Acts chapter 16 is where we are.
I'm going to open in a word of prayer and then see if we can
reestablish the vision that we were a part of about a month
and a half ago. We are halfway, more than halfway
through the book of Acts. Acts is 28 chapters long. And if you divide 28 into two,
I know we went to government school, but we might be able
to work that out. We would have what? Blessing.
There you go. So we're a little bit more than
halfway, and that's a blessing. From here on out, ACTS is going
to be very, very exciting. I mean, very exciting. We're
in the midst now of some extremely powerful spiritual stuff because
they are on an excursion that the enemy does not care for.
And we want to learn all we can about what it means to be a practicing
Christian. And that's what the book of Acts
is all about. Practicing the gospel. If you guys remember,
the Greek word for acts is what? Praxis. Praxis. And the term means to practice
what you have been taught in the church in the book of Acts
is practicing what it had been taught by its master, the Lord
Jesus. And we're supposed to be emulating those things too.
So we're going to go into it after prayer and really begin
to see how the Lord works in the life of his people to bring
about the practice of what it means to be a full grown Christian. Let's pray. So father, we come
to you now at the end of a week for some of us, an arduous week,
a challenging week for others of us, a leisurely week, whether
it was leisurely or challenging. We thank you that you got us
through it safely. You have brought us to a place
now where we can meditate upon your precepts and we can consider
your law and we can behold your glory. As we once again, set
our hearts on your purposes. of redemption through Jesus Christ.
We thank you for the church of the living God whom you have
purchased by your own blood out of every nation, kindred, tribe
and tongue. And we pray especially for those
who are suffering for your namesake everywhere in the world. Horrible,
horrible atrocities by those who hate you and the enemy who
despises your sovereign rule, your son and your church. We're
asking your grace on them and your grace Us we're asking at
this time as we gather that by your spirit We would think your
thoughts after you that you would raise us up above the challenges
of our present Circumstance and help us to behold your glory
and those things that are important to you in the salvation of your
people Therefore as we come into your presence this time we're
asking for the forgiveness of our sins and the purging of our
conscious and the washing of our hearts and and the desire
that you would draw near to us in order that we might draw near
to you. Be with us in this hour and those that are yet coming,
we pray in Jesus name. Amen. As we look in Acts chapter
16, like I stated, we are returning back again to a very focused
aspect of biblical studies. Over the last seven or eight
weeks, we have been dealing with what we call a big lens or big
picture view Theological studies Tyler took us through the Bible
particularly and specifically the Old Testament a big-picture
view of your Bible Theologically is called what when we are going
from Genesis to Revelation Narratively what theological discipline is
that do you guys remember? Oh B.T. I'll give you a little hint.
B.T. for those of you who know biblical theology, that's what
we were doing. B.T. is called biblical theology.
Biblical theology is history according to what? Right. Got
to remember these things. These are simple acrostics and
acronyms and they really help you understand what you're doing.
So what you enjoyed for several weeks is what we call biblical
theology. The narrative of scripture, with
a continuum of thought around the redemptive purposes of God.
This is what made it so exciting. You were dealing with big picture
scenarios. And for some of us, the big picture
is the thing that we enjoy because we can get a handle on sort of
the larger details. And when we get more down to
the minutia and the more meticulous details, it can be a little bit
challenging. So if you know that a large picture lens gives you
the big picture, then when you narrow that lens down about three
quarters, narrow that lens down to about three quarters, we are
now dealing with another category of theology. And it's largely
in the New Testament, but it's also hinted in the Old Testament. So if we were dealing with biblical
theology, with Tyler's studies and we are now in the Book of
Acts. What kind of theological emphasis
would the Book of Acts give us? I'm using the word E. What's
the theological emphasis in the Book of Acts? Who knows? The word is, the letter is E.
We are in the book of Acts. What is the book of Acts all
about theologically? Evangelism. Evangelism. Yep. Evangelism. Write it down. Evangelism. Doesn't that make
sense now? Right. And so this is where you
want to be really thoughtful about your studies. You want
to capture theological points, concepts. You want to be able
to bracket them and be able to classify and categorize your
experience in Bible study contextually so that you can see these doctrinal
truths emerging from the scriptures. The book of Acts is all about
evangelism. It's about the church moving
out in obedience to Christ into all the world. And we get to
see it acted out starting where? In where? Jerusalem. And then
Judea. And then Samaria, right? And
then the uttermost parts of the world. By the time we get to
Acts chapter 16, we are moving to the uttermost parts of the
world, are we not? We have started in Acts chapter
1 in Jerusalem. Acts chapter 2, Jerusalem. Acts
chapter 3, Jerusalem and Judea. Acts chapter 4, Jerusalem and
Judea. We begin to break the lines of
Jerusalem and Judea in Acts chapter 8, where we are in Samaria. Remember that? You want to be
able to capture this narrative progression in your mind. In
Acts chapter 8, we transition out of Judah out of Jerusalem
into the Gentile territory where the problems begin to occur. And then God begins to solve
that problem by raising up one particular man. And who is that?
The apostle Paul. He's going to make Paul the minister
of the gospel to the what? Gentiles. So now we are moving
further out into Gentile territory. Here we are in the 16th chapter
And in the 16th chapter, we are moving into our second and third
missionary journey. Remember how we saw in Acts 15
that the church in Antioch had sent Paul and Barnabas out on
their first missionary journey? They returned and gave a report.
They had to deal with the conflict that came from Jerusalem with
Judaizers who wanted to make the Gentiles bound again to the
law circumcised them in the flesh and bring them again back up
under the curse of the law and Paul and Peter and James fought
against that and then they left again Peter I mean Paul and Barnabas
left again and remember Paul and Barnabas got into a an argument
over who John Mark that's Acts chapter 15 and they had to split
and go their ways and we talked at length about that how that
Sometimes God separates us for his own purposes, and we don't
know why. And we don't necessarily have
to try to resolve why, so long as whatever that separation ultimately
results in is the glory of God. We talked about how Barnabas
went off the pages of scripture, didn't he? And yet here we are
with Paul in Acts 16, and we're about to enter into some very,
very fascinating studies around the missionary work of Paul and
Silas and Timothy and others whom God had picked up with Paul
in Acts chapter 15 and 16 and is now carrying him into the
regions of the Gentiles north. Remember that we're headed north.
Pull up that map. I want you guys to see the vision
again because it's very important to the title of our message today.
In our outline, the title of our message is what? The hunger
of Christ and men. the hunger of Christ and men. That's the title of your outline.
We're going to be in two studies with regards to this today and
next week. Man, that's a small map. You guys couldn't get that
larger? If you would have pulled up that other one and just made
that other one, brought that other one up, that would have
completely... So you weren't able to get that one directly,
were you? Oh, that's tough. That's tough. All right. So now,
I can't see that. These people aren't going to
be able to see that. So go back to the other one. Let me just
see if I can work with that a little bit. All right, there you go. Can you center that? Can you
guys see that map a little bit? Yes, no, maybe so. OK, yeah,
so there you go. There you go. That's what I'm
doing. Now center it over. Bring it over. Bring it over
so I can do something. I can do something with that.
If you bring it over, leave it right there. I was helping the guy in my house.
Today, I had to have a washing machine and dryer installed because
ours died. You know they always die at the
most inopportune time. And then replacing those boogers
are hard. But I had to help the guy bring
it in and maneuver it and all that. And this is what we had
to do just now. So watch this. If you look to the far end, I
thought I had my little mark at the far end. You see the word
Judea down at the bottom? Judea for us is in the center
of the whole of Palestine. I told you that if we were dealing
with California, Judea would be somewhere like central California. I'm forgetting some of the cities
down there, but you guys know where central California is.
