Daniel Kolenda + Bethel Music | Jesus '18

good evening you guys hungry hungry for jesus yeah my name is michael culianos and i have the joy of leading jesus image with this amazing amazing girl jess right here [Applause] and uh we just want to welcome you why don't we lift our hands come on holy spirit we welcome you and we invite you to do whatever you want to do tonight and for this entire week in jesus name amen come on say amen we've got our dear friend our dear friend michael miller here with us from upper room and uh they've really become family with jesus image with our family he and his wife larissa are just treasures and i really felt in my heart that michael had something to unlock at the open and that god would give him a a deep cry a groan that would echo and that jesus would respond to all right so come on why don't you just start praying into the spirit right now come on let's go for it hey what was on my heart is as you are praying let's not show up first and foremost empty-handed before the lord let's break through the gates with thanksgiving in our hearts so let's just give him thanks for what he's going to do just thank him just jesus thank you for your faithfulness thank you for your goodness thank you for your mercies thank you for what you're going to do in our lives thank you for what you're gonna do in our hearts lord thank you thank you for marking each and every life lord thank you just giving thanks for marking your heart in advance just thank him with your own mouth just say jesus come and have your way in my heart come and have your way in my life come and have your way lord we give you thanks jesus for what you're going to do we give you thanks lord for marking the next four days off lord thank you jesus thank you for the encounters thank you for the transformation thank you for the revelation of your son and thank you for the glory the glory that you're gonna release in this room so just grab someone's hand next to you grab someone's hand next to you and let's just with a unified voice everyone just said thank you on the count of three one two three thank you god just say it again say it again one two three thank you lord thank you god thank you jesus we give you praise we give you honor we give you glory we give you thanks lord keep thanking him thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord there's more there's more just give him thanks come on lord we love you jesus oh we bless your name father thank you jesus tonight [Music] make us instruments of praise tonight pour out your spirit pour out your spirit we need you holy spirit we so need you holy spirit lead us tonight in the worship lead us tonight into the presence open our eyes open our ears [Music] [Music] make us instruments of praise make us a symphony of praise tune every heart to every heart [Music] and let it be a sweet sound tonight we just want to make a sweet sound of lord let praise be a sweet sound in your ears and we give you praise and all of the honor you are our god the one we live for we give you praise and all of the glory god we give you praise and all of the honor you are god the one we live for we give you praise and oh and we give you praise and all of the glory god oh we give you praise [Music] that we can breathe [Music] oh [Music] we give you all the glory we give you all the glory [Music] just lift your voice [Music] of the on [Music] we give you all of the glory jesus we give you all of the glory [Music] we give you all of the glory let's just make a sweet sound just begin to lift your voice tonight just make a sweet sound to the lord tonight [Music] oh it says [Music] oh let it rise [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] from deep inside [Music] from deep inside we let it rise [Music] lift up your song don't stop singing [Music] oh you've only just begun we've only just with all your life [Music] [Music] ah yes [Music] oh you are [Music] and i love you [Music] [Music] to [Music] [Music] reach yours [Music] you hear [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] strip all distractions away bro bring us straight before your throne of grace your throne of grace [Music] coming up your hill with praise coming through your gates with praise and thanksgiving tonight [Music] we're so grateful we're so grateful [Music] thank you thank you for the blood that makes tonight possible thank you that we can enter in into your course that we can come into your presence all because of jesus all because of jesus thank you thank you lord [Music] thank you [Music] yes lord let a spirit of worship just rest on our hearts tonight and lift the song out of us a fresh god as we adore you as we behold you tonight [Music] hey [Music] we've come to join the song sung long before our lives and to raise our voices [Music] we've seen your faith [Music] a [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] to the lord's all [Music] in our endless to jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] to the lord [Music] a thousand generations [Music] is bring it all we give it all we surrender we surrender highest [Music] praises [Music] is [Music] [Music] praises [Music] lift your hands lift your voices [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] you're excited oh jesus [Music] god [Music] generations [Music] we lift our voice within [Music] thank you lord thank you jesus thank you earth praise and i'll stand in all of you i'll stand in all of you [Music] yes and i'll let my words be few jesus love with you more than i know how to say more than i know how to express so i'll just stand [Music] in all of him [Music] i'll just stand in all of him [Music] my words be feared i'll just let my words jesus with you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] one [Music] so [Music] hey jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] tonight my words be filled cause jesus with you [Music] yes [Music] [Music] so [Music] um [Music] [Music] oh let's just wait for just a little bit jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] so oh oh [Music] oh [Music] the world [Music] there was a moment when the lights went out when death had claimed its victory the key the darkest day in history they're on across [Music] [Music] the earth [Applause] sacrifice was made as the heavens [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] yes [Music] a flash of light breaking through when always lost across eternity the king of life was on the move [Music] foreign and we're forever [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] every time he is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh come let us oh come let us [Music] [Music] unashamed [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh give you [Music] me [Music] [Music] foreign oh he shall reign forever [Music] we've only [Music] cause [Music] yes [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh you will reign forever [Music] oh [Music] yes you will write foreign yeah lifts up a real shout to jesus [Music] [Applause] foreign oh and he shall reign forever and he shall reign forever he's come rule and he's coming to reign foreign so [Music] peace [Music] jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus jesus you make the darkness jesus [Music] please [Music] and call these lungs to sing once again [Music] you make the darkness tremble jesus sing it again lift your voice oh jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus [Music] you make the darkness tremble jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] bye [Music] is um [Music] jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus you silence fear oh jesus jesus you make the darkness we're gonna sing it out sing it out jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus oh sing it again o jesus jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus jesus [Music] jesus you make the darkness tremble jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] overcome your name is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus this hey i could feel the light on the inside i can feel a light on the inside i can feel a light on the inside transformation [Music] this is revival cause i can feel light on the inside it's not out there it's in here it begins in here the light on the inside we won't settle we won't settle just for looking out there forgot to come near cause he's on the inside this is revival this is the main event yes i can feel the light on the inside stinking over yourself tonight yes i can feel a light on the inside we're gonna be a generation burning bright cause i can feel the light on the inside [Music] burning bright cause we can feel the light on the inside we're gonna be a generation burning bright on the inside [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh this is [Music] christ in me the hope of glory christ in me the hope of glory christ in me the hope of glory this is [Music] oh christ in me the hope of glory is christ in me the hope of glory this is reviled this is revival christ in me the hope of glory christ in me the hope of glory christ in me the hope of glory this is in your promises my confidence is your faithfulness in your promises my confidence is your faithfulness lord my hope is built on nothing less than jesus blur and righteousness [Music] [Applause] i can rest in your promises my confidence is your faithfulness i can't rest in your promises my confidence is your faithfulness i can rest in your promises my confidence [Music] it's in your faithfulness so i'm learning to rest in your promises finding confidence in your faithfulness [Music] [Music] man yes [Music] yes thank you for your communion thank you jesus oh god touching man thank you for communion this is revival i can feel the light on the inside cause you turned on the light on the inside [Music] there's a crack in everything that's how the light gets in that's how the light gets in you are streaming in tonight oh i feel you streaming it's tonight open up we open up [Music] oh this is oh thank you thank you thank you [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] wow [Music] [Music] [Music] tonight is [Music] thank you for being here jesus come on lift up praise give him your your heart you know as i as i came next to the stage i heard the lord very clearly speak to me and as i walked up the steps it was like i could feel it was like a military the way he spoke to me it was like something to do with the army i could just feel it in his voice and this is what he said to me as we were just looking then as stephanie was leading we're just looking at god and we're just adoring the lord and we're fascinated by jesus when we were doing that i heard him say like the army he said all eyes on jesus all eyes on jesus so i want you right now i want you just for a moment to turn your eyes upon him and then straight after that i heard this song because i believe some of you have come here because the things of the earth have grown large in your life and god wants them to grow strangely dim when you look at him thank you lord praise you precious king praise you jesus [Music] all eyes on jesus all eyes and jesus turn your eyes upon you he says look for in his wonderful faith and the things of his glory and grace one in the sing it again you're crazy we love you jesus we love you jesus yield our will we love you jesus praise you that's right it's okay you just leave that baggage now leave that just leave it on the ground all eyes on jesus leave whatever you came here with you leave it right now all eyes on jesus he's come to free us he's come to free you have permission to let that thing go look at the lord look upon him thank you praise you jesus he's delivering people look at him god i'll deliver jesus jesus praise praise praises praise you god praise your name praise my that's right let go have another look lift your eyes again have another look at your king praise you jesus be magnified in your people lord praise you jesus let go you're free in here whatever you brought in it bows to the feet of jesus praise the lord praise your father okay in the presence of jesus is freedom be free if you need breakthrough in your body right now put your put your hand where you need breakthrough in the presence of the lord is freedom be free in the presence of god there is freedom put your hand where you need freedom put your hand on your mind if you need freedom in your mind thank you lord look upon him and just ask him say jesus i want you to do this for me and i'm leaving behind the baggage of my life jesus i want you to do this for me and i'm willing to let go of anything i brought in here that exalts itself over you but lord i'm asking you to set me free in my heart set me free in my mind in the authority of the name of jesus we pray right now that every sickness every mental torment every unclean spirit everything not from the father get out of this room in jesus name now be gone from their lives now i pray that the rawness of the love of jesus the radical love that he that he calls you to live by i pray that god you'd give that to all of us tonight that we've become fascinated with god thank you lord praise you jesus praise your holy name thank you lord thank you lord i feel we just have to declare this one more time i just feel we just need to declare it one more time before we go back to our seeds you know the hardest thing in the presence of jesus is leaving the presence of jesus but you don't have to leave this is the lie people think that oh we stop raising our hands i can't abide in him no you can give everything to him right now you can open the door of your heart that much and he'll take the whole thing if you open just a little bit more if you just look on him a little longer he'll take the whole thing he'll he'll creep into the deep places of your spirit and god i just want to sing this one more time i can hear us singing it but loudly because it's the truth and turn your eyes upon you jesus there's nothing better come on lift your voice look for in his wine one more time and turn your eyes upon jesus jesus these oh thank you lord hallelujah praise you come on lift your voice praise you lamb of god praise you jesus jess and i are praying that god that god would fill you with his spirit again many of you are going to discover tonight that you thought you knew jesus and that maybe you really don't and tonight the lord is going to draw many of you to the cross many of you are going to be filled with the holy spirit for the first time many of you're going to be filled all over again many of you are going to be healed come on many are going to be healed tonight in jesus name and i'm really believing the lord for a beautiful glory the glory of god to fill this place i've been getting prophetic words really from just all over and to be here with family all of these great men and women are really family and to do this as a family together was anybody here or not not here we would not have come close to filling this place was anybody at jesus 14 like the first one i think we had 450 people the first night and to see what the lord has done is really really amazing yeah yeah it's really beautiful really we have no uh strategy we aren't trying to trick you into coming we believe jesus is magnetic and that he's worth coming to and gathering around do you believe that well tonight uh one of my dearest friends in all of the world daniel kolenda is going to minister to you and daniel has been just a true blue he and rebecca have been the real deal real friends loyal friends who celebrate our breakthrough like it's their own and they've been with us since jesus 14 and even before that the first jesus image event in fact that we ever held eric was there uh in this city i think we had 120 people and we thought we had shifted america literally and but daniel and rebecca have been just so loyal so dear and what they're carrying what daniel is carrying is so rare for those of you who don't know he's the successor to evangelist reinhard bonke and god has used him to see millions and millions of people come to jesus millions and millions of people are being set on fire around the world so i want all of you to stand and welcome my dear dear friend daniel kolenda to the platform jesus 18. come on let's put our hands together for jesus tonight lord we love you we give you the praise we give you the glory we give you the honor and lord we ask that you would move in this place touch our lives change our hearts in the name of jesus and everybody said almighty amen amen you can be seated tonight how many of you are happy to be here let me be the first speaker to officially welcome you to jesus 18. we are expecting god to do some really really amazing things this week i i don't know how to explain this but i feel giddy like a kid on christmas morning i just feel like god is going to do something really remarkable how many of you feel that i believe that it all happens in proportion to your faith and to your expectancy those of you that have come hungry and you've come believing and you've come expecting to encounter the holy spirit you will not leave disappointed in jesus name i want to um i want to say to michael and to jessica thank you very much not only for the invitation but for your friendship um you know i've been here with you know jesus conference now jesus you know we don't call it conference anymore you guys know that right so it's just jesus we've been with jesus since the very beginning and it's amazing to see how this ministry has grown and progressed and it's it's really a a sign of the way that god blesses faithfulness how many of you understand that that he that's faithful with little will be made ruler over much and that's what we've seen happening here and i believe michael and jess this is just the beginning the best is yet to come in jesus name come on can we put our hands together for them and for jesus image for the entire ministry i also want to encourage those of you that don't know already but michael and jessica have started a school right here in orlando called jesus school how many of students do we have here students of jesus school come on let me hear you there's three of them [Applause] um i i had the privilege of uh teaching a few weeks back jesus school students and it is wild it is like what you get in jesus conference imagine that intense atmosphere for months on end every single day that's basically what they're in and if you are a person that's looking to really get on fire for god to go to the next level in your walk with the lord whatever that looks like for you i would really encourage you to to come to orlando to join jesus school and i will see you there i want to also um recognize somebody that's here tonight that's very important probably the most important person in my life and that's my beautiful wife rebecca would you stand sweetheart turn around so they can see you i'm showing you off rebecca doesn't get to travel with me very often so it's always a joy to have her in the meetings when i preach and my five beautiful kids are somewhere in the room here tonight come on guys just stand up there they are over there these are my children elijah gloria london lydia and brand new one benjamin he's our what is he 10 months old now so uh we are we are fulfilling the commandment in genesis to fill the earth somebody said you know that commandment wasn't just for you right i also thank you michael michael said well done that means a lot to me i also want to just recognize all of the amazing speakers that are here this week i don't know if you realize this but it is it is really um unusual to have a conference where there are so many incredible incredible men and women of god i don't know if you realize that and of course there's not time to name them all but i see uh claudio and betty friedtson sitting right here on the front row come on if you love them just put your hands together these are some of listen i i was touched by the lord in revival in the 90s and by that time claudio and betty friedson had already been in revival in their church in argentina for a