R1620 Dealing with God, Pt.2

We all could use some encouragement, and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton with part two of Dealing with God.

Back to the book of Ezra chapter one in just a moment, and if you missed yesterday, don't worry, this will stand alone just like it is, but you can always catch up online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. We also want you to know that we're here for you both on the phone, 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673, and online at www.tewonline.org. As a matter of fact, you can pre-order the brand new book called Saturdays with Billy, a wonderful description of the friendship and legacy that they had as 25 years together as pastor and friend.

That's online at www.tewonline.org. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. God can heal any marriage. He can bring anybody back home. He can deliver any person who's struggling with drugs and alcohol. He can change any person's heart. God can take care of your children. He can lift you up after you've suffered a terrible letdown. He can answer any prayer.

He's God. Deal with God. What happened to these people, not unlike us, because we've all got human nature?

They just began to get absorbed by their land and their circumstances and their hurt and their pain. Well, of course they did. I do too. But I want answers.

I want somebody to give me something to hold on to. And God said to these people, look at me, the word of the Lord came. You mean even to the king of Persia? He was a pagan. God got a hold of him.

Wow. And they saw it. They lived it. They were blessed by it. What is God saying when he says God can do this? God can do this first for his people. God can do anything for us.

And that's what Ezra is about. God can do this for his people. You belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

God can do it. So what is it? What are you dealing with that's real?

It's not imaginary. You know, I use a silly phrase. Pain hurts. It takes the smile off your face.

Anxiety, depression. One could go on and on. God can do this for his people. Second, God can do this for the land in which his people live. Write that down. Let me run that by again. God can do this for the land in which his people live. Hello.

Here's a third one. God can do this for his kingdom. By the way, everything God can do, he does for his glory. So, remember the Lord's Prayer? How does the Lord's Prayer conclude? What did Jesus say? To thine be the glory.

What's in that list there? Forgive us our sin. May your will be done in heaven, earth. Give us, help us eat. Help us not to go into temptation. What's the end of it?

All glory to you. God can do this because he does it for his glory. It's all about him. It's about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, the book of Ezra essentially is about three things. Number one, it's about the people of God. I know that sounds awfully simple, but it's very profound. It's about God's people. That's why I want to invite you to give your life to the Lord Jesus. God has got something very special for you and for me. You know, the Bible uses the word or the phrase, God has us in the palm of his hand.

It doesn't let us go. You know, I spoke to a mother recently and she told me that her son had really gotten himself involved in a lot of things. And it was tough, very tough. Like heartbreaking tough. I mean, he just got himself tied up in a lot of not good things, you know.

And started when he was about 14 and just progressively, by the time he got, you know, just on this side of 20, he was really in trouble. But, you know, all of that as we talk together, this mother, she just had tears running down her cheeks. I mean, I just, you know, just guys, I know, you know, we're living in a world now where they slam you because you give somebody a hug.

You know, I'm not talking about the virus either. I just want to reach out and just give that sweet mother a big hug. She just had tears running down. And finally, she explained her tears.

She didn't need to, but she explained. She looked at me and she said, oh, Dr. Don, she said, you know, I just love him so much. I'll do anything for him. My home's open. My heart's open. I'm ready.

What can I do? I will do anything because he's my son and I just love him and he's hurting. This is God. That's a picture of God right there.

It's fantastic. So the Book of Ezra is about us. The Book of Ezra is about the place of the people of God. So I'm just going to go ahead and say it, America. God's got this.

Yeah, with all the disappointment and the opinions and everybody's got opinions. Trust me, I know that. I know that. Trust me. I've had a few suggestions over these last several months.

Probably the one that just, you know, God blessed me or really was a very gentle, was a loving letter, said, you know, the person said, I love the Lord and I believe. And I know, I know, I know you told everybody that we need to look to the Lord and I know we, you know, we've got a spiritual issue. But you need to get up there and call a spade a spade and this is what you need to tell people.

They need to know who's doing this. Well, sorry. I believe our God can do this.

I'm sticking with him. Because I see us, we've proved to ourselves we cannot. We try jolly hard and all we end up with is barriers and personalities and powers and kingdoms and opinions and bannings and we'll do anything we possibly can and the whole world will go ballistic. We can't. Hello, America. Some of you, I'm saying this lovingly, you're just putting your money in the wrong place.

You're just throwing your money down the drain. God's word says bring it for the building of the temple. Put it in God's business. Because God can do it. God does it. That's God's way. God does it. And Ezra is about not just the people of God and the place of God, but it's about the throne of God.

And by the way, that permeates. When you get into Revelation chapter four and verse two, the Bible says then John said he walks in, comes into heaven and there he sees the one seated on the throne of God. Then you get to Revelation chapter 21.

I mean, it's incredible. And the Bible says, then I saw, I heard a voice, God speaking, and I saw the new what? Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. And God said, get this now, God said, from now on, I'm going to make my throne, my seating, my place of my authority among where men are, where mankind is. In Jerusalem? So Ezra here, they've left and now they need to come back and God's talking about Jerusalem.

