Luis Palau: Is Jesus Christ Relevant?

it's good to be back in Sacramento last summer we have the hottest summer of our lives down somewhere around here and we had a great great festival but I've only got 25 minutes so you don't have to panic okay but man what are either you guys had 22,000 people that was a wonderful time praise God you know and how many came to know Jesus Christ that was really unusual that story about Mexico that's a really exciting and what a blessing for all the kids a thousand kids I imagined that 30 were going it's like an invasion you know anybody probably thought the Yankees are coming again you know this watch out you know so that sounds like it was really good and I was asked for one minute to tell you that the Roman Catholic Church has a pope called Francis the great quality is that he's an Argentinian like I am ah that's baby that's not the greatest quality but it's a good sign that Argentina is emerging from the cold of the South you know and I knew him about twenty years ago all these years I've known him because he's very friendly to evangelical Christians and he's building a lot of bridges and it really is exciting to see him keeping his humility even while he's Pope you know because Pope is above kings and presidents you know and yet he stays simple and humble and so on he always loved the poor and he loved kids teenagers especially he was worried that television makes people become cynical and so on so I think with the Lord's blessing there's going to be a great movement forward in the Bible and in the gospel and he said over and over you know we've got to study the Bible and we got to get the name of Jesus to the ends of the earth that's a pretty good statement you know so pray for for Pope Francis he's a he doesn't speak English or German or anything except Spanish and a little Italian so he's going to have a lot of interpreters hanging around you know we're going to have a campaign and Naples Italy in about in June and I want to invite him and I know he won't come but anyway I'll give it a shot so you're right you never know he's capable of doing it is that sincere and humble a person now they've asked me to tell you that when I'm through I'm supposed to run to the back and autograph this book out of the desert how not to live in the desert how to get out of Sacramento and really live you know but it's actually about your spiritual life and how not to live a dry and empty life so I'll see you over there now pastor said that during these days and he asked me to open it up today about Jesus Christ that Jesus that most people miss and so this afternoon he told me what to tell you he should have done it himself but he was too tired and so he asked me to do it you know this is the subject that he asked me to talk about is Jesus Christ relevant today for society and I know where he got it once that one day we were together with a bunch of businessmen and I spoke more or less on that subject I was at the University of Leeds in England and there was about 6,000 students showed up in some profs and they asked me to speak on a similar but a little different subject they said we want you to speak to us is Christianity relevant today and so I thought about it I had about a week to think about it and I said I opened up by saying you know Christianity as we know it probably isn't very relevant but I'll tell you what Jesus Christ is relevant today can you say amen to that yes sir do you believe he's relevant Jesus Christ today you better believe it and by the time I'm through in 23 minutes I hope that you'll say he was right Jesus Christ is relevant because in various areas of society and there was art buek world was a fellow who died he was a Jewish humorous to use the right humorous stuff humorous do that and he did a graduation thing at a university back east and he started out by quoting or paraphrasing Dickens and he said whether these are the best of times or the worst of times it's the only time we've got it's pretty good huh it almost sounds like a Bible verse but it's not uh-huh but it's really something she yes we don't know whether we're living in the best of times or the worst of times some people are really worried about the economy about world events about North Korea suddenly blobbing a an atomic bomb on the west coast watch out California we're closer in Oregon I live in Oregon so we don't know people are afraid a war in the Middle East and so on and violence and people have a lot of questions how does Jesus Christ relate to all that I want to read just very briefly a very little brief passage in the book of Proverbs chapter three some of you know it off by heart but this is the Holy Word of God let me read it to you it just as a background and then get on to it very quickly this is what God says my son don't forget my teaching but keep your Commandments in your heart my Commandments in your heart for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity let love and faithfulness never leave you bind them around your neck write them on the tablet of your heart then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man trust in the Lord with all your heart don't lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight don't be wise in your own eyes fear the Lord and shun evil then you will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones and then finally honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine my son do not despise the Lord's discipline don't resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son who delights in that is a fabulous passage full of instruction not only for young people but for us who are adults also now in the next few minutes I want to explain to you how Jesus Christ is relevant to the world today and at the end I want to give you an invitation if you want to meet the Living God