Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW190037A
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00:02 I want to spend my life
00:08 Mending broken people 00:13 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:09 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today Family Worship, 01:13 and happy Sabbath to you. 01:15 I'm so happy that you could join 01:16 your 3ABN family. 01:18 You are a part of our family. 01:20 And as we're sitting around the table 01:22 and we're considering the question, 01:25 how do I discover God's will for my life? 01:27 Amen. 01:29 That's a question that comes up 01:30 more often than not. 01:31 And tonight we will be talking about that 01:34 and with me to discuss this topic, 01:37 I'm gonna let you guys introduce yourselves and... 01:39 I'll be first, 01:40 since I'm sitting here as a book in. 01:42 JD Quinn. I work in 3ABN Pastoral. 01:45 I'm very blessed to be there. Amen. 01:47 Came here in 2005. Mm-hmm. 01:50 I'm Robert Pierce. 01:51 I work in production, also doing editing 01:53 and a little bit of producing and writing 01:55 and little bit everything. 01:56 And I'd been here about two years. 01:57 Glad to be here. How did you get here? 02:00 Well, I knew Greg Morikone, 02:03 so I knew people in high places. 02:04 There you go. 02:07 That's good. 02:08 I'm Dee Hilderbrand. I'm in production. 02:10 I've been there for 20 some years. 02:14 And God brought me here when I was widowed. 02:16 And He just, His leading was very specific. 02:20 As so one time when I knew I was walking in God's will, 02:24 and He just planted me here. 02:26 Amen. 02:27 You're stuck with Me. I'm planted. 02:29 I'm looking forward to hearing a little bit more 02:31 about that a little later in the program. 02:32 And I guess I'll introduce myself too. 02:35 I'm Jason Bradley. 02:36 I'm the general manager of 3ABN's Dare to Dream Network, 02:38 and I've been here for going on six years now. 02:42 Praise the Lord. 02:43 I'm Donald Owen. I'm in Pastoral. 02:46 I'm going with JD Quinn, and we came here in 2013, 02:49 with the Lord's blessing. 02:50 So we've been very blessed and I'm just thankful 02:52 to work around a bunch of wonderful people. 02:54 Amen. 02:55 He's been growing us, so... Amen. 02:57 Well, my name is Eric. 02:59 I'm one of three broadcast engineers. 03:01 My boss is Moses Primo. 03:04 One of my jobs is computers. 03:06 I love computers. 03:08 So I do a lot of programming 03:09 for 3ABN master control automation. 03:11 I also fix everything that's broken. 03:14 Which is another really important responsibility here 03:17 and keeping us on the air, 03:20 that's another really important job. 03:21 It's very challenging, but we keep us on the air, 03:25 and so far so good. 03:27 Here with my wife, Marilyn, 03:29 we came here from Washington State. 03:31 And it's been the blessing ever since. 03:33 Amen. How long you've been here? 03:35 2013, we came here. 03:38 Yes, six years. 03:39 Yep, six years. Wow, 2013. 03:43 And it's interesting because as you know, 03:45 you look around the table and you see 03:47 all the different people that are sitting here. 03:50 You know, we all have different backgrounds, 03:52 come from different places, but yet 03:54 God brought us all together for the same purpose 03:57 which is spreading the gospel around the world. 03:59 Amen. Amen. 04:01 And we're a family. 04:02 That's right. That's right. 04:04 With all these different personalities 04:05 somehow God brings them together and we all mesh 04:07 and we complement each other with our talents and quirks. 04:13 With our quirks. Absolutely. 04:17 Now, when thinking about how to discover God's will 04:22 for your life, what do you guys think about? 04:26 Wow. Discovering God's will for your life? 04:28 I think that takes a personal relationship first. 04:31 You got to have that personal, how will you know, 04:32 if you don't know who God is? 04:34 How you gonna know what His will for you is, 04:35 so I think, yeah, I think that you're talking about 04:37 here the relationship of getting to know God 04:38 the first point here. 04:40 You've got to get to know Him first 04:41 to know what His will is for you. 04:43 That's right. You got to get in His word. 04:44 Uh-huh. 04:46 Let me share a scripture with you 04:49 on getting to know having a relationship, 04:51 where do you start? 04:53 Well, this is where a good place to start, 04:55 right here is the Holy Bible. 04:58 And if you look up Psalms 34:8, Psalms 34:8, it says, 05:04 "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, 05:06 blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" 05:08 So, right here we're tasting and as I was reading 05:12 the other day, 05:13 this taste whenever we're tasting the Word, 05:17 that it's as sweet as honey, 05:19 and then you add the honey to it, 05:21 it's even sweeter as the honeycomb. 05:24 And so it is sweet. 05:26 And sometimes you may think, well, 05:28 I don't quite understand that, ask that Holy Spirit, 05:31 ask the Holy Spirit to be there with you present, 05:34 and to expound and to make it perfectly clear. 05:37 The Holy Spirit hears, He does, He cares and He's present. 05:43 Amen. So, I would taste and see. 05:46 Yes. 05:47 You know, I love that verse, right? 05:49 I'll taste and see. 05:51 I think about food a lot. Okay? 05:54 Mr. Foodie. 05:55 I think about food a whole lot, actually. 05:57 And, you know, I don't wanna watch somebody 06:00 eat a delicious dinner. 06:02 I want to eat that dinner. Right? 06:05 So I can taste that dinner. Amen. 06:07 Well, the same way is the same thing is true 06:11 for us with our walk with God. 06:12 I don't wanna just watch somebody else walk 06:14 with the Lord, I wanna have my own personal relationship 06:17 with the Lord. 06:18 I have to get to know Him for myself. 06:20 So we can't live vicariously through 06:23 somebody else's relationship and character 06:25 is not transferable. 06:27 I think Christianity is like a marriage. 06:31 It's a relationship. 06:33 I know the Bible talks about Christ being the groom, 06:37 and His church being the bride. 06:39 And I found between me and Marilyn, 06:41 one of the most important things, 06:42 if not the most important things 06:44 is communication. 06:45 Yeah. It's huge. 06:46 You know, when the communication stops, 06:48 problems happen. 06:49 So I think prayer is mandatory to the Christian experience. 06:54 And we need to keep that in mind. 06:55 Amen. Yeah. 06:56 Absolutely. 06:58 How important do you think trust is? 07:00 Oh, man. 07:02 That is, I love... 07:04 Okay, so we're gonna go straight to Proverbs 3:5-6. 07:07 Okay. I actually have this at home. 07:11 Well, no, Proverbs 3:5-6. Yes. 07:14 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 07:17 and lean not on your own understanding, 07:20 in all your ways acknowledge Him, 07:22 and He shall direct your path." 07:25 Acknowledge Him. 07:26 See, I knew, I couldn't lean on my own understanding 07:29 because I had for so many years. 07:31 And it didn't work very well. 07:34 When I became a Christian, 07:36 I needed someone else to lean on. 07:38 Yes. 07:39 My husband was very trustworthy, 07:41 but he wasn't God. 07:42 He didn't know all the answers. 07:45 So to me, 07:47 that is the most important part of my relationship 07:50 of knowing what God wants for me is leaning on Him 07:53 and trusting on Him to do the right thing. 07:56 And all my ways acknowledge Him 07:58 and He directs my path. 08:00 As long as I'm moving, the one thing 08:03 I know people say this all the time, they're like, 08:05 I just and I have said it before, 08:08 I wish God would just come down here 08:09 and tell me what He wants, I'll do His will. 08:11 The thing is you have to move for Him to direct you. 08:16 You cannot just stand still and be moved. 08:20 So God doesn't want us to be frozen and paralyzed 08:24 and not doing anything. 