So we're created for good works, unto good works,
but it's not the works that define us, it's the
relationship that defines us. God promises in
Joel 2 .28 to pour out of His Spirit on all humanity.
Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend
for that promised outpouring. We equip for that
outpouring so that we may engage in that very
outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss.
Welcome to the podcast today. We're delighted
that you're with us. We're going to talk about
what can I do? Or what can I do? Or what can
I do? Thanks so much for joining us today. We're
just delighted that you're with us, and we look
forward to spending this time searching in God's
Word and contending for the outpouring and equipping
for the outpouring so that we may engage in it.
We want to invite you, before we get started,
to go to our website, if you haven't already
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so that you can be on various lists that we have
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together in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
as God is doing that in the earth today. And
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things. And we even have a prayer wall where
you can post your prayer requests. And that way
we can stick together in the things of the Holy
Spirit to accomplish what God has put us on this
planet to accomplish. So I was meditating about
this idea of what can I do? And I was reminded
of this incident with our granddaughter when
we were playing a game that It was kind of a
hide and seek kind of game. And she was really
little. And I could tell that she had seen something
on TV or in a video or something that, you know,
while we're making this big deal about this mystery
and, you know, looking for something and looking
for the treasure and that kind of thing. And
she says, what can I do? And it was so cute.
What can I do? This little tiny voice. And so.
I was thinking about, you know, what is it that
we can do? What is it that God put us on this
planet to do? You know, it seems like we want
to be doing something. But he didn't make us
human doings. He made us human beings. Right,
human beings. And our humanness and our beingness
is because our God, our Father, is our creator.
He created us to be in relationship with him.
And the doing comes out of the being. It comes
out of cooperating with him and doing things
with him. Because we get so busy thinking about,
oh, what can I do? I want to please God. I want
to do something for him. And we get some grandiose
ideas sometimes. I love that word. And it reminds
me of this story that I heard or read about a
young person that, you know, dad was going away
for the day and it was a Saturday and he says,
son, I want you to sweep the garage. So the son
gets out there and he's thinking, I really want
to please dad. Clean the garage and rearrange
everything. And dad comes back and the son is
working really hard. Well, if you're going to
rearrange, you're going to pull everything out
and you're going to make a big mess. And of course,
a young person sometimes gets into a job and
doesn't necessarily finish. And dad comes home
and he says, son, I asked you to sweep the garage.
I didn't ask you to rearrange it. But the kid's
heart was in the right place. I want to do something
to please you, Dad. And sometimes we get into
this thing where we want to just do something.
Make it better. Yeah, we're going to make it
better. What can I do? Or what can I do? Or what
can I do? You know, sometimes we look at ourselves
and we think, eh. What can I do? I'm nobody.
I'm nothing. And sometimes we also get grandiose
ideas about, I can do something. I have a gift.
I can do this. And we get all worked up in pride
and arrogance and fall on our face. Because that's
not what God asked us to do. So Ephesians chapter
2 and verse 8 says, For by grace. You are saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. Pride. Pride, like, I did this.
I got myself out of that hole. No, not really.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. which God has before ordained
that we should walk in them. In other words,
he created us for good works as his workmanship
to cooperate with him out of being, being in
relationship with him. So Jesus said that of
myself, I can do nothing. So if the Son of God
could do nothing by himself, what are we trying
to do? What were the disciples thinking when
he said that? I don't know. Because here he is,
and their mind's going to be the next king eventually.
Right, right. And soon. And soon, yeah. They
were expecting any minute he's going to just
overrule the Romans, right? Yeah, because you
can do miracles. And there's probably things
that happened, like with regards to Roman soldiers.
I remember on a, it wasn't the chosen, it was
something else, where this, you know, someone
was carrying something for a Roman soldier, and
they're just being rough on him and all that,
you know. And then all of a sudden, Jesus kind
of is standing there, and the Roman soldier comes
up to him, and he stops, and he just turns and
backs away out of fear, you know. I thought,
oh, that's kind of neat. How many things? like
that happen with Roman soldiers that we don't
know anything about. That's true. What does it
say that the earth would not be able to hold
the volumes of what Jesus did when he was on
earth? Very true. That's what John said. So if
he was on earth for a very short time, he did
a lot of stuff. Oh, yeah. Wow. Yeah. And the
thing about carrying something for a Roman soldier,
Jesus said, if you're compelled to walk a mile,
to carry something for a soldier, basically,
if you're compelled to do that, and they were
required to. They were required to carry whatever
the Roman soldier said for a mile. And Jesus
said, carry it two. Two miles, yeah. In other
words, Jesus was trying to give the idea on earth.
