[0:00] I don't know I've ever been more grateful to have a friend at church tonight. Brother Kyle was going to preach. I've always had great love and respect for him. He was preaching at the Youth Congress in Peru.
[0:10] And David wrote and said, you've got to hear this. Here, Kyle, he just preaches the Bible. And I'm just so grateful for it. I know that's not supposed to be an anomaly. But somehow it turned out to become, over the years it's become an anomaly.
[0:21] We're innovative and cool when we just preach the Bible, right? And it's different. And I'm so grateful that's what I know will happen tonight. Tonight, his brother Trent. Did Trent not tell that he was your brother back there?
[0:33] Trent, back there, the much taller. They're brothers. And Trent, you know, was the assistant pastor at Vision Baptist Church in Adairsville. And then he is the pastor at Glade Baptist Church.
[0:43] How old is Glade, Brother Kyle? 1872. 1872. He's been there since the early days in 1872. It's beautiful. There's one direction you can go in to go underneath the covered bridge to get there.
[0:57] And it's just a beautiful church. And God's really blessing. They baptize in the creek. That's how people like it. And I love it. And they baptize often. God's using it. It's the church that I told you where I went to a men's prayer breakfast.
[1:09] And a man in his 120s, I guess I would say, stood up to pray. And he said, God, you know, we always prayed for a missionary from our church. And now you gave us Brother Ricky to Utah that we got to take on at the missions conference last year.
[1:24] I just love the church. I love Brother Kyle. And I love that he's going to preach for us tonight in God's Word. And going to help us keep our eyes on him as we sing, as we sung about. And I scheduled him as an assistant pastor.
[1:35] And I called him. And he said, well, I know you're the pastor now, so I'm probably canceled, right? And I said, no, no doctrinal changes. You can still come if you'll preach the Bible. And I called him this week, and I said, hey, man, I know there's a lot going on.
[1:47] You're still able to come and be here with us. And he said, you're my friend. I love this church, and I wouldn't want to be any other place. And I am so grateful that he is here. And so if you'll take the Word of God as he leads us in our study tonight.
[2:00] Amen. God bless you. And I would not rather be any other place than here tonight. Take your Bible to 1 Kings chapter number 17, if you will. With a Trent, that fellow you just called 140 years old, is watching the service tonight, by the way.
[2:12] And he's a bad man. No, he really don't have Facebook, so he's not watching. 1 Kings chapter. He's like the only church member I've got that will not get Facebook so they can watch the live streams.
[2:25] He's just stubborn. 1 Kings chapter number 17. If I could be any Old Testament character, then I think I would probably want to be Elijah. I mean, who doesn't want to call down fire from heaven?
[2:38] Amen. I mean, you think about all the Old Testament characters, Elijah is a unique character that was used greatly of the Lord. He was a man that God used to call kings back and nations back to God.
[2:50] He was a man that truly made an eternal difference. Elijah lived during the reign of King Ahab in the northern kingdom. And Ahab, if you know anything about Ahab, he came from a very wicked family.
[3:02] His father, the Bible says, done more wickedness than any king before him. Then Ahab comes along and he tops his father. He does more wickedness than his father and every king that had ever been before Ahab.
[3:15] Those are the days that Elijah lives in. I think that's important because I think that many times in the days that we're living in, we get to a place where we want to throw our hands up and say nothing can be done.
[3:28] No real difference can be made. But nothing is further from the truth tonight. These are days that are desperate for difference makers. And I wonder tonight, do you want to make a difference?
[3:40] Look in verse 1 of chapter 17 at this man Elijah. The Bible says, and Elijah the Tishbite. Now there's something to be said, and I don't have time to go through everything that I could say about Elijah in verse 1.
[3:52] But there's something to be said about his parents in verse number 1. You say, oh preacher, I don't see anything about his parents. Well, they named him Elijah. The word Elijah means God is Jehovah. Do you know that?
[4:03] Elijah means God Jehovah. His parents said, this boy is going to know one thing if he doesn't know anything else, that there is one God. He is Jehovah. He's the true and living God. He was a Tishbite.
