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Roger Tointon—December 29, 2018
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We're in a very scattered time in the Church, and of course, the Church has had those times before us. Then we got restarted at the end of this age, in the latter days, and we are all here and together. We're different from everybody else, and we are different, but that's God's doing! Otherwise, we're just like the people out there until God came along and opened our mind and our eyes.
I have to do something now that I have not done yet, and that is I've been given instructions—I like to try and follow them—and that is my name: Roger Tointon.
We are on a journey, definitely, every day we're reminded in one way or another. Why are we on that journey? For some reason, God decided to reach out and pull us to Him and open our mind so that we could know Him. That separates us from virtually everybody.
Over time you begin to understand that in greater detail, but it really does separate us. If we have been drawn by the Almighty God, the Most High, and our mind is opened, we can know Him and know His Son. Christ reveals the Father to us, so we know God!
What then are we to do? We learned some basics early on, and we have tried to follow those basics. But God says, 'No, that's not enough! You have to continue to grow in understanding, and we're really going to grow in understanding and further the gift that God has given us.
When you stop and think that we have been given the opportunity to become the very sons of God Almighty, we cannot fully comprehend that.
How can we better understand what little we do? We have to be in communication with God! There are many aspects to that, but there are two very important ones; you know them, you hear them all the time from Fred; he keeps telling us to shape up: study and prayer! Prayer is an amazing thing, because when we learn how to pray—and we do not learn that instantaneously or early on, it takes a long time—we can grow in understanding of how to pray to God.
- What is prayer to God? That's when you get in a private place, as Christ said, and you shut the door and you talk to God!
- What do you say? We have things on our mind and we can pray about those things!
We're going to see some interesting aspects about that as we go along here! In each of these Scriptures, there are some things—if you really take the time to see what they say—you can learn something. You might be able to put it into words, but you can learn. You know that you're learning when you receive something that you did not fully consciously ingest before.
God is love, and that's why we're here. It all goes back to God. He called us and He wants us in His Kingdom as His children! So, the rest has to be as it works out along the way.
What is a parable? It's setting something up for you to learn! That's why Christ gave the parables. He wants us to understand what He really wants us to know. We'll see some of that today. This is the parable abut the unrighteous judge:
Luke 18:2: "…'There was in a certain city a certain judge who neither feared God nor respected man.'"
A typical judge, you might say. I'm not down on judges per se, I just don't like what a lot them do. But this judge represents somebody out there that does not…
Look at the people out there in this world, they give no regard to God, because a lot of them don't even think that He is, that He exists, and certainly not exist the way that He does exist! Whatever is in this present world is going to influence them.
Then this woman in Luke 18, who could be almost anybody, kept coming to this judge and she said, v 3: "…'Avenge me of my adversary.'"
We don't know what that was in this situation. The point it, as you know, she kept going to this man who could care less, and wished that she would go away. But she persisted until he finally said: 'Okay, I will avenge you.'
Well, God shows this same principle when we are to go to Him. We are to persist. It also says in Scripture that God knows what we need before we ask Him. But how many times does He say, 'Ask!' He wants us to ask! So, we have to be like that woman who persisted until she did get what she was seeking.
Another admonition that we have a lot of… Of course, in these end-times we always read Matt. 24 about how we are to watch and pray.
Luke 21:34: "Watch yourselves, lest your hearts be preoccupied with high living and drinking… [the things of this life] …and the cares of this life…"
That's what it is basically because we live many different lifestyles. But what are people caught up in? Trying to make it through this hectic time! A lot of them are very, very concerned about what's going on, but they don't understand it, so they just hope that things get better.
God says not to get caught up in those things, "…and that day come upon you suddenly" (v 34). That day when Christ will return! Or the day when the beast takes over! All of those things are going to be very life changing!
Verse 35: "For as a snare it shall come upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth"—except those whom the Father has called, you and me and people like us that God has drawn.
Verse 36: "Watch, therefore, and pray at all times…" You have other things to do, but you get the principle!
We are to be in communication with God, and really that's in many ways. As we're going though our work, whatever we have to do, we should have God on our mind, whether we are doing things right or not, and wanting God's help and intervention!
I go though that many times on the job. If I don't know for sure how to deal with something, I ask God to help me, and I go to work and rely on His inspiration. He will intervene many, many times! I look back after it's over—whatever the situation was—and I say, 'Oh yeah, He worked it out.' This thing that was a problem worked out and it was done. He'll do that in you life if you have faith!
