'Slowness of Heart ' Part 2 — Joshua Daniel

Welcome to the Lord's Challenge with Joshua Daniel. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International is a ministry reaching people from all walks of life since 1935. After a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of 16, Joshua Daniel has been declaring a marvelous deliverance from sin which is freely given to all those who turn to the loving Savior.

Wherever this message has gone out, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and thieves turned into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing that God has for you.

The Empty Tomb and the Resurrection Hope

Hello, friends. As I was walking through Jerusalem with my... they were all little tots, little children at that time. And as I was walking on that dusty road, small road, I saw a little sign which said, to Calvary.

So I said, here we go. So I entered that alley, and it led me to a porch, an entrance porch, in which one or two people, the keeper and his friend or something, were sitting. And I walked into the garden, and the garden tomb, just like it is described in the Bible, outside the city gates.

The walls of Jerusalem were barely a hundred yards away. And I could see, and I knelt down, where the Lord was supposed to have been crucified, outside the city gates. What a revered moment. And then, a short distance away, was the garden tomb, With that opening, I went in, we knelt down again, and praised God for the open tomb.

But it struck me, there's not a scripture here. So I said, I must send a special scripture, so that all the visitors and pilgrims and others who come here, will be able to read it. So I ordered a special scripture text, against a white background, with bold black letters.

He is not here. He is risen. When I sent that to the garden tomb, and the British chaplain protested. He said, Oh, some people may be offended at this scripture. I said, Huh. Such a man ought not to be put in charge of the garden tomb.

However, you know how delighted I was recently, when two of our brothers, brother and sister from Ireland, said to me, we took a picture underneath that scripture. He is not here. He is risen. So I was delighted and thrilled, that my effort was not in vain, and it was finally put up there.

For people to know, that this is not like the tomb of Muhammad. It's an empty tomb. The Lord is risen. So, just imagine, these downcast men, as they walked to Emmaus, and all their ponderings, and all their recriminations, or sorrows, were being voiced aloud to Jesus.

Slowness of Heart on the Road to Emmaus

So he said, Oh fools, what could he call them? You know, my dear friends, when we play around, and not heed the resurrection, that's the height of foolishness. Here is our only hope, the hope of the whole world.

And, instead of the resurrection, we make some little trifling thing, a big idol in its place. Or worship it, or revere it, or treasure it, or hold fast to it, and think, Oh, this is going to give me joy.

At the moment of death, your idol will not stand before you. Either the resurrected Savior will stand before you, or, as some of these nurses report, how terribly people go through such emotions when they die without Jesus Christ.

Is the Lord risen? We are fools, and slow of heart. Slow of heart, slow to sacrifice, slow to love, slow to protest evil and transgression of God's Word. And now, my dear friends, when Jesus said, You fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the Scripture and the prophets have said, that thus it was written, thus it behoved Christ to rise again the third day.

The Burning Word of God

So, when the Lord disappeared, what did they say to each other? Thirty-second verse. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way? You know, when the Word of God ceases to burn within you, something has gone.

Something has gone. Now, must not that heart of ours burn at the Word of Jesus? Did not our heart burn within us when we heard his Word? Now, you know, not only does the Word of God burn within us, the Word of God does much more.

Crucified with Christ and Raised to New Life

If you turn to Romans, the sixth chapter, and the sixth verse, Romans, chapter six, and verse six, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from henceforth we should not serve sin.

The fifth verse says, If we be planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. To what extent, to what depths, has the resurrection taken effect in your life?

You see, resurrection, of course, implies death. First you need death before you talk of the resurrection. Now, how does the cross apply to us? It brings death to the old nature. Sometimes I find that pride never seems to die.

You know, our reactions, I can't take it, kind of stuff. You see, pride. But is there no death to that old nature of pride? You know, actually, in the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, in the 15th chapter, again, St. Paul uses, Thou fool, 15, 36, Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not brought alive, except it die.

Of course, when you sow a seed of wheat, you don't expect to see it in its own form. All of us have learned in the schools of how a bean seed germinates. You put a little bean seed in a jar of water, and then when it germinates, first comes the radical, then comes the plumeal, and the bean seed disappears after a while.

It's dead. If it doesn't die, you don't have the bean creeper. So, the Bible says, Thou fool, that every seed which you sow, don't you know that it dies? And unless it dies, you don't see the resurrection, you don't see the fruitful tree coming out.

