In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the importance of prioritizing God's will over worldly desires. They emphasize that we should not be swayed by the attractions and distractions of this world, but instead focus on following God's commands. The speaker also mentions the significance of staying committed to God's plan, even when faced with challenges and difficulties. They highlight the need to trust in God's timing and not question His decisions, as He is the ultimate authority.

Get into God's presence, I'm hearing for it. Because after all, it's not just a fellowship that is muted. Oh, that is a wonderful thing that's done. It's not just to hear, perhaps, about the Word somewhere, and to know a little bit more about the Word. It's to have God speaking to each of us. What about that? He knows that, as our brother says, we might be visitors. Oh dear, what a wonderful thing. Here we know that there might be a change that shall not be just for a week or a month, and then stay. But by God's grace, it might get continually more done. For it's on the Lord. I'd like you to open your Bibles to Luke chapter 9, where we begin to read at verse 57. Luke chapter 9, verse 57. And he came to pass that as they went in the way of men, a man said unto them, Lord, I will probably put the sword of thy Lord. And Jesus said unto them, Hearts that have holes, and births of the air have nests. But the son of man hath not breath, so let him in. And he said unto another, Follow me. So he said, Lord, come and be first to go and join my followers. Jesus said unto them, Let the dead bury their dead, but go down and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go and take up service with all of which are at home in my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the crown, and looking on that, is fit for the kingdom of God. Mark chapter 10, verse 28. Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left off, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake and God's sake. But he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and land, worth of Jesus, and in the life of God, and in the world of God, eternal life. But many that are first shall be last, and the last first. We come to Luke chapter 9, considering these three men that were called. We see that the Lord Jesus Christ is dealing here with labor, or his harvest here. The Lord Jesus Christ here is interested in having that go forth. Two men volunteer. The other is, so to speak, drafted. But the Scripture does not say that any of them will be drafted after. Each one of these men has difficulties along the way. And the Lord Jesus Christ has looked at those, and also looked at them in his tremendous love for them as persons, as individuals, as those that recognize who he was. And as I will assert again, I guess at the same time, were not willing to pay the price that was required of them for that work. This is him talking about a spectacle. And we're going to continue on in the same spirit from this section here. The Lord Jesus Christ grew rich through these men, and he grew their strength, and he knew exactly what there was in each one that was a block in them. Notice this first man, who we read about in verses 57 through 58. This man volunteers for the service of the Lord. He says, Lord, I will call thee for the service of the Lord. Now we can see that this man volunteers without recognizing the hardships and the tribulations that were to come to him as one that was following the Lord Jesus and giving his all in his service. And the Lord Jesus Christ, accepting that expression of this man's goodwill and his desire to follow him, at the same time recognizing where his weakness was, reminds him of what was allowing him. And he tells of this verse that is so common that we often think of it. Prophets have hopes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has not heard the way it says. So that he was to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, he was to have to suffer the tribulation of many of the comforts of life that he could have if he chose not where he was. And I wonder how many Christians today are held back because of the comforts of life. As we heard earlier concerning the fact that most of us were excluded, we become so accustomed to these things that we're not willing to give them up in order to follow the Lord. You know, we live in a society in which adversity and discontent is such a part of everyday life. And without realizing what happens, we find ourselves brought under the power and influence of that adversity. As of 1970, of the last figures that I have, 99.8% of the American family has a refrigerator. If you were to go out to the emergency room, you might have to go without a refrigerator for a number of years. You might have to go without it, or you might be able to arrange things so that you could have a refrigerator even when you had one. It wouldn't be worth it to go without a refrigerator. You know, it's naive. You can just take a refrigerator for granted. And yet, it's not easy when you're out there in the jungle in a hot climate, without a refrigerator. And perhaps you've got a baby that eats milk, and it's so confusing, it doesn't be able to mix up a couple of days supply of milk or something or other. But you're starting to do it each bottle at a time because you don't have a refrigerator. And so 95% of the American family has what I should refer to as what I would call a serious disease. The full truth. As we see it, it comes in that some of us are really enslaved to, and find that because we want to stay home and watch our favorite program on TV and the internet, we have to go into the nightlife of setting the stage. 