In this sermon, Brother Denny emphasizes the importance of discipleship and the Christian life. He encourages his audience to prioritize their walk with God by getting rid of anything that doesn't contribute to it and adding on things that do. He highlights the disciplines of giving secretly, working diligently, practicing solitude, rising early in the morning, and staying up all night in prayer. Brother Denny also references the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six, specifically focusing on the discipline of giving alms secretly.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. We have 30 seconds yet, so we'll wait so you can get in your places. God bless you for being prompt and getting back here session after session. That's impressive. 10 o'clock, let me see your hands. 11 o'clock, let me see your hands. 12 o'clock. All right, principals, you saw them, get them. Praise the Lord. All right, shall we stand to our feet? Someone asked me where I got this little song. Well, I brought it into my memory and my heart about 22 years ago, and it just came back out a few days ago. So, I'm not sure where I got it, but it was 22 years ago. It seemed to fit the spirit of what we're doing here. All right, so let's all sing from our hearts in the spirit of these words in preparation for prayer. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. And He shall lift you up. And He shall lift you up. Submit yourselves therefore to God. And He shall lift you up. And He shall lift you up. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and He'll draw nigh to you. Be sinners and purify your Lord. Our God and our Father, we come to you in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Again this morning, imploring thee, pleading with thee, God, that you would meet with us. O Father, that you would make good these words to our heart. Father, this morning, we draw nigh unto thee. O God, please draw nigh unto us. Hover over this place this morning in this meeting. Lord, I pray that you will work deeply in our hearts today, Father, and change our lives forever through your Word, Lord. Through your Word and by your Holy Spirit, whom we plead for in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Can you hear that? You can't hear it. Okay. Well, I trust you'll be able to hear the real tuning forks this morning. This morning we've taken the four confessions of a true disciple and put them under the category of the power of a disciple. The power of a disciple. There's a threefold meaning to that word power. Number one, dunamis. That's the Greek word for power in the Bible. That's the Greek word when Jesus said unto his disciples, Ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. That's the word dunamis. So we mean the dunamis of a disciple. Number two, we also mean exousia. That's another Greek word for power that you will find in the New Testament. But that word exousia means authority, which, by the way, is also power. If you have authority, you have power. But it's a different word, exousia. And the third meaning is the word influence, which is the outflow of having that power upon your life. It's interesting to me, as I was studying this word influence, the root word for the word influence comes from the root word inflow. Inflow. So, young people, if we're going to have an influence as a disciple of Jesus Christ, there must be an inflow before there can be an outflow. And that's what we're going to be speaking about today. Yesterday we spoke of some of the very high demands on the disciple of Jesus Christ, that being to love your neighbor as yourself. These things cannot be done in your own strength. You need something more than just a commitment and a desire and a determination in order to, in fact, live out this life of a disciple of Jesus Christ that I've been giving to you. You can't do it. You can't do it. You need something, an ability, an enabling which is outside of yourself that comes from God, or you will not be able to do it. And we want to consider four confessions this morning which are vitally connected to the subject of power. But as we consider them, let's read in Isaiah 61 to begin with. Very familiar verses to all of us. They're the prophetic words speaking about our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. And since we want to follow Him, it's good to see how He lived and how He functioned and how He lived out the second commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. We want to see how He lived out this commandment. And it's clearly described in Isaiah 61, verse 1 through 4. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me. Why? To preach good tidings unto the meek. The Lord hath anointed me. He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. He hath anointed me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. He hath anointed me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. He hath anointed me to comfort all that mourn and to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Why? That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Why? That He, the Lord, might be glorified. And they, these trees of righteousness, these plantings of the Lord, they shall build the old wastes. They shall raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the way cities. They shall repair the desolations of many generations. Jesus stood and read these words out of the book of Isaiah in His hometown. What a place to read them! He basically was giving His testimony. The Spirit of God is upon me. It is inflowing me. And then the outflow is all of these other things that we have just read. This inflow and outflow is going to produce trees of righteousness who will also receive the inflow, and then the outflow from their lives will also come and produce the things that are mentioned in verse 4. Or, may I say it simply, they will reproduce themselves, just like I reproduced myself, Jesus says. So with that as an introduction, let us consider the first confession of a disciple of Jesus Christ this morning. I will be filled with the Holy Ghost. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I will be filled with the Holy Ghost. The disciples follow the words and the example of their Master. And the whole matter of discipleship will not work if we do not follow the words and the example of our Master Teacher. It will not work. It wouldn't work for them. We will see that it didn't work for them until He, the Holy Ghost, was poured out on them abundantly. They followed the example and the words of their Master Teacher concerning the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Now let's turn all together to the book of Luke here, all the way to the beginning of the book, Luke chapter 2. And I want you just to notice a few things here in Luke chapter 2 and chapter 3. First of all, in chapter 2 and verse 40, this is when Jesus was a boy growing up in His home. He is not twelve years old yet, or maybe He is almost twelve. The Bible doesn't say, but in verse 40 it says of Him, And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. Beautiful. Then, we know that because that was that way, He found Himself in Jerusalem when He was twelve and decided He must be about His Father's business. Well, that made quite a stir with His mother and Father. And if you could just imagine what it would be like, some of you ladies here, some of you men, running around Jerusalem for three days trying to find your son, not knowing where he is. Well, He went home, as we learned, and subjected Himself to His parents. And verse 52 says, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Now, that's the testimony that the Bible gives of the Lord Jesus before His baptism. I want you to note that. I mean, this is nothing to play around with. This guy's got something. Amen? Already he's got something. But, he needs more. Luke chapter 3 and verse 21. Now, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus, also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased. Jesus had the Holy Ghost come upon Him at His baptism. Now, let's notice from there. Chapter 4 and verse 1. And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit. Underline that. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Let's move down. Chapter 4, verse 14. After the temptation in the wilderness. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about. And then, of course, in verse 18, He's at His hometown in the synagogue, and He says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me. And notice also in verse 32. He's at Capernaum now, and it's a city of Galilee, and He taught them on the Sabbath days, and notice their response. They were astonished at His doctrine, for His word was with power. And lastly, verse 36. They were all amazed and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! For with authority, that's exousia, and power, that's dunamis, He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. Now, young people, we've looked at all of these verses because I want to impress upon your heart this morning that the Lord Jesus Christ, when He began His earthly ministry, He began His earthly ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. And He did not begin until He was endued with that power from on high. Now, if the Lord Jesus needed that endowment of power from on high to begin His ministry, surely we also need it much, much more than He. What an absurd thing to try to go forth and serve God in any shape or form without the power of the Spirit of God upon our lives. Jesus needed to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Our Lord Jesus began His ministry in the power of the Holy Ghost. He was led by the Spirit. Ministry is the bottom line of being a disciple, young people. We are called to serve. I don't want you to forget that. God did not call you because He didn't want you to go to hell and He'd like you to go to heaven. He called you because He wants you to serve Him. Just like the Apostle Paul when he met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus. Then what do you want me to do? Beautiful! Paul knew from the beginning, I have been called, I have been saved because God has something for me to do. Young people, it's the same for every one of you. If you're sitting in this room this morning and you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, you heard the voice of the Spirit of God calling you and convicting you and calling you unto His Son, Jesus Christ, I want you to know today you have been saved to serve. That's the bottom line. You have not been saved to sit. You have not been saved to sleep. You have not been saved to wait until you go to heaven. You have been saved to serve. And the bottom line of serving is the unction of the Holy Spirit. So we must come to grips with the power of a disciple. We disciples must serve God the same way that the Lord Jesus served His Father when He walked on this earth in His earthly ministry. Ephesians 5 and verse 18 says, Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Young people, that command means simply this. Be being continually filled and controlled and led by the Holy Spirit. This is a command, young people. This is not an option. This is not something for one or two. This is not a command that is given to the minister and to nobody else. It is a command to every child of God. Be being continually filled and controlled and led by the Spirit of the living God. That is how Jesus lived out His ministry here upon this earth. He