Fierce Times Are Coming by Derek Prince

so tonight we're going to deal with the theme fierce times are coming I didn't hear you say praise the Lord but I'm sure that was your response now this is taken from second Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 5 which I will read 2nd Timothy 3:1 through 5 but know this that in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy unloving unforgiving slanderous without self-control brutal despises of good traitors headstrong hortie lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying its power and from such people turn away so Paul says there in this translation in the last days perilous times will come now the Greek word that's translated perilous only occurs in one other place in the New Testament which is in Matthew chapter 8 verse 28 which describes an encounter of Jesus with two demonized men and I just read that one verse Matthew 8:28 when he had come to the other side to the country of the greatest scenes they made him to demonized men coming out of the tombs exceedingly fear so that no one could pass that way that's the other place where that word is used it's translated fears and I feel that fierce much better represents what God is saying than perilous the NIV translates it terrible so we are headed for times which will be fear and terrible and we better face up to the fact because it's a remarkable fact that in that passage Paul starts by saying to Timothy know this I don't recall any other passage in the writing as a poll where he laid so much emphasis on the fact that what he was saying was absolutely certain you can be absolutely sure of this Timothy in the last days fierce times will come why did he put that emphasis there I suppose it may have been because he knew something of human nature and people really don't want to listen to that kind of message they'd rather not hear that fierce times are coming they've got to be able to think of some theology or interpretation of prophecy which doesn't make room for that but the truth of the matter is fierce times are coming in fact I think they already here in a certain measure about 1991 1991 Ruth and I took a quote sabbatical which didn't work out the way we thought it would but the Lord did not only speak to us he dealt with us and he saved my life from a very serious heart condition but as we entered that sabbatical the Lord told us that judgment was coming and it would come in three phases preliminary judgments intermediate judgments and final judgments I believe we've entered the preliminary judgments that there's only the beginning I wondered if you believe that God is going to judge men and women hi I hear very little in the contemporary church about God's judgment it's interesting when Paul preached to a completely Gentile audience in the city of Athens he declared about Jesus that God has appointed him to be the judge of all men you didn't mention Savior all he said was judge and if you don't believe in judgment you don't need to be saved because say being saved is being saved from judgment now I want to analyze briefly what Paul says here about these fierce stuns I want to point out three aspects of this truth and I hope as I do that you will have to say to yourself that's absolutely true that's the correct analysis what I hear on television though over the radio what I read in the newspapers it's all mixed up what I'm hearing through Paul is the plain unvarnished truth and it's a correct analysis Paul and analyzes why the fierce times are coming he says three things which I will bring out in in order first of all the basic cause of the fierce times is the degeneration of human character let me say that again the basic cause the root problem is the degeneration of human character don't blame it on the government don't blame it on a certain nationality or a certain religious group all the weakly people that go doing all sorts of bad things that's not the root cause the root cause is that degeneration of human character and Paul this 80 horrible moral and ethical blemishes which will conspicuously mark people as we come to the close of this age I'm not going to read through the the game but I suggest you could take time by yourself to read through that list and check off every one that applies to people all around us and maybe to some of us right now today I believe you'll find that an amazingly accurate list the second thing I want to point out is their principle corruption is irreversible let me say that again corruption is irreversible when a thing when corruption moves into something takes over something works in something it's irreversible it cannot be turned back take some simple example like the peach or a pear you have this beautiful peach with its its water Bakunin well somebody who tell me somebody somebody comes from Georgia what that's not the way that it'll do anything you know that nice one's a soft it's almost like Velvets you just want to stroke it and it's this beautiful shades of pink gold there it is it's a wonderful let's just leave it that way for a week come back and it's yellow and shrivel and unattractive why because there was corruption in it and once corruption comes into a thing it's irreversible there's no way to turn it back you can postpone it you can slow it down you take that beautiful peach put it in a refrigerator and at the end of a week you can take it out looking more or less as good as it looked at first but you haven't changed the corruption that's in it sooner or later that corruption is going to run its course now I think some kinds of moral [Music] religions are like the refrigerator you can put a person in the refrigerator which has probably got more than one point of a comparison and they're come out you know a week later a year 10 years later looking pretty good but they haven't changed inwardly they're still corrupt and you can postpone it but you cannot prevent it sooner or later that corruption is going to take over and finish off the peach the pear or the person so please see this because it's so important corruption moral corruption ethical corruption is irreversible once it's in a situation or a person or a community it cannot be reversed and God has no program to reverse the corruption of sin he's not going to do something to improve it or make it last longer or turn it back God's program is a new creation and he will not settle for anything else lots of human programs are