Herbert W Armstrong

   But I would like all of us who have been baptized, who have already taken that step, to examine your conversion. I want you to know and know that you know. You know what conversion is, and you know that you are a converted person. And I'll show you why it is so very important to understand this. There's an awful lot in the Bible about it. There's an awful lot of prophecy in the Bible about the church and the future. And I'll be hitting this and do many, many times, and I just hope that those of you who are baptized members won't feel that somehow Mr. Luker has something against me, or that you're sitting there, maybe taking it that I'm talking just to you or you alone or something like that.

   I hope you'll take this as coming where it is coming from, the word of God. I'm not going to be preaching my ideas. I'm going to be preaching the Bible and God's word and what God says conversion is. So that you can know. Because if you're not really truly converted, wouldn't it be better to find out now in God's church and be able to be rebaptized? Rather than go on for the few years that are left, right down to the end of the age, stumbling along as a member who thinks he's a member but really isn't converted. And then find out right at the very end that your problem has been you just never were converted, never really had God's spirit in the first place.

   Wouldn't it be better if I, as a servant of God, as a minister of God and preaching the word of God, might help some of you come to understand and realize that maybe the cause of a lot of your serious problems has been a lack of God's Holy Spirit? And not that I'm going to correct you when you're bad and evil and mean. That's not it. It's to help you, to serve you, to aid you. I'm going to show you if I don't do my job and do it with love for you. And you know who's gonna get a hold of me, don't you? Jesus Christ. He's gonna kick me right out of the ministry.

   So I don't go around just worrying about that except when I read chapters in the Bible like Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34 that talk about the pastors and the shepherds of Israel who do not feed the flock. And then I do get a little shook up. Because we have had ministers like that who really don't feed the flock, who kind of tell the flock what they want to hear, to give the flock smooth words.

   Now there's a time for praise. There really truly is and obviously and overall, you people here today are the faithful flock of God, the ones who come week after week after week. So you are God's people. But nevertheless, even among those who are in God's true church, we do find that there are some, even though they've been baptized many years ago, stumble along for years and struggle along year after year after year after year in God's church, never really making much spiritual progress in their lives.

   And one of the answers, one of the reasons is this, as I'm going to show you, and we do sometimes have people who do recounsel for baptism. When they come to realize this, they come to realize, "Oh ghastly, no wonder I'm so carnal or no wonder I'm this way or that way," not that we aren't all carnal sometimes. I'll be getting to that too. The problems that a Christian can have who is converted. But frankly, brethren, sometimes the problem has been that some were not really repentant, were not really ready when they were baptized, and they were never really truly converted, but because they were baptized in water, they thought they were converted and so they stumble along in the church for many, many years until somewhere along the line it smacks them right in the face. Where are the fruits of God's Holy Spirit in my life? There are many obvious ones that should be there in our lives.

   But first, why this subject is so critically and vitally important to all of us, why it should be. Look at a few scriptures. In the book of Matthew, where Christ pointed out why it is so important to determine this now while we have time. While there is time to be examining our spiritual conversion and doing something about it because time is going to run out eventually.

   Matthew chapter 7 beginning in verse 13 (Matthew 7:13). Jesus said, "Enter you at the straight gate." That means difficult gate. "Straight" in the King James just means difficult enter you at the difficult gate or "wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in thereat." So many people will follow that broad and easy way because "straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life and few there be that find it." Because it is difficult and it isn't easy to become converted. It's not easy to become converted.

   And then dropping down to verse 17 (Matthew 7:17): "Every good tree brings forth good fruit. But a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that brings forth not good fruit is going to be hewn down or cut down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them."

   And Christ said, absolutely, this is a dogmatic statement he's making here. Absolutely by their fruits, you will know them. "Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven."

   So Christ said it would not be easy to be a Christian, to be converted and the conversion process, which we will see it is the conversion process. It's an agonizing and somewhat painful thing going through being converted from an unconverted carnal worldly minded individual to becoming a spiritually minded, spiritually thinking person. It isn't easy.

   Matthew 13. Here Jesus Christ is showing us why this is so important. Because he says there that those who don't bear fruit, those who just don't have that spirit in their lives, even when they've been given the opportunity and who don't bear fruit. And I find no excuses in the Bible. Nowhere do I find Jesus Christ saying, "Well, you must bear fruit except if such and such." He says, you must bear fruit in your lives. No ifs, ands or buts, and no excuses accepted because it is possible.

   Matthew 13, beginning in verse 18 (Matthew 13:18). Here the parable of the sower, and he's explaining the parable of the sower, sowing seed here. "When anyone hears the word about the kingdom of God, and he understands it not" - he doesn't really, maybe he turns and hears the Broadcast or reads the Plain Truth, picks someone up, picks one up at a newsstand, and doesn't really understand it yet. Satan is going to be right there, that wicked one catches away that which was sown in his heart. So he's talking about a first category of people that aren't called. They might come into contact with the work in the church, and we know many people like that - friends, relatives, employers, people who bumped into the church. You as a person come in contact with the truth through you through the church, Plain Truth magazine, many arms Mr. Armstrong, but still Satan is right there and evidently God just doesn't decide to call them right then and there, so they're still left blinded.

   And then a second category, he says, "He that receives the seed of God's truth in the stony places," and he was talking about that earlier in the chapter, what the stone that happens to a seed, if it's cast into a stony ground. "The same as he that hears the word with joy receives it." Someone who does understand it and recognizes it and is happy about it. "And yet he does not have root in himself, and he endures for a while." Come to understand the truth and endures for a while. But then when trials come along in his life because he tries to obey God's truth, when tribulation comes or persecution arises from an unconverted mate or friend or relative or employer or whatever, because of the word, because of God's truth, this person then becomes offended and it becomes too difficult to be a Christian. Too difficult for them to become a Christian and they drop out. That's the second category.

   And then thirdly, "As he that received the seed among the thorns is the one that hears the word, but he lets the care of this world, the deceitfulness of riches" - just money - "choke the word and he becomes unfruitful and stops growing." Now that hits a little bit closer to home, doesn't it, to God's people. Who after they have received it with joy and heard the truth, the cares of this world, the worries and problems of this life and financial problems and worries, the deceitfulness of riches begin to choke the spiritual word of God, the spiritual truth, and this person becomes unfruitful. That's the 3rd category.

   And in the last category, I hope this could be most of us, "He that received the seed into good ground. If he that hears the word, understands it, and bears fruit and keeps growing spiritually and brings forth much fruit, some 100 times more than they had when they were first called into God's church." Maybe they were quiet and meek and timid and lacking in confidence, and not having real outgoing love, not having much faith, not being very zealous about God and his work and his church. And they grow so much God says they're 100 times better in that way spiritually than they were when he called them, and then others 60 times and others 30 times, and I guess you could go on down. In fact, you can go on down to the person who was called and had one talent and buried it in the ground and never did bear any more fruit. And God says take it away from them.

   So here is another example of why it is so important that we understand that whether or not we are converted, because if we're not bearing fruit, we could be deceiving ourselves. We could be wasting our time. How horrible, brethren, if some of you have been coming to church and wasting your time here. And if you do come to church, and you're not really bearing fruit spiritually, then you are wasting your time. All you're doing is, you know, a physical ritual. "Oh, today's Saturday. I'm going to go to church." You hear the minister and leave, and you know, nothing really happens in your life. I think you know what I'm saying. I hope you do. I hope all of you will listen. Because it will be by the fruits that we will see.

