Many Christians live in a place where it’s just a matter of time before there’s a crisis in their lives and they need a miracle. Miracles are great when you need one, but you weren’t meant to continually get by on them. God wants to change where you live. Let Andrew show you how to live in God’s best today!
two hour Monday’s broadcast of the
gospel truth today I’m going to start a
brand new series talking about how you
can live in God’s best
now that title may not really get you at
first but I’m going to be explaining a
lot of things I got a brand new book on
this living in God’s best and let me say
that most people don’t live in God’s
best and I could spend literally weeks
probably trying to position this and to
encourage you to live and believe God
for something more but I’m just going to
spend a little bit of time on this but
you need to recognize that most people
are not experiencing God’s best God’s
best is for total health not just
relative to other people but I mean
perfect health and there are scriptures
we’ll be talking about this God’s best
in the area of finances for you to be
completely debt-free be able to have so
much abundance that you can abound unto
every good work God’s best in marriage
is much higher than what most people our
experience and they settle for much less
they don’t follow God’s leading and they
don’t receive God’s best with our
children with our vocation with the
vision that God has for us I believe
that God has never made a piece of junk
ever God has never made a failure God
has never made a mistake when he created
us God has good plans for us Jeremiah
chapter 29 verse 11 he says I know the
thoughts that I think toward you says
the Lord thoughts of peace and not of
evil to give you and expected in NIV
says a hope in the future God has a
great plan for your life and I’m just
telling you that most people are living
way below God’s standards matter of fact
I believe I could say this that there is
not a person breathing that has totally
maxed out everything that God has for
them I know that’s certainly true in my
life I’ve seen God do some great things
I am so blessed and saying
so for what God has done in my life and
through me to touch other people I’m
excited about it but I can guarantee you
that there is more God has shown me more
that he wants me to do and accomplish
through me and I haven’t arrived I’ve
just left I’m on my way to where God
wants me to go but I haven’t tapped out
everything that God has for me and
whether you realize it or not God has
more for you than what you’re
experiencing and let me say that the
reason some of you and I’m talking to
people here who know the Lord who love
the Lord and yet you aren’t satisfied
there’s many reasons for this but
sometimes and I’m speaking specifically
to people to the reason you’re
dissatisfied it’s God who’s making you
dissatisfied and that may shock some of
you that well what are you saying God
wouldn’t be the one that makes me
depressed or discouraged or whatever but
there is a satisfaction that comes only
when you are in the center of God’s will
that you won’t get anywhere else and one
of the ways that the Lord has directed
me is I remember when I was pastoring in
siga Ville Texas and I was there for two
years and it was a struggle I mean we
did not see a great success at all and
it was a struggle to survive during this
time but I was committed to I love that
place I prayed for those people and I
remember one day as I was walking down
at the church and I was praying I just
looked out the window and it’s like my
compassion my joy my peace about being
in Seussville Texas just left I mean it
was gone I looked out the window and I
thought why am I here I don’t like this
place I want to get out of there and
prior to that time I just loved it and I
was committed to standing there and
praying and it was such a radical switch
I mean it’s just like my heart just
instantly changed that I was shocked by
it and I spent two or three hours
praying God what happened what just
happened was this you or is this
something wrong with me
and the more I prayed about it the more
the Lord convinced me it was him just
taking this desire to be in Seagoville
Texas out of my heart and so after a
couple hours praying about it the Lord
spoke to me and told me I was leaving it
was time for me to leave and he even
gave me a date he said November the 1st
and I forget exactly what year that was
it would have been I think in 1975
probably November the 1st that I was
supposed to go so I prayed about it
until I was sure that’s what God said I
went home to tell Jamie that I’d been
praying and God had just spoken this to
me and when I got home there was a for
sale sign in our yard we were renting a
house and there was a per sale sign in
our yard so I went in and I asked him I
said what’s the procedure son she said
the landlord came by and told us they’re
selling the house and we’ve got to be
out of his house by November the 1st it
was a perfect confirmation and it was
exactly what God wanted and what I’m
saying is one of the ways that God led
us was through just putting a holy
dissatisfaction I’m not talking about
the sorrow of this world the grief that
comes when you’ve messed up and done all
of these things but sometimes the Lord
will make you dissatisfied because there
is so much more he doesn’t want you to
be content where you are now and there’s
other reasons that people get