08:27 I know that if I make a plan and I know 08:29 that it's biblical plan that is within biblical guidelines. 08:34 If I say, okay, God, this is... 08:37 So, when I was gonna come to 3ABN, 08:39 I actually came out here for a visit. 08:42 We made a decision and I said, "Okay, Lord, I'm going to 3ABN, 08:46 but I need this to happen." 08:48 I had to sell a house, get rid of, you know, 08:50 find a good home for the dog. 08:52 I mean, there was so many things to do, 08:54 and I had a deadline. 08:56 So it's like, okay, Lord, if this is Your will 08:59 and He used us as a witness because four days before 09:02 I was supposed to leave, there was three or four 09:03 important things that hadn't happened yet. 09:06 And my parents were very concerned. 09:08 And I'm like, if this is God's will, 09:10 and bang, just like that, it just went, 09:12 just one, two, three, and it all happened. 09:14 It all fell into place. I left on the... 09:16 I left a day later than I planned, 09:18 but that was God's will. 09:21 Because we didn't have any trouble, 09:22 it was in November, 09:24 and then we missed the snow and stuff. 09:25 So if you make a plan, and you say, God, 09:28 this is what I think you want me to do. 09:31 If it's not right, you close the doors, 09:33 and if it is, open the doors. 09:35 And I knew God planted me here because He opened 09:37 all the doors, He directed my path, 09:39 but I was moving so that He could directed me 09:43 and I trusted Him. 09:44 Amen. And it paid off. 09:46 It was well worth it. 09:47 Because just like you said, Donald, He grew me here 09:51 and when He said, I could have never grown anywhere else. 09:53 Amen. 09:55 The key word there is that that you made a deal 09:57 with the Lord, you negotiated with the Lord. 09:59 And then it happened, so then you trusted. 10:02 I put my foot in the water. 10:04 Yeah, you put your foot in the water. 10:05 I trusted, yes. 10:06 And that's what this is all about, trusting here. 10:08 Because a lot of us negotiate with the Lord, 10:11 and then it's time to step out in the water. 10:14 Well, there's one more thing God, 10:16 there's one more thing here and then all of a sudden... 10:17 When you negotiated it has to be biblical to, 10:21 you have to, you can't... 10:23 Everything that you're doing working with the Lord 10:25 has to be biblical. 10:27 Just like in a marriage, 10:29 you can negotiate with your spouse, right? 10:32 And all of you I know, I did, 10:34 my spouse and I did, but it had to be with... 10:36 I don't have a spouse yet, Dee. 10:38 Well, when you negotiate within. 10:41 Okay, you have to negotiate 10:43 within the boundaries of the marriage. 10:46 Amen. Right. 10:47 Okay. Okay. 10:49 I think a big thing you guys are touching 10:50 that was kind of idea of surrender. 10:52 You have to surrender your plans 10:54 and your ideas to Him. 10:55 You know, when we first came here, 10:57 my wife and I, she was raised Indiana, 10:59 she'd family in Indiana, so she's like, 11:01 I don't really wanna go to Illinois. 11:03 And so, you know, probably a lot of us were 11:05 saying the same thing. 11:06 Why am I doing going to Illinois? 11:08 I mean, you planted in cornfields, welcome. 11:09 But anyways, as God's showing us 11:11 through three different experiences 11:13 that actually God confirmed, 11:15 this is what I want you to do. 11:16 Yeah. 11:18 And He'll show you that through different people, 11:19 various people, they gonna occur like, 11:20 oh, man, they'll give you a little, 11:22 like a little nugget or something like, 11:23 that's obviously God speaking. I need to go, okay. 11:26 I'm ready to pack my bags and get out here. 11:28 But on just the fact that God will acknowledge 11:30 you know, what His plans are for you in different ways 11:32 through different people. 11:34 Yeah. 11:35 I think the key is to acknowledge Him in all things. 11:37 Yeah. Acknowledge Him. 11:38 Because the promise here is if you acknowledge Him 11:41 in all things, He's gonna direct your path. 11:42 Amen. 11:44 I know I've been in so many situations 11:45 where I'm at a fork in the road and I'm like, 11:47 Lord, You want me to go left? You want me to go right? 11:49 You want me to keep standing here? 11:50 What do You want me to do? 11:51 And I always come back to Proverbs 3, 11:54 where it says, "Acknowledge Him, 11:56 give Him permission, 11:58 and He's gonna direct your path." 12:00 Right. And then you walk by faith. 12:02 Like Dee said, If you start off in the wrong direction, 12:04 the Lord's gonna close the door on you 12:06 and I've had that happen. 12:07 And then you go in the other direction. 12:09 Right. 12:10 But the wonderful thing about God is He never ever fails. 12:13 I mean, my experience coming here, 12:14 me and Marilyn, what Dee just mentioned 12:17 about God to suddenly opening the doors, 12:19 I can't number, the number of people here at 3ABN, 12:23 who said the same thing. 12:24 That suddenly doors started opening, 12:27 and me and Marilyn are the perfect example. 12:29 We didn't wanna come here. 12:31 We were not, we were dead set 12:33 and get going to Cinco Ranch, Texas. 12:35 We had our plans. 12:37 We had the home, neighborhood, planned out and everything 12:39 and we were going there. 12:41 And I started praying to the Lord and I said, Lord, 12:44 "If there's anything You want me to do, let me know." 12:49 And Moses called on the phone. 12:53 And he said, "We'd like you to come and take a look." 12:57 And we took a look and we saw the cornfields. 13:00 And cows. 13:02 We were still had, no, thank you. 13:04 We were still headed to Texas. 13:05 But the Lord was convicting me a little bit. 13:07 And I said, you know, a couple weeks later I said, 13:09 "Lord, if there's anything You want me to do, 13:13 let me know." 13:15 And Moses called within the hour, 13:17 and this is weeks later. 13:19 I said, okay. Well, this is interesting. 13:22 Still, we're headed to Texas. 13:23 And the same thing happened the third time. 13:25 I said, "Lord, if there's anything You want me to do," 13:27 we're headed to Texas. 13:28 I'm resisting, because I really don't wanna come to 3ABN, 13:31 which would have been a disaster because this 13:32 has been a tremendous blessing, but for the third time I said, 13:35 "If there's anything You want me to do, I'll do it." 13:39 And immediately in my mind, I started thinking 13:41 of the rich young ruler, where Christ kept calling, 13:44 said, come follow Me instead he was following 13:47 his priorities. 13:48 It's still the Lord's priorities. 13:51 And after that prayer, it's one of the really 13:53 most sincere prayers in my life. 13:55 Moses called within the hour again, 13:58 and I got the message. 13:59 Wow. Confirmation. 14:00 Yeah, the confirmation, three times. 14:02 But he was talking to Marilyn too, wasn't he? 14:05 That's interesting because when Marilyn came here, 14:07 she was even more resistant than I was 14:09 because it almost seemed like 14:11 I was getting the message to come. 14:12 And she was just following her husband's. 14:15 And when she came here, she started to realize 14:17 the blessings were for her too. 14:19 And she told me all the time, Eric, I think 14:21 I was called here in addition to you, 14:23 because I've got to see her grow. 14:25 We've grown spiritually, 14:26 we've grown in our relationship. 14:27 Right. We've been blessed all around. 14:29 And that's part of being in the ministry, 14:31 and we wouldn't have had that blessing 14:34 had we not answered the call. 14:35 And she's the manager of the call center now. 14:37 Yeah. 14:38 Both of you are tremendous blessings to 3ABN. 14:41 Absolutely. God is good. 14:42 The point that I'm hearing is that you were both obeying. 14:44 Right. Moses was obeying over here. 14:48 Be persistent, be persistent, because he was persistent. 14:52 Over here, you know, call again, call again. 