Amazing Things Happen When You’re In God’s Will

Hard to shove, 22 years in seven minutes.

But I would like if I could tonight.

Pastor doesn't know what I'm gonna preach or anything like that, but I would like to try to take you from one extreme to another.

And I remember I was having some digestive problems and I went to a surgeon by the name of Neruban Rahasaragaram.

Good Christian brother, not quite our stripe.

Amen, but loves the Lord.

We're talking, he's asking about men's meetings and all this stuff.

He's excited and he'd done some tests on me and he's smiling and looking at the computer.

And then he stood up and he folded his hands and he said, brother, if I don't do something right now, you're going to die.

And I said, oh, okay.

You know, all I could think of is what would happen to my wife.

I know where I'm going.

Amen.

And anyway, the Lord used it.

My son Samuel Pre Covid, worked for Autobarn, which is autozone's copy over there, ran the store.

He, the owner, got saved because it was the first time he's willing to sit down and listen to me.

And in 20 minutes I was able to lead him to Christ.

You know, I counted a privilege to go through that type of thing if one soul gets saved.

And during COVID which mentioned the brain surgery, I forgot Covid.

Has anybody forgotten?

Have you forgotten Covid yet?

I forgot it.

I went to church.

We were able to longest lockdowns in the world.

I was able to go with my son Luke to lead the singing to an empty room.

And a piano player and two live streamer technicians and me, five of us were allowed to go.

And it was beyond our three mile limit, five kilometer limit.

We did have one man in the church, got a $5,000 fine for breaching that.

It was just crazy.

And anyway, came home, my wife said, how was church tonight?

I said, you know, you were there.

And she said, no, I wasn't.

And I said, where were you?

Like that, you know, shaking my head.

She thought I was kidding around.

She said I was at home.

I said, why?

She said, the pandemic.

I said, what pandemic?

And I had forgotten that whole about two years.

And she said, well, tell me, what's the name of your children?

And I can name the first but not the middle names.

And then she said, okay, our child that died while we were on her last furlough.

What was his middle Name.

Just give me his middle name and I won't take you to hospital.

I said, I don't know.

It's Russell, my name.

It's the only child we had named after me.

So off we went.

I had three aneurysms that were about to explode and leaking and.

Or whatever, and they put in anyway.

Look, with that, I would invite you tonight firstly to Psalms chapter 119, Psalm 119.

And I want to go from this extreme to another extreme for the main message.

But I just like to mention that the writer here of Psalm 119 in verse number 71 said, it is good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes.

And you know, I thank God for the privilege of using me in that way.

It reminded me that, number one, God is God, he is supreme and he is all loving.

You know, what does the Bible say?

Count it all joy.

When you fall into diverse temptation things.

I was reminded, secondly, this is a whole message.

I'm just giving you the points.

And then I want to preach another message in the opposite direction.

Man is flesh.

We are totally dependent on him.

Boy, I realized that.

Number three, our hope is in him.

And then fourthly, we must win the loss.

We have a duty.

We have a duty of care to this world.

And I don't know if duty of care is a word here.

It is a big thing over there with our insurance for our public liability.

We have a duty of care to make sure that people don't fall down.

We have a duty of care to make sure that we have the fire extinguishers charged and that type of thing.

We have a duty of care as Christians to win the lost at any cost.

Now let me give you the flip side of that.

Turn to Luke chapter two.

When you're in God's will, amazing things can happen.

Amazing things can happen.

Brother, you said you had a clock here somewhere.

I'm not a.

I'm not a clock watcher, but I can.

Amen.

Because of the cancer surgery, though.

Don't.

Don't be alarmed because the cancer surgery.

My stomach is up here.

I can't preach very long.

Amen.

So it'll be fine.

Amen.

Brain surgery.

I might start over, you never know.

Luke, chapter two.

I'd like to read a few verses here.

Verse number 25.

And this was right after the birth of Christ.

Eight days into it, I believe here.

And behold, there was a man of Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

And the same was a just and devout, waiting for the consolation Of Israel.

The Holy Ghost was upon him.

And it was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before that he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple.

And when the parents had brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now lettest thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people.

A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.

And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken unto him.

Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising against again of many in Israel.

And for a sign which shall be spoken against, yea, sword shall pierce through thine own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

There is.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, if I said that right of the tribe of Aser.

And she was of great age and she lived with a husband seven years from her virginity.

And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years which departed not out of the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to.

To all of them that looked for the redemption in Jerusalem.

And when they had performed all the things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, into their own city, Nazareth.

And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom.

And the grace of God was upon them.

Let's pray.

Father.

I thank you Lord.

Lord, for this passage of scripture and for the other passage of scriptures.

Lord, I pray Lord, that you would call men and ladies, young people into your service.

Lord, it's been so long since we've had a influx of missionaries into Australia and other places.

I've heard the same thing.

Lord, I pray that we would see the thought that you've laid on my heart tonight, that would would be something that might challenge us.

That we would see that it is a good thing to surrender to your will and to your work.

And Lord Jesus, I love you and I thank you for all you've done in Jesus name.

