Okay, we're going to be starting.
Can anybody hear me?
One, two.
I happen to promise this to somebody.
And I remember, you know, there's a whole
bunch of people around.
This is, Paul, what was the name of
those two girls that wrote this?
Ann Spangler, wasn't it?
And Lois, and what's the name of this
one?
I mean, the guys at the college had
to read this.
And it's not on here.
Anyway, it's, is it, Jesus, it's not Jesus
teaching like a rabbi.
Sitting at the feet of Rabbi Jesus can
really turn your head around.
Anyway, this is, I promised this to someone
about forgiveness.
And we shared it, Paul shared it, went
to the church and went through the whole
church.
The pastor was thrilled with it because we
don't understand how rabbis teach.
Jesus was not teaching Americans.
He was using, as they did, he was
using a rabbinical form of teaching to teach.
And there's another book our guys are going
through.
Before we get going, one of the things
that recently changed my life, a number of
things have, but one was listening to a
CD from Ray Vanderlaan.
Maybe some of you know who Ray Vanderlaan
is.
He is probably one of the most knowledgeable
men of topography, historical places in Israel today.
You can get some of his stuff from
Focus on the Family.
Well, Ray Vanderlaan really understands the culture in
which Jesus taught.
And he said this, and I actually sat
in my chair with tears.
I know you think I probably tear a
lot, but I really don't.
I mean, I did the other night, but
that's, you know, I'm not morbid.
Only to my wife.
But he said, you know, all the disciples,
you need to know this, all the disciples
had memorized the Pentateuch.
That was required for every single Jewish boy.
You know, when they went to the bar
mitzvah, they had to pass a test.
So when Jesus went to the temple, they
were not shocked that he knew the answers.
What they were shocked is the insights he
had about the answers.
You know, it wasn't just yes, no, and,
you know, spiel back, but he just really,
can you come back?
And here are the teachers, the wisest teachers
saying, kid, a 12-year-old kid, can
you come back and talk to us?
Wow, yeah, I'll be back.
And he's sharing insights.
And I go, wow, we never thought of
the verse in this way and all of
that.
Okay.
Now, if you wanted to sit under a
teaching rabbi, then you needed to memorize the
rest of the Old Testament.
Remember Gamaliel?
Gamaliel had not only memorized the rest of
the Old Testament, but to sit under, put
your knees under his desk, you had to
memorize the rest of the Old.
Okay.
Well, Ray Vandalon heard that there was a
teaching rabbi in New York City.
And he wanted to go and to see
how they taught and all of that.
And you listen to this CD, it's amazing.
He goes in there, and here are kids
in there, you know, 19, 20, and so
on.
And he shares a phrase out of Jeremiah
or Isaiah.
You know, the Old Testament doesn't have a
chapter.
These young men quoted before and after the
phrase he gave them just out of the
blue.
And these kids are sitting under a teaching
rabbi, hoping to be a teaching rabbi.
Remember what the Jewish people said about Jesus?
They were very upset.
He's teaching as one with authority, but he
had no right to do so because he
had never sat under what?
A teaching rabbi.
See, it wasn't that he was teaching, but
he was teaching with authority, and teaching rabbis
taught with authority.
There were three structures of rabbis.
Anyway, Ray Vandalon was in that classroom, and
the teacher allowed him to come, a Gentile
to sit in there as he's teaching these
rabbis, these young men that want to be
teaching rabbis.
And he said this, and he's addressing it
to Ray Vandalon.
He never looked at him.
He never acknowledged him.
One other thing I need to tell you,
if you want to understand a little bit
of the New Testament.
If you have been accepted by a teaching
rabbi, if you fail him in any point,
you're out, no matter how many years.
You know, if you're a carpenter, you go
back carpeting.
If you're a fisherman, you go back fishing.
Do you understand?
That's it.
You don't fail.
What happened to Peter when he denied his
rabbi?
I go fishing.
Why did he go fishing?
Well, that's what he did before, and he
was shocked that Jesus took him back.
Do you understand?
But we can understand kind of the culture.
You say, wow, when Jesus said, do you
love me, Peter?
And he was so embarrassed because he failed
him.
I mean, he really failed him.
I don't know.
You know, so when you know the culture,
and that's what we're helping our guys at
IMI to read books about the culture and
topography and understanding all that stuff.
Okay, so Ray Vanderlaan sitting in the class,
and this teaching rabbi said this, and this
went to my heart, and he said to
his Jewish students, he said, it's amazing to
me that Christians call Jesus their rabbi, and
they don't even read his words once a
year.
That was a knife through my heart.
Most Christians know what Paul taught, but do
you know what Jesus taught?
I kind of think he's the founder of
the whole thing.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Maybe, but because I was so touched, I
began reading the New Testament through.
Now, I try to read the Bible through
once a year.
I'm not rushing because I read an unmarked
Bible in a different translation, and when I
read that, I put it aside and I
start another one because I don't want to
be, I want fresh insights, not warmed over
ones that I found two years ago.
Do you understand?
I just want to look, and I can't
tell you all the stuff I get, and
I use that in mentoring the men that
I mentor.
I'm always discipling.
I was saved through the Navigators.
If you're saved through Navigators, you're going to
disciple somebody or you missed the whole program.
So I've always had, when I was in
Bible college, I had guys, I was discipling
at Calvary Bible College.
Students would come and meet me early in
the morning and we would share Christ and
all this stuff because I'm, you know, the
one-on-one is really wonderful.
I mean, it's good to, you know, to
take a shotgun and shoot it all over
you guys, but what gives me real joy
is to talk to somebody.
You know, one-on-one, it's just how
God put me together.
And so I began reading the New Testament
when I got to the end.
I mean, not New Testament, the Gospels, and
I went back and I began to read.
I can't tell you what it did for
me.
You know, after being a professor in three
schools, it just opened up as I began
to focus on the words of Christ.
What's it say in Timothy?
We base sound teachings on the words of
Christ and that which leads to Christ-like
living.
If you hear teaching, is it based on
the words of Christ?
Number one, red flag, or at least a
yellow light.
I wonder if Jesus said that.
He happens to be the founder.
And this is in, you know, they're saying
this in Timothy or Titus or somewhere.
Jeff Bacone is younger and remembers stuff better
than me, but it's in there somewhere.
And the second thing, if I do this,
will I be a godly person?
If I follow this teaching, will it draw
me closer to God?
Will I be a godly person?
That is the two signs of the right
teaching.
You got that?
That's so important.
There's so much teaching, always a new thing.
There's been more new things since I got
to be an old thing.
I can't tell you.
You know, what's the new deal going around
right now?
Whatever, whatever.
Okay, now I think, oh, and I got
to do this.
I promised I would do this.
A friend of mine is here, and I
wrote the foreword for his book, Aaron Potter.
You've probably seen his stuff.
It's Psalm 91, The Dweller.
Now, if you know Mark Bubeck, when he
told me what he was writing, and I
got the, you know, you get it all
typed out and a bunch of pages, and
I'm going, oh, no, I got to read
this thing.
I hope it's good.
Because I have to read it, and I
have to read it honestly.
Well, I read Aaron Potter's book.
He asked me to write the foreword, and
I did.
And I thought this book was for the
right time.
Dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most
High.
You know, all that's going on, people, where
are they going to go?
I mean, I can run to my megalo,
but I think maybe I ought to run
to my secret place.
You know, this is important.
I love what Jim Cimbala says.
We have a series of Jim Cimbala.
In fact, well, no, this isn't.
The one you're going to hear, The Prison
Story, isn't from Jim Cimbala.
It's from Jim Cimbala, but it's not the
Jim Cimbala prayer thing he's got.
