Managed By Experts

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Running with Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you, concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible.

Shirley Weaver wants to take you there. And now, here's today's episode. Hey, welcome. We're thinking unrestrained. That is the opposite of restraint, you know, unrestrained.

The story that comes to mind is that of David, worshiping the Lord, his wife, Saul's daughter, Mikelle, the expert on the scene, criticized and rebuked him. His response boldly was this, this and more unrestrained things will I do. He didn't use the word unrestrained, but it fits right there.

This and more vulgar things will I do is actually what he said. But this and I will be unrestrained. And your derision of my worship will not hinder me, will not restrain me. We're bold, we're confident in faith, like King David was in this instance. It's where we get the vision for Running with Horses, specifically, the image of something unrestrained, like Elijah, that day in the Old Testament, as he outran the king's horses, the chariots being drawn by the king's horses. And if you even think of that comparison to horses, I think it's a bold image. I love it for our book.

I love it for our podcast. You envision a group or herd of horses, you immediately think power. You don't think weakness or restraint. And I don't mean the absence of discipline.

That's not where I'm going. The restraint of faith and confidence to boldly move. So the vision is one of power. We need that vision. I need that vision.

I think probably you'd say you need it as well. The vision of power to accomplish something powerfully, as opposed to sort of by the way, or just sort of sneaking up on it, you know. And so to expand that thought, what if limitations like fear of failure, criticism, or rejection did not restrain us, didn't restrict us with the ability, the importunity that they obviously have. And by the way, it does seem that that is increasing, not decreasing. Sometimes in the church, it just is increasing. But if we are more familiar with God's power and presence in everything, like family life, our relationships, business, that's where we work.

And what if dependents, get this on the expert class, were not as prevalent? If instead of medicine, we'd choose divine healing, or instead of a profitable bottom line, we understood that work is really worship, which for the born again believer is worship of God. It's the way we demonstrate our gifts and callings and bring glory to Him. I mean, I don't know if you've ever thought about it that way.

Actually, it's very instilled, entrenched in Hebrew thought, that work is worship, the worship of God. So would fear's claim on our peace be less? That's what we're looking at today. In this episode of Running With Horses, we're considering a few possibilities.

My name is Shirley Weaver. I'm really glad you're here. Talking about God's power, you know, the power of God in the Bible often was a surprise. It comes suddenly.

Obedience attracts God's attention, which is to say His power. And that is, I think admittedly, we'd all say a supernatural element, the unexpected element. It's present in miracles, of course. We talk about this all the time, how just casually the whole idea of miracles is thrown around. We need a miracle. Please pray for a miracle with no understanding, no history with God in His Word, what that means. Mark 16 speaks to the signs and wonders that follow those who believe. It's actually the mandate God gave the disciples as they were sent out. I also love the story of Ezekiel in chapter one of Ezekiel, you know, in exile in a foreign land.

He has this experience. The heavens opened. Ezekiel saw visions of God. And the word of the Lord, I love this wording, came directly to him. The word of the Lord came directly to him. It pierced his heart.

It penetrated his exterior, went into him again, not in a comfortable setting, not in his, you know, not by the fire in a comfortable chair. This man is in a foreign land, in exile, and God appears. And the expression here, the Lord's hand was upon him. That should be our prayer. The prayer over my life, your life, our children, home, business, government, nation, everything.

That the Lord's hand be on us. So if we draw this connection to the amount of power that is in our life, or maybe little power, maybe that is the contrast, what's the explanation there? I think some of the explanation has to do with distractions. For example, and this is only two, grieving lost things. You know, if you are managed by experts, you are constantly exposed to teaching classes, seminars, how to channel your grief in a positive way, how to recover from injustices done to you, the source of sadness in your life experience. The experts dictate our concentration there.

We spend lots of time there. You know, on lost things. And in fact, nothing is ever truly lost. If you understand the character and nature of God, He knows where everything is. After all, He did create it all.

He knows exactly where that which is lost. That's why we have parables in the New Testament about lost things being recovered, even the prodigal son, remember that. Instead of thinking that way, what if we turn that energy and time, that distraction, and began to focus on what we are actually investing in right now here on earth, and are we ready for the Lord's return and for the next step, what's coming next? Are we ready for that?

Looking for it, expecting that. So that's one distraction. Another might be, you know, there were two trees in the garden, the good and the evil choices that could be made. When we're managed by experts, by those who are expert in the law, expert in theology, we actually get caught and trapped by fear's example.

Because we live life in the moment, we forget to choose wisely. If there are two trees in the garden, which there are, we have two doors every minute of every day, one is labeled faith, one is labeled fear. And so if you factor in, am I ready for the Lord's return, am I ready for the revealing of my life in His presence, the demonstration of how I invest my life, what I think about, what I'm preoccupied with, then I am going to choose the door of faith, not fear. You know, fear is a real drag. It's a drag on everything. It's a weight, pulls your faith down so, oh, I don't even know how to say it. It is a weight on your faith.

If you factor in this concept, am I ready, this is a game changer. I just read this statement. Fear is an expression of the desire to hang on to this life. But what is waiting for us is far, far better. And you could reference here Revelation 21, right there around verse 4, no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, no more pain, because the former things have passed away. See, these things are passing away. No need to dwell on them. No need to be preoccupied there. So those are just two distractions that drain the power of God in your life. It's not that God's power is absent because He is always waiting right there in the wings for you to believe Him and appeal to Him, believe Him and appeal to Him, but this kind of drain will cause you to miss that concentration completely.

What about the Kingdom of God and the way that we develop and build the Kingdom of God in our lives when we're managed by experts? You know, the parable of the mustard seed is an excellent one. Luke 13 verses 18 through 19. The description here is that this mustard seed, you know, a mustard seed grows into a bush.

