RELAUNCH, Pt. 5
Steps ToTransitioning Forward Without Offense
Opening Scripture:
Is 43:18-21 Message “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’ —the coyotes and the buzzards—because I provided water in the desert, rivers through the sun-baked earth, drinking water for the people I chose, the people I made especially for myself, a people custom-made to praise me.”
1. RELAUNCH means redefining God’s dream for your life. What have you given up on? What have you forgotten? Maybe it’s time to look again.
Gen 13:14-15 NLT “After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. 15 I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession.”
Heb 12:2 NLT “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”
2. RELAUNCH means letting go of whatever is holding you back.
Heb 12:1a NLT “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.”
Video: Rocket Launch – Stage Separation (First 5 minutes only)
3. RELAUNCH means going the distance and not giving up.
Heb 12:1b NLT “And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
4. RELAUNCH means embracing change without getting offended.
Ps 119:165 KJV “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
Who Moved My Cheese?
Wikipedia writes “”Who Moved My Cheese?” is a motivational book by Spencer Johnson written in the style of a parable or business fable. The text describes change in one’s work and life, and four typical reactions to said change by two mice and two “littlepeople”, during their hunt for cheese. It has sold over 26 million copies and is now in 37 languages.
Allegorically, Who Moved My Cheese? features four characters: two mice, “Sniff” and “Scurry,” and two littlepeople, miniature humansin essence, “Hem” and “Haw.” They live in a maze, a representation of one’s environment, and look for cheese, representative of happiness and success. Initially without cheese, each group, the mice and humans, paired off and traveled the lengthy corridors searching for cheese. One day both groups happen upon a cheese-filled corridor at “Cheese Station C”. Content with their find, the humans establish routines around their daily intake of cheese, slowly becoming arrogant in the process.
One day Sniff and Scurry arrive at Cheese Station C to find no cheese left, but they are not surprised. Noticing the cheese supply dwindling, they have mentally prepared beforehand for the arduous but inevitable task of finding more cheese. Leaving Cheese Station C behind, they begin their hunt for new cheese together. Later that day, Hem and Haw arrive at Cheese Station C only to find the same thing, no cheese. Angered and annoyed, Hem demands, “Who moved my cheese?” The humans have counted on the cheese supply to be constant, and so are unprepared for this eventuality. After deciding that the cheese is indeed gone they get angry at the unfairness of the situation and both go home starved. Returning the next day, Hem and Haw find the same cheeseless place. Starting to realize the situation at hand, Haw thinks of a search for new cheese. But Hem is dead set in his victimized mindset and dismisses the proposal.”
Haw is eventually successful at transitioning through the change process and makes a note of what he has learned:
Change Happens
They Keep Moving The Cheese
Anticipate Change
Get Ready For The Cheese To Move
Monitor Change
Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old
Adapt To Change Quickly
The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
Change
Move With The Cheese
Enjoy Change!
Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!
Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again
They Keep Moving The Cheese.
4-A. God is not trying to push you out, He is trying to push you up. Promotion in the spirit means doing something we have never done before and going where we have never gone.
4-B. Don’t give in to feelings of not being appreciated for the hard work and dedication of the past.What got you here won’t get you there.
When God does a new thing, it causes a shift out of one gear into another, like going from 1st to 2nd gear. 1st gear is not unappreciated, or being discarded for failing when you shift gears. It did it’s job. But it is not possible to get to cruising speed if you stay in 1st gear.
Similar to the launch of a rocket there are stages that accomplish their purpose of reaching escape velocity, and then are jettisoned for the next stage. If the rocket holds on to a stage that is over, it becomes detrimental to the mission of the rocket.
We must be careful not to get offended when we feel the pressure to let go of a stage that is finished. Properly understood, God is showing you that He loves you and doesn’t want you to get left behind when gears are being shifted and rockets booster stages are being jettisoned.
Remember point A. You are not being pushed out, you are being pushed up.
4-C. God is doing you a favor by pushing you out of the nest you are comfortable with. Remember the mother eagle and her eaglets. Eagles were made to fly.
4-D. Be careful of being more committed to your job/career than you are your calling. God doesn’t give us a career to take us away from our calling, but rather to help us fulfil our calling. We can’t get this in reverse or we can get offended when God begins to deal with us about our calling.
Paul spent a season making tents so he could obey his calling. He did not give up his calling to be become the leading tent maker in the world. He used his career to support his calling and became the leading apostle, and wrote over half of the New Testament.
Your calling is the most important thing in your life, not your career. Don’t get this confused. Your calling is your divine purpose that God created you for. Your career is a means to fulfil your calling. It pays you so you can do your calling.
Don’t sell out to your career when you aren’t willing to sell out to your calling. Let your calling drive your career, not the other way around. God saved you for a holy purpose, and it is about more than making a living, it is leaving a legacy.
5. God’s RELAUNCH for you must become personal. Ask God to give you a desire and vision for personal growth, and growth in your ministry, not just maintenance. Make sure Jesus is the main thing in your life, and not anything or anyone else.
Rom 12:1-2 NLT “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Talking about God doing a “new thing” in our lives is one thing, embracing it is another.
It is easy to accept on a conceptual level that God wants to do a new thing in our lives, without actually embracing it.
We can say “amen” to the messages and lessons, and still not have owned it for ourselves.
Sometimes we can be willing to accept that our church has embraced something, and even be excited about it, without making it personal.
Example: I can accept on conceptual level that exercise is good for me. I can be in full agreement with this concept. I can be happy for everyone else that is buying in to this concept and changing their lives. But until I get off the couch and begin to walk or workout, I have not embraced it.
Maintenance is safe, it reinforces the status quo, mediocrity, and average. It can even be lazy, because it will only do enough to get by, not push the envelope and take new territory
“God has not called us to be safe, He has called us to be dangerous.” (Francis Chan)
If you keep doing the same things, there can be no change. Your vision and desire are your ceiling and destiny.
Time to practice listening. What is God saying to you about a personal RELAUNCH? Your success at transitioning forward without offense will come as a result of intentional listening and obedience to the voice of the Lord.
George W. Black