It's phenomenal.
It's just phenomenal.
When I watched that, it thrilled me.
It's a six-week prayer study you could
do.
And Jim Cimbala says this, you know, you
can have orchestras.
You can have jugglers.
You can have, you know, set a clown
on fire, you know, to get people out
to church.
But you call a prayer meeting, and nobody
will come.
And God said my house should be what?
A house of prayer.
And most churches have stopped having prayer meetings
because nobody goes.
There's something wrong.
Really wrong.
You know, what God said is house, you
know, he never called it first this or
second whatever, or 23rd whatever because this church
has been around so long, it's now 23
splits.
No, that's not what it was.
Okay.
I think I'll give you this right now.
I was reading through the Bible, and God
said pile some rocks here.
Then a little later, you know, stick them
in the middle of a river, you know,
and then stick a pile of rocks here.
And I thought our guys need to start
a rock pile in their computer.
Now, what were these rocks?
Each rock represented some very special act in
the person's life.
You know, I know, and I tell you,
I'm old.
You know, either that or I was in
the war, you know, or something.
But when my wife and I look back,
God has moved in our lives so phenomenal,
and most of it we've forgotten.
You know, when you get down and you
get discouraged or the situation's insurmountable, go back
to your rock pile.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
God did this.
God worked in a wonderful way.
Keep track of what God did, and just
have those rocks there.
It makes good reading at times, because sorrow
and stuff comes in everybody's life and disappointments
and, you know, all that kind of stuff.
And I don't want to be, you know,
turned away from God when I see, look
what God did before in all of this
stuff.
Okay, well, let's pray, and then we'll get
into worry.
You worry, and I'll pray, okay?
And if you're a professional worrier, sign up,
because what we do is when we get
all these worriers in the office, we tell
them we've got a professional that'll do it
for them, and they send all their worries
to you, and they feel great, because someone
who's a professional is worrying for them.
Isn't that good?
Father, we do thank you, and I just
ask the Holy Spirit to take charge.
And, Lord, that you would show us worry
from the Word of God.
And we know it's not a new thing.
And, Lord, what would you say to do
about it?
So we're just asking that the Holy Spirit
might make it real and click in our
spirits that this is what you're saying, and
this is what you're telling us to do.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, I've read.
I'm just about finishing the New Living Translation
Study Bible, and I read all the notes.
I mean, after all, I paid a lot
for it, so I'm going to read everything
in there.
You know, the contents, the table of contents,
all that stuff.
I'm going to get my money's worth.
Well, I'm switching now in the New Testament
into the English Revised Standard Study Bible, ESV
or something or other.
It's yay thick, and it'll break your arm
to carry it a lot, but it's worth
the money.
If they sold it by the pound, it'd
be cheaper.
But I've been reading that, and in that,
I saw something I never saw before.
And I'd like to share this with you.
It's the bookends for the Gospel of Matthew.
Go to Matthew.
See, these bookends hold Matthew together.
Now, how many times have I read the
Gospels?
How many times have I read Matthew in
my life?
I can't tell you, but I didn't see
it.
But when you've got a blank Bible, you
know what I mean?
There's no marking.
I read it, and I'm going, why haven't
I seen this?
It's right there.
And I knew what the last chapter said.
So let's look.
Just to show you, why is it a
bookend?
Matthew 1, verse 23.
Behold, a virgin shall be with child and
shall bring forth a son.
They shall call his name Emmanuel.
I wonder what in the world that means.
Emmanuel, I mean, around here, I don't know
that by now.
Emmanuel, which being interpreted as what?
God with us.
Starts out that way.
That's the first bookend.
Let's go to the last chapter.
What's the last bookend look like?
Matthew 28.
All power is given to me in heaven
and earth.
Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations.
Baptize in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Teach and observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you.
Lo, I am with you.
What?
Always.
Isn't that beautiful?
What's the two things that hold Matthew together?
The presence, the eternal presence of God.
Starts with it and it ends with it.
And what all falls between is a story
about what?
God is with me.
I'll give you one more.
This is all free.
I have a young man at our Bible
school.
His wife's expecting a baby.
She may have now his third child.
We could hardly do without Ryan.
And I know there's a family here whose
son goes to our school.
And Ryan and his wife Theodosia, Theogod and
Dosia, queen or princess or whatever.
I wanted to get them something special.
And I looked in CBD.
And what they had in CBD was the
Ark of the Covenant covered in gold.
A replica that you could send.
So I didn't know if it was going
to look crummy, cheap.
They got a nice picture, but the picture
and what you get may be totally different.
So I sent it to him as a
gift.
Just thank you for being there.
And how much your life has touched so
many of the fellows in the school.
And he told me it's really beautiful.
It is really lovely.
And it's on a copper thing and on
a wood platform.
So I got one for myself.
And it's kind of expensive, like $66.
Well, I set it in my secret place.
And I love it.
I don't bow down to it.
You know, I don't kiss it.
I don't cross myself whatever way you go,
you know.
But every time I look at that in
the morning before I go to work, what
happened at the mercy seat?
There's two angels, golden angels looking down on
the mercy seat.
What was the significance of the mercy seat?
That's where the presence of God was.
So as I go off to the office,
the very thing I have is a reminder
of what?
God is with me.
God is everywhere present.
When I get home at night and I'm
going to go to bed, the last thing
I see is that.
Now, I know God is with me.
Do you understand?
But I want it more than that.
I want to sense the presence of God
in my life when I'm counseling.
You know, when I'm with my wife.
Wherever I am, I want to sense the
presence.
He is there.
But, you know, I can go for a
long time and never sense his presence.
I mean, I can.
Maybe you guys are way beyond me.
But it's very easy for me to all
of a sudden not remember that.
But that's just a little reminder.
I was going to put it on a
chain and wear it around my neck.
But it would be...
So I'm not telling you to buy something.
It's not an idol.
Do you understand?
So don't walk out and say, Logan's in
the idols.
No, it's statues I'm into.
But it's just I needed it.
You know, I just kind of need that
extra thing.
Because sometimes you wonder, is God here?
Does God care?
Does God see?
Hey, hey, hey.
You see what's going on.
You know, I know some of you have
heartaches.
You got kids, you don't know where they
are.
And if you knew where they were, it
would make you sick.
So you're glad you don't know.
You'd worry more.
That's what I like about the prodigal father.
He didn't find out what his son was
doing.
He didn't want to know.
But every day he'd look for what?
He's going to come back.
Why?
Because he was praying.
I believe he was crying out to God.
Get him.
Oh, I'll tell you this.
I stayed in Maui, Hawaii.
I've been there doing warfare.
That's a wonderful place to go and do
warfare stuff.
You know.
Anyway.
So I'm staying with the head of the
mission.
And the first time, he's got a son
that's 12 years old.
Oh, this is on being videoed.
Oh, heaven forbid.
I'll probably get hired for church banquets.
So anyway.
At the end of the week, I said
to Curtis.
He's 12 years old and we shared a
bathroom.
I said, Curtis, I can't thank you enough.
You've helped me more this week than you'll
ever know.
And I want to express gratefulness.
And he said, well, what did I do?
I said, well, Curtis, I left my toothbrush
at home.
I've been using yours all week.
He goes, oh, gross.
Which wasn't true.
So the next time I was there, he
was 14.
And I left.
And he told his parents, in his teenage
years, I ruined his life.
He said, you know, Logan ruined my life
in my teenage years.
I said, what?
Because I'm real good friends with his mom
and dad.
I said, what did he do?
He said, when he left, he prayed and
he sucked God on me.
Just messed up all his rebellion, you know.
Guys, love the Lord.
See the importance of praying and trusting God
and walking with God and so on.
