Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Reading God’s Mysterious Lips │ Msg 511 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Reading God’s Mysterious Lips │ Msg 511 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Back in the about mid seventies, I went in for
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  Speaker 1: a tympanoplastic, that is surgery done on the ear, my case,
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  Speaker 1: the right ear. I was born with a congenital hole
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  Speaker 1: in my ear. That time worked against me on and
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  Speaker 1: as time passed, this hole enlarged. I remember as a
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  Speaker 1: little baby my mother said to me, as she said,
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  Speaker 1: as you were a tiny baby in the crib, your
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  Speaker 1: ear would run and there would obviously be infection there.
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  Speaker 1: And if that hole ever got plugged up, which it
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  Speaker 1: somewhat frequently did, it was a terrible experience. If you
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  Speaker 1: have a child or you yourself have gone through it,
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  Speaker 1: the letting out that puss, and the lancing of the
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  Speaker 1: year and all that. So I went through that, the
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  Speaker 1: horror of that growing up. So by the time I
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  Speaker 1: had reached my late thirties and early forties, it was
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  Speaker 1: obvious that some of the hearing was leaving that ear,
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  Speaker 1: and the hole had gotten larger. And every time I
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  Speaker 1: swam it would give me trouble because all the water
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't get out of it. And I spent my time.
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  Speaker 1: I learned if I could hold my head over one
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  Speaker 1: side and gent for one for some reason, you dance
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  Speaker 1: on one leg. It's better than both. And so if
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't at a Baptist convention, I could do that.
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  Speaker 1: And so I it's another joke. And so I time
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  Speaker 1: passed and it just got worse and worse, and I decided, okay,
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  Speaker 1: I got to have something done, so long and short
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  Speaker 1: of it as I went in and they took a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of the facia, which is right under the scalp,
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  Speaker 1: which is the most like ear drum tissue. It's either
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  Speaker 1: that or a cadaver's ear drum. And I didn't want
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  Speaker 1: to hear all those dirty things if they put a
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  Speaker 1: cadaver's ear drum in my ear. And so I it's
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  Speaker 1: another joke, okay. And and anyway, I while I'm recall
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  Speaker 1: from this surgery, I'm thinking, this is the first time
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  Speaker 1: in my life. And by the way, it's not a
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  Speaker 1: painful surgery. It's a little lengthy surgery. I mean, it's
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  Speaker 1: a little lengthy recovery time. But it really worked fine.
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  Speaker 1: And boy, both ear drums are terrific now. And while
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  Speaker 1: I was recovering in the hospital, I got to thinking
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  Speaker 1: about life without hearing. You know, we sometimes drift into
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  Speaker 1: the thought of what would life be like without sight,
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  Speaker 1: which probably would be the most difficult kind of loss
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  Speaker 1: that we could have anatomically. And I got to thinking,
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  Speaker 1: because of the surgery, what would I have to what
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  Speaker 1: would be the major adjustment, And no doubt it would
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  Speaker 1: have to be the ability to read lips. I was
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  Speaker 1: at a conference very recently where the woman that sat
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  Speaker 1: right on the front row and had to every time
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  Speaker 1: read lips, and she took notes all through the talk
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  Speaker 1: obviously was reading my lips, and she thanked me for
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  Speaker 1: articulating carefully and whatever, and she said, I have to
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  Speaker 1: sit this close because I cannot hear, and she's able
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  Speaker 1: to speak. You could tell a little bit once she
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  Speaker 1: tells you that you could tell a little bit that
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  Speaker 1: she had hearing problems, but you'd never guess that she
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  Speaker 1: was as without sound as she was. And I've thought
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  Speaker 1: of the challenge of learning to read lips. She says.
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  Speaker 1: I watch television, I go to movies. I do all
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  Speaker 1: the things that many people think those without hearing could
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  Speaker 1: never do. And she said it is It is really great.
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  Speaker 1: She said, I really get to study, really get to
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  Speaker 1: watch closely because I can't take my eyes off the lips.
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  Speaker 1: If I do, I don't hear what's going on. And
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  Speaker 1: I got to thinking, that's what the will of God
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  Speaker 1: is about. God is not only invisible, he is silent.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the great hymns speak of this, not the
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  Speaker 1: little ditties that that that we have now. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: I got a thing on that. So give me just
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  Speaker 1: a minute to tell you that I got a thing
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  Speaker 1: on seven eleven songs, seven words sung eleven times, you know,
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  Speaker 1: or as a friend of mine. A friend of mine
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  Speaker 1: calls them six four three two one, oh songs, And
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  Speaker 1: I had to write them down to remember them. Six singers,
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  Speaker 1: five modulations, four instruments, three chords, two words, one screen,
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  Speaker 1: no brains, six four three two one None of those,
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  Speaker 1: none of those kind of songs were written in the
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  Speaker 1: seventeenth and eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And by the way,
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  Speaker 1: I'm I love new songs. I love new tunes. I
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  Speaker 1: love the challenge of learning new things. In fact, the
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  Speaker 1: Lord says, sing to me a new song, but just
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  Speaker 1: put theology in them, put something other than monosyllable words
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  Speaker 1: in them, and focus them on God, not on me.
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  Speaker 1: Listen to the new songs. It's all about me and
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  Speaker 1: mine and I and mine and listen to Walter chomer
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  Speaker 1: Smith's song, an old Welsh melody, immortal, invisible God, only wise,
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  Speaker 1: in light, inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious,
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  Speaker 1: the ancient of days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name. We
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  Speaker 1: praise the second Stanza, unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
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  Speaker 1: nor wanting nor wasting, Thou rulest in mind, that great
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  Speaker 1: lyrics and what good theology. Silent as light. That's our God.
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  Speaker 1: We don't see him, we don't hear him literally, and
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  Speaker 1: yet we're commanded to be wise and to understand what
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  Speaker 1: the will of the Lord is. But he doesn't speak.
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  Speaker 1: Wouldn't it be easier if twice a week he would
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  Speaker 1: break the silence, visit us in our prayer closet, or
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  Speaker 1: at our desk, or in some part our of our home,
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  Speaker 1: and say, this is our time together. I want to
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  Speaker 1: give you my will for this next week. Oh, but
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  Speaker 1: we'd walk by sound and not by faith. And so,
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  Speaker 1: in light of the idea of reading God's lips, since
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  Speaker 1: he is invisible and silent, let me give you a
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  Speaker 1: couple of thoughts, first from the scriptures, and then if
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  Speaker 1: you're taking notes for our outline, let me give you
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  Speaker 1: a couple of lines that I think would be helpful
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  Speaker 1: to remember. Psalm thirty two, verse eight. There's sort of
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  Speaker 1: a dialogue between David and the Lord in this mosquelle,
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  Speaker 1: which is called in the superscription masquille is an instructive psalm.
