Speaker 1: Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you
Speaker 1: enjoy today's message, why don't you be a blessing and
Speaker 1: share it with a friend. We appreciate you and pray
Speaker 1: for God's very best in your life. Well, God bless
Speaker 1: you always a joy to come into your homes. We
Speaker 1: love you, we know that God has good things in
Speaker 1: store for you. And if you're ever in our area,
Speaker 1: I hope you'll stop by and be a part of
Speaker 1: one of our services. I promise you will make you
Speaker 1: feel right at home. I say it often, but these
Speaker 1: are the finest people in all of Houston right here,
Speaker 1: so we'd love to have you be apart, come out
Speaker 1: and join us sometime. Thanks for tuning in today, and
Speaker 1: you know I'd like to get started with something funny
Speaker 1: each week. And of course most of these jokes are
Speaker 1: not doctrinally correct, and especially today, it's just a joke
Speaker 1: just to make you laugh. But anyway, a woman died
Speaker 1: and found herself standing at the pearly gates. Peter said,
Speaker 1: you can't go in unless you correctly spell a word.
Speaker 1: What word she asked, Any word? Peter replied, So she
Speaker 1: spelled the word love l ovee and welcomed her to heaven.
Speaker 1: He then asked her to take his position. He instructed
Speaker 1: her to follow the same procedure should anyone arrive. A
Speaker 1: few minutes later, the woman sees her ex husband coming up.
Speaker 1: What are you doing here? He said, I just had
Speaker 1: a heart attack. Did I really make it to heaven?
Speaker 1: Not yet? She said, You've got to correctly spell a word.
Speaker 1: What word he asked? After a long pause, she replied, Czechoslovakia.
Speaker 1: All right, hold up your bible. Say it like you
Speaker 1: mean it. Are you ready? This is my Bible. I
Speaker 1: am what it says I am. I have what it
Speaker 1: says I have. I can do what it says I
Speaker 1: can do. Today I will be taught the word of God.
Speaker 1: I boldly confess. My mind is alert, my heart is receptive.
Speaker 1: I will never be the same. In Jesus' name, God
Speaker 1: bless you. I want to talk to you today about
Speaker 1: developing a tender conscience. The conscience is just like an
Speaker 1: alarm when you're about to do something that's not beneficial
Speaker 1: or something that's going to get you into trouble. All
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're going to feel uncomfortable, right down
Speaker 1: in here, there's going to be an unrest and uneasiness.
Speaker 1: That's God trying to warn you. Don't ignore that, don't
Speaker 1: override that uneasiness. See, the conscience is like an inward monitor.
Speaker 1: It's called the compass of our souls. It helps us
Speaker 1: to know what is right and what is wrong. One
Speaker 1: of the best friends you can ever have is your
Speaker 1: own conscience. I like what Abraham Lincoln said. He said,
Speaker 1: when my presidency is over, I may not have one
Speaker 1: other friend on earth, but I will have at least
Speaker 1: one friend. And that friend is on the inside of me.
Speaker 1: He was saying, I'm going to listen to my conscience.
Speaker 1: I'm going to heed what it's saying to me. And really,
Speaker 1: there's no telling how much trouble that we could avoid,
Speaker 1: how much heartache we could avoid, if we'd simply pay
Speaker 1: more attention to what we're feeling right down in here.
