Gateway Church's Podcast
You’re Not Stuck, You Just Stopped
Pastor Preston Morrison finishes The Wilderness series with a word of encouragement. The wilderness is not permanent and you’re not stuck. Learn how to leave the wilderness.
We're concluding a series today called The Wilderness and the title of today's message is this You're not stuck. You just stopped You're not stuck you just stopped and if you have a Bible I want you to turn to two places Deuteronomy chapter 1 Genesis chapter 11 Deuteronomy chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 11 This week we are going to dispel What I believe is the greatest myth as it relates to the wilderness Here's the myth most people believe that God Sticks you in the wilderness for a predetermined period of time and there's no chance to get out early under any circumstance Most people see the wilderness like an oven That God sticks us in Cranks the heat up to about seven bazillion degrees Sets the timer on Then walks away from it does not return to the oven until the timer goes off That's how many of us see the wilderness This is not true This is not the wilderness as God sees it God does not Arbitrarily assign a number to us and say well you get 40 years you get 60 years Here's the reason that people misunderstand this and just believe God puts us in the wilderness for a set period of time The wilderness for Christians is almost synonymous with a number I'm gonna prove it to you in a moment. I'm gonna count to three And when I count to three, I want you to say out loud the first number that comes to your mind when you hear the word Wilderness, okay everybody got it all right, so I count to three Whatever number comes to your mind when you hear the word wilderness say it out loud you ready one two three Someone said a lifetime That's not a number One two three forever. No, that is not How many of you said 40? Put your hand up, okay most of us Think of the number 40. Why? Because the most famous wilderness that we all know of is a wilderness the Israelites spent 40 years in and We have gone so far as to assume that before God ever even created the Israelites That he predetermined how long they'd be in the wilderness now obviously I believe in the foreknowledge of God God has all knowledge and he knows how long I'm gonna be in the wilderness Before I'm even born, but I do not believe God looks at Preston and says ooh troublemaker 45 years I Don't believe that God looks at you and says ooh you get 37 years and and you get four months because you're kind of a Mother Teresa type and and you you get 66 years because you my friend your little beelzebub I Don't believe that's what God does with us But yet many of us believe that we are stuck in this wilderness until God says it's time for us to leave Last week we learned that the wilderness is where God tests us The wilderness is a test and I believe the wilderness is a test God wants us to turn in early You remember when you were back in school and You had to take a test and let's say your class was 50 minutes long And right next to you was the valedictorian of your high school You walk in and the teacher has a stack of blank tests on his or her desk and you grab the test and you go sit down And if your valedictorian was anything like mine 18 minutes in to the test 122 questions are done I'm on question 7 and She's done with 122 did you ever see your valedictorian go to the teacher's desk set the test down and the teacher respond with I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We are unable to accept your test at this time Well, I'm done with my test. I'm sorry The time allotted for this test was 50 minutes and even though you're done at 18 minutes You are not technically done with this test until the 15 minutes of allotted time are complete Most of us see the wilderness just like that But the wilderness is a test God says please turn in early I'll show you where I get this. This is Deuteronomy chapter 1 starting in verse 6 This is a retelling of the story of of the Israelites going through the wilderness when we were at Mount Sinai the Lord Our God said to us you have stayed at this mountain long enough Now does anyone know how long the Israelites had been in the wilderness at this time? Not 40 years They had been in the wilderness around two years when God came to them and said enough is enough it's time to leave this wilderness That's when the Israelites took matters into their own hands and sent spies into the land and started to freak out because They got a bad report about the giants in the land See we believe that the wilderness was the Israelites consequence. It was not The wilderness was the place God asked the Israelites to walk through Most of us believe the wilderness is a consequence where we go to serve our time But the wilderness is the place where we walk until it's time The Israelites were not punished and sent into the wilderness God sent them out of Egypt and into the wilderness and listen to what he continues to say in verse 7 It is time to break camp and move on Go to the hill country of the Amorites into all the neighboring regions the Jordan Valley the hill country the western foothills the Neghev and the coastal plain Go to the land of the Canaanites into Lebanon and all the way to the great Euphrates river Look, I am giving all this land to you Go in and occupy it for it is the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham Isaac and Jacob into all their descendants Here's the first point. You're not stuck You Were not stuck God didn't stick you in this wilderness just like he was saying to the Israelites Enough is enough. It's time to move out of this wilderness. It's time to leave. I Believe God is saying that to all of us Well, Preston. I feel like God stuck me in this wilderness and I can't get out of it. Can I make a suggestion? If you're anything like me when I feel stuck in the wilderness, I'm not really stuck in the wilderness I'm stuck in my ways The reason God said to the Israelites Two years they had done what