14:55 So it's interesting and looking after the story, 14:58 that you could look and see how it kind of played out. 15:01 Can I imagine it happened to all of us in different ways? 15:03 All the different dynamics that are going on at the same time. 15:05 Yeah. 15:07 You mentioned something, you said 15:08 there's a fork in a row, and that to me years ago 15:09 before I came out here, similar kind of... 15:12 Actually I was a colporteur, literature evangelist. 15:15 And my mentor said, man, you're horrible salesperson. 15:19 This isn't good, you're not making sales. 15:20 You are not good, man. 15:22 So you got to make a choice, you're gonna bail out and quit, 15:24 or you're going to stick it through. 15:26 I said, well, I'm not making any money. 15:28 So I guess I'll have to bail out. 15:29 I'm like, okay, Lord, you're working for a ministry, 15:31 you know, I'm like, okay, Lord, now what am I gonna do? 15:33 So, and I thought, well, 15:34 I gotta just start putting in applications. 15:36 I gotta go around. And I found a local restaurant. 15:38 I went there, and I just asked for an application. 15:41 And it just so happens, the district manager 15:43 and the manager, 15:44 they're leaning against the wall. 15:45 So I asked for the application, the guy leans over, he goes, 15:47 you hire this one. 15:49 And I'm like, what on? I'm like, wow. 15:51 So I got hired, I worked there. 15:53 And every time like you said, you prayed. 15:55 The first time I prayed, I said, 15:57 Lord, send somebody that I can share my faith with, 15:58 there's a Hispanic girl. 16:00 She said, "What is it that you believe?" 16:01 Same day I pray this. 16:02 "What is it that you believe? What are you?" 16:04 I said, "I'm a Seventh-Day Adventist. 16:05 I believe in the seventh day Sabbath, and you know, 16:06 in Adventism we believe in second coming of Jesus." 16:09 So she says, "Okay, I'm Catholic, 16:10 I believe in that too." 16:12 And I just kind of shook my hand. 16:13 I just kept my mouth shut and kept going forward. 16:15 And I prayed again, a second time. 16:17 I saw her again, she said, "What is it you believe in?" 16:19 In a third time, 16:20 right before I was gonna come ready to come to 3ABN. 16:23 I said, I just prayed and she said, 16:24 "Donald, I want to tell you what, 16:26 I believe in Jesus." 16:27 I said, "Okay, Erica, why do you believe in Jesus?" 16:29 She says, "Well, when my child was three, 16:32 he had over 100 seizures. 16:34 I thought he was gonna die." Wow. 16:35 I began crying hysterically. 16:37 And I couldn't stop crying. 16:38 He didn't even know who Jesus was. 16:40 He's too young. 16:42 And he said, "Mommy, Mommy, why are you crying?" 16:43 I just couldn't stop. 16:44 He says, "Jesus did stand next to me." 16:46 He said, "I'm gonna be healed. I'll be fine." 16:47 Three-year-old, no more seizures, done. 16:50 So I looked at Erica, I said, 16:52 "Erica, I've been in your house before." 16:54 And she said, what do you... No. "What do you mean?" 16:56 I said, "I've been in your house before." 16:58 I used to be a colporteur. 16:59 Your husband told me the exact same story. 17:01 Wow. 17:02 Yeah, you weren't there. He told me it. 17:03 So I said, "Erica, I have been sent here by God for you." 17:06 And she just broke down crying 17:08 and you don't understand what God does. 17:09 You don't get paid much. 17:11 But it wasn't about the pay, it was about 17:12 what God wanted me to do there. 17:14 Was that not one of the most rewarding feeling that you had? 17:18 Yeah, it was incredible. And that's God's will. 17:20 I mean, if you don't know how God's gonna make me 17:22 or put in some, you know, old paint job for some reason. 17:25 You just don't know. Absolutely. 17:27 Well, that's a perfect segue 17:28 into our next scripture right here, Romans 8:28. 17:31 Let's go there. Yes, sir. 17:32 You know, and we know that things work together, wow, 17:35 for good. 17:37 What a fit there. Yeah. 17:39 "And we know that all things work together for good 17:42 to those who love God, 17:43 to those who are the called according to His purpose." 17:46 Yeah. 17:47 I thank that His purpose is that we, 17:49 that none should perish. 17:50 All should spend eternity with Him. 17:52 And so, the first thing is, acknowledge Him, 17:56 let's just go back. 17:57 See how all these fit, you know, 17:58 and don't lean on your own understanding. 18:00 God's gonna got a plan for you. 18:02 I think we'll run across Jeremiah down here 18:04 sooner or later. 18:06 And we know this is very, very important 18:09 that we know by faith, you know that things work together 18:12 because we all come to Ts in the road. 18:14 Right. Oh, yeah. 18:16 I mean, every one of us, and what do we do? 18:18 Right. 18:20 I know that when I've started praying 18:22 and I know that it works in my life. 18:25 Lord, I gave You permission to open up the doors 18:28 or closed the doors. 18:29 Amen. Absolutely. Amen. 18:31 He loves His children. 18:33 Now needless to say, He's not going 18:36 to handcuff me to put me, lead me in a direction. 18:39 But through the aid of the Holy Spirit, 18:40 I'm gonna be impressed. 18:41 And I'm giving... 18:43 Daddy I need help, 18:44 do I go to the right or do I go to the left? 18:46 And so I go to the left, reminds me of a story. 18:48 Wow, wait just a second. This is a great story. 18:52 I was doing some surveying in the mountains of New Mexico. 18:57 And I was just starting, I didn't know squat. 19:01 I knew how to walk. I knew how to climb. 19:03 And I knew east and west and north and south. 19:06 And so I'm supposed to go from A to B. 19:08 And so I go up there and I come to a T in the road., You know, 19:12 I supposed to go to the right, guess what? 19:14 I went to the left. 19:17 You know, I can spell stupid, and I was stupid that day. 19:21 I go left, and I walk down there 19:23 and I get lost. 19:24 I mean, and I begin to somewhat panic 19:27 because while I'm lost in the mountains of New Mexico, 19:30 and I don't know if anybody knows where I am. 19:33 And so through His mercy, through His grace, 19:37 I turned around, I saw the tallest tree. 19:40 And I started following that tree. 19:41 I was just impressed. 19:43 And I followed that tree and then I came into an opening 19:45 and albeit there was the road that I was supposed to be on. 19:48 Wow. Amen. 19:49 Then from there, I mean, that's not good enough. 19:52 That's not gonna save me next time. 19:55 Okay? But what happened? 19:57 I ran into an old prospector, and I was telling him the story 20:01 and he just kind of looked at me and like, 20:02 "Are you that foolish to be up 20:04 in the mountain without a compass?" 20:08 And I said, well, I don't really, I know that. 20:11 I know just enough to be dangerous without compass, 20:14 and he explained it all to me. 20:15 I couldn't wait, that man got me a compass, 20:18 I never got lost again. 20:20 Amen. 20:21 And I became, thank You, Jesus, 20:22 pretty good at what I was doing. 20:24 Amen. But I didn't have a compass. 20:26 There's a lot of people 20:27 that don't have a compass today. 20:29 They found themselves going the wrong way accidentally, 20:32 not purposely. 20:33 It wasn't my ambition to get lost. 20:36 There's a lot of people... Right. 20:38 This is a compass. 20:39 Well, sometimes God takes us places 20:42 that we don't understand either. 20:44 I know when David was sick, and I had this job 20:47 and I really needed the job because David could not work. 20:50 And it happened that I got laid off. 20:53 There were s several of us that got laid off 20:54 because I ended up hired last, 20:56 and they had given me the Sabbath, 20:58 but it was kind of touchy. 21:01 So I was just concerned, you know, that I lost this job. 21:05 Well, about three weeks later, 21:07 I ran into a boss at another location 21:10 that worked there. 21:12 And he asked me how I was doing. 21:13 I was very friendly and nice and open to him. 21:16 And I says, "No, I haven't found anything, 21:18 but I'm still looking. 