# I Will Receive You

Key Passage: 2 Corinthians 6:17
Date: June 7, 2024

…and they’ll have a good time in there and learn lots. No, I mean about the Bible. But tonight we just want to go back. We started over here in 2nd Corinthians 6. We want to go back to a phrase that we read. We did unemphasize it and really just feel like the Lord wants to go at one angle of it tonight.

We’re just going to rehearse a little bit. The first week, we talked about the purpose of separation. And we gave three points that first night to help me out. You’re trying to get your wheels turning this way. Two weeks ago, we said the first purpose of separation: so we can experience God as a father, as our dad. And this is a passage we used for that point.

Then we used over there, 2 Timothy 2, and if you fully separate, God can use you fully. Remember, “and you depart from these iniquities, you’re prepared and meet for the master’s use,” it fit into every good work, you know.

And then the last point of that Wednesday, we talked about 1st John, where you can have sweet fellowship. You’re not going to be close to him unless you’re separated. We ought to strive for it, but you’re not going to be super close to him until you’re separated from worldly things.

Then last Wednesday, help me out last Wednesday, we talked about the purpose of separation part two, because you become what you hang around. Proverbs 13:20: “He’ll walk with us, wisemen shall be wise,” and so on and so on.

Then we said, look, if you’re walking right next to the edge and you slip up a little bit—and we all do—you’re going to fall all the way down, and great is the fall thereof.

And then the last thing we said, we ought to separate, not just for us, but for the—anybody remember?—for the, yeah, that’s the Bible word—the weak, the wounded. The Bible word, Hebrews 12:13: “to make your path straight, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it be healed.” And you’re exactly on the point there.

But tonight we’re going to talk about one little phrase. You’ll see it just a moment here: “I will receive you.” “I will receive you.” We’re in 2nd Corinthians chapter number six, and we’re going to start in verse number 17 tonight.

Let’s stand, if you would, please, with the reading of God’s word, 2nd Corinthians chapter 6, verse number 17.

But here we are. Verse number 17. Here we go: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate,” saith the Lord. Now that’s not a Baptist thing. That’s not an independent Baptist thing. That’s a Bible thing. That’s a God thing. Separation, saith the Lord. Right? Well, those Baptists, you know, those old-fashioned—well, that’s God, friend. Say it the Lord. Amen.

“Come out from among them, I’m going to be separate,” saith the Lord, “and touch not the unclean thing.” And would you read those next four words aloud with me? Here we go: “I will receive you.” “And will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

“I will receive you.” Now help me out. I’m just a hillbilly, okay? So I need some help on this one. Doesn’t that imply that you’re trying to get to him? For him to say, “I will receive you.” That implies that somebody is trying to get there. He didn’t say, “I’ll go get you.” He’s not talking about salvation here. He’s talking about being close, walking close to him. But for him to say, “I will receive you,” it’s implied truth here that you’re trying to get to him. Because he says, “I will receive you.” I’ll let you come, if you will. Right?

Now, the whole passage is about separation. “Wherefore, come out from among them. Be separate,” saith the Lord. Don’t touch it. Don’t touch the unclean thing. You ought to be different. Last week we read over there in Ezekiel 26 where you put a difference between the holy and profane, and you show a difference between the clean and the unclean. Very clear in the Bible. We ought to dress different, and talk different, and act different. Different kind of music, and different kinds of songs, and different kind of movies. Oh, it ought to be different. Separate.

But here’s the sad thing: If we do all that, and yet we’re not trying to get close to him, it’s a sad thing. And that happens, by the way. If I’m separated, but I’m not seeking the Lord, I’m not trying to—he says, the purpose—he said, “I will receive you.” You can get close to me. But if I’m doing all these things and I’m not seeking him, it becomes a very hollow Christianity.

Have you ever seen—we haven’t had our fall festival in a while, so Brother Ford’s not been here doing the magic show—but I’ll give you a little secret, you probably already know it. A lot of times they’ll take that egg and they’ll take a needle, and you just bore a little bit of hole into that egg. Some will do it with their mouth or different ways, but you can suck everything out of that egg. You notice they’ll always use the egg with something in it, and they’ll splatter it somewhere. And then they’ll take that egg that’s been hollowed out, nothing in it. They won’t let anybody touch that lip because it’s got nothing inside of it. It’s been sucked out, you know. And then they’ll take that egg that doesn’t have anything inside of it, and they’ll bust that one over somebody’s head or something, you know, and it kind of makes you think that all this is running down. Well, there’s nothing inside of it. And you’re like, well, what’s going on?