[4:14] He was really a nobody from the inhabitants of Gilead. Kind of a backwoods guy dressed in camel's clothing. He was kind of a roughneck, if you will. But God uses roughnecks.
[4:25] Said unto Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel liveth. Here's the key to why Elijah could make such a difference. Before whom I stand. Elijah made a difference before Ahab because Elijah stood before God.
[4:39] There shall not be dew nor rain these three years. What a bold statement. But according to my word. Here it is. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, get thee hence and turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
[4:55] And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord.
[5:06] For he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening. And he drank of the brook, and it came to pass, after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
[5:22] Father, we love you. We love your word. I love this church. I love their pastor. And I love all these missionaries. And God, we just pray a special blessing on the service tonight. Have your way as we preach in Christ Jesus' name.
[5:34] Amen. I want to draw your attention back to verse number two. Notice the phrase, The word of the Lord came unto him. Then in verse number five, the phrase, So he went and did.
[5:48] The word of the Lord came unto him. In verse five, So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. So much of our failure in our Christian life is due to our unwillingness to simply follow God's direction for our lives.
[6:05] For most of us, the truth is, it's not what we don't know that troubles us. It's what we do know and that we don't obey that troubles us. Fact is, we have more direction than we need, and we obey little of the direction that we have.
[6:26] Now, I would say to us tonight that it is a good day in our life when we realize that all that God really requires of us is to simply follow his direction.
[6:38] So that sounds like a simple statement. Well, maybe oversimplified, but it is the truth indeed. The one thing that God requires of us above everything else is for us to simply be obedient to his word.
[6:51] And I want to ask you tonight, on a Thursday night, for this moment, in this moment, are you following every direction that you have received from the Lord? We talk about Elijah, we're talking about a man who's a real difference maker.
[7:05] Well, what was it that made Elijah such a difference maker? Well, I would submit to you tonight that the reason Elijah made such a difference for God was because Elijah followed God's direction for his life.
[7:17] He burst on the stage of time in 1 Kings 17 with this kingdom-shaking announcement that it's not going to rain until he gives the word again. Now, I can just imagine that Elijah played all this out in his mind, how he was going to tell the king that it wasn't going to rain.
[7:32] He thought, well, I don't know if the king's going to take my head off. I don't know if he's going to repent and get right with God. He didn't know. He knew his one commission was to go to the king and give him what God had said, that it's not going to rain.
[7:43] So he does. He goes into the king. He gives him the word. He walks out. What next? Isn't so much of our life consisting of what to do next?
[7:56] God, what am I going to do now? Lord, where do you want me to go? That's a dangerous question, isn't it? Y'all know all about that question. Lord, how long am I going to do this? Lord, what happens next?
[8:07] What if this doesn't work out? And many times we make the mistake of trying to figure it all out, don't we? Sometimes we attempt to look into the future and figure out what God can only understand.
[8:18] The truth is God's the only one that has the answers. And obedience to God's direction was a hallmark of Elijah's life. You want to make a difference like Elijah? Then simply obey God's direction for your life.
[8:32] The word of the Lord came to Elijah, so he went and did according to the word of the Lord. Tonight, are you following God's direction for your life? What you know God has directed you to do?
[8:45] I think there's something we can learn here. I want you to notice with me tonight. First of all, there is a word of direction. Look in verse number two. And the word of the Lord came unto him. Elijah had faithfully carried out his mission to confront Ahab, and now we find the Lord is speaking anew and afresh to his servant.
[9:01] And if you read through this chapter, look in verse two. It says the word of the Lord came unto him. Verse five, so he went. Verse number eight, and the word of the Lord came unto him. Verse number ten, so he arose. Look in chapter 18, verse one.
[9:12] And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah. Verse two, and Elijah went. It's a pattern in Elijah's life. God's word comes, and Elijah obeys.
[9:23] God's word comes, and Elijah obeys. You see, Elijah found direction for his life because he had a word from the Lord. God was speaking to Elijah.
