BECOME A DANGEROUS CHRISTIAN | DANIEL KOLENDA

come on if you know that jesus is alive giving the greatest challenge come on lift your voice visa though we honor you this morning because the Lord's you're the only one that is worthy of glory and of honor and appraised and this morning lord I pray that you would speak to us and touch us change our lives in the name of Jesus and everybody said amen amen before you sit down turn to somebody and tell them you're in the right place praise the Lord you can be seated what a joy it is to be here with you once again at church in the Sun one of my favorite churches in the whole world pastor Alex of Judy Clattenburg amazing amazing pastors come on if you love pastor Alex and Judy would you just let him know this morning amen the Bible says to give honor to whom honor is due and pastor Alex and Judy they are a father and a mother you know the Bible says there you have many teachers but not many fathers and so when the Lord gives you a pastor a team of pastors like this you need to take it seriously and treasure it Amen you know pastor alex has this very fatherly way about him and the last time that that I spoke here we went out to eat afterwards and my lovely wife who is here somewhere watching my watching our baby this morning I don't think she's in the room so I can tell this story pastor Alex you know he he asks these probing questions and it makes my wife very uncomfortable and so he said to he said to my wife he said Rebecca tell me why you love your husband and she was like a deer in the headlights nothing nothing came out so I told her you better think it through this morning be ready she's having a difficult time but anyway I'm sure she'll come up with something how many of you enjoyed that video isn't that incredible you know I play that video and actually we have quite a few different videos like this because you know it's not I'm trying to promote a ministry or you know I'm trying to get a great introduction I'm just excited about what God is doing and I want you to see it because you know I can describe it to you I can tell you what we're seeing in the nations of the earth but you don't understand unless you could see just a little taste of it and I have to tell you and and this is a little bit disappointing but even those videos don't tell the story I remember we did a gospel crusade in Houston Texas and the newspapers ran an article and said that we were doctoring our photos they said that our photos were computer-generated CGI and so we sent the newspaper all the rough photographs that we said not only are these photos real I said the reality is that the crowd in front of the camera is only part of the story we sent them more pictures the crowd in front is just half the crowd the other half is behind the camera and some of these Crusades it's that the platform feels like an a raft floating on an ocean of humanity people for as far as the eye can see we are living in the greatest days of harvest in the history of the world right now more people are coming to Jesus at this moment in history than ever before and we get to be a part of it isn't that amazing if you're not a part of it I would just say what are you doing come on let's wake up let's get involved in this you know I I just came back a few days ago literally just last week from Nigeria where we had a gospel crusade and you guys have some of those pictures can you just put them up so we can see I want you to understand this is not some historical reality that we're it's kind of a dark picture but can you see that just this hundreds of thousands of people gathered there to hear the gospel not because there's some great concert not because you know Britney Spears is there performing or JLo or something I don't know who's popular these days I'm not keeping up with it you can tell where my pop-culture references are a little bit dated and yet this is happening right now God is saving nations and shaking cities by the power of the gospel and you know I I don't stand here before you this morning as the greatest creature that you'll ever hear your pastor is a 10 times better preacher than me and I say what what do I have to offer and this is all I can say is I'm coming to you with with a report and with a vision of what God is doing around the world and I pray that it just expands your vision this morning that it just opens up that narrow view that we tend to have when we're going through the routine of our lives and we're getting our news from the you know ABC NBC CBS FOX CNN and all those other demonic all those other demonic news sources that just give us the bad news how many of you know there's good news in the world Jesus is alive our God is not with his back against the wall the greatest days of the church are still ahead of us and we get to be a great part of that I told this morning a little story from when I was in one West African nation and you know our crowds are very large as you just saw in the video and one of the byproducts of that is politicians who love to come to our Crusades presidents kings all kinds of diplomats in fact I just last week I had the privilege of preaching the gospel in the king's palace and leading Chiefs in the palace to the Lord isn't that incredible that was just last week and um but but politicians love to come to these Crusades because they want to get their faces in front of the crowds and so you know I'm a guest in their nation so I kind of have to I have to humor them and so they often will stand up and give long speeches and I hate to tell you this but I I very much dislike political speeches politicians are the only people I know that they can talk for half an hour and say nothing they didn't make anybody happy they didn't offend anybody they just their mouths moved and sounds came out and and I don't remember much of what this guy said in his twenty to thirty minute monologue but at the end I remember that he said this right before he handed the microphone back to me he said I want to thank you Vangelis kolenda and his team for coming to our nation because we believe that their prayers together with ere's of those in the mosques and the temples are the answer for the problems in our nation and then he handed the microphone to me now I know a lot of you don't know me yet but you you are soon to find out that that was a bad move because I am NOT a politician I'm a diplomat when when God made me he forgot to give me that part of the brain that says this is inappropriate social