Paul's Passion, Preaching, and Praying by Leonard Ravenhill

fund me chapter one I mentioned before that for years I I drifted on in a self-made delusion by believing that in the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 5 where he gives us summary of all his expectations I thought the 14th verse was a secret of his motivation he says the love of christ constraineth me I can't say that without thinking about the marisol the eldest daughter of the founder of the Salvation Army she came to a church I passed that she was a tall ungainly large shouldered woman but a tremendous soul winner and she wrote to him and one verse of the hymn says there is a love constraining me to go and seek the lost I yield O Lord my all to thee to save at any cost there is a fire that falls on me as in the Upper Room destroying all carnality dispelling fear and gloom that is a life to has given me a life divine and strong it carries me through every sea of Sorrows storm and wrong you know that precious woman came from at that fantastic family and when she was less than 20 years of age she went to Paris invaded Paris and as a result had to go to jail she invaded Switzerland as a result she went to jail they lived in hardships and so but you know she was like a daddy she blazed with a holy fire remember hero that him now Christ of burning cleansing flames and the fire my blood bought gift tonight we claim send the fire look down and see this waiting host give us the hot promise you know the Salvation Army never made anything about gifts but God help as they went through the world they went into 90 countries in 70 years not 90 cities men didn't go for a holiday we can give out a few tracks they they blaze for God that emphases about the Holy Ghost was not power but purity they still have a banner with the red the red banner with a sign on it and it says on there a blaze for God if I remember right an army that he raised up where we need another Pentecost I don't know whether we wanted but we need it I don't know whether we pay the price for it but something's going to happen before too long I'm absolutely sure of them well now then I change from 2 Corinthians 5:14 where Paul says the love of christ constraineth I'm sure that was one factor but I feel that this is the answer in Philippians 1 and verse 20 according to my earnest expectation my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed with all boldness as always now also that Christ may be magnified in my body whether by life or by death that Christ may be magnified in my body whether by life or by death this city of Philip is written in to the Philippians Philip I was founded by who it was founded by the father of Alexander fun yes Philip but is founded by Alexander the other thing about it is this that it was written on Paul's second missionary journey I guess the most unused part of your Bible is an apse in the back I had a tutor that used to say you can't understand the New Testament and let you read your maps do you see where Paul went and I used to draw a map but I can't draw these could these you go to Asia Minor his say where he sets off Jerusalem goes to Asia Minor as Kipling would say after he got saved after he got vision he put on his seven league boots and he stalled over Richmond well you just trace in the back of your Bible or get a phillips atlas of the bible see how many miles you and without automobiles without planes he went on ships they weren't allowed to go up a river these days the Union would let them go the one where he says you've been deaths often witness in fasting in painfulness he does more than a dozen men you know as I pray this I've no say God give me give me just 1% of the passion and vision and unction of that man had he out prayed everybody out fasted everybody out preached everybody and he says I want Christ to be glorified in my body you know Christ gave all he had for us and you've got to give all you half for him he won't ask of you anything less than he gave he won't ask any more than he gave but that's his right you see the paradox is that God always uses dead men he doesn't use live men he uses dead men this one had an experience of dying let me go back here a minute there's a wonderful things in this way pistol one thing I don't know if you noticed it but never once does he mention sin in this epistle I'll tell you what he does though and remember he's writing from a stinking prison during World War two we would in England and we read in the newspaper that some prisoners in a prison in America have gone on strike because you're only getting one egg in the morning we only got one a month in England boy prison Americans like the waldorf-astoria they go on strike they can't have come up TV isn't that is not degrading poor souls they ought to be rejoicing in it and they can't have enough ping pong we can't do they can't do the other here prison Paul is in one of the worst prisons that the world ever had and yet 14 times in this epistle he says either joy or rejoice rejoice rejoice rejoice you remember the least in the Thessalonians he says that we were shamefully entreated at Phillipi you remember they put him in jail what for no no no it's a strange world we live in you know if you do bad things they put you in jail if you do good things you put you in jail how many of you want to go to jail a Baptist preacher was put in jail in England many years ago and in the course of being there for 15 years and how many prayers do you think they're asked Lord liberate sin liberate him you know Paul out of prison Lee God didn't want him liberating people call me sometime would you ask a lot to take this burden on me no somebody else being pray me put it on you the only way you get cents and realities carry that burden John Bunyan 14 years in Bedford prison I sat in his chair once it didn't make me write any better but I had the joy of sitting in the chair where