Mission Drift - Pastor Stan Harvey

let's go to the word of the lord in hebrews chapter 2 verse number 1 to verse 4 hebrews chapter 2 verse 1 to 4. praise god [Music] hebrews 2 1-4 the bible tells us therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away i'm reading from the new king james version let's give the more earnest heed to the things we we have heard lest we drift away for if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him god also bearing witness both with signs and wonders with various miracles and gifts of the holy spirit according to his own will amen the writer of hebrews says in that first verse of the second chapter that we must more earnestly take heed lest we drift away i want to talk to you on this on this topic mission drift mission drift praise god let us pray we have a prayer request for a george uh spero's father who is battling cancer he needs a miracle from god i also want to pray for a young lady in new zealand by the name of bridey she had a car accident was in a coma for for many many weeks god healed her and she came out of a coma but now she's in a a bit of emotional distress because uh she's only just beginning to walk and talk again but we believe that god can do something in her life so would you lift up your voices wherever you are joining with us together in the name of jesus lord we thank you that we can call upon your name we thank you that you are a high priest that is touched by the feelings of our infirmities and that you have compassion and mercy on your people today and so i ask you for for george lord spiro's dad that god you would touch this man and bring healing to his body lord as he's battling cancer lord god we're asking you to recover him to heal him and in the process lord god that he come to know you in a greater way i pray for his healing his deliverance in jesus name and we pray for this young lady uh friends of brother ray and sister betty lord we're asking you for bridie's life that you continue to bring a recovery uh upon her her movement her her body her speech her cognitive abilities lord i pray that you would heal her brain and lord in the process lord god she would come to know you and that you would heal her heart lord god and give her strength in her spirit right now in jesus name we thank you for for their salvation and others that are struggling with health today we ask you to go to them the healing virtue of god would flow upon their lives in jesus name lord speak to us we ask once again as you anoint your servant and your people the power of your word in jesus name amen amen god bless you why don't you give the person next to you a high five if you are with somebody if not give yourself a high five give yourself multiple high fives and clap unto the lord amen god bless you thank you for being with us today we are we are blessed uh to live in a country that has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world i've seen recently uh people have gone out to the beaches and uh the sand sandy beaches are covered uh with with beachgoers and uh as beautiful as the beach that we have where as an island uh surrounded by water coastal waters we have some of the most gorgeous beaches in the world but it's also some of the most hazardous in the world with treacherous surfs and rips and with a lack of open sea experience there are about 250 to 300 beach drownings every year in australia you gotta be careful i remember one summer's day out at a well-known eastern suburbs beach with friends many many years ago when i was young uh they were not not we weren't very good surfers but we wanted to go to the beach and we got out there and one day we were just we were just swimming and of course they teach you to swim between the flags and we had a big group of us just teenagers young people and and uh we were just as it were all looking in the water enjoying the water and the sun and and we little to to our knowledge one of the young ladies started to sort of drift out away from between the flags and nobody had noticed because we were all just so preoccupied with just enjoying ourselves in the water and all the things and nobody had even noticed but this young lady drifted away from the flags and was caught out in the rip and as she was dragged out by this rip out into the sea further out into the deep water she was desperately trying to swim back to shore but she was swimming against the rip that was pulling her even further away and and to our dismay we had again we had no realization that this was happening until one of her friends looked for her and saw that she had gone way out and she was struggling to stay afloat and she could see her waving not to wave to try and say hello but waving because she was beginning to drown and quickly her friend called the lifeguard that was a little further out that was in seated between the flags and he had seen her went out and rescued her and this was a traumatic experience what started out as a a beautiful experience a day out on the beach had had quickly had this sobering experience which we had just averted a very serious tragedy she was saved and this experience reminds me that it is not too dissimilar from our christian walk that life has a way of getting us so preoccupied and consumed by the things of this life by the world by the pressures and by the distractions of life by the flesh that if we are not careful we can begin to drift away from what we have received from god and heard from the voice of god that we can so easily drift away from what is most important and that is the salvation of our souls i believe that this is what the writer of hebrews was trying to convey is that there is a natural drift that our flesh takes and it's an opposite direction from god the world has an appeal that draws a person away from truth and away from righteousness and holiness and if we are not careful we will find ourselves not immediately perhaps but