This is not my message this morning. I wanted to share a few things with you that I picked up over the last few months. This one I may have shared with this conversation.
A man, on a phone, is in a magazine, an anti-magazine. This gentleman who wrote this article is really, really, the same. A powerful understanding of where the news on the radio, television, and television lines up with the word of God. And this is what he said. Before Christ returns, there will be a storm of such proportions that will rock the foundations of civilization and threaten the human race with extension. If the world sings the gospel of the world, then people that believe it like saying that these years you must be fair and they’re saying that they’re actually leaders. You can do all the rockets and resources that are there. But don’t think there is a leader in the world that will be there or that the oil is there. That makes it, I don’t want the world to serve what is really important. What’s going on is it is hard to understand with an act of life. It looks at people that 21,000 people are right now, they’re right now, they’re right now. If you want to be rich in heart, people are failing them for fear and for looking at those things that are coming on the earth.
Start preparing your family for a hard time, for a difficult time. Keep those who love that happiness is enough, it’s not about getting everything you want, it is about enjoying everything you now have with gratitude. If you have so much, it’s just a good perspective. The world has changed and the church is being challenged to stand in a way that it has not had to be born. God is speaking very clearly to our pastors and what is to be cared for.
This statement is used to be made in the public at Christian New broadcast. Christianity is now the world’s most persecuted situation. The delusion that life is supposed to be fair is the source of much unhappiness and such erroneous statements. Here’s some statements, then I’ll go to my back. We are in danger of losing what we do not put their high value on. I won’t say that again, we are in danger of losing what we do not put our high value on. I like to think that it’s very open to the people who love God and who love the law. I believe whatever the truth is, I have to think that the truth is good man. They lost the beauty of God and rather than the strength of God. The truth is very good. He asked the world to pray for him because he has had to find him. I’m sure as we exaggerate it, he says, a million people pray for him.
I was watching him one morning and he said something that railed my face. Here’s where I’m going to speak and wherever they talk they will get balled. As he said, if I did not know God, I would probably not like him. He said, if I did not know God, I would probably be there. I’m going to get your attention this morning. I won’t say that.
I don’t believe it. I’ll make that a little easier so you don’t get upset at me right away. I don’t believe what I say I believe. Ever since I was a child, I can remember three, four years of age, my parents, my mom, especially putting me to bed and ting. Let’s say this, gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Look upon this little child. Pity my simplicity and suffer me to come to the. . . Do you remember?
Familiar? In the kingdom of thy grace grant this little child a place. If I should die before I wake, I pray to the Lord my soul to take. I had an understanding that I was going to live, not just on this night, but I would live forever. It wasn’t until I was 16. February of the 8th, 1961, when I got saved and gave my heart to Jesus, that I recognized that there was a heaven for those who believed what I believed. There was a hell for those who did not. I don’t know if you are still of that opinion, if that opinion is there. I believe it.
An eternal heaven for those who actually believe the Word of God, live the Word of God, and maybe even pray the prayer that most of us pray. Repentance, acknowledge that if you shall confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and then with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. I remember when our children came along and our little girl Danielle, our little girl, she is the worship leader for two campuses in London. But I remember the first time I tried to share that little poem with her. When I came to the place, if I should die before I wake, I pray to the Lord, Dad stop!
Don’t you pray that I’m going to die before I wake? Dad, don’t ever teach me that. Don’t ever pray that over me again. I recognize, yes. We all have awareness. God has set eternity in our hearts. I want to make sure that we understand this because I’m coming with another question in just a minute. Heaven to those who love God, Septic Jesus as Savior, and help for those who have rejected him. Deuteronomy 28 is considered the blessing chapter of the Old Testament.
I’m sure you’ve heard it. Maybe you’ve read it. It’s a long chapter. And here’s how it begins. And it shall come to pass if you shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and do all his command, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and shall overtake thee if they shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God. Many ifs in this chapter must warn you. And it goes on to say the blessings of God.
You’ll be blessed coming in, going out, you’ll be blessed. Command his blessing on your storehouses. This goes right through. Verse 1 through to verse 14. The blessings. They’re beautiful. They all have ifs on them because every blessing is a promise and every promise has a condition. If then. How about one of the most famous verses in the Old Testament?
