Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty man glory in his might, let not
the rich man glory in his riches, but
let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am
the Lord which exercised loving-kindness, judgment, and
righteousness in the earth, for in these things
I delight, saith the Lord.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that we're here.
We thank you for this day.
This is the day that the Lord hath
made.
We rejoice in you, and we yield ourself
to you.
Father, I pray that you'd open up our
ears to hear what you have for us
today.
We pray for you to be glorified.
I pray for the listeners, Father, that your
word would minister to to them today as
it's ministered to me.
And I pray, Father, that you'd set the
captives free.
Thank you for how you've worked in in
our lives.
We just give you the glory for everything.
You're the one that's worthy to be praised,
and we pray for any, Father, that might
be listening, that that have no peace in
their heart about their eternal condition.
We pray that you'd open up to show
them that Christ has has done it all
for them in relation to their needs.
He said it was, he said it's finished,
and Father, I pray that we would receive
by by grace and by faith that which
you've done for us on the cross.
You offer it as a gift, and so
I pray that you'd open up any hearts
that are discouraged and lost, wondering about life
to see that Jesus is the answer, truly
the answer, the Lord Jesus Christ is the
answer.
Holy Spirit, we yield ourself to you now
to teach, to guide, and direct in Jesus
name.
Amen.
Well, today is a special day for me,
not just because I'm back here, and it's
it's a it's life, and I'm I've got
my family down here with me, and we're
excited about the Lord Jesus, and how he's
been working, and what he's been doing, and
I'm glad to have my family here.
I, the older I get, I don't like
to go off with them, but it's hard
to take them with me sometimes.
We've got six children, and and our van
seems like it's shrinking up, but I'm glad
to have them with us this time, and
I'd like for you to meet them.
We're supposed to be ministering down in the
Neosho area.
I guess there's been some announcements about that,
and by the way, the announcements are not
for you to follow a man.
If you're gonna follow me, I'll walk away
from you.
I want you to follow Jesus.
If there's something of Jesus that will come
out of my life for you, then that's
what you need, and if you'd like to
meet us, I guess we'll be down there
in a little church called Faith Baptist Church.
I couldn't tell you how to get there.
I think it's at 600 Young.
We just like to minister to folks, to
people.
You know, I was talking to an evangelist
friend of mine last week, who God has
used tremendously around the world in many different
countries, and he said really his deepest ministry
in the last year has been with individuals.
He said not so much with the groups,
with the large groups, but just the one
-on-one contact, and I agree with that,
and I was just thinking about the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Many of the points of ministry to us
in the Gospels is where Christ had one
-on-one contact with people.
It's not big crowds and large meetings, but
it's just where God is working a lot
of times just on a one-on-one
basis.
This is why you're important right where you're
at.
You are important.
You're important to me.
You're important to God.
I was talking with a fellow yesterday, just
trying to encourage him in the Lord.
Sometimes we can get so discouraged, it's like
we can get into a barrel or something,
and we don't see it's all dark around
until we decide to look up, and when
we look up, we see the light.
We need to continually look up.
I was thinking I might just share this
a little bit.
When I was driving here this morning, a
friend was driving me here, I read a
little bit on the Oswald Chambers today.
Excuse me, and if you read that, this
one part here is sort of encouraging because
sometimes it seems like confusion in your lives.
It seems like there's no way out.
It seems like there's no hope.
You wonder if God is really on the
throne, and he said there are times in
spiritual life when there is confusion, and it
is no way out to say that there
ought not to be confusion.
It is not a question of right and
wrong, but a question of God taking you,
listen to this, by a way which in
the meantime you do not understand, and it
is only by going through the confusion that
you will get at what God wants.
And that's encouraging to me.
You know, it was a little over three
years ago.
We were trying to move up to this
area, so we'd be close to the radio
broadcast, and we went to visit back up
in Nebraska because one of my preacher buddies
was just on the phone every week trying
to get me back up there, and so,
well, we decided that God was showing us
to go back up there.
They had revival in their churches that went
for over ten weeks in this one church,
and over a thousand people prayed to receive
Christ in a town of 10,000, and
after we got up there just to go
visit, the Lord said, park yourself here and
help this brother, and we didn't want to.
That wasn't what the flesh wanted.
We wanted to be back down here, and
so we did, and we parked there, and
we stayed there for three years, ministering, being
a servant, and working, and then trying to
get down here whenever we could, and tremendous.