gradually and slowly drifting away from the salvation and the pillar of truth that god has called us to we can get so caught up and consumed just by life itself and i'm not saying that everything is life is bad they are good things that god has given us good things he's given us life and relationships and blessings to enjoy but can i tell you that it is possible for us to become so consumed by the things of this life that we can find ourselves drifting and drifting until we are we recognize and we are realized too late that we have been caught in a rip that has pulled us away from where god wants us to be i want you to understand brothers and sisters ladies and gentlemen perhaps you have stumbled across this live stream this video here today but let me tell you that if it's the first time that you're hearing the the gospel preached that there is nothing more important in your life than to be saved the bible tells us it is appointed unto every man wants to die and then comes the judgment and no matter what you do with your life the most important thing that you can consider here today is where you will spend eternity is that when your life on earth is finished it's true that where you will spend life after that is the most important thing that you could ever consider in your life today and for the days ahead and for all the rest of your life amen because regardless of how great your life might be on earth and regardless of how long your life may be in this physical world you might enjoy 80 years 90 even over a hundred years that may be wonderful but can i tell you it is still so short in comparison to the eternity that awaits us oh i would to god that you would hear what i'm saying to you today that the most important decision you will ever have to make the most important thought and consideration that will ever go through your mind is whether i am saved or not and i've got some good news for you is that today you can be saved today you can come to know jesus and avail yourself of the salvation that he has purchased for you and i oh bless the name of the lord your salvation is the most important thing hallelujah that's the whole reason why god came into this world he enrolled himself in in flesh he walked the earth and then the bible tells us that he went to the cross he laid down his life was nailed to the cross and he gave his life for you and i why so that you and i and every person every human being can be saved that we can go to heaven that we can spend eternity not in hell not in torment but in eternal bliss enjoying paradise with the creator of all life oh i've come to talk to somebody this is the most important thought the most important decision the most important consideration that you will ever have to make is your salvation and so it is absolutely crucial that you realize that you can't we can't afford to drift from this so great the bible says in hebrews a so great a salvation that we cannot neglect it and here's here's what you got to do here's the promise jesus christ died for us he shed his blood to pay for the penalty of our sins and by that grace we have now access to his salvation and so what we must do is is is acknowledge him and believe and have faith in christ and then repent of our sins that simply means to make a decision to change your mind to change your life and begin to walk after god when you were walking away walking away into destruction now when you repent it means you're turning your your direction around you're you're doing a 180 towards heaven so that we you can be saved and the bible tells us when you repent of your sins we are to be baptized in jesus name for the remission of our sins so that we can have our sins removed that's where the blood of jesus is applied upon repentance and baptism in his name he takes away our sins and then the scripture tells us that he will fill us with the gift of the holy spirit that will regenerate our spirits that were dead in sin it now comes alive by virtue of the power of the holy ghost oh thank god for this born-again experience that jesus said except a man is born again of water and of these spirit he cannot see the king he cannot even enter the kingdom of god but today god has given us that wonderful privilege and if you've had that experience if you've been born again of water in the spirit why don't you lift your hands begin to wave him into heaven begin to thank god that we are saved that we are born again oh that my name is written in the lamb's book of life oh praise god glory to god hallelujah thank you jesus this is the most important consideration not just for the the unsaved not just for those who don't know christ but let me tell you this is important for even the believer amen because we we might have a tendency that once we're born again that somehow we just get on with the rest of life we can become so consumed by by the affairs of this life that is possible that we begin to drift after a while uh when somebody walks away or another way another word that that we could use for this portion of hebrews that drifting away is backslide a person doesn't kind of backslide just like that but there is a drifting a a moving away simply because because life has a way of just pushing us like like the currents of the sea like the waves of the ocean it just before you know it it's it's pushing right away from away the flags that you don't even recognize you've moved right away from the grace of god and so uh the the remedy that the writer of hebrews gives to us is that we must give the more earnest heed that we've got to pay attention that you can't lose sight of it that you know when you go swimming in these uh treacherous beaches of australia sometimes you gotta every every couple of minutes you gotta keep looking at the flags you got to keep going back and let me tell you not only is the salvation of god written in holy scripture for us to be born again but let me remind you our