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(piano music) (piano music) [ Music ] ♪ Ask what you will of the Savior ♪

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♪ And it shall not be in vain ♪ Call when you need his assistance. He will hear when you call his name. ♪ As what you will of the Savior ♪

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♪ Ah, this shall not be in vain ♪ ♪ Oh, when you need his assistance ♪ ♪ He will hear when you call his name ♪ He said that we should try him, and we should.

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He said that he would never withhold any good. If Father loved, we would walk upright And live each day in his blessed sight. ♪ When asked what you will of the Savior ♪

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♪ One, it shall not be in vain ♪ Call when you need his assistance. He will hear when you call his name. We worry over problems, and we know we can get relief if to Him we will go.

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He knows our case and we're not alone. Ask what you will and it shall be done. Ask what you will of the Savior, but it shall not be in vain. Call when you need his assistance.

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He will hear when you call his name. ♪ Ask what you will of the Savior ♪ ♪ Unleash your love, be it made ♪ ♪ Call when you need ♪

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♪ He will hear ♪ ♪ His assistants ♪ ♪ He will hear ♪ ♪ When you call ♪

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♪ His name ♪ - Amen. - Amen. - Amen. Hear this word recorded in the book of Exodus,

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Exodus chapter 18 verses 5 through 7. Exodus chapter 18 verses 5 through 7. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses

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into the wilderness, when he encamped at the Mount of God. "And he said unto Moses, I, thy father-in-law Jethro, "am coming to thee and thy wife

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"and her two sons with her. "And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law "and did obeisance and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent.

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They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent. The subject, how are you? How are you? Life is a dialogue.

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Life is expressed in meeting and greeting. Over and over again, we meet and greet each other with the words, how are you?

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And the answer usually is fine, thank you. How are you? As a child, I remember the first letter I attempted to write went something like this, how are you?

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I am well. You know, I am fine. How are you getting along? Now the focus of our message

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is a family reunion which occurs in the desert. When Moses accepts the prophetic task of challenging Pharaoh, he sends his wife and two sons, Eliezer and Gerizim,

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back to her kinfolk. It may have been for their safety. It may have been to remove Moses of what may have been burdensome domestic responsibilities.

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Moses, in the course of time, triumphs over Pharaoh. The ten plagues indicate his victory over the gods of Egypt. The Red Sea is left behind.

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Pharaoh and his army have suffered a miserable, humiliating defeat in the raging waters. Now before them is the desert journey. Jethro appears on the scene with Moses' family, Zipporah, his wife, and two sons, Eliezer and Gerizim.

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This is undoubtedly a tender and touching scene as they meet. They embrace, they kiss, they exchange greetings. They speak each to the other. Gethro probably greets Moses saying, "How are you?

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Oh, I know you've been through some tough times. I've heard about your trials and tribulations. I've heard how God has acted in your defense and deliverance. How are you, Moses?

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It has been some time since we were together. How are you? They exchanged greetings. Moses asked Jethro concerning his welfare.

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Yes, Jethro, how are you getting along? How are you? One of the problems of our society is reflected in the polarization of races and groups.

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We're not speaking to one another. We are speaking about one another without speaking to one another. And some are not speaking at all. They look at one another and do not speak.

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It's a state of affairs that may be considered a very sad state indeed when we are not on speaking terms. And you know, sometimes that happens even among church people. Sometimes some person decides to come down this aisle when somebody else is going down

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that aisle, so they want to go this aisle because they don't want to meet the person going down that aisle, not speaking to one another. Now, when there is no dialogue, when there is no conversation, when there is no exchange of greetings, there is no meeting.

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But here in this desert scene, as they come together, but each says to the other, "How are you?" Now, often these words are taken for granted. They just roll off our lips.

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As a matter of course, you expect it when you meet somebody, they say, "How are you?" And they're expected to say, "Fine, how are you?"

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Expect that, no matter how they feel and how you feel. We just do it as a matter of custom many times without thinking about them, without really taking them seriously

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because sometimes we don't really wanna know how you are and you don't really wanna know how I am. I can remember some people, when you said, "How are you?"

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They really took you seriously and they started telling you. Said, "Let me tell you, lad, this, this, this," And the person is gone on some way.

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'Cause we really don't wanna know. Now Jethro has been with Moses in the quiet seclusion of Midian. But now Moses has been tested

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in the struggle against the demonic pharaoh of Egypt. Jethro has heard of the wonderful things God has done. The question in the exchange of greetings

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is how are you, Moses? You've been through all of this, but how are you? How have you come out? How are you now that you've gone through all of this?

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How are you? Question in the exchange is, how are you? This is a question they face as in-laws. In-laws.

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Good thing as we take a peep into the family, because this is a family scene, it's a good thing as we take a peep into the family to ask the question of the in-laws

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and the blood relatives in your family. How are you? How are you? How are you?

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This involves parents and children, and they're all meeting together in this desert scene. It's a good question for parents to ask children and for children to ask parents, "How are you?" It's a real question of significance.

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How are you? Some may answer, that's none of your business. How I am, that's my own private affair. Some people will really answer like that.