And so as we move up north, Jerusalem is north of Judea. You guys see
that? Jerusalem is north of Judea. So when the missionaries go up,
we saw this in Acts chapter 15, they went up past Ptolemy, they
went up past Tyre, Phoenicia, and do you see the word Syria,
right? Syria. This is where they were beginning
their missionary work to in Antioch. And then we saw in Acts chapter
15, how that Paul and Barnabas and others went to Sicilia, Pisidia,
Antioch now is the Gentile area where they established the gospel
and you guys see Ephesus, Phrygia, Galatia, Miletus. This is where
the seven churches of Asia Minor were established by the Apostle
and then passed on to Timothy in the Ephesus area. So we're
still going north, almost northwest, right? So we turn around and
we come all the way back down to Syria under Antioch or Antioch
of Syria where they started the work And they may have even went
down to Jerusalem to help them. And now we turn around and we
go back up in Acts 16. This is our third missionary
journey. Leave the map up there. And if you guys have your Bible
out, look at verse one with me in your Bible. Then came he to
Derbe and what? Lystra. And so if you were going
up your map, you would be able to see... Let's see here. Where is Derbe on the map? I
guess... I don't see. I see Phrygia, though.
Do you guys see Derby? No, because the terms are different
on this map because it's newer. Let me see what it goes on to
say. And a certain disciple named Timotheus, the son of a certain
woman, let me go all the way down to verse 6. Now, when they
had gone throughout Phrygia, you guys see Phrygia? Up there,
if you bring the marker up, that second Antioch, the Phrygia area. All right, so this is where we
are now. Now, when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the regions
of Galatia, so if this, there it is, that's the whole region
of Galatia where you get your epistle, the Galatians, and were
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. After
they would come to Mysia, they are saved to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit of the Lord forbid them. They are moving up now. They're going to be moving up
further. And the spirit of the Lord forbid them. Um, as we read
in verse seven and they pass him by, Missy, it came down to
Troas and a vision appeared under Paul in the night. There stood
a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia
and help, help us. Now you guys see Macedonia way
at the top, right? Now, now Paul and them are in
the Phrygian Galatian area. And yet he gets a vision to keep
going further north. Doesn't he? He's in the Phrygian
area of Galatia. He's waiting on the Lord. He's
in a missionary mode, him and his companions. And in that Phrygian
area, he receives a vision. That's how God was working in
those days. How powerful was that vision
for Paul and Silas and the rest that were with him? Here's what
he says in verse 9 and 10. The vision appeared to Paul in
the night, and there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him,
that is, beseeched him, saying, come over into Macedonia and
do what? Help us. Now, I want you to mark
that, tag that, because this is so insightful in terms of
the title of our series. This is about a three or four
part series. What's the title of our outline? The Hunger of
Christ and Men, right? The Hunger of Christ and Men.
Who's giving Paul this vision? God is. God is driving into Paul's
mind a vision of a man who represents a people group who are in need. Would that provoke you to do
something for God? Would that move you to act? Would
that at least cause you to now be compelled to pray and seek
God's face as to what does this mean? That's how powerful this
vision was, which means to me, apart from this vision, Paul
and the rest of the game with them, while they are in the process
of missionary work, they're not clear every moment of the day
in every moment of the way what they should be doing. And that's
how it is in your life and mine. I'm not clear every day. I'm
not clear every week or every month or every six months. Sometimes
I'm in a holding pattern waiting on a vivid concrete piece of
evidence as to which way to go. And that's how God calls us.
That is part of the walk of faith that we all must understand.
So they know they were supposed to go, but at this point they
don't know where they're going. And if you and I wanted to surmise
what they would be doing, what would they be doing in this holding
pattern while God is preparing them for this vision. What would
be the practical things a believer who is walking in obedience would
be doing? Would they be going to the baseball
game? Would they be engaging in secular extracurriculums that
are not in themselves necessarily bad? Would they be sitting around
watching television? Do you really think if they were
really engaging in some of the secular casualties that we engage
in that God would have given them that vision? Right, because
we have to accept the fact that when the scripture says, for
those that are born of the Spirit, we're called to be what of the
Spirit? Lead of the Spirit. That walking in the Spirit is
going to more times than not prepare you for an act of ministry. And so we would assume that Paul
and Barnabas were either simply fellowshipping among themselves,
Paul and Silas and the rest were fellowshipping among themselves,
seeking to witness and a whole lot wasn't going on but they
were in a waiting pattern they weren't presuming to turn around
and go back they were in a waiting pattern and the text tells us
in verse 10 and after he had seen the vision immediately we
endeavor to go into Macedonia surely gathering that the Lord
had called us for to preach the gospel unto them was he right
all right now this is where we move into our study which is
just going to be a wonderful contemplation for the next couple
of weeks look at verse 11 and therefore loosing from Troas
we came with a straight course to Samothracea and and on the
map it would be Threos Threos not Samothracea and it would
be up further past Macedonia Samothracea you can't see it
up there, but it is Moving towards. Okay, so it's off the map there.
That's okay. Other maps would show it Thrace would be the word
that you would find up there on your map Samothracea and the
next day to Neapolis. And from thence to where? Philippi. Do you guys see Philippi? You
see Neapolis? That's the region. So the vision
came up top from Macedonia. Macedonia is a region just like
Galatia. So Paul and them are way, way
out past Jerusalem, aren't they? They're way out past the core
point in which God had initially started that ministry. because
Christ has a hunger for sinners. Doesn't He? He has a hunger for
sinners. He's sending His missionaries
far and broad because He has a hunger for sinners. He's not sending His missionaries
amiss or out of their own volition. They're not kind of rolling the
dice. They're being led by God because Christ has a hunger for
sinners. They're being led specifically
to a place that's going to be, again, a very important lesson
for us, but it's way outside of the comfort zone of your average
Jew. Way outside of the comfort zone
of your comfortable Christian. Philippi, Neapolis, Macedonia. Good, so I want you to see that
vision. What's right across the water? What's the word that we
know? Right across the water to the left is what? Rome. That's where our brother's gonna
die Do you see that that's where he's gonna die He's headed to
death But on his way to death God's gonna use him to establish
gospel churches everywhere Now watch this he's being led by
the Spirit As many as are born of the Spirit. They are also
what led of the Spirit. He's being led of the Spirit
led of the spirit. So now let's go back to our outline,
pull up the PowerPoint. Let's work through this. We're
going to deal with points number one and two. This is all we're
going to get through today is points number one and two, because
I want to establish the acute and the specific dynamics of
how God works to prepare a people to receive the gospel and prepare
those who are part of it. In your outline, the hunger of
Christ and men, I actually quote six or seven verses in your outline.
After reading verses 11 through 15, I quote Matthews 28, 19,
and 20, which is the great commission. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel, right? And lo, I am with you always, even
to the end of the world. Make disciples of yourselves,
teaching them whatsoever I've commanded you, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. You guys
know those verses, right? The next verse in your outline, in
my outline, if you don't have it in yours, I think you do,
don't you? is Acts chapter 1 verse 8 which says what, tarry ye here
at Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high and you
shall be my witnesses. Where? In Jerusalem, in Judea,
in Samaria. And then where? Is God fulfilling that right
now in this context? The next verse then that I want you to
see in your outline is Luke's gospel chapter 15 verses 1 through
7 where our Lord being the model of the proto or arch evangelist
troubles the leaders of the church in Israel because in that in
Luke chapter 15 verse 1 through 7 we have him eating and drinking
with publicans and sinners and the rulers deriding him for it. Look in Luke 15 verse 1 through
7 and then we'll go back and begin to contemplate this beautiful
concept of how the hunger of Christ and men come together
in a salvific experience by the grace of God, then drew near
unto him all the what? Publicans and sinners for to
do what? Do you understand it takes grace
for that to happen? Do you guys understand that? Now watch this.
