He That Has The Son Has Life

[00:00:00] Good evening to each of you, and greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. This has only happened to me a few times, but I think it has happened before, and I always have lived through it, and I expect to live through it again. But I don't think I know by name anyone here, unless I have found your name here in the last half an hour, but before that, I didn't. [00:00:35] That's alright, and I wonder a little bit how I got connected to here. God can send you anywhere, but you're always curious, so who got my number, how did this happen? and I have been in churches related to what used to be sharing concerns group of churches and I'm supposing somewhere there there's the connection. You might take note of two external things concerning me. [00:01:11] I come from a congregation of people that's a bit more formal than you folks are. And I have this suspicion that I'm the oldest person here. Don't know for sure, but I think so maybe. Now I'll tell you what, be that however it may be, I will not come to you with preconceived ideas about those things [00:01:50] and with a condescending spirit about practice or age or anything else. If you will, do me a favor too. Open your heart that God can speak through an old man. And I really appreciated the opening meditation. I thought on the way out here to tell you, and now I'm going to tell you what he basically told you, that I can't do a thing for you. I just can't. In the first place, I'm every bit as needy as any of you all are. [00:02:25] There never was a man who in his own merit could do anything for any other man that was worthwhile or lady. But I do have this little thing that gives me hope and I hope it gives you hope. And that is, I do believe in a God who can do things men cannot. And so together we'll look to Him, okay? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we want to again bow our hearts and say that this is your time. [00:02:59] We want you to speak to us, and you alone know how you can best bless everyone that's gathered in here this evening. And you know what you want me to say, Father, and what you don't want me to say, and so I offer myself to you as a speaker, as a channel, and ask you to, by thy spirit, do the work that you want to do in each heart here this evening. [00:03:33] And we ask you to glorify yourself and to bless us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Would you turn in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 5? There's some very simple, straightforward verses here that I would like to read. [00:04:08] Sort of text passage of this message. And they contain the title of the message. 1 John 5 verse 11 And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The next phrase is the title. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. [00:04:41] These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. That's so straightforward, so simple and yet it's so profound If you have the Lord Jesus Christ, you have life. And while that does have a future aspect to it, it's more present than future. If you have Jesus tonight, you have life tonight. [00:05:17] If you do not have Jesus tonight, you do not have the kind of life spoken of here tonight. I'd like to set forward a few propositions here. Number one, Jesus, when he lived on the earth, he lived the human life that he lived, which was a perfect, sinless, perfect example of God his Father, perfect example of how a man should live who is totally subject to his Father. [00:05:51] Father, he lived that life, not automatically as the Son of God, but rather because he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God. If he would have lived it automatic, then his life and example don't mean anything to us because we're not God. We're not the Son of God. But as a man, he lived the life he lived because he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Number two, there is no Christian life. There can be a Christian profession, but there is no Christian life if you've not been born of the Spirit. [00:06:35] Because that's the way Jesus lived his life, filled with the Spirit. If we are going to be like him and in him and following him, we must too be born of the Spirit of God. In fact, the scripture says, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So, if you don't have his spirit, you're not a Christian. You might be religious, I might be religious, but we're not Christians if we don't have the spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God. [00:07:08] Third, the reality of this born-again Christianity, the essence of it, is well expressed in Galatians 2.20 that says I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me and so he doesn't take away my personality [00:07:39] nor yours, he gave that to us he doesn't take away our free will but he believes that if we believe and faith in him we will come to understand that his life is a better life than anything that I can conjure up on my own. Far better. Thank you young man. Far better. It is the only life that gives me peace with God. [00:08:11] It is the only life that prepares me for eternity. And I want to talk with you about this a while tonight. There's a tremendous need for Christianity to work like it should work. And so many times when there's marriage needs and needs amongst our children and there's emotional needs and there are morality needs and the list goes on and on. [00:08:51] Professing Christians are tempted to go to other cisterns for their answers. Try to figure out what they can do since what they're finding with God and what they're finding at church is not getting the job done. And I want to tell you that the failure is not in what God planned. It's not in what he offered. It's not who Jesus is and what he should be to us. There's some reasons for this lack when it