Let us not lose a sense of God’s presence and of His providential workings in our every day lives.

<p>Let us not lose a sense of God’s presence and of His providential workings in our every day lives.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Amazing Facts

Doug Batchelor

Divine Appointments


Father, we thank you for your blessings another day of life, and we just pray your spirit will be present as we consider your word and how to apply these truths to our lives. We thank you and ask in Jesus name, amen. Morning. Morning. You know, I'm always amazed that God knows everything and I know that sounds like a kind of an obvious statement but I love reading the stories in the Bible where God makes it clear that he not only knows our address, he knows everybody's address.

And you have a number of occasions in the Bible where God sets up what we call divine appointments. Have you ever had a divine appointment? 1 example of that is here Moses is in the wilderness and Moses being called by God. This is Exodus 4, 14. And he's reluctant to go.

And he's really reluctant. God shows him signs and wonders and miracles, and Moses is just recoiling at the idea that he is gonna go and stand before Pharaoh, and here he ran away, he was being hunted for murder, and that just the whole thing really frightened him. Finally it says, you know, God says, look, if I tell you to do something, you should always do what I tell you. I've got your best interests in mind. It's amazing how long it takes us to learn that, that when God asks us to do something, we should do it regardless of the consequences.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, And he said, is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know he can speak well. Moses was reluctant to speak. He hadn't spoken Egyptian in 40 years. And look, he's coming out to meet you.

And when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. And the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness and meet Moses. So it was like, God says, look, Aaron's on his way to meet you, and Moses doesn't know that. Aaron doesn't know it, but God says, look, I'm gonna work out an appointment. Aaron, I want you to go meet Moses.

Moses, I want you to go meet Aaron. Here's your brother. You work together. And God is guiding them both to rendezvous somewhere before they go and they meet. And I just think, you know, God arranges those appointments for us all the time.

Sometimes He might tell you someone's coming to meet you, but how often have you ran into somebody and you thought, oh, that was a divine appointment. God sent them to be at the right place at the right time, and then He sent me to be there at that exact moment. Sometimes God arranges divine appointments where you're not supposed to be somewhere and he helps you avoid disaster. My father missed the plane and he was really upset when he missed the plane and the plane crashed. You've heard stories like that.

That happened to my father. And someone told me it happened to him twice in his life. He's a pilot, so he flew more frequently. You can read about Elijah in 1 Kings 17, verse 7. And it happened after a while, the brook dried up because there'd been no rain in the land.

And Elijah's waiting on the Lord. There's no water, there's no food. And the word of the Lord eventually came to him and said, Arise and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Zidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you." Now, when God said that, the widow knew nothing about it. Do you know the story?

That when he finally meets her and says, go make me a piece of bread, She says, if I make you bread, my son and I will starve. But God then spoke to her and said, just do what he said. And God had a person picked out that was going to take care of Elijah. She didn't know it until the moment came. And but Elijah knew that there would be someone there.

I can't count how many times in my life that God has arranged just the right person at the right time. I think you've heard my testimony before. I was hitchhiking cross-country and there are 2 places I was trying to go in California. 1 was, I was gonna move up to the cave but I wanted to stop and see grandma in Desert Hot Springs. She lived right by the cave.

I'm in Oklahoma and I'm hitchhiking. I'm not religious but it was 1 of the first prayers I prayed, and I'm sure it was, you know, a very muddled prayer, but in effect I said, you know, Lord help me get a ride to where I'm going. I'm getting picked up by these drunks and these crazy people, and I'm so tired, I'm so cold, if you could just get me a ride. I had no money, and I prayed, and I think in that prayer I apologized well as a pagan could for my sins. I don't even know if I called them sins back then.

But as soon as I finished praying this white man stopped. He picked me up and he drove me 1, 500 miles to my grandmother's house, had me meet with my grandmother, and then took me to the cave, and then gave me $40, and he fed me all the way to California. It's an interesting story. He was a born-again Christian, but he also wanted to go meet David Carradine who played Kung Fu. So I stopped with him in Hollywood so he could meet David Carradine and then he took me to Palm Springs.

It's a lot more of a story, it's not in the book. But it was clearly a divine appointment when he took me exactly where I needed to go. Nathaniel, John 1, 48. Nathaniel comes to Jesus, he says, "'Lord, how do you know me?' Sometimes we meet the Lord and we think, "'You mean you knew me?' And Jesus said, "'Before Philip even called you to introduce you to me, I saw you under the fig tree. Ellen White says he was under the fig tree praying about this message of John the Baptist that he had found the Messiah.

