Participants: Jim Gilley
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000017
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth live from the 3ABN worship center.
00:17 Thriving Faith In Difficult Times, with Jim Gilley. 00:23 When I pastored in New York City, I had a 00:25 member of my church who lived in a building with 3000 apartments. 00:30 She lived in a building that had several sections. 00:33 An A section, a B section, a C section, a D section, 00:37 an E section, and an F section. 00:39 Each section had 27 floors. 00:42 And she lived in B27D. 00:45 3000 apartments in one building. 00:47 There are how many people in Thompsonville? 00:49 Six hundred? 00:51 3000 apartments in one building. 00:53 And she told me, "Pastor, you know, I use to live 00:56 in the country all by myself. 00:58 But I got scared and nervous and worried in the country. 01:01 So I moved to the city. 01:02 Now I live in a building with 3000 apartments 01:05 and I'm worried. 01:06 I wish I was back in the country." 01:08 She said, "In the morning, I wish it was night. 01:11 At night, I wish it was morning. 01:12 When I get on the subway, there's 10,000 people 01:15 on the subway and I don't know any of them. 01:17 I wish I had my own car. 01:18 But when I had my own car, I was afraid to drive 01:20 in New York City, so I gave up my car to 01:22 get on the subway." 01:24 She said, "I'm afraid of my neighbors who I don't know. 01:26 I'm afraid of my family who I rarely see. 01:28 I'm afraid to go to the store. 01:30 I'm afraid to eat things that I don't know what's in them." 01:32 She said, "I'm just afraid all the time." 01:35 And you know, she's not alone. 01:37 There's a lot of fear in this world. 01:40 And we learned about fear as Pastor Gilley talked about fear 01:43 on last evening. 01:44 But we also learned that wonderful text in 1 John 4:18, 01:47 that perfect love does what to fear? 01:49 It casts out fear. 01:51 Perfect love gives us trust in Jesus, who we know 01:55 controls this world of ours. 01:57 My name is C.A. Murray and it is my privilege and pleasure to 02:00 welcome to you night number two in our Anchors Of Faith series. 02:04 Tonight, Jim Gilley is going to talk about worry; 02:08 how not to worry, how to trust in God. 02:11 And as we said before, this is not the 2300 days, 02:15 this is not Bible prophecy, this is not Revelation 13. 02:20 What this is, it's practical religion and godliness. 02:23 This is putting feet on your faith. 02:26 This is how to deal with those things that we as Christians 02:29 deal with every single day of our lives; 02:31 worry, fear, anger, disappointment. 02:35 How do we do that? 02:36 How do we face these kinds of issues and remain Christian 02:41 and keep our faith strong in Jesus? 02:42 And so Jim Gilley, as a preacher of the Word, as an Evangelist, 02:47 as a conference president, as a North American Division 02:50 executive, has had much experience in 02:53 talking about these issues. 02:55 And we are quite sure that God will bless him this 02:57 very night as he talks about and tells us about how not to worry, 03:02 but rather how to trust in God. 03:05 I didn't mention on last evening, his wife is 03:07 right here by his side. 03:08 Camille Gilley is with us, always stands by his side. 03:11 He is the father of four, grandfather of nine, I am told. 03:15 And a proud grandfather indeed. 03:17 But for tonight, he is not husband, he is not father, 03:21 he is not grandfather. 03:23 He is preacher and teacher of the Word. 03:25 He is the one that Christ will use to bring us the Word. 03:29 And I ask for him from you, your prayerful 03:33 and undivided attention. 03:34 Before he speaks, Yvonne Lewis will bring us the music. 03:38 And before she sings, we will go to the Lord in prayer. 03:42 Shall we pray. 03:43 Father God, we thank You so very much for the 03:47 privilege of prayer. 03:49 We thank Thee that on the other side of our prayers 03:52 is a God who listens, who hears, who is ready, willing, 03:55 and able to answer. 03:57 And Lord, this night we ask from You for Jim Gilley 04:01 heavens very best. 04:03 We know that he has spent time with You. 04:06 We know that he has a word from You. 04:09 And so we ask that You will empower him, embolden him, 04:13 anoint him to speak that word with power. 04:16 And give us who listen, here in this house and those 04:20 around the world, listening ears, attentive hearts, 04:25 open minds, that we may hear, receive, and do Your will 04:31 for our lives as together we take just one more step 04:37 along the road that leads to glory. 04:41 We love You, praise You, and thank You for Your promise 04:44 to hear and answer the prayer of faith. 04:46 In Jesus' name. 04:49 And now, Jim Gilley. 04:50 But before him, Yvonne Lewis. 05:14 In Christ alone my hope is found 05:20 He is my light, my strength, my song 05:25 This Cornerstone, this solid ground 05:30 Firm through the fiercest drought and storm 05:35 What heights of love, what depths of peace 05:40 When fears are stilled, when strivings cease 05:46 My Comforter, my All in All 05:51 Here in the love of Christ I stand 06:04 In Christ alone, who took on flesh 06:09 Fullness of God in helpless Babe 06:14 This gift of love and righteousness 06:20 Scorned by the ones He came to save 06:25 Till on that cross as Jesus died 06:30 The wrath of God was satisfied 06:35 For every sin on Him was laid 06:41 Here in the death of Christ I live 07:06 There in the ground His body lay 07:12 Light of the world by darkness slain 07:17 Then bursting forth in glorious Day 07:22 Up from the grave He rose again 07:27 And as He stands in victory 07:32 Sin's curse has lost its grip on me 07:38 For I am His and He is mine 07:43 Bought with the precious blood of Christ 07:56 No guilt in life, no fear in death 08:02 This is the power of Christ in me 08:06 From a life's first cry to final breath 08:12 Jesus commands my destiny 08:17 No power of hell, no scheme of man 08:22 Could ever pluck me from His hand 08:30 Till He returns to take me home 08:35 Here in the power of Christ I stand 08:40 No power of hell, no scheme of man 08:46 Can ever pluck me from His hand 08:56 Here in the power 08:59 of Christ I stand 09:21 Here in the power of Christ I stand. 