Being Confident of This Very Thing
Key Passage: Philippians 1:6
Date: June 7, 2024
Well, it’s so good to see all here tonight. Boy, it’s good to be in church, isn’t it? Oh, I tell you what, I just love it. Amen. I love to be here. I love to be with God’s people. And I just thank the Lord for his goodness. I just am so thankful and grateful for what the Lord has done in my life. And when he saved me, I just could have never even imagined, really, all that God had had in store for me. And he sure has been good to me.
Talk a little bit about it tonight. Philippians chapter number one, if you have your Bibles, Philippians chapter one. And I want to begin reading with verse number one, Philippians chapter one, verse number one, Philippians chapter one, verse number one, Philippians chapter one, verse number one. Paul and Timotheus, the servant of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making rest with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Verse number six is my text verse, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Boy, now that a wonderful verse? All right, I’m going to read it to you again, and I’d like to hear a couple of amens at the end of it, all right? Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Verse 7, even as it is meet for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart, in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers of my grace, for God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.
Boy, not a wonderful passage of scripture. Man, I just was enjoying reading it so much. I just kind of wanted to keep on reading. Amen. What a good thing for us. But verse number six, I want to preach on being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you. And notice what he says, will perform it. That’ll leave any question there. Amen, we’ll perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come now. We’re so thankful and grateful for your abundant mercy and grace and love that’s bowed upon us. Thank you, dear God, for the institution of the local church. Lord, thank you, Father, for design of it. I believe it’s probably one of the greatest proofs of your love to us, the fact that you created the church, and Lord, that you’ve told us to meet together, Lord, for instruction and for fellowship. And we just ask now that you’ll bless the service tonight. Thank you for everyone that’s come out. They made a special effort tonight. They could have done many other things, but they you tonight bless them, Lord. Bless their hearts, bless their souls, encourage them, we pray. Of course, we ask that you to save the lost, if need be tonight, reclaim the backslider, revive the weary ones. We ask it all in the precious name of Jesus. Amen and amen.
Go ahead and be seated. Thank you so much for standing with me.
You know, if you have put your confidence in man, then sooner or later you’re really in for a big letdown.
The Bible says in Psalm 146 in verse 3, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. For his breath goeth forth, he returneth to this earth, to his earth. In that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord, He is God.”
If you have put your confidence in God, then it’s just a matter of time you’re in for a big letdown. Amen. It’s just the way it is. If you put your confidence in the flesh, then you’re not just headed for a letdown. You’re headed for a fall. The Bible says no good thing comes from the flesh.
If you put your confidence in the government, then you’re not just headed for a letdown and you’re not just headed for those things there. You’re headed. Amen. I’m telling you, listen, don’t put your confidence in government. God never ordained government to take care of us. Amen. And the truth is, the less government, the more freedom that we have, amen. And the more we’re living in a time where we really need to be active about that. And I appreciate seeing those registration voters, those vote registrations back there. It’s so important that we encourage our family and friends to vote. And thank the Lord for godly government, but boy, when government becomes ungodly government, it’s oppressive, amen.
But when you put your confidence in God, it all changes. Amen? When you put your confidence in God, then you’re putting your confidence in a God that is omnipotent. That just simply means that he has unlimited power. Amen? He is all powerful.
When you’re putting your confidence in God, then you’re putting your confidence in a God that is omnipresent. That means he is the ever-present one. Amen? That he is always with us. There’s no place that we can go and hide from him. He is omnipresent. He is everywhere at the same time. He is the all-sufficient, self-sustaining, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, meaning the all-knowing God. There’s nothing that God doesn’t know.
Now can you imagine being so powerful and so awesome that you just know everything? And listen, the God that knows everything, he knows everything. There’s not a thought that goes through our mind that he is not aware of. He is the omniscient, all-knowing, omnipresent God. And then on top of all of that, he loves and he knows everything. Boy, I’ll tell you what, that’s a pretty amazing combination, isn’t it? Amen.
And the Bible says in our text passage, being confident of this very thing. So what is it? Well, he says this, that he, which hath begun a good work in you, the Bible says will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. How many of you can go back to a time and place where you know that you got born again by the Spirit of God? Amen? Like they say in West Virginia, you got borned again. Amen? Borned again. I love to hear a preacher say that. Get borned again, amen. I mean, you get born again. Amen.
