People Moment – How to Seize Life-Changing Instants audio video notes. You affect people in major ways. We have all had a people moment. Just as someone said or did something that changed your life and direction, you do things and say things that change the lives of others. Jesus said you are light and salt. The Lord wants you to be aware of moments and their tremendous effects.
TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT
By Pastor Delbert Young
WITH PEOPLE
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People Moment – How to Seize Life-Changing Instants
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 2 Corinthians 5:16, Proverbs 20:27, Acts 9:10-11, Acts 9:27, 2 Corinthians 7:5-6, Acts 9:25, Ruth 2:1, Ruth 2:5, 2KI 5:2-3, 2 Kings 5:10
We begin a new series today titled THE POWER OF A MOMENT! You determine your life by how you respond to a moment. Motivational speaker Anthony Robbins said, “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” Wayne Dyer, author of Incredible You! 10 Ways to Let Your Greatness Shine Through, said, “Miracles come in a moment. Be ready and willing.” In a moment, a life can change.
1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and WE SHALL BE CHANGED.
I know that verse is talking about the resurrection, but my point is how quickly God can change our lives! In a moment, God can raise you from a dead place in life to a resurrected place in life! The Italian novelist Cesare Pavese said, “We don’t remember days; we remember moments.” If we think about it, we see that we do not think about life in days or years. We remember life in events that took place in specific moments. THERE IS POWER IN A MOMENT, AND IT IS WHAT WE DO WITH MOMENTS THAT MAKE OR BREAK OUR LIVES.
People Moment
For our study, I want to make us aware of THE POWER OF A MOMENT. I want the Holy Spirit to TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT. I am certain that you can, as can I, think back and remember a moment when someone said something or did something that forever changed us, refocused us, and redirected us. In a moment, we found ourselves heading in a new direction. Most likely, when the actual moment happened, we didn’t recognize THE POWER that MOMENT held.
However, when we look back today, we can say, “That was the moment something major happened in my life.” I met someone because I was at a specific place. I was doing life when THE POWER OF A MOMENT happened.
Also, I want the Holy Spirit to TEACH US THE POWER OF A MOMENT that we mean for others.
Just as someone said or did something that changed your life and its direction, you do things and say things that forever change the lives of others. Jesus said that you are light and salt. You affect people in major ways. The Lord wants you to be aware of moments and their tremendous effects.
Over the next few weeks, I want to speak into the spirit realm and release blessings that will take place in our lives. I want to talk about the moments that change our lives and come from PEOPLE, PLACES, AND PLANS.
People Moment
Would you make a confession with your mouth with me concerning this? Would you say, “This year, I will encounter people who will direct me toward God’s ultimate blessing for my life. This year, I will find the places where God’s ultimate blessings await my life. This year, I will look for God’s plan to take me to my ultimate blessing.” It is important to confess this. Jesus said that by your words, you are justified, or by your words, you are condemned (Mat 12:37). If you want a great life, confess a great life. Then, watch for the moments that will make it happen.
Today, I want to talk about “TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT WITH PEOPLE.” In a moment, a person can enter our lives and forever change our lives. That moment can bring us to the ultimate blessings and divine purposes of God.
I had been in this town for only a few weeks.
My daughter Bonnie and some other students invited a young man to church. He came on a Wednesday night. I was teaching a series on “THE HOME AND THE FAMILY.” The study touched the young boy and he told his parents about me. The next Wednesday night, he and his parents were at the teaching. That moment directed my life. It was from that moment twenty years ago that this church exists today. It was from that moment that I have had the opportunity to touch many lives. There is POWER IN A MOMENT!
People Moment
Meeting people is wonderful and allowing people into our lives is the way that the majority of our major power moments will happen, but it can be dangerous. I want to give some cautions about encountering people and allowing them into our lives. It is very serious. We need to use our discernment. When we invite someone into our lives, we are not simply inviting a person/soul. We are inviting a spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are created in three parts – SPIRIT, SOUL, and BODY. When you invite someone into your life, that person’s spirit comes along, too. If it is a good spirit, it will take you up. If it is a bad spirit, it will take you down. When God wants to bless you, he sends a person, and their spirit takes you up. When the devil wants to destroy you, he sends a person, and that person’s spirit takes you down. That is why you need to pray every day of your life that God will show you the right people. Discern past the flesh and see the spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh…
(NLT) 2 Corinthians 5:16 So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now!
The apostle is saying that you can miss your entire life’s destiny if you only look at the natural/flesh. There is the flesh of a person, and there is the spirit of a person. The people you allow in your life will determine your destiny more than any other thing. You can immediately pick up in your discerner if a person has a sweet, good spirit. You can also pick up if a person has an angry spirit. Some people have controlling spirits. Some people have sick spirits, and some people have perverted spirits.
People Moment
When you bring that person into your life, you are bringing their spirit (sweet/good, angry, controlling, sick, perverted, etc.) into your life, and it will affect you! Have you ever been around someone, and when you left them, you said, “I really liked that person? He or she is a sweet person”? Or, have you ever said something like this? “Goodness, that person is weird, critical, negative, etc. They complain a lot. They talk about people.” You feel like you need a bath when you walk away. That is your discerner telling you something. That is the gift of discernment.
Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
If you will allow your spirit to operate, you will discern the inward parts of others. Get beyond the flesh/natural. This is very important when determining who your child should be allowed to date or run with. I do not know the times that my wife said that she did not want one of our children to run with this person or go off with that person. See, just as it only takes a moment to bless a life, IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT to ruin a life – one experience, one moment.
God wants to introduce people into your life who will lift and raise you. I believe some good new people are coming into your life.
Do you remember Saul of Tarsus, who became the great apostle Paul? He was one of the most successful men in the New Testament. God sent Saul a person every time Saul made a serious “up” change in his life. For example, when it was time for him to come up into the kingdom, God sent him a man named Ananias.
Acts 9:10-11 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
God did not send an angel. God sent a person. Ananias came and talked with and prayed for Paul. God opened Paul’s eyes because of Ananias. Ananias baptized Paul. Paul received the Holy Spirit. IN A MOMENT, Paul’s life changed.
People Moment
It was probably that way with you. When it was time for you to come into the kingdom and change the direction of your life, God sent you a person, and IN A MOMENT, your life changed directions.
Later, God wanted to raise Paul higher. Again, God sent him another person, this time Barnabas.
Acts 9:27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
Barnabas took Paul under his wing, used his influence, and brought Paul to the apostles. Barnabas made a way for Paul to move into his destiny. My point is that God knows how to bring people into your life that will take you and link you to your destiny. He can bring people into your life who can make one phone call for you and change everything. Things you have tried to make happen and worked to make happen but cannot because the chasm is too great, God can make happen IN A MOMENT. God can release one person – one moment – into your life, and BOOM, you are there.
All God has to do to take you to the next level is send a Barnabas into your life who will provide you a path to your destiny.
Also, we hold the power of a moment for people. We can cause the scales to fall from their eyes. We can lead people into baptism and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we can make that phone call for them and give them access to their life’s destiny. You are the moment for somebody!
Later in Paul’s life’s journey, he was tired, depressed, harassed, and full of fear. Again, God sent a person.
People Moment
2 Corinthians 7:5-6 For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn – conflicts on the outside, fears within. BUT GOD, WHO COMFORTS THE DOWNCAST, COMFORTED US BY THE COMING OF TITUS
Have you ever had a day like that? Outside, there were situations tormenting you. On the inside, you were full of depression and fear for the future. We need someone who can create for us a moment. God knows how to send you a Titus – a moment.
I love to be a Titus to people. In fact, I don’t know how to be anything other than a Titus to people. God not only wants to send a Titus into your life, he wants you to be a Titus to others – to encourage and comfort them and TEACH THEM THE POWER OF A MOMENT.
There was one time that Paul was a literal “basket case.”
Acts 9:25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.
Paul upset some people so badly that they were waiting to ambush and kill him at the city gates. One night, some people let him down the wall in a basket, and Paul was able to escape the situation. The people that God sent into Paul’s life were special. Sometimes, the ropes become heavy when dealing with a basket case. God will send people into your life who will hold on to you when you are having a “basket case” experience.
They are committed to you and tell you that we are going to make it. We are together in this thing. Sometimes you need people like that, but also, you need to be a person like that. You need to be a person who will hold onto the rope for others in their basketcases. That MOMENT will change and direct their lives.
People Moment
How many remember the story about Ruth? God cared that Ruth was lonely. Her husband died. God cared enough to send her a Boaz, and Boaz was not someone for whom Ruth had to just settle. Boaz lived at the top of the ladder. He was wealthy, well-thought-of in the community, and a man of distinction.
Ruth 2:1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.
Ruth 2:5 Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this?
For some of you, God is going to bring a Boaz or a Boazess. They will ask, “Whose woman is this?” Or, “Whose man is this?” I want to tell you that you serve a God who said, “It is not good for people to be alone.” He is going to bring a person into your life, and you will understand THE POWER OF A MOMENT.
Some of you are physically sick. You need THE POWER OF A MOMENT. Do you remember the story about Naman?
2KI 5:2-3 Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.
Naaman was a mighty man but was terminally ill with leprosy. God brought a little servant girl into Naaman’s life who told him where his healing awaited.
2 Kings 5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
God healed Naaman. God will send you people this year with a word of healing. It might be go to this doctor, or have you heard about this medication? It will happen in a moment. Don’t miss your moment. What if Naaman had missed his moment by not acknowledging the person God sent into his life?
People Moment
God wants to TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT WITH PEOPLE! God will send you people to take you up. The devil will send you people to take you down. You must discern. God will send an Ananias to save you, a Barnabas to hook you to powerful people, and a Titus to comfort you. God will send you people to hold you in your basketcase moments. The Lord will send you a Boaz or a Boazess because he does not want you to be lonely. God will send you a little servant girl to tell you about a prophet that holds your healing.
The Lord not only wants us to look for POWERFUL MOMENTS, HE WANTS US TO BE POWERFUL MOMENTS FOR PEOPLE.
Raise your hands up and say, “I am going to receive the right people into my life who will TEACH ME THE POWER OF A MOMENT.”
People Moment – How to Seize Life-Changing Instants
People Moment – How to Seize Life-Changing Instants
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Teach Me The Power of A Moment series
Magic Moment Then What? audio video notes
Make My Mark sermon video audio notes
Magic Moment audio video notes
Acts Series Chapter 5 Part 1 Audio
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