salvation is not something we did once and then we forget about it but it's something that we've got to give a more earnest heed because it is power for living amen turn to your neighbor and tell them powerful living our salvation what we heard from the voice of our lord is power for living what are you talking about well i've always i was already born again 25 years ago i've already experienced that but let me remind you that this is power for living that if you keep your salvation at the forefront i'm not saying that we should be living in fear and living with as if looking over our shoulders every minute wondering whether god's gonna strike us down no that's not what i'm talking about but what i'm talking about is that the bible says he that endures to the end shall be saved that means you've got to always have your salvation at the forefront of your heart of your mind it becomes power to you when it comes to every decision that you have to make it becomes power in your life for every circumstance that you face so that when you get tempted when you are tempted to to do something you simply ask the question is this going to drift me further away from my salvation or will this keep me on track to where god is calling me with every circumstance you face you simply ask the question is this going to cause me to lose my salvation oh yes i'll get a bit of extra money when i do that over time oh yes i'll have a little bit more more pocket change if i if i go to that other place if i move for that job and for that money yes i'll get a little bit more money but is there a church there is it going to get you closer to god will it be a greater source of temptation for you that it will rob you and take your focus away from your salvation that's why it's power for living because it becomes the answer to every question that you face a lot of people come to me and say well you know a pastor i just want you to pray with me see if it's god's will for me to to do this do that well i asked the question well is is it gonna put you at risk of causing you to to take your eyes of heaven the bible again makes a very strange statement in ecclesiastes the bible tells us that that it's better to go to the house of of morning than it is to go to the house of feasting and that that's strange to me because i would always rather go to prefer to go to a party than to uh to a funeral i'd rather do weddings than funerals as somebody in our church here somebody said that they'd rather do funerals than weddings because weddings can be stressful but the bible says it's better to go to a funeral why because you will consider the end of all things he says because you will put it to heart and listen to me brothers and sisters we've got to keep at the forefront of our hearts and minds always our salvation is this going to affect my salvation is this decision going to cause me to drift further away or will it get me closer to god amen can i tell you if you never make a million dollars if you never have your name in lights if you're never able to build your your your dream mansion amen but you are saved oh i'm telling you that is the most important thing and if you can keep your eyes fixed and keep looking to salvation and say salvation is not just something i did and i'm not trying to earn salvation but don't let me take my eyes off the flags don't let me drift away into some some dangerous ground in territory but it says to give the more earnest heed to what you heard i heard that all i've heard that all my life pastor i've heard acts 2 38 until it's coming out of my if ears heard it and you're sick of it it means you ought to be preaching it if you're sick of somebody else preaching until you go out and preach acts 2 38 oh don't let us ever get so sick and tired of salvation don't let us don't ever ever take for granted don't lose the majesty and the miracle and the wonder of your salvation don't forget about your testimony where god took you out from remember where he took you out from the darkness from the myriad clay from the gutter and he placed you in a place where you were saved where your heart is cleansed where your mind has been purified oh don't forget but we ought to rejoice that's what it tells us in the book of revelation they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony oh keep your eyes on the prize that paul said this one thing i do he didn't say i do ten things or five things but he said one focus have i got in my life i'm gonna put the things in the past behind me and i'm going to push i'm going to press towards the mark for the prize oh i want to get my prize i don't care what the world says i want to hear the words from my savior well done thou good and faithful servant oh hallelujah glory to god be careful of the drift be careful because the currents and the tides are ever so subtle you think you're standing in the same spot but 10 minutes later you've drifted that's why the word of god tells us to take heed lest you fall first corinthians chapter 10 verse number 12 here's what it says wherefore let him that thinks he stands be careful of your sense of self-confidence take heed or be watchful look out in case you fall for there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man remember that we are all tempted with the same temptations we all have the same degrees of of temptation and same levels of trials we we all go through periods of depression that will cause us we vote there's nothing new under the sun you're not unique that you're the only one that gets tempted by this oh pause you don't know what i've been through with and again i'm not minimizing people's lives that have gone through such horrible circumstances i understand but hear me here's what the word of god says there's no temptation taking you but such as is come to man but god watch this is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able there it is you will never get to a place where