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I used to have a lady and I'd say to her, and then greeting her on Sunday, It's a good day. And she'd say, what's good about it?

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How are you? How do people respond? How do we greet one another? We are members of the family.

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We may answer this question individually. Or we may answer it collectively. We may answer it both ways, individually and collectively. The father may say to the daughter and the children,

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and the children may say to the father, and the husband may say to the wife, and the wife to the husband, this exchange of greetings, how are you?

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Some may respond to the question by saying, do you really want to know? Such a question deserves an honest answer. And we often say what is expected,

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but it calls for an authentic answer. How are you? In these moments that remain, I want to submit three answers,

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three possible answers. No, no, four. four possible answers to this question, this greeting, how are you?

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There are answers that Thomas Harris gives in a book that was popular some time ago, he entitled it, I'm okay, you're okay. And it seems to me that we can relate some of these answers

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to this experience of this desert meeting and the meetings which we have here today and in days to come. Now the first answer that he gives,

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or first position that he gives, is that of I'm not okay, you're okay. I'm not okay, you are okay, you're okay. Now this I'm not okay is described as a child position.

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That's a child who needs stroking. Child always needs someone to stroke. big parent strokes the child. It's a sign of approval.

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Every child has a crying need to be stroked, to be approved, and the child's estimate of himself or herself is built on stroking.

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Because when you stroke the child, it says the child is all right. And so that estimate that the child has is built on somebody else doing the stroking.

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And a lot of people grow up and have adult bodies, but they still act like children. They gotta be stroked all the time. Gotta be stroked whatever they do.

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Sometimes I get afraid in the church because some people want to be stroked for everything. Now there's nothing wrong with stroking, but my goodness, you have to say good morning,

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you gotta get a stroke. You know, there's some things we ought to do. And if one grows up, I'm not okay and you're okay, well, you've gotta have this kind of stroking all the time.

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You really don't get to know who you are. And you really, you say, how are you? You really don't get to know who you are or whose you are. There's a story of a man in this play

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that he always went through life trying to be something that somebody else wanted him to be. And the time came when he was asked for his soul And he reached for his soul, and he didn't have a soul.

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How are you? You, you. Child must rely on the adult. The child has feelings of inferiority.

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The child is at the mercy of others. The child seeks the big parent to provide big strokes. And Harris is saying in his analysis of it that we are so constructed with the brain that we record whatever is happening, we record it, and then we in the second place we recall

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it, and in the third we relive it. Much of what happens in one's life is that has to do with those first years, first years of child life.

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And if you get started on that track, many times you never get off of it. Many times you never get off of that particular track. So that one goes through life with a craving of stroking

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in order to live your life. being totally dependent upon others. The question is, how are you? Are you living up to somebody else's expectation

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or self-fulfilling prophecy? They said you couldn't make it, so you don't think you can make it. How are you?

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Is your answer, I'm not okay, but you're okay? Are you constantly climbing some mountain that somebody else has put in your path in order to gain their approval,

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and as soon as they climb that mountain, climb that mountain, they got another one for you to climb? How are you? Do you permit somebody else

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to write the script for your life? How are you? Well, that's one position. I'm not okay, you're okay.

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Then there's this other position. We deal with the greeting, how are you? The other position is, you're not okay, I'm not okay. So, this second position is an attitude that cares not about what others think.

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There's nobody doing any stroking in this. You don't do any stroking, the other people don't do any stroking. There is no desire to speak to each other, no real dialogue. There is a state of extreme withdrawal.

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I can do without you, you can do without me. You're not okay, I'm not okay. And you have nothing to do with me, I'll have nothing to do with you.

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And though we live in the same house, this can happen. You don't have to take this some way else. It happens and people live under the same roof.

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Withdrawal. No real communication taking place. No real sharing of intimacy, no real answer to this question, how are you?

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How are you? Well, I'm not okay, you're not okay. This is the result of the individual engaging in acts of self-destruction.

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In other words, this person is not only destroying himself, but destroying others. Go to TV the other night, some of you no doubt saw it. There was this boy.

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He had been in and out of 19 homes, foster care, 19 homes. foster care, 19 homes. In and out, 19 homes. And finally, he finds one that he seems to get

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somewhat adjusted to and they're going to move him out of that one. So he's angry. And he kills this old lady that was so nice to him.

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He kills her. So, I'm not okay, you're not okay. The whole world is not okay. That's what we say over and over again.

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You stay away from me, I'll stay away from you. We will not speak to each other. There's no exchange of greetings and so you end up with a non-responsive person.

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I'm not okay, you're not okay. How are you? Well, I'm not doing well. I don't feel good.

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I'm not okay. And you're not okay. Well, then there's this other position. How are you?

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It's I'm okay, you're not okay. The first one was I'm not okay, you're okay. The second is I'm not okay, you're not okay. And the third is I'm okay, you're not okay.

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This is the position in which the person is a person who does his or her own stroking. You've seen those kind of ego people. They don't need anybody to stroke them.

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They stroke themselves. all the time. They don't need anybody to toot their horn, they're tooting it themselves.

