In this sermon, the preacher shares the story of Edith, who built a small mud brick dispensary in the Belgian Congo with a gift of 10 pounds from two blind ladies. Over the course of 20 years, this tiny work grew into a medical crusade operating in nine countries around the world. The preacher emphasizes the power of giving one's life to God and the potential impact it can have. The sermon also discusses the importance of surrendering to God's sovereignty and the need to let go of personal glory and possessions.

Well, we welcome you to only Eagle's Wings again today. We trust the Lord will bless you and teach you You know, we've been talking about the cross last month and focusing on revival. We we had our last Week's message on the cross. We're gonna continue on in a few minutes matter of fact We're gonna back the tape up and go back into last week's message for a few minutes So you can pick up on the message of the cross, but let the cross have its work in your life Let the Lord do what he wants to do in your life by the way of the cross You know John 12 if I can flip over here to John 12 Talks about a corn of wheat unless a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone But if we will let the Lord do that with us, let us be like a corn of wheat It'll fall into the ground. It'll die at a bite alone But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit It would die to self father take your word today and minister to us We pray for those that don't know Jesus in other words that father according to your word They have not believed to the saving of their soul You say whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved We pray that you'd work in their hearts to draw them to Jesus the wonderful Savior who died on the cross for our sins That they might experience life because you say he that has the Son has life and he that has not the Son does not have Life so we trust you to work today in a powerful way in Jesus name. Here's a continuation from last week's message When Joseph was taken by his brothers Israel sent him out To go find out how his brothers were doing When he went out there and they grabbed him and they stripped him of his coat and many colors and they threw him in the pit Seven things happened to him in a moment Seven things happened to him in just one moment One brief moment can change our life in the physical realm our circumstances forever This is why we have to come to the point to where we are resolved that God is Sovereign and we are in his hands and if we don't we'll end up with a bad attitude About somebody that God's allowed to do something in our life Here's the seven things that happened to him Came to pass when Joseph was come Unto his brethren that they stripped Joseph out of his coat his coat of many colors that was on him at that instant he died To his glory that coat was his glory his father gave it to him and he wore it With honor and with pride he was proud that his father had given them his coat That's the first thing they went after if God gives you something let me tell you the devil is going to be after it and So I believe that what we have to do when God gives us something is we have to give it back so that we I had a Preacher friend we used to we spent a lot of time together a lot of time in revival together And he said Don God has taught me to hang on to everything. I have like this Because so many go through hanging on like this But if you'll hang on to it like that If God wants you to keep it you keep it if God wants you to not have it. He'll take it Right then he died to his glory then what else? They took him and they cast him into a pit When they threw him into that pit he died to his youth he was 17 and Then he was 30 13 years of his life into the pit into the dungeons into the prisons And then Potiphar come along and he took him out, but he died to his youth How would you like to have that section of your life taken out from 17 to 30? you say not really and Just go to jail Well he died to his youth and then also he died to his ability to save himself There's nothing he could do. He was a prisoner. He was a captive. He had the chains He wore the chains, but because he wore the chains he come out with the crown And if you won't take up your cross and let God put a chain on you for a while you'll never have the crown Something else he died to he died to His rights what kind of rights does a prisoner have Someone said many years ago a man on the cross He's only facing one direction. He has no father plans of his own and he's not turning back No plans of his own that gets us in a lot of trouble Because we've got some plans and all of a sudden something comes along and changes and we get hey Who who told you you could do that? And it shows us right away that we're not on the cross that we're not submitted to the Lord and instead of saying oh My plans have changed okay, Lord you must have some different directions for me, but instead we get bitter we get angry we get upset We call it We got other terms for these things Like you know we got the term of new new morality the old term is sin We got all these new terms for things well, I'm just a little Impatient I didn't Didn't take all my vitamins this morning got a hormone imbalance Got all this and they and sometimes we have some physical things that affect us But he died to his rights right