When you think of generosity it's just the natural giving you are missing what God wants you to see in this important character trait today on turning point Dr David Jeremiah shares what Jesus taught about the real meaning of living generously it's not what flows from your bank account but your spirit reintroduces message a life of generosity Here's David Well thank you for joining us today I remember an old quip that went like this when the Baptists come to town they bring 2 things with them the 10 commandments and a $10.00 bill and they don't break either one of them and that was a joke back in those days about the lack of generosity on the part of some who fly under the banner of Baptists I'd be one of those Hopefully that doesn't represent me but it does say that a lot of times Christians can be people who talk a lot about being gracious and generous but don't reflect generosity in their lives and the Bible tells us that when the Holy Spirit is in control of our life we will become generous people for all of you who model generosity this will be an affirmation in for those of you who struggle with it maybe try to squeeze your money a little bit tighter than you should this will help you move off of that place and see the joy that awaits those who live a life of generosity will get started in just a moment a couple of things before that I've been telling you about our year in cruise and I want to remind you again that as we move toward the end of October and get into November the opportunities for this are going to begin to go away we've already had a huge response and we get a certain allotment of rooms from these cruise ships for our events and when those rooms are gone there are no more so don't wait until it's too late make a reservation you're going to have a great time with all of us. Our friends who are going with us the Martens Charles Billingsley David Pendleton your real Vegas Michael Sanchez Don And I'll be there along with many others from our turning point teen we will have a delicious time in the Caribbean and once again the dates are December 30th through January the 6th and this is something I hope you will take advantage of we haven't done the year and cruise the last couple of years and we've missed it there's something about that to look forward to after you've been through some of the challenges of the holiday season and especially those of you who live on the East Coast where it's really cold to think about the fact that you're going to gets it the cold for a week in the middle of the winter sounds pretty appealing to me all that does to you as well well let's make the transition from compassion to generosity today we're going to talk about what it means to be generous got some great stories for you great scriptures great examples and great strategies that's coming up right now on this edition of turning. I have been talking to you about some of the. Character Traits that the Bible tells us we are to be developing in our own lives and we know this is a divine cooperative the Spirit of God gives us these gifts as the result of his filling us with His Spirit and then we're told to cultivate them there's not one of these characteristics that is not commanded most of the time many times in the New Testament and we've talked about many of them today I want to talk with you about generosity. I've grown up in the Christian faith and grown up in a Christian family as you know my father was a pastor and then a president of a Christian college and so I've been around Christianity a long time and while there are many generous people among Christians if you had asked the people out there in the culture. Are Christian people generous or are they stingy. You probably get about a 50 percent either way I'm known some really great generous Christians I've also known some pretty stingy ones and sometimes their stinginess is I'm not shifts. Here's an illustration there was a period of time earlier my life when it was very common to hear that Christians carried around with them a little tract and the track said this is a tip and they would take that to the restaurant with them when they would go to eat and instead of leaving money for the waiter or the waitress they would leave a track that says this is the tip and on the inside was the gospel What do you think the chances are that the gospel even got read after that. They work hard to serve you then they come and there's no you want to use the money inside that you might get that track red but if you leave it with no money that's not use and that gives Christians a terrible name and we're having more sense than to do something like that kind of reminds me of the old adage that when the Southern Baptists come to town they bring 2 things with them they bring the 10 Commandments in the bring a $10.00 bill and they don't break either one of them and it has kind of the way it is for a lot of Christians you know. So you know early on in my life I reacted to that and I've always prayed that God would help me be and become more and more a generous person so I want to talk about generosity today and it's not primarily stewardship message but whatever the Lord says to you it's all right. I want my last check to bounce. These are the words of billionaire philanthropist Charles Feeney who made his fortune in the duty free shopping industry and began secretly to give his money away in 1984 Finis goal was to make a difference in the world while he was alive and give all of his money away so that the last check he wrote about Sed by 2016 he'd given more than $8000000000.00 to charitable organizations around the world but his giving while your living philosophy did more than impact the recipients of his own personal gifts he was one of the influences behind Bill and Melinda Gates and their charitable foundation the other inspiration behind the gates Charitable Foundation according to Bill Gates was his mother Mary. Gates often credits his journey toward generosity to a letter that his mother wrote to his then fiance Belinda the day before they were married in biblical terms Mary reminded her son's bride that from those to whom much is given much is expected 6 months after writing that letter Mary Gates died of breast cancer and after her death Bill Gates with his father's help dedicated $100000000.00 to what would become the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and from its inception that