1082. Cast All Your Care On Him pt. 1

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we'll hear a sermon preached at the Bob Jones University Bible Conference.

The theme for the 2020 Bible Conference was, The God of All Comfort. Dr. Morris Gleiser, an evangelist from Dallas, Texas, will be preaching part one of a sermon titled, Cast All Your Care on Him. I'd like to introduce our speaker. Dr. Morris Gleiser spoke here a couple of years ago at our opening spring revival meeting. And as many of you know that after he spoke, he was diagnosed with cancer. And so as we were coming into this particular Bible Conference, I thought it would really, really be appropriate for us to really have Morris come back and share out of his own life, not necessarily just the experience himself, but of course to speak out of what God has shown him.

And I'm so thankful for Morris. We have been friends for many, many years. He served 20 years as a youth pastor.

Anybody like that should get the medal of honor. He was four years a camp director. And then for the last 20 years, he's traveled in full-time evangelistic work with his dear wife, Lynn. He has been faithful. Everywhere he goes, everywhere he goes, he is a blessing to the people of God. And the Lord has greatly blessed him in his ministry and has given him fruitful labor. And anytime an evangelist has a full schedule, it's obviously a sign of the Lord's goodness and blessing in his life. And so I hope that as you listen this morning, you'll listen carefully.

I've had discussions with Mr. Benson, and I know that some of you are really, really struggling because a week like this that is so intense, it brings a lot of stuff to the surface. And for many of us, we are defined by our emotions and our experiences. And spiritual maturity comes as we begin to be defined by truth, where we actually believe truth over the way we feel or the things that we've experienced. And we are not defined by the sin of the world. We're defined by the grace of God. And as simple as that sounds, and you can hear it over and over and over, oftentimes you have to go through an experience where God shows you these things. And as was even mentioned last night, that the thing that we wrestle with the most is the very thing that God wants to use to change us and bless us. So I hope you'll listen carefully to the Word of God as it's preached in just a moment by evangelist Morris Gleiser.

Good morning. It is incredible to be back here with you. And it's just incredible to be anywhere, honestly, to have the joy of being able to open up the Word of God and to present it, to preach it, and to be able to proclaim it and to talk about and to... And I say this, and I hope you know I don't mean this in any way irreverently, to brag about our God. He is truly the healer and the rock and redeemer that we have sung about today. He is the one who has shown mercy in our lives. And I want to exalt Him this morning. And I would love to say to you how much you mean to me, but if I took the time to try to say how much you mean to me, it would take the rest of our time together.

And I don't have that time. I know a lot of us don't know each other, but a whole lot of us do. And we've crossed paths, maybe at your churches or at a Christian camp in the summer times, and some of you have served as counselors, some of you have been campers, and maybe we've crossed paths at a jail somewhere.

I don't know, but we've crossed paths somewhere, and you know who you are. And I really don't need to say that. I just am grateful for the friends that we have here. Some are on staff and faculty, and you are truly great heroes of mine and people that I greatly respect, and I am so grateful for you. And I hope this has been a good week. I hope it will continue to be a great week for you.

I love, absolutely love the theme. I love the heartbeat, which by the way, can I say this about the heartbeat? I have greatly appreciated the heartbeat that I have sensed among the student body here at BJ this week.

I have just sensed a sweet spirit, a disposition that is kind, joyful, and gracious. It's just, it's been a heartbeat of Christ's likeness, and I'm so grateful for that. And I realize there's probably a bunch of dead heads, and maybe some grumpy gripey people that are in our midst, and I hope that your crowd is extremely small. I can go to the smallest church in America, and you got people like that.

They're everywhere, but you're in the minority around here because the crowd I see seems to be a people who genuinely are excited about honoring the Lord with their life. My wife and I are thankful for the opportunity to be here with you. I love the theme of this conference because it literally puts all the focus back on the one who really needs to be the focus of our attention. It's our God. He is really the God of all comfort.

And I don't want to dwell on any of the struggles that I physically have gone through, although I've got to bring up some of that. It's like the Gospel. Before you can really see the good news, you've got to know there is bad news. And we wouldn't need God's comfort if it wasn't for the fact that there are times of uncomfortableness in our lives.

And I've known it just like you've known it. And it goes beyond the physical. It hits the emotional. There are some of you who can't even explain, you can't even, you can't even put your finger on what it is that has caused such anxiety or struggle or uncomfortableness in your life.

But it's there. You can't verbalize it, but it's there. Even you go to prayer sometimes and you say, God, I don't even know how to say what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling, but you know what I'm going through. The last couple of years while battling what I've had to battle, I've done what I've called, I've gone swimming in the Psalms. I can't tell you how many times I've pointed to the Psalm and something that the word that the Psalmist had written, I'll say that right there, right there. Lord, that's exactly what I'm trying to say. I couldn't have said it any better. It's because you are the one who gave guidance to this Psalmist to write these words. And that's what I'm, can I just use the word?

