I would like for you to turn in your Bible to the book of Exodus, chapter 15. Exodus chapter 15.
Our theme this morning—the lesson—will be “The Speaking God.” It is interesting: in the early prayer meetings and at different times this morning, I have heard that word come out. God speaks in at least three distinct ways.
He speaks through creation; all creative activity has His fingerprints. He speaks through the living Word. That is why we give such special attention to the Word of God. Then He speaks through living epistles. We take on the incarnate Word in our lives, and we become the Word of God speaking to others.
With that in mind, I want you to look into this particular portion. God had heard the cries of Israel as they needed to be delivered out of Egyptian bondage. He sent Moses to be the deliverer. You know the story of how they crossed the Red Sea.
God led them into this particular place. We are going to begin reading this morning in Exodus 15:22.
So Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
And the people rejoiced, saying, “Lord, we wonder what You are going to do.”
I mean, if you had seen miracles—God had done this already—what is a little lack of water? I do not know if you can even imagine what a tremendous thing it would be to provide water for, some say, a million people—three million. I do not know. I think probably, if you get the Hebrew numbers right, about seven hundred thousand. Anyway, it is a lot of water.
There was some bitter water here because it was a stagnant thing. They had been three days in the wilderness. How many think they had already missed God’s will, and that is the reason there was no water? Can you backslide in three days? In three hours.
But I submit to you the fact this morning: they were in the will of God, and God was allowing this situation—no water.
“No water? What do You mean, no water?” Well, it reads like this in our lives: no job, no house, no car, no gas. “No water” can be a variety of things.
Anyway, here they were, three days in the wilderness and no water. They were really crying out. Look at it again, Exodus 15:24. Let us read it right.
And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them.
The reason God brought them to this no-water situation was that He was going to prove them.
Verse 26 is our key verse:
If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His eyes, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
I love this because I believe it is the governing factor—the governing issue—in the journey of this people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and as they headed toward the land God had promised them: if thou wilt listen.
Now, the Hebrew construction, I understand, is, “If listening, thou wilt listen.” If listening, thou wilt listen.
Moses, in his desperation, cried out, “Lord, they are murmuring. What do I do?” God was quick to respond to Moses’ cry. He said, “Just cut a tree down, put it in the bitter water,” and it was turned sweet.
I love this because it introduces another governing factor: not only the hearing factor, but the fact that when you come to bitter situations, you look to the Lord, and the way is through the cross.
This tree that is cut down, I believe, is a picture of the cross. God can take the things that look so bitter and difficult. We look at them from His standpoint; we see through the cross. He can turn them into sweet, His purpose being worked out in them.
Now, we could go out a little bit, but I need to hasten. He brings them to another no-water situation. You find that a little bit later.
When Moses cries out, the Lord gives him instruction. The first hearing was, “Cut a tree down; put it in the water.” The second time he cries out, “Oh Lord, they need water,” and God says, “That rod that you used when you parted the waters—strike the rock, and there will come water.”
Now, our emphasis today is this: today, if thou wilt hear His voice. Today, if thou wilt hear His voice.
If we were going to have a no-water situation, what do you need to ask again if you know what to do? Cut a tree down. That is yesterday’s instruction.
Most of my difficulty through the years has been going by yesterday’s or last month’s instructions. But He keeps saying, “Today, if you will hear His voice.” It is repeated over in Hebrews: “Today, if ye shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
Oh Lord, help us to really get hold of that every day. Why? Because the basis of this is keeping us in intimacy and fellowship with Him.
Why should it be so hard to come and say, “I need instructions today”? But we are so prone, in the busyness and distractions and urgencies—so busy.
Let us read Exodus 17.
And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and encamped in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?
And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?
So, we are going to get some factors in view now. When you run out of water the first time, you go through the cross. The bitter becomes sweet. The next time—principle B—you have no water, you strike the rock.
Would you believe that sometime later they had another no-water experience? Quite some time later. Once again Moses is crying out, “Oh God, these people, these people,” with their definite need, saying, “No water.”
Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord said, “Principle C, Moses: I want you to speak to the rock.” That is the instruction today.
How many of you know what Moses did? Moses used principle B instead of what he had learned today. Instead of speaking to the rock, he struck the rock again.
Now, if it had been me, I would have struck the people—but by this time you have a murmuring crowd.
I need to leave this clear before us: every day we hear the Lord speak. “Cut a tree. Strike the rock. Speak to the rock.”
Why do you speak? The Hebrew construction of this rock is a different rock from the one that he struck. It is a high, lifted-up rock, and you are speaking to the risen One. He is exalted. He needed to be crucified once. Now we speak to the risen One.
Somebody says, “What is principle four?” That is tomorrow. This is today. I really do not know.
But I do know this: God has a principle that has been so real to my own heart again and again: today, if thou wilt hear His voice.
Now somebody is going to say, “Well, what is the point in learning new things? You cannot use what you have. Why should I have to get a new principle all the time?” That is so you can help somebody else.
When they come to their first no-water situation, you can say, “Cut a tree down.” If they come to the second, you say, “Strike the rock.” It is our enablement to be able to help and supply others who are coming along the way.
As I look back through the years, this has been a message, I suppose, for fifty years. I have gone through different Bibles and marked it, and God always brings me back to this simple governing factor: today. Today, I will hear His voice.
It brings some remembrances. I was thinking earlier this morning of the time when I was in Virginia Beach with Brother Chase, just opening up a new fellowship there. He was a brother from New Jersey who had moved, and he had read some of the books.
When I was coming, he set out a sort of pattern of things we were to do. Friday afternoon, he had me listed to go to a middle school and speak to three hundred children.
Now, he assumed because we had written some children’s books that we were children’s speakers. Commercial type.
You parents who do not have the Beehive series need to get one. They are available. They are very reasonable.
These were things that, when I was headmaster of a school in Indianapolis, I had five hundred children. We divided them into sections of one hundred each morning, and once a week I would speak—except that I read a story to them. I read a “be” story: be honest, be truthful, be kind. It was something I had gotten, and then we borrowed it. Anyway, I learned to read to children.
But here I was, invited on a Friday afternoon at three o’clock. I can still, in my mind’s eye, see each teacher herding their children into that gymnasium, all of them sitting on the bleachers. They could not control them, but they got them there.
Imagine: kids, Friday afternoon, three o’clock, hot. I was crying out, “Oh God. Oh God, oh God. I really need to hear You.”
The teacher who introduced me said, “I cannot do anything with them. Go ahead.” That was very true.
Would you believe, in the midst of my desperation, God seemed to just say, “Do this”?
I walked out into the middle of that gym floor, and I looked down the street and shouted as loud as I could. I had everybody’s attention. They kept looking up.
For twenty-five minutes, I whispered as loudly as I could. I told them about the little lamb that wore the place of another.
I had attention like I had never had before. I said, “God, are You hearing me?”
I think every one of those seven or eight teachers came up and said, “Brother, we have learned that a loud voice is not necessary.”
I knew that before, because I had twenty-two teachers in the school where we were headmaster, and the loudmouth had the most difficulty in discipline. I am away from there; I can talk.
It does not take a loud voice. Sometimes it is the still, small voice.
I only mention this this morning because when you get into an emergency situation and say, “Oh God,” I have seen Him come through again and again and again.
That was just a little example to me of how the Holy Spirit can give you a word. If I had thought it through—but my problem with God is, it is always so immediate. If He told me five minutes before! But He lets me worry right up to that moment: “Oh God, what are You going to do?”
It is just one way of illustrating the fact that I believe the Holy Spirit is working these days, if we learn to hear His voice.
I appreciate the young fellows and young ladies who are here. You are just beginning the course of life. I can give you a principle here and there, but as we said yesterday, the key issue is hearing for yourself.
It is not that we do not want to develop accountability. It is that you need to be able to hear for yourself.