trying to one but I say put the peach in the refrigerator or put it somewhere where it won't look so bad or find some chemical process which will slow up the corruption but none of them are acceptable to go and God is not interested in Christianizing our civilization he's not interested in Christianizing our culture I believe we can bring forth an alternate culture which is Christian but we cannot change and improve to the degree that God requires the corruption that's in our present culture society and total condition so God says I'm not going to mess around them it can't be saved all I'm going to do is produce something totally new and there are three scriptures about this second Corinthians 5:17 which says I could quote it but I'll read it second Corinthians 5:17 therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation that's God's solution not improving not patching up but producing a totally new creation and every one of you who are in Christ here tonight God has made and is seeking to perfect as a new creation if you are here a just a nice kind of person who does nobody any harm maybe go to church and Sunday but has never had a life-transforming experience with Jesus Christ you are not in God's plan you are lost you have to change you have to be changed by God if anyone is in Christ Jesus and it doesn't say he is it's very dramatic and a new creation it should come with an exclamation mark at the end that's what God is going to do don't offer him your good works your religious efforts your niceness one of my granddaughters got involved and I have so many you would know who it was got involved with an unsaved man and her father who's my son-in-law was speaking to her about that and I praise God she was rescued she made the right decision but she said to her father this he's such a good man and my son-in-law replied hell is full of good people have you gossip that hell is full of nice good people but they've never been changed corruption has never been dealt with then in second Peter 3 and verse 13 God goes a little further Peter is speaking about God's program and he says nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells so God is not only going to make new people he's going to make a new heaven and a new earth in which there will be no sin sin is going to be totally banished forever from the presence of God and if you have sin in your life and you do not repent you are going to be totally banished forever from the presence of God you cannot make sin acceptable to go on in any way whatever so God is producing a new creation he's going to produce a new heaven and a new earth and then the most amazing statement of all is in Revelation 21 where John records this then he's he who sat on the throne said behold I make all things new nothing of the old is going to persist it's all going to be done the women and then he says to John right so these words are true and faithful it seems to me that John couldn't really believe that that we're going to happen so the Lord sent him put it down it's all true it's all going to happen I'm going to make all things new there's going to be no corruption left no taint of sin no space not even any guilty conscience that's God's program as high above the earth as heaven that's high above our program as heaven is above Earth so that's the second principle corruption is irreversible it's irreversible in our society it's irreversible in this nation it's in irreversible in the world it's hard to accept that fact but when you can see it and see the alternative your heart will sing for joy now the third principle is the most important of all that need to repeat the first to the basic cause of these terrible times these fierce times is the degeneration of human character and any solution that bypasses that will fail any solution that doesn't deal with human character is doomed to failure second principle corruption is irreversible physical corruption moral corruption ethical corruption it's irreversible so God is not going to mess around try to patch it up improve it he's going to do away with it and produce a new creation now this is the most important one especially for us who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ the root of the corruption the root of the moral decline is stated in the first word love of self that's the root under which all these other evil characteristics develop selfishness self-centeredness caring for me putting myself first and Paul says people can have a form of godliness but they're denying its power what is the power of godliness a power that deals with self love because so many of you are whatever you want to call us Pentecostals charismatics whatever you would be inclined to say well the power is the badson of the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues miracles healings it's not thank God for all those things but the only power that's relevant here is the power that can change a selfish self-centered person into a loving outgoing care and if we don't have that we may have all the other things the tongues the miracles the prophecies but we are denying the power of godliness I want you to ponder on that for a moment because it's so very out of line with much of what's being said and taught in the contemporary church there is a hunger for power I believe it's a natural soulish hunger psychologists some psychologists have said that the desire for power is the strongest single motivation in humanity and it's not evil but let's desert let's desire the power that works let's design the power that changes in ions particularly that changes selfish people into unselfish people is there selfishness in the body of Christ tonight certainly there is we don't demonstrate the power of godliness that word Dolan is the sense that I don't believe Paul would ever have used it except of professing Christians he's not talking about the world he's talking about people who claim to be Christians followers of Jesus Christ that have never dealt with self-love in their honor you know what I feel like playing right now God deliver me from selfishness I grew up an only child no brothers or sisters I was in a family my family were fairly prosperous not extremely wealthy but they always had enough and everything in my childhood in background caused me to focus on myself and it's taken me many many years as a Christian to realize how easily I can become self-centered so my prayer tonight