Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Is there a hindrance in your life that the Holy
Spirit has identified?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The truth is either now or in the past. There
are areas of our life just as much.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
A hindrance to us and God's work in our life
as pride and egotism and arrogance oftentimes was in.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The life of the apostle Peter.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And so what we find as we go through these
passages and you look at his life, what we find
is the Lord Jesus Christ beginning to break Peter in
order to deal with his pride.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
How much value do you place on possessions, position influence?
Today on in touch the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley,
we'll look at the things we treasure and we'll see
what happens if anything other than Jesus is at the
top of that priority list. Stay with us and learn
about the process of brokenness. Here's doctor Stanley.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Brokenness is God's method of dealing with that self life
within all of us, which is that desire to act
independently of God, and his ultimate objective is to bring
every aspect of our life and the total submission to
His will, so that God's ultimate purpose for creating us
would be accomplished. Oftentimes we object to the way God
(01:19):
does that.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Now I want you to listen very carefully. There are
only four points to this message.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
The first one is extremely important that you understand what
we mean by God targeting our area of brokenness. So
what he does, he, through brokenness brings our physical body,
our soul, our mind, our will, our motion, our conscience,
our consciousness into submission to the indwelling presence of the
(01:46):
Holy Spirit, who is there residing within us for the
purpose of goiding and controlling our life.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
But it's a struggle not for most of us, but
for all of us. And so what is this process?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
That is, how does God go about breaking an individuals?
So I want you to jot down four things, And
the first one is.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
This, God targets the area. God targets the area of
our life in which we need to be broken. This
is the process.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
God targets the area and our life in which we
need to be broken.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
All of us have.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Strengths and all of us have weaknesses, all of us,
and so you would think, well, what we are to do?
We had to live by our strengths and work on
our weaknesses. But the truth is that in our strengths,
we probably are the most vulnerable because that's where we
let our guard down and our weaknesses. We're the most
conscious of our weaknesses because we think I'm so weak here.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
We probably are more guarded there.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
But I want you to understand how God operates when
we say that he targets the area in which we
need to be broken.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Here's the way he does it.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
He looks at our life and sees what's the most
valuable to us, what is the most precious to us,
what's the last.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Thing in the world we want to give up?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
And God puts his finger and begins to break us
in that thing that we depend upon, that which we
cherish the most, that which we hold on to, in
order to deal with something over here that probably most
of us don't want to deal with. So when we
say that God targets an air in our.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Life, that's what we're talking about. Now.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Peter's life is a beautiful example of God identifying and
targeting the area he has to deal with. So what
I want you to do is I want you to
follow me through some events in the life of Peter,
and I want you to see if you can detect
what it is and if you're listening, if you just
take your Bible and read these verses with us and
(03:55):
see if you can identify what Jesus saw as the
girl is hindrance in Peter's life, and the way Jesus
broke Peter in order to deal with his hindrance. So
let's begin with the fourteenth chapter of Matthew, and you
recalling this chapter. Jesus had left his apostles went up
(04:16):
in the mountain to pray. They're out on the ship
and the storm comes up, and so they are in
desperate conditions, scared to death.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And so here comes Jesus walking on the water.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
And they cried out for fear, and he said, now
take courage his side, do not be.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Afraid Verse twenty eight. Peter, now he's the only one.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it's you, command
me to come to you on the water. Lord, if
you ask me, I'll come walking on the water. Now
remember this that Peter had never seen anybody walk on water,
nor had any of the other apostles ever seen anybody
walk on water, except that day when they saw Jesus.
So here he says, he says, Lord, ives you do
(05:00):
you tell.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Me, and I'll walk on the water to you. So
I want you to turn to Matthew chapter sixteen.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Matthew Chapter sixteen is the beginning of a turning point
of the ministry of Jesus when he says to his apostles,
I'm going to have to suffer and die and rise
again verse twenty one.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Of Matthew sixteen.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
From that time, Jesus Christ began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from
the eldest and the chief priests and scribes, and be
killed and be raised up on the third day. And
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Can you imagine somebody rebuke God.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
He began to rebuke the Lord Jesus, and he said
to him, God forbid it. Lord, this shall never happen
to you. And Jesus turned and said to Peter, get
behind me, Satan, you're a stumbling block to me. You're
not setting your mind on God's interest, but on man's.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Now if you'll.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Notice, of course, there are the experiences in life of Peter.
