FBC Morning Light – April 20, 2022

Faith Baptist Church

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Good Wednesday morning to you. Here we are, right in the middle of the week, and I hope your week is going well.

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Do you ever struggle with discerning God's will in a decision that you have to make?

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Usually, I'm thinking here of some significant decisions, not like, what are we going to have for dinner today?

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But I'm talking about significant decisions, maybe a move, a job change, or something of that nature.

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How do you go about discerning those things? Well, one of the things that comes into play is the circumstances that you find yourself in.

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Let me explain. In our scripture reading for today, in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, Paul is wrapping up this letter talking about his desire and plan to come and visit the

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Corinthians. He says in verse 5 in chapter 16, he says, Now I will come to you when

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I pass through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia. That's on my agenda, to pass through Macedonia.

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Then he goes on to say, It may be that I will remain, or even spend the winter with you, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go.

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But then he says this, he's kind of laying out, this is my plan, this is my thinking at this point.

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Then he says this, he says, I do not wish to see you now on the way, but I hope to stay with you a while, if the

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Lord permits. So, circumstances may be such that the Lord will not permit me to stay with you for a while, but that's what

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I would want to do. What I want to really zero in on is verses 8 and 9.

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He says, But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. This is what I'm going to do.

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I'm determined to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

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I'm going to stay here in Ephesus, because a great and effective door is open to me.

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So, when you find yourself debating, should I try to get another job, start another career, move somewhere else?

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What would God's will be in this? Ask yourself this question first. What are the circumstances in which you find yourself?

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Is there a door of effective service for you where you are?

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Is there a door of effective service for you where you are? Or does it seem that everything is just dried up, that you're not really able to accomplish much of anything for the

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Lord? I'm talking to people who are in a wide variety of circumstances, so it'd be easy for me as a pastor and working in a ministry to think of that in those terms, but you have your own sphere of work and labor and career and vocation that God has given to you.

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Have you found that to become ineffective, found yourself to be ineffective in it?

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Is the opportunity kind of dried up? Or do you still see yourself being used,

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God using you to accomplish different things, whatever your career is, he's using you to accomplish things, and it is effective work.

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It is effective work. Look at those circumstances. By the way, don't use the fact that there is opposition as an excuse to say, certainly,

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I need to move on, I've got to move on, there's just too much opposition. Sometimes that can be a determining factor, especially if there is no open door of effectiveness in front of you.

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If the door of effectiveness is closed and there's all kinds of opposition, then

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I would say certainly there's a legitimate reason to consider moving on and looking elsewhere where there is a door of opportunity that is open.

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But just because there are adversaries doesn't mean you should flee, you should run, you should go elsewhere.

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Paul says, I'm going to stay right here in Ephesus until Pentecost because a great and effective door is open for me and there are many adversaries.

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So the fact of adversaries didn't deter him from keeping on.

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As he wraps up this letter, I found verses 13 and 14 to be a very appropriate summary of everyday duties.

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So no matter where you are, no matter what you find yourself doing on a day -to -day basis, your vocation and so forth, here is a list of five different items that summarize your everyday duty.

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Number one, he says, watch. Watch. Be watchful. Destructive temptations are ever lurking.

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Watch. Stand fast in the faith. Don't give an inch. We're living in a day where the faith is constantly being undermined.

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The credibility and the reliability and the trustworthiness of God's Word, God is the Creator, and all the rest of those things are being undermined.

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Don't give an inch. Stand fast in the faith. Be brave, he says.

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The King James says, quit you like men. The new King James.

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Be brave is a call to brave and courageous living, not cowering in fear every time an adversary shows up, for example.

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Be brave. Then be strong. Be strong. Why should the tempter find a weak, powerless, vulnerable victim?

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Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Then he says this, let all that you do be done with love.

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So, act out of love. Love for God, love for your neighbor, even love for your enemies.

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Let everything you do be done out of love. All right, well, there's a good nutshell of our duties today, and I trust that wherever you find yourself laboring in the will of God with an open door before you, that you will watch, you will stand fast in the faith, you'll be brave, you'll be strong, and you'll do everything that you do out of love.

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May God help us. Our Father and our God, indeed, do help us. Help us to be the people of God you would have us to be.

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Help us to fulfill the duties that you've placed upon our shoulders, and I pray that you would keep open before us door of opportunity, of effective labor, for your glory, and for the good of your people, and the good even of the lost around us.

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And this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, well, have a good rest of your