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  Speaker 1: It's a song that is written for the instructional purposes
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  Speaker 1: to be sung. And notice right in the heart of
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  Speaker 1: it are three sela s E l A h. See
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  Speaker 1: that those are musical hints bracketed in by the psalmist
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  Speaker 1: for a pause. And as you who love music know,
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  Speaker 1: when you have a pause in this great music, you
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  Speaker 1: listen to what has just asked as it lingers, and
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  Speaker 1: you listen really closely to what's coming. Pause is very effective,
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  Speaker 1: and in this case there are three of them. Ps
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  Speaker 1: I'm thirty two, and right after the third one, verse
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  Speaker 1: eight begins, I this is God, not David. I will
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  Speaker 1: instruct you and teach you in the way which you
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  Speaker 1: should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon
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  Speaker 1: you see, it's not with my voice. God is silent,
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  Speaker 1: and the movement of the eyes, as we've already considered
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  Speaker 1: as a silent movement unless you think it's all automatic
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  Speaker 1: and doesn't call for a response. Look at the next command.
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  Speaker 1: Don't be as the horse or as the mule, which
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  Speaker 1: have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle, to
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  Speaker 1: hold them in check. Otherwise they will not come near
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  Speaker 1: to you. So it is a reproof that we be
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  Speaker 1: very very that we watch very closely. And we talked
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  Speaker 1: about that last time as we referred to these inner
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  Speaker 1: promptings from the spirit of God. So let me give
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  Speaker 1: you a couple of thoughts to begin with. Since God
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  Speaker 1: is invisible and silent, we need to be sensitive and skilled.
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  Speaker 1: Times like these we're spending together are very helpful in
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  Speaker 1: becoming skilled. But the sensitive part really rests with you,
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  Speaker 1: which means we also need to stay perceptive and patient.
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  Speaker 1: We need to stay perceptive and patient. Now why don't
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  Speaker 1: we need to be sensitive and skilled? Well, because God's
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  Speaker 1: will is unpredictable. We've certainly established that God's leading is unpredictable.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't what we would have expected. We have a
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  Speaker 1: good friend and a couple who are searching to know
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  Speaker 1: God's will. They have come from one experience that seem
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  Speaker 1: to be clearly God's will, only to come up against
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  Speaker 1: a brick wall. And for them to stay in a
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  Speaker 1: situation where they found themselves would be a compromise on
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  Speaker 1: this man's integrity, and they're saying, we're backing away from that.
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  Speaker 1: For me to stay is to compromise my character. I
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  Speaker 1: won't do that. So they're now very sensitive to what
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  Speaker 1: it is God is leading them to do, because it's
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  Speaker 1: obviously not that that they had anticipated it was. And
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  Speaker 1: we need to stay perceptive and patient because God's plan
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  Speaker 1: is continually unfolding, and what brought us to where we
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  Speaker 1: are is all part of the overall plan, but it's
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  Speaker 1: an unfolding revelation of his overall plan, which means taking
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  Speaker 1: us from where we are to where He's got planned
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  Speaker 1: for us in the future, isn't It will involve chane
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  Speaker 1: and some changes you and I would never expect. So
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  Speaker 1: that brings us to a wonderful account in Jeremiah Chapter
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  Speaker 1: one of a prophet who was going to be used
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  Speaker 1: by God for the next As I figure it, I
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  Speaker 1: hope my chronology is correct. About forty years of effective
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  Speaker 1: ministry in some of the most difficult times a prophet
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  Speaker 1: ever lived. And I'm referring to those last days of
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  Speaker 1: Judah before the fall Jeremiah is the man, and I
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  Speaker 1: want to read for you a few verses, and then
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  Speaker 1: I want to draw from a number of excerpts from
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  Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson's Run with the Horses, a book that you
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  Speaker 1: would be wise to pick up. Hopefully it's still in print.
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  Speaker 1: The Quest for Life at its best, really an unfolding
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  Speaker 1: of excerpts from Jeremiah's life with marvelous insights, as Eugene
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  Speaker 1: Peterson has in his writings. But first Jeremiah. The words
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  Speaker 1: of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who
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  Speaker 1: were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, to whom
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  Speaker 1: the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah.
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  Speaker 1: That's the king. Now, Jeremiah's the prophet. Josiah is the king.
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  Speaker 1: He's called the son of Ammon, king of Judah in
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  Speaker 1: the thirteenth year of his reign. A little bit more
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  Speaker 1: historical background in verse three. Look at verse four. Now
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  Speaker 1: the word of the Lord came to me. What do
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  Speaker 1: you notice right away Jeremiah has picked up the pen
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  Speaker 1: and he is writing. This pronoun reveals it. This is
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  Speaker 1: an entry into Jeremiah's journal. If you will allow me
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  Speaker 1: to use that term here. I don't think Jeremiah thought
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  Speaker 1: he was writing scripture. I don't think he had any
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  Speaker 1: idea that fifty two chapters of the Bible would be
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  Speaker 1: entrusted to him. Jeremiah's just writing what the Lord had revealed,
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  Speaker 1: and God saw fit to guide his writing so that
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  Speaker 1: it was an inspiring a part of the canon of scripture,
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  Speaker 1: and has found its way protected all the way to
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  Speaker 1: our day as a part of the scriptures. But he's
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  Speaker 1: writing the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
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  Speaker 1: before I formed you in the wound, I knew you,
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  Speaker 1: and before you were born, I consecrated you. I have
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  Speaker 1: appointed you a prophet to the nations. Go back in
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  Speaker 1: verse five, just the verbs. I formed you, I knew you,
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  Speaker 1: I consecrated you, and I appointed you all before I
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  Speaker 1: was born. Now, if we were to go back several
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  Speaker 1: days ago, before we started our study in the will
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  Speaker 1: of God, it's possible that many of you, who had
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  Speaker 1: not been made aware of the fact that God's predetermined
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  Speaker 1: plan had already been fixed, would wonder, what in the
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  Speaker 1: world is he saying. I mean, how could something be
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  Speaker 1: formed in an individual who hasn't yet even been conceived?
