God's way of doing things, seeing the end from the beginning

Welcome to episode 208.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.

Welcome to episode 208. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I am continuing with our talk on God's kingdom and knowing the end from the beginning and the way God does things and the way God sees things. Now, nothing catches God by surprise. God knows everything that's going to happen. We've talked about this in the past. We know that God is sovereign, but our definition of sovereignty is that he answers to no one. God is above all things. He answers to no one. God does whatever he pleases. And what God had pleased to do is give man, you and I, free will. And I've said multiple times that that makes God just a little bit dangerous. He is not like any other god. He's not like any other person. Most people in your life want to control you. It's just a simple fact. You've got politicians that want you to act right. You've got pastors. You've got committees. You've got bosses. You've got corporations. You have got people that want you to act right. And in order to do that, they put rules in place so that you do act right. And then they— if you don't act right, then there's a method of punishment. For you not acting right. So all of this said, we're, we're putting all this out there so that you just kind of are in the same mindset. I don't know if you're ever going to get in the same mindset as me because I may just be a little bit off, but I just want to get you thinking about how wonderful God is. God knows everything that's going to happen, and he gives you and I free will, but we have got to use David, who messed up royally. He was actually a king, so I can say that, that he royally messed up. He should have been out fighting wars. He should have been out there battling. Let me just go to that. All right, we're in 2 Samuel 11. It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel. And they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged at Rabbah But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity, and she returned to her house. Now I want to stop there, and this, I want you to, I want you to picture what God called David. God called David a man after God's own heart. David is is a man after God's own heart, yet he screwed up royally. So this is just one instance that David messed up, and you can read the story in 2 Samuel 11 that he got Bathsheba pregnant, and then he tried to, quote, cover it up by calling her husband in from the battlefield, And the husband said, look, I cannot go into my bedchamber or go, you know, go have sex with my wife while my comrades, while all my people are out there, all the soldiers, everybody I'm battling with are out there fighting this war. He said, it's just not right. So he slept outside the door and it didn't go well for David. David thought he was gonna be kind of sneaky sly and have the husband go, you know, be with the wife, and then they, you know, she, they, he never would have known any different. Well, the guy didn't do what David wanted him to do, so then David sent him to the front line where the battle was and told it, pretty much told his captain or whatever to put him on the front line where people are going to get killed. And David pretty much murdered this guy. Anyway, all of that said, now God counted against him, and, and it, and it didn't go well, and David should have never done that. But I just find it fascinating that God knew all of this and he— and I'm putting air quotes up— he allowed it to happen. I just honestly believe he is a God of freedom and liberty. He gives you the free will to either do right or do wrong, to mess up or to take the proper path. I mean, it is incredible when you start thinking about how wonderful our God is. And that's You just got to read the Bible. And if you start reading the Bible, you will see it's everything, warts and all. When they talk about David, they talk about it, a man after God's own heart. And it talked about how he was a shepherd boy and how he defeated Goliath and all of these wonderful things that went on in David's life. But it also shows how he messed up. And that's what's just so cool about the Bible. If you start digging in and reading it, you can actually see how people messed up. They didn't just— like, if you go to Instagram, most everybody on Instagram, you're going to see their life through a filter. Or on YouTube or on Facebook, you're going to see their best foot forward normally, and you're going to see this filtered life, and you're going to see all the high points, and you're going to go— and it's one of the reasons I don't really care for social media is because you just see a snapshot, one instant in someone's life, and it's the best instant. You know, they probably took the picture, these little selfies They probably take these selfies, 8 or 10 or 100 of these selfies, and then they post the best one and put the best filter on it and all that. And that's not real life. And most people are looking for authenticity. I think that's the word. You know, English is not my first language, but they're looking for authenticity and they're looking for someone just regular person, just a real person. Now, David was a real person, and but David, when David messed up he repented. He knew that he, he didn't want anything to come between his God and himself, and he fell on his knees. David showed himself to be remorseful and sorry. It was a great thing. If you look at David, every time he messed up, he was the first one to bow the knee and say, God, I am sorry. He's a great example of what God expects out of you and I. I mean, he's not expecting Perfection. And it's one of the reasons that I say you and I are not called to be perfect. There was one perfect person, and it was not you or I. And the cool thing, and the great news, or the good news, or the gospel, or whatever you want to call it, is that we don't have to be perfect. All we have to do is, by faith, accept what God's perfect Savior did for us. And when we accept what he's done for us, then it's accounted to us for righteousness. So I said all that to kind of set the stage for us not living as robots. We are not played like a pawn piece. God is not moving us around this, this chessboard. He is allowing us to use our free will, and he is seeing the end from the beginning, but he knows that choices that we're gonna make, and he knows our background, and