   Matthew 25. Matthew chapter 25. This is a sobering, frightening prophecy given by Jesus Christ to the church. Beginning in verse 1 of Matthew 25 (Matthew 25:1-5). "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins," and this is a parable of the church, the true church of God. It's talking about everybody that God's going to call into the church. "And they took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom." That means the lamps refer to the Bible. There are many scriptures show that the Bible is a lamp to our feet. The bridegroom is Jesus Christ, whom the church will marry. So it talks about preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ.

   It says in verse 2 that half of these virgins were wise and half of them were foolish. I don't think any of us just want to be one of the foolish virgins, say, "Oh yeah, yeah." I ask for raising of hands. "I want to be one of the stupid foolish virgins here." That just means a person who knows the truth is in the church, who doesn't care if they go into the great tribulation. Put to death by the Nazis hung up by your toes, or fingernails, butchered, skin ripped off your back, go to the great tribulation, you know, whatever, you know, they don't care about any of those things. I don't know too many people who are out of their minds like that. Most people do care. Most people don't want to go through what is going to be coming upon this world and nation in a few years and do want to escape a lot of the things that lie ahead and do want to be in God's kingdom, and yet, and the end time.

   And the end time age, this is what is so shocking to me, but in the very end time, as we approach the end age and we can see in the world how bad things are getting, you know, very obvious. That many, many people have been called by God, let it happen to them. They let it happen. "And they that were foolish, they took their lamps," which shows that they, you know, they have the Bible, they can read it, maybe they don't. But they have the Bible, "but they didn't take oil with them," and oil in the Bible represents God's Holy Spirit. That's why we use it in anointing. You know, all of us ministers have a little bottle of oil. Where's my little arts and might not, I've got it in this pocket, I guess. A little bottle of oil, that's olive oil, and we use that for anointing. That olive oil represents God's Holy Spirit.

   "And while the bridegroom tarried," in other words, while Christ waited to come. And sometimes we think he'll never come, don't we? While he waited he tarried, "they all kind of slumbered and slept," which shows that time goes on, and as time goes on, it's easier to let down, become lethargic, let this world influence you and pull you down. "And but it says in verse 6, at midnight" and as we get come right to the very end and get closer to the end of the age, the return of Christ, "there was a cry that goes out. The bridegroom is coming," in other words, they're saying, Christ is going to be coming back soon, brethren, got to get ready. Go out the meeting, get ready.

   Verse 6 (Matthew 25:6-12). "Then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise ones," the foolish church members said to the wise ones, "Give us of your faith and your love and your patience and your character and your hope. Give us of those spiritual qualities." That's what it's saying here. "Give us of your oil. Give us of that Holy Spirit that you have, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered saying, not so lest they be not enough for us and you. You go to them to sell and buy for yourselves," and that has to be to God. Can only go to God to receive the Holy Spirit.

   "And afterwards, the other virgins came saying, Lord, Lord," and the 5 foolish ones, I miss I missed verse 10. "And when they went to buy, the bridegroom came." In other words, these 5 foolish ones tried in a hurry to get ready. They tried to real quick build up things. Real quick, build the kind of character they're going to need. Real quick, get ready spiritually, and that just isn't possible. There's no way you can have a last minute repentance and escape what is going to come and make it into God's kingdom because spiritual qualities take years to build. It takes time to grow spiritually. So if they're not ready, they just will not be able to be ready. It's what Christ is saying here, brethren, they were not ready.

   "And those who were ready went in with Christ to the marriage and the door was shut. And afterward came the other virgins, the five foolish ones saying, Lord, Lord, open to us," crying out, praying to God. "But he answered and he said, I don't know you."

   Now what should be frightening, brethren, is we study our Bibles, and that's why we need to study the Bible regularly, diligently. That's why I've tried to give a Bible reading program so that you get into the habit of reading the scriptures and meditating upon them. The one that we're doing now is a little bit too fast. I hope next year we can begin one where we read the Bible in 2 years, not 1 year. 1 year is 3 or 4 chapters a day if you meditate upon it just takes too long. I can only get that through about 2 chapters a day and that's about it, you know, besides prayer.

   But you know when you don't read scriptures like this and take the time to think about what they mean and do this, could this apply to me? Because most of us say, "What couldn't apply to me, I'm in the church." No, so we automatically begin, "Oh yeah, I'm in the church and I'm doing great. Look, look at me compared to everybody else. I'm doing as good as they are." That's the way we tend to think and feel. "Everybody's, I'm doing as good as the average church member."

   But God gives us a pretty definite indication here that half of us will not be ready. Now you could, you could say, "Well, Mr. Luker, is that possible?" I used to think not, but I don't think that anymore. I now believe that yes, it is very possible that even those who attend this church half could not really be ready. Mr. Armstrong has said the same thing. And I've heard him say it many times and I used to think that he was just saying something, but I hadn't been in the ministry very long. And he had and he came to know and to realize that a lot of people come to understand the truth with the mind intellectually. They've come to believe it. They come to say, "Oh yeah, I believe this is the truth." But they never become converted in the heart. They never become, as I'm going to show you, totally yielded to God.

   I'm not saying perfect, but I mean yielded to God. That we're going to see is conversion. Knowing the truth is not conversion. It's a beginning, yes. It's what begins the process as we'll see. But that's only the beginning and some people never get much further than knowing the truth and doing the letter of the law.

   And you know one of the dangers in the Worldwide Church of God is that you members because you keep the Sabbath, or at least know this is the Sabbath, and because you understand about the commandments and the law and maybe pay your tithes, it's very easy for church members to begin to think they're doing OK spiritually because they keep these physical things. And so we have many church members in the Worldwide Church of God who are not growing spiritually. They're just paying their tithes and coming to church and doing physical things, and they're not growing in their own personal, intimate relationship with God. They're just not growing.

   So this is to help you, help us all. It helps me when I have to prepare these messages and I have no choice. I have to do it. And I have to go through these things and think about them and realize they apply to me as well. I don't want this to apply to me. I don't want to come down to the wire in a few years and then have Jesus Christ say to me in his church, "I'm sorry, Dennis Luker, I don't know you. You knew the truth. That you weren't growing and you didn't yield. You were only doing what you had to do what you knew up here with your head."

   So what is conversion? Let's take a look then, a deeper look at what is conversion because now is the time while we have the time to make sure that we are converted. And to know that we are converted and then maybe come to realize that we can become a lot more converted if we are.

   Let's go to the book of Psalm chapter 19. Psalm chapter 19, beginning in verse 7. Psalm 19:7, we'll begin to see what, how the word converted is used to make sure we understand its meaning. Psalm 19 and verse 7. "The law of the Lord is perfect. The law of God is perfect. Converting the soul. And the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple."

   So conversion part of conversion is understanding God's law. Understanding that we're to keep all of God's laws. And some people get confused on this. Some people have met nice sincere people in the world, and there are many of them in various churches, and because they have a little bit of truth here or there and because they may be very sincere, many times we assume or some have assumed that because they're sincere religious people that they are converted. Now it could be that when God calls them, they will become converted. But conversion, brethren, when you deeply, truly understand it, if you are converted. If you are really converted, then you are going to come to understand when someone isn't converted.

