You may have noticed a little bit of
difference in the voice today.
This is Manly Beasley, Jr. rather than Manly
Beasley making the introduction.
The main reason for that is that at
the time that we're making the master for
this tape, Dad has just been in the
hospital and went directly from the hospital to
a meeting and we do appreciate your continued
prayers.
We're having to make some minor adjustments with
regard to the dialysis procedure.
They could become major adjustments and they could
affect the travel schedule of Dad and and
some of the future, his future as with
regards to the way the Lord's been leading
him to do these things.
So be much in prayer.
He will probably say a little more about
it on next month's tape of the month
when he has been able to evaluate a
little more in depth.
Let me say a word.
Also, it's it's been a real blessing this
month to just see that the way the
Lord has done an incredible deliverance for us.
We are very hesitant and have always been
very hesitant to specifically share our needs for
several reasons.
One is we believe that that faith, a
faith ministry is to be supported out of
the faith of people who are praying for
a ministry and are trusting God for a
ministry and we believe our ministry is a
faith ministry and so we believe that God
is perfectly able and capable of speaking to
your hearts and giving you leadership when there's
a need in our ministry for you to
partake in.
And many of you have been I've been
very sensitive but in this particular situation the
Lord has used an outside source to get
us over a very difficult hump financially.
These finances, the crisis that we have faced
has basically been related to several factors.
One, it's this time of the year we
are always facing a rather difficult situation for
some reason.
I'm not sure why but it seems to
be true every year.
And also because of the fact that with
the convention and all of the participation that
we have with regards to that we spend
a certain amount of money that we don't
normally have to spend during a particular month
and so we just have to you know
take that in stride and it's usually a
significant amount basically depending upon where the convention
is at a particular time.
In this particular case as you probably well
know the Southern Baptist Convention was held in
Las Vegas.
So that involved an abnormally high amount of
airfare as well as the conditions all surrounding
it were just a little more expensive than
normal.
But the Lord has really just done a
miraculous work.
He's really tested our faith in it though
because we've just been praying and trusting him
to come through in a way hoping that
we wouldn't need to to share in a
public way what was going on.
Now that's not to say that there are
not times where the Lord will have us
ask you to pray with us about a
burden that we're having and different things.
But in this case we we really didn't
feel good about broadcasting it.
So we just want to praise the Lord.
We're excited about what he's doing I tell
you.
As I said before there will be a
lot that dad will have to say and
want to say on next month's tape of
the club or tape of the month club.
Now another reason that I'm making this introduction
beside the fact that that he's not handy
right now is because also we are sending
out a message that he he's been planning
on you hearing for a while now and
it just worked out where this would be
the best month for you to hear it.
We are going to try to stay with
the approach of him teaching you in a
personal month-by-month way.
We feel like that's the best way at
this point.
But upon occasion there will be messages where
he's gone into a church and preached a
message and just feels like there's an anointing
and there's a need for the message to
be presented to you.
And this is one of those cases.
So prayerfully listen as he as he shares
with you the message as God has laid
upon his heart.
Let me say one more quick word.
I don't often do the introductions for the
tapes when dad is well.
But there are a number of new tape
club members.
We've added just an incredible number in the
last year.
Actually the last six months since January.
But we do want you to know that
the tape club is the real nucleus of
this ministry.
It's through the tape club that that we
feel the heartbeat of where we believe spiritual
Christians are heading in our day.
We get input from you.
We encourage input from you.
If there are ever any questions or any
problems or anything, please write us.
Let us know.
We do this by computer.
So we realize that there are often typographical
errors and all kinds of mistakes and things
that take place there and we're happy to
try to make those adjustments.
Some of you need to realize that when
you do send in letters or suggestions or
even your payment for the bill, many times
they cross in the mail.
And so you may have sent something in
and yet receive a tape that does not
show the corrected address or whatever that you
have sent in previously.
But the chances are the next time they
will reflect that that correction or whatever that
you've commented on.
So keep that in mind and we're we're
just excited about all of you who are
a part of the tape club.
Those of you who've been with us for
many many years and those of you who
are new and are just now beginning to
be a part of this.
Please pray for us.