while and that move of the spirit has continued to this day i spoke in their church just a few months ago when we pulled up to the meeting there was a line of people stretched around the building and down the block waiting to get into the service and it's been like this for 20 some years people set on fire for god it's an amazing amazing thing and wherever claudio goes and preaches i just feel like that fire is released and that's going to happen here he's going to be speaking tomorrow also my dear friend eric gilmour is here we love you eric i i often say this that if there if i had to choose one preacher to listen to i'd choose eric every time he speaks i just feel like my own soul is watered afresh and i feel a new grace to press into jesus more and so i'm very much looking forward to that and also brian guerin is here how many of you love brian you know brian came to our fire conference not too long ago and um i can i can tell you his whole sermon you want to hear his message i memorized the whole thing this is the whole thing we flew him all the way across the world for this he leaned on the podium he said oh my god oh my god oh my god oh and it was over it was over it just went on and on and um but the presence of the lord that came in you know sometimes there are things that are deposited that go beyond human language and i think we all belong to a group of people that want those things in our lives amen and then uh of course ben fitzgerald who you heard from come on ben we love you so much man you know i i like ben said i was just with him in australia he has a ministry called awakening europe but then they went to australia and they started awakening australia and their very first meeting in australia i think they took the biggest stadium in the southern hemisphere or something massive massive stadium and i i'm no stranger to big crowds but when i walked in that building and it was empty when i first walked in i said oh ben you have faith but really really what i was thinking is you have guts faith is the spiritual way of saying it but the way that god poured out his spirit in that place thousands and thousands of people came from all over australia it was a mighty move of the spirit and ben i i feel like you're a smith wigglesworth in our generation that's the kind of faith that god's put in you and i i love you and i honor you in the lord and uh of course dave papavisi is here with his wife danielle all the way from iraq i think you guys might have traveled the furthest so we we love you guys we honor you and you're going to see when they minister there's something that's released you know the apostle paul said i've long to be with you that i might impart to you a spiritual gift to the end that you will be established and you have to understand that when these men and women are speaking they are not just communicating words they are imparting something from their spirit to your spirit and if you'll open up you can receive those things straight from the lord amen i also before i get into it i want to let you know we have a a product table on the back some resources i don't get any money from any of that stuff so my only incentive in telling you is we want you to be blessed and there are some amazing things out there and we've we've done some incredible deals you know christmas is coming and this is a great time to do some christmas shopping i think we've got 25 percent off everything if you order if you buy a hundred dollars or more so this is the time go fill up your christmas shopping cart and give your friends and relatives the gift of holy ghost fire amen this shirt is there that i'm wearing and some other things that i'll mention and if you don't know what this means how many of you know what this means okay for those of you that don't know i'll i'll explain it uh shortly but i would encourage you to stop by that table um well i want to give you a fair warning i've just returned a few hours ago from nigeria [Applause] are you are you nigerians nigeria is my favorite country [Applause] we we had an amazing uh crusade there in the city of o'weary how many of you guys know what our weary is we were there in a weird can we put a picture of that crusade up on the screen so you guys can see this is where i've just come from literally um a few hours ago that's that's the crusade and we were there for several days come on you can do better than that this is people coming to get saved listen this is not a this is not a christian conference this is a gospel crusade people getting saved and healed and delivered and filled with the holy spirit mighty miracles taking place and and um that's where i just came from so forgive me if i'm a little bit um scattered in my thoughts i feel a little foggy a little jet lagged is that okay with you i'm gonna i'm just gonna give you the last drop of energy i got and then i'm gonna go back there and collapse into a puddle of jello on the floor and let the holy ghost take over but um we had our our very last gospel crusade of 2018 they're in a weary we celebrated with our team we you know we had a christmas dinner in one of our containers there it's not the the most opulent setting that you can imagine but it's very rewarding to be there with our team loving one another celebrating together and um and then of course miracles can i tell you about one of the miracles we saw i could tell you about miracles all day but this one really touched my heart there was a story of a young man that came you guys are a little bit behind there i'm done talking about christmas okay there we go there's there's the young man that came he had a um he had a growth right here on his body it was a cancerous tumor and he didn't even know about the crusade he came from a different city to visit a weary because there's a famous hospital there so he'd come to the hospital to have that growth surgically removed and he met a lady on the streets and she told him that there was a gospel crusade she said you should go and so he came and he visited and during the prayer he felt something happened to his body he felt for that tumor and it was totally gone so this is this is the kind of thing that jesus is doing it's it's really wonderful and we saw that so many times we saw tumors and growths of all kinds and every sermon of service disappearing breast tumors disappearing fibroids disappearing strange lumps i believe that's going gonna happen right here tonight in jesus name the power of cancer let me tell you something in the blood of jesus cancer has met its match and we're gonna see that power here this week as well in jesus name can i just play a little video to give you sort of a recap of what of what happened just last week you want to see it okay this is just last week i want you to see this i think you'd be blessed go ahead guys [Music] how many of you are happy to be here tonight how many of you have come expecting your miracle how many of you have come expecting your blessing it's on its way in jesus name the lord will lift you up when you leave this place on sunday night we're gonna help you everybody will be walking like this because you will be loaded loaded with blessings in jesus name so i'm not asking if you go to church not asking if you call yourself a christian what i'm asking is this have you been born again have you surrendered your life to jesus christ jesus christ has he made you a new creation on the inside is knocking at your door tonight you're going to give him your life he's going to become your master he's going to become your lord he will bless you again [Music] [Applause] oh my god wow praise the lord i gotta be honest with you it's hard to leave a place like that but i'm hoping i bring just a little bit of that back here and it rubs off on you in jesus name if you have your bibles how many of you are ready to hear the word of god tonight turn with me to the book of revelation chapter 12. revelation chapter 12 and we're going to read verse 11 together when you've got it say amen i see jerry and kelsey hill here jordan morris it's great to see you guys jerry hill is the wife of the late great evangelist steve hill who made an impact on so many of our lives we honor you jerry we love you and for those of the rest of you that i know who i'm not recognizing please forgive me every time i look at the crowd i see a new face that i know and so i could i could literally sit here all night just recognizing people but of course that's impossible but i love you all very very much and thank you for being here tonight revelation chapter 12 verse 11 and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they love not their lives unto the death you know there's a poem written by sir francis drake in 1577 it says this disturb us lord when we're too pleased with ourselves when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore disturb us lord when with the abundance of things we possess we've lost our thirst for the waters of life having fallen in love with life we have ceased to dream of eternity and in our efforts to build a new earth we've allowed our vision of a new heaven to dim disturb us lord you know somebody said the job of a pastor is to comfort the disturbed but the job of an evangelist is to disturb the comfortable and so i'm just going to go ahead and give you fair warning tonight i'm going to do my best to disturb you and actually you might be surprised to hear me say this but even for me this is going to be a little bit heavy tonight but you know michael's so wise he he knows he knows me well enough by now so he puts me on the first night so that he's got four days to fix whatever i mess up and so i'm just gonna go for it tonight okay and i'm gonna lay it all out there and we're gonna see what happens some of you may hate me after this i i've i've preached things much much milder than what i'm about to say to you and i've had people get very angry with me about it you know what at the end of the day i don't really care i'm not here to i'm not here to make you happy i'm not here to impress you i'm not here to