In Season and Out of Season

Announcer: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. This is In Season and Out of Season, a Bible teaching ministry with Father Tom DiLorenzo.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Good day, it's Father Tom, and I have before me a black rock. On the black rock is etched the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. This black rock means very much to me because my heart at one time was like the black rock, hard and not able to know God. But on the black rock that I am looking at is the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. It was the same with me. My heart was like a black rock, but he came, the crucified one, etched on my heart, making my heart alive again and able to experience his mercy.

No one who comes to me and says they have a hard rock of a heart do I ever dismiss. I understand it because that was me, a hard rock of a heart. But let me tell you the beautiful gospel message: the Lord Jesus changes stony hearts into flesh instead. For example, on the road to Damascus, Paul was coming to destroy Christians, put them in jail, and even to kill them. He put his thumbs down when they were stoning the deacon Stephen. His heart was a stony heart.

On the Damascus road, something happened. The crucified, risen Lord was etched upon Saul's heart. He fell to the ground, and when he got up, he was a new person. It had nothing to do with him; it had everything to do with what God wanted. He didn't understand. He was out to kill Christians and put them in jail. Guess who he meets on the road to Damascus? He meets the one that he thought he hated, and it was Jesus. What did Jesus do to him? He loved him. He revealed himself to Paul.

Has Jesus revealed himself to you? The revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you what revelation means. When someone has a revelation, it is like a cloak was over their head. When a revelation comes, the cloak is gone, taken off the head, and the light of God streams in. I believe God's word that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That is me and that is you. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. You don't have to be a stony heart any longer.

Saul on the way to Damascus had a heart like a big brick, a stony heart. The manifestation of the risen Lord comes to him, and immediately his heart is changed. Listen to what I have to say. You cannot change yourself. Stop trying. I cannot change myself. That is why I give myself to Jesus, and from the inside out, the Holy Spirit shows me what needs to be changed. I cannot do it myself.

Some people waste their whole life trying to change their hearts. You need the Holy Spirit to change your heart. Without the Holy Spirit, you are stuck with a heart of stone. Do you know the power of the Holy Spirit? I am not talking about knowing about it. I am talking about knowing. Adam knew Eve, and in nine months, they gave it a name. Do you have experiential knowledge of the risen Lord who forgives your sins, who saves you by his blood, and who pours out his spirit upon you so that you have a new life?

God comes to those who are needy, hungry, and poor. He comes to you if you are needy, humble, and poor. That is who I was. As a matter of fact, that is who I still am, and he always comes. The Lord Jesus never fails to come when I invite him. He comes on invitation. Without an invitation, the Lord does not come. You only know about Jesus; you have never met the man experientially.

I told you about Sister Josephine. I loved her so much. She was a very honest Irish nun. I said to her, "Sister, you have been a sister for over 25 years. Did you ever experience the risen Jesus?" She said, "I don't know the fellow." I said, "Sister, let's think about that. When you were a child and received First Holy Communion, did you have an experience of his love?" She replied, "I don't know the fellow."

She became a nun and gave herself to Jesus and to the church. She must have had some kind of experience. Still, she said, "I don't know the fellow." I was not going to ask any more because I did not want to bother her. I said, "Well, let's get to know the fellow now. Let's not wait another minute." I told Sister Josephine to close her eyes, and she did. I asked her to pray with me as a kindergarten person would, even though she was a college professor.

We prayed, "Lord Jesus, come dwell in my heart by faith. Forgive my sins and pour out your Holy Spirit upon me. Change me by love." Something happened that night. Sister Josephine became a witness of the Most High God and of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Sister Josephine, a tough woman, started a ministry for prisoners. She would go to the prisons and proclaim that God had a plan for those who murdered, those who stole, and those who hurt their families.

These men listened to her. They were eating out of her hand because they were all desperate, like myself. I am not in jail, but apart from Jesus, I am desperate. That is why I do not want to be apart from the Lord Jesus. I do not want to live in desperation; I want to live in hope. People apart from Jesus are desperate. They do not even have any idea why they are desperate or who they are desperate for.

Some people say they go to church, but the devil gets there before you. He goes to church to try to mess people's heads up. He tries to let you believe nothing is going to happen to you this weekend and that you are going to die in your dark sin. That is the devil. He goes there ahead of you and tries to convince you that you are God's impossible case, that you have sinned too much, or that you have turned your back on him too much.

Many people believe that garbage. They were ransomed with the blood of Christ. They were bought with the power of his holy blood. They could be changed by the blood of Calvary. No one is too far gone. You have the same need that I have, and that need is for the Lord Jesus. He comes on invitation. Without an invitation, you will never know him. You do not have to be a priest or a nun. He comes on invitation.