Well, what God started in your life at salvation, let it be known that the great God of the Bible can perform that salvation until the day of Jesus Christ. Amen, being confident of this very thing. I’m telling you tonight, you can put absolute confidence that what God started in you, he is going to bring it to an end. Amen. He is a great performer. I know this because of his performance record.
The Apostle Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost of God, says to the servants of Jesus Christ, and he says to the bishops and deacons, he says if there’s anything in the world that you can put your confidence and trust in, is the good work that God started in you, the day that you got saved in salvation, at salvation, God is going to perform it. Amen?
I’m telling you that God has an incredible performance record, brother, and you can shout about it. I was mentioning the men on Friday night. You know, I had no idea when I stepped on that Sunday school bus of the Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas. I had no idea what God was going to do in my life. When I started riding that Sunday school bus, I was probably about nine years old. And even though my parents had been in church earlier, but because of some things that had happened, they had gotten out of church, and we really didn’t know much about church, didn’t know much about the gospel.
But when I started riding that Sunday school bus and I started going to a Sunday school class, they started teaching about the Lord. And they started teaching us about the gospel. And they started teaching us about the Bible. And they started preaching and teaching and showing us another way of life and another living and about the God, the Creator God, and it began to transform our life. And then I got my salvation nailed down at the age of 15, got baptized that same night. And then shortly after that, God called me to preach.
I didn’t have any idea that when I started riding that bus, that years later I’d get saved and then I’d get baptized. I didn’t have any idea when I started riding that bus as a nine-year-old boy that God had saved me and then God had called me to preach. I didn’t have any idea that when I started riding that Sunday school bus at nine years old that God had saved my dad and saved my mother. Just formed a Christian home with my parents.
I didn’t have any idea that God had saved me and called me to preach, and I didn’t have any idea that he would put in my heart, the desire to be an evangelist. I didn’t have any idea that I’d go to Bible college, and I’d receive some wonderful training there and learn under the ministry of a great evangelist, and then God had began to work in my life, open doors and see things happen and travel the world and preach the gospel. I had no idea that all that was going to unfold, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, listen to what he says, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
I’m telling you, dear friend, outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, I don’t have any idea where I would be tonight. I don’t have any idea where I would be, what I’d be doing. Man, who knows I might be a banker, might be a bum. But man, I am just praising God that he made me a Baptist preacher, amen. Being confident of this very thing, which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
When God saved me, He redeemed me, he justified me, he sanctified me, he wrote my name in glory, he set me on a new course in life, he changed my directions, he established my going, he put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Hey, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you, do perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. What God started in me by His amazing grace, he is going to perform it by His amazing grace all the way to the day of Jesus Christ. So as the Apostle Paul, I testified like he did to the Philippians there. He says, I testify to you, I’m going to make it. There’s no question about it. Amen, being confident of this very thing. He is going to bring it to an end. Amen? I’m going to make it to glory. I’m going to heaven. My name is written there. I’m only going to live as long as God lives because of his salvation because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
I want you to think about this for just a moment here. I mean, just think about how God has performed. I mean, we read in the early chapters of the book of Genesis and we read about the days of creation. Amen. So God did some pretty impressive things in creation. The Bible said that God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Now listen, remember, that was before he created the sun, moon, and the stars. So according to the Genesis’ account of creation, God spoke light into existence.
I mean, how amazing is that? I mean, God said, “Let there be light,” pow, and there was light. Or I guess I should say bang and there was light, amen? I used to not believe in the big bang, but I believe in it now. God said it, bang, and it was so. Amen? Oh, yes, sir. Being confident of this very thing. I’m telling you, he is the great performer. Hey, he performed and given us the Holy Scriptures, didn’t he? Amen. He performed and given us the scriptures.
As a matter of fact, in Psalm 12, 6 and 7, the Bible says, “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.” Do you know that there are people that tell us that, listen, that we don’t have the word of God, this just contains the word of God. I mean, there are people that tell us that there are mistakes in this book.
I taught a lesson in Brother Kevin’s Sunday school class this morning from Luke chapter number four about the sixthfold ministry of Jesus Christ, where the Bible says Jesus came, number one, to preach deliverance to the captives. Number two, to heal the brokenhearted, amen? God can heal the brokenhearted, but in your mainline modernistic Bibles, that part of that verse is taken out. Now, why in the world would you want to take that out? Amen? Heal the brokenhearted.