[9:34] Now you say, well, God doesn't speak to me like he did to Elijah. I've never heard God audibly speak. He don't speak to me like he did to Elijah. Hold on a minute. Do you have a Bible? Do you have a Bible?
[9:47] If you have a Bible, I want you to hold it up for just a moment, and I want you to repeat after me. I'm going to get you to fill in the blank. The word of the Lord came unto, and I want you to put your name there. The word of the Lord came unto. Let's say it again.
[9:59] The word of the Lord came unto. You have got a word from the Lord. You say, well, God came to Elijah, and he spoke supernaturally to Elijah, and if God came and spoke to me like that, then I'd do whatever God said.
[10:14] Hold on a minute. So you mean to tell me that the fact that God inspired his very words, used human penmen to pen his very words, is not supernatural?
[10:28] You mean the fact that God used 44 men to put together these 66 books that we've got in our Bible is not supernatural? Do you mean that 2,000 years later, the fact that we sit here on a Thursday night, and we've got a preserved, perfect copy of God's word is not supernatural?
[10:46] No, look, if you've got a Bible, you're holding a miracle tonight. Everything about this book is supernatural. This is a book that God has written. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
[11:06] This is a book that God has breathed. Did you know that this book is indestructible? It cannot be destructed.
[11:18] It is an indestructible book. Peter said it like this, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever, for all flesh is his grass, and the glory of man is the flower of grass.
[11:30] The grass withers and the flower falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. Oh, it's indestructible. It's a powerful book. Did you know the Bible says, The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing, even to the dividing and the sunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
[11:49] I'm talking about a miraculous book. I'm talking about a supernatural book tonight. Don't tell me you don't have a word from the Lord tonight. God has given us his word, hasn't he?
[12:00] He's given us his word. We have a word. It's not what we don't know that bothers us. It's what we know and we don't obey. And some of you tonight, you're waiting for a lightning bolt in the sky.
[12:12] You're waiting for a sign. You're waiting for something to happen supernaturally. God to speak to you audibly. And I would say to you tonight, stop waiting on something supernatural. If you've got a Bible, you have something supernatural.
[12:24] You have God's word. Some of us can't figure out why we can't find direction for our life. We can't figure out why our life's in a mess. Why God's not using us the way we think he ought to be using us.
[12:36] Let me ask you, what are you doing with the word of the Lord that you have? Do you hear when God gives direction? When you read your Bible, do you read it as if God is speaking to you because he is?
[12:49] When someone preaches the Bible, do you say, well, that's God speaking. You look at your Bible and say, well, that sounds right to me. That lines up with the Bible. So God is speaking to me. We've got a word, don't we?
[13:03] Elijah had a word. We've got a word of the Lord. And then we find on the word of direction, but secondly, we see a walk of direction. Verse 5, so he went and did. God gave Elijah a word and Elijah obeyed.
[13:16] He walked in the direction that the Lord had given him. That's the secret tonight and it's not a secret at all. But the key tonight is obedience to the Lord, doing what God tells us to do, nothing more and nothing less.
[13:32] I know most of you know this because you've been all over the world, but you know that there's people all over the world that don't have the light that we have. That don't have a copy of God's word that we have. It breaks my heart when I see these videos of people that get a Bible in some foreign country and they hug it and they cry because they've got a copy of God's word.
[13:49] And we've had God's word all our lives and yet we do not obey what we have. Some of us have been in church our entire life. I've been in church my entire life, thousands of sermons.
[14:04] I've sat in Sunday school thousands of, literally thousands of times and yet we obey so little of what we've heard.
[14:16] I wonder now, how many sermons does it take on the Great Commission for us to actually obey what we know to be true? How many sermons does it take on the family for us to actually take it serious and have time with our family and devotion with our family at night or in the morning before we send them off to school?
[14:33] How many sermons does it take on worldliness and sin does it take for us to separate? How many sermons on giving does it take for us to actually obey what we hear? We hear sermons week after week after week in Sunday school and discipleship and devotion and we obey so little of what we know to be true.
