-Transcript-
00:24 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the program.
00:28 Welcome to the Cafe. Thank you for joining me here today, Pastor Clark Covington. Pastor of Heartland Community Baptist Church out of Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
00:33 Amen. Foothills, they call it. The foothills.
00:38 Cleveland County. Amen. Cleveland County.
00:42 Here we are today in the fourth part of a four-part series on traveling on the King’s Highway, keeping the way. Traveling on the King’s Highway, keeping the way. You know, it’s easy to get off course these days.
00:58 My wife and I sometimes laugh. We look at Google Maps or the GPS and say, what do people do with a paper map? How do they do this? Especially being out, you know, in the mountains or in the country. It’s hard.
01:13 I remember a couple of weeks ago, I was visiting. We went to an Amish country outside of Ellenborough, I believe it is. And we were visiting a shop there.
01:23 And we were talking to an individual about a craftsman, another individual, and he drew me a paper map. We took that map and we got plain lost. It looks so simple.
01:34 We got lost. It took us 30 minutes or more to find this guy’s cousin with this little paper map he drew us. And that’s the point is that even in today’s digital age, we still can get lost.
01:47 And here as we serve God, we being born again Christians. I’m speaking to the believer here today. As we serve God, as we live for God, how easy it is to get off course, how easy it is to get off track.
02:02 Oh, if I had time, if you gave me three hours, four hours, which I know wouldn’t be fun for you. But for me, I could get it all off my chest to how many snares and traps and temptations.
02:12 The ride home from school today, the teenager asked how things were going.
02:19 I bet you after about five, 10 minutes of me talking, he didn’t want to hear it anymore. Amen. We face so many troubles in this Christian life and yet God calls us to stay on the path.
02:30 He calls us here. Proverbs 16:17, the highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way, preserveth his soul.
02:37 So we see the highway of the upright is depart from evil. And I know this could mean the highway, like the right way, the best way, the upper way, you know, the moral way is to keep, is to depart from evil and he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. But it does say he that keepeth his way.
02:56 So that’s why I’ve got that King’s Highway analogy. That’s why I’ve got that idea of a traveler, of a pilgrim. The Bible word would be sojourner.
03:07 You know, we see in the Bible over and over again, God’s people called sojourners, amen. We see it in Acts. We see it in the Old Testament as well, in Genesis.
03:17 We see God’s people referred to as such, that they’re passing through. Remember they were sojourning in the wilderness. They were sojourning before that in Egypt, amen.
03:28 They’re passing through on the way to the promised land, and that’s a picture of us as Christians. Egypt is a picture of the world.
03:40 And as the Israelites were in heavy bondage in Egypt, so are people born into this world with that sin nature from the old Adam, the first Adam, amen.
03:46 We have that sin nature, and we can’t help but live in the flesh, and we’re in this world spiritually dead until we get born again, amen. Until we’re born again, we’re bought by the blood of Jesus Christ.
03:59 The precious blood of Jesus saves our soul.
04:02 Nothing we can do, everything he did, amen. He did, as in past tense, it’s already been done. All we have to do is accept that free gift of salvation, and we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
04:18 We’re born again, and guess what? We get the Holy Spirit living within us. We have our name written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We have peace with God.
04:24 The Bible says we’re reconciled to God. We have a mediator in Christ. There’s all these great promises the Bible gives us to be saved.
04:28 One thing the Bible also tells us is that we’re gonna face tribulation because now we’re no longer of this world. We know the little g God of this world is the devil.
04:37 We know Satan is roaring around like a lion, looking at who he can devour, amen.
04:38 We’re called to be sober and vigilant because of this, and as we travel, we shouldn’t get too comfortable, but yet we shouldn’t let our burdens get us down. We have to realize we’re gonna face many temptations,
04:54 but we should count that as joy. James 1, 2, 3, 4, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience,
05:08 but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, and so we know that when we travel, we’re going to, as we travel through this Christian,
05:21 as we travel in this Christian walk as Christians, as we travel through this world, which is not our home, we’ll face many temptations.