Praise the Lord, I believe that this old-fashioned, old-timey King James Bible is preserved, amen? There’s not one single time in this Bible where the deity of Jesus Christ is attacked. All of your other major, modern versions of the Bible, they attack the deity of Jesus Christ. God is not going to put his stamp on a Bible that attacks his son, being his son, and being God in the flesh. Not going to happen. Amen.
I tell you, listen, he says being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it. He performed in giving us the Holy Scriptures. He performed in prophecies in many ways. I mean, the very moment that Jesus was born, if I’m not mistaken, there were 19 to 49 different prophecies immediately fulfilled the moment that Jesus was born. He is the great performer. Amen, very impressive.
How about this one? He performed a virgin birth. That ain’t never been done before. It’ll never be done again. Amen. Boy, you talk about impressive. Amen. Hey, he performed a resurrection. Amen. He rose from the dead. He didn’t, he wasn’t just resuscitated. Amen. He just didn’t come back to life. He was resurrected. That’s why it says specifically that he was in the grave three days and three nights. It says, listen, so as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so also shall the coming of the son of man be. It was the proof that Jesus was who God said he was because he was in the grave three days and three nights. He performed a resurrection.
I mean, that was proof that he was dead. He was in the grave three days and three nights. There’s all kinds of theories out there. They say that it was just a swooning theory. They stole the body theory. They got all these theories. I read this one theory that said, well, really, just hallucinating. I mean, when those 500 people saw the resurrected Savior, they were just hallucinating. Well, one apologist said if 500 people saw hallucination, that might be a greater miracle than the resurrection. I kind of believe that, too. Amen. He is the great performer. He performed a resurrection, amen. And he performed the Bible as he led captivity captive. And as a matter of fact, every single day in our lives, God is performing. Amen, he is performing in our lives and sometimes in tens and hundreds of ways God is performing.
Hey, the Bible says being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So I’m asking you a question tonight. How does God perform the good work? And as he do this in our lives, well, I want to show you three simple ways on how I believe that God performs in our lives.
Number one, I believe that God performs with grace. The Bible says in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, Paul giving testimony to Timothy, he says this, “Who had saved us?” So it kind of sounds like a done deal, amen, “who had saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
And then I want you to think about this verse, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Now, I love to study the Bible. I love to study the words of the Bible. And when I come to this word grace, I remember seeking, I was wanting to understand what does it mean the grace of God. Probably in its most simplistic form, it’s simply unmerited favor that God shows us. I heard another definition. They used the word grace and they spelled it out in an acrostic: God’s riches at Christ’s expense. G-R-A-C-E. I like that. But I think probably two of the definitions that I was taught that really helps me to see on how grace performs in our lives is like this. Remember, Paul said, “I am what I am by the grace of God.” He says, “But the grace of God which was with me.” And I’m telling you, God performs in our life with grace and through grace.
I believe this is a good definition. Grace is the divine influence of God upon the heart that is reflected in our lives all for his glory. Grace is the God-given desire and the God-given power to do the will of God.
Look with me to the second chapter of Philippians, and we’re going to look down to verse number, oh, let’s see here. We’ll look at verse number 12. “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Now notice he said you work out your own salvation. He didn’t say work it up. I’m telling you tonight, if you’re trying to work up your salvation, you’re going to bust hell wide open. Nobody ever worked up salvation, but when you have it, you’re supposed to work it out. Amen.
This afternoon I worked on my play. I’m going to be going to a football camp in about a week and a half, and I’m getting my play schemes all ready to go. And, man, I know I should have been working on this a long time ago, but sometimes you just got to crash, amen, you just got to dive in and get it done. So I got all my dives, I got all my traps. I’m going to be running a power eye. Man, if God gives me the team that I want, I just want to run that ball right up the gut, amen. Man, I just want to, you know what I’m doing? I’m going to take those boys. Now, they got talent, but listen, they haven’t met me yet. I’m going to work it out of them. Amen, I’m going to work in boys. Amen, we’re going to work it out of them. And listen, when you’ve got salvation, you’ve got to work it out. You can’t work it up. Hell is full of people that tried to work up salvation. But when you got it, God expects you to do something with it, amen. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
And then look what he says, he says with fear and trembling. And then he says in verse 13, “For it is God which worketh in you.” So how does God work in us? He says, “both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” So God works out this grace. He works out the willingness. He gives us the willingness to do this, but he also gives us the desire to do this. Amen.
