In this sermon, the preacher shares two powerful stories of God's work among young people. The first story takes place at a campfire where the preacher is initially concerned about the kids losing focus, but instead, a powerful move of God takes place. Fifteen kids respond to the invitation to be saved, and others begin to weep for their lost relatives and confess their sins. The second story is about a Christian school in a rundown area where the preacher and the students pray for God to work in their midst. They claim the verse "It is time for thee to work, for they have made void thy law" and believe that God will bring transformation to these kids' lives.

Let's go to the book of 1st John chapter number 5 if we could tonight I want to deal with a subject that probably the last two years the last year particularly God has been intensifying his teaching and Illumination in my own heart. I'm sure I've got much to go, but I'm excited about what God has opened my eyes, too I don't know if you've ever experienced this in your Christian life I assume you have where God opens your eyes to a truth. It's always been there. You just didn't see it Maybe you knew it intellectually, but God had not yet really opened your eyes to it spiritually And when you get open to that truth, you feel like man, I just hit the motherlode I mean, this is tremendous truth. And even though you may just feel like you're just partaking of a few nuggets You know, there's a lot more there and that's what I feel about the subject that God has been literally Transforming my life on the last two years last year particularly in the subject. We're in a deal with tonight And tonight I'd like to deal with the subject of receiving before you receive Receiving before you receive Is anybody ever out here read the book quiet talks on prayer by SD Gordon gonna see your hands, please anybody at all Okay, I'll have some of those coming in here in just a day or so And that is a book that really teaches along this line of receiving before you receive Of course, the Bible teaches about receiving before you receive we're gonna see in just a moment in Mark 11 Which we're not looking at right now as well as this passage very clearly teaches that And we'll start with a premise and that is real praying is not just asking it's receiving Real praying is not just asking it's receiving now There's nothing wrong with asking and I'm not diminishing other aspects of prayer but I'm simply saying that many times we miss this aspect of praying and it is receiving before we receive and So let's begin reading at first John chapter number five while the word of prayer begin the message Look at verse number 14 and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will He here with us and if we know that he air us whatsoever. We ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him Lord, would you be with us tonight? And would you open our eyes to the simplicity of the truth that we can receive before we receive? We can receive in that which is real in the eternal realm before we receive Here in the temporal realm and Lord we can just as assured as know that we have received the answer though We have not experienced it here on this planet So Lord would you teach us tonight simple truths about the subject of prayer stir our faith and when I pray you give wisdom of Words, I don't know the particular needs of this congregation, but you do Lord I'm asking that you would even guide an application That even if it's different than I would plan that you would open my heart to different applications So that God's people would be helped tonight and grow and we all would grow illumine our hearts and these truths We ask it in Jesus name Amen, I Mentioned that my grandmother was a praying woman She was one of those kind of people when you around you sensed you were in the presence of the Lord There are a few other people in my life that were like that But my grandmother was certainly one But she prayed as I mentioned she'd ushered you into the presence of God But one of the remarkable things about my grandmother was that when her mind failed her prayer life did not Now my grandmother had a lot what a lot of older people go through I'm not sure if you call it Alzheimer's some would say she had some other issues was not that it was perhaps some issue of Dementia, I don't know but there came a point in my grandmother's latter years when she did not even know my name Nor did she know anybody else's name This is amazing. She didn't even know the Lord's name, but she knew the Lord and she could still pray She called him that good fellow And it was a remarkable when she prayed it was like she really hadn't lost anything other than she couldn't remember the Lord's name But I remember when it was in the last years of my grandmother's life and she had it was a slow failing It was probably ten years where that was that mental failing and some of you have had parents and you understand what I'm talking about her grandparents who this has occurred with and My wife and I as I mentioned last night or yesterday. We had 11 years of marriage and five miscarriages So we really we were praying about children. We were burdened about it. I thought to myself, you know I need to get grandma to pray for this Just seemed like she just knew how to pray and and so I my wife and I were down in Florida at the time and and my uncle was taking care of my Grandmother at the time and we worked out to meet him somewhere and a restaurant or something. I can't even remember exactly where it was We sat down and I remember I I tried to get her to understand my request and that was difficult Took me a while to understand. We don't have children. We're burdened and again, I'm not even sure she knew I was her grandson But she she eventually she got the request or at least the idea of it and and she prayed I do not remember a pray It ought prayer at all. I wish I did but I don't remember a prayer But I do remember this when she was done praying she looked up at us and with confidence She said you've got it and my uncle looked at me and said don't worry about that one He said I have never known mom to say you've got it where God didn't answer the prayer Well, you've obviously last night saw two of the answer to prayer playing their violins. We have three little girls Well years later. In fact, it was just last year. My grandmother died in 1989 years later Just last year aren't my uncle. I was with him at Christmastime and we were talking about that incident He said oh, by the way, so did I ever tell you the rest of the story? I said no you didn't He said well when when you left I asked mom I said mom What did you mean when you said you've got it and she looked at my uncle and she said one two maybe three Now folks. I know that's a stunning illustration And I know some of you are sitting out here and say you've got to be kidding me Here's a woman who doesn't even know anybody's name and yet She was confident God was going to give us three children or I call my little one. My little ones maybe three She made it in Yeah, I know recognize that's a remarkable story and I recognize it jars you I recognize that that's why I gave it to you So you'll listen to the rest of the message And I recognize that it really raises a lot of questions And I'm not sure I can answer them all But I do want to jar you thinking how did she know How did she know we had we got it? I? Mean, how did she know we were gonna have three kids? I? Mean, it's almost humorous to me. I think the Lord has a sense of humor. Don't you? Here we are with our full faculties and we can't pray like that Here's a woman doesn't even know the Lord's name, but she can still pray