In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: Remember this: the sovereign God who knows the present, the past, and the future, and knows what's happening at this moment, and who knows what's happening when you get out here, knows that when you get out of his schedule and off of his track, you are going to suffer consequences. He says to you, "Don't do that, don't do that, don't do that." You do it anyway, and then you say, "Oh God, what happened?" It was really simple. You got off track.

Guest (Male): People often feel proud about doing their own thing, but our best guess is often dangerously flawed. Today's edition of In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, issues a caution. When we disregard biblical principles, we'll likely end up where we didn't plan to go. That's true for individuals, communities, and nations. Here's part two of "Staying on Track."

Dr. Charles Stanley: If you said to the engineer, "We have a 500-mile trip here, and this is the way this train's going," and suppose you said, "Well, look, when we get over here about 200 miles, why don't we just take a left turn somewhere?" The engineer's not going to do that because he knows you'll never get to your destination unless you stay on track.

Every time you get off track, what happens? You get a big locomotive off track, and it takes cranes, it takes all kinds of things and time and days to get them back on track. When a Christian gets off track, watch this carefully. You lose time, you lose blessing, you lose all kinds of things in your Christian life because only as you and I are walking in his will and doing what he asks us to do are we going to get blessed.

So what I want to do in this message is this: I want to give you a track. It's just the track that I know has worked for me for a long, long time. It was a long time before I ever called it a track, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized this is my track. This is what keeps me aware of where I am in my Christian life. So I want to encourage you to jot down these notes. God will show you how to apply that to your own life.

But the first stage of this track is number one, and that is: schedule prayer and meditation in the Word as the daily priority of your life. This is the way the Christian life should start every day, and that is with the Father. He knows everything you're going to face. He knows all of your needs. He knows you're going to get hurt, knows you're going to get rejected, knows you're going to get loved on, whatever it might be. So this is the way it begins.

There is a track, and every single stop on this track you're going to see is very important, very scriptural, very biblical, and very essential to staying on the track. You can get off track easily. You can get off track by neglect, or you can get off track by deliberately, willfully sinning against God. If you're going to live a consistent life and put yourself in a position where God can bless you with his best, there's not anything in the Bible about God blessing anybody with his second best. He wants the very best for his children. So his children must walk the pathway that allows God to be just and holy and at the same time bless us.

So number one, meditating upon the Word of God. Then, of course, there is this whole issue of depending upon the Holy Spirit. This is a vital part of the track. Just think about this for a moment. When you were saved, the Bible says the Holy Spirit came into your life to indwell you. Why did he do that?

Jesus said in this 14th chapter, it’s interesting how loving and kind and sympathetic he was to them, tenderhearted. Listen to what he said in this 14th chapter. He says, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever." So he says, "I'm leaving you, but the Father's going to send somebody to take my place." That is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him. But you know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

Beginning at Pentecost from that point on, he's going to be in you. Now watch. He says to encourage them, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." So how do we live the Christian life? Like this: Jesus is living through us, in us, through the Holy Spirit who lives it out in us. You say, "Well, where is Jesus?" Seated at the Father's right hand. But he's also in your life and my life because the Holy Spirit—remember what he said—he said he'll be with you and he'll also be in you.

Every believer is indwelt by, sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Now, why does he do that? Because he knows that you and I do not have it within us the ability and the skill and the power and the strength to live a godly life in an ungodly world. We don't. And so he sent the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one who does what? He equips us.

For example, if let's say you are a teacher, and you have the gift—think of all the gifts he gives, whether it's exhortation or teaching or giving or administration or mercy—in other words, all the gifts he gives. Why does he give them? He gives them to equip that person for that specific task. So that you today are equipped by the Holy Spirit to do whatever God has ordained for you to do in your life.

When a person says, "Well, I can't serve the Lord, I don't have this education," listen, it isn't education, it's the Holy Spirit living within you, endowing you, enduring within you throughout your whole Christian life. Doing what? Equipping you, enabling you to do whatever God called you to do. And on this track of living the Christian life, when you start doing it in your own strength, you're going to get in trouble.

