The longer you walk with God the more important the pulpit becomes to you. The scripture says be careful, for when you think you stand you will fall. Sometimes due to their longevity in the church, some people say to themselves, I know all that already, that's elementary, I don't need all that. About that time they will fall flat on their face and say, "Oops, I made an error in judgement somewhere, God forgive me."

The longer you walk with Him the more important the pulpit becomes to you, why? Because it is the rudder, not the pulpit but the Bible, is the rudder to the great ship of life directing you to where you're going and where you are going to wind up. This Book is the rudder. As you know, the ship is huge, the rudder beneath is relatively small in relationship to the ship itself, but it's the rudder that determines where that thing is going to go. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my pathway."  "I will hide thy Word in my heart that I might not sin against God."  "Thy Word, O Lord, is eternally settled in Heaven."  It will assist you in getting where you are supposed to go and nothing else that I can think of at this point in time can do that for you.

All scripture, even the ones you don't like, all scripture, even the ones that cause you to be uneasy, all scripture, even the ones that rile you, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, that means it is God breathed. God spoke to holy men of old and they wrote as God directed them to write. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It is profitable for any number of things. It is profitable for doctrine, but doctrine is not its entire purpose. It's also profitable for reproof. Let me tell you about the word reproof. The word reproof is when God says to you, what is going on in your life, I don't like. That Word reproves or rebuffs you and gets a hold of you and shakes you up. That's reproof. It is also profitable for correction and instruction; however, let me say this to you very candidly, this Book and this scripture, or the Word of God, is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction for instruction in righteousness. The Book is not to tell you how to raise your cat. There are other books by other authors on how to raise your cat. This Book is a book of instructions as to how to live in righteousness. This Book is not to be trivialized, not to be made fun of or to be made light of.

God has seen fit to preserve this book down through the years when people have been bent on its destruction and its total elimination. God preserved it and saw to it that it was protected and then brought back again here in our western civilization to be and remain the most often purchased book in American history. Can you believe that?

So what does God want from your life? What does God want from my life? What does God want for your home? What does God want in my home? What does God have in mind for your marriage? What does God have in mind for mine? What does God say about your body? What does He say about mine? What does God want to be going on in your mind? What does He say concerning that? What does God want to do about your emotions? He has a great deal to say about all these things.

How many of you know that we lost big time with what took place in the Garden of Eden? We lost BIG time. Sin entered into the picture along with sickness and disease and heartache and heartbreak, confusion, frustration, emptiness, loneliness, despair, discouragement, depression and death. All of these things came as a result of what took place in the Garden of Eden. As a result, Jesus came into the world to become our Savior/Redeemer, to redeem back to us what we lost. That's God's intention. You want to know what God's purposes are in everything that we do? It's to get back everything for you that you lost in the fall of man into sin.

Romans 8:28 says, "And we know, that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." His purpose, not mine. That means that He has brought us into a place where we have accepted the Savior/Redeemer and He has begun to work in our lives to gain back for us what we lost and everything is working together for our good toward that aim and that end or that purpose. That's what God has in mind. If in the fall of man in the garden you lost your health, through Jesus Christ your Savior/Redeemer, He is the great physician and gains back for us the possibilities of living in divine health. If you are today impoverished and you don't have anything, He brings us into a place where He says, do you understand, "My God shall supply all of your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus." Gaining it back for us.

The enemy shudders when he thinks about the possibility and the potential that there is in a person's life when he accepts the Savior/Redeemer. All of a sudden he has lost his hold, he has lost his influence, he has lost his power over that person's life. He cannot keep them where he has them because the Savior/Redeemer has bought back for them everything they lost. Lonely? You don't have to be lonely. Your life doesn't have to be empty. You don't have to be living a life that is out of the frying pan into the fire, out of the frying pan into the fire, out of one difficulty into another, out of one problem, into another. That does not need to be your lifestyle. That is not what the Father intended. That is not His purpose for those who love Him and for whom He is working all things for their good.

In another translation it reads this way, "For those who love Him and for those who are called into agreement with His purpose." Did you catch that? Called into agreement with His purpose. How many of you know today there are many believers who are not in agreement. I do counseling all the time and the first question I will ask of people whose marriage is just about on the rocks is, "How come we can't get into agreement here? Who is deaf here? What is going on? Anybody care at all about what God says about marriage? About how the husband is to treat his wife and the wife is to live with her husband? Don't you understand that this marriage manual is here and God said that it is my purpose and intent that you live together, the two of you, becoming one? What is going on? Which one are you becoming? Whichever one it is, is not in agreement with this Book! Consequently, how can you expect the end result…all things working together for good…if you are not working along with God, agreeing with His purpose."

