TV Transcripts

Broadcast #1650
May 19, 2024

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1650 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

Phil: Well, you know, I’ve said this before, but we’ve come out of a men’s meeting and it’s just like everything that I’ve been thinking about is expressed, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in a men’s meeting where that was more true. That was amazing. Just about everything that’s been on my heart was just so eloquently expressed. I wish we could just play a tape. But, anyway, it seemed like the Lord has another plan.

And I’m glad he used his weakness because that’s all I got folks. But, you know, that’s all any of us have, and I appreciate his faithfulness to us. And so I’m just gonna ask him to arrange my thoughts this morning and try to express some of what I believe he has on his heart.

You know, recently Sue and I were cleaning up an area, which we’ve got many of, that need arranging and need going through, the other day. And part of it was my cleaning up some old books. Some of them were college texts and various things that I said, Okay, I’m done with that now. It’s only been, you know, a long, well, I won’t say how many years. Well, I will, it’s 55 years.

And so, anyway, but there are a handful caught my eye and I hung onto them. And one of them was a little book that I had forgotten about by David Wilkerson. And I think many of you know who he was. God sent him as a skinny preacher that everybody thought was crazy to go into the streets of New York and Brooklyn, in particular, and begin to reach out to the gangs, and just did it by faith, felt like the Lord had sent him. And the Lord began to use him to reach out. Nikki Cruz, a tremendous servant of God, was saved out of the most wretched background you could imagine.

And, anyway, during that period of time, he relates something that happened to him, and it illustrates the danger that I’m talking about. I can remember, I think I can relate essentially what he did. But he was invited to go in to minister with a particular pastor in his church. And as he got there, I won’t describe all the details, but there was a tremendous tragedy unfolding in which the child of this minister had suddenly been killed. I’ll go ahead and say it. He was actually run over by the preacher’s car by accident. Can you imagine something so horrible and so horrific?

And as Brother Dave went through that experience and through the funeral that followed, there was a little bit of a cloud that kind of got in his mind and in his heart. And he began to, you know, that weighed on him. And, you know, you would obviously think about why, what is going on?

And in the middle of it, there was a little thought came in. He must have done something, and God’s punishing him. Or, you know, there’s something really wrong here, and this is why this happened. Anybody ever done that? Yeah, this affects every single one of us because we are so prone to interpret life based on what we think and what we want is what it comes down to.

And so there was a little bit of a cloud that came into David’s life and in his ministry. And there was a short period of time there where he just didn’t have it, just like he was kind of on his own and things were kind of kind of dead. And he went home and one of his reactions was when he’d gotten home, he said, God, I’ll go into the greatest ghettos in the world. I’ll reach into the gangs, but don’t dare touch my family.

How many of you think it’s a good idea to have conditions, to say, I’ll serve you if. Yeah, and so the Lord was working on him. And he came to a point where he was just on his face crying out to God and he said, “The heavens were brass.”

And all of a sudden a voice began to speak in his mind and began to say, The reason this is happening is because of you. It’s all about pride. You going into Brooklyn, you going to do all this kinda stuff, it’s just pride. You’re looking for a name for yourself and God’s got it in for you, and just an accusing voice.

And, of course, he’s searching his heart, what’s going on? And then all of a sudden there was another voice that spoke and it said, Try the spirits, whether they be of God. And all of a sudden he stopped and realized, Hey, that wasn’t God, that was the devil.

How many even know when we get in these places and the devil starts talking, it’s awful easy to listen. It’s awful easy to get absorbed in us and where we’re at and how we feel and how we evaluate what in the world’s going on. And all of a sudden the devil gets right in the middle of it, and he begins to interpret for us what’s happening.

You know, isn’t that what happened when Brother David was with that minister and observing this thing and the voice came in his head, He did something and God’s punishing him because this is just an evidence. Was that voice God’s or not?

And we gotta be careful, you know, we are very prone to observe situations that we’re not necessarily a part of and make judgments. And every one of us is a product more than we realize of our earthly makeup, the culture we’ve been around, the associations we’ve been around, the ideas we have absorbed, the things we have come to believe are true.

And the the problem is with some of that, the devil’s the one who’s injected his belief system in there. And we’ve embraced things about ourselves that came from the devil and not from God.

And God is going to take us through things. He has got to take us through things, or we’ll never grow. If life is just smooth and easy by an earthly standard, how are we ever going to be changed? How are we ever gonna be made ready for something that is beyond this? If we are defined in our thinking and our actions by the ideas and the values of this world, we’re not worth much to the kingdom of God. And I need to be changed, don’t you? And, you know, I just pray that God will help us to realize that God knows what He’s doing.

And so, you know, when David went through that experience, he reached that point where he’d heard the two voices and it suddenly dawned on him, that was the devil’s accusation there. And he came back to the Lord and he said, God, even if I have sinned, I have an advocate with the Father. And suddenly he’s going by the word and he’s recognizing, yeah, I could very well be in the wrong in some things, but, Lord, I come to you and I’m coming not on basis of me and who I am and what I’ve done. I’m coming on the basis of the advocate you provided for me. He is there, and there was a breakthrough in his spirit. All of a sudden there was a freedom.

But do you know, we can easily get in places where we’re not free. And we’re embedded in circumstances and situations and the emotions that go with that. And all of a sudden that’s kind of what’s in charge. And I believe with all my heart the Lord was emphasizing that in the men’s meeting for sure. Wow, I wish I could just replay that. But what a simple truth it is, but how profoundly important it is that we realize that.

How many of you have prayed, Oh God, do in me what’s needed. Use me according to your plan. I want your plan for my life and not mine? But do we really know what we’re asking many times? Because here’s the Lord who knows where we’re at, knows our needs far more than we are, and knows where He’s taking us and what it takes to get there. And we come kicking and screaming all the way sometimes.

You know, there was mention of one-year-olds and two-year-olds and how they react to life and how you have to constantly be on them and keep up with them. And I’m not sure where we’re that far beyond that, many of us, spiritually. And the Lord wants us to grow and He wants us to learn how to just surrender to Him and let go and let Him have his way. I certainly feel my need of that.

And he has ways of just reminding me that, hey, you thought you had this handled, or you thought you were at a certain place, and you’re asking me for more, but when I try to take you there, when I take you through circumstances and feelings that you don’t like, and I’m answering your prayer, then you fuss about it, and you get discouraged and you get self-pity and you eat a box of chocolates, or whatever. No, I don’t quite do that, not quite. But you understand what I’m saying.

Everybody here knows what I’m talking about because that’s called life. I am so thankful that we have a merciful God. But how easy is it for us to get in the position that David found, and this is Dave Wilkerson, found himself for that little span of time where he was actually, there was a little bit of a question in his mind about God’s goodness, God’s faithfulness. I don’t understand. Why would He allow something like this? This doesn’t make any sense.

Oh, how the devil has sought from the beginning to do that with the human race. I mean, you think about, again, how many times have we talked about the original temptation? God’s motivation, his character was called into question by the devil. He’s not really good. He doesn’t really have your best interests at heart. He’s trying to hold you down and keep you from your destiny. And here’s something He’s telling you not to do, but if you do it, it’s gonna be good for you.

And so they embraced the devil’s wisdom. But what were they saying by that? See, they had embraced not just the action, but the belief that came with it. This assessment of God is, I can’t quite trust Him. He doesn’t really have my best interest at heart. This is just a game to Him, or whatever form that takes. But all of a sudden there’s this little barrier and this little cloud, and how many of you think God wants us to walk with that kind of a cloud over our spirits? Of course, He doesn’t. But, oh, how easily we find ourselves questioning him.

And the title, I don’t think I’ve told you this, but the title of the little book that David Wilkerson wrote was, “I’m Not Mad at God.” Well, the truth of the matter is, there’s not a person here who hasn’t been mad at God at some point in their life because of something that happened and He allowed it. Why would a good God allow something like that?

Oh, how we need to see our limited understanding to see His greatness and His purpose. Oh, God, help us, everyone. When we go through things and feelings come and the voice of the enemy comes to try to raise a question about God, we better realize this. There’s an issue down here that God’s got His eye on.

It’s not a condemning thing, but He’s trying to shine a light in an area of our hearts where we need it. And instead of accusing Him or agreeing with the enemy’s assessment of the situation and feeling sorry for ourselves, we need to say, Oh, God, I’m waiting on you and I’m trusting You. I know You’re in charge. I know You’re good. And I know if there’s something I need to know, You can shine the light on it, but, Lord, help me.

And, you know, there are issues. Well, it’s true of every issue. I mean, even coming to faith in the first place, we need His help to do that, don’t we? It is by grace we’re saved. That means God’s help. God has to come down, and we have to come under the influence of God’s Spirit, His power, His revelation to our hearts of our need. We’ve got to come to that place, and then surrender to it and agree with Him and receive that into our hearts. And when He comes, everything changes down in here.

Of course, that’s not the end of it, is it? Was Dave Wilkerson, you know, a lost sinner when that happened? No, he was somebody that God had mightily used, and yet there were needs, and there were issues, there were things that God knew he needed to lay on the altar and say, God, I have no conditions.