But everywhere you see Peter, what happens. He is out front,
impulsively doing what What is it that is so paramount
in Peter's life? What is it in his life that
he saw as a hindrance that he must deal with
(06:19):
in order for Peter to become the man he became.
And you recall he became the pretrid Pentecouse. He was
the foundation and the strength.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Of that early church.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And what is it that Jesus saw in this man
whom he called the rock that he had to shatter,
he had to deal with the great hindrance in his life?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
What was it? Pride, I'll never leave you.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Oh, I know that James and John all the rest
of them may count on me the old rock when.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Everybody else has left you. I'll be here. You're not
gonna wash my feet. They're not gonna kill you. Call
on me.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I'll walk on the water. Oh, prideful Peter, let me
ask you something. Is there a hindrance in your life
that the Holy Spirit has identified that's just as pronounced
in your life as it is in Peter's life? Now,
Jesus had to deal with that. And the truth is,
either now or in the past. There are areas of
(07:22):
our life justice pronounced just as much a hindrance to us,
and God's work in our life as pride and egotism
and arrogance oftentimes was in the life of the apostle Peter.
And so what we find as we go through these
passages and you look at his life, what we find
is the Lord Jesus Christ beginning to break Peter in
(07:46):
order to deal with his pride.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
So I want you to watch the process.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So the first step in the process is God targets
the area in our life that he must deal with.
It maybe a habit, It may be an attitude, It
may be a relationship.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
It may be our covetous.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Greedy grass of something we do not want to give up,
we do not want to surrender. But the Holy Spirit
is the one who's to identify that in your life.
Second step in the process, and that is that God
arranges the circumstances in which we are to be broken.
God arranges the circumstances in which we are to be broken.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And let me say two things about that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
First of all, sometimes He puts it all together in
order for us to be broken. Sometimes God allows us
and sees us moving in a direction in which we
will get ourselves in a position by our own actions
and our own moves. He will allow us to get
(08:47):
ourselves in a position whereby the spirit of God begins
to break us. So either way, God is behind the process. Now,
imagine what Peter was thinking about sinking.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Then also imagine what he must have thought.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
The rest of his apostle friends were thinking, there he
goes again, And how embarrassed he must have been, because
you see, if Peter was up to his old, regular,
self centeredself, he was probably thinking, watch me, fellas and
out on the water he began, and now he had
(09:25):
to come back, brought by the Lord Jesus Christ sinking.
Imagine how humiliating that must have been.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You see what Jesus did.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Jesus took advantage of every opportunity to chisel away, chip away,
and prune away every ounce of dependence Peter had upon himself.
Now here's what I want you to see. God zeroes
in and targets that which hinders us.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
The outward expression of this is pride. Count on me
can handle it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I want to be first. Everybody else may be wrong,
but I'm going to be right. You can see his
pride and how the Lord Jesus is working in him.
Now let me ask you a question, is there something
going on in your circumstance today that you don't like?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
You're thinking, God, what are you up to?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Could it be that He's targeted some area of hindrance
in your life and you're in the process of having
targeted it.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
God is in the.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Process of setting up circumstances in your life to absolutely
remove everything that you can grasp, hold on, to depend upon,
rely upon except other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's part of the process.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
He doesn't want us relying on anything else but him.
Third thing I want you to jomp down in the
passage is this God chooses the tools with which to
break us. Now we don't like them. And let me
say two or three things about the tools. Number one,
they're beyond our control. We don't do the choose using
(11:00):
God does the choosing. The second thing I want you
to remember is this that you cannot be broken privately,
that is all secluded in a capsule because somebody around you.
It's gonna spill on somebody or that's your wife, or
your children, your parents, your friends, whoever it may be.
(11:20):
Now you know, the worst to God ever uses in
anybody's life our enemies. He uses the enemies to break us.
That's the tool. And sometimes he'll use the tool that
is so precious.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
And dear to you. You don't know how to respond
to that. You know what God does?
Speaker 1 (11:38):
He just keeps on increasing the pressure. He's got his
eye on the goal, dealing with the hindrance. And all
the time we're over here thinking, God, why is this
happening to me?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Why don't you straighten this out? God has answer for
all that. He knows.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
He's dealing with whatever's hindering us in our life. Then
the last thing I want you to job down, that
is God controls the pressure in the process of being broken.