Romans 12:1: "I exhort you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, Holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service." It's our duty!
That's how we can serve God, by obeying Him, and all of Scripture—and the Gospel—points that out. We have to obey God to be right with Him, and if we want to serve God we have to obey Him.
Verse 2: "Do not conform yourselves to this world… [warning] …but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in order that you may prove what is well-pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God."
- Why do we go to God?
- Why do we communicate in prayer?
- Why do we turn to His Word?
We're trying to do that and prove what God's will is!
We know the general outline. God wants all of mankind to finally submit and come to Him in obedience so that He can accept them. But what is His will in so many different things? Some of the things we don't know and we struggle to try and figure it out! But if we're going to get the answer, if God is going to reveal it to us, He's not going to call down from Mt. Sinai—if He did we would probably crawl in a hole—He wants us to go to Him!He can reveal many things to us, and He does when we pursue Him!
Christ was talking to the disciples about what they had to do. He says, Matthew 6:5: "And when you pray…" That's like saying, 'Yes, you are to pray.'
Verse 6: "But you, when you pray, enter into a private room; and after shutting the door, pray to your Father Who is in secret; and your Father Who sees in secret shall reward you openly."
Jesus is making the point that we have to do this. We have to establish not just a habit, but we have to see the need if we're really going to get answers back from God. We have to be receptive to what the Holy Spirit will reveal to us. That's the key; the Holy Spirit is the link between God and us, between Christ and us as Christ watches over us and shepherds us. He does it through the Holy Spirit.
Verse 7: "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do…"
Verse 8: "Now then, do not be like them; for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him."
I've pointed that out, and here it is, and Christ is pointing that out. Everything that we receive from God comes from Them, everything that we have is made possible because of the way that God set the creation up. They know what we need, but they want us to ask! The Father and the Son both want us to ask, but Christ says that you ask the Father. In the end we are to ask God's will!
We do not fully understand His will in any given particular situation. We come up against it all the time. One of the main reasons in this present time is because of the health condition of God's people. There are many health problems. It's a combination of living a life in this world without wisdom until God called you, and maybe even after that for a long time. Wisdom in how to take care of yourself, proper health maintenance. God made us miraculously, and the human body is absolutely amazing in the way that it is made, but we have things to do.
We get sick, or even deathly sick, as many have, and we say that if we ask God in faith He should heal us. Well, we don't know fully His will concerning our life here below. It becomes a very difficult thing. But throughout all of that kind of doubt, and it's not necessarily doubt, it's a lack of understanding of what God really wants.
And I've just said that we don't know for sure in some situations. But we have to ask in faith and then we know that if we truly ask in faith then God's will will be done!
God is not going to keep us alive until 120 or 40, and I don't think you'd want to live at that age. He's not saying that He's going to keep us alive until Christ comes. But if you die in faith then the next moment God's will has been done when Christ comes in the resurrection! Then God's will has been done!
David had a tremendous relationship with God. The way he puts things it is easy to read right over it.
Psalm 116:1: "I love the LORD …" I can see David in what I can read about him; and I can see what he felt. When he said this he did love God:
- he believed in God
- he believed with his whole being
What does the great commandment say? That's what we must do! Just like David did. He made mistakes, but David loved God. Then David says:
"…because He hears my voice and my prayers" (v 1). That's not the only reason why he loved God. He loved God because he wanted to obey Him and serve Him. He did in many, many ways. Of course, he had a position far above what we will have in this present life, but he loved God!
Verse 2: "Because He has bowed down His ear to me…"—David understood the relationship! If we go into that room and close the door and begin to talk to God we should fully expect that God is going to hear us, and that He is listening. Then He'll begin to do things.
Psalm 18:1: "I love You, O LORD, my strength." He brings out there the aspect of relying on God for everything he did. He would put his mind to do it and then we would stop and think and realize he had to get God involved. 'God has to sanction this if it's going to work.' That's the kind of relationship we need in our communication. That's why we communicate with God.
Verse 2: "The LORD is my Rock…" That tells us a tremendous amount! God and Christ are Whom we must rely upon for our live to take the right direction!
"…and my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my Rock in Whom I take refuge…" (v 2).
Verse 6: "In my distress I called on the LORD, and I cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him into His ears." David fully believed that!
That is what we must do! We must believe that if our prayers are going to be productive in our life so that we can better serve God.