You know, another book that I won’t go into all the details that I ran into, and I don’t recall ever reading this. Somehow it came into my possession and got stuck with a bunch of other old stuff. But it was a testimony of a woman that was written and published just after World War II. The events took place around 1930, ‘32, somewhere in there. But it was a young girl who grew up under very difficult circumstances, went to church some, drifted from that, but still had something, there was still a conviction in her about serving the Lord.

But she also went through some terrible debilitating health issues, one after another. And their family was so destitute that even in spite of the health issues, she had to get out in the cotton fields. I mean, it was a tough time. This was obviously during the Depression at this point.

And there came a point where somewhere along the line, again, I’m trying to remember this exact sequence of events, but there was a time when God was dealing with her about really coming back to serve Him and being willing to do whatever He wanted with her life. And she said, Yes, all right? Then she went into a period of, I think it was like six days when she was just out of it, convulsing, everything you could think of was wrong physically. And the doctors were just, Well, just prepare her, she’s getting ready to go.

And her mother was a praying woman. Mother was praying desperately, Oh God, I fasted, I prayed, heal my daughter, on and on. And they finally gave her a sedative that was supposed to basically, you know, hasten the process, make her comfortable. And for about five hours she was dying in the early morning hours.

And then there was a point at which she left her body. It’s something that happens, I mean, we know of cases where that’s happened. But she left her body for a period of time. It wasn’t long, it was like 45 minutes, I think. But somewhere in there, not only did she have a vision of heaven, which was real, but she also met the Lord.

And the Lord challenged this prayer that she had prayed and essentially in her heart and her mind was, I’ll be willing to serve you this way or that way, but don’t send me out to a jungle somewhere. You know, I’m not gonna go there or do this or that. Yeah, I’ll serve you Lord. And the Lord brought her to a place of surrender where there was no condition, I’m yours, you tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.

And there was a complete and total healing of her. And she came back, but there was something else going on while this was happening. Her mother was in another room praying, she had just died, been declared dead. And her mother was still in another room praying, Oh God, this is the prayer, I fasted, I prayed, Lord, you are still able to bring back my daughter, heal her.

And the Lord dealt with her and said, You want me to bring her back to you. But are you willing to let her go and give her to me to do whatever? Ooh, see, how the Lord can bring us to difficult places where our wills are challenged where we don’t even realize the things that are holding us back, that we’re not free as we think we are. And we need him to do something that’s really unusual in our lives.

And so here the Lord was working on both ends of the line. And He brought her back, and I won’t go into the details, but anyway, he gave her a very powerful supernatural anointing to heal, to preach, to ultimately to do all kinds of things and have a tremendous testimony of someone who had seen the Lord, who had seen the gates of heaven, who had a power and a faith to pray for the sick. I mean, that was a purpose that God had for her at that time. And it was a powerful witness wherever she went.

God has a purpose for our lives, most of it is not gonna be spectacular like that. But God has a way that He wants to deal with us. He’s gonna have to deal with things in our hearts and in our lives. Are we willing? It’s easy to sit here and say, Yeah, I’m willing, but are we willing with the things that He has to do to get us there? It’s gotten real quiet. See, this is real truth, isn’t it? Does anybody here need this? Yeah, I certainly do. But, oh, we have an awesome faithful God.

Then there was Job. And you remember how he was a man who was described as blameless and upright, feared God, shunned evil. He had, you know, was it seven sons, three daughters, and it enumerates all of his possessions. Just a great man, mightily blessed, and had so many things. There he was doing what he knew to do. He was walking in the light he had, which is a good thing, and God recognized that.

And, of course, you have the account of how Satan comes in among the Lord’s hosts and accuses Job. Actually, the Lord’s the one that pointed Job out. I wonder how many times the Lord is behind things. How about all the time? One way or another, God’s behind stuff, okay?

The devil had a lot of experience with humanity and he knew that people basically were motivated by self-interest. And he said, Sure, of course, you’re gonna serve You. You’re blessing him. As though that was the motivation. If I’ll just act like I’m righteous, I’ll do the right things on the outside, I’ll do all this stuff, then that’s gonna give me a wonderful life here.

Well, isn’t that pretty earthly thinking? Oh, God, help us. That’s one of the things wrong with the prosperity gospel. It’s focused on the wrong things. I’m glad when God can bless in earthly ways, but that’s not what it’s about. God, I need to be ready for there. I don’t need to just say, Oh, I had a wonderful life. We need a purposeful life, one that God has designed to accomplish his purposes, not only in us, but through us.

So anyway, he gets accused by Satan, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him? Now, isn’t that an awesome truth? Do you realize if you are the Lord’s, there is a hedge of divine protection around you, and the devil cannot do anything to you or to me without God’s permission? Doesn’t that tell you something that God is? That everything is purposeful? How many times have we heard the simple truth that everything God does is by design, is according to a plan, is to fulfill a purpose.

And it’s motivated, ultimately, by the divine love of God and His mercy toward us, undeserving. Thank God! Oh, how easy it is to lose sight of that. Okay, so anyway, the Lord gives the devil permission. And, of course, you remember Peter, the Lord warned Peter. The devil has asked to tempt you, but I have prayed for you.

Boy, isn’t that a good thing to think about? If the Lord allows the devil to oppress and tempt you, don’t ever forget that there is one in heaven who is praying for you, asking the Father to give you what you need to stand up under that and to come through it and to be stronger because you went through it. Don’t ever be dismayed by that.

But anyway, so the Lord says, Okay, everything he has is in your hand, just don’t touch him. And so we know how one after another, these catastrophes that come along or his stuff is robbed or destroyed, or his kids are all killed. I mean, you talk about something touching your family. Oh my God, everything he had was wiped out.

So what did he do? God, what’s right? No, he bowed down and he said, The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Broadcast #1653
June 9, 2024

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1653 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

Phil: I just pray that God will help me to understand how critical prayer is to the purposes of God. You know, I thought about simple illustrations. One of them would be if you’re out in the yard and you’ve got a tool or something, a power tool, and it’s the kind that you had to plug in. Have you ever been out in the yard, the other end of the yard, and you get ready to do something and you pull the trigger and nothing happens? Yeah, if you’ve ever been out with a power tool, you’ve had that happen.

So what do you do? Well, you follow the cord back, and maybe this is an extension, then you check that connection, then you check to where it’s plugged in. It’s a very simple illustration. But if I’m gonna do something with a tool, it’s great to be willing to do it, and to wanna do it, and to pick it up and walk out there and try to say, I’m clipping bushes or whatever I’m doing. That’s great, but what good is it if I’m not connected to any power? Nothing’s gonna happen.

See the problem, there’s no lack of power back at the house, unless it’s December 7th, or 6th, or whatever it was [reference to a recent power outage]. There’s no lack of power at the house. And here I am with a tool, willing to use it, what’s the problem? There’s a connection that’s broken.

Do we understand that there are times when God wants to do something, wants us to do something, and the absolute missing link is prayer, where we get connected to God in such a way that what happens is not I, but it’s Christ living in me, the words that I speak and so forth? So that’s one illustration.

Another one that I have used in the past, I remember preaching on prayer many, many years ago now, and I think it was called God’s Firemen. And in that illustration, you have this picture of a fire, there’s a need, okay? And there’s a fireman who goes, and what does he do? He’s got a hose, and the idea is to spray down the fire with water that’s supposed to cool it down and make the fire go out, okay?

So you’ve got a fireman who’s willing to do it, you’ve got a hydrant that’s nearby, that’s full of water, but what good would it do if he goes out there and says, I know what to do, and he just waves the hose around, but it’s never gets connected to the source of water?

That’s the missing link, I believe, in so much that we do, that God would teach us how to move in the Spirit, how to be connected to what He wants, how to have His power at work in things. Knowing His will. Yeah, knowing His will, but then stepping out and doing it.

I mean, there’s so many illustrations, I guess, in the scriptures, but I just pray that God will somehow get this thought across to me. I feel my weakness, but you know, God’s promised, hasn’t He? That His strength has made perfect in weakness. If this is what it takes, if my feeling weak is what it takes to minister something to you, then praise God!

Isn’t that how Jesus looked at the cross? I mean, He prayed like I would pray, Oh God, I need more strength. But Jesus prayed, Oh God, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from me so I don’t have to go through this. Nevertheless, what’s the bottom line? Not my will, but Yours be done. The focus of His life was not the affairs of this life, it was seeking God and doing what His purpose was and fulfilling His place in that purpose.

Do you know that every member of the body of Christ has a place? Do you know that every single member of the body of Christ is meant to be a vessel through which God absolutely works, and speaks, and accomplishes something? You know, so much of our prayers, I think it’s sincere and I think God is merciful, and we rightly ask if we have needs, like Paul, when he had that thorn in the flesh, God didn’t rebuke him for asking, but there had to come a time when God revealed the purpose of that, and when God did, Paul stopped asking to get rid of it. He said, Praise God, I get it now.

