Don't Minimize Me

Yo, what's up? This is Tim Pratt Jr. and I'm your host of the Student of Life Podcast. Hey, this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I want to welcome you to the Student of Life Podcast. Listen, we're going to get into so many transferable truths throughout the content of these episodes that I believe God is going to use to help you apply because sometimes I'm going to reveal this stuff as I'm proactively, especially trying to get in more into interviews and kind of knowing when those land. So, uh, won't be kind of doing a lot of that in the intro anymore. Nevertheless, let's jump into it. Uh, so first and foremost, uh, if you had a chance to check out the Intentional Living with Caleb Brown, I hope you enjoyed that. Uh, man, that brother blessed me. Uh, first time ever talking to him, uh, on the phone, or just through, uh, through the podcast, I should say. Uh, first time, and it's just something about kingdom people, man. Uh, just living a life that's trying to please into, uh, living a life that's pleasing to God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Uh, dope brother, man, looking to cultivate that relationship and, uh, just work more closely with him. But like I said, if you haven't checked it, man, he really dropped a lot of nuggets, man. Just a lot of wisdom, uh, as the God was speaking through him, and it ended up blessing me, man. Uh, so check it out. Uh, I hope you all— like, I know you all will be, uh, touched by it and challenged by it as well. But in the context of this episode today, so I haven't preached or teach like almost in 3 months, man. I really— I took off everything, you know, because ministry and God are not the same thing. Now I do have a responsibility to the ministry as an associate pastor, but that never changed my private walk with God. But at the same time, I don't want to— because what happens is we take that as an excuse and think we shouldn't fellowship at the local church to be a part of accountability at the local church. The reason why I was off, as many of you know, I had a baby girl, went through some things, uh, some, some difficult things. But nevertheless, she's blessed, uh, she's here, she's healthy, man. She's, she's just— I can't imagine my life without her now that she's here. And so my wife is good, the boys are embracing it, and everything, man, is just good by the grace of God. And so, um, we're very excited about that. And I just want to focus on my family. Like I said, I was— took off from school for about 2 months, almost 3, and just my job gave me 6 weeks off, you know, for family leave. And then, like I said, my ministry obligation at the church Uh, just people stepped up, stepped up to the plate. And so very excited about that. And now I'm back, now I'm back, uh, back, man, just refreshed. And as I told you, uh, kind of like as I was transitioning out of there and in one of the other episodes, uh, when I came back with season 5, uh, the one before Caleb Brown— I can't remember that one, but the one before Intentional Living, uh, but in this one, in this one, um, I do want to talk about something that I had the opportunity, like I said, to preach and teach on, uh, this past Sunday. And, uh, it was 'Don't Minimize Me' was the title, and 'me' was more so 'don't minimize God.' Uh, but the title is 'Don't Minimize Me,' but that 'me' is basically as if God is speaking to you and telling you, 'Don't minimize me.' And one of the things that I opened up with is that a lot of times we as believers, you know, we, we are very aware and conscious when there are bad things. Like, you know, we're If we're fornicating, you know, basically having sex outside of marriage. If we're in a marriage and having sex with somebody other than our spouse, and you know, fornication. And if we're, you know, getting drunk, if just a habitual profanity, gossiping about people, lying on people, stealing, you know, it's just things that we know are bad. No matter how we look at it, they're just bad things. And especially as a believer, and we, We, we aware that, and some of these things are just morally bad. Now I understand that the world has accepted some things that believers shouldn't, and so I'm speaking to believers. If you're a person of the world, then fornication might be fine with you, but as a believer, if you truly believe in Christ and he's Lord of your life, it's a bad thing. Same thing with getting drunk and habitually profanity and all this type of stuff. So when it comes to those things, you know, like we can go to what pastors call altar call and like, Lord, forgive me, you know, I'm really wrestling with this, I want to be delivered from this. And we, we, we let that— we try to let that go through the power of the Spirit. But in, in this message, I wanted to kind of focus on the good things, like things— in other words, things that God deemed as good, that he intended to be good in our life. These things can become bad in the eyesight of God when they can hinder the plan of God when they get in his way. And what I mean by getting in his way is when they are prioritized over him. Over God himself. And so, um, the passage of scripture— I'm going to go ahead and read these within this just for context— is that I used two passages of scripture in the message, and it was Genesis 22, and