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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Robert Morris » Robert Morris - What's My Part?

Robert Morris - What's My Part?


Robert Morris - What's My Part?

This week, as I began praying, it just hit me to bring kind of the summary message, because there can sometimes be a thinking that God does it all and we really don't have to do anything. We can get in that attitude of it's just all God. It's just all God. No, it's not all God, 'cause you have a part.

I have a friend of mine who's a recording artist. He's been here several times, Steve Green, and he's won Grammy Awards and all, and he was telling me one time this at lunch. He said, "I got in this false humility". I didn't even know what's false humility. And he said, "I started just saying, when people would say, 'That was a really good concert,'" he said, "I just started saying, 'It was all God. Well, it's all God, well, it's all God.'" I don't know if you ever heard anyone say that; "It's just all God, brother, you know, it's all God". And so, he said, "One time I sang, I walked off the platform and this guy said to me, 'Brother, that was good!' And I said to him, 'Well, brother, it's just all God'. And the guy said, 'Well, it wasn't that good!'" And Steve said, "I thought to myself, that's true! If it'd been all God, I wouldn't have gone flat on that last note, you know, so if it was all God".

Okay, so, let me go through some things here to help you understand a truth, to understand we have a part. Number one, God doesn't need anything. God doesn't need anything. Now, let me just put it this way. I like putting them up so you can see it. God is self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-sustaining. God is self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-sustaining. This is actually one of the attributes of God; it's eternal. God is eternal, or infinite is another one that would apply to this. So, God doesn't need anything to exist. Does everyone understand that? He doesn't need anything to exist.

Years ago, Debbie and I went on an Alaskan cruise, And so, we were sitting on the deck, Debbie and I, one day, and we were just relaxing, and I looked out at Alaska, and I just thought, God, You are just so big! And I just thought, you know, You don't need anything. And the Lord said, "I need you". And I hate to tell you what I said to Him, but I said... well, I explained to Him why that's not theologically correct. "Listen, you know, Lord, I don't know how long it's been since you were in seminary, but when you go to seminary, you learn, and that's just not theologically correct. You're self-existent, self-sufficient, self-sustaining. You're eternal; You don't need anything to exist, You don't need anything". And the Lord said, "I need you". I said, "No, Lord, You don't. You want me and you love me, but You don't need me". And He said, "I need you".

So, I realized I wasn't going to win the argument, so I said, "Well, what do You mean, You need me"? And this is point number two; God decided to need you. Now, you could put in here, instead of the word "need", if you wanted to, "partner". God decided to partner with you, or cooperate with you. Think about the word, "cooperate". It's to operate something, but to do it with someone else. Even the word "partner" means that each person has a part, and the name of the message is, "What's Your Part"? See, if you partner with God, you have a part and God has a part. God even said to me, I remember on the cruise, He said, "Son, I don't need you to exist. I can exist without you, but I need you to co-exist. I actually decided to need your partnership to manage the earth. I decided to become partners with you in the management of the earth".

And you can see it right from the beginning. Genesis 2:19, "Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field". Now, notice Adam did not create the animals, God did. That's God's part. God has a part and we have a part. "Out of the ground God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them". I don't know how much you've thought about this, but I've thought about this. I just want you to think about this. Watch this next sentence. "And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name".

Why? Why did God have Adam name the animals? Because He was starting a partnership. He was starting cooperation, a co-op; that's why... He could have said, "Come here, son, come here, come here. See that animal over there with a hump? That's a camel. There's a one hump camel and a two hump camel. I just thought I'd do that, I'd just throw it in. One has one hump, one has two. The one with the real long nose, real fat? That's an elephant. And see that bird flying? Oh, duck! That's why I called it that. That's it". Why didn't God do that? Because He didn't want to. He wanted to have a part. His part was the part that Adam couldn't do.

Boy, I want you to catch that, the supernatural part. But, Adam's part was the part he could do. Then, by the way, we have all of these theological arguments of why God created Adam first, and then Eve. Remember, He created Adam, and then he had Adam name animals, and then Eve. I can just tell you, just my personal opinion. He had a job for Adam to do. He knew, if I create a naked woman, he'll never get the job done! This is not that hard to figure out! Adam, look at Me, look. Adam? Adam? Adam? Adam! Adam, can you stop looking at Eve? Can you just, just look at Me just for a minute. I asked you to name the animals. You named three animals yesterday. The redbird, bluebird, and the anteater, and I told you he was an animal that eats ants! And you came up with "anteater". Adam, look at Me when I'm talking to you. That's just my opinion. But from the beginning, God wanted to partner with us.

