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March 27, 2025 • 35 mins

Voice of the Nazarene 3-23-25

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Unknown (00:00):
Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share

(00:03):
with you the voice of theNazarene, a week by week,
venture into the Word of Godsponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio
Church of the Nazarene. We joinour Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle,
and the voice of the Nazarene.
Wanna talk to you for a fewminutes about finding God's will
for your life, letting him havehis way in your life, but you

(00:26):
gotta find God's plan for yourlife. John Maxwell, the
leadership guru and preacher, hewas graduating, and a lady gave
him the gift of a book, and whenhe looked at the book, it said

(00:50):
the greatest story ever told.
And he loved to read. He wasexcited when he got home that
evening, he opened that bookentitled The greatest story ever
told. To his amazement, it wasall blank pages, and he realized
there'd been a mistake, and sowhen he saw her the following

(01:17):
week, he said, Ma'am. He said, Iappreciate the gift, but there's
been a mistake. Said the it'stitled The greatest story ever
told, and it's all blank pages.
And she said, John, it's not amistake. It's the story of your
life, your life. You're going towrite your story. What kind of

(01:42):
story, John, are you going towrite? Are going to leave blank
pages? Are you going to writethe greatest story ever lived?
When I get to the end of mylife, I want to say I'm glad I
did, rather than to say I wishedthat I had Steve Jobs. When he

(02:09):
died, he was worth around $7billion like many of you folks,
he lived to be 56, years of age,died of cancer, and shortly
before his death, Steve Jobssaid these words. He said, I've

(02:30):
reached the pinnacle of successin the business world. In other
people's eyes, my life is theepitome of success. However,
aside from work, I have a littlejoy. In the end, wealth is only
a fact of life that I'maccustomed to. At this moment,

(02:53):
lying on my deathbed andrecalling my whole life, I
realized that all therecognition and wealth that I
took so much pride in has paledand become meaningless in the
face of impending death. I don'twant to die that way. I want to

(03:15):
be like David in Acts 1336 thatsaid, David served his
generation and he died. I wantto complete God's purpose for my
life, because God has a plan andGod has a purpose. You say,

(03:37):
Well, Pastor, how can I find mypurpose or God's purpose for for
my life? Can I give you just sixwords? I'm kind of a simple guy,
but I believe very important andcan make all the difference in
the world and finding God'spurpose for your life. And the

(03:57):
first word, very simple, ispurpose. Now, I've said before,
there's accidental parents, butI do not believe in accidental
children. I believe that everyperson was made for a purpose,
and when you're talking aboutpurpose, look there again at

(04:19):
verse three of chapter five ofPsalms. And notice he said, My
voice shall thou hear in themorning? And then catch these
words, oh Lord, what does itmean? Oh Lord, it's talking
about the person of authority.
You need to have someone in yourlife that has authority. We
certainly don't. We scramblearound and go through life

(04:42):
frustrated trying to get on topof things and being the guy or
being the voice of authority.
There in Colossians, 116 foreverything, absolutely
everything above and beneath,visible in. Invisible.
Everything got started in Godand finds its purpose in him.

(05:07):
Finds his purpose in him.
Bertram Russell, the atheist,said, Unless you assume a God,
the question of life's purposeis meaningless, and without God
in your life, life is going tobe purposeless without God and
His plan. So you need to find aperson of authority, and that

(05:29):
person we know is God. And doyou realize that there's nobody
like you, and we go through lifefrustrated, trying to be like
everybody else, look likesomebody, and be like somebody,
and act like somebody, respondlike somebody, and yet God made
you wonderful and made youunique and made you to be the

(05:54):
person he wanted you to be. Sowhy don't we just be the best
version of who God wants us tobe, because God made you to be
you. You're not a wonderinggenerality. You're a, what I
call a meaningful, specificperson. Every life has a story.

