Presence Night - John Arnott, Re-Stream (March 19th, 2021)

come on let's just start this morning by lifting up our [Music] just want to voices [Music] you worthy of our praise [Music] we want [Music] the reason why we're here today is we choose connection yeah come on keep lifting up your voice let's release the sound to break open heaven [Applause] [Music] your father loves to hear your voice the father loves to hear your voice [Music] how we love you so good you're so good [Music] on [Applause] yes [Music] we love you you give life [Music] is great are you [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is us is [Music] [Music] grace [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] our hearts will cry oh i'm is is [Applause] oh [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Applause] hey we see [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] we see [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] now [Music] a thousand songs so receive now this humble offering i want to bless you worthy you want to sing this out be praised [Music] be praised [Music] you deserve [Music] a thousand songs the world [Music] [Applause] is is [Music] [Applause] it be a sweet with a heart that loves me [Applause] let it be a sweet is we want to bless you you are [Music] is [Music] now that it is [Music] let our worship [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] ah [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] i wanna bless your heart i wanna bless your heart let it be a sweetness bless your hands [Music] oh [Applause] music to you [Music] [Music] we worship you in this place this morning you're the object of our affection you're the only one we love we adore you [Music] [Music] oh [Music] you [Music] in your name [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] see [Music] your life [Music] maybe [Music] be [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] let's sing that again i love you [Music] oh [Music] my [Music] is [Music] please [Music] come on let's just lift up of all my offerings of all i can bring today so deserving [Music] when he comes to loving you god when it comes to loving you god [Music] see it's like a sweet perfume like a sweet perfume [Music] this is the way we move the father we move you by the posture in our hearts oh it's like sweet perfume like sweet perfume come on keep moving the heart of the father [Music] keep moving the heart of the father with your voice with your voice the only voice [Music] he's the one [Music] cause one thing have i desired of the lord that one thing i seek to get [Music] together [Music] god [Music] um i was oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] just [Music] upon your face [Music] just fix your eyes fix your eyes there's nothing else there's nothing else [Music] and there's nothing else [Music] [Applause] [Music] beauty [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] just upon your face there's nothing else [Music] [Music] beauty nothing else [Music] we [Music] there's nothing else [Music] just [Music] oh just [Music] devotion this is our vocation to join with the elders to join with the angels [Music] just to love you with a whole heart with a whole heart with a whole heart [Music] all of the commandments were summed up into loving you love you lord your god with all of your heart your mind your soul and strength this is our one thing god [Music] is to love you let this be our one thing let this be your one thing to see your face let this [Music] let this be your one thing to see your face hearts close to you where they've wondered where we've wandered to the left and to the right we pull ourselves back and fix our eyes we fix our eyes where we've been distracted god where we've been distracted god we repent and we fix our guests [Music] to build our own name where we've gone into selfish gain and selfish ambition we turn our hearts again we turn our hearts [Music] we remind our souls again that you we're the reason why we're doing this this morning [Music] jesus [Music] jesus the only king my jesus [Music] oh jesus [Music] my jesus [Music] the main thing jesus just lift up his name tonight [Music] jesus our main focus [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] jesus you put our focus back [Music] our on and only savior [Music] jesus our trusted friend forever you [Music] are [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] um when the music fades and all is [Music] i'll bring you more a song i'll bring you more than a song for a song [Music] you search [Music] i'm coming back [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is you search much [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh it's all [Music] one more time coming back [Music] [Music] [Music] is just close your eyes friends just stay connected to his presence right now [Music] my understanding of the bible the teaching of jesus is that every person needs to have three different counters the three different persons of the godhead and usually the progression is that we meet jesus first then we have an experience where we're full of the holy spirit and for many people that's where it stops and we've found that followers of jesus who are full of the holy spirit need to meet the father and ian over here is one of the best there is of just saying a prayer to meet the father so go ahead in father we want to acknowledge your presence here with us this morning [Music] do you know that in his presence we're all changed it says in the word of god he says before i made the heavens and the earth he says i knew you [Music] no father god's