The Critical Path Pt. 3

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 much much overflowing joy joy Joy. Amen. Well,

I'm excited to be with you tonight, and I do

want to remind you of the Bible study that I'm

teaching on the Book of Romans. I want to invite

you to come and join me Wednesdays, six pm. Top

Hat Pools and Stoves, twenty two fifty eight Main Street, Wheeling,

West Virginia. And trust me, you haven't missed much because

we haven't got far. I'm still on Romans one, verse three.

There is I tell you, the Bible is vast. It's

just I mean, once you start diving into the Word

of God, I mean, I just can't imagine what you know,

what it's going to be like in heaven. What I mean,

because the Word's going to be there, and it's just

it's vast, it's it's exciting. So please come and join us.

We'd love to have you. I am still on the

topic of the critical Path. This is part three, and

I think next week I will conclude with part four.

But it's been fun. I'm enjoying this message, and I

hope you are as well. I hope you're getting encouraged.

That's the whole point and not. You know, encouragement should

lead to action. So okay, let's get going. Paths they

point to a destination, right If you start walking on

a path in the woods, you have a destination. You're

planning to head where there's a beautiful set of waterfalls,

or you're on a path to a log cabin in

the woods. So paths always point to a destination. Now,

sometimes we know ahead of time what's on a certain path.

My husband and I liked certain trails in Zion National Park.

We had been to Zion oh gosh, I kind of

lost count I want to say maybe ten times, twelve times.

It was one of my favorite places to hike. So

we knew the trails so well that we knew where

the certain places were on a specific trail, for instance,

one that we really liked it. It was an easy

trail to start with when you first get there because

you remember that you're at about forty five hundred feet elevation,

and there was a place that we would get to

where there was a small waterfall, so you just had

to pay attention because it would be wet, slippery, or

you know, we would get to a place where we

knew there were steep rocks that had to be crossed.

So sometimes you know the path, you know the trails,

you're familiar with them. In the late seventeen nineties and

early eighteen hundreds, Americans were moving westward. This was unknown territory.

This wasn't like hiking in the National Park that I've

been in many, many times. This is unknown territory. There

were no well worn paths. These people were pioneers forging

a new path to reach new territory, looking for that place,

that very special place to stretch forth and settle. The

Lewis and Clark Expedition, commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, began

in eighteen o three. I'm sure many of you are

familiar with that expedition, And this happened shortly after we

purchased the Louisiana purchase in eighteen o three, and President

Thomas Jefferson wanted to have it explored and mapped. This

was newly acquired territory and he wanted to find a

practical route across the western half of the continent, and

he wanted to establish an American presence in this territory

before European powers attempted to establish claims in this region.

So these men, a select group of US Army and

civilian volunteers, set out from the Missouri River in Illinois,

eventually coming to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean

in eighteen oh five. Now this is just my opinion,

but I think it's one of the greatest feats in

our American history. I would really encourage you to read

about the expedition. It's fascinating. But this path was forged

by committed and fearless men. So people who are on

a path that is unknown to them are often people

who are extremely committed and fearless. This arduous and very

dangerous path opened the door to further exploration, trade, and

scientific discoveries. You know, some people have it in their blood,

so to speak, to journey where others have never dared

to go. Astronaut Alan Shepherd was the first American in space,

flying on May fifth, nineteen sixty one. That's a long

time ago, on a suborbital flight in NASA's Mercury spacecraft

called Freedom seven. Now, I consider Alan Shepherd a great pioneer.

His flight lasted fifteen minutes and covered three hundred miles.

Shepherd experienced acceleration more than six times the force of

Earth's gravity. He experienced five minutes of weightlessness an on

re entry to the Earth, he experienced deceleration up to

eleven times the Earth's gravity. These pioneers, people like Lewis

and Clark, and the men in his group, people like

Alan Shepard and the astronauts to follow Grisom, and you

know many others. These pioneers, they were undaunted by the

unknown path before them. In Genesis chapter twelve, we are

introduced to a man called Abram, and the Lord spoke

to this man, Abram, and he said to him, leave

your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and

go to the land that I will show you. So

Abram departed as the Lord instructed, and he took his

family eventually to the land called Canaan. This path was

unfamiliar to Abram. He had never been this way before,

neither physically or spiritually. You see in the er of

the Chaldeans where he grew up. He was a worshiper

of pagan gods. Now after this encounter with the One

True God, things were dramatically different, and Abram, who later

became Abraham, became the father of our faith. So here

is a man who God chose gave him clear instructions

to leave this place called Er and go to a

place called Canaan, which we now know as the nation

of Israel. To be honest, if you study the scriptures,

and I have mentioned this oh months ago when talking about,

you know, the October seventh thing that happened in Israel.

And actually with regard to what really is it that

Israel owns, if you look biblically, it's more than the

land of Israel that we currently call Israel. It includes

part of Jordan. And so Abram Abraham really was on

an adventure, and I would call that an adventure of

a lifetime, just like Lewis and Clark. I'm sure they

had so many difficulties on their travel and they wouldn't

have thought of it as an adventure of a lifetime.