09:27 No other way, only in Jesus. 09:29 Only through Him. 09:30 Let us pray. 09:31 Father in heaven, tonight we pray that as we 09:34 look at this subject, that we will focus on Jesus. 09:39 He is the way, He is the truth, He is the life. 09:42 Oh Father, speak, we pray, through us to Your people. 09:49 Thank You for hearing this prayer. 09:53 In Jesus' wonderful and powerful and loving name, amen. 09:59 You know, the Bible talks about worry. 10:02 This is not a subject that is only for our day. 10:06 It has always been there. 10:09 It is something that all of us have struggled with 10:14 from time to time. 10:16 There is absolutely no question about that. 10:20 Sometimes we come to some of these subjects, 10:22 as I mentioned last night, and people get the idea that 10:25 we're talking about psychology or we're talking about that. 10:27 No, we are looking at a Biblical subject 10:31 from a Biblical standpoint that applies to our lives today. 10:37 We're living in difficult times. 10:39 As we watch the news and... 10:41 I have to confess that I am a bit of a news junkie 10:45 and I watch a lot of news. 10:48 I don't really watch much else, but I do watch the news. 10:52 And I will tell you right now, when you see the US Senators 10:57 of this country that are exasperated to the point 11:01 where they say they do not see an answer to this, 11:05 that our debt situation continues to grow, 11:08 that in a very few years, about seven years, 11:11 it will come to the place where it equals our whole 11:15 national gross product. 11:19 I mean, this is a total bankrupt situation. 11:23 And it has to be turned around. 11:25 And there seems to be no way to turn it around. 11:28 You see, that makes it a serious situation. 11:32 When we look at the end times, 11:34 and I believe that we're in the end times, 11:36 I think we're right at the beginning of the end times, 11:39 the question comes, how do I make it through? 11:43 We look at the prophecies of Revelation and we believe that 11:46 we're living right in the beginning aspects of the 11:49 fulfillment of some of those prophecies and right at 11:51 the end of the fulfillment of some of the others. 11:56 So where does this put us as individuals? 12:00 You see, I can look in the prophecy and I can tell 12:03 where I am, but if I'm not prepared spiritually 12:07 to trust God in carrying me through, then it really 12:10 doesn't do me a whole lot of good to understand 12:13 what's going to be happening, if I'm not applying a 12:16 spiritual aspect to my life 12:19 so that I can live and go through 12:23 these very serious times. 12:27 Tonight, we're going to be talking about worry. 12:29 Worry is something that, really as I said, 12:32 it's a Biblical subject. 12:33 Christ talks about it. 12:34 He talks about it in Matthew the 6th chapter 12:38 and beginning with verse 25. 12:40 A pretty long passage, but I'm going to read it. 12:42 It says, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry." 12:47 I mean, how more direct can you be than that? 12:50 "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat 12:54 or what you will drink; nor about your body, 12:56 what you will put on. 12:58 Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 13:02 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap 13:06 nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. 13:10 Are you not of more value than they?" 13:14 Then it says, "Which of you by worrying can add one 13:17 cubit to his stature? 13:19 So why do you worry about clothing? 13:21 Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: 13:24 they neither toil nor spin. 13:26 And yet I say to you than even Solomon in all of his glory 13:29 was not arrayed like one of these. 13:31 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, 13:35 and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not 13:38 much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" 13:41 "Therefore," Jesus says, "do not worry, 13:45 saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' 13:47 or 'What shall we wear?' 13:48 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. 13:51 For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 13:56 But seek first the kingdom of God." 14:00 You make this your all consuming worry, so to speak; 14:04 the pursuing of the kingdom of God, 14:07 pursuing righteousness, pursuing an understanding and love 14:11 for Jesus Christ. 14:13 And He says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and 14:16 His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 14:20 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow 14:24 will worry about its own things. 14:26 Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." 14:30 Got enough trouble without coming up with more. 14:34 And you know, so many times we will worry about things that 14:38 really we have no business worrying about. 14:42 We will add on to some of our concerns. 14:46 And I remember a magazine that came out in 1952. 14:51 And some of you were born then. 14:54 And it became very popular. 14:58 First it was a comic book called, Mad Magazine. 15:02 When it quit being a comic book, I quit reading it 15:05 because it got to deep for me. 15:07 But on the front of the cover, there was a fellow by the 15:10 name of Alfred E. Neuman. 15:12 That's what they... 15:13 And he was quite a character. 15:15 His ears stuck out and he had this funny grin. 15:18 And it always said, "What, me worry?" 15:22 Now that's an extreme situation. 15:25 There are things to worry about. 15:27 I was pastoring in a church and a lady came to me one time. 15:31 She said, "I use to worry about everything." 15:35 "Now," she said, "I don't worry about anything." 15:38 You see, those are two extremes though. 15:41 Going from worrying about everything 15:43 to not worrying about anything. 