As you well know, we are in a series of heart-to-heart talks regarding the greatest sermon that was ever preached.
And that sermon was preached by Jesus himself.
No sermon has ever been comparable to this masterpiece.
And it came from the lips of the highest authority in heaven and earth.
You need not worry as to whether or not the one who brought this sermon had his theology straight.
There can be no argument regarding his doctrine.
For he brought a perfect sermon, perfect in doctrine, perfect in theology.
Remember, preached by the very Son of God.
Now in this sermon, he gave you, he gave me a pattern that we are to follow when we pray.
I know we refer to it as the Lord's Prayer, but in reality it really isn't.
It is the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, a pattern for our praying.
We now come to that portion of the prayer.
That means more to me personally than I can begin to tell you.
And I do hope that when we have finished our heart-to-heart talk on just this portion of the prayer,
that when you repeat it, you will say it very slowly, for it has great depth of meaning.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Thy will, the will of God for this life of mine, the perfect will of God for your life.
In heaven, in glory, there is a perfect blueprint that God holds.
He has a perfect will for this life of mine.
Thy will be done right here on earth, here and now,
as it is according to the blueprint that God holds for my life in heaven.
You want to know something?
Life is the most important thing in the whole world.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing on this earth that is more important to God than human life.
Believe me, that is true.
I know we've come to the day, we've come to the hour when life has become mighty cheap.
We pick up our daily newspapers.
We read where there has been an accident.
A man was killed.
Five were killed.
We hear the broadcasts regarding the taking of life.
It's all so cheap.
We fold the paper, we put it down on the table.
We never give it another thought.
Oh, sure, there was a crash.
Fifty-seven killed.
I know.
But we feel that so what? It's just another life.
Life has become so cheap until sometimes I wondered if it has not become one of the cheapest things on earth
when it comes to man's sense of values. And yet, in the sight of God, there is nothing more priceless.
There is no greater treasure.
There is nothing of greater value in the mind of Almighty God than human life, so priceless,
that He literally gave a commandment that no man should take life.
No man has been given the authority to take a human life.
God Himself holds within His own power the giving of human life.
There is no power on this earth to give life.
The giving of life rests in the hand of God Himself.
In the hand of God there rests the complete authority to take human life.
And to protect human life, God has given a commandment.
Thou shalt not kill.
Don't touch it, God says.
The taking of human life rests with me, in me alone.
Thou shalt not kill.
Every time I hold a precious baby in my arms, dedicating that baby,
I've never quite gotten over it, even though I have dedicated literally thousands of precious little babies.
When I hold in my arm that little bit of flesh,
I pray what I consider the greatest prayer that I can pray for that precious little baby,
that that life shall be lived according to His will.
I can pray no greater prayer, for I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt
that when that little baby gave its first cry, took its first breath,
that in the mind of God and in the hand of God there rests a perfect blueprint,
a perfect will for that life.
For God does nothing promiscuously, absolutely nothing.
God is perfect precision.
I believe that when God spoke the world into existence, He had a perfect plan.
I believe that when the three sat down at the great conference table,
the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and talked to the redemption of man,
there was a perfect plan, a perfect blueprint, before Jesus ever offered Himself
through the Holy Spirit to be given by God the Father,
that atonement could be made for the soul of man.
I believe that God is so perfect in His plan that He had a perfect plan for Abraham,
a perfect plan for Elijah, Moses.
He's not promiscuous in His dealings.
Study the Scriptures.
You'll see a perfect blueprint for the turn of Israel,
and they are living according to that blueprint.
It's thrilling. It's amazing. It's astounding.
God had a perfect plan for the life of the Apostle Paul.
And being no respecter of persons,
I believe that God has a perfect plan for your life, for my life.
And all the devils of hell could never argue me out of that conviction.
I believe it.
I believe it so sincerely that there's a portion of the Word of God that affects me very deeply.
I know it has reference to Jesus Himself when He stood before Pilate.
But these were the words that Jesus spoke.
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.
I could not begin to tell you the thousands of times in my life that I have looked up,
sometimes to blinding tears, and have asked the question,
Why was I born?
For what cause came I into the world?
I know God has a perfect plan for this life of mine.
I know that God has a purpose.
I did not decide on what country to be born.
I did not decide what century to be born in.
God knows that I had no choice of sex.
Had I been given a choice, I would much rather have been a man,
especially knowing that I was to be called to preach the gospel.
For as a woman, I had two strikes against me before I ever stand behind the pulpit.
It would have been a thousand times easier had I been born a man.
I don't believe that I would have had to work nearly so hard,
because I just had to preach a little harder than any man who stands behind the pulpit,
because there's so much prejudice against a woman preacher.
But I wasn't given my choice of sex.
I was born female.
I had no choice whatsoever when it came to my physical appearance.
Had I had a choice, God knows I never would have chosen red hair.
I had no choice.
And the amazing thing is that I cannot even decide when I'm to leave.
Had nothing to say about my coming.
I have absolutely nothing to say about my going, my leaving.
That, my friend, is in the hands of an all-wise God.
This very hour, even while I'm talking to you,
some place there's a precious little old soul, perhaps a little saint of God,
who is well up in years.
Her loved ones are over there on the other shore.
She feels so lonely. She feels so homesick.
She'd give anything in the world if just now Jesus would call her home.
She feels there's nothing more on this earth to live for,
and yet she has nothing to say about her going.
She just waits until the Lord says,
It's my time now. Come on.
And yet, before the clock will strike the midnight hour,
even before I may have finished speaking,
somebody in the springtime of youth,
seemingly with everything in the world to live for, will be taken.
I can't tell you why.
I only know that there's one at the helm.
There is one who is God Almighty.
In His sight, the most precious thing in the whole universe is a human life.
It's in His hand, His power to give human life.
It's in His power to take human life.
We are so personal. We are so individual in His sight.
My friend, hear me for just a minute.
You may feel that you are only one of millions of people,
that He has no regard whatsoever for you as an individual.
You may feel that what I'm saying when I said that God has a perfect plan,
a perfect blueprint for your life,
that I am talking about something that's way out someplace.
But pause a minute.
You are so individual to God that no one who has ever been born,
who will ever be born, who is living this hour,
has the same fingerprint as yours.
My friend, that is making you mighty personal in the mind of God.
To this end was I born.
And for this cause came I into the world.
Why?
Don't miss our next great heart-to-heart talk.
God bless you.