Good morning, everyone again. And I just want to thank you again for being here with us today. And I want to start off today talking about this book here, Two Chairs by Bob Bodine. Bob’s a close friend of Pastor Conia, and I. And I had the privilege and honor of writing the coaching and training program for this book.
And, man, what a powerful book this is. And I’m going to be talking about this today. This book is actually a powerful, practical book that challenges readers each day to start with an intentional meeting with God. You start your day with the Lord. The idea is engaging with him in a conversation. Now, conversation is not you just talking and him listening. It’s you asking a question or sharing and then listening to what he has to say, how he responds. So instead of rushing into your prayer room with your own thoughts and concerns overwhelming you, what I’ve learned to do is pause and listen for God’s wisdom.
It has helped me personally to develop a richer devotional prayer life in my relationship with him, and it brings clarity and peace in ways I hadn’t experienced before. And so Bob’s insights in the book encourage readers to rely on God first before seeking advice from others, reinforcing the importance of faith and trust in his guidance. And it ties in with what Pastor Conia was sharing last Sunday. God is our first line of defense if we will come to him first and trust him when it’s all said and done. This is an invitation from your father, God, to a daily encounter with him. And there are three disruptive questions Bob shares with us in this book, which we begin with. The first one is this. Does God know your situation? Do you believe God knows where you are, what you’re going through, what you’re faced with, what you’re challenged with? Which leads us to the second question.
Is it too hard for him to handle? It always reminds me of the story of Abraham and Sarah. And Abraham’s there, and he’s talking to the Lord. And the Lord says, sarah will bear a child by this time next year. And Sarah laughs inside the tent and neighbor. And the Lord says, I heard Sarah laugh. And she goes, I didn’t laugh. And he goes, yes, you did. And he looks at Abraham and says, is anything too hard for me? And Scripture goes on to say there at the time, the next year, Sarah bore Isaac.
Praise God. God came through. There’s nothing too hard for him to handle. I’m getting a little ahead of Myself here. But that’s okay. The third question is this. Does he have a good plan for you? Does he have a good plan for you? Well, if God knows your situation and we know it’s not too hard for him to handle, we got to know and believe. He’s got a way.
He’s got a plan that will work. And we need to get up every day thinking and believing and knowing and recognizing. God has a way for you. And throughout Scripture, we are promised, he will show us the way. And that’s the title of this message today, the way. Let’s start by looking@ Isaiah 48:17. And this is from the amplified version, Isaiah 48:17. In the amplified classic, thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way that you should go.
Get that last line. Who leads you in the way that you should go? That word way there means the course of life or the lifestyle, the habit, the mode of action, the path, the direction, the journey. Wow. God has a way that you should go. God has a lifestyle for you to live, a path for you to follow, a direction, a journey to travel with him. He has positive habits for you to learn and implement. He has a mode of action for each situation you face. And I could go on and on and on giving you examples about that from Scripture, but here’s what we know as we listen to this verse.
He will show us the way of life and the way for each day. That’s what he promises us. That’s what he promises us. He leads us by the way or in the way we should go, as Bob says, In two chairs, 10 minutes with God each morning, and he will show you the way. He will give you the plan, the process, the answer. He will show you the way. He will give you clarity and perspective so you know where to focus. And so that’s what two chairs is about.
Now, Conia and I do a version of this we call three chairs. And what that means is this is that Conia and I and the Lord get together. And so Conia and I, I’ll say, okay, what’s the question you have for the Lord today? And she’ll write down her question, I’ll write down mine, and then we’ll pray for a few minutes. We’ll pray in the spirit for a few minutes. And then I’ll say, okay, what did God give you guys? It’s amazing what God does. So many times. God will give me part of it, and then he’ll give her the other part of it, or God will say to me the exact same thing he says to Conia. We don’t plan that.
We don’t talk about it. We just ask the Lord, pray and listen, and God gives us the direction. See, when you walk in his way and you practice this and trusting that he’s leading you in the way, you should go, he will be faithful to his Word and show you the way. And the second thing we see here in this verse is this. If you walk in his direction, if you walk in his way, you will profit. God wants you to profit. And that word profit there in this verse, here in Isaiah means to be valuable, to do good, to be useful, to ascend on high, to rise above, to excel, to have or gain
profit, to be profitable. Whatever way God has for you to walk in, he wants you to profit in it.
