In Season and Out of Season

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Good day, this is Father Tom and Anthony today. I'm looking at Psalm 73. The word of God says: Truly God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had slipped; my steps nearly fell. I was envious of the arrogant and I saw prosperity of the wicked. Have you ever been envious of the arrogant? Have you ever thought in your own mind and even maybe verbalized it?

Here I am a Christian, and those people are pagans, and look at all the prosperity that they have. Look at all the things they can buy. I'm a Christian, and I don't have that ability at this point. Well, you've got something much greater than prosperity. You've got Jesus, and Jesus has you.

I'm speaking from my own experience, too. When I went into the seminary, my family was totally against it. The only one that was for it was me. I knew I had to do it because I wanted to do it, not because anybody wanted me to do it. But they were not happy, and I couldn't make them happy either.

I just told them, "I'm a big boy now, I make my own decisions." I told my mother and father these words: "One day you're going to be dead and I'm going to be alive. I want to be where I want to be when you're dead because I'm going to be alive. What I want to be is a priest."

Eventually, they came to an agreement that okay, he's going to be a priest. But I tell you, it's so easy to jump out of things that we shouldn't jump out of when people think that we've gone astray, that people think we're fanatics, or people think we're crazy.

It's time to stand up and it's time to believe what you believe and share it with people because people are desperate. Desperate people need to hear about the Lord Jesus, and you are the one that's going to share that. If you don't do it, I'm going to tell you a secret: it's not going to get done.

You are called to share the Lord Jesus with people. "But I'm timid." I was timid too, but no more timidity. It's time to share the person of Jesus because it's either one or the other: it's either finally heaven or hell. Those are the two things. It's either heaven or hell.

Do we know that when we share the gospel with people, that people be saved from hell? Or do we say, "Well, I don't want to come on too strong?" The devil comes on very strong. It's time to share your experience with Jesus. That's the time.

And if you've never done it before, you'll pray like this: "Lord, send me one that I can share what you've done in my life. Just one person that I can share how you've changed me." And you say, "Well, I'm not completely changed." Neither am I.

But I cannot look at my life and say Jesus Christ is not there. Oh, he is there. He's there in my heart, in my life. I'm not perfect. No reason to say you're perfect. I'm needy and poor, but he came to me.

And his vocation in my life is to tell other people like you about how wonderful Jesus is, that he rejects nobody. He says in his word, John 6, "No one who comes to me will I ever reject."

And my life as a young man was a life of rejection. I was rejected by many people. But then Jesus found me. No one who comes to me will I ever reject. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And it is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of what he has given me, but I would raise it up on the last day. That's God's will. No one who comes to me will I ever reject. Do you hear that word today? Are you putting yourself in the person of Jesus? Are you going to Christ himself with the "I surrender my life"? No one who comes to me will I ever reject.

Anthony: And you can be Jesus for that one person. I was leaving the grocery store the other day before I was going on the retreat, and there was a great man. He's my age, Middle Eastern. He said, "My friend, I need..." I knew what he needed. He needed a little money. I said, "You need Jesus," and I bear-hugged him right there.

The Lord has come for you today, and we began to talk. He told me he's from a Muslim country and he had come here for school, and things just went bad, and he's now homeless. But there I explained to him the gospel of Christ, and he said, "I've studied Christianity when I was in school."

I said, "Yeah, but have you ever met Jesus? He wants to meet you right now." And there he gave his life to Jesus. We've got to be givers, we've got to bless the people we give to. I told him, "Come to Glory Night. I've got to go away for a week, here's my number, come."

So he called me today. He's on his way to meet Father. See, it's just that one person, but you've got to be open, you've got to be willing to preach the gospel, and you've got to be filled with the love of Christ. You've got to live off the overflow.

Even if you don't feel the overflow, just fake it till you make it. There's got to be something different about Christians that we hold the love of God within our hearts. Wherever Jesus went, he brought solutions. Christians are solution-oriented.

We have the answer to the test. We've got to give the people the cheat sheet to the test. Now, can I financially support? No. But at the moment, we want to give. If we see a brother who is in need and we don't give him anything and we just tell him Jesus loves him, it's not enough.

It's both. It's spiritual and provision from the world. Jesus said if you don't turn your back from the poor, I will never turn my face from you. The word of God says it.

When Father was talking about seeing the unrighteous have wealth and being jealous, I was in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes says to the person who pleases God, he gives them wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.

But to the sinner, he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. Let the wicked toil and build money and wealth. The word of God says it's all going to come back to the kingdom one day.

And we're going to be provided for if we live by the precepts that God has set before us. That we are givers, that we sow our money, that we sow our time, that we sow our life. It also says the sleep of the laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much.

But as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep. Not rich in the kingdom, but rich outside of God. That abundance permits them no sleep because when we have worldly loves, those worldly loves come with worldly anxieties.

So if what gives us pleasure is having a nice car, that car is going to give us anxiety. If what gives us pleasure is big extravagant meals, when we don't have those great extravagant meals, it's going to give us anxiety.