I wish I could say that I have done that most of the time. I have done it some of the time. But I am learning—ever learning, ever learning, ever learning. But I thank God that in His faithfulness, He keeps moving, moving, moving.
I am going to really encourage you to each get one of these three Focus books. These are the three latest. They do not have them here because one came out just last week. Basically, they are stories that every day will focus your attention on hearing the voice of the Lord.
I was just thinking this morning, which one should I share that would give a little example? I was in Charlotte.
Let me say this. We were in Florida a couple of years ago. In the evening, the news came on and was just about to go off. I got to the television, and just before I did, Franklin Graham—Billy’s son—was introducing the Dallas crusade that had been a few months earlier.
Of course, I was interested. I had known Billy and his family, and so we tuned in to listen awhile. A few minutes later he said, “We have a real privilege tonight. My dad’s brother, Melvin, is going to give a testimony.”
I thought, “Melvin? Is that Melvin?” Forty-nine years before, I had been in Charlotte in meetings. Mrs. Graham had asked if we could have Bible studies in the morning. That was Billy’s mother.
I was so happy because I like smaller groups instead of a big evening service. I said, “That would be wonderful.”
I remember about the third morning, Mrs. Graham said, “You know, you are the only man here. Would you mind if I brought Melvin tomorrow?” Melvin was the younger brother of Billy.
I had known something of him and the family, and realized that it is quite a thing to have your older brother in the spotlight while you are staying home milking cows. People are wondering, “When are you going to start preaching?”
She said, “Maybe you would have a word for Melvin after the service, if I could bring him tomorrow.” I said, “Oh, I would be delighted.”
So I began to pray, “Oh Lord, what would I say to a young man in this condition?” The Lord brought me to some verses in the back of my Bible and a statement where I had written: “The one thing the most godly man I know has written is, ‘My accountability to God is the thing I am concerned about.’”
After all of life is over—my accountability.
When I had a chance to sit down with Melvin, I said, “You know, Melvin, I am sure I can feel a little bit of what you go through when people are so concerned about Melvin.”
He said, “Yes, I live in the shadow of my brother. Billy was saved when he was sixteen, and I was saved when I was eleven. Ham came through the area. Our fathers had been praying for many months for revival, and God graciously dealt with me. I know the Lord, but I live with a struggle.”
I said, “I would like to read this portion in the Word where Paul says, ‘In stewards, it is required that a man be found successful.’”
Just checking on you. You are getting sleepy now. Wake up.
Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
I can still remember looking into Melvin’s eyes and saying, “Melvin, in the end, you will give account to God, and God only.”
Billy has his gifting. Billy has his unique ministry. But you need to learn what it means to be accountable to God for yourself, because when we get there and have the opportunity to stand before Him, it will not be a matter of, “What have I done?” but, “Have I been available to God?”
We had a lovely time that morning for several minutes.
The next morning Mrs. Graham came back and said, “What did you say to Melvin?”
I did not think it was so stupendous, but I said, “Well, I just told him out of my own heart the struggle that you have from being in the shadows. We knew Billy back in the early years when he came out of school, and here he is in the spotlight, and I am hidden in the shadows. I do not have much of a ministry, but anyway, I am doing what I can.”
She said, “Well, Melvin came home. He has been so happy all day. He whistled last night, and this morning when he got up. What did you say to him?”
I told her what I had said. She said, “Oh, something has happened to Melvin. Could I bring my daughter tomorrow?” She did, and she had different problems.
What are you getting at this morning? I believe we are not trying to use names; that is not the issue. We are trying to get out the principle: am I accountable to God?
Today, I need to hear His voice.
I was so grateful because when Melvin got up to the microphone that night and stood behind the mic, I would not have recognized him. Forty-nine years later, he had put on a little weight. Not only that, but he was wearing a toupee. All the Grahams had lovely hair. I wondered why he had it on.