15:46 That's not the kind of extreme that we're looking for. 15:49 There are certain things that we need to be concerned about. 15:52 There are things that we need to handle that we shouldn't 15:57 be concerned about. 16:00 And we need to know the difference of these two. 16:03 Thomas Carlyle was an intellectual that lived 16:06 in London in the past century. 16:08 And he was a great student. 16:10 And he would study at night, he would start some time 16:13 after midnight, and he would study all night long into the 16:17 early morning hours because he wanted it absolutely quiet. 16:21 He lived just out at the edge of London. 16:24 And he was so particular about being able to focus, 16:28 wanting it quiet, that he built a sound proof room to study in. 16:35 But somehow, his neighbor's rooster 16:42 would crow and he would hear it. 16:46 And finally, he went over to the farmer who was 16:49 just a little farmer. 16:50 It wasn't a real farm, it was right at the edge of London. 16:53 But you know, people sometimes even have chickens in town now. 16:56 I understand most ordinances won't let you have a rooster 17:01 in town, but you can have chickens in town. 17:03 And it's understandable why they won't let you have a rooster 17:06 because he goes crowing about things and he 17:08 makes a little noise. 17:10 And he went o the farmer and he said, "Look, that rooster 17:15 crowing disturbs me so badly. 17:19 I will buy the rooster, I will pay you for the rooster. 17:23 Just give me a price for the rooster." 17:25 And the farmer said, "Well listen." 17:27 He said, "I kind of like my rooster." 17:30 And he said, "He only crows three times." 17:34 And Thomas Carlyle said, "Yea, but just waiting for him to crow 17:38 every time is what drives me nuts." 17:41 And you know, sometimes waiting for the other shoe to drop or 17:46 waiting for something to happen actually causes 17:50 more grief to us, more stress to us, than if we knew 17:56 when something was going to happen. 17:59 I read some stats the other day. 18:01 It said that 40% of all worries never actually take place. 18:10 So the 40% of the things that you worry about that are 18:14 going to happen, never happen. 18:16 They said that 30% of the things that people worry about 18:20 are in the past. 18:22 And we worry about whether somehow the consequences 18:27 of them, or something of that nature. 18:29 And then the next figure was 12% of all worries 18:34 are health worries. 18:36 We're going to talk a little bit about health worries 18:38 in a little bit. 18:39 Then it said 10% were petty worries. 18:43 And that it really came down to there were only, 18:47 that adds up to 92%, there were only 8% of the things 18:52 that were legitimate worries that we worry about. 18:57 Now that was according to that study. 19:00 And if you accept and believe studies, then you can have some 19:04 confidence in that study. 19:06 And I just about was ready to believe that, then a friend 19:09 of mine told me, his name is Carl Phipps, he said that 19:12 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot. 19:20 So now that gives you something more to worry about; 19:22 whether these stats are actually accurate or not. 19:28 But things that come to use, in most cases, we should not 19:33 at all be concerned about. 19:35 Because the Lord promises us in Hebrews the 13th chapter 19:40 verse 5, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 19:45 "I'll never leave you." 19:47 Now this is quoting Deuteronomy 31 and 19:50 also quoting the 1st chapter of Joshua. 19:53 So three times, God says to us in three different places 19:58 in scripture, "I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you." 20:04 Think about that. 20:05 He says He will never leave us. 20:08 If that doesn't help us, then my friend, I don't know what will. 20:14 You see, He is always there to do one of three things: 20:39 It's trusting in Him, relying upon Him, that is so important. 20:48 Now there are five basic groups of worries. 20:52 The first is worry about the past. 20:56 You know that more people worry about the past 20:58 than you would ever think. 21:00 I visited with a business man once that was very concerned 21:04 because he had been cheating, in years past, the IRS. 21:10 But it was a very complicated situation. 21:14 And so there was no way, when we talked about it 21:17 and we prayed about it, can you go and make it right. 21:20 As he explained the reasons why he could not go and 21:24 make it right, it made sense. 21:26 Because in going to make it right, and some people are 21:29 going to disagree with this, he was going to make it extremely 21:32 hard on some other people. 21:35 Now he had given money to the government in what they call 21:40 a conscience fund. 21:41 And he felt like he had paid enough into the conscience fund 21:47 to make up for what he had done. 21:49 But he still felt so guilty about what he had done. 21:54 It was just failure to report income. 21:56 I mean, he was doing a lot of cash business and 21:59 he just did not report it. 22:01 But then if he began... 22:03 You see what I'm saying? 22:04 If he actually went back and detailed everything, 22:06 now it would involve a lot of other people. 22:09 And so he felt that the Lord was not asking him to do that. 22:13 But it was a sin of the past. 22:16 We had to lay it on the altar, give it to the Lord. 22:20 Some of these things are so complicated, so mixed up, 22:23 that there's no way on earth you can every unravel 22:26 all of those things. 22:27 And sometimes, you have to say, "Lord, here it is. 22:31 I lay it on You, I give it to You. 22:33 Please take it away from me. 22:35 It's something in the past and I want to lay it 22:38 before the altar and let it go." 22:41 And I believe that God forgives us when we do that. 22:44 I really do. 22:46 Sins of the past. 22:47 When I was pastoring, I had a lady come to me. 22:49 And this lady just poured out her heart. 22:51 Now she was one of the leaders in our church. 