(06:15):
Your story? What is your story?
You say, Well, Pastor, I'd liketo know what my story is. Well,
if you've been around me, I'lleither use alliteration or I use
a caustics, right? Unless you'renew here, you don't know that

(06:37):
I've tried to make it so simplethat if I get lost, nobody else
will. But take the little wordstory, and let's use a caustics,
and just go through the s, t, O,R, Y, and it all begins with
scripture. If you want to knowwhat God's plan and fulfill
God's plan in your life, youneed to get into divine rich.

(06:58):
You need to get into the Bible.
You need to study the Scripture.
Back to the matter of Psalm 119,verse 105, Thy Word is a lamp
unto my feet and a light unto mypath. So if you want to get some
light on your life, and you wantto have a lamp to go through the
darkness, get into the brilliantlight of the Word of God. You

(07:24):
say, Well, Pastor, I don'tbelieve the Bible will
specifically give me myoccupation, probably not unless
you want to be a tax collectoror a shepherd, but I believe the
Bible help us to get into rightthinking, to get us thinking
right. And when you get into theBible, you find that word, the

(07:46):
word is capitalized, in somecases, in capital letters. And
when you find that itsbackground is Greek, and there's
two Greek words for that word inthe English said word, and one
of those is logos. And what thatmeans is, when it's talking
about the logos, it's talkingabout the written word, the

(08:09):
written word, and then there'sanother Greek word, and it's
Rhema. And when you find thatword Rhema, it means that you
have a word for your currentsituation, telling you what you
need to do. Let me just stophere long enough to say the word
of God is truth. If you'relooking for truth, get into the
Word of God. Timing has to dowith the Holy Spirit, and the

(08:35):
Holy Spirit can step in andguide you in these moments of
your life and show you what isfor you for a current time,
timing is everything, and weneed his direction. So we need
to get into a Bible study. Weneed to get into church. We need
to get into studying the Word.
If you want to know what yourstory is going to be, it starts

(08:55):
with the Scripture and then talkto others. Sometimes what God
wants you to do, he'll voicethrough other people to you the
wisest man that ever lived. Theysaid, We're Solomon. Now there's
been times that I've questionedthat any guy that marry 700
wives, I gotta wonder about him,that means 700 mother in laws.

(09:20):
I'm not a brilliant guy, but Ithink you'd have a little bit of
a problem. But the wisest manthat ever lived, by the name of
Solomon, said more about theCouncil of others than anybody
else. He said, in a multitude ofcounselors, there is safety. If
I want to know how to fixsomething, I'll call up several

(09:45):
people, because I I need alittle advice, and I try to call
the right people that know aboutthose kinds of things. And he
said that sometimes we need anoutside. Did counsel, and many
times God will use others tospeak to you. I had a chap that

(10:05):
I'd known in the yester years,probably, probably 40 some years
ago, I held a revival for him.
Great speaker, got away fromGod, left everything behind the
call the voice and the will ofGod for his life. While

(10:29):
pastoring here, when I wasmarried to my first wife, before
she died, I got a burden on myheart to see what, about a year
ago, I got a call from aconference president of another
denomination. He said, la salle.
I'm not asking you to come toour conference, but I want you
to tune in. And I think it waseither Facebook or YouTube. I

(10:51):
want you to listen. There's aguy that we're restoring his
credentials. He's gotten back toGod, and he said God's Bible
college, or their president iscoming as going to award him his
bachelor's degree. He said henever walked for it. And they
got to looking at his hours. Hehad enough hours to receive his

(11:15):
graduation, his bachelor'sdegree. I think you'll be
interested. I don't want you tomiss this. He said, You got it?
I said, sort of. So I tuned inand it was this guy back over
that had moved and lost his wayclear out in the boondocks of

(11:35):
around Warsaw, Ohio, and alittle Warsaw. You gotta watch
for it, or you'll miss it. Ifthere's a street light and it
comes on, and I'm not sure thereis one there, I'm sure it would
dampen the Coke machine fromworking. And I'm over there. I'd
heard that he had drifted awayand was living somewhere over