behavior and so when I stood up I realized that that there was a moment there this is the very first time the people in the city we're gonna hear my voice in the Panda a representative from the president has just said that I have come to put my prayers on the same level as those in the mosques in the temples and now everything that is about to be preached and delivered this week has been set on that premise and I couldn't let it stand that way so I said your excellency you know deputy of the president I said thank you for being here we honor you we thank you so much for your attendance at the meeting tonight but I must respectfully disagree with you I said you see your excellency you are a representative you represent your president you represent your nation and the reason I'm not telling you the name of the country is because I want to go back there one day just in case you didn't notice this I said your excellency I am also a representative I don't represent a president or a parliament or a government in this world I don't represent a Prime Minister I represent a king and he is not just any King he is the King above all Kings and he is the Lord above all lords and I say your excellency I must disagree with you on one more point because you see I have not come to this nation to join prayers with the mosques and the temples because I have come to you in a name that is above every other name it is the name at which every knee will bow and every tongue will confess it is a wonderful name it is the powerful name it is the precious name it is the name and I thought that might have been my last my last words in that country I looked back at him and he was smiling and nodding the people went crazy that was the beginning of a very amazing crusade so see Jesus is alive we preach him everywhere we go and I say this I've said this before I say it again I have many sermons but I only have one message my message is a man and that man is Jesus and I haven't come here this morning just to preach a good sermon here I've come to give you Jesus and I pray that he will be more alive to you than ever before this morning in Jesus name can you say Amen praise the Lord I need to be sensitive to my time and I'm gonna jump right into this in a moment but before I get going I want to tell you about something that's really exciting to me can you indulge me for just a couple minutes I want to tell you about something I have just written a new book it's called slaying dragons and this book actually is not out yet it comes out in January but I twisted the publishers arm and convinced them to let me take some copies and have them available for you this morning it's so you are getting to see this before anybody else and I'm very excited about this because you know when you invest your time and your energy into a book I don't know if you've written any of you have written books before but it's a it's a several month long process and you're really invested into it and if you've read any of my books you know that when I write it's because there's something that I want to say that is far deeper than what I could do in a platform context you understand in a platform context I have to take many things into consideration in a house of time limits and and and so I tried to keep things on a level where everyone can understand but when I write a book I take the subjects and go much much deeper and I would just encourage you I don't know what your reading habits are like if you are a reader this would be a great book but if you're not a reader you need to make that part of your life because it's one of the ways that God helps you to Roah and it's one of the ways that you keep your mind continually being transformed and renewed and that's what the Bible says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds how many of you know in Christianity transformation is from the inside out not the outside in a lot of people don't understand this and a lot of the spiritual battles that we're fighting by the way this is about spiritual warfare and and I've read many books about spiritual warfare and can I tell you something I might be unpopular with some but most of what I've read on spiritual warfare is nonsense most of it is closer to Harry Potter than it is description but there is a real spiritual world around us how many of you know that and the spiritual world is not only real I would say it's more real than what we see because the spiritual world was here before the physical world and the spiritual world will be here long after the physical world is gone now if you say Daniel I don't believe in that I'm a materialist I don't only believe in what I can see and I can't see spirits I can't see angels I can't see demons therefore they don't exist I would challenge you to come on one trip with me overseas and you will be convinced forever in the reality of the demonic and the angelic and the supernatural because we interact with it all all the time I was in a crusade I just wrote about this in article 4 charisma it was in a crusade in Monrovia in Liberia and there was a lady that came to the meeting one night she was a witch doctor how many of you know that this is real okay this is not this is not Hollywood there are real witches and there's witchcraft there are witch doctors that's a real thing all over the world and wherever we go in the world these people hate us and do you know why they hate us because when we come to their town they go bankrupt because their customers don't go to them anymore their witchcraft spells don't work anymore we had one guy that a witch doctor that came to us he told us his testimony he was very angry he wanted to sue us because he said you know he had this this business where the people would come and you would pay money and you would stand on a series of different there was like supposed to be like spiritual stones rocks in his yard you would stand on these stones and you would hear voices and people thought that these were the voices of their deceased ancestors he said after you came for the gospel Crusades my stones don't speak anymore this is what we see all over Africa I'm getting sidetracked so we're we're in Monrovia and there's this lady a witch doctor in the meeting and she is a famous witch doctor in this region she's famous because even though there are many witch doctors there are some that are particularly evil and some that are particularly notorious one pastor told me he said I know 10 people that have died as a result