22:55 But she said there had been a time in her past 22:59 where she had a leave of her senses; 23:03 her spiritual senses and everything else. 23:06 And she had done something that was wrong. 23:09 She had been unfaithful to her husband. 23:11 Later, she got things back together. 23:16 Later, she had a family. 23:19 Now as those children were getting older, she was afraid 23:24 that they were going to find out 23:27 what their mother had done in the past. 23:31 And she carried this fear, this worry about the past. 23:36 And so we prayed together. 23:38 And I said, "Ok, let's look at the worst scenario. 23:42 Let's look at it. 23:43 Let's say they do find out. 23:46 I really don't believe they're going to find out. 23:47 I believe the Lord covers." 23:49 I've seen Him do it so many times. 23:51 You know, every thing that you've done in the past 23:53 is not always going to come up. 23:55 It's not. The Lord covers. 23:58 And when you repent, if it comes up later on, then 24:03 there's some reason that God's going to be using that to help 24:05 perfect your character. 24:07 But I believe that those things are buried, 24:10 and I believe they're buried in the bottom of the sea. 24:12 And I don't think they're going to come up, in most cases. 24:15 But I said, "Let's say that this comes up. 24:18 And your children who are now teenagers, 24:21 at least they'll be that old because they already are, 24:25 let's say they're going to be older. 24:26 Let's say it comes up and they find out that their 24:30 mother was human." 24:33 I said, "Let me tell you. 24:36 Those kids will forgive you. 24:39 They will forgive their mother for being human, 24:44 for making a mistake." 24:47 And I said, "Furthermore, it may come at a time, 24:52 it may come at a time when they themselves need encouragement. 24:59 And they see the godly life you're living now, 25:02 and okay, you've made a mistake here. 25:05 But they see how Christ has come into your life 25:08 and how you have changed. 25:09 And they have seen your example as a mother." 25:14 Now I said, "My friend, that may actually be 25:18 an encouragement to them." 25:20 I visited one time with a lady who had a granddaughter who 25:24 was getting out into the world and being a little bit wild. 25:28 And that grandmother shared with that granddaughter 25:34 how she had made the same mistakes. 25:38 What did it do? 25:40 It encouraged that girl. That girl found courage. 25:43 If her grandmother who, she saw her as a saint. 25:47 "If grandmother can make a mistake like this 25:50 and her life be restored, then that means that I don't 25:55 have to stay like I am, I don't have to continue 25:58 in the way that I've gone. 25:59 I can be restored." 26:01 And she was. 26:04 Because grandmother shared that she too had been human. 26:10 Worries of the past. 26:12 These are things that we need to forget. 26:15 The apostle Paul, you remember he had done some things 26:17 in the past that he was certainly not proud of. 26:21 He more than just held the coats, folks. 26:23 He organized that stoning of Stephen. 26:26 He never could quite get over it. 26:27 If you go to Jerusalem, Biblically, and you look at 26:33 all the things that the Jewish people there in Jerusalem; 26:37 they still held it against Paul what had happened. 26:40 They just somehow couldn't let it go. 26:44 And Paul had to talk about the past. 26:46 And he said in Philippians the 3rd chapter verse 13, 26:49 "Forgetting those things which are behind." 26:53 Forgetting those things. 26:54 You see, there are people that always want to bring things up. 26:57 They'll want to brings things up that happened 50 years ago 27:00 as if it happened last week. 27:03 I know some people like that. 27:06 And they will bring it up and throw it in your face. 27:10 And that's going to happen, but that's not God's way. 27:13 The Bible says, "Forgetting those things which are behind." 27:17 Forgetting them, pressing forward. 27:21 Because the Lord has forgiven and the Lord has restored. 27:27 Now the second group of worries are, the future. 27:31 You know, the Bible says that the day is coming 27:35 when there are going to be some real difficult times. 27:40 We know that this is going to happen. 27:42 There's no getting around it, but what do you do? 27:44 Do you sit and worry about that all this time? 27:46 About 35 to 40 years ago, a lady came to me, 27:49 and I was holding meetings, and she said, "I am so worried." 27:54 She said, "I've been worried about this for years." 27:56 And I said, "What are you worried about?" 27:57 She said, "I'm so worried that I will not be able to go through 28:01 the time of trouble." 28:04 Now that was 35 years ago. 28:06 I saw her not long ago, she's still worried. 28:09 But she has wasted at least 35 years of her life worrying. 28:15 The Lord says don't be anxious about that. 28:20 He even tells you, don't even worry about 28:22 what you're going to say. 28:23 In Mark the 13th chapter verse 11, "When they arrest you 28:27 and deliver you up, do not worry." 28:31 "Don't worry beforehand," He says. 28:34 So that means, don't worry about what's going to be 28:37 taking place in the future. 28:38 This is what Jesus is telling us, not what just some 28:44 philosopher is saying. 28:45 He says, "Don't even premeditate what you will speak." 28:50 Don't worry about it. 28:51 He says, "But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; 28:55 for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit." 29:01 He says, "Do not be worried beforehand." 29:04 And then Luke 21 verse 18, He says, "But not a hair 29:09 of your head shall be lost." 29:12 Now that would be good news for John Lomacang because 29:15 he's got quite a bit of hair. 29:18 And, John, I tell you, we admire your hair. 29:22 You've got a good head of hair. 29:24 And I've got a good head of hair up here, but I have to 29:27 comb it way back and let my eyebrows grow and then 29:30 comb them back over almost to cover the back part of my head. 29:35 But that's better news for you than 29:37 brother C.A. Murray over there. 