So, Jesus, when He was on this earth... I want to show you a verse about partnership that'll blow you away. Actually, it's difficult to explain theologically unless you understand what... I'll share with you about it. Mark 6:5, it's talking about Jesus. It says, "Now He could do no mighty work there". In other words, He could not. He could not do a mighty work there. "Except that He laid His hands on a few sick people," by the way, look everywhere else, it says "all sick people"; He healed all sick people, or all who came to Him. Here, He couldn't heal them all. He could not. I'm gonna talk about that in a minute. The Bible uses the word, "could not". He could not. He could do no mighty work; could. "And He marveled because of their unbelief," and this word, "could", is to be able or to be possible. In other words, Jesus wasn't able to, but He was everywhere else.

Okay, so let me hit you with a huge sentence. God limited His unlimited power to our faith. That's incredible. He walks into a town of unbelief, and the creator of the universe could not do a mighty work there. Let me just ask you this. I wonder how many mighty works God can't do in your life because of your unbelief. It's all through Scripture. So, here's a little question for you. Do you think Satan knows this? Of course he does! Look at this. Remember David and Goliath?

1 Samuel 17:4, "And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits," a cubit's 18 inches, so that'd be 9 feet for those of you that did not already have that number in your mind, "and a span". A span is 6 inches. So, he's 9 foot, 6 inches tall; 9-1/2 feet tall. "Then he stood and cried to the armies," Verse 8, "of Israel, and said to them, 'Why do you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man'"; notice what he says, "'a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, you will be our servants and serve us'. And the Philistine said, 'I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together'"

Okay, so you got Goliath saying this to the people of God. Is it possible though there's a behind the scenes conversation of Satan saying something like this to God: I've got You now. I've got You. I've been watching, and I figured out how You work. I've been watching Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Watched Moses, watched Noah. You work through people. And even though You've got all the power, You've limited Your power to their faith. And I know that fear is the enemy of faith, so I got a 9-1/2 foot tall giant, and I've got them all afraid. So, I'm about to get all of Your people into bondage, because there's not a man in Israel that's got the guts to stand up to my man, and You work through men, You work through people.

Now, you've got to remember that Satan can't see the future, but God can, and God knew this day was coming, right? So, Satan says, "I gotcha, I gotcha! There's not a man that's got the guts to stand up to my man". You know what God said? I don't need a man; I got a boy. I knew what you were planning, and I have been preparing him with a lion, and a bear, and a slingshot. And David partnered with God that day and took Satan out. When the Lord was speaking this to me on that cruise ship, He said, "Son, everything I do, I partner with people". David had to sling the stone. And then the Lord just said to me, He said, "Okay, since I created Adam and Eve, go through the Bible and find something that I did without partnering with people".

So, I started going through, because this is my... you've got to remember, it's not that I'm more spiritual because I know more of the Bible, it's that this is my job. I've been doing this for years. So, I'm going through Genesis, I'm going through Exodus, I'm going through Leviticus, I'm going through Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth. I'm going through 1 Chronicles... oh, gotcha! I gotcha, God! 2 Kings 19, You sent an angel and killed 185.000 men of the enemy. They were encamped around Jerusalem. I gotcha! You sent an angel, killed 185.000 men. Nobody helped You do that. And the Lord said to me, "Go back and read it. Go back and read it".

You know, I told you I know the Bible because I've been studying it for 35, 40 years now? He knows it better, I found out. I went back and read it, and Isaiah, the prophet, said to Hezekiah, the king, "Because you prayed, I will send My angel". Because you prayed. Let me say it another way: because you partnered with Me. I'll take the enemy out in one night, I just needed one person to partner with Me.

So, here's question number three: Have you decided to need God? God decided to need you, have you decided to need God? Now, I'm not talking about just in salvation, but you'd better first of all decide that, that you need God to be saved. But, even since you've been saved, have you decided to need God in what you're going through right now? Let me just assure you that if it didn't happen last week, it's something will happen next week and you'll need God, and you'll have to continue to decide that you need God. So, let me just, I've got three sub-points under this, and there's just one little illustration under each one that'll just help you. But, here's just three little sub-points that you've got to pick up these.

Here's the first one: God is never going to do our part. God's never gonna do our part. So, God has a part and you have a part. God's never going to do your part; never. You have to do your part or it will not get done. I heard about this lady that works in the nursery. I don't know if she still does, but this was a few years ago, and she wasn't married, didn't have any children, she just volunteered in the nursery, and she's a real funny, outgoing young lady, you know. And so, one day she was changing a diaper, and she's talking to God, and again, she just got a funny personality, and she just said to the Lord, "Lord, when I get married, are You gonna help me? When I have children, are You gonna help me"? And remember, she's changing a diaper. And then she said, "Lord, are you gonna change diapers for me"? Just like that. And she said, "Just like that, I heard the Lord say, 'I am the Lord, I change not.'" I don't change diapers. That's not my part, that's your part. God's never gonna do our part.

Here's the second sub-point. Our part is never supernatural. Our part is never supernatural, and by the way, that's good, because you're not supernatural. And I don't care what any other teacher on television tells you, you're not supernatural, we just know someone who's supernatural. Let me say it another way. You're not Superman, but we know Superman. We have a relationship with Him. It's wonderful! It's great. Because you can go to work and you don't have to be Superman. When someone needs prayer, you don't have to feel this burden for them to be healed; that's God's part. Your part is to pray.

