Focal Point

Pastor Mike Fabarez: I will do anything, I will go anyplace, and I will do it anytime. Are you ready to say, "Okay, God, you got it"? Are you really ready to do whatever He says? That is what it means for God to be in charge. That is what it means to say, "I am going to say that You are the leader, and I will take up my cross if it is painful, it is okay because I am committed to following You."

Dave Druey: Today on *Focal Point* with Pastor Mike Fabarez. The poet William Henley once wrote, "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." His words echo the sentiment of many people today. We want to be in command, steering our lives as we see fit.

But today on *Focal Point*, Pastor Mike Fabarez reminds us of the story of Abraham, who with ambitious faith, decided to follow God’s path and not his own, no matter the cost. It is Abraham’s example that teaches us about boldly following God’s path for my life.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: As you know, there are a lot of things in life that are simple but not easy. They are not hard to understand, they are not complex, but they are incredibly difficult to do. Just think of golf. Just take those sticks, hit the ball, and put it in the hole. It sounds easy, but it is not. It is simple, but it is difficult.

It is like mountain climbers. I followed some guys up a mountain not long ago, and they explained it as just walking to the top. It is not a hard concept, but it is certainly hard to do. Or like parents. I have three kids, and God is saying to my wife and me, "Just take care of them until they are all grown up." It is a simple concept, but not easy. It is a tough road.

The top of the list of things that are simple but not easy has to be the Christian life. This thing we call the Christian life is incredibly simple when you boil it down. It comes down to two words where Jesus calls us to simply follow Him. He says, "Follow Me." That is the essence of it. It is not hard to understand, it is not complex, but it is incredibly demanding.

Because where He leads us sometimes is into unthinkable situations that demand an incredible amount of faith, or as we have been calling it in Hebrews 11, a real ambitious faith. It takes ambitious faith to follow Christ. The chapter we have been studying in Hebrews 11 has illustrated that in a number of ways already. When it comes down to the simplicity and the difficulty of the Christian life, no one illustrates that better than Abraham of the Old Testament in verse eight.

If we do not understand the simplicity and the difficulty of the Christian life, we are in for a big load of disappointment and disillusionment. The recipients of the book of Hebrews were right on the cusp of that. A lot of them were disillusioned. They thought if they followed Christ, then things would be okay and everything would work out. But they were incurring all this trouble and opposition.

Some were wondering if it was even the right thing to start with. The writer of Hebrews keeps warning them that if it is a tough road, then they understand the call of God on our lives to follow Him wherever He leads us. That is something that needed some reinforcement from Old Testament characters. He calls into employment Abraham, who was called to go to a place that he would later receive as an inheritance.

He lived in the southern part of what is modern-day Iraq. He was called from Ur of the Chaldeans to go 900 miles across the desert to a place called Canaan. That was the call of God on his life, which really is the Christian equivalent of Jesus putting His finger in the disciple's chest and simply saying, "Come and follow Me." Verse eight shows a very simple response: Abraham obeyed and went.

God says, "This way," and he said, "Okay, I am going." He picked up stakes, left, and followed God. But it was not easy because the path took him through valleys of uncertainty. Verse eight says he went even though he did not know where he was going. He had to take steps of faith not knowing exactly where the path was headed, but he was following God.

You would think if you are on the path that God has for you, then it would probably be a good path because it is a good God and you are doing a good thing by doing what He tells you to do. But when he gets there, verse nine says he has to live in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country. He did not get a mansion or a palace. He had to live in tents.

His son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise, had to do the same. Why such a hard road? When it comes to the fulfillment of following God, it does not come here and now; it comes there and then. Verse 10 says they were looking beyond the threshold of this life toward a city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. That is a big perspective.

Abraham said he would follow, and God led him down a path that was not as fulfilling as some people would think. His hope had to be deferred to a time of ultimate fulfillment beyond this life. Verse 13 says Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised. They did not have this fabulous experience in the Promised Land. They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

They admitted that they were aliens and strangers on Earth. People who say earth is not their home show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return. Instead, they are longing for a better country. Underscore this: it is not an earthly country; it is a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed. Because they are looking for something that is ultimately fulfilling in the next life and are fixed on that hope, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. That is a revolutionary concept in a day where we are told that to follow Christ, God is going to give you all that your heart desires here and now.

That message will fill stadiums and churches will bust at the seams. You can put that message out that if you follow God, everything will be great, and you will have people give their money to it. They come dressed in their fine clothes, ready to celebrate all the blessings from God. But when Abraham obeyed and went, he did not receive all that here and now. He had to wait until then and there.

