You were not made for second-best in this life. “Good-enough” is not acceptable to God. He calls us to a higher level of living. He calls us to greatness in the name of Jesus Christ.

Remember several weeks ago we learned that we are not victims but were or victors. We are more than overcomers. We are heirs to the almighty God of the universe. We are his children and children of royalty do not settle for second-best, mediocrity, or good-enough. Children of royalty expect only the best. Children of royalty set the standard and I encourage you today to show the world that following Jesus Christ and striving to be like him is the standard we should all strive for.

You are not limited by the bounds of this world so you should not settle for anything less than what God wants for you.

Genesis 11:31

I. Do not settle for second-best.

Abraham is one of the heroes of faith and God made His first covenant with him as we learned a few weeks ago. But did you know that God spoke to his father many years before and told him to go to the same place, the promised land of Canaan, and that he set out on that journey with everything he had. But we find that in Genesis 11:31 that Abraham’s father stopped along the way at Haran and “settled there.” Hmmm…the translators of the Bible used the word “settled” and I do not think that is a mere coincidence. I bet it was hard carrying his whole family, all the servants, flocks and herds of animals, and stuff with them on this long, hot and difficult journey, don’t you? I bet when he found Haran he said to himself that Haran was good enough and that they could survive and live there. He settled for less than what God wanted for him and his family. But God wanted more! He called up Abraham and look at what He told him:

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

    2 “I will make you into a great nation
       and I will bless you;
       I will make your name great,
       and you will be a blessing.

    3 I will bless those who bless you,
       and whoever curses you I will curse;
       and all peoples on earth
       will be blessed through you.”

I want to hear that for everyone of us today! Pick it up and let’s go. Pull up your tents and leave the ground which you have claimed for yourself and follow almighty God to the promised land he has for us all. Why? Because God wants to bless you, make your name great, and have you be a blessing to others. He wants to pour out blessings on those around you and through you he wants to bless the world around you!

II. Forget the Past

You might be saying right now that you have been through too much to take another step. You might think that you have sustained too much hurt and damage to allow God back into your life; to trust Him, rely on Him; and turn to Him again. I submit to you the scriptures and examples of God’s redeeming power for all of us. Look at Joel 2:25: “I will repay you for the years that the locusts have eaten..”

God wants you to turn to him and in return he will give you everlasting life. Through the atonement of His sacrifice he wants us to have abundant life and he wants to repay you as it were for the sufferings of this world. He wants to make it right for you. Your past actions do not affect his current response. Today he wants to start in you a plan of restoration.

Look at our passage of scripture today from Isaiah 61:

7 Instead of their shame
       my people will receive a double portion,
       and instead of disgrace
       they will rejoice in their inheritance;
       and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
       and everlasting joy will be theirs.

I promise you today that God is a just God and that He ensures us that in the end we are victorious over everything.

    8 “For I, the LORD, love justice;
       I hate robbery and iniquity.
       In my faithfulness I will reward them
       and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Now hear me church: I am not saying you shouldn’t have adversity. I am not saying that you will not have trouble because as you know I take to heart the words of Christ that we will have trouble. The only difference between me and someone else is that I know God will make the devil pay for that trouble and not in equal proportions either!

III. Look to the Future

Webster defines restoration as bringing something back to the original condition. God made us in His image. He created us with all the purity and righteousness of His own character. He wants to restore us to himself! Amen? Yes, he wants the ultimate best for us. He actually wants to make us better than our own humanness.

Matt, you are just getting people’s hopes up. Yes, I want to get your hope up because without hope you cannot have faith. 1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Without faith you cannot be certain of the movement of the Trinity in your life. 1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

There was a little girl and her dad in the ice cream shop one day and she had a scoop of ice cream on her cone. As she was standing outside while her daddy talked to some friends a little boy was skating down the sidewalk and pushed her as he rolled by, causing her to drop her ice cream cone. Just as she was about to cry, her daddy knelt down and told her not to cry because he was going to go right back in and buy her another cone. But to make up to her what the bully had done he wasn’t going to just get one scoop, he was going to get her two scoops. You are the apple of God’s eye today! What do you need a double scoop of this morning? Do you need a double scoop of faith? Do you need a double scoop of joy? Maybe a double scoop of healing? Is it just a matter of getting a double scoop of perspective this morning to truly realize where you stand with God today? He wants you to have it. And there is no reason why you can’t get believe in it. Don’t be like those people in Exodus that had just been through so much that they became too discouraged to believe. That will hurt the restoration process. I want you to know today that as I look around the world today and see what is happening to people that I am hurting on the inside and I am asking many questions. But although I have heartache and questions I will not stop believing that God is coming and that somehow all will be made right. We cannot get bitter over our past circumstances. The Bible tells us we have to get rid of all bitterness, anger, slander and malice. Don’t settle for the world’s second-best, don’t hang on to the past anymore, but rather look to Jesus Christ and the future restoration awaiting you.

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