Remember what Dean Braxton said about in heaven.
How can I serve you? Yeah, the greeting is, how
can I serve you? So Jesus is trying to give us
this instruction that we're here to serve. So
if your enemy, the Romans were the enemies of
Israel, if your enemy compels you to do something,
do it twice as much for him. Yeah, and we don't
have an understanding of how brutal. It was.
Things really were with Rome. That's true. There's
a lot of movies out there and stuff of the Nazi
regime and how brutal they were to everybody.
Yeah. And so when you put yourself, there's something
you're looking at because you don't see movies
out there of the Jewish nation. Rome is in control
and they're just being brutal in a lot of ways.
We don't see that. With all the stuff that's
out there, what the Nazis did, we see all that.
And so when you compare that to that, that's
what it would kind of be like. Yeah. You know,
no mercy, really. Yeah. It wasn't any mercy.
So Jesus was trying to teach us about what works
we're expected to do. We're expected to do things
out of service. And to do things, Jesus said,
love your enemies. Do good to them that hate
you. Be kind to those that despitefully use you
and abuse you. He's trying to teach kingdom living,
the kingdom of God, the way it is in heaven.
That's how we're supposed to be doing it on earth.
But Jesus had this relationship with his father
where he said, I can't do anything by myself.
I only do what I see the father doing. Let's
look at John 5. So this is the story of the man
by the pool of Bethesda that Jesus healed on
the Sabbath day. This is the story where, you
know, these people are gathered around the pool
and they're waiting for the waters to be stirred.
And the first one who gets in gets healed. Yeah.
At least that was the legend. That was the legend.
Yeah. It could be that it was happening, but
there's lots of opinions about what that is.
That's not what we're doing here. Yeah, that's
not the purpose of this discussion. But in verse
19 of John 5, do you want to read that, Philip?
So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to
you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord,
but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever
the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all
that he himself is doing. And greater works than
these will he show him so that you may marvel.
Truly, truly, I say unto you, the hour is coming
and is now here when the dead will hear the voice
of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he
has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
And he has given him authority to execute judgment,
because he is the Son of Man. I can do nothing
on my own. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment
is just, because I seek not my own will, but
the will of him who sent me. So if Jesus was
seeking the will of him who sent him, that is
a clue for us. What can I do? I can seek what
is the will of the Father. Why did Father put
us here on this planet? Every single one of us
has a purpose. Every single one of us has unique
giftings. Every one of us thinks a little differently
than others. Every one of us speaks a little
differently. We use different words. We're not
going to say things exactly the same because
we don't think exactly the same. We don't see
things exactly the same. For instance, I'm just
going back. Oh, 44 years or so. Uh -oh. When
we went on our extended honeymoon trip to Israel,
okay, this wasn't my first trip to Israel. I
had been going a few years already, but this
was Philip's first trip. Oh, boy, I think I know
what's coming. I'm busy looking at all this biblical
stuff, and I'm looking at... and listening to
the guide, and he's talking about archaeology,
and he's talking about the Bible, and he's talking
about, and Philip is saying, wow, look at that
car. Remember what kind of cars they were? It
was older. Older American cars, GMs, Fords. Yeah,
you won't even see those now. No, not now. But
44 years ago, they were there. Yeah. And I was
like. What's the matter, you? No, I wasn't quite
like that. But I was like, is that what you're
seeing? My point is, we see things differently.
And I was immature at this point. I hardly had
been saved for how long? Yeah, just months. Not
a real, real long time. Yeah, yeah. To be fair,
to be fair. It takes a while to get your focus
on things right. But those were the things that
were impressing you in the moment. That's all
I'm saying. I'm not down on you for that. But
my point is, we see things differently because
of where we are in our walk. You were early in
your walk at that point. But the idea here is
that as we grow and become more mature, more...
inclined to be communicating with our Father,
we're going to get more out of what He has for
us. It's like, think about your destiny. You
know, we hear a lot about destiny. But destiny
is not a destination. Because a destination is
like an end point. It's the end of a trip. But
we're designed for eternity. Our destiny goes
beyond, you know, beyond the grave. It goes beyond,
what is it, three score years and 10 or four
score years or 90 years or 120 years, however
long you live. Your destiny is eternal. And the
things that you learn in your walk on the planet
here are significant. in your relationship with
Father. So we're not trying to rearrange the
garage when he asks us to sweep it. You know,
your first trip to Israel was an introduction.
