Francis Chan: Popular Lies Christians Believe - Saved Festival, Philippines

so good to be with you tonight this is uh this is my first trip to manila i live in a city right next to san francisco called daly city daley city is 80 percent filipino okay so i feel very much at home here except in daly city though when we drive we actually move this place is insane i i have been all around the world and i've never seen traffic like this that's something to be proud of um so i i was just curious i was like man how many people live in this city so we actually looked it up today so in manila i don't know if you know or if you care but in manila itself there are there are 1 million people in this one city now in the outskirts of manila altogether there's about 15 million people most of them are at the mega mall but uh there's about 15 million people like right around manila and then in all of the philippines i thought this was really interesting in all of the philippines there are a hundred million filipinos okay yes you can clap for yourselves good job um there's a lot of you um a hundred million in all of the philippines but but when i heard that number you know what i thought about in revelation chapter five in revelation chapter five it says around the throne of jesus it says there are ten thousand times ten thousand angels do you know what ten thousand times ten thousand is that's a hundred million it's a hundred million angels and i thought about that okay picture i mean just look in this room there's like 15 20 000 people that's nothing imagine the throne like right now this isn't make believe right now in heaven imagine 100 million angels all around the throne of jesus all around the throne of jesus i mean can you even try to picture what that would look like picture every single person in the philippines every single person in the philippines but picture them as filipino angels okay i mean imagine just the mass the bible says that he looked and he says there were a hundred million angels worshiping jesus and they were all saying the same thing they were all saying worthy is the lamb who was slain man that's such a fascinating sight this isn't make-believe like that's going on in heaven right now a hundred million angels all saying worthy is the lamb who was slain you guys that's why we've gathered here tonight is because we're joining that chorus of a hundred million angels and we're all saying don't look at us worthy is the lamb who was slain i mean we're just a small tiny group in this arena but we're saying to jesus we agree you are the only one who's worthy of honor respect glory forever and ever in that passage it talks about how god sits on his throne in revelation 4 and he says there was lightning and thunder coming from that throne it talks about these seven pillars of fire around the throne of god and then it describes the hundred million angels all or everyone's looking at this one throne i want you to do something for me right now everyone take a deep deep breath and now let it out you were all able to do that because he allowed you to do that right now do you understand that isn't that a crazy thought that every breath is a gift from him like he he he didn't promise me one more he had to give that to me there's a being in heaven right now surrounded by a hundred million angels and he determines whether or not i live through this message man he determines whether or not you live through this message and whether you ever walk out of this arena it's all up to him that's why these angels are saying we won't even be alive even the angels are dependent on him first timothy says that he alone is immortal that means all life comes from him so there's this one being on the throne that's made all of us and we're breathing right now because he lets us and all those angels that are worshiping him right now every breath comes from him and they're praising him because they recognize we won't even be here without him and so we're here to worship him and i promise you the moment you see him because we will all see him one day right could you under i mean you got to get your mind around this we're all going to see him i mean the bible says that when moses said to god moses asked god in exodus he says he says can i see your face here's god just let me see your face and do you remember what jesus what god said to moses god says no no man can see my face and live that's crazy he tells moses moses i know you want to see me right now as a human being but do you understand that no human being can actually see my face and live through it you know what does that do to you i know we you know some of you grew up in church so you're used to hearing the word god and you say it over and over and over and you lose its meaning when we say that word god we're talking about a being who who right now is so different from us that if he tore the roof off of this coliseum and he let us look at his face we would all die immediately we're talking about a being who's allowing us to live right now and determines whether we make it through this meeting when we say god we're talking about a being sitting on his throne in unapproachable light with lightning and thunder and fire all around his throne and a hundred million angels all saying worthy worthy are you to receive glory honor but the bible says while we cannot see him right now the bible says there is going to come a day when every one of us will actually see him and for some of us in this room it is going to be the most amazing moment of our lives okay you guys think about the greatest experience you ever had on this earth and multiply that by a million and