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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 779 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text -- Brother Phil Enlow: What are you saying by being bitter at anything? You're saying, God, You're evil and You have done me wrong. Think about that. When we react against things that are out here in the way that we naturally do, what are we saying? We are saying, God, You have done me wrong. All of that is against Him. Is He not in control of our lives? Does He not have the right to work in us as He sees fit? Is He not the Potter and are we not the clay? ( congregational amens ). Yes, He is. Oh, God, get our focus where it needs to be. God may fix your circumstances, or He may not. But what God needs to fix is this [the heart]. He is far more concerned with making us the kind of people we ought to be in here, to where it wouldn't matter what circumstances we're in, we can give God glory, and shine like a light in the earth. ( congregational amens ). This is central to what we're talking about. So many times when we go to God, we've got a load of bitterness, a load of resentment against somebody. We've got an unforgiving spirit about something. There's something there that's infecting our spirit and we're just so focused on the problem. They're the cause of my problem. That's one thing I'm seeing about this guy. He had all the problems...all his problems were out here. Oh, God. Pray that God will deliver me from all this. He was just a poor innocent little lamb in the middle of it all. But we are not innocent little lambs, folks. We have needs. We have spirits that are so self-centered that God will do all kinds of things to deliver us. He will bring you in ways that you have not known. He will bring you in paths that will cause your worst part...the worst parts of your nature to rise to the surface. You know, I was reading...again I refer back to that biography I was reading. And this young lady was sailing to China and happened to be sailing with Ruth Paxson. Some of you may have read her books. But she was an older missionary at this point, and sort of mentoring and teaching these young missionaries that were just sailing over there. And she warned 'em, soberly. She said, the scum of your nature will come out when you get to China. And, this lady said, what? I've given my life to Jesus. I'm going there to preach the gospel. What do you mean? What are you talking about? And when she got there, she found out. The things that she had to put up with in her life, the people, the circumstances. Oh, just...you know. She found out that she was so possessive of her stuff that she couldn't stand the Chinese, who were coming in to hear the gospel, messing up her stuff. And she was filled with resentment about that. And it's 1,001 things that we don't realize we have in us. And the only way God can let us know is to bring us in ways that will bring that scum to the surface. He does not do it to discourage you, but so that you will have something to bring to the throne of grace. Praise God! We serve a good God. If we could understand what's going on, we could co-operate with it and rejoice in it a lot more than we do. ( congregational amens ). If we've come to the throne of grace asking for the right things, what does it say? You ask and you receive not. Why? You want to consume it upon your lusts. You're more concerned with self, and making things more convenient and comfortable for self. God, that person is messing up with my life. I...everything would be just great if You'd just deal with them, Lord. Do something about it. God, You're...why won't You deal with them? Why won't You...because God's trying to deal with you. ( congregational amens ). God's trying to take away the things that are in you that would cause you to rise up and constantly....look at Jesus. Look at what He endured. There's your example. He did it by the grace of God. He didn't do it with His own strength. But there was a willingness to humble Himself and to go to God. You know, I was noticing a scripture...I was reading in Luke, the other day. I guess it was the scripture that happened to come up in the Bible plan, Bible reading plan. Praise the Lord. This is in Luke chapter 5. It's right after that other one I was referring to. I'll tell you, the more Jesus went around and ministered, the more He...the more He was thronged by the people. Can you imagine? Somebody comes along and starts going through villages and healing all their sick...this guy's gonna attract some attention. In verse 15, "Yet the news about him spread all the more..." (NIV). This is right after He healed that man with leprosy. "...So that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses." Look at verse 16. "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." There's the secret. Why did Jesus do such a thing? He was the Son of God. Why would He need to do something like that? He needed to for the same reason we need...to go and draw strength from our God. We do not have what it takes to live for God in this world. But that was the reason Jesus could face people who accused Him of serving the devil, accused Him of being in league with the devil. That's how He could cast out devils. And all the way down to the torture and the crucifixion that they brought Him through. And yet on the cross He could say, Father, forgive 'em. They don't know what they're doing. He died for the very things they were doing to Him at that time. I don't know whether some of the very ones that saw Him and did that to Him, whether God touched their hearts. He touched the heart of the Roman soldier. When Jesus died, the soldier looking on...this was a Roman soldier, said, surely this was the Son of God. What is it that causes people to see Jesus in us? Is it our normal reactions to things? Oh God, help us. It's the thing...it's when we react with a Christ-like spirit. Well, how do we do that? Just by somebody standing up here and saying this is how you're supposed to be. No! I don't have the strength to be that way. I need God to do something supernatural in here. And if I'm gonna have that, I'm gonna have...every time that scum rises to the surface, and it does every day...there's some part of it that rises up, I need to say, oh God, forgive me. Help me. But not just forgive...not just forgive that mess up that I made. Lord, I pray that you will deliver me from this thing. Do you really want to be delivered? Some