The Will of God

If you'd open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 30, I'd like to read verses 11 through 16 for our text, Deuteronomy 30 verses 11 through 16. Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven so that you have to ask, Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it? Nor is it beyond the sea so that you have to ask, Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it? No, the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to keep His commands, decrees and laws. Then will you live and increase and the

Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess? I want to focus on verse 14. And I repeat, the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may. I'd like to speak on the subject of the Bible and more specifically answering the question, How do I know the will of God for my life? How do I know the will of God for my life? Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask for your blessing upon this Bible study. I pray that you would help me to teach faithfully. Help me to teach well. And I pray that your word would be received and that it would enrich and encourage and edify. It would correct. In the name of Jesus, we pray. And everybody said amen. Thank you for standing. You can be seated. As a younger man, I assumed that a great deal of my life, I was in control

of. I assumed that by my wisdom or by my foolishness, I could end up in vastly different places. But largely my future lay in the hands of my own wisdom. This all came to a crashing halt. And I remember the day and the year. It was a fairly minor incident in my life, but it was profoundly revelatory. Seven years ago, I took my vehicle into a repair shop. The most reputable that I could find in the area. For this is my wife's vehicle. Primarily she was the one to drive it and she was going to drive around my family. I wanted to make sure that this vehicle was sound and everything on it was of the best quality. And so I had them replace all the tires and put the best rain tires on. I went above and beyond, I thought. A week later, my wife calls me, but I didn't know it was my wife. I didn't recognize the number on my

phone. It was some strange number. I answered it, hello. And I hear it's my wife's voice and her first words are, okay, don't panic. She ought to know me better than that. But she told, she said, don't panic. I'm on the side of a highway. I'm on somebody else's phone. The police and the ambulances are all here. What happened? I can't really explain it all to you right now. But I just wanted you to know where I am and where to come get me. And so I did. Came to find out that the tire company, the auto body repair place, put on the new tires, they were training a new employee. And this new employee was left unobserved for just a little bit with the most menial task. And that was making sure that the lug nuts were on tightly. And he had completely forgotten to tighten the lug nuts on the right-hand rear passenger side of the car. And it turns out

that my wife is driving down the highway 60 miles an hour. And all of a sudden she sees a tire just running up ahead of her. And sparks flying out the back. And all of a sudden there's this shift and things are changing. And she's losing control of the vehicle. And semis are going by at 60 miles an hour with no median, no guardrail or anything to prevent chaos. Everybody was fine. But I shook at once with terror, with awe. And I shook also at the realization that even when I try to do my best, and I try to reach into my wisdom and do something to ensure the safety of my family, the quality of my family's life, I very well could, in that measure, be taking a shortcut to our destruction. I realized I'm not really in control. I'm not really, really planning out my life like I thought I was. All I can do is work with probability. All I

can do is say, well, this will probably be the best thing. In other words, I have to deal with, or the height of my wisdom is, statistical probability. I don't have certainties. And this was a crushing blow. It was a crushing blow. And in spite of the fact that nothing valuable was taken from my family, I trembled. I absolutely trembled. And I remember breaking down, sitting next to my wife, completely collapsing. And she's the one who had been through it all, and she's trying to fortify me. Well, I don't know who, or I don't know what tomorrow holds. I know who holds it, but I don't know what it holds. And so I think somewhere though, in our background, in our mind, we know in our heart of hearts how little control we have. My family's life, my family's whole present state is right now hanging upon an event that took place in 1938. And if I had more time, I would go

into it. Maybe I will some other time. But my family's whole apostolic identity has to do with an accident. One member of my family took a wrong turn and ended up at a tent revival meeting. And that's why I'm standing here today. This was in, again, 1938. We're nearly 100 years. And out of that accident, quote, unquote, our family has produced more than 100 pastors, 16 missionaries. We have founded, our family has founded 73 churches throughout the world. Every day, every day I get to teach apostolic young men and women. Every day. How many people are being influenced by that accident? In other words, my point being, our lives are such that when your big moment comes, when you're defining moment, the moment that's going to define you and define generations after, it's not probably going to be a moment that you had your eyes wide open, but probably tucked into the corners of your life somewhere. In fact, you're probably going to

