Participants:
Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001935A
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00:02 I'm John Carter in Moscow.
00:04 In Havana, Cuba. 00:07 Now in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. 00:10 I'm John Carter in Petra. 00:13 Right here in Communist China. 00:16 Reporting from India. 00:18 Hi, I'm John Carter in the Solomon Islands. 00:21 I'm John Carter in Soweto. 00:24 From El Salvador. 00:26 I'm John Carter in Sydney, Australia. 00:29 John Carter will help you today in discovering God's will. 00:37 I've had lots of people 00:39 over my lifetime come to me and say, 00:42 "How can I really know 00:46 that I'm doing what God wants me to do?" 00:50 We're gonna talk today 00:51 about a really important question 00:53 in the lives of millions of people. 00:55 And that is 00:57 discovering God's will for your life. 01:04 Most people, 01:06 deep down inside, 01:08 really want to do what God wants them to do. 01:11 It's a very, very good question and wise people ask it 01:15 because it's not safe outside His will. 01:20 You know what I'm talking about. 01:23 If you get outside the will of God, 01:27 it's not safe at all. 01:28 Now there're some good stories in the Bible about this. 01:31 One is the story of Abraham and Sarah. 01:34 You all know the story of Abraham and Sarah. 01:38 Apparently even when she was getting old, 01:40 she was still a very beautiful woman. 01:44 And God told them to go down to the land of Egypt. 01:47 And so Abraham said, 01:51 and he got his wife in on this act, 01:53 "She's my sister." 01:55 When you think about it, 01:56 it's pretty dangerous thing to do. 01:59 And Sarah said, "Hey, that's right. 02:02 He's my brother." 02:04 And then you know the story in the Book of Genesis 02:07 how Sarah is seen by the Pharaoh, 02:12 she must have been a... 02:16 Well, I better not say, you know, 02:18 but she must have been 02:20 extraordinarily beautiful. 02:23 And she was not a girl 02:27 because Pharaoh got her and put her in the harem. 02:32 And then, 02:33 God sent along a message to Pharaoh. 02:35 And it turned out all right 02:38 but it could've turned out very bad. 02:41 Abraham could've been killed 02:44 and Sarah could've been violated. 02:48 It's not safe outside the will of God. 02:50 Some people say, 02:51 "They're not bothered by lying." 02:55 Abraham was a good man, 02:57 but he was not a perfect man. 03:01 And it doesn't matter who you are, 03:02 when you lie, 03:04 you go down the path of perdition. 03:09 God took a lifetime to teach Abraham 03:12 that lying is bad, 03:14 is bad, is bad. 03:18 And so if you're a person who lies, 03:21 then, my friend, you are in a very dangerous situation. 03:25 God never condones lying. 03:28 But Abraham was a slow learner. 03:31 You think he would've learned his lesson. 03:33 "She is my sister. He is my brother." 03:36 When you come to Genesis 20:2 and 3, 03:43 you read a sequel. 03:44 Genesis 20:2 and 3. 03:51 Genesis 20:2 and 3 in the scriptures. 03:56 "Now Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, 03:58 'She is my sister.'" 04:01 This is few years later. 04:03 "And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 04:06 And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, 04:09 and said to him, 'Indeed you are a dead man 04:13 because of the woman whom you have taken 04:16 for she is a man's wife.'" 04:19 Therefore, apparently, it seems to me 04:23 that the Almighty God has a healthy respect 04:29 for the institution of marriage. 04:32 And God is dead opposed 04:35 to the dreadful sin of lying 04:39 which is such a dangerous thing. 04:43 Sarah could've been harmed. 04:45 Abraham could've been killed. 04:47 So we need to discover God's will for our lives. 04:53 It's never safe to walk outside the will of God 04:56 and it's good to ask, 04:59 "Lord, what do You want me to do?" 05:03 So today, we're here to ponder 05:05 and answer this profoundly important question, 05:09 which is, how does a person... 05:11 How does God show me His will? 05:14 And many have asked this question. 05:16 "Should I take this job? 05:18 But does God want me to have this job. 05:20 Should I get another job? 05:23 Should I sell my house?" 05:25 Beverley and I are thinking right now 05:28 selling our house in the Thousand Oak. 05:30 So we got some people coming 05:33 to spiffy it up a bit next week. 05:36 "Should I marry this person?" 05:39 That's a question I've ever been asked ever. 05:43 Because people, when you come to marriage, 05:46 know what the will of God is. 05:48 They know exactly what they're going to do 05:51 because how they feel is the will of God. 05:57 "Should I send my children to such and such a school?" 