Dr. John Goetsch: Believest Thou This?

well thank you pastor well I hope you did your homework from this morning pastor gave you an assignment how many of you did it you read the little sheet inside the bulletin today that was your homework and some of you didn't get to it I can tell so now I have to tell jokes to get you focused if you would have done your homework I wouldn't have to tell any stories or jokes you'd just be ready to go I'm not a very good joke teller kind of reminds me of the fella that was visiting the prison and he was taking a tour and the warden was taking him through the prison and they were going up and down through the cells blocked there and all of a sudden one of the prisoners inside his cell he yelled out sixteen and everybody in the whole prison began to just laugh just hilariously laugh he thought that was a little strange they walked a few more steps and somebody yelled out forty-four and again the place burst in laughter walked a few more steps another guy yelled from his cell a hundred and five man the place went wild just laughter well this was about all he could take he said to the warned he said what's going on all these numbers and people laugh the warden said well there's only one joke book in the prison library and they've already and they've all memorized it by page number so they don't bother to tell the jokes they just called the page though everyone laughs he said Wow he said you mind if I try warden said go ahead so he cleared his throat and he said fourteen complete silence nothing kinda looked at the warden e-signature try again twenty-seven nothing not a sound silence the guy said the word what's going on they all the numbers and everybody laughs I IL the numbers and nobody laughs the warden said well some people can tell a joke and some people can so do your homework okay John chapter 11 John chapter 11 tonight let's get to it I'm going to read two verses right in the heart of this story and we'll fill in the story as we go but a marvelous story in the Word of God in John chapter 11 now call your attention to verses 25 and 26 jesus said unto her I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believe us now this believest thou this God specializes in bringing dead people to life years ago I was preaching in a church enviro cloth Wisconsin the Bethlehem Baptist Church Sunday morning and they had all the adult classes meet in the auditorium I taught a lesson the pastor after we were finished with that Sunday school hour he said come on let's just sit down over here on the platform and and we went and sat down just had a few minutes before the morning service would begin and we were sitting there and folks who are arriving and coming in and the back doors of that auditorium they swung both ways they swung either way you could push and go out or you could push and come in you could pull and go out you could pull and come in they they just kind of went back and forth and people were coming through pretty soon those doors kind of swung open both at the same time and a very small kind of a frail man in a wheelchair entered you could tell that his body was primarily paralyzed but he was able to control that wheelchair with his finger with a little button there of some kind or a wire and he was he was moving that wheelchair into the auditorium and parking it near the back row the pastor leaned into me and he said did you see that gentleman in the wheelchair I said yes sir he said his name is Gordy he said he's not a Christian he's a psychiatrist he has a doctorate in psychology I thought great he neither liked me we had the song service I began to preach and my supposition was true he didn't like me you could see his body tensing up and that wheelchair his face would turn bright red at times and you could see that he was not liking the message when I finished service was over I went to the back and out into the lobby and I chose a place to stand there in front of a large plate glass window that looked out to the front yard of the church and on to the Main Street I stood there and people began to come by and shake hands and give a greeting of course and all of a sudden those those doors they flung open and here came Gordy in his wheelchair and he was in high gear and he was making a beeline right for me and I am kind of looking around at that window thinking am I going to go through this boy he came about 5th gear right up to me and he hit that little wire and that wheelchair just kind of came to a screeching stop and it rocked forward and then back and he took his narrow little finger and he pointed up at me and he said mr. Goetsch he said you are the worst preacher I've ever heard in my life he hit that wire and that wheelchair spun around and he went out of that church and I thought god bless you too three years almost to the date I returned for a second revival at Bethlem Baptist Church I taught the Sunday School hour i sat on the platform between services and sure enough as if history was repeating itself those bag doors flung open and that same guy in that same wheelchair came flying in and I thought to myself what are the chances of a guy coming to church twice in his life and I happen to be the only guy that he's ever heard me preach well I tried not to look at it I knew he wouldn't like my message anymore and he liked the first one and so I I tried not to look at him I tried not to focus on him at all during the service I preached and when I finished I went to the lobby and I stood in front of that same plate-glass window and sure enough a few minutes later those doors were hit and that wheelchair came at high speed right toward me again and I thought here we go again he got up to me and he hit that wire and that thing rocked forward and then back and he said mr. Goetz do you remember me how do you forget people like that I said yes sir I do he said the last time I heard you preach I told you you were the worst preacher I've ever heard in my life he said you know you haven't changed much but he said I sure have he said I'd been saved I never forgave him for that comment Gordy and I became wonderful friends