R1148A How To Face An Uncertain Future, Pt.1

God has an encouraging word for you today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on how to face an uncertain future. Now, more than ever, there is a sense of uncertainty about what tomorrow holds.

But oh, you've heard Dr. Wilton mention this many, many times. We don't know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future. It's in God's hands, and we can take comfort in that. As we go to Philippians chapter 1 to study God's Word together, know that we're here for you, connecting both on our website, tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org, but also on the phone at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to pray for you and connect you with great resources that will help you grow in your faith. And now, today's great teaching, How to Face an Uncertain Future, with Dr. Don Wilton. Let's bow our heads together as we pray this morning. Our Father, we come into your presence recognizing that everything that we have comes from you. We come into your presence with great expectation and great anticipation in our hearts and in our lives for that which lies before, and yet we do not know. But we are reminded today that the future is as bright as the promises of God, and so it is to you that we turn our attention and our thoughts. It's in your hands that we place our lives, for you alone are God, and there is none like unto thee. We come acknowledging that you are the great I am, that you always have been, you always were, because you always are. We take confidence today, not because we are confident in our future, but because we are confident in you. You are the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We place our trust in you.

We look to you. And we know that it is true that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that to all who believe in him shall never perish, but shall have eternal life. And today all across America and around the world as people celebrate, as people give thanks, as churches of every shape and every size gather, and as believers huddle together, we stand upon your word today. And Father, our most fervent prayer is that in America today a great revival would sweep across this land, that we would know who you are, that our Father, we would beg of you not to turn your backs, your back upon us, for we have sinned grievously in your sight. And when we look back on the past years, we recognize that we have become a people far from the heart of God. We repent before you today, O Lord.

We come before you as a nation. We come before you as individuals, and we bow our heads in your presence. We repent of our sin today. We ask you to forgive us, to restore to us the joy of thy salvation, to write our names in the Lamb's Book of Life, to come in your mighty power and visit upon us in our homes and in our places of work, on our school campuses, in our institutions, from the White House to the State Capitol, that our Father, we might understand that you alone are the God of the ages.

You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and there is none like unto thee. Father, bless this word today. We stand upon your word. We stand strong upon your word. We are strong because of your word, because we believe in you. Write your word upon our hearts and speak to us as we worship you in the beauty of your holiness as we pray these things together in Jesus' name.

Amen. I'm going to invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to Philippians chapter 1. I'm afraid that I have to make an announcement to you, but the announcement that I have to make is not quite as happy.

I personally believe that we are facing an uncertain future. I understand that these things are relative, for there are many who would listen to me this morning and say to me, but Pastor, you don't seem to understand how good I have it. I understand that. I understand that every time we make a statement, there are exceptions to the rule, but I've got such good news for you today, and I just want you to know if any of you are wondering where I'm going, I'm going to invite you to give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ today. Now, I'm going to ask you to trust Christ as your Lord and Savior. You can do that right now. You can in your heart right now confess your sin to Him. Repent of that sin and invite Him to come into your heart.

The Bible says that if we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and that we believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, we will be saved. That can be you right now. But before I read to you a most remarkable passage, and I would like to tell you today that I want to encourage you to have a pen or something in hand. You have my blessing to get out your blackberry. If you had blueberry pancakes for breakfast, get out your blueberry.

Get out your iPad, whatever means that you have to take notes, I want to advise you to write something down in a minute if you choose to do so. Because I'm going to speak to you from God's word on how to face an uncertain future. And folks, I don't mind telling you this is gold. It's gold because it doesn't come from me.

It comes from God's word. I've got such wonderful news to show you today. I believe that we can face tomorrow with absolute confidence. But if you look at the world today, folks, we are not living in the best of times, are we? If one were to look over the shoulder back even over the past year, one can talk about the Arab Spring.

I think that word to begin with was rather excellent. We know what happened all across the Arab world. And those of us who believe in democracy, we celebrate greatly with the fall of dictators. But the Arab Spring is changing. And folks, it is going to affect us.

It's not what you remove, it's what you put in its place. We don't know. It's uncertain.

We do know that the Arab Spring has turned into an Arab summer, has turned into an Arab fall, and is dramatically turning into an Arab winter. We don't know. None of us know, do we? None of us. We don't know what's going to happen in Libya, certainly not in Egypt.

In Syria, but in that part of the world, you don't just change to an American style democracy. Doesn't make sense. So it's uncertain. The economy of the world is uncertain.