Think about this. Moses, standing in front of the Red Sea, his part was not to part the Red Sea! His part was to hold up the rod! That's all God told him to do! "Go hold up the rod," that's all He said. I could have done that! I could have held the stick up! You could have held the stick up! Think about it. That's all Moses had to do was hold up a stick. God's part is always the hard part, but it's not hard for Him, though.

Here's the third sub-point here, our part is first. Now, theologically, let me explain: God is always first. That's the preeminence of God; it's one of His attributes. It means He's first of all, above all, and before all; above all. So, God's first, He's always first. But, and let me give you another Scripture to just back that up. "We love God because He first loved us". Okay, so I understand God is first. But, what I'm trying to tell you is that God's actually already done His part. He's already sent Jesus, and Jesus is not gonna come die, again. Jesus said it's finished, My part's finished. He's done His part. Do you know you have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing already? That's already happened. So, God's already done His part, now, it's your part.

So, let me go back just for a minute to Adam and to Goliath, and that'll be our wrap-up, two illustrations, okay? Let me ask you a question and just show you the partnership, okay, again. Doesn't it seem a bit strange, now, I'm jumping to Romans 5 now. But, doesn't it seem a bit strange that one man sinned and the whole world was condemned? That's Romans 5, just go read it yourself. It is Theology 101. It's not even 201 or 301, it's 101. It's the basics. It's the kindergarten of theology and you can study it yourself if you want to. Romans 5, very clear that one man sinned and the whole world was condemned to death. It's very clear.

So, let me say it another way rather than "strange". Doesn't it seem a little unfair to you that one man sinned and all were sentenced to death? Now, see, you don't want to answer because you're in church, and you remember Ananias and Sapphira that died in church 'cause they had gave the wrong answer, okay. But, you'll go out and you'll probably get in the car and you'll say, you know, it does seem unfair. When you think about it, it's really unfair. It's unfair. And I told you this before, when you read something in this book, now, this is real deep, okay? But when you read something in this book that you don't understand, it's because you don't understand. There's nothing wrong with this book.

So if you ever read something that you think, well, that sounds like that's unfair, God, you just don't understand. So, even though it might seem unfair that one man sinned and the whole world was condemned, let me tell you what it actually was: brilliant. It was brilliant. Only God could have come up with it, and let me tell you why it was brilliant. Listen, since it only took one man to lose it all, it only took one man to get it all back. And that was God's plan, and it's just brilliant. Go and read the whole thing in Romans 5. Through one man the whole world was condemned, and through one man, the whole world is forgiven. All their sins are paid for. Life came to every person who will receive it.

Okay, so that's Adam, now let's go to Goliath just for a minute. Goliath said, "Choose a man, that he may come down and fight with me. If I win, I get them all. If he wins, he gets them all". Is it possible that there was a conversation like that one day between God and Satan? And is it possible that Satan said something like this to God? Hey, why don't you choose a man and he and I will fight, and if I win, I get everybody,and if he wins, he gets everybody. And God said something like this: "Okay, yeah, I'll do that; I choose Jesus". And Satan would have said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait; He's not a man".

And God would've said, "Well, We'll just make Him one". And Jesus became a man and lived the life that you couldn't live, and died the death that you should have died, and won freedom for every person in the whole world who will accept Jesus Christ. Now, you might be thinking, well, wait. You said if Satan wins, he gets them all, and if Jesus wins, He gets them all. Pastor, are you preaching ultimate reconciliation, that everyone will be saved? No, no, no, no, no.

Remember the title of the message: "What's Your Part"? You have a part even in getting saved. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. See, you have a part. So, here's my question for you. Those of you who, if you're not saved, you have a part, but all of you that are saved, what do you need God to do in your life right now? Here's the question. What's the biggest need you have right now in your life? What miracle do you need right now?

Okay, then the next question, once you zero in on that is, say to God, "God, what's my part"? Like, if you need a breakthrough right now, how much are you praying for the breakthrough? How much spiritual warfare are you doing? How much obedience in that area are you doing? Are you all following me? What's your part?

Isn't it amazing, that the self-existent, self-sustaining, self-sufficient God of the universe decided to partner with us? So, my question is exactly what I've been asking you in this message: have you decided to partner with God? And I want you to just take a moment and think about which area do you need to partner with God in, in your life, and many times we can find that area out by simply asking ourselves this question: Where do I need a miracle, right now?

And so, in which area you need a miracle could be the area where you need to partner with God. So, let's ask the Holy Spirit, "How do I partner with You to see the God, who is the God of the universe work a miracle today in my life"? I love you guys so much. I absolutely love that you love the Word of God and you love to hear the Word of God taught and preached, and I love getting to minister to you. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.
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