29:39 Brother Murray, he's not too much worried about 29:44 the hair on his head. 29:45 But that is a promise that God has given us. 29:51 "Not one hair of your head shall be lost." 29:57 He has promised that He will carry us through. 30:02 We are not to worry about the future. 30:05 You know, worry and trust cannot live in the same place. 30:10 Some of you have heard of R.G. LeTourneau. 30:13 R.G. LeTourneau was a very successful business man. 30:16 He built heavy equipment, enormous, gigantic 30:20 earth movers you see out there. 30:23 Not just some ordinary caterpillar or bulldozer. 30:26 These gigantic pieces. 30:28 Some of these were his invention, his design, 30:31 and he made an awful lot of money. 30:34 He started off tithing 10% that he gave to the Lord. 30:42 And then he increased it to 20% and then 30% and then 40%. 30:46 God kept blessing him to where at the end of his life, 30:49 he was giving 90% of his income to the Lord. 30:53 He tithed himself 10%. 30:56 He kept 10%, 90% to the Lord. 31:00 He lived very simply. 31:02 But he just believed in God's word. 31:05 He built a college that's over there in Kilgore, Texas 31:08 and was a man that loved the Lord. 31:12 But he made a statement that I thought was very good. 31:15 LeTourneau said, "Worry and trust cannot live 31:19 in the same house." 31:21 Like some people. 31:23 "Worry and trust cannot live in the same house. 31:26 When worry is allowed to come in the door, 31:29 trust walks out the other door. 31:33 Worry stays until trust is invited in again, 31:36 where upon," he said, "worry walks out." 31:40 Worry and trust won't live in the same house. 31:46 You trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not going to 31:50 have a problem with worry. 31:54 And you know, another thing that we worry about often is, 31:57 what others think. 32:00 What others think. 32:01 Too much what others think. 32:06 C.S. Lewis wrote in one of his books and he said, 32:09 he talked about a character named Mark and he said, 32:12 "Mark had a lot of Cocker Spaniel in him." 32:16 You know how Cocker Spaniels are. 32:17 They always want your love. 32:19 They'll run up to you, they want you to appreciate them. 32:22 They're friendly dogs. 32:23 I love Cocker Spaniels, I'm not putting them down. 32:26 But they're always trying to please. 32:29 Sometimes we've got a little too much Cocker Spaniel in us. 32:33 We want to please everybody too much. 32:36 It would be wonderful to have everybody like us, 32:39 everybody love us. 32:41 But you know something, in the world in which we live, 32:44 if you stand for anything, there are going to be people 32:47 that are not going to necessarily appreciate 32:49 what you stand for. 32:50 And so you cannot always be concerned totally about others. 32:56 Then there are those that worry about, not just what 32:59 others think, but maybe the safety of others. 33:04 I'm getting ready in November to take my 21st trip, 33:07 Lord willing, to Israel there during the Thanksgiving week. 33:12 Any of you want to go, let me know. 33:15 I've still got a few seats left. 33:17 But it's amazing, every time I've gone to Israel, 33:22 people will say, "We worried about you the whole time 33:25 you were gone." 33:27 I said, "I don't know why, I wasn't worried a bit." 33:31 In fact, I want to tell you this. 33:34 That as far as the stats are concerned, you are safer 33:38 in Israel than you are in this country. 33:41 Now that is statistically true. 33:44 For instance, there are 16 to 17 murders per year 33:49 in all of Israel, which is about 5 million people. 33:54 There are that many, about the same number of people, 33:56 in the greater Dallas Fort Worth area, metroplex area, 34:00 and Yvonne, there are more than 16 murders a weekend 34:05 in that place. 34:06 So in a weekend, there are more murders in the 34:09 Dallas Fort Worth area than there are in Israel in a year. 34:14 That is the truth. 34:16 You can look up those stats. 34:19 And they won't vary much from what I just said. 34:21 And it's safe there. 34:25 But I will tell you one thing. 34:27 That people have the reputation, in fact, if some little incident 34:33 of any kind happens, you know that CNN and Fox, 34:36 and everybody else, is there with their cameras going. 34:39 There was a situation one time I saw in Israel, 34:42 where one person was killed on a bus. 34:47 Some kind of an, it was just an altercation 34:50 that a person killed another. 34:51 They had all the news in this country going. 34:54 There was a robbery in Fort Worth Texas. 34:59 The robber shot several people at the bank, 35:02 killed several officers. 35:04 And when it was all through and the robber himself had 35:07 been killed, I think there were actually two robbers killed, 35:09 there was a total of eight people killed. 35:12 And it didn't even make national news. 35:15 That was in Fort Worth. 35:18 But this one person, they even went live with reports 35:23 because it was happening in Israel. 35:25 The focus on the Middle East is unbelievable. 35:29 But when you really get down to it, it's not always 35:32 as dangerous as the news likes to make it 35:36 sound like that it is. 35:37 But worrying about others, people worry 35:40 too much about others. 35:41 Then there's the health worry. 35:44 One of the greatest things that you can do with health 35:48 is take care of your body through good eating. 35:54 I like the NEWSTART idea. 35:56 It talks about nutrition, it talks about exercise, 36:01 water, sunlight, temperance, air, rest, and trust in God. 36:10 The acronym is NEWSTART. 36:12 You get the right foods, you get the right exercise. 36:16 Now many years ago, 1980, I went to Weimar. 36:21 And I don't believe I'd be alive today if I hadn't, 36:24 because Camille began to put these principles into our diet. 36:29 We haven't has a gravy with flour in it since those days. 36:34 She makes a cashew gravy or some type of a very healthy gravy, 36:39 things of that nature that changed in our diet. 36:43 Now I want to tell you that I don't always follow 36:46 everything that's there. 