My first trip to Israel was an introduction.
You know, you weren't with me when I was on my
first trip, but I was gawking at things too.
And, you know, I heard the word diaspora and
I had no idea what that meant. What do you mean
diaspora? I've never heard that word. And, you
know, for those of you who don't know what that
word is, it means dispersion. It's where people
have been dispersed around the world. So the
Jews had been dispersed and I'd never heard that
before. I learned so much. You just continue
to learn. You don't quit learning. You never
stop learning. Yeah. If you stop learning, you
start going into not good things in your brain.
You know, you start becoming a couch potato or,
you know, you can even go into dementia if you
stop learning. You got to keep your mind sharp.
Keep your brain active. Keep your brain active.
So Jesus said that he doesn't do anything. except
what he sees the Father doing. And so I'm under
the impression that when he got up while it was
yet dark, he was getting a download from his
father and seeing what was coming for the day.
For the day, yeah. And when we spend time with
the Lord in the morning, we're taking an opportunity
to learn something and get something in relationship
with him, in being. And out of the being, out
of those works, I love this, we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus, created in the Anointed
One, our Savior, for good works, unto good works.
When you think of that word workmanship, you
think like how something is built, like a car,
how complex, like computers. How complex things
are. Yeah. Humans, how complex we are. Oh, yes.
How complex. It's a good thing we only have 10
% of our brain in use. You know, what would have
happened if we had the other 90 after the fall?
Right. Yeah. So we're created for good works,
unto good works. But it's not the works that
define us. It's the relationship that defines
us. So Jesus went on in John 15. talking about
being the true vine and we're the branches. Do
you want to read that? John 15, 1 through 17.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
he takes away, and every branch that does bear
fruit, he prunes. Can I just interject something
here? Remember when Marilyn Hargis taught us
on the vine? The vine, uh -huh. She and her co
-worker, Judith Moore. went to a vineyard and
watched this whole process so that she could
teach from John 15 to really understand. And
this first thing about every branch in me that
does not bear fruit, he takes away, in the Greek,
it really means he lifts it up. And in this real
vineyard that they went to. Sometimes they just
have to lift it up and attach it to something
in order to help it to bear fruit. It's already
talking about pruning in another place. So lifting
it up can help it to bear fruit. So I just thought
I'd throw that in. Don't expect that everything
in your life is going to get cut away. There
is a pruning process, and it's good. It's good
for us. Verse 3. Already you are clean because
of the word that I have spoken to you. That's
the word. Nothing. Without me, you can do nothing.
If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown
away like a branch and withers, and the branches
are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
If you abide in me and my words abide in you,
ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for
you. By this my Father is glorified, that you
bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
See, there's the works. There's the works. Bearing
fruit. Bearing fruit. Yeah, that's the works.
Go ahead. As the Father has loved me, so have
I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just
as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide
in his love. These things I have spoken to you,
that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be full. Amen. In the Message Bible, it says,
live in me. Instead of abide, it says, live in
me. That kind of gives a better description of
that. Yes, absolutely. This is my commandment
that you love one another as I have loved you.
That's big. Greater love has no one than this,
that someone lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
There's the works. No longer do I call you servants,
for the servant does not know what his master
is doing. But I have called you friends, for
all that I have heard from my Father I made known
to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you
and appointed you that you should go and bear
fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that
whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, he
may give it to you. These things I command you,
so that you will love one another. So loving
one another is really the works of God. Because
he is love. And greater love has no man than
this, than that he lay down his life for his
friends. Which Jesus did for us. Exactly. God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believes in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. So this abiding
and abiding in his love and living, I like what
you brought about that, living in his love. living
in his presence. His presence is love. When we
work from that standpoint, when he says, sweep
the garage, that we just sweep the garage. And
that obedience is what he's looking for, that
he gives us things to do. There are works that
we do, but some of it is going to be The Bible
says do this. So we should do these things because
that's what the word of God says. And we rightly
divide the word of truth. Let the Bible interpret
the Bible. Let the scriptures explain to us what
the scriptures mean. Don't just pick out one
verse and say, oh, this verse means this. It's
out of context or outside of the way that God
works. We learn his ways by walking with him.
