R400 The Believer’s Commission, Pt.2

We all could use some encouragement, and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton, here on The Encouraging Word. Today we continue a wonderful multi-part series with Dr. Don Wilton on the Believer's Commission. Dr. Don is instructing us on what it is to be called, what it is to be commissioned in, and it's not just your pastor, your youth pastor, your music.

No, no, no. It's about how each of us are commissioned believers, and we have some responsibilities and opportunities perhaps that you're missing out on. Know that we'd be happy to pray with you and for you at any time on our phone number, 866-899-WORD.

Jot it down, store it in your cell. We're available 24 hours a day at 866-899-WORD, and also on the website, www.tewonline.org. Let's connect together today.

And now the great teaching of Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to read with me Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand.

May the Lord write His word upon our hearts. As we begin to journey through life that the Apostle Paul writing here in the final chapter of his letter to the church at Ephesus was asking us questions not dissimilar to the ones that we're asking today in the midst of our sadness. What about your life? What about my life? Is your life in control or are you out of control? Are you symbolically riding down the length and breadth of the river Sein in a foreign land seated next to a person that God never gave you? Are you plunging headlong into the crises of life that wait for us in the tunnels of life? Are you in control? What is happening to you today?

God never promises us a bed of roses. I want to do something this morning and I hope every one of you have got a pen in your hand because you need to write these things down. I'm going to give to you 13, yes, 13 practical suggestions on how to get control of your life. I don't know what's going on in your life today.

God does. I don't know if you're out of control. Perhaps there's a student here today who is just beginning college. Question I'm going to ask you is next week after you've arrived at college, is your life going to be one that is under control or out of control? Maybe there's a marriage here today. Is your marriage under control? Is it out of control? Are there early warning signs?

Are there things that are happening today that perhaps 20 years from now could lead you down a river and a road and a pathway to destruction? I want to give you some suggestions this morning if I may, beloved ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, write these down. Number one, evaluate your present. Evaluate. That's the operative word here, something that I cannot do for you.

Many instances, our wives or husbands, family members, it's something that we need to do for ourselves. Evaluate where you are, who you are, what you are, what you're doing, where you're going, what you've done, write it down. Maybe you want to take time this week to do that.

You're not going to do it in a church service in these few moments. Go home sometimes. Set aside time and evaluate your current status and be honest with yourself. Don't try and deceive yourself or avoid the issues. Write them down. Evaluate your current status. Number two, analyze your evaluation. Now, friends, analysis is the key. Analysis is the difference between diagnosis and actual surgery to rectify the problem.

Analysis means that you're willing not only to put down and evaluate your current status, but you're willing to lift the surgeon's scalpel and begin to dissect. Get down to the bone. Ask yourself the question, why am I doing this?

What's causing it? Where is it leading me to? What steps am I taking? Ask yourself some very searching questions. If you and your wife are not quite getting on, write it down in your evaluation, not getting on with my wife.

In your analysis, dissect that. Ask yourself why and write it down. Why am I not getting on with my wife or my husband? Why am I not spending time with my family? Why am I chasing after a rainbow? Why do I have lust in my heart? Why do I have an inclination to lie and to cheat?

Why do I do these things? Number three, determine your needs. Now, folks, needs are remarkable things. Paul says in Philippians chapter four and verse 19, he says, my God shall do what? Shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

We've all got different needs, but we've also got different wants. Just recently, I had the privilege of being on the beach with my family. We had a marvelous time. And one day we were down there and my two sons were with me. I just love my sons and my daughter so much and we were having the greatest fellowship and just enjoying ourselves.

And out there, there was literally a flotilla of the most marvelous fishing boats you've ever seen. So I nudged my sons. I said, gentlemen, I said, I need to share something with you.

I have an overwhelming compulsion to do so. I said, who bought your lunch today? I said, oh, you did, Dad. I said, who bought your golf ticket? Yes, you did, Dad.

I said, who drove you all the way down? You did, Dad. I said, now, sons, I want to tell you something. One day when you get an NBA franchise or when you sign up to play in the NBA and you get $36.7 million to play for two years, and you're sitting down there and you're saying to one another, lads, remember old Dad. And Dad comes into your mind and you say, you know, we've got this little bit of money right now.