I put a bunch of scriptures.
I was going to go to all of
them, but I think you can read, you
know, in your notebook.
And these are scriptures as I was reading.
And I just jotted them down.
I didn't get a concordance out for worry.
I just kept reading.
And they would jump out.
They just jumped out.
I said, oh, I'll put that verse down.
I'll put that verse down.
See, am I supposed to worry?
I mean, is that really what God has
called me to do?
There's all of these verses.
And see, you say, well, look at 137,
Luke.
That doesn't say worry.
That's sure a good verse.
But with God, what?
Nothing's impossible.
That's a good verse.
You know, because what is worry?
Worry is what we do to try to
control the future that we can't control.
But can God?
Right?
Can God take care of the future?
Can I give it to him?
You know, casting all your care on him,
he cared for you.
You've heard me do this one.
I was in, where was I?
Oh, I was speaking to Westbrook Bible translators
down in Guatemala.
And I read that verse before I got
on the airplane, and I got stuck with
it.
And all I find, I'm going, God cares.
Because I look up care, and it was
magic object of concern.
That I am an object of God's concern.
I go, wow.
So neat.
I don't know, it just, it pushed my
button.
So when I got off the plane, the
first thing I had to tell the Westbrook
Bible translators is that God cared.
You know?
Hey, do you guys know that God cares?
You know, he says he cares.
And a guy came up to me, and
he had just translated this in the Mayan
dialect.
And this is how he translated this verse.
What concerns you, concerns God.
Isn't that beautiful?
You've got to write it down.
You know, that's just trying to put it
so the Mayan Indians can understand God cares.
There's so many, there's so much good stuff.
These verses are all about that kind of
thing.
You know, God gives me song in the
night.
Let me tell you, when you don't have
a song in the night, you better ask
why.
Right?
You lose your song?
You better ask why.
Look at, I don't know if your pages
are like mine.
The second page of mine, it starts with
1 Chronicles.
Does yours start the second page of 1
Chronicles 2820?
Good.
The bottom of the page.
Bottom of the page.
We'll go to the next page.
Anyway, the thing is, I love this.
Jesus said, don't be afraid, it's me.
Remember the most sacred place in the monastery
is where the guy did the pots and
pans?
Because he practiced the presence of God in
his eye.
I'll never leave you nor forsake you.
Why are you pushing the panic button?
Jesus is still amazed when he looks down
from heaven, or with us, and sees us
who are partakers of his life, who are
followers of the Prince of Peace, and have
rivers of living water flowing from them, living
in anxiety.
I'll tell you something else that's really exciting.
Our guys are going to find out this
semester as they read this one book about
Jesus' teaching.
The guy teaches at Wheaton.
He's written two beautiful, wonderful books.
One on topography, one on Jesus' teaching as
a rabbi.
He's not those ladies, another guy.
Something I didn't know.
There's two words for water in the Hebrew.
Back in Jesus' day.
Two words.
They had dead water and they had living
water.
I didn't know that.
Dead water is water that comes from a
well.
Dead water comes out of a cistern.
Living water falls from heaven.
Rain would be living water.
Or living water runs over rocks like a
creek.
So this lady offers Jesus dead water.
Remember that?
And he said, I know that you're giving
me dead water.
I want to give you living water.
And you know, there's not a creek in
Samaria.
Can you see how confused she was?
How could he give her living water?
Because you have to draw it out of
the ground or out of the cistern.
We don't have any.
And it's not raining.
And it's not dead water that's going to
flow out of you.
It's what?
Living water that's going to come out of
you.
Coming from heaven.
It's going to come out of you.
I just love that kind of stuff.
You know, it doesn't change my theology.
It's just that, wow.
I can see where this gal is going.
I can't figure this out.
You know, where is he going to get
this living water?
And when he talks about water in a
believer, he always calls it what?
Living water.
You know, why didn't he say, out of
you will flow water?
But when he said living water, the Jewish
people understood.
They were listening to him.
And they knew the two different words for
the kind of water he was talking about.
Okay.
Look at John 14, 27.
You don't have to use your Bibles now.
It's right there.
But we're going to get where you're going
to have to use your Bible because I
want you to see it in the Word
of God.
Because without the Word of God, it can
be an opinion.
An opinion like Moses and everybody's got at
least one.
I don't want to share my opinion about
worry.
I want to share what the Lord tells
you and let the Spirit of God show
you what you can do, what he says
you can do about worry.
And all of us are going to be
in situations where we could choose to worry.
Okay.
Jesus said in John 14, 27, Peace I
leave with you.
My peace I give unto you, not as
the world give I unto you.
You can go in the woods and see
a waterfall, you know, and the winds blowing
through the pine trees.
When I pastored up in the Seattle area,
up in Tacoma, up in that area, gorgeous
in the woods.
You know, lakes, glaciers, nobody's around.
You know, it's wonderful.
If you can't have peace there, there's no
hope for you.
You know, I'll give you a razor blade
the next time you go up there.
You know what I mean?
Because, you know, if you just can't get
peace just from looking at all this beautiful
stuff.
Is that what he's talking about, that I've
got to go take a trip, you know,
into the mountains and somewhere to have peace?
No, that's the world kind of peace.
And he said that's not the kind I
give.
I give you peace in the midst of.
That's what he is.
Peace in the midst of.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid.
And you know what let says?
I have personal responsibility.
Can you see that?
Well, I can't help it.
You don't know my situation.
Yes, you made a choice in this situation.
And the choice you made was to be
fearful.
Now, the one thing that I try to
be in touch with a lot in my
personal life is peace.
And when I don't have peace, I immediately
ask the Lord, why don't I?
Peace, I give you.
It's my legacy.
He gave it to me.
I should be always have inner peace.
If I don't have inner peace, I've let
something what?
Intrude.
And I want to know why.
You're looking at a fellow who was a
professional warrior for at least the first three
churches he passed.
When they asked me to teach at Calvary
Bible College, I was scared to death because
they have overheads.
You know, the old days, the old-fashioned
overheads.
You have to write on them.
I can't spell.
So I'm going to stand before college students
and write misspelled words.
And it was interesting.
I went out and flew and did what
they called Ray Felt lectures in Kansas City.
I left, and the principal called me, and
he said, the student body has come to
me and said we want you to hire
him.
I said, you're kidding.
He said, no.
The students want you here on campus.
But we don't have any money.
This school may fold.
We haven't got any money to pay you.
Would you do something?
Would you be willing to fly to Kansas
City and we'll give you a week to
raise your full support and then fly back?
Well, no one told me that you couldn't
do it.
So I thought, well, this is good.
If God wants me to not have that
school being a bad speller, somehow in a
strange city I'm going to have to end
up with my salary for this college.
So I went down, and four days I
had my salary.
And I thought, God, you could have taken
six days and I wouldn't have been here.
But even all of that knowing God had
provided from I was an unknown in Kansas
City, you know, at all.
I didn't live there or anything.
And all of a sudden I got my
support.
Because we were going to bring character into
the college.
And people thought, hey, I'll support you.
If you can take Christian College and have
kids graduate with character, rather than become lousy,
you know, as far as a life goes,
and become magna as far as their smarts
go, we'll pay you.
So, I mean, a lot of people thought,
this is great.
So they were paying me money to put
character back in the kids that had none
and are very little of it.
So I went down there, and it was
really hard in class.
You know what?
Those nutty kids loved me anyway.
You know, they just put up with my
horrible spelling.
I spell like it sounds.
But that's not good English.
I thought, I was so nervous.
But they liked me anyway.
I thought I didn't have to be a
great speller for the kids to love me
and to have a real ministry on that
campus for a number of years.
And they just put up with my bad
spelling.
