'Slowness of Heart' Part 1

Welcome to The Lord's Challenge with Joshua Daniel. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International is a ministry reaching people from all walks of life since 1935. After a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of 16, Joshua Daniel has been declaring the marvelous deliverance from sin, which is freely given to all those who turn to the loving Savior.

Wherever this message has gone out, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and fees turned into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing that God has for you. If you will please turn with me to that portion which we read earlier.

Luke 24 And the twenty-fifth verse O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? Now, you know that the disciples were cast down. You could think of them as I thought of the disciples last night. I said how expectantly some of them, those women, were waiting for the morning, the dawning of the day.

Because they had only seen Jesus buried hurriedly, seeing that the Sabbath was approaching. And so, with what expectancy and what, you know, melancholy and sorrow, they anticipated that time when they would once again try to embalm the body of Jesus. Now, as for the disciples, they were so forlorn.

They had given up hope. You know folks, when people can't face adversity, my mother used to say, I have to supply faith. Supply faith.

See, we were four children. Not that I had a great deal of faith. Don't you misunderstand me.

But, my mother used to say, I have to supply faith to the children. Yes, we saw an unflappable mother. A mother who would always talk positively.

Never with the feeling or wringing her hands or talking about her needs or anything of the sort. Now, the disciples of course were so forlorn. They began to tell the Lord Jesus, hey, are you only a stranger in Jerusalem? He seemed like a stranger.

They could not imagine that Jesus was alive. Sometimes our circumstances make us almost say, hey, is God listening? Does he hear my prayer? Is he there? You know folks, at that time, at such times, you must stand heavily upon the word of God. It's the word, it's the word.

You must be full of God's word. That's what the devil deprives you of. No time to study God's word.

No time to meditate on God's word. You know the riches which God has got for us. As we ponder his word, he reveals his truth to us.

So my friends, you know, as a cricket player, I had to be out in the game for five hours. Mark you, just a short break for lunch, a light lunch and another break for a cup of tea or something like that. But the match goes on.

And you would say, oh, spending five hours and the next day again another five hours until the play runs out. Oh, well, we did it very energetically with expectancy. We wanted to win the match.

We didn't complain. We did get a few knocks. And we were left tired and weary after the game.

But that did not matter. There was a next game to play. So in the matter of games, we are ready to spend our strength, our best energy.

But it's a game. Life is not a game. The tragedies of life are not a game.

They are realities. Death is not a game. A lost soul is not a game.

You know, a Shakespearean actor was speaking to a preacher one day. And the actor said to the preacher, you make the things which are real, unreal. And we actors make the things which are unreal, real.

Isn't that a tragedy? So, so many people are to be found in their churches this morning. How many carry away with them the reality of the resurrection? All right, they enjoy the service. The music and all that.

But how many of them into their battles and adversities carry away the consciousness? My Lord is risen. You know, friends, as I was walking through Jerusalem with my, they were all little tots, little children at that time. And as I was walking on that dusty road, small road, I saw a little sign which said to Calvary.

So I said, here we go. So I entered that alley and it led me to a porch, an entrance porch, in which one or two people, the keeper and his friend or something, were sitting. And I walked into the garden and the garden tomb, just like it is described in the Bible, outside the city gates.

The walls of Jerusalem were barely a hundred yards away. And I could see and I knelt down where the Lord was supposed to have been crucified outside the city gates. What a revered moment.

And then a short distance away was the garden tomb with that opening. I went in, we knelt down again and praised God for the open tomb. But it struck me.

There's not a scripture here. So I said, I must send a special scripture so that all the visitors and pilgrims and others who come here will be able to read it. So I ordered a special scripture text against a white background with bold black letters.

He is not here. He is risen. When I sent that to the garden tomb and the British chaplain protested.

He said, oh, some people may be offended at this scripture. I said, huh, such a man ought not to be put in charge of the garden tomb. However, you know how delighted I was recently when two of our brothers, brother and sister from Ireland said to me, we took a picture underneath that scripture.