exists. And I would like to, in my limited way, share with you how I feel this works and needs to work. [00:09:28] See, Jesus gave himself in sacrifice for us. And when he said, it is finished, he made possible a complete restoration to the Father. Remember, everything that a man or woman could ever need in relating to God was provided at that point, potentially. [00:10:00] It was provided. But there is something required on our part. There must be a response of faith. Faith has to focus and must respond. If there's no response of faith, then men and women continue to live their wrecks of life and what Jesus did for them does no good for them. And so I want to look at this in two vital aspects. [00:10:35] One is the response of faith that is more the internal aspect You and I have a vital union with Jesus. We're abiding with Him. We're trusting in Him. We're looking to Him to do that which man cannot do. Vital union with Jesus. I am crucified with Christ. He lives in me. I wonder tonight, for myself and for you, [00:11:07] So, all of us like the idea of forgiveness. All of us like the idea of heaven. All of us like the idea of answered prayer. But I think I have a more searching question than that this evening. Do we like the Jesus life, if I can say it that way? His way of living, the way He served His Father, the way He obeyed, the way He gave Himself, all the way down to that moment [00:11:48] when there was not another moment of suffering to give, there was not another breath to breathe, there was absolutely nothing left to give to His Father that they hadn't gave Him. He said, God receive my spirit. At that moment, for the first time, after Adam, a man had absolutely surrendered a perfect, obedient life to his father. [00:12:27] And you see, there's all kinds of people who fill out decision cards, go forward, make a decision. They'll be a Christian. They say they want to believe in Jesus. Nothing wrong with that. But the call of Scripture is that we become His disciples. And the scripture talks about abiding in Jesus, has the idea of you have this fire and you take a piece of cold steel, iron, it's gray or black and it's hard and it's cold, and you put it in the fire. [00:13:17] And as it's in the fire, the fire gets in the iron. And it changes the nature of the iron. It begins to get hot instead of cold. It begins to glow instead of be dull. And finally, it will even be moldable instead of unmoldable. Abide, follow my sheep, hear my voice and they follow me. [00:13:51] Do, he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. In other words, in simpler English, if we say that we're in Jesus, we ought to live like he lived. And my question tonight is, how about that? Do I like that part of Jesus? Do I like that standard for my own life? That as I think about the things I do, the way I do my business, the way I relate in my family, [00:14:29] The way I do my recreation, the pastimes I engage in, the things that I like, the things I don't like. Am I willing to put that all up to the test of Jesus' life and see if it's Christ-like or not? So first of all, do I want to be like Jesus? [00:15:02] Second of all, am I willing to follow Him and be like Him? In the third place, we're talking about this response of faith from the inside out. Do I believe that in Jesus' name, if I abide in Jesus, if I stay there by faith, in the fire, in Him and me, do I really believe that anything is possible? [00:15:36] Anything is possible. I was in Arizona one time, a certain church out there, and I preached a message in Jesus' name. And I put emphasis that if it's within God's will, and your life is right with God and you have the faith, you can ask anything within the will of God in Jesus' name. He'll do it. You can trust God for that. Now, there are things that we don't know if it's going to be His will or not. And when we're praying for other people, they have their will involved. But there's tremendous power in Jesus' name. If we're abiding in Jesus. Sometimes when I'm praying, I've thought about, I'm so unworthy that maybe I just have to stay a few feet away even from the feet of God. [00:16:36] And you can't even get inside the throne room with that. You can't even get off earth, much less get into heaven with your own worth. But if you're in Jesus, you're right there seated at the right hand. You just have to crawl over to his lap. Because it's his merit, not ours. And on that basis, if that's where you and I are at, Ephesians seated with him in heavenly places [00:17:07] then can we believe in the inner person this is possible in Jesus name God can do this I can't do it but God can do this and when we encounter these needs in our life in our spouse or our children Our children or our congregation or our neighborhoods, we encounter these tremendous needs. [00:17:47] And sometimes there really are beyond us, even things of grief. I just, if you want to help me bless someone these days I'm here. There's a man and his wife in Guatemala, Orlando and Miriam Rosales. I don't know if you can wrap your mind around a name like that or not. But they buried a 17-year-old daughter today. And I don't have all the facts of what happened, but I think she was very deeply abused. [00:18:20] And had to have surgery and through a series of infections and whatnot, passed away. Anabaptist, Anabaptist, Anabaptist, Anabaptist [00:18:58] But, you know, God can do, God can comfort, God can provide, He can give grace. I'd like you to turn your Bibles, if you would, to Luke chapter 11. This is a powerful passage on prayer and the Holy Spirit. [00:19:32] And I'm not going to read it all. In the first verses of the chapter, the disciples are asking Jesus to teach them to pray and he gives them what we call the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer. And then he says something that's very important and