October 20 & 21, 2001 Sermon

October 20 & 21, 2001

"Livin' Large"

Mike Slaughter

Isaiah 54:2
2: "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes..."

I'm really excited about these next four weeks because I'm going to ask you to go deeper and spend some time every day in Bible study and reflection on the Word. In a minute I'm even going to tell you the book I want you to be reading every day. It only has four chapters in it. We'll go there in a minute, in preparation for listening to God this week.
I've been out traveling this week. The airport we landed in Wednesday night closed down immediately after we got there because of a threat against Three Mile Island. The next night we took off from that airport and shortly after we left it closed down again. They found explosives in a suitcase in a bus terminal that's close to my son in Philadelphia. September 11 has forced us to think hard and think deeply about what really matters in our life. We didn't mean to but we settled into routine. You get out of bed just like you always do. You climb into the shower just like you always do. You gulp down your coffee and Danish just like you've always done. You drive to work in your new car just like you always do. You put in a full day's work just like you always do. You go back home to the couch just like you always do. But if you do what you've always done you get what you've always gotten - spiritual barrenness. We didn't mean to but we became spiritually soft. Barren. When we fall into those routines, our lives no longer bear the same kind of fruitfulness for God's purpose. So I'm excited about these four weeks when we are entering into a journey around the question, "Will you grow?" I'm going to ask you to spend some time every day this week in the book of Malachi. It is the last book of the Old Testament. It's only four chapters long so maybe for the next six days you will read those four chapters straight through every day. Or you might read two chapters a day and go back and forth. Whether it's 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour, reflect on that book and write down what you hear God saying. Ask God to show you the next step. We're going to have a commitment weekend on November 10 and 11.

Isaiah 54:1-3
1: "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband," says the LORD.
2: "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
3: For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

Open your Bibles to Isaiah 54. God is speaking about the problem of spiritual softness, barrenness. Verse one, "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child. Burst into song, shout for joy because it's about ready to change for those of you who were never in labor. Because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband," says the Lord. God is ready to do a bigger thing. God has a bigger plan for your work. "You must enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide." Stretch is uncomfortable isn't it - to go to the next place where God wants us to go? "Lengthen your cord, strengthen your stakes, for you have spread out to the right and to the left. Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities."

I. Enlarge Your Capacity For God
God wants to do a bigger work in your life. God has a bigger purpose. But for that to take place you must enlarge your capacity for God. The number one purpose God had in creating us was for us to know God in an intimate relationship. And the second reason God created us was to make himself known through us.

1 Chronicles 4:10
10: Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.

Have any of you read the book, "The Prayer of Jabez" this year? I recommend it. It is number two among most-read books in the world this year. This is Jabez's prayer, "Bless me and expand my territory." God wants to expand your influence for his purpose. The measure of your life is not what you consume but what you allow God to birth through you. Here is a powerful principle in life: we live to give. It is a principle that is woven into the fabric of creation. Salmon spend the last days of their lives battling upstream to spawn. They have this intuitive sense that they exist for the purpose of birthing new life.

Matthew 13:23
23: But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Jesus tells us in the 13th chapter of Matthew that wise people are those who make the investment of God in their life. And they multiply that investment 100 times, 60 times or 30 times. Life is short. I keep reminding you that I'm fifty. I'm almost dead! When I came here I reminded you that I was 27 and almost dead. It seems like 27 to 50 went by in two years. If I have only one shot, I'm not satisfied with the 30-fold return on God's investment. If your life can be multiplied in its influence 100 times, why would you settle for 30? God does not pick out certain people like Mike Slaughter and multiply his investment 100 times and multiply yours 30. How your investment is multiplied for God's purpose, for God's influence in the world, is not dependent on your ability. This whole thing is based on God's ability. It's why Jesus said, "Don't go out and attempt your life's mission until you are empowered with God's power from on high." This is God reinforcing that it's not about your ability. It's about your expandability, your availability, and your willingness to be stretched for God's purpose.

