Love Worth Finding | Audio Program

God's Grace in the Workplace (1019)

A lot of us have the wrong idea about working secular, everyday jobs, especially Christians. Whether we enjoy the work or not, there is a certain amount of guilt Christians carry into the workforce. We like to subconsciously separate aspects of our lives as secular and sacred, so we have this idea that we can only serve God when we are not working.

But we are where God has placed us for a specific purpose. We are to do every job with the belief that we are doing it for Jesus, because we are! Look at the example of Daniel in the Bible, who worked as a government bureaucrat in Babylon. By circumstances beyond his control, Daniel had a secular job in a place of wickedness. Yet even his enemies and the unsaved people of this world had to admit that his secular job was really a sacred job, because he was really serving God through his work.

You may want to opt out of your “Babylon”, and flee from the wicked world to which you give your better hours. But God’s plan for you is not to run away from the world. God’s plan for you is to confront, overcome, witness to the world.

John 17:15, “Jesus said, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” God's plan is not that you be taken out of that worldly environment, but that you would live a good Christian life within it.

Every job, if it is done in the power of the Holy Spirit, is a sacred job. Every job has dignity if it is an honorable work. And every Christian is a priest, and every Christian is a minister. Every Christian is doing full-time Christian service if they are devoting their work to the glory of God.

####Apply it to your life
Come Monday morning, there are four things to consider as you enter your workplace.

1. Don’t brag: there’s nothing more unappealing than self-righteous behavior.
2. Don’t nag: give some grace to your co-workers.
3. Don’t lag: do the work in front of you efficiently and completely.
4. Don’t sag: work joyfully, as unto the Lord.
Your character is crucial to your witness. You have been placed in this position for a reason. Honor God with your job.

Don't Disintegrate — Communicate (1011)

The most important thing to have in a Christian home, other than a love for the Lord, is communication. In fact, most of the insight found in the Book of Proverbs has to do with how we speak and listen to one another.

Have you ever heard anybody say, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me”? Don’t believe it. It’s not true.

The greatest hurts often come from spoken words. They come from forceful coercion between spouses. They come from nagging, callused words to a child, and disrespectful remarks to a parent.

Wrong words can destroy a home.

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” There is great power in communication. And with great power comes a great responsibility.

Pastor and teacher Adrian Rogers says, “The highest form of fulfillment is sharing with someone else. It’s not having things. It’s not doing things. It is sharing.”

Healthy communication peaks when we have absolute, total openness with one another, spoken in discerning kindness and gentleness. This is a very difficult level to reach. It begins with our relationship with Jesus, with realizing that He has accepted us as we are, and wants us to accept who we are, too.

This doesn’t mean we condone our sin, or excuse our shortcomings. We are still sinners, and apart from God’s grace, we have nothing to offer. But because of His grace, because He has accepted us, we are instructed to have a healthy self-acceptance.

Because when you accept yourself, you can begin to accept others. You are no longer threatened. You no longer have to push others down to build yourself up. You are free to treat others with kindness, because you are, first, kind to yourself.

Communication is an ongoing process. It evolves over time spent together, and requires tune-ups and check-in’s. Yet there is nothing more important.

####Apply it to your life
Do you feel like your relationship with your family or close friends is full of heartache and misunderstanding? How is your relationship with Jesus? Today, spend some time in prayer, asking Jesus to saturate your self-esteem with His grace. Pray through Proverbs, perhaps one chapter for each day in a month, and ask the Lord to convict you for how you speak to others.

God's Answer to Anger (1009)

Unjustified anger is like an acid that brings harm to anything it is poured on, including the very container it inhabits. We have an Enemy who delights in this kind of anger. In it, he creates opportunities for us to wreck our own lives and destroy our own testimonies.

How do we control our sudden anger, condemn our sinful anger, and conquer our stubborn anger?

- Recognize it. There is no use in hiding it.
- Repent of it. There is no getting rid of it any other way.
- Refuse the devil’s schemes. There’s no reward in associating with them.
This is necessary to do if we want to control, condemn, and conquer ungodly anger before it controls, condemns, and conquers us.

But there’s another kind of anger: a sanctified anger to be channeled. It is not destructive to the soul, and it does not result in sin. We see an example of it through Jesus when He was moved with righteous anger to clear the temple of malicious Pharisees and self-seeking merchants who were taking advantage of the poor.

Through this story, we see it is not only possible to possess a righteous anger, it is expected. In fact, injustice ought to stir us and move us to act. Never once in any of the four Gospels did Jesus retaliate when He was personally attacked and abused, even unto His brutal, unmerited death on the cross. Yet, Jesus was moved with righteous anger to act when He saw other people being attacked and abused.