that's what it's going to be like for some of us when we see his face and for some others it is going to be the most terrifying moment of your existence for others of you think of the worst day you ever had on the earth this is a million times worse than your worst nightmare to see god at that moment for some of you that moment is going to be more painful infinitely more painful than your worst day on earth i mean no matter how you slice it that's going to be the most shocking moment of our lives is when we actually see him and so while you are still alive if there's one thing you have to be sure of absolutely sure of you've got to be sure of what it's going to be like what is going to happen to you when you see god is it going to be this amazing moment where you're just going man i can't believe it he said to me well done he's accepting me and he's loving me this is forever and ever is it going to be that or will it be depart from me i never knew you that terrifying awful moment but here's what i'm going to ask you to do whatever you do don't just take my word for it read this book for yourself okay i'm begging you you have to be sure of this i don't understand why people are so casual about what they believe i'm going do you understand you're gonna see him you better know what you believe you better be sure of what you believe i mean literally that could be the most devastating worst moment of your existence leading you to an absolute horror of pain forever or it could be the greatest so if there's one thing you need to know one thing you got to be serious about you better know where you're going at the end you better know what it's going to be like when you see his face so don't just take my word for it study this book the bible says even in the bible in uh in acts 17 it talks about the bereans and it says how these these bereans in verse 11 it says these jews were more noble than those in thessalonica they received the word with all eagerness examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so so when paul and silas spoke to the crowd in that one city in berea it says after they spoke the people went and they actually studied the bible themselves and they said wait is that true is that true is that really in there they examined the scriptures to see if what paul and silas were teaching whether or not it was true do you do that do you get home from church after you hear a sermon and go wait wait a second let me see let me read that in context is that really true because we're talking about forever we're talking about the only thing that matters on this earth so you better be a student of this book and not just take it for granted because the bible says in the last days this is important in second timothy chapter four it talks about how in the last days there were going to be these false teachers everywhere and there were going to be these false teachers because people would not put up with sound doctrine but instead they had itching ears and so they tried to find teachers who would tell them what they wanted to hear the bible says towards the end which i believe we're getting pretty close you look at our world right now and you go how much longer can this go on and the bible says in the last days there will be people who don't really want to know the truth they just want to believe what they want to believe and so instead of just listening to the word they'll look for teachers that will tell them what they want to hear tell them the same thing they always grew up with tell them whatever was comfortable to them but they really didn't want to know the truth i'm hoping that there are people in here who say i want to know the truth i don't care if it goes against everything i was raised with i just have to know the truth nothing matters i hope there's people in this room that aren't just going to take for granted what i say and say okay i'll believe whatever that guy believes i hope there's people in this room that say okay let me listen to that and then let me go home and make sure this is true because my life depends on this because tonight i have one goal my goal is to tell you how to be saved how to know for sure that you are going to heaven my only goal is that one day you'll look at the face of god when it's your time and it could be tonight we don't know it could be tonight for me i have had friends who have died while they were preaching so i take this very serious i've been at conferences where i'm there and boom right afterwards someone dies and and they come into the presence of god so this isn't a joke to me this isn't a job to me i don't fly halfway across the world for a job this is so serious to me i i i i want one day i want a hundred years from now man it'd be so awesome 100 years from now to look some of you in the eye and for you to say man it was that night when you went to manila and you explained the bible and i went home and i looked to see if what you said was true and it wasn't so i told god i do want to follow you i do want this and it was then that god's spirit fell upon me and it changed my life literally forever and so that's why i see you today man that's all i want tonight is that maybe tonight some of you who have been deceived who've just believed whatever teaching was given to you that tonight you look a little deeper and you think more seriously about facing god and you get things right because god is a gracious loving and forgiving god and he wants a relationship with you he wants things to be right but i'd like to share a few lies that are very popular on the earth today it's hard because i don't know the culture here so much you know i've only