Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, March 3rd. When biblical principles are ignored, we often end up where we never intended to be. This is true for individuals, communities, and even nations. Here's part two of Staying on Track. If you said to the engineer who said, we have a 500-mile trip here and this is the way this train's going, and suppose you said, well look, when we get over here about 200 miles, why don't we just take a left turn somewhere?
Well, the engineer is not going to do that because he knows you'll never get to your destination. Watch this. Unless you stay on track. And every time you get off track, what happens? You get a big locomotive off track and it takes cranes, it takes all kinds of things and time and days to get them back on track.
When a Christian gets off track, watch this carefully, you lose time, you lose blessing, you lose all kinds of things in your Christian life. Because only as you and I are walking in His will And doing what he asked us to do, are we going to get blessed?
Now, so what I want to do in this message is this: I want to give you a track. It's just a track that I know that has worked for me for a long, long time. It was a long time before I would call it a track. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this is my track. This is what keeps me aware of where I am in my Christian life.
So I want to encourage you. to jot down these notes, then God will show you how to apply that to your own life. But the first stage of this track. is number one, and that is schedule prayer and meditation in the Word as the daily priority of your life. This is the way the Christian life should start every day.
and that is with the Father. He knows everything you're going to face. He knows all of your needs. He knows you're going to get hurt. Know you're going to get rejected.
Know you're going to get loved on, whatever it might be. And so this is the way it begins. There is a track. And every single stop on this track you're going to see is very important, very scriptural, very biblical, and very essential to staying on the track. You can get off track easy.
You can get off track by neglect, or you can get off track by deliberately, willfully sinning against God. If you're going to live a consistent life and put yourself in a position where God can bless you with His best, there's not anything in the Bible about God blessing anybody with His second best. He wants the very best for his children.
So his children must walk the pathway. That allows God to be just and holy and at the same time bless us.
So number one, Meditating upon the Word of God. Then, of course. There is this whole issue of depending upon the Holy Spirit. This is a vital part of the track. Let's think about this for a moment.
When you were saved, The Bible says the Holy Spirit came in your life to indwell you.
Well, why did he do that?
Well, Jesus said in this 14th chapter, it's real interesting, how loving and kind and sympathetic he was to them. tenderhearted, listen to what he said in this 14th chapter. He says I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper. That he may be with you forever.
So he says, I'm leaving you, but the Father is going to send somebody to take my place. That is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him and know him. But you know him because he abides with you. Watch this carefully. He abides with you, and he will be in you.
Beginning at Pentecost, from that point on, he's going to be in you.
Now watch. He says to encourage them, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. And so how do we live the Christian life like this? Jesus is living through us. Listening in us through the Holy Spirit who lives it out in us.
You say, Well, where's Jesus seated at the Father's right hand? But He's also in your life and my life, because the Holy Spirit, remember what He said? He said, He'll be with you and He'll also be in you.
So that every believer is indwelt by, sealed by, the Holy Spirit of promise.
Now, why does He do that? Because He knows that you and I do not have it within us the ability and the skill and the power and the strength to live a godly life in an ungodly world. We don't. And so he sent the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one who does what?
He equips us. For example, one thing. If let's say you are a teacher and you have the gift, think of all the gifts he gives for this exhortation or teaching or giving or administration or mercy. In other words, all the gifts he gives. Why does he give them?
He gives them to equip that person for that specific task.
So that you today are equipped by the Holy Spirit to do whatever God has ordained for you to do in your life.
So when a person says, Well, I can't serve the Lord, I don't have this education, listen, it isn't education, it's the Holy Spirit living within you, endowing you, enduring within you throughout your whole Christian life, doing what? Equipping you, enabling you to do whatever God calls you to do. And on this track of living the Christian life, when you start doing it in your own strength, you'll get in trouble. The same thing is true of salvation. How were you saved?
You weren't saved by your works, you were saved by a gift from God. And part of that gift was the indwelling Holy Spirit. Every single day, you and I have the privilege of telling him. And I like telling him in the morning, Lord, you know what's ahead of me today. I need your spirit, afresh and anew today, to enable me, to strengthen me, to guide me, to interpret for me, to show me the truth, not to be deceived by anything.
I'm trusting you to do your work in me today. And the truth is, that's what he does in your life when you allow him to do it. You say, well, what's the power of the Holy Spirit? It's God's divine energy. working in your life.