But when all our pleasure is derived from loving and serving the Lord Jesus Christ, then we're going to walk in perfect peace at all times. Because we know whether in hot, whether in cold, whether in rich, whether in poor, we are doing the will and serving the will of God.

We are doing the mission that Jesus Christ put us on this earth to do. It's not about money. Whoever loves money never has enough. Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.

Are we grateful for what the Lord has given to us? Are we grateful for where the Lord has us? Because where he has us, he wants to build us more and more and more. And the Bible says seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything else will be added unto you.

But so many people are having anxiety because we're seeking after everything but the kingdom of God. Our thoughts are focused on everything besides the kingdom of God. We're working to gain everything but the kingdom of God.

No, the kingdom of God provides wealth. Joy only comes from the Holy Spirit. How do we seek the kingdom of God? We fast, we sacrifice, we live a mortified life. Because what are we chasing after? Not things of the world.

God will give us what we need. We're seeking after the kingdom of God within us, the power of God. Jesus saw the fishermen and he said, "I'm going to make you fishers of men." When's the last time you went fishing for men for the kingdom, honestly? When is the last time you grabbed the net of the Holy Spirit and said, "Lord, today I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing for your kingdom"?

Father Tom DiLorenzo: I'm going fishing. I go to a movie to watch something that may be a very good movie, but I'm looking out: who is Jesus going to send to me? Who am I going to pray with when I go to this movie? If no one comes, that's okay, but I'm open to do what he wants me to do in the movie.

Anthony: And sometimes you've got to press in and go get them yourself. The fish don't always just jump in the net. No, the nets are there, though. You've got to be so one-minded. It's all about Jesus. Nothing is about anything else.

Not even about Father Tom, his ministry, Anthony, his ministry. No, it's about Jesus. About extolling the name of our Lord Jesus, bringing people to know Jesus so that they have salvation.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: It's all about Jesus. We don't have the ability to preach on a Sunday. I don't; I'm a retired priest. But I can tell you, though I cannot preach on a Sunday, we're going to be on this radio every single day proclaiming the word of God, proclaiming the wonderful person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just today as we were preparing for this—and our preparation is not what people consider preparation—just today when we were preparing for this, I saw a rope. And the Lord told me, "I've got the end of the rope. You're not alone. I'm holding that rope. That rope stops with me."

What does that mean? No matter what you're going through, he's there for you. He's holding it. He's going to see you through it. He loves you. Jesus loves to help people, but we need to be aware of that.

I know people have said, "Oh, I don't want to bother God, he's bothered enough." They don't know who God is. God is infinite. And I'm going to give him all my troubles, one at a time. All my troubles I'm going to give to Jesus.

And I have troubles. Everyone has troubles. What do you do with your troubles? That's the issue. My troubles go to the bank of the Lord Jesus Christ. I go to him and I say, "Lord, I surrender these troubles to you. I'm having a hard time."

Let's say radio. I'm not having a hard time with radio, but let's say radio. "Lord, we're not getting enough money to pay our bills. And that's all we do with the money; we don't take any. We're not getting enough money to pay our bills.

You've got to do something, Lord, if you want us on these stations. You could do something. If you don't want us on these stations, then we'll go off them. Whatever you want, Lord. I'm open to what you want, Lord, not to what I want."

I can tell you what I want. Oh, if I had my way—and thank God I don't—I would want to be in New York City preaching the gospel to so many people. That's not what God wants. So I have to say, Lord Jesus, Boston is good enough for me.

We were on a plane after I had gone to a conference. I've shared this before. At the conference, before we went to the conference, charismatic conference, the Lord told me in my heart something was going to be great when I went to that conference.

Well, I'm in the plane coming back from Indiana. Nothing happened that was great. Nothing happened. So I'm sitting in the plane and the Lord says, "Give it all up to me. Give it all up to me. Give it all up to me."

Okay, Jesus, you've got a better plan. Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will. So I come home. I come home and we're going to have a Bible study and prayer meeting every Sunday. And what we do is we praise the Lord. We praise the Lord.

But still, nothing happened to me that I could see at the conference, other than he told me when I was on the plane, "Your place is in Boston." And I said, "Okay, aye aye, sir. Boston is where my place will be." I don't need to go anyplace else because you told me, "Your place is in Boston."

Anthony: Surrender to divine providence. When I understood that, it changed my life. Surrender to divine providence and that takes you into living in the gift of the divine will. I'm not fighting God or trying to control my life.

I'm just letting the Lord take me on a ride and I'm being grateful in every moment for where he has me and where he instructs me either to go, who he brings in front of me, what he instructs me to do. Because what is the ultimate goal of my life?

To make it to heaven and to fulfill the destiny God has for me. Amen. So when that is the end goal, and the end goal isn't comfort, pleasure, feeling happy—when you let that go, and you're like, "Lord, wherever you have me is a gift because it is purifying my soul."

Like when the Lord told me that he wanted me to go bus tables when I'm 35 and I have enough to not do that. I said, "Yes, Lord." Did I want to do it? No. But I knew in my heart the Lord wanted to give me the grace of humility.