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  Speaker 1: But you understand in God's decrees before we ever have
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  Speaker 1: been conceived in our mother's wounds, many of these things
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  Speaker 1: described here have all been put into place. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: all in God's decreed plans have been pre arranged. Now,
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  Speaker 1: playing off that setting, Peterson writes in his work Run
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  Speaker 1: with the Horses some very very helpful things that lead
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  Speaker 1: to some comments I want to make about the will
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  Speaker 1: of God and the whole idea of sensitively reading God's lips.
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  Speaker 1: So just sit back, relax. Since you having a copy
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  Speaker 1: of this, listen to a few random readings from his
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  Speaker 1: book Run with the Horses, from the chapter that is
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  Speaker 1: titled Before Before Jeremiah knew God. God knew Jeremiah before
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  Speaker 1: I formed you in the womb, I knew you. This
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  Speaker 1: turns everything we ever thought about God around. We enter
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  Speaker 1: a world we didn't create. We grow into a life
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  Speaker 1: already provided for us. If we are going to live appropriately,
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  Speaker 1: we must be aware that we are living in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of a story that was begun and will be
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  Speaker 1: concluded by another, and this other is God. My identity
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  Speaker 1: does not begin when I begin to understand myself. There
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  Speaker 1: is something previous to what I think about myself, and
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  Speaker 1: that is what God thinks of me. Jeremiah's life didn't
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  Speaker 1: start with Jeremiah. Jeremiah's salvation didn't start with Jeremiah. Jeremiah
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah's truth didn't start with Jeremiah. He entered the world
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  Speaker 1: in which the essential parts of his existence were already
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  Speaker 1: ancient history. And so do we. I knew you. Second
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  Speaker 1: item of the background information provided on Jeremiah is this,
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  Speaker 1: before you were born, I consecrated you. Consecrated means set
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  Speaker 1: apart for God's side. It means that the human is
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  Speaker 1: not a cogwheel, that a person is not the keyboard
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  Speaker 1: of a piano on which circumstances play hit parade tunes.
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  Speaker 1: It means we are chosen out of the feckless stream
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  Speaker 1: of circumstantiality for something important that God is doing. Why
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  Speaker 1: just Love writings like this, It's God's doing? And what
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  Speaker 1: is God doing? He is saving, he is rescuing, he
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  Speaker 1: is blessing, he is providing, he is judging, he is healing,
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  Speaker 1: he is enlightening. And there is a spiritual war in
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  Speaker 1: process and all out moral battle. There is evil and cruelty,
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  Speaker 1: unhappiness and illness. There is superstition and ignorance. Brutality and pain.
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  Speaker 1: God is in continuous and energetic battle against all of it.
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  Speaker 1: God is for life and against death. God is for
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  Speaker 1: love and against hate. God is for hope and against despair.
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  Speaker 1: God is for heaven and against hell. There is no
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  Speaker 1: neutral ground in the universe. Every square foot of space
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  Speaker 1: is contested. Jeremiah, before he was born, was enlisted on
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  Speaker 1: God's side in this war. Now think of yourself as
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  Speaker 1: I read. This isn't just about Jeremiah. Third, the third
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  Speaker 1: thing that God did to Jeremiah, before Jeremiah did anything
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  Speaker 1: on his own, was I appointed you a prophet to
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  Speaker 1: the nations. The word appointed is literally gave nothon. I
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  Speaker 1: gave you as a prophet to the nations. God gives.
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  Speaker 1: He's generous. He is lavishly generous. Before Jeremiah ever got
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  Speaker 1: it together, he was given away. That's God's way. He
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  Speaker 1: did it with his own son, Jesus. God so loved
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  Speaker 1: the world that he gave some things. We have a choice,
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  Speaker 1: in some we don't. In this we don't. It's the
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  Speaker 1: kind of world into which we were born. God created it,
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  Speaker 1: God sustains it. Giving is the style of the universe.
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  Speaker 1: Giving is woven into the fabric of existence. Listen to
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  Speaker 1: his story. There is a rocky cliff on the shoreline
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  Speaker 1: of the Montana Lake where I live. Part of each summer.
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  Speaker 1: There are breaks in the rock face in which tree
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  Speaker 1: swallows make their nests. For several weeks one summer, I
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  Speaker 1: watched the swallows in swift flight collect insects barely above
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  Speaker 1: the surface of the water, then dive into the cavities
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  Speaker 1: in the cliffs, feeding first their mates and then their
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  Speaker 1: new hatched chicks. Neither one of the cracks in the
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  Speaker 1: cliff face. Near one of the cracks in the cliff face,
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  Speaker 1: a dead branch stretched about four feet over the water.
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  Speaker 1: One day, I was delighted to see three new swallows
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  Speaker 1: sitting side by side on this branch. The parents were.
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  Speaker 1: The parents made wide sweeping insect gathering circuits over the water,
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  Speaker 1: and then returned to the enormous cavities that those little
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  Speaker 1: birds became as they opened their beaks for a feeding.
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  Speaker 1: This went on for a couple of hours until the
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  Speaker 1: parents decided that had enough of it. One adult swallow
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  Speaker 1: got alongside the chicks and started moving, started shoving them
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  Speaker 1: out toward the end of the branch, pushing, pushing, pushing.
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  Speaker 1: The end one fell off somewhere between the branch and
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  Speaker 1: the water. The wings started working, and the fledgling was
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  Speaker 1: off on his own. Then the second one. The third
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  Speaker 1: one was not to be bullied. At the last possible moment,
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  Speaker 1: his grip on the branch loosened just enough so that
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  Speaker 1: he swung downward, then tightened again. Bulldog tenacious, The parent
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  Speaker 1: was without sentiment. He pecked at the desperately clinging talons
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  Speaker 1: until it was more painful for the poor chick to
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  Speaker 1: hang on than risk the insecurities of flying. The grip
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  Speaker 1: was released, and the inexperienced wings began pumping. The mature
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  Speaker 1: swallow knew what the chick did not, that it would fly,
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  Speaker 1: that there was no danger in making it do what
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  Speaker 1: it was perfectly designed to do. Birds have feet and
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  Speaker 1: can walk, Birds have talons and can grasp a branch securely.
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  Speaker 1: They can walk, they can cling, but flying is their
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  Speaker 1: characteristic action, and not until they fly are they living
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  Speaker 1: at their best, gracefully and beautifully. Now you know where
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  Speaker 1: he's going, don't you. That's analogy at its best. Giving
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  Speaker 1: is what we do best. It is the air into
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  Speaker 1: which we were born. It is the action that was
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  Speaker 1: designed into us before our birth. Giving is the world is.
