Thank you, Hannah. All right, let's go to Matthew
7 now. Look again at our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. This is not just any sermon.
This is not just any preacher. The Lord Jesus cried. He said
His words are spirit and life. And may it be so right now more
than just a sermon. In verses 7 and 8, well, let's
read the whole text. Verses 7 through 12. The Lord
says, Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that knocketh seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh
it shall be opened. What man is there of you whom,
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask
a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, How much more shall
your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that
ask him? Therefore, all things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them."
This is the law. And the prophets ask, seek, knock. If I had a title that would be
it, or maybe, so much more. so much more. The Lord is teaching
us two great things here. He's teaching us our great need,
our great need, and our Father's great love and grace to supply
that need. Our great need. Now, only the
truly needy will ask in the way that he's talking about him.
That is, keep asking. Only the truly needy will seek
until they find. Only the poor and needy will
knock, keep knocking until the Lord opens the door. What he
is telling us here is he's talking about importunity in prayer and
persistence, perseverance. And because we are poor and needy
in everything, we have need for everything from the Lord, And
he said, without him, we can do nothing. Nothing. We need him to show us right
now just how needy we are. I thought of the church at Laodicea
that had so much, you know, they were rich and increased with
goods. And quite often you have need of nothing. And our Lord
said, you don't know that you're poor. You're poor. He said to the church, I think
it was at Myrna, I didn't write it down, but they said, We're
poor. He said, I know you're poor. But he said, No, you're
rich. There is he that hath much, but
hath very little. There is he that hath very little,
but is very rich. But our Lord says, Ask, seek,
and knock. Ask. Everyone that asketh, receive
it. Everyone that asketh. Whatever
this is to ask, And whatever it is we're to ask for, he said,
we'll receive it. Whatever it is that we're to
seek, he said, we'll find it. I'm interested. And whatever
door it is that will be open if we knock on it, oh my, I need
to know. I need to know. Everyone, look
across the page. I just heard a message by Brother
David Edmondson today on this, verse 21. Not everyone would
say it fundamentally. Not everyone would say it, yet
everyone would ask it. You've heard people say this,
we'll say a little prayer. Well, that doesn't go past the
ceiling. Say a little prayer. And we've
all said grace, haven't we? Say grace. This is much more
than that. Much more than that. Alright,
what is it? to ask. What is this asking? What does the Lord say in here? And what is it that we are to
ask for? Well, go over to Luke chapter 11. Luke 11. Luke 11. What is it to ask? Well,
it's to be persistent in asking. It's to persevere. It's not stop.
Don't quit. Pray without ceasing. Pray without
ceasing. It's to keep asking until you're
heard. It's to keep asking until you get an answer. It's to keep
asking until you receive what you are asking for. And the Lord
gave this illustration here, this parable of a man who came
to his friend, and his friend, it says in verse, let's see,
A friend came to him and said, Which of you shall have a friend?
And go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me
three loaves. He's asking for bread, you see
that? And a friend of mine is in his journey, come to me. I
have nothing to set before him. And his friend from within shall
answer and say, Trouble me not. The door is now shut. My children
are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.
But I say unto you, the Lord said, I say unto you, though
he will not rise, that is, immediately, and give him. because he is his
friend, yet because of his importunity, because he keeps asking, because
he won't go away, he will rise and give him what? As many as
he needed. God won't give him bread, but
He'll give him as much as he needs. As much bread as he needs. And then our Lord gave that parable
over to Luke 18, how He said men ought always to pray and
to think not, And he said, he talked about the widow who by
her continual coming came to that unjust judge. You remember
that? This widow came to an unjust judge. And because she kept coming
to him, the judge said, she's going to weary me. I'm just going
to give her what she wants to get rid of her. And so the Lord
said, shall not God. Shall not God. Avenge his very
elect, though he bear long with them, though he doesn't answer
them immediately. Shall he not? And he said, I tell you, he will.