   This is another thing I want you to think about. Are some of you confused and mixed up on what conversion is in the world? Stop and think about it. I know a lot of members in this church. If you ask them, "Well, as someone who goes to another church and is really very, very sincere and loves the Lord and uses his name a lot. And it's the most sincere neighbor you could ever have. Does that mean that they're converted?" There was some would say, "Well, yes, they love the Lord with all their heart and their sincere church members." Just does not understand what conversion is. Doesn't understand it. It has something to do with the law of the Lord, the law of God. Obedience to the law of God is the beginning, as we will see, of real conversion. Obedience to God's laws.

   Psalm 51:13. Now that's part of it. I'm just looking at how the word converted is used in the Bible. Psalm 51:13. So we just saw that it's the law of God that converts the soul. The law of God converts the soul, the mind, the heart, what it's talking about. Psalm 51:13. "Then," this is David writing and in his repentance prayer. "Then will I teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted unto you."

   So conversion has to do with sinners being converted to God. People who've been breaking God's laws and commandments who come to recognize that they're breaking God's laws and commandments and who repented of that and become converted unto God.

   Matthew 18. Matthew chapter 18, beginning in verse 1, now. A few examples of how it's used in the New Testament. Matthew 18, beginning in verse 1 (Matthew 18:1). "At the same time came the disciples to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" They were having a little problem with rivalry among themselves, wanting to be important. "And Jesus called the little child unto him, and he set that child in the midst of them and he said, truly I say to you, except you be converted." And become as a little child. And there's a clue to conversion, isn't it? That's a little child, maybe a little baby. Who has not yet learned to be carnal and sassy or disobedient, but is humble and dependent upon that parent or parents. And that's the way we should become to God, humble, yielded as a little bitty child.

   "Converted," Jesus said, "except you be converted, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God."

   So how important is it to know and know that you know what conversion is and that you're converted? According to Jesus, if you're not really converted, you won't be in the kingdom of God. And that's why there's so many prophecies in the Bible about people in the end time who are religious, who don't make it, where Jesus says, "Oh yeah, you used my name and you said you cast out demons and you said you healed the sick and you did this, but I don't know you." A lot of verses in there that are pretty strong, straightforward verses to religious people. We need to take them seriously because Satan could very easily deceive us in God's true church and the thinking that we're converted just because we know the truth. And that could be a terrible thing to happen to us.

   Luke 22. Luke chapter 22. Beginning in verse 31. Luke 22, beginning in verse 31. "And the Lord said" Jesus said to Simon Peter, he said, "behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." Luke 22:31 and 32. "But" Jesus said in verse 32, "I have prayed for you, Peter. That your faith fail not." He probably was talking to all the disciples as well here. He said, "and when you are converted. Strengthen the brethren. When you are converted, strengthen the brethren."

   Sounds like what Jesus said when you become converted, you should be able to strengthen others. Help others. That he expects you no longer just to be the one who's always weak. Always needing help. When you are converted, strengthen the brethren. So we need to examine our spiritual strength then. And have we really become strong spiritually in God's church?

   Acts 3:19. Acts chapter 3, 19. Here Luke is writing and he says, "Repent you therefore and be converted. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out."

   So it's very clear that conversion has to do with the law of God, which converts the soul, repenting of sin, which is the transgression of that law. And I would like to go on and show you a few other scriptures that bring this in. It shows here that being converted means being changed. It's a process of being changed, being converted. So it's easy to remember that being converted means being changed. Changed into a different person spiritually, mentally.

   OK, when does conversion begin? When does conversion first begin? If you had to pick a time in your life, when would you say your conversion began? If you believe that you are converted. Let's take a look at when that process begins.

   John chapter 6. So that you can know some of these things. I mean, you know, if you're not absolutely sure, so you can know that you know. John chapter 6. Christ reveals here when our conversion begins. John 6:44. For Jesus said, "No man can come to me. Can come to me, can come to Christ. Except the Father which has sent me draw him." And also verse 65 of the same chapter, verse 65 (John 6:65), "and he said, therefore I said unto you that no man can come to me except it were given unto him of my Father."

   So what this reveals is that our conversion begins when God calls us, when God the Father calls us. It's not even Jesus Christ who calls us. It is God the Father, Jesus revealed. So conversion begins prior to being baptized. Because I think back to my conversion before my baptism, and I remember, you know, when God opened my mind. To me, it was, remember I told you, probably you don't remember, but I happen to be an engineer working at North American Aviation in Los Angeles at the airport. 10,000 engineers working for the federal government. Half of them working, I should say, and the other half loafing, which is the way it is on federal jobs at the most.

   And I sat down to one of those engineers and a huge plant down there. Who happened to be reading the Plain Truth of attending church. The only one that I knew of, he never, I never met any other in all the time that I worked there, and he didn't know of any others, it could have been, I guess, but we sure never did know them. But out of thousands, I'm sure he was the one, and I was seated next to him when I started working there. So God brought me into contact with the real truth of his purpose and plan and his way and that way, that was the beginning of my conversion because I began to change.

   As I got to know this man and began to ask him questions because he didn't keep Christmas and didn't do certain things, etc. etc. and he would, you know, hand out just a little bit at a time, not too much back then, the way he did it, wouldn't tell me where they met the church and anything like that. I remember getting my first Plain Truth and beginning to learn and understand and then beginning to make some of the first changes in my life as I got interested enough to prove it. That is the beginning of conversion. It's when God calls you, opens the mind, you begin to understand certain things in the Bible you've never understood before. Not just technical things or about Jesus necessarily, but I mean, although that's important, we'll see. I'll get to that a little bit later. But I mean, the overall true plan and purpose of God and the potential that we have as human beings, our goal, the rule of Christ on this earth. The necessity to obey God's law. That is the beginning of conversion when God calls us.

   And that leads to something else. That knowledge that you begin to gain prior to baptism and God doing the calling begins, if it's working in you properly, begins to do something else.

   Turn to Acts 2, Acts chapter 2, and I'm just gonna take this step by step. Here very briefly to the beginnings of conversion. So you can see if it clicks or doesn't click for you, what it is. God calls you. He begins to open your mind. He brings you into context somehow with the truth of his word to his church. And then in Acts 2 verse beginning about verse 36 (Acts 2:36). This is Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost. "And he said, let everybody know, all of Israel know that God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."

   So here Peter was preaching about Jesus Christ, his life, why he died, and the fact that these people all were responsible for his death. He died for you. "And when they heard this," this very moving sermon about Jesus Christ and His sacrifice and why he died, "They were pricked in their heart." Do you remember somewhere along the line coming to the knowledge of your own sins, your own abominations, your own filth, your own breaking of God's laws and God's commandments? You should have, you should have come along the line somewhere in there. They should have, should have smitten you somewhere along the line of what sin is. You should have begun recollecting prior to baptism, your own abominations, your own sexual sins, your own lying, your own things as a teenager or an adult. All the breakings in the letter and in the spirit, you know, in the minds of God's laws and commandments. You should have realized that you needed to be forgiven of those things.

