Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20240211 - When God Says NO - Isaiah 49:10

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#20240211 - When God Says NO - Isaiah 49:10 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Take your Bibles. Open them to Isaiah chapter 49,
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Isaiah chapter 49. When you get there, we'll be in
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verse 10, and I've entitled our Bible study.
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When God says no. When God says no, we all like
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it. When God says go, I mean, it's a
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very exciting time. We've been praying, we've been
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desiring, we've been seeking and asking and knocking.
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And then the answer from heaven comes, and it's yes, all your
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desires. The answer is yes.
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Go move forward. When our prayers line up with
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God's will and we receive that encouraging yes answer, I mean,
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we celebrate it, it's exciting. We post it on social media, we
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tell everybody what God's doing in our lives.
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But what about when God says no? Well, when God says no, you
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don't see a lot of people posting that on the Internet.
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You don't see a lot of social media about God said no, and God
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shut this door. And a lot of that.
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As a matter of fact, it's not really received the same way as
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a yes answer or a go answer from the Lord.
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We have a tendency to see, associate yes with good and know
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with bad, but God uses them both in our lives to get us where he
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wants us to go. We often refer to that as His
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will for our lives. You could also refer to it as
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the destiny His God-given destiny for you where you're
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headed. And we know where we're headed,
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not just temporarily, but eternity.
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We're headed toward eternity, and God uses the yeses and Nos
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of life's to help us get there. Now, does God still speak to us
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today? Does He still lead his people
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today? Is God interested in what really
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happens to you and me on a personal level?
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Does God have a master plan for our life?
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Those are important questions and the answers to all of them.
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Is yes, Yes, God has a plan for your life.
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Yes, He's working things out, all working all things together
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for the good. For those that love Him, yes, He
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has a will and wants you to walk in it.
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The good news is, is that as believers we are not victims of
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chance or of circumstance. We're not just hoping our luck
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won't run out or hopefully they'll have a lucky day.
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No, not at all. God wants to lead us and guide
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us and to answer our prayers. I asked you to open Isaiah
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chapter 49 because I love how the prophet speaking on behalf
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of God, how God uses Isaiah to give us this insight and it's
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all over the scriptures, but I just really like combined with
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Psalm 25, how it's laid out for us here in Isaiah 49.
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Notice in verse 10 it says they shall neither hunger nor thirst,
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neither heat nor sun shall strike them, For he who has
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mercy on them will lead them even by the springs of water.
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He will guide them. And I'll make each of my
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mountains a road, and my highways shall be elevated.
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It's from a merciful, gracious, loving God that He leads us and
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He leads us into very difficult situations.
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He lives us, leads us through very difficult situations, and
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we would do well to look to Him, to trust him.
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Now, as you approach this Bible study and the nose in your life,
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it's important that you understand how God answers
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prayers. Now someone along the way,
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someone once taught this and I've adopted it as my own.
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I use it myself now, but I actually got it from someone.
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I don't remember who it was, but he gave a real easy way to
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remember how God answers prayers.
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So if you take notes, you should jot this down because it's very
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helpful in everyday life and it's easy to remember.
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It's easy to remember how God answers prayers.
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And it's important to understand this and to grasp it and know
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it. Because when you don't, when you
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don't get what you want, you won't be easily stumbled when
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your prayers are answered, the opposite of what you expected.
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When your wants, don't match up with what God says you need.
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You need to remember this because we're all praying and we
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all have requests and we all lay them before the Lord.
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You know, there's been so many times in my own life where I was
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certain something specific was God's will for my life, only to
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find out very painfully that it wasn't.
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And that's a big let down for sure.
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But God remains faithful, so here's a way to think of it when
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you're praying. OK, you ready #1?
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If the request is wrong, then God says no.
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That makes sense. If the timing is wrong, then God
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says slow. But if you are wrong and it is
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possible for you to be wrong, if you are wrong, then God says
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grow. So think about it.
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If the request is wrong, God says no, and that's his answer.
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If the timing is wrong, then God says slow, which we often refer
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to as wait, and many are waiting today.
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But notice Do we ever take into account that if we're wrong, if
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our motives are wrong, our heart is wrong, then God's answer is
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no. You need to grow, or what we
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might say you need to grow up. This is a time of deep character
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building and receiving an answer that you didn't expect.
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Where God is developing our maturity and the depth of
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character, preparing us for what He has prepared for us.
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And God does that deep work. So if the request is wrong, God
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says stay with me, God says no. If the timing is wrong, God says
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slow. If the if you are wrong, God
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says grow. But if the request is right and
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the timing is right and you are right, God says go now.
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I did that yesterday too. Yes.
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Look, pastors like to rhyme, so you got to stick with the
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rhyming. No, slow, grow and go.
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And it's easy way to remember, God uses us all in our prayer
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lives. Some of you are going through
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one or two or three or all four of these even today.
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Why? So he might develop you, teach
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you to walk by faith. Today we're reminded that God
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sometimes says no, you have to be ready to hear that church.
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You need to be ready not only to hear that word from God, but to
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accept it. To accept it.
