Everything Is for the Glory of God — Jim Cymbala

Asking in Jesus' Name for the Father's Glory

Oh my goodness, God is good. Is God good? God is good. God is awesome. Well, I'd like to just read one verse. You don't need to turn to it. You can look at it later. But you're familiar with it. It's found in one of the deepest chapters in the New Testament, John 14.

And it's verse 12, verse 13, I'm sorry. You can ask for anything, Jesus said, you can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it so that the Father might be glorified in the Son. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it.

You can ask for anything, I'm repeating now, and in my name, Jesus said, and I will do it. Notice the prayer is to Jesus, and he said he will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father, that the Father might be glorified in the Son.

Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it. Chapter 14 of John is so deep, isn't it? Begins with, don't let your hearts be troubled, don't be afraid, I go to prepare a place for you. Jesus was going to leave the scene, and after three and a half years of walking with these disciples, apprehension absolutely filled their hearts.

How would they manage without their master, their rabbi, their teacher, their all in all. And Jesus actually said something that totally amazed them, it's better for you that I go, and they were like, there's no way you going is better in any way, shape or form.

But Jesus said, because unless I go, I won't be able to send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in you, revealing things concerning me, will be greater than me with you. Yes, walking on the water, calling Lazarus out of the tomb, it will be better in that day for you, because I will only be with you, but he will be in you.

And after three and a half years of teaching, Jesus didn't have that much to show, in terms of long lasting results, because on the night he was betrayed, which is coming soon after this night of John 14, they all fled.

They all fled. So, it goes to show that hearing the greatest of preachers, and having the Son of God as your model, is no way to be compared with the Holy Spirit in us. Christianity is hopeless without the Holy Ghost.

It's hopeless without it, you can't do anything. Now, Jesus here is indicating some wonderful things, two of which we will not touch on, because it's another sermon for another day. Praying in his name, this is the first mention in John, which has so much different material, especially in John 14 through 17, material that's not found in the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

And this last talk with the disciples is filled with things like this. Pray in my name. This had not been taught to them. Representing Christ in Christ's stead, using his name as the signature in prayer.

That has a lot of meaning to us, if we would stop and study it. Also, notice the latitude, the huge vastness of the potential of prayer. Ask anything, he repeats it, ask anything in my name and I will do it.

Notice also here, instead of prayer to the Father in the name of Christ, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the general Christian formula, this is an exception, where ask me and I will do it. Prayer to Jesus, like prayer to the Spirit, is acceptable, even though the traditional formula, as I mentioned, is our Father which art in heaven, coming in Christ's name.

So, the latitude of it, ask anything in my name. But then he touches on two things in this little sentence, which most of us take and focus on the prayer aspects of it, but he touches on the two things which come to my heart today, about 50 years of Westgate Chapel.

I'm here to celebrate that day with you and to remind you of two simple little thoughts, that's all I have for you to remember. Because I think it has a lot to do with the fact that your church is not only existing after 50 years, but is prospering and being blessed by God.

Everything Exists for the Glory of God

The first thing that's strange about this text, which I would like to apply to you all here, is Jesus saying, ask anything in my name and I will do it, so you will get out of your bind and you'll be helped.

No, he doesn't say that. Ask anything in my name and I will do it, so that that wayward daughter or wayward son, that you're just concerned about, will come back. No, he doesn't say that. The answer obviously is important, but he says the reason for the answer is more important.

Ask anything in my name and I will do it, so that my Father might be glorified. The purpose of all prayer... No, we're going to go further. The purpose of everything is that God might be glorified. From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, there are many truths in the Bible.

And there are so many truths in the Bible, you can look at it as layers of truth, with foundational truths being on the bottom, or you can look at it as a solar system. And you could say the sun is in the middle and the planets are moving around the sun.

And of course, in the Bible there are different solar systems of truth. But in the center, around which all of the truths move, have their place, are important. But the center truth of the entire Bible is sometimes missed by us, because we over-focus on some of the other planetary truths, if I may use that term.