Remember that it's not God's purpose to break your spirit,
because that would be devastating. God breaks the stubborn will
in order that my will may be subdued to the
(12:16):
spirit of God, who is within me. And now what
I am keyed in on is Lord, what would you
have me to do? So He breaks our stubborn will
to bring it in submission to His spirit, who is
within us. Not our spirit, but our will. He's the
process of breaking. Now, my resistance to the breaking process
(12:37):
will prolong it, or my willingness.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
To yield early will shorten it.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So I do have something to do with a breaking process.
But you see, sometimes who are you?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Stubborn?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Will willful? Just like the apostle Peter. Somehow I'm going
to be able to handle this. Peter had a very
difficult time giving up control. But you know what every
one of them us do, Amen, We don't want to
give up control. Somehow, we want to have a little
bit of the final say. But you see, brokenness is
(13:12):
for the purpose of bringing us to the point when
we don't have anymore. Say, Lord Jesus, what will you
have me to do in this? Lord Jesus, what will
you have me to do in this? Lord Jesus, what
will you have me to do in this? And my friend,
at any point in your life and mind, when we
are confronted with a decision or a situation or a
(13:34):
circumstance and our conversation with God begins on any other
line of thought, mark it down. He's targeted some area
that he's going to deal with until you can begin
to say.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Lord, what do you want in my life?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
And you see, if there are none of those things
back there, then there's no conflict between us and God.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And so the question is Lord, what do you want.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
If I, by stubbornness and self will and selfishness, decide
that I am not going to give up my right here.
All I'm doing is forcing God to bring on more
pain and more hurt and more suffering until I'm willing
to give up. Now, there are those who can hang
(14:27):
in there, resisting God, refuse to deal with it, and
after a period of.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Time, you know what God does, just sets him on
the chef.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
You see what God's doing by breaking us is loving us.
He sees the potential. Now we said Peter's biggest problem
was pride. God broke him. When did he break him? Luke,
chapter twenty two. Look at this, He's when I believe
Peter was ultimately broken out there by the fire. He
(15:00):
denied to a young woman that he knew Christ. He
denied to two different men he knew him.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
And then here's what I want you to notice.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
When he looked into the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ,
after all of his three years of boasting and pride.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And arrogance, when he said.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I don't know him for the third time, and Jesus
didn't say anything, He just turned and looked at Peter
the Bible says, he broke down and overwhelming brokenness, guilt, shame, sorrow.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
The Bible says, he wept bitterly.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Peter's broken and shattered and splintered, and there's nothing left
his savior, his best friend, is going to the cross
and die.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
The apostles are all scattered, and he has.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Failed to support the man who said he was God,
and the man whom he testified as being God. And
he's failed in it. Shattered, splendid, broken, Here he is now.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It is this man who, in.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
The early Church has great faith, and God begins to
work through his life in a magnificent way.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
It is this same man, after he's broken, turned.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
To First Peter his epistle First Peter, Chapter five. It
is this man, now, having been broken, shattered, splintered, now
in a usable condition. Listen to the epistle that he
wrote years later. Verse five of chapter five. You younger man,
likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you
(16:50):
clothe yourselves with humility towards one another. For God is
opposed to the proud, and brother. He could write baton
with a great conviction. God is opposed to the proud,
but gives grace to the humble, and then he says,
humble yourselves, therefore into the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you at the proper time.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Is that not what.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Happened to the apostle Peter after three years of Christ
Jesus working on him, breaking him, the process going on,
finally broken and shattered.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
What happens in his broken, shattered condition.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
At the right time, Jesus, the resurrected Lord, having sent
the Holy spirit of the apostle Peter's life, Now he
transforms him, and the day of Pentecost he is exalted
as the spokesman of the Apostles.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
He's exalted as the Rock.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
He is that tremendous leader that God starts and sets
out in that New Testament Church. But that proud, arrogant,
egotistical Peter had to be shattered and broken, and the
peace is then put back together in their proper place,
so that all of this determination and persistence and strength
(18:03):
could now be having been saddlebusted, could now be corralled
and now be directed to the Lord's work. I want
you to listen to something that you may have heard before,
but it just fits this particular message, and I want
to say to the women. Most of these things are written,
(18:25):
will say a man this and a man that, But
God intends for it to include men and women as well.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Listen to this when God wants.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
To drill a man, and thrill a man, and skill
a man to play the noblest part. When he yearns
with all of his heart to create so great and
bold a man that all the world shall be amazed.