Well, of course, I gave the final grade,
too.
Okay.
But I wanted you to know I was
a professional worrier.
I'm not talking about something that I didn't
experience.
The first church I pastored out of nowhere,
some of you know about that, 100 miles
from nowhere.
I had 55 funerals in five years.
And everybody of the 480 people that lived
within the whole valley, and there were cattle,
ranchers, and loggers, came to the funeral.
Everybody came.
So I had 55 of the best funeral
messages you ever heard.
And having all those people caused me to
worry.
Because if I preached this rascal into heaven,
the Christians would be mad, and so would
God.
If I preached them in hell, the people
in town would have been mad at me.
And the only time we ever been to
church is when they rolled them in feet
first.
I mean, everybody was buried through the church.
I'd be home, ready to throw up.
My wife says, they're praying just as I
am, I think, the 100th time in the
organ.
Everybody's in the church, and you're not, and
you're going to have the service.
I said, I can't.
Every time, for 55 of them, I can't.
I can't go.
I didn't eat because I would throw up.
I mean, can you imagine throwing up with
somebody in the coffin?
You think I'm kidding.
I am not kidding.
I was a wreck, an emotional wreck.
And when the message got through, I wanted
to say, would you move over?
I need to lay down.
So I'm telling you, I'm not just preaching
to the choir.
You understand what I'm saying?
I was a horrible worrier.
My wife would pray and pray for me
because I'd be so tore up emotionally.
So much of my early life as a
Christian and as a pastor.
And I'll tell you, friends, that's not how
God wanted me to live.
But no one told me.
Not really, you know what I mean?
You read a verse here and a verse
there, but somehow I never made the connection.
So I'm connecting it for you.
Okay.
Look at Mark 4.19 and Luke 6
.25 in your paper.
It tells us the worries of this life
can be involved with the lure of wealth,
the desire for other things, that kind of
thing, crowd out the attention to the spiritual
blessings of peace.
And Jesus talked about those things that come
in.
The worries of this life, the lure of
wealth, and desire for stuff.
And I've counseled some very wealthy, wealthy people.
Wealthy, wealthy.
And you know what?
You know, we have a prayer meeting.
Lord, lay our ministry on their heart.
No, we don't.
I'm not looking to wealthy people to give.
They don't anyway.
But that's not why I'm not looking.
I'm looking to God to keep our ministry
going.
Most of you know, you get my prayer
letter.
In 20 years, I've never asked for one
penny, and we don't charge anybody.
If God wants us to minister, he's going
to provide.
If God is not going to be in
our office with these demonized people, and some
have tried to kill me, I don't want
to be in there either.
Right?
If God's not there, I don't want to
be there.
So we're just trusting God to meet our
needs.
And it's been interesting.
Especially last year was really interesting.
I could worry.
Right?
We're in the hole for three months.
$15,000 in the hole for three months.
Maybe I should write a letter.
Maybe I should get on the phone and
call some wealthy people I know.
By the way, why don't you ask us
how our finances are?
You bring it up, you know.
That's getting my grimy hands on the ministry
of God.
Okay.
You know, the question is, why did God
choose you?
I have a friend that is a hyper
-Calvinist.
He's a nine-pointer.
And he's a doctor.
I met him in a, I guess if
he does a surgery and they die, it
was a pointer, and then the man wants
to die anyway.
You know, so no big deal.
But anyway, he's sitting in the waiting room.
My wife and I are flying to Mayo
Clinic for some treatment for her.
He's sitting in there.
Dr. Shander knows this man really well that
I'm talking about.
And I knew where he was.
My son had a real impact in his
two sons' lives.
And I said to him, Dr. So-and
-so, you know this thing about being chosen
by God before the foundation of the world?
Yeah.
And I said, you left Mark's church over
this?
Yeah.
I understand.
I said, it's simple.
It's real simple.
So how can it be simple?
They've been fighting about it.
You know, you had Calvin and these guys
fighting forever over these issues.
I said, it's simple.
I said, God chose me before the foundation
of the world.
He never would have chosen me afterwards.
Come on, would he have chosen you?
I mean, why are there so many losers
on the winning team?
Couldn't God do a better job?
Do you understand what I'm saying?
I guess you don't get it.
Anyway, he laughed.
You know, we're fighting over stupid stuff and
splitting.
I know Neil got into that.
I'm not going to go where Neil went.
Angels fear to tread where Neil goes.
And so I'm fearful behind angels, you know.
Okay, but God chose me to know him
and to glorify him.
Does worry glorify God?
If you're a child of God and you
name the name of Christ.
Since God created me with an emotional part.
We all have an emotional part, right?
We can love and hate and worry and
have peace.
All this stuff.
You know, since worry is more than just
a mental activity, that it also affects my
emotional well-being, does the word of God
address this issue?
That's what's important, isn't it?
What does God say about this?
Before we go there, I want to show
you a video clip from Angola Prison.
Angola Prison is one of the most violent
facilities of all prisons.
If you average out the sentences for all
these prisoners, each prisoner is sentenced 88 years.
Each one has 88 years.
The whole thing.
Now, this is a testimony of a murderer.
And I want you to see.
I saw this and I wept.
Like this guy convicted me.
This murderer.
If these men who live in a very
dangerous place, if you think prison is a
safe place, then you don't know anything.
We've got some guys here that work in
prisons.
They have prison ministries.
They're not safe places.
And this man has peace.
Why don't you?
Do you understand?
Remember, he said he's got peace in an
unsafe place where he could die anytime, be
killed anytime.
One guy is going to show you how
he's going to wipe out the whole prison,
chopping people up with the stuff he'd saved.
And God intervened.
It's not a safe place.
I had to show you this.
If this guy in prison can have peace,
as he's talking about, you can't see his
face too good, but let me tell you,
his face is full of peace.
Not the picture when he was arrested, but
if you could see his face even clearer
at home, you'll see peace all over this
guy's face in the midst of a terrible
prison.
Yes, ma'am.
The actual title?
I think it may be called Hope.
But see, if you go on CBD, it's
the part of the singers, not the choir,
go and sing.
So they're singing and then they go to
a guy's testimony.
They sing and they switch from what they're
singing about to another guy sharing his prison
experience and the Lord Jesus.
The chaplain of this prison, he takes you
in the room where they kill people.
You know what lethal injection?
The first guy that gave lethal injection, he
didn't pray with him, he didn't share Christ
and he feels guilty.
He said, maybe I sent him to hell.
Every other man, when they're on the table,
he shares the Lord Jesus Christ.
He shares a gospel with them and asks
them, do they want to receive the Lord
Jesus Christ?
He holds their hand.
This is the warden.
He holds their hand while they're getting the
legal, while they're getting the injection.
And he says, look into my eyes, because
the next eyes you see will be Jesus.
Isn't that beautiful?
I mean, this is quite a place.
It's worth watching.
Let me tell you, $350.
I'll even guarantee you $350 back if you
don't like it, okay?
I can afford that.
But, you know, you stumble on things sometimes.
You go, where was this hidden?
You know, because it's the real people.
You know, in the worst situations that the
Lord really did something to them.
Okay, let's go on with this thing of
worry.
Okay, let's go to a Bible study on
worry.
Let's go to Matthew 6.
If God has given us everything for life
and godliness, and it's found within this book,
then he has to address worry, because it's
a major issue with all of us.
I mean, if you've never worried, you're probably
dead.
You know, it is a natural emotion.
If this building was on fire, and I
don't care if it's your Megillah or Chegillah
or whatever, you know, worry is going to
motivate me to find a door and get
out of here.
See, it could be a positive thing, right?
I'm going to get out of this place
that's on fire, okay?