Comes to confidence about something. Well, the reason is I'm convinced because that marked her life. That was not an unusual thing There's many times she said don't worry about that one God's and now and a moment we're gonna see some of the Methodology she used which was extremely biblical. I Recognize it raises some questions and I recognize it jars us That's all right, because I want us now to go to the Word of God and I want us to investigate this a little bit Can we have confidence that God has heard and that we are going to receive before received? Is that a biblical concept? I think in a moment We're gonna see a couple of passages Scripture that clearly teach us it is a biblical concept and then we're gonna try to see exactly what God says now I'm convinced folks And I'm saying this to myself I'm convinced that we have we are far too Surprised when God wants us to come to confidence before something happens In other words, sometimes we get surprised when God doesn't want us to be surprised As we're surprised when God answers prayer and we'll see some truths here that I trust will stir your heart It certainly stirred mine. I look at verse number 14 It says this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he here with us now The first step if you're gonna receive before you receive we're just gonna go through this just then we'll we're gonna deal with some of The problems. Okay. First of all, you've got to ask according to his will So number one, you've got to ask according to his will but that's still not enough Notice if we please verse 15 and if we know that he hear us whatsoever We ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired him Not only must you ask according to his will don't miss this. You must know that you've asked according to his will Because when you know, you've asked according to his will, you know, he's heard you and if you know, he's heard you You know, you have the petition that you desired So first of all, you've got to ask according to God's will number two You've got to know that you've asked according to God's will and then number three You've got to expect that God will do what he said he'd do And do you see that very clearly ask according as well, you know that he's heard you that means You know that he's asked you've asked according as well because he promised to hear you if you ask according as well And then you know that you have petitions of additions that you desire You know, you have them because you know, you've asked according as well and God's heard you Okay, so we see all that we say then that sounds simple doesn't sound real simple We say for sure. It's not that simple. What's the problem in all those three? What's the problem? Well, the problem is how can we know we're praying according to God's will isn't that the problem? Well, that is the problem in a moment. We're going to deal with that just a little bit more So kind of tuck that one in the back pocket. We'll come back to it in a moment How can we know we are praying according to God's will because if we know we're praying according to God's will we can pray with? Assurance that we are going to get what we've asked for now Let's look at one other passage of Scripture If you don't mind going to mark chapter 11 to ask ourselves, are we on solid scriptural ground here and that's the thick the key Are we on solid scriptural ground now go to verse number 22 of mark chapter 11 And let's see something here. I was with uh, oh, I guess it was about three months ago My brother John who's as an evangelist He's had some men that he's over the years gotten to know Many of them are younger than he is my brother's just a year and a half younger than I am and He called them together in Chicago for a day of prayer and fasting And I'll never forget the morning We were opening up the day and he had everybody go around and express what their burden was what they were burdened about on their Own Christian life and I never forget a young man. I guess I say young man He was in his 30s a young man said if you'd have told me five years ago that I was going to spend an entire day In prayer and fasting. He said I told you create you're crazy. He said I could hardly pray five minutes but you know that you know that that young man had traveled quite a few hours to get there and he was Absolutely, he could not he could not wait to be there and pray you say why because truth had just burst on his soul So let's ask the Lord to burst on our soul truth That can can bring can can bring us the faith in this on this regard to prayer so let's look at verse 22 and Jesus answering saith unto them have faith in God for verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain be thou removed and be thou cast in the sea and shall Not doubt in his heart But shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass Literally, that's the present tense shall believe that they are coming to pass. He shall have whatsoever. He saith now look at this folks Therefore I say unto you what things so ever you desire when you pray believe that you receive them That's in the past tense. In other words believe that you have received them and ye future tense shall have them So what God is saying here is he wants us to come to a place where when we pray we believe that when the spiritual eternal realm we have already received them and In the future we shall have them it is receiving before we receive So this passage of Scripture very clearly teaches us Not only is this scriptural it really ought to be a part of our lives You know think about the last prayer meeting when someone a pastor opened it for praises and somebody got up and praised God For answered prayer that had not yet been experienced. We don't do that very often doing But I'm friends. I have been in prayer meetings where men and women I'm complete can believe have God has brought them to faith and they have claimed the victory and they have thanked God For something that they have not yet experienced in the human realm But as far as they concern spiritually they have received it and as far as God is concerned as far as they concern It's a done deal Now again, I recognize that kind of jars us career. We're so used to praise meetings. Hallelujah I prayed God answered prayer and there's nothing wrong with that But I will tell you friends I'm convinced that we ought to praise God for answered prayer that has not yet manifested you say How can you say that? Okay, let's go and just in your mind for a moment. This is an illustration remember Jehoshaphat had that great host come against him and He of course went up and prayed and God Holy Spirit fell upon one of the priests and the priest prophesied and said that famous verse stand still and see what? Salvation of the Lord. So, you know what Joss Jehoshaphat did he now was the victory won yet? No, there's no victory won But as far as Jehoshaphat was concerned it was a done deal God said there's gonna be deliverance. He said there's gonna be deliverance So instead of sending the armies out, you know, what he sent out the choir and orchestra. I Think you'd have second thoughts about being in the choir and orchestra You say this is novel, you know, we're on the front lines. That would be one case where I wish I was a brass player. I Mean face it a violin. I mean one guy one stroke. It's gone I mean, it's over at least the brass instrument you can do some damage with it. I mean, you know You'd have to think about this, you know, I Don't know about you. I think I want a trombone that would be mad me Knock him, you know at work with it But he sends out the choir and orchestra and you know what he tells him to do. I want you to praise God Folks in the