you can't handle it that god doesn't believe that you can handle it but we'll watch this with the temptation verse 13 also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it he said with every temptation there's a way of escape amen with every temptation on your computer it's called the delete button or or turn it off amen if you're alone in a car with somebody i tell our young people all the time yeah well you know it got hot and heavy in there and you know the the music was on and you know we just couldn't help it you know let me listen to there was a temp that temptation has a way of escape it's called the door handle you simply pull it like this however and you you escape you get out joseph even left his garment in the hands of part of his wife he ran he flee he fled that's what the bible says you've got to flee youthful lust amen so don't let it drift and as a church as a church we can't afford to drift from our mission and our purpose here's here's the crutch of my message today that it's very easy for us in the body of christ to become so busy to become so occupied with certain things and a lot of those things are good and necessary but we can't afford to lose our mission and drift from the purpose that god has called us hadden robinson the famous homiletician who passed away recently tells a power of a parable where he was driving in the state of colorado with his daughter and they were in a little road at the base of the rockies and they went up the road and they went to to the left and as they went to the left they saw a little cafe called the church of god in christ chicken restaurant it's a nice little building packed full uh every sunday and wednesday and usually usually at lunchtime they're full you go there and order they give you a buzzer and and when your order's ready uh they they the buzzer will go off and then you go and sit down if they find you a table as you're waiting for it to be seated directly behind the cafe there is a small chapel and you can listen you can go into that small chapel listen to gospel music that's being played and then even hear a a preacher exhorting folks to obey the gospel and across from that building is a little path a large metal building and as you step into this metal building you hear the narrations of the scenes of the life of jesus outside there is a playground called the new jerusalem it's kind of fashioned on the old jerusalem and it's a playground where kids can play as their parents wait for their orders to arrive when hadden and his his daughter checked into the restaurant there it was a fairly thin crowd it was later in the afternoon wasn't many people there so they were seated immediately he says and they started to talk to the waitress and asked her about the name of the of the restaurant they were intrigued and they wanted to know the history of the the name and so the waitress began to explain to them about this the name and she said it used to be the restaurant used to be a church it was about 50 to 60 people it had two signature marks that they had a preacher whom they whom she called the bible man and they had great fellowship they wanted the church decided that they wanted to increase attendance and they wanted to also raise funds and so every quarter they would have a potluck i don't know if we call it pot luck here in australia where you know all the different church members bring food and you know like what we have with our with our all nations which is going to come up and soon hopefully uh where everybody brings it you know those those events they have some of the most amazing foods uh and so they have this potluck where once a quarter everybody brings food and they invite the community their friends and the church goes from about 50 to 60 people up to a hundred almost double in those times of potlucks and and there were some amazing cooks in that church that made some of the best fried chicken in that church and so they were so impressed by by the success that they had a board meeting the elders gathered together and said well you know what why don't we i've got an idea why don't we do this more than a quarter why don't we do this every month and so they started a potluck every month and once again the community came out they enjoyed it they they managed to to play the gospel music and to preach the word of god and they were able to do that and they said wow this is wonderful and they raised a whole bunch of money so the elders had another board meeting and they they got together again and said well why don't we just do this not just once a month but once a week and so they thought what a brilliant idea that is and so they they gathered again and once a week they started having potluck then why don't we do this twice a week so they did it on a sunday and wednesday and and they said well you know we're getting really busy and and you know we're getting you know and and everybody was happy the church was happy except of course the ones having to cook every week they they weren't so happy i think some of our ladies sister emma who who does that and they said don't worry we'll hire cooks we'll buy all the food and also they said well you know it's uh we're getting so busy we need to to dwindle our worship service down from an hour and a half down to 45 minutes we got to get it all done they were they were having such success that they thought that we got a problem here we're getting too many people not enough room so they hired some uh they hired some consultants and the consultants turned around told them what they needed to do you need to uh you know buy more buildings you got to make more property you got to you got to understand why you were successful in the first place and you might need to get rid of your pastor so the the bible man the old fella they kind of let him go because he just didn't have room and they said instead of church service we'll build another building behind