Watch his methods, watch his ways, How he ruthlessly perfects.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Whom he royally elects.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
How he hammers him and hurts him, and with mighty
blows converts him into trial shapes.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Of clay, which only God understands.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
While his tortured heart is crying, and he lifts beseeching hands,
How he bends but never breaks, when his good he undertakes,
How he uses whom he chooses, and with every purpose,
fuses him by every act, induces him to try his
(19:41):
splendor out. God knows what he's about. Sometime we think, God,
what are you about? God knows what he's about breaking
that which we hold dear, that I may deal with
that which hinders me, that, having dealt with it, you
(20:03):
and I may become what God so beautifully and perfectly
designed for our life. And it's following the humiliation of
brokenness that God exalts us at the proper time.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
You're listening to in Touch, the teaching ministry of doctor
Charles Stanley. The focus and first allegiance of a believer
should be God and God alone. When you allow other
things to take His place, you'll always find yourself empty
and unfulfilled. To discover more how God can use difficulty
and problems to achieve spiritual goals, visit us at InTouch
(20:43):
dot org. To go back over what you just heard,
click on the link to Today on Radio, and if
you go to the bookstore page, you can order a
copy of today's complete message, Brokenness the Process, or order
doctor Stanley's teaching set titled Brokenness the Way to Blessing Again.
You'll find these resources at in touch dot org. To
(21:04):
call our texts, the number is one eight hundred in Touch.
To write to us, address your letter to in Touch
Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three zero
three five seven. How willing are you to yield your
desires and plans to Jesus? Today's moment with Charles Stanley
is coming.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Up in places where churches have closed or never existed.
The need for discipleship beyond evangelism is urgent. Our mission
is to train people on the frontlines of ministry through
life principles training based on the biblical teaching of doctor
Charles Stanley, shaping people to reflect Jesus and empowering them
(21:43):
to fulfill the Great Commission. For more info, visit in
touch dot org slash global.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
You've got to be willing to set aside time. That's
a real victory.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Just imagine what it would have been like to look
over doctor Stanley's shoulder as he was spending time with
the scriptures. Doctor Stanley spent hours in preparation for his sermons,
with photos of his Bibles, resources, and handwritten notes. This
new book will give you an intimate look into doctor
Stanley's daily walk with the Father God turned the light
on Charles F. Stanley's personal Bibles, books and notes available now.
(22:18):
Go to InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You're listening to in Touch. There's a thin and dangerous
line between a little me time and a selfish spirit
with insight. For believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
If their spirit in life is it's all about me myself,
and I am my three favorite friends, and I have
no relationship to Jesus Christ or if I'm saved. But
what matters in life to me is what's happening to me,
you know. It's selfishness, self centeredness, and arrogance and pride
are all anti christ attitudes because I can't love Jesus
(22:59):
and love me in a prideful way. I can't yield
myself to him and honor him and obey him at
the same time, just want my self will People don't
want to be crowded into, shall we say, a narrow
way Jesus talked about there's a narrow way and there's
a broadway. Narrowness does not mean that I cannot live
a fantastic life, have fun in life, and be successful
(23:20):
in life, or whatever it might be. If I am
a rebellious person and I want to have my way
and I'm proud, frol an, egotistical and all the rest,
that is the very opposite of everything Jesus said. So
what I'm saying is, don't give me that now. If
the Christian life's going to church, giving a little money
and praying everyone in a while, life I have that,
But if it's living under his lordship, following his will,
(23:42):
doing what he wants me to do, seeking his guidance
in my life, I don't want that.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Well, all, that's what Jesus is about.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
If I don't want what Jesus is about, I don't
want him.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Learn more about what it means to be a Christian
at in Touch done, o RG. Is there someone who
needs the truth that you heard today? Share this with
and then tell us what happened tomorrow. On in Touch.
Our natural reaction to brokenness is to reject or deny it.
Join us Friday for a look at the life of
Jonah on in Touch, the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley.
(24:18):
This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries Atlanta,
Georgia and remains on this station through the grace of
God and your faithful prayers and gifts.