I read from the NIV. And I'm going to read 1 through 3 and then skip down to 10 through 13. And I strongly encourage you to go search these out yourself and study them. But I do want to say that truthfully, in this context, in the, in the general context um, it's pointing to Jesus Christ. This is the foreshadow. So the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus— when, you know, the ram was there, Jesus would be the ultimate sacrifice for mankind to redeem us. So this is a foreshadow of that. But that's not where I necessarily went with it in the context of this message. I'm more so focused on the principle of the scriptures. And so in Genesis 22, starting with verse 1 through 3, then skip it down to 10th 13. It reads, sometime later God tested Abraham. He said unto him, Abraham. Here I am, he replied. Then God said, take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you. Early next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place that God had told him about. Skipping down to verse 10, then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called unto him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham! Here I am, he replied. Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up there in the thicket and saw a ram caught by his horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So within the context of this, Abraham has been tested by God before. You know, he wanted him to clean slate. Abraham left his family, didn't really have the details, went on a walk with God. He— God was speaking to him on this walk, and he ended up doing it, what God called him to do. Now here he will be tested again. You know, many, many years later, uh, because of the, the long suffering of waiting for Isaac. So this was a long process is what I'm trying to say, uh. And so Isaac, you know, God had given Isaac and Sarah— I mean, God had given Abraham and Sarah Isaac. And we know that Sarah, you know, they tried to help him, all of that type of stuff. But in the context of this message, Isaac represented the greatest productivity, one of the greatest gifts that God could give Isaac, because what Isaac, you know, just desired. And so in this, we see that when God says, take your, your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah, sacrifice him. Now, one of the first points that I want to point out here is that when we go to verse 3, when Abraham gets this instruction from from God. Abraham, obedience is immediately, like it's just boom. Like, I'm— I hear— I heard what God said, okay, the next morning I'm up and I'm out of here. I'm, I'm gonna do what God said. And so what I had mentioned to the church is that I believe that— and this could really be truthfully for the rest of our life, should always be for our lives— I believe we are moving in a season, if not seasons, where the time in between God's speaking and our obedience must be shorter. I'ma say it again. We are in a season, if not seasons, where the time in between God's speaking and our obedience must be shorter. Because the Bible says, early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. So what that shows me is that I believe Abraham's humanity, he probably was nervous. I mean, a lot of things could have been going on in his mind and so on and so on. I mean, just his heart, man. I'm about to have to sacrifice my son. Uh, this is about to really mess me up with Sarah and just, just so many people, how people are going to perceive me. Uh, just all of this type of stuff that could have been going on through his head. God, really? My son? And so on and so on. But I noticed that he still was obedient. And what that shows me is that a lot of times when God speaks or he's testing us— not, not, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Not tempting us, but testing us. Can we be obedient to it? He's God, he's all-knowing, he knows the beginning from the end. Or do we try to engage in debate and go back and forth with him because this doesn't make sense? So why you want me to give this and this and that? But when it really comes down to it, the reason why— when you, when you really meditate on this passage of scripture, it was never about killing Isaac naturally, killing Isaac in the flesh. This was a spiritual thing because, as I said earlier, good things can become bad. And so Abraham loved Isaac so much, he had fell in love with Isaac so much that Isaac could have become an idol within Abraham's heart. And so God is not sharing his place with anyone. He's not giving up that place and that number one place in our life for anyone. So I don't know what your Isaac is. Your Isaac could be your favorite preacher, your favorite teacher. It could be the worship experience or the songs. It could be your spouse. Your own spouse could be your Isaac. It could be your kids. Most of us, truthfully, good parents through the grace of God, we love our kids, but they can become an idol in our heart where they take the place of God. And, and some kids even take the place of the spouse when we know that it's order for spouse and kids, spouse and kids, husband, wife, kids. Our job— some of us serve our job more. We're more faithful to our job than we are God. Now keep in mind, I'm not necessarily saying the ministry— this doesn't excuse being committed to a local ministry, because I believe you're