Some people fight God tooth and nail when it comes to money. For as long as they have known the Lord and walked with Him, they have just battled constantly with God over this issue of money. My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine, it's all His. What God is not after is your money; He's after your obedience.  Amen or ouch!  God wants us to get involved with Him in fulfilling His purposes and you need to be in agreement with Him if you are going to fulfill His purposes.

In the Living Bible it says it this way, "And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans." Ah, but we want God to come down and fit into OUR plans. We don't want to fit into His, we want to say, "God, You come down now and bless my little plans and do what I want, when I want it and how I want it done." You cannot constantly keep bucking heads with God as if up against a cement wall, not in agreement, not in agreement and then turn around and say, "Why in the world isn't the Christian life all that I was told it was supposed to be?" You haven't even come close to living by the rules yet; how in the world do you expect to get the benefits if you don't walk in agreement with the plan?

That phrase, "called according to His purpose" is interesting. Let me show you something about that. The Bible says, "Because those whom He knew before hand, He appointed, before hand, to share in the likeness of His son, so that He (Jesus) might be the first fruits among many brethren, but whom He predestined (foreknew), those He also called." There is that word again, called according to His purpose. Going on, "..and whom He called those He also made righteous.." (you don't have to do it yourself, HE made you righteous) "..and whom He made righteous those He also glorified."

The purpose of God then, that He has in mind and has had all along, is (1) you respond to His call. "Father I want to turn my life over to you. I believe Jesus came into the world, suffered bled and died, was buried and rose again for my justification. I accept His work on Calvary for the forgiveness of my sins. I accept that forgiveness today and I want Jesus to come into my heart and become my Savior and my Redeemer. I want my life to tell for You the rest of my life. Please help me to live for You all of my days."

It's simple. Responding to His call. Why? So He can make you righteous. What does righteous mean? In right standing with God. In a right relationship with God. I didn't say strong, stalwart, steady and all the rest; I said in right relationship.  Relationships grow. How many of you know that you don't fall in love, you grow in love? You don't fall in love. Little by little you grow in love. The same thing is true in your relationship with God. You don't have to know very much to get started. When you start, God will help you come along, growing in grace and knowledge, growing in your love for Him, growing in your appreciation of Him in your life. He says, those He has invited, if they will allow Him to, He will make you righteous and then the object is this, that you might be conformed to the image of His Son. That's a big ecclesiastical term that simply means that you might become more and more like His Son, Jesus. That you might become more and more like Jesus in His dealings with people when things went in reverse for Him, when He was opposed, when He was persecuted. How did Jesus respond to difficulty? What was the attitude He displayed? God says I want you to accept my Son as Savior/Redeemer. I want to be able to make you righteous, that is in right standing with Me, and now I want to begin to work in your life so that you can become more and more, here in the earth, like Jesus was when He was here. I don't mean like little gods running around, but I am talking about in your conversation, in your attitude, in your character, in your makeup, in your behavior with one another.

If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other. That is divine purpose. What does God want in every situation? That I might be conformed to the image of His Son. The kids can run around with a WWJD wrist band all they want to, but it has to become more than just a slogan, it has to become a life application or a way we live. What would Jesus do right now in my situation? What would He be thinking right now if He were here? How would Jesus be acting in this situation right now? What would Jesus be doing right now if He were standing in my shoes. Now that is the purpose. Anything other than that is religion only and hasn't got anything to do with divine purpose. Let me say it again, anything other than that is religious expression and has nothing to do with the fulfillment of divine purpose.

What does God want? He is trying to get back for you everything you lost. Work with Him and you will find it can be wonderful. There is absolutely no glory to God or credit to the cause for you to be walking around begging. He said, I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed out begging for bread. What you want to do in your life is say, "God, I want to fulfill divine purpose, I want to be a living breathing example of the goodness and grace of God. I want to live enjoying all I had lost in the fall and that Jesus has gained back for me."

Look at this verse of scripture from II Timothy again, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and profitable for doctrine and reproof, for correction in righteousness..." and so on, for what reason? So the man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto every good work, so that you will have everything you need to live for God and to bring honor and glory to His name. He will do everything for you if you will be determined to live for Him and let your light shine. Now if you are bound and determined to live for yourself, then you cannot accept the promises of God's Word for your life. Let me say it again, if you are bound and determined to live for yourself you cannot accept and stand on the promises of God's Word. There is no reason why God is obligated at all to fulfill any scripture for anyone who is living for any other purpose than His. That the man of God might be thoroughly furnished, lacking absolutely nothing, for you to be able to do what ever God has asked you to do.

