R876 When Your Life Needs Adjusting, Pt.2

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton as we continue to adjust our lives.

There's always things that can be made better, always ways we can adjust, when your life needs adjusting. Part 2 with Dr. Don Wilton is on the doc today. As a matter of fact, we'll be headed to Acts chapter 9 in just a moment. But another number, not Acts 9, but another series of 9s, 866-899 words is our phone number. And we'll connect with one of us 24 hours a day, happy to talk or listen or pray or connect with great resources.

That's 866-899-9673. We're especially excited about this wonderful resource about Daniel. You can take a peek right now at our website, tewonline.org.

We'll give you more details later. Now let's open our heart in God's Word together with Dr. Don Wilton on a message about adjusting our life. Did you know, folks, that when Paul was persecuting the Christians, he was counted among the popular? I should imagine even the chief priests and the scribes, they would have said, man, there's our boy. This guy, man, he can pack a punch. Now let's give him authority.

Listen, he's a household name. But do you know, the moment that Paul met Jesus Christ and adjusted his life, Paul spent the rest of his life doing two things, carrying the message and suffering for Jesus Christ. Go and read about it. When he got to the end of his life, listen, Paul was preaching and then being shipwrecked, then nearly drowning, then being whipped to the point of his life. Where did he end up? Where did it all culminate with Paul being crucified upside down?

That's how they executed him. Timothy understood that because Paul came to Timothy and said to him, Timothy, I not only demand that you adjust your life to the point at which you are bold in your witness for Jesus Christ, but that you are willing to suffer for the cause of the cross, that you become amalgamated and fused into the sufferings of our Saviour. For it was Jesus who said, if anyone will come after me, he must deny himself and take up the cross and follow me. For any who will save his life will lose it. But anyone who will lose his life for my sake will save it.

Make the adjustments. It's an amazing thing. Lost without the Lord, met by the Lord, changed by the Lord, directed by the Lord, provided for by the Lord, chosen by the Lord. Number seven, he was empowered by the Lord.

It's an amazing thing. In verse 19, he regained his strength. In verse 22, the Bible says he became more and more powerful. But number eight, he was used of the Lord. I love verse 31, there were four byproducts of Paul's willingness to adjust his life and to meet God where God is.

Did you note those four byproducts? Peace, strength, encouragement and growth right there in the Word. I want you to know if God would be so kind to me, if it means that I'm willing to adjust my life and God would just grant to me those four things in my community and amongst my people and together as we serve the Lord, that we would be a people who would know an unprecedented peace which passes all understanding, that we would be strengthened by the might and power of the Spirit in the inner man, that we would be encouraged in our hearts and that the numbers who come to know Jesus Christ would increase. Lord, I'll do whatever you want me to do and I'll make whatever adjustment is necessary. That's what God did for Paul.

Could he do it for you and me? But adjustments had to be made. It seems to me, my dear friends, that there are five key moments for adjustment in life.

I want to share these with you. Five key moments that I believe God causes in our own lives that demand that we adjust if we are going to experience the full riches of His grace. Number one, your conversion, your conversion, my conversion. When you met Jesus Christ, when I met Jesus Christ, see the Bible says if you are in Christ, you become a what?

A new creature. By the way, that word conversion or to convert means a complete change. You cannot be converted without repenting and the word repentance means a complete turnabout.

It's going in this direction and turning in that direction. In other words, what the Bible is saying, my friends, is simply this, that it is understood in the theology that which is of God and about God concerning this miracle that takes place when you and I are born again of the Spirit of the living God, that as a result of our conversion, that you and I can never be the same again. It doesn't matter how many times I've raised my hand, how many crusades I've appeared in, how many times I've preached or how many times I've walked down an aisle or how many mission trips I've gone on. The Bible says that the greatest moment of adjustment is inherent in the Theos, that which is about God, that when I come into the presence of a holy and a righteous God, my life is adjusted, not because I want to or because I decide to, but because I can never be the same again when Jesus Christ is in my heart. That's what salvation is all about. It's man adjusting who man is to meet God where God is.

Number two, the second key moment for adjustment is your commission, my commission. Did you know, folks, that every person who is being converted by the Spirit of the living God is given a commission by God. It is your purpose in life.

Let me try to help you. Maybe you'd understand it better if I used the word mantra. I know what Paul's mantra was, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. What a purpose, wonderful organization all across America is an organization called the Navigators. You know what their mantra is?