us and we'll just play gospel music in the chapel there and if people want to go and have church they can go and have church but we'll turn this main sanctuary into a restaurant full-time restaurant and then we'll also create other buildings so that other people can enjoy and that's how they went from being the church to the church of god in christ chicken restaurant they had lost they had drifted away from their mission they had drifted away and and i don't have time to to give to you the litany of organizations that a hundred years ago 200 years ago even perhaps started out as a mission work started out of the church of the living god and yet they became consumed and preoccupied with other things that they lost their focus and their mission and today they don't resemble at all the church of the living god can i tell you here today brothers and sisters p.o.s we need to help the poor we need to help others and thank god for the generosity as i said of this wonderful church the members of the church that will move with compassion of late and have really blessed me to see how that they're just so ready to help those in need and thank god for that we need to do that but let us remember that we our focus is still to get people born again and ready for heaven going there are so many organizations faith-based organizations that started out as churches that started out to to reach the lost amen but they saw a need and that's wonderful until they pulled all of their resources to some simply becoming a welfare agency god did not call us to be a welfare ngo and we do need to help we do need to give we ought to be the most giving people in the world please don't get me wrong but remember what god has called us to do it's not just to feed somebody's stomach for a day or a week but to get them to heaven our calling our mission our goal of this church is still the great commission of jesus christ it is to preach the gospel to every creature it is to make disciples of all nations that's what our focus and our mission is hallelujah we can't lose sight of that i heard somebody say recently all you christians you've got your own ulterior motives you've got your personal gender that's what i don't like about christian said and i said yes i admit to you we do have an ulterior motive even when we give even when we give food to the needy and we should and we need to but there's still an ulterior motive within us it's not just to feed them but we want to get you to heaven we don't want to just put a roof over your head and put clothes on your back and yes we want to do that because that's needful but in the process there is an agenda underlying everything that we do there's an agenda when you come into the doors of this church for the first time i've got an agenda and that agenda is to get you to heaven we don't want your money we don't want your membership we don't want all of these things what we want is to do what jesus called us to do is to get you ready for heaven going oh praise the name of the lord hallelujah and it is so easy to drift to lose our focus and plea please don't misunderstand me i again i'm i'm emphasizing the need for us to help those that are struggling we ought to become the most generous group of people this world has ever seen but beyond that more than that is to get you to heaven i think the the same picture that we saw in acts in acts chapter three were peter and john on their way to church said silver and gold have i none such as i have i give unto thee in the name of jesus christ could it be that our affluence and our prosperity living in the western world has caused us to to rely and and it's much easier to give stuff to somebody than it is to confront them with the truth of the gospel it's much easier to to give stuff so that we don't have to have that awkward conversation but let me remind you the mission of this church we are we are not just to feed their stomachs for a day but we are to do whatever we can to tell them the truth because what good is it if we if we give them stuff and they may live for 80 years and 100 years but eternity they are in damnation you've got to remember don't lose sight of the flags don't lose sight of the mission don't drift away from what god has called us to do this is what we're about yes i admit i confess i've got an ulterior motive and that is to get every person that i meet ready for heaven that they may not they may not go to hell but that they would go to heaven forever with christ hallelujah howard pugh was born into one of the wealthiest families in the united states the turn of the century the 19th century late in the 19th century having inherited his father's company head of sun oil or what they call sunoco he became a devout evangelical christian and was a great supporter of a famous evangelist by the name of billy graham maybe you've heard of him pew became a generous contributor to the church one of the wealthiest families in the united states he started the pew memorial foundation which governed seven different trusts in the pew uh in in in his understanding in pew's mind he wanted to create a trust that would fund the gospel it became known as a pew charitable trust it included seminaries training preachers to become missionaries and pastors he gave money for what we know today that started he funded what started what's called christianity today one of the biggest christian publishers uh magazine in the world howard pugh died in 1971 and billy graham spoke at his funeral unfortunately since his death the pew charitable trusts have departed away from howard's intention and more than an inadvertent creep they've actually taken a full u-turn from the work he believed and now the pew charitable trust is a major funder of planned parenthood the organization that that commits hundreds of thousands millions of abortions every year they now give to ivy league schools and they cut off the funding to seminaries