We learn his ways by learning his word, by learning
history of how he operates. Not that he does
the same thing twice. Lots of times, you know,
he brings fresh new miracles all the time out
of his love, out of his love for us. Learning
to walk with him in love, it's about learning
that walk of the Spirit so that we don't do things
in the flesh. That the works that we do come
out of our relationship. So I love what 1 Corinthians
3 says about... us being God's fellow workers.
Paul is talking in context here about the contentions
that are going on in the church in Corinth. Which
is what most of the letters to the churches were.
Yeah, yeah. He's dealing with, you know, some
people are saying, well, I'm of Apollos, and
others are saying, well, I'm of Paul. And, you
know, so there's divisions. And again, we're
talking about people who are young in their faith.
They're young in their walk. They're immature.
And Paul says, I'm feeding you milk when you
should be ready for some meat. Like a baby, you
don't give a newborn baby meat. You just don't.
Milk is for babies. So Paul is saying, I want
you to grow up. Let's grow up here. Let's get
rid of this contention. One is planting, so verse
6 says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave
the growth. So in other words, we're working
together with God. Take it from verse 7. So neither
he who plants nor he who waters is anything,
but only God who gives the growth. Amen. He who
plants and he who waters are one, and each will
receive his wages according to his labor. For
we are God's fellow workers. Amen. You are God's
field, God's building. According to the grace
of God given to me, like a skilled master builder,
I laid a foundation and someone else is building
upon it. Let each one take care of how he builds
upon it. Okay, so that's you and that's me and
that's everybody that's listening. Every one
of us needs to take care how we build on this
foundation. Go on. According to the grace of
God given to me, Like a skilled master builder,
I laid a foundation and someone else is building
upon it. Let each one take care how he builds
upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Okay, Jesus is the foundation. Cornerstone. If
we make him our cornerstone. Absolutely. Now,
if anyone builds on the foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each
one's work will become manifest. for the day
will disclose it because it will be revealed
by fire, and the fire will test what sort of
work each one has done. If the work that anyone
has built on the foundation survives, he will
receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned
up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will
be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not
know that you are God's temple and that God's
Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's
temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple
is holy, and you are that temple. Oh, you are
that temple. Okay, so there's another picture
of the relationship. You are the temple of God.
Yeah, and you had the tabernacle in the wilderness,
Moses' tabernacle. And David had it, and he put
it out where people can see it, which was amazing.
David's tabernacle. And then you had the temple.
And when you read in the book of Revelation,
you will find the temple. The temple of God was
opened in heaven. So it's on earth as it is in
heaven. That was a pattern given Moses. And when
you read those scriptures about the temple in
heaven, it's just like, oh, wow. There's some
incredible stuff being released. So the temple
on earth was kind of like, Not the replica, but
it was the representation of God's glory on earth
as it was in heaven. Yes. But things kind of
went sour. Well, they did. But God gave instructions
to do it in a way that would be on earth as it
is in heaven. And I'm excited to learn more about.
what Dean saw when we were in Israel with him.
Yeah, he's going to tell us some more. He's going
to tell us more. In a little bit here. Yes. A
few more episodes coming. Yes. So stay tuned,
everybody. But, you know, back to this idea of
we are God's workmanship. We are his temple.
Jesus is the foundation. So he's the foundation
of the temple. And it's up to us what we... build
with? So are we, I'm reminded of the three little
pigs story, you know, where you have the one
little pig that built his house out of straw,
another one out of his sticks, and the other
one out of bricks. What are you going to build
with? What's going to be enduring? Bricks are
going to endure. And when the big bad wolf comes,
I'm going to huff and puff and blow your house
down. Exactly. Exactly. So what are we building
with? Because on the day of judgment, our works
are going to be tried. And our works are what
we built with. So if we built with something
of our own making, if we built with something
that was, you know, rearranging the garage instead
of just sweeping it, you know, that's going to
burn up. I remember the visions that, I think
it was Anna Roundtree had, and she was in heaven.
And she was talking to this little... A being.
It was a being. Yeah, looked like a child. It
looked like a child, but she could tell it was
old. It was an ancient being. And it's talking
to... And the little being, you know, talks about
people, you know, many people make sandcastles.