When I am most desperate and I call upon the holy name of Jesus, he comes immediately, whether I feel it or not. Do not be troubled that you have to do many things before he comes. He comes when I am desperate and call upon his holy name. You do not have to be anything but desperate, hurt, or broken. He comes as I invite him to come in. That is real. When we invite Jesus in, he changes our lives.

He changes our lives, maybe a little at a time, but I am not the same person today that I was a long time ago. I always thought I loved Jesus, but I did not know him. I knew of him, I read the scriptures, and I loved the gospels, but I never met the fellow experientially. It is God's will to meet Jesus Christ on this earth before you die. Jesus says that no one who comes to him will ever be rejected.

Jesus came down from heaven not to do his own will, but the will of the Father who sent him. It is the Father's will that Jesus should lose nothing of what he has been given, but should raise it up on the last day. God does not let us slip through his fingers. When we give our lives to Jesus, we discover that he first gave his life for us. It started with his mercy, his love, and his fidelity, which endures forever.

I do not know where you are on this second day of Lent, but wherever you are, he wants to come and dwell within you. Even if you have never confessed your sins, today he wants to change your heart. It is very simple. You take the scripture from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 3, verse 20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Anyone who opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with me."

He has been knocking on the door of your heart. Maybe you never knew he was knocking, but today you hear it. He is waiting for you to open the door and let him into your life. He is a gentleman and would never break down the wall between God and you. He waits for you to call upon his name. Do not let him wait any longer. He has waited enough. He wants to do something in you and through you.

He wants to raise you up to be a light in this generation. He wants to give you a story so that as you tell it, people's lives will be drawn to Christ and changed. He cannot do it without your permission. Do you give Jesus permission? Tell Jesus you surrender and give him permission to dwell in your heart by faith. Psalm 136 says, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever."

God's steadfast love is infinite. Give thanks to the God of gods and the Lord of lords, who alone does great wonders and who by understanding made the heavens. Look up and see the heavens today; they are the work of the hands of God. He made the wonderful heavens and the ocean. More than that, he made the people eating and enjoying themselves across the street. Even those who do not know him, he loves them.

It is our job to introduce people to him. That is why you and I were born. If Tom Bright had not drawn me to Christ by his witness, I do not know where I would be. Tom got married and left the seminary, while I stayed and became a priest. God has plans for everyone, including you. He is telling me to tell you that he has not forgotten you. He desires you. Respond to that by saying, "Here I am. I no longer belong to me; I belong to you."

Surrender to him. Maybe your parents did not desire you or told you that you were a mistake, but there are no mistakes when people are born. God has a plan for every person. That plan is in Christ Jesus, and you can either accept it or reject it. It is up to your free will. Many people who go to church do not know God has a plan for them. They have to give up their own plans and accept the one the Lord Jesus has.

God had a plan for me, and one day I reached the stage where I told him I surrendered. I said, "Yes, Lord. I surrender." Right after that, I met a blind man at a communion breakfast. After my talk, he asked me to drive him home. As we drove, he told me the Lord was calling me to be a priest and that I was not responding. It scared me. He knew because God had called him, and he never responded.

That was a Sunday communion breakfast, and I went back to East Boston for our usual Sunday pasta. I have never eaten so fast. That blind man was right about God's plan for my life. God also has a plan for you. You are not too sinful. You can either accept the plan or reject it. If you accept the plan of God for your life, wonderful and exciting things will happen.

It also means you will carry the cross, but he will draw you to people and bring people to him. Mighty things will happen, but it is up to you. Tell him he can have everything and that you surrender. No one is truly ready, but now is the time of salvation. Now is the time to give your life to Christ. If you do not, you will just be stuck with yourself.

Pray this simple prayer with me: "Lord Jesus Christ, come dwell in my heart by faith. Reveal yourself to me. Forgive my sins and my wickedness. Fill me with the grace of the Holy Spirit. I believe you died for me and shed your blood for me. Wash me clean by the power of that precious blood. I give myself to you. Come dwell in my heart by faith."

Prayers like that, when prayed from the heart, change lives. You were never created to live in defeat. You were created to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. Do not accept defeat for another moment. You were meant to live in the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Tell the Lord you want it now. God bless you.

Announcer: Behold, I stand at the door and knock. This has been In Season and Out of Season with Father Tom DiLorenzo. Remember that this ministry is supported only by the donations of listeners. Please help as the Lord leads you. Father Tom DiLorenzo, PO Box 602, East Boston, Massachusetts, 02128. In Season and Out of Season.