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You can fight it. You know you can fight it, You
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can say I don't like it, I don't want it, and you can fight it,
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but in reality it came from God. So you're really not fighting
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maybe a person because sometimes, you know, decisions
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are made for us. Sometimes people in authority
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over us, situations happen and decisions are made that if we
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were making it, we might have made it differently.
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And so, you know, we get really mad at the people or we get
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really mad at the structure. We get really upset or
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frustrated. But really, God is using that
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instrument in your life to give you the answer.
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So when you choose to fight against it, you're actually just
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fighting against God and you won't win.
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I won't win in that. We don't want to fight against
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God. Sometimes we'll refer to it this
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way. Don't.
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Don't we? We will.
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We'll talk about, you know, God has a will for your life and you
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can move forward. You can either go the easy way
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or the hard way, but you're going to go.
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And a lot of times we do choose the hard way.
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I think of we're studying right now in our midweek study, the
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book of Exodus. We just started, just finished
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chapter two. We have this epic scene with
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Moses being chosen as the deliverer, and he has in his
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heart. I think I want to serve God.
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I want to do it. And he takes things into his own
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hands. When he sees an Egyptian beating
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up a Hebrew and he jumps in and he looks to the left and he
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looks to the right and he kills that Egyptian thinking he's
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doing God a service. He's doing, he's delivering,
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starting with this one Egyptian. The problem with Moses is, is
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that he didn't look up and receive his direction from God,
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and because of that he did the right thing, wanting a heart to
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deliver the wrong way. And we just studied this.
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He's now on the backside of the desert for the next 40 years of
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his life. Or if you Bible students, you
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know those 40 years represent a third of his life is going to be
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spent the hard way. He's going to learn a lot of
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lessons, not going to be wasted. But you eat on this side.
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We can choose not to take the hard way.
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You don't want to fight the closed doors of God.
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Now we do use that if you're new to the Bible or you're new to
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church. We use phrases.
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You might hear Christians use them and wonder what they mean.
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And when it comes to the will of God, when God's saying yes or no
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in our prayers, we use a couple of phrases that describe that.
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For example, when God says yes, you often hear us as Christians
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refer to that as God opened the door.
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That's an open door from the Lord.
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And what we mean by that is exactly what you would think.
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It's a great picture. I mean, it makes a lot of sense.
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Just like every day, if you come to a door and it's open, what
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does it mean? You can go through.
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The door is open. You have complete access.
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Go through. If you come to a door and it's
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closed and you push on it a little bit and it's open, you
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can go through it. If you have a key.
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I think of all the doors here, you know all the doors.
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And if you're a leader here, a passer, you carry a key.
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What that key is telling you is that even if you come to a
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closed door, you have access to open the door.
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So open doors mean go through them.
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On the other hand, when we refer to the nose of God or the stops
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of God, you know the Bible says the steps of a righteous man are
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ordered by the Lord, but so are the stops.
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You also often hear us refer to them as closed doors.
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That makes a lot of sense. If you come to a closed door and
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you kind of jiggle the the handle and you pull on it and it
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doesn't open the door is telling you you can't come in.
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That's what a closed door is. There is no access you you need.
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I mean, you can try to kick through it.
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I mean you could try to break in, but you are going against
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the message that the locked door is telling you.
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If you don't have a key and the door is locked, that closed door
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is telling you you cannot go forward.
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So we use that language, open doors and closed doors.
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We like the open doors. We don't like the closed doors.
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And that's our problem because they're both equal in the hands
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of God to get you and me where he wants us.
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He opens a door so we can go forward.
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He closes the door to say you don't go you.
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It is not good for you. It is not for you.
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It may not be for you now, it may not be for you forever.
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But you can't press through fight through closed doors.
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It's better to accept them now. The thought of God using
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difficult things in your life is hard for some of you, for many
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of you, if not all of us, truly, if we could control things a
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little ourselves, like if we could lay out our lives and just
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kind of control it all, we would probably control every difficult
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thing out of our lives. That makes sense.
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Like if we were writing the script of our life as if it was
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a play. I mean, we would, we would just
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script out all of the pain and all of the difficulties.
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But that's not real life. Real life involves hard things,
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challenging things, difficult things.
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Real life. In a fallen world, in a fallen
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body, with a battle against our flesh, hard things are going to
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come. Sometimes those hard things come
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from God. Where he identifies the answer
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to our prayer is no. No, daughter, no, son, I have
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something better for you. And you know you're finding it's
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like, no, no, no. This is the best.
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This is the best. This is all I ever want.
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I've lived my no, no, no. God says I have something better
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for you. This is not good for you.
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And therefore he closes the door.
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Real life is that God is in control and we learn to yield to
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him through the good times, which I mean seriously, when
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when there's open doors and everything is going well, you
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don't have a problem with obedience.
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You don't have a problem with yielding.
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You don't have a problem with surrender because you like it.
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This is all you ever wanted. And so we find ourselves super
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happy and just throwing our hands up, singing really loud,
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telling everybody about a post, and you won't believe it.
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It's the things that we don't like that we don't receive from
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the Lord that we fight. And even though you probably
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will never like it through the difficulty, we need to learn to
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yield and surrender in the good times, but especially in the
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hard times, that God is at work remaining open to the Holy
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Spirit. That word yield and surrender.