And what we see here in this definition, the thing the Holy Spirit showed me and inspired me with was this. There are three tiers of profitability here. The first one is this. In the first tier, God teaches us to profit. That’s what it says. So he teaches us to be valuable or to bring value. He teaches us to do good and to be useful. Think about that.
If every day in all of your relationships, personally and professionally, you brought value, you did good and was useful, how would that impact your life? How would that change your day? Wow. God wants you to be valuable, to do good and be useful every day, in every way. And he goes, I can show you how to do that. You don’t have to figure it out all on your own. You don’t have to earn it, deserve it. All you have to do is come, spend time with me and seek me and listen for my voice and my direction. You know, if you’re walking out the first tier, then in the second tier, God causes you to ascend on high. He raises you up when you’re bringing value, being useful and doing good, that will cause you to ascend on high.
It will cause you to come up higher, to rise above, to excel. God wants his children to rise above, to ascend on high, to excel. That’s what he wants for us. He wants to elevate your position, your standing with everyone you engage with. Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God.
Thank you, Jesus. Then the third tier, the third way we profit is the result of walking in the first two tiers brings gain or profit. You become profitable in every aspect of your life. Spiritually, mentally, physically, relationally, and financially. See, profit just isn’t about money. It’s about every dimension of life. Wow. God wants you to profit.
He wants you to be valuable, do good, be useful in every area of your life. He wants you to ascend on high rise, higher rise, up above to excel in every area of your life. He wants you to profit. As we look into this verse and meditate on what it says here, to profit is a process that starts in our hearts. We profit first in our hearts in the inward man, and then it is expressed through our outward being. And the blessing of profitability flows to us as we walk out this process. And that’s why God says, I will teach you. I will teach you how to profit.
I will teach you how to walk in all three tiers of this. And not only will I teach you, give you the insight, the wisdom, the instruction, the revelation, but I will show you the way. I will show you how to walk this out every day, how to live the life that causes this to come to you. This is realized by seeking God and seeing his way every day and then following his leading. It’s not just seeing it, knowing it, and understanding it. It’s actually doing it. The psalmist echoes this truth in Psalm 32:8. I love this verse.
Psalm 32:8, the Amplified classic, says this. I, the Lord, Jehovah, will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Now those words there, instruction and teaching. Those words mean to build a foundation. It’s a foundation of understanding. It’s a foundation of insight. It’s a foundation of knowing.
And this instruction and teaching leads to mastery. God wants you to walk in skill in his way. And so, as we saw in the definition of the word prophet just a moment ago, God wants you to rise above and excel. And this is the way you do it. He teaches you in the way you should go. Let me show you how to do this again. You don’t have to figure it out on yourself. You don’t have to be the expert.
Your Father, God knows how to do this. Hallelujah. Both these verses speak to the way you should go. Let me teach you in the way that you should go. The way you should go will be different than the way I should go. They may be similar, but there’s going to be differences. It’s going to be unique to your calling and to your purpose. And so a part of seeking God every day is making sure we’re walking in the way he has for us to go.
He goes on to say in Psalm 32, 8. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Guidance is ongoing counsel. The Lord is inviting us to seek his counsel. I’m teaching you, but I’m also going to counsel you as you walk this out every day. If you hit a challenge, you get something you don’t quite understand. Ask me. Ask me for my wisdom.
Ask me for my insight. As Bob says in two chairs, God is inviting us to a daily conversation with Him. Again, this speaks to mastery, to rising in our level of skill and walking out what God has for us. It is growing from faith to faith, walking in God’s way with skill, rising above and excelling. That’s what God wants for you. Hallelujah. And he’s promised it to us. We’ve read two verses now and look at all that is in there that God has promised us.
The apostle James confirms this in James 1:5. James 1:5 in the Amplified Classic says this. If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding. And it will be given him. Guys, you have the right to come before your father, God, and ask. You’re a member of the family. This verse reassures us that God wants us to come to Him. God wants us to win, to succeed, to overcome.
He is not holding anything back from us. He is giving everything we need to go forth and be all that he’s created us to be. He is a giving God. He gives to everyone liberally. He doesn’t find fault with us. He says here, all that I have is yours. He is eager and ready to share with his children. He wants you to walk in his wisdom, in his way, every day.