God did some tremendous things, and now we're
trying to get back again.
So would you pray for us?
We, you know, I was thinking about this
in the times when we made moves in
our lives, major moves.
Many times, we've got ready to go, and
God has redirected in ways that we didn't
expect, and it's always been a joy to
Him.
Several years ago, we was planning on making
a move down to Rogers, Arkansas, in the
church, and right at the last moment, God
redirected, and out of that, He put us
up into an area where there wasn't much
work up in Gordon, Nebraska, where the revival
hit, and out of that, we experienced something
we never dreamed.
When we experienced the glory of God in
a small measure, not like I'd like to
see, I'd like to see it sweep over
the land, but we experienced the glory of
God where God worked in our church, in
our area, for several months, and out of
that, we got to traveling around with pastors,
and working with evangelists, and going around the
country, and then out of that came a
time where the Holy Spirit directed me.
I needed to rest.
I needed to take some time off, and
so we moved down into a house near
Jane, Missouri, down almost near the Arkansas, almost
on the Arkansas line, and out of that
time of rest out there, down there, God
opened up this ministry here.
Matter of fact, it was September 1st, 1988,
that the Holy Spirit told me, and directed,
He didn't speak in words, but He really
directed through my evangelist friend that I needed
to back off from the ministry for a
while, and take a break, and I didn't
want to.
My wife didn't want to.
We'd been in our church six years, and
we were just at the point of seeing
the tree really open up with fruit, and
it was really hard, and I just prayed
about that for a month, and I was
convinced, and she was too, that this was
God speaking to us.
He wanted me to let go of that
ministry, and just back off, and so that's
when we moved down here.
He opened up a house for us to
stay in, and one year later, one year
later, on September 1st, 1989, I asked the
Lord, I said, Lord, it was a year
ago that you asked me to give up
my ministry, and I'm going to ask you
today to do something significant, and that day,
some friends invited us up to Joplin to
have supper with them, and after supper, I'd
even forgot about my prayer.
The man, the husband, he looked at me,
and he said, how would you like to
have a radio ministry, and he didn't know
my heart.
He didn't know I'd been praying about a
radio ministry for six months, geared for revival,
for ministering to pastors and churches, and I
said, well, I'll pray about it, and so
I did, and when I got home that
night, I recognized the significance of that, of
what happened, that God answered my prayer, and
the prayer of my heart, and so we
started off our first broadcast, and I get
this, on September 12th, four years ago, today,
right to the day, and so I was
very, very excited that God would let me
come back and be here live today, four
years later, and so this is sort of
an anniversary broadcast, and I had a, I
have a little gift for supporters, if I
can get it to you.
I've already given out one, those of you
that have stood behind us in this ministry,
I guess I've given out three now, of
a little book on Kneeling We Triumph, a
tremendous book in prayer.
I got them ordered out, and they priority
-mailed them here, so they'd be here, and
so if you could make it down, and
to where I'm at today, in Neosho, I'll
give you that gift, as long as the
supply lasts, but it's tremendous to be here.
It's just God working.
Now, would you pray for us?
We're anticipating moving down here again.
God has cleared us up there, and we're
watching to see how He directs.
We're praying for a house to live in,
and we're watching to see where He wants,
wants us to live, and what He wants
us to do, how He wants us to
minister down here, so would you pray for
us?
The family, we're all excited about the possibility
of being able to get back down here
again, and there's other possibilities, and we're just
really trying to be open to God, and
what He wants, because we recognize that we
have wills, too, and like the Lord Jesus,
He said, nevertheless not my will, but thy
will be done, when He went to the
Garden of Gethsemane, and He looked in that
cup that was laid before Him.
It wasn't a cup that the flesh desired.
He was repulsed by it, because there is
all of our sin that He was going
to die on the cross for, and He
didn't like dying on the cross any more
than you and I would, but He said,
nevertheless not my will, but thine be done,
and that is our prayer, that the Father's
will would be done, so pray for us.
Pray for us.
We're needy.
You know, a lot of times as preachers
and pastors, we don't share with our people
our needs, and sometimes you might get the
impression that we're some kind of super saints.
Well, a super saint I ain't.
I'll just confess to you.
I'm a man.
I'm in the need of the grace of
God, just like you, and I receive from
my brothers and sisters in Christ, as they
can minister to me, and I can can
to them, I receive, and God has shown
me once I quit receiving, then I'm done
for, and I just have a heart for
you, those of you that have struggles and
problems.
