Hello, this is Brother Denny.
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Let's bow our heads for prayer.
Lord, we love you this morning.
Thank you, Father.
So many good things.
I get to be here, Lord.
I have a church.
I have brothers and sisters.
I have a Bible.
I know you, Lord.
Yet I was dead in my trespasses and
sins going my own way.
Oh, I thank you, Father, today for your
manifold mercies to me.
Lord, would you continue to lead and direct
us through the rest of this service?
Would you help your servant this morning to
say what needs to be said in the
way that you would say it?
Lord, give us all open hearts.
Father, save some souls this morning from making
big mistakes, God.
Lord, do that in Jesus' name.
I'm so grateful to be here this morning.
I know you can't walk where I walk,
so you don't experience what I experience.
When I'm here on Sunday morning, I know
you're here every Sunday morning and it's pretty
normal to you.
But I'm telling you what, this place is
pretty sweet.
It's pretty sweet when you're not here every
Sunday.
Thank God.
Let's be jealous over it, brothers and sisters.
Let's do our part to keep this place
a sweet place that draws the souls of
men like a magnet.
There is a skill, oh so valuable, that
you must learn early on in your Christian
life.
One will use and benefit from till the
last breath on earth.
A skill, oh so valuable.
I want to speak about that skill this
morning.
If you will listen, from the youngest child
to the oldest brother or sister in this
room.
If you will listen today and develop this
skill, it will go well with you while
you're on this earth.
I'm not promising you a perfect life.
I'm not promising you perfection.
But I am promising you, if you will
learn this skill, things will go well with
you while you're here on this earth.
This skill that I want to speak about
this morning, it has to do with probably
the most oft asked question that I get
asked.
And I get asked lots of questions.
And I love answering questions.
But this morning our subject probably covers the
most oft asked question that I get.
Brother Denny, how do you know the will
of God?
Anybody ever try to figure that one out?
Let me see your hands.
Is it a puzzle to you sometimes?
Let me see your hands again.
Brother Denny, how do you know the will
of God?
Here I am.
I want to do right.
But how do I know the will of
God?
This comes many times from young people, but
not just from young people, but young people
ask it probably two to one.
Two to one.
It's a good question for a young person
to ask.
It's a right question.
But sometimes they feel a bit bewildered when
they come asking that question, because they're just
getting their feet wet and learning to discern
what is God's will for their life, which
way do they go, what direction should they
choose in this situation, and then they come
at times a bit bewildered.
Brother Denny, how do I discern the will
of God?
How to know the will of God?
That is the subject this morning.
And that is a skill that you want
to develop.
That is a skill that you can learn.
It doesn't just happen.
Many of us adults who have been around
for a while, we've learned a bit the
hard way to be a bit more careful
and develop this skill in our life, because
mistakes hurt.
And mistakes are humiliating.
So we've learned, sad to say, too many
times by trial and error, we've learned to
develop this skill.
How to know the will of God?
Well, I want to give an expanded answer
to this question this morning.
I've answered it so many times, I can
give you the points.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, just
like that.
Because I've answered it that many times, I
haven't memorized.
But I'd like to take those simple answers,
which is all you can give to somebody
when you're talking for a few minutes after
a service, and just open it up into
a methodology, into a skill, into a step
-by-step process by which any one of
us, whether we be young or whether we
be old, can discern or know the will
of God, that we know that God is
leading us in this direction.
God has a will, a desire, a purpose
for each one of us.
Amen?
We must discern it and do it all
the days of our life.
In fact, if that doesn't cross our mind,
if that's not a desire in our heart,
I think we'll stumble around all our days
upon this earth, because my dear brother and
sister, the reason why we are here is
to discern and then do the will of
God, the God who made us.
Amen?
We must discern it and do it.
Now, I'm not sure on the minor details
whether God has a distinct will in every
single thing we do.
I kind of toss that back and forth,
and sometimes I say, yeah, and sometimes I
think, well, maybe not.
But as you consider the subject of walking
by the promptings of the Spirit of God,
it gets down to some pretty small details
at times.
But this I do know.
I'm very sure on the major decisions that
God has a will for me, that if
I need to make a decision, I should
not be making that decision without being able
to walk through some clear steps that will
put me in tune with the heart of
God and His direction for my life and
my family.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
On earth, in my life, even as it
is in heaven.
That's a good verse for us to meditate
upon, isn't it, in the beginning here?
Thy will be done in my life on
earth, even as it is in heaven.
God has a will for our life, a
desire and a purpose for each and every
one of us.
We must learn, brothers and sisters, to methodically
discern the will of the Lord for major
decisions, major changes in our lives, a move
to another place, a change of jobs, a
property to buy, a business to start or
stop, a courtship.
These are just a few examples of things
that I'd like to lay out that we
dare not just go and do something.
We dare not on a whim or a
feeling inside of our heart go and make
a major change.
Brothers and sisters, listen.
The Apostle Paul would not go to Rome
on a good idea.
He wouldn't do that.
He knew that he was a man of
like passions, just like we are.
And he knew that he had lots of
good ideas.
And they were good things that he wanted
to do.
His heart was sanctified.
His desire was toward God.
But even though all those things were true,
he wouldn't go to Rome on a good
idea.
It has to be by the will of
God.
It's a phrase that Paul used many a
time.
He started epistle after epistle after epistle by
making those statements.
I'm Paul.
I'm the Apostle.
I'm writing from here by the will of
God.
Beautiful phrase.
Let's look at some of the Scriptures before
we look at the seven points in this
sermon.
Some of the Scriptures, starting in Colossians chapter
1.
Such beautiful words.
Such wonderful words.
Such wonderful words of life this morning out
of the Bible.
Colossians chapter 1 verse 9 and 10.
We get a glimpse into Paul's heart concerning
this subject for the Colossians.
He says in verse 9, For this cause
we also, since the day we heard it,
do not cease to pray for you and
to desire.
What do you desire, Paul?
That ye might be filled with all the
knowledge of His, God's, will, in all wisdom
and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy
of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work, and increasing in the
knowledge of God.
And all Paul is simply saying there is,
Colossians, I want to see you live out
the Word of God, the will of God,
for your life.
And I'm praying with a great desire in
my heart that you will be able to
discern the will of God.
That God will fill your heart with His
will.
With the knowledge of His will.
And you will increase in that knowledge of
His will more and more.
That's what Paul wanted for the Colossians.
And if you'll turn over to chapter 4
verse 12, you'll see that he made a
disciple, very well here, one of his fellow
travelers, brothers, who labored together with him in
his church planting work.
In chapter 4 verse 12 he says this,
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant
of Christ, saluted you, always laboring fervently for
you in prayers.