You see, God’s grace is the God-given desire and the God-given power to do the will of God. I guarantee you there are folks here tonight you’ve got a tremendous desire to win souls. That’s the God’s grace upon you. Listen, there are folks here tonight that you’ve got a tremendous desire to read and study the Bible and know the Bible and teach the Bible. That’s the God’s grace upon your life. There are folks here that have a tremendous desire to give. It brings some joy in your life to be able to give to the Lord’s work. That’s God’s grace upon your life. There’s some young men maybe here tonight that God is putting in your heart. Man, listen, you hear me up here preaching. You hear Brother Chisgar up here preaching. And man, then you want to preach. Amen. There’s a desire being created. That’s the grace of God working in your life. We are what we are today because of the grace of God. It’s his divine influence upon our lives, amen? The very desire to come to church, the desire to be in fellowship with God’s people, the desire to lift your voice and sing, amen, and lift your voice up and worship the Lord. That is the grace of God. God works out his plan in our lives with grace.
I want you to notice a second way. Look with me to John chapter 17 and verse 17. John chapter 17 and verse 17. Amen, this performance, God performs in our lives with grace, but number two, God performs in our lives with sanctification through the truth. He says that in John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. Center in on that word sanctify. It means to set apart.
And then in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 21, the scriptures teach us, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” So number two, God works out his plan in our lives with this wonderful thing of sanctification. It is an understanding that we have to come to. It’s a position that we need to find ourselves in.
You say, what are you trying to say? Well, you know, for instance, this auditorium has been sanctified. It’s been set apart for the use of having church, of having Bible instruction and Bible preaching. That is the purpose of this building. It’s not a roller rink, amen. It’s not bowling lanes. They don’t put tables up here and have bingo games and anything like that. Amen. It is for the preaching of the Word of God because it’s been sanctified. Amen.
And when you got saved, whether you understand it or not, you were sanctified. You were set apart for God’s glory. Look at me now. Everyone, everyone that got saved, remember, you’re not your own. You don’t belong to yourself. The Bible says you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God’s. You don’t belong to you. You don’t have any right to be able to say, well, this is what I want to do with my life because it’s not your life.
You see, that’s the problem that we get into. God is our Lord. He’s our Savior, amen. He is the one that gives us, he is the one that we take orders from. Amen, we belong to him. I don’t get to look at my Maker and say, this is what I want to do with my life. Now, I can’t do that if I want to be rebellious, but remember talking about putting your confidence in a God that knows everything. I mean, he knows the end from the beginning. All I can see is what’s happening right now. I think I’m going to get on a plane at 8:45 in the morning and head to Washington, D.C., and I think I’m going to preach real loud while I’m there for a minute, amen, and then head over to West Virginia. But I don’t know if I’m going to do that or not. All I know is I’m right here right now, amen. But my God knows the end from the beginning. Amen. So why in the world would measly Oliver Araiza want to say, this is what I want to do with my life? All I can see is now.
You see, I’ve been sanctified. I’ve been set apart. How many outdoorsmen, outdoors women do we have in here tonight? Hold up your hind leg. I mean your hands, amen. All right, good. I love the outdoors. I mean, I’m kind of fanatical about it, to be honest with you. I’m really kind of fanatical about it. I bought hunting clothes and stuff like that for so many years. I don’t really need to buy anything anymore. I’ve just picked it through the years, but a lot of times I’ll buy me new hunting hat or maybe a new pair of gloves, some attachment for my bow or, you know, just something because you just want to go in the woods with something new. Good night, you know, just put something new in your backpack. But I’m really fanatical about it. I got a bin where I keep all of my hunting clothes. I got socks in there that are hunting socks. I got probably two or three different camo patterns that I use. I’ve got this one of my favorite. It’s a leafy cover-all. I mean, it’s just a leafy. It’s that 3D camo. I’ve had it for a number of years. I mean, I got them all. I mean, I’ve got gloves, and I use their hunting gloves. I’ve got a pair of boots in there that I bought at Cabela’s, and I like them. They’re lightweight. And if I have to do hiking, man, they’re just not heavy boots. I can just strap them on and tie them up nice and tight. And, boy, I can grab my equipment, and I can head to the deep woods. I don’t have to worry about ankle support. Now, they’d be good hiking boots. They’d be good working boots. But I don’t work in them and I don’t hike in them because they’ve been sanctified. They’ve been set apart.
