This sermon emphasizes the importance of recognizing that everything is for God's glory and everything comes from God. It delves into the need for complete reliance on God for transformation and provision, highlighting the power of prayer in Jesus' name and the significance of humbly acknowledging our dependence on God for all aspects of life.

Oh my goodness, God is good. Is God good? God is good. God is awesome. Well, um I'd like to just read one verse. You don't need to turn to it. You can look at it later, but you're familiar with it It's found In one of the deepest chapters in the new testament john 14 And it's verse 12 Verse 13. I'm, sorry You can ask for anything. Jesus said you can ask for anything in my name and I will do it so that the Father might be glorified in the son. Yes ask anything in my name And I will do it You can ask for anything i'm repeating now and in my name jesus said And I will do it notice the prayer is to jesus and he said he will do it Because the work of the son brings glory to the father that the father might be glorified in the son Yes, ask anything in my name and I will do it Chapter 14 of john is so deep, isn't it? Uh begins with don't let your hearts be troubled. Don't be afraid. I go to prepare a place for you Jesus was going to leave the scene And after three and a half years of walking with these disciples Apprehension absolutely filled their hearts. How would they manage without their master their rabbi their teacher? Their all in all And jesus actually said something that totally amazed them It's better for you than I go and they were like there's no way You going is better in any way shape or form But jesus said because unless I go I won't be able to send the holy spirit The holy spirit in you revealing things concerning me will be greater than me with you Yes walking on the water calling lazarus out of a tomb It'll be better in that day for you because i've only been with you, but he will be in you And after three and a half years of teaching jesus didn't have that much to show in terms of long-lasting results Because on the night he was betrayed which is coming soon after Uh, is this night of june 4th, um, john 14 Uh, they all fled They all fled So it goes to show that hearing the greatest of preachers and having the son of god as your model Is no way to be compared with the holy spirit in us Christianity is hopeless without the holy ghost It's hopeless without it. You can't do anything Now jesus here is indicating some wonderful things Two of which we will not touch on because it's another sermon for another day Praying in his name. This is the first mention in john, which has so much different material, especially in john 14 through 17 material that's not found in the synoptic gospels of matthew mark and luke And this last talk with the disciples is filled with things like this pray in my name This one had not been taught to them Representing christ in this in christ's dead using his name as the signature in prayer That has a lot of meaning to us if we would stop and study it also notice the latitude the huge vastness of The potential of prayer ask anything. He repeats it ask anything in my name and I will do it Notice also here instead of prayer to the father in the name of christ with the help of the holy spirit the general christian formula This is an exception where ask me and I will do it prayer to jesus like prayer to the spirit is acceptable Even though the traditional formula as I mentioned is our father which art in heaven coming in christ's name So the latitude of it ask anything in my name But then he touches on two things in this little sentence Which most of us take and and focus on the prayer aspects of it, but he touches on the two Things which come to my heart today about 50 years Of westgate chapel i'm here to celebrate that day with you and to remind you of two simple little thoughts. That's all I have For you to remember Because I think it has a lot to do with the fact that your church is not only existing After 50 years, but it's prospering and being blessed by god the first thing That's strange about this text Which I would like to apply to you all here Is jesus saying ask anything in my name and I will do it So you will get out of your bind and you'll be helped. No, he doesn't say that Ask anything in my name and I will do it so that that wayward daughter or wayward son That that you're just concerned about will come back. No doesn't say that the answer obviously is Important, but he says the reason for the answer is more important Ask anything in my name and I will do it so that my father might be glorified The purpose of all prayer No, we're going to go further the purpose of everything Is that god might be glorified? From the beginning of genesis to the end of revelation. There are many truths in the bible And there's so many truths in the bible. You can look at it as layers of truth With foundational truths being on the bottom or you can look at as a solar system And you can say the sun is in the middle and the planets Are moving around the sun and of course in the bible there are different solar systems of truth but in the center Around which all of the truths move have their place are important But the center truth of the entire bible is sometimes missed by us because we over focus on some of the other planetary truths If I may use that term the central truth of the whole bible from genesis to revelation The bottom line at the end of time when we pass into eternity, we will see it clearer than ever and this is the truth Everything is for the glory of god Everything is for god everything I was noticing again every time I come to this beautiful part of the country I happen to love trees and the way your trees are here different than trees in new york if we can find one in new york That's another whole problem But your trees here are so beautiful You know why those trees are put on this planet earth so that god might be glorified The sun broke out while we were driving here early this morning. You know why god put a sun there