   These were, these people were pricked in their heart. They had a smiting of conscience here and here. "And they said, what shall we do?" So somewhere along the line, the knowledge of God's truth when he calls you, begins to come into your mind. You begin to understand how wrong you are living. Or have lived and we're living at that time. And you begin to realize that you need to do something about it. As you grow in knowledge and understanding. "And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized," and then he goes on, "and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

   So brethren, once in a while we need to stop and think and meditate upon our calling that period right after our calling prior to our baptism. Did the knowledge we were gaining bring us to a point where we felt badly, guilty, smitten, stricken? About our own personal sins and our lives, and I mean we were really deeply sorry about them. I don't mean necessarily be just bald or shed tears. It's a difference in emotional makeup. I don't remember bawling and shedding tears before I was baptized, but I do remember becoming to find out as I studied the Correspondence Course before I was baptized. When I got right on there, I heard it advertised and sent for it and began to study it and read it. And they lead you right through, as you know, in those early years in the 60s, right through repentance, baptism, and conversion.

   And I remember, remember beginning to gain the knowledge. I'm doing a lot wrong. I'm not living right. I've got to change my ways. And so you should have gone through something like that where you began to realize I, I'm sinning, I'm living wrong, I've done wrong, I need to have my sins forgiven. I need that very much. And then that's repentance. That is how God brings you to repentance, real repentance. That's a step in conversion where you have come to a point in your life prior to baptism. Where you really realized that you were a sinner breaking God's laws and commandments, and you desperately needed to have those sins forgiven.

   Now Brethren, if you didn't take that step when you were baptized because you felt that way, even right there, your baptism would be false. If you were baptized because you were in the church and it was peer pressure and everybody else was getting baptized and it was time for you to get baptized, your baptism was false. Unless you really felt this way. Now again, I didn't say that you had to be all broken up and emotional tears, crying and baptism, but I mean that somewhere along the line privately in your prayers before God, when nobody else was around, you had examined yourself and you came up short and you knew you needed Jesus Christ deeply in your life to pay the penalty of your sins. You understood that.

   Because it, it has happened that some, and even since I've been here in Seattle, I have counseled already some for rebaptism, and I've rebaptized one and she changed after that. She was baptized as a teenager, about 17, I think she said. And it was another church somewhere else. And she was baptized young and her other friend got baptized and everybody was doing it in the church and she got baptized and she evidently didn't get counseled too much or maybe she did and just said gave the right answers anyway, and she got baptized. And she was in her twenties now, and she had nothing but problems. One particular bad habit she had, she had never been able to conquer was smoking. She'd had it then and had never overcome it. All her years in God's church just couldn't overcome smoking. Always having this problem and that problem, the smoking problem. There's always some problem, and her attitude basically was OK. She didn't have a rotten filthy attitude. She wanted to.

   And but I got, we got counseling about some of the problems that she was having, and I started asking her about her baptism. And she said, "Well I just assumed I had God's spirit." I said, "Well, what were the circumstances?" And she explained it to me, and when it got down to it, she said, no, that she just kind of went along with her girlfriend when she got baptized in the church she grew up in. And she was rebaptized and it made a real difference in her life.

   So I'm just telling you that it does happen. I'm just explaining it to you that it could happen, it can happen that if somehow you're doing it because others are doing it or you're doing it without the right attitude or without the right understanding or Jesus Christ played a little bitty part in it. Maybe you remember his name being mentioned possibly. If Jesus Christ wasn't really a part of it, when you went down in that water, then you could have a false baptism. I think we all have to meditate through that in our own lives. Did Jesus Christ really mean something to me. His life, his sacrifice, his death wasn't important to me. This is an important step in baptism. Had you repented of your sins, did you really realize what Jesus Christ did for you? Maybe not as much as you do now. I don't mean that, but you really understood it at least and you felt it. And you felt it. In your heart, in your being, you appreciated deeply what he did for you. And you realized that he was paying the penalty for your sins before you were baptized.

   Because what has happened sometimes Brethren, why I wonder about some people to try to help them. You see, that's my job. My job and my primary job, my primary responsibility is not to help people get rides back and forth to church and clean their roofs and their eaves and things like that, although I get a lot of calls for that type of thing. My primary job is to help you spiritually if I can, if I get all possibly can to help you grow spiritually. And then if I have the time to do some of these other things or get things set up so that we can provide all, not all the needs, it really isn't the church's responsibility, but I do find sometimes that we have members in God's church who are so weak and stay so weak they don't know how to work on anything for themselves. And I would like to see some of you really grow and grow and grow and become strong, so it isn't the same problem over and over and over in your life, year after year after year after year. The same problem year after year after year after year. What is wrong. You've got to ask yourself, what is wrong? If I am making no progress. There is an answer, brethren. There really truly is an answer to it. Just an answer sometimes that some of you don't like, and as I have gotten into a few problems, trying to sometimes do more than just kind of preach and be a nice guy, but trying to get into some of the problems where it requires a little bit of sometimes working with somebody. I don't mean being mean or bad or evil or trying to hurt you or get you out of the church, but trying to determine why you may be having some of your problems. It may not always be what some of you want or like to hear.

   Because I happen to be a minister who believes that the bottom line in our problems are, it's a spiritual nature. At the bottom line as to why we don't get along with one another in this church, some of you who don't. The reason you don't get along with people is that you're just not as converted as you should be. I don't care how different they are, whether they're obnoxious or whatever. If you're converted enough, you can learn to avoid them tactfully. Have the wisdom to say the right thing and not get into an argument, you see what I'm talking about? It is relative, isn't it? But if we're not as converted or yielded as growing as we should be, then we kind of like to be carnal. "Well, that's where they're going to be. That's the way I'll be. They're not gonna treat me like that and put me down." You know, we'll react carnally in an unconverted manner. It doesn't mean we have to be weak, talking about that either. I'm talking about acting converted and being converted, which means being changed and becoming like Jesus Christ.

   And so this is a process and we have to go back and maybe the answer is in some of your lives is that you don't have God's spirit. At least it's something to think about. If all you do is go on year after year after year after year with the same problems and stumble and fall and fall and fall and fall and fall and fall and never grow and grow and never change and overcome, what is the answer? Well, it could be that you just aren't praying and studying and God's spirit is so weak in you that there's very little there. It could be that. It is possible, we're all at different levels.

   After God does call us, we have someone here who are stoned carnal. As carnal is a doorknob, right? We know that. I think we occasionally realize that. I've had new people occasionally come.

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   God put it in them and they have never used it, never developed it, never grown, and never increased in their spiritual life. They just haven't, and they're still weak. Weak after years ago being baptized. They haven't grown. They haven't used what God has given us to grow. So some members are weak, and sometimes a member who is very weak and barely strong enough spiritually to do the things that he needs to do, he'll question his baptism. "Well, maybe I'm not converted because I'm so weak."

   Well, I would just go back and I would talk about the time of their counseling and well did you know God's law? I mean, were you keeping the Sabbath? Did you understand God's commandments that you should be obedient to them at that time? Were you sincere about it? And if the answer is yes, yes, yes, yes. Then I feel that God gave them His Holy Spirit. But they didn't do their part. They dropped the ball and they failed to fulfill their responsibilities and that's what we're gonna talk about today. What it takes to be a strong Christian. What does it take to be a strong Christian? And it is our choice. It is our choice. It is not God's because God is more willing to give His Holy Spirit and to give his help than we are to even ask for it, the Bible says. That's the scripture. He's more willing to give the Holy Spirit than we are to even asking for it. So God wants us to be strong. But some Christians, the Bible tells us, are not willing to do what is necessary to be strong. They're just not willing to do it.