is God deliver me from selfishness would you like to pray that you think it over for a moment would you like to pray that from your heart let's all say it together shall we God deliver me from selfish say the game God deliver me from selfishness once more God deliver me from selfishness amen maybe so long now I just want to do something to acquaint us to confront us with the situation in our nation today the result of self-love the result of backslidden church that doesn't present the truth and demonstrating because this nation of the United States has had a greater share of God's blessing than any other nation I know of in history no other nation has been blessed spiritually materially culturally in every way the United States of America most of you were born American citizens I'm different I chose to become one and I consider it a privilege I obtained my citizenship in 1930 I have to tell you the nation that I became a citizen of in 1930 not 1970 1970 is not the nation that I'm living in today my my wife Ruth was one of few people born in South Dakota she's a real Native American only in a certain sense and she says to me when we returned from our overseas trips she said this isn't the country that I grew up in it's changed completely I'd have to say the same about the country that I grew up in Britain people who don't his memory doesn't go down to World War two there's no way to tell them what it was like it wasn't perfect there was a lot of mistakes and wrong thing but it was totally different in Britain before World War two a woman could walk alone day or night in any city in Britain without any fear now let me give you a few statistics and not great on statistics but these are taken from a report in the US News and World Report which is basically a reliable source and it's speaking about it's headed in one day in America in one day in America and it's speaking particularly about what happens to young people because remember the young people of the future in this nation this is these are the details in one day 2753 teenagers get pregnant 1099 teenagers have an abortion 367 teenagers miscarry 1287 teenagers give birth 666 babies born to women who have had inadequate prenatal care 72 babies die before 1 month of life that's everyday a hundred and ten babies die before their first birthday every day nine children die from gunshot wounds five teenagers commit suicide 600 teenagers get gonorrhea or syphilis 988 children are abused 3288 children run away from home forty nine thousand three hundred and twenty-two children are in public juvenile correctional facilities 2269 illegitimate children are born and two thousand nine hundred and eighty nine kids see their parents divorced everyday in America do we care about them does our faith have anything to say the band or is that just something that belongs in another world I thank God that's a little phrase that comes from time to time in the Bible it says but God thank God there is a but God the situation is appalling but gone has not gone out of business in his mercy he has not washed his hands of America on the other Western nations and said I'll give you over to yourselves you've gone too far you've trespassed too much on my grace he has not said that there's a scripture in Isaiah that I like very much Isaiah 59 and verse 19 so second half of the bus when the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against me so when the enemy has done his worst that's when God is willing to intervene through his holy spirit and lift up a standard now I just want to do something to acquaint us to confront us with the situation in our nation today the result of self-love the result of backslidden church that doesn't present the truth and demonstrate it because this nation of the United States has had a greater share of God's blessing than any other nation I know of in history no other nation has been blessed spiritually materially culturally in every way the United States of America most of you were born American citizens I'm different I chose to become one and I consider it a privilege I obtained my citizenship in 1970 I have to tell you the nation that I became a citizen of in 1970 is not the nation that I'm living in today my my wife Ruth was one of few people born in South Dakota she's a real Native American only in a certain sense and she says to me when we returned from our overseas trips she says this isn't the country that I grew up in it's changed completely I'd have to say the same about the country that I grew up in Britain people who don't lose memory doesn't go back to World War two there's no way to tell them what it was like it wasn't perfect there was a lot of mistakes and wrong thing but it was totally different in Britain before World War Two a woman could walk alone day or night in any city of Britain without any fear now let me give you a few statistics I'm not great on statistics but these are taken from a report in the US News and World Report which is basically a reliable source and it's speaking about it's headed in one day in America in one day in America and it's speaking particularly about what happens to young people because remember the young people of the future of this nation this is these are the details in one day two thousand seven hundred and fifty three teenagers get pregnant 1099 teenagers have an abortion three hundred and sixty seven teenagers miscarry 1287 teenagers give birth six hundred and sixty six babies are born to women who have had inadequate prenatal care seventy-two babies die before one month of life that's every day a hundred and ten babies die before their first birthday every day nine children die from gunshot wounds five teenagers commit suicide 600 teenagers get gonorrhea or syphilis 988 children are abused 3288 children run away from home forty-nine thousand three hundred and twenty two children are in public juvenile correctional facilities 2269 illegitimate children are born and two thousand nine hundred and eighty nine kids see their parents divorced everyday in America do we care about that does our faith have anything to say the band or is that just something that belongs in another world I thank God that a little praise that comes from time to time in the Bible it says about God thank God there is about gone the situation is appalling but gone has not gone out of business in His mercy he has not washed his hands of America on the other Western nations