And what is his prayer?
And what is his desire?
That ye may stand perfect and complete in
all the will of God.
Look at that.
That was his desire.
That is my desire this morning.
That each one of us would stand perfect
and complete in all the will of God.
Someone wisely said, the will of God is
the safest place where you could ever be.
Doesn't matter where it is.
It doesn't matter what the circumstances are.
If you're in the will of God, you're
in the safest place where you could be
on this side of heaven, standing perfect and
complete in all the will of God.
That was Epaphras' burden for the people of
Colossae.
Paul said it this way in Romans.
If you want to flip over there, we're
going to look at a few verses here.
Romans chapter 15 and verse 30.
I want you to notice the flow of
these words here.
He's coming down to the end of his
epistle to the Romans, the church at Rome,
and he's beseeching them for prayers on his
behalf.
And I want you to see how his
desire for the will of God comes out
in these verses.
In verse 30 he says of chapter 15,
Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord
Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of
the Spirit, that you strive together with me
in your prayers to God for me.
Pray for me, Paul says.
That I may be delivered from them that
do not believe in Judea, and that my
service which I have for Jerusalem may be
accepted of the saints.
And also, I pray this also, this is
another prayer request, that I may come unto
you with joy by the will of God,
and may be refreshed.
Now the God of peace be with you
all.
Amen.
By the will of God.
That was Paul's burden.
I want to come.
It's my desire to come.
You pray that I'll be able to come
to you by the will of God.
In God's time, in God's way, by God's
leading, when God opens up the door, that
I will come to you by the will
of God.
That was his desire.
I think Paul recognized by verses that we
read, phrases like this that you'll see all
the way through his epistles, I believe that
Paul recognized that he could also do the
same thing, not by the will of God.
He could go to a certain place and
be in the wrong place.
There were places, as you read through the
book of Acts, where he said, we desire
to go here, but the Spirit wouldn't let
us.
Oh, amen.
And then we tried to go over here,
and we were hindered by the Spirit.
He didn't just go.
By the will of God, he went.
The will of God.
In Hebrews, if we could just turn over
there, one of those beautiful portions
of Scripture that we often quote at the
end of a service.
Not sure what they call that when you
close a meeting with these Scriptures.
But in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 20
and 21, we have one of those.
Now, the God of peace, that brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that
great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every good work to do His will, working
in you that which is pleasing in His
sight.
I want to do the will of God.
I want to make a decision that is
pleasing in His sight.
And Paul brings that out.
Working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom
be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
We see this theme all the way through
Paul's writings.
He keeps moving the people in the direction
and creating a desire in their heart to
do God's will.
I want to be in God's will.
That's the way we are.
That's our desire.
But yet, many times, we make moves that
we shouldn't make.
And we haven't really sought God about it.
And it's something major.
And we shouldn't do it until we have
proved the will of God through good, clear
principles revealed in God's Word.
That's my burden for the message here this
morning.
Look at Acts chapter 13.
Just a couple more verses here.
Just to show you this theme in the
Bible.
Acts chapter 13.
And Paul is in the middle of a
sermon and he's preaching about David.
And he says of David, in chapter 13
and verse 36, For David, after he had
served his own generation, by the will of
God, he fell on sleep.
See that?
By the will of God.
Not by the will of David.
Not by the good ideas of David.
Not by the desires of David.
But by the will of God, David served
his own generation and brother and sister, every
one of us are called to do the
same thing.
We live in our generation.
We are alive and well and God wants
us somehow to serve our generation while we're
alive.
We need to know what God's will is
so that we can serve our generation.
Every one of us are called to that.
David fulfilled his responsibility while he was up
on the earth.
He served his generation by the will of
God and fell on sleep, the Bible says.
I want to do the same, amen?
Someday I'm going to fell on sleep.
Acts chapter 22, God speaking to the Apostle
Paul when he met the Lord on the
road to Damascus.
He was speaking to him and revealing things
to him.
And in chapter 22 of verse 14, we
break into the middle of Paul's testimony and
find these words.
And he said, The God of our fathers
hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know His
will and see that just one and shouldest
hear the voice of His mouth.
Paul, God arrested you on the road to
Damascus and He has chosen you so that
you might know His will.
I would say to each and every one
of us this morning, it is no less
so for any of us.
God has arrested us on the road of
life.
God has arrested our attention.
He has grabbed us.
He has gripped us.
For what?
That we may know the will of God
for our lives.
That's it.
I'm sure that you will agree that the
Bible is packed full of this subject.
In fact, if you were to open up
a concordance and look up these phrases, thy
will, the will of God, God's will, you
know, all these phrases, you will find them,
dozens and dozens and dozens of them in
the Bible.
Because, may I say it in simplicity, we
are here to do God's will.
We have been saved to fulfill God's will
in our life.
So, how can I know the will of
God?
We've seen all these Scriptures.
We can see what God's heart is by
looking at these Scriptures.
But how do I get from point A
to point B?
Yes, I have a heart.
My heart wants to do God's will.
But how do I get that simple heart
desire to do God's will worked out in
everyday life, where I have decisions that I
need to make, where I'm facing things that
I'm not sure what to do about?
How do I know the will of God?
There are seven steps to this skill of
discerning God's will.
And by the way, this is the method
by which George Mueller used to discern the
will of God in his day.
Remember?
He served God from his conversion, about 20
years old, till his death at 95 or
96, discerning God's will for his life.
I think we ought to listen to him.
And this method that George Mueller used, he
got it out of the Word of God
because he was a man who read his
Bible.
He read it over and over and over
and over again.
And when he was done, he started over
again.
And he didn't get tired of reading it.
It was always new and fresh to him.
And he read it over so many times
in his 70 plus years of his Christian
life that his heart was full of it.
George Mueller used these seven points to discern
God's will in his orphanages and in every
major area of his life.
Let's look at these seven points this morning.
Point number one, the foundation of knowing the
will of God.
This is number one.
If you don't get this one, you might
as well throw the rest of them away.
You will end up in utter frustration if
you skip point number one.
If for whatever reason you don't want to
reckon with point number one, you can skip
the rest of them.
It won't come out right for you.
Point number one, the foundation of knowing the
will of God is an absolutely, totally surrendered
life.
You cannot discern the will of God in
any particular situation if your oar on the
altar is not laid every day.
And I know you may say, well, Brother
Denny, there you are.
You just keep saying that.
You've said that already.
I know that I've said it already, but
do you know how many times God says
it in His Word?
I am God and I will require nothing
less than an absolute, total surrendered life.
But let's look at these words over in
Romans again.
I can quote them because I've said them
so many times, but I want to read
them today and just peruse a few of
the words in here.