   Well, first of all, let's say then, and we're going to assume this, the ones we're talking about today, that when you were baptized you were sincere. That you had repented of your sins, and that you had accepted Christ as your savior for the forgiveness of your sins, and that you really wanted to obey God. Let's assume that today. But you can say yes, I really did, and I really meant it. And after I was baptized, I didn't just drift back into my old ways immediately. Cause if after you were baptized immediately, you went right back into your old ways. Then you just didn't mean it, that's all. And you weren't determined and sincere and you didn't stick with it.

   And let's assume then that you did receive God's Holy Spirit, that little begettal, that little earnest down payment, that little burning coal that can be brought into a flame and be a burning thing in a Christian's life. What does it take then for that Holy Spirit to grow and increase within us? Let's go into what the Bible says so that we can know and know that we know and know the answer. And I think we'll find that the answer in so many, many cases is what a little survey would prove. That some of you, frankly, just don't really pray and study properly or effectively.

   Romans chapter 6. Let's begin there. Romans chapter 6. Beginning in verse 3. Romans 6:3. "Don't you know," Paul says here. "That so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death." So we should understand that when we're baptized, that we're being buried, the type of a burial. We're burying ourselves. "There's 4, we are buried with him by baptism into death. But life as Christ was raised up from the dead," you know, in the resurrection. "Even so, we also should walk in newness of life."

   So when we come up out of the water baptism, it should be with a fresh, renewed spirit and attitude. "Knowing this that our old man," verse 6 "is crucified with him. The body of sin might be destroyed, but henceforth we should not serve sin."

   So that's what baptism pictures. Now notice verse 13. And after baptism, it says "neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin" sin "but yield yourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead." As those who have been saved from death through baptism. "Yield yourselves unto God." Notice verse 16. "Don't you know that to whom you yield yourselves, servants, to obey his servants you are whom you obey?"

   I want you to notice here it says over and over, yield yourself to God, yield yourself to God. How do you yield to God? We're going to see that part of being a strong spiritual person is being yielded to God. Some are not really yielded to God.

   Notice James chapter 4. James chapter 4 verse 7. James chapter 4 beginning in verse 7. Now this is part, this is the beginning of spiritual growth. You know that after baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, a person has to yield to God. And James 4:7 says, "Submit yourself, therefore to God. Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God." You see that? That we're to draw near to God "and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your heart, you sinners. Purify your heart, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep."

   Well, now that's part of what is necessary sometimes in the Christian life. Not that it would always to be sad, but I'll tell you so many times in prayer, it seems that when you go to pray, you've got serious things on your mind and you're praying about people and problems and situations that aren't always the happiest. Although sometimes you do mainly, I hope just give thanks to God and praise God. And this could be talking as well about fasting because when you're fast, you do afflict your soul. "Be afflicted and mourn and weep, and let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness."

   And then verse 10, "humble yourself in the sight of God and He will lift you up." Now that's a promise. Absolute promise. You see that scripture that says humble yourself in the sight of God and He will exalt you? That's a promise. This scripture sticks in my mind because when I was a senior at Ambassador College, they were going to be making the decision on which seniors would be sent out into the field as assistance in the ministry to help out. I remember one of the senior fellows came to me. I remember his name. I won't mention it, but he was very dejected and discouraged because he hadn't been doing very well and he really hoped that he could be sent out into the field and grow and serve in that way. And I told him, I said, "Joe." I said, "you know, God says here, if you really fast about it and really humble yourself. That it might work out for you." And I remember him, he said, "OK, I will." And he fasted and he humbled himself. And when the announcements were made, and that's the way they did it then, they would just announce it in a forum on earth assembly who would be sent out into the field as ministers or assistants, his name was on it. And he was kind of shocked and surprised, but it was, and he was sent out into the field as a ministerial assistant. It does work when you really humble yourself in the sight of God, when you really yield, when you really submit to God.

   So you see, the key is that we, we have to make the decision. Will I submit to God? Will I yield? Will I humble myself before God? How do you do that? How do you submit, yield, humble yourself before God? What is our part, brethren, after we are baptized? Did some of you think that after you were baptized that all you had to do was kind of sit back and maybe a few minutes a day on your way to work, meditate upon God in the car, or read a verse or two in the Bible and that somehow God would do all the rest. But you wouldn't have anything more to do. All you had to do is just kind of have a good attitude, quote, quote unquote, somehow you would grow spiritually. Frankly, I think this is what some thought. I don't think some realized that after you're baptized and receive God's spirit, that you engage in the greatest spiritual battle that there is. There is no battle, no struggle that is greater and more demanding than that mental spiritual battle you engage in after repentance and receiving God's spirit. It's a mental, spiritual battle, the likes of which is not equal in the face of the earth and anything else that you do.

   And I played football for 8 years of my life, 4 years in high school and 4 years at the University of Delaware at the college level, 4, 8 years of it. Football's pretty rough and rugged and all the practice and everything else and it was nothing like coming into God's church. And beginning this mental spiritual struggle of disciplining myself and overcoming and growing spiritually. It was tough enough, but it sure did not equal the mental spiritual battle of overcoming and becoming a Christian at all. And some have not been willing to fight that battle. That really is the thing, brethren, that I'm gonna be talking about. But some are not willing to put forth the effort and the self-discipline that it takes to yield to God and to submit to God.

   I want to go through a few scriptures that show how you do it, what it takes to submit and yield to God, and then we're gonna get down to some specifics and how much prayer and Bible study does it really require to grow spiritually. And how much is just enough to just get by and become one of the foolish virgins or one of the Laodicean Christians? How many of you are qualifying for the great tribulation? A lot of you are. A lot of you are qualifying for the great tribulation. There's no question about it. I believe the Bible, not you. And God's word tells me that an awful lot of us who know the truth. Well, we know the truth, but we're not willing to choose right now, right now, saying "God, I've got a choice. And I've mentioned this to you before, I must either choose to go through my tribulation now or later." And many Christians are going to choose this later. They don't want to discipline themselves and sweat and strive and strain and struggle and labor to study the word of God and pray fervently on their knees because it's hard. You see, it's work. You really have to push yourself. And so some of you sitting here today. That's the situation. That's just the way it is.

   Let's look at some Bible examples though, so that you at least. I hope you won't make excuses in your mind and say, "well, I don't have to do it." Let's see the Bible example.

   Daniel chapter 6, since we're reading through the book of Daniel now, and we went through this Wednesday night and Bible study. Daniel and his example. Daniel chapter 6, Daniel chapter 6. Beginning in verse 3 (Daniel 6:3). "Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes." He was taken as a captive as a slave in Babylon, and that's where he was here. "But he received a great deal of favor in the eyes of the rulers in Babylon, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to send him over the whole realm, and the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion against Daniel." They were jealous of him. "And they could not find occasion nor fault because he was faithful. Neither was there any error or fault found in him, and these men said, we can't find anything wrong against Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God."

   And so these others who were jealous of Daniel came up with the idea of getting King Darius to issue a decree that if any man prayed to anyone else for 30 days besides him, the king, that they would be thrown into the lion's den. And so these other advisors, presidents and princes around King Darius convinced him to do that. And he signed the petition. And what did Daniel do right after that verse 9 says "King Darius signed the writing and the decree. And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed," he knew the king had signed that petition that no one was to pray to anyone but him for 30 days. "That he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chambers toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees 3 times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God. Gave thanks as he did a 4 time or as he did always," that means.

