The Water from Rock Podcast

OH THAT GOD WOULD BLESS ME! | 1 Chronicles 4:9–10

It's been said that there was a little difference in people, but that little difference can make a very big difference. I'm going to talk for a few moments about a man who was a little different than those around him, but that little difference made a big difference for him for his people, and it can for you and me too.

I'm looking at the Old Testament book of 1st Chronicles. The name Chronicles tells us that is a book of history, it is a history of key people who stand out in the long story of the nation of Israel, and the first nine chapters of 1st Chronicles, well, we usually just skip over them because they are genealogies so and so begot so and so. And while reading genealogies might put us to sleep, I like the genealogies because they tell us that people are important to God, and then what people do is important to God and is long remembered by God. So, I'm looking at 1st Chronicles Chapter 5, which is the genealogy of the tribe of Judah. It's another long list of names that might make my eyes glaze over, except for the fact that the Holy Spirit pauses at a name in Verses 9 and 10, the Holy Spirit pauses to take note of a man who stands out in his generation for making a difference.

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Download a transcript for the July 8, 2021, Selah episode

**This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and may not be 100% accurate.

A FORK IN THE ROAD OF LIFE | Psalm 37:5

When you come to the fork in the road, take it. That's a yogi-ism, it was spoken by famed New York Yankee catcher, Yogi Berra. That's what Yogi told teammate Joe Gratia about getting to his house. When you come to the fork in the road, take it... You know, there's some pretty good advice in that old yogi-ism is that when you come to a fork in the road of life, when you come to that place where you have to choose to go one way or the other, you can't just wait there, you can't turn back, you have to choose a way to take... And you know sometimes that your whole future depends on the way that you take, and you want God's help.

I have a verse today from the Psalms about coming to a fork in the road of life and seeking the Lord's help. I'm looking at Psalm 37, Verse 5. It's a Psalm of David who had come to many forks in the road of life, and it's the voice of experience when David says Psalm 37:5, Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him, and He will act. This is a verse, it was often quoted by missionary doctor and famed explorer David Livingston as he traveled what was unexplored Africa, and this verse often helped Dr. Livingston when he came to that fork in the road. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him. And he will act. And I'm thinking that this might be just the verse for you today. As you're needing to make a decision, as you're needing to choose which way to go.

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Download a transcript for the July 6, 2021, Selah episode

**This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and may not be 100% accurate.

VICTORY OVER ENEMIES | Psalm 23:5

It's been called the second law of spiritual thermodynamics, which says that the greater the heat, the greater the expansion, the greater the heat that Satan puts on the church, the greater the church expands in the world... We see it throughout history, and if you are a follower of Jesus, just know that Satan is going to give you heat. In fact, you wouldn't be a follower of Jesus if you didn't get heat if you didn't have enemies, people who oppose you... It's like Jesus said, Whoa, to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets. So when you're following Jesus and not everybody's speaking well of you, then you've got enemies for Jesus's sake. There's a very special verse I wanna share with you today, and I think you'll be encouraged by it is Psalm 23, the Shepherd Psalm...

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Download a transcript for the July 3, 2021, Selah episode

**This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and may not be 100% accurate.

WHEN IT FEELS MORE THAN YOU CAN BEAR | 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Have you ever felt that God gave you more than you can bear? And then someone tells you, Oh, that God promises us that he'll never give us more than we can bear. Well, you look at the Bible and you will see that God never promises that he won't give us more than we can bear, but God does promise us something more wonderful, and it's that wonderful that I want to look at today. I am in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, where the great apostle Paul is telling us about a chapter in his life when God did give him more than he could bear, and how out of that, God gave him something very wonderful.

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STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! God Speaks – Psalm 46

We first began the Selah podcast on March 24 of last year. It's a time that we'd been hit by the pandemic, we were headed into lockdowns, trying to bend the curve, it was a time of social distancing, a time of... Well, at a time of fear, anxiety. A time that I knew that I needed and thought perhaps you might need it too... To stop, to be still, and to listen for the voice of God in the midst of the noise and confusion. And that's how these podcasts began that we call Selah.