he used to sit i sat in another chair that used to be occupied by Adam trout the great expositor but it didn't make me really expose it i sat in a chair that the king of England's had in but it didn't make me a king either but in the prison adversity he's saying to listen come on you fought rejoice in the Lord rejoice while you hang your head he says that Christ may be magnified by my body whether by life or by death in the next verse he says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain in other words he says the only reason for me to live is if we're profitable for God if I live I don't believe my life depends on circumstances whether I fly I don't fly I believe when God can't do without me he'll call me home when he says I need Raven in love here it'll call me home and I don't want to get that ahead of time because I know so we'll you'll drag your feet you don't want to go anyhow like a friend of mine so he said would you like to go to heaven he said yes but it's not urgent the Christ may be magnified by my body Paul makes a lot of the body doesn't he remember Romans 12:1 and 2 he says present your body a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed conformed to this world or as Phillips translates it don't let this will Thresh you into its mold but lots of people getting pressed into the world's mold by lifestyle and every other thing you know I cannot for a moment think about Paul saying that in the Philippians that Christ may be magnified in my body and you relate it to Galatians chapter 6 and there he says in verse 14 but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world verse 17 henceforth let no man told me get out of my way the whole lot of you of philosophers Stoics points he meets them all in the 17th chapter of Acts and he's totally king of the situation I think yeah the greatest brain the world ever knew except apart from Jesus but he says look I want to tell you something I could glory in my pedigree I'm of the tribe avenge Benjamin of the I'm of the seed of Abraham I'm a Pharisee of the Pharisees have everything going for me but he says my richest gain I count but loss we sing that it does mean a hill of beans but he's put all that stuff to death but he says no boasting that's how who translated it that way Moffatt translated when it says God forbid Moffat says no boasting for me not in pedigree position intellect anything no boasting for me saving the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ by which the world is crucified unto me and I'm crucified to the world and then he writes it off from henceforth let no man tell me I bury my body the marks now Moffat says I bear my I bear the brands of Jesus Christ in my body Herakles have been called a father history I don't think he was but he recites how in the days of the Apostle Paul a man who was a slave could get away from his boss or whoever had him in captivity and he would run to the temple of Heracles and they were ultra fires burning night and day 24 hours a day and there were men sitting with branding hands like we brand cattle here and you could choose which God you want to be branded for you say I'll take that one okay so what do they do they take a branding hat and put it there and how you fresh sizzled you list it up your instep and they put it in your instep you pull down your toga and they branded the back of your neck so that your head belong to your master your God your feet belongs your God your hands belong to your God and Paul says I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus Christ there's a lovely hem we used to sing in England I may be found to begin oh I gotta I think all for Jesus all for Jesus all my beings ransomed powers all my thoughts and words and doings all my days and all my hours let my hands perform his bidding they're branded for him let my hands perform his bidding let my feet run in his ways let my I see Jesus only let my lips speak forth his praise all for Jesus all for Jesus all what wonder how amazing Jesus glorious King of Kings yes I know it but I come thank you James but it fills me up he King of Kings tends to call me poor bankrupt me he deigns to call me his beloved that lets me rest beneath his wings do you wonder he said all fatigued Paul wouldn't enjoy that so much you see Paul had only one thing to live for one person to live for Christ whether by life or by death I don't care he says if it pleases God to crucify me crucify me if he please you to put me in a stinking prison let me stay there why they did the most ridiculous thing they could do put in power in prison what did do he got out of it but he got his revenge it prayed an earthquake and rape the prison I thought that was good screaming again let me find this the pistol I was looking at here it said in verse 10 of chapter 1 of Philippians here that you may approve things of the excellent you may be sincere and without offence do you know the Greek there is without wax what does that mean what does wax mean he means this that when they were chiseling sculpting a marble statue the man might be looking around and he chipped a piece of the ear off and so it was damaged it wouldn't be bought so what he did he got some he got a piece of the same stone and crushed it to powder and then he mixed it with wax and he filled the earring and it was alright until the Sun shone and when the Sun shone the guys here dropped off and so he said be wit sincere without wax without any duplicitous without any hypocrisy now look what he says and he's writing from prison I would that you should understand brethren that the things which happened unto me a falling out rather to the furtherance of the gospel no that's senseless what's he doing in prison he can't write an epistle there at least not much he'd be more useful outside this man has a ministry of healing he raises the dead II and he's stuck in the stinking prison how good is he doing