Lord, open the sacred page and reveal Yourself to us. That is Your precious Word. Give us a love for the Word of God, and just have Your way. Bless us as we come to share together tonight.
Lord, listen to this prayer. In every one of our hearts, we repent before You. We want You, Lord. So hear our cry and our prayer tonight, and bless Your precious Word. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray together. Amen.
Well, good evening, saints.
That was pretty weak. Good evening, saints.
Thank you. Thank you.
Well, I did want to mention one thing before I begin tonight. This is the forty-first family conference. There were two conferences previous to that that were not family conferences. But our brother Lance came to all forty of the previous family conferences, and we were greatly enriched by the ministry that the Lord gave through our brother. We are very grateful.
Now, we had invited Lance again this year, but the Lord had a different plan for our brother. I am sure he would rather be where he is than here tonight. But we are thankful for that ministry through all those years.
Now, I also do have an announcement to make: the Lord is coming soon. The King is coming soon. He is coming to set up His kingdom on this earth. Hallelujah! He is coming soon, brothers and sisters.
The question is, are we ready? Are we ready for the King? Are we ready to live in His kingdom? That is the importance of what we are trying to do this year—in fact, every year.
It has been our desire that the Lord have a people: a people for Himself; a people that will fulfill His eternal purpose; a people that will be ready to serve with Him in His kingdom. May it be so, brothers and sisters. May it be so.
Now, our brothers read the theme verse for this year, from which the burden we had for this year came: 1 Corinthians 4:1-2.
Let a man so account of us, as servants of Christ,
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required of stewards
that they be found faithful.
Brothers and sisters, as we share this week, I just want to use this evening to prepare our hearts for this coming week—to give us a sense of what the burden is for this week and what this week will be about.
You will hear words like servants, stewards, mysteries, eternal purpose, heavenly vision, and spiritual revelation.
In Ephesians 3:9, Paul said that he was charged with enlightening all with the knowledge of what is the administration of the mystery, hidden throughout the ages in God. Then, in Ephesians 3:11, he says, “According to the purpose of the ages”—the eternal purpose—“which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In Matthew 16:17, our Lord Jesus, after about two years into His ministry, turned to His disciples and said, “Whom say ye that I am?” Peter responded:
Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
What a revelation! The Lord Jesus said to him, “Peter, this is not just something you have learned. This is not from flesh and blood, but the Father Himself has given you divine revelation of this mystery.”
In Acts 26:19, Paul, before King Agrippa as he was being tried, said:
King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
And in 2 Timothy 1:9, Paul said:
He hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace.
In Matthew 25:23, in the parable of the talents, the Lord said unto the servant:
Well done, good and faithful servant;
thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will make thee ruler over many things:
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
My burden is that we might sense the Lord’s burden tonight for this week, and that we might receive the charge of the Lord for the week: what we need to consider, think about, and respond to—a sense of the Lord’s burden.
You know, the apostle John had been given a revelation, which he wrote, and we know it as the book of Revelation. In order to prepare us to receive what he had seen by divine revelation, he said:
Blessed is he that heareth the words of the prophecy,
and keepeth those things which are written therein:
for the time is at hand.
The time is at hand. He was trying to prepare us, and he says, “You need to hear. You need to listen. And not only that, you need to keep what you hear and what has been shared, because the time is at hand.”
Brothers and sisters, we do believe the time is near. The time is at hand. You even wonder if we will complete this conference before He returns.
The signs are all around us, brothers and sisters, of His imminent return. The world is tragically in turmoil because it has left the Light of the world. It has left Him and turned to darkness—economically, politically, in our educational system, and morally.
It has become as in the days of Noah. The Lord’s words concerning the days of Noah were that it grieved Him that He had made man. Is this not the age into which we have now entered in such a fast way in these last days?
But the Lord has encouraged us, has He not? He says:
When ye see these things, look up;
for your redemption draweth nigh.
That should be a great joy to our hearts at this time. The time is at hand, and the question is, are we ready? Are we living our lives according to the mysteries that have been revealed and the eternal purpose of God?
In Revelation 10:7, it says:
At the sound of the seventh angel,
the mystery of God will be completed.