06:00 It is never safe outside the will of God. 06:04 It is always safe and secure, and secure inside His will. 06:08 Now come with me in the Bible 06:10 to Ephesians 5:15 down to 17. 06:14 Ephesians 5:15 and onwards. 06:18 "See then that you walk circumspectly, 06:22 not as fools but as wise, 06:25 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 06:29 Therefore do not be unwise, 06:32 but understand what the will of the Lord is," 06:36 so the Bible says. 06:37 And these are rather strong words, 06:40 the Bible doesn't pull it, it punches. 06:42 The Bible says, "Don't be a fool." 06:45 And the Bible says, 06:46 "Understand what the will of God is." 06:49 Now here is a great statement. 06:51 I wish you could just get this down 06:52 inside the molecules of your mind. 06:54 Here it is. 06:56 "The will of God will never take you 06:59 where the grace of God cannot keep you." 07:03 Want you to think of this. 07:04 "The will of God will never take you 07:06 where the grace of God cannot keep you." 07:09 And so, if you are in the will of God, 07:13 then the grace of God will keep you safe. 07:18 The will of God will never take you 07:19 where the grace of God cannot keep you. 07:21 But if you get outside the will of God, 07:24 my friend, you are not safe. 07:27 I had an old theology teacher. His name was Nelson Burns. 07:31 He taught us this. 07:32 "You are immortal until your work on earth is done." 07:38 This has been a great comfort to me down through the years. 07:41 You are immortal until your work on earth is done 07:46 because my work has taken me 07:48 into many, many dangerous places. 07:51 I remember when we were running a big evangelistic campaign 07:55 in Harare, Zimbabwe. 07:58 It used to be called Rhodesia. 08:01 But then, of course, 08:02 with independence it got changed, 08:04 Harare, Zimbabwe. 08:06 And I was invited up to the television station 08:09 out in the jungle. 08:10 And I went out there, innocence abroad, 08:14 only to walk into a trap 08:16 where my life was placed in danger. 08:20 And I was marched off in the jungle, 08:22 down a jungle road as the sun was going down 08:27 with these soldiers with their guns in my back. 08:31 It's a comfort to know that the will of God 08:33 is not going to take you 08:35 where the grace of God cannot keep you. 08:36 And you are immortal 08:38 until your work on earth is done. 08:40 So nothing can touch you. 08:43 Nothing can harm one hair of your head 08:49 until God says so. 08:52 And I could tell you the story about it. 08:55 As they marched me off down the jungle road, 08:59 and as this terrorist 09:00 who was escorting them in his Peugeot car 09:04 was saying, "Get rid of this man. 09:06 Get rid of this white man." 09:11 As he turned around 09:13 leaving it to the soldiers to kill me, 09:17 they cried out one by one, 09:18 "Pastor Carter, we come to your meetings. 09:22 We come to your meetings. You're safe with us." 09:25 They got me to the meetings on time. 09:30 So you are immortal 09:31 until your work on earth is done. 09:35 The thing we have to fear 09:37 more than anything else is fear. 09:41 You hear this? 09:44 You're safe in His will. 09:45 So how can I know God's will for my life? 09:47 I'm going to give you a number of points. 09:48 If you're taking notes, 09:50 this is the time to start taking notes. 09:51 Number one. 09:52 God never leads me to break His commandments. 09:56 And so you don't need to pray and say, 09:58 "Well, should I break the commandments of God?" 10:01 God never leads me contrary to His commandments. 10:04 Isaiah 48:17 and 18. 10:07 Isaiah 48:17, 10:09 "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, 10:11 the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God, 10:13 I'm Yahweh Elohim, 10:15 who teaches you to profit, 10:17 who leads you by the way you should go. 10:19 Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! 10:22 Then your peace would have been like a river, 10:25 and your righteousness like the waves of the sea." 10:29 If you walk in God's commandments, 10:31 you are going to be in the will of God. 10:36 Let me read you this statement 10:37 from a famous German theologian. 10:42 "The moral laws are just as stable 10:45 as the law of gravitation. 10:47 Every fuzzy human chicken 10:52 that is hatched into this world 10:54 tries to fool with those laws. 10:56 Some grow wiser in the process and some do not. 10:59 We talk about breaking God's laws. 11:01 But after those laws have been broken several billion times 11:04 since Adam first tried to play with them, 11:07 those laws are still intact 11:10 and no seam or fracture is visible in them, 11:14 not even a scratch on the enamel. 