foundation has given away more than $36000000000.00. These are remarkable examples of generosity of course but not everyone has that kind of money and not everyone can do that. Take Albert Lexie for example in 1981 Albert Lexie started working at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Cleaning and polishing shoes for $5.00 a pair. Often satisfied customers tipped him usually a $1.00 to $1.00 Christmas a customer actually gave him $50.00 for shining shoes but tips like that were rare and of course over the years as styles have changed. Albert has seen his business dwindle but in 2013 he retired he retired after 32 years on the job there was a farewell party the hospital staff and the administration spoke of how much he'd be missed but when he walked out the door on the last day his influence at that hospital continued You see during all those years of shining shoes Albert Lexie donated more than 30 percent of his earnings to the hospital's Free Care Fund which helps cash strapped parents pay for their children's medical care and those tips every single $1.00 to the hospital during his career he gave more than $200000.00 to that hospital that's the kind of money rock stars give That's the kind of money Bill Gates gives That's not the kind of money a shoeshine man gives to charity. What you see what that illustrates more than anything else is that generosity is not about what's in your pocket generosity is about what's in your heart. The word generosity is not found on our list of 9 decisions that we have used as our outline but the concept is there it's hiding in the word goodness and it's really an appropriate response to goodness because oftentimes people think the goodness of the Bible is simply the absence badness but the Bible's goodness is not the absence of badness the Bible's goodness is an overt outward determination to do good and could there ever be a better illustration than that of generosity. The generous person. Gives others the benefit of the doubt and treats others with respect she isn't worried about what the act of giving may cost in terms of time or effort she doesn't wait to be asking doesn't expect anything in return that's the real issue of generosity generosity is giving something to someone and not have any expectation of getting anything back the same kind of generosity that we receive when we become Christians. Most of us equate generosity with financial giving and certainly that's at the core of it but that's not all respect and courtesy and forbearance and patients all of these are expressions of a generous spirit each day we are given opportunities to exercise generosity of spirit to respond to impatience with patience to reply to a hurried or thoughtless comment with an expression of understanding to overlook what you don't like in someone so that you can find what you do like. For most of us it doesn't come naturally to be generous We weren't born generous can I get a witness any of you have little ones at home we just had our grandchildren God bless them they're all wonderful beautiful delightful kids but they're not generous . And as teenagers we seem to be more interested in fairness then generosity when we become adults were so weighed down with financial worry we can't find time to be generous we're just trying to make it. But like every virtue that we have talked about in this series and will talk about going forward we can decide to cultivate generosity and we can depend on God to help us to do it. How many of you know that we have a generous God. I think James said it best when he said every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and it comes down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning our God is a generous God and since we are made in His image we can take comfort as his children in knowing that generosity is within our reach and if ours is a world stamped from the beginning to the end by divine generosity then it stands to reason we ought to risk a generosity ourselves. And cultivate that godliness in our heart. The picture of a generous life is much easier to explain than the term how many of you know there are some things in life that are better caught than they're taught you don't learn it by the teaching of it you're learning by the watching of it one of the best examples of generosity in action is found in the New Testament. The stories told in market begins with Jesus sitting near the temple treasury observing the people as they're giving their offerings you know the story smart Chapter 12 versus 41 to 44 . We know from studying this in the writings of Josephus that in the temple were 13 receptacles where the Jews brought their taxes and their ties you see Israel was a theocracy so their taxes in their ties commingled they ran Israel with taxes and tides and they would bring them all to the temple and they would put them in one of these receptacles were later they would be collected now the receptacles were interesting if you go back and look in some of the old Bible dictionaries you see pictures of them and what they remind me of they remind me of the old r.c.a. Victrolas that had this big horn that came out of it which was kind of like the speaker horn but for the receptacle boxes this horn was like a funnel and you would throw your money into the big part of it it would funnel down in to the box so people would come to the temple with their offerings and according to Josephus there were some who were rich and Austin Texas and before they came to the temple they would take their offering and reduce it to the most Koinange they could they would take like $100.00 instead of bringing a $100.00 bill as we would today they would get pennies. And they would bring this hoard of money in bags and walk up to the Treasury Box and throw it in against the brass receptacle so that it resound it throughout the whole temple and everybody would stop and say whoa somebody just gave a lot of money. There were some Ferris fees who were so famous in doing this they actually got a nickname it's true they called them zingers those singers are in the temple today there's in the temple with their offerings. On this particular day when Jesus was watching many casting large amounts of money but then a poor widow woman came in and quietly made her meager offering. Now in the Greek the language of the New Testament the word we translate as pour. Is the word used to describe someone