SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: I think we have a video.
SPEAKER_01: This is a huge day for us as a church family.
SPEAKER_01: As you know, we've had property out in the Chaffee area for more than a decade.
SPEAKER_01: We've been talking about it and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to look right there is newly cleared dirt building the construction road that will allow us to put the utilities across the property.
SPEAKER_01: So you're seeing right there the uh construction has already been started.
SPEAKER_01: Is that exciting, church family?
SPEAKER_01: So on the same morning that we have the unofficial start of our campus, we are seeing uh God begin to do things uh and help us as we prepare to expand our reach in uh the River Valley.
SPEAKER_01: And as you know, we are uh going to be, and as of this week, I guess, our one church in two locations.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this particular time we were going to spend some time praying for our uh Chaffee Campus and startup.
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you, we have available out in the lobby and different places out there, some invite cards, size of a business card, uh, to invite people to the Chaffee Campus Startup.
SPEAKER_01: Now we will uh pass those around.
SPEAKER_01: We ask you to pass them around, invite people to church.
SPEAKER_01: We'll do that for about a month or so, and then we'll come back and we'll hand out new invite cards that have downtown campus on one side and Chaffee Campus on the other side.
SPEAKER_01: And so we are very excited about reaching folks in both places, and we are especially excited about praying for that first Sunday where we baptize people in both campuses on the same Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we were going to have some time uh praying for our that service today, but it's been a very significant week in the United States.
SPEAKER_01: It's been a very significant week for followers of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: As you know and undoubtedly have seen, uh, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a college rally this week.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you think about the politics, this is not a political matter.
SPEAKER_01: He spent as much time or more time, often in those rallies, talking about Jesus, proclaiming the name of Jesus, and being an apologist for the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not insignificant that that happened in that setting for us as believers.
SPEAKER_01: It's also a really difficult time in our country because at this almost exactly the same time we had the second school shooting in a week.
SPEAKER_01: And two weeks, excuse me, two weeks.
SPEAKER_01: One of those was a Catholic school in Minnesota, elementary school, and they chose to shoot that school up during their prayer times and chapel service.
SPEAKER_01: And so there is a thread that runs through a number of these things.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it is also just a time in our culture where there is a lot of violence and a lot of speaking about it in ways that are difficult.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Scripture tells us in many places that prayer, and since we're in a prayer series, are a part of what we do as salt and light in the culture where we are planted.
SPEAKER_01: For example, in the book of Jeremiah, a chapter that we have studied as a church, the children of Israel are in exile, having been sent there by the Lord as a judgment for their sin.
SPEAKER_01: And in that time, he tells them, in the famous verse that you've heard, I have a future and a hope for you.
SPEAKER_01: He tells them to pray for the peace of the city in which they live.
SPEAKER_01: That they are to live there as salt and life, they are to raise their families, expand their families, they are to grow, and they are to pray for the peace of the city where they're planted.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus spoke about being salt and light in the culture in which we are in.
SPEAKER_01: And in the book of Romans, um, Paul wrote a long section in chapter 13, that we are to pray for our nation and country and the governments where we live.
SPEAKER_01: Peter also wrote that we are to pray for our king and leaders and country.
SPEAKER_01: And so, what I'd like for us to do today, instead of just praying for our Chaffee Campus, which I know you're already doing, and God knows we're doing that, he has that in his plan.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's a time for us as the body of Christ, as the people who follow our followers of Jesus, that we pray for peace in our nation.
SPEAKER_01: That we pray for safety, and we pray for wisdom for leaders who are trying to navigate in a very divisive, difficult time in our culture.
SPEAKER_01: Again, this is not a political thing.
SPEAKER_01: This is a Jesus body of Christ, salt and light matter.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you'll join me in praying for uh just peace and protection and wisdom for our nation.
SPEAKER_01: So if you'll join me, church man, Lord, we do want to lift up uh Charlie Kirk's family.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's just a tragedy to see any 31-year-old with children the age of my grandchild, children the age of my children, and so many of us here, uh, to be in the situation that they are in.
SPEAKER_01: So we pray your blessings on them.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray as the fallout of this continues to happen in the conversation in our nation, we pray that supernaturally Jesus will not get lost in the conversation, but instead the gospel will flourish and expand.
SPEAKER_01: As these discussions happen, as people search clips as uh of him speaking or whatever, all the different ways that happens on news channels, in offices around the coffee pot, on college and high school campuses, as all these things are being discussed.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray that in all of that you will supernaturally step in and empower the name of Jesus to be proclaimed.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in a time of divisiveness and often just terrible meanness from all kinds of people that the hope that comes from Jesus Christ will stand out as a light in a dark room.