[14:52] I've preached, I tried to do the math, I'm terrible at math, but I think I've preached somewhere between 800,000 sermons at our church, 17 books of the Bible, and that's not a lot.
[15:09] I don't think that's much at all, but after all of those sermons, I'm scratching my head some weeks and going, when are we going to get it? What is it going to take?
[15:20] I'm trying, I really am, I'm trying to do better, I'm trying to be better at what God's given me to do, I want to be more effective at what God's given me to do, but I'm thinking, 800,000 sermons, some of these people have been listening to these sermons and have been here way longer than I have, what is it going to take?
[15:33] And then I think about my own life and I think, what is it going to take for me? And I look at myself and say, I've heard probably more sermons than anybody my age, what is it going to take for me to get it?
[15:46] You know what Elijah did when God gave him a word? Elijah obeyed without delay. The word of the Lord came and so he went.
[15:57] God says, I want you to go to the brook down at Cherith and the Bible says, Elijah just went, he didn't procrastinate. How many men are like me, you procrastinate sometimes? Oh yeah. Elijah, he said, I'm just going to do what God's given me to do.
[16:10] He went. I wonder how many of us are dragging our feet about something God has given us direction in. I'm talking about something that you know for sure that God has given you direction about.
[16:21] The Holy Spirit has helped you to understand that this is something true. This is something you should do or should not do. God is directing you that way and you are dragging, I am dragging my feet about what God's given us to do.
[16:33] I give my children directions. When I give them directions, I expect them to act on those directions I give. Now how many parents know that doesn't happen all the time? Matter of fact, it probably doesn't happen most of the time.
[16:47] We wonder why God's not blessed in our life when we're not obeying without delay the word that He's given us. You know what else Elijah did? He obeyed without question. Can you imagine all the questions?
[16:58] God says, Elijah, I know I've just brought you on the scene. I know you just went to Ahab. I've just really opened your ministry up but now I want you to go back. I want you to go by the brook for three years. Well, Lord, don't you know that there's going to be a famine?
[17:11] How am I supposed to have anything in a famine? Lord, how long am I going to be by the brook? I mean, God, I don't understand what you're doing in my life but Elijah doesn't ask anything, does he?
[17:24] He just does what the Lord says. Again, my children, I give them direction and I expect them to obey without delay and obey without question but how many children are like mine? They often say, why?
[17:35] Then if you're a good parent, you'll say, don't worry about why. You just do what I said. Why? Everything's why? And then I find myself so often asking God, why?
[17:50] Well, how's this going to work out? Well, I know you're telling me to do this but I just can't see it all adding up. I just really can't. God, you've got to show me a little bit about what you're doing.
[18:02] I just don't understand what you're up to and some of us could truly make a difference for God if we just stop asking so many questions and start doing what the Lord's asking us to do. Some of you tonight have got a definite direction from the Lord.
[18:17] Perhaps it's something God's given you to do and you're saying, Lord, why? How's it going to work, God? Elijah had a word from the Lord. We see Elijah's walk.
[18:28] He walked. He responded to God without delay. He responded without question. But then we see a work in this direction. Because here's what we miss about God's direction so often.
[18:40] Here it is tonight that God is always at work. When God is directing us, God is always working in us for us and for His glory. Every time we're saying, God, we don't know what you're doing but God's doing something, isn't He?
[18:55] God says to Elijah, I want you to go down to the brook Cherith and I want you to hide yourself and Elijah goes, I don't know what you're doing but you're doing something. You say, what was God doing? It was a work of preparation for Elijah.
[19:09] It's interesting because God brings Elijah out of obscurity in verse number 17 and then in verse number 2 and 3 as soon as He brings him out of obscurity, God says, okay Elijah, now that you came and told Ahab what I want you to tell him, I want you to go back to the brook for three years.
[19:24] You've got three more years of school because I want you to get a bachelor and the school of learning to depend on me. Here you are, Elijah, I finally brought you off.