You say, Well, I'm just a homemaker.
Well, Mom, you've got the toughest job in the world raising teenagers. I don't know of any job any tougher than that. We think people who are president of this and president of that and president of the other, the Holy Spirit of God. In the life of the believer is there to listen, to equip you, enable you, and to encourage you in whatever the task is at the moment. That's who we have.
Not only that, he's there to also energize us And protect us and give us the strength to say no when we attempt it. We don't have to make that decision alone. We have the Holy Spirit within us, and so we have a conscience, and the Holy Spirit uses that conscience to show us that something is wrong. Speaks to our spirit. This is not the best way.
This is not the right way. This is not the way of God. And so if you're on the track And you've got a track to go by. Listen, you know whether you're working and operating out of the Spirit or whether you're not. You get up in the morning, you just head off, forget all about God until some problem or some issue hits you, then you start calling on Him.
Listen. He wants us, and this is why we put it first. He wants us listening to him. privately with him. before the day ever starts.
And then we have Him living within us every single day. That's when a person says to me, Well, you know, they want me to do this, that, and the other. If God tells you to do something, He is fully committed. to enable you Through the power of the Spirit working within you. to do whatever he called you to do.
And this is why I think many people go to church and Live out that church life by simply sitting and listening to sermons and so forth, or maybe doing something here and there. But every single person, listen, God has a plan for your life. He has equipped you. You may not think you're equipped, but you're equipped. And whatever technical equipment that needs to go on in your life, He's going to provide whatever you need.
He's committed to that. It'd be unfair for God to call you to do something and that you just do it on your own. That's not who he is.
Nowhere in the Bible does he say that's the way he operates.
So it's the work of the Holy Spirit, the awesome work of the Holy Spirit. And when Paul, for example, was preaching, he said, I'm not preaching you and trying to be smart and with big words. He said, it's in the power of the Holy Spirit. And their work was the work of the Holy Spirit. Every single day, you and I have a track we are living on.
God is at work. in the life of his people if they will just realize He has this wonderful tract by which we can live. And then, of course, number six. And this is very, very, very important. Remember that God loves you unconditionally.
You say, well, that doesn't sound like that's a very important one. Let me tell you why it is. Because every single one of us is going to face those situations that would discourage us if we allowed it. Secondly, We're going to face those situations in which we're going to get hurt. Because we're human.
We're going to get rejected. There'll be situations when we lose. Whatever it might be, how the people want to treat us, guess what he's saying to us. This will help you stay on track. No matter what happens to me today, No matter how people treat me, My heavenly Father loves me unconditionally.
You know what that means? It means it doesn't make any difference what happens. He's going to love us anyway. If you don't feel that, You don't experience that, you don't believe that, you'll get off track. I can guarantee it.
You know why you get off track? Watch this. because every person is seeking to be loved. Everybody. We either find it or we don't find it.
And look how most of the world is seeking To fulfill their desire to be loved. What happens is, it turns, it never reaches love for many people, it's always lust.
Something for me, something for me, something for me, something for me. when true genuine love goes way beyond all of that. And then Also on this track is this whole issue of giving to God generously. You say, Well, now, wait a minute. I thought this was living a Christian life.
It is indeed. In Luke chapter 6, verse 38, listen to what he says. And Jesus said it. Give, and it shall be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, it's going to be running over.
What he was simply saying is: you can't outgive him. Give and it shall be given to you. Why would Jesus make such a point? Give and it shall be given to you. Why?
For the simple reason of what he knew that would cure in a person's life. For example, If you and I know how to give, We will not be selfish. We will not be greedy. We will be loving. We won't be self-centered.
We'll be looking for somehow to help somebody else. Given it shall be given you. Listen, if you and I do not know how to give, we will never stay on track. If you don't know how to give, you're going to be selfish. You're going to be covetous.
You're always looking for what somebody can do for you. And you and I know we live in a world that, for this in business or whatever it might be, relationships, to find people who really and truly love you just for who you are and accept you just the way you are. Or if it's some business deal, you have to be careful that they don't take advantage of you. that they don't treat you in such a fashion that you know it's not really fair. And so givers are the happiest people.
Givers are the happiest people. You know why? Because there's a flow going on. And that flow is: as God gives, you give. God gives, you give.