I sat there and listened, and he started out, “Billy was saved when he was sixteen. I was saved when I was eleven,” and gave word for word, almost quoting the same things I had shared. I thought, “He remembered.”
Thank You for a planting. It was just so definite, the very words that came back. I thought, “Oh Lord, how wonderful.”
I did not know he had cancer. I did not know that in a couple of months the Lord was going to take him home. He had had chemo, and that was why there was no hair.
I am only trying to say this morning: you walk with God, and God will open doors, and you can speak into hearts. I really believe that with all my heart.
You never know, but you have got to be available and allow Him to have His way.
When you get into this whole story of God leading Israel out through the wilderness and bringing them finally into the land that is planned and purposed for them, you begin to see the unfolding purpose of God.
For young people this morning, let me say this: one of the key verses that God spoke to my heart very early came from Charles Fuller, way back in the last century.
We grew up in Dakota, and my parents had a radio. Every Sunday we listened to the Old-Fashioned Revival Hour. Could I dare ask: do any of you know Charles Fuller and know about him? Oh, you kids have missed a lot.
Charles Fuller had a tremendous evangelistic ministry through those early years and reached into many, many homes back in South Dakota and around the world.
I remember many years later, because I loved to hear his voice, I was about to go to sleep one evening after a full day in ministry. I flipped over the radio and heard the familiar voice of Charles Fuller: “Turn to Romans chapter 1.”
He said, “My text tonight is one verse.”
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.
He said, “Now that verse unfolds into three different phases.”
First, you have the general calling. Everyone enjoys the privilege of being a servant. Paul, a servant—and the Greek word is a bondservant—a servant of Jesus Christ.
Then, the individual who learns to fulfill that general calling, God can move into the more special calling. He separated him to the work of planting churches. He was privileged with Barnabas to move out. One day the Spirit said:
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
They were ministering to the Lord there in Antioch, fellowshipping unto the Lord, and suddenly God set them out.
Number one: no one can ever move into the more special thing for your life until you first learn to be a servant. Servanthood.
I just keep saying to young people, “Learn to serve. Learn to serve. Learn to have an eye to see where you can help.”
So it is interesting: the general—the servant; the special—he was set apart for planting churches; and the third is coming to the specific thing that God had for Paul.
General, special, specific.
The specific thing was that Paul was to write all the letters that we enjoy today. But who would he have written them to if he had not first planted the churches? One thing unfolds into another.
There are times when you can find the will of God in an immediate thing. You wonder today, “Should I buy this car?” You ask, “Oh Lord, I need some real help and direction. Should I buy this car or this car?”
I believe you move with the best reservoir of knowledge and information you have in that direction. Then you say, “Lord, this or this?” The Spirit will either give you an “uh-huh” or an “uh-uh”—a release or a check.
I do not know how to explain it, but you have to develop a reservoir first of renewed knowledge.
Suppose I need a suit. That has happened on occasion. I walk into a clothing store, and I see a rack that says “Special.” I look at the material because material is very important. I discover it is reused wool and it has come from some other place. So, in spite of the fact that it is half price, I go on.
I mean, half price really got my attention.
I move a little further on because I am wanting to find the will of God in a suit. That is not long range. That is right now.
To shorten the story, way in the back I finally see a sign that says, “Ninety percent off.” I am drawn magnetically. After all, I assume the Lord knows that I am a steward and am being very careful. You can get ninety percent off—that ought to be God.
The only trouble is, when I get back to that rack way in the back, where it says ninety percent, they are all purple fluorescent.
Now, what are you getting at this morning? Just this: your reservoir of renewed knowledge kicks in. You do not need to stand there and say, “Lord, there was fifty percent off; here is ninety percent off.”
Without even asking the Lord, I just have a reservoir that says, “The servant of the Lord would not look very good in the pulpit in a purple fluorescent suit.” How many agree?
Could you hear me if I had a purple fluorescent suit on? “Look at me!” Why? Why? Because purple fluorescent would only draw attention to whom? And the servant of the Lord does not draw attention to himself—at least he hopes not to.