how how is it that what started off as something that was good and pure and right and the truth of the gospel is now funding something that is at odds and antithetical to the principles of the word of god can i tell you in the midst of what we're going through in the midst of this pandemic in the midst of the political tension well god did not call us to be a political party i'm sorry he didn't call us to preach politics he called us to preach the gospel we we can't degenerate into something that god never called us to if you want to start that you go ahead and do that but god called this the mission of this church to preach the gospel if we all die of the virus or if we all die of the vaccine it doesn't matter as long as we are preaching the gospel of jesus christ that's what god has called us to and we can't lose sight of that we can degenerate into some kind of political movement yes we will stand up for righteousness yes we will stand up for justice yes we will speak and we will advocate for the marginalized and the broken and the downtrodden but all all of which is with a view to getting them ready for heaven with a view to getting them saved thank god for our technology thank god for the gifts and the talents in this church but listen to me we are not we are not an entertainment center we are not here to to impress you i thank god for the videos we've been able to put together in the live stream and the platforms but listen we're not here to impress you with music and entertainment and and to to wow the world and say look how good no that's not our cause that's not our purpose we worship to enter in the presence of god and for god to open your heart so that the gospel can be brought into the heart of a soul that they might be saved hallelujah that's what god's called us to do in this hour whatever our limitations are we cannot afford to drift i'm sorry we can't afford to move away from the calling of god hallelujah george williams again in the 19th century started a a movement he saw that the young people of london the young men of london were were getting into all kinds of evil and sin and strife so he began an organization that would gather up all the young people young men and this organization would would commission twenty thousand missionaries for christ that organization is called the ymca young man's christian association today ymca has simply been reduced to a social club a recreational uh program to the extent where they dropped the letters mca to where now it is simply called the why and and here's what we've got to learn to do and understanding and keeping our eyes focused and not drifting aways we've got to always remember our why like simon sinek wrote in that book start with the y start with your y know your why and the how it will come will come later yes we do have to change our methods we have to change the way that we do things absolutely but we've got to go back to the our why as to why we do what we do back in the day the the the young it's called the youth life it was another organization that was started you know how they started they started by appealing to young people by doing barbershop quartets now i'm not suggesting we do that today i don't think a barbershop quartet will necessarily appeal to the younger generation amen you know they now that that same ministry called the youth life they they use you know social media and and all these kind of other platforms to appeal to the young age we've got to change our methods but folks we can't drift away from our why our how will change it will develop we we're living in a new world we live in a time where we can broadcast away from each other in our homes our how changes but our why never changes it's still the same and you got to remember that before somebody dies the last thing they say often is the most important thing that they say let me remind you of the last things that jesus said before he ascended into heaven to remind us of our why so that we don't drift from our purpose he said go into all the world let me say it again and preach the gospel unto every creature make disciples of all nations it doesn't matter what color what creed what language with nationality make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father son and holy ghost and that's what we know as jesus and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i have commanded you hallelujah we cannot afford to lose the anchoring of our purpose and here it is i know we only reserve this usually for the beginning of the year but our mission the mission of this church is encapsulated in three words ready set go we just had the olympics that's what they say ready said go get people ready for heaven going that's our mission get them set get them discipled ready and knowing god's word and then go to release them so that they can make other disciples amen that's what we've called to do stephen prothero from the professor of religion at boston university said this he said study after study has shown that religions that grow are the ones that are hardcore in some way i'm not saying being legalistic and being arrogant but he says they have something that differs sharply from the culture in which they operate and he said that's the problem with mainline protestantism it's not different enough from mainstream america he said the more different the organization is the more it has the ability and the power to change its culture can i tell you it the the the the word of god is is clear it's black and white except a man is born again he can't enter into the kingdom of god how is it organization after organization somehow that started in the mission of christ has drifted drifted away thank god for our giving thank god for our our charity thank god that we will stand up and speak against any injustice thank god for the talent and ability but don't forget the why to give the more earnest heat i i got saved 15 years