That's what I'm feeling. You know, feelings can be your friend. Feelings, by the way, emotions are a gift from God. They really are. They color our experiences of life. They bring laughter to life.

They help us in communication with people. Emotions can, they really are a blessing unless they crawl up into the driver's seat of your life. They need to sit in the back seat. They don't need to be in control. Emotions, though they are a gift from God, they do not need to dictate the direction of your life because though there are times of great delight and joy and enthusiasm and peace, there are other times in which they'll drive you down in the depths of consternation and disturbance and trouble and confusion and perplexity and you say, what's going on? And so don't allow, don't allow your emotions to dictate the direction of your life. Emotions are to be your servant, not your master.

And so as I went swimming in the Psalms, I would point out things and I'd say, now Lord, that's exactly what I'm feeling. And I don't want to feel bad. I don't want to, I don't want to be troubled and full of fear and anxiety and God, I'm going through it. I'm battling it right now.

So help me. Maybe you need to go back to the Psalms and go swimming there and find your peace in some of the words that are written there. But this morning I want us to go to 1 Peter. If you go to chapter 5 with me, Peter knew some things about trouble. He knew some things about anxiety. He knew some things about hardship and confusion and fears and so forth. But by the time he wrote this particular epistle, he was writing to friends that were going through an extreme amount of fearful disturbance.

And they really were. Rome was in a turmoil of persecution against God's people. Let's get the backdrop before we get to the passage. Let's get the context of what we're looking at. Peter was writing to folks who were just at their wits end saying, what's going on?

And when is this going to stop? And I don't understand. You say, what were they battling with? Well, Nero was the Caesar and he was a crazy guy. I mean, he was a nut.

I mean, he was just, he was just crazy. He had such an insatiable desire to build. He had such a craving, a lust to build buildings that when he ran out of space to build, he literally did. He dictated the burning of Rome and he played on his fiddle while it burned. He wanted to burn a bunch of Rome and people lost their livelihood. They lost their home. They lost a bunch of their culture so that he could turn around and build new buildings. Well, the Roman citizenry was in a fury because their government had done this. Their Caesar had allowed this. And so in order to deflect the responsibility, Nero said, oh no, no, no.

Time out. It wasn't me. No, it wasn't me. It was this new sect of people.

What are they called? Yeah, Christians. That's who they are. And he led an uprising against the group of Christians that was totally contrary to the truth. He said, they're the ones responsible for destroying your beautiful nation, your beautiful country and our great heritage and let's go after them. And so I don't have time to remind you of all the things, the brutality of persecution, much of God's people, the church had to go underground. They were meeting in places to protect themselves. And so when Peter wrote this letter, he was writing to people that were in a state of extreme fearfulness about their own life, their family, their future.

And they couldn't understand where did this come from? We don't deserve this. We've been good. Have you ever felt that way? I don't deserve this. Let me remind you of what we're all deserving of. We deserve to go to hell. But there are periods of time in God's people and their lives in which we get to participate, join Christ in his sufferings. But when you're in the midst of the storm, it's like, why? I don't understand. I don't get this.

And that's where they were. That's why in this letter, Peter writes words like, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice. Oh yeah, give me a break. Rejoice in that ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings.

That's what he said. And then we come to chapter five. Of course, you know that Peter didn't write it with chapter divisions, but when we come to this section, he is wrapping up his letter and he begins to fire some instructions off to these people. And he reminds the pastors, the shepherds, the elders, and he says to them, now look, you're not the Lord over people.

They don't need somebody to just kind of, you know, boss them around and be some kind of a dictator or some kind of a lordship type of a ruler. He goes, you need to lead them and you need to feed them. That's the first few verses of chapter five. Then he says this, look at, pick it up with me in verse five. He says, likewise ye younger, younger ones submit, put yourself under the elder, yea all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. By the way, that's one size fits all.

We all need that. And in case we didn't get it, Peter quotes scripture. He goes back to the Proverbs, keep reading, he says, be clothed with humility, and here comes the Proverb, for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. And in case we still hadn't gotten it, he says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Now don't let the wording make you, don't let it mislead you. When he says that he may exalt you, it doesn't mean that he may lift you up. And people say, boy, you must be super Christian. He exalts you and everybody speaks to your name.

And oh, you're a great guy. No, that's not what he's saying. He's saying that he may exalt you. He's saying there that he may lift you back up because of some struggle, because of some anxiety, because of some hardship, because of some heartache, something that's gone wrong. You have fallen in your spiritual life. He goes, so humble yourselves under God's sovereign oversight in your life because he will lift you up.

When? In time, in due time. Verse seven, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Don't resist steadfast, stay at it, in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren. You know what, sometimes it just helps to know you're not alone.