been here for one day and it's so hard because i wonder i go i don't know who's for real in this room i watch you worship and i see this passion on your faces and so if i were to judge just by the way you worship i go man these guys are serious about god but i also know that i've been to many places where they've got their hands in the air offering this lip service to god and they have these expressions on their faces but the moment they leave that arena everything is different and their lives are no different and if you saw them at school or you saw them walking around or you saw them at work they would look no different from those who supposedly don't have the holy spirit in them so it's hard to judge it's you know i'm not here to judge i'm just saying it's i never know i don't know in the philippines if if a lot of you guys just grew up in the church and so it's just a cultural thing your mom and dad believed it so you know yeah i'm not gonna i'm not gonna shake the boat i'm not gonna rock the boat i'll just do whatever my parents say and you're just here at a coincidence and if you were born in in japan you know with buddhist parents you would be buddhist right now if you're born in utah with mormon parents you'd be mormon right now you just kind of happen to fall into this place so here we are at this christian event because you grew up in a christian home but you guys this is this is so much bigger than that because at the end it doesn't matter who you grew up or where you were raised at the end god either says well done my good and faithful servant or he says depart from me i never knew you i knew your parents i knew a lot of your family members maybe your grandmother really knew me but you i never knew you so you have to decide do you have a personal relationship with god because it could be that when you get in arenas like this and everyone's worshiping you worship also and then when you're with your friends and they're all partying you party also so you don't even know who you are and you're not the person who can stand and say no i'm the same way wherever i am i actually love god when i'm alone i don't just worship in an arena when i'm alone man that's my deepest time of worship i seek him i pray to him i love him i know him you guys are told a lot of lies some of you believe the lie that most the people on this earth believe most people are told that they are accidents that you are an accident you're just a product of chance you grew up in a school that taught you you're just an accident we just got lucky we're lucky that a long time ago a long long time ago billions of years ago there was a bunch of dust lucky dust lucky for us it all blew up and lucky for us it turned into an earth and started spinning and things started growing and here we are lucky the bible says that's not true the bible says you were created by god and you're not an accident the gods god says that he he gives life and breath to everything he says in acts 17. in verse 26 he says he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth having determined a lot of periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek god in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him look it up for yourself acts chapter 17 don't take my word for it the bible says that god not only created you but he was specific in how he created you when he created you and where he placed you that means you're not just not not only are you not an accident but god determined when you were going to be born it says he determined exactly where you were gonna live god determined that you were gonna be in this room tonight and the bible says he does all these things so that you might feel your way toward him and find him that's what the bible says you were created for that and he put circumstances in your life i'm not i'm not against those of you who have christian parents and raised you in the things of god praise god for i'm very grateful for that but the bible says he put you in that situation that you might find your way toward him and find him others of you grew up in a home that had nothing to do with god but even those circumstances that you would see the emptiness of that and try to make sense of life outside of god to where you'd file your way toward him and go there must be something else and you find him you were created by god the bible says that ever since the creation of the world this is in romans chapter 1 verse 20. look it up yourself ever since the creation of the world it says god's invisible qualities and divine nature have been clearly seen through what has been made so that men are without excuse god says if you walk outside and just look around and look at the way things work you would see him you would see that this couldn't be an accident man you know this man ever since i was a kid i remember in school first learning about the earth man didn't that fascinate you to think wait a second i'm on a ball and at the core of the ball is like this magma lava fire stuff and then it's surrounded by water like two-thirds of the earth is water didn't that fascinate you when you thought wait someone a ball of fire water why doesn't the water just drip down the bottom like this doesn't make sense i mean you ever stopped to think about that are you kidding me that's where i live but not only that but that ball of water is spinning right now at a thousand miles an hour that right now we're spinning at a thousand miles an hour you guys are looking at me like yeah no big deal that's a big deal i'm spinning on a ball of water a thousand miles an hour not only that but remember when we learned about the sun the sun is 1.3 million times the size of the earth so if the sun was hollow we could fit 1.3 million earths inside the sun and the sun is 93 million miles away you guys use kilometers huh okay i don't know how many that is a lot this is 90. 