YP Address—R. Thonney
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74.
Opatient Spotless 1.
Our hearts and meekness train.
To bear thy yoke, and learn of thee, that we may rest obtain Jesus.
Outward enough, the mind and heart to fill.
Thy patient life to calm the soul.
Thy love, its fear dispel. O fix our earnest gaze, so, holy Lord, on thee, that with Thy beauty occupied we elsewhere.
None may see this is a prayer and we're going to pray after.
We sing this hymn, but let's just keep in mind that this is a prayer.
As we sing it.
Full patient is mindless 1.
Ours is being as rain today.
All day long way.
I'd like to read a verse first of all in Psalm 40.
Excuse me. Psalm 34.
In verse 5.
They looked unto him.
And were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.
Want to speak this afternoon? Not in anything that profound, perhaps, but simply of the importance.
Dear young people, and it applies to us all of keeping our eyes on the Lord.
We've been.
Thinking and talking in our readings about the Lord Jesus in his many glories.
As the Son of God and as the Son of man, tremendous to think about.
Tremendous to meditate about, and we've been noticing that this is what Christianity really is.
It's not a religion. It's not.
A mere doctrine. It's not a philosophy. It's a real living person that you and I can know personally and.
To look at him is so important in the Christian life. I remember I was brought up in the meeting and I remember from my young days.
How much that has been repeated? Keep your eyes on the Lord.
And I guess it didn't really register for quite a while, but I kept hearing that message. Keep your eyes on the Lord.
And I am more and more convinced as time goes on that the root of a lot of our problems is that we get our eyes off the Lord.
On to it may be, brethren, and you know.
Satan knows that that is the source of power in the Christian testimony, and so he may try to get you occupied with brethren for good or for bad, it doesn't matter in whatever way. But if he gets you occupied with brethren, he's got you away from the source of power.
And it's something I struggle with to this day. I don't know that I'll ever be free of this struggle while I'm down here.
But there are so many ways to get distracted. But Christianity is.
Christ, dear young person, and dear older brother and sister in the Lord Jesus too.
In all his glories, in all his sufficiency.
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In whatever circumstance I may be passing through at the moment.
They looked unto him, and were lightened, and their countenance and their faces were not.
Ashamed. Another verse to kind of reinforce this in John's Gospel chapter one.
Like to read 2 verses in this chapter and then make a comment that was made.
Some time ago that has really been a help to me.
John 129 Very well known verse.
The next day John seeth Jesus, coming unto him.
And saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Now verse 36 and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God, the comment that was made.
That I have enjoyed so much is simply this one.
Look to Jesus saves the soul every.
After Look is the power of Christian living.
Let me repeat it one looked to Jesus saves the soul every after look is the power of Christian living.
So many times I hear young people, sometimes older people too, say.
I just don't have it. I just don't have the strength to walk like I know I should walk. You know what? I never have had the strength to walk like I should walk.
It's not a matter of what I am, it's a matter of what he is.
And so, dear young people might desire this afternoon.
Is that you would.
Take your eyes off me, take your eyes off all the rest around. Put your eyes on the Lord Jesus. There's another verse in the Psalms that says, O magnify the Lord with me. What happens when you magnify something?
You get it bigger. I understand that printers use a magnifying glass when they're printing, and they'll often take a sheet that they printed and put a magnifying glass on there, and when you magnify it, you see the defects of the print shot.
You magnify men and you're going to see the defects.
Doesn't matter how nice.
And how congenial and how gifted the brother, her sister may be. You're going to see defects when you magnify them. But magnify the Lord, and all you're going to see is perfection. You can magnify them as much as you want. All you'll see is perfection. And I love to go through the Gospels.
Reading through the gospels and see how the Lord Jesus was put under scrutiny, intense scrutiny.
Those lawyers, those doctors of the law, those Pharisees are they surrounded him, seeing if they could find anything they could accuse him of. They went away baffled, totally baffled. Here was a man that was completely perfect. They couldn't find any defect in him.
Dear young person, get your eyes on the Lord Jesus. You're not going to be disappointed if you have your eyes on Him. You will not be made ashamed if your confidence is truly in Him. Sometimes I've been made ashamed, but in reflecting I have found that although I thought my confidence was in the Lord, there was still a lot of self-confidence in my heart.
And that's why the Lord allowed me to get into a situation where I has made ashamed. But in any measure that you truly trust in this one, we're talking about the Lord. You're not going to be made ashamed. It won't happen. And so let's go to another verse to reinforce this again in Second Corinthians. This verse was already read during this conference, Second Corinthians chapter 3.
