R1469 The Promise of the First Find

When is it too late? That's today's topic with a message from Dr. Don Wilton here on the Encouraging Word Broadcast. The Encouraging Word! We heard that expression, timing is everything, and today we'll head to both Hebrews, Revelation, and 2 Peter to talk about this concept of when is it too late with Dr. Don Wilton. As we open the Word together, Dr. Don wants you to know we're open to you. We'd love to pray with you and for you on 866-899-WORD, that's our phone number, jot it down, 866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org. As a matter of fact, right now on our website, www.tewonline.org, you'll see some splendid resources, one including Laura Storey, an amazing musician and a wonderful gifted writer. You'll see her book details again at www.tewonline.org.

Get your copy today. The Encouraging Word! Now today's message with Dr. Don Wilton.

I'm really trying to be happy right now. Dear Mr. Graham is with the Lord Jesus. And we are convinced, we know, that on Wednesday morning, as we in our hearts had prayed for quite some time, that we believe that Mr. Graham just closed his eyes.

He just opened them in the presence of Jesus. The angels of the Lord just came and picked up this dear man and carried him right there into the presence of the Lord Jesus. And we just believe it. I know, I've said many times, we all are saying, I'm convinced Ms. Ruth is standing there. I've told reporters, I've made the comment, I can't put words into Ms. Ruth's mouth, but I'm sure she would have said, it's about time, Billy.

I think the family has agreed with that. One can only just imagine the reunion that must have taken place and is taking place in heaven with this lady that he just loved and adored so much. And then there's George Beverly Shay and Cliff Barrows and the millions of people who have given their hearts to Jesus because one person, just one man, one ordinary man, born down the road in North Carolina, just said yes to Jesus, just gave his life to Christ. And I just want to tell you today how much I love each one of you, just thank the Lord for you. It goes without saying, Dr. Graham was a precious man, and he loved his church family so much. You meant a great deal to him, and you were a source of constant joy.

And he would always tell me that, and I just cannot tell you that enough. And, you know, today it's been an amazing journey since Wednesday. You know, from the time we went to receive Mr. Graham's body at the funeral home in Asheville, and just seeing people, just lines and lines of people, just going, taking his body back to the Billy Graham Training Center, the Cove, that place that he loved so much. And then the journey from the Cove to Charlotte and to see the walkways and the bridges and people just lined up, and you could sense the Spirit of the living God. And you could feel, it's not about, may we say, thank you Jesus for a precious man like Mr. Graham, but it's thank you Lord Jesus for using just one ordinary man to introduce so many of us to the Lord Jesus, to be a spokesman, to share the love of God, to tell us that God loves us, and to invite us to trust Jesus the same way as Billy Graham did, to receive the same forgiveness as Billy Graham did, to have our names written in God's book in heaven, just as Billy Graham did. And he's received his reward.

You know, I will say to you that it's just an amazing thing with the press, people everywhere, and the stories. You know, people might come and interview you and then want to come and share with you how they gave their lives to Christ. And people from all over the world, from every different walk of life, testifying to the joy of knowing Jesus in stadiums and in places and walkways, just because they heard the message, just because somebody invited them to come.

And through his servant, that they were able to be brought to that point at which they received forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Please pray for the family. They're so precious, the Graham family.

They vary, they are unbelievably precious. And pray for them. You know, that's their daddy, and that's Daddy Bull, granddaddy, to the children and the grandchildren and the great grandchildren. And we all suffer loss. So many of us have been through that. I know what that's like, in fact, to the day, because February 21st was the same day that my own father went to heaven three years ago.

We know that. We've experienced that, and so one can imagine when you pray, pray for them as a family, that God would bless them and encourage their hearts and enable them to walk through this. Pray that people around the world who are watching and thanking God and those who are just curious, that they would hear one thing, and that's about the Lord Jesus. That was Mr. Graham's desire, is to share Christ and Him crucified.

He was only interested in that. It's very difficult even to describe the humility of this great man. This man who knew so many and was sought after by so many and yet never ever thought anything of himself. And I'm going to say to you, and I said this to the family even yesterday after we had brought Mr. Graham's body into the library yesterday.

Many of you watched that. And I said to the family, you know, I think we'd all agree Dr. Graham would look around and say, what is all this going on? Who are all these people? What's all this fuss about? To which one of us would say to him, well, Mr. Graham, you know, these are people who are just coming to say thank you, and I'm telling you, he would have looked at that camera, looked at me, looked at the world, and said he would do this exactly the way I'm about to do it. Let me give you a rough translation. That means, how can this be?