be the best preacher you've ever heard the person that gave you the most most warm fuzzies that's not my job my job is to deliver what i believe the holy spirit is is telling me to do so that's what we're gonna do and go ahead and tuck those toes under the seat because i'm coming around come on let's pray lord in jesus name i just pray that you would speak to us tonight holy spirit we need you we need your conviction we need your comfort lord we need you to teach us and to lead us into all truth tonight lord i pray for myself that you would give me grace to say and to represent you in the way that you want to be represented lord i pray that you would cover all of my faults and that in jesus name you would bring us nearer to you and set our hearts on fire in the mighty name of jesus and everybody said amen i'm gonna put a picture up here and i want you just to tell me if this picture is familiar to you anybody know this picture some of you know this is a young man by the name of john allen chow and i've been fascinated to see how much how much attention this story has gotten over the last few weeks even secular media is talking about it cnn the washington post new york post the new york times and many many others are talking about it and you've probably seen something about it on social media if you're on facebook or twitter things have been all over the place but there's a lot of confusion around this story just a few weeks ago actually december 17th and if you're watching this online years from now this is 2018. this young man john allen chow just 26 years old gave his life to preach the gospel to people that had never heard it he was trying to reach one of the most remote and unreached tribes in the world in the north sentinelese islands it's a an island in the the indian ocean of a very remote place and there's a small group of people on this island this the statistics range from 40 to 500 they're not really sure because these people have kept themselves basically separated from the rest of the world forever they've never really had any meaningful contact with the outside world and whenever people try to make contact with them they're they're very aggressive they probably have some very superstitious tribal beliefs they don't want foreigners coming in and some tragedies have happened in 2006 there was a fisherman that was killed when they got too close to the shore of that north sentinelese island when the tsunami happened in 2004 the helicopters were flying over the island surveying damage and these people not knowing probably what the helicopters were began shooting arrows at the helicopters and throwing spears and so the government of india realizing that it was potentially a dangerous situation they set up a no-go zone around the island for five nautical miles and they made it illegal for anyone to try to go to the island or or to make contact with these people but john chow since he was 18 years old heard the call of god in his life to go to this island and to bring them the gospel now i've known about this island actually for several years it's quite well known to missionologists because it's one of the last places on earth that we know of where there are people that have never been exposed to the outside world but john heard from the lord he had that bird in his heart to take the gospel to people that had never heard before and since he was 18 every step that he took in life was to prepare him for that moment when he would go to take the gospel to the north sentinelese he volunteered to work with underprivileged youth both in tulsa and in south africa he worked as a missionary in northern northern iraq among the syrian children who were refugees and also the kurds he went to oru he graduated from there with a degree in health and exercise science he studied emergency medicine he studied linguistics and cultural anthropology he went to a very special ministry training school where they taught him how to do the kind of thing that he was wanting to do he was exercising and eating right so that he'd be physically prepared for the journey he was reading a hundred books a year trying to learn everything that he could learn so that he would be fit for that mission before he went he had 13 different immunizations and even quarantined himself for several weeks so that when he went to the island he wouldn't carry with him any infectious diseases to hurt the people he did everything that he knew to do to reach these people he had no desire to colonize them he wasn't trying to bring western culture or american culture to the island his desire was to go and to build trust among the natives to live with them for many years if necessary to learn their language to translate the bible into their language and all for the pointed end of bringing them to a saving knowledge of jesus christ contrary to what many of the newspapers are reporting right now john chow did not have a desire to go to the island alone i've read newspapers that say his desire was that he would do it by himself like he had some sort of he was trying to be a hero they've said that he had some sort of a savior messiah complex none of that is true in fact he asked many of his friends to go with him well we interviewed a young lady who's a very close friend of his and she asked to remain anonymous but she told us a lot of things about john's life and she said that after the news of his death began to circulate she received many phone calls and texts from people that said that john asked them to go with him but all of them were too scared and all of them refused his tenacity was remarkable despite the barriers and restrictions despite the fact that it was illegal despite the fact that it was incredibly difficult to go to this island it was very very dangerous and he was all by himself still he found a way he hired some fishermen who used wooden boats with motors they took him by night about half a mile away from the shoreline they were afraid to go any closer at that point john got into a canoe that they had brought with them and he paddled himself the rest of the way john's mother gave the washington post a copy of john's handwritten diary they used they transcribed some of it and they published it i would highly recommend that you go online you can see this handwritten diary it's all there for you to read for yourself let me read some of this from the article in the washington post says he arrived in the adamand's on october 16th he paid fishermen to take him by boat at night to the island on november 14th evading the lights of patrols on the way when the sun broke child drew near to the tribe the women began and cheering chattering sorry glueing and chattering he wrote and he was faced by men armed with bows and arrows my name is john i love you and jesus loves you he said before retreating the second day he kicked to the island and tried to offer the tribe small gifts fish scissors cord and safety pins a man with a white crown possibly made of flowers shouted at him he responded by singing worship songs and hymns and the tribe fell silent a juvenile fired an arrow at him piercing his waterproof bible chow fled on foot through the mangroves lord is this island satan's last stronghold where none have heard or even have the chance to hear your name he wrote by the third day he became convinced that he was going to die watching the sunset and it's beautiful crying a bit wondering if it will be the last sunset i see he wrote he asked the fisherman to drop him on the beach they returned the next day and saw the tribesmen jagging chow's body this close personal friend of john's that we interviewed said that during the 10 years of his life that she knew him it was well known to his friends and family and everybody around john that jesus was everything to him she described him as selfless loving courageous intelligent quirky and kind she said that he was there for her in rough times and that he was a good listener she said she never saw him angry once she said everything he did was tailored to walking out the call of god on his life and she said he was the only millennial he that she ever met who asked her if she was truly sold out for jesus i've been grieved as i've read the way that the media is talking about the story of john chow this amazing man of god they call him crazy they call him naive but what has grieved me more is the way that i've seen christians responding to this the new york times quoted one guy i won't embarrass him by giving out his name here but he's apparently a youth pastor in arkansas he met john chow in linguistic school this is what he said he said john was caught up in a dangerous set of ideologies that helped to drive him to do something so unwise he should have known better god help us this guy is teaching some teenage somebody's teenagers out there another gentleman who i won't embarrass by naming him said this guy is by the way the dean at wheaton bible college graduate school he said according to charisma news this guy said that child's approach is on the naive end of the missions spectrum thank you mr know-it-all professor sitting on in your ivory tower looking on from your armchair what's even worse is what you find on social media anytime there's a post about john chow's story you'll see dozens and dozens of comments from people that identify themselves as christians who accuse john and criticize him for being foolish for being insensitive to other cultures for trying to proselytize for not respecting traditional beliefs for trying to colonize and all kinds of other things i wish we had a hundred million john chows i wish god would raise up a generation of john childs i wish god would pour out of the spirit of sacrifice and missions and martyrdom on a whole new generation because that's what it's going to take to win this world for jesus you know my generation had cassie bernal former generations had nate saint but i believe that john xiao is this next generation's martyr figure may he inspire a whole generation to lay down their lives for jesus no matter