"Believing to See" ~ Rev. Daniel Garlitz

Sunday Morning

November 9, 2003

 

Turn in your Bibles if you would with me this morning to the Book of the Psalms, chapter number 27, and I want to draw your attention to the 13th and the 14th verses.

 

Psalms 27:13 - “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say on the Lord.”

 

My subject today is "Believing to See".

 

Wilma Rudolph was the 20th of 22 children. When I read that, I thought she could have grown up in West Virginia. She was born prematurely, the story of her life records and said that her survival at birth was very, very doubtful. When Wilma Rudolph was 4-years-old she contracted double pneumonia and Scarlet Fever. These diseases left her with a paralyzed left leg. At age nine, one morning she decided to remove the metal leg brace she had been dependent upon, and she began her attempt to walk without it. By age 13, she had developed a rhythmatic walk that the doctors said was an absolute, total miracle. The same year, she decided to become a runner. People snickered behind a covered face. People talked about it when she was not in their presence, but her determination caused her one-day to enter a race and as everybody expected, she came in last. For the next few years, the story says that every race Wilma Rudolph entered, she finished dead last. Everybody told her to quit. Everybody told her it was a futile effort, but she kept entering races; she kept paying entry fees; she kept training; she kept working; she kept running. One day she actually won a race. Everybody was amazed. Then she won another race, everybody was more greatly amazed, and from then on, every race that Wilma Rudolph entered she won. Eventually, this little girl who the doctors told would probably never walk again, let alone run went on to win not one, not two, but three Olympic Gold Medals. This quote is given by Wilma Rudolph and says these words, "My mother taught me very early to believe that I could accomplish anything that I wanted to do. The first accomplishment that I wanted to do was to walk without braces. In coming to this Sunday School this morning, little did I know exactly what we would all be feeling, what baggage we would all be carrying. Little did I know what things we all might be having conflict with in our lives, but there is a God Almighty who knows the needs of His people. And when we come together, I believe the Lord would speak to us words of encouragement and edification to strengthen us and let us know that this life is not a life in which we should faint.

 

The writer here says, "I had fainted". I don't know about you, but there have been times where I have felt faint. "I had fainted unless" ...unless what? Unless I had believed to see the "goodness of the Lord in the land of the living…” I have come to tell somebody this morning that God is not going to be good, He is good. I've come to tell somebody this morning that God is not going to bless you, He is blessing you.

 

The following message was published in the Wall Street Journal by United Technologies Corporation of Hartford, CT. It simply says these words, "You have failed many times, although you may not remember”. You fell down the first time that you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time that you tried to swim, didn't you? Did you hit the ball the first time you ever tried to swing a bat? No, you see the heavy hitters, the ones who hit the most home runs are also the ones statistics prove strike out a lot of times as well. What is the difference? They keep trying; they keep working at it; they take off the brace so to speak, and they make a determination I'm not only going to walk, but I'm also going to run. I am going to be everything that I can be. I refuse to just lay down, quit, and not try to make an attempt. The article further goes on to say that R.H. Macy failed seven times before his store caught on in New York City, the great famed Macy's. English novelist, John Creasy got 753 rejection slips before he ever published his 564 books. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs. Don't worry about failure. See, the greatest failure is the one who won't try. Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try to make a difference. So, I've come to tell you on this Sunday morning that the Lord Jesus in his Word has designed a plan whereby you are designed and called from the foundation of the world to be a success. God has not designed you for failure. God has designed you for victory. God has called you for victory. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was paralyzed by polio at the age of 39. Nobody would have felt bad if he decided to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair asking people to wait on him and feel sorry for him, but yet Franklin Delano Roosevelt went on to become one of America's most beloved statesmen and influential leaders of the entire free world. He was elected President of these United States no less than four times. What is your excuse for not being all you can be?

 

If Wilma Rudolph can take off a brace and apply herself with desire and ambition to become an Olympic Gold Medalist, and if Franklin Delano Roosevelt can refuse to let the entrapment of polio and a wheelchair cause him to be less than what he could be, I've come to tell you this morning that if you desire with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength, you can be all that God wants you to be.