this evening you can meet him right here in person if you want to know God for yourself god is anxious to meet with you God made the first move looking for you the Bible says he calls his own by name he knows your name in fact the Bible says that your name is written on the palm of God and that he knows you so he is calling you tonight now Jesus Christ is relevant today many unbelievers don't believe that but those of us who know Jesus Christ we know and we not only read the Holy Word of God we also study history and we see the impact that Jesus Christ has had on the world throughout the centuries for centuries and all of it for good and you know the USA has been blessed in many ways through the 240 years or so of its existence because so many people have surrendered their lives to Christ have lived in obedience to him have lived out his principles and his teaching and therefore it has brought a blessing to the country now many countries of the world are hurting tremendously with anger with poverty with disasters and they blame one another they accuse one another we want to blow each other up but if we'd only come back to Jesus Christ the Son of God what a difference it would make don't you think it would make a tremendous difference now let me give you nine areas that I wrote down that Jesus has an impact that makes a difference first Christ is relevant to the sociological order society can only be controlled either by self control or by weapons dictators for societies to behave the way they want them to behave but when you know Jesus Christ and thousands of people actually walk with Him you don't need machine guns to keep people behaving because the inner power of Jesus Christ leads you to obey and to behave secondly Christ is relevant to the intellectual quest the questions that we have and I'll come back to that one in a minute thirdly Christ is relevant to our psychological disorders you see so many people who are lacking peace lacking stability who are desperate and who are empty and lonely and guilty and can't believe that God could love them Jesus Christ is relevant for those psychological disorders number four Jesus Christ is relevant to the economic system it's something we seldom talk about that I think the pastor and others are going to be teaching it during the next few days the economic system is impacted by Jesus Christ working through his people I'd love to stay without one myself because I've always been intrigued by that coming from South America where economy goes up and down up and down I am especially interested but this isn't the day today you know I got 15 minutes left uh-huh number five Christ is relevant to family stability and to family balance the family how we're hurting in the USA right now we've drifted away from Jesus Christ and we are paying the price there's a lot of pain I spent last night I was at dinner with a bunch of psychiatrist I was talking to them shameless you know in me talking and evangelist to a bunch of psychiatry we research psychiatrists of all people and it was really amazing to hear their story but Christ is relevant to the economic system number six Jesus Christ is relevant to understanding of sexuality there's so much confusion and so many people who appear to be enjoying the sexual life but they really aren't and the Bible talks about it and I wish we had time for that but I'm sure the pastor's will be teaching you about it but sexual understanding Jesus Christ has tremendous impact and Ray is young so he's very wise about these things he'll tell you all about it you know number seven Jesus Christ is obviously relevant to the spiritual search that people are on the problem of evil the problem of sin the problem of Eve and hating one another why why a spiritual under and then finally of course and there's more but this is it for today Jesus Christ is relevant to to the call of eternity all of us have to face we have loved ones who died babies who died grandpa and grandma of course they seem to die more often than others and then people middle-aged died in accidents and plane crashes and shootings and violence people dying what about eternity what happens so I've got a pic only about three maximum of those and really push it so don't fall asleep are they okay and you I think you'll enjoy it number one I think are going to pick on Jesus Christ is relevant to the intellectual quest yeah sociologically it would be great to discuss it but it takes a long a long discussion what are the deep questions that people ask themselves and everybody you meet with at work at school at the University in the neighborhood they may not talk about it all the time but they are thinking about it the deep questions of life first Who am I where did I come from why am I here who put me here what is the purpose to my existence what's my future what's my destiny those questions every normal human person ask themselves those questions I every day when you're busy you may not have time but when you're on vacation at a beach and you begin to think to yourself why am I here how did I show up on planet Earth who put me here and the Bible teaches us so much and today we need it first we need to understand that those believers that enjoy it and live it up the Bible teaches that you and I are created in the image and likeness of God that's an amazing statement it starts out right at the very beginning in the book of Genesis and then it's repeated throughout the scriptures because it's a fundamental thing who are you you are created in the image and likeness of God as ever since I was a little boy listening to the preachers quote that I used to wonder what does that mean oh if we had time I give you a really long story of it but basically number one you know the Bible teaches that God is one God but in three persons and it's a mystery up to a point if you