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  Speaker 1: God gives himself. He also gives away everything that is.
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  Speaker 1: He makes no exceptions for any of us. We are
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  Speaker 1: given away to our families, who are neighbors, who are friends,
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  Speaker 1: to our enemies, to the nations. Our life is for others.
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  Speaker 1: That is the way creation works. Some of us tried
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  Speaker 1: desperately to hold on to ourselves, to live for ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: We look so bedraggled and pathetic doing it, hanging onto
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  Speaker 1: the dead branch of a bank account for dear life,
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  Speaker 1: afraid to risk ourselves on the untried wings of giving.
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  Speaker 1: We don't think we can live generously because we have
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  Speaker 1: never tried. But the sooner we start, the better, for
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  Speaker 1: we are going to give up. We're going to have
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  Speaker 1: to give up our lives finally, And the longer we wait,
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  Speaker 1: the less time we will have for the soaring, swooping
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  Speaker 1: life of grace. Jeremiah could have hung on to the
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  Speaker 1: dead end street where he was born in Anathoth. He
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  Speaker 1: could have huddled in the security of his father's priesthood.
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  Speaker 1: He could have conformed to the dull habits of his culture.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: He didn't. He participated in the giving, throwing himself into
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: his appointment. That is what I want for you. Forever
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: it may lead you, and whatever it may call you
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: to do, and wherever it requires you to live, and
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: whatever it means must be given up, and whatever must
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: be taken on, do it. That is life at its best.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: The quest for life at its best means we run
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: with the horses, we fly with the swallows. We do
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: His will, which I've said all along is the safest
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: and most rewarding place to live. But it is full
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: of decisions and risks and release. It's just full of it.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Now from Jeremiah, let's land on Ephesians chapter five again,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: do a little bit of analysis of the seventeenth verse,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: and then focus our attention on some guidelines that will
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: help us, I hope in this process of learning how
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to fly free Jeremiah. Jeremiah, Ephesians five, verse fifteen. Therefore,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: making the most of your time, which is a wonderful
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: rendering of the original thought of redeeming the time. Making
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: the most of your time, because the days are evil.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: So then do not be foolish, but understand what the
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: will of the Lord is in the King James version.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I believe this was originally rendered unwise. Do not be unwise.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: It's from the Greek word afrone aph r n along
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: oh afhrone. It means to be without reason, means to
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: be senseless foolish, which is the way the new American
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: standard renders it means to be stupid. Thick is the
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Old Testament word for it. I've always liked that rendering
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: just thick. I read somewhere that diets are for people
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: who are thick and tired of it, So then do
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: not be thick. It conveys the idea of acting rashly
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: and then later regretting it. That's what fools do. They
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: plunge into something and then the world that I do,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: only to do it again. He says, don't do that
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: with your life. Don't do that with your life. Understanding
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: is sunny emmy. It's another word. It means to set
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: or bring together, to put the perception with the thing perceived,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: to set or join together in the mind so that
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: understanding results. The word speaks of reflective thinking. If I
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: could have any wish for our students at the seminary,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: if I could have any real, deep wish for any
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: one of you. At the heart, I would wish for
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: you the ability to think reflectively. As much as I
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: love spontaneity and creativity, and as much fun as I
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: have in life, my best moments are spent in reflective thinking,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: reflecting on what was, reflecting on what might be, reflecting
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: on what could be God's plan, reflecting on the results
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: of a meeting, reflecting on the plans for a meeting,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: thinking through and reflecting on a particular subject I want
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: to address. I've done a lot of reflecting on this subject.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Someone who's brought up the question that is asked a lot.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Is there only one mate for me in life? Or
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: are there several possibilities? You know, no one can answer
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: that one dogmatically. I've read a wonderful book where the
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: man took to task a number of people who had
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: said there's only one person in all of life, for
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: all of existence, and he said, really, you're having a
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: hard time in scripture to prove that. On this campus,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do I look for the one woman
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: or do I look for those possibilities? I mean, if
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: there's only one in God's plan forever, then why would
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: anyone ever remarry after the death of a mate. That
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: person's the wrong one. You lost the right one. See
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying, So think sensibly, Think reflectively before you
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: hammer down on something. I've heard a particular teacher's name.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: You'd know if I called it. Teaches that you pray
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: only once, and you trust God. To pray more than
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: once is to doubt. Paul prayed three times that the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: thorn in the flesh would be taken from him. You're
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: telling me Paul was wrong. Now, apparently he didn't pray
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: beyond the third, but he did pray three fervently. I
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: don't find the scripture you only pray once. In praying
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: any further is disobedient our doubt. That's a statement that
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: goes too far. Don't be foolish. Think reflectively, sensibly. God
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: has given us a brain and his spirit to work
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: in harmony and in concert with thoughts that that he'll
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: lead us. Use good common sense. That's what this command
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: is about. He wants us to understand what his will is.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Contrary to the popular idea, God isn't hiding like you
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: can't find me. I've got my willing for him, but
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: you really don't know what it is until I give
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: it to you, or if you keep looking no, no, no,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: wrong way, keep me warmer, warmer, This isn't the way
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: it is. He wants to give us his will. He's
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: created us to do his will. Jeremiah heard it early
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: in his ministry. I knew you for you were born.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: I appointed you a prophet. Go to it now. Doesn't
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: mean it's going to be easy to do it, and
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that all the way through it'd just be
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: a downhill, grease slide. You'll get snagged, and you'll go
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: through the process all the human things that go with it.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: But he really has given us some guidelines. May I
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: share with you these five and we've done him in
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the simplest fashion, at the risk of insulting your intelligence, A, B, C, D,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: and E. And maybe it'll help you remember them. I
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: think these five guidelines, and I go through them myself,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: and I will again when I determine, try to determine
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: his will. A. Let's begin with an acceptable frame of mind.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Maybe you'd prefer an accepting frame of mind. I like
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: that better. I call it a can do spirit, an
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: accepting or an acceptable frame of mind. You know what's
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: involved in this I've mentioned a couple of three practical things,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: good physical and emotional health. I said it earlier, I
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: say it again. You don't see things, you don't hear
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: things that aren't spoken. You're not looking under every pot
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: in every rock for some symbol or evidence. You don't
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: live like that. You live sensibly. Your mind, your emotions
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: are pretty healthy, pretty whole, carry on a pretty intelligent conversation,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: including this conversation with God. Second, I would include that
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: you're relatively free of anxiety and stress. You say, well,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: I can remember two days in my adult life and
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: that was true. Most of us live pretty stressful. That's
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: why I say we need to know an intimacy with
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the almighty times of solitude and silence. There's nothing mysterious
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: about that. Some call it mystical. I call it wise.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: I have a man who sets aside one day every
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: month to do nothing but be alone, silent, and to think.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: And he led an organization for years in the right
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: way because of his commitment to that kind of discipline.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: One day a month, all day in silence. He fasted
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: his lunchtime, he had a good breakfast, He did not
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: bother to eat, spend the day alone thinking through, praying
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: through some time, took a Bible, sometime took a book,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: sometimes took nothing, went to different places. Wasn't that there
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: was a sacred place? Though you may have such a spot.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: One day it may be a walk on the beach.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Another day it may be a trip to a cemetery.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Now the time, it may be into the mountains, maybe
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: a long drive. It may be a walk around your
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: neighborhood and several miles farther to be alone at a
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: park bench or whatever. We don't have to do anything
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: exotic here but to reflect, for you're relatively free of stress. Third,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: I would put under this whole idea of an accepting
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: frame of mind is an attitude of openness hyphen hyphen
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: regardless regardless of where it may be or what it
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: may include. E an accepting frame of mind. Jeremiah, have
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: an accepting frame of mind. Maybe you ran ahead in
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: your reading. It's hard not to. After God told him
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: I formed you, and I consecrated you, and I appointed you.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: His answer was a last, Lord, God, I cannot speak,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: and I'm but a youth that's a prophet or a
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: prophet in the making. I don't know how to speak.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Prophets preached, and I'm young. Look at these gray heads
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: around me, and you think I'm going to represent you?
