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ABC Prayer Crusade

Glenn Coon

Path to the Heart

1-Jesus Only

2-Enamored With Jesus

3-Jesus Prepares You

4-Jesus, The Argument

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

6-Witnessing for Jesus

7-Jesus Inspires Hope

8-Jesus Quickens Faith

9-Jesus Loves

10-Jesus the Magnet

Dear Lord, make me a nail upon the wall, fasten securely in its place. Then from this thing so common and so small, hang a bright picture of thy face and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. If you'd like to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 17, we have the story there of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. There are parallel texts. Mark the ninth chapter and Luke the ninth chapter cover the same transfiguration scene. We're not going into all of the details of the transfiguration, but it says that the Lord Jesus led his disciples on a high mountain. And I believe that's symbolic. It says that as the Moses and Elias conversation closed and the voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, and the great glory passed away, it says, they saw no man save Jesus. Only Mark says they saw no man anymore. Luke says they were left alone with Jesus. They saw no one save Jesus. Only when I used to read that many years ago, I thought it was just an incident. It occurred on this beautiful mountain. It was a wonderful experience. But little did I realize that was symbolic. And then I read from one of the most marvelous authors of the last century, and this author said that in the words, Jesus only is found the secret of the life and the power of the early Christian Church. And as I read that, I said, think of that how easily it is for you and me to read the Bible and not to realize the full significance in the name Jesus. And Jesus only is found that tremendous power, Pentecostal power, a gospel message, a witness that covered the entire known world, what power in the name of Jesus Christ. My heart reached out and I said, Lord, if that's the secret of the life and the power of the early Christian Church, then I know what is the secret of the life and the power that should mark God's church today. What do you say? There are many, many wonderful things. There are beautiful doctrines all through the Bible, but the most wonderful thing of all is Jesus Christ. He the center of our salvation, all eyes turning to him and being fixed on him and following him will find that the life is changed. For two Corinthians three 18 says, we beholding his glory are changed in the same image by the spirit of the Lord. As I studied it more and more I said, dear Lord, I want is never before in my life to focus my conversation, my gaze, my study, my study of the scriptures on Jesus Christ. No doctrine has any real practical power except as we find Jesus Christ in his beautiful character in that doctrine. You know, Peter didn't realize the value of that name during the trial of Jesus. He covered that name with profanity. And then he captured Jesus, pitying, loving. Look at him in the judgment hall and it spoke, spoke volumes to his soul. He went out, wept bitterly, gave his heart to the Lord. Just a few weeks later, where was Peter? Peter was preaching the sermon on the day of Pentecost, uplifting Jesus Christ in all of his glory. And not long after that, he and John went up to the beautiful gate at the temple, remember? And that man was healed and the crowds gathered together ready to almost worship Peter and John. Peter said, no, no, no, don't do that. Don't you Look upon us as though we by our power, our goodness, our holiness have made this man whole. He said, it's the name through faith in the name of Jesus Christ that has made this man whole. Peter learned his lesson. It would do well for men and women, professing the Lord Jesus Christ today to learn the lesson that Peter learned Jesus Christ, to be silhouetted in our thinking, in our study and in our conversation. And that's what's going to happen to men and women who are ready to meet Jesus Christ when he comes again. The price of heaven is Jesus. Think of it. The next day after they heal, after Christ healed, that man Peter and John were hauled in a court, there were, there was half us and many of the other great leaders who had seen Peter just a few weeks before denying the Lord Jesus Christ. They expected the same would take place, but as Peter boldly courageously filled with the Holy Spirit told them of the mighty power of Jesus Christ. I can imagine that CAAs quailed before that tremendous picture of the power of Jesus. Perhaps the maid was there before whom Peter had denied the Lord. I see her turning pale. Can this be the Peter who had denied his Lord, who is now saturated with power from Mount High? Oh that spells hope for you and me. What do you say? If you and I have found ourselves rather afraid to witness to the majesty and the power and the salvation of Jesus, remember that God will change us as he changed Peter, if we'll just lay all on the altar, bring all that we have to Jesus, he said before