very common to you and I. He tells this little story about a family who have friends come late at night. The way, you know, Jim and I came to church tonight, kind of the last moment, but later yet at night. [00:20:09] Now, we in America, we have trouble understanding this story because I'm sure I can come to any of your houses tonight, and you may not believe it if I say I'm hungry, but let's just say I say it anyway, that I'm hungry. You can find something to give me. I mean, if nothing else, saltine crackers, or you can thaw something out of the freezer, or bread and jelly, I don't know. You can do something, but there are a lot of people in this world who tonight will have some corn soaking so they can grind it in the morning and make flour or, well, it's corn, it's corn tortillas. [00:20:55] Or in a much even greater part of the world, there's rice there to prepare in the morning, but there's nothing ready right now. There's no fridge, there's no pantry, there's no canned goods And there are far too many homes tonight that don't even have anything for tomorrow morning It's not there at all They're going to go hungry unless something happens between now and then But for even those that have, it's probably not prepared [00:21:26] And so Jesus said there was a home like that People show up 10, 11, 12 at night and the host wants to give them something to eat and there's nothing he says to his wife and she says, well, I don't have anything. I mean, yeah, the corn's soaking for tomorrow morning or the bread's rising, but it's not going to be ready until morning. Ah, well, the neighbors had a birthday party today and they got bread left over. [00:21:58] I'm going to go check with them. So he goes over there and he starts knocking. You know the story of the fellow. In these countries where they don't have insulation and electric heat like we have and all that stuff, they get together under the little bit of covers they have and they use body heat. And they get that place warm and he says, I'm not coming out of here. I'm in bed with my children. It's warm. I'm not crawling out. He's a friend. He's not a smart, don't care neighbor. [00:22:29] He didn't understand the need of this person. He had visitors that had come, just come, and they needed something. So, you know, the guy wasn't going to go to sleep anyway. There's no way he was going to sleep through that, so finally he gets up and gives him the bread. Now, the whole point is this. There's frequently in our life, there comes that moment when you and I do not have what it takes. [00:23:02] We don't have the grace, we don't have the power, we don't have the wisdom, we don't have the unction. We don't have the strength to say no, or we don't have the strength to say yes, whatever the need is. We don't have what it takes. But someone close by does. And Jesus said, and I say unto you, ask, that's verse 9, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. [00:23:37] For every one that asketh receiveth, he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Now you have to understand this. This is like Brother Jim said about the disciples were already in God's family. You already have God as their Heavenly Father. [00:24:21] You say, well, if we have the Holy Spirit, why do we need to ask for Him? This is not asking for His presence in our life. We're born of His Spirit. We already have Him right here. This is asking for Him to do a work that we ourselves cannot do. We are specifically, in Jesus' name, asking God to use His power to perform something that we are not able to do. Whatever that something is. [00:24:52] We need bread and we don't have bread. This is not as simple sometimes as a one moment prayer. Sometimes this is a real... If you would study this verse 9, and you probably have many of you, You would know that this is an active, ongoing voice. You ask and you keep on asking. [00:25:22] You seek and you keep on seeking. You knock and you keep knocking. You push. You know what that is? You pray until something happens. You see this through because many times there's a spiritual warfare going on. Could be our own faith that needs to work through. It could be spiritual resistance. It could be that other people have exerted their will different from what God wants them to do. And you have to see it through. [00:25:54] But if we believe that what is within the will of God, He will give power in His Spirit to do, then we can see it through. That has to come within, from within. You and I must believe. Jesus said, you know, if you can believe, anything is possible to him that believeth. In Jesus' name. [00:26:31] I remember a brother in the ministry in our area. He's passed away now. Some years ago, he had a son who had become very rebellious. And they were going to have a communion service the next morning. And the father had asked his son to give up some ungodly music. [00:27:04] And his son basically told him he wasn't going to do it. There was a single young man living at home. His father had asked him to give up this music. He said he wasn't going to do it. And that was a great burden to his father. He wanted his son to be prepared to share in the Lord's Supper, do it with an open heart, clean conscience. And he and his wife just went to bed, or at least to their bedroom, but they spent much of the night praying. [00:27:46] And the next morning, the son come downstairs and said, Papa, I'll do what you asked me to do. Now, sometimes it don't work that fast. But if you ask, and you believe, and you keep asking. Then there's another aspect to this. [00:28:18] And I wonder sometimes if we don't fail in this area even more in the other. Although I think there is a tremendous amount of unbelief about what God can do amongst God's people. I don't minimize that at all. And it might depend a little bit on which... I sometimes