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Even as we were singing today and we received the instructions
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to raise our hands. You know, that's a place that
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that's a sign of worship, of course, but it's also a sign of
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surrender. When you put your hands up,
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you're very vulnerable. You're in a position where even
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you could be off balance or but you're you don't care.
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You're so caught up with the song.
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You're so caught up with life that you choose to raise your
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hands and surrender, yielding your life.
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I don't know how long it's going to take for you to realize that
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your control of your life is actually corrupting.
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You're ruining your life. You're making it harder for you.
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You're making it harder for the people that love you.
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You're making it harder for the people that are close to you,
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especially especially when things are difficult and
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challenging. In Psalm 31 and verse three, it
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says, for you are my rock and my fortress.
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Therefore, for your name's sake, lead me and guide me.
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Remember, it's for his name's sake.
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It's his life. We can try to do our own thing
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and we can try to go our own way, but it's ultimately his
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will. It's ultimately his will that
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prevails. In Proverbs chapter 16 and verse
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nine, it says a man's heart plans his way but the Lord
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directs his steps. Proverbs 16, verse 33 The lot is
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cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord.
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Proverbs chapter 19, verse 21. By the way, the book of Proverbs
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is all wisdom. These little wisdom Nuggets that
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are scattered throughout Proverbs all 31 chapters.
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Proverbs 19, verse 21. There are many plans in a man's
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heart. Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel
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that will stand. I was thinking of another
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proverb. I don't know the address, but it
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popped into my mind. There is a way that seems right
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to a man, but the end thereof is death.
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And we don't want the way that seems right to us.
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We want God's way. God's way involves.
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Very often I I hesitate to use the Word.
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Sometimes I would substitute it. Very often the will of God is
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discovered through a closed door and a no, just a straight up no
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from God. It's so important that we remain
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open to what the Spirit's doing in our lives, not resisting or
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trying to kick down or breakthrough closed doors,
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receiving it as from the Lord. Now you're already in Isaiah.
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Would you turn over to chapter 55?
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Here, I want to share with you a very familiar passage in the
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Bible, but it is. I'm going to give you some
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context on it so you understand what God is saying to us through
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the prophet Isaiah 55. We're going to start in verse
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one and then I'll bring you to the place where it's most
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common, like how we mostly remember this section.
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Isaiah 55, verse one. He says everyone who thirsts
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come to the waters. And you who have no money, come
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buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk
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without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for
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what is not bread and your wages for what is does not satisfy?
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Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and let your soul
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delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me
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here, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
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covenant with you. The sure mercies of David.
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Indeed, I've given him as a witness to the people, A leader,
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a commander for the people. Surely, Verse five, you shall
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call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you
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shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One
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of Israel, for He is glorified you.
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Then verse six, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon
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him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
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and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
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Let him return to the Lord, and you'll have mercy on him and to
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our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
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And here now verse eight, we I often quote.
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Here's the address. Let's hear This is the context
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seeking the Lord, searching him out, calling upon him.
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And then he says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
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nor are my ways your ways, says the Lord.
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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
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higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your
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thoughts. Just a beautiful picture of
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God's love and grace to us, letting us know that when we
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call upon Him and when we seek Him, and it's a time of need, or
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a desperate time of desperation, or or just even just in a
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general prayer life, we need to remember this foundational
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truth. God doesn't think like us.
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The pathway of discipleship and spiritual growth is not for you
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to change God's mind. That's impossible.
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The process that's happening in your life and mine is that He's
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changing our minds. We are being transformed by the
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renewing of our mind. We are being conformed into the
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image of Christ. It's one of the reasons why we
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place such a great emphasis on teaching every word of the
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Bible, because we know it'll change your life.
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As a matter of fact, as it says in verse 11 notice jump down to
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verse 11. So shall my word be that goes
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forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty,
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but it shall accomplish what I please, and I shall prosper it
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in the thing for which I sent it.
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Every time we open the Bible, God's going to do something in
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your life. He has a purpose and a plan that
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he's developing in your life, just as he has a purpose and a
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plan in the yes answers, in the no answers, and in the wait.
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God's doesn't think like us. His ways and thoughts are so
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much, much different than mine, you know, There have been times
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when I'm worried, God's not worried when I've been
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impatient, God's not impatient. When I've been upset, God's not
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been upset. Times when I wasn't too
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concerned, well, God was very concerned because his ways are
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different. Just when I think I have God's
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plan figured out, I learned that I don't.
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And God is teaching me how to walk by faith as you walk
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through life facing open doors and closed doors.
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They are both used by God to lead us and guide us.
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Let me show you another example. Turn over to Acts chapter 16.
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We're going to get there very soon here.
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And I want to I want to show you here that even sometimes,
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sometimes God will say no to something very, very good.
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I mean, here's an example with Paul the apostle.
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He's on a missionary journey. God's using him in incredible
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ways. Lives are being changed.
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You could say that God, Paul's desire here in Acts 16 is to
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preach the gospel. And then we would stand back and
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go, why would God ever say no to preaching the gospel?
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Well, pick up with me in verse six.
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Notice in chapter 16 and verse six it says now when they had
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gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia.