Look, that’s what our Christianity becomes like. I want to learn all the rules and all the regulations, the “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots.” And by the way, there are a lot of “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots” in the Bible. But if I learn all those—you know, that I’m not supposed to do this, supposed to do that—and I get all that, man, I got the outward image just right. But if I’m not seeking him, it becomes hollow. It’s empty.

Sometimes young people that grow up in good Christian homes and good churches, and they learn all the things they’re supposed to do and not supposed to do, but they don’t have much of a walk with God. It’s very sad sometimes when the truth of what the Christianity is comes out later on in life, and that’s a very sad thing.

And all I’m doing is separating for the sake of separation. This is what happens. Sometimes this happens so my goal becomes not to get close to the Lord. My goal becomes to be separated. “Look at me! I’ve never did this, and I’ve never did that. And I do this, and I do that.” And I’ve got all the outward, but we’re not seeking the Lord. And our goal is not Christ; our goal is separation.

And then you get a very cold, sometimes a professional Christianity, where the heart’s not there, just the outer form is there.

The whole thing, he says, “And I will receive you.” See, if my goal becomes just separation instead of Christ, it becomes very prideful. “Well, I never ever… I haven’t, you know, I do this, and all… I, I, I, me, me, what I don’t do and what I do. And look how goody-goody I am.” And if we’re not careful, we become self-righteous snobs, looking down our noses at the world. Come on now, y’all can say amen or talk to me a little bit, do something. Let me know you’re awake out there. And all of us sometimes can fall into these traps.

But he said, now look, the purpose—he said, “Wherefore come out and be separate, don’t touch it”—why? “And I’ll receive you.” I am to be seeking him. I want to be separate so I can get close to him. Christ is my ultimate goal, not separation.

Now, separation is part of me getting to Christ, but I’m going to walk with him and talk with him. I’m going to have to be separate. You have to walk in the light. See? Oh, it’s different. It’s not this hard, mechanical Christianity when you’re seeking Christ. Now, the outward might look the same, but there’s a sweetness about it. There’s a love about it. There’s power there, there’s victory there, there’s healing there, there’s help there, there’s love for others there. It’s not this prideful thing. You have a love for the Lord, but you’re seeking Christ, and then you get close to Christ, and you’ll start catching his heartbeat for others. See? And, you know, have a little different, little different oil fragrance about it.

Look over in John 15, if you would please. John 15 in God’s Word. Let’s just kind of look at this saying from a different angle, same truth, if you will, or same scenario. John chapter number 15, a great passage in the Bible. One of our ladies, she’s not here tonight, she said, “Pastor, God just put on my mind the theme of abiding, abiding in Christ.” And that’s only because a couple years ago we had the same theme. I said, “Boy, you got to read John 15. That’s a great passage on that.” And she said, “Well, it’s a great passage here.” John 15, verse number one. If you’re there, would you say amen? Good deal. I heard this side real good. Can I get an amen? Amen over here on this side? Good deal. I still think they got you beat a little bit. Let’s go. Amen over here? Oh, they’re pretty tough. Amen over here? They’re coming up. I’ll tell you what, we’re getting some competition going for sure. We’ll have to see what happens here.

John 15, look at verse number one: “I,” that is Jesus, “am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” That’s the gardener. He’s the farmer, if you will. The vine, the trunk of the tree, the center of the vine, if you will, that’s Jesus.

Verse number two: “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away.” Let me just stop for a second and explain that. It doesn’t mean you lose your salvation. That’s talking about the ultimate of that—it’s God takes you home to an early grave. A Christian just won’t grow and just won’t listen. There’s no fruit. Ultimately, the fruit of a Christian is another Christian, but there’s a lot of other fruit along the way. And he just won’t grow. He won’t get anything in the Sunday School. God said, “All right, I have to take him home early.” Someone takes the Lord’s Supper unworthily—1 Corinthians 11. God said, “Hey, many have slept.” They went home early. They died young because they just wouldn’t grow, wouldn’t listen. That’s what I was talking about there. See? So don’t let somebody say, “Well, you lost your salvation.” No, that’s not what he’s teaching there.