hesitate to use this example because people can misunderstand it. but I talk about for every mile of road there's two mile of ditch [00:28:48] and the way people misunderstand that is they say okay so if you're on the road then you're in the right religious ladder everybody's to the left or to the right of you now don't understand it that way but many times when there's two aspects to a truth Sometimes those aspects are on opposite sides of the same issue and people tend to either go one way or another. [00:29:21] And in the Holy Spirit power, people tend to emphasize inner and phenomena. Okay, so there's going to be some sort of signs or wonders or miracles. And I don't have a problem at all with miracles. And I'll accept any sign God wants to give. But that's the emphasis. It's all internal, basically, in any signs God gives. Other, and this tends to be the more traditional type groups in any line of denomination, [00:29:54] it's more the fruit of the spirit. And actually, not a lot of spirit emphasis, just do what you're supposed to do. In this road with two miles of ditch for every mile of road, if we want to stay in Christ and live His fullness, we must both have the faith that moves our heart from within, and we also need to have a heart that desires to live a Jesus lifestyle. [00:30:34] Character You see A 12 year old boy 11 year old girl And please I'm not establishing any ages It could be less, it could be more But they can decide they want to serve the Lord Jesus It can be an 80 year old man too But they make a decision for Christ There's no reason at all All not to believe that they are filled with the Spirit of God the moment they surrender to Jesus. [00:31:11] I mean, the Holy Spirit's a person, or has personhood. You don't get a leg, okay? You get the whole being, or you don't get Him. So, He comes in, and if that night or morning or whatever it is, the child goes to his parents and says, I want to be a Christian. They lead them to see that they're a sinner and they need Jesus and they trust Jesus. They invite them into their life and they ask God to forgive their sins at that moment. [00:31:44] The Spirit of God is in control of their life and they are what we call filled with the Spirit of God. But here's the issue. Though they are filled with the Spirit of God, their capacity for the Spirit is very small because they have not yet learned many things about Jesus, especially experientially. They have not experienced a lot of mileage with Christ yet. Their character development, while perhaps they were trained well, [00:32:18] and they're pretty good as far as the external controls on a child's life but they have not yet learned to walk with the Lord and so it's like going to first grade. See, you can enroll in school and you can be in first grade and you can get 100% with a big smiley face on your paper. You have full approval of the school and you pass, you get promoted to second. But you're not ready for calculus yet. [00:32:54] Just because you can do good in first doesn't mean that you're ready for the really tough stuff out there. And I believe sometimes Christians forget that they're supposed to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they're to add to their faith virtue and they're to become more like Jesus Christ so that the Holy Spirit of God can increase the fruitfulness and blessing in their life. [00:33:31] Especially in our service to others. By the way, in Luke 11, that's what the example was. We can ask God for that Holy Spirit power for my own needs, for my family needs. But in the example Jesus gave, it was for other people. Other people had the need. And they were petitioning what they didn't have so they could give to others. That was the context there. And so, we want God to answer our prayers, right? [00:34:10] And we want to be spirit-filled Christians. We want to have something about us that God can just reach out of our life and get a hold of other people. You know, I think as you and I go around in life, there's a flavor that goes with us. There's a presence. And you and I either move people toward God or we move people away from God. So, did you think about it recently that our life, God is either pleased or displeased? [00:35:01] So I've been born of the Spirit of God and I want to be a spiritual person. I want people to sense God in me. I mean, it's wonderful to talk about Jesus, but isn't it even more wonderful that people sense that you belong to God even without needing to say so? There have been people who are so close to God that people would break down and weep just in their presence just because they sense God. [00:35:36] And I long for more of that. Not that I want to see people weeping right and left, but I do want my life to touch other people for Jesus. And so, it's important that my life and your life please God. That as I was traveling today, that my life, my thoughts, my actions, yes, even driving habits, [00:36:10] that as God looked at my life that He was pleased. And why is that important? Well, you and I have the capacity to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We have the capacity to quench the Spirit of God. We have the capacity to resist the Spirit of God. [00:36:42] But thank God we also have the capacity to please Him. And make the Holy Spirit feel like He can lay back in His easy chair or in His rocker in our heart and say, you know, I really feel at home here. Among other things, when I ask for my bedroom slippers, they come right now. And when I ask for the paper, it's right there. And when I'd like a cup of coffee, it's already brewing. You know, because we really care about the things of God. [00:37:18] Turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Thank you. [00:38:06] I will say this respectfully, but I don't think a lot of Mennonite folk at least understand this passage well at all. I really believe in being separate from the world, but I believe it's a separation that's so different than just being different. And I want you to notice tonight what is the core of this passage. We're talking about the life of Jesus. He that hath the Son of God hath life. [00:38:37] Now think about that as we read this passage. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship? That word there comes from the Greek word koinia, which means a co-participation. What walking together two as one has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion, same word, co-participation, hath light with darkness? [00:39:09] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God as God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty [00:39:42] having therefore these promises dearly beloved Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So why? God says, I want you to give your allegiance exclusively to me. I want you to believe that my life is worth everything to you. [00:40:18] When you made a decision for Jesus, you made an exchange. You said that your life of sin, you were willing to die to, give up, and take on the life of Jesus. And now I want you to know that my life is very distinct from the life of someone who lives for self and sin. And the reason why this needs to be important to you is because I'm going to live right within your being. See, that's Holy Spirit in dwelling presence. [00:40:55] That's God. God the Holy Spirit, He being one with the Father and Son, they come and make their abode in our heart. When you think a nasty condemning thought about someone, you think that nasty condemning thought right in the living room with God. When you entertain a lustful, filthy imagination, you do that, and I do that, right in front of God. [00:41:39] And we say, God, in Jesus' name, do this or that. And he says, a half an hour ago, you didn't even blush to do this in front of me. Now the reason why we cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit is not so that we can merit salvation. Forget it, you'll never get it done. There's no way you could ever, as I said earlier, you can't even get inside the throne room. [00:42:13] You'll never be good enough for that. Neither will I. Why? We don't do it to chalk up religious points. And we don't certainly do it to be strange so that people wonder why, you know, they can see we're odd or different. But we do it. We do the things we do, having therefore these promises. What are the promises? That God will be our Father, and not some far away Father, but dwelling right in our hearts. [00:42:51] And so, I want to go preach at Faith Community Chapel. And I would like God to somehow bless these people's hearts that I don't know who they are. And so I don't even know where to begin, but if I can, unworthy though I am, humble myself and say, [00:43:26] May God have mercy on me and cleanse me, purify my heart, and he's pleased that he gives me confidence to ask, not because I'm perfect, but because my heart is turned toward him. I want to. You don't ever condemn a first grader who's trying, right? God don't either. God knows if your heart is honest, if it's turned toward him. In fact, he's not so concerned whether you're in the first, sixth, or twelfth, [00:43:59] but he is concerned about whether you're an honest student and you're working at it. Not because you're trying to gain your salvation, but you really believe. You want to honor the Lord so that when you ask God for unction, when you ask God for strength to do the right thing, when you ask God for grace to talk to someone properly, when you ask God for your son or daughter, that you can do it with the confidence of a faith that's unencumbered with a filthy conscience and a doubtful spirit. [00:44:36] and God who has sensed your honest heart is filling at home and he says, I'm going to do this for my son. I'm going to do this for my daughter. They love my son, the Lord Jesus. They're making an honest attempt to honor me. I'm going to honor them. And give my grace and power. We need this combination. I think the world has not seen nearly enough out of you and me. [00:45:13] And mostly me, because I don't know much about you. But God has not seen enough of what, I mean, pardon me, people have not seen enough of what God can do with men and women who really seek God because they believe that God can do far above what we ask or think. That God can do amazing things in 2014. [00:45:46] God can do amazing things amongst Anabaptists in 2014. If we believe, if we honor God in our life, if I really want to be like Jesus Christ, and that cuts pretty close. I've got to be honest with God about finances. I've got to be honest with God about interpersonal relationships. [00:46:17] How I spend my time and money. My attitudes. My loves. You have to spend serious time with God. I think I'm going to, you can pray about this, unless God changes my mind, and I'm open to you brethren telling me what you would like me to speak about. I'm thinking about a message. [00:46:50] American values that stifle the work of the Spirit Would it be alright if I preached something like that here? I think we really struggle with that And part of this thing is time In the United States we have seen so many miracles of technology Where things move faster and faster and faster My family and I is getting ready to move Back some farm lane three quarters of a mile off the road And my wife, my 21-year-old son is sure there's no way of getting cable back there for the internet. [00:47:28] And so he says our internet service is going to go downhill. Hallelujah. But anyway, we like it to go faster and faster and faster. My children were telling me, by the way, I have six children, and three are married and three are not. The three of them are married and scattered abroad in the face of the