(Clip) Humanizing God and Christian Selfishness — Lou Sutera

The Humanization of God

If man is man, and are you men here tonight? We talked about men. If man is man, here we are, man is man, then. And if God is God. You know what our problem of our day is, men and women? We have done something to God.

He's no longer the God of the Bible in our minds. The tragedy is we have humanized Him and brought Him down to such a low level that it can hardly say God is God. But I hope God has a group of people here tonight who say we want the God who is God.

The Foolishness of Neglecting Prayer

And Phyllis Brooks said, if man is man, and we are, and if God is God, and we say amen to that, then he went on to say, that not only is it awful not to pray, it is foolish not to pray. You have not because you ask not.

Oh, my brothers and sisters, that will become a praying people. But I say here tonight, Lord, I've got people on a Tuesday night have come to Heritage Alliance Church because I've got the askers, Lord.

Asking Without Receiving

The askers are here tonight, God. So, he goes on to say in verse 3, you ask. I've got the askers here, Lord. But also it says, you ask and receive not. And we're here, Lord. A lot of asking, but we're not getting.

We're here, Lord. How come, Lord? Because you ask of this, you ask to consume it on your lust. What is this all about? I give a quote by Dr. James Kennedy from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tremendous man of God who passed on to be with the Lord a few years ago.

Selfishness Within Christian Prayer

Listen to what he said. What a statement. He said, the selfishness of our day. Don't we live in a day of selfishness? The selfishness of our day has mingled itself with the incense of our prayers. Our self-centeredness of this society and our day comes right into the center of our prayers.

Gratitude, Praise, and Spiritual Blessings

It is to be feared, he said, that our selfishness prays more than our gratitude and praise. He said, for even spiritual blessing we can ask for, we may even ask and even receive it not, if we only ask it that we may consume it upon ourselves.

Tremendous. You know, every one of us as Christians, we can say we know if we know ourselves at best. Sometimes in our most holy moments, we discover the fact that that spirit of selfishness and self-seeking enters right into the center of our prayers.