Called To Be An Influencer – Part 2

0:00 Hey guys, as we open the Word of God together in the book of Proverbs, we are back in Proverbs and we are looking at this message that we kicked off last time together and we're looking at the way of wisdom, which is the book of Proverbs, God's wisdom given to us, divinely given to Solomon, the great man of wisdom who then turned and gave it to his son. And you might say, well, Jack, I mean, I understand that Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, the Bible says, but he wasn't always wise. You are correct. Wisdom is something that you and I seek to apply every day of our lives. And let's be honest, because we're not robots, we can also get up tomorrow morning and seek not to apply God's wisdom. And that doesn't go well. Solomon did that, by the way. He applied the wisdom of God that God had given him. Divine wisdom.

0:52 It's in the book of Proverbs. But he became very wealthy. He became very powerful. And to his credit, 40 years of his rule, Israel had no wars. It was the most peaceful time of Israel's existence under Solomon. But under Solomon's wealth and prosperity and peace, what happens when we get rich and we have peace? The Bible tells us we get apathetic. Exactly. We get apathetic and we kind of let down our guard. and Solomon made big mistakes, all recorded again in the Bible. Wow. You know, I love the Bible because the Bible is so honest. It records man's victories and man's failures. It's very, very honest. But we're looking at being called an influencer. We are called by God to be an influencer for the things of righteousness and for what is good. Proverbs chapter 3, I'll read in verse 1, if you pick it up in verse 2. My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands.

1:55 for in the days and all night and peace they will add to you let not mercy and truth forsake you bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart And so I am favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. And here we go. Two of the most beloved verses in the Bible coming up. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path. Heavenly Father, we make this our prayer this morning. Lord, in any area of our lives where this might be lacking, we pray that you would change that. We know that that's your will. We come this morning with eager hearts to worship you in the word. And so, Father, we anticipate your Holy Spirit to bring us in line to walk in your will. and if we do that we will not only be influencers to our wives our husbands our kids our neighbors but Lord we will be influencers for righteousness for all with whom we come in contact with so Lord we pray for your anointing we pray for your ability to make us good students and more than that after we've learned it that we would do it we pray now in Jesus name and all God's people said Amen. You may be seated, church. And as we get into this, by way of introduction, some recap, some intro into this section, there's an observation that I want to make, and that is that the Bible desires your life and my life to be a blessing. God wants your life and my life to be a blessing. When we talk about being an influencer, which is something that everybody talks about these days, biblically, to be an influencer, you and I are to represent the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of our lives. We are Christians. Now, this is a Sunday morning, and this church is a little bit different if you're visiting. We do not have a sermonette

4:01 on Sunday mornings and then deeper Bible studies on what would be called Sunday school. We don't do that. What we do here is that we teach the Word of God verse by verse, right out of the gate. And I believe, I think the Bible teaches that God's people will want the word of God and they'll gravitate to the word of God. We don't have to entertain people with cute things because you would come hungry. Maybe some of you have come hungry for some cute things. Give me a warm and fuzzy pastor. Give me a message that makes me just have a good feeling about myself, and then out I go, and I'll see you next week. Listen, that's great, but it won't last in the day of trouble. God's Word endures in the day of trouble, and if it's in you, the Word of God, you will not only endure, you will not only succeed, but you will be an influencer for what is good and what is right. And God wants your life. It's amazing to me that when we read this, God is saying to us, I want you blessed.

5:07 The God of the Bible wants you blessed. Why? Because your life blessed, and listen, blessed by God, and I'm always, I want to be careful to say, I want God to define what the word blessed means. I don't want to do that because I don't trust me. I think if my life is blessed, then I should have a Porsche. because I need to get to hospital visitations faster.

5:35 No, you know what I'm saying. I'm being funny, but if we're going to define the word blessed, then we think, well, blessed means, and you define it with what you want. I don't want to do that. I want God to be the one that defines in my life and in your life what blessed means. Why? Because he wants you and I to influence others to come to Christ. You saw that announcement a moment ago that we're going to be hosting an extensive training and conference on Islam to prepare the Christian church to bring what Muslims don't have. And that is the assurance of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross for them too. But they need his salvation. They can't get to heaven by their works. They can't get to heaven by their zeal or by whatever they're doing. They need Jesus like you and I need Jesus.

