632. Doug and Dawn Thomas Share Their Personal Testimonies - September 3, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:21] Prayer? Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you open everyone's ears to hear and heart to receive everything you have in store for them today.

[00:00:34] I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. This is Proverbs 3 beginning in verse 1.

[00:01:07] Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.

[00:01:19] Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.

[00:01:31] Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

[00:01:43] My son do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest his correction. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects just as a father, the son in whom he delights.

[00:01:59] Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding, for her proceeds are better than the prophets of silver and her gain than fine gold.

[00:02:13] She is more precious than rubies and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.

[00:02:19] Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

[00:02:33] She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.

[00:02:40] The Lord by wisdom founded the earth. By understanding he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths were broken up, and clouds dropped down the dew.

[00:02:54] My son let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion, so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck.

[00:03:06] Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.

[00:03:19] Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

[00:03:32] Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power of your hand to do so.

[00:03:39] Do not say to your neighbor, go and come back, and tomorrow I will give it, when you have it with you.

[00:03:47] Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety's sake.

[00:03:54] Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.

[00:04:00] Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways, for the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but his secret counsel is with the upright.

[00:04:14] The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the just.

[00:04:22] Surely he scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools.

[00:04:33] Friends today I have a treat for you. I have Doug and Don Thomas. And first of all I'd like to thank you for coming on. I really appreciate you taking the time.

[00:04:45] Yeah Bill thanks a lot for asking us. We're glad to be here.

[00:04:47] Alright guys we just went over Proverb 3 and Proverb 3 might be my favorite proverb of all.

[00:04:57] If you look at this there probably are 15 to 20 verses that are impactful and can change anyone's life.

[00:05:07] So Doug I'll start with you. Which verse would you like to share a little bit with the audience today, and tell the audience why?

[00:05:15] Well my favorite is verse 11 and 12.

[00:05:18] My son do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father of the son he delights in.

[00:05:27] And this is a big part of my testimony when I fell and broke my leg many years ago.

[00:05:36] I thought that God was disciplining me because I had told him something that made a promise to him.

[00:05:43] And we were going to get together and start going back to church. We just like so many others we've been hurt in church.

[00:05:50] And we dropped out thinking that's the way Christians are, we don't need to be there.

[00:05:55] But over the years, and I mean years my son and daughter had started going to another church and they had a very good youth program.

[00:06:04] So we were taking them there and then we knew where they were and what they were about.

[00:06:08] So when we got back together, I told my wife we're going to start serving the Lord and going to church.

[00:06:15] And the first weekend we get together, we run off to Gatlinburg for a three-day weekend.

[00:06:22] The three-week-ends later was Thanksgiving Day.

[00:06:27] And the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I climbed my ladder to put up Christmas lights.

[00:06:33] My wife called me and said come down and she said you need to get your son to help you.

[00:06:36] And my quote was I don't need anyone. I can do this myself.

[00:06:42] I proceeded around the corner, went up to the top of the ladder, corrected the lights and fell eight feet both bones in my right leg,

[00:06:52] crushed my outside ankle and from there I thought the whole thing it in.

[00:06:59] I was out of work, lost my job because in the making it took three years to get my leg back.

[00:07:08] And in that time I went through many therapies, I mean spinal cord stimulators,

[00:07:16] all kinds of heavy-duty narcotics to try and get the pain and the shocking from the nerve condition that it set in.

[00:07:23] And I literally sat in a recliner for three years with my right foot and a tub of ice and water to keep the cooling from burning my leg.

[00:07:35] Doug, I'm going to stop you right there and I appreciate you beginning that story but you know what I'd like to do at this time is just ask Dawn

[00:07:44] if there was a verse that she would kind of like to comment on Provert 3.

[00:07:50] Proverbs 5 and 6, it seems like such an easy thing to do.

[00:07:56] It's called trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight in all your ways.

[00:08:02] Acknowledge him and he will make straight your path.

[00:08:06] You know when it says all, God means all.

[00:08:11] Sometimes even though we trust the Lord as our savior and we've accepted him and we believe in him,

[00:08:16] we still hold back this little piece in our heart that we don't want him to have.

[00:08:24] But the thing that we lack to know and we know this is the Lord has everything anyhow.

[00:08:30] He knows it all, whatever is done is done.

[00:08:33] And he just wants you to acknowledge that to him, to give it to him.