of this woman's curse and the people fear her the people live in fear two of the ladies that she cursed to death were her own sisters that's what the pastor told me I didn't know about this at the time because you know it was a crowd of hundreds of thousands there was probably 600,000 people in this meeting and so I was just preaching Jesus I was preaching probably that night about the blood of Jesus how many of you know there's power in the blood of Jesus and this lady she was over here in on this side of the crusade of the field and she had come to the meeting that night to curse me to death and so she brought with her her they called it juju it's just like paraphernalia that they used to conjure up their curses I don't know how it works and I don't care she was over there getting ready to hurl this curse at me I didn't know any of this until I heard a blood-curdling scream because as she went to pronounce the curse the power of God hid her she fell to the ground she began foaming at the mouth and writhing on the ground like a snake do you know what I did nothing I just kept preaching the gospel because when you've got a big God you've got a little devil my god is very big and so I ignored her in a crowd of 600,000 people I'm not there to give the devil my platform in my microphone I'm there to preach Jesus the local pastors can cast that devil out of her so they did they took it back we have a place behind the platform where we cast out demons we call it the snake pit they cast all the demons out of her she came to a right mind she received Jesus as her Savior and then they brought her to me and they bring her to me on the platform and this is how she introduces herself she said sir I came to this meeting tonight to kill you I was like nice to meet you too she said but instead I've given my life to Jesus because tonight I realized that Jesus is more powerful than my witchcraft this is the reality that we live in I know I'm getting off track here a little bit but I'm just excited about this and so in this book I've written about this I actually teach you how to cast out demons if you've never done it before it's a good thing to learn but one of the most important things here is this a lot of people are focused on spiritual warfare out there but how many of you know that the greatest battles we face are the ones that are waged between the ears and there's so many Christians who are trying to combat the devices of the enemy while internally they are submitted to him the Bible says resist the devil and he will flee from you you can't resist him while you're submitted to him and a lot of people don't even really realize that that the carnal way of thinking is demonic do you remember the story of Jesus and Peter it says to Rhea Philip I remember this story where Jesus says to Peter he says who do men say that I am a G and Peter says some say Moses some say Elijah some say Jeremiah one of the other prophets and Jesus said no but who do you say that I am and Peter says you're the Christ the Son of the Living God and Jesus said blessed are You Simon for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you about my father in heaven how many know the story I'm talking about so so Jesus is Peter you have just received supernatural divine revelation about Who I am the first one that saw me for who I am powerful moment and then the by minute says the next verse it says Jesus began to tell them about how he was gonna suffer and die and Peter says Lord far be it from you this will never happen to you and you know what Jesus says Peter get behind me Satan he calls Peter this man that had just had the great revelation Satan and then he says this for you are not thinking the way that God thinks you are thinking the way that man thinks in other words the way that God thinks and the way that man thinks are completely contrary do you know why because the way that man thinks is satanic and there are a lot of people in the Christian world I'm amazed you know social media has brought this out more than anything when I see Christians and I see how they think I see the things that they say I see the way they react to the world around them and I realized so much of the Christian world is in alignment with the Satanic system that dominates the world the spirit of the age that come into alignment and then they try to combat powers of darkness around that place it's an absolutely non-starter and so one of the things that I deal with very heavily in this book is how to win the war on the inside first and then you can begin to take authority in the world around amen so I would really encourage you to grab that book into and to read it I believe it would be a great blessing to you and you'll be the first ones that ever get that opportunity amen are you ready how many of you brought your Bibles this morning anybody okay how many of you brought one that's made out of paper okay I like those ones the battery life is much better turn to the book of Hebrews chapter number 11 Hebrews chapter number 11 we're gonna read a few verses here I have to move quickly because our time is limited this morning but I've something burning in my heart I have this vision I have this picture in my mind you know how many how many of you have ever had an experience where there's something that God is forming on the inside of you and you can see it with your spirit but you you haven't quite seen it materialize in the real world yet but you know that's coming you know that God is doing it and what I see happening in my spirit I believe God is raising up a generation of men and women who are gonna be dangerous they are going to they're gonna put aside this passive normal comfortable easy Christianity and they're gonna take up something that is a threat to the powers of darkness and we are gonna see the world shaken as never before I'm so excited about the days ahead of us the best is coming in Jesus name Amen and so what we're gonna read here is a passage of Scripture that lists the names and some of the exploits of some great men and women of God that lived throughout history back in the Bible times and this passage of Scripture is popularly known as the Hall of Fame of faith how many of you ever have ever heard that title the Hall of Fame of faith now I know that that a lot of people know it by this title but since that's not a necessarily something that's in the text itself it's something people gave to it I can disagree with it and I don't like it because to me it sounds