truly connected with God and you're truly serving him, you want to be connected with his people. But at the same time, what I'm saying is that we are more faithful to our jobs and our career than we are God himself, the one that allows us to do, do what we do, the reason why we can do what we do. So what happens is when we fall in love with our Isaac, this can stop us in our fellowship with God, our continuous devotion with God. We stop going to local church, so we don't want an accountability anymore because now Isaac has been elevated. Whatever your Isaac is, it has been elevated. I don't know what yours is, but it has been elevated to the— to take the place of God. And I'm telling you, if you're in that space It's a dangerous space, but all you got to do is repent and reprioritize. And so this is what God was doing. He was killing that thing in the heart of Abraham so that Isaac wouldn't become an idol. And that's why it's important, I believe, in verse 12, when God says, do not lay a hand on the boy. He said, do not do anything. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. So out of Abraham's obedience, God says, now I know. So God is not— this, this didn't occur to God. He already knew that now I know was for Abraham. Abraham now knows that he truly fears God because of what he was about to do. But notice in the text, the sacrifice was already there, because I believe that when it said the ram was caught up by the horns I believe that revelation follows obedience. It follows obedience. So God showed Abraham the ram when he did what God said. In other words, the ram was already there. And I believe that if Abraham would have been a minute late— because we like to call this delayed obedience, which is delayed obedience, is still disobedience, it's walking in obedient disobedience— I believe that in the thicket, I believe according to the text, that the ram, the sacrifice, would have never been there. He might have missed his sacrifice. He might have missed what God had already prepared for him because of— he would have got— been going back and forth with God when God has spoke. He would have hesitated and just tried to just prolong the point. I just, you know, just whatever it is what we do today in modern times. And so then we go back and say, God, well, I thought you told me to do this. And God said, I did, but this is a timing thing too. I'm a God of timing. If you would have been obedient to what I told you to do, then you would have had your sacrifice. So instead, now your sacrifice has went off. In other words, what you were holding on to has now become the sacrifice. Does that make sense? So in the, in the context of this, in the modern world, I believe that when our Isaac— a lot of us end up not seeing the sacrifice and not hearing God clearly. So now we have, we have sacrificed our Isaac when God never wanted us to. He just wanted the Isaac in us to not be prioritized over him. I hope you're tracking with me. So now we see this with, with Abraham. God speaks, and Abraham's life is in alignment with God. And we see this again in the other passage of scripture I talked about with Joshua and Moses. So Isaac and Moses, within the context of this, this episode, Don't Minimize Me, is that they are— like I said once again— they are not bad things at all. Because if God is truly first in your life, you're going to prioritize and order things accordingly. Me if God is truly first. So when it comes down to Joshua, we had at the end of Deuteronomy, uh, Moses, you know, death, and God buried him and so on. We know Moses was that guy, dude. He— Moses was that dude, man. And like, just, he was a servant of God. Moses, I mean, from the mediating things to just really like spending all that time with God to just, just everything he did within the Old Testament, within the first few books of the Bible, Moses was the truth. But however, Joshua was up under him, and now Moses was gone. It was time for Moses to go be with the Lord. And we know, I believe, when I would, like I said, studying this in this context, um, in the culture, that Moses— the people, it was custom that they mourned for like 7 days, but they had went on 30 days. And so God is now like at the point like, okay, like, it's work to do. It's still work to do. Yes, Moses, this and that, but it's, uh, it's time for you, Joshua, to move forward in the things of God. And so Joshua 1, I'm gonna read this. Joshua 1:1-2 is that after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' aide, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I'm about to give to them, to the Israelites. So here we are where, like I say, it's the mourning and all this type of stuff of Moses. And Joshua could have been feeling some of the same thing Abraham— well, man, you know, I don't have my leader, I don't have my coach anymore, this guy has mentored me, my pastor, my covering, my mother, my father. Like, who— who— whatever Moses represent in your life, of that voice that has been very instrumental and pivotal in your life. But I noticed that Moses— it wasn't until Moses' death that Joshua could hear God directly and fully so that he can live out what God gifted him to do. This is the text, man. And so a lot of times what that taught me is that when we lose something near and dear to our heart, regardless of what it