21:19 I had a fun time, da-da." And he says, "You know what? 21:21 You need to come down and see me 21:22 we have a different job, 21:24 somebody just quit." 21:25 And that new job put me in a situation 21:29 where I never had to worry about the Sabbath again. 21:31 There was job security, and it was a better job. 21:34 And it's like, sometimes I was like, 21:36 at first I was like, Lord, 21:37 why did you let me lose this job? 21:38 We need it so much. Right. 21:40 But sometimes we can't... Right. 21:42 Like I said, I love that song. 21:43 When you can't see His plans and you can't trace His hand, 21:47 trust His heart. 21:48 Amen. Amen. 21:51 Well, a couple of those stories reminded me of a few stories 21:54 that I wanna share with you too. 21:56 So one, I've seen a picture on whether it was Instagram 22:01 or Facebook or something like that 22:02 there was a little girl, 22:04 and she had a small bear in her hand, like a teddy bear. 22:08 Meanwhile, she's looking at Jesus and Jesus is bent over. 22:12 And behind his back, He has this huge teddy bear. 22:16 But the little girl is holding on 22:18 to this little bear for dear life. 22:20 And you know, I think about that in my own life, 22:23 like what things have I held on to so tight 22:26 that I wouldn't let go of? 22:28 Meanwhile, God had this abundant life 22:30 just waiting on me. 22:32 I remember I was driving down the highway. 22:36 And I was going to a place to visit someone who, 22:39 I visited them and their family, often, 22:42 and I still use my GPS just to make sure, right? 22:47 So I used my GPS. And there's a split. 22:54 You know how we're talking about forks in the road. 22:56 There's a split and as I'm driving, 22:58 I'm just driving away, driving away. 23:01 And I noticed that my GPS 23:02 is saying recalculate, recalculate. 23:06 And I'm looking and I'm getting mad 23:07 at the GPS, like, what are you talking about? 23:10 Nobody's on the road. It's clear, it's sunny. 23:12 This is the perfect driving conditions. 23:17 No, you know, the roads not blocked off or anything. 23:20 So I'm just headed down the road, 23:21 headed down the highway. 23:24 And then I look up and I'm like 23:26 well, what would be the odds of me headed towards St. Louis 23:29 instead of my intended destination? 23:32 And so as I look up, and I see the sign, 23:36 I'm headed towards St. Louis, 23:39 and I'm like, 30 to 45 minutes in the wrong direction. 23:43 You know, we can have a GPS, but then sometimes we think 23:47 that we know better than the GPS. 23:49 And no matter what signs that we see, 23:52 we do the opposite. 23:54 Yes. 23:55 So we have to listen to what the GPS is telling us to. 24:00 And so I had to make a U-turn. 24:02 Now if I would have listened to the GPS, 24:05 I would have avoided so much time wasted. 24:09 And in my own life, you know, I had wasted a lot of time, 24:13 my mother raised me in the church, 24:14 and I left when I was like 14. 24:16 I still went because she made me go to church. 24:19 But I was living with her in a house, 24:21 but I missed out like on so much time 24:26 that I could have been spending with God 24:28 and growing in that relationship. 24:30 And I ended up going through a life of heartache 24:33 and difficult self inflicted trials. 24:36 And 14 years later, how I ended up here, 24:41 I got a call from my mom and got invited 24:43 to the Day of Prayer. 24:44 And I remember, Pop, Danny Shelton, 24:49 saying that if you leave this place, 24:51 and you can't get it out of your mind, 24:53 then perhaps this is where God would have you to be. 24:55 And he said it to everybody 24:56 that was in the worship center that day 24:58 and I left and I went back to my 70 hour week job 25:02 in Atlanta, and all I kept thinking 25:04 about was 3ABN, 3ABN, 3ABN. 25:06 So there goes, you know those strong impressions. 25:10 It's funny because, our landlady, Marilyn and I, 25:13 we laugh about this all the time. 25:15 Our landlady knew where we were going 25:17 before we did. 25:19 We were insistent on going to Texas. 25:22 We were leaving the apartment. 25:24 And so we went downstairs by the office telling her 25:26 why we're not gonna resign the lease or lease was up 25:28 and I'm getting stuff out of the mailbox. 25:31 And Marilyn's talking to her. 25:33 And Marilyn's telling her our history, 25:36 the tragedies that we're running into, 25:37 the devil was just attacking us like crazy. 25:39 And Marilyn's telling the landlady then, 25:42 and the landlady says something, 25:43 she says, oh, I've seen this before. 25:46 She said, you guys \are getting ready to go 25:47 and do something for the Lord. 25:49 Amen. 25:50 And right then I look over there like, 25:51 what, what is she talking about? 25:54 Really? Oh, she doesn't make any sense. 25:58 And three weeks later, two or three weeks later, 26:01 that's when this started with Moses calling. 26:04 So she knew what was going on. 26:06 She'd seen it before. 26:08 And God was leading even though we didn't know it at the time. 26:11 And that's just for me, 26:13 that's a memory I'll never forget. 26:14 Amen. He knows when we don't know. 26:16 Oh, yeah. 26:18 And sometimes God has long term plans. 26:19 Yeah. 26:21 And you did not come to 3ABN right away, 26:23 but He didn't intend for you too. 26:25 It was many years after we moved 26:27 to Southern Illinois... 26:28 Wow. 26:29 Which in itself was a strange different version 26:34 of God's leading in our lives. 26:37 I came to this study, very interested to be a learner 26:41 because I've had so much issues with this over the years, 26:45 like how do I know, it's, you know, 26:46 analytical and personalities, 26:48 you know, tying all up, organizing. 26:51 And so I've struggled this over the years like, 26:53 how do I know I'm doing God's will? 26:56 It's like this paradox because as I've walked with the Lord 26:59 over the years, knowing God's will seems to be 27:02 the most personal thing in the world. 27:05 And at the same time, it can be the most universal thing. 27:09 There's been times when God spoken to me 27:10 as clearly as you 27:12 or I are speaking to me right now. 27:14 And there's times when it's just been an, 27:16 just move, you know, 27:19 the back to what you said earlier about, 27:20 it's easier to move up, you know, 27:22 moving car than a parked car. 27:23 And so there's been times when my wife and I were just, 27:26 you know, moving, we're determined to go 27:29 a direction that God lead. 27:30 So it's a strange how it becomes so personal 27:33 that only you know, and other times 27:35 it's a universal principle that everybody can know 27:38 if they just followed it. 27:39 Right. 27:41 And so, we ended up here in Southern Illinois, 27:43 kind of my dad had asked me to move back here 27:45 and help my mom and him with some medical issues. 27:50 And so, you know, 27:52 there wasn't much analysis of that, 27:55 it was like, okay, I mean it. 27:57 It wasn't, I'll do this even if God tells me not to, 28:01 but it was like, okay, 28:03 this is obviously God's leading, 28:04 this is my responsibility, this makes sense. 28:07 So you know, my wife came back here, 28:09 picked out a house, I never even saw it, 28:11 we moved in and I was like, okay, Lord, here we are, 28:17 you know doing the cars moving down the road and, 28:20 you know, within a short period time 28:22 we found out that my neighbors... 28:23 We got to know our neighbors next door 28:25 and God just used us incredibly in their lives 28:29 and it was like a perfect... 28:31 Like from Southern California to Southern Illinois unseen God 28:35 dropped us right in this part, where we were supposed to be. 28:39 And anyway years through that process, 28:41 got to know Greg a little bit and we have a long story, 28:45 but the Lord opened up the door at 3ABN. 28:48 Amen. 28:49 And it was kind of one of the things to remember 28:50 when we first moved here driving by going, 28:52 what is that building over there 28:54 with satellites out here in the middle of nowhere? 