You know, we just let them make sandcastles.
Yes. You know, and she said, I had the taste
of a copper penny in my mouth, you know. Yes,
I think that that being's name was called Crystal
Clear. Crystal Clear. Yeah, Crystal Clear. And
she was, yeah. And really, Crystal Clear was
pointing out to Anna that she had been building
with sand. Yeah. You know, and many times we
don't know until we have an experience that something
we're doing wasn't right. I mean, how many, you
know, we know numerous ones that have had visits
to heaven, but a lot of times things were correction.
You know, you're not doing this right. It was
Howard Pittman. He was a Baptist minister doing
all the right things. He took in people. Yeah,
standing on street corners, handing out tracts.
Handing out tracts and that. And when he got
to heaven, Jesus wouldn't let him in the gate.
He had a massive heart attack and died instantly.
He says, everything you did was for yourself.
It wasn't for me. I'm giving you another chance
to go back. Oh, wow. See, many never have a second
chance. Very true. Very true. And if he had been
allowed to go in, his works would have been burnt
up. So he would have been saved, yet so as by
fire, as the scripture says, but he would have
had no reward. One of our teachers, that was
June Lewis, always taught with illustrations.
Yes, she was an artist. And she had this picture
of this man before the throne, and with an angel
with a bolt, and had all his works, and all his
works burnt up. Yep. They were all on fire because
they, that was for him. What are we doing? What
can I do? And it's real easy to get busy doing
the work of the ministry, doing the business
of the ministry. I remember a story Jeff Johns
told once. A young lady came up and says, can
I sing? It was a solo or something like that.
He says, well, first, and he had her cleaning
toilets, had her sweeping, having to do all these
things, teaching her to be a servant. Right.
And after she had learned obedience in many ways
and different things, he let her sing. And it
was so anointed. Yes. Yeah. It has to do with
getting our attitude right. Yeah. And a similar
story I'm reminded of is one that Walter Buechler
told. And Walter Buechler was a man who really
walked with God and really practiced the presence
of God. He taught in a Bible school in Pennsylvania
at Camp Hill. There was a young woman, one of
the students, that had a beautiful voice, and
she would sing for their chapel time. And the
Lord told him to tell her that her voice, I don't
remember the exact words, but it was something
along the lines of, your voice is obnoxious to
me. Sit down. Oh, my. And she was horribly embarrassed.
He didn't want to tell her. I mean, who would
want to give that kind of a message from God
to anybody? But he obeyed God and he told her
and she wept and she cried and she sat down.
And I don't think he rebuked her publicly. I
think he gave her the word privately. So she
didn't sing for, I don't know if it was weeks
or months. And then the Lord told him to tell
her it was time for her to sing again. And she
had been humbled in that time because she realized
that the reason why she was singing was out of
her own pride. And that she thought her voice
was so beautiful to God and to everyone else
that there was a pride issue. And so she sat
down humbly for that time and really humbled
herself before God. When he did tell her to sing
again, she said, I was afraid I would never sing
again. Remember, your brother laid down his violin
for a season. Yeah, that was The Eye of the Needle,
the prophetic parable by Charlotte Baker. Yes,
and I think we did a whole podcast on that, so
we'll include the link to that. Because even
at convention, I would help on the sound table,
and there would be this stack of... Of soundtracks.
Oh, yeah. If Sister Gwen asked me to sing, you
know, we got all these stack of cassettes and
CDs, you know. I'm prepared to sing. I'm ready
to sing, yeah. It's always good to be prepared.
Yes. But how did the Lord deal with you? Oh,
wow. Yeah, I had a stack of soundtracks, you
know. And I'd ask Sister Gwen because we were
her road crew. Right. We traveled with her. And
I'd say, do you want me to sing anything tonight,
you know? And she would always, you know, have
something. There would be something, you know,
she's preaching on. I could, you know, do a song
or something. Yeah. And often she did ask you
to do things. Yeah, she did. But there came a
time. When there came a time when things just
started going wrong. Oh, yeah, I remember. I
mean, all of a sudden the soundtrack wasn't,
you know, it would do something. Or the monitors
didn't work. Or maybe the microphone. It was
constant. So I got to realize, and I thought
of this eye of the needle thing. I went back
to that, and I thought, you know, self -examination
is what it was. When a thing like that happens,
what's the purpose for this? So I wouldn't ask
her anymore, only if she asked me to sing. And
then we went through it, and I said, Lord, take
the desire out to lead worship. Because as a
worship leader, you want to get on a stage. And
there can be a lot of pride in that. You see
that all the time. There's something about getting
on the stage in somebody's convention or something.