These verses are probably the clearest definition of
discerning the will of God that you can
find in the New Testament, all packed together
in two verses.
We must begin here.
If we have a major decision that we
need to make, and we're not willing to
reckon with this point right here, it may
be the reason why we are being frustrated
and confused and kind of just wandering around
and wondering why this thing is so hard.
We must begin here.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which
is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world by
being it transformed by the renewing of your
mind.
Why?
That you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
There it is again.
That you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God for
you.
I want that.
Do you want that?
O Lord, I want that good and perfect
and acceptable will of God for me.
Now, I want to read this out of
the Amplified.
And you'll forgive me if I'm too hard
on this, but this is not a Bible.
The Amplified is not a Bible.
It is an expanded translation of the Bible,
where they've taken the Greek and put in
many different words to help expand the meaning
of a verse.
But I can't say in the Amplified Bible,
this is not a Bible.
It's an expanded translation of the Bible.
Nevertheless, it's helpful at times to see all
the words put together to help us to
understand the depth of what God is saying.
It's like going in and studying the Greek
word and expanding one word into five and
then going to the next word and expanding
that into five.
Listen to what God says.
Listen to His heart.
I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg
of you in view of all the mercies
of God.
Think about those mercies this morning, brothers and
sisters.
I mean, here we sit just basking in
those mercies even today.
To make a decisive dedication of your bodies,
that is a clear choice.
A decisive dedication of your bodies, presenting all
your members and faculties as a living sacrifice,
holy, devoted and consecrated and well-pleasing to
God, which is your reasonable, rational, intelligent service
and spiritual worship.
And do not be conformed to this world
that is fashioned after and adapted to its
external, superficial customs.
Amen.
Thank you for that.
But be transformed, changed by the entire renewal
of your mind, by its new ideas and
its new attitudes, so that you may prove
for yourselves what is the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God, even the thing
which is good and acceptable and perfect in
His sight for you.
Man, I want that!
How about you?
I want that!
And I'm not going to settle for anything
less!
We must begin here.
So what does that have to do with
the will of God?
Well, you know, sometimes, and it's this way
with God's will, you look down the road
with the eyes of your heart, you look
down the road and you sense things, you
see things, but they're a bit blurry and
you're not sure what it is.
And sometimes young people, you know, they'll get
off on this and think, oh, I see
something coming down the pike.
I'm not going to do anything else until
I know what God wants me to do
three months from now.
Well, let me give you a little counsel,
young people.
You take point number one and you live
there.
And you live there every day.
And you walk in God's will for your
life.
That is, a consecrated, dedicated walk with God
today.
And then you do the same tomorrow.
And guess what?
In three months, that which you saw in
a bit of a gray way back there
three months ago, it will be coming clear
into your view.
That's a simple way to discern the will
of God.
But it will cost you everything, by the
way, in order to see that way.
But if you will walk in this decisive,
dedicated way that we have been challenged here
in Romans 12, verses 1 and 2, if
you will walk there in a consistent way,
you will find yourself in the will of
God.
So, we don't want to miss this point
and run off to another one.
Walk today in the known will of God
and two months from now you will be
in His will.
Hallelujah!
Point number two.
This is the tough one.
Point number two.
Not my will, but thine be done.
This is the hardest part.
Many times God's will is tainted by my
will.
George Mueller said, my will was 90%
of the problem of discerning God's will.
Now that was George Mueller.
90% of the problem of discerning God's
will was my will.
And again, we're talking about a godly man,
a dedicated man, a man who was filled
with good things, who had all kinds of
good desires, but good desires are not enough.
It's got to be God's desire for my
life.
And Mueller testified that his will was 90
% of the problem.
Many times, to the sincere heart, it's not
an evil desire.
It's just a good desire.
But good desires are not enough.
When we are discerning major changes in our
lives, a good desire is not enough.
There's lots of good desires.
There's lots of things we can do.
But I don't want to just do lots
of things, lots of good things that we
can do.
I want to be in the will of
God.
Let me say this.
God does not hide His will from His
people.
How many ever felt like God was hiding
His will?
Let me see your hand.
Come on, be honest now.
God does not hide His will.
But sometimes we think, Lord, what's the deal?
How come this is so difficult?
My brother, my sister, God is not hiding
His will from you.
Many times, it is this point right here
that makes it very difficult for us to
see, ah, that's what God wants me to
do.
It's because of my own desires that are
in there that it becomes a bit gray
to see exactly what God is saying to
do.
But He does not hide His will.
Our will, our desires, our many good ideas,
many times blur the will of God and
we look a long time to try to
see exactly what God wants me to do.
It's what God says and what God wants
versus what do I want on this second
point.
And Mueller says that he cannot go any
further until he gets his heart to the
place where his heart is totally, absolutely given
up on anything that he may want.
Even if God impresses him, George, I want
you to build another building for some more
orphaned children.
Oh, that's a good idea.
That's a good thing.
That's a wonderful thing.
That's a loving thing.
That's a compassionate thing.
Let's go build it.
And even if God told him to do
it, he still had to wrestle the thing
out with God about whose will it is.
Because his desire would say, yes, I want
to put up another orphanage.
Yes, I want to reach some more of
them.
He had to come to the place where
that was totally laid down.
It doesn't matter to me if another orphanage
comes up.
And all of a sudden, the will of
God just up before his heart.
Not my will, but thine be done is
the greatest challenge of discerning the will of
God for our life.
But remember, God does not hide His will.
He is not in that business.
He's not holding it over here and watching
you run around in a frustrated way trying
to figure out what you're supposed to do.
God does not do that.
He is not that kind of a God.
Point number three, the witness of the Spirit.
What is the Spirit of God saying in
my heart?
And with these next few points, we're talking
about checks and balances.
None of these stand all by themselves.
And if you let one stand all by
itself, you will stumble and fall.
But if you will bring all of them
together, you will find that God, in His
wisdom, from His Word, has given us a
checks and balance to discerning His will.
What is the witness of the Spirit in
my heart concerning the will of God?
Romans chapter 8, if we could just read
a couple of verses there in Romans 8,
just to valify this point.
Romans 8, verse 12 and following, Therefore, brethren,
we are debtors, not to the flesh, to
live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye
shall die.
But if ye through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God.
Now here we see very clearly in the
Word of God that God leads His people
by His Spirit.
God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit concerning
the direction we should go in our lives.
And this is usually how the will of
God begins to unfold.
Maybe we're sitting in our quiet time.
Maybe we're in our closet.
Maybe we're having a time alone.
Maybe we're driving somewhere and it's quiet and
we're just thinking and we hear the voice
of God begin to speak to us about
a change of direction in our life.