We love you and depend upon you and
and I trust that you're continuing to make
this ministry a focal point of your prayer
time with our Lord.
Would you listen as Dad speaks to us?
The relationship with this church in that I
have got acquainted with you through your pastor
in a hospital room and he he had
a need and and the Lord obviously had
designed a meeting time and it was in
the very room where they announced to him
he had cancer.
And we didn't plan that.
God put it all together.
And so I got acquainted with you through
him and I've come over several times and
talked to you about the Lord and about
the things of God and he's one of
my special cases.
Now you may not believe it but the
doctor asked me if I would deal with
him and then the doctor went and asked
him if he would come and see me
and the Lord put it all together.
He really did.
He really, it has amazed both of us
how God got that together.
And right now Brother R.B. I'm dealing
with a young man possibly the greatest revivalist
in the world.
His name is Dale Fasienfeld and Dale has
just had a tumor taken off of his
brain and been given six weeks to six
months to live.
And they set up an appointment with him
with me and him together on telephone for
him to talk to me and I prayed,
Lord, Lord, Lord, what in the world can
I say to that man?
And the Lord rebuked me and he said,
now son, I've been preparing you for about
40 years to talk to that man and
when you have the opportunity, you'll know what
to say.
And I got a word last night that
he's rejoicing in the Lord with only six
weeks to six months to live and I'm
anxious just to see what God's going to
do with that man.
But what we're going to talk about these
days is how to know God and walk
with him.
Now friend, I am expecting, I don't know
what kind of a crowd to expect because
we haven't really got out and worked for
a crowd.
But I do know I'm expecting God to
show up and I'm expecting people get to
know God in a way they never have
and I'm expecting them to learn how to
walk with him.
And so you come, let me urge you
to come.
I mean you do all in your power
to come because the old boy says I'm
going to let all the stops out as
far as preaching is concerned.
Now I'm sort of weak when it comes
to walking a mile, but when I come
to preach, I can preach till you get
tired.
And I guarantee you and I can say
more in 15 minutes than you can handle
in a year anyway.
And so I, so don't you worry about
what you're going to get because you will
get the truth and now we're going to
see some mighty things this next few days.
And I believe that this particular type of
thing is the beginning of something that God
is going to let happen for a few
months in my life as I prepare some
people.
But we're headed for some strange days and
we're in them and I'll tell you it's
going to be tough.
Now if you have your Bibles, I want
you to turn to the book of Hebrews,
the 11th chapter, this morning.
Now, the message this morning and tonight will
be relating to faith and it will fit
into everything that I'm going to say Monday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday.
But I have found that reputation doesn't hurt
a person.
So there are a few things that you
might hear this morning and to night that
I might pass by again, but I will
not deal with it extensively.
But I am believing that God this morning
will use this time to really help us.
If I had a title for this message,
it would be about how to grow in
the Lord and you'll find that we have
made some gross mistakes in our teaching people
how to grow in the Lord and what
we have taught them to do.
When they get saved by the grace of
God, one of the first things we do
is we teach them how to be legalistic,
not Christian.
The first thing we do, right off, when
a person gets saved by the grace of
God, we'll tell them, you do this, this,
this, and this, and this, and you'll make
it.
And the problem with that, that's just not
so.
And they come up in a crisis after
they have done all these five things and
the answers are not there and they don't
know what to do.
And it's because we have told them as
newborn babes in Christ a legalistic way to
handle and walk to know God and walk
with him after they get saved.
So this morning I'm going to talk to
you about how to know God and how
to walk with him, how to grow with
him, how, what to do when you first
get saved.
What are the first things that you learn
to do?
And in this 11th chapter of the book
of Hebrews, God has left us a pattern.
Now, there is a way that a Christian
can think, and to not think as a
Christian should will get you in trouble.
Now, let me just give you a little
illustration.
Here is a man walking on this wall,
and before him is truth, and he keeps
his eyes on truth.
And they walk on this wall and feelings
come along behind.
But now if this man takes his eyes
off of truth and turns around and looks
to feeling, he falls off the wall.
Now, that is a process of thinking that
is absolutely necessary if you keep a balanced
Christian life.
And I want you to know you cannot
depend on your emotions.