Wait a minute now, there's some kind of connection here. Is God trying to tell us that he can do it for the people of God and for the land where the people of God live and ultimately for the throne of God? So, listen to this. If we are not careful, we will be shaped more by the words of this world than the words of God. There's a sifting going on, people.

There's a shaping going on. And if we're not careful, we'll become shaped by the words of this world and not by the words of God. My friend David Platt said that. And I've said that before, and countless others have said that. But I'm going to tell you, that's exactly what God has said. That's what God is saying.

I can do this. Be shaped by my words, not by the words of the world. You want to come back into perspective? You want the answer? Come to me. Turn to me. Cast your care upon me. So now watch this.

I'm going to bring it all together. So God, in this context, does four things for his people in their land concerning himself. He does four things. Ready for this?

Number one. He ignited them. Write the word ignite. He ignited them.

What does it mean to ignite? One of my favorite things is to just build a fire. Boys love that.

Who doesn't? You know what God does? You know what he did? He provided the spark. God spoke. He said, Watch me.

Watch me. It's his light. He lights the fire. It's all about him. It's about Jesus. He's the one who starts it all. We don't.

He starts it. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word, and we'll be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment. Please don't go away. But Dr. Don wants me to remind you, we're here for you 24-7, not just during the broadcast. We're connecting on our website at www.tewonline.org.

As a matter of fact, you can hear today's message, maybe parts of yesterday's message or before. All of it's there at www.tewonline.org. Again, it's a fresh new website. If you haven't seen it lately, one of the first things you'll see is the wonderful Saturdays with Billy book. It's a book on the way in just a few weeks from Dr. Don Wilton about his experiences being the pastor of Dr. Billy Graham for 25 years. Again, you can pre-order that book on our website right now at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's message, Dealing with God Part 2 with Dr. Don Wilton. He's the spark. He tells us, man, you just keep the main thing the main thing. You keep focusing in on Jesus. You keep your eyes on the cross. You make absolutely certain you're willing to stand up and say, as for me and my house, I will serve the Lord. That's what I'm going to do.

Ignited them. This passage here is replete with that. I mean, you've got to, I love this man, you know, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord. And verse 2, the Lord, the God of heaven. I mean, it's just right through God comes back. He says, it's about me.

Why? God can do it. He ignited them. Number 2, he excited them. He excited them.

Well, I'm not going to do it again. You can take and have a good look at it. So if you go from verse 2 down to verse 4, God excited them with the mission he was giving them.

God does that. That's how you excite. Excitement is very, okay, watch me. Watch me, guys. Listen, somebody's going to listen. One of the casualties that will happen when we take our eyes off the Lord and we start fixing it on Washington, D.C. and on problems and on viruses and all these real things.

They're not imaginary. But when you start becoming a ballistic missile yourself, you start losing control and you start lying awake all night. Let me tell you one of the casualties. You're going to lose your excitement because you're taking your eyes off what really matters. Watch me here.

I want every member of every household to look at me. All the stuff going on, it'll get into your house. It'll get into your house.

It'll get around your dinner table. It'll interrupt your favorite TV show. The excitement will go.

You're not guarded because God can do it. He not only ignited them because he said, listen, I'm the one that provides the spark that sets the fire. But he excited them. He said, I want you to go back on mission. He excited them, number one, by telling them they're going home. Boy, that was pretty good excitement.

Secondly, he said, I want you to go and rebuild the temple. I love that, man. Some of you say, wait a minute, I see this all over our church. I see sparks of igniting going everywhere. Some of you saying, well, wait a minute, pastor, you're bragging right now. Yeah, I am. I am. I'm very thankful for you because there's a great igniting going on in this church. Your sparks coming from God. Excuse me. The bridge. Excuse me.

Feeding people, providing clothing on mission for Christ, rallying around. What about orange? I hope you're getting caught in the orange. This new curriculum is life changing.

It's unbelievable. The app will drive you up into a different kind of zenith. Your kids are going to connect. You've got stuff.

You can do it in home. There's a connection. There's a flow. We're all in this. God's exciting us around his mission. We got hope for our children, for our young people, our families. It's your fault I asked you to pray God would keep me calm.

Every time I don't, you're to blame. What did God do here? What did he do here, people? God can do this.

We're going to deal with God. He ignited them. He excited them.

Here's the third one. He united them. I like that. He united them. Do you know what that means? Well, the Bible tells us.

I didn't make this up. He brought them together. Any questions? So what does the devil want to do with us, America?

Anyone got any suggestions? Divide us. We are divided.

Somebody needs to get a life here. I thought we lived in the greatest country, which we do. We're the very spirit of democracy. I mean, look at us.

Have you ever seen the rivers and the mountains and the houses and the restaurants, ball games, Saturdays, families, freedom, earning, getting jobs? And look at us. You know what Satan's trying to do to the church right now? Divide us. Boy, is he licking his chops.