SPEAKER_01: We know that darkness does not defeat light.
SPEAKER_01: Darkness only wins in the absence of light.
SPEAKER_01: But as soon as you walk into a room and turn a light bulb on, darkness is immediately defeated and light permeates the room.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we know that Jesus is the light of the world.
SPEAKER_01: As Scripture says, He is the peace and the hope of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus told us by speaking to his followers and by extension to us through Scripture, he said the words that he had spoken to us is that we might know his joy and it would be full and that he gives us his peace, not peace like the world gives, but a supernatural peace that comes through the hope and the joy that comes through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray today that the hope of Jesus will permeate our nation.
SPEAKER_01: People who are followers of Christ, we pray that you will wrap your arms around them and fill them with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And whatever we're thinking and feeling as we speak, we will speak the words of Jesus and we will speak the hope of the good news of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray for, I pray for calmness in our nation that you will supernaturally bring peace.
SPEAKER_01: Quiet, mean-spirited, evil voices.
SPEAKER_01: Not conversation.
SPEAKER_01: We're never afraid of conversation because we know that truth always wins.
SPEAKER_01: Let the conversation flourish and let Jesus and his name flourish in those conversations.
SPEAKER_01: But Lord, the divisiveness and the evil and those that would try to stir up whatever their perspective is.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray you'll calm those voices.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in our nation it will be a time where people look, where they listen more than they speak, where they forgive more than they retaliate.
SPEAKER_01: They point people to Jesus more than they point fingers.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray for safety for every politician.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever their political affiliation is, we pray that you will keep them safe and that you will not allow these things to expand.
SPEAKER_01: We pray for wisdom for the president, the cabinet, the house, the Senate, the governor, our legislature in Arkansas, our mayor and city directors here in the River Valley.
SPEAKER_01: We pray that you will give them wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever side of the aisle they're on, we pray for them and that you'll give them wisdom in navigating this time.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray for the violence to cease.
SPEAKER_01: We know that there is nothing going on that would not be corrected with Holy Spirit-driven, gospel-centered revival.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, we pray in the midst of all this for the gospel to be elevated and Jesus as the light of the world to defeat darkness and bring hope and forgiveness and salvation to our country and our culture.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we we are a mission-sending nation.
SPEAKER_01: People are watching the United States in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, there is an opportunity if you will stir the church, if you will expand revival, if you will raise up godly men and women to speak truth, to preach from your word, to teach the Bible with fidelity and integrity, with grace and with hope, with clarity.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray as we see our nation prayerfully return to you, that it will be a lighthouse to the world.
SPEAKER_01: Other nations that don't have a freedom for God's people to come together and worship and pray, that they will see what it looks like when a nation falls on its knees before Jehovah God.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, make us faithful as the church to continue to pray in this time.
SPEAKER_01: We pray these things in the saving name of Jesus and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, church family, for that time.
SPEAKER_01: Let's continue our prayer study since we're in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to remind you to pick up your brewing scripture in the classroom of prayer booklet for this week.
SPEAKER_01: This week, we're going to talk about what is one of the most significant questions that we receive as pastors often.
SPEAKER_01: As you go through your brewing scripture this week, believe, read, and repeat each word, write it down each day following that format.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be talking about the principles of how you seek God's will and guidance through prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Seeking God's will, seeking God's guidance through prayer.
SPEAKER_01: When you face decisions about hard things to do or which job to take or whatever it is as we're seeking those things, people are often asking, Pastor, how do we know God's will?
SPEAKER_01: And it's just an interesting process for all of us.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a set of principles and a journey that we learn.
SPEAKER_01: You have to be careful because we have our own emotions, we have circumstances around us, and all those things sometimes create a soup where it's difficult to hear from God or to know how to hear God's specific direction for us.
SPEAKER_01: I remember as a young minister, I was on staff at my home church in Memphis.
SPEAKER_01: They knew when I went on staff, I felt like I'd been called to preach, and I would be looking for an opportunity one day to go pastor, and a church actually called one morning and said, You know, I got word they may be looking at me as a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: It was the first significant time it had happened.
SPEAKER_01: They asked for a resume.
SPEAKER_01: I happened to be in Boston, Massachusetts.
SPEAKER_01: I was there with one of my close friends.
SPEAKER_01: He was doing business in Boston, and he said, Hey, why don't you just flop in my hotel room and you can walk around and see history stuff, and then we'll go see the Red Sox at night.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I'm all in with that.
SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a baseball fan, you'll understand this.
SPEAKER_01: We got to see Pedro pitch at Fenway.
SPEAKER_01: It was awesome, right?
SPEAKER_01: So you can tell it was clearly a spiritual time for me, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what we were.
SPEAKER_01: So here we are.
SPEAKER_01: My friend goes off to do his work, and I head off to go do some of the freedom trail.
SPEAKER_01: And I think here I am.
SPEAKER_01: It's a nice, beautiful morning in Boston.
SPEAKER_01: I go to Fanual Hall.
SPEAKER_01: If you know anything about history or Boston, you'll know the significance of that.
SPEAKER_01: It's an incredibly important place.
SPEAKER_01: They advocated for liberty there and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And I am a huge fan of Boston clam chowder.
SPEAKER_01: So I went up to a counter at Fanual Hall.
SPEAKER_01: I went to this place.
SPEAKER_01: They said it's Boston's best clam chowder.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, this is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: What better place to talk to Jesus about this church and whether he's going to open this door and I'm going to get an opportunity to pray and ask God to open the door and let me pastor this church.
SPEAKER_01: And so I sit down, I've got this incredibly piping-hot, incredible bowl of Boston's finest clam chowder.
SPEAKER_01: I sit on a park bench right outside Fanuel Hall.
SPEAKER_01: I'm looking at the place where they used to advocate for freedom.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking to the Lord Jesus about getting to be a pastor.
SPEAKER_01: I am seeking his will.
SPEAKER_01: And just after I take the first bite of that Boston clam chowder, having asked God's blessing on it, beginning to pray for his wisdom, I take that first bite, and about that time a pigeon leaves a massive dropping on the top of my head, runs down on either ear, runs down my neck, and plops right in and ruins my Boston clam chowder.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now what did God mean about that when I was in prayer?
SPEAKER_01: How do you read that as a message from heaven, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's hard when you get in these moments and you're trying to read circumstances and you're thinking about what I want to happen and what I don't want to happen, and these things are flying around us.
SPEAKER_01: How do we recognize what is actually the voice of God in these moments?
SPEAKER_01: Well, for our text today, Psalm 25, if you'll turn there, we'll put it on screens in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: This is actually a prayer from David where he is praying for guidance.
SPEAKER_01: So I thought, since we are in the classroom of prayer, we're learning about prayer, we're being very practical in our approach to prayers, I thought, listen, God led me to this in my study, and I thought, this is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just look at what a man of prayer, a man who has a heart for the Lord, who recorded his prayer seeking guidance, let's see what it looks like, and we can pull principles from there.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 25, or chapter 25, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: David says, Lord, I turn to you.
SPEAKER_01: My God, I trust in you.
SPEAKER_01: Do not let me be disgraced, do not let my enemies gloat over me.
SPEAKER_01: No one who waits for you will be disgraced.
SPEAKER_01: Those who act treacherously without cause will be disgraced.
SPEAKER_01: Make your ways known to me, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Teach me your paths.
SPEAKER_01: Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.
SPEAKER_01: I will wait for you all day long.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Lord, your compassion and your faithful love, for they have existed from antiquity.
SPEAKER_01: Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of rebellion.
SPEAKER_01: In keeping with your faithful love, remember me because of your goodness, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is good and upright, therefore he shows sinners the way.
SPEAKER_01: He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
SPEAKER_01: All the Lord's ways show faithful love and truth to those who keep his covenant and decrees.
SPEAKER_01: Because of your name, Yahweh, forgive my sin, for it is great.
SPEAKER_01: Who is the man who fears the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: He, God, will show him the way he should choose.
SPEAKER_01: He will give a life, a good life, and his descendants will inherit the land.
SPEAKER_01: The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he reveals his covenant to them.
SPEAKER_01: My eyes are always on the Lord, for he will put my feet out of the net.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know exactly when David wrote this particular hymn.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them we do, some of them we don't.
SPEAKER_01: This one we don't.
SPEAKER_01: People have speculated.
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it was in one of those times when maybe the nation was in rebellion or he was under attack or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: We're not exactly sure, but it is very clear that he is talking about seeking God's guidance and praying for God's wisdom and direction at this significant time in his life.
SPEAKER_01: You can understand from the references to enemies and all of that that it is a huge time.
SPEAKER_01: It's a very significant time for him, and he is reaching out to the Lord and praying for direction and guidance.