really know Jesus Christ you begin to understand it and as the years go by you understand it more but if you understand yourself you and I are created in the image and likeness of God you are one person but you're one person in three parts just like God is one God and he has revealed himself so we can understand it as father-son and hold spirit God a living God one God in three persons you are a human being and you also are one and also in three in three parts so to speak body soul and spirit the body dies us to creation we eat we drink we try to keep the body in shape some more than others you know and you you try not to overeat you try to not over exercise that's me you know I don't like exercise I just walk up and down the stairs and that's it but you know the body is a physical machine the Bible calls it a tenth it causes a temporary house that one of these days will collapse I wait we need to think more about it that's Lama number two is the soul what's the soul the soul is the human personality you are a living soul the Bible says and you and there are three elements to the soul the intellect the mind the emotions the feelings the ups and downs the joy the sadness etc and the will the capacity to make choices so every human being that you meet is a living soul and they may have a name my name is Luis and that's a Spanish name for a man not a woman not Louise Luis okay yeah I want to make that clear ah so I'm a human being from Argentina I speak a little English with an accent but I love English and you and I could become friends we can talk we can enjoy each other we can laugh you can heat together as living Souls and up every human being is a living soul but there's a third dimension which is the one that in modern society and in many circles unfortunately people completely ignore what is the spirit the spirit is that side of us that gives us the capacity to know God and the Bible teaches that because of sin against God that our first parents Adam and Eve disobeyed God they fell they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden and from then all hell broke loose the first brother and see the two brothers who were born out of Adam and Eve the one killed the other after while and so the spirit is dead and until we meet Jesus Christ people are walking around and you can talk and enjoy and eat and chat and study enjoy yourself but your spirit is dead so you're living in two dimensions when God's plan is that you live in three dimensions body soul and spirit and the Bible says that until you open your heart to Jesus Christ spiritually you're dead if I had time I'd like to expand on that once it was a secular lawyer in England and I was on a live call-in show for BBC and this lawyer called up and he said you keep talking that without Christ life isn't full he said I'm a lawyer I've got two kids a wonderful life wife we live a good life we make good money we have good holidays on the continent we go to France we go to Spain and we're very happy what do you say to that I said congratulations doctor this is great but you're live you're missing out one third of your life and he got really mad I could feel it there was on the phone but you could tell he was angry he lived in Manchester so I'm not going to Manchester in case he jumps me all these night he said what do you mean I'm missing a third of my life I'm good I'm happy and healthy got a good wife enjoy her and I I said you're spiritually dead you just got angry for no good reason with me you don't even know me and you're angry at me already your spirit is dead he said what do you mean it's dead I said you don't even know that and you're a lawyer you know and the conversation went on but you know many people don't realize yes you can walk the streets you can go to Harvard if you want to Chico State whatever you know and you go to college and you study and you have a good time on you party and you have a beer and you think you're happy but in fact you're missing out on the most important third of your life which is to know God and to walk with God to worship God and enjoy life in all its fullness those of you who know Jesus Christ can talk about the past and the present once I was dead I'm alive once I was blind now I can see there was a moment when the change came some of us were children when it happens so we can't you know expand on it but many of you were converted when you were young ish teenager or college kid or even older and you can think of the past and the future so for intellectual questions that come Jesus Christ is a champion and it's revealed in the Holy Word of God and when you receive him in your heart and you begin to study the Bible your mind begins to expand your knowledge begins to grow because now the whole person is alive to God and until you know Jesus Christ you may be a fabulous person with a doctorate and you may have written a book or you may be doing television and all sorts of things but you know until you know God spiritually you're dead and Paul says in Ephesians 2 and repeatedly everywhere in the scriptures it says you know you were dead in your trespasses and sins but God made you alive in Christ and when it means that when it says it made you alive it means that your Spirit has come alive to God and now you're the same person but you're different also because now you know God so intellectually Jesus Christ is relevant today that's why we take the revealed will of God seriously because there's so much there and the more you read it and the time you spend in it and you compare Scripture with Scripture your mind expands your understanding grows and it's a tremendous experience some of you know it very well secondly Christ is relevant as I mentioned earlier for the psychological troubles that we all face the main reason why we all have and we all do we all have emotional problems