If my people called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then…
Then will I hear from heaven? I will forgive their sins and heal their land. If then. Why those two words with me? If then. That’s it. If then. Right through these verses you will see that. And then we come to verse 15. The biggest but I think in the Old Testament.
But it shall come to pass if you will not hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God. To observe and do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day. That all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. And there’s twice as many curses as they are blessings. If I was in the church this morning sitting like you are and the pastor got him and said I’m going to preach to Deuteronomy 28. I would feel like shouting at him. That’s the Old Testament. Maybe some of you have shouted at me in your heart. That’s the Old Testament. You don’t want to go there.
There is a cross and there’s a statement from the cross. It is finished, paid in full. So why are you here this morning pastor? Because of this verse. I do not like this verse. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be there. It’s God’s word. But I do not like it. At this point in the cursing people may even have been obeying all these but here is what they have not been doing. Would you read this with me please?
Pardon me. Because thou service not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. Actually things are not in there. It’s italicized. For the abundance of all. Therefore shall those serve thine enemies whom the Lord shall send against thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in lack of all things. That’s why I don’t like this verse. These two verses. This struck me a number of years ago when I actually maybe read it. I don’t know but I actually saw this verse.
I’ll tell you why I wanted to share this with you this morning in preparation for what I have ahead of here. If I believe that there’s a heaven and there’s a hell. If I believe that unless you ask Jesus into your heart for repentance of sins and walk according to the word like those conditions for blessing. There’s no place in my life to be sorrowful. Joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things. That’s why I said folk. I was at a grocery store two days ago and I thought about looking at the shelves. I said look at the stuff. I was going to one of my favorite stores, the dollarama. Just so much stuff.
The abundance of all things. And if you serve God without joyfulness and gladness of heart for all of this. God’s going to turn and take it all from you. Serve your enemies. This is so unfair. This is not right. Here’s where it really strikes my heart. If I had a family member. Especially a close family member. I do.
I have a sister in England who was raised in our home right and wrong. I got saved. And she said to me about two years ago when I challenged her on where her heart was. And she said Peter I don’t want to hear you address us again. We have decided that that is not from God.
We have decided, having checked all the world religions and Christianity is the best. But we believe we don’t believe what you believe anymore. We believe in love and when we die we’re going to have love somewhere. We’re going to be at peace. This was my sister.
Twelve years younger than I am. Now here’s where I get to my ridiculous statement. I do not believe what I say I believe. If I believed that this little sister of mine. She’s not. She’s a grown woman. But if I believe that if she died today believing what she believes or not believing what I believe. That she spent eternity in hell. And I don’t want to go into a word study on the word hell. Believe me Jesus used the word according to King James Bible and according to
the languages Jesus probably preached in Arabic and many other men and different languages about hell. Do you believe if you have a family, a close family member. Maybe a son, a daughter, a grandchild. Maybe your parents. Maybe your sisters and brothers. This is bothering me because if I am burdened over my sister and I don’t show the proper joyfulness and gladness then I could be in trouble because God would hold me accountable for it. I hope I’m coming across clearly.
We are to have a burden for souls. We are to love, especially those that are family. It is almost like going to a funeral. Especially if it was an accident it was not a sickness. It was just an unexpected death in a family. You go to the funeral and there are people talking and chatting and laughing. Your heart is breaking for the family but there are people who are just saying to them don’t you understand. This is serious. This is sad.
People are hurting. People are broken. How can you enjoy this time? How can we enjoy life if every day we are reminded that we have family who could go to hell or maybe we believe that there are families who are in hell because of the way they die. I have done 50 years of pastoring in many, many funerals. I am so thankful that I can say here this morning I have never put anyone in hell. I have never stood at the funeral and said this gentleman, this lady who we buried today is in hell. That is something I decided was not my right to do.
We don’t know the last few minutes of a person’s life. Even if there has been an accident, even if they are sick for a while, they may have had something turning. My brother told me this story when he was dying and I went to see him in Barbados. I said, Jerry, you are facing eternity. You are facing a journey. You can’t take this journey by yourself. I started praying for him and I heard his voice repeating what I was saying. He was in tremendous pain and a lot of medication. When I realized he was praying, I said, Jerry, you want to pray this prayer with me?