SPEAKER_01: What I want to do is give you three principles that help you in this prayer because it's not do this and God says this.
SPEAKER_01: It's not an insert tab A into slot B and how it works.
SPEAKER_01: But it is a set of principles that flow out of our relationship where we are walking with Him and learning to hear His voice.
SPEAKER_01: But there are very much clear biblical principles to guide us in learning how to hear God's direction and wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: The first principle is this trust the Lord and seek him.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't seek the Lord, you're not going to get his direction.
SPEAKER_01: It seems a little simple, but how often do we make our own decisions?
SPEAKER_01: And if we do pray, we come back later and say, God, will you bless what I chose?
SPEAKER_01: Or we are afraid of what God will tell us because we have a sense that's not really the right way to go, but we want to do it that way anyway.
SPEAKER_01: And so we hide or we couch some fake prayer to make ourselves feel better so that we don't really have to run the risk of God telling us we can't do well what we want to do or we have to do something that He wants us to do that we don't really want to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so we struggle with those things.
SPEAKER_01: And David comes and he's very clear in writing this prayer that we are to trust in the Lord and seek him.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, the very first two verses say this Lord, I trust to you, my, or I turn to you, my God, I trust in you.
SPEAKER_01: And it's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Those two names of God right there.
SPEAKER_01: One is Jehovah, the first one, Lord, that's Jehovah, that is the covenant name of God for his people.
SPEAKER_01: And Elohim is the word that is the fullness of the Trinity, the plural name of God, all of his power and who he is.
SPEAKER_01: You'll recognize two famous verses.
SPEAKER_01: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, and whosoever believes in him will never perish, but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: We also know Genesis 1.1 that says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And so right here you have David immediately calling out to the God of promise and the God of power.
SPEAKER_01: God is able to do both, and he is establishing his ground as a choice of faith that I believe you, I believe you have a plan, I believe you are faithful to me as your children, and I believe you have the power to step into this, make clear for me what I should choose, and make straight the ways that you want me to choose.
SPEAKER_01: And he intentionally calls on God, both his name as the God of promise, and his name as the God of power.
SPEAKER_01: And then listen, he reaffirms in his prayer multiple times how much that he trusts in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 4, he asks for direction.
SPEAKER_01: Make your ways known to me, Lord, and teach me your path.
SPEAKER_01: Guide me in your truth.
SPEAKER_01: And then he also affirms his belief that God provides.
SPEAKER_01: Direction.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to what he says in verse 6, Lord, your compassion and faithful love have existed from antiquity.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, you have always been faithful and you always will be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: You are loving, you are caring, you take care of us, you provide for us.
SPEAKER_01: Look what he says in verse 8.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is good and upright, therefore, because he is good and upright, he shows us the way.
SPEAKER_01: He leads as an affirmative statement.
SPEAKER_01: God leads the humble in what is right and teaches them their ways.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 10, all the Lord's ways show faithful love and truth to those who keep his covenant and decrees.
SPEAKER_01: Look what he says in verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: He will show him the way he should choose.
SPEAKER_01: He affirms his belief that this is what God does.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Lord, I am coming to you because I believe you have a plan.
SPEAKER_01: I believe you love me.
SPEAKER_01: You are the God of covenant.
SPEAKER_01: You are the God of power.
SPEAKER_01: And I am going to ask you and plead with you for direction because I believe you provide direction.
SPEAKER_01: So much that Satan does in attacking God's children is to try to get us not to trust and believe that God loves us, has a plan for us, and can accomplish that plan.
SPEAKER_01: From the very moment that sin entered in the world in the Garden of Eden, it began with Satan lying to God's children, Adam and Eve, about God doesn't love you that much and he's holding out on you, and there's more for you to have that God doesn't want you to have.
SPEAKER_01: And that lie was the first one in the Garden of Eden, but it has continued as one of Satan's most powerful tools throughout all of humankind.
SPEAKER_01: But David is trying to get us to understand that is a lie.
SPEAKER_01: That God has always been faithful and he has always loved, and he has a plan for you in our brew method as you're praying this week over your scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: The very first principle in that how to meditate scripture that we refer to as that brew thing.
SPEAKER_01: What is the very first principle?
SPEAKER_01: It is believe.
SPEAKER_01: Believe that God has something to say to you.
SPEAKER_01: There's a reason that we start with that principle, and there's a reason that David starts with that principle.
SPEAKER_01: We must trust God and we must seek him.
