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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 684 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text -- Brother Jim Easterly: You know your great fear at a time like this is you're aware of the Lord's presence and you're aware He wants to help people. He's compassionate. His mercy has been extended to us and you don't want to get up here and mess it up. So beloved, pray with the men as they get up. We desire to be led of the Lord and this takes faith. "...It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." And we don't have an ability to help God's people. We don't have an ability to bring men to the new birth but God can help us. See, it takes two things. It takes God having worked in your heart, prepared your heart, and then it takes His Word. His anointed Word has to come through a vessel of his choosing. And then the two meet and you're absolutely responsible to respond. I just want to touch on a couple of things. You know neither one of those two kids that died last week--4:45 in the morning--neither one of them was planning on being the star attraction at their own funeral within a few days. Turn with me to Proverbs. You know as human beings I think we have a hard time believing this right here. Verse 9, chapter 16 in Proverbs. It says, "In his heart a man plans his course..."--and then it says--"...but the Lord determines his steps." (NIV). I don't care what you've got planned and I'll be honest with you, I don't care why you think you're here tonight. You know, we serve a God that there are no accidents or coincidences with. I look out and I see people that have heard this Word more than once. And I mean heard it at a time where the Spirit of God moved on people, brought men to the realization that they were at the end of their rope, that their way wasn't working. And true repentance was worked in some hearts. And you know, I want to stress this again. We said this the other day. Repentance is way, way more than just being real broken-hearted and sorry for something bad you've done. Repentance is a complete turning around, going a completely different direction. ( congregational amens ). You know why? Because, God's ways aren't our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. They're higher than our thoughts. His ways are higher than our ways. And you know, I look out and I see people that have been in the presence of God in meetings and services before. And you don't realize--you don't realize...you know Laura said in looking back she could see the hand of God on her life before she ever knew Him. I confess and I swear to you, that's true. I look back and I did every thing I could to live my life and He wouldn't let me. I can see His hand now way back there when I was young...thwarted all of my plans and ambitions. Oh, God, the things I desired and wanted to do, and He stopped me. And thank God, He did. ( congregational amens ). And beloved, you can only scoff at that so long. I mean, honestly I look out and I see some of you and my heart goes out to you. I know, Josh, this isn't the first time you've been here, son, and you've been in some dangerous places and you may not realize it, but it's God's mercy that you're alive and here tonight. I want you to know that. If you don't ever know anything else, you realize God's been real good to you. Rebecca, you've been in some bad scrapes and God's been merciful to you. The people love you and they're praying for you. ( congregational amens ). And I see others that are a lot more successful. You know, maybe you haven't been in prison, but my God, you're going your own way. You're living your own life and you might even be coating it over with some religion, but it's not gonna work. ( congregational amens ). You know, he says, "...Call ye upon him while he is near." (KJV). ( congregational amens ). Call ye upon him while he is near. Seek Him while He may be found. That implies a time that you can't go back and redo and change anything. That implies a time like Esau came to where he sought repentance with tears and he couldn't find it. I'm here to tell you God's here tonight. We don't...you know, the thing is, God has things in motion that we don't realize and beloved, this could be the night that He just opens the eyes of your heart, the eyes of your understanding. God chooses these times. We don't. Oh God, would God help us to open our hearts and our minds and realize our way is not working. It's not ever gonna work. It says, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." (NIV). Beloved, let's acknowledge a God, a God that can help us, a God that has our best interest at heart. I guarantee you...you know every time Jesus spoke with somebody, they had to give something up. There's a cost to be counted. But did you know that...and you know this too. It refers to the treasure that's hid in the field. It refers to the Kingdom of God as the Pearl of great price and in every case the person had to sell everything they had to be able to afford that field with that treasure in it. You know if you ever see that treasure, you'll realize you're dealing with eternity. And every thing that you hold dear pales next to that. Beloved, if you became the best salesman in the world and you could close anybody on anything and you sold Iraq to Iran, my God, when the day...you know it's appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment. You know what that'd be worth then? What if you gained the whole world? -- Congregation: Lose your soul. -- Brother Jim Easterly: And lost your soul? My God, my God, if he'd just open our eyes. You know Elisha's servant was there, and he looked at things 'round about and he observed them with his eyes, and his mind kicked in and said, good gracious, we are not only outnumbered, we're about to be killed. And you know Elijah...Elisha didn't try to explain everything to him. He just asked the Lord, he said, Lord, would You just open his eyes so he can see. That's all it takes. You ask God tonight to open your eyes--the eyes of your heart. And you know, God says that His Word will not come back to Him void. He might...again this is in Isaiah chapter 55. It's the same place where he says, "...call ye upon him while he is near." (KJV). "Seek Him while He may be found." In referring to His Word, His life-giving Word, His living and active Word, He likened it to the rain and the snow that