Skip to content Faith Adventures - Doubtville (Part 2) Nov 21 · 26 min ...more
November 21, 2022 · 26 min · Faith Adventures
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Beth Jones is a Bible teacher and founder of The Basics With Beth, a non-profit Christian teaching ministry dedicated to helping people learn the Bible basics.
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0:00 Hey, guys. This is Beth Jones, I am so glad you have tuned in to the basics with Beth podcast. And I'm so pumped up about helping you get the basics of the Bible, or as we like0:12 to say around here, get the basics, live the life and do the stuff. I know you are going to be so encouraged by today's podcast. And I really pray you enjoy0:23 every minute. If you'd like to know more about the basics and what we're doing, just head on over to the basics with beth dot com to get all the deets. And in the meantime, enjoy today's0:35 podcast. Let me tell you this story. This is for you younger ones in college, but this will help some of you and the parents, this will help you too since you're paying for it. So I was a student at Western. I was0:46 in in my sophomore year at Western. And it began to come into my heart to transfer to Boston University. I had a friend at Harvard at the0:58 time and a friend at Boston College. Had gone to see them a number of times and really loved Boston. It's a cool town. And so it was in my heart to transfer to Boston University, which was crazy. That1:10 was a crazy thought because my dad was a barber, my mom at the time, you know, didn't have tons of money so to speak. So it wasn't like we could afford it. And I'm not from the East Coast, I'm a1:22 Midwesterner. So it was a crazy thought. But then that got me excited because I I knew as a fairly young Christian at the time and I knew with God all things are possible. This would be fun. Oh, this would be a faith1:33 adventure. So first you have to apply. Now meanwhile, I'm at Western and I was an RA in the dorm so all my housing and food, was paid for because being an RA they cover that.1:45 So all I was paying here was in state tuition at Western and no room and board. To transfer to Boston University, it was a private school, I'd have tuition that was about 3 times as much plus room and1:57 board. So this is gonna be a big faith adventure. But it was in my heart to do it. And I spent time in prayer ville and in promise ville and I had a number of different scriptures. I really felt God was in it.2:09 So I applied. Well, lo and behold, I got accepted. Praise the Lord. So then, I wanted to this is funny. I wanted to transfer in the middle of my junior year. The complete worst time to transfer2:21 to a new school. And I wanted to change my major from biology because previously I thought I wanted to be a dentist, but now I felt God called me to the ministry and I wanted to change it to communications. So I wanna2:32 transfer to a school with out of state tuition and I wanna change my major in the middle of my junior year and I wanna still graduate in 4 years and not2:44 lose any credits in the transfer. Who thinks that is insane? It is insane. But you know what? With God, all things are possible. So I applied, got2:56 in like I told you, then I applied for financial aid because now, oh, also, I want to pay less out of pocket than I would have paid had I stayed at Western. Might as well3:08 you might as well put it out there. Might as well just you might as well go on a faith adventure y'all. You might as well just say, okay God, well let's just put this thing to the test then. Let's just go on a faith3:18 adventure. So I said, okay Lord, here's all the things I'm going to believe you for. All these things had the list, right? So I applied for financial aid. Alright, I'm going to transfer the middle of my junior year.3:30 Applied for financial aid, now it's like September, I'm going to move to Boston in January, or like December, right after Christmas. September, I called the school, hey, I applied, I've been accepted, I'm just waiting to3:42 hear, did I get the financial aid? Because if I have the financial aid, then I can quit my job in the dorms. Now at this point, was the assistant director of Henry Hall, which is a dorm on campus. So they're paying3:54 me free room and board plus I'm getting a stipend. But I've got to quit that job so they can hire somebody else. Hey, did I get the financial aid? Did Did get the grants and scholarships? Because that's what I was going4:04 for, just minimal loans, grants and scholarships. Did it come through? And they said, oh, you know what? The board hasn't met yet, but we'll get back to you. We're gonna, you know, run everything through. But just so you4:13 know, when people transfer in the middle of the year, a lot of times the scholarships and grants are gone, but we'll see what we can do. We'll be in touch. Okay. Bye. That was September. I called back end of September.4:25 Hey. Have you heard anything? Nope. The board hasn't met, but, you know, we'll keep you in mind. Click. I called back the first week in October, the second week in