We can allow feelings and carnal ways to make our ways crooked. Without the sense magnetism that the Spirit gives, we get lost in our perceptions. We have an anchor that holds. (Galatians 1:15; Jeremiah 10:23-24)

Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller, Pastor Eugene Davis, Pastor Bob Colban
Sermon 11899
6:30 PM on 6/7/2020

P. Schaller –

Luke 20 to introduce our subject we covered this morning twice. I asked P. Bob Colban to share a word
tonight. Are we alright? I asked P. Colban and P. Eugene Davis to share on this subject that we
covered this morning. Maybe some of you missed this morning and you don’t know about it. In
Luke 20, we see a group of people that are trying to catch Jesus in his words and in his way of
thinking. They were trying to catch Jesus. They had a strategy. They were very smart people and
knew their Bible very well. They didn’t like Jesus because he was different. That’s a point we
want to make tonight. If we hear from Jesus, if we are in fellowship with Jesus, we will be
different. It’s hard to explain to someone. It’s different.

These people are really against him.They are really against him. You have two levels. We illustrated it this morning that before modern navigation on the sea, they would have two compasses. One on the deck for the pilot
and the boat but it wasn’t dependable because of the magnetism of the metal and the steel
haul of the ship. So they had another compass up high in the mast. That compass was more
true, and they could compare. That was the one they trusted, the one up there. We said this
morning that if we go by our compass that is down here, down low, we may be misled by the
voices, the forces that are here in this world that are in my own heart and my own life. I may
not recognize it. I think I’m right, but actually I could be very wrong.

Jesus came and his communication is totally from the Father and from the Father he speaks to us regarding life.
The ministry in these troublesome times is based on hearing what God has to say to us. To be
very honest, some people drift away from God and get so involved in their struggles and in their
life and their search for things and search for solutions and for restoration and search for
equality and fairness and justice. Micah the prophet said, what does the Lord love? What does
he look for? They that walk justly, love mercy and walk humbly. Three things. Right now, we
hear a lot about the search for justice and we want it. Justice is an important part of life. What
if I don’t have it? I need to hear the voice. Jesus didn’t have it. They hated him and eventually
said we are getting rid of him and he was crucified.

That’s not justice. What happened? The Father had a plan and the Father raised him from the dead and the Father gave him a throne. What am I saying? We are in troublesome times and there is a compass not from the human
heart and not the world around me. It’s a compass that comes from the Word of God and the
Spirit of God that speaks to our hearts and teaches me to forgive, teaches me to pray, teaches
me to serve, fills me with the Holy Spirit and leads us in faith. There are many things we can say
about it. There are people who are jealous. There are people who are afraid. There are people
who are alone. There are people who have been ripped off, mistreated. There are people who
have suffered with broken hearts and terrible sins in life, terrible things that have happened to
people. What do we say about it? Jesus said, come unto me.

Come unto me. Learn of me. What? Learn of me. Learn of me. I am meek and lowly. Take my yoke upon me. I am exciting about listening to these two men of God. We’ll do P. Colban and then Emma Shibley is going to
sing a special song after P. Colban. Then Pastor Eugene. Then we will have a rap tonight with
Steve Andrulonis and some graduates and some of us will be out there drinking coffee and
having fellowship.

P. Colban –

Good evening. I listened to the message at 9. P. Schaller was speaking about the
compasses. My wife and I were also here at the 11. We heard it again. We were sitting next to
the Cannon’s but actually we were part next to the Cannons and before service started, we
were talking about the 9 service and what an amazing message it was and how much it was
needed for our lives personally. Then after the 11:00 service we talked about the message again
and how much we need to hear this. I saw P. Schaller in the parking lot afterwards and I said,
we need to hear that again. He said, good. You can talk about it tonight. Here I am! Really,
pastor, the messages have been – I‘m not going to speak long.

