Life Begins Today!

This message was delivered by Jim Penner from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral. It was aired during the Hour of Power program on Hong Kong's ATV World Channel on 13 March 2011.

One early Sunday morning, a police officer parked his car along a rural highway, a very lonely highway. He thought that, surely, he would soon catch some speeders. But to his surprise, the first car that passed was moving at a grand total of 22 miles an hour. Since the highway's speed limit is 60 miles per hour, the police officer became a bit concerned that this much-slower car might cause an accident. So, he takes out after this car, pulls it over, and gets out of his car. As he approaches the car, he realizes that there are five very well dressed senior ladies inside; three in the back seat, and two in the front. Then he notices that the eyes of the ladies in back seat are wide open with a look of shock, and they're gripping the handles on the doors as if their lives depended on it. And the lady in the front passenger seat was doing the same thing.

Very calmly, the driver rolls her window down and says, "Officer, I wasn't speeding. I was going exactly the speed limit."

And he says, "Ma'am, no you weren't. You were going 22 miles an hour."

"Yes, that's exactly the speed limit," she says. "That's what the sign said."

He chuckles and says, "Oh ma'am, that's the sign for the highway. It's highway 22. That's not the speed limit."

She felt a little sheepish and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll pay closer attention."

The police officer said, "Ma'am, are the people in your car okay?"

"Oh yes, they're like this every week when we go to church."

"Every week?"

She says, "Yes, but they'll get over it in a few minutes. We just got off highway 119."

So, the moral of the story is that you can learn something every day. No matter what your age is, you can learn something every day.

For instance, did you know that when you pray and you spend time in scriptures, that God will reveal things to you? How many believe God talks to you through prayer and scripture? That's quite a few of you. God will speak to you through the scriptures and through prayer. As I've said many times, I won't walk behind this pulpit or walk up here without consulting the head of this church, who is Jesus Christ, in prayer, diligently seeking Him in the week before, saying, "Lord, what do You want to say through my life? Lord, what message do You want to give?"

So, the Lord called me to a passage of scripture this week and the more I meditated on this scripture and the more I prayed, the more I began to realize how impacting this scripture is. This scripture changes everything. Are you ready for this? Are you sure you're ready for this? Because your life is never going to be the same once you realize the impact of this scripture,

It says right here in 1 Peter 2:9, "...you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people..." Ladies and gentlemen, God is telling you that you are royalty. Let that sink in for just a minute. You are royalty. Now, you're royalty. Let me see you smile a little bit as if you're royalty. You see, some of you are not quite sure you believe you're royalty. Sit up a little straighter if you think you're royalty. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, He gave you the right to become children of God, children of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and He says you are royalty. How does that feel? Yes, a few of you are getting it.

For those over here that didn't get it, what Jesus did on that cross, the Bible says, is to give you the right to be called children of God - the children of the King of kings. Do you know what that means? That means that old William and Kate over there in jolly old England getting ready to get married got nothing on you because you're royalty. God says you're royalty.

Now, you may be thinking that, well, if I'm royalty, then I must be a prince or princess without a kingdom because I don't feel very royal. I lost my job, my marriage is on the rocks, I have relationship problems, I can't pay my bills. I don't feel very royal. Any of that sinking in? Because that is what many of you are saying. You don't feel very royal.

I do know why God gave me this scripture. It was to remind you that you're royalty because He wanted for some of you to have a refresher course and, for others, a crash course on kingdom royalty and what kingdom royalty looks like. This is where it gets exciting.

First, you have to answer a profound question: Are you looking at life through the wrong pair of glasses? Do you need to adjust your eyesight a little bit to see what kingdom royalty looks like to God? Because God says you're royalty. And the first rule in kingdom royalty is very simple. It's not about you; it's all about God. And for some, that's difficult to handle.

I struggled with that for a long time. What do you mean it's not about me? That's where our egos gets involved. What do you mean it's not about me? It's not about you. It's about God, first and foremost. It's all about God.