Selfless love does not nullify anger. It calls it to action. It motivates us to do something about the hurt we see in the world.

Adrian Rogers said, “Sometimes anger is love’s clearest expression but we need to be careful with it.”

If we want to follow the example of Jesus, we are instructed to get stirred up about the injustice around us; and to get angry at the right time for the right reason against the right thing in the right way.

####Apply it to your life
Is there a sudden, sinful, stubborn anger in your life that is controlling you? It is time to break free of it. Don’t let another moment go by without recognizing it, repenting of it, and rebuking the Enemy, so that you may be emptied of it and filled with the Spirit of righteousness.

As smart or successful as any of us can become, we can lose our way in the darkness. And these are dark days indeed. But God wants to lead his people.

Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

God has a plan, not just for the nations or the congregations. God has a plan for individuals. He has a plan for you. He has a plan and a purpose for every step you take.

Our privilege as Believers is to find, follow and finish the will of God. In order to do that, we have to truly trust in Him. To trust in Him, we must truly love Him. To love Him, we must truly know Him. To know Him, we must spend time with Him.

In our time with him, He speaks. He speaks through Scripture, through the Holy Spirit. Adrian Rogers said, “I believe when we pray, God knows how to speak to the human heart.”

God does not leave His will for us a secret. He wants us to find understanding, just not our own. He desires to share His wisdom and understanding with us. He wants us to have full confidence in Him, and a total commitment to His ways, so that we may see the thrilling consequences of doing His will.

Mountains melt and valleys are filled in the presence of God, who makes the paths straight for those who choose to follow Him through the wilderness. To do God’s will is the highest achievement of any person. Do not be afraid of it.

####Apply it to your life
Adrian Rogers says, “If you would know God’s way, you’d better know God’s Word.” Find God’s will for your life in His Word today. Read Scripture today with an open heart, without fear. And pray; talk with God. May your prayers resemble Christian leader, Stephen Olford’s: “Anywhere. Any time. Any cost. Amen.”

True wisdom comes from a relationship with Jesus. Ask him for wisdom today and pursue Scripture, perhaps starting in the Book of Proverbs, with fresh eyes.

The Book of Proverbs was not written by human experience, but by divine revelation. The insight encased in these pages are not just things worked out by human ingenuity. They are God's words of wisdom, given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The Book of Proverbs is King Solomon’s love letter of wisdom, given to him by God alone, to his child. And we, as children of the King of Kings, can read it with full confidence that these words from our Father are for our best interest. They are for our health, wealth, and wisdom.

But the greatest of these is wisdom.

Wisdom is the most important virtue we could ever obtain. Proverbs 8:11 says: “For wisdom is better than rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.”

Wisdom’s worth comes from the Father. He is the One who provides it, promises it, and initiates the purpose of it.

The Bible says that great men are not always wise. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. A lot of people have head knowledge but lack wisdom. You can obtain knowledge without the Holy Spirit, but you cannot get true wisdom without the Holy Spirit. And it comes, not from books, but from knowing Jesus.

In order to know the secrets of the universe, you have to know the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Bible says in Colossians 2:3 “In him (Jesus) lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Adrian Rogers said it this way: “When a man reverences God, when a man receives Christ, when a man has a personal encounter, that man receives the wisdom of God and here is the incomparable worth of wisdom. It, dear friend, is provided by the father. It is produced by the spirit but only by the presence of the son. When you have the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart then you are ready to have that real Wisdom.”

Life Application:
True wisdom comes from a relationship with Jesus. Ask him for wisdom today and pursue Scripture, perhaps starting in the Book of Proverbs, with fresh eyes. Hide what you read in your heart. Appreciate it. Appropriate it. Simulate it. Activate it in your life.

The Decisions of the Living and the Destiny of the Dead (2353)

Where will you spend eternity? In this message, Dr. Rogers examines the character of those who are led by the Lamb, the corruption of those bossed by the beast, the consequences of those destined by decision.

666: The Mark of the Beast (2352)

Biography of the Beast (2350)

Standing in the shadows is history is a man known as the antichrist, the beast, the man of sin, the son of perdition. Despite whatever name he is called, Adrian Rogers explains he has one motive. Learn of his attributes, disguises, and the ambitions that drive the beast.

Why I Love Israel (2349)

We are to love what God loves, and God loves His chosen people. God blessed Israel that Israel might be a blessing to all the world. Understand Israel's special favor with God, her satanic foe, and in the end, her saving faith in this exciting message.

End-time prophecies are addressed, such as the rebuilding of the Temple, the Abomination of Desolation, and the 2 prophets that are sent as powerful messengers to this world.