Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Knowing God's Voice, Doing God's Will Pt.5

I know this morning, I don’t know for sure what, but as I was—it was one of those nights I just couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t get off till about three o’clock this morning as I was just interceding.

This was prior to this e-mail, and as I woke up to this e-mail, but [I was] just praying for Tony and not only for Africa but just for the ordering of our steps here, as we live here in Sodom. Looking for the wisdom of God, and in the midst of all of our prosperity, believing Father, praying for us as a people that—as the prophets had spoken, they’re going to be destroyed because of their prosperity.

We’re not going to see that happen. Amen? We’re going to be a people that keep our eye on the prize, the high calling of God that’s in Christ Jesus. We’re going to use this world but not abuse it. You have to be keen to do that. It’s not an easy thing to live lives of faith in the midst of abundance. We’ve talked about it before. These folks over there in Kenya right now that are praying "Give us this day our daily bread," can pray that in faith. And we in all of our abundance must pray it in faith. Amen? Don’t lose sight of who our provider is and that what we have is a daily provision, because it can take wings and be gone in a day, praise God. So be prayerful and don’t trust in anything but the Lord and His grace and His strength in our midst.

Let’s go ahead and pick back up where we’ve been in our study as we’ve been talking about hearing the voice of God and knowing that voice, distinct from our own individual appetites. We said that before we can really know the voice of God we have to become very familiar with our own voice, our own will. We have to come to grips with our own personal agendas in life and be able to pray like Jesus did in the garden: "Father, if it be possible [I do have a preference, and I know what it is, and if it be possible], let this cup pass from me; [Bring me out of this trial. If it be possible, here’s my preference of what I would like to see in my life and the life of my children, but most importantly] nevertheless, not my will, Thy will be done." Amen? Can you pray that? Can I pray that? Over the years, as we’ve resigned ourselves to the will of God—and that’s why we took so much time in months past. You can never pray "Thy will be done" in faith, and not only in faith but in a true anticipation of the justice of God and the mercy of God, until we understand clearly the sovereignty of God.

So we took a lot of time over this last year teaching on the sovereignty of God. And as it comes to personal guidance, beloved, if we’re resting in our own understanding, in the strength of our own right arm, if we’re trusting in the broken reed of Egypt, if you’re trusting in your 401(k)s, and you’re trusting in the government, and you’re trusting in your job, then we’ve failed to see that one basic premise that every one of us, from little children, has learned and [it] becomes one of our first prayers. Other than the Lord’s Prayer, we teach our children to pray, "The Lord is my shepherd; [say it] I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1). Do we believe that?

You see, if we don’t believe the Lord is our shepherd, if we don’t believe that He’s leading us beside still waters, He’s causing us to lie down in the green pastures, that He’s restoring our souls, then we’re going to be in anxiety and we’re always going to be having Plan B and Plan C. But the reality is this, praise God: the Lord is our shepherd; He is leading us into paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Amen? There is surely goodness and mercy that are available to us all the days of our life, in preparation to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Do you believe this morning that the steps of the righteous man, the man in right relationship to the Lord, are ordered by the Lord? If we believe that, then all of our need to understand what God is doing is able to be replaced with faith—assurance in the sovereignty of God; His intention of good for us all of our days. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord . . . " (Psalm 37:23).

So I’ve shared with you that what we need to do is come to that place—and over the years I’ve come to that place—I believe that I’m in the will of God. And I believe that once I begin to—and we’ll look at some Scripture this morning—that if I begin to get out of the will of God, He will set my course right. But until God sovereignly, supernaturally, comes in and brings to my attention, through an inner witness, through counsel, through direct revelation of the Word of God—not me seeking it, "Oh, God, I need to know Your will"—I’m in Your will! Because the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and I can rest in that.

You see, people that are obsessed with every intricate part of the will of God—"I’m afraid that I’m going to miss the will of God. What’s Your will?"—are living in fear and not in faith, unable to understand the perfect love of God, because the love of God casts out all fear. Father cares for us! And many of us live in fear that if we take one wrong step, that we’re going to ruin things for life. Aren’t you glad that God is not in any way bound up, incapable, of effecting His purpose for our lives because of some of our bonehead decisions? I’ve made some bonehead decisions over the years, and God always sets it right, praise God. Why? Because I have a heart for the will of God. Beloved, if you have a heart to do the will of God, you’ll know the will of God. And that’s the thing that the Scripture makes clear to us.

