In life and things that bless us so often. Its not something one person did. Its what people do together. And we need each other. All of us need friends. All of us need people to help us do whatever god has called us to do. And listen, when you have friends like that, treasure them. And remember this. The longer you live, the more important your friends become, and heres the reason why. You have less and less time to develop new friends. And that may not sound important to you. When you get my age youll realize how very important your friends are, and you take care of them. Every single one of us needs devoted friends. And we need to be a devoted friend. And if jesus is my guide, i can rest assured of this. Hes going to help me choose my friends. Hes going to help me choose people to do what i need them to help me do. And the same thing is true in your life. You see, one of the reasons people get out of the will of god is they make wrong choices in relationships. A relationship can catapult you to something good or absolutely destroy you. And many people will have to say, as i look back in my life and see where i took a wrong road, it was because of this relationship or that relationship. And theres many people who are in prison today because of wrong relationships. They wished they could have changed it. You could go right down the line of what happens to people when they make wrong choices in relationships. I hear it all the time. Things going on in their family. Things going on in their life personally. Or in their finances. Wrong choices, wrong relationships that influence them to make wrong choices. If youre following jesus, he will never, he will never get you involved in a wrong relationship. He may have you witness to somebody, for example, who may not be a believer. But listen, listen, the holy spirit of god will warn you. How many times have i heard this . I knew god was warning me. I knew god was warning me. I knew god was trying to tell me something, but i did it anyway. Thats why you have the holy spirit living inside you to warn you against wrong relationships and to help you do what god wants you to be and be who god wants you to be. Not only our relationship but we need to be that kind of relationship person to somebody else. If youre developing relationship with someone or you sense they want to develop a relationship with you, ask yourself the question, can i be a help to them or will i be a hindrance . Am i the kind of person they need in a friend or am i not . Will they help me in my Christian Life or not . Very important. What i want to do is give you another list. Because i think its very important. So whats so valuable about Good Relationships . How valuable are they . So, the reason im giving you these lists is for you to think about them and evaluate them yourself. Lets start. One of the things about a Good Relationship is they encourage us. All of us need to be encouraged at some point in life. No one is going to get so spiritual and so high and mighty theyre never discouraged. You can be discouraged only for a moment. But all of us hit those times in our life, dear god, what is going on. Good relationships will encourage us. They motivate us. A person who is a Good Relationship person is going to motivate us. Theyll encourage you. Motivate you to do your best. To make wise choices in life. Thirdly. They will energize you. Theres something about being with people who love you and who are good for you. Theres something about that relationship thats energizing. You find yourself able to do things you didnt think you could do because theyve encouraged you, motivated you. In doing so, youre energized by them. They comfort us. We go through situations and circumstances that we think, lord, how am i going to walk through this . How am i going to get through this . You have those relationships that are very encouraging. Im praying for you. Im lifting you up. I understand where you are. Ill help you anyway i possibly can. You can call on me. You can count on me. You get down, give me a buzz. People are counselors and encouragers. Defenders. Oftentimes i hear this often lately people on their jobs being attacked by other people who want their jobs sometimes or just bigots and they just hate anybody who is religion or hate anybody who talks about jesus, true genuine friends step in to defend you. Now listen. You and i must be willing to do the same for other people. To have the courage to stand by someone. If you have a true genuine friend and you see them going through something difficult you should have the courage to stand by them. Someone says, i dont want to get into that. What do you mean you dont want to get into that . If youre their friend, you are into it. Youll be wise how you go about it. But to defend someone who is being mistreated. Then, look. Someone to love us. Everybody needs to feel loved. And theres something about Good Relationships, loving relationship. You can tell the difference between a loving relationship and somebody who just wants something from you. Thats not love. Theres such value. And if i follow my guide, first of all, im going to love him, the lord jesus with all my heart. Do you know what . Im also going to love other people who follow him and people who really and truly desire to live a godly life. Then, of course, people who accept us. Now, theres people who will accept us on condition. If you do this, if you do that. Thats not acceptance. If i really accept you, i accept you just the way you are. If i dont like something about you, listen, im