Now, this 22nd chapter of the
book of Job was given by a man by the name of
Eliphaz, the Temanite. He was one of the friends of
Job. Now, you've heard many things,
I'm sure, about the friends of Job, and they're not very good. What we've heard is not good. But yet, this is scripture And
I want to remind you of that, that it is scripture and while
it did not apply to Job at the time, it is scripture and we
ought to profit from what we read here in this chapter. Now
I know that because the Bible says in Romans chapter 15 in
verse 4, it says, for whatsoever things were written aforetime
was written for our learning that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope. So these things were
written aforetime. They were written for our learning
that we might learn patience and be comforted by the scriptures
and have the hope that the scriptures convey to us. But I want to mention
just a few things that this gentleman had to say before we get into
our message this morning. First of all, in verse 21, he
said, appoint now thyself with him. Appoint now thyself with
the Lord. Those of you that are strangers
to the God of the Bible, those of you who do not know the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to remind you that the
scripture says that eternal life is to know Him, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. This is life eternal,
that you know Him. You must know the Lord. You cannot
be saved, you cannot entertain the hope of having eternal life
unless you know the Lord. And so acquaint now thyself with
Him, if you don't know Him. Become acquainted with Him. How
are we going to become acquainted with Him? We're going to become
acquainted with Him when we read the Holy Word of God, when we
study the Scriptures, when we attend the house of God, when
we hear the Word of God preached and expounded, then we will become
acquainted with Him. And he said, and be at peace.
be at peace the Lord Jesus said my peace I give unto you my peace
I leave with you let not your heart be troubled neither let
it be afraid he said the peace that I give is not the peace
like the world gives this is true peace that I give unto your
soul and the Bible says that he came and made peace by the
blood of his cross by the blood of his cross and the scripture
says he came and preached peace unto us. How does he do that? He does that through the mouths
of the holy prophets and apostles and he does that through the
spirit, through those that he's called to preach his word. He came and he preached peace
unto us. But are you at peace this morning?
If you know the Lord, you have the grounds for peace. You have
the grounds for rest. The Bible says in Romans 5 and
verse 1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have it if we've been justified
by faith in Christ. Now then, he said, thereby good
shall come unto thee. All good shall come to those
that know the Lord. Certainly it shall be well with
the righteous and it shall be as well with you if you know
the Lord as it will be with anyone else on the face of the earth
when it comes time to die and when it comes time to stand in
the judgment it will be well with the righteous it'll be well
thereby good shall come unto thee it will come you say well
I've enjoyed some of the world's good maybe you have but the good
which will come to you by acquainting thyself with the Lord and being
at peace is a good that you cannot imagine It's that good which
will cause us to be comforted in our souls inwardly and to
have the strength of the Lord in our hearts. Now we skip on
down here to verse 27. He says, Thou shalt make thy
prayer unto him. Scripture says call unto me and
I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things Which
thou knowest not Jeremiah 33 and 3 thou shalt make thy prayer
unto him We should cry unto God. We should pray Unto the Lord
the Bible makes it clear That the believer the child of God
should pray continually that is in their heart the the cry
of their heart is unto the Lord and They lift up their hearts
unto Him. The psalmist said he would lift
up his heart unto the Lord to the ends of the earth. And we
are to be lifting up our hearts in prayer unto our God. And He shall hear thee. Isn't
that a glorious statement? He shall hear thee. This is a
true statement. God hears the prayers of His
people. The frequent fervent prayer of
a righteous man availeth much. God does hear the prayers of
His people. He heard the prayer of Elijah,
you remember, and it rained not on the earth for a space of three
years and six months. He prayed again and then it rained. God does hear the prayers of
His people. Now he goes on to say, and thou
shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt pay thy vows. What
have you vowed unto the Lord? Many people in the time of distress,
the time of test, the time of great trial, sometimes when they're
in danger, sometimes when they're ill, they make vows unto the
Lord. Now he says, thou shalt pay thy
vows. Have you made a vow unto the
Lord? Then pay thy vows. Now also, he said in verse 28,
thou shalt also decree a thing. Thou shalt also decree a thing,
and it shall be established unto thee, and the light shall shine
upon thy ways. I wanted to say just a few words
about this, because I've thought a great deal about it, and I
would like to pass on a few thoughts that I have to you. Thou shalt
also decree a thing. Now we believe in the attributes
of Almighty God and we believe that God is a God who has decreed
things. We believe that with all of our
hearts. But here the writer says that thou also shall decree a
thing and it shall be established unto thee. Now let me say at
the outset that this is not for the flippant and the arrogant
and the presumptuous to believe that they can decree a thing.