been carrying around his heart for thousands of years just receive this on your heart he says he says you're exactly what i wanted right now even in our imperfect state you're exactly what i wanted just receive that just put one hand on your heart would you [Music] father i receive your love this morning you love me for who i am you don't love me for what i know or what i do for you but because i'm your child it's a place of rest acceptance healing even empowerment thank you for loving me right now will you fill our hearts with revelation which brings transformation because you want to make us a little bit more like jesus today than we were yesterday feel us fill this place this is a safe place and father i'm asking for each one of us in this room today to have a personal encounter with the love of god [Music] we're made for encounter upon encounter upon encounter so we're believing that today [Music] to know you is to love you [Music] so fill this place fill each one of us with this incredible love we pray change us today wherever we're broken bring healing help us to step into sonship we're not just servants but we're sons and daughters of almighty god wow thank you father phil is with anticipation that we're going to encounter the most incredible love in the universe wow thank you in advance amen just keep your eyes closed holy spirit just keep coming here right now our worship teams just gotta lead us in another song just engage your spirit with what god's wanting to do right now i [Music] really love you i [Music] really wanna really love you i [Music] really love you i really wanna [Music] oh [Music] i'd like you just to be silent now and let these words be sung over you from the father so this is your responding this is the father's singing that he loves you right now really love you and i really [Music] i really love you [Music] why really love you and i [Music] really want to want you [Music] to really love you [Music] let's sing it again now with the father singing really love you i really want you i really love you know i really wanna [Music] [Applause] to [Music] really [Music] [Music] holy spirit we welcome you here [Music] one of the most profound teachings of jesus is is his actual last talk to 11 of his 12 disciples john 14 15 16. and it's the first time that he goes in depth to teach his followers about the role of the holy spirit and the role of the father and there's a pivotal verse that picks up in chapter 16 where he talks about jesus is saying i'm in the father i'm in the father's love and he's in me and he says to his 11 disciples there's coming a day when you will experience that and i believe what he was talking about was the day that they would meet jesus in that upper room they're hiding it's it's resurrection sunday night and jesus breathes on them that decide he brings on his disciples the holy spirit and the teaching of jesus is one of the purposes of the holy spirit is to bring father's love into our hearts so that we know without a shadow of doubt that he's in us and we're in him so holy spirit do that right now to that right now [Music] the bible's very clear this whole chapter is devoted to it god is love and it's really easy to read that and to in our brain though yep i agree but often our hearts don't feel that and your heart needs to know that today this isn't just words in the bible this is truth in my life so holy spirit come drop truth into our heart [Music] i want to have experiences with you right here right now in jesus name in jesus name come come holy spirit welcome here thank you jesus [Music] if you're able to transition back to your chair do that if you're not able just stay where you are i'm wondering if pastor isaac that i met from south africa if you're here pastor just come on up i'd just like to have you share what you shared with me this morning so pastor isaac i think that was your name from south africa well good morning everybody thank you so much for being with us today uh how about everyone stand up real quick and just want to greet four or five people say your first name where you from what city what country introduce find four or five people [Applause] and for all of you watching on catch fire tv on facebook live or youtube channel thank you so much for joining us today thank you for being with us and uh day two of our catch the fire conference and we're you're coming we're coming live from toronto canada and so glad that you joined us online and we're having a great time right here in the building as well [Applause] okay people you may be seated pastor isaac come on up [Applause] so friends this is isaac he's a pastor in south africa and what what happened to you last night at the back in the encounter room well it's been quite some time really not coming to this place i started coming to this place in the year 2000 and i really caught the fire and i kept coming from 2000 up to 2012 every year i was coming and then from 2000 2013 i was not coming until when i came yesterday i felt so dry and i really wanted to be here and by god's grace i made it coming here and last night when you were prayed for what was god doing then last night our first pickup was steve and i was not expecting that much thank you that's that's not uncommon but that teaching was prophetic to me the simon's issues that is what brought me here because now i was far away from the fire and you would imagine when you are far away from the fire you are nearer something some other stuff and the stuff that he was talking about it was so prophetic to me i was so touched i was so convicted it was like that teaching was for