[00:08:38] And so that's really impactful in the ways that I like to be organized and I like to align my life in a certain direction.

[00:08:49] And sometimes I neglect to put all that trust into the Lord.

[00:08:55] You know, you worded that very well Dawn and I want to make a comment.

[00:09:00] First of all, you know when we receive Jesus as our Lord and savior, you know it says that old things have passed away.

[00:09:10] Behold all things are become new.

[00:09:13] And the hardest thing Dawn I think one of the hardest thing for new Christians is to put all of your trust in God.

[00:09:23] It's just like any other relationship.

[00:09:26] You don't know that person.

[00:09:28] Sure your heart is in the right place.

[00:09:31] You mean well, but you just don't know if you truly can trust that person.

[00:09:38] And what you're talking about is a strong hold.

[00:09:42] You don't want to let God have everything.

[00:09:45] You want to hold on to that one thing that you hold dear.

[00:09:48] I'll give him this area of my life.

[00:09:50] I'll give him this area of my life, but I'm not willing to let that part go.

[00:09:56] Does that kind of sum up what you're saying?

[00:09:59] Oh yes, it definitely does.

[00:10:03] We like we said when you meet people, you meet a person, even if it's the person that you spend your whole life with.

[00:10:10] And Doug and I have been married for 42 plus years now.

[00:10:14] And you know, when we first got married, you think you know everything about an individual, but you do not.

[00:10:22] And it takes time for you to build up that trust to let him know or them know everything about you.

[00:10:28] Just like I said, Jesus knows it all. We know that.

[00:10:32] But for us to really confess it and bring it to him and lay it at his feet and say, okay, you've got it.

[00:10:38] I don't have to worry about this anymore.

[00:10:40] You know when you bring up such a good point and you know, Judy and I have been married 28 and a half years now.

[00:10:47] But I mean some of the things that she does or says still continue to astound me because I never saw that coming.

[00:10:58] It's like, wow, even though you live with somebody, even though you share the same bed,

[00:11:03] even though you have all of these things in common, you experience everything they still can blow you away with some of the things you do.

[00:11:12] Doug what I'd like to do is ask this question to you.

[00:11:16] And I know the audience may not know you and you know really what I'd kind of like for you to do is just take a step back to when you were a small child.

[00:11:26] Let the audience know where you come from and just tell us a little bit about your childhood.

[00:11:30] I was born in Raising Orlando, a group in a town called Pine Hills.

[00:11:36] It's just a small little area just west of Orlando.

[00:11:39] It was a very quiet, good little community.

[00:11:42] My mother and father were divorced and my mother married my stepdad.

[00:11:48] And they were having some issues and so they decided they wanted to start going to church and we started going.

[00:11:56] And my real father had left me.

[00:12:00] My stepfather was coming into a hard situation.

[00:12:04] He had three kids and a new wife.

[00:12:08] But he still took the time and I don't know why he chose me, but he chose me to be his helper.

[00:12:15] To help him with different things.

[00:12:17] And I was in church one day and I was listening to him and talking about our father in heaven and how he knows us and loves us.

[00:12:25] And I'm like my stepdad loves me, but he doesn't love me the way you love me God.

[00:12:31] And so I went down as a 10 year old boy and accepted Christ.

[00:12:35] And in my heart and in my head I thoroughly know or knew at that time that he was the son of God.

[00:12:44] And everything that he does was for my good and I knew that and I trusted him from there on out.

[00:12:50] Now I bet I didn't follow him.

[00:12:52] I'm like so many people that accept Christ and then it just kind of goes along the way.

[00:12:57] And I grew up in the 70s and we had a lot of wild stuff going on.

[00:13:00] And I was in the middle of it.

[00:13:02] But you know, he never once stopped looking out for me.

[00:13:07] I can look back now and see areas of my life that the path was crooked and it got jerked right back straight again because he's straightening me out.

[00:13:15] And I've got testimony bill about going over the hill on a motorcycle and him being there.

[00:13:21] I've got shingles that showed up and I asked him to take them away and he took them away the next day.

[00:13:27] I mean I have got, I know God is on my side.

[00:13:31] But it wasn't until I married this woman, Dawn here, and we started doing things together and living life together that I found out that would be in a father truly meant.

[00:13:43] And the second biggest decision I ever made, most delightful decision was marrying her 42 years ago.