didn't just go forth and say, ok, I'm His beloved Son, now let's see, what can I do? I'll do this, I'll do this, I'll go here. He didn't do that. He denied Himself just like we have to. And He listened to the voice of His Father by the Spirit of God. And He followed the promptings of the Spirit of God, which was the voice of His Father. And whatever His Father told Him to do, that's what He did. Beautiful! I mean, think about it, young people. They came to Him and said, your friend Lazarus is very sick. We're afraid he might die. Well, the natural man, even any compassionate natural man, would think, oh, I need to get to my friend right away, he might die. But the voice of His Father didn't say that He could go, and so He didn't go. Amen? I mean, the disciples couldn't figure this guy out. He didn't go. Even the Pharisees, when He did finally show up there and they found Him dead four days, the Pharisees couldn't figure this out. He could have healed Him. We've seen Him heal others. How come He didn't come and heal this man of his sickness? Oh, but God had something better in mind. Amen? He had something better in mind. Jesus obeyed the voice of the promptings of the Spirit of God. And young people, we have to do the same thing. We're the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Should it be anything less for us? Turn to Luke 24. Hear the words of the Lord Jesus. Before He departed back to His Father. Luke 24, verses 47-49. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things, and behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you. But tarry in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high, disciples. Don't you run off half-cocked. Don't you take off with all the zeal and excitement of the fact that you know now I have risen from the dead. Don't you do it. Tarry in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. Then go. Then go. And He said basically the same thing in Acts 1, verse 8. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and then ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. These were the words of the Lord Jesus. He showed His disciples that He did what He did by the power of the Holy Spirit, and then He told His disciples, don't you go until you have been endued with power from on high. It is the Holy Ghost who is the one who transforms us into the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, young people. Think about Peter. Think of the folly of Peter. The foolishness, the empty confessions of Peter before the day of Pentecost. I mean, the Lord Jesus told him, you guys are all going to be offended in Me this very day. You're going to be scattered every direction. And Peter, oh, he so quickly opened up his mouth. He said, Lord, not me. Not me. Well, that was a confession out of his mouth, but there wasn't anything in his heart yet. And sure enough, as soon as the shepherd was smitten, all of the sheep scattered, and Peter was the one who denied the Lord. He spoke. He said, I don't know the man. He lied. He even let cursings come out of his mouth to try to cover up the fact that he was one of His disciples. That's a good picture of what discipleship is like if you don't have the unction of the Holy Ghost, young people. You will fail at the times of testings. But oh, after the Holy Ghost came upon him, his confessions were possessions then. Fearless and deep and cutting to the heart. And he could look into the eyes of the very ones that he was trembling in their presence before, look them right in the eye and say, You crucified the Lord! What was the difference? It was the unction of the Holy Ghost, young people. That's what made the difference. And that is what will make the difference in your life also. There would be no book of Acts. There would be no book of the Acts of the disciples of Jesus Christ if they hadn't heeded the example and the words of Jesus. There would have been no book of Acts. In fact, many times I think it's not titled right. It needs to be titled The Acts of the Holy Spirit. Now I know this is a controversial issue. Do you need to be filled with the Holy Ghost? The devil has his hand in that. I mean, he's thrown all kinds of confusion out into the midst of the people of God. He doesn't want a church that is filled with power. He doesn't want it. So, young people, I just want to encourage you this morning. You know, I don't care what you call it. You can call it the baptism of the Holy Ghost. You can call it the filling of the Spirit. You can call it the anointing of the Holy Spirit. You can call it the endowment of power. I don't really care what you call it, but dear young people, you must have it in your life. You must have it in your life. It is the will of God for you young people to be endued with power. You say, brother Denny, I'm 17 years old. Yeah, I'm telling you, it's the will of God that you be unctionized by the Spirit of God. It's the will of God. Well, and some would say, well, you get it all when you're saved. Well, I believe that you can get it all when you're saved. If you get dealt with properly, or you deal with yourself properly, but my evaluation through the years is that most don't. So, I want you to ask yourself this question. Is this what I have? That which was spoken by the prophet Joel? That's all you need to ask yourself. Is this what I have? That which was spoken by the prophet Joel? And young people, if it is not, then you need to do business with God. Don't stop. Don't settle for anything less. Don't settle for an anemic Christian life for the next 20 years. Don't do it! God has so much more than that for you. I guarantee it. And I'm not talking about seeking some emotional experience. I'm talking about seeking God for an endowment that transforms a denying Peter