Amen.

I read this passage of scripture thinking of this man Simeon and this lady Anna.

That they got to do something that we didn't get to do.

They got to hold baby Jesus isn't that awesome.

And I would submit to you.

When you're in God's perfect will, God can take you.

Have you ever heard some wild screaming evangelists come and he's like, sin will take you farther than you want to go and keep you longer than you want to stay.

And I agree with that.

But I'll say, God will take you farther than you ever believe it could do.

And he'll.

He'll give you such peace and joy in those places.

In the hospital when I was in the hospital, praise God when I was.

Other places God has taken.

I'm just a little goofy guy with a long neck.

They used to call me giraffe neck in school in Palestine, Texas.

Grew up there.

I was ridiculed and, you know, just.

I'm plain folks, all right?

If you think you can't do anything for God, attempt great things for God and expect great things from him.

Some I didn't make that up.

Some I stole that.

Amen.

But I'm marking it original.

I was sitting back one day counting the blessings that God given.

Can you imagine Simeon and Anna counting them?

I got to finally hold the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

You realize they took him there to circumcise some priest, whether it was Simeon or whoever had the.

Had the honor of circumcising the creator of the universe.

You say, brother Blanchard, what has God done?

He took you to Australia and you didn't get your own building until you were there for what, 18 years?

Well, I tell you this, there are churches that have been there for 40 and 50 years that still don't have.

It is an oddity for a church there to have its own building.

We are so thankful.

American missionaries.

Since then, I don't think I can count on both hands how many have come collectively since then.

And I'm saying, where are the missionaries?

I know they're in the pews.

Amen.

If God would lay on your heart.

I cannot do sale anymore.

The town of Sale, we're praying about whether to shut it down when I get back or whether.

And we're actually praying someone would come and take.

Is organized, it's ready to go, and the Lord needs you.

As Uncle Sam would say, amen.

You say, well, brother Blanchard, where is God taking?

Well, we've got a missionary out of our church.

We.

I've been over there to Philippines three times to see him.

I never thought I.

When I was working at Brookshire's in Palestine, Texas, as a grocery manager at night, the worst job in the store.

Amen.

And I never thought that God would ever take me to the Philippines.

I was at church one day, and one of the men of the church came up to me.

His name is Kieran Kiran Gangavarapu.

And Brother Kieran, I can't say that again.

He came up to me and he said.

And he was interested in the other missionary that we were working with.

He was interested in his daughter.

And he said.

He said, pastor, I want to get married.

And I said, yeah, to who?

He said, monica.

And I said, who's Monica?

He said, you know, you took me to the Victorian Bible Conference.

That doesn't.

It doesn't happen anymore.

And at a Baptist church there, we need a lot more Jesus.

Amen.

But he said, you took me up there.

And he said, I saw this girl.

She's from the same area of India that I'm from.

I said, oh, yeah?

I said, well, how did you approach her?

He said, well, I just walked up to her and said, get it?

She said, monica, I am liking you.

And she said, kiran, I am liking you too.

Three months later, they're engaged.

And he said, would you come to India and preach the wedding?

I've spent five days in India for my wife, and I have been married 35 years.

I wanted to surprise her on her 25th anniversary.

So on her 24th, I was going to take her to Tasmania.

Do you know how much it costs to go to Tasmania from Victoria, 150 miles away, to ride a boat down there?

It was cheaper to go to Malaysia.

And I called some folks in our multiculture church.

I called some folks, hey, can.

And my flesh.

I got to admit my sin.

I wanted to go to Singapore because they have a church's fried chicken in the airport and they call it Texas chicken over there.

And I said, hey, for our wedding anniversary, can I go stay with you guys in Singapore?

And Brother Joel, he said, talk to my wife.

She is cheap.

She'll tell you how to do it cheap.

And so I called Mana and Mana said, why don't you go to Malaysia?

My dad's a missionary there.

The only independent Baptist missionary I think that's left there.

There may be one other guy.

Why don't you go and see him?

She meant, go preach for him.

And I said, oh, how much?

It was cheaper than going to Tasmania.

150 miles across.

It was cheaper to go all the way up to Malaysia.

So we went.

I got to preach in Malaysia.

Little old East Texas Knucklehead if you will surrender to God, the best life ever.

You say, brother Blanchard, preachers don't have a lot of money.

Retirement's out of this world.

Right, preacher?

Amen.

Think about the privilege of seeming in.

Think about the privilege of Mary and Joseph in our text.

If you continue reading, you find that they lost Jesus.

And I preached a message called When Jesus got lost.

He was never lost, but, you know, Mary and Joseph lost him.

Right, but what does it say way down here?

You skip down to verse number 51.

It says, and we went down with them and came to Nazareth.

And this is big.

Was subject to them.

Wow.

The king of kings, the creator of the universe, was subject to Mary and Joseph because they were right where God wanted them.

What a privilege.

I think of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist.

We get to heaven, he might be walking around with a little pen.

This is our theme, Eternity in view.

Brother Huntress used to sing a song with eternity's values in view, Lord, with eternity's value.

