God Is Enough

Transcript

Alright thank you very much, and hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? Yes, this is your friend Dr. Cook and I’m delighted to be back with you once, again to share from God’s word. We’re looking into the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. In any case, here we are at verse seven, “He called on to Him”, that is our Lord Jesus, “called onto him, the 12 and began to send them fourth, two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits, and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only, no script, no bread, no money in their purse, but be shod with sandals, and not put on two coats”. We’ll come back to this in a minute, I’ll continue reading however a with what our Lord said. He said, “Unto them in what place whatsoever ye enter into an house, there abide til ye depart from that place and whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily, I say unto you it’s shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city”. They went out and preached that men should repent, they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. Now here, Mark of course with his telegraphic style, just puts down the main facts, which I guess is all right with us. Our Lord Jesus knows whom He wants to send and where He wants to send them. That’s the first thing that stands right out there. All you have to do is yield yourself to God and He’ll send you and He’ll use you. You don’t have to pray, “Oh God use me”. It’s a matter of becoming usable, isn’t it? Yes, it is. Our Lord Jesus knows who He wants to reach, He knows who He wants to send, to reach that someone, He knows the circumstances which will apply when the meeting is accomplished. Knows is all about it, and He knows we want you to work. Have you ever thought about that? Many of my listeners, from time to time, face a choice as to whom, with whom they will work. Shall I work with this person, shall I work with that person, shall I team up with the other person?

A man talked to me some time ago, about leaving his very comfortable position in the church, and going to work with a brother who had a television ministry. Entirely different set up and with probably less security, should he do it or not. Well I tell you, the Lord knows. Looking back I can see how He led, me not only in the general course of my life, but He led me in terms of the people with whom I would work. He knows, He put these people together, by two and two and He sent them. Now, let that be a comfort to your own heart today and a challenge as well to you, as you think in terms of the decisions you must make that involve, the who, what, where, when, and why, our Lord Jesus knows. “He Himself knew what He would do it”, says, “concerning His conduct”, in John chapter 6. He Himself knew what He would do. He knew all things, it says in another place. “He did not that any should tell Him”. So, just report for duty, ask God to guide you in your choice of people with whom you are to work and He will, so that your ministry will be a blessed adventure not a grind, and you’ll have the joy of working with people that fit so closely with your own attributes, that both of you will know that the Lord put you together. Reverend Ota, we called him Ota Sensei, the word sensei is an honorable suffix in Japanese, means wise one, teacher. Ota Sensei, he was my interpreter in Japan years ago, traveled with me everywhere. One day the thought just overcame him, he said, “You know brother, I’m so close to you that even when you cough, I cough”. That’s pretty close, isn’t it? Yes, you can have the joy of working with people concerning whom you know the Lord put them with you.

When I first came to the college in 1962 as president, there was the predictable exodus of some people. They knew I was going to stand firm and true to the inherent word of God, and that I was going to enforce the rules that were set down as rules of conduct, and they didn’t want that kind of a stricture so they left. Well then, that left some holes to be filled. I began to pray that God would send people to me, and one by one, they came, Pinebrook was being modified into a different kind of a setup after the death of Dr. Percy Crawford, and so Art Weist and his wife left the farm where they had been for a number of years, growing vegetables to feed the summer conference crowd, they came to work with us. Jim Weigand had been had been managing the children’s camps, Shadowbrook and Mountainbrook, whatever it was called, and those were closed down, and he came to work with me, and others came from here and there. God put them together. I never ceased to marvel at His kindness in bringing dear, dear Saints of His, into my life at the right time, to help get His work done. Pastor you can depend on this, do you need somebody to promote, somebody that’s a promoter? Ask God to save a salesman and bring them in your church. Do you need someone who can handle finances? Ask God to save a banker and bring them into church. Anything I tell you, I’ve been there. I was in the pastorate 18 years, I know that God can bring specific people to you in answer to prayer. Oh yes, He can. If you’re in business and you need someone specially in your business, God knows where the people are that can meet the need. Trust Him and obey Him.

Well, that all grew out of this verse it says, “He began to send them forth”. Now it says, “He gave them power over unclean spirits, commanded them they should take nothing for the journey, save a staff only, no script, no bread, no money in their purse, but be shod with sandals and not put on two coats”. What is all this? The exhibition of God’s power oftentimes depends upon the lack of trust in anything else. You want to chew on that for a while? The outpouring of God’s power through your life and mine, often depends upon the lack of trust in anything else, as long as you got something else to trust in, you’re not going to exercise complete faith in God, concerning a matter.

I was for some years head of the Youth for Christ movement in Chicago, had a wonderful committee of businessmen who backed me up and who helped and counseled. One of whom was the treasure, an engineer who had perhaps 60 or 65 people working for him in his engineering business, and a fine brother. Well, it came one day when I was completely out of money. There wasn’t anything left in the till, payday was coming up, and the other bills to be paid and I just had to go out and raise some money, and so, I said, well I’ll go see my friend Al, and maybe he’ll help me, and at least he’ll pray with me, which he did. We had an earnest prayer meeting that God would help and guide and direct and supply that special need. He told me frankly that he was given out, there wasn’t anything more he could give, but he would pray with me which he did, and then when we get up off our knees I said to him, “You know Al, I don’t understand why the Lord lets us get broke like this, from time to time”. He thought a minute and said, “You know it’s a cinch that you pray a lot better when you’re broke”. Oh how true, though incidentally, the P.S. to that story is that God did supply that need and the money was raised and we did meet the payroll of met the bills, and went right on, halleluiah. The Lord brings you through things doesn’t He? “He suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna that He might make thee know”. See, that’s the way the Lord works, He brings you into a situation of need, the He brings you through it by His grace, so that you can know in your own heart that it pays to trust God. The outpouring of God’s power is often times directly proportional to your lack of trust in anything else. What did He say to them? “Take nothing for your journey”. Now, that certainly sounds like, like poor advice, doesn’t it? He said, “No script”, that’s a purse, “no bread, no money, in you prescript”, that’s a bag to carry your personal items in, “and no bread, no money in your purse”. Just wear sandals and don’t have two coats. Now, why did He tell them that? Was that to teach them that you should never make plans? Was that to teach them that when you go on a journey, you should never be prepared for it? No, what He was teaching them was, on this particular mission, you have to learn to trust God while you are exercising the authority I’m giving you, over the powers of sin and Satan. This was an object lesson in learning to trust God. It doesn’t teach me that when I go on a trip, I shouldn’t have anything with me. That isn’t what it teaches. What it does teach is that it is more important to trust in the power of God, in the guidance of God, than it is to trust in everything else, and they had to learn that. Notice that He let them take a staff, that was to ward off any of the angry neighbors dogs that came out to bite them, and I suppose to lean upon when their bodies were weary with the walking, but there they go, nothing by way of money, nothing by way of equipment, nothing by way of even of extra clothing, just God.

I carry in my wallet as a very small clipping that my sister Mildred gave to me some years ago. I still carry a treasure it. It says, when you’re down to nothing at all, then for the first time you may become aware of the fact that God is enough. There my brother, my sister, is the truth. Never fear or flinch at the trials of life and the necessities of life and the needs that you face, because in them and through them, God is teaching you that He is indeed enough and like what he said to Paul, He is saying to you and to me, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in your weakness”. He’s enough, He’s more than enough. “Ye are complete in Him”, says Paul. Everything that you’ll ever need is wrapped up in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, so trust Him and obey Him, step by step.

Dear Father today, grant to us to live in the delightful awareness that Thou art indeed enough, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!