and said I'll give you over to yourselves you've gone too far you've trespassed too much on my grace he has not said that there's a scripture in Isaiah that I like very much Isaiah 59 and verse 19 the second half of the verse when the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against you so when the enemy has done his worst that's when God is willing to intervene through his holy spirit and lift up a standard now in warfare in biblical times every military group had a standard bearer who was a very important person and each group say in the Roman army had its own particular sign on its standard ah an eagle or a bear or a lion or whatever it might be and if a military company whatever it might be is being defeated scattered the commander will tell the standard bearer if possible to find some elevated piece of ground and lift up the standard and the soldiers are trained when they see the standard lifted up to regroup around that standard and take up the battle once again and I think that's what God wants to do he wants to lift up a standard by His Holy Spirit and when those who are really the soldiers of the Lord see it whether they're Baptists or Presbyterians or Catholics or even Pentecostals they will say that's my standard that's where I belong I'll take my stand there with the other people that get around that standard whoever they are I may not agree with all their theology but at theirs standard is that that's mine too I believe God isn't doing that he has begun to do it and he's going to continue out of his mercy out of his grace we have no claim upon him whatever but God and I tell you brothers and sisters wherever I see the standard that's where you can look for me even if I had some minor theological differences I want to be where the holy spirit is lifting up a standard and the name under standard is Jesus that's right where he is lifted up I'll gather with those that around that and I believe God has predicted and is in process of carrying out a promise of lifting up the standard by the Holy Spirit it's the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost after the Spirit had been poured out and the people that gathered he quoted a prophecy of Joel acts chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 and it shall come to pass in the last day said that the last days that's where we are that I will pour out on my spirit on all flesh that's an amazing statement doesn't he on the whole human race but it means on representatives of every section of the human race when I came to the United States and began the ministry know in the 1960s and early 1970s I was a pretty I had a pretty Pentecostal mindset I thought there were certain kinds of people that could be baptized in the spirit and others couldn't well I started my American Korea in Minneapolis and I met a Lutheran lady when I knew God didn't do anything for Lutheran's of course I was somewhat brainwash because my first wife had being a lutheran for years and had a running war with the Lutheran Church but I made this Lutheran lady and she said to me God filled my - I said God Hills your - I didn't know God filthy or loosely I said what did your dentist say she said my dentist said we don't use material well then a little later believe me I got involved with Catholic Charismatic I mean we all Pentecostal knew that you didn't I mean Karen Catholics were just out there's no hope of it but I met some I would have to say they were real Saints I think I was invited once an extraordinary way to a what do you call those things not a primary a monastery in Georgia somewhere I only went there once and I was invited to teach I'm delivering I mean Pentecostal wouldn't listen Catholics wanted to hear it all and at the end it was an abbey the abbot the top number one man came to me and he said I believe in her but I have a demon would you cast it out I thought myself that's a different way of thinking totally different later it was in Canton actually I conducted the deliverance service and Pentecostals were criticizing me god bless them and this Catholic priests came up to me said it's all in our liturgy and he showed me and I said that's it that's what I'm doing how did they discover so don't be too choosy about the people around the skin if that's their standard it's your standards my standard and if the Holy Spirit doesn't lift to stand it up it will not be lifted now I don't get around a lot and I spend very little time in America but I do have the impression that the Holy Spirit is lifting up the standard in Pensacola I've nothing to do with it nobody has hired me I'm not an advertising agent but I think I'd feel disposed to go and see what's happening in Pensacola what I like about what I hear is that first message is repentance but humans aren't repentance you get a mess you get all sorts of people getting in with all sorts of things but when the emphasis is on repentance I don't mind strange phenomena I've been I've had them all my life I'm not afraid that people quivering or shaking or lying on the floor or rolling or doing all sorts of things provided it's the Holy Spirit I didn't intend to say that nobody hired me to say that but maybe I said it for the sake of somebody here tonight wherever that standard is lifted up I want to be let's go on with this I'm going back to acts 2 it shall come to pass in the last days says God then I will pour out my spirit on all flesh you know he's pouring out his spirit on Muslims in quite an extensive way and all sorts of supernatural revelations dreams and visions I have to tell you I enjoy the supernatural maybe I'm very Connell but I like you know I think the Lord acts it and now this is what Peter said I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions your old men shall dream dreams and on my men servants and my maidservant I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy so that is the Holy Spirit lifting up a standard and notice the emphasis is not is on the young people your your sons your daughters your young men your made sense so bear in mind that's what we need how will we achieve it well we really can't tell god what to do he does surprising things but there is one key to seeing God work and that is prayer and more prayer and more prayer and I believe for most congregations in the United States today the number one priority is prayer I will have a friend who was a pastor and he was talking about getting people