Josh McDowell told this great story. An executive hirer, a “headhunter” who goes out and hires corporation executives for other firms, once told me, “When I get an executive that I’m trying to hire for someone else, I like to disarm him. I offer him a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever until he’s all relaxed. Then, when I think I’ve got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, “What’s your purpose in life?” It’s amazing how top executives fall apart at that question. “Well, I was interviewing this fellow the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about football. Then I leaned up and said, ‘What’s your purpose in life, Bob?’ And he said, without blinking an eye, ‘To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.’ For the first time in my career, I was speechless.” What about you? Do you know what your place is in God? Do you know how to find it?
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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.
Accept the Challenge
Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This week’s call is:
Seeking God, reverence, humility, and submission to God’s Word are some keys to helping you find your place in God. Now is the time to adjust and to set your heart in these areas.
Join the Conversation
Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:
Question: What other areas have you found which helped you to become more open to the will of God? Please share this in the comments section below.
Episode Resources:
You can find additional information on the subject of the will of God in the resources listed below.
About Emery
Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.
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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com
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Podcast Notes
Luke 16:10-12 (NKJV)
10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?
- If you are faithful in little, you’re faithful in much also.
- If God promotes you from little to much, it is obvious that little was not your place.
- If He promotes you from what is another man’s to what is your own, it is obvious that what is another man’s was not your place.
- This is the reason why some people never find their full place. They are simply not faithful in the small.
- Faithfulness in little things is a big thing.
- It’s how Paul got to his ministry.
1 Timothy 1:12 (KJV)
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
- It’s a simple question. Can God trust you?
- We normally think the other way around, can we trust God? But finding your place is the opposite, can God trust you?
Genesis 22:1-2 (NKJV)
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”And he said, “Here I am.”2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
- Watch the elevation. Watch the promotion in Abraham’s life.
Gen. 22:16-18 (NKJV)
16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
- By being faithful with the one son he had, Abraham gained more sons.
- How did he get to that place?
- And not only a multitude of sons, but the ultimate son Jesus Christ.
- Having one son was not his place. Abraham’s place was a multitude of sons.
- Abraham’s place was to be ‘father of a multitude.’ But he only had one son which doesn’t qualify as a multitude.
- God had appeared to him and changed his name from Abram to Abraham.
- Abram means high father.
- Abraham means father of a multitude.
- God will allow you to serve in ‘little places’ until you are ready for bigger places.
Seeking God: A Part of Finding Your Place
2 Chr. 26:1-5 (NKJV)
1 Now all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 2 He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his fathers. 3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. 4 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
- Uzziah sought God.
- Seeking God is part of finding your place.
- As long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.
- Some people never find their place because they are not willing to seek God for it.
- Uzziah had an anointing to be king.
- Three kinds of people had the anointing in the Old Testament.
- Prophets
- Priests
- Kings
- In the New Testament, there are many more offices, at least seventeen.
- Five in Ephesians 4:11
- Seven in Romans 12:6-8
- Five in 1 Corinthians 12:28
- This anointing caused Uzziah to be very very effective.
- The name Uzziah means ‘My strength is the Lord’s.’
- How effective was he?
- The reign of Uzziah’s paralleled David’s and Solomon’s in comparison.
- 2 Chronicles 26:6-8 describes Uzziah’s military success.
- He was successful to the west against the Philistines, the east against the Arabs and Ammonites), and the south against the Egyptians.
- If you look at a Bible map, God prospered him in a complete circle. In other words, God prospered him in all directions.
- 2 Chronicles 26:15 – ‘He made devices in Jerusalem…..’
- God gave Uzziah inventions.
- Engines to shoot arrows and great stones.
- The summation of this is found in 2 Chronicles 26:15 – ‘He was marvelously helped.”
- When you are in your place. There is effectiveness. Uzziah was marvelously effective in his ministry office of King.
- Uzziah was anointed as king. He had the anointing oil poured over him. The anointing taught him how to prosper.
- But, just because you are anointed in one area does not mean that you are anointed in other areas. You have to find your place.
2 Chronicles 26:16 (KJV)
16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
- Burning incense upon the altar was the priest’s job.
- An anointed priest in his place was supposed to do this.
- This was not within the realm of his kingly anointing!
- What did the Lord think about this? What happened to Uzziah?
2 Chronicles 26:19 (KJV)
19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar.
- This is what happened to a man that was marvelously helped.
- The moral of the story is obvious.
- Find your place and stay there. Allow your brother to find his place.
[Tweet “God will allow you to serve in ‘little places’ until you are ready for bigger places.”]
Humility: A Part of Finding Your Place
- Let’s look at some other lessons that we can learn from Uzziah.
- What caused him to fall out of place?
- Pride
- If pride caused him to fall out of his place, then genuine humility must be part of finding your place.
- Humility is reality.
- Humility is not demeaning yourself negatively.
- In some church circles, people say of themselves, “I am just a worm in the dust.”
- This is not humility at all.
- Are you saying to me that the sacrifice of Jesus produced worms?
- Revelation, chapter 1, and 1 Peter chapter 2, show the sacrifice of Jesus produced kings and priests unto God, not worms.
- When you accept that, when you humble yourself and crucify the feelings of unworthiness, and accept the record God gave to you, that, my friend, is humility.
- When you are seeking God as Uzziah did, you are saying to God, “God, I don’t know where my place is, but I know that You do.”
- That is humility. That is reality.
- Pride says I can do life with my own ability. I don’t need God’s input. I don’t need to seek God.
Reverence: A Part of Finding Your Place
- It’s a problem to have a lack of respect for someone else’s office.
- Uzziah did not respect the priest’s office.
- One of the great lessons we all need to learn is we are not the only one.
- Holy reverence for your place and for others is part of finding it.
- It is important to understand respect.
Submission to God’s Word: A Part of Finding Your Place
- Look at how Uzziah found his place
- He listened to the Word of the Lord coming from Zechariah.
- Submission to the Word is part of finding your place.
- You can’t live your life without the Word of God
- You can’t find your place in God apart from God’s Word.
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