dissatisfied because they aren’t keeping
their mind on the Lord and they aren’t
seeking the Lord etc but I’m saying that
there are some of you who love God
you’re seeking the Lord and yet there is
a holy dissatisfaction in your life and
I’m telling you the reason for it is
because God’s got more for you he’s
wanting you know it’s I’ve read that
they sometimes the mother birds when
they want their chicks to get out of the
nest and push them out and start flying
and getting out and do things learn on
their own they’ll actually take the
feathers and the things that cushioned
the nest and made it so comfortable that
they’ll start plucking those things out
so that the sticks and the twigs and
things stick through and it poked the
birds and motivates them to get on in a
sense that’s what God is doing to some
of you he is he’s put a holy
dissatisfaction there
things that used to satisfy don’t
satisfy now again let me just qualify
that there’s multiple reasons some
sometimes your reason people are
dissatisfied is because they aren’t
keeping their mind state upon the Lord
Isaiah 26:3
the Lord will keep you in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed upon him but there
is a holy dissatisfaction and I know I’m
speaking to people right now who God has
stirred you up and you know that there’s
more you aren’t satisfied you know that
there’s something more you know in my
way of reading things over here in
judges chapter six let me just turn over
and read some of this but this is about
Gideon and Gideon was an Israelite the
Israelites at this time had been
conquered by the Midianites and the
Midianites were oppressing them and any
time anybody harvested their field and
started beating out the grain in things
the Midianites would come and take it
from and so they were they were having
to hide their food and things to be able
to survive and so Gideon was behind a
winepress and he was threshing out his
wheat and as he did this it says in
judges chapter 6 in verse 12 and the
angel of the Lord appeared unto him and
said unto Him the Lord is with thee thou
mighty man of Valor and Gideon said unto
him o my lord if the Lord be with us
live in is all this befallen us and
where be all his miracles which our
father told us I’d say did not the Lord
bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord
has forsaken us and delivered us into
the hands of the Midianites did you know
I’m first reading you that it just looks
like that he’s just totally speaking
unbelief he doesn’t believe in God he
doesn’t believe in anything and it looks
like that this is a total statement of
unbelief but look at the response in
verse 14 it says the Lord looked upon
him and said go in this thy might and
thou shalt save Israel from the hand of
Midianites have not i sent thee why
would god bless a total negative
statement about man god’s not with us
he’s forsaken us well you don’t have the
ability to hear the inflection of his
voice and to see exactly what he’s
saying but i believe
based on my study and I don’t want to
just spend my time teaching on Gideon
but this is my belief that Gideon was
basically just expressing a holy
dissatisfaction and saying I’m sick and
tired of this man I’ve heard these
stories all my life about how the
Israelites came out of Egypt with all of
these miracles and here we are we can’t
even eat I’ve got to hide to Thresh out
my wheat and he was sick and tired of
being sick and tired and he was ready
and looking for something more and
that’s the reason that the angel
rewarded him and said go with this time
I go with this attitude go knowing that
there is something more and that you
aren’t going to settle for less you know
let me say it this way
that as long as you can live with less
than God’s death you will but one of the
very first steps in seeing God’s best
come in your life is you got to be sick
and tired of being sick and tired you
got to get to a place where I’ve taken
all of this I’m going to take I just
don’t want this anymore you know I can
remember another time when I was in
Seagoville Texas this instance that I
was talking about earlier and I was
pastoring this little church and Jamie
and I were poor because of my own
stupidity I’m going to deal with this a
lot more as I get into this series I
won’t spend time to do it now but we
were really struggling with poverty and
we had a car that we were wanting to
sell a 56 Chevy Belair and it was a dog
it had a lot of things wrong with it but
anyway long story I’m not going to go
into all of it but we had tried for
wheat to sell this car we would eat
actually decrease the price that we put
on we have done all of these things and
it just wouldn’t sell people come look
at it but once they saw it and I mean it
burned a quart of oil over 50 miles if
you turn it on the heater it pumped
water out on your feet there was a hole
in the floorboard and the keys the
different the new joints were going out
on it and the thing shook so bad that
the keys would actually come out of the
ignition and if you weren’t careful
they’d fall through the hole in the
floorboard I think it was a
it was a mess and so I think we were
only asking like four hundred dollars
and I think we came down to 350 and it
wasn’t like we were putting an excessive
price on it but it was just a dog in
anyway the Lord had told me that he was
going to supply our needs through that
selling of the car and we waited for
three weeks we were behind on our rent
