What Would You Be Willing To Attempt For God If You Knew You Could Not Fail?

This past Sunday we talked about you making a difference, and I believe you can!  One of the ways to begin to discover what your next step in your walk with Christ is by answering a question that was asked of me several years ago that changed the trajectory of my life.

On August 10, 1999 I was having lunch with a mentor at Red Lobster and discussing with him that I really felt God was stirring me to do something; however, I THOUGHT of an option or two and informed my buddy of my incredibly safe plans.

He looked at me as I was eating a cheese biscuit and asked, “What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you could not fail?”

Without hesitation I answered, “I would start a church!”

He replied, “You are a coward if you don’t!”

That one minute dialog ruined my lunch; seriously, I couldn’t eat any more cheese biscuits! I knew he was right. I knew that God had told me in 1996 that I was going to start a church one day; however, I kept making excuses as to why I would not do it—the first being that I was too young and the second being that I was “praying about it.”

(Christians OFTEN use prayer as an excuse for inactivity—I know I did…and it sounded so spiritual!!!)

Within a month of that conversation I was meeting with a core group of people who were wanting to do more than just go to church on Sunday…WE WANTED TO CHANGE THE WORLD! (AND STILL DO!!!)

God has done more in the past sixteen years than I could have ever imagined…and, as I always say, I really feel that our best days are ahead of us…as long as we continue to be obedient and NEVER fall into “safe mode”– being afraid to take risks because we feel like we actually have something to lose!

I had thought for the longest time that I was waiting on God—when in actuality God had been waiting on me…

MAYBE you are experiencing the same thing!

Let me ask YOU this question, “What would YOU be willing to attempt for God if you KNEW you could not fail?” Seriously—STOP right now and answer it!

First let me say that there are some reading this who have no idea what the answer to this question would be. My challenge for you is to take some time and figure it out—to wrestle it to the ground—seek the Lord on this one because Ephesians 2:10 tells us that He created us to do something GREAT for Him.

However, there are MANY reading this right now that know exactly what you would do…you just lack the courage to take a dive of faith. You say you are waiting on God when, in actuality, God is waiting on you! You say you are praying about it, but you really aren’t because every time you do God prompts you to take action—BUT because you don’t have all your questions answered you are SCARED and refuse to move.

When we began NewSpring it was a HUGE risk for me. People ask me, “Were you scared?” HECK YES! I quit a job that was providing me with this stuff called MONEY, which is pretty much essential…oh yeah, the job I was in also provided my health insurance as well. AND…I was getting married in eight months and had NO INCOME.

BUT…I knew that God had stirred my heart to do this and I could not deny His prompting any longer. (By the way…the day after I made this decision a friend came to see me and gave me a check for $800, telling me the Lord had prompted him to do so…I told him that he needed to continue to listen for additional prompting!!!) GOD PROVIDES!!!

What is it? What is “that thing” that you just can’t shake…you are consumed with it…and you want to try it SO BAD but you are SO AFRAID of failure? Keep in mind that II Timothy 1:7 says God has not given us a spirit of fear!!!

• Maybe you KNOW the Lord has called you to start a business!
• Maybe you KNOW the Lord has called you to take a risk and try something new in your existing ministry!
• Maybe you KNOW the Lord wants you to ask her out! (By the way dude…sending a text message or an e-mail to ask a girl out on a date is LAME…and you are a loser for doing so! BE A MAN!)
• Maybe you KNOW the Lord wants you to put Him first in your finances!
• Maybe you KNOW the Lord wants you to change your major!
• Maybe you KNOW the Lord wants you to stay at home with the kids!
• Maybe you KNOW the Lord wants you to turn down that promotion—EVEN though it means more money!
• Church planter, maybe you KNOW you are supposed to hire that staff member OR buy that building!

What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you could not fail?

One more thing—the reason some people won’t move is because they don’t feel like it makes sense OR that they don’t have all their questions answered!

UH…when has God ever asked anyone to do anything that really made sense? AND when did He ever answer every question that a person had? That’s why doing what the Lord prompts us to do is called FAITH!!!

Take some time today and wrestle with this—God has called YOU to do great things!!!

I hope you have a GREAT weekend - Sunday's gonna be awesome.