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Transcript

Good afternoon, brethren.

A few weeks ago, maybe a month ago, my wife and I were looking for some cast iron benches to put in front of our house, create a little sitting area, and a lot of that cast iron you have to look on Facebook Marketplace, find used items and restore them. So we found a pair that we liked. They were in rough shape, had to take all the wood off, repair the metal in a couple of places, and I don’t believe I repaired the metal on those, but paint and then put wooden slats in, new wooden slats, pretty straightforward.

But when it comes to exterior wood, you can either go the treated route, which has flex to it. There are a lot of soft woods that are treated, but also you contend with the chemicals there and the drying time of green treated wood, or you can go with a hard wood. And there are a variety of hardwoods to choose from, probably the most commonly available in this part of the country is red oak, which is very porous and not very good for outdoors. And the preferred wood in that application is white oak, which has a very tight pore structure, does really well outside when sealed, but the problem is it’s very expensive. Very expensive. Cost-prohibitive for this project.

So I was searching around, and on Marketplace again, I saw somebody marketing hardwood tomato stakes that were of a dimension of four inches by six inches, or somewhere in there, they ultimately got milled down, and I’m thinking, what kind of tomatoes require stakes of this dimension? Some kind of tomato out of the promised land, maybe, but no tomatoes we’d see, at least here in America.

So I contact this man and make a short trip over to his house, and they were very good-priced. And I arrive, and I see these bags of cellophane-wrapped, what looked like grass. And I ask him, “What are these?” And he said, “Well, I’m doing experiments with silage, animal feed.” And we go a little further on his property, and I see these odd-shaped structures, and I ask him, “What are you doing here, older gentleman?” He says, “Well, I’m experimenting with snow load, the most efficient structure for snow load in this part of the country.” I thought, “That’s interesting.”

And then go a little further on his property, and I see these beautiful barns and sheds. And I ask him, I said, “Did you build these as well?” He said, “Yes, yes I did.” Very down-to-earth man. So we get to the stakes, and I pick out what I want, and he offers to rip them down, and then I ultimately plane them and finish them. But I ask him, “So where did you get this wood? It’s much cheaper than anyone else is selling it.” And he said, “It’s pallet wood. I go all over, and I find pallets, and I pull the nails and I use them.” And I said, “What about those structures?” He said, “Yes, I built all these structures for free.” And I’m mesmerized, I’m amazed. I mean, full-on barns, storage sheds for free.

And I talked with him further, and he told me what his grandfather taught him. And that is the genesis, or that is the kernel of what birthed the idea for this message. He said, “My grandfather,” and this would have been a man probably born in the eighteen hundreds, late eighteen hundreds, lived through the Depression. “My grandfather told me, ‘I’ve done so much with so little for so long that now I can do just about anything with nothing.” And I thought more and more about that statement over the coming weeks. I’ve done so much with so little for so long that now I can do just about anything with nothing. And it really hit me. It speaks to resourcefulness.

One of the laws of success, what we’re going to talk about today, resourcefulness. You know, the bubble gum, bailing wire, and duct tape mentality, where you can do just about anything with nothing. Survival stories come to mind. People with very little escape terrible situations. You look at resourcefulness now, and the most resourceful people often use it for the wrong reasons. Thieves. The scams that abound get ever more clever, or you find a lot of people who have done so little with so much for so long that now they can do just about nothing with anything. That’s more so the way society functions now.

But if you think about this law, this law of success, resourcefulness, and you just look at the word and break it down, resourcefulness, full of resources, full of resources. You might want to write that down. There are people who can work through every situation because they have the tools, the resources, whether they be intangible resources of the mind or actual physical tools, necessary to accomplish any given task.

Turn to Second Corinthians ten, as we continue to set the table, if you would, Second Corinthians ten. We have certain tools, brethren. We have certain resources. We’re full of resources. We’re full of, actually, extraordinary resources. Second Corinthians ten, one, “Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you,” he wrote weighty letters, we read elsewhere, “But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I’m present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as we walked according to the flesh.