Why would anybody pay any attention to me? It's only about the Lord Jesus. It's only about the Lord Jesus. And how grateful we can be together at a time like this. And I love you so very much today, and I believe in my heart that God is stirring the waters.

Perhaps in America today, the fields are truly ripe under harvest. God is doing a great work. Yes, I would submit to you that we pray that so many people would give their lives to Christ through the testimony and the witness of Dr. Billy Graham, and we have confidence in that. But he's doing that in our hearts and lives. I can't explain Dr. Billy Graham outside of the spirit of the living God.

I shall miss him so much. Why he would have loved me like that, I don't know. I went into, on a number of occasions, just knelt down at his casket, just by myself, and I had a chat with him. I said to him, Dr. Graham, if by God's grace I could be just a fraction of the servant of God that you've been, I would be most deeply grateful to the Lord Jesus. Only the Spirit of God can do that, which will explain to you this great passage of Scripture that I want to read to you today in John's Gospel chapter 1. I want us to look at this together, and I want to read to you a passage that I know had come to mean a great deal to Dr. Billy Graham, but I'm going to say to you that I had prepared this message before Mr. Graham went to heaven.

I think God knows what he's doing, and it begins with a rather somewhat ragged, ordinary man who came out of the desert. You'll recognize him right away. His name was John the Baptist, we called him. If I may say to you, John the Baptist was not exactly what you and I would call anything but an ordinary man, if at all. And the Bible says in John chapter 1 and verse 29 that the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said.

After me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him, on Jesus. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and I have seen and borne witness that this is he.

He is the Son of God. And so the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Well, Jesus turned and saw them following them and said to them, What are you seeking? And they said to him, Teacher, where are you staying? How can we get to know you? And he said, Why don't you come and see?

And when you do, you will know. So they came and they saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him for that day. And one of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and he said to him, Brother, Simon, we have found the Messiah, the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon, the Son of John. You will be called Cephas, which means Peter. I have been trying to, and I don't think I ever will, process and ponder in my heart just the significance of one person's witness for Christ.

That's why I want to speak to you today on the promise of the first find. Look at John. John arrives on the scene, and there were four things that he just knew about Jesus. He knew Jesus was the reconciler, the Lamb of God, the sacrifice, the only sacrifice.

To be reconciled means that you are brought back together where you are intended and purposed to be. Did you know that God loves you? Please forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of Dr. Wilton's message in just a moment. But that simple question, did you know that God loves you, is a question that many of us have to come to grips with.

I felt so unloved in my past. Maybe you're feeling unloved right now, and you need to know God is using this broadcast to let you know He loves you, He has a plan for your life, and there is a way to begin again today. Again, we'll be back with the rest of today's message, but Dr. Wilton would say if you want to take a moment and call and talk with someone or pray with someone, oh, that'd be a great interruption. 866-899, word is the phone number, that's 866-899-9673, jot the number down. We're available 24 hours a day at 866-899-9673 or online at tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. Now back to today's message with Dr. Don Wilton. Do you know that because of our sin, we become separated from God? You are separated from God. But the Lamb of God came, Jesus died on the cross in order that we might be reconciled to God. John knew that Jesus was the reconciler, he knew that Jesus was the cleanser. He said, this is the one who will forgive you for your sin. All of us have sinned, come short of the glory of God. The Bible teaches very clearly that because Jesus, the reconciler, died on the cross that through Him we might be cleansed and forgiven of our sin. You can be forgiven of your sin. I am forgiven of my sin. I'm forgiven of my sin for all time and eternity when I confess to Him and I repent of my sin before Christ. And then I'm forgiven on a daily moment by moment basis because the Bible says if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.

Don't you want to be cleansed, clean again? Jesus does that. John knew that. He knew that Jesus was the mediator.

That's what he's talking about here in verse 32. He understood that this Jesus was the only one who could make this possible. There is no other way. Jesus Himself said it like this. He said, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No man can come to the Father but by me. John knew that. John understood that. These were the deep things in his heart, this wonderful ordinary man, this man who just stepped out of the desert that people might have said, how can God use someone like me?

He knew it. He also knew that Jesus was the baptizer. He said, this is the one who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit because Jesus is God and God is the Spirit. And when Jesus went back to be seated at the right hand of the Father, He said, I'm going but don't be afraid, don't despair because I'm going to send My Spirit and He's going to come upon you.