SPEAKER_01: Even if you're concerned about what he might tell you, you still need to seek him, and you still need to trust that he is going to give you an answer from his love and his plans.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to cling to that scripture in Romans 8 that says, all things work together for good to those who love God and called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: And trust him and seek him.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't seek him, you won't ever get his direction.
SPEAKER_01: Principle number two, principle number two, we have to understand this that God's direction is first and foremost about our transformation into the image of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And second, then, is about the individual choice that we make.
SPEAKER_01: When we're learning God's will for us, it is an outgrowth of the process of Him training us and transforming us to turn into the image of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: One of the verses you'll study this week is Romans chapter 12, verse 2, that says this do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is that acceptable will of God.
SPEAKER_01: Knowing God's will flows out of our relationship with Him and being able to hear His voice is because we've gotten to know Him and hear His voice.
SPEAKER_01: It is understanding that if I am, if He is trying to do this in my life, that choice cannot be the right one because it interrupts or tempts me away or short circuits or slows down the process of my growth.
SPEAKER_01: There are certain principles in that that we understand that are listed in this prayer.
SPEAKER_01: David is recognizing those as he walks through this prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Look in verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Here it is in a nutshell.
SPEAKER_01: Who is the man who fears the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Who fears the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: I am surrendered to him.
SPEAKER_01: I am seeking him.
SPEAKER_01: He is God.
SPEAKER_01: I am not.
SPEAKER_01: I was a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus died on the cross for my sins.
SPEAKER_01: I surrendered my life to him.
SPEAKER_01: I confessed him as my Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And he began the process of transforming me into his image, of working in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And so I am surrendered in awe to him as the God of the universe and the God of my salvation, allowing him to transform me.
SPEAKER_01: Who is the man who fears the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: He will show him the way he should choose.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what it says in verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he reveals his covenant to them.
SPEAKER_01: Them.
SPEAKER_01: So he is making clear that it is my transformation that is the main part of this.
SPEAKER_01: And as I'm seeking God's wisdom and guidance in a decision, it is important to always keep in the context of how we're growing.
SPEAKER_01: I may have shared the story before, but uh my testimony is I was raised in a Christian home.
SPEAKER_01: Mom and dad were raised in Christian homes, so we were multi-generation followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's not everyone's testimony.
SPEAKER_01: So I don't, it's not better or worse.
SPEAKER_01: It just happens to be mine.
SPEAKER_01: And however you met Jesus, praise the Lord, your testimony is incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus died on the cross for you to have that testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Every single Christian testimony is eternally powerful because it changes our eternity forever.
SPEAKER_01: It is incredibly filled with God's love.
SPEAKER_01: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him would never perish, but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: When you give your life to Christ, whether you do it this morning or you did it yesterday or you did it when you were seven, whatever it was, it is a precious salvation testimony because it cost Jesus his blood on the cross to save us.
SPEAKER_01: That happens to be mine.
SPEAKER_01: My dad later told me when I was a young adult that when we were kids, we lived in Memphis, Tennessee.
SPEAKER_01: We grew up there.
SPEAKER_01: My dad at several times became fairly well known in his industry across the country, and he had headhunters after him all the time.
SPEAKER_01: And we were in a key time, junior high, high school, and he got a great job offer from a company in Chicago.
SPEAKER_01: And so he uh began to pray about that, seek God's wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: And later, as I'm a young adult, he's sharing this with me to help me understand these things.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Listen, son, this was an incredible job offer.
SPEAKER_01: It was a great company.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we would have been on Easy Street walking through that.
SPEAKER_01: It would have been unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: The opportunities education-wise and all that in Chicago and a city that size seemed to be incredible.
SPEAKER_01: The cultural opportunities for y'all, all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: He said, but listen, I don't believe that people who love the Cubs love Jesus, and that's a dangerous decision for us.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're in Memphis, we're Cardinal fans, and everybody knows if you love Jesus, you love the Cardinals, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's how it works, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of the way our human minds work.
SPEAKER_01: That really was not what my dad told me, as you would imagine.
SPEAKER_01: What he said was, son, we were deeply involved in our church.
SPEAKER_01: And the youth group was making a difference in your life and in your brother's life, and your little sister was in elementary school, and we were going to a private school that was a Baptist-based private school, and my dad was working a second job, despite the fact that he was an executive, he was working a second job to pay our tuitions to put us in a Baptist school.
SPEAKER_01: And as he looked at church and he looked at what we were learning in school, and he had his three young children being immersed in Scripture six days a week, wrapped in everything we were doing.
SPEAKER_01: My dad said, Son, money and opportunity compale, it just pales in comparison to when your family is growing to be like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so he made a decision not to go.