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: And then the Lord answers that was Moses or after
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: eighty years, all I know is the language of the sheep.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: I've worked with Jethrow all these years and I haven't
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: even had to make decisions. I couldn't go back to Egypt.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Please please no burn that bush for a month if
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: you want to. But I'm really not the one. It
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: does sound like familiar words in me. When I was
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: in high school, I stuttered so badly I could hardly
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: finish a sentence. And there was a man there whose
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: picture now is on my desk, alongside a few other
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: mentors that I've loved through the years. Most of them
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: did now and Dick Nemi came to me in the
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: hallway at Milby High School and he said, I want
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: you to be in our Thespian group. I go me,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: He said, yeah, you got it. I really thought he
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: had the wrong locker. I thought he met the guy
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: next to me who was, you know, a star basketball player,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: and I know he said you. My first response was, Oh,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: I'm so inadequate. You have no idea I'm embarrassed. I
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: am in front of a group. You want me to
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: stand there and stutter and that debate team, why, that's
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: a sure win for the other side, And by a
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: couple of summers later, leading the senior play can you
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: believe that debate team just sixty loved it? But he
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: saw what I didn't perceive. Couldn't imagine an accepting frame
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: of mind, says b If you say so, I'm willing
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: second principle I would leave. Our guideline would be obviously
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: biblical investigation. And we've hammered away at this one. I
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: think sufficiently by now you know that God's will is
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: never contrary to God's word. You will never do God's will.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: And then look back and find, oh, my goodness, this
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: passage of scripture condemns what I'm doing or points out
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: principles that I'm breaking regularly in this act of doing
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: his will. It'll never happen. You're safe. So I'm one
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: nineteen one oh five, Thy word as a lamp to
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: my feet and a light to my path one nineteen
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: ninety seven, and following, Oh hi, how I love Thy law.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: It's my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: wiser than my enemies their ever mine. I have more
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: insight than all my teachers. For your testimonies are my meditation.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: That's reflective thinking. I understand more than the aged because
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: I've observed your precepts one nineteen ninety seven through one hundred.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: I have checked three areas. God's word makes me wiser
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: than my enemies, gives me more insight than I have
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: from my teachers, and gives me an understanding that's beyond
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: the aged. That's an awfully good set of promises. Now,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: what does this entail? Let me stay here long enough
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: to hammer this one home. First of all, I want
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: to suggest that in searching God's word for his will,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: find the subject that is closest to the area of need, marriage, suffering, money, occupation,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: or employment submission. There are millions of subjects. Get a
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: hold of a concordance, which is an alphabetical listing of
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: all the words in the Bible, and locate that word.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: If it's suffering, find it in the alphabet under suffering.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: There are all the references in the scriptures where the
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: word is mentioned. And do your study on that subject. Obviously,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: some of the things you would mention would not be
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: mentioned in the scriptures, so get synonyms. That's one way
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: to do it. Second, I would add stay alert to
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: actual precepts and to principles that you uncover. Some things
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: you remember are stated as clearly as speed limit thirty
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: five and other places are drive carefully. When do you
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: do that? Well, every time the Word of God is opened,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: I hope you attend to church where the Bible is taught.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Every time the one who's preaching opens the scriptures, pay attention.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: This is not a time to drift. This is instruction time.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: This is a time to learn. Do what you're doing.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Keep a part of the bulletin handy or bring with
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: you a half sheet of paper. That's really all you need.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: You can take down most of the major thoughts on
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: a p use of paper this size five by eight
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: and a half. Just having a handy. Remember, you're not
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: equipped for Sunday until you have a clear, clean sheet
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: of paper with you in a pen to write with,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: take notes. Maybe you'll write down something that isn't even
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: said by the one who's preaching, Maybe something God gives
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: you while a subject is being addressed. Maybe some questions
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: you want to think through. Obviously, in this realm would
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: be your times with the Lord. You want to pray,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: you want to think about this, discussing this with a
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: Christian that you admire, maybe over lunch instead of sitting
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: there talking about the latest movie or two or three.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: People deal with subjects. The lowest level of conversation is people.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: The next level is events. The highest level is truths.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Call a person for lunch and say, while we go
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: to lunch, I want to talk about and state it.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: So you put the agenda out there and you'll find
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: you'll eat less and you'll think more because you're probing this.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: And pick your lunch partner carefully. So you want to
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: deal with this, and said, listen, if you're free to
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: do it, share with them in vulnerability that it's something
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: you're working through and you haven't been able to SyncE
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: it up yet. You like their insight. You like them
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: to maybe later tell you what their thoughts are. At
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: the risk again of being painfully elementary. You need a
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Bible that is a good translation. You need a good
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: reliable translation of the scriptures, and in my estimation still
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: the most accurate, not the most readable, but the most
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: accurate rendering remains the new American Standard Bible. The NIV
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: is very helpful. The Living Bible times can kind of
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: give you a new a slant on it. The Message
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: by Eugene Peterson, and you've heard me refer to that
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: on other occasions. Sound sensible interpretation of the scriptures. Take
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: those passages in context. Don't pick verse seven and ignore
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: verses one to six. Be sure you're on good territory.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: Like a diamond, nyman needs a setting, and without a setting,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: it's loose, and it's dangerous. You can lose it. But
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: you put it in a setting and you can then
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: enjoy the beauty of that gem. So it is with
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: God's verses of scripture. Let me give you the name
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: of a book that you ought to own if you don't.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: It's Living by the Book by Bill and Howie Hendrix.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: This is his This is his course at the seminary
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: that continues to be the number one favorite course. Taught
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: it down a seminary. He has taught it since the fifties.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: And he and his son came together and put the
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: course into a book. And you get there. You're gonna
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: get it now. I've added in my notes a thought
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: that I think might help God's word answers most of
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: our questions, but we but it takes time. It takes effort.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: Like mining an element in the earth, it takes effort.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: It's like a handbook doesn't answer all of them, but