I go to heaven. He went, yeah. I prayed with him. At the funeral I wrote a eulogy because we had to come home. Two days after we got home. In that eulogy I said, I was asking God. Is that enough? Is that enough to be declaring that he doesn’t want God in his life and yet on his deathbed? He prays a prayer, confesses Jesus and asks Jesus to come and save him. I said, Lord, is that enough?
There was a storm up to see him. I was looking out over the ocean and all of a sudden a beam of light came through the clouds and hit the water. I heard a voice saying, it’s enough. It’s enough. God is more concerned about getting our family into heaven with him for all eternity than we are. I look at the burden that we have. I look at the concern that we have. So my question to put to you today, does God want us to live in joy? Does God want us to live in happiness, rejoicing, or does he want us to be so aware of the value of our souls of family and friends
that we can’t? I’ll stand up with the New Testament. Somebody said, praise God. Let’s look at a few verses. John 10-10, Jesus said, the thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. God has something good for us, something satisfying, something real, something to smile about. I told you about three years ago when we came back from spending time in Florida with our family. I don’t remember hearing it. I don’t remember why it happened, but I just know that from the first day,
I don’t remember what day it was when we came back home, but first, the next day, I went to Sobeys. I loved these young ladies. They’re so well trained in these stories. How are you today, sir? They asked that. They expect, I’m fine, and how are you? That’s a greeting. But as soon as this young lady said, how are you today, sir? I didn’t answer, and she looked up and I said, I have so much to be thankful for. Try it.
I’ve been saying it now for three years, and believe me, the responses that I get are very encouraging. They’ll stop and they’ll say, what was that you say? They’ll say, some say, yeah, yeah, I agree. I agree. We have so much to be thankful for. So we’re saying in the Old Testament that you better serve God with gladness and joyfulness. Or else you’ll be serving God. You’ll be serving the enemies. And we have so much to be thankful for. Paul said, and I think that is I’m 1 Thessalonians,
in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I put that one below. The middle line there, rejoice in the Lord, is out of Philippians. And if you’re looking for reasons to rejoice, reasons to be happy, the entire book of Philippians, it’s called by many the joy book of the Bible. It just goes from one, rejoicing to the next. And if you remember how that church was founded. The second missionary journey Paul goes with Silas. He gets there and he preaches and beats him up in the senate and puts him in the chains. I mean, he and Silas were in pain and at midnight they began to sing.
Remember that? That’s how this church was founded. In pain, and yet it becomes Paul, one of Paul’s favorite places to write to. And he says, rejoice in the Lord always. That’s the first four, chapter four. If you want to, if you want to, a chapter to memorize in the book of joy, chapter four, it is just so filled with joyful expressions and promises. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. My favorite portion of Philippians, chapter four, verses six and seven.
Paul says this. Again, it’s a challenge. Be anxious and troubled about nothing. Should I not be anxious and troubled if I have a sister that’s not on her way to heaven as far as I understand it?
Should I not be concerned if there are members in the family who not only are not living for God but died without him? So that it is not a burden on my heart. But he says, be anxious and troubled about nothing. But in everything, my prayer, supplication, with thanksgiving, that your requests be made known unto God. I looked at this and this was one of the verses that you study to see why is it put together like that. And about two o’clock one morning I’m reading this, anxious and troubled about nothing because a lot of stuff was on my heart.
By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. And I had a book by Dr. Rick Renner, a pastor in Moscow for 30 years. He’s a specialist in the Greek language and I was looking through it in a daily 365 gems, sparkling gems in the Greek. And I came to this verse and he had something to say about this. And here’s what he said, I don’t understand Greek. And he said this place there, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. He said this word prayer is more than just a quick word to heaven. He said you will find a comparative verse in John chapter 1 and verse 1. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God.
He said, is that intimacy between the word Jesus and God. Right here is that intimacy in the word prayer. I don’t understand it but the way it is placed, the way it is context. It’s intimacy with God. So Paul is saying, but in everything do not be anxious but in everything by your intimate relationship and calling out to your God. With supplication. Now none of the translations, my 1611, King James Bible, uses the word supplication. Most of them just say intercession. Intercession means you pray for a specific thing. It’s a kind of prayer you pray when you want to pray for the world situation, you want to pray for money when you want to pray. Whatever it is there, it’s intercession.
