Traffic

In this week’s episode, in lieu of eternity, we delve into a topical sermon (traffic) that is very easy to get stuck in or ensnarled by.

The Hebrew rendition of a word within our opening text, indicates the feeling of the road ahead of us, being - vexed, hindered or restricted, without GOD'S guidance, wisdom and grace.

We thank GOD for JESUS because HE is the way – THE ONLY WAY - out of that which is symbolic of our lives (traffic) in lieu of eternity.

TRAFFIC
Proverbs 4:12
Song of the Week: YOU Are JESUS feat. Joyspring

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:00

Hey there again to you, our Words of Life listeners and viewers. I am Pastor Mark, and in this week's episode in lieu of eternity, we're going to talk about traffic. It is very easy to get stuck in or in snarled by, but it is so difficult to get out of. We're going to literally talk about what traffic has to do with anything, that anything being our words of life today. Traffic, i.e. life. I hope to see you back in just a moment, okay? See you in

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a bit. We thank you for joining our Words of Life broadcast, where our mission is persuading the lost, perfecting each believer, and equipping all for service with practical application from God's Word. We now join Pastor Mark for this week's Words of Life.

SPEAKER_03: 0:56

Hey there again to you. It is Pastor Mark. And before we even start our episode today, I always like to thank you, our listeners and our viewers of our broadcast or our podcast, because the truth of the matter is you could have been doing anything else. You could have been listening to anyone else, but you have allowed God's spirit to guide you to this broadcast or podcast to hear a word of life. from the Holy Bible, the word of God. And for that, my wife and I, we never take you for granted. We're gonna open up. I'm gonna ask that you go to the book of Proverbs because when we talk about Proverbs 4, we're gonna read verse 12. We opened up talking about traffic and you might be thinking, what does that have to do with the book of Proverbs? Well, the Hebrew rendition of a word within our opening text indicates the feeling of our road ahead of us. If we do not obtain Godly wisdom, that road can be vexed or restricted. But I thank God for Jesus because he is the way. Matter of fact, he's the only way out of And so we're grateful that you've joined us. I've ad-libbed just a little bit so that you can get to Proverbs chapter 4. It's right after the book of Psalms. Those songs, i.e. Psalms. Proverbs is next. We're going to start at chapter 4. We're going to read one verse. Verse 12. And I think I've ad-libbed enough. Proverbs 4, verse 12, giving you time to get there. And if you are not there yet, I'm just going to put the words up on the screen. And here is our reading this morning of Proverbs 4, verse 12. When thou goest, and this is a father giving instruction to his children in this proverb. When thou goest, thy steps shall not falter. be straightened i.e hindered and when thou runnest thou shalt not stumble may the lord add a blessing to the hearers the readers but most importantly those that intend to do with god's help his holy word our title again for this week's message is traffic as we embark upon our scriptural journey our lesson emanates from this old testament literature known as a book of wisdom and this book of wisdom it instructs on many practical matters that must be navigated during life and so within this chapter 4 proverb a father addresses his children regarding the security that is found when godly wisdom is applied we can never And I want to say this again, we can never get too old or too wise to request God's wisdom to cloak us, to cover us on a daily basis. Matter of fact, chapter four extols a few benefits of how godly wisdom can help our lives. With godly wisdom, there is safety. With godly wisdom, there is security. if you have been raised in a godly home with scripture being taught by a parent or a relative as we grew up that is wisdom that we should treasure the ability right now to even listen freely to god's word that is wisdom that is a blessedness that we should really appreciate prioritizing godly wisdom It grants us understanding. Godly wisdom grants us preservation. It even grants us promotion. Godly wisdom, it grants us right relationships. It grants us the right direction and the right paths to take as we attempt to navigate this life that God has loaned each one of us for the only purpose of establishing a relationship with him that is why we are alive you notice we didn't have anything to do with where we were born when we were born who our parents would be what country we would live in and so the fact that we are here seemed kind of easy draw god created us dropped us into life but it is so hard to navigate without