Not just to give us light so that when you look at it He might be praised and glorified how awesome god speaks through creation name anything see these flowers Real, I hope yes, they're real This is for the glory of god. They not only decorate but they were created for the glory of god a tree a human a baby anything music Name anything in the universe and it was created for the glory of god Everything is for god say that with me everything One more time Everything is for come on a little louder everybody Everything is for god. Everything is for god Today is sunday June 7th. Why did god give us another day for the glory of god? Do you have a job? A lot of our we have hundreds What's that one say Oh little child In new york, we have hundreds of people without a job in our church Carol was doing something with the choir the other day pastor alec and they were singing a song And the holy spirit I felt speak to me And as the track was going on for this song About my life is in your hands. I just said because the thing was hooked up to me an earpiece I said everyone who's without a job you come From that auditorium you said I my tears flow hundreds of people coming forward. This downturn has really affected New yorkers on how it is here. If you have a job god gave it to you for the glory of god If you have a problem, it's for the glory of god If you're on a mountain, it's on the for the glory of god, whatever there is in life It's for the glory of god that god might be praised And this is why jesus said ask anything and I will do it for you So that The father might be glorified in the son That god might receive glory think how that will change our prayers all this frivolous stuff about why am I driving a ford? I should have a mercedes how in the world are you going to compare that for the glory of god? You can't ask anything selfish if it's for the glory of god. He's a can't ever say if you're Possessed with a bitterness in you god. You let my mother-in-law get a case of the flu or something For the glory of god. No, I can't pray that I can't pray that Notice for the glory of god praying in jesus name reduces things down and simplifies life for us You don't need 110 commandments to figure out life today At lunch today when you're about to say something and you think about what you're going to say ask yourself This is this sentence for the glory of god Your attitude towards your mother-in-law father-in-law my husband wife Anything you're going to say anything you're going to do. Is it for the glory of god? Now god created us the catechism says The apostle's creed says that we were created for the glory of god and to enjoy him forever to enjoy his presence and his love This is why life becomes empty even for believers There's a strange Emptiness in us the moment we lose our center truth the minute the sun isn't looked at sun the minute you lose your your your Your foundation and you begin to live for your glory or your pleasure automatically Happiness begins to escape you joy and peace. You can't find it As charles finney the great revivalist and preacher said god has made us So that the harder you try to be happy the less you will be And when you forget trying to be happy and just live for the glory of god and you praise him Happiness is chasing you all over and you can hardly get away from it How many know what i'm talking about lift your hand and say amen the peace and the joy of god Come naturally when you keep the right focus that god created for all creation Animals were created for the glory of god Everything that is made every river every salmon swimming and everything is created for the glory of god And then how this simplifies life God put my wife and I together for the glory of god As long as we remember that God's going to help our marriage Now may I say this about your church I of course am new to your church when you think of 50 years But I saw that video that was deeply moving to me this morning this video obviously the people who started this church Weren't trying to make a buck And weren't trying to get ahead in life by pioneering a new church Called westgate chapel The people who started that that man was very moving wasn't he on that video? He was doing it for the glory of god And when you and I do anything for the glory of god, we not only find our proper center We not only have all the powers of heaven begin to operate upon us in a beneficial way But god opens the windows of heaven And helps everyone and anyone who is doing something for the glory of god if jim simbala is the center if some Church name like the brooklyn tabernacle or westgate chapel is is the is the one who's supposed to be focused on Then the holy spirit withdraws his influences because the holy spirit was only sent to glorify christ that god might be glorified in christ How easy that is to forget when you preach it's not about me I'm here to point you toward god if you remember me too much or what I said I failed But if you go home and say I don't know who that guy was who preached but oh how awesome god is Then i've done a good job Now I want to say something. I know your present leadership and i'm talking about more than just the pastor and his wife But all the people around them that are in leadership here and i'm impressed by them They've been a blessing to me Obviously, this is one of the reasons why god has blessed your church Did you notice in the construction of that dvd which I had never seen until now? Do you notice the wisdom in that the narration the way it was handled by the pastor? He's deflecting everything away from human sources And he's giving all the glory to god Why did these things happen because god was good? Why are we still here today? Because god is faithful Building half burnt down devil tried to destroy but god had the last word not we did I did It's all about me. It's all about god. And whenever god sees that he's going to bless He's going to help think of all the churches that are held back From the presence of god and the moving of the holy spirit because god sees it's all about them It's