What is the Spirit of God saying in
my heart?
And at this point, brothers and sisters, it's
not what I think in my head.
There is a difference between what I think
in my head and what the Spirit of
God is saying in my heart.
And the difference is 18 inches.
My head might be saying many things, but
I must be wise enough to stay clear
enough with God and get alone with God
long enough to hear the voice of God
above all the other voices saying, this is
the way, walk ye in it.
Now, you can't hear the Spirit's voice unless
you stay clear with God.
You won't hear the Spirit's voice.
But you need to hear the voice of
the Spirit as you discern the will of
God.
And some of you, it may be, you
know, I've been a pastor for a lot
of years and I know how sheep can
be.
Lots of sheep would just as soon just
go ask the pastor and then just do
what he says.
Well, that's safer than just shooting out all
on your own and skipping many of the
points that we're going to speak about today.
But, you know, God would have you discern
from the depths of your own heart by
the voice of His Spirit speaking to you
personally about God's direction for your life.
So, some of us need to grow up
a bit, amen?
The witness of the Spirit of God in
our hearts.
George Mueller discerned God's will this way hundreds
of times.
God used him to channel $50 million through
his hands.
$50 million?
Why would God channel $50 million through his
hands?
Because God knew that George Mueller is not
going to get a big pile of money
in his hand and say, oh, let's put
it over here or let's give it over
there or let's send it here.
George Mueller didn't do that.
When he found a big pile of money
in his hand, he fell on his face
before God and said, what is the Spirit
of God saying to do with this money?
Sometimes he used it for his orphanage.
But sometimes he didn't.
Sometimes he needed it for his orphanage.
I mean, the bills need to be paid
in three days.
And the Spirit of God said, give it
for the Scripture Union to produce Bibles or
send it to Hudson Taylor.
He needs it in China.
And God knew that Hudson Taylor would discern
what the Spirit of God was saying.
That's why God did that.
He channeled $50 million through his hands.
He discerned the will of God for thousands
of orphans.
He supported tens of thousands of Bibles and
supported missionaries all over the world.
He did.
What is the Spirit of God saying in
my heart?
That's point number three.
Point number four.
The witness of the Word.
Hallelujah!
The witness of the Word.
What does the Word of God say about
this direction that I think that God wants
me to go?
Or what does the Word of God say
in giving me direction on which way that
I should go?
What does the Word of God say?
These two, point number three, and point number
four, agree in one.
The witness of the Spirit and the witness
of the Word are one.
You can count on that.
They are the same.
God's Spirit will never lead you to do
something that is contrary to God's Word.
Count on it.
Many a young lady felt God was leading
them by His Spirit and married an unbeliever,
hoping, trusting, believing, really believing that they'll be
able to win Him to the Lord afterwards.
That was not God's Spirit.
But it happens all the time.
Sometimes it comes out alright.
Most times, oh, it's a lifelong spanking.
God's Word and God's Spirit witness together concerning
the direction we should go in our lives.
You can count on that.
So if you find yourself in a place
where you are needing to discern the will
of God, immerse your heart and mind in
God's Word while you are discerning.
God's Spirit, through His Word, will speak wisdom
and direction to your life.
And let me say it this way.
I trust that we read our Bibles all
the time.
But I'd like to just make a little
application to the reading of our Bibles.
When it's time to discern a direction in
our life, it's time to come to the
Word of God with a searching heart.
I'm searching God's heart concerning the direction that
I need to make.
And oh, if you come to the Word
of God that way, you'll be amazed how
many verses God will speak to you out
of every different place in the Bible.
And that's why I like to be reading
in different places at the same time God
just brings them all together and you begin
to see what the will of God is
concerning a decision you need to make.
Stay in the Word of God.
If you're trying to make a decision and
you don't take time to read the Bible,
I think you're going to make a mistake.
Sometimes when I need to make a decision
and I'm searching the heart of God through
His Word, I'll sit down and read the
whole book of Proverbs nonstop.
Takes about four or five hours.
Four or five hours.
Man, that's a long time.
Yeah, so are the mistakes we make when
we don't.
They're long too.
And I don't want to make a mistake.
Now, please don't get me wrong.
I've got my share of mistakes behind me.
But I'm just telling you, there's wisdom in
God's Word when it's time to make some
decisions for your life.
I mean, the Proverbs, it's packed with wisdom.
Just go to the Proverbs, searching the heart
of God concerning this matter that you're trying
to discern before God.
You'll see if you don't get some wisdom
out of God's Word, and you'll know exactly
what to do.
And by the way, there have been times
when I went to the Word of God
to discern the will of God, and I
thought I had it all straightened out myself,
and by the time I got to the
end of the book, guess what?
I was wrong and God was right and
He changed my whole perspective on some dumb
thing that I was going to do.
The witness of the Word.
God's Word will check you.
Remember we spoke about checks and balances?
Listen, it's real easy if you just take
point number three and skip the rest of
this sermon.
I mean, you can really sound spiritual.
The Spirit of God said to me to
do this and this.
Well, my friend, I don't feel that's very
spiritual if you don't back it up with
some checks and balances.
I've watched a lot of shipwrecks in the
last 25 years of my ministry where the
Spirit of God told me to do it.
But there were no checks and there were
no balances, and we want those checks and
balances, and God has put them right here
in the book.
So, what is the Spirit of God saying?
And does the Word of God witness in
my heart, is God speaking out His words
to me and confirming that direction which I
already sense in my heart with clear words,
verses, biographies, principles in the Word of God?
That's a wise thing to do, by the
way.
Number five.
The witness of godly counselors.
I want to remind you now, this is
the way that George Mueller, that great man
of faith, that Spirit-filled man, that prophet,
that godly man, that man who lived in
the presence of God, that man who when
people walked into his house, they sensed the
atmosphere of the Spirit even before he walked
into the room.
This man who heard the voice of God
above so many others in his day, he
never made a major move without the witness
of godly counselors.
Hmm.
How much more do I need to hear
what somebody else has to say?
In the multitude of counselors, there is safety,
the book of Proverbs says.
And you need to hear what somebody else
has to say.
You know who your counselors are.
Your ministers are counselors.
It may be your husband.
It may be your wife.
You know, they're part of your counseling team.
It may be a dear friend who knows
you very well.
It may be some godly friend that you
know from a distance, but we all need
to have some counselors around us that when
we're discerning the will of God and we
think we're hearing something from God and we've
been in the Word of God, we also
go to them and say, here's what I
think I'm hearing from the Lord.
What do you think?
Hmm?
What do you think?
Go to people who know you.
Go to people who love you.
Go to people who want the best for
you.