28:56 So it was kind of like, it kind of got in my mind like 28:59 I never could get it out of my mind the fact 29:01 that out here in the middle of nowhere 29:03 was this thing, you know. 29:04 Yeah. 29:05 So then he put a friendship in your life. 29:07 He did. 29:08 And so that was one of those general times 29:10 when the Lord led me here and He already knew the plan. 29:15 I didn't have a specific, you know, just say to Lord. 29:19 Yeah. 29:20 So I think that we can all agree 29:22 that we know that things work together. 29:23 All things work together for good 29:25 to those who love God 29:26 and to those who are called according. 29:27 So it seems like we can all tell a story 29:29 of how that works into our life. 29:32 Dealing with relationships, what about 1 John 4:9-10, Eric? 29:38 1 John 4:9-10, "In this the love of God 29:43 was manifested toward us, 29:45 that God has sent His only begotten Son 29:47 into the world, that we might live through Him. 29:52 In this is love, not that we loved God, 29:55 but that He loved us and sent His Son to be 29:59 the propitiation," right, you got it, 30:05 "for our sins." 30:08 I'm emotionally connected to this verse. 30:14 It always moves me when I read it 30:17 because I think of Jesus in heaven with God. 30:23 And God says to Jesus, 30:28 "These people need help." 30:30 We're seeing it. 30:31 And Jesus immediately raise His hand and says, 30:32 "Here I am, send Me." 30:34 Knowing what He's going into, knowing what He's gonna suffer, 30:39 knowing the pain to the point of being killed on the cross. 30:43 He knows this, but still He raises His hand. 30:46 And He does that for me. Yeah. 30:49 You know, and I don't feel personally, 30:50 I don't feel deserving of that. 30:53 You know, so this verse, I love this verse. 30:55 I'm glad you picked it out, JD. 30:57 That was a God thing. Yeah, yeah. 31:00 Yeah. That is love. 31:03 That is love. 31:05 That's a different type of love that probably any of us 31:08 can probably understand. 31:09 Oh, absolutely. Right. 31:10 I'd have to... 31:12 If you're a parent, I think at least I'm not a parent. 31:18 So I don't understand that relationship between 31:22 a child and a parent. 31:24 But every parent that I've talked 31:27 to they would die for their child. 31:29 So there is that bond. 31:30 So there is that bond 31:32 that we're looking at right here. 31:33 Right. 31:35 And I don't know of any non parent, 31:37 I don't, of course, nobody can. 31:39 Nobody knows what they're gonna do. 31:41 But, you know, it certainly would be in the perfect world, 31:44 yes, that I would give up my life for a brother 31:46 that I loved. 31:48 But you don't know till that time comes. 31:50 Right. Yeah. 31:52 We don't know, if we gonna raise your hand or not. 31:54 God's love is unique. 31:55 It's the love that we crave, deeper than any other love. 32:01 It's what we need 32:03 and that's what we're always looking for 32:04 is that love. 32:06 Only He can give. Amen. 32:07 I think it's wonderful because even in the garden, He prayed. 32:13 And He said, God, if there's any other way, 32:16 take this cup, and there was no other way. 32:19 And even then He was looking for the will of the Father. 32:23 What did God want above His own? 32:25 He was looking for, if there's any other way, 32:27 He wanted a different way. 32:28 God said, "This is the path." 32:30 So in other words, there is no reason 32:32 why we should be trying to carry out our own will. 32:34 Exactly. 32:36 You know, I mean, that is huge, 32:38 that's just the ultimate form of love. 32:40 I don't have any kids and I can't imagine sending... 32:45 If I did have a son, I can't imagine saying, son, 32:51 like, I want you to die for these people 32:55 who committed these crimes. 32:58 I want you to, I want you to go die for them. 33:01 I just can't imagine doing that. 33:04 But I'm so thankful that I'm not God 33:06 and that God did that for us. 33:10 Because it forms a vision 33:16 of love that, 33:18 I mean, no words can accurately describe, 33:22 how much God loves us. 33:23 When I do prison ministry, one of the points 33:25 that I bring up with the prisoners 33:28 is there's a lot of religions, 33:30 and there's a lot of faiths out there with different gods. 33:33 If you go to India, there's millions, 33:35 there's just gods all over the place. 33:39 But Christianity is the only religion 33:42 that I know of, 33:43 and I've looked where God came down from heaven, 33:47 and willingly suffered and died for His creation. 33:52 So even if all else was equal, 33:55 I would still follow the religion of Christianity 33:58 because my God died for me. 34:00 Amen. Praise God. 34:02 Jesus, the Son is not the only one that paid a price. 34:07 God, the Father, and actually God, 34:09 the Holy Spirit, paid a price that we're not even, 34:14 we don't even realize how deeper price they all paid. 34:17 I think with this, when it says, 34:19 "In this the love of God was manifested toward us." 34:22 That makes me think about how it says many are called, 34:24 but few are chosen and just thinking on that idea 34:28 that God chose you specifically 34:30 of the entire eight billion people 34:32 on this planet, that you would want to receive that love, 34:35 you want that love. 34:36 So many people don't want to love and it tells us 34:38 that we are so valuable to Him. 34:41 He would pour everything for us and that we have 34:43 that opportunity, you know, 34:45 to give our lives back into Him, 34:47 surrender again. 34:49 It comes back to surrender. Oh, yeah. 34:50 To let Him, you know, take control of our lives. 34:52 But that love for us leads right into that Jeremiah 29:11, 34:56 who wants that? 34:58 I love this. 34:59 Yeah, I love that one too. I'll jump in on that. 35:01 Now, I wanna go to 13 too, I will go down to 13, 35:05 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 35:07 says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, 35:10 to give you a future and a hope. 35:12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, 35:15 and I will listen to you. 35:17 And you will seek Me and find Me, 35:20 when you search for Me with all your heart." 35:23 Amen. 35:24 So when we search for God, with all of our heart, 35:26 we'll find Him, like He wants to spend time with us. 35:30 He wants us to develop a relationship with Him, 35:33 He has the best plan in mind for us, 35:38 for His children, like He wants the best for us. 35:42 And so when we walk in accordance to His will, 35:45 He's not gonna withhold any good things from us. 35:48 Amen. 35:50 You're just touching on Micah 6:8, 35:51 whenever you say it comes to my mind, it says, 35:53 "He has shown you, O man, what is good. 35:55 And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly 35:58 and to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?" 36:01 That's the key. 36:03 And that's what doing God's will is, 36:04 those three things do justly, love mercy and walk humbly. 36:07 Yeah. Yeah, those are three things. 36:08 I'd also like to mention this because I just love the way 36:10 that the Bible puts it all together here, 36:12 we're talking about different books totally, 36:14 but yet they're all united. 36:16 They're all certainly building on each other, taste and see, 36:19 trust in the Lord. 36:22 I know the thoughts, I do, I am prepared to give 36:25 to assist you with a future and a hope. 36:30 And things work together for good, 36:32 even though they may seem mixed up at time. 36:35 So, I just love the way that, you know, you're analytical, 36:40 as you sit and take. 36:41 You're analytical, you know, 36:42 so you sit and take all these different parts. 