“For though we walk in the flesh,” though we live in this world, though we have physical bodies, though we have to contend with physical needs, “We don’t war after the flesh.” The ultimate battle that we fight is not one of the flesh. It’s not a World War I, World War II, Vietnam-type battle, Iran-type battle. It’s not after the flesh. “For the weapons,” verse four, “...of our warfare,” of this struggle that you and I are uniquely a part of, that very few ultimately succeed in, as we just learned, this struggle that we’re enduring, “We have weapons that are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”

Whatever it is we face, we have the tools necessary to overcome. We have the resources necessary, Paul is saying, to get out of every situation, whatever stronghold we find ourselves in, whatever stronghold we find ourselves battling. “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Do you not look on things after the outward appearance?” he asked. “If any man trusts to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s.”

Paul’s saying don’t focus on the physical, focus on the spiritual and you have, he tells us, the tools necessary, the weapons necessary to win every battle. And that’s what resourcefulness is, overcoming in every situation, figuring out how to overcome in every situation, but it’s based on those resources we’ve been given. You look at some of the most resourceful individuals on the planet today, and often they’ve used their resourcefulness to accumulate wealth. And we, of course, are not living lives that are focused on the pursuit of wealth, and these men who have accumulated great riches over the years will have to learn how to live with less.

But there are certain lessons that they’ve adopted, they understand the laws to success. There are certain lessons they’ve adopted that we can look at in their lives and learn from. And one household name that bears a powerful lesson in this regard is Jeff Bezos, the founder and head of Amazon. And he grew up in Texas. And he spent time with his grandfather on the ranch in Texas, and he explained that his grandfather was the most resourceful man that he’d ever met.

Anything that needed to be done around the farm, whether it’s mechanics or whatever it was, his grandfather did it himself. He learned how to do it and did it himself. Down to the veterinary work, down to making the needles for the veterinary work. Now, I wouldn’t want to be stitched up by one of the needles, the homemade needles by Jeff Bezos’ grandfather, but I’m assuming it was more so cows and sheep’s.

But this lesson of resourcefulness was so ingrained in him that when he and his wife had children, his wife developed a saying, they exposed their children to tools from a very young age. They let them use knives very young, five, six years old. They let them use power tools by the age of seven. And the wife said, she said, “I’d rather have a nine-fingered child than a resourceless child.” Incredible if you think about it. I’d rather have a nine-fingered child who can figure things out and deal for themselves in the world than a resourceless child. Incredible lesson in there to meditate on.

Now, brethren, we might not win every battle that we face. In fact, we won’t win every battle that we face as Christians, but we will win the war if we use these weapons of warfare, these mighty weapons, these tools that God has given us. Tools make all the difference. Turn to Matthew chapter six, Matthew six. We have to accumulate the right kinds of tools, Matthew chapter six, verse nineteen. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust do corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Now, we often look at this in the sense of doing the work, giving money to do the work. We might look at it through the lens of Common. We might look at it through the lens of tithing or offerings. But another way to look at it is if our treasure is in heaven, if we’re accumulating treasure in heaven, we’re building something. We’re building a record. We’re pursuing something, and that something is, of course, eternal life, membership in the God family.

And we know that what we do on earth now directly impacts our future in that family. First and foremost, whether or not we’ll actually be there, whether or not we’ll even be there, but secondarily, how great is our reward? We’ve been given every tool necessary. Tools make or break a project. I never met my grandfather. I’m thinking of Bezos’ grandfather. I never met my grandfather, but I’ve asked my dad about him. And basically, he was a jack of all trades. He was a farmer, he was a tree climber to get nuts down, he was the village cobbler, but primarily, he was employed by the army to build structures, just wood frame structures as they moved around.

So he was gone a lot of the time, but he was a carpenter. And I asked my dad, “Was he a good carpenter?” and he said, “He was a very good carpenter.” And I said, “Was he as good as you are?” It’s quite a question to pose to your dad, “Are you better than your dad?” And he was quick to say, “No, I’m a better carpenter.” And it was not speaking from a position of boasting. I said, “Really?” He said, “Yes. Your grandfather had a handsaw, a hammer, and a chisel. I have power tools, so I’m a better carpenter.”

The job we do depends heavily on the tools that we have. We’re not accumulating physical possessions, Luke twelve in the same vein here, we’re accumulating spiritual. We’re amassing spiritual reward. We’re not measuring life by the same measure that Bezos is measuring, even though we can learn from what he’s done. Luke twelve and verse thirteen.