Ephesians 3:19-20
19: and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Look at Ephesians 3:19. "That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Think about that. I - ordinary me - have the potential to be filled, not with some of God but all of the fullness of God. In verse 20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." More than you can even imagine by the power that is at work within you. That's why Jesus said, "The things that I do, you will do even greater things than this." It's not based on our ability. It's the Spirit that dwells in you - all of the fullness of God that God wants to unleash through your life. It's not your ability, it's your expandability. God needs expandable tents. God uses elastic vessels who are able to change and grow with what God is doing.
Let's talk about these two vessels, two different potentials by appearance. Which one is bigger? The water bottle is bigger. Which one will hold more? The balloon. Now what is the problem with the water bottle? It is restricted. It cannot expand. It is not elastic. This isn't about your size, it's about your ability to stretch with what God wants to do. If you take this same balloon it holds even more because of its ability to stretch and expand. It's why Jesus said you can't put new wine into old wineskins. They used to keep wine in animal skins. Old wineskins dry up and lose their elasticity, their ability to stretch, grow, change and expand in God capacity. Keep thinking about God capacity because all of the fullness of God may be presented through your life. To expand your influence for God you must expand your capacity.

2 Kings 4:1-7
1: The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."
2: Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."
3: Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few.
4: Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."
5: She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.
6: When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.
7: She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

Turn in your Bibles to II Kings 4. "A widow came to the prophet named Elisha and said, 'Elisha, you remember my husband was a man who really loved God but he died. All of the creditors are beating down my door and they are going to take my sons and make them slaves.'" Look at verse two. Elisha said to her, "What do you have?" This woman was living with a debit mentality. Notice what she said. "I don't have anything at all except a little oil." Her focus is on the limitations of her resources rather than the unlimited resources of God. How many of us are living in fear and not allowing God to stretch us to the next level because we are focused on the scarcity of our own resources rather than focusing on the unlimited resources of God. To expand your influence you have to expand your capacity. So in verse three Elisha tells her, "Go around and ask all of your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few." He's saying you have to expand your capacity for God and you have to enlarge your receptacles. Enlarge your capacity for faith for what God wants to provide through you. Don't ask for just a few. Don't limit yourself. Do what God wants to do. Notice what faith is. She has to go out and find a bunch of empty jars. Can you imagine going to the neighbors' houses saying, "Give me some empty jars?" You have to expand your capacity to increase your influence for God. Faith is a concrete action. It is not holding to a belief in your head. It is a concrete action. In verse four, Elisha asked her to, "Take the oil that you have and begin pouring your oil in all the many jars." "But I just have a little oil." What do you have to do before you see the return of God in your life? Risk the investment, stretch your investment. Take the oil that you have. God doesn't ask you to take that which you don't have. God asks you to take what you have and begin to pour. As long as the woman kept bringing, God kept giving. As long as the woman kept pouring, God kept filling. In verse six, she brings her jars and Elisha asked her to bring another one. She's back to debit mentality and she said, "There's no more left." What happened to the oil? The oil stopped. The moment we quit bringing, the moment we quit pouring, God quits giving.
Look at verse 7. Elisha said, "Go and sell the oil you have and God will provide for you and your son." Wait a minute. Most folks live above their means so they have nothing left to be a source of blessing for God's purpose in the lives of other people. But the widow is living at her means. She has enough for herself and her son. But I only get one life. I don't want just enough for me and mine. I want some for your kids. I want some for your children's children. I want some for the folks in Pennsylvania. I want some blessings for people in South Africa. I'm going to get more jars! As long as we keep bringing, God keeps filling. As long as we keep pouring, God keeps giving.

II. Stretch Your Commitment
You expand your influence by expanding your capacity. Stretch your commitment. It's like muscles. Do you know how you make a muscle stronger? You have to tear down some of the cells by over-committing your muscle. When I began lifting, I started on biceps and with ten-pound weights. That was a pretty big deal for me. But if I had stayed on ten pounds, I would quit getting stronger, my muscles would quit getting bigger. If you want to get stronger, if you want your muscles to get bigger, you have to extend your weights. Now it is nothing for me to do biceps with thirty-pound weights. I couldn't even do this a year ago. I have to stretch my commitment to get bigger. This is the opposite of what we are taught in our culture. We're taught that you can get rich quick, be successful with a minimal investment of time, energy and resources. That is ridiculous.