And if your attitude's not right. And so we went
through a season of time. And I felt like we're
coming out of this. And then we're on our way
to Israel. And it was Sadhu Salvage invited us
to be one of the worship teams on his first conference
on the Mount of Olives. I thought, that's tremendous.
We're coming out full barrel. Thank you, Jesus.
And we're on our way to New York, the long way,
have meetings driving along the way. And that's
when we had our big wreck, which messed. My hands
up, my arms messed a lot of things up. And when
we got home after five weeks, it took about five
weeks before I was able to fly. I told everybody,
you know, the eye of the needle has a long tunnel.
Sometimes when you think you're at the end of
something, there can be a final testing that
will really... You know, it's like almost the
dark night of the soul. Oh, it was. It really
was for us. It absolutely was. We never dreamed
that could ever happen to us. God, how could
you let this happen? You know. Right. But it
happened. Yeah. And there were things that God
was dealing with. Yeah. You know, in my life,
I know. And so. Sometimes we think, Lord, isn't
there an easier way this could have happened?
But wouldn't, isn't it better that we go through
the fire now? on this side rather than having
all of our works burned up on the other side
the scripture what is the profit a man if he
gains the world or whatever he does in the world
and loses his own soul yeah yeah you know even
a particular worship leader in a church we went
to he was asked to leave and we kind of wondered
i wonder what happened you know and and some
years later He got into an accident, and it turns
out he had a mistress. He was into all kinds
of wrong things, and he ended up in a bad car
crash, and he ended up going to jail. But on
the surface, he looked so anointed, but sometimes
you could just kind of tell things that, you
know, okay, because eventually things will come
out. Remember the old saying, you can fool some
of the people all the time, but you can't fool
all the people. You know, how does that work?
You can fool some of the people all the time.
But you can't fool all the people. All the time,
yeah. Some of the people, some of the time. Yeah.
And all the people, some of the time. Well, you
get the idea anyway. Eventually, it's going to
catch you. Yes. You know, like the con man gets
caught usually eventually. Yes. And ultimately,
God is going to see to it that judgment happens.
So if you're a con man in ministry. Ooh. I've
never thought of that before. Oh, and there are
some. And there's a lot of them. Yes. Have you
ever heard that before? The con man in ministry?
Yeah. Wow. And God deals with them. Yeah. God
has the final say. Even though things start out
right. Or maybe they look right. Look right.
But ultimately, God is looking for us to walk
in relationship with him. Yeah. And I love the
fact that he... is the one that initiates the
stuff and he's busy helping us by his Holy Spirit
to get into a place where we're walking with
him and doing stuff out of obedience and doing
stuff out of love for him and just sweeping the
garage when he says sweep the garage. Yeah, and
the scriptures, humble thyself in the sight of
the Lord and he will exalt thee. In due time.
In Kairos time. That's right. I'm sure that would
be more like a Kairos time. Yeah. Yeah. So I
love the fact that it's really God that's busy
doing the whole thing. He's looking for us to
work with him. Yeah. We are. God's fellow workers.
We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus
unto good works. And he has ordained that we
should walk in them. So walking with him is what
makes it work. It makes the works work. Makes
the works work. That's pretty good. So what I
love also is that God, there's a few places in
the scripture where God says the words by myself.
So in the Old Testament, there are several places
where it says, as the Lord lives or as Yehovah
lives. And it's a statement of kind of like making
a declaration about as truly as God lives, this
is the truth. Okay, so God is in a few places,
he's swearing by himself because there's nobody
greater to swear by, right? And he says, as truly
as I live, all the earth shall be filled with
the glory of the Lord. As truly as I live. So
he swears by himself. And in Genesis 22, verses
15 through 18, just read that if you would. And
the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second
time from heaven and said, by myself I have sworn,
declares the Lord, because you have done this
and have not withheld your son. your only son,
so this was Isaac when he was going to offer
him, I will surely bless you and I will surely
multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven
and as the sand that is on the seashore. And
your offspring shall possess the gate of his
enemies. And in your offspring shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed because you have
obeyed my voice. So he's swearing by himself.
