Transcription
Welcome, welcome. [music] The Wisdom Center Church welcomes you again to Bible Moments with Mike Murdock. Thank you for worshipping [music] with us today. And now, Dr. Mike Murdock.
My lovable family, Mike Murdock here. Welcome to my little Bible world here. Seven nights a week on the radio. It's an honor to be in your world. I know you love the Bible as much as I do. And I shared last night how a man changed my world, Sidney Jones, a preacher. Let me just go a little further.
When I was 16 years old, we were talking about learning. And I'm telling you little stories out of my life and turning points. I've been sharing a little bit about Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Lester Sumrall, etc. But when I was 16, my mother bought the entire set of World Book encyclopedias. I read every page. I read every word. I read every volume till 2:00 every morning. And I began to love learning. Learning is the key to life. Who you're willing to learn from.
Oh, by the way, let me mention I've got a little book called 41 Scriptures I Wish Everybody Knew. And it's book number 41. If you call my office 24 hours a day, 281 MM radio. That's my telephone number. I almost forgot to tell you. I I'm so involved in this learning. 281 MM radio for Mike Murdock radio. And just tell Janice or one of my staff that I had promised you a book. But and the number of it's book 41. It's thin. It's probably less than 48 pages. But I want to rush it to you. It's free. I'll pay this postage and handling. I want you to fall in love with the Bible. You'll love these scriptures. You got a pen? 781 MM radio.
If you'd rather write me a letter, it's box 97 Colleyville, Texas, outside of Dallas. Box 97 Colleyville is spelled just like it sounds, like the dog, the collie. c o l l e y v i l l e Box 97, Colleyville, Texas 76034. If you'd rather email me, Dr. Mike at the wisdomchurch.com Dr. Mike at the wisdomchurch.com And by the way, I send daily wisdom emails some teachings every day all over the world. And all you have to do is tell me when you email me, Dr. Mike, I would like to get your daily email of wisdom. It'll be a blessing to you in my opinion.
Pardon me for not singing to you. I The piano's right here, but I went through a couple of uh, serious surgeries, and it's kind of slowed me down a little bit. Forgive me, and when I can, I'll get back on and start the singing again.
Brother My Court got you pursuing wisdom. Solomon, Proverbs 4:7, wisdom is the principal thing on the earth. In the second chapter of Proverbs, Solomon explains why wisdom is so important. He says, "Wisdom protects you from evil people. Wisdom exposes bad people to you." The purpose of wisdom is safety, protection. The reward of wisdom is prosperity. Proverbs 1, verse 6, I think it is, says, "A wise man is a listener. He hears." The brother of Jesus, John, wrote, believe it or not, Revelation chapter 1, verse 3, says, "Blessed." That's successful, prosperous. "Blessed is a man who reads books. Blessed is a man who reads." Here in my home, where I'm talking to you from, here in my little worship room, I have on the wall, "What thou seest, write in a book, and send it to seven churches. Revelation 1 verse 11. It's about 20 2 in by 33 or so. And I'm looking at the the big poster. I had one of my staff make for me.
How do you get wisdom? Painful experiences can drive you to be a learner. Someone you admire can drive you to be a learner. And I want to talk about this this month, some of my stories. I begin to write books. I was 35 years old living in California for a couple of years. And I begin to write books. I told about two of them last night. Winning Wisdom for Winning which has gone around the world. The man who put that known so much was Bishop who's a great man of God there in London, England. A second book that went around the world was Dream Seeds. Promoted by Beodan Fadayimbo, a great great pastor from a huge church in Abuja, Nigeria. And David Oyedepo, who runs 300,000 in his church. He just turned 70 a few months ago. But he's the one that got up and told 300,000 of his people holding my book Dream Seeds that that was the book that had changed his world. Pastor Fadayimbo looked at 8,000 of his people in his church. Thousands were outside and he held up my book Dream Seeds. You bragging Mike, very much so. He held up my book Dream Seeds and he said, "Everything you see in my ministry is because of this book."
Learning is a necessity for avoiding losses. Learning depends on what you learn, when you learn, who you're willing to learn from. If you go to my website mikemurdockbooks.com you can buy 400, 500 books for $2 each. Some of the books are free. I urge you to go to my website mikemurdockbooks.com. I didn't write books to make money. I wrote them to help people. I wrote I read everything that President Bill Clinton ever said. I read the diary word for word of President Ronald Reagan. He had one sentence that was life-changing to me. What you read decides what you change. What you read decides the decisions you make. I wrote a book on it called the 42 differences in men. I God gave me the message when I spoke to 5,000 pastors in Nairobi, Kenya. The great conference. What is the difference in man? Let me give you three or four. Number one, who they trust. The difference in man is who they trust. Who they believe. The difference in man is the mentorship they pursue.