ago i know all about that don't don't lose sight to give the more earnest heat by remembering your why by focusing in on our cause and our purpose one young man shared to me recently just just yesterday he's in lock down one of these lgas he said but i can walk around my neighborhood so he put on his baptism t-shirt that we have here in our church he grabbed his tracks met with another brother from the area they started walking around the neighborhood he prayed before he says the lord bring somebody across my way and he's walking down the lane these they meet an elderly gentleman an indigenous brother who stopped them and began to ask about what's on their t-shirt and he started to share to them the gospel and he said i was brought up by my mother who was a christian and i remember that they started this two young man from our church decided to share to this this older gentleman and they said on tuesday they're going to have a meal together and he said he wants them to come back and teach him about baptism [Music] his name is uncle neal and uncle neal we're going to believe in seeing you baptize in jesus name just last week a young lady from from syria sister robin giving her bible studies he said i know we're locked down but we i have to get baptized i said okay under pastoral care we said you come over and she had been teaching and sharing the gospel to her muslim neighbor a young lady who lives across the hallway from her unit and last week we baptized both her and her neighbor in the name of jesus christ this is all you guys focus so much on that on so on the holy ghost and baptist yes because that's our why if we never if we never grow if we never at least we're trying to reach somebody if if we never make all of these other things that we we think are so so important if we get so saved if we get people born again and ready for heaven that is our why we're not going to drift we're not going to neglect so great as salvation it's great not only because jesus paid the price for us but it's great because it becomes the power for living it becomes the answer to every question it becomes the focal point the foundation by which we always refer back are we saved hallelujah wherever you are we just stand i'm sorry taking a little long i can go on all day and talk to you about the what we're doing what we're seeing hallelujah saw such incredible uh response from our church to help a precious young lady young mom but this same young mom she knew what god was doing in her life she started inviting her family over new zealand to do bible studies with her and just several weeks ago her father and her brothers and her mother were all baptized in jesus name they were filled with the holy ghost i'm telling you yes we're going to help yes we're going to give yes we're going to speak truth and righteousness oh but there is an agenda that underpins and underlies everything that we do that's our focus that's our goal hallelujah wherever you are hallelujah would you lift your voices right now we're gonna we're gonna worship and we're gonna make a time for an altar but i would to god that if you have not been saved that you would repent of your sins today and get ready for salvation if you want to be baptized contact us or if you live in another city or country we can we can connect you with somebody please let us know but if you are already a born-again believer and somehow our our eyes and our lives have drifted away just just because of life simply because life has a way of distracting us away the life has a way of besetting us i want you to pray god bring me back to my salvation the joy of mice restore unto me that's what david said restore unto me the joy i don't care how many times i've heard it but oh i'm gonna remember and rejoice when i see somebody getting baptized getting the holy ghost when i see somebody repenting of their sins when i see a life feeling conviction something's got to change in me i will rejoice and be glad and would you lift your hands right now in jesus name father we pray right now for everyone that is not sure of their salvation that we repent of our sins we ask you for your forgiveness we ask you to have mercy on us we ask you lord god that we would be ready for heaven going lord we repent of our sins lord our desires to make it right with you and to to have our sins washed away in baptism and lord even now that you would give us the gifts of the holy ghost even in our rooms even in remotely watching on the internet right now lord fill them with the holy ghost with the evidence or the sign of speaking in the language that they don't understand lord phil right now we pray in jesus name filled with your holy spirit right now let the baptism of the holy ghost be upon your servant your people in jesus name and right now we pray lord god that our hearts would turn back again to the truth to your words lest we let it drift away cause us to drift away from your grace from your truth from our purpose from our why god right now we come back we want to be a preacher of the gospel we want to make disciples of all nations we want to see lies change help us to be bold in confronting people with the truth out of love give us a boldness take away fear give us the courage to tell them the truth oh lord in jesus name right now hallelujah as the singers lead us in worship i want you to make an altar wherever you are and continue to pray just for a few moments today [Music] my heart's breathing [Music] for you [Music] will shine away [Music] is [Music] [Music] we will open up our eyes we will not ignore rise we will seek out the forsaken we will not be found [Music] we will be the church and rise [Music] our hearts are dead [Music]

Channel: POSydney

Views: 458

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, Sydney, pentecostal, POS, Australia, worship

Id: pIfhT6U6TK8

Length: 52min 18sec (3138 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021