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As a friend of Agent Dominator, if you have interest in Christian topics I wanted to share a fascinating podcast I recently published …

The topic is When Bad Things Happen, Is It God’s Will?  If you have ever experienced painful or difficult times in your life, was it God’s will? In other words, if God is sovereign and in control, does that mean everything that happens is his will?

This is one of the most perplexing questions in a Christian’s life because it determines how we should respond to the situation and to God himself. In this series we take a rarely seen before look at God’s word and what it says in terms of what is God’s will and or not. And if you’re like most people, What you thought is right probably isn’t! This is a fascinating series you’ll get a lot out of.

Transcription (was completed by automated process.  Please ignore any speech-to-text errors)

[00:00:00] This is the get sellers calling you marketing podcasts for real estate agents. And I’m Beatty Carmichaelto learn how to generate more listings from past clients and sphere of influence, geographic farming and commercial investment property.

[00:00:13] Visit our Web site. Get sellers calling you dot com.

[00:00:17] And now let’s begin our next session of get sellers calling.

[00:00:24] Well, hello, everyone.

[00:00:25] I’m so excited that you have joined us today for this next session of sellers calling you with Beatty Carmichael.   Beatty is the CEO of Master Grabner, the creator of Agent Dominator and one of the top marketing experts in real estate field. Beatty, I’m super excited to be on this call with you today. What do you have for us?

[00:00:46] Well, we have another radical faith call today, Penny.

[00:00:50] And so what that means for those who are listening. Radical faith is when we talk about Jesus things and not real estate things. So if Jesus things offend you, then you can go on and turn off this episode. And. But otherwise, we’d invite you to listen in. This is going to be a fun topic today.

[00:01:10] Great. I’m excited.

[00:01:13] Yes.

[00:01:13] So I thought I’d touch on a topic that comes to the heart of every believer. And it’s always a frustrating. What’s the right answer? Can you can you take a guess of what that topic might be?

[00:01:32] What’s the right answer on that? If I had to guess, I would probably narrow it down to, like either healing, like, why does God heal some or not others? Or I would bring it down to like a blessing, like why is so getting blessed? And I’m not that kind of thing.

[00:01:51] Very good. So you’re touching in the right direction. We’re actually going to talk about healing as a series later on. OK. But we’re going to. So healing is a subset of this. Why is someone getting blessed? And I’m not as a subset.

[00:02:06] If we move up to a 30000 foot elevation, I’m going to label it this way. When bad things happen, is it God’s will?

[00:02:18] And then there were a lot of believer most believers go through at least once, if not every day of their lives. You know what’s going on. Didn’t go too well. Right.

[00:02:27] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:02:29] So this is going to be a three part series and hopefully I’ll be able to contain each part into one episode. But I’m going to try to tackle this. And let me see if I can give kind of an overriding question to set the stage. First off, do you believe that God is sovereign? Absolutely. Do you believe that he’s in control? Yes. Great. So if God is sovereign and in control, then does that mean that everything that happens is his will?

[00:02:59] What do you think? That’s a straight question.

[00:03:04] Did I set you up for that one or not?

[00:03:07] You did? Well, I don’t know that I want to answer that.

[00:03:12] Ok. Well, that that’s what we’re going to be answering on all of these different sessions. OK, because here’s the problem. We all know that God is sovereign. We know that he’s here.

[00:03:21] He’s in control. So does that mean that we blame him when bad things happen to us? In other words, how do we respond? Because how we respond determines how we live, how we respond determines how we obey. Do you think it’s possible if we respond wrongly, that it offends God and is considered a sin?

[00:03:48] I definitely think that it gets his attention and might hurt his heart, but I do not think that in all cases he would look at it.

[00:03:59] Ok. Okay. I get. So let me just give a scenario. I’m not trying to force my opinion on you.

[00:04:05] I’m just want to give a scenario to clarify. Okay. Something bad happens to me. And I blame God. And God had nothing to do with that. When I blame him, I’m getting upset at him. Is that sin? Yes.

[00:04:23] Ok. So it’s not done, just hurt his heart, but sin ultimately is anything that does not conform to the image of God. Right. Okay. So is it possible that if I respond in a way that doesn’t conform to God’s truth, I’m responding in a way that doesn’t conform to his image? And therefore, that response is then. OK. So. So we had to really understand what’s going on so we can respond properly. And therefore, the more proper we respond, the more honoring we are to the Lord, the more we’re living the way that he would have us to be, you know, at least in that that section.

[00:05:08] So this is a big things and I want to try to tackle it. So the first thing so if we go back, you know, does everything that happens. Is it God’s will? So when bad things happens. OK. Here’s the question we never question. Why did God do this? Is this God’s will?

[00:05:27] If we’re being blessed with the things that we want, we only come to these questions if something happens that we don’t want to happen. Would you agree?

[00:05:36] No, absolutely.

[00:05:39] So let’s look at and define what bad is. OK. Because if we’re going to determine, you know, what’s going on, we first have to determine what is bad.

[00:05:49] Would you like to near-poverty something, quote unquote, bad happens to you? Is it really bad? I think there’s four things that could be going on. OK. One is it could be evil. Right. It could be consequence from something we do. It could be God disciplining us. And it could be something that is God’s destiny. In other words, bad is bad. If the source is evil and if the outcome is evil, would you agree? Oh, yeah. OK. Bad feels bad, but is merely inconvenient when the source is ourselves. And therefore, the outcome as a consequence is something we did volition daily on our own.

[00:06:41] Right.