earth. One's in Guatemala, one's in Illinois, and one's in Virginia. Well, it could be worse. One could be in China or something. [00:48:03] They're scattered around, and there are three at home. But my children at home were telling me the other night that with these gadgets, you can really take amazing photos. And it takes a pretty good camera. Take better photos than a smartphone can take. I said, yeah, I remember not too long back when you could spend serious money to buy a camera that could do better than 3 megapixels. Yeah. If you were only at one to go to four, you had to really shell out serious money. And so, faster and faster and better and better. [00:48:37] And that's the way we like it. Listen, to really be filled with the power of the Spirit, it still takes time and investment with God. It still takes the slow way, as our brother was talking about tonight, of humbling ourselves to where in God's presence we know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that I'm not even close to worthy. Not even close to being close. [00:49:13] I thought about this thing that's a little bit like learning. True learning, the more you learn, the more you know that you don't know. There's just so much more out there. It's like an astronomer. He buys a bigger telescope only to find there's so much more out there The closer we get to God, it's not that we start to feel like we're really measuring up to God. The closer we get to God, the more we sense that God, without you, I really am lost. [00:49:48] I have a serious need here. Unless I'm right with you. We ought to be nearly terrified with the concept of what it would be like to be without God. And so, I think it's one focus, but it's an inner and outer. It's the focus of, I want to be like Jesus, and I know I need the presence of His Spirit to do it. [00:50:21] And I must believe internally. and in my practice of life I must strive to honor Jesus with my life so that my response of faith is fortified and built and I grow in my capacity for God to use me in fruitfulness and blessing. And he's honored. And I'm humbled when that happens. [00:50:54] And I guess tonight my challenge to you as well as to my own life, and I told you and I really mean this, I need this as much as any of you here, is that if there are areas of our life that we're not experiencing the power we need, maybe it's some besetting habit, maybe it's a relationship that needs restored, maybe it's someone we're interceding for and it just seems like we can't get through to God for whatever the need is. I'd like to challenge you to just spend time that you didn't spend in your regular relationship with God. [00:51:37] Take time apart to seek God and say, God, how can I get these loaves of bread? What's it going to take? How can I push? Be careful. So, there are times when we just have to wait. And sometimes it isn't God's will. Sometimes it is, but other people's will are in the way. I mean, if you could pray everybody through to glory, Jesus Christ would have got Judas there. But God does give individual will. [00:52:13] So when you're praying for others, you have to keep that in mind. but if you sense that there's lack don't go buy a set of cassettes especially if they say Dwayne Eby on them. Don't go buy a ten step book. I mean, maybe I'm saying that wrong. It's okay to get some help and encouragement sometimes but what we really need folks is God. That's what we really need. What God can do. And God does it through the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit. [00:52:48] And I just want to say this, and I'm going to close. I don't have anywhere to sit down up here. I can stay standing. I'm going to give an opportunity to share a little bit about this, and then we'll close the service. But, you know, when we need something from God, you cannot go about it like going to the store to buy something. You know, when you make up a grocery list and you go to some supermarket, you maybe go in there and buy 20 items in a store that maybe has 2,000 items. [00:53:26] I don't know how many they have, but they have quite a few. And you just select what you want. And then you leave the store and you take with you those things which you felt you wanted or needed. So now you've got it and you go your way. You don't get the power of the Holy Spirit that way. You take Him as a package. He's a person. A spirit person. And you see the power that is in you is Him. [00:53:57] He does it. He doesn't give you power apart from Himself and then you just go do with that power wherever you want to. and that's the problem with so many Christians in America and elsewhere they would like to tack on Jesus as another degree behind their name or another investment in their portfolio they just want that in there because it's helpful sometimes but God don't work that way you want to do business with God, you let Him have His way [00:54:30] and when we pray for power from God to do something We're asking for God to do it. So he has to be there. So I'm going to go talk to John David. God has to be in me talking with John David. I'm not going to let God back and I'll go do my work. And that's why it's so important that we spend time with God and walk with God. Because he's going to have to be there. If he's not there, guess what? It's just Duane Eby doing it all by himself. [00:55:03] God stayed at home. Let's pray. So God, help us to, right up front, say that we've failed you many times and tried to do things our own strength. We tried to grit our teeth, try a little harder. Remember, we tried to come up with some resources, resources that didn't come from you, try to make this thing work, forgive us for that, and oh God help us just acknowledge you in all our ways, give you a chance, give you the place, the first place, to lead out and bless our lives, we thank you in Jesus name, Amen.