I wonder if we’re willing to do that. There’s nothing wrong with praying and asking God about earthly needs. But even in that, I see Paul not thinking about just earthly welfare. What was the reason why Paul prayed that in the first place? Did he not see that harassment by a spirit as something that is hindering my work? God has called me to work for Him and this is getting in the way, and oh God, get rid of it. So even in that, his motive was right.

But here we are, heirs of the eternal covenant. We are heirs of that which will take us beyond this world into the kingdom of God. And we are not just creatures. When God wanted to do something among the animal kingdom, He didn’t consult the head rabbit or the head of any in a particular group of animals and say, Here’s my purpose, you know, I’ve got a purpose in you fulfilling this. He just did it.

But folks we’re not like that, we’re not just animals, we’re not just pieces on the chess board, as we’ve said many times, we are meant to be His sons and daughters. We are meant to have a relationship with Him that is like His Son. When God wanted to do something through His Son, there was a relationship, He was plugged in, He was connected. He became a channel of God’s life and purpose. That was the whole reason for His existence.

Folks, is that not the reason why we’re here? Are we simply here to live an earthly life and focus all of our attention on its needs? Or are we here to say, God, I’m here for a reason, I’m here for a purpose. Lord, if it was just a matter of getting me out of here into heaven, you would just take me on as soon as I say, yes, to Jesus. But no, I’m here. It’s a time for me to learn your ways, to become like you. But in the meantime, I’m here where you want me to live like Jesus, in a sense.

Didn’t Jesus say, As the Father has sent me, so send I you? Well, how did the Father send Him? Again, the Father anointed Him, called Him, gave Him the ability to do what fulfilled God’s purpose, His part in that.

But every member of the body of Christ, if we are connected to Him, if He lives on the inside, our purpose is not just to have a sweet life here, and every time we have a little problem, we go to God, and you know, we go to the divine “vending machine” and try to pray a formula prayer: Oh God, fix it. Oh God, get us beyond that. He cares about needs, absolutely. But why are we asking?

You know, my mind, as soon as I read that passage about Isaac, my mind went to James. What is it, James 4? A scripture we’ve used many times. When it talks about, okay, anyway, beginning of the chapter, he talks about what was causing difficulties and trouble among the people. But he says, You do not have because you do not ask God. Okay? I wonder how many things that are part of the covenant of God that God has said belong to us, belong to me, and there’s something that I don’t have, I’m not experiencing. He says it in His word, Jesus provided it, He’s provided everything that we need, hasn’t He? Yeah. But I don’t have it. Why? Why don’t I have it?

Do you see where there’s a disconnect right here? Are there not things that just as Isaac went to God, no doubt with this in his mind, here I am 20 years in, I’ve married this beautiful woman and we have no son. And you have promised that through our seed all the nations of the world are gonna be blessed. And there came a time when he said, Oh God, please fulfill your word, please give us a child. And God listened and He did it.

I wonder how many times God is waiting for us and we’re waiting on Him, or we’re somehow expecting this, He’s gonna work in us till that day, all I have to do is sit back, go about my life, and He’s gonna somehow do it. I wonder how many things God has literally given to us in Christ that He wants us to come and say, Oh God, you have brought me face to face with a need in my life, and I have every right to go to you and ask that you would help me in this area?

I wonder how many things that we face and needs that we just sort of blow off or we just say, oh, that’s me, or whatever, and God wants to do something special for us? There are things that God longs to do in your life and mine, but we don’t even care enough to ask Him. It’s not important enough to us or we don’t understand.

Do you see where there’s this missing connection? I just pray that God will somehow show us what this is about. I don’t know how to say this in such a way, but God, you’re gonna have to get this across to me. Start with me, Lord, I need this.

There are things, there are needs that I come up against in my life. Do I not have the right to go to God, just like Jacob did, and say, I will not let you go until you help me? I need help, Lord, You promised, this Your word. I’m not going to You about something that I don’t have a right to. It’s not like I’m asking for a million dollars and a mansion, and some earthly blessing. I’m asking, God, that You promised that I’m gonna be like You, and I see these things in me that aren’t, oh God, help me, give me grace to grow. Help me to experience more of what you have given to me, what Jesus died to give me.

Do these things belong to us or don’t they? Do you suppose many times this is what the problem is? We don’t have because we don’t ask. And of course, we can do a lot of asking, that’s just basically so that we can feed natural desires, and that’s no good. But God is looking for the hearts of people who will say, God, I get it. You’ve called me outta the world. You’ve changed my entire focus, the focus of my heart and my life, and I wanna be on board with that.

But not only do I wanna be on board, I wanna be an active participant. There are things that you long to accomplish that are part of the fulfillment of this purpose that are on me in a sense. You want me to literally step into the gap and exercise myself in calling upon your name for the fulfillment of that. And that’s the missing connection, okay?

You know, one scripture that, well, let me just refer to this one. You can read in 1 John 5. This is the promise that we have of Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Okay, so we know that God has a will, God has a purpose. And if we ask anything according to that purpose, He’ll hear us, He’ll listen. So if I ask for a million dollars and a mansion, that’s probably not gonna be part of His plan. But if I ask Him to help me to find and fulfill my place in the body of Christ, and to have His mind and to know what He wants me to do, and to have faith to do it, do I have the right to ask that? Yes. Does every person here who belongs to Jesus Christ have the right to ask that? Yes. Is it His will? Yes. Yes.

So then what does He say? And if we know that that’s according to His will, We know we have it. We know that we have it. That’s right. Thank you, at least somebody’s looking up the scripture. We know that we have what we desired. If we’re asking according to His will, and we know that.

God, help us to have that sense. Lord, you do actually have a plan for my life. I’m not just somebody who sits on a pew and I’m unimportant. You matter. You and I, everyone have a place to fulfill. When God created the world, His Son filled that place all by Himself. That’s all it took. Let there be light, let there be this, let there be that, and God’s power flowed.

But there is power that God wants to release among us, through us to one another, into our individual lives, there’s things He wants to do that He has planned to do. And part of that plan is to get us to be able to go to God with faith, and with determination, and with focus, and literally bombard heaven and say, Lord, this is what You promised, and I’m not letting You go until You do this. Until You help me, until You help my brothers and sisters. Does this make any sense? Yes. Is this needed? Yes. Praise God!

Praise God, I thought of a scripture that we use so many times, and I wanna focus on one part of it that we sometimes make mention of. But I wanna look at Ephesians 6 and the armor of God. You know, we talk about the armor itself, the helmet, and the shield, and all of those things. As important as they are, it goes on down in verse 18, it doesn’t stop with that.

And actually, I think the translators of this particular translation wanted to make a paragraph out of this. So they turned praying in the spirit into an active verb instead of a participle. You know what a participle is? It continues a thought. And I think other translations will say praying in the spirit. So in other words, we fight, but there’s something that’s going on while we’re doing all of this. We’re not just doing all the right stuff, there is a source of power that’s coming in. We’re plugged in, in other words.

It’s one thing to stand there and have all these pieces of armor and fight and lift the word up, but we have to have this. If we’re not plugged in, we’re like that tool that’s out there in the other end of the yard. Nothing happens. God wants to power our lives with His spirit, okay? And so it says, And praying, I wanna translate that a little closer, “And praying in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”

Now the Lord just focused my attention on that in the Spirit. Because praying, again, is not just some kind of formula. It’s not like something where you can say, alright, how do you do this? Okay, here are the things you’re supposed to say, and if you just say this, it’s like a divine vending machine. If I do it just right and push the right button, then out will pop the blessing. There is a connection.

Did Jesus do that, do you think? Yes. Were His prayers focused on self? No. They were entirely focused on the reason why He was here. And He found out what the Father wanted Him to do. He was aligned with that purpose and He stepped out in faith, and God’s power flowed through Him to accomplish what His purpose was.

That’s what God has called us to every, single one of us. Now there isn’t a single one of us that has the same role that He does, but we all have one. We all have a place. But praying in the Spirit, that word in is a preposition that is meant to convey something. And it is kind of vague, it’s almost like that’s a place, what does that mean? But the word in the Greek also can convey the idea of agency, that is, how does it happen?

So we’re not just praying in the Spirit, we’re praying by the Spirit. In other words, I need God’s Spirit to power my prayer. Does that make sense? If I’m just doing it and it’s me, my thoughts, my efforts, my energy, and that’s all there is to it, am I really praying or am I just going through a form?

How many of us feel like we need to ask God to teach us about this? Yeah, Lord, teach me, not just how to say the right words, but what is this thing called prayer about? Because if it’s just me doing it, but even it’s like everything in the kingdom of God, I’m meant to be a vessel, a channel through which God flows.

But this is a pretty important one. What He’s saying is even prayer itself is something where I need God to anoint me to guide what I pray and to empower what I pray, so the words can actually go forth and do something. And again, you have the difference between a fireman who just stands there waving a hose and one who’s actually connected to the hydrant, and there’s really something coming out.

I want something coming out when I pray, don’t you? Are we just supposed to go through a form and somehow, you know, it’s easy to say, well, what difference does it make? But God has absolutely ordered His kingdom, so it makes a difference when we pray. And God wants there to be divine power, just as when the words came out of Jesus’ mouth, Let there be light. When He said, Rise and be healed, or whatever He said, and there was power that came out.