for God's glory why did he go to some other country and exercise its power is authority over death it'll probably over demons authority over doubt and darkness but there is in prison and he writes it in a pistol which has blessed millions of people since then but listen to what he says in verse 13 he says my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in other places in that grade the guy in prison is affecting those in the palace look at chapter 4 and verse 22 and this is how effective it is you know we sing oh well it was a lovely deliverance they were in jail and they sang praise at midnight in the jailer let them out isn't that nice they whipped his back they taught him like they taught his master his back was like a plowed field and yet as he sings the praises of God it echoes down the corridors in the prison the result is one or what's it say in chapter four and those 22 verse 21 it says salute every saint in Christ Jesus the brethren which are with me greet you and all the saints salute you chiefly they the glove Caesars household my professor used to say Caesars household was next door to hell and this man goes to prison in order to get a Testament into the palace and into Caesars household he done a miniature revival there this we carried up somebody sent me a notice I will profoundly move with it somebody had been up in Russia and then over into one of the worst countries in the whole world Siberia which is I mean when it's 25 degrees there it's summer it's the most frozen dark difficult place food is almost unobtainable places are inaccessible and there's an old man there has one page of the Bible one page and that's all he's had all his life and then he's had dozens and does it hasn't that a mass revival dear God you and I have every page in the Bible and 10 other versions running God's name do we do I like the way our dear Paul is leaving Monday time again he's held its book up here and says whatever books were going to be judged by when we get to hang with us surely we're going to judge by this book you know you'll but we shan't boasted about so much Bible knowledge when you get there when God says this is what your boasted often there's where you lived you talked about that you live down there you talk freedom you lived in bondage you choked purity and you lived in pollution you taught Liberty and you're a captive it's an awful thing ever to have the Word of God I say almost to all the fellows that come in my room I don't have a lot of books have a good few hundred and I say no all these men that wrote profound things that they wrote and yet not one of them had a bigger Bible and I have Adam Guillen wrote some wonderful things where from a lousy prison it's not there any longer the walls were 30 feet thick and they shut her up they took a Bible away they a confessor go and have fellowship with her and there she sings triumphantly a little bird am i shut off from fields are there content within this cage to life or goddess plays me here well pleased a prisoner to be because my god it please a thief it pleased God to shut a tender gracious brilliant woman up in prison for years or pleasure does get a God get out of it one she never moment she never complained she loved him more and more she said there's nobody else to love anyhow I love you love so amazing so divine I had a brilliant young man came to see me today my son Paul and we had a wonderful time we've had that any time with him at all this time on home I will be going Monday now be merciful if you want to talk to him please don't go to the house he won't be there tonight anyhow but call on the phone if you want to wish some goodbye but he was telling me today he been reading again part of this woman Madame Guiana a works are being republished in America recently and there was a French teacher called did Dion how do I suppose it is and he said you know it pains me to think how few people really enter into a living relationship with God we're all living on the perimeter with all in water to the ankles not water to swimming I'm not gonna listen to your sermons and all the rest I want to see God work Paul I think was the greatest preacher every wasn't an orator the Polish was the arbiter of the early church he was the greatest theologian he had the greatest concept of God but remember he says my speech my word my preaching was not in Word on live it in power and demonstration and that's more than tongues dear god we've got lasting gifts we don't exalt Christ we exalt gifts prophecy interpretation poor would have lovely same I haven't memorize it I should do he's written by a man called Brook it's pretty strong I think he says my goal is God Himself not joy not peace not even blessing my goal is God himself not join our peace not even blessing but himself my god tis his to lead me there not dying but his at any cost dear Lord bein erode so faith bounce forward to its goals in God and love can trust a Lord to leave her there upheld by him my soul is falling hard til God hath full fulfilled my earnest prayer no matter if the way be sometimes dark no matter though the cost be often great he knoweth how I bet she'll reach the goal the mark the way that leads to him must needs be straight one thing I know I cannot say him nay one thing I do I press toward my Lord my God my glory here from day to day and in the glory there my great reward I usually ask a congregation somewhere particularly when I go to a new place as I did last weeks or some hundreds of preachers and other people did you come here tonight to me to God 99% of people in America do not go to church to meet God not in England they got hear a sermon about him they don't expect the divine invasion they don't expect a confrontation they don't expect the word to become a mirror and I see all the corruption in my nature and before an altar call I scream and Sam corrupt woe is me I'm undone remember that man