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And verse 18.
Before I read the verse, I want to give the context of the chapter.
Paul in this chapter is contrasting the Old Covenant with the new.
He's contrasting law with grace.
And.
He's mentioning earlier in the chapter how that Moses, when he was went up into the mountain. You remember how Moses went up into the mountain and he said to God, let me see thy glory.
And God said, no one shall see my face and live.
But he says there is a place by me, and I'll put you in the cleft of the rock and I'll put my hand over it.
And I'll pass by, and when I pass by I'll take my hand off, and you'll see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. And it was so wonderful what Moses saw, that when he came off of that mountain, here's my face was shining. He didn't realize it. And there's something to think about, dear young person, if you really get your eyes on the Lord and occupied with him.
You're not going to be occupied with what testimony you are to others, you're only going to be thinking about him. Moses face shone and he went down into the camp with that shining face.
And the people were scared of him, so he put a veil on his face. When he went into the presence of the Lord, he took the veil off.
When he came out, he put it on.
But then Paul says here at the end of the chapter, notice verse 18, we all this is a portion for every believer, not some spiritual ones only, no for every believer. We all with open or unveiled 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.
Now the contrast between law where Moses face shone at the manifestation of the glory at that time.
With what we have in Christianity, we see Jesus.
With unveiled face, the revelation of who our God is in all its glory is complete, and it's for you and I to enjoy it in its fullness. That's Christianity. To know God in the fullest sense of the word, in the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, not with any veil in between. With unveiled face. So what a privilege.
To know God in that way. And what does that do to you and me?
Says we are changed into the same image from glory to glory. There's a transformation that takes place in the measure that you and I are looking at the Lord Jesus. You know, we can look at each other and we can pick at our faults and we all have our faults and our problems.
And our shortcomings.
But that isn't what's going to really.
Transform us. It's looking with unveiled face on the Lord Jesus. More you're occupied with Him, the more there's going to be a transformation that takes place in your life and mine. Oh, how hard it seems it is to learn this lesson.
The dear young people, this is Christianity. It's not what we are, it's what he is.
I've said this before and I'd like to repeat it.
Judaism.
In a brief way.
We could say it is it was what man was for God. He was to produce for God and he failed miserably failed.
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That test ended with man hanging his creator on a cross and God in effect said the tests over. No more tests you failed.
Now I'm going to show you.
Who I am and Christianity is the revelation of the heart of God.
And he opens the floodgates of blessing.
He reveals to us who our God is.
I'm convinced again, I say, dear young people, that our problems, whether it's individual or collective.
Come from a lack of understanding who our God is, really, practically speaking.
So here's something that will transform with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are changed. This is something for the youngest as well as the oldest. And to me it's beautiful at times seeing young children.
That have in their simplicity grasped something of this. It's not for any particular age group. You young children, you young people, don't be looking at the older ones and saying this applies to them. It really doesn't apply to me yet. I haven't got to that level. No, it says we all.
It belongs to us all.
The Lord help us.
Sometimes I've been challenged by some sister, some young person.
The enjoyment in their souls of the person of the Lord Jesus.
Think I may have told you about a sister I met down in?
Columbia.
She got to know our brother, Pepe Gomez.
Our baby brother, Pepe Gomez is a jeweler and he set stones and rings and.
This particular woman was from a very wealthy family. Her husband is.
An eminent lawyer in the city of Bogota, Colombia gives legal counsel to the presidents of the country, his well known lawyer and how they had him dupe their brother Pepe Gomez do some work for him and he delivered the job to the house and when he was delivering it, he said this woman said to him express to him how empty she felt, how terribly empty.
The rather Pepe didn't make much comment. He just said, well, the answer's in the Bible. If you want to read a Bible, the answer's there. And she got a hold of a Bible and she started reading it and she told me how that.
She started reading it early in the morning. She kept up at 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning and read. And she said I got to the point where I couldn't hold the tears back. Zahrad, I couldn't hold him back. I just streamed down my face.
She got to know the Lord through reading the Scripture. She had no contact with any other believer for four years. She finally met Pepe Gomez again. She was a real believer. But I tell you, it's a challenge.
I'm afraid I don't get up at those hours to read the Scripture, but there was a woman who challenged me because she had got a glimpse of the glory of the Lord. It's not what she is. It's not what I am. It's not what any other brother is. It's what he is, That man who sits in highest glory at the right hand of God. Get your eyes on him, dear young people. It's the secret of going on. It's the secret of power in the Christian life. There's no power in ourselves.