physical realm there was no deliverance, but in the spiritual realm Jehoshaphat said it's a trans We have transacted business with God and God has told us their salvation is coming So we're just gonna praise him and you know what happened? They started praising God for a victory that was not yet and guess what? There was a victory We look at praise as a result and I'm not saying that it does not have a place as a result But I'm telling you I'm convinced that praise moves the hand of God praise is a catalyst And so keep that in mind as we go through what we're talking about here receiving before you receive now go back to the text If you would please and notice in verse 23, it gives us a little bit of clues here Whosoever shall say into this mountain be thou removed to be thou cast in the sea and shall not doubt in his heart Now I'm convinced that people who receive before they receive come to a complete confidence We're gonna see this in a moment where they do not doubt in their heart But they believe that the things which they have spoken or they've requested are coming to pass And the Bible says if you do that you will then you'll receive you shall have whatsoever. He sayeth now you say, okay preacher How then can we come to that kind of confidence How can we come to know that what I'm requesting or what I have requested is the will of God and I can with Confidence know that he's heard and in the eternal realm. I have received and I've already received it and in the future. I shall have it. It will be manifest in the temporal realm So, how do we come to that kind of confidence? Well, that's a good question it certainly is one that we need to answer because both texts seem to indicate that that's the key Coming when we do not doubt in our heart, but we know that God has heard us Well, there's a little key here in verse number 22. The Bible says and Jesus answering saith unto them have faith in God Now I think all of us out here would recognize at this point That there's one way for sure that we can know that we come to confidence and that is obviously folks Every promise of God is a revelation of God's will In other words, let's put it this way if God gives us a promise then he wants to fulfill it The Bible teaches us in the Lord's Prayer that I will be done on earth as it is in heaven You know, that's a scriptural prayer to pray Friends do you realize that in God's will is not always done on earth It's a stunning thought And you know what? I'm convinced when a Christian comes into union with God's will and he asked God for something that he is is his will he comes He says Lord your will be done. This is your will Lord. You promised it. You've said it it's your will and they claim the promise of God the devil's will is defeated and God's will will be done In fact, it's stunning to find in Psalm 78 that the children of Israel the Bible says Limited the Holy One of Israel. How do they limit him by their unbelief? That's how they limited him So either friend God's will is being done or Satan's will is being done and when you and I come in the union with God's will Then Satan is defeated Because gotten out there folks think about this for a moment. Let me use an illustration here To help us and obviously the Word of God reveals God's will so we're going here to the Word of God and we're gonna move From there, but let's start with the obvious. I Want you to think about a man. His name was Elijah. The Bible says he was a man of like passions You know that I would encourage you Elijah was not a super Christian In fact God's Word gives us an honest portrait that the man was a man of like passions. He understood discouragement and fell prey to it He was a man just like you He got up in the morning just like you he was not what we call a super Christian In fact, I'm convinced nobody's a super Christian. It's not us. It's the emphasis. We've got a wonderful God So, uh, so Elijah the Bible makes it clear He was he was a man just like we but he saw a wonderful answer to prayer Now this is what I don't want you to miss about Elijah because sometimes we pass over this Okay, what did Elijah pray for? What was his first prayer request that he prayed for that? It might not Okay, now I want you to understand this for a moment what was going on in the land of Israel They were of course, they were going after idols. They had now gone after Baal worship I mean folks you have to understand that when they set up the golden calf, they still called that Jehovah worship We recognize it was a problem But now they'd even turn from Jehovah worship, even though it was perverted and now they had turned full-blown into paganism And they'd gone after other gods There's no excuse the Word of God was so clear on this they could have you know They cut they obviously were playing a game over here But now they totally rejected that and now they're going full-blown into paganism now in the book of Deuteronomy If you will read it, you will find over and over that God emphasizes this that if you go into idolatry, I Will remove my hand of blessing and among among other things He said it will not rain Now I want to ask you a question think for a moment these people are in full-blown apostasy They've gone after idols and Elijah played praise fervently that it might not rain. What does that indicate that it was? No, think about this for a moment Why would he have to pray that it might not rain? It means that at that point it was No, think about whether okay. Well, let's go back for a moment. It's like okay. What's going on outside right now? So why if Elijah was praying that it might not rain what did that mean it was doing it was it was raining Now they're in full-blown apostasy and it's raining So, what do you think Elijah did Now friends, this is what I love about the book of Hebrews chapter 11. It says talking about the men of faith. Don't miss this they obtained Promises So, you know what Elijah did he got on his knees he said the Lord You said in Deuteronomy if they go into full-blown apostasy that you're going to withhold your rain now Lord It's raining Lord you've got to honor your word. You said it wouldn't rain Say it friends he obtained the promise See Satan's will was being done and Elijah comes along says Lord It's not right and it's your word that says it's not right and it's not your will that it rains when we're in apostasy so no Lord you do your will and Elijah walked up to Ahab and said and I'm Pardon the vernacular. He said buddy. You're in trouble. It's not raining anymore Now Where did he get that kind of confidence he got that kind of confidence from the Word of God He obtained the promise Okay, so understand that the first place have faith in God Well, obviously we know that God has revealed himself in his word So we know that the first place we can come to confidence about what is God's will and the first place we can come to Confidence about this matter of prayer is the Word of God My brother John asked my aunt My grandmother's daughter asked her when when grandma would get a request Somebody call her up and have a big need at what was her habit. What would she do? So that she could come to confidence about the request and my aunt without hesitation. So that's easy She don't miss this. She'd go to the Bible and she'd read all of the promises That God had used before to stir her to faith She'd read all of those things and then if she didn't sense any of those that God had was leading her to claim She would she'd look at other places But she continually go to the Word of God until some promise God used to God and stir her faith. You can claim this In many of you heard the story that one time George Muller read the Bible through two