God wanted them to do and Then he said let's go into the promised land and now I want you to listen what happens and numbers chapter 14 verse 34 God says because your men explored the land for 40 days You must wander in the wilderness for 40 years a Year for each day suffering the consequences of your sins then you will discover what it is like to have me for an enemy who That's a strong talk But that's not how God was talking in Deuteronomy 1 8 when God was saying look I'm giving you all of this land. Please go in and occupy it. You've been in the wilderness long enough It wasn't until the Israelites became disobedient that God said Now it's punishment time As a parent do you walk into your home and arbitrarily punish your children for no reason Then why would you think if God says you being the great parent that you are imagine how much better I am at parenting you Why would you think that God would look at you and say you're in trouble? I'm sending you to the wilderness for the next 70 years Probably because you thought God did that to the Israelites. He didn't it wasn't until they disobeyed That he extended their season in the wilderness When I get stuck in my ways I get stuck in ruts my way is a rut that I get stuck in His way gives me rights. I get to walk in and When I'm not walking in the promises of God the first thing I look at is my obedience David says to a son Solomon at the end of his life This is how big obedience is towards the end of his life. He gives Solomon one charge and here's the charge So now with God is our witness in the sight of all Israel the Lord's assembly. I give you this charge be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God so that you may continue to Possess this good land and leave it to your children as a permanent inheritance disobedience has long been recognized as The easiest way to prolong the wilderness and the fastest way to be asked to leave the promised land Listen, how can God trust me to live in the land? He tells me to if I won't do the things he tells me to do Obedience is huge. And if you feel stuck, you're not Just take an obedient self-examination Ask yourself this question Am I doing everything God told me to do in every area of my life? And if you feel stuck Here's the best way to not feel stuck anymore If you say I'm not doing everything he told me to do in every area of my life Here's what you do you repent and you go back and do the last thing he told you to do Sometimes in life the easiest way to change the seasons is simply to repent and Do the last thing God told us to do? Obedience is huge if we want to walk into the promised land. You're not stuck. Here's the second point. You just stopped You're not stuck you just stopped stuck is what we call it when we stop but want to blame someone else Stuck is what we call it when we stop but want to blame it on someone else a couple years ago My daughter was playing around in the house and she was playing in the kitchen and she stuck her arm You know the handle on the oven You know The oven wasn't on so it's not gonna be one of those stories, okay? She stuck her arm down in between the handle and the oven and she got stuck And we were outside playing with the boys and so we didn't know what was going on She'd just come in the house. What she gets frightened and She starts screaming at the top of her lungs Don't laugh you know how we do when we get stuck we start to freak out, you know She she was freaking out. She's yelling at the top of her lungs Holly comes into the house She hears Riley screaming she goes in and she simply pulls her arm out and Riley gets away Riley's yelling I'm stuck. I'm stuck. I'm stuck, but here was the reality. She wasn't stuck She just stopped in the wrong place and did the wrong thing When I feel stuck there is nearly a 100% chance that I have stopped in the wrong place and I am doing the wrong thing Flip over to Genesis chapter 11 starting in verse 31 This is the story of in the middle of the story of Abram whose name would be changed to Abraham Abram and his father Terra and you probably know that Genesis 12 1 is Very very popular and many people know it This is what precedes Genesis 12 1 says this one day Terra took his son Abram His daughter-in-law Sarah and his grandson lot and moved away from her of the Chaldeans He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at heron and settled there Terra lived for 205 years and died while still in heron He was headed for the land of Canaan But stopped at heron and settled there If you're taking notes you can write this down any time we stop before the promised land We are settling for less than the promise When I stop before the promised land I am settling for less than God's best Terra was in her heads to Canaan stops in heron and settles there now in Acts chapter 7 in verse 2 We know that God had already spoken to Abram before they settled in heron Most people because Genesis 12 1 is the famous scripture where God says Abram leave Leave your father's family country to the place that I'll show you God had already spoken that to Abram before they settled in heron now here's why that's important Because God told Abram to leave his father's family Yet his father and his family traveled with him Why? Here's why I believe this is how it went down One day God tells Abram I want you to leave and I'll tell you when you get where I want you to go once you get there I'm gonna make you famous there, and it's gonna be an incredible place. It's a lamb flowing with milk and honey But I need you to leave and I believe Abram walked into his father's bedroom and said dad I Gotta leave I'm sure Tara probably said what do you mean? You got to leave well God told me I have to leave Where does God want you to go? Well to Canaan and he wants me to do it right now Well, why does God want you to go to Canaan well dad? I believe this is the place that God has spoken to me that this is where our anointing is as a family This is where God's richest blessings are waiting for us I believe this is