SPEAKER_01: What was a legitimate, perfectly wonderful opportunity, and God opens doors for his children.
SPEAKER_01: He loves us.
SPEAKER_01: David talks about that.
SPEAKER_01: But in that moment, my dad, as he was seeking for direction, he taught me that your spiritual transformation is the most important part of that decision.
SPEAKER_01: And if we are following Jesus and we're being transformed in that moment, then what makes us think that the rest of that decision isn't going to be fabulous?
SPEAKER_01: David even reaffirms: who is the man who fears the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: God will show him the way he should choose.
SPEAKER_01: He will live a good life, and his descendants will inherit the land.
SPEAKER_01: God is good.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever forget that God loves us.
SPEAKER_01: And if you say to Moses something, if there's something out there, but you are pursuing Jesus and his transformation process in your life, I guarantee you, on the promise of God's word and every biblical principle in Scripture, that God will bless you for that decision and you will not give up anything.
SPEAKER_01: Your heavenly Father will love you and guide you and bless you for making decisions of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Repentance is twice described in here.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, our transformation process is a constant journey of Lord's trying to take this out of my life to make me more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to put this into my life to make me more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's going to always involve, Lord, I've messed up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Please forgive me.
SPEAKER_01: He forgives our sin.
SPEAKER_01: He works with us.
SPEAKER_01: He takes that out.
SPEAKER_01: He puts this in, and it's a constant journey.
SPEAKER_01: And so repentance is an important part of that.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 7, he says, Do not remember the sins of my youth.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 11, because of your name, Yahweh, forgive my sin, for it is great.
SPEAKER_01: We keep short accounts with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: In your time of prayer, you remember we've looked at in the foundational elements of prayer, repentance is a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: And David doesn't take it for granted there.
SPEAKER_01: And then submission to God's plan.
SPEAKER_01: I am surrendered to how God wants to lead me.
SPEAKER_01: I am surrendered to his plan and what it is.
SPEAKER_01: I've shared the testimony before about when I was called to ministry.
SPEAKER_01: I was practicing law in Memphis.
SPEAKER_01: It was an incredible job.
SPEAKER_01: I was with a great law firm.
SPEAKER_01: I was doing what I had dreamed about doing.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it was better than I had dreamed about it.
SPEAKER_01: I had always wanted to be a lawyer from the time I was about a seventh grader.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody said, How does that happen?
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Mom dropped me on my head when I was a baby or something.
SPEAKER_01: I have no idea.
SPEAKER_01: But I'd always wanted to be a lawyer.
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, my heroes on television were lawyers.
SPEAKER_01: I love westerns.
SPEAKER_01: And what's really good is when you get a Western like Big Valley, where one of the Barclays is actually a cowboy lawyer.
SPEAKER_01: How fun is that?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: One of the greatest Western movies of all time, the man who shot Liberty Valence.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy plays a lawyer, ransom Stoddard.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like, Liberty What?
SPEAKER_01: Who?
SPEAKER_01: What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01: It's a black and white movie, but it's worth your time.
SPEAKER_01: Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, I recommend it.
SPEAKER_01: Because the hero is a lawyer.
SPEAKER_01: It's great.
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
SPEAKER_01: I was so excited to be a lawyer.
SPEAKER_01: I'd practiced law for six years.
SPEAKER_01: I was flying around the country.
SPEAKER_01: I literally was a hired gun lawyer.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody else in the country hates us, but I was so proud what I was getting to do.
SPEAKER_01: It was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: I was flying everywhere doing all that.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord knocks on the door and says, okay, we're kind of done with this now.
SPEAKER_01: I love you.
SPEAKER_01: I let you play around and do that for a while.
SPEAKER_01: I trained you that way.
SPEAKER_01: Now I want you to go be a preacher.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, uh, I don't really want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: This is really fun.
SPEAKER_01: And we had this conversation where I was pushing back on the Lord and it just didn't take very long.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Greg, whose life is it?
SPEAKER_01: You see, when I was a nine and a half-year-old boy, I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And the way we share that here, one of the ways that you explain what happens.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in the book of Romans, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.
SPEAKER_01: And what that means is you believe in the historicity, the real, actual fact that Jesus stepped out of heaven, lived a sinless life as an actual human.
SPEAKER_01: He went to the cross, he died there in our place, a life that did not have judgment or death attached to it.
SPEAKER_01: He rose again on the third day, and I can come to him and I can trust him to be the one who pays the price for my sin because his death has no sin attached to it.