36:44 And it seems to me like an analytical person 36:47 has that ability to kind of maybe see a step or two ahead, 36:52 there's others obviously, you know, that we just walk in, 36:54 it's just a bunch of stuff and all of a sudden, 36:56 well, what's it gonna be? 36:58 What's it gonna be? Yes. 37:00 And then you know, whenever it's finished, 37:02 for those analytical people, they just, it's a little bit. 37:05 So here God has given all of us, 37:07 we're all on the level ground. 37:09 And He just says, merely trust with God 37:12 with all your heart, trust in Me. 37:15 It's gonna work itself out. Oh, yeah. 37:17 JD, even for the analytical people, 37:19 I kind of think that we have it more difficult 37:22 than many because we analyze, 37:27 sometimes we overanalyze, and God's analysis is superior, 37:32 and it's always better than ours. 37:34 And sometimes He comes to different conclusions. 37:36 Amen. 37:38 And as a Christian, we have to be willing 37:40 to surrender that to Him. 37:41 Amen. 37:43 But even on where it says search for Me. 37:45 God is the one that's always searching for us. 37:48 The reason He can say, search for Me 37:49 because if you start to search for Him, 37:51 you're gonna fall right over Him 37:52 because He's right there. 37:54 Exactly. He's right next to you already. 37:56 So it's not like you're gonna be searching for a long time. 38:00 In a minute you just turn your eyes upon Him, 38:02 there He is. 38:04 One of the things that's tough as, you know, 38:07 sometimes having that faith, right, and in Hebrews 11:1, 38:12 it says, "Now faith is the substance 38:14 of things hoped for, 38:15 the evidence of things not seen." 38:17 I oftentimes like to think about faith as the ability 38:21 to tolerate uncertainty while trusting in God. 38:24 And that is something that is very hard for human beings 38:27 to do is to tolerate uncertainty. 38:29 We want to know everything. 38:32 So when I think about the analytical mind, 38:34 like you wanna figure everything out. 38:36 Right. 38:37 And you want to know like, okay, 38:39 well, what's making this work? 38:40 Why is this, this way? Why is this that way? 38:42 And how can I fix this? 38:45 Right. Right? 38:47 Okay. 38:48 Would you say that again? 38:50 That was a little gem you just threw out there 38:51 and I bet, people at home want to write down too 38:53 because I wanna write down. 38:54 Which part? Definition of faith. 38:56 Okay. 38:57 So, oftentimes, like I think about faith as the ability 39:00 to tolerate uncertainty, while trusting in God. 39:05 Excellent. 39:06 And, you know, that's a very difficult thing. 39:09 So like I like to know, like what's going on? 39:13 Right. What's gonna happen? 39:15 You know, I want to know these things. 39:17 I'll just piggyback on what you just said. 39:19 We had a thing that we did here recently, 39:21 a series, an evangelistic series 39:23 and my wife and I, we've been doing this festival 39:26 the last three years 39:27 and we are really excited about it. 39:28 So we bought all these things to give to the kids, 39:30 coloring books and crayons and stuff. 39:32 And then and our pastor said, 39:34 we're gonna do some evangelists series. 39:36 I'm like, oh, it's right on the same time, as this, 39:39 you know, festival, which we've been 39:40 in the last three years. 39:42 And I'm like, well, we obviously got to do that. 39:44 Well, that particular day that was supposed to happen, 39:46 we got four inches of rain. 39:48 So guess what happens? 39:50 They canceled the event and they rescheduled it. 39:53 And they rescheduled it last week. 39:55 So, we were really blessed and we got to give out 39:58 coloring books and crayons and we have to give kids 40:01 just exciting things. 40:03 And it was just and the kids at the school are so cool 40:05 that they helped put these little packets together. 40:07 And I wanted these kids to be encouraged 40:08 that actually God follows through. 40:10 Amen. 40:12 And so, I actually spoke to him about that 40:13 and just gave him little encouragement. 40:14 But that's how God works when you don't see the picture 40:17 that He opens away four inches of rain in a day 40:19 and how we can do what we wanted to do so. 40:21 And my husband was very analytic, 40:23 because he was analytical and a builder. 40:26 And he always wanted the six month plan. 40:29 That's right. 40:30 David, God does not give you a six month plan. 40:33 You're lucky if He gives you a six hour plan. 40:37 So it's one day at a time. 40:39 Right. That's right. 40:40 So I think that we're trying to discover God's will for us, 40:42 is that right, Jason? 40:44 Absolutely. 40:45 And so, the number one thing is as Eric mentioned 40:48 to us relationship. 40:50 In other words, getting to know God 40:52 so we've kind of gone through some of the ways 40:54 through scripture of how to getting to know God. 40:57 And then once we know God, 41:01 we need to get ourselves out of the way. 41:03 Come on now. Is that right? 41:04 Oh, yeah. 41:06 And so, why don't we go, because obviously, 41:08 I think we got six points and we may get through two. 41:12 So we may have to get together again a second or third time. 41:14 Yes, sir. 41:15 So the second thing that we may look at 41:17 is dying to self. 41:19 Boy, now, that's a heavy term right there, 41:21 we're dying to self. 41:24 What do you think, Donald? 41:26 Well, you know, kinda like, 41:28 what I think this was written as prayer. 41:31 It said, take all me, O Lord to be Yours. 41:33 I lay all my plans at Your feet. 41:35 Use me in Your service and walk and talk me. 41:37 So everything I do comes from You. 41:39 So that kind of prayer in the morning, 41:42 you lay those things before the Lord's feet 41:43 because you don't know what the plans are gonna be. 41:44 As you mentioned, Dee, as can be on a minute 41:47 by minute basis, things can shift. 41:49 And the analytical mind wants things done precisely, 41:52 where it's totally chaotic and it's out of the box. 41:54 You know, like, put all these pieces together 41:56 and just, but if you can learn to get in God's time 41:59 and his flow of things, things go so smoothly. 42:02 And I think that surrendering yourself. 42:04 Now, it's okay to make, I live by lists. 42:07 I have lists all the time. 42:09 However, as I'm going through my list and crossing off, 42:12 if I get a phone call, or this is this happens, 42:15 and that happens. 42:16 I have learned, even though I look at that list and go, 42:20 I can't get all this done if I do that. 42:23 God has shown me time and time again. 42:25 I will get things done, 42:27 if I will bow to His will and wishes first. 42:33 Amen. 42:34 And maybe there is something on the list that doesn't get done 42:36 that day, but it does get done. 42:38 But I'm amazed at how many times every... 42:41 I get at the end of the day, I'm like, wow, it all got done. 42:45 But, and usually it's service to others. 42:49 So if you will put that service to others, 42:54 He does something weird with time, 42:56 not just with money, but with time 42:57 and everything else. 42:59 It's like, okay, Lord... 43:01 His mathematical equations aren't ours. 43:04 That is true. That is the truth. 43:06 One thing that just jumped out at me. 43:09 The children of Israel, they were, 43:11 how long they spent there in the wilderness? 43:12 Forty years. How many times? 43:14 How many new pair of shoes did they get? 43:15 None. Zip. 43:17 None. 43:18 So that kind of put things in perspective right there. 43:21 And if we will die to self, we can probably get across 43:26 that wilderness that should have taken us 43:29 maybe 40 days. 43:30 But if we don't get our act together, 43:33 it could be 40 years. 43:35 And I can testify that myself, you can testify. 43:38 You were aged 14 while ago, 43:40 then you woke up 14 years later, 43:42 and what happened to those 14 years? 43:44 You are going through the wilderness. 