Great Day to Be Great, Part 6

Today is a great day to be great. We know that because Jesus said those of us who are least in the kingdom are greater than the greatest man ever born of a woman. That's John the Baptist. And so today is a great day to be great. But the question comes, is it a great day to be great for someone like the Gutierrez family who lost their son just a week ago Tuesday by being hit by a car at 21 years of age? Can we say it's a great day to be great for them? Can you say it's a great day to be great for the family whose father just up and left them and isolated them all by themselves with no money, no opportunity to grow, no opportunity to understand anything at all, just up and leave them, left them.

Is it a great day to be great for them? Is it a great day to be great when the doctor says, you know what? The cancer is spread and you have three to six months to live at best. Is it still a great day to be great when those kinds of things happen? And the answer is absolutely yes. Why? Because we serve a great God who gives us a gift every day to live for him. And if you are committed to glorying in his person, you're committed to growing in your portrait of the Christ, it will be a great day. If you're committed to rejoicing in God's providence and relying on his power, it's a great day to be great.

If you are committed to embracing his peace and enjoying his presence, it's always a great day to be great. And that's what we've been looking at to help you understand that every day is an opportunity for you to put on display the greatness of God. Because every day is an opportunity for you to put the Lord Jesus on display, no matter what the situation, no matter what the circumstance, no matter what's happening in you or through you, because what happens in you is always more important than what happens to you.

Always. And God is doing a great work in all of our lives. So we're trying to help you understand on this year, 2017, that it truly is a year in which every day can be a great day for you. And today I want to finish the outline. That means I got to cover four points, because I do have a bookmark for you. I was supposed to give it out to you on January the 1st, because I was supposed to finish this on January the 1st, but I didn't do that. But I will finish it today. That's my plan. I have a little over 50 minutes to do that.

And so that's the plan. That's where we're going to go. So let's look at letter A in the outline, G-R-E-A-T, it's a great day to be great.

And that is if you acknowledge his plans and articulate his precepts, it certainly is a great day to be great. In other words, you must acknowledge his plans. We've already said you must rejoice in his providence, because the providence are the specific details by which God takes you through to accomplish his great plan. And that great plan is to glorify his name. His plan is always for your good and his glory. And so we acknowledge that plan. We affirm that plan. We say, yes, Lord, we understand that everything that's happening to me is greater than me, because it truly is about you.

That's why the Bible says these words in Isaiah chapter 46, verse number nine, I am God and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.

God's going to do that because God's in charge. In Psalm 33, verse number 10, it says the Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations and frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. We acknowledge God's plans in two ways. One, one through supplication and two through submission. We acknowledge God's plans, number one, by supplication.

When God said, this is how you pray, he said, pray in this manner, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When you acknowledge God's plans, you acknowledge that he is the preeminent one, he is the holy one who is in heaven, who does whatever he pleases and you are praying for his kingdom to come, excuse me, and his will to be done on earth just like it is in heaven. And so through supplication, you acknowledge that God has a plan and that plan is running on course and then you submit to that plan.

First Peter 5 verse number 6, you submit yourself to the mighty hand of God, you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God's destiny and through submission you acknowledge that God has a greater plan than you can ever imagine because it works out for his glory and for your good.

Let me give you an illustration on how God did this with Israel to look at a very familiar passage of scripture in the book of Jeremiah.

So if you got your Bible, turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 29, Jeremiah chapter 29. Now Jeremiah was a prophet given to Israel. For 40 years, Jeremiah prophesied, Jeremiah called Israel back to God. Now God told Jeremiah that he would send him to his people Israel. He also told Jeremiah that he would be a preacher and a prophet to Israel. And he also told Jeremiah that when he preached, no one would listen.

When he prophesied, no one would care. And that's exactly what happened. Nonetheless, he continued to preach and to prophesy. He continued to do what God had called him to do, although Israel never listened. And he watched his beloved Israel be taken into captivity, Babylonian captivity, when Nebuchadnezzar would come in and destroy the beloved temple in Jerusalem. So he witnessed all of that. So Jeremiah pens a letter to those Israelites in captivity in Babylon. He writes them a letter because they had been led astray by the false prophets while in exile.

For the false prophets would tell them, you know what, we're not going to be here very long. But they were going to be there a long time. They were going to be there for 70 years. The false prophets said they'd only be there for a couple of years. But Jeremiah had to set the record straight. And Jeremiah wanted them to understand that they had to be a testimony in exile. That they had to be a testimony to the Babylonians while in exile. So he penned them a letter in Jeremiah chapter 29, verse number 1.

