Today’s message summary of November 9, 2014 from Pastor Gus Brown:
Change may come in a negative form that is beyond your control; however, you will need to have the courage to face that change and be prepared to step into it. Are you willing to cooperate with God through these changes? Are you willing to cooperate with the people that God puts in your life?
To cooperate is to unite one’s efforts. It is to band together, to participate. In contrast, society has taught us to be independent and self-reliant. Society wants you to “stand on your own two feet.” To not cooperate or participate with others is to not allow yourself to be dependent upon others. Every now and then, you will need some help.
God didn’t mean for each of us to live this life on our own. He made us in a way that we need others in our life.
Look at examples of this through Moses:
Exodus 17:10-16
10 Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.
14 The Lord then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.”
15 And Moses built an altar and named it, “The Lord Is My Banner.” 16 He said, “Indeed, my hand is lifted up toward the Lord’s throne. The Lord will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Exodus 18:13-23
13 The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and they stood around Moses from morning until evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw everything he was doing for them he asked, “What is this thing you’re doing for the people? Why are you alone sitting as judge, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”
15 Moses replied to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I make a decision between one man and another. I teach them God’s statutes and laws.”
17 “What you’re doing is not good,” Moses’ father-in-law said to him. 18 “You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, because the task is too heavy for you. You can’t do it alone. 19 Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to Him. 20 Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do. 21 But you should select from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating bribes. Place them over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 22 They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every important case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load, and they will bear it with you. 23 If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”
Exodus 2:5-10
5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. Seeing the basket among the reeds, she sent her slave girl to get it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child—a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a woman from the Hebrews to nurse the boy for you?”
8 “Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
Moses had help from others to execute these very important tasks. In the case of Moses’ mother, she cooperated with Pharaoh’s daughter, and the result is that Moses lived.
Don’t see the people that God sends before you to help you as your enemies. Allow God to work on your heart so that he can work on you and for others to help you.
Change that you may experience will sometimes require a personal sacrifice. He wants you to leave that matter that keeps you from following Him at the altar in order to allow for the change to be complete in your life.
To change in life, be willing to cooperate with others. God will send you all of the help that you will need to make the changes. Cooperate with Him in it, and surrender to Him. Our goal is to always live according to God’s will.
- God sent Paul to Ananias (Acts 9:11).
- Peter was sent to Cornelius (Acts 10). God was at work in the lives of two people who had to cooperate with each other in order that God’s will and glory would be recognized.
- Barnabas was a helper to Paul (Acts 11:25).
- Paul ministered to Timothy (Acts 16).
- Philip helped the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26).
- Joseph helped others, but there were also people that he cooperated with (see Potiphar, Genesis 39).
- Joseph was helped by the prison warden (Genesis 39:20-23) and a cupbearer (Genesis 41:9).
- Paul learned from Gamaliel (Acts 5:34, 22:3).
If you are going to make changes in your life and work with God and with others. You need to be a team player and want to see change take place.
Amos 3:3
Can two walk together
without agreeing to meet?
Romans 14:7
For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.
1 Corinthians 12:12, 26
12 For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ.
26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Akron Alliance Fellowship 