“And one of the company said to him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said, Man who made me a judge or divider over you? And he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man’s life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesses here on earth,” yet it does consist in the abundance of things we possess in heaven, treasures we possess in heaven. We’re in the invisible accumulation business, as it were, if I could put it that way.

“And he spoke a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do. I’ll pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I’ll say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

I’m set. I’ve got enough, living off interest, I’m set. And I’ll say, take ease, be merry. “But God said to him,” verse twenty, “You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you. Then whose things... whose shall those things be, which you have provided?” They’re not in heaven. They’re temporary. They’ll go to someone else. “So is he that lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” You and I, brethren, have the tools to accumulate these riches, and they’re of the highest quality. They’re five tools.

This is a primer on those five tools. It’s by no means exhaustive. Some of them we’ll spend more time in, some of them less time. But we have five amazing tools that if used properly will make us rich towards God and secure our place in the kingdom. We have five resources at our disposal. We’re full of resources that will ensure we win the war that we’ve been put in, that has been thrust upon us.

First tool, we just heard a whole sermon on it, so we won’t spend a lot of time on it. But think of the power that comes from thought, from meditation. We heard something that was life-changing for me. Meditation is the only tool that God has to use. It all began with meditation, John chapter one. John one. Verse one, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Incredible.

You had these two beings that were here forever by themselves, didn’t come from anywhere, they’ve always been here. Incomprehensible. Maybe we’ll be able to comprehend it when we come into the family of God, but I’ve thought about it, you can’t ask God, “Where did you come from?” Because he didn’t come from anywhere. So it’s simply just beyond comprehension. But one day, if we can put it that way, one day they had a thought, a meditation, and all of this ensued. Everything we’re a part of now, this world, the plan we’re in, it all originated through meditation.

Same thing applies to us, Proverbs twenty-three. Proverbs twenty-three. Everything starts in the mind. Using this tool correctly, this resource correctly, will ensure success. Because that’s what resourcefulness is, using what’s available to overcome. We’re just speaking of it in the grandest sense, overcoming in this life and entering the kingdom, the ultimate right goal, that first law of success.

Proverbs twenty-three and verse four, “Labor not to be rich, cease from your own wisdom. Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Eat you not the bread of him that has an evil eye, neither desire you as dainty meats. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, says he to you, but his heart is not with you. The more so what you have eaten, shall you vomit up and lose your sweet words.”

Now, that’s in a negative sense. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. But the flip side is true for us. What we think about is who we are. What we meditate on is who we are. And it might seem axiomatic, but there’s a great power in understanding that. Because we can force ourselves, as we heard recently, train ourselves to think on certain things, and God promises here that it will transform us. We can consciously decide to sit down and think, and simply by thinking, we can mold our character.

We’re made in God’s image after His likeness. We can’t sit and create the cosmos yet, I would add, like our Father in heaven, we can’t sit and think and bring about that, but we can sit and think and bring about a character that yields that treasure in heaven. That will ultimately help us to overcome, to prevail. It’s an amazing resource. The subject here today is simple. Just the five tools of Christian growth. It’s not complex. It can be hard to apply these tools, yes, but it’s not complex. It’s easy to understand.

Just like someone who’s building a house needs a certain set of tools, a Christian who’s entering eternal life needs a certain set of tools. Of course, other tools, other elements of Christian living fall under these tools or within them or supplement them. This is just the five tools, as we classically refer to them as. Matthew chapter five. The goal is lofty. Matthew chapter five, as lofty as it gets.

Matthew five and verse forty-eight, “Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” Christ told us. Now, that be you is become. Become perfect. That’s the goal. That’s the goal that you and I share. That’s what God wants, but we’re not perfect now, of course. We’re striving for perfection. We’re seeking to become perfect. The only way to move from the imperfect state we’re in now to that perfect state that will ultimately only come when we enter the God family is to grow, is to expand, is to overcome, is to prevail, is to move forward, is to get better and better, is to accumulate more and more riches in heaven. That’s what God wants and expects from each of us.

Everything we’re doing is geared toward growing and entering the God family, whether it’s serving others, helping them enter the God family, doing the work, helping others enter the God family, or working on ourselves, helping us enter the God family. That’s what God desires, sons and daughters, in us and ultimately in anyone who will respond. But to grow, we must use these tools, these resources effectively.

