What's My Part?

Welcome to the Worship in the Word Podcast with Pastor Robert Morris.

We're so glad that you've joined us. We're in a series called God Is. This whole series has been about the characteristics of God, so we've learned about how God is good. He's just merciful, faithful, trustworthy, and gracious, but today's message is just a little bit different. This message isn't going to focus on characteristics of God so much, but really how God decided to give us a part in seeing His miracles happen on earth. We'll learn how God is eternal and self-sufficient, but also how He purposely decides to partner with us.

This is a great message, so let's get right to Pastor Robert. This week as I begin 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. There could either, or even teachings out there that are, this might aid some of us here. Doris Day had a song, Que Sera Sera, loosely translated is what I found out as I studied it a little better, was whatever will be, will be. There are Christians who believe that about the sovereignty of God. Well, whatever will be, will be, will be.

No, if you're going to have a good marriage, you're going to have to work on it. If you're going to be blessed financially, you're going to have to be a good steward in tithe. I didn't get as many Amens on tithe. But the point is, it's not all God. We can get in that attitude of, it's just all God. It's just all God.

No, it's not all God, because 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, and he said, I got in this, he was telling me one time this at lunch. He said, I got in this false humility.

I didn't even know it'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. 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, so let me 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, um, this is, let me just put it this way. God is, I put these, I like putting them up so you can see it. God is self existent, self sufficient, and self sustained. This is actually one of the attributes of God.

It's eternal. God is eternal, or infinite is another one we 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 was I got I just thought, God, you are just so big.

And I just thought, you know, you just, 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, I said, well, I, well, I explained to him why that's not theologically correct. You know, Lord, I don't know how long it's been since you were sent in seminary. But when you go to seminary, you learn.

And it's just that's just not theologically correct. You're self existent, self sufficient, self sustained, 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, remember, I remember with Cruz, he said, Son, I don't need you to exist. I can exist without you. But I need you to coexist. 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 two, verse 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, we have a part. Formed out of the ground, God formed every beast of the field and every bird there 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. Okay, that's why we have hippopotamus. Because Adam said, you look like a hippopotamus. And he names the animals.

But why? Why did God have Adam named 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 there with the hump? That's a camel. There's a one hump camel and a two hump camel. I just thought I'd do that.

I 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 to see that bird flying, oh duck, that's why I called it that. Well, 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.

Well, I want you to catch that. The supernatural part. But Adam's part was the part he could do. Name the animals. And, I don't know if you ever thought about this, Adam was a genius. I mean, he's a genius.

To name all the animals? Think about that. And obviously he was a genius because he was created by a genius. And remember, no sin entered the world yet. Once sin entered the world, that's when we became stupid. That's when we came up with the theory that we came from monkeys.

It's just crazy. The farther we get from God, I'm going to use some incorrect grammar, the stupider we get. But Adam was a genius. He's created by a genius. It's obvious he was a genius because if a genius is going to create someone to hang out with, he's not going to create a dummy. He doesn't want to say, come here, son.

Look at the spectrum of that sunset. And Adam goes, oh yeah. He didn't want that. He wanted a genius. Then, by the way, we have all these theological arguments of why God created Adam first and then Eve. Remember, he created Adam and then he had Adam and 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 at 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 red bird, blue bird, 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 he created, from the beginning, God wanted to partner with us. So Jesus, when he's 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'm going to, I'll share with you about it. Mark 6 verse 5, it's talking about Jesus 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 that 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 going to 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 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 verse 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 nine feet for those of you that did not already have that number in your mind. And a span, a span of six inches. So he's nine foot six inches tall.

Nine and a half feet tall. Then he stood and cried to the armies, verse 8, to the field of Israel, and said to them, Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? Are 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's able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevailed against him and kill him, you will be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines 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, Jacob, watch Moses, watch 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 nine and a half 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 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 got you. I got you. 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, said, okay, since I created Adam and Eve, go through the Bible and find something that I did without partnering with people. Find something I did without partnering with someone on earth. Think about even the birth of Christ. Mary partnered with him. The angel came and said, you're going to conceive.

She said, I'm a virgin. He said, yeah, but the Holy Spirit's going to do it. And it says, and Mary said, be it unto me according to your word. She partnered with God. So it's all through scripture.

Men and women partner with God. So the Lord said to me, find something in the Bible that I did where a person did not partner with me. So I start going through it because this is my, you 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, I got you. I got you, God. 2 Kings 19. You sent an angel and killed 185,000 men of the enemy.

They were encamped around Jerusalem. I got you. 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 said I know the Bible because I've been studying for 35, 40 years now. He knows it better, I found out.

I went back and read it, and Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Isaiah the prophet said 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 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, if something will happen next week, and you'll need God.

And you'll have to continue to decide that you need God. It's just so, so let me just, just, I 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 got to pick up these.

Here's the first one. God is never going to do our part. God's never going to do our part. So God has a 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. There, I heard about this lady that works in the nursery. And I don't know if she still does, but this was a few years ago.

And she didn't, 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's changing the diaper, and she's talking to God. And she just, she just, again, she just got a funny personality. And she just said to the Lord, Lord, when I get married, are you going to help me?

When I have children, are you going to help me? And remember, she's changed the diaper. And then she said, Lord, are you going to 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 change not.

I don't change diapers. That's not my part. That's your part. God's never going to 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. 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 another way. You're not Superman, but we know Superman. We have a relationship with him. But you're not, it's wonderful.

It's great because you can go to work. You don't have to do anything with 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. Ghost, hold up the rod. That's all he said. Hold up the rod. In Texas, we would say, pick up a stick.

And I know you've seen the movies, you know, you might have produced a few. I don't know, but you know what, Moses stands up like this. I don't know if that's the way he did it. He might have done it like this. 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 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. 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 going to 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. See, let me just quote you a couple of scriptures to show you how our part comes first, so God's already done. In other words, it's our turn.

It's our move. I'll just quote you a couple of scriptures. God did not say, and I'm going to say it backwards so you'll get it. God didn't say, they shall recover, and you shall lay hands on them. That's not what he said. He said, you shall lay hands on them, and they shall recover.

In other words, here's what he's saying. You do your part, I'll do my part. And again, remember, let's just pretend.

Let's say this podium is a sick person, okay? This is my part. Put my hand on them. It's not that hard. Healing them, that's God's part. See, it's just all through scripture. Here's another one. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Whatever you loose on earth. Are y'all, do you see the partnership? 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.

You can study it yourself if you want to. Romans 5, very clear that through the one man sinned and the whole world was condemned to death. It's very clear. So doesn't it seem, 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 because they gave the wrong answer, okay. But you'll go out, 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've 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. That was God's plan.

It's just brilliant. It's exactly, go on 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. God said something like this.

Okay, yeah, I'll do that. I choose Jesus. And Satan would have said, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

He's not a man. And God would have 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, 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. So 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 y'all following me? What's your part? Next time, Pastor Robert is starting a new series and you don't want to miss it. Until then, have a great day.