But your emotions will become so much a
part of you that they will dictate to
you to such extent that you will take
your eyes off of truth and look to
emotions, and you will go down the drain
spiritually, and you'll wonder why.
And it's because you have not kept your
thinking theologically correct.
Because if you think correct, you're going to
come out correct.
Now, this morning what we're going to do
is deal with an outline that outlines the
correct way to grow in grace, to mature
as a child of God, to know God
and to walk with him.
A few weeks ago a young man came
up to me that had surrendered to preach,
and he wanted me to tell him something
profound as to how to be a great
preacher.
And I think he thought I was a
great preacher, so he thought I would give
him the answer.
And so here's what I told him.
I said if I had it all to
do over, I would spend my life in
learning to know God and how to walk
with him.
He said, is that all?
I said, friend, that's enough.
I said, that will get the job done.
That will get the job done.
Now, this morning we're going to deal with
that.
Now, faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen.
For by it, the elders obtain a good
report.
Through faith we understand that the world was
framed by the Word of God, so that
the things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear.
My, my, my, my.
Now, listen to this.
By faith, Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts, and by it he being dead,
yet speaketh.
For by faith, Enoch was translated that he
should not see death, and was not found,
because God hath translated him.
For before that translation, he had this testimony,
that he pleased God.
Now, without faith it is impossible to please
him, for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Now, by faith, Noah, being warned of God
of things not seen yet, moved with fear,
prepared an ark to the saving of his
house, and by the which he condemned the
world, and became heirs of a righteousness which
is by faith.
Now, by faith, I'm just going to read
one reference to Abraham, because actually the next
few verses, a number of verses, refer to
Abraham.
In fact, through the 19th verse, refers to
Abraham and his family.
So, by faith, Abraham, when he was called
to go out into a place which he
should have to receive for an inheritance, obeyed,
and he went out, not knowing whether he
went.
Now, in this pattern of message, our scriptures
I've read to you, we have the pattern
of spiritual growth that I believe God's people
need to learn.
And that pattern is the first thing that
a child of God needs to learn, if
he's going to walk, know God, and walk
with him, is how to worship God.
The second thing he needs to know, if
he is going to know God and walk
with him, and that is how to walk
with God.
The third thing he needs to learn is
how to work the works of God.
And the fourth thing that he needs to
learn is how to reproduce with the Lord.
Now, there's more to it than this, but
this is the thing that I believe that
will bring us to what we call a
fruit-bearing life.
It will bring us to a life where
we are reproductive.
Now, we have changed, at least I have,
in my thinking, from when I first got
saved.
When I got saved in 1948, the philosophy
of the Baptist in general was, if you
put in the work, he will stay faithful
and thereby grow in grace.
Now, the only problem wrong with that is,
the only thing wrong with that is just
wrong.
And so the fact is, the thing they
did that day when I got saved, as
soon as they could, they made me the
church clerk.
Now, that's very funny, because at that time
I could not read or write like a
person should.
And I became the clerk of the First
Baptist Church, Fort Natchez, that runs 6700 in
Sunday School.
Can you imagine a man that couldn't read
or write becoming a church clerk to a
church like that, and their business meetings, they'd
have three or four hundred people there.
And I had to take all that junk
down.
But their philosophy was, give him something to
do and he'll grow in grace.
Now, isn't that something?
Isn't that awful?
If it hadn't been for my sister, I
probably would have had a nervous breakdown right
away, because that was really something.
But, beloved, listen.
The Bible teaches the first thing that a
child of God needs to learn is how
to worship.
Now, on your sign out there, I don't
know, I didn't read it this morning, but
in the, as you drive up to most
churches and you see the sign, it says
worship service at 11 o'clock, or 1030,
or 930 in some churches.
Worship service.
And friends, what they mean is that we're
going to meet and we're going to have
some songs, some prayer, and an offering, and
a sermon, and an invitation.
And they call that worship.
Now, in more recent months, we have had
developed among Baptists, and it's come out of
the Pentecostal movement, because they've been so visible
on television, that we are going to worship
God by singing praises unto Him.
Now, there's just something wrong with that.
That is not worship.
That is praise.
And there, I find that they have mixed
praises and worship.
And worship is not praise, and praise is
not worship.
