God’s Perfect Instructions

And have you noticed some people are better at giving directions than others?

Illus: A helicopter was in a storm flying around above Seattle, when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft's electronic navigation and communications equipment.

Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter's position and course to steer to the airport.

The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled,

drew a handwritten sign, and held it in the helicopter's window. The pilot's sign read, "WHERE AM I?" in large letters. People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large sign, and held it in the window.

Their sign said, "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER OVER SEATTLE."

The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map, determined the course to steer to SEATAC airport, and landed safely.

After they were on the ground, the copilot asked the pilot how the sign that said "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER OVER SEATTLE" helped determine their position.

The pilot responded, "I knew that had to be the MICROSOFT building because, similar to their help-lines, they gave me a technically correct but completely useless answer."

Many of us have had to stop and ask for directions. After we receive the directions, the person would say, “It’s easy, you can not miss it!” And we go down the road and we miss it and really get lost!

But all chaos does not come from VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS, sometimes it comes from WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS, such as:

• On an automatic hand dryer was a sign: "Do not operate with wet hands".

• On a poster at a conference: "Are you an adult who cannot read? If so we can help...".

• On the grounds of a private school: "No trespassing without permission".

• Dry cleaners in Bangkok: "Drop your trousers here for the best results".

• Sign on the Athi river highway: "Take notice - when this sign is underwater, this road is impassable".

• Cocktail lounge in Norway: "Ladies are requested not to have children in the lounge".

• Airline ticket office in Copenhagen: "We take your bags and send them in all directions".

• An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market, which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope", (el Papa) the shirts read (la papa). "I saw the Potato".

• When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The company thought that the word "embarazor" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant!"

• Chevrolets new Nova was released in Spain, before they realized that 'NO VA' in Spanish means "Won’t go".

• Coors Beer slogan "Turn it loose", was put into Spanish and read "Suffer from Diarrhea".

The Lord gave the disciples SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, gave the folks at the wedding feast in Cana of Gaililee some good advice when they ran out of wine. In John 2:5, we read, “His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”

That is the number one answer to success in following the Lord, “WHATSOEVER HE SAITH UNTO YOU, DO IT!” Do not half do it, do WHATSOEVER He tells you to do.

WHY SHOULD WE FOLLOW THE LORD’S DIRECTIONS? We should follow the Lord's directions because:

I. HIS DIRECTIONS ARE SPECIFIC

Look at verses 1-3, we read, “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.”

In these verses, the Lord told the disciples three things. He told them:

• WHERE TO GO

• WHAT TO DO

• WHAT TO SAY

We all appreciate good, simple, specific instructions.

Illus: For example, these "Instructions For Giving Your Cat A Pill" have too many details.

1. Pick cat up and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.