The central truth of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, the bottom line, at the end of time, when we pass into eternity, we will see it clearer than ever. And this is the truth. Everything is for the glory of God.

Everything is for God. Everything. Everything. I was noticing again, every time I come to this beautiful part of the country, I happen to love trees. And the way your trees are here, different than trees in New York, if we can find one in New York, that's another whole problem.

But your trees here are so beautiful. You know why those trees are put on this planet Earth? So that God might be glorified. The sun broke out while we were driving here early this morning. You know why God put a sun there?

Not just to give us light, so that when you look at it, He might be praised and glorified. How awesome God speaks through creation. Name anything. See these flowers? Real, I hope. Yes, they're real. This is for the glory of God.

They not only decorate, but they were created for the glory of God. A tree, a human, a baby. Anything, music. Name anything in the universe, and it was created for the glory of God. Everything is for God.

Say that with me.

Everything is for God. Uno mas, one more time.

Everything is for God. Come on, a little louder, everybody. Everything is for God. Everything is for God.

Today is Sunday, June 7th. Why did God give us another day? For the glory of God. Do you have a job?

A lot of ours. We have hundreds. What's that one say? Oh, a little child. In New York, we have hundreds of people without a job. In our church. Carol was doing something with the choir the other day, Pastor Alec, and they were singing a song, and the Holy Spirit, I felt, speak to me.

And as the track was going on for this song, about my life is in your hands, I just said, because the thing was hooked up to me, the earpiece, I said, everyone who's without a job, you come from that auditorium.

My tears flowed. Hundreds of people coming forward. This downturn has really affected New Yorkers on how it is here. If you have a job, God gave it to you for the glory of God. If you have a problem, it's for the glory of God.

If you're on a mountain, it's for the glory of God. Whatever there is in life, it's for the glory of God. That God might be praised. And this is why Jesus said, ask anything and I will do it for you, so that the Father might be glorified in the Son.

That God might receive glory. Think how that will change our prayers. All this frivolous stuff about, why am I driving a Ford? I should have a Mercedes. How in the world are you going to compare that for the glory of God?

You can't ask anything selfish if it's for the glory of God. You can't ever say, if you're possessed with a bitterness in you, God, you let my mother-in-law get a case of the flu or something for the glory of God.

No, I can't pray that. I can't pray that. Notice, for the glory of God, praying in Jesus' name reduces things down and simplifies life for us. You don't need 110 commandments to figure out life today.

At lunch today, when you're about to say something and you think about what you're going to say, ask yourself this. Is this sentence for the glory of God? Your attitude towards your mother-in-law, father-in-law, husband, wife, anything you're going to say, anything you're going to do, is it for the glory of God?

Now, God created us. The Catechism says, the Apostles' Creed says that we were created for the glory of God and to enjoy Him forever, to enjoy His presence and His love. This is why life becomes empty, even for believers.

There's a strange emptiness in us the moment we lose our center truth. The minute the sun isn't looked at, S-U-N, the minute you lose your foundation and you begin to live for your glory or your pleasure, automatically happiness begins to escape you.

Joy and peace, you can't find it. As Charles Finney, the great revivalist and preacher said, God has made us so that the harder you try to be happy, the less you will be. And when you forget trying to be happy and just live for the glory of God and you praise Him, happiness is chasing you all over and you can hardly get away from it.

How many know what I'm talking about? Lift your hand and say, Amen. The peace and the joy of God come naturally when you keep the right focus that God created for all creation. Animals were created for the glory of God.

Everything that is made, every river, every salmon swimming, everything is created for the glory of God. And how this simplifies life. God put my wife and I together for the glory of God. As long as we remember that, God's going to help our marriage.

A Church and Ministry Centered on God's Glory

Now may I say this about your church? I, of course, am new to your church when you think of 50 years. But I saw that video, that was deeply moving to me this morning, this video. Obviously, the people who started this church weren't trying to make a buck and weren't trying to get ahead in life by pioneering a new church called Westgate Chapel.

