Wednesday, September 28, 2011
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Now, I've spent a fair amount of my life on airplanes, and so the thought of a fire on a plane is pretty unsettling. So I wasn't too excited about what I heard happened on an Air Canada flight several years ago. The fire actually started in the lavatory and the fire wasn't so big, but the smoke started to billow through the plane and it very quickly reached the cockpit. You can imagine how fearful that was going to be.
Well, it reached the point where the pilot was literally blinded by the smoke; he couldn't see outside of the plane, he couldn't see the instrument panel, and he literally didn't know where he was going to land; he didn't know how he was going to get down. And suddenly in the middle of all that chaos, there comes this calm, measured voice into the cockpit, "Just do what I say, and I'll bring you in." Well, of course, it was that flight controller in the tower at the nearby airport. And he literally talked the pilot in and miraculously after all that, there was a safe landing.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Follow That Voice."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 4:42-44 - "At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place." This, by the way, comes after a day filled with healing people and casting out demons. It says, "The people were looking for Him. And when they came to where He was, they tried to keep Him from leaving them."
"But He said, 'I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea." Well, here is Jesus surrounded by voices, needy voices...people saying, "Jesus, stay here. Wait! We need you over here." And they're vying for His time; they're vying for His attention. And every one of them was asking Him to do a good thing. Does that sound familiar at all—people vying for your attention, for your time? And all your choices are basically good ones.
Well, you notice that Jesus has a very clear "I must. No, I know what I must do. I must preach the good news in the other towns." And this "I must" helps Him stay on course as He's making His daily choices. Now, your life is the sum of hundreds of little choices you make each day isn't it? If you're like me, you have a lot of needs, a lot of possibilities tugging at you daily. And they're mostly good choices, but God has put you on earth for some special missions and you have to be true to those no matter how noble the detours are that are pulling on you.
Now, often we end up running around all stressed out, trying to satisfy everybody. And we often end up satisfying no one. And we lead these fragmented, frustrated lives, because well, we forget our "musts." Those have to come from God. If you ask Him, God will lay on your heart your assignments. He is the calm voice from the tower. He will lay on your heart your mission, your reason for being here. Some of those are going to be needs that only you can meet. There are some things only you could be for your family; that only you could be for lost friends that you're close to. You're the best one to help them get to heaven.
"I must," Jesus said, "That is why I was sent. I know what I have to do, and this doesn't fit even though it's really noble and really good." Now, how do you keep your course in a world that's full of "musts?" It says, "Jesus went to a solitary place at daybreak." And we know that there's where He got in touch with His Father. He got in touch with the tower to sort out His priorities for the day. That's where you have to go daily. You have to go there early, and you have to go there alone and let God lay on your heart His "musts."
You'll always land where you're supposed to if you begin with the voice in the control tower. So let God guide your course. Listen for your Father's instructions, and then follow that voice.