It seems like God has so many times
put us in very, very difficult places to
minister, extremely difficult places.
I was thinking about our last two pastorates,
how God, it seems like He just sort
of programmed me to to get into some
tough places.
Our first church we went into, man, they
were fixing to shut down, and it was
so hard and so tough.
Nobody wanted to go in there, and and
I'd asked God for a place where there
wasn't anything, but the devil out there working,
and we went into a place, and there
wasn't a there wasn't any other fundamental churches
around for a long ways out in Wyoming,
and and boy, we went in there, and
it was hard, but there in the hardness,
one of the things about hardness is you
get to know God.
It makes you rely upon Him.
We got to know the Lord through that,
and we got to experience His blessing, and
then the next church was hard, too.
Oh, problems, that church had problems, and and
they were fixing to shut down.
They'd gone through a split, and there there'd
been immorality with the pastor, and and I
walked in when I when I took the
church.
Lord told me take this thing, and and
He gave me a vision for what he
could do, and the main deacon walked out,
proceeded to divorce his wife, have go off
with his nurse.
He was a leading surgeon in the area,
and and on and on.
They were in debt $64,000.
They owed the bank $8,000 interest.
The bank's fixing to close in and take
it all, and God told me go into
this mess, and when I got in there,
then I found out the bad stuff.
So God is good, but we experienced His
blessing, and out of that we experienced the
revival, and the one that needed revival the
most was me.
God showed me that I I let a
lot of these things when I went in
there.
I found out you know some of the
bad stuff, and and I got bitter, got
bitter at my people, and out of that
God brought revival that has spread and continuing
to spread.
You know many times we don't have any
idea what revival is.
I didn't know what revival is.
I didn't know that revival would be God
coming in and just rooting my life out.
I mean he just kicked the daylights out
of me, has continued to give me some
kickings and lickings that that I need.
Revival is God moving in and cleaning house,
and in the place of it is Jesus.
Revival that all the word revival means is
Jesus again.
Vive is life and re is again.
It's just Jesus again.
I don't know why we just sort of
sometimes we want to just squeeze them back
to a corner in our in our life.
Well listen, I guess this this little series
I gave you on setting the captives free
it's been a blessing to some of you,
and that's good because this is one of
the things that we want to do.
We want to see the captives set free
and today in the remaining time that we
have I'm just going to share with you
some remarks about the subject of man.
Some of the things that God has showed
me.
You know as as I've gone through the
years man has put many things on me
that's brought me into bondage, and God has
had to set me free from those things
and and God has showed me how I've
put people in bondage even as a pastor
trying to get people to do things that
I wanted them to do.
You know I used to really sort of
beat my people over the head you know
in a sense because they wouldn't come out
and pray.
Well, that's not the way to do it.
You don't beat sheep.
You lead sheep and and I got bitter
about that and God has been teaching me
about this area man and in the remaining
time I'm going to just take you through
some scriptures about what the Bible says about
man and I want you to ask God
to show you anything in your life or
your church where man has done it and
God hasn't and you need maybe a revival
in that area.
And I'd like to start off with this
question.
How easily are you influenced by others?
I'll make a proposal to you that we
many times are very easily influenced by others.
Do you pray for your food at home?
We said yes, we pray for our food
at home.
Do you bow your head and pray out
loud?
You said yes, we bow our head and
pray out loud.
Well when you go into a restaurant Do
you bow your head and pray out loud
you say well?
No we just sort of mumble amongst ourselves
or I'll just sort of scratch my Eyebrows
and or clean my glasses and we'll just
sort of do it like that.
Why?
Do you do it different in public than
you do it at home?
Is it that the influence of others is
is affecting your relationship with God?
We are easily influenced by others.