then a prisoner has no rights Paul said he was a prisoner of who of Jesus I mean if you're the prisoner of the Lord, then he's your warden and I would rather be the prisoner of the Lord than the prisoner of Satan and The Bible tells us that Satan will try to take his captive He's going about seeking whom he may devour matter of fact. He cannot get into your life He cannot get into any area of your life unless you give him that right Because you're a child of King. Did you know that the Bible says don't give any place to the devil And maybe tonight God might speak to you about some area that you gave ground to the devil and God is saying Confess it and let's take it back ask God to take it back Something else he died to He died to his freedom and you say well, that's pretty obvious and Reuben returned into the pit and behold Joseph was not in the pit You see Reuben intended to come back and get him out. He went along with the scheme till he could come back but God was in this and Reuben didn't get to get him out and Reuben thought well, this just be a temporary thing till I can snatch him. We'll get him back home to dad But he really died to his freedom Now that could be a hard one because we like to be free he died also to his family His brothers That was it. Their relationship was over and his brothers were Good riddance of that little brat So he died his family, but there's one more and I believe this is the hardest and the deepest one to die to You see all these lessons are found in Jesus Christ also he took off his robe of glory and came down and walked among us as men as a man and He went through all of these lessons. He gave up his rights He gave up his freedom To come down and die for you and me but this last one that Joseph died to I believe was the one that just literally ripped his heart out and That was this he had to die to his father's love because Jacob Oh Israel and Joseph were just like that They were together and the other brothers couldn't stand it, but they had a spirit within them That was the same and that's what binds together is the same spirit Other spirits separate And so he had to die to his father's love and I believe that was the hardest one there was to die to As a matter of fact, I believe personally and we'll get this theologically straightened out when we get to heaven But then when Jesus looked into the cup and he said father be possible. Let this cup pass for me I don't think it was the fact that he was going to die for all of my rotten sins and your dirty rotten sins and all of the filth That was going to be placed on him as he became sin for us When he said father let this cup pass me nevertheless, and if he hadn't said nevertheless, we've been in trouble He's God when I answer that prayer not my will but thine be done Thy will be done. I believe what it was in the cup That he dreaded the most about the cross was that when he? Died on the cross for your sin in mind for one terrible moment in eternity. He had never known a Moment a second out of fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit And when God the Father turned his back on him and he became sin on us because God Could not look on that sin that he was going to pay for her He turned his back and he said oh my god my god. Why is thou forsaken me at that? Moment he paid the price for our sin God turned his back so to say and that fellowship for a second there was broken that he'd never known and I believe that was What was in the cup? If Jesus paid that price on the cross for you and I and we think that price is so oh Well, I can take it or leave it You will burn in a fiery hell for rejecting Jesus Christ and for the the agony and the pain He went through of suffering on the cross was bad enough But the agony of being separated from the father for just a moment of that eternal love was excruciatingly excruciatingly painful and That's what Joseph gave us a type of We miss out a lot because we don't understand what the Spirit of God teaches us from the Old Testament to the New Testament now. I Asked you a question earlier. Have you been crucified with Christ? I'm crucified with Christ. Have you really been crucified with Christ? Now, let's bring it down and closing up with this little story Back in the late 20s There was a young lady who was called by God to go to Africa as a missionary Her name was Edith moles She was from England in the London area. She went through nursing school She went down into the heart of Africa to work with a missionary by the name of CT stud by the way, CT stud was such an example to her of the cross the Spirit of God used that in her life and Have any of you ever heard of CT stud? CT stud used to be a very Influent businessman There's not a one of you in here tonight Except if you're little then maybe has not in some way or another been impacted in your life by this man Because you see he was a businessman that invented at one time and if I'd had time to go to the store I would have got one Something that you could go from hand to hand in What is that a Slinky he invented that thing and he gave up his life to go to the mission field to be a missionary He gave up all of his hundreds of thousands of dollars and maybe millions. I can't remember and he's on the ship and going to Africa and the Lord asked him what's in your suitcase CT Well Lord, I've got the original blueprint