Animal Instinct

Instinct: a natural ability to know what to do in a particular situation.

Animals have unique names of designations when they dwell together.

o    With insects most of us know that bees are called swarms, and ants are called colonies.

o    Among ocean life, I was aware that whales are pods, and fish are schools.

o    Cattle are herds, birds are flocks, and if you watch Lion King, you know a tribe of lions is a pride.

o    If you grew up in the country, you might have heard of a murder of crows.

o    Maybe the most unnerving is an ambush of tigers.

o    I was surprised to learn that a group of buzzards waiting around together to feast on leftover carnage is called a committee. Just this one insight is sermon enough. This explains so much, a lot of committees waiting around to live off human carnage.

o    Alligators are called a congregation.

o    Cloud of bats.

o    Shiver of sharks.

o    Caterpillars an army.

o    Roaches an intrusion.

o    Tower of Giraffes.

o    But my favorite of all is the group designation for rhinos.

o    You see, rhinos can run at thirty miles an hour which is pretty fast when you consider how much weight they’re pulling.

o    They’re actually faster than squirrels, which can run at up to twenty six miles an hour and even then, who’s going to live in dread of a charging squirrel?

o    Running at thirty miles an hour is faster than a used Pinto will go.

o    Just one problem with this phenomenon.

o    Rhinos can see only thirty feet in front of them.

o    Can you imagine something that large moving in concert as a group, plowing ahead at thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at thirty-one-feet?

o    You would think that they would be far too timid to pick up full steam that their inability to see far enough ahead would paralyze them to immobility.

o    Rhinos run forward full steam ahead without apprehension.

•      Rhinos are curious and tend to investigate alarming or dangerous situations by charging into things.

o    Rhinos moving together at full speed are known as a crash.

o    Even when they’re just hanging around enjoying a drink of water, they’re called a crash because of their potential.

o    You’ve got to love that.

o    I think that’s what we’re supposed to be.

Matthew 11:12 “The Kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”

o    That’s what happens when we shake free of domestication and civility.

•      The church becomes a crash.

•      We become an unstoppable force.

•      We don’t have to pretend we know the future.

•      Who cares that we can see only thirty feet ahead?

•      Whatever’s at thirty one feet needs to care that we’re coming and better get out of the way.

o    We need to move together as God’s people and become the human version of the rhino crash.

o    The future is uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence.

o    There’s a future to be created a humanity to be liberated.

•      We need to stop wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not know.

o    We need to move forward full force because of what we do know.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him."

8 "It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going."

17 "It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead."

23 "It was by faith that Moses' parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's command."

29 "It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned."

30 "It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down."

•      These men and women of God chose to be full of faith instead of fear.

•      You have to move-when you move-at full speed ahead for God.

o    No slowing down, no hesitations.

•      Forget what’s at 31 feet and realize that God has you covered.

o    Stop operating in fear and start functioning in faith.

•      As Christ followers our first instinct is faith, belief in God.

•      People become so distanced from God’s plan, purpose and design when they operate in all their humanity instead of their spirituality.

•      God is supernatural and He is looking for a place to rest upon, dwell in, and reside.

•      He cannot utilize those who are unwilling to go beyond the 31 feet range of life.

o    We have to run full speed ahead in our passion for Him.

o    We have to run full speed ahead in our service to Him.

o    We have to run full speed ahead in our love for Him.

o    We have to run full speed ahead in our preaching, teaching, and sharing of Him.

o    One Rhino running is just one rhino running its takes all of us to create a “crash.”

When you have a God dream that you know will create a "crash" you will be focused on accomplishing it.

• If it's a God dream it'll be beyond your gifting, beyond your talent, and beyond your ability to prove to the world that it was definitely Him, not you.

• You will not be able to live, dwell and operate in just your flesh to get a hold of God's dream for you.

• I see so many people living life haphazardly with no dream, no purpose, no vision for their life and they end up hurting people, hurting themselves, and ultimately hurting eternity because of their selfishness.

• When you have a God dream there are no limits to what you will lay down to achieve that dream.

• There is no attitude, no offense, no addiction, and there is no temptation that will keep you from achieving His plan for you.

• I refuse to let the enemy destroy what God has designed for me.

• There are no limits of thinking, financial want or need, no limits of criticism, no limits of fear, education or any other obstacle that will keep me from reaching all out for God.

• I live my life in reference to the dream.

• I treat my wife, love my wife, encourage my wife in relation to the dream.

• I parent my children in reference to the dream.

• I make my life's decisions in correspondence with the dream.

• It's my animal instinct.

• I don't have time for missing the goal, I don't have time for not achieving, I don't have time for frustration, inaction, or lack.

• God has a dream for you, what did He blueprint, engineer, and design? 

