Halleluia. It’s quite an honor, particularly since it was….. well, watching your dad as a young boy l2 years old and Richard Roberts heard the call of God to preach and from that time I fell in love with your dad and what an honor here quite a few years later for him to bestow a doctorate on me. It’s almost beyond comprehension.
There are several others, Jerry, that are going to receive honorary doctorates and I’m so glad that your name is among those this year and we honor you, we honor your wife and your family, we honor your ministry, and we pray and believe that God has even greater things in store for you. Jerry, when you think of prayer, what comes to your mind?
The first thing that comes to my mind, Richard Roberts, because this is…. I believe this is what caused my prayer life to become effective and that was a reality of righteousness. I read in James, chapter 5, once years ago that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. The Amplified says, “The earnest heartfelt continued prayer of a righteous man, one who has right standing with God, makes available tremendous power, dynamic in its working.” I thought: Boy, if I could ever get to be righteous I would be a praying dude, wouldn’t it? And I found out one day I am righteous, I found out one day I am the righteousness of God and it changed my entire prayer life.
Well, Jerry, most people have the wrong interpretation of the word righteous, don’t they? They think righteousness is something they have to attain or have to be worthy for, but that’s not the way it is. That’s not what that words means, is it?
No, righteousness is simply right standing with God. There is nothing you can do to earn it. There’s nothing you can do to deserve it. The Bible says that it is a gift of God. You receive it when you make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. The Bible says with a man’s mouth he confesses unto salvation and with his
heart he believes unto righteousness. So the moment I believed that Jesus is my Lord, he also bestows a gift on me called righteousness and Paul tells us in Romans, chapter 3, and Romans, chapter 5,… he says, “Declare his righteousness.” So I’m declaring the righteousness of Christ and that gives me the right to stand before the throne of God just as boldly without fear, without condemnation, without inferiority, just as much of a right
to do that as Jesus does.
In fact, Jesus prayed and said, “Father, show him that you love him as much as you love me.” So he made me righteous and that gives me the ability to stand before God boldly and know that when I pray it’s going to make available tremendous power, dynamic in its working, and my prayer life hasn’t been the same since that revelation came into my heart.