went back and preached there many times after always enjoyed the fellowship with Gordy Robson he gave up his practice of psychiatry moved to Pasco Washington became the director of the Bible Institute there the Riverview Baptist Church literally wrote all of the Bible curriculum for that Institute by blowing air through a straw onto a keyboard until God took him home God specializes in bringing the dead to life have we stopped believing in the resurrection I am the resurrection and the life who do you know tonight that is dead in trespasses and sin a neighbor a co-worker a loved one a friend who do you know tonight that needs a resurrection I wonder Christian is there a miracle that you've given up on tonight is there something a situation that perhaps you have declared to be hopeless God says I am the resurrection believe us now this before us tonight we have a story of death but because of Christ's intervention it is a story about a resurrection and I want you to notice six chapters in this story about a resurrection tonight the chapter opens with a sad dilemma you know life is never smooth is it now life never goes exactly like we intend for it to go there are unexplained events that take place in our life unplanned circumstances no doubt this week all of us will have something that will come into our path that we did not anticipate something that we weren't quite expecting something that may sort of take us off track if we're not careful a sort of a curveball we might call it or something out of left field life never goes exactly as planned as this chapter opens we see a sad dilemma we see a degenerating sickness in verse number one now a certain man was sick named Lazarus of Bethany the town of Mary and her sister Martha here was a degenerate in sickness no doubt some remedies had been tried no doubt some medicine had been administered perhaps they had even gone to see a doctor we don't know all of the details but it would appear to me that as kind of a last resort they let Jesus know about this sickness of Lazarus they would not not have bothered the Lord I don't believe unless all other things had been exhausted and there was no human solution the sickness was greater than the resources or the knowledge that they had their only hope was to turn to the Lord it reminds me of the woman who had an issue of blood in the Bible she had been sick for 12 years the Bible said she had spent all that she had on many physicians but was nothing better but grad that rather grew worse and finally she thought if I could just touch the hem of the garment of Jesus Christ I would be whole no doubt here in the sad dilemma was a degenerating sickness but aren't you glad in the midst of trials in the midst of difficulty there is a devoted Savior in verse number two it was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick therefore his sister sent unto him saying Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick aren't you thankful that our Savior loves us aren't you thankful that we have a God who cares God is love we can cast all our care upon him for he careth for you the Bible tells us that even the very hairs of our head are all numbered we have a devoted Savior now we would think in this story as we get to this point that Jesus once he receives the word that somebody that he cares a great deal about someone that he loves he will leave wherever he is he will leave whatever he is doing and he will come and provide the healing that is sought after all Jesus could heal the sick the Mary and Martha they knew that Jesus had the power to touch a man's eyes and he would be able to see once again they knew that he could heal the death he knew that he could make they knew that he could make the lame walk again and no doubt the reason they sent word to Jesus was because they knew that he had the power to heal but we see a delayed solution in verse number four when Jesus heard that he said this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus when he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was a delayed solution God doesn't always answer your prayers the way you pray them if he did he wouldn't be God you would God's timing is sometimes not our timing you'll find that sometimes gods no to your prayers turns out later to be a greater yes because God's ways are not our ways God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts we won't always understand the delay to our requests we won't always understand why the Lord abides still in the same place where he was two days oh the psalmist in psalm 13 and verse 1 he said how long wilt thou forget me O Lord forever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me in Psalm 69 and verse 3 I am weary of my crying my throat is dried mine eyes fail for I wait for the Lord in psalm 119 in verse 82 mine eyes fail for thy words saying when wilt thou comfort me so often in the dilemmas of life so often in the trials and difficulties of life we wonder Lord where are you I thought you loved me I thought you cared about me a sad dilemma and this sad dilemma leads to a sudden death in this delay we see a worsening progression in verse number seven then after that saith he to his disciples let us go into Judea again his disciples sent him master the Jews of late sought to stone thee ghost I'll thither again jesus answered are there not twelve hours in the day if any man walk in the day he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world but if a man walk in the night he stumbleth because there's no light in him these things said he and after that he saith unto them our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of sleep then said his disciples lord if he sleep he shall do well howbeit Jesus spake of his death but they thought that he'd spoken of taking of rest in sleep a worsening progression Jesus says our friend Lazarus is sleeping and I need to go down and wake him up and the disciples are confused they're thinking lord if he if he's sick and he's able to rest that's a good thing and and we don't need to go down there the last time we were there they tried to kill you are we gonna risk