October, the last week of October, the first4:37 week of November. Hey, this is Beth. Hey, Julie. What's up? And here's the thing. Now, I've gotta I've gotta, like, not enroll for4:49 classes the next term, quit my job, move home at Christmas, and I still don't know if I have financial aid. But here was my confession. I've been to Prayerville and Promiseville, And I was having all kinds of doubts5:00 like, holy smokes, you're about to ruin your whole life. What are you doing? This is so stupid. Who do you think you are? Your dad's a barber. You can't afford to go to a private East Coast school. This5:12 is ridiculous. You need to just calm down. Just simmer down. But here is my confession. I I said this all the time. God is bigger than the BU5:24 computer system. Now whether or not they were gonna run me through a computer system, I don't know. But in my mind they were. The board was the computer system. I'd said all the time, God is bigger than the BU computer5:34 system. A worst case scenario, I'll be a cashier at k mart. That was like my little confession. I didn't believe the second half, but I just said it. And God bless5:46 all you cashiers at k mart. That takes a grace, let me just say. So that was my confession. God's bigger than the BU computer system. Well, anyways, long story short, Christmas break comes, I move out of the dorms. I'm5:57 moving home. I quit my job. Hey, Julie. Hope you had a good Christmas. What'd you get? This is Beth. I'm just wondering, has anything come6:09 through? I moved out of the dorm here, just FYI. She goes, you know what, they're all on Christmas break. But we will let you know. Well, hope so and I hope6:21 soon. Like 1 week or no. Actually, it was about 2 or 3 days before. I need to go back to my journals. But anyways, it was within days I called. Because I'm gonna ride back with my friend Michelle who was going to Boston6:32 College. I'm like, hey, we're packing the car. I'm coming to Boston. Just wondered, is there any money and is this gonna be paid for and did I get any scholarships or grants? And I called like 2 or 3 days before6:43 and they said, hey, everybody's back from the holidays. The board met. You got everything. You got everything you asked for. Now, you have to understand from September to6:55 December, I was battling it out in doubtville. It was a battle in doubtville. But what the cool thing was is, with god all things are possible, god is bigger, he7:07 himself is bigger than the things coming against you. I ended up transferring in the middle of my junior year, switched majors from biology to communications,7:19 graduated in 4 years, all my credits transferred, paid less out of pocket at the end of the day than I would have paid had I stayed here and finished at Western. And Western is a great school by the way.7:31 What is that? What is that? That is an x marks the spot faith adventure to the land of God's thumbprint. How does that happen? Because with God, all things are possible.7:43 So what about you? What do you believe in God for? What seems ridiculous? What seems like the enemy just wants to minimize? No. You can do it. Somebody if there's anybody in here that wants to go to med school.7:55 Had this little thought just came to me. If you wanna go to med school, yes, you can do it. Yes, God is bigger than the admissions board you're dealing with. You can go to med8:06 school. In Jesus name. Come on, God is bigger. Lift up your eyes. Get a bigger vision for your life. Get a bigger world. God almighty himself.8:19 Doubt minimizes, faith magnifies. Number 2, doubt mocks, faith talks. So it happened, chapter 4 verse 1. When Sam Ballard heard that we were rebuilding the8:31 wall, he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will8:42 they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish stones that are burned? Now, Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said, whatever they build, even if a8:54 fox goes up on it, he'll break down their stone wall. Just underestimates totally, mocks, laughs, scorns, underestimates. It's a lot like minimizing. It's just the next level.9:07 So Nehemiah continues on his faith adventure just like you will. But don't be surprised if there's another thug attack from Doubtville to mock you, to laugh, to9:19 underestimate. Well, you didn't grow up in that kind of a home. You didn't live on that side of the tracks. Just knock it off, back it down.9:31 The the devil's worked so hard at intimidating people. Hey, if not you, then who?9:43 If not you, then who? It's you. You can do it. Believe it. God brought you to church today to help you escape from doubtville. If not you, then who? It's you. You9:55 can do it. You can be and you can do everything that God puts in your heart in prayer ville and in promise ville. In this particular story, just what do we do? Well, we talk. What kind of talk? Well, you talk10:06 faith. The enemy mocks, you talk. The enemy will mock you, but you talk faith. And then you can do what Nehemiah did. You know that little saying back in the day, I'm Teflon, you're glue, whatever you throw at10:18 me bounces off