It's only power in him.
I'd like to go to some practical illustrations of this.
Let's go to Matthew chapter 14 to begin with.
Kind of a well known story in the life of Peter.
In his relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Verse 23 of Matthew 14 and when he had sent.
The multitudes away, that's the Lord Jesus. He went up into a mountain apart.
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To pray. When the evening was come, he was there alone.
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves, for the wind was contrary.
That's our experience in life down here in this world. We meet up with contrary winds.
Verse 25 And in the 4th watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. And straightway Jesus spake unto them saying.
Be of good cheer it is I be not afraid. And Peter answered him, and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
And he said come.
And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
When he saw the wind, boisterous, he was afraid.
And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hands, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased.
I love this story of Peter. You know, Peter was always right out front. He was making his mistakes. I'm afraid I'm a lot like Peter.
But we sure learn a lot from Peter's life, from Peter's mistakes.
And here he is, and the Lord is coming across the waters. The Lord is always above the storm.
He is not.
Under pressure of a storm, we get under pressure in adverse circumstances. The waves trouble us. But the Lord says it's I be not afraid.
His presence is what comforts and he says, and then Peter says in verse 28, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
And the Lord gave him one word. Come.
You know, faith is based on the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
And faith is not just some fuzzy thing in the back of our mind.
It is.
A confidence in what God says.
Make sure if you're going to act, not to act on what some other brother says about scripture.
But act on scripture itself.
That's faith.
And so the Lord gave him one word. Come Peter was a fisherman. He knew a lot about fishing and boats in the water. I don't think he had ever walked on water before. But you know, faith is something that is.
Beautifully.
Simply obedient. It just does what it says. Peter didn't start reasoning. Now I'm not sure how to to walk on water. I've never done it before. He just steps out of the boat and walks on the water to go to Jesus. But notice what happens verse 30 when he saw the wind boisterous.
I don't suppose he saw the wind exactly, it must have been the waves he saw. But it's interesting that the scripture puts it this way. He saw the wind boisterous, and the wind evidently was probably whipping up the waves as it does in a storm like that.
But Peter got looking at the waves and he started sinking, and that happened so often.
In the Christian life, we get our eyes off the Lord. We start looking at the waves.
Faith does not base itself on circumstances, it always bases itself on the Word of God. That is so important to get a hold of dear young people. Scripture says in Second Corinthians chapter 5 we walk by faith, not by sight. Does that mean I close my eyes when I'm walking along? No, God has given you eyesight and you're to use it.
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But it means we do not base our decisions upon the things that we see around.
We are guided in our decisions by what God has said and if Peter would have continued.
Is simple obedience walking as he was told to do. To come come means to get closer to Jesus.
Then he wouldn't have had any problem, but he started looking at the wave.
And I tell you, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus.
I get that sinking feeling sometimes when I get looking around.
At the problems.
And the circumstances I'm going through.
I'm just like Peter.
I start sinking.
Until I get back.
To simply grasping what his word has told me all the time.
And oh, how important that is. You know, there's a lament in the book of Isaiah that I enjoy reading. Think it is chapter 64.
And the lament is this. There is none that stirreth up himself to lay hold on thee.
How do you lay hold on God?
You know how you do it? By His word.
God is faithful, always faithful to His word, and when he promises something, he stands by it. But God, if he puts faith into your heart, dear young person, is going to test that faith. It's inevitable. You're going to be tested in the faith that He's given you. And so Peter.
Starts sinking.
Notice it doesn't say that he got that far in. I don't think he sank that far.
But he prayed a little short prayer.
Lord save me 3 words and Spanish is just two words.
Young people.
It's important to learn to pray short prayers.
Praying is not something that's long necessarily.
Somebody said Peter would have prayed a long prayer. He might have been.
A few feet under by the time he got done, but his prayer was short and the Lord was right there to take his hand. And I don't think he sank under very far. But the Lord is right in a hand. Dear young people, He's there. He's promised to be with us always.
Says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Isn't that a wonderful promise? I was talking to a young sister some time ago and she says, but I don't feel like the Lord's with me. I feel like he's abandoned me. I said, do your feelings ever change? Yeah.
Well, what would you rather trust, your feelings or the word of God that never changes?
I guess I'd better trust the Word of God. Yeah, I guess you'd better. And that's the best way, Dear young people, don't trust your feelings. His promise to always be right there, there. Peter had trouble because he got his eyes off the Lord. Let's go over to the 17th chapter for another example in Peter's life.