of my slinky in there The original patent and everything and and the Lord said what you got that for? Well Lord, it's uh It's just in case things don't work out in Africa too good I could probably support myself And you know how the Lord talks to you. Really? and He got the point CT. Am I going to be all and in all? Over the edge of the ship it went You see the Lord has a way of putting on your life What it is you want to hang on to to be the Lord of and because of that the power of the cross was in His life and this nurse working with him week after week month after month was just impacted and that's the way I'll be in your life and One day God began to work on her You know how he does that he slips in the side door and what about this area in that area? Yes, Lord, yes, Lord. Yes Lord. I'm and she was so happy. I'm surrendered to you Lord I'm here to evangelize and we're winning souls to the Lord every day boy They'd have 300 Africans there at the little mission. They started off with a little closet of a hut ended up They had a 300 bed Hospital there and she was so happy and then one day There were 300 patients and one leper one leper and She said Lord I came here to evangelize to be a nurse. I didn't come here to really work with lepers and This little book tells the story She said I had not very long to wait before I had one of the biggest crisis in my missionary life We were getting on very well one evening at the dis dispensary. I suppose I had 300 patients They were all sitting around under the trees suddenly at the back of them. All I saw a leper. I Had seen lepers before but this man was terribly mutilated Led by a small boy and almost naked his toes and fingers were gone his feet swollen No nose, and he was dribbling from his lipless mouth down over his bare body. I Suddenly became contagion conscious. I did not want to touch that man and I said to myself Oh, we cannot have a leper here. But whatever shall I do? When everybody had gone He hobbled around and the small boy looked up wistfully into my face and said we have come to come That was the moral issue I had to face I could have said I did not as I did say to God for the next four days when God was Dealing me. I came here to evangelize Lord. I came here to evangelize All my plans were made and they did not include a leper Next morning there they were where my 300 patients under the palm trees and all my joy had gone The leper waited and My joy was gone. There was a kind of shadow over things you ever had a shadow come over your life We hope the man would find out that he had come to the wrong place It's often like that those who are in need come to the wrong place For we are dried up and God's Word says that if we are really going the cross way We will be like a spring of water whose waters fell not So we went on day after day 300 patients one leper and no joy Four days she struggled with it. You know, you could struggle with something four years or 40 years But until you get up give up you never have the victory and so one day finally on the fourth night She said the battle was fought Jesus showed me that night from the parable of the Good Samaritan who my neighbor was Over and over again came the command and thy neighbor as thyself And it was not until I realized that the leper was my neighbor that I could get peace The next morning I told the leper that God had been talking to me and it's shown me that I did not belong to myself But to him and that he was almighty and helped me so I was going to help him and he could stay You can imagine the joy on that man's face but I said You have got to look to God because I have no medicine for leprosy and I haven't a place to put you in and don't you? know how it's going to be done and don't know how it's going to be done, but God will do it and So will you kneel down with me and pray and so they did she said we knelt down together The man with the swollen feet the little boy with the wistful face. We talked to our Heavenly Father and they said amen That was the beginning That was the beginning From that point on and she said this That was the beginning until we are willing to be involved up to the hilt for God. We do not belong to him completely Until we are prepared to be utterly taken up by whatever he chooses to thrust upon us. He chooses To thrust upon us. We are not free And we'll have a chain around our heart We're here tonight To break the chains to set the captives free. You see that's what Jesus does wherever Jesus went He set the captives free and that's how you can tell when the Spirit of God is working in a place the captives are set free I was in a church one time working and and the people were leaving they were not being set free and I told my my Pastor buddy, I'll tell you about a few minutes ago. I said Wes are the captives being set free here? And he said no He is an exhorter and the Spirit of God immediately put in his spirit what he put in mind what the problem was and he went after it God didn't send you here tonight to walk out with a chain He sent you here tonight to walk out in the power of the cross The captives of the Lord may wear a physical chain on their body, but they don't have one on their soul Their spirit is free She said I realized that if I looked after this leper the little boy the story But all this it would go out on the drums and the lepers would