our lives just to wake command out of sleep but Jesus said no Lazarus is dead a worsening progression problems left to themselves never solve themselves we think our spiritual condition it'll somehow get better somehow somehow this this lack of revival this apathy this disobedience that I'm in right now you know it'll somehow work itself out but the problems never solve themselves here is a worsening progression that leads to a woeful pronouncement in verse 14 then said Jesus son of them plainly Lazarus is dead many a person who's never trusted Christ as Savior thinks it will never come to hell we think our sin is a lot of fun we think I don't want to I don't want to surrender right now to God I don't want to get saved I don't want to become a Christian look at what I'm gonna miss look at all this fun I'm going to lose out on and man thinks I'll just live my life as I please and it won't come to death sometimes as a Christian we get pretty comfortable in our backslidden conditions we get comfortable at our apathy our indifference our disobedience we get comfortable in our sin and we think it will never come to something terrible it will never come to something tragic it will never come to some some horrible result but the Bible says he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption a sudden death well end of the story right Lazarus is dead last chapter no sense reading on in this end of story but notice the story doesn't end but we see a sinful doubt Jesus in the midst of this terrible circumstance gives a call to faith look at verse number 16 or verse number 15 he says I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent he may believe nevertheless let us go unto him Jesus declares this man is dead and Jesus says I'm glad we weren't there because I want to call you to faith so often all we see in our human eyes is death all we see is the dilemma all we see is the destruction we see through our unbelief I don't know how many times I've heard someone say to their pastor pastor I just don't see how we're going to do this pastor I just don't see how I could ever live the Christian life I just don't see how I could ever get this stubborn habit in my life pastor I just don't see how the church could have revival in this particular time period pastor I don't see how we could support any more missionaries pastor I don't see how we can ever build that building pastor I just don't see you know what faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen see when we look at a situation like this end of story into the chapter the book might as well close Lazarus is dead but we see here that God calls us to faith without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him are we walking by faith tonight or are we walking by sight he the doubt as is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin here's a call to faith but notice a caving to fatalism verse 16 then said Thomas which is called didymus unto his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with him the reason miracles are not happening today is because we don't believe they can happen today here's Thomas one of the disciples Jesus says Lazarus is dead and I'm glad we weren't there because of your unbelief yet Thomas says well let's go he's determined to go we got to go down there probably get killed a kv-2 fatalism amazing verse in Matthew 13 verse 58 it says of Jesus he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief I wonder what the Lord wanted to do in that place I wonder what miracle he wanted to perform but he moved on because of their unbelief I wonder what miracle God would like to do in a life that's present in Lancaster Baptist Church tonight but I wonder if God will say let's move on there's no faith wouldn't it be something if God would look at my life or yours tonight and say man I'd like to bless that guy I'd like to use that person I'd like to bring something great through their life but no let's let's move on there's no faith what a sad thing for God to look at Lancaster Baptist Church tonight and say I'd like to do something wonderful there they haven't seen the the hem of the garment they haven't seen even close to what I want to do there I want to do a great miracle there I want to bring a revival in that place I want to spread that revival from Lancaster to the entire world but now let's let's move on there's no faith take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief God is calling us to faith tonight and while we look at some situations and we declare them impossible we declare them impossible we say God can't do that but God specializes in the impossible let's preach in a couple of weeks ago in Custer South Dakota into the church on Sunday morning walked a lady that most people thought would never darken those doors her husband had been coming for some ten years had invited his wife to come many many times he had witnessed to her he had talked to her about the Lord invited her to services but she was deeply religious and very committed to her beliefs that did not include Jesus Christ as Savior but into that service she came people are somewhat surprised people were shocked here she was oh she had been on their prayer list they had talked about her at church they had talked with her husband and said hey we're praying for your wife and so on she sat very quietly and listened very intently when I gave the invitation that morning she lifted her hand that she was not saved she did not come forward as she left that morning I was standing at the door and I shook her hand and I said I'm praying for you she said well thank you I said I noticed you left at your hand she said I did I said would you like to be saved Rhoda she said I would a lady was standing right across from me faithful lady in the church I caught her eye I motioned for her to come a few moments later rodent was wonderfully saved we were shocked we were surprised why because of our unbelief I wonder tonight what miracle does God want to do this week in your life in the life of someone you know may we not cave to fatalism and we see along with this there's a subtle disappointment