Make Disciples Part 2: Where Do I Belong?

This is the Truth Network. The podcast about supernatural intervention by almighty God in the lives of his people—hallelujah—brought to you by Shirley Weaver Ministries.

We love making this podcast available, and the folks that bring it to you are really at Truth Network. They are such great people, and we enjoy the fellowship and the bond that we have, the partnering with them, so grateful to them. And on that note, I love to get a shout-out sometimes when I see where our listeners are around the world. And all of our friends down in New Zealand—listen, this is special to me. My oldest child, my daughter, when she was in college, went to New Zealand with a group of college students to be a part of ministry, I think, on the campus—like the college campus is there, not I think, I know. And while she was there, we had baptized her as a young person. She wanted to be baptized again in New Zealand. So we have a special heart and connection to—a heart connection to New Zealand and to all of you that are there. And I actually have some gifts from New Zealand that she brought me from that trip.

Six weeks of her life was spent in your part of the world. I've never been there, would love to go. It's great to know that you're listening to what we're saying and would love to hear from you anytime. We are in—we're focusing on, in these episodes, on making disciples. You know, it's kind of an old-fashioned idea, right?

I mean, when do you hear about that? The Great Commission is clear. Go ye into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them. You know the verse. So making disciples is critical in the life of a new believer, and the opposite is true. The new believer, who is born again by the Spirit of God, who does not receive nurturing and teaching and some boundary help from a mature believer or plural believers, does not fare well. That does not go well, because, see, that's not the plan. That's not the process that God had in mind when he put in motion the plan that he has for our life. And so in the last episode, we were looking at the question, how does God reveal his plan for me? We looked at that.

We brought some solutions there. Today, the question is, where do I belong? Where do I fit? If I know the plan for me, then where do I belong? Where do I go? Is there a group for me? Is there a place for me?

And my answer, unequivocally, yes. You have been placed by Almighty God really before the foundation of the worlds. I mean, you've got to understand how big God is.

I mean, he's not like a man that he should lie. His planning and provision for you is vast. It's unending.

You can't exhaust it, okay? Where do you belong? Number one, you belong in a connection. God places you, and we call that placement a divine connection. I say we call that connection a, that placement a divine connection, because what I mean is the connection is from him. He is divine. It's a divine connection. It's not something we actually engineer on our own.

You know, we're just not that smart, actually. I think that's the bottom line. I love this verse in Psalm 68, it's verse 6, God sets the solitary in families. He brings out those who are bound into prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Think about that. God places every person in family. Even the orphan has a trajectory where God will place that individual. Every baby in the womb has a destiny and is placed by Almighty God in family.

Family means a structure to nurture, a structure to protect and provide. When I think of protection, I think of protecting innocents. And wow, do we need that in our world today or what?

The enemy is brutally attacking the innocents of very, very young children. So God is looking out for that and then he brings those out who are bound into prosperity. By prosperity here is meant provision on every level. You might think financially, that's in there, but prosperity means soul prosperity, that you are prospering in your soul, in your mind, in your will, and in your emotions, every part of you, your spirit, soul, and body. So I was bound at one point, hypothetically, but God in his sovereign move to place me and plant me brings me out of that bondage into a vast open place that we call prosperity.

And then this actually is the opposite, the last statement here, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. And so I would just say making that personal, God has a plan for me. He wants to place me. He wants to give me a family, not only a natural family, but a spiritual family. And he brings me out of the areas where I'm locked up or locked down, where I'm bound. He brings me into a wide open space where I can be nurtured, but if I don't want that, you know, because we get to choose, that is like an aspect of rebellion. And then my portion becomes living in a dry place. The wording here is, but, that is by comparison, the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Again, that's Psalm 68, 6. So first of all, in the heart of God, to answer the question, where do you belong? You are connected. In his heart and mind, you are connected.

We're going to talk about finding that connection. And the opposite here, we're going to just speak to this, the opposite, this rebellious place, the word outlier fits. It's a description of the outlier is opposite to connection. The outlier is situated away from, is detached, is less accessible. And in our example right here, the outlier is differing from the Lord's nature and the Lord's Spirit. So the outlier is the exact opposite of connection or being connection.