Speaker 1: I hear people say all the time, I know I
Speaker 1: shouldn't do this, but I know I shouldn't say this butt. No,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't buy this butt. See, they know what they
Speaker 1: should do. The alarm is going off. They can feel
Speaker 1: that sense of disapproval. But the problem is many times
Speaker 1: we don't obey our conscience. The truth is much of
Speaker 1: the trouble that we get ourselves into. If we look back,
Speaker 1: we can see how God tried to warn us again
Speaker 1: and again and again. Now, don't make the mistake of
Speaker 1: overriding your conscience. Respect it, just like you respect your boss,
Speaker 1: or you respect someone that has authority over you. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: disobey them. We'll learn to treat your conscience in the
Speaker 1: same way. That's God leading you and trying to keep
Speaker 1: you out of trouble. How many times have you been
Speaker 1: in a conversation with your spouse and things get a
Speaker 1: little heated up and you can feel yourself getting aggravated,
Speaker 1: ready to want to argue, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: that check goes off. Something right down in here says,
Speaker 1: let it go, drop it, bite your tongue, walk away,
Speaker 1: keep the peace. Well, that's your conscience trying to keep
Speaker 1: out of trouble. That's God trying to warn you. But
Speaker 1: too many times we just ignore it, We do our
Speaker 1: own thing. We end up having a big argument, getting
Speaker 1: all upset, ruining the rest of the evening, and really
Speaker 1: it all could have been avoided if we just paid
Speaker 1: attention to what our conscience was trying to say to us. Friends,
Speaker 1: Learn to be sensitive. Stop when your conscience says stop.
Speaker 1: Quit having to have the last word. Men, Quit looking
Speaker 1: at your wives. Somebody said, a woman always has the
Speaker 1: last word in an argument. Anything after that is a
Speaker 1: brand new argument. But pay attention to what you're feeling
Speaker 1: right down in here. Don't ever override your own conscience.
Speaker 1: This will spare you so much heartache and pain. I
Speaker 1: know one time my father was driving down the Feeder
Speaker 1: Road about to get on the freeway. He was in
Speaker 1: a big hurrys running late to this meeting, and he
Speaker 1: was going well over the speed limit, and just as
Speaker 1: he came up to this big curve in the road,
Speaker 1: that alarm went off. Right down in here. Something said
Speaker 1: to him, you better slow down. There's a policeman around
Speaker 1: the corner. And Daddy told how it was so distinct,
Speaker 1: he felt it so strongly, but he was in that
Speaker 1: big hurry and he just ignored it, didn't pay any attention. Well,
Speaker 1: sure enough, when he got around the corner, there was
Speaker 1: a police officer standing there holding his radar gun out
Speaker 1: and he just flagged my dad over. He came up
Speaker 1: to the window and Daddy had a big smile on
Speaker 1: his face. He said, officer, you're never gonna believe this,
Speaker 1: but God told me you were up here. That officer
Speaker 1: looked at him like he was from another planet. He
Speaker 1: took Daddy's license and went to his car, and he
Speaker 1: came back a couple of minutes later. He's kind of
Speaker 1: shaking his head. He said, listen here, preacher. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: let you go, but the next time God speaks to you,
Speaker 1: you better listen. This friend of ours was a Methodist
Speaker 1: minister for many years, and he told how one time
Speaker 1: he got pulled over by the police, and he has
Speaker 1: a real big Southern draw and he said, oh, officer,
Speaker 1: please don't give me a ticket. I'm just a poor
Speaker 1: old preacher. The officer said, I know that I heard
Speaker 1: you on television last Sunday. My boy, it is don't
Speaker 1: override your own conscious when you feel uncomfortable down in here,
Speaker 1: when you have that uneasiness, just pull back and see
Speaker 1: what God is trying to say to you. You may
Speaker 1: be in the middle of a conversation all of a
Speaker 1: sudden the alarm goes off, and you know you need
Speaker 1: to button it up, or you know you need to
Speaker 1: walk away. Don't ignore that you may be just about
Speaker 1: to buy something, just about to eat something, just about
Speaker 1: to make some plans, and that check goes off right
Speaker 1: down in here. Will be sensitive. If you'll learn to
Speaker 1: listen to your conscience, God will keep you out of trouble.
Speaker 1: He'll even protect you from danger. I remember this young
Speaker 1: man that used to do some work for us. One
Speaker 1: day I saw him and it looked like he had
Speaker 1: been in some type of accident. His face was all bruised,
Speaker 1: he had these black eyes, and he had some stitches
Speaker 1: on this arm. I said, man, what in the world
Speaker 1: happened to you? Were you in a wreck or something?
