Grasping For God

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.

Before I begin tonight, I have a couple of announcements I want to share

with you. The first of which is I am having my very first annual

Truth and Justice Forum. This I'm very excited about. I hope you'll turn

out and come. First of all, it is Tuesday evening, April thirtieth,

and it is at the White Palace at Wheeling Park and it starts at

six pm. So from six to seven pm, we have ord'eures and beverages

no alcohol, And we have Nate Cain, who is running for the second

Congressional District, which is our district right here in the Wheeling area, and

he's going to speak for a few minutes and tell us why we should vote

for him. Nate is a great man, He's a good Christian, he

is a person of integrity. He is a former FBI whistleblower regarding the uranium

one Hillary Clinton scandal, so he's worth listening to. And then at seven

pm, from seven to eight pm, Bill Fetterer is going to be speaking

to us about understanding the culture. Bill is a best selling author, nationally

known speaker. He's a Christian historian. There isn't anything Bill doesn't know.

He's a walking encyclopedia and I've heard him many times. You will not be

disappointed coming out, so I encourage you to come. From eight to eight

thirty. I have a local attorney, Tom Buck, who is going to

be moderating a discussion with Bill Fetter, which I think you'll find very interesting.

So I really look forward to this form. I hope you can come

and be a part of it. It is free and open to the public,

so bring your spouse, bring a friend, bring a neighbor, bring

a church person, friend, but please come and join us. I'm telling

you it's it's going to I'm I'm just really excited. If you can't tell,

then two days later, Thursday, May the second, is National Day

a prayer and we will be at Independence Hall on Market Street in Wheeling at

six thirty pm from six thirty to eight pm. I'm very excited because the

Lord has really directed me to do something different, and that is I and

focusing the prayer on only three areas. The first is families and children.

The second is Israel and the third ist government, and those three areas are

of I feel, and so does the Lord of utmost importance. With what

we have witnessed happening to families and children over the last several years of this

current administration is devastating. So I have two families coming. I have a

Catholic family with six children and a Baptist family with seven children. So the

families are coming, and they're going to share a little bit about why they

gather every evening to pray and to talk and learn scriptures and how and why

that is so important to their family structure. And then we will be praying

over them. So please come and join us at Inde Pennetsaul Thursday night.

We'll also have worship, so it's a time of prayer and worship and I'm

just you know, I'm looking forward to these things, So come and join

us. Okay, Tonight, I am talking about grasping for God. That's

the title of my message, grasping for God. Now, as you know,

today was the total solar eclipse, which is a great phenomenon in the

sky, and there was so much hype in the spiritual circles about this,

some saying it was going to be the rapture, others coming up with all

kinds of convoluted Christian forecasts. Okay, so the rapture didn't occur because I'm

sitting here talking to you and I wasn't raptured. And now when we talk

about the solar eclipse of twenty seventeen. The interesting thing, and I just

learned this, I did not know it in twenty seventeen, but the sun,

the actual eclipse went through seven cities in our nation in America named Salem.

I find that interesting. And that word Salem means peace. And this

time the solar eclipse went through seven cities named Ninevah. How interesting is that.

So some prophets are declaring that that's a sign to call people to repentance.

Obviously, most of you should know, if you're a Bible believing Christian,

that Ninevah was the city that Jonah was called to preach to the people

and get them to repent. Of course, Jonah didn't want to do that.

He had a different plan. He turned around and went the other direction

until he got thrown into the belly of a whale. But he did turn

around and end up preaching to n and Evah and they did repent. So,

you know, if if that's what this means, if it means calling

people to repentance, you know, I'm okay with that. I mean,

if that's what it's meant to do, I'm all in. Repentance is good,

and repentance is certainly needed in this nation. But we have to be

careful that we don't grasp for things that are just way out of line.

And obviously we know that biblically in the scriptures, it talks about the sun,

the moon, and the stars, and they are in the heavenles for

us for times and seasons, and God does speak to us through those things.

So who am I to say that the total solar eclipse that happened today

was you know, I don't know. I just know it's we can't get

scripturally out of line and make crazy predictions like it means the rapture's coming.

With social media playing such a big part in our lives today, you know,

Christians often grasp for anything that sounds good, whether it lines up with

the Bible or not. And that's the problem. We're so biblically illiterate that

we don't know the false from the truth. Ecclesiastes is an interesting book in

the Bible written by the wisest man to ever on this planet. He was

King David's son, Solomon. Now, the key word in the Book of

Ecclesiastes is the word vanity. Solomon uses that word over and over throughout the

chapters in that book, and vanity means the feudal emptiness of trying to be

happy apart from God. And it makes sense, doesn't it. People try

all kinds of things to fill the emptiness in their heart. They're trying to

be happy with monetary things and you know, things of great financial value,

you know, a big car, big house of this that, and they

try and they believe that that's going to make them happy. But vanity is

just really the feudal emptiness of trying to be happy apart from God, which

is never going to happen. Now, the Preacher, as Solomon refers to

himself in this book, the Preacher is the wisest, richest, and the

most influential king in Israel's history, and he looks at life. Quote under

the Sun, he says that repeatedly under the sun and from the human perspective

declares it all to be empty. Think about this, power, popularity,

prestige, pleasure, Those things will never fill the God designed void in man's

life. Nothing, nothing, can feel that except God himself. So it

doesn't matter how much how popular you are in social media circles you know,

face Book, Instagram, et cetera. It doesn't matter how much power you

have. It doesn't matter how much prestige, how much pleasure. None of

that is going to feel the void in your heart, except God himself.