The people who started that, that man was very moving, wasn't he, on that video? He was doing it for the glory of God. And when you and I do anything for the glory of God, we not only find our proper center, we not only have all the powers of heaven begin to operate upon us in a beneficial way, but God opens the windows of heaven and helps everyone and anyone who is doing something for the glory of God.

If Jim Cymbala is the center, if some church name like the Brooklyn Tabernacle or Westgate Chapel is the one who's supposed to be focused on, then the Holy Spirit withdraws its influences because the Holy Spirit was only sent to glorify Christ, that God might be glorified in Christ.

How easy that is to forget when you preach. It's not about me. I'm here to point you toward God. If you remember me too much or what I said, I failed. But if you go home and say, I don't know who that guy was who preached, but oh, how awesome God is, then I've done a good job.

Now I want to say something. I know your present leadership, and I'm talking about more than just the pastor and his wife, but all the people around them that are in leadership here, and I'm impressed by them.

They've been a blessing to me. Obviously, this is one of the reasons why God has blessed your church. Did you notice in the construction of that DVD, which I had never seen until now, do you notice the wisdom in that, the narration, the way it was handled by the pastor?

He's deflecting everything away from human sources, and he's giving all the glory to God. Why did these things happen? Because God was good. Why are we still here today? Because God is faithful. Building half-burnt-down devil tried to destroy, but God had the last word.

Not we did, I did, it's all about me. It's all about God. And whenever God sees that, He's going to bless. He's going to help. Think of all the churches that are held back from the presence of God and the moving of the Holy Spirit, because God sees it's all about them.

It's like the same revival as Finney said back in the 1830s. He said some churches pray for revival, but they'll know very little of what God can do, because they want revival so they can say, look, we have revival.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. We have revival. You don't. Our church is bigger. Da, da, da, da, da. And God's not sending His Holy Spirit so that we'll be on some ego trip. God is going to send His Holy Spirit in your life, in my life, in this church, in any church that says to God be the glory.

To God be the glory. Does God deserve all the glory or what? Wait a minute, wait a minute. How about, forget this church. Forget this church. How about you, sir? How about you, ma 'am? Would you be here today if it wasn't for the grace of God?

Who should you be giving glory to and I? I wasn't even a good Christian growing up. My brother, older brother, was a better Christian. He lives in Portland. And my sister, younger sister, she was a better Christian.

I was erratic, a truant in high school, basketball player, but running all around, doing crazy things. And I'm in the ministry? I'm in the ministry? Are you kidding me? I'm the last person anyone would have thought.

In fact, an older man who was separated from our circles for a year, our family, when he heard I was in the ministry, he almost had a cardiac arrest and died. Why am I here today? Because I'm somebody special?

Forget that. It's because God is awesome, full of mercy, full of compassion. And you, come on, between you and God, don't you know what you're really like apart from God's grace? We're all here. This church is here so that God might be glorified.

Worship, Humility, and Giving God All Praise

So I want to do something. You ready to do something with me? Outside the box a little bit, huh? I said, are you ready to do something outside the box? How many believe this truth that everything is for the glory of God?

Lift your hand up. Lift your hand up. Okay. Everybody stand. Everybody stand. Before I give you my last little point, we're going to make a joyful noise to the Lord. At the count of three, you're going to start clapping your hands as loud as you've ever clapped them.

Louder than at the Seattle Seahawk game. Louder than the Mariners, right? Than Ichiro when he gets a hit. They go crazy there and nobody laughs at them. But let anybody get excited in church and right away, fanatics, crazy people.

I'm not letting anybody control me that way. People can scream at Olympics and cry on Broadway watching some Broadway play and then we get a little excited in church. I'm not going to let anybody condemn me and make me feel sensitive.

God deserves all my praise. And I know He's worthy of all the glory because in heaven, guess what we're going to be doing? Around the throne, worthy is the one who sits on the throne. So at the count of three, you're not only going to clap louder than you ever have, but you're going to shout so loud that downtown Seattle is going to hear it.

You're going to shout, Hallelujah, praise God. You shout whatever God gives you, but you're going to make a joyful noise. You don't have to do it unless you believe what I just said from the Word of God, that God is worthy of all the praise.