be so oblivious to this big defining moment that you won't even know after it has come and gone. And so I say, I come at last to the wisdom of the book of Proverbs. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. All right. So we don't know when the catastrophe is coming and we don't know when the great moment of opportunity is coming. So life is a mystery. It's a great, great mystery. How do we know what to do? How do we know how best to live our lives so that we don't waste our lives, so that we don't walk blindly into traps? What can we do? How do we know what to do? Well, again, we know that there's the will of God and God has made us and designed us for very specific

purposes and a very specific destiny. And individually, he's given all of us a great end. He has it in store for you and we just don't know what is it, what path. So this is particularly tormenting when you're 19, 20, 21 years old. You don't know who to marry. You don't know what kind of job you should have. You know, there are the jobs that are being offered to you maybe, but you don't know if that's the right one. What if I get into a dead end? I told you a little bit. Burger King keeps coming up. I'm just going to get that out there right now. It's going to come up once or twice more at least. I'm telling you, my most formative educational period was Burger King. And here it comes. Here it comes. My father, when he was 20, he left Keokuk, Iowa. Anyone know Keokuk in here? Yeah. Dad got out of Bible college and Gateway and there was

one church that needed some help. They had just started a church in Keokuk. Brother Alex Kloster. I think Alex was his first name. And so dad goes and helps him out. And he works at a gas station. And then his brother in Seattle, Washington calls him out and says, I need some help. Started a work. Come on down. So he comes on down and his brother says, great job market out here. PSNS, world's largest naval shipyard. You're going to get a job. No problem. I mean, there's like zero unemployment here. It's great. He goes out there. He can't get a job. And well, he went to Burger King. See, history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. It's just strange. And he gets a job at Burger King. And he ends up being a manager. And you know what? He was so good at his job that a franchisee came along and said, hey, I want you to run my restaurants and I'll give

you half ownership. It was just a great, fantastic opportunity. But see, he got rejected by the Department of Defense and had to go with his tail between his legs to Burger King. And the Burger King was the great opportunity. It was a huge opportunity. There at the same time he was getting rejected, there were probably a thousand men getting accepted. And you know what? They ended up with 30, 40 years at the Department of Defense. It's a good job, but it's pretty, pretty bleak. Dad was walking into a minimum wage situation. Unbelievable what happened. Oh my goodness. You just, you don't really know. And you know, you do know enough, though, to know that you don't really, you can't really tell at the outset what's going to be the great opportunity. Many people miss their lucky break because it comes to skies as a heartbreak. So that's life. In 1921, people are tormented by this. So they often come to elders in the

church and parents and they ask, how do I know what the will of God is for me? And I, again, I work with this age group quite a bit. And this is the question that comes up once a week, at least in my office. And I've got a pretty, I've got a pretty patterned response now. And it goes something like this. Tell me a little bit about why you're struggling with the will of God. What are you wondering about regarding the will of God? Over what? And it usually comes again down to, is it, am I supposed to marry this person? Am I supposed to take this ministerial job? Or am I supposed to take this secular job? I've got a church in Massachusetts that's asking for help. And I've got a church in Nebraska asking for help. Nebraska. Nebraska. Nebraska. Not biased at all. And I don't know which one. The one over here looks like it. It might be the better

opportunity, but you know, we serve a very unique God. So what should I do? Or this person, this person, I really like her. And I want to get married, but I just don't know. So how can I know? Okay. They'll say something like, I have prayed about it. I have fasted about it. I have gone through a prayer line about it. I went to a conference over this. I have asked and asked and asked and asked, what should I do? I don't know what to do. I seem to be getting mixed signals. Sometimes kids will resort to interesting tactics like if it rains tomorrow, which I grew up in Seattle, which that's every day. So you're pretty much stacking the deck. All right. So you've got this question, Boston or Nebraska, this girl or not this ministry or not. All right, young man. You're asking me about the unknown will of God. And you're really, you're kind of wanting a sign for some