There’s a lot to be said about thinking with God. That’s what I would title it. When we are confronted with anything, when there is something personal in our lives, – a trial, a situation, something we didn’t plan on –
whatever it could be. There are so many different types of things and maybe each one of us is
facing something in our lives personally. Whether it’s something that the world is going through
with the virus or this country with the injustice and things going on, we can react to all of these
things two different ways. It’s very simple in one sense. We can react emotionally with our
opinions. I’m sure we have all realized this through the virus and through the last week that if
you watch different news broadcasts or YouTube or 11:00 news or however you get your
source of information, it is everything from this here to this on the other side.

You can be spinning like a top with all the information. “You got to wear a mask. It’s the only thing that will
save humanity.” “You don’t need masks. They don’t do anything for you.” Where are we? I
don’t know anything about a mask. I don’t know anything. Do I wear a mask or not wear a
mask? It fogs up my glasses! I don’t want to wear a mask. But if I’m going to destroy humanity, I
should wear a mask. Who do you listen to? In every situation, there is this opinion and this
opinion and then there is us. Who do we listen to? This guy, I like what he says but does he
have an agenda? This guy, I like what he said but does he have an agenda? These are the facts.
No, these are the facts. What are the facts? I don’t know. It’s like crazy! Even in our own lives,
we get the same way with trials and things and we’re like, what is going on?

This level there is so much coming at us, so many voices and then also from within us. It’s not just outside. It’s
from within. We see a video and someone speaking. I’m so angry. I left my house the other day
so angry at something. I’m driving to Home Depot and I’m saying, Lord why am I so angry? I’m
so angry. I’m just unnaturally angry about something. All of a sudden, the H.S. said, why don’t
you think with me? I was so embarrassed for getting so angry about something I heard. I said,
wow! I know we are supposed to think with God but why ain’t I doing it? Why aren’t I doing
what I ought to do? We know this. We have been taught this for 50 years. If you are 20 years
old, you haven’t been taught it for 50 years but many of us have. We’ve been told, think with
God. Pauline epistles class this year one of the things that really resonated as we studied nine
of Paul’s epistles, ultimately what he is saying, let’s think with God.

Hey Corinthians. You have so many problems in your church. Read Corinthians. I know P. Scibelli numbered them once. Was there 30 or 40 problems or more? How many? Ninety. Ninety problems in the book of
Corinthians in the church. Paul says you’re carnal. Wow, Paul, what about these other 89? You
think and act as a natural man. Wow. What about this problem? You’re carnal. You are thinking about this problem as a man thinks about it on this level. You are carnal. You act like men and
think like men. How about thinking with God? That’s when he writes 1 Corinthians 13 about love and
preferring one another. 1 Corinthians 12 the Body of Christ, esteeming each other. Let’s think above.
Let’s think with God and maybe these 90 problems will go away because we have all decided to
think with a different source.

You see this all through Paul’s writings in different churches in different problems, in different situations. Hey, let’s think with God in this situation. I want to read a couple of definitions here. Objectively. We’ve been taught this. Thinking objectively and thinking subjectively. Objectively – receiving, applying and depending on the truth of God’s
word without distortion by personal opinions or personal prejudices. It’s pretty simple. We
have been taught to think objectively. I don’t know how to think about this situation. Okay, why
don’t you receive, apply and depend on the truth of my word and not mix it. This is the thing.
We take the Word of God and I think I’ll add in a little bit of personal opinion. I’m going to add
in a little bit of distortion with my feelings. I add my feelings into the mix and I’m not thinking
objectively. I’m thinking subjectively.

God says think with me. What does God say about the virus? I don’t speak for God in that sense. I’m not going to say “thus saith the Lord.” It does say in Philippians, “be anxious for nothing and in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your request to God. The peace of God that passes our understanding will
rule our hearts. Maybe that’s what I need to hear in the midst of confusion, in a virus. Be
anxious for nothing. Take no thought for these things. Don’t be anxious about it. Let the peace
of God rule your hearts and pray with supplication and thanksgiving and see all of a sudden, is
the virus still there? Yes. Is it something to be concerned about? Yes, but I’m not anxious about
it anymore. I prayed about it. I received a thought with God to say don’t be anxious about this.
Don’t take any thought. I got this.