Now, but what happens when there's not a
fire?
You know, and I'm tense all the time.
And all worried.
What does Jesus tell us about this?
Okay, we'll go to start in verse 24
in the King James.
You read it in some of the other
translations, maybe it'll be a little easier.
No man can serve two masters, either he
will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold to one and
despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon, and some
put in their money.
Therefore I say unto you, take no thought,
and where's thought?
There is anxious thought.
You got to realize that.
In the modern translation you'll see, or if
you look it up in the Greek, it's
take no anxious thought for your life, what
you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor
yet for your body, what shall you put
on?
Is not life more than meat?
Isn't your body more than clothing?
Behold, illustration, look at the birds.
Look at the falls of the air.
They don't sow, neither do they reap, nor
gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them.
Are you not much better than they?
When we pastored our first church, I got
five dollars less in unemployment.
I had three kids.
We're out nowhere, and I qualified for welfare.
There were times we had nothing to eat,
and we'd pray, and someone was led by
God to bring us some food over to
eat.
You ever seen God meet real needs in
your life?
We did.
God wanted us to go through this training.
I'm going to live a life of faith.
I'm going to live a life of trusting
Him.
All of a sudden, we learned to trust
Him right off the bat.
I had the right wife.
Most wives wouldn't have hung in there.
I'd be sometimes ready to leave.
I'll go back and get a real job
instead of sponging off of God.
No, no.
God's called you.
We're going to stay.
We can go through this.
But I'll tell you, I got the jewel.
Some oysters have pearls.
When she opened this oyster, it was empty.
I got the pearl.
Mike Shandron, some of you know my wife,
and what a godly woman.
And it has been our whole married life.
Now, let's go on.
Which of you, by taking anxious thought, can
add one inch to his stature?
You can get shoe lifts and stuff.
That may help a little bit.
But worry isn't going to make you any
taller, Jeff.
But which...
Poor Jeff.
Picking on him.
Okay.
And why take anxious thought for clothes?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow and toil not, neither do they spin.
Yet I say unto you, even Solomon, all
his glory, was not arrayed like one of
these.
Wherefore, if God so clothes the grass of
the field, which today is, and tomorrow is
cast in the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of what?
Little faith.
You know what little faith is?
Not enough faith not to worry.
If you worry, you have little faith.
For we lived in that isolated nowhere place,
a hundred miles from a major superstore.
I mean, that was not round trip.
That was one way.
Two hundred miles round trip or pennies or
supermarket or anything like that.
My wife, we lived in Los Angeles where
I went to Bible school for five years.
She didn't have a warm coat and we
had 15 below actual degree temperature and she
just had a little cloth California coat.
And we didn't have any money.
I mean, in those days, a lot of
things were cheap but a good woman's coat
was almost close to a hundred dollars.
A hundred dollars, you know.
With my $40 a week or whatever it
was.
Yeah, I got $40 a week.
You know, how many weeks would it take?
Then we wouldn't need it all to buy
her a coat.
And a single lady in the church shook
my wife's hand and said, take this and
buy yourself a warm coat.
I mean a warm coat.
Not for the kids but just for you.
It was a hundred dollar bill.
We have seen.
I mean, I could tell you story after
story where we were against the law, no
money, and God laid on the heart of
somebody without knowing but they were sensitive to
the spirit of God to give for a
need that she knew she didn't have the
right kind of coat.
Maybe she thought we were saving up but
we didn't make enough money to save money.
You know, you have to make something to
save and it was impossible to save at
that time.
Okay, now let's keep going here.
It goes on about this thing of faith.
Therefore, you know, O ye of little faith,
therefore take no thought saying what shall you
eat or what shall you drink or wherewithal
shall you be clothed.
For all these things, now we're moving into
all things.
You're going to have four all things here.
All these things do the Gentiles seek.
Who are the Gentiles?
What is he talking about?
The unbelievers.
Worry is what unbelievers do.
Do you see this?
You've got to see this.
When you worry, you just stepped into the
category that I'm an unbeliever.
The other Gentiles or how others put it.
These unbelievers.
For your heavenly Father knoweth that what?
You have need of all these things.
He knows.
He's aware.
He says, first of all, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness and
then all these things will be added to
you.
But what am I seeking first?
See, what's first?
You know, idolatry is anything you put first.
Remember the Ten Commandments?
What's it say?
What's first?
And when I displace God, whatever I displace
Him with, worry, things, all of this, this
becomes an idol.
And God does what to idols?
He destroys them.
He tears down idols.
Every time Israel got in trouble is when
they displaced God with something.
And it can be financial security.
Well, if you have a lot of financial
security, the stock market may have really given
you a wake-up call.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
I mean, if you did lose money, I'm
sorry, but I can't set my heart on
what?
401Ks?
All this stuff.
It may be gone.
And if it's gone, what do you got
left?
Do you have God?
Do you understand?
If all of these props are removed, what's
left?
Nothing or Him.
But seek ye first, again, the kingdom of
God and God's righteousness, and all these things
be added unto you.
Take, therefore, no anxious thought for tomorrow, for
tomorrow shall take thought for things of itself,
sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
I heard a counselor, you guys, he's never
spoken here, but it's a man that I
admire so much.
My wife and I have taken special courses
and flew to California to send under him
and so on.
And this man explained this verse, said sanity
is learning to live a day at a
time.
There's enough troubles today, why are you worried
about what may come around tomorrow?
Right?
That's what he's saying.
Learn to live what?
A day at a time.
I'm not saying you don't plan ahead, if
you can, but he's not talking about planning.
You understand what I'm saying?
There's a difference in what he's teaching here
than I'm buying groceries for a week.
You know how we tried to save time
in praying for the food?
When we put the sacks in the kitchen,
I thank God for it, then we didn't
have to say grace for a week.
No, I don't do that.
Let's go to Mark 4.
We use this in counseling, Mark 4.
We don't use this other part in counseling,
but we use Mark 4 a lot.
You know, we know that in the Christian
life, one of the most important things or
ingredients for a Christian life is faith.
And I'll just give you my definition of
faith.
It's just pretty simple.
Faith is simply believing what God has said.
That's all God's asked me to do.
Is your God credible?
Is he believable?
Will you believe what he said?
It doesn't have to be some mysterious whatever.
Do I believe what he said?
The best illustration of this I like to
share with my counselees is Mark 4.
Let's look at Mark 4 here and go
down to verse 35.
We'll start there.
The same day, when evening was come, Jesus
said to his disciples, let us pass over
to the other side.
And when they had sent away the multitudes,
they took him even as he was in
the ship.
They were also with him other little ships.
There arose a great storm of wind and
waves that beat into the ship, so it
was now full.
Jesus was in the hander part of the
ship asleep on the pillow.
They awake him and they said, Master, carest
thou not that we perish?
They hadn't read Peter.
Of course, it hadn't been written yet.
Isn't that what we do when something is
not going?
God, don't you care?
Everybody needs a panic button on your desk
or somewhere in the house.
Everybody can run and push it.
Now we all feel great.
But it's those things that we don't expect
to happen.
And Jesus arose and he rebuked the wind
and he said to the sea, Peace be
still.
Those are two different things.
Most of your theologians that believe in warfare
believe that he did two things.
The first thing is he rebuked.
You go through the Gospel of Mark.
Every time Jesus rebuked, demons were involved.
They were involved.
He rebuked the spirits on the board.
He rebuked the spirits.
They were rebuked.
Many of them believe this storm was caused
by demons to sink everybody.
You'll get Jesus, the disciples, and the other
disciples.
You can sink the whole movement in the
Sea of Galilee.
Jesus rebuked them and then he said what?
Peace be still.