(11:57):
there in one of those backroads. And I got over there, and
I asked around, and have youseen a red headed guy that might
have used to have been apreacher? Nobody seemed to know
what in the world I was talkingabout, nor were they interested.
Finally, one guy said, I thinkit might be up that road
somewhere in a mobile home, anold mobile home on the side of a
hill. And I drove that road, andI went several miles, and I came

(12:23):
to a mobile home, and I feltimpressed. This could be in the
mobile home is just would havefallen over the hill, but they
had propped it up on that sideand and you just walked off the
street and walked out just a fewfeet, and there was this door
had one of these old clasp andyou could put a plain old lock
on it. And I pulled up and hitmy horn and out step, George

(12:48):
hadn't seen him in years, and hesaid, Ray la salle. He said, How
did you find me? I said, I don'tknow. I honestly don't know how
in this world that I found you,but I wanted to tell you I've
never forgotten you, that I loveyou. He bowed his head. I said,

(13:09):
I'll go, but I've been lookingfor you for a long, long time.
Just felt like God sent me toyou. I drove my way all the way
back home feeling kind ofstupid. I tuned in to this
conference, and they're awardingthe degree, his bachelor's, and

(13:30):
then they're said, we'rerestoring your credentials. You
got back to God? Would you tellus your story? Everybody has a
story. And he said I was awayfrom God more than 20 some
years, and I told God one night,if you want me back, send
somebody to talk to me. Justsend somebody to show up to have

(13:53):
a little interest in me.
Everybody's forgotten me. Thechurch. I left it behind, and
now they left me behind. Sendsomebody. Few days later, after
that, he knelt, and he said,God, I told you, if you wanted
to save me, send somebody. Andthe Spirit whispered to him, I

(14:15):
sent Ray la salle. Oh. He said,You did, didn't you? He's
telling the story. He said, Ifell on my knees and I get my
heart back to God. Sometimes Goduses other people to speak into
us. Don't just tune everybodyout. Now, be careful who you're
listening to, but if you want tofind God's plan for your life

(14:38):
and you're trying to get yourstory written, sometimes God
speaks your story to you throughothers, and then obey your
passions. Psalm 37 verse four,Delight thyself in the Lord, and
He shall give thee the whatdesires of thine heart. You see,
you're a unique person. You. AndGod has given you a unique

(15:02):
passion and made you for aunique purpose. Don't ask
yourself, what the world needs?
Ask yourself, what is it thatlightens up my life? And then
simply go do it. And here's afourth thing, recognize your
gifts, what you do the best withthe least amount of energy.

(15:23):
That's what God's gifted you inand if God has gifted you,
always acknowledge it's a giftfrom God. You see, if you don't
turn it into praise, it'll turninto pride, and then yield to
the Holy Spirit. That's how youdetermine your story. You have
to yield and say, Holy Spirit.

(15:44):
What do you want with my life?
How do you find what God wantsyou to do with your life? It
starts with purpose, and then itmoves to prayer, to prayer. Look
what David said, my voice, shallthou here in the morning, oh
Lord, in the morning will Idirect my prayer unto thee.
Jeremiah, 33 three says, Callunto me, and I will answer thee.

(16:10):
I will show you great and mightythings that thou knowest not to
find God's plan. You have tolive a life of prayer. You have
to be seeking the mind of themood and the direction of God.
Now, if your motivation inprayer is need based, then when

(16:31):
you don't have any needs, thenyou're not going to keep
praying. So your motivationneeds to be to know Him, to seek
Him, to have a relationship withHim, time with him. Now, as your
pastor, I I'll, I'll tell you Inever pray long prayers, but I

(16:57):
never go along without a prayer,because I need that connection,
that relationship, I don't wantit to get drifted away from. And
then God's plan with life startswith a purpose, moves on to
prayer, and then there'spotential. You see, life is what

(17:18):
God gives you, and what you dowith that life is what you give
back to God. What are you doingwith your life? God gave you
life. What are you doing withyour life? Are you giving it to
God or squandering life? So Godgives us gifts. God gives us
abilities, and we have theresponsibility to develop those