Mark 11:22: "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Have faith from God.'" That's where faith comes from! God does not give us an additional amount of faith unless we go to Him and communicate with Him.
Verse 23: "For truly I say to you, whoever shall say to this mountain, "Be taken away and be cast into the sea," and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said will take place, he shall have whatever he shall say."
I think people get confused in this, because that is essentially a parable. It's more than that, but God is saying that IF you have that kind of faith and belief in God and trusting Him for the help you need, then you can do all kinds of things that you couldn't otherwise.
I do not think that God wants us to pray to move a mountain, because there would be a major earthquake. Does God want a major earthquake, yet? There's going to be one, but I think God's going to bring that about. I don't think He wants us to move a mountain. He's showing a principle of how we must believe with that kind of faith! We have to let Scripture guide us when we read some of this.
Verse 24: "For this reason I say to you, all the things that you ask when you are praying, believe… [in what you are asking for] …that you will receive them, and they shall be given to you." We have to believe!
James 1:5: "However, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…" We need to ask that all the time! We know what we are. We're not the mighty of this world; we're not the most astute. The things that we know now, God has made possible!
"…Who gives to everyone freely and does not reproach the one who asks;and it shall be given to him" (v 5). Again, within the realm of God's will! But when we ask in faith we should believe that God is going to bring it about in one way or another.
Verse 6: "But let him ask in faith, not doubting at all because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven by the wind and tossed to and fro. Do not let that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord" (vs 6-7)—except what happens, and it won't be from God!
John 14:13—Christ speaking: "And whatever you shall ask in My name, this will I do… [we ask as Christ instructed, in His name! Why?]: …that the Father may be glorified in the Son." That is how the plan of God is working from the very beginning of creating man with the potential to become God's sons! Christ says then the Father will be glorified, because it is the Father's will!
Verse 16: "And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that it may be with you throughout the age: Even the Spirit of the Truth, which the world cannot receive because it perceives it not… [doesn't understand] …nor knows it; but you know it because it dwells with you, and shall be within you" (vs 16-17).
That is how we have our communication with God! If the Holy Spirit did not guide us, we would just be mouthing so many words, and nothing would come of it! The Holy Spirit must guide us so that our prayer will be right!
Romans 8:26: "Now, in the same way also, the Spirit… [which we have just covered] …is conjointly helping our weaknesses because we do not fully understand what we should pray for, according as it is necessary…"
That has a lot to do with what is God's will and what is not God's will, and we do not fully understand that, so we have to rely upon God showing us and giving us intercession in our prayers.
"…but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groaning that cannot be expressed by us. And the One Who searches the hearts comprehends what the strivings of the Spirit are because it makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (vs 26-27).
The Spirit is what divides that which we cannot fully understand. The Spirit will then work God's will.
Let's go to one other Scripture that says a lot about the age we live in and what we're facing. We a nearing the end of this age.
1-John 2:20: "But you have the anointing from the Holy One, and you have knowledge of all things pertaining to salvation."
We don't know a lot of other things, but God has given us what we need so that we can become a son of God.
Verse 26: "These things I have written to you concerning those who are leading you astray"—and we still have that going on in the Church of God!
It started way back in the first century; Jude writes about it and describes it very well. He describes their technique and tactics! Those tactics have not really changed.
Verse 27: "But you yourselves have dwelling in you the anointing that you received from Him; and you do not have need of anyone… [you don't have to listen to men if they are trying]: …to indoctrinate you…" in things that are not of God!
Why so many divisions of the Church of God? You have men come along and they indoctrinate you in something that is their idea and not God's!
We don't have need of that because we have the Holy Spirit.
Verse 28: "And now, little children, dwell in Him, so that when He is manifested we may have boldness, and not be put to shame before Him at His coming."
That's what we have to keep in mind! We have to go to God and communicate with Him, and we have to continue to communicate with Him over and over and then we will learn and God will accept us!
Scriptural References:
- Luke 18:1-2
- Luke 21:34-36
- Romans 12:1-2
- Matthew 6:5-8
- Psalm 116:1-2
- Psalm 18:1-2, 6
- Mark 11:22-24
- James 1:5-7
- John 14:13, 16-17
- Romans 8:26-27
- 1 John 2:20, 26-28
Scripture referenced, not quoted: Matthew 24
RT:bo
Transcribed:1/6/19
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