I believe that the individual who can decree this thing is,
first of all, he's a man of soberness and a man of faith. He's a man
who believes God. Not only that, but he's a man
who walks so near the Lord that he has got The mind of Christ. You remember Paul said we have
the mind of Christ. He did not say I have the mind
of Christ. He said we have the mind of Christ. Talking about the body, the church
of the redeemed, the Lord Jesus Christ, the church of Christ.
Now then, as we look at this, I say to you that this is not
for those who are flippant and arrogant and presumptuous, but
this is for those who are walking with God and who know somewhat
of the mind and the spirit of the Lord as to what He would
do and what He would not do. Now there are times when God
is pleased by a revelation of the Spirit inwardly into our
hearts, to lay burdens upon our heart and upon our souls, and
God is pleased to give us a view of that which He will do. And
our hearts are so taken up with that and caught up with that
view which God gives us in our hearts of things which He will
surely do, that we can decree those things and call them and
speak of them as things that already are. Because God has
established these things and he will bring them to pass. Now
I see at this very time in my own mind, I see a certain individual
and I believe that this individual has moved recently into a new
neighborhood and I see and I believe with all of my heart that God
means to save that man and God means to use him in his kingdom. I believe that. I am thoroughly
convinced of it in my heart and I believe that we shall see it
established. God will save this individual
and he will use him for his glory and for the glory of his kingdom.
I believe it. It's in my heart to believe it
and I have, I believe, the gift of faith to believe that this
will come to pass. Now then, this is what I'm talking
about. He says, and it shall be established
unto you. Now we cannot say that about
everything. We can only say that about those
things that God gives us a clear view of, those things that He
reveals to us in order that we might be able by faith to lay
hold of these things. And so I want to emphasize the
fact that it's a decree That's based upon faith in the living
God. Let me point out just a couple
of scriptures to you. Turn with me, if you will, to
the Gospel of Mark chapter 11. The Gospel of Mark chapter 11.
I want to read verse 22 down through verse 24. You can keep
your finger. back here in the book of Joel.
But beginning with verse 22, And Jesus answering saith unto
them, Have faith in God. Have faith in God. We're to believe
God. We're to trust God. Our confidence
is to be in the living God. Our confidence is to be in the
God who cannot lie. We are to walk with this God
and to believe this God. Have faith in God, my friend. For verily, Jesus says, Truly
I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain,
Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall
not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which
he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Now there's the scripture that
I use for support and backup for the statements I just made
on this verse out of the 22nd chapter of the book of Job. Jesus
said that you could say to this mountain, be thou removed and
be thou cast into the sea. And he said, and shall not doubt
in your heart. but shall believe that those
things which he saith, that they will come to pass." The man who
believes that the things that he decrees will come to pass,
he shall have whatsoever he saith. But the question is, can we believe
God? The question is, are you a sober
soul? The question is, are you in touch
with the living God? The question is, do you know
the Word of God? Do you know anything about the
God who has a will of His own? Do you know God as He's revealed
in this book? Has His will been made known
to your heart? If so, then you can pray in faith. We know that whatsoever we ask
of Him, that we have the petitions, that we ask of Him if we ask
according to His will. But we must believe, shall believe
that those things which He said will come to pass. He'll have
whatsoever He said. He'll have them. He'll have them
because God will give them. Therefore, in verse 24, I say
unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Believe that
you receive. What things soever you desire
when you pray. Now, beloved, I do not believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ just wanted to fill space with words. and gave these words here just
because they sounded good or that they might fit in well with
his sermon. I believe that he gave these
things for our profit and for our edification and for our learning
and that we need to believe what he said. One of the first verses
that I ever memorized after the Lord saved me was verse 24 of
this chapter. Therefore I say unto you what
things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive
them and you shall have them. Believe that you receive them
and you shall have them. The question is, as one time
there was a man came to Jesus and brought his son and his son
was vexed with a deaf and dumb devil and he said to Jesus, he
brought this boy to the disciples and they couldn't do anything
for him and he said to Jesus, if thou canst then have mercy
on us and Jesus said if thou can't believe all things are
possible if you can believe all you got to do is believe now
that's found in the Gospel of Mark and also in the Gospel of
Mark here in verse 23 where the Lord Jesus said unto him if thou
canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth."