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They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in
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Asia. Pause there for a second if you
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like to write in your Bibles right next to this verse.
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Verse 6. God said no.
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That's what's happening here. They want to go into a new
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region, this area of the province of of Asia.
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They want to go and preach the gospel and God.
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The Holy Spirit forbid them stop them from going in verse 7 after
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they had come. And so they go a little bit to
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the around this area. They they tried to get in a
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different way. Notice after they had come to
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Misia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not
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permit them. Again, you like to write in your
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bibles. This is the second time in a row
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that God said no. Now this is shocking.
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This is shocking because all they want to do is help people.
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All they want to do is preach the gospel.
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All they want to do is do what God has called him to do.
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His whole life has been dedicated to this.
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But God said no now. He didn't say no to preaching
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the gospel. He said no to that particular
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area and that particular time, and Paul would do well to
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receive it. He wanted to go into that
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region, but face to closed door. He wanted lives change face to
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closed doors, which in this moment we often ask the question
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why. That's a good question to ask,
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except that you're probably not going to get an immediate
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answer. Paul doesn't know.
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We know because we have the rest of the Bible.
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Paul at this point, he doesn't know.
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All he knows is that he's forbidden.
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He was resistant. There was a resisting of God,
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don't do it, don't go there. And you know Paul faced a lot of
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closed doors, not just the Holy Spirit forbidding.
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He was. He was stoned, he was beat up,
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he was shipwrecked, all closed doors on where he was headed.
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Some were temporary, some lasted a little bit longer.
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But Paul, his life is discovered.
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All the good that came, all the wonderful things that came, all
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the outpouring in his life was filled with nose from God.
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It wasn't just a life of yes, because God had to guide him
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along the way. Paul doesn't know.
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He didn't know yet, but he was discovering the will of God by
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remaining faithful and trusting God in a very disappointing,
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hard and challenging season. Looking to him, I was thinking,
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you know, the church here in Aurora.
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This church was planted by God many years ago.
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Our birthday is in December of 1999, and I am here pastoring
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this church, have the privilege of serving you because of one of
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the worst, disappointing, discouraging seasons in my
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entire life. It was a closed door, Me and my
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family. Just my wife and three kids and
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another family. We were ready to go to another
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city, and we were so close to going that we drove out on one
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of those times. I had some extra time off at
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work, with money in hand. We were ready to rent a house,
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move to that city. I'd already resigned from my
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job. They prayed over me at church
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already to send me off, and I was on my way.
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And the Holy Spirit forbid us from moving to that city.
23:37
You go, Ed, how did that happen? Well, the Holy Spirit spoke
23:40
very, very clearly. I understood every word the
23:43
Spirit said. And let me just say, you might
23:45
go. Well, Ed, how does the Holy
23:46
Spirit sound? Well, the Holy Spirit sounds a
23:49
lot like Marie for me, at least. And we're driving in to that
23:58
city in the winter time, very brown and very hard on the eyes.
24:05
And as we're driving to that city, this is how I remember it.
24:08
So it's not an exact quote, but it's very close.
24:12
I heard the Holy Spirit speak through my wife, Ed.
24:15
There is no way in the world I'm going to live here.
24:20
And what that did is it began a series of events.
24:23
The jobs I had lined up didn't work.
24:25
This thing over here didn't work.
24:27
This meeting over here didn't work.
24:28
These guys weren't who they like.
24:30
I had all so many things lined up on that trip.
24:32
But it was concluded at the end of that, those few days that we
24:37
were not going to move and that I wasn't going to plant a
24:40
church. It was a very hard drive.
24:42
Going back, it was a very probably the one of the first
24:45
significant, deep discouragements and depressions
24:48
I've ever I've only really had two seasons.
24:50
That was one of them. The other one was with the loss
24:52
of my son. So we're driving back, you know,
24:55
and I I got my job back because it was only a week since I
24:58
resigned, and that was not a problem.
24:59
And and, you know, there's a lot of battle going on because I had
25:04
set my life on this. This is what I thought God
25:06
wanted to do in my life. This is what I thought the will
25:08
of God was. This is what I was praying for.
25:10
Is this it? We've been praying for all these
25:11
cities, all these places. And finally we found it.
25:14
And then boom, a hard no. And, you know, I'm grateful for
25:19
some of the decisions I made. You know, one is I didn't get
25:21
mad at my pastor. Like he he was praying for me
25:25
and helping, but I didn't get mad.
25:26
I needed to hear from him. Another decision I made is I
25:29
went back to our church because, you know, I didn't want to in
25:32
the beginning. I didn't want to go back to our
25:34
church because they'd already prayed over me.
25:36
And and it was just a pride thing.
25:37
It was just pride. You know why?
25:38
Because I did not want to answer this question.
25:42
Ed, what are you doing here? I didn't want to answer it.
25:45
And I knew, you know, the church we came from, you know, 6-7
25:49
thousand people. I was, I was serving in a high
25:52
capacity, so I knew a lot of those people and everywhere I'd
25:55
go. What are you doing here?
25:56
What are you doing? Don't we pray?
25:57
And I would have to say I didn't count them, but I answered that
25:59
question. I went back and I humble myself
26:02
before God, I went back served for about four to six weeks.