Now, let me show you a couple of things. Those are just some general principles that we want to address this morning, but we were talking in our last session about, first of all, knowing that our steps are ordered by the Word of God, Psalm 119:133. So we talked about the need of depending more on the biblical principles than on our own intuitive knowing. So many of us, beloved, put way too much credibility in that—"I just feel," "God spoke," "I sense," "I know intuitively. " And we’ve talked about the fact, very clearly, that 2 Peter 1:19 says there has been given to you and I "a more sure word of prophecy."

I won’t spend a lot of time going over this this morning because we’ve taught a lot on it in the past, but one thing to remember is this. In the context of what Peter is saying there, remember what he was saying. "Hey! I was on the mount of transfiguration. I heard the audible voice of God." How many of you’d like to hear the audible voice of God? Come on, be truthful. How many of you’d like to hear it? Would you really? Why? "That’d be cool, man." Now, you know, we do need to answer that question, Why? What is it that makes us think that’s more special than this? [Pastor holds up the Bible.] "Well, to hear my lover’s voice audibly is more precious than a love letter. You know, letters are great, but just hearing the voice!" May I remind you this is more than a letter. His words are alive—Amen?—and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, praise God! Let’s not confuse the natural with the spiritual. This Word is alive and should carry those same results.

Now, I know that personal contact is, for us as natural beings, of more consequence. You know, it’s like the guy that went away to war and told his lover that he was going to write her every day, and he did. Faithfully, every day, wrote, man, for a year and a half, and came home and his heart was absolutely broken when he found out that she had married the mailman. [Laughter.] Personal contact, right? It’s real for us. As human beings we want that personal contact and that personal intimacy, but we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Amen? We don’t need outside sensory, because those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

I’m just trying to point out to you many of us still depend on this natural input. "If I could just, if I could have a vision. If I could have a dream. If I could hear the audible voice." "I give you a more sure word of prophecy." Amen? Do you believe it? We say, "Amen. Amen. But I’d sure like to hear that audible voice. I’d sure like Jesus to appear to me, literally, where I could see Him and hear His voice saying, ‘This is the way.’" Don’t raise your hands this time. How many of you’d like that? How many of you would have absolute confidence that that is God? Be careful that it’s not an angel of light, because if you don’t know the Word to hold up against your vision, your dream, or what you’re hearing, then you’re not building and your faith is not being built upon the eternal truth of God’s Word. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). I’m not saying that God cannot speak to us audibly, that we will not have dreams and visions. I believe that God is still dealing with folks in those ways today. I’ve had visitations of God over the years. But this is the more sure word of prophecy. Amen? Don’t look for some spectacular visitation to bring confirmation, but let the Word of God confirm any visitation, intuitive knowing, that you may have.

The second thing that we saw—and this will be the last little bit of review from last Wednesday night—is this: that many of us are reading the Scriptures, seeing basic biblical principles established and God bringing His revelation and building of the church through the apostles and the prophets, and seem to think that some of us are going to hear from God in the same manner that Moses did. Let me remind you, you’re not Moses. We don’t like that. "Well, bless God, if He spoke, He’s no respecter of persons." He is no respecter of persons, but I want to tell you something. Not everybody is going to have the same relationship with God that Moses had, because God chose him for a purpose. And the methods that God spoke to His prophets of old, to the patriarchs, to the apostles, carried such great magnitude of preservation of a whole nation, of His chosen people, of establishing the order of the church. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost to bring us this more sure word of prophecy, and His dealing with you is not necessarily going to be in the same way that He spoke and dealt with these individuals. In fact, as we’re going to study and see, there’s a whole nother form of guidance that we’re going to have to realize carries priority in each of our lives on a daily basis.