All things are possible to that man who believes that God is
able, who believes that God is willing. who believes that God
will most surely, for His own honor and glory, that God most
surely, due to His own purpose and cause, that God will do it
for His Son's sake, He will do it. And this man, he cried out
and said with tears, Lord, he said, I believe, I believe. He said, help thou mine unbelief.
And when you and I think on things like we're talking about right
now, is not that the cry of our hearts? Lord, I believe, help
thou my unbelief. Help thou my unbelief, my soul. When shall we ever be New Testament
Christians? When will we ever experience
that which God's living family are to experience? When are we
going to experience things like this? Are we going to experience
it in the life to come? I think not. I think if we're
going to experience these things, it will be here, in the here
and now. And I think it's time to believe
God. I think it's time to trust Him,
don't you? I think it's time to believe
what He said. And certainly, if we believe
all things are possible. Now I want you to turn to Matthew
chapter 18 quickly and verse 19. And look at this. He says, again I say unto you,
the Lord Jesus says, again I say unto you, that if two of you,
if two of you, shall agree on earth as touching anything that
they shall ask. If any two of you agree on earth
as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for
them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Look at the picture here. Here we have a gathering in the
name of Jesus. We're gathered this morning under
His authority, under His authority. We respect the Word of God. We
respect Him as the head of the church, the Lord over His people. And we bow to His Lordship, not
only on Sunday morning, but every day of the week, we bow to His
Lordship. And so we've gathered together
in His name, and there is that thing that we agree together
on. We agree on certain things, that
we feel ought to be done and that would be done for the glory
and praise of our God. And so we agree on that thing,
as touching that thing, and we ask We ask of the Lord, Lord
would you give us this for your glory. Give us this in Jesus
name. Give us this because your son
deserves this thing. Give us this because we believe
in our hearts this is what you would do. And there's nothing
in the word of God to contradict our hearts in asking you to give
us this blessing. And we ask God for it, and Jesus
said, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
It shall be done! It shall be done for them of
my Father which is in heaven. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? Well, I believe that. I've seen
this work before. I've seen this very verse fulfilled
before in my life, in my experience, in my family life, and I know
that this is a true statement made by the God of truth, and
we need to believe it, and we need to trust the Lord. Well,
we can look to God to enlarge our vision and to enlarge our
hearts, then we might truly be able to wait on Him. There's
one other thing that I want to call your attention, and that's
found in the book of Romans chapter 10, and I want you to look at
verse 13. I want to call this to your attention
this morning. Romans chapter 10, verse 13. Now I'm talking about us decreeing
a thing and it shall be established. decreeing a thing, and it shall
be established unto us. And in verse 13, here of Romans
10, and you may say, what in the world has this got to do
with what you're talking about? Well, I'll try to explain myself.