of you are in love with your bitterness. You don't really want to forgive somebody, because what they did was so bad. You feel justified. Our wills get involved. Oh, God. This is part of 'not my will.' We're so concerned with stuff out here when this is where our focus needs to be. I don't mean in a self-centered sense. But I mean if we are going to be God's people, if we're gonna be effective in praying for others, we'd sure better get our channel right. We'd better get to the place where we can ask for the things that God desires to give us at this throne and to come before Him in the right kind of a spirit. Oh God, help me to forgive so-and-so...but I really don't want to. I'll forgive 'em a little, but I won't forgive 'em...you know, we're gonna have to just come clean and say, oh God, transform what I am on the inside. I don't have the strength to love. Look at Corrie ten Boom in the camp. How she struggled with her hatred. I've read so many testimonies, and some of them just within...you know, last night, as recently as last night, of people overseas and the struggle that they have when they're persecuted. I read about one man who described being thrown into solitary confinement in Cuba. And, he was...there he was, and he said, he use to fantasize about getting out and putting sugar in the gas tank of all those policemen, those bad policeman that had thrown him in there, and stealing a boat, and getting out of that place. And you know, he would just fantasize about that. Has anybody ever done that, in principle? Sure. Anybody not done it? Sure, we all are like that. But you know, God began to convict him. And God began to show him that that wasn't what He wanted, that God had told him to love your enemies. And, so he had to go and say, Lord, You're gonna have to do something unto my "lover," here. It doesn't have the ability to love like that. But you know, I'm willing. That's the key. Are we willing for God to make the changes that need to be made in our lives? If we're willing, God is able. There's a throne of grace where that can happen. This is what God wants us to come about. You look at all the context that has to do with us overcoming sin, becoming as children, becoming like Him. That's the entire point. Praise God! I just pray that God will help us in all these areas. And I started to say, I've read so many other testimonies, and the major thing in some of these testimonies of God's grace, and people being persecuted, and thrown into prison, and beaten, and mistreated in so many terrible ways sometimes...that was the battle they fought and it didn't just happen overnight. You know, this isn't something where you can just come up against some scum in your nature one day and say, oh God, take care of this and then five minutes, boom... ( snapping fingers ). You're gone. You're just like Christ. Sometimes there's some going back and there's some coming to Him and coming to Him and saying, oh God, give me strength for today. Give me strength for the next five minutes, Lord. Help me. I want to be like You. I want to love those. I want to be forgiving. I want to be kind in my spirit. I want to be like You and I don't have the strength. I need grace. That's what it is. It's favor, strength, that God gives to us that we don't deserve. But doesn't that fit in with His purpose? Isn't that what it's all about? Shouldn't we be lined up with what His purpose is? Praise God! I'll tell you, that's what it's about and I just...I pray that God will bring me to the place where I am willing for the things that He shows me. That when these things rise to the surface in my nature, I don't start justifying them. I don't say, but You don't know what they did or You don't know my circumstances. I'm different. I'm suffering and nobody else understands. I'm this and I'm that. I'm...I'm evil, I'm bad, I'm weak, I'm worthless, I'm 1,001 things. Oh, I'll tell you, we need to believe the Word of God. That's part of it. A lot of times we don't believe what God says about us. Do you believe God loves you? Do you believe God loves you, personally, right now, as you are? Our problem is, we see ourselves differently than God sees us. Sometimes we fool ourselves, we think we're better than we are, a lot of times...most of the time, probably, or we see ourselves as terrible, unworthy...oh, the devil just fills our minds with how negative and how terrible everything is, and we see ourselves that way. We might see ourselves as other people see us to some degree. We might even see ourselves as we really are right now, at best. But, you know how God sees you and me? He doesn't see us as we are. He sees us as we will be. Think about that. That's how He looks at you and me. He knows what He has the power to do in your life and in mine. We don't ever have to shrink back and say, oh God, look at what I am. But He's saying to you, look at what I can make you. Look at what I'm going to make you. John says, we don't know what we shall be, but we know that when He shall come, "...When he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (KJV). I'll tell you, we serve a risen Savior, who is able to do all that He has promised to do. And oh, we need every day to come to Him with a humbleness of heart to this great throne...not to get everything fixed up in our environment, but, Lord...oh God, do what's needed in me. All this stuff that's happening to me is evoking certain kinds of responses in me. Are those responses the ones you want? Or are they just part of my old nature that you need to get rid of. Oh God, give me the strength to love that person that I just cannot stand...to forgive, to reach out, to embrace. Isn't that what God wants? He wants to make us a people who love one another, who walk together. I don't know how we can do it except by going to a throne and finding grace and mercy. I don't have it, do you? Anybody here that's got the ability to do all this? I don't! But I know there's a place that He has freely provided for me, that if I am willing to come before Him, He is able. Now does all this mean that God's not interested in the other things in our lives? Oh yes, He is. He's promised to meet all our needs, supply all our needs according to His riches in glory. I wonder how many times we're blocking things that He would give us, because we're coming to Him with all this baggage that we're not willing to let go. Do we sometimes interfere with God's plan in loving things that He would love to give us? I believe