Hank Smith:                      00:03                   Welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I are sharing a single story to go with each week’s lesson. John, we are in sections 111 through 114. You have the story this week,

John Bytheway:               00:14                   Hank. There’s a verse in section 111 that I’ve always just loved. It’s really easy to memorize, Hank. It’s 1, 1, 1, 1, 1. You got that down? 1, 1, 1, 1, 1.

Hank Smith:                      00:25                   It might take me a minute, but I think I can get it.

John Bytheway:               00:27                   111:11 and it has this great phrase in it. Be as wise as serpents and yet without sin, and I love that the Lord’s talking here. I will order all things for your good as fast as you are able to receive them. What kind of implies is a sequence that I’ve got the order right. Sometimes we get things outta sequence. This has happened many times in many different football games, but I remember one in particular, Baltimore Ravens third and 10. They’re backed up to their 20 yard line. They’re playing against the Broncos. The quarterback goes back on the Ravens. He telegraphs his pass a little bit like he’s saying, I’m gonna throw over here. He throws, a Denver Broncos linebacker jumps the route, intercepts the ball. He’s just got an easy 20 yard sprint to the end zone. He’s running. He’s excited to do his touchdown celebration and he lets go of the ball about this far before.

Hank Smith:                      01:26                   Before

John Bytheway:               01:27                   The end zone.

Hank Smith:                      01:27                   He crosses. Yeah.

John Bytheway:               01:28                   His players are jumping on him and he’s jumping up and down and the referees are doing nothing. They’re just like, you know the ball’s just sitting on the ground. No, it rolled. It rolled into the end zone and then out the side. Then the whistles blew and the referees went like that. Touchback Raven’s ball. First down. You can imagine the conversation with the coach and the player. Look, you got the sequence wrong. First you intercept the ball, that’s good. Then you run to the end zone. That’s good. Then you wait for the whistle before you drop the ball. You either gotta be sure you cross the end zone and then you can do your touchdown celebration. But I’ve always thought sequences are so critical and there’s a lot of them. Hank come unto Christ and be perfected in him. It’s not be perfect so that you can come unto Christ. No, no, no, no, no. Sequence is vital and I love that. The Lord here says, look, I’ve got this. I will order things for your good as fast as ye are able to receive them, and he’s a good judge of when we are able. He’s the one who gets to decide when we’re able, we can say sometimes Heavenly Father, I messed up. Will you please take this? Yeah, I’ll take this. I’ll order all things for your good.

Hank Smith:                      02:44                   Well, I love that as fast as you are able to receive them. That’s like a football receiver. I wanna give it to you. I wanna give it to you, but you have got to be able to receive. Think of a football receiver. They’re in the right place. They’re watching it. They’re ready for it. A receiver just doesn’t start running down the field and they’re in tune with the Lord is the quarterback. He wants to throw you the ball. Are you open? Are you able to receive? Yeah. I love it. I love it. Join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We’re with Dr. Susan Easton Black this week. She’s been teaching this stuff for decades. She does a great job with these sections. Then come back here next week. We’ll do another followHIM Favorites.