And in verse number 4, listen to what he says. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. He makes it clear to them from the outset that it's God who sent them into exile. God would use Nebuchadnezzar. He would use the evil acts of Nebuchadnezzar. He would use the evil acts of the Babylonian people to come in and plunder the city and destroy the temple. But God warned them. He warned them over and over and over again. In the second Kings 17, he says, you are an obstinate people.

You are a stiff-necked people. For I have sent unto you prophets. I have sent unto you preachers, and you have not listened. So he warned them, if you do not repent, if you don't follow me, you will be sent into exile. And they were exactly as he said. So Jeremiah wants them to know from the outset that it's God who put them there. So there should be a submission on their part to the sovereign hand of God to acknowledge his plans, to acknowledge that this is the God of the universe, the God of who did this.

So they would know that it wasn't some chance circumstance that led Nebuchadnezzar to come in and plunder the beloved city and destroy their temple, but it was orchestrated by the Lord God of Israel. They had to know that because they had to learn to submit to the sovereign plan of God for their nation. They had to know that he was a loving father disciplining them because of their rebellion against him. They had to understand that. And so Jeremiah would write to them. Jeremiah would tell them this very important lesson.

And then he says this in verse 8, for thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Remember, this is a letter sent to the exiles in Babylon. Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you and do not listen to the dreams which they dream for they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them, declares the Lord. For that says the Lord, when 70 years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you to bring you back to this place.

Jeremiah lets them know how long this is going to be. He lets them know how long the exile is going to last. And granted, it will not be a fun exile, but he lets them know so that they will not be led astray by false prophets. He wants them to understand that God is doing something unique. You see, God isn't so much into making sure that you are comforted physically, but that you are developed spiritually in your character, that you might grow in your likeness of the Lord God of Israel. That's what he wants for everybody.

That's what he wanted for Israel. But they had turned their back on the Lord God of Israel. Thomas Watson in his book, All Things for Good, says this, afflictions work for good as they are the means of making the heart more upright. The heart cleaves partly to God and partly to the world. God takes away the world that the heart may cleave more to him in sincerity. Correction is a setting of the heart right and straight. As we sometimes hold the crooked rod over the fire to straighten it, so God holds us over the fire of affliction to make us more straight and upright.

How good it is when sin has bent the soul awry from God, that affliction should straighten it once again. So Jeremiah says, God has a place for you. The place is affliction. The place is adversity. But God has a plan for you. And that plan goes beyond adversity to tranquility, to prosperity. Listen to what he says in verse number 11. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. God says, I know the plans and you don't.

That's why you are to acknowledge my plans through supplication and submission. I know what they are, you don't know. Therefore, you must trust me. You must believe in me. And God was good to them to let them know this is how long it's going to last. But I will bring you back to the good land that I have promised by the good word that I have given to the ancients of old, way back to Abraham, because God had a plan for his people. I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord. One author said it this way.

One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the quiet confidence that God is in control without the need to understand why he does what he does. The mark of spiritual maturity is to know that God's in control without ever having to know why he does what he does. The mark of immaturity is having to know why. The mark of maturity is just trusting in the God who handles the why. And we need to see in Israel what God was doing to this people because God had a plan. He had a plan not for anything else other than your welfare, for your tranquility, for your completeness, for your wholeness.

That's the literal translation. I want you to be complete. I want you to be whole. Right now you are not whole. Right now you are incomplete because you've sinned against me. You've turned your back on me. And I warned you not to do so, but you did anyway. And so I will let you know I have a plan and therefore your prosperity. Plan that will give you a future and hope because without me you have no future. Without me you have no hope. With me you have a future and with me you have a hope. Without me you're hopeless.

With me you're a hopeful. So therefore I want you to understand that I have a plan. Acknowledge my plan. Acknowledge my control over your life. Why? Listen to what he says next. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare, not for calamity, to give you a future and hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord. I will restore your fortunes and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I've driven you, declares the Lord.

I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile. God says here's my plan. Here's my plan. My plan is intimacy. My plan is to have a relationship with you where you seek me and when you search for me you will find me because you'll search for me with all of your heart. I will be found by you and the relationship will be restored. That's what God wants. See, God's always at work. As Paul said, being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it.