But I'm sure when they got back looking, you know,

in hindsight, they had to say to themselves, this was

the adventure of a lifetime. And I think Alan Shepherd

could have said the same thing. So these people, you know,

they're just undaunted by the unknown that path before them

that they've never been on, that they're encouraged to tackle,

and they just do it and then it just becomes,

you know, like the most marvelous thing. So I would

like you to take a moment and think about the

people that you know, people in your life that have

encouraged you to take a path different from the expected one. Now,

it could be neighbors, it could be parents, It could

be that teacher who was always giving you encouragement. It

could be that coach that just wouldn't let you give

up when you failed. That person at work who was

there to listen when you needed someone to just be

kind and lend an ear to the worries or the

concerns that you had. The business partner who was eager

to see you accomplish your goals. We have all had

someone in our life who has just refused to give

up on us, pushing us toward our destiny. Now, in

my own personal life growing up, the person who probably

had the most impact on my life was my father

and my aunt. My father pushed me, My father made

me take public speaking in school. And you have no idea.

I was so afraid to talk in public. Yes, it's true,

I was scared to death. But somehow he knew that

that would be important in my life. I don't know.

God led him to force me to take public speaking

in high school, and then he forced me to take

public speaking in college. And then I still had much

fear and difficulty, and my husband encouraged me and he

we both took the Dale Carnegie class and boy, you

have to you have to get up in front of

these people, and you can't look like an idiot. So

I can say that my father had such an impact

on helping me to be what I am today that

I can actually speak on the radio that I'm a

teacher of the word that I preach in churches. I

preach the Word of God and I have no fear.

I can tell you when I get up there, I

have not a lick of fear. I love every moment

of it. So there was something in my father that

pushed me to you know, he just like I said,

what was that? I believe it was the Lord, because

the Lord knew what was going to be in my future,

and so he just kept pushing me and pushing me

and pushing me. And then my aunt is the one

who introduced me to Christ, and so she was always

encouraging me. Gosh, I mean just pushing me. And you know, yeah,

she was a great, great exhorterer, my aunt. So I'm

sure there's somebody in your life that you have like that,

where you know, we just want to give up, but

they refuse to give up on us, and they keep

pushing us toward our destiny. You know, what did these

people see in me or what did they see in

you that others didn't. Well, obviously my father saw something

in me, obviously, and I was so shy, I mean

like terribly, terribly shy person, and maybe he realized, you know,

I needed to just get rid of that. But those

people in our life who see something in us, you know,

they see our value, they see goodness, they see the

kindness of your heart, they see the way you cared.

They were your best cheerleader, and because of it, you

took a different path that made a difference in your life.

My husband was my greatest cheerleader in my married life,

and truly, I mean this guy was always encouraging me.

And oh, you have no I have no idea how

many times I wanted to give up certain things. In fact,

there was a point where I said, I'm just I'm

not doing the radio anymore, and he said, oh, yes

you are. And so sometimes the Lord sends someone you

least expect to have you change course because he knows

that we need to change the course. But you know,

we can get pretty stubborn. And I can tell you

that in nineteen ninety four, I remember it like it

was yesterday. I can remember every detail of the situation.

I was back sliden at the time, and the Lord

sent a woman who was in the gay lifestyle to

speak truth to me. She saw I was going to

make a grave mistake, and she encouraged me to do

what was right. So here I was back sliden, ready

to do like really stupid something, and she was really

encouraging me to do what was right. So the Lord

is capable of bringing people or animals in our life

to get us on the right path. I think that's amazing.

I actually find it fun that God just knows how

to do that kind of stuff. So I'm going to

share with you a story out of the Bible, and

it's in Numbers, the Book of Numbers, Chapter twenty two,

verses one through thirty five, going to read it to

you out of the New Living Translation. I think this

translation is sometimes much easier to understand, so numbers twenty two,

starting with verse one. Out of the New Living Translation,

it says, then the people of Israel traveled to the

plains of Moab and camped east of the Jordan River,

across from Jericho. Bailik, son of Zippor, the Moabite king,

had seen everything the Israelites did to the Emirits, and

when the people of Moab saw how many Israelites there were,

they were terrified. The king of Moab said to the

elders of Midian, this mob will devour everything in sight

like an ox devour's grass in the field. So Baylik,

king of Moab, sent messengers to call Balem, son of Biere,

who was living in his native land of Pether, near

the Euphrates River. And this was the message that the

king sent to Balem. He said, look, a vast hoard

of people has arrived from Egypt. They cover the face

of the earth and are threatening me. Please come and

curse these people for me, because they are too powerful

for me. Then perhaps I will be able to conquer

them and drive them from the land. I know that

blessings fall on any people you bless, and curses fall

on people you curse. Baylex's messengers, who were elders of

Moab and Midian sent set out with money to pay

Balem to place a curse upon Israel. They went to

Baylim and delivered Bayleik's message to him. Stay here over night,

Balam said, in the morning, I will tell you whatever

the Lord directs me to say. So the officials for

Moab stayed there with Balim. That night, God came to

Baalim and asked him, who are these men visiting you.