The wind ceased and there was a great
calm.
And he said to them, Why are ye
so fearful?
How is it that you have what kind
of faith?
No faith.
So he rebuked the wind and he rebuked
the disciples.
It doesn't seem very kind.
And they feared exceeding and they said one
to another, What manner of man is this?
Even the wind and the sea obey him.
Now let me give you a little twist
here.
Why could Jesus tell his disciples they had
no faith?
Was it just out of the blue?
No, it wasn't out of the blue.
Remember what he said?
What was faith?
Simply believing what Jesus said.
Well, let me quote this of the New
Living.
And you can look at verse 35.
And the same day when evening was come,
he said to them, Let's go out and
sink in the middle.
What did Jesus say?
We're going to the other side.
Let me tell you, friends, you may get
water in your boat, there may be a
storm or two, but you're going to get
to where?
The other side, because he said so.
See, will you believe him?
Do you see how important it is that
we will believe what Jesus said?
Like Shander wants to do all these great
things.
I know Dr. Shander.
I stayed in his house.
And he said, One week with Logan is
enough.
Couldn't you go back to Kansas City?
But, you know, what he wants to do
in Fiji, and I don't know if you
heard his story, there's a block, and a
block, and a block, but God is still
on the throne.
God knows what he's about.
And we can pray.
If it's of the enemy, tear it down.
Greater is he that is in me than
he is in the world.
And I come against any roadblock that Satan's
trying to do to keep him from doing
a marvelous work in Fiji, medical work in
Fiji.
But will I believe him?
Can I believe him?
I mean, if you can't believe the Lord,
who can you believe?
If you can't trust him, who can you
trust?
People are not worth your trust.
People will let you down.
Do you hear me?
God never told you to trust people.
Show me your verses, trust people.
You know, my kids would say, You don't
trust me.
I said, You're right.
I don't.
I trust God to work in you, but
I don't trust you.
You know, don't trust me.
Trust God to work in me.
You know what I mean?
I don't mean to fail my kids, but
I probably have once at least.
Once and a half, okay?
I have to be careful because some people
over here know my daughter.
Say, Cheryl, just tell us how wonderful your
dad is and don't tell us the other
stuff.
Okay, I want you to go to the
whole key.
The whole key is in Philippians 4.
Simple.
It's got to be simple.
God's truth and teaching is simple.
If it wasn't, we can't do it.
You know, I'm going to give you these
44 steps, and I want you to remember
all 44 steps.
Man, I can hardly find my way home
let alone remember 44 steps.
You know, it's got to be simple.
God knows.
It's so simple.
Look at Philippians 4.
Rejoice in your situations always.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I say rejoice.
Regardless of the situation.
Let your moderation be known to all men.
Paul was in prison, and he wasn't sure
how they're going to kill him.
The Romans had a way of killing you
by the inches or quickly.
He wasn't rejoicing in how maybe they're going
to torture him and all that.
He was rejoicing in what?
In the Lord, because the Lord was there
with him in prison.
The Lord is with me.
I'll never what?
Matthew?
Remember the two bookends?
He's always there.
He's with me.
That's why I'm glad for that little deal
I got as a reminder.
Because some days when you have demons manifesting
in your office, you wonder, where's the Lord?
Okay.
Now, he said, be careful for nothing.
That is, worry about nothing.
If you are worried about something, you are
violating Scripture.
Can you see that?
What's the Scripture say?
We're to worry about what?
Nothing.
As long as you worry about nothing, you're
biblical.
But most of the time, we worry about
something.
And that's wrong.
I mean, on the basis of the Word
of God, it's wrong.
Okay.
Now, I wish you could have seen me
in this church in Kansas City where I
preached on Philippians 4.
Beautiful church.
One of the most beautiful churches in Kansas
City.
And they asked me to get up and
speak.
Here I am a professor at the college.
I reached down under the pulpit.
I opened a large paper sack and I
put it over my head and I stand
behind the pulpit and I don't say anything.
Now, we have who's who in the zoo
in this church.
The Christian ones.
Really wealthy church.
And they're going, where did you find this
guy?
I know he wasn't too good looking.
Maybe that's why he's got the sack over
his head.
But that's not how God is telling me
to live.
That's how a lot of people live.
Oh, everything's wonderful.
It's wonderful.
Wonderful.
I mean, your kids are a mess.
Oh, it's wonderful.
You know, wake up.
Come on.
This isn't Disneyland.
You know, there's reality out here.
We've got to face reality and not say,
oh, it's all what it isn't.
So, what am I to do?
He says, first of all, worry about nothing.
Okay, God, what am I supposed to do
with this?
You made me an emotional person.
And I have more emotions than some.
I think you figured that out.
When I was in Bible school, they said,
you know, you'll never be a good speaker.
I said, why?
He says, your hands, you know, you're supposed
to do this.
And this is supposed to be meaningful.
And mine fly all over the place like
I just washed them.
You know?
That's just who I am.
I'm sorry.
You know what I'm doing?
I'm practicing for the rapture.
I've got to have some excuse why my
hands just go everywhere.
You know that Elaine Pakala lady.
She said, Jim, you would do a lot
better if you had PowerPoint.
I said, okay, Elaine, I will point powerfully.
Okay.
He said, worry about nothing, but in everything
by what?
Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God.
Worry about nothing and pray about what?
Everything.
God said, give me those things.
And what will he give me back?
What's the next verse say?
The peace that doesn't make sense.
People can't figure out why do you have
peace?
How could the prodigal father have peace?
People love to tell you, I saw your
son doing drugs.
You know the ladies in Proverbs, dad, you
read about that?
Well, your son's with those ladies.
You know, the loose ladies of Proverbs.
Spending all his money.
So the dad worried.
I think every day he looked in faith,
God's bringing that boy home.
And I'm so glad there wasn't any do
-gooders there.
You know, the ones who would take the
poor boy in, feed him, comfort him, all
that.
No, go feed the pigs.
And the question is, why is a good
Jewish boy feeding pigs?
I mean, if you know anything about pigs
and Jewish boys.
I mean, he really got to what?
The bottom.
What happened when he got to the bottom?
He came to the end of what?
And back to God.
And a lot of us stand in the
road of someone coming to the end of
what?
Themselves.
So they come back to God.
Like this guy.
What brought him back to God?
A number of the prisoners remembered what their
mother told them when they were in prison
cell, not knowing if they're going to be
killed or not.
You know, are they going to be killed
by the government or not?
And they remembered that and they cried out
to God, believed what they heard when they
were little.
That's why CEF is very good.
Child Advantage Fellowship.
Excellent, excellent.
I was vice president of it.
That's not why it's excellent.
They got rid of me.
Okay?
So they're more excellent now.
But last year, over 8 million children worldwide
heard the gospel through Child Advantage Fellowship.
Wonderful mission.
And your kids can be involved in that.
Learning how to lead others to Christ.
Wonderful.
Every state in the United States, every province,
about 164 countries of the world, they're there
teaching people how to lead little kids to
the Lord.
And it's a wonderful mission.
It was hard for me to leave for
ICBC.
See, I left that, the vice president of
the largest mission in the world, to come
to ICBC to sit in an office no
bigger than a closet with no clients.
I'd look at the phone and I thought,
I wonder if it's ever going to ring.
What did you do today?
Oh, I looked at the phone.
Do you think we should have come here?
I said, I'm wondering.
There's nobody.
Even Dan didn't have anybody.
And he's in the next room.
I said, Dan, I'm having second thoughts.
You know what I mean?
How are you going to have second thoughts?
Because it didn't go as you expected, but
I knew that God wanted me there.
And I began to question God.
Are you sure?
Maybe I did something in my former life.