Is there a hindrance in your life that the Holy
Spirit has identified?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The truth is either now or in the past. There
are areas of our life just as much.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
A hindrance to us and God's work in our life
as pride and egotism and arrogance oftentimes was in.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The life of the apostle Peter.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And so what we find as we go through these
passages and you look at his life, what we find
is the Lord Jesus Christ beginning to break Peter in
order to deal with his pride.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
How much value do you place on possessions, position influence?
Today on in touch the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley,
we'll look at the things we treasure and we'll see
what happens if anything other than Jesus is at the
top of that priority list. Stay with us and learn
about the process of brokenness. Here's doctor Stanley.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Brokenness is God's method of dealing with that self life
within all of us, which is that desire to act
independently of God, and his ultimate objective is to bring
every aspect of our life and the total submission to
His will, so that God's ultimate purpose for creating us
would be accomplished. Oftentimes we object to the way God
(01:19):
does that.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Now I want you to listen very carefully. There are
only four points to this message.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
The first one is extremely important that you understand what
we mean by God targeting our area of brokenness. So
what he does, he, through brokenness brings our physical body,
our soul, our mind, our will, our motion, our conscience,
our consciousness into submission to the indwelling presence of the
(01:46):
Holy Spirit, who is there residing within us for the
purpose of goiding and controlling our life.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
But it's a struggle not for most of us, but
for all of us. And so what is this process?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
That is, how does God go about breaking an individuals?
So I want you to jot down four things, And
the first one is.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
This, God targets the area. God targets the area of
our life in which we need to be broken. This
is the process.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
God targets the area and our life in which we
need to be broken.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
All of us have.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Strengths and all of us have weaknesses, all of us,
and so you would think, well, what we are to do?
We had to live by our strengths and work on
our weaknesses. But the truth is that in our strengths,
we probably are the most vulnerable because that's where we
let our guard down and our weaknesses. We're the most
conscious of our weaknesses because we think I'm so weak here.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
We probably are more guarded there.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
But I want you to understand how God operates when
we say that he targets the area in which we
need to be broken.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Here's the way he does it.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
He looks at our life and sees what's the most
valuable to us, what is the most precious to us,
what's the last.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Thing in the world we want to give up?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
And God puts his finger and begins to break us
in that thing that we depend upon, that which we
cherish the most, that which we hold on to, in
order to deal with something over here that probably most
of us don't want to deal with. So when we
say that God targets an air in our.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Life, that's what we're talking about. Now.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Peter's life is a beautiful example of God identifying and
targeting the area he has to deal with. So what
I want you to do is I want you to
follow me through some events in the life of Peter,
and I want you to see if you can detect
what it is and if you're listening, if you just
take your Bible and read these verses with us and
(03:55):
see if you can identify what Jesus saw as the
girl is hindrance in Peter's life, and the way Jesus
broke Peter in order to deal with his hindrance. So
let's begin with the fourteenth chapter of Matthew, and you
recalling this chapter. Jesus had left his apostles went up
(04:16):
in the mountain to pray. They're out on the ship
and the storm comes up, and so they are in
desperate conditions, scared to death.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And so here comes Jesus walking on the water.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
And they cried out for fear, and he said, now
take courage his side, do not be.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Afraid Verse twenty eight. Peter, now he's the only one.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it's you, command
me to come to you on the water. Lord, if
you ask me, I'll come walking on the water. Now
remember this that Peter had never seen anybody walk on water,
nor had any of the other apostles ever seen anybody
walk on water, except that day when they saw Jesus.
So here he says, he says, Lord, ives you do
(05:00):
you tell.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Me, and I'll walk on the water to you. So
I want you to turn to Matthew chapter sixteen.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Matthew Chapter sixteen is the beginning of a turning point
of the ministry of Jesus when he says to his apostles,
I'm going to have to suffer and die and rise
again verse twenty one.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Of Matthew sixteen.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
From that time, Jesus Christ began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from
the eldest and the chief priests and scribes, and be
killed and be raised up on the third day. And
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Can you imagine somebody rebuke God.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
He began to rebuke the Lord Jesus, and he said
to him, God forbid it. Lord, this shall never happen
to you. And Jesus turned and said to Peter, get
behind me, Satan, you're a stumbling block to me. You're
not setting your mind on God's interest, but on man's.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Now if you'll.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Notice, of course, there are the experiences in life of Peter.