going to accept you the way you are and pray that god will work his will in your life and change whatever needs to be changed. You see, when you and i get in the business of changing people, we might as well forget it. Thats not our job to change people. Its our responsibility to do just what we listed in this group right here. Loving them. Accepting them. Being patient with us. All of us need to have patience towards us at times when we get into situations and circumstances maybe we cant really understand everything thats going on. And so, we have to be patient with us. Likewise, somebody who will serve us when we need help. Everybody needs help at times in their life. Ask yourself this question. When is the last time you went out of the way to help somebody, serve somebody . Not going to profit you in any way but something you can do for others . In the life of the believer, the more you give, the happier youll give. In the life of a believer, the more you serve others, the happier youll be. Why . Its the very nature of a godly life. Thats who jesus was. He was always giving. He was always serving. Why . Because thats who he was. And when you and i have him as our guide, heres what will happen. Well be sensitive to people who are in need. Well be sensitive when somebody needs to be loved. When somebody needs to be helped. When somebody needs to be served in some fashion. Thats who he was. Thats what he did. And hes our guide. Likewise, somebody who will forgive us when we make mistakes. We all make them. We can expect it. So if were talking about true relationships, were talking about relationships where people are willing to be forgiving towards each other. One of the most damaging emotions, one of the most damaging emotions there is is an unforgiving spirit. And let me tell you something, you cannot keep it, you cannot keep it silent, quiet. Because heres what happens. An unforgiving spirit damages a persons mental, emotional and physical body. It is an absolute proven fact that it does. And so therefore, if im going to be a follower of jesus, forgiveness is not even a question. Sure you forgive but suppose theyve done so and so . Im still responsible to forgive. If youll think about it, how many times has our god the lord jesus forgiven you . None of us can count the times. Right relationships with people who will forgive us when we make mistakes but who will also confront us when we are headed in the wrong direction. You see, thats a true friend. When someone sees you head in the wrong direction, and they lovingly confront you with it. And warn you. Not in a derogatory way, but warn you. And sometimes they have to come on strong. We all need it, and we all need to be wise enough to confront someone else when we see them heading in the wrong direction. I sometimes sat down with people and pleaded with them not to do something. Well thank you very much, pastor, i appreciate that. Go right out and do it. And do you know what . Most of them never came back and told me it would happen. A few did. The rest of them didnt have to. I knew what was going to happen. You cannot violate the living word of the living god without consequences. You cannot. Thats why we have to be, we have to be sensitive to people around us who are in need. Be wise in what we say and wise about how we go about saying it. Listen. If i saw a rattle snake all coiled up, all coiled up waiting for you. And you were heading right towards him, would i be a real friend if i just let you walk right into it . Ill never forget the time thats exactly what happened to me. I was walking up this trail. To see someone who was a member of the church. Back in the mountains. And i was walking along, and this lady wanted to take me up there because this ladys husband up on the mountain died and was going through a real difficult time. I want to take you up there. She needs your help. Fine. I hadnt been to the church about two months and it was early in the morning and the sun was shining through the leaves and so forth. So heres this rattlesnake all coiled up and ready. I never saw it. Im walking and just talking and she says, stop and my First Response was stop she said. Then she pointed to him. He couldnt have missed me. Would she have been a friend if she let him bite me . No, she wouldnt. Listen. Every single one of us have seen and will see people who are on the trail to a rattlesnake in their life and we could make a difference in their life if we took the time to do it. You say, suppose they dont listen, then thats their responsibility if theyre not willing to listen. And theres a lot of people who suffered a lot of heartaches and oftentimes pain because they didnt listen. Well, i think also the fact that we need people to be kind to us. You know, the bible says kindness makes a man attractive or a woman, either one. Kindness is very important. Then the last thing i would say about our god. That is, if we are really going to be the person god wants us to be and follow the trail he wants us to follow with whether he says were running or walking, then the courage to trust god and obey his will, very important in our life. Do we have the courage to trust him and obey him no matter whats going on . If you want life at its best, you can just wrap it up in that. You want life at its best, trust hem and obey him and leave all the consequences to him, because hell take care of all the consequences of our obedience. Now, sometimes he may require of us things that appear very unreasonable. But if he says do it, do it. Things that