R943 Just Two Absolutes

We all could use some encouragement and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton about two absolutes.

That's the message, Just Two Absolutes from Dr. Wilton as we open the book of Acts chapter 17 in just a moment to study God's Word. While we're here, we would love for you to know that we're available to pray with you and for you to connect with wonderful resources like the daily encouraging word email from Dr. Wilton. We can do that online at www.tewonline.org. While you're there, sign up to follow some of Dr. Wilton's social media. That's a wonderful place to get encouragement on a daily basis or the daily encouraging word email at www.tewonline.org. You can also mention you'd like to receive a hard copy when you call us at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We're here for you at The Encouraging Word. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Lonesomeness is a prime target.

Did you know that? Sometimes our circumstances, difficulties, diagnoses, sometimes our sick beds, it may be a divorce that you're going through or financial struggle or some real dilemma. You've lost someone. God has taken home someone that you loved so dearly.

And for the first two weeks, there were a lot of people there and now you don't seem to hear from anybody. And you are saying, goodness me, everybody else has forgotten already. And lonesomeness is a prime target of Satan. And if ever he's going to get you, that's a good place because you become very vulnerable, don't you?

And besides that, when things are not going, you're even more vulnerable. I want you to know that I'm praying for you. Are we praying for that person who this week has disaffected? Are we praying for those that we know nothing about? It's an incredible joy. I want to just pray for you.

Can I do this? Let's bow our heads together. Father, right now we know that our minds are filled with everything. But Lord, everything else we declare to be irrelevant. Everything.

Right now. Because you are the only one who has any relevancy. We have come to worship you. Lord, we have our minds on everything, a business decision. Some of us on hurt and pain. Some of us on anger. Some of us on a financial move. Some of us are thinking about refinancing our home because the interest rates dropped.

Some of us are wondering which church to join. Some of us are thinking about what we're going to have for lunch. Lord, all of these things are relevant.

They're part of life. But right now, there's not a single thing relevant on the table outside of you. Bless all who worship you at this very moment in time. In Jesus' name we pray together.

Amen. I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles to the book of Acts in chapter 17. Two weeks ago, we began to lay the groundwork for a wonderful study in the book of 1 Thessalonians. And someone is already wondering, well, if we're going to be in 1 Thessalonians, why are we in the book of Acts? It is very important for us to lay the groundwork to understand the foundations upon which 1 Thessalonians was written. We've got to understand the pillars upon which Paul says what he says and does what he does in 1 Thessalonians. Why are we in the book of Acts? Because the book of Acts is the record of how Paul ended up in Thessalonica, this city at the top of the Aegean Sea, this highway from the east to the west, this budding metropolis.

This is the record of what happens. We're going to study the content of what he said to the church at Thessalonica over the next several weeks and months. But it is very important for us to lay the groundwork. Some people have said the only reason why we don't understand history is because we don't understand history. One of the great reasons why we are becoming a weak nation is because less and less we understand the foundations upon which this nation was founded.

We're getting further and further away from the essential meaning of who we are as Americans. Time does that, but I must remind you of what God had to say to us about how God uses just one person. Folks, that's a very profound thing. We discovered three things about just one man, just one person, just one boy, just one girl. Paul is that man in the church at Thessalonica.

You and I are that man today exactly where we are. We discovered first of all that God's call to just one person is very personal. God speaks to us personally. I love that. He's got something to say to me and he's got something to say to you individually.

We also discovered that that call is very specific. You'll remember I showed you a map and Paul, how Paul wanted to make a right turn and God said to him, no, I want you to go left. I want you to go to Macedonia. Not because Galatia and Bithynia and the areas around the Black Sea were any less relevant. There were just as many lost people on the shores of the Black Sea as there were in Macedonia. But God wanted Paul to go to Macedonia.

Any questions? We are very capable of doing a lot of things, but what is it exactly God wants us to do? I was talking about moms just a moment ago. I think mothers are faced with a huge dilemma because mothers are just like you and me. They are people.