come from all over the jungle You know what happened? they did and You know what God did She said God Enlarges our capacity not only our souls capacity But our mental capacity and our organizational ability he enlarges the whole man as we're willing Deeply willing to go the way of the cross See God to take you You wouldn't know it that 30 years ago. I wouldn't speak in a group of two And all there's a lot of other areas too, but I just wouldn't do it But God if you give that area that you're so weak into God let him do something with it He can do something with it You know what happened to her? She said within 20 years From that little corn of wheat that died and went into the ground The work spread into let's see. What was it? How many countries Let's see 20 years Edith in it her small mud brick dispensary built by a gift of 10 pounds from two blind ladies and forwarded by the Mission-delivered she saw this tiny work of hers in the Belgian Congo grow into a medical crusade Operating in nine of the countries of the world her death to her own plans one leper nine countries Just think what God can do in your life if you'll give it to him tonight Let's bow our heads and the kids are going to come and play a song Well, let's see I Think we're just gonna have the closing song getting a little late. Jenny's gonna play a little bit on the closing song and I just like you to just listen to the Lord. Let's bow our heads and just let's land but let's land slowly And just say Lord is there something there in my heart There's something there in my life Is there a reason there's no peace what is it is there a reason there's no power Is there a reason the provision to cut off? Would you show me the purpose in my life? You see we didn't come here to entertain you tonight, even though we don't mind entertaining, but we're here to do business for the Lord And if you need to get downstairs in a room and cry with the Lord you do it If you want to come up here you do it Nothing matters, but you and the Lord We don't count nickels and we don't count noses, but what counts is souls have you been born again Could it be that the misery is there because you've really never been saved Here Nicodemus was the leader of the Jews and Jesus said you must be born again What shall it a profit a man if he gains the whole world losing his own soul? What shall it profit a man if you teach Sunday school pastor a church be a deacon Be a faithful church attender if you've never really been born again What about our attitudes? Do you have an attitude of obedience an attitude of obedience rather than a attitude of disobedience Wouldn't it be sweeter? Had a couple of little girls that they didn't want to come up and sing I guess the big crowd tonight But it shows us that they're not completely surrendered and they're young Get scared sometimes with a lot of people, but as we get older we need to grow out of that How about an attitude of brokenness? Are you broken over your lack of concern for lost soul? We're gonna cut in here on Eagles wings and close down with a few comments for you You've been listening to a message that's been given in a local church last two weeks Sorry, we couldn't put it all together, but it'd take quite a bit of time but David said I waited patiently for the Lord The Lord waits patiently for you and for me But do we wait patiently for him or do we get impatient and we show it by our attitudes? And we're not broken. We don't care for lost souls, even though we claim to love Jesus. We really don't love the loss we love ourself and David said in he inclined unto me and heard my cry It could be that God has heard the cry of your life The cry of your heart the cry of your soul your spirit and he's waiting for you to have a broken cry David said he brought me up also out of an horrible pit out of the mary clay and set my feet upon a rock and Established my goings. What a wonderful thing to be established in the ways of the Lord What a disillusionment what a discouragement? What a depressive? life The one that professes to know christ, but has no power Of the spirit which is brought about by the cross in that life And established my goings And then david said and he had put a new song in my mouth even praise unto our god Many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the lord Blessed is that man that maketh the lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies Father, we trust that your word would work in our hearts in the area that it needs to be worked in We pray that you would accomplish that would you please for those that don't know jesus that have not believed to the saving of their soul That they would right now repent and call upon the name of the lord As your word says whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved And that you would save them and for those that might be struggling Encourage them for those that are lonely be their comforter You have said that you'd never leave us for those that have different problems We thank you for the praise reports and for the glory of god that's been manifest in many lives Thank you for loving us For giving us jesus In his name we pray Well the lord bless you and may the lord Keep you And may the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you And may the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace the lord bless you my friend