He'll avenge them speedily. In other words, it seems like
you're not getting an answer. It seems like a long time before
he answers, but in relation to time, he answers you. He gives you what you need. And
the Lord said this in these striking words, one of the most striking
verses in all the Bible to me. When the Son of Man comes, shall
he find faith on the earth? Like that, that is. Shall he
find anyone asking and keep asking and knocking and seeking and
keep seeking until they find and knocking until he opens the
door? Will he find anyone like that? Bless God, he will. You'll find it where he put it.
And you know, James, remember James said this, James says we
have not because we ask not. In other words, we don't keep
asking. But I prayed about it. Well,
that's not praying, is it? Praying is continual. Continuously
you get an answer. That's what the Lord's saying
here. Whatever you really need, you'll keep asking for. And then
James went on to say, and when we do ask often, we ask amiss. We ask for the wrong things.
And I quoted that in Romans 8 where it says we don't know what things
to ask for often, and yet the Holy Spirit knows the mind of
God and makes intercession for us. With groanings that cannot
be uttered, this is what he needs and goes forth. And I'm thankful
for that. Well, what do we ask for? The
Lord said, you ask and you keep asking. What do we ask for? We'll go to Matthew 6, verse
9. Our Lord has already told us,
hasn't He? What do we ask for? He's already told us how to pray,
hasn't He? He told us this. He said, when
you pray, pray thy kingdom come, verse 9. Our Father which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. Pray for the
kingdom to come. Pray for the kingdom to come
to you. That's our great need isn't it? Pray for the kingdom
to come to our children. Pray for the kingdom to come
to us tonight in the gospel in power. I need to hear the gospel. You and I need to hear the gospel.
We need to hear from our Lord. Ask then. He said, keep asking
and don't quit until he answers you. He said, pray, give us this
day our daily bread. Now, we don't live by bread alone.
I actually had some homemade bread today that my wife made.
It's wonderful. But it's gone, long gone. This
is the bread we live on. This is what we need to live
on. Did you notice that man asked
his friend for three loaves of bread and he gave him that. The one thing needful, bread,
the Word of God, which is Christ, the bread from heaven. Look at
verse 12. Forgive us our debts. Oh, my. We need to ask daily, don't we,
for forgiveness of sin. Lord, forgive us. And we need
a forgiving spirit as we forgive our debtors. He says you won't
be forgiven your debts if you don't forgive others. Lord, give
me a forgiving spirit. Lead us not into temptation. Oh, my. Deliver us from evil. We need to pray and keep praying,
Lord, don't leave me to myself. Restrain me. Every one of us
in here are liable to do anything. We are. And so we need to pray
constantly, without ceasing, Lord, don't leave me to myself. Lead me not into temptation.
When I walk out that door, the whole world is temptation, and
I can't resist one of them. Don't let me. Lead me to myself. So he's telling us what to ask
for. These are things, he said, that you will receive. You will
receive. Deliverance from covetousness, verses 20 and 21. Look down there. Where your treasure
is, that's where your heart will be. Oh Lord, make Christ my treasure. Don't let me treasure anything
on this earth. Don't let me hold so tightly
to anything on this earth that you'd have to break my fingers
to make me let go. We've got a lot to ask for, don't
we? We have great needs. Deliver me from covetousness.
Deliver me from an evil eye, verse 23. If your eye be evil,
the whole body is full of darkness. Oh, Lord, don't let me get in
such a state that I can't see your goodness. All I can see
is evil. My, my. Deliver me from worry
and fear and doubt and unbelief. He says in verse 25, take no
thought for your life. What you shall eat or drink.
This is what unbelieving Worldlings do. It's all they care about.