But Paul uses the word supplication. And I’m asking the question why supplication and why is it not intercession. Listen to what I’m understanding from this verse and why it relates back. Supplication is when your heart is broken for something in your life or in your family’s life. Right now something is happening in our lives and I don’t intercede. It comes from brokenness. It comes from a cry. The desire to see change.
No, you can’t always be happy. You can’t always be rejoicing. There’s a place between us and God where we go from prayer to supplication for our family. And it’s not funny. It’s hard. You cry out and I know some of you are crying out for your situation. Supplication. I Am anxious and troubled about nothing. That’s easy for Paul to say. I know he did some supplicating to him back in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.
So he’s saying that he’s challenging. He says, in everything, by intimacy in prayer. With supplication for your loved ones. Mix with thanksgiving. Let thanksgiving be all through this. Let your requests be made known unto God. And here’s what will happen. And the peace of God. I like to add from the God of peace. Because four times God is called the God of peace. And the peace of God. Which is beyond our ability to understand in the natural. Here’s what the peace of God will do. It will build a fortress. And the peace of God will build a fortress. A protection. And guarding around two areas. That is your heart and your mind. And folks, if you are sitting here this morning at 20 Valley Church and if you’re listening. And you are hurting today. And you are filled with anxiety. You’re listening to the news. And you’re just saying. These feelings that I have.
These emotions that I have. The peace of God will build a fortress around your heart. Your feelings. Your emotions. He wants to bring you his supernatural peace. Peace for the heart and peace for the mind.
Your mind may be playing games on you this morning. You may be thinking thoughts that you haven’t thought for a long time or maybe thoughts that. You can’t get rid of the thoughts. The peace of God. From the God of peace. Will build a fortress around your thoughts. That’s his promise to us. That’s his promise. The peace of God. It’s precious.
I just want to pause here for a minute. Precious Heavenly Father. May this truth of your peace. Working in our hearts and our minds this morning. Bring strong encouragement to each and every one of us. Our thoughts. Our emotions. You bring them and say thank you. We cast them upon you today. Knowing that you would bring supernatural.
Supernatural peace. I mentioned that Philippians is the joy chapter of the Bible. In chapter 3 and verse 10 Paul cries out. Here’s a man who wrote two thirds of the New Testament and he cries out and says, Oh that I may know him in the power of his resurrection. In the fellowship of his suffering and in the conformity of his death. All that I may know him. I want to know him. When you begin to cry that to God. And you supplicate for that to happen in your own life.
All that I may know him. And the power of his resurrection and in the fellowship of his suffering. And Philippians chapter 2. Like I said, the whole book is so full. This is a portion of scripture that I committed to memory years ago. The man that we love to come and minister. He was a teacher in Bible school and he said I want to memorize that and I said I will. I was 19 years old. Ken Bombay doesn’t seem to be getting any older. He just keeps that.
We get older. And I committed this. This portion of scripture. You can just listen. Because I’ve got it hidden in here. It has been a blessing to me for so much. Let this mind. I want to contrast it with the judgmental call. Let this mind, this way of thinking be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
The NIV says did not consider equality with God with something that had to be grasped. But made himself of no reputation. Took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him. Hallelujah. And given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus. Say that with me.
At the name of Jesus. Every knee shall bow. Of things in heaven. Of things in earth. Of things under the earth. And every tongue will confess. That Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
I’m sure glad I memorized that. But would that be about sixty years ago? It’s for you. My challenge this morning is do you know him personally? Are you having feelings of I can’t be happy when my family is lost? My children are not serving God. But we are allowed to be.
But when it comes to interceding we supplicate. I hope that word becomes alive to you. Supplication is when we break our heart before God and cry out. For ourselves and for our family. Yes Lord. Yes Lord. This is the reality folks. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Against spiritual blindness. We therefore take on the whole armor of God. It’s a spiritual battle. One that we must be engaged in I believe every day.
And so much the more as you see the day approaching. So much the more. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I’ve said many times from this pulpit that we really need to take a look at John. Chapter 14, 15, 16 and 17. They’re beautiful book chapters. They prepare us for chapter 17 which is the Lord’s Prayer. We see there how when Jesus prayed He said, I pray not for the disciples but I pray for all these.