Jimmy Swaggart's father asked me to preach a conference for youth in his church in Ferriday, Louisiana. I was 17 years old. I had a little record album with four songs on it, two on each side. And when I got through preaching the rally, a young girl work ran up says, "You play the piano just like my brother, Jimmy." I'd never heard of him. I was 17. Listen to this carefully. What you hear decides what you do. I went over to sell my little records for a I think it was a dollar each. And Jimmy's daddy was standing there. He said, "I know you've heard of my son, Jimmy Swaggart." I said, "No, sir, I haven't." Jimmy was 12 years older than me. By the way, only Mike Murdock songs were sung at the funeral of Jimmy Swaggart a few months ago. I love that man and admire me. Changed my life many ways. He said he plays the piano like you. Really? He said if my son Jimmy Swaggart was standing here, he would uh be writing down the names and addresses of all the people that buy his records. I was 17. I had one little record. I said, "Why?" He said, "So that when he makes his next record, he writes them a letter with a picture of his new record album, the list of songs on it." And said, "Right now, every time he makes a new record, 5,000 people send him money and buy his new record." Well, that's nice. I had never heard of a mailing list before. Never. And I said, "Huh? All right."
Next year I'm 18 years old. I'm in Bible college. And the students said, "Sunday afternoon, guess who's preaching tonight at Oak Cliff Assembly of God Church?" "Who?" "Jimmy Swaggart." "Y'all want to go?" "Yeah." So we all went. I sit there in the back at 18 years old and watched Jimmy finish his sermon. Can God condemn a man to hell and justify himself in doing so? I listened to him. People flooded the altar praying all over the altar. And Jimmy walks over to the piano and begins to sing a song. He made my song Jesus just to make your name very famous around the world. But he was singing a song. I was 18 years old. 18. I had to say I'd go greet him. And I went up to the piano. He looks at me and smiles. And I said, I play the piano a lot like you. And with that million-dollar smile, he smiled and said, We like it, don't we? I said, Yeah, we do.
Another year goes by. >> [sighs] >> I'm 19 years old. And I decided to go to his daddy's house and visit him. He and his wife Frances and little little Donnie, probably 2 years old at the time, maybe a year and a half, was running around. And I started building a friendship with Jimmy Swaggart. Do you remember me teaching a few nights ago and stay connected? Stay connected any price. With a phone call, with a letter, but stay connected. And he looked at me says, Do you play the piano at at all your crusades? Cuz I'd I've on the uh field just about probably three or four or five months. The evangelistic field I was ordained under the Assemblies of God. And I said, "Oh no, no, no, I never play the piano in church." I said, "I don't want to be known as a piano player. I want to be known as an evangelist. I'm an evangelist for the Assemblies of God." He said, "I understand. But he says the people want to know who you are when you travel." He said, "Evangelist or evangelist, you need to know this as an evangelist." I nodded cuz I admired him. A genius on the piano. Fabulous singer. Cousin to Jerry Lee Lewis, the famous rock and roll star. Well, I said, "I'll think on it." And because of him I started playing the piano in churches where I preached. And I sit down and I have written thousands of songs. Over 1,000 love songs just to the Holy Spirit. Just to the Holy Spirit. One of my favorite songs is I love sitting at your feet. I love hearing what you say. I love knowing your desires. I'm so pleasured to obey. Your favor is like a sunrise driving all my nights away. I love sitting at your feet, Holy Spirit, every single day. I love sitting at your feet every single day.