Now, praise may mix in to worship occasionally,
but it is not worship.
The Bible teaches us that Abel worshipped God.
And that is the definition of worship, that
I want to leave with you this morning.
What did Abel do?
He brought to God a sacrifice that was
acceptable to God.
He brought it by faith.
In other words, what he did was he
discovered what God wanted.
And he became persuaded of that.
And he brought it to God and laid
it at God's feet.
And it was acceptable to God.
And when it was acceptable to God, man
had done his part.
Then God did his part.
And that means that Abel brought unto God
a sacrifice and placed it on the altar.
And when that sacrifice was on the altar,
God consumed it with his presence.
And my dear friends, because of that, forever
Abel, even though he's dead, will preach and
live and magnify God's gospel.
Well, that's the results of worship.
In other words, when a person worships, their
life takes on the dimension of eternity.
I mean totally, a total eternal dimension.
It is amazing.
Yet they die physically.
They live on forever.
And I'm just not talking about heaven.
Their testimony lives on forever in earth, ever
in earth.
So worship my dear friends is a person
recognizing their nothingness, recognizing that they have nothing
within themselves that pleases God, but themselves and
their nothing.
And recognizing that God is everything, everything.
And so they come to the end of
themselves with all of their complexity, whatever that
problem might be.
They come to the altar and they lay
themselves so completely on the altar by faith
in God that my dear friends, when that
all is on the altar, they have done
three things.
They have seen themselves as nothing.
They have had a change of mind about
their ability to be, do anything, be anything
and do anything apart from God.
And they have made the choice to lay
themselves at God's feet for Him to consume
as He wills and do with them what
He wills.
So here they come to worship God.
My dear friends, that's not a praise.
That's a living sacrifice.
I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of
God, that you present yourselves a living sacrifice
unto God.
And my dear friends, in some translations that
living sacrifice, the word there is used, worship.
That's so beautiful.
Why?
Because the man of God, the woman of
God, the child of God comes to that
place and that altar and lays themselves at
that altar before God.
Oh my friends, they lay themselves so adequately
before God at that altar that my friends,
God consumes it with His presence and takes
them up.
And my friends, they are able to see
things at that moment as God sees things.
My, the first step in growing is learning
how to worship God.
Amen.
Learn how to worship God.
Brother Abraham gives us the great definition.
He was asked of God to offer up
his son Isaac.
Now you have to remember that Isaac was
the son of promise, the son of performance,
the son of purpose, because Jesus would come
through Isaac.
I mean everything in Isaac could only be
explained by God.
And yet God said to Abraham, I want
you to offer him up as a sacrifice.
Isn't God contradicting himself?
Well see, we are looking at that experience
on a humanistic level.
Let's watch Abraham as he works through this
situation.
Let's watch him as he works through this
situation.
Somehow, someway, he begins to work through this
situation.
And he saw his son in a figure,
Hebrews 11 19.
I do not know exactly how it happened,
but my dear friends, it happened that Abraham
was able to get, in a spiritual sense,
Isaac on the altar.
And God saw, showed him in a figure,
Isaac alive.
So one day God said to Abraham, get
the fire, the wood, the knife, the cord,
the servants, the animals, and go to a
certain mountain.
And when Abraham got to that certain mountain,
at the foot of it, he turned and
said to the men with him, you stay
here with the animals.
Isaac and myself will go yonder.
Listen to me now.
Listen to me.
We will go yonder and worship.
Yes, sir.
We will go yonder and worship.
Now, my dear friends, what is he talking
about?
He said, my God will provide himself a
lamb, a sacrifice.
But my dear friends, in the heart of
Abraham, and the heart of those servants, Isaac
was the sacrifice.
And he goes up to the top of
that mountain, and he calls this worship.
He goes up to the top of that
mountain.
And you remember the cross is on top
of a hill, a mountain.
My friend, he builds an altar, and he
sets a fire to that altar.
And he reaches over and he tells Isaac
to get on that altar.
And there, my dear friends, on that altar,
he binds Isaac to that altar with the
cords.
And he raises the knife to slam into
Isaac's body.
And God said, that's enough!
That's enough.
And Abraham calls that worship.
Worship, my dear friend, is when you face
life.