them, as found in Acts four 12, there's none outta the name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved. He was upholding that name now that he'd covered with profanity, none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. When I was a little boy at the age of six, my mother told me the story of Jesus. I don't know how many times she told it before, but I want to tell your friends as she went into the the story of Christ there before the trials and then that famous march to Calvary and then Christ hanging on Calvary. My young heart was broken and I repetitive every sin of which I was conscious. Mother told me how to claim First John one, nine for forgiveness and cleansing and a little boy, six years of age knelt down there with his mother and found Jesus in all of its beauty. I'm sorry to say that there were many times after that that right in church I heard things that didn't seem to have Christ at the center And I found myself backsliding in so-called doctrine because Jesus was not at the center. Beloved friends, those of you who know Jesus Christ, be sure to let men and women know that Christ is the center of your conversation, the center of your life. You'll be blessed in doing it. We shall be rewarded richly in doing it. Remember later as I was finishing school and went as a missionary with my wife, I determined to uplift Jesus as never before in all my life started a series of meetings, six o'clock in the morning it was held and it was held in a large church in Port of Spain, Trinidad and friends. I want to tell you that church was packed morning by morning at six o'clock. As I thought though maybe clumsily to uphold Jesus in all of his beauty, I could sense that angels were just filling that auditorium. I knew the Holy Spirit was there. I sensed his presence. Along toward the close of the week we had some testimony services. I like those old-fashioned social meetings, don't you, where people get up and tell how they love the Lord. One of the men that stood as he began to tell his experience very briefly, he stated that he'd been reared in a Christian home, But he explained that his father was a very critical Christian. He'd been living on the husks of the mistakes of others and it seemed that he had just filled the home with the atmosphere of negatives. And this man is who was standing. He said, I got so fed up with that kind of Christianity that I wanted nothing to do with religion because I had the impression that all Christianity was like that of my father. So he said, I just said it, forget it all. And he said, I went out in the world to taste of its sensuous pleasures. And I was surprised to find that the world didn't give me a satisfaction. Excitement, yes, satisfaction. No. He said, I finally came to place in my experience where every time I saw a funeral procession moving down the street, I wish that I had the privilege of being in that box. Death was greatly to be preferred to life. But he said this week and then his faith face was breathed and smiles. This week everything has changed. He said, I've captured a picture of Jesus, my Lord, I've given my life to him and I give him all that I have all that I am my friends. Thank God that men and women are finding Jesus and they're finding a personal relationship to Jesus Christ no matter how far they've wandered from the Lord. We're attending a camp meeting. I was one of the speakers, a doctor friend of mine told me of an old man that was living just offside the campus. And he said there he's, I've known him, he said for years he's been a member of the church for 40 years. But he said during these 40 years, this man has been the most critical man in the whole neighborhood. He said, this man criticizes his neighbors. He criticizes fellow church members. He said he criticizes the ministers. There's no one that he doesn't criticize. And he said, now the man is going to die. He can't live much longer. And he said, the man isn't ready to meet his Lord. I wonder, brother Kun, if you would be willing to go over and maybe we can help him. I said, I would be delighted. As the doct and I were making our way over to this man's home, I was praying that he would find Jesus. I was asking the Lord to help me in some special way to be so much the instrument of the Holy Spirit that this man would really find him whom the Holy Spirit uplifts Jesus Christ. As we walked in the man's home and stepped into his, his sick room, I said, brother, rejoice with us. We've come to bring you hope. We've come to bring you Jesus. And the man's eyes filled with tears. He said, I can't find him anymore. I can't find him anymore. I said, I'll tell you how to find him. And I pointed him first to first John one, nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful in just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from what all unrighteousness. And I said, don't you want with us to just present our sins to the Lord? We'll ask him to forgiven cleanse. That's the A of prayer. By the way. Ask Matthew 77, then we'll tell him that we believe that he is forgiving us and cleansing