He's got us, man. He'll divide us over whether to wear a mask or not. Give me a break.

Get a life. I mean, with Christian people. He'll divide us over whether we open too soon or too late.

Give me a break. Listen, we had someone leave this church way back. Leave this church.

Let me know. They left the church because we asked them to make a reservation so we could properly prepare for the children. No, I don't need to make a reservation. We're leaving.

We're not coming back. Am I missing something here? But the same people go out and make a reservation to go to the restaurant. Or, how about this? We'll get themselves in line for a reservation to be able to be one of the 20,000 that can go to the ball game. You don't think Satan wants to divide the church?

Split Christian people apart? Mess with you, man? Don't let him mess with you. Don't mess with you in your house. Don't let him mess with you in what you do with the children. Don't let him mess with you with the principles that you stand on, with your convictions. Don't let him mess with you with the way you worship God. Don't let him mess with you for the way in which you stand up.

Don't let him mess with you. What did God do? He ignited them, he excited them, and he united them. You've got to think putting those all three together. He united them.

Can you get going? I didn't make this up here. Hell, come on, man, you give it your best shot. Right here, they just go to chapter 2 and read all the different tribes and people and places and homes. Plus, to boot, they were all over the place. He just brought them all together.

He said, you've got to do this together. All of you. I mean, look at verse 5. Everyone whose heart God had moved. Any further questions? Are you one of those?

God moving your heart? So, there's one more. Ignite, excite, unite, invite. See, I love that. Aren't I brilliant?

Invite. Last thing God did for them, he invited them. He said, come on, people, let's go do this. And they did.

They did. You can have a ball team of any sport you like. You can have the most brilliant players, but they don't play as a team under one coach. As a team. Team. You know what God says?

He says, I've got a team. People are God. Well, who are we? Excuse me, have you looked at us lately?

This team? We're old, we're young, rich, we're poor. We're outside, we're inside. We're black, we're white. We're the church where everyone can invite anyone to come to First Baptist to encounter the living one.

Anyone ever try to figure out what anyone means? We didn't decide that, God did. Because he ignites, he excites. He unites, and then he invites. I love you. I died for you. I want you. I can use you.

I'm going to do stuff with you. I'm going to bless you. Oh, I pray that you hear more than just that wonderful South African brogue of our pastor and chief encourager here on The Encouraging Word, Dr. Don Wilton. But you hear the voice of God ready to bless you, to use you, to do stuff like you never dreamed possible. But you know, he asks of one thing, and that you say yes to him, become a part of his family.

Then he's ready to use you. If you've not said yes to Jesus Christ. I know all of us have been moved by the teaching of our pastor, Dr. Wilton, in these last moments. But I pray you'd open your heart to what Dr. Don wants to ask you to do next. God has spoken to you, hasn't he? And you're ready to give your heart to Jesus.

I'd love to help you right now. Would you pray this prayer with me and accept Jesus into your heart and life? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that Jesus loves me and died for me on the cross. Right now, I repent of my sin and I confess my sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come into my heart and save me today and forgive me for my sin. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. If you've prayed that prayer, we'd love to get alongside of you and celebrate with you and send you some literature and help you as you begin to grow. And I want you to know that I love you very, very much. And by the way, don't leave.

Don't go away, whatever you do, because I'll be right back. If you just prayed that prayer and you've given your life to Jesus Christ or maybe rededicated your life to Christ, welcome to the family of God. We have wonderful resources for you. God has chosen specifically to put in your hands if you've given your life to Christ or rededicated your life, but you need to call and let us know how we can get them to you. It's 866-899-WORD.

Jot the number down, store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'd love to connect with you and pray you through the next steps of growing in Christ. If you'd like to meet us online, you can do that as well at www.tewonline.org.

That's a great place to find wonderful resources like this. God's intended purpose for us never changed. We are not defeated. We are overcomers through Jesus Christ. The word of God is alive and is relevant to all times in which we live. There are countless testimonies of people who walked with God in the Bible. They are our cloud of witnesses to encourage us on the Christian journey.

Learn from them. You can walk with God's giants. With your gift of $20 or more in support of the encouraging word, you will receive Dr. Wilton's new dynamic two-part series, Walking with God's Giants. Series 2, Walking with God's Giants is available on CD or DVD.

It includes four messages on the lives of Nehemiah, Naaman, Solomon, and David. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request Series 2, Walking with God's Giants. If you missed the first series, you can request it too. Thank you for your continued partnership to help us share the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

It really is a great series. Discover more on our website at www.tewonline.org. And while you are there at www.tewonline.org, you can do a number of things, including pre-order the brand new book from Dr. Wilton about his Saturdays with Billy, talking about the Reverend Billy Graham. Dr. Don was his pastor for 25 years, and such rich stories and exciting. We're so excited about that book coming out in a few weeks, but again, you can pre-order it now online at www.tewonline.org.