Beth Moore - God Is On The Move - Part 3
I'd like for you to turn with me before we go back over your points to John 19, and I'm gonna ask you to hold there for a moment. So John 19, and just hold your Bibles open there, and we're about to go for it in just a moment. But I do want to know our first three points as we talk about how we can get on the same page with God, in the same move of the Spirit through his Word and working around us that we would move when he is wanting us to move with him.
And so we've made three points. All of our points are really just, like, sort of point blank, just a few words along the way, and it starts with one. Number one is what? Number 2 is what? Number 3 is what? We talked about in our earlier session that you cannot move forward, I cannot move forward if we won't move on, that sometimes we just got to move on. But let me tell you this, there are other times, and that's why point one is so important and why it was the building block for this lesson is because it's not always time to move on. Sometimes it's just time to move in place. For example, the example that I used with you in our previous session about my brother dying...
Five months ago, my big brother, who was my closest friend, I mean, my best friend, somebody in my life continually. He lived on the other side of the world from me for the last couple of years, but we FaceTimed, we texted every single day, just super, super close. He was nearly eight years older than I am but just a wonderful person, just so creative, everything was poetry, everything was music. He was a lifelong musician. He spent his life in musical theater. He was a conductor. He just, just everything. I mean, a meal was like music, and it was something that was composed. Everything was very dramatic.
You can tell we were very different people. But he just like, we could finish one another's sentences. And five months ago on February 7, I'm gonna try to get through this without crying. But he was like, was walking on a sidewalk going to a corral practice of a group that he was in, and he just, like, dropped dead, just dropped dead. I mean, no warning, no nothing. I just, and so, our family, he just was, you know when there's this person in the family that everybody likes the most? I mean, throughout the whole extended family, nephews, nieces, everybody, this was everybody's favorite person in the family, so we are shook.
And so, within days, because they live, both his son and his wife, he and his wife lived in Rome. His son lived in Tel Aviv. So they're coming from across the world home, but as soon as they are able, and they are beside themselves, beside themselves. So they land on my house, and then my other extended family, my siblings, my kids, they begin to roll in. Some of the other nephews and nieces all roll into my house, and the house is just packed. And so, during that time, they stay for awhile and then, you know, in the weeks to come, you know, everybody goes back home.
But when you lose someone that affects, like, I don't know a better way to say this. It had been since my mother died that I had lost someone whose loss impacted every day of my life. Like, the quality of my life felt like it just dropped. Like, I told Melissa over and over again. I said, "It's just, life's not as funny. It's just not as funny". He just was so funny, and it's like, "Bro, what you'd gone and done? What you'd gone and done"? Then after my sister-in-law gets there, it was his wife of... oh my goodness, they were married a year longer than Keith and I, and we're just about, we'll celebrate 45 pretty soon, so 46 years of marriage, y'all, 46 years.
Isn't she's just cute as a bug, really lively? She choreographed. That's how they met in musical theater. But she's at my house. She's in my guest room. And so she brings this Kleenex box. It's this exact one, this exact one. She just brings in my kitchen, and I have, when we built this house 11 years ago, we built it the way we wanted it to be, which is that whoever is cooking in the kitchen is still in with everyone else, so it's just one big, huge room that has the living room in it and the dining area over here and here's the kitchen. And so she set it on a windowsill, and so she would just go back and forth to it over and over again, and after she left, I could not move it.
And I mean, what I'm saying to you is five months later, the Kleenex box had not been moved a quarter of an inch. I had not pulled out another Kleenex, nothing. It just was frozen there. And every single morning, the place that I have my devotional time with the Lord, I sit at my kitchen bar, and here is the windowsill, and here is the Kleenex box, and I cannot touch it because I am paralyzed. And I just stare at it every day, and I can't even think to myself, "One day I'm gonna move it, one day I'm gonna move it".