we hadn’t been eating and I had tried to
be patient and stand in faith and
finally one day I just had had it up to
here I mean I decided that this was it
we had to have some money the Lord had
told me it was that car that he we were
going to sell it to get the money out of
that and so I was down in my church
building and I mean I just got angry I
got mad not at God
I wasn’t mad at God I knew God wasn’t my
problem but I was mad at me and I was
mad at this situation and I just let the
devil had it I mean if I could have
gotten my hands on him physically
I’d have done some damage I just got mad
I was sick and tired of being sick and
tired of being poor and I just started
screaming and yelling at the devil and
fighting and anyway I within just a
short period of time it was like boom I
got a breakthrough and I knew that it
was done I started rejoicing and
praising God and I went home I had the
car parked in front of the church and he
had a for sale sign on it and I went
home to tell Jamie that man it’s over I
don’t know how but God is going to sell
this car we’re going to get this money
it’s a done deal and before I could tell
her anything she came running out she
says quick a man called he saw your car
at the church he’s on his way down there
he’s going to be there in five minutes
and he wants to buy the car so I didn’t
even get to tell her about my
breakthrough I went down and this guy he
had the cash and he wanted to buy the
car and I said well I’ve got to tell you
about all the bad stuff so I told him
about burning although I told him about
pumping water out on your feet I told
him about that the new joints were going
out and I made him drive the car around
the block and I mean he took off and in
a big cloud of smoke as it burned all of
soyal it went around the block and he
came back and he parked it and he says
can I have it now I mean it’s like you
know what else Y has to do to be able to
give you this money and so finally I
said well okay and I took the money and
when he gave me the money
he said three weeks ago the very first
day that you put a for sale sign on that
car at a more expensive price he says I
told my wife that’s my car I’m gonna get
that and the guy didn’t want it to drive
he wanted it for parts
he was going to take parts off of it
because it was a popular car and anyway
he says I’ve been trying for three weeks
to get my wife to agree that he would
let that she would let me go buy this
car and he said it was on a Saturday and
he says I was watching a football game
and I wasn’t even thinking about it and
he says just about 10 or 15 minutes ago
she just walked in and threw the money
at me and she says I go get your car and
you know what that’s the exact time that
I was praying that’s the exact time I
got sick and tired of being sick and
tired and then I finally said I’m not
going any further I am NOT going to live
this way and the reason I say all of
this is to say that he’s long and you
can settle for God’s less than his best
you will and did you know after all this
was over I remember thinking to myself
why did it take me three weeks to come
to this breaking point to where I
finally just put my foot down and said
that’s it I’m not going any further and
I’ve seen this since that time I’ve seen
many many times that you know I’ll
tolerate something I’ll be patient and
saying well it’s going to work out or
something but finally there just comes
this breaking point and when I get to
where I am NOT going to live like this
anymore there’s a breakthrough and it
makes me wonder why do I have to go to
where I’m traumatized and in this bad
situation before I you know just put my
foot down and say I’m not going any
further I’m saying all of these things
to use it there are many of you that you
know your life is not the way God wants
it to be you know your marriage isn’t
the way God wants it to be you know your
health isn’t the way God wants it to be
you know that your job and your career
is a dead end
going nowhere there are many of you that
have this holy dissatisfaction and yet
you just are tolerating it most of its
kind of Numb ourselves to these things
I’m convinced that this is one reason
that most people do not get quiet and
still you know it says in Psalms 46:10
be still and know that I am God and I’m
convinced one of the reasons people just
constantly have to have a radio on the
television on they have to have
something going they have to be doing
something they just don’t have downtime
they don’t fit is because when you sit
and get to contemplating and meditating
and thinking about your life there is a
holy dissatisfaction that comes up in
most people’s lives because they when
you’re quiet and you aren’t being
entertained or bombarded with something
but you’re just thinking you go to kind
of evaluating where am I
where have I come from where am I now
what’s my future going to be like and
it’s this Pleasant it’s unpleasant to
most people and most people don’t like
that because they aren’t experiencing
God’s best most of us are living way
below God’s standards and this is one
reason I think that people avoid just
being still on the contrary I love just
spending time doing nothing but just
sitting there thinking and meditating in
God where am i what do you want me to do
am i doing things the way that you want
me to is there are things that I need to
change I love doing that because God
speaks to me and he puts vision in my