Speaker 1: And he began to explain how, on his way home
Speaker 1: from work he had gotten card. He'd stopped at this light,
Speaker 1: and these guys came and pulled him out of his car,
Speaker 1: and he didn't have a wallet, and so they just
Speaker 1: ended up beating him up and leaving him there. Then
Speaker 1: he said something so interesting, He said, you know, Joel,
Speaker 1: the funny thing was on my way home that night,
Speaker 1: something told me to not go that way right down
Speaker 1: in here. As distinct as it could be, he said,
Speaker 1: something said you better go another way. And it was
Speaker 1: so strong that he even debated it in his mind.
Speaker 1: He thought, I always go this way, this is the
Speaker 1: quickest way. Why should I go another way? And understand,
Speaker 1: this young man was not what you'd considered to be
Speaker 1: a religious type person, But he said, I know that
Speaker 1: was God trying to warn me. I know that was
Speaker 1: God trying to protect me. These were his exact words,
Speaker 1: he said, Joel, if I had only just listened, And really,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying to all of us today, before
Speaker 1: you get into trouble, before you make a poor decision,
Speaker 1: God is always going to warn you that alarm is
Speaker 1: going to go off right down in here. And it
Speaker 1: may not be something as dramatic as this young man.
Speaker 1: It may just be an alarm to keep your mouth
Speaker 1: closed in order to avoid an argument. It may be
Speaker 1: alarmed to turn off the TV to keep your mind pure,
Speaker 1: or an alarm to just change your attitude. But whatever
Speaker 1: it is, if you'll be sensitive and pay attention to it,
Speaker 1: then God will lead you. Don't be like this young
Speaker 1: man and try to figure it all out. Well, why
Speaker 1: can't I go that way? Or why can't I say this?
Speaker 1: She started it. It's her fault. Now you've got to
Speaker 1: get out of your head and start listening to your heart.
Speaker 1: If you will obey what you're feeling down in here,
Speaker 1: if you'll obey your conscience, God will help you to
Speaker 1: make good decisions. He'll help you live his abundant life
Speaker 1: and understand just because somebody else is doing something doesn't
Speaker 1: mean it's okay for you to do it. Well, Joel,
Speaker 1: all my friends are going to see this movie, and
Speaker 1: they're good people. They love God. I don't know why
Speaker 1: I shouldn't go. No, don't compare yourself to anybody else,
Speaker 1: and don't try to have to justify your actions. You've
Speaker 1: got to learn to listen to your own heart. If
Speaker 1: you have that uneasiness down in here, if your conscience
Speaker 1: is not clear, it doesn't matter what everybody else is doing.
Speaker 1: Follow how God is leading you. Every person is at
Speaker 1: different stages. You're not always going to understand why you
Speaker 1: can or can't do certain things, but you've got to
Speaker 1: go deeper than that and be obedient anyway. I know
Speaker 1: some pastor friends that do certain things that I don't
Speaker 1: feel comfortable with. It's not a sin, but it's just
Speaker 1: something that personally, right down in here, I don't feel
Speaker 1: good about doesn't mean they're bad people. I don't judge
Speaker 1: them and condemn them, but I know just because they
Speaker 1: do it doesn't mean that it's right for me. I've
Speaker 1: learned I've got to keep my own conscience clear. And
Speaker 1: in the same way, ladies, you may have some friends
Speaker 1: at work that dress a little more revealing than you do.
Speaker 1: Maybe they're even in a position of leadership, and you
Speaker 1: kind of think, well, I guess that's okay for me.
Speaker 1: Now you've got to check with your own heart. God
Speaker 1: deals with us individually. You don't know all the details
Speaker 1: in that person's life. Who knows. Maybe God is speaking
Speaker 1: to them but they're not listening, or maybe they've come
Speaker 1: a long way. They're making progress. God is pleased, but
Speaker 1: you're just at a different stage. If you make the
Speaker 1: mistake of comparing, and you have to justify your actions,
Speaker 1: before long, you'll be going against your contents and that
Speaker 1: will always keep you from God's best. And don't make excuses. Well,
Speaker 1: everybody speeds out there on the highway, Joel. I saw
Speaker 1: him going seventy five miles an hour, and he's even
Speaker 1: on staff at Lakewood. Now just because you saw my
Speaker 1: brother Paul speeding, Just because somebody else is doing it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's okay for you. Keep your own
Speaker 1: conscience clear. And there may even be things that your
Speaker 1: husband or wife or your good friend does and it
Speaker 1: doesn't bother them a bit, but when you go to
Speaker 1: do it, it just doesn't feel right. You have that
Speaker 1: check or what I'm saying is only do what is
Speaker 1: right for you and something else that's important to understand.