and a half times Before he came to confidence that God was going to hear his prayer so we obviously know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God So the only way we're going to come to faith if we want to use that or come to confidence About what we're asking is obviously to be immersing ourselves in the Word of God in fact One of the things we now do when the Minutemen evangelistic team when our when our youth Meeting is every day our team gets together for prayer and many times we have open Bibles Well recently I was in a Christian school I'll not say where it's a Christian school that had a little bit different philosophy It was kind of a huge open Roman and and as a result of that there were needs everywhere And I have to give them credit they were really burdened about it and they were bringing preaching in they were they wanted to see God do a work and Yet there was it was obviously it was kind of in a rundown section of town It was kind of a ghetto mentality there and many of the kids came from dysfunctional homes And it was a very difficult setting and I remember in our prayer meetings You know the verse that God led us to and one by one I believe God began to stir our hearts with it and it was this verse it is Time for thee to work for they have made void thy law And we said no Lord look around this these kids are making these kids are making void thy law No, Lord, it's your word. You said it's time for you to work. I don't tell you some friends I don't know if I've ever seen God work like this among ghetto kids It was the final night and we had a little campfire and it was raining so we weren't able to have our campfire service So we left the service we went down to the campfire and I said, okay kids if God's dealt with this week You want to pitch something the fire and far more was pitched in than I imagined Now I have to understand I was a little concerned going down there a little back that you know, the kids were you know They the kids, you know, they're just gonna kind of just lose the atmosphere and and you know Cut up you it was like a funeral dirge down and like a funeral dirge back. I Said to myself God's doing something I'll never forget I got back up in there. I could sense that God's doing something. I preached for five minutes now That's unusual five minutes. I gave an invitations early all I did 15 kids walked out to get saved I'll never forget as soon as they did I closed the service with a word of prayer and a little boy I shouldn't say little boy freshman boy Stood to his feet. He's a preacher. Could I say something? I said sure he comes up to the the platform. He begins to weep He'd be getting all the meetings over He begins to sob He said would you pray for my daddy? He said my daddy's going straight to hell He began to wail. I Was kind of taking it back I well that's different and I will tell you one by one kids began to weep for lost relatives and and Others began to weep over their sin one girl gets up and and she just got it broken her about sin in her life Another boy guts up said listen I don't listen to the wrong kind of music but I've been downloading it off the internet and selling to you for dirt cheap and he said I want you to forgive me and And and God began to break through I want to tell you something It was time for God the work because they had made void his law. We were on biblical ground. Do you see it friends? Listen and it was a great thrill when God leads us and he illumines a scripture. In other words, it stirs us to faith Yes, that's the verse we can claim that said the Lord that applies. See that's what Elijah did So we first of all recognize that we can be stirred to faith by the Word of God and we all recognize that and I don't Want to diminish that at all in what what I'm about to say you say, okay preacher I can see that but we've got another problem and the problem is simply this What do you do? When you're not for sure what God's will is My mother died of cancer in 1989 after battling it for nine years We never we never could pray with confidence for healing we prayed for healing, but we never prayed with confidence My nephew got cancer when he was two years old actually got it as a baby But it was manifested at two years old. Some of you know this story When he got cancer, my brother Was reading the Word of God and and there in first Kings and he was saying Lord, how do I pray? How should I pray for my son? Obviously he wanted his son to live. I Said Lord, how do I pray for my son and God? Used the passage of Scripture to stir his heart up to pray this way that was that passage where the boy dies and The Prophet comes and raises him from the dead and God used that passage to believe that he believed God had stirred him to pray this way to pray that it would be the worst possible Cancer that could possibly bleed and that there were no medical survivors and then he believed God led him to pray that God would heal Now that's something you can know that God has led you because that's not the way a parent would pray How would we pray Lord help him when they open up his head for it not to be there when that and that the way We'd pray not saying that's wrong But he came to confidence that he could pray for the worst possible cancer No way to for him to be healed humanly and then God II that's how he began to pray So you can imagine the surgeon's surprise when he walked into the room with my brother and sister-in-law and he sat down he said I've Got terrible news. I've taken the tumor out of your son's head and he named the name of the cancer He said I've studied there are only 60 medical cases in history extremely rare. He said there's only 60 cases in medical history He said I've studied them all all of them have died within six months Can you imagine when my brother looked at my sister-in-law and smiled? He probably thought these people are losing it. We're going to put them down in the funny bar Well, this boy Wayne Van Gelder III just graduated from college a year ago It's on the front page of the Milwaukee Journal and it was a it was a quote from his surgeon. It was a miracle in Fact his surgeon attended the ceremony Because he promised my brother and sister-in-law if that boy graduates from college. He said I'm gonna come I promise you I'll come to his ceremony And he did Now I want to ask you a question How come we could pray for the healing of Wayne the third? With confidence and yet we could never come to confidence about praying for my mother Face it folks. Isn't that one of the enigmas of life? So you say preacher what do we do when we don't know for sure what God's will is? And there's a lot of different things we could talk about here. Well, we're not knowing for sure what God's will now some things We know it's God's will For instance folks. I guarantee this you can pray tonight with confidence for lost relatives And you can be confident that the Holy Spirit of God will convict them It is Holy Spirit conviction is the will of God Luke 11 verse 13 if he then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children How much more you your father in heaven which is in heaven give good give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him and I'm convinced Based on the parable there in that passage. We talked about this last time I was here that God is giving us a foundation to pray for the Holy Spirit of God to do that convicting work that only he Can do with confidence that he will do it I'm convinced that if you will pray for lost relatives based on Luke 11 or some other passage of Scripture that God's Holy Spirit will convict Him I am convinced you can absolutely go to the bank that God will convict him Now I recognize