92% have a Washington disease. If you're out in the middle of the field, you might not have your own washing machine. 40% have clothes dryers. It's a very convenient thing. It comes in that some of the little women in trouble who didn't do anything because they didn't have a washing machine or a clothes dryer. They would come home and be out. Very cheap. Didn't cost them very much. Well, they got the label when they found out that that was the only option. There wasn't a cheap labor industry that could do our laundry, so we had to get a washing machine. It's been serious. It comes in cheapest model available. But then, even winters aren't just the nicest things. Goes on for about five or six months out of the year. Cold and overcast most of the time, drizzling a lot of the time. You try and get the clothes dry, it's a real problem. Oh, how nice it would be to have a clothes dryer. I would love to do it. But oftentimes, missionaries have to go without clothes dryers. It's even more difficult to get the clothes dry. Hard to go to school. 37% of Americans can't live without air conditioning. You never want to open the hot glass. We can't live without poverty. And if you get out of the business field, and even if you were to have the money, you might not be able to have an air conditioning because you don't have electricity during the day. Or you don't have proper electricity at night. And you don't have enough current to run an engine. So you just have to put it out. Sometimes that hot glass in general can be a very tragic thing. According to an article that CNN did, it says that his wife really had trouble with the hot glass over there on the building. My wife really had a lot of trouble with the hot glass over in the center of the building. Because of that hot glass, CNN will have to move there. They'll say, well, you were afraid it was very hot. We had to move. We were afraid it was very hot. No air conditioning over there in the building. 70% of the American families have freezers. Isn't it wonderful just to be able to go to the freezer and pull out something for dinner? You go in the summer and the early spring, the winter, and you have no freezers. You don't have clothes and food. You've got to go buy your knees fresh every day. You've got to wait in line. You've got to get up at 4, 3, 5 o'clock in the morning in order to get in line. They tell me, very early in the summer over there, if you don't arrive until 6 or 7 o'clock, there's no need for that. Freezers are wonderful things, but I was willing to go in and out to these things in order to serve the Lord. And in this country, why, 30% of the American families have two or more cars. You might be out there in the midst of a deal and still need to have at least one of your cars parked. You might be living over in the jungle on rivers and low-hanging leaves. You might need to have an outboard motor, but you don't have the money to buy the outboard motor. So you go ahead and you buy it there. When you're traveling a lot, you'll struggle. You'll get thin, you'll get tired, and you get thirsty. So that even when you're running to a destination, you're thirsty for three or four days before your body finally gets that. And you're able to accommodate yourself to the climate and the hardship of getting out there and taking it up. And I think that's a wonderful thing. came alive to him, and he realized it simply said, Thou shalt not covet, period. As part of the New Testament application of that different thing. It's not simply coveting what my neighbor has. It's coveting material things. Allowing each thing to get a grip on my mind. And desiring to have things, rather than desiring to shut up, bully the Lord and obliterate the family of Christians. How many Christians have a button so if this world sinned, then it had coveted souls as a result? You don't believe my answer? What is it that you're really searching for in this life? Did you one day, quickly and under the pressure of emotion, say, Lord I'll call you when you're gone? But then you began to cut the cloth and the sins of this world came alive. You began to think about marriage and a home and a family and your child. And one thing or another, as our brother said earlier, these things began to crowd in and you said, well, I've come to give it all up. Because I'm going to follow the Lord and I'm going to save his life. The Lord gives a frank book of a frank. And once again I would say we've got to be oh so careful that this world does not mold our thinking. Like in 1922. In the 1920s, the example conference was very concerning, because they realized that there was a tremendous, untapped group in the United States that they had not been able to reach with their anti-fascists. The majority of the men spoke, but women did not speak. And so they