the land of our promise, and I have to leave and I believe the more Abram talked about Canaan and How wonderful a place it was the more Tara began to think I'm going with you The Bible says that Tara left her heading towards Canaan But stops in a heron He stopped now There are times when God wants us to stop along the way and rest But if I'm not resting when I'm stopping I am stopping for all the wrong reasons God wants me to rest when I stop the enemy wants me to compare when I stop Let me explain the enemy will come to you on this journey into the promised land When you're really worn out and they'll come and whisper in your ear Hey, just stop take a break You're worn out. You've been going forever. No one's been running as fast and as long as you Just stop So we say yeah, that's a good idea We've been going for 500 miles since we left her Let's stop in heron And here's why the enemy wants us to stop because the moment we stop the enemy starts pointing out all of the people that are passing us He gets us to compare My daughter started competitive swimming this summer and She had her first meet a couple weeks ago and her second meet on Friday Now if you are into this competitive swimming thing I never was I'm just now learning how it all goes What they do is they take your time from your previous race all the racers previous time and they rank you for the next race based on your last time and Then if you're in an early heat it means you had a slower previous time if you're in a later heat You're one of the fastest swimmers in the pool. Well Riley was in the second heat of four and She doesn't know anything about this ranking system and all that stuff to her. She's just racing Gun goes off. She jumps into the pool and from the moment she jumped into the pool She was ahead of the other swimmers She's been working very very hard to improve as a swimmer over the last couple weeks She jumped in that pool and you could tell immediately. She wasn't the same swimmer as the first race Every meter she swam. She pulled further and further away from her competition By the end of the race She gets up out of the pool and turns around and she sees she's about 25% ahead of second place and The moment she turned around and saw where second place was I could see it on her face You can see the swagger just rise up And it was like she got out of that pool turned around and saw second place and all of a sudden you got this Now you know where she got that from she got it from her mother She got the whole winning by 25% part for Not really she's swaggering why because she feels like she just blew away her competition We're yelling her name and celebrating and going crazy And Riley thought we were celebrating because she was beating everyone so badly. You know what we as parents were celebrating her improvement We were celebrating her progress. She was celebrating her apparent victory Two more heats go by all the faster swimmers are in those heats Seven more racers swim faster than Riley did and when we get the results We find out she finishes 8th and we tell her baby you finished 8th place and Immediately her countenance changed. I Thought I finished first No, you you finished 8th. There are a lot of good swimmers that came after you And I could see it on our face. She was this close to saying I don't ever want to swim the freestyle again Isn't it amazing That when you're running your race and you feel ahead of everyone else You feel like the fastest swimmer in the pool But the moment you stop and start comparing your pace to the fastest swimmers in the pool You feel like the slowest swimmer in the world That's how we get that's why the enemy wants us to compare The enemy knows that if I start looking sideways at my competition Anywhere I am looking I will end up walking towards The enemy knows if I'll begin comparing to the people That I think are running this race with me that I will end up following after what they're chasing We can't compare when we stop. Here's what we need to do when we stop we need to rest contently Well, press and we're in the wilderness. How can you be content with the wilderness? I didn't say be content with the wilderness. I said be content in the wilderness One of the ways that we graduate out of the promise out of the wilderness into the promised land is learning to be content in the wilderness Here's what contentment means Contentment is the ability to have peace when nothing changes Can you be content in the wilderness where God has you walking through? Or do you find yourself? So exhausted from running for so long But just like Tara You make the decision. I've gone far enough. I have to stop If you feel stopped right now if you have stopped Here's all you have to do get up and keep walking again God didn't say stop if you're not resting So if you're done resting get up and walk and that brings us to our third point. It's time to leave not to move It's time to leave not to move look there in Genesis chapter 12 verse 1 The Lord had said to Abram leave your native country your relatives and your father's family and go to the land that I will show you I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous and you will be a blessing to others I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt All the families on earth will be blessed through you. So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed Here's what's significant about this. I want you to notice God tells Abram to leave God says of his father that he moved away There's a big difference between moving and leaving If I move away from something in a moment of crisis, I'll be tempted to move back to where I'm comfortable You see what's important about Heron Heron was the place that Tara lived before he left before he moved into her He lived in Heron then lived in her then headed towards Canaan and went back to Heron Isn't it amazing that when we get exhausted and we are walking towards the promised land That our flesh begins to tempt us into going back to the place where we're most