to do things so he said if I want my congregation to do something I preached it for six months and by the end of that time they think they voted at themselves so that's a word of suggestion to the pastors and leaders here if you want your people praying first of all start praying yourself and then preach it and preaching and preaching the situation in this nation is such that the most important meaning in any same congregation should be the premium have a prayer meeting on Sunday morning these are just wild ideas coming to me as I see see I have a picture in my mind which is so vivid to me years ago when we lived on Sunrise keehi we had a house with a swimming pool and one day one section of my family came over to share fellowship and the youngest son is my grandson was I think four years old at the time and running around the pool he fell in well somebody fished him out and he stood there in front of us dripping water and he said indignant do something somebody and I feel like saying that to the church do something somebody but do something do something don't just sit there don't just be good Sunday attendants the crisis is much more serious than that can do anything to help no in response to what I've been saying I want to ask this question I suppose we've got time I don't know how should we conduct ourselves how should we respond to this situation and I think my first recommendation is we'll surprise you but recognize that all these things that we've been speaking about confirmed the reliability description because they're all clearly predicted in Scripture so when they happen in a certain sense we should say well thank God the Bible is true if they didn't happen the Bible would be unreliable so you may not enjoy them I don't enjoy them but bear in mind they confirm the accuracy of Scripture secondly each one of us needs to deal personally with the root problem which is self-love that's right as I've said this is the demonstration of the power of godliness something that can change selfish self-centered people into unselfish loving sacrificing people and you and I need to experience that change see this is not some special version of Christianity it's just returning to the original version in Matthew 16 verse 24 and 25 jesus said to his disciples if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me to me the simplest definition of a Christian is someone who follows Jesus but there are two preconditions you cannot follow Jesus until you've done two things which are deny yourself pick up your cross you can try to follow Jesus but you can't do it he's ruled it down it's impossible what does it mean to deny yourself it's to deal with self-love self says I want I like I think help me pray for me heal me and you say shut up I'm not listening to you I'm listening to what Jesus has to say I'm listening to what the Holy Spirit has to say you know being in the ministry I get many pathetic people just had a letter the other day from people whose lines are in a total mess I mean everything's gone wrong financial physical relation and I think their God what can I do about that but I'll tell you that in most cases they're very self-centered it's me my problems my pain and I tell people sometimes listen stop focusing on the problem and focus on the Lord there's no solution why don't you focus on your problem so every one of us has got to do two things deny yourself take up our cross what is your cross well somebody gave this definition your cross is where God's will and your will cross you cannot follow Jesus doing your own wheel it's impossible revelation 12:11 has got a picture some glorious people it's a scripture that many of us often I could quote it but I'll read it revelation 12:11 and they overcame him that's the safe that's the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony but it does not stop there I've taught people many times in many places how to testify to what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus doesn't but that isn't all and they did not love their lives unto the death those are the only people that overcome Satan Satan is not afraid of our theology he's afraid of our commitment committed Christians caused him to tremble what does it mean to be committed deny yourself and take up your cross the cross is the place of execution I've been didn't tend to say this but I happen to be writing a teaching letter and it's so fresh in my mind years ago I mean if you can believe that people were alive when I was young fairly young in the nineteen fifties I used to preach in the central of London at a place called speakers corner Mara Lodge where anybody could go and say anything so how did you didn't attack the royal family that was the only boundary I'm I preached there three times a week for about eight years in the middle of that period I had a very vivid dream and in this dream I saw a man preaching like at speakers corner with a crowd around him and I thought what he's saying is good but when I looked at him closely I said to my son but I don't like the way he looks somehow his body is crooked and he seems to have a one-foot what they call this them clubfoot thank you what would I do without my congregation and well I thought that's a strange dream but I didn't bother about it well a week later and I had precisely the same dream so I said to myself God is trying to say something to me so I prayed I said gone now what about that man what he was saying was pretty good but I didn't like the way he looked who was he and you never guess what the Lord is saying you are the man and it caused me to do a whole lot of thinking and researching in the New Testament and about that season it was Easter time and then I was meditating on the crucifixion and I had this mental picture as I walked around of the hill of Calvary with three crosses but the middle the central cross was taller than the other two and I had a look at the converse Holy Spirit had little conversation with me and he said for whom was the middle cross made and then he said be careful before you answer so I thought it over and I said it was made for Barabbas but at the last moment Jesus took his place so the Holy Spirit said that I thought Jesus took your place and I said yes he did then the Holy Spirit said then you must be Barabbas and I had a revelation which I never argue about but I suddenly saw how totally corrupt my whole nature was there was nothing in me that was