6:31 And by the way, that goes for everybody, atheists and religious individuals alike. And why are we doing that? To influence people toward good. And that's vitally important. I want to read some important, strong statements. These things that I'm reading to you are from Dr. Harry Ironside, who I've been reading a lot of lately. And so if it gets inside of my heart, it winds up coming out on a Sunday morning. This is far more than submission to duty. It is loving devotion to the will of God. Thy word, says the psalmist, have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119, verse 11. The scribe Ezra declared that he prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach Israel. His statutes and judgments, Ezra chapter 7, verse 10. Ironside goes on. In the broader context of Proverbs, wisdom is not merely intellectual knowledge, but a practical knowledge that is lived or should be lived out, right? I guess in relationship with God in such a way that he affects every decision. That's our decisions, relationship and action. Trust God with all your heart is the foundation upon which all other wisdom is built. You can say amen to that. That is a great word. God wants you and I to be a blessing.

8:04 In Genesis chapter 12 verse 1, a very profound portion of scripture regarding blessing. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country, that is Ur of the Chaldees, that is a pagan land. Abraham was a pagan, remember? Abraham was a Gentile before he ever became a Jew. From your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. Verse two, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I love that. Verse three, I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. A little clarification in our modern age during these most recent debates that we hear about.

8:59 Notice this. God says to one singular man, I am going to make you a blessing. I'm going to make of you a nation. And whoever blesses you, I'm going to bless, blesses you, Abraham, the individual and the nation. The nation of what? We know from the book of Galatians. We'll read it here in a moment. It's not only the believing Jewish people, but it is also the nation of Israel because God's got a plan for them, but it is also all of us who have been grafted into the family of God just like Abraham was brought into the family of God himself. Of course, he being the father of the family. I want to give you this quote. The present day Jew and the nation of Israel is a living, breathing, existing testimony of God's faithfulness to keep what he has promised. He has promised blessings. You read that a moment ago. Romans chapter 11, verse 1 tells us, I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham. So Paul is announcing, I've been blessed by the blessing of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

10:12 Verse 2, God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant. That is key. Make sure you're part of the remnant of the house of God. Make sure that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or Gentile. You've got to belong to the family of God, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus told Nicodemus, a Jew, you're not going to go to heaven unless you're born again. That's true for all of us. And so God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Verse 6, and if by grace, then it is no longer of, what? Works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. The great powerful word of God goes on to say, verse 11, chapter 11, I say then have they stumbled that they should fall?

11:10 Certainly not they being the Jew but through their fall to provoke them to jealousy salvation has come to those here at Calvary Gentiles all around the world now if their fall was riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles notice how much more their faithfulness all of this Jew and Gentile alike blessing. Church, I want you to have the permission to do this. In light of what I just said, ask God to bless your life so that you're a blessing. So pastor, I'm not going to pray that. That's very selfish. No, no, no. It's not selfish. Ask God to bless your life because God wants you to be a profound witness for his name. Look, we just read it a moment ago. Ask God to bless your life so that you provoke the Jew who doesn't believe to believe in the Messiah that you believe in. Yes, the Muslim. Yes, the atheist. Those are in Shintoism, Buddhism. They need Jesus.

12:15 We're not asking any of them to become a member of this church. You understand that? We are inviting them to know the love of God that comes through Christ Jesus and to be born again. Genesis 22, verse 18. This is all an introduction. We haven't even started yet. Genesis 22, 18 says, In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. God speaks to Abraham. Genesis 26, verse 4, And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven. I will give to your descendants all these lands. By the way, you go search and see, and it's actually the Hebrew descendants of Abraham. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Remarkable.

13:08 One more. Galatians chapter 3 verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say and to seeds as of many but as of one. And to your seed who is Christ. What does that mean? Jew and Gentile must come to Christ to experience the blessings of God for salvation. Don't discount God's fulfillment, blessing, and plans for the actual nation and land of Israel because that's a great part of Bible prophecy yet to come. Don't confuse the two as many would have. And so church, remember last time together we started this, the way of wisdom. We talked about the church being an influencer, you and I. And we saw in verses one and two that we needed to start looking back for what is good. Not to dwell in the past, but to look back into the past to see certain things.