us. That's the B believe mark 1124. And I said, and then we're going to reach up in simple faith and say, thank you Lord. We are totally forgiven and totally cleansed. And I said, and the text to go with it is Isaiah 45 22, look unto me and be saved all uns of the earth. And I said, so we looked to him, our savior, our redeemer. He will keep his word. So we bowed by his bedside and we asked the Lord to forgive him and cleanse him. We asked the Lord Jesus to be a savior. And I said, now will you repeat a little prayer after me as I recall now. And he repeated word by word, phrase by phrase, Lord, I confess my sins. I'm so sorry for the horrible life I've lived the negativeness that I've spread all over the community. And now dear Lord, I ask you and I believe, and I thank you that you are forgiving me and cleansing me, and I'm looking to you to save me. When it came to the word believe, he found it very difficult, very difficult. So as we close the prayer, I said, brother, how about you're telling the Lord once more? Lord, I believe. Would you say that? I was remembering Romans 10 10 where it says with a mouth, confession is made under salvation. And he looked into my face and he said, I believe it was pretty good, but I thought it wasn't quite good enough. I said, will you say it once more? Jesus loves to have us express our confidence in him. Say it once more, will you? And he said, I believe, well, I said, brother, your God's child, you are forgiven, you are cleansed. You're totally his. The passe is all taken care of. How many can say amen to that? Amen. It was. And that just before we left the room, I turned to him and I said, brother, will you say it just once more? Will you say, Lord, I do believe. And up from the very depths of his soul, as he looked into my face, a look of glory, he said, I believe as we left that man's home, it was with great joy. Two days later we heard that he'd passed away. But you know, I believe with all my heart, it'll be our blessed privilege to meet him in that glorious resurrection. When Jesus comes again, Jesus only in these words is found. The life and the power that marked the history of the early church in these words is found the life and the power that young people who are tonight older people who are here tonight, those who are watching this on, on video closed circuit. This is the secret of power. As I thought it over more and more, I said, Lord, I remembered in Revelation third chapter, in the 20th verse, Jesus says to the la, the church of the last days, I stand at the door and knock. What does that mean? That means that Jesus is on, on the outside of the thinking of profess Christians in these last days. Can you believe it? I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him. I will supp with him and he with me. And then I remembered of a very famous godly man who used to set a plate at his table for Jesus. And I had thought of it many times through the years. And I thought, well, that isn't exactly necessary to set a plate for Jesus. He isn't going to eat there. But then one day I was going to a revival meeting and my wife couldn't attend with me. I was traveling all alone. I drove outside of the city where we lived and I remembered this man setting a plate for the for Jesus. I said, if he can set a plate for Jesus, and if that helps him to practice opening the door of his heart to Jesus, I'm going to open the door of my car. So I parked my car beside the highway. I went around the back of my car, opened the front right door, and I said, Jesus, would you ride with me? I closed the door, went around the back of the car, climbed in, drove along, and I turned in the direction of my guest. Was he there? He was there. Was he? Amen. And I wanted to tell your friends, it was one of the most blessed trips I ever took alone. But I wasn't alone. I said to myself, just like I was a little skeptical, this man who set a plate for Jesus, if I should ever tell anybody, they might think that something had happened to my mind. So I don't think I'll ever tell them that I had invited Jesus to write with me. But the Bible says, out of the abundance of the, the heart, the mouth speaker, before the series was half through, I was telling the audience the wonderful joy I had in opening the door to Jesus, signifying, Lord, I'm opening my heart just like open this door. And I was so blessed as I related it, and I notice star many faces, a a kindly response. A couple days later, the pastor and I were visiting in a home and the lady said, brother Kun, she said, you remember how you told the other night about how you invited Jesus to ride with you in the car? I said, yes. She said, yesterday morning, I think it was when my husband left for work and my children went to school, she said, remembering that I was very, very lonesome at home all alone. I spent many, many lonely days. I said to myself, if Brother Kun can invite Jesus by opening the door of his car to ride with him, I can invite Jesus into my home. So she said, I went to the front door, I opened the door and I said, Jesus, would you please come in and