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A HEARING HEART: The Fount of Wisdom - 1 Kings 3

If the ability to speak more than one language is good, then might not the ability to listen... To listen in one language be even greater. Mark Twain said that If we were meant to talk more than listen, well, we'd have two mouths and one ear...

Well, I'm going to talk for a few moments, not too long, I hope, but to talk for a few moments about the importance of listening... Sounds almost like an oxymoron, doesn't it? To talk about the importance of listening, except that I want to talk about the importance of listening to God, about having a heart with ears. I'm looking today at 1 Kings chapter 3, at a young Solomon has been recently crowned king, probably no more than 20 years old. Solomon is remembered often for his legendary wisdom, but I'm not sure we often look at the circumstances in which God endowed Solomon with such great wisdom. Here in 1 Kings chapter 3, we see that it actually happens for Solomon in a dream.

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THE SHEPHERD LEADS YOU | Psalm 23

Do you ever wonder if your life is just going around in circles? Then maybe, now you hate to think it, but maybe you're just going nowhere? I mean, this thing happens to you and then there's that thing that happens to you. Things come at you from out of the blue and you wonder, you wonder if there is any sense to it, any rhyme or reason.

For a few moments, I want to see how David looks at life. How we looked at where he's been, where he's going, where he sees it all leading him. I'm in Psalm 23 again, that beautiful shepherd psalm where we catch David looking at life. This psalm is the words of a man who has lived much and done much, the words of a man who has sinned greatly and been greatly forgiven, and as David looks at life his mind seems to go back when he was a boy, and when he cared for his father's sheep...

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YOU FIND WHAT YOU LOOK FOR | Isaiah 6:3

I wish you could have known my friend Bob... I mean, Bob was a wonderful and gracious man, but Bob wasn't always like that. I mean, Bob would have been the first to tell you. Bob wasn't born that way, he wasn't raised that way, he hadn't always been that way. But as Bob told it, his life had been one train wreck after another. He was angry, bitter, unhappy, and then finally, Bob hits bottom and he turns to God. He turns to God and he finds a sponsor, a friend of some sort to help him to walk with Him. And one day, Bob's sponsor asked him to do something well, it just doesn't seem to make any sense, but Bob is ready to do just about anything, I mean, he's desperate, he knows that he needs help...

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GOD’S COMPOST PIT OF REDEMPTION | Romans 8:28-29

Today, I'm looking at a Bible text that every time I read it, I just think of my mom's compost pit [listen for the story] because it's a verse that tells us that God has His compost pit, God's compost pit of redemption. Romans 8:28, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. And we know that in all things. Not some things, not most things, but we know that in all things, God works for the good.

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RECONCILED TO GOD | Colossians 1:22

I want to read a verse of scripture and then tell a story, and it all has to do with how God sees you as a follower of Jesus.

First the scripture, Colossians 1:22. Christ has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy, blameless, and irreproachable before him. And that's how God looks at you as a follower of Jesus. Christ has reconciled you to God.

Now, a story... My first experience of reconciliation happened when I was a young man and I opened my first checking account. Now, just keep in mind that this would have been long before online banking. When at the end of the month, I receive my bank statement in the mail, and I'm eagerly anxiously tearing open the envelope and there is my balance, there it is, how much money the bank says, I have... Now, I have to set about reconciling my checkbook to the bank's balance, so I add up all my outstanding checks that have not yet cleared the bank. I add in the fees and I come up with my balance, but there's a problem in that what I have is my balance... Well, it doesn't seem to agree with the bank balance. And this is the first time I'm doing it and I'm sure that the bank has to be wrong. Well, it's the bank that is obviously made the mistake, and so what I do is I go back, I again, add up the outstanding checks I add in the fees, I recheck my numbers, and what I am doing is I am reconciling my checkbook. That is, I am bringing my checkbook into an agreement, in harmony with what the bank says, my balance is... We call this reconciling.

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Download a transcript for the June 17, 2021, Selah episode

**This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and may not be 100% accurate.