[19:37] I finally brought you out on the scene but I need you to go back for more because I need you to learn to trust me. You see, Elijah wasn't prepared for Mount Carmel yet, was he? We think about Elijah, what is it we think about?
[19:50] We think about Mount Carmel, right? Elijah was the man that called down fire. That's what we think about Elijah but look, tonight, I want you to get this, before every Carmel there must be a chariot.
[20:03] Before God can ever put us on Mount Carmel and have us call down fire from heaven, God has to take us to chariot by the brook for a time of preparation. Elijah, you're not prepared yet.
[20:14] I know you think you are but it's not time. You need to go back down by the brook for three years so that you can learn and prepare so I can get you ready for Mount Carmel so that you can trust me. And the more God uses us, the more preparation we need.
[20:29] We don't understand that, do we? We think, well if God gifted me then surely God don't have to do much to get me ready. The truth is, the truth is tonight if God has gifted you, He'll probably have to do more preparation on you than anybody else.
[20:47] David, 1 Samuel 16, 13, Samuel comes to Jesse's house and warns David to be king. And the Bible says that from that day forward that the Spirit of the Lord came on David.
[21:01] From that day forward. Do you realize it was 20 years before David ever made it to the throne? The Spirit of the Lord came on David in Jesse's house but 20 years later he finally made it to the throne.
[21:16] God said, I know that I've anointed you, I know the Spirit of the Lord is on you but David, you still got a lot to learn before you can ever make it to the throne. Moses spent 40 years as a shepherd.
[21:32] Think about this, you can go to school and you can become a doctor in about 8 years. That seems like a long time, doesn't it? Some of you in the training center say, yeah, that seems like a real long time, I don't want to be here that long.
[21:46] You can go to school and become a doctor in 8 years and then you can work for 30 years and have a career and you know, 8 years, that's not that big a deal for 30 years in a career.
[22:00] Think about Moses, God says, okay Moses, here's your career, 40 years in school and 40 years as a shepherd. Not a shepherd of sheep but a shepherd of people. 40 years as a shepherd in school and 40 years as a shepherd of sheep.
[22:10] Here comes Paul, he's converted on the road to Damascus and then for 3 years to Arabia for preparation. What about the Lord Jesus Himself?
[22:23] You know how old Jesus was? He was 30 years old before He ever began His earthly ministry and His earthly ministry was only 3 1⁄2 years. I'm saying that when God is directing us we can trust Him because He's taking us to a place of preparation many times and we need preparation.
[22:42] Charles Spurgeon said one time if I knew I had 25 years left to live I'd want to spend 25 in preparation. We're so foolish and I say we because I'm speaking for myself.
[22:57] We're so foolish that we think we can skip God's preparation and God can use us. I would be ashamed to tell you some of the crazy things that I thought as a young preacher.
[23:09] The crazy things that I thought God ought to be doing in my life and God's going you've lost your mind. You got to go to school and if it took Elijah three years by the brook man it's going to take me about 30.
[23:27] I read somewhere in a book the other day that I can't remember now who it was when a preacher wrote it takes 20 years to make a preacher is what he said and I wrote two of my preacher friends and I said well boys I'm only halfway there 10 more years and I'll finally be a preacher.
[23:41] I don't know about that but I'd say there is some truth. God directs us so that he can prepare us and I want you to understand something now you say well that was Elijah God he really prepared Elijah for what look you may not be the next Elijah but God will spend as much time preparing you as he did Elijah.
[24:00] God is just as interested in you as he was Elijah. What was God doing? God was preparing Elijah it was a preparing work it was a preserving work you know Ahab if he could have got his hands on Elijah he would have strangled his neck.
[24:19] Elijah runs in to Obadiah and Obadiah says man Ahab's been looking everywhere for you he searched every kingdom and nation man if he could get a hold of you he'd be off of your head. God says Elijah I need you to go down to the brook for a while because I need to do some preparing on you but I also need to preserve you and protect you.