43:46 Oh, yes. 43:47 And you probably weren't blessed that much. 43:49 You probably went through a lot of pair of shoes. 43:50 A lot of pair of shoes. 43:52 You know, and as most of us do. 43:54 So God is love. 43:56 But what does Galatians 2:20 say? 44:00 Robert. I'll read it. 44:01 Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, 44:05 it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, 44:09 and the life which I now live in the flesh I live 44:11 by faith in the Son of God, 44:13 who loved me and gave Himself for me." 44:16 Amen. 44:17 You know, I was gonna jump in here, 44:19 it's my most favorite... 44:20 one of my most favorite 44:21 and my least favorite scriptures 44:23 is the same one, which is Matthew 6:33. 44:27 Because it gets to the heart to me personally, 44:30 of dying to self because that's the one, 44:32 seek first the kingdom of God. 44:34 Yes. Yes. 44:35 I find even after decades of walking in the Lord 44:38 that myself really wants to seek first 44:40 the kingdom of God. 44:42 I Just admit that, I mean, everything else, 44:45 plans, shiny objects, interests. 44:48 So when the Lord convicts me about dying to self, 44:51 it's this verse right here, seek first the kingdom of God, 44:54 and all these things will be added to you. 44:56 Amen. 44:57 If I get that out, if I do that naturally, 45:00 I get it out of order, I start thinking all, 45:02 I start with focusing and working 45:04 on all the other things. 45:06 And the kingdom of God, kind of... 45:08 I'll do that last. Kind of fits in. 45:11 It's like the old thing with the jar and the rocks 45:13 of different sizes, you know, if you've seen that where... 45:15 The sand and the rocks, you know. 45:17 Another thing is that when you do make that decision, 45:19 you know, finally seeking first His kingdom, 45:22 think of the joy that you're gonna have 45:23 when you have thousands of people 45:24 coming up to you in heaven. 45:26 I don't know how many, but they're gonna say, 45:27 it was because of you that I am here. 45:29 Because you made that intentional time you surrender 45:30 that time to Lord where He could use you 45:32 to reach somebody else. 45:33 And that's what the gospels really all about. 45:36 And making that intentional time 45:37 to reach somebody, you know, 45:38 that's what I told the guys in prison, you know, 45:40 just saying, hey, you know, we're here for a reason, 45:42 you're in this prison for a reason. 45:44 And God can use you in this prison 45:45 to help somebody else, encourage them 45:47 or spend that little quality time. 45:49 One of the prisoners... 45:50 Let me throw a caveat in here. 45:52 You're in prison ministry. You're in prison. 45:54 I was in prison. 45:57 Well, hey, I got out, so we're good, 45:59 but this gentleman was in prison. 46:02 He's talking about how this one day this guy 46:03 was just saying these terms. 46:05 I won't say this word where he was saying at him. 46:07 Anyway he said to him three times, 46:08 you stop saying that to me, stop saying to me, 46:10 you're getting me upsetting. 46:11 And so the guy held his peace. 46:13 And later on, he met this old gentleman in prison. 46:15 It turns out, he's a father of, his son is in the same prison. 46:18 So now dad and son are in the same prison. 46:20 And he tells the man, he says, look, he said, 46:22 I've been watching your son come to chapel. 46:24 He needs a father figure. 46:25 He needs a guide. He's looking for that. 46:28 So seriously the enemy trying to thwart God's plans 46:31 from this man to visit his father, 46:33 tell this man about his son. 46:35 I said Satan was trying to thwart the plans 46:37 but you stuck it through. 46:39 So you see all the enemy tries even thwart 46:41 what God has planned for him... 46:42 Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. To get in there, so. 46:44 And sometimes we get in the way of the plan, right? 46:49 John 3:30, says, "He must increase, 46:52 but I must decrease." 46:54 Right. Get out of the way. 46:57 That's the surrender you're talking. 46:58 Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. 47:00 But I do want to encourage people 47:02 I know you were talking about 14 years of walking 47:05 through the wilderness. 47:07 You know, I'm sure, I'm not the only one here 47:09 that has walked through the wilderness 47:11 a lot longer than that. 47:12 And it's very difficult not to look back and regret 47:17 or dwell too much on what we didn't do sooner. 47:22 I really do not allow myself to do that. 47:24 Right. I do not look back. 47:26 I look forward at God's plans for me. 47:29 Amen. And God has forgiven me. 47:31 So I have to forgive myself too 47:34 and not dwell on those wilderness years. 47:37 Don't do that. That is Satan that does that. 47:42 So look forward when you find your way 47:44 out of the wilderness, don't look back. 47:46 I heard someone say a long time ago. 47:48 It's hard to walk the straight line 47:50 if you're looking backwards. 47:52 And I always remember that, like you said, don't look back, 47:55 look forward because Jesus is in front of you, 47:57 He's not behind you. 47:58 Absolutely. 48:00 Philippians 3, you just see in Philippians 3:12. 48:02 "Not as though I have already attained, 48:03 either we're already perfect, but I fall after, 48:06 that I may apprehend that which, 48:08 for which also I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus. 48:11 Brethren, I count not myself to apprehend it, 48:13 but this one thing I do," Verse 13, 48:15 "forgetting those things which are behind 48:18 and reaching forward to those things 48:19 which are before." 48:21 Verse 14, "I press toward the mark for the prize 48:24 of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 48:26 Amen. 48:27 That's part of that with it you put down about 48:29 seeing through spiritual eyes. 48:33 In fact, let's go through that list real quick, 48:35 who wants to go through that? 48:38 JD, you wanna take the first? Yeah, I'll take the first one. 48:42 This is saying through spiritual eyes, 48:44 remember now we choose to getting to know God. 48:47 So now we're dating, we're learning. 48:50 And then we have to get ourselves out of the way. 48:53 So now, we're dying to self. 48:55 Now, we're beginning to see a newness and it's exciting. 49:00 And so we're seeing through spiritual eyes. 49:02 And the first principle, I would say, 49:04 if it doesn't align with God's word, 49:06 then it can't be His will for your life. 49:08 You know, those things have to go together, 49:10 God's word and His will go hand in hand. 49:14 Yes. 49:16 And so, remember, I'm looking through spiritual eyes. 49:18 And the Bible says, you know that we discern spiritually 49:22 because we look spiritually. 49:24 We can't sit here and have one foot over here in this pit, 49:27 and then straddle over here and have our foot on the other 49:29 because now we're double minded. 49:31 And now we're confused. 49:33 God is not the author of confusion, 49:35 He's the author of peace. 49:36 So you got to get your foot out of one. 49:39 So now we're looking through the spiritual lenses. 49:43 And so I just thank You, Jesus. 49:45 To me, if you're having a new relationship 49:50 with the Lord, 49:51 you may not know as much as you think that you do. 49:53 But then on the other hand, you may know a lot more 49:55 than you think that you do. 49:57 You know, another point is when you get your answer, 49:59 act on it. 50:00 And that's important, 50:02 especially for his analytical types, 50:03 because we, you know, you've heard the thing 50:04 paralysis by analysis, which is you know... 50:07 Overanalyze. Overanalyze. 50:09 That's right. 50:10 And so a lot of times God speaks, 50:12 and I've done this myself. 50:13 And then you know, you start analyzing 50:15 and thinking about how it might work 50:16 and you have to end. 50:18 And next thing, you know, six months gone by, 50:19 and I can speak from experience. 