11:18 But the lawbreakers, that is another story. 11:21 If you want to find their fragments, 11:23 go to the ruins of Egypt, 11:25 of Babylon, of Jerusalem, 11:28 study statistics, read faces, 11:31 keep your eyes open, visit Blackwell's Island, 11:37 walk through the graveyard 11:38 and read the invisible inscriptions 11:42 left by the Angel of Judgment, for instance, 11:45 'Here lie the fragments of John Smith, 11:49 who contradicted his Maker, 11:51 played football with the Ten Commandments, 11:54 and departed this life at the age of thirty-five. 11:58 His mother and wife, they weep for him. 12:01 Nobody else does. 12:03 May he rest in peace!' 12:05 "Professor Walter Rauschenbusch. 12:09 So God never leads you to violate 12:13 the commandments of God. 12:16 If you are thinking of leaving your wife 12:20 for another woman, 12:22 you don't need to pray about it. 12:30 You know the story of David with Bathsheba? 12:33 Huh? 12:35 A beautiful, voluptuous woman, 12:40 and the king who had tremendous power. 12:44 And she was taking a bask on the top of her house 12:50 just below the king's window. 12:52 Don't tell me she was innocence abroad. 12:57 Have you thought of the consequences 12:58 of what happened here? 13:01 Amnon 13:03 who raped his sister Tamar 13:08 and Absalom who killed him in response, 13:13 and then, there was a general mutiny and rebellion. 13:18 And the end was two dead, 13:21 Amnon, Absolom. 13:23 One woman raped and left a desolate woman 13:28 and thousands and thousands, 13:30 tens of thousands of dead soldiers. 13:35 Why? 13:39 Because the king didn't keep the commandments of God. 13:43 He gave into his lust. 13:49 He got outside the will of God. 13:51 He got outside the safety zone. 13:53 As soon as he got outside the Ten Commandments. 13:57 Look at 2 Corinthians 6:14 and 15. 14:01 Here's another why people get outside the commandments 14:05 and outside the will of God. 14:06 2 Corinthians 6:14 and 15. 14:09 Now I'm almost scared to read it to you 14:12 because not many people here believe this anymore. 14:15 "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. 14:20 For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? 14:24 And what communion has light with darkness? 14:27 And what accord has Christ with Belial?" 14:30 Now look at this. 14:32 "Or what part has a believer 14:34 with an unbeliever?" 14:39 The Bible says, who believe it says... 14:42 The Bible says, 14:44 "Believers should not get connected 14:46 and tied up with unbelievers." 14:49 There was one person I greatly respected 14:53 even though we would not agree on every bit of theology. 14:57 And that was Dr. Billy Graham. 15:00 And I heard him preach with a Bible in his hand. 15:04 A preacher of God, 15:06 not a whispering hope, 15:08 not a wimp, 15:10 not a coward. 15:12 Not a compromising, ecclesiastical politician. 15:19 The church today is full of those individuals. 15:22 Billy preaching said, 15:24 "If you're going with an unbeliever, 15:28 young lady, drop him and drop him quick." 15:33 And, of course, Billy was right. 15:37 But we don't preach these things today 15:39 because these things will offend the congregation. 15:43 I say, "Offend them." 15:46 Where are the preachers today? 15:47 We don't need to pray about 15:49 what God has already revealed in His Word. 15:51 A man came to me, a businessman. 15:53 He said, "Pastor Carter, pray for me." 15:55 I thought he's going to give a big donation. 15:57 I said, "Certainly. 15:59 How long do you want the prayer to be?" 16:03 Now let me be serious. 16:05 He said to me, "My business partner..." 16:08 He said, "I shouldn't have joined up with this man 16:11 because he is a complete unbeliever 16:14 and he's robbed me of $60,000." 16:19 I said, "I will certainly pray for you. 16:21 Of course, I will that you'll get the money back. 16:25 But you violated the law of God. 16:27 How can you expect God to bless you?" 16:29 God says, "Don't be unequally 16:31 yoked together with unbelievers." 16:33 You don't need to pray about a situation 16:36 that will involve us in lying, cheating, stealing, 16:40 committing adultery, et cetera, et cetera. 16:45 So the first point is this. 16:47 God never leads me in a situation 16:49 where I will be breaking His commandments. 16:55 Number one. Number two. 16:57 God reveals His will to us by opening and closing doors. 17:03 This is something that is very precious 17:04 to the early Americans. 