   The Bible shows us clearly, brethren. So I don't have to spend much time on that. The Bible shows us clearly that the true servants of God prayed on their knees. Now, if you're crippled, you've got arthritis, I'm not talking about you. I mean, if you can't kneel, pray on your back or pray on your stomach or on your side or sitting in a chair. But certainly you can play somewhat, and I'm talking about those of us who can bend our knees. God is our king. Every day we should get down on our knees before our King and our Father and acknowledge him and worship Him. Daniel did and many others did. And it is upon the knees, frankly, that God says we should pray because it's a, it kind of humbles you to get down on your knees. It should, it does me to realize that I'm down on my knees before my Creator, to humble myself, to show my respect to Him.

   And then Psalm 55, I'm just bringing out a few examples before I elaborate more on an effective prayer and Bible study life. Psalm 55. Psalm chapter 55. We'll begin reading in verse 1 here. Psalm 55:1. "Give ear to my prayer, oh God, and don't hide yourself from my supplication," David said. "Attend unto me and hear me. I mourn in my complaints and make a noise. Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked, for they have cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath, they hate me. My heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me. And then he said, oh, that I had the wings of a dove that I could fly away and find some rest."

   And then verse 16 and 17 (Psalm 55:16-17), he said, "as for me, I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud, and he will hear my voice."

   You know, these examples are in the Bible to show us how to pray. And we need to have a time or times during the day when we can do it God's way. And we can do it God's way. Let's go to see the example of Jesus Christ in Matthew 6.

   Matthew chapter 6. But some of you think that "Well, I pray on the way to work. Well, I pray while I'm lying in bed at night before I go to sleep." You're kidding yourself. Sure, you can meditate and talk to God anytime that way. But the Bible says, when you really pray, you really concentrate and nothing else gets in the way. You try not to let it. Now I know Satan knows how to distract us. We'll get to that later. And how you have to realize the vital importance of prayer. That without it, you're dead. I mean that physically, literally and spiritually without it, you're dead. There, there can be nothing, no excuse for not praying if there is no way. I'll give you an analogy later that shows that you just can't make it.

   Then Matthew 6:6, Jesus taught here about prayer and all, and he said, "now when you pray," not if, but "when you pray," to work or walking to work, you just talk to me then. No what he said, look, "enter into your closet, go somewhere private, shut the door and pray to your father in secret." This is a quiet private thing between you and God. Nobody else is around to bother you. You have to take the stupid phone off the hook. That's what I do. I'm not going to let anything interrupt my prayer to God. I've learned that. I'll give you some of the things I've had to learn later on. I mean, there's nothing more important to me than, I mean, I don't survive without it. I'm a goner. I'm dead as a minister and a member of the church if I don't pray. And so it comes to that point, nobody is gonna interrupt my prayer unless it's an absolute emergency. And then I will let it be interrupted.

   But God says, "when you pray, you go into your closet and you shut the door and you pray to your Father privately in secret, and your Father in heaven who sees you praying in secret to him, will reward you openly." It'll be obvious that you're a person of prayer. That you're a person who spends time on his knees, and if you can't bend your knees, you do it another way, but still it's that fervent attitude of prayer to God because you believe he's there and you know he's there.

   Brethren, prayer does take effort and it does take character and it does take learning to concentrate. I realize it's not easy to concentrate and this world is filled with distractions. Frankly, I even have a pair of earplugs. I'm not kidding you. I got them from my son when he was taking the shooting thing they were into for a while at this shooting thing, you know, you take them to and they they're required to put these plugs in their ears so they don't damage your eardrums. He didn't use them anymore after that, so I got them. And many times I put those, you know, you squeeze them into the soft things, you squeeze, you know, then you put them in and expand a little bit, just a little bit to fit your ear there. But sometimes, you know, people don't pray because well they hear this noise and they hear that noise and they hear that noise and the telephone rings and somebody's yelling and the trucks going by and you know, hoy on it. Do something to cut those distractions out of your life. So that you can think and pray and concentrate.

   Well, that's what I do. I'm gonna find some way to get my privacy and peace and quiet, talk to God without having to worry. "I wonder when somebody will knock on the door. I wonder when the phone will ring. I wonder when that'll happen. I wonder when the baby will cry." You've got those things to worry about too, don't you, women? And that's why you've got to think it through when you can pray. It may not be until the kids are gone to school, your husband's off to work, and the baby's taking a nap or something. But where there is a will, there is a way.

   And Jesus said, "when you pray, don't just use vain repetition going over and over and over the same old things over and over and over." I've told the men that in some of our meetings that we do get in a rut in our prayer life, and that's why people stop praying. "Well, I prayed for Mr. Armstrong yesterday and so and so yesterday and such and such, and every day it's the same old ritual of prayer." Instead of thinking about their prayers, and maybe one day, maybe taking a month, 30 days or whatever it is, 31 or you name it. And each day praying for somebody different or some aspect of the work differently. You don't have to pray for the same person twice in a month. Take all the members of the church here in Seattle and each day pray for a different one. There's a phone book we put out with people's names, you know, on it. A lot of you could have gotten a copy of that. All kinds of things you could do to be making your prayers more effective. Sure, pray for Mr. Armstrong every day and certain ones. But you can make your prayer filled with variety of different people and different things and different problems and different needs and not the same one every day. Because it does get to be old hat when you do it that way. Now, if it's important enough, do it. But otherwise, think about your prayer life. Is it dull, boring, routine? Uninteresting because you're not praying properly. Well, really, Satan doesn't want us to pray, so he's gonna put as many stumbling blocks as possible in front of us.

   Notice Matthew 26 though, again, what Jesus Christ did in Matthew chapter 26, and what it takes, brethren, it really, we just have to realize that it is a spiritual thing that we're dealing with here. Matthew chapter 26, beginning in verse 36 (Matthew 26:36). "Then comes Jesus with them," the disciples "under a place called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples, you sit here, you wait here while I go yonder and pray. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. And he began to be sorrowful and very heavy." This was just prior to when he was going to be crucified. "And he said to them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. You wait here and you watch with me."

   And then he went a little further away "and he fell on his face and he prayed." You know, here shows an example, frankly, of Jesus Christ prostrating himself. He was down on his knees and he fell forward, down, forward, you know, with kind of hands on the ground and maybe his face in his hands or that way or that way, but he was down prostrating himself on his knees and his face down on the ground totally before God. We’re not to do that before men, but before God sometimes. But when you do pray. And that a private place of yours. I mean, you can prey on your knees, hopefully you can have your eyes shut or open or your hands up in the air sometimes or clasped together. The main thing is that you're really concentrating and thinking and talking to your Creator God. Sometimes you might be like this, but this was a severe trial in his life and he was really feeling burden.

   And he prayed to God, and here's this thing of yielding and submitting and humbling yourself that I was talking about. He said, "oh, my Father, if you can," just imagine Christ just emotionally pouring himself into this. "Please, Father, don't let me have to go through this trial or this problem." That's what he was saying, "Please, Father, I don't want to have to go through this. Let it pass from me. But" he was so yielded, he said, "but Father, you know best, Your will be done. If there's any other way, please, but your will be done."