[00:13:50] You know I'm going to stop you right there.

[00:13:53] You know, and we talked about the most important decision you've ever made.

[00:13:57] And you know if you're in the listening audience know that Doug and Dawn have made basically an agreement with me.

[00:14:06] I'm in the process of building up a team of about 18 people and some will be couples such as you that will come on this podcast on a regular basis.

[00:14:18] So we are only scratching the surface of where this relationship is going to go.

[00:14:24] And I do want to make light of the fact of eternity.

[00:14:29] And I know some people listening today have no concept of what eternity literally means.

[00:14:38] When I talk about eternity, and right now Doug I'm talking with you and Dawn,

[00:14:42] I'm talking about 1,000 years from now.

[00:14:47] We could be doing this same podcast except now we might do it in heaven instead of on here.

[00:14:53] We're going to be together a thousand years from now.

[00:14:59] 10,000 years from now.

[00:15:02] And for those of you who have not yet received Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

[00:15:08] I will give you an opportunity later to do that.

[00:15:12] But that is something you need to keep in mind.

[00:15:16] Many people in this world think that when their time is up on earth and they breathe their last

[00:15:23] and there they fall down dead, that's the end.

[00:15:27] But that is only the beginning.

[00:15:30] We are a spirit being.

[00:15:32] We happen to have a soul and we live in a body.

[00:15:38] But once you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are 100% Holy Spirit.

[00:15:46] It's just one third of you that you are wall-to-wall Holy Spirit

[00:15:49] and you have that same spirit that dwells in Jesus and raised him from the dead.

[00:15:56] I want you to think about that. That is so powerful.

[00:15:59] So what I'd like to do is go back to you, Doug, because what you just said

[00:16:04] reminds me of Proverbs 18 verse 22.

[00:16:08] He who finds a wife finds a and in the new living translation, that's my favorite translation.

[00:16:15] It says finds a treasure and obtains favor from the Lord.

[00:16:20] So Doug, just expound a little bit on your comment that she is your best friend.

[00:16:25] Tell us a little bit about your journey with Don.

[00:16:29] How you met and why you are so thrilled to be married to her.

[00:16:34] Bill, this woman stepped into my life when I was still running around, still having a good time.

[00:16:41] And she's the only one that would not let me pursue her like the others did.

[00:16:50] And she said that we're going to do it the right way from the beginning

[00:16:56] to the end, and it was just a complete blessing that God could take two people from two completely different worlds

[00:17:07] and put us together and make it so that we blend.

[00:17:12] My daughter-in-law asked me just the last time we were up here, she said,

[00:17:15] how does Don finish your sentences?

[00:17:17] I said, it's because we're one.

[00:17:19] We've been together long enough to know how we're going to react.

[00:17:23] And that's the best part about our God is that we can know every time how he's going to react.

[00:17:29] We may change the way we react, but his reactions are the same.

[00:17:33] And it's either right or it's wrong and we try to make it great and there's none in his world.

[00:17:41] And I think that that was a hard lesson for me to learn as well because I race cars.

[00:17:47] And when you race cars, you kind of push the limits and turn them a little bit and try not to get caught.

[00:17:54] Well, there is no turning around and trying not to get caught with God because he knew me before I was born

[00:18:00] and he knew what life he had for me and he knew what I was going to be doing.

[00:18:04] So how can you lie to someone that already knows what you're going to do?

[00:18:08] And when I, but it was only about nine years ago that I went out, looked in the stars at night

[00:18:15] and I said, God, I am giving you everything.

[00:18:17] Everything I have is yours.

[00:18:20] Be a good, bad or ugly, it is yours.

[00:18:22] And Bill, I'm telling you, the relief it took off my shoulders to know that I didn't have to worry about the finances anymore.

[00:18:28] I didn't have to worry about my health.

[00:18:30] I didn't have to worry about a lot of things.

[00:18:32] I mean everything.

[00:18:33] So yeah, he's truly blessed me with this woman.

[00:18:36] Okay, friends, before I get to you, Don, I want to go to the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes.

[00:18:44] And this passage of Scripture, a wonderful four verses is entitled The Value of a Friend.

[00:18:52] And it says two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor.

[00:18:58] For if they fall, one will lift up his companion but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.

[00:19:09] Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

[00:19:14] But how can one be warm alone?

[00:19:17] Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.

[00:19:23] And a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.