Hey, I have skied for many, many years, downhill ski. My wife is from Michigan, and her family got me going in it, and I like to ski. I skied last, or actually this February for the first time in a couple of years. Man, I got some stuff in my hunting bin that I could use for skiing, warm stuff, but I don’t use it for skiing because it’s sanctified. Amen? As a matter of fact, what’s in my hunting bin is so sanctified, I don’t even wash it with the regular clothes. The clothes that are in that bin, I wash them with a special soap. I say, “Sweetheart, this is the soap that I want you to use for these clothes here.” I said, “These do not go. They don’t go with any—don’t put any towels with them or sheets or nothing else. These are hunting clothes only, and this is the detergent that I want you to use. And I don’t want you to dry anything else. Don’t put no Downy sheets or nothing like that. I don’t want to go in the woods smelling like petunias. Amen. Man, don’t send me in the woods smelling like a cotton summer breeze with a, you know, with some kind of thing to it. Amen. No, I want to go out in the woods smelling like nothing or at least smelling like leaves or dirt. Amen.” All of these things, they are for—I bought them to use for a purpose, and that’s what I use them for, and they’ll last me a long time.
Well, look at me. When you got saved, you were sanctified. We just have to come to that understanding. We have to come to that position that my life is not my own. I’ve been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. You just can’t say, “This is where I’m going to college, and this is what I’m going to be, and this is what I’m going to do.” You’re stepping out of bounds. You’re stepping out of bounds. God saved you from hell. He wrote your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You belong to him. He purchased you with his blood. Your name is written in glory. God’s property. You belong to God, and he knows everything. And he performs in our lives. And I promise you what God’s design for you is is way better than anything that you could possibly dream up. Oh, you think you can dream up something better because God knows everything. All you can see is right now. God sees it ahead. He sees into eternity. So that’s why you have to come to the position of sanctification. And God will perform in our lives through sanctification.
I didn’t have any idea what was going to happen to me when I stepped on that Sunday school bus. Man, I didn’t have any idea. But listen, I didn’t have any idea. But when I stepped on that Sunday school bus and the gospel started being taught and preached to me, and I began to learn about the things of God, and I would respond to the God’s conviction in my life, and I’d make a decision at summer camp or at a youth conference or a revival meeting. Boy, I’d say, “Yes, dear God, I feel like you want me to do that.” And “Yes, Lord, I’ll surrender.” And “Dear God, please, I’ll give that up.” And “Oh, Lord, I don’t want to do that no more.” You see, it’s just coming to a position of sanctification. We are not our own. And when you come to that realization, come to that truth, come to that position, then God begins to work. He opens up channels. He opens up things in your life. Your life just gets more full and meaningful and rich and with purpose. You see, he is the great performer. He performs in our lives with grace. He performs in our lives through this wonderful thing of sanctification.
And then lastly, I’m reading from the book of Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20, and this last one here kind of combines the next two really together into one. But he says in Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 20, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
God works in our lives through the performance of His will. And you know what His will will ultimately do? His will will bring glory and honor to God. Really, that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to bring glory and honor to God. If I would have followed my own desires and my own path, I wouldn’t have brought glory to God. I’d have brought glory to Oliver, or maybe I would have brought disgrace. It might have been an embarrassment to myself and an embarrassment to my family. Money or nothing, none of that comes into the issue here. Really what the issue is that we just, we get saved and we follow the grace of God, obeying the grace of God in our lives. We realize that we don’t belong to ourselves, we belong to Him, and then we let God move us in our lives. And he’s the one that orchestrates. He is the great performer. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
I had got on an airplane when I lived in Dallas and I was flying to South Texas to do a revival meeting for probably one of the greatest men of faith that I ever met in my life, Brother Robert Ramirez. He was my… On the 8th, Michigan. And I was going down to do a revival meeting for Brother Robert. When I got on that airplane, it was a small aircraft. You know, there might have been two seats on one side and one seat on the other, but it was still dark early in the morning, dark when we lifted up off and we started headed south to South Texas. It was dark on that plane. They had turned all the cabin lights off. And we were at cruising altitude, and it was a very clear, clear day. I remember I could look out the airplane windows and I could see clumps of lights in the distance, clumps of lights. And I knew what those clumps of lights were. They were towns. They were cities. And I was looking at those clumps of lights in the distance. I could see them scattered all, you know, on my side of the plane. I could see them all. They were just all these scattered everywhere in that vast state of Texas.
