Expecting More
It seems as if all around us in life there are perplexities and challenges that are increasing the levels of pressure we feel on a daily basis. Whether it is from the stress we encounter on our jobs, the demands to meet the financial obligations of our bills, or the daily tasks of caring for your spouse and children, life is not easy at times. Yet, within each of us there is a deep longing for more.
Everyone I have talked with recently has a longing for more and is seeking for purpose in life. On T.V. there are many claims that products or services will fulfill every desire in your life and by purchasing what they have to offer you will receive the greatest sense of satisfaction. Let me ask you a question, how many gadgets do you have laying around your house or garage that never lived up to the claims? I know, you have told yourself many times that this would be a great weekend to have a yard sale and get rid of all of this junk – let someone else find pleasure in my unused clutter.
The CDC reported in the National Health and Nutrition Survey August 2013, “About 4% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over used prescription sleep aids in the past month (CDC.gov)” People are searching for more – more rest, more peace, and more purpose in this life. There is a void, and emptiness that cannot be satisfied with anything else but the Lord. If you are caught in the vicious cycle of expecting more and searching for more, yet everything you have tried comes up short. God can and will enter into your emptiness and provide the peace and joy you have been looking for. I encourage you to open your Bible and read through Psalms and Proverbs, or attend one of our local church services this week. God is waiting to fill the longing of your soul with “more”
Matthew 11:28-29 Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (New Living Translation)
Pastor Gregory Pounds, Senior Pastor
My Mess, God’s Plan
God has a plan for your life.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” KJV
We spend so much time in planning and building our life around the future. Our goals and our dreams hinge on the decisions we have made. Has your life ended up in moments of wondering, “how did I get here”?
I know when you were younger you looked deep into the mirror and daydreamed of the time when you would become all grown up and ready to conquer the world. For young boys, they dream of being a cowboy that rides through the wind on the back of the horse to establish law and order, or become a firefighter that puts out the blazing inferno and saves the person stranded on the tenth floor. For young ladies, they dream of meeting prince charming and being whisked off their feet to a life of fulfillment and success with the love of their life.
However, you are here in the reality of now and life has not added up to the visions of yesterday. Can I tell you that you are not alone. Sitting there with the kids screaming, the laundry piling up higher and the bill collectors calling for a few dollars more, God still has a plan for you in the midst of the mess.
Yes, you read that right. God has a plan for your life right now even though you cannot see beyond the mess of life. Oftentimes, our plans have caused us to make choices and decisions that we felt were the best for our lives at the moment. However, we realize somewhere something went wrong and we have failed to include the One who knows what is best for our tomorrows. I have found many individuals that were mad at God because the circumstances of life that they were in. Yet, they did not consult God before they made the decisions that brought about the distress and mess that they are now facing. Ultimately, we reap the rewards, or lack of rewards, based on the choices we make for our life and seeking God’s direction.
You said that God still has a plan for my life in the middle of my mess. – The answer, YES HE DOES!
Everyone loves Jeremiah 29:11 because it has the tone of blessing that says I can have whatever I want, when I want it. However, where we miss the mark is continuing to read beyond that single verse. God wants to bless you and fulfill His plan in your life, but you must seek Him and His plans with all of your heart.
“Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” KJV
It does not matter how many bad choices you have made or how long it has been since you have sincerely reached out to the Lord. What matters most is that you are willing to surrender the current mess to him today and start fresh in a relationship of seeking Him regularly.
God specializes in taking our mess and turning it into a miracle. Stop what you are doing and surrender your mess today, God is waiting to provide you with His miracle plan.
Pastor Gregory M. Pounds, Senior Pastor
Connecting Point Community Church, Corona CA
I Peter 2: 9-10
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Things that are different:
Finger Prints: Finger prints are unique in the swirly design only given by God to you. They are used to identify you. they set you apart from everyone else.
DNA: The genetic strands that contain the code that identifies specific information about our body. These genetic strands place the information in an order that is specific to us and identifies genetic origins.
Tree Branches: Tree branches come in all shapes and sizes. Although they look similar there are distinguishing marks that make each branch unique. For instance, the branches contain marks, knots where old branch stems were cut off, and bends that are unique to the stresses the branch has endured.
Sameness creates comfort – difference creates rewards. Being like everyone else causes you to be comfortable. When you are trying to be someone else, you never have your own identity and you only receive the overflow of others rewards & blessings – never getting your own blessings that come from you being you.
Be unique and different to receive your own power, your own blessings, your own rewards and miracles.
2015 Must “BE DIFFERENT”
Don’t allow yourself to fall in the same traps, have the same old attitudes, do the same routine every service.
BE DIFFERENT
3 Ways You Are Different:
- CALLED:
Isaiah 42: 6, Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:7
I Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
- ANNOINTED:
Psalm 20: 5-7
2 Corinthians 1: 20-22
20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
- APPOINTED: (Chosen)
Psalm 33:11-12, I Corinthians 1: 26-28, II Thessalonians 2:13
Ephesians 1: 4-5
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will