if we read on beginning in verse 17 we see an ignored request in verse 17 then when Jesus came he found that he had lain in the grave for days already now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem about 15 furlongs off and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother then Martha as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming went and met him but Mary sat still in the house then said Martha to Jesus Lord if thou it's been here my brother had not died as Martha comes out to meet the Lord Jesus Christ as he arrives now some four days later she goes out she was she comes before him and she said Lord where were you we asked you to come we told you the problem we were sure that you would respond Lord where were you if you had come when we called this wouldn't have happened we wouldn't be in this situation she begins to vent her frustration to this ignored request in fact drop your eyes down to verse 32 then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying at him lord if thou it's been here my brother had not died exact same words Martha goes out meets the Lord says Lord if you had been here my brother had not died she goes back to the house now Mary comes out Martha stays at the house Mary comes down and says the exact same words you know that tells me that had been the topic of conversation the last four nights around the dinner table where was he I thought he loved us I thought he cared I thought we were friends I I thought it would come it was an ignored request and it led to an insincere repetition if you look at verse 24 Martha said unto him I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day Jesus say that her I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believe us now this she sent him he Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God which had come into the world some vain repetition some insincere repetition we know what the right answers are we know what the Bible says about God we know what it says about faith we have the right answers I'm talking to people tonight in this room you believe that the miracles recorded in the Bible actually happened you believe that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land you know why you believe that because it's in here it's recorded and you've accepted the Word of God is true and so you believe in the miracle of God rolling back that water and allowing those Israelites to pass through that red sea on dry land you believe that you believe that Jesus Christ took fire wolves and two small fishes and fed five thousand men plus the women and the children and when everybody was full they gathered up 12 baskets the leftovers you believe that you believe that actually happened because it's in here you believe that Jesus Christ walked on water it's in here you believe the miracles of this book and you have heard people in your connection groups and you have heard people perhaps in a Wednesday night prayer meeting you've heard people stand up and say God answered my prayers God provided a job for me God healed me of cancer God restored a relationship in my life you believe in modern day present day miracles today but for some reason God didn't answer your prayer yet you believe you prayed you have faith you trusted and God said no and you're sitting in this room tonight disappointed in God there was a man in the Bible named jilba the Bible says joel was a great man in fact it tells us he was the greatest man in the east this man Jobe was a great man materially it lists his wealth in job chapter 1 tells us how many camels he had and how many sheep he had and that was basically God's Way in the Bible of showing us a man's bank account Jobe was a rich man materially he was a man that had a wonderful family a wife and ten children seven sons and three daughters but Joel was not just a great man in the material sense of the human sense Joel was a great man spiritually the Bible says that Joel feared the Lord greatly the Bible says that Joel feared the Lord and a shoe Deva lated evil in fact joel was such a godly man that every morning Joel would get up early and offer sacrifices according to the number of his children that would be ten sacrifices that job offered every morning just in case his children sinned that day and it says thus did Joel continually cold was a great man but one day about that fast God told the rug out from underneath job everything falls apart Joel gets a message that all of his possessions have been stolen his camels his sheep are gone the servants who were tending them have been killed or taken captive he no more than gets the message of his material wealth being gone that now word comes that his ten children were in a house together and a tornado a whirlwind comes through and takes the house and all of his children are suddenly in one storm dead we read a few chapters more in Jobe has these horrible boil over the entire body he is an intense pain and suffering his friends come and they try to encourage him but instead they accuse him of being backslidden away from God and they said Joel you better repent or you're gonna die and finally his wife comes and finally declares Joel just curse God and die disappointment disappointment disappointment disappointment but a job 13 and verse 15 job said though he slay me yet will I trust in him I will maintain my own ways before the Lord you know what we do when a little disappointment comes into our life when God doesn't quite answer our prayers the way we prayed them when God doesn't come through at the time we expected when God doesn't meet our needs just exactly the way we thought were the first ones out the door of the church I don't know how many people I hear say to their pastor pastor I'd I'd be there tonight but we're just kind of going through it right now you know when you're kind of just going through it right now it's a good time to be in church but see what we do when things don't go right as we put read in this book and we slack in our prayer life and we stop going soul-winning and we stop giving in the offering and we stop singing in the choir and we stop our ways