Whatever Happens Pt. 2

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good evening. Welcome to Voice in the Wilderness. I'm Don
Noble of Pure Heart Ministries, and I welcome you today
with exceedingly abundantly and overflowing joy. Well, it's a beautiful
spring day and I'm going to be talking about whatever happens.
I started this last week. This is Part two. There

(00:21):
will be a part three next Monday, which is Memorial Day.
And I do wish you a wonderful Memorial Day coming
up and a safe holiday weekend because even though Memorial
Day is Monday, most people start celebrating on Friday as

(00:45):
the weekend starts. So please drive safely, be careful, and
love Jesus. Amen. So this is what ever happens, Part two,
and the premise for this topic comes from Philippians one

(01:10):
twenty seven, which says, whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a
manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Now, last week
I concluded with a litany of Paul's trials from Second
Corinthians eleven, twenty two and thirty three. I'm going to

(01:31):
go over them again because I want to highlight a
few things that especially stood out to me. So Paul
said that he received forty stripes minus one so probably
beaten on his back like Jesus was. Now he doesn't

(01:53):
say that he was, you know, flogged with that particular
fledgation that had pieces of stone and glass in it,
which as we know, ripped the shreds of Jesus' skin
downed deep into the musculature. But nevertheless he did get

(02:17):
thirty nine stripes, so that had to be exceedingly horrific.
Then he said, three times beaten with rods, stoned, once
ship directed, three times a night and a day in
the deep, in journeys, often in perils of waters, in

(02:43):
perils of robbers, in perils of his own countrymen, perils
in the wilderness, perils in the sea, in weariness and toil,
in sleeplessness, often in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often

(03:06):
in cold and nakedness. I want us to just take
a moment, just a moment, and think about how many
times that you have been in dire thirst of water
or a beverage for the gospel. Now, I'm sure on

(03:29):
some hot sunny day, you know, maybe you're out in
the desert in the wild West, and you know you're
trekking through the mountains of Zion National Park and it's
a really really hot day, which you can get there.
I've been there when it's been one hundred and five
degrees and you're really really thirsty. Okay, we've all had

(03:55):
those kind of episodes when oh, maybe you're out there
cutting the grass and it's just eighty five degrees and
you are so thirsty. But imagine being so thirsty that
you don't get your thirst quenched, not soon, not easily,

(04:19):
and it's because you are out there preaching the gospel
or evangelizing or just sharing the gospel with someone. How
many sleepless nights have you experienced for the gospel. Yeah,

(04:42):
there's a lot of people. They have sleep deprivation, deprivation
they cannot sleep. They have a lot of difficulty sleeping
at night. They just can't get to sleep, they can't
fall asleep. But that's not what Paul's talking about. He's
talking about a person who normally sleeps, you know, the

(05:05):
whole night, yet not getting any sleep, sleeplessness for the gospel.
You know, you'd have to look at those Christians who
are really really being persecuted in some of the areas

(05:29):
of the world where it's severe. For instance, in India,
people are being persecuted, I mean to a very large
degree right now, because Hinduism has become even though the

(05:52):
majority of the nation is Hindu, they have a new
movement of Hindu nationalism, and so they are being very
aggressive against Christians and persecuting Christians in many many ways.
So you and I living in America, we I mean,

(06:16):
we really have it pretty good here. I would say
that I haven't lost a sleepless night for the gospel.
How many times have you ended up naked for the gospel? Well,

(06:38):
I don't think any of us, frankly, could say yes
to that question. Yet Paul said he was naked for
the gospel. I mean, so he doesn't elaborate. What does
that mean, naked for the gospel? I don't know. So

(06:59):
wherever he was, obviously he was persecuted for preaching the gospel.
And who knows did people rip his clothes off? You know,
did he get in a tussle with someone and they
ripped his things off? He doesn't tell us. I mean,
you have to use your imagination. But the point is

(07:24):
he made a point about it that he spent times
being naked. I know, I haven't spent any time being
naked for the Gospel now again in persecuted countries. Could
that be a reality? It could be. How many times

(07:48):
have you grown weary and have toiled hard for the gospel?
You know, there are there are committed evangelists in our country.
I happen to know one of them. And this fella
has been in the hardest, darkest places on planet Earth.

(08:14):
Oh yeah, and and he has. He has had some trials,
for sure, but he pushes on with such perseverance. I
mean it truly amazes me. And I would encourage you.
You could go on his Facebook page, Cliff Graham. He's

(08:40):
an evangelist and uh, you know, just watch a video
or go on YouTube. And Unison Harvest International is his
ministry is what he calls his ministry. He just got
back from two weeks in India. So there are folks

(09:01):
few and far between in the States that are actually
going into very difficult places to preach the gospel. And
you know, they are not loving their lives unto death.
They are going to preach no matter what, no matter
what happens, whatever happens, right, whatever happens. So and then

(09:27):
you know, Paul said, he said in Perils of Robbers,
now again how many times have you been robbed? For
the Gospel's sake? Very few of us in America have

(09:48):
been robbed. We live in a pretty safe country. Albeit
I know we have lots of illegals who have crossed
our border who are very dangerous criminals, and they've entered
many of our cities. But you know, overall, I'm just