Don't make the mistake of going to those
who will tell you what you want to
hear.
You will always find somebody who will tell
you what you want to hear.
That really seems spiritual, you know, and you
go there and you get your catalog of
those who said, yea, do that, you know.
But the ones that you know will probably
say, I don't feel good about it.
You don't go to them.
Don't do that.
You'll never discern the will of God that
way.
I've learned through the years, God's Spirit bears
witness in the hearts of godly men and
women and lays out a clear path of
God's will and direction in my life.
And all through the years, I've found it
that way.
The witness of godly counselors.
You say, well, I don't want to go
there.
He won't tell me what I want to
hear.
Oh, my friend, you should go there absolutely.
If you know someone who disagrees with what
you're doing, that should be one of the
first places you go.
And ask them, what do you think?
Remember, Ahab and Jehoshaphat and Micaiah the prophet.
Ahab goes to Jehoshaphat.
Well, every time I read that story, I
think, oh, Jehoshaphat, oh, after such beautiful things
you did, why would you be hanging around
Ahab anyway?
But he was hanging around Ahab, and Ahab
said, hey, let's go to battle.
Will you come and help me?
And Jehoshaphat had enough wisdom to say, what
do the prophets say?
He got all his false prophets up there,
you know, and they were jumping around and
dancing and making lots of noise and prophesying
good things for King Ahab.
And Jehoshaphat, he stopped for a moment and
he said, is there not a prophet of
the Lord around that we could get a
little counsel from the guy that's going to
say what we don't want to hear?
Well, yeah, there is one, Micaiah, but oh,
that guy, he just, he only prophesies bad
things.
I don't even want him around.
Jehoshaphat said, let's get him.
And you know the rest of the story.
But the point is, it's good to hear
what that negative fellow has to say about
that discerning that you're trying to make.
God's spirit witnesses.
God's Word comes along, confirms it.
And God bears witness of the direction through
the counsel of others.
He does.
He will.
You think, well, I'm not sure if He
will.
Listen, God will.
God is a miracle-working God.
Remember what Brother Malan said to us today,
that faith-filled attitude that we should have
that He's able to do exceedingly, abundantly above
what we ask or think.
Listen, if God's will is for you to
do a certain thing and you lay it
before certain men and you hear their heart,
God can work through those men.
It's not a few times as a pastor
that I had my own thoughts about what
somebody was going to do, only to find
myself sitting down with them with a wise
heart.
They came and asked, and I found my
heart being led in a totally different direction
when I sat down and heard the whole
thing out.
God can lead through those counselors.
Point number six.
The witness of circumstances.
The witness of God's sovereignty.
What is God saying through the circumstances that
are unfolding before me in this real world
where I live every day?
What does it say?
Circumstances will usually fall into place.
Not always, but usually circumstances, things will happen
in your real world where you live that
will confirm also that God is giving you
a direction for your life.
And I believe it's on this point of
the witness of circumstances where that principle comes
from, the Lord willing.
Amen?
I will do this or that the Lord
willing.
And what that means is if God opens
up the doors and makes a way through
the circumstances of my life, I'll be in
that city tomorrow and I will do this
or that.
If the Lord opens up the door through
the circumstances of my life, the witness of
God through circumstances, He can send the right
person at the right time, at the right
place, and just bring things together, and you
know without a doubt, it's the Lord.
It's the Lord.
Finances fall into place.
Many times this happened with George Mueller.
He used finances to fulfill point number six
again and again and again.
In fact, he was so bold about it,
he wouldn't budge.
If God didn't confirm it through some kind
of a finance thing, he wouldn't touch it.
He wouldn't touch it.
The witness of God through circumstances.
He may have been praying for two or
three or four weeks about whether he should
buy this piece of land over here in
hopes of putting a building on it for
the orphans, maybe in two years' time, and
there's a piece of land there and it's
for sale.
Lord, what do you want?
And he hears the Lord in it, and
he goes to the Word, and he gets
a good confirmation out of the Word, and
he goes to counselors and says, here's what
I feel like the Lord is saying.
What do you say?
But in the midst of all that, that's
not enough.
Comes a knock on the door.
Mr. Mueller?
Yes?
My name is, and God laid it upon
my heart to give you this much money
here.
God bless you.
And he leaves.
And George Mueller opens up the envelope, and
it is exactly the down payment that he
needed to buy that piece of land.
Thank you, Lord.
We will move ahead.
The witness of God in the circumstances of
life confirm our path.
I like to say it this way.
Lord, put your sovereign signposts on the path
that you want me to walk.
When we moved up here 23 years ago,
we gave the Lord one of those.
We still had a house in Hammond, Indiana.
We were living in Tennessee, but we owned
a house in Hammond, Indiana.
And it was for sale.
And I mean it was for sale.
How long, Mom?
Months.
No sale.
Just wouldn't sell.
And we laid it before the Lord.
God, after all these other points were covered,
God, we don't have any money to move
to Pennsylvania.
But if you sell this house, we'll have
enough.
We didn't have any more, but we had
enough.
The next day, ring!
Telephone rings.
Real estate agent.
Ring!
House sold.
This much money.
Figured it out.
We had enough money to rent a U
-Haul and drive up here to Pennsylvania.
And so we are here today.
Praise God.
The witness of God in circumstances must fall
in line.
Mueller never budged.
If he didn't have some clear sovereign signposts,
he wouldn't make a move.
We shouldn't either.
Lastly, pray and fast.
A season alone with God.
Mueller did not make quick decisions.
He spent time discerning, listening to the voice
of God, quieting his own heart.
He spent time gathering information, searching the Word,
hearing the counsel of others.
And after all these things had been gathered
together in his heart, then he went away
for two days and just laid before the
Lord, fasting and praying, quieting all the other
voices.
And there are lots of voices, aren't there?
Quieting all those other voices.
Bringing himself in such clear tune with God
through prayer and fasting, drawing close to God.
Then he would be able to discern, yes,
this is it.
This lines up.
This is right.
I see it here.
Now I have this overwhelming witness again.
As I look at all the circumstances and
all the counsel and all these things, may
God's will be done.
And he would move forward.
Draw nigh to God and He will draw
nigh to you.
Draw nigh to God and He will draw
nigh to you.
Set yourself aside for a couple of days.
If you're going to make major decisions, don't
just flip off and do it, you know?
I mean, listen, people do things I can't
figure out why they would do.
Men move their families all the way across
the country because they got a transfer.
You know?
That happens a lot in America today.
Corporate America and all that.
Hey, we need you to go work in
this branch over there.
And so, the boss says, you're moving and
we're going to pay your way and you'll
get a $10,000 raise and we'll move
all your things there.