there's people living in poverty that God would love to bless. But oh, may God give us the willingness to let go of these things. You know, I...every once in a while I hear wonderful testimonies of God's provision and God's faithfulness. I just read another one last night. A new edition of the magazine, "The Voice of the Martyrs" came out and I was just enjoying some of the accounts, 'cause this is contemporary stuff. This is happening now in other parts of the world. And there was a man, a minister in Uzbekistan. How many of you can say that? This is, as far as I know, it seemed to indicate, at least in the article that this is actually the modern name of the place where Job lived. He was from the land of Uz. And here's Uzbekistan, today. Anyway...he was a faithful minister struggling to serve the Lord and to stand for the Lord in a Muslim dominated country, and suffering persecution. He said he lost count of how many times he was arrested and sometimes beaten. And in this particular incident, he had been in prison for about six months, and Christians in the area, I guess, were weak and timid and they were afraid to even help his family. There was his family, five kids...wife and five kids. And nobody had the courage to help 'em. There they were just trusting God. And he came out, and he went and actually preached to an empty church several...two or three times. He said, I'm gonna continue. I'm gonna serve God. I'm gonna be faithful. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of what they can do to me, and all of this stuff that I have, they can have it all. I'm gonna serve Jesus. I'll tell you, do we have that kind of faith? God's gonna give us what we need as we need it. But, I'll tell you, that sobers me. That humbles me to see that I have brothers and sisters right now that God has worked that kind of grace in. Well, I know where to get it, do you? As we need it, we have a place we can go and say, Lord, you've put me in this situation where I don't have the grace that I need to handle this, but I've got a throne to which I can go. You know if we go with the right spirit, with a willingness for God to change us, I think we can ask confidently, don't you? ( congregational amens ). If we ask anything according to His will...what? Then He hears us. And if we know He hears us, we know we have the petition that we asked. Anyway, I started to tell about this man and you know as he continued to be faithful, Christians began to come around a little bit. But when he first came back, they had reached a point where there was no money, there was no food. His little seven year old daughter came and said, Daddy, I'm hungry. When are we gonna eat? He said, don't worry about it. We'll eat in the morning. And so they went to bed and got up in the morning. Daddy, I'm hungry. I'd like something to eat. Well, let's just go out in the garden and work a little while. We'll eat after a while. And so they went out there, and all of a sudden a car drove up, and they were looking for him by name--a couple of men looking for him by name. And, a couple of young men got out, walked up to him with an envelope, handed it to him. He opened it, and there was the equivalent of 200 dollars in there, which was for them a month's salary. And about the time he reacted in just shock, I guess. How full of unbelief are we? But he was reacting with shock, then he looked up and his daughter...he and his daughter ran after the car to try to thank the men and they got to the road, there was no cloud of dust. There was no sound of an engine, no car in sight. They looked at the road. There was no evidence that a car had even been there. This was a dirt road. And the little seven year old girl looked up at her dad and said, Daddy, your God is gonna be my God. I'll tell you what, we serve a God, who, when there is no way, He can make a way. We don't have to worry about the things that we need in this life. He knows about those things. You read Matthew chapter 6. "...Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and..." what? ( congregational response ). "...His righteousness..." That's what He's concerned about. If we will be first concerned with what He's concerned about and going to Him with a willingness and a humbleness to have...for Him to make the changes in here, He can take care of all this stuff. Here was a man who had so given himself to the Lord, he didn't care about all the stuff that he had in the world. He was gonna serve God. There was another testimony of a man, a minister and his family. And when he was in contact with the magazine that published his story, he said, I want you to print our photos. I don't want you to put black spots or black blocks over our eyes. I'm not afraid. We're serving God. I want them to see who we are. I'll tell you what, God is gonna raise up an army that will serve Him in this hour. But we're gonna have to learn what He's interested in. First it's to change us, be willing to go to that throne of grace and say, oh God, make the changes. Let me turn loose of all of my fears and believe what You say. Let me turn loose of all my bitterness, all of my unforgiveness, all of my resentments, all of my critical attitude, 1,001 things, Lord, that just hinder the flow of Your Spirit through me to somebody else. God change me. I can't do it. I don't have the strength, but You promised to grant me grace, Lord. Help me. I'll tell you, we're gonna see God do some things that we have never imagined when we let Him do what He first...what He wants to do in us. He is faithful. We have a great place to which we can go. "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (NIV). That's when we go. Praise God! I pray that God will grant me the grace, the willingness to go when I need to go. Not to wallow in the things that the devil would try to bring to my mind and to my heart. Say, devil, you have no right to my mind. You have no right to my life. Jesus Christ purchased me with the price of His blood. I believe He loves me. He knows my name. I'm gonna go to Him for the strength right now to praise Him, to believe Him and to be the kind of person He wants me to be. And I know He's gonna answer, because He's the One who's put this promise in His Book. And I'm gonna go by what He said, not what the devil tells me. I'll tell you, do you think that God will be pleased with that? ( congregational response ). I do, too. It's His throne. Let's go to it when we need it. Praise God! ( congregational praise ). |