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So this person has been battered in life and so learning how to deal with that, he comforts himself or she comforts herself. They lick their own wounds

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And they've learned how to grow up in toughness and the like. So they have their own rooting squad that they create. And they like to be surrounded by yes people, people who always sing their praises.

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And when they get tired of one group, they create another group to sing their anthem of praise. Then there's this last group, I'm okay, you're okay. How are you?

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I'm okay, you're okay. This is a position different from all the other three I've mentioned. Some people live and die in the first two.

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You're, I'm not okay, you're okay. I'm not okay, you're not okay. I'm okay, you're not okay. Some people live and die in the first two,

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but usually after you move out of childhood, those first few years, you oughta make a choice between you're okay, I'm not okay, and I'm okay and you're okay.

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Because this one has to do with some qualitative difference from the others. The others are somehow built on feelings. You know, a lot of people,

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if you start running your life just by how you feel, you'll get yourself in a whole lot of situations that are not good if you just go by how you feel. Some people go around, you know, they carry weapons, you know.

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And if you always have a weapon and you react by how you feel, you get yourself into a whole lot of problems, you know, just on your feelings. But here you move above your feelings

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until the point where you think and you make decisions and you have faith when things aren't going right, that somehow you have faith that they're going to get better after a while.

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So how are you? How are you? Well, when you answer that question, you think about your possibilities.

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When you answer that question, you think about your potentialities. When you're in this, I'm OK, you're OK. Things may not be just as I'd like for them to be,

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but somehow, and they're going to get better. Jethro and Moses exchanged greetings. I think it was in this realm, I'm okay, you're okay. I'm okay, Moses.

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I've made the journey from Midian out here in the desert to be with you, I'm okay, Moses. And Moses, how are you? And Moses says, I'm okay, Jethro.

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Oh, I've had my difficulties in Egypt. I've had to contend with Pharaoh. Oh, there were 10 plagues and each time I had to deal with that situation,

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I came through it, I'm okay, Moses. Well, Zipporah, how are you and the children? Well, we've been lonely there without you, Moses, but we've been able to bear the loneliness, we're okay.

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I'm okay, you're okay. Paul says, oh, I've been beaten with rods. I've been left for dead. I've been shipwrecked.

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I've spent a night and a day at sea. But I'm okay. Because I have learned that in whatsoever state, I find myself therewith to be content.

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I'm all right. I'm okay. Well, many of us can say, "Well, I've been on a journey." How are you?

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"I've been on a journey a long time. I've got some ailments in the body. I've got some aches. I've got some pains.

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I've had some disappointments. I've been in the storm. I've been in the rain, but I'm okay. I'm okay because I serve an okay God.

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You're okay, I'm okay because the same God who made us and who serves as our father and our savior has made us okay. So as we sing the hymn of invitation,

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we extend the privilege of the church. You can be okay with God no matter what the circumstances may be. You can make the trip victoriously,

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can live triumphantly through all of the tragedies of human existence. We invite you to come. You can begin a romance with God that overrides all of the discontinuities of human existence.

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Hear me with us. I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the rose. A voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God. And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His.

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I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the rose. A voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God. And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His. I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the rose.

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A voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God. I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the rose. I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the rose. I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the rose.

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♪ I hear the voice of Jesus ♪ ♪ Falling on my ear, the Son of God ♪ ♪ And He walks with me ♪ ♪ And He talks with me ♪

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♪ And He tells me I am His own ♪ ♪ He comes to the crying ♪ ♪ Of all ♪ ♪ All to do ♪

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♪ And the boy is shining ♪ ♪ Falling on my ear ♪ ♪ The Son of God ♪ ♪ Is closing ♪

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♪ And he rots with me ♪ ♪ And he tosses with me ♪ ♪ And he tells me I am his own ♪ ♪ And the joy we share as we tell the tale ♪

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♪ None other has ever known ♪ ♪ None other has ever known ♪ ♪ Every man on earth ♪ ♪ Has ever known ♪

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♪ This place is grand ♪ ♪ 'Cause down from it's core ♪ ♪ So sweet the birds' voices were singing ♪ ♪ And the melody that he gave to me ♪

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♪ Within my heart was filled with joy ♪ ♪ And he talks with me ♪ ♪ And he talks with me ♪ ♪ And he talks with me ♪

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♪ And he tells me I am his own ♪ ♪ His love is all ♪ ♪ And the joy we share ♪ ♪ As we travel the air ♪

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♪ None other has ever known ♪ ♪ I stay in the garden with him ♪ ♪ Overnight around me he's falling ♪ ♪ I stay in the garden with him ♪

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♪ His voice to me is calling ♪ ♪ But He gives me now ♪ ♪ Through the forests of old ♪ ♪ His voice to me is calling ♪

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♪ He's calling ♪ ♪ And he walks ♪ ♪ With me and he talks ♪ ♪ With me ♪

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♪ And he tells me I am his own ♪ is all. And the joy we share as we tally their, none other has ever flown. Let us bow our heads. Oh Lord God, our Father, we find ourselves

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