Oh!
God has blessed me, they say.
Move over to Timbuktu.
No church.
No fellowship.
Sitting there all by themselves.
Did they discern the will of God or
did they jump after a good opportunity?
They jumped after a good opportunity.
And there they sit without a church.
Not wise.
I'd rather eat beans and live in a
shack and be in the will of God
and be in a place where my family
can prosper in the Lord than to be
someplace where everything is great and all the
money is there and the nice house is
there and all those things.
Who cares?
I want to be in the will of
God.
I want to be in the will of
God.
You say, well, who has time for that?
Two days?
Well, just remember how much time it costs
you when you make a mistake.
Just remember that.
Every time you think, that much time?
I don't have that much time.
Yeah, you will.
You'll have that much time.
If you make a mistake, you will have
that much time.
You'll make the time.
You won't have any choice to make the
time.
You will have to make the time.
But God is saying, invest the time early
and you'll make many less mistakes as you
walk down the road of this Christian life.
As I said before, I will say again,
some would much easier just get counsel and
make the decisions that the pastor says they
should do.
But I'm recommending you this morning that you
go deeper than that.
If you are stumbling along in your Christian
life, just get some counsel from the pastor
and let him direct your steps.
But that's God's second best.
God's best is that you'll find out how
to go deeper up with God, to hear
the voice of God and know the will
of God for your own life.
But it takes time to do that.
This word in closing here this morning.
In 1 John 2, verse 17, it puts
a little bit of a note of sobriety
on this whole subject, but it's a good
way to close this message.
1 John 2, verse 17 says these words,
And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof, but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever.
Look at that beautiful verse.
He that doeth the will of God, who
all their lifetime, discerning the will of God
for their life, abideth forever.
May God help us, each one of us,
me included, to walk in all the will
of God.
Well, that's good sound doctrine.
Amen?
Very practical.
Very real.
Thank you, Brother Denny, for sharing that message
with us this morning.
I thought of many different things along the
way.
I know Brother Mose had a message on
this very same subject, probably about six months
after we began to attend Charity Christian Fellowship.
So I think it was time again, Brother.
I would like to just again underscore the
need to take these in the whole.
The balancing of every point.
Because I'm sure all of us can remember,
as we look in our own lives, of
mistakes we've made by taking one or two
of these points alone.
I think there's another point here that on
the opposite side of taking the time, and
that is, how many times have we smarted
for a decision we made too quickly, too
hastily.
The matter of finances, the witness of finances,
amen, I agree 100%.
But you know, where we live, when you
drive your old car into the car salesman's
lot, he'll make it look and appear, as
much as he can in his power, that
this is the perfect right opportunity, we have
the right car for you, and if you
don't take it today, you're gonna miss it.
You know what I mean?
Is that right?
You know, we live in a world that
is geared to try to, to try to
get us to make hasty decisions.
And if we will just stop and pray,
and go home, and ask my wife, or
ask my husband, that wife, that sister, is
the wife's sister who says, I'm sorry sir,
I don't buy anything without conferring with my
husband.
And the kettle salesman is frustrated, he wants
to sell you those kettles now.
You know?
It's true.
And he'll convince you, you're missing the opportunity,
it'll cost you $300 more tomorrow, and all
those sorts of things.
But anyhow, I don't just want to go
off on, you know, these different things, but
this is very important.
Also, I just want to underscore, the witness
of godly counselors, I want to underscore godly,
spiritual counselors.
Because there's many counselors.
Be sure you're getting counsel from a godly
counselor.
And someone who will tell you the truth.
Amen.
Well, I want to open it up, we
have some time here, I'd love to hear
from you.
Are you needing to make a decision?
We make decisions every day.
I want to open it up, just raise
your hand if the Lord has laid something
on your heart to share.
Raise your hand and get a microphone to
you.
There's a hand up front here.
Is that right?
Yes.
The will of God is the only will.
I've made plenty of mistakes in my life,
and I continue to make them.
Because I think I'm stubborn, I get into
my flesh, I think I have wisdom, but
I don't have wisdom if I'm not listening
to Jesus, and I'm not praying to Jesus,
and like Denny said, if I'm not fasting.
So, I apologize to the congregation for some
of the mistakes I've made, I apologize to
Malin, I apologize to Dean Taylor for some
of the mistakes I've made.
I'm not proud, but I'm proud that I
have a heart, that I can open my
heart up and tell you that I've made
mistakes.
And I only got that through Jesus.
I didn't get that through my flesh.
And I'm not trying to be smart.
I got it through brothers that love me,
care about me, don't want me to be
hurt.
No one in this congregation wants to get
hurt, because we have brothers and sisters that
love us.
And if you think I'm Joshian, I'm not.
Pain is pain that lasts, just like Denny
said, for a long time.
If you think you're fooling yourself, don't make
that mistake.
I've made it, and I don't want to
continue to make it.
We've all made it.
Let's not continue to make it because God
shows what's right for us.
We have brothers and sisters that are beautiful,
beautiful brothers and sisters that love us.
And that's what I found in this church,
that there's so much love here.
I've never had that.
Never had it in any religion.
Never will.
No one ever will.
But you can have it in Jesus.
Only in Jesus.
Not in anything that's material.
Not in any job.
Not in any wealth.
Only in Jesus.
And this week I was at a trade
show in Harrisburg, and I met several Christians
there.
One Christian sells vacuum cleaners.
The gentleman that works for him is a
very nice man.
They both say they're Christians, and I'm not
saying they're not Christians.
But the one gentleman that owns the business
is pushed by money.
And he can't see it, but everybody else
can.
And no one has brought it to his
attention.
I just pray for the gentleman because he's
pushed by money.
You know, when we die, he said a
quote to me, when we die, you don't
see him hauling a Wells Fargo truck behind
our U-Haul.
Because we can't take it to heaven.
The only thing we can take to heaven
is what God takes with us.
That's our soul.
So we can die, but is our soul
going to heaven?
I pray that mine is, and I pray
for everybody in here.
And I wish you'd pray for me.
Thank you, and God bless you.
Thank you, Robert.
Hand over here in the front, middle, brother's
side.
Raise your hand.
Anyone else, we can get the microphone to
you.
A hand over here in the brother's side
as well.
Yes, Brian.
I can testify to a few things this
morning.
One thing is that mistakes, we don't only
pay for for a couple months sometimes.
I'm paying for mistakes that I made ten
years ago.
I'm still living them down.
I'm still having to face them.
That is one of the biggest reasons why
we need to take heed to this message.
Because we do face them for a long
time to come.
I also have a testimony to share on
point number two.
We get our own will in the way.