You know the Lord Jesus said in Luke
16 15 For that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of
God You know what that is that is
what is it that's highly esteemed among men
That's in the sight of God and abomination
well It's the ways of man and we
and our churches today have absorbed many ways
of man many traditions Not necessarily bad, but
they become bad in the sense that we
put them up on a pedestal There are
some religions the whole religion is based on
their traditions and not on the Word of
God Their traditions are over that many religions
are like that matter of fact religion period
is Just man's ways versus God because Christianity
isn't a religion It's a relationship with Jesus
Christ and you either have that relationship or
you don't Are you related to God through
Jesus Christ has the Spirit of God done
a work in your life where you have
truly been born again by the Spirit of
God You won't see God unless you have
been born again Spiritually had a spiritual birth
the script the scriptures will show us where
we're at Listen to this statement matter of
fact the context of Luke that passage that
says for that which is highly esteemed among
men is Abomination in the sight of God
the context of that is where Jesus said
no servant can serve two masters You're either
gonna love one or hate the other Do
you love Jesus do you love God with
all your heart with all your soul with
all your mind with all your strength Listen
to this statement the blind spot for many
of us lies in seeking to stand well
with or be thought of highly by officialdom
or the leaders of the Ecclesiastical powers that
be how many good men of God have
been ruined by denominational Politics you won't get
a promotion if you don't sort of go
along with the way that we think the
way things are going you won't have any
open doors brother to move up in the
in the bigger churches, I remember when I
left my Last church been in there six
years.
We went in this church was gonna sink.
It was in a denominational Organizations that part
of it and it was a long ways
from the main stream of the other churches,
but We went in there and we hadn't
been in this denomination.
We didn't go to their schools and and
God blessed and the church Made it.
Well when we left I was talking to
one of the leaders and and about the
possibility of another church and the fellowship and
he says You need to go to one
of our schools.
You won't have any doors opened up to
you Unless you go to one of our
schools.
Well, that's man trying to do something to
me.
Well, that's fine I don't I don't need
that kind of stuff.
You can have it, but I'm walking away
from it One time I was candidating at
a church many years ago Back after I'd
graduated and went in there and boy everybody's
excited and then they pop the question.
Well, what school did you go to?
Well, I went to that school.
Well, that's not the right school.
See you and they let me go Where
does God fit into our lives are we
going to just do all these things because
We do them are we going to check
and see what God wants You know the
Lord Jesus said this behold in Revelation 3
11 I come quickly hold that fast which
thou hast that no man take thy crown
That's Stephanos the crown of victory Many of
us are losing the victory in our life
because we're being put under the bondage of
man when Christ comes He said it's going
to be quick and he said be careful
lest man influence you not to be a
winner One of the great dangers in our
Bible schools today is we have academics versus
the cross You go in there and you're
taught all these academics and I was too
and then the Word of God Itself will
be attacked and chopped to pieces where you
come out not believe in it How much
are you or your church influenced by others?
I?
Listened to a sermon by a friend of
mine a few weeks ago where he says
image is everything Title of his sermon was
image is everything.
We've got to have the right image It
seems like today unless and if you don't
then you don't fit in Proverbs or Psalms
31 20 Says thou shalt hide them in
the secret of thy presence from the pride
of man Thou shalt keep them secretly in
a pavilion from the strife of tongues We
need to live in the presence of God
use him for our our peace The scripture
says in Psalms 39 6 surely every man
walketh in a vain show Surely they are
disquieted in vain.
He he put up riches and knoweth not
who shall gather them We have all of
this stuff that we have to put up
with so many times that takes our time
and our money Denominational reports you got to
turn in and say what's the size of
your congregation?
We have the size of crowds instead of
Discipleship we have emphasis on Offerings instead of
giving to the poor and ministering to the
needs of people brother How many did you
have in church last week?
And boy, he's counted everything that moved a
dog walked in and he got counted too
Why is that so that we'll look good
before others a lot of this stuff is
vanity Psalms I think it was 144 3
said Lord.
What is man that thou takest knowledge of
him?
Verse 4 man is like to vanity God's
not impressed.
He's not impressed with all these games that
we're playing How have you been influenced in
the past?
How are you being influenced now?
How will you be influenced in the future?
You know Jesus said no man can serve
two masters for either he will Hate the
one and love the other or else he
will hold to the one and despise the
other Matthew 6 24 You cannot serve God
and man mammon after riches after pleasure after
promotion power Listen, God is interested in you
and me being free Free to walk with
him in the power of the Holy Spirit
To let him minister to others through us
and we need to walk away from this
stuff.
That's not of God You know, there are
dangers.
They're extreme dangers.
There's the danger of deception.
I was looking in The scriptures at this
area how in the last days the Lord
warned us about deception and being deceived it's
so easy to be deceived to be beguiled
as Colossians says to in 2 4 and
this I say lest any man should beguile
you with enticing words Ephesians 5 6 let
no man deceive you with vain words Colossians
2 8 then no man spoil you beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy in
vain deceit After the tradition of men after
the rudiments of the world and not after
Christ, you know, I liked it didn't graduate
my senior year when I graduated because they've
thrown in a Philosophy course because this one
guy happened to come on staff that that
was his area philosophy and he was doing
nothing but teaching plain old paganism That's all
he was teaching us the ways of Satan
in these men and I rebelled my spirit
rebelled and I only got a D out
of that course That was the ways of
man and I I was really sickened rebellious
against that the philosophy of man and then
judging one another in Colossians 2 and 16
let no man therefore judge you in meat
or in drink or in regard of a
holy day or Of the new moon or
the Sabbath days.