One, two, three. Let's do it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah to God. Hallelujah. God, we praise you. We worship you. Hallelujah to you. Fifty years of your faithfulness. Fifty years of answered prayer. Fifty years of grace.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Fifty years, we give you hallelujah. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name.

Blessed be your name. I praise you. I honor you. I glorify you. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You may be seated. How many feel better? Say amen. Amen. This is one of the secrets of worshiping God.

When you and I worship God like we just did, and there's different forms, obviously, of worshiping God, you will feel a joy stirring in you, no matter how you feel when you begin, because when we praise God, when we worship God, we are doing what we were created for.

This is why some people wonder, why is the presence of the Lord, He dwells in worship. He dwells in worship. He sits down like a king to dispense things when people praise Him. Because this is what we are created for.

Not to have a job. God did not create you to have a job, save money, build a nice house, retire. You think God created you for that? You think He sent His Son for that? No, He sent His Son, He saved us, so that He might get all the glory and praise.

All over Seattle today, people are cursing Jesus, just like in New York. I remind the audience of that, to try to get the people to remember to praise God. Because crack deals are going down in downtown Brooklyn, where I pastor.

Crack deals are going down, and people sell crack and go, for Christ's sake, will you hand me the money please? With a lot of four letter words thrown in. For Christ's sake this, Christ for this, and they are using His name, but not in God's house.

Here we praise His name. Let me say amen. We magnify His name. Let's put our hands together one more time. We glorify His name. We praise His name. Now this, before I close with the other thought beside everything is for God, I'm just reminded of something else.

Pride, Humility, and the Danger of Seeking Glory for Ourselves

This is why God so detests pride. Did you notice that in the Bible, God has a thing about pride worse than any other sin. For God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. God resists the proud.

The proud will not stand in the assembly of the righteous. God's got a thing. You know why? It reminds Him of the smell that ruined heaven. Because before there was a devil to tempt anyone, Lucifer was turned from the most beautiful of God's angelic creation into Satan.

And he was turned that way, because instead of giving glory to God, he wanted a piece of the action. He wanted glory. That's why the Bible has this thing about pride. And the Bible so lifts up humility.

Because I am happiest, you and I will always be happiest when we're down and we're exalting God. The minute we start to think and take ourselves serious, we're going to be in trouble because God will not share His glory with anyone.

He deserves all the praise. This is why your church, by the way I got to commend, did you notice the inspiration of those choir members? Obviously your leadership, and I'm talking about more than the music.

The music to me is secondary. Did you see their faces? No one trained them to do that. I looked up while Sister Rita was leading that last song, and I look up in the tenor section, and just like in Carol's Choir, there's a guy not even looking at the director.

His hands are up, his eyes are closed, he's crying like a baby, he's praising God. Because obviously this spirit of giving God all the glory has been caught by people singing, so it's not about performance.

Hey, listen to this song we're going to sing. Watch this. It's not about that. That would turn us off and grieve God's spirit. No, I love when people sing and they're lost, just, oh God be praised. God be worshipped.

And He deserves it. One last thing. Everything is for God. And now Jesus said, when you pray, ask this, and I'll do it for you, ask in my name, which touches on the other bottom line foundational truth in the Bible.

Everything Comes from God

Way before Abraham, way before the cross, way, way, way, deep, deep, deep down. Everything is for God, the glory of God. That's the bottom of it all. But right next to that is everything is from God. Everything must come from God or there is nothing to work with.

Everything is for God. This day, me and the ministry, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Westgate Chapel, you, me, everyone, we're all made for the glory of God. And the more we give Him that glory, praise God.

Life is just filled with beautiful things. Now, at the same time, everything must come from God. Go back with me here to creation. Go back with me before creation. If you can imagine that. As I mentioned earlier today, the scientists now who deny God and many of them deny a creator and the creative act, they are now agreeing, though, linked to the Big Bang Theory that there was a moment when not only energy was created, not only energy was created, there was no energy.

