Join us now for the chapel hour coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Our speaker is Reverend James Bledsoe, pastor of Faithway Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. The title of his message is, A Time to Acknowledge God's Ways. The text is from Proverbs 24, verse 27, and chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. Good morning. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, a very familiar passage of Scripture as we continue on with our thought from yesterday, I trust was a challenge and a blessing to your heart. Encouragement, I pray that direction would be clearly given, of course, to each and every one of us who are children of God, that we would seek to please Him, of course, to exalt Him, to edify, to exhort as God has commanded us to do. As you're in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, let me reread a verse we used yesterday out of Proverbs 24, 27. Prepare thy work without, make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thine house. I think one of the things that the author would have us to recognize is that opportunities, times, as in Ecclesiastes as we turned and read yesterday, are to be put in order. That is, there is a time to work in the field. There's a time to prepare. There's a time to get things ready for what is coming. In other words, don't build a house and then hope that things will work out. Let's get things in order. Let's prepare for our goals or for our ambitions or for what we believe God would have us to be or what our desires would be, our vocations. Let's get ready for that. Let's prepare ourselves. Do all we can do to be God's kind of person in any situation, in every situation or circumstance or time, if you please, from Ecclesiastes that we learned yesterday. And time is a gift to us. God gives us opportunities to prepare for life. Isn't it wonderful that God would give us opportunities rather than just throw us out into the world and say, okay, I hope you make it. I'll see you when you get over here. That's not exactly how God operates, and I'm very thankful for that. There are two basic truths that we emphasized yesterday for you, or tried to emphasize yesterday for you, found in Ecclesiastes 3, 1 through 14. One of those truths was that the providences of God, that God in His decrees and God in His designs has established that there are times, there are occasions, there are occurrences that He uses in our lives to prepare us for service unto Him, of course, for life, And all of those times or all that providence is directed toward the second basic truth we iterated yesterday and we want to do again today, is toward his purpose, God's purpose. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. That he is, in verse 29 of Romans chapter 8, conforming us to Christ's likeness. And we're very thankful, of course, for that. Now, with those two truths, those two basic theological truths, We came to this conclusion, the effect that it would have upon me as a child of God, the effect that it would have upon you as a child of God, the effect upon me as a pastor, the effect upon you as a student, or a staff member, or a faculty member, or a professor, etc. The effect that those truths would have upon us brings great assurance, first of all, to the child of God. We are assured that if God has purposed, that God will do that which he's purposed, Ephesians 1, 11, of course, in our lives, that God, according to his purpose, is conforming us to Christ's line. And I have great assurance of that to the point where I join the Apostle Paul and I say, hey, wherever I am as a student, as a pastor, as a professor, whatever, I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. He hasn't brought this into my life for destruction, but he's brought it into my life for preparation. to prepare me for service. And I thank God for that. I thank God that He gives us seasons of preparation. And I have great assurance that wherever I am in my life, whatever I'm doing, that at that time, and that's the key word, at that time, what God is doing is preparing me. God is working. God is conforming me. God is making me more Christ-like. And that's a blessing. That's one of the blessed truths that God gives to His children, that you can be assured that He had begun the good work. will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Secondly, that truth of providence and that truth of purpose brings us into this arena with great assertiveness, aggressiveness, if you please. We can be aggressive about what God is doing. We can partake in that. We are to be part of that in the season. For instance, if you were planting, you are the planter. And you plant. And then when time comes to harvest, you do the harvesting. It's not just going to jump out of the garden or out of the field into the house. You're going to have to go out there. You are part of that. And you need to be aggressive about what God is doing in your life with the Apostle Paul and press, if you please, toward the mark of the prize of the high calling. Run the race. Be aggressive in that. And then the last one is we can, with those two truths, enter into this arena with great anticipation. What is God doing today? I anticipate God working in my life today. I anticipate God using these times in my life today, the classroom scenario, the chapel scenario, the fellowship in the dorm room, or just a word of encouragement. I assume and I anticipate that God is using this. in preparation of my life, for not just today, but for service tomorrow, or the arena of life tomorrow. He's preparing me, and there's nothing, as we discovered yesterday, wrong with being prepared. As a matter of fact, it is a biblical teaching that we are to be prepared. Our passage today brings us to another point. It brings us to the point of getting involved in the arena of life. Not just being a bystander. not just being in the bleachers and watching the game go by, but to be a participant in what the God of heaven, the Creator, the Sovereign Lord has done in your life. He's saved you. He's called you to this place by His providence. He brought you here. We talked yesterday about whatever your motive would have been for coming, nonetheless, you're here for such a time as this. To be aggressive, to be assertive, to be anticipating what God is doing. So we turn to a passage, a very familiar passage, Proverbs, 3, 5, and 