comfortable God said of Tara he moved away God said to Abram you have to leave Here's why God says you have to leave Because anything you go towards you'll want to go back to but if you leave something you don't even look back Ask a lot Better yet ask a lot's wife Who turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at what God told a lot to leave Here's what God's saying to all of us Don't disobey me by going back to where you're most comfortable and Don't disrespect me by looking back at where you came from Preston you need to trust me that what I have put ahead of you is so much greater than what is behind you I just need you to let go of Heron's hand grab on to my hand so I can walk you into the promised land for the rest of your life But most of us as believers have what I call empty hand anxiety We got to have something in our hand. We hate to have empty hands. I Believe God made us that way because he created us to desire to hold nothing but his hand all the days of our lives But here's what happens when we feel like God has abandoned us We start grabbing on to the herons in life We start grabbing on to the things that make us feel most comfortable And Abram said I can't do that I know this is where My father was comfortable God told me to leave And where it was his father's intention to make it to the promised land It was Abram's commitment to get to the promised land Tara meant to get there Abram was determined to get there. I Know you feel knocked down a little bit. I know you feel like you're stuck in this wilderness But God didn't stick you here put a clock started up and say you got to sit here until it's over God asked you to walk through the wilderness Listen, it's when we get overwhelmed in the wilderness After having been there so long that we start to look around get comfortable And make that our new normal and this is how people end up dying in the wilderness God told them years before merely to detour through You were not meant to die in the wilderness. Well Preston. That's what happened to the Israelites No, not all of them the ones that disobeyed If we will walk in obedience hold God by the hand and leave the place Where we were most comfortable. I believe God will walk us into Canaan and we will conquer there for the rest of our lives When I was 18 I Grew up most of my life in the Metroplex and I remember the day that God told me that I was supposed to go to Phoenix and go to college I Had only been the Phoenix once and that was to check out a school didn't know anything about Arizona other than it's a dry heat I don't care what you say when it hits 118 it doesn't matter what kind of heat it is Now I remember the Lord saying Preston. I want you to leave And I want you to go to Phoenix And I remember saying to the Lord God, I don't know anyone there I've never even been there, but once I don't know anything about it Lord. This is my home This is where I'm comfortable. I know everyone here. My opportunity is here Please don't ask me to leave what I know and walk into the unknown Preston I need you to leave just trust me I Had I have stayed Where I was comfortable Two years later, I would have never met the woman. I'd been begging God for since I knew I would have one Had I have stayed where I was comfortable. I never would Four years later have been given The blonde hair blue-eyed little girl that I'd begged God for since I was 14 And I never would have been given a firstborn son that was everything that I asked for times 10 And I never would have been given a secondborn son who might be able to give my name Had I never been willing to leave what was most comfortable I never would have been step been able to step into the promise of God It's not time to move out of the wilderness. It's time to walk through it And I know you want to leave the wilderness, but we'll never be able to leave the wilderness Until we make a commitment to leave Heron the land where we were most comfortable. It's not time to move It's time to leave I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes What What is the Holy Spirit saying to you? Maybe you're settled in Heron and you didn't even realize it Till the Holy Spirit began to speak to you About the fact that yes, God did tell you to stop But the time for resting has passed and it's time to leave If you're here today every head is bowed and every eye is closed no matter what campus you're at No matter where you're watching this right now If you know God is saying to you right now, it is time to leave Heron the land where you were comfortable I want you to stand up right where you are. No one's looking around. Just stand up Don't be ashamed I'm not gonna ask you to come forward and embarrass you in any way Listen to me do this for the sake of your children and their children and their children The only way to leave Heron is to first stand up to take the first step Take a step Make your declaration. I am not Staying as a settler and Heron any longer. I don't care how hard I have to work I don't care how much it costs me, but I am moving on to Canaan where God created me to conquer And I do it by standing up today This is my first step and I am not looking back at where I came from I am looking forward To the God who is calling me To Canaan Lord I pray right now That as we close the service As everyone stands Lord, I know there are people in this room and in all of our campuses Who need to receive ministry this morning? Lord I pray that you would give them the boldness to come forward and receive ministry This could be the day that changes Not just the chapter, but the entire story Today could be the day they tell their grandchildren about Many years from now the day they left Heron and never looked back. God give them If they need to come forward and receive ministry give them the boldness to do so What I pray for every one of your people your richest blessings I pray they to feel nothing but your hand and theirs as you lead them through this wilderness and into your promise in Jesus name Amen [BLANK_AUDIO]