[00:19:28] Friends, these four verses to me is God telling us the impact of a marriage relationship.

[00:19:40] This is the design God had when he made marriage.

[00:19:44] A three-fold cord.

[00:19:47] We have God on top and we have you two at the bottom.

[00:19:52] And you are looking up to him for whenever things go wrong, don't look at each other.

[00:20:01] Look to God.

[00:20:02] So Don, with that in mind, how have you started with Doug?

[00:20:09] And what do you do now whenever you guys have issues?

[00:20:13] When we first started, Doug and I would have arguments just like any normal couple would.

[00:20:22] We would bicker a little bit.

[00:20:24] But once we started following the Lord and had a deeper relationship with him,

[00:20:31] we tend to read scripture or to talk things out or to just go to the Lord first and say,

[00:20:40] please, Lord, help us to get through whatever it is that we're trying to go through.

[00:20:45] Recent years it's been health issues with family members and on both sides and it's difficult.

[00:20:53] So what Doug and I find to do is to get ourselves with our word and then go find a quiet place where we can get alone

[00:21:04] and just concentrate on what the Lord is saying to us.

[00:21:09] And let the outside not in for a few minutes so that we can be at peace with where we are right now.

[00:21:20] And then we can deal with whatever is coming up as, you know, the Lord gives us trials for us to get through to grow us.

[00:21:31] But we have to be willing to accept those trials and we have to be able to go through them.

[00:21:37] But without having the Lord at your center, you can't get through those trials.

[00:21:42] In fact, so many things are going on in our world today.

[00:21:45] I don't see how people who do not believe even get by.

[00:21:50] You know, Don, I'm going to stop you right there because what you just said cuts to the chase of verses five and six of this proverb today.

[00:22:00] And that is why we have to put our trust in God in every situation in life.

[00:22:10] You've just explained that better than any other thing you could say.

[00:22:15] What you just got done saying says why we need to live life doing verse five and six.

[00:22:22] Now, this is what I'd like to do.

[00:22:23] Don, my favorite verse is Paul's letter to the Romans in chapter eight verse six.

[00:22:31] And that verse says to be carnally minded is death.

[00:22:36] But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

[00:22:41] Don, if you would explain to the audience what that verse means to you.

[00:22:46] So, life and peace.

[00:22:51] Peace is just being at one with God right now that it doesn't matter what's going on around me.

[00:23:01] It's all tuned out.

[00:23:02] I am just with him in a quiet place.

[00:23:07] It could be in the middle of a noisy bunch of kids where we were today.

[00:23:11] But I can still be at peace with God knowing that he's taking care of everything.

[00:23:18] And there is not a worry that I have to ever think about.

[00:23:23] He's got me.

[00:23:24] You know, that's really good.

[00:23:25] And Doug, why don't you add a little bit to that and give your thoughts?

[00:23:31] Sure, Bill.

[00:23:31] In second Kings chapter one we hear about Elijah where he called down the fire of God to burn up the altar.

[00:23:40] And the king was so upset that he told his wife Jezebel and she said, I want him killed and went after him.

[00:23:48] And he ran to a solitude place in the caves.

[00:23:52] And he was looking for a word from the Lord.

[00:23:54] He said, Lord, I am the only one that you have left.

[00:23:57] And the Lord sent him a message.

[00:24:00] He was looking for it in the fire.

[00:24:01] It wasn't there.

[00:24:02] He was looking for it in the wind.

[00:24:04] It wasn't there.

[00:24:05] He was looking for it in the rain.

[00:24:08] It wasn't there.

[00:24:08] And then a quiet voice talked to him and said, you're not alone.

[00:24:15] There's over 7000 people that are worshiping me now.

[00:24:19] So the time that we need to get away and be quiet and ground out the world is when God may speak to us in that quiet voice that only we can hear.

[00:24:29] And when he does that it cuts to the bone because there's no chasing around.

[00:24:34] He tells you exactly what happens and what he needs you to do.

[00:24:37] And our job is to do it.

[00:24:41] This woman is called, I'm a hothead.

[00:24:44] I've always been one.

[00:24:45] And she has been the one that says, Della, calm down.

[00:24:48] We need to sit down and ask the Lord what we need to do with this.

[00:24:52] And it's so amazing how he answers us so precisely sometimes.

[00:24:58] And then sometimes he makes us wait to see what...

