Traveling the Same Speed
Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:16Devotional Series: God's Strength
Teaching: God's Strength pt. 1 (SUN_AM 2021-10-31) by Pastor Star R Scott
I think many of us are unaware of how much we are carried by the community, by the pressures within this small community, by the pressures of this society expecting you to do right, expecting you to keep biblical principles, praying for you. Can you say, “Thank God,” people are praying for you in here? How much we’re carried on the prayers of other people, and yet, we think it’s us. We think everything’s right, everything’s okay. “I’m doing pretty good here.”
It’s like when we go out on walks sometimes, and our two little pups—they’re getting old now, twelve years old—and as we’ll be out walking some time, the little one that we call Spike, Little Spikey, if it’s extra hot or we’re going extra-long time, he wears out faster than the Beast. So, there are times that we grab him and pick him up and carry him, and in his mind, he’s looking down at Beast going, “Traveling the same speed, man, look at this! I got this walk covered.” We’re being carried by the grace of God. We’re being carried by one another’s love and reproof and rebuke and instruction. Can you say thank God for the body of Christ in your life? And when we realize those things, it should make us more desirous to be teachable.
This pride, this humility—this young person I’m talking about refusing to come and talk to leadership because they had already “heard from God.” They already knew the “voice of God.” “I don’t need to go get any more input.” The deacon that was dealing with them said, “Wouldn’t you want to talk to your pastors?” “No, I don’t need to, I’ve heard from God.” What foolishness, what arrogance, what pride. You know, it’s found in the hearts of—and I happen to be speaking of this one young person, but it applies to all of us. How teachable are we, how humble? “I already know—I know, I’ve heard from God.” As one of the deacons was dealing with: “I just gave you twelve verses.” “Yeah, but I feel God spoke.”
That book on spiritual guidance would help every person in here. Go back and get it and read it again or listen, pull up on the website or app those teachings (7 parts, February – March 2020). If ever there was an hour when we need to be able to know the voice of God when false prophets are arising and deceiving people, false and lying signs and wonders, we’d better know the voice of God! We’d better know what God is speaking to us specifically in these individual decisions that we’re making.
We’re living in a world that’s nuts. I’d never seen it personally or experienced it. For the first time, I was with one of the men here in the congregation and happened to go into their office space, and the building was empty. It was on off-hours, and we went in there and went to use the bathroom. And as I walked up to the bathroom… What was the term? Yeah, self-identify. I’m like… pulled out my phone, got a picture of myself trying to self-identify. Yep, it’s me. And I don’t want to be too common, but I think I identified correctly, so I go in to this facility that has a silhouette of a man. I was looking. I was pretty similar, so I go in, and, thank God, there’s a urinal.
It’s not like it was when I was in the casino. We were touring the casino when we were in Monte Carlo, and you can go on different little tours and stuff. And we were in the casino in Monte Carlo when we were at Monaco, and I’m in this bathroom at a urinal. It’s a common thing. And all of a sudden, out of periphery, I caught some motion—some activity—and I’m standing there, and the next thing I know, this mop is coming between my legs. They’re mopping the floor in there, man, just swoosh, swish! And I self-identified, and I was in there, and this mop going, and I look around, and it’s this lady. And she’s in there just mopping away, you know, and mopping the floor, so I was wondering if I had identified correctly or not, but I had.
So here we are. It was just interesting to stand in the men’s restroom at a urinal and see a pile of tampons on the counter in the men’s bathroom. All kinds of pictures went through my mind. I won’t bring you in on those, you know, the way my mind works. And it’s just the introduction of where we are. Self-identify.
It’s like when we go out on walks sometimes, and our two little pups—they’re getting old now, twelve years old—and as we’ll be out walking some time, the little one that we call Spike, Little Spikey, if it’s extra hot or we’re going extra-long time, he wears out faster than the Beast. So, there are times that we grab him and pick him up and carry him, and in his mind, he’s looking down at Beast going, “Traveling the same speed, man, look at this! I got this walk covered.” We’re being carried by the grace of God. We’re being carried by one another’s love and reproof and rebuke and instruction. Can you say thank God for the body of Christ in your life? And when we realize those things, it should make us more desirous to be teachable.
This pride, this humility—this young person I’m talking about refusing to come and talk to leadership because they had already “heard from God.” They already knew the “voice of God.” “I don’t need to go get any more input.” The deacon that was dealing with them said, “Wouldn’t you want to talk to your pastors?” “No, I don’t need to, I’ve heard from God.” What foolishness, what arrogance, what pride. You know, it’s found in the hearts of—and I happen to be speaking of this one young person, but it applies to all of us. How teachable are we, how humble? “I already know—I know, I’ve heard from God.” As one of the deacons was dealing with: “I just gave you twelve verses.” “Yeah, but I feel God spoke.”
That book on spiritual guidance would help every person in here. Go back and get it and read it again or listen, pull up on the website or app those teachings (7 parts, February – March 2020). If ever there was an hour when we need to be able to know the voice of God when false prophets are arising and deceiving people, false and lying signs and wonders, we’d better know the voice of God! We’d better know what God is speaking to us specifically in these individual decisions that we’re making.
We’re living in a world that’s nuts. I’d never seen it personally or experienced it. For the first time, I was with one of the men here in the congregation and happened to go into their office space, and the building was empty. It was on off-hours, and we went in there and went to use the bathroom. And as I walked up to the bathroom… What was the term? Yeah, self-identify. I’m like… pulled out my phone, got a picture of myself trying to self-identify. Yep, it’s me. And I don’t want to be too common, but I think I identified correctly, so I go in to this facility that has a silhouette of a man. I was looking. I was pretty similar, so I go in, and, thank God, there’s a urinal.
It’s not like it was when I was in the casino. We were touring the casino when we were in Monte Carlo, and you can go on different little tours and stuff. And we were in the casino in Monte Carlo when we were at Monaco, and I’m in this bathroom at a urinal. It’s a common thing. And all of a sudden, out of periphery, I caught some motion—some activity—and I’m standing there, and the next thing I know, this mop is coming between my legs. They’re mopping the floor in there, man, just swoosh, swish! And I self-identified, and I was in there, and this mop going, and I look around, and it’s this lady. And she’s in there just mopping away, you know, and mopping the floor, so I was wondering if I had identified correctly or not, but I had.
So here we are. It was just interesting to stand in the men’s restroom at a urinal and see a pile of tampons on the counter in the men’s bathroom. All kinds of pictures went through my mind. I won’t bring you in on those, you know, the way my mind works. And it’s just the introduction of where we are. Self-identify.