Let me show you what I mean, and it becomes very clear when we look at it in this way. I’ll quote a Scripture: "Children, [say it] obey your parents in the Lord . . . " (Ephesians 6:1). That’s guidance. Amen? Kids don’t pray about what Dad says. How is a child going to get his guidance? Does a child get down and pray "Lord, speak," and then the child come up and say, "Dad, I just want you to know I had a word from the Lord, and uh, my room is not going to get cleaned this week"? [Congregants laugh.] What is God’s will for that child? God has a central theme established for guidance for that child. Here’s how you will get your guidance: obey your parents in the Lord. Amen?

Now, anything that would come outside of that, could God speak to that child and Dad giving instruction and guidance and wanting to help orchestrate that child’s life, and then the child say, "But I really believe the Lord has spoken thus and so to me"? Do we then, as parents, just immediately say, "No. You do what I told you to do"? We’re going to consider that thing and hold it up against the Word of God—Amen?—and say, "Now, okay, what about this? You’re telling me that you really believe that Father is speaking something to you other than the guidance that I’ve given you." And if it’s not totally contrary to the Word of God, we now have to determine, as Dad, with this child, what’s he hearing? Is he hearing from God or from his own preferences? Maybe now our young person is beginning to experience for the first time what we talked about in Ezekiel, to where he’s being answered according to his own idols. Swear—just knowing it’s the Word—"God has spoken this to me. This is the Lord drawing me to do this." So we begin to share the principles with them about being answered according to our own idols. And if there’s nothing definitive in the heart of Dad that would say, "You know, this is the voice of God speaking," then what is the will of God for that child? What is it? Obey your parents in the Lord.

We don’t like that as humans. Everything in us, everything in us, screams for independence! To be as God! Everything in us cries for the perverted perspective of free moral agency. You see, we want a—we’re free moral agents; we have the right to choose God, reject God. Yes, we do, but that became perverted in the fall of Adam and Eve. And I want you to see that the need that we’re going to have, beloved, in this hour—and I’ve shared it two or three times; I’m going to hammer on it again a few more times. In the day that you and I are living in; in the country that you and I are living in; in this environment that we embrace every day of individuality, of independence, of self-sufficiency—we see it every day, and some of us laugh at it, but have you noticed even the news is given and then has a blog? Everyone wants to give their opinion, don’t they? What’s a blog? I mean, I know what it is, but "blog"—does it stand for something? Does anybody know? Huh? [Congregant responds, "A weblog."] A blog.

So we’ve got this blog, and everybody gives their opinion. And everybody’s opinion—"Oh, you’re stupid," they’ll say to the other guy. The other guy responds with, you know, great ah, intellectual response, "Yeah, your mom wears combat boots." [Laughter.] And they’re going back and forth on their blog. We all have an opinion, man, and we think the President ought to do this. We have no knowledge of what’s going on in our government, but everybody’s got an opinion, and we want to ask the taxi driver, "What do you think about the President’s decision on the war?" "Well, I think"—and you can barely understand his English, and he’s going to set America straight. I’m trying to just show who we are as a people. It’s in us! And I want you to see that one of God’s major methods of guidance is divine order, is spiritual authority, recognition and confidence in God’s order, that allows me to be led by orders of my superiors. Oh, that’s a bad word in our society today, isn’t it?

Those of us that were in the military—you see, I think everybody should be in the military. I think everybody should have Tor as a football coach. I grew up in that generation; I knew what order, we knew what order was. Of course there was rebellion, and we would try to sneak around; we weren’t Christians. But I want you to know we recognized authority, and when your commanding officer or your superior officer, whether it be a noncom or those with a commission, it didn’t matter—you understood order! I remember as I was up at San Francisco at Treasure Island one time and this guy comes up that had a couple of stripes more than we did, and he said, "The will of God for you today is to clean these trash cans. Thus saith the Lord." And guess what we were doing? So we’re cleaning trash cans, and I’m sitting there and we’re cleaning these trash cans, washing these trash cans out and everything. We all got talking, the guys among ourselves, and there were three of us. We got talking and found out that between the three of us we had twelve years of college. And the guy giving us the orders I think maybe got through the eighth grade.

