In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of waiting upon the Lord and serving Him with a heart like David's. He highlights the need for grace in ruling over people and serving God acceptably. The speaker encourages the audience to accept the call to serve the living and true God and to eagerly await the coming of Jesus Christ. He shares a personal experience of waiting upon the Lord during a time of great trials and how it resulted in God's faithfulness and reward. The sermon concludes with the belief that God is leading us into a new era and desires to lift us into sonship with Himself.

Did you ever think of how very wonderfully rich your life will be when you do what the Bible says? There are very, very, very few people, at least within the reach of my knowledge, that do what the Bible says. I've always wondered about that. And so I said, well, I'm going to try it. I'm going to do what the Bible says. And while I certainly cannot claim anything for myself or what I find out, it works wonders. It works wonders. You know, like in the natural life. When I was in Hamburg, I was trying to tell the people how to bake a cake. I had, when I was a boy, one time heard about it, and that's all. I hadn't read the recipe at all. I just had it in my mind. And I was telling these Dutchmen how to bake a cake. I told them, you take a pound of flour and a pound of eggs and a pound of salt, a pound of sugar, a pound of baking powder, and the equivalent of a pound of water and milk. And then you mix it well. Then you bake. Well, they laughed at me. Sure. And then they brought me a cake. But it wasn't made after my recipe. I don't know what would have come of it. You can imagine. I just had that in my head. And that's the way a lot of people try to please God, something they have in their head. We all had our conversation in times past, according to the course of this world, things that are convenient. That's the way people live. Someone was trying to give me a very special dish one time, also in Germany. I had expressed that I liked a certain dish like my mother used to make, and so this woman quickly got busy and fixed up something and plumped, put it down in front of me. I couldn't eat it. It looked like garbage. I really thought it was garbage. I didn't touch it. But Aunt Wally had heard about it, and so she went to work, and she fixed it. And boy, did that taste good. I said, now that's perfect. I said, how did you do it? Well, she said, I obeyed. I did exactly what the cookbook says. I obeyed the instructions of the cookbook, and so naturally it came out fine. But did you ever think of how very, very wonderfully God has provided for our happiness, by giving us his own recipe, his own counsel? And he says, there was none of my counsel. They didn't bother. I spoke, and they didn't hear. I stretched forth my hand, and no man regarded. My, this is wonderful that God stretches forth his hand to me, and wants to lift me, and offers to lift me. And when I don't regard that outstretched hand of Jehovah, I have nobody to blame but myself, if I don't get out of my slew. And so tonight, there was a suggestion made in a message, that brought to my mind one of the recipes. Let me just briefly call your attention to it, because it did wonder for my soul also. I'm going to read a few verses, and see if you can guess where it is found. You scribes, you ought to know that by memory. I waited patiently for the Lord. What a statement. Now if everybody in this meeting can make that statement, I waited patiently for the Lord. That of course requires real faith. He that cometh to God, must first of all believe that he is, because you can't see him. And yet on every hand you see the manifestation of his unspeakable power, and his unspeakable, unsearchable wisdom. And you know that in him we live, and move, and have our being. And who wouldn't believe that God is. You heard it recently I think on the radio, where some infidel said to someone, I'll give you a hundred dollars if you tell me where God is. And the answer was, I'll give you a thousand if you tell me where he isn't. That wasn't exact, an exact quotation, but it was good. Oh beloved, God, how my heart leaps within me when I think of my God. God is, and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Now if I was here with a bag of gold, or some present, and I said now I brought the bag of gold here, and everybody's going to get something tonight. Everybody would be interested. Everybody would come and get the biggest chunk of that gold if possible. But here is my God, oh my Father, who will reward those openly who take the time, and who have faith to wait upon him. And you don't have to go to Rome, or to Mecca, or anywhere at all. Hallelujah. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwelt in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. And if I, praise God, if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. There's no excuse for me not to wait patiently for my Lord, and to seek him diligently, because his promise, it is his promise, he shall find me, and he will reward me openly. Just think what will happen to you when you do that. Now that's a recipe, a wonderful recipe, especially for the young people, because it says, they that seek me early shall find me. And you know there's something that's unusually blessing for young people, boys and girls to seek the Lord, because when you get older, the flabbiness, the laziness, the flesh of old age will come and knock at your door and say, here I am, high time you let me in. And you get lazy, and you get fat, and you get careless, and a thousand powers of the world, and the flesh and the devil have lodged themselves in your system. You have spiritual hardening of the arteries, you have spiritual high blood pressure, and Kreislaufstörung. I didn't know what that was till I got to Germany, but I find out that in the spiritual life, oh there are so many ailments that come your way unless you seek him early. But here