05:23 One of the temptations could be to make the world our home. One of the temptations could be to fall into worldly comforts, right? Think about the idea of making it big in this world.
05:32 What does that, you think of like social media, someone makes a post about making it big in this world.
05:40 What does that look like? I bet you it looks like somebody that’s living very comfortably, and we as Christians are uncomfortable here, aren’t we? We’re uncomfortable.
05:48 The world says bow down to the God of money, bow down to the God of materialism, and yet the Bible says no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
06:00 You cannot serve God and mammon.
06:03 What is mammon? That’s riches, money. You can’t serve both. You say, well, Brother Clark, I’m not serving both.
06:08 I just, you know, I know that if I have a certain amount of money, this is going to go this way and this is going to go that way. Well, that’s not the case, amen. We are to trust God first.
06:17 We are to store up our treasure in heaven. We are to have our eyes on him, amen. And then all these things will be added unto you, amen.
06:27 That’s the kind of the priority we should have, Matthew 6:33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you, all our necessities, all our needs.
06:41 We have to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
06:47 It goes back to our text verse, the idea of not departing from the upright way, not going towards the evil way, but staying on the path, staying on the king’s highway, staying on the path that God’s guided us on.
06:58 And here is where we’re going to spend the rest of our time today, and to wrap up this message, is safe travel involves discipline and forethought, and this is the preserving of your soul.
07:08 You know, I travel a lot for work, and I work a lot because, like Paul, I work to provide for the ministry.
07:17 And so everything, all our radio and everything is just from what God’s allowed me to do through business. That’s it. You know, that’s where we don’t ask for anything.
07:28 We’re not funded by anybody, certainly no denomination, amen? We’re on our own, besides God, amen. But God, and God gets all the glory, and he does, and you can ask my family and our church every month.
07:37 I’m up there during our praise report time, praising God for coming through with another month to allow us to be on all these radio stations and do the podcasts and all these things.
07:48 But one thing the Lord has allowed me to do is travel for work and for the ministry, both.
07:55 They are kind of one and the same, really. And so I travel a lot, and much more in the last couple of years. As I’ve been traveling, what I’ve learned to do is prepare before I go on a trip.
08:07 A good traveler will have a plan in advance, thinking about potential obstacles. So I’ll look at a map. I’ll look and see sometimes if maybe the exit is open, or is there a road closed, is there a detour?
08:20 How far is it from this waypoint? What is it near? Is it near this landmark? What the weather is going to look like? I’ll look at the weather report.
08:27 You know, I’ll look and make sure the tire’s got air in them, the oil’s been changed. You know, make sure, you know, have some water on hand, et cetera, et cetera. I’m looking at these things.
08:38 I’m preparing in advance. Well, as we serve the Lord, as we live for Christ, we need to have that discipline and forethought as we travel through this broken, perverse world so that we don’t fall into temptation.
08:55 You know, in the very book of Proverbs, it writes about the fool, you know, the fool just falling over to the harlot, the fool being an idiot and going after these things over and over again.
09:09 Book of Proverbs oftentimes is a juxtaposition. You’ll have the good and the bad, the good and the bad, the good and the bad, and it’s our book of wisdom. And here in this verse from Proverbs, we’re taught in Proverbs 16:17, that the highway of the upright is to depart from evil.
09:18 He that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. And we’re shown that this is the idea of being an overcomer. And you’re not overcoming this world by accident.
09:26 And guess what, friend? You’re not overcoming this world by ignorance. You know, how can you say that you’re going to live by how God wants you to live if you don’t read your Bible?
09:54 How would you know what evil is? The Bible’s telling us to avoid evil. How would you know what evil is? An example I gave previously is you have a dispute with your boss and you want to slap your boss or you want your boss to get fined or get fired.
10:00 You have a problem with your boss. And in the world’s eyes, you know, hey, get your pound of flesh, get your vengeance. And without the Bible, you may think that’s right.