Does it have anything to do with ability? Or does it have to do with order? Order. We don’t like that do we? It’s the main issue that you’re going to have to come to grips with if you’re going to stay safe in this generation of hearing the voice of God. In a society when everyone’s opinions are supposedly to be held of equal worth. And the trouble is most of us go seeking our counsel horizontally instead of vertically. God has established an order, and I’m going to show it to you very clearly here in the Scriptures. Then I’m going to work ourselves back to the sovereignty of God in establishing the order and bringing about your individual protection, and His care for you specifically, that you would be on course and fulfill His will in your life.

But I love one of the passages over in Psalm 77. Turn over there for just a moment. I think there’s a tremendous truth here, just powerful truth that we need to grab ahold of. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1). Amen? " . . . he leadeth me . . . " (verse 2). " . . . he leadeth me . . . " Psalm 77, verse 20; some of you may be familiar with this passage. Grab the principle. Psalm 77:20. Everybody there? Read it with me. "Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." Hmm. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." "The Lord led His people." "The Lord led His people as a flock [How?] by the hand of Moses and Aaron." You see, there’s a principle here that we need to come to grips with. The people even recognized that in their hour. They said, "You go up on the mountain, Moses, hear from God, and come and tell us, and we’ll do it." And so Moses went up, heard from the Lord, came and told the people, and did they do it? It doesn’t change the order though. The people, when they were sharing that, were sharing it because of their own fear of confrontation, but God had already spoken it. God had already said, "Don’t let anybody else touch this mountain. You come up here, Moses, and I’m going to talk to you face to face."

"Well, this is the New Testament, and God speaks to every one of us face to face. He indwells us and He leads us by His Spirit into all truth." God does deal with us as individuals. We are all indwelt by the Holy Spirit; we are all capable of being led by the Spirit of God into truth. " . . . thy word is truth" (John 17:17) The Holy Spirit is going to lead you to the Word of God, which will tell you to function within the order of God in virtually every area of our lives. Now, ecclesiastically is where we have most of the trouble. Most of us domestically understand the order, and we understand that wives receive their guidance from God through who? Their husbands. Is God ever going to tell you to do something different than what your husband is telling if what he is telling you is not unscriptural? Did you hear it? Will God tell you to do something other than what your husband is telling you to do if what he’s telling you to do is not unscriptural? The answer to that is no, because the Bible clearly says—see, this is the voice—"I want to hear the voice of God." Here’s the voice of God to you. Do you want to hear from God? Do you want the will of God? "Wives, [say it] submit yourselves unto your own husbands . . . " (Ephesians 5:22).

"Yeah, but what if God wants—" He doesn’t break His order, beloved. Order is more important than your perception—"What I feel," "I believe God is speaking to me." God has already spoken to you and said, "Submit to your husband." "But what if he’s wrong?" Husbands, your head is Christ (1 Corinthians 11:3). Guess what? There’s order, and if he’s wrong, who’s going to set him right? Christ—not wife. Amen? [Pastor makes sounds like he’s grumbling and complaining under his breath.] It’s called faith. It’s called faith! "But I’m just trusting the Lord to speak to me." He just spoke to you! "Yeah, but it wasn’t what I wanted to hear!" Any voice you hear that breaks order is Satan or self, under the directives of the original rebellious choice of your father Adam.

That’s where our safety is, beloved. We hear the Scripture, and we quote it so often, "There’s safety in a multitude of counselors" (Proverbs 11:14). Counselors are not just people that you get a whole bunch of opinions [from]. Counselors are those that are superior to you in the rank. Counselors are those who have been put over you in the Lord. Counselors are not peers, friends. They can give counsel; they can speak into your life. They can declare the Word of God that brings illumination and refreshing to you, but true biblical counselors fit into God’s scheme and order of those that are moving in biblical authority. The Scripture says, "Obey them that have the rule over you . . . " (Hebrews 13:17). Amen? And we’re living in a generation—and this is the point that I’m trying to make—we’re hearing so many voices, and we’re thinking that as individuals we have the right to make choices based on what "I’m perceiving." You’re not your own; you’ve been bought with a price. You’ve been put in the body as it pleases Him. "Well, isn’t this kind of a scary thing? What if—"

Now, remember what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about your daily activities. I’m not talking about what route you take to work, what kind of car you’re going to buy. Who cares? As it pertains to the body of Christ and spiritual overseers, there’s general counsel that will be given to you, of being a wise steward over Father’s money. "Are you sure that’s a wise—" Nobody’s going to tell you, "You should buy this, or you shouldn’t buy that," but questions could be asked if people are misusing biblical principles and not laying up in the time of abundance, because the days of famine are coming. Don’t spend everything you have. That would be the counsel that a good biblical counselor would give you. Don’t rob from God.