And I really, I was kind of glad that the lights were off because I just looked out those planes and I just started thinking, “I wonder if there’s a church in that town? Is there a church in that town that’s going to train soul winners? Is there a church in that town that’s going to run buses? Is there a church in that town that’s going to reach out to the children, to the teenagers? Is there somebody—is there a church there?” And I got to looking at all those towns and those cities there that I could see, didn’t know what the names of them were, I could just tell that they were. And I mean the Lord just burdened my heart about it. Man, I just started weeping just looking at those towns. And I remember praying and I said, “Lord, if you want me to go to that town, I’ll go to that town and I’ll do my best to try to win some people to the Lord. If you want me to preach in that town, if you want me to set up a tent in that town or do some kind of revival, Lord, I promise you I will go, I will do that.”
And then a thought came to my mind, well, I could never maybe not go there literally, but maybe I could go there by way of a radio. And that was the first time, Brother Chisgar, the first time that radio had ever entered my mind, first time. So I just pondered it. I thought about it. When I got down to my meeting down in South Texas, I got some phone numbers from some radio stations up in the Dallas area and called several of them and they cost a lot of money to be on the radio. I figured I’d only have enough money to do just like maybe a Sunday night service or something like that, Sunday night preaching time. I called a bunch of radio stations and man they just… They had some qualifications that I didn’t want to bind myself into.
And I found this one station, Brother Aaron, you might remember it. It was 770. It used to be called KPBC. I don’t think the format anymore is Christian anymore. I think it’s turned into a talk radio station. But it was called KPBC, 770, an AM station, 50,000 watts during the daytime, but the power went down. I don’t remember what it went down to at nighttime. And I called that station, and I talked to a lady by the name of Theta Holmes. And I told her what I wanted to do. And she said, “Well, I’ve got a slot. I’ve got a spot on the schedule at 10 o’clock on night that I will let you have a 15-minute slot. I’ll let you have that.”
Well, that seemed like a lot of money to me. That’s over $200 a month. That’s a lot of money. But, you know, I just said, “I think the Lord really wants me to do this. I think that he wants me to do this.” So I said, “Okay, I’ll do it.” Well, it wasn’t too long that a Christian businessman, he heard what I was doing. And he said, “I believe in what you’re doing, Oliver. I believe in you. And I want to pay that bill for you.” And a Christian businessman paid my radio bill.
I was doing a series. Now, this is way back in 1996. I was preaching a series probably about a year later. No, no, I think it was during that that time, I was doing a series on why we believe that the King James Version of the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, back in 1996, I was preaching a series on that. And I put out an offer, “If you will call into my office, then I’m going to send you something.” And two people called in that night for that gift that I wanted to offer. A lot of times you’ll do that as a radio preacher just to kind of get a grasp of your audience.
Well, I called Theta and I told her that I had made a plea over the radio and two people responded. And she said to me, she said, “Well, if two people responded to your plea at 10 o’clock on Sunday night, 15 minutes—now that’s 15 minutes in a 24-hour period. Okay, that’s 15 minutes. That’s 15 minutes out of 24 hours if you want to look at just a day. 24 hours, 15 minutes. She said if two people called on that 15-minute slot, then you’re talking about over 80,000 people heard that message.” I said, “80,000 people?” I said, “My, so $56 bucks to preach to 80,000 people? I said, man, that’s like peanut shells.” Put my eyes to it.