What should we do for him? Gentlemen, you're looking at it. Ha ha ha ha ha. This will suit my personality. In fact, I've made up my mind already. When one of my sons buys me one of those beautiful boats, I'm going to call it visitation. Now, you have to think and plan ahead on these things.

I'm going to get involved in so much visitation, it's unbelievable. You know, we've all got wants, haven't we? I'd love to have my own boat one day. I'd love to own a golf course. I'd love to have a motor home. I'd love to do this.

I'd love to travel the world. Those are all good things and God blesses us so much, doesn't He? But you need to write down your needs. Listen to me, friend. If you're not willing to write down your needs, if you don't know what your needs are, you will never know what to get rid of. One of the reasons why our lives get out of control is that our lives are so busy, they're so hectic, they're so cluttered. Something's got to go. Your needs can't go.

Perhaps some of your wants might have to go. Number four, prioritize. Now we have a key operative word here, prioritize.

You see, if you write down your needs, you can prioritize. I want you to do something this week. Get your family together and I want to suggest to you that you write down the six in order, the six most important things in your life. Now do it this week. Get a piece of paper, give one to each of your family members and write down and write only the six most important things in your life. Now, for example, I wrote down six things this past week.

I can tell you right now the Lord Jesus came into a church. My family was very important. I wrote down that a priority in my life must be my family. Now if I am doing that according to the needs I've evaluated, I've analyzed, I have determined my needs and I have prioritized my family, I'm then able to move in a systematic way that is pleasing to the Lord in determining how I need to bring my life under control. If my family is a priority to me and I'm not prioritizing my family, guess what?

I'm a man out of control. I'm gonna face the consequences. My children are gonna grow up before I even know it. They're going to leave and I'm not going to know them.

I'm not going to have loved them. I'm going to live with a lot of regrets. Grandparents can do this. Widows and widowers can do this.

For example, as I was doing a little bit of this this past week, I began to think about my family and I thought about their specific interests. I thought of my two boys, the fact that they play golf well and they love golf and I love golf and as I sat there and I thought about it, I said to myself, I do not want to become a father who always sends his sons to go and play golf with everybody else because I'm dad. Now there are many times they're going to play golf with somebody else and they have a wonderful time. They played golf on Saturday. I couldn't go. I was busy.

They had a wonderful time doing that. But friends, I do not want to wait until my sons are 30 years of age before I play golf with them. Now, if I'm going to prioritize doing this and many others what does that mean? It means I've got to set aside time.

I've got a plan because it is a basic fundamental need that I have. You take my daughter. When I was writing my list out, many times my daughter comes to me and says, Daddy, won't you jump on the trampoline with me? You know what I do many times? Too busy.

Sorry. What happens if one of the deacons ride by and see a beached whale jumping on a trampoline? And folks, here I weighed 375 pounds and she weighs 60 pounds and when I go down and she goes up, it's like an anti-ballistic surface-to-air missile about to leave Spartanburg.

But I'm going to tell you something. There is no greater fun than jumping on the trampoline with my little girl. Silly?

Waste of time? Is there going to come a time when she's not going to come and say, Daddy, will you jump on the trampoline with me? So when do I need to jump on the trampoline with her?

Not next year, this year. Well, that's what it means to prioritize. Number five, develop a plan. Develop a plan. You'll never develop a plan if you haven't evaluated, analyzed, determined your needs, and prioritized. If you prioritize based upon these other things, you're going to be able to get your life in control. Then you're going to be able to determine, well, this is the area in which I have to work, so I'm going to develop a plan around that issue. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on the Encouraging Word.

Don't go away. He'll be back to complete today's episode of the Believer's Commission in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants to remind you that as we develop that plan, as we develop an intentionality in our lives, one of the great ways to do that is spending time in God's Word to launch our day. Every morning, about 6 o'clock Eastern, Dr. Don sends an email out that is fully charged with Scripture, with application of that Scripture, an opportunity to pray. We pray that you would consider signing up online right now at www.tewonline.org for this free email. That's online at www.tewonline.org.