Oh, Lord, please, I'm just that far from being just like them. I've heard this and preached
this so many times that I haven't got it yet. Ask. Keep asking. Don't quit. It means
all our days. It means every day, all our days
until the day we die. the day we die. We're going to
be poor and needy until the day we die. We're going to be sinners
until the day we die. We're going to be liable to sin
until the day we die. We're going to need Him to hold
us up until the day we die. So he says, ask. Keep asking. Either ask Him, receive Him. Ask. I need wisdom, don't you? not casting pearls. Well, judging. The Lord told us, how can you
behold a moat in your brother's eye when you don't see the log
in your own? Oh, Lord, don't let me be blind
to myself and quick to point out others' thoughts. My, my. We need wisdom to know how to
deal with people, who to talk to, who not to talk to. We need
the wisdom of Solomon. Next Wednesday night, and if
you want to read something wonderful, 1 Kings 3. Remember when Solomon was going
to divide that baby? That's what we're going to look
at next Wednesday. It was a great revelation to
me. A wonderful thing. We need wisdom like Solomon.
We need wisdom to discern the true from the false. We sure
do. Ask, he said. And the Lord said
in verse 11, your heavenly Father will give good things to them
that ask Him. Good things. And over in Luke
11 are the same words, except more. In Luke 11, He said this. He said, How much more shall
the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him? And you see, if He gives us the
Holy Spirit, we have everything. The Holy Spirit takes the things
of Christ and shows them to us. And if He does, that will take
our eyes off of other things. It takes the things of Christ
and shows them unto us. And if He does, that will make
us love like Christ. That will make us act like Christ
and so on. So He said He will give the Holy
Spirit He'll give good things. Good things. He won't give us
everything we want, but he said he'll give us good things. Good
things. Everyone that asketh receiveth. Everyone. Anyone. Every man that
asketh. And he went on to say, look at
verse 9, if your son asks for bread, will you give him a stone?
If he asks a fish, will you give him a serpent? No, you wouldn't
give him what would hurt him. We often do, don't we? We're
fallible. We're finite. We love with folly. We love our children with folly.
And we give them everything. Our Lord loves with wisdom. He
doesn't give everything. He withholds what is hurtful
and gives what is needful, bread and fish. What do you feed the
4,000 with and the 5,000 with? Bread and fish. And that's a
picture of himself, isn't it? Well, look at the next thing
here. He says, seek, verse 7, seek and you shall find. In the
same way, keep looking, keep searching until you find. The Lord is telling us there's
more to this than just asking. There's more than just asking.
It's seeking. Seeking. Go with me to Mark chapter
7. The Gospel of Mark chapter 7. You're going to like this. Mark
chapter 7. He said, Ask, but he said, Seek. Remember, he already said, Seek
ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He's talking
about himself. He's talking about himself. Seek
me. And he said that. There was a story one time. Some
men came and he said, Whom seek you? They said, Master, where do you
dwell? Come on. He let them have his
company. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God. He's talking about himself. Seek and you shall find. Seek
ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Seek Him. He may be found, because
He said everyone that seeketh will find Him. Do you need Him? Mark chapter 7, look at that.
Verse 24. From there he arose, the Lord
arose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon and entered
into a house. He went into a house and would
have no man know it. He went into a house so nobody
could find him. No man could find him. He went into this house so no
man could find him. But it says, verse 24, he could
not be hid for a certain woman. Found it. There was a certain
woman who had a great need. And she said, I need the Lord.
He's the only one that can give me what I need. And she kept
looking. And the Lord hid himself. But
she found it. That struck me. I don't know
about you. But he hid himself from most everybody else, the
curiosity seekers. But this woman had a need, and
she came to Him, and she found Him. She found where He was.
So will everyone that seeks Him. Everyone. I hear people say things
like this all the time, seeking the Lord. Seeking the Lord. Well, have you found Him? Well,
no. Well, then you're not really
seeking Him, are you? That's what the Lord said. He
was seeking to find Him. Some want to say, I'm seeking the
church. We're looking for a church. Number one, you're looking for
the wrong thing. You find where the carcass is,
that's where the eagles will be gathered. You find the Lord,
you seek the Lord, seek the truth, you'll find the church. That's
where the church is meeting. We're seeking. The Lord said,
he that really seeks will find. He'll find. But here's the amazing
thing about it is, though, and you know this verse. The Lord
said, I am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of
them that sought me not. Like Philip. I love the story
of Philip. The Lord found him, of course.