like the same revivalist finney said back in the 1830s He says some churches pray for revival But they'll very know very little of what god can do because they want revival so they can say look we have revival We have revival you don't our church is bigger And god's not sending his holy spirit so that we'll be on some ego trip God is going to send his holy spirit in your life in my life in this church in any church that says To god be the glory To god be the glory does god deserve all the glory or what? Wait a minute. Wait a minute How about forget this church forget this church? How about you sir? How about you ma'am? Would you be here today if it wasn't for the grace of god? Who should you be giving glory to and I? I wasn't even a good christian growing up. My brother older brother was a better christian He lives in portland and my sister younger sister. She was a better christian I was erratic a truant in high school basketball player, but running all around doing crazy things and i'm in the ministry I'm in the ministry Are you kidding me? I'm the last person anyone would have thought in fact an older man who was separated from our circles for a year our family When he heard I was in the ministry, he almost had a cardiac arrest and died Why am I here today because i'm somebody special forget that It's because god is awesome full of mercy full of compassion And you come on between you and god. Don't you know what you're really like apart from god's grace? We're all here this church is here so that god might be glorified So I want to do something you ready to do something with me outside the box a little bit, huh? I said are you ready to do something outside the bar? How many believe this truth that everything is for the glory of god lift your hand up lift your hand up. Okay, everybody stand Everybody stand Before I give you my last little point We're going to make a joyful noise to the lord At the count of three you're going to start clapping your hands as loud as you've ever clapped them louder than at the seattle seahawk game louder than The mariners right than each other when he gets a hit They go crazy there and nobody laughs at them But let anybody get excited in church and right away fanatics crazy people. I'm not letting anybody control me that way People can scream and olympics and cry on broadway watching some broadway play and then we get a little excited in church I'm, not gonna let anybody condemn me and make me feel sensitive god deserves all my praise And I know he's worthy of all the glory because in heaven guess what we're going to be doing Around the throne worthy is the one who sits on the throne So at the count of three you're not only going to clap louder than you ever have but you're going to shout so loud that Downtown seattle is going to hear it. You're going to shout hallelujah praise god You shout whatever god gives you but you're going to make a joyful noise You don't have to do it unless you believe what I just said from the word of god That god is worthy of all the praise one, two, three. Let's do it. Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah to god hallelujah god we praise you we worship you Hallelujah to you 50 years of your faithfulness 50 years of answered prayer 50 years of grace Hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah 50 years we give you hallelujah Blessed be your name blessed be your name Blessed be your name Blessed be your name Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. I praise you. I honor you. I glorify you Blessed be the name of the lord Blessed be the name of the lord You may be seated how many feel better say amen This is one of the secrets of worshiping god God When you and I worship god like we just did and there's different forms obviously of worshiping god You will feel a joy Stirring in you no matter how you feel when you begin because when we praise god when we worship god We are doing what we were created for This is why some people are are wonder. How is that? Why is the presence of the lord? He dwells in the in in worship. He dwells in worship. He sits down like a king to dispense things when people praise him Because this is what we're created for not to have a job God did not create you to have a job save money build a nice house retired You think god created you for that? You think he sent his son for that? No, he sent his son. He saved us so that he might get all the glory and pray all over seattle today People are cursing jesus just like in new york I remind the audience of that to try to get the people to remember to praise god because in Crack deals are going down in downtown brooklyn where I pastor crack deals are going down and people sell crack and go for christ's sake Will you hand me the money, please? With a lot of four-letter words thrown in for christ's sake this christ for this and they're using his name, but not in god's house Here we praise his name. Let me say amen we magnify you Let's put our hands together one more time. We glorify his name. We praise his name now this Before I Before I close with the other thought beside everything is for god. I'm just reminded of something else. This is why god so detests pride Did you notice that in the bible? God has a thing about pride worse than any other sin For god resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble God resists the proud the proud will not stand in the assembly of the righteous God's got a thing. You know why it reminds him of the smell that ruined heaven Because before there was a devil to tempt anyone lucifer Was turned from the most beautiful of god's angelic creation into satan and he was turned that way Because instead of giving glory to god He wanted a piece of the action He wanted glory. That's why the bible has this thing about pride and the bible so lifts up humility Because I am happiest you and I will always be happiest when we're down and we're exalting god The minute we start to think and take ourselves serious We're going to be in trouble because god will not share his glory with anyone. He deserves all