So Nathanael's there praying, and he's under a fig tree. Probably a hot day, he wants shade, and he's praying about, you know, is this the 1, Lord? And then Philip comes and says, we found him. And he said, I saw you. And he said, Rabbi, you are the king of Israel.

If you saw me praying, that would be evidence. And Jesus says, are you impressed by that, Nathaniel? You're gonna see bigger things than this. He would become 1 of the apostles, look at the things he would see. And he said, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.

In Luke 22, Jesus tells the apostles, he said, look, we're going to have to borrow someone's house for our Passover meal. We don't own a place big enough. And he says, but God's worked out a place. Behold, when you enter the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him.

And you can see them, this guy's going up and down the street and maybe he looks over his shoulder he says I don't know if you guys are following me he goes in the house they follow him upstairs and this is maybe a servant then they meet the person of the house and they found it just as he had said to them so they prepared the Passover. How many of you have heard Tim Jones's testimony that he was watching our programs and he became convicted about the Sabbath truth? And after I don't know how long he was watching, 1 day he says, well I can't just know this, I've got to do something about it. Today's the day I'm gonna go to church. He struggled with conviction.

So he woke up and he was fighting so much about the conviction, it never occurred to him he didn't know where to go. So he gets his suit on, he walks out his front door, he lives somewhere near Antelope, and he's standing there, he said, okay, Lord, now where do I go? And right at that moment another family walked out to their car and they looked like they were dressed nicely and they got in their car and the Holy Spirit said follow them. Never met them before. So he hopped in his car and he starts to follow this family and he figured they were maybe God was gonna lead them to a church.

And so he thought they'd go up and down a couple streets and go to a local church. He said that he followed them and followed them. They went on the freeway and they're going down 80. You know, this is crazy. They might be going to San Francisco.

What's wrong with me? I'm losing my mind. But he kept thinking, follow them. So he kept following them. Now that really takes the leading of the Lord when you get out on the interstate and you're still following.

You don't know if you have enough gas and you know how long it's gonna be. They finally turned off in Natomas somewhere and he followed them. They pulled into a school and he thought oh why did I do this? They're going to a school event. Well, it so happens it was an Adventist group, actually 1 planted by Central that was meeting up in Natomas.

And so he followed them in and saw it was a Sabbath-keeping group. And he met there for a few weeks and then he came over to Central. But I always thought, that takes a lot of faith to just follow somebody. The Holy Spirit was certainly leading him. Jesus said, follow that guy with a pitcher of water.

And you go to Psalm 139, that whenever I preach about Jonah, it says, where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even you're there. Your hand will lead me and your right hand will hold me.

And even back then they knew there were birds that could fly for a thousand miles. And he was just saying, no matter where you are, you can't run from God. Jonah didn't read this verse evidently. Mark 11, now when they drew near Jerusalem to Bethpage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent 2 of his disciples and he said to them, Jesus often sent them out 2 by 2, go into the village opposite you, means right there in front of you, And as soon as you enter the city, you'll find a colt tied on which no 1 has sat. Don't ask permission, just loose it and bring it.

Now, how does a Christian do that? Is that like God-led stealing? Just take it. I mean, when God tells you, There'll be a colt there, loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, why are you doing this?

Say, the Lord has need of it. Have you ever tried that before? Just find an open car door, step in, the keys are there. Someone says, where are you going? Says, the Lord has a need of it.

And so they went their way. They found the coal tied by the door outside the street and they loosed it. And someone who stood there said to them, what are you doing loosing the coal? And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded, so they let them go. Ought to try that sometime.

Karen and I got pulled over for speeding. I should just say I got pulled over because I was driving a couple of weeks ago. And the policeman actually pulled over 2 of us. And coming back from Colo and so I played the mercy card. You know I didn't want judgment.

I didn't want justice. I wanted mercy. So I told the policeman, I said, can you have mercy? I said, I haven't had a ticket in a long time. He didn't answer.

He walked away and started writing things down. I said, oh well, traffic school, here I come. And a little while back, a day later, he had Karen open the window, he shoved in a card, and it said, warning. He said, slow down. I said, praise the Lord.

And so they let him go, and that became the cult that Jesus, it was borrowed. And you know, most of what Jesus did, it was borrowed. He stayed in borrowed homes, he ate in a borrowed upper room, and he rode a borrowed donkey. Luke 9, 5, and when Jesus came to the place, He looked down and he said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for I have an appointment to eat at your house today. I'm paraphrasing.