Speaker 1: Don't judge that other person, don't condemn them. Let God
Speaker 1: deal with them. Well, I can't believe you would see
Speaker 1: that movie. I can't believe you don't get up and
Speaker 1: pray every morning like I do. No, maybe they're not
Speaker 1: at that level. And God didn't call us to be
Speaker 1: somebody else's conscience. Quit judging and just focus on keeping
Speaker 1: your own conscience clear. And there's no telling how much
Speaker 1: God would bless us, no telling how happy and fulfilled
Speaker 1: our lives would be if we simply learn to maintain
Speaker 1: a clear conscience, if we just learn to not move
Speaker 1: forward when we feel that sense of disapproval down in here.
Speaker 1: And it may not be something big, it may just
Speaker 1: be something small. But if we can't be faithful in
Speaker 1: the little things, how can God trust us? In the
Speaker 1: big things. If we can't keep our mouth closed to
Speaker 1: avoid an argument, or if we can't slow down on
Speaker 1: the freeway when our conscience is convicting us, then those
Speaker 1: seemingly small things will keep us from rising higher. And
Speaker 1: what's interesting is, most of the time, deep down in here,
Speaker 1: we know what we should do, but often we just
Speaker 1: make the mistake of not doing it. And what's happening
Speaker 1: is we're overriding our consciences. And understand, every time you
Speaker 1: ignore your conscience, every time you push it down, you
Speaker 1: don't pay any attention. The next time that voice will
Speaker 1: speak a little softer, then the next time a little softer,
Speaker 1: the next time even more softly, And unfortunately, you can
Speaker 1: get to the place where you have totally drowned out
Speaker 1: the voice of your conscience. For instance, maybe you're about
Speaker 1: to say something rude to someone and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: that check goes off right down in here. You feel
Speaker 1: that uneasiness and something tells you bite your tongue, don't
Speaker 1: do it. But if you just ignore that, you override
Speaker 1: it and do it anyway. Number One, you're gonna feel guilty.
Speaker 1: And if you don't go back and make things right
Speaker 1: and apologize. Then the next time you're in that situation,
Speaker 1: the alarm won't be quite as loud, the voice won't
Speaker 1: be quite so strong, and you can get to the
Speaker 1: place where you've done it so long you become desensitized
Speaker 1: to it. You can come to the point where you're
Speaker 1: acting a certain way or treating the people a certain way,
Speaker 1: and even though it's not right, you don't even realize
Speaker 1: that you're doing it. And you may be here today
Speaker 1: and you're kind of hard and rude with people, and
Speaker 1: you've been that way so long, you're so set in
Speaker 1: your ways you don't really hear the alarm anymore. Or
Speaker 1: maybe you've been watching questionable things so long that it
Speaker 1: doesn't bother you much anymore. And that's why we need
Speaker 1: to pray every single day. God, help me to develop
Speaker 1: a tender conscience. God, help me to be sensitive to
Speaker 1: your voice. I don't know about you, but I don't
Speaker 1: want to have areas in my life where I'm stuck
Speaker 1: in mediocrity all because I'm not obeying my conscience. The
Speaker 1: Bible talks about in One Timothy chapter four, how a
Speaker 1: conscience can become seared. That simply means that it becomes
Speaker 1: numb in that area. We don't have any feeling in it.
Speaker 1: Say you're at home watching TV one night, and you know,
Speaker 1: it kind of gets a little bit vulgar, kind of
Speaker 1: gets a little off color, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: that alarm goes off. Something says, get up, turn it off.