Second tool, second resource, prayer. Matthew twenty-one, eighteen. Matthew twenty-one, eighteen. “Now in the morning, as Christ returned into the city, He hungered.” He was hungry. Physical needs here on earth. “...And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it and found nothing thereon but leaves only. And He said to it, let no fruit grow on you henceforth... henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away.” That’s tantamount to a prayer. Let no fruit grow on you, and the tree withered away.

Before we get into the prayer element here, amazing how if you go over to Mark’s account, we won’t, it wasn’t even the time of the figs. Seasonally, figs should not have been on that tree, yet Christ, when He came to it and didn’t find fruit, He cursed it. Amazing. God wants growth. God wants production. That’s why He gives us every tool. He wants us to succeed. Christ came to something that physically shouldn’t have succeeded, yet He expected fruit on it, even before its time.

Verse twenty, “And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away?” They were amazed at this answered prayer. They were stunned. This tree dried up before their eyes. “Jesus answered and said to them, Verily I say unto you, if you have faith and doubt not, you shall not only do that which is done to the fig tree, but also if you say unto this mountain, be you removed and cast into the sea, it shall be done. And all things whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”

Now, the key here is Christ, of course, was teaching a powerful lesson with this tree. My wife and I like mulberries, and there are some parks around here that have mulberries at a certain time of year. And I can guarantee you that if my wife and I went to one of these parks in winter, and we beheld the mulberry trees, and they didn’t have any mulberries on them, and I’d begin cursing them, and she’d begin cursing them, praying about it, you know, “Please just incinerate these horrible trees because they’re not yielding the mulberry harvest that we anticipated here in January,” I can guarantee you nothing would happen. Why? Because answered prayer is needs-based.

There was a reason that tree had to wither away. Christ was teaching a lesson. It had to wither away to ultimately record this account in Scripture. All things we ask in prayer, believing, we believe when we have a certain need. You know, if it’s, “I don’t have any more food. Father, please give me something to eat.” As a Christian, you will have that prayer answered. It will be answered. Or healing, maybe it’s not on the timeline that we anticipated, but ultimately our bodies will be healed. Needs-based prayers go answered. Now, if I pray to, you know, go pick up a scratcher from the Seven-Eleven and find twenty-five thousand dollars under the thin film there, it’s not going to happen. It’s needs-based.

Luke seventeen. Luke seventeen. If we’re praying, “Your Kingdom come,” it’s going to happen. If we’re praying for certain specific things we’ll look at deeper in the message, guaranteed outcome. If we’re praying for certain things we might think we need and God doesn’t provide them, that could be the greatest answer to prayer we could have ever believed. Just no. Some of the best answers to prayer that I’ve received, and I’m sure many of you could attest to the same thing, is no. No. “I’ve got something different in store. I’ve got something better in store, God might be saying.”

Luke seventeen and verse five, “And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. Christ said, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamine tree, be you plucked up by the root and planted in the sea, and it should obey you.” Again, if there was need. It’s not a party trick. If there was need. Luke eleven. It can be so easy, particularly when we’re new, and see this and say, “Well, anything I pray for will just materialize before my eyes.” And it can be devastating or discouraging when it doesn’t. That’s why it’s important to keep these qualifiers in mind when we’re praying for something. We need to pray about things that we need, and frankly, God already knows what we need.

Luke eleven, verse one, “And it came to pass that as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. And He said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father which is in heaven, Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As in heaven, so on earth.”

Something that’s guaranteed to be answered, a miracle. Something that will dramatically change society forever for the better. That will come if we pray about it. It’ll come even if we don’t, but something we have a guaranteed answer to. “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive also everyone that’s indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Another guaranteed outcome if we’re praying. God will get us out of every situation in part through these tools that we’re employing to stay in contact and communication with him.

“Deliver us from evil.” It will happen if we pray it and if we do our part. “And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend and go unto him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine is in his journey, has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall say, trouble me not. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I can’t rise and give you.” There’s no one who you’re going to go, and a friend, and knock on their door at midnight who isn’t going to entertain your request if it’s somewhat reasonable.