certainty. Which way should I go? All of these things that you're talking about are external to you. Massachusetts, Nebraska, this girl, this person, that person, this ministry, that ministry. These are all external. These are not internal issues. These are external. Now, you can't open up the Bible and find out whether or not you should go to Nebraska or Massachusetts. The Bible won't tell you that. You could play Bible bingo if you wanted to. What page it opens up to and where my hand falls and look down. That's not a very good way. But what I want to know is you're trying to find out the unknown will of God and maybe the unknowable will of God. It can only really be known when it's hindsight, not foresight. But what I really want to know and the key question for you is not what is God's unknown will. But how are you doing with God's known will? And how do you know his known

will? It's in the Word of God. For instance, how are you doing with this? There are some explicit places where we are told what the will of God is. For instance, in everything give thanks. For this is the will of God concerning you. Have you learned to be thankful? Instinctually thankful. For that's the will of God for you. And if you go around with a complaining heart, if you have an ungrateful spirit or if you fail to be grateful, you're out of the will of God. And it doesn't matter whether you go to Nebraska or to Massachusetts, whether you go to this spouse or you stay single, or whether you go into this ministry or that ministry, it's not going to matter if you're an ungrateful person, it's going to be ruined, all of it. It won't matter. And there are so many places in Scripture where we are explicitly told what the will of God is. One place is in the book

of Micah. The will of God for you is that you walk humbly with one another. And before you're God, how are you doing with that? How is the war against pride going in your heart? Who's winning it? What side? Because, see, God gives grace to the humble, but he resists the proud. So you could step into the very best situation with everything lined up for you all perfectly. Everything could be just perfect for you. But if you have a proud heart, God's going to resist you. You're not going to be, you're not going to have an opponent like somebody who's your equal. You're not even going to have nature against you. It's not even going to be an angel that is aligned and arrayed against you. I mean, if an angel sets up against you, that's going to be pretty tough. If a devil opposes you, I mean, that's hard enough. But if God himself resists you, man, a trillion dollars isn't going

to be enough. No amount of talent's ever going to be enough to overcome somebody whom God resists. God gives grace to the humble. Here's the point. Don't concentrate or focus so much on these external things regarding the will of God. But rather, read the Word of God, know the Word of God and practice it. This is internal. Moses said, the Word of God is very near you and it's in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it. God did not put the key to your future up in heaven somewhere or in some deep cavern somewhere or put it in a book in some ancient archive somewhere. Didn't even put it in some guru's mouth. He put it in plain sight where everybody that has a heart that loves the Word of God can find it. Everybody. And here's the point. If you get the heart right and if this heart is shaped by the Word of God, if your

affections are shaped by the Word of God, if your instincts are shaped by the Word of God, you can't help but succeed no matter where you are. You're going to be like Joseph wherever you put him. If it's in his family village, if it's in Potiphar's house as a slave, if it's in a prison where everyone has forgotten or it's in the house of Pharaoh, it doesn't matter. He's always going to rise up to the top, always. There's a great illustration of this in one of Joseph's ancestors, Abraham. Abraham, there is a moment that never ceases to amaze me in the career of Abraham and it's not the akida, it's not the sacrifice of Isaac. I mean, that blows me away, but the one that really, really I find staggering is the moment in the story of Abraham where he and his nephew Lot and their respective families are at odds with one another and they have to decide what to do to