(17:39):
gifts and those potentials andand those uniquenesses, those
abilities. Now I meet peoplethat tell me that they've got 30
years of experience. After I'maround them a little bit, I
realize they've got about a yearof experience, about 29 years of
repeat. They have never grown,they've never advanced, they've

(18:03):
never developed, spiritually,mentally, emotionally, they're
no better than they used to be.
Have you ever heard of the koifish? Koi? Do you know you put
it in a bowl and it'll grow tofour inches? Makes you want to

(18:26):
go fishing, doesn't it? That'sabout the size I catch. But if
you put it in an aquarium, it'llgrow up to eight inches. Now,
you get it out of the aquariumand put it in a pot, it'll grow
to 18 inches to itssurroundings. But if you take it

(18:48):
out and you put it in the lake,it'll grow to 42 inches. And a
lot of church folk are like thekoi fish in their little fish
bowl, their little narrow,confined surroundings, their
small mindset and stuntedmentality and dwarf outlook. You

(19:16):
know, a lot of people are stillon milk, and Paul said, It's
time we get on some strong meat.
It's time we grow. It's time wedevelop. He said, Grow in the
grace of the knowledge of theLord Jesus Christ. And I meet
people that if anything happensbeyond what they're used to

(19:37):
having happen. They're cryingover spilt milk, they're over in
a baby crib, and they've justall been out of shape. And
sometimes God might send aleader along or a pastor along
that's got a dream or a vision.
But if we're stunned in ourthinking and and dwarfed in our

(19:57):
outlook, we'll do everything wecan. Kill that dream and
eventually broken, he'll leave,and another will come, and we'll
endure them, and one day thechurch dies, and we don't have a
clueas to why it's died. Now I want
to tell you something. You goacross the landscape of America
and the churches of America,you'll be amazed at how many

(20:18):
have died over time because ofthe coy fish mentality? It's
what we're used to, our littlegroup, our little family tree.
We know each other, but I wantyou to know something. Heaven's
a whole lot bigger than justeach other. Heaven's a big
place, and you're going to spendeternity getting to know new

(20:39):
people, and if it bothers yougetting used to them down here,
you better get out of the fishbowl. We ought to be developing,
and we ought to be better. AndI'm talking about purpose. I'm
talking about prayer. I'mtalking about potential. But
what about positive? Is thereanything wrong Keith was talking
about being positive? Is there.

(21:01):
Is there something negativeabout being positive? Well, look
at what David said. I'm going todirect my prayer to the end.
We'll look up what's he saying.
He's expecting something. Youknow, some people's Expector, I
think, has expired and Well, Iheard about a lady she was on a

(21:23):
cruise ship, I'll tell yousomething. And she saw this guy
that looked like a movie star,barrel chested, broad shoulder,
narrow waist, little bit of hairin his shirt, and he had it open
down his belly button, and shejust walked up to him. She was
all over him. She said, You lookjust like my third husband. And
he said, Ma'am, how many timesyou've been married? She said,

(21:46):
twice.
Well, folk, I've never known Godto use a negative person, never
I've been around a while. Ididn't get out of the patch
yesterday, but I've never knownGod to use a negative person. He

(22:09):
said, I'll lift up my voiceunder thee, and I'll look up.
I'm going to expect, I'llbelieve for positive things.
Because if you think you'rebeaten, you are, and if you
think you dare not, you. Youdon't. And if you like to win,
but you think you can, it'salmost certain you won't. Life's

(22:29):
battles don't always go to thestrongest or fastest man, but
soon or late, the man who winsis the man who thinks he can
centenarians. That's those thatlive to be 100 plus years of
age. I haven't gotten there yet.
Don't look at me funny. What'sthe commonality of those that

(22:49):
live to be 100 Is it theirgenetics? Is it exercise DNA?
What is it do you know thecommonality among all of those
who live to be centenariansseems to be a positive outlook
on life. Now, do you know whatmedicine said could never

(23:10):
happen? What science said couldnever happen, what doctors said
could never happen. Up till 1964Medicine said that a human body
could not run a four minute miletill a Brit by the name of Roger
Banister ran it in 3.5 9.4 Theinteresting thing The next year,

(23:37):
more than 300 broke the recordbecause they believed you could
let's get positive. Now, 1755athletes had broken the record.
I say again. I've never knownGod to use a negative person in

(23:57):
a great way. Gotta be positive.
What about the power of words?
If you're going to find the willof God, what his plan is? What
about the power of words? Lookat what verse. That verse says,
my voice. Apparently, ladies andgentlemen, words are powerful.
He didn't just pray. He voicedit. Did you ever pray out loud?