36:48 The biggest problem that I have is lack of exercise. 36:51 But sometimes people say, "Well, Jim, you need to lose weight." 36:54 Well I do. 36:55 But I'm 70 pounds lighter than I was at my high. 37:00 See, they don't see where I was. 37:03 It's like, hey, I'm not where I want to be, but I sure am 37:06 not where I was either. 37:08 And the Lord keeps helping me gradually get these 37:12 things under control. 37:14 But if you take care of your health, it will be something 37:18 that you'll be very happy that you did. 37:20 Drink lots of water. 37:21 Now I do that. 37:23 Get the sunlight. 37:24 I don't get quite as much as I should. 37:26 Temperance, yes I am very temperate in things. 37:29 And my wife will testify to that. 37:31 Air, don't get as much as I should. 37:34 Rest, I don't do too bad there. 37:36 But I do trust in God. 37:39 And so, I may not be 100% on all of these, but I keep 37:44 working to try to help. 37:47 Health is so important. 37:48 And how you approach health is so important because sometimes 37:53 we can actually think ourselves into illness. 37:57 In fact, they tell us that a great number, high percentage 38:03 of illness is brought about by emotionally induced illness. 38:08 Now that doesn't mean you're imagining the illness. 38:10 Although sometimes that can be the case. 38:13 But it means that through your emotions and being upset, 38:17 that your body becomes ill. 38:21 And sometimes, illness can be imagined. 38:26 There's no question about that. 38:27 I have a good friend, very good friend; Gary Grimes. 38:31 In fact, I called him tonight and said, "Gary, I may tell 38:33 this story if I get enough time. 38:35 And will you be mad if I use your name?" 38:38 He said, "I'll be mad if you don't." 38:40 So I'm using his name tonight. 38:43 He's a lifelong friend. 38:45 We met when I was in academy. 38:49 So he was bragging about how good he felt, 38:53 "Man, I feel so good." 38:55 Gary is a strong guy, very athletic guy, 38:57 and was a very good athlete. 39:00 Great basketball player, great football player, 39:03 baseball player, everything. 39:05 But his roommate, Bill Lingo, and several of us, 39:09 decided that we would try something with Gary. 39:13 Because we thought we could influence the way Gary thought 39:17 about things by saying things to him. 39:21 And we decided that the next morning at breakfast 39:25 we would tell Gary that we didn't think 39:28 he looked very good. 39:30 And see if we could actually make him sick. 39:34 Now I will have to confess, I was part of this conspiracy. 39:40 But I was the last one to leave the dorm that morning. 39:44 The others had already seen Gary over at the cafeteria. 39:49 And they had started off by saying, 39:52 "Grimes, you feel alright? You okay? 39:55 You don't look like you feel too good." 39:57 Two or three people salted to say that to him. 40:01 Now when I came out of the dorm and was headed towards 40:03 the cafeteria, I met Gary. 40:06 He's going like this towards the dormitory. 40:09 I said, "Gary, you don't look..." 40:11 He said, "I know, I know." 40:13 He didn't even let me get it out. 40:17 And he was headed to the dorm. 40:18 He was sick for several days. 40:22 And we only in the last few years confessed our sins 40:27 that we had disturbed him physically. 40:30 I told him, I said... 40:32 Now I mentioned him in the book I wrote, 40:33 The Battle Is The Lord's. 40:35 Which they're offering here with this series. 40:38 But I said, "Gary, now you're not going to sue me 40:42 if I use your name?" 40:43 He said, "Yea, I'm going to sue you anyway." 40:45 So he said, "You might as well go ahead and use it 40:48 because it's in the book." 40:49 I know he's teasing. 40:50 Gary, I know you won't do that. 40:52 We're too good a friends. 40:53 But we've always had a good time teasing. 40:56 By the way, the Lord has given him good health. 41:00 Because he walks every day, he drinks his water, 41:03 he watches all these different things with diet. 41:06 And he's had a good long healthy life. 41:11 It pays to do it. 41:13 I guarantee you. 41:15 It pays to watch your health. 41:19 And then the 5th set of problems are finances. 41:25 I could tell you all kinds of things about finances. 41:29 It's amazing how these things will happen, 41:34 and we will sometimes lose money, 41:42 or let ourselves get into debt, or have a very difficult time. 41:48 But I'll tell you this, that the Lord will see you through. 41:51 Every time, He will see you through. 41:53 I remember one time, we were just in the ministry. 41:57 And Camille and I had our son Jimmy and he was just a baby. 42:03 And we had formula and so forth for him. 42:08 And we sat down and wrote all of our bills, 42:13 wrote our tithe check first, wrote all of our bills. 42:16 And we had eleven dollars left over to make the month. 42:23 And now, we had to buy groceries, we had to buy gas. 42:27 We had to buy everything that we needed for a full month. 42:33 And you know, sometimes, when you're supposed to be the one 42:37 that's providing the bread, the pressure all of a sudden 42:42 comes on you, and I was tempted to hold that tithe check until 42:47 somehow I got my finances up. 42:51 You know, I was talking to a fellow one time that did that. 42:54 And I said, "How can you do that? 42:56 You know you shouldn't be doing that. 42:57 It's robbing God." 42:58 He said, "If I can't borrow from God, who can I borrow from?" 43:01 And he kind of puzzled me there for a minute. 43:05 But that's not exactly what the Lord said. 43:07 He says, "Trust Me." 43:10 So I said to Camille, I said, "Do you think the Lord 43:14 really expects us to turn this tithe in when we've got a..." 43:18 And I was hoping that she would say what she said. 43:22 But I had to ask. 43:24 Because you've got eleven dollars to make the month. 43:27 You know that's going to be a long month. 43:29 And we were on the envelope method. 