what the cost when i read these comments from christians i wonder what is happening to us have we forgotten about a gospel that calls for sacrifice and the willingness to lay down our very lives have we forgotten that there's a price to follow jesus and to impact the world have we bought into a gospel that says it's all about me it's about my comfort it's about my prosperity have we bought into a gospel that says as long as someone isn't hurting anyone else just leave them alone it seems many times our gospel is more informed by pop culture than by the word of god have we forgotten that christianity was founded by a man who built it by pouring out his blood have we forgotten that the apostles through which our faith was delivered died gruesome bloody deaths to deliver the gospel that we hold dear to us and every one of them laid down their lives for that gospel have we forgotten that for the first 200 years of church history our fathers were burned at the stake they were sawn in half they were beaten hung crucified and burned and tortured for their faith have we forgotten that they were used as human torches in nero's garden have we forgotten that they were used to be fed to the lions in the roman coliseum have we forgotten that they were shot with arrows they were skinned alive when they went to foreign lands to preach the gospel have we forgotten that christianity has always spread through the conversion of pagan people imagine all of the heathen tribes since the time of jesus that had been converted because somebody dared to go and to bring the gospel to them knowing it could cost them their lives that's why you sit here today because of millions of john chows that did that for you for your cultures for your societies for your countries martyrdom was so common in the early church that one of the great church fathers tertullian famously said the blood of the martyr is the seed of the church have we forgotten that hebrews 11 35 through 38 says that they these heroes of the faith were tortured not accepting deliverance resurrection and others a trial of cruel mockings and scourgings gay moreover of bounds and imprisonment they were stone stoned they were sawn asunder they were tempted they were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth no matter what that youth pastor says in that bible college dean you might call john ciao foolish you might call him naive but hebrews says the world wasn't worthy of him notice listen to this it says in here in hebrews that they refused deliverance that means they could have been delivered if they wanted to but they said no we rather laid down our lives for this one that laid down his life for us what kind of extremism is this certainly extremism i've never seen in the american church listen to this excerpt from the foxes book of martyrs that gives us just a glimpse into the account of the martyr of ignatius another one of the great early church fathers it says having come to smyrna he wrote to the church in rome exhorting them not to use means for his deliverance from martyrdom lest they should deprive him of that which he most longed and hoped for now i begin to be a disciple he said i care for nothing of visible or invisible things so that i might might but win christ the fire in the cross like the companies of wild beasts that the breaking of bones and the tearing of limbs let the grinding of the whole body and all the malice of the devil come upon me be it so only may i win christ jesus and even when he was sentenced to be thrown to the beasts such as the burning desire he had to suffer that he spake when finally he heard the lions roaring he said i am the wheat of christ i'm going to be ground with the teeth of wild beasts that i might be found pure bread that was one of the fathers of your religion makes us wonder what happened and if you think this was just something that happened in ancient times when before christianity was sophisticated think again the la in the last decade more than a million christians were martyred more than a million christians were martyred 70 some million people have died for the gospel since the early church times and more than half of those died this century today hundreds of people are killed every month for the gospel over 100 are kidnapped every month almost 200 are raped or worse an average of 66 churches are attacked every month 160 on average are imprisoned without trial for their faith that's happening right now today newspapers in nigeria where i just came from yesterday have headlines like these herdsmen of boko haram killed 1750 christians in the first six months of 2018. that's right now not ancient history i have a book here it's called i am n i want to read you a little excerpt of this it explains to you what this is on my shirt by the way it says when militants from the self-proclaimed islamic state of iraq and syria isis moved into northern iraq they began identifying christian-owned property families would find the arabic letter noon painted on their homes and churches this single letter conveyed the powerful accusation that the occupants were nazarenes people who followed jesus of nazareth rather than islam to be labeled n in a community dominated by muslim extremists is to undergo an immediate identity and life change with this mark comes the ultimatum if you convert to islam or pay the tax you can keep your material possessions and remain in this community if not leave or you will die any person who takes a stand for jesus in occupied iraq any person who chooses to be an end pays a high cost without warning some christians are dragged from their homes and businesses by our militants and they're never seen again pastors who share the message of jesus in their communities are beheaded in front of their families children who will not renounce jesus are shot teenagers may be taken from their homes and families and forced into the service of isis or beaten mutilated and left for dead other atrocities are so so horrific we will not describe them here since 2003 such persecution has forced more than a million iraqi christians who refuse to renounce jesus and the bible to flee many survivors live in refugee camps trusting god daily for their food shelter and safety because they have no money no work options and no other place to go even more challenging is the reality that their situation is not temporary their life circumstances on this earth are unlikely to improve ever yet they're courageous steadfast commitment to god in the face of persecution provides jesus followers all over the world with a powerful picture of what being an is all about they willingly sacrifice everything they have in this world to fulfill god's calling you to serve him like the heroes of the faith whose stories we read in the bible and the only record of church history they are living out paul's words in philippians 1 21 for me to live is christ for me to die is gain in some parts of the world to be a christian doesn't mean that you go to church once a week doesn't mean that you pay a few dollars and come to a conference and sing lovely songs it means that you risk literally everything in your life your comfort your home your familyhood your family your livelihood and even in many cases your life you know i just came from a crusade you saw the picture there in our crusades this is something that hits home for me it's very close because i know people that have died for the gospel personally we have had in our crusades people that came to the platform and testified and declared in front of that crowd that they had given their lives to jesus before they left the field they were killed right there on the crusade field you see in some places of the world to say i belong to jesus is not a small thing it literally means that everything in their lives is forfeit there was another young lady that came to one of our crusades she was from another religion she gave her life to jesus and she got a shirt that we give out in africa by the thousands it says i belong to jesus she wore that shirt home and her live-in boyfriend was not amused he was not a christian and he was very angry to see his girlfriend became so he stabbed her to death when they found her her mutilated body covered in blood she was still wearing that shirt i belong to jesus see some people pay in blood to make that statement and this is the way it is all over the world there's another guy who's become a dear friend of ours i didn't know his son but years and years ago his son got saved in one of the crusades he was a muslim and he went home he lived with his father and his friends came they heard that he had become a christian he testified on the platform they came to the house they pounded on the door they pulled him out of the house and they began to beat him and they say they said to him say allah akbar say allah is great and every time they told him to say allah is great he said jesus is lord and every time he said jesus is lord they kicked him they said say allah akbar he said jesus is lord they kicked him again they kicked him to death while his father watched this is this is what it's like all over the world to be a christian but in america it seems like we're more concerned about which kardashian got a nose job more too busy watching desperate housewives or whatever's popular on television nowadays and instead of instead of embracing the suffering of the cross we call it a dangerous ideology we reject anything that doesn't look like nominal christianity we think it's gone off the deep end i've got another picture of another guy to show you the man coming up on the screen his name is winfrey vent lindy's he's one of our african team members he leads our our truck ministry there he drives those trucks from country to country throughout africa and he's been doing this for more than 30 years he crossed he's crossed many many national borders in the war zones in flooded rivers malaria infested jungles he's put his life on the line over and over and over again continues to this day 12 times he was within a hair's breath of