may cause us pain, but if he says do it, do it. Because whatever he challenges us to do, not only will it profit us, but will reward us in ways you and i could never begin to understand. Sometimes those rewards dont come for a long time. Sometimes they come immediately. But would you say that its the lifestyle that youre living that what you want to do above Everything Else is just be obedient to god, let him work in your life . If you want the best life, if you want the best life that a holy, righteous, loving god can give you, then it must be a habit in your life to trust him. And to obey him. Dont try to figure things out. Dont wait until you can sort of see your way clear. Because heres what will happen. You can rest absolutely assured of this. If youll obey him, hell walk with you through whatever youre goes to face. He will provide for you whatever you need. He will enable you to face it confidently and assuredly. Hell reward you for your obedience. You cannot lose being obedient to him. Now, it will be exciting because of where he may lead you. So ill give you another list. And i want you to write this down because its very important. If you follow the Lord Jesus Christ as your guide, its amazing to me how many people sometimes theyll boast of this boast of that boast of what they can do. Ask yourself this question before you get a little boastful because this can be a little testy but what i want you to see is this. If youre committed to obeying him and letting him work in your life, watch this carefully. Ill be sure youre listening. Say amen. Heres what you can expect. You can expect to maybe go where youve never been before. Secondly, to do what youve never done. And then, to give more than youve ever given. That isnt just in money but in your time, in your love, in your devotion. Or your finances. Whatever it might be. You follow him. You can expect to give more than youve ever given. And youll be challenged to surrender what you have held very tightly. You will also love those that youve never loved before because you see, when hes the guide, he knows how to love through us. Love people that youve never loved before. And youll forgive those, listen, that you have failed to forgive. And i want to say again, an unforgiving spirit is one of the most damaging emotions any person can experience in life. Theres no area of your life that is not affected by an unforgiving spirit. And then, trust him for what youve never trusted him for before. You see, we said in the very beginning, this is the road we travel. Something we grow as we follow him. And as we acknowledge his leadership and guidance and direction for our life. And the last one is this. He may require of you to become what youve never been. So when i think about everything that god offers and its ours for the choosing. Each one of these things weve mentioned here is a choice we make. Am i willing to trust him in that way . Lets look at all of them. Heres what i would like for you to do. I want us to say these together. I want to get them in your thinking. Heres what will happen. If you will, this week, it will begin to pop up in your mind. So lets gust say them together. In other words, if we have the courage to trust him and obey his will, then we can expect to, go where youve never been. Do what youve never done. Give more than youve ever given. Surrender what youve held tightly. Love those youve never loved. Forgive those you have failed to forgive. Trust him for what youve never trusted him for before. And become what youve never been. You may be watching or listening or you may be here. And never trusted jesus as your savior. And wonder why you are where you are. You should know that by now. You are where you are because of the way you think. And the way you responded to the way you think and the relationships you built around you. And the real desires and goals that you have in your life. If you want life at its best. Its a road you travel following jesus christ, savior, lord, master and guide. And that all begins with you acknowledging your sinfulness, your rebellion, having it your way, and asking him to forgive you of your sins and telling him today youre receiving him as your personal lord and savior. Surrender your life to him and watch him work his awesome work in your life. And its yours for the asking. And its a matter of praying and asking him to forgive you, cleanse you and telling him youre surrendering your life to him. And then watch him work in your life in ways that will amaze you. And father, how grateful we are that you love us so deeply and so dearly. I pray the spirit of god will sink these truths so deep but that every day they will surface in the mind and heart of every person who hears them. And that youll bring about awesome change. And that all of us will be reminded daily that you are our guide, not the world. You are the one who loves us eternally. You are the one who has given us the gift of eternal life. Youre the one to whom were to give glory and honor. And youre the one who deserves our life, fully surrendered in jesus name, amen. When you make a deliberate decision to submit to gods direction for your life, you found the very bryt road you can travel. Visit intouch. Org and learn more about discerning gods plan for your life. And about growing in your walk with christ. Todays message the road to life at its best is available at intouch. Org where youll find a library of encouraging messages from dr. Stanley, life principles notes and resources to help you become the person god created you