50:23 So don't overanalyze act. 50:25 I kind of think one of the reasons 50:27 why we came here is because it happened. 50:29 We got the message three times, stubbornness, the first time, 50:33 I was stubborn, the second time I was stubborn, 50:35 God kept delivering the same message 50:37 that we were to come here. 50:38 So we finally acted on it, which I praise the Lord for it. 50:42 So what happens when you act on something? 50:44 What does God give you? 50:46 He gives you peace. Thank you. 50:47 I'm in a good segue. 50:50 I was just, you know, remember I said earlier that God, 50:54 I felt like God wanted me to be here today, 50:56 not for what I was gonna give, but what I was gonna learn. 50:58 And one of the things I learned in, 51:01 I just thought it'd be useful for people 51:03 and certainly useful for me, and I credit my wife for this. 51:06 But I saw something in Jeremiah 29:11, 51:09 which is one of my favorite verses 51:10 that I'd never seen before. 51:12 And I'll go back to it real briefly, 51:13 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 51:15 says the Lord, thoughts of peace." 51:18 And I had never seen quite that segment right there, 51:20 thoughts of peace. 51:22 And it reminded me something my wife is really good at. 51:25 And it's a... 51:26 I'm gonna use my engineering word here, Eric. 51:28 It's a heuristic. 51:29 So heuristic is a fancy word for rule of thumb 51:33 or simple rememberable thing. 51:36 And in one of the things that I've learned over 51:38 many years and my wife's reinforced 51:40 is that the peace of God will guide you, 51:43 when you can't see when you don't, 51:45 when you don't know the will of God, 51:47 follow His peace. 51:49 Amen. 51:50 And that's that rule of thumb that when all else fails, 51:52 and you just can't see and sometimes 51:54 that's just the way of life you don't know the way, 51:58 you can follow the peace of God. 52:00 Amen. 52:01 I've never seen that that rule of thumb fail. 52:04 Right. Heuristic. 52:06 And when you work on, 52:08 when you act on something that is, 52:09 what's that word? 52:11 It's a, no, no, it's works. 52:13 Works, works, works, works. Yes. 52:16 But what's that other word? 52:17 What about that faith then? 52:19 Faith without works is dead, Dee. 52:21 Faith without works is dead. Definitely. 52:24 Like I'm having faith that this chair 52:26 is gonna continue to hold me up 52:27 even though I gained a few pounds, 52:30 this chair is going to hold me up. 52:32 So I have a faith that... 52:33 I heard a pastor say believe means to be live. 52:36 Amen. 52:37 If you believe, you're gonna live what you believe. 52:40 In prison, I phrased a little bit differently 52:42 to the prisoners. 52:43 I say, if you believe in gravity, 52:45 you're not gonna walk off that cliff. 52:49 Gravity, that belief in gravity 52:51 is gonna keep you from doing certain things. 52:54 If you believe in God, 52:55 you're not gonna walk off that cliff. 52:57 Amen. 52:59 You see, I really never understood, 53:01 why people say well works is... 53:03 What's that word? Legalistic. 53:06 It's like, I love my husband, so I'm gonna fix dinner. 53:10 That's I don't... 53:11 I love my husband so I'm gonna wash his clothes, 53:15 that's works for you only, you know, 53:18 you don't love him, you're just, 53:19 you're legalistic, yeah. 53:20 I think it speaks to the motives behind that. 53:22 It's like, God, I don't understand that. 53:24 It's like when you love somebody. 53:26 I think that it speaks to the motive behind the works. 53:29 Right. Why are you doing it? 53:31 Are you doing it for recognition 53:32 or you doing it to, you know, 53:35 because you're going to get something in return? 53:37 Are you doing it because it's the right thing to do? 53:39 Are you doing it because you love that individual? 53:41 Is it motivated? 53:43 Everything that God does is motivated by love. 53:45 Right. 53:46 Something that Jesus said to Peter, 53:47 and it just came to my mind. 53:49 He said Satan is asking desire to sift you as wheat, 53:51 but I'm praying for you, Peter, when you are converted. 53:54 As you go in strength, your burn 53:56 that conversion experience when you have 53:57 that real aha-aha moment with the Lord, 53:59 that transformation like, oh, my goodness, 54:01 I've got to tell people about this, 54:03 like the woman at the well, it's like, oh my, just... 54:05 You want to introduce them. Yes. 54:06 You're excited. 54:08 You know, Donald, when I think about transformation, 54:10 I think about the fact that genuine transformation 54:12 only comes from Christ. 54:14 We as human beings tend to make behavioral modifications 54:18 or slight changes in our behavior, 54:20 but those aren't long lasting. 54:23 That's true. That's exactly right. 54:25 And basically, that's what sanctification is all about. 54:27 Transformation of a lifetime. 54:29 Process, it takes time. 54:31 You know, one little baby step at a time. 54:33 Yeah. 54:34 We mature, mature. Yes. 54:38 So let's recall a time when maybe 54:42 there was a situation where you had to see 54:45 through spiritual eyes. 54:48 JD? 54:49 Well, I know, when I was 14 years old, 54:51 the Lord touched my heart. 54:53 The Holy Spirit, I thought my heart 54:54 was coming out of my chest, 54:56 because it was time for me to stand up and say, 54:58 yes, I do surrender all. 55:00 I wanna go into ministry. 55:02 My friends, they all stood there, 55:04 they weren't even listening. 55:05 And I bought into their peer pressure. 55:08 And I just sit down and I just remember going back 55:12 that 14 years old, what a difference 55:14 that would have made if I just stood up 55:15 and been a man of Christ at that time. 55:17 Yes. 55:19 You know, I lost a lot of years because of that decision. 55:22 Thank You, Jesus, that He gives us 55:24 a second, third, fourth, fifth chance. 55:26 Amen. Amen. 55:27 Yeah, that's that love and Him want to spend 55:30 eternity with us for sure, for sure. 55:33 Well, I think we should recap on some of these verses here. 55:38 Psalm 34:8, Eric? Okay. 55:42 "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, 55:44 Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!" 55:47 I love that verse, because it's all about trust. 55:50 And when you love someone, you trust them. 55:53 And when they love you, they take care of you. 55:56 And that's the expectation and God's gonna deliver. 55:59 Amen. Amen. 56:01 Proverbs 3:5-6, says, 56:03 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 56:07 and lean not on your own understanding, 56:09 in all your ways acknowledge Him, 56:10 and He shall direct your paths." 56:12 I see the word all, quite a few times 56:13 in that scripture. 56:15 Was it mean to surrender all your heart? 56:17 Are you all in or are you not? That's a good point. 56:21 Romans 8:28, 56:23 "And we know that all things work together 56:27 for good to those who love God, 56:28 to those who are the called according to His purpose." 56:32 Amen. Amen. 56:34 1 John 4:9-10, 56:36 "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, 56:40 that God has sent His only begotten Son 56:42 into the world, that we might live through Him. 56:45 In this is love, not that we loved God, 56:48 but that He loved us 56:50 and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 56:55 Amen. I won the lottery. 56:57 I got Jeremiah 29:11. 56:59 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 57:01 says the Lord, thoughts of peace 57:02 and not of evil, to give you a future 57:04 and a hope." 57:05 Amen. Amen. 57:07 That I'm just gonna go with John 3:30. 57:08 "He must increase, but I must decrease." 57:10 Amen. Amen. 57:11 Thank you guys so much for sharing your insight 57:14 on discovering God's will, how to discover God's will? 57:18 And thank you so much for joining us. 57:20 We wish you a very happy Sabbath. 57:22 And until next time, may God continue to bless you. 57:25 Amen. Amen. |
Revised 2019-12-02