And the Pharisees and the scribes did what? That's because they
didn't get it, did they? They didn't understand the hunger
of Christ and men, did they? It goes on to say, and this man
receives sinners and he eats with them. How else is he going
to reach them if he doesn't eat with them, fellowship with them,
participate in their life? How is he going to reach them?
He's not, is he? Notice what he says. And he spake
this parable unto them. And I want you guys to get this.
This is really going to be important. What man of you having a hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until
he find it. See my point? Do you see my point? Who here sees my point? It's
very important. See, what I don't want you to
do as we re-enter into the narrow lens of the book of Acts and
the topic in the book of Acts is what? Evangelism. I don't
want you to skip over those very important details that demonstrate
for us the hunger of Christ and me and the matters of salvation. What our Lord is doing here is
giving the Pharisees through a parable and insight into the
hunger of God for sinners. Is he not? And what he's saying
to the Pharisees is you guys have totally missed it. You're
caught up in the external appearance of me sitting with harlots and
publicans and tax collectors and you're judging them as unfit
to sit with a Pharisee. And here I am actually fulfilling
my father's will. And then he gives the parable
and he says, these people are what? Lost. And they're not coming
back unless someone goes and what? Finds them. Now watch how
the parable goes. This is very interesting and
I tell you we are at the heart of the nature of God in Christ
in this matter of the gospel for you and me. It says, and
he goes after that which is lost until he finds it. Do you see
it? Look at verse 3, verse 5. And
when he had found it, he lays it on his shoulders Rejoicing
do you see that? This is the hunger of Christ
For men now watch this and when he cometh home He calleth together
all his what? and neighbors saying unto them
rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost and I
say unto you that likewise, joy shall be in heaven over one sinner
that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons
which need no repentance. Verse 7 is interesting because
verse 7 is giving us the external manifestation of a spiritual
work that Christ does in the heart of the sinner, right? The
external manifestation is that the sinner does what? Repents.
And heaven is doing what? Rejoicing. But he only repented
And heaven only rejoices because someone went after that sheep.
Do you guys see that? Because someone went after that
sheep. Now watch this. It says, rejoice with me for
I have found my sheep, which was what? And I say unto you
that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents
more than 99 just persons which need no repentance. And I swear
we will stop. I'll ask you the question as
we now raise the question in your outline. I thought I had
it in the PowerPoint. I don't. In verse 7 when it says, verse
6 when it says, And when he cometh home, he calleth together his
friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for
I have found my sheep which was lost. Who would be the friends
and neighbor of the shepherd? You and me. Other believers. Is that true? So stay with me
for a moment now. Do you rejoice with Christ? at the salvation of sinners?
Or are you so casual about your Christianity that the conversion
and salvation of sinners doesn't matter anymore? So the vision
here that is being affected by Christ to the rulers is that
they can have their orthodoxy correct and yet their hearts
be cold and hard and apathetic to what's important to God. Is
that true? They can be sitting there with all of the right doctrine
and yet miss the heart of God. Now, ladies and gentlemen, please
listen to me carefully as we continue into the work. The one
goal of the devil is to distract you and me from the passion of
Christ in the salvation of sinners. If he can get you and me distracted
to something important but lesser than the salvation of sinners,
Hail rejoices. Do you hear me? If he can get
you and me distracted by something important, but lesser than the
salvation of sinners, hail rejoices. Because he has completely defaulted
us from the objective for which Christ left glory and came down
here to earth. All right, I'm getting ready
to actually create again a thought in your mind. In your outline,
I have a question there, don't I? It says, The hunger of Christ
in men, the value of what? The hunger of Christ in men,
the value of what? What does God value? God values relationships. So you guys have heard me talking
about this for three weeks in our study on forgiveness, right?
Do you see how quickly we let it go out of our head? Right? So one of the things you're going
to hear me and my guys doing over the next several months
is reintroducing concepts, phrases, and statements, which I do all
the time to help you understand through adumbration, important
theological truths. Like this one here, I really
want burnt into the heart of God's people. God values what? He values relationship. That's
what forgiveness is all about. That's what the cross is all
about. That's what evangelism is all about. That's what the
preaching of the gospel is all about. If God didn't value relationships,
none of us here would be saved. Is that true? None of us would
be saved. So if God values relationship
and the love of God is poured into my heart, ought not I also
to what? And if I value relationship,
am I not going to value evangelism? And if I value evangelism, I'm
going to ask God to make me evangelical. Is that right? Right. Otherwise,
I don't value relationships. And if I don't value relationships,
I'm not thinking like God. This is the importance of the
study in the book of Acts. How important is relationship
to God? How much does he value it? Like
a shepherd. He leaves the 99 the wilderness and goes and hunts
down the one sheep like a shepherd. Is that important? All right,
so here's a principle in your outline. Point number one, what
is the principle encompassing the event that we are dealing
with in our account? Going back to Acts chapter 16,
let me see if I can to build this argument before we go on. What is the principle? I give
you Proverbs 16, 1, you can look at it, but I want to go back
to Acts 16 and read through now. Now that we know that Paul and
his compadres are far north, almost northwest, almost at the
very place where he's going to be killed for the cause of the
gospel, we read over in verse 12 of Acts 16, And from this,
they came to Philippi, which was the chief city of that part
of Macedonia, and a colony. And we were in that city abiding
certain days. You guys see that phrase, certain
days? It means when they actually hit ground zero, which is where
God wanted them to be, that God was calling them, they're in
Macedonia, right, the region, because Philippi is a region
of Macedonia, right? They settled down and they're
there certain days. So once again, what you find
in the context is that these men who are on a missionary journey
and they are doing evangelism, they are learning how to not
only obey God and follow Him where He says go, but when they
get there, they gotta sit. How many of you guys were part
of our M1 class a few weeks ago? M1. One of the things I told
you about being an effective evangelist is that you gotta
learn how to be what? Patient. When you are fishing,
You got to learn how to be what? Patient. Learn patience. The fisherman is patient. The
husbandman that waits for the harvest has to be what? Patient.
So what God does with Paul and the rest, he gets them into the
territory and then he settles them down. Just sets them right
there. You know, one of the hardest
thing for us to do as believers is wait on God. Now he'll get
you where you need to be. And once he gets you there, he
wants you to settle down. And so these men are seated in
that place where God has brought them and now they've got to wait
because things have to open up in order for God to do something.
Now watch this. I want you to watch how this
narrative works and then we'll go back and go behind the scene
like Jesus did in Luke 15. It says over in verse 13, And
on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a what? Where prayer was want to be made. In other words, that little phrase,
it's an old English term that means there was a constant practice
of prayer taking place by groups of believers or those who desire
to be believers at that spot by the river weekly. Now we can
surmise that they probably were either proselytes or Jews because
they did it on what day? The Sabbath. So Paul was seeking
out men and women who were worshipers, who were calling on God, who
were seeking God's face. Now, here's what I want you to
mark as we continue to unpack this. Were they singing? Maybe, but that's not the feature
thing. Were they evangelizing? I doubt
it very highly. Were they preaching? No, but
we do know what they were doing. What were they doing? Praying.
That's amazing. Just absolutely amazing. Just amazing. So here's this
group of people who are going out to the riverside every week
and all they're doing when they get together is praying. These are the people way up north.
Way up north. All they're doing is what? Praying.
God has a servant way, way down South and God is moving his servants
up North. Is he not? And as his servants
are moving up North, they're experiencing a little bit of,
uh, setbacks and obstacles. And then they get a vision from
this area of a man saying, come and do what help us help us help
us. Does God answer? Prayer. So we're going to take our time
because it's very important for you and I to learn the ways of
God. Do you think these people are sitting on the sidelines
praying as committed and consistent and fervently as they are and
God's not in it? No way. No way. And I want you
to see now Proverbs chapter 16 verse 1. I want to unpack this
a little bit to give you what's going on behind the scenes. This
is called a theological reflection of the text. Remember we have
a hermeneutic, a five-fold hermeneutic, a literal, historical, what? Literal, historical, grammatical,
what? Theological and then redemptive, right? Let us what? Let us what? To teach us redemption, right?