make sure the best can be had for both parties. Alright, here's the background. Abraham has personally received from God promises. Promises that are for the good and salvation of the whole human race. In other words, upon Abraham hinges God's salvation history as he will unfold it through time. So, it's been promised to him that his ancestor or his descendants will be enlightened to the Gentiles. In other words, the whole world is going to be blessed by the life of Abraham. And particularly, what's particularly important in the story is that he's going to have a son who's going to carry this promise and help bring it to pass. Now, he's already at a certain point, he's an old man and he hasn't had that son yet. But still, all of this lies in his future and it's getting late and then he and Lot need to part ways. And they go to a certain place and I'm imagining in my mind's eye, they stand

up on some hill where they can see in every direction horizon to horizon on a clear day. And Abraham surveys the horizons and over here on one side is a dry desert, very unpromising. It says not a place to build a family over here. Over here, the fertile plains. This is where you can build a city, great place to raise a family. Everything's going to be good over here. This is pretty obvious what he should do. And the text should read and Abraham said, I carry with me the hope of the future human race. To be a blessing to the Gentiles, Lot, you must sacrificially take the dry and desert place. And not for me, not for my ease or comfort, but for the good of the world. I'm going to go set up in the fertile plains where I can help make sure we can have the incubator that will ensure that God's promise comes to pass. Bigger things than you and

I are at stake. Is that what the text says? That is not what the text says. Instead, I can imagine at the edges of the page depicting this scene, there are angelic hosts and a glow from heaven and with bated breath they all wait because the whole history of the human race hangs upon what happens next. And Abraham says, Lot, you choose. He gives the decision over to the foolish man, the man who doesn't know when fire is coming down from heaven. The man who doesn't know an angel from a sinner. The man who doesn't know his own daughters from a daughter outside his family. He gave that decision over to the foolish Lot and said, you choose. And Lot predictably chose the fertile plains. And so Abraham was now doomed, so to speak, to occupy the unpromising lands and there make sure the promise comes to pass. You see, really he wasn't taking a gamble at all. There was no risk involved

for Abraham. You know why? Because he's a man of faith. He knows the word of God to the extent that it has been given to him. He has absolute confidence in God. And so it doesn't matter if he ends up in the dry and desert place or in the fertile plains, he's going to thrive and flourish there. Wherever, doesn't matter. And this is the truth for you and for me. Your future is not out there. Your future is in here. Or if you have the right heart, guard the heart, Proverbs says, for out of the heart flow the issues or the future of your life. Your future is in the word of God shaped heart. And so if you have a grateful heart, if you love righteousness and holiness, and you follow peace with all men, if you have repented of your sins and baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, you have been filled with his spirit, you're going to take that

heart into every interview that you have with a prospective employer. And into every relationship that you're about to enter into, that God shaped heart is going to be filtering out things that aren't harmonious with the heart. So if your future lies in the heart, see to the heart. And here's what I'm recommending. I'm highly, highly recommending. It is important that you know the Bible well. I know that sounds obvious. And here we all are. I mean, I'm talking to the really preaching to the choir. You came out on a Monday night to hear a Bible study. Okay. But I really want to stimulate something here. I really want to put it, I want to plant this deep. It's really important that the word of God is constantly top of mind. Okay. So you might have a daily reading plan. That's great. Keep going with that. I want to make an extra suggestion though. This is now available. It wasn't available to me as

a kid, but here it is. I have a Bible app. I can read the Bible on it. But I can also play the audio version of the Bible on it. And when I'm driving down the road, I want to listen to the scriptures. Maybe when I'm getting ready in the morning. Now this is not dedicated time for reading the Bible, but this is filling the atmosphere with the word of God. It needs to be second nature for me. Okay. Let me say something about second nature for a moment. It's really important. Several years ago, you remember that airplane that took off from LaGuardia and then hit a flock of birds. Engine goes out and now I think both engines are going out. It doesn't have enough height to land at an airport. So he's got to land in the Hudson and he's only got three minutes to do this. I think it's three minutes. Now, if he had said, okay, co-pilot, get out