And all you have to do is ask, so why is it so important? So why do we have to ask? Why do we have to seek Him? The prophet Isaiah gives us some insight into this. Chapter 55, verses 8 and 9. Isaiah 55, 8, 9 in the Amplified classic says this. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now that word thought there means thinking, plan, purpose. God is saying, my thinking is higher than yours. My plan is higher than yours.
It’s better than yours. My purpose is higher. I have a higher purpose for you than what you’re seeing. God has more insight, perspective and understanding regarding the way that you should walk than you do. He sees what we can’t see. And he knows what we don’t know about everything and everybody. In the verses we have looked at so far, God has promised us that he will give us insight into his thinking and knowing and show us the way, the path, how to move forward. All we have to do is come to Him.
We were created from the beginning to think and know like God. So this is why we need to be coming to him every day and getting his perspective. Because the enemy is continually trying to rob us of the opportunity to have God’s wisdom and perspective in our life every day. He wants to distract us, get us busy, create something going on where we all don’t have time to go. Do my devotion, my time with God, but I’m telling you, make it your priority. Jesus came and bought back our right to come freely into the presence of God and talk with Him. Just a couple Sundays ago, we celebrated Resurrection Sunday. We celebrated all that Christ had bought back for us, how he had redeemed us, spirit, soul and body.
Everything, everything Adam had lost, he brought back and bought back for us. And it’s all ours now. John 16, verse 13 through 15. This is in the new King James version. Jesus said this to his disciples. However, when he the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he will tell you things to come.
He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you. Now think about what this verse says. The Holy Spirit has come to guide us into all truth. A lot of times I’ll be in a situation and I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ll just stop and pray. Holy Spirit, show me the truth in this situation.
Show me what’s real in this situation. He is here to guide us into all truth. He is here to speak whatever he hears from the Father and from Jesus and communicate to us. He is here to tell us things to come. One version says, show us things to come. What’s coming? God’s ready to show you what’s coming. So you’re ready and prepared before the enemy is. The Holy Spirit is here to take of whatever wisdom Jesus has.
All the wisdom of God. It’s Jesus. And he’s here to take of what Jesus has and declare it to you. God’s not keeping it from you. We just have to ask and then Listen and listen. So how do we hear it? Hebrews 4:16 gives us an idea. Hebrews 4:16 in the Amplified Classic says this. Let us in fearlessly and confidently get that fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace, the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us, that we may receive mercy for our failures and find grace to help in good time for every need.
Hallelujah. Appropriate help and well timed help coming just when we need it, when we make God our first line of defense, when we come and spend time with him every morning in two chairs and we ask him for his insight, his understanding, his wisdom, his revelation, he comes to give us his insight. He comes to give us his grace to help his favor, to help us just when we need it. And that’s true for every day of every week of every year, all the time you’re here on the earth. We seek the Lord. We ask for his wisdom, we listen for the answer, and then we walk in the way he leads us. How many times have you sought the Lord, asked for his wisdom and received the answer, and then went, wow, wow, I don’t know. I don’t know if I can do that or you got distracted.
Oh yeah, I need to do that. No, I want to encourage you. Once you hear the answer, go do it. Just start. Take a step of faith like Peter did when he got out of the boat. He stepped over the edge and started walking on water. But don’t let the distractions in, keep you from moving forward and doing what God has for you. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. That word, the way there in Hebrews is the same word as in Isaiah 48:17. Well, it’s there in Psalm 32:8 2. It means the course of life, the lifestyle, the habit, the mode of action, the path, the direction, the journey. It’s the same word there in Isaiah 55 also. So same Hebrew word. And so here’s what we know from Isaiah 48:17. He’s saying his lifestyle, his way is higher and better than ours.
Do you want to live the lifestyle you’re living now or do you want to live God’s lifestyle? He wants us to walk in his way, in his lifestyle and experience it as he does. And you can have that right now, today, here on the earth. You don’t have to wait till you get to heaven to walk in that. You can begin to experience it right here, today in your life. Proverbs 3, 5, 6 in the Amplified classic says this, Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways, know, recognize and acknowledge him, and he will direct and make straight and plain your paths. Wow, what a promise. In all your ways, see him.
God is active in all your life, every day, whether you realize it or not. He’s right there. So begin to know that, recognize that, and acknowledge him in everything you do. Every little thing. I do this so much. I’m all the time going, thank you, Lord. Just whatever little thing I’m knowing, recognizing, acknowledge him in all my life, I do it so much. Conia will go, was that for me or for the Lord? She goes, I just want to be sure.