What I am getting at is this: you can find the will of God in daily situations because you develop a reservoir of renewed knowledge. All these things—that is the reservoir. You can draw from it.
You do not need to inquire about every little thing. You can just say, “Thank You, Lord, I am getting this unless You say no.”
So I left that store, with no release to buy anything that was there. I happened to go into the store down the street a little bit because there was one I really thought would be a pretty good buy. I found the same suit for sixty percent off, and the Lord said, “Uh-huh.”
I am only getting at it in a silly way. How many of you know that God does give you the yes and the no? You know that. This is finding the will of God in daily situations. We have experienced it.
The thing is, when you have a reservoir of renewed knowledge and God begins to give you yes or no, even so. I realize He led me to the other store simply to save ten more percent. God is frugal sometimes.
Here we are now: some things you can find the will of God in; other things, you unfold the will of God in.
Long range. Special. Specific.
How many of you think Paul knew the end—the specific thing that God had for his life? Would you point your finger at me? I do not think so.
I think God’s way is always to give us a little bud, a little bud. Then it unfolds and becomes a lovely flower.
I do not believe Paul could look ahead and see it all. When Ananias prophesied over Paul, I believe he gave him a little glimpse of what was going to be ahead down the road. But the specific? Probably only God knows.
How many believe Abraham had any idea what was the specific thing for his life? God gave him a bud: “I am going to bless you. I am going to make you a blessing. You will be a father of many—those who are the sand seed, those who are the stars seed.”
Abraham is still waiting for fulfillment.
So here is the principle: the unfolding will of God. How? I listen, I walk, I obey, day by day.
I think it is good that God does not show us the end. There is nothing worse than foreknowledge. I have had a little of it occasionally, and I say, “Oh God.”
The unfolding will of God. Are you with me now? It is a wonderful thing to be able to hear His voice and to know that along the way God is faithful. He is more concerned than we are to bring us into this particular place.
I have got to make a commercial now. Anyway, I have been so thrilled with the way you have responded to my picture. Some of you are here for the first time, so I need to help you catch up with what we are talking about.
We put this on the screen some time ago—seems like a week ago, but it was a couple of days ago—and I have been amazed at how you responded.
When I saw this, probably fifteen or twenty years ago in Christianity Today, I looked at it and the strangest thing happened. The Lord said to me—this was a personal interpretation of my own heart—“Vern, you know a lot about My ways, the wheels, but you are using your own ways.”
How many of you know a teacher can know a lot about something?
If there is one thing I remember from T. Austin-Sparks, every time we were in a meeting and every time we prayed, he would say, “Oh God, help me, help us to live in the good of what we know.”
Never forget: to live in the good of what we know.
It is possible that all of us know some of the ways of the Lord. They are unfolding. But why do we do this? Well, who knows?
The great number of quips you gave was just overwhelming. Some of them are really good. Some of them are really corny.
I am asking for your prayer now because someday I am going to put out another book, and it will probably include some of these things. I have been getting this for years in Brazil and all over the country.
I want you to recognize this morning that this principle of God allowing us to use our own ways and get into difficulty is real. I cannot read them all, but I thought I would read just one. This is not the best, but it is very interesting. I am not even going to tell you who wrote it.
“My wife says the round ones work better, but I would rather do this than admit she is right.”
If you want to pray for boldness, brother—who you are—stand up.
You did not see him. I am not going to say. Okay, okay, that is enough.
How many believe God’s children ought to laugh a little bit? I thank you for your openness.
What is interesting in this is that it had another lesson for me. Back many years ago, I had the privilege of belonging to a company in Illinois that got surplus material from corporations when it was outdated or something.
They had an enormous facility from a big manufacturing company and set up a place where churches and nonprofit organizations could come and get things. Every three months they would send out a catalog. These were things that you could order. It cost two hundred dollars a year to belong, but they guaranteed you would get twenty thousand dollars’ worth or more.