But it hit me just about a week or so ago why I couldn't move it. It's because she put it there when he was just barely cold, and I felt like, "No, let it still be there 'cause maybe we're gonna wake up and we dreamed it". But time goes on and you didn't dream it. And so, you know, you just still want it to be that first minute because maybe it's a mistake. I bet anything they did CPR after that. You just do all of these things. So, in my mind, don't let time pass, don't let time, 'cause I feel like even getting past four days, you know, Lazarus still, I just felt like, "You know, Lazarus, you know".
Gets to day five, and I'm starting to freak out even though it's just easy for God to raise the dead at ten days, ten years. But, you know, we do all this with ourselves and I just was paralyzed, just paralyzed. And I decided about a week ago, I thought, you know what I'm gonna do? I am gonna say, this sounds so dumb, but there are a lot of people I really like on Twitter, and so, I've kinda got friends there. It sounds so dumb. But you know, if I had said to my grandmother, "I Tweeted," she would have said, "Don't tell anybody".
You know what I'm saying? None of this makes any sense. But I said to my buddies on there, I said, "Okay," and I sent 'em a picture of it. I said, "This has been sitting there all this time," and they knew 'cause I've been very dramatic about my brother's loss. And I said, "I'm gonna move it today. I'm gonna move it today". And I did. Now, I only moved at 10 feet. I only moved at 10 feet, but I don't care only, because I felt like that the only thing I needed to do was just actually move.
It is not time for me to move on. I'm in a season of mourning, and it's not time. If I go through that too quickly, it will come after me. And my family, just in our chemistry, we have to deal with the fact that we can be prone to depression, and so, I have to watch that because as I deal with that, if I don't deal with it properly, and I've had such feelings of heaviness since he's been gone, and if I don't deal with that properly, it's going to come for me later. There's no getting around that. So I can either just go through it in a healthy way and plow through it or I can somehow try to stop my feelings and just think I need to move on. No, the only thing I got from God to me about that Kleenex box was just "move".
You don't have to move on yet, just move. You are not paralyzed. You're not paralyzed. The reason I want to bring this up, I'm fighting such a lump in my throat, because of some things I'm about to read to you. The things that some of you are called out of your paralysis on are flabbergasting. We didn't have to wonder if God had us on topic this weekend when we saw what you stuffed in that Kleenex box, and there's more and more and more of them, but I want to read you a few of 'em. I love this one because you are tracking, all of these are tracking with exactly all of those, what we're talking about.
All of these are on point. You got it last night. You for sure got it. But I want to make sure that you know the difference between moving and moving on. That's very important, especially in one I'm gonna read to you. "But retirement stuck, what's next"? Perfect example. "I'm just, like, paralyzed. What do I even do next"? Oh, I wanna tell, I believe I can say to you confidently, God has a very, very distinct plan for you in this post-retirement, and you are very wise to know that you are not just stuck. You are not just motionless. In fact, may I speak over you what I truly believe. You have never been so free to do the will of God, never been so... you start looking for open opportunities. All we have to do to minister to people is look for the next need.
I mean, just the next need, how do we meet the next need? So that's what we're talking about here, so she's going to have to move on. That is a move on, in my opinion. So move on from that time in that wonderful season. Move on now. You're not retired spiritually. You're not retired in the ministry that God has entrusted to you. Move on. But this one right here I want you to hear. Where is this one? On a literal Kleenex. She starts with, "I'm so sorry for your loss," and I want to bring this up because one of the good things, I've not thought it was good, but things change when you're my age, the way you look at 'em. And I've begun to appreciate the fact that my grief has made me so tender to yours.
And I mean, it'll be, like, somebody on social media, and I can just cry so easily with them, and it's because, oh, because my heart's there right now. It's raw right now, and so, even my prayers for them are different, because I can get in it with them. Am I making sense to anyone? So, I'm not surprised at all that she starts out, even though our needs could not be more different and our losses could not be more different, mine absolutely pales in comparison to what I'm about to read to you, but my heart's so tender toward her, and she was tender to mine, why? Because her heart is in that continuous state right now, and she said, "I'm so sorry for your loss. Thank you for tonight. My daughter was murdered and I'm paralyzed".