very watered-down these guys weren't interested in being an in a Hall of Fame they they were on a totally different level these these are not on the same level as baseball players and boxers and musicians these guys were in a totally different category the Bible says the world was not even worthy of them so I'm gonna give them a different title this morning I'm gonna call them the League of dangerous men and women are included in that too okay you understand that right women I think I need to just say this because right now especially in the current church climate there's some discussion about this ladies in case you haven't been told you are called you are anointed you have a place you can rise up you can preach the gospel you can pray for the sick here raise the dead cast out demet devils there is no restriction don't you dare let anybody tell you to go home I remember one time in Africa there was we have a lady that was part of our team back then and when we arrived some of the bishops came and they brought the media the media interviewed evangelist Punkie and they said to him pastor bunkie how do you justify allowing a woman to be part of your preaching team and I love Reinhart he's the king of one-liners you know he his mind just thinks in these short like Twitter worthy quips and so he said to he said to the person well he said you know I see it like this he said if I as a man and drowning in the river I don't care whether a man or woman throws me the lifeline end of discussion so it's the League of dangerous men and women okay Hebrews chapter 11 I'm gonna begin reading in verse 32 what shall i more say for the time would fell fail me to tell of gideon and a barrack and of samson and objectify of david also enough samuel and of the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of a sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of aliens jump down to verse 39 all of these having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect let's keep reading as we go into chapter 12 verse 1 wherefore seeing that we are also encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race set before us looking unto Jesus I just have to finish with this one the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Father lord I come to you in Jesus name father I ask you to do something this morning that only you can do because Lord I have the microphone but my words have never changed anything it must be your holy spirit so loud I pray this morning that between between my words and the ears of every person listening in this room and by way of the live stream what I pray that you would be the translator interpreting this and applying it to every individual life and lord I pray that this would be a defining moment in the mighty name of Jesus amen you know when I read the Bible I've started you know especially in serving the Lord around the world and some of the adventures that we've gotten caught up in some of the things that have happened I it tends to color the way that you see scripture I I feel like I understand a lot of the stories in the New Testament because I've lived things very similar one of the things that's occurred to me as I read the scriptures I don't know what you see but ice when I read the Bible I have this revelation this realization that the Bible is a collection of stories about crazy people really it's about crazy people read these stories and take off the filter from Sunday school that you grew up with where you just read these as old fables things that never really happen that's the way that the mind kind of processes it in the mind the subconscious puts it in the same category as Santa Claus or the tooth fairy but you have to realize these things happened and these people were real and the things they did actually took place imagine David a little shepherd boy going out to battle and there across the field is the mightiest champion of the Philistine army one of the most fearsome ferocious armies of this ancient world and you decide in your heart that you trust your God so much you are gonna take your little piece of leather put a rock in it without any armor no bodyguards no training no experience and you're gonna go faced that champion it's crazy think about Peter this guy he was a fisherman if anybody knows that water is dangerous its fishermen there were all kinds of stories about the how the sea would swallow people up the sea especially in the ancient world was this dark ominous place where people vanished from the face of the earth and yet he sees this form out on the water it looks something like Jesus and the voice says calm and based on that one word come Peter steps out of the boat in a hurricane unto the water to try to walk on it he's crazy here's Moses he's been a vagabond in the in the wilderness for 40 years he's probably got a beard down to the ground he knows nothing but hurting sheep now and the Lord appears to him he talks to him out of a bush he takes his staff and he goes and confronts the mightiest king in that in the world at that time Pharaoh and commands Pharaoh to allow the source of his country's economic prosperity to walk out the back door without any compensation he's crazy and yet when you read these stories over and over and over again you realize God is using crazy people in fact let me say this way God is only using crazy people you know you never read a story in the Bible about the guy that stayed home ate potato chips and watched Oprah you don't read that story you know why because it stinks nobody would want to read it you wouldn't want to write it it's not the kind of story that moves our faith the stories that move us are the ones of people that were willing to lay it all down for the sake of the gospel they risked everything that gave their lives some of them actually died for what they believed but they did it with faith they did it with passion they did it with their whole lives verse 39 and 40 says that these having obtained a good report vote received not the promise in other words though they did very well in their lives there's something that they did not come into possession of yet verse 40 God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect and maybe you don't understand what that means but I'll explain it to you in a moment we're foreseeing that we are coming through out with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight of sin and which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race set before us you see the