During each three-month period, you would get this catalog, put your order in, and then go pick it up. As a freebie, the day you picked it up, they gave you a cart. They would allow you to push this cart throughout that whole facility. It was bigger than a football field—thousands of thousands of items.
Everything you could stack on that cart in forty-five minutes, you could add to what you had already ordered. I mean, it was interesting.
When I thought of this, it reminded me of pushing that cart up and down the aisle. At first, you would not believe how we piled high more than wheels—everything you could get on in forty-five minutes. I learned to stack well.
The thing that was interesting: you would go down a lane, and I remember one time my wife went along and she found some wallpaper. She liked it very well, and she put it on. We were stacking up, and about ten minutes later we were still stacking stuff. She was taking things off, and I was putting things on.
Her appetite and mine were different.
Now, Ruth will appreciate this because this was a nonprofit organization, and people came from everywhere. I saw trucks from California getting stuff. It was just that worthwhile.
One day I invited her husband, Mike. We were close friends. Wonderful man. I said, “Mike, would you like an experience you will never forget?”
I thought, to make this appropriate, I want to write Mike here and Vern here. I can almost hear Mike today saying, “Vern, where are we going?” He was back there pushing.
I said, “Mike, you do not need to know. I know where we are going. I have got God’s ear.”
“Well,” he said, “I am getting tired of pushing. I hope we get there.”
Here was the interesting thing about two elders working and trying to work together. I just thought, “Lord, it is really wonderful.”
That particular day Mike went along, some great corporation had given thousands and thousands of banquet napkins—all really pretty nice, every color from black right on through. I piled on all the napkins that I dared to. I think I got five thousand napkins. They did not take so much room.
Anyway, I also found some flowers—artificial flowers. I mean, boxes of lovely, lovely flowers.
To shorten the story, some years passed, and Mike passed on to be with the Lord. I was selling my house, both the ministry house and the home I lived in, but it was full of stuff. I mean, all free stuff you had gotten from every place you could imagine. What do you do with it?
One thing at the bottom of the sheet that you had to sign was that everything they had given you, you could not sell. It had been given to you as a nonprofit organization; you could not sell it.
I had the most wonderful time in a three- or four-day garage sale. I can still see people coming up and looking at these piles of stuff I had gotten from Illinois.
The most blessed thing I enjoyed was looking into a lady’s face and saying, “Do you know what grace is?”
It is amazing how many—even religious people, and I think some Christians—have difficulty telling you what grace is. But they will come up with something like, “Well, it is getting something you do not deserve or did not earn.” I say, “Amen.”
I remember a lady who worked on flower arrangements. I could see she was very artistic, and she was wanting to get this box and that box. Finally, I said, “Lady, do you believe in grace?”
“Oh,” she said, “I really do. God saved me by His grace. I did not deserve it.”
I said, “You are the one I am looking for. Take all of these. Let us get rid of them.”
She looked at me and said, “Really?” How many of you know that sometimes it is hard to receive?
She took those three boxes of artificial flowers and told her friend, and then the friend came. There were no more flowers left, but there were napkins.
I asked how many she liked—the black ones. “Yes, they are beautiful.” “How many do you think you could use?” She said, “Oh, maybe twenty.” “That is too many. How about fifty?”
But I had already asked this lady, “Do you believe in grace?”
I had the most delightful three or four days I can ever remember, just shoveling stuff out and showing grace to everybody.
I remember a little girl down the block coming. She had a quarter, and she found several things that she really liked. I looked at her and said, “Sweetie, do you know what grace is?” Of course she did not know.
“Do you like that?” I loaded her with a box of stuff. I did take a quarter. I thought probably that would be good.
She got home with it, and her mother came back a little later and said, “My daughter must have stolen this.”
I assured her that it had all been by grace.
Oh, I am way off chasing a rabbit now. Anyway, what I want to say to us this morning is simply this: God is the great Giver.