“I say unto you, though he will not rise and give it to him because he’s his friend, yet because of his importunity, he’ll rise and give him as much as he needed.” His persistence is just, “Wow, that’s bold to come and ask for this at midnight.” God wants us to be importunate with our prayers. I think I’m saying that right. That’s a tough one. He wants us to constantly come to Him with our needs. He wants to constantly hear what’s on our mind, and He promises to answer.

“I say to you, though he will not rise and give it to him because he’s his friend, yet because of his importunity, will he arise and give him as many as he needs. And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be opened.” Guaranteed outcome. If we have a need, brethren, not a want, but a need, we have access to the most resourceful being on earth.

Psalm twenty-four. We’re striving to learn resourcefulness. We’re striving to use these resources that God has given to us. But we’re in league. We’re in partnership. We’re seeking the most resourceful being there is. Psalm twenty-four and verse one. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all they that dwell therein.” There’s nothing that’s off limits to God. He can meet our every need. He can answer our every prayer.

Matthew chapter six. Same parallel account of eleven, but it adds something more. Matthew six, verse five. “When you pray,” Matthew six, five, “...you shall not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.” They’re not interested in an earnest communication with God. They’re not interested in developing a relationship with God. They’re interested in showing others their relationship with God, how righteous they are.

I was fishing relatively recently, and I heard two men at the end of the dock. And one man was a very nice man, but another man came up, and he was telling him about all of his service. And it was interesting to listen to. He said, “You know, I usher on Sunday. I work in the kitchen on Sunday.” And then he paused, and he said, “Sometimes I usher and work in the kitchen on Sunday.” I’m thinking, “Wow, you know, this is a man who’s kingdom bound.” No, that’s not what I was thinking. But it was interesting to hear, because it very much reminded me of those who pray in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men.

I’m sure this was a fine man, but it’s just the way the world’s Christianity works. People want to be seen of men, and they have their reward. I’m sure he impressed this other gentleman on the dock there. Didn’t impress me, but I have some inside information that he might not have. “But you, when you pray, enter into your closet. When you’ve shut your door, pray to your Father, which is in secret. And your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly.” He’s pleased when He sees us ask. He’s pleased when he sees us come to Him with our needs.

“But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not you therefore like unto them, for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.” So to go back to that example, if we had a need to move that mountain, and God knew we had that need, for whatever reason, when we prayed it, He’d answer it.

He knows what we need. In fact, He probably inspires us to pray about the things we need so that he can fulfill them, we can grow our relationship with Him, and increase our faith. He knows exactly what we need, and sometimes He knows, “No, you don’t need that.” And it can be tough. It can be tough when the answer is no.

Turn to James chapter one. There are guarantees about things we can pray about. He knows, for instance, that we need wisdom, so He says this. James one and verse two, “Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. And let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom,” it’s all of us, we can all grow in wisdom. He’s probably saying it tongue-in-cheek. I doubt he thought, “Oh, you know, there are a few in this congregation who don’t need any more wisdom.” “...if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that gives to all men liberally, generously, and upbraids not, and it shall be given to him.”

I mean, imagine God upbraiding somebody for asking for wisdom. “You want wisdom?” I’m not speaking on behalf of God, but just think about it. “I’m not going to give you any wisdom.” It’s preposterous. If we’re asking, “Well, Father, I’d like to be able to help in the congregation more.” That’s not going to fall on deaf ears. “I’d like to better understand this element or that element of Christianity.” That’s not going to fall on deaf ears. Whatever it is that we pray for, so long as it aligns with God’s will, He’ll hear it.

“But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven in the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he’ll receive anything of the Lord.” We have to be convicted in that we are communicating with a being that has our best interest in mind and wants to help us. Who else has instant access to the most powerful being and creator of the universe? No one. We’re the most resourceful people on earth.

Sometimes if a situation is dire, we have to pull out another tool. I’m going to keep this brief because I heard someone may cover this tool in the relative near future, in whatever time we have, but fasting. Mark chapter nine. Sometimes the situation calls for, I won’t call it heavy artillery because the other two tools are heavy artillery as well. I don’t want to elevate it above the two tools we’ve already addressed, but fasting is a potent tool.