being killed he's been shipwrecked and pulled from the bottom of a crocodile-infested river he's been caught in the crossfire between rebel armies he's been captured by terrorists and robbers and child soldiers he's contracted malaria nearly two dozen times i was just reading rereading his book this last week while i was in africa in the midst of that crusade you see when you look at the crusade you see me or you see reinhard bonke on the platform and it looks so romantic what you don't realize is that there are people behind the scenes risking everything to make that happen everything is being put on the line i was reading his book and you know it's a hard book to read have you ever tried to read with tears in your eyes it's not easy when you read about the sacrifice that some have made for the gospel and it ought to make us feel god how can i give more of my life but it's not just something that happened long ago it's happening now just a few weeks ago we were in the congo and it took weenie and his team eight weeks driving to reach our crusade site eight weeks 12 hours a day no restaurants no hotels at night they sleep on top of the truck they eat food from the streets they eat bush meat if anybody's been to africa you know what i'm talking about these guys are these guys are like the special forces of the kingdom of heaven like the delta force they go into places that are absolutely impossible to go they they're all of them are incredibly skilled men winnie is a former special services soldier from the german army he knows his stuff he's an engineer he's a mathematician when these guys reach a road that's impossible impassable they build a bridge themselves out of the resources they can find they're incredible men so he he's driving with the team eight weeks to get to congo and they had to cross through a a zone where there is a civil war happening right now in africa and on the way there they had a military escort i saw the videos the tracer bullets flying inches away from the windshields as they drove through this just happened then after the crusade they had to turn around and drive eight weeks back through that same war zone and this time they weren't so fortunate this time the rebels got several of the people they shot one of the the soldiers that was leading their convoy they put bullet holes in in the truck you can see here those are two of the bullet holes in our truck and the soldier that got shot you know winnie i said he's a special forces guy he grabbed that guy he pulled him into the truck he treated his wounds he saved his life this just happened so that we could have that crusade that you saw on the screen this is what it takes all over the world some people might think this is extreme what i'm saying anybody think i'm extreme well you're you're a different kind of group a lot of people would think that this is extreme i'll tell you what i think it is i think it's called christianity watchman niece said by the time the average christian gets his temperature up to normal everyone thinks he has a fever leonard ravenhill said the church has been subnormal for so long that when it finally becomes normal everyone thinks it's abnormal you know years ago when i was a teenager russ benson who's been my best friend since we were teenagers rush just stand up so everybody can see this is an amazing guy right here he's the international director of our ministry today i've known him since i was 15 or 16 years old and we went to brownsville together and i remember when we were teenagers we went to this uh new age shop in in our town because we were just on fire for jesus we were the crazy the crazy kind of kids i mean i don't know if there's anybody like that here today but we would preach to everybody we went looking for witches we were looking for we were running away scared saying oh god protect us from the devil we were like bring on the devil so we went into this new age shop and we were trying to figure out how to how to make a scene you know we wanted to get the place stirred up and so i saw there was a piano there and i went over and i sat down i started playing the piano and worshipping i thought you know what what i'd always heard is that the devil hates worship and so i thought what i'll do is i'll start worshiping and then all the demons will go crazy the shop owner will manifest we'll cast out the devils and the place will get saved that's what my strategy was so i start playing the piano and worshiping to my surprise the owner of the shop comes over stands next to me and sings along and it it bothered me usually i like it when people worship with me but not her i stopped playing i said are you a christian she said no i'm not a christian she said but you're worshiping jesus she said oh we love jesus i said what do you mean you love jesus she said oh well he was a good man he was a he was a holy man he was an enlightened man we think he's wonderful we love him and i learned something very valuable that you need to know everybody likes jesus but here's the thing they like their jesus some people see him as a good man who taught some very good lessons some see him as a jewish rabbi some people see him as a guru or as some sort of an enlightened figure some see him as a hippie flower child everybody's got their idea of who jesus is and they love that idea of jesus but very few people love the real jesus the jesus that bled and died and poured out his life that said eat my flesh and drink my blood that said take up your cross and follow me not many people like that jesus you know with the ten commandments one of the commandments is in exodus 24 thou shalt not make unto the any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above or the earth beneath and that sounds so archaic to us because nobody does graven images in our culture anymore to worship we don't worship god's man out of stone or wood let me give you a more contemporary way of saying that verse you don't get to make god the way you want him to look the bible says that we were made in his image we don't get to make him in our image you don't get to have the hippie flower child jesus who's just okay with everything and everybody who winks at your compromise and who tolerates your complacency you don't get to have that jesus because that's not jesus that's a figment of your imagination that's a god an idol you built for yourself and you worship it as though it's him but if you want to see what jesus is open up this book you'll get a very different picture i'm going to read a few passages for you is that okay can i read the bible here michael as my friend dr brown used to always say forgive me for using so much scripture while preaching the word listen to this carefully i know you've heard what i'm about to read i know you've heard this before but listen to it this time this is jesus and believe me i'm not cherry-picking verses that back up my point this is the whole new testament most of the verses i'm reading appear in in more than one gospel the they appear over and over again because this is what jesus taught matthew 5 29 if your right eye offends you pluck it out and cast it away for it's profitable for you that one of your members should perish and that your whole body should not be cast into hell and if your right hand offends you cut it off and throw it away from you for it's profitable for you that one of your members should perish and not that your whole body should be cast into hell how do you like me now how do you like jesus now probably not what the lady in that new age shop had in mind matthew 10 34-39 think not that i've come to send peace on earth i came not to send peace but a sword you know i remember when i during the brownsville revival days there was um you know all the big news networks that came and they did documentaries and and they did specials on the revival i'm sure you remember all those jerry and i there was one i don't remember which network it was but they interviewed the family of a lady that had got of a girl that had gotten saved in the revival she got really radical and it caused tension in the family because the parents were not charismatics and this girl had been filled with the holy spirit she was just on fire a blazing torture and it caused a big stir in the family and so the network was interviewing the parents and and the mother i remember said we know that this revival is not of god and they said how do you know and they she said because god would never cause disagreement in a family you'd be surprised how popular that idea is let's hear what jesus says about that for i've come to set a man at variance against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me and he that findeth his life will lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake will find it [Applause] matthew 16 that jesus said to his disciples how many times did he say this we still don't get it if any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me for whoever will save his life will lose it and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it for what is a man profited if he gained the whole world and lose his soul this is what john chow understood you might see him as a loser but heaven sees the wasted life spent on our own indulgence and our own pleasures that's the loser not someone who lays it down for the for the greatest prize matthew 21 44 listen to what jesus said whoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken but upon whomsoever it will fall it will grind him to powder this is the gospel you can be broken or you will be crushed there is no other way it's an ultimatum fall on the stone and be broken or refuse the stone falls on you and you'll be crushed that's the gospel luke 14 33 so whosoever he be of you that does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple salt is good but if it's lost its savor wherewith will it be seasoned it's not fit for the land or even for the dung hell but men cast it out he that have ears to hear let it hear let them hear some of you don't realize how radical this is and