We all know that. Evidently not even the most gifted economists in our world can figure it out. Countries are going bankrupt. The constellation of the European Union is turning on its head.

The relationship between the European currency and the United States currency is so inextricably intertwined that whatever happens in Greece and Italy and France and Germany and Spain happens here. They're tied together. Of course, China's another world altogether. In North Korea, another dictator fell through death.

And today we're looking at a 20-something year old baby that nobody knows anything about. Hasn't even spoken in public, but he's still surrounded by the generals. And they have enough influence there in the midst of their nuclear warheads to get millions of people to howl relentlessly in angst over the fall of their dear leader. I thought that was the stuff of which the Soviet Union was made. When you and I remember those troops massing before the Kremlin and parading before Leonid Brezhnev and the others.

Now the world is uncertain, folks. If you were to go back just 100 years to 1912, it's remarkable the similarities. Europe? The similarities are amazing, and yet in Europe all it took was one gunshot and the death of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand to ignite the Great War.

My grandfather was a World War I ace, was awarded the DFC, flew for the Royal Air Force. You want to wake up quickly? Go and look at pictures of trench warfare in World War I. Gas, gas boys, an ecstasy of fumbling.

Read what they wrote. Try to understand what was going on. In the world we saw unprecedented chaos this year. Typhoons, hurricanes and tornadoes, earthquakes in unprecedented numbers. We'll never forget the sorrow of the Japanese people.

The tsunamis of five and six years ago slithered into obscurity. The world, the United States, the greatest nation ever. We've got an uncertain future in our economy.

A lot of my friends today don't have jobs and money's not quite as easy as it once was. In politics we are the mocking agent of the world. The world is laughing at us because we like to think that we've got something to actually teach the Arabs about how to run a democracy. But our people can't even get together on some of the most basic things and when they do they're able to do it for just one month or two months at a time. And we're entering into an uncertain time. And politics is going to be the name of the game this year and opinions are going to be everywhere. And agendas are on the table. War everywhere.

It's just uncertain. And then there's people like you and me. Some people might go back to 1812 and say well that was Napoleon Bonaparte. And you've got to understand that he met his Waterloo.

And in any case in 1799 the French Revolution saw to the summary execution of many. But that was then, this is 200 years later, surely not us. You and me, well I can talk about me and you can talk about you and you and I, we look at ourselves and we see both good and both bad. And we ponder what went on yesterday and we wonder what will be tomorrow. So what will we do?

Where will we be? Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment with more of this powerful message, how to face an uncertain future with Dr. Don Wilton.

But Dr. Don wants me to remind you this is not just a presentation, it's a conversation. And many of the ways that we have that conversation is keyboard to keyboard on our website www.tewonline.org or on the phone at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or our website www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. While you're there, there are a myriad of resources and one of those that has been an extremely powerful tool in many of our lives is a book called See You at the Finish Line. It's a wonderful book to give to a graduating high school or college senior and allow that man or woman as they're stepping out into a new beginning to see how God has a plan for their life.

And it's a good plan. Again, the book is called See You at the Finish Line, a great gift for graduates. You'll find the details on how you can get your copy at 866-899-WORD. Just tell them you're interested in buying that book, 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton.

And so when I begin to look at me, I all of a sudden find myself landing upon a rock. The church. Wow. Well, look at the church. Look at believers everywhere. Well, let's narrow it down. Look at this church.

Wow. Standing on a rock. Missions. Building orphanages in South Africa and trips to Ukraine with Eddie Robertson to take upward basketball to a group of young people who know nothing and have nothing. To college students off to Haiti to help share the love, feeding 10,000 people at Thanksgiving, Christmas for others, giving gifts in the community. Handing out clothes and food ad infinitum through the Helping Ministry Center. People rolling up their sleeves and going to work and loving one another and doing things for others.

All of a sudden my feet lands upon the rock and I'm reminded that Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will never prevail against my church. Somebody say amen. And so here I am today looking at a group of people that I love so dearly and asking a question for you and me. What shall we be and how will we face an uncertain future?

Some of my closest friends have been diagnosed with cancer. Some others are facing issues that they have no control over. There are people who are standing on the threshold of losing everything that they have.

Foreclosures are the name of the game and Wall Street is being occupied. So where do we fit into this? I love what Paul said in Philippians chapter 1 because this great man of God found himself facing an uncertain future.