14:06 And that is this, that we stop forgetting what God has done. Remember that? We don't need to study that again. Look back at your past, not to pull you down, but to look back at your past and say, God was in this, God was in that, God was in the other thing, and here I am today. it's a great way to be set free from the dark side of your past yes the bible says forget those things that are behind and press forward to those things that are in christ absolutely but the bible tells us to look back and to not forget the things that god did for us we saw also that we're to grab hold of those good things Let's go. what God delivered you from when you were 13, when you were 9, when you were 27, when you were 55, whatever was in the past, grab onto that and say, wait a minute, if he has begun a good work in me, and I look back at those things, he has promised to fulfill that good work that he has started in my life, and so I look back at the past, regarding the moment, I lay hold of what he's done, because he's going to continue on, God will not quit, and that is a beautiful reality, And finally, we saw last time is that we are to receive his good.

15:18 Just get this under your belt. God wants to bless and give you good. This is not positive confession. This is not some sort of New Age announcement. In every situation of life, if you and I were imprisoned in some box or some cage somewhere, as a believer, Christ would be there with you. You know, regarding the ministry, John MacArthur said, those that are called to the ministry, they can't walk away from it. They're called to the ministry. And he talked about the pulpit. And to me, this speaks of the same thing. Receive the goodness of God, even in a hostile or difficult situation. He talked about the pastor teacher who's been called to the pulpit to teach the word of God.

16:14 He said, by the Spirit of God and the calling, that pastor, that expositor is chained to the Bible. Chained. I love that. But he said this, that pastor may be chained to the Bible. I mean, to the pulpit. But the chains are velvet. Velvet chains. What a beautiful picture. Are you going through a difficulty in life? God is using your life right now in the world that you traffic in to be an influence. And in the midst of the trouble, because your neighbors are watching you, you know. Your co-workers are watching how you're dealing with your cancer. Or how you're dealing with the fact that your husband or your wife walked out on you. They know about it. They heard about it. They're watching how you handle it. And they're examining to see if your God is big enough to get you through this. and if he is, then maybe they'll consider following him too.

17:10 Listen, your situation, you're chained to it, but the chains are made of velvet. God is with you and that's a powerful reality. And then we saw, we began to see in verses three and four that we recognize what God's plan is for us. We read that a moment ago in our scripture reading, but verses three and four, we learned this, that possessing what God has for you is all important. we saw in verse 3 that it says let not mercy and truth forsake you don't let it run away from you mercy and truth you say well why would I let mercy and truth run away from me listen very simply put mercy and truth is not predisposed to run away from us these blessings of God no you and I let them run away from us when we do not seek him when we are not going after him and maintaining that love relationship with him.

18:10 The Bible tells us, and we all love this, is Romans 8, 28. For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. So that would mean for us to ask ourselves, do we love God? And the next thing is to those who are called according to his purpose. And that's a very beautiful thing. And then we learned also applying his word in the latter end of verse 3. Applying his will, I should say, to your life. God has his will for your life. And here it is, everybody. Get ready to take this into your heart. God's will is this. He tells you and I, bind them. Bind what? Bind mercy and truth. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. That's very aggressive. In other words, go after it. Remember this, the word bind means to league or to be in league with or together, to conspire, to make stronger. And then the word to write means to etch God's word on your heart, to etch his truth on your heart. And that's done by immersion, folks. That's done by having that Bible embedded in our lives. And then the tablet. Well, according to God, he can write on our hearts.

19:27 You know, it's amazing because I just got done spending 10 days with our grandkids. And some of them are older, some of them are younger. But one thing is certain, they may not even be apparently paying attention to you, but they're listening to every word you say. And it's very, very cute and sweet if the right things are being said. If the wrong things are being said, it's not so cute. Why is that true? because a child's heart is like a tablet that it can be written on.