(10:10):
talking the overall picture. Most of us would say, no,
I've never been robbed. Yet Paul is saying in Perils
of Robbers, So that means he wasn't just robbed once,
he was robbed many times. And you know, again, he

(10:33):
doesn't provide us all the information about that. Whether he
was beaten and robbed, whether he was stripped, naked and robbed,
we don't know. We just know that this man, Paul,
went through the toughest tests and trials of any Christian

(10:55):
that we know of, at least what's written in the scriptures.
So I know what you're thinking. I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking that was the apostle, Paul. I'm not an apostle, okay,
but you're a believer, right, a believer in Jesus. You know,

(11:17):
Jesus said to his disciples, he said go ye into
all the nations and make disciples. And at that point
they were just disciples. So was that just for the
Bible days or did Jesus mean as long as there's

(11:38):
breath in your lungs and that's for all of you
who are going to live, you know, two thousand years
into the future from this point in time that I'm
saying these words that are written down in Matthew. Okay,
so you're also thinking, I'm not a traveling evangelist. You're

(12:01):
a stay at home mom. Let's look at you, the
stay at home mom. Now, I personally consider the stay
at home mom a very important job for the kingdom.
Oh I do just as important as that traveling evangelist,
if not more, because a stay at home mom, who

(12:24):
may also be homeschooling their children, that is a task
that takes a lot of patience. And we're going to
be talking about patients. And they are raising these moms
are raising godly children and raising them in the admonition

(12:45):
of the Lord to do great things for God, you know,
as soon as they're old enough to do it. And
you know, there are many children. In fact, I just
recall something I saw a video some time ago about
these children. They were between like nine and eleven years old.

(13:10):
They were preaching the gospel. They were praying, and they
were preaching the gospel and it was so powerful. So
you don't have to be an adult to preach the gospel.
But back to the stay at home mom, it's a
very important job for the Kingdom of God. And I

(13:35):
hope you say amen with me. You know, life happens,
Things happen, and being a mother of children, there would
be a lot of whatever happens, right, I mean, probably
on a daily basis, a mother can say, ah, whatever happens,

(13:57):
I'm going to conduct myself in a manner worthy of
Christ because she is being an example of Christ to
her children. And those children will remember all, you know,
the majority of those instances of the whatever happens. So

(14:22):
the point is in our life and in the context
of what happens in our life, we want to be able,
all of us. We want to be able to say, Hey,
whatever happens, I will conduct myself in a manner worthy
of the Gospel of Christ. Last week I told you

(14:43):
there have been situations, Oh yeah, more than I can
count that I did not did not conduct myself in
a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. And you
know that just makes me sad. But on the other hand,

(15:04):
it does push me to want to conduct myself in
a manner worthy of the Gospel. You see, the Word
of God is so powerful that just saying that scripture.
Just saying that scripture every day to yourself, and if
you would, you know, write it out, put it on

(15:25):
the refrigerator, put it in the bathroom, put it in
your car. You know a lot of stuff of whatever happens,
happens while you're driving a car, if you know what
I mean, put that scripture everywhere that it needs to be.
Whatever happens, I will conduct myself in a manner worthy

(15:48):
of the Gospel of Christ. Now, our dear brother James,
in his epistle, this is what the good Brother writes.
Starting with verse two, he says, my brethren, count it
all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that

(16:12):
the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience
have its perfect or thorough work, that you may be
perfect and complete, lacking nothing. And if you any of

(16:32):
you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives
to all liberally and without reproach. And it will be
given to him. But let him ask in faith with
no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave
of the seed, driven and tossed by the wind. For
let not that man suppose that he will receive anything

(16:54):
from the Lord, for he is double minded, unstable in
all his ways. Let's go back to that verse two.
Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
I don't know about you, but jeez, you know, sometimes
in the midst of the trial, it just ain't easy.

(17:19):
I know that's not great English, but you know it
works here. But the testing of our faith produces patients. Look,
there has to be a testing. If you think, as
a born again Christian you're going to get through your
little Christian life without any test, without any trial, well

(17:39):
then you are going to be a weak, anemic Christian.
You need tested. You need to be in the midst
of a fiery trial because that will produce patients. So
your faith has to be tested. Will you trust in

(17:59):
the Lord? Will you look to him? Will you say, Lord,
I know this is difficult, it seems beyond difficult, but
I'm gonna trust you no matter what. It is. The
testing of our faith that produces patience and the apostle Paul,

(18:27):
he must have been the most patient person to serve Christ.
Every time I read that litany of things that he
went through, I really do shake my head and I think,
how could one person endure that? And the scriptures don't

(18:48):
tell us, but I would. I would. You know, I'm
not a gambling person at all, but if I were,
I put my money on that on Paul that he
complained that he never complained about every trial he was in.
He just counted it all joy. You know, one thing

(19:13):
that helps in all of this is to understand your
mission in life. So if you know the will of
God for your life, and you know the mission and
the course that the Lord, the path that the Lord
has you on, then when the trials come, you have

(19:36):
a How can I say that? You know you have
something to look at, You know what you've been called
to do, you know the will of God for your life.
So no matter what the trial is, you realize and
you recognize that it's just as temporary as Paul calls them.