the instruction manual and tell me what to do in case of an engine lockup. If he has to go through all of that training there on the spot to learn what to do, everybody's going to die. But instead, in easy times, when there was no emergency, he was training himself hour after hour after hour after hour after hour after hour after hour after hour, hour, hour, hour. He was training, training, memorizing, knowing until it was second nature, until he didn't even have to think about what to do. He could just instinctually move the right buttons, flip the right toggles. He just instinctually knew. He couldn't make a calculation. He didn't have time to make a calculation. He even had to go over and above, I believe. If I understand correctly, he had to ignore the directions from the tower. They wanted him to go and try to land at another airport. He just knew. He knew. He knew. I'm not going to be

able to make it. Second nature. So, in your ease, when times are not tough, get into the daily routine of filling up the atmosphere of your life with the Word of God, because the day's going to come when you're going to need to make a split-second decision and it needs to be an apostolic decision. Your instincts, if this needs to get into your training as an instinct, you instinctually know what's right and what's wrong in this situation. Now's not the time. I'm not going to have the time to flip open and find the right verse to tell me what to do. I need to know the Word of God. And here's another thing. With memory, we're kind of constantly remembering what's present and what's in the foreground of our lives. And then all of a sudden, something come out of left field and we won't know what to do. But, again, if the Word of God is ever present in our life, we're

going to have trained apostolic instincts. And that's what we're looking for. That's what we're hoping for. Sometimes your heart's going to get overwhelmed. Sometimes other people's hearts are going to get overwhelmed. And you're going to be called upon to speak in a given situation. And you need to know what to say when Satan came against Jesus. Turn the stones into bread. Cast yourself down from the temple. Bow down unto me. Jesus' instinctual response was, in each case, it is written. It is written. It is written. He knew how to deal with the enemy. And the answer to the enemy is always, it is written. It is written. Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. You have laid down precepts that they are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways would be steadfast in obeying your decrees. Then I would

not be put to shame. When I consider all your commands, I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws. I will obey your decrees. Do not forsake me. He's speaking of the decrees. Don't forsake me. The psalmist says, Blessed is the man who walks not on the council of the ungodly. There stands in the way of sinners. There sits in the seat of the scornful. I want you to notice that progression. I'm not just going to draw your attention to the fact that the one who first listens to the council of the ungodly, he's walking and then standing and then sitting. There's this reversal of motion, lost forward progress, of course. But that's not all. Blessed is the man who walks not on the council of the ungodly. Walking means fellowshiping with. Don't fellowship with ungodly council. What is ungodly council? Ungodly council is council given by those who do not fear God. And that council is going

out all the time. That is the predominant voice of the media. Council of the ungodly. They don't know their right hand from their left. And don't fear God. All right? Lots of voices out there that fit that description. Right? But the picture here is of the novice. Doesn't really know much. And somebody comes along with a little more experience and puts his hand around it. His arm around it says, hey, I got an idea for you. You listen to that. And the next step is this. Sitting or rather, standing in the way of sinners. That means now your lifestyle has changed. You're in the way not standing in somebody's way. You're in the way of your walking, your lifestyle is fashioned according to the way of the sinners. Right? But the third step is surprising. You have been initiated now by listening to the council of the ungodly. And now your lifestyle is one of the sinners. You might have once hated that

way of life, but you listened to the council of the ungodly and now you're in stasis. You're in quicksand. Your lifestyle has you stuck. But the third step is surprising. Sits in the seat of the scornful. Sitting in the ancient world was usually the posture of the ruler. To sit. In Matthew chapter five, the scripture says that Jesus went up onto the mount and he sat down and began to teach. That is a recognized posture in the ancient world. You're going to speak from authority, a position of authority. God is always depicted in heaven as sitting. Angels never depicted in heaven as sitting. Gabriel says, I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of the Lord. Angels can only stand in the presence of the Lord. There's only one time I can think of in scripture where God is said to be standing. And that is when Stephen is being stoned and it says that Jesus was standing in heaven. Sitting in the