10:10 The world’s taught you it’s right. Now, you get into the Bible and the Bible says that we war not against people, not against flesh, but against principalities, against powers in high places. You realize that your battle is not with man, but with Satan and the devil.
10:24 You realize that the weapons of warfare are not carnal, they’re not earthly. And so all of a sudden, you’re praying for this individual that they’ll be saved.
10:34 You’re praying for their welfare and their blessing because that’s what the Bible tells you to do.
10:39 And you’re on guard and sober and vigilant realizing what the devil is trying to get you to do and you don’t get involved in it.
10:50 And you depart from that evil. And now all of a sudden, you are a witness to what a godly, heavenly individual looks like, a Christ-like individual looks like.
10:55 Think of the patience in Jesus’ earthly ministry. Think of the great love that he had of how he would, he was so patient with the disciples as even they didn’t understand a lot of these principles. He was patient with those that would come to him.
11:09 He was loving to them. Even when they were casting, you know, they were casting lots, they were gambling to see who would get his clothes as he was being crucified, as he was being murdered on the cross, innocent for no reason.
11:21 He asked the Father to forgive them for they know not what they do.
11:32 Oh, is that not love and forgiveness? Oh, is that not counter to everything we see in the world? And how can we as Christians go walk around, say we’re gonna live as God wants us to live and not truly rightly divide God’s word?
11:40 The Bible says that we should not be ashamed rightly dividing his word. We need to be in the word. I’m not saying that I know everything in the Bible.
11:48 What I’m saying is I get into the Bible. What I urge my church to do is get into the Bible. God gave me this group.
11:54 I said, okay, God’s given me this small group here. I’m gonna tell you all right now, what we need to do is get in the Bible. You want more faith? Get in the Bible.
12:00 You want to get close to God? Get in the Bible. You don’t need to understand it all. Just simply take the time, right? Isn’t that a matter of faith? You know, our time is so precious as adults.
12:10 Oh, it’s so precious. You got kids, you got work, whatever it may be, responsibilities, maybe you’re taking care of your parents, your grandparents, so much going on.
12:17 To give a minute, 10 minutes, an hour, two hours to something is a big commitment in this day and age where everyone’s so busy.
12:23 And when you do that for God by getting into his word, what you’re really doing is renewing your own mind and you’re strengthening yourself.
12:32 And you’re creating this discipline and forethought before you’re out traveling throughout your day to be close to God, to be on guard, to determine not to let any temptations get in your way, to understand the destination that you’re going is near.
12:48 You know, one thing you’ll learn as you get in the study of God’s word is we’re not far from the end of the end of the end days.
12:53 We’re not far from the rapture. I’m listening for that trumpet sound, amen, ask my family, ask people around me. I honestly believe it is here.
13:00 It could come today. The Lord could return today and I would be shouting hallelujah if I can even shout because I’ll be so glad. I’ll be so glad for that day, but that’s our motivation.
13:12 As we travel, we realize we do have a destination and that destination is not too far. And so since that destination is not too far, oh, woe is us if we ever fall into any kind of sin. Yes, we have an advocate in Christ, but let’s not even fall into that sin.
13:23 Because you know what? We’re so close. The Bible says we should present ourselves pure and blameless before the father. And we’re so close to that day.
13:37 Why, why, why, why get yoked up in the things of this world? Maybe there’s something in this world that is just driving you nuts today. Give it to God. Give it to God in prayer.
14:14 Be still and know that he is God and turn your thoughts to him, the one that will keep you in perfect peace as your mind is stayed upon him. As the book of Isaiah tells us, just keep your mind on Christ. Keep your mind on God as you travel.
14:08 Keep your thoughts and your directions in a godly way. Stay away from the unclean thing. Depart from the unclean thing.
14:10 Stay focused on God as you travel. Understand that you are a traveler and that there is a destination and that destination is very near and it is a real place and it is called heaven for the believer. The unbeliever will be in hell.
14:22 Hell’s a real place too. But heaven is for the believer and we’re almost there.
14:26 Hang in there. Stay close to God.
14:31 Thank you for listening, Take care and God bless. Amen.