20:00 And how many times did we have to say at the dinner table, put down the device, put down the phone, put down the tablet. Why? Because what we were about to experience was family, right? And you've got to do that. But then conversation breaks open. and family starts happening. And what happens is memories are made. Why? There's an etching upon the heart of what is good. And we have to do that. We have to make sure that that happens. And verse 4, we looked at the fact that we need to be going and being the new you. We talked about being the new individual that God has made us. And he says, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God. and man. And that's quite remarkable. I love this because of the word favor and high esteem.

20:58 God is simply saying that he's announcing to us that I want to elevate your life and being a blessing. I wrote down in the notes, if you scanned the notes, some of those examples are Abraham and David and Daniel and Joseph and John in the Bible. These are men who sought God and God gave them his favor and God had them be in high esteem. And so it's very precious. So let's dive into the clothes. And here it comes. And it's the third installment here, or the third point, I should say, verses five and six. And that is rest. Rest in what is his good for us. To rest in what his good is. And look at verse five. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. So we want to live by his understanding. understanding. Please write this down. God understands all things. Can you just commit that?

21:57 Write that down. Put it in your margins of your Bible right here. Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5. Right alongside there, mark it. God understands. God knows. God is aware of all things. You're not. I'm not. We think we are. We feel like we are. We're not. And this is important. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 11, the Bible says, and this is what Paul is speaking about, but when he says, when I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. Note this, I thought as a child. So what is that? When I was, was a child, I spoke as a child. I thirdly, understood as a child. Fourthly, I thought as a child. How do children think, speak, understand? How are kids like? In this context, the structure demands that Paul is saying, when I didn't know Jesus, I didn't have a clue. When I was even spiritually young and immature, spiritually, I didn't have a clue. But the believer, the Christian matures just like the human from childhood matures. There's a change that takes place. We know this in every way, shape, and form as being human.

23:28 But watch what he says. But when I became a man, it's not only a physiological fact, he's also declaring a spiritual fact. When I've come from my life without Jesus, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I was a child. I thought as a child. But when I came to Christ, or when I grew up, what happened? But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then, that is in eternity, face to face. Now I know in part, but then, when? Eternity, are you guys with me? In eternity, when we see him face to face, then I shall know just as I also am known.

24:24 What is he announcing? That we're all going to grow up someday spiritually and we're going to come to the point of absolute maturity. That's not going to happen until we see him face to face. And look at this. This is very exciting. How limited is our knowledge now? It's pathetic. Look, it's amazing.

24:45 AI is tremendous, I guess. I'm seeking, I'm trying to avoid it in every possible way. but apparently there's a need for it. I mean, let's be honest. When you don't know about something, you can go to YouTube and AI will tell you how to do that thing. Okay, and this is how you drain the sink or try this or whatever. I don't know. But this stuff is there. And... but why is it there? It's because we have limited knowledge. We don't want to admit that, but when it comes to spiritual things, we are very, very limited, but the wisdom of God is something that God deposits in every believer that is asking him for wisdom, and we can have wisdom that transcends AI. AI will never have wisdom.

25:41 I feel really good about saying that. AI will have apparently unlimited knowledge in this world. AI knowledge compared to the knowledge of God is a joke. Think of it. You see what man is doing? Man is creating a God-like thing in man's own image.

26:04 I mean, come on, let's be honest. Again, I feel very sarcastic, so here it comes again. Why pray when you can Google? Why pray when you can ask AI? Why pray when you ask Alexa? Or why pray? You see what I'm doing? I'm laying it on pretty thick here. Why go to those things? Well, because I'm impatient. And so I want these answers now. But what if the answer you gets wrong?

26:33 God's wisdom says, listen, as you grow up, Christian church, as you grow up, saint of God, God says, wait upon me, and I will give you the answer because I'm the all-wise, all-knowing God. And listen, you didn't hear a word I said after I said the word wait. You mean wait? I can't wait. Why can't you wait? Where are you going? I don't know where I'm going, but I'm going really fast. That's the problem. Wait on the Lord, the Bible says to us. Why, we will get the wisdom of God. You do not have to make some critical decision in the immediate now. Well, pastor, you are clearly out of touch because my doctors or the salesman or the car lot or the real estate agent said, I got to have an answer today by two. Who says?