Now that may surprise some of you. They've got dreams and aspirations, ambitions, drive, needs. They want to get out. They want to be loved. They want to be valued. And in many cases, in many a mother's heart, along come children. Talk about an anchor.

All of a sudden, life comes to a screeching halt. See, that's the nature of specific call. There's many a parent who has said, I could go and do this and I wish I could be there and I wish I could do this, but right now this is what God has given me to do. I tell you, you respond to God's specific call. He'll bless you.

But the third thing we discovered is that that call is irresistible. God speaks to you. Can you resist the irresistible call of God?

Absolutely. But I'll tell you, you will be one miserable person if you do. You ever want to describe a miserable person, a miserable person, a miserable Christian is somebody who has resisted the irresistible call of God. When you know that God has told you to do something and you back out and you withdraw and you sit back and you refuse, you have a prescription for a miserable person. It will make you so unhappy it will discombobulate you. It will turn your world upside down. You'll start focusing on all the wrong things. You'll become angry and inward looking.

You'll become somebody who criticizes if you resist the irresistible call of God. So here we come to Acts chapter 17 and verse 3. I don't want to speak to you about just one man. I want to speak to you briefly this morning about just two absolutes. Just two absolutes. In verse 3 he explained and proved that this Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead.

This is what he said to the people at Thessalonica. This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ. There are three critical issues in the life of any church. Beloved people, you can write this down.

You can take this to the bank. These are the three most critical issues facing the future of every evangelical church in America today. Number one the issue of absolute truth. Absolute truth is who God is. Today the question of absolute truth is open to debate. People are questioning whether or not Jesus Christ in fact is the only way or if perhaps maybe there's an alternative. It is an absolute truth that Jesus is the only way to God. This Bible, the Word of God, this inerrant infallible Word of God, it disappoints me. I want to weep when I open even my own newspaper in my own hometown and I read editorials and sections in the newspaper that discredit and degrade and chip away and question the authenticity and the genuineness and the inerrant infallible Word of the living God.

God's Word is absolute. If we didn't believe that, friends, we've got nothing to stand on. Second most critical issue is the issue of personal conviction. I'm a man of great personal conviction.

I know you are too. We are a people of great personal conviction. I've got a lot of personal convictions and I believe that our personal conviction should come out of absolute truth as believers. But personal convictions can never be imposed on the local church as absolute truth.

They may not and they cannot be. That is a very difficult undertaking for a human being. Well there's a third critical issue and that's the issue of personal preference. You want to know what personal preference is, go to your favourite fast food restaurant.

Just position yourself at the drive through. Listen to you and me ordering our hamburgers. Some of us want it medium, medium well, overdone, cooked, whatever it might be. Others want wheat and white and something in between.

Somebody who's on a diet doesn't want any bread. Then some of us want tomato and others don't want tomato. And I dare say there are a few who want tomato too.

There's three options. I want onions. Don't want them. I'll have mustard. But only spicy mustard. Just a little bit of mayonnaise. No ketchup. Add ketchup.

How about a little bit of lettuce? That's personal preference. Do you know in the church, the number one challenge in any church is the issue of personal preference. Because we are a people of preference. We've got personal preferences, how we should sing. Whether we should stand up or sit down. Whether we should sing hymns or choruses. Whether the preacher should preach loud or quiet. We've got personal preferences.

We've got people in our church who love to wear a coat and tie. Others who don't. We've got personal preferences about you name it. And we've got personal preferences about what ministries to do, what we shouldn't do. How much is enough? What's too little? Personal preferences. That's why my beloved friends, when I talk about just two absolutes, it is very important to understand that when Paul said what Paul said to the church at Thessalonica, he was basing everything he did on just two absolutes.

Here they are. Number one. That all people need the Lord Jesus. Now that's an absolute. All people need the Lord Jesus. I love that, don't you? Now, folks, that's an absolute from the Word of God.