At the sound of the seventh angel—that is ahead of us—the mystery of God will be complete. This tells us that this mystery is not only something that needs to be revealed, but something that needs to be worked out in time now on this earth. It is obviously very important to our God.
And I would have to ask these questions tonight: Do you know the mysteries? Do you know them? Have you seen the mystery? Are you involved in the mysteries? Are you a part of the mystery being worked out? Are you a steward of the mystery?
If so, are you a faithful steward of the mysteries? When you meet the Lord, is He going to be able to say, “Good and faithful servant, enter the joy of the Lord”?
Brothers and sisters, in eternity past, there was something deep hidden in God’s heart—something that was so precious to Him, something special, more valuable than all the riches of this world. It was God’s heart’s passion.
Out of that passion came His eternal purpose, which He purposed in Himself. He created the world, and especially man, to serve and be a part of this great purpose of God and the fulfilling of the mysteries.
God did not intend to keep the mystery to Himself forever. No, He wanted to reveal it to man. But man needed to be ready. He wanted man, out of his own free will, to make God’s purpose his purpose and to serve God’s purpose. In the end, the glory of God might be manifest and fully revealed in Jesus Christ.
Even when He made man, He did not immediately reveal the mysteries. In fact, in the Old Testament, you can find hints of the mystery, but it remained mostly a mystery to all the prophets.
It was not until Jesus Christ came that we began to see something of this deep mystery in God’s heart. At the age of thirty, Christ began His public ministry. He gathered the twelve disciples to Him.
It was about two years into His ministry, and the people had begun to turn against our Lord at that time. He asked the disciples who the people were saying He was. They said, “You know, we think You may be John the Baptist,” or whatever. The Lord said, “But who do you say that I am?”
That was a personal question. Who do you say that Jesus is, brothers and sisters?
Our brother Peter responded with those great words:
Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
You are the Messiah, but You are the Christ, the Sent One, the Son of the living God. The mystery was beginning to be revealed.
The Lord responded to Peter. He said, “Peter, this is divine revelation that you have been given. Men cannot teach you this. It has to come by divine revelation from the Father.”
Brothers and sisters, if you have that divine revelation of Jesus Christ, it changes your life. It changes who you are. It changes your purpose. It changes your destiny. What a change this divine revelation gives.
Then the Lord Jesus went on to expand that revelation. He said, “Peter, upon this confession, I will build My church.” I will build My church—another mystery. It had been hidden through the ages, brothers and sisters.
Spiritual reality requires divine revelation. Knowledge and mental apprehension are not enough. God, through the Holy Spirit, has to personally touch you and give you this revelation.
If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you truly know Him, you know that you have been touched by divine revelation, brothers and sisters.
Saul was an ardent follower of Judaism. He thought he was serving God until he met the Lord Jesus Christ by divine revelation on the Damascus road.
Paul thought he was in charge, but he found One who was in charge. He immediately responded to that divine revelation, and he said, “Lord, Lord, You are Lord of my life. What shall I do?”
How that man’s life was turned upside down by this divine revelation as our Lord Jesus met him on the Damascus road. Brothers and sisters, that day Paul became a steward of the mystery. He became responsible for what had been revealed to him through divine revelation.
Paul refers to it as the heavenly vision. He told King Agrippa, “King, I was not disobedient.” In other words, the vision requires response. It requires obedience. It requires a giving of our lives, brothers and sisters.
If the vision that we have seen does not require life totally, then our vision is a bit flawed.
Brothers and sisters, Paul was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. What that means is that he was faithful to the heavenly vision. He was a faithful steward.
This week, we are looking for divine revelation of the mysteries. I know that some here may not have heard of the mysteries before. You may have read it, but you had no real sense or knowing of what it is and what it is about.
Well, brothers and sisters, you can only find it out through divine revelation. This week, we need to be praying for revelation through the Holy Spirit as we gather together.
Paul’s prayer to the Ephesian believers was that they might receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Christ, and be enlightened to know the hope of His calling on you.