(19:57):
He calls these things temporary affliction. Can you imagine they're
just temporary light afflictions? And you keep moving on because
you know what your mission is. Paul knew clearly what
his mission was, so it didn't matter, it didn't matter
what happened. It didn't matter if he was beaten thirty times.

(20:21):
He would have kept pressing on because he understood his mission.
So I think in all of this that it would
behoove us to know the will of God for our life.
What is it that God wants you to do? What
is it that God has called you to do? Maybe

(20:42):
he hasn't called you to the fivefold ministry. Maybe he
hasn't called you to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist,
a teacher, a pastor. Oh but he's called you, just
like the stay at home mom. That person is called
she knows her mission and she knows it clearly. The

(21:04):
electrician on his job, he knows his mission. He has
a duty to do his job well, to reflect God
well in the workplace. That is his mission. Now he
could have another mission so that when he's not working,

(21:27):
he's feeding the poor, he's helping elderly of you know
folks you know get their grass cut. There are. It
doesn't matter who you are, It doesn't matter the level
of education, it doesn't matter whether you're well off or

(21:47):
you're not well off, there is a plan for your life.
There is a will, and once you see it and
once you know it, it makes it so much easier
to handle the whatever happens, because the whatever happens are
going to come into our lives. And as long as

(22:11):
you know your mission and you know the will of
God for your life, it does make it a little easier.
And you know, Paul endured every bit of it, every
lick that was sent his way. He endured it all
without complaining, with joy, with joy. And so these these

(22:37):
folks are an example for us when you think in
your mind, oh, I just couldn't do that. I just
it's not possible. Well, why was it possible for them?
Why was it possible for James and for Paul, and
for Peter and John and so on and so on
and the rest of the team. Why was it PAULI

(23:01):
Because they knew their mission, They knew why they were
put on the earth. And when we know that mission,
it will help us to keep persevering. Because verse four says,
let patience have its perfect thorough have its thorough work. See,

(23:24):
there's a work that you and I are involved in
as believers when we know our mission and the will
of God for our life and it's James writes that
we may be perfect. That word is not It doesn't
mean perfect, it means mature. We're becoming mature in our

(23:45):
faith and we're becoming complete and we're not lacking anything.
We're not floundering around. Like he says that when we
lack wisdom, just ask of God. He gives it liberally
without reproach. And we have to ask in faith, not doubting,

(24:08):
because if we doubt, we're like a wave of the sea,
driven tossed by the wind. And the Lord doesn't like that.
He says, that's a double minded person, unstable in all
their ways. I have met many, unfortunately, many unstable people.

(24:29):
They are double minded and that makes them very, very
unstable in their walk with the Lord. And you know,
sometimes I've tried to point it out. They can't see
it and they get mad. But you know, the scripture

(24:51):
is the scripture. It's the word of God. It's what
it says. So Paul was not an unstable individual. He
was not double minded. He didn't say, oh Lord, you
called me to let's see, you told me to go
preach the gospel. I've actually journeyed a thousand miles and

(25:13):
every door has closed. Like, were you confused? Lord? Did
you get mixed up about what you wanted me to do? No,
Paul just kept pushing forward. You just keep moving on.
You just keep persevering in the thing that God has

(25:35):
called you to do. Again, it can be the simplest thing,
it could be the hardest thing, it could be whatever,
But it's our job to figure out what it is
God has called us to do. What is the mission
He has for my life? And that's the thing. If
you don't know that, you need to begin to inquire

(25:57):
of the Lord and ask him what am I here for.
He didn't just plant you on the earth for nothing.
You have a purpose for the Kingdom, and you need
to know exactly what your purpose is. So Paul is

(26:21):
a great example for us. He never complained. He just
kept counting it all joy, and he persevered and he
pushed on, and he didn't question God, and he didn't
think God was confused. But he accomplished all that God

(26:42):
had for him to do. You know, he made it
to Rome. It took a while to get him there,
but he made it to Rome where he ended up dying.
So let's just persevere and continue in the steadfastness of

(27:03):
God's love because his love for us is steadfast. He's
not double minded. God is not double minded, He's not unstable.
God will keep us steadfast in his love. We just
keep persevering and moving forward. And next week I'm going

(27:24):
to be continuing this. There's just there's a there's a
lot here. So I'll see you next week. This is
Don Noble. You can go to www dot pureheart dot
today and listen to this podcast again. You can download
the iHeartRadio app and go to the podcast Pure Heart
Ministries and listen twenty four to seven. And Hey, if

(27:50):
you haven't been praying for this ministry, would you please
continue to pray. I I'm not kidding, I say it
all the time. I really do covera your prayers. And
I would love for you to sew a seed, a
financial seed into this ministry. You can write me at
Pure Heart Ministries, Po Box eighty five, Valley Grove, West Virginia,

(28:13):
two six O six O. I certainly look forward to
being with you again next week. This is Don Nobles
saying Shalom Shilloam, Peace be unto you,