there's a dilemma Theologically about their human will and and God's work and all of that kind of thing And I'm not going to get into that tonight that I think we could and for time We'll not do that But I will say bare minimum And I believe there's times you can God does lead you to pray with confidence that they'll get saved We'll deal with that in a moment, but bare minimum. You can pray for the lost with absolute assurance that God will convict them So um, so there are some things we can pray with assurance, but there's other things Well, we're not sure about healing or what God's will is or like for instance We go into a week and obviously we know God wants us to what wants to work, but we don't know the extent or the timing Are we part of the seed planting are we part of the watering are we part of the harvest you see friends even coming into Week, I'm not sure exactly what God wants to do So what do we do when we're in a situation? We're not sure exactly how to pray Oh, we got some overarching principles, but how do we pray specifically for the will of God? Well, I'm glad you asked the question because there is a verse of Scripture that answers it Let's go to Romans chapter 8. Would you do that go to Romans chapter 8? Romans chapter 8 and if you would please look at verse number 26 And we're trying to fall God go through a logical thing here tonight Look at verse number 26. I love this verse of Scripture. I'm gonna tell you up front. I can't I confess to you I don't understand at all, but I'm gonna just deal with the obvious verse 26 likewise the Spirit also Help with our infirmities now. I'm gonna ask you a question. What are our infirmities? What's our weakness here? What's our problem? Well, he tells us for We know not what we should pray for as we ought Well, there it is Folks, I'm gonna be honest with you God Anticipated the problem and the problem is there's times when we don't know to what we should pray for as we ought Oh face it. There's times we do God's words clear. The principles are there the promise is clear We're reading the promise God's Holy Spirit speaks to our heart. He begins to stir that in our heart Okay, I can have confidence about that. We certainly know that but there's times that God God knows that we don't know to what we should pray for as we are So I want you to see who is it that helps this infirmity? Who is it the Holy Spirit So the Holy Spirit then can evidently he helps us now, let's keep reading and again, I don't understand everything It's just for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit itself make an intercession for us with groanings Which cannot be uttered and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth What is the mind of the Spirit and it's literally that is the idea because here that he maketh intercession for the Saints according to what? The will of God so the idea is here God's Holy Spirit knows How what we need to pray for and here's the wonderful thing he that searches and understands this is the one who helps us Well, you say okay preacher I I see that I think everybody out here would agree that the Holy Spirit of God Can lead you to pray in the will of God? I Think we know that I remember years ago I Was we were down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida conducting the program called the war this youth evangelistic campaign and that night We must add 150 kids. I mean, I mean they were wild Indians. I mean they were rough kids I'll never forget it was a Friday night and it was one of those nights that everything went wrong We had lightning, of course, most of you know, Florida's the lightning capital of the world No wonder they call their hockey team in Tampa Bay the Tampa Bay lightning Strikes three times more in that state than any other state in the United States So I knew that I'm thinking here. We got 150 kids a lightning storm comes in. I'm thinking. Oh great We're gonna lose one, you know, somebody's gonna get fried. We'll be on the front pages And I mean, it's just one of those nights I mean you have these huge aluminum light poles out there, you know We use for lighting system. I don't great You know, we got these we got these lightning rods out here some stupid kids gonna grab on the one, you know So, uh, you're thinking oh one of those nights, you know, and it's starting to lightning We get them under this overhang and of course, that's what protection is that you know And and it's just one of those things the kids are going nuts, you know, they're just thinking this is great I'm thinking what you know, we finally get them in there for the service after the games We're sitting in the service and also the lights go out. I Got a hundred fifty wild Indians in this room, you know The lights go out. They think that's great. You know, they're just man what a night, you know And so we bring in the light, you know throw it up I think we got a generator boom then I think I preached the spotlights that night Couldn't even see the kids You know several of our team at former team members were at Bob Jones University and this is years ago I don't even know who they were But somebody told me a story later that one of them came to a couple of the guys who traveled and said I don't know What it is, but I really sense we need to pray for the team right now So they're on their knees three or four of them just pleading with God to be with us now I want to ask you a question. Who do you think led them to pray? exactly At the exact moment. We're in crises and I'll never forget that night I gave that invitation and a bunch of kids moved to get saved and I went back in a counseling room and I led two Big-old boys 250 pounds or more each of them I mean they were big old boys and they sat there with tears trickling down their treaks trusting Jesus Christ I want to tell you say hallelujah God took a mess of a night and turned it into his glory and I'm convinced one of the reasons he did is because there were three or four guys who were Sensitive to the moving Holy Spirit who since the need of the team got on their knees and began to beg God To do something even though they didn't know what the need is You believe the Spirit of God can do that Some of you are familiar with Duncan Campbell as biography I referred to last night Duncan Campbell in the midst of the great Lewis awakening one day walked into a barn and Actually, he came to this farm because there was one of the one of the the farmer There was was one of the intercessors. He had several men who learned how to pray He called him the intercessors and he came to see one of the intercessors and he asked his wife. Where's your husband? He said no sound the barn and and so he opens the barn door and as soon as he did he realized he was on Holy ground He heard the farmer over in the haystack praying and of course, he wasn't gonna disturb him So he closed the door very softly and backtracked out of there But before he did he heard this farmer on his face in the hay. Oh God send revival to Greece Duncan Campbell's thinking this guy's uneducated. He didn't even know where Greece is So he just thinks about it for a moment later in the day he sees the farmer he told him what happened apologize We said brother. I've got to ask you a question. Why were you praying for Greece? You don't even know where Greece is He said the Holy Spirit led me to pray for Greece a Year later, huh? Duncan Campbell was in Greece So missionary said brother Campbell we've got to tell you a year ago God met with us There was something that happened on this mission station. He said it was a move of God It was revival and Duncan Campbell said what day was that? Now you tell me what day it was It was the exact