Do Your Part
Moving Forward (Day 5) // Prayer365
“Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir. Then the Lord said to me, “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. And the Lord said, “Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.” So we crossed the valley.” Deuteronomy 2:1-3, 7, 13 NIV
Throughout this week we’ve been working through the theme titled “Moving Forward.” Directly sourced from Part 2 of our current sermon series titled “The Rhythms of Grace.” The sole purpose of rhythm in music is to keep things moving forward, if we’re not moving forward then we are stuck in a fruitless cycle. So each day this week, we have given strategy on how to break the cycles and move forward in the rhythms of God’s grace. On Day One we learned we must Prepare for the Promotion and that preparation begins in the heart. On Day Two we learned that in order to move forward, there are times we must go Back to the Beginning to find the root of our hangup. On Day Three we declared we must Stop the Cycle with the grace of God. And yesterday, on Day Four, we learned to Be Fruitful by walking in the Spirit and crucifying the flesh.
Today, on this TGIF Friday, I want to leave you with this life changing word: Do Your Part.
In our text we find the Israelites where after God has instructed them to go back to the beginning, back to the Red Sea, after all of the unbelieving generation has passed away (those who were committed to their flesh more so than God), He tells them that you’ve made your way around these hills long enough, in The Message it says “you’ve been going around in circles... long enough. Go north.” Then He proceeds to remind them through Moses of how he’s blessed them throughout this process. How over the last 40 years they haven’t lacked anything. I believe that this is a great reminder for us in 2020 of how although things may have been difficult, we haven’t lacked a thing in this pandemic.
In verse 13 God tells them to ““Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.” In The Message is says the Brook Zered. The word Zered means to cause exuberant growth; extreme or excessive growth. This is a body of water that they must cross and it’s called Exuberant Growth. I want you to see that on their journey to the Promised Land, there were three bodies of water they encountered: one behind them, one further ahead of them and one they’re in front of in this moment. The former was the Red Sea, when the Israelites prepared to cross the Red Sea this was clearly an impossible task for man. There was no way that Hundreds of Thousands of people could cross this sea without boats and survive. But remember, God split open the Red Sea and they walked between walls of water and safely made their way across the Red Sea and swallowed up Pharaoh’s army in the waters. God did this. He did what man clearly could not.
Now He instructs them to cross this next body of water called the Brook Zered (or Zered Valley). If we compare this brook to the Red Sea, there is no comparison. The Red Sea was massive, but this brook is small enough, shallow enough that everyone can get though with no problem. The reason I make such a point of this is because in the future when they are preparing to go into the promised land, God tells them to step into the Jordan River and suddenly the river backs up and they walk across the on dry land like the did on the Red Sea. But how come when it comes to the Brook Zered, God did not cause them to walk on dry land? Why didn’t He stop the brook? What I want you to see is that God had already done His part, but now it’s time that they do their part.
God did the heavy lifting, did what was impossible for man, but He was letting them know that there are somethings that you’re going to have to put in effort yourselves. I want you to know this morning that God has done His part! Think about the things that were impossible, the things that you could have never done by yourself. If it had not been for the grace of God, where would we be? Understand that God did that! But this next thing that stands before you, the thing that separates you from exuberant growth in your life, God is saying that I’ve already done my part and now it’s time for you to do your part.
Today, I want to encourage you to not give up, don’t quit, don’t throw in the towel because God did all of the heavy lifting for you. And now it’s time for you to do your part, it’s time for you to step out of your comfort zone. It’s time for you to write that business plan, its time to start that business, it’s time to write that vision, it’s time to make amends, it’s time for you do the thing that you’ve been avoiding, it’s time to do your part! Because your growth is dependent on it; you crossing over that brook, that small body of water is the thing that’s going to set off a chain reaction of growth, a place of thryving you have never experienced before, the thing that God has been preparing for you this entire time. Growth is just on the other side if we would just do our part.
I’m praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
Throughout this week we’ve been working through the theme titled “Moving Forward.” Directly sourced from Part 2 of our current sermon series titled “The Rhythms of Grace.” The sole purpose of rhythm in music is to keep things moving forward, if we’re not moving forward then we are stuck in a fruitless cycle. So each day this week, we have given strategy on how to break the cycles and move forward in the rhythms of God’s grace. On Day One we learned we must Prepare for the Promotion and that preparation begins in the heart. On Day Two we learned that in order to move forward, there are times we must go Back to the Beginning to find the root of our hangup. On Day Three we declared we must Stop the Cycle with the grace of God. And yesterday, on Day Four, we learned to Be Fruitful by walking in the Spirit and crucifying the flesh.
Today, on this TGIF Friday, I want to leave you with this life changing word: Do Your Part.
In our text we find the Israelites where after God has instructed them to go back to the beginning, back to the Red Sea, after all of the unbelieving generation has passed away (those who were committed to their flesh more so than God), He tells them that you’ve made your way around these hills long enough, in The Message it says “you’ve been going around in circles... long enough. Go north.” Then He proceeds to remind them through Moses of how he’s blessed them throughout this process. How over the last 40 years they haven’t lacked anything. I believe that this is a great reminder for us in 2020 of how although things may have been difficult, we haven’t lacked a thing in this pandemic.
In verse 13 God tells them to ““Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.” In The Message is says the Brook Zered. The word Zered means to cause exuberant growth; extreme or excessive growth. This is a body of water that they must cross and it’s called Exuberant Growth. I want you to see that on their journey to the Promised Land, there were three bodies of water they encountered: one behind them, one further ahead of them and one they’re in front of in this moment. The former was the Red Sea, when the Israelites prepared to cross the Red Sea this was clearly an impossible task for man. There was no way that Hundreds of Thousands of people could cross this sea without boats and survive. But remember, God split open the Red Sea and they walked between walls of water and safely made their way across the Red Sea and swallowed up Pharaoh’s army in the waters. God did this. He did what man clearly could not.
Now He instructs them to cross this next body of water called the Brook Zered (or Zered Valley). If we compare this brook to the Red Sea, there is no comparison. The Red Sea was massive, but this brook is small enough, shallow enough that everyone can get though with no problem. The reason I make such a point of this is because in the future when they are preparing to go into the promised land, God tells them to step into the Jordan River and suddenly the river backs up and they walk across the on dry land like the did on the Red Sea. But how come when it comes to the Brook Zered, God did not cause them to walk on dry land? Why didn’t He stop the brook? What I want you to see is that God had already done His part, but now it’s time that they do their part.
God did the heavy lifting, did what was impossible for man, but He was letting them know that there are somethings that you’re going to have to put in effort yourselves. I want you to know this morning that God has done His part! Think about the things that were impossible, the things that you could have never done by yourself. If it had not been for the grace of God, where would we be? Understand that God did that! But this next thing that stands before you, the thing that separates you from exuberant growth in your life, God is saying that I’ve already done my part and now it’s time for you to do your part.
Today, I want to encourage you to not give up, don’t quit, don’t throw in the towel because God did all of the heavy lifting for you. And now it’s time for you to do your part, it’s time for you to step out of your comfort zone. It’s time for you to write that business plan, its time to start that business, it’s time to write that vision, it’s time to make amends, it’s time for you do the thing that you’ve been avoiding, it’s time to do your part! Because your growth is dependent on it; you crossing over that brook, that small body of water is the thing that’s going to set off a chain reaction of growth, a place of thryving you have never experienced before, the thing that God has been preparing for you this entire time. Growth is just on the other side if we would just do our part.
I’m praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
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