27:28 If God wants you to have that surgery or that house or that car, God will see it to come to pass. I don't understand it. But if you wait on him, God changes the clock and the time and the calendar to your advantage. He's amazing. And you can't convince me otherwise. It's in the Bible, and I've seen God do it in my own life a thousand times. Lisa and I have enjoyed the victory of God when you wait upon him. He's amazing that way. He's amazing. Here's a quote for you. The instruction to lean not unto thine own understanding does not discourage reason, logic, or learning. Rather, it warns against making all human reason, logic, or learning the final authority in your life's life decisions. I like that. The word of God, let the word of God reign supreme in your life and not human wisdom or opinion.

28:24 Dr. Ironside, this guy's been gone for decades. It's like he wrote this this morning. Remarkable. Jesus said it this way in John 14, verse 5, verse 15, I should say, and verse 23. Hang on now. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. I'm going to pause. If you love me, keep my commandments.

28:48 This has nothing to do with legalism. Jesus says, listen, if you and I have a relationship, and I love you, the evidence of you loving me will be that when I instruct you to do something, you're going to do it because I want you to have a blessed life. So Jack, I'm telling you how to do this so that your life will be blessed. And if you love me, if you really know where I'm coming from, I'm elaborating, I'm exaggerating what Jesus would say to us here. If you really understand that I love you, what I'm telling you to do will turn out for your very good. But a legalistic person reads this and says, ooh, it's not for me. Why?

29:39 Because you think you understand his love for you. Newsflash, you don't, I don't, we can't. It's too much, it's too big. can you imagine? listen if you know the Lord Jesus Christ you're loved so much you are loved so much it's ridiculous nobody loves me that might be true but Jesus does I'm not going to name this wonderful man of God who helped me so much in life he told me he said Jack listen at the end of the day no matter what people say no matter what people do at the end of the day and every day. Jesus is the only one who really loves you. Is that a great word? It's so true.

30:32 Because listen, if everybody loves you, that love is like a thimble. It's like a thimble compared to the love of God, which would be more like an ocean. If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, that's the Holy Spirit, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him. Wow. For he dwells with you and will be in you. Verse 18. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. John 14, 23. Jesus answered and said to them, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him. And we will come to him and make our home with him. What an awesome declaration.

31:26 What a great thing. This is so critical, church. This is so important because of the negative. The negative side, the danger side of this is found in Matthew chapter 7. This is absolutely terrifying. I don't know anyone who reads this passage and they're not challenged by this. I read this and I shudder on the inside because when I read it, I always say, dear God, please don't let that be me.

32:00 Listen up. It's possible in a group this size, it may apply to you. Are you religious, but you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus? Are you involved in Christian activity but you have no humility about that? therefore Jesus says by their fruits you will know them not everyone who says to me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father in heaven many speaking out the day of judgment many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in your name wow Lord, Lord, have we not proclaimed your name? Have we not preached your name?

32:54 So that means there's going to be preachers and proclaimers of the word of God and they're going to do it in his name and they're going to call him Lord, Lord and they did miracles. Look, cast out demons in your name. How many people are suckers in religious settings right now that they'll gravitate towards something that gives them goosebumps. Oh, let's do this and let's do that because can you feel it? Oh, we go to this thing because can you feel it? Can you feel what? I mean, you just feel, you can feel the presence of God.

33:33 What does that mean? listen if you can feel the presence of God and you ask three people what is that feeling and you get three different answers we got a problem this is why biblical doctrine is the paramount of judging all things even feelings very important so ask yourself like I ask me Lord, I proclaim your name and I call you Lord. Lord, I have prayed for people. I have encountered demonic activity. I've seen you work. Look at this.

34:14 And done many wonders in your name. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. You say, what's lawless there? What could possibly be lawless? Oh, he's not referring to those things that they are using as their defense. Surely let me into heaven because I've done all these things and I've had these miraculous things take place in my life and I've proclaimed your name. Lord, Lord. Jesus says I didn't know you I don't even know who you are is this terrifying it's terrifying he answers it at the end their lifestyle never represented the gospel they showed up maybe the cameras are all set the lighting is perfect and they showed up and they preached the most greatest sermon you've ever heard they raised people from the dead so to speak, or cast out demons, or whatever they did. They did all these amazing things.