17:06 It is called the providence of God. 17:09 I believe in the providence of God. 17:11 I believe God leads us by opening and closing doors. 17:16 Let me give you a story. 17:18 You know the story of Abraham. 17:21 And he had a son by the name of Isaac. 17:24 He said, "I do not want my son to marry a daughter 17:29 of an unbeliever." 17:32 Because marriage between believers and unbelievers 17:36 is forbidden in the Word of God. 17:38 If you don't believe this, 17:39 it's because you don't believe the Bible. 17:43 So Abraham said to his servant, 17:45 "I want you to go back to my father's house 17:48 and find a girl 17:51 who'll be suitable for my son, Isaac." 17:56 And you know the story. 18:01 The man who would be Isaac's servant one day, 18:05 or Abraham's present servant 18:08 sets out for the land of Mesopotamia. 18:13 It's a great story. 18:14 If you look at Genesis 24:27, 18:19 dear hearts and gentle people, 18:21 Genesis 24:27. 18:24 "And he said, 18:25 'Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, 18:29 who has not forsaken His mercy 18:31 and His truth towards my master. 18:34 As for me, being on the way, 18:37 the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren.'" 18:41 So he sets out and he says, 18:43 "God, I don't know what to do. 18:46 But I just pray that You're going to lead me. 18:49 I pray that you're going to guide me." 18:51 And he gets there at the time of the day. 18:53 He gets to the village well and all the women, 18:57 and all of the young women 18:58 are coming there to draw water. 19:02 You know the story. 19:04 He says, "God, what am I going to do? 19:07 What am I going to do?" 19:09 He says, "God, could You lead me, 19:11 could You open a door, could You close a door." 19:13 Could it be that the maiden who says, 19:16 "Would you like a drink?" 19:18 And I'll pour some water for your camels? 19:22 Might it be that this is a sign? 19:24 This will be an opening providence. 19:28 You read about this in Genesis 24:12 to 14. 19:34 It is a great and wonderful story. 19:38 Genesis 24:12 to 14. 19:43 "Then he said, 19:44 'O Lord God, Yahweh Elohim of my master Abraham, 19:49 please give me success this day, 19:51 show kindness to my master Abraham. 19:54 Behold, here I stand by the well of water, 19:59 and the daughters of the men of the city 20:01 are coming out to draw water. 20:04 Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, 20:06 'Please let down your pitcher 20:09 that I may drink, and she says, 20:10 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,' 20:14 let her be the one 20:16 You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. 20:19 And by this I will know 20:21 that You have shown kindness to my master.'" 20:25 And you know exactly what happens. 20:29 The girl comes out. Her name is Rebecca. 20:33 Listen carefully to this 20:35 because those of you who are spiritually minded 20:39 will understand this. 20:42 The servant of Abraham, 20:46 a believer in Yahweh Elohim, 20:49 was in the right place 20:53 at the right time 20:56 for the right person. 20:59 So God was opening doors, 21:02 and God was closing doors. 21:05 Therefore, I say to you, 21:06 "Watch for the providences of God." 21:09 Let me tell you some stories. 21:12 We're shortly going to the great city of Manila. 21:14 By the grace of God, 21:16 it has been tremendously difficult 21:18 working in the Philippines. 21:20 Why are we going to Manila? 21:21 Let me tell my Australian friends, 21:24 let me tell my American friends. 21:26 We are going to Manila because I still believe. 21:31 I'm a pastor who still believes that Jesus said, 21:36 "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." 21:38 I believe this. 21:41 I can't see in my conscience. 21:43 I can't compromise my conscience. 21:46 I believe this. 21:48 David, my son, and I went there in January. 21:52 We went there for a week. 21:54 We were butting our heads up. 21:56 It seemed against every war, it was difficult. 21:59 We couldn't get a place. 22:01 And then later on, 22:02 we decided that we would try to get 22:04 this great and famous place not as big as we wanted. 22:06 It is called 22:08 the Philippine International Convention Center. 22:10 I've run meetings there before. 22:12 It is magnificent, and it is the premium theater 22:15 in that part of the world. 22:17 But we couldn't get the bookings made. 22:20 Blocked every way. 22:22 Is it available? Well, may be. 22:24 Can we get it? Well, may be. 22:26 So I sent Pastor Harker 22:28 and even though he was recovering 22:30 from a serious operation, 22:31 he got on a plane and flew from Sydney 22:34 eight hours up to Manila 22:35 even though he was suffering. 