Be wise but don’t be consumed by this stuff whatever it may be. Is that what God says about the virus? No, but that’s what God says to us in the midst of a crisis. That’s receiving something and thinking with God. Rather then, I don’t know what to do. This is crazy. I don’t know if I should step foot out of my house because I might die. Take no
thought. Be anxious for nothing. Can I really think that way? Can I really let my life be ruled by
thoughts from above? He says, yes you can. Pastor mentioned James 3 about the wisdom from
below. This wisdom descends not from above but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. This is the
wisdom from this level. There is an agenda. There is something behind so much of it. It’s crazy.
I don’t have the capacity to weigh through it all and find out if there is a kernel of truth in there,
but I do have the capacity to say, Lord, how shall I think in this situation?

Can I receive something from you today? Can you calm my heart today? vs. 16. Wisdom that is above is first
pure. I saw this for the first time. What is it first? Pure. One definition in Strong’s for that is free
from carnality. That really struck me. This wisdom God gives us is pure from carnality. It’s clean.
It doesn’t have an agenda. It’s just God speaking to us through his Word and his Spirit and
through the pulpit. It’s pure. I can say I can believe this. God doesn’t have an agenda to get me
to think or act a certain way. His agenda is to just receive something from him for my heart to
be comforted. The wisdom from above is pure, not sensual, not earthly, not devilish. Not full of
opinions, even my own opinion. It’s pure, peaceable, gentle, easily entreated, full of mercy and
good fruit, without partiality, without hypocrisy.

Pastor said at the 11 there are a lot of voices. What voice are we going to chose to listen to? There are so many voices. I want to choose to listen to the one voice that speaks to me with wisdom, with definition that is pure and
unadulterated and not defiled by anything in this world. That’s peaceable, easy to be entreated
that will comfort us. Isn’t that what we need to hear? We might not get answers about every
situation in the world, but we can be comforted by the Word of God in the midst of the
situation. That’s what we need. I remember 9/11 was a Tuesday and all of us just shocked by it.
I remember thinking I can’t wait to go to church tomorrow night and hear something from the
pulpit. I needed something from God to comfort my heart. I couldn’t wait to come to church to
hear what Dr. Stevens had to say about it. If there was a service Tuesday night, I would have
gone. I needed something from a voice, not chatter and all this stuff. We have the mind of
Christ. We have a choice.

Every situation, how am I going to think? Julius said something the other night. I was doing work at his house and we were talking. He said I can’t always control what people say or think but I can control what I say and what I think and how I react to what they say. I love that. I can’t control what anyone else says about me or to me but what I can
control is how I respond to that. I have the ability to either think or react in my emotions, my
feelings, my prejudices, or I have the ability to say God give me something in this situation. Give
me something in this situation. Give me peace in my heart, quiet lips, a soft answer, maybe no
answer. Give me something from you. That will quiet my heart also. This is the option we have
as believers. We can think objectively with God or subjectively where – did I read the definition
of subjectivity? A rising from personal feelings and opinions to think and reason within
ourselves.

It’s all based on thinking within ourselves based on our senses, our feelings, our
reactions. I’ll close with this. I read this yesterday by A. W Tozer. The story is marks of a spiritual
man. He goes through a number of points. A spiritual man is a man he sees everything from
God’s viewpoint. The ability to weigh all things in the divine scale and place the same value as
God does is a mark of the Spirit-filled life. The Spirit-filled life sees everything from God’s
viewpoint. Everything? Everything. We don’t place our value on things. We look at what does
God think about this, what value does God place on this and we take that for our value. We
want to see things through his eyes and not through ours. That’s all I have to say. In Jesus’
name.