 

Louis Lamour is one of my most favorite writers. Louis Lamour was a successful author of over 100 western novels, which no less than 200 million copies are in print. He received 350 rejections before he published his first novel. As time would go on, he kept writing and he kept submitting his writings. He became the first American novelist to receive a special congressional gold medal as an author and contributor to the nation through his historically based works. What's the point of all this, Brother Garlitz? The point of all of this is that Isaiah said that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint". Oh friend, I want to tell you this morning that if you achieve and do anything worth while with your life, it will not be because you didn't at some time or another feel like quitting or fainting or giving up. It will just be because you didn't.

 

You see, I believe it was Henry Ford that said "whether you think you can or think you can't, you are absolutely right". There are many voices in this world to tell us all the reasons why we can't, but I have come to tell you this morning that we have one great reason to say why we can, and Paul said "I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me". Through Christ - I can be a better daddy. Through Christ - I can be a better husband. Through Christ - I can be a better friend. Through Christ - I can be a better son. Through Christ - I can be a better pastor. Hallelujah. Through Christ - I can be a better man.

 

Jesus said a man that put his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God. You see, the Lord was not disobedient to the calling in his life. No, no he faced Calvary and all of its bitter cup, He did it for you, and He didn't quit in the process. It may have been that he had every reason to do it and even prayed, Father, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, I've made up my mind. I've got a goal. From the foundation of the world, I've decided I'm going to give my life to save all of the masses of humanity that whosoever will can come and drink of the waters of life freely.

 

I want to say to mom and dad who have brought their baby for dedication, that little child that is being fed right now and nurtured right here at the hands of a very, very beloved grandma no doubt; this little child is going to demand some commitment on your part. You're going to have to give up your first day of hunting season to take care of him when he gets ready to take his walk in the deer woods. Yeah, you may as well give up your first day; kiss it goodbye, and when you start archery season, you can kiss your first day of archery season goodbye, 'cause you're going to give it to him. And mom, there are going to be things you are going to do. You already are not sleeping at night as you used to. That is what life is all about, and if his life is to be a success, it's going to be because you made some commitments in yours to see that his life goes on to be all it can be. Jesus Christ paid a price so that we could be all we can be. We don't have to be drug addicts. We don't have to be alcoholics. We don't have to live in sin. We don't have to be immoral. We don't have to be headed for hell. Jesus Christ gave his life so that our life could be different! Hallelujah!

 

Jesus said in his teaching one day, "Remember Lot's wife". Why do we remember Lot's wife? Because Lot in his exodus out of Sodom and Gomorrah, warned his family, said don't look back, don't faint, we're getting out of here. There is a better life to live than this life we've been living down here in Sodom and Gomorrah. The light had finally come on in Lot's mind because of couple of angels had come with a message from the Lord. I hate to tell you this, but God says the pastor of the church is the angel of the Lord, and the pastor of the church is come into your life today to tell you there's a better life to live. Hallelujah!

 

I want you to know this morning, being a Christian is the best life you can live. I stood at the bedside of a friend that has been a part of my life off and on for many, many years this week, and I held onto her hand because the doctors had told her there is a great mass of tumor, malignancy in her body. Chemotherapy is fixing to start. And as I held her hand and looked into her eyes, she said preacher, just as soon as I get out of here, I'm going to be back in church, and I'm going to give my life to God, and I'm going to serve the Lord. I'm going to tell you what, my friend, it don't matter how good your IRA is; it don't matter how much you put aside for the future; it don't matter how fancy and ho many square feet you've got in your house; it don't matter how many cars are in your driveway or how many tools are in your barn. It doesn't matter how many play toys you've got in your life. When the doctor says there's a tumor in your body and you may not be able to live a few more months, you're house is not going to make a difference; your car is not going to make a difference; your money in your bank account is not going to make any difference. All of a sudden, the only thing that is going to make a difference is whether you're ready to meet God.

 

"I had fainted unless I have believed to see the goodness of the Lord". Now, in God's economy, things are different than they are in ours. God's economy says if you want to be first, you've gotta learn to be last. God's economy says if you want to receive, you've gotta learn to give. God's economy says if you want to live, you have to learn to die. That's God's economy. And in our economy, we say if I can see it, I'll believe it. I am not going to believe it until I see it.