didn't say I didn't say Lord I need a bit of health I'm a bit weak give me a bit of help god I need a bit of courage for a job Lord I'm behind in my tithing Lord ambien he said two desperate things that bring personal revival I am undone and I'm unclean and when you get there brother you're serious with God then he starts doing some surgery and it's desperate but it's desperately needed in this awesome hour in which we live I'm going to skip into this again Philippians so what does he say it's been asking for prayer but listen to what he says again that price may be magnified in my body so to say Lord make me a more attractive minister don't give me a deeper ministry don't give me more miracles don't make me a star person God in heaven I used to covet that at one time there's a competition amongst preachers and I was foolish foolish enough to fall into it but they came a day when boy all that went I couldn't care less what people think of say he says that Christ may be magnified in my body he's not passing an opinion here he's declaring a principle of mistake place in his life let's say here verses 20 to 21 he says that Christ may be magnified by my body whether by life or by Death he says for me to live is Christ and to die is get but listen it's only again to die if you're dying Christ it's hell if you don't you've got to be leaving right up to every bit of light you've God as I've told you before I want to be in that position with God that without the seconds notice he can transfer me from here to heaven without me being an embarrassment to him when I gather I'm supposed to be made for his praise I'm supposed to be pure in heart I'm supposed to have rejected out of the vile affection every other thing which would contaminate my life and that's how we have to live anyhow we're not going to get a notice most of us that we're going to die you know people say I believe Jesus may come today I say you're lying oh that's a rough thing to say I say if you believe Jesus will come before travel cloud tonight you'd make a dozen telephone calls you do this you do that you do the other you level your own life are you me asking God to do it you go do it yourself the scripture says keep yourself in the love of God the rasayana commandment read read the Hebrews let us let us let us you know we sing jesus paid it all that's not true in Blood Redemption yes but there are things I have to have to put off the old man I have to put on the new man I have to renounce this world all of its pleasures its pomp and it's tried give me but Jesus my Lord crucified so let's say this in here verse 20 and 21 I call this pose purpose in Galatians 2:20 you remember he says I'm crucified with Christ forever that I live not not i but Christ liveth and the life which I now live in the flesh you sit down and contemplate that for 10 minutes tomorrow the life which I now live in the flesh which could go like that who's the richest man in this meeting tonight there isn't one all any of us possess is one beat of the heart you can't store them up and say I'm going to breathe and nurse you can't do it but we live as though you know anybody's going to die but not me Oh some other day maybe when I get old you know the thing that kind of grieves me is this when this fellow wrote this epistle he wrote 14 if you give him Hebrews and I give Him Hebrews I think he wrote it but that guy did that guy I'm getting so Americanized I mean this preacher he wasn't much more than half of my age when he wrote these epistles I'm much older than he was but my goodness he was a million miles of the road spiritually compared with me it's not how that we're not going to be rewarded for how long we've lived if we are God isn't just David Brainerd when the greatest Saints in america died at 28 wesley dad at 88 who gets the biggest reward the man who died at 88 the one who died at 20 no no no no we're we're rewarded for faithfulness not for years we're rewarded for obedience we now to reward it for achievements necessarily to whom much is given God will expect much you say you're more oh you've more knowledge of the Bible so what you being more troubling it to the judgment bar you'll be this talent you've got talent the other you know you say about the lady this dear lady that's playing for us tonight she has a talent that's not a talent that's a gift in the Bible talents are always related to money silver talents and golden talents and will be responsible for those as well you don't look at Romans run 14 I know you know it well enough and let's check it for a moment I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians to the wise and unto the unwise so do you wonder he says another place always unto me if I preach not the gospel this man has a passion of a hundred men this man wasn't filled with the spirit at some Junction 20 years ago the brute that Greek that anyhow says be being filled with the spirit not just get filled up there are thousands of Pentecostals and homeless people are filled with the Holy Ghost they've been leaking ever since it got filled but there has to be a constant inflow that they may be an overflow and an outflow if you keep a cup under water and the water is dripping down the cup will fill it will go over and then it will go out and if you live it live in complete subjection to the Lord the Spirit will fill us I saw man write on a board recently a lot of things get this out of your pride anger jealousy suspicion buh buh buh buh buh buh and I said brother I didn't say to him he was preaching I sent in my heart you don't remember all those things you don't you just let the Holy Ghost gun and there's an old hymn that says our blessed Redeemer where he breathed his tender last farewell a guide that comfortably queeth with us to dwell he came sweet influence to impart a gracious willing guests and know without word ghost ghost Holy Ghost the world ghost is a corruption