Speaker 1: Don't put that trash in your mind. But if you
Speaker 1: just sit there time after time and ignore it, month
Speaker 1: after month, before long, that won't bother you anymore. You
Speaker 1: become numb to that. It's like, it's no big deal.
Speaker 1: You know, what's it gonna hurt to watch this stuff.
Speaker 1: I know people today that are involved in a relationship
Speaker 1: outside of their marriage. They're not being faithful, and it
Speaker 1: really doesn't even bother them too much. And I can
Speaker 1: assure you when they first started to give into that
Speaker 1: temptation the alarm went off, I can guarantee you at
Speaker 1: first they felt uncomfortable down in here. They were uneasy,
Speaker 1: they knew it wasn't right. But month after month, as
Speaker 1: they turned the alarm off, now it's no big deal.
Speaker 1: They've sort of justified it in their mind. Everybody's doing it. See,
Speaker 1: they've totally drowned out the voice of their conscience. They
Speaker 1: pushed it down so much they don't feel the uneasiness anymore.
Speaker 1: And that's why I encourage it so strongly. To be
Speaker 1: quick to obey, don't be hard headed, don't be stubborn
Speaker 1: and have to do it your own way. That will
Speaker 1: only lead to heartache and pain. I met a man
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago. His family lives in another country
Speaker 1: and he's been here in the States for several years
Speaker 1: working with his company. And he began to tell how
Speaker 1: he was involved with this other woman and they had
Speaker 1: been in this relationship for a couple of years, but
Speaker 1: he felt so badly about it. He said, Joel, I
Speaker 1: just feel terrible. I know that it's not right. I
Speaker 1: can hardly sleep at night, and I really want to change,
Speaker 1: but I just can't seem to do it. And I
Speaker 1: told him, you're in a very interesting situation. You are
Speaker 1: the exception to the rule, because most people that have
Speaker 1: been overriding their consciences that long don't care anything about it.
Speaker 1: They don't feel anything, they're not concerned. And I said,
Speaker 1: you should thank God that you still have a tender conscience.
Speaker 1: You should be grateful that you still have that concern.
Speaker 1: And I challenged him to do his best to make
Speaker 1: the necessary changes before that uneasiness war off. And really
Speaker 1: that's the danger. That's what should concern us more than anything,
Speaker 1: that we're doing something wrong for so long that we
Speaker 1: don't even realize that we're doing it. We become numb
Speaker 1: in that area. And again, I think that's why we
Speaker 1: need to pray every day. God, help me to stay
Speaker 1: sensitive to your voice. God, don't let me to get
Speaker 1: hard and cold and numb in any area of my life,
Speaker 1: in my attitude, in how I treat people, in what
Speaker 1: I say and what I do, and what I watch.
Speaker 1: God help me to have a tender conscience. Friends, God
Speaker 1: rewards obedience. If you have things in your life, big
Speaker 1: or small, that you know in here are not right,
Speaker 1: I believe God is saying today is the time to
Speaker 1: make changes. Get into God's best path. Don't keep overriding
Speaker 1: your conscience. Some of you have been pushing that alarm
Speaker 1: down for a long time, and when you have ten
Speaker 1: or fifteen years of doing something a certain way, it's
Speaker 1: very easy to just want to stay right where you are.
Speaker 1: If you will be open and honest with yourself, and
Speaker 1: when you feel God convicting you in here, if you
Speaker 1: have the desire to change, God will help you to change.
Speaker 1: And it is better to go through a little pain
Speaker 1: of change than it is to go twenty or thirty
Speaker 1: years stuck in mediocrity. And I found the more obedient
Speaker 1: we are, the easier it will be to obey. Obedience
Speaker 1: breeds obedience. Just the opposite is true. Disobedience breeds more disobedience.
Speaker 1: And you can increase the sensitivity of your conscience or
Speaker 1: you can decrease it. Every time you obey, your conscience
Speaker 1: is getting a little more sensitive. It's just like a window.