Mark chapter nine. Mark nine and verse fourteen. “And when he came to His disciples, He saw a great multitude about them and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld Him, were greatly amazed, and running to Him, saluted Him. And He asked the scribes, What question you with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I’ve brought you unto my son, which has a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he takes him, he tears him for he foams and gnashes his teeth and he pines away. And I spoke to your disciples that they should cast him out and they cast him out and they could not.”

They were ineffective even though Christ had empowered them to do so. “He answered and said to them, ‘O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me.’ And they brought him unto Him, and when He saw him, straightway, the spirit tore him and fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And He asked his father, How long is it ago since this came to him? And he said, of a child.” So this poor boy had been possessed from childhood, tormented all his living years to that moment. “And oftentimes it cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him.”

And imagine being a parent living with that, seeing your little child sometimes just trying to fling itself into a fire. You know, cooking fires would have been everywhere at that time. Trying to thrust himself into the fire or drown himself in the water because his demon was inside of him making him do that. It would be horrible life as the child and as the parent. “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

Now, this would be a thing that God would hear and answer. So Christ could say, “If you believe, it’ll happen.” God isn’t going to let someone he’s calling have a little child like this. He’d remedy the situation. “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

“And when Jesus saw the people came running together, He rebuked the foul spirit saying to it, you dumb and deaf spirit, I charge you, come out of him and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried and rent him sore and came out of him. And he was one dead, insomuch as many said, He’s dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. And when he was coming to the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could we not cast him out? Why were we unable to do that, even though you empowered us to do that? You sent us out with power over the spirits. And He said to them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.”

So sometimes a situation requires both tools together. There’s a right tool for every job, but if you’ve been in the trades or if you’ve done anything, assembled a table from mail order, whatever it is, built a doghouse, you know that tools have to work together synergistically. Somebody can’t, “I’ve got a drill now, I’m ready to build a house.” You need a drill, you need a saw, go on and on. It takes many tools to complete a job. The right tools, sometimes different tools.

A woman in the kitchen wants to cut a loaf of bread, “Oh, time to get my Sawzall.” No, that’s preposterous, or “Time to mash the potatoes, can you get out the eight-pound sledge, honey?” It’s... right tool for the right job. And sometimes multiple tools. In a case like this, or in the case of a very serious trial, maybe a life-threatening trial or a miserable trial or somebody’s going through something terrible, this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.

Now if the answer was no. “I prayed fervently but I didn’t get that Corvette, maybe I should fast about it, I guarantee you the answer is still going to be no.” Maybe fast and say, “Father, please show me why I didn’t get the Corvette,” and I can guarantee you’ll get an answer, you’ll get that answer. We can’t go on a hunger strike to bend God’s will if the answer is no for good reasons that we might not see.

We’ve read Isaiah fifty-eight recently, we won’t go there, but you can see the benefits of fasting. God doesn’t want a hunger strike. He wants to loose the bands of wickedness. He wants us to understand certain things. He wants us to grow closer to Him using that tool. Sometimes that coupled with prayer is the only way to break through maybe a trial or a difficulty that we’re dealing with, a personal struggle.

Bible study. I used to love to read about the conquistadors as a boy, the Cortéses that did some terrible things, but these were men of vision and purpose, who sought to achieve certain things, and they did. One of them was Ponce de Leon, and he came first, I think it was to Florida, I think he was the first to hit Florida, and he was in search of the fountain of youth. He thought, “If I could only find this fountain,” in Florida of all places. “If I could only find this fountain, I could live forever.”

He didn’t need to go to Florida. It’s nice to go to Florida, but he didn’t need to go to Florida. He could have just cracked open his Bible and turned to John chapter six, John six. While we’re turning there, you can be a great mechanic. You can be a great builder. You can have a great skill set, but without the right tools, you can’t do much. I remember distinctly being on a boat as a boy with my dad and one of my cousins. My dad is a phenomenal repairman, like a last line of resort-type repairman, can do almost anything.

And my cousin is a terrific foreign car mechanic. Owns a big business, foreign car repairs. You’ve got a great mechanic and a great repairman, and the bilge pump went out on the boat in deep water. We’re taking on water, and you’ve got these two guys zipping around, and they’re not making much progress, because if I remember correctly, all they had was a screwdriver or something on board. You can have a PhD level education and be a heart surgeon, and somebody has a heart attack in front of you, but if you’re on a remote island without any tools, without any staff, without anything to aid in the execution of the project at hand, you’re not going to get far. You have to have the right resources. We have the right resources.