And it's many different aspects, blessings, adversities, night
and day, whatever it is, that is God's
call to you and me to worship.
And my dear friends, we, by whatever method
we can, come to the altar that's been
built.
And that altar is called the old rugged
cross.
And we get on that altar.
My dear friends, and when we are so
completely on that altar, there's nothing left of
us.
The knife has been raised.
We have come to the end, and we
have said, whether live or die, all I'm
interested in is I glorify God.
God says that's enough.
That's enough.
And he consumes us with himself.
And he shows us the lamb tied caught
in the bushes.
In other words, we see his provision.
We do.
We see his provision.
Yes, my dear friend.
We see the thing like he sees it.
That's the result of worship.
We see it as he sees it.
One day, God said to me, I want
the best thing you've got, the only thing
you've got, and that is your life.
And one night at one-third in the
morning, I was able, after seven months, to
get on that altar and say, God, whatever.
And that night, earth and heaven met together,
and God let me see.
When I got to the place, whether live
or die, all I wanted was that my
life magnified, glorified the Lord.
One-third in the morning, he spoke to
my heart, and I saw the lamb.
Thou shalt see thy children.
That's enough, he said.
That's enough.
And I know a man that I shared
this with one time in a hospital room,
and after weeks of struggling, he got to
that altar and said, O God, whatever, as
long as you are glorified in my life,
whether I live or die.
And God said, that's enough.
That's enough.
And he saw things as God, and he
was able to say, I am not going
to die.
I'm going to live.
And he's sitting right there.
My dear friends, it came out of learning
to worship God.
And the first step in Christian growth is
learning to worship, learning to worship God.
Learning, my dear friends, when you are dealt
with in any way, my friends, learning how
to get to that old rugged cross.
How that's the altar that's been built.
And my dear friends, you know what the
cross means?
Death.
And it's where you come to the end,
and God steps in.
Yes, it does, brother.
That's it.
That's it, brother.
That's it.
Glory to God, that's it.
Yes, sir.
It's where you and me come to the
end of all of our chaos and confusion.
And get it all on that altar where
it's the end.
And when we get to the end, he
steps in.
And then he shows us the things like
he sees them.
And my friends, our lives take on a
measure of eternity.
And yet, my dear friend, he died, yet
he's speaking.
Yes, sir, of earth.
Tuesday of this week, I flew to Memphis,
Tennessee.
I've been dealing with two businessmen.
Both of them were some of the biggest
businessmen in Memphis, Tennessee.
And one of them got to the place
of worship just by talking by phone and
correspondence.
He got to the place and he got
the victory.
And I'll tell you, I wish I could
tell you, that I'm trying to be so
practical with this this morning.
Because you have to work for a living.
And I'm dealing with this man in business,
and he's going broke.
And he doesn't know what to do.
But he learned that he could give up
and give to Calvary.
And there worshiped God.
And God would bring him to the end
of himself.
And there he would see this thing as
God sees it.
And everything changed.
So one man, though, had not seen this.
And I went and spent four hours talking
to him.
And I said, sir, you have got to
get to the cross.
And get so completely on that cross that
whether you live or die, it doesn't make
any difference.
You just want God to be glorified.
And when you get there, then God will
consume that sacrifice.
And you will see things as God sees
things.
And it won't make any difference anymore.
What you think or want, it'll all be
what God thinks and what God wants.
And that's the only way out of your
dilemma.
He said, but brother, mainly five years ago,
I was worth eight million dollars.
I own nine, or no, excuse me, seven
car dealerships.
One of the most successful men in this
town.
I said, that doesn't mean anything to me.
I said, what means something to me is
that you have got to learn to worship.
He said, what do you mean?
I go to worship service every Sunday morning.
In one of the best churches in this
country.
And he does.
But I said, friend, that doesn't mean you
worship.
Because, friend, for you to worship means you're
going to have to take your business, your
faults, your sins, your life, your mettle, your
difficulty, your being, everything.
And you're going to have to get all
on that old cross to where there's nothing
left.
All you want is for God to be
glorified, whether you live or die.
Whether that business goes down or not, all
you want now is that God be glorified.
And I said, when you get there, then
God is satisfied.