some are more visible than others and I called it our psychological disorders one of the main disorders as psychologists and psychiatrists will tell you about is the problem of unresolved guilt many people are violent because they are angry about themselves they hate themselves they'll often blame the father or the mother or an ex-wife or ex-husband or something but inside they are seething because there's unresolved guilt hatred of other people feeling superior pretending to be perfect all sorts of emotional disturbances and we all have them but when you come to Jesus Christ he begins to balance our life out he begins to take control first of all he washes your conscience from sin so that you can be a peace with God about your past failures your mistakes your sins your misbehavior he comes into your life and because of what he did on the cross of Calvary when he died in our place we celebrated that last week and he died for our sins and the Bible says the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God purifies us from all sin that's the first step towards healing psychologically in the presence of God by the power of Jesus Christ that's the first big step we have to be forgiven and the sooner a person says yes I have sinned against God stop pointing the finger at other people now there's an old Negro spiritual they used to call it in the old days it's a me it's a me it's a me Oh Lord some of you remember it now you're too young yeah standing in the need of prayer not my father no my mother but it's me Oh Lord standing in the need of prayer not my sister nor my brother now my mother nor my father it's me O Lord standing in the need of prayer that's what repentance really is to be honest and say Lord I can't sleep sometimes a diet how many people have to get themselves really stood to be able to pass out and sleep for a while so they can go to work the next morning and and their conscience is bugging them on and on and they have to find a way to cover up but if you're going through struggles in your own conscience come to Jesus Christ in five minutes and when he comes in things begin to change I was listening to a song by a guy by the name of Walker I forget his first name I haven't met him in person but I watch it on the internet I'm getting savvy you know I carry an iPhone old-timers don't do that but I I do at 77 I learned to use it but I plugged it in and I there's a song that's very touching if you can find it it's called we will remember and he says I still remember the day you called me the day you called out my name you said you loved me you'd never leave me and I've never been the same it's a beautiful thing and the choir sings behind them and you'll explode even I can't sing that I cut loose I love it it's so exciting you feel drawn to it you know that this song is drives you up I still remember the day you saved me and I love the next light the day you called out my name you said you loved me you'd never leave me and I've never been the same we still have weaknesses don't don't don't pretend that you don't we still have temptations but temptation is not sin tentation is just temptation and if you give in to salvation then wow you better confess it fast but the fact is that you'll never the same and the peace and the key is this the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your minds and hearts focused in Jesus Christ that's where your psychological healing begins and then the more you take it seriously and it begins because not only does he forgive you but instantaneously you know this I'm not telling you anything new but it's good to remind it on our Saturday night it is Saturday yeah sorry I always get confused where I am and what day it is on a Saturday night the Holy Spirit comes into your heart ha ha and the Bible says the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love joy peace peace and the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ and that's the next step in the healing of our psychological disorders and then the third thing you'll be surprised you know what it is it's the local church many people say you know I don't believe in the church I don't believe in organized religion that it really bugs me I usually say so you believe in this organized religion huh yeah yeah that's me you know you know if you if you know Jesus Christ you are the church baby yeah and when yeah that's the truth you know and when you kick the church you're kicking yourself you idiot you know really yeah I know what you mean you mean that some people are not as good as you are yeah big wah John start a famous Bible teacher from England went to heaven this year he said you know if you find the perfect Church please don't join it because you'll spoil it for sure you know that first but the body of Christ you know I belong to our church up in Portland since I came to the USA because I fell in love with a granddaughter of the founder so you're obligated to join you know not not really I did I loved it and I don't repent it's not perfect I'm an elder there just because I'm old that's all I saw that's you're an elder but you know all these 52 years the ups and downs of life young people become middle-aged middle-aged people become old fall or whatever you know and many of them have taken off to glory since then they baptize my wife there we got married there they laid hands to become mission or is there and for all the weaknesses that we have us here I love the church and you know Jesus Christ rescued us and we are his church from the day that he rose from the dead we are the Church of Jesus Christ and you and I help and one of the great ways that God helps us grow psychologically is in the church and if you abstain yourself from the church if you refuse to attend or you just show up like it's a show and split as fast as you can to get out of the