But know, recognize and acknowledge him in everything you do. God. When you begin doing that, you begin seeing God working in ways you can’t imagine. He is there seeking God’s way, making him the number one person you go to. It’s a powerful, powerful, powerful way to live life. And this has been a theme for all time, all generations. God has come to all generations saying, hey, come to me. His way is always more and better, as Pastor Conia likes to say.
He wants you to see and know his way, so you walk in it. He will direct you and make straight and plain your paths. Think about that. He’s going to make it plain and straight. Here’s the way you need to go now. Walk this way. Go do this. So how do we continue to do that consistently? God said this to Joshua.
Joshua 1:8 in the amplified classic says this. This book of the law, that word law there means instruction. This book of instruction shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. I want you to think about it day and night. I want you to speak it. I want you to mull it over in your heart and your mind that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. Well, what am I going to observe? You’re going to see things as you meditate on it. You’re going to see things you hadn’t seen before.
You’re going to understand things you hadn’t understood before, so that you can do according to what is written there. And then he goes on to say this. For then as you do this consistently, you shall make your way prosperous. We’re going to have profit, and you shall deal wisely and have good success. Hallelujah. That word prosperous there in the Hebrew, when we’re prospered by God, it means to advance, to make progress, to succeed, to profit. God wants you to advance, to make progress, to succeed and to profit. And when you walk in his way, you’ll do that.
You’ll deal wisely and you’ll have good success. Good success. That’s what God wants for you. God’s Word reveals His way. Let me say that again. God’s Word reveals His way. So let’s speak the Word. Let’s meditate on the Word.
Let’s observe and see the Word. Let’s do the word, the result, his way. The result, his way is filled with prosperity, wisdom and success. Paul echoes this in Romans 12:2. This is Romans 12:2 in the Amplified classic. He says, do not be conformed to this world, this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs, but be transformed and changed by the entire world renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and its new attitude, so that you may prove for yourselves what is the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. Even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in his sight for you. Paul challenges us to renew our mind.
This is what the Lord was saying to Joshua 1:8. Spend time in the word day and night. Meditate on it day and night. Paul is challenging us to renew our mind by the word of God. And in doing so, we will discover the perfect will of God, that which is good, acceptable, and perfect in his sight for you. Hallelujah. There won’t be any question. I don’t care what everybody else is doing.
I don’t care what they think about what I’m doing. I’m walking out what God has asked me to walk out, what he has shown me to do. And when I do that, I walk in his blessing, his abundant, overflowing blessing. Proverbs 19:21. The Amplified classic says this Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it’s the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand. That word purpose there can also be translated counsel. He said he will counsel us with his eye upon us. There in Psalm 32:8.
So many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s counsel for him that will stand the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand God’s way. His plan will stand. Which brings us back around to those three questions we see in the book Two Chairs. Does God know your situation? Yes, he does. Is it too hard for him to handle? No. All things are possible with Him. Does he have a good plan for you? Yes, and he will show you the way. Isaiah 30, verse 21.
This is from the Amplified Classic. Also and your ears will hear a word behind you. Say, this is the way. Walk in it. When you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left, this is the way. Walk in it. Not only can we know the way, we must walk in it. And when we know the way and he shows us the way, we will walk in that place where we profit, we advance, we make progress, we succeed, we overcome, we rise higher.
And God’s purpose and plan for our life is fulfilled every day. And all that we do, all that we say and with everyone we engage with. I want to challenge you today. Take Isaiah 30:21 and read it. And let this become your heart’s desire and your intention every day, your determined purpose. This is the way. Walk in it. I’m going to walk in God’s way every day.
Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the promise that you’ve given us. That if we will seek you and come to you every day and ask of you and listen for your voice, your instruction and your direction, you will show us the way. And then when we walk in the way that you show us, you will do everything you’ve promised, Lord. You will do everything you’ve promised. And we will walk in your blessing all the days of our life and accomplish all that you’ve called us to do. We will be who you’ve called us to be.
David [00:34:33 – 00:35:07]
Thank you, Lord, for the promise of your word. I pray that you give us wisdom, insight, understanding, revelation on all these scriptures we’ve looked at today, Father, that we may fully walk in them, understand them, walk fully in them, that we may bring glory to your name and to your kingdom in Jesus name. So be it. Amen. Pastor Conia is coming now with a closing thought and a prayer. God bless you. Go walk in his way.