Now, my dear friends, if some of us complain that there isn't enough fruit in our lives, or no fruit in our lives, let me tell you this, that's death. That being crucified with Christ has not taken effect in you.

And that's why you just see a manifestation of the old nature, the old things all repeated, the old resentment, the old anger, the old pride. Some people don't know they are proud. You know, my dear friends, as I come closer to the finish line, I say I must get more humble.

Christ’s Humility and the Death of Pride

That's the only way. That's the way of Jesus. You know, in the second chapter of Philippians, what do you find? You find that in the seventh and eighth verses, he made himself of no reputation. Of course, the Revised Version says he emptied himself.

He made himself of no reputation. How people, you know, are so zealous for their reputation. You know, I must be accepted. I must be honored. I must be recognized. But here we see that Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation.

This deceiver said he would rise again on the third day. So let there be a special guard to seal and to keep the grave, lest somebody steal the body and say he's risen. This deceiver. After you're dead, do you like a title like that?

My dear friends, do you want your children to give you that title? Or your neighbors? This deceiver. And that's the title that Jesus Christ was given by the high priest. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself.

What more? Isn't that enough? That the God of creation should be born like you and me? He humbled himself. He took the form of a slave, but still he humbled himself to the cross to rejection, to being spat upon.

He humbled himself. You know the trouble with the human heart is pride. Lucifer fell by pride. And let me tell you, if you follow that example and fall by your pride, you have learned nothing. Learned nothing.

And I see that education, position, acceptance in society is only filling people with a lot of pride. That's all it is. It is not helping them to serve humbly or to follow Jesus. No. That seeing this, I say to myself, what I need is more humility.

I will be more like my master. Let anybody tell me or rebuke me when they see pride in me. I don't want to be proud. I want to be humble. What I have done for Jesus is nothing. And I find that the more I humble myself, the more I see Jesus being glorified.

The Resurrection Requires Death to Self

My dear friends, these are the laws. These are the lessons which we must take from the resurrection. There is no resurrection without humbling yourself. There is no resurrection without death to the old life.

No resurrection. This is no resurrection day for those who don't say, Lord, I am ready to die to self. You want to see a change? You know, when the president was brought in with this great slogan, change, change, change, they welcomed the change.

And I don't know if 14 trillion debt or deficit is a welcome change. If it is a welcome change, well, you chose it. You get the government which you deserve. Well, what is the kind of change we want? Some kind of little emotional, sentimental change?

Or is it a change that comes like the glorified body of Jesus? How did Jesus walk to Emmaus? Was not one of those feet nailed to the cross? And the injury that the nails and all the weight of the body had to be taken by that wound.

Those were glorified feet. You live a risen life. And that is what we need. We need it in our hearts. We need it in our families. And without this risen life, excluding this risen life, the word hope may be erased, can be erased from your vocab.

There is no hope. It's the risen life in Christ that brings us hope that we will be a fruitful people. And you and I will, at the end of our lives, be able to give something positive to those around us.

Prayer for Humility, Transformation, and Fruitfulness

Let us pray. Let us tell God, Lord, I want a risen life. But, you know, I hate to die to my old fancies, my old idols, my old vanities, my old pride. I hate to die to my pride. But I love the risen, resurrected life.

Save me, Lord. I am but a fool. O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. O my Father, have mercy upon us this resurrection morning. We want the change which the resurrection produces, not this undefined deficit-making change which people apparently have ushered in.

We don't want a deficit in our lives. Thou dost make my cup. My cup runneth over. That is you. That is the new life which you give to your forlorn sheep. O my Father, visit us, for we need this visitation.

We need this crucifixion with Jesus. Some of our old ways are so ugly. Pride that rises within our breasts. So ugly. We don't want it. It makes for ugly situations. Ugly relationships. Ugly fruit. O, we don't want it.

We want the resurrection. The Christ-like life. O, teach us that path of humility, good Lord. We have but a short life on earth. Help it to be a life of love, faith, and sacrifice so that we may be a blessing to those around us.

We ask this in Jesus' holy name. Amen.

This program is brought to you by the Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International, a non-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival around the globe. We invite every layperson to become God's ally in changing his or her corner of the world.

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Until we meet again next week, may God bless you.