 

Thomas heard the disciples say one day, ''Jesus is resurrected from the dead; he visited with us, and we ate with him and had fellowship." Thomas said, "I don't believe it." Unless I can put my finger in his hand, unless I can thrust my hand in his side, I'm simply not going to believe it, and later on they were gathered together at meet the Bible said, and all of a sudden Jesus appeared in their midst, and He walked right over to where Thomas was and said, Thomas, it's me, don't be afraid; reach hither your hand and feel the nail prints, put your hand right here. He pulled back his cloak and said feel my side. Thomas fell on his knees and said Oh, my Lord and my God. You see, he saw and he believed. Jesus said, Thomas, because you've seen, you believe. But he said, there is another group of people that are more blessed than you. These are the people that though they don't see, they still believe. They believe to see. I've come to tell somebody in this Sunday School this morning that there are things in your life that you are reaching for and longing for and God has sent me to tell you that if you want to embrace it, you are going to have to believe it to see it, and if you'll believe it, you'll get to see it because faith is the evidence of things hoped for; it is the substance of things not seen.

Jesus said it this way, men ought to always pray and not faint. For he said in Luke 18, there was in a city a particular judge that didn't fear God, and he didn't have any regard for man. I don't know how you are. I've never had to be before a judge except one time to go to a magistrate for a speeding ticket, but if I had to go before a judge, I promise you, I don't want to go before one that doesn't fear God or regard man, because I know my chances of getting fair treatment are slim and none. So, the Lord said that's the kind of judge that was in this city. He said there was also a resident of that city, and she was a widow woman, and the widow woman was in a very difficult position to be in that day because there wasn't any social security. There weren't any welfare programs, and if she didn't have a good supporting family to take care of her, she was in very severe straits. In this widow woman's life there was an adversary. There was a great, severe problem that the judge could only intervene and help with, and the story says that this woman went before the judge and said avenge me of my adversary.

 

When you read this story, it says the judge was unmoved by her coming, and she kept coming back until finally the judge said, though I regard not God and though I have no fear of Him, and though I have no recognition or compassion for mankind, I am going to avenge this woman of her adversary, lest by her continual coming she weary me, and I'm going to help her out. Jesus tells the story, and then he stops in the story and he says there is a lesson here. Hear what the unjust judge is saying. What was the unjust judge saying? He was saying that because she kept coming back because she would not quit, because she would not faint, because she would not give up, and by her continual coming, this judge who had no fear of God nor regard for man,  would answer and solver her problem. Then Jesus said, “… and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him.”

 

I want to tell you this morning that we have a prayer answering God. Come on, you need to hear what I'm saying this morning. We've got a prayer answering God. I don't care if the doctor did say you've got cancer. I don't care if they did say you've got the biggest problem and nobody else can put it back together. Oh yeah, they say Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall and Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put him together again...oh, but they didn't know about Jesus because with him nothing shall be impossible. Listen friend, we've got a God that is in the business of doing the impossible! Hallelujah! With Jesus, nothing is impossible. You can't have Jesus and have nothing. For when you have Jesus, you have everything. You can't pray and get nothing. You can't sing and get nothing. You can't worship and get nothing. You can't go to church and get nothing. Hear what the judge is saying. He said and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him. He said, I tell you, though he bears long with them. I feel something pricking my heart right now, you've prayed a long time about something.

 

You have prayed and prayed and prayed, and it seems like the answer still hasn't come. I've come to tell you this morning to keep on praying. I remember calling my daddy many years ago when I first started pastoring. I called him one night late in the night and I was dealing with a real crisis situation, and I said to my pap, I said daddy, how long do you pray about a thing? He said, son, you pray till you get the answer! You pray till you get the answer. You keep on knocking because the Bible says if we'll knock, if we'll seek, and if we'll ask we will find a response! And shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night, I tell you though he bear long with them, He will avenge them speedily.

 

We've prayed for my father-in-law. We prayed for Mr. Palmer for over 35 years. We prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and invited and talked to him and prayed and invited and prayed for 35 years! Oh friend, don't you give up because the moment you give up, you may be on the threshold of the wonderful provision of God's blessing. Just a few Sunday nights ago, I remember it just like it just happened a couple minutes ago as Brother Russell stood over here with his arms wrapped around my father-in-law, Mr. Palmer prayed through to the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the power of God rushed through his soul! Tears washed the grief out of his heart, and he said to me later, "I'm ready to go be with mom now. Oh, I've made my peace with God." 35 years we prayed! Listen, don't quit! Don't faint! We faint when we refuse to continue to believe to see.