But everywhere you see Peter, what happens. He is out front,
impulsively doing what What is it that is so paramount
in Peter's life? What is it in his life that
he saw as a hindrance that he must deal with
(06:19):
in order for Peter to become the man he became.
And you recall he became the pretrid Pentecouse. He was
the foundation and the strength.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Of that early church.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And what is it that Jesus saw in this man
whom he called the rock that he had to shatter,
he had to deal with the great hindrance in his life?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
What was it? Pride, I'll never leave you.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Oh, I know that James and John all the rest
of them may count on me the old rock when.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Everybody else has left you. I'll be here. You're not
gonna wash my feet. They're not gonna kill you. Call
on me.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
I'll walk on the water. Oh, prideful Peter, let me
ask you something. Is there a hindrance in your life
that the Holy Spirit has identified that's just as pronounced
in your life as it is in Peter's life? Now,
Jesus had to deal with that. And the truth is,
either now or in the past. There are areas of
(07:22):
our life justice pronounced just as much a hindrance to us,
and God's work in our life as pride and egotism
and arrogance oftentimes was in the life of the apostle Peter.
And so what we find as we go through these
passages and you look at his life, what we find
is the Lord Jesus Christ beginning to break Peter in
(07:46):
order to deal with his pride.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
So I want you to watch the process.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
So the first step in the process is God targets
the area in our life that he must deal with.
It maybe a habit, It may be an attitude, It
may be a relationship.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
It may be our covetous.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Greedy grass of something we do not want to give up,
we do not want to surrender. But the Holy Spirit
is the one who's to identify that in your life.
Second step in the process, and that is that God
arranges the circumstances in which we are to be broken.
God arranges the circumstances in which we are to be broken.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And let me say two things about that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
First of all, sometimes He puts it all together in
order for us to be broken. Sometimes God allows us
and sees us moving in a direction in which we
will get ourselves in a position by our own actions
and our own moves. He will allow us to get
(08:47):
ourselves in a position whereby the spirit of God begins
to break us. So either way, God is behind the process. Now,
imagine what Peter was thinking about sinking.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Then also imagine what he must have thought.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
The rest of his apostle friends were thinking, there he
goes again, And how embarrassed he must have been, because
you see, if Peter was up to his old, regular,
self centeredself, he was probably thinking, watch me, fellas and
out on the water he began, and now he had
(09:25):
to come back, brought by the Lord Jesus Christ sinking.
Imagine how humiliating that must have been.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You see what Jesus did.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Jesus took advantage of every opportunity to chisel away, chip away,
and prune away every ounce of dependence Peter had upon himself.
Now here's what I want you to see. God zeroes
in and targets that which hinders us.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
The outward expression of this is pride. Count on me
can handle it.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I want to be first. Everybody else may be wrong,
but I'm going to be right. You can see his
pride and how the Lord Jesus is working in him.
Now let me ask you a question, is there something
going on in your circumstance today that you don't like?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
You're thinking, God, what are you up to?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Could it be that He's targeted some area of hindrance
in your life and you're in the process of having
targeted it.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
God is in the.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Process of setting up circumstances in your life to absolutely
remove everything that you can grasp, hold on, to depend upon,
rely upon except other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's part of the process.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
He doesn't want us relying on anything else but him.
Third thing I want you to jomp down in the
passage is this God chooses the tools with which to
break us. Now we don't like them. And let me
say two or three things about the tools. Number one,
they're beyond our control. We don't do the choose using
(11:00):
God does the choosing. The second thing I want you
to remember is this that you cannot be broken privately,
that is all secluded in a capsule because somebody around you.
It's gonna spill on somebody or that's your wife, or
your children, your parents, your friends, whoever it may be.
(11:20):
Now you know, the worst to God ever uses in
anybody's life our enemies. He uses the enemies to break us.
That's the tool. And sometimes he'll use the tool that
is so precious.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
And dear to you. You don't know how to respond
to that. You know what God does?
Speaker 1 (11:38):
He just keeps on increasing the pressure. He's got his
eye on the goal, dealing with the hindrance. And all
the time we're over here thinking, God, why is this
happening to me?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Why don't you straighten this out? God has answer for
all that. He knows.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
He's dealing with whatever's hindering us in our life. Then
the last thing I want you to job down, that
is God controls the pressure in the process of being broken.