day The friends you believe the Holy Spirit can do that we were down in Jacksonville, Florida two years ago, and our team was ministering a brick wall small Christian school brick wall and I'll never forget one of our students up at the college calls me up. This guy God has ministered to him He is he believes God has called him to a ministry of prayer Boy, I hope God will start calling some young people to ministry of prayer He calls me up in the middle of the week. He said brother van Gelder He said I've been speaking with the Lord about it He said God has brought me to confidence. He is going to break through this week And I want to tell you before that week was over Man, God broke through the hardest kids. I saw them weeping throwing CDs and other junk into the fire How did he know? Friends here's the point We all recognize that the Holy Spirit helps our infirmities because we don't know what to pray for as we ought but God's Holy Spirit can bring us into union with the will of God so that we have complete confidence that he's heard and that He is going to keep his as Duncan Campbell would call him his covenant engagements. Oh, do you see it friends? Now you say okay. Yeah preacher. I can see that nobody denied that but now we have a problem and our problem is this How do we know what is the voice of the Holy Spirit? And that is a problem I'm gonna tell you why because there's someone who wants to counterfeit his voice and No marvel because Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light So we have a problem now folks don't miss this not everything supernatural is from God you know, I have you ever met somebody you're trying to witness to him and they tell you about a supernatural experience they've had and They use that as an excuse why not to get saved like I remember one guy telling me says I've been dead Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, you've been dead. Hey, really, you know, I really contain it, but I'm thinking these thoughts I'm so great, you know, okay good And so he tells me this, you know I've been dead and and I how the doctor said I was gone for you know Five minutes and he said I remember that I was out in this black air and all of a sudden I I see this light And I feel warm and fuzzy all over he says I'm not afraid to die anymore And I will tell you friend not everything that is light is from God and Satan would love to give him a supernatural experience so that when he hears the gospel he rejects it Listen I guarantee you when people tell me supernatural things that happen. I don't dismiss them I think some of them in fact, this is my opinion You ever listen that coast to coast they sometimes going down the road at night turn on that thing in the middle night and they're Talking about UFOs like they're real you think these people are weird I'm convinced that some of those UFO things may be Satanic and a sniff nothing more than Satan's attempt to deceive them with what they think is So they get all wrapped up in this alien thing and they never trust Jesus Christ Satan is a deceiver if one thing won't work. He'll try something else, but he is a master deceiver So not everything supernatural is from God and we have to recognize we got a counterfeiter who'd love to counterfeit What we think is God does Satan try to counterfeit God? Absolutely He does in fact, did you know that Satan likes to counterfeit Holy Spirit conviction? You know, it's called accusation You say well preacher. How do you tell the difference between Holy Spirit conviction and satanic accusation? It's real simple. Holy Spirit conviction always brings you to the blood Satanic accusation always brings you to despair Holy Spirit conviction brings you to first John 1 9 in faith Satanic X accusation will bring you away from God and Satanic accusation always lies about God God won't forgive you. You can never be used. You're done. You're finished my friend You hear me that is the voice of has the hiss of the serpent Because I'm gonna tell you Holy Spirit conviction brings you to the answer to the fountain filled with blood We got a counterfeiter And not everything spiritual and not everything in the spiritual realm I should say and not everything Supernatural is from God. Some of it is from the counterfeiter. So you say well preacher We got a problem here because what do you got the counterfeiter? And and another thing you've got is you've got your own heart the heart is above all things and You know folks are some people who say preacher. I believe God's answered my prayer I believe he's gonna do it and then it never happens and their faith gets hurt and I will tell you if it's not satanic Counterfeit, I'll tell you what it could be and that is they wanted the request so much that their own heart deceives them Some people come to confidence not because God led them to confidence but because their own heart wanted it And all these things are very real and what Satan wants us to do is to come to confidence That is not from God then God doesn't answer the prayer and our faith is hurt But I will tell you if you've ever come to confidence about something and God did not answer the prayer you can mark it down It was not God that brought you to confidence. It was your own heart or it was satanic counterfeit So you say okay preacher I see that and that's why we have to have discernment. I Got a whole message on music we may deal with it this week because that's just a huge issue and Satan gets involved in that one, too and Satan can make you feel spiritual friends and Be law and be up be either lost or not spiritual. Okay, that's another point. I'll leave that out for the moment Okay, so we'll preach her. How do we recognize the voice of God? Just two principles out there many more but two simple principles Number one, the Bible says he is a spirit of truth and he guides us into all truth So the Holy Spirit never never Leads us contrary to the Word of God. He always leads us That's why my grandmother would open the Bible. That's why George Mueller read the Bible through two and a half times That's why during our minimum prayer meetings. We have an open Bible. Why because he uses this to guide us into truth So the Holy Spirit leads us in accordance with truth and he never violates truth So no matter what your position is in divorce and remarriage, that's not what I'm out here to debate right now But I will tell you this no matter what it is. You mark this down. God's Holy Spirit will never lead you to get a divorce Because he's never gonna lead you to do something that Malachi says God hates So anybody says, you know, God's leading me to get to a divorce mark it down. He may be being led but it's not by God See so the Word of God and we always put everything through the sieve of God's God's Word So that we know that it's in accordance with truth. Well, you say okay see preacher. I see that that's fairly obvious But what if the other principle this one's key first John 1 5 God is light and in him is no at all You remember what it said shall not doubt in his heart But shall believe that the things which he says shall come to pass Friends, I will tell you that that is impossible outside of a work of the Holy Spirit of God Or else like we talked about where you want so badly you you but even there I'm convinced the Holy Spirit of God when he leads There's no darkness There's no nagging There's no question mark he leads you to that confidence where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and So when the Spirit of God is leading us, he doesn't the Spirit of God doesn't put duress on He for instance, I don't know how to explain this So maybe it's good back to the accusation thing because it helps us understand