(24:22):
Just give God your voice once ina while. If you don't like doing
it in public, at least do it inprivate, but voice it, because
apparently, words are powerful.
The Bible says life and death isin the tongue, a little boy was

(24:44):
told by the preacher. He said,curse words send a chill up my
back. The little boy looked up,he said, Preacher, I'm glad you
weren't our our house. Saturday,Dad hauled off with a hammer and
missed the nail and hit histhumbnail. He. He said, If you'd
been there, you'd have froze todeath. Words are powerful, and

(25:08):
here's what I believe God'strying to teach me here lately,
God's been showing me the wordsthat I speak are powerful
because worlds. Worlds werecreated with words. God spoke
the Word, and the world wascreated. And your world is
created by your words, what yousay at your house to determine

(25:32):
what kind of atmosphere thathappens there, whether it tenses
up or whether there's freedomand love this thing of bullying
people using words and evengetting on Facebook with words,
destroy the world of others.
Incidentally, I'm sick of thepolitical world that wants to do

(25:54):
nothing but bully, burning upsomebody else's city, burning
down their businesses to gettheir way, nothing but a bully
moving along while you'reshouting happy. Do you realize
that Romans 417, call thosethings which are not as though

(26:14):
they were, that which wasn't,but call it as though it were.
Do you realize that Mark 1123,is talking about the mountain,
verily I say unto you, Thatwhosoever shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou removed and bethou cast into the sea. And
shall not doubt in his heart,but shall believe that those

(26:35):
things which he saith shall cometo pass, he shall have
whatsoever. He's saying, Maybeinstead of telling God out how
big your mountain is, just tellyour mountain how big your God
is. Just a thought, Alright, nownot to use that in the next
service. If all we do is saying,you know, my ministry will never

(26:59):
grow, and my class will nevergrow, and I'll never find the
right mate, and I'll never getthe right job, and I'll never
why don't we just start sayingPhilippians, 413, I can do all
things through Christ, whichstrengtheneth me. Why not say
Romans, chapter eight, verse 31if God before us, who can be

(27:20):
against us. What about Romans?
837, we're more than conquerorsthrough him that loved us. In
the Bible, there's a man by thename of Zechariah. Zacharias.
Zachariah. He was up in yearswall stricken when I looked in

(27:40):
on this, to the window into thispage of the Bible, he's an old
man. He's married to a woman bythe name of Elizabeth, by the
way. And God came sent an angelto him and said, You're going to
have a baby boy. The two of you,John the Baptist, you do read
your Bible, right? I'm notmaking all this up. Part of it's

(28:03):
true. And he said, You're goingto have a baby boy. He said,
What are you talking about? I'mold. It'll never happen. And you
know what happened? He couldn'tsay anything. He lost his voice,
he couldn't speak anymore, andhe never spoke again until that

(28:26):
son was born. Why? Because Godknew the power of negative
words, and he wouldn't let himspeak again. I know a whole lot
of folk. I went, don't leaveyour notes up here anymore. I
slipped and nearly read it inthe Bible I was reading this

(28:48):
last week. Never saw it before.
Do you remember the story ofJericho walls collapsing and
they marched around and aroundand around six times around the
walls of Jericho, and on theseventh time around, the walls
collapsed, and in Joshua 16 andJoshua had commanded the people,

(29:14):
saying, You shall not shout normake any noise with your voice,
neither shall any word proceedout of your mouth until the day
I bid you shout. Then shall youshout? Now? Why in the world
were God's people silent for sixdays? I never saw this, but I
think I know, because when theystarted marching around this one