43:31 There was no credit card. 43:32 We didn't have any credit cards. 43:33 Whatever money we had, we had it in an envelope. 43:36 We had one for this expense and that expense. 43:39 And they were all gone, there was nothing in them. 43:42 One just general; eleven dollars. 43:46 And she looked at me and she said, "We don't rob God." 43:51 And I felt ashamed, very much ashamed. 43:55 You know, when you're depressed, sometimes you just want to 43:57 get out, you want to go somewhere. 43:58 I said, "Come on, let's go for a drive." 44:02 Here we've got eleven dollars to make the month, 44:05 and we're going out and driving up all our gasoline in the car. 44:10 You don't have a lot of sense sometimes, you know. 44:13 When we got back, there was a car out in front. 44:19 And in that car was a friend that we'd known when I was 44:24 Assistant Pastor in South Lancaster. 44:27 His name was Howard Lee, worked for Worthington Foods. 44:31 He was the rep for Worthington for that part of the world. 44:36 Howard said, "I came by here and you weren't here. 44:39 I went over to the church and thought you might be there." 44:41 Now if you knew Howard, just the fact that he stopped. 44:44 He was going from South Lancaster to New York City. 44:47 Just the fact that we would stop was a miracle. 44:51 Period. 44:53 He's a very impatient guy. 44:56 Howard, if you're watching, I hate to say this, 44:58 but you are a very impatient person. 45:00 And your wife will testify to that. 45:04 But he's a very impatient guy. 45:06 And he went to our house and we weren't there, 45:08 went to the church and we weren't there, 45:10 came back to the house and waited on us. 45:14 And he said, "I just wondered, could you all use some food?" 45:21 Our cupboards were bare. 45:22 We opened up the cupboards to show him. 45:25 Could we use some food? 45:26 Yeah, we could use some food. 45:29 He said, "I've got some samples, a lot of new products and stuff 45:33 that Worthington wants me to have somebody try." 45:35 And he said, "I'd like for you and Camille to try these." 45:38 Some of them were some of the new frozen foods. 45:40 We'd never even eaten some of those before. 45:43 And he brought some of those and he had some canned goods. 45:45 When he left there, we knew we would not starve that month. 45:52 We would make it somehow that month. 45:54 One after another during that month, miracles took place. 46:00 We started the month with eleven dollars, 46:02 never asked anybody for anything. 46:06 Never. 46:08 A refund check came from where we lived before 46:11 that was from the electrical company and they had finally 46:14 sent us our deposit back. 46:16 Well there it was. 46:17 We ended the month, we had everything we needed 46:21 all month long, able to buy our fuel, able to buy our gasoline, 46:25 able to buy our food, and ended the month 46:28 with something like 40 dollars. 46:32 And the Lord supplied it all. 46:38 I will tell you that He will help you. 46:42 Years later, I was in Dallas Texas and I had just started 46:46 a business and things were really rough. 46:50 And I was so tense, I could not figure out what to do. 46:54 And things were so difficult. 46:56 And it seemed like I could not make it. 47:00 And it looked like things were really going to be rough. 47:03 I mean, real rough. They already were rough. 47:06 I went out and I bought 100 pounds of beans 47:11 and 100 pounds of rice and put them in a room. 47:16 And I told Camille, "If things get tough, we will only 47:21 eat out of this, we will not starve. 47:23 We'll have something for our family. 47:24 It's just beans and rice, but we will have something 47:27 for our family. 47:28 We will make it through." 47:31 And then I did something absolutely insane. 47:35 To show you how insane I was, 47:38 I bought a swimming pool and put it in the back yard. 47:43 Can you imagine how foolish that was? 47:48 And then I put a heater in it. 47:52 And I heated that pool to where it was like a bath tub. 47:56 One of my friends said, "You've got the biggest 47:58 bath tub in town." 47:59 And every night when I came home, right after we would eat, 48:05 I would go out and get in the pool and I would pray, 48:09 in that pool, and ask the Lord to give me wisdom 48:15 to meet the problems that we were having, 48:18 and to somehow make things go. 48:23 And I want to tell you something. 48:25 He did. 48:27 He gave me solutions. 48:29 During that time, one of the things that I decided was... 48:33 I was losing money, I was losing money. 48:36 And people said, "How can you lose money and live?" 48:39 We were taking just a draw of 1000 dollars a month. 48:42 But the company was losing, that I owned 100%. 48:48 I was eating into my capital, eating into borrowed money, 48:53 I was not making any money. 48:56 And so, we decided by faith we were going to tithe 49:01 even that 1000 dollar draw. 49:05 So we started paying 100 dollars tithe. 49:08 You know how much money we had left over at the 49:09 end of the month? 49:10 The same as we did when we had the whole $1000, nothing. 49:14 But we were giving 100 dollars. 49:16 So out there in that swimming pool, I just felt the Lord 49:22 encourage me to up it to $200. 49:24 So we upped it to 200 dollars a month. 49:28 How much money did we have at the end of the month? Nothing. 49:30 We didn't have anything at the end of the month, 49:32 but we were able to pay that tithe and still able to make 49:36 all of our bills somehow. 49:39 And then at the end of about several months, 49:44 I said, "We're going to go to a third tithe." 49:46 And we went to 300 dollars a month. 49:50 And that time, I backed out with my car, put it into gear, 49:57 and it wouldn't go. 49:59 My transmission had just gone kerplunk. 50:04 And I sat there and I said, "Lord, you know by faith 50:08 we're reaching out here, by faith. 50:11 There's just no way that we're going to be able to continue 50:17 tithing if I've got to do something 50:18 about this transmission." 