writer of Hebrews is describing here what was the most popular sport of his day it would have been like football today in America or soccer which is also known as football in other parts of the world it was the spectator sport it's the thing that people would come and they would gather in stadiums and they would watch and and and relay races were born in this time and you know relay races where one person runs with a baton and they hand the baton to the next runner the next runner takes that baton and he runs and he hands it to the next runner this is what the the writer of Hebrews is describing this footrace and it's not just any footrace it's the race of history and on that track running that race these athletes do you know who they are it's you it's me you're running with a baton that has been passed down from generation to generation to generation and there's a crowd of spectators gathered gathered in that stadium but massive throng and they're cheering and you know who those who those spectators are that great cloud of witnesses do you know who they are they are the great men and women the heroes of the faith of days gone by there are the Sampson's and Joshua's and Jefferson and and these ones described in this Hall of Fame of faith Scripture and more than that some of them are our heroes of the faith that are in our own time in our own generation those that have gone on before us they are still watching us how many of you understand that to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord your race on this earth doesn't end when you breathe your last breath you go to that cloud of witnesses and that cloud you cheer on the next generation running where you used to run I tell you if you could talk to them if you could interview the witnesses in the stands I promise you would hear one thing over and over again they would tell you oh I wish that I'd run harder I wish that I wept more I wish that I prayed more I wish that I had preached more I wish that I had given more I wish that I had sacrificed more I wish that I had given everything for the sake of this glorious gospel because from their vantage point there's only one thing that matters here we are as we won't run this race from our vantage point what do we see Facebook our favorite show on Netflix relationships boyfriends girlfriends all these things that we think are so important that are so distracting to us they draw our attention away and we're running the race but our attention is over here somewhere and slow down and we're chatting with the person next to us treating it like it's all a game that's why the writer of Hebrews says we've got all day aside every weight and every sin that so easily beset sus and we've got to run this race that's set before us looking unto Jesus he he makes this reference the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross in other words we are doing this not for our own name stuff for our own titles not for our own glory we're doing this in the name of the one that for the prize said before him laid everything down poured out his blood died on the cross so that we could be a part of this race oh I wish that you could feel the burning in my heart because I believe God wants to raise up some dangerous men and women it's not just people in the Bible it's not just dangerous people that lived long ago that made a difference it's in modern times - let me tell you about three John's first one is John G Lake how many of you ever heard of John G Lake you know I do a lot of ministry in South Africa where John G Lakes ministry was born and in just a few years about five or six years in South Africa John G Lake planted a denomination that today is one of the greatest denominations in the world the opposite aaalac faith mission and when John G Lake arrived in South Africa it was during a very turbulent time it was one of the worst times in the history of the nation how many of you know that often God will send his man or his woman at a time where it looks the worst to the world but God has his answer and his answer is a man or a woman a dangerous man or woman and God sent John G Lake to the nation at a time where where there was a terrible disease ravaging the nation twenty-five percent of the population had died from this disease was an epidemic it was a plague and it was so bad that they couldn't find nurses or doctors to treat the sick because the nurses and the doctors would get sick themselves and so the government was offering these enormous sums of money for people that would tend to the sick but nobody wanted the jobs so John G Lake and his team they arrived they see the devastation you know what they do they volunteer they don't even take money for it they volunteer that he can to minister to the sick they begin to treat them physically but also spiritually they begin letting hands of them and praying for on them and these sick people for whom there is no cure begin getting up out of their deathbeds totally healed it captures the attention of the scientific community a doctor comes to John G lekha says Mr Lake Reverend Lake what is your secret how are you doing this and John Lake said let's go to your laboratory I want to show you something so they go to the laboratory John Lake says I want you to take a sample of the live virus and put it in the palm of my hand the doctor does it Lake says now scrape it off and look at it under the microscope and when he looked he saw that the virus had been instantly incinerated in the palm of John Lakes hand the doctor said how did you do this this is impossible John Lake quotes the words of Romans chapter 8 verse 2 the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death he was a dangerous man how about John Hyde - anybody ever heard of John Hyde John Hyde was a missionary to India and his prayer life was so legendary that today he's known as John praying Hyde he toiled there among the Indians at a time where there were very few missionaries and he would spend sometimes thirty days at a time locked in a room with no food just praying they said they could hear him down the street as he groaned hour after hour day after day praying interceding for the salvation of that nation he did that year after year after year after year in his old age he went to a doctor in Calcutta the doctor examined his body and discovered something shocking he'd never seen it before John John Hyde's hearts had literally shifted position in his chest as a result of those years of fervent intercession today