Remember that it's not God's purpose to break your spirit,
because that would be devastating. God breaks the stubborn will
in order that my will may be subdued to the
(12:16):
spirit of God, who is within me. And now what
I am keyed in on is Lord, what would you
have me to do? So He breaks our stubborn will
to bring it in submission to His spirit, who is
within us. Not our spirit, but our will. He's the
process of breaking. Now, my resistance to the breaking process
(12:37):
will prolong it, or my willingness.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
To yield early will shorten it.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So I do have something to do with a breaking process.
But you see, sometimes who are you?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Stubborn?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Will willful? Just like the apostle Peter. Somehow I'm going
to be able to handle this. Peter had a very
difficult time giving up control. But you know what every
one of them us do, Amen, We don't want to
give up control. Somehow, we want to have a little
bit of the final say. But you see, brokenness is
(13:12):
for the purpose of bringing us to the point when
we don't have anymore. Say, Lord Jesus, what will you
have me to do in this? Lord Jesus, what will
you have me to do in this? Lord Jesus, what
will you have me to do in this? And my friend,
at any point in your life and mind, when we
are confronted with a decision or a situation or a
(13:34):
circumstance and our conversation with God begins on any other
line of thought, mark it down. He's targeted some area
that he's going to deal with until you can begin
to say.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Lord, what do you want in my life?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
And you see, if there are none of those things
back there, then there's no conflict between us and God.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And so the question is Lord, what do you want.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
If I, by stubbornness and self will and selfishness, decide
that I am not going to give up my right here.
All I'm doing is forcing God to bring on more
pain and more hurt and more suffering until I'm willing
to give up. Now, there are those who can hang
(14:27):
in there, resisting God, refuse to deal with it, and
after a period of.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Time, you know what God does, just sets him on
the chef.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
You see what God's doing by breaking us is loving us.
He sees the potential. Now we said Peter's biggest problem
was pride. God broke him. When did he break him? Luke,
chapter twenty two. Look at this, He's when I believe
Peter was ultimately broken out there by the fire. He
(15:00):
denied to a young woman that he knew Christ. He
denied to two different men he knew him.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
And then here's what I want you to notice.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
When he looked into the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ,
after all of his three years of boasting and pride.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And arrogance, when he said.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
I don't know him for the third time, and Jesus
didn't say anything, He just turned and looked at Peter
the Bible says, he broke down and overwhelming brokenness, guilt, shame, sorrow.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
The Bible says, he wept bitterly.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Peter's broken and shattered and splintered, and there's nothing left
his savior, his best friend, is going to the cross
and die.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
The apostles are all scattered, and he has.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Failed to support the man who said he was God,
and the man whom he testified as being God. And
he's failed in it. Shattered, splendid, broken, Here he is now.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It is this man who, in.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
The early Church has great faith, and God begins to
work through his life in a magnificent way.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
It is this same man, after he's broken, turned.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
To First Peter his epistle First Peter, Chapter five. It
is this man, now, having been broken, shattered, splintered, now
in a usable condition. Listen to the epistle that he
wrote years later. Verse five of chapter five. You younger man,
likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you
(16:50):
clothe yourselves with humility towards one another. For God is
opposed to the proud, and brother. He could write baton
with a great conviction. God is opposed to the proud,
but gives grace to the humble, and then he says,
humble yourselves, therefore into the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you at the proper time.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Is that not what.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Happened to the apostle Peter after three years of Christ
Jesus working on him, breaking him, the process going on,
finally broken and shattered.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
What happens in his broken, shattered condition.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
At the right time, Jesus, the resurrected Lord, having sent
the Holy spirit of the apostle Peter's life, Now he
transforms him, and the day of Pentecost he is exalted
as the spokesman of the Apostles.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
He's exalted as the Rock.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
He is that tremendous leader that God starts and sets
out in that New Testament Church. But that proud, arrogant,
egotistical Peter had to be shattered and broken, and the
peace is then put back together in their proper place,
so that all of this determination and persistence and strength
(18:03):
could now be having been saddlebusted, could now be corralled
and now be directed to the Lord's work. I want
you to listen to something that you may have heard before,
but it just fits this particular message, and I want
to say to the women. Most of these things are written,
(18:25):
will say a man this and a man that, But
God intends for it to include men and women as well.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Listen to this when God wants.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
To drill a man, and thrill a man, and skill
a man to play the noblest part. When he yearns
with all of his heart to create so great and
bold a man that all the world shall be amazed.
