Desert or Wilderness: Keys to Inherit the Promise

Copyright © 2020 by F. Nolan Ball (posthumously)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording or photocopying without written permission of the author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permissions is specifically granted by the author.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from The Holy Bible: King James Version. Springdale, AR: Eyedentified Publishing Solutions, 2020.

Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.

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For inquiries, please contact The Rock of Northwest Arkansas at apostleballbook@gmail.com.

Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data

(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Ball, F. Nolan (Floyd Nolan), 1929-2018, author.

Title: Desert or wilderness : keys to inherit the promise / F. Nolan Ball.

Description: 1st ed. | Springdale, Arkansas : Eyedentified Publishing Solutions, [2020]

Identifiers: ISBN 9781945566172 (print) | ISBN 9781945566189 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Trust in God--Christianity--Biblical teaching. | Ball, F. Nolan (Floyd Nolan), 1929-2018--Religion. | Obedience--Biblical teaching. | Deserts--Biblical teaching. | Inheritance (Christian theology)--Biblical teaching.

Classification: LCC BV4637 .B35 2020 (print) | LCC BV4637 (ebook) | DDC 234/.23--dc23

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WILDERNESS WANDERERS

WARNINGS ABOUT THE WILDERNESS

HOW TO RESPOND IN THE WILDERNESS

DESERT DWELLERS

WARNINGS ABOUT THE DESERT

HOW TO RESPOND IN THE DESERT

CONCLUSION

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, to Shirley Ball, Apostle Ball’s wife of sixty-seven years. There was no greater inspiration and no greater love in the life of this great man than his beautiful bride.

To the Ball family for sharing their father, brother, grandfather, and great grandfather with countless numbers of people who were drawn by the Spirit to seek a safe place in Apostle F. Nolan Ball and The Rock of Panama City to realize and fulfill their identities and purposes IN CHRIST.

To the ever-faithful people of The Rock of Panama City. Apostle Ball was always quick to honor such a great people and a great house who made it possible for him to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ around the world. Every message was tried and tested in and through the lives of people who yielded to the ministry of the Word and Spirit delivered faithfully week in and week out throughout forty-nine years.

To JoAnn Jackson, Apostle Ball’s assistant for almost forty years. It would be impossible to measure the breadth and depth of her investment in Apostle Ball’s ministry and the preaching of the Word through audio, video, print and in person.

To Zoe Tatum who tirelessly took the transcriptions from all the messages in this series and dovetailed them together into one manuscript. The ability to accomplish this feat cannot be overestimated. Zoe, your seed sown so many years ago is now being seen as a great harvest.

To Maurice & LaTonya Jackson who provided the service to bring the publishing of this manuscript into the book you now hold in your hands. (Eyedentified Consulting Services, LLC)

To Todd & Autumn Murner who had the vision to see this manuscript as a finished work so that many could be equipped and ready to traverse the prepared places in Christ.

To those unnamed, who aided in the dictation of these messages…. thank you.

Foreword

On Sunday afternoon, October 23rd, 1977, I drove into Tyndall Air Force Base, which is located on the east side of Panama City, FL. One month later, after being contacted by a friend from the Bible college I attended a couple of years earlier, I walked into Dirego Park Assembly of God church and had an experience that would impact the rest of my life.

As I walked through the front doors into the foyer of the church, I remember stopping and breathing in a smell I could only describe as home. I then walked through the double doors into the sanctuary, down the center aisle and turned left down a row of seats under the front edge of the balcony. I had convinced four other airmen friends to come with me by telling them it was Thanksgiving weekend and surely someone would take us home for a home cooked meal (I was right and it was good).

Shortly after sitting down, a very sharply dressed, distinguished, white haired man walked over to us and put out his hand to shake mine and said in a deep, fatherly voice, Hi, I’m Nolan Ball. It was a few years later when I realized what had transpired that day on Thanksgiving Sunday, 1977. I had walked into a house that would become my home and I had met a man who would become a spiritual father to me until the day he left his earthly home for his eternal home.

The book you hold in your hands is just one of the hundreds of messages that he heard from Father God and then delivered to the people that he loved so much and gave his life to for some 48 years. So much of who I am today as a father of three sons, a grandfather of ten grandchildren and a spiritual father to those who have been entrusted into my care comes out of walking with my spiritual father who was both a Pastor and an Apostle in my life for over 41 years.

So, as you read this book and decide if you are in a desert or a wilderness, I believe you will—by the help of the Holy Spirit and the words penned on these pages—know how to walk in the plans and purposes of God for your life victoriously.