me and sticks on you. You know, you can you can have a Teflon ish sort of conversation with the enemy. Whatever you think you're gonna put on me, not today devil.10:30 Not today in Jesus name. Whatever you try to throw on me bounces off me and sticks on you in Jesus name. And you know sometimes you've gotta get a little grit and you've to get a little spicy in your faith10:42 attitude and be like, no, not today. You can't be passive. You can't be, you know, wimpy. No.10:53 You gotta stand up and you gotta go, hey, I was in Prayerville and I was in Promiseville and God Almighty, the Lord of heaven spoke to my heart and he's confirmed things to me in his word so I am holding fast my11:04 confession of faith. Amen? Alright. Let's go to the next 1. Go to Nehemiah 4 verse 6. Doubt confuses, faith refuses.11:17 What did they try to do in this case? They built the wall, so they're making good progress. They're on the journey. Verse 7, now it happened when Sambalat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the11:29 Ashtodites, so they grabbed a few more friends, heard the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they became very angry and conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and to11:39 create confusion. So now they're gonna try to confuse, conspire. Nevertheless, nevertheless, we prayed to the Lord. We reminded and revisited what we knew. We prayed11:51 to the Lord our God and because of them, we set a watch against them day and night. Then our laborers got tired. You can get tired, weary, and well doing sometimes, you know. This is where you have to be mindful. They're12:03 getting tired, getting exhausted, they're building this wall. These enemies of doubt just keep coming against them. Verse 11, our adversaries said they'll never know or see anything. We'll come in their midst and kill12:14 them and cause the work to cease. And so it was the Jews that came near told us what they had said. Verse 13, therefore, I positioned men behind the12:26 lower parts of the wall at the openings. I set people according to their families with their swords, their spears, their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the leaders and to everybody, don't be afraid. Remember12:37 the Lord, great and awesome. Fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. What do we do? Doubt tries to confuse, but faith refuses. How can faith refuse? Faith refuses12:49 because you remember your why. You remember why you're on the journey. You remember your what. He says, hey, y'all, position yourselves. Now, I'm gonna give you bows and swords and I'm gonna give you weapons.13:02 And we're gonna be smart. We're gonna be strategic. We're not gonna be naive and just put our head in the sand. We have an adversary. So we're gonna pick up our bow and our shield of faith and the sword of the spirit.13:12 We're gonna put on the helmet of salvation or whatever it is. Is it the helmet of salvation? Yeah. It? Oh, good. Yeah. Breastplate of13:24 righteousness, feet shod with the gospel of peace. Okay. There we go. We're back. We're gonna put on the armor and we're gonna fight. We're gonna position ourselves. We're gonna take up our weapons13:36 and we're gonna remember why. Why are we doing this? Why am I on this faith adventure? Do you know how many times we have wanted to quit pastoring? Many.13:48 Many. Anytime it's difficult, it's like, okay, we're out of here. We wanted to quit a lot of times just like you wanted to quit. You want to quit your job, want to quit your marriage, you want to quit being a parent, you13:59 want to quit working, you want to quit paying bills. You just want to quit. But then you have to stop and remember why. I refuse to be confused. Because I'm remembering14:10 why. What this is about, the greater picture. It's about our sons and our daughters, wives, our husbands, it's about people. Amen? Remember your why. Don't forget your why.14:22 Remember your why. Nehemiah 6. Doubt counterfeits, faith counter punches. It happened,14:33 verse 1, when Sanballat, Tobiah, Gisham the Arab, and the rest of the enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall. So mission accomplished so far, we rebuilt the wall. There were no breaks in it. But they said14:45 to me, come, let us meet together. Among the villages in the plain of, oh no. Well, that should have been a sign right there. Oh no. But they thought to do me14:57 harm. So I sent messengers to them saying, I'm doing a great work so I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you? Verse 4, but they sent this to me 415:09 times and I answered them every time the same way. Then Sanballat sent his servant to me the fifth time with an open letter in his hand and said, it is written and reported among the nations and Gisham says that you15:21 Jews want to rebel, therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall so that you can be their king. And you've also appointed people to proclaim that there is a king in Judah and so15:33 now we are going to report all of this to the king. So you better come and meet with us. I sent him a letter and