I believe, as we are moving along the line of purpose, He is the One who initiates. He is the great Initiator, and I am the responder. He initiates; I respond.
This sensitivity to hearing and knowing how to respond—that is the secret of what we are after today.
Because, as I said yesterday—or was it yesterday, or some other place?—I told you about the suits I got and the overcoat, the wonderful grace of God according to His riches in glory.
I am wanting us this morning to come to a place where we realize that we have not because we ask not. God is bringing, I believe, a remnant of people right here to the place of saying, “Oh God, Your grace has won my heart,” and becoming responders.
With that background, I could say: those of you who gave us your name and address, let everybody win.
“You mean not the best ten?” They are all best. Everybody wins. Did you give me a quip? You win. It is grace.
Now, the big logistic is how to get it to you. It is the postage that costs. If I put three books in a box, it costs me almost two dollars and fifty cents to send three books.
So, with your help, we are going to send a carton of books to each of the fellowships. I hope you belong to one. And you can have the privilege, according to your quip, of having some books.
But guess what they are for? For you to read and give away, to share with somebody else.
I really plead with you: do not let books just sit on your shelf. We have learned a little thing: when I move a book from my shelf to your shelf, through your hands, that is about all it does.
Invariably now, when we have a book to share, I open it up and read a story.
We moved into a condo, and the young fellow in the office, when we moved in, said, “What are you doing?” I said, “Well, I travel and share some things that God has shown me.” He said, “I have got a book I brought to you that I would like for you to read.”
I knew that book would just move to his shelf someplace unless I read a story.
So I read out of The Larger Window the story of a friend I know who was traveling through Ohio in his motor bus, the whole family on an evangelistic tour. The kids were saying, “Dad, we are hungry. When can we eat?”
They stopped at a place on the edge of Dayton. The kids went in to get something to eat, and he thought, “I will just get a drink and walk around a little bit.”
Suddenly, as he was walking by a certain corner, he heard a phone ringing. Nobody was answering it. The station attendant was not paying attention. He thought, “Well, maybe I ought to do it.”
So here he was, going through Ohio, stopped at this place, and he picked up the phone. The operator said, “This is a long-distance call for Ken Gabb.”
How in the world did anybody know where Ken Gabb was?
He said, “Operator, you are crazy.” Then he thought, “Oh no, I better not say that.” Then he thought, “I know what this is. This is that program where they are setting you up and the camera is over there—Candid Camera.”
He got all prepared, except that it was not. After a little while the operator said, “Mr. Gabb, you are there?” He said, “Yes.”
“There is someone who wants to talk to you.”
About that time, Millie recognized the voice, and she said, “Oh, I am in such desperate straits. I have been listening to your program from Los Angeles, and I just said, ‘God, I am going to quit. I am going to take poison. I have got it before me. If You do not do something—’”
She said, “I felt suddenly that if I could just get in contact with you.”
So, as I was sitting there, “Oh God,” He gave me some numbers. True story. I wrote those numbers down, and then I thought, “I will just dial them. Maybe I can get his office in California.”
Except that, when Ken answered, he said, “I do not live in California. My office is in Yakima.”
Then Millie told him the whole story of her background, and over the phone he led her to the Lord.
I am off chasing a rabbit now. God will shut you up every now and then.
This is my prayer these days: that you get hold of this little book on the open doors of opportunity—amazing opportunities that God gives. I believe every day you can expect God to open some door of opportunity. Be ready and available to Him. That is my plea.
My brother is going to stand up in a little bit, so I need to round this out. But I just want to say this morning: I am not a book salesman.
You can pick up one of these little folders if you would like. There are eleven different books. You can order them in cartons or individually. They are two dollars a book. That is about what they cost us.
I would like to be able to bless you from now on. So pray about it. Pray about getting something you can share with others, and then let the Lord, as it were, flow through your life as you are every day open to Him.
Could I leave one word with you? Today, if you hear His voice.
Today, if you hear His voice. He is a speaking God, and He wants His children to be able to hear Him.