there's a great revival happening among the Indians millions of people in India coming to Jesus you can trace it back to the groaning and the prayer and the sacrifice of one dangerous man by the name of John praying Hyde may God raise up a million John Prine Hyde's tell you about another one John Wesley John Wesley was a dangerous man I tell you I have some of the journals of John Wesley when you read the journals they will make you question your own salvation this is a man who ate drank slept breathed the gospel of Jesus Christ he would preach five times a day minimum most of the time more but never less than five times a day and at 5 o'clock in the morning every day they said they could hear his voice as he stood on the street corners preaching to the miners as they were on their way to work five o'clock in the morning even on his honeymoon he got up and preached five o'clock in the morning this is what John Wesley said thus far I mean that in whatever part I'm in I judge it right and my duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear the glad tidings of salvation he considered it his sacred to preach the gospel to anyone to everyone that would hear you know one of the unique perspectives that that I have as someone who spends most of my time ministering in the third world when I come back to the to America and to the Western world I'm often disappointed at what I see because when I see that what's being preached I see what's being modeled by the church in America I I think sometimes we've misunderstood what God is after you know here you hear a lot of preachers preach you think that God's number one need is money it seems like they're always talking about money and always take it up offerings they always have a new project and they just need money money money money but when you read Haggai chapter 2 verse 8 it says God says the silver is mine and the gold is mine all of it all of it there is nothing that you have that doesn't belong to him can I tell you something if there's one thing God doesn't need its money he's got plenty other people I think that their impression is that God's need is for monuments I know some guys that have built hundreds of millions of dollars worth of facilities and there's no people to even go in the facilities but they think this is the key that gobbles them just to build buildings but when you read isaiah 66:1 god says heaven is my throne earth is my footstool where is the house you were built for me no God doesn't need money God doesn't need monuments others I think I think their impressions that were God needs really is more modern methods the problem with the churches that we haven't become cool enough that we don't dress cool enough we need more skinny jeans we need more man buns we need more smoke many more lasers we need to be look look like hipsters we need to be coffee shop we need to have all the cool trappings that's what God really is missing if God could just get with modern times let's say 55:8 God says my ways are not your ways my thoughts are not your thoughts God is not wearing skinny jeans no man bun not picking on those things but I'm telling you something God has a totally different objective in this world there's only one thing he's after he's not from money he's not from monuments he's not after methods he's after men and he's after women and if he can find a man or a woman who will give their lives lay everything down he can shake the world shake the world with one man and he has shaking the world with one man with one woman it could be you what are you waiting for don't you wonder is that their part of you wonders oh did you slay it all down to stop living for material things and just to give my life for the only thing that really matters the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ all of these having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise you say how did they do and how do they make such an impact what is the key what was their secret I'll show you looking with me look back Hebrews 11 look at look at chap early in the first verse now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen there for by it the elders obtained a good report verse 4 by faith Abel verse 5 by faith Enoch 4/7 by faith and Noah verse 8 by faith Abraham verse 9 by faith Isaac 4:17 by faith Abraham verse 21 by faith Jacob verse 23 by faith Moses verse 22 by faith Joseph do you see a pattern here a reoccurring fate they did it by faith because they really believed that God that they said they believed in my friend if you believe what you say you'll believe for one second you wouldn't live the way that you live if you really believed God was watching if you really believed there was a great white throne if you really believed in the judgment seat of Christ if you really believed that there were eternal rewards to be gained and shun if you really believed that God was watching and that what you do today matters for eternity it would change your life you know I've heard people say this that faith has spelled our is K and I get that especially for those of us that minister to the sick you would go to the nation's there is a risk element in faith but I have a different way of saying it I say faith is spelled TRUS T faith is job though he slay me yet will I trust him I'll tell you a little story and I'm going to end I love stories you can chalk that up to me being an African preacher I know I don't look African but I am my heart is African if you went with me your heart would be African too a story of a circus performer a tightrope walker and this is in the days you know early 1900s Wild West this guy was a traveling performer he'd go from one village to the next and these people hadn't seen many outsiders before so it was exciting just when a a new person came to town and the way he would do it is he'd come into the city and he make an announcement he would say at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning I'm gonna be in the center of town and I'm gonna perform a feat for you that human eyes have never seen something so amazing you wouldn't believe it even when you see it and the curiosity of the whole town was piqued they would gather the next day at 8 o'clock in the morning to find that there was a tightrope a wire attached to the tallest building in town stretching across the road and tied on to the building across from it and atop the tallest building there was the tightrope walker with a pole in his hand when he called down to the crowd