SPEAKER_01: And I can come and believe that God raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: That means as a Savior, I can give my sin to him, and he pays the price for that sin and he gives me his righteousness and I'm saved.
SPEAKER_01: We like that part.
SPEAKER_01: The other part says, if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, that's the submission part.
SPEAKER_01: That means I have to say, Lord, it's your life, it's not mine.
SPEAKER_01: I took my life, everything I had been, everything I was in that moment, and what I understood, and everything I would ever be, and I gave it all to Jesus Christ, and it was his.
SPEAKER_01: And I began to argue about I don't really want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm supposed to seek your wisdom, but I don't really want to do that.
SPEAKER_01: That's not really what I want to do.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Whose life is it?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not mine.
SPEAKER_01: I gave it to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And an important part of finding God's will is being willing to say yes, Lord, whatever it is that he asks us to do.
SPEAKER_01: David makes that clear multiple times.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is good and upright, therefore, he shows sinners the way.
SPEAKER_01: He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
SPEAKER_01: And so we always remember in this process of seeking the Lord that I'm first in that relational deal where I am walking through Jesus, changing me and growing me, and in that context, I am submitted to him, and then he can speak.
SPEAKER_01: And he can move and do whatever because we are his and we are following him.
SPEAKER_01: That brings us to principle number three.
SPEAKER_01: Principle number three is learn to recognize God's voice and leading as a part of our relationship with him.
SPEAKER_01: It's really fun.
SPEAKER_01: We were making plans for the kids to come, you know, over the last 10 days or so and sorting all that out.
SPEAKER_01: And I would call, and they would be in the car, and uh, and and you know, you're driving and you put it on a speakerphone, and Killian's in the car with Mabry, and he'd hear my voice, and he'd get all excited.
SPEAKER_01: Bomber?
SPEAKER_01: Because he recognizes my voice.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we have a relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Relationship.
SPEAKER_01: And he hears my voice, he understands my voice, and I know his voice.
SPEAKER_01: I could hear it across the church campus, I could hear.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible that relationship, and when you get to know someone, you get to know the nuances and the timbre and the understanding of their voice and when they speak and how they speak and what those phrases mean.
SPEAKER_01: And as you walk with Jesus and get close with him, you understand how and why he's speaking with you.
SPEAKER_01: You understand that Jesus speaking to you is not an outgrowth of what we want to do or what our desires are and telling him, but it's we share it with him and then we listen and we learn to recognize when God is speaking and when it's not God's voice and it's somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the principles that David gives us, he models in this prayer.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, just recognize he does have a voice that speaks to us.
SPEAKER_01: In Romans chapter 8, the Bible says this the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
SPEAKER_01: That is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit speaking directly into my heart.
SPEAKER_01: And as I learn to obey and surrender, I learn to recognize that's the voice of God, or that's just Greg trying to creep up and take the throne of his life back.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to what David says.
SPEAKER_01: He makes it very clear.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14 the secret counsel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That's an intimate discussion where God is sharing his plans.
SPEAKER_01: The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he reveals his covenant to them.
SPEAKER_01: He speaks to us.
SPEAKER_01: And what does that help look like?
SPEAKER_01: It literally says in the next verse that he takes the desires of our heart and the desires of God's heart and he connects them.
SPEAKER_01: He connects us in that.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the Holy Spirit does.
SPEAKER_01: And so listen, there is a voice when God speaks.
SPEAKER_01: How do I discern and know that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the first part of that is you just learn to recognize his voice in your relationship.
SPEAKER_01: But the second thing is this Scripture always lines up or confirms his will or his voice.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit will never, will never, will never tell you to do something that violates Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us, was the one who stepped into the lives and hearts of men who followed God and instructed them what to write.
SPEAKER_01: If he instructed them what to write, why is he later going to come back and go, yeah, I know that I wrote for you, but I was just kidding.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay for you to go do this.
SPEAKER_01: Why'd the Holy Spirit do that?
SPEAKER_01: He is always going to be confirmed in his word, in his covenants.
SPEAKER_01: And you see that recognized.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 10, all the Lord's ways show faithful love and truth to those who keep his covenant and decrees.
SPEAKER_01: And so we need to always be anchored in Scripture and we always listen to Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Now, not every decision that we make has a Bible verse attached to it.
SPEAKER_01: But every decision that you make, there is most of the time a scripture that God will use to direct or speak to you or warn you about some issue or problem or temptation.
SPEAKER_01: It may not see take this job or buy this house, but it will say principles about our money and finances and priorities and what God has done with how God has created work and our lives and all of those things.