Peter was in the group of three of the apostles that the Lord often took with him when he didn't take the other.
9.
Matthew 17 and verse one. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter.
And James and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here.
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If thou wilt, let us make here 3 tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. Well, he yet spake. Behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. When the disciples heard it, they fell on their face.
And we're so afraid. Jesus came and touched them, said arise and be not afraid. When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only.
Here's a beautiful experience in the life of Peter.
It's taken up into the Mount of Transfiguration in the Lord Jesus.
In a preview of the coming glory of the Kingdom.
Of the world to come that we were talking about this morning in the reading.
His transfigured, his face shines as the sun, his raiment is white as the light. And there is Moses, and there is Elias. I'm sure it must have been a tremendously wonderful thing for Peter and James and John to see Moses and Elijah, those men that were so.
Relied on in the Jewish economy those that were so they so boasted in the fact that they were followers of these men.
And I suppose in all the Old Testament there were no men who so mightily were used of God in in the nation of Israel. Moses, who took the children of Israel from the land of Egypt to the borders of the land of Canaan, and Elijah, who converted all the nation of Israel back to the Lord God of their fathers in one afternoon.
Tremendous men of faith.
And I'm going to look forward to seeing Moses and Elias when I get home to heaven, too. Let me tell you, it's going to be wonderful to see them. But you know.
Peter starts talking.
And, you know, sometimes we start talking.
Before we know what to say, and that's what happened to Peter.
And it says actually in another gospel not he didn't know what to say, but he starts talking and I suppose that's the way of a leader. He gets talking sometimes and he says, Lord, it's good for us to be here. Sure it was nice to be there, but then what he says, let us make 3 tabernacles, one for thee. Put the Lord first.
And one for Moses and one for Elias.
But brethren, in the things of God there can be no rival, there can be no one that comes even close to the glory of God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus.
And that must be.
Understood. That must be learned in our lives here.
And we learn it in different ways. And I have to say.
The Lord has in His mercy put me through some hard times to help me to learn it. Not that I can say I've learned it completely yet.
But the wonderful thing to know that there's one, and one only, who is supreme, the one we should be looking at. Peter had unconsciously taking his eyes off the glory of that central figure and put them on Moses and Elijah, Something I'm afraid a lot of us would have done in the same circumstances.
Immediately.
Those two are lost from sight. A cloud comes and covers them and a voice comes out of that cloud saying.
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This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Here ye him.
Oh, why is it that it takes so long for us to learn this lesson that Jesus and Jesus alone must be supreme in the Christian life?
They fell on their faces and were sore afraid. Brethren, if we compare anyone in our minds to the Lord Jesus.
We need to do what these disciples did, fall on their faces. We don't understand in whose presence we are. Who is anyone the most gifted brother?
Who is he in comparison with God's beloved Son?
Dear young people.
Do you come to the local Bible reading and prayer meeting in your local assembly or is that too much?
Do you, have you learned the importance of being there? Because he is there? Member perhaps? I've told it before.
In Peru one time we were visiting a little town called Atacocha, little mining town in the High Andes of Peru, and we got there Lord's Day morning. I you have to walk in cross a mountain pass from another town called Mill Pole and we got there about 9:00 in the morning. I think the meeting was maybe breaking the bread was to be about 11:00.
And the brother met us at the door. Oh, it's so nice to see you, brother.
Come in, come in, I'm going to run and call all the brethren.
Mr. Jim, Brother.
Please don't call anybody.
Let's see how many come, because Jesus is going to be here.
Is it possible?
That some wouldn't come.
I'm afraid that happens because.
Because we, like Peter, have a tendency to get our eyes on some gifted brother, brother. It won't work for as much as those two or three that are gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus.
Our feeble don't have a whole lot to say. There is a blessing.
In simply being in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Lord help us to get our eyes on Him. I'd like to go over to the Old Testament too for a couple of examples.
Getting our eyes on the Lord.
In second Kings chapter.
Two, I think it is.
A story about Elijah and Elijah for time. We're going to have to.
Tell some of the story, but Elijah was going to be taken home.
And you'll remember that he was.
The second man that we know about in the Bible that was taken into glory without dying.
A natural death.
Elijah had complained about the people of God.
You know, it's a real lesson to me, dear brother and sister and the Lord Jesus.
For his rebellious and as willful as the people of God may be.
God still loves His people and He will not allow anybody lightly to speak evil of Him.
Elijah had stood up in a tremendous way against the prophets of Baal, and had.
Shown the people that Jehovah was the true God.