of the word guest he comes as a guess how long does a guest stay until they tell him to go he comes with a guess and if you agreed him he goes but we lived we do the actions we know the vocabulary we say the same thing draw the same terms we gesticulation on helpers but he says he goes under saying to him every virtue he possess and every conquest won and every thought of holiness are his and no are his alone what's a cottage with her mother done I'm Nadia but how does it start well the middle of it says he checks each thought and cons each fear and speaks of heaven the Holy Ghost is main would moderate only tell me that's wrong stop right here I'll go ahead that's right I need that inward presence of the Spirit of the Living God to be my constant monitor constant ruler but he says I'm a debtor do one of these shreds me toils and he works there's nothing can move him boy I love that statement he makes let's say well his purpose was the first chapter 22 21 a talks about dying Romans 1:14 is his passion as I've said before preaching is not a profession god help us preaching is an obsession and a passion and I love this passionate preacher how he preaches his heart out he weeps that a preacher doesn't weep should be fired I have a little slip I put it in letters you know pre if your teacher doesn't weep over the pew organize something in the pew to weep over the preacher Jesus wept poor words you see this already made I fear to hear people have just sent it into a blessing so they think that means you resign your job and go preaching and they don't have no experience I don't believe any man should enter the pulpit until 10 years after he's been saved or filled with the spirit somebody ought to me I've got to get out I'm young I said listen Jesus was young and God kept him brushing shavings off his legs at the end of every day for 30 years the Son of God took 30 years training John Baptist was thirty years with the wild beasts laws is a colossal intellect read Romans that read Acts chapter 7 he was mighty in Word and in deed before ever he was God got all of him he was a statesman he made the laws of the country I met God teaching to the backside of the desert James reminded me the other day in with a friend as he said well you're 18 oh he said well that's just the time Moses started preaching well I'm hoping to get started soon most folk of hoping he'll stop no 40 years you can't preach out to the Bible merely or to have experience it's to get in your blood and no man's a right to stand up and dictate unless he's gone through the truck I can listen to this man he's been him he's been in prison in fasting in weakness in weariness and yet there's nothing he's able to pull him down his purpose then was what that Christ might be magnified his passion was well that he's a debtor again I say preaching is an obsession and a passion if a thing doesn't burn in me well burning you I'm not going to stand up and get most preachers don't preach anyhow some of you guys how many of you want to be preachers like to be preachers put up your hands let me see you I'll tell you what to do eat as little as you can oh good that's a encouraging Jacob put his hand up I've been praying he'd want to become a preacher here's my plan for your eat as little as you can sleep as little as you can pray and fast friend study as much as you can I preached the sermon last Friday night I preached for fifty years pretty all over the world but it has to be reborn in me otherwise it doesn't oh good I got a going that with a fire in my not in my belly but in my heart if I don't burn why we should you burn if I don't weep why should you weep if I'm not willing to pay the price why should I ask you the last thing I want to be a hypocrite anyhow but look at this strange man let's we've taught about this purpose we talked about this passion let's talk about this pleasure in 2 Corinthians 12 where's that here somewhere [Music] did you get ahead of me hit 2 Corinthians 12:9 and 10 I got the wrong chapter must have we thought about is what his purpose is to preach talk about his passion being a debtor to everybody we talked about this pleasure of course he had pleasure see if you'd like it in verse 9 2 Corinthians 12 verse 9 he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in what you know when somebody asks a marvelous man that broke up in China Hudson Taylor why did God take you of all the people there are thousands of people at Kazik convents and other conventions in England thousands of great bible expositor why did it take you and he smiled he said friend in apart God had been looking years in for a man with weak enough to acknowledge his weakness and his nothingness and cast himself on God and then he took me in use me and he founded the Empire of Jesus in China well doesn't the scripture say it's the lame that take the prey you see somebody limping you wouldn't think there are much good God says the lame take the prey and to those who have no might he increases strength but the next part is my joy here most gladly therefore he says I will rather glory in my infirmities command we go in the healing line some people would never have done the things they've done if God had healed them they survived I've been healed many times I thank God for it I've been in the valley of the shadow of death two or three times God raised me up they threw a white sheet over me in hospital and said it'll be gone in four minutes I know the xi2 inside whoever said Oh Oh II know you're listening I said well you happen to be talking about me so I I'm not going to die I jumped out that burning hotel before I hit the ground the Lord said I shall not die but live four o'clock in the money we doctor chose at the bottom of my bed scared and white and I was old blood and smoke after the fire and I said I got another promise what is it first was I shall not die but live and the second was asked for God