consulted a psychologist. And they asked that psychologist, can you teach us how we can get to where we want to go? That psychologist said, sure, I'll do that for you. He said, don't you worry. He said, I'll give you a call. I told you, I'll try to talk to you. And so these radical companies in their anti-fascist campaigns, along the lines of suggesting things that he said, came to a result. Today there's as many rumors as there have been before. I wonder if a Christian has been used by the advertising that comes on and says, why is that there is an anti-fascist? You ought to be told this. And we continue to sit for material things. And one by one, place to place, the voices of science, the voices of science, the voices of science, but that some man does not have what it takes. And I'll be willing to follow the leadership of John F. Kennedy. Giving up these material things, and giving wholeheartedly for that. You know, the spirit of publicism brought defeat to this field. But it got it to one thing in part. As they constructed the goals of the Babylonian government and a few of the things that he saw there in the city of Jericho, and you know that that publicism has a new part. It's suffering. Are the churches of today suffering defeat? You know that suffering is in our hearts. And materialism, taking its place in our hearts, sits there and groans. And we find ourselves living for this little thing. I think of the missionaries. I'm a missionary who, especially in recent years, has been struggling in financial hardship. The Lord has tried for us. He has tried. But I know missionaries that have tried. And I know missionaries that have had to go without some things that I would consider important in their work. And I know that when summer comes along and the American population begins to think of vacations, that the foreign missionaries' incomes drop. Because a lot of people are not giving to the Lord's work as they do during rest of the year. They're spending it on their vacations. And these are cold hard facts. I'm not giving for myself. I'm giving because in their consciousness, the Old Testament set up a standard for what people should begin by giving, a time of 10% of all that they have. And in addition to their time, there would be a offering, there would be a first book, there would be a wonder thing. All of that in addition to their 10% time. And we often say, this was the Old Testament, this was simply God's beginning. He was teaching His children the primary things, the fundamental things. And then in the New Testament, He moves on to greater things. The Old Testament set the good as the basis. Now, let's not hide behind it and say, well, the Old Testament is legality and we're not under the law anymore. No, we're not under the law. In fact, God swore it. But God erased it. His standards were higher things. But the Old Testament set us up not still. The Lord Jesus Christ says, it's good, actually, that thou shalt not even be afraid. Thou shalt not even take a sharp word from your brother. It's a much higher thing. The Old Testament says, thou shalt not commit an offense, but the Lord Jesus says, that any man should be merciful on a woman's truth. Desire her in his heart, say, go ahead and do this is what we will do. With her. He breaks it all to a higher plane. I believe there's part of our tradition in terms of these things. He breaks it to a higher plane, not a lesser plane. Not less than 10 percent, rather. But more. Are we giving more? Or are we giving less than 10 percent? Are we willing to give everything? Or are we captivated by the spirit of the world and its covetousness and held by imperialism? Hmm. Because of the opponents that have existed in this world. I'm afraid that our opponents have never been a threat to God's people. And I'm sure that it is not a threat to God's people either. How did we get to today? What? We attended for a month and a year ago. My experience with an attendee will be the same as I did in 1938. At that time, I only knew one attendee. I only knew one attendee for quite a number of years. So the wait lists were going by. So finally we went out to the field and set on furlough and we had to take the credit of the 75,000 of us. And then we spaced out. So every day that I'm going to a school or attending a class I had to know before I went out to a school what were the things that were important for the testimony of moving ahead for God. And now that I've moved around the country and I've talked to so many attendees that I'm not moving ahead for God. I've talked to so many attendees that the attendance at the meetings has been well done. It's a good number. It's only one in. But still, Sunday evening, I'm still attending when we can't find all the attendees. Because people are so upset after they can't do their work. And not really willing to sacrifice for God. Or it comes to ministry in the local assembly with a tremendous poverty of ministers. There are men that spend their time studying the Word of God and willing to give themselves in preparing themselves with a message for God's people. The result of this and quite a number of assemblies where I'm going to different Christian synagogues is that there are a lot of people that say, well, we can't