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Restoration International

A Fresh Look at Country Living

Tom Waters

1. Building Character for Eternity

We are building character and it's either being built for eternal life or eternal death.

What an opportunity that we can be building character for eternal life.

Do you really believe Jesus is coming soon?

What a privilege we have to serve the God of this universe.

And I want to talk today about building character for eternal life.

You know the Bible in the very beginning only got 6 chapters into the story of humanity.

6 chapters into the very beginning of it all.

You know how many pages 6 chapters takes in Genesis?

6 chapters into it, here's what God said.

Verse 5, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

That wasn't very far into this world's history.

Well, you know, I decided to look that up because for a long time those words, that verse, you know what I thought of?

I thought of really wicked people, really wicked people.

You know the kinds of people that you can conjure up in your mind and I don't want to be graphic with the young children here, but really wicked people.

I didn't always do God's will, but you know, friends, there are going to be wicked people at the end of time, and there's going to be righteous people at the end of time.

There's not going to be people in between sitting on the fence.

So I looked up this word, imagination, every imagination of the thoughts.

It says it's the act or the power of forming mental images of what is not present.

Now do you know that we're doing that every day?

Everybody in this room, young and old, are doing things with our imagination, forming images in our minds.

And God saw that the images people were forming in their minds, the thoughts that they were having were only evil continually.

And you know, the scary thing is, is that people right here in this room, professing Christians can be forming imaginations in the mind that not even your spouse knows, that your parents don't know, that your children don't know.

Images that reveal the character that is in the heart, the real character.

You see the Bible says in Proverbs 23, excuse me, verse 7, He as he thinketh, as who thinketh?

As he or she thinketh in their hearts, so what?

What's going on in our minds is who we really are.

Not just what we look like on the outside or some of the things that we may say in the right settings or it's what's going on in the mind.

Do you know what makes up our moral character?

It's the thoughts and the feelings that are combined that make up our moral character.

The thoughts and the thoughts gender feelings.

And when we accept those thoughts as ours and we accept those feelings as ours, that makes our moral character in that moment.

That's how a man can become a murderer, can take someone's life, because in that moment, their thoughts turn to feelings.

And those feelings and those thoughts connected to make the character of that person change.

And in that moment of time, they become a murderer.

And That was happening back in this day, this wickedness in the earth.

But many times people's thoughts and feelings don't turn them into that but nonetheless it's changing our character of who we really are.

You see, we need to recognize today that we live in the same kind of world that was Noah's day.

But that wicked world isn't our concern right now.

What our concern is is what's going on in our own thoughts.

Because our thoughts and our feelings are our character.

You see there are people that can look very good at church, they can dress right, they can eat right, they can make the right impression on people at church, but what is their real character at home?

What does their wife or their husband know about them?

You see, A man can make a good impression in the public image, but be a tyrant in the home.

You know, we come across a lot of people in this ministry that pour out their hearts to us and 1 woman that we knew, she was a perfectionist, if you will, in her social graces, in her dress, how she looked in her public appearance.

But that woman was just totally a slob in her home.

She just had to look good, she had to dress good, she had to make the right impression.

But her home was like a different world Because her real character was what was going on in her thoughts and in her emotions.

Or are we allowing ourselves to be changed by the righteousness of Jesus Christ?

Young people, children, Youth, teenagers, are you living an honest life in your home?

Are you really who your parents think you are?

Are you really being honest in your heart?

Or are you a different character when you're in your bedroom alone without your parents?

Are you doing things privately behind the backs of your parents but you know that that wouldn't be approved of and so you try to look good and do the things you need to in worship?

Oh parents, we need to be asking these questions, taking inventory.

Are we just going through the motions of the Christian experience, having family worship, and I hope we are, But what's going on in the real heart life experience, in the mind, this is the character that we are.

You see, God saw the character of man and he saw that it was wicked.

There was a flood, a flood that destroyed mankind from the earth.