First, time out, I don't know where you are in this room, I'm so sorry, I am so sorry, I'm so sorry. And I just, I want you to know, you get to take all the time you need. All you have to do, just make sure you keep knowing, okay, I'm still alive here, just even if you're just moving in place, even if you're just moving in place, that you're still alive there. I want to read you one more that really struck me where a woman said, hold on just, oh, oh, oh, this one. This is really, really big to me, so I hope so much she's in this room. "My daughter died of a drug overdose, and I can't change my calendar in my kitchen. Even hearing you talk, I looked at my calendar. It would kill me to change it".
Don't. You don't get out of my message this weekend that you need to go change that calendar. Day after day after day after day after day after day after day, I had my prayer time right by that box of Kleenex, and I didn't move it. It just, it wasn't until that day that it's like, you know, it's time just to at least like scoot it, scoot it. You might never change that calendar, I don't know, but I do want to remind you that there is life in your bones in Jesus. And oh, may he comfort you in a way that you'd be able to say to somebody in three years, in four years, in five years, "I'm going to tell you right now, I know there is a God in the heavens and I know that he is with me because I ought not to be alive. I ought not be alive. I should not have survived it, and I'm still here".
One person is paralyzed because she's raised her grandson for seven years and now the judge might return him to his father, and she's just in so much pain. She's paralyzed by it. Move in place, move in place. So know the difference, do you understand what I'm saying? You know the difference between "move in place," just remind yourself you're still alive, breathe in the breath of the Holy Spirit, you are still a living creature, and "move on". It is time to move on, and then it's time to move forward. Okay, I do want you to say back to me, I know this is repetitive, but this is how we learn that those four action phrases that we found in Galatians chapter 5, I want to remind you of them, because this is what we're tracking on.
This is what we're trying to learn to do. So would you remind me, I'm gonna throw them up on the board so you can say them, how we move with God according to Galatians 5. Say these 4 phrases with me: Walk by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, live by the Spirit, keep step with the Spirit. Keep step with the Spirit, not too slow, not too fast. We spend a whole lot of time waiting on the Lord. We know that, but there are some times that the Lord go, "You're not waiting on me, I'm waiting on you". Because somebody's gonna get a green light. Somebody say, "I may get a green light". You know why you didn't say that very loud? 'Cause you know good and well you're wanting to say, "I'm getting a green light, so go ahead". I'm getting a green light! I'm getting a green light!
All right, I want you to see point number four now, and take this down, and I'm asking the Lord to work through these points to help translate to you through the Spirit what I don't make clear. In other words, I'm hoping so much to be able to explain what I'm trying to say here. Number four is move back enough. So we've got move, move on, move forward. Now we've got move back enough. And you're thinking, "Move back enough for what"? We're going to get into that in just a minute. But there comes a time at times, and again, what you're trying to do and what I'm trying to do is discern, is this your now point or is this a later point? Or is this a, you know, like, yesterday, day before yesterday, last year point?
But there are times that in order to be able to walk with God and keep step with the Spirit that we have to move back from something, or maybe someones, or maybe something, or maybe some organization, or maybe some particular part of our social life, whatever it may be. Do you know what I'm talking about? Where we put just enough, it's not just necessarily leaving it all behind, it's just like just enough to be able to get some clarity. For example, let me just throw this out for a moment. It could be anything.
So I want you to think very, very broadly. I have a friend who calls... she has a name for people that make you feel crazy. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? She calls them scramblers, uh-huh, 'cause they just, your mind just, it's like scrambled eggs. Like, it started off like it was, like, really going well, like it was over easy in the pan, and then suddenly... and like, you can't even think a clear thought. You can't even think a clear thought. And so, sometimes when you're really needing clarity, you're kind of like... And you're still at the same table at Starbucks with them, but you're kind of scooting back your chair a little bit, going like, "You know, keep that over there on that side of the table 'cause I don't need you getting all your scrambling on me".