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: it answers most. It's like your driver's license. You're given
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: a manual and they say, when you ask, now, what's
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: going to be on the test, read the manual? And
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: you know. I found that true. I've taken the test
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: in more than one state, and I found they don't
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: ask questions that aren't in the manual. And the better
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: I know the manual, the better are my chances of
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: passing the test. God's books like his manual. Let her
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: see is our third area I will call the I'll
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: give it two words, the clarification and conviction from the
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. The clarification of God's will and convictions of
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. There I don't know another way to
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: put it than enter compulsion. You're drawn almost like somebody's
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: got a hold of your coat, and you can't keep
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: from moving in that direction. When you're walking in the spirit,
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: and when you're operating wisely with reflective thinking, when you're
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: open to what God's leading and you've got his word
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: in your heart. You really are seeking. You're going to
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: have that magnet start pulling on you, and you you
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: will sense a direction. It may not come quickly, by
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: the way that ultimately will come. David says in Psalm forty.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: I waited patiently for the Lord the message in Peterson Wright.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: I waited and waited, and waited and waited for the Lord.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: And he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: lifted me up from a horrible pit, and put my
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: feet upon a rock and established my going. You put
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: I waited and waited, and finally he did what he
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: said he would do. See, God doesn't operate by twenty
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: four hour or sixty second clock. His timing is eternal.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: So look at Romans eight twelve to fourteen for verification
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: of this eight twelve. So then, brethren, who's that written
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: to Christians? To believers? So, then, fella, we are under
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: obligation not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: And haven't we all had enough of that? Or there
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: are consequences that follow that journey. For if you are
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: living according to the flesh, you must die. But if
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: of the body, you will live. I think this you
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: must die has in mind a death lack existence. That's
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: what happens in the realm of carnality. If you live
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: according to the flesh, you enter the realm of an
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: empty life, void of purpose direction. Now look at fourteen,
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: all who are being led by the Spirit of God.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: These are sons, These are daughters of God, These are gods,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: followers gods people. Look at sixteen. The Spirit himself bears
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: Look at twenty six. In the same way, the Spirit
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: helps our weakness. For does this sound familiar? For we
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: do not know how to pray as we should. But
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: for words. He who searches the hearts knows what the
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: mind of the spirit is, because he intercedes for the
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: saints according to the will of God. Isn't that great?
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: I don't even know how to ask. I am in
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: such an uncertain state. God understand my groanings. Sometime in
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: prayer I've only been able to groan literally and somehow
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: he interpreted the groanings and placed them before God's marvelous
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: presence clearly and correctly, Spirit of God. Does that take
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: comfort in that you who want to word everything just
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: so you really don't have to. I'm honest. There have
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: been occasions when I have simply slipped up from my
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: desk in the midst of some situation that I couldn't
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: see my way through, and I've simply said help, Lord,
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Help Help. I couldn't get anything further out of my mouth.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: Help he did, He did, and I was willing to
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: wait and let him take it. Problems come when I
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: jump up from my desk and take this thing on
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: with my I know how to handle this, and usually
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: I'll regret that. So there are times when action is
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: now the better part of wisdom, But usually it's best
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: to wait. As someone has said, I never felt sorry
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: for the things I did not say. I've rarely felt
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: sorry for times or regretted times I waited. Often the
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: bigger the decision, the longer the way. That's why when
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: there's a deadline put on it, it makes it tough.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: D d determine if peace is occurring, determine if peace
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: is coming is occurring. You know the verse I'm going
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: to turn to. It's the one we love to refer
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: to Collisians three fifteen. Let the peace of Christ rule
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: in your hearts. The word means to serve as an
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: arbiter or as an umpire, as a word we'd use.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts, to which
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: indeed you were called in one body, be thankful. Let
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: the Word of Christ dwell richly, dwell within you with
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: all wisdom. The umpire serves in the game as the
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: bottom line. He solves what would turn into conflict and argumentation.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: The umpire clarifies matters and is the final voice. He
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: keeps the game moving. So it is with peace you're snagged.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: One of the questions. If you were to ask me
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: in the midst of the struggle about it, I would
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: want to know where's your piece in all of this.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: And if your answer is, you know, I'm really unsettled.
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: I really don't have peace. Doesn't mean all the questions
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: are answered. Means you don't have peace. You're still churning.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: If you're still churning, you're not there yet. Don't give
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: the answer yet. Hey, I'm going to go out on
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: a limb and suggest another side of this. Your mate
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: should have peace with you. Not a good idea to,
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: you know, drag her along against her wishes. I've rarely
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: seen that work. Some guys seem to take delight in
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: doing that. They're doing this whether she's ready or not.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: She's obviously not open to God. Wait a minute, she
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: knows you better than anybody else on earth. She's part
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: of the project, and she's a partner, which means you're one.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: In fact, there's so much one one. Peter three seven
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: says if there are conflicts, your prayers will be hindered.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: I have a very close friend who's having struggles right
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: now with his mate. He said to me as we
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: talked on the phone yesterday, our marriage didn't go in
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: under so don't worry about it. That's not it. I
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: just I just don't like her right now. And I
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: understood that feeling, and my mate would understand that feeling.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: This is not a good time for my friend to
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: make a decision about the will of God. He's in conflict,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: especially if it's going to involve her doctor Lightfoot rights.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: Wherever there is a conflict of motives or impulses or reasons.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: The peace of Christ must step in and decide and prevail.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: It's a great way to put it. Conflict of motives
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: or impulses or reasons, the peace of God must settle down. Now,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: you and I know every situation has its drawbacks, every
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: setting has its You know other side doesn't mean it's wrong.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: It just means you deal with that as you think
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: about the decision. And I come back again to being
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: persuaded in your own mind. We were in Romans. I
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: wish I would have done it while I was there.