I'll give you an example of that. A couple of years ago, my wife Gretchen and I stayed overnight in Santa Barbara. We drove up about one hundred miles north of here. On our way home, we're driving down U.S. Route 101. For a long stretch of the 101 by Santa Barbara, you drive along the ocean and it's absolutely beautiful. And then, as you get closer to L.A., the freeway turns inland and the ocean disappears. Well, after twenty-four hours of seeing the ocean, my brain wasn't exactly ready to give up my view.

So, as we're driving along, I pull out-you remember these-an old Rand McNally road map, the actual paper road map before they had cell phones with GPS on them, right? So, I pull out this road map and I see that there's a tiny little road that goes right over the coastal mountains and lands you up in Malibu right next to the ocean. And from Malibu, you can drive south on Pacific Coast Highway. I'm thinking that would be great-we would continue seeing the ocean for just a little bit longer as we're driving home. And, as we drive through Malibu, maybe we'll see some movie stars and our trip will be complete. That's what I'm thinking.

So, in a happy-go-lucky mood, we take off on this little road over these little coastal mountains toward the ocean. It was the windiest, roughest road I've ever driven in my life. I'm thinking, who in the world puts a road like this through these mountains?

So, we're winding and bumping our way through, and all of a sudden, we get to this point where there's a dump truck sitting in the road. I thought it was moving, but it wasn't. As we got up behind it, I realized it was stopped dead in the middle of the road, straddling the line of this little two-lane road, so you couldn't get around it. I was just getting ready to honk my horn when I see the truck's back-up lights come on, and it starts rolling backwards in our direction.

You know when you're flustered and you can't do what comes naturally to you? I'm looking for reverse on my automatic gear changer, I think I find it and step on the gas, but nothing happens but the engine revving, Right? I'm saying to Gretchen, "We're in trouble." As soon as those words leave my mouth, I hear and see metal crunching on metal as this dump truck backs over my car. We're in big trouble. I look at my wife and say, "Honey, bail out or we're dead." She grabs for the handle but has trouble finding it. I can't find mine either, let alone the release on my seat belt. Meanwhile, the truck keeps backing up. It's literally inches from coming through our windshield.

I'm thinking, Lord, get us out of this car, when all of a sudden the truck stops, changes into first gear and slowly turns just a bit, and just drives away. He obviously never saw me because I pulled up too close to him. He couldn't see me in his mirrors.

So, we're still able to drive and we get down to Malibu. We couldn't care less about movie stars at this point. We were so shaken up figuring out what we were going to say to our insurance company, and couldn't get home fast enough.

The moral of the story is this: We're driving down the 101, a nice, serene highway. I think it was a Saturday evening. There was no traffic. It was wonderful. But we decided, no, we want to see the ocean, we're going to go over here. Lord, bless this trip as we go this direction. It wasn't that we said, Lord, should we go that direction? No, we just decided to go that direction.

Then we started praying the prayer, Lord, bail me out. How many of you have prayed that timeless prayer? Lord, bail me out. How many of the rest of you have prayed that prayer? Lord, bail me out. Everybody in this room has prayed that prayer. Lord, bail me out. You've said the words a little bit differently, but that's the intent.

Now, what I learned from that little excursion over the coastal mountains by Malibu was that God comes first. That's an example of God coming first. God had me on a path and I chose a different one. Then, the further I get away from His plan, I start to pray: Lord, bail me out. It's all about God, not about you or me. So, as a result of that, everything in your life and my life must start with God. Everything must start with God.

A great example of that is in one of the most beautiful passages of scripture I've ever read. John 1. Go home and read John 1. If you don't read anything else this week, just read John 1. "In the beginning was the word," referring to Jesus as the word. "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life and that life was the light of men."

I love those words, "In the beginning." Sheila talked about them a few weeks ago from Genesis. Here they are again in John 1, "In the beginning." In the beginning of anything good in your life, it's going to start with God. It has to start with God. God, should I date that person? God, should I marry that person? God, should I buy that house? God, should I rent a house? God, should I take that job? Versus Lord, I want to buy that house. Please bless it. Lord, I want to buy that car. Please bless it. Man, she's really cute. I want to marry her. Please bless that. Not quite sure if that's your plan or not, but I really want my way.