Speaker 1: When you obey, you're letting a little more light in.
Speaker 1: The Next time, it'll be a little easier, your heart
Speaker 1: will be a little softer, and you'll do it a
Speaker 1: little quicker. You can get to the point where you're
Speaker 1: so sensitive that when you first feel that uneasiness, you
Speaker 1: first feel that slight, uncomfortable feeling down in here, that
Speaker 1: will get your attention and cause you to make changes.
Speaker 1: And really, that's the kind of people God wants us
Speaker 1: to be. When we hear the still small voice, when
Speaker 1: we first feel that little nudge, we are quick to
Speaker 1: take action. See, don't be the kind of person that
Speaker 1: has to have ten warnings and twelve sirens go off
Speaker 1: and you still don't get it. Be quick to obey
Speaker 1: and understand this. When you live an obedient life, you
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about being blessed. That's when God's
Speaker 1: blessings will chase you down and overtake you. When you obey,
Speaker 1: you cannot outrun the good things of God. And remember
Speaker 1: I'm talking about obeying your own conscience, not obeying what
Speaker 1: your neighbor does or what your coworker doesn't do. They
Speaker 1: don't set the standard. Obey what God is telling you
Speaker 1: right down in here. And as I said, God takes
Speaker 1: us all in stages. You may be here today and
Speaker 1: you kind of have a problem with your attitude. You've
Speaker 1: got a problem with being negative. Well, the good news
Speaker 1: is God does not expect you to change overnight. He
Speaker 1: is not going to be disappointed with you and just
Speaker 1: write you off if you don't turn it around in
Speaker 1: one week's time. No, God, all he asks is that
Speaker 1: you keep making progress. He doesn't want you to be
Speaker 1: at this same place next year as you are right now.
Speaker 1: He's gonna lead you in his own special way. And
Speaker 1: if you will be sensitive and just do your best
Speaker 1: to keep your own conscience clear, then God will be
Speaker 1: pleased and he'll begin to release more of his blessings
Speaker 1: in your life. And really, this is something that we
Speaker 1: all can do because God meets us at our own level.
Speaker 1: I don't have to keep up with you, and you
Speaker 1: don't have to keep up with me. I just have
Speaker 1: to be true to my own heart. I know the
Speaker 1: areas God deals with me in I can hear that
Speaker 1: alarm going on. I always do my best to not
Speaker 1: go against my own conscience, and that's what I'm challenging
Speaker 1: you to do as well. I know this young man
Speaker 1: that I went to college with, and he was very
Speaker 1: short with people. I mean basically, he was just kind
Speaker 1: of hard and rude in a sense. He could be
Speaker 1: nice if you knew him, but if you didn't know him,
Speaker 1: he was just very matter of fact. And one day
Speaker 1: we were at this restaurant together with a group of
Speaker 1: the guys from the school, and the waiter got his
Speaker 1: order all mixed up and this young man just jump
Speaker 1: down his throat. I mean he let him have it.
Speaker 1: He embarrassed him in front of all of us, and
Speaker 1: it was so uncalled for. I mean, anybody can make
Speaker 1: a mistake, but he just didn't show him any mercy.
Speaker 1: And anyway, we got back to the dorm later that night,
Speaker 1: and he came into my room about an hour later,
Speaker 1: and he asked me if he could borrow my card.
Speaker 1: I said, sure, you can, but where are you going
Speaker 1: this late? He said, you know, Joel, I feel terrible.
Speaker 1: I treated that waiter so bad. I can't even sleep,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to go back there and apologize to him.
Speaker 1: And do you know, I saw that young man change
Speaker 1: over the course of that year. He went from being
Speaker 1: hard and cold and rude to being one of the kindest,
Speaker 1: most considerate people you could ever meet. My point is
Speaker 1: God will help you to change if you will simply
Speaker 1: work with him. None of us are perfect. We all
Speaker 1: make mistakes. But if we can just learn to obey
Speaker 1: our own conscience, If we can just do like that
Speaker 1: young man and be big enough to say I'm sorry
Speaker 1: I didn't treat You're right, I'll do better next time.