But in Genesis 6, 14 it said, these were the instructions to Noah, make thou an ark.

Alane Waters

3. How God Led Us

This morning we're excited about being able to share how God led us in our experience from our city suburban lifestyle to a beautiful country setting out in the mountains of Montana.

But before we go with you in that little journey, as we go back to early 1985, we'd like to share a scripture reference.

And if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, it's taken from Ezekiel, the 36th chapter.

Verses that I had read when I was younger, but verses that began to come alive in our experience.

Verses that became personal and practical in our lives.

I'm looking, beginning at verse 24, Ezekiel 36, 24.

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you.

And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.

And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God." God.

Back in early 1985, we were caught in what I would say is the typical rat race.

Honest, sincere hearted, very busy people that were committed to the Lord the best we understood.

But so busy, so pressed, so pushed, even doing things for God, that we had no time for God.

As I talk to people all over the world, I find out that honest-hearted, sincere people, especially people that want to do work for the Lord, often find themselves in the same position.

So busy, even doing good things, that there's really no time for personal, practical communion with God.

That means maybe just a quick five-minute prayer and you're out the door.

Maybe a quick devotional or quickly reading a verse and then out into the day.

This is not the kind of communion that will sustain us in the real Christian walk.

It was 1 Friday evening, came to the end of the weekend, it was actually a rare Friday evening that we weren't out doing something else.

And we were sitting in our family room, sitting by the fireplace in the suburbs of Chicago, Hinsdale.

Sitting there in our family room, having a little quiet time.

Do You remember the setting that evening?

Well, it's 1 of those, like Tom said, rare evenings where you just feel that you are in tune with your family and not being pushed and rushed by everything around you and I became very aware at that time we just had Allison and Emily and they were very young toddlers and they had those little pink footie pajamas on you know those zippered things and they look so cute and so sweet and so innocent and I can remember as we were talking and relaxing because of obviously the Sun is setting early and we're having a quiet time starting early in the evening and just watching them play and how happy they were and I became very aware of their their activities, their countenances, their joy and I realized that you know all week long even though I was at home most of the time with them, I really didn't tune into them.

And this night I was really tuned into them.

Well, we were just talking, having nice conversation, and a thought came into my mind, and I didn't know where the thought came from that night, but I soon found out that it was the Lord bringing a strong thought to my mind.

And this was the question that I asked my wife, sort of right out of the blue.

I said, honey, what's the most important thing that you can accomplish in this life?

That's kind of a philosophical question, isn't it?

It wasn't even having anything to do with what we were talking about.

Usually I'm very quick to answer questions and I found myself just my mind taken back and quickly reviewing the last hour with my family and this very deep thought, a very heartfelt thought came to my mind and I looked at Tom and I said, honey to see our children in the Kingdom of God and to see the crown of life placed on their heads.

All of a sudden the reality of eternity became very real to me and very important and even though that was the desire of my heart as a mother all of this time being home with my children, I really never ever gave it a thought.

And that night, it was like a dart to my heart.

Well, when she responded that way, I have to say that I was actually taken back a little bit.

And this is, even as I say this now, it was a strange response in my heart because my wife had just finished her bachelor's degree in nursing and she was very goal-oriented and very directed and I wouldn't have been surprised to hear her say, well, you know, I was thinking maybe I ought to get my master's degree.

But when she responded with those words, it just cut to my heart.

And I realized, I said, honey, then something's got to change in our lives.

I just realized in an instant that if we are really going to see our children enter the kingdom of God, if we are going to see them receive the crown of life, then we're not going to be able to do it if we continue living our lives the way we are now.

And that night it was the beginning of God opening our eyes.

Have you ever heard the expression of the scales being dropped off of our eyes?

Well that process began that night in a very new way.

Now we were already thinking about country living.

I can remember when Allison was very small.

We had been in Tennessee, and we actually visited Tennessee.