pure or good or merit in God's favor and I saw there was only one remedy execution I point a little price God's solution is execution and that's where you and I have to come the place of execution where we deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Jesus to the place of execution after that we can follow you say about brother Prince that's very radical it is but so is the New Testament it's a radical book Christianity is a radical religion and I don't believe we'll survive in the pressures that confront us now unless we are radical I want to offer two suggestions as to how we can face the situation first of all tribulation pressures some people to God it makes some hard and bitter and rebellious but it makes some open and responsive and there's a beautiful picture in Revelation chapter 7 verse nine John the Revelator is speaking he said after these I look these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations tribes peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes with palms palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb and then one of the elders said to John who are these and John said I don't know you'll have to tell me and in verse 14 the elder replied these are the ones who come but if the Greek says who are coming John actually saw them streaming more and more and more who are coming out of the Great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb there is cunning a great tribulation it isn't here yet but it's coming but one of the things that will happen in that tribulation is a huge multitude and no man can number will turn to the Lord furthermore if you'll accept my little prophetic Theory there people who will send them to the Lord will be 144,000 Israel believers in Messiah and God will send them out into all nations revelation 12:11 has got a picture of some glorious glorious people the scripture that many of us quote often I could quote it but I'll read it revelation 12:11 and they overcame him that's the safe that's the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony but it does not stop there I've taught people many times in many places how to testify to what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus does but that isn't all and they did not love their lives under the day those are the only people that overcome Satan Satan is not afraid of our theology he's afraid of our commitment committed Christians caused him to tremble what does it mean to be committed deny yourself and take up your cross the cross is the place of execution I didn't intend to say this but I happen to be writing a teaching letter and it's so fresh in my mind years ago I mean if you can believe that people were alive when I was young fairly young in the 1950s I used to preach in the center of London at a place called speakers corner Mara Lodge where anybody could go and say anything provided you didn't attack the royal family that was the only boundary I'm like rich there three times a week for about eight years in the middle of that period I had a very vivid dream and in this dream I saw a man preaching like at speakers corner with a crowd around him and I thought what he's saying is good but when I looked at him closely I said to my son but I don't like the way he looks somehow his body is crooked and he seems to have a one foot would they call this an clubfoot thank you what would I do without my congregation and then well I thought that's a strange dream but I didn't bother about it well a week later and I had precisely the same dream so I said to myself God is trying to say something to me so I prayed I said no no what about that man what he was saying was pretty good but I didn't like the way he looked who was he and you know guess what the Lord saying you are the man and it caused me to do a whole lot of thinking and researching in the New Testament and about that season it was Easter time and then I was meditating on the crucifixion and I had this mental picture as I walked around of the hill of Calvary the three crosses but the middle of the central cross was taller than the other two and I had a vote in the Congress Holy Spirit had little conversation with me and he said for whom was the middle cross made and then he said be careful before you answer so I thought it over and I said it was made for Barabbas but at the last moment Jesus took his place so the Holy Spirit said that I thought Jesus took your place and when I said yes he did then the Holy Spirit said then you must be Barabbas and I had a revelation which I never argue about but I suddenly saw how totally corrupt my whole nature was there was nothing Indian that was pure or good or merit in God's name and I saw there was only one remedy execution a coin deliver phrase God's solution is execution and that's where you and I have to come the place of execution where we deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Jesus with the place of execution after that we can follow you say about other prints that's very radical it is but so is the New Testament it's a radical book Christianity is a radical religion and I don't believe we'll survive in the pressures that confront us now unless we are radical I want to offer two suggestions as to how we can face the situation first of all tribulation pressures some people to God it makes some hard and bitter and rebellious but it makes some open and responsive and there's a beautiful picture in Revelation chapter 7 verse nine John the Revelator is speaking he says after these I look these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations tribes people some tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes with palms Tom branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb and then one of the elders said to John who are these and John said I don't know you'll have to tell me and in verse 14 the elder replied these are the ones who come but if the Greek says who are coming John actually saw them streaming more and more and more who are coming out of the Great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb there is coming a Great Tribulation it doesn't say yet but it's coming but one of the things that will happen in that generation is a huge multitude and no man can number will turn to the Lord furthermore if you'll accept my little prophetic theory they're people who will send them to the Lord will be 144,000 Israelite believers in Messiah and God will send them