The same thing is true of salvation. How were you saved? You weren't saved by your works; you were saved by a gift from God. And part of that gift was the indwelling Holy Spirit. So that every single day, you and I have the privilege of telling him. I like telling him in the morning, "Lord, you know what's ahead of me today. I need your Spirit, fresh and new today, to enable me, to strengthen me, to guide me, to interpret for me, to show me the truth, not to be deceived by anything. I'm trusting you to do your work in me today."

The truth is, that's what he does in your life when you allow him to do it. You say, "Well, what's the power of the Holy Spirit?" It's God's divine energy working in your life. You say, "Well, I'm just a homemaker." Well, Mom, you've got the toughest job in the world. Raising teenagers, I don't know of any job any tougher than that. We think people who are president of this and president of that and president of the other. The Holy Spirit of God in the life of the believer is there to equip you, enable you, and to encourage you in whatever the task is at the moment. That's who we have.

Not only that, he's there to also energize us and protect us and give us the strength to say no when we are tempted. We don't have to make that decision alone. We have the Holy Spirit within us, and so we have a conscience and the Holy Spirit uses that conscience to show us that something is wrong. Speaks to our spirit, "This is not the best way, this is not the right way, this is not the way of God." And so if you're on the track and you've got a track to go by, you know whether you're working and operating out of the Spirit or whether you're not.

You get up in the morning, you just head off, forget all about God till some problem or some issue hits you, then you start calling on him. Listen, he wants us, and this is why we put it first, he wants us listening to him privately with him before the day ever starts. And then we have him living within us every single day. That's when a person says to me, "Well, they want me to do this, that, and the other." If God tells you to do something, he is fully committed to enable you through the power of the Spirit working within you to do whatever he called you to do.

This is why I think many people go to church and live out their church life by simply sitting and listening to sermons and so forth, or maybe doing something here and there. But every single person, God has a plan for your life. He has equipped you. You may not think you're equipped, but you're equipped. And whatever technical equipment that needs to go on in your life, God's going to provide whatever you need. He's committed to that. It would be unfair for God to call you to do something and then you just do it on your own. That's not who he is. Nowhere in the Bible does he say that's the way he operates.

So it's the work of the Holy Spirit, the awesome work of the Holy Spirit. When Paul, for example, was preaching, he said, "I'm not preaching to you and trying to be smart with big words." He said, "It's in the power of the Holy Spirit." And their work was the work of the Holy Spirit. Every single day, you and I have a track we are living on. God is at work in the life of his people if they will just realize he has this wonderful track by which we're to live.

Then, of course, number six, and this is very, very, very important: remember that God loves you unconditionally. You say, "Well, that doesn't sound like that's a very important one." Let me tell you why it is. Because every single one of us is going to face those situations that would discourage us if we allowed it. Secondly, we're going to face those situations in which we're going to get hurt because we're human. We're going to get rejected. There will be situations when we lose, whatever it might be, how other people want to treat us.

Here's what he's saying to us. This will help you stay on track. No matter what happens to me today, no matter how people treat me, my heavenly Father loves me unconditionally. You know what that means? It means it doesn't make any difference what happens; he's going to love us anyway. If you don't feel that, you don't experience that, you don't believe that, you'll get off track. I can guarantee it.

You know why you'll get off track? Watch this. Because every person is seeking to be loved. Everybody. We find it or we don't find it. Look how most of the world is seeking to fulfill their desire to be loved. What happens is it never reaches love for many people; it's always lust. Something for me, something for me, something for me, something for me. When true, genuine love goes way beyond all of that.

Then also on this track is this whole issue of giving to God generously. You say, "Well, now wait a minute, I thought this was living the Christian life." It is indeed. In Luke chapter six, verse 38, listen to what he says, and Jesus said it: "Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." What he was simply saying is you can't outgive him. Give, and it shall be given to you.