93 million miles away there's this ball of fire that's a million times our size and we're on a ball of fire spinning at a thousand miles an hour with a hundred million filipinos and not only that because we're 93 million miles away if we were a little closer to the sun the earth would just burn if we're a little bit further away from the sun we would freeze but it's tilted just perfectly and it spins on its axis so that we experience these seasons and then this little earth not only is it spinning it's flying around the sun at 67 000 miles an hour it's about a hundred thousand kilometers probably right so you guys as you sit here in this room going you know i think it's all just we're just lucky i want you to remember you're sitting on a ball of water flying around a ball of fire that's not that's a million times our size 93 million miles away you're spinning at a thousand miles an hour flying around it at 67 000 miles an hour and we're just sitting here we don't feel anything you call that luck an accident meanwhile we laugh we cry we love where does all of that come from luck god says no way he goes you know ever since the creation of this world i made this world you can see my invisible qualities through the things that are made think about this earth you're spinning you're flying around the sun you're laughing you're feeling nothing but isn't it weird that if you go to disneyland and you ride the teacups you throw up it's just this amazing creation that god made and the bible says you're a part of that you're no accident you're here for a reason you got to know that in your soul a second lie that you guys are told and many of you believe this another lie the world wants to feed you is that you are a good person and god sees that that god that's sitting on his throne with the millions of angels around him many people in this earth believe that he looks down at them and says wow there's a good person right there i want to tell you that that's a lie that's not how god sees you according to the bible again look it up yourself but in romans chapter 3 it describes what god sees when he looks down at the earth this is according to the bible i know you you may say well i don't feel that well you can't believe everything you feel you can't believe everything you think you can't believe what everyone tells you you can't believe the majority because the bible says that there's a wide road that leads to destruction and many will enter through it but there's a narrow road that leads to life and few will find it so if you're going to go with the majority according to the bible the majority is headed somewhere you don't want to go and so maybe the majority of your friends tell you no you're a good person look inside you're beautiful you're good and god sees that well here's what the bible says the bible says in romans 3. in verse 10 god says no one is righteous no not one no one understands no one seeks for god all have turned aside together they've become worthless no one does good not even one he says there's no fear of god before their eyes then verse 23 he says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god god says when i look in the earth he goes it's not all these good people i see according to the bible if that matters to you according to the bible god says if that matters to you god himself says when i look no one's righteous no one's doing the things i ask them to do there's no fear of me in their eyes they don't understand who they're about to face he goes they've all there's no difference he goes i don't care who what family you grew up in everyone falls short of the glory of god and then here's an important all of these are important but here's another one that another lie that we're told because people may say okay i believe god created me and okay i believe i fall short of his glory i've done things that offend him but there's a big big lie that's been growing on the earth especially over the last 10 20 years where people are teaching that because god is a loving god he will not punish people people say if god is loving then there's no way he would create a hell there's no way he would punish people he's loving maybe in the old testament he used to be that way but in the new testament no no it's and god you guys ever since the beginning of this book god has made it clear that he's a god of judgment soon after he created man he cursed the earth he cursed adam and eve for their disobedience soon after that in genesis the first book of the bible in the sixth chapter it says that god looked at the man the the people on the earth and goes gosh they're so evil it says that god looked at the people he made and it grieved him that he ever even made these people because they were so evil so he decides to flood the earth and kill everyone on the planet except for noah and his family see sometimes when we read the bible and we've been taught these stories we only look at one part of it like like a lot of you maybe when you grew up your parents painted noah's ark in your nursery you know where you saw pictures of noah's ark and it's so cute the sun's shining a couple of giraffes stick their head out the window right an old man a little bird on his shoulder elephants and it's like so cute but i'm guessing they didn't paint the millions of people who were drowning under the water he did in your nursery your parents did that that's that's great you know i'm