[00:25:01] I don't know if you want to see what we're going to come up with.

[00:25:03] Or if you just wait on to see if we trust him to give us the word before we proceed on our own.

[00:25:08] But we truly believe in a most powerful God that has brought us through some situations that most people don't come back from.

[00:25:19] Okay, I'm going to stop you right there and I can't help but chuckle a bit because you missed the best part of the story.

[00:25:26] Well, the best part of the story is when Elijah is out in the desert and God says, Elijah,

[00:25:32] what are you doing here?

[00:25:34] I've always liked that one verse.

[00:25:38] What are you doing here?

[00:25:40] And you may reference to that earlier, Doug, where it doesn't matter where we are in life.

[00:25:45] We can't hide from God.

[00:25:46] And there's a proverb that talks about that.

[00:25:49] It says, you know, in the deepest part of the sea, it doesn't matter.

[00:25:52] You're there. You're there. You're there.

[00:25:54] And, you know, we talk about Jonah.

[00:25:56] And Jonah was the first thing God had an assignment for Jonah to do.

[00:26:02] He says, go to the city of Nineveh.

[00:26:05] And at the time there were between 200 and 250,000 people that lived in Nineveh.

[00:26:12] That's a lot of people for way, way, way back then.

[00:26:15] And it says in the city of Nineveh, it would take three days to go across that city.

[00:26:21] So we're not just talking about a city.

[00:26:23] We're talking about a great expanse.

[00:26:26] But what I really like about the book of Jonah, the end, the last verse in chapter one, it says,

[00:26:35] but God prepared a great fish.

[00:26:39] Yes.

[00:26:40] I love the book of Jonah.

[00:26:42] In Jonah there are three different times and God prepared the fish.

[00:26:47] God prepared the worm.

[00:26:50] And God prepared the mighty wind.

[00:26:53] I don't remember exactly what it is, but Jonah is such a fabulous book.

[00:26:59] The unfortunate thing is after this happened, after he was spit out on the ground, after three days,

[00:27:06] he repented and he did go to Nineveh.

[00:27:08] And the king had everyone in Sackloth.

[00:27:12] They all repented, but only a few books later in the book of Nahum,

[00:27:19] the city of Nineveh was totally destroyed.

[00:27:22] And that's the way God works.

[00:27:25] It's a repentant theme, repeating theme in the Bible is God's people turn away from God,

[00:27:31] turn away from God, turn away from God.

[00:27:33] And that is what the entire book of Judges is about.

[00:27:38] So anyone wanting to do that, that could be your homework for the next week.

[00:27:42] Read the book of Judges.

[00:27:44] They kept repeating the same error and the same error.

[00:27:48] And as long as they followed the judge that God brought to the people,

[00:27:54] they marveled, they excelled, they did everything right.

[00:27:57] And as soon as that judge died, things turned around.

[00:28:02] So what I'd like to do, Don, is this is going to be my last question.

[00:28:07] We're almost out of time.

[00:28:08] What I'd like to do with you first of all go back to the book of Genesis

[00:28:12] and it says that God, man needs a help meet.

[00:28:17] So you are that help meet.

[00:28:20] And now I want to go to the fifth chapter of the book of Ephesians,

[00:28:24] where God tells the wife to submit to her husband.

[00:28:31] And what I often say in this is that wives has the eb part of that deal.

[00:28:37] Because when he talks about the wife, that's only three verses.

[00:28:41] Prior to that, the first 10 verses of that Bible,

[00:28:45] he's talking about husbands.

[00:28:48] You've got to do this.

[00:28:50] So you got the easy part.

[00:28:52] All you have to do is submit.

[00:28:54] If you would talk about submitting to Doug and how well you do that.

[00:29:00] Well, Bill, lately it's been better in the first part of our marriage

[00:29:07] when I did very well because I was very young.

[00:29:12] I had just turned 18 or 20 when we got married and Doug was older.

[00:29:18] So I did what he asked, what he told me to.

[00:29:23] When we got into the world and a little bit further in our life

[00:29:27] and we had children and I was working in a workplace

[00:29:30] and the world tells you a different thing.

[00:29:34] The world tells you as women, you're not supposed to submit.

[00:29:38] You're supposed to have equality.

[00:29:42] Nobody is really equal ever and that's a falsehood.

[00:29:47] So during that time, I was not always submitting to Doug.