[00:06:42] Ok. Then we can look at bad. Bad is good, but it’s painful. If the source is God because the outcome is him disciplining us for something and then we look at things that we consider are bad, but it’s actually good. And that source is because it’s from God and the outcome is furthering us to our destiny. So just because something bad happens doesn’t mean it’s bad. We have to take a deeper look.

[00:07:11] And we and a lot of times we can’t look at it in a microcosm. We had to wait till we’re further down the road and look backwards and try to figure out what’s going on. And then we can start to understand. Is this making sense?

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:25] Ok. So we’re going to jump into the Bible real quick and and talk about this.

[00:07:30] So let’s go to Axe 21. And I know you have multiple versions. And so if you have NIV, let’s use the NIV on this one X twenty one and versus twenty seven through thirty. OK. So just give you a real quick backdrop on this. Paul has Apostle Paul has come to Jerusalem. He as he comes into Jerusalem, the apostles tell him a lot of people are concerned that you’re teaching the wrong thing. And so we have a plan. We want you to take these men there under a vow. I want you to pay for their expenses at the temple. And in that way, people will know that you’re that you’re not teaching things that are, quote, unquote, contrary to to Jews. OK. Or something like that. So that’s kind of where we pick up.

[00:08:24] All right. All right. Twenty one. Twenty seven, three. Thirty one of the seven when the seven days were nearly over. Some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized turn shouting Fellow Israelite! Help us. This is a man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law in this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place. They had previously seen Trofimoff a season in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. The whole city was aroused and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.

[00:09:13] All right. So the question, was this bad?

[00:09:19] Paul, OK, so this is bad for Paul. Do you think Paul might have been tempted to say, why are you doing this to me? God. Oh, so you start to blame God for all these things? Did Paul do anything to earn or deserve this type of behavior? OK, so this is bad. Right. So let me give you the let me give you the backstory on Paul’s life just to kind of bring this up.

[00:09:51] So what led into this event is the Lord called Paul to ministry. Remember, on the road to Damascus. And and when and and iust came to give him his sight back. Paul was told by the Lord that he was going to send Paul to preach to the Gentiles and to kings and rulers. You remember that? OK. So up to this point in acts, there is no mention of Paul preaching to any kings or rulers. He’s only been preaching to the gentiles on his way to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit continues to tell Paul that chained and imprisoned men await for him in Jerusalem. And then when he gets in Jerusalem and visits with James the Apostle. Right. Actually, I guess this may be either James the apostle or the brother. Jesus, I think is this is the apostle. He’s told that, you know, the Jews have heard a rumor. He’s teaching everyone everywhere to abandon those laws. The certain Jewish laws. So there’s a lot of unrest. And then we get to this passage where the tensions rise to a breaking point. Everyone comes after Paul. They grab him right after.

[00:11:17] This is when he’s put in chains with the Romans and and he’s taken into prison. OK. So in a natural, it seems like everything’s against Paul. Right.

[00:11:30] Yeah. So here’s the question. How did he get into this trouble? Was this evil with evil outcome? Or was this consequence because he made poor decisions and now he’s paying the price for it? Or do you think maybe God is disciplining Paul because of some sin in his life? Or do you think this is part of God’s guiding him to accomplish God’s destinies for his life? What do you think?

[00:12:02] Mm hmm. I think that this was part of the plan for Paul in order to get Paul to the destiny that God had for him. Just sort of a a growing process.

[00:12:14] Okay. Can you tell me what specifically part of his destiny is this accomplishing? Do you do you know?

[00:12:23] Well, if I would put myself in that situation, it would just be knowing that the Lord is growing me to be fully mature as a believer. So that I can hold more, steward more, learn to rely on God more and less on myself, so that when future things come up, rocky places or, you know, stuff like that. It’s just gonna be easier for me to trust the Lord.

[00:12:56] Ok. May I challenge that opinion for a moment? Absolutely. OK, great. So let’s go back to what the Lord told Paul. His destiny was. What was his destiny?

[00:13:12] To preach the gospel to whom? The Gentile.

[00:13:19] And to whom? That is not the Gentiles, the kings and rulers, right? Are really, yeah. OK, to this point, he has not gotten in front of any kings or rulers. So there are only two ways to get in front of kings or rulers is to be among their peers or.

[00:13:43] To have a legal audience in front of them. Does that make sense?

[00:13:49] So do you know of any instance in the Bible when Paul is able to share the gospel with kings and rulers and even emperors?

[00:14:02] Right. The emperors.

[00:14:05] I can not think that I did it, Paul.

[00:14:09] Ok.

[00:14:11] Ok, so first off, Paul gets in front of a Roman tribunal who is saw like a over the city. OK, because he gets to preach to him because he’s in chains. Then he’s taken to the governor of the province over. And I think Caesar area by the sea and he preaches to the governor. And then King Agrippa comes in. You remember this? Yeah.

[00:14:43] Yeah, OK. And they bring all of the leaders, the ruling elders, all the higher ups, all the generals, everyone who’s someone in the entire area. And they come in, they give Paul an audience.

[00:14:58] And does Paul preach the gospel to them?

[00:15:02] Remember, he does because he gives his defense, which is all about giving his testimony. In fact, all this is happening with King Agrippa.

[00:15:11] You remember King of the Roman governor, says, Paul, your your studying has driven you mad. Impulse says, no, it’s not mad. And King Agrippa I know you understand these things because I know that you understand the scriptures.

[00:15:28] You remember when he says that in King Agrippa said, you know, you make me a convert to. Right. And. Okay. So this is in front of all of these leaders, all of the kings and rulers. And then where does Paul get sent from there? Do you remember?