50:21 So I got it down into one of the lower gears that would work. 50:26 Nothing else would work. 50:27 And I crept to a transmission place. 50:32 I got out and I told the man... 50:36 I only had about 70,000 miles on that car, but 50:39 that transmission was gone, gone, gone. 50:45 I told him, I said, "I can't afford to do anything." 50:49 He said, "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do." 50:51 He said, "I can drain that transmission fluid 50:54 and I will help you the best I can, and you'll get maybe 51:00 3000 miles out of this at the most. 51:04 But this transmission is gone, it's burned up." 51:06 But he said, "I'll drain it, take all the pieces of 51:10 stuff that's in there out, and we'll flush it. 51:15 And I think I can get you a few more miles." 51:17 I said, "Lord, if you'll just give me 5000 more miles, 51:22 I'll save, I'll do whatever I can to make it." 51:26 5000 miles. 51:28 I got 5, I got 10, I got 15, I got 20, 51:33 I got 25, I got 30, I got 35, 40, 45, 51:38 over 50,000 miles on that transmission. 51:42 The Lord did it. 51:45 He did it because He will see you through these 51:48 financial difficulties. 51:49 There's just no way that He is not concerned about you 51:55 and that He will not bring you through. 51:59 You know, I've mentioned sometimes to some of you that 52:07 there have been times when I worried about my family; 52:11 worried about my children. 52:13 Let me tell you how that got started. 52:16 When I was seven years old, I remember one night. 52:21 I remember that night just better than I do some things 52:25 that happened last week. 52:28 We went ingathering, and what a night I had. 52:33 Biggest night I've ever had, one of those little cans 52:36 sticking it out in front of people, 52:38 "I'm a junior missionary volunteer out working for Jesus. 52:41 Would you like to help?" 52:43 And that had been the best night that I'd ever had. 52:47 And there were about ten teams and I was number one. 52:52 I'd never been number one before. 52:54 And we went home, went to bed. 52:59 In the middle of the night, the phone rings. 53:03 I remember, my father, he was standing there 53:07 and he said, "Oh no, no." 53:10 And he hung up, called back. 53:12 My brothers were now in the hall standing there next to dad. 53:15 Mother was weeping in bed. 53:18 I knew something was really wrong, but I 53:20 didn't know what it was. 53:21 Then I heard my dad, "Is this the highway patrol?" 53:25 "Yes, it is." 53:26 Did you just call my home and tell me that my daughter, Mary, 53:31 was killed in an automobile accident tonight?" 53:36 And then I heard my dad say, "Oh, so it's true?" 53:41 Then he hung up. 53:43 Now my brother and I didn't have our own room. 53:46 In the summer time, we slept in a corner of my 53:49 mom and dad's room. 53:51 In the front part of the house... 53:53 We lived in a two bedroom house with five children. 53:56 In the front part of the house, my two brother's slept 53:59 just at the edge of the living room. 54:02 And then my sister had the other bedroom. 54:06 Four boys, one girl. 54:07 She was the queen of our family. 54:10 Beautiful girl. 54:12 Active girl. 54:13 She'd gone off to school, gone off to Southwestern. 54:16 And financially we couldn't make it so she'd come home. 54:20 And so when she came home, Elder Johnson came to our home. 54:29 The youth leader, Kimber Johnson. 54:31 Many of you knew him. 54:33 He came to our home to visit because anytime a kid 54:37 left school, he would go see them. 54:40 We were so excited. 54:41 My brother Paul and I, I was seven and Paul was 54:44 four years old, but we were so active. 54:48 Elder Johnson didn't realize, to us he was a celebrity. 54:53 We had never seen anybody from the conference office 54:55 come to our house. 54:56 I mean, this was unbelievable. 54:59 And when he left, my sister said to my mom, 55:03 "You know, mother, if anything ever happens to me, 55:06 I want him to have my funeral." 55:09 My mother laughed and she said, "Honey, you're only 55:12 18 years old. 55:13 Nothing is going to happen to you." 55:16 And Saturday night, she was killed. 55:18 Hit by a drunk driver. 55:20 They were in a car and she and the young man she was with 55:24 were both killed. 55:26 The two in the front seat survived. 55:29 And now we would have her funeral. 55:33 I remember that they called Kimber Johnson to come back, 55:36 but he misunderstood because the person who called 55:38 was my grandmother. 55:40 And somehow in the connection, he thought he was coming 55:43 to hold Mary's grandmother's funeral. 55:47 And when he arrived, he was late for the funeral. 55:51 He came right to the platform, had no chance to talk to anyone. 55:54 And when he stepped up to speak, he looked into the casket. 55:58 And he said later, "I nearly fainted. 56:01 There was the young girl I had visited with 56:03 just a few nights before. 56:06 And now she was dead." 56:08 I was young. 56:09 I kept saying to myself, "When all these people are gone, 56:15 I know the Lord's going to resurrect her." 56:17 I had studied about Jairus' daughter in the Bible 56:20 and I just knew this was going to happen. 56:22 And I kept waiting for it to happen. 56:25 And finally, it came time for the family to go. 56:31 My dad lifted me so I could see her. 56:35 And I was waiting for this to happen. 56:38 I knew then all of our family would accept Christ 56:41 if this happened. 56:42 And I knew it was going to take place. 56:45 And I waited. 56:47 And then they started to close and I said, "Oh no, don't." 56:51 And then all of a sudden, I had not cried a bit, 56:55 but at that time, hot tears shot from my eyes. 56:58 I'll never forget it as long as I live. 57:02 And I knew what death was. 57:06 And I knew that I wouldn't see my sister 57:10 until the resurrection. 57:12 That brought a worry that stayed with me with our children. 57:17 But I've given that to the Lord now. 57:20 I trust in Him. 57:22 And I know that He's coming back 57:26 and we will have no worries, no complaints. |
Revised 2014-12-17