All people need Jesus. That's you, by the way. That's me. It's all of us. And because it's an absolute, it brings to the fore three absolutes.

Watch this, folks. What that means is that there are no exceptions. All people. Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No exceptions. See, you and I by nature, we want to look into the face of God and say, but God, no exceptions.

I think the rich young ruler tried to do that, don't you? But Lord Jesus said no exceptions. That means that there are no exceptions. If all people need Jesus, it means, secondly, that there are no exclusions. Bible says there is none righteous. No, not one. Not only no exceptions, but no exclusions.

And if there are no exceptions and no exclusions, it means that there are no exemptions. Please forgive the interruption. It's a powerful message from Dr. Wilton today. And we'll head back to Acts chapter 17 in just a moment.

But Dr. Wilton insists that I interrupt to remind you this. We are not just interested in presenting this as a presentation today, but we're excited about how every single day we gain new friends and new opportunities to pray for one another as we see the body of Christ growing literally around the world with friends saying yes to Jesus Christ. You know, if you've heard the broadcast before, you know that Dr. Don is going to give you the chance to give your life to Christ before the day is out.

But why wait? If you'd like to talk with someone, maybe you have questions that this teaching is bringing to mind, call us. Let us talk with you. Let us pray with you even now to say yes to Jesus Christ. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD. That makes it a little easier to remember, but here are the numbers themselves if you want to jot them down or store them in your cell. It's 866-899-9673. And that phone number 24 hours a day will connect with one of us happy to talk or listen or pray or connect you with great resources like the Daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide.

We'll send you a copy for free or you can even sign up again online at tewonline.org and receive it via email. Now let's dive back into this powerful message just two absolutes from Dr. Don Wilton here on The Encouraging Word. I tried to get an exemption. I know I may sound as though I'm confessing.

Well, I am. I already had three master's degrees and I'd studied hard and I felt that God was putting in my heart to get an earned Ph.D. Now some of you that may not be significant and that's fine, but for me it was important. I wanted to make certain that I was qualified to the point at which I could go and teach at Harvard University or Oxford. That I was academically qualified according to the laws of the United States of America. And so they told me as I began to apply to enter into the Ph.D. program in theology in my field, they told me as they still do today that there were a lot of entrance qualifications.

Young people, you know what that's all about, don't you? Getting into university and college. Well again the Ph.D. is no difference, just maybe a lot more difficult. And so one of the things in my field they said, well, Don Wilton you want to get in the Ph.D. or even for us to think about admitting you into the Ph.D., you've got to have three languages. You've got to have advanced studies in three languages. Number one in Greek.

I said, well that's fair enough. I've got 18 hours of Greek. I qualify, I've done all my studies, I've got the paper to prove it. Number two, Hebrew. I'd never read anything backwards but I had qualified myself, believe it or not, in Hebrew. I'd taken the whole nine yards and I got the qualification.

Here comes the rub. I had to have a third language taken from one of the following three. Latin.

Well I had about six years of Latin in junior high and high school but they wouldn't accept junior high and high school Latin. The next one was French. I didn't know any French. I didn't want to know any French. I hadn't studied one hour of French. I didn't even know how to say hello in French. The third one was German.

Aha! I saw light at the end of the tunnel. Number one because I spoke Dutch fluently. Dutch is very similar to German. And I spoke the language, I'm still very proficient in it. Number two because way back then I had taken 14 or 18 hours of German studies because I was an English literature major in my first degree. I had the qualifications, one little catch. They turned me down.

They turned me down because I had done that over seven years prior to the application date and the law of the land, again a PhD, said that it had to be seven years or sooner to be validated and accepted on your transcripts. Folks, I did everything you could imagine. I applied to world education services. I cajoled. I took professors out to lunch. I bankrupted myself. I bribed. I threatened to kill. I did the whole nine yards.