Have you ever apologized to somebody and then felt horrible about apologizing to them? If you've ever done that raise your hand I have raise your hand, okay, so many of you aren't you're not being honest here but that's all right, I hit you fast, but You know, I'm convinced that sometimes the accuser comes along and tries to get you to apologize when perhaps maybe you need to but Whatever and he gets you to do it and you feel terrible about it, you know, because he always yeah He's he always is trying to constrain you He's trying to get you to not think about it and just to bypass your faculties and and just to do something Just rashly and then you're thinking man. Why did I do that? The Holy Spirit is not that way. He always leads with light He does not bypass your brain He gives you liberty there have been times when I've apologized to somebody when I absolutely was so Excited about apologizing to him. You can mark it down. That's when the Holy Spirit's in it Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is There's liberty I Was excited, you know, I knew it was God I knew it was God's will for me to apologize and as much as it was difficult I enjoyed apologizing and I enjoyed it after I apologized. You see that's how the Holy Spirit works Where the Spirit of the Lord is there's liberty this God is light in him is no darkness at all So he he's the one that now again, I'm talking about people who are surrendered people who want to obey God Okay, so he guides us. He leads us along He gives us that clarity There's no darkness, it's just like this if you ask me today preacher, how do you know you're called to preach? You know what? My answer would be I just know I Remember I was in Eastern, Tennessee a few years ago and the pastor of the church said brother Jim We're having a preacher's fellowship this week. He said would you like to come I said sure I'm in for a cultural experience. I'll go This is East, Tennessee These boys hadn't been to college, you know, and that's all right They slaughtered the Kings English, but they knew the king. You know what I'm talking about? By the way, I'd rather about be around people who slaughter the Kings English and know the king and people who can speak the Kings English, but don't know the king So I went boy these boys would preach along, you know And I remember one preacher got up there and he said Satan's got me to doubt a lot of things in life He said I've doubted my salvation. He said I've doubted the promises of God, but bless God. There's one thing I've never doubted. I've never doubted that I was called to preach I Said amen, I can relate with that. I Surrendered to the call to preach at 16. I will tell you from that day to this I've never doubted it Never one time have I ever thought to myself, you know, I really wonder if I'm called to preach never once My friend that's what the Holy Spirit does When I'm asking young men to travel on our team Sometimes I'll call them back two or three weeks later and they'll say brother van Gelder and I really want to go But I'm really not sure. What do you think I should do? I said don't go Because If God wants you to go he has obligated himself by his character God is Light and in him is no darkness at all So when the Holy Spirit is leading friends He leads clearly He leads in accordance with the word. I remember one time I was conducting one of our youth rallies and I remember noticed a little a big old boy Just a big old boy while I preached on the gospel. He laughed After the service, I walked up to him I talked to him for about two minutes and I thought to myself this guy is just an absolute brick wall I'll never forget it. I took three steps away And I'm convinced it was the Spirit of God said go back and talk to that boy and When the Spirit of God spoke immediately in my heart my heart there was Liberty. I was excited So I turn around and come back this guy start talking to him he said yeah, I said I just came to this thing tonight He said for my grandfather's funeral And I looked at young man in the face when I said young man God brought you here And I'm again to talk to him give him the gospel tears begin to well up in his eyes I said wouldn't you like right now to trust Jesus Christ to wash your sins away and keep you out of hell He said I sure would I went upstairs tears streaming down his cheeks and led him to Jesus Christ Do you think the Holy Spirit can do that? Sure he can But when he leads friends, there's light there's Liberty there's life the spirit quickens So God gives us some Biblical understanding of how we can understand his voice He reminds me Hudson Taylor when he got saved his mother had been praying for him And when his mother his mother was away for the day and he went out and got saved some you remember the story and when? His mother got back. She rushed up to him and said Oh Hudson. I'm so glad you got saved Hudson Taylor said who told you? She said I was praying today for your soul and God brought me to peace that you were getting saved My friend, you know what that is. That's receiving before you receive That's my grandmother saying you got it Friends it comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and obviously a woman like my grandmother had walked with God so long She knew the voice of the Holy Spirit even when she didn't know his name So so we see that. Okay, you say okay preacher, right? I Think I'm getting this and yeah, this is exciting, but it sounds so simple doesn't sound simple You know find out what the will of God is and pray for it and get excited. He's gonna do it You know, it sounds so simple. Why are we why are we missing this? Okay folks, you have to understand something There is someone out there who does not want you to pray according to God's will And he's gonna do everything he can to stop you and we all know who he is for we wrestle not against flesh and blood But against what? absolutely I'll never forget one time. We were having a meeting here up in Michigan and Christian school and outreach we have we missed in the Christian school and we minister an outreach and it's a revival ministry a lot of Needs in our Christian schools many of you know that a lot of needs and and the communities around them It's a revival evangelistic ministry and and we were praying and one day we got together to pray and it was like A wet blanket. It was like I couldn't even pray. I thought this is strange. I can't pray Everybody else was struggling. The prayer meeting was flat. I Thought to myself, you know, I know I'm right with the Lord And I remember the day before one of the guys in the prayer meeting a young evangelist had read Colossians chapter 2 And I just the prayer meeting was silence. I turned at the mic is his name. I said Mike would you read Colossians chapter 2? He read Colossians chapter 2 and I'll never forget this when he came to verse number 15 and He quoted verse number 15 something happened in my heart and I stopped him at that point and I said Lord we claim it right now Satan is a defeated foe There it saves having spoiled principalities and powers make a show of them openly Triumphing over them in the cross in it and we claim the promise and I'll never forget it was like night and day the blanket Was gone and afterwards Mike came up to me says I have never experienced that in my life before I'll be honest with you up to that point. I never experienced it It was unbelievable before that was like a wet blanket after there was Liberty You know that teaches me that wet blanket was satanic But I want to tell you something friends when we're not I am NOT praying for Satan's defeat I'm claiming the fact he already is defeated Hey the great it is finished and I will