts people in our lives that we can be honest with.
Jeff told me, “I just want to quit. I’ve been having fantasies about selling my house, moving to the North Carolina shore, buying a little ocean property, and just hiding for the rest of my life.” That’s how he felt.
Lock Your Exits
You may say, “That doesn’t sound very spiritual for a pastor.” But I know a lot of pastors, and many of us go through rough days where we feel like quitting. Sometimes life is just hard, and spiritual warfare can be intense.
I had to be a friend to Jeff. I appreciated his honesty, but I looked him in the eyes and said, “Jeff, I’ve got to say this to you as your friend. You need to lock your exits. You can’t quit. You know that. I know that. So don’t even go down that road. Don’t fantasize about that. You’re going to have to face the pain.”
Has anyone in here ever run away when you were a kid? I tried once. When I was five, my parents gave me a train set for Christmas. It was electric, had a metal track, and I loved it. But my parents told me, “You can play with it anywhere except the dining room.” The dining room had a polished hardwood floor, and my mother knew it wouldn’t end well.
I didn’t listen. I set up my train in the dining room because the smooth surface seemed perfect. After playing for a while, I realized the metal track had burned a strip into the floor. I panicked, packed up my train, grabbed a suitcase, and filled it with underwear, a t-shirt, and a toothbrush. Then, I snuck out the back door and walked three blocks away. But then it hit me—I didn’t have anywhere to go.
Running From God
The Bible is full of people who tried to run from God. Moses ran after making mistakes. Gideon was hiding in a hole when God called him a mighty warrior. Jonah literally tried to sail away from his calling. But God always has a way of bringing us back.
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were thinking about running away from their faith due to persecution. Hebrews 10:35-39 tells us:
“Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised… But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the persevering of the soul.”
We are not those who shrink back! Amen?
Conclusion: Say Yes to God
Jonah ran from God’s call, but Paul ran toward it. When I was younger, I told God, “I’ll do anything as long as it doesn’t involve speaking in front of people.” But God had other plans.
One day, I surrendered and said, “Here I am, Lord. Send me.” From that moment, everything changed. Within 14 months, I was preaching to 7,000 Nigerians. Now, I’ve been to 39 countries, and the guy who didn’t want to fly is now a Delta Million Miler.
Some of you may not be called to missions, but you are called to something. What is the Holy Spirit telling you? Are you running, hiding, or stuck? Surrender today. Lock your exits. Say yes to God’s calling. Amen!
Referenced Scripture Verses:
- Jonah 2:9 – “But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”
- Judges 6 – (Story of Gideon being called by God while in hiding)
- 2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
- Psalm 139:7-10 – “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”
- Hebrews 10:35-39 – “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward… We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”
- Hebrews 4:2 – “For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”
- 2 Timothy 4:10 – “For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”
- Isaiah 6:8 – “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”