It could be that you're more interested in getting a hard copy of that. Send that out quarterly as well, and you can sign up online at www.tewonline.org. And while you're there, you need to check out this brand-new fortified and strategy of Satan, a powerful resource that will help you in the battles we face every day. Are you spiritually dressed for today's battles? As Christians, the Word of God equips us on how to prepare and fight spiritual battles.

The Apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6-12 that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Join Dr. Wilton as he unpacks Fortified, a powerful four-message series to help you understand the spiritual battle we are in and teach you how to put your spiritual armor on. Plus, to further equip you, you will receive the bonus book, The Strategies of Satan, How to Detect and Defeat Him by Warren Wiersbeek. Call us at 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673, and request Fortified and The Strategies of Satan for a gift of $25. Thank you for supporting The Encouraging Word as we continue to proclaim the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. Again, that's a powerful resource, but there are more resources available online at www.tewonline.org, including that daily encouraging word e-mailed I mentioned and the new book from Dr. Wilton about Dr. Billy Graham, all at www.tewonline.org, that's www.tewonline.org.

Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. You develop a plan, whether it's related to your church, to your business, to your family, to your friends. Have you ever gone through a whole year and had regrets at the end of the year that you didn't see your friends or not?

Well, the reason you didn't see them is you didn't have a plan to see them because you didn't prioritize them if that's a priority. It's the same as needing to write a thank you letter or to go shopping to get the groceries or to go somewhere together as a family or to make a business decision. Everything that we do comes into this. And the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Ephesus, my friends, says, finally, I want you to know something that there are many things that you can do in order to get control of your life and to live a life which is well pleasing to the Lord Jesus.

Number six, provide the time and space in order to be able to do the things that you've determined you need to do. You may be managing director of a company. You're a busy person. Your phone is ringing off the hook.

People look to you. They depend upon you. You may be a house mom. You may be a child development specialist which I call mothers. Mothers are child development specialists and it's a very difficult thing to juggle the washing machine and the baby and the diapers and the needs and the comings and the going with everything else. But you do know that your baby is a priority. If you're children, your baby is not a priority.

You know what you're gonna end up doing? You're gonna end up allowing other decisions which are important to take away from your priority. So guess who suffers? Your baby suffers. Your children suffers. Your marriage suffers. Your studies suffer. Whatever it is that's out there begins to suffer. Number seven, assign roles for yourself.

Now, friends, listen carefully. A role for yourself is that which you do related to the priority based upon the needs in terms of your evaluation. For example, if I prioritize that I want to spend time with my children, what role does that put me into? Daddy, father, that's why I do it because I'm daddy. Richie was here this morning with Cameron and I turned to Richie and I said, Richie, you are the father. Many of the standards you have, Cameron will have and of course, that's true of moms as well, equally so. But if I'm not willing to prioritize that and I'm not willing to say, listen, I need to spend more time with my children because I'm the father. Here's what happens.

You ready for this? If I put my role in that little scheme of things, I come out with a value and values are those things which are missing most of all in America today. So I say I'm going to prioritize my children in my role as father based upon my value.

Now, what is my value? My value is that I need to be the best daddy that I can possibly be as a daddy to my children because God has given them to me and I want to rear them in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I base my priority through my role upon my value. If you don't have values, you're not going to cultivate character. And one of the reasons why many of our children today have got no values is because they're not taught the roles that God has given to us based upon the priorities that we teach them through our own lives and the word of God, which in turn develops their character.

We talk about character references. It's based upon my values and upon the role that I play. So assign roles for yourself. If it's the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a priority, if it's the church, what is your role in the church? Your role in the church will define your value and your value system. And if your value system is in place, my friend, and you're a deacon, you never going to have any problem missing a deacon's meeting without an excuse because of your value system.

It's never an issue. If you're a Sunday school teacher and your value system is in place, you are going to be the best Sunday school teacher that you can ever find because God has given to you a value system. If I was an employer of people, I would want all the people who worked in my office to have values based upon their role in the business that they work in. And their role is defined by their priorities. And what are their priorities based upon?