out into all nations and they will win countless millions of people to the Lord but the people will not come until the pressure of tribulation is on them so one purpose of God in sending tribulation is to turn people to himself and make them realize their desperate need Luke says in chapter 21 verse 26 that in the end men's hearts will be failing them for fear and for looking for the things that are coming on the earth that's when we need to be able to tell them the truth when they are desperate when their hearts are failing and the Hebrews 12 it says God is going to shake all things both heaven and earth but he says we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken at that time the unshakable kingdom will be demonstrated because it really the only thing that isn't shaken and many will turn and say I need that but let me ask you this question are you in the unshakable Kingdom on you're in the unshakable Kingdom that's what it's going to take Jesus said if you come after him you have to lose your life literally yourself are you willing to let self yo [Music] to lose your soul not necessarily to die but to say your self seeking ambitious really selfish so you're on the cross you have no more power over me it might be pitiful Jesus with the whole series of things that are going to happen mostly very unpleasant you could look at that for a moment he talks about the beginning of birth pangs the birth of God's kingdom he says in verse 9 they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you you will be hated by all nations that's part of what lies ahead there's 10 many will be offended many believers will betray one another hate one another there's 11 many false prophets will rise up and deceive many verse 12 because lawlessness will abound the love of many Christians will grow and he who endures to the end shall be saved now the natural response would be when Lord show me where to hide I want to get away I want to be in a secure place but the amazing thing is Jesus then goes on to say this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end shall come when in the midst of all that disasters when the pressures are greatest when the opposition is the strongest God's people are going to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to all the nations in all the world see it's going to take a different kind of person from what many about you many of us are used to thinking the end time is going to bring out a new kind of person not new in the sense that they've never been there as they've been there all through history but it's going to bring out a new surge of men and women and mainly young people who are totally sold out to Jesus have no other aim Wendy I was involved with a lot of the Jesus people in 1960 and 70 but afterwards I said to them the problem with you people is you've become too respectable years ago if you had to go to Montana you just get a car and drive off you wouldn't worry whether you had enough gas you wouldn't worry whether you've got enough money you just go now you've become respectable you're going to church and you're not nearly so useful to God as you could it be God is looking for phonetics of the right kind somebody defined a fanatic as somebody who loves Jesus more than you do then Matthew 5:16 we're coming near the end I have no idea how long I'd be probably longer than I should have been ninety five sixteen Jesus speaks to his disciples and says hey your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven so your light shines through your good works through the things you do not through the things you say all the sermons we preach but through the things we do and I want two three four one particular three four one particular type of good word in James 1:27 one of the most neglected verses in the New Testament James 1:27 Jamison's pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this to visit or care for orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world what is the first demonstration of pure religion it's the care for who orphans and widows how many contemporary Christians pay any attention whatever to that verse I've been reading recently in the prophets especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel and I have been impressed again again with God's concern for the Economist and when he lists the sins of his people he lists idolatry and adultery and not caring for the fun of us in other words in God's standard not caring for the fatherless is the same category as idolatry and adultery and when James put this verse in the New Testament he was simply carrying over the whole teaching of the Old Testament pure religion only found before God and the father is to care for the orphans and the widows and then keep himself unspotted from the world I just want to suggest to you that we need to do something Genesis give you a startling and fearful statistic it is estimated that by the year 2000 which is 103 years away there will be 10 million AIDS orphans in Africa whoa did you hear that 10 million AIDS orphans in Africa will not be the worst Asia ultimately will be worse No so what do we do just say that's too bad glad I wasn't in Africa well you don't have to go to Africa because there are needy children very close to you have you ever considered your responsibility to do something about fatherless children now I don't want to boast but I have to say between us Ruth and I have accepted responsibility about 12 fatherless children they are not family it's not always been easy when you adopt a child you adopt somebody else's problem because otherwise the child wouldn't need to be a doctor but I have to say so going on oh man oh god I'm so lame I am so man we did it we've had our disappointments we've had our struggles Rufus soaked a pillow with tears many times over her adopted Jewish son Paul but in the last four years after 20 years as a street alcoholic he's turned to God and he's four they deliver and when Ruth was burying her sorrows with me of a ball I've always said well but listen the last chapter hasn't been written and many of you you have deep problems somewhere with loved ones family members husbands wives who knows if you're sincerely and honestly seeking God in prayer remember the last chapter hasn't yet been written don't give up but give out I want to suggest to Christians in America that we need to be far more earnest about caring for the fatherless and has ever entered