   And he came back and found the disciples asleep, and he said, "Couldn't you watch with me for one hour?" He had spent an hour in fervent prayer. And he said, "watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." And that's so true. The second time, verse 42, he went away and he prayed the same prayer again. And the indication is here is that he prayed for another hour. Pouring out his heart to God totally and completely, every thought and every feeling and every emotion because of the serious trial in his life. And he came back, found him asleep, and then verse 44, he says he went back a third time. Probably prayed another hour to God with his whole heart and mind and being.

   When you read throughout Christ's life that many times he went up into the mountains or into the desert or into onto a ship to get away from the people, to have privacy, to pray to God. You can be sure that Jesus Christ spent a great deal of time praying to his Father because he knew there is where his strength came from. And he was not going to make it without God, without the Father, without the help of His Spirit, being renewed within him.

   How much do you pray each day, brethren, how much do you? I took a little survey the other night at our area coordinators meeting. No names on it, so I'm not gonna embarrass anyone specifically here at all. But I'm just gonna read the slips. I just said take a sheet of paper and write down on a piece of paper how much you pray and study in minutes.

   Here's one of them, prayer, 5 minutes a day. 15 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day, 10 minutes a day. One is 25 minutes a day. That one is 30 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day, 0. 45 minutes, 20 minutes. 20 minutes. 10 minutes a day. 30 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 5 to 10 minutes a day, 15 minutes, and here's one that's over an hour, 20 to 30 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 7 to 8 minutes a day, and 20 minutes.

   So the vast majority of them probably would average out about 10 or 15 minutes a day. The vast majority of them were that. So these men are praying a little bit. How much do you pray? Now maybe some of you here who are widows and widowers and elderly, maybe you pray even more. Maybe because you have a little more time. One of the things God mentions in the Bible that people who have the time can do a ministry of prayer for others, for the church, for the work. Because God hears prayers. They're like sweet incense coming up to God. And when a person is righteous and praised in faith, God will hear them and answer those prayers.

   The brethren, I dare say that if I took an entire church-wide survey, it wouldn't be any better than this, probably worse. Because I did this in other churches that I pastored. And then I kind of just, I remember the first time I ever did it, it was quite a surprise to me and then I was kind of making a stack here and a sack here, and I kind of said, "well, let's, I'm gonna find out who's praying 30 minutes or more a day on their knees, really fervently seeking God and striving to grow, and who's doing it less than 30 minutes a day on the knees," so I kind of just began to divide them in half and half. And had no idea how it would come out and I was just almost shocked when I did it. It was almost 50/50 in the church. The half the church was praying 5, 10, 15 minutes a day on their knees. And the other half was playing say 30 minutes or more. I don't know if it would be that way here or not. Here it seems to be less. Right here the average might be brought up a bit by a few who are up there 45 minutes in an hour and some even a bit more, but that was only 2 or 3 out of the group. The other is 5, 10, and 15 minutes was more like it.

   OK, what about the rest of you? How much time? Are you giving to God? Of your day. How much of your day are you giving to God? Let me give you another little thought here and way of possibly looking at what you should be doing. God says that we should give 1/10th of our income to him, doesn't he? I'm gonna bring out something in just a moment that I'd like us to work on. First, I'll ask the question before I actually get finishing that. Can let's talk a moment about Bible study now. Bible study because brethren, without prayer, you see, prayer is the way. Prayer is the means that God has given for that Holy Spirit to be renewed within it. It is literally the way that when you humble yourself before God, when you take the time to be humble and yielded and submissive on your knees, worshiping God, spending maybe at least 5 minutes a day thanking and praising and just worshiping God. You could spend 5 minutes easy doing that. Thank you God. Oh God, I'm so glad to know you and be alive and be in your church and thank you for my wife and my family, my friends, and these things that are happening to me. You get a better attitude, a positive attitude. I thank you that I live in America. I thank you that I'm not hungry today. Thank you that I got clothing to wear. I've got hundreds of blessings. And sometimes we don't think and worship and praise God. So if you really thought about your prayer life, you could spend 5 minutes a day just praising and thanking God. Another 5 minutes praying for your husband and your children, another 5 minutes praying for people in the church. Another 5 minutes, I mean, you could sit down and mention the different things that you want to pray about. My wife did revolutionize her prayer life by writing things down, by having a diary, taking notes about people and things in the work.

   So what about your Bible study? Why is that so important? I won't turn into all the scriptures I got here because you know them anyway and it'll take so much time. But what about II Timothy 2:15 that says we are to study the Bible to show ourselves approved to God. So that we can rightly divide the word of God. What about that one that we're to study? Everybody knows it. What about Luke 4:4, where Jesus Christ said, we're not to live by bread alone but by every word of God, we're to live. How many of you even know every word of God? Much less really are striving diligently to review it and read it and study it.

   Now I know for some of you, your Bible study becomes boring because we said, "well, I've read that before. I know the doctrines of the church." Some of you do and some of you don't. Some of you don't even know the doctrines of the church because you don't study. Used to be in the early 50s and 60s, members really did study. They couldn't come to church. We didn't invite them to church until they knew the doctrines. And maybe that's a mistake. People come to the church now and I think because they're attending church, they don't have to study the Bible and prove things for themselves. God has lived by every word of God.

   I will turn to one in John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Beginning in verse 63, it shows why Bible study, the reading of the Bible, meditating upon it is so important. John 6:63. Jesus said "it is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spiritual words, and they are eternal life." That's what he is saying, as we'll see. "The words that I speak to you and these words written in the Bible are spiritual words, and they are eternal life." That is verse 67 and 68 (John 6:67-68). "And Jesus said to the 12 disciples, will you go away and leave me? And Simon Peter answered him and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

   Brethren How many minutes a day do you spend reading and meditating upon the words that will give you and help you to gain eternal life? How many minutes a day? I mean, is the Bible so boring to you, so uninteresting, and you've read it once that you don't need to go back and remediate upon and re-digest and read those scriptures and understand them better and apply them to you. This Bible It's filled with spiritual words and laws and ways of God. And maybe the reason some of you don't enjoy reading the Bible is that you aren't converted and you don't have God's spirit. Therefore, it's not interesting to you because you don't understand it. Now that is a possibility. If you don't like reading the Bible, and that's possibly another indication that you don't have spiritual insight and understanding. It doesn't mean anything to you and therefore you don't read it. It's all Greek or Hebrew or whatever. And it is in the original language, but thankfully we have it in English. But I know that it can be difficult. I know that it's hard.

   You see, when you're hungry to grow, when you're hungry to serve, and when you're hungry to overcome, you're gonna be hungry for the Bible. You're going to be hungry for spiritual food. How many of you here today are losing weight, physically. How many of you are, now there could be a few of you who are got weight problems. I know that. Some of you do, and some of you can eat and eat and never gain weight. But how many of you here in the could eat breakfast this morning? I've got a few over here who did. That's your fault. You should have had breakfast. But how many of you neglect to eat food every day? I mean, How many of you really starve yourself?

   Well, there's an analogy or something. You really need to get home here. It's a lesson I learned at Ambassador College is stuck with me. We like to eat, don't we? We like to make sure our stomachs are satisfied and full, that we're not having any growling down there, and not feeling any hunger pains, and that we're not thirsty. We like to make sure that we've got food and drinks. Have you come to the point in your spiritual life that you would rather miss that food and water physically than skip your Bible study and prayer that day. Have you come to that point where you realized that taking that time with God and your spiritual strength and growth is more important than even the hunger pains or losing some weight or going having low blood sugar. Maybe if you had hunger pains a little longer, and a little lower blood sugar, you might realize that maybe I've got a problem here.