The Lord called him, of course. But what did Philip say? We found
him. What the Lord did was created
him a need, and Philip began to seek. And it's the same way
with all of God's people. He seeks us first, or we wouldn't
seek Him. He calls us first, or we wouldn't
call, doesn't He? Bless His holy name. And seeking
Me, you shall find Me, He said, when you search for Me with all
your heart. And that same woman there who found Him, it says
she would not go away. She asked Him for something,
and He ignored her. Remember? He ignored her. He didn't ignore her. But then
she asked the disciples, and they went to him. And then she
came and worshipped him. And then he said, you're a dove.
And she said, that's truth. And he said, oh, woman, great
thing. She wouldn't go away. And he
gave her, Margaret gave her what she asked for. That's asking. That's seeking.
Now this seeking, how do we seek the Lord? How do we seek the
Lord? Well, we seek Him in His Word.
The Lord is found in His Word. His Word. He reveals Himself
in His Word. This is the field in which that
great treasure is hid. He's hid Himself. He must reveal
Himself. But He said, if you search, you'll
find me. If it's me you're looking for,
you'll find me. And that's good advice to all
of us when we're reading God's Word. Look for Christ in it.
Because all the blessings, all the promises, of God are in Him,
and they're yea and amen to the glory of God the Father. And
if you can find Him, you can find comfort. If you can find
Him, you can find pardon. If you can find Him, you can
find peace. We seek Christ, the great treasure. And He said,
if you seek Me, you shall find Me. We seek His face. We seek His presence. We seek His face. And that's
in prayer. in fellowship around the Word
like this. Our Lord promised to be where
two or three are gathered in my name. And if a person really
wants the presence of the Lord, He is with His people always. He said, I'll never leave you.
Wherever two or three are gathered, He is always there. If we really
need to see the Lord, hear from Him, If we really need to see
the Lord, if we're hungry, the fault isn't in the food or the
server. But if we're hungry, he said,
you'll be filled. Blessed are they that are hungry.
They'll be filled. Those that ask, they will receive. Those that seek, they will find.
We seek His will, don't we? We want to know His will. What is His will for me? And
we have decisions to make in life. We do. We're faced with
things. God doesn't leave His people in the dark. How much
more will our Heavenly Father guide us and lead us? He said
the Holy Spirit is the one who leads and guides. He said He'll
give the Holy Spirit to them at that point. Lead me. Guide
me, Lord. I don't know what to do here.
You really want to know what to do? You don't want to run
ahead of me? No. And again, how does he lead?
How does he show us his will? Right here. These are the paths
of righteousness. Well, his name's that. Thy word
is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. You read that tonight,
didn't you, Eve? We seek his face. We seek his
presence. David said, when you said, seek
my face, what did he do? Did you find it? David had close communion. Close
communion. We seek His will, and I don't
have... Just a few things here on His
will. God's will, as revealed in the
pages of this book, is number one for His glory. Whatever will
give Him the most glory, you can pretty much know that that's
His will, if there's a decision to make. Whatever is good for
the church, that's His will. Whatever is
good for my family's spiritual good, you notice me, I am way
down the list. This is what the Lord did. His
meat and drink was to do the Father's will. What was that?
His glory, serve His people, serve His children, His family,
feed them, and so forth. Lastly, well, not lastly, but
my spiritual good. What is going to be my spiritual
good? I don't know what to do here. What's my spiritual good?
And then, what will be of good testimony before this world?
That's how we know His will. And Paul said we need to know,
we need to be filled with the knowledge of His will. And we
don't. We don't want to have our will.
