Whatever Happens Pt. 2

Good evening. Welcome to Voice in the Wilderness. I'm Don

Noble of Pure Heart Ministries, and I welcome you today

with exceedingly abundantly and overflowing joy. Well, it's a beautiful

spring day and I'm going to be talking about whatever happens.

I started this last week. This is Part two. There

will be a part three next Monday, which is Memorial Day.

And I do wish you a wonderful Memorial Day coming

up and a safe holiday weekend because even though Memorial

Day is Monday, most people start celebrating on Friday as

the weekend starts. So please drive safely, be careful, and

love Jesus. Amen. So this is what ever happens, Part two,

and the premise for this topic comes from Philippians one

twenty seven, which says, whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a

manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Now, last week

I concluded with a litany of Paul's trials from Second

Corinthians eleven, twenty two and thirty three. I'm going to

go over them again because I want to highlight a

few things that especially stood out to me. So Paul

said that he received forty stripes minus one so probably

beaten on his back like Jesus was. Now he doesn't

say that he was, you know, flogged with that particular

fledgation that had pieces of stone and glass in it,

which as we know, ripped the shreds of Jesus' skin

downed deep into the musculature. But nevertheless he did get

thirty nine stripes, so that had to be exceedingly horrific.

Then he said, three times beaten with rods, stoned, once

ship directed, three times a night and a day in

the deep, in journeys, often in perils of waters, in

perils of robbers, in perils of his own countrymen, perils

in the wilderness, perils in the sea, in weariness and toil,

in sleeplessness, often in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often

in cold and nakedness. I want us to just take

a moment, just a moment, and think about how many

times that you have been in dire thirst of water

or a beverage for the gospel. Now, I'm sure on

some hot sunny day, you know, maybe you're out in

the desert in the wild West, and you know you're

trekking through the mountains of Zion National Park and it's

a really really hot day, which you can get there.

I've been there when it's been one hundred and five

degrees and you're really really thirsty. Okay, we've all had

those kind of episodes when oh, maybe you're out there

cutting the grass and it's just eighty five degrees and

you are so thirsty. But imagine being so thirsty that

you don't get your thirst quenched, not soon, not easily,

and it's because you are out there preaching the gospel

or evangelizing or just sharing the gospel with someone. How

many sleepless nights have you experienced for the gospel. Yeah,

there's a lot of people. They have sleep deprivation, deprivation

they cannot sleep. They have a lot of difficulty sleeping

at night. They just can't get to sleep, they can't

fall asleep. But that's not what Paul's talking about. He's

talking about a person who normally sleeps, you know, the

whole night, yet not getting any sleep, sleeplessness for the gospel.

You know, you'd have to look at those Christians who

are really really being persecuted in some of the areas

of the world where it's severe. For instance, in India,

people are being persecuted, I mean to a very large

degree right now, because Hinduism has become even though the

majority of the nation is Hindu, they have a new

movement of Hindu nationalism, and so they are being very

aggressive against Christians and persecuting Christians in many many ways.

So you and I living in America, we I mean,

we really have it pretty good here. I would say

that I haven't lost a sleepless night for the gospel.

How many times have you ended up naked for the gospel? Well,

I don't think any of us, frankly, could say yes

to that question. Yet Paul said he was naked for

the gospel. I mean, so he doesn't elaborate. What does

that mean, naked for the gospel? I don't know. So

wherever he was, obviously he was persecuted for preaching the gospel.

And who knows did people rip his clothes off? You know,

did he get in a tussle with someone and they

ripped his things off? He doesn't tell us. I mean,

you have to use your imagination. But the point is

he made a point about it that he spent times

being naked. I know, I haven't spent any time being

naked for the Gospel now again in persecuted countries. Could

that be a reality? It could be. How many times

have you grown weary and have toiled hard for the gospel?

You know, there are there are committed evangelists in our country.

I happen to know one of them. And this fella

has been in the hardest, darkest places on planet Earth.

Oh yeah, and and he has. He has had some trials,

for sure, but he pushes on with such perseverance. I

mean it truly amazes me. And I would encourage you.

You could go on his Facebook page, Cliff Graham. He's

an evangelist and uh, you know, just watch a video

or go on YouTube. And Unison Harvest International is his

ministry is what he calls his ministry. He just got

back from two weeks in India. So there are folks

few and far between in the States that are actually

going into very difficult places to preach the gospel. And

you know, they are not loving their lives unto death.