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him

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we have to understand that we need him he has loaned us life For the purpose of establishing a relationship with him through Jesus. And we're going to talk about that in just a little bit. So let's go back to our opening text as we review our scripture. As we look through the Proverbs and we get to chapter 4, this particular verse, verse 12. The father tells his child, be it daughter or son, hey, when thou goest, when you walk, wherever and whenever you go. Your steps with godly wisdom shall not be straightened. That word in the Hebrew, straightened, means hindered, i.e., your steps will not be vexed. But on the other hand, they will be calm. They will be content. They will be your steps resolved if godly wisdom is sought after. Now, our steps won't be restricted, but they'll also just be unlimited. They will be free. There will be a security because we decide I'm walking with God. God's walking with me. Lord, leave God every step of the way. I need you. And this wisdom that the father is handing down to his child, this same path of life beckons each one of us. And God desires that we walk in step with him. Truth be told, Along life's path, we will get lost. It just happens. We take detours. We think that we know our own way or erroneously believe that we are in total control of our destinies. And that's so far from the truth. And so it is at these times we tend to ignore directions. We'll get stalled. We get vexed. And we are the ones that fall. when we do not seek the godly wisdom that our opening verse teaches us about. We wrestle with, instead of just simply giving God total control of our symbolic steering wheels, we'll wrestle as we're going through the traffic that life is. And since God is the author, he's the finisher of our lives. He is the alpha, he's the omega, he's the beginning and the end of everything and everyone Wisdom, godly wisdom, recognizes that God has granted us a day-by-day reliance upon him. One step at a time, one day at a time, we are to acknowledge that we need God, not the other way around. And this realization that, Lord, I need you, this is the godly wisdom that pleases Him. For in this walk of life, without God's hand of mercy and grace upon us, life, along with the spiritual wickedness in unseen realms, it would certainly ensnare us, engulf us, and devour humanity if we were without god's mercy and grace upon us and so as we make this transition from the text to the here and now and begin to connect the dots if we just consider traffic traffic will indicate that somebody is on the way somewhere it's traveling from point a to point b there's an ebb and there's a flow do i stay or do i go it's congested today Yesterday, it was just gridlocked. There's a total stoppage right now. And there are just times that traffic can just obstruct. There might even be construction going on down that street you need to get down, and that can hinder us. And that's how we can get ensnared, entangled. And there are times we just get blocked in. And the truth is, we can now start making this transition connection. When I say traffic, i.e. life. Life can be downright dangerous without the godly wisdom to safely navigate it. I'm going to use, I'm going to insert my baby girl, Jordan. She graduates college this year. But as a baby, Jordan would place her hand in ours, mom and dad, as we safely transported her across the street. Now, Jordan was never distracted by traffic. But when she was afraid, she would always say, I want to hold you, I want to hold you. And in our world, that meant mama, daddy, you all pick me up because if we're at a mall, if we're in a crowd, if we're crossing the street. As a child, when she said that, she felt secure and she never worried about traffic because she believed that her daddy and she believed that her mommy would get her safely across the street. She didn't worry about traffic. Mama, daddy, whoever's hand I put my hand in, they will safely get me to the other side. And this is exactly how God wants us to navigate traffic, i.e. life. He wants us to have the faith of a child that is totally dependent upon him and not our insufficient independent effort and so in the verse verse 14 states as we go our steps our road it will not be vexed hindered or restricted if we allow god's wisdom to guide our walk and even when the traffic of life the traffic of tests trials decisions or sorrows they overwhelm us the verse concludes we will not And so the moral is this moral guides us right into our first application point for the week. The moral is God guides us. So we may as well ask him to drive. That is point number one. God guides us. And so godly wisdom requests him to guide us, to lead us, to drive. Give him the steering wheel. In the book of Proverbs chapter 16, Verse 9, a man's heart plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. That is the Berean version of Proverbs 16, verse 9. I want to read the New Living Translation of Proverbs 19, verse 21. You, I, we can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose is will prevail i love this phrase that we've heard sometimes and we hear it in movies sometimes if you want to make god laugh tell him what you are going to do with the life he longed you i think that is very poignant let's go to proverbs chapter 20 verse 24 the word of god the new living translation states the lord directs our steps so why try to understand everything along the way we must trust where God guides, leads, and makes paths straight for us. Like certain paths, and even when it seems hopeless, God is right there with us, and he will bring us out. The book of Jeremiah, chapter 10, verse 23, the prophet says in the New Living Translation, I know, Lord, not a doubt in his mind, I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not even able to plan our own course, i.e., we are not even able to direct our own steps. And so godly wisdom, application point number one for the week, God guides us. And so wisdom, godly wisdom, requests that he drive. Let go of the symbolic steering wheel, give it to God. Here's point number two, traffic, i.e., life. It is hard duck. It is difficult without God's wisdom and God's grace. The book of Proverbs chapter 13, verse 15, King James Version states, Good understanding gives favor, but the way of transgressors, the ways of sinners, is hard. Life is supposed to be hard. We know the sun shines on everyone, but the word of God says the life of a sinner is supposed to be hard. You think