But one scene from God's perspective, like life does take on meaning and purpose,

causing Solomon to exclaim, eat, drink, rejoice, do good,

live joyfully, fear God, keep his commandments. Doubt and despair melt away

when life is viewed as a daily gift from God. Ecclesiastes opens in chapter

one with these verses. I'm going to read verses one through fourteen. So

just sit back and just ponder the scriptures as we listen to what Solomon has

written. He says the words of the preacher, the son of David King

in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities,

All is vanity? What prophet has a man from all his labor in which

he toils under the sun. One generation passes away, and another generation comes,

But the earth abides forever. The sun also rises, and the sun

goes down and hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward

the south and turns around to the north. The wind whirls about continually and

comes again on its circuit. Yet all the rivers run into the sea.

Yet the sea is not full to the place from which the rivers come.

There they return again. All things are full of labor. Man cannot express

it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with

hearing. That which has been is what will be. That which is done

is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which it may be said, See this is new.

It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of

former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come

by those who will come after. I the Preacher, was king over Israel

in Jerusalem, and I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom

concerning all that is done under heaven. This burdensome task God has given to

the sons of man by which they may be exercised. I have seen all

the works that are done under the sun, and indeed all is vanity and

grasping for the wind. So it's mostly about grasping for the wind, which

ultimately is useless and a waste of time. And this is really Chapter one

is really the crux of all that Solomon is saying. It's just grasping for

the wind. D L. Moody, a great preacher, once told this

story. Preached about this story. Now D. L. Moody is long

deceased, but he preached about a lighthouse. And this lighthouse had two sets

of lights, one at the very top so that ships afar could have a

point of reference. It also had lower lights, which allowed the ship to

enter the harbor safely. One night, the caretaker watchman responsible for the lights,

decided not to turn on the lower lights. The weather was calm,

it's clear, so he just made a decision that it wasn't necessary to put

the lower lights on. But later a great storm arose and a ship in

the distance saw the light, saw the light at the top, the top

light in the lighthouse, but the tempest of the storm was so severe and

there were no lower lights to bring it safely into the harbor. The ship

ended up crashing and killing all the men on board, and I believe it

was around one hundred. So one man's neglect cost all those lives. You

see, we as Christians, we are we're like the lower lights. We

help people come in too safe harbor to meet Jesus after their raging storms of

life. So if you spend all your time grasping for the wind, things

that have no eternal reward, things that have no spiritual importance, will not

be able to bring in those who can't see their way to Jesus. And

we have have to be like those lower lights. Now, recently I heard

Pastor Carter Conlin, who used to be the pastor of Times Square Church in

New York City. Pastor Conlin was David Wilkerson's associate pastor at one time.

I've been to Times Score Church multiple times. I heard David Wilkerson preach and

I've heard Carter Conlin preach there. And one of the most exciting things about

being at Timescore Church is the at least for me, was the diversity.

I mean, there were rich and poor and well educated and non educated.

And you know, we set on one side by a guy in beautiful suit

cuff links, and the next person was just you know, a poor person,

not well dressed. And there was such a spirit of unity and love

in that church. And of course they were all colors and races, every

tribe, every tongue, many come from all over the world. It's it's

a unique place to worship. I mean, I loved being there. But

Carter Conlin then became the pastor because David Wilkerson stepped down from the pastor and

he became pastor to pastors and he went about traveling all over the world and

just ministering to pastors. So Carter Conlin then became the pastor. Well over

time, David Walkerson passed away and Carter Conlin then became the overseer for Times

Square Church and he then gave the reins handed the reins over to Tim Delina,

who is the current pastor of Times Square Church. Anyway, he was

back at Times Square Church recently, Carter Conlin, and he recently spoke.

He was talking about how he recently spoke at Cornell. Now these are Ivy

League schools Cornell and Yale universities, And in the Cornell meeting there were about

four hundred college students and two hundred of those students got saved when he gave

the altar call. Now, the great thing about this was, you know,

he had a preformed message that he was going to give to them,

and when he got there, he said, you know, I already have

a prepared message, but the Lord doesn't want me to give that, and

I'm just going to speak from my heart. And I mean to tell you

that had such an impact on these students. It was it was incredible,

he said. Of the two hundred college students that came forward to give their

life to Christ, he said, there were many weeping on their knees.

