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A Process for Finding the Truth
True[ish] #3
Jessica Hawn, former church secretary who committed immoral acts with Jim Bakker (former host of the PTL Club), and later brought down the PTL empire, said today (9-28-87) that God gave her "real peace" about granting an interview to Playboy magazine and posing for topless pictures. On 9-29-87 the news reports that she still considers herself a Christian, but goes to God "one-on-one," not through any church or organization.
A bishop of a century ago pronounced from his pulpit and in the periodical he edited that heavier-than-air flight was both impossible and contrary to the will of God. Oh, the irony that Bishop Wright had two sons, Orville and Wilbur! Wright was wrong. Sure of himself, but wrong.
Robert P. Dugan, Jr., Winning the New Civil War, Page 38.
When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?"Â
"Sorry," the woman told him. "I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person."Â
"But I'm starved," the governor said.Â
"Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer."Â
Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around.Â
"Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state."Â
"Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister."
Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, pp. 5-6.
The will of God is like a diet - good for you, but not desirable.
The will of God is hidden.
Because it seemed to me that so many people were acting as if it was lost, as if God had placed his will in some obscure place, as if God were some sort of a divine Easter Bunny who had stashed the golden egg in some bush and all he did was sit in heaven saying, "You're getting warmer," or, "You're getting colder," as we meandered through the shrubbery of life trying to find the egg. - John MacArthur
1. Don't wait for a miraculous sign or feeling.
Luke 16:27 "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house,
28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
29 "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
30 "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
31 "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
Mark 8:11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.
12 He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it."
If God would just do something miraculous, I'd know. THEN I'd obey.
Do not hastily ascribe things to God. Do not easily suppose dreams, voices, impressions, visions or revelations to be from God. They may be from Him. They may be from nature. They may be from the Devil. - John Wesley
There are some things that are not God's will, and you already know it. You don't have to wait for a revelation from God to stop sinning. You don't have to wait for a vision from heaven before doing right...
Nobody drops down and asks God "What's your will here?" when there are kids in a burning house -- you try to HELP!
2. Decide ahead of time that you will obey God.
John 7:16 So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
17 "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. (NAS)
Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
3. Surrender to the Spirit's timeline
John 16:12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
4. Listen to Spiritual Authority
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
This illustrations is well known but here it is for the record:
In U.S. Navel Institute Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute, Frank Koch illustrates the importance of obeying the Laws of the Lighthouse. Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."Â
"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.Â
The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.Â
The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.'"Â
Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."Â
The captain said, "Send: "I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.'"Â
"I'm a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees."Â
By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'"Â
Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."Â
We changed course.
Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, 1991, p. 153
One day Dwight Morrow and his wife, the parents of Anne Lindbergh, were in Rugby, England. After wandering through the streets they realized that they had lost their way. At this moment an incident occurred that entered into Morrow's philosophy and became a guiding principle in his life. He stopped a little Rugby lad of about 12 years. "Could you tell us the way to the station?" he asked. "Well," the boy answered, "You turn to the right there by the grocer's shop and then take the second street to the left. That will bring you to a place where four streets meet. And then, sir, you had better inquire again."
5. Search the Word of God.
2 Peter 1:16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty...
19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
On day six of the ill-fated mission of Apollo 13, the astronauts needed to make a critical course correction. If they failed, they might never return to Earth.
To conserve power, they shut down the onboard computer that steered the craft. Yet the astronauts needed to conduct a thirty-nine-second burn of the main engines. With no computer to guide them, they needed to come up with a way to stay on course during the burn. Astronaut Jim Lovell determined that if they could keep a fixed point in space in view through their tiny window, they could steer the craft manually. That focal point turned out to be their destination--Earth.
As shown in 1995's hit movie, Apollo 13, for thirty-nine agonizing seconds, Lovell focused on keeping the earth in view. By not losing sight of that reference point, the three astronauts avoided disaster.
What's your reference point?
Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,
3 and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
_________________
HANDOUT
_________________
A Process for Finding the Truth
True[ish] #3
A process for finding the truth on any issue in your life:
1. Don't wait for a ________________________________.
Luke 16:27 "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house,
28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
29 "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
30 "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
31 "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
Mark 8:11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.
12 He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it."
2. Decide ahead of time that _________________________ ________________.
John 7:16 So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
17 "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. (NAS)
Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
3. Surrender to the ______________________________.
John 16:12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
4. Listen to ____________________________________
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
5. Search the ________________________________.
2 Peter 1:16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty...
19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,
3 and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