Can you imagine the God who has planned everything trying to keep us from hearing? No, it is our ear He is trying to get hold of.
I am just believing Him today, in this lovely assembly of folks with whom we have enjoyed this time, that God is going to raise up some people who will say, “I am no longer going to push my cart with square wheels. I am going to claim Your ways, Lord—Your ways of doing it.”
And for what You are doing, we will give You thanks.
Father, we bow this morning to acknowledge the goodness of the Lord. These days that we have had together, fellowshipping with one another—I will never be the same. I just want to thank You for every face, every remembrance, every individual here who has been such a blessing and encouragement to my own heart.
I want, Lord, to leave this one thing with them: today, if you will hear His voice.
Help us to expect You to speak. Help us to learn how to hear Your voice, to really sense the Lord speaking.
I just believe this for individuals here now. I look out at some of these young men and young ladies just beginning. Help them to find the will of God for today. That is easy. But as they learn to serve, the special and the specific will unfold.
I claim it for them, Lord. I claim it for them.
I claim that You will raise up those around them who can encourage and help and just give insights. When we are making foolish choices, we really need to know how to hear the voice of someone on our right or our left hand side.
I thank You for those through the years who have gone by. How many times You have used Brother Kong to speak into my own heart. How many times You have used Brother Sparks to speak into my heart—just the word that I needed, from someone I could respect.
I thank You, Lord, for others along the way whose lives have touched my life. So I can only say, we press toward the mark. We press on, all the time recognizing, all the time recognizing, that You are more concerned than we are to get us to the end. You have a lot more invested than we do. You have given Your lovely Son.
So we thank You for this, and I claim this morning every ear that is hearing, everyone who is here right now. I claim, Lord, that You give them special grace—hearing grace—the ability. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Amen. Amen.
One of the brothers—for fifty years, he has been a close friend. When I came to Bonney Brae a number of years ago, I phoned my friend Wayne Butchart and said, “Wayne, I think God is moving here. This is something new.”
So he and his family came, and then they moved here. They went through quite a time of difficulty and disaster.
Wayne, this morning, is ninety-five.
He has two lovely daughters. One son loved the Lord; we had his funeral some years back.
Wayne loves to phone me about once a week. Last week he phoned and sang:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.
When he got through, I said, “Wayne, that is a better voice than mine.” He said, “That is God’s grace.”
Ninety-five, in the nursing home. When he moved there, it was out of necessity. A few months ago he said, “I am here for the duration,” meaning he knew he would not go back home.
He sent me an email, as he does quite often, about a pastor who was on an airliner headed home after a very busy time. They had not been seated on the plane very long when the voice came over the loudspeaker: “We are not going to be serving drinks. We are in some difficult weather.”
About three minutes later, the voice said, “We are not going to serve any food. Everybody be sure you are buckled in. We have some very difficult weather.”
He saw that people were in real concern and frustration. He looked over and saw a little girl in a seat just across the way, tucked in, reading a book, totally oblivious to anything that was going on.
Finally, the voice over the speaker said, “Folks, this is serious. Can you pray?” I mean, that is an alert.
Everybody was really alive to the situation as the plane jumped and bounced around. He looked at the little girl, and she was totally oblivious.
When the plane finally landed, he walked over to her and said, “Sweetie, I watched you through this whole trip. You did not seem to be concerned at all.”
She said, “My daddy is the pilot. He is taking me home.”
My daddy is the pilot, and He is taking me home.
Now, I believe there are times to be concerned, but I sure like what he said to me: “I know my Pilot.”
Every time I get a call from Seattle, I wonder if they are telling me about Wayne. Would you pray for Wayne? Some of you have known him through the years. He is a very unusual man of God.
I must go on or I will chase another rabbit. Anyway, pray for Wayne, and thank you for your open hearts.
When the disturbances and turbulence come, tuck your feet in and say, “My Daddy is the Pilot. He is taking me home.”
You believe that? Amen. I do. Amen.