35:18 There's billboards, and there's books, and there's all this stuff about how great this guy is. And Jesus is going to say in the end, I didn't even know who that guy was. But didn't you read his book? Jesus would probably say, he should have read my book. This is shocking. And it's like, oh, Lord, please don't let that be me. Why? Because their private life had nothing to do with the wisdom of God and the fear of God and the love of God. They were not real when they were private, when the cameras were off, when they were alone. They lived just like the world lives. And there was no difference.

36:03 They have the $80 million jets and one's not enough. They got to get two of them. and all this stuff they have to have the mansions all over the world because God's servants by the way are worthy of double honor that's the verses they use really wow listen there's a day of reckoning coming and I want all of you here at this church to do really good that day Thank you.

36:41 the word trust look at this word look at this word trust we'll look at the word all and lean trust having bold confidence a bold be having bold confidence or confident in having a safe certain security in um you don't have to waver so if i go listen in front of all of you if i go dark meaning I shut down the lights, I look inside my private life, I ask myself this question regarding trust. Am I really trusting God? In my life's challenges and situations, am I trusting God? Do I trust God to pay the bills? Do I trust God for my health? Do I trust God for my family? Do I trust God to lead and to be a faithful servant of his publicly and privately? I've got to ask myself this. Every believer will ask themselves this. And am I trusting him? Lord, am I trusting you in this? A good question to always ask one another and ourselves privately, are we trusting God in this? Family, dad should say, mom should say, kids, are we trusting God in this?

37:50 are you guys still awake? are you okay? so here's a quote but I'll just paraphrase it because I don't need the quotes so much but when we're not trusting in God we are guilty of trusting in ourselves you say well it's no big deal yeah it is when we are trusting ourselves we are leaning upon our own limited resources the result will be a life marked by anxiety fear, insecurity, and loss. And if you're a doctor in here, I read also that if you are a person that is anxious, insecure, fearful, that you'll also be somebody unhealthy. It will consume your immune system. Did you know that? That said, if fear and anxiety and insecurity is within us now and we say we're a Christian I'm just making it practical here if we can't trust God now so whatever it is don't say it but what are you concerned about what's really eating you up plaguing you what is so big that is distracting you from your peace with God?

39:16 The thing that you worry about. if you cannot trust him with that, now hear me now, watch. Don't think for a moment that you're going to be able to trust him for the day you lay your head down on your deathbed.

39:38 Do you hear me? You say, no way, Pastor, I'm all fidgety and worried now and I'm biting my fingernails down, but when I lay my head down on my deathbed, it's all going to be good then, right? Listen, the stuff now are little things. Because we have limited understanding of things. Our wisdom is so short. His wisdom is infinite. My understanding is so, so minute. His is infinite. But if I can't trust him with my son at college or my daughter at university or the finances or whatever it is, if I'm freaking out over this, what are you going to do when the doctor says, you've got about six months to live? I watch people do this all the time.

40:33 Most people in the context of my life, they, thank God, go into overdrive. They work overtime and catch up to get the word of God in their heart and they find peace in the Lord. But why live like that? Why cram for the test, so to speak, at the end when the peace that you can have on your deathbed where the glory of God is awaiting to receive you into his presence can be had right now in your life that you don't have to go about because God wants you to be an influencer in the world that you live in. Today, people are worried, but they won't admit it. That's where the Christian comes in. And you can tell your friends at work, hey, listen, just want you to know. And you can always start like, no one's going to be upset with you when you say this. Hey, Fred, I just want you to No, I prayed for you this weekend. He said, well, Jack, that's not true.

41:27 Well, it's early Sunday still. You can pray for him today and tell Fred tomorrow. Fred, I prayed for you. And Fred might look shocked. He might say, I don't need prayer. It doesn't matter. you communicated to him an influence that you thought about him cared about him and you brought his name up before the eternal God this matters to people because Fred matters to Jesus and for Jesus to meet Fred yes Jesus can show Fred a vision most often Jesus uses you to talk to Fred Proverbs 28 verse 26 says, He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.