is, like our job, person, that person, money, health, and so on and so on, God uses these things to get our authentic attention. It's authentic us, because when our hearts are truly broken and shattered, they are more— they're more— they're more in tune with God. They're usually tuned more to the frequency of God, is searching for— like, we're in a state, we're in a heart posture of searching. Okay, God, speak to me. I need you through your word, through your people, and so on and so on. And so the Israelites, they didn't hear God's voice for themselves until they had lost a voice that was often louder than the voice of God in their heart. And like, once again, like I say, this does not make Moses bad, but it's the priority of where he was placed in their lives. And so now God is dealing with Joshua directly. Joshua will take it step by step, piece by piece, and go basically conquer. And so within this text, what I want you to focus on is that, are you stagnant? When you look at the examples and we've read in Genesis 22 and Joshua 1, are you stagnant because of a certain Isaac in your heart, or are you stagnant because a certain voice is not there? Because at the end of the day, both of them are the same in the context of don't make them idols in your heart that you can't move forward and do the things of God. Because when you, when you allow that, those good things become bad and we minimize God. And this is what I'm saying, why God— I believe God is speaking to us, don't minimize me. And in verse 6, in the same Joshua 1, I'ma read, be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Verse 6, a lot of us are very familiar with that verse. And the reason why I believe God told him that is because he did not want the enemy to minimize the impact of Joshua's calling. So in other words, don't allow the enemy to minimize the impact of your calling. Don't allow the enemy to minimize God in your life. God's orders to Joshua, and I'm sure with you too, is that he didn't tell Joshua how gifted he was, how anointed he was, and how talented he was, and so on, because Joshua was already those things. But instead he told him to be strong and have courage. So in other words, it doesn't really matter, man. It doesn't really matter what God has anointed us to do with the gifts that he's given us and what he has graced us to do. If we don't put them to use, it minimizes the impact that he wants to have through us. It's not going to minimize him overall because he's God. He'll just use someone else that's willing and available. But however, it minimized the impact that he wanted to work through us. And so I want to ask you right now, what is God saying do right now in this moment, in this season of your life? What is he saying? Not trying to figure it out tomorrow, not the end of the week, not next week, not next month, not next year, not when our emotions have aligned. It's not that he doesn't care about our emotions, but God is not waiting on our emotions to align So we're ready to move forward, not when we have fully healed from something or tried everything outside of God, not when we feel prepared, but right now. He's ready for us right now. And so I want to encourage you, is whatever that is, whatever it is, don't be like Samuel with Saul, just mourning over and over and over. And God literally asked him, how long? Because when mourning gets in the place of God, doing the will of God and what he has instructed us to do, we are in sin. We— because we are in disobedience. So I want to encourage you, man, do you need to look back over your life and reprioritize some things? Do you need to look back over your life and basically ask the question, oh man, I've allowed my Isaac to become an idol in my heart where it's over God? Or, man, I've lost my parents, or I lost a close friend, or I lost a spouse, I lost a child, like a voice, or just someone that just was so instrumental in my life that I, I can't hear God, but I'm still holding on to that voice. That voice is more important. Even if you haven't lost them, if they're living today, and is that— has that voice been elevated higher than God? Has it been elevated higher than God, even if they are a man or woman of God? So if you have, listen, it's simple. Repent, change your way of thinking. God will change your heart posture, and I'm telling you, through the grace of God, you will be all right, man. So I love you all, man. Appreciate you for sharing. I want you to keep tracking with this. I pray that God continue to bless you, man, going into this new year 2022. I don't like to get into New Year's resolutions, all that type of stuff, I just pray that whatever God desires to do to you through this year, do through you and do to you and with you. I just pray that you are— have the courage to live it out no matter what it looks like, the valley moments and the mountaintop experiences. I just pray that God see you through and you stay committed to the voice of God. Be blessed, man. Love you all. Hey, what's up? I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this Tuna Life podcast today. If this content has impacted you in any kind of way, please please take some time to share it on your social media feeds. And also, if you want to connect with me or just learn more about me, go over to www.timothyprattjr.org. Once again, thanks.