Send Me to Infinity and Beyond

Send Me to Infinity and Beyond

My name is Becky, for those of you that might not know, and it's my privilege to share the word with you today. Are you ready for the word?

We have been in this campaign called Send Me over the last few weeks, and I've got news for you today — this is the last installment of this theme. Because it's the last one, I want to extend the title just a little bit. Not just a final word, but an extended word.

Here is my title: Send me to infinity and beyond.

What Does "Infinity" Mean?

Infinity means without limitations, without time, and even beyond that. What I want to talk about today is that "send me" isn't just for a moment. It's not just an idea. It's not just a preaching campaign that we put away once we've put away the preacher's notes. "Send me" is a forever, lifelong journey — to infinity and beyond.

Come on, church, give it some gusto: to infinity and beyond. We are beyond people because we serve a beyond God. A God that isn't just sort of mediocre, but a God that went beyond for you and I. He got off his throne. He came down to earth as a baby, walked this earth with us, and then took the cross. He went beyond for us.

Quality, Not Just Quantity

One of the things I absolutely loved about Kev's sermon a few weeks back on worship — he said something I had never thought about before. He talked about how worship is for all eternity. We're not serving God just for the moments before us. Not just for the 9 to 5, but for a lifetime, for an eternity, to infinity and beyond.

And he said this:

Eternity, we often think about length of time, like quantity, but eternity also speaks of quality of life.

I want to challenge us today, church, that we're not just on this faith journey to see how long we can go. We're not just on this journey so we can say, "I've been following Jesus for 10 years, 20 years, 40 years." Longevity is good, but what I believe he's looking for is more than quantity. He's looking for quality.

He's looking for people who say, "I'm not just a tick-box Christian. I don't want to be a cultural Christian. All the days of my life, I am following after Jesus and I'm going beyond."

Beyond means:

• I am set apart.
• I don't just get my Bible out when it's Sunday.
• I don't just speak about Jesus with those who already know him — I speak about him in my day-to-day.
• I don't just treat work like I've got a boss I answer to; I show up with an understanding of who my senior boss is and what my assignment is.

I don't want being a Christian to just be another part of my identity. I want it to be my complete reason for being. I want my whole life to be infused with the fact — not just a detail, but the fact — that I am living for Jesus, not just here, but into eternity.

An Illustration from Toy Story

Some of us know that famous quote from Buzz Lightyear. Toy Story was the first ever Pixar movie that came out with Disney, and Toy Story 5 just came out last week. I took my kids — I'm more into it than they are, because it holds nostalgia. The first Toy Story movie came out when I was four years old; it was my first cinema trip.

If you don't take anything from today, go and watch all the Toy Story movies, because God can speak through what we're watching on TV. For those who are stay-at-home moms or dads, God can even speak to you through the Gospel of Peppa Pig. I promise you, he did it for me. We can't keep God in a box. He will speak to us in and out of season.

Buzz Lightyear's Identity Crisis

For those who don't know Toy Story: there's a little boy called Andy who has a collection of toys, and every time the humans leave the room, the toys come to life. Woody, a cowboy rag doll, is the leader — Andy's favorite. Every birthday and Christmas, the toys get anxious, because new toys mean competition.

Then Andy's birthday comes around, and we're introduced to Buzz Lightyear, the Space Ranger — the top-of-the-range new toy. When Buzz comes out of his box, he doesn't understand that he is a toy. He believes with all of his plastic being that he is a real space ranger — on assignment, on a mission to save planet Earth. Woody keeps trying to help Buzz understand: "No, we are all here for Andy. You're not a space ranger. You're a toy."

1. Put His Presence in Your Purpose

If we're going to be a people who say, "God, send me to infinity and beyond," we've got to put his presence in our purpose.

Buzz Lightyear was so consumed and fixated on his mission and his purpose that he didn't even realize whose presence he was in. He belonged to Andy. And as people of God, sometimes we get so fixated on:

• "God, what am I called to do?"
• "What am I called to be?"
• "Show me the direction. Show me the answer."
• "What was I born for? What am I anointed to do?"

Those questions are not bad. Asking God those intentional questions is helpful. But what we mustn't lose sight of is that we're not called to be a purpose-driven people. How exhausting to be driven all the way through life. We want to be a Spirit-presence-led people.

Why You Were Created

Have you ever wondered why you're here? Why you get up in the morning?

You were created to bring pleasure to the Creator.

Before we were ever thought of or conceived, he formed us intricately in our mother's womb. Yes, he has purposes. Yes, he has dreams and visions and plans. But primarily, he just made us for his pleasure. Before you ever breathed a breath, before you spoke a word or got onto your front line, Jesus breathed you into being because you brought him pleasure.