there's a reason jesus got sent to the cross he didn't get sent to the cross for peace and peace and love he got sent to the cross for stuff like this he said to them verily verily i say unto you there is no man that has left his house or parents a brethren or wife or children for the kingdom of god's sake who will not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come life everlasting john 6 35 and jesus said to them verily i say unto you except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you he's saying this to religious jews who aren't allowed to touch blood much less drink it he says it again who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood have eternal life and i'll raise him up on the last day if you're not offended let me say it again for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed and for good measure he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and i in him as the living father sent me and i live by the father so he that eateth me shall live by me he wasn't trying to blend in wasn't trying to gain friends john 12 verily i say unto you except the corn of wheat fall to the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bring it will bring forth much fruit he that loves his life will lose it he that hates his life in this world will keep it unto life eternal if any man serve me let him follow me and where i am there shall my servant be if any man serve me him will my father honor i'm going to return to that text that i started with you may wonder why i started with at 11 revelation 12 11 says they overcame him that is the devil by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death a lot of people think that this passage means that we overcome the devil by sharing the testimony of how we got saved in church on sunday morning and of course it's good to share the testimony of how you got saved but that's not what this verse is talking about in the in the church world we often use the word testimony to mean my personal story or or the story of something good that happened to me but the word testimony in this verse is the greek word martira or martyria and it means evidence given judicially a report a testimony a record or a witness and and it can be used like like in this scenario where there is a person standing before a court because of their confession of christ and if they deny him they can walk free if they cling to his name they'll die for that witness that's a testimony and it's interesting you may have even noticed that the word testimony that's translated in the greek as martiria sounds very similar to the english word martyr right that's because that's where the word comes from that a martyr is a witness they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the witness of their testimony and that's why it follows with that next verse and they loved not their lives unto the death they weren't living for this world they found something greater something worth living for and something worth dying for my friend can i tell you if you don't have something worth dying for then it's not worth living for either but if you claim to have something worth dying for why aren't you living for it don't tell me you would die for jesus if you won't live for him right now some of you think you could face the gallows you think you could face the state you think you could face the lions but you can't face the pornography on your computer you can't face the lethargy and the compromise and the darkness in your own heart don't tell me you die for him if you can't live for him you know when i heard the story of john chow it immediately reminded me of another story that many of you probably the older ones will know i remember reading a book when i was a teenager called through gates of splendor you know this how many of you have either read that or you know what i'm talking about that story if you don't know what it is you need to you need to look into it it's one of the classic christian books the the story was about the men jim elliot pete fleming ed mccauley nate saint and roger eugenerin who tried to reach a tribe in the jungles of eastern ecuador called the alka tribe or the wadani very similar to what john ciao did they were an unreached group that had never really had contact with the outside world and these men had a burden to take the gospel to them and so they prepared in every way that they could to reach this tribe that had no contact so they did lots of things they gave gifts to the to the locals they tried to win them over and their first encounters worked very well but one day when their airplane landed on the beach there and they got out they were they were greeted by a very angry looking raiding party and these men from the tribe speared every one of those five men to death right there on the beach what's interesting about the story is that they actually had weapons in the car powerful weapons they could have defended themselves very easily i mean spears are no no match for automatic rifles but they didn't defend themselves every one of them stood there and allowed themselves to be killed why because they weren't there to colonize they were there to share the love of jesus years later some of the wives and children of those same men went back even though their husbands and fathers died they went back to that same tribe and this time instead of killing them the tribe received them and they went and they lived there among those locals for many years they learned the language they led them all the entire village eventually ended up coming to christ it was an amazing story and to this day the alca indian tribe is a christian tribe their culture is not gone but jesus is there they're saved and i'll never forget the story that i that i heard told by this the son of nate saint his name is steve he said that after years of living with these natives that and they learned the language finally they they were able to communicate with the very men that killed their husbands and fathers and and he said he sat down with the men and he asked them about that day you know what they told him they said the day that they killed the men they said them right when they died the moment that they died they heard and saw something remarkable they looked up into the trees and they could see what they described as foreigners they were singing figures clothed in white robes in the trees and they said the singing continued throughout the rest of the night and it was then that they knew that they had done something wrong that whole tribe came to jesus to this day christian trod many of you will know that famous quote by jim elliott who said he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose but nate saying another one of those men said something just as powerful but much less known he wrote this in one of his journal entries he said missionaries constantly face expendability and people who do not know the lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries they forget that they too are spending their lives but when their lives have been spent and the bubble is burst they forget that they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years that they have wasted some may say isn't it too great a price to pay when missionaries consider themselves their lives before god they consider themselves expendable and in our personal lives as christians isn't the same thing true isn't the small isn't the price small in the light of god's infinite love he says that to us as though we know what he's talking about but how many of us live like that it's become popular in western christianity for churches for ministers to all to offer a very watered-down toothless humanistic version of the gospel that basically says this is about you this is about your happiness humanism says the chief end of all being is the happiness of man man is the measure of all things and preachers don't want to offend people by asking for too much they don't want to demand too much upon their lives they want to make it as easy and comfortable for people as possible they want people to be able to come and to get saved without any of the pressure of having to take up a cross and follow jesus and it's no wonder that we've ended up with churches that are full of people that aren't really converted because they signed up for a church social club they didn't know they were entering into something that demanded their lives they've never laid down anything they surely never take it up across and what's worse is that i think many of the people that would have responded to that didn't because they were offered something that didn't look appealing to anybody why would you want to get involved in a christianity that's so cheap that it doesn't ask anything of you i think we've got the completely wrong approach you know i talked about those christians in the early church that died in the roman coliseum you know what would happen when a christian would stand there on the floor of that coliseum and they would be torn to pieces by the lions as they stood in a circle and sang hymns without resisting without cursing without fighting they laid down their lives you know what happened people all over the coliseum would stand up and say i want to be one of those christians if they have something that's that valuable that they willingly lay down their lives for it i want it and i believe there's a whole generation that has been waiting for something worth dying for worth living for worth giving themselves for we're taking across for and they would follow jesus stand with me all over this place i have more to say but i'm going to stop there because here's the thing i think there are people in this room right now you've been waiting to get have the opportunity to sign up with something that demanded your lives and i believe that god is calling to many of your hearts many of you didn't even know what it was that you were feeling inside but you know that he's calling you to lay your life down not just to be a christianette that goes to church and listens to