Energy, matter and time all began at some moment according to the Big Bang Theory. And people who don't believe in God are admitting we can trace back the fact there's radiation proof now of this explosion, this beginning, that there's still traces of it in the universe.

Very interesting thought covered by some very noted apologists. But prior to that, when there was no such a thing as time, which we can't fathom, God created, began everything, and not only in the beginning God created the heavens and earth, but now we find out that God begins to make vegetation and separates the waters and begins to make the fowls of the air and the fish in the sea.

Vegetation. And then the Bible says He created Adam and from Adam Eve, and now Adam and Eve are together. Now analyze this with me. Adam and Eve wake up one morning and what do they have to eat that day?

Only what God gave them. The breath that they're breathing, it all began when God breathed the breath of life into them. So the very breath in them came from God. The oxygen that they need from moment to moment, God has put into the atmosphere.

Cut off from oxygen, they will die. Any clothes they're eventually going to wear, God is going to have to provide for them because Adam and Eve were created never to have anything of their own. They were only made as receiving vessels.

The joy that they would have in life would be to be the creation under a wonderful creator who would supply everything they need emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually. Fellowship with Him.

And He came and He walked with them in the cool of the day. But everything they had, if you would ask them, how did you get this? How did you get that? They would say, I have nothing but what He gave me.

Everything came from Him. Now this part of salvation, this part of God's plan for our life, is I believe lost to a lot of us and it ends up in tremendous struggles. I can only share my own. We get saved and we accept the historical record of the Bible pertaining to Christ on the cross.

And we know that 2 ,000 years ago, this Son of God, Emmanuel, God yet man, man yet God, died on the cross and He did something that we could never do for ourselves. He made atonement. Left to myself and my sin, I should be damned forever.

I know that. The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die. I'm guilty of that. I'm aware of that. So I accept by faith the fact that God did for me, once again God did for me, what I could never do for myself.

Through His love and His grace, He sent His Son into the world. He not only washed away all my sins as I put my faith in Him, but on top of that, He wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of Life and Jesus went and prepared a place for us.

We're going to be all together. Forget the 50 year anniversary. We're going to go through 5 million years and it'll be like an instant. And none of us here, one second into eternity, will remember anything we call a problem today.

It'll all be done away with in a split millisecond. And we're going to be with Him. Why? Because He provided that for us as part of His salvation. But too many of us, like myself growing up, said, God, thank You for Christ.

Thank You for the cross. Thank You for the blood that the choir was singing about. Thank You, thank You, thank You. And now I know You want me to be like Christ and I know I want to live a life glorifying to You and I know You're worthy of all the praise.

Now I'm going to do my hardest. I will try with all of my strength to show You that I really do love You. And I'm going to be a good person for You. And if we mess up, which we do, which we all have, we try even harder.

Dependence on the Holy Spirit for Transformation

But brothers and sisters, I leave you with this thought. With what are you trying with? When you see your weakness, when you see your susceptibility to a vulnerability that you have morally, when you see your temper getting out of control again, when you see a calling to impurity that you know is not God's best for you, when your mouth is open to gossip rather than saying something edifying, when you see yourself being lifted up with pride and wanting people to notice you, when you know that's wrong and you want to be different, I'm asking you something.

Can a leopard change his spots? With what are you going to work with? What do I have in me that I can change anything? The only change I can ever have in Jim Cymbala is God changing me through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have no love. I have no purity. You're looking at a mess of a person today. But at the same time, because everything is not only for him, but everything is from him, Paul can say at the same time, I am the chief of sinners.

In me dwelleth no good things, yet I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Because everything comes from God. And we live with this wonderful juxtaposition of conscious weakness and yet bold faith that Jim Cymbala can never...

I have nothing to work with. If you tell me to be kind, I have no kindness in me. The only kindness I have in me is when Christ is living through me. Because everything is not only for him, but everything is from him.

Just like Adam and Eve were so helpless, we are just as hopeless still. And this is why Jesus said that sentence that a lot of us like to skip over or parse and make to mean something different if you would come, my sister.