[00:15:45] I doubt I appeal to. Can you finish that sentence? And I appeal to Caesar. Right. So the new Roman governor comes and the Jews want to bring him back to Jerusalem to stand trial. The governor asking, you know, will you go to Jerusalem to stand trial? Paul says, no. I appeal to Caesar. That’s when he has this this big hearing. OK, and then they say, well, to Caesar, you shall go.

[00:16:20] So now Paul is sent to Rome to stand trial. Before whom, Caesar? Is this accomplishing God’s destiny for Paul’s life? Yeah.

[00:16:37] Hmm. So accomplishing God’s destiny. So let me go back. There’s four things that could be going on.

[00:16:45] Evil is causing this to happen with an evil outcome. Paul made bad decisions and he’s paying the price. He’s been sending in. God is disciplining him or this is part of God’s process in furthering the destiny for Paul. What do you think is going on? What’s the process? So is that good or is that bad? Mm hmm. So now we went from this is bad to this is good, right? Which reflect change, that attitude, that opinion.

[00:17:25] I’m just hearing the story knowing that the Lord had spoken to him originally and said, this is your plan. This is your destiny. This is what I’ve called you to do. And then that story play out. And seeing him actually fulfill the people that he was told he was gonna go speak to.

[00:17:45] Bingo. So let me let me say it slightly different. You’re definitely dead on track. But I want to make a point on this. Sometimes we can’t tell in the moment whether what’s going on is good or bad because we don’t have all the information. But with Paul, because we know the end of the story. We know the beginning of the story. But God said, here’s my here’s my destiny for you, Paul. And we know the end of the story and all the things that occur because of this one incident. We can now say that this incident was good because we have all the facts. Makes sense. Yeah. Going through it at that moment, it feels bad. But there’s one saving grace was Paul, if you recall, before Paul gets to Jerusalem, he’s been told over and over and over again that chains and imprisonment await him so he knows it. So there’s two things going on. The Lord has called him Jerusalem to Jerusalem. He knows that you read earlier in Accies that I’m headed to Jerusalem. This is you know, this is where the Lord’s calling me. And then the Lord continues to tell him chains and in prison him in a way to if God is called him to Jerusalem and chains and imprisonment await him then.

[00:19:12] Could you say that those chains and imprisonment are part of God’s will to further where God is taking him? Yes. OK. And here’s something interesting with this. All of those change and imprisonment, were they instigated by evil? In other words, was their evil intent in man’s heart that caused it to happen? A were worth. Yeah, for sure. So even though evil is at play, God leverages off the evil to accomplish his work, to accomplish where he wants. He wants to have happen. And so there is a. So part of this and we’re going to now start to move into some other scriptures is started really unpack what’s going on. If you know God’s will for your life. It’s a lot easier to handle the things that you go through because you can kind of see step by step. It’s leading you on a trajectory of fear God has taken you for, you know, as your destiny. OK. So let’s now move into some of this.

[00:20:24] First off, how all of this starts to apply to us. In fact, let me ask you, how does this apply to us so far?

[00:20:35] What do you think? Well, first thing that comes to mind is paying attention. Who actually pays attention to what the words says? Honing in on the details. If he gets them, he doesn’t. Trusting that whatever it is that I’m going through, that’s trust. I feel like we talk about trust a lot. There was a say in there.

[00:20:59] Yes. So trust is based on knowing the Lord intimately, knowing his true. Yeah. Yeah. And if if your husband asked you to do something that you didn’t really understand, do you still trust him? OK. That’s what trust is all about. Trust is not faith, but is born out of intimately knowing the person and knowing their heart and knowing that nothing that they take you through is bad. It’s all for good. OK, so. So I think, you know, when we look at circumstances in our lives, it’s easy to look at the microcosm right there at that moment. And if we’re not careful, we’re going come to a wrong conclusion. And that wrong conclusion not only hurts the Lord, you know, grieves the Lord, OK, but it’s also can be sinful. You know, do we say, why would God do that to me? Does he hate me? Right. Or do I start to beat myself up? Man, I really screwed up. Okay. And look at what it costs me. Do I rejoice? You know, the Bible says in all things, rejoice. Give thanks in all things. Or this is what happens a lot of times, especially in the Christian east type of culture with war. SWEEP it under the rug. Oh, well, you know, must be God’s will because God uses everything to for his good. Right. Ed, just kind of catch all phrase and an impulse example. Yes, possibly, but not in every example. So I want to bring some temperance, too. And I want to get into the main part of my teaching. What I won’t cover today is really the question is everything that happens, God’s will. OK. Back to the original question. If God is sovereign and controls all things, then is everything his will? Or do you think it’s possible that you can screw something up or some outside influence comes involved that causes for it to happen to not be as well? What do you think?

[00:23:00] I think that’s absolutely the latter. I think that sometimes things just happen that are not necessarily a part of God’s will for our lives. However, God can use those things to still. I feel like there’s this just my personal belief. I feel like each person there may be a destiny on your life to get to point B, but between you and that point, there are multiple ways to get there. And I feel like the Lord can use whatever happens, whichever path you end up on, in order to get you where you need to go.

[00:23:37] You are exactly right. So now what we’re gonna do is we’re going to put scripture and understanding to that. So it makes more sense. But, you know, you’re so quick. Next question I have for you. OK. OK.

[00:23:49] Our what point do things become, not his will? You talk about these multiple paths. At what point do you think there’s one path that is God’s highest and best will for you to take?

[00:24:05] To get to that destiny.

[00:24:10] Now, I don’t you don’t. There’s one specific. OK, OK.