comes down from heaven. And you know stuff don't grow without that. And He likened His Word to that and He said it will accomplish that that I send it out to do. He's sending His Word out tonight to help somebody. ( congregational amens ). Listen, this could be the first day of eternal life for you. Your name could be written in the Lamb's book of life and you don't even know it. Beloved, I pray God'll open the eyes of our heart, tonight. Praise God! Seek Him while He may be found and call ye upon him while he is near. -- Brother Phil Enlow: Praise God! I appreciate every thing that's been said and I have the same sense I think, that other people do, that there's just such a presence of God here tonight. God has just drawn near to make Himself real to people's hearts. And you know what I was thinking about different people, you know, different people that God is dealing with have different needs. There are some of you that there's something in your life that's so important to you that you just can't let it go and that's the thing that stands between you and God. You're like that rich young ruler that God, through his Son, put the finger on the need of his life. That was the thing that caused him to go away sadly. And the Lord looked at him and it even says, in one account, the Lord loved him. It wasn't for lack of love. It wasn't for lack of anything on Jesus' part, but there was just an unwillingness in the man to give up something that was so important and so foolish because...that happened 2,000 years ago. Where's he? That thing that was so important to him, where is it now? But you know, as I was sitting there thinking...I had no thought at all of getting up here tonight. But I just had this sense come over me and I'm just gonna speak out of my heart in my own words. I'm not even gonna turn to the passage. You know it so well. I was thinking of the Prodigal Son. Praise God! And I'm just thinking of what he did. He had every thing at his disposal, but his heart was in love with the things of the world--the pleasures of the flesh, the party, the good time. That's all he could think about and as he grew up he got to a point where that's all that mattered to him. He didn't see. He didn't appreciate what he had. All he saw was, oh, if I could just get out from under this, I can do as I please. I can do what I want. And his father wasn't just mad with him and angry with him. His father let him go...gave him the portion that was due to him. There was such a grace and such a love in his father's heart. He knew what was coming. I mean he had to have known that he was just gonna make a mess. And he did, didn't he? Oh, he went into a far country and for a while, things were great. You know sometimes when you do go out, things are great. You know there's a time when God has to deal with somebody. Time...the conditions have to be right. God has to bring that thing to the focal point where He can deal with that stubborn will and just bring it to the point of surrender. There's times, folks, and I'll say this to us who are concerned about people. I can think of some that I'm concerned about in a very special way, in a very particular way. And there's nothing I can do, except to pray. I just want to encourage people here. There's somebody that's on your heart and you're burdened and you see the way they're going and you'd just do anything to change it. But there's only One who can change it. But He 'can' change it. ( congregational praise ). Praise God! ( congregational praise ). Praise God! Things are never beyond His power to change. But sometimes...He's not somebody who just picks us up at any old time. Oh, He deals with us. He brings us to that place where we know in our hearts there's a need. There's people, right now. They don't know. They're not there. All we can do is cry out and say, God help 'em. 'Cause I tell you, the Prodigal Son...he ran well for a while. He had it all his way. Every time he needed money he reached into the bag and there it was. Saw a pretty girl, saw whatever he wanted, he could just...he had it to enjoy, pleasures of sin for a season. But one day the money ran out--one day the money ran out. Oh, the mercy of God that lets our money run out. ( laughing ). Praise God! ( congregational praise ). Praise God! You've heard some wonderful testimonies tonight of things that people of the world would think are just awful things...oh, to be avoided at all costs. And yet the loving hand of God that works in lives to bring about eternal fruit, my God, what does anything matter here? Young person, you're not gonna always be young. Look at me. Praise God! ( laughter ). I was young once. I could dunk a basketball one time. ( laughter ). And I can maybe touch the net now. ( laughter ). On a good day. But you know, God is so good. And that young man, his time ran out and he got to the point where all of a sudden he looked around and he was in a foreign country. And all those people that came around him when he had the money and was throwing parties and all of that, where were they? They didn't care about him. All they cared about was the party and the good time. They were all so consumed with self and what self wanted, just totally addicted to sin and self. And so, he got in such a desperate condition, as you know, God brought him to the hog pen. He finally hired himself out to somebody and this old Jewish boy had to go out and feed the hogs. Talk about a humiliating proposition. But oh, God put him in there and you know, he got to thinking. Oh, he just was so hungry he just...the belly was about to meet the backbone. He just was in a bad way. And right at the right time, God put a thought in his heart, and he remembered the father's house. Just when it looked like it was hopeless, God dropped the one thought in his mind that he needed above all other thoughts, that it's not hopeless! It's never hopeless as long as God is on His throne! ( congregational praise ). And He's not about to give up that throne, folks. He rules! He reigns. Praise God! Praise God, there's hope. That's what Jesus' death was for. His life for mine. And what does He ask? He asks our life, so He can give us His. Oh, praise God! And, so he came to that point in his life when his thought came...the father's house. But you know he realized then what he'd done to his father. He's thinking, he's picturing, going back and meeting his father. And oh, he just imagines his father, the