Let’s keep going. “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away.” And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

A couple things on here. A vine—whether it be a peach tree we used to have a peach tree for years that we tried to get fruit off and never did, so I just cut the thing down—but a peach tree… I was trying to learn how to purge it. The pruning is very interesting. I watched many videos. The best I can understand, a couple main things: If there’s a branch sticking straight up, cut it down. It’ll cast a lot of shadows, and the other branches won’t get the light it needs to. Straight up ones, cut them down. By the way, isn’t that a good pattern? We get proud; God’s going to humble us. Very interesting. It said if it just has a whole lot of little bitty limbs all over, you need to cut some of those little ones off because they’re not going to have enough nutrients to produce fruit. And boy, don’t we have to cut off the weights out of our lives?

Very interesting. If limbs are touching each other, the disease will spread very quickly, causing problems. And by the way, if you’re not careful, there’s a balance to it. Fellowship’s important. In the last class of Foundation Class, we all talk about fellowship. But if we get too close to people, sometimes things are said that ought not be said. You know, and our ultimate goal is Christ, and then we have fellowship with one another in that. But it’s very interesting about the purging, see.

He said, now look, if it’s bearing fruit, he’ll purge it, bringing forth more fruit. Here’s what I was wanting to get at—I got off subject—but fruit doesn’t grow on the vine. Fruit grows on the branches. And God works through his people. Now, that branch, it can’t produce anything unless it’s connected to the trunk or the vine. But those branches are where the fruit is. And Christ wants to use you, and he wants to work through you to make a difference in this world.

See, the key is abiding in the vine. Verse number three: “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” And it’s interesting. He’s talking about cleaning up, separation, if you will, get clean. That’s not the unclean thing. Then verse number four: “Abide in me, and I in you.” See, I got clean. Now he’s talking about abide in me, and I in you. “As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, ye can do nothing.”

Now here’s the thing. The end result of this is abiding in Christ, and he flows through you and brings forth much fruit. Fruit, I think, means so much. But much of it is making a difference in other people’s lives. If the end result is for us to look like we’re all that—I’m friends, self-righteousness—but if it’s getting close to Christ, and then Christ begins to rub off on us, we get a heart for other people. We start loving and helping and encouraging and making a difference. That’s what God wants. Why has he got us in this world? To make a difference for him. But part of that, part of that’s got to get clean. And thus, separation. And separation is so vital, so important. But that’s not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is Christ. See? And abiding in him, and him in us.

Now here’s the sad thing. Here’s the sad thing. I find myself not seeking him. I’m trying to separate because I want to get close to him. I want to abide in him and him in me. I want that. That’s what I want for my life. And I find myself—I know you never like that—but I find myself not praying all the time, not talking to him throughout the day. Like I said, I’m going to talk to you all day long, and I don’t do it. And I find myself not… He said, “Look, separate, and I’ll receive you.” And so that implies I’m seeking him. And it’s the craziest thing in the world; I do that because I want to be close to him, and then I find myself not seeking him.

Now let me give you just a couple of faults on that. That’s what I feel like the Lord wants us to emphasize for a second. Sometimes it’s my self-reliance. Just going to make it through the day. I’m going to buckle down and try harder. I’ve got to just kind of make it through this thing. And sometimes stress or tests and trials don’t bring out our reliance on Christ, or they bring out our self-reliance. In the clutch, we got to make it through the clutch of the moment, and so we try to bear up underneath it instead of seeking Christ in it—self-reliance.

It’s amazing. Sometimes even in separating, we say, “Well, I’m going to be a better Christian on my own,” instead of relying on Christ for separation. Sometimes we live in denial: “Oh, I’m good. I’m good.” You hear that? This is a popular phrase. It was real popular for a while. You young folks will know it. I don’t think it’s—it may be old for the young folks right now—but it was popular for a while: “It’s all good.” Anybody ever hear that one? For a while, everybody would say it about every other sentence. “It’s all good. It’s all good. Yeah, it’s all good. It’s all good. I’m good. It’s good. We’re good. All good,” you know. And I’m not saying that’s a wrong statement, but sometimes it’s not all good, and we live in denial. Now, I’m not telling them to go and whine and cry to everybody in the world, but sometimes they take that to the Lord instead of self-reliance and just seeking the Lord. He said, “I’ll receive you.” He said that for a reason. We’re trying to seek him.