Start your prayer life, start everything you do in life, let it begin with God. Once you do that, a whole bunch of things are going to change. A whole bunch of things are going to change in your life.

Now, what happens when God's plan does not look like your dream for yourself? What happens? You're going along, you've consulted God, you are convinced that the path you're walking is God's plan for your life. Absolutely convinced of it, but your life goes haywire.

Case in point, Kris and Robin and their daughter Gracyn are cruising along through life, a beautiful family of five, then all of a sudden... They feel like they're walking God's path, praying every day, reading the scriptures, consulting with the Lord. Then their little girl comes down with a heart condition that could kill her. Doesn't exactly look like what they expected. It looks like God's plan has kind of gone haywire, right?

What do you do in times like that? During times like that, you have to build your faith. You've heard that a lot in this pulpit. When we say build your faith, we're not talking about building your faith in your dream, or building your faith in your plan, but building your faith in God. Take your eyes off your dream for a minute, take your eyes off your plan for a minute, and put them on God because He's the one that created the dream. Trust Him. Trust Him.

Just like that little girl, Gracyn did, trust Him because your life is going to have wrinkles in it. God's road for you will always have wrinkles because there are lessons for you and me to learn as we walk through life, and we always come out the other end stronger.

Greatest case in point is Joseph. You've heard the Old Testament story of Joseph many, many times. Joseph gets a dream from the Lord at age seventeen that his brothers and his family are going to bow down to him. His brothers don't exactly like this dream, so they sell their brother into slavery. Now to Joseph, that doesn't look like his brothers bowing down to him; they just sell him into slavery, right? So it looks like his life goes from here - wow, God's going to bless me - to - boom I'm in slavery. Right?

Then he gets to Egypt where he's put in the house of Potiphar, a wealthy guy, and the Lord shows favor on Joseph, elevates Joseph in Potiphar's eyes. Then all of the sudden Joseph is in charge of the house. His stock is coming back up. Looking better. Then Potiphar's wife decides, oh I think I'm going to sleep with Joseph. But, Joseph wants nothing to do with it. So, she accuses Joseph, basically, of rape and, therefore, Potiphar has Joseph thrown in prison. Boom his stock is back down again. Doesn't exactly look like a "big dream" plan from God, right?

So, he's sitting there in prison and he interprets the dream of a prisoner who's there from the royal palace. And all he asks of the palace employee is, "When you get back to Pharaoh, please remember me, so that I might get out of here." The prisoner does get out, goes back to Pharaoh, and forgets all about Joseph. Joseph is in prison two more years. Boom, his stock just got lower. Finally, finally that prisoner remembers Joseph when Pharaoh has a dream that nobody can interpret. He calls Joseph to the palace, and Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream. Pharaoh is so impressed that he puts Joseph in charge as the number two man in all of Egypt, the second most powerful man in the world. Boom, his stock is right back up again.

Meanwhile, his family finally shows up in Egypt during a famine and they bow to Joseph, not knowing who he is, because they know he can give them food. From Joseph getting a dream from God, to Joseph being the number two man in Egypt that can save his family, is about a seventeen-year journey. Go read it at the end of Genesis - seventeen years.

Now, in Joseph's eyes, and in your eyes and in my eyes, we would just prefer to say, "Lord, if you're going to put me in charge, just do it already and be done with it." Much, much easier. Why the slavery? Why the prison? Why the hardship? Do you think Joseph was the same person at the end of that journey than he was at the beginning? Do you think Joseph was a better leader at the end of that journey than he was at the beginning? Think about your children when you raise them up. Are they stronger at the end of a journey than they are at the beginning?

When you go through hardship in life, the prayer instantly has to become, "Lord, what are You trying to teach me? Thank You, Lord, for this hardship. Thank You, Lord, for this trial. Thank You for this difficulty." I've lived this in my own life. I've seen it in my family's life when we've gone from having abundance to having nothing. I've seen it happen over and over again. The end of your journey will always look better under God's plan. Therefore, you have to trust God. Build your faith in Him. Build your faith in Him. Start it with Him and amazing things are going to happen to the dreams that He gives you. The dreams that He gives you are going to be amazing.