who is destitute a pop or a beggar in our day the widow might be someone depending on public assistance for survival or even someone who's homeless she was dirt poor. In our story Jesus tells us specifically what this poor widow gave the Bible says she put into meit's the word might is a Greek word which means lepton and what it is it's the smallest the nomination of a coin minted in the Greek world in the economy of that day it was worth 1128th of a day's work not enough to buy a loaf of bread and she put in 2 of them so she put in 164th of a day's work and never one to waste a teaching moment Jesus. Pontificates on what happened listen to him and see if you don't see how counterintuitive it is to the way we think today. Verse 43 this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the Treasury. For they all put in out of their abundance but she out of her poverty put in all that she had her whole livelihood. You see. God does math different than we do. God's math is totally unique fact you Campbell Morgan said it's an interesting thing he did not say this poor woman has done splendidly he did not say this poor woman is cast in very much he did not say she's cast in as much as anyone he did not say she's cast in as much as the whole of them he said more than all. Presiding over the Temple coffers that day the Lord of the Temple took to give sensitive to them on the one hand he put the gifts of wealth and the gifts of ostentatious and on the other hand 2 mites and he declared those 2 mites were more than all of the other gifts that were given that day. Jesus indicates in teaching us about generosity that the thing of most importance is not how much is given but the extent to which the gift is sacrificial a major element of Jesus' teaching is that attitude is more important than action because when the attitude is really right the action will be really right. Down through the ages those 2 mites that that woman put in the Treasury that day have raised billions and billions of dollars for God's work as humbled people have been liberated to give out of their little. The Lord converted those 2 coins in a perennial wealth of contentment and instruction for his church she gave more than all of them so let's go back to our major central point generosity is not about how much you have in your pocket it's about what's in your heart. Now the potential to be generous is available to all of us we see the picture of it let's explore the potential of it by itself this radical spontaneous generosity challenges our hearts I mean it does and then we see it against the backdrop of the culture in which it took place and it is even more amazing. In the Roman world. Where this woman gave her all generosity was regarded as a virtue that was restricted for the rich and famous and powerful in fact the Latin word general says referred to a person's birth and it comes from our word Genesis which means beginning so in the Roman world to be generous was to be born right in the Roman world generosity was for the elite and the aristocrats in fact their culture depended on it if you read history you'll see it the quid pro quo of generosity in the days of Jesus is just amazing the wealthy acted as patrons they funded the work of artists in artisans as well as commissioning public works and however unlike our definition of generosity which expects nothing in return wealthy Roman citizens were compensated for the strain on their bank account this could take the form of preferential business it could promote a patron for political office a good advocate for favorable laws championing a benefactor civil status Come to think of it is pretty much like what happens in our world here in America today is it not Washington could be painted all over this in case you don't get it just think of this the Lincoln Bedroom that'll help you. Because the Lincoln Bedroom was barred for favors during the whole administration. The one who gave all that she had that day would not have been expected to be generous at all she was swimming upstream against the very culture of her day she was not born Well she was not wealthy she was not elite she was not famous and she was not powerful but Jesus said her gift was more than all that was given by the aristocrats of that day. Now as Americans we like to pat ourselves on the back and repeat the mantra that we are the most generous nation in the world. Now this fact is our government gives a lot of money away and I get a witness but that does not make us a generous nation a generous nation is made up of generous people and it may shock you to learn that more than 85 percent of Americans give away less than 2 percent of their income each year 85 percent of all the people who live in America give less than 2 percent not just to their church but to any church. Now if you put that on paper and say Is America a generous nation. And you may take great comfort that you're in the church let me put a pick in that balloon. According to a recent study reported in Relevant magazine only 10 to 25 percent of typical American congregations tie that is they give biblical starting point of 10 percent to the church the poor and the kingdom the same report concluded that if the remaining 75 to 90 percent of American Christians began to tie the regularly listen carefully global hunger starvation and death from preventable diseases would be relieved in 5 years the world's water and sanitation issues would be solved all overseas missions work would be fully funded and more than $100000000000.00 per year would be left over for additional ministry if just the rest of the people who call themselves Christians would begin to tie. Pretty amazing story isn't it. So we are a generous nation because we give a lot of our government's money away to other nations and we seem to do it I don't know how we do it because all I hear about is how much we're in debt and then I read the papers we just gave another some $1000000000.00 to somebody on a work comes from I guess we just go print it and then send it out. But we are not by the real standard a nation of generous people and it's not getting better. It's getting worse. So how do we become generous people and this is what we all want to know what is the true path to becoming generous. How do we cultivate this in our lives 1st of all you've got to change the way you think about money to be a generous person you've got to get over this