David tells us, I waited patiently for the Lord. What a job, what a job! Oh but for the Lord I waited for someone who is looking down from heaven, whose eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself mighty. That's what God's waiting for. Does he have power? Beloved he always did have power, but now he's created a power that is particularly for you. Jesus Christ had to suffer these things and enter into his glory to receive from the Father the power of the Holy Ghost for you and for me. And now God is waiting for vessels, men and women, whom he can fill with the power of the Holy Ghost. Where shall he find them? Well he's got to make them first. He's got to cleanse them first. There is a wonderful work of the Holy Ghost that needs to be done before the Spirit of God can find in you a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and made for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work. And here was this great man of God, and he said, I waited patiently. I took time, I took time. I had to listen to what he says, and he inclined unto me. I remember coming to God with this verse and saying, now God you did it for him, you gotta do it for me too. You've got to incline unto me. You've got to look at me. You've got to listen to me. I'm going to cry until you hear my cry. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy temple. Beloved, no matter what blessings you need, you've got to get them personally from God. You've got to get them alone. It's between you and your God. I know that God will use people to bless you, to encourage you, to encourage your faith, but after all, they're only prods that prod you on to get to God. And you've got to get to God yourself. But how, how wonderful is this call. He inclined unto me. Oh God, if you don't incline unto me, nothing will happen. I don't care how many friends I have. I don't care how many pray for me. Nothing will happen, my God, until you take notice of my need. And God says he will. Listen, what will happen when you do this? To you, everybody in this meeting, what will happen to you if you wait patiently for the Lord? Maybe something will happen. I was just now reading something from William Law, I think. Andrew Murray quotes him. And William Law, writing to the clergy of his day, mind you, to the preachers, the reverend, the doctors of theology and philosophy and biology. And why do they call them doctor? Because they're sick. They need doctors. And he, he writes to them and he says, I'll give you good advice. Put everything aside for a whole month. All your activity, all your books, all your friends, get alone with God. And for a whole month, cry to God to drive out of you the devil of pride. Why, we don't know we've got that devil in us until God enlightens us. Until God in his great mercy speaks his word, that two-edged, sharp word, that sword of the spirit which becomes a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And why doesn't it? We don't give God time. There's not enough time spent over the Bible to find out God's will blessed are they that hear the word of God. Oh that my people have hearkened unto me. Hearken unto me, my daughter. Forget thy kindred and thy father's house and bow thine ear. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty. Oh that is the beauty the king sought when he came to this earth. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Here were people that needed God, that had nothing to offer but a heart that was empty. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. Have you ever thought of what will happen to you if you do what God tells you to do? If you follow a scripture like this, I waited patiently for the Lord. I'm telling about a time when this verse spoke to me and I spoke to God. I said, now God you got to do it for me. I was in real need before I ever got into the ministry. But I had been touched by God and been baptized in the Holy Ghost. But now great trials came my way, great trials. It meant to leave everything, father and mother and friends and everything under the sun. And that didn't bother me. But I had to break the heart of my dearest friends in the world in following Jesus. And what did I do? I waited patiently for the Lord. In those days I worked in Chicago and I lived on the north side. And instead of taking the elevator to get home, I'd walk home. Then I had time to pray and wait upon the Lord. My that was a wonderful walk. I cried and prayed and prayed and cried and cried and prayed. And the Lake Michigan roared alongside of me. And I pray with every step, oh, I call on my God. You must hear me for a whole year. And that wasn't enough. I would sometimes take off a day, ask the boss, please let me off tomorrow and spend the whole day waiting on the Lord. It's a hard job, but I had to have him. Beloved, if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here tonight. And all the loss in my life would be so great. I would have lost God out of my life because my life did not have what I needed. But God had it for me. And he said, they that seek me early shall find me. And he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder. And what is that reward? Why it's God himself. And so I spent a whole year at that time waiting upon the Lord. I had no time for anything else. You will not have time for anything else. Beloved, here are eternal issues at stake. And David knew it. He had a kingdom to rule over. And he needed a king's heart. And he needed the grace of God to rule over people. And the Bible says of you and of me, that the least shall be like David. Don't you know that we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved? Don't you know that we need grace that we may serve God acceptably? That means that God shall be pleased with my service. Not I. Oh my God, what does that mean? My father, how shall I serve so great a God? And yet the Bible says he's called me to serve the living and the true God and to wait for his son from heaven. That means to hasten