his ways are perfect so the greatest preachers in America came to see me precious guys I'm going through this town I wanted to see you amazing how many of them one of the most outstanding broadcasting preachers in America that day looked I mean I preached in his Tabernacle some months before he said brother Raymond do you want God couldn't trust me with this did you ever think when you're going through the hottest toughest spots in your life he's trusting you he's not trying to find out what's in you he knows you don't know what's in you you make your vows I'll do this I'll deny all to do the other ham leaves are gone to comfort and from this lay I'm going to pray two hours a day from this day I'm going to do that from this day I'm going to do the Lord the highway of Christian living is code with a wreckage and vows that have never been kept but it gets better he says I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me again he's not asking for miracles he's asking for the indwelling Spirit of God to become more intense that the power of Christ may rest upon me therefore I take pleasure come on now what do you take pleasure in dominoes or golf a lot I take pleasure i drink of the cup e-pass and i never asked why I don't think Paul in his life ever lasts right you're smitten down on the Damascus or didn't say why he said what what's it all about log tell me lay the price down tell me he says therefore I take pleasure in infirmities necessities in persecutions and distress is for Christ's sake for when I'm weak then my strong is not a paradox or the whole Christian truth is a paradox it says if you want to go up go down if you go up will humble you if you go down they'll exalt you if you are a want something be nothing exchange your weakness for his strength your emptiness for his fullness that Christ may be magnified I love that look at verse 27 in the first chapter this is a pattern the office to the Philippians a pattern we're staying with that letter P we talked about is all the other things anyhow verse 20 said only let your conversation but that is not not speaking the world there is citizenship remember elsewhere he says our citizenship is in heaven but it says in the authorized version how conversation is in heaven I like what Paul's been saying about how much you've heard of what he said but I only said we ought to live on earth as though it already in heaven the principles of the Holy Kingdom should be operating in us now in this flesh I read today of a missionary with to the Buddhist and a lovely little boy came I remember seeing some of them in some country well a Bangkok little boys in yellow robes a hair all shaved off this is the fellow came up to the new missionaries in you and humorously said yes you were going to talk about that lovely man Jesus that he loved people and he was kind and he said you're not to do evil things and he said you have to be pure in heart and he said you love your enemies not yes yes he said well sir that's very nice but they've been lots of miseries hear that talk about him but I've never seen anybody like him he rocked the missionary back on his heels and I'm just here to tell him go that way don't do this don't do that Figg this video he said immediately I realize I'm there to be a role model for that child he's going to watch me and I don't want to betray my Lord by some stupid thing my flesh getting in my desires getting in so those 27 I say this is a pattern only let your style of life be as it becometh the gospel of Christ whether I come and see or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in the spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel and then he says and this is our privilege unto it is given on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his name's sake I've got a chapter four verses six Nate this is pretty tough stuff in it and I said so often one day somebody's going to read the Bible and believe it and when they do we'll be embarrassed and yet Paul says we're to be living epistles read and known of all men there's a modern song that says they're not reading the Bible they're reading your life and mine but in chapter 4 he says in verse 5 let your moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand now look at this it is something isn't it be careful for nothing but in be thankful for everything and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep all garrison your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord notice he begins chapter 3 with finally my brethren notice in chapter 4 verse 8 he says finally my brethren so don't you come chasing me because I keep saying finally I got a bit longer I borrowed that from Paul that's my excuse I'm okay a minute sleep let me say here this it keep it in the letter P this is the pursuit of the Apostle in Chapter three had been a sellout in his life he said in verse eight I count all things for loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ years my lord to whom I've suffered the loss of all things not some things all things he'd lost the rights and his family lost the rights in the synagogue he'd lost the rights in the school where he sat under Gamaliel the most brilliant scholar ever and then he says again in verse 24 our conversation our lifestyle is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ now this is what what is pursuing this is the prize this is what you'd get for your war this is what you get for your sacrifice this is what you get because you're persuaded that Christ of that is the only one who is able to save and deliver and he says he shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according as he is able to subdue all all things now let's go to verse 8 in the same chapter finally my brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things out of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things now when we go through his life story