I even called my mama. They wouldn't budge. All I wanted was an exemption. Do you know folks, they made me sit and write the exam for German, a man of my calibre. By God's grace I got through it because I was fairly proficient in German. But I still had to write it. They would not exempt me.

It sounds like a lot of people I know when it comes to Jesus. Surely, Lord, all have sinned, not me. Could you not make an exception? How about an exclusion? Why don't you exempt me? Exempt me because of my race. Exempt me because of my culture.

Don't you seem to understand? I live in the Bible Belt. Exempt me because I'm a member of a Southern Baptist Church. Exempt me because I preach or because I sing. Why don't you exempt me because I give my money? There's got to be a reason.

Give me an exemption. Paul was making a statement. All people need Jesus. Absolute statement. His second absolute was that Jesus is the only one who can meet all people's needs. Jesus is the only one who can reach all people. There's no other way.

Why? Because He's the only one who can forgive sin, folks. It's an absolute. He's the one who died on the cross.

Nobody else. It's nothing but the blood of Jesus. He's the only one who can make you brand new. Some today who are worshipping the Lord are saying, I'm tired of running and I'm tired of turning over and you leave. I'm tired of looking for meaning in life.

I'm tired of having no real purpose. See my friend, nothing is ever going to make you brand new outside of Jesus because He's the only one who can reach you. Only one who can forgive. You can't forgive yourself. You can't pay enough money to get forgiveness. You can't do enough good works to get forgiveness. You can't serve enough to get forgiveness.

You can't preach enough messages or sermons to get forgiveness. He's the only one who can make you brand new and because He's the only one who can grant to you eternal life. He is eternal life. He's the only one who can take you to heaven. Now folks, listen to me.

There are three issues. Absolute truth, personal conviction and personal preference. It doesn't matter how convicted somebody is that you can get to heaven by any other way other than Jesus. Jesus said, I'm the only way. It doesn't matter what your personal preference is.

It doesn't matter how unpopular or politically incorrect it might be. Jesus is the only way. And when it comes to 1 Thessalonians, when we begin to go through it verse by verse and piece by piece, you're going to find these foundations right there. That's the stomping ground.

All people need Jesus and Jesus is the only one who can reach all people. Now folks, watch me. That's a conviction.

That's a conviction. It is powerful conviction. And I pray that as you and I hear the Word of God preached today by Dr. Don Wilton, that we would not be willing to move forward without allowing ourselves to be changed.

Perhaps there's a small course correction or a major course correction needed in each of our lives as we listen to the Word of God proclaimed and understand we can change by saying yes to Jesus Christ. Again, if you have questions, give us a call. Our phone number is 866-899-9673. Jot it down.

Store it in your cell. As Dr. Don would say, we would be thrilled to be one of your 2 a.m. friends. You can call us anytime and let us talk or pray with your connected resources. But right now, before you make that call, I pray you'd open your heart to the closing thoughts coming up next from our pastor and chief encourager, Dr. Don Wilton. 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.

What a glorious day. If the Lord has stirred your heart and you've made that course correction, you've given your life to Christ or rededicated your life to Christ, Dr. Wilton would love to put some things in your hands that will help you grow. You need to let someone know about it. Let someone in your own circle of friends know that God is working in your life. And as you let us know, we would love to be partners with you, walking alongside, praying with you and for you. You can contact us right now at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. I just want to say thank you to so many of you who have said, how can we prayerfully support and financially support the encouraging word? Well, you do it by becoming encouragers. We need your support.

Will you join us in our endeavor to reach just one more? We would love for you to become a monthly supporter of the encouraging word. Call us at 866-899-WORD to request information on how you can help support the work of the encouraging word. Call today, 866-899-9673. The encouraging word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Our time's gone for today. What a great week of teaching. We can stay connected over the weekend, however, online at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Also a great place to see how you can worship with us over television, on Daystar and other television networks. And we would encourage you to be in your house of worship as well, even if that means it's virtually. Don't forsake the gathering together of worshiping the Lord this weekend. Until next week, take care and God bless.