[00:24:17] Cause only because I know that I’m given a free world just like Jesus was given a free will. So I may choose a path that’s slightly different from what the Lord intended, but again, still going towards the same goal.

[00:24:32] Yeah. OK. So if you choose a path, it’s different than what he intended. Then does it mean it’s different than his highest and best?

[00:24:43] Possibly. Okay, so let’s look at scripture and let’s see what scripture says, so we’re gonna go now the Psalms. Say it in an Ivy on this one, Psalm 37. 23 and 24.

[00:25:01] I say 23 and 24 at the law firm. The steps of the one who delights in him. Though he may stumble, he will not fall for the Lord. Appalled and let little hand.

[00:25:14] Very good. Now, I’m going to read this in a couple of different translations to try to bring highlights out of it. OK. So combining the amplified with the ivy, it says this The Lord directs or establishes the steps of the one who delights in him. Though he may stumble, he will not fall or be utterly cast down, for the Lord appals him with his hands. The living Bible translates as this way. The steps of goodmon are directed by the Lord. So here’s the question. Everything’s focused on the steps of man. Okay. The Lord directs the steps of the one. The Lord makes firm the steps of the one. Okay. Quatar steps.

[00:26:04] What do you think the Bible is talking about with steps? Yeah. Parse a little bit more. So if we get down into the Greek word excuse me, the Hebrew on this using my strongs concordance steps are are defined as one space to step regularly or to march. So if the Lord is direct in your steps, it says that he’s directing each step, every pace, every time you put your foot down. He’s directing that. Does that make sense? OK. So if he’s directing you to place your foot, let’s say, in one spot and you place it somewhere else in disregard to his direction. Is that God’s will?

[00:26:50] In this regard direction, yes.

[00:26:55] No. OK. So if he’s directing your steps and you don’t take the step he’s directing you, then that is disregarding. That’s not you’re not in his will. Makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay, great. So what this passage tells us is a couple of things. Number one, God is directing our individual steps every place, everything he wants us to do, but using your terms. We have free will, it says. Though he may stumble. It doesn’t say if he stumbles. It says, though, he will stumble, he may stumble. We know he is going to stumble. Does that make sense? Okay, yeah. So the Lord says underrating every single step of yours. But if you disregard my direction and step somewhere else and you stumble, which is what sin is. It’s a stumbling block, then the Lord says. You will not fall or be utterly cast down. I will still save you, I’ll still be there protecting you, my skin, your knee. But it’s not going to destroy you. Okay. Is this making sense?

[00:28:05] Yeah. Okay. So. And then I want to tie this into one other thing real quickly.

[00:28:12] Go to someone. Twenty seven. One one twenty seven. First one. So while you’re going there, let me just. So we have the ability to disregard his direction. In fact, I would say we disregard it more times than we know. Okay. And the question is kind of what does that do? Because this one twenty seven verse one kind of ties into some of this. And what does that say?

[00:28:41] Unless the Lord knows the how the builders labor in vain, unless the Lord watches over the city. The guards stand watch and then there you go.

[00:28:52] So here’s kind of we have this conjunction. The the builder has to labor to build a house. But it’s the Lord who built it. Right.

[00:29:04] Okay.

[00:29:05] And and so, man, even though the Lord is directing our steps, such as in building the house, the quality of the outcome of those steps, whether, you know, if we look at the house, the quality, the house that we built is in some way influenced by our actions. Okay. In other words, the ultimate outcome is directed by the Lord. But the quality of the outcome is influenced by us. This is what you’re talking about, multiple paths to get to where God wants you to go. I would say there’s only one path God has designed for you. But you can take multiple paths and the quality of your life. Getting to the outcome is going to be different. Makes sense. Okay. So let’s now turn to another song. Someone 19, someone 19. And if you have any SB New American standard version. But we’re gonna do one nineteen. First one of five.

[00:30:10] Ok.

[00:30:13] Weigh and as you’re going there. Little bit of trivia.

[00:30:16] Someone 19 is the longest chapter in the entire Bible. And I think someone said that all but three verses talk about God’s law. That’s how important guys laws. Yeah.

[00:30:30] All right. Verse 1 0 5, no word. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

[00:30:38] Ok. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. We’re talking earlier with Paul because we know Paul’s destiny of where God is sending sending him because he knew the path of his life. Then the things that happen in his life makes more sense if we know where we’re going. But this psalm, one 19 1 0 5 says your word is a light, a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. It says we know where the path is. But here’s something really interesting. If we were to dig down into. What lamp and light means lamp means dimly lit as in a candle and light means bright and clear as daylight. OK, so what this is saying is your word. Benally Lights my feet where I’m stepping. I can barely see it, but the farther out I look, the brighter and clearer the patch you have for me becomes so we can see our destiny. If we spend time in is where we can see where the Lord is leading us because he’s gonna direct us. But the closer we get to each individual decision of what we do becomes a lot fuzzier and less clear. Does that make sense? Yeah.

[00:32:02] Is that cool? Okay. So this shows us part of the reason we stumble so easy is so much easier. It’s because it’s not as clear every step that we take. But the long term path becomes really clear for those who are called dihs name and those who spend time where. What does it say is a lamp or a light? What does that word?

[00:32:29] Last word. Yeah.

[00:32:31] Oh, yeah. Your word. So we have to spend time in his word, don’t we? I just want to kind of make that one little plug.

[00:32:38] We can’t go through life, rarely read the Bible and and think that life’s going to be hunky dory. So on. So what? So we now know kind of where we’re going. We start to see that we stumble a little bit more frequently the closer we are to every step because we can’t see it as well. But this shows us also the importance of spending more time in his work so we can get a clearer picture not only of where the Lord leads, but what he’s doing right now. And then we’ve got a few more passages and then we’re gonna kind of tie all these things together. So each of these are kind of individual truths. And then I’m going to tie together and see if it makes sense. Go to 139 versus 1 through 4 in on this one. Let’s use the living Bible. Hey.