26:05
You know, I was doing and every turn I'd turn the corner.
26:08
Hey, Ed, what are you doing here?
26:09
And this is the phrase that God wanted me to say 250 times at
26:14
least. I'm not planning a church.
26:16
I'm not planning a church. I'm not planning a church.
26:20
And that's exactly the work that God wanted to do.
26:23
In my heart, He was developing character so that I might be
26:28
more effective in serving you. Now, I didn't know that.
26:32
I didn't know that at all. At the end of four or six weeks,
26:34
I came to the conclusion I'm never going to plan a church.
26:36
I'll just stay in the corporate world.
26:37
I did very well there. It was a bright future for me.
26:40
Make a lot of money. I give to the church, serving
26:43
the church, and I would be fine, that that would be a wonderful
26:45
thing for me to use my gifts and talents in the corporate world
26:49
and maybe serving the church. That was great.
26:51
It was settled. I was fine.
26:53
It took about, you know, four to six weeks, just like I'm not
26:56
planning a church. I'm not planning a church.
26:57
I'm not planning a church. I'm not planning a church.
26:59
Till finally, God finally said that's I can work with that.
27:03
And it just happened out of the blue.
27:05
All of a sudden things turned. And through this event and that
27:08
event and this event, I was given an opportunity to take a
27:11
job with my company here in Aurora.
27:14
And all of a sudden God enlivened that desire.
27:17
Maybe God wants me to use me, maybe he does.
27:20
But I came here very different and we're only talking months
27:23
here. I was out there at the other
27:25
city in January. I was here in July like I moved
27:29
here, lived here, had an apartment here in July of that
27:32
same year. But here's what God was doing.
27:34
I didn't know it at the time, but I needed it revealed in me.
27:38
And I can see it clearly now. The first city, very confident,
27:42
you know, said I think God can use me and I'm going to go and
27:45
do a great work for God. And this is what God wanted me
27:48
to understand. I don't need you, Ed, to do a
27:51
great work for me. I don't need you.
27:54
Oh, it's not like he demeaned me or doesn't want me.
27:56
It's not like that at all. It's just the truth.
27:58
He doesn't need me. He can do a lot of things
28:01
without me. However he wants to use me.
28:04
Just like you. He wants to use you.
28:06
But he doesn't need us. It's his privilege.
28:09
It's our privilege, his prerogative when it comes to
28:11
serving. So by the time I come to Aurora,
28:14
and God can do a quick work, too.
28:16
By the time I get to Aurora, it's a whole different attitude.
28:19
I wasn't here. I didn't move here to do a great
28:21
work for God. I moved here to be a part of the
28:23
great work God was doing, and it doesn't sound too different, but
28:28
it is night and day, the work that God had to do in my life to
28:33
get me to where He wanted me. He wanted me here and he let me
28:36
try over here. He let me try over here, let me
28:38
try, let me pray, let me dream, let me think.
28:41
But he wanted me here. And in order to get me here, it
28:44
required a really hard closed door, one that cut to the core
28:49
of who I was in relationship to me, but also to my God, do I
28:54
really, am I really open to be used by him?
28:58
That God uses these things in our lives and certainly used
29:02
this in Paul's life? You know, here's our problem.
29:04
I mean, we have many problems, but here's our problem.
29:06
When it comes to these things, we have a tendency to look at
29:10
things in our lives in a small picture way, just really small.
29:14
Like what's up in front of us? What's the benefit, What's the
29:17
consequence of this situation right now?
29:20
What's it going to cost me? What am I going to have to do?
29:22
And we're not thinking too far into the future as much as we
29:25
are right now. Our questions are like, how does
29:28
this affect me today? And I don't like this.
29:30
This is uncomfortable and it's hard and I don't know what I'm
29:33
going to do today. Let me say those are natural and
29:36
normal responses. Nothing wrong with it.
29:38
If you didn't have a a response, I'd be concerned.
29:40
These are natural and normal responses.
29:42
However, as believers, we don't want to just live in the
29:45
natural. We want to live in the
29:47
supernatural. We don't want just want to go
29:49
through life with our own wisdom.
29:50
Our own understanding got us something so much better for us.
29:53
We don't want to live on the natural.
29:55
We want to take those natural responses and yield ourselves to
29:59
the work that God wants to do in our lives.
30:03
We don't want to just look at the physical because God is
30:05
always looking at the spiritual. We don't want to just look at
30:09
the here and now. We all know we want to also look
30:12
at what God is doing in the bigger picture.
30:14
For all of eternity, there will be things that happen to you as
30:18
a Christian. Hear me out.
30:21
There are going to be things that happen to you as a
30:23
Christian that will not make sense in the moment, or in a
30:28
week, or in a month, or in a year, perhaps even a lifetime.
30:37
God may have a plan or purpose that will make a lot more sense
30:41
when we know it. We just don't know it yet.
30:45
And in the in between, God is calling us to a life of faith,
30:50
not sight. And this frustrates a lot of
30:53
believers because you just live. So sight, sight, sight, sight.
30:56
I just don't know what's going to happen.
30:58
And certainly my trip to another city, I'd live that out.
31:02
It's like, what's going to happen in my life?