before the Lord but not job-job said though he slay me yeah well I maintain my ways before the Lord it was a subtle disappointment and I'm afraid tonight in this building there are people who are subtly disappointed all you'd never say it out loud you never say anything bad about God but in your heart there's a bitterness because God has not done what you thought he should do for you with this subtle disappointment comes a selfish dishonor in verse number 33 we see a very unpleasant atmosphere developing in verse 33 when Jesus therefore saw her Mary weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her he groaned in the spirit and was troubled and said where have you laid him they said unto Him Lord come and see Jesus wept then said the Jews behold how he loved him and some of them said could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that even this man should not have died jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave it was a cave a stone lay upon it can you feel the awkwardness here can you feel the anxiousness here the fear here the apathy here this is a very unpleasant atmosphere as Jesus arrives there's tension in the air and on this unpleasant atmosphere comes an unthinkable announcement in verse 39 jesus said take ye away the stone what it would be like us walk into a cemetery tonight and someone saying dig up the grave open the casket an unthinkable announcement which brought an unsettling alarm to Martha in verse 39 jesus said take away the stone Martha the sister of him that was dead saved him Lord by this time he stinketh for he's been dead for days they did not have the ability to preserve the body after death in Jesus day that we would know today today when a person dies we have the technology and ability to preserve the body after death for a time perhaps to delay a funeral so loved ones and friends can gather sometimes in the case of an autopsy to determine the cause of death the body is preserved for quite some time or burial but not in New Testament times when someone died in this time they buried them quickly usually the same day if it was in the evening perhaps the next morning early but now he is lain in this grave for four days the corruption process has begun the flashes is decaying it's rotting and Martha is unsettled please don't do this is God asking you tonight to do something that's unsettling he's telling some of you to get saved he's telling some of you to surrender he's telling some two separate he's telling others to serve and our reaction often times is one of unsettling and do you know why it's unpleasant and you know why it's unthinkable and you know why it's unsettling because we are worried about us can I remind you that Jesus that said this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God can I remind you that Jesus said I'm the resurrection of the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live may I remind you Jesus knowing full well that when he said Lazarus our friend is sleeping he knew well that he was already dead but he said I go that I may awake him out of sleep all the promises of God had been given and yet they were all going right over Martha's head because Martha was only concerned about Martha and so often in our lives there's a selfish dishonor we loved the praise of men more than the praise of God how can you believe was SEACON or one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only and all my friend this can happen to the best in the early part of the book of Acts the Apostles thought that the gospel was only to be preached to the Jews and so they were faithfully delivering the Gospel message the salvation message to the Jews but in Acts chapter 10 Peter receives a vision remember this this this this this curtain comes down this this cloth comes down and there's all these animals here in this sheet and and Peter says those are clean and those are unclean and God says no no don't call anything unclean and through that vision God is telling Peter the gospel is not just for the Jews it's for the Gentiles as well aren't you glad about that and so now Peter begins to preach to the Gentiles he goes down and he begins to spread the gospel among the Gentiles and the Gentiles are getting saved they're getting saved by faith the same way the Jews got saved in the same way we've got to get saved it's through faith in Jesus Christ and one night after service Peter is fellowshiping with these Gentiles he's rejoicing in their testimony of salvation he's he's rejoicing with them but all of a sudden into the room walked some Jews and Peter quickly he gets up from the table and he runs over and he sits down with the Jews because he feared them of the circumcision in Galatians 2 in verse 11 Paul says when Peter was come to Antioch I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed Paul said Peter of all people you knew you knew the gospel was for the Gentiles God showed it to you first you knew that and yet Peter you got concerned about Peter how many times do we miss a miracle in our life because we're more concerned about Peter are more concerned about Martha then we are the glory of God but this unpleasantness and this unthinkable 'no sand this unsettling leads to an unfailing assurance look at verse number 40 Jesus say than her said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou short of see the glory of God God's power is greater than our perceptions God's omnipotence is greater than our abstinence Lord God those made the heavens and the earth by that great power and by that stretch that Armand there is nothing too hard for the goddess Vulcan one see twice and I heard this the power belongeth unto God with God nothing shall be impossible when we finally see in the last chapter a simple decision look at verse 41 then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid a simple decision somebody obeyed somebody responded someone said yes Jesus comes to this grave he says take away the stone why he's not talking to me I don't know anything about moving stones I never took a class in that and make a mess of it well I I think we'd better get a permit you