he said how many of you believe that I can walk on this rope on this wire from this side of the road to that other building and of course such a thing they had never seen before and surely they thought it was impossible when he asked the question how many of you believe they begin to shuffle keep the ground with their feet looking down afraid to make eye contact nobody believed so then the tightrope walker took that pole his hand he put one foot in front of the other and he began to walk step by step the people were breathless spellbound watching and take every step any of which could result in his demise finally he reached the building on the other side of the road and the crowd erupted cheers applause they'd never seen something so incredible in their whole life the temporal Walker looked back down at the people he said how many of you believe now that I can walk across the tightrope and of course everybody raised their hands now we believe so the tightrope walker said ok now that you believe I have a question for you I want somebody in the crowd to be a volunteer I want you to come up here on top of this building I want you to get on my shoulders and together we're gonna walk back across the tightrope are there any volunteers and of course again everybody was looking down at the ground afraid to make eye contact you know it's one thing to say that you believe it's another thing to jump up on the shoulders of the one that you believe in so take a rope Walker waited everyone looking away and finally one little hand was raised six or seven-year-old boy in the crowd he said little boy come on up here you're my volunteer the boy went the stairs came up on top climbed onto the tightrope walkers back once again he began to walk one foot in front of the other and once again the crowd was breathless spellbound watching every step and finally when they arrived at the other end once again the crowd erupted in cheers and applause it was beyond amazing what they had just seen it was the talk of the town everybody was talking about that tightrope walker and that little boy there was a reporter there and she was writing about the story and she looked across the road and there she saw that little boy standing there she ran up to him she said son I have to ask you a question for my story she said where did you get such incredible courage to climb up on top of that men shoulders while he walked across that wire cheating death every step of the way the little boy said well the truth is this I'm not really that brave you see that tightrope walker is my dad this is what faith is Daniel 11:32 Daniel 11:32 the ones that know their God will be strong and do exploits would you stand with me this morning my time has gone that I feel the Lord is speaking some of you because you know he's been calling you to get out of the boat like he called to Peter he's told you to come and you look to your left you look to your right you've seen that that it's it's scary out there my friend listen do you trust him it's it's not that God is asking you to be some extraordinary person in yourself that's not what makes dangerous men and women that's not what makes world-changers world-changers are not the most amazing people read the list in that hall of fame of faith there's some absolute losers in that list the only thing that made them special was they trusted God and by faith they said yes they climbed up on his shoulders and they marched straight into history and I since God is calling you to that this morning but here's the reality one more time chapter 12 therefore seeing that we are accompanied with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and sin that so easily beset us with every head bowed and every eye closed I know that first of all there are some of you in this room but you're not even running the race yet you're on the sidelines because you haven't made that decision to surrender your life to Jesus my friend listen there is only one thing in this life that matters life is so short Jesus I know the Holy Spirit is dealing with some of your hearts right now I needed you to listen the Bible says now is the day of salvation there is a moment that comes when the Holy Spirit stretches out his hands some of you your heart rate just picked up you said what is that it's the Holy Spirit it comes to convictive seeing of righteousness of judgment today if you hear and don't harden your hearts if you would say Daniel I need to lay down my sin at the foot of the cross and I need to enter that race I want to become a follower of Jesus today I want to surrender my life to Him maybe you've been away from the Lord maybe you're a prodigal son or prodigal daughter and you know you need to come back today is your day maybe you've never made that decision to follow Jesus don't let one more moment go by if that's the desire of your heart I want to pray for you just lift your hand wherever you are in this place wherever you are just lift your hand thank you thank you come on those of you that lifted your hand just get out of your seat right now come down to this front I want to pray for you don't hesitate don't wait those of you up in the balcony that lifted your hands come on we're wait for you this is the most important thing that's gonna happen not only today but in your whole life come on just get out of your seat don't be ashamed don't hesitate don't wait [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you Jesus [Music] it's time to start running for something that matters it's time for your life to count you know years ago when I was a teenager I almost drowned in the ocean and I learned something about drowning people I learned that winner when a man is drowning they'll go under once and they'll come up again and then they'll go down a second time and they'll come up again but if they say the experts say that if that drowning man goes down a third time he won't come up anymore if some of you listening to me this morning you've been drowning for a long time some of you have already gone down and you came back up again you couldn't believe that you cheated death you couldn't believe that you had a second chance you chalked it up to luck you just kept going your way you laughed at death you laughed it things that threatened you you kept going and then you went down a second time there's some of you you shouldn't even be alive right now the fact that you're standing here listening to me this morning is evidence of the mercy of God you should have died