idea that your money is yours that you are the owner. The most vital step we take toward developing a generous spirit is thinking about money in the right way remember what the Scripture says every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from God and we realize that nothing is ours to start with we came into this world with nothing will go out of this world with nothing but in between the beginning and the end Almighty God gives us the opportunity to manage some of his stuff. And he gives us resources and he wants us to mention those of us who are Christians he wants us to manage them in his behalf to make sure that his work is getting done that his purpose is a being accomplished he wants us to manage it in behalf of our family and yes the bible says he wants to us enjoy what he gives us but we are not owners we never have been owners and we will never be owners all that we have all that we have ever had all that we ever will have until we get to heaven belongs to God. And he just wants us to manage it for a game in. A manager's head that's what we are we're we're stewards where managers of the resources God puts in our hands and I love this chapter I've learned so much from all the reading that was involved in preparing it and I were reminded that generosity isn't a feeling it's an action that's pretty much true along the line of all of these characteristics we'd like to park them someplace in the back of our emotional being hoping that somewhere along the way we'll be motivated to do these things but the interesting thing about all of these characteristics which are part of the fruit of the Spirit is this every single one of them is commanded of Christians in the New Testament including and generosity Well we'll continue our discussion of this wonderful theme tomorrow before we say our final goodbye let me remind you that there is well there's just a wonderful group of resources available for the series. Not only the book which never forget the time when God Religion heart when I said to him at all memorials to go I don't know what else to do than everything unloaded not getting any better energy no visual image of Jesus only his washing the feet of his disciples and I heard God say to me. That's the problem in your marriage you don't have the attitude of Christ to earth to me like a ton of bricks you know and I just said God forgive me I was in seminary in a forgive me with all my studying Greek and Hebrew and theology have missed the whole point. And then I said Lord please change my heart and give me the attitude of Christ it's the greatest prayer for pride a marriage that's Dr Gary Chapman help in resources for your marriage can be found in 5 Love Languages dot com. Jesus said Love your enemies and pray for those who hurt you but how is that possible past a consummate with today's keeper of luck in the Bible if a person who has harmed you was to see what they did and really repent you might find it in your heart to forgive them but if they just go on with no awareness of what they've done it's very hard to have compassion So where do you begin when you think about everlasting destruction and what that would mean to be shut out of the presence of the Lord for ever you would not wish that on your worst enemy grasping this truth will help you to pray for those who harmed you bitterness can't survive for long when you begin to pray and you'll be amazed at the way that compassion sneaks in the back door of your heart if you'd like to hear more visit our website a mocking the Bible dot org. I was at work the other day and Jim told me it was Pastor appreciation. That got me to thinking about how much I appreciate my pastor I told him how our pastors see my family through some really tough times like I remember when Rachel was born she was in intensive care for over a week but Pastor Jerry was there when I lost my job he was there when my dad died. Sure enough he was there and you know he doesn't just preach he's got a knack of helping you apply what you're learning. It's your god sure found the right man for that job. Well anyway then Jim asks me to Jeb or send a note to say thanks. To note Joe mind I mean people must tell him all the time I. Don't think October is Pastor Appreciation Month a friendly reminder from this station and movie radio. Today on a high point with Iran there are some things in here that if you know and you choose not to live by them and you ignore them and you rip the pages out and you say wow that's not for me and I don't want to do that then guess what you have put a ceiling on the truth of what you can understand when you choose to live your life in such a way that this has got. Game further. From the high point with Ron's Appiah pastor a high point church in Naperville Illinois I'm Steve Smith and we're continuing our series on 40 days of prayer and so Ron where we're going today well think about this Steve what comes to your mind when I see the word revival Well revival I'm thinking like tense you know to music yeah big music some dude you know on a box you know so Yelena and I have this vision of you know I remember seeing these old school pictures of like Billy Sunday and these big tent revivals and what he would be like he'd be standing on the pulpit and just like him pointing to the crowd and I mean he's just really in and he. Got to be sweating Well today we're not talking about that kind of revival don't have to be a guest speaker don't have to be about a big huge event with a tent a bunch of people come and we're talking about the revival that happens in each individual heart in your heart I want to talk to you about what personal revival looks like well let's get right into it here's Ron with a message on 10 scriptures to pray for personal revival we're in a series it's called 40 days of prayer we're actually in day 28 of our 40 days it's not too late to jump I want to start with this one start with a little history lesson focusing on spiritual revival in the United States or by go with that like I wouldn't like it would have mattered if you just said no. But I want to get us back and so you may have heard of what was called The Great Awakening that's what started it here in the u.s. It was 1734 it went for several years in Massachusetts interesting in a town of 1100 this is how it began 300 people imagine that 300 people in a small town of 1100 became followers of Christ and so it turned that