Their purpose statement, their commission is to know Him and to make Him known. What about our church? We are one church of thousands.

There are so many wonderful churches like this. Just here in this fellowship of encouragement, we who comprise just one body among millions of others. This place called First Baptist Church, what's our mantra?

What's our commission? Just read our purpose statement that our church decided on 10 years ago. What is it that we as God's people in this place want to share the Gospel? I'm summarizing, we want to tell people carry the good news of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ by making disciples, not only here in Spartanburg, but and beyond all over the world. That's our mantra.

That's our commission. This is what God says to us. Yes, I have converted you. I've given you forgiveness. I'm indwelling you by My Spirit. Your whole life is adjusted. You cannot stay where you are. I've given you a commission. This is your purpose. Whatever you do, continually, consciously and deliberately, that's how we experience God.

That's what we need to be praying for. That's the expression of our willingness. Two key elements, two key moments. Number one, your conversion. Number two, your commission. Number three, your conduct.

Your conduct. Now watch this, folks. When God calls us, when He converts us, when He indwells us, watch this now, stick with me.

When He commissions us, I look in the choir. Boy, I see some men and ladies who have served so faithfully and deliberately in our armed forces. Man, I just cannot get over the faithfulness. Let me tell you, when you were called, when you were commissioned to serve the United States of America, friend, and you got on that ship, you adjusted everything accordingly. You did it because of your love for the United States of America.

And the flag, the republic, one nation under God, I'll do it. And you've served gallantly. But then God looks at our conduct, our behaviour.

Now what happens? Why is our conduct an opportunity for God to meet God, to adjust our behaviour? Because friend, when you sin, when you make those mistakes and you choose badly, when you are caught in the act, when you do things that are not of the Lord Jesus Christ, yes, what you do and what you've been involved in is sin before God. But it is the greatest opportunity God gives to you to adjust your life and your behaviour and your conduct to the point at which you will never be the same again. It's the greatest opportunity to make those adjustments, to know that God gives us the second, the third, the tenth chance, whatever it is.

Forgive the interruption. Dr. Don will be back with the completion of today's message, When Your Life Needs Adjusting, in just a few moments. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you that if the Lord stirs your heart, let us pray with you about that next adjustment. And perhaps we have some resources that will help you in that as well, like our daily encouraging word Bible guide, spending time each and every day in God's Word. It's one of the greatest tools to help us continually find those adjustments every single day.

You know, if we get too far down the road without the need for adjustments, then we can avoid major calamities. So on a daily basis, we encourage you to spend time in God's Word with this particular resource, the daily encouraging word Bible guide, available on our website at www.tewonline.org. You can either order the hard copy, it's free of course, or you can sign up for the email that Dr. Don sends out every morning.

That's online at tewonline.org. Now back to today's message. Do you know that every time you sin against God, God allows you to build your testimony? Do you know that every time you make a mistake in your conduct, God gives you an opportunity to build your testimony? And if you want to build your testimony and become the kind of person that God wants you to be, you have to make adjustments. You can no longer hang with the same people, do the same things, speak the same way, carry the same attitudes. You've got to adjust your behaviour. And folks, our conduct as Christian people never goes away.

There is never a time in our entire life that our conduct is not out there for everybody to see. Number one, your conversion. Number two, your commission.

Number three, your conduct. Here's a fourth key moment, your circumstances. As someone might say to me today, Pastor, what do you mean by circumstances and why would that be an opportunity?

God give an opportunity to adjust to God. Well, we could talk about a lot of things with circumstances, couldn't we? Your job, your home, your finances. Folks, we've got circumstances all around us. People have circumstances develop every day. People lose loved ones and are diagnosed with sicknesses and find themselves in this situation and that situation. Circumstances are everywhere. You can't escape circumstances.

But in the life of a believer, God calls upon us with every circumstance to adjust ourselves to meet God where God is. You know, you take someone like David Livingston. Most of us have heard about David Livingston, that great explorer who did so much in Africa.

Maybe you didn't know that he was a medical doctor in Scotland. You know that history books tell us that David Livingston, a man who was converted, commissioned, his conduct was one that was being adjusted to do what God wanted him to do, who found himself in circumstances that demanded he make adjustments. David Livingston obeyed God, laid down his instruments of medical practice, boarded a ship after months, left his family, et cetera, went into darkest Africa, folks, lived in the worst kind of poverty. There is not one record that you will read about David Livingston standing under a tree, getting eaten by a lion saying, I cannot believe I did this. I could be sitting in Edinburgh right now, living off what I had done. I'm a doctor.