We don't want our will to be done. And we have to pray for it. We
have to seek it. We have to ask for it. Many of
you love these verses like in Philippians 4 that says, in everything,
Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. May we ask God for anything?
Yes, you may. Doesn't mean you get it, but
you may ask Him. My children can ask me for anything.
They should tell me everything. They should. We should tell the... There's nothing he doesn't know
anyway. We need to confess it, come naked before Him, confess. But at any rate, He said, in
everything, let your requests be made known unto God. And 1
Thessalonians, I love this, says, in everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So we should
ask everything, whether it's His will. And we may ask, if
this be your will. Didn't our Lord say that? Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me. Didn't He? Nevertheless, not
my will, but Thine will be done. And in everything, whatever it
is that comes to pass, even evil, we are to pray with thanksgiving
and say, and know, for our comfort, that this is the will of God
concerning you. I'll give you a cute illustration. I called Brother Clay Curtis
to see how they got through that hurricane. You know, it went
right over top of them. And he said they got through
it fine. There was no damage. He said
they were quite afraid, though, because there was a huge oak
tree in their backyard about four feet around to a 300-year-old
oak tree right by their deck. And that thing was swaying 50-
and 60-mile-an-hour winds. And they were all watching it.
And they were just scared to death it was going to come on
the house. And finally, they went down to the basement. And
they all got in the basement on a mattress. And Will said
to his daddy, he said, Would it be okay to ask the Lord for
that tree not to hit our house? And he said, yes, son, of course
he would. And I don't know, maybe they
did cry, I don't know. But nevertheless, the next morning,
the tree didn't. The tree felled up. That big giant tree fell
over, blew over, fell across their yard, the neighbor's next
yard, three or four neighbors' yards, all the way across every
fence. It didn't touch a house. And then Clay said to Will, he
said, son, now we asked the Lord, and not let that tree fall on
our house. He said, now, we need to thank
the Lord that it didn't. So in everything, you may ask
that your request be made known unto God, but it might not be
His will. You can count on this, that whatever
He gives you is His will. And it's going to be good. It's
going to be good, though we don't know it. And when it's all over,
thank Him for it. Thank Him that you didn't get
your will. Knock. The Lord said, knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. It shall be opened. Oh, the shalls
of Scripture. Knock. Knock. You know, there
is a sheepfold. The Lord said that in John 10.
He said, I am the door. I am the door, Christ said. By me, if any man enter, he'll
find rest. I am the door of the sheepfold. I am the way. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I am the door. There's only one
door, entrance into heaven. One door in the sheepfold. And
you know, there are a lot of people in that sheepfold right
now. There are sheep in that sheepfold.
I want to be sheep. I want in that fold. You want
in that fold, what do you got to do? Let me in. I want in. Would you
turn somebody away? He said, if you believe, would
you turn somebody away to Ketnauka? There's a place Jehovah's Witnesses
live. But not somebody in need. You know, well, in my parents,
we had a lot of people come to our door and let everybody in. Dad told me that his mother,
back in the Depression, they didn't have much at all. Could barely scrape up enough
food for themselves. And lots of people would come
to their door and ask for food. And she fed every single person
that came. So they didn't go without. They
didn't miss a meal, just like the Fort Lord promised. You know,
no one enters in the kingdom without knocking. No one receives
pardon without asking. No one, no one gets in without, finds
Christ without seeking him. No one. But everyone that asks,
receives. Everyone that seeks, finds. Everyone. It doesn't qualify
that. Anyone, no matter how bad. Just ask and receive. It's a
gift. It's free for the taking. Isn't
that just wonderful? My, my. He feeds every beggar.
He takes in every homeless person. He marries every widow. He adopts
every orphan. He receives back again every
prodigal. Everyone. Why? Because of His
great love and His great grace. In verse 11, He says, If you,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children...