Why would Jesus make such a point? "Give, and it shall be given to you." Why? For the simple reason of what he knew that would cure in a person's life. For example, if you and I know how to give, we will not be selfish, we will not be greedy, we will be loving, we won't be self-centered, we'll be looking for somehow to help somebody else.

Give, and it shall be given you. Listen, if you and I do not know how to give, we will never stay on track. If you don't know how to give, you're going to be selfish, you're going to be covetous. You're always looking for what somebody can do for you. And you and I know we live in a world where whether it's in business or whatever it might be relationships, to find people who really and truly love you just for who you are and accept you just the way you are. Or if it's in some business deal, you have to be careful that they don't take advantage of you, or that they don't treat you in such a fashion that you know is not really fair.

Givers are the happiest people. Givers are the happiest people. You know why? Because there's a flow going on. And that flow is as God gives, you give. God gives, you give. God gives, you give. God gives, you give. Then when you say, "That's the end of that," I hate to say this, but you become like a stagnant pool. When you clam up and you get selfish, you get greedy and you get covetous and it's all about me, then you're off track. This is why I say to you, here's what the Word of God says: if you're wise, you will obey it.

Giving is part of God's whole system. I'll tell you why. Look at the cross and look what he gave. How could I ever withhold anything from almighty God when he gave his only begotten Son? And so giving is a part of the track. It's a wonderful part of the track.

And here's what happens. Once you settle that issue. I can remember my mother telling me this. I didn't believe it. She'd say, "Charles, it's really much more fun for me to give to you than for you to give to me." Oh, not at my age it wasn't! I have to admit, I thought that giving business. But it didn't take me long to watch her. Always giving. Sometimes I thought we don't have it to give. Always giving. But she was always happy. We always had everything we needed. Finally, I caught on. My mom was right. And that is: the happiest people are giving people. Generous people. I do not know of a stingy, tight person anywhere who's happy. I don't.

Think about this. You can be stingy and tight and keep it to yourself and die with it. Why don't you just give it and get blessed while you're here? That's part of the track. You get off the track in your giving, you're going to be off.

Then there is the assurance that God is in absolute control of your life. A major part of this track, and here's the reason. If God is not in control, you and I have lots of reasons to worry and fret and be scared to death. He says he has established his throne in the heavens, and his sovereignty rules over all. Psalm 103, verse 19. He's in charge. He has control over everything.

So Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Don't be anxious about all these things." Why? "Your heavenly Father knows what you have need of and he's going to provide." Part of the track, very, very important part of the track, is the recognition and the acknowledgment that our sovereign God is in absolute control of every single solitary thing.

Will I always understand it? He didn't promise that. Will I always like what he does? Not necessarily. But he says he's in control. And his being in control means that I don't have to worry about what he's going to do because I know, watch this, loving me unconditionally, loving you unconditionally, and living by his own principle that he's going to cause everything to work together for your good, then what? He's going to provide what you need. He's going to work it out.

Our problem is we don't trust him. We get off track. Listen, if you're off track, you're out in the mud somewhere, then you've got to figure your way how you're going to do it when you could be sailing through the woods and through the mountains on a clear track, and you're over here with a wheelbarrow trying to make things work. You get off track. And remember this: when you acknowledge that he's in absolute control of everything, you have acknowledged an awesome sense of faith. "I'm trusting you, God, for everything."

It's part of the track. In fact, you can't eliminate any of this without getting in trouble if you get off the track. Then I would say one last thing. If you're going to stay on track, you have to keep your eyes on your destination. Listen to what Jesus said. He said, "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you." And he says, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again to receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also." And they knew that he ascended from the grave, went to heaven.

So what's your destination? You only have one of two destinations. There is a heaven and there is a hell. There are people who absolutely reject the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior. You say, "What's hell like?" I don't know that I know what hell is like, and I never intend to find out. I know this: however you want to count it, without Christ, you are eternally separated from God.

Now watch this. So when it comes time for you to die, and by the way, there's no escape. It's appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment. Listen: your trip ends. The last breath you breathe, and you have reached your destination. And there's not anything you can do about changing it unless you change it before that last second.