So he's saying, as truly as I live, basically,
I have sworn by myself. Because you did this.
See, Abraham did a work. It was a work for him
to obey God when God said, sacrifice your son.
And the point of that, and we've talked about
this before, but the point of that was that on
earth as it is in heaven, Abraham sacrificed
or was willing to sacrifice. It was as though
he had done it. Before he did it. It was in his
heart he had done it. He had sacrificed his son
because God said to. And that was doing on earth
as it is in heaven because our Father in heaven
was going to sacrifice his son on the very same
place. On Mount Moriah, right? So God was declaring.
Because you did this. I'm going to do this. And
I'm going to do it for sure because I'm swearing
by myself. Nobody else. There's nobody else to
swear by. And then in Isaiah 45, 22 and 23, he
says, turn to me and be saved all the ends of
the earth for I am God and there is no other
by myself. I have sworn from my mouth has gone
out in righteousness, a word that shall not return
to me. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall
swear allegiance or every tongue shall confess.
Right. So see, there's things that he does by
himself. He wants us to cooperate with him in
the things that he does. We're working together
with him. We are his fellow laborers, his fellow
workers. In Isaiah 44, 23 to 28, he says, Sing,
O heavens, for the Lord, Yehovah, has done it.
Shout, O depths of the earth. Break forth into
singing, O mountains, O forests, and every tree
in it. For Yehovah the Lord has redeemed Jacob
and will be glorified in Israel. Thus says Yehovah
your Redeemer who formed you from the womb. I
am Yehovah who made all things, who alone stretched
out the heavens, who spread out the earth by
myself. So he's the creator. He did it all by
himself. But he's looking for us to be his fellow
workers. Yeah. Isn't that beautiful? Wow. That
is just amazing. Just amazing. So let's wrap
this up by going to Psalm 46. Psalm 46 is one
of those places that just brings you so much
comfort. I just love Psalm 46. So Psalm 46 from
the Amplified Classic, God is our refuge and
strength, mighty and impenetrable to temptation,
a very present and well -proved help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth
should change, and though the mountains be shaken
into the midst of the seas, though its waters
roar and foam. Though the mountains tremble at
its swelling and tumult, silah, pause and calmly
think of that. There's a river whose streams
shall make glad the city of God, the holy place
of the tabernacles of the Most High. Remember,
we are his temple. So he's busy building his
temple on earth the same way that it is in heaven.
God is in the midst of her. God is in the midst
of you. God is in the midst of me. is in the
midst of us. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God will help her right early
at the dawn of the morning. The nations raged.
The kingdoms tottered and were moved. He uttered
his voice. The earth melted. The Lord of hosts
is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge, our
fortress and high tower. Selah. Pause and think
calmly of that. Come, behold the works of the
Lord. He's done all these things by himself,
and yet he wants to partner with us. Come behold
the works of the Lord, who has wrought desolations
and wonders in the earth. He makes wars to cease
to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow into
pieces and snaps the spear in two. He burns the
chariots in the fire. Let be and be still. and
know, recognize, and understand that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations. I will be
exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with
us. The God of Jacob is our refuge, our high
tower and stronghold. Selah. Pause and calmly
think of that. Beautiful. How amazing that the
one who has done it all wants to work with us,
come behold the works of the Lord. He's working
in us. He's working in us by His Spirit. We are
in Him, and He is in us. And when you have that
life going back and forth through our flesh,
He's designed us so that the life is in us and
around us. His love, His life, His presence.
It kind of like arcs through our flesh to bring
us into subjection, to bring us into that place
where we just sweep the garage. When he says
sweep the garage. This is in verse 8, 9. Everyone
look. This is the Passion Translation. Come and
see the breathtaking wonders of our God. Yes.
For he brings both ruin and revival. Oh, that's
good. He's the one who makes conflicts end throughout
the earth. Breaking and burning every weapon
of war. He's going to do that completely. Yeah,
there's great hope. When we look at everything
accelerating around us, the agendas of things
that are going on, it's just like, you know,
this cannot be fixed in the natural. There's
just no way. Only God can do this. And so when
we look our eyes to him, that's where our hope
lies. Right. Our hope lies in His promise to
pour out His Spirit on all flesh. So we contend
for it, we quit for it, and we engage in it.
Amen. Amen. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please
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Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm
Philip Buss. God bless you with His overwhelming,
loving presence.