[00:33:34] Around 1:30 9 1 3 4.

[00:33:41] All right, so oh, lord, you have examined my heart and you know everything about me. You know, when I sit and when I stand when far away, you know, my every thought. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I’m going to say before I even say it?

[00:34:04] Well, is there anything that guy doesn’t know?

[00:34:09] Not according to that.

[00:34:10] Not according. That. That’s right. So.

[00:34:15] If the law is a loving father and he knows everything that’s going on, then we have to we’ll use your word, trust him in the process. OK. Well, we have to trust him that he’s not doing something purposely to hurt us.

[00:34:33] But as we kind of established earlier and we’re going to continue to establish everything that happens is not necessarily guided by him. OK. When we stumble, it’s not because that was his desire. That’s because we disregarded his step. Right. So what this shows us is. God knows everything about us. He’s so intimately involved with us. There’s nothing that misses him. I want to zoom in, though, on something really cool. This is an inverse three. You chart the path ahead of me. OK. ESV Let’s see you chart the path ahead of me. Tell me where to stop and rest. The E.S.P. Says You search out my path and my lying down. The amplified Bible, says Schou, sift and search out. And if you look at the Hebrew word that’s being translated in this, the Hebrew indicates that the word can be translated. You winnow the path ahead of me. OK, so let me see if I can share each of these. Do you sift, you search out, you chart, you winnow.

[00:35:49] They all mean that God is going ahead of you to identify the very best path for you in your life. Is that making sense so far? OK. So he’s he now only finds the best path for you so that he can direct you every step.

[00:36:09] He even finds the best places to stop and rest. In other words, he takes an active process and directing your life every time. And everywhere you go. So we see this on this thing that he’s searching this all out. If I follow him on what he’s already searched out. Then I want to minimize that stumbling and one minimize straying from his perfect will in my life, and that’s going to mean I want to minimize the pain and suffering I go through in my life. Okay. Is that is that making sense or did I kind of muddy?

[00:36:50] Yeah. No. Yeah. Good.

[00:36:52] Okay. So then let’s go a little bit further. Go down. Same same chapter versus seventh through twelfth.

[00:37:01] All right. I can never be lost to your spirit. I can never get away from my God if I go up to heaven, you are there. If I go down to the place of the dead. You are there. If I ride the morning winds to the farthest ocean, even there, your hand will guide me through strength will support me if I tried to hide in the darkness. The night becomes light around you. I’m sorry around me, for even darkness cannot hide from God to you. The night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both light to you.

[00:37:36] Pretty cool. So back up to your hand shall guide me, I think you said another translation, your hands shall lead me. I want to zoom in on this. So this whole passage continues to give us the encouragement that no matter where I am and what I’m going through, you’re always there. Even if I’m in Sheol, which is kind of a loose version of hell. If not held, but it’s kind of a loose version of that. So everywhere I am, the Lord is there. He’s got concern over me. He watches over me. His hand guides me. His right hand holds me and protects me. So when all these bad things are happening, what’s going on? If God is that involved with me? Okay. So I want to look in. So that section where says your hand shall lead me. And what does it say in the living bible verse?

[00:38:32] Can’t even bear your hand. Will guide your eyes. There you go. Well, support.

[00:38:37] Yeah. Even there, your hand will guide me. Even there, your hand shall lead me all of these directions. This this picture. I want to show you what this how this word is used elsewhere, because this is really important. Turn to Genesis 24/7. And you can do this from ESV. You’ll be fine. So give you the background 24/7.

[00:39:02] Give you the background. Abraham is in the land of Kanon. He has a son. The son’s name is Isaac. And now he wants to get a wife for his son. And and the lord has told him to get a wife from his fan. From his brother’s family? No, from his his father’s family and not from the people of Kanon. So he sends his trusty servant to go back to the land of his fathers to get a daughter from the land of his fathers. And and and Abraham makes a makes the servant give him a solemn promise, a covenant that he will not get anyone except a daughter from his brother’s house or from his father’s house. I forget exactly which one. And and the servant says, while I’m not in control, how do I know? What if she won’t come with me? And then Abraham says, well, we’ll leave it up to the Lord. But your promise and your commitment is that you will at least try. And if she won’t come, then you’re released from it. Okay. So now this guy goes on this long journey. He has no idea where he’s going.

[00:40:21] And he then comes to a little village there, so there’s a well. And he says, OK, Lord. Show me who you want me to pick. I’ve got all these camels, have some Maydan come up to me and offer me water and then offer water for my camels because I would be a really big test. That’s a lot of water for a little girl to pull out. Okay. Not many people would do that. So this woman comes up and she does that. And now this. We pick up Genesis 24 7. And this is a commentary that the servant is making to this woman’s family. So read it.

[00:41:06] Read that now, verse 7, the Lord, the God of Heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred who spoke to me and swore to me to your offspring, I will give this land. He will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife from my son from there.

[00:41:27] I see.

[00:41:31] We pull that out. That’s not what I have. So just we’re on our justice 24/7, 24/7.

[00:41:38] All right. Let me pull it out real quick. I may have the wrong one.

[00:41:45] 17. Cool.