Just give me opportunity. For whosoever, it says, shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now those
of you this morning that are here in this building, you may
be here this morning and you have not the right nor the ability
to say that you are saved, that you're saved. Well, I believe
that if you're an honest soul, if you're a sincere soul, and
that if the Spirit of God is working in your heart, And I
wouldn't be a bit surprised if the Spirit of God is working
in someone's heart right here this morning. That's God's business. God is one who works in the hearts
of men and women, and He saves men and women, boys and girls.
He saves their souls everlastingly from a devil's hell. He gives
them eternal life. He gives them everlasting consolation
and good hope through grace. He does. He's been doing it.
We've been hearing about Him doing it. We've seen Him do it.
He saves sinners. He works in the hearts of sinful
men and women and He brings them unto Himself. And you're here
this morning and you say, I'm not saved. Can you call upon
the name of the Lord? Can you do so? Can you do so? Well, my advice to you would
be, call upon the name of the Lord! Call upon Him! Call upon
Him this morning! And if you're not saved this
morning, call upon Him this evening! Call upon Him! and ask Him to
save you. He said, God said, this is what
He said, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved, shall be saved. So you call upon Him this morning,
you call upon Him this evening, you call upon Him in the morning,
and if you wake up in the morning not saved, call upon Him again,
and tomorrow evening call out again unto the Lord. Ask him,
say, Lord, I plead your promise. You said if I called upon your
name that I would be saved. Call upon the name of the Lord
and you will be saved. I'm just telling you what God
said. I'm telling you what he said. Whosoever believeth on
him, in verse 11, shall not be ashamed. You will not be ashamed
if you call upon the Lord, for whosoever shall call upon the
Lord, the Lord is rich unto all that call upon him. He's rich
unto all that call upon him. Where's faith? Oh my friend,
God gives faith. He gives faith, and he must give
faith. Nobody's going to earnestly,
reverently cry out unto God with a heart that's filled with awe,
Lord, save my soul, unless they believe the promise that God
has given. God must work faith in the heart
and He will. But my friend, you begin to call.
You begin to call. Oh, that somebody would begin
today to call upon the Lord. Somebody would begin to prove
the Scripture today and begin to call. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And oh, that somebody
today would say, I'm going to call a preacher. I'm going to
start calling. I've been lost all my life. I'm
not saved. I don't have the hope of the
gospel in me. I have not the joy of the Lord. I have not the
peace of God. I have no rest in my soul, neither
day or night. And I'm going to call, preacher.
I'm going to call on the name of the Lord. My friend, you will
not be disappointed because my God said that whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the first
text of scripture I ever preached on when I began to preach was
this 13th verse. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved, shall be saved. And so now this
morning that I know that the scripture teaches that we're
to believe what God said and take the naked word of God, let
it sink in, let it just fill our hearts and may faith be born
today to believe what God says that we may see the hand of the
Lord and see mighty victories. He said, You call on me and I
will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which
thou knowest not. Things that you don't know. Can
you imagine what God can do? Well, He's an awesome God. He's
a great, a mighty, an all-powerful God. He's the Almighty, spoken
of here in our text this morning. He's the Almighty God. And there
isn't anything too hard for the Lord, Jeremiah said. He said
there's nothing too hard for the Lord. He can do anything
that He wills to do. He can do all that He purposed
to do. He's a God that will not fail. He's a God that must bring to
pass that which is right and proper and which will be to the
furtherance of the honor and glory and praise of His own great
name and His Son's eternal name and purpose. So, beloved, I want
you to hear what the Word of God says and believe what the
Word of God says. Now, there's some verses in John
16. First of all, turn to John 14.
I just want to leave these verses with you also. Now, if I don't
get to my sermon this morning, I'm not going to feel one bit
bad about it. I just came here this morning
with a burden on my heart, a burden on my soul. And I believe with
all my heart that the time is upon us. My friend, when are
you going to believe God? When are you going to trust Him?
When are you going to confide in Him? When are you just going
to single out the Lord and say, my expectation is from the Lord. I'm going to trust Him. And I'm
going to depend upon Him. And I'm going to believe His
Word. When's that going to happen? When's it going to happen? You
will die and go to hell if you don't believe God. if you don't
believe His Word. You must believe Him or perish
and perish forever. You cannot go before God. Jesus
said, if you believe not that I am He, you will perish. You will die in your sin if you
don't believe that I am He. You must believe on the Son of
God or perish. But then how much more should
we just believe His Word? We claim to be believers. Why
every one of us, most all of us here, claim to be believers. If I was to go down the aisle,
I ask Brother Conrad over here, are you a believer? Yeah, amen,
I am a believer. We get over here to Brother Hodge,
I'm a believer. You know, we're to Benjamin,
yes, yes, yes. And all through the congregation,
yes, yes. We're believers. Are we believers?
Are we believers? Well, all things are possible
to him that believes. Now, beloved, I'm not taking
a thing away from the charismatics and I'm not in any shape or in
any form trying to push charismatic religion. I'm not for it. I'm
not involved in it. I don't have anything to do with
it. You know I'm not crazy. You know I'm not. You know I'm
of a sane mind and a sound mind. And you know I respect the Word
of God and I respect what the Scriptures say. And I'm here
this morning just to simply remind you of some things that God has
said that we need to believe and that we need to begin to
practice more and more as that day comes wherein we shall meet
the Lord. Now then, in the book of John
chapter 14, the Lord Jesus said, in verse 13 and 14, he said,
and whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do. That
will I do. Whatsoever you shall ask in my
name, that will I do. That will I do. You say, qualified
preacher, I'm not gonna do any such thing. He said that whatsoever
you shall ask in my name, that will I do. Maybe we've explained
away these verses too many times. Maybe we have explained them
away, trying to figure out some kind of a theology that would
match our indolence and our unbelieving lives. Yes, now that was a statement
that I believe should be made. We're trying to get a theology
together, you know, that'll fit our little situation, you know.
We never saw anything happen. We've never been looking for
anything to happen. We don't expect anything to come. Nothing happened last week. Nothing's
gonna happen next week. And we're gonna go out on and
live till we die? Never see the hand of the Lord.
God have mercy on us. God have mercy on us. I say to
you this morning, the Lord Jesus himself, Now, He's the Master,
the Lord Jesus Himself. He's God. He's the Son of the
Living God. He's that Only Begotten Son of
the Father, full of grace and truth. Here He is, the Redeemer
Himself! And He said this, Whatsoever
you shall ask in My name, that will I do. That will I do. I'll do it! He said, I'll do
it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Do you know that
the Father, Jesus loves the Father. He loves the Father. The Father
loved the Son and put all things into His hand. The Father loved
the Son and has been pleased to reveal Him to all of us this
morning that are truly saved by the grace of God. And the
Lord Jesus would glorify the Father. He would. He'd bring
glory to Him. He'd bring honor to Him. And
He would do that which you ask Him to do in order that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. As soon as you ask Him, as soon
as you believe, then the thing happens and then you begin to
glorify the Father. You begin to glorify Him. You
begin to give Him praise. You begin to quote the scripture
that the young sister quoted this morning that says that the
Lord had done great things for us. Well, we're glad. And you
begin to be glad and happy in your heart. And you begin to
rejoice because the Lord has done exactly what you asked Him
to do. He fulfilled His word. That's what He did. Nah, He didn't
do it on account of you. For name, he did it on account
of his father, that the father might be glorified. And then
in verse 14 he said, if you shall ask anything in my name, I'll
do it. I'll do it. I will do it. You say, Preacher, I've been
disappointed in the past. I've been disappointed many times.
I've asked things and the Lord didn't do it. Well, my friend,
the question is this. Have we been sincere? The question
is this, has God put faith in our hearts? Has the faith that
we supposedly was exercising, was it begotten in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost? Has the Spirit of God really
come down on our hearts? And are we examining the scriptures?
Are we looking at the promises of God? Are we filling our hearts
with the promises of God? Do we have one will as we live
in this world? Do we have just one will as we
live in this world? And that is to do the will of
God. Do we have? Now my friend, if we just are
living in this world, living after the flesh, walking after
the flesh, and fulfilling the desires and the lust of the flesh
and of the mind, then, my friend, we cannot expect that God's gonna
own that kind of prayer. We cannot expect that He will.
But if we're bowed to the Lordship of Christ, if we want no other
will but His will, if we desire nothing but His glory in all
things, then, Jesus said, if you shall ask anything in my
name, I'll do it. I'll do it. If you'll ask it
in my name, I'll do it. Now look at the 16th chapter.
of John and look at verse 23 and 24. Verse 23 and 24 of the
16th chapter. And in that day you shall ask
me nothing. Jesus is speaking here and He
said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, truly, truly. Young people learned that quite
some time back. That's what those words mean.
I say unto you. I say unto you. Now why would
He say that? Why would He say that? because
He wanted you to know it. He wanted you to hear it. I say
truly, truly, I say unto you, is there anyone here this morning
that's hearing? Anyone here this morning that's
listening? Is there anyone here that Jesus is saying this to? I say unto you, whatsoever you
shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you. He will give it to you. Now,
you know, I'm absolutely amazed at how many people I still hear
go through the motions of prayer and close without asking in Jesus'
name. I'm amazed at that. People who
profess to be Christians, believers, but they never somehow or other
found out that they could get nothing from the throne of God
on their own merit. You do not deserve anything you
ask God for. And that's one of the simple
lessons that we need to learn. We do not deserve anything that
we ask God for. We believe that all that is received
from God is by grace. Every bit of it is by grace.
We're not deserving of a single mercy from the hand of God. We're guilty sinners. All of
us are guilty sinners. And all men, David said, are
vanity and are less than vanity. My friend, we do not deserve
those things that we're asking God for, and we need to learn
that. But there is somebody, there is somebody who deserves
these things. There's somebody that deserves
them. Ah, listen, if you go into a business place, and I had this
experience a while back, and you go into a business place,
and the place of business is one, in one area, one street,
and the warehouse is way over the other side of town somewhere
else, you go in there and maybe you purchase an item, as I did,
and the fella said you'll have to go across town, certain, certain
street, to pick it up, and what you do is, you pay for it here,
and you go over there and you tell them that so-and-so sent
you, and that they're to give you this number of items. And so I did that, and when I
got over there, that name meant something. Immediately when I
gave them the name, well then immediately they said okay, and
they went and got it. And so it is with the Lord Jesus. My
friend, when his name is mentioned, When His name is mentioned, God
the Father will give you what you ask for because you ask it
in the name that moves heaven. That means something in heaven. I mean, when you come in that
name, that name means something. Now you all know that if you
got a check, that the only thing that makes that check good is
the name on the bottom of it. If that name on the bottom of
that check is not a good name, if that name don't mean anything
to the bank, if there's not money behind that man's name, that
check is worthless! And I'm going to tell you why.
We every one, according to this scripture right here, has the
bank of heaven. We got a check on the bank of
heaven, and the name of Jesus is on the bottom of it. And I'm
telling you, He merits and He warrants you to have whatever
it is that you ask God the Father for because you ask it in His
name. You ask it in His name. Oh, He
saves a humble soul. The Lord hears the prayer and
the cry of the destitute. He hears their prayer. He hears
their cry. They come to Him admitting their
absolute nothingness and their unworthiness. And they use His
name. And I'm telling you, heaven responds! And whatever you ask, Jesus said,
truly, truly, I say to you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my
name, He will give it you. He will give it you. Now you
cannot blame me. for getting excited about such
statements as this. You cannot blame me as a preacher
of the Word of God for taking these texts and using them and
trying to set forth to you what the Scriptures plainly teach.
You cannot blame me for doing that. I must do it to be honest
with God and honest with you and maybe there will just be
one somebody, somebody, one person who will believe what this preacher
is saying today. Just one person. And maybe it
is that God is destined and decreed to give you one thing. And you're going to hear it today.
This message and you're going to go and you're going to ask
God for it in the name of Jesus And you're going to he's going
to give it to you. He's going to give it to you.
Oh happy day He's going to give it to you. Ah, there's some of
you There's some of you here that you're calloused and you're
hard you say I've been in a way a long time preacher I know you
have you're kind of like you're well set Christian. You're you're
just kind of fixed in concrete Yeah, you're just well set We
need to believe what the Word of God says and begin to take
these promises at heart. Now in verse 24, He said, Hitherto
you have asked nothing in my name. Hitherto you haven't asked
anything in my name, Jesus said. Ask, and you shall receive. Ask, and you shall receive. You see, I believe that the Spirit
of the Living God is in the Word. I believe that. I believe it's
in the Word. And I believe that these words
can be read to an individual, to a soul that God is working
in, and I believe that the Spirit and power of God and ableness
of God can come down into that heart, and that that heart can
be victorious through just hearing the Word of the Lord. The Bible
says that where the word of the King is, there is power. There's authority. There's authority
behind it. Now listen to what he said. He
said, Hitherto if you ask nothing in my name, ask. Ask. Ask. Where will the pump be primed
this morning? Will you begin to ask? Will you
begin to cry out to God? Will you begin to pray? May the
Lord stir you up to pray. Ask! You know what the Bible
says in the book of James? You have not because you what?
Ask not. You don't ask. That's the reason
why you don't have it. You don't ask. You say, I don't
know if I can pray in faith, preacher. Pray until you can
pray in faith. Time is short. We haven't got
forever here in this world. There's people dying and going
to hell every day around you. And there's needs, needs, needs. Surely, these needs will drive
us to believe what the scripture says. Ask. You know what Jesus
said? He said, everyone that ask, receiveth. That's what he said. Everybody
that ask, receive. Everybody that knocks, it's open
to him. That's what he said. That's what
he said. Can I make that any more simple?
Well, Jesus just simply said that if you seek, you'll find.
He said if you seek, you'll find. Well, now like I say, it may
not be to everybody here that I'm speaking these words. Just
maybe one or two of you. God help you. If the Lord passes
you by on June the 9th, 2002, passes you by, and don't say
a word to you out of what we said, God is in this place. The
hand of the Lord is upon us. The Spirit of God is here in
this place. The Word of the Lord is alive
and operative. And there's power in His Word.
And you need to believe it. Oh my soul, would God send me
here to say these things? And nobody, nobody, nobody receives
them. I don't believe so. I don't believe
so. Somebody is hearing what we're
saying, and somebody is about ready to get something from the
Lord. God is about ready to give you
something. Now some of you, the Lord gave
you some things last week. Yes, He did. The Lord gave you
some things last week, and you were glad when He did it. Some
of you are going to get some things this week, and you're
going to be filled. Listen to what He said. and you
shall receive that your joy may be full." Ah, could it be that
some of us are not very joyful because we just have been asking
God, receiving from God? I'll tell you, a man is mighty
bankrupt that don't receive anything from God. I'll tell you, God's
rich. Scripture, we just read it over
in Romans, that He's rich unto all that call upon Him. He's
rich whether He's Jew or Gentile. He's rich. He's rich. See, I'm
just a poor sinner. Yes, you are a poor sinner. We
all are poor sinners, but our God is rich. He's rich. Now, the reason why we got these
things and can get these things from the hand of the Lord is
because He who was rich became poor, that we through His poverty
might be rich. Through His poverty. God would
have us to be rich, not in this world's goods. I'm not looking
for anything in this world nothing in this world, but I would like
to see the hand of the Lord. I would like to keep getting
from the Lord as long as I live. I need to get from Him, don't
you? I need to get from Him. I just believe that God has some
things that I need and some things that I must have and there's
going to come a time in my life when I'm going to need, need,
need in a greater way than I ever have needed. There's going to
come a time when I'm going to have to leave this world And
we're going to have to go yonder to be with the Lord. And getting
out of this world may not be easy. It may not be easy. You
may be on the bed of pain and affliction. And you'll need to
have some comfort. The Lord can give you. The Lord
can give you that comfort. Okay, so you said that your joy
may be full. Are you a happy Christian? Are
you joyful in the Lord? Are you joyful? Well, it may
be that your heart doesn't have any joy in it this morning. No
joy. No joy. That's because you're
empty. That's because you're hollow.
You're hollow. Hollow is an old log. Dump it
on the inside of you. Just hollow it. But if the Lord
begins to give, and begins to give, begins to give to your
life, to your heart, begins to fill you with good things, ah,
my friend, you'll be joyful. You'll be joyful. Praises will
begin to come out. You can, you can begin to praise
the Lord. And you can begin to experience
God's nearness and fullness. You begin to have the joy of
the Lord in your heart. Well, let's look to the Lord
in a word of prayer. The time is gone. Let's pray.
Father, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, that bloodstained
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to you. And Father, there
are those that are in need in our midst. And Father, we know
there are those that need healing. And we know that you're able
to reach out and touch, like that lady that touched the hem
of your garment in the Bible. The issue of blood was stopped
because she touched the hem of your garment. And Lord, we know
that you're able to heal. And those that are ill this morning,
may there be a cry in their hearts Right at this very time, Lord,
God, through Jesus' name, heal me. Heal me. Lord, and then I
pray for those who have lost loved ones. And their lost loved
ones are obnoxious to hell. And they have no concern for
the things of God. They're arrogant and proud. Their
hearts are full of this world and the things of the world.
and they're steeped in this world, so as they have no regard for
your name, no regard for your word, no regard for your son,
in Jesus' name I pray for those people at this time. Lord, lay
thy hand upon them and break them, whatever you must do, O
Lord, to break them and bring them to yourself. O Lord, we
beg you to do so. We ask you to save them. And
then, Lord, for this one gentleman, that is upon our hearts, whom
we're to see saved, whom we're to see born again and brought
into your kingdom. Do thou begin the work in his
heart, and do thou deliver his soul according to thy blessed
and holy will. And then, Lord, we do ask this
morning that thou be pleased to undertake for these young
people. Some of them will soon be traveling and going away.
Lord, I give them to you this morning. We give them to you. We turn them over to your hands.
Some have just graduated from high school, and Lord, they're
beginning their lives out here in the world, and we give them
to you this morning. If they're not breathing the
breath of the Spirit, if they're not alive in the Lord, give them
no rest until they call on the Lord day and night, day and night,
until you save them. save the lost young people in
this congregation. And then our Father, would you
ask for the ministry of this church. Oh, give a fresh anointing. Give the anointing of the oil
of the Spirit of God upon us. You said if we asked, you would
give the Holy Spirit to them that asked you. And we ask for
that fresh anointing of the Spirit. And we ask that we might be able
to, our Father, fulfill discharge the obligation, responsibility
that is ours in this pulpit. Lord, tomorrow this church will
be 32 years old, and I pray, O God, that the next years of
this church we will see many, many more born into the Kingdom
of God, many affected and touched, many great victories won in the
lives of your people, many delivered from bondage. O God, heal and
deliver. and save according to your divine
will and purpose. Lord, we do thank you for your
love for us all. How that you in mercy sent the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of your love, down here to die in
our room instead in place. Oh, Father. Father, we thank
you for Him. We'd have nothing today without
Him. We do thank you, Lord, for your love and including us in
your eternal purpose. Receive glory. Receive praise. receive honor. We ask you in
Jesus name for he is worthy. Amen.