And He did. And when you give your heart to Jesus, you become baptized and immersed in God Father, God Son, God the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit takes over your life and He guides you and directs you and gives you hope and joy, teaches us, points us in the right direction, helps us to do that which is well pleasing in His sight. What would you have done if you were John? I heard Mr. Graham say to me many times personally, we've heard him testify on numerous times as he's talked about his own life. Here he is just this man, grew up on a farm, I loved listening to his precious mother talking about him, just this ordinary man. And the man came into his community by the name of Mordecai Ham and 15-year-old young Billy Graham went. You've probably heard him say, you know, last thing in his mind was that he would give his life to Jesus but somebody invited him to come. Somebody found him and said, come, we found Jesus. You know, Billy Graham came, sat there. He's told us you've heard it. They sang many, many verses of that hymn of invitation that night. He was the last one to come. I asked Dr. Graham one time, I said, tell me exactly how many verses.

I've got to know because I've got to tell Steve how long to keep singing. Do you know what he said to me, he said, oh, Don. He said, I wish I knew, but my heart was so troubled, the Spirit of God was all over me.

I wasn't counting the number of verses. But the one thing he did know was that he came, gave his life to Christ. You know, that's what Andrew did. Here's what he did. He accepted. He accepted Christ. He knew.

He accepted his responsibility. He knew. And he went and he found his brother. He found his brother.

You know, Eric Kirkendall in our 21-day prayer and fasting guide today wrote, and many of us have read that, if you walk by and a house was burning and there was someone in that burning house, and you made no effort to save that person's life, how sad that would be. You know, I think Andrew knew. He knew Jesus. He understood the need for forgiveness of sin, for being reconciled to the Father. He went and found his brother, and then he testified. He said, hey, brother, Andrew, said, brother, Peter, come here. We have found him, Jesus.

I think maybe if he had lived during the time of Billy Graham, he might have said, Peter, we're going to a crusade tonight. You coming? No, I'm not.

Yes, you are. I don't know. We don't find any reluctance on Peter's part today, you and I.

You know, in just two weeks, we're going to gather. He first found his own sister. He went immediately to his neighbor. He knew well that person who sat at lunch with him. He first found, and then he celebrated.

You know, all you have to do is make an introduction. Jesus will do the rest. I love this passage because, you know, Andrew, I'm not even sure whether he could do it all and say it all, but that wasn't the point here because as soon as he said, here's Jesus, Jesus takes over.

Jesus said, from now on, what about Peter? What a celebration. One of the most moving things for me yesterday was Miss Jean, Dr. Graham's sister. What a precious lady, she and Dr. Leighton Ford. You know, as I hugged her and loved her, I thought to myself, she knew her brother. What joy Miss Jean has had, a wonderful servant of the Lord. What joy Franklin and Anne and Ned and Gigi, the whole family together, Ruth, as they grew up. What joy. What a celebration. What joy when your husband comes to know Christ, your son gives his heart to you, your daughter gives her heart to Jesus.

All over the world it's happened, and it's happening here. Sometimes it's amazing just to see the move of God at the end of these services, and perhaps God is moving in your heart right now. Don't let this moment pass without responding to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

You've heard Dr. Wilton from the pool, but now as he comes into the studio, open your heart to what he has to say next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin, and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just prayed that prayer along with Dr. Wilton, as Dr. Don says, it's not the words but the attitude of your heart, if that's your attitude to begin anew with a fresh following of Jesus Christ, maybe a rededication to Christ or following for the first time, we have wonderful resources. If Dr. Don wants you to have absolutely free, you just need to call and ask at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673, or you can connect online with us as well. Our website is www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org, a great place to discover lots of resources like this. Enjoying the paradoxical peace and joy of surrendering your will and giving God control. In this four-part study, Laura uses her own story to explain why giving up is important, whom we are submitting to, how to go about doing it, and the effects of this decision on the lives of the people around us. I Give Up, The Secret Joy of a Surrendered Life by Laura Storey is available for your gift of $18 and support to The Encouraging Word this month.

Limited quantities available. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Our time's gone today, but we'll stay connected online at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. And tomorrow Dr. Wilson's message called Standing Strong in the Cross Currents is one that I recommend highly. I hope that you'll join us for it and maybe bring a friend. Join us tomorrow at the same time for The Encouraging Word with Dr. Don Wilson.