I could be doing a lot better where I am. There's not a single record in all the writings of David Livingston that there was any time at which his circumstances ever caused him to do anything less than adjust toward God and not adjust toward himself. Now Paul knew about that. In fact, Paul said it better than I can. He said, I have learned that in whatsoever state, excuse me, I have learned that in whatever circumstances I am, therewith to be content. Boy, that's a tough one.

I'm telling you, that's kind of meddling. See folks, we find those things hard. It's hard to adjust your behavior to God when you've lost your job. And it's hard to be faithful when you've got a problem or when there's this diagnosis or when you've run out of money or when you're lonely or when God has told you to go and do something and the things are not going so well. You know, I think of Jonah.

You might have heard of him. God came to him and said, Jonah, I want you to get up and I want you to go to Nineveh and I want you to carry the gospel. And Jonah said, no, I don't think so. I don't need to be making that adjustment.

That's too much of an adjustment for me. He bought a ticket, went in the opposite direction. Watch this folks, God caused circumstances to happen that demanded that an adjustment be made. Here's Jonah, suddenly a storm comes up. They're going to lose everything. Jonah looks around, they come to him, say to him, Jonah, what's going on?

Who are you? He says, hey, I'm a Hebrew, man, I serve the Lord. I refused to adjust. I just would not adjust. You better throw me overboard. So they threw him overboard and folks, he ended up in a pool of vomit. But when he got out of that pool of vomit, he dusted himself off and God who is rich in mercy came to him a second time, said to him, now Jonah, are you willing to make an adjustment and go to Nineveh like I told you to? Yes, Lord, I'll do it.

Watch this folks. Do you know that sometimes I truly believe God needs to have me thrown overboard because of my unwillingness to adjust? Now, I'm telling you, I truly believe when I look back over my life, I'm just one story, which leads me to the fifth and final point this morning.

Key moments for adjustment. What about your call? And when I talk about your call, I'm talking about you and me.

We're not the same, every one of us individually. What is God calling you to do? You know, folks, 14 years ago, nobody was happier in New Orleans and preaching around the world than I was. People say, how can you be happy in New Orleans? I was. I love New Orleans, man, and the LSU Tigers and the New Orleans Saints.

I love it. But God came to me and to my wife and said, we want you to go. I remember arriving at a McDonald's in a place called Spartanburg. We didn't know a single person.

We didn't know where the mall was. We were strangers in a foreign land all over again. But look what's happened. Look what happened when I adjusted, when my wife adjusted and our family adjusted. That's just me. Look at my friends today.

Look where I live today. What's God calling you to do? Singing the choir?

Well, no, I tell you those Wednesday nights. Boy, that's inconvenient. Adjust and do it. God calling you to pay for something?

Write out a check to something? Why haven't you done it? Well, I adjust. Do without something. Watch what God does. Well, you know, I know that I've got a big bus driver's license and I know that I can drive buses. But man, if I let myself drive buses around here, Eddie Robertson's going to bother me to death. Start driving the bus.

What has God got to tell you? Adjust. Meet God where God is, you say, but I don't have the time. Just adjust.

God's already there. Do whatever it takes. It's worth it. Well, the Lord's called me to bake bread for people who don't have enough to eat. Why aren't you baking bread? You know, the Lord's impressed on my heart that I need to join that incredible group of Sunday school teachers at my church and teach a Sunday school class and to help even though I'm not so good. I just know that I need to do it. Well, why aren't you doing it?

Well, you know, I just don't know that I've got the time. Folks, make the adjustment. Your ministry team at this church, we've been sitting around tables crying out to the Lord, where are you moving? And we want to join you there in God's saying, yes, well, you're going to have to make some adjustments. Your plate's too full or you're too this or you're locked in a traditional. Lord, we just never done it that way before. How can we possibly do this?

Just make the adjustment. Now, folks, what happened to my friend Preacher Paul here, four things. Peace, strength, encouragement, numerical growth. You know, if just in a fraction of the way God would just bless my life with one of those, boy, I'd really thank Him.

It's worth it. What is God calling you to do? What's He telling you to do?