town around then what came along in the 1800s the early 18 hundreds it's called the 2nd Great Awakening and this is where Charles Finney he became a household name converted over 500 people at one a vent the evangelical church catch this the evangelical church just was getting going and they had 350000 members during this period it grew to over 3000000 so the 2nd great awakening it was like the church just radically changed to gospel preaching churches that were focusing on the Bible I mean it was intense and then there was something called the great revival of 1857 and it's familiar to us in Chicago because it started in the city of Chicago by young businessman a shoe salesman how many people know him talking about d.l. Moody and deal moody started this revival and it was interesting it spread in the 1800s through Chicago like a fire year Me Well maybe that's not the best example. But it took root and God used it in so many ways and there was a guy by the name of Billy Sunday who became a prominent figure in this revival time period and so he was actually a pro baseball player and he played for the Chicago White Stockings That's how far away it was and so I cut I got some of you I know I did but he played for in Chicago and he. Happened to be walking down the streets of Chicago not a Christian age 24 he walked past the Pacific Garden Mission there was some people from that mission on a street corner and he got saved him brace Jesus Christ he want up playing baseball for a little bit quit baseball became a preacher ignited this he led his joints tells he led over a 1000000 people to Christ at his rallies that amazing Billy Sunday so we're going to talk a little bit about him he's got some famous quotes that I'm going to share with you and then how many people here just by curiosity with you here have a background maybe the Pentecostal church or charismatic if that's you just raise your hand I see some some hands going up it's Ok we love you too we're glad you're here and but but you may not realize or maybe you do that you really you that was given birth through what was called the zoo's a Street revival in 1906 so that really made those movements the Pentecostal and charismatics it really was birthed in l.a. And it just spread all over and continues to this day then right down the street we've got Wheaton College and in 1950 the students like we're confessing Sen and the Spirit of God was moving and so we can college revival of 1950 sparked a revival in many colleges throughout the United States if you're on social media a lot you may have gotten or seen this that there's actually what's being called now the West Virginia revival and this started a few months to go and they're saying I don't know all the details and facts but they're saying over 1500 high school students have come to Christ and have committed their lives to yet praise God for him as Lord and Savior and so a lot of cool things actually I was just reading this they said that they invited Hillary Clinton to one of the meetings and I thought that would be bad if she just tries showed up you know hey good for all of us right so. But revival they're happening they have happened said all that to say this I want revival to happen in your heart today. I want you to catch fire I want to fan the flame I believe that God is doing a work in our day do you believe me he is it worth it and there's a spiritual revival that can happen and for you to take root it needs to start right here and so it's great that we're doing what focusing on history but history reveals that the revivals take place the $1000000.00 question is how do they take place how do we get it started how do you fan the flame it happens in prayer that's the common denominator of all that I have talked about so far and so that's why we're in a series called 40 days of fair I've asked you to do it to pick a time to pick a place to pick a person to pray with and we're focusing on praying scripture so if you have a Bible do this open it up to 2nd Timothy Chapter 3 I promise I'll get there in a minute we're talking about praying scripture 10 scriptures for personal revival hey why pray scripture we've been answering this if you've been with us you remember that what sometimes when I'm praying my mind does what it wanders and so scripture helps me keep focus right 2nd thing more important than that scripture catch this I'm prep India I want to little response Scripture does this praying scripture or allows me to pray what God wants and not what I want we want to be in tune with his desires and not necessarily our so without any further ado if you're a note taker please write this down 1st things 1st scriptures we're talking about Hebrews Chapter 12 pray that you'll be in a right relationship with God I pray that you will be in a right relationship with God I told you I was going to talk about Billy Sunday for a bit I've got several quotes through. The message from him it's a Billy Sunday Sunday and he is this famous evangelist he is this baseball player that turned Christian and he says it like this the law tells how crooked I am grace comes along and strains me out how many people can identify with this the law does this in the book of the 10 Commandments it just points out that what did I do stuff wrong like I can't meet all the demands of the law I can't do it I am a sinner and I have fail and Jesus is our schoolmaster and he's the one that teaches them and His sacrifice provide the forgiveness for me that Grace straightens me out they were just sticks we're all just like stink crooked sticks and God uses us to draw a straight path question are you in a right relationship with God are you in a right relationship with him now. That's so important revival isn't about what's going to start with somebody else is going to start with me in my own heart with God I see something some think they are in a right relationship with God But they're not and let me throw another Billy Sunday quote edgy he says it like this he said just like going to church doesn't make you a Christian just like going in your garage don't make your car you hear what I'm saying some people think that they're Christians because they go to church and church is important isn't it but that doesn't make you a Christian a Christian is when you embrace the truth of what Jesus did and who his embrace them for yourself and church becomes secondary in some way to the