Speaker 1: If you will be sensitive and maintain a clear conscience,
Speaker 1: there's no limit to what God will do in your life.
Speaker 1: You know as well as I do. When we have
Speaker 1: a guilty conscience, we don't feel good about ourselves. We
Speaker 1: can't pray with boldness. We feel condemned. We don't expect
Speaker 1: good things. We're not fulfilled. The best thing we can
Speaker 1: do is just go back and make things right. Like
Speaker 1: that young man, swallow your pride and be quick to obey.
Speaker 1: Why don't you apologize to the people you need to
Speaker 1: apologize to, don't live with a guilty conscience. Or maybe
Speaker 1: you need to say, God, I'm sorry for watching all
Speaker 1: that junk, forgive me, or God, I'm sorry for having
Speaker 1: such a critical attitude toward that person. Listen, when you
Speaker 1: do that, your conscience will go back to that place
Speaker 1: of ease, That heavy burden will be lifted off of you.
Speaker 1: You'll be able to sleep well. Not only that, God
Speaker 1: will help you to do better next time. I remember
Speaker 1: years ago, one time after the service, my father came
Speaker 1: back into the television area and myself and four or
Speaker 1: five of the crew members were back there, and it
Speaker 1: just so happened. When Daddy walked in, we were all
Speaker 1: laughing real big and having a good time. Something real
Speaker 1: funny had just happened. But for some reason, my father
Speaker 1: thought that we were making fun of something that had
Speaker 1: happened in the service. The truth is it didn't have
Speaker 1: anything to do with that. And now Daddy was very kind,
Speaker 1: he was a very compassionate person, but this seemed to
Speaker 1: just set him off, and he began to chew us
Speaker 1: out and let us know that we should not be
Speaker 1: making fun of people and things, and on and on
Speaker 1: and on. I said, again, Daddy, it had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with that. It was totally unrelated. Well, he left there,
Speaker 1: and of course we felt kind of badly about it. Well,
Speaker 1: when I got home that night, a couple of hours later,
Speaker 1: I'll never forget my father came into my room and
Speaker 1: he said, Joel, I got to talk to you. I
Speaker 1: blew it tonight. I know I was wrong. I know
Speaker 1: I made a mistake, and I'm asking you to forgive me.
Speaker 1: I just want to apologize. Do you know Daddy called
Speaker 1: each of those other young men that night as well
Speaker 1: and apologize to them. It must have been close to midnight,
Speaker 1: but he would not go to bed with having that
Speaker 1: heaviness on his heart. And what an impression that made
Speaker 1: upon him, what an impression it made upon those other
Speaker 1: young men. He was not too proud to apologize. He
Speaker 1: was not too proud to admit that he made a mistake.
Speaker 1: See My father had a tender conscience. He wouldn't even
Speaker 1: go to bed with that feeling of heaviness. No wonder
Speaker 1: God blessed him, No wonder God used him in a
Speaker 1: great way. And if we can just learn to have
Speaker 1: that same kind of pure heart and be sensitive and
Speaker 1: whatever area it may be in, be quick to obey,
Speaker 1: be quick to forgive, be quick to apologize, be quick
Speaker 1: to change your attitude. That's what's pleasing to God. If
Speaker 1: you're here today and you have things hanging on to
Speaker 1: your conscience, people, you need to apologize to habits, you
Speaker 1: need to break things you know you need to do.
Speaker 1: Don't live life guilty. Make the necessary changes, make those adjustments,
Speaker 1: and listen. I'm not here to condemn anybody. I'm here
Speaker 1: to help you come up higher. And I can tell
Speaker 1: you this life is too short to live at compromising
Speaker 1: with unforgiveness, with bad attitudes, going around treating people poorly.
Speaker 1: Pay attention to what you're feeling on the inside. Live
Speaker 1: your life with a clear conscience, get into God's best plan.