Because knowing that some of the same afflictions are accomplished are going on in your brethren that are in the world, but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while. Those are good words aren't they? A while. Make you perfect. You know what that word means. He'll complete you. Stablish. Strengthen. Settle you.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So I was preaching out in California at a camp, a summer camp program. My wife was back at our home and she takes some of those weeks in the summer to work on some home projects and she had some projects in mind, some things she was going to accomplish and I think she was going to do some painting in a couple of rooms and she was going to make some curtains for a room of some sort. So she had a tight time frame, a schedule to get it done. And so she got up one particular morning, again I'm out in California, I'm about 2,000 miles away from her, and she gets up and she takes her car that we keep at the house and she was pulling it out and began to drive out of our subdivision when all of a sudden this horrible noise begins to come from the car. This screeching and scratching and squawking sound. Well it just scared her.

And rightly so. She just turned around and came right back up into the driveway, pulled it in the garage, went to her phone and called me. Morris, something's wrong with the car.

Now I'm not a mechanic, but I tried to be a good husband. I said, well tell me about it. You know, what does it sound like? And she starts describing it and I go, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah, mm-hmm. You know. I said, well wait a minute. I said, wait a minute. I think I do know what that could be. I said, was it coming from outside?

Was it underneath the hood or was it outside? She goes, no, I think it's outside like around the wheels. I said, screeching and squawking. I said, you need brake pads. I said, that's all that is.

I said, it starts making noise early enough so a person can get their car into the shop and get it repaired before it's beyond repair. And I said, sweetheart, you'll be fine. I said, go ahead and take the car on up to the road there a little bit and we're hardly ever at home. And so I said, there's some auto shops up there on a particular road. I said, it's about five miles away. Just take it up there and get it into one of those shops and they'll replace those brake pads.

She said, it may not be brake pads. She said, I'm not getting out in that car. I could break down.

You're not here. And I said, yeah, you know, that's right. I don't want you to break down. And I said, that's exactly right. And she said, what am I going to do?

Now look, guys, there's a male quality in all of us and when you become a husband, some of you and some of you are, you understand you want to fix things. I'm 2000 miles away. I couldn't say, I'll be right there. You know, I said, you know, I don't know what to tell you. She said, Morris, there's a sale on it, Sherwin-Williams and I got to get there today.

It's only today. Of course, the male in me is thinking I could save a lot more money by not, okay, we've got to get there today. I said, you're right. She said, I got to get it. I said, you know, you're exactly right. And she said, what am I going to do? I said, yes.

What are you going to do? Let me think. I said, let me think and okay.

I think, no, that won't, I don't know anybody. I don't know what to do. And I finally, I said, I said, Hey babe, I said, let's hang up. I said, give me a moment just to quietly think and figure out what to do. She said, okay, well call me right back. And I said, I will. She goes, you know, there's a sale on it. I said, yeah, I know.

I got it. And we hung up. And I decided to call my son who lived in the same town. And I said, I thought he never answers his phone whenever I call. And he doesn't know anything more about fixing a car than I do. And he's at work. He didn't have time to deal with this, but maybe he's got an idea.

I don't know. So I called and lo and behold, he answers his phone. I said, Hey kid. I said, Hey, look, I said, mom has got the car at the house.

You know, she's working on projects. I said, and I explained the situation to him. I said, I know there's nothing you can do.

I just thought I'd call to see if you've got any ideas. He said, yeah, I got an idea. I said, you do? He said, yeah. I said, what?

He goes, I got it. I'll take care of it. I said, no, no, no, no, no. I know you're at work and you can't, you don't know how to repair things any more than your dad knows. I said, so I said, you got it. He goes, dad, I'll fix it.

I'll take care of it. I said, no, son, really? I said, this is my son. I said, what, what, what are you talking about? I said, what? He goes, dad, I got it.

I said, you got what? He said, I'm about to go on a break. He said, I'll drive my car over to mom.

She can use my car to go do her running around. He said, I'll drive her car back up here to the shop. He said, I got two mechanics that work for us up here.

He said, at lunch, we'll take it apart, figure out what it needs. And he says, and we'll, we'll go buy, I'll go buy the parts. I said, wait a minute.

You're going to buy? He goes, yeah. I said, who is this? I said, what'd you do with my son? He said, I'll go buy the parts. We'll get it repaired. I'll get the car back to mom.

By the end of the night, he said, it'll all be taken care of. Now again, the man in me is still wanting to be a part of this 2000 miles away. And I'm trying to figure out what I can do. I said, okay, then, then, then what do you need? What do you need from me?

I'll never forget it. He said, I need you to hang up. That's exactly what I need you to do. I said, what do you mean hang up? He said, dad, I can't take care of mom. If I'm stuck here on the phone with you, he said, you go do what you do. Let me go take care of mom.