the praise This is why your church you by the way, I got to commend. Did you notice the inspiration of those choir members? Obviously your leadership and you're and i'm talking about more than the music the music to me is secondary Did you see their faces? No one trained them to do that I looked up while uh sister rita was leading that last song and I look up in the tenor section and just like in carol's choir There's a guy not even looking at the director His hands are up his eyes are closed. He's crying like a baby. He's praising god Because obviously this spirit of giving god all the glory Has been caught by people singing so it's not about performance. Hey, listen to this song We're going to sing watch this. It's not about that That would turn us off and grieve god's spirit. No, I love when people sing and they're lost just oh god be praised God be worshiped And he deserves it One last thing everything is for god And now jesus said when you pray Ask this and i'll do it for you ask in my name which touches on the other bottom line foundational truth in the bible Way before abraham way before the cross way way way deep deep deep down Everything is for god the glory of god That's the bottom of it all But right next to that Is everything is from god? Everything must come from god or there is nothing to work with Everything is for god My this day me and the ministry the brooklyn tabernacle westgate chapel you Me everyone. We're all made for the glory of god And the more we give them that glory praise god life is just filled with beautiful things Now at the same time everything must come from god go back with me here to creation Go back with me before creation if you can imagine that as I mentioned earlier today the scientists now who Deny god and many of them deny A creator and the creative act They are now agreeing though linked to the big bang big bang theory that there was a moment When not only energy was created Not only energy was created. There was no energy energy matter and time all began at some moment according to the big bang theory and people who don't believe in god are admitting we can trace back the fact there's Radiation proof now of this explosion this beginning that there's still traces of in the universe Very interesting thought covered by some very noted apologists But prior to that when there was no such a thing as time which we can't fathom God created began everything And he not only in the beginning god created the heavens and earth But now we find out that god begins to make vegetation and separates the waters and begins to make the fowls of the air and the fish in the sea Vegetation And then the bible says he created adam And from adam eve and now adam and eve are together now analyze this with me Adam and eve wake up one morning And what do they have to eat that day? Only what god gave them The breath that they're breathing it all began when god breathed the breath of life into them So the very breath in them came from god the oxygen that they need from moment to moment God has put into the atmosphere cut off from oxygen. They will die Any clothes they're eventually going to wear someone's going to god is going to have to provide for them because adam and eve were created Never to have anything of their own They were only made as receiving vessels The joy that they would have in life would be to be the creation Under a wonderful creator who would supply everything they need emotionally Psychologically physically and spiritually fellowship with him and he came and he walked with them in the cool of the day But everything they had if you would ask them How'd you get this? How'd you get that? They would say I have nothing but what he gave me Everything came from him Now this part of salvation this part of god's plan for our life Is I believe? Lost to a lot of us and it ends up in tremendous struggles. I can only share my own We get saved and we accept the historical record of the bible pertaining to christ on the cross And we know that 2 000 years ago this son of god emmanuel god and yet man man yet God died on the cross and he did something that we could never do for ourselves. He made atonement Left to myself and my sin. I should be damned forever. I know that the soul that sinneth that you surely die I'm guilty of that. I'm aware of that So I accept by faith the fact that god did for me once again god did for me What I could never do for myself through his love and his grace. He sent his son into the world He not only washed away all my sins as I put my faith in him But on top of that he wrote my name in the lamb's book of life and jesus went and prepared a place for us We're going to be all together forget the 50 year anniversary We're going to go through 5 million years and it'll be like an instant And none of none of us here one second into eternity We remember anything we call a problem today. It'll all be done away with in a split millisecond And we're going to be with him why because he provided that for us as part of his salvation But too many of us like myself growing up said god. Thank you for christ. Thank you for the cross Thank you for the blood that the choir was singing about. Thank you. Thank you Thank you And now I know you want me to be like christ and I know I want I want to live a life glorifying to you And I know you're worthy of all the praise now. I'm going to do my Hardest I will try with all of my strength to show you that I really do love you And i'm going to be a good person for you And if we mess up which we do which we all have we try even harder But brothers and sisters, I leave you with thought with this thought with what are you trying with? When you see your weakness when you see your susceptibility To a vulnerability that you have morally when you see your temper getting out of control again when you see a Calling to impurity that you know is not god's best for you When your mouth is open to gossip rather than saying something edify When you see yourself being lifted up with pride and wanting people to notice you When you know that's wrong