And that acronym is designed for us to study the scriptures
and understand the context, understand the history, understand the geography,
understand the theology, and understand the redemptive work
of God in Christ. That's why we can pull so much
out of a text when we're careful with it. When you slow down and
observe the text, you can see God working in it, can't you?
This is exactly what's taking place here. Now watch this. The
preparation of the heart in man And the answer of the tongue
is where? So if you notice that this text
is talking about three things. One is talking about preparation. Preparation. And that term preparation
in some of your Bibles may also be translated plan. Preparation. The preacher says that the preparations
of the what? The heart. So now think about
that for a moment. What do we mean by heart here?
Because it sounds like it's something more volitional and rational
and intellectual than emotional, right? In other words, he's saying
the preparations or the plans or the purposes of the heart.
The preparation or the plans or the purposes of the heart,
not the feelings of the heart, not the emotions of the heart,
Not the passions of the heart, but the plans of the heart. Now,
ladies and gentlemen, largely when you read in your Bible the
word heart, it is not talking about your emotions. It's a byproduct. Emotions are a byproduct. But
in the Bible, your heart is the seat of your intellect. It's
the place where you think for real. Right? For as a man what in his heart?
Thinketh in his heart, so is he. So the heart is the center
and reality of your being. It's where you do all your musing.
It's where you do all your reasoning, all your thinking. And what Solomon
is saying is, in a man's heart, things get thought through. They
get arranged. And in fact, the word preparation
here, plan, is also translated arranged. I don't know why I
keep getting my children's black pens. Here we go. The word is
arranged. I like this term, arranged. The text says the preparations
of the heart in man, the arrangements of the heart in man. I'm going
to show you some verses here in a moment. And the what of the
tongue? The answer. Another way to translate
this is response. Response. So I want you to work
with me now. We're dealing with sort of an
anatomical vision here. the preparations or the plans
or the orderings or the arrangements or the schemes of the inner man,
as he works out his ideas, results in a response. It results in
an answer. You and I, ultimately, when we
think it through, we finally verbalize it, don't we? Right,
whatever we do, we ultimately verbalize it. Here's what Solomon
says. The heart that arranges its purposes,
its plans, and its ideas is from God. The heart that arranges
its purposes, its plans, and its ideas is a work of grace
from God. Look at verse 9. Pull up verse
9. I'll show you this one. Now, you guys have seen this
before, but I want you to get this. And this will make sense when
we get back to Acts 16. A man's heart does what? Devises
his way. Don't you make plans? Don't you
have schemes? Don't you have ideas? Don't you
hope and trust that God is in them? Exactly right. But who
directs our steps? So now, so what verse 9 does
in connection with verse 1 is tells us, watch this now, how
God works in our hearts to bring about desires and purposes and
plans that correspond to his will. So on the one hand, these
people at the riverside, They're calling on God. They're asking
God to reveal himself to them. They're seeking God's face. Isn't
that what we do in prayer? They're seeking God's face in
prayer because they don't know what to do unless the Lord comes
through. Oh, we're stuck. Is that not so? But isn't it
the fundamental native thing for a believer to do is to call
on God? I love this. I really do. Because
Let's say you are Lydia and the game and your prayers are honored
by God and The way God's gonna answer your prayer because the
answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Is that right? The
way God's gonna answer your prayers is one Sabbath morning Just when
you're about to say, I don't even know if this is working.
We've been praying for weeks. We've been praying for months.
We've been just going through our prayer cycle here and there. I love prayer. I love fellowshipping
with the saints, but we've got a request that have not yet been
answered. Should we continue praying? And
on this day, God gave them grace to persevere. This is wild. And he brought the apostles right
to the prayer service. Do you see it? He brought the
apostles right to the prayer service. A man's heart divides
his way, but the Lord directs his steps. This underscores what
we call in theology the sovereignty of God. Is that right? Is God
sovereign? Is he sovereign over our thoughts? Is He sovereign
over our desires and our passions? Does God take His time working
out His will in our life? Does God, because He values what? Enter into our life struggles
and challenges to bring about a kind of need of God when we
call on Him? Does He do that? And does not
God answer when we call on Him in faith earnestly? Do you guys
see where I'm going with this? This is an absolutely phenomenal
study. I'll just share with you a couple
of concepts around this term arrangements because it's so
very, very rich in our study. The idea of God, the idea of
the preparations of the heart. The term preparation is a Hebrew
term that means to set in order. You know how you just don't know
and you have to think it through? And then after a while you begin
to get some clarity? And then you begin to arrange
your agenda. That's what it means to set in
order. That takes some labor, doesn't it? To set things in
order. How many of you guys have had a life that has been filled
with on occasion chaos? Good. I'm glad you're being honest
because the reason why I'm not going to move from here real
quick is because I want to show you how God works for those who
sincerely take him at his word. When we call upon God and ask
God to help us because we don't know our way, he will give us
clarity. He will bring about order in
our life. He will help us to start thinking
more clearly. If we don't ask him, we're left
to chaos. See if I can make this work a
little bit more with a few Bible verses before we go back to our
Texan work and we'll have about a half an hour. That's about
it. In your Bible, go with me in your Bible to the book of
Job, chapter 32, verse 14. Here's the way that this word
is translated in the book of Job, chapter 32, verse 14. Job is obviously bemoaning the
trials that are going on in his life, and God has not revealed
to Job exactly what's going on, and Job has to learn how to trust
God, like you and I do often in our troubles, right? And yet
here, Here's what it says in Job chapter 32 verse 14. And
then we're going to look at verse chapter 33 verse 5. I'm going
to start at verse 11. Behold, I waited for your words.
I gave ear to your reasons while you searched out what to say.
This is Elihu reproving Job. Yea, I attended unto you and
behold there was none of you that convinced Job or that answered
his words verse 13 Lest you should say we have found wisdom. We have found out the wisdom
of God Found our wisdom God thrusted them down and not man This is
what Elihu is saying. God knocked him down not man
verse 14. Now. He hath not directed his
what? Against to see the word directed. That's our word for preparation
Elihu is about to say to the other three men who got it wrong.
Now I'm going to answer for Job, but Job's not speaking against
me. Job did not order his words against me. He didn't direct
his words against me. So the idea of preparation means
to direct. You guys follow that? Look again
in Job chapter 33, verse 5. Job 33, verse 5. Are we there?
Now listen to the way it's used here. I'm going to start back
at verse... For the Spirit of God hath made
me, this is Elihu still speaking, and the breath of the Almighty
hath given me life. Here's what he says. If you can
answer me, set your words in what? Order before me and do
what? Stand up. Here's what Elihu is
saying to Job. Job, if you want to debate or
discuss this topic, reason within yourself. Establish a logical
coherent argument and then stand up and let's debate. You guys
follow that? This word then is also used in
the Old Testament when God told the priest to make loaves of
showbread and to line them up in what? Order. So that when
the priest went in, they would remember that God is their Jehovah-Jireh
and that God provides bread for them, for them to eat and to
live, and that God does all things according to in what? An order.
And the antithesis of what we're talking about here, which is
very important, why I'm taking my time and milking these opening
verses of Acts 16, is because I really believe it's so very
important for you in your own life to understand the critical
component of prayer as part of your walk with God. A lot of
times we are going to fall into chaos when we don't ask God to
direct our steps. Lot of times we're gonna fall
into chaos when we don't ask God to order our steps The antithesis
of this term is found in the book of Genesis chapter 1 verse
2 in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 when it opens up in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was void
and without form are without form and void tohu and bohu are
the two Hebrew terms for And they both actually describe a
state of chaos, confusion, and futility. And this is why in
verse 3, the latter part of verse 2, it says, and the Spirit of
God did what? Moved upon the face of the waters. And you guys
have heard the typological or metaphorical interpretation of
that. The waters represents the nations of the people. and the
Spirit of God has to work to bring the nations of the people
into clarity concerning the will and purpose of God. Is that true?