[00:29:52] In fact, sometimes it got really ugly sometimes.

[00:29:58] But when we came back to the Lord again and I read that over, that passage over

[00:30:04] and I really knew what submit means.

[00:30:07] It means that I know that my husband will not ask me to do anything

[00:30:11] that is outside the word of God

[00:30:13] and that he wouldn't treat me any other way than that God would with love.

[00:30:20] So why shouldn't I submit to him?

[00:30:22] So submitting to him took on a different meaning.

[00:30:25] It meant showing my love for him and my love for God.

[00:30:29] You know, that's such a good point

[00:30:31] and I often am reminded of the verse where God says,

[00:30:37] Think of the woman as the weaker vessel.

[00:30:41] Now that is such a powerful scripture

[00:30:44] and it's such a deep scripture

[00:30:46] because what does that mean?

[00:30:49] Think of the woman as the weaker vessel

[00:30:51] and I can tell you exactly what it means.

[00:30:53] It means physically.

[00:30:54] The woman is weaker physically than the man in most circumstances.

[00:30:59] Now of course there are women who lift weights

[00:31:02] and probably could throw a 200 pound man through a window.

[00:31:05] But that's not usually the case.

[00:31:08] The thing is women need an umbrella under them.

[00:31:12] They need a protective shield

[00:31:15] and that is the role that a husband is supposed to have.

[00:31:18] Guys, I really hate to cut you short.

[00:31:20] We're at 31 minutes.

[00:31:21] We're almost out of time.

[00:31:23] This is what I'd like to do.

[00:31:24] I'm going to ask you each to do something.

[00:31:26] Don, what I'd like to do is give you basically two minutes

[00:31:30] to share with the audience why they need to have God in their life

[00:31:35] and how he's changed your life

[00:31:37] and then Doug, I'd like for you to close us in a prayer

[00:31:40] and invite people into the kingdom.

[00:31:43] Well Bill, I believe that everyone needs Jesus in their life

[00:31:49] because they are sinners.

[00:31:51] That they, no matter how good,

[00:31:56] and I put quotes around that good,

[00:31:58] you think you are.

[00:32:01] You aren't.

[00:32:03] We were born into a sin filled world.

[00:32:05] We are born sinners.

[00:32:07] And without Jesus to remove that sin from us,

[00:32:12] we have no hope to obtain a relationship with God

[00:32:17] or heaven or to be even acceptable to him,

[00:32:24] to be able to get to heaven.

[00:32:26] Those are just, how this world says differently I know,

[00:32:32] but we need a savior in Jesus to take that sin away

[00:32:36] and it is so important because otherwise the doubts,

[00:32:41] the fears, everything that is negative

[00:32:44] just eats away at your heart and in you.

[00:32:47] And you can't live that way.

[00:32:50] You don't have life that way.

[00:32:52] You have an existence, but you don't have life.

[00:32:55] You know, and gosh I hate to get off script here,

[00:32:58] but I have to go to John chapter 10-10

[00:33:01] just to reiterate what you've just said.

[00:33:04] And John 10-10, one of the most powerful verses

[00:33:08] in the entire Bible,

[00:33:09] we have two people in that verse.

[00:33:12] We have Satan himself and he is called the thief

[00:33:15] and it says,

[00:33:16] but the thief cometh but to steal, to kill and to destroy.

[00:33:22] That his entire mission on earth,

[00:33:24] he wants to derail us from everything that we are doing

[00:33:27] that holds value to us.

[00:33:29] He wants to destroy our marriages.

[00:33:31] He wants to destroy our families.

[00:33:33] But thank goodness for the second part of that verse

[00:33:37] and this is Jesus coming up and saying,

[00:33:41] but I have come that you may have life

[00:33:45] and have it more abundantly.

[00:33:49] And I like this version where it says to the full.

[00:33:53] That is what God's desire for us is.

[00:33:56] And I'm just going to throw this out there

[00:33:58] because this is one of the most powerful verses

[00:34:01] in the Bible as well.

[00:34:02] John and he's known as the beloved.

[00:34:04] Okay.

[00:34:05] He is the one who wrote the gospel of John.

[00:34:09] He is known as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

[00:34:12] He is the masterful author of Revelation,

[00:34:16] the greatest book in the Bible.