42:22 That's a good fortune cookie. That would be awesome. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool. Is that not the doctrine of our world today? Trust, what does the, we just, last night we just watched Moana. And what does Moana's grandma tell her? Grandma tells her, Moana, when your heart speaks to you, follow your heart. you do realize that if you followed everything your heart has said to you you'd be dead by now or in jail first jail then dead are you with me oh just you know what just follow your heart and jeremiah goes excuse me the heart is desperately wicked nobody can know it you say pastor that doesn't make me feel good I told you at the beginning God's wisdom transcends all that and it speaks to us the truth I need to bring all of my heart's concerns before him but by the way that verse goes on to say he who trusts in his own heart is a fool but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

43:50 What a great, great verse. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. Delight, or be diligent, I should say, to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed. What is he talking about? Rightly dividing the word of truth, knowing how to read and to understand the Bible and to apply it rightly. But shun prof... This is amazing. This is our age. Verse 16. But shun profane and idle babblings. Isn't that great? What's that guy saying? I don't know, but he's been talking for three hours on the podcast. And he's got millions of followers. Yeah, but what's he saying?

44:31 He's just babbling. Is it life-changing? How does that help? Where do I apply that? Babblings. for they will increase to more ungodliness and their message will spread like cancer. Wow. Remarkable. So this is something to consider. Now, hang on to your seats here for a moment because you do know, right? If you can hear me right now, if you're thinking right now, it's because God has made you with the ability to be independent, to be what is known in theology as a free moral agent. If you can hear me, you are a free moral agent. Now, some people in theology, in certain Christian camps, which are, in my opinion, dead wrong, they don't even like me saying what I just said because they believe everything has been pre-programmed.

45:32 That it doesn't matter what you do, believe, or whatever you're in, or it doesn't matter what you do, say, or believe, you're out. It's like whimsical. They go like this. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. You get to go to heaven and you don't go. Eeny, miny, miny. Now, I'm just using you, sir, as an... Do you hear what I'm saying though? Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. God has what is known as foreknowledge. God knows all things before they happen. And there's nothing that can happen that he hasn't known about. And in all of that, he gives us free moral agency, which means he, when he made you, which by the way, he didn't make you an angel. And you can thank God for that. Angels are unredeemable. They're unredeemable.

46:25 Did you know that? When angels sin, they can't repent. They're done. Only humans can repent. How is that possible? Because he created us in his own image, moral agency. You can create, as far as we know. Angels cannot create. You can write a song. As far as we know from the Bible, angels don't write songs. you can write a song. You're the only one that can say, like God, God says, I love righteousness. God says, I hate evil. You can say, I love righteousness and I hate evil. the Bible says he made us a little lower than the angels, but he's going to exalt us above the angels that someday we will judge the angels. Boy, are we going to get smart.

47:19 so having said that look at this on the sovereignty of God for example excuse me the sovereignty of man people get all bristly about this hear me out if you have the ability to choose if you today are going to have a taco or a burger that is a description of your sovereignty you're going to choose everybody at the table can pick their burger and you say, I am going to have a taco.

47:55 You're not being a rebel. You are just exercising the ability that God gave you to choose. Now granted, we're all responsible. If everybody else is healthy after eating the burger and you eat the taco and you get sick, that doesn't mean you're being cursed for eating the taco. it means that we all receive the, what's the word? The results of our decision, the consequences.

48:25 Okay? The sovereignty of man is having the freedom of choice, the responsibility of choosing and making decisions. but the curse is that we do so from such a limited and uninformed position. I want that! I've got to have that! Or I'm praying for this or this is what I'm supposed to do. Just know this, without God speaking to us in his word by the power of the Holy Spirit, we could even have it look or sound good but our understanding of it is very limited. So we do have the ability to choose.

49:09 Best to take, I want to take my ability to choose and to back away from myself. And I exercise this choice. Are you listening? To exercise this choice. Okay, number one, I could choose to do what I think is the right thing to do. And I can even argue as to why that's the right thing to do. I'm going to choose right now to pull away from that and I choose now to ask God what is the right thing to do? That's called being a Christian.

49:42 The sovereignty of God is absolute and perfect sovereignty based upon his nature. He is the all-knowing, all-powerful God of wisdom and knowledge. His sovereignty is unlimited and perfect in all his ways. Why not ask God if you should marry that guy? I don't know what's going on over there. Why not ask God?