said, no such things as what you are saying are being done, but you invent them in your own heart15:44 for they were trying to make us afraid. But at the very end, 12, Nehemiah said, then I perceived that God had not sent them at all, but they had pronounced his prophecy against me because they wanted to make us afraid.15:57 So what happens in this particular section of doubt bill, this thug? They come with counterfeits. And, this is where you have to have spiritual discernment. He was able to perceive and recognize some things.16:09 Not everybody is gonna be excited about your faith journey. And some people are gonna just be deceptive, manipulative, that a counterfeit16:20 situation, oh hey, come meet with us. We want to see if we can work this out. They had no intention of working this out. In fact, they wanted to get him in the temple and lock the doors and kill him. But the Lord gave16:30 him a heads up, so thank God for the Holy Spirit. As you're traveling, your faith journey, listen, you just have to have discernment and go, okay Lord, I'm in this meeting with these people and they're saying this. Lord,16:41 just met with the doctor and they said this. Lord, I just met with my accountant and they said this. We just met with the city planners and they said this. Lord, we just met with all the different scenarios here and16:51 we've heard lots of things. So Holy Spirit give us discernment. Help us to perceive what's really going on and what is it we are to do. In this case, they counter punched with faith17:03 and I love it. This is what I love. They they they counter punch either with with loud faith or silent faith. Nehemiah is like, hey listen, I really don't have time. I'm doing some important work here.17:15 And to take time away from this and to go to a nickel dime meeting with you, I don't have time for it. Well, know that made him happy. I mean, sometimes you have to have a little attitude about things. No. What you're17:26 called to do is important. What God has put in your heart to do is important and the enemy will try to distract you with every shiny thing out there. And the enemy will try to come against you with all kinds of17:38 misleading. Well, know, you don't have be that on fire for the Lord. I mean, I get it. Some of those people are crazy over there, but you don't need to be that on fire. You can still be very dignified and17:50 compromise a little bit over here and it's all good. You have to recognize that as a trap from doubtful. The thing the enemy is working overtime to steal from the church, I believe these days,18:02 is the word. That's why we've been so passionate about getting the basics of the bible to the world literally. Because there's such an attack on the word. Everybody18:14 wants to go with feelings and justice causes which are awesome, but justice causes and feelings don't trump the word. And all the people said. Amen.18:26 Oh, just a few people said. Alright. You know, the bible says, I gotta close with this, but the bible says there's coming a time, and I think it's interesting, and that we're doing our best in Jesus'18:38 name, to go against this flow. But there's coming a time, the bible says, that there would be a famine of the word. In history18:50 before there has been, a famine of the word. In other words, you didn't come to church to hear 3 points in a poem. Right. I hope. I hope you came to church to hear the word. Yeah. God, what19:02 does your word say? Because when when Jeff and Beth are off the scene, when we're living our life and facing battles and we're in doubtville and we've got stuff going on with our kids and we've got stuff going on with19:10 our marriage and we got big stuff going on in our world, What we need is not their cute stories. What we need is the word. The word's gonna be the anchor. The word's gonna be the thing that puts us over.19:22 Let's wrap it up with this. Here's what happened. The good news, they got to the land of God's thumbprint. Nehemiah 6 verse 15. So it was. The wall was finished on the 20 fifth day. And it19:34 happened when all of our enemies heard it and all the nations around us saw these things. They were very disheartened in their own eyes for they perceived this work was done by God. What they perceived?19:46 They perceived God's thumbprint on our lives. When the wall was finished. Listen, you will get there. You will get there. You will get to the land of God's19:58 thumbprint. Years ago, my mom tells a story. Years ago, my mom was in church in Lansing and she was dealing with a frozen shoulder, dealing with some situation with her shoulder and she was in church 1 day and the pastor20:08 noticed she was down, a little bit down in the dumps. He said, Carol, what's the matter? You're always upbeat. What's you seem a little down today. What's going on? And she says, oh, pastor Dave, she goes, you know, I20:16 just feel like my shoulder's been bothering me and I just feel like I I feel like I need a dollar's worth of faith but I only have a quarter. So then pastor Dave said to the20:28 congregation, well, Carol's got a quarter and she seems to think she