You know I'm talking about? Did you ever get in a car after a good...? There's no one who can gossip with you like your best friend. It's like, "Oh God, God, and bless our meal and bless our conversation". It's like, "Have you heard"? And you get in the car and you nearly need to wash your clothes 'cause you've acted so tacky. Or maybe that's just... maybe I'm telling on myself. So this move back doesn't mean backwards. It just means move over. Move over a little bit. Let there be a little bit of space there where you need it so that you can hear if you are going through a season where you're like, "I really need to hear from God".
Sometimes it's a way of social fasting is "I gotta get away. That is not what I need right now". And I mean, I'm gonna have to just scoot back from it just a little bit. We'll find that there are times that we can be so close to people or so deeply embedded in an organization that we're not just tied to them or tied to the organization. We're not at all up in it, and entangled in it, and completely embedded in it. And listen, we can... how can I say this? Because I think this is part of what we're dealing with in our present culture. We can be so identified with a group that we no longer even think to seek God and think with our own mind on that issue.
We just automatically know whatever the stand of my identity group is, that is also my stand, so there's not even any thought to it. It's like, "Oh, well". If we have a favorite leader and this is where they are, "Well, that's where I am too". We get to where we can't even hear; why? Because we're so embedded, so entangled in it, that we don't know the difference, and we won't think for ourselves and hear God for ourselves. Do not think that God will not test to see if our loyalties are stronger to our identity group, to our mentors, to those who have been our leaders, to those who we have walked with, than him. He will test it. If he has not tested it yet, he will. He absolutely will. He's going to see, "If I called you to stand alone and make everybody in your group furious at you, would you do it"?
If you knew something was wrong in your organization, say that Lillian knew something's not right here at "Living Proof," something's not right, what if she had the nerve to come forward to the board and go, "I'm gonna tell you something. I have loved this woman. I have loved these people. I don't know where in the world the enemy has gotten a foothold, but I'm telling you, something is up here". Does she have the gut or is she so embedded with us that she could not hear the Lord for herself and sense with her own conviction? "Did everybody think that was normal? Because I don't think that was normal. Anybody"?
That's what we're talking about here. Notice with me, in John chapter 19, now, this is gonna be, some of these are gonna feel like a reach, and maybe they are, but I wanna try to give you some feel for what I'm talking about. I want you to notice with me in John chapter 19, I want to read verses 25-27, Christ Jesus is on the cross. It says, "Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, 'Woman,'" it just makes me want to cry, "'here is your son.' And he said to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home".
Now, we know, or we assume, that the disciple that Jesus loved was John, who was writing it, which is just its own element. There's something I just love about it. And the one that Jesus loved, and the one that Jesus loved. But you know, we ought to think, "Well, I'm one, not the one, but one that Jesus loves, one that Jesus loves". But so, there's John. Where are the rest of 'em? I mean, they're like...Peter's out there. They have been like this, especially the three, especially Peter, James, and John. I mean, they started out together.
And there's Andrew. I mean, they have all run for it, and it says all of them fled, so John had to have too. But here we see in this scene, close to the cross, here is John, and he's with all these women who are not afraid to stand in front of the gore so that they can be close to the Lord Jesus. That is some integrity, and that is some guts, I'm gonna tell you, guts! And so, there John is with him. Well, what's he done? He's had to rethink, and he's had to separate himself. You know, they may be annoyed with him. Like, where is he? They may be hiding together for all we know, but where is he? Well, he left the group because he's rethought and he wants to go stand at the cross. See what I'm talking about?
There are times when nobody else is interested in standing at the cross with you, nobody, but you. You go, you go. And they're gonna say, because this is what people said about me over and over and over, over and over and over, "She's just eaten up with it". And then it would be, you know, because you've all been in a group of friends and then suddenly, somebody maybe starts writing or writes a Bible study or starts and then it's all like, "Oh, she thinks she's too good for us". Anybody know what I'm talking about? And so, you have to go like, "I'm gonna have to risk this. I'm gonna have to risk that it looks like I left the group and for some reason, I think I'm better than they are. For some reason, I think I'm different. For some reason, I think I'm special". No, that you can hear for yourself and go and stand and go and stand.