He says, not only do I know your name, I know where you live, and I know what you're having for dinner, and I'm supposed to eat it. God has these appointments. Acts 9. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias and the Lord said to him, Ananias, he said, here I am Lord, he said, arise and go to the street called Straight and inquire in the house of Judas for 1 named Saul of Tarsus, for behold he's praying." Not only do I know the Straight, I know who lives in that house, I know what they're doing in the house. Does God see us in the house when we're praying?

That's kind of touching. Does he see in your house if you're not praying? Says, I see he's praying, I'm about to answer his prayer and I'm gonna use you to do it. Now in all these stories, it's interesting that God has angels that can do it, but he uses people. Acts 10 verse 5, now send men to Joppa and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter.

He's lodging with Simon, a tanner, in a house by the sea. They didn't have GPS back then. They didn't have 3305 Joppa Street. And so he says, you know, there's a house. He's a tanner's house.

They usually have smoke coming up from it. They're tanning leather and it's by the sea and town was small enough you could find it. And he's got someone named Peter in his house. I mean God has the he's got the GPS on everybody doesn't he? And so they sent and they found Peter and Peter came back to their house and there was a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

God could have used angels, but he sent people. And then I always like this 1 here in Daniel 9. This will be the last verse I'll give you. Daniel, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, who I had seen in the vision of the beginning, earlier in the book, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me and he talked with me and he said, Oh Daniel, I've now come forth to give you skill and understanding.

At the beginning of your supplication the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter and understand. Daniel started praying and God sent angels to answer. Does he only do that for Daniel? Or does God send angels for his people that pray?

So often we may not know that they've been sent. I'll tell you 1 more story that I never forgot. I was in New York City during the years when I was a runaway. I must have been 15 years old at this time, maybe 16, but I think I was 15. By myself, you know, I look back and think about If my kid was 15 years old roaming the streets of New York, that would terrify me.

And it was not as safe back then as it is now. And I had, my mother lived in London now. I had no family in New York City. I had 1 friend named David McLean, and he had run away with me once before. If you read my book, that was the kid that ran away.

And I thought, well, I'll call David. I'm young and stupid. I thought, I'll call David. And I realized I don't have his number. Well, I'll go to a phone booth.

And back then they had phone booths and they had these gigantic phone books in the phone booth. And I was young and stupid. It didn't occur to me in New York City, you know many Irish people there are? Now he was actually from India, but he had the name McLean. And I opened up the phone book and there were pages and pages of McLean's and I was looking for his parents name and I didn't even know their name.

And I called a couple of them you had to pay for a phone booth back then and I was getting nowhere and I got so discouraged I was tired I hadn't slept well all night and I just I just prayed and said you know Lord what am I gonna do I have nowhere to stay tonight and I just slumped down in the phone booth. And I was staring, you know, they had glass phone booths. I'm in the phone booth, I slunk down, leaned against the door, and David walked by. This is New York City, I didn't even know what part of town he lived in. And I started banging on it and he jumped.

He thought there's some crazy person in the phone booth. He jumped. I said, David, David. And he looked at me for a minute and he's, Doug, what are you doing here? And so he ended up helping me get a place to stay.

The interesting part of the story is that was the last time I saw him for 40 years and he used to be like my best friend. And then we got a call at the front desk. I don't remember who took the call whether it was Becky or Melissa or somebody and they said there's some guy named David and says he's your old friend, wants to talk to you. And you know, we get a lot of strange calls, so you don't ever know. And so I talked to him.

He turned into a colonel in the army. And he's now a retired colonel, and we're friends on Facebook. But to me that was, and I'm able to share my faith with them. I play racquetball with them. So it's interesting, the divine arrangements.

What are the chances that you'd be in New York City and you pray as much as a pagan can pray, and the very person you're looking for in the phone book walks by? I mean, God, He sees us all the time. Anyway, so I'm just always encouraged by these stories, thought you might be too. We have some prayer requests that came in. All right, why don't we kneel?

Father in heaven, thank you so much for your blessings for this new day of life. We thank you Lord for the way that we see that you've blessed the ministry and that hearts are being changed and touched. But we pray for the many requests that have come in, some who are asking for a deliverance in their thinking, others that are struggling maybe with alcohol or drugs, people faced with severe financial challenges. And also pray Lord that you guide regarding plans for the ministry for the future. Please be with the building project on the hill, remove the obstacles, bless the ongoing construction through the coming rain so that it doesn't create a serious delay and keep everyone safe working up there.

Please give us your Holy Spirit and help us find courage in knowing that your eyes see everything, you watch us all the time, and you are always arranging divine appointments to strengthen our faith and opportunities to minister. So We look forward to sensing your angels with us through this day and your spirit in our hearts. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse, or if You

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Divine Appointments

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