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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for February 9, 2010
“You’ll Find In Tallahassee Just What You’re Looking For”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
A young man was moving to Florida to start a new life.
He wanted to get away from the old gang, so we had a little talk.
I said, “You’ll find in Tallahassee just what you are looking for. If you come seeking a new life with the Lord, you will find it. But if you come looking for party friends just like you had up north, then that’s exactly what you’ll get.”
See, we tend to find just what we are looking for.
Jesus said, “…seek and you will find…”
But the question is, what are you seeking?
I have lived in Tallahassee for a few years now and guess what? I don’t know a single person who sells marijuana. But I guarantee you that thousands of people have moved to Tallahassee and quickly found a drug dealer, because he who seeks finds.
If you’re looking for excuses to leave your spouse, you’ll find them. But if you’re looking for reasons to stay, that’s what you’ll find.
We tend to find just what we’re looking for, so we need to take control of the situation.
Do you know how many pearls I own? Exactly none. I have never in my life found a good deal on a beautiful pearl, and I’m sure you know why. Because I have never looked for one.
In Matthew 13 we read about a merchant who was “seeking beautiful pearls.” Do you think he found them? Of course he did, because what we look for, we tend to find. Verse 46 says he “found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Now you may recognize that story as being one of Jesus’ parables. Here it is, in its entirety, all one sentence worth. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Like I said, we tend to find just what we’re looking for, so we need to take control of the situation. That’s exactly what that merchant did, and look what it got him! He was hyper-focused on seeking beautiful pearls, and when he found the “pearl of great price,” he sold all he had to get it.
We’ve all heard of athletes who were hyper-focused on their sport, or business people who were hyper-focused on becoming millionaires. They controlled what they were seeking, which controlled what they found.
Well if we pretty much find what we seek, what should we be seeking?
Well first and foremost, we need to be seeking the Lord. We need to be hyper-focused on seeking Him.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “…He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
That’s what I want to be, one of those who diligently seek Him.
Jeremiah 29:13 says, “…you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Psalm 63:1 describes the great passion with which we should seek the Lord. It says, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
I like Psalm 105:4, “Seek the Lord…seek His face evermore.”
First Chronicles 16:11 says, “…seek His face always.”
Most of us know Second Chronicles 7:14, which includes this powerful phrase, “…pray and seek My face…”
Now let me warn you, there will be a price to pay if you want to seek God with all your heart.
Remember the merchant? Yes, he found the pearl of great price, but it cost him dearly.
And seeking God, passionately pursuing the Lord, will cost you. Some things must be shed to streamline yourself for the King.
But there is good news! God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him!
Jesus said when you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then “all these things shall be added unto you.”
Lamentations 3:25 says the Lord is good to those who seek Him.
Psalm 34:10 says, “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.”
So here’s the point. We tend to find just what we are looking for, so we need to take a close look at our lives and ask, “What am I looking for?”
Like the merchant in the parable, we need to take control of it, to proactively decide, “This is what I’m looking for,” then go for it.
And there is no greater thing to go for than to diligently seek the Lord.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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