Amen.
P. Eugene Davis –

It’s amazing how the compass this morning, that word picture, settled in my heart. There are two compasses and a compass is a mechanical device. It can be effective because we know the whole thing is magnetism, polarity, pulling. We are like a compass. All of us in this time have found ourselves pulled either one way or another. That lets us know how, like Pastor said it this morning with the ship, there is a compass above. The compass is high
enough that the metal of the ship is not affecting its direction, it’s accuracy. That is what is so
needed in our country and in us. The definition of a compass is that which the limit or the
boundary of space. It’s also the limits of truth. A compass determines the limit of truth. I can be
pulled this way but is it true. I can be pulled this way but is it true. The compass lets me know
which way is true. Jeremiah 10:23, I love 24a, oh, Lord correct me. That’s a great place to be in. I say
God, correct me. I need correction. What is interesting in Luke 19:14, we will not have this man

reign over us. There are two declarations when you are in trouble. Lord, correct me or I’m not
going to have him reign over me. I’m not going to allow his compass to direct my life. The
problem is we don’t know how to direct our life. We are like sheep. A compass and a ship. In
Amos 8:11-12, “And they shall wander from sea to sea.” In the day and age we live in, people
may not say they are looking for the Word of God but in their wandering from sea to sea, from
north to east, running to and fro they are saying I’m a ship and I need a compass from above.
That compass is Jesus Christ. An amazing testimony this morning. A lady came in service this
morning and she said I need to get saved. First thing. Came right in. I need to get saved. I’m not
sure who prayed with her, but she received Christ.

She sat in service and Josh said, can you pray with this lady? She had a situation and I prayed with her. She was weeping how much God loved her. A compass. North. Above. I love this. Proverbs 14:12, without the compass from above, we are thinking we are going the right way, but we don’t know it’s death. That’s amazing thing
about how smart we are. We live in the 21 st century and think we have it all together, but God
says you need me. I’m your compass. It’s beautiful. Galatians 1:15, this is such an amazing verse. I
love the next statement: “Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” So much flesh and
blood we can confer or counsel with. What do you think. Well what do you think? I don’t know.
We can be in a head spin. We can be running to and fro and exhausted because we don’t know
which way to go. I Kings 19, I love this portion of Scripture.

Elijah has the greatest victory. Jezebel says tomorrow you will be as the prophets. Trouble without and he’s on the run. He’s on the run. God says to him, what are you doing here Elijah? God’s still small voice from above
cuts through the problems from without. Elijah has another problem. He says it’s enough. Kill
me. I’m not better than my fathers. He has problems within. He has problems without. His
compass is off. He’s running to and fro. He’s exhausted, hungry, frustrated, depressed. God says
what are you doing here? It’s amazing God’s compass in our life. If I’m not careful, I can
abandon the compass of God. God never abandons me. I can make my bed in hell and he’s
there. He says what are you doing here? Elijah begins to tell God all his problems.

They are seeking your prophets to kill them, and I’m only left. This is amazing what God’s answer is for
him. God says I want you to anoint three people. God, don’t you understand I’m on the run? I’m
hungry. I have problems. Jezebel is seeking me. I don’t want to live. God says I want you to do
three things. I want you to anoint Hazael king of Syria. I want you to anoint Jehu king of Israel
and anoint Elisha to replace you. He says, him that escapes the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay,
and him that escapes the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. By the way, I’ve left me 7,000 in Israel
all the knees which have not bowed to Baal and every mouth which has not kissed him. It’s
amazing God’s compass. I love when God speaks in my situation, in our situations, in the world
we live in.

As Emma sang, peace. If I’m not listening to God’s voice, there is no peace. They did
not want God to rule over them. We are in a unique place. Don’t allow the fear, the noise, the
insecurity, the problems, the situation to paralyze you. Let God’s compass direct your steps.
Comfort your hearts. Give us a direction that we would serve our generation by the will of God.
This is amazing times we are living in. We are God’s people. God is our compass. He is directing
our steps and has an answer in our times of trouble. Just be still and know he is God. Though your ship is going left, right, up, down, back, front, the anchor is fixed. God is not moved. Psalm
62, He is not moved. This is beautiful.

Amen.

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