God wants power to come out of us. He can teach us those things to where we can be so in tune with Him and such a vessel that we can literally pray and see something happen. We could pray and power would happen, and something would happen on the other side of the world. There’s no distance, there’s no limitation in God.

But I wonder how times there’s something that God wants to do and He can’t find anybody to make that connection. Because there’s a way that God does stuff. It’s not just He’s out there somehow magically doing everything, He wants us participating, being involved.

I thought of an old hymn, I don’t think I could quote it, I looked it up a while ago, but hadn’t thought about this in decades, but, “Channels Only.” And somebody had the sense that what God has called us to be is channels. That it’s not about living for self, it’s about laying down our lives and giving them to Him. For what purpose? So that we can be a channel, we can literally be connected to Him, but not just so that we are bathed in blessing, but so that through us others can be touched and helped.

That’s God’s call upon every member of the body of Christ, every member of His kingdom. I just call upon myself, but all of us, to pray and say, God, teach us what this is about. Help us to join, to be connected to You, to be so in tune with You that we’re just not living earthly lives and trying to get You to fix our problems. We wanna see beyond that. If I have a brother and sister in need of strength and spirit, you’ve given me the power to speak words that are not just wishes that we throw out into the universe and hope God’s listening.

I’ll tell you, when we have to wrestle in prayers, not because God is unwilling, is because God wants us to exercise faith. God wants us to exercise determination, and wants us to call upon Him with all of our hearts and look to Him for His answers.

But anyway, I just pray that God will somehow burn this into my heart as I need it, probably worse than anybody here. It’s so easy just to say, oh, prayer we know all about that. Do we? Do we know much of anything about it? Do we realize that you and I, if we’re hooked up with God and He is empowering us, He’s guiding what we pray, but He’s empowering what we speak, do we not realize that those words have power, that they can literally go out, and change circumstances, destinies, they could empower someone who has a ministry, they’re just as important as the minister, that every person of the body of Christ can contribute to the health of the whole and the purpose of our reaching out and being alive, every purpose that has to do with God’s kingdom?

Every person here has the power to be connected to God and has a place that God has called you to. And He wants you and me to be His channels. Channels only, what a privilege that is. May God help us, and I believe He is, don’t you? I believe He loves us with an everlasting love. And I don’t want anything to not happen because I was just too busy messing around, assuming He’s gonna take care of it all. He wants me involved. Praise God!

Missing Link, I don’t know if that’s a good title or not. ‘cause that’s the general connotation of that, but that isn’t that bad, is it? The missing link is a people who are willing to call upon God and to do it by the power of His Spirit. We have creative power that God wants to give us. It’s not just us wishing things, it’s God carrying out His work in the earth and He wants you and me to be part of it. Praise God!

Broadcast #1655
June 23, 2024

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1655 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

Phil: How many times have we said and how often do I need it to say to remind ourselves that the cross is not just about the forgiveness of things that I have done. He didn’t just put him to death to pay the penalty. Yes, that’s part of it. But he put me to death. The problem is not the sin, it’s the sinner. I need deliverance, not just from the guilt of the thing stuff I’ve done I need deliverance from this guy.

[Audience Member] Yes. Amen.

That’s the meaning of the cross, folks, to embrace salvation. That’s at the heart of it. You see why Paul had to emphasize this in such a deep way. Said, I don’t wanna know anything among you except this. I’ve got a lot of areas of truth that I want to tell you about, but everything comes from this. This is the hub.

You think of the old fashioned wheel with the spokes. You got a lot of things that come out from that. Christian service, family life, body life, all those wonderful truths but every one of them grows out of the hub. You try to do anything and forget about the hub, who we are, who He is, what He’s done in history and it gets messed up because we get in the way.

Everything Paul talked about went right back to this. How much I need him, how much I have the right to go to him and say, Lord, I thank you for what you’ve done to cleanse me, but I thank you for putting me to death. Think of something that I’ve….

I guess I’ve I pointed out a passage in the past and it’s one of those things that what I see so much need in me, it’s like I’m afraid to say it. But Romans 6, what was Paul’s, what was Paul’s prescription for Christian living? When we still live in bodies that have a nature, the life that animates these bodies still has a nature that hates God and wants to do its own thing, what do we do about that?

Well let’s go back to this. We sin, what do we do about that? What do we go back to every time as a foundation for getting forgiven for sin? The cross. We go right back to the cross. So that’s part of the meaning of the cross, but there’s something so much deeper because again, I need deliverance, not just from the sin, but from the sinner.

And so Paul says, Don’t you know that when you were baptized, you died with him? I had to paraphrase. You actually died. There was something that happened there in history. God’s allowing something to work out that actually happened.

Wait a minute, Lord, do you mean, I’m still in the middle of this, and you say you already did it? Well, I just messed up and I need forgiveness. You mean you already took care of that. And I need to go back and I need to believe it and I need to reckon on it. I need to… I’ll say, treat it as true rather than act like it’s true for Ron’s benefit.

We need to treat it as something that is real, that we can lay hold of right now and say, Devil, I do not have to listen to you. And it’s not because I’m strong, it’s not because I deserve anything it’s because I’m reckoning on what He did.

That’s what salvation is about. It’s not about what I’ve gotta do to somehow make God like me and accept me. It’s what He has done. That’s the emphasis. The word of God is all about what God has done for us and everything that stands in the way of His living in us and empowering us to be channels of His life in all the ways that have been talked about. We are the one that’s in the way, what do we do about it?

Can we not take it to Him and say, God, I thank you for what You’ve done. I believe it. Devil, I do not have to listen to you. Not because I’m strong, but because He’s already put me to death. God has taken away Satan’s fuel if we can believe it and understand it.

You know, I thought about a picture I have in my mind, and I don’t know how much of this is old stories that I’ve read and maybe probably saw it in an old TV movie, but it had to do with people who lived in the prairie back in, you know, days of the old West. And obviously one of the terrible threats to life on the prairie was, you get a dry season and then a fire and a wind. What do you do about that?

And one of the ways they learned to deal with that was to create a backfire. Now what does that mean? That means they could see this thing coming, but somehow they would go out between themselves, between the house and the fire and set little controlled fire, so they’d burn up all of the fuel so that by the time the fire got there, there was nothing left to burn. And the fire would split and go around the house. Seemed like I had this picture in my mind.

Again, I don’t know how much of it’s what I read and how much of it’s what I saw. But anyway, do you see the connection? God has obviously, has already done something about my need. He knew I was gonna be in need. He understood, I’m saving somebody who doesn’t deserve it and can’t do what I want them to do in themselves.

They don’t know that. I’m gonna have to bring them through circumstances that reveal their own need to themselves. And when I do, what I want them to do is to turn and look and realize, just like I can look to the cross for forgiveness, I can look to the cross and see that he has already burned up Satan’s fuel. The thing that Satan would try to pull on me, I have every right to look to that and say, that is a fact, that is something God did. I didn’t do that. I don’t deserve it. But it’s still a fact and it’s history.

And I have as much right to look to that in a personal sense, practical sense right here, right now, I have as much right to look to that for victory over this thing that wants to rise up in me as I have a right to look for forgiveness when I mess up. Praise God!

God is going to, God is gonna put his finger on things that are in the way of His, the working of His power. Don’t be discouraged. Go back to the root of what Paul saw that he needed to emphasize. God inspired him.

And I won’t go through the passage, but God spoke about how out of tune this was with the world. Some people look for signs, some people look for wisdom. They had all these philosophers that tried to explain it all, Socrates, and Plato, and Aristotle, whoever. They were the ones who were smart guys who were gonna figure out what life was all about.

And he said, Not one of these could figure this out. They had no idea what I was up to. Eye has not seen ears, not heard. See, it’s God who has to reveal these things.

[Audience Member] Amen. Amen.

And oh, there’s a heart that will humble itself before God. God can plant in you the knowledge of what the cross is about. But all the knowledge of that is not just a doctrine that we affirm, it’s not just something where we say, Okay, now I get the cross. Now let’s go on to other stuff. The cross is always going to be at the root of every single aspect of our service to God.

And it’s the one thing that gets us past all that’s wrong with us, all that’s lacking, it’s the pathway to power. Because when we die, then He can live. For I have been crucified, how? With Christ. In other words, that’s really what happened. It wasn’t just him dying there. I died there too. I have been crucified with Christ. That’s history.

That perfect tense in that Greek verb right there has to do with both something that happened in the past, but it’s an ongoing result. I have been crucified with Christ and I’m still dead. That’s what it’s about.

I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live but is no longer I but Christ that lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

There is no way to get to life except through death. And that’s what we shrink from. That’s what the devil will do everything in his power to bog us down with. But I pray that God will give us a fresh appreciation for what He’s already done. Folks, this is history. This is not something that yet to happen. And we hope it’ll happen, hope it’ll turn out all right. This is something God has already done.

In fact, His Word says He did it from the foundation of the world. Do you think that God can set something in motion and Satan stand in the way somehow? He didn’t even have a clue. He walked into God’s trap and crucified Jesus, opened the very door of hope that gives us a reason to have hope this morning.