sermonettes but somebody who lays it all down for the sake of the gospel if that's you right here at the beginning of jesus conference look there's a lot of amazing things that are going to happen throughout this week but i believe that here at the beginning this very first day that god is asking for somebody a man a woman a boy a girl who will say i'm willing to lay it all down if that's you just get out of your seat and come here right now we're going to pray together there's a call going out to a whole generation will you follow me will you take up your cross will you lay down your life will you give up that watered-down toothless version of christianity that you've been sold will you give it all for the sake of the prize he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose can the worship team come back jesus is calling come on when you're down here don't don't wait for me to tell you what to say begin to pray right now begin to open your mouth and lift your voice god is looking for some radical men some radical women who aren't intimidated who aren't afraid who aren't trying to preserve their own lives their own reputations forget it lay it down at the altar take up your cross come on tell him what's in your heart jesus jesus jesus jesus lord take our lives for your gospel come on let him hear you lord our lives for the gospel our lives for your kingdom jesus jesus jesus will you answer that call will you take that cross and follow that by life or by death our lives for the gospel jesus i believe god's calling john chow's here tonight somebody who's going to call you to go to foreign lands he's going to call you to get on airplanes and go across the sea to do something that the world calls foolish and crazy and naive but you've already died you've already laid down your life they can't take it from you you gave it already you see a man like john chow doesn't give his life when he gets to the mission field he gives it at an altar like this this is where he lays his life down god's calling you to lay it down when you leave this place tonight you leave as a dead man a dead woman who lives for one thing and that is for the glory of god for the kingdom of god you have no other agenda you have no other identity everything is found in him [Music] some of you are being called into other areas maybe it's entertainment maybe it's politics maybe it's ministry in america or in the western world but wherever it is god is calling you to a radical surrender of your life not something that's going to be man pleasing not something that's going to make you rich and famous not something that's going to make you look good and make you popular some of you some of you feel like you have a call to ministry but what you don't realize is it's your own ego you want the applause of men in the eyes of man and you want to be recognized and followed jesus says if you want to follow me you got to lay that down that's got to be laid down at the altar because jesus said if you want to follow me you've got to be wearing a cross not around your neck but on your back jesus there's no room for compromise there's no room for half-heartedness there's no room for halfway in and halfway out for one foot in and one foot out there's no room there's no room for a compromised half-hearted christianity jesus said i'd rather you be hot or cold if you're lukewarm i'll spit you out of my mouth be zealous therefore he says and repent lord find a radical a radical company of jesus lovers here tonight lord find find us broken on that rock lord find us broken on that rock lord we lay our lives down lord we don't try to preserve ourselves we don't try to protect ourselves we're not living for ourselves we're living for you lord [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose some of you god's putting the nation in your heart right now how many of you feel like god is giving you a call right now into ministry let me see your hands look at this [Music] [Music] i want to pray for you those of you with your hands up just keep your hand up those of you that feel that calling to ministry lord fill them with your holy ghost rock them this week lord put a cross on their back or let that sacrifice laid upon the altar be consumed by the fire of your spirit here this week lord send out a blazing company of men and women into the nations lord to bring in that great harvest of the last days do it lord i pray let it begin right here our lives for the gospel there are some of you here in the front you've never before made a decision to follow jesus just put your hands down everywhere you've never made a decision yet to follow jesus you've been around the church world you've seen it hurt a lot of things but you never felt anything that convinced you that it was real but tonight god's calling you and he's giving you something that's worth laying your life down for it's worth throwing everything you've got into it if that's you lift your hand i'm gonna pray for you wherever you are everybody else put your hands down just the ones that are giving their lives to jesus right now come on wave your hand over your head i want to see you don't be shy there's a sister on the floor here [Music] okay keep your hand up keep your hand up those of you that lifted your hands keep them up i want somebody around them right now to pray with them right now pray somebody around them take them by the hand to begin to pray for them right now this is a moment of salvation for you thank you jesus lord fill him with your holy ghost fill him with your holy ghost never the same in jesus name [Music] thank you jesus [Music] me come on we're going to sing a song of surrender together just lift your hands for some of you this moment right here would define the rest of your life i remember the moment that i said yes to jesus i didn't know it was coming i didn't know that he sent me to the nations i didn't know that i'd seen millions of people come to jesus i didn't know that i'd see people raised from the dead i didn't know about the miracles all i knew was that jesus called me and i said yes this is your moment to say yes not with part of your heart not half-heartedly but everything whatever you want lord we say yes to you we surrender all [Music] and take this life and breathe this heart that is and take this love and breathe and you can every part of my this heart that is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] it's [Music] but you deserve the core you're so worthy of it all [Music] [Music] you deserve the glory [Music] are all things [Music] tonight [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] you'll be [Music] foreign [Music] you were [Music] for from [Music] [Music] is you deserved [Music] you deserve the glory [Music] oh [Music] be lifted i am my love be lifted in my life be lifted be lifted [Music] [Music] cried out in my life [Music] it's all i see is [Music] [Music] my i am [Music] my in my life jesus make a person yeah [Music] sing it again in my life [Music] feel it [Music] if [Music] [Music] dave papavisi here lives in iraq he's from chicago and he's carrying and living out what daniel preached tonight which i believe is the voice of god and he's making no apologies about the name of jesus he's not some undercover group trying to water the thing down he's screaming loud and clear in the middle east that we love jesus we're jesus people and i'm gonna ask dave to pray for those of you who responded you know i when when isis went through iraq i talked to dave before when you came to to rest for a while and you went back i said bro you know you could die if you go back and dave said i wrote that check a long time ago and this is a wonderful thing it's a beautiful love for jesus that we love not our lives even unto death so bro i want you to release what the lord's given you in jesus name for those of you that have come up to respond by way of encouragement from the holy scriptures after paul shares what the gospel is in the gospel of in his letter to the romans in chapter 12 he says this then is the way that we respond to the gospel this is what worship looks like we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice our very lives and that that produces a sweet and a beautiful incense that brings pleasure to the heart of god so lord we ask you tonight to release a beautiful incense in this house release the incense of worship from our very bodies from our lives lord from our hearts our affections our minds the things that we release value beautiful incense tonight lord from the lives of these precious saints that have responded to the call of the gospel [Music] to lay down their lives for the sake of christ lord we entrust ourselves to you lord without any fear and without any reservation as our loving father whose kind loving intention toward us is always good and in inviting us to lay down our lives for the sake of your name and your gospel you are good there's nothing more good that you can do than invite us to follow you down the very same road that you walked so lord tonight we ask you to release the same spirit that possessed jesus every moment of his life when he walked this earth oh lord baptize us afresh lord that we would lay down our lives in the spirit of martyrdom whether it would physically require our actual lives or whether we live every moment of our lives for your glory and your namesake lord release the beauty and the incense of worship through sacrifice bless everyone lord and every single response tonight see you in the holy ghost and the power of the spirit of holiness tonight we pray in jesus name yeah come on just give him praise he's beautiful lord we love you

Channel: Jesus Image

Views: 79,232

Rating: 4.9195614 out of 5

Keywords: Todd White, Bill Johnson, Bethel Music, Holy Spirit, Benny Hinn, Jesus, UPPERROOM, Bethel, Jesus18, Michael Koulianos, Image, Eric Gilmour, Upper Room, Jesus is king, Daniel Kolenda, Jessica Koulianos, kanye west, Reinhard Bonnke

Id: ks_M9QOTweU

Length: 171min 31sec (10291 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 12 2018