It did not change much for the disciples, either. When Jesus said, "Leave your nets and follow Me," they did it. But it was not easy for them. He told them, "In this world, you will have tribulation." But He told them to take heart because He has overcome the world. There is something there that will ultimately be the fruition of your faith. Faith is required because the path is narrow, and it will not always be easy.

It is not a drudgery because God says He will guide us through it Himself and we can have joy in the journey. But the bottom line is it is going to be a tough road, so you need to know where your expectations should be fixed. Few things are more damaging to the Christian movement than unmet expectations. It is our fault when we pitch the Gospel in a way that is not biblical.

We need to get back to what the Bible says. Our job is to follow Christ. If you think that is just a call for the patriarchs or the apostles, Luke chapter nine shows that this call extends to us. It is not just about believing a certain set of things; it is about where your life is heading. Luke chapter nine underscores this in a dramatic and poignant way.

Verse 23 says, "If anyone would come after Me..." Jesus is going to heaven, where He has a place prepared. If we are going after Christ and partaking in His benefits, then we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him. That is the simplicity and the difficulty of the Christian life. He says, "Follow Me." It is that simple.

If you say you want to do what you want to do and go where you want to go on your timetable, then that would be a problem. If you try to guide your life and save your life, you will end up losing it. But whoever loses his life for Him, which means tossing Him the keys and the leadership of your life, will save his life. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul?

Jesus says you must be willing to follow Him, which means you do what He says. That is the essence of the Gospel. Some people have made a false dichotomy that you can become a Christian and later make Him your Lord if you want to. That does not work. Jesus asked the disciples, "Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?" You cannot have God without a basic commitment to give Him the leadership of your life.

The Bible says that we, who are the recipients of God's love, should no longer live for ourselves, but live for Him who died for us and rose again. I am giving Him the leadership. Call it lordship, the leader, or the boss, but it is a resolve to no longer do what I want; it is doing what He wants. To put it simply, we need to be telling God from day one that we are making a commitment.

Number one on your outline: we need to tell Him it is anything, anyplace, anytime. That is what it comes down to. Anything He wants me to do, whatever it is; anyplace, not my geographical preferences; and anytime, not my schedule, but His. That is what it means to let someone else lead. Abraham illustrated that. He did not even know where he was going. All he knew is he was supposed to leave and go to Canaan 900 miles away.

That was a big journey, and it took a lot of faith to say he would follow, especially when God did not map it all out for him. Abraham is a great illustration of New Testament theology because that is exactly what it is for us: we are to say He is the leader. The problem is we like to put stipulations on that, and Jesus makes that clear at the bottom of Luke nine. Drop down to the last six verses, starting in verse 57.

The problem is we often want to say we will do whatever He wants, but we really have stipulations and limits. Verse 57 says a man said to Christ, "I will follow You wherever You go." That sounds open-ended, like he will do anything and go anywhere. But Jesus looks through the cranium of this guy and knows there are limitations. He spells them out in His response.

In verse 58, Jesus says, "Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." He did not even own a house. We can read between the lines here that the man says he will follow, but he has limits. He needs a place to stay, a home, and a decent income. Jesus says if you are going to sign up to follow Him, there are no guarantees that these things will be provided.

In verse 59, He says to another man, "Follow Me." The problem with the second man is he has a timetable that is important to him. He says, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Apparently, his father had died and he was in a period of grieving and mourning. He had things to tie up. He says he would like to do God's will and preach, but he has stuff to do first.

Jesus' response in verse 60 is to let the dead bury their own dead. Let those who do not care about His kingdom or want to live for Him take care of the dead. But as for you, go proclaim the Kingdom of God. It is not about your timing; it is about His. Still another says in verse 61 that he will follow, but first he has priorities that have to take precedence, like his family.

He wants to tie things up with his family and is concerned about them. Jesus says that no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God. That sounds really broad, like a blank check. Jesus is saying it needs to be anything, anyplace, anytime. Unfortunately, we like to put stipulations on that. Let that resonate for a minute.

When you came to Christ, you were coming with that commitment. Are you still able to say you will do anything, go anyplace, and do it anytime? If God said He was going to change things and send you to another place to do another job now, are you ready to say, "Okay, God, You got it"? That is what it means for God to be in charge. It means saying He is the leader and you will take up your cross even if it is painful.