guessing because we like to not talk about his judgment but i'm telling you if you read this book read it sometime god's a god of judgment he doesn't bluff he told pharaoh hey you better let my people go or you know what i'll kill the firstborn of every household in egypt and then he did it she better let my people go let them pass through that dry land and they didn't so god just covered them over and wiped them out read this book sometime god doesn't bluff god's not like some of our parents who said don't you do that again or i'll count to three again read this book he doesn't bluff you guys and the bible says and i'm not saying i love this thought i don't like it but the bible makes it clear in revelation chapter 20 when it talks about the end the end of all things in revelation 20 he talks about satan that the devil and it says in in verse verse 10 it says the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever he says there is a lake of fire he says one day the enemy satan himself is going to be thrown in there to be tormented day and night forever and ever but then a few verses later in verse 15 it says if anyone's name was not found in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire so he says not only is satan going to be thrown in there but he says anyone whose name was not written in the book of life was thrown into that lake of fire see i know some of you right now i just lost you you go i don't want to believe that i don't want to believe that i refuse to believe that and that's your choice i'm just reading i didn't write this okay i didn't write the book of revelation i wrote a little bit of leviticus but but i didn't write revelation i'm kidding i didn't this is just what god says and again i'm telling you just read it sometime and then don't get me wrong i i don't i don't really like some of these passages there are a lot of things in this book that honestly i don't like that i wouldn't have written there are many things in this book that i disagree with but when i disagree with this book i assume that i'm wrong and that he's right and i come under those passages and surrender those passages even if they're uncomfortable to me because i go you know what just like the bible says his ways are higher than my ways isaiah 55 says his thoughts are so far just like the heavens that we were talking about earlier are above the earth he goes that's where my thoughts are compared to yours and so when i disagree with something i go god i don't get it you're just beyond me so i'm going to take your word for it even though that's not what i would have come up with but to me it makes sense i mean i understand i understand it makes perfect logic to me that if there's a god who made all of this and just like he destroyed it all in in genesis 6 and if he says that we're disobedient man he has the right to punish us and a lot of people say well a loving god wouldn't punish and i'm saying you don't understand a righteous god can't ignore a crime he has to mind his his love and his righteousness go together yes he loves us but he's also a righteous god a fair god and because he's perfectly righteous he can't just let you sin and do nothing about it so that makes sense to me even hell the thought of the lake of fire though i don't like it though i may think it's extreme it makes sense but let me tell you the one thing that doesn't make sense in this book then i've been a follower of jesus for 30 years and i'm still going are you serious it's romans chapter 5. romans 5 verse 8 it says god demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners christ died for us okay that is crazy that is insane i understand we're guilty you made all these little people they rebel against you so i understand punish them what doesn't make sense is the bible says that god wanted to demonstrate his love for us in that while we were rebelling god says okay here's what i want to do because i'm also a loving god i'm a fair god i must punish sin but i'm a loving god too and god looks at all of these people he looks at us and he goes but i don't really want to punish you i love you but i have to punish someone so i'm going to show you the greatest act of love ever i'm going to have my son take the form of a man i'm going to have him come down to that earth that i created and i'm going to have him nailed to a cross i'm going to have him take the wrath of this whole world i'm going to take him who knew no sin and i'm going to have him become sin on your behalf so that you might become the righteousness of god through him you guys this is crazy so i deserve punishment me this little created being god made billions of us and he looks at me and says you should be punished but because i'm a loving god i'm gonna have my son punished instead okay that is unbelievable that is difficult to accept but the bible says and this may go against what some of you were taught because some of you bought into another lie on the earth you were told there's a lot of ways to get to heaven if you're a good person you'll go if you're sincere in what you believe no matter what it is you'll go but you guys the theme verse of this conference is acts chapter 4 verse 12 where it says there is salvation in no one else for it there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved contrary to what you've been told muhammad will not save you cannot save you when you come into the presence of almighty god will not save you there's no other name on earth and you will not save you your own good works won't save you your name won't save you i can't save myself i don't care how much i want to believe that or think that i can or think