George Brantley

Lead Pastor of The Rock of Gainesville

Gainesville, FL

Preface

The Great Commission, which Christ assigned to His apostles and, subsequently, the entire body of Christ is fraught with many deviations. While many are looking for the straight and narrow path that leads perfectly to Christ’s intended outcome, the development and maturity of each member of the body (discipleship) follows a course and process which may not necessarily be appreciated by others, seemingly on the same path.

Apostle Ball masterfully reveals a few rabbit trails, for which he is famous in his preaching, that one might experience through which Yahweh’s original design and ultimate intention may be realized. While a majority of the church is looking to exit this world prematurely, Apostle Ball reveals Yahweh’s nature of not forfeiting anything He created. Therefore, throughout one’s journey through life, there are occasions by which a wilderness or desert experience will definitely become necessary and hopefully desired to preserve and manifest His plans and promises.

As you read through this manuscript of a preaching series Apostle Ball released many years ago, you will be fascinated to discover the desert and wilderness experiences of your past were divinely designed and initiated to redeem and restore all that rightfully belongs to Yahweh. Expect to breathe again in areas of your Christ life that may have been deprived of context and perspective. As Apostle Ball was famous for saying, See again for the first time a grand view of the kingdom of heaven, of which Christ is the KING, being established in all the earth, especially yours.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Ilove the faith people. What a delight to be around people who have a positive confession! I enjoy being with those who call things that are not as though they are. I admire those people who are not moved by circumstance, but I have never yet met one person who with all of his faith, confession, confidence and declaring has been able to eliminate all the difficult places from life. Have you? I certainly have not.

However, what I have observed after decades of pastoring is that there are only two ways a person can get into trouble. That is right. There are only two ways someone can get into difficulty. The first one is disobedience. The second one is obedience.

Now everybody knows that the end result of disobedience is trouble and trials, despair and dismay. But obedience? How can obedience get a person into trouble? The answer is very simple. How many of you know that darkness and light are opposed to each other? How many of you know that the kingdom of the Heavenly Father and the kingdom of Satan are opposed to each other? When you set yourself to be removed from, translated out of the kingdom of darkness, and live in the kingdom of light, you are going to find tremendous opposition set against you. When someone becomes aligned with the purpose of the Creator, then he is out of alignment with the powers of darkness, and Satan and all of his demons do not like it. If Satan does not like Yahweh, why should a new Believer think for a moment that he likes him? The only time when Satan ever puts up with humans is when we are aligned with him. And when someone makes the determination, by the enabling of the Holy Spirit, that no longer will his life be directed by the god of this world and by his demonic spirits, the new Believer angers the enemy, and Satan sets out to destroy that person in conflict between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. Instead of flowing along with the powers of this world, the new convert has now turned around and headed against the powers of darkness. Immediately he will find himself surrounded by trouble. But his difficulty is brought about by obedience, not disobedience.

If a person is going to be in trouble no matter what he does, does it really matter if he is in trouble because of obedience or because of disobedience? Certainly, it matters. In order to respond correctly, a person must first discern the underlying cause of the trouble, because the proper response to finding oneself in trouble due to disobedience is markedly different from the proper response of the person who is in trouble because of obedience. In short, you will not know how to respond unless you know what got you into trouble in the first place. You see, if you are in difficulty because you followed Yahweh and obeyed Him, then when trouble comes, you should rejoice because the trouble is not found in you. The storm is not in you. The trouble exists out there, outside of you. The proper response to take in this circumstance is for the person walking in obedience to rejoice, rejoice, and continue rejoicing in the face of difficulty.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4, KJV)

Surface reading of that passage would say, Oh, thank Yahweh, I am in great trouble, so I am going to count it joy. It does not feel like joy, but I am going to count it joy. No, what James is really saying is revealed in the original Greek word for fall into. The word means to be caught between two opposing forces. It is used one other time in the New Testament to describe what happened to the ship on which Paul and the soldiers were being taken to Rome when it was caught where two seas met.

Any time you have two seas meeting, like at the southern tip of Africa or South America, turbulent waters are created, and it is a very dangerous place of sailing, especially in earlier times when vessels did not have the power or modern-day navigation controls. Even today, a vessel caught where two bodies of water meet is going to go through some difficult waters. We have an example of that principle being evident locally. Panama City is located on the Gulf of Mexico. We are blessed with numerous deep, natural bays that provide calm waters for swimming and other water sports. Some years ago, however, in order to ensure constant ingress and egress for the numerous boats and ships traveling to and from our Navy base, Air Force base, and local port, the Corps of Engineers dredged