into a bold apostle. Not some experience. Not some, ooh... I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a work of God in your heart that you know without a doubt you've been touched by God. You're filled with His Spirit. You have a sense of His presence and you know that God is picking you up and using you. Don't stop until you have that. In Luke 11, v. 9-13, we have this admonition. Jesus gave it to His disciples and finished it off by telling them to ask the Father for the Holy Spirit. Luke 11, v. 9-13. He tells them, I want you to ask and keep on asking in faith. I want you to seek and keep on seeking, believing. I want you to knock and keep on knocking, expecting. Why? Because if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him and keep on asking Him and keep on asking Him? And that's what that word ask means, by the way, young people. Ask in faith. Seek God, believing that the promise is also unto you and unto your children. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Number two, the second confession this morning. I choose to die. I choose to die. Let's read in John 12. John 12. I choose to die. And Jesus was giving the secret of ministry here in these verses. You know, it's toward the end. It's time for Him to go to the cross. He's been surrounded by people all the three and a half years of His ministry. And it was that way all the way up to the end. And two Greeks came to Philip and said we would see Jesus. And Philip came and told Andrew and Andrew went and told Jesus. And Jesus said these words. Instead of going to minister to these two Greeks that wanted to see Jesus, He said these words. In verse 23, The hour is come. The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Now that's interesting. He didn't say the hour has come that the Son of Man should die. Did you get that? He didn't say it that way. That's not how He looked at it. It is the hour that the Son of Man will be glorified. That's a good way to look at death. Amen? It's a good way. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it. And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor. I choose to die. Young people, you need to choose to live a dying life. Now, I didn't get tongue-tied there. Those are the exact words that I wanted to say. You need to choose to live a dying life. That's what Jesus is speaking about here. You choose to live a dying life, and you choose to be being continually filled and controlled by the Spirit of God, and you are in for a life of adventure like you've never known. No bicycle stuntman can ever match the life that you are in for. If you choose to live a dying life and be filled and controlled by the Spirit of God, it can't be matched. From death comes the power of a resurrected life. And I'm so glad that these verses are given in the context that we have read them. You know, if that verse was all by itself, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die and abideth alone, if that verse stood by itself, it would be floating around up here. He wouldn't be sure of what he meant. But isn't it interesting that right underneath that statement, Jesus begins to define what it means to fall into the ground and die. And what does He use? Those beautiful words which He uses all through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Words of taking up the cross and forsaking all and hating your life and denying yourself and selling all and hating your father and mother. All these are the words of the call to discipleship. And dear brothers and sisters, it is a call to die. It is a call to die. By taking those verses and putting them in that order, Jesus has connected the statement of falling into the ground and dying with the statements and calls to deny ourselves, to dethrone ourselves, to forsake all and follow Jesus with all of our heart. And you cannot do it unless you are willing to live a dying life. Young people, you can't do it. I want to remind you of the words of George Mueller. Somebody said it here this week. I couldn't remember who it was, but someone said of the ministry of George Mueller. And by the way, he lived into his nineties. He didn't even start traveling and preaching until he was in his seventies. Imagine that! Twenty years he hit the road, went all over the world preaching from seventy to ninety, and then he started slowing down a bit and thought he might just better stay around home for the last few years. And I think he died when he was ninety-four, or something like that. A blessed servant of God. But when he was there in those last couple of years, and they asked him what is the secret of his ministry, he simply said it all. He said, there was a point in time in my life when George Mueller died. And from there he lived a dying life all of his days. You read his biography, you'll find out. He lived a dying life. Young people, you must die. That death has many varied issues connected to it. Some of them have been spoken to you this week. Some of them have been spoken by the Holy Spirit deep inside your heart this week. It's different for every one of us as we're here today. Issues do come to light. This matter of dying is not some mysterious thing, you know, that we're expecting to happen and we have nothing to do with it. I'm telling you, it has reality in it. It has reality for every one of you young people. And not just a one-time reality. I'm telling you, if you're going to live a dying life, you're dying all the time. There are many dying opportunities through the life and ministry of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Many dying opportunities. They're painful. Sometimes they're fearful. But when you get on the other side of it, you turn around and look back and say, wow! Another resurrection! Praise