our religious heads up to this time I used to say if every Christian family in the United States would adopt one fatherless child think of the oceans of suffering that people would despair now I know today because of abortion it's not altogether easy any longer to adoption and although handicapped children or mixed-race children are probably available well they're still children you know there and gone still love are we going to do anything about all that are you going to do anything are you going to teach your children or your congregation to do something remember that's the first law of pure religion is to care for the fun of it it hasn't dropped out of the Bible and then dropped out of religious thinking but it has not dropped out of the Bible it's still there Dana says keep himself unspotted from the world it's funny how religious people myself included always find it easier to focus on the negative well Lord I will keep myself unspotted from the world I won't go to these movies and I won't read these magazines etc but what about the positive what are you doing this isn't the congregation to say it to but I say to people I thank you how many of you believe that children are a blessing according to the Bible amen all right now put your hand down then why do you have so few have you got this silly theory that God can only care for three or four children in a family that's really case one of my adopted daughters is married to a man who's a minister he had six children by his first wife and he has five by his second wife so they have 11 children they've never been very wealthy but they've never starved they've never lacked and out of their six sons five are in full-time Christian ministry it hasn't been easy but whoever told you that the Christian life would be easy some of us have been brainwashed by our culture everything's got to be quick easy and painless not in the Christian life either the terrible statistic I can't quoted I'm not good at reading statistics but it compared the amount of money that American people spend on pet foods with the amount that's given to foreign missions and I mean the pet foods were in the totally different level from the money given to foreign missions is that a picture of America's values I want to say I love pets I'm a dog lover if our life stopped and it did agree that I would own a dog but it wouldn't be fair because we move around so much but I beseech you please don't pour out on a pet the love that a child needs you hear me pets are extension of our ego and our ego in a way they you know they're damned when we want to play with them and they don't get too much in the way and you have to take them for a little exercise but really they fit in with our convenience there are two big idols in this nation I tell you the names comfort and convenience and if you want to follow the Lord you've got to smash those two idols the things that God will ask you to do will not fit in with your comfort and not fit in with your convenience well you might say to me Mia I'm sure you're thinking it well why does not tolerate all this evil why does he let it all go on why do we have to sit and endure and see all this evil what is God's purpose god's purpose was in the scripture that wisdom i quoted at the beginning will come up and let's say the game so there i want you to listen to this because this is what god is after the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and will win us we should live soberly righteously and godly in the present age looking for the Blessed hope and glorious appearing our great God Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people Wallace what is God working for what is it ain't what is his purpose his own special people and he'll go on and on and on until he's got that feeling and all the purposes of history are bent to the accomplishment of God's purpose his own special people to serve us for good words that's what that's the reason of history it's that Jesus Christ will have for himself his own special people let me give you a word of counsel as I close first John 2:17 the world is passing away and it's lost but he who does the will of God abides for him so in the midst of a totally changing unstable evil culture society it's all passing away but one thing will remain the will of God and the person who has dedicated himself to do the will of God he who does the will of God abides forever I mean I would like to suggest that we pray for them wherever you are just send yourself to the Lord you remember I said to you then any so-called move of the Holy Spirit that doesn't proceed out of repentance is not genuine [Music] but when we repent then God releases his holy spirit in fact he releases his holy spirit to help us to repent so I've spoken some rather hard may be searching words but I would be unfair to you if I didn't give you a brief opportunity to respond I want to deal with the one question of selfishness self-centeredness if you've listened to me and the Holy Spirit has been dealing with you you've had to acknowledge God I'm sorry but I'm a self-centered person my life begins and ends with myself my religion centers around myself and I'm tired of it gone it hasn't made me happy it hasn't fulfilled me but I want to change and I want you to change I want you to deal with my selfishness release me from it help me if I take up my cross follow you if you would make that your prayer I would like everybody to be shut in with the Lord I would like to pray with you okay if you want to make that your prayer here this evening would you just raise your hand wherever you Jeff if you come up please Ruth would you come up just keep your hands up for a moment I follow Jeff up because he's the pastor and I would say at least 80% of the people here I've raised them can you see what the problem in the church is self selfish father you see those raised hands you see the heart from which they come and when you move in those lives in your sovereign grace and mercy and when you give them the grace and the courage and the faith to deny themselves take up their cross and really follow Jesus for his namesake we pray amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 179,965

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Keywords: Derek, Prince, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: 9_fcI-972I8

Length: 81min 17sec (4877 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 30 2012