And destroyed those false prophets of Baal. But then he got his eyes on a poor woman.
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Jezebel and she says I'll take the Elijah's head off just like he took those prophets heads off.
And when you get your eyes off the Lord instead of the God of Israel.
Elijah takes off running, and he ran a long ways.
And he was all discouraged. And when the Lord came to say, What are you doing here, Elijah?
He says.
I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts. I only I am left and they seek my life to take it away.
In the New Testament, it is the only sin of a new of an Old Testament believer that is mentioned in the New Testament that he pled against Israel with God.
Serious thing to do.
Lord help us. Dear brethren, many of our brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus are scattered in diverse Christian denominations and affiliations.
If they're real believers, they're part of the body of Christ the Lord. Help us not to speak against them.
We can recognize their errors perhaps, but always plead for the people of God because God loves them. And as soon as most as Elijah said, I only I am left God says Elijah.
Amongst others, anoint Elisha to be prophet in your room. I'm taking you home, Elijah.
O brethren, this lesson falls heavily on my heart. Be careful not to speak against the people of God, for as much as they may be willful and wayward and stiff necked, don't speak against them. Pray for them. Anyhow, Elijah is going to go home, and Elijah is accompanying him here, and he goes on a little circuit from Gilgal to Bethel.
To Jericho and then down to the Jordan. And notice verse nine of chapter 2, Second Kings 2. Verse nine came to pass. When they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elijah.
Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast ask a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass as they went on.
Still went on and talked, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more, took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
Just to present this thought, dear young people, that as they were going.
Elisha asked. The double portion of Elijah's spirit would be upon him.
And Elijah said it's a hard thing you've asked, but if you see me go, it will be so. If not, it won't be so.
And I've thought about it. I can imagine that.
Elisha was pretty careful to keep his eyes on Elijah.
He might have got distracted in one side with something that was going on. It didn't have to be anything that important. But if he got distracted, Elisha would have been gone. He would have missed it.
He kept his eyes on him and here comes a chariot of fire. He doesn't go in a chariot of fire. Sometimes paintings.
Picture Elijah going in a chariot of fire doesn't go in a light cherry to fire, he's parted in a cherry to fire, and he goes up in a whirlwind into heaven.
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And he sees it, and he gets the double portion.
Brethren, I like to think of the double portion as this.
Elijah could go, say as he went back, I knew a man who walked through this world and then went up into heaven. I saw him walk in this world. I saw him going to heaven. And in that same way, dear young people, we can have the double portion. As we look in the Gospels, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son, walking through this world.
In complete perfection. And at the end of the Gospels, it's recorded in the book of the Acts as well and some in the epistles. We read that he walked right into the throne room of the universe. I like to say it.
Into God's presence and sat down. A glorious man sat down by the rights that he had in virtue of what he did on Calvary.
By virtue of his person and his work, he went and sat down at God's right hand.
Oh and a portion for our souls. We know that man that walked through this world.
We know that man that walked right into the presence of God and sat down on the right hand of God. I like to think of it in that way. The double portion can be ours as well. Like to look at another brief portion in chapter 20 of Second Chronicles another.
Situation of crises in the life of Jehoshaphat.
We don't have time to read a whole lot, but Jehoshaphat was one of the faithful kings of Israel. Didn't mean he didn't have his problems. He had to be reproved in chapter 19 by Jehovah Jehu, the son of Hananiah Dasir. But in chapter 20, there's a tremendous crisis that arises in Judah. The children of Moab and the children of Ammon come up against Jehoshaphat to Bible.
A tremendous multitude and notice verse 3. Jehovah Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaim the fast throughout all Judah.
And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord, even out of all the cities of Judah that came to seek the Lord. Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the House of the Lord before the new court.
And said, Oh Lord God of our fathers, art thou not God in heaven, and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the earth? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee in this beautiful How Jehoshaphat?
Turns not to some mighty king of the Assyrians.
But he turns directly to the Lord. What is your reaction when you have problems in your life?
I know it's natural in a certain way to turn to our parents and it should be that way.
Sometimes we turn to some older brother and I don't say we ignore what an older brother might have to offer, but may the 1St reaction of our heart to turn to the Lord.
Think I've told this story before, but it was such a reproof to me when I first lived in Bolivia. There's a brother there that in the city, in the town of Montero who had bad asthma attacks and.
Especially when the South wind blew. The South wind in South America is the cold wind, and when it blows, it cold blows cold.
And every time it blew, he'd get a bad asthma attack. And one day.