God! Another resurrection! You know, after a while you get used to it. And when you start looking again into that dark, cold grave, it doesn't look the same after you've been resurrected a few times and found God doing beautiful things in your life. You look into that dark, cold grave a bit different once you begin to realize the beautiful power of the resurrection that comes back into your life as you choose to live a dying life. Remember the soldiers that we spoke about here on Monday morning? Remember them? That soldier standing up there in front of everybody and just kind of standing the barrel of his gun out across the crowd and saying, alright, which one of you is willing to stand to his feet and confess the Lord Jesus Christ? Who's willing to do that? Who's willing? And everyone is looking down the barrel of that gun as it's being passed back and forth across the crowd. Bless God, somebody stands to their feet by the unction of the Holy Ghost and opens up their mouth and says, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. And at the confession of his faith out of his mouth, which is a belief in his heart, all of a sudden, the gun goes off. Boom! And he's gone. Glory! He's gone! He's in glory! He gets a martyr's crown! He gets to wear it for all of eternity! Bless God! Well, really, young people, if you think about it, that's really pretty easy. Isn't it? I mean, that doesn't take long at all. Just jump to your feet. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. Boom! Goes the gun. Off the glory you go. And someday you get a martyr's crown for it and you'll wear it for all of eternity. Do I have any takers? Amen. But dear young people, to live a dying life takes a bit more than that. And I believe that there are other martyrs that will not be shot in the head. Now, maybe they might get that at the end. But oh, what an honor and a glory to God if we, by the grace of God and through our love for the Lord Jesus, choose to live a dying life in the midst of this prosperous, crazy American society that we live in. What an honor and a glory that is to God. I say it takes more to do that than the other. In fact, sometimes, especially young people, when they're young in the faith, they worry a bit and they think, what would I do? Would I be able to stand if somebody pointed a gun at me? Would I be one of those that stood to my feet? Let me tell you how you can answer that. If you live a dying life and an opportunity comes by, I guarantee you, the same Spirit of the Living God that has been brooding and working in you and leading you to live a dying life will unctionize you. You'll stand to your feet. You'll confess those words and you'll die and go to glory. Just like that. You will have what you need because you have what you need. You will. I beseech you therefore, dear young people, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. There is no other thing which is more reasonable than for us to take the posture of one who is going to die for my Lord Jesus' sake. It's the reasonable thing to do. And it's not a one-time thing. You don't go to the altar and say, okay God, I surrender all. Praise God. You may do that this week and I'll be rejoicing if you do, but I want to tell you something. Don't you think, oh, now I've arrived. My dear young person, you just got to first base. Now let's get busy. That's not something super special. That's where you're supposed to be all the time. So now let's get it. Welcome home. What took you so long? Number three. The third confession. I will be alone with God every day. I will be alone with God every day. You may say, that doesn't sound like too much after that last point. My dear young people, this is that last point. This is that last point. This puts meat on that last point. It puts it into shoe leather. I will be alone with God each day. There will be a time in my day when I seek the face of my God and I fellowship with God every day. If you are not going to set priorities like that and establish a quiet time with God in your life, you are not going to make it. The stories of failure that stem from this neglect are endless, young people. They come to us like broken records over and over and over and over again. Well, where did it all begin? Well, I just started neglecting the early morning times and I began to cool in my heart and the next thing I knew, my thought life was out of order and look what I have done! It happens all the time. There is such a flow of grace that comes into the life of the one who does this consistently with a clear heart. Such a flow of grace! Praying, singing, worshiping, reading the Word, studying the Word in the early morning hours before the phone starts ringing, before all the cars start running, before the trucks start rumbling, before all the voices start hollering at you about all the things that need to be done today. Get up! Get up, young people! Get up in the morning! Seek the face of God when it is still quiet. Spend at least an hour alone with God every day. Young people, I am serious about this. If you can't spend an hour alone with God, there is something wrong with you. There is something wrong. I won't spend. I won't compromise on that. A disciple who can't spend an hour alone with God, there is something wrong. You say, brother Denny, I am busy. I have got so many things to do. Then you need to change your life, young person. You need to change your life. See, you don't fit God into our life. We fit into God's life. We change our life so our life fits into God's life. You say, well, people think I am a nut. Well, glory! Praise God! It's alright if they think you are a nut. You need to change your life. You need to get a different job. You need to do whatever you need to do. But you need