really do quite enough to get it and teach it. The young people don't attend anymore because it doesn't mean anything to them. Afraid that what is happening is that it's impossible to give you a chance. And with the runs of the mill, particularly running around in particular churches that are like that, you don't have time to go to church and pray. You don't have time to go to church on Sunday, Tuesday, or Thursday. The Lord Jesus Christ is concerned with that. And He says, well, we can't do quite enough. You know this. One man spoke to him in words. I will tell you. He recognized the Worship of Jesus Christ. And this is what he did. He called Jesus Christ God. But there was something else. There was a message of God. And that was the Savior. And the Word of Jesus Christ says you cannot serve two masters. For either you will serve to the one and to the other, or you will be a lost one to the other. But that is almost the same thing. And we cannot serve both Gods at once in either one or the other. We call Jesus Lord. But is He Lord in all of our lives? Isn't He the Savior of all of us? Is He Lord as far as our projections are concerned that the way we view God's life or how we bound by material things in exchange for the older folks here and by older folks I mean people that have pretty well settled down and have a family and whatnot. In any case, to me, it was also a very important opportunity to know that this time and in fact it may be an unwise thing that even absolutely not God's will. As a person in 30 years of age couldn't possibly be a Christian to do this. And there he asserts that there would be a problem for him in that. But what would younger people do? Did they grow up in a society where there were a bunch of material things? That's why I was of course known as Martin Luther King because Martin Luther King was the president of the United States at the He was He was the president of the United States at the He was the president of the United States the president at the time. He was the president of the at the He was of the United States at the time. He was the president of the United States at the time. He was the president of the United States at the He was the president of the at the time. It was an but He caught He caught him like a rock to him like a In the first place, I believe it's fair to say that this man was a born-again man. He was not included amongst the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ said that the dead don't go dead. You're not amongst the dead. Hallelujah. He was a man that had confidence in his regeneration. Regeneration was a hope for God in Christ. He had eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ realized that he was a born-again man. He was a man that could be risen as he should. But there's something else. He says, so preach the kingdom of God. Here's a man with a gift. Here's a man with a message. Here's a man that can be used for Christ. He's just been lifted away. Preach the kingdom of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ has no command. Hallelujah. It's not my standard. It doesn't mean that. The Lord Jesus Christ here, I mean, talks in a certain style. You have gifts. You have a very secret third one. And you won't know who it is until you have to tell it. Probably. So this young man was called. He gave an excuse. He said, Lord, let me first go and tell you my father. Now, I am a strong man. You know that. This is simply an excuse. It's an excuse that some of you will easily reject. It doesn't mean that their father has just died and that they have to wait another day or so to tell you their father. It may be that their father is already dead. But there's a phrase, Lord, let me go first and tell you my father. It could be another way of saying, a polite way of saying, Lord, I don't want to. And I wonder how many Christians do that. I can't imagine it. And notice this. This man also told Jesus Christ, Lord. He recognizes the Lordship and the power he has given Christ. But it's part of that fact that he says, Lord, I don't want to. I do not want to follow you. And here it was simply his will, an opportunism to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a conflict of will as father just mentioned. I wonder why there is a conflict of will in that. I don't know. It's a critical concept. But I wonder what is the concept of will in your life, why you are not willing to follow the Lord Jesus Christ wherever he wants you to, and to go freely in the gospel of our Jesus Christ. You know one time I was talking to a girl, and I said, what's wrong with you? She said, I just couldn't stand it. I'm just living the word of the Lord four times a day. I couldn't get out of it. I'm just living my life. What do I stand to is something that requires that we have to stand to four times. I stand to that is something that should only stand to God the Father the Lord. And I'd rather that sometimes it may be a critical fact. I'd rather see that it's living my faith. It doesn't only depend upon you living my faith, it also depends upon God's people living my faith. And sometimes that's really funny. You may be perfectly willing to live my faith, but God's people may be more moved to fear the Lord than they are to live my faith.