   Some of you are probably spending far more time feeding your face than you are your mind and spirit. And I'm sure if you added up the amount of time some of you spend eating and drinking, I've been counting all the drinks and the food...

[Tape Flipped]

   ...and the just in the supper and the snacks. Some of you would be spending more time feeding your face than you do feeding your spiritual life. And it might be good to just check yourself and see how you're doing. And it's no wonder that some of you are physical and carnal and not growing like you want to. Some of you are, but some of you are not. Because when I see that some are only praying 5 or 10 minutes a day, I know they're spending more time than that eating, I can look at them and tell. I didn't see any skinny guys in our area coordinators meeting. A few were slim, some of them were slim, but I didn't see any skinny ones. So I know some of them are eating more than they are praying.

   And it's just got to become important to you, that's all. Your contact with God and your prayer and Bible study has got to become an important thing in your life, vitally important to you and your spiritual growth. Or you'll just be barely getting by.

   And here are the results of the Bible study on it. It was a little better, I think. You know, I thought, I really wondered, I wondered if I hadn't handed out this Bible reading program sheet and keep mentioning it and keep encouraging people to be reading that, I wonder what it would have been like. I know some of you do read the Bible regularly, but I know some weren't. Bible study was 25 to 30 minutes, 10 minutes a day, 15 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day, 30 minutes a day, and here's one that had an hour a day. That was nice. 10 minutes a day of Bible study, 15 minutes a day, 15 minutes a day, 30. Another one had an hour, 30 minutes a day, 0 to 30 minutes a day. Well, I wonder sometimes if some of you don't sneak in a little bit on the Sabbath and then average it out. That's not the right way to do it. Half an hour, there's an hour and a half. 0 Bible study per day. 20 minutes, half an hour, 40 minutes, 5 minutes of Bible study a day, reactivated that one they weren't doing it and reactivated it 15 minutes and 15 minutes.

   So that would average out probably a little higher, maybe like 30 minutes a day, which was a little better. But you know when you see that there are some 0 Bible study, 5 minutes a day Bible study and 10 minutes a day Bible study, and in some cases it was the same one. It was 5 minutes of prayer and 5 minutes of Bible study per day. You just have to ask yourself, Brethren, are you kidding yourself? I mean, can you really get by spiritually and grow on 5 or 10, 15 minutes even of Bible study and prayer a day? You might keep that little flame. What you might do is keep that little flame from going out. That's all you'll be doing. You are just eating enough spiritually to keep yourself from dying. That's what you're doing.

   Now some of you might disagree. You might say, "hey, I'm strong in the church." All right, come up to me and if you feel you're strong in the church, I would really like to know more about your Bible study life. There is a direct correlation and connection. There is no other way to grow spiritually except through contact with your Creator God.

   And so getting back to this other thing I started to bring up. What could we be doing and what should we be doing? Is it possible to increase it? I'm not talking just about quantity only. The most important thing is the quality of your prayer and Bible study, and I certainly would rather see someone get down on their knees for 5 or 10 minutes and really be fervently concentrating and praying to God with their whole heart, or at least sincerely. And someone who's just going through the beads of the ritual, you know, or staying down there 30 minutes and daydreaming and sleeping or doing nothing. So quality certainly is first. But brethren, it is like a nice meal for dinner or something. It doesn't please my wife very much at all when she spends an hour or 2 or more preparing a nice meal for dinner and we sit down and gobble gobble, gobble it down in 5 or 10 minutes. Hey, funny. Women don't appreciate that, do they? I mean a nice meal, you should sit down and you should take your time to eat it and enjoy it and digest it properly.

   So what can we do with God's help because it really is the key to so much in our lives. Because whenever I have people come to me and they, their problems are not changing and growing in their life. It's always related to and connected to their relationship with God and their prayer and Bible study life.

   So here's what I'd like to suggest as an idea, as a guideline. Wouldn't it be great if we could devote 1/10 of our waking hours to God and our spiritual growth. Now God does require, as I mentioned earlier, God does require us to give 1/10th of our income to Him. And if he didn't require that, people would not do it, would they? They just wouldn't. People would look at their budgets and look at inflation and look at the problems, and they would figure out how much they have left to give back. Because other things would be more important to them than the spiritual. That's the way people think, right? If God didn't say you have to give a 1/10th. Or do this. If it wasn't a command, then you'd sit down and figure out all your bills and all those things and figure out how much you have left to give the church. That's human nature. And that's what would be given like it is in the world, you know, maybe 1% or less goes to the churches of the average churchgoing member in the world. So we give a lot more because I'm glad God commands us to because then we have to learn to step out on faith and do it.

   Let's take a look. Let's say that if we really wanted to grow more than we've ever grown before, we really wanted to become Bible students and diligent in the Bible, and we wanted to really be praying for the work and praying for the sick and be a dynamic church spiritually, even more than we are. What could we do if we had goals for ourselves that we were striving for?

   Let's say you sleep 8 hours a night. Now this is just taking an average. If you slept 8 hours a night, you'd have 16 hours awake, and some kids and people sleep less than that, some sleep more. That's just an average. So 1/10th let's say you're awake for 16 hours. How do you use those 16 hours of your day? Now a lot of it, most of it may be work for some men, traveling to work, working, and getting back home. But 1/10th of 16 hours is 1.6 hours, so I'm gonna round that off and say that's an hour and a half. It would be nice. It would be great to have a goal for myself and some of you for yourself, to be able to give God a 10th of your waking daylight hours if you could. That would be nice to have as a goal, and that's an hour and a half of prayer and Bible study, not both, but combined. What a difference that could make spiritually.

   Now that may not be practical for everyone because of long hours of work. They're a slave more to their jobs and to their supervisors and employers than to God. And sad that it has to be that way today, but sometimes it does that this world's employers demand slaves, people who are slaves to the job, slaves to the employer, slaves to the government. Rather than servants and slaves of the Almighty God.

   But what I would like to ask you to do, everybody. We're going to reduce that down to 1 hour. Now 1.5 would be about a tithe of our waking hours to God. But we're going to reduce it to an hour, and I would like to ask every one of you to set a goal for yourself of having a minimum of one hour of prayer and Bible study per day. Some days you might have say 40 minutes, you get really involved in the Bible and you end up with 20 minutes of prayer or whatever, but I'd like you to set a goal. Maybe some of you already are doing that. Maybe some of you more, but all that would really mean as a guide for you would be about 30 minutes of prayer a day on your knees and about 30 minutes of Bible study, and that's less than 1/10th of your waking hours, that 1 hour per day as a guideline.

   Now, if you could go to 1 1/2 hours or more, fantastic, and what a difference that could mean in your spiritual life and your spiritual growth. If your prayer and Bible study life is effective. Again, that comes back to the key, doesn't it? Is it effective? Are you learning to pray in the right way, study the Bible in a right way.

   From the kind that I'm talking about, the kind of prayer and Bible study that I'm talking about. Now I have to study the Bible, for instance, when I prepare a sermon like today or a Bible study like on Daneil Wednesday night, but I mean above and beyond that. The kind of prayer and Bible study that I strive to get, and again this was pounded into me and I learned it at Ambassador College, and it was there at college that I began to realize that I had to build it as a habit into my life.