Well, this is our theme for the year.

I just remembered, Brother Huntress died recently.

And.

And I was just thinking about the.

Maybe John the Baptist has got an I baptized Jesus pen in heaven.

I don't know.

If he don't have one, I'll buy him one.

Amen.

I didn't get to baptize Jesus.

Well, think about Pilate.

He judged Jesus, you say, well, that's kind of, you know, I.

God used it.

God used it because it was.

It was God's plan that Jesus would be crucified.

And God used Pilate in that.

And I hope, I think it would be neat if we get to heaven and Pilate, like, I washed my hands and then I, Jesus washed my heart.

Wouldn't that be neat?

I think about, almost persuaded King Agrippa.

You know, these guys that run around and say, oh, you just need to believe and it'll be fine.

Agrippa believed and Paul said, I wish he was like me.

I wish you'd repent.

John 3:16 hit me in a way, preacher, the other day.

That just blew my mind, I'm sure.

Preacher, you ever been in.

Heard a little kid's quote, John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him will go to heaven.

It says, should, should not perish.

You know, if you believe in Christ and you've never called upon him, you should not perish.

You need to call on.

You need to repent.

Call on the Lord Jesus Christ and be Saved, but anyway.

And then there's us.

Talk about Simeon and Anna and Mary and Joseph, John the Baptist, Pilate, even us.

Where are we?

Are we entangled with the things of this world?

Are we worried about young people?

Are you more worried about where you're going to uni?

So you get brainwashed.

I nearly went to Letourneau University and I am so thankful that God gave me a disability that kept me from becoming an electrical engineer and having bukus of money and not serving God.

What's your disability?

I'm colorblind.

I had three things I wanted to do.

Now I'm old.

This is before the Internet was like accessible to humans.

I wanted to work for the telephone company and hook up phones.

I was so into it that I had two handsets.

Did you know if you take those old handsets and you hook a 9 volt battery in parallel with it, they'll work?

And I had one in the camper shell of the truck and one in the front.

I'd call my dad as we're going down the road and I'm riding in the back of the truck.

I love that stuff.

I wanted to do that.

I wanted to go in the air force and fly a plane or I wanted to be an electrical engineer.

So I went to Letourneau University and I went in there and he gave me this dumb test.

He gave me this book with spots.

Wasn't nothing there.

And he said, do you see anything?

Nope.

You see anything?

Nope.

You see anything?

Hey, there's a number one on one side of the page, not in the middle.

He said, that's a 21 and there's numbers on everyone.

You're colorblind, sir.

He said there's only three things in life you can't do.

You can't be an electrical engineer.

You can't go in the air force and you can't guess what.

You can't work for the telephone company.

And so I went back and I waited on the Lord for another seven years working at the grocery store until finally God called me and I knew I was in God's the right place.

I went to Bible college and then God said, go on to Australia.

And God's taken me places that I never thought I could.

I can tell you this.

I can tell you stuff.

Weird things.

Do you.

Did you know that in the New Zealand airport there is a free massage chair?

Three of them.

I like to broke my back on that.

I got off the Qantas plane and I was hurting by the time I got onto the American Airlines plane to come up.

Last year when my dad had the heart attack, I was beat to death by that thing.

But the Lord's allowed me to go to Japan only in the middle.

I would have never done these things.

You want a boring life, plan it out.

Go to uni.

You want the excitement that you can have.

And again, where did we start out?

We start out with the trials that God.

The trials are worth more than gold.

God can use you.

And you say, well, God don't need me.

Well, he's called.

Many are called, few are chosen.

I think it's because a lot of people didn't listening.

And I'll give you one more piece of logic tonight.

Is God willing that any should perish.

Are there people perishing?

Why are they perishing?

Because we're not going.

We're not going.

When I was a kid, brother Huntress would preach on missions and hopefully this won't get me in trouble.

Way, way back then, Calvary Baptist Church supported Arlington Baptist College.

And I remember hearing about missionaries and you'd see them trot up there.

I'm from Arlington Baptist College and I'm going to Guatemala.

I'm from Arlington Baptist College and we're going here and I'm going to.

And I thought that Arlington Baptist College had this huge missionary making machine that would ka chunk.

Well, there they are.

I was like, praise the Lord.

They're going, hey, there's another one from Arlington Baptist College.

Oh, praise the Lord.

I didn't realize they come from these chairs.

And when God showed me that, it changed my life.

Could God use you in Australia?

We need you.

The closest independent Baptist church and the closest church of any stripe that uses the King James Bible to us is an hour and a half drive at highway speeds from us.

And if you just keep going around the other side, one way is Melbourne.

There's a few of them there.

There's nine churches in Melbourne, size of Dallas Fort Worth.

How many independent Baptist churches are there in Dallas Worth?

Here?

400.

Someone said we got nine.

We need more.

Come over, the water's fine.

Amen.

You say, brother Blanchard, you're supposed to be raising money.

Y' all already support me.

I'm recruiting tonight.

Amen.

Thank you for your support.

Think about these things.

May God work on your heart tonight.

Preacher, can you come.