He will complete it. Great days are determined by how we acknowledge God's plans. How we affirm the fact that although I do not know why God does what he does, I rest in the fact that God is in complete control of everything. That's a great day. I don't care how you look at it.

That's a great day and on top of that not only do you acknowledge his plans but you articulate his precepts. You articulate his precepts. What makes every day great is how you are through life and through lip articulate the truth of Almighty God. If you've got your Bible, turn with me to Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew chapter 5, Sermon on the Mount. The Bible records this sermon for us and so we're able to understand what Christ says to those on the hillside there by the Sea of Galilee in the land of Israel.

And Christ says these words in verse number 17, Do not think that I came to abolish the law of the prophets.

I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls, disdains, disregards, treats as empty one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Greatness in God's kingdom is determined by how you articulate the truths, the precepts that God has spoken.

You are to help others understand them by keeping them and by teaching them. This becomes the essence of every day becoming a great day. It becomes the essence on how you live each day. I am to live each day articulating the things that God has said so others will come to know who Christ is. When I do that it's a great day because I'm leading others to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I have been designed by God to do. If you want to be great in the kingdom of heaven you must teach the word of God.

It doesn't mean you got to be a preacher like Spurgeon or a preacher like Calvin or a preacher like Paul or a preacher like Billy Graham. You got to be a person who communicates the truth to others, who articulates the precepts. You want to make sure that you don't cause others to disdain the word of God, to treat it as if it means nothing because it's your authority in life. Therefore you teach it to others. And is it not true that's what God has given every father the responsibility to do? Sure it is.

He's given us that responsibility. Listen to what David said in Psalm 71. David said this, verse 17, O God you have taught me from my youth and I still declare your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me until I declare your strength to this generation, your power to all who are to come. Verse 21, may you increase my greatness, David says. He wants his greatness to be increased but the greatness is increased only in proportion to how he communicates and declares the wonderful works of God to the next generation.

If you want your greatness to increase, it increases by how you instruct the next generation on the truth and the wonderful work of God. And David as a king knew from his early days that that was the essence of his kingship. That was the essence of his leadership. That was the essence of of his parenting. It was how I could communicate to the next generation your marvelous, wonderful deeds that they might know your strength. He is asking God to increase his greatness to the proportion in which he's able to communicate that truth to others.

That's why way back in Psalm 78, psalmist says this. Psalm 78, verse 1, listen, O my people, to my instruction, incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praise of the Lord and his strength and his wondrous works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep the commandments and not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart and the spirit was not faithful to God.

You know, I think it's time for us to be more passionate about the communication of truth. Well, we tend to be passive about the things that are important and passionate about the things that are unimportant. We need to reverse that and be passionate about the things that are important and passive about the things that are not important. And we need to understand that God in his word wants us to be the kind of people that instruct others in the truth of God's word. John the Baptist did. John the Baptist was a prophet of God.

John the Baptist through life and lip, he lived, he lived opposite of his generation. Why is it you think he wore camel's clothes and he ate locusts and honey? He was a son of a priest. He should have been in the temple with long glorious robes, but instead his life was an antithesis to the religious establishment of its society because through his life he would demonstrate to a world that the Lord God of Israel was what was important in the truth he had to proclaim. So he lived in opposition to the establishment of that day.

He lived to honor his God. His whole life was different than everybody else's life. The language he used was different than everybody else's language because he communicated the truth and he was the greatest man ever, ever born of a woman. And so we need to understand that that greatness resides in our ability to communicate, articulate the precepts of God. And as parents we have a family that God's entrusted to us to teach our children that they in turn may teach their children. The essence of a discipleship ministry always begins in the home, always begins with the father instructing the children that they in turn will grow up and one day instruct their children that they in turn will one day instruct their children.

That's the essence of spiritual maturity. That's the essence of greatness in the kingdom of God because you're able to keep and teach others the truth of the word of God. So important. We should teach it freely. We should teach it fully. We should teach it fervently. We should teach it fearlessly. We are committed to telling other people about Jesus Christ our Lord. That is the most important area in your life. How do you communicate God's truth? You do it through how you live your life and the things you say.

Now I've told you this probably a million times and I'm probably going to tell you a million times again that if you're a father the number one thing you have to do is lead your family to a Bible teaching church.