seat of the scornful. What's happened? What has happened is you were once the novice and you listened to the council of the ungodly. You might have hated that way at one time, but now you're not just living that lifestyle. You're in charge. You're basically Michael Corleone. You hated the mob and now you're in charge of them. Sitting in the seat of the scornful. Now you, you're in that place. But listen to this. Listen to the other side. But the blessed man, his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate? Daily. No. Day and night. In Deuteronomy 18, Moses commanded that the future king of Israel, his one job was not to see after the infrastructure of the nation. His job was not to learn warfare. It was not to learn strategy. It was not to learn economics. His primary job was to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. And I believe that

is in force for all the children of the Lord. Meditating upon the word of the Lord. It's our delight. It's our love. And if you can love the law of the Lord, if you can love the word of God, if you could ever get to that place where you love it, if you could ever get to the place where your default thought is the word of the Lord, the things of the Lord. It's a great place to be. David, we got to talk today about infrastructure. We've got this enemy gathering up on the borders. David, what are you doing? Where's your mind? Oh, I was just thinking about the Lord. All right, David, we've got this problem, this problem. David, what are you thinking about? The name of the Lord is the righteous run in and are safe. Nothing is pressing upon your mind. What are you thinking about? Life is not pressing on you and commanding something from you at the moment.

Where does your mind go? It's a very, very important question. If it's drifting towards if the natural gravity, the center of your universe is the word of God, your mind is going to start drifting there towards the things of the Lord, telling you that person being upon you the rest of your life, goodness and mercy will follow you. You'll always dwell in the house of the Lord. Be less things. This day and night thing. Meditates day and night. Here's what happens with us. We hear the word of the Lord say on Sunday or maybe Wednesday. But then Monday and Tuesday come. And the church, the church is, our habit is to sing the songs of the Lord to teach the word of God. That is to place God on the throne of our heart. On earth as it is in heaven, that's supposed to be our prayer. The will of God on earth as it is in heaven. Well, in heaven, we know

that God sits upon the throne in the center of heaven. In other words, he's in complete control. But how about the heart on earth as it is in heaven? The church is trying to teach that. But the world also evangelizes you. It also teaches you. It has its own form of the Great Commission. And it's trying to claim the young especially. All right. It will whisper to you in a thousand different ways. It will advertise its goods to you. And so that your heart is constantly thinking about the things of the world, the material world. And if you're not careful, you'll set up or allow to have set up in your heart idols, other gods. Now you're not supposed to have any other God before you, but oftentimes the God of success, the God of fortune and fame, all of those things can grab a hold and set up its throne right in the middle of our heart. Well, if you're day and

night thinking upon the word of the Lord, if you're trying at least for a little bit every day to listen to the word of God, what happens every time that word of God goes forth and you're listening and paying attention? What happens? A great big sledgehammer comes out and starts smashing the idols of the world, knocking it over, tipping that idol off of the throne of your heart and putting the rightful God in his place, in your heart. And so the work of the enemy keeps on getting frustrated. The enemy keeps on trying to build that idolatry into you. And the word of God keeps on knocking it over. There's this story about a fella who was going to a job interview and he went into the room and there were like 30 applicants sitting in there. They were all told, sit out here and we'll invite you in one by one. But 30 minutes passed by and nobody came out of that

door to come invite anyone in to be interviewed. But they kept on hearing this knocking on the walls. They thought maybe something's wrong with the pipes. Got annoying after a little while. And then all of a sudden like a little revelation comes over the face of one of the young men. He stands up, grabs his satchel and he without being invited walks straight into that office. A few minutes later he comes out, he has the job and the employer says, you're all dismissed and they're all wondering what in the world happened. Well, Morse code. The Morse code was if you can hear this and understand this you're my man. Come in right now. Hey I think about that quite a bit with the word of God. The world is a different experience for you. There are signs everywhere helping us, trying to reach us through his word practice the word of God. Know it and practice it. Your heart be shaped by the