31:04
I don't know. This is, this is the worst thing
31:07
that could have ever happened to me, but it actually was the best
31:09
thing. God was using it in my life to
31:12
reveal things to me that I couldn't see on my own, that
31:16
nobody could tell me. God, I had to be in such a
31:18
position like you do, to receive a word from God and have your
31:23
own character revealed so that he might begin to work on it.
31:28
In Second Corinthians, in chapter 4 and verse 17, it says
31:31
for our light affliction, that's the temporary, that's our
31:34
problem, which is, but for a moment is working for us a far
31:40
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
31:42
That's the eternal So everything in our life is working for us,
31:46
not against us. And while it has a temporary
31:49
situation and consequence, it has an eternal benefit far more
31:53
than what you're going through right now.
31:55
But it says while we don't look at the things which are seen,
31:59
but at the things which are not seen.
32:01
For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things
32:05
which are not seen are eternal. Very similar to what we studied
32:10
last time to fix our eyes on Jesus.
32:13
Now, over the years here at Calvary, we've had to make
32:16
decisions that have been glorious and wonderful.
32:19
They've been great open doors because they're fresh.
32:21
You know, we celebrated them. We clap them.
32:23
Yes, this is new. This is fresh.
32:25
Upward and onward. Let's go church.
32:29
However, we've also had to make decisions here at Calvary that
32:34
are glorious and wonderful and worth celebration.
32:36
But they don't seem that way because they're painful closed
32:40
doors. Recently we've had to make the
32:43
decision here at Calvary to allow this season of the Calvary
32:47
Christian Academy to come to an end after this semester.
32:50
It's clear from the Lord that we need to let this season go very
32:55
hard. It's been many years in the
32:58
making, praying and asking God for wisdom, and this is the
33:01
time, you know, it reminded me. We've seen a lot of closed doors
33:04
with the school through the years.
33:06
I remember the first time we had a really significant issue with
33:09
the school where we had to let the pre-K go.
33:11
So many kids, but because of regulatory things and the
33:15
configuration of the building, we just couldn't do it.
33:17
And a lot of other reasons, but we couldn't do it and we had to
33:20
let pre-K go. Then along the way, I had this
33:24
big vision as a pastor just coming from California, The
33:27
church I came from, that we would have a high school on this
33:29
side of town that we would be able to provide a high school
33:32
and we'd play in sports and it would be amazing.
33:35
And I remember the year God said just let it go, Ed.
33:37
It's not going to happen. Like, what do you mean it's not
33:40
going to happen? We haven't even tested it yet.
33:41
The Lord says you've got to let it go.
33:43
So we let it go. Then last year we had to make
33:46
the hard decision with the school to let the junior high
33:49
go, the middle school go, which was very, very painful and hard.
33:52
But it was a compromise because even the reality of the school
33:56
not lasting through the middle school, letting the middle
33:59
school go to see if we could save the school, that was the
34:01
compromise we made and it's just not possible.
34:04
And now, at the end of this semester, we have to let it go.
34:09
We have a renewed focus we've had for quite some time though
34:11
in our church. Our church has a renewed and
34:14
refreshed focus that we're taking toward the kids in our
34:17
church, changes in our investments and changes in our
34:21
children's ministry, in our youth ministries, junior high,
34:24
middle school, high school, and even a revamping of our young
34:27
adults to help them launch off and be the adults that God has
34:30
called them to be. God is calling us as a church to
34:33
more focus more deeply on Christian discipleship, both of
34:36
the parents and the grandparents, but also of the
34:38
kids. And one of the scriptures the
34:41
Lord gave us during this time of obedience is in Ecclesiastes
34:45
chapter 3 and verse one. It says to everything.
34:47
There is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, and
34:53
it's important that we learn to receive from God the open doors
34:57
as well as the closed. Now we have been discipled well,
35:01
I believe in our church family. We've been discipled well as
35:05
servants and as leaders. Even as you had the school of
35:08
ministry up here, I think they've been discipled well.
35:10
Pastor Chuck Smith taught us on this, handed down to my pastor
35:15
and then handed down to me. And I have the privilege of now
35:17
sharing with you that we've been taught and discipled to be
35:20
sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to obey him at all costs, that
35:26
you would rather have the consequences of obedience than
35:29
the consequences of disobedience every time.
35:33
It's very important for us as believers, but also as leaders.
35:36
It's part of taking steps of faith.
35:39
Or what Pastor Chuck used to call who's now gone home to be
35:41
with the Lord. He, he called them ventures of
35:44
faith. And I want to read a quote to
35:45
you here. If you don't, if you want a copy
35:47
of it, just e-mail me and I'll send it to you.
35:50
Also, the previous things on prayer, I can send those to you
35:52
as well. But here's what Pastor Chuck
35:54
says and I quote It's always an exciting thing to give God a
35:58
chance to work. God wants you to be a part of
36:01
what He's doing. God doesn't want to stop
36:03
working. So it's important for us to
36:05
discover what he wants to do. I've found that the way we
36:09
discover how God wants to work is to venture out in faith.
36:13
We need to step out and see what the Lord might do.