That's why He put me there.
Why am I here and nothing's happening?
I really don't believe in a former life.
I don't know if anyone's going to watch
this video.
I can see our support dropping like this.
Okay.
Now this is important.
It really is.
What am I supposed to do?
All right.
I really feel I made a horrible mistake
that this screen should be over there.
And I would like these two elderly ladies,
if you would carry this screen over there.
I know one of them really well.
And I help her out over the phone
when she has people climbing the walls and
swinging on the drapes.
She said, Do you think they're demonized?
I said, Probably.
But anyway, let's say these ladies are dumb
enough to lift the screen.
So when they lift the screen, what might
they feel?
Is that a good thing or a bad
thing?
It's a good thing.
It says, Let go of this or you'll
do damage.
Listen to this, beloved.
Pain to your physical body is like worry
to your spirit.
God is saying, You can't carry this.
How do I know what I need to
pray about?
He says, Pray about everything.
What am I supposed to pray about?
And to pray about the worries.
I believe, I don't think worry is a
bad thing.
I think worry is God calling you to
pray.
How do I know what to pray about?
I'm worried about this.
Well, I can't give it to God.
I don't trust him.
Well, then hold on to it.
Do you understand what I'm trying to say?
See, I think every time you sense yourself
going into anxiety, God is saying, Pray about
this.
Give it to him.
I love this.
I want to give you a statement.
This is so profound.
I wish I had written it.
Every night when I go to bed, I
turn my worries over to God.
He's going to be up all night anyway.
Isn't that good?
Here God, you can have it so I
can sleep.
So what's worry?
When you leave here, what can you remember?
Worry is God's calling you to pray.
And he said, If you'll pray and give
this to me, I will give you my
peace that doesn't make sense in the midst
of what you're going through.
But you won't give it to God if
you don't know who he is.
What time are we done?
Five o'clock?
Sick.
I want to jump to something else.
And this is so true.
Every single person that comes to our office
for counseling, regardless of what they're into, there's
one thing that they don't have.
It's a prayer life.
Not one.
I love teaching prayer.
It's such a burden.
We started having men's prayer retreats in the
Northwood, giving men a 670-page notebook and
meeting with God for a whole week in
the woods of Michigan.
Then we thought maybe now we could have
a couple's prayer retreat.
So Paul and I had a couple's prayer
retreat in Dallas where husband and wife, in
fact, a lady went to that.
That's here.
There she is.
Look at her.
Wonderful.
She was a nervous wreck.
She was just all gray and burdened down.
And she came and sat under Paul and
Logan.
And look at her.
Hooray!
Let me tell you, this was open to
the United States.
And we had, what, 12 couples?
There was only 12 couples in the United
States that needed to get together and pray.
At least the Catholics had it right.
Families that prayed together.
What?
It's no wonder we're falling apart.
You can't even get couples to give three
days to meet with God and to be
directed and guided.
So you're not just saying, well, just pray.
But it was good.
It was wonderful.
I loved it.
And do you know, those 12 couples, 75
% of the men were engineers.
Not on trains.
Maybe engineers are so logical they know they
need prayer.
I have no idea.
I was amazed at all these engineers.
Okay.
I got to.
I hate this.
Okay.
Well, let me give you this real quick.
In Genesis, Chapter 1, in the Garden of
Eden, God talked and walked with Adam and
Eve.
And you begin to read through Genesis and
pick up.
I went through the Bible, like three or
four Bibles, and marked every single verse on
prayer.
Every time someone talked to God and every
time God talked back.
I mean, I wanted to study prayer.
I think probably the Bible is a good
place to study it.
And so that Bible is all marked in
green.
That's all it is.
And you don't have anybody praying again until
it is Adam's grandson.
And he began to call on the name
of the Lord.
I think it's in Genesis 4, 26.
Well, Abraham prays, and all these people pray,
and we don't have a whole lot of
time.
Okay.
Now, I believe that God desires to talk
to us.
It started out that way.
He created man to what?
To talk with, to have fellowship with, and
so on.
Go to Psalms 36.
A very interesting verse here.
Psalms 36, 7 and 8.
Beautiful verse.
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust
under the shadow of thy wings.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness
of thy house, and thou shalt make them
drink of the rivers of thy pleasure.
See, that's abiding, and I have a whole
bunch of stuff on abiding and all the
promises that if you abide, all this stuff
will happen.
But he says, if you will take refuge
under his wings, if you will take refuge
there, you will drink of God's pleasures or
his delight.
Do you know what those words carry in
the Hebrew?
I looked them up.
I was shocked.
I mean, I got tingly, wow.
I'm almost come a kerosene, close.
I mean, I just got so excited about
this.
In the Hebrew, pleasures and delight carry the
thought of secrets.
Also, it's the Hebrew word for Eden.
And Eden was a place where God walked
and talked with man.
He shared his heart with Adam and Eve.
Once the last time you had your Garden
of Eden experience, you know, you can have
it today.
I come to the garden alone, for he
what?
Walks with me and he talks with me.
I believe God has been trying to talk
to everyone here, but have you been listening?
I got too much to share and too
little time, and I don't know what to
say hardly.
I got to worry about it.
He's going to go.
Because, see, my heart is on prayer, not
on demons.
You know, name of Jesus out of here.
But if our guys don't leave with a
prayer life, they're going to be back.
The dog to the vomit, all of that.
And I don't know what it all is.
I listen to these guys on the brain
stuff, and I get confused.
So I went out and got my Bible
and started reading.
I know God put the brain together, so
I know he understands all this stuff.
I don't think he's getting clued in here.
But God is in all of this.
He created the brain.
He told us to pray.
He told us to have time with him.
Be still and know.
What's the purpose of the secret place?
To meet with God where he can share
his secrets with you.
Oh, there's scriptures on that.
I wish I could go.
That's the whole thing of this school.
Am I right, mom?
IMI is her son will leave that school
with an intimate relationship with God.
Know how to get a hold of God.
Know how to hear God.
Know how to abide in God's presence.
I want that for everybody.
That's where I came to peace.
I came to peace when I learned how
to take all this stuff and give it
to God and leave it there and let
him give his peace on my heart.
I'm a very peaceful man.
If you knew me before, I'm still real
hyper.
I am.
I'm just wound up, and it's bad.
But I can't help that.
I was a hyperactive kid, and they didn't
have any Ritalin to give me, so I
stayed hyperactive.
It was okay because God said, you're going
to be traveling all over the world.
You're an old man.
You need some energy.
Just don't worry about it as a kid.
I'll tell you, if there's one thing I
could give you, it's a desire to know
God.
See, the righteous know him, and they run
into the strong tower and are what?
Safe.
The name of the Lord.
See, that's Kay Arthur stuff.
I steal from everybody.
I'm not anybody that says anything good.
I'm for it.
I read a book, and it doesn't challenge
me.
Paul never hears about it.
What's the point of reading a book that
doesn't draw me closer to Jesus?
I don't mean it leaves me, oh, I'll
never be anything.
That gives me a good boot in the
rear.
I'm going to get up.
I'm going to go.
There's more.
I'm just on the outside looking through the
window of the relationship I could have with
the living God that wants to have it
with me.
I'm the one that's standing in the road.
Do you understand that?
He wants to have it with you.
Okay.
1 John 5, 14, 15, wonderful verses on
the secret place, Matthew 6, 5 through 8,
all this stuff.
Now, let's go here.
We've got time to do this.
When I pray, where am I going?
Am I just talking to the air?
Our school has 105 acres on a hill,
and Mary was shopping at Walmart because she
cooks for the guys.
We eat good.
And our guys are walking up there talking
to God, you know, and people along ways,
and they said, oh, where are you from?