Well, I didn’t know what God was doing. I didn’t know that after that, when I moved from Dallas to West Virginia, I went on a station there locally in West Virginia. I don’t remember what I was charged for that radio station there to be on. And then I had an offer to go on some more stations in North Carolina and North Dakota. And I was preaching on those stations there. And one of the men, the engineers of that station called me one day. I was preaching a revival meeting in Kokomo, Indiana. And he says, “I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about having a radio station. He says, 'We’re glad to run your radio program. But he said, ‘But the FCC is going to open up a window to receive applications for a radio station. You just cannot apply because you want to with a radio station. The FCC just opens up a window for that.’” And this engineer said, “If you ever wanted to have a radio station, now is the time to do it. He said, ‘You’ve got three days.’” I said, “I don’t even know what I need to do.” He says, “Well, first thing that has to happen is a frequency search.” He said, “I can do that for you.” I said, “Well, would you do it for me?”
So he found that 89.7 was open. And then he did some engineering for me. And initially we got like 4,300 watts, but it was directional. It costs a lot of money to build a directional station, have a special antenna that goes to a certain direction. Well, I had to have a modification done. We had to drop the power, but we went to an omni circle, the same power all the way around. Now we’re going to celebrate next week, or this week, the end of this week here, middle of this week, we’re going to celebrate our eighth birthday. We’ve been on the air.
We’re right in the middle of an oil and gas boom in West Virginia. I mean, listen, our little economy there, it’s exploding. I mean, listen. When Trump took office, it was like the log truck started rolling. The oil and gas trucks started rolling up and down the road—gas truck, water trucks, sand trucks, fracking trucks. I mean, man, everything up and down them hollows. I mean, there are more rich hillbillies down there than up there and been in a long time. Amen. Got a bunch of jet clampets now. Amen. Man, those men in our county, Doddridge County, Wetzel County, Calhoun County, Harrison County, Richie County, Tyler County. I mean, we’re talking about just you can’t even understand the natural gas that’s coming out. They got all these processing plants that are taking, you know, taking the butane out of it, the propane out of it, all these other things there. I mean, it’s amazing. But in that kind of economy, there are men that live in their trucks. I mean, there’s men there that live in those trucks. They live in those trucks. Man, I know that all during the night when they’re running those trucks, they’re pushing those buttons there, amen. And, boy, we’re coming in good and loud and strong. And, boy, we’re sounding real good right now. I had some issues, but we got them fixed. And, boy, we’re just running with the big dogs the way we sound right now. Amen. I mean, we sound clear. It’s a nice sound on the radio. Good sound. That’s what I wanted, amen. Well, you know what? I didn’t have any idea that when I was looking out that window, got a burden for it, that all these years later we’d have two radio stations.
Being confident of this very thing that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God works in grace. God works through sanctification. We are not our own. And he works his plan in our lives through his will. And you know what it all does? It all brings glory and honor to God. I’m telling you, God is the great performer. Amen? But we’ve got to make those steps, those decisions where we say, “Lord, I’m yours. I’m yours.”
Think of it two ways. I’m saved because of God’s gift to me. I receive Jesus Christ as my Savior and I’m saved. Now that I’m saved, according to Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, he says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect—here it is—will of God.” The will of God. God will perform it, but we’ve got to let go.
I wonder tonight, how many of you could say, “Preacher, I’m saved, and I know I’m saved. I can go back to a time and place where I know I got born again. My name is written in heaven.” Now, folks, be honest now. Be honest. You can’t be honest, then you cannot be helped. Good night, hell is full of people that tried to lie their way in. Not going to happen. The Bible says liars will have their part in the lake of fire. And while our heads are bowed and eyes are closed, how many say, “Preacher, I’m saved and I know it”? Would you hold your hand up as a testimony? Saved, and you know it? Isn’t that good? Man, if you’re happy to be saved, how about a good, hearty, amen? Oh, praise the Lord, amen. Good to be saved. Go ahead and put your hands down.
Would there be one here tonight? You say, “Preacher, pray for me because I couldn’t raise my hand. I don’t have that assurance in my heart that I’ve been saved. I want to be saved. I need to be saved. And I really believe that God is speaking to my heart about being saved.” Would you pray for me? Anybody like that tonight? Lift your hand up real high. I’d like to pray for you. Anybody at all tonight? Lift your hand up real high. All right.