And there was a beautiful stallion running across, a black stallion running across a field and it just caught our attention.

You've seen the gracefulness just running across this open field and we stopped and we caught a look in Allison's eyes that we had never seen before.

You see, we had said we were going to, when we got married, where were we going to live?

We knew the council, at least we knew some of the council, the benefits, but you know how life is?

And here we were, 1985, and we weren't in the country.

In fact, the house outside on this side and the house outside on this side, you know, you couldn't talk very loud because you know, you didn't want everybody to know your business.

But that night we knelt together, our little family.

We put the girls between us and I offered a prayer of commitment to God, a prayer that I have never forgotten, a prayer that that night set us on a new course with God, a new direction.

I said, Lord we're willing to go anywhere you ask us to go.

We're willing to give up anything you ask us to give up.

If we can hear the words, well done, thou good and faithful servant, and see the crown of life placed upon the heads of our children.

Brothers and sisters, we have never turned back from that commitment that night.

Oh, I wish I could say to you that we just moved right ahead.

No bumps in the road, no backtracking, no detours, but I couldn't say that to you.

And we have continued to press forward by Jesus Christ.

And that's what we want to talk about today.

We want to talk about what began to happen and how God led us through this experience because Some very beautiful things began to happen that night when we made that decision things started to happen we Recognized that yes God can save us anywhere.

Okay, I mean, you remember Abraham, he was pleading with God.

If there are 50 people in that city of Sodom, will you save the city?

And then Abraham started thinking about how, well, that's a pretty bad city.

And he started counting down on the mercies of the Lord.

And yes, if there were only 10 in that city, God would spare that city.

It tells you that God is very merciful and long suffering with us, doesn't it?

But it also tells us that there's an environment in the city's suburban lifestyle that can sweep people away and it's very difficult to gain the experience that God desires his people to have.

Let me read to you a little book, just a simple little book, Country Living.

A reference that really made an impact on us.

There is not 1 family in a hundred who will be improved physically, mentally, or spiritually by residing in a city.

Faith, hope, love, happiness can far better be gained in retired places where there are fields and hills and trees.

Take your children away from the sights and sounds of the city.

It will be found easier to bring home to their hearts the truth of the Word of God.

5. Practical Considerations & How-to’s

You know, once you've recognized that God is asking you to move to a country setting, if God is calling you like he called Abraham and called many of his people to a country setting.

Well, I enjoy being able to talk about some of the practical aspects of making the move.

I am a real estate broker, although I am not actively engaged in real estate presently.

But it's been a great blessing to be able to know some of the practical sides of real estate transactions and what's involved in looking for property and many times people just don't know some of the things that are involved.

So we're going to talk about a few of the more practical sides of this.

But the most important thing that we learned in our experience once we recognized what God was asking us to do, is what are we going to do right where we are now?

Begin applying every principle that you are aware of.

Prioritize the importance of those principles.

Gospel order deals with first man and God or woman and God, then the marriage relationship, then the parenting relationship to children, then the wider sphere of the church and the widening sphere of the community and beyond.

You see, many times we want new light or we get excited about some new idea when God wants us to deal with what we already know.

To really go back and deal with some of the basic principles that can then prepare us to launch into new ideas and new areas of life.

That's something that the Lord began to bring to us before we moved out.

During the 10 months that we were waiting upon the Lord, he began to put it in our minds to do the work that lies nearest.

Dealing with my own heart as a father, as a husband, prioritizing my home responsibilities.

You know, fathers, that in the final judgment, we'll really be the ones that God will ask the question, where is the flock that I've given you, that beautiful flock?

Is our home the priority that God would have it to be?

Prioritizing our responsibilities to our children.

And then again as we move from the home sphere, prioritizing the responsibilities in the church, our work in the community and so forth.

We need to be developing between the time that we recognize the call from the Lord, and I know many people right now, even as I speak, as we've been in various places, even over in Germany, talking with people that the Lord was impressing upon them, the need to get out of the setting that they were in into a more quiet and retired location.