So, this morning, God is saying to you, you are royalty. Where's your smile? Smile like you're royal. Sit up a little straighter because you're royal. I'm royal, right? What I've found is, sometimes, even a prince and a princess needs a hug. We go through difficult times; we go through trials in our lives, so even a prince or a princess needs a hug.

A couple of weeks ago, I'm driving down the freeway. I'd had a bad, bad day. And they do happen. You have them, too. I had such a bad day, I shut my radio off, and I started praising God. I didn't say, "God, take away my bad day." I didn't say, "God fix this." I started praising God, because sometimes that's all you can do. That's all you can do. I shut my radio off, and I'm literally driving down the freeway, and He must have kept my truck straight because I don't know if I had my eyes closed for second or not. But the song that came out of my heart was a song from when I was child, and all I could say was, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name." As I sang those words, as I praised my Savior, I felt God put His arms around me as if you were standing in front of me right now putting your arms around me. God will do that to you when you praise Him. When you lift His name in praise, when you love on His son Jesus, He will love on you with a measure you cannot begin to comprehend.

So, this morning I want the Lord to give you a hug. We're going to stand for a second. Let's stand as we pray. And I want the Lord to give you a hug. And there's a great way to invite the Lord to give you a hug. There's a great way to do it.

Lord God, we thank You. We praise You for You are a mighty God. You are the prince of peace; You are the author and the perfector of our faith. And, Lord God, we praise You for the trials in our lives. We praise You for the difficulty, we praise You for the hardship, we also praise You for the blessing, because we have so many of them. And, Lord God, in this moment, we just want to embrace You. We just want to love You. We just want to feel a hug from You in this moment. And the greatest way to do that is to just sing praise to Jesus. Please join me and sing as we worship the Lord.

HYMN - "There is Something About that Name":

"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name! Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all Heaven and earth proclaim; kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there's something about that name!"

Do you feel His loving arms around you? A few goose bumps here and there? Just a warmth, just kind of a joy that you didn't expect when you walked in here? It's because the King of kings has called you royalty and, if you don't know Jesus, it's easy. Just say, "Lord, come into my life. Forgive me of my sin, restore me to You. Be my Savior." It's no more complicated than that.

And this morning, some of you need prayer. We're going to sing this hymn one more time and, as we do, just come on forward and Sheila's going to come down and pray for you. I'm going to come down and pray. If you need prayer in your life, prayer for healing, come forward. We had a testimony last hour, a true story. Sheila prayed for a woman that came forward at the end of one of these services, and she had Lupus. A couple of months later, she went back to the doctor's, and the lupus was gone because we prayed for healing in this church. Honest story. We believe in a God of restoration and a God of healing, and if you need prayer, as we continue to sing, you come on forward and then Sheila will give the benediction.

HYMN - "There is Something About that Name":

"Jesus, Jesus..." Just come on forward as you sing. "...Jesus..." If you need prayer, come on forward. "...there's just something about that name! Master, Savior, Jesus..." It doesn't matter you're your affliction is. "...like the fragrance..." Whatever you're feeling. "...after the rain..." Take it to the Lord. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Worship Him in this moment. "...Jesus..." Lift His name on high. "...Jesus, Jesus..." It's all about Him, it's all about Him. "...let all Heaven and earth proclaim..." Don't listen to the enemy this week that tells you you're not royalty. "...kings and..." Listen to the King this week. "...kingdoms will all..." Who tells you that you are royalty? "...pass away, but there's something..." That's God's word for you today. "...about that name." Listen to the King.

Oh, Lord God, thank You for giving us the right to be called children of God, Your children. Lord God, go with us this week, in Jesus' precious name, Amen.

© Copyright Hour of Power 2011. This message was delivered by Jim Penner from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral and aired on the Hour of Power, February 6, 2011.