to have time alone with God. Whatever. You know what you have to do. I don't know. But I am telling you, this is not a little one. Do it in the morning. That's my recommendation to you. Usually it doesn't happen in the evening. The ones that do it in the evening, always something gets in the way. Well, maybe tomorrow I will get her. You know how it is. All the things of life come pushing in there. Pushing, pushing, pushing. Pretty soon, no time left. Well, tomorrow. Tomorrow and off to sleep we go. You say, well, Brother Denny, I am not a morning person. Oh, come on. Who is? I mean, how many of us pop out of bed in the morning, you know, just jumping and ready to go? How many people get up like that? The old body has been laying for a long, long time. You are sure you are tired when you wake up. Get the old cold water out. Wash your face. Walk around outside for a minute. Wake yourself up and go for it. Sometimes young people come to me and they say, Brother Denny, I just can't get up in the morning. Can you please help me? I can't get up in the morning. I have tried. I am so tired of the failures of it. I have tried. And I get up and I wake up an hour later sitting there in the chair, you know, with my head in my Bible. And oh, I feel bad. And Brother Denny, can you help me? Can you give me some secrets? And I always ask him, what time do you go to bed? Well, Brother Denny, usually about 10.30 or 11. Yeah, well, okay. Look, you can't get up early in the morning if you go to bed at 11 o'clock. Come on! None of us can! You can't do it. So I usually tell him, look, you just set your heart that you are going to get up early several mornings in a row. And all of a sudden, you will feel strangely led to go to bed earlier in the evening. You know? Instead of that yawn that comes creeping in on you at 10.30, you know, and you think, oh, I guess I need to get to bed. It starts creeping in on you about 8.30. But I tell you what, if you get to bed at a decent time and don't stuff yourself with McDonald's, hamburgers before you go to bed, you'll wake up in the morning and you'll be alert. You will have been well rested and you'll be ready to seek God and give Him the best part of your day. Amen? I mean, He gets the best sacrifice. Hallelujah! Not the worst. He gets the best! He's the God of Heaven. Oh, our Lord Jesus, our Master, the One who teaches us. He's such a beautiful example of this, isn't He? I mean, look at this guy. Surely He can slide. You know, look at the anointing that He had upon Him. Look at the power of the Holy Ghost upon that man. Surely He can slide! He doesn't need to do that. But no, that's not what we find out in Mark 1 after a busy day of ministry. You read the chapter sometime and see how many things happened in Jesus' life in Mark 1 in one day. What do you find in verse 35? And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place and there He prayed. There He prayed. Yeah. That's the example of our Lord Jesus. Let's follow His example. We are His disciples. Let's follow His example. Spend much time alone with God. Jesus did. Much time alone with His Father. Doing what? Maintaining the anointing upon His life, young people. That's what He was doing. Maintaining the anointing of His life. And that's what you need to do also. Let's turn to Isaiah 55 here just a minute. And read a couple of verses about this. Isaiah 55. Now, Isaiah 55, that's the gospel. These are the gospel verses. Oh, everyone who is thirsty, come buy water and wine without money, without price. Oh, so many gospel sermons have been preached out of these verses and I'm not against that. But let's read them a little bit different this morning. Let's read them in light of drawing from God the precious things which cause our souls to live and be fat day by day. Let's read it in that context this morning. Oh, everyone that's thirstiest, come ye. You need to be thirsty every morning. Come ye to the waters and he that hath no money, that doesn't matter. Come! Come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Come do it every morning. You don't have any money? That's alright, you don't need any money. Do you have any time? You've got time. You've got as much as I do. Come! Come! Come buy wine and milk without price. Then he says these words, rather convicting to us American Christians. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? Or why are you spending your time on that which is not bread? Because money is time, right? And time is money. Why are you spending your money on that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfyeth not. Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Now that's one place where we can be overweight. Amen? We can have a fat soul. He goes on to say, incline your ear. Come unto me. That's beautiful. Hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David. Oh, young people, let's get radical about seeking the face of the living God day by day. Let's get radical enough to change our lives. And I make no apologies. We Americans have been duped and stooped and we don't have any idea how many ways we've been turned away by the enemy from these kind of things. Tozer said these words, and by the way, he practiced what I'm talking about. He was known as a man who spent time alone with God. But he said these words. Many people have fellowship with other people about God. But there are very few people who have fellowship with God. Now, are you one of those who has fellowship with other people about God? Or are you one of those who has fellowship with God? You know, we can kind of soothe ourselves because we enjoy having fellowship with one another about God. But I tell you that's hypocrisy if we're not having any fellowship with God. And it takes time to do that. And