She said, you know, the hill.
I said, oh, are you the place where
they have those mentally disturbed boys?
You know, talking to God.
She was close.
This lady was close.
I think when you think a guy has
a relationship with God, he's mentally disturbed, you
know.
Okay, go to Isaiah 6.
We are going to go into God's throne
room.
Let's pull the curtain back and look at
where we're going.
Isn't that where you pray?
Where does your prayers go?
You're going to the throne room of God.
Isaiah 6 said He looked in the throne
room and there were seraphims, each one having
six wings.
With twain they covered their face.
With twain they covered their feet.
With twain they did fly.
One cried to another, and they said, this
is a song they were singing in heaven.
I think it was Dulord.
Oh, no, I'm sorry.
It's holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
hosts.
The earth is full of His glory.
The posts are shaking at the voice of
Him that cried.
And the temple was filled with smoke.
And what did He say?
Woe is me.
Want to get more of a vision?
Go to Revelation chapter 5.
I love, I have this printed out often
when I'm having my time along with God
in my secret place.
I'll read Revelation 4 and 5 just to
remember where I'm going.
You know, He really is an awesome God.
And here, look at what the picture is
here.
It said, after I looked, behold, the door
was open in heaven.
The first voice spoke was there.
It was a trumpet talking and said, come
up here, there.
I'll show you things that must come.
Immediately I was in the Spirit.
Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and
the one that sat in the throne, he
that sat looked like jasper.
Look up these colors.
The sword of stone.
And there was a rainbow around the throne.
The sight like an emerald.
Round about the throne there were four and
twenty seats.
Upon the seats were four and twenty elders
sitting clothed in white raiment.
They had crowns on their head.
And out of the throne proceeded thunders and
lightnings and voices.
And there were seven lamps burning before the
throne.
There were seven spirits.
Before the throne there was like a sea
of glass under crystal.
And in the midst of the throne, round
about the throne, were four beasts with eyes
all over the place.
The first beast was like a lion.
The second like a calf.
The third like a man.
The fourth like a flying eagle.
The four beasts each had six wings about
them.
And they were full of eyes.
They rested not day and night.
And what were they singing thousands of years
later?
Holy, holy, holy.
The song hadn't changed.
That's the song.
Holy, holy, holy.
The Lord God Almighty, which was, which is,
and which is to come.
And when those beasts gave glory and honor
and thanks unto Him that sat on the
throne who liveth forever and ever, the four
and twenty elders fell down before Him.
And they worshipped Him that liveth forever and
ever.
They cast their thrones down and said, Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor,
and power.
Thou hast created all things for Thy pleasure.
They were created.
And then you go to chapter 4 and
you have all the angels singing.
How many angels?
You can't count them.
But can you see that throne with the
smoke and lightning and the pillars all shaking
and all these angels?
And as far as you can see, angels
worshipping God.
This is the throne room.
Lightnings and thunderings and all this stuff going
on.
And when you part it back, you think,
I don't think it's safe to go in
there.
Right?
Remember Isaiah fell down and said, The world
is me.
Go to Hebrews 4.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne
of grace.
What's grace?
Grace is God giving me the desire and
the power to make choices that would honor
Him.
It's unmerited.
God giving me that desire and power to
live how I ought to live.
That we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in our time of need.
Why are there so many defeated Christians?
Because when I need to go there, I
don't.
You got it?
I enjoy sin.
I enjoy this.
I enjoy that.
All I have to do is what?
Go there.
Walk in amidst all of that thunder and
lightning and all that stuff going on.
Walk up and say, Father, can we talk?
Father, I have a need.
Father, I don't know what to do about
this.
Father, I don't know where our son is.
I don't know where my daughter is.
You know what I'm saying?
I don't know what it is.
But go before the throne.
You can go in boldly with all this
stuff going on, all this worship going on.
And pour your heart out to Him.
And He loves you.
And when you walk out of that throne
room, you'll be changed.
Because you'll walk out with peace.
And you will know that God is really
alive by experience.
Not just you read it in the book.
So remember, when you worry, what does God
want you to do?
He wants you to pray.
That's all He's saying.
Just give it to me.
What do I do?
I go on the throne to give it
to Him.
But I can pray more about than what
I worry about.
I saw a beautiful...
Are we a bit done?
Almost?
Yeah, we are.
Almost.
Okay.
He said something opens up here.
So I'm going to hold on.
But I saw something beautiful in the Psalms.
And when people call, I would say this.
And many times, the women that call me
would cry on the phone.
I never saw this before.
And it was in, I think, the New
Living Translation.
It says, May the Lord bless you.
And may the Lord bless your children.
All in one verse.
Never saw it before.
They're calling.
They're weeping.
Mothers are hurting.
Husbands have given up.
Oh, they made their bed.
Husbands like to disown the kid.
I mean, your kids, you're talking about.
You had them with me.
It's our son.
Dads really don't like to get involved in
all that stuff.
You raise them.
But when you tell someone, God bless you.
And God bless your children.
Isn't that beautiful?
You're biblical.
And when you pray, if you will fill
your prayers with biblical truth, you will have
answers.
If the Navigators taught me a verse, when
I was first saved, when I was 19
years old, if you will pray according to
God's will, which is revealed in this book,
he will what?
Hear you.
And if he hears you, you will have
what?
The answer, because you're asking God to do
what he said he what?
Would do.
He may not do it instantly like you
want, but trust him.
Remember, if you can't trust God, who can
you trust?
And those kids aren't yours.
They're just loaned to you.
You know that?
They're loaned to you.
And you do the best you can.
The only problem is, there's no such thing
as a perfect parent.
Now, I was close.
But there's no such thing as a perfect
parent.
But as a parent, I want to entrust
my kids to God.
And I want to go to God on
behalf of my kids.
You know Dr. Rumberger?
Yeah, the guy that gets up here and
leads and irons his shorts without taking them
off.
Okay.
Dr. Rumberger, his office is next to mine.
And my son was his daughter's youth pastor.
He had two girls in junior high school.
And my son asked my wife to pray
for these girls.
She prayed for those girls every day through
junior high.
She prayed for them every day through high
school.
She prayed for them every day through college.
She's praying for them every day.
They're out of college now.
And my wife told me, she says, you
know, if I should forget to pray for
them, God will wake me up at night
and tell me I forgot.
And my wife prays for every widow that
was in any church we ever pastored.
You get on my wife's prayer list, you
better duck.
You know what I'm saying?
She's a godly, godly.
She hates it when I say that.
I'm not godly.
You shouldn't tell people that.
I don't want to go to any of
those meetings because they're going to be watching
me.
Watch her bop me with a purse or
something.
Father, I just thank you so much for
a godly wife and a praying wife.
And Lord, it took me so long to
become a praying husband.
And Lord, I pray right here that maybe
we would just get a glimpse of the
marvelous, marvelous privilege we have of going into
your throne room, walking up to you and
saying, Father, I want to lay this out
before you.
I want to give it to you and
I want to walk away.
And I'm going to trust you.
If you lay it on my heart to
pray for them again, I'll pray for them
again.
But if you don't lay it on my
heart, I'm just leaving it there because I
believe the answer's on the way.
I love that little chorus.
So, Father, I pray you would bless all
of us here.
And Lord, I know you're going to bless
us tonight because Henry Blackley is going to
be here.
And that man just blesses me.
I've never met him.
I've never heard him on anything.
But anything he's written that I've read, I've
been blessed.
And I pray for this dear man as
he comes, that the Spirit of God would
speak through him to our hearts.
And we'd walk out of here saying, Oh,
it was so good to be here.
In Christ's name we pray.
Amen.