36:16
But as we step out in faith, there has to be a guard against
36:20
presumption. A lot of people who test the
36:22
waters to see what God might want to do mistake by falling
36:27
back on human effort when God's hand obviously is not in it.
36:33
Sometimes we can get so committed to something that our
36:36
reputation seems to be on the line.
36:39
Then we start pumping extra energy and effort into a program
36:42
that wasn't of God to begin with.
36:44
I ventured out many times only to discover that God wasn't in
36:48
it. What do we do then?
36:50
You retreat. What gets us into trouble is
36:53
when we proudly say we're going to make this thing succeed.
36:57
We find ourselves spending all of our energy trying to create
37:01
something that God isn't a part of and it can just rip you up.
37:05
When I step out in faith, if it succeeds, I rejoice and say
37:09
great, the Lord led me. If it doesn't succeed, I step
37:13
back and say I thought it was a good idea, but it sure fell on
37:17
its nose. So I think there are certain
37:19
precautions that one must take in any venture of faith.
37:24
Paul would put it this way. In Galatians, are we going to
37:27
try to perfect in the flesh what God started in the Spirit?
37:32
And the answer is no. We can't in any area of our
37:35
life. Now, looking to the future, I
37:37
wish that we could. I could tell you what the future
37:40
is. I mean, I wish I knew you would
37:42
come and ask me what's God doing?
37:43
What's he going to do? I don't know yet.
37:47
Because the will of God is discovered.
37:50
That's how you know the will of God.
37:52
You discover it. The will of God is discovered
37:55
and revealed. It's not planned, scheduled and
37:59
dictated. Now you can live your life like
38:01
that kind of dictate. We're going to do this, We're
38:03
going to do this. But that may not, may or may not
38:05
be the will of God. The will of God is discovered.
38:08
If the will of God is not a task list, well, if things you're
38:11
supposed to do and people you're supposed to see and things we
38:15
all line up and we're going to press in and fight.
38:17
No, God doesn't want you to fight His will.
38:20
He wants you to discover it. He wants you to receive it.
38:23
As you live your life abiding in Christ with an open heart and an
38:27
open mind, you'll learn what God has for you in this situation.
38:31
So church, the will of God is good.
38:36
The will of God is good. As hard as it sometimes is, the
38:41
will of God is good for us, as hard as it sometimes is.
38:45
We have to settle this in our minds.
38:48
God desires obedience more than a desire, sacrifice, to learn
38:54
how to obey what God is revealing, not to press through
38:57
closed doors, not to be upset, taking all of our cares and
39:02
concerns to the Lord. I mean, there is when you think
39:05
of some things, it hurts and it's difficult.
39:07
And we wonder what the future is.
39:09
We're learning how to trust in the Lord.
39:12
You're going to be able to look back on these things that you're
39:14
facing right now, and you're going to be able to see what God
39:17
was doing. You can't see it now.
39:19
It's hard to see right now because you don't have the big
39:21
picture. You're not high enough to see
39:23
the beginning and the end. But God knows things are working
39:26
for us and who knows where He's moving and leading and guiding
39:30
you. Somewhere along the way, we've
39:32
got this view of God that he's just wanting to hurt you and
39:35
ruin your life. It's not true.
39:37
You're sitting there hurting. I can't believe what is God
39:40
doing in my life? He's developing you.
39:42
He's strengthening you. He's pouring himself into you.
39:45
I mean, you think about how much this situation has drawn your
39:48
attention to the Lord. I was thinking, you know,
39:51
parents, you understand this. You understand this.
39:54
Grandparents too. That when, let's say you took
39:57
your kids to the park and there's somebody who took him in
40:00
the park and they came home and they go, you know, mom, you
40:01
won't believe it. Dad, you can't believe this guy
40:03
bullied me at the park. I just can't believe I've never
40:06
been bullied before and he beat me up.
40:08
Now, the last thing as a parent you want to do is like, OK, son,
40:10
let's go down and we're going to beat him up.
40:13
That wouldn't be good discipleship.
40:16
It might be what you're feeling, but you shouldn't be feeling
40:18
about beating other kids up. All right?
40:20
But you're wanting to protect your kids, right?
40:22
It's a natural response. It's not supernatural, but it's
40:25
natural. And those natural response needs
40:27
to be submitted to the Lord. The proper thing to do is to
40:31
talk to your child. Teach them about it.
40:34
If there needs to be a trip down to the park to talk to parents
40:36
or anything, you do that in an organized, civil way to talk
40:40
about what's going on with what happened with your child.
40:43
But it's not to take things into your own hands.
40:46
But you know, really why God allowed that?
40:49
Why did God allow that with your son or daughter to be bullied,
40:52
to get them closer to you? They came running to you, they
40:56
came crying to you, they came listening to you, they came
41:01
trusting to you. And I find often in the closed
41:05
doors the best place to run is to the Lord so that He can
41:10
disciple you and direct you and help you of what the future
41:14
might. We don't know who what what the
41:16
future holds, but we do know who holds the future.
41:20
We can follow him confidently and as soon as you yield and
41:25
surrender God gives you a new peace that passes all
41:29
understanding. And you, you know we.