22:37 And he spent a week there. 22:39 And he made some progress 22:40 and we saw doors start to open a little bit more. 22:44 And then I sent 22:46 Dr. John Hammond from Australia. 22:49 These are my great friends. 22:50 This is a providence of God that I have these friends. 22:53 And he met up there in Manila with a pastor, 22:56 whose name is Pastor June 22:58 and they worked together. 22:59 And after months and months of frustration, 23:03 we finally signed a contract and we got it. 23:07 This is not for the faint of heart. 23:10 You've gotta believe 23:12 that God is with you and God is opening doors. 23:19 Now, this is true in our lives. 23:21 In Moscow, 1991, we ran a very successful campaign 23:25 in the city of Moscow. 23:27 The first ever public evangelistic campaign 23:31 by a foreigner in the history of Russia, 23:35 the Soviet Union. 23:37 And after that campaign, the Russian people came to me 23:40 and they said, "Would you have enough faith to rent 23:45 the whole of congresses in the Kremlin?" 23:49 These were heady high days. Revolution was going on. 23:54 So we put a booking on it. 23:56 And we secured the Kremlin Auditorium 24:01 for a great evangelistic series. 24:06 But it never happened. 24:11 I'm not gonna tell you the story, 24:14 but was taken from us. 24:19 This was a bit of disappointment for me, 24:22 but was good for me 24:24 because it taught me not to trust in people 24:27 but to trust in God. 24:30 Because people even those who profess godliness 24:36 will let you down. 24:37 In 1992, 24:38 because we were not allowed to go to the Kremlin 24:40 after we paid all this money, 24:42 we were sent to Nizhny Novgorod. 24:45 And that was a close city. 24:47 We went from the whole of congresses to this place. 24:51 But there we saw as never before 24:55 in the history of Russia, 24:57 the power of God. 24:59 Thousands, thousands, 25:01 tens of thousands coming to God. 25:03 Russia had never seen anything like it before. 25:07 And because of these meetings, 25:12 Danny Shelton came with me to support me 25:15 and to stand with me. 25:16 It's good to have a friend. 25:19 These are pictures of the baptisms. 25:21 Thousands are being baptized. 25:24 History. And then Danny got the vision. 25:28 And the Spirit of God came upon him. 25:30 And he established this 3ABN center 25:36 in Nizhny Novgorod, 25:38 which is the largest Protestant building in all of Russia. 25:43 You say, "Never heard of it." You will. 25:49 And I'll be back soon 25:52 with more amazing stories. 25:55 Finding the providence of God, 25:58 walking in the will of God, 25:59 and knowing that you are safe. 26:21 Hello, friend. 26:23 I'm John Carter. 26:24 Behind me is the great city of Manila, 26:28 the capital of the Philippines. 26:30 Did you know, this is quite amazing. 26:32 There are more people living in this area 26:34 than in New York City. 26:36 And Christ died for these people. 26:39 We came here, oh, long time ago back in 1984. 26:45 What's that, 34, 35 years ago, 26:48 and we came here with a team of young people 26:50 and we came to the PICC. 26:53 It is our intent to come here, 26:56 hire the biggest hall that's available, 26:58 the greatest outdoor stadium, whatever it takes. 27:02 You've got more than 20 million souls out here. 27:07 And I say it again. 27:09 These are people for whom Christ died. 27:11 I'm asking you to pray 27:13 for the people of the Philippines. 27:15 Please pray for the people here in Metro Manila. 27:19 And please write to me, John Carter, P.O. Box 1900, 27:23 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 27:27 In Australia, 27:28 write to me at Terrigal, at the address 27:30 that is now showing on the screen. 27:35 We're back in Manila, 27:37 and we're back with a message from God, 27:40 that message is, 27:41 Christ died for you. 27:45 And Christ is coming again soon. 27:50 Please support us. 27:52 Write to me today, P.O. Box 1900, 27:55 Thousand Oaks, California. 27:56 And also write to me at Terrigal in Australia. 28:00 Thank you for your support. 28:03 And God bless you. 28:19 For a copy of today's program, 28:21 please contact us at P.O. Box 1900, 28:25 Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:29 Or in Australia, contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:34 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:38 This program is made possible 28:40 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:43 We thank you for your continued support. 28:46 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2019-12-12