be my guest? She said, brother, I have never had such a happy day in my life when I was alone, for I wasn't alone. Jesus was my guest. You know what thrilled me? I said, I'm glad I told it. A little later, we're holding a series of meetings down in Miami, Florida. And the lady custodian, the church came to us and told us that she had a very, very saucy little six year old girl. And she wondered what she could do. She said, the father is mean and, and wicked. And my little girl gets in a bad company. And what in the world can I do? I said, tomorrow morning, I'm going to cover some of the things that I've done. And that morning as I was speaking, I presented some of, of what I'm sharing with you in this service. She went home from that service and she said to herself, I'm going to set a plate for Jesus and I'll see what effect that has on my little six year old girl. So she said, Alice, we're going to set a place for Jesus. We're gonna put a a, a a chair there. We're gonna set a plate there. We're gonna put our silverware there, and we're going to invite Jesus to be with us at the table. And she said, as I was doing that, my little girl watched and she said, mother, mother, is Jesus really gonna sit in that chair? And the mother very diplomatically said, honey, Jesus is gonna be right here with us. Was he? Indeed he was. She said, as we sat down and my little girl recognized that Jesus was there, she said, that girl was a different girl completely. But then she said, after a few moments, she forgot all about the chair. And she became very saucy. She turned to me, said, mother, you think you're smart, don't you? And she said, I turn in the direction of the plate and the chair I'd said For Jesus. And very quietly, I said, I don't think that was too good to you, Jesus. And she said, my little girl reached over and patted me on the wrist just as though she could see Jesus. And she patted me on the wrist and she said, mother, you know I didn't mean it, mommy. You know, I didn't mean it. My friends Jesus. Only in these words is the secret of the life and the power that marked the early church. And it is the secret of the life and power that's gonna mark the last remnant church in this world. Before Jesus comes looking unto him, the author and the finish of our faith, we'll run that race that's set before us. In Galatians six 14, it says, God forbid that I should glory saving in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For many years I've made it a practice. No matter what story I read in the Bible, no what? No matter what Sabbath school lesson or Bible study, I, I engage in never to let go of that until I find the place that Jesus Christ has in the center of it all. And from him radiates the truth. You see, Every doctrine of God's word has its power when it presents Jesus. And there's no doctrine in the Bible that does not tell about Jesus Christ. What a travesty them for you and me to talk about Bible doctrine without talking about him. Who is the center of all doctrine. Can you say amen? Amen. Jesus says, I am the way. I am the truth. I'm the life. He is the way to heaven. Somebody said, well, I, I have accepted the truth. We can accept Bible truth, but we receive a person. And to accept Bible truth without receiving a person is to miss the whole mark of salvation. You know, when Jesus comes into our lives, into our thinking, into our conversation, we're on the way to glory land. I think the story of a little patsy in the big city of London, somehow she'd lost her parents was separated from them. There she was all along a city street in that big city crying. Couple policemen came to her. They said, honey, where? Where daddy and mommy? She said, I don't know what is your name? She said, Patsy. They said, Patsy. Who? I dunno. I'm just Patsy. What is your daddy's name? Daddy. Daddy. Who? I dunno. Just daddy. What street do you live on? I don't know. And then it dawned over them. Maybe if they would point to some building in the city, it might, it might dawn over her how to relate to her home with that building. But she didn't seem to recognize any of them. Finally, they thought of that tremendous cross over that giant cathedral. Patsy, you see that cross? Oh, she said, take me to the cross. I can find my way home from there. And there are many wonder today who's unsatisfied, searching, longing to find the way home. If we can take that individual to the cross of Christ where the blood of Jesus Christ clems with us from all thin, he can find his way home. From there shall we pray. Our Father in heaven thank you at this hour and we can look up into the face of him who lived and died for us. 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Series

Path to the Heart

1-Jesus Only

Parent Series

Sponsor

Other Teachings in Series

1-Jesus Only

26m

2-Enamored With Jesus

27m

3-Jesus Prepares You

27m

4-Jesus, The Argument

33m

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

26m

6-Witnessing for Jesus

27m

7-Jesus Inspires Hope

27m

8-Jesus Quickens Faith

26m

9-Jesus Loves

27m

10-Jesus the Magnet

25m

Sound Doctrine