God gives, you give. God gives, you give. And then when you say, That's the end of that. I hate to say this, but you become like a stagnant pool. When you clam up and you get selfish, You get greedy and you get covetous.
It's all about me. that you're off track. This is why I say to you, here's what the Word of God says: if you are wise, you will obey it. The giving is part of God's whole system. And I'll tell you why.
Look at the cross and look what he gave. How could I ever withhold anything from Almighty God? But he gave his only begotten Son. And so giving is a part of the track. It's a wonderful part of the track.
And guess what happens? Once you settle that issue, This is, I can remember my mother telling me this. I didn't believe it. She'd say Charles It's really much more fun for me to give to you than for you to give to me. Oh, not not in my age, it wasn't.
I have to admit, you know, I thought I'd give in business, but you know, it didn't take me long to watch her. Always giving.
Sometimes I thought we don't have it to give, always giving. But she's always happy. We always had everything we needed and finally I caught on. My mom was right. And that is The happiest people are the giving people.
generous people. I do not know of a stingy tight person anywhere who is happy. I don't. Listen, think about this. You can be stingy and tight and keep it to yourself.
and die with it. Why don't you just give it? And get blessed while you hear. That's part of the track. You get off the track and you're given, you're going to be off.
Then There is the assurance that God is in absolute control of your life. a major part of this track, and here's the reason. If God is not in control, you and I have lots of reasons to worry and fret and be scared to death. He says, He has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all. Psalm 103, verse 19.
He's in charge. He has control of everything.
So Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, don't be anxious about all these things. Why? He says, Your heavenly Father knows what you have need of, and He's going to provide. Part of the track. Very, very important part of the track is the recognition and the acknowledgement.
That was what? our sovereign God. is in absolute control of every single solitary thing. Will I always understand it? He didn't promise that.
We'll always like it. What he does, not necessarily. But he says he's in control. And his being in control means that I don't have to worry about what he's going to do because I know, watch this, loving me unconditionally. Loving you unconditionally.
And living by his own principle that he's going to cause everything to work together for your good, then what? He's going to provide what you need. He's going to work it out. Our problem is we don't trust him. We get off track.
Listen, if you're off track out in the mud somewhere, then you've got to figure your way how you're going to do it when you can be sailing. Through the woods and through the mountains on a clear track, and you're over here with a wheelbarrow trying to make things work. You get off track. And remember this. When you acknowledge that he's in absolute control of everything, you have acknowledged an awesome sense of faith.
I'm trusting you, God, for everything. It's part of the track. In fact, you can't eliminate any of this. without getting in trouble if you get off the track. Then I would say one last thing.
If you're going to stay on track, you have to keep your eyes on your destination. Listen to what Jesus said. He said, In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And he says, if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again to receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
And they knew that he ascended from the grave and went to heaven.
So what's your destination? You only have one of two destinations. There is a heaven and there is a hell. There are people who absolutely reject the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. You say, What's hell like?
I don't know that I know what hell is like, and I never intend to find out. I know this.
However you want to count it. Without Christ, You are eternally separated from God.
Now watch this.
So when it comes time for you to die, and by the way, there's no escape. It's appointed unto man once to die, and after there's the judgment. Listen. Your trip is Ends. The last breath you breathe.
And you have reached your destination. And there's not anything you can do. about changing it. unless you change it. before that last second.
We're all going to reach a destination. If you are wise, You will trust the Lord Jesus Christ. To forgive you of your sins and set your course to live a godly life. Everybody has a destination. But when you reach it, There's no turning back.
And no second chance. That's why. You need to be saved with the grace of God. who gives absolute certainty and assurance and clarity. as to what's going to happen.
when he calls your name. There is a track. And what you want to do is, you want to get on that track and you want to live it out. Not going to be perfect. That's what grace is all about.
You want to live it out.
So when you come to the destination, You'll be welcomed. by the Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever and ever. That's his promise. And Father, I pray the Holy Spirit. who is the one who convicts us of our sin.
and who gives direction for our life. Who's the great enabler? and who is willing to bring about conversion. in the heart of any person who desires to be saved. Speak to every heart, God is my prayer.
We have one trip through this life. One destination. Thank you, thank you, thank you God for your awesome grace is my prayer. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Uh Thank you for listening to part two of Staying on Track. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