parking lot fine do that but you know you're gonna miss out I find that some of the simplest people and I say that with great humility yes in my church are the ones who help teach you the most you know you're weak people in the church and you love them and you get to know and you listen to them you know I read a lot travel a lot but I love to listen to people I've known for years and they tell you stuff that you never imagined is going on in this world so the church is one of these are you surprised by that some of you look really very serious right now you know yeah do I have to really belong to a bunch of people like these and pastor ray and these people wear jeans and don't dress properly you know this well yes surprise surprise God's plan is that the body the body of Christ helps one another little kids are nice Tasya grandpas and grandmas looking do you know my pastor's wife when we were young he was young now he's in heaven and his wife is in a in a retirement home and my secretary goes and picks her up and she just walks bent over with a little but she looks at you as Louise is that you yes mrs. wallet it's me and you know there's something psychologically blessed I wish I had more time on that but the local church is a place that you join because jesus said so because he lives here because you're part of it I get or not uh-huh if you don't like the church you should write a letter of resignation to Jesus Christ not yeah not to them I say Lord Jesus I don't like your church I'm resigning write me off your book and you'll say hey buddy I gave my blood for those people don't you insult them I'm coming after you yeah I said sure and you know well I I carried on and Teresa back there do you know Teresa think she's a secret police woman and she she stuff my time is up really but I want to finish with this Jesus Christ is relevant to the sociological order study it for yourself the intellectual inquiries the psychological disorders the economy he's relevant to the family husband wife and kids how can we have come I've been married to my wife 52 years I tell you it gets wobbly as you get older but it's good it's good I'm sticking with her has been very good and for her sticking with me even better you know ah but we both have known Jesus Christ we were children she was 8 I was 12 when we gave our lives to Christ but you know the Bible tells us how to do it in a winsome way and then I gotta finish with this Jesus Christ is relevant to the call of eternity and that's the last trip you're going to take a grandma friend of ours who took the trip finally and from Dallas to have it so I want to write a little booklet called how to get the heavens or Sacramento Calif and that led ray to it but it's all all go the same way but you know Jesus Christ when he rose from the dead he overcame Satan and sin and the tomb and the grave and we know that when you die you go straight to heaven because Jesus Christ is your Lord and your Savior and you know that gives you perspective on life instead of asking why faith in Martin Luther said doesn't ask why but what what do you want me to do in the years I have left what do you want me to do now that my wife is gone what do you want me to do with the fact that my child just died Lord what what what the Y will be answered when we get to heaven the what is the question we should ask now and you know the glory of knowing it gives you peace it gives you stability it gives you wings to fly through the storm when you know that the moment you die you go straight to heaven Jesus Christ said you remember in John chapter 28 10 verse 28 I love it I give them eternal life it's a gift and it's eternal and it's life no one can snatch you out of my hands you will never perish and then it says in 1st John chapter 5 God has given us eternal life this life is in his son Jesus Christ whoever has the son of God has life whoever does not have a son of God does not yet have life so I have a final question for you do you have eternal life do you have Jesus Christ living in your heart God has given us eternal life I've had eternal life since I was 12 years old and it was a gift of God as a boy of 12 when I invited Jesus Christ into my heart and from that night it was a night I know that I know that I have eternal life because the Holy Spirit whom I told you comes in the Bible says the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are indeed children of God so how do you know that you have eternal life now and that when you die you go straight to the presence of the Lord because not only is it written in the Holy Word of God but it's confirmed by the Holy Spirit in your heart if you don't have the assurance of eternal life I'd like you to have it right now and so would the Lord which is more important so let's bow our heads in prayer shall we I'd like to read you in a prayer because some of you men perhaps and I'm sure many young people you don't have that assurance and this is what God wants for you so let's pray and if in your heart you say yes Oh Lord Jesus I want your relevancy in my life for my social life for my intellectual quest for my psychological disorders for my guilt Lord Jesus Christ come into my life for my family harmony for my sexual self-control for overcoming temptation and evil Lord Jesus Christ come into my heart for the assurance that I'm your child for the assurance that I have eternal life for the assurance Oh God that when I die I'm going straight into your presence in heaven come into my heart Lord Jesus and I thank you that you're alive and that you've heard my prayer and that I'm yours forever in his name I thank you amen and amen

Channel: Bayside Church

Views: 33,109

Rating: 4.8400002 out of 5

Keywords: California (HUD County Place)

Id: BXbXLmgQ95o

Length: 33min 38sec (2018 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2013