laws you know on location I was telling you about. I had the closing job I was doing right next to the ferry terminal right next to the ferry terminal. So lots and lots of drifters wear out their welcome in Seattle and then they get on the ferry and they ride the ferry over into Bremerton where I lived. Really, really interesting working there late at night. For our customers at night we're usually homeless. He's carrying his entire life on his back. He's up to the register and he says coffee puts 50 cents on any cream. Yeah, go back into my office and I'm doing some work and I come back out and I hear this guitar music going out, going on in the in the foyer or the tables and seats are and it's my friend out there the 30 creamers and he's playing his guitar. He's walking around from table to table and serenading all the other guests. Jesus loves me this I

know for the Bible tells me so little ones. I enjoyed it a little bit. Want to leave? He said I'll see you tomorrow night. This night he came in again as for his 30 creamers and he went out there and started playing his songs. Four nights in a row he came the fourth night we got to know each other a little bit on our first name basis and he says Jeremy, what kind of question is that? I'm standing behind the counter folks coming or criticism or what you know I'm sensitive to that I said well I'm the night manager he said no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I don't, I'm living oh I see, I see, I'm quick, I catch I see, I I teach Sunday school and I'm a youth pastor to church and I've got two children Jeremy I knew we had a kindred spirit I'm really glad to hear that and he said you remember that scripture in

John 3 16 don't you? Oh he's tested me but I was in Bible quizzing I know the answer to this question and so I said for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son who so ever believes on him and you said it so well are there any more beautiful words than that? see I thought that I thought it was raised apostolic and so we really, really I didn't expect to be judged walking in off the street let me say it for you but this is the best part for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world teach young people and you have two children of your own but you don't know the words of Jesus he says we're talking about Jesus they're even written in red for you need to know what Jesus says more than anything more than anything there's no more valuable knowledge in this world than the things that Jesus said

you've got to know what Jesus said he had a little heart on me but he said you need to know the word of God for your living that's what you need to do for your living he walked into the dining room Jesus loves me the words were now written in gold I understood for the first time the gravity of those words so that lets me know how much you know most of the workers call off sick right so it was my job to do the front counter but first I had to get all my cash counting done and I did all that made it deposit everything I came out later into the quiet dining room with my mop bucket I saw that my friend had moved all of the chairs and restaurant into the middle the tables and the chairs all into the middle so that all the tables were connected in the dining room it's from the mouth of so know it

know it your future is here God has a beautiful and wonderful future for you know his word live his word and everything will take care of itself wherever you go or whatever you do you're going to be blessed in your coming and you're going you'll be blessed in the city you'll be blessed in the field for the law of the Lord is perfect refreshing the soul the statutes of the Lord are trustworthy making wise the simple the precepts of the Lord are right giving joy to the heart the commands of the Lord are radiant giving light to the eyes the fear of the Lord is pure enduring forever the decrees of the Lord are firm and all of them are righteous they are more precious than gold than much more pure than gold they are sweeter than honey than honey from the honeycomb and by them your servant is warned in keeping the word there is great reward O Lord, may these words

of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight O Lord my rock my redeemer would you stand with me this may be a little difficult but if you happen to have a physical Bible with you whatever device you happen to use open it up and I'd like you to come to the altar with your Bible what you're holding in your hands this is your future and here to here and if you will allow this to be your future I would like you to pray this prayer with me as you hold your Bible I would like you to pray the word is a lamp unto my feet in a light reach down into the deepest and train my instincts let your word be second nature to me this word I would trust you I would trust your word it will never return void heaven and earth shall pass away but never my word say at the word I will

cherish this word I will treasure this word I will meditate upon this word day and night and through this habit through this commitment change the center of the gravity in my heart may be the blessed one who never walks in the council of the ungodly nor stands in the way of centers nor sits in the sea this wonderful but my delight is in your law and in your law meditate day and night shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water fruit comes forth and see the wind blows and judgment comes I shall not be moved