All those who will believe because of them. And I’m going to just try to emphasize. You can take that off of there. Thank you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. In my father’s house there are many mansions. I think we’re not so. I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare that place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am there you may be also. And where I go, you know. Thomas was standing nearby and he said, Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. We don’t know the way. Show us the way. And Jesus said, I am the way. And the truth. And the life.
No one comes to the Father but by Me. And that’s why we’re told we have a very narrow, Jesus saying. He said, narrow is the way. At least the light eternal. Broad is the way. And many there be that travel this way. That was the word of Jesus. No one comes to the Father but by Me. Philip was standing there by and he said, Lord,
show us the Father. And that will satisfy us. It’s not mentioned there but I hear the heart of, I hear a sigh on the heart of Jesus. Have I been so long with you, Philip? It was probably over three years. Have I been so long with you, Philip, and you have not known Me? Philip said, show us the Father. Have I been so long with you, Philip, and you have not known Me? Philip, he that has seen Me has seen the Father.
What an incredible statement. A Jewish carpenter. He said, I am the Father of one. And if you read that chapter 40 he goes on to mix even more incredible statements. He says, and the works that I do, you shall do also. And greater than these works you do because I go to the Father. And then he says, and whatever you ask the Father in My name, I will do it. And he repeated it.
Whatever you ask the Father in My name, I will do it. And folks, that is one of my places of not unbelief, but places of challenge. Why are these promises that Jesus gave to us? Why are they not happening? I mean, I know in the past of the world, the past of the day, there are revivals happening. But you set this place to be a house of healing. Remember that? And we stand with that.
And all we need now are some notable miracles happening in our midst. All through the Book of Acts, they are miracles. Acts of the Holy Spirit through the disciples. Finally, the leaders, the religious leaders, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, they came together and they said, what are we going to do? We cannot deny what is happening through these men. Call themselves Christians, men and women. He said, for we have to admit this, that a notable miracle has been done in our midst. I know how you pray when you pray for 20 Valley Church, but I pray, O Lord, that’s some notable miracles.
Pastor, the actual touching of our bodies. I’m struggling here with my throat this morning, but the actual, where we call on God, cryo in the name of Jesus to Jehovah Rafa. I am the Lord that healeth thee. Jehovah, Shama, I am the Lord that’s there for you. Jehovah, Nisi, I am the God that fights on your behalf. Jehovah, Rochi, I’m your shepherd. Understand that. What we have to cause us to be the glorious, happiest people on earth. And when you see verses like this, you say, that’s not the God that we deal with today.
Because when he’s on the cross, he hung there and he said, it is finished. Many translations now take those three words and I have no problem with this at all. It is finished because it has been paid in full. It’s been paid in full. And everything that God has promised us, and every promise that Jesus made to us, when the conditions are met, the miracles will happen. Every promise has a condition, and the only promise that God has given to us without a condition is the promise to love us. He can’t help but he is God and he is love. God loves you.
You can’t be feeling that. Something is going to happen. There is a building. Something is stirring. And you may be saying in your heart this morning, I don’t know. I feel so far from God. I’m not where I used to be, but I know I’m not where God wants me. I challenge you this morning to say, yes, yes, Lord. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I open my heart to you.
Praise God. Praise God. There you come. Let’s go to the piano as we close this morning. I’m going to ask you to search your own heart today. This is a cry on that heart and say yes. As we sing, just yield to God. Yes, yield to Him this morning in Jesus name. Thank you, Lord. Thank you.
Church, as we sit with the Lord, as we end this morning, if you have people on your heart, if you have burdens that you’re bearing, just want to sing this prayer over you this morning. Going back to the blessings that we have in our life with Jesus is out of His immense grace and mercy that we live into that blessing. Lord, bless you and keep you. Make His face shine upon you. Be gracious to you. Lord, turn His face toward you and give you peace. Lord, bless you and keep you. Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, turn His face toward you and give you peace. Amen, amen, amen, we sing amen. Amen, amen, amen. Lord, bless you. The Lord bless you and keep you. Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, turn His face toward you and give you peace. Can we stand to our feet, please? Jesus, man. That’s the song, the blessing.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His confidence upon you and give you peace. Go in peace and God bless you today. Take somebody’s hand and say, God bless you.