that i'm a good person there's no other name by which man can be saved jesus says look i'm the way the truth and the life john 14 6 no one comes to the father except through me jesus do you understand why do you think i came on the earth why do you think jesus sent his son did you think that there were like 50 different ways to get to heaven and god just thought well let me do one more let me just torture my son for the heck of it he says no there's no other way to save them there's no other name by which they can be saved i need someone who's righteous there's only one who is righteous i look on the earth there's no one righteous there's not even one it's only my son he's gonna pay for them he the one who knew no sin he's gonna take their sin and jesus says look no one takes my life from me i lay it down of my own accord i have authority to lay it down and i have authority to take it up again this command i received from the father jesus says i'll lay down my life and he looked at his disciples he goes look greater love john 15 verse 13 greater love has no one than this than one lays down his life for his friends look there's no other way to be saved in fact it says later in romans 3 let me just read it to you and again i beg you go home and read romans chapter 3. don't take my word for it this is too big romans 3 verse 23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in christ jesus whom god put forward as a propitiation in his blood to be received by faith this was to show god's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in jesus see god says it had to happen this way this way i could be just this way i could still be fair this way i could still be perfectly righteous it would be it would be unrighteous of god to say you committed a crime but i'm going to ignore it no a righteous judge must punish sin and he says but i want to justify you i want to make it just as if you'd never sinned i want to i want you to be in my presence he goes it's like i want to be fair but i also want you and he says this is the solution if jesus pays for your sins then i'm fair because someone paid for the crime and then you can actually come and be with me and so i can be righteous and i can also justify you and the bible says that's what god's done but that doesn't mean now that all of us go to heaven the bible says we have to make a decision a real decision and here's another lie that maybe some of you were told just pray a prayer just pray a prayer and receive jesus and i'm saying read this book do you see that anywhere in this book where they're told to just close their eyes and pray a prayer now what it says in acts chapter 2 the very first sermon it says the people heard the message and it said they were cut to the heart and they looked at peter and the apostles and they say what do we need to do and peter says repent be baptized and you'll receive the holy spirit this is what the scripture said again read it yourself the the bible talks about repentance repentance means man you thought you were a good person you were heading a certain direction and then you heard the message of jesus to repent means to do a 180. this is what the disciples did they were living their life and then they followed jesus it says repent and be baptized being baptized not that the baptism actually saves you but it doesn't be baptized for the forgiveness of sins it meant you're dying to yourself it says i'm done trying to follow francis and his desires francis isn't going to get himself into heaven i'm dying to myself and i want to be called christ or christian now i'm dying to myself in baptism being baptized into christ and then the bible says and you'll receive this gift of the holy spirit he says this promise is for you your children and those who are far off he said this 2000 years ago he said to those people repent be baptized filled with the spirit and he says this promise is for you your children and those who are far off again study it you have to make your own decision have you decided to follow jesus has there ever been a time where you don't need me okay you have to come before god and make that decision say god i'm ready i'm ready to turn from myself and follow you have you made that decision have you made that decision to say you know what i want to just die to myself in baptism and be baptized into christ have you ever told god god i want your spirit to fall on me and change me so that i can follow you so i can put to death that old me and live the way that you want me to the bible says that god is actually knocking on the door and he says if you'll answer that i'll i'll enter into you and i'll dine with you i want you to be with me i want this relationship i want to know you the bible doesn't say obey this this this this and you're going to go to heaven now the bible says love the lord your god with all your heart and soul and mind he says i want to have a relationship with you i want you to hear the message tonight and go are you kidding me so you're sitting on this throne up there you're an unapproachable light there's a hundred million angels and you mean to tell me that rather than punishing me you almighty god sent your son to die on a cross for me and that if i truly believe in that and i'm ready to just walk away from my life and follow that and devote myself to jesus to just die to myself and follow him that you'll put your spirit in me and that's it so i don't have to actually do something to earn my salvation i just have to believe to that extreme and boom it's i'm there man where do i sign up he wants you to see that and go i want to know this god i want to know him more than i want