50:17 I'm not going to give too much details to this. It's a beautiful example. In fact, I just saw the clock. We'll end with this example. Highly accomplished individual. Excellent positions in his career. I'm driving, my phone rings, and he says, hey, um, And he's been going here for decades. Hey, I've been offered a job.

51:03 Dream job. would love to have it too good to be true in human terms but I don't want to accept the job unless God convinces me that it's from him. So I said, what I've always said to you guys, I said, pray that God would shut every possible door. Pray that God would remove it from you. He said, Jack, you've been telling me to do that for decades. I already did that. Oh, that's awesome. well then, as you move down this sequence of interviews and stuff, just ask again, God, please, I don't want anything that you don't want. Here it is, listen.

51:59 Do not, please, God, do not allow, don't tolerate your permissive will for my life. Don't allow this to happen because I might have pushed a door open and you love me and you're going to see me through and I'm going to go get this job because I did a little bit of extra work to get it.

52:21 I don't want that. That's God's permissive will. God's permissive will is he knocked the door down, he got the job. It's not what I wanted for him, but I'll tolerate it. I don't want God to tolerate anything in my life. Why? Because his commandments are beautiful for me. and for you. He loves me. I have a relationship with him.

52:50 And so his word to me is from a place of insight and understanding that I don't have. And so sparing the details I said a few things we prayed together there was a couple of hurdles and God God did those things and then he texted me the other day and he said got the job God was and is being glorified and in a word did what he could to prevent it from happening, and God had it happen anyway. What's the beauty to that? Resting in the wisdom of God to know. Watch this.

53:42 This is so, you're not going to get this. You're just not going to get this. When the Christian knows this, they don't understand. We do not understand everything, but we know that God did it. so that watch hypothetically what if next week the owner walks into the corporation and says who are you I'm the new hire I'm the new CFO well I don't like the way you look Sorry about that, sir. I'll try to improve that.

54:25 Well, you're too tall. Well, I'll try to look shorter. Watch this. Well, you better watch yourself around here. Okay, I'll put up mirrors everywhere. he can he can respond in a way to the inquirer without threat. Listen, you need this, and it's lacking today. You need to be so firm in where you're at with Christ because God's will has been done in your life so that when even the boss comes and says, I don't like the way you look, you can almost laugh it off.

55:20 With respect, of course. Because the boss didn't give him the job. God gave him the job. If you can talk your way into a job or into a marriage or into a ministry, just know this. Somebody can talk you out of it. But if you are called by God and somebody says, can you explain that? I could try, but you'll never believe it. just try me no here's the reason I don't even get it I just know that God put me in this position or this situation and I would be disobedient if I walked out on it.

56:23 I can't tell you how fast or how far we're going to go forward, but I can tell you that I'm supposed to be in this point or at this position and storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, you name it, cannot, will not. Remove me from this position until Jesus removes me. Folks, listen, that is walking and living in the favor of God. You can be an influence to where others will say in a very precarious world, what gives you the peace that you have? They're laying off everybody and you're not even biting your fingernails. You're not even freaking out about it. Aren't you afraid of getting laid off? and you can say to them, listen, if God wants me to get laid off, I'll get laid off. If God wants me to stay, my job is to do the best job at this company possible for the glory of God.

57:20 But friend, I'm not going to worry about it because my life is safe in the everlasting arms of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's all stand. Father God, we come right now, right now before you, every single one of us, and maybe even, who knows, I mean, what about even the person who thinks today they're an unbeliever? They don't understand. Well, now would be a good time for them to say something to the effect, God, if this stuff is real, come on into my life and shake things up. Show me. Reveal yourself to me. Father, for the rest of us here in this service today, we pray that you would use us in such a way that when we're being used, we'd have to look around we'd have to lean over and tell our friends our co-workers, our wife, our husband we'd have to lean over and say I can't believe this is happening God is so good can you believe this?

58:20 we will trust in you. We will not lean on our own understanding. As we'll see next week, acknowledging you is the gateway all the way to eternity itself, starting right now. We love you, Lord. Have your way with us. Bless us this week as we seek to be a blessing. In Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen.