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The mind of Christ.
Go to Philippians, the second chapter, if you
will, please.
Second chapter of Philippians.
My son Gary and I leave on Wednesday
for ministers conferences in Bulgaria and Romania.
We've gone for two weeks and back again.
So we would appreciate your prayers very much.
Let's start reading verse one.
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ,
if any comfort of love, any fellowship of
the spirit, bowels of mercy.
Fulfill you my joy that you be like
minded, having the same love, being of one
accord of one mind.
That nothing be done through strife or vain
glory, but in lowliness of mind.
Let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man to his own things,
but every man also on the things of
others.
Let this mind be in you.
Here's my text.
Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the
form of God thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of
no reputation and took upon him the form
of a servant and was made in the
likeness of man and being found in fashion
as a man.
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Now, Lord Jesus, we ask you to send
the Holy Spirit this morning.
Holy Spirit, quicken my voice, quicken my heart
and my mind and then give us ears
to hear by your spirit.
We can't hear unless the spirit gives us
the open ear.
We can't understand unless the Holy Spirit gives
us understanding.
And Lord, we ask you for this.
Move upon us as this simple word goes
forth that would change our hearts.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
Paul says to the Philippians, let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus.
The first Corinthians 216, he said, but we
do have the mind of Christ.
And he visions for 23 and be you
renewed in the spirit of your mind.
These are all exhortations from the apostle Paul.
He said the mind that is in Christ,
his thinking, his mindset is to be yours.
Now, Jesus had a mindset when I talk
about the mind of Christ.
I'm talking about a decision that a man
or woman makes a man or woman of
God makes.
It's not just thinking.
It's how that thinking changes our lives and
how we determine to live our lives.
Jesus made a covenant with his father in
eternity before he came as man.
He made a covenant agreement that he would
come as a servant, that he he would
lay down his glory.
He would become a man.
He would come to minister and not to
be ministered to.
And he would come as a humble servant.
And that means saying, I come to do
your will.
I laid down my will.
And this was determined in Psalms.
You'll find that word of Christ to his
father in eternity before the world was created
and before man was born.
He said, I, I will go and delight
to do your will.
And the father's agreement with the son, if
you will go and do my will, you
always know what that will is.
It'll never be hidden from you.
You will know what I'm doing and how
I'm doing it.
And this will be you will have my
mind.
You have the mind of the father.
You will have this glorified mindset.
And when the apostle said, let this mind
be in you, as is when Christ Jesus,
he's talking about the decision you make when
you come face to face with the word
of God.
Come face to face with the mind of
the heavenly father.
You make a decision.
This is how I'm going to live my
life.
I'm going to lay down my will.
I'm not going to live according to my
flesh.
I'm not going to live like the world
lives.
I'm not going to live to the pleasures
and lust of my heart.
And this is a decision.
This is what Paul, the apostle says.
Let this mind of Christ be in you
as he thought and as he lived.
The mind of Christ has to do with
every faculty of the mind bearing on how
we live our lives.
And there are a lot of people who
named the name of Jesus, claimed to be
his disciple, but have never made a decision
to live as he lived.
They live with their tempers.
They live with their character flaws, not wanting
to change and say, well, that's the way
I am.
That's my nature.
That is to all be conformed slowly, little
by little is looking into the word, looking
into the mind of the father until the
mind of Jesus Christ becomes our mindset so
that we're changed.
Every time we look into this mirror and
we see something of the nature of Christ,
the heavenly father says you're to be conformed
by that from image to image.
In other words, from from one move, spiritual
move after another, seeing things in our life
that don't measure up to Christ and saying
that's where my heart is.
I want to be like Jesus.
I want men and women to see Christ
in me, beginning in my home and my
family and in the church of Jesus Christ
and those with I work with.
I want them to know that I am
different and I'm doing this not to appear
different.
I'm doing this because of the love I
have for my Christ.
I want to be like Jesus.
I don't want to respond like I used
to respond.
I don't want to allow the enemy to
rouse my spirit.
I don't want to come off as being
some grouch.
I want the sweetness and the meekness and
the tender love of Jesus Christ as revealed
in the scripture.
And here's how Paul explains the mind of
Christ.
Here's the outworking of the mind of Christ.
Here's how it's manifested.
He made himself of no reputation and took
upon him the form of a servant.
And Paul boldly states, we have the mind
of the spirit.
He's speaking of himself, too.
He said, I know I have the mind
of Christ.
I have the mind of Christ.
Now, where did this man called Saul, who
was a persecutor of the church of Jesus
Christ?
How could such an unworthy killer at heart
come upon the mind of Christ?
When and where and how did he achieve
the mind of Christ?
Remember after the Lord appeared to him and
he was thrown off his horse and a
blinding light comes and Jesus said, why do
you persecute me, Saul?
And the Lord directed him to go into
Damascus.
He'd been headed there with a small army
to capture the Christians and imprison them and
torture.
And on his way to that torturous task,
the spirit of God and Jesus Christ, the
Lord smites him.
And he's given direction to go into Damascus
to a street called straight in the house
of a man called Judas.
And he said, just wait there.
Be told you what to do.
And for three days, Saul is in that
room in the house of Judas in a
street called straight.
And for three days, he has nothing to
eat.
He has nothing to drink.
He's fasting.
And the word of the Lord comes to
a man by the name of Ananias, a
godly man who is also a man of
prayer.
He said, Ananias, I want you to go
to the street called straight in Damascus and
find a man's house by the name of
Judas.
And there's a man there named Saul.
You know him, but he knows you're coming.
He knows your name.
He knows that you're going to lay hands
on him because he's been blinded by the
light and you're to open his eyes and
lay hands on him.
He'd be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And, of course, Ananias said, that's dangerous.
I know this man.
I know his reputation.
The Lord.
Let me tell you something about him.
He's praying.
Behold, he prays.
Where does Paul get this knowing he's been
shut in with God, he's gone in his
face, he's praying.
And it's almost as God saying, can you
believe this?
Ananias, think about it.
When you go, you're going to find him
on his knees and he's already knowing the
mind of Christ.
He's already he knows your name.
He knows all about you and he knows
you're going to walk in the door, you're
going to come to lay hands on him
and he's going to see.
See, the heavens are open.
A man gets to see the things of
God.
His eyes are open when he prays.
He gets to the open heaven.
And, of course, you know the story here
on his knees, fasting and praying.
Paul later said, I count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've given
up all things.
And I count them as done that I
may win Christ.
Paul said, just as Jesus is done.
And this is his later testimony.
He made himself of no reputation.
He said Jesus laid aside his reputation.
I don't know whether God would have agreed
for him to come with the reputation and
the glory and come in a different fashion.
But this was the covenant agreement.
Jesus said, I'm going to go as a
servant and I'm going to lay down.
I'm going to lay everything down and I'm
going to wholly depend upon you, Father.
Everything I do, everything I say has to
come from you.
I am not going to have a will
of my own.
I'm going to subjugate my will.
I'm going to embrace your will and it
will become one.
Your will will become my will.
And I will seek you.
I will seek your face.
I will pray.
I will.
I will be intimate with you.
And you must agree.
I must have your mind.
And here's a man just converted.
Here's a man absolutely changed.
And now he has this new inner knowing,
this knowing of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit comes upon him.
And now he's laying aside his reputation.
He said, I was a Pharisee among Pharisees.
You talk about a reputation.
I had a good reputation with my Pharisees.
I was a Pharisee among Pharisees.
He said, when it comes to the knowledge
of the law and the Old Testament, nobody
surpassed me.
This man preached.
He preached the Messiah.
He didn't know him.
He preached about the coming Messiah.
He he was a powerful teacher of the
law.
And he says, I, I had a reputation.
I had it made.
I was climbing the ladder.
But he said, when I came to Jesus
and he apprehended when when Jesus came to
me and apprehended me, that all changed.
Every all this striving, this competing, everything that
I thought gave me meaning.
And he said, I really believe that what
I was doing was scriptural.
I believed it was for God's glory.
But I missed Christ.
And when you miss Christ, everything you do
is flesh.
He said, I've laid down my ambitions.
From now on, I don't care if anybody
knows about me, hears about me as Jesus
did.
And he says, this is the mind of
Christ.
This is a determination I've made to live
like him.
To be like him, to allow the Holy
Spirit to change me first, to show me.
You see, when I pray and I ask
the Lord, is there any controversy?
I come back to the Holy Spirit saying
this.
If there's a controversy you have with me,
if there's anything hidden that I don't know
about any area in my life that's not
like Christ, you owe it to me to
show me.
How can I deal with it with your
help until you show me what's wrong?
And God has obligated himself.
When you surrender yourself to his will and
to want his mind, he's obligated to give
it to you.
Or he would not be God.
I laid aside all my desire for success
and recognition.
For though I am free from all men,
yet I've made myself a servant to all
that I may gain more of them.
Jesus was a son, son of the living
God.
But he took on the heart of a
servant.
You and I are sons of God.
Jesus said, I don't call you servants.
I call you friends.
But you see, I'm a son of God
also.
You're a son, you're a daughter of the
Lord.
But you can have a servant's heart.
You can be son with a servant's heart.
And that's what Paul said.
I'm a son of the living God, but
I choose to live as a servant to
Christ, a bond servant to Jesus Christ and
a servant to his church.
I'm a servant.
I'm no longer in charge.
I'm no longer galloping around trying to make
it.
I have one goal in life, and that's
to win Christ.
That he would live his life through me
and in me.
This has to be more than theology.
This has to be more than something you
hear in a teaching.
And you'll never get it and I'll never
get it until we allow the Holy Spirit
to give us the revelation.
There has to be time spent with the
Holy Spirit where you say, oh, Jesus, I
want more than the theology.
I want more than just going to church
or going to a teaching and learning and
hearing about Jesus.
You can't get it that way alone.
You take what you hear and you take
it to your knees.
You go to your secret closet of prayer.
You say, Holy Spirit, make this something that
I see in my spirit and a mindset
that I can go from this day on.
Being reminded by your Holy Spirit where the
changes have to be made.
Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus.
And I know no other way to get
the mind of Christ until you're emptied, until
there's an emptying.
And this is what Christ was doing with
Paul.
We saw three days of emptying himself so
that he could be filled with the Holy
Spirit.
Some of you can never be filled with
the Holy Spirit.
You're so full of yourself.
We get so full of ourself.
There's no place for the Holy Spirit to
work and move with no plans to change.
My preacher father taught me.
Over and over again, he would say, David,
God always makes a way for praying man.
And some of the things I say now,
I've probably told you in the past and
in past preaching here from this moment.
But I remember when I was a teenager,
because this was made so real to me,
because the Holy Spirit took those words from
my father and I went to the word
and God burned it into my my heart
until I said, God, I want to be
a man who prays.
I want now, folks, I'm a long way
from where I want to be and should
be.
But I remember as a teenager praying and
seeking God.
I remember when I was 15 years old,
one time where I couldn't get up from
my frustration on the floor because the hand
of God would push me back down.
And it was so thrilling.
I get up and I should do it
again.
And he did it again about five times.
And then suddenly it was gone.
But it was one most thrilling teenage experience
that I had with God.
And I remember when I passed a little
country church in Pennsylvania and I remember him
saying, if you want me, you better seek
me.
I only give the mysteries.
I want to give my burdens to those
who really want it.
They're tired of living.
Carelessly.
And I set my heart to pray and
seek God.
And that's when he sent me 40 years
ago to this city to work with gangs
and drug addicts.
I remember that first trip.
Now, remember, I had to stop along the
highway two or three times and just go
out in the woods and pray and cry
and weep.
Because there was something in my heart said,
oh, Jesus, there's more to it than this.
I can't live so far beneath what I
read in your Bible.
Oh, God.
I would rather die than live as selfishly
as I've been living, sitting, watching television in
the evenings and drinking cokes.
Let the world go to hell.
I said, oh, God, if that's the Holy
Ghost, I don't want it.
And I remember the months of brokenness and
seeking God's face.
God raised up.
Teen challenge.
Then he asked me to go to conduct
youth crusades around the world for a number
of years.
I did.
But he came to me again.
And said, you drifted from the secret closet.
You are not seeking me with all your
heart.
Come back.
And I did.
It was in that time of intercession and
brokenness before the Lord.
A little office above my garage in Texas
where once again.
Once again.
I said, Jesus, I want you in mind.
I want your will.
Because I had grown so tired doing so
many things, building so many buildings and so
busy.
The Lord said, you've been too busy for
me.
But when I got back once again, that
stirring of the Holy Spirit and says, go
to Times Square, start a church.
And I obeyed him.
And I told you about this across the
street for days, just standing there, not knowing
that I was looking right at the building.
Just weeping.
Praying.
Because you see.
You're not going to get the mind of
Christ.
Just by coming to church and listen to
sermons.
You're going to get it when you get
sick and tired of being sick and tired.
You're going to get sick and tired of
just playing church.
You're going to get sick and tired of
just sermonizing.
Otherwise, we become like London, England years ago
under Spurgeon and Parker and all those great
preachers and senators and parliamentarians and others in
their fancy wagons.
And horse drawn buggies would go from church
to church.
You could go at eight o'clock and
hear Parker.
You go nine o'clock and you hear
Spurgeon.
Then you go over and hear another great
preacher.
And they called it sermonizing.
They discussed it in parliament and everywhere.
And it didn't.
And those people who were sermonizers never did
get the mind of Christ.
Never did get the burden of God.
Never did change London.
If I've ever heard from God.
If I've ever had any revelation of Christ.
If I've ever done anything worthwhile of his
blessing.
I can assure you, it came only through
prayer.
I'm not talking about the prayer meetings that
Pastor Carter and Pastor Neal and Pastor Patrick
call.
I'm not talking about those times that were
called to prayer by the pastors.
I'm talking about some inside working and moving
of the Holy Spirit in you to awaken
you.
And I'm not just saying about paying for
Pastor Dave when he goes on a conference
or something.
No, no, no.
I'm talking about something deeper than that.
Oh, Jesus, I walk with you this time.
I have proclaimed your name, but I want
to know you as I've never known you
before.
I want to go deeper.
I want a revelation.
I want to come to this church and
sit down and hear things I've already heard.
I want to confirm.
And you can see you can sit there
and smile and say, I heard that last
night.
This is what God's been saying to my
heart.
I hear from God.
Folks, I also know what happened to me
over the years, especially as a young pastor.
When I was not seeking God, I remember
the dire consequences of neglecting prayer.
I remember experiencing, while I traveled, horrible loneliness.
Bible said, how should we escape if we
neglect so great salvation?
How can we escape the dire consequences of
carelessness and leaving that secret place of prayer?
I'm speaking to people now, and I say
it lovingly.
I'm speaking to people now who haven't prayed
in so long.
You have no set heart to seek God.
And I know the pain.
I know what it's like to have the
highway of blessings uncharted.
I know what it's like to have that
spring of water choked.
I know what it's like to see the
blessings dry up in my life.
I've seen relationships sour.
I've seen the consequences of not being with
God in his presence and intimate with him
and learning about him.
I've seen the consequences.
And I've known the glory of it all
when you return to be with him.
Bible said, Uzziah sought God in the days
of Zechariah.
And as long as he sought the Lord,
God made him to prosper.
Now, that's my prosperity message.
In what way?
The mind of God, the mind of Christ.
Second Chronicles 14.7, King Asa sought the
Lord.
He said, we sought him and he has
given us rest on every side.
Do you have turmoil on every side?
Have you been seeking God?
Second Chronicles 15.50, all of Judah sought
the Lord with all their hearts.
And he was found of them and the
Lord gave them rest on all sides.
There it is confirmed again.
In Galatians 1.1, Paul said, I'm an
apostle, not of men, neither by man, but
by Jesus Christ.
What he's saying, I don't follow men anymore.
I don't have heroes here on earth.
I read the stories of young pastors today
that are passing some large churches.
And one recently, he started naming his heroes.
And these were young men that had great
followings.
And they started naming these men.
Paul said, I was not called by men.
I am not a man pleasing person.
If I seek to please men, I can't
be a servant of Christ.
Did you hear it?
If I try to please men and gain
their applause and gain the approval of man,
if that's what is in my heart, if
that's my mindset, I have to do something
and always on nails, always on pins and
needles trying to please somebody.
You don't have to please the pastors of
this church.
You don't have to please anybody but Jesus.
And when you please Christ, you'll please all
men.
He said, I'll have you know, brethren, that
the gospel I preach is not of men.
I did not get it from man.
I was not taught it by man, but
I was taught it by the revelation of
Jesus Christ.
And I conferred not with flesh and blood.
Even when he did go to Jerusalem for
a conference, he said they added nothing to
me.
He said, I went there.
I didn't hear anything new because the Lord
by his spirit had already revealed it to
my heart.
That's what I'm saying.
You can come here.
We need the preaching.
We need the teaching because this is to
inspire you and to build your faith so
that you yourself can go into your secret
cause.
You go to the place where you pray
and you get the same spirit of revelation
as comes to your pastors and men and
women of God.
Paul, the apostle, says, I didn't get it
from men's books.
He said, I didn't have to read a
book to get this.
He said, I didn't borrow men's methods.
He said, everything I do, everything I get
comes from the revelation of the Holy Spirit
who bides in me, who leads my life.
I don't need the man who's seeking God,
the man who's walking in faith, who set
his mind to lay down his reputation and
become a servant at heart, a servant to
the body of Jesus Christ.
Doesn't need a book.
He doesn't need some other man to tell
him what to do.
In fact, Paul said, contrary wise, though they
didn't add anything to me when they found
out what God was saying to me, they
heard me and they gave me the right
hand of fellowship.
He said, those that were somewhat among them
didn't give me, didn't add anything to me.
They were the most popular.
They were well known, but they didn't add
anything to me.
I went to the conference, but there was
nothing added because I came full.
I came knowing who I am in Christ.
When Paul wrote this message on the mind
of Christ, he addressed it to the church
of Philippi.
And it was to the Philippians he first
made this statement, let the same mind be
in you that is in Jesus Christ.
Paul then informed him that he had the
mind of Christ.
Paul made it clear, he said, I, I,
the only reputation I have is they're all
afraid of me.
And the reputation I have, he that tried
to destroy the faith is now preaching the
faith.
He said, everywhere I go, that's all they
think of me.
And Paul, the apostle says, but let this
be in you, this same mind that's in
Christ.
Let it be in you.
You should be thinking the way he thinks.
And those thoughts should produce the Christ life
in us.
It's a decision you have to make, Paul
said.
And then he writes to the Philippians, I
trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy
shortly to you.
They also that I also might be of
comfort when I know your condition.
Now, he's in a Rome prison.
He's in prison in Rome.
And the church is highly blessed at this
time in Rome.
They even have believers in Caesar's palace, in
the palace.
They, God is moving.
Christ is being exalted.
He's being preached, some mocking him, preaching in
contention.
But Christ is being preached and church is
being established in Rome.
And here's Paul in prison.
He says, I'm sending Timothy so that I
can be comforted when I know your condition.
I have to know.
I want to know who's hurting.
I want to know what's going on, who's
out of work.
I want to know what your spiritual condition
is.
And I can't come because I'm in prison.
And Paul's not thinking of his own comfort.
He's not thinking of himself.
He's not seeing how people can minister to
him.
He's not asking money for his own living.
He's saying, I want to know I can.
I will be comforted when Timothy comes down
and assesses how you are and what your
condition is and brings me back a report.
Then I'll be comforted.
That's all I ask.
You see, that's a servant.
A servant's heart.
Who cares?
And I want you to listen to this.
I'm going to send Timothy for I have
no man like minded who will naturally care
for your condition.
Now, that's an awful sad statement, because in
that city, Christ is moving.
People are getting saved.
There are elders that are leaders.
There are pastors.
And he said they all seek their own
interest, not the things which are Christ Jesus,
Jesus Christ.
Now, think of that.
He said, I can find no man that
is like minded with the mind of Christ.
My spiritual son, Timothy, is like minded.
He has the mind of Christ because he's
my servant.
And if he's my servant, he'll be your
servant.
He'll come and care for you naturally.
He's the only one who naturally.
It comes out of his nature.
It comes through the changes Christ has made.
He doesn't have to try to be a
servant.
His heart has been changed.
He cares about you.
I can find no man.
There's nobody in Rome.
No.
Aphrodite Aphrodite has already been there and he's
in this chapter.
He was a like minded man.
But he's talking about those who are now
in Rome.
He had other young men who were servants.
But this young man especially is like minded.
He said this young man has no reputation.
He's not he has no agenda of his
own.
He's coming down to satisfy my heart.
He's ministering to me and he wants to
minister to you.
You want to be like Jesus.
Do you really want to be like Christ
in your life?
Is this really the cry in you?
And I tell you, after all these years,
some of you've been with us in this
church for so long.
This should be the one core desire of
your heart and mind.
I want Christ to live in me.
I want the world to see Jesus.
And I want my brothers and sisters to
know that I care and they can count
on me.
You want to be like Christ?
Then how?
That's what Paul says.
He said there should be something in your
nature that naturally reaches out to people.
Pastor, don't have to tell you how.
We can't we can't design programs in this
church to make you care and send you
on pathways of care.
It has to be something born of the
spiritual nature of Jesus Christ in us where
we we see the needs.
We feel the hurts.
The pastors can't do it all.
You and I, everyone in the congregation.
You hear somebody unemployed.
Do you pray for them?
Or do you sit and worry, will I
be next?
No, no, no, no.
Isn't that a sad commentary?
Paul said, yes, we've got a church beginning
to thrive here in Rome, but I can't
find a man.
It's like minded.
He said every man is out for his
own.
Oh, you see that in the world today
all over the world.
You see it in the ministry.
You see it.
You see it in economics.
You see it in business.
Every man trying to make it climb the
ladder, be successful.
That is so anti Christ.
That is anti Christ.
You want the mind of Christ.
Then.
You will be of no reputation.
You will be a servant.
To Christ and his church and to his
body all seek their own things.
I read that and there was a weeping
in my heart.
Oh, God, I don't want to be a
man in a world gone crazy.
That's seeking his own.
Just trying to build a nest egg so
he can retire.
Friends.
I don't have to tell you that this
world is spinning out of control.
I don't have to tell you, you know,
that all over this world, millions upon millions.
Hearts are failing them for fear.
Watching those things that are coming on the
earth.
What is the answer?
How is the church going to rise up
in authority when the Muslim population is moving
like an army?
Trying to subject to whole nations under their
religious control.
Where is the power?
Where is the authority?
Where are going to be those young Timothy's
when things begin?
Not only to shake, but when things begin
to fall one.
After another.
There has to be in our pulpits, especially
in America, men who once again get on
their face before God.
I have to be people that come to
church, not just wanting to hear a choir
stir their heart.
Or another sermon.
That's a little better than the last one.
Maybe a little deeper.
Maybe this time I'll get something.
It'll make me bring me back to tears.
Maybe this time there'll be something said from
the pulpit that will help me in my
trial.
Yes, thank God for all of that.
But there's a personal responsibility now, not only
to the pulpit, but to the pew and
every one of us who sit in the
pew.
To get a hold of God and seek
his face as never before.
To seek him until out of this church.
And for that matter, every Bible believing church,
every church hungry for Christ.
Would begin to shine forth so that there
would be a corporate light to go out
on this city, shining brightly.
And this is not just talk.
I believe that if the light comes and
God does something in this city, it's not
going to come just from the pulpits.
It's going to come from the body of
loving, caring people.
And everybody looks and says, what are caring
people?
We saw it yesterday at a funeral.
One of the staff members of this church,
her husband died suddenly this past week.
The funeral was yesterday.
And to see the people from this church
pack that funeral service and to show love
and caring.
That was a testimony.
People stood on the streets and those who
were inside, amazed.
What kind of people are these?
I'll tell you what kind of people they
are.
The people who have the mind of Christ.
Set their heart.
Don't care about reputation.
I want to be a servant.
And we as pastors don't know how to
be servants until the Holy Spirit reveals it
to us.
We have to seek him for that.
Do you understand?
I just
read to you in Philippians that the Bible
said Jesus made himself a servant.
Paul said the same thing that he made
himself a servant to Christ and his church.
Do you want to be a servant?
Then you've got to lay down all the
striving and ambition and ego.
You have to bring it to the Lord
and let him examine your heart.
The Lord is showing me things in my
life lately.
And I've asked him, Lord, why didn't you
show me before?
He said, you couldn't handle then.
Now that you're making a little progress, now
that you're maturing a little bit, I can
really show you.
And it hurts.
It hurts.
But then after that, the peace of God
that passes all understanding.