He's telling you to give some money. He's telling you to start a business, telling you to bake a loaf of bread, teach Sunday school class, drive a bus, sing in the choir. What is God telling you to do?

That's your call. Friend, when God speaks, He demands that we make an adjustment. You cannot be the same again around the Lord.

You cannot interrupt Him. You know, in the service prior to this one, and it happens from time to time, one of the greatest difficulties I'm having in this church is the fact I get to the end of the service before this one, and I know that some of the most precious people I know are standing out there in the corridor. Like everybody comes here on a Sunday and says, you know, I just can't wait to go and stand out in the corridor. Let me tell you something, folks, you can stand in the corridor for the first five months.

You do something out of necessity, but after a while it grows whiskers. Well, we came to the end of the last service and Steve's up here and God's just working. I'm saying to myself in my heart, watch the clock. Time to close up. Let these people come in. Man, we've got people standing out here. We need to get out the way. Now, here comes somebody else. I want to turn around and say, excuse me, would you go and sit back down? You don't come down here, man.

We've got to close out. We've got people standing out here. Lord, don't you know I can't do this? Somebody might start grumbling.

I haven't had a single person grumble, but somebody might. Somebody might say, I'm never going to go back to that church again because I had to stand out in the corridor. You know, even this morning, folks, God began to speak to me. God was saying to me, excuse me, I dare you to try and interrupt me. It's like God was looking into my heart as your pastor this morning and I'm marching up and down here saying, gee, man, they've prayed long enough and we need to get on out here and God's saying to me, my son, make the adjustment. Let me ask you a question.

I think I know the answer. What if the previous service only got out at 11.20? Would you still be standing out there waiting? Or would you come in and join in or what would you do?

Would you be willing to make an adjustment? See, folks, God is at work, isn't He? Sometimes on Monday morning and sometimes on Tuesday and then sometimes it seems like He takes a nap for three or four days and then sometimes, God does what God does because He's God, right? God works anytime He wants to. All the time, anytime and all He says to us, make an adjustment.

You just meet me because it's the best place to be. Would you pray for me as your pastor that I would be willing to make whatever adjustments are necessary because of what God speaks to my heart? Would we pray for one another?

Would we pray for our families, for our children? Someone once told me, they said that a man or woman who refuses to change and make necessary adjustments to the journey of life is usually a very unhappy person. Now, we got names. We say, oh, well, he's bullheaded. He's got a thick skull.

Never met such a stubborn man in all my life. Folks, God doesn't accept those things that we do to ourselves because He's our Savior. I sense as we experience God that right out here that God has got, He's got so many wonderful things in store for us across the board.

All of us individually, as a community, I think even as a nation, folks. But in order for us to experience God, guess what? We got to make, we have to make adjustments to meet God where He is. What a powerful message from Dr. Don Wilton. Before we wrap up, Dr. Don has a closing thought in just a moment. But if you would like to have a conversation about what you've been hearing with one of our prayer team, we would love to speak with you and pray you through the next.

Pray you through the adjustment. Our number is 866-899-WORD. Jot it down.

Store it in your cell. Let us be a contact of yours, 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. And now those thoughts, those closing thoughts I was telling you about from Dr. Don. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much. And I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin.

I confess my sin to you. And I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey. Welcome to the family of God. I know some of you have prayed that prayer. You've given your life to Jesus Christ in some cases for the first time, in some cases it is a return home.

You've rededicated your life to Christ. And we want you to know that we're excited about what God is doing in your life. And we're excited about resources we can put in your hands that will help you grow into the next step. Give us a call.

Let us pray with you. Let us put these resources in your hands. 866-899. Word is the phone number. That's 866-899-9673. Or meet us online as well. www.tewonline.org is our website.

That's www.tewonline.org. You'll not only find wonderful resources and points of connection, but you'll also discover who we are and how God has called us to this ministry of encouragement. And perhaps the Lord's light might lead you to become an encourager as well. Have you been praying about how you can make a difference in the world? We would love to have you join us by becoming an encourager ministry partner.

Call us at 866-899-WORD to request an encourager brochure today. There is no greater gift that you can give than to help spread the gospel. Together we can do much to impact the world for Jesus Christ. Make a commitment to help spread the gospel in 2020. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Our time's gone for today, but we're always available online at www.tewonline.org and at 866-899-9673.