So what can be done? If you think that describes you or someone you know, what can be done? Well, I'm telling you, I mean, this is just fact.

This is not...I'm not projecting this, I'm saying this is a fact. Those who are mature intuitively move to change the outlier's isolation. They will target you. I bet you've experienced that. If you are an outlier, if you are situated away from your placement, if you're detached, if you're less accessible, if you're alone, if you're isolated and ultimately differing from the Lord's plan for you, you've probably had mature believers approach you and even attempt to invite you in, in to family, in to being nurtured, in to be encouraged to find your place. And I can just tell you, they're not doing that to dominate you or rule over you or to Lord it over you. They are sent, get this, sent by Almighty God to cross your path, and they perceive your vulnerability. Now, that's a gift.

That's something only Almighty God could do by the agent of his Spirit to speak to a mature believer to invest their time and their attention in someone who is basically at that point not very much to look at. And it reminds me of, and let me just get, let me just take a little leave right here from what we're saying, the example comes to me, you may be familiar with the movie Remember the Titans because there was a cheer or a chant that there was a football team in the story. And ultimately, as the storyline progressed, the chant from the team was, left side, strong side, left side, strong side. If I close my eyes, I can hear it from the movie. It's such a great movie, by the way, I recommend it. Remember the Titans from the year 2000.

So that movie's been out there for a while, okay? The chant, the cheer is, left side, strong side. Well, that made no sense to me because we think of the right side as being the strong side.

What is this meaning? Left side, and they were saying it robustly. Left side, strong side, and my research says this, since by default, the right is the strong side, then the left is the other side, the less obvious side, the less obvious point of being joined together of that possibility. And in the movie storyline, it was a sign of the team coming together because from the beginning of the story, and actually the basis for the story is a true story, there were two main characters who were mutually distanced from and I might say against the other. And then as the story progresses, they come together. They find a place of agreement and the team goes from a losing team that's disjointed and divided and maybe you might even say despising was at the very root. I mean, you can't win when the root of the group is despising.

So that was covered by something else. They became a winning team and thus the chant, the cheer. We found each other.

We found agreement. We found our place of winning and a favor in the least obvious place. Not on the right side where we would have looked, the default side, but on the less obvious side, the other side where we apart from wisdom, and in this case it was the wisdom of the coaches, okay, well, the Spirit of God is our coach and he's coaching us into that place.

Just like the team and the story, remember the Titans. You want to be on a winning team, on the team that is able to do exploits in the name of Jesus and to build the kingdom of Almighty God. So you want to be connected, not an outlier, even if it means being joined in the least obvious way, and then you want your placement to become the result of that divine connection really on every level. And let me just suggest right here, people don't think about this, there is a geographical placement for you. And it's important to be in the geographical location that God has appointed for you. There's something interesting that speaks to this point in Acts 17, the Amplified beginning in verse 26, and he made from one common origin, one source, one blood, all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth have indefinitely determined their allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation, their settlements, lands, and abodes, so that they should seek God in the hope that they might feel after him and find him, although he is not far from each of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, for we are also his offspring. Did you know that God has his hand on you as one person, there is a fixed boundary for your habitation in him, that's your land, your house, your geographical location, your localized location, and the reason he does that is to get you into the right position where you will seek him, and I love this wording, you might feel after him, I would say, like you're going to sense him, you feel him, sure there's a deeper definition here, but just, you know, on the surface, that you're aware that he's doing that, you feel after him, and ultimately, the prize, you find him, because he's not far away, he's right there with you, and he is showing you where you belong, he wants to show you where you belong, and isn't that a great fit? You want that so desperately, that is your prayer, your fervent prayer, and for many days, for some people years, a continual petition before the Lord, God, what is your will for me, what do you have for me, where am I supposed to be, so this placement is in his heart to reveal to you, and next, you will recognize when you are following, when you really open up to this placement, there's actually a micro-group, it's your group, it's the group that God has for you, not your tribe, we're not speaking about like your people group or anything, this is, sometimes we say your small group, it can be two people, it's actually more like 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 people, it's really a micro-church, it's a small church, I believe the principle in the Jewish faith is that it's either 10 or 12 families, once they gather in a location, they can form a synagogue, don't quote me on that, but generally, I'm remembering that as the way that you recognize a group of people that have bonded together, and I'm telling you, God puts you in a geographical location so that he can put you in a group so that as a micro-group, you actually reflect a microcosm of the church, you know, if you take all of the micro-groups, I call, I've heard it said, a micro-church, and you put them all in one huge corporate body of Christ, you have the body of Christ, and they're all engaged, like they're all building the kingdom in the way that they are uniquely called to do that. So what is your micro-group, did you know that you had one, did you know that it's important to cultivate it, did you know that you hear more clearly and understand more accurately when you are in the right place with the right people, did you know that?