[24:38] We can follow God's direction tonight because when we're in God's will and following God's direction God is preserving us he's protecting us even many times without us even knowing it. We'd all be afraid to death tonight if we saw some of the things the Lord has protected us from.
[24:56] But it's only as we walk in his direction it's a preserving work. It was a providing work wasn't it? God says Elijah don't worry about it go down to the brook you're going to have water there and don't worry about food I'm just going to have my ravens bring you some food twice a day.
[25:13] It's a pretty unique way to deliver a meal isn't it? Somebody said well God's given me direction in this area but I just don't know how I'm going to survive if I follow God's direction. Look you ever heard the saying where God guides God provides I don't remember who said that.
[25:28] Isn't that a true statement if God guides you he'll provide? How many found that to be true? I know I have. Look if the Lord sends you down to the brook don't worry he'll send the ravens to feed you. Amen.
[25:39] If God directs you to make a career change don't worry he'll take care of it. If he directs you into the ministry don't worry he'll take care of it. If he directs you to the mission field don't worry he'll take care of it and as I speak these words I'm convicted about my own life and how I often worry about God's provision for my life.
[25:55] And then I'm reminded of even just these last days of how God has provided things for me that I needed. He just provided every day what Elijah needed nothing more nothing less Elijah just trusted in the Lord for provision.
[26:10] How many ever read the biography of George Mueller? If you don't if you haven't read that you need to read it. It's a convicting book to read about this man and how that every day he simply trusted God for provision.
[26:25] He did something that I'm not quite ready to do yet. He went and told his church he said look I don't want you to pay me anymore. I don't know if I'm there yet. I'm trying to I'm trying to trust the Lord but this man said look I don't want to sell anymore if I receive anything then I'm just going to trust God to give it to me.
[26:44] And he did. He never asked anybody for anything. He said I'm never going to ask anybody but God for anything. Think of that. Every day he just depended on the Lord.
[26:55] I remember reading a story about how they had ran out of food no milk no bread for the next morning's breakfast and they came and told Mr. Mueller that they didn't have anything and he said well we're going to pray and ask God and we're just going to trust God.
[27:06] They prayed together and before they could even get finished praying a knock on the door his wife ran and had an envelope and opened the envelope and there was enough money to feed all the children the next day and buy milk. Another occasion he told a story of how that they were in the same situation and a milk truck broke down in front of their door.
[27:23] You can't make it up. God provides doesn't he? When God directs God provides. I don't know if God intends on all of us living like George Mueller.
[27:37] I do know this I think we're probably missing something in our trust of the Lord just simply depending on him. Elijah learned to follow God's direction and to depend on the Lord every single day.
[27:54] And some of us tonight are saying God I just I'd follow your direction but I just don't know how I'm going to make it. God can feed Elijah by the brook with ravens don't you think he can feed us?
[28:09] After all he does own the cattle on a thousand hills and all the silver and gold. Elijah had a word of direction didn't he? How many got a word of direction tonight?
[28:21] If you got a Bible you do. We see his walk he walks in the direction then God's work in his life. So here it is tonight let me bring it to a simple conclusion.
[28:37] What should we consider doing tonight? Very simple. Number one we ought to learn to listen to the word. You say you came all the way here to tell us to listen to the word.
[28:51] Again I want to remind you it's not what we know that bothers us it's what we know and don't obey that bothers us. Learn to listen to the word. When the preacher preaches you listen as if God in heaven himself is speaking.
[29:05] If it lines up with the word with the Bible you say amen to it and then you go and you do according to the word of the Lord. When you read your Bible and if you're not reading your Bible you're not getting any direction.
[29:16] When you read your Bible you say God I know you're speaking to me I'm looking for how you're speaking to me and when I know that you've given me direction God I'm simply going to obey what you've given me. Listen and you obey one step at a time.
[29:34] Here's what we often do we look at somebody and say man I've got to be that. I've got to get where he is. God doesn't require us to be where he is. God says all I want from you now is for you to obey the next direction I give you.
[29:49] And we do it one step at a time. God gives us direction from his word and we simply take a step. God gives us direction from his word and we simply take a step.