Where’s my hope that I can be a good religious person? No, Jesus died and the blood was shed. And when I mess up, I have the right to go to him and look up at that cross and just honor him and praise him and see the blood that flows from his wounds and realize he did that as my representative. And I have the right through that blood to stand there as if I had never sinned.

But then he wasn’t just crucified, he was buried, wasn’t he? And God wants us to understand in a deeper way we were buried with him. Are we willing? Do we know that what we need to let go of? Talking about things that stand in our way. Every one of us has more self in operation than we would dare to realize. And the Lord doesn’t tell us this to condemn us. That’s why He saved us. He knows all about it. But what He wants us to know is that He’s taken care of it. He has already gone to the cross as and in Him you and I have died.

Like I said, everybody’s died. The question is, who’s gonna live? Everybody’s died. You wanna know the destiny of this world, you look at the cross. You wanna know how God values the thing, the accomplishments of the human race in rebellion against God, you wanna know what He thinks of that? Look at the cross. You want to know what God thinks of the very best of humanity as people value it. God says, It’s gonna perish just like Jesus, my Son, did on that cross.

That’s the destiny of this planet. Folks, I don’t wanna live for this. And that doesn’t mean I’m gonna be, you know, mean, angry, condemning. God wants us to have the same spirit of Jesus, to see people in need and to have his love and his mercy. I can speak the truth and stand for the truth without being hateful.

See if I’m saying, oh yes, that’s wrong, that’s wrong. And boy, I’m gonna get you over it. I’m gonna tell you all about it. Where’s that coming from? Self. (chuckles) That’s just the old human nature wanting to kick in and help God out. Folks, we can’t help him out. He needs to deliver us.

And He is delivering us. I mean, even talking about something like this this morning is not our heavenly Father looking down and saying, What’s the matter with you? Straighten up and fly. It’s God saying, I know what’s wrong with you and I love you. And when you look at the cross, I want you to see what it really stands for in terms of, yes, you have a deep need, but I also want you to see that it’s the measure of my love and the mercy that I wanna show you here right now.

And when you face the things this afternoon, tomorrow, the next day that wanna rise up in you, what are we reckoning on? Oh, there it is again. That’s just me. You got so many people out there that their way of dealing with human nature is just to emphasize the love of God. The love of Jesus. Oh, He’s so loving. He just accepts everybody.

Folks, I need a savior. Amen. I need a deliverer. But thank God I’ve got one. God sent his Son who willingly went to that cross in my place. When He died, He took me with Him. And the more I sense things wanting to rise up and get in the way of him doing something and using me and believe me, I deal with him, and not always very well. But I know it’s… I’m on the way. I’m like Paul. I hope I press toward the mark. I haven’t arrived.

Lord knows we haven’t either. But He also knows that we need to learn more about the power of His resurrection. But how do you get to that? Fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His what? To his death. To his death. That’s me coming to a place where I’m embracing his death as mine. And I realize I don’t have to listen to, I don’t have to obey this old nature. Satan can knock on my door and I can say, Sorry, nobody home. That fuel’s already been burned up. It was burned up at the cross. I don’t have to listen to you anymore. I have the power to serve God not because I’m able, but because He is in me.

And we learn gradually day by day, issue by issue how to be more and more His. You think about Paul in the scripture, the passage we’ve used so many times in 2 Corinthians 4 where he talks about how death has to work in him so life could work in others. See, that was an ongoing thing. This isn’t Paul saying, I had this grand and glorious experience back there and it’s all gone and I’m just free to serve the Lord now. No, there was a constant having to make choices and having to believe in the power of what happened at the cross.

Do you see how that’s the… Why he said, that’s the only thing I’m preaching? This is it. I have one message. If you understand this, everything else will fall into place. I just pray that God will help us and our desire to be better channels and our desire to have more of his life and power in us to realize: Number one, this is where the need is. Number two, God’s already dealt with that need and we have every right to come to him in faith and treat that as the history that it is, as the accomplished fact that it is. Did Jesus say it is finished?

[Audience Member] Yes he did.

Yes he did. What can you add to something that’s finished other than our embracing it as our experience? See, as somebody, a sinner that comes to Christ, has to come to a place, a point in history where we look, we’re able to look back and we see what he did for me, but now it needs to become mine. God wants to make the death of His Son ours in a deeper way.

And you know, part of me would like, like so many, to preach this as an experience and we could have experiences. There may be times when there are great leaps forward, if you will, but Paul mostly presents this as a day by day kind of I’m pressing forward toward the mark. I know what He’s called me to and I know what He did for me. And on that foundation and that foundation alone, I’m gonna press forward because I am expecting.

Now what is he saying by that? I’ve just gotta try. It’s futile. I can’t possibly do it, but I got to try. No, there was this sense that I know what he did and I know that if I press, he’s going to empower me to do and to agree with him, and I’m gonna make actual progress.

Wouldn’t that be nice if we made actual progress in our lives and things that used to hold us back and used to have power over us, suddenly they begin to lose their power. Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t that be a step in the direction of having more of His power in place of ours?

You see why Paul preached nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified because everything, everything flows from that. And I pray that today every one of us will be able to take hold of what He did in a personal way and say, Lord, I don’t have to live in guilt. I can be honest and bring that to the cross and know that you’ve taken care of it.

I don’t have to live under the power of something that has held me because I’ve already died. Satan, you don’t have any right to me because Jesus’ blood was shed. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they did not shrink, love their lives so much just to shrink from death.

O, how opposite this is to human wisdom and human nature. The idea that in order to live, I gotta die. But O, how freeing it is. And the Lord doesn’t want us to wallow in the process of that, but to see beyond it and be able to rejoice and be able to say, God, I know what You’re doing. I know I can, right in the middle of this, I can have your joy, I can have Your peace. I can have Your victory and You can begin to use me in a better way, in a deeper way. I can experience Your life flowing through me to somebody else.

Thank God it isn’t an all or nothing kind of thing. I believe God is unclogging channels right now. I believe He’s going to do it.

[Congregation] Yes.

And He’s gonna do it not because we try harder or we learn more theology, but because we see what He’s already done, and we begin to reckon on that and treat it as the truth.

[Congregation] Yes.

And we understand, we enter into something that’s already been finished. Praise God!

I’m so thankful this morning for His mercy and His goodness. And I guarantee you, I’m in as much or more need of this as anybody here, but I also know where my help comes from. It’s not in me. It’s in Jesus who is lifted up on that cross. I died with him and I have every right to come outta that tomb with him and to begin to live for him.

So Lord, I just put that in your hands and pray that you will do what is needed, because I know that we need more power, we need more life. Open our eyes to see what this is about, to understand in a deeper way what you did for us at the cross. Lord, so we can literally ask you and thank you and embrace and take hold, lay hold of what you’ve given to us and make it actually a practical thing in our lives.

We just need you Lord. And we’re trusting in you to help us right today where we’re at, just to take the next step forward and believe in you and trust you in the journey to know that you’ve laid out our journey for us and you’re with us all the way, and you’re for us all the way. Nothing can hinder, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ. Thank you for that finished work. Help us to believe in it, understand it more than we do. We’ll thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Broadcast #1657
July 7, 2024

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1657 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

Phil: Well, it seems like there is a pattern when it comes to ministry and that’s the weaker I feel, (chuckles) the more I need to trust the Lord. And I feel my weakness. I know, the last couple of weeks I’ve had scriptures come to my mind and thoughts come to my mind. And the more I try to think about it and organize it, the harder it gets. And the more murky it gets sometimes. But I know the Lord is in charge.

And I know there’s a secret when it comes to everything in the Christian life is that when we try in our own strength to do anything, it’s not really any good anyway, is it? We need Him and He has to show us our need of Him because we don’t naturally gravitate to that kind of thinking.

But anyway, you know, my mind went back to the book of Romans, and there’s so much there. And my mind wanted to just, you know, cover it almost the first part of it. And it just seemed like it’s way too much. I don’t know, I’m just gonna start at the beginning of Romans and we’ll see how far we get and see what the Lord has. And who knows where it may go from here in the future, but we’ll just trust the Lord step by step.

But anyway, Rome was, of course, the leading city of its day. That whole section of the world was ruled by Rome, and somehow there had been a ministry of the gospel to people in Rome. And there had been a group of Christians that had been brought together. There were those who served the Lord in Rome. And their fame went out. People heard about it.

Paul had never been there. And here was this apostle called to be an apostle to the Gentiles. And his heart had longed to go there and to meet with them, and to encourage them and to be encouraged by them. And so finally, he wrote, decided to write a letter. And what an amazing letter it is because he unfolds the gospel in very great detail.

And you know, in one sense, these are things we’ve heard many times, but I feel a need in my own heart to hear it in a deeper way. And I believe the Lord has things for us that He wants to impart in a deeper way. We don’t realize our need. We don’t really have the sense that we ought to have the depth of our need.