Bible study, John six here, verse sixty-three, “It’s the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” We heard about this, I think, this last Sabbath, I believe we were here. “But there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew that from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray Him. And He said, Therefore I say unto you that no man can come to me except it were given him of my Father.” We’re here, brethren, because it was given to us by God.

“From that time, many of his disciples went away and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve, Will you also go away?” Asked them a very pointed question, “Are you going to apostatize too, or are you going to be some of the few who make it?” “Then Simon Peter answered him and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” It’s these words that transform us. It’s these words that can cause us to grow.

Psalm one-nineteen, Psalm one-nineteen. We sing this quite often, Psalm one-nineteen, verse ninety-seven. “Oh, how love I thy law.” David... I think it’s David here. “...it’s my meditation all the day. You through your commandments have made me wiser than my enemies for they’re ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.”

Our young people who go to school, you young people have more understanding than your teachers. Incredible to contemplate. Because God’s testimonies are in our mind. “I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep your word. I have not departed from your judgments, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”

God’s Word shows us what’s right and wrong, shows us where we should and shouldn’t walk. And if we’re studying it, if we’re using this amazing resource that has been called the instruction manual for mankind, if we’re using this amazing resource, we’ll know how to walk, we’ll know how to comport ourselves, we’ll know the path to life. “I’ve sworn and I will perform it, I will keep your righteous judgments. I’m afflicted very much, quicken me, O Lord, according to your word.”

Chapter nineteen, Psalm nineteen verse seven, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” It can transform us. It can cause us to become perfect. If we hear what God says and if we rely on him to apply it, converting the soul, “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” It will transform and convert us. We saw in James that if we lack wisdom, we should pray for it and God will give it to us liberally, but that wisdom will only come if then we study the Bible to see what he says on a matter.

He wants to give us wisdom, but in order to do that, we have to see what He says in His word, then He will inspire us to understand it, and then we can apply it. The Proverbs, you start reading in the Proverbs chapters one, two, three, four, wherever it terminates, and over and over again, it extols the need for and the purpose of wisdom. Get wisdom. It’s the principal thing, God says. Well, that can only come from studying His word and yielding to His guidance, which leads us to the fifth and greatest tool.

Turn back to Luke chapter eleven. The fifth and greatest tool. We read the model prayer earlier in chapter eleven, but we strategically stopped prior to verse eleven, Luke eleven, eleven, which is where we’ll pick up. “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father...” You know, in fact, just for context and flow, let’s pick back up where we were. Let’s start in verse nine. “I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened.”

And it’s in this context that God makes one of the greatest promises to us that we could ever receive. “If a son asks bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

Talk about answered prayer. The greatest miracle that occurs on a daily basis, by one measure, the greatest answered prayer that occurs on a daily basis, as we renew the inward man daily, is receiving more of God’s Holy Spirit, asking Him for more of the Holy Spirit and receiving it. It’s an invisible miracle, but it increases our riches in heaven. It gives us the power to apply what we studied. It gives us the power and the guidance with respect to what to pray about. It gives us the faith necessary to believe God will answer our prayers.

We’re, of course, speaking of exercising the Holy Spirit, this fifth tool. It’s one of great power. Answered prayer every day. Father, please give me more of your Spirit. Of course, He will. He’s more eager to do that than a father is to give his hungry child a morsel of food. Incredible.

Second Timothy one, Second Timothy one. That should be incredibly comforting. If I want a guaranteed answer to prayer, pray for more of the Holy Spirit. God is eager to give it to each and every one of us. Second Timothy one. Ultimately, we’re going to be composed entirely of spirit. We’re primarily flesh now, but we have His spirit in us, converting us, transforming us with those other tools as well.

Second Timothy one, three. “I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of you in my prayers day and night, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded also in you. Wherefore I put you in remembrance to stir up the gift of God which is in you by the putting on of my hands. For God gives us not a spirit of fear,” he has given us not a spirit of fear, “but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

We can pray for power, love, and a sound mind, things God wants us to have, and He’s more willing to give us that than a hungry mother or father food to a child. Incredible. “Be not you therefore ashamed of the testimony of God, nor of me as prisoner,” and so on and so forth.