God wants to bring this church and he
wants to bring his people in these last
days into his bosom.
Father, I lack the words.
I don't have the words.
So you come by your spirit and you
speak to every heart that's open.
You speak to the open heart in this
annex, the overflow, and here in the main
auditorium.
Those hearts that are open and hungry and
thirsty.
But Lord, there's been a little carelessness.
There's just been a drifting.
And oh God, those that once knew how
to lay hold of you, those who really
knew how to seek your face.
And now, Lord, it is the lukewarmness or
a coldness.
Lord, would you move them back?
Move them back and stir their hearts even
now.
And let so many hundreds that are listening
to me now, set their hearts and their
minds and say, Jesus, I will seek you.
The Bible says, when you said, seek my
face, I answered, I will seek your face.
God, make this more of a praying church
than it's ever been.
And let the love of Christ cause us
to embrace every hurting person.
Open up those needs to us and give
us an understanding of what we pray.
Now, if you're here this morning and something
that was preached, something that was said, touched
you.
Was more than a sermon to you that
may be just one phrase.
Two or three words.
And spirit of God, just like an arrow
said, this is for you.
I'm going to call for those who would
have to acknowledge.
I don't know Christ.
I've never really given my heart and life
to Christ.
And there are others here.
I include you too, that you have known
the Lord, but you have grown lukewarm and
you have drifted.
So that now he's not the whole passion
of your life.
Too many other interests have come and begin
to choke the things of God in your
life.
I want you to get out of your
seat and come to the front and let
me pray with you.
In the annex, just go stand between the
screens.
I'll pray with you there in just a
moment.
Up in the balcony, go to the stairs
on either side and come down any aisle.
And we'll believe Jesus now that when you
walk out of here, your heart will be
touched.
And you will begin seeking the mind of
Christ and the will of God constantly in
your life.
And you say, Brother Dave, I want to
hear from God.
I really want to hear from God.
If you want that, follow these that are
coming, please.
I'm sure many of you that are standing
here know the awful consequences that come to
your life, come to all of us when
we don't seek the Lord.
And when we go our own way, we
open ourselves to temptation.
We allow discouragement, weariness, so many things in
our lives go wrong.
We lose a sense of divine order in
our lives.
Your relationships are not what they should be.
All of these things come together.
All of these things that are out of
kilter, out of divine order.
God, in a miraculous way, brings them all
together for those who seek your heart because
he said, I give you rest on all
sides.
I've proven this in my life and I
know it.
And then comes the peace, the absolute, incredible
peace of Christ that passes all understanding.
Now, I believe in the power of prayer
and I believe in the power of a
single prayer.
I believe in the power of long prayers
and I believe in the power of short
prayers.
God's no respecter of persons.
We're going to pray a short prayer.
And this short prayer, if your heart is
in it, is going to have power with
God.
It's going to have an effect on your
life.
Will you pray this prayer with me?
Lord Jesus, I don't want to live for
myself.
I don't want to be worldly ambitious.
I want to get to know you.
Lord Jesus, forgive me for not seeking you.
Forgive me for serving myself.
I want to be a servant to you
and to others.
Cleanse me of all sin, all iniquity.
Cast my sins behind me.
Forgive and forget all my sins.
Cleanse me.
Holy Spirit, I invite you to come and
show Christ to me.
Jesus, be revealed.
Open my heart and I see you and
understand you.
Put a desire in my heart to read
your word and to grow into the image
of Christ.
Now give him thanks.
Let's pray that prayer.
Lord, we give you thanks.
We give you thanks.
Hallelujah.
Now, Lord, I pray for these that have
come forward.
And I pray for the congregation, for those
in the annex, those that are within the
sound of our voice.
Holy Spirit, will you draw us now?
This is the great joy of your heart,
Holy Spirit.
This is your joy.
This is what you've been called to do.
This is what you've been sent to do,
to bring us to every word that Christ
ever spoke and to reveal Jesus and to
show us things to come.
Lord, do that for this people.
Draw us now with cords of love.
You don't have a whip in your hand
now, Lord.
You're just drawing us by your love.
We thank you.
Thank you for your forgiveness.
Thank you for your mercy, your tenderhearted kindness
to us.
This is the conclusion of the message.