So in the same way the Spirit of God is about to bring order,
and you can see it in verse 3, pull verse 3 up, look at what
verse 3 says, and God said, let there be what? Don't we need
light on the situation? When you and I are in a conundrum,
or we are in a perplexing situation, or we are in a strait, we are
in a difficulty where we don't have the answer. We need God
to shed light on the matter, don't we? We need Him to bring
order to our thoughts. Because our thoughts are not
always in a line with God's thoughts, and our priorities are not always
right. I'm telling the truth and where our priorities are
not right and our thoughts are not right We are not going to
get the answer that God wants and so sometimes ladies and gentlemen,
it's as simple as praying It's as simple as praying Sometimes
we make it more complex but And see if we if we wait on God Y'all
have found this to be true. Isn't this crazy when God does
this you wait on him you pray you pray you wait and You wait,
you pray, and then you know what the Holy Ghost said? Let there
be light. And there is this magnificent
insight given to you. And you go, why didn't I think
of that? That's where your first mistake
was. Because you didn't think of it. God gave you what? Light. But no, remember when
it happened, you went, this makes all the sense in the world. And
now you are able to put things in order. You can establish a
plan and you have confidence to begin to move forward. Is
that true? That's called a breaking through that God does in our
life when we simply wait on God. This is so very important. Look
at verse four. Now watch what he does in this
in verse four. It says, and God saw the light
that it was what? Obviously, and God divided the light from
the darkness. Here we go. Division is what we call clarity. When we make a distinction between
that which is light and darkness, between that which is evil and
good, between that which is right and wrong, now we can get about
our life, can we not? Before that, it was all confused. You know the word confused? It
means to fuse things together in a way that you don't have
any distinction, no clarity, no discrimination, no ability
to discern what it really is. Have you been there? And I am
sure that's what was going on with our friends. Go with me
in your Bible now. Would you pull up for me Jeremiah
chapter 4 verse 23, where God uses the genitive narrative,
the Genesis narrative concerning his own people, Israel, who were
God's creation. Israel was God's creation. And
because of Israel's disobedience and rebellion, he now describes
the state of Israel in this same state of Genesis chapter 1 verse
2. In Genesis chapter 4, he says, I beheld the earth and lo, it
was without form and void. And the heavens, they had no
what? Look at verse 24. You want to kind of move forward
and kind of see how the text goes. Verse 24 of Jeremiah. I
beheld the mountains and lo, they trembled and all the hills
moved lightly. Keep going. Let's kind of work
through. And I beheld and lo, there was no what? And all the
birds of the heaven fled. Verse 26. And I behold in lo
the fruitful places and wilderness and the cities that thereof were
broken down at the presence of the Lord and his fierce anger.
Verse 27 for thus hath the Lord said, the whole land shall be
desolate. Yet will I not make a full in
verse 28 for this shall the earth mourn and the heavens above be
black because I have spoken it. I've purposed it and I will not
repent. Neither will I turn back from
it. Verse 29. The whole city shall flee for
the noise of the horsemen, the bowmen. They shall go into the
thickets and climb upon the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken
and not a man dwell therein." This is Jeremiah pronouncing
judgment on Israel for abandoning God as the true and the living
God. Remember Jeremiah chapter 2? My people have done two horrible
things. They have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters, and they have hewn out cisterns that can hold
no water. In other words, they had turned
to idolatry. And because they had turned to
idolatry, God is now describing that the land of Israel is going
to go into that primordial state before the Spirit of God begins
to put order and clarity and purpose in their life. So those
were judgments that came upon Israel because of their lack
of calling out on God. The point then, as I am trying
to kind of lay the foundation is, in the New Testament, We
see God doing something evangelically in the lives of people who were
lost by nature, where he's starting to bring light to their life.
Go back to our text. Go back to our text. Let's work
through our first point then. What is the principle encompassing
this event of Acts chapter 16? The principle that's encompassing
this event can be underscored by these three characteristics,
these three set points in your outline. The first one is that
the Savior is doing what? Absolutely, the Savior is gathering.
The second one is that the servants are being what? Is that what's
happening? Who are the servants in this
context? Paul and their brethren, right? The third point is that
what? The sinners are being what? Is
that what's happening? The Savior is gathering, the
servants are led, and sinners are being drawn. Can you see
those three things happening all at once? Right. So in the
big picture, what Christ is saying to his disciples is, when I ascend
back on high, I'm going to send the Spirit of God and he's going
to help you as you go into all the world and gather men and
women into the kingdom of God in my name. The Savior is gathering.
This is where I shared with you a couple of weeks ago in our
forgiveness study a term I call the Adam what? Gatherer. The Adam gatherer. This is the
last Adam. And who is the last Adam? Right. So it's very important for you
to get this. Theologically, God has chosen Christ to be the means
by which the curse that fell upon man at the beginning is
reversed. Theologically, God has chosen Christ to be the last
Adam recovering fallen man who has been scattered to the four
winds. He is called the Adam what? Gatherer. He gathers. He gathers. So we read in John
chapter 12, I think around verse 31, if I be lifted up, I will
do what? Draw all men unto me. Is that what's taking place in
our Acts account? I want you to see a few verses there. Now
is the judgment of this world. Now is the prince of this world
cast out. And if I'd be lifted up from the earth, I will draw
all men unto me. That's what's happening in our
text. I want you to see a few new Testament verses around the
Adam gatherer. So you won't have to ever question
whether or not that's a good theological concept. Go to Ephesians
chapter one, verse 10 Ephesians one, 10. I have to actually lay
this foundation so that as we continue through the Book of
Acts, we don't have to lay this foundation again. You can know
that the purpose for which the Book of Acts is given is to demonstrate
how that Christ is successfully gathering a people for himself
out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And here's
how Paul puts it theologically in Ephesians chapter 1 verse
10. Are we there? He says that in
the dispensation, that term dispensation is a word that means in the purposes
of God, in the unfolding purposes of God, of the fullness of time,
he might gather what? In one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even where? So you see in verse 10 how Paul
is thinking about this cosmic returning of everything that
was lost to Christ. He might gather together in one
all things in Christ. Christ is the Adam what? Gatherer. Again, another verse
to see this is very important. Go with me then in Colossians
chapter 120. Colossians chapter 120 where
he uses the same language. Paul understood that the only
way that men could be brought together in one place and be
of one mind is that God would bring them together. Scattering
is something we can do without God. Is that true? We can all
divide without God, but we can't come together apart from a work
of grace. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, who are we talking about? By him to do
what? Reconcile all things unto himself. See the idea of reconciliation?
is to bring back. Isn't that what we learned in
forgiveness? Forgiveness means to release, to reconcile, and
then to do what? Restore. That's what the gospel
is doing around the world right now. Reconciling all things unto
himself. By him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in what? Heaven. That really is
such a fascinating concept too. Because whatever Christ did in
terms of his crossword, not only is correcting what's taking place
down here, but what's taking place in heaven too. In other
words, there was a complete destruction and chaos that took place in
heaven as well. You know what we've learned? There was war
in heaven. The devil and his angels fought,
and Michael and the archangel fought with them. And he used
his tail to draw the third part of the stars. And ever since
then, we have been in a what? Spiritual warfare. According
to this text, The death of Christ on Calvary has begun to restore
everything. It's bringing everything back. Now, just think for a moment
with me as we begin to wrap this up. When you read your newspaper,
if y'all still read newspapers, or if you go on the internet,
or you go through the media, does it even remotely look like
things are being gathered together? You know why? because the media
cannot show you the work of the Spirit of God. That's only something
you can see by faith because you believe the Word of God.
Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? Share with you a testimony
as we go back to our final point, final two points. I just want
to touch on the servants that are being led and the sinners
that are being drawn and then we'll close it for the night
and we'll come back and deal with the rest of it. I was reading
an article of a family in Iraq, a Christian family here recently. And the people are hostile against
this Christian family because they're Christian. And the mother
had a daughter. It was just a mother and a daughter
in the house, mother and a daughter. And they came to them and they
told the mother and the daughter to do something of which the
mother said, I will do it if you just give me a few minutes,
I will take care of what you want me to take care of. And
because the lady didn't do it immediately, they set fire on
the whole house. And as they set fire on the whole
house, the mother and the daughter were running out of the house,
but the daughter was burned with third and fourth degree burns.
The daughter was nine years old as the daughter was dying in
her mother's arms. Here's what she said about those
people that burned up the house. Forgive them. Just forgive them. Just forgive them. Mother, forgive
them. That's a nine year old believer
in Christ. So here's what I want you to
get. If you get stuck in Western media, you cannot see God working. If you get stuck in the empirical
things of this life, you cannot see God working for God is working
and he's always saving his people. It says you and I have to believe
that the Word of God is bringing the past exactly like he said
he is doing You're not a fantastic testimony But we don't hear enough
of that do we so you and I are thinking that we're losing ground
The devil is you know, having his way and things are getting
bad Please Saints be careful to see things the way God sees
them show you something else before I open the floor for questions
in a moment notice what it says the Savior is gathering the servants
are led we already affirmed that in Acts 16 10 we affirm it according
to Romans chapter 8 verse 14 as many as are led of the Spirit
these are the sons of God we believe that don't we and you
and I strive by the grace of God we ask him to lead us don't
we so that we might find ourselves smack dab in the middle of God's
will our sinners being drawn go back to act 16 just want to
close out with this thought, Acts 16. Sinners are being drawn. Is it possible, as we go back
there, that God could have prepared these Philippian brothers and
sisters for Paul's coming? Could he have had brothers who
were with Paul and Barnabas in the first missionary journey,
second missionary journey to stay and go up and sprinkle the
word on them so that they heard a little bit of the word? After
all, they're worshiping on the Sabbath. They have had the law,
right? So is the law not possible to
prepare you for Christ? Isn't that what we learned last
week? The law is a schoolmaster to bring us where? To Jesus Christ. So you can see how that God will
prepare the heart to hear the gospel. God draws them. Very important contemplation
for those of us who really care about sinners being saved. So
watch this. God uses a lot of things to prepare
men and women for salvation. He uses trouble. He uses distresses in people's
lives. He uses setbacks and hindrances
That sometimes you and I don't know why God would do that to
that person He'll take the whole of a person's life and limit
their success So that they're constantly impeded in virtually
everything that they want to do Because he's gradually breaking
up the follow ground of their heart and stripping them of pride
So that he might prepare them for the gospel The preparation
of the heart and man is the work of God arranging them in such
a way that is bringing about a humility that brings them to
a point where they start calling on God. A lot of times people
get a little bit of word, a little bit of providential influence,
and you know in their own quiet time, they're calling on God.
Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? In their own quiet way.
So saints, I really want you to get this. I want you to get
this. Understand that The heart that is being prepared by God
can be a work that can take years to do. And it's critical for
you and I as believers to be sensitive to those factors. You're
on a job at work somewhere and someone comes to you and they
may even say something off color theologically, but they say it
to you and you are God's servant. Is that an accident? So they
say something crazy like, you know, man, you know, I think
Jesus was really truly a Muslim. That's crazy, isn't it? And then
you go, this, this, this, this guy or this girl is silly, foolish.
I'm not going to pay them any attention. I may not be the tongue
that God wants to answer them with. If I'm talking like that. Suppose you are the tongue that
God wants to use to answer them But you're not in step with God
and now you missing them because you're getting caught up in the
way they're saying it Instead of you realizing that all things
work together after the counsel of his own will that's the preparation
of the heart and man and the answer of the tongue is from
the Lord that God might just have brought you to that place
and to take what they said and rearrange that stupid statement
and say, you know, it's quite interesting what you said about
Jesus being a Muslim, but can I actually tell you what the
Bible says? Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? So sometimes
I think that we're not as prepared ourselves. Think about this now,
contextually. Paul is in the Neapolis. He's in the city of Philippi.
This is a Roman province. This is a colonized city. I'm
going to talk about the spiritual component to this next week.
It would be like being in the Bay Area in San Francisco or
in Oakland in Hayward. Now, how are you going to look
at our beloved city if you're new to the territory? How are
you going to look at it as a Christian? Are you going to look at it and
say, man, these folks is jacked up in the San Francisco Bay Area?
That's true. There's no doubt about that.
That's true. But what about, you know, there may be a work
to be done here. What about all of this difficulty
that's going on with child sex slavery and and and the accosting
of our daughters and forcing them into sexual slavery and
and all of the perversions that are going on in the Drug addiction
and the homelessness and all of the atrocities that's taking
place Maybe God is allowing all that darkness to prepare some
of the hearts of these people to hear the gospel. Is that possible? Right. See all of this is determined
by how we view things, isn't it? If we have a skewed view
of things, where it's just all dark, we may not be ready to
go. Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas
and the rest of them were moved out of the comfort zone of Judea
and Jerusalem, away from all of the Christians. They're going
further and further up into Gentile territory. They are way up in
Gentile territory now. If we had the time to talk about
how barbaric the Galatians were, and how crazy the Macedonians
were, you would think ain't no gospel getting done there. But
there's a handful of sisters. Watch this, led by God, drawn
by God. Does God draw sinners? No man
can come unto me except my father which sent me draw them. He's
drawing them out of the city. We'll deal with that as our last
point. Over by the riverside, where they can have some solitude
and quiet away from all of the cacophony of the secular culture
with all of its idolatries. Are they serious about calling
on God? And watch this. And God settled his servants
down so that they could have an ear open to find these brothers
and sisters down at the riverside. And then he gave them enough
zeal to go find them where they were. See it? Now watch this. Watch how the
text works. And we'll come back and pick
this up next week. Verse 13. And on the Sabbath, we went out
of the city by the riverside where prayer was accustomed to
be made. And we sat down and we spake
unto the women which resorted there. And a certain woman named
Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped
God, did what? Heard. The S is in italicis. She heard. Does God value relationship
enough to send his servants hundreds of miles to a little band of
sisters on the outside of a city by a little river where all they
were doing was what? They didn't have big tent meetings,
no flashing lights, no massive evangelical ministry going on,
just a handful of sisters. God heard their prayers, didn't
he? And he heard their prayers in such a magnificent way that
he gave his servants a vision. Of a what? A man. A man. He knew his service, right? You
give him a picture of a woman, he'll go the other way. Let's
just add it for a fact. And they went. Didn't they go?
They went. Some brother called us. You know Silas, a brother. I saw him. He was a brother.
No, he wasn't. He was a sister. You didn't know. Whose heart the Lord did what?
Right. And because we believe in the
literal, grammatical, historical method of biblical interpretation,
we have to come back next week and talk about how God is the
one that opens the heart. He's the one that gives understanding. He's the one that causes us to
hear his word. That's the only way salvation
comes. But mark this, how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be what? Can you see the preparation of
the heart of man and the answer of the tongue being from the
Lord? Does God value relationship? Amen. Amen. Do we have any questions
for tonight? I do want to say something. You
can get the mic. I do want to say something. There were a number
of us who were thinking about going out for an AM1 evangelism
for this week. Sunday is going to be a massively
wonderful day, but it's going to be filled with a lot of activity.