needs a dollar's worth of faith. Anybody else in here got any faith? So 1 person piped up, I've got 10 cents. Another person piped up, I got a quarter.20:40 Another person piped up, I've got 15 cents. And the next thing you know, had a dollar's worth of faith. Amen. And they just stood and prayed for mom's shoulder. What was that? You just sometimes you're facing a20:51 discouraging moment. You're you're here this morning. You're watching by wave TV and you're facing a discouraging moment and you're like, I know faith pleases God and I don't wanna be in doubtful. And I I know I feel21:01 like I need a dollars worth of faith and I have a quarter. Well, the Lord. There's some faith filled people in the room. Amen? Amen. Some faith filled people right here in the room. And we'll pray21:13 and we're gonna let some of you with faith throw your 10 cents, 25 cents into the pot to help out some folks here that need some encouragement. Amen? If you're facing a doubt bill season, go ahead and stand up. If you're21:24 facing a doubt bill season, just stand up. The enemy's been coming against you with doubts about stuff. It could be whatever category of life you're dealing with, but just stand up. We're gonna pray. Thank you,21:36 Lord. Thank you, Lord, for all the folks standing up. Here's the thing. You may be standing and you may and if you're watching by TV, you stand also. Stand in your home. If you're driving, just stay seated.21:49 You may be thinking, okay, know, I'm facing some things and I I get it. I need to get out of doubtville. And I've got a quarter's worth of faith today. Now, believe after the message, God's upped your upped your faith21:59 quotient. I believe you got 50 cents now. Maybe you got 75 cents, almost a dollar. But you'd like the support of people in this house that have faith. Anybody in this house that's got some faith? You got a nickel's worth22:11 of faith? You got 25 cents worth of faith? You got 10 cents? Stand up. If you got a little bit of faith and you could join your faith with theirs, you stand up. And let's just pray together. Let's get all of our22:22 faith joined together to believe God for some breakthrough, for some help, for some deliverance. Father, you see all of your people standing and you know Lord who's dealing with what. Lord, you know the enemy's coming22:34 against different ones with minimizing and mocking, confusing, counterfeits, lies, lawsuits, all kinds of things. But, Lord, today, we take a stand to magnify the Lord. We take a stand to22:46 refuse confusion. We take a stand to counter punch with faith. And Lord, in Jesus' name, we ask you God to give each and every person standing the wisdom they need to deal with the situation they're facing.22:58 We ask you God to position them with their weapons, your word, with faith, with your spirit. Lord, we ask you in Jesus' name for favor to make a way where there doesn't seem23:10 to be a way, that you would open doors that seem to be closed, but you're the 1 that opens doors that no man can shut. We ask you, God, to open those doors and to shut doors that no man can open. Lord, we ask you for23:21 divine friendships for kids. We ask you for godly influences for teenagers. We ask you, Lord, to re kindle and to re stir up love and passion and affection in a23:33 marriage. In Jesus name, whatever is being represented, lord, those that are dealing with physical things, to not feel good is not fun. To be in pain is no good. And we rebuke it in23:44 Jesus' name. And God, we ask that your healing power will flow in their bodies from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, every system to come in alignment with your word. And23:56 God, wisdom for every doctor they're dealing with. Wisdom and perception. So they'll know what to do and when to do it. What meds to take, what meds to get off, what therapies to24:08 take, what things to stop doing. Wisdom, Lord. You know their bodies. You know their chemistry. You know their DNA. Wisdom and, God, your supernatural power from the top of their head24:20 to the soles of their feet. We ask you for it in Jesus' mighty name. And we thank you, Lord. There's gonna be a mass exodus out of doubtville today in Jesus' mighty name. A24:31 mass exodus out Bill. In Jesus' name, hallelujah. Praise the Lord.24:46 Hey, guys. Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. I really hope you were encouraged. And if you were, I would love it if you would take a moment to subscribe and write us a24:58 review because really that'll help us reach even more people with the basics. And here's the other thing. If the podcast is helping you and if you're getting a grip on the basics, would you consider becoming a financial25:10 partner or what we call our basics ninja warriors and help us take these basics to even more people around the world. It's easy to do. Just sign up and25:22 become a ninja by going to the basics with beth dot com. Thanks again guys for tuning in and joining us for today's podcast on the basics with Beth. I cannot wait to see you25:33 next time.
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