The Dream vs. The Dream Giver

In Genesis, God gives young Joseph dreams — one night he sees stars, and all the other stars are bowing to his star. It was a God dream, but at the time it came, Joseph was immature. He told his brothers and it made them jealous and mad. We need to be careful that the fixation isn't on the dream itself, but on the dream giver.

Abraham was also given a vision. God said, "Come outside, Abraham. Look up. Look at all those stars — to infinity and beyond. This is a picture of what your descendants will look like." Abraham and Joseph would have been foolish to fixate on and worship the dreams and visions God had given them. We're not called to worship the stars. We're called to worship the one who breathed the stars into being.

Seek him first, and everything else will be added.

2. Put His Patience in Your Pain

If we're saying, "God, send me," we can't check out when it gets tough. "Send me" has no time frame, no condition. It's "send me" without limitations.

There will be pain on the journey — the Bible promises we will encounter trouble. We can't often choose when pain comes or how it shows up. But we can choose our posture. We can choose to receive one of the most incredible fruits of the Spirit: patience.

Patience isn't just something that helps us sustain or wait a long time. Patience, applied correctly, helps us have quality of time even amidst the pain.

The Woman Who Loved Waiting

I had this stunning girl in my life group, and one week we were talking about waiting seasons. We all shared how we really struggle in those seasons — how do we keep trusting God? How do we remain ready to be sent by God in the waiting and painful seasons?

We went around the whole group until we got to one wonderful woman who just said:

I don't know, girls. I think I've just learned to really enjoy and love seasons of waiting. I just love knowing that God's got me.

Oh my goodness. That sounds like a miracle. In seasons of waiting, you're more aware and sensitive to the fact that your God is holding you. His presence is carrying you — not just leading you, but carrying you. Sometimes all our job is to do in those moments is wait, linger in his presence, and remain steadfast.

We burn up so much energy getting frantic and anxious. But when we allow patience to be like an ointment to our pain, God has this ability to turn times where we feel like we're barely hanging on into seasons where we are thriving, forming, and developing. Somehow he turns sorrowful seasons into seasons of deep, deep joy.

Joseph's Journey Through Pain

Joseph knew what it was to experience pain:

1. The pit — thrown into the well by his brothers.
2. Slavery — sold by his brothers.
3. The prison — falsely accused.
4. Then finally, the palace.

Pain upon pain. Joseph is an example of someone who remained steadfast and said, "Send me, God, without limitation." He remained faithful in those seasons. We see him go from an immature young adult with big dreams into a place of formation — because when God gives us a dream, it doesn't just happen. We have to grow into a place where we can see God's dream come into full fruition.

If there are dreams that have gone to the wayside, I want to encourage you today: reignite your expectation in the Lord. He's sometimes working in us in the waiting.

Whose Name Is on Your Feet?

Back to Buzz Lightyear. As he goes along, the penny drops that he might just be a toy. To test it, he climbs a stairwell and jumps off, because he believes he can fly. Gravity kicks in, that plastic toy falls to the bottom of the stairs, and his arm pops off. In that moment, he understands: everything I've been building my identity on is not sustainable.

He goes into an identity crisis. And there's this beautiful thing with the toys — every toy loves that when they lift up their foot, the name of Andy is on the sole of their feet. In that time of pain, Buzz lifts up his foot and sees not who he is, but whose he is.

We can't just focus on what we are and what we're going to do, but whose we are. In moments of pain, we have the ability to dig deeper and find out whose we are. As a church, we have to choose whose name is going to be on the sole of our feet.

God has already chosen you. His word says he's inscribed, engraved — almost like tattooed — your name on the palm of his hand. We're going to engrave the name of Jesus on the sole of our feet. Because when we put his name on our feet, it serves as an all-time reminder:

As for me and my household and anyone that follows me, I am serving Jesus. I have signed up saying, "Send me to infinity and beyond." All the days of my life, with every footstep, I'm on a mission for the Lord.

3. Put Purity in Your Peace

Sometimes when we're trying to work out what we're supposed to do for God, we rely on this thing called peace. When God's speaking, we often know because there's a peace. But my question is: how do we know the difference between peace and comfort?

I think one of the biggest differences is this: peace is always built on purity. It's always built on holiness — being in the will of God, on his ways.

But when we dabble with disobedience, we sometimes go in that direction because it's comfortable. We get overly familiar and cozy in compromise:

• "I just have a peace about it."
• "I know it's not quite what I can find in the Bible."
• "I know it's not quite what's expected of a follower of Jesus, but I just have this sense of peace. I know my truth."

No — that's not peace. That's being comfortable. And when we convince ourselves enough, we can end up getting really cozy with sin. What's really dangerous is when we get cozy with sin but disguise it as holiness: "But God gave me a dream, and this is the way to get there."

Abraham's Shortcut

Sometimes we cut corners because we think in the name of Jesus, we're going to get where he said we would be. But it doesn't mean we get to cut corners.