truth of what he's done Jesus paid the penalty of our sin we are the church as we've been straightened out by His grace Now there's other people that think that they're not some people are in a right relationship with God but they think that they're not and what they're doing is this just grease my heart their guilt tripping themselves and their guilt tripping themselves with all the things they've done and they're not recognizing the freedom they have in Christ and the forgiveness that's a bailable and. If that's you Philippians Chapter 2 says For God has begun a good work in you he is at work in you to will and to work for His good pleasure he's going to accomplish his work in your her but then there's some and maybe you know then maybe it's a family member or friend and there's some who have done this they have walked away from the truth they were in a right relationship with God But they're not now. And that's. Because we want them to turn to him and embrace the fullness. But it starts with the impact on the. Hebrews Chapter 12 up on the screen it simply says this this averse to pray Therefore let us be grateful God I'm grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and let me God offer to you a 6 up to worship myself with reverence and for our God is a consuming fire that's who got it and he wants to burn the Imperial G.'s out of you as you can in a right relationship with him. Teaching is coming up with. Today's messages titled 10 scriptures to pray for personal revival You can request a copy by phone when you call 844 h.p. Radio continues in a moment if he's in 618 says pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for the Lord's people there's a reason these verses say to be alert always keep praying Prayer is the nerve that moves the mighty hand of God and that's why this month put ministries. Wants to get you and the riginal high point ministries resources that will help guide you through intentional time throughout the month of October nation of any amount to High Point ministries. Will send you a 6 piece bookmarks that with 60 scriptures to covering 6 different topics including prayer for your kids your marriage non christians crisis personal revival and the church guided prayer and give us a call at 8 for for h.p. Radioed to receive your copy of the 6 piece of Mark set donation of any amount or request this great resource on mine at highpoint Ministries dot com You're listening to high point was. Zappia runs the pastor of High Point church in Naperville Illinois today were in a series titled 40 days of prayer you can access this entire study on our website at no charge when you go to High Point ministries. Here's pastor run you say well how do I really know if I'm in a right relationship with him I mean I think I am I know what you mean I embrace Jesus and all that but but like how do I know if I'm if I'm walking the path if I'm the real deal so it's the 2nd thing pray this pray that the Bible pray that you receive the Bible as God's direction in your life I mean somebody who's just doing this if I'm a Christian they have no interest in the book and the desires and what it says then I'm telling you you're not following along because Jesus implores us and the apostles tell us that we're to preach the truth we're to examine the truth we're to look at this book it's reliable it's trustworthy it's sufficient It's an errant book with me if you're in that passage in 2nd Timothy Chapter 3 I promised I'd get there look with me at verse 10 the Apostle Paul is talking to Timothy let him talk to you he says this You however Timothy you followed my teaching my conduct my aim in life my faith my patience my love my steadfastness and then in verse 11 he talks about the persecutions that he's endured and verse 12 he says indeed all who desire to live a godly life if you desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus catch this you're going to be persecuted like it's not easy people are not for this they're they're against it the Word tells us we're going to be persecuted verse 13 tells us by who by people who are impostors who are deceiving us but then look what he says in verse 15. He says excuse me the end of verse for for Jesus but as for you continuing what you have learned from the Bible and firmly believe knowing from whom you have learned it and how from childhood you've been acquainted with with the with the sacred writings the scriptures which are able to make use why make you smart sure salvation through faith in Christ and then verse 16 will put up on the board he says this his book that you're holding in your hands it's breathed out by God it's profitable for teaching for approved for correction for training in righteousness why so that every single one of us man and woman of God may be complete a quip for every good work this book is helpful to our spiritual growth this can feed the revival in your heart do you love the Choose of this book. Are you willing to do the hard work of reading it for yourself and allowing it to permeate every area of your life now I want to share with you a scripture that's become a favorite of mine why kind of for a cynical reason because sometimes the Bible is kind of hard to understand and it's a little difficult but right down 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 16 because I think this is funny because Peter the great apostle Do you remember him Peter is a great apostle and he wrote some of the New Testaments in the Bible and this is what he says in 2nd Peter 3 Verse 16 he says hey there's some things in Paul's letters which is the Bible he says some things and look at the out of pieces they're just really hard to understand. Now how many would agree with me that some things in this book are hard to understand look at my bit Moji for a moment that's me and I agree you say what's a bit Moji ask a 13 year old. But how many would agree with me that the Bible is sometimes this book is complicated Look it's not easy it's not easy to understand but listen that if you're diligent there's truth in this book that have satisfied some of the greatest thinkers in human history so I think it's hilarious that Peter would say of Paul's Ready Set mender kind of sometimes it's complicated but would you agree that we can understand it and let's but Moji is this that we can give a huge it is because in this book if we commit ourselves to it we can do this we can learn what God