6, where he says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. That is a tremendous truth. The next verse, he says, In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path. Isn't that wonderful to know? That He shall direct thy path. Our role in that is to acknowledge Him, to trust in Him, to acknowledge that God is in control, that we understand about life, that God has saved us and given us new life in Christ, and now we're brought by His providence to this place to prepare, to serve, to labor, if you please, in the world. God says to acknowledge Him. One of the primary ways of acknowledging God, and that word means more than just giving mental assent that there is a God, It means more to give mental assent that God's out there somewhere. It means to acknowledge God's ways. And the only way we can do that truthfully is to acknowledge His ways through His Word. For instance, to assume the truths that are revealed as part in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, as we discussed yesterday, that it is by the providence of God, it is according to the purpose of God. That's to acknowledge Him, to accept that, to cause us to be more aggressive and more assertive in our role as students here at Bob Jones University. Get to this portion of Scripture. He says, "...in all thy ways acknowledge Him, knowing He shall direct thy paths." And here's the plan I want to go with you today. That is, the plan is to be the kind of student, the kind of person that God will bless. To have the kind of goals that God would have for you. In order to do that, you have to acknowledge Him in all your ways. knowing that he shall direct thy path. Great confidence you should have. Great assertiveness, great aggressiveness, great anticipation, knowing that God shall direct thy path. That's a wonderful truth, by the way. God, you revere God, fear God. You understand what I'm trying to say. That the Creator, the God of mercy, the God of grace, the God of peace, the God of salvation, is directing your path. And I said yesterday and want to say again today, out of all the people in the world, years gone by and years to come, I marvel at the grace of God that these truths would be for me. Sinners saved by grace, saved by the mercy of God, and now knowing that God didn't say, now Jim, I've saved you, I've given you new life in Christ, I hope things work out for you. That's not exactly what God did. As a matter of fact, that is a far fetch from what God has done. Because in His Word, He has given us directions, methodologies, and messages to direct our steps. The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. Well, how are they ordered? Well, according to His Word. And He delighteth in His way. And so, let me bring you to a practicum now of acknowledging God in your life. And one of the first things I think that you should realize is that as a student, in order to acknowledge His ways in your life, to realize that by His providence you are here, according to His purpose you are here. As a student, one of the ways that you can acknowledge God is to find the right model. As a student, teaching and discipleship has a model role. The principle of truth of discipleship in the Scriptures with Christ and His disciples was to be with Him, was to be like Him. They had a model. That model was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our model. His life was so structured and so goal-oriented, if you please, He was such a respecter of time. Now, I'm not talking about the watch. I'm not talking about just the 24-hour span, Probably true. I'm talking about the season. I'm talking about the occasion that he himself said of himself, I cannot do my will, but the will of the one that sent me that, of course, his father that has sent him. Well, to be a student, we need a model and our model needs to be the person of Jesus Christ. And one of the first illustrations of his modeling as a student was that you understand what it is to be a goal oriented individual. Now, let me share something with you, could you please? In John 7, 6, he says, My time is not yet come. John 7, 30, His hour was not yet come. John 8, 20, For His hour was not yet come. John 9, 4, I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The hour is come. John 12, 23. John 13, 1, When Jesus knew that His hour was come. Now what does that tell us about that? John 17, 1, Father, the hour has come. That He had very much respect. for the time or the season or the occasion or the occurrence that he had entered into. Now don't you think it would do us well to understand that? It would do us well to understand the hour in which God has brought us if we're going to follow our model, our Lord Jesus Christ. So understand where you are. Understand when you're here. What you're here for, the hour has come, or be a respecter of the season or the time or the occasion that God has brought you into. You say, Pastor, that was our Lord doing that. Well, hold it a second. In 1 John 2, 6, he says this, He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked." Psalm 39, 4, "'Lord, make me to know the end and the measure of my days.'" Psalm 90, 12, "'So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.' Paul said to the church at Ephesus, "'Redeeming the time, for the days are evil.'" In other words, all throughout the Scriptures from Christ on through the New Testament church era, etc., we were taught to give respect to time or the occasion or the occurrence in our life. And that would bring us to a conclusion that these things are working together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose. So, the first thing is that Christ Himself was goal-oriented. Now, there are some values to being goal-oriented. Let me give you some practical values here. Do you realize that having goals and knowing God's goals for your lives gives us great confidence? Knowing that I'm lined up with the Word of God, knowing I'm doing what God would have me to do, taking advantage of the opportunities that God has given me, gives me great confidence. Not in myself, but in the God of Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Having goals provides directions in my daily decisions. Having goals causes me to focus my energy rather than expend it in various places and maybe lose my focus and get off on peripheral issues rather than the real issues of life themselves. Do you realize that having goals