R1039B God In God Out, Pt.2

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton on this edition of The Encouraging Word. Today Dr. Wilton's message is, God in, God out. We continue what we began yesterday.

You haven't missed anything. You can always hear that on our website at www.tewonline.org, but Dr. Don will catch you up, headed to Philippians chapter 4, discovering even more so about who we are in Christ and how we maintain a focus on Jesus, but what we let into our eye-gate, our ear-gate, what we listen to. And today, as you're listening to the teaching of God's Word, this will encourage you. Know that we'd be happy to pray with you as well.

We're connecting on our website, www.tewonline.org, and this phone number, 866-899-WORD, that's 866-899-9673. And now, Dr. Don Wilton. So I want to make a statement here. You can line up all the most famous, terrific, godly people you've ever been around. I guarantee you will always discover they are disciplined people who make the right choices about what to put into their heart and mind.

You'll find that common denominator all the time. They are disciplined people who make the right choices to put into their heart and mind, to fill up their space with good things. All right, now let's take a look at our passage. And I think you're going to discover something.

It's amazing. So we're in Philippians chapter four. I want to speak about God in, God out. This is what Paul says in verse eight of chapter four. He says, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. Whatever you have heard or received or learned or taken from me, Paul says, or seen in me, Paul says, put into practice and the God of peace will be with you. All right, folks, let's just put this down the line here today because this is a great challenge.

It's a challenge to me, first of all. And I'm praying for you today, you see, Paul here is preoccupied with helping people like you and me to stabilize as believers, to live lives to the fullest. Aren't you tired of meaninglessness? Aren't you tired of busy nothingness, folks? Aren't you tired of that empty feeling all the time? And yet you look around, you say, how can this be?

I'm doing this, I'm seeing that, I'm watching this, I'm going there, I'm surrounded by that, but I've still got this thing. The Bible says do not quench the spirit. And we are guilty of quenching the spirit. We're taking little stabs at God. We got to understand some things about the Lord because he loves us so much.

He wants the best for us. Paul here is talking about this. And so he lays out before us six godly virtues.

I just mentioned them to you. And folks, here's what he's doing. Watch this. Paul is saying, what you and I need to do is we need to think, we need to inhale, we need to dwell on, we need to make a deliberate decision that amongst others, these six virtues are going to be at the forefront of what is going to go inside our being. I want to, like this is the meal, there's a meal in front of me. I want to put these six virtues into me because when I put these six virtues in me, it means they've got a place because I've made room for them in my life. If my life is just filled with all other kinds of things, there's no room for any of these.

Because contrary to public opinion, folks, you can only assimilate a maximum amount of stuff. And I don't know what that mark is. Some people can do that much and some people can do that much. But I can tell you something. God is warning us and saying to us that in Christ, if you want to live a full and a meaningful life, if you want to be on top of your game, you need to put inside the things that are of God. I'm challenging you today about the movies you're watching. I'm challenging you today about the books that you're reading. I'm challenging you today about the places you're going and the conversations that you're having. I'm challenging you today about what's pouring inside your system because the more you put in your body, the more garbage is in there, the more garbage will come out of there.

That's what he's trying to tell us. That's why I told you for me, this is a tough one because I've got such a zest for life. I want it all. Folks, you don't have to beg me to go gangbusters. I want to be involved. I want to get it all. I want to do it all. I want to be it all.

I want to, I just want to be, I'm just like this ants in my pants. I've got to be very careful. I've had to make some of the most difficult decisions in my life since being your pastor.

You think it's easy. Folks, I don't fall out of bed in the morning and say, you know, I've got to spend hours sitting in a room by myself with a Bible in front of me and if you all think I'm so spiritual that I roll out of bed and say, you know, well goodness, there's monk Wilton there sitting in his cave because I want to, my life, I, and there's nothing wrong with these things. I love it all, but folks, what I've got to do, I've got to examine what I'm doing. What I'm putting inside, I've got to make sure that what is in here comes out because if I put the wrong things in there, what comes out is not very pleasant. I'm telling you folks, what goes into my heart messes me up. In my life, because I've been around the block.

I was a tank commander overseas, first special services battalion. I've been around as much junk as any of you and I have this old man down there. My wife tells me and my kids tell me, they've always told me that I have a look and they don't like that look.

I don't know what they're talking about. But evidently if my wife says she doesn't like that look, I'm going to tell you when evidently that look comes out is when this body is being filled with everything that's not of God, it causes the look. I don't want that. I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't want to ride roughshod. I don't want to stand up and be an idiot. I don't want my mouth to get ahead of my tongue and my tongue to get ahead of my brain. I don't want to tell someone not to get in my face. But I'm telling you that old man that lives in me down there, when I put in here everything that links arms with that old man inside of me, garbage in, garbage out, the disposition of your character and your face is in direct proportion to what's in your heart.