He is not here. He is risen. So I was delighted and thrilled that my effort was not in vain and it was finally put up there for people to know that this is not like the tomb of Muhammad.

It's an empty tomb. The Lord is risen. So just imagine these downcast men as they walked to Emmaus and all their ponderings and all their recriminations or sorrows were being voiced aloud to Jesus.

So he said, oh, fools, what could he call them? You know, my dear friends, when we play around and not heed the resurrection, that's the height of foolishness. Here is our only hope, the hope of the whole world. And instead of the resurrection, we make some little trifling thing, a big idol in its place or worship it or revere it or treasure it or hold fast to it and think, oh, this is going to give me joy.

At the moment of death, your idol will not stand before you. Either the resurrected Savior will stand before you. Or, as some of these nurses report, how terribly people go through such emotions when they die without Jesus Christ.

The nurse who took care of Voltaire, that atheist who said he would destroy the Bible, she said, I will never nurse anybody through death who does not know Jesus. So terrible was the death of that famous atheist. So here is America tottering between atheism and the scientific community.

They don't mind the tradition, I suppose. But the whole legislative, the house was called to enact that bill on the Lord's Day. What if some of them had said, hey, we are not coming.

We are rather going to the house of worship. We didn't have men of such character. Oh, what a tragedy.

You know, if you read the life of John Adams, you know, second president. In national crisis, when he was traveling by horseback from New England up where he was down to the seat of government. It was a long journey by horseback.

Suddenly, when the Lord's Day would come, he would just tether his horse and take the day of rest. My dear friends, that this bill was enacted on the Lord's Day. And perhaps there was one member of the house who remarked about this.

There might have been a few others. However, they were quarreled, collared and quarreled. Come on, sign the bill.

My dear friends, I don't know how many of these lawmakers are worshipping the Lord this morning. But such a sea change has taken place in our day over this nation. And feverishly mosques and temples are being built and idols installed.

Is the Lord risen? We are fools. And slow of heart, slow to sacrifice, slow to love, slow to protest evil. And transgression of God's word.

And now, my dear friends, when Jesus said, you fools and slow of heart to believe all that the scripture and the prophets have said. That thus it was written, thus it behoved Christ to rise again the third day. So when they, when the Lord disappeared, what did they say to each other? Thirty second verse.

And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way? You know, when the word of God ceases to burn within you, something has gone. Something has gone. I wonder how many gallons of gasoline some of you spent coming from Washington.

Twenty, thirty, maybe fifty. Fifty gallons. And during these 48 hours at the retreat, do you know some of us have used, all of us have used 4200 gallons of blood.

4200 gallons of blood for you and me to function. Am I not grateful for that great pump? I am. Let us pray.

Let us tell God. Lord, I want a risen life, but you know I hate to die to my old fancies. My old idols, my old vanities, my old pride.

I hate to die to my pride. Save me, Lord. I am but a fool.

Oh, fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Oh, my father, have mercy upon us. We want the change which the resurrection produces.

Not this undefined deficit making change which people apparently have ushered in. We don't want a deficit in our lives. Thou dost make my cup.

My cup runneth over. That is you. That is the new life which you give to your forlorn sheep.

Oh, my father, visit us, for we need this visitation. We need this crucifixion with Jesus. Some of our old ways are so ugly.

Pride that rises within our breasts. So ugly. We don't want it.

We want the resurrection. The Christ-like life. Oh, teach us that path of humility, good Lord.

We have but a short life on earth. Help it to be a life of love, faith, and sacrifice. So that we may be a blessing to those around us.

We ask this in Jesus' holy name. Amen. This program is brought to you by the Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International, a non-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival around the globe.

We invite every layperson to become God's ally in changing his or her corner of the world. Please write. And if you have a problem or prayer request, please do let us know.

You can email us at host at lefi.org or visit our website at lefi.org. Our mailing address is The Lord's Challenge, P.O. Box 14, South Lyon, Michigan, 48178. Until we meet again next week, may God bless you.