me out of all these people who were here last night and i really thank god for for the wonderful time last night it was it was about a resounding yes and mine was more than that resounding big yes to the holy spirit to say i give you the right of way on the inside of me and that was all and i was touched uh and not been prayed for i just felt his presence and wow i'm happy to be here bless you pastor duncan come on up you're a friend of isaac this is duncan smith he's going to be preaching later on in the conference and you've been to isaac's church why don't you pray for him again father i thank you for our beloved friend pastor isaac i thank you that you've brought him home into your great heart of love father i thank you so much for reaching and touching him in such an amazing way last night lord he's come so far and lord you touched him in the very first night because you're the best father in and out of the universe there's no one like you and father in the name of jesus take your son isaac lord and baptize him afresh with fire [Applause] fire on him in jesus name fire upon his wife and his beautiful family and his whole church fire on the holy spirit in jesus name fire on them in jesus name fire on south africa in jesus name let revival explode in south africa in jesus name in jesus name father what the enemy meant for evil you will turn around for good and i thank you god let this man of fire and all of his church and churches and movements and all the churches in south africa let them catch fire in a way that has never been experienced in all the history of the nation lord in jesus name in jesus name let let jesus receive the reward of his suffering south africa set on fire washed in the blood of jesus in jesus name whoa and father i ask you the path to isaac and this whole church would be an amazing amazing manifestation and dwelling place of daddy's love whew [Applause] thank you duncan that was a good prayer thank you duncan oh for those of you this is your first session uh especially every evening and potentially all the way through depending on how the the preacher is going to be releasing ministry but we have a room at the back uh we're designating it as our encounter room and we want you to spend time meeting the father the holy spirit meeting jesus this week would that be okay what's the theme of the conference a resounding yes thank you very very good this is kathy harris and kathy and her husband gordon lead the school of ministry that's based here but she also has another role and that is that kathy heads up a team of people all around the world who are helping to raise up church planters regardless of whether you're with catch the fire or any other network so kathy tell people what we do and how they can participate perfect so we are inviting all the church planters in this room if you're a church planter if you're a wannabe church planter if you want to be on a team with church planters we're inviting you so we're going to do an information session today at one o'clock it's going to be in room five which is upstairs so you just go up the stairs first room there and you know catch the fire um for years and years and years we were gathering gathering gathering and then we felt god say it is time to scatter if you take all of this and you scatter it out into the world there is going to be a revolution for jesus and so we're very passionate about that i think uh today there's a big i don't know if you'd call it a movement or especially in kind of young adults a huge revolution about social justice and my theory and my passion is if you take social justice and you put it in the church we will move mountains that need to be moved so let's plant churches let's do it together and come and and see us at one o'clock very very good good uh frank can you tell john that he's on in two minutes perfect i want to highlight one product every every session and right now i want to show you john and carroll's newest book it's called preparing for the glory the subtitle the tagline is getting ready for the next wave of holy spirit porn and john and carol have uh i would say written this for two purposes it's it's the the theme of their heart over the last couple years is that there is another massive wave of what god is wanting to do and i find it i find it fascinating i was when i wake up in the morning i do a number of different things but one of them is i quickly look at newspaper headlines from around the world and iran is in the news in the secular circles for potentially sending in some cruise missiles into saudi arabia and blowing up refineries and all that kind of stuff and the us government saying you shouldn't have done that we're coming to get you so that's on one side then i go to the christian newspapers the christian things and read that the fastest growing church in the world happens to be in iran and that god's doing stuff all over the world and so prophetically that's what john and carol have been seeing and believing and have been trying to provoke followers of jesus to pray into that to believe those kind of things so that's what this book's all about there's also a whole video series and so if you're a leader in a church you have a small group that you lead that's something that's a resource you can download and just prepare for that john come on up here i'd like you to stand with me friends and let's welcome john arnott i i haven't finished my introduction i was telling john last night i told my story last night that john phoned me on monday january 25 1994 and told me about the weekend that they had had with randy clark and if