In his case he was in the pit of a Roman prison. Right at the bottom I look around I see parents today. I think of Bailey and Stephen with that brand new precious little girl Claire doting grandparents. I think about the fields this morning. I think about tomorrow our sons and our daughters and our children and our grandchildren and the pride and the joy. And what we want for them was what we had ourselves and we look into tomorrow and none of us know what tomorrow holds.

And so we have to conclude that we are facing an uncertain future. Paul was no different. In fact Paul's future was rather dramatically uncertain. He was facing imminent death and this is what he said in the latter part of verse 18. He said yes I will continue to rejoice for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I love that. I'm not preaching on it but I just love that.

I just thought I needed to let me know about that today. What has happened to me will turn out for the better. That little word deliverance there carries with it the same idea as the salvation we have in Christ that God in Christ rescues us from ourselves. So Paul here in the midst of his circumstances facing imminent death and a most uncertain future he lands with both feet on the solid rock. And this is what he says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body. Whether by life or by death for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. May the Lord write this word upon our hearts today. And friends what I'm about to do is put it down the line for you from God.

Write these five things down. All I can do is tell you what I'm going to do. I'm asking the Lord to make verse 20 of Philippians chapter 1 my verse for the new year.

I'm claiming this. Listen to what Paul says. He says, I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body whether I live or whether I die. Paul here talks about having five things. So I'm going to share with you five keys to face an uncertain future.

Here they are. Number one, have a keen heart. Have a keen heart. That little word eagerly is something that we identify with. By the way, a derivative of that word is the word enthusiastically. Eagerly.

In fact, the Greek word, if you want to get a little bit more specific, the Greek word there means that you have a keen interest. Have you ever, you know, I was watching that ball drop in New York City and I said to myself, I think a lifetime dream of mine would be to stand in the middle of that million man crowd. No, it isn't. I'm just pulling your leg, folks. I mean the press, the crowd, unbelievable and that despite Lady Gaga and did I say that right?

Okay, you better ask someone next. You know, I mean the crowd, the pulse, the energy and all those people, there's a press there and the crowd is all jostling and everybody's packed like sardines and they're waiting for that ball to drop. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, Happy New Year. Everybody pick up the dead and the wounded pick them up and everybody is there having a good time. The word eager, folks, means that you are just stupid enough to want to actually go and stand in that crowd. Uh oh, maybe some of you just got back early this morning.

If you see anybody get up and leave, I've just offended them. You understand, folks, here's the press of the crowd. There's a hustle and bustle.

Nobody can see. The word eager means that your enthusiasm overcomes all the inconvenience. I guess the question is will we overcome the inconvenience? You've been listening to Dr. Don Wilton and this powerful message on how to face an uncertain future.

We've just scratched the surface. Dr. Wilton will continue in Philippians 1 tomorrow with his Bible study. But perhaps in this moment, as we have studied God's word, there has been more than just a gaining of insight on how to face the future. But there are pressing decisions in yours and my life about how we will face that future. Will it be on our own or will it be as a child of God? You've been listening to Dr. Wilton teaching and preaching from the pulpit.

Now open your hearts to what he wants to share as he steps into the studio next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton to give your life to Jesus, welcome to the family of God. Oh, how Dr. Wilton wants to rejoice with you and pray for you.

He also has some free resources he wants you to have as you'll grow in your faith, as you'll deepen your commitment to see God work in you in a powerful way. Call us and let us know about your decision so we can send you these free resources. Our number is 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or if you'd like, you can meet us on our website as well, tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org, the place you'll find great resources like this. Have you ever felt lonely, isolated, or abandoned? No one escapes the feelings of loneliness caused by separation, grief, loss, or isolation. It can strike anyone, but God has placed within each of us a basic need for relationship with Him. This month, with your gift to the encouraging Word, you will receive Dr. Don Wilton's powerful message, Fear Not, along with the bonus book, Loneliness, How to be Alone but Not Lonely.

These powerful resources will help you overcome your loneliness and find comfort, security, and companionship in God. Our time's gone for today, but oh, what a great continuation of this message called How to Face an Uncertain Future from the book of Philippians. We'll resume at this same time tomorrow. Perhaps you can invite a friend to join in.

Now, maybe you missed some of today's broadcast. All you need to do is go to our website, tewonline.org. You'll see the on-demand selection, and it'll let you either listen to or watch this message again, as well as other parts of the message we weren't even able to share on the air today. Just know that we'd love to connect with you on our website. That's tewonline.org, 24 hours a day. That's tewonline.org.