disappointment in his eyes, the condemnation in his voice. You took all that I gave you, Son, and you ruined it and now you come crawling back to me expecting me to bail you out. You know the kind of thoughts that go through people's heads. And that's the thought that I had in my heart. You know you may be one that you just think, oh, God...way back there I knew, I heard and I went my own way. He doesn't care about me. My hope...my cause is hopeless. But, oh, I believe that that's one of the greatest reasons that the Lord put this account in the Bible, was to show us the true nature of our God! Folks, if God counted our sins against us, there is no one who would be able to stand before him! ( congregational amens ). There is nothing any of us can claim before God, except by His grace! ( congregational amens ). You can look at the one here that you think is the most illustrious saint, but you can't see the needs in their heart! You only see what God has done for them! We stand upon the same ground before a holy God needing a Saviour to give His life for us and He did. And oh, that's what that young man came to find out when he walked back to his father's house. He conceived a plan, all I have to do is...if I can just come, I'll say, Father, I've sinned. I know there's no way I can be considered your son any more. That's gone. That's water over the dam. I'd love to be, but it's not even in the cards. But if I could just be your servant, I'll at least have something to eat. How did the Father react? -- Congregation: He ran. -- Brother Phil Enlow: He ran! I'll tell, there's people here tonight and you think God would be mad with you or reluctant, or there's some negative barrier in your mind about how God thinks about you--how He sees you. Look at the Word of God and see how Jesus portrayed his Father's love! ( congregational amens ). His father didn't even wait for the son! He ran to him! ( congregational praise ). His son didn't have a chance to get a word out. He put his arms around and hugged him and kissed him. ( congregational praise ). You want to know what God thinks about you tonight? That's the Spirit of Christ! That's the Spirit of the Father! I just sensed that in my spirit, as I was sitting there, the yearning in his heart toward you. He's not mad with you. ( congregational amens ). He loves you. He knows about your need, but he loves you. There's no reproach in his voice or in his heart. He loves you. Christ Jesus came to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am chief. Paul said that the Lord saved him to give an example to everybody, that he can save sinners. So, if you fall into that category tonight, I want to tell you, you move toward the Lord when He calls and He tugs at your heart! The Father will run to you! ( congregational praise ). Praise God! Praise God! ( congregational praise ). He will wrap His arms around you and He will welcome you home. He will put the robe of Christ's righteousness about you. You don't have to be afraid to come to Him. It doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done. That's all gone. He can take of that. All He wants is your heart and your life. That's all that matters. So, if you're one that you just can't conceive of...oh, I've gone too far, oh this, oh that. Don't you let the devil put a barrier in your mind. You want something that's down in black and white. It's been there for two thousand years...the Father's love. He will run to you. Praise God! Praise God for his goodness to us. ( congregational praise ). -- Brother Jimmy Robbins: Beloved, if you are, in your heart tonight, if you don't feel the peace of God, if you don't have the peace of God, you need to come home tonight. You need to come down here and get on your knees. Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, Come home, come home, Oh! For the wonderful love He has promised, Come home, come home, -- Brother Jimmy Robbins: Praise the Lord! ( congregational praise ). Thank you Lord! Thank you Lord. ( congregational praise ). I thank God for these young people. They're crying out to God. I thank God for every one of 'em. You know, the Bible says that God's Spirit would not always strive with man. I don't know the calendar date nor the hour, but what I'm about to say, I believe with all my heart. If this is midnight, right here, the clock is getting very, very close. The door is swinging on its hinges. There's coming a day when there won't be no more preaching. There won't be any more altar calls. There won't be any Spirit to convict anybody. It's gonna be over. With all that's going on on this planet earth and I won't get into all the ugliness that's going on, but I'm gonna to tell you one thing, a righteous God is coming to judge planet earth and it's boys and girls, it's men and women, husbands and wives...the fire is going to fall. In 2nd Peter chapter 3, it says that the heavens are on fire. All the elements will melt with fervent heat. And after observing and knowing all these things are coming to pass, what manner of men or "...what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation." Beloved, it's the truth. It's not a fairy tale. You know you've heard a story, that something's gonna happen, it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen and it just seems like it don't never happen. But it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. If there's anything in you tonight that's tugging at your heart, if there's anything there, you better run to this altar, bow your knees and cry out to a holy God and say, Lord, help me, have mercy upon me tonight. ( congregational amens ). You may not have another opportunity, I don't know. You may not. But you have an opportunity right now. If no one comes, this is your last opportunity to answer the call, and I believe that the Lord has called tonight. If no one comes, we're gonna stop, and that's it. ARE YOU TIRED OF CHASING PRETTY RAINBOWS? GIVE THEM ALL, GIVE THEM ALL, GIVE THEM ALL TO JESUS, HE NEVER SAID YOU'D ONLY SEE SUNSHINE, SO, GIVE THEM ALL, GIVE THEM ALL, GIVE THEM ALL TO JESUS, -- Brother Jimmy Robbins: Hallelujah! ( congregational praise ). Thank you Lord! Thank you Lord! ( congregational praise ). Thank you Jesus! Thank you Jesus! ( congregational praise ). Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! I believe people are being saved right here tonight. 
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