Are you really ready to do whatever He says? If He wants you to speak up for Him at the lunchroom and say that you are a Christian, are you willing to do that? If He wants you to move to another state or country, are you ready to say you are a servant of Christ and He is in charge? If He wants to change your timetable, are you willing to do exactly what He says when He tells you to do it?

Remember that God is looking from heaven at us and saying He knows what is best for our lives. He knows how to lead us. He wants to maximize your future as it relates to the glory of God. Just like Abraham, God had a plan for him that would ultimately benefit the entire world. Through him, all the families of the Earth were going to be blessed. God is just looking for people who say they will follow and do what He says.

Abraham had an audible voice, and the disciples had Jesus physically present. You might say you do not have the audible voice of God or Jesus pointing a finger at you. How can you respond to that question? How would you even know? There are four things to consider. If we are going to respond to the call of God, we need to know what that call looks like and how it works. That call has to be crystal clear in your mind.

Psalm 119:104 says, "I gain understanding from Your precepts." Those are the written word of God. David looked back on everything the prophets had written and all that Moses had recorded, and he said those are the rules. Therefore, he hated every wrong path. You will know the roads you are not supposed to go down if you are familiar with God's precepts. If the Bible is a daily part of your life, you will start to see the wrong path.

Verse 105 says the Bible will also become a light to know the right path. He may not give you the whole roadmap, but He will certainly show you what the next step is. The illumination of understanding God's word will make His path clear to you. But verse 106 says it starts with an "anything, anyplace, anytime" resolve. It begins with biblical directives. We have to get the biblical directives as the posts and the guide of our lives.

You are not going to know God's will for your life if you are not willing to do it no matter what it is, and if you are not in His word understanding His biblical directives. It starts with that. You are not going to know His word if you are not picking up the only thing that is going to shed clear light on the path for your life. The principles and the precepts begin to show you the wrong paths and enlighten the right paths.

In 1 Corinthians 16:7, Paul tells the Corinthian church that he hopes to spend some time with them if the Lord permits. That is an interesting phrase. Apparently, there is a way to figure out whether or not this is God's will for his life. He says he will stay on in Ephesus until the Feast of Pentecost because a great door for effective work has opened to him. These are providential circumstances.

Providential circumstances can close the door or open the door. If you think the open door is having absolutely no opposition to the decision, you are mistaken. Paul says there are many in this open door that oppose him. There is no decision you are going to make as a Christian that is God's will where everybody in the world is going to approve. But you will see doors opening and closing through providential circumstances. That is God's providence.

We believe that God is sovereign and that in His will, He opens and closes doors. Circumstances are made available to me, and circumstances are shut to me. If my mind is being bathed in the principles and precepts of God's word, I start to see which open doors are right and which open doors are wrong. But I need the combination of the two.

Dave Druey: Thousands of years have passed since Abraham packed up all he owned and went to the land God showed him. We can follow his example when we trust God to direct our lives as well. This is *Focal Point* with Pastor Mike Fabarez and the message titled "Boldly Following God’s Path for My Life". It is part of a series called *Ambitious Faith*, and the easiest way to make sure you never miss a message is through the *Focal Point* podcast or the free *Focal Point* app.

Before you head out, there is something else we want to equip you with, and that is this month’s featured book: *The Journals of Jim Elliot*, edited by his wife, Elisabeth Elliot. He was 28 years old when he was killed by the very people he gave his life to reach. But before that, in the pages of his personal journals, Jim Elliot wrote with a raw, searching honesty that most people never put on paper. If you have ever wondered what it actually costs to hold nothing back from God, Jim Elliot’s own words tell you, one entry at a time.

*The Journals of Jim Elliot* is available to you right now. Just make a donation to *Focal Point* or join us as a *Focal Point* Partner. However you choose to give, your contribution is what keeps this teaching reaching people every day. Get in touch by phone at 888-320-5885 or give online at focalpointradio.org. You can also reach out through the mail by writing to us at Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California, 92654.

If this is your first time contacting us, there is something waiting for you at no cost. Pastor Mike’s new booklet, *Offering Our Best*, goes straight to the question of what wholehearted devotion to God actually requires of us. Reach out today and we will send your copy of *Offering Our Best* at no cost. Just call 888-320-5885 or get in touch online at focalpointradio.org. I am Dave Druey, and we will see you tomorrow for part two of Pastor Mike’s message, "Boldly Following God’s Path for My Life", Tuesday on *Focal Point* with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God’s word promises it will never return void. So I wonder, how is God’s word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line and let us know. We would love to hear from you and be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org. Then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of Scripture. We will see you then.

Dave Druey: Today’s program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.