Congratulations for our students. Father's Day. Father's Day. I ain't hear from no sisters
talking about hooking us up, but we'll leave that alone. And
then we have the ordination of our men. So it's going to be
big. So I'm just saying to our M1 group, I am passionate about
us getting out, but the date that we're going to be thinking
about, so you guys keep it in your head and pass it on to your
brothers, is July 19th. That's going to be July 19th,
because for the rest of the next three weeks, four weeks almost,
we're going to be busy every weekend with activities. So July
19th will be a place that we will go. And did you guys think
about where you want to go, whether we want to go back to Berkeley,
or do you want to go to Cal State Hayward, or do you want to go
to the park here at Washington, or somewhere else? You guys think
about it so we can prepare to do that. That's pretty much it
right there. Question? I have a question, but it's also
have a, um, it's almost like a observation observation. And it happened today with me
in regards to what the study was and it hit so hard and it
was, I was just, I guess, in a waiting mode and I, and I had
this pool to speak to a young man. Um, and I tried to really
ignore it cause I was just, you know, it was just, I guess in
my own way, but I couldn't in this. It was crazy how is even
when you try to just do your own thing, when God gives you
the pool to want to speak to a person, it's, it's, it's like
heavy, but it, the message, it really just talked to that. And,
uh, his name is Jonas. Uh, I spoke to him. He was, we
had the conversation and I'm asking for prayer for that young
man. I don't know. You guys keep a Jonas in your
prayer. Yeah. And before you go to your next
one, how many guys remember? Because I know this passes from
you. How many of you guys remember
the days when you were more sensitive to sharing the word of God with
people than you are today? Right. So this is why I press
it, because I know we can get cold. I know we can get cold. Now, right now, Stefan is hot
because he's a young man and he's been under this gospel and
he knows that our bent is evangelism because we don't want to be a
dead Orthodox church that knows the truth and has no care about
the souls of men. And when you are right in your
thoughts with God, he will have you Sensitive to people's needs
and you notice how he was talking about God was prompting him prompting
him prompting him Y'all know that feeling prompting but you
also know you can ignore it in there, right? You can absolutely
ignore it. And this is where our hearts
have to be stirred up This is where our hearts have to be stirred
up to be able to cross over into the act of obedience and engage
that person that is so critical because so many Christians live
in condemnation because they don't do it and They live in
a lot of condemnation because they don't do it because, listen
carefully, because God has given us a mission field in the Bay
Area. Every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue is right here.
We don't have to go anywhere, but we do have to be prepared
in our hearts. So we want to wake up every morning and say,
Lord, make me ready to tell somebody about Christ. What's your next
observation? The next one was, you may have
already answered it, but as Paul and the brothers was on their
way up north to speak with the, uh, to speak with the people
that are praying Lydia. Uh, they, they had a waiting period and
I wanted to know, cause I mean, it's, it's a problem for me,
uh, to in this waiting period to get restless and to get frustrated. And I'm like begging God, like
what's what's up and what you, what you waiting on. And, and
I mean, that's, I don't, I mean, I'm, I'm pretty sure everyone's
going through that problem. And I want to know how, I mean,
I will say that it's prayer and in fellowship with the church
or with the brothers, but, uh, is there anything more to this
waiting, uh, and how we can actually, uh, take that and use it to the
best. So did you guys get any benefit benefit out of our first
installment on the subject of the will of God? Did you get
anything out of that? All right. So when we come back
to that week after next, I'm going to be pressing into this
idea of the will of God and why it is that God mandates our conformity
to Christ as part of the process of discovering his will. And
what that means is every day of our life, we have to learn
how to walk with God every day of our life. And so it's learning
how to manage your time. is learning how to value your
time. Like Paul said in Ephesians 5, redeem the time because the
days are what? Right. So you'll have pockets
in your day that out of a sort of normalcy process, a pattern
of life, a pathology of life, you have these pockets where
you're not doing anything productive. You're not reading your Bible.
You're not praying for anybody. You're not drinking in anything
that's spiritually edifying or can bring greater clarity. Do
you know when you maintain a level of hunger, and that's your third
point in your outline where it talks about hunger there, right?
We'll get there. When you maintain, sustain a hunger for God, you
will learn how to fix a plate, a spiritual plate. This is often
the problem with new Christians. New Christians Discovered that
they really get filled by teaching In other words, they come and
they sit and they learn and they go great great great great great
after a while God allows them to get full Then all of a sudden
you're not impressed with teaching Now all of a sudden you're struggling
because you are learning but there are many areas in your
life that are void and those void spaces can become points
of temptation and Because you don't know what to do with that.
How do I sustain a level of fervor and passion for Christ that will
keep my mind stayed on Him versus now drifting back into all of
these secular, carnal, material things? Am I raising good questions? I know it's late, but it's very
important to get a handle on this. So, one of the things the
Christian has to learn how to do is you have to learn how to
arrange your diet. So you have to have a little
bit of meat, because we eat too much meat in this country now.
You know that, right? Shrink your meat down a little bit.
And let's do some carbohydrates, which are rices and your beans,
and some serious carbohydrates in terms of salads. Let's put
some color on our plate. Y'all understand what I'm saying?
Put some color. I know folks, all they want is black and white,
meat and rice. Nope, you got to have your colors.
Are you guys following me? You cut your meats down. All
right, so I'm going to share with you a few more things. This
is kind of funny, but in a sense it's not. So I'm at a stage in
my life right now where I'm dealing with older people who are dying.
Like right now, I'm caring for my mother-in-law, me and my wife.
This is a continuous, arduous work. Anyone who has ever had
to care for a parent or a loved one that is on their way out
knows the hard work that I'm talking about. Okay, so we all,
particularly when we're younger and in our health, pseudo health,
we've all been told that we need to eat right, we need to exercise,
and we need to sleep right. I've been sharing with you over
the last couple of years that sleep is what? Spiritual. Your
pastor tells you a lot of good things, but if they go over your
head, that's your fault. For instance, those of us who
are older, you really do need to rest. Rest is one of the most
medicinal things you can do for your body. Westerners do not
sleep enough. They do not sleep enough. And
where you don't sleep enough, now you drive your body in overdrive
and adrenaline now will set you up for imbalances that open you
up for sicknesses and diseases and the dreaded term what? Cancer. Cancer. which is a destruction
of your immune system, where your good cells are overcome
by your bad cells, and now you are in a state of cancerous debilitation. And a lot of it is due to our
not really taking care of ourselves on a health level until we hit
crisis mode. Is that true? We hit crisis mode,
now we're fighting to try to overcome that. We ought to be
doing it now. And just a balanced life is what
God is calling us to. Eat well, Sleep well. If you can sleep well, that's
a signal that you're doing well. If you can sleep well, that's
a signal that you're doing well. Well, in a spiritual sense, this
is what I would say. Make sure you're under good sound
teaching, but don't simply just do good sound teaching. If you
do, that makes you a groupie. You're not a Christian. Do you
hear what I just stated? Well, you can't wait to come
here, Pastor Jesse, or somebody else preach and teach. No, now
you have to learn how to augment what we teach with your own walk
with God. You know what you do? You discipline
yourself for just a few minutes of prayer a day and learn how
to pray throughout the day. And then augment that with your
own personal Bible reading. That's the worst part for Christians.
That's an amazing thing. Isn't it an amazing phenomenon
that for the almost the first thousand, 1500 years of the New
Testament church, nobody had a Bible. The last 500 years,
we all got Bibles and yet we don't want to read them. Isn't
that amazing? Are we not in a warfare? We are
in a massive, massive warfare. And I liken it unto all you want
to eat is steak and potatoes. Protein and starches have their
place if you're moving concrete eight hours a day You understand
that hey if you if you have if you're breaking boulders all
day long with a sledgehammer Then you can eat proteins and
starches, but listen if you push in a pencil Cut your starches
and your meats down more vegetables spiritually speaking Get a good
devotional book that's Christ-centered, God-exalting, and specific to
a need that you have in your spiritual weakness. Here's another
thing you put on your plate. Are y'all ready? Should be writing
this down, but that's okay. Get really good Christian friends. Not just Christian friends. Christian
friends are a liability. I'm gonna tell you right now. Get really good Christian friends
who are serious about their walk with Christ. Not the ones who
are not, because they'll help you engage in following. And
that's a bad diet for you. It's so very important that you
and I know how to diversify our spiritual diet so that when we're
not as eager to hear a propositional discourse of the Word of God.