 

I am thinking this morning of the time when Israel was to go into the land of promise and they went into that land and they came back, and the 10 spies outweighed the influence of the two, Joshua and Caleb, and the Bible says they gave forth a wicked report. What a Bible study we heard Wednesday night by my precious daddy and how he talked to us about the power of faith, and they came back with a wicked report, an evil report, and they were of a fainting mind, a quitting mind, a dropping out, a "I can't go on, it's a good idea, but it's not for me". They said that when we went into the land, we saw ourselves as grasshoppers and we know that they saw us as grasshoppers. The devil wants to beat you down and beat you up, take away your self-image, take away your self-esteem, and your self-worth. But I want you to know God calls you a peculiar treasure. He calls you unique and special. He calls you one of a kind, the apple of his eye. He never designed you for failure. He designed you for success and for blessing. And in seeing themselves, they fainted, and when they fainted they removed themselves from the umbrella of God's provision, but two men believed to see. They believed to see, and they were the only two out of that whole generation that got to walk into and embrace the Promised Land. I want to say to you this morning that God has made some very precious and wonderful promises for every one of you individually in your lives, but unless you believe to see, you will never embrace those promises.

 

In closing this morning, I am thinking of the account written by Jack Canfield in one of his Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and he writes this insightful little paragraph that in 1952 Edmund Hillary attempted to climb Mt. Everest. It was the highest mountain known to humankind, 29,000 feet straight up. It said a few weeks after his failed attempt he was asked to address a group in England. Hillary walked to the edge of the stage and he made a fist and he pointed at a picture of the mountain, and then he said in a very loud voice, "Mount Everest, you beat me the first time we met, but I'm going to beat you the next time that we meet, because you see, you have grown all you are going to grow, but I'm still growing, and on May 29th, just about one year later, the story says that Edmund Hillary succeeded in becoming the first man to climb Mt. Everest.

 

I wonder could it be this morning that there is that mountain in your life that Jesus said if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain be thou removed and cast into yonder sea? I wonder who among us this morning has a mountain, and maybe it's in the form of a sickness, maybe it's the form of a child who has grown wayward from the Lord or a grandchild that strayed from the ark of safety. Maybe it's a job situation, a financial chaos. Maybe it could be any myriad of a number of numerous things among us this morning, but it looms before us as a great massive mountain and we are in despair of wondering what to do. Jesus said that if you'll believe to see, then that mountain can be cast into yonder sea.

 

And so, I've come to tell you on this morning that maybe you need to look at your mountain. What is it about making a fist; it's a sign of determination. It's a sign of power and of strength. It is looking at that thing that looms in your life to be almost insurmountable and saying "God, with your help, we can conquer this thing". For years, I carried on the sun visor of my car a little simple statement that I clipped out of a magazine. It simply said these words, "Lord, help me to remember that there is nothing I will face today that you and I cannot handle together". There is nothing that I will face today that God and I cannot handle together. And the writer said that two are better than one and a threefold cord is not easily broken. No weapon, the Bible said, formed against you can prosper. I remember reading in Philippians where the apostle Paul writes to this precious church, and he said my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory. God is going to open doors for you. God is going to do things in your life that you never dreamed humanly possible because that's the way He is! He makes a way where there seems to be no way. He is a God that will make a highway in the wilderness. He's a God that will take a boy's lunch and feed 5,000 men and women, not counting the children. Hallelujah! What do you need him to be in your life this morning? He wants to be it. Give the Lord a handclap. Come on and clap your hands. Believe to see right now. Believe to see. Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God! Hallelujah! My Lord God, I feel the Holy Ghost in this room this morning. Do you feel the Lord here? Oh yeah, there is somebody who needs to take the braces off your legs today. The world has said you can't do it. The world knew the people around you and your counselors are saying you can't make it happen. You've just got to stay with your brace on and live a cripple the rest of your life. You need to just thank God you're alive. But the Holy Ghost has sent this preacher to tell you there is a better life. There are some medals to win. There are some victories to have. There are some winner circles to stand in. God has not destined you for losing. God has not destined you to be a failure. God has destined you in his eternal plan to be all that you want to be!

 

Wilma Rudolph said her mother said, Listen Wilma, you can do anything you want to do. You can be anything you want to be if you'll set your mind to it. The Bible said that Jerusalem which is above all is the mother of us all. It is talking about the influence of the church in our lives. I've come to tell you this morning that your church is saying to you that you can be all you want to be for the Spirit and the Bride, the church, say come. There is a fountain of resource at the foot of Calvary for every need in your life!