It's true, and from Genesis to Revelation, God moved people geographically and locally and in places they would have never thought to get them positioned to hear him clearly and accurately and on time and not be just flapping around in space, not knowing what to do. That brings his heart together with your heart, and they become one. So it's important, because it's not a good idea to go it alone, especially now. This is no time to go it alone. In our ministry, we say frequently, this is no time to go it alone, to be an outlier. But your group and your micro-church is set up for you so that you study and grow spiritually, and you're with people that are like-minded, and you can pray in agreement.

And together, together, and this is the bonus package, okay, you see it, like you get it, you get it. I heard Eric Metaxas say of Bonhoeffer that he was prophetic in the sense that he saw it, like he could see what needed to happen. He saw the social ill that would destroy and was destroying people, and they didn't even realize it, like he got it. In that sense, he was prophetic.

So in this placement, you have a prophetic expression in the sense, like Bonhoeffer, you start to see it, you start to get it. And you have someone watching for you in case, you know, as you step off the path slightly, someone will, sort of like a shepherd, you know, with a sheep, like back on the path, back on the path. And remember that a shepherd leads a sheep, like leads the herd of sheep. Sheep cannot be herded. They can't be driven.

They are led. This is what happens in the group that God has for you. Someone spiritually mature will lead you, not lord it over you, not pressure you to do their will, but to encourage you into the will of God for you so boldly, listen prayerfully. You need to get there.

You need to go there. And lastly, we're answering the question, where do you belong? You belong with believers.

This is my personal opinion. I'm not laying out doctrine here or trying to put an agenda out there, but to say, you need to be around people that understand the times, like Issachar's tribe. They realize the day in which we live, the application that that brings to the decisions that we make, the way we interpret Scripture and understand that we are in the last of the last days.

And with that understanding, you're not consuming milk in terms of what's out there in the future. You get into the meat of the Word and you're able to be intellectually honest about the truth in the book of Revelation, the book of Daniel, Ezekiel, the prophecies that are actually being fulfilled right now in your lifetime. And if you choose the people or the group that you would choose instead of the one God has for you, you might be yoked with people who are ignorant and childlike when it comes to the end-time strategy that's needed. The end-time strategy you need is to occupy until he comes, to fill up everything to do the will of God with all your heart and all your mind, all of your soul and your strength because he could return any minute and any day.

We don't know the day, we don't know the hour, and we're not basing anything on, you know, an exit strategy, but we understand that that is the next prophecy to be fulfilled on the end-time calendar, it is. So occupy, do it, like do it, stop making excuses or rather don't make excuses, don't take a shortcut, do all the will of God the best that you know because, hey, if you get in the place he has for you, you're going to naturally be able to do that. You are spiritually connected, you're not going to go woke because if you go woke you're going to go spiritually broke, don't do that. You are going to be spiritually connected to the people God has for you. You are connected, you are not an outlier, you find your placement geographically and otherwise, you recognize your micro group, you get there and you join that group and you have an end-time understanding, a last days understanding, and you are maturing faster than you ever imagined and that's the plan, that is the plan. So I just bless you today as you listen and as you put all of this, as you apply it to your life and I just thank you, I thank you for being there listening. I feel like, I often feel that I sit you, you know, I feel like I'm talking to you personally. I hope you feel that way, so until next time, we're going to pick up right here, we are making disciples, then the next episode, you do not want to miss it, it's going to be awesome. See you then. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review. Don't forget to check out the show notes or visit acleartrumpet.org where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list, download the ministry app and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365-day devotional, Running with Horses. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.