III. Expand Your Influence
I had a young boy come up to me a few weeks ago with his mother and she said, "He wants to meet you." He said, "Pastor Mike, tell me how you get to travel and go to so many different places." I said, "Well, the fruit of my life is being made visible so I write books and speak and go all over the place. I've been in 30 different countries. Almost every week I'm out someplace. But it didn't just happen automatically. This has been a process of twenty years." Twenty years ago we were in this church every Sunday. When I finished preaching to you all, I would pack up and go to some little backwater church in the middle of nowhere and stay in people's homes with glow-in-the-dark Star Wars sheets. The pillowcase was a Wookie's head! Glow in the dark! You got under the blankets and the star fighter was flying through the bed. Sometimes I'd stay in a motel and the lock didn't work. I'd have a chair propped up under the doorknob. Some nights there would be real large crowds - like 18 people. I went all over Ohio doing that. Then I went all over America to these little tiny churches and then it just kind of grew. When we're faithful in a little then God will entrust us with more. So the key is, how many jars are you putting out there for God to fill? How big is your tent? We reap what we sow. Your return will only be as great as your investment. When you enlarge your capacity for God by stretching your investment of faith, God will expand your influence.
This past week Todd and Kim and I went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to do a conference for United Methodists. They held it in their biggest church. There were about 400 United Methodist clergy who came to this conference. The pastor of the church grabbed us right away and took us upstairs to show us their projector. This church is the largest, fastest growing church in Pennsylvania. He said, "Your people at Ginghamsburg Church bought our church this projector." I hadn't heard of this church until we went there. "We built our whole church around the principles of your church and Spiritual Entrepreneurs." He took Kim and Todd and me down front. They have a stained glass window in their new sanctuary. The symbols on the stained glass window are our principles from the book, Spiritual Entrepreneurs. I said, "How did we buy you this projector and help you?" He said, "You tithed the money of your church building fund to our church." I had forgotten. When we built this building and the Avenue we said that of all of the money that came in, we would tithe those monies to other churches. That was hundreds of thousands of dollars! It doesn't make sense! We still have mortgages on these two buildings and we're giving money away to other churches. That's how we put out more jars and we expand our tents into other states like Pennsylvania. How can we afford to tithe? We can't afford not to. We see how we are a blessing and a symbol of the principles of the ministry. Stewardship is a spiritual issue. It is about surrender of control. It is about trust. Do you know that God doesn't need our money? God created the earth and everything it contains. Do you think He needs our money? We need to give. Because it is the nature of God and it is woven into the fabric of our being.
I want you to meet Jennie and Scott Hartwell who are from our church. Jennie, you have been in this church half your life. You were a young girl when your family came to this church. Scott, why don't you catch us up and tell us where your family is right now?
Scott: Jennie and I have been married for about three and a half years now. We have a son, Jack, who is 15 months old. I'm just getting settled into a new job in downtown Dayton. Jennie is a first-year medical school student at Wright State University.
Mike: Wow! So, Jennie, in this past year you have entered into a new season of life - both time wise and money wise, right?
Jennie: Last spring I quit my job and decided to go to medical school, which requires more time than a full-time job. I go to school from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and study a few hours every night and almost all weekend. We still have the same expenses we had last spring but about two-thirds of the income.
Mike: Scott, tell us a little bit about how this has affected your budget.
Scott: Well, Mike, things are tight but every month when we receive our paycheck we still make that first check out to the church. That 10% goes out and we just find other ways to cut back. We cut back on going out to dinner, buying that new palm pilot that I really wanted, and things like that. We just really cut back.
Mike: Scott is somebody Carolyn and I really prayed for because ROTC helped put him through college and the first two and a half years of their marriage he was on active duty. Now he's in the reserve and we know what that means in our country right now. And so we have always prayed for your family and safety. Jennie, tell us what you decided to do last summer to expand your tent.
Jennie: We trusted that if we made a pledge to the Avenue that God would provide for us and we would lack for nothing that we needed. We have been blessed many times over. This fall I had to purchase my medical equipment, my stethoscope and things, which cost around $500. I didn't know where that money was going to come from and then a few weeks ago we got a check in the mail for a little over $700 that we totally did not expect. We had a hard time understanding where the money came from. But God has blessed us many times over and I feel it's related to our commitment of giving the first of our money to Him.
Mike: I told my daughter and future son-in-law that this was an important word from this young couple. To hear it just before they are to get married and start their marriage honoring God first in all things.
I want to ask you, as your spiritual leader, to make a commitment in these next four weeks to set aside every day, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, or an hour to pray. Ask God to show you your next step as you meditate on the Word and journal. Write what you are hearing. This week we are going to read Malachi together. It is the last book of the Old Testament.
Bow your head in prayer with me. Lord, I thank you that I am a part of this faith community that dares to keep putting out jars and keep pouring that we may expand our tents into the whole world. Allow us, Lord, in humility, to not be people with a debit mindset but people who look to the unlimited resource of your hand. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.