Spirit of wisdom and revelation. We can speak, we can share, we can fellowship all week, but without the spirit of wisdom and revelation, we will only gain knowledge, and Christ will not have gained what this conference is all about.
So we need to prepare our hearts this week. We need to offer ourselves as Saul did on the Damascus road and say, “Lord, I am Yours. What do You want me to do, Lord?” Give ourselves totally to Him.
It is critical that we have this divine revelation. But, brothers and sisters, it seems to me that revelation comes to the fully committed.
T. Austin-Sparks often says, “If you are committed fully to the Lord, He will respond.” He says, “If you really mean business with the Lord, then He will mean business with you, and He will test you on that.”
So why are you here? Now, there are many of you who have been here for almost all the conferences, and you have heard about eternal purpose and heavenly vision. I ask you today, why are you here?
I hope your response is like the apostle John’s: “I am here for the Word of God and the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.” I hope that is why you are here.
Some have seen something of this mystery, and yet we know that the mystery is so deep that you almost have to say it has no depth. Brothers and sisters, it is so wide and deep and high that you can never say, “I have found all of the mystery.”
It should be a growing revelation in our hearts. Brothers and sisters, I hope it has gripped us, and we are still coming because we want to be faithful to what the Lord has shown us.
In revealing these mysteries, God reveals His eternal purpose. In 2 Timothy 1:9, He says, “We have been called with a holy calling according to the purpose and grace of God.” It is a divine purpose. It is a divine calling.
Brothers and sisters, that is why we need to be prepared. We need to be conformed to the image of His Son. Those who are not like our Lord Jesus, those who lack the character of our Lord Jesus, are not really prepared. You are not really ready for the kingdom.
How sad when the Lord comes back if we meet a stranger. Or will we meet Someone we recognize, Someone to whom we have a similar character?
Brothers and sisters, we need to be conformed to the image of Christ. We need to give ourselves to that and give ourselves to His testimony—to be a living part of the body of Christ, which is the fullness of Him, our Lord Jesus, who fills all in all.
Will we respond this week? For those who respond to the mystery, to the heavenly calling, you will hear the words, “Good and faithful servants, enter the joy of the Lord.”
You will have the privilege—a reward for faithfulness—to serve in the throne life, in the administration of the age to come, the millennial kingdom.
I am not talking about heaven or hell or losing salvation. I am talking about that period, that thousand-year period where the Lord will set up His kingdom on this earth. The faithful ones will be the ones who will be allowed to serve with Him in the throne life in the kingdom age as a reward.
But, brothers and sisters, not all will be able to enjoy that throne life. The reason will be simply this: a lack of faithfulness.
The majority of Christianity, unfortunately, are much like the nation of Israel, who were chosen of God, called of God, and told that they must go to the promised land and take it for the Lord.
But if you remember the story, many never made it to the promised land. They got near it and said, “We want to settle down here.” They fell short of God’s purpose.
Some entered, but they never really possessed much of the land. They settled down. They were comfortable. Theirs was an unfinished divine destiny, an unfinished course in their life. They were not spiritually advancing, and they were accepting something much less than what God desired and had appointed and intended for them.
But we do find two faithful stewards in Joshua and Caleb. They did not settle down. They pressed on. They went into the promised land and possessed their portion. They fulfilled their divine purpose and destiny. They were faithful.
If you could talk to Joshua and Caleb today and ask, “How could you do it? How were you so faithful when so many failed?” I believe their response would be, “It is the grace of God. I live by the grace of God. It was not me. It was God’s faithfulness and His grace to me that I was able to press through and press on.”
Brothers and sisters, this is an hour in which I think we are going to more and more see that it is the absolute grace of God that is the reason why we can press on and why we can make it through.
It is His mighty grace, brothers and sisters, that we must depend on and call on. We have His life. We have that triumphant, overcoming life. But, brothers and sisters, it is the grace of God that makes that triumphant life operational in you.
Faithfulness is part of the theme of this conference. There is one faithful One—one faithful One that we have known from history—and that One is our Lord Jesus Christ.
In order to fulfill God’s heart, in order to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, the Lord Jesus left the glory of heaven. It says He took on the form of a man and became a servant, brothers and sisters, and became obedient even unto death.