How does God perform? He performed with grace. You know, I don’t think that our churches—I believe that our churches are full of people that experience God’s grace working in their lives. So when God nudges you and God prods you and God is encouraging you to get involved in some way with the guidance and direction, counsel of your preacher, do it. It’s a big thing. God put your heart to start tithing, start singing, start serving, start helping, start volunteering. Man, it’s an important thing. I am what I am by the grace of God. You are what you are by the grace of God. That’s God’s will. That’s God’s grace. He’s giving you the desire and the power to do His will, and it’s going to give him the glory. It’s not a little thing. It’s a big thing. It’s an important thing. Respond to it.
Realize that you don’t belong to yourself. I really feel burdened about this point tonight. Burdened about it. You’re not your own. I’m afraid somebody’s going to walk out of this place and not be settled in that truth, not have their position settled. Firm. You belong to God. You belong to God. Has God going to get glory out of you if you won’t recognize the headship, his ownership in your life? And then the will of God, surrender the will of God.
Our heads are bowed and eyes are closed. I wonder this evening how many of God’s people would say, “Preacher, pray for me. The Lord has spoken to my heart. My heart has been touched. The Lord has just spoken to my heart and I’m just so thankful for it. He’s burdened me. He’s spoken to my heart, touched my heart tonight.” Could I see your hand? Would you lift it up real high and let me have a prayer for you? God bless you. Thank you so much. Wonderful, wonderful.
I’m going to ask the Lord’s blessing on this invitation as soon as I say amen. We’ll ask our dear pianist to play the invitation number. Would you just humble yourself tonight? Come to this old-fashioned altar and just humble yourself. Maybe you need to just say, “Lord, your grace has been working in my life, but I haven’t been paying close attention. Please work on my life. Give me the grace to serve and to love and to obey.” Or maybe you haven’t come to that position of sanctification. Why don’t you just come and settle it, dear God? I just want to know—I want to have a Romans 12:1 and 2 experience tonight. I’m giving you myself. I’m consecrating my life, my body to you. Or maybe you just need to say, “Dear God, direct the will, your will in my life, and I want to bring glory and honor to you.”
Our Father, we’re so thankful and grateful, Lord, for your sweet blessings upon us. Thank you, Lord, for the power of the Word of God. It meets us wherever we are. It’s wonderful. It’s wonderful. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Dear God, for the sweet word of God. We pray now, Lord, that you’ll help us to respond humbly, Lord, and honestly, dear God, to your will, to your promptings, to your leading. We know that you didn’t bring us here by accident. We’re here, Lord, by your design. Bless now, Lord. Help us to get what we needed from the truths of God for tonight. Bless our response to it, for we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As the music plays and God has touched your heart, would you come with yourself tonight? Find a place here at the altar, and make it a matter of prayer to the Lord God in your life. The great performer, the great performer, he performs in our lives with grace and with the position of sanctification and the will of God, and it’s all for his honor. Amen and amen.
And while our heads are bowed and eyes are closed, maybe there’s a young person here tonight. Maybe God has been speaking to your heart. Maybe there’s a young man here that needs to surrender to be a preacher. Maybe God’s been speaking to your heart about full work. Maybe there’s somebody that needs to surrender to the bus ministry or do the Sunday school ministry vans or the ministry or your outreach ministry that picks people up. Won’t you come and make that decision for the Lord today?
Isn’t the blessing we don’t have to perform? He does the performing. We just yield. And we’re so apt to kind of perform, make yourself look good and all that. We don’t do the performing. He does that. And we just let him work. We yield. That’s a great lot of peace there. And praise the Lord, confidence there in Christ. And he’s one that started it all. He’s going to finish it all. And we just rest in him. And a lot of peace, a lot of joy there. You got a blessing tonight? Would you say, amen? Amen.
The praise the Lord, it’s been a great, great weekend. I appreciate everybody been involved, every person been involved. Good to have our guests with us tonight. Thank you for being with us. We appreciate that. That’s sir. That’s wonderful. They drove all the way from Florida, South Florida, just to be with us tonight. That’s it. That’s it. What about that? I’d tell you for sure. And we’re glad to have them. That’s great. Amen. Good to see everybody out tonight. And Brother Donnie Bartlett, he’s been working, working, working, working, working. He said, “I’ve got to get off. Got to get in church.” I’m glad he’s here tonight, Brother Donnie. Would you dismiss with the word of prayer, please, brother.
Original File: Being Confident of This Very Thing - Oliver Araiza Sunday PM 72119