(29:38):
guy saying to another guy, Idon't believe this is going to
work. And day two, he said, Itold you nothing's going to
happen. See the walls. Boy, whenyou get these pastors, they get
all these dreams and they wantto hype em up and sell us on em,
and nothing ever happens. Wegotta get rid of this guy too.
You. It so they're marchingaround. That was a pretty good

(30:01):
point, and you're not respondingas good as I'm preaching.
Sometimes when we get thetalking and we kill what God
wants to do? You say, Pastor, Iwant to know God's plan. Well,
you have to find the purpose. Itbegins by praying and finding
and using your potential beingpositive power in in words, and

(30:25):
then, may I say, provision,whatever God wants you to do,
he'll provide the resources foryou to do it. Understand, if
it's God's will, it's God'sbills, God's going to tell me
his will. He's got to pay thebill. Where God guides, he
provides. If God leaves, we'llsucceed right now. Let me just

(30:49):
throw a little thought at you,and I'll move toward a
conclusion, I'll bring my boatin. I don't live off of your
giving. I get a salary here. Idon't get a increase because the
attendance grows. I don't liveoff of your giving. I live off

(31:10):
of my own giving. I want you toget this, and I hope it happens
in your life, because the Biblesays given and shall be given
you good measure, pressed down,shaken together, running over.
Shall men give unto thy bosom?

(31:31):
And here's what I want you toknow, God will give you the
provisions to do everything hewants you to do, and then he
provides so that you provide forother people.
Somebody said, we give a 10th toGod, we save a 10th, and then
we'll work 10 times harder. Butwhatever I'm saying, if you

(31:55):
learn how to meet the needs ofothers, the blessings of God
begin to come. Let me. Let mejust throw something at you.
Interesting, I think so yougotta think it's interesting.
Jesus, when he died, two menshowed up. Two men came and they

(32:16):
requested the body of Jesus. Youremember that you they weren't
scribes, they weren't teachersof the law. They weren't even
one of the 12 apostles. AndJesus died, but two businessmen
showed up and said, We want hisbody just businessmen. They were

(32:41):
wealthy, by the way. They werebusinessmen. They said, give us
his body. And they took his bodydown from the cross, and they
washed his body, and theyperfumed it and spiced it, and
they wrapped his body up. Andthen they took his body and they
put his body in Joseph's hewnout tomb that no man had ever

(33:05):
laid in. He only needed it forthree days, so he borrowed it.
Two men came. They were nottheologians, they were not
preachers. They were just toobusy to spend that had made a
bunch of money. You say, Well,why did God bless them? I'm glad
you asked, because I wasthinking about telling you, for

(33:27):
you, that's me. You say, Well,I'm a businessman. Well, can I
just say this? He'll bless you,He'll bless you so that you can
care for his body. YouHe will bless you so you can
care for his body. This churchis his body. The mission fields

(33:50):
where the missionaries are is apart of his body. When we give
we're taking care of the body ofChrist, and I want to tell you
something. He blessed you so youcan be a blessing. And when He
blesses us, he has a lot morethan us in mind when he does

(34:11):
Pastor, I want to fulfill God'splan for my life. Purpose. Have
you figured out his purpose?
Move into prayer and ask himabout it. Look at the potential
that that you have. Get positiveabout it. Remember there's power

(34:34):
in words. And remember onething, if it's God's will, he'll
provide the provisions, becausehe'll pay the bills. And if
you'll take those simple things,you can begin to write your own
story, the greatest story everwritten, being in the very will

(34:57):
of God. And can I say to you asa. Church, not to lost people,
but to you, I want you to writethe greatest story ever written.
And each one of us have ourpotential and our abilities and
our prayer life, and if we findour purpose, God will provide,

(35:21):
and God will use us to take careof his body.
Father, thanks for being a partof the voice of the Nazarene.
Visit us every Sunday at 9amwith B and C's pastor, Ray
LaSalle, for more informationregarding B and C, visit
bucyrusnazarene.org, you.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

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Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

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