Watch his methods, watch his ways, How he ruthlessly perfects.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Whom he royally elects.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
How he hammers him and hurts him, and with mighty
blows converts him into trial shapes.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Of clay, which only God understands.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
While his tortured heart is crying, and he lifts beseeching hands,
How he bends but never breaks, when his good he undertakes,
How he uses whom he chooses, and with every purpose,
fuses him by every act, induces him to try his
(19:41):
splendor out. God knows what he's about. Sometime we think, God,
what are you about? God knows what he's about breaking
that which we hold dear, that I may deal with
that which hinders me, that, having dealt with it, you
(20:03):
and I may become what God so beautifully and perfectly
designed for our life. And it's following the humiliation of
brokenness that God exalts us at the proper time.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
You're listening to in Touch, the teaching ministry of doctor
Charles Stanley. The focus and first allegiance of a believer
should be God and God alone. When you allow other
things to take His place, you'll always find yourself empty
and unfulfilled. To discover more how God can use difficulty
and problems to achieve spiritual goals, visit us at InTouch
(20:43):
dot org. To go back over what you just heard,
click on the link to Today on Radio, and if
you go to the bookstore page, you can order a
copy of today's complete message, Brokenness the Process, or order
doctor Stanley's teaching set titled Brokenness the Way to Blessing Again.
You'll find these resources at in touch dot org. To
(21:04):
call our texts, the number is one eight hundred in Touch.
To write to us, address your letter to in Touch
Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three zero
three five seven. How willing are you to yield your
desires and plans to Jesus? Today's moment with Charles Stanley
is coming.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Up in places where churches have closed or never existed.
The need for discipleship beyond evangelism is urgent. Our mission
is to train people on the frontlines of ministry through
life principles training based on the biblical teaching of doctor
Charles Stanley, shaping people to reflect Jesus and empowering them
(21:43):
to fulfill the Great Commission. For more info, visit in
touch dot org slash global.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
You've got to be willing to set aside time. That's
a real victory.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Just imagine what it would have been like to look
over doctor Stanley's shoulder as he was spending time with
the scriptures. Doctor Stanley spent hours in preparation for his sermons,
with photos of his Bibles, resources, and handwritten notes. This
new book will give you an intimate look into doctor
Stanley's daily walk with the Father God turned the light
on Charles F. Stanley's personal Bibles, books and notes available now.
(22:18):
Go to InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
You're listening to in Touch. There's a thin and dangerous
line between a little me time and a selfish spirit
with insight. For believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
If their spirit in life is it's all about me myself,
and I am my three favorite friends, and I have
no relationship to Jesus Christ or if I'm saved. But
what matters in life to me is what's happening to me,
you know. It's selfishness, self centeredness, and arrogance and pride
are all anti christ attitudes because I can't love Jesus
(22:59):
and love me in a prideful way. I can't yield
myself to him and honor him and obey him at
the same time, just want my self will People don't
want to be crowded into, shall we say, a narrow
way Jesus talked about there's a narrow way and there's
a broadway. Narrowness does not mean that I cannot live
a fantastic life, have fun in life, and be successful
(23:20):
in life, or whatever it might be. If I am
a rebellious person and I want to have my way
and I'm proud, frol an, egotistical and all the rest,
that is the very opposite of everything Jesus said. So
what I'm saying is, don't give me that now. If
the Christian life's going to church, giving a little money
and praying everyone in a while, life I have that,
But if it's living under his lordship, following his will,
(23:42):
doing what he wants me to do, seeking his guidance
in my life, I don't want that.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Well, all, that's what Jesus is about.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
If I don't want what Jesus is about, I don't
want him.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Learn more about what it means to be a Christian
at in Touch done, o RG. Is there someone who
needs the truth that you heard today? Share this with
and then tell us what happened tomorrow. On in Touch.
Our natural reaction to brokenness is to reject or deny it.
Join us Friday for a look at the life of
Jonah on in Touch, the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley.
(24:18):
This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries Atlanta,
Georgia and remains on this station through the grace of
God and your faithful prayers and gifts.
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