I mean, you can grow up in church and think, Oh, I’m okay, are you? I need the Lord. And the farther I go knowing Him and experiencing life and experiencing His dealings with my own life, the more I know I need Him. And that’s a good thing because it’s the truth. And I praise Him for His faithfulness.

You know, the scripture was that we so often quote was referred to in a while ago, on how the Lord’s begun a good work and He’s gonna finish it. Well, you know, sometimes we just focus on the beginning and just kind of rock along and don’t realize what He’s gotta do with us to get us to accomplish in us what He wants to in His life.

But anyway, Paul begins, and I’m not gonna try to read all of this. And I want to ask God to help me not to run down every rabbit trail ‘cause there’s so many, you could take every paragraph in Romans and preach a message on it. I mean, you could do that. It’s that deep.

But anyway, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God, the gospel He promised beforehand through the prophets in the holy scriptures.”

Now, what does the word gospel mean? Good news. Does that not imply that there’s some bad news out there and there’s a need? Yeah, there’s a situation that exists on planet Earth. And in the midst of that, God comes on the scene, lays hold of a man, a very unlikely man at that and commissions him to go and spread a message that is good news. Okay? So that’s kind of the setting of all of this.

And then he goes through and he talks about how the prophets prophesied all this. And he accomplished it through Jesus Christ who became declared, who did what He did, went to the cross. But then God set a declaration, if you will. There’s many meanings to that word that’s translated there. But God basically said, This is my Son and I’m gonna prove it to you. I’m gonna raise Him from the dead. This is not just some religious philosopher that’s coming along, starting a religion. This is my Son. He’s here to accomplish something that is eternal, that is that matters. It’s the one piece of good news that exists in this broken world is the good news that comes because of what Jesus Christ did.

In verse five, Through Him, through Jesus Christ, we received grace and apostleship. Okay? Apostle is a sent one. This is a messenger who’s out on a mission and an apostleship to do what? To call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. So faith is not just a mental thing, is it? Not just the practice of religion. It’s meant to percolate into every area of our lives.

God has come. I mean, you’ll see it unfold as He goes along. But this is something that is meant to affect every aspect of life. The gospel is just not about getting our sins forgiven so we can go to heaven. Is it something we’ve said many times? But anyway, it says, “For His names sake, the obedience that comes from faith for His namesake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

Interesting phraseology there. Who do you belong to? You know, a lot of people by nature belong to themselves, don’t they? My life, I’m gonna do as I please, I have desires that arise in me. I’m gonna follow them. I don’t mind if Jesus wants to wipe the slate clean and give me a ticket to heaven, but it’s my life. Oh, no. The call of the gospel is to belong to Him. To no longer be our own, but to be His. All right?

But listen to this, “To all in Rome who are loved by God.” Isn’t that an awesome thing? It’s not just, I’m gonna dominate you because I’m bigger and stronger than you are. And I wanna make you do what I think is right. This is a God whose motivation is love. He looks at a broken world, sees everything that is wrong, everything that is wrong, things we don’t know about ourselves, He sees them. And yet the motivation for all of His action toward us is not disgust, contempt, looking down His nose, condemning. It’s not any of those things. It’s love that reaches out.

I’m so thankful. The further I go with the Lord, the more I know. That’s my only hope is that there’s a God who loves me enough to reach out to somebody like me. Oh, my God, I just thought of an old hymn that was written many years ago, and I believe I had the privilege of meeting the hymn writer before he died. When I was a little boy came to our house. I remember playing the piano for him with my little beginning years.

But a famous Hymn Writer, Robert Harkness, wrote a hymn called, Why Should He Love Me So? Some of the older ones may know that. Why should He love me so? Love sent my savior to Calvary’s cross. Why should He love me so? And over and over again, it lifts up what He did and how incredible, why in the world when I look at who I am and what I am, why should He love me?

But that’s the miracle of the gospel. That should be the motivation for what we sang about this morning. It is. He doesn’t seek this unwilling, miserable life of being religious. Oh, my God. It’s a love relationship that He seeks. Thank, God, when He opens our hearts of that.

But, “to all who are in Rome who are loved by God and called to be His holy people, grace and peace to you from God, our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” And then He goes on and talks about the fact that He wants to come, He prays for them. There’s this longing in His heart to be there and as He says, “To be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”

And I want you to know I tried many times, but up to now the Lord hasn’t allowed me. So boy, we need the Lord’s time in everything, don’t we? Our lives are governed by Him and He knows how to do the right thing at the right time. We’re the ones who try to second guess and struggle and all of that. Oh, what a blessed place it is just to come to that place of rest. Lord, my life is yours. You take over, you show me, you lead me. Praise God!

But then He comes down to this, to what it’s all about is the gospel. And I believe the Lord wants to shine a fresh light in all of our minds on what that gospel is about. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” That’s an interesting phrase there. And I believe that the Lord wants to unpack that just a little bit as we go along.

Why does He say, “the power of God”? Think about that word. Why doesn’t God just give us information? Rules to live by? A better religion to practice? I don’t need just instructions. The Law of Moses is enough to tell me that. All I can see is what’s wrong with me. But what, what I need, if I’m ever going to be delivered from what I am, I need power. So just keep that in the back of your mind.

This gospel is not just about God informing us of things and getting us to believe and practice certain things. I need power. If I’m gonna be delivered from the condition in which He finds me. I’m gonna need something way beyond anything I’ve got. It’s got to be divine power. Okay? All right?

And it’s “first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” And I’m not gonna spend a lot of time on why He makes that distinction. But obviously God, in the unfolding of His purpose, He worked first with the descendants of Abraham. Why? Because He has a special separate program for them? No, it was a vehicle through which He brought forth the prophets, the law, the revelation of His love and His truth. And then it was through them, He brought the Savior. That was the focal point. That was the whole purpose of the children of Israel.

But it’s first to the Jew because God was bringing forth what He had promised and letting them first know. But then it was always, even in the prophets, you see, where this message is gonna go to the ends of the earth. And I’m gonna call people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation.

So anyway, A righteous in the gospel, “the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is” from faith, “by faith, from first to last, just as it written, but just shall live by faith.”

And then the passage that people in modern culture just absolutely adore, we gotta find out if, if there’s good news, it means there’s some bad news out there, right? So we need something good to come from God. We need a message from God that’s to counter that. But it’s not just a message, it’s power.

There is a power that is operating in this planet that only the power of God can conquer. Anybody aware of that, not just out there, but in here? Yeah, I need something way beyond what I got. I need divine power.

But now Paul is going to unlock the problem here. And he begins with the condition of the heathen world in general. But it doesn’t include just what he called the heathen world. It was the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people. And here’s the amazing thing, “who suppressed the truth by their wickedness.” And He goes on and says, “since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them, for since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse.”

Okay? So the heart of the problem is that every human being, obviously of any age at all, you know what I mean? Human beings, we have some kind of knowledge. Now here obviously, there’s a great responsibility because the gospel, I believe, has been preached. But what about in the heathen world?

And Paul says, Every one of them can look at the stars, they can look at nature, they can hear the voice. He’ll talk later about the voice of the conscience. God has given all men a witness, and He declares that all men are without excuse. Because by nature they rebel against that. They absolutely are aware of it, but they make a deliberate choice to say, No, I will please myself, I will follow my own earthly desires.

And then of course, He unlocks that in all kinds of ways. And do we not see the ancient heathen world being replicated in America today? All of the things that you read about going through the end of this passage, some of them are sexual deviancy, but it’s a whole lot more than that. It’s everything that is afflicting our society that is boiling outta people’s spirits every day. There’s not a day goes by, but what? There’s some kind of a shooting someplace. There’s some kind of a terrible crime. And we don’t even hear about it all. Where’s that coming from? It’s coming from people who are operating under a power. Okay? But the thing is God says, You are under power, but you are responsible. There is a responsibility in you, you are aware. And yet you make a deliberate choice to reject that. Okay?

But then He goes into this point, we are well aware that people like to compare themselves one with another, right? Now, why do we do that? We would like to feel like we have grounds to think better of ourselves than other people. Yes, the world is full of wicked people. I am so glad I’m not like one of them. And we’ll sit there and say, Yeah, man, that’s terrible. God’s doing right by judging those people.

And so the beginning of chapter two, Paul says, Oh yeah? You who condemn others, what about you? Okay? “You therefore have no excuse you who pass judgment on someone else. For at whatever point you judge another you, you are condemning yourself. ‘cause you who pass judgment do the same things.”

Oh, my God. We judge by outward behavior and things that we can see. But boy, if you were to go back and see where that comes from, is there anyone here who can look at the worst sinner on this planet and say, I’m better than you? It flows from the same fountain. I can’t.

If there’s somebody who hears this. I mean, sometimes these services wind up being viewed in prisons. I don’t know if that’s still the case or not, but I’m gonna say to somebody who’s listening to this, I don’t care what you’ve done, I’m no better than you are. But the good news of Jesus Christ is there’s an answer to sin’s power over you. And that is the power of God. If you want it bad enough and you call upon God, He will save and rescue you from all of this.

[Congregation] Amen.