2 Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” Kjv

Illustrate here: small tape/Mankind’s limits.

•    I don’t think God is big enough to do that for me.

•    I think that sounds good and inspiring but I could never accomplish that.

•    I know the boundaries God can move in my life and in my abilities.

•    I know exactly how far I can go or what I am capable of or how much talent I have.

•    Tape measure thinking operates in the NATURAL.

•    But God operates in the SUPERNATURAL.

•    Tape measure people calculate, reason, analyze and in doing so they manage God out of the equation.

1.     Comparing themselves among themselves.

a.  Comparing themselves with each other is not God’s idea of spiritual health.

i.  What will they think? Etc.

1. What will my mom or dad think?

2.   What will my friends say?

3.   What will my coworkers say? Etc.

4.  Enemies?

ii.     Well he/she does it like this or that.

Luke 12:15 Then he said, "Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own."

b.  We put measuring apparatus and borders on God as if He abides by them.

c.  We say, "I Love God with all my heart but I don’t measure up to those standards." 

d.  I'm just average, mediocre, mundane I refuse to be extraordinary, powerful, or overachieve.

1. Measuring themselves by themselves.

a.  Using ourselves as the standard of measurement.

i.  Here we are measuring our lives, our pasts, our careers, our hair do’s our friends, resources, degrees, financial status’s but God measures the heart God measures our spirit, God measures the fruit we produce, God measures the lost we reach, and God measures every action, every word, and every deed. 

b.  The only thing that will limit what God can do through your life is you measuring.

i.  We have measured the miraculous out of our services and lives.

1. I'm all about schedule, structure, and being time conscious but are we truly connecting with God?

A.W Tozer said: “God is looking for people through whom he can do the impossible; what a pity that we only plan the things we can do by ourselves.”

c.  Measure yourself by God’s standard’s not anyone else’s.

2.   Limitless Dreams.

a.  Stop measuring your dreams, your future with everyone else’s life design and recognize God’s plan for you is what you need to be looking at, understanding and realizing.

i.  Expectation is the breeding ground for miracles. 

ii.     Measure your self up to God’s standard.

b.  If God’s involved in something it’s immeasurable.

i.  God is saying to you right now…if you could just get the tape measure off of Me, I’ll show you things you’ve never seen or dreamed about!

c.  God wants to see the sick healed by your faith.

d.  God wants to see people break into action for the lost and broken in our service to Him.

e.  God wants to see hell driven back in our worship.

f.  God wants to use you in this every aspect of your life.

1 Corinthians 2:9 “That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him."

3.   The limits.

a.  The bible says Jesus visited His hometown but He could do no mighty works there.

Mark 6:5 “And because of their unbelief, He couldn't do any miracles among them except to place His hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And He was amazed at their unbelief.”

•    Why couldn’t He do miracles there?

•    Because they measured Him up.

•    Jesus walked into His hometown and immediately they got out their tape measures and said:

•    “Hey isn’t that Jesus the son of the carpenter Joseph?”

•    "He made our bedroom furniture."

•    “Hey didn’t you grow up here?”

•    “We know who you really are.”

•    “Aren’t you that guy who was supposedly born to a virgin”? ha ha ha!

•    Later in the same chapter it says "He left them, walked into Gennesaret and healed them all!"

•    You have been chosen, set apart.

•    It is no coincidence that you are here hearing this. 

•    It’s your season, your time.

•    Put away the measuring tape thinking and start leading and responding in the supernatural!

•    When Jesus died for our sins on that rugged and shameful cross He put away the tape measure over our lives forever and said “its by grace that you’re saved”…you’re fully accepted.

•    God's Grace has no measure, it’s unending.

•    It’s enough for your weaknesses.

•    It’s enough for your past, stop measuring all the mistakes you’ve made.

•    Stop listening to the negative voices around you and in you.

•    Hold on tight to what God says about you.

•    There’s nothing that His grace can’t cover!

•    It’s for your community and those around you.

•    God is going to use you in ways you have never even dreamed about because His plan is to prosper you and bring you a hope.

•    God is doing the impossible in me.

•    God is taking me to the unknown.

•    I’ll stop putting limits on God cause He’s immeasurable.

•    God’s plan for me is limitless.

•    His goodness is limitless.

•    His resources are limitless.

•    His abilities are limitless.

•    His miracles, you guessed it limitless.

•    His love for mankind, limitless.

•    Some of you begin to dream dreams for God yet those dreams get choked. 

TAKE THE TAPE MEASURE OFF YOUR LIFE TODAY, OFF OF THE MINISTRY HE’S CALLED YOU TO, OFF YOUR GOD AND BEGIN TO BELIEVE HIM AGAIN.

There is nothing comfortable, complacent, or cowardly about the cross of Jesus Christ but there is something contagious.