When Adam Zimmerman, the person that I worked
for, was going to go out of business,
I worked for him for a little while,
even still.
And there began to creep up within me
all them voices that came about and that
fear that came about.
And I started looking for a job without
seeking God.
And I made a mistake.
And I went to another job.
God used me there, but how much profitable
would I have been had I had listened
to Him?
I had made that mistake, and I had
changed jobs.
And after I had realized that mistake, I
had spent much time in prayer and seeking
God about it.
And after I had become unbiased, and as
I had laid my will down to Him,
to His will, I had a fellow call
me on myself and I didn't even know
existed.
And God had mercy upon me and He
delivered me from the situation that I had
put myself in.
And He had delivered me and put me
back in His will again.
And I have been very profitable there spiritually
and financially, and things have been going right
there.
You know, if we've made mistakes in the
past, we can change them.
We can get on our face and beg
God for His mercy, for His deliverance, and
God will do it.
God will show Himself strong.
He's ready to do that.
God bless you, Denny, for sharing your heart
today.
Amen, brother.
There's a microphone back here.
I'm flipping through Isaiah madly trying to find
a verse.
My brother's speaking.
I couldn't find it, but there's a passage
that speaks of every morning the Lord digs
or opens my ear like a disciple.
Maybe a brother can help me out with
where that's at or maybe we're familiar enough
with it.
When I think of discerning God's will in
light of these seven steps, over the years,
the priority that continues to come back to
me is how will it affect my quiet
times?
If I'm being called upon to invest more
of my time in a position, will it
affect my quiet time?
Is it making it more and more difficult
for me to hear from the Lord?
And with that, Denny touched on it, will
it affect my ability to get away at
times for extended prayer and fasting?
With that, too, the overflow of that quiet
time, of that prayer and fasting, God has
given a primary flock to me, and that
is my wife and children.
How will the decisions I'm facing affect my
ability to minister to my wife and children?
And I have found over the years that
those two pillars, if I compromise time in
either of those two areas, it doesn't come
out right.
I can even have all seven of these
bases covered that George Mueller speaks of, but
those bases support or perhaps are even supported
by those two pillars.
God, I receive from God so that I
can have overflow for my wife and children.
And I know I'm speaking as a married
man, and there are brothers and there are
sisters listening, but I guess that's my appeal
to the brothers, is we've got to maintain
those two priorities.
As I've looked over church history, there have
been many great movements, but it seems that
what's missing in the movements is as good
as they are, men are ambitious to conquer,
but the flesh of men is not content
with being ambitious to disciple wives and children.
And it seems to be the downfall of
great movements through church history.
Let's put our children in boarding schools and
let's leave my wife behind while I go
and conquer the heathen.
And as one who pursued ministry and training
for it, I have to confess, even today,
there's the thrill of ministry that I have
to question, is it of the Lord or
is it of my flesh?
And what keeps me anchored, what keeps me
waiting on the Lord is this precious team
that God has given me, my wife and
children.
And when I have their hearts, and when
we're solid, I look forward to that day
when God will say, now go and conquer
because they're coming with you.
I don't have it all put together yet.
I'm not in ministry right now.
But this is just sort of the thoughts
that I've been formulating for the last while
as I've been here at Charity.
And I lifted up before the congregation and
the brotherhood.
And these are wonderful things, these seven pillars.
But do they support our family or do
our families support these?
I think we have to keep the foundation
very clear as we move ahead in God's
will.
And that is tending to the team and
the little flock that He's given us is
our first priority.
Thank you, Brother Jeff.
Amen.
Hand over here.
Yes, go ahead, Donovan.
Praise the Lord, Church.
I just want to thank you for being
a house of the Lord which is so
critical and that makes so easy and so
comfortable such a confirming Word of God to
be able to come forth from such a
man of God.
My family's been, actually this is our third
time visiting Charity.
And it's been very interesting of how it
is we have been walking and have been
really still sitting in that first chapter, that
first pillar, that first foundation that Brother Denny
spoke of, that thing of surrender.
But, Church, I just want to share with
you that part of the surrender is that,
or at least what it is that we've
been experiencing is surrendering with open hands.
Open hands.
It's so easy that the world always tells
you to hold on to things.
To hold on fast and actually use the
examples of a hand in hand in order
to be able to hold on to things.
But one of the things that the Lord
has shown me and my family as, in
fact, we are going through issues of understanding
and being able to hear the voice of
God about transition at the same time, is
being able to hold on to that vine
of heaven through God's hands on our hearts
and in our lives.
And as this brother pointed out earlier of
how much of a special place this is
with the love that allows for hands to
be open and hearts to be open in
order to really grab on to that vine
of that true strength of vine that the
Lord has in all of our lives.
It's just such a sweet, sweet spirit.
And it's such a sweet, sweet walk.
And God will never, ever, ever, ever, ever
let you down or disappoint you when you
hold on to those strings of that vine
with those open hearts.
So on behalf of my family and every
time that we visit your family, we just
want to thank you for receiving us with
those same open hands that God has given
you and that He continues to bless all
of us as brethren in Christ throughout this
world.
Amen.
And thank you.
Amen.
Thank you for sharing.
Amen.
Praise the Lord.
There's one in the back.
Yes, go ahead.
Just want to thank the Lord and His
faithfulness for allowing us to be in your
midst and the opportunities that we can share
by this.
And we are just at awe at His
faithfulness.
And we were going through devotions in one
of these mornings and we were looking at
that aspect of His faithfulness and we see
that today, His providing with like this message
that was shared in the beginning and then
afterwards.
But you know this message that the brother
shared about the four that believed or the
five taking that one.
I know it's four, but I believe also
maybe that fifth one also had some faith.
And I just love this passage and just
seeing the way the Lord would bring it
up today.
And we read it several times in devotions.
And there was a faithful brother through the
church that we were converted.
He would preach about this in a very
simple way just like the brother did.
And it just was such a blessing.
It just seemed like those first days when
we were converted from a life of sin
and 12 years ago, more or less, the
Lord began to work with our lives and
did a marvelous, marvelous work.
And later we found a set of tapes
down south in Mexico.
It was a family that wanted to build
an orphanage down there.
Two older people from Illinois and a real
blessing.
And a set of tapes of the Godly
Home was up there and started listening to
the first one.
I was, what in the world is this?
And from then on, contacting all the way
from the border with California, there in Baja,
California.
And speaking with Brother Ben Baylor and others
back then, like six years ago.
So we thank the Lord for this privilege
and all the time we've been here, the
direction that He has provided.
And just want to uplift Him and His
faithfulness.
And thank you all too for your faithfulness.
Thank you, brother.
Is there someone else?
Yes, in the back there.