The apostle says, “Let this mind be in you.” Faithful.
Brothers and sisters, very cautiously, and praying the blood of Jesus over it, I have to say: if Christ had not been faithful, all of mankind would be lost.
Faithfulness. Faithfulness is what we have been called to.
I would like to kind of end with this thought tonight. How many of you have read The Chronicles of Narnia?
Well, thankfully, about half of you have. Brothers and sisters, for the sake of your children, read it to them.
I remember when our boys were young. When we would go on trips, we did not have the little iPods to keep them busy, or the television in the van. In fact, we did not have a van. I do not even know if they had vans when I was coming along.
Anyway, you know, we had the old Plymouth, with the windows rolled down because that was our air conditioning. Yeah, well, the stagecoach was a little before my time, kind of.
But my wife would read The Chronicles of Narnia, and I was so blessed. I do not know about my children, but I was so blessed by the chronicles—and they were too. It has stuck in my heart.
Anyway, the last book is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, my favorite. My favorite character is Reepicheep. Now, who knows who Reepicheep is? All right, who is he? The mouse.
He is the loyal, the diligent, the warrior. He is the faithful one—always faithful. Reepicheep was my favorite. I always wanted to be like Reepicheep, you know.
They were on a mission in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Their mission was to sail to the edge of the world and find Aslan’s country. Aslan was the king.
It is an allegory, of course—Aslan, our Lord Jesus Christ. But they were going to the King’s country. The thing of it is, in their day they believed that the world was flat, and if you got to the edge, you would probably fall off.
So, as they neared the King’s country, the crew began to get disturbed. The crew said, “Hey, we do not want to go on. We are afraid that we are just going to fall off the edge of the earth.”
Reepicheep stands up and he says, “Look, we must be faithful. I will sail till the Dawn Treader fails. Me, I will get in my boat, and I will row until it sinks, and then I will swim until I can swim no more. I will not give up.”
Encouraged by that, the captain, Prince Caspian, challenged the crew. He said, “Finishing this mission, this purpose, is not a matter of assignment or duty. To be a part of this purpose, this mission—to make it to the King’s country—is an honor and a privilege. It is the highest honor and privilege that can be awarded to any sailor.”
The crew was encouraged by this and pressed on.
Brothers and sisters, let me say this tonight: being a steward of the mysteries is the highest honor and privilege of any servant of the Lord.
Faithfulness to your stewardship is an absolute requirement. In order for you to complete your part in completing the mystery, faithfulness to your stewardship is absolutely necessary.
Brothers and sisters, this week, even as we begin in prayer in the morning, I really pray that we will honestly offer ourselves to the Lord, as Paul did on the Damascus road.
“Lord, I may have gone astray many times, and Lord, I may not quite be there. But, Lord, I honestly, by Your grace, want to offer myself to You this week, that You might work Your grace deep in my heart.”
“Lord, please give me divine revelation—not just knowledge, but divine revelation—for this week. Lord, I pray that where I have lost heart in this purpose of Yours, You would revive my heart; that You would revive Your people, revive Your church in this last hour, that they might complete their mission.”
Let us pray for such a move of the Holy Spirit that we will be captured and empowered to be a steward by His grace and be faithful to the heavenly vision—not out of duty, but because it is a great privilege and an honor to be a steward of the mysteries, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and His eternal purpose.
So tonight, I would like to end once again with these questions:
We know that we are all susceptible to these weaknesses. May the Lord use this week to reveal these mysteries in fullness to each and every heart that is here, and gain stewards—faithful stewards.
Lord, we come to You this week. We believe You are moving by Your Spirit upon a people to get us ready for the hour in which we live—to be a people that can advance Your return, Lord; to be a people that are ready for the King and ready to live in the kingdom.
Lord, it is only by Your grace. Lord, I want to say it a thousand times: grace, grace, grace unto it. Lord Jesus, it is all Your doing.
Lord, we put ourselves into Your hands. Lord, do speak. Do it in our hearts. Do finish Your purpose for this conference, Lord, fully and completely. Lord, for every brother and sister, and our children as well, even our babies, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.