41:32
The problem is, is we think we're going to live on that
41:34
peace forever. I was just going to live on it
41:36
like I had a peace yesterday. Now I'm going to take me in the
41:38
next year. No it's a fresh new thing every
41:41
day. It's new every morning is
41:44
mercies. God does want to reveal His will
41:48
to you daily, moment by moment. He wants to use you in greater
41:52
ways, and there's no secret formula to follow.
41:54
There's no miraculous methods to adopt.
41:58
There is just a simple man and a simple woman immersed in the
42:03
word of God, reading their Bible, praying every day,
42:06
saturated by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit,
42:10
Asking, seeking and knocking, listening and responding in
42:14
obedience, no matter the cost. Because obedience will cost you.
42:20
It will cost you something. It'll be painful.
42:22
It'll be hard. It'll take you from glory to
42:24
glory. Obedience is going to cost you.
42:26
But let me just mark my words. OK, listen.
42:28
Mark my words. Obedience is going to cost you.
42:31
But disobedience will cost you more every single time.
42:36
So we want to face these things with an obedient, yielded heart
42:39
to the Lord. Let me close in two places.
42:41
Turn over to Luke, Chapter 12. Luke, Chapter 12.
42:46
I like this section. We're almost familiar.
42:49
We're almost always familiar with Matthew's version of this.
42:52
But I want to give you Luke's version.
42:54
It just says a fresh approach to this teaching of Jesus in
42:58
parallel in Matthew chapter 6. But here in Luke 12, draw your
43:02
attention to verse 22, where Jesus is speaking to the
43:06
disciples then just like he's speaking to us now.
43:09
Therefore, I say to you, don't worry about your life, what
43:13
you'll eat, or about the body, what you'll put on.
43:16
Life is more than food and the body's more than clothing.
43:19
Just mark that phrase. Life is more.
43:22
You can add anything after it, but life is more than this
43:25
temporary set back or challenge. Consider verse 24, the Ravens,
43:31
for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither a storehouse
43:34
nor barn, but God feeds them. How much more value are you than
43:38
birds? And which of you worrying can
43:41
add 1 cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do
43:44
the least, why are you anxious? For the rest, consider the
43:48
lilies how they grow. They neither toil nor spin.
43:51
And it I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not
43:54
arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass
43:58
which today is in the field and tomorrow's thrown into the oven,
44:01
how much more will he clothe you O you of little faith?
44:05
And that's our issue at times, isn't it?
44:07
O you of little faith. I don't think he's being upset.
44:09
He's just like this is an area, this is the area of strength.
44:12
Trusting him. Notice, he says as he continues
44:18
on this teaching in verse 29. Do not seek what you should eat
44:22
or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind for all
44:25
these things the nations of the world seek after.
44:27
And your father knows. That's another phrase.
44:31
Your father knows what you need. He knows you need these things.
44:35
But seek the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added
44:38
unto you. And verse 32 is why I chose
44:40
this. This is so beautiful.
44:42
You think God's holding out on you right now.
44:44
You think God's saying no. You think it's so hard.
44:46
And all of those, you know, the feelings and emotions are real.
44:51
You just got to remember feelings and emotions.
44:53
They're real, but they don't always tell us the truth.
44:57
So you're hurting and it's hard. But here, here, God is not
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holding on. And you notice verse 32.
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Do not fear little flock. It's your father's good pleasure
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to give you the Kingdom. This is God's heart.
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He wants to give you his best. And the difficulties we're
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facing now is all part of the process, Open and closed doors.
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So what do we do when God says no?
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Come back to Psalm 25 with me. I think there's a practical
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insight of exactly how we're to respond.
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What will help us in those early days of difficulty?
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What do we do when God says no? Psalm 25 and verse 4.
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We turn to him, and then notice we come to him with this prayer.
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Show me your ways, O Lord, Teach me your paths.
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Lead me in your truth and teach me, For you are the God of my
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salvation. On you I wait all the day, and
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as you come with that prayer, you respond with yielding,
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surrender and obedience. Sometimes God says no, sometimes
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God says slow, sometimes God says grow, and sometimes God
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says go. Each of those answers to prayer
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are from a God that loves you and wants to give you the
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Kingdom. Keep your eyes on him, church.
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He'll get you through this and you get through this.
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Whatever it may be, whatever this might be in your life,
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He'll get you through this. And he'll strengthen you for
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what's up ahead. Why He's preparing you for what
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he has prepared for you. Amen.
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So, Lord, thank you for your word today as it speaks to us.
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And just knowing that the hardships and the challenges we
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face, they are they're hard, they're challenging.
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They create fear in US, fear of the future, fear all the way
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around, Lord. But I'm encouraged today that
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your desire for me is that you want to give me the Kingdom.
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You love me, you care for me, You care for us as a church.
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And we're going to get through this, whatever this might be.
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You're going to show yourself, faithful Lord, help us, because
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we can make things so much harder.
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We can choose to go the hard way.
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But God, our desire is to choose the right way.
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Not to make things more hard for ourselves, but to yield and
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submit ourselves to what you've allowed in our lives.
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Jesus Name. Amen.
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We pray that you've been. Encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace.
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That's 877 304-7223. To listen to this message in its
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entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app, Be Blessed as You Worship Jesus this week.