Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 6/10/15

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 6/10/15

When men begin to pray:

Gen 4:25  And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

Gen 4:26  And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

When men begin to pray, to call upon the name of the Lord, choose to worship the Lord and make the choice to not worship the gods of the heathens…  True worship is worshipping the God of heaven.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

It is wonderful to know that tonight as well as tomorrow morning, the Father is looking to see who is going to worship the true God in heaven. 

The effects of true worship was that Enos called upon the name of the Lord.  Praying to the Lord sets us apart from the gods of this world.

I was studying, concerning Jeremiah and how the children of Israel were turned to worshipping the queen of heaven and were actually mimicking the worship of the heathen around them.  We have all seen how people mimic and soon are following the actions of those around them.

I told my wife to help me to not let Sophie push off things from the deck.  You may wonder how Sophie learned how to push things off the deck.  Cade and Cole had toys that they pushed off the deck.  They taught her.  I don’t see the fun in it, but they do. 

I noticed that Cole learned this tumble.  He takes a tumble without tripping or anything.  He comes into a room and goes through this motion and all of the sudden he is on the floor.  It was not long until Cade was doing the same move but not as practiced.  Whatever Cole brings home, Cade tries.

It is the same with the adults.  People are bound by the world and soon, there are more people bound by the same thing.  So it was in the days of Enos.  There were those that were carried away with idol worship. 

Praying to the Lord sets us apart from the gods of this world.  It is a wonderful thing.  The world is an old story that goes around trying to find something new that you and I would be attracted to.  True prayer and worship sets us apart from idol worship.

There is such a privilege of being set apart from the world and from the religious world.  Whatever religious book that preachers get a hold of and preach from.  A woman said, “I go to my husband whenever I want to know anything.  My pastor told me to do that.”  She is in bad shape now, her husband died.

“Praise the Lord! My heart with His love is beaming, I am a child of God.” B.E. Warren.

When we get saved, God gives us a name.  The Kelly children have a first name, but that is not all.  They have a family name.  When men and women begin to call upon God and be changed, their name changes.  They begin to be a part of the family of God. 

This name of God is vital.  I am not a follower of John Wesley.  I am not a follower of the man that puts out the Faith and Victory magazine.  I am a child of God. 

The only way that stays real is for us to pray.  There is something in the minds of individuals that want to line up with whomever.  Line up with God and God alone.

This is an old message.  Brother Warner saw that we must get past people and be followers of God.  What makes us be a follower of God is praying and seeking after God and hearing from heaven. 

When we begin to call on the Lord, we have a heavenly Father.  Clara Brooke wrote about her heavenly Father, “My heavenly Father is caring for me.”  It is only when we begin to pray that we realize that.

We will have challenges in life and need to realize, “I am not going to be moved away from God, I am going to begin to pray.”  I don’t know what was going on in Clara Brooke’s life, “My bark He is guiding o’er life’s raging sea.”

We are saved and sanctified so that we can stand the storms.  The storms will come and they will be big ones.  God wants us to pray and get ahold of Him.

Remember Sister Clara Brooke, she wrote, “My bark He is guiding o’er life’s raging sea.”  There would be those in this audience that had really tough nights sleeping.  There are things, sadness, disappointment, heartache, the unknown, and precious children that are being abused or on their way to being abused.  Talk about upsetting! 

There will be tough times; we must have an attitude, “I am going through it.  I am going to pray and seek God.”  If pain and grief cause you to quit praying… pray, pray and pray again.

“Though storms overshadow and billows are wild.”  She was set to go through the storm.  “They cannot overwhelm me.”  I want to get there.  I was overwhelmed recently with sadness.  There was no place to give up.  I had to go back to God and say, “God it is unfair to my wife and the saints for me to be so sad that I cannot do anything except go over and over this. 

“They cannot overwhelm me for I am his child.”  When men begin to pray God comes on the scene.

Jas 4:8a  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

I am not going to let this keep me from praying.  I am not going to let this captivate my prayer.  God draws near when we begin to pray.  24/7/365 He draws near.

Enos was a worshipper of God.  He became a citizen of another country.  When we pray and touch heaven, we realize, “I am just a sojourner.  The things of this world will pass.  If I am going to be as the trees of Lebanon skipping around heaven,” as Brother Bill said of Sister Margaret, “I want to go through.” 

We will not be conquering through control issues or setting everything up so they fit us.  Enos prayed and realized, I am a citizen of another country and God delivered him from false idol worship.

We need to be prepared for whatever comes with that.  “I am marked, marked, marked.”  That is the right mark, we refuse to worship the gods of this world.

When we pray God draws us near to us.  It is wonderful when people come close and then they draw you near to them.  We have all felt the wall.  I don’t like it but there are people that since you are not what they think you ought to be there is a wall.

It is wonderful when people draw near to God and then God reaches out and draws them near.

Condemnation does nothing for us except emphasize, “You are wrong, you failed, you didn’t handle it right, or you should have done this or that.”  But conviction and godly sorrow works repentance not to be repented of.

2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.

The Law brings condemnation and puts a vail over us.  It is wonderful when condemnation turns to conviction.

2Co 3:16  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Prayer with conviction gains audience with God.  The Spirit of the Lord brings liberty. Isn’t it wonderful when you are drawn to Him and He is drawn to you?  You begin to pray and there is liberty, the liberty to let some things go.  “God I have to let you have this sadness.  I have to let this thing go.  I have to get in your presence.”

It is so awesome when you come into His presence.  When God comes to us, He always brings something.  He says, “You probably have some things you want to give me.”  We tend to tell Him all our troubles.  We also need to tell Him how thankful we are. 

We have someone to help us to hear our burdens.  We have someone to go to.  I was full of sadness recently.  I lived with it, ate with it, went to bed with it.  I felt like a failure.  Let me tell you, when you go to God, He takes that sadness and says, “It is my good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

The Spirit of God brings liberty for God to work and to change us.  If someone bugs you, get to God until you are changed.  There will always be people that have traits that are undesirable.  Get to God and say, “I don’t want to carry this, I am giving it to you.  I want you to change me.

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

God I am really needy, I am lifting up holy hands.  I see the glory of the Lord, His spotless life, I know there is victory.  We look into the Word of God and it always has the answers.  Before I could read, it had the answers, my mother helped me to find it.

We are changed into that same image, holy harmless, humble, bear one another’s burdens, forgiving.  We are changed into that same image from glory to glory.  In His presence, everything looks different.

My heart cry to God for Paradise Church of God is:

That the pastor would have the heart of a shepherd.

For the saints, that they would have a heart to shepherd a child.  Children know immediately if your heart goes to them.  Their parents will resist you until you feel you have been pushed back three steps.  The children will come up and put their arms around your leg.

That you would have a heart to shepherd a young person.  Young people need to know that someone loves them.

For the pastor and the saints that we would know our need to pray.  Don’t let anyone or any situation cheat you out of praying.  Don’t let anyone crowd God out of your life.  Have a value of how important prayer is.  God has to be first.  Take care of your body, take care of your soul. 

God help us to know our need to pray, seek God, and to be changed by His Spirit.  Only God can change us. 

We are in perilous times.  “You need to pray.”  The choir sings that song.