you see his travel and his trial travail he's tortured is tried is tempted is put in hot a put in jail with a minimum of creature comforts and he comes out on top and people in the palace are hearing about this man they whip him and he won't whine they lash him it doesn't complain they starve him almost and yet he's no murmuring in him at all he takes a very disposition of Jesus Christ and in the adversity in Colombian tragedy in his life and he comes out more than conqueror you know what we think he's a kind of a superstar no this is a normal Christian life the normal Christian life for those profess to walk in the spirit I think the most dangerous thing in the world is to say I walk in the spirit I make myself vulnerable so every attack the devil has but we can be more than counters in the whole thing there's no question about that at all he says I glory in tribulation and necessities in reproaches isn't that something there is a last thing I like his word when he says none of these things move me isn't that great I forgot where he said that but I know I said it none of these things move me is poised the presence of the Living Christ gives him balanced in everything none of these things what are they been saying they've been telling him that before he gets far up the road he's going to be arrested he's going to be crucified and he says none of these things oh mercy we'd be on the Father the pastor could call a prayer counsel I'm going to be persecuted I could lose my life you've been singing when we all get to heaven for 10 years but as soon as you get there you want to turn back not this way Lord don't chop my head off don't let me suffer let me you know what one of the cheating devilish things of our day when I was a boy and Dale remember this too when he was a boy petty doesn't because he never was a boy but anyhow maybe she remembers it in the days the pastor would say the Sunday service you know I've had a good time visiting hospitals this week I've been in six different hospitals I let eight people to Christ eight people had a death bed repentance and I went to see them two days after and they were rejoice there are no death bed repentance is now we sent people straight into eternity with injections we drugged them two or three days before they died you've gotta have a chance to speak to them they feel hell straight out of bed into a hell like that you know we are not at least I'm not as I should be as I say I'd look I love to have ten percent of the passion this man had or vision or compassion or driving force but he isn't a showman he isn't competing with anybody I want this then he says the Christ made mag be magnified in my body whether I live or what I die I think he would have enjoyed the hymn that was sung so often unwritten of course by Isaac Watts when I survey the wondrous cross when he says my richest gain I count but loss and Thor contempt and all my pride all all things weren't an advantage to me my scholarship again I was a tribe of Benjamin the seed of Abraham a Pharisee of the Pharisees as covering the school of the Gamaliel it everything going for me a bundle it's all and becomes offensive it's just like a bunch of dung as far as I'm concerned I know that I may see him in all his true value in all his true power then I've kept thinking this last few days I'm trying to write this book on the judgment seat of you know I feel so shrunken how do you feel at the sight of a man like this not because he has a magnificent intellect because of his relationship because he says there was a time and I was crucified with Christ he went to the cross that's not the problem yet people to the Cross getting one the cross and he says he revealed himself to me on the Damascus Road later he revealed himself in me people who have a hill of beans whether you speak in tongues and heal the sick if your life doesn't conform to the Bible people say well you can't do this you can't do that I'll tell you the man who knows what the stand of Christianity is better than anybody else the man in the guts of the land in the street the man in the factory seen so much hypocrisy so attempting is so much talk but they know the genuine person when they see them when the love of Christ is constraining them this is the man who says you can do all things not some he loves that little word all all things without murmurings and without disputing all things however offensive however against your taste I don't believe Jesus like lepers they did more than like them he loved them and it's difficult to get away from some of our affections we've kept seeing a mouth and I talked about him this week have that affections being nailed to the cross you know I was in a meeting not long ago a guy came up gave me a bear hug he said brother I love you I said you want I love you nonsense it doesn't know me how can he love me a lot of this sloppy mush going into a church I give everybody a hug if there's nothing in it love us blood on it let us sacrifice it you cannot have love without sacrifice you can have love without blood and this man loved he says God loved the world Christ love the just that he loved me and gave himself for me and so he goes after all the gabbar bear in the Greek society and the bond the free it matters not I'm a debtor to that man to tell him the while he's a leper there's one heal him and cleanse him from his model leprosy there's one who can save to the uttermost not merely cancel your past sins but he can take the roots of sin out of you it doesn't mean you never sin again it means what you live in victory is he lots of people get the devil out of them but you don't let a spirit in and they become 7 times worse I've seen people who backslidden about a worse vocabulary after they were Beck's Lynne than ever they had before it why because another spirits come in the Holy Ghost is not indwelling he's not in control troll but a as a man who's