by the way, most Christians are failing on this point. We're talking about the power of a disciple. And the last point, the last point this morning, the last confession, I will master the disciplines of a disciple. I will master the disciplines of a disciple. What do I mean by that? I'm talking about spiritual exercises, young people. Spiritual exercises. You know? You know? Keep pushing that up. Push those weights up there. Push them up again and again. Keep pushing them up. The exercises of a disciple. Just like there are exercises that must be carried out for the man who is the bicycle stuntman that we've been talking about this week. Just like he has exercises that he must go through and he puts himself through the rigors of all of them, there are also exercises for the disciples of Jesus who want to run the race that is set before us. Exercises. There is an ever-flowing river of grace hidden in these exercises. An ever-flowing river of grace. And Satan doesn't want anybody to know it. So don't tell anybody. It is hidden from their eye. They can't see it. But I'm telling you, it's there. It's there. What are the disciplines? Let me just briefly go through some of them. The disciplines of Bible study. The disciplines of Bible reading. The disciplines of memorizing the Scriptures. The discipline of meditating upon the Word. These are disciplines, young people. Not without rewards. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law that they meditate day and night. What's the reward? He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth His fruit and His seeds and His leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever He doeth, shall prosper. Boy, that sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? Whatsoever He doeth. Meditation. Fasting. That means going without food, young people. Somebody told me the other day, I couldn't believe it, but they said, yeah, the people in our church, we fast on TV. They said, okay, I'm going on a fast. No TV for two days. Can you imagine? And someone else, they fast. I'm fasting for candy. I'm not going to eat any candy this week. I'm going on a fast. That's not what the Bible is talking about. A fast is going without food. No food. And oh, the devil doesn't want anybody to know about this one. Oh, he doesn't want you to do this one. Fasting. Fasting and prayer. These are disciplines, young people. These are exercises. But there is grace hidden in them. I guarantee it. The disciplines of secret service. Secret service? Yes. Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6. Be careful that you do not your alms to be seen of men. That word alms there is not just talking about giving money. It's talking about serving. Secret service. Amen? The disciplines of giving secretly. The discipline of working, laboring, going through the trials of earning the money and then giving it away and give it away secretly so that nobody even knows that you labored for all those hours. Give it away secretly. The discipline of solitude. That means being alone, young people. Nobody else to talk to for hours. Solitude. The discipline of rising early in the morning, a great cloud before day. The disciplines of nights of watching. That means staying up all night, young people. Staying up all night to be alone with God, to pray and watch. The discipline of bringing my wandering thoughts into order. The discipline of mastering my appetite so that my appetite don't master me. These are the disciplines of a disciple. And a true disciple will set their heart to master these disciplines. And any good soldier would, by the way, any good soldier would. Some years ago, I preached a sermon. I think I called it Secret Disciplines and Open Rewards. But that principle is in the Bible, in the Sermon on the Mount. You enter into these disciplines just because you want to draw near to God, just because you want to bring your body into subjection, just because you want to exercise yourself unto godliness, God will reward you openly, the Bible says. These are practical spiritual exercises. You say, well, Brother Denny, I can't do all this. I'm too busy. Well, I'm not asking you to do all of these things all the time. I'm just saying, let's set our sights on the disciplines and master them. Maybe you need to clear your schedule. Skip the basketball game. Cancel out the casual reading. Skip a few trips to the mall. Forget about hanging out with the rest of the guys. And put some of these things in there instead, because you're a disciple of Jesus Christ. Here's the Christian life in a nutshell, young people. In a nutshell, the Christian life is getting rid of everything that doesn't build my walk with God and adding on anything that does build my walk with God. And if you have any spare time in there when you get done with that, come and see me and I'll give you a few ideas. But I don't think you'll have any. There won't be a lot of fluff left in your life. You'll have eyes with eternity stamped upon them. And you'll be doing those things which will count in eternity. And you'll be doing what every child of God should be doing. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I will be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. I choose to die. I will have a time alone with God every day. And I will master the disciplines of a disciple. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we thank You for this morning's session. Father, I thank You for the hungry hearts of these young people who sit like birds with their mouths open to glean, to gain, to learn, to drink and to eat. God, I pray, fulfill Your Word, Lord. You said, open Thy mouth wide and I will fill it. Lord, I pray You will do that in their hearts through these words. In Jesus' name, Amen.