This is amazing. I feel like this may be a worse problem in our day and time because we have so many resources available for us. But I find myself sometimes going everywhere else for help besides the Lord. Man, the internet—you want to find out anything about anything, Google it. There’s a YouTube video out there about it, I promise you. I don’t know what you’re talking about; there’s a video out there about it, some expert talking about whatever. I mean, talking about an ingrown toenail—that’s there, I guarantee you can look it up. I mean, the ingrown nose here—they’ll have a video about it somewhere. It’s just there, I’m telling you. I mean, anything. And if we’re not careful, we’ve got so many resources about everything in the world: relationships and finances and health. And I’m not saying they’re bad, but we get out of sync of going to the Lord. I’m going everywhere, everybody else for help. And the Lord’s like, “You’re trying to separate? I like that. I’ll receive you.”

Sometimes I’m so bad that I go everywhere else for help; I’m not going to him. I wish I had emphasized to my children more—and praise the Lord, God’s been good to us, and praise the Lord, I’ve got good kids; it’s the Lord, not me—but I wish I had emphasized, “Hey, go pray about it.” We try to do that, but I wish I had emphasized more: “I don’t have all the answers; go pray, go seek the Lord.” Because if we’re not careful, we want to go to everybody else for counsel and help and all that, and we’re not even praying about it much. And the Lord says, “I’ll receive you.”

But I have to be seeking it. Sometimes I don’t know, but I’m just shocked. I find myself—I really sincerely hadn’t prayed about it that much. I haven’t gone to the Lord. And God says, “I’m here to receive you. You’re trying to separate and you’re walking in the light, but you have not been seeking me.” I don’t know all the reasons. Sometimes I think for me it’s just because I would like to have an instant fix. Anybody out there like that? I mean, I’m like, “Boom, let’s solve the problem.” I’ve tried about a million plus times, but God never has worked on my timetable yet. I mean, I’ve tried to work deals and work—can I even do everything I can’t? You know, the Lord and try to get him to work on my timetable? Hadn’t worked yet. And God often doesn’t have an instant fix. He could, but usually it’s in God’s time, God’s way. Often he doesn’t remove the trial; he walks through the trial with me. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” And sometimes I don’t want that; I want an instant fix. And God doesn’t always work like that. And yet I promise you the answers are with the Lord. I guarantee it is. But I might have to work on his timetable, not mine.

It’s amazing. I’ll just find myself not seeking the Lord. Sometimes I’m just so busy that I’m not making time. I’m not making time to seek the Lord. You know, we’re all busy. We all are. It’s amazing to me. Some of you folks, help me out with this—some of you folks that are retired—but I’ve heard this from so many people: they say, “I can’t believe how busy I am now that I’m retired.” Anybody? Anybody? My thing is, everybody’s busy. Everybody is. I don’t care if you’re seven years old or 70 years old or 80, whatever it is. Everybody’s busy.

And so you’re going to have to make time to seek the Lord. I guarantee if you don’t make that time, you’re not going to be seeking him like God. Life will pull you and get you so busy wrapped up in this, that, and the other, you won’t have time to seek him. I guarantee you. And you’re going to have to make the time. You have to say, “I’m just going to do it.” If you don’t make Christ first, he won’t be first. Satan’s got this thing; he’s been working at it for a long time. He’s got it polished really good. And you’re going to have to on purpose say, “I’m going to make Christ first. I’m going to seek you.” You have to do it.

It’s just amazing. I try to separate—and I’m not perfect about it, none of us are—but I try to. I want to be close to the Lord, and he says, “I’ll receive you.” And then I’m not seeking him for so many different reasons. I don’t know what the thing might be. Maybe a little bitterness there; you don’t want to go to God. Lord, you’re a little bit bitter about a situation in your life. And by the way, bitterness goes back to the Lord. And sometimes it’s good for me just to remind myself, “Paul, God didn’t do that; so-and-so did it.” But bitterness keeps you from the Lord and not seeking the Lord like you ought to. There are so many different reasons.

But can I say this? God will never turn you away if you come to him honestly, honestly, and willingly to change. He’ll never turn you away. Look over in Isaiah 1. Isaiah chapter number 1. Now I’ve got to be honest, walk in the light. I’ve got to be willing for him to let him change me. I’ve got to be willing to change. But he’s always there. Always there.