I got it. I said, okay. So I hung up. I waited about 15, 20 minutes, let him have time to talk to his mom and tell her what was going on. I called her back and I said, well, how about that?

She goes, yeah, he's going to come take care of me. I said, yeah, and I can go do what I do. Would you look at a verse that is extremely familiar to this morning and in light of what I just told you, would you listen to it with brand new hearing? Would you, would you not get lost in the words that you've seen and heard so many times?

You've got it memorized. Would you look at verse seven again? The Bible says, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. Is it, is it good for us to meditate on the God of all comfort?

Oh yeah. Because when you meditate on this folks, you really learn how to worship. You know, I thought I knew how to worship.

I thought I really knew some things and I, and I did. My worship of God has, has deepened in a way that I can't even begin to tell you. When you meditate on this subject matter, I'll tell you what it does. It makes you more sensitive to the burdens and needs of other people. You look at people differently. You begin to look at people in a way of ministry that you didn't think of before. You're a lot more forgiving.

You're a lot more patient with people when you, when you realize how patient He's been with you and how comforting He's been with you. You know, we don't get any help in the world in which we live in today because we live in a world that is much like in the days of Peter writing this letter. He was saying to people, I know it's, I know it's confusing. I know you don't understand what's going on, but God's on the move.

God's doing something. Some of you, your value, your value to life is all based upon what you accomplish. When are you going to ever learn that you're going to be a miserable puppy if you live that way? Your value is not based upon your grades and your success and some honor or award you get at graduation. Those are wonderful things, but your worth and your value is not based upon quote success that the world calls success. Your, your worth and value is not founded upon some ball field or a ball court. I scored 24 points.

Great. But your worth is not founded upon that because the next game you may not even get in the game. You may get injured and come out with two points. Is all of a sudden you're worth no longer a value. Your worth and value is not based upon your heritage, your family name. It's not based upon the clothes that you wear.

It's not based upon, it's not based upon the quality of your phone. You know, we don't get any help. We turn on television. If you watch any commercials, every commercial is made to make you feel like that your life is, is missing something. I mean, really, I mean, you see some woman with her hair all stuck to her face and they say, is your hair limp and unmanageable? Use our shampoo. And the next thing you got this woman's hair is just filling the screen and you're thinking, I got, I got to get that shampoo man.

My life is such a miserable wreck. And they say, our, our phone has the screen of infinity. Really? And our phone that's got, you know, it's 17g. I mean, you're all stuck with that 5g thing. I mean, I'm telling you, this is the phone of the future. It will brush your teeth. It will vacuum the carpet. It will drive your car. It'll occasionally make a phone call.

It is. And you look at your phone that cost over a thousand dollars and you go, what a piece of junk I got here. And you go through life thinking I just don't have much. And here's what happens when a curve ball comes at you that you weren't expecting when something goes wrong and you've got your schedule and you've got an interruption to your schedule. All of a sudden you're thinking, I don't have time for this.

Yes, you do. Because it went through, as brother Marty said last night, through the father's hands first. And they're filtered through his hands and nothing comes into my life or your life that doesn't come without his ordaining it. So I stood here two years ago and I knew something was wrong with me physically, but I didn't know what it was. I went, I left here. I'd had some tests run and it led to further MRIs and scans and that bone marrow biopsy which nobody ever wants to, I'm telling you, pray for the rapture if they ever do that when it comes for you, I'm telling you. And the doctor looked at me and my wife and he said, you have multiple myeloma.

I'd never heard those words in my life. I said, can I just have, what do you mean multiple? Can I just have one? And he said, he said, it's, it's multiple. I said, doctor, is it cancer? He said, yes. And my world changed. I mean, the old proverb of the rug being pulled out from under you was, it's just so obvious. I mean, my, my life completely altered. And all I could think about was, I got a schedule to keep. I got churches to preach at.

I got camps to go to in the summer. I said, and I looked at him and I said, well, can we fix it? I mean, I've heard the word cancer in other people's lives and I know that it can be fatal.

I didn't even want to adventure, adventure off into that world of conversation. And I know it takes time to fight it. And so I simply said, can we, can we deal with this quickly? How long is it going to take? He said, several months.

Yeah, he was right. It took a whole year battling it. And I discovered that the bitterness of something that interrupted my life brought a bitterness to my Christianity that I didn't even know I needed.

I needed a sabbatical. And I don't want to ever go through that experience again. Never. And I may have to. It's the kind that wants to lift its ugly head up again. I don't want to ever go through it again. But I wouldn't take anything in the world for what I've gone through and what I've learned. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for today's sermon titled, Cast All Your Care on Him, preached by evangelist Morris Gleiser. Be sure to listen tomorrow as we'll hear the conclusion of this sermon preached from the Bob Jones University Chapel Platform.