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: But we'll go back right here to Romans fourteen, verse five. Yeah,
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: one man regards one day above another, another regards every
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: own mind. Let it happen. I like why it's written,
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: Let it happen. That's why I have a policy. I
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: do not talk people into decisions, and I don't talk
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: them out of decisions. There are certain people we really
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: would want on our staff, whether it's Insight for Living
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: or dall a seminary or the church, and I really
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: feel they're the right one for it. If they're unsure
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: about it, I don't turn on the salesmanship I've done that,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: and invariably I've regretted it, or someone comes to me
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: that I think is just vital for our future and
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: they say, you know, I sense God is really leading
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: me elsewhere. When people resign, let them resign. If a
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: warning is appropriate, you may want to warn, or if
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: you see peril in it, you may want to be
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: but hold it on. You know, chaining someone does not
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: bring peace, not only complications. And how do I The
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: positive side is if a sense of peace is there,
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: how do I know it? Hey, you're pretty good at it.
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: You can do it. There's a sense of I can
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: make that happen and I'll have fulfillment in this. I
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: don't know if you read the account I found and
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: put in a little book that called God's Will. Sir
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: Flinders KA Tree, P. E. T R. I E. Father
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: of Palestinian archaeology. Listen to to this. This comes from
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: Biblical Archaeological Review. A Biblical Archaeology Review, November December nineteen eighty.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: Listen to his words. You seem to take for granted
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: that as I am not working for money, I must
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: therefore be working for fame, he said, But would you
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: be surprised to hear that this is not my main spring.
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: I can do what I am doing better than I
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: can do anything else, and I am aware that such
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: work is what I am best fitted for. If credit
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: of any sort comes from such work, I have no
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: objection of any sort to it, but it is not
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: what stirs me to work at all. I believe that
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: I should do just the same in quantity and quality
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: if all that I did was published in someone else's name.
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: Great comment. You don't do what you do for the glory.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: You don't do what you do for the money. If
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: those things become the engine driving your machine, you will
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: never be satisfied in God's will. And I mean never,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: because you'll always be looking for the credit, and you'll
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: always be wondering why you're not paid more. In God's work,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: You're made what you deserve Humanly speaking, I looked at
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: our board members at Dallas Seminary on one occasion, shortly
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: after coming having examined all of the salaries of all
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: the faculty, and I said to our board, there's not
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: a man sitting in this room who would work for
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: what our faculty works for. It was the beginning of
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: a plan to bring to a median range a salary
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: structure so that those men and women on our faculty
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: could make a living wage. And there wasn't a man
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: who disagreed with me when they saw the facts. But
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: it isn't money that drives our faculty. If it were,
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: they wouldn't be there. It wouldn't be happy, it wouldn't
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: be a sense of fulfillment. Peace will be there outside
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: the glory and outside the faculty in God's work. We're
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: all a team in this, and somehow it comes out
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: to where the iceberg is a little tip, and down
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: underneath here are people who are probably wouldn't be known
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: by six people in the general public that may attend
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: one of our meetings. But what they don't know is
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: you're the one that came up with a design idea
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: that became our theme, and it just won the day.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: Everybody enjoys it, and it's all part of the great
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: theme in the plan as it runs its course that
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: week of ministry. But no one will ever write you
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: a letter from the conference saying thanks for coming up
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: with that great idea, or very few will. Only those
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: who know about it, if they're thoughtful enough to say things.
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: But you're not in it for the credit of the glory.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: See I think you know all of this, it's just
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: maybe underscoring it helps peace, determine if peace is occurring.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Now there's a final e and this would be under expectations.
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: Expect struggles and surprises as you experience the results. Expect
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: struggles and surprises as you experienced the results. We were
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: just in Romans eight. While you're writing, write verse twenty five.
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: If we hope for what we do not see Romans
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: eight twenty five with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: Perseverance James one two through four mentions the tests that
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: are inevitable. James one, verse two. Consider it all joy,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: my brethren, when you encounter various trials, not if knowing
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: that the testing of your faith produces endurance. I have
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: stepped into a situation that was clearly the will of God.
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: I had peace, I had reflected on it, I'd gotten
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: counsel from people I respect, and I wasn't in it
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: two weeks before I realized this is a can of worms,
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: this is work. So the surprises and struggles were there,
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: but there was still a peace. I'm the one that
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: ought to be doing this. This is God's plan. This
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: is where he wants to use me. Now a couple
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: of closing and I want to close with these, I
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: really do a couple of closing practical suggestions. One has
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: to do with the secret of knowing God's will, and
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: the other with the success that follows it. The secret
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: of knowing God's will means we must get beyond all
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: excuses and rationalizations. The secret of really knowing his will
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: means we must get beyond the excuses and rationalizations. Remember
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah's excuse Jeremiah one verse six, alas Lord, God, old,
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: I do not know how to speak because I am
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: a youth he thought, didn't think God knew that. God,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: do you know how old I am? Do you know
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: compared to these people? That's part of the problem. In comparison.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: You're not called into a situation to be compared to
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: someone else. You're called into it as an instrument, and
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: in that role you are I say it, in God's
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: plan invincible. That's his plan. He is gonna He's gonna
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: take care of you in it, which brings me to
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: the second. The secret of knowing God's will means we
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: must get beyond all our excuses and rationalizations. The success
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: that follows doing God's will rest with God, not you.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: The success that follows doing God's will rest with God
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: and not you. I still love that principle. It just
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: it just takes the strain and the sweat out of it.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: Sometime I'm in the midst of the situation, I'm so
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: over my head, and it's just kind of a peace
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: to say, Hey, Lord, here I am again totally inadequate.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: This was your plan from the start. I want you
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: to go back to Jeremiah one, and I want to
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: show you God's wonderful promise to Jeremiah an answer to
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: his lame excuses. This is great. This is great dialogue.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: Not often you're read it so clearly. Jeremiah speaks God answers.