the coming of Jesus Christ from heaven. What a call. What a call, young man. Young woman, what a call. Have you accepted it? Jesus says you've not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And I have ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and your fruit should remain. How long? Forever and forever. And increasingly so. Beloved, there's only one way to do it. That is to do what David did. I waited in my need. I cannot help myself. I cannot lift myself, nor can I equip myself. But oh, I know one who can. And so my God, you've invited me to come to you. And you've said that even the youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall utterly fall. We look into the world today. What are they doing? Building monuments to great men. They're great and they made such great mistakes that they have brought the whole world to the brink of disaster. That's their greatness. If they had used their greatness to serve God, the living and the true God, they might not have been popular. They might have been lynched. But they seek the honor that comes from men. But beloved, you and I have a call to a kingdom that cannot be moved. Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Does that interest you? Why the whole call of the gospel is a call to repent, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It means the reign of Christ or the reign of the devil, one or the other. And what a dreadful thing to be a Christian and not to be under the control of the Holy Ghost. Holy, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God. My God, that's what I need. All the guidance, the control of the Holy Ghost. How shall I ever have it? David. And you shall be like David. And I waited patiently and he inclined unto me. Beloved, there's no joy like the joy of knowing God's heard me, God's answering me. When Elijah sent that boy up to the top of the hill and on the seventh trip, he came back and he said, there's a little cloud, Elijah, just a little cloud about the size of a dollar and a half. You can imagine, Elijah. He waited patiently for the Lord. And he got an answer. Oh, the joy. You shall faint and be weary and young men shall utterly fall. Do you know that? That means you and me. You'll never stand. Beloved, we're in a world full of enemies. The Bible says we wrestle not with flesh and blood. Most have already cast aside their weapons. They've never put on the whole armor of God. They're already licked. Yet the devil moves in their heart. Sin is eating their vitals. They're defiled. Their garments are defiled. But I'm talking about those that go forth to meet the bridegroom. Beloved, we've gone forth to meet the bridegroom. We're going to see him face to face. And those that are ready shall enter with him into that marriage supper of the Lamb and all eternity will shout and will see the glory of God manifested in men and women like we are. They make themselves ready. How? When he says you shall faint and be weary. I'm not surprised as I travel through the world to find men defeated. Oh the defeat of men as well. The horrible inroad Satan has made into the home life, into married life, into the life of young people. He just works like Satan can work with his ingenuity, with his skill. Even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord. Have you ever thought of what would happen to you if you will really spend your time waiting upon the Lord? Until he will not disappoint you. He says he's a rewarder. He desires to reward. He is looking for men and women whom he can lift into the place of sonship with himself. Who will honor him and glorify him. In whom the exceeding greatness of his divine power can be manifested. I believe that God has put us at the threshold of a new era. In fact I know it is so. And what you do with this message will somehow determine what will do, God will do with you tomorrow. How many times have you heard these things? Beloved I've been in meetings I suppose a thousand times. I've been with young men that would be convicted, that would hear the message. They never do it, never. Preachers, preachers never do it. They loaf around town rather than spend a day or two days or a week at the feet of Jesus. When I came to the faith home in Zion, after I had been an apprentice for three and a half years, I met brother Juan and mother. And you know there was a group of ministers there that were quite efficient. Some of them could preach like a power. And they looked down on Joseph Juan and mother because he can't talk anything. He knows three languages but he can't talk either one properly. The fact. And they said oh well he's a Hungarian, he's a foreigner. Well one of the preachers said well of course he can play the fiddle. That was one feature that they thought was good about Joseph. But you know he walked away from them like a constellation walks away from a team of cows pulling manure. Excuse if I use scientific expressions. I want to rub it in. And when I met Joseph I said I want to meet Joseph. They said you can't see him. Why? He's praying. Well I, I moved around that home until I found him. It was cold. In those days they didn't heat the faith home very well. And here brother Joseph sat under a pile of blankets in his room praying and fasting. Fasting and praying. Now he had no church at all. But he wanted God, he wanted God, he wanted God, he wanted God. And he pray and pray and pray and pray and pray. And time and again he'd spend a week or two weeks fasting and praying. And then God sent him to Milwaukee to open the mission. And all the preachers, they cried him. I was there, I was with him in that basement where he opened his work. They decried him from the pulpit. They called him on the telephone. Tell him to go back where he came from. But it wasn't long before he had conquered Milwaukee. He was like a pillar of fire in that city. And they all became his friends. And all the churches in Milwaukee and in Chicago and in, in one sense all over the world derived blessing from that one boy. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall walk and not be weary. They shall run and not faint. What will happen to you when you do that? Don't take my recipe for baking a cake. I know now that it won't work. But take this recipe. Oh my Lord and my God. Just a few weeks ago I saw Joseph. And he was discussing with me one of those preachers that had deridingly spoken of Joseph as being a foreigner. Where is that other preacher? No place. He's made a failure of himself wherever he's ministered all these 40 years. And today failure is written across his whole face. And he was the man that thought he was very smart and very gifted and very greatly called. He won. Many are called but few are chosen. And why are we in this meeting? Beloved I'm giving you a recipe out of God's cookbook. I waited patiently for the Lord. Now it might be good for somebody here when you get your vacation. Spend your two weeks waiting upon the Lord. Hire a cottage somewhere in the mountains where you can be alone. Get away somewhere. Get away somewhere and get to God. And walk up and down in that cottage and call on the Lord for all that you're worth. And God will come to you. And it'll make a difference throughout the ages of eternity in your life. It will. It'll change you when God honors a man. I tell you that honor remains throughout eternity. And when Jesus Christ produces fruit in your life. But there's no danger that anybody will take this recipe or take this advice positively. There is no danger. The flesh is too big. The devil is too smart. Your flesh has grown mountain high. Beloved it will unless you really give God a chance and wait upon the Lord in real earnest and in real faith. And the older you are the more earnest you ought to be. What will it be when we see him we think. What will it be when I appear before the judgment seat of Christ. To receive the things I didn't do. For every man will receive the things he's done in his body whether good or whether bad. Jesus, Lord Jesus. We're in thy presence tonight. Oh my Lord Jesus Christ. You're graciously dealing with our hearts. How I thank you Lord that I'm still among the living. I want to go to heaven I'm sure but I don't want to go to heaven one second before God says it's time. I want to take my medicine on this earth. I want to go through with God where he calls me. Praise the Lord. I said when I was a young man about 18. I took six. Everybody thought I was dying. My mother cried. My sisters cried. It looked like galloping consumption. And I'd been saved. And I said oh God if I have to die let me not dishonor you. Give me grace to die like a Christian ought to die. Well he raised me up. And so today I know that none of us live unto himself. Not that he died for all that they which live should henceforth not live unto themselves. But unto him. Tell me what will happen to you if you do that? What will happen to you? You may be one of those young men that will utterly fail and utterly fall. But God give us power to the faith. And to them that have no might he increases strength. And you tell me that you don't need that. You tell me that you can stand in your own strength and by your own wisdom or your own spirituality. Tell me. I've never found anyone that can't. I found plenty of people that thought they could. And they have miserably failed. Miserably failed. Before I came here there was a minister in the middle west who wanted me for an assistant. But he said I can't use a man who prays all the time. All right then you can't have me for an assistant because I need to wait upon my God all the time. I have no strength. I cannot take one step alone even to this day. I saw him recently. He also was a grand failure. He said son I wish I had done what you did. I wish I had done what you did. But he got so big. He got so busy. He had such a big name and he kept screwing it up all the time. Now they're they have a diploma from a bible school. That's not enough. Now they got to go and get a doctor of philosophy. Heaven. What else? Why not get God? Why not find Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection? All right theology and all right philosophy. Let it be added. It it was something that Paul was honored. He said but the things that were gained to me. Well how many titles did you have Paul? Why we couldn't even count them up. All the doctor titles. All the all the wisdom. All the sciences. Paul was tops. He said put it all out in the garbage can. I counted all but refuse. It's in my way for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and to count them but refuse. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined unto me. Oh when God inclines to you son something will happen to you. And he heard my cry. He brought me up. When God brings you up out of the horrible pit. Out of the mire clay. Don't you know that's where you're stuck? I knew it. All this self-life you can paint it and you can educate it and you can heap all the honors of this earth upon it and it'll only sink deeper into the mire and into the mud. But he brought me up and he set my feet upon a rock. Praise the Lord. And he established my goings and now I walk no more like other Gentiles walk. In the vanity of my mind having the understanding darkened by the God of this world. But now I walk in the law of the Lord and in the spirit of God. Thank God. Dear Jesus none of the of this world none of the princes of this world know these things. But what will happen to you tell me. If you do what the Bible says. If you do what this man. Get to God. You'll think God will say get away from me. I haven't got time for you. He's got all the time you want to give him. Hallelujah. 24 hours of the day. Oh my father to wait upon the Lord and though I feel nothing of your power. You said he'll reward you openly. When it comes to a real showdown there is God. And what a wonderful psalm. Did you guess which it is? Who said that? Amanda who told you that? Well that's right. Happens to be right.