 

Somebody needs to make a fist in determination. You need to do it physically. You need to do it emotionally. You need to do it inside the inner most recesses of the place of passion in your soul and you need to say "Oh mountain, you've defeated me in the past, but I refuse to have you as a part of my life for the future". Somebody needs to make a fist and say "mountain, I'm believing to see that you're no longer there". That little woman with the issue of blood for twelve long years, the Bible said she had suffered many things at the hand of many physicians, and she wasn't any better. Somebody said it's too bad about that poor lady, too bad they haven't yet developed an answer to her disease, too bad things are turning out in her life like they are, that's too bad, and she's so young you know. It's a tragedy that she's going to have to die so young, it's just too bad. I don't know where it started. I don't know when it began, but somewhere in her mind, she began to believe to see. And one day Jesus was in her town and she heard about it, and she said I am going to go and see Jesus. Mountains loomed in her way in the form of many things, but she humbled herself and pitched aside her pride. She pitched aside all of the thoughts and impressions of her counselors and her advisors, for some said He's too busy for you. Others said you can't get through the crowd; there'll be so many people around Him. Her advisors and counselors told her all the reasons why it could never work and why it would never happen and why she should just prepare herself to die, but this little woman said no, I refuse to faint. And the Bible says in the account of the story that she "pressed her way through the crowd". Now, I ask you this morning, to resist all of your counselors. I ask you to resist all the voices who tell you why you can't be all you can be for God. I ask you to resist all of your physical limitations and all you physical inabilities and all the reasons why you can't be a Wilma Rudolph and take off your brace and start out on a race for Jesus Christ. I ask you to release all that this morning and say "if I can just touch the hem of is garment" because I believe to see and in my mind's eye I can see myself healed. I can see myself well. I can see myself living a normal life. I can see myself free of this dreaded disease. And the Bible said that she came to the crowd and the multitude and she pushed her way through; a woman that had been sick with continual hemorrhage and bleeding for 12 years. She pushed her way through with her little frail, weak body, and her frail weak voice, excuse me please, step aside please, let me through, and she pressed her way past one person, past another, past another, and another, and then all of a sudden, right before her was Jesus. I would to God, God could open your eyes right now and you could see him in this building. I would God that he could wipe away the scales from your eyes, you could see Jesus right here in this very atmosphere of the air you breath. In a moment, there she was and there was Jesus. Now is the moment of truth. Will she reach out and touch him or will she let the moment slip by. No, you see winners seize the moment, and she seized the moment and said this is my time, and she reached through the crown and she touched the hem of his garment, and when she reached out to touch him, she was believing to see, and the Bible says that virtue flowed out of the body of Jesus into hers, and immediately the issue of blood dried up in her body. Jesus said, "Who touched me"? The disciples all laughed and they said, "What do you mean who touched you"? There's just a crowd everywhere, everybody is touching you. You see, not everybody that goes to church touches Jesus. Some people do it out of religious duty because it's the right thing to do on Sunday and it looks good in the neighborhood. It's the right thing to do because it appears good to the children, but I am asking for somebody to come into the company and the fellowship of Jesus because you sincerely want to touch Him because we live in a very difficult, complex, demanding society, and I don't now about you, I just know about me. I need Jesus now more than I've ever needed him in my whole life. I can't live without Him! And she trembling, knelt before Him and said, “It was me.” I've been believing to see, Master. He said I've not seen so great a faith. Your faith has made you whole lady. It's your believing to see that's changed your world. You are never going to be the same. I'm here to tell you this morning that Jesus Christ doesn't want your life to be the same anymore. Everyday with Jesus is meant to be sweeter than the day before. It's the will of God for your life to improve. It's the will of God for your quality of life to improve. It's the will of God for there to be more peace in your walk with him. It's the will of God for you to have life and have it more abundantly. Yeah, but preacher you don't know what I'm going through. I know I don't know what you're going through. I do not have a clue what you feel. I do not have a clue what's going on in your heart or mind. I don't have a clue of what you are thinking about for the future. But I do have a Word from the Lord; put your hand in the hand of the man that stilled the waters. Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea. Take a look at yourself when you've got your hand in His and all of a sudden, life doesn't look the same. He wants to put virtue into somebody's life today.  Will you believe to see?