i hadn't answered that phone john and if you hadn't phoned me and if i hadn't felt a desperation i don't even know if it was a desperation i think i was sort of at the end and so why not go to a crazy church and i came and randy prayed for me met the holy spirit but you have you and carol have helped sandra and i through so much in the interview when john asked sandra and i to be pastors at this church and joined the team i was yes right away sandra was as i said last night was coming through depression burnout all those kind of things and in the interview she said okay i'll come but i won't love anybody and somehow john and carol looked past that and saw something potential in sandra and i and so we just want to say john you have a history of doing that you you are remarkable at seeing what isn't in the natural what isn't visible and just seeing what god could do if people say yes and so thank you so much for joining doing that job welcome and you've been just a faithful faithful friend and son for 25 years and uh did you want this yeah i'm just really really thankful for for you and sandra and for all of them really i mean it's amazing one of the things that we were discussing a couple of weeks ago when i was in pensacola was how the toronto team is really all still together like jeremy's there leading worship and and they they're asking themselves what are you doing now and they're like oh well i'm still with catch the fire you know i have a church up in just north of toronto and here we are all connected after all this time and that's a testimony to the goodness of god and the power of his love and it's the testimony john to you and carol that why it's like why would you ever leave home when there's an amazing mom and dad so yeah god bless you church get ready you may be seated john go for it all right thank you steve and by the way uh young this book is in korean now just for you and i have a copy one copy of it and so that'll be that'll be really good but it's it gets translated into various languages of course and uh yeah she'll she'll like the one in korean we didn't mean to knock you out there turn in some to someone and welcome them with you and say hey i'm glad you're here we're going to have a good time today in jesus name [Applause] i want to talk to you for a few minutes about a message that i call the convoluted journey and it's really designed to help all of us understand why life is not always easy and how the whole challenge of that is to stay up and stay full of faith and uh and not let life get you down to where you sink into discouragement and into depression and i want to free you from that confusion today and so let's look at a a very very wonderful scripture from romans chapter 8 verse 28 28-32 and we'll just look at that together romans 8 28. everybody knows that one by heart correct and we know don't we that all things work together for good to those who love god to those who were called according to his purpose for whom he foreknew he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers now here's a key friends he has predestinated you to be conformed to the image of jesus christ how many want that how many realize there's a process therefore that i need to go through for that the kind of process steve was talking about last night predestined moreover whom he predestined these he also called and whom he called he also justified and who he justified these he also glorified what shall we say then to these things if god before us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things say all things god wants to give you ultimately all things but there's the process that we must go through and so i want to get into it with you right here and uh we we know from hebrews chapter 11 that without faith it is impossible to please god all right so i want you to lay hold on faith there's so many elements here we could all talk about we could talk about the truth and the revelation of jesus christ we could talk about the love of god that we encounter we could talk about the experience we had with the holy spirit even last night but now we want to lay hold of it in faith knowing all of those things that there is a persistence and a perseverance that is given to us so that we can take a hold of these things and go the distance with it uh people uh before christ before you come to the lord there's there's there's big questions philosophical questions out there who am i why am i here how did i get here where am i going what's life all about and none of that really makes sense and you play around with different philosophies until you meet jesus christ and you get into the word of god and you begin to get the picture you are here for the glory of god and you have a purpose while you're here and you have an eternal future how many are thankful for heaven are you excited about that okay that's that's where we're all going we go we have answers to those things but the challenge for us is why is life so difficult in the between time you know we got our past taken care of our sins are forgiven we got our future taken care of we go to heaven when we die but meanwhile why are there these major difficulties that come along has anybody ever wondered that question only a few of you turn to the person next to you say why is life so difficult sometimes make them think about it and yeah trouble comes and see often realizing you can bring trouble on yourself by being stupid have you have you found that out anybody besides me i mean you can make wrong choices and do dumb things and bring trouble on yourself but that's not what i'm talking about