I’m very aware, over the decades, of different ministries and things, how principles have been abused in involvement in individuals’ lives. We’re not talking about Jim Jones and somebody micromanaging your life. We’re talking about making decisions that would affect the whole body of Christ, that would affect the kingdom of God, that spiritual overseers have been placed in your life to give you direction. You know, the term itself—I think it’s interesting that we look at—that has to do with biblical eldership and that that God has rendered in our lives. Look over at Thessalonians for just a moment. Some passages—it’s been a while since we looked at some of these, but I just want to refresh our hearts, because whether we’d like to believe it or not, we’ve been influenced by this society, by our own innate independence and rebelliousness.

We see it clearly today with the broken order in society, with children now ruling homes. We’re just a sick people. Has anybody heard—somebody told me just the other day that there’s now an experimental—we want to try out new things. There’s this new experimental project where they’re going to pay students cash for getting better grades. There are employers that are giving their employees bonuses for showing up on time. I’d fire you, man! I’ll show you "show up on time." Bonus! How about deducting a day’s pay every time they’re late? I guarantee you that’ll motivate you. Everything has to be ease and comfort and individuals’ rights. We’d like to think that it doesn’t influence us, but I think it does. I think the fruit of it is very obvious in decisions that we see being made on a daily basis.

First Thessalonians, Chapter 5, verse 12. Trying to think of how to get back on course here. "And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men." He’s talking about order in the church and how practically we live our daily lives as a spiritual community. That word "over you in the Lord" is a very interesting word. It’s pretty much parallel with, synonymous with, 1 Timothy 5:17. Turn over there real quickly—a passage that, again, years ago we spent a lot of time with. "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine." This word "rule" is an interesting word. The phrase that "are over you" as it relates to elders and spiritual gifts that have been placed in the body of Christ literally means those that, in a military term, "stand before you." And then, of course, the meaning of this word is to lead and to direct, to give orders, to give guidance, to make clear the course.

The word "poimaino," as we look at a biblical elder and shepherd, the word for pastor, means to feed and to lead. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." And He, the Lord our shepherd, led them by the hand of Moses. God does not lead you independently from the gifts that He placed as it pleases Him. There’s an order. It’s for our safety. It’s for the wellbeing of all of us. It’s because there is supernatural gifting and wisdom. "We’re all equal. We can all…"—We do not all hear from God equally. It isn’t a biblical—you can’t find in the Scriptures where every specific individual has the same gifting, the same anointing, the same responsibility. And somehow this fallacy that in the New Covenant we’re all individuals of equal opportunity as it pertains to responsibility, authority—we all have equal opportunity to imbibe His meek spirit, to acknowledge His lordship and to see ourselves as unprofitable servants, a privilege to serve in whatever capacity He’s placed us at this moment. I think we’ve gotten out of that in our generation, and because of that we’ve misunderstood this biblical principle of guidance as He brings forth true delegated authority in our lives and course setters as it pertains to our spiritual edification. "And He gave gifts unto men for the purpose of perfecting us, the body of Christ, to do the work of the ministry" (Ephesians 4:12).

So with that basic premise—and I wanted to go back and set that for us—with that basic premise, let’s look at a couple of passages just before we unhook for this morning, that would have to do with what I believe is the most important thing you and I can do in preparing ourselves to hear the voice of God. The voice of God is the Word of God, but we can’t hear clearly that still small voice that comes to us through this more sure word of prophecy until we’ve first of all dealt with pride in our lives, have purified our hearts from all personal ambition (the stripping away of all self-exaltation, the diminishing of all of our ambition as it would be seen on our agenda list), and come to God with a broken and contrite heart, in meekness taking His yolk upon us and casting all of our care on Him, knowing that He does care for us. He will not allow us to be abused.