Brethren, we are in pursuit of perfection. We’re the people who are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness as we become perfect, as it said in that previous chapter, Matthew five, before Matthew six, where we’re told to seek first the kingdom of God. But it’s not just seek first the kingdom of God, it’s seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We’re changing. We’re becoming more like God with each passing day, week, month, year. We’re transforming into something else. And it’s that spirit at the center of this fifth great law that makes it possible. It helps us to understand what we’re reading.

First John two, First John two, verse twenty-four. “Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.” Directly related to Bible study, what we’ve heard. “And this is the promise that he’s promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which you received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, shall it abide in him.”

So this isn’t saying that the Church of God doesn’t need teachers. This is speaking with respect to deceivers. John is saying, look, you have the Holy Spirit. You know who to listen to. You know who not to listen to. The sheep hear Christ’s voice, he could have added. You know what the Bible says. You’re able to understand it because God has called you and given you His Holy Spirit. You know who to listen to, you know who’s preaching things in God’s word versus who’s preaching things contrary to God’s word. The anointing which you have received of Him abides in you, and you can understand things. Central tandem to the other laws that we’ve already covered.

John sixteen. John sixteen and verse thirteen. It’s that Spirit in us, brethren, that allows us to understand what it is we read. John sixteen, thirteen. “Howbeit, when it, the Spirit of Truth, is come, it will guide you into all truth: for it shall not speak of itself, but whatsoever it shall hear, that it shall speak, and show you things to come.”

Everything that we understand beyond the academic is born of having the Holy Spirit. We understand what we read. We understand what we hear. We might not understand it perfectly. Who among us understands all the details of prophecy? No one. We won’t understand it until that which is perfect has come. We understand that. But we understand, generally, God’s plan better than anyone has for millennia. We understand what we’re a part of through this series that we’ve been engaged in for over a decade now.

We understand better than any brethren of old what it is that awaits us, and it’s a marvelous plan. We understand what we have to do in order to receive eternal life. We understand the covenant we made when we went into the baptismal waters. And the reason we understand all that is because, at a point, the Spirit was working with us, and at a point, it entered us. And it leads us into all truth, whether we’re being called en route to conversion or whether we’re converted now or whether we’re sanctified as one of the youth in God’s church. The most valuable resource that God has is His Spirit. He’s already given to us a little of His most valuable resource. He is Spirit, and He wants you and I to become Spirit.

With these tools in place, particularly that last one... Turn to Jeremiah thirty-two as we draw to a close. Jeremiah thirty-two. Jeremiah thirty-two and verse sixteen. “Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the Lord, saying, Ah, Lord God, behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you.”

Jeremiah was acknowledging, look, anything is possible. With God, all things are possible, Christ said. Anything is possible with this Being that has all the resources, and that gives us the resources necessary to become Him, to become part of His family, to become God. “You show lovingkindness unto thousands and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts is his name. Great in counsel, mighty in work. For your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.”

God will reward us according to the fruit of our doings. He’s given us certain tools to become perfect. He wants to see, will they use these tools? Will they value these tools? There are certain tools we use less frequently, like fasting, but there are other tools that we should be using every single day. Prayer, study, meditation, exercising the Spirit, there shouldn’t be a day that goes by without those. Give us this day our daily bread. Tongue-in-cheek, you want to take a day off praying, maybe take a day off eating daily bread, but then you’d be fasting, you’d be exercising one of the tools, you’d probably be in good shape. That makes sense.

With these tools, brethren, serving the God who says there’s nothing too hard for Him, there’ll be nothing too hard for us. Romans chapter eight, as we conclude here. Romans chapter eight, verse twenty-eight. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

We can surmount every obstacle with the resources available to us, relying on this Almighty Being for whom nothing is too hard. “He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” He who has all the resources wants to give us all the resources, but we have to use the resources He’s given us now to achieve that goal. We have the right goal, the ultimate right goal, eternal life in the God family. Let’s always remember that we have the ultimate tools. We’re full of resources, brethren. Let’s remember we have them and use them.