Now, He's talking to His disciples. And what He's saying is... Now, they're not unregenerate. believers, but yet they've still
got that old man in them. They've still got that evil old
man in them. And the Lord knows that. He knows our frame. He
knows that. He knows us. He knows what's
in us. We're selfish. He said, if you,
though, still prone to that, give good gifts unto your children,
how much more? I love that. How much more? Shall
your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that
ask Him? How much more? Our Heavenly Father
loves us so much more than we love our own. And that is impossible
for me to understand. It really is. And it's even more
impossible for me to believe. But He said it, and I believe
it. Now, I really do love my children. And I love my brethren. But here's a verse that tells
God is love. God is love. And if we really could get a
hold of that, that our Heavenly Father loves us more, much more,
than we love our own children, much more. And again, I can't
grasp that. But he does much more. If we really could get a hold
of that, I believe our doubts and our fears and our worries
would just greatly diminish. Might not go completely away,
but they would greatly diminish. And I believe we could endure
our trials and troubles. They're going to come. The Lord
promised it. And our tribulations, we could endure them with more
patience and confidence. Not without sorrow, not without
tears, and not without pain, because we're flesh and He knows
that. He cried. He grieved. He sorrowed. But
we could endure them like He did, with patience, with confidence,
knowing. Like when our Lord was going
to Calvary's tree, He says, for the joy set before Him. How could
that be joyous to the Lord to be taken to that cross and despised
and rejected and forsaken of his father and be made sin, it
was so repulsive. How could he do that? For the
joy set before him. He knew he was going to endure
like a woman travailing with child. He knew that when it had
to be pain and when it was over, the joy was going to far exceed
the pain. And that the Father would not
put him through this if it were not going to prosper. It wouldn't do it. It's good. We would endure. We could endure
much more patiently and confidence. And we know it's going to turn
out good. My father's too wise to err. He's too good to do me any evil. We make mistakes as parents,
don't we? Oh, do we? I'd like to start
all over again. I'd like to do it all over again. Now, our Lord never makes a mistake.
He never makes a mistake with any of His children. He has never
wrongly treated or erred with one of His children ever, and
He's had a lot of them. We act and react wrongly with our children,
especially when you're young parents. A young father, you
know, is trying to assert his authority. Don't we? Oh, I just grieve. Don't we,
Stephen? We just grieve. We'd like to
try it over again. But he never, he never lashes
out. Never acts in anger and wrath
toward his children. Never. It's always instructive. Though he frowns, he hides a
smiling face. We give wrong things. We give
them wrong things. He never does that. If it's something
that he allows us to have and it ends up bad, he did it to
teach us a lesson. We often give the wrong things
and in ignorance withhold the right things. He never, never
withholds anything needful. Never, never. Now look at the
next verse. You notice he doesn't end it
there. Verse 12. Therefore, see that? Therefore, all things whatsoever
ye would that men should do to you, Do you even so to them? This is the Law and the Prophet. Now what's that got to do with
what he just said? It doesn't have that paragraph
sign, does it? It didn't stop that. It's not
a new thought. It's a continuation. What does
that have to do with what he just said? You call this the
golden rule, don't you? The golden rule. It well deserves
a message by itself, but it's in connection here. What's the
connection? Well, our Lord has been talking
about being perfect like your Heavenly Father. He started this
sermon out by saying, love your enemies. Give to them that ask
you. Be perfect like your Heavenly
Father. Forgive. Forgive them. Be like your Father. Be merciful. So, do you want mercy? what they need from you, what
you would have from them. They continue to talk. If they ask forgiveness, you
better give it. If they ask for mercy, you better
give it. If they seek help from you, you better give it. If they
knock, you better let them in. They're just like you. They're
needy. This is a golden rule. Golden rule. This is a connection. This is a connection. And you
know, there's a verse of Scripture that's always very weighty. Listen to this.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. That's a powerful verse of Scripture.