mastered by his master here's a man who is a slave he says I'm the bond servant of Jesus Christ it won't give the devil credit anywhere he never once says I'm in prison because of of the devil he says I'm and justice am in prison because of Caesar he said I'm the prisoner of Jesus Christ he didn't write Romans 8:28 as a kind of nice bit of poetry says all things work together I'm in this thinking prison God's will get glory out of this there's no way of getting into the palace but he got into the palace he not in person they said we've never had a prison like this and all the palace was talking about him that's what he says in this first chapter and then the fourth chapter again he says there that there were Saints in Caesars household well how did they get there Paul was the one that went and rejoiced that he lost everything to gain everything he says you can't lose in this life if I live I gain because I've Christ in me if I die again I win whichever way I'm tossing it with a coin with two heads on it you can lose in this game God doesn't reward us here he rewards us Hereafter well and also you wonderful preacher fellows you got it all fixed out I haven't I'm sure you'll be very happy to stand at the judgment see right after porno I've told about his preaching I've talked about his passion what about this praying I'm not concerned whether a man teaches 50 people on Sunday a 5000 no man is greater than his prayer life I don't care who he is I told that to hundreds of preachers twice this year I talked to five or six hundred at a time no man is greater than this prayer life and Paul is not only the prince of preachers the Prince of prayers doesn't it say in the ninth chapter I could wish myself occurs why brethren I'm willing to be rejected cut off one translator says he says like I'm willing to be damned if need be madam Guillen said this I've so reveled in the beauty of Christ in the glory of Christ in the sweetness of Christ in the majesty of Christ on earth that if there's no room in heaven well put me out and let me go to hell she said I'll enjoy hell all that I've had in this life the memories in Hell will outdo I don't think she was right I know what she means my love is so great I'm so salt in him come on now can we talk about you walk in the spirit you think in the spirit he says this body if we gone to the second chapter I skip some things there it says let this mind be in you that's part of your body we don't have the old-fashioned watches like we had when we were youngsters used to be like turnips big things you know yatin them and good night there were more wheels in there than you ever seen in your life and you go to the watchman and say my watch need some help and it take the cover off and you see all these wheels there when I give them an my watch I give him the work to give him the hand to give him everything and he says he wants your body which contains your will contains your emotions contains your intellect but he says let this man be see wipe this blessed man / kami undermined of Christ he says let this mind be knew and he knew it himself he saves writing to the Romans chapter 6 the love of christ constraineth me you see all self had been removed and his christ centered he has a heart of love he has the heart of god he has the will of god has the mind of god and that's normal christian living i don't like to make a tirade against TV but i'm quite sure it's robbed thousands of people of ours they should have spent in fact women used to get together for coffee and talk in the morning they don't know they watch a TV show and get secondhand kicks but if you're going to walk in the spirit you must read the word you must have the wisdom from the word you must have the spirit to inspire the word you see as I say I'm embolus when I think of my terrible limitations I know so lean I've done so little for God I'm challenged again by this man this week with one page of the Bible that's being go through Siberia in terrible poverty and hunger and everywhere he goes he's radiating blessing I told you of the totally about souls and hits and the other day lying on a bed of rotting straw in a concentration company found God because a man across there in the stink and the urine was taking little papers out of his ragged clothes on and uncurling them and reading and relaxing and he said the put burdens on that man greater than anybody else they made him suffer they give him intense privation and it didn't crack under it he never whined irradiated suddenly I said well hey what is it on those bits of paper he said that the promises of God I stuff them in my clothes and I put them back careful every night and he said that man walked about that camp there were 3,000 men there and he was the most prominent man in the whole group there were doctors philosophers lawyers politicians but this man was a madman he bore something of the he say Lord we've on the image of the earthly so long we need to borrow the bear the image of the heavenly you know Paul doesn't say wait till you die he says I want the glory of God in my life now the life which I now live in the flesh I should live as I would already wired up to why the world doesn't seen and that pulsates into my life is love his compassion is great is joy his peace and his power God never intended we should be spiritual cripples he never intended the church should be where it is now but there's going to be an awakening I'm absolutely sure of that well now had had to preach another but I want the let's sing of us and if you have to leave you can live that thing that is a fountain filled with blood as we go to our knees there is a fountain

Channel: SermonIndex.net

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Keywords: Leonard, Ravenhill, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: u5z_StwzV9s

Length: 57min 54sec (3474 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2010