Balam said to God, Bailik, son of zappor king of Moab,

has sent me this message. Look, a bashtort of people

has arrived from Egypt, and they cover the face of

the earth. Come and curse these people for me. Then

perhaps I will be able to stand up to ti

them and drive them from the land. But God told Balem,

do not go with them. You are not to curse

these people, for they have been blessed. The next morning,

Balem got up and told Baylik's officials go home, just

go home. The Lord will not let me go with you.

So the Moabite officials returned to King Baylick and reported

Balem refused to come with us. Then Baylick tried again.

This time he sent a larger number of even more

distinguished officials than those he had sent the first time.

They went to Baalim and delivered this message to him.

This is what Baylick's son of Zibor says. Please don't

let anything stop you from coming to help me. I

will pay you very well and do whatever you take me.

Just come and curse these people for me. But Balem

responded to Balik's messengers, and he said, even if Bailick

were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold,

I would be powerless to do anything against the will

of the Lord, my God. But stay here one more

night and I will see if the Lord has anything

else to say to me. That night, God came to

Balam and told him, since these men have come for you,

get up and go with them, but do only what

I tell you to do. So the next morning Balem

got up, sat saddled his donkey, and started off with

the Moabite officials. But God was angry that Balem was going,

so he sent the Angel of the Lord to stand

in the road to block his way. As Balem and

two servants were riding along, Balem's donkey saw the Angel

of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn

sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road

into a field, but Balem beat it and turned it

back on to the road. Then the Angel of the

Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between

two vineyard walls. When the donkey saw the Angel of

the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and crushed Balem's

foot against the wall. So Balem beat the donkey again.

Then the Angel of the Lord moved farther down the

road and stood in a place too narrow for the

donkey to get by at all. This time, when the

donkey saw the angel, it laid down under Balem in

a fit of rage. Balem beat the animal again with

his staff. Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability

to speak, and he said, what have I done to

you that dis deserves your beating me three times? It

asked Balem, you have made me look like a fool.

Balem shouted, if I had a sword with me, I

would kill you, But I am the same donkey you

have ridden all your life. The donkey answered, have I

ever done anything like this before? No, Balem admitted. Then

the Lord opened Balem's eyes and he saw the Angel

of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn

sword in his hand. Balem bowed his head and fell

face down on the ground before him. Why did you

beat your donkey those three times? The Angel of the

Lord demanded, Look, I have come to block your way

because you are stubbornly resis me three times? The donkey

saw me and shied away. Otherwise I would certainly have

killed you by now, and spared the donkey. Then Balem

confessed to the Angel of the Lord, I have sinned.

I didn't realize you were standing in the road to

block my way. I will return home if you are

against my going. But the Angel of the Lord told

Balem go with these men, but say only what I

tell you to say. So Balam went on with Baalik's officials,

and when King Balik heard that Balem was on the way,

he went out to meet him at Amulbay town on

the Arnon River, at the farthest border of the land.

Didn't I send you an urgent invitation. Why didn't you

come right away, Bailick asked, Balem. Didn't you believe me

when I said I would reward you richly? Balem rep replied,

look now I have come, but I have no power

to say whatever I want. I will only speak only

the message that God puts in my mouth. Then Balem

accompanied Bailick to Curryeth, Who's off where the king sacrificed

cattle and sheep. He sent portions of the meat to

Balem and the officials who were with him, And the

next morning, Baylick took Balem up to Bamoth bail and

from there he could see some of the people of

Israel spread out below him. So I'm not gonna go on,

But the point is here was a man on a

path to do what the king had sent him to do.

Of course, remember there's payment involved here, and so Balem

is supposed to curse the israel people, but the donkeys.

He's gonna stop this whole deal because that donkey sees

that angel with the sword in its hand, and the

donkey ain't dumb, and so you know, God can use

whatever to get us to where we need to be.

So it might take a Donkey, if you're stubborn, I

can safely say that God has a specific path for

us to follow. Is it one like Lewis and Clark

dangerous unknown? Well it could be. Is it an exciting

journey that opens up space exploration? Well, it could be

something that dramatic and huge that the Lord has in

store for you. What will your answer be? I suggest,

be like Abraham who said yes and obedient to the call.

Be like Paul, whose path changed so dramatically that he

changed his name from Saul to Paul. Be resolved to

follow the path God has chosen for you. It's called

His perfect Will. It's the sweet spot that is the

path that will bring you the greatest joy and fulfillment. Amen. Well,

I want to encourage you stay on the good path. Amen.

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, go to Pure Heart Ministry's

podcast listen twenty four to seven. You can email me

don at pure heart dot today all lower case letters,

all one word D A W N at pure heart

dot today. Thank you for praying for me, and thank

you for praying for this ministry. I certainly appreciate it,

and I would love for you to help help me

with this ministry financially. You can send a check to

Pure Heart Ministries, p O. Box eighty five, Vally Grove,

West Virginia, two six zero six zero. That's Pure Heart Ministries,

p O. Box eighty five, Valley Grove, West Virginia, two

six oh six. Oh hey, I look forward to being

with you again. This is Don Noble saying, Shallom Shallom,

Peace be unto you