That is the likely progression. In this parable, this mustard seed grew into a tree. In other words, this example took on the shape and form of a tree, which God never intended. And then it even says that birds nested or rested in the tree, birds in Scripture generally represent a bad thing.

Usually the connotation is the presence of evil. And then there's also here the discussion of yeast. Yeast is a bad thing. Like in Luke 12, the yeast of the Pharisees is hypocrisy.

Like that. So in this parable, this mustard tree represents an overgrown monstrosity. The birds perching in its branches represent a source of pollution.

The birds actually pollute that setting. And this means there's a corrupting influence taking place. The Kingdom of God is compared to a mustard seed that grows into a tree, an overgrown monstrosity. You know, hey, I put the blame squarely on the experts, on those experts in religion, those who dictate what we believe and how we express our faith, those who draw parameters and boundaries and keep us restrained within this dignified overgrown monstrosity.

You know, if you get the application here, hey, we just need to note this parable. Be aware of what's taking place. Not everything that is large is necessarily right. Is there an element of corruption?

The answer typically could be yes. There are false teachers, false doctrine, demonic things. When we say demonic things, we mean something that Satan is squarely behind. And you might say, well, I thought Satan was behind everything, this bad or evil. In fact, many times it's just the evil inclination of humanity. It's just the natural bent that we have to make a wrong choice when we are apart from the things of the Spirit of God. So just make that distinction. And also part of the corruption of the age, even people have evil intent.

They may not be possessed by Satan, but they act a lot like him. So there are lots of things there that can enter in to corrupt what we consider the kingdom. So why wouldn't we stay distant from that? Why wouldn't we choose to avoid the experts and to choose instead the instruction of the Spirit of God? Which brings me to my next point. Our theology, when it's managed by experts, completely bypasses that our relationship with God is a matter of the human heart.

It's a matter of your heart. Your relationship with God is so unique. It's completely private. It's totally profound and special and holy as is mine. And I love Webster, Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary definition. Theology, he says is a noun. The Greek word represents God and the discourse about God.

He says two things here. Related to theology, divinity, the science of God and divine things are the science which teaches the existence, character and attributes of God, his laws and government, the doctrines we are to believe and the duties we are to practice. And then theology connected to divinity, he describes this way. Theology consists of two branches, natural and revealed. Natural theology is the knowledge we have of God from his works by the light of nature and reason. And let me interject here. You know the heavens declare the glory and the theology of God and reveal theology, two branches, the natural and the reveal, then reveal theology is that to which is to be learned only from revelation.

Boom, that's us. Your private personal revelation of God is equally important to that which is generally revealed through nature, the other branch of theology according to this definition from Webster's 1828 dictionary. So just to extrapolate a little further from there, the theology, remember this has to do with the divinity of God, the theology of atonement acknowledges that Jesus paid the price for our sins. So that must be a permanent, important ingredient in your theology. Next, we should have in our theology the expectation that Jesus could come at any time. Hebrews 9, Philippians 3, many, many, many other scriptures really about, what, between a fourth and a third of the entire Bible speak to this event of the Lord's return. So in my theology I must have a knowledge of his atonement. I must have the expectation of his coming at any time and then that is the most important thing that we could ask ourselves, am I ready? Not only am I ready, are those I care about ready?

In my, your, our theology, do we have an understanding of what is happening here? And you know that just has to, that just has, excuse me, that must include the end of life. Because at some point each of us will die. The main question, actually the only question, am I ready?

Are you ready? You don't have to be sick to die. And you don't have to be expecting death to die. There is appointed for every man a time to be born and a time to die.

Are you ready? Luke 13, Jesus answered a question about whether death was God's punishment. And Jesus answered it this way, he said no. He said no, death is not a punishment. When someone dies it's not because they did something wrong or they weren't good or their faith failed.

Scratch that, get rid of that one right there y'all. That is a condemnation that is too heavy for anyone to carry. So if that is in your thinking and in your theology, go on, carve it out, remove it. Death is not a punishment or a result of your lack of faith. Jesus said no, that's not the issue here. The issue is that each person will die. But before death, before that last breath on planet earth, we have the gift of repentance.

The gift of repentance is the way that we prepare, the way we answer the question, are you ready? The answer then would be yes. Because I have understood and realized this process. See this is the issue. This is the question.

So again, how much influence should the religious police, you know all those experts have on the way that the church is energized with God's power, anointed with his presence. First of all we said we are bold and confident, likened to a herd of horses running freely. Like Elijah that day leaving Mount Carmel, unrestrained, bold, confident. God's power comes at surprising times. But here's the thing, it comes. Don't think it's once in a lifetime.

Begin to think it is not rare, but it is a regular happening. And get rid of those distractions, things like preoccupation with what we don't have. The relationships that have been stolen from us. Listen, we're gonna get it all back. You're gonna get it all back because God knows exactly where it is. Those two trees in the garden, one is faith, one is fear. Don't follow fear's line that you have lost, but rather trust God for that redemptive element. The kingdom of God is not like a mustard tree, remember, full of distortion and corruption, but it's like the Word of God is first of all pure. And your theology has way more to do with your heart, your relationship with Almighty God, the revelation you receive as a result.

And you know, hey, the man with an experience is not at the mercy of one with an argument. Are you ready? Are you ready to meet the Lord? That should be your number one consideration right now. Don't wait for the experts to point it out to you.

They might not. The Holy Spirit is around us. His breath is breathing on us. The reality and the power, the redemptive power of God's gift of repentance so that yes, we are ready to stand before a holy God. Now that is some power right there. Power and beauty. Blessing on you. Running with horses. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time. Thank you.