provides unity and meaning to a diversity of work? And here's one you ought to really hone in on. I'm sure there's things here at the university and in your classrooms, your various classrooms, your diverse scenarios that maybe you don't fit all together in your mind and say, what is all this about? Well, having a goal brings all that together. It causes it to mesh together. It causes it to fit. Because the goal, no matter what scenario, the class, etc., is the same, and God uses this to accomplish that goal of your task. The task and the goal, rather. It provides obedience to God's objectives in our lives. It provides a yardstick for you to be able to evaluate. Isn't that wonderful, by the way? Where are you as a student? How are you as a student? How do you evaluate that? Well, just academically? No, I think it goes beyond academics. I think it goes to a time of stewardship in your life. Stewardship of opportunity, stewardship of occasion, stewardship to learn. Which brings me to the next point. As our model, Christ did model that he was a respecter of time, but he also modeled the fact that he himself was a learner. You know, to just tag the tag on, I'm a student, doesn't automatically make us learners, does it? A learner is someone who seeks out knowledge and truth, that he may implement that knowledge in life and apply himself unto wisdom, that he may please God, that he may function in a practical way that's pleasing to God. Jesus Christ, it's said of Him in Hebrews 5.8, Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." As a matter of fact, Christ Himself said of us, Matthew 11, 29, learn of me. Proverbs 1, 5 says, a wise man will hear and increase learning. And all through the New Testament epistles, we're commanded that it is imperative that we learn. 2 Peter 3, 18, that we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter again, that we add to our faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. That it is a learning experience. It is a learning occasion. It is a learning time in our life to be learners of the things of God. To be learners of the things of life. That we may implement those truths. That our lives may be molded and made into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, it goes beyond academics. It goes down to the depth of the heart of man. That he seeks out the wisdom of God and the things of God. In the order, I might say. Nothing mystical about this. In the order that God has established in His Word, the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, and He delighteth in His way. What a wonderful truth that is for us. And so being goal-oriented brings us to seeking out knowledge and to aggressively be a learner, not just to take a subject and make a passing grade. And I trust you will pass. But to learn, to absolutely learn the principles of mathematics, to absolutely learn about history, to absolutely learn about science or biology or chemistry or whatever your major is, to learn those things. So that as you go off the campus of Bob Jones University with your degree in hand, that not only you hang it on the wall, but you practically manifest before the entire world, I'm a learner. I'm a learner because of the God in heaven that has saved me. I'm a learner because of the truths that God has given me occasion and opportunity to hear and perceive and implement into my life. And they have so changed my life and so molded my life that I can't help but glorify and praise our good God, to be a learner. Jesus Christ was a learner. You know, as a student, you need a model. As a student, you need to say, Lord, help me to be a learner. Help me to be a real disciple. Help me to perceive truth and grasp hold of truth, that my life might be conformed to Christ's likeness. Help me, O Lord. Then as a student, you need to learn to stay focused. Isn't it easy to focus on the peripheral rather than the real issue in front of you? Isn't it easy to Maybe consider your social life first. When I was in Bible college, I majored in fellowship. Of course, they didn't give grades for it, but I majored in it anyway. I'm not saying do that, by the way. That wouldn't be a good model. Stay focused. Listen to what Paul said in Philippians chapter 3 when he said this. And you're familiar, I'm sure. He said that I may know him. At this point in time, Paul had passed off any good thing that he had been before, any accomplishments of self, any knowledge of self, any worldly wisdom, he counted it but done for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He said that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings be made conformable unto His death. And here we go. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, Not as though I'd already attained, but either were already perfect, but I follow after. I follow after, he said, if that I may apprehend that for which I've apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do for getting those things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things which are before. And here we go. I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now, what was he saying? I pressed toward a mark. No, I pressed toward the mark. Paul himself was a goal-oriented individual. Paul himself was focused. A very learned man, I might add, but focused on one area, one central theme in his life, one place. And the idea is this. Get focused. Stay focused. Don't let circumstances, the peripheral, become your focus. Don't let others become your focus. You stay focused on what God and His providence and God and His good purpose has brought you into this place for this time, for your learning experience of this occurrence in your life. You stay focused in order to please God. Stay focused. It's very easy not to be focused. As a matter of fact, we can even establish goals that aren't God-oriented. They aren't God-pleasing goals. complimentary to our focus as being a student, for instance. Sometimes we deceive ourselves, which is the worst deception of all. There are some things you can do to evaluate your goals right now. You can put your goals to the test. Ask yourself some questions about what your goals are. By the way, obviously, from the scriptures, if we're going to be like our model, we need to be goal oriented. Obviously, from the scriptures, we need to be committed to learning. Obviously, from the scriptures, We need to stay focused. Do my goals fit