Without me, Jesus said, you can do what? Without me, Jesus said, you can do... Oh, come on, we can do something. Please, we can do something. I know I need a little help around the edges. But don't make me out a basket case.

Don't tell me I can do nothing. Are you trying to tell me that I'm that hopeless and helpless? Yes. You don't have to say yes so loud there, brother. And not only do we feel peace and joy when we realize everything is for him, what a rest comes when you stop struggling and you say everything is from him.

Everything is from him. You know, I deal a lot with crack addicts. And I'm working now with a young lady who's breaking my heart. She's a young lady who was raped and mauled when she was 11 or 12 and has been out in the street basically prostituting, crack addict.

In the last five years, she's 25. In the last five years, she's been mostly in Rikers Island, prison in New York, then out, in, out, hustling in the street. My wife and I in the church, she came to us, she opened her heart to Christ, made some progress, and now the battle is on.

Now the battle is on. And last time I was with Tanesia, I'm praying for today, she's on my heart right now. Don't know exactly where she is, but she ran from us. And the battle is on. But I've been in a bunch of these battles.

God's gonna have the last word. God's gonna have the last word. She's my daughter, I told her that. She once fell on my shoulder in front of a lot of people at the church and said, would you be my dad?

And whispered that to me. She knows nothing about a father and trust. But her problem is, she knows what's wrong, but she's trying to cure herself. You can't. Just like you can't wash away your sins, you and I can't live for one day without a continual flow of God's grace.

Prayer as Dependence on God's Provision

And maybe you're here today struggling with something, and I don't want to go against the spirit of this church, even though it's a memorial or a special celebratory service. Because not only is everything for God, but this church has emphasized also that everything comes from God.

Thus the stress by the pastor and the leadership on the Tuesday night prayer meeting. Ah, it's just dawning on me now. That's why God said, my house shall be called a house of prayer. Not in this way like I heard growing up.

Pray. You gotta pray. No. God said my house shall be called a house of prayer because I love my people so much. I have so much to give them. But they gotta concentrate and open up to me and trust me. And then I'll just pour out everything they need.

So my house shall not be called a house of preaching. Not a house of praise and worship, as important as those are. But my house shall be called a house of prayer because not only everything is for God, but everything is from God.

Are you heartbroken today? I know I just now thinking of Tunisia. I need faith. I need faith. Everything comes from God. Name one thing that you need has to come from God. I need faith. Because I just spent a lot of time a few weeks ago trying to help her.

I got her house to stay in before I could get her in this program. Invest a lot of time, tears, heartache. Got her clean. Brought her to the church to be picked up to go in the program. She walked right down the street.

The street is calling her. You know they say crack has a voice. When it calls you, you gotta come. That's what they say in the street. The street has a voice. And all she's ever known is just no self-control, no schedule, no sequential living.

Just catch as catch can. That's all my daughter knows. Tunisia. So I need faith for her. Because I didn't pray for her yesterday. Haven't prayed for her today. But now God brought her to me. So I want to see Tunisia say, By the way, I can say, Father God, Tunisia coming to you will bring you great glory.

I'm not asking for a nicer car. I want Tunisia. Maybe you close your eyes with me. Maybe you have a son or a daughter. That you know, if there's gonna be a change, it's gonna have to come from God. Pastor Jim Cymbala, you are on the money.

The word of God is true. Nothing's happening unless God comes. Maybe in your own life, emotionally. Maybe it's financially. Maybe something in your marriage. Something in your family. Something where the enemy is attacking you in a way that only you and God know about.

You're involved in spiritual warfare and you need something fresh from God. Big time. A .S .A .P. And this Sunday, He brought you here. And in keeping with the spirit of 50 years of this church, we're gonna pray for you and then let you go.

If you're here in the balcony or downstairs and you say, Pastor, I have a special need right now. It's weighing on my heart. Like Tunisia is for you. I'm gonna come to the altar. And I'll meet you there because I've been just convicted.

I need to believe God for Tunisia. Anybody wanna join me down here? We'll pray together. Anybody have any kind of special need where you know, I need something from God. I need something from heaven. Would you just come up out of your seat and join with me right here?