wants it's profitable for us this is God's word to your heart no matter what you're facing now remember this though let me give you another Billy Sunday quote here's the difficult one 1st read you may not get it slow down and comprehend what he's saying remember that the Bible will always be full of things you cannot understand as long as you will not live or cording to those things you can understand or you catch what he said and he said hey there's some things in here that if you know and you choose not to live by them and you ignore them and you rip the pages out and you say oh I don't doubt for me and I don't want to do that then guess what you have put a ceiling on the truth of what you can understand that this that when you choose to live your life in such a way that displeases God you will not gain further understanding and so what is it what area in your life do you need the formis of truth let's embrace this as God's direction for us it is true north this book that we're reading right now it is giving direction to us. What else well if you have a bible go ahead and turn to Psalm 139 again I'll get there in a moment but pray for this talking about the Bible pray for a willingness to hear and immediately respond to God's word so pray that you would hear it and respond to it the verses James Chapter one Verse $22.00 that I would not only be a huge doer of the word but be doers of the word and not hearers only why because that just deceives each one of us so I'm going to ask you in a moment to just close your eyes and I want to do this I want to pray this scripture of familiar one from James Chapter one over us just to model what I'm talking about and so that I'm asking that this is the way you would pray scripture over yourself over your family that this is what would guide your time with God close your eyes and let me pray James Chapter one starting in verse 19. Gotta help every one of us me included to be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger God forgive me for doing everything that is opposite of that god because when I am quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger. Because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that you desire therefore I'm calling out to you now I'm asking your for your forgiveness I'm asking to do what it says in verse 21 that large you would put away all filthiness and rampid wickedness in myself my family our church that we Lord would have have the desire to receive the implanted word your truth with meekness and humility Lord let your truth encourage those who are discouraged today let your truth beat us and guide us to the pathway that you desire because your word says it is able to save our souls God help us to be doers of the word and not just here's why because we don't want to deceive ourself it says for any one God who is the hero of the word and not a Jew or he's like a person who looks into his mirror he sees his natural face and he looks at himself and he goes away and forgets what he is looking like but Lord help us in this moment every single person in this church those who can hear my voice Let us look into the perfect law the law of liberty and let us purser veer in the difficult choose Lord let us be hears who do not forget and doers who act why because your word says that we will be blessed in what we do if you group that prayer say amen. You know one of things I started doing read the bible times 27 and one of the things that I really wrote in the front cover and do it in every Bible and I'll just give you admonish you to do the same is just as is the swamps a little simple prayer and it's helped me all these years it says got to open your word to me and open me to your were so just open your word to me God but in order for that to happen I need to be open to your word someone 19 verse 18 go ahead and write that in your Bibles if that would be helpful to you next thing is this that we would do this that we would pray pray that God will reveal to you this is where I mean we're born hardline Now this is the Bulls I pray that God will reveal to you your willful habitual sins of action and attitude See we all have blind spots we all have thick heads we all need what God bring Take a look at someone 39 I asked you to turn there if you don't have it highlighted in your Bible I suggest you do it now this is one you can circle it I'm telling you get the little what's this little rope thingy called rope thingy get that and put it right in someone 39 if you've got a couple little rope things get those big bottles put all the rope things in someone 39 and I would encourage you to start your day start this week each day with someone 39 the God revealed Himself to you the sins of action and that attitude and this is what it says He says that we would call out and say God search me and know my her tribe be and know my thoughts and God see if there be any grievous any evil way in me and leave me in the way of everlasting Now how many people would agree with me if that was our prayer each morning with a note pad at hand that God would lead us in something. Another Billy Sunday quote one reason sin flourish is that we treat it like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake Herrmann be treated like a cream puff now would feel like dessert but you don't like ice cream instead of the steak it is we enjoy it we like the cement we like doing that thing it feels good for the moment and we enjoy it we eat it and it's like a rattlesnake that is doing what it's ready to bite us and the venom is poising us and it's killing us and it's killing our family that we would tackle so that we would ask God to searchers and to know. Telling us to tackle sin and seek personal revival You're listening to Ron's Appiah here on high point today's messages titled 10 scriptures to pray for revival You can listen to the entire series when you visit us at High Point Ministries dot com ran this concept the seeking personal revival through prayer I think it probably goes without saying that Sacco this we're going to actually have to pray as a good place to start but I find the personal per time honestly it's a challenge for all of us at times yes t.v. You're right it is difficult it's difficult for me I mean I go through different seasons but it's really a discipline and so a discipline is something that you have to develop over time and so you've got to set aside time and work at