Speaker 1: The scripture says there in Matthew six point twenty two
Speaker 1: that the lamp of the body is the eye, the
Speaker 1: spiritual eye. You might say, is our conscience. Goes on
Speaker 1: to say that if the eye is good, the whole
Speaker 1: body will be filled with light. In other words, if
Speaker 1: your conscience is clear, life is gonna be good. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be happy, you're gonna have a positive vision, and
Speaker 1: you'll be enjoying God's blessings. But the next verse describes
Speaker 1: many people today. Says in the amplified if our conscience
Speaker 1: is full of darkness, then how dense will that darkness be?
Speaker 1: I think about how many people are living with a heaviness.
Speaker 1: They've always got this nagging feeling, something's always bothering them.
Speaker 1: They're not happy. Well, the problem is they don't have
Speaker 1: a clear conscience. They've swept things under the rug. They've
Speaker 1: ignored the warnings. They've gotten hard and cold in certain areas.
Speaker 1: And listen, that's not going to change until you make
Speaker 1: the adjustments. And what I'm saying today, if there are
Speaker 1: things that you are doing that you know you should
Speaker 1: not be doing, then make some adjustments. Or if there
Speaker 1: are things that you should not be doing and you're
Speaker 1: doing them, then make those changes. And as I said,
Speaker 1: it may not be something big. You may not be
Speaker 1: in some kind of great sin. But maybe God is
Speaker 1: dealing with you just about having a better attitude, or
Speaker 1: about spending more time with your children, about eating healthier,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. Make it decision that you're going to
Speaker 1: pay more attention to your conscience, and not only that,
Speaker 1: that you're going to be quick to obey. That's when
Speaker 1: all that heaviness is going to leave. I like what
Speaker 1: the apostle Paul said in Acts twenty three. He said,
Speaker 1: I have lived before God with a perfectly clear conscience.
Speaker 1: That should be the goal of every one of us.
Speaker 1: When our conscience is clear, condemnation won't bother. When we
Speaker 1: have a clear conscience, we're gonna be happy. Other people
Speaker 1: may try to judge us or condemn us, but that'll
Speaker 1: just bounce right off of us. Sometimes people say, Joel,
Speaker 1: why don't you do more of this or more of that. Listen,
Speaker 1: I know I'm not perfect, but I also know this.
Speaker 1: My conscience is clear before God. I know that I'm
Speaker 1: doing my best to please him. That's why I can
Speaker 1: sleep well at night. That's why I can lie down
Speaker 1: at peace. That's why I can have a smile on
Speaker 1: my face. Friends, this is a very freeing way to live.
Speaker 1: So let me challenge you again, pay close attention to
Speaker 1: your conscience, respect it, don't ignore those warnings. Be quick
Speaker 1: to obey and pray every day. God help me to
Speaker 1: have a tender conscience. And remember, every time you obey
Speaker 1: your conscience, your heart is getting a little bit softer
Speaker 1: and you'll do it a little quicker the next time.
Speaker 1: So make a decision with me that you're gonna do
Speaker 1: your best to maintain a clear conscience. If you do that,
Speaker 1: I know God will take it from victory to victory
Speaker 1: and you'll experience the abundant life he has in store. Amen.
Speaker 1: How many of you receive it this morning? And we
Speaker 1: never like to close our god past without giving you
Speaker 1: an opportunity to make Jesus the lord of your life.
Speaker 1: Would you pray with me, just say, Lord, Jesus, I
Speaker 1: repent of my sins, Come into my heart. I make
Speaker 1: you my Lord and savior. Friends, if you prayed that
Speaker 1: simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in
Speaker 1: a good Bible based church. Keep God first place. He's
Speaker 1: going to take your places that you've never dreamed of.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope
Speaker 1: you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to
Speaker 1: keep you encouraged and inspired all through the week. Help
Speaker 1: us to continue to share the message of hope with
Speaker 1: those all around the world. Visit Joelosting dot com or
Speaker 1: click the link in the description to partner with us today.
Speaker 1: We hope you'll share this message with a friend and
Speaker 1: be sure to follow us on social media. We're praying
Speaker 1: for you. I know God's best is still ahead. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next time.