[29:59] God gives us another direction and we simply take another step. We just take one step after the next trusting the Lord. I remember when God started dealing with my heart to preach and I thought Lord you don't know me.
[30:15] And I remember telling my wife when I looked at her and said I think God might be calling me to preach and she said are you sure? I said what do you mean by that? I said God I can't do that.
[30:30] And finally I said God I'm just going to take one step I don't know where it's going to lead but I'm just going to take one step and trust you. And it wasn't long God called me to the pastor and I really thought God you surely don't know what you're doing now.
[30:44] I mean I've been around this my whole life and if I ever if I said there's one thing I would not do in my life this is it. How many ever did that? Don't ever tell God you're not going to do anything. I told God I said I'll never be in the ministry.
[30:56] A few years later I was invited to go sing at a little white church down in the holler 401 Folsom Glade Road and I was invited to sing and I left that church and I told my wife I said I'll never go back there again. That's the church I pastor.
[31:11] You can ask her I told her those very words I said I'm never going back there again. I was so embarrassed by something that happened while I was singing. And then God said I want you to be a pastor.
[31:25] I said Lord I don't know what I'm doing but I'll take a step. Then I remember God began to deal with my heart about full time ministry because a pastor of a church that had never 1872 had never had a full time pastor and it's history.
[31:38] I said God are you sure about that? That's a big step. I mean I don't even know how I'm going to approach anybody and tell them that I think that's what you're calling me to do. They're going to think I'm crazy. I had a lady said to me one time she said you know how we used to pay the preacher we gave him chickens after Sunday morning service.
[31:53] That's how we paid him. I thought well you don't pay me that way. I can't live off of chickens. I like chicken but I need more than chicken every once in a while.
[32:04] I thought how am I going to ask this church that used to pay their preacher in chickens to make me full time in the ministry. And I remember I literally was shaking the night that I went in to talk to our men and tell them that I believe that God had told me that I need to be in full time ministry.
[32:22] I was physically shaking. And I said God I'm afraid and I don't know I really don't know what you're doing here but God if this is what you want me to do I'm going to take the next step.
[32:33] Just one step. And so I took the step and one step after the next. One little step after the next. God is guided. And God is prepared and God is preserved and God has provided every single thing that I've ever needed.
[32:52] And I'm saying to you tonight that you can trust Him. You can trust Him. Wherever He guides you you can trust Him. What step is it tonight that you need to take?
[33:07] Maybe God's given you some simple direction from His Word about something in your life that you need to rid but you're dragging your feet on it. You know what you all do tonight?
[33:19] You all do literally take a step. I'm not sure if we give invitations on Thursday night or not if we can or if we do then I'm going to ask you literally to take a step out of your pew out of your chair and come take a step.
[33:31] Say God I'm going to rid myself of that. Or something you know God has said this is what I want you to do and you're dragging your feet and you're going to say I'm going to step out and I'm going to take that next step of obedience. Maybe God's given you some specific ministry direction and you're sort of dragging your feet tonight.
[33:46] I'm asking you would you take the next step of obedience? Maybe I know it's Thursday night but maybe you need to take the step of obedience in salvation. You may be here and you've never been saved.
[33:58] Be a good night to take that step of obedience. Maybe it's baptism, church membership, whatever it is. don't look down the road.
[34:08] Look at what God wants you to do right now. The next step. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed as we pray together and they can have a song of invitation.
[34:19] I want to invite you if you want to come take a next step, maybe you'd like to step out now and come find a place to pray, whatever it is that God's dealing with you about. Father, I love you.
[34:30] Thank you for the word of God. Thank you that we do have your word. God, we don't have to guess about your direction for our lives, but you've given us clear direction. And I believe there's many people that need to take steps of direction and I pray you'd guide them, give them the courage to do it, help them to have the faith to trust you.
[34:54] Bless now, if there's someone that's lost, I pray tonight that they'd take that step. We'll give you the glory for it. Christ Jesus' name.