tell you something friend the victory has been won Let's wave it over Satan. So sometimes Satan is the one who's who's attacking us and it's real simple. It's not spooky It's nothing. It's just hallelujah in the cross the victories with Jesus the Prince of this world has been judged He's a defeated foe Just claim the victory that's on the cross So we have that issue a whole message could be preached on that But there's one other problem we have I just mentioned this before we conclude and that is Sin If I regard iniquity in my heart what? You know, it's interesting to me The Bible talks about two or three agreeing and gather God in the midst, you know that verse in Matthew 18 You know what's on the heels of you all know what's on the heels of? unity I'm convinced that one of the keys in a corporate prayer meeting is nobody bringing right with God and everybody being right with each other You give me those two kind of things and I will tell you there's gonna be power in that prayer meeting We were Our team was about two years ago. I just learned these truths. We're having a prayer meeting and I mean we were in trouble I mean This was a difficult Christian school and to me we were up against it and the kids kids were Kids were they loved the program, but they were resisting the word and we got together I said guys we got to meet at 734 permitting on Friday We're beat tired, but we did we got together and I mean the prayer meeting was going nowhere 7 30 in the morning So about 10 minutes into it. I said to the young ladies who on the team I said you keep praying said guys come with me We walked to the opposite side of the gym. I said, okay guys. I Was on the field last night. I saw some tension between y'all. I said it is not worth it We need to get right with one another right now So one guy says to the guy let's go they step outside they come back in the other guy says let's go Okay, come outside and you know pretty soon all four of us have gotten right with each other We went back to that prayer meeting. You know what God showed up You know, I love prayer meetings when God shows up And I'll tell you why it doesn't show up because sin grieves his heart And I'm convinced one of the key things and our prayer meetings in our prayer life is you've got to be right with God if you're Holding on to something if you know got God's deal with him You're holding on to it or you got an issue with another believer like we talked about Sunday morning And you're not willing to resolve it mark it down. You can just write corporate prayer right off You can write your personal prayer life off. It won't work so So that will be said now just this in conclusion. I know we've said a lot tonight And I've actually preached a tad longer. I preached longer last night than I intended to I really am trying to get you out here to quarter after but but anyway, I just looked at my watch and said whoa So anyway, let me just give you this illustration at the end. I hope it'll be a hell Last night, I believe it was I advertised the book mountain rain or no none left. So If you want this book, I know one place you can get it is ptwm.org. And this is not meant to be a commercial I just know after I give this illustration some you're gonna want the book The life of James Frazier has challenged me since I read it about two or three years ago In fact, it was one of the things that started me on this pilgrimage about prayer now I have to understand I grew up in a pastor's home I had a wonderful example like my grandmother But I will be honest with you if you minute mentioned prayer meeting any time from three years ago on I'd kind of think to myself. Well, we're gonna have to I wouldn't say it out loud But I think gotta endure a prayer meeting. I want to ask you friends. What is your attitude toward a prayer meeting? I Want to tell you God has totally changed that for me and I will tell you in the last two years particularly We are minute men team gets together and we get to pray for an hour every day Sometimes 45 minutes if we're really tight an hour That's not much at all, but I will tell you it has transformed my life and I will tell you it the I won't go Into right now, but but but one of the things was this biography James Frazier talks about going in and labored for years among the Lisu He'd see people get saved and then they'd go back to their paganism a very discouraging work And one day God had done such a work and the life and God he'd learned some spiritual warfare truths about claiming the finished work nothing spooky just claiming the finished work claiming the victory and Some of those articles that he read or found a little book the spiritual warfare by Jesse Penn Lewis If you take that in mountain rain and match them up, they're just a perfect match together But anyway, he learned some of those truths, but God opened his heart to this subject of praying receiving before you receive So one day this is after years. This is not something that is a whim this is took time for him to come to this confidence one day got on his knees and And he said Lord I'm asking you for hundreds of Lisu families not people families to come to Jesus Christ He got up of his knees and he began to praise God for the hundreds of Lisu families who would be saved Now he didn't stop praying but he never prayed again for them to get saved He prayed around round God had given him you say what do you mean by praying around it? I'm sure he prayed for Holy Spirit conviction. He prayed I'm sure for Satan to be exposed He prayed around the ground God had given him you see many times We come to confidence and we stop praying and God wants us to keep you know, praying around the ground Victory has been won. Let's continue to pray for for the defeat around that ground and that's what he did He began to pray around it and the book is so helpful and helping us understand some of these things But he never prayed again for hundreds of Lisu to be saved two years later nothing had happened and And he thought to himself well Maybe God wants me to leave the field and he's gonna do it on his own And so he was getting ready to write the director of the China Inland Mission and request to change a field though He had pained him. He felt he ethically had to do it and While he was writing that letter word began to received whole villages were turning to Jesus Christ Now he'd been there and preached the God times so the word was already been planted and had been watered But whole villages were turning to Jesus Christ was a matter of months that hundreds of Lisu had been saved before he died Don't miss this thousands of Lisu had been saved In fact, somebody asked him. Mr. Frazier. Why did you pray for hundreds? Why didn't you pray for thousands? I love his answer It's so practical He said God didn't give me the faith to pray for thousands, but he did that give me the faith to pray for hundreds Do you know today if you go to the Chinese government? There is not one tribal group they call this but you don't they call the Lisu tribe to this day the Christian tribe And it goes back. It's a communist government calls a Lisu tribe the Christian tribe and it goes back to one man who got on his knees and Received before he received and somebody asked him after hundreds were saved. Oh, mr. Frazier, isn't it? Wonderful God has answered your prayer and he says no God answered my prayer two years ago That's receiving before you receive. Oh See it friends real praying is not just asking It's receiving before we received therefore Whatsoever things you desire when you pray believe that you receive them literally have received them and ye shall have them my friend It's the Word of God Have faith in God