it to grow in it I mean prayer is something that you grow into you won't build a habit of prayer all at once but if you're consistent you'll build it over time we want to help you to do that because we believe prayer is transformational to your life so we've created a special set of scripture prayer cards to help you get started it's a set of 6 cards one for each message in the series and you can use them during your quiet times Bible studies or even with friends or family members to help you engage more in prayer and in praying the Bible well. To request a set of 6 scripture prayer cards call us with your gift of any amount call 844-477-2346 extension 41 line go to High Point Ministries dot com You can also writes the high point ministries p. O. Box 2 a one Naperville Illinois 60566 that's p.o. Box 281 neighbor Ville Illinois 60566 when you support high point ministries you enable us to keep producing in these timely biblical messages so be sure to ask for a future resource when you give a gift of any amount this month the highpoint asked for the scripture prayer card set when you call 84 for h p radio or online go to High Point Ministries dot com We can't remain on the radio without support from listeners just like you and if you're already supporting highpoint financially we just want to say this thank you I'm Steve Smith to join us again Thursday as we finish this message on the importance of praying for personal revival right here high point to drugs a. New with Washington President his appearance in front of a conservative think tank last night to argue the u.s. Should celebrate its back we believe we should preserve our history not tear it down now they're even trying to destroy statues of Christopher Columbus' what's next has to be stopped it's heritage the president pointed to a movement to take the Confederate statues as well as other symbols of the country's past as he spoke to the conservative Heritage Foundation here in Washington former presidential strategist Steve Bannon has put us. Ism of the g.o.p. Establishment last night at a fundraiser for a challenger to Arizona's incumbent senator Jeff Place globalist set of elites don't want to rule over you from an imperial city like a new aristocracy they could care less about your economic well being they could care less about your families they could care less about your children and grandchildren Bennett is promoting a feel of primary challengers to take on incumbent Republicans in Congress especially in the Senate the president's claim that his predecessors fell short of reaching out to families of fallen soldiers is now big challenge as White House correspondent right plugs in a news conference this week the president said he had written letters to the families of 4 u.s. Soldiers killed in Niger this month and that he planned to call them as well Mr Trump said most of his predecessors didn't make such calls that claim is at odds with the public record and officials who work for both the Obama and Bush administrations confirm that those presidents reached out to families of the dead and to the wounded often in person as well as by letter and phone Greg the White House and Wall Street looks like it's going to be a strong start right now Dow futures are up by about 70 points Nasdaq futures up by 4 and s. And p. $500.00 futures right now also up by about 4 points this is as aren't new. A Christian Baker receiving a very odd and new request Michael Harrington has a details Jack Phillips was sued by a homosexual couple for refusing to bake the my wedding cake his case goes before the Supreme Court in December now the daily signal reports that Colorado bakers received a request for a cake celebrating the birthday of Satan Philip says the client the spy the customers argument the state museum is a protected religion some believe the baker is being targeted by those outside the Christian community who want to see him put out of business Michael Arrington I'm sorry and news this very important side will lower court today ordered a New Mexico City to remove a 10 Commandments monument for the lawn outside so the home civil liberties advocates behind the case call the decision involving the city of Bloomfield a victory for the separation of church and state but David Korten senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom says the outcome does nothing to resolve confusion in lower courts involving such muddy much this is as her a news Portugal's interior minister has resigned after dozens of people died a massive outbreak of forest fire consensus that would ban least those that had been under pressure to resign for months since 64 people died in a single forest fire in June that dissolved it was partly because the emergency communications system used by firefighters and civil defense failed now more people have died in fires that began on Sunday across central and northern Portugal the minister at 1st resisted opposition calls the head. There is B.B.C.'s Allison Roberts in Lisbon Microsoft has begun rolling out an update for its windows 10 operating system aimed at building enthusiasm for the company's for a into virtual and augment it reality that some I handle update to the windows o. S. Is now available in addition to the virtual experiences the new update laws will provide different ways to do things like share photos and video and handle 3 d. Imagery more details at s. Or a News dot com From Washington I'm Paul Agnew. Jesus once described himself as the stone that the builders rejected and he said whoever falls on that stone will be broken but on whomever it falls it will grind him to powder What in the world does that mean it tells me that everyone will experience brokenness some will experience brokenness in this life by humbly giving up their own way and letting Christ live through them those are the people who fall on the stone but others will refuse God may allow them to walk in pride for a while but eventually either in this life or the next they'll bring down everything that exalts itself against these people will be ground to power have you fallen on the stone Christ Jesus choosing to humbly submit your will to God's or are you resisting him in pride in danger of being crushed with seeking Him I'm Nancy Demasi walk a month k j o l Thanks high frequency living of Glenwood Springs a business partner helping to underwrite the expenses of local Christian radio for the West.