heart but I think many people avoid that
because in their heart they know that
things aren’t right and so they try and
numb themself to it and occupy
themselves with other things during this
series I’m going to try and get you to
confront this and to recognize that most
of us are selling ourselves short God
has good plans for you he’s got plans
for you that are far greater than
anything that you’ve experienced and
like I said at the very beginning of
this program I don’t believe that
there’s a one of us that is max
doubt what God has for us if you’re
still breathing God’s got more I don’t
believe anybody has tapped out the total
ability and potential that God has
placed them inside of them some of us
are further along than others but I
don’t think there’s a person breathing
who has just maxed out everything that
God had for them and so I’m encouraging
you if you’re brand-new if this is all
new stuff and you’ve never really
stretched out and believed God for
anything or if you’ve been walking with
God forever I’m telling you God has more
and I want to encourage you to believe
for God’s best not only for yourself but
you know what you’re carrying other
people’s miracles God has created every
one of us for a purpose he has a design
for your life and it’s going to bless
you and satisfy you yes but God has a
plan for every one of you to not only be
blessed but to be a blessing and he’s
got things that he wants to flow through
you that will touch other people you may
not be a minister like me but you you
can minister to people at your job in
your family in your neighborhood in your
world of influence God wants to bring
you to a place that not only are you
prosperous and joyful and just I mean
thrilled with the life that God is
giving you that God wants to take all of
these things that he wants to do through
you and use you as a testimony to other
people to touch them and to show them
what God can do in their life so it’s
not only about you other people’s
miracles are on the inside of you
there’s other people that may never
watch my television program that may
never open a Bible that may never go to
church but they know you and God wants
to bring you to his fullness in your
life not only to bless you but so that
you could be a testimony a signpost to
other people about what God could do for
them so I’m telling you this is
imperative I think that most of us are
living way way way below what God wants
and the cause of it
we are an experience in God’s best but
we also Hartley in the testimonies we’re
supposed to be God wants you well
because he loves you he won’t you well
but he also wants to use this testimony
you know we just got through showing
this Christmas production that we did at
our sanctuary in Woodland Park our
carries Bible call it was phenomenal it
was awesome and I just spent hours
before and after these performances
talking to people and people were just
absolutely amazed they were so touched
by the talent the love of God people
were touched and it is affecting that
entire Woodland Park community I mean
people are being affected by it because
we as a group not just me but we as a
group are beginning to live up to our
potential again nobody’s tapped it out
completely but we are seeing God use us
and I saw just dozens and dozens of
people that I talked to personally that
have been impacted their life is changed
they’re never going to be the same and
I’m telling you God wants to do the same
for you and through you but you have to
initiate it God has a plan for you but
if you would just look around not
everybody is experiencing God’s best and
it’s not the cause of God it’s not God’s
fault God has a plan for your life but
you have to cooperate and one of the
very first steps this is what I’ve spent
all day today talking about is that you
have to get dissatisfied with living a
substandard life as long as you can put
up with being mediocre and being average
you will but when you get a wholly
dissatisfaction and say God I’ve taken
all of this I’m going to take I’m sick
and tired of being sick and tired I’m
not going to live like this I’m going to
change now that’s not all if there is to
it but that is a first place as long as
you can tolerate being less than God
wants you to be you will be but when you
get to a place to where I’m not living
this way I’m going to change I tell you
what I believe that in the
spiritual realm that man that you start
to draw in all kinds of God activity
towards you I’m going to share this
Scripture tomorrow in more detail but
second chronicles 16:9 the eyes of the
Lord are running to and fro throughout
the whole earth looking for someone to
show himself strong in behalf of God is
looking this program has heard all
around the world did you know that today
wherever you are God is right there
looking and saying are you going to
respond to this message are you going to
be sick and tired of being sick and
tired are you looking for something more
and if you would just respond to this in
a positive way I believe God would show
up and miracles would start working in
your life man this is powerful let me
mention again that I’ve got a brand new
book this is a hardback copy of living
in God’s best and I tell you this is
going to be a blessing to you I’ve also
got this on DVD taken from our
television program and I’ve also got it
in Sea
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you
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