That's number one. And I tell you if that's all you ever did that would be the greatest thing you'd ever do for children. But you got to do that. Lead them to church and then live the principles that you learned in church at home. If that's all you ever did you would revolutionize your home. You would turn your home upside down. Lead your family to church and live the principles that you learn in church at home before your family and everything in your family will be turned upside down. That's all you have to do.

Fathering is not rocket science. Fathering is just the discipline of learning about Christ and speaking about Christ. It's all you got to do. If that's all you ever did your family will be revolutionized. But isn't it ironic that we can't even get fathers to do that? We can't even get them to come to church let alone live out the principles of church. But that's just the most basic element. And if we just do that we begin to articulate the precepts of God by living it out through our life. We're not asking you to be theologians.

We're not asking you to stand behind a pulpit and teach. We're not asking you to get a PhD in theology. We're not even asking you to go to seminary or college or school. We're asking you to go to Sunday school. You ever read the book Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Sunday School? You need to get that book and read it. Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Sunday School. Fabulous book. It all talks about all the Sunday school lessons you learn in church and how they revolutionize your life.

You see, I want to make church more than just a Sunday experience for you. I want church to be your life. Your life. Because you are church. You're part of the body of Christ. So important. If today is going to be a great day, you must glory in His person. Grow in His portrait. Rejoice in His providence. Rely on His power. Embrace His peace. Enjoy His presence. Acknowledge His plans. Articulate His precepts. You'll have a great day. But you must also learn to trust His promises. You must learn to trust His promises.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, all the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus. In other words, Christ is the fulfillment of all God's promises. And you must learn to trust what God says for you to have a great day.

That's why the Bible says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him. He will make your paths smooth. But trust in the Lord with all your heart. Not just half your heart, all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. Whatever you think is happening, don't go there. Don't lean on what you think is happening. Trust in God who knows what's happening. And as you learn to trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him. He will make your paths smooth. How many of you have a smooth path today?

Or is your path just filled with crevices and bumps and all kinds of potholes? Ask yourself who you're trusting in. Because when you trust in the Lord with all your heart, you are asking God to do what only He can do. And so when you look at the scriptures and you realize, and we've said it to you so many times, He who honors me, I will honor.

That's a promise from God. 1 Samuel 2 30. He who honors me, I will honor. Are you honoring God today? Are you honoring God in your conversation? Are you honoring God in your circumstances? Are you honoring God in your family, in your workplace? Are you honoring God in your lifestyle? Are you honoring God with how you communicate to others? Are you honoring God throughout the day? Because God says, if you honor me, I will honor you.

And the whole context of that is Eli, who did not honor God by allowing his boys to continue in sin without confronting them on their sin. And because Eli did not confront his boys on their sin, God tells Samuel, he did not honor me. He honored his boys above me because he allowed them to continue in sin. How many parents allow their children to continue in sin and then expect God to honor them? That's the context of 1 Samuel 2. You can't allow your children to continue in sin and not do anything about it, not confront them, and then expect God to bless your family and honor your family.

It doesn't work that way. God says, he who honors me, I will honor you. Context is you must honor me above your family. You must deal with me first.

And if you deal with me first as your God and follow my principles and my precepts, you'll deal with your family properly.

You will have honored me and I will honor you. That's the context. But how many parents just allow their children just to go through life doing what they do without ever dealing with the issues in their lives? And then somehow expect God to step in and bless them. It doesn't work that way. Now, I know that God does things because of his grace and mercy. He does all kinds of things, things that I can't even begin to count. He blesses us sometimes more in spite of us than because of us, but he has given us a promise, a promise that we need to trust in and believe in and hold dear to our lives.

Hebrews 11 is filled with a whole bunch of people who trusted in the promises of God, although they never saw the fruition of those promises. They never saw what was going to happen because they lived way back in the Old Testament, but they trusted their God. That's why they're in the hall of faith because they believed in what God said. Even though they never saw the outcome of God's promises, they trusted in them and God honored them. Truly, he honored them. The Bible says in 2 Peter 1, verse number four, he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises.

Wow, that's amazing. He has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises. Someone has said that there are over 7,000 different promises from God in the Bible. I don't know if that's true or not. I guess it is. I never stopped to count them all, but evidently somebody did. Well, listen, we need to learn to trust what God has said, to believe what he says, and to wrap everything that we have around him because if you want a great day, you cannot trust in yourself. If you want a great day, you can't trust in anything or anyone else other than God, for once you do, you'll be disappointed.