They are going to preach no matter what, no matter

what happens, whatever happens, right, whatever happens. So and then

you know, Paul said, he said in Perils of Robbers,

now again how many times have you been robbed? For

the Gospel's sake? Very few of us in America have

been robbed. We live in a pretty safe country. Albeit

I know we have lots of illegals who have crossed

our border who are very dangerous criminals, and they've entered

many of our cities. But you know, overall, I'm just

talking the overall picture. Most of us would say, no,

I've never been robbed. Yet Paul is saying in Perils

of Robbers, So that means he wasn't just robbed once,

he was robbed many times. And you know, again, he

doesn't provide us all the information about that. Whether he

was beaten and robbed, whether he was stripped, naked and robbed,

we don't know. We just know that this man, Paul,

went through the toughest tests and trials of any Christian

that we know of, at least what's written in the scriptures.

So I know what you're thinking. I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking that was the apostle, Paul. I'm not an apostle, okay,

but you're a believer, right, a believer in Jesus. You know,

Jesus said to his disciples, he said go ye into

all the nations and make disciples. And at that point

they were just disciples. So was that just for the

Bible days or did Jesus mean as long as there's

breath in your lungs and that's for all of you

who are going to live, you know, two thousand years

into the future from this point in time that I'm

saying these words that are written down in Matthew. Okay,

so you're also thinking, I'm not a traveling evangelist. You're

a stay at home mom. Let's look at you, the

stay at home mom. Now, I personally consider the stay

at home mom a very important job for the kingdom.

Oh I do just as important as that traveling evangelist,

if not more, because a stay at home mom, who

may also be homeschooling their children, that is a task

that takes a lot of patience. And we're going to

be talking about patients. And they are raising these moms

are raising godly children and raising them in the admonition

of the Lord to do great things for God, you know,

as soon as they're old enough to do it. And

you know, there are many children. In fact, I just

recall something I saw a video some time ago about

these children. They were between like nine and eleven years old.

They were preaching the gospel. They were praying, and they

were preaching the gospel and it was so powerful. So

you don't have to be an adult to preach the gospel.

But back to the stay at home mom, it's a

very important job for the Kingdom of God. And I

hope you say amen with me. You know, life happens,

Things happen, and being a mother of children, there would

be a lot of whatever happens, right, I mean, probably

on a daily basis, a mother can say, ah, whatever happens,

I'm going to conduct myself in a manner worthy of

Christ because she is being an example of Christ to

her children. And those children will remember all, you know,

the majority of those instances of the whatever happens. So

the point is in our life and in the context

of what happens in our life, we want to be able,

all of us. We want to be able to say, Hey,

whatever happens, I will conduct myself in a manner worthy

of the Gospel of Christ. Last week I told you

there have been situations, Oh yeah, more than I can

count that I did not did not conduct myself in

a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. And you

know that just makes me sad. But on the other hand,

it does push me to want to conduct myself in

a manner worthy of the Gospel. You see, the Word

of God is so powerful that just saying that scripture.

Just saying that scripture every day to yourself, and if

you would, you know, write it out, put it on

the refrigerator, put it in the bathroom, put it in

your car. You know a lot of stuff of whatever happens,

happens while you're driving a car, if you know what

I mean, put that scripture everywhere that it needs to be.

Whatever happens, I will conduct myself in a manner worthy

of the Gospel of Christ. Now, our dear brother James,

in his epistle, this is what the good Brother writes.

Starting with verse two, he says, my brethren, count it

all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that

the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience

have its perfect or thorough work, that you may be

perfect and complete, lacking nothing. And if you any of

you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives

to all liberally and without reproach. And it will be

given to him. But let him ask in faith with

no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave

of the seed, driven and tossed by the wind. For

let not that man suppose that he will receive anything

from the Lord, for he is double minded, unstable in

all his ways. Let's go back to that verse two.

Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

I don't know about you, but jeez, you know, sometimes

in the midst of the trial, it just ain't easy.

I know that's not great English, but you know it

works here. But the testing of our faith produces patients. Look,

there has to be a testing. If you think, as

a born again Christian you're going to get through your

little Christian life without any test, without any trial, well

then you are going to be a weak, anemic Christian.

You need tested. You need to be in the midst

of a fiery trial because that will produce patients. So

your faith has to be tested. Will you trust in

the Lord? Will you look to him? Will you say, Lord,

I know this is difficult, it seems beyond difficult, but

I'm gonna trust you no matter what. It is. The

testing of our faith that produces patience and the apostle Paul,

he must have been the most patient person to serve Christ.

Every time I read that litany of things that he

went through, I really do shake my head and I think,

how could one person endure that? And the scriptures don't

tell us, but I would. I would. You know, I'm

not a gambling person at all, but if I were,

I put my money on that on Paul that he

complained that he never complained about every trial he was in.

He just counted it all joy. You know, one thing

that helps in all of this is to understand your

mission in life. So if you know the will of

God for your life, and you know the mission and

the course that the Lord, the path that the Lord

has you on, then when the trials come, you have

a How can I say that? You know you have

something to look at, You know what you've been called

to do, you know the will of God for your life.