We're all going to reach a destination. If you are wise, you will trust the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and set your course to live a godly life. Everybody has a destination, but when you reach it, there's no turning back and no second chance. That's why you need to be saved by the grace of God, who gives absolute certainty and assurance and clarity as to what's going to happen when he calls your name.

There is a track. And what you want to do is you want to get on that track and you want to live it out. Not going to be perfect; that's what grace is all about. You want to live it out so when you come to the destination, you'll be welcomed by the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever and ever. That's his promise.

And Father, I pray the Holy Spirit, who is the one who convicts us of our sin and who gives direction for our life, who's the great enabler, and who's willing to bring about conversion in the heart of any person who desires to be saved. Speak to every heart, God, is my prayer. We have one trip through this life, one destination. Thank you, thank you, thank you, God, for your awesome grace, is my prayer. In Jesus' name, amen.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. If you're not sure about your eternal destination, you can settle that question right now with humble faith in Jesus Christ. Thank him for paying sin's penalty in your place and ask God to forgive you. Once you do that, you are forever the child of God.

To learn more about starting and nurturing a relationship with Jesus, just log on to intouch.org and you can go back over what you heard at the link to Today on Radio. And order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, "Staying on Track." Connect to our online bookstore. Again, you can log on to intouch.org or call or text 1-800-INTOUCH. To write to us, address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

What does it mean for God to love you unconditionally? Today's moment with Charles Stanley is coming up.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Let your time and your schedule and everything about you revolve around this: that you and I are to develop and continue to develop this ongoing, intimate, wonderful, exciting, satisfying, indescribable, wonderful, incomparable relationship with a personal God. Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us get closer to Jesus, as we all want to do. You can learn how at CharlesStanleyInstitute.org.

Guest (Male): We're not the first to seek a life of purpose. The Bible tells of many who followed a specific path step by step with courage, with surrender for a deeper purpose, a stronger passion, a lasting peace. Introducing Your Path to Purpose, Passion, and Peace, a new 90-day devotional inspired by the timeless teaching of Dr. Charles Stanley. Available now at intouch.org/store.

From the Pastor's Heart is an in-depth teaching letter inspired by the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley. To receive In Touch's From the Pastor's Heart letter, call 1-800-INTOUCH or visit intouch.org/pastorsheart. You're listening to In Touch. Here's Dr. Stanley describing the unconditional love of God for believers. In a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: If you love someone unconditionally, there are no ifs, ands, buts, whens, wheres, and whys. If he loves you unconditionally, he just loves you. And here's what happens. Many times we get into situations that are difficult and trying, and we don't think maybe God's listening like we'd like for him to. What happens is we begin to operate on our emotions. And so, "I don't feel God loving me. I don't feel that."

And I'll have to be honest: it took me many years in my Christian life before I emotionally accepted and truly believed that God loved me plus nothing. Because I found myself for years trying to do what? Trying to deserve it, trying to measure up, trying to get his acceptance. I didn't need his acceptance; I already had it. But I didn't understand it growing up, and backgrounds have all kind of effects upon us. And I can remember the day and exactly where I was and who I was with when for the first time in my life, I knew God loved me unconditionally, no matter what. Changed my whole attitude.

You say, "Well, I don't know why that would hinder your Christian life." Yes, it does. If you don't believe God loves you unconditionally, watch this: that means you believe that all love you receive is conditioned upon something within you. So let me ask you this: what is it in you that's worth loving from God? We're just flesh and bone and blood. And you know what it is? It's who you are. He made you. Listen, he made you because he loves you. He loves you absolutely unconditionally. When you are able to accept his unconditional love, listen, it motivates you to do whatever he wants you to do, no matter what it is.

Guest (Male): God's love is not something you can earn; you simply receive it by faith in Jesus Christ. So trust him today and learn more when you visit intouch.org. If today's program gave you renewed motivation to obey God, we'd love to hear your story. Tomorrow on In Touch, sometimes we carry things that seem too heavy. Hear how you can release your burdens to the Lord next time on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on the station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.