Amazing verse. Isaiah 1. You’ll know the verse. Isaiah 1, and look in verse number 18. We often use this verse for lost people, and I don’t think that does scripture an injustice, but actually he’s talking to a backslidden Israel. It’s actually representative of a backslidden Christian. What representative of Isaiah 1:18? Look at it. The first word is the best, if you will, the best word of all the verse. I love it. It’s the Lord talking to you tonight. And this is what the Lord says: “Come.” Man, I like that. Man, just to me, I love it like all the “comes” of the Bible. The Lord says, “Come now.” Come on over here. “Come now, let us reason together.” Isn’t that amazing that almighty, infinite God will let a puny person like me and you come and reason with him? He could just squash us with his little finger, I mean, but he’ll—he said, let’s talk about this thing. That’s amazing. God wants to reason with you.

I wouldn’t want to play a chess match with Brother Patterson. Anybody out here like to play a chess match with? I mean, I won’t play. I mean, I watched Brother Patterson. We had chess championships, and I don’t think anybody lasted very long. Brother Patterson beat them pretty quick, you know, and I think he had half his brain tied behind his back, as they say. I mean, 10,000 times worse than that is playing against God, if you will, in chess. And yet God says, “Come on over here. Let’s reason. Let’s talk.”

“Come now, let us reason together,” saith the Lord. Not when you get everything right. No, “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Now, you’re going to be willing to do some changing and do some confessing, getting some things right, walking in the light. But you come to God honestly, sincerely. He says, “Come on over here. Let’s reason together about that sin in your life. I love you. I want to be close to you. You got to get rid of that thing, though. You got to make some changes. Now, I’ll forgive you. I’ll wipe it away. You’re going to be white as snow.” I had to work at this thing. You stay close to me; I’ll give you the strength to overcome it. That’s the way the Lord reasons. He’s a gracious, wonderful God. So good to us.

Dr. George W. Truitt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, for years and years gone by. Brother Truitt, great, great preacher. God used him so greatly. He had a little boy in his church. I don’t think it was really the bus ministry, but something like that, just to bring children in from the neighborhood. He was a little boy. He came to that church and got saved, but his parents didn’t go. And that little boy got shot, and he was going to die. So George W. Truitt went and visited the little boy in the hospital. Dr. Truitt tells the story. He said his dad was there. His dad was a drunk alcoholic. And Dr. Truitt was just going to try to comfort the boy a little bit and maybe make a difference in the family.

Dr. Truitt says it was amazing. That little boy, six or seven years old, he said he wanted his dad to come over there at his bedside. And Dr. Truitt said he watched the old father—alcoholic—go over there to the little boy. And he bent down to the little boy, and the little boy said this, Dr. Truitt said this, what he said: “Daddy, I want you to remember, I loved you even though you did get drunk.” Isn’t that amazing? That’s where the Lord is. I fall into sin. We all fall into sin. But the Lord said, “Look, come on over here. Let’s reason here. We’ve got to get things straight, but I want to have a father-son relationship with you.” That’s the Lord. “I will receive you.”

The whole purpose of this thing is to get close to God. Now, if I’m just going to ignore and act like nothing is wrong with my sin and all that, I’m not going to get close to him. But if I become sincere, God wants to be close to you. He wants to be close to you. Hey, I’m just saying tonight, let’s just try to get close to him. Let’s say let my goal be not just separation, but separation for the purpose of drawing near.

Here’s a good thing. You know the verse that changed four, eight? You know it: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” Isn’t that awesome? Now, there’s part of that: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” Here’s the thing I love about it. You’ve been around here a long time; you’ve seen it before, but it’s a good thing. Some have said, “You take a step to God, and God takes a step to you.” The good thing is, my little bitty steps are about like this, but God’s got a big old step. You talk about a stride—God’s got a stride. Drawing nigh to him, he’ll draw nigh to you.

I had the privilege—and it is a privilege—to go visit Shelby in the hospital at Vanderbilt. Her daughter, Teresa, was in there; I met her. And her son-in-law—I can’t remember. Was it Bill? I’m thinking it was Bill, or James? You remember, Miss Sherry? Jim. Jim. Thank you, Jim. I had never met either one of them. Jim was there, and I came into the hospital room. She was over there setting up a chair. I was shocked how well she’s doing, praise the Lord. Keep praying. I told her I’d tell y’all she’s doing good, but I’d tell her I’d tell you all to keep praying for her. She liked that; she wants that. She’s got rehab to go through.