he knows all the things that's happened to us, and he knows how it's all gonna end, and he's pushing this story along. And it's yours and my job— the Great Commission is to go and make disciples. But we have to first become a disciple before we can make a disciple. So what I put together for you and for me is It's going to be in the show notes, and it's going to be on my website, but there'll be a link that you can download this page, and it's seeing the end from the beginning. And I think that every person that walks through life ought to be aware that none of us are getting out of this thing alive. So we have an end date, and if we want to be godlike— and it may sound kind of morbid, but you know, if you don't take a look at your humanity, and you don't take a look at one day I'm gonna be gone. You're gonna be 85 or 90 years old and you're gonna be laying on your deathbed with regrets. How cool would it be if from this point forward, if you looked out and instead of you thinking God is controlling everything and the sovereignty of God has got everything moving these pieces just exactly how God wants us to move them. No, God knows what we're going to do. God is watching over his word. His word will come to pass, but you and I may not necessarily be the one to bring it to pass. But what if we could be? And I don't think it's going to happen by accident. I think you have to on purpose decide to start living for God, start building God's kingdom And then the Holy Spirit will start directing your path, and he'll give you ideas, and he'll motivate you, and he'll give you new desires, because God will give you the desires of your heart. So he will put desires into your heart, and I think that's what he's doing with me, is he's kind of changing how I see things, and he's kind of changing how I view the world. And with that new view, or that biblical worldview that I'm looking at through this Bible, and I dig a little bit deeper in this Bible to make sure that I'm doing this thing right. And I'm quite confident that I'm not doing everything right, but I'm at least trying, and I'm at least pointing in the direction of doing everything that I can to give God glory. And I'm trying to do more with the fruits of the Spirit. I'm trying to be more patient, more kind. I'm trying to be more like love. And it says, you shall love one another. And so I'm learning all that. What I have done, and I think it's such a great exercise, is I have written my obituary. And again, I know that sounds kind of morbid, but if you're, if you're looking from the end from the beginning, and you're not going to be there, and it's God— like the kingdom of God, God's way of doing things is he sees the end from the beginning. And since we're not going to be there, why not write the story? Because God, it says in the Bible, that he is the author and the finisher of our faith. But I don't think we just have to go through life— any dead fish can go downstream. I think that we go through life and we can kind of sort of help God write our story. And we can— I believe he's given us free will. Why not use our free will to help build the kingdom of God? And why not use our free will to read the word of God and try to get involved in what God's involved in? And I think that's kind of how I'm going to start staging the rest of my life. And I've written out an obituary, and I'm going to share it with you on the next episode. What's left of my life, I'm going to point toward this end of my story. And I want to encourage you to be praying about that and to think about that. And we started in these episodes talking about Psalm 139 and Psalm 90. And I'm going to read those real quick and then we'll close. And again, Psalm 139, I told you to read that over and over and over again for a week or two, but I want to go to 139:13. For you formed my inward parts, you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. So remember, God knew everything that we were going to do— good, bad, and indifferent. And we go to the life of David. David did not do everything perfect, but he lived his life and he repented when he made a mistake, and he praised God when he didn't. I think he wrote Psalm 90, and I want to go to 90:12. So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. And I think it's just wise, or wisdom, to know that we're going to all die one day, or we're going to be translated out of here at the sound of that final trumpet. Either way, none of us are getting out of here alive. And so I think that if, if you would just join me— and I know it's not a good idea to give you homework on a podcast, I don't even know if that's legal, but I'm going to do it— I'm going to have this obituary in the show notes to where you can write out what your obituary is going to read, and, and we'll have that in the next episode. I just want to open that up, and I just want you to think about if you could write your obituary. And I've written mine, so I'm in the next episode, I'm going to read mine and let you kind of see what I'm thinking about and what I'm talking about. And then we'll use that as an example. Again, this whole podcast is an imperfect man going after a perfect example. And I'm trying to follow after Jesus, who did not make a mistake. And I make mistakes all the time, but I'm trying to correct course, and I'm trying to help teach you that you don't have to be perfect. But if you have an open heart and a repentant heart and you're just digging into the Word of God— soapbox moment number however, whatever number we're on— but we just need to be in the Bible. Well, let's pray. God, I thank you so much for this listener. I thank you for your word. I thank you, Jesus, that you came and lived a life I could not live and died a death I probably— and probably still should die. But I thank you, Lord, that you have allowed me to be a part of your family just by faith. And I pray if this listener has not asked you to be their Savior, I pray in Jesus' name that they would look into your word and ask your spirit if this is for them, and I know that you would tell them that it is. And if this listener has accepted you, I pray in Jesus' name that they will start digging into your word and they will start living their life like we have eternity to talk about it and to spend with you. God, we thank you. We love you. We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you in the next episode.

Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.