Abraham was like, "God, you said I was going to have a baby. Have you seen my wife? God, you told me I'd have many descendants, but I'm getting really old and my wife is still barren." Abraham decided to help God out on his timing. God does not need you or I to help him hurry along the vision. God's timing is perfect.

But Abraham saw Hagar, the slave girl, and thought, "Here's an open door. Here's the obvious answer." It's not the obvious answer — it's completely sinful, because that woman isn't your wife. Abraham disguised sin in the name of the vision. How devastating when we use God's vision for our life to disguise sin in our life.

God is big enough to bring the doors in the right time. When we get comfortable in disobedience, we produce confusion and chaos. Abraham went down the wrong path and ended up with an issue called Ishmael.

Joseph's Purity

We have to be more like Joseph. When Potiphar's wife came to Joseph and said, "I like the way you look. Come to my house" — Joseph had a choice. He'd been through pain after pain. He could have said, "It's about time. I deserve a break. God showed me I'd have a position. Here's a woman with position in the palace — here's my open door."

But Joseph, full of the fear of the Lord, said, "I cannot get cozy in this situation, because it will rob me of my peace." And in his choice to be pure, he fled.

When you are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, you can't even be comfortable in the same room as disobedient options. He got out of that space — "I can't even breathe the same air." He ran from sin, saying: "I would rather choose the peace of the prison than get comfortable in the palace." He chose purity.

Purity Has a Cost

Don't be mistaken — purity comes with a cost. It's not easy. When Joseph fled, it cost him his jacket. And that jacket was the very thing that framed him and landed him in prison.

When we choose God, when we choose surrender, when we choose to say, "I'm not getting cozy. I'm going to do what's uncomfortable so that my peace is built on something deeper called purity" — it will cost you. But it will never cost you as much as staying comfortable will cost you. Amen.

4. Put the Power in Your Position

My last point: if we're going to be a people who go beyond, we've got to put the power of God — the Holy Spirit's power — in our position.

So often we wait around for a position, a title, or a go-ahead from some other person before we recognize the authority God has given us right now. Wherever your front line is, wherever God has positioned you — whether you think it's a big deal or not — he has empowered you right now for that space. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and empowered all the people. That empowerment is still going on today for you and I.

Where Does Your Power Come From?

In the world, "power and position" has a negative connotation — greed, manipulation, corruption. This is why it's so important that as people of God, we know where our power comes from.

When we know where our power comes from, the power will never go to our head, because we know that anything I do that is worthy, anything I do that is good, is not of me — it's of God. In fact, it's in my weaknesses that I'm made stronger. It's by his power.

For Those Who Feel Unequipped

If you're in a position right now that you feel you're not equipped for — if it's given you imposter syndrome — I want to call you to rise up again and remember the power inside of you. God has equipped you to go. Go back into that place with all confidence, knowing: "I am right where I need to be. I'm not in the wrong room. God has empowered me for this position."

David: Power Before Position

Remember David the shepherd boy who becomes King David? David had the power before he had the position. Scripture says King Saul had the position, but the anointing left Saul and came upon David. David hadn't been authorized by man, but by God, he was empowered.

Sometimes in life the positions don't always line up, but the power of God is what we lean into. He empowers us.

The Fruit of the Spirit

Here's how you know you're operating in the power of the Holy Spirit: when it's in you, you will see the fruit. Other people will see the fruit. It looks like:

• Love
• Joy
• Peace
• Patience
• Kindness
• Gentleness
• Goodness
• Self-control
• Longsuffering

I thank you, God, for your power. As people of God, we come to you today and surrender, because we never want this power to go to our head. We only want to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Closing: Come to the Altar

We're going to praise and celebrate. Come down to the altar. If you know you need to draw a line before you get on your front line — if you need to draw a line on some of the old ways and old stuff today — God can do a divine exchange right now.

I want to pray for four things. If any of these apply to you, come right now in the name of Jesus:

1. Presence over purpose — If you have been relying for far too long on the plan and the purpose, and you don't want to be driven anymore but presence-led, run down to this altar. We're going to get free and full of his presence.
2. Patience in pain — If you know you need the ointment of patience upon your pain right now, come down to the front. We're going to apply patience to our life.
3. Purity in peace — If you know we need to get out of our comfortable settings — don't be shy, don't wait — we need to get out of our comfort zone and grab hold of the peace that is built on his purity. Some of you have got to run down to this altar because you need to run away from disobedience and get back in alignment with God.
4. Power in position — If you want to be filled afresh with the power of God. Some of you might not have ever been baptized in the Holy Spirit. We're going to do that now.

Let's praise and ask God to refresh us and fill us with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Move now. Come on. Fill this altar. There's going to be a shaking in this place as we praise and refresh and realign to the Lord right now. Because as for me and this house, we are going to go to infinity and beyond.