So Psalm 37, verse 23 says this: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord . . . " I want you to see that word "good" for just a moment. What is a good man? That word "good" there as it’s brought out in the Hebrew is a virtuous man. What are we saying? Let’s be more concerned with our character than we are our course. Let’s be more concerned with our character than we are our course. I’ve said it over the years in another way: if we get how God wants us, He can get us where He wants us. Amen? So hearing from God, then, is not about the course; it’s not about the specific individual circumstances of the moment. It’s about the condition of our hearts. So God is looking for virtuous men and women, people of integrity.

Proverbs 11, verses 3 through 5 say, "The integrity of the upright shall guide them . . . " Can I ask you a question this morning? What are you known for? What are the virtues in your life? Do you see yourself as that good man? Is there evidence of the virtue of a teachable spirit? How teachable are you? How ready are you to hear? How quick are you to hear? Or how confident are you in your own personal perception? Do you assume instantly that everything you perceive, think, or have come to a conclusion [on] is right? Or have you come to learn over the years that we need counsel? I want as much perspective as I can get when I’m getting ready to make any decision of magnitude. I want to hear from those who I know are truly concerned about my life.

You know, so many of us go seek counsel from the people we think are going to agree with us, and we have different counselors around based upon our preferences. "I can’t go to that guy over there because I know what he’s going to tell me, so I’ll go over here to this guy. He’s a good brother"—who has the same vices I have. Don’t go to an Ice Cream Anonymous meeting and ask for counsel whether the next meeting should be held at Cold Stone or not. "Well, I don’t want to go over to that group because they’re always against these things." Maybe you ought to hear the other side. Maybe you ought to give some consideration to the fact that possibly you could be wrong or need more information.

You see, the good man, beloved—look at it—the steps of the good man, it talks about a virtuous man, a seeker of truth, a seeker of character, someone that delights in the truth. Do you want to know if you’re wrong or not? Really? Or do you want your will? Is it more important that you be proved right, or that you know the truth? Right in men’s eyes; not necessarily correct.

This is what the psalmist is telling us—the Holy Spirit—by these words of wisdom. "The integrity of the upright shall guide them . . . " You know what one of the renderings of this word "integrity" is? I love this; get it down. You want to be able to hear from God? I love this. And for some of you young people, the innocent, I want to tell you something. The more scars you have, the more vileness that you’ve partaken of, the harder it is to hear the innocent voice of God, the pure voice of God. Affected by all of the scars and the garbage. I want to tell you something: the innocent can hear from God.

Well, you know, some of us have been pretty beat up over the years, haven’t we? I’ll tell you, before I came to the Lord my life was anything but innocent, but the blood of Jesus can restore us to innocence. Amen? Obedience can restore you to that spirit of humility and meekness and purity. This Word can cleanse you. If you’ll pour this Word into your spirit, the innocence returns to your heart, and you can hear from God: "This is the way; walk in it." Stay pure. Stay separate. Remain holy in the midst of this generation. So when it talks about integrity, it talks about innocence. That word "upright" in the Hebrew—"The integrity of the upright shall guide them . . . " Again, the Hebrew there talks about pureness or purity of heart, agenda-free, a heart that’s truly seeking "Your will, not my will, be done."

In the fifth verse he goes on and says, "The righteous, He will direct their way." That word "righteous," of course, we all know means to be in right standing with God. There’s the doctrinal standing and then there’s the actual walking out through obedience, rightness with God—I’ve done everything that I know to do to this point. And it says then that He will, at that time, direct our paths.

For your notes, Psalm 25, verse 9, and we’re going a little quickly now, but I want these to get in place so that we can finish with the point we’re trying to make. The steps of the virtuous man, the innocent man of integrity—Psalm 25:9 says another virtue in our lives is meekness. "The meek will he guide . . . " "Take my yolk upon you, and learn of me . . . " (Matthew 11:29). Can you say truly that what marks your character is a spirit of meekness, as opposed to haughtiness, self-confidence? Meekness is not weakness; it’s not being mousy. A meek man knows where he stands among his peers. But meekness has to do with our perception and relationship to God. Moses was the meekest man in that generation, and yet he withstood the forces of the world, Pharaoh, face to face. He had realized his own limitations and incapability of delivering through his own strength. He was humbled in the wilderness.