We can engage in fellowship with a brother or a sister that's
wiser than us, or more prudent, or in the same place. How edifying
and encouraging it is for brethren to walk together in unity. Is
that true? And when you can talk to a brother or sister and they
can speak into your life the things of God and get you back
on the right track, that's a really important asset to your spiritual
diet. And so I would say that you want
to make sure you stay consistent in hearing the word, but also
fellowshipping with people who are serious about Jesus and then
sustain a prayer life. Listen, you ain't got to pray
all day. God doesn't need you to pray all day. You don't have
much to say. I'm here to tell you, you don't
have much to say. You don't have to pray all day, but you do want
to hit it a little bit. Cause I'm going to come back
here and show you that in the book of Acts, God came to Gentiles. because they were praying. Do
you hear me? Remember the other man who was
praying? What was his name? And how the angel came to him?
And neither one of these people were saved yet. So if lost people
are praying and God is responding in such a magnificent way, would
he not respond to us? So I know that we are in spiritual
darkness when we think we can do God without prayer I'm telling you now. I'm just
God help me Had a sister email me the day before yesterday yesterday. This is the last one. See you
got a happy pastor Can I tell you why your pastor is happy?
because I see what God is doing and has been doing among us for
years and And it's one of these joys that has to do with seeing
the scriptures fulfilled, okay? So I'm gonna just share one little
insight with you that just, it blows me away. I got this little
band of prayer warriors that I pray with every Tuesday. I
know y'all don't know nothing about it, but that's okay. And
we pray for all sorts of things. And I can't tell you how consistently
God answers prayers. Sister Nancy, God jumped on a
prayer. We pray. He jumped on this prayer
last Tuesday. He jumped on this prayer so quick
and blew it out the water that it came back to me. And all I
could do on my email was write the letters Y E E E E E E E E
A H H H H H dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. Happy preacher.
Do you know why? Because we had a sister who was
so scared of an invasive operation that had to do with cancer because
she had never been at that stage before. Never been here. And this is a common place for
us. You get the news, you got cancer. And if you haven't prepared
yourself to be surrounded by a lot of loving brothers and
sisters who have been there, that's a lonely journey. to go
in those cold operating rooms with those cold beds and those
cold doctors by yourself. And a lot of us don't like hospital.
I don't like hospitals. Shoot me. No, I'm kidding. But my sister had come to me
before she came to prayer and she said, Pastor, you know, I'm
scared. And I said, don't worry about
it, sis. We with you just I'm gonna take it to the prayer team.
I'm gonna take it to the prayer team. I get the prayer. She was
there before I was So she Opens up and tell us so you already
know who I'm talking about this time She opens up and tells us
that she getting ready to go now We didn't been we pray for
so many people with these issues, but I was praying to God especially
for this sister because she's brand-new and I said God I Work
mightily in her life to show her how real you are, because
her people, which are my people, which are Native Americans, need
to know that there's one true and living God, and he has manifested
himself in reality in the person of Jesus, and God answers prayer. So her sister went with her to
the hospital, and I told my sister to tell her sister, who don't
know me, That as soon as you you come out of the operating
room because you're coming out Because we didn't already pray
for you. You're coming out Tell her to call pastor jesse and
let me know how it went Okay, pastor. Okay And I get I got
the email she dropped the ball just like the butler the baker
with joseph said now when you get out and tell Her sister dropped
the ball. She didn't call until the next
following day. God is my witness. Just stay with me for a moment.
God is my witness. The night of the operation, I
told my sister I was going to pray for her. I went to bed praying
for her. Then I woke up the next morning and when I realized her
sister hadn't called me, I went into prayer. And now how we do
it, this is how we do it. So I went into prayer for it
because I just, I wanted God to answer my prayer. I'm selfish.
I wanted him to answer my prayer this way. He does whatever he
wants to. God does whatever he wants to.
But when you delight yourself in the Lord, he'll give you the
desires of the heart because your desires are his desires. And when I got that email, I
was so happy for my sister. Do you understand? Now, now,
now, we're going to all die if the Lord don't come. But these
are battles we win in the name of Jesus because we actually
believe in prayer as a means of talking to our father. And
we labor and we prevail in it and we don't stop. And we've
seen brothers and sisters fighting And god gets them up off the
mat when they get knocked down. Is that true? And they go to
swinging again winning the battle beating down the enemy And then
they fall again and we go to praying and god pick them up
again And they go to winning the battle and rejoicing in christ
and thanking god for a momentary victory And the enemy knocks
them down again. So what you keep praying? Until god raises them up And
then if god takes them home He answered our prayer, didn't he?
Right. And so I am here to tell you,
it is very clear to me that the church in the West has failed
to utilize the most important gift you have for really enjoying
God who values what? See, when his son gets up in
the morning and talks to God about another saint, God loves
that. There go my boy. That's my boy.
And I'm now walking in the likeness of my master, the Lord Jesus.
Am I not? Are we not? And these things
are important to God. Please understand that these
things are important to God. The reason why we don't pray
enough is because we ain't got nothing to pray about. When in
fact, we've got so much to pray about. I gave y'all 15 things. I had 150. I just gave us 15
remember a couple weeks ago just to kind of give you what you
whistle just go through them It takes you a couple minutes
just to go through those but once you learn the discipline
of praying for the church and praying for leadership and playing
praying for the body of Christ and praying for knees and and
Praying for health and praying for this and praying for that
you'll discover that there's a lot of things to pray for for
other people that have nothing to do about you and if you will
take care of God's business and He'll take care of yours. Let's
stand for prayer. Did you have, we didn't have
a question back there. We got enough. Okay. Go ahead on Patrick. Oh,
good evening. So I had another observation
to a question. Um, what you said about being,
um, being around other believers and being able to, you know,
correct them in, um, being able to correct them and talk to them
about, you know, um, their theology, their doctrine or whatever the
case may be. I find that being, That's increasingly the case
for me. I run into a lot of people who are religious in general,
you know. But the question from that comes
from how do you address people in authority when you disagree
with them? I mean, is it even beneficial? Is a rebuke even
beneficial in that arena? Yeah, I mean, what is what beneficial?
Like just saying, you know, yeah, I don't disagree. I agree. I
don't agree with what he's being taught or what is, you know,
right, right. Yeah, no, that's the the gospel
is God's method of correcting us. Right. And so we just want
to become artful and and prudent and wise in having the conversation,
especially as a young man, yourself and all of our young men. I want
you guys capable of talking with older men about rich, realistic,
important, eternal matters on a level where you respect them
to the utmost and engage them from where you understand the
Word of God to be. And when you discover that they don't quite
see it the way that you do, you thank them for their time, but
you also thank God for having given you an opportunity to share
with them. It's very important for us to
exercise every opportunity to share the Word of God with them,
because we're not trying to win a battle. Only God can turn the
heart only God can open the mind but you get a chance to exercise
your senses and demonstrate Diplomacy and decorum and respect and engage
them propositionally around the word of God and who knows what
might happen down the line Does that make some sense? Yeah, always
do that young men and young women do it in a way of respect do
it in a way of Understanding the purpose of it. It's sowing
a seed It's sowing the seed. All right, let's pray Father,
thank you for this time. Thank you for my brothers and
sisters who have come out. As we go our way, give us traveling
mercies. Prepare us to worship you on Sunday, we pray in Jesus'
name, amen. God bless you guys.