And give you a hope beyond all this judgment He’s talking about. Because that’s what He’s coming to. Not only is that the world’s condition, but there is judgment that is coming. God has absolutely appointed a day in which everybody will be brought to answer for how they’ve lived their life. It says, now we know in 2:2, “That God’s judgment against those who do such thing is based on truth.”

You think God knows it all? (chuckles) Absolutely. There’s not a secret that men keep, that will not be exposed on that day. There is justice coming, there’s judgment coming. All right?

“So when you a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment or do you show contempt?” This is an amazing statement because it goes to God’s heart. It says, “Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.”

You know, when you look at the world and you realize how wicked and awful it is in so many ways, if you really ever see it that it’s true character, it would be easy to ask if God is righteous and pure, and this is so terrible, why does He put up with it? Why doesn’t He do something about it? And the answer is here, because God’s heart is reaching out to everyone who can be reached. Every heart that has the capacity to listen. God’s heart is to reach everyone.

And again, we look at these things that we see in the world and we get angry and disgusted, and here’s God reaching out. Yes, there’s an anger against what’s wrong, but there’s a heart that says, I have the power to save you. I have the only answer that can pick you up out of this gutter, out from under the power of sin. I’ve got the answer. And I’m gonna do everything in my power to reach your heart, because that’s my heart toward you. What an amazing God! Amazing!

Things like love and kindness and patience and all of these things can be brought into this context of what’s wrong with us and what’s wrong with the world. But that’s the way it is. And so basically He unfolds the thing about judgment and all of that.

But then He gets down to a natural question because the world of that day was very much divided into the world of the Jews and the world of the Gentiles. The world of the Jews, they had a tradition, God had spoken among them, as we said, they had the Law of Moses, they built a religion out of it, but still they had a witness from God. And so naturally, a Jew brought up in that tradition would look out at the world and absolutely look down His nose at them and think that he has a better standing before God.

And so Paul has to deal with that, and he deals with it straightforward. And he says, It has nothing to do with what you are outwardly. That’s not what God considers you. You do the same things. You have no right to look down your nose at anybody. You are exactly like them on the inside. And so that’s kind of what he’s unfolding here. All right?

So then he asked the question at the beginning of chapter three, “So what advantage is there in being a Jew?” Well, he says, Yes, there is one, because God entrusted His words to you. You had an opportunity that a lot of other people didn’t have it. That just all they had was nature. But what good is that if you don’t do something with it? What good is having God’s word and then just turning against it and resisting it? All right?

Well, I’ll just make a passing reference. Paul deals with a crazy argument that some people would have… here it is, our sinfulness by contrast makes God look good. So why would He judge us if all we’re doing is making Him look good? But boy, what a dumb human argument that is. We’re projecting our nature onto Him and supposing it’s an ego contest where God’s basically, His motivation is to look good.

No, His motivation is to reach out with a heart of love that sees need and does something about it. It’s focused not on Him and His and all. It’s not all about Him. It’s all about those that He can love and change. And here’s the other thing, what are we being saved from? What’s salvation about? We’re being saved from sin. There’s no place for a heart that still is attached to sin. That’s what God is delivering us from.

So any kind of argument that tends to cloud that issue is, you know where that comes from, don’t you? It comes from the voice of the enemy. And there are other places where that comes into play, but I don’t know how far, as I say, we’ll get with all of this today, but I just pray that God will… There’s some things that I want Him to bring out with clarity. I believe He will. Don’t you?

Broadcast #1661
August 4, 2024

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1661 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

Phil: Well, praise the Lord! You think the Lord’s trying to encourage us in our songs this morning? Anybody need encouragement? Absolutely, we are in a war and the devil is not happy. And I just confess, I have struggled with what I’ve had on my heart this morning and last week, which was with a bit of an interruption. But anyway, I believe the reason that for the struggle is the devil doesn’t like it.

If There’s one thing that he hates, it’s the truth of the gospel and what took place on the cross, what took place in the empty tomb. And he knows, he is terrified that people will understand the gospel.

And, as those of you who have been here recently know, we’ve been kind of going through Romans, the first part of Romans where Paul is unlocking the gospel that God had revealed to him, and that he had been commissioned to preach among the Gentiles. And I believe in all my heart, that’s a message that the devil has done everything in His power to compromise.

There are so many ways that people can somehow become Christians without really getting the depth of what the gospel is about. And so just very briefly in the way of introduction, Paul unlocks the fact that the whole human race is under the wrath of God and they’re under the wrath of God because that what they do know, they rebel against, they refuse to listen to it. They refuse to recognize God’s mercy and his patience that would lead them to repent. Instead, they choose to cling to their sin. Therefore, judgment hangs over this world.

And, of course, he had to deal with the fact that the Jews thought they were righteous because they had Moses’ law and they kept it up to a point in a fashion. And Paul has to come down to the point where he realizes, and he expresses that it doesn’t make any difference whether you know the law or you don’t. You’re still a sinner.

And he quotes a whole lot of scripture about that, where you have to come to a realization that sin reigns, that sin is a terrible power and that the people of the world live under a power called sin. And it’s not just a bunch of mistakes. It is a tremendous power that grips this planet that we need to understand if we’re gonna understand salvation, okay? And so that was what he was unlocking.

And he deals with the fact briefly that the law was given not to help the situation, but to reveal it. The law can’t help us. I mean, how many of you use a mirror to comb your hair, to wash your face? We understand the mirror is meant to be a reflection. We can go along with a lot of ideas about what we actually look like. Our hair could be a mess, our face could be all streaked with dirt. But a mirror shows us the truth about ourselves. And the first thing God has to do is to show us the truth about ourselves. And that was the purpose of the law in the first place. It was never given as a path so we could help ourselves to become righteous in God’s eyes.

And so he unlocks the simple truth that God has another way, that it’s what Jesus did in our place. He absolutely stepped in and took the guilt that was mine. He got what I deserved. And Paul was, I mean you’ll see as we go along, how real this was to Paul. This was not just some doctrine. He just didn’t look up a bunch of scriptures and say, Oh yeah, we’re all sinners. It had to become very personal, didn’t it?

But it was and so he unlocks the fact that the truth is revealed even in the Old Testament, that people are absolutely made righteous in God’s eyes, not by anything they do or any virtue that they present to God, but simply because God has made a provision and the person believes it and believes it in the face of everything that would rise up against it.

And I sense from the way the service has gone, that the devil has risen up quite a bit, hasn’t he? To tell you it can’t be so, it’s not for you. It’s 1,001 lies like Brother Ron was talking about. Well, he has done the same with me, but I thank God that he’s defeated.

And even as Abraham faced the facts that seemed to militate against the promise of God, seemed to make it impossible, he still believed God anyway. And folks, that’s what God is calling upon his people today to do.

I’ll guarantee for everyone who really knows the Lord and has been seeking him and seeking to walk with him, you have encountered things this week that seem impossible and seem to just fight it and say, This cannot be. Well, that’s the devil’s job. God is bringing forth a people who will stand in the face of that. But we are not gonna stand because of any virtue or any ability in us. We’re gonna stand because we steadfastly believe in what God did for us on the cross through Jesus Christ, his Son, thank God. And so Abraham was declared a righteous man.

And then you begin to get into chapter five where he unlocks, he gives a hint that, okay, now we made the point, I’ll back up. We made the point that there are two problems that we have. One is what we have done, that’s the guilt. But the other is that our utter inability to live up to the glory of God, God created us to be glorious beings in fellowship with him ruling over a perfect creation, that got thoroughly messed up in the garden when Adam made the wrong choice. And he has passed that choice and the conflict, the results of that onto every single one of us. And so God is dealing, God dealt with the guilt of our sins by punishing Christ in our place, okay?

But now he begins to unlock the fact that brings us into a relationship with God, where instead of living under His wrath, we live under His grace. And what is grace? It’s God’s power at work saving sinners. It’s an active thing. It’s God literally intervening in the life of a helpless sinner to give me power I just don’t have. Anybody need that? Yeah. That’s the only way we stand, it’s by grace, okay? And our confidence in that needs to be in that and not in the things that we see and feel.

And, of course, he talks about the fact that we are sinners because we were born into a family, but we’re righteous because we’re born into a different family. And we receive not just a certificate of membership in the family, but we receive the life that was in Jesus. It’s not just about the cross, it’s about the empty tomb and the life that brought him forth. That’s the life that he shares with everyone who comes to him, by the way of the cross.

Praise God, praise God, I have no way to get to that. That’s something that I was gonna say at some point this morning. And I think this would be as good a place as any. Our world today is full of deception of every kind. One of those deceptions is, or one kind of deception is, the devil will invent every way that he can think of to present a version of so-called Christianity and Christian faith that bypasses the cross.

Oh we got a Jesus who loves us so much, all we had to do is believe in him, or we just believe in him in this mental sense and accept, Okay, I accept him, quote unquote. And he died for my sin, so I get to go to heaven. It misses the cross, it misses the reason why he died. It misses the depth of our need. Oh, may God help us to face the facts of why he had to die.