I just want to bear testimony this morning
to God's goodness in my life.
And I've fallen many times too.
I've not always heeded His direction.
And I'm still paying for lots of the
mistakes.
But God has been good and I want
to just thank you, brother Denny, this morning
for heeding God's Spirit and for bringing us
clear direction from God Himself.
I believe that it is very crucial and
very beneficial that we heed it.
And this morning, my desire is to do
so.
And I just ask you as a congregation
to pray for me as I seek His
direction and as I heed the direction He
has given me.
And as God's been working in my life,
there's been many times where I have not
understood at all the direction that was given
and nothing seemed clear.
But as I began to yield myself and
as I began to just accept His direction
from God, as I began to find the
peace and open hands, so to speak, then
I began to see His direction.
And it always became clear to me and
I always had that peace in my heart.
But when I began to doubt it, it
always seemed like the situation that was bad
just got worse.
And I had a bigger problem on my
hands until I yielded it to the Lord
again.
And so, I just want to say this
morning that it's the same lessons.
I'm learning it just like everybody else is.
I just want to bless you, brother, for
sharing that this morning.
Thank you.
God bless you.
Thank you, Glendon.
If we could have the mic up front
here then.
And is there one in the back as
well?
Yes.
Good morning.
I just wanted to kind of share my
heart with some of the things that I
feel as far as concerning child training.
I've had, over the past couple of weeks,
there's been similar or some things happening like
over in our town with a little boy
that was hit by a man with a
closed fist and here he ended up dying.
And I just read in the paper yesterday,
actually a Harrisburg paper, where a little girl
was tortured, a two-year-old by a
man, blowing marijuana in her face, actually in
her mouth.
And I was talking to a friend that
I hadn't seen for a long time yesterday
and asking him how he was doing.
It was one that we had actually run
around with back in our younger days.
And he was saying how he was one
of the fortunate ones that never got married
and never had children.
And I just looked at him and looked
at our four children at the time.
There was only four at the time there.
And I just said, well, we were blessed
with these four blessings here.
Five blessings, actually, I told him.
It just hurt me the way he so
casually just comes out and makes that comment.
And when I look at people in the
stores these days, how they just yell at
their children and pulling them by the arm,
it really breaks my heart to see that.
I'm thankful for what God's showing me as
a mother in raising my children and showing
me how to love them.
And I just also want to add to
all of that, not to totally change the
subject, but I'm very thankful to be here
and be a part of this congregation.
I was very blessed with the other evening,
the couples night.
I'm thankful for all the things that charity
comes up with just to encourage me in
my walk throughout the year, things that we
can get involved in together.
And I just want to encourage us mothers.
I sit sometimes way back here, it seems
like a lot of times.
We're always late getting here.
But I see mothers getting up with crying
babies.
And I know it can be a challenge,
especially listening to a really good message, not
that they're not all good, but to have
to get up and leave.
But I'm thankful for the speakers that are
downstairs and in the nurseries that we can
still hear.
But I just encourage us mothers just to
press on and not become discouraged.
And I know it's not easy to do,
but I'm thankful for being here.
God bless you.
Praise the Lord.
Let's see, a hand up front here.
Yes, Brother Emanuel.
Yes, I want to say amen to the
message.
I can say I've benefited greatly from those
principles.
Times pass.
I have.
Our family has.
And I just want to encourage everyone here.
This is not a small thing.
That mistake or the mistakes you've made and
suffered for many years, I know what that's
like.
But I also know what it's like to
walk in the blessing of what was shared
this morning.
It is a blessing.
If you don't know about it, if you
don't know which way to turn, what you
heard this morning is very true.
It is God's way.
Thank you, Brother Daniel, for sharing that simple
yet powerful truth this morning.
And I encourage each one of us to
consider it.
We don't have any time to waste.
No time to waste.
Can't afford it.
So thank you.
May God be blessed.
Amen.
All right, there's a hand in the back.
I just want to say, wow.
Because God has really been doing a lot
of things in our lives.
And as Danny was beginning his message and
not really letting it out yet what he's
talking about, and I'd be pretty curious, you
know, when he said what that question is
that he hears so much, how do I
discern the will of God?
It choked me up because it's something that
I struggle with, even at my age.
I'm not an old man by any means,
but God has been so faithful to us.
And as he went through the points, I
could identify with those points.
And God's Word is a witness.
God's Spirit is a witness.
And the blessing that comes from just this
week, you know, God laid a thing on
my heart in my quiet time.
The next morning I shared it with my
wife.
He had laid the same thing on her
heart in her quiet time.
And just the knitting of spirits, it was
a blessing.
And it gives me courage to trust Him
more.
And I just thank you, Danny, for sharing
that message.
God bless you.
I don't know what went into your heart
and thoughts as you chose that message as
God laid it on your heart, but I
do know that it was from Him and
that I needed to be here to hear
it.
Thank you very much.
And pray for us as a family that
the decisions that we make are in the
will of God.
I just wanted to bless you as a
congregation here.
I've never spoken to you in this way,
but God bless you richly for the warmth
that you have shown to us as we
step through these doors, as we come.
The crowd is still intimidating to me, but
may God richly bless you for your outpouring
of love that you've shown to us.
Thank you for sharing.
May you discern the knowledge of His will,
which I'm sure He has set for you.
Where's the other mic?
Right over here somewhere?
Yes.
My heart says amen to all the testimonies
this morning.
Probably not another confession is needed of knowing
how true this is in our lives.
I was really blessed by Brother Malin's message
this morning as well.
I just feel like I'm full and overflowing.
My cup can't contain it all.
But that's good.
One thing that I just felt that I
needed to confess publicly was what Brother Malin's
message spoke to me, and that is how
short my long-suffering is, how short my
patience is, even when it comes right down
to my family and my wife.
And I just make that public confession because
I need prayer in that area, and God
has taken me from...
I'm not where I used to be in
that.
God is allowing me to grow in that,
but sometimes I get impatient with my impatience.
And I just pray that God would also
show me how to discern His will through
the message this morning because I'm also one
that can testify very truly to the fact
that I've made lots of painful mistakes, lots
of costly mistakes, not only spiritually, but also
materially.
God bless both of the messages, and I
just desire to be that kind of a
person that perseveres on like those four men
did that bore those men up.
They obviously weren't quitters, and I never heard
it quite in that way.
I was so blessed with how that was
brought out, and I've got to believe, too,
that if they didn't say it, that they
were faced with the fact of wanting to
turn back and saying, it's not worth it,
or the job's too big, or let's just
write him off.
But God didn't write me off, and I
praise Him for that, and I want to
be there for others as well.
God bless.
The message.