to be. Then follow in touch and the teaching of dr. Stanley on facebook and twitter. Explore the beauty of alaska with in touch ministries and templeton tours. Join dr. Charles stanley and be inspired by his special guests, andy stanley, the specks, babbie mason and greater vision. Book a trip with family or friends or meet new friends when you get there. Reserve your space now. Visit templetontours. Com your best source for Financial Advice or any need is the word of god. God gives us a plan for our finances that, listen, that has no equal. Apply these truths to your life with understanding financial stewardship. This howto study guide shows the relationship of money to work and faith. Perfect for small groups or personal study. Order understanding financial stewardship. Available individually or a set of six at intouch. Org. Your life . When gogod called you to do something its an opportunity. Its not just a responsibility. Its not just a calling from god. Its an opportunity to serve the living god. Tell me something any higher in life than that. See the opportunities gods planned for you with dr. Stanleys fourmessage set opportunities before us available on compact disc or dvd. Good morning. Youre listening to morning light. You got to be kidding me. Not today. I can do this. I can do this . But mom, i wanted eggs. Eat it how about when we get home well make your favorite, pizza . Yes . Will you quit playing and hurry up, we got to go we got to go. Take your bag. Its your bag. [music] god uses your hardships, your sufferings, and your pain for good. Think of it this way. Nothing that you go through in life is ever wasted. In fact, brokenness is gods ultimate desire for you. Now that may sound harsh or seem like it goes against common sense but gods purposes can best be met in you when you become less and he becomes more. So dont miss this truth. God loves you. And because his love for you is so great, he will use any number of things to rid you of your selfreliance and your self will. But when the believer resists this process theres consequences. And we can hinder our relationship with him, hurt those closest to us or even feel past over for gods blessings and his opportunities. And its this last consequence that concerns one of our viewers. She wrote to us. In one of your sermons, you mentioned being put on a shelf. What exactly does that mean . How does it happen . And if a child of god ever gets put on the shelf, will god someday take them off the shelf again . Well heres what it means. Very simple. To be put on the shelf by god means, god ceases to use that person either for the rest of their life or for a period of time. People being used of god, in many ways he uses people. But being used by god and obeying god all run together. So what happens . When we choose to be disobedient to him, there comes a time when that disobedience is continuous, that god simply sets them on the shelf. Now, if you will carefully observe this, heres what youll notice. People who really impressed you, stirred your heart, moved you for god, you saw them very effective, very fruitful in their life, oftentimes lots of joy and happiness in their life and the fire is gone, the power is gone, their joy is gone and the effectiveness is gone. Why . Because of some sin in their life. Some deliberate disobedience. That is god doesnt put people on a shelf because they make mistakes. He doesnt put people on the shelf because they dont do their very best. We all fall into that. He puts people on a shelf because of deliberate willful act of disobedience thats very, very important to almighty god. They choose to, they choose to refuse to follow his will. They get out of fellowship with him. They begin to make choices in life instead of seeking the mind of god they want to do it their way. And so denial does not change this position. They can say, im not on the shelf. But if you watch carefully, you can tell they are. Theres grave consequences to being shelfed. Consequences to yourself if it happens, other people, to the kingdom of god. So the question comes, will god take someone off the shelf . Listen carefully. It depends on several things. The nature of the act of disobedience. The scope of that disobedience. and the damage done by that disobedience. Sometimes over a period of time or after a period of time, god may take that person off the shelf and begin to use them again. Sometimes never, depending upon those things. Now when we say never, that doesnt mean everybody who gets put on the shelf is never used by god again. When theres genuine repentance, restitution, renewed commitment by that person, god may be able to use them again. But thats no guarantee. This is why we have to guard our life, guard our testimony and our service to the lord. But the simple reason, serving him is serious business. And opening the word of god and leading other people and guiding them and being an influence and being a witness and being a testimony. And having a part in that persons life. When that person is put on the shelf, the damage is beyond our comprehension. We have to be careful how we live our lives. Im thankful you joined us today for this broadcast of in touch. Until next time, remember brokenness is gods requirement for maximum usefulness. Touching the world with a passion for god and compassion for people. In touch with dr. Charles stanley is a presentation of in touch ministries. This program is made possible by the grace of god and your faithful prayers and gifts
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