International Gospel Hour

Jeff Archey: Israel of old was told, "Quit circling, quit wandering, and turn." Friends, when God says turn, well, we need to turn. Let's quit circling the mountain, shall we? Just ahead on the International Gospel Hour, that's our study today.

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J Web: It's time for our broadcast from the International Gospel Hour. I'm Jay Web, and welcome to our study today as we embrace God's word to help us meet the challenges of today. Let's open our Bibles and open our heart for this time of Bible study with our speaker Jeff Archey of International Gospel Hour. A broadcast of the Churches of Christ.

Here's Jeff.

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Jeff Archey: Well, thank you always to our Jay Web. Greetings and hello everyone. Great having you with us, and we're going to begin with our lesson text from Deuteronomy chapter 2, verses 1 through 3.

The Bible says, "Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness of the way of the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we skirted Mount Seir for many days. And the Lord spoke to me saying, 'You have skirted this mountain long enough. Turn northward.'"

Now, the word "skirted" there, we'll find in some translations, the words "compass" or "wandering," a meaning of not only circling the mountain, but going about or just wandering.

In noting the journey of the children of Israel through the wilderness, God declared divine instruction through Moses, "You have skirted or compassed this mountain long enough." Again, Deuteronomy 2, verse 3. Or in other words, you have gone around the base of this mountain for several days, it's time to move onward.

You know, friends, let's learn a lesson here. Are there not mountains in our lives to where we compass, or we keep going around and around and around and really not get anywhere? We stay in the same old direction that we direct.

Sometimes we move without vision, without passion, without purpose. But as reminded in Moses's time, we keep going around and around and around without that vision, purpose, or direction, and here we are.

So, today I want to challenge us to follow what God directs. Maybe it is time that we cease circling a number of mountains in our lives. It is long enough.

We'll pick up this study in a moment, but first allow me to mention our friends at the website addedtothechurch.com. That's addedtothechurch.com. That's a great effort by DJ and Sarah Curry of Parkersburg, West Virginia. You'll find there some exceptional articles by them and others, and you can subscribe free to two digital publications, the Mountain Messenger and the New Testament Expositor. Everything that you need to know is right there at their website, addedtothechurch.com. Once again, that's addedtothechurch.com.

If you leave them a message, tell them you heard about them here on International Gospel Hour.

Friends, let's quit circling the mountain of wasting time. You know, we have a tendency to waste time. But Ephesians 5:16 reminds us, "Redeeming the time, because the days were evil." AT Robertson in his word pictures looked at that word "redeeming" and said, "We all have the same time, and we find how Paul goes into the open market and buys it up by using it rightly."

So there is the factor, folks. It's imperative that we use our time wisely and use it rightly to make the best of it.

In Luke 14, verses 25 through 30, the Bible says how great multitudes went with Jesus, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it? Lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see will begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'"

The teaching of Jesus there is simply to count the cost. To sit down and to look at our lives, count the cost, and say, "Okay, this is what I'm going to do." We can see his priorities that are there. With father and mother and husband and wife and so on.

And so, friends, we need to make certain that we are not wasting time and quit circling the mountain and make the best use of our time to God's glory.

Here's another mountain that we need to quit circling, and it's similar to wasting time, but what about the mountain of procrastination?

God forbid that any of us be like Felix in Acts 24, verses 24 and 25. And you know, he sent for Paul, but afterward, he trembled at what he had heard. He'd even called for Paul other times as we see in verse 26, but we find no example from the scriptures where Felix came to Jesus Christ, where he obeyed the gospel, and history said that he did not.

He kept putting that off. Paul shared with him about things that he should be doing, and he said, "Go for now, when I have a more convenient season, I will call for you."

And we go around and around sometimes without using our time wisely. We put things off that we should be doing. And when we put off the decision to follow Christ, that has eternal consequence, friends, and will condemn one soul if one does not make that decision before one dies. We need to quit circling the mountain of procrastination.

I'll give you another one. Let's quit circling the mountain of apathy.

You know, apathy is that mountain that we need to cease circling and stop wandering, that attitude that simply does not care. Can you imagine there's no emotion on a matter, no compassion, no concern for anything or anyone?

And you know, even within the church of Laodicea, in Revelation 3, 14 through 16, they allowed the things of the world to dictate their comfort, and they became apathetic with their faith. Listen to what the Lord said in Revelation 3, 14 through 16 to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, "Write: 'These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.'" That's Jesus, friends. That's Colossians 1:18 to the core. Colossians 1:15 through 20, shall we say?

But he says, "You want to hear from the Christ." He's speaking directly to his church, this congregation, and he says, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit or spew you out of my mouth."

You can't have that type of attitude that's simply not caring, just kind of going on, looking at your own life. Indeed, friends, that's a mountain that takes us around and around with no direction, no concern, and we need to take some advice: turn northward or change directions. We need to quit circling the mountain of apathy.

Here's another one, friends. This one probably gets a lot of us. Let's quit circling the mountain of worry.

Worry is a great mountain, and let's just go to the New Testament when Jesus said in Matthew 6, beginning with verse 24, "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What we shall drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all, these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Friends, worry is a never-ending circle, a never-ending compass. It wanders around and around with emotions all torn. Paul told the church at Philippi years later, "Be careful or anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Philippians 4:6.

Friends, maybe we need to turn things over to the Lord, the worry, the concern and strife. Here's a little rule of thumb concerning worry. If you can't do anything about it, worry won't change it. And if you can do something about it, then work and don't worry.

Let's quit circling the mountain of ignorance.

Hosea 4 and verse 6 reminds us how God's people were destroyed for a lack of knowledge. How those at Berea did not allow ignorance to permeate their lives. We see that in Acts 17, 10 and 11. Ignorance and refusal to learn is as one that is ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Second Timothy 3:7. They will possess a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. Second Timothy 3:5.

We need to be individuals that will grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Second Peter 3:18, to seek his word, to seek the scripture, and quit circling the mountain of ignorance. Make sure what we hear, we can follow in scripture.

Oh, friends, wasting precious time, apathy, worry, ignorance. Oh, how these are mountains we go around and around and around. We need to quit circling these mountains, friends, because they get us nowhere.

I'm going to pause and defer to our Jay Web. Hey, we've got an awesome free booklet we want to send you. Here's Jay with those details of how you can receive your free gift from us here at International Gospel Hour.

J Web: In a world of division and even confusion in the religious world, friends, please know this: the Bible is always right.

The free booklet, "Something Is Wrong, But The Bible Is Right," is available from International Gospel Hour. Please call us toll-free at 855-444-6988 and leave your name, your address, and just say "Bible Tract." That's it. You may also go to our website at internationalgospelhour.com, click on the contact tab, and leave us the same information: name, address, and type "Bible Tract" in the message box. We will get it to you right away.

Jeff Archey: So, friends, let's quit circling mountains that are getting us nowhere, but let us turn toward the direction of the Lord and do what is right. Hey, thank you for joining me today here on the International Gospel Hour, and we'll study together at another time. I'm Jeff Archey, and friends, keep listening.

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J Web: Thank you for listening today. To God be the glory, and we hope that our study today will draw you closer to his word to walk in his way.

Feel free to listen to our other programs at our website at internationalgospelhour.com and join us next time.

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