The system of needs based upon their evaluation and analysis of that evaluation. Number eight, enlist and train others. You have to do that. I don't know about you, but it's hard to do all these things on our own. It's hard to be a mom and a dad today by yourself. It's hard to go to school by yourself. It's hard to be a good athlete by yourself.

It's hard to go and work out at the Nautilus Fitness Center by yourself. You see, that's why God has given us people who help us in the church and in business, has given us grandparents and friends. And so you need to, based upon all these things, you need to enlist and train others and invite them into your inner circle to be partners with you. Number nine, set your calendar in place. Oh, you and I can talk all day about all these things, but if we don't put them down in our calendars, we're never going to get them done, are we? Number 10, implement the program. Nike, multi-million organization, says just do it.

That's what it means to implement. Get on and do it. Don't think about it. Don't stare at a list every day.

A list is not going to help you. Get on and do what you have to do. Number 11, constantly evaluate where you are. If you want to keep your life in control, you need to constantly be updating and evaluating. Number 12, eliminate and develop.

You see, if you have a plan, if you've evaluated, analyzed, determined your needs, prioritized, developed a plan, if you have provided time and space and assigned roles for yourself, enlisted and trained others, set your calendar and implemented it and constantly evaluated it, guess what you're going to be able to do? You're going to be able to eliminate the things that shouldn't be there. You're going to be able to constantly develop and strengthen the things that ought to be there.

God is going to bless you in that. You're going to become stronger. In our church, we shouldn't be encouraging people to grow new giftedness. We need to be encouraging our people to grow stronger in their giftedness. Become stronger in what God has called you to do.

That's where we should be focusing our attention. And then of course, number 13, last but not least, learn to say no. Learn to say no. Is your life in control? Have you turned your life over to Jesus Christ? Is he the captain of your ship? Has he set you in motion?

He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or even think. Perhaps God has set you in motion today and you realize he's able to do so much more than we can ever comprehend, but I pray that you realize that there is an initial first step that's essential, and that's do you know Jesus? In my life, I grew up going to church and knew about Jesus before I knew him personally. If you'd like to know him personally as your Savior and your Lord, would you open your heart to what Dr. Don Wilton wants to share next? 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, I pray. 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, and in just a moment, I'm going to come back with a final word. Welcome back to the family of God. I believe that some of you, along with the pastor moments ago, prayed and made a decision in your heart to come back to Christ, and today is a brand-new beginning. Some of you prayed for the very first time. Welcome to the family of God.

The angels in heaven rejoice, and so do we, because it'll help you in the next steps as you grow in your faith, growing both limbs to stretch out and bear fruit and roots to be secure in your decision. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD. I pray you would jot it down. Give us a call. Let us talk with you, pray with you, send you these free resources. The number is 866-899-9673, and you'll find that number and so many other ways to connect on our website as well at tewonline.org.

That's T-E-W, online.org. We would love to hear from you, connect with you, and encourage you. And speaking of encouragement, our pastor and chief encourager, Dr. Don Wilton, has a closing thought. Well, here I am again.

What a day this has been. You know, one of the things I want to say to you is let's stay connected. You know, we've got so many means to be able to do that.

You can write to us, e-mail us. You've got all the details right there in front of us. We are, we're a family together. We stay connected in so many ways, and your life is very important to me. I see you there, and God shows me, and I want to be able to pray with you and connect with you and be a vital part of your relationship, your growth. Your needs are maintained. I'm walking in your shoes, and I want to pray for you.

Please don't stop. Call us, write us, keep praying, keep giving, keep connecting, keep rejoicing, keep celebrating, keep striving. God is on His throne. This is the encouraging word, and now you know why. Well, what a great day as we continue in the Believer's Commission. There's more to come in this series from Dr. Wilton tomorrow on the next edition or the next podcast as you pull it down. Know that we're here for you whenever you happen to listen, whether you're listening as we broadcast live on the radio or cashing it later or pulling it down off our website. Anytime, 24 hours a day, you can connect with one of us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.