What did you learn in that last episode of God humbling you? What did you learn from that? We all get humbled, don’t we? Some of us are under the pressure right now of the chastening of the Lord, and we’re being humbled. Israel, forty years led in the wilderness that God might prove what was in their hearts, to humble them, the Scripture said. And one of the things we learn is that spirit of meekness. Meekness is just knowing that we can’t do it in our own strength, but I can do all things through Christ. Amen?

I’ve given up on myself. I know what I can do. I want to hear what God has to say about this, and I truly believe that if God is for me, nobody can be against me. I believe that the steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord. I believe that the integrity of the upright guides them! What am I saying? I’m not in it for myself. I’ve been down that road. I’ve built my own kingdoms, and cried out to God to tear them down and destroy them, that I might be a doorkeeper in His house. What’s your spirit today to hear the voice of God, to live for the glory of God in this spirit of meekness? That’s the people He can guide.

Guide them how? Go back to Psalm 37:23. "The steps of a [virtuous] man are ordered by the Lord . . . " We’ve shared this with you before, but I want you to grab it just before we dismiss for this morning. That word "ordered" literally means to be established, made firm, and the rendering that I like best in this is the rendering in the Hebrew: set right. "The steps of a good man are [set right] by the Lord . . . ." It doesn’t mean you get it right the first time, but God will set it right—Amen?—if your heart’s right!

So I’m not paralyzed in fear and unable to move. I’m working off the last clear direction that I’ve received, and you want to know what that last direction probably was? It was probably my parents speaking to me. It was probably the voice of my husband. It was probably the eldership giving me direction in my life. That’s the word of the Lord that I heard that I’m walking out. And if somewhere in the midst of this that counsel was not absolutely perfect, or in some way in the walking it out I may not be perfectly on course in fulfilling it, if I have a heart of integrity, if I love the truth of God, He will set it right. Amen? That’s the promise of God to us, praise God! But we don’t need to go look for some other voice, because I’m living and working off the more sure word of prophecy. You want the more sure word of prophecy? "Obey them that have the rule over you . . . " (Hebrews 13:17). Amen? You can’t go wrong with that wisdom. That’s the truth of God. That’s the more sure word! We don’t like it, but it’s God’s order and it’s God’s method. And those of us of integrity and those of us of Christlike virtues can say, "I’m not coming to speak my own words but the words of He that sent me." And then there’s a rest that comes to the people of God.

Proverbs 18—we’ll finish with this for this morning. Proverbs 18, verse 15, "The heart of the prudent [receives the knowledge of God] . . . " Being prudent is just to weigh things out in your mind, to give consideration to the wisdom of God, the methods of God, the limitation of our ability to see into the infinite plans of God. Realize that in our finiteness we will never comprehend, and so in confidence in His fatherhood, His goodness, His love, we weigh out that His ways are higher than our ways, and we return to the simple truths that we know—and hear, "This is the way; walk in it." The general course set by the order of God, by the Word of God, is what the prudent man weighs out and says, "This is safe. I know this course will ultimately bring the most glory to God."

Proverbs 16, verse 9 talks about [how] the heart of a man devises his way, but the Lord directs our steps. You see, it doesn’t really matter what you hear, what you think, all of your plans. God’s going to put you on His course. Amen? So why don’t we start off with a known correct premise? Order. Let’s start correctly. Let’s not start from the perspective of individuality. Let’s start with the biblical perspective of body, community, order, the headship of Jesus, and that most of what we’re going to hear from God is not about building you a better life but building a better kingdom that brings glory to Him. See, most of us are hearing about us, and if we’re really going to hear from God, we’ll be hearing about Him (about His kingdom, about His body) and not about our own personal preferences and ease and appetites.