Some of you are struggling in your marriage because you're sitting there watching pornography and some of you are even doing it together and then you wonder why lust begins to overtake your heart. You're hanging around in places and you're associating yourself in the wrong company and you're reading the wrong things and it doesn't matter to you, but it matters to God. You're just putting it all into this limited space and you're so crammed up in your soul spirit, in your mind with all the stuff that there's nowhere to put God things. Some of you came to church today and you're so crammed up, you just cannot wait to get out here. You've got to get out so that you can go and satisfy the stuff crammed up in your life because that's where your hankering is.

You just can't wait to do that because when you put all that sugar in your system, your system's just going to want to have sugar. I told you this is tough stuff, folks. Some of you young people are heading for massive disappointment and destruction. Some of you young couples who have just got married, you're spending all your time going to places that you know have no spiritual value.

You're going to sit in rock concerts and places and that's what you fill your mind with and it's just being rammed in and rammed in and rammed in and rammed in. And then five years you turn around and say, gee, what happened to my marriage? How come I'm so angry? Where did this get off the rails? How come I don't even go to church anymore? I just cannot believe it.

We lost a governor in our state because of that. Paul here is talking about something incredible, folks, it's a huge subject, so it gives these six virtues. Just give them to you. That which is true, your word is truth, judgments of the Lord are true, all your commandments are truth according to the Psalms. I want to put in here the commandment, the statutes of the law, the word of God. That's why I need to read God's word every day.

Second virtue, that which is noble, that word noble there in our text, it means that which is honorable, dignified, worthy of respect, that's the word. It describes a dignified lifestyle rather than an uncouth lifestyle. Folks, I want to live a dignified lifestyle, don't you? Listen, got to make some decisions.

Say, pastor, boy, you are just into this. I am, because folks, I need to hear this. I love life too much, I've got so much going on. Give me more, I just want more. I'm not careful, all the more of life takes up all the room of life.

I want that which is noble, honorable, dignified. Forgive the interruption, 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 message, God in, God out, in just a moment. But it's our prayer that as you hear and understand more of this pastor's heart for Jesus, this pastor's heart for God's Word, you'll know why Dr. Billy Graham chose him to be his pastor the last 25 years of his life.

And during that time, they built such a remarkable relationship. If you may not be aware of that, Dr. Wilton wrote a book called Saturdays with Billy. I'll let him tell you all about it. Hello, everybody. You know, my friends know me as Don Wilton, pastor, friend, neighbor, dad, husband, grandpa. But I'm going to tell you people all around the world just like you know and identify Dr. Billy Graham as that man that God used to reach so many people around the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. I had the privilege of knowing Mr. Graham in a very personal and intimate way, both as his friend and as his pastor. In fact, for many years, I drove up to his home in Montreat, North Carolina, and visited with him every Saturday.

Just like friends do everywhere. We sat together and ate together, walked, talked. We discussed politics, friends, places, people. We laughed our heads off.

We did everything one could possibly imagine. That's why I wrote this wonderful book, Saturdays with Billy. It's all about a personal relationship. And I hope and pray that Saturdays with Billy will be a blessing to you, will inspire you, and will encourage your heart, just as Mr. Graham encouraged my heart and changed my life. God bless you, my friends. Again, it's a powerful book, and you can order it right now by calling 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. And every copy you purchase, Dr. Wilton receives none of that. It all goes to the ministry of the encouraging word to share the gospel with even more people literally around the world. I pray that you'll consider not only buying one, but buying a copy or two to give away. Gospel is a part of investing in ministry that is changing lives here at the encouraging word. Again, details are on our website, TEWONLINE.ORG.

That's TEWONLINE.ORG. Or you can call right now for your copy at 866-899-9673. Now let's get back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Worthy of respect. Number three, that which is right. See that little word there?

Whatever is right. There's the third virtue. That word, by the way, is an adjective, comes from the word righteous. Literally means that what we need to be putting into us is right because it pertains to those things that are in perfect harmony with God's standards. That's what that word means. That what I'm putting in here is in perfect harmony with God's standards. Number four, that which is pure.

Also there in verse eight, that's the fourth of these things. That word there means morally clean. Someone listening to me today, you're about to have an affair. Don't do it, folks. Don't do it. Don't do it.

You will never recover. I'm just telling you, you think that the grass is sweeter on the other side of the hill. It's not.

I'm a pastor, folks. I never meet anybody who has an affair, destroys their families, breaks up everything, that looks back and says, gee whiz, man, wasn't, hasn't this just been fantastic? People have three minutes of ecstatic pleasure, lustful pleasure with some other woman or some other man and just like that, just like that, it'll turn sour. All lust does is work itself out of the body and it's over, boom, just like that.

That's what he's talking about. That which is pure. I'm telling you, it's a discipline, folks. I gathered my kids around me going to say, well, Don, there you go again, telling us how perfect you are.

I gathered my kids around me with my wife in front of a computer five or six years ago and I said to my children, my two sons and my daughter, I said, by God's grace, only by God's grace, I want you to know that your daddy will never knowingly ever push a button on any computer related to pornography and I want you to know there are two reasons. Number one, because of the Lord Jesus and number two, because of your mother. I love her that much.

I don't want to destroy your lives. Anne Graham Lotz stood in this pulpit. She said the number one curse in America today.