Once you do, things will come falling down around you. But if you trust in the true and living God who is the controller of all things, and you trust what he has said, the Lord said in Mark's gospel, the 10th chapter, he called his men to himself. He says, you know that those who are recognized as rulers and gentiles lorded over them, and their great men exercise authority over them, but it is not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave or be the slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. God says, listen, it's a great day to be great if you're willing to trust me and serve.

But see, we don't want to do that. We don't trust that promise. We trust the fact that if someone serves me, I'll have a great day. Not recognizing that the great paradox of Christianity is that you are here to serve others. And when you serve others, you're going to have a great day. You'll be great in the kingdom of God. But if you don't serve others, who are you serving? You're serving yourself. And if you're serving yourself, it's not going to be a great day. It's going to be a bad day because it's a selfish day.

It's not about the king. That's why Christ says over in the book of Matthew, Matthew the 18th chapter, the first verse, he says, at that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

They called a child to himself and set him before them and said, truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Greatest in the kingdom of heaven. You see, the disciples had a concern about who is the greatest because they like us, like you and me, really have a desire to be great. Every one of us does. We all want to be great. Nobody just wants to be okay.

Want to be the greatest there is. Well, that is made possible through Jesus Christ, our Lord. By saying this, if you glory in me and not yourself, it's a great day to be great. If you grow in your likeness of me, hey, it's going to be a great day. If you rejoice in how I work out the details of your life, it's going to be a great day. That's why he said rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice because God's in charge. If you rely on me and not yourself, it's going to be a great day. Great day.

If you embrace my peace, enjoy me, my presence, it's going to be a great day. But if you don't enjoy being around me, you won't embrace my peace, you're going to have a bad day. If you acknowledge my plans, articulate my precepts, oh, you'll be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. If you trust in my promises, and I've given so many of them because all the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ Jesus, you cannot have a bad day. It will be a great day to be great. And lastly, and see, wow, I told you I was going to finish today.

That means every one of you will get one of these on your way out. Point one's on one side, point two's on the other side. It's a great day to be great because on December 31st of this year, I'm going to pull this right back out and ask you, did you have a great year? You wait and see. December 31st, make sure you're here. If the Lord carries, we'll be here. If he doesn't, guess what? It's going to be great to be in heaven, right? But here's the last point. If you want today and every day to be a great day, simply, you must teach all people personally, publicly, passionately, and persistently that it's a great day to be great.

If you want to have a great day, you got to teach all people personally, publicly, passionately, powerfully, and persistently it's a great day to be great because you see that puts you focused on all these principles. You got to make sure that every day in your life is a great day so you can confirm that to others that they too can have a great day, a great day. That's why I love what Psalmist said in Psalm 145, verse number six, Psalm 145, verse number six, men shall speak of the power of your awesome acts and I will tell of your greatness.

You see, to have a great day, it's all about the greatness of God. So you're going to tell people about God's greatness, that they might understand how their days can be great days. And then over in the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse number three, verse number one, give ear, oh heavens, and let me speak and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as a dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass, and as the showers on the herb, for I proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God. You see, to teach people passionately and persistently that it's a great day to be great, you must teach them about the greatness of God. And that takes us all the way back to our opening lesson in Luke chapter seven, about John the Baptist. When Jesus said that there's no man greater ever born of a woman than John the Baptist.

And yet those who are least in the kingdom are greater than John. And that's because those of us today who are the least in the kingdom, that's people like you and me, we have what John never did. We see what John never saw. We understand what John never understood. We have the completed New Testament that allows us to be able to explain to people everything about the Messiah himself, what he came to do, who he was, how he lived, how he died, how he rose again, how he's coming back again. And when you're involved in teaching that to people, that's a great day.

That's what the New Testament is all about. You want to redeem the time, make the most of every opportunity by buying it back for the sake of eternity. You want to redeem the time of every day. You want to buy it back for the sake of Christ and his glory. You want to make the most of every opportunity that comes your way. Then you teach people personally, publicly, powerfully, persistently, passionately. It's a great day to be great. They'll say, what do you mean? Let me tell you about my God who's great.

Let me tell you about my God who is the greatest of all. And when you understand a great God, you can't help but have a great day. And so my prayer for you and me is that every day is a great day. It's a great day to be great. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for your word, a chance to be in it today. Truly, Lord, you are a great God and you are greatly to be praised. May we praise you, honor you, glorify you. May we live for you this day in Jesus' name. Amen.