and you want to be different i'm asking you something. Can a leopard change his spots? With what are you going to work with? What do I have in me that I can change anything? The only change I can ever have in jim simbala is god changing me to the power of the holy spirit I have no love. I have no purity you're looking at a mess of a person today But at the same time because everything is not only for him, but everything is from him Paul can say at the same time. I am the chief of sinners in me dwelleth No good things yet. I can do all things through christ who strengthens Because everything comes from god and we live with this wonderful juxtaposition of conscious weakness and yet bold faith That jim simbala can never they I have nothing to work with If you tell me to be kind I have no kindness in me The only kindness I have in me is when christ is living through me because everything is not only for him But everything Is from him just like adam and eve were so helpless We are just as hopeless still And this is why jesus said that sentence that a lot of us like to skip over or parse And make to mean something different if you would come my sister Without me jesus said you can do what? Without me jesus said you can do oh, come on we can do something Please we can do something. I know I need a little help around the edges But don't make me out a basket case. Don't tell me I can do nothing Are you trying to tell me that i'm that hopeless and helpless? Yes You didn't have to say yes so loud there brother And not only do we feel peace and joy when we realize everything is for him What arrest comes? When you stop struggling And you say everything is from him Everything is from him You know, I deal a lot with crack addicts And i'm working now with a young lady who's breaking my heart she's a young lady who Was raped and mauled when she was 11 or 12 And has been out in the street basically prostituting crack addict in the last five years. She's 25 the last five years She's been mostly in Rikers island Prison in new york then out in out hustling in the street My wife and I in the church. She came to us. She opened her heart to christ And made some progress and now the battle is on now the battle is on And last time I was with tanisha i'm praying for today she's on my heart right now Don't know exactly where she is But she ran from us and The battle is on but i've been in a bunch of these battles god's gonna have the last word God's gonna have the last word She's my daughter I told her that She once fell on my shoulder in front of a lot of people at the church and said would you be my dad? Whispered that to me She knows nothing about a father and trust But her problem is she knows what's wrong, but she's trying to cure herself You can't Just like you can't wash away your sins you and I can't live for one day Without a continual flow of god's grace And maybe you're here today struggling with something and I don't want to go against the spirit of this church Even though it's a memorial or a special celebratory service Because not only is everything for god But this church has emphasized also that everything comes from god Thus the stress by the pastor and the leadership on the tuesday night prayer meeting Ah, it's just dawning on me now That's why god said my house shall be called a house of prayer not In this way, like I heard growing up pray You gotta pray No God said my house shall be called a house of prayer because I love my people so much. I have so much to give them But they're gonna concentrate and open up to me and trust me and then i'll just pour out everything they need So my house shall not be called a house of preaching Not a house of praise and worship as important as those are But my plate my house should be called a house of prayer because not only everything is for god But everything is from god Are you heartbroken today? I know I just now thinking of tanisha. I need faith I need faith Everything comes from god name one thing that you need has to come from god I need faith Because I just spent a lot of time a few weeks ago trying to help her I got her house to stay in Before I could get her in this program Invest a lot of time tears heartache Got her clean brought her to the church to be picked up to go on the program she walked right down the street The street is calling her You know, they say crack has a voice when it calls you you got to come and so they say in the street The street has a voice and all she's ever known is just no self-control no schedule no sequential living just Just catch as catch can it's all my daughter knows tanisha So I need faith for her Because I didn't pray for her yesterday Haven't prayed for today, but now god brought her to me. So I know I need I want to see tanisha say by the way I can say father god tanisha coming to you will bring you great glory I'm, not asking for a nicer car. I want tanisha Maybe you close your eyes with me. Maybe you have a son or a daughter That you know if there's going to be a change it's going to have to come from god pastor jim simbala you are on the money The word of god is true Nothing's happening unless god comes Maybe in your own life emotionally, maybe it's financially maybe something in your marriage something in your family Something where the enemy is attacking you in a way that only you and god know about you're involved in spiritual warfare And you need something fresh from god big time as at And this sunday he brought you here And in keeping with the spirit of 50 years of this church We're going to pray for you and then let you go If you're here in the balcony or downstairs and you say pastor, I have a special need right now It's weighing on my heart like tanisha is for you I'm going to come to the altar and i'll meet you there because i've been just convicted I need to believe god for tanisha. Anybody want to join me down here? We'll pray together Anybody have any kind of special need where you know, I need something from god. I need something from heaven Would you just come up out of your seat and join with me right here?