[00:41:49] Let me see. No, I don’t think it’s that. Just. Anyway, let me let me tell you. Without. I could have pulled it from a different translation that clarifies one aspect of it. But basically, whether said this passage or another passage, the surgeon is saying that the Lord has guided me in the way to the house to house of my master’s brothers. So keep in mind that he’s a long way away. When he starts with Abraham, he goes in the general direction and he stops at the house of Abraham’s brother directly to there. And and now the servants say the Lord has guided me to this house. That word guided is the same word in Psalms that has even there. Your hand shall lead me. OK, so we see this picture of God guiding over long distances directly to the point where he wants us to be. Look at one other passage. This is now Exodus 13.

[00:42:52] Twenty one. It was actually verse twenty seven. By the way. Oh, thank you. First twenty seven. I will update. Right. All right. Exit. Or an accident?

[00:43:06] Thirteen point twenty one. And before you read, let me know, set the stage. So God has delivered the Israelites out of the out of Egypt and he’s leading them in the direction they should go and the way they know where God is leading them.

[00:43:26] Is there is a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of cloud. At nighttime. And they just follow the smoke or the or the fire. To do that. So. So that’s what we’re gonna pick up here. So exs thirteen. Twenty one.

[00:43:46] All right. Three point one. And the Lord went before them by bell and a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way. And by night in a pillar, a fire. Give them light that they may travel by day and by night.

[00:44:02] Okay. So where says the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way? That’s the same Hebrew word as it was in the form 139, where says your hand shall lead me. And in fact, in almost every instance where that Hebrew word is used in the Old Testament in relationship to the Lord. OK. When the leading is of the Lord, it indicates God’s active and purposeful leading of his people to his desired destination. That’s basically how it’s being used. So what we see is not only is if we can summarize real quickly, God is guiding every step that we take. We have ability to disregard and stumble. But he guides every step. He knows everything that’s happening. He charts a path ahead of us and he leads us every direction we ought to be going.

[00:45:05] He is, no matter where we are in life, from every point he is leading us from there to his destiny to to our destiny, his destiny for us. The question is if we’re following. Let’s look at just two more passages and then kind of tie these things up together. Let’s go to Psalm 32 versus 8 and 9, and we’ll do this in the living Bible.

[00:45:30] Ok. Thirty to. An 8 and 9.

[00:45:42] All right. I will instruct you, says the Lord, and guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch your progress. Don’t be like a senseless horse on mule. That has to have a bit. And now to keep it in line.

[00:45:59] Ok. Yeah. OK, now we’re going to Iowa. Where it is now is a good sense of humor, but it happens to us, right? Right. So it says that the Lord will guide you along the best pathway for your life.

[00:46:13] Have you been hearing that theme throughout all these passages? Yes. Do you think this is important to God to let us know that he’s guiding us? Yeah. Yeah. Because he keeps talking about it over and over and over and over again. Okay. But watch this. It says that he will guide you. But does that mean that he will force you? No. No. So he’s guiding us. Then the next sentence I will advise you and watch your progress. Does advising us means that he controls us?

[00:46:48] Now. OK, so he’s guiding and advising, but.

[00:46:56] We still have the ability and I’ll use the word to disregard. We still have the ability to disregard his advising and guiding, don’t we? Yeah.

[00:47:11] And do you think if do you think if we disregard the direction he tells us to go, do you think it’s possible that we could end up with this stuff going on that we don’t like?

[00:47:22] Oh, for sure.

[00:47:24] Should we blame him for those things that we don’t like? No. OK. So now we’re starting to answer these questions a little bit more. Yeah. OK. Now, sometimes now. Now God has an ultimate destiny for us. Would you agree? Yes. Okay. And if we keep going the opposite, though, the ways that we ought not go, then this is the part that he says don’t be like a senseless horse or mule that has to have a bit in its mouth to keep it in line.

[00:47:54] In other words, we can’t go outside of what he’s guiding us so strongly that he can get us back on the right track. And I want to show you a couple of real quick stories on this for a Second Kings, 1928. If you’ll go there in the E.S.P. Version.

[00:48:18] Let me give you a real quick background. So Snacker Rib is the king of the Assyrians at this time, has a Caia is the king of Judah. So KNACKERY comes against has a Caia, has a Caia, is holding firm in the Lord and is scared to death but holding firm. And Sanad Carib, since his blistering letter to has a Caia that says Don’t trust in your God.

[00:48:45] I’ve conquered all these other gods in the peoples of these guys, and I will do the same with you and your God. Very cocky. And so Hezekiah takes this letter before the Lord and says, Lord, look at what Snacker says. And and so now. Second Kings 1928 is part of the word of the Lord. Spoken back to Sinagra. It’s spoken by prophets, though. So Nazareth himself doesn’t hear it in the in the physical room. But this is God’s word. So Second Kings, 1928.

[00:49:17] Ok. Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears. I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.

[00:49:33] So God forcefully leads innacurate where he chooses to take him. Right.

[00:49:40] Let me show you one other story on this. Daniel for twenty five.

[00:49:48] So this is about never can Nasr the strongest king at that time, ruling the strongest kingdom at that time. And this is God’s message to him through Daniel.

[00:50:02] All right. Verse twenty five that you shall be driven from among men in your dwelling shall be with the beast of the field. We shall be made to eat grass. I can ask and you shall be wet with the new heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you till you know that the most high rule, the kingdom of man gives it to him. He will. Hmm.

[00:50:27] So here we start to see very similar to this bit. If man does not follow God’s leading, then the Lord can and will forcefully, forcibly redirect him. In other words, we are powerless to thwart the destiny in a direction the Lord has called us to be in. It will simply take us longer to get there. It will be more painful, but he will get us there. Does that make sense? We talked about this with the exodus about the first generation refuse to trust the Lord. So they died in the wilderness. And the second generation representing a new man was the only one that went into the kingdom, into the Promised Land God event. God will get them there. It’s just a matter of how long it takes us to get there and at what level of pain or blessing. One last passage and then we’re gonna start to tie all this together. Proverbs twenty twenty four. You can do this in the living bible is fine.