We have men that have set themselves up
to be judges Instead of examples to the
flock they Lord over the flock all of
this stuff double-mindedness where we have men
that's supposed to be men of God and
also in our churches Leaders in the churches
they have they have one thing they do
on Sunday But you get into the business
world with them and there's something else you
better watch out my friend.
That's not of Jesus That's of the devil.
What about anger the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God Do you have
a man that gets angry?
Miguel on the other hand you turn around
and and Sunday He's supposed to be a
spiritual man and but yet he's got a
violent temper the wrath of man worketh not
there's man The righteousness of God what about
pride, you know?
first Peter 2 24 says the glory of
man or all the flesh all flesh is
as grass and All the glory of man
as the flower of grass and the flower
faded but the word of the Lord endures
forever We have the glory of man What
about things we do because of the pressure
that's given up?
how many times have you ever taken out
of your bill flow or your purse and
put a dollar in the offering because it
was Being passed in front of you and
you didn't want others to see you not
putting something in Well, that's not the way
we're supposed to give let every man give
according as he purposed it then his heart
not of necessity What about the pressure we
put on people make them do things?
So that we can have the money to
do the things that we want to do
using God as a front Jesus said take
heed that you do not your arms before
men to be seen of them Otherwise you
have no reward of your father which is
in heaven What about this Jude 16 says
having men's persons in admiration because of advantage?
What about will you confess to others you'll
talk about Jesus when you're with other Christians
But you get in a crowd where it's
just you're the only Christian then do you
keep quiet or will you talk?
We speak not as pleasing men Paul said
in second Thessalonians 2 for How is it
that you've been influenced by others Let me
tell you we maybe have been influenced a
lot more than we know of Maybe God
wants you to stand against the tide of
carnality that's coming into your church Rock music
that's bringing in the doctrines of demons 2nd
Timothy 3 to said men shall be lovers
of their own selves lovers of pleasure Going
on down there.
They have a form of godliness We need
a revival in our churches today.
We need to turn back to God You
know, we have the doctrines of men Jesus
said what what God has joined together Let
not man put asunder, you know The divorce
rate has been brought in this tremendous Turnover
because of the clergy bringing in the teaching
that you can do it Jesus said what
God has put together.
Let not man put asunder We are responsible
For the things that we teach and say
and God is judging us.
We need to be careful We need to
live in the realm of love in our
churches You know what the scripture says that
Jesus will not commit himself unto them He
had these people gonna come follow him because
he knew what was in man.
Be careful who you commit yourself to Ultimately
be ready to walk away from the man
that doesn't have the character of God impressed
on his life He may have some of
it But there'll be something there that may
turn and come out You need to be
ready to walk away and keep walking with
Jesus so that you don't get under the
bondage of man man will try to manipulate
us and use us and In snare us.
Well, I don't know how much time we
got left here It's about time to be
shutting down.
So we better circle the field and be
thinking about Closing down.
Let me tell you I love you.
I'm not your enemy There's only one enemy
and that's Satan there's only one Savior and
that's Jesus we need to be hooked on
Jesus completely in Him we live and move
and have our being he's the purpose for
life.
He's our goal.
He's our joy He's our strength.
He's our provision And we need to be
careful.
We don't pick up excess weight weights You
know you go hike up a mountain and
oh you see a pretty rock you pick
it up You go along a little bit
more and you see another pretty rock and
you pick it up pretty soon You're gonna
be weighted down You're gonna be panning and
puffing and you may not reach it to
the top Because of all the weight that
you picked up on the way Well, let
me encourage you to unload today if you
got some excess baggage and let's just go
with Jesus You know Jesus said coming to
me all of you who are weary and
heavy laden and I will give you rest
Sometimes to the only way we make it
to Jesus is we got to lay aside
the weight and the sin which does so
easily Beset us and just go to Jesus
just go to Jesus.
Well, I'm gonna close down.
Remember Jesus is all you need But my
friend is he all you want may God
bless you.
It's been good to be with you today