SPEAKER_01: They're all in there.
SPEAKER_01: And so as you're listening to hear God's voice and as you're in God's word, then you're going to see those things line up.
SPEAKER_01: His voice and his word.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we are building these prayer books, not with devotion guides, but you spending time brewing scripture on your own with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Next is waiting.
SPEAKER_01: Waiting is often something that is a part.
SPEAKER_01: Waiting is not God saying no.
SPEAKER_01: It's not God being silent.
SPEAKER_01: It's not God not caring.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes waiting is a part of getting our attention.
SPEAKER_01: David is referred to as waiting in verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Lord, and he reminds us, your compassion.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 5, he says, I wait for you all day long.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6, remember, Lord, your compassion and your faithful love.
SPEAKER_01: They have existed from antiquity.
SPEAKER_01: When God is asking us to wait, he also empowers us and he speaks to us and he holds us and he protects us in that time of waiting.
SPEAKER_01: You have a scripture verse you'll study this week that relates to that.
SPEAKER_01: God sometimes is just trying to get our attention.
SPEAKER_01: He's just trying to make sure we are focused enough to listen when he speaks.
SPEAKER_01: And then final principle, and I wish I could have more time to unpack this, but it is obey what you do know.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about what you don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Obey what you do know, and God will guide you and move you forward in that.
SPEAKER_01: There are some scriptures in this passage, but one of the best ones that I could give you is John 14, 21.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus is talking about our relationship and our walking with him, and he says this the one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.
SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing David said.
SPEAKER_01: It is when I am obeying those commandments and following the Lord, even if this is all I know, I'm obeying what I do know.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus uses that to open up more knowledge, to reveal himself to us.
SPEAKER_01: It is when I step out in faith and obey what I do know that I hear Jesus say, Well done, good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, Greg, that was really good.
SPEAKER_01: Son, I love you.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me show this.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Greg, now that you've learned that lesson, there's something that I've been wanting to talk to you about.
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to start to work on this, son.
SPEAKER_01: And so it is in that process of obeying what I do know.
SPEAKER_01: That may mean being faithful.
SPEAKER_01: It may mean stepping into this or that command.
SPEAKER_01: And I've not gotten an answer to my decision yet.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm waiting and I'm obeying what I have, and I'm surrendered to Him, and I'm listening to Him, and I'm trusting, Lord, I'm still seeking you because I believe you have a plan, and in that setting, God can speak to you and guide you through that journey and that process.
SPEAKER_01: For us to seek Him and trust that He has an answer.
SPEAKER_01: Most important way that we seek Him is when we give our lives to Him as our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to bow your heads as we close.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, as I've been describing God's love and God's faithfulness and all of those things, listen, I was telling you what it means to walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's how much he loves you.
SPEAKER_01: And whether you're watching online or by television or you're here in the room and you've never given your life to Christ, I shared with you my testimony, how I gave my life to Jesus and that spiritual exchange that he lived a sinless life and died so that his death could be a substitute for ours.
SPEAKER_01: And if I will trust him as my Savior, I will take my sin and my life and I'll give it to him, and he will save me and forgive me of those sins as he's paid the price for them, and then he will give me his righteousness and we'll enter into a relationship and we'll begin to walk with God and know him as we've talked about.
SPEAKER_01: But it begins with you first making the choice to trust him as your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, in a moment I'm gonna pray.
SPEAKER_01: Our ministers are gonna be standing at the head of our aisles.
SPEAKER_01: God's people are gonna stand and sing a testimony of what it means to be a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna sing as people who know Jesus and you can hear their hearts when they sing.
SPEAKER_01: And if you want to be saved, we want to invite you to come.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to be saved, you can be saved right here.
SPEAKER_01: We'll go back in a room and we'll pray with you and give you scripture to stand on.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not ready to make that decision, but you want to start the journey, if you have questions, if you want to explore, listen, we are here to answer questions with you and to walk aside you in that journey, however long you may want to take.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus did that for us, he's done that for you, and we want you to know that.
SPEAKER_01: A relationship with Jesus and an eternity in heaven when you know him is yours.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll give your life to him.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we love you and we thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for this moment we have in the heart of David, and that he took the time to write this down through the guidance of the Holy Spirit so we would know these principles.
SPEAKER_01: I pray you'll use them to bless our congregation and draw them close to you.
SPEAKER_01: And if there's someone this morning who needs to be saved, we pray they'll come.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this in the saving name of Jesus, and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.