Anne Graham Lotz stood in this pulpit, said the number one curse in America today is pornography. That which is pure. Number five, that which is lovely. I love that word lovely. By the way, that word lovely there, you know what it means?

It means sweet, gracious, generous, patient. I think a couple of weeks ago I spoke about gracious, told you about a lady that got a little upset. By the way, do you know that I've had nine confessions since then? My wife said, please tell me who it was. I said, nope.

I mean, it's killing it. I haven't told anybody, but do you know something? One of those nine confessions were that lady, but any case it doesn't matter because if that lady had to come up to me, I'd have to spend about at least 10 hours trying to ask her to forgive me for all the times I've messed up. See folks, listen man, this word lovely there, it means patient, gracious, sweet. Folks, look, can we just, you know, I'm a man. I don't want anybody to say he's lovely.

Don't ever tell me I'm lovely. Let's get some other kind of manly word for that, but you know, I do, in the presence of God, I want everything to go into me that is lovely. The attribute, these virtues are God's virtues, folks, and what I'm doing is I'm taking God's virtues and putting them in me. I want the loveliness of Christ to dwell in me, and then number six, that which is admirable. You see that last one there, whatever, admirable. I love that word there. That word admirable means highly regarded, well thought of, well thought of. You know, I fill out, in fact this morning, I did it early this morning, I fill out character references for a lot of people. Come to me, pastor, would you? That's a great joy.

I filled out one this morning on a husband and wife, and I'm telling you, all I could think of was some of these virtues. What a joy to be able to say of somebody else that they are well thought of, highly regarded. You know, guard in, guard out, and then Paul tells us how to do it in verse nine. He just puts it out there. He says, think about such things.

In other words, deliberately put them into your mind, and number two, practice such things. It's not just think, but practice, and actually he rides the coattail, the one with the other. What he's saying is what you think, what you have in your mind, what you put in here is going to come out here in practice. That's what he's saying to us.

He's saying right attitudes take place through right practice. This is a tough one, eh? I told you, I just wanted to skip over this because I love life so much. I have a ball, folks, every day. I'm telling you, I've got to be so careful. You and I have got to be so careful.

You need to be very careful, and if all that you're doing is putting into this vessel, you're just filling up your space with the wrong things, and you can run a test on yourself. Where do you go out all the time? What are you looking at?

What are you talking about? Who are you hanging around with? What preoccupies your time?

What are you reading? Folks, you can put a test on yourself. Ask yourself, what's going in here? It'll creep up on you like a serpent.

Suddenly you'll just suddenly find everything gets out of whack. What happened? I meet with people all the time saying, you know, what happened?

We didn't mean it to be like this. Folks, it's very hard to sit down with someone and say, now what have you been... How do you do that with people? So today we're listening to God's word, and you need to settle this with the Lord.

You got to make a decision. I'm praying with you, and you're praying with me, because we're in this together. I want you to know what Jesus has done for me. He'll do the same thing for you. Now folks, here's what you get when you follow God's instructions, the peace of God. The peace of God. That's what he says, and the God of peace will be with you. I like that.

He'll keep your heart and your mind. There's the great equilibrium there. That's stability. That's meaning. I have found, now I know this is going to be crazy folks, but I have found when I make the right choices and I'm putting in here these virtues, I'm trying my best to fill up my tank with things that please the Lord, somehow that plate of food tastes even sweeter, and I've also got plenty of room to eat it.

That ball game is even better. See I can go and have the best fun in the world folks, without ever stepping outside of what is pleasing to the Lord. I don't need all that junk man. I don't need to spend my life going to a rock concert to make me feel happy. I don't care how many people line up. So where are you lining up? Which lines are you standing in? What are your plans?

Where's your money going? What's going on in your marriage today? What did you do over Thanksgiving that had any connection with these virtues in your family?

It's a tough one, isn't it? That's tough, but I'm telling you God will do it for you. I love you. I'm praying for you. Most importantly, I'm inviting you to give your heart to Jesus. And Dr. Wilton is not the only one praying for you to give your life to Jesus Christ. We have literally thousands of people around the globe we call encouragers that are praying that today you would understand that God has a plan for your life, a way for your sins to be forgiven, a purpose for the way you live out the rest of your life, and a place in heaven all by saying yes to Jesus. Know that if you'd like to talk with one of us about it, we're here at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or meet us on our website, tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. You've been thinking about it. You've been praying about it.

Won't you open your heart as Dr. Wilton steps out of the pulpit and 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. Perhaps you just prayed along to give your life to Jesus Christ. Working along with Dr. Wilton moments ago, or perhaps now you realize you need to rededicate your life to Christ. In either case, Dr. Wilton has free resources he wants to put in your hands. If you'll call us and let us know about your decision, you can call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or meet us on our website, tewonline.org, and share with us your decision for saying yes to Jesus Christ. We want to rejoice with you, Dr. Wilton wants to pray for you, and we want you to have these free resources. Again, meet us on our website, tewonline.org, or call 866-899-9673.