to know anyone on this earth and he becomes your most important relationship but have you ever done that have you ever come before god and said god i'm ready i want you i want all of you despite what has been modeled for me in my church or my parents i trust what the word of god says i want it all i want jesus i want to trust in him my time is up but let me i have to throw this in it's gonna take me two minutes okay can you stick with me two more minutes okay one final lie that has been spread everywhere is this that if you decide to follow jesus like if you make a decision tonight to follow jesus there's a lie out there where people say if you follow jesus he's going to totally bless your life you're not going to have trouble anymore you're not going to get sick anymore you're not going to go through pain anymore you're in fact you won't be poor anymore you'll be rich you'll be healthy you'll have everything you ever wanted on this earth there's a lie that tells you that what the bible says is actually life's gonna get more difficult in fact paul says in second corinthians chapter 4 verse 8 he says we're afflicted in every way but not crushed we're perplexed but not driven to despair we're persecuted but not forsaken we're struck down but we're not destroyed we're always caring in the body the death of jesus so that the life of jesus may also be manifested in our bodies because we who who live are always being given over to death for jesus sake so the life of jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh and paul says in verse 16 he goes we don't lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison he says all of the stuff we're going to go through it's going to be difficult it's going to hurt to follow jesus when you go back to your campus when you go back to your workplace and you've decided to follow jesus and not walk like everyone else walks not speak like everyone else speaks and you said you know what i died to that i'm following jesus now his spirit's in me he says you know what you're going to be afflicted in every way jesus told his disciples people are going to hate you he says in john 15 if they hated me they're going to hate you they persecuted me they're going to persecute you also paul says i feel like i'm dying every day he goes but it's okay i'm not going down because i know the light and momentary affliction is achieving for me an eternal glory that far outweighs them all see i had to tell you that i had to tell you that because so many people who grew up in the church and are told this lie that oh just follow jesus and everything's going to come together in your life well guess what when the pain comes they start to question god and they go wait i thought you promised me i'd be filthy rich then me and my loved ones weren't going to get sick and then it starts happening and you reject this and i'm telling you that that's not prompt read it he promises anyone who wants to live a godly life in christ jesus will be persecuted it's going to be tough but he says it's going to be worth it in the end it's just like jesus his life was difficult so maybe tonight you heard this message of god and you understand now you go okay i get it i know this is going to be difficult but i want jesus i mean he died on that cross for me you're telling me that i just have to accept his forgiveness i don't have to prove myself first i'm saying yeah right now all you have to do is to say you know what i'm ready i'm ready to follow jesus i'm ready i was going down this path i'm turning i'm repenting i can't save myself my good works won't save me i'm gonna turn and turn to jesus i'm ready to be baptized into him and i want his spirit to fall upon me unfortunately we don't have room to have some of you come forward and do some sort of formal altar call or anything else but maybe that's better because maybe for too many years we focus so much on this one little decision time that so often doesn't really last and maybe it can sometimes become just this emotional thing rather than a decision that you really made in your heart because you were cut to the heart so i'm going to encourage you even right now just to do something between you and god for now would you just bow your heads you're talking to a real person those of you who are about to pray and i want you to picture god sitting on his throne there in heaven with a hundred million angels picture him in all of his glory the lightning the thunder the fire picture that god sending his son down to earth to show us his love as he's nailed to the cross buried in a tomb then rises from the dead ascends to heaven and says i'm going to come back one day but for now i'll give you my spirit if you want to follow me speak to that god tell him if you want to follow him tell him if you want his spirit in you father your word tells us that we can become a temple of the holy spirit that you would actually dwell inside of us god i pray that miracle would take place in lives all around this arena or even right now your holy spirit enters into those who believe so they can know you be empowered by you is saved by you thank you for sending your son god we join the hundred million angels in heaven right now and we agree worthy is the lamb who was slain worthy is the lamb who was slain worthy is the lamb it's in his name that we pray amen um is there a name in which hope is found

Channel: Crazy Love

Views: 571,552

Rating: 4.8308144 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, Francis Chan, church, GOD, Jesus, Crazy Love, Crazy, Love

Id: GQYJXBXRpZQ

Length: 58min 2sec (3482 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 21 2015