[00:34:18] But what it says in third John,

[00:34:21] one of the six chapters of the Bible

[00:34:23] that only have one verse and he says,

[00:34:26] I wish above all things

[00:34:29] that you prosper and be in good health

[00:34:33] even as your soul prospers.

[00:34:37] Friends, that is God's greatest desire

[00:34:40] for everyone listening to this podcast today.

[00:34:43] And that encompasses every area of our being.

[00:34:46] It's our physical being.

[00:34:47] He wants everyone to be healed.

[00:34:49] He wants everyone to walk in health.

[00:34:52] He wants everyone to prosper in all that they do,

[00:34:56] that all of their needs are met

[00:34:57] so you can give to other people

[00:35:00] who are more needy than you.

[00:35:03] But he also talks about the condition of our soul.

[00:35:07] And that has to do with eternity

[00:35:08] and where is your eternal place going to be?

[00:35:14] With that in mind, Doug, you lead us in a final prayer.

[00:35:19] Dear Heavenly Father, Lord,

[00:35:21] we come to you at this time just to thank you for your word.

[00:35:26] Thank you for your love, Lord,

[00:35:28] that you're not only your love

[00:35:31] but your knowledge of what we need

[00:35:33] and how we need it is far superior to ours.

[00:35:36] You tell us, Lord, that when we find a woman,

[00:35:38] we've truly found a treasure.

[00:35:41] And I would like at this time, Lord,

[00:35:44] just invite y'all.

[00:35:46] If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior,

[00:35:50] He tells us that if we just repent

[00:35:53] and accept Him as the God's Son

[00:35:56] and only Son,

[00:35:58] that He died on the cross for our sin

[00:35:59] and He rose again on the third day,

[00:36:01] if we'll just put our trust in that,

[00:36:03] He tells us in John 14, too,

[00:36:05] that in His Father's house there are many mansions

[00:36:07] and He's gone to prepare a place for us.

[00:36:10] And that where we are,

[00:36:13] He wants us to be there as well.

[00:36:15] The only way we can get there

[00:36:17] is if we truly believe in His Son as our Savior.

[00:36:20] And so I invite y'all, open your word,

[00:36:22] read the word.

[00:36:24] Love your God with all your heart,

[00:36:25] all your mind and all your soul.

[00:36:27] And the rewards of eternal heaven will be ours.

[00:36:30] And Lord, I just thank you for your wisdom,

[00:36:32] your kindness and your love and nature.

[00:36:34] Lord, I love you, we praise you

[00:36:36] and in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

[00:36:38] Amen. Well, Doug, you guys have had

[00:36:41] a wonderful start

[00:36:44] to this journey.

[00:36:45] And what I'd like to do is just let the audience know

[00:36:49] that repeating that sinner's prayer

[00:36:51] is just the first step.

[00:36:54] I mean, so many times on this podcast

[00:36:56] I will go ahead and lead you

[00:36:58] at the end of every single podcast.

[00:37:01] I don't ever end a podcast

[00:37:03] without giving anyone an opportunity

[00:37:05] to receive Jesus. But friends,

[00:37:07] that's just the first step.

[00:37:09] You have to find a local church.

[00:37:12] Search the Internet.

[00:37:14] Find a church that is going to feed you

[00:37:17] and give you what you need.

[00:37:19] In the book of Hebrews it says

[00:37:21] we are not to forsake the assembly

[00:37:24] of the masses. What that means

[00:37:26] is we need to surround ourselves

[00:37:28] with people who think the same way

[00:37:31] that we do. We need to surround ourselves

[00:37:34] with Christians who we can talk to

[00:37:36] and confide in.

[00:37:38] And so if we have issues,

[00:37:41] we go to those type of people.

[00:37:44] And I'll go back to Psalm 1.

[00:37:45] We need to be careful who we associate with

[00:37:50] and who we ask counsel from.

[00:37:54] Psalm 1, that's another homework assignment.

[00:37:57] Check it out. It talks about

[00:37:59] the importance of who you

[00:38:02] seek counsel with.

[00:38:05] So what I'd like to do is close

[00:38:07] with a blessing.

[00:38:08] Now may the Lord bless you

[00:38:11] and keep you. The Lord make us

[00:38:13] to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:38:16] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you

[00:38:19] and give you peace.

[00:38:21] Friends, please join me again tomorrow

[00:38:24] as we further explore wisdom today.