Between the time that that conviction becomes clear and clear and the time that we actually make a move, we should be considering how we build a spiritual nest egg and a physical nest egg.

I know we've heard about the physical nest egg, but there's a spiritual 1 that needs to be built at the same time.

I had a particular interest in studying end time events.

And I spent a lot of time studying end time events, studying prophecies, and those are important things.

But God showed me that I needed to start spiritually simplifying and practicalizing my life with God.

I needed to start looking at it, and this is the way the Lord brought it to me.

You know, Thy Word, He says, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

And the Lord came to help me recognize that there is a path out there, and I was way out getting light on the path that's way out in front of me, the 1 about end time events and the 1 about prophecy being fulfilled out there.

And the Lord helped me realize that I had lots of light out there, but guess where I was stumbling?

Wasn't much light shining on that part of my path.

There was lots of light out here about end time events and I could talk very well about that, but I was floundering and stumbling in the present daily walk because His Word was not shedding light on my present path, dealing with my own irritations, my own selfishness, dealing with my relationship and my family.

And as I began to recognize that, I started focusing my study in 3 areas.

How to deal with my personal walk with God as an individual in dealing with self, the selfishness of the carnal heart.

And then how to deal with life as a husband to the woman that God had given me to walk by my side.

And thirdly, how to become the father that God was calling me to be.

That's where my study began to go and that's what I'm talking about in simplifying spiritually.

Just like we simplify physically when we don't need 2, 400 square feet, when we can simplify it down to a smaller home with less things, less things to maintain, we're simplifying physically.

So I would just encourage you to consider where's your time going and what practical benefit is your study giving to you in walking in your present path and having light shining on that path.

When God began to show us simplifying physically, it was taking inventory of all the things that we had, how we were using them, how much money we were spending to maintain them, and we took our 2 vehicles that we used in our suburban setting.

We sold those, helped clear debts, and bought a super cab, pickup, an old 1, 8 years old.

And that simplified all of those areas in our lives.

It simplified our maintenance of our vehicles.

It got us a vehicle that would be preparing us for the area we're moving into.

So learn to simplify for where you are presently and where you anticipate going down the road as God begins to reveal it.

My wife bought me a chainsaw and we were just recently in the shop where she bought that.

And I've never had a problem with it, I've never had to take it in for servicing.

It was a real nice chainsaw and I told the owner of the chainsaw shop that my wife had bought this for me when we moved to Montana and it was a good investment.

I've cut a lot of trees down over the years with that chainsaw.

But you see it was taking the things physically and bringing them in line with the lifestyle that we were moving into.

If you have a home to sell, the question some people ask is it better to sell it by myself, by owner, or is it better to get a realtor?

Well, we started out by ourself and ended up going to a realtor.

There are some pitfalls that you can run into trying to sell your home by yourself.

There are people that actually specialize in home robberies and by owner robberies.

They come in, they case your house, as you walk them through it, they find out how your doors work and your windows and all these kind of things, and then they steal the stuff out of your house when you're gone.

I mean, most people wouldn't even think of that.

They call you instead of calling the realtor and they want to come over now.

You get people dialing your phone number that aren't even interested in your house.

You get a lot of people who just are curious because they've lived next door to you for 5 years and they want to see what your house looks like and they want to know how much you're asking for it.

So these are things to weigh and to pray about.

We tried it on our own and decided after a short time that we turn it over to a real estate broker That that's we figured out that they earn their money.

They really do What we did is we asked for 3 separate companies to come in If you're looking at selling a property, 3 separate brokers to come in from different companies and do property evaluations and give you a market analysis.

And then You can take those numbers and you can work with what you believe the Lord is asking you to get with your price and your market.

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Series

A Fresh Look at Country Living

6. Country Living a Blessing to All

Transcript

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