And God will consume that offering with his
presence.
When you come to the end, God steps
in.
And then, folk, whew, you see things as
God sees things.
I'm in one of the most unique tests
of my life.
I have not been in this test that
I'm in right now.
Whether I'll be probably in 15 years, I've
not been in the test I'm in right
now.
And night for last, I couldn't sleep.
And I need rest.
But I couldn't sleep.
And I got up.
And I walked all over my house, up
and down the stairs, in every room.
And I just kept going.
And finally, I got to the end on
the old rugged cross at the altar.
I got to the end and I said,
God, if it will magnify you to let
her sink, let her sink.
If it will magnify you to raise it
up, whatever, God, whatever.
And I got it all.
And I got to the end.
And I said, too, Lord, I have a
daughter-in-law that's down in MD Anderson
with cancer.
And I got her.
I got that situation to the end.
And when I did, God stepped in.
Phew.
He consumed that sacrifice with his presence.
I saw things like God could see things.
And I saw.
And it's mine.
Oh, yes, it's mine.
And I don't know how.
Then you can walk.
Then you can work.
But I'm going to tell you, and you
want to walk with God, you're going to
have to learn.
Now, let me say this, before I finish.
If you will be sensitive to God, God
will not have to work desperately.
And God will not have to work drastically
is the word I'm looking for.
Shut you up.
Wanted to do with my life.
Sensitivity.
God has had to work drastically.
And in most people, so
he has to work.
So let me invite you today.
Well, I've said enough.
I mean, put it all on the altar.
You may have to do it five times
a week.
I don't know.
In fact, I am not so sure that
God hasn't designed worship to be a day
-by-day, a hour-by-hour thing, a
moment-by-moment thing.
But I know when you do worship God,
when you really do worship God, you prove
to the world what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.
You see, friend, they see that you know
God and that you're walking with God.
And I'll tell you, there's nothing greater.
You know what?
That not of what you did for God
from a prostitute.
Amen.
You check it out.
They uh, they didn't have all the modern
methods.
Church houses without God and
ingenuity and our ability.
And we can be explained.
You can be assured.
Amen.
You get saved by God.
You see yourself as a lost sinner, wretched
and undone and miserable, having never been saved.
You see yourself as you are.
And in that condition, seeing yourself as such
an awful sinner, there's a change comes in
your mind about your ability to do it
and God's ability to do it.
So you have a change of mind.
And you know what else?
There in your heart, you make a choice
to come for the Lord Jesus that died
on the old rugged cross.
And when you make that decision to Jesus,
very likely throughout
the ages, 30 something years, 40 years as
a preacher, as I've watched people, they're doing
legalistic things to worship God.
They read their Bible, they pray, they give,
they go to church, they witness and they
do that because do you know what?
And you get out there and then you
start failing.
You start failing.
My friend, what you need to do is
come and learn.
And when you learn to worship God, you
find God in spirit.
So the word of God is read definitely.
Amen.
And one of the best places to hear
about God is church.
Amen.
The things of God and the church should
be a worship service.
And it is for some when they come
to the end of themselves and lay themselves
totally on the altar.
Yes, sir.
That is worship, but they go out, change
people forever.
So this morning, let me invite you to
come to this altar as a child of
God and worship God.
And as a lost sinner, let me invite
you to come to Jesus and worship him
as Lord and Savior of your life.
And you better hear today that a God's
people, if this church is the place where
you need to be with the people of
God, you are impressed that God wants you
there.
Or here, you come.
You come this morning.
I want us to stand for prayer.
The choir is going to sing the invitation
hymn.
Lord Jesus, have your precious way this morning.
And oh God, have your precious way.
Lamb of God, you have shown us what
you're going to do this week.
Lord, I can see the mountain peaks, but
I can't see the valleys.
Now Father, I don't know whether people really
see that the way to really walk with
God is learn how to worship him.
Now Father, many of them through drastic measures
of difficulty in the past have worshiped you
over an issue in their life.
But today, I pray that you'll add understanding
to what they know.
And oh God, that they'll learn to walk
and worship you in spirit and in truth.
In the name of Jesus, I pray.
And for thy sake, Lord, you ask it
today.
Would you come?