So what is God's purpose? First of all answer His call and become a child of God and then the Book, or Bible, is written for God's children, please understand that. This Book is not written for the sinner. This Book is written for YOU. The only message in the Book for the sinner is, "God be merciful to my never dying soul and save me for Jesus sake." Then there is a warning in there for sinners as well, if you continue on in the path you are going and you do not accept Jesus Christ as Savior/Redeemer, there is a place prepared for you and you don't want to go there! This message and Book are for you. It is God's love letter and expression of love and appreciation and promises to you, so don't argue the Book with unbelievers. They cannot understand it and they will not understand it and cannot accept it, so don't be arguing Bible with people who are not part of the plan and purposes of God. It never works. So first of all accept His call to become His child. The Book is written for you. The only message for those who are not a child of God is, "You had better get that way and the sooner the better, because if you pass out of this life into the next and you haven't prepared to meet God you are not going to be happy with the outcome." God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, so His purpose is that you might be part of His saving Grace.

Then His purpose is that we allow His Word to replace, to bring back to your life, everything you need. His purpose also in this Book is to bring about reproof. You see, if you were living in a certain way that did not please God, this Book will let you know, if you read it at all. This Book will say to you, thou shalt not and if you do, this is going to be the outcome and you are not going to be happy with it. It must be understood that it is good for doctrine, but not doctrine alone. It is good for reproof, but not reproof alone, it's good for instruction and training, but not instruction and training alone. It is good for all these things and all of them must be included in what is going on in your life. This little child over here is sometimes angelic, but sometimes, if I were to say to Mama, "Is there ever a time when she isn't and needs to be corrected?" what do you suppose Mama would say? Definitely so, and God the Father deals with us the same way. I love you, but once in awhile I need to take you off to the woodshed because you and I must have an understanding. Matter of fact, I know some people who have changed the numbers from their house address to the woodshed because it has become their permanent address.

When we are going through something we ought to ask ourselves the question, is what I'm going through for reproof? Is there something going on in my life that God doesn't like and He is saying to me, I want that to end. Is it reproof, or correction? Sometimes even Christian people get off on a tangent. Down the wrong road. He says, "Come on, this is the way, walk ye in it", and we go the other direction. He says this is the way, walk you in it and we say, but God this seems more sensible and more reasonable to me, or I want to do this right now, I'll catch up with you later, God. So the Bible is there to help you get back in line and on the same path. Correction. That is why we have compasses and road maps and that's why I hardly hesitate any more when my wife says, you were supposed to make a left turn. You can never get an old flyer's daughter lost. She has an uncanny ability to know which way we are to go. So correction is to get you back on the path. Is it for correction, have I begun to do my own thing and God says wait a minute, where are my purposes and what is my intention, if you are going to do your own thing? I intended that this should happen; what are you intending? I am trying to tell you something. Make sure of this one thing, you know it and I know it, you can make all the plans you want to make, but it's God's plans and God's purposes that are going to win out in the end. You might as well give in to them right now and quit all your fussing.

If Jesus were standing right here today in my shoes, what would He be doing? How did He do things while He was here? What was His attitude about things? What was He like? How did He respond to people, even people who were critical of Him? How did He respond to people who misunderstood His entire visitation to this place? When someone wronged him, how did He respond? Now God says this to us, it is my purpose and intent that you be conformed to the image of His Son until what Jesus was doing is what you're doing. How Jesus handled people is the way you will be handling people. The attitude that Jesus displayed will be the attitude that you display. That's my purpose and that's my intent.

In His sermon on the mount Jesus talks about all kinds of things in Matthew chapter 5. He talks about everything, money, divorce, home, relationships, neighbors, taxes, everything under the sun, and then He comes down and ends it all by saying this, "Now if you will put all of this into practice, you will be a wise man just like one who is building his house upon a rock, but if you do not pay attention to what I've said and you do not do these things, you are a fool building your house upon the sand."

What does God want from you in any situation? He wants you to be more and more like His Son because He wants to be able to have His Son live over and over and over again thousands of times in thousands of people under thousands of different situations, letting their lights shine where they are and blossoming where they are planted, even under the most difficult of circumstances, because the world needs to see Jesus, just one glimpse of Him. You might be the only Bible some people will ever read, the only Jesus some people will ever see.

Remember the scriptures are given to us under divine inspiration, so when you are reading the Word of God, and I trust that you do, you need to ask yourself a series of questions.

1. What do I need to believe about what I just read?
2. What is it that I don't need to believe of what I have just read?
3. What do I need to do as a result of what I have just read?
4. What is it that I need to make sure that I do not do as a result of reading what I have just read?