So no matter what the trial is, you realize and

you recognize that it's just as temporary as Paul calls them.

He calls these things temporary affliction. Can you imagine they're

just temporary light afflictions? And you keep moving on because

you know what your mission is. Paul knew clearly what

his mission was, so it didn't matter, it didn't matter

what happened. It didn't matter if he was beaten thirty times.

He would have kept pressing on because he understood his mission.

So I think in all of this that it would

behoove us to know the will of God for our life.

What is it that God wants you to do? What

is it that God has called you to do? Maybe

he hasn't called you to the fivefold ministry. Maybe he

hasn't called you to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist,

a teacher, a pastor. Oh but he's called you, just

like the stay at home mom. That person is called

she knows her mission and she knows it clearly. The

electrician on his job, he knows his mission. He has

a duty to do his job well, to reflect God

well in the workplace. That is his mission. Now he

could have another mission so that when he's not working,

he's feeding the poor, he's helping elderly of you know

folks you know get their grass cut. There are. It

doesn't matter who you are, It doesn't matter the level

of education, it doesn't matter whether you're well off or

you're not well off, there is a plan for your life.

There is a will, and once you see it and

once you know it, it makes it so much easier

to handle the whatever happens, because the whatever happens are

going to come into our lives. And as long as

you know your mission and you know the will of

God for your life, it does make it a little easier.

And you know, Paul endured every bit of it, every

lick that was sent his way. He endured it all

without complaining, with joy, with joy. And so these these

folks are an example for us when you think in

your mind, oh, I just couldn't do that. I just

it's not possible. Well, why was it possible for them?

Why was it possible for James and for Paul, and

for Peter and John and so on and so on

and the rest of the team. Why was it PAULI

Because they knew their mission, They knew why they were

put on the earth. And when we know that mission,

it will help us to keep persevering. Because verse four says,

let patience have its perfect thorough have its thorough work. See,

there's a work that you and I are involved in

as believers when we know our mission and the will

of God for our life and it's James writes that

we may be perfect. That word is not It doesn't

mean perfect, it means mature. We're becoming mature in our

faith and we're becoming complete and we're not lacking anything.

We're not floundering around. Like he says that when we

lack wisdom, just ask of God. He gives it liberally

without reproach. And we have to ask in faith, not doubting,

because if we doubt, we're like a wave of the sea,

driven tossed by the wind. And the Lord doesn't like that.

He says, that's a double minded person, unstable in all

their ways. I have met many, unfortunately, many unstable people.

They are double minded and that makes them very, very

unstable in their walk with the Lord. And you know,

sometimes I've tried to point it out. They can't see

it and they get mad. But you know, the scripture

is the scripture. It's the word of God. It's what

it says. So Paul was not an unstable individual. He

was not double minded. He didn't say, oh Lord, you

called me to let's see, you told me to go

preach the gospel. I've actually journeyed a thousand miles and

every door has closed. Like, were you confused? Lord? Did

you get mixed up about what you wanted me to do? No,

Paul just kept pushing forward. You just keep moving on.

You just keep persevering in the thing that God has

called you to do. Again, it can be the simplest thing,

it could be the hardest thing, it could be whatever,

But it's our job to figure out what it is

God has called us to do. What is the mission

He has for my life? And that's the thing. If

you don't know that, you need to begin to inquire

of the Lord and ask him what am I here for.

He didn't just plant you on the earth for nothing.

You have a purpose for the Kingdom, and you need

to know exactly what your purpose is. So Paul is

a great example for us. He never complained. He just

kept counting it all joy, and he persevered and he

pushed on, and he didn't question God, and he didn't

think God was confused. But he accomplished all that God

had for him to do. You know, he made it

to Rome. It took a while to get him there,

but he made it to Rome where he ended up dying.

So let's just persevere and continue in the steadfastness of

God's love because his love for us is steadfast. He's

not double minded. God is not double minded, He's not unstable.

God will keep us steadfast in his love. We just

keep persevering and moving forward. And next week I'm going

to be continuing this. There's just there's a there's a

lot here. So I'll see you next week. This is

Don Noble. You can go to www dot pureheart dot

today and listen to this podcast again. You can download

the iHeartRadio app and go to the podcast Pure Heart

Ministries and listen twenty four to seven. And Hey, if

you haven't been praying for this ministry, would you please

continue to pray. I I'm not kidding, I say it

all the time. I really do covera your prayers. And

I would love for you to sew a seed, a

financial seed into this ministry. You can write me at

Pure Heart Ministries, Po Box eighty five, Valley Grove, West Virginia,

two six O six O. I certainly look forward to

being with you again next week. This is Don Nobles

saying Shalom Shilloam, Peace be unto you,