Praise God and of course, remember chapter six gets into the wonderful other fact that we need to realize. When we are guilty, when we do something, when we fall short, what do we do? Where do we go for forgiveness? And on what ground do we go to Him? By the blood of Christ, well, where did that happen? That was on the cross, wasn’t it? We look to the cross and say, just, Yes Lord, I need help. I need forgiveness, I don’t deserve it. There’s no way I could make up for this.

The devil will trick people into thinking, I gotta make up for being a sinner. No you don’t, Jesus already paid the price. That’s what we’ve been singing this morning, praise God! What he did was a full and complete sacrifice for my sins. I look there with faith that God has already punished that sin. And if I’m willing to agree with him about it and not soft pedal it and say, Oh I’m sorry I made a boo boo, but realize where that came from and how much I need Him, there’s a forgiveness we can be as clean as if it had never ever happened. Praise God, what a salvation, what an amazing thing.

But now in chapter six, he comes to a different point where it’s not just about after the fact, okay, I’ve messed up, where do I go? He says we need to go to the cross before we do that, why? Because it wasn’t just that he died in my place, it’s that I died in him. I died, I was there. That’s a hard thing for us to wrap our minds around, but God did something. In fact, he took the whole human race into that grave with him, judged for the sin that rules this planet.

So, I died with him, what does that mean? That means I’ve been set free from my old master. Now, I may not understand that. I may have to learn how to not agree with that old master because he’ll come along and give me all kinds of orders. But I have the power and the right, the right to say, no, and to learn how to recognize that I’ve not only died there, but I was raised to a new life. I have a new master.

And so chapter six is not just about saying, no, to what’s wrong, it’s saying, yes, to what’s right and saying, I have the power to actually live a life that is pleasing to God, not because of any power I possess, but because of what he did for me. I was there and so I get to live out something that is history.

[Audience] Yes.

It’s wonderful that I can think about, Oh, I’m gonna get in all kinds of situations and his grace will be there to help me. Well, the problem is we get into situations. We don’t feel His grace, we don’t feel like it. It doesn’t look like it. The devil’s telling us 1,001 contrary things. But God wants us to unpack these different aspects of the gospel, to see the cross in the light that God revealed it to his servant, Paul.

There’s a reason God is unpacking this in this kind of detail. He wants us to understand what He did for us so that we can benefit, we can walk in that truth. Praise God, praise God! Anybody need to learn more about this? I mean, I know that in a way, a lot of this is repetitious, but I need this. I don’t just need it in general. I need it this morning because I feel my need. I feel my weakness, I feel the enemy just fighting this. He has done everything in his power to discourage me from even talking about some of these things. But he is a liar, praise God!

All right, and then we come to chapter seven and it’s awfully easy when you read this to say, What in the world is that? That’s a discouraging chapter. Why do I have to wade through all that stuff? That’s just a real downer. I mean, here I am trying to get encouraged and all that does is tear me down and make me feel bad.

But do you believe there’s a reason why the Lord put this in here? Do you think it has a place? Do you think there’s a need for it? Well, one thing that he does make a point in the first part of this chapter and it looks to the cross about something else because when we are just simply part of the world and does not God’s law reign over us? Are we not responsible to what God says is right and wrong? Yeah, we’re under that law. In fact, that’s what the cross is about. It’s the condemnation that results from our not obeying that law. That’s why we’re put to death.

But what Paul makes the point is this, we didn’t just die to sin, we died to the law itself. Do you know the law has been taken off the table? That sounds an awful lot like you could see the devil taking that in the wrong direction? But that’s not the point, God has taken us out from under an old master, one that we could never live up to but it’s God.

And he uses a simple illustration, in God’s design now, marriage is ‘til death do us part. And so he talks about the situation where a woman is bound by that law to her husband as long as he lives, but if he dies, then she’s free to marry somebody else. Well, we have died to the law, why? So that we could just be free and do as we please? No, so that we could be married to another. God wants us to be married in this sense spiritually to His Son, so that that life that’s in him gets reproduced in us. And we’ve been set free from the power of the law to do that, praise God!

So now he gets into some things, some of it, I’m not gonna try to unpack every bit of it, even if I thought I could.

(audience laughs)

So anyway, verse, what is it? Four of chapter seven. So my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ. Why? That you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead. Now why is that, what’s the purpose of that? Why is that significant? In order that we might bear fruit for God.

Anybody here has power to bear fruit for God apart from this? See that’s the whole point of the gospel. The gospel has got to paint a true, honest picture of our need before it’s ever really worth anything, before it’s ever really the gospel, okay? And I see in this passage, God took Paul through some deep waters to get him to that point.

But anyway, it says, For when we were in the realm of the flesh, that was the dominating principle in our lives, in other words, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us. Now what’s he talking about there? You remember how he talked about earlier that the law actually comes along and makes it worse? Why? Because what does human nature do when law is imposed on it, it says, Uh uh. There’s automatically this resistance, this rebellion.

And so one of the things that God did was to impose the law so that our problem would become more obvious. It’s more than just a mirror that I can look in. It actually provokes the very thing that’s wrong with me, okay? That’s what he’s saying there.

They were at work in us so that the result of that was we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we were prisoners, weren’t we? By dying to what once bound us, we have become released. We have been released from the law, why? So that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. So there are two ways to serve God that Paul’s gonna deal with here. Now, this is a, well, let me go ahead.

For what shall we say then? What’s the conclusion of this? Does that make the law sinful? If sin is made worse, it rises up because the law is imposed. Does that make the law sinful? No, that’s not the point at all. Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law, for I would not have known what coveting was, really was if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’?

What’s coveting by the way? You want something that belongs to somebody else, you’re jealous, there’s a selfish possession, spirit of possession there, okay? So he says, I wouldn’t have even known that was wrong until God had told me it was.

All right, But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment…. There’s a principle in us that actually takes advantage of God’s law when it’s imposed, it rises up and takes a deeper hold and deeper control. That’s the problem, folks, and you know what? Well, I’ll get to it in a minute, but praise God!

All right, Sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment produced in me every kind of coveting, for apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I’m not gonna try to unpack that. People have tried to explain it. The Bible doesn’t explain it beyond that. But one thing it does mean is there’s a sense of responsibility that comes with light and with truth, with the knowledge of what’s right and wrong. Once we know that we’re responsible, okay? I’ll leave the rest in God’s hands as to how that’s applied, okay?

I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment deceived me. And it was though, Oh God, I got this wonderful way I can be righteous. And sin just took over and said, Uh uh, no way, all right?

Deceived me and through the commandment put me to death. So then the law is holy and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Did that which is good then become death to me? By no means, nevertheless, now, here’s a key, In order that sin might be recognized as sin. It used what is good to bring about my death so that through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful.

Do you see where God’s going with this? He talks about in chapter two about the goodness and the patience of God that would lead men to repentance. But how can we be led to true repentance if we don’t know what we need to repent it of?

[Audience] That’s right.

God has got to show us the absolute unvarnished truth about ourselves, okay? So Paul goes on, all right, We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual sold as a slave to sin. Now this is the passage that’s confusing because you read it and you say, My God, is this what Paul’s life was like? That doesn’t make any sense. Here’s Paul the Apostle, and he’s painting a gloomy picture of struggle and strife and total failure.

You know I believe with all my heart that God has to take us through deep personal experiences many times to reveal truth to us. We can hear things in scripture, but unless we go through them, it doesn’t really become personal. You could read for example, all of the scriptures that Paul quotes from the Old Testament. There’s none righteous, no not one, and on and on and on. All those scriptures that are absolutely true. But oh my God, don’t we need to be able to see the true condition of our own heart?

We all come to the gospel with different preconditions and preconceptions is the word I want. And some of them are religious, some of them are just natural, the way the world thinks, the way we see ourselves, the way we’ve been taught to see ourselves. And that gets in the way of truth.

Think about Paul’s background, what was Paul’s background? Yeah, he was a Pharisee, he was known as Saul in those days. Now, what was the deal with the Pharisees? They were a religious sect among the Jews that had built a religion out of the law of Moses. Now they made some very convenient interpretations of that, but nonetheless, they had compiled for themselves a religion of do’s and don’ts of religious practices. And in their minds, As long as I do that, God will accept me and count me as one of the righteous.

You remember what Jesus said on several occasions, He talked from the first place, He talked about there their being like cups. They’re beautiful and washed on the outside, but you don’t dare look inside ‘cause it is full of all kinds of corruption. So that’s what your religion is like.

But he also talked about the day when a Pharisee and a tax collector, tax collectors were despised as crooked collaborators with Rome, sinners, looked down upon by the religious. And so this Pharisee gets in there and prays, I thank you Lord that I’m not like other men. I do this, I do that, I do the other. I’m especially glad I’m not like him.

Oh my God, but do you see something in that? Do you see someone who has any idea what’s in here? What does the Lord say in the Old Testament, Man looks, where? On the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. And so here was a man who had no clue what the true condition of his heart was and he was just presenting himself as you know, Here I am, I’ve done all this. Therefore, you regard me as righteous, you accept me. I’m so proud, and used it to look down.

Folks, we have no way, if we know the true condition of our heart apart from Christ, there is not a person on this planet we have the right to look down upon, not one.