I went there just for a second. Jim was over here; he’s a big fella. I went over and talked to Shelby, shook his hand, introduced myself and his wife and all that. He left the room pretty quick, and not in a bad way. I didn’t know where he went, but I thought, “Man, I didn’t really get to talk with him.” And I talked for a while, and finally, he came back in the room. I don’t know if they go—I’m sure they’ll go to church somewhere. I didn’t talk to him about that, didn’t ask him. But I wanted to reach out to him, kind of get to know him a little bit and befriend him, you know. And I’ll be honest, I even prayed and said, “Lord, I’d like to get to know and reach out to that man.”

And the Lord did work it out. Boy, we had a good conversation. He had a Wisconsin hat on. I like Wisconsin basketball. They usually play good fundamental basketball. Any of you guys know? Brother Jim’s back there. He’s like, “Yeah, they do.” They’re old-school basketball a little bit, you know. Brother Jim’s like, “Yeah, they are.” And I like that. So we talked basketball for a little bit and all that good stuff, and it seemed like the Lord brought us closer together. And I had specifically reached out to him and just tried to get to know him a little bit. In fact, I’d said somewhere in there something about him. I said, “Well, I wouldn’t ever say anything bad about Jim. He’s too big; he’ll hurt us all.” You know, he’s a big man. But I tried to reach out to him.

Here’s the neat thing: I was just trying to be a friend and get to know him a little bit. Maybe one day they’ll come to church. I don’t know. But even if they don’t, I just wanted to connect a little bit. When I left, we had prayed, and I shook all their hands and went to shake Jim’s hand—big old fellow. And he kind of didn’t even shake; he just grabbed me and hugged me. I enjoyed that. That’s where God is. You just reach out a little bit to God. Drawing nigh to God, and he’ll draw nigh to you. He just grabs you. “I will receive you.”

It’s more than just separation. It’s separation so I can get close to the Lord. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Let’s just spend a little time seeking him. Lord, I’m not perfect, but I’m going to try to walk in the light and be sincere and separate. But I want to be close to you. I won’t claim that promise, “You’ll receive me,” unless I’m drawing nigh to you. Would you draw nigh to me? I know it’s in your time frame, but I just want to draw nigh to you. Would you do that tonight? Let’s just draw nigh to him. Let’s get real close to him. Would you please stand right where you are? Let’s just stand. We’re going to pray. Our instruments are playing. Let’s just draw nigh to him. Unless he said, “I will receive you,” you don’t have to be perfect. You’ve got to be honest. Got to be sincere. If he says something, all right, I’ve got to change for him. But let’s seek him. Let’s seek him tonight.

Father, thank you that you said you’ll receive me. That’s amazing, Lord. I know I’m messed up and sinful and have problems, and yet you are perfect, righteous, all-powerful, wonderful God, and you will receive me. Thank you, Jesus, for making that possible. Help us tonight, Father, to seek you. We’ll praise you for what you do in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Would you just seek the Lord as we spend some time? Just seek the Lord. Just draw nigh to him. Lord, help me to seek you more. I don’t want this stale, cold, ritualistic Christianity. Now, I know, Lord, there are some things you’re going to require, and I understand that, but I want to seek you. I’m going to be after you. Yes, I’ll follow your rules and your laws and your word, but I want you to let them know that tonight: I’ll be after you, Lord. You’ll let them know that. Lord, I’ll be after you. Morning, noon, and night. Would you help me out with those four words? “I will receive you.” Would you say those? Here we go. Here we go. “I will receive you.” Hey, let’s claim that before we go to bed tonight. Let’s claim that. Make up in the morning tomorrow; let’s claim that. We pray, Lord, I’m not perfect, but I’m sincerely trying to seek you. Let’s claim that. Help me out. What was it, those four words? Help me out. What was it? What was it?

Well, he doesn’t mind you reminding him of that. He’ll be delighted. And let him know, “Hey, Lord, I’m coming. Thank you. You’ll receive me.”

Original File: I Will Receive You - Pastor Paul Chisgar 12920