can't just be moving stuff I mean there's little little animals that are about to go extinct under that stone we got to get a permit the government's really careful about this stuff well I think we should form a committee aren't you glad somebody obeyed a bit Lazarus was happy it's a simple decision to obey an obstacle is moved then they moved the stone what stone keeps you or me from a miracle tonight is this it distorted out is that the stone of fear is that the stone of your own pride is that the stone of a friend is that the stone of family what is it that keeps us from God's miracles tonight take ye away the stone and when there's an obstacle removed we see an omnipotent miracle in verse 41 Jesus lifted up his eyes and said father I thank thee that thou has heard me and I knew that thou hearest me always but because of the people which stand by I said it that they may believe that thou sent me and when he thus had spoken he cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin jesus saith unto them loose him and let him go when we move the stones that's what we can do and when we do what we can do then God does what we cannot do he raises the tenth the resurrection I started going to church nine months before I was born and though we were raised on a farm we never miss church Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night revival meetings missionary conference youth activities if there was something going on at the church dad would rearrange all the priorities on that farm so that we could be at the house of God never missed the service I missed one Sunday morning with chickenpox when I was in fifth grade the only one I can recall ever missing we went to church my dad was chairman of the Deacons served as a deacon for 36 years a mother was a Sunday school teacher my sister was the church pianist when I was 15 years old I was president of the youth group at the Calvary Baptist Church in Watertown Wisconsin but I was lost oh I acted like a Christian I knew how a Christian was supposed to behave I knew the things I was supposed to do in the things I wasn't supposed to do I had read the script I memorized the lines I knew how to act but inside was lost at 15 years of age I went to camp summer camp Bible Camp the first night the preacher dr. Eric Folsom st. Petersburg Florida stood up and preached a message on Hell and I sat right over here in the auditorium that night to knew that as a Baptist I was going to hell as president the youth group I was going to hell as a deacons kid I was going to the place he was talking about but when dr. Folsom extended the invitation that night I said I can't I can't go up there I can't do that I can't admit now that I'm not a Christian what will people think all people say what would my pastor think all my friends think I hung on I thought if I could get out of that service I'd never have to think about it again I guess I hadn't studied very well the omnipresence of God boys seemed like God followed me back to my cabin he followed me the next day everywhere I went the Holy Spirit was saying you need to be saved I kept putting it off and putting it off and Tuesday night I went to the service and I decided to sit over here I thought maybe the Holy Spirit speaking isn't as strong on this side it is on this side set over here I don't remember what dr. Folsom preaches that night I couldn't tell you even a verse that he quoted I I don't remember anything all I remember is the Holy Spirit preaching to me saying you're lost you need to be saved I thought but I can't I don't want to move that stone I don't want to take that risk I don't want to lose friends I don't want to lose face i lord I can't hung on we normally had an activity after the services at night at camp but that night it was raining and my pastor got up he was the one who's running the camp and he said tonight we got some rain and he said so we have a we have a film we want to show you that's a movie they used film projectors I don't remember anything about the movie other than the title the movie was entitled there's a new song in my heart I I don't remember anything about it I suppose it had something to do with music all I could remember sitting in that darkened room thinking I'm going to hell i'm going to hell god will save me but i'm going to hell because I won't move a stone of pride and I sat there and I thought Lord if this movie had just end I'll get saved if you'll just let my pastor get up there and ask us to come forward I'll go well the movie ended and my pastor got up and he said now young people we've already had an invitation tonight so just go back to your cabin we'll see in the morning I thought how do you like that now I'm ready to be Satan they won't let me I watched those young people go out that back door and I thought to myself if I go out with him I'll go straight to hell one day I turned to a man standing behind me name was Don foffy I didn't know him from Adam just an adult to me but he turned out to be a pastor I said sir could you help me I'm sure he saw conviction all over my face I'm sure he saw it on the back of my head all night he said I'd be glad to help you down the aisle we came into a little room that night August the 1st 1967 at 10:30 at night I bowed my head and I got a resurrection I was dead and God gave me life God wants to give you that life tonight do you believe in a resurrection believe us now this Christian what are you up against what have you declared to be dead what have you declared to be impossible what have you said god it's too late this isn't gonna happen what are you fearing what are you fretting to believe in a resurrection nothing is hopeless nothing is impossible I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believe us now this may we as God's people arise to faith tonight I believe I believe in the resurrection

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 1,897

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell, John 11, Dr. John Goetsch, week, of, awakening, revival

Id: 3aWV1bZ04iQ

Length: 54min 37sec (3277 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 28 2019