you got this saved, it's gone to the very next minute. You take one step forward, you end up taking three back. The word says the way of a sinner is supposed to be hard without doing life, or should I say, if we are trying to do life without God's wisdom, and God's grace. Proverbs 4, verse 19, the way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. That is the new King James Version. And 1 Samuel 18, verses 14 through 16, David had somebody that, an enemy that just couldn't stand him. That was Saul. But the verses say, David continued to succeed in everything he did. for the Lord was with him. And that's what we need to ask ourselves because the verses continue when Saul saw that David had great success because of the Lord and the Lord being with him, Saul stood in fearful awe, afraid of him. God's wisdom, grace, and anointing will even cause your enemies to resent you. But hey, so be it. If God be for you, no man can stand against you. God in one man, God in one woman, you are the anointed majority. And so point number two, please, let us not try to do life without God's wisdom, grace, anointing, and leading because traffic, life, it is difficult, almost impossible to do without God. him and this brings us to our final application point when we're talking about the sermon traffic here is the most important point of all that i want you to get because my wife and i we know why we have been given to preach and teach and the truth of the matter is anybody that calls themselves a representative of god a preacher a teacher a christian Our only mission, God has given us a platform, it is to take everyone with an opportunity to accept or deny, take people to the cross. Here's our application point of the sermon traffic. Number three, here we go. Jesus alone, he is our GPS from earth to eternity. And so I'm gonna go ahead and get this out of the way right now. And it's not that Christians are being dogmatic But the fact is God is the one who made the rules. Who are the pots, the pans, the clay to question the potter? And what God says is there is only one way to him, Jesus. There are not many ways to God. God says there is only one. And just like we use a GPS, a global positioning system to navigate traffic and to guide us from point A to B, We will need Jesus, our God positioning system, to safely guide our travel from earth to eternity. It is very important that we do not misread this final point. Nobody just approaches God. Nobody. The only intercessor is Jesus the Christ. It is not the Pope. It is not a priest. It is not your pastor. It is Jesus the Christ. John 14 and 6, Jesus instructs the disciples, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Acts chapter 4, verse 12, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name. under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Saved from what, you might ask? Saved from God's forthcoming wrath upon the world. And that is for those that have rejected God's gracious offer to be safe in eternity with him. But Jesus is the only way by which it can be done. God destroyed the earth once before because of the sins of humanity and he did it by water and he made a promise. That's why the rainbow exists. I will never again destroy the earth by the means of a flood. But he did not say he will not judge sin and destroy the earth again. This time sin has been judged. All you need is Jesus and you are saved. If you reject God's gracious offer, this time it will be destroyed but by fire. First Timothy, chapter two, verses five and six. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man. That is the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom, a redemption for all. And so the one, as we get ready to conclude this week's message, the one who mistakenly believes that there are many roads to God. or that you can simply approach God without Jesus' sacrificial act on our behalf, you are headed for eternal danger. Still stuck, still hindered, still ensnarled and blinded by spiritual traffic that must be navigated with God's gracious offer through Jesus Christ. And so our prayer as we conclude this week's episode Here's the invitation that we talked about earlier. And God wants it to be just so simple that you can understand it. And so if this is you, you feel like, I don't feel like I'm safe going into eternity. I don't even know what eternity is, but I want to be safe. Repeat this simple prayer with me. Father, in the name of Jesus, I acknowledge, I admit, I am a sinner. I've been trying to navigate life, i.e. traffic, my whole life without Jesus. And I need your help. Number two, I believe in my heart that you sent Jesus to die on my behalf, to extract me out of traffic, to take me out of life, to start making me more like you as you prepare me to meet you, Lord. And because I believe that, the third thing you have to do, just confess with your mouth. From here on out, I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. And I might not be perfect, but he definitely is now perfecting me day by day. Getting me ready for my eternal meeting with God. for our latest music video. And before we go, we're excited. If you missed my wife's premier show, Biblical Thoughts with Twala, that debut happened last week. So it's already on the channel or it's on Facebook or you can watch the podcast or should I say listen to the podcast via Spotify, anywhere else. But her show, we are so excited about it. It is an exegesis podcast. a discussion and a practical application of scripture with various women of God. And we hope you backtrack, catch that one or catch the next one coming up in September. But either way, join us for either show next week, same time, same pastor, same words of life, or as 1 John 1 and 1 encourages my wife and I, in lieu of eternity, we endeavor to hold forth the word of life, God's word. to make God known by extolling Jesus the Christ as the only hope for the eternal souls of humanity. We hope to see you again next week. God bless you all. We love you. Bye for now.

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i see you in everything you're working it all out for me oh what can i do but sing and give to you all the glory you put all my fears to rest i bring to you my anxiety Your passion is always chasing me I love to sing. Oh, what can obscure the truth? My Father in Heaven loves me I dance in the pouring rain You shower your love on everyone With a power I can't escape Whenever you speak Any joy that exists Any peace that persists you are I love to sing your name.

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