And so when I'm harboring anything, the Lord knows it. And He will
not hear me. Boy, I want to be heard, don't
you? So he says, whatever you've had men to do to you, you do
it to them, and I'll do it to you. See, I jotted down a few
things that I wish that men, I want men to do for men. And
you do too, because you're just like me. How do I want others
to treat men? And I'll quit with it. Well,
I want them to accept me as I am. I am me. I have tried for 50 some
years to not be me, and I can't do it. Can you? Can you? You are what you are. You are
who you are. According to your family, your
genes, your upbringing, whatever, you are who you are until you
are. If I want somebody to accept
me as I am, then I must accept them as they are. Right? Somebody said love, real love,
is looking right through somebody, and still enjoying the view. I need people to forgive me when
I offend them, because I've done it, and I'm apt to do it, and
I'll do it again. And many things, Jane said, we
offend all. We all offend. We have, we do,
and we shall yet offend, maybe in the worst way. And I'm going
to need them to forgive me. Well, how then? Our Lord said, then you start. I must forgive them. I want them to be patient with
me. Patient with me. You'd think I'd learn something
after all this time. Sometimes I feel like, you know,
one step forward and two, ten giant steps back. Backsliding,
whatever that means, I've done. Well, I need them to be patient
with me, and so what have I got to do to receive that? I've got to be patient with them. I don't want them to make me
an offender for a word. I say something. But if you stand up here, there's
a lot of things going to play here. Nerves, the weight of what
you're doing, the exasperation of not having liberty. Am I telling
the truth here? You go through every emotion
you can imagine. It's like having a baby. I never had a baby, but
this must be like what it is. You get mad. You get sad. Don't you? You get exasperated. You get
frustrated. You want to shake people. You want to shake yourself. Everything goes to you. And you're
going to offend. But don't make me an offender
for a word. Well, what am I going to do?
What must I do? I can't be offended by you. Because
we have good days and we have bad days, don't we? I mean, we
have a lot of bad days. And we're going to say the wrong
thing. But I want them to believe the best about me. I want them
to believe, not the worst, but the best. Love, believe, that's
the whole thing. I want them to believe he didn't
mean it. So what am I going to do? I'm
going to have to believe the same thing. She didn't mean it. Didn't mean it. I want to be
loved. Then what must I do? I must love. I want to be a friend. I want
to be their friend. I want to have friends. Well,
what does the Lord say? He that will have friends must
show himself friendly. I want them to call me. I want
to be included. I want to be cared about. I want them to care about me
and call me. What have I got to do? Call him. Somebody says, I never
get any calls. Well, what should we be asking
ourselves? Do we call anybody? I want to
be included. I want to be invited over. I
want them to want me. I've asked him for a lot, haven't
I? Well, he demands a lot of us. It starts with us, doesn't
it? I want them to talk good about
me to others. Well, then don't ever talk ill about them. So
our Lord says, ask. Don't quit asking. Seek, and you will find. The door will
be opened. The Lord's will be known. His
presence will be felt. Knock, and He'll let you in. He'll let you in. Your loving
Father delights to do good things for His children. And then he
says in closing, do as he does to those you would have done
to you. If you want that done to you, do it to them that they
in turn would do it to you. Because that's the way he works.
That's the way he works. And it starts with us. I'm the
man. I'm the man to blame. Each of
us needn't be saying that. I'm the blame here. If the Lord
just straightened me out, My trouble might be over. Okay,
stand with me. Brother Gabe, would you dismiss
this and pray for me? Dear Heavenly Father, we thank
you for this day and for this time that you brought us here
to worship your name. And we pray, Lord, that you would
cause this to sink in our hearts and cause us to ask, cause us
to see, and cause us to know. We pray, Lord, that You would
watch over Brother Donnie tonight. Watch over Sister Mary tonight. Comfort them as only You can. Strengthen them, encourage them,
and give them the right peace and the right rest. Amen. Thank you. I'm glad. Thank you. Much needed. Thank you. Very
good. Thank you. Whatever I want done to me, the
Lord promised it. Thank you. That's his name. Everything he
says is wonderful.