The interesting thing about Carter Conlin going to an IVY League school or going to

any college, is that he's a very conservative man. You know, he

dresses in a suit. He's not like these seeker seeker, friendly past who

wear blue jeans in the pulpit with a casual shirt and tennis shoes. And

you know, I, personally I don't like that. I don't think that's

appropriate for the pulpit. But anyway, I thought it was interesting that they

invited him to come because he's not a casual looking person, you know,

and and he's not the like he said, he never expected to be speaking

at a university, you know, preaching at a university, because you know,

he just that's just kind of like out of his comfort zone, so

to speak. But when God calls you to do something, you know,

you're obediate and you do it. And two hundred people got saved, so

that was exciting. And then he said he has plans to go to six

other Ivy League schools. And not only that, the people at Cornell said,

we want you to come back. So God gripped these young people.

And see when we go back to those first fourteen verses in chapter one of

Ecclesiastes, you know, it's this grasping for the wind phenomenon. You know,

it's like you're grasping for everything that you think is going to make you

happy. You're grasping for a job that pays you ten times what you make,

even though the Lord really doesn't want you to take that job, but

because you feel compelled, because you think you need to have that money,

then you go and do it. You grasp for the wind and then it

turns out to be you know, it turns out to be not anything like

you imagined, and then you're sorry that you even took the job. So

we have to be very careful. You know. That's what the world does.

They grasp for the wind. And as Christians, we can do We

can do the same thing. We can go out and make decisions on our

own without inquiring of the Lord whether that's a good idea or not, or

whether I should take that job, or whether I should buy that house,

or whether I should buy that car. Look, if you buy a house

and you haven't asked the Lord anything about buying that house, I'm telling you

you can end up any heap of trouble. That house could be haunted.

Yeah, I mean it could. It could. You could end up with

like really bad neighbors. So, you know, don't grasp for the wind.

Grasp for God. He knows the end from the beginning, right,

He knows your future. If you just inquire of Him about decisions that you

need to make, he'll lead you down the right road, not down the

wrong road. So we we don't want to be grasping for the wind.

We want to grasp for God. Now, think about these young people at

Cornell and Yale that Carter Conlin went to. I keep wanted calling him pastor.

He's not a pastor anymore, he's an overseer. But I suppose we

can call him pastor. But think about how we need to be like he

was. We need to be the low lights, right. We need to

help people get to a safe harbor. And that's what he did by being

there. He helped these young college students come into a safe harbor to meet

Jesus. And you and I both know the raging storms that these young people

are going through today. So we don't want to spend our time grasping for

the wind. We don't want to get involved in things that have no eternal

reward. We don't want to get involved in things that have no spiritual importance.

We want to bring in those who are not able to see for themselves

their way to Jesus. Amen. And Pastor Carter Conlin did that, and

God used him mightily. And so you know, we want to We want

to live a life of purity so we can carry a strong anointing. We

want to live a life not of soiled garments and no oil. There's a

script sure, let me see if I can find it that I wanted to

share. It is. Yeah, this is Ecclesiastes eight, No. Nine,

and this is verse eight. Ecclesiastes nine, Verse eight says, let

your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil. You

know what that's referring to is referring to the fact that we are to live

a life of purity and a life of anointing. The Spirit of the Lord

has anointed us, just like he anointed Jesus. He's anointed us to preach

the good news. He's anointed us to heal the broken hearted. He's anointed

us to open prison doors to those who are bound. Amen. So let

your garments always be white, white, walk in purity. Now I'm gonna

close with this, and I'm just gonna very quickly mention to you the parable

of the foolish virgins in Matthew twenty five, Verses one through thirteen. I

don't have time to read them, but you know that story, and if

you don't, there were five foolish virgins, five wise virgins, and the

wise one had their lamps filled with oil to the brim. The foolish ones

were half empty. They didn't have enough oil to make it. We don't

want to be like the foolish virgins, okay, we want to be like

the wise virgins so that we can be the lower lights to lead people into

the safe harbor of Jesus. Those foolish virgins whose lamps were half full of

oil, they could never have accomplished that, and that's why they were shut

out of heaven. See, they weren't ready, they weren't prepared. They

didn't there were other cares of the world, too many other cares of the

world that were in the way, and they couldn't grasp the things of God

and didn't want to. Oh, they wanted to borrow some oil from the

other gang, from the wise virgins. Uh huh oh, No, you

go get your own oil, You go get your own anointing. You spend

time with Jesus, you spend time in the world, You spend time walking

in purity and holiness because there are people who need Jesus and we have to

be the lower lights. Amen. And we want to grasp for God.

No more grasping for the wind. Amen. Well, 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. You can email me at Don

at pure heart dot today all lower case. Let us Dawn at pureheart dot

today and thank you for praying for this ministry. Thank you for helping helping

me to stay on this expensive radio station. This is a secular radio station.

This is not a Christian radio station. So thank you for sending your

financial gift to Pure Heart Ministries. PO Box eighty five, Valley Grove,

West Virginia, two six o six. Oh, that's Pure Heart Ministries,

PO Box eighty five, Valley Grove, West, Virginia, two six six

to Oh. Well, this is Don Noble. I look forward to being

with you again next week. Shell oam shehll oam