in a car accident you should have died in a drug overdose you should have died from some sickness something should have taken you out but God had mercy on you and if he hadn't you wouldn't be I'll tell you what you wouldn't have made your home in heaven here you are in this moment in this amazing church with another opportunity but here's what I sense in my heart that if you leave this room this morning hardening your heart again and you go under a third time there will not be another chance for you that's why I'm asking you please don't harden your heart stop running stop saying tomorrow tomorrow's day only found that a fool's calendar you don't have it it doesn't belong to you it will never belong to you all you have is this moment that's why Jesus says now is the day of salvation say Amen here's what we're gonna do I'm gonna I'm gonna do something that I believe is almost like a prophetic picture of the mercy of God being extended to you one more time I'm gonna give you another chance to respond listen to me very carefully this is what we're gonna do in just a moment when I tell you not now but when I tell you every single one of you is gonna turn to the person on your right and left and you're gonna ask one question you're gonna say do you need to be at that altar and if they say yes I want you to take them by the hand and bring them listen I don't care if they're the best dressed person in the room I don't care if they smell great I don't care if they're married to a pastor I don't care if they sing on the worship team of the choir I don't care if they you think that and save longer than you every single one of you is gonna ask that question of the person on your left and your right do you need to be at that altar if they say yes take them by the hand and come do it right now turn to the person on your right in your left do you need to be at that altar if they say yes take them by the hand and come come on don't hesitate don't wait come stand before the Lord Jesus will save you it's the most amazing moment of your life right now [Applause] [Music] maybe you say Daniel why are you pushing so hard why are you trying so hard listen my friend Jesus came from heaven to earth he shed his blood nobody could try harder than mad he did everything to reach you and that's why it's worth me asking you one more time give him your heart give in your life follow him from this day forward can you say Amen if you're still coming I'll wait for you listen there's nothing I've got to do that's better than this [Music] look up I don't know what's for dinner but I promise it's not as good as this my meat is to do the walk the will of him that sent me what a precious moment in our lives and for those of you that are watching this there is nothing greater that you're gonna see this week those of you that are here in the front wall though the others are coming we're still waiting but I want to talk to you that are here listen to me now I'm gonna lead you in a prayer I call it the prayer of salvation but here's what you have to understand this prayer is not even in the Bible it's not it's not like this is coming out of a prayer book or it's like it's some sort of religious ritual this prayer isn't even in the Bible in fact the Bible doesn't even talk about a prayer of salvation or a sinner's prayer but this is what the Bible says that if you will confess with your mouth and you will believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead you'll be saved jesus said if you confess me before men I'll confess you before my father in heaven if you deny me before men I'll deny you before my father in heaven he said everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved it says everyone who was in Christ is a new creation old things have passed away behold all things have become new this is what we're about to do I am simply putting my arm around you and helping you to put words to the cry of your heart but listen to me Jesus isn't listening to the words you understand me he doesn't speak English God doesn't speak French or German or Spanish God speaks heart that's what he listens to he said some of you you you you you worship me with your lips but your heart is far from me you see what's happening with the lips is is not relevant unless it's aligned with the heart so today what we're gonna do is we're gonna pray with the lips with the heart together so this is what I'm asking you to do close your eyes and bow your heads and I'm asking to pray this with all of your heart and you have God's promise this morning he will hear an answer do not whisper this I want you to shout it out and I want everybody in this room to shout it in support of those praying for the first time say dear Lord Jesus Christ I come to you today a sinner needing salvation Lord Jesus Christ I cannot save myself so I give my life everything that I am I give to you and I confess with my mouth what I believe in my heart that Jesus is my Savior that Jesus is my lord that Jesus has risen from the dead and from this day forward he is mine and I am his Lord Jesus take me wash me save me fill me with your Holy Spirit from this day forward I will follow Jesus in the name of Jesus and everybody said amen amen come on put your hands together for Jesus [Applause] all of you know when to know one news right now please know when - I'm gonna ask all of those that have come just to turn to your left Pastor Dave is here no one move I sure stand right there we're gonna have we're going to give every one of you a Bible we need a couple leaders to help us please a couple leaders help us right here just go to your left go to your left we believe everyone needs to be discipled how many believe in that okay every single person every single person you keep clapping as they go keep encouraging them in Jesus name

Channel: Church In The Son

Views: 77,860

Rating: 4.9244266 out of 5

Keywords: Freedom, Church in the Son, Alex Clattenburg, Sermon, Bible Teaching, Generosity, christian church, who is jesus, bible, God, Who am i, psalms, love, god is love, restoration, orlando, florida, assemblies of God, assembly of God, Pentecostal, spirit filled, holy spirit, holy ghost, sin, sins, forgiveness, forgiven, repent, hell, heaven, break through, daniel kolenda, evangelist, christ for all nations, demons, cast out demons, hebrews, daniel colinda, kilinda, kolinda, reinhard bonnke, inspirational

Id: 8aXeVlJ0TX8

Length: 57min 56sec (3476 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 03 2020