On a Wednesday morning at 5:00 I went to bed, July the 13th, 1994. And I was strangely awakened. I thought I would sleep till 12:00, and I was awakened 2 hours later at 7:00 to the presence of the Holy Spirit in my room. A shadow over across the other side of the bed, and [gasps] >> [sighs] >> I had a passion to hurry and go to my prayer room next door. I had a a little building, a little house where I prayed every day. And I had a passion to go pray. My first thought was, "Daddy must have died." Cuz my daddy was such a man of prayer. He was known all over Louisiana for his prayer world. It was the only scripture he had on his stationery. It was, "I give myself to prayer." He was known for prayer conferences, my daddy. I thought, "I wonder if Daddy died." Because a passion for the prayer world >> [sighs] >> swept over me like a volcano. I begin to get dressed as fast as I could. Then I I "No, if he was dead, I'd probably be crying. If he was not here, that would affect me. Maybe somebody prayed for me. The third thing I thought was, I wonder if this is like Moses and the burning bush, when God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush. >> [sighs] >>
Let me stop here. People are different. And God [clears throat] talks to people differently. He didn't talk to Billy Graham like he talked to Jimmy Swaggart. God adapts himself to whoever. He didn't talk to He didn't talk to Elijah like he talked to Moses. He didn't talk to Moses like he talked to Abraham. I feel real strong that there's somebody listening to me tonight that has left the ministry. People discouraged you. The Bible has a reference to the strivings of the people. And there's nothing harder on earth to do than pastor people who are in the process of recovery. Church is not a museum of perfect people. It's a hospital for wounded people. And there's someone listening to me now. I think you've been a pastor. I could be wrong. If you don't mind, I want to pray for you. Father, Isaiah 61 says there's two kinds of people on the earth. Captives and deliverers. Captives and deliverers. >> [snorts] >> Precious Holy Spirit, I ask you in the matchless name of Jesus, renew the healing and the anointing on my brother that's listening to me now. Raise him up again. I ask you to send him a Peter, James, and John that will love on him, care about him, and even help him get back in ministry. Father, there's a preacher's wife possibly listening to me. And she's lost her trust in people. She's lost her confidence in the ministry. I ask you to breathe breathe into her heart a new passion. There may be an evangelist that used to travel. And as he's listening to my words tonight, he's broken-hearted. Father, we Our assignment is to a place. Our assignment is not to everybody, it's to somebody. We belong somewhere. We belong somewhere, Lord. Jesus' name. In Jesus' name.
As I sit here in my worship room in my home, I want to say that with all of my heart, get back. Get back close. Don't give up. Don't give up. You're too close to your miracle. Don't give up. I'll be glad when I get back on the piano in a few days. Don't give up. Stay close to the one who loves you most. Is God easy to understand? Not for me, is it? Not at all. I've read the Bible through over 100 times and I'm still spend the first 3 hours of every day in his presence with worshiping him. Trying to master the praise world. Praising him ABCD. Praise him A. Praise his assignment in my life. Praise him for the anointing that he's placed on my heart. B. Thank you for the blessing he promised in Matthew chapter 5, Psalms chapter 1, Luke chapter 6, Mark chapter 10. Praising him. I don't have a master price. I've asked him for miracles. For healing after I came out of the surgery, I thought I was dying. I won't go into details, but I thought I would die. I'd go back to the doctor and cry and cry right there in the office. I told a friend of mine, Herschel Walker, who's a famous famous football player, who was with me one day in the office with me. I said, "Herschel, I need a miracle. I need a miracle."
Father, somebody listening to me right now needs hope again. It's not just to remove cancer or to heal the blood system, but somebody listening to me needs hope. They've lost hope in the Bible. They feel like the Bible's confusing to them. Would you breathe hope in them today? You are our God. You are our God. We're your children. Lord, you said in the Bible that you would be a refuge, a fortress, and you said you would be a shield for us. That means we're going to have enemies. They may be health, disease, it may be somebody in their family that's turned on us, but we come back to you. Would you mind repeating this prayer with me tonight? Would you mind? Wherever you're listening, you may be driving down the road. Mike Murdock here. I call this sometimes Bible world. Would you repeat this prayer? Holy Spirit, just say it out loud. Holy Spirit, I'm not where I'm supposed to be. Revisit my heart. I receive your mercy for every sin I've committed. Forgive me and renew the calling on my life. Please, I give my heart to you. Amen. Amen.
There's 66 books in the Bible. Remember my phone number is 781 MM radio. 781 MM radio. I'm going to ask the Lord for 25 people to show a $66 seed within 30 days to keep me on the radio. Father, I ask you for 25 phone calls. 25 phone calls within the next 7 days. 25 people who will show a $66 seed in honor of the Bible, in thankfulness for the Bible, to help me stay on the radio. In Jesus name. 781 MM radio. Box number 97, Colleyville, Texas. Or go to my website if you can. The wisdomchurch.com the wisdomchurch.com Your seeds bring great joy to me. Good night, family.
Thank you, love family, for joining Bible Moments with Mike Murdock [music] again. Seven nights a week at 7:00 Eastern Standard Time. Also, remember that he wants to send you a free gift [music] copy of his powerful book 200 Days of Wisdom, Book 200. Simply call 781 [music] MM radio anytime of the day. Your support is so very appreciated. Visit our website, wisdomcenterchurch.com.