my life purpose? Do my goals fit my priorities? Do they involve areas of greatest need? These are questions that you could be asking. And this is one question that we ask ourselves frequently, even in the past. Are my goals maximizing in a wise way, listen, the use of my gifts, talents, experiences and abilities? Do they maximize what God has given me to utilize for His glory? You might ask yourself that question. Are you maximizing what God has given you the ability to do? Are you stretching yourself? Are you growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ toward that focused issue in your life, that education or that area of service that you want to prepare for, that house that you want to build, the Proverbs man? Are you focused on that? Or would it be easy to distract you? Another question is, do my goals give the right opinion of God? Do my goals include service to Christ? These are some basic questions. Now, in order to acknowledge God in all your ways, I think these have to be considered. Why? Because they're taught throughout His Word. And they have to be considered. You can't just wing it through school. You can't just wing it through life. I don't know where it originated. Someone said a man who doesn't stand for some things, he'll fall for anything. I'm sure I misquoted that. You got the point. When people don't know where they're going, they won't know when they get there. That's deep. If people don't know what God expects of them, how can they please God? And what you do in that arena is you come to where God has brought you providentially and purposely, and you evaluate where you are as you are, and you get focused on what God has you to do, and you know what's going to happen to you? You're going to see God working in your heart and life in a great way, in a great capacity. You're going to see God meeting needs. You're going to see the peripheral be diffused, and you're going to focus on that one area, and you're going to be growing and changing and becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. Not because there's some magical formula to that, but it's simply because we learned in Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path." And here comes the aggressiveness. Here comes the assertiveness. Here comes the assurance. And man, here comes the anticipation. Anticipation of being a success in the ministry, a success as a student, success in the classroom, a success in the dorm, a success in all you do. And I don't mean the worldly success. I mean the success before God. That's what matters, isn't it? You know, Paul wrote to the church at Corinthian. He said, you know, that we might be accepted of him. That's our goal. And what do we do? What do we eat? What do we drink? What should we do? That we do all for the glory of God. So as you leave this place and you go back into that classroom, you've got to go in there aggressively knowing that your steps are ordered. Knowing that you have an absolute manual to go by. Knowing that Christ was goal-oriented. Knowing that He was focused. Knowing that He was a learner. And I want to be just like Jesus Christ. After all, that is God's purpose for having redeemed me is to conform me into His likeness. I have a great passion, great desire to be like Him, even as a student, even in my study, even witnessing and visiting or whatever that God has me to do. As a husband, as a spouse, as a dad, I want to be like Christ. Don't you? Well, here you are. You may not be a husband. You may not be a dad. But you are a student. And you can be like Christ. And you can be the kind of student that's pleasing to a holy God. Isn't that a wonderful thrill? That as we turn to His Word and we learn, that we press toward that mark, that we exercise ourselves unto godliness, that we run this race that's set before us, that we're able to, in a practical way, look to the author and the finisher of our faith, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And I'm glad, by the way, and I know there's a lot of great characters in the Scriptures, but I'm glad when I turn to the character of Jesus Christ and the person of Jesus Christ, and I reflect upon Him and His character and His person, I find no fault. I find Him without sin, without error. I find Him the perfect model. I find Him the perfect learner. And I find Him perfectly focused that when He came to this earth, Nothing was going to keep our Lord from performing the plan of redemption, or fulfilling perhaps, I should say, the plan of redemption as He was set to go to Calvary, Golgotha's hill. And all along life's way, how things came up to deter Him, to destroy Him. But yet, when it came time in that season to the cross He went in obedience to His Father to redeem us, from our sin. What a great Savior. What a great model. What a great God He is. And not just some day you can do these things. Today is the day. Today is the day to acknowledge Him. Today is the day to know that He shall direct thy paths. He's a wonderful Savior, as we sang, Jesus our Lord. Can we pray, please? Father, we thank You, Lord, for teaching us principles and truths from Your Word that change our lives. Our model, our Lord Jesus Christ, goal-oriented. Our model, Jesus Christ, as a learner. Our model, Jesus Christ, focused on the purpose that, God, You had established before the foundation of the world. And I pray, Heavenly Father, that we'll take these basic truths And by the aid of the Holy Spirit, be able to implement them into our lives as we go back into our dorms, back into our classrooms, back into our pastorates, back as a professor, wherever we may be, that we could implement these truths in such a way that we would honor and glorify you. Bless the hearts of each student here. Encourage them, Lord, to know that our hope is in the Lord. And we praise you forever for the opportunity, the occasion in life at this present. Looking forward to what you're going to do. remainder of the day and the days to come. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. God bless you. You've been listening to the Chapel Hour coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker was Reverend James Bledsoe, pastor of Faithway Baptist Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. For a cassette tape containing yesterday's and today's messages by Reverend Bledsoe, Send a check for $5.13 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.