Father, make it real to us, we ask, as we seek Your mind and Your heart in this generation of selfness, of self-indulgence, of self-promotion, of independence. We’re looked at today as a people that are foolish.

Have any of you had to deal with some of the same things that my wife has dealt with? She’s been mocked on the telephone when some of these salespeople will call and [are] trying to sell something, and she’s like, "Even if I wanted to make this decision, it’s not mine to make. I need to talk to my husband." And she’s been ridiculed over the phone by some of these people—"Talk to your husband! Just buy it and don’t tell him!" Order—honoring God in that order. Do you understand the vexation that we walk into every day and what we need to do to guard ourselves? How highly do you think of yourself? How highly do you hold your perceptions and your opinions as you prayerfully consider your place—how God has placed you in the body, relating to parents, relating to husbands, relating to a community? Once we understand that, beloved, less of us are going to be harmed by the enemy—sheep that have gone astray, that have been overcome in the wilderness. It’s safety; it’s wisdom, and it’s God’s method.

Just before we dismiss this morning, [one of our young couples] has a little visitor they’ve brought this morning, first time to church, praise God. He’s been laying out, though, been hanging—we’re going to have to talk about not forsaking yourself; he’s been laying out for two weeks. But, praise God, he’s gotten to move on. I haven’t gotten to see him yet. I’ve seen a bunch of pictures. Bring him in here, praise God. Come on up you guys. Grandparents, if you’ll come up. Hallelujah! Let me see this little guy. Oh, hallelujah! [Pastor chuckles as he holds their baby they’re about to dedicate to the Lord.] How’s that? Yeah. What a bummer, man—kid’s got like a perpetual tan. What a sweetie.

If the pastors will come, we want to just pray and believe God to touch this precious little child. What an exciting thing to see, another generation—Amen?—as we’ve seen these kids grow up [referring to the parents]. Thank God for your choices and what God has done in your life and the fruit of it. We’re a blessed people, praise God. Let’s go down here for a minute; we want to get down where Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa—oh yeah, now you’re going to cry. Okay. That’s alright. That’s alright. You want—I bet you want Daddy and Mama don’t you? Glory.

Let’s just stand together, and why don’t you guys go ahead and just stand here for a moment. We want to pray with you. Hallelujah! Just look across the family here, really. Look at the miracles that have been done in these lives. Having grown up together, we’ve seen and prayed with, and hurt with, over the different battles that life has brought us. But look where we are today, praise God! Another generation—godly seed. Amen? We’re a blessed people. Let’s just pray together right now and believe God. Hallelujah!

Father, we come right now for [these parents], Lord, and we speak the peace on their lives and for [their baby]. Even now, Lord, we come and we offer him up to you, this that is lent of the Lord. This child, not theirs, but Yours, Lord, given to them for instruction. Give them wisdom to order his steps, Father. Cause the fruit of their lives to be that that becomes the treasure of his life. That he too would want to be like Dad and Mom, following those who through faith and patience inherit the promises of God. For the grandparents, Father, just cause them to speak into their children, and their children’s children, the words of truth and the words of this way. Make us strong, we ask, for the glory of God, and for that, Father, we’re going to give You all of the glory and all of the honor, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Praise God.

We are a blessed people. [Pastor speaks to the father], you want to bring him back up here again. We’re going to go and—[Pastor asks his wife to] come on up. I’m going to get—I’ll get in trouble if [my wife] can’t come up here and hold this baby. She’s already been over there a couple of different times. She said, "I want to go check on [the mother]." She wasn’t interested in [the mother]. [Congregants laugh.] Praise God. We just thank God for the privilege of being a part of all of these lives. Amen? We’ve got a precious thing here, and let’s thank God for it.

Father, as we go our way this morning, I pray Your peace not only on this household but on all that have gathered this morning. We’re at war. Our kids, our kids are the focus of the kingdom of darkness right now, and we take authority over principalities and powers. We resist the powers of darkness. We stand with the shield and the armor of light, Father—the truth that is our treasure that we will pass to this next generation. Guard it in our midst, Father. Help us to honor You in our choices, to do Your will, Your way, we ask, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "I’m going to stay in order." Praise God! Amen. Go in peace; God’s love go with you.

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