Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 1/20/16

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 1/20/16

Mat 9:38  Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Jesus spoke this in AD 31.  When you and I think that there has been a string of laborers all down through to the Gospel Day.  That is wonderful. 

We are still taught to pray for laborers.  Not only for new laborers, but for those that are laboring.

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

We are the answer to Jesus’ prayer.  Not in the thought of elevating anyone but in giving thanks to God. 

Joh 17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

It is a sad day when you and I think of God’s people so scattered.  God is the only one that can do the work in causing those in bondage to have the barriers removed.  We are thankful that Jesus prayed that way.

Children could bring a lesson on the scripture that I am going to turn to tonight.  I have been taught this since I was Isaac’s age.  God has a way of opening the Word wider and wider and sending instruction and correction to our soul. 

Mat 6:5  And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Jesus taught us to not pray like the hypocrites.  We are not to pray in repetitions.  We are not going to teach on the Catholics tonight.  We are not praying, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus…” or “Forgive us of our sins, Forgive us of our sins…

Mat 6:6  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Jesus said, “When you pray, enter the closet.”  There are five parts to this verse.  Isn’t it wonderful that you and I can have many secret places of prayer?  These children here tonight and each one of you in your job or at home can have a secret place of prayer. 

Maybe you cannot get on your knees and pray anymore; God understands that.  For all of us that can, it is a wonderful thing to get into that secret place of prayer and get on our knees.

Get that door shut.  I get really disgusted with my mind and my thought patterns and other things that try to interrupt me when I am praying.  “Why don’t you check your email?”  Why?  To get a message from Herberger’s that there is another sale?  Yeah, right!

If the email is interrupting your prayer life then maybe you need to extinguish it for a while.  Get the door shut.  It is still vital to get the door shut.

Pray to the Father in secret that sees in secret.  Prayer has two parts.  It is worship followed by supplication.  We have many reasons to worship God.  We are so blessed to know about the true God.  We are blessed to know bible salvation.  We are blessed to have brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are blessed to know songs. 

The chorus, “Jesus never fails,” is an old song.  It was written in Kentucky.  Jesus never fails.  It comes to me over and over again.

The song, “Shut in with God,” is a practice passed to us from those that helped us to have spiritual life.  We want to be shut in with God.

The thought of supplicating and worshipping before God: we will become paranoid if we don’t worship before God.  Our times are so heavy and we know way too much that is going on in the world today.  Every time that you read the newspaper or check out anything, there is very little good news and a lot of bad news.

My mother would be 102 years old tomorrow if she were still alive.  God took care of her all her life.  My mother was raised in a divided family for many years.  Her younger brother died when she was young of appendicitis. 

When my mom got married, my dad borrowed Sue’s dad’s car so they could go to Thompson Falls to get married.  They lived in a cabin that was so cold that my grandpa put on a stocking cap so his ears wouldn’t get frost bit. 

They had five children and God never failed them.  My dad was sick for a long time and during that sickness, the cattle and animals began to die.  At that time my mom climbed the stairs to ask if he wanted her to pray for him.  He said, “I don’t want any preacher or any woman praying for me.”  He had a bad attitude.

After my dad got saved, he had a broken back and thought that he would die.  He called me in and gave me instruction of what he wanted me to do.  He couldn’t walk. 

One day the scene changed.  He told my mom, “Take me onto the hill where my horses are, take me out of the car, and leave me.”  I don’t know how many days that he went there but he prayed and learned to walk.  He went back to the woods after that and worked sawing logs until the day he died.

For any that paid the price and made it through, they are saying, “I am glad that I built a good back wall and never backslid.”

God will not fail.  You can count on that.

Worship before supplicating.  We have many things to praise God for.  We are hoping for revival Sunday Morning.  We are hoping for someone to invite to the revival.  I called Sister Julie Kelly and asked for a list of all those that were coming with her Sunday morning. 

We are here not only that we can have God in our midst but that when God deals with a soul, that soul can be fully satisfied.  We love our grandchildren but we don’t want to let them hinder us when it comes to praying with someone at the altar as they pray through to victory.

Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Psa 62:5  My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

There are not very many people that will come through for you.  (I am not talking of the saints.  They will come through for you.)  In life there will not be many people that will come through for you.  If they meet you on the street they will ask how you are and then say, “I sure hope that everything works out.  I will be praying for you.”

My expectation is of God.  He will answer prayer.

The father which is in secret:  There is a secret place of prayer that the Father, one could say, is secretly waiting for you to be there.  He meets us in that secret place of prayer.  I want to be there giving Him thanks, praise, and worship.  After I have worshipped, after my spirit has come under the influence of His Spirit and the Holy Spirit of God.  I want to ask Him for those things that He is waiting to hear me ask for.

Everything of this world will pass away but one thing will abide forever, the love of God.  That love for souls and that love for the saints.  The Father which sees in secret will reward you openly.

1. Enter the closet
2. Shut the door
3. Pray – worship before God.  Supplicate before Him.
4. The father sees in secret. 
5. The Father rewards openly.

Psa 96:6  Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Psa 96:7  Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

I asked myself the question, “Are you and I going to make His secret place of prayer His sanctuary?”

Don’t you love it when people open and give?

Psa 96:8  Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.

I have tried over and again to measure to that scripture and have failed.  It always comes back to me one more thing that I need to praise and thank God for.  There is no other savior. 

Bring an offering.  We pay our tithes and are glad to.  We wouldn’t have a dime if it were not to Him.  We are glad to give a tenth of it.  The offerings that are strongest and take much to give is the fruit of our lips.  Give him time.  Break the cycle of, “I don’t have time.  Give an offering to God.”