I was there in my home in Montero. This little boy comes running over and says.
Come quick. My dad's calling you and I ran over there and there he was, sitting in bed gasping for breath.
And I reacted as an American might react. I said, oh, brother, what can I do for you? I'll run and get my Jeep and we'll take you to the hospital.
Between gas, he says, Brother, get down on your knees and pray.
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It was a real reproof to me, but that's the way we're trained to react in the United States of America. Run for help.
What better help to run to the Lord? That's what Jehoshaphat did. Notice what he says down further. It's so beautiful.
Verse 12 Oh our God, wilt thou not judge them?
For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us neither nor we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee. That's the source, dear young people, if we can learn to do that, to turn to the Lord in those moments of crises, to lay ourselves in His hands, to lay hold on the promises of God, you'll notice.
If you read this whole portion that he does, that, he'll always hold on the promises of God, and then they went out, there was an answer from God's prophets, the brother read.
Earlier in verse 20, Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established. Believe his prophets.
So shall ye prosper.
And they went out. And who was the first company to go out? It was those that learned to praise the Lord. They went out praising the Lord, and the Lord gave the victory. And I want to encourage you, dear young people and older ones too. Let's make it more a part of our life to praise the Lord. It seems like our lives are so busy, we can't stop. A moment to sing of hymn of praise.
I don't say we do it every day in our house, but I like to try to make it a practice that we stop at some moment of the day to lift a hymn of praise to our God. Oh, how important that is. Learn to praise Him. Even when things go rough and contrary, learn to praise Him. It's a real secret. And Jehoshaphat and his army when they got to the battlefield.
All they had to do was gather the spoils of battle. That's all that was left to do. Our God is a great God, dear young people. We have reason to trust Him. We really do. Keep your eyes on Him, whatever happens. Just want to turn to one more place in Luke chapter 24.
This is a case of a couple that were walking away from Jerusalem after the Lord had died.
And he had risen that morning, but they didn't seem to know yet that he had risen. We're going to have to just tell the story briefly. But they were discouraged, downright discouraged.
They're going to Emmaus, a place they understand is about 7 miles from Jerusalem. I calculated take two to three hours to walk there and the Lord Jesus comes up in his resurrection and he walks with them. I think this is so extremely beautiful. Dear brethren, in seeking to be a help, what an example this is to those who may have gotten discouraged and gone away from the divine center. Lord, help us to meditate on this.
The Lord Jesus in his gentle way comes up.
And says why are you sad?
He knew what they were sad. Why did he have to ask? It's important let a person get out the sorrow they may feel in their souls.
And then when they had got done talking, and they talked for quite a while, why he says, oh, fools and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And for the rest of that journey he talked through the Old Testament scriptures that they had. Then of all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. I would really love to hear him go through the book of Leviticus and explain some of those things that I don't understand yet. But.
Oh, it must have been a tremendous thing. And it says later that their hearts were burning in them. They were still going the wrong direction.
And think of this. He never said stop. You're going the wrong way. Turn around. Go back. No, he never said it. He never did. Isn't this a lesson?
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They get to masks and they constrain him to go in to stay with him.
And he goes in.
And they sit down to me.
And he takes bread.
And he blesses it, and he breaks it, and he gives it to them.
Suggest that perhaps in that moment of giving them those pieces of bread, they may have seen his hands, but at any rate, it says in verse 31, their eyes were opened and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.
They got their eyes opened as to who he was.
And when their eyes were opened, there was number question as to where they belonged.
No complaining, it's 7 miles back to Jerusalem and maybe we'll go back tomorrow morning. No, that same hour of the night they went straight back. They knew where they belonged. And brethren, when souls get away from the divine center, sometimes there may be necessity of answering some question of principles. I don't say that may not be, But the major problem is that we've got our eyes off the Lord.
And we need to show them Jesus.
And when they get their eyes open as to who he really is, they will know where they belong.
I'm convinced of it. Dirham brother and sister, get your eyes on the Lord Jesus.
It's the power of Christian life. We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Let's pray, gracious Father.
Bless Thy word, we pray these dear young people.
Dear older ones, to help us, each one we confess how easily we get distracted by this world tensely whirled around us. Help us, Lord Jesus, to keep our eyes on Thee. So we ask for Thy blessing upon Thy precious word in the meetings still remaining today, and for all thy dear people, O Father, how we look forward to that day when everyone of Thy redeemed.
Is going to be gathered together in one. Practically, it should be so now, but we thank Thee that it will be so in that coming day. We ask for blessing, Gracious Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.