The Lord wanted to open something up new in my life, hard work. And then eventually after a couple of days, the Lord moved me up and he gave me a really good job that allows me to be in the ministry. But if I told the Lord no in any circumstance, I'm rejecting the Lord.

By rejecting the will of God, I'm rejecting God himself. When I first came to the Lord, he told me to do long, long fasts. "Yes, Lord. I'll do it, Lord. That is your will." And I do it.

So wherever the Lord has you, you've got to live in divine providence. When I came to the Lord, he said, "Shave your head, shave everything." "Okay, Lord." Because that was going to take vanity from me.

See, I don't know this, we don't know this, but all we have to do is say, "Yes, Lord. My place is in Boston. Yes, Lord." I know maybe it'd be nice to be in Boca Raton right now and have a place there, but that's not where the Lord has us. Snowy Boston, amen.

But divine providence: wherever the Lord has you, he wants to see, do you have the grace to be grateful and to thank the Lord? Not tell him what you don't have. Thank him for what you do have. Because where there is thanksgiving, there is increase.

Where there is thanksgiving, there is Jesus. Where there is thanksgiving, there is power. Am I always able to live in thanksgiving? Not always. Not always. If the Lord wants to give us an oppression and share some of the sufferings of the cross with us, so that that will be the greatest grace we'll see when we're in heaven, because it will sanctify us more than anything, if we can receive it with thanksgiving.

But if we fight the Lord and say, "Lord, why is this happening? This isn't fair," we're no longer in battle with ourselves. Just whatever the Lord gives you—good, bad, indifferent—that's just our perception. Everything the Lord gives us is good.

We say, "Thank you, Lord. I love you in this glory. I love you in this suffering. I thank you for this." I don't do it perfectly. But surrender to divine providence.

And then when we are just still and in the Lord and not trying to control the Lord, not trying to control our lives, the Lord will start really communicating with you, revealing visions to you, revealing inspirations to your heart about the plans he has for you and the movement where he wants you to go.

Sometimes I'm just driving—I don't even—it's like third person. I don't even know why I am where I am or what's going on. But then someone walks up to me and I know, okay, I'm here to fish for this man.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Surrender to God and he will do everything for you. That's one of the antiphons when we pray the Office in honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Surrender to God and he will do everything for you.

This surrender is something that happens every day. Every day we say, "I surrender. I surrender." People don't even use that word anymore. They think, "Well, you know..." No, it's wonderful. That's a life of surrender.

Anthony: No surrender, no power. No surrender, no Jesus. No surrender, no peace.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: No surrender, no peace. That's real stuff. Surrender to God and he'll do everything for you. And I'm going to tell you, sometimes it's very difficult to surrender to God.

Oh, sometimes it's like biting nails—and I mean nails, not my fingernails—to surrender to God. Oh yes, sometimes it's difficult. But he calls me to a daily surrender. And I have found out since 1968, the Lord Jesus Christ has a better idea for me than I have for myself.

Anthony: And he's trying to detach us from ourselves. Only through acts of surrender can we have detachment from self. That's true freedom, when we're not attached to our passions and our desires and our control and our way of doing things.

When we're an empty vessel, "Here I am, Lord. I've come to do thy will," whether it's easy, whether it's hard. And every act of surrender is like a little death to self, but then Christ is resurrected in us.

And it becomes easier and easier to do his will and easier and easier to be single-minded. The book of James said a double-minded person is weak in all his ways. When we've got one foot trying to serve Christ and one foot trying to serve ourselves, one foot trying to serve the world, we're just weak.

You'd be better off going all in for the world. Jesus said be hot or cold, don't be lukewarm. But when you get two feet in the pool of Christ, you become unstoppable. You run over—I've given you authority to trample over the works of the enemy.

Someone comes with you and your eyes are burning with the fire of God, your heart is releasing the love of God, they can feel the spirit emanating off you because there's no interior battle.

"I am here, Lord, to do your will, Lord. I am here to do your will. I am here to love and adore and to serve you." The Lord says be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Be anxious about what, Father?

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Anthony: So Lord, my request to know God right now is for the grace of all of us to overcome ourselves. To overcome ourselves so that we can live in the power, in the will, in the divine providence, in the divine will of the Lord as we let Jesus operate through us as an empty vessel and we have the courage to do whatever he's calling us to do at the moment.

"Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, understanding, my entire will. Give me only your love and your grace; that's enough for me. Your love and your grace are enough for me."

We want to see things as God sees them. God doesn't see good or bad; he only sees opportunity. He only sees opportunity. You're in a bad situation in your heart; God says this is an opportunity to trust in me, to give to me, to thank me so I can put my fire within you.

Say yes. Say yes again to the Lord Jesus. Say "I want to say a yes deeper than ever." Say yes. Yes, Lord. Yes, no matter what it means. I'm going to follow you today and until the day I die by your grace. Yes, Lord, yes. And that's what we need to say. Yes. God bless you.