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah speaks God answers. Listen to God answers to God's
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: answers to I don't know how to speak, and I
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: am but a youth. Verse seven. The Lord said to me,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: do not say I am a youth. Let's just start there,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: because everywhere I send you you shall go, and all
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: that I command you, you shall speak. And since you
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: are caught up in comparison here, Jeremiah, do not be
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: you Verse seventeen. Now gird up your loins, pack your bags,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: gird up your loins, and arise and speak to them
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: all that I can, all which I command you. Look
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: at the next one. He even knew behind Jeremiah's words
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: were feelings of insecurities and dismay. Do not be dismayed
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: before them, lest I dismay you before them. Now behold,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: I have made you today as a fortified city, and
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: as a pillar of iron, and as walls of bronze
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: against the whole land. Just love that. Look at that promise, Jeremiah.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: You stand there and be like a little fourteen year
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: old going on the field of a bunch of pro
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: ball players. Oh you're not that in me. You are
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: He couldn't have found more stable symbols against this whole land,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests,
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: and to the people that pretty well covers the waterfront.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: And they will fight against you. Remember the principal the
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: struggles and surprises, he's known as the Weeping Prophet. They
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: will fight against you, but they will not overcome you,
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: You know, I really believe you don't pull those verses
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: out of context when you claim such things in doing
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: God's will. I believe those verses have been preserved for
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: our meditation and application. I have seen him do that.
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: I've seen him. I've seen him take young rookie fresh
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: out of a seminary of pastors and seen him in
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: a situation that calls for wisdom and skill and gift
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: beyond their years. And I've just seen him like a
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: wall of bronze, like a pillar of iron. I've seen
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: women pulled from a home and a family that where
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: their life had been homemaking and their love had been
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: children and all that goes with that, beautiful as it was.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: And I've seen the Lord because of the force of
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: what happened at home, the loss of a husband or
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: the man walking out of their life. And I've seen
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: him step into a situation and be given incredible ability,
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: so they themselves were surprised their ability to handle the pressure,
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: the skill, all that went with it. Toward the end
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: of this or in the next chapter of this book,
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson writes these words, and I close with him.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: His strength was not achieved by growing callouses over his
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: highly sensitive spirit. Throughout his life, Jeremiah experienced an astonishing
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: range of emotions. His spirit registered, it seemed everything. He
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: was one of those finely tuned persons who pick up
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: and respond to the slightest tremors around him. At the
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: same time, he was utterly impervious to assault and mockery,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: to persecution and opposition. The thorough integration of strength and sensitivity,
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: of firmness and feeling is rare. We sometimes see sensitive
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: people who are unstrung most of the time. They bleed
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: profusely at the sight of blood. Their sensitivity incapacitates them
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: for action in the rough and tumble cruelties of the world.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: In contrast, listen to this. Others are rigid moralists, ramrod
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: stiff with righteous rectitude. There is never any doubt about
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: the dogmatically asserted position, But their principles are hammers that
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: crack skulls and bruise flesh. The world makes a wide
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: circuit around such persons. It is dangerous to be in
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: their company for very long, for if they detect any
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: middle weakness or moral wavering in us will be likely,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: will be lucky to escape without at least a headache.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: But not Jeremiah. Educated by the almond tree, his inward
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: responsiveness to the personal, whether God or human, deepened and developed.
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: Educated by the boiling pot, his outward capacity to deal
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: with dehumanizing evil and to resist depersonalizing intimidation became invincible.
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: A fortified city, an iron pillar, bronze walls. Not bad
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: for someone who started out as only a youth. Let's
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: about together. It's been quite a journey, hasn't it. We have.
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: We've begun together, and we've searched the scriptures together, and
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: in the process discussed secretly in our own hearts, and
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: perhaps with a few others, some of the things that
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: the subject of the will of God is prompted. In
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: a real sense, I've only served as a coach. Each
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: one of you must run the place because you don't
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: answer to me. You answer to your heavenly Father, who
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: would love to use you in a different way and
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: in different details than Jeremiah, but in the same kind
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: of mission to be used of him in strategic manner.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: It's terribly important that there'll be no question regarding your
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: place before Christ and in Christ. You've come to the cross,
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: You've embraced the Lord, Jesus's savior and master. You really
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: want to do his will. Your heart is open, But
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: the battle comes when it gets real personal. You may
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: have to leave some things you enjoy and find comfort
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: in and have been good at. It may call for
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: you to dig down deeply and trust Him in new
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: areas where you've never or at least for a long time,
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: haven't even had to consider. It may mean adapting to
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: another culture or climate. It certainly will impact relationships and feelings.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: Let me encourage you not to rush where Jeremiah ran,
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: and to remind God of your inadequacy. He knows you're inadequity.
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: All of us are. If we weren't inadequate, we wouldn't
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: need a God. In some ways, it may mean you
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: will stay right where you are, doing what you do,
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: living where you live, finding great peace in that. And
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: so our Father, we find a comfort in knowing that
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: you do all things well. You are so good to us,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: so gentle with us, so full of grace. Your mercy
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: rushes to our rescue, and you are long suffering patient
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: beyond our imagination. It's taken a lot of us a
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: long time to figure just a little bit of this out.
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: I'm so grateful you haven't cast us off this earth.
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: You've given us the room to struggle and learn and
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: discover and change, and here we are again. Whatever the
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: series may mean to whomever it may touch, I pray
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: that you will find in that individual these things we've
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: talked about today, and that the struggle will be slight
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: on this end. There will be enough in front of
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: us as we walk into the fray which the enemy
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: will hate, since obedience will be fueling the fire, and
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: how he hates that. I pray that you will also
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: reward richly magnificently those who do the hard work of
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: searching and discovering and obeying, and you will honor the
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: effort spent help the mates of those who are married
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: to come to a similar and a mutual understanding and
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: acceptance of what is the plan that you're leading us
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: to do, and is with excitement and joy that we
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: anticipate all that that will include the risks and the releases. Notwithstanding,
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: we commit to you the truths that we've uncovered and
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: the lessons we're beginning to learn. May they be not
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: only learned well, but passed on to our offspring and
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: friends who have not had the benefit of gleaning these
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: things from the Word of God as we have. For
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: we ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: and Savior. Amen.
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Reading God's Mysterious Lips was copyrighted in
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety eight and twenty twenty four, and the sound
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 2: recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R.
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 2: Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 2: material for commercial use is strictly prohibited. In the preceding message,
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 2: Charles Rswindall Incorporated is grateful to Innervarsity Press for permission
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 2: to quote from the book Run with the Horses, copyrighted
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 2: in two thousand and nine by Eugene H.
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: Peterson, and he would tell him