[00:51:40] 20 verse 20 0 were.

[00:51:46] Ball.

[00:51:50] And as you know about prov., there is no backstory because there is no story here. They’re just nice, you know, wisdom.

[00:51:56] I can’t give you my experience. Of course, the Lord is directing our stats. Why? Try to understand everything that happens along the way.

[00:52:07] Hmm. Pretty simple. So we know. Lord, what are you doing right now? If the Lord is directing our steps versus us misguiding ourselves in I.V.s as a person, steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their way? Another path. Another version, man steps are ordained by the Lord. How then, can men understand it? So if we go back and look at the word steps is the same word in that first passage. The first passage where? What was it? The Lord directs and establishes the steps. The one who delights in him. Okay. And so these are once pace to step regularly to march. OK. That’s the definition of steps. And it’s impossible for us to understand everything that happens. I think this is the key. Before we start to blame God. Just like what happened with Paul when she was good or bad. You said it was bad. But now that we start to see a bigger picture of what’s going on, we didn’t change our opinions. Say it’s good. Once we have more information, we can make a better decision. But oftentimes we don’t have the information. Oftentimes only God has all the information. So it’s really impossible to come to. A full conclusion of what’s going on is especially Lord. Are you doing this to me? Why do you hate me? Okay. Things of that sort. But because it’s the law that’s directing us. Then here’s the key. We can have confidence in him and not worry. Even if we don’t know, I love. I was at the funeral of a friend’s son. His son died in his early 20s and the pastor made this comment. And it was I thought it was a beautiful calm, he said. Even if we don’t know what God’s hand is doing, we can trust his heart. Right. And I think that’s the big thing. So how do we wrap all this up? I want I’ll give you an analogy. I call it the g._p._s theology.

[00:54:21] This is you. You like it already, right? There. All right. So it’s not pure theology, but it gives kind of make this simple way to understand it.

[00:54:32] So the idea is that a g._p._s is similar to what God does in our lives.

[00:54:41] Ok, when we plug in a destination. So let’s think about Google Maps. OK, we plug in. Our destination is going to take us the shortest route there. Have you ever been on the g._p._s? And it starts to route you what appears to be real long out, OK? Yes. And you go, what in the world is going on? So I have often several times that has happened. I violated what it said to do. And I went the route that I knew was a shorter route. You know what happened to me? You got stuck in traffic, always guys stuck in traffic. Exactly. There are some big hold up a traffic jam car accident working on the road, and it ended up costing me a lot more time because I did not trust the direction.

[00:55:23] So sometimes when we’re following the Lord, it may seem like it’s the wrong way to go, but it’s more like that Google Maps. The Lord knows the roadblocks ahead of us and knows how to navigate us around it. If we simply follow it, does that make sense?

[00:55:40] Yeah. Okay. Another part of the g._p._s is sometimes we get off the route, we take a wrong turn. It says take a right here and you’re you’re locked in with traffic and you can’t take a right and you go down further and now you’re way off track. So what does the GPE do? Recalibrate. Right. Right. Rear out. So now it starts to reroute. So we still go to our destination, but we go a longer route, a different route than was originally planned.

[00:56:11] But we can still even when we make bad decisions, we even put it in biblical terms, even though we disregard the Lord’s direction. Then his guiding of our footsteps changes from where we are to still guide us back. Right. And as long as we continue to try to obey the Lord’s word, we will still get there. We may miss out on the blessings that he’s had for us on the original route. We may go through a lot more pain and suffering than he intended for us, too. We would call that consequence. Not God’s fault, but consequence, but will eventually get there. If we listen to him and follow him. So that’s the little g._p._s. So let’s a couple of questions, okay. To kind of tie all this up together. Is God sovereign and in control of all things? What do you think? Yeah.

[00:57:07] Does God control all things? In other words? Does he exert control of all things?

[00:57:15] Let me ask that question again sometime. OK. OK. So this is a key. OK.

[00:57:22] Let me let me tell you where I’m going, why I’m asking these questions specifically this way and my church body. OK. Not necessarily just my physical church building, but within this body of believers, there is this attitude that it’s a logical assumption. God is sovereign and in control. And therefore, since he’s sovereign in control and he’s all powerful and can do anything, then anything and everything that happens must be his will because he could have stopped it. And therefore, if he didn’t stop it, it means it’s his will. And therefore, everything that happens in my life must be God’s will. Do you see that how that logic plays a part? OK. So. So now here’s the question I have. Is God sovereign and in control of all things? OK. Does he exert control of all things? No. OK. And this is what we saw in the scriptures just recently. God directs our steps, but we stumble, which means we did not follow his steps. Right. OK.

[00:58:33] So does God direct our every step?

[00:58:38] Yes, according to scripture. Yes.

[00:58:40] Yes. Does God exert control of our every step? Now, OK, so now we’re starting to see there’s a balance, there is God’s will always guiding, but then there’s man’s involvement that’s frequently disregarding.

[00:58:58] Ok. And so we have the ability to disregard his guiding and choose our own step. And when that happens, we start to then encounter consequence. Right. Well, could it be that the things that we go through in life, could they be consequences instead of God’s will?

[00:59:21] Oh, sure. Okay. Okay, good. All right. So then does Guy control our ultimate destiny? Where we ultimately end up.

[00:59:34] Yeah. Yes.

[00:59:38] He’ll ultimately get us where he wants us to be. Even if he has to put a bin in their mouth to do it. But is those decisions along the way that determine. The degree of joy and fulfillment or pain and frustration that we go through in getting there, does that make sense? Okay, so now here’s some takeaways. Okay. First thing that I get from all this is you cannot screw up God’s destiny for your life. But you can miss out on the blessings he has for you along the way, and I’m sure if I were to ask you or be candid with me there, we could tell a long list of things that we realized. We probably lost some blessings along the way. Right.

[01:00:28] And so here’s the cool thing. OK. And this is. This is probably the big takeaway for me. The more you’re perfectly conformed to his will, the more you obey every leading of his direction of your steps. Then the more that everything that happens in your life is his. Well, let me say it. This makes sense. Do you think Jesus followed every direction of the Lord in leading his steps?

[01:01:00] Yeah. Did everything that happen in Jesus’s life? Was that God’s will?

[01:01:07] Yes. OK. Did Paul follow every leading of the Lord in directing his steps?

[01:01:17] I believe he did.

[01:01:19] Ok. ROMANS 7 I do this things I know I ought not do, but I do them.

[01:01:24] Oh, no. OK. No, he doesn’t. He sends. Right. OK. Yes. OK. Did he do more of the steps in his life than most people do? In fact, absolutely. OK. So could we say that more of everything that happened in Paul’s life was God’s will, but not everything?

[01:01:42] Yes. OK, now let’s look at you and me. All right. We’re probably somewhere less than Paul and following every leading and direction of the Lord, would you agree? And therefore, less of everything that happens in our life is God’s will for us. Would you agree with that? OK, so now we start to have this calibration that we can see.

[01:02:08] The more we’re conform to the Lord’s will, the more we obey every leading of the spirit in his life, the more everything we do is his will. But just the opposite is true, the less we’re conforms as well, because the less we regard every leading of the spirit and we choose our own will over the Lord’s will, then the less of everything that happens in our life is as well. Does that make sense? Is that right? OK. So let me give you just kind of three examples real quickly. This passage we thought we started with with Paul in AC’s all this trouble going on in Jerusalem. Paul was in Godwill. Know he was following God’s will pretty much. And so all that was happening was accomplishing God’s perfect will for Paul’s life. So that’s one example. If we remember Peter walking on the water. He walks on the water and then he puts his eyes on the wind. And then he sinks, right? Yeah. When he acts by faith, he’s in God’s will and he receives God’s will when he acts by sight.

[01:03:24] He gets out of God’s will and he receives consequence, not God’s will. That makes sense. Is that. Yeah. And then we also have an outside influence of enemy attacks.

[01:03:37] Ok. You know, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces there. And so to the degree that we’re out of God’s will and to the degree that we resist what he directs us to do and we do our own thing, then to that degree, the enemy can attack us and thwart God’s plan for us. To the degree that the enemy could. Keep God from accomplishing his destiny for our life. Someone dies prematurely. They never fulfill the work the Lord has ultimately caused them to do because there is consequence along the way. Does that is that kind of making sense?

[01:04:18] Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[01:04:21] So then the bottom line take away. When bad things happen, don’t blame God.

[01:04:28] Okay, because he doesn’t cause everything that happens to happen in your life. He’s not the source of bad things when they do happen. The other big takeaway is at the moment, it’s much too early to tell what’s going on. Generally speaking, so. So that’s part one of of this series. And we’re gonna get in some really fun things in part 2 and 3. But any questions or comments before we wrap up on this call?

[01:05:00] This was so good, I think, for me. I always like to think of what is the mind shift that I need to take. And for me, it was like you said, not all bad things that happen are from God. And it was that perspective on line shift of a remembering the next time I’m in a situation where I feel like this is a bad thing. Like Paul was in a bad situation, but it was actually good. It’s learning to focus on knowing that the circumstance might be bad. But the lesson that I’m learning in that circumstance is the good thing that good is what God’s going to be teaching me through that process.

[01:05:43] Yes, I would add a little bit more to make this little bit more accurate. The things you’re going through may not be bad.

[01:05:53] It may be providential guidance to accomplish God’s will. But they may be uncomfortable as we go through them, but they’re not bad other things. And Godwill Art can still use those two perfecta as an endurance and patience and you know, the fruit of the spirit. Okay. Yeah. Other things that we go through that become consequences. God still uses those to accomplish his will. And those are more design, I think if we use the word design or more used to really create that endurance that you’re talking about. So, yeah, that’s very good.

[01:06:37] That was wonderful, Beatty.

[01:06:40] Well, as we wrap up. Let me just. If you for those listening, if you haven’t gone through in listening to the beginning of this entire radical faith series with what is faith and getting out of the boat, that leaves kind of a foundation. Let me strongly encourage you to do that. It’s not required. And the other thing, and this is one of the things I find a lot, if I were to say where do most Christians really dropped the ball in walking by, faith is trusting the Lord in all things. And one of the things most people don’t trust the Lord in is with money. So I’d encourage you to go back in. We did a two part series on financial stewardship. One on tithing, one on offering. Let me encourage you. Go listen to those and and make sure that you’re trusting the Lord there. If he’s got your money. He’s got most of you already, so. Yeah, that’s right.

[01:07:40] Okay. Obeidy, thank you so much for your time. And just just the amount of effort that you put into these calls. I really appreciate it. I know our listeners are enjoying it as well. And this is great. I look forward to part two.

[01:07:55] Very good. Well, I look forward to that as well. Y’all have a blessed day. Thank you.

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