i'm talking about as a christian you're trying to do your best and even then things go wrong and it gets confusing and that's what we want to deal with this morning people often have a theology that says nothing should ever go wrong and that's a hard one to hang on to in the face of some of life's challenges sometimes they they have a bit of a twisted faith that that that sort of has faith for the counter-attack what i'm talking about there is um when you believe you're in the will of god and things go wrong then that's verification for you you must be in the will of god because the enemy's fighting you so hard and i i think that's twisted and i don't think jesus lived that way but at the end of the day we have challenges in life and we're asking why do i have these uh hindrances so john chapter 16 verse 33 turn to that and your scripture if you can uh jesus uh the second half of that verse he says this in the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for i have overcome the world and when i'm um setting out carol and i planted our church in stratford ontario then came here planted this one um it was something that we wanted to be totally free to run and do the task at hand and yet there was always opposition there were always problems that were in my opinion slowing us down and i can remember having an intense time of prayer one day saying god what is the deal well we are struggling because there's a lack of anointing there is a lack of finance there's a lack of this and lack of that and you know what i think would really help is if you anointed us with the anointing like jesus carries then we could break through this whole thing and and just see it clear sailing and reap multitudes and in fact if you would just take one percent of the global body of christ and anoint them like jesus was anointed and i'm beginning to think wow what would that look like and i began to think lord we could wrap up this great commission thing in about 30 days [Applause] come on and so what is the deal why is there's so much opposition and i began to understand that the lord's purpose is not just to win the lost and it is his will that all should come unto repentance but he also has a purpose and a plan for you to mold you and shape you and form you into the image and the likeness of his dear son and that's what's taken all the time because we don't go through that willingly and um yeah matthew 7 24-25 so i want to give you a few scriptures that undergird this so you can figure out for yourself what's going on but that passage talks about the wise man built his house upon the rock remember that sunday school song baptist sunday school the wise man builds his house upon the wrong the foolish man built his house on this air the reigns came down and the floods came up and the house and the sand went flat how many remember that a few of you do good well the point of that parable that jesus told is that the rains come down on the and the floods came up on both houses it's just that one was built on the rock and it stood the the opposition it stood the test state where the one that was did not have the foundation it did not stand it and so psalm 34 19 tells us that many are the afflictions of the righteous but the lord delivers him out of the mall tell your friend the lord delivers him out of the mall now as a young believer um i got used to preaching that was full of rebuke in a way come on do more give more serve more read more study more witness more do everything more what's the matter with you get it together and it wasn't until we read kathryn kuhlman's book on i believe in miracles that we began to listen to her and and listen to her radio broadcast and you know what friends it was so different there wasn't this preacher beating us up with the bible but it was someone drawing us in with with the love of god and trying to make sense out of life and and and bring healing to people in need and problems it was it was so good for me and and what i what i remember too is the introduction to her radio program all the time and you know when i was in bible school i was working a night shift and i i recorded that on on on the on the car cassette recorder and so i could play it later on because her program was on while i was at work and it would start the same every day she would come out and so theatrical like hello there and have you been waiting for me oh that's so nice of you and remember just so long as god is still on his throne and hears and answers prayer and just so long as your faith in him is still intact everything will come out all right and you know i would just like oh catherine get on with it because that says the same same intro day after day after day you know i just like but you know what that stuck with me and i realized as i now began to go through some of life's horrendous challenges that the enemy coming against me was to unsettle my faith in god so that i would begin to say things like well i don't think he cares i don't think he is answering my prayer i'm you know i don't know i'm confused i you know it's not working for me that kind of thing and you begin to dry up and you begin to back away and your first flush love with the things of the kingdom begins to diminish and i realized that god doesn't just want to save the lost and immediately get them to heaven he wants to do all this character building while we're in the process turn to your friend say character building in hebrews 5 verse 8 it says this though jesus though he was a son he learned obedience by the things that he suffered you're like what jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered and as i contemplated that yet again this morning i thought you know he certainly did you remember him in the garden of gethsemane the pressure of the cross in the morning is now fully upon him i think the most troubling thing of all was the inevitable separation that would happen when the sins of the world were placed upon that crucified emaciated body and so he's agonizing and praying and sweating great drops of blood and he's saying father if it be possible let this cup pass from me i don't want to go through with this somehow let's find another way let the cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but your will be done and he's learning obedience to the better plan of god through his obedience he said yes to that horrendous day he learned obedience through the things he suffered he endured the cross despising the shame hebrews 12. and so that verse is true john 16 33 in the world you will have tribulation or pressure but be of good cheer i've overcome the world so there is a biblical basis for testing and just seeing what kind of metal you're made of how many like that nobody likes it it's like praying for patience you know you don't want to do that but if we take a historical perspective on the earth we see that there's always been disaster wars nations rising and falling etc people killing one another and fighting one another stealing from one another and all of the challenges it's just so convoluted and we say why well number one there's a devil in this fallen world who hates god and hates you because you remind him of god and uh but just to comfort you you you should know by now the devil wants to kill you so how come you're still alive that's because he's been defeated and you're not going to be tested above what you're able to bear although sometimes you might think that's going to be but in a in a biblical perspective even in the old testament and new testament saints they went through it all too the creation then the fall then the flood of noah then abraham and his struggles and joseph and his struggles and david and his struggles and then jesus and his struggles and the apostles and their struggles and on and on it goes why it's the issues of the heart friends for samuel 16 7 the lord spoke to samuel said no samuel he's not the one you're making a mistake man looks on the outward appearance but god looks on the heart and the lord's looking on your heart this morning friends and he wants to encourage you and he wants to help you get back on top of things knowing that you have a glorious glorious future so long as your faith in him is still intact that's the thing you want to hang on to well what about your personal journey if you had any problems difficulties in life you wonder what's going on if you had sickness you you know sin sickness demons that's a bit of a special case i believe we can have deliverance from those things that's the will of god but there are certain certain trials and things that come our way that we just basically need to go through them but our question is why is life so random and so convoluted why doesn't he just get on with it and like i said i believe it's because he's not just building institutions and he's not just wanting to get you to heaven straight away he's building the character of christ into you and i so that through that testing we can turn out to be quality people and prepared for leadership in what's coming next now see some drop out they even did in scripture you know samson kind of dropped out didn't he had a great anointing a lot of people think if i could just have a greater anointing i'd be fine no it doesn't work that way that testing goes along with it king saul dropped out as well what happened as he was tested he began to fail the test when you're being tested let the lord use it to make you a better person you know we can even pray to lord don't lead us into testing that's matthew 6 the lord's prayer interesting word there pirazzo it's probably a mistranslation to say lead us not into temptation at least in our modern understanding of that word because it's testing that he's clearly talking us to us about here lord don't lead us into testing don't allow us to be led into testing but deliver us from the evil one isn't that a good prayer see god knows that you and i do really well when everything's going our way how many do well when everything's going your way but now he wants to know how do you do when nothing is going your way first peter 1 7 says that the trial and the testing of your faith is more precious than gold turn to someone tell them you're golden my friend you're golden testing is a necessary part of growing into christ's likeness and the end game is that you pass the test the story of jesus in the in the back of the boat the disciples are rowing hard against the wind the wind's blowing the boat's filling with water and he's asleep in the back of the boat does that ever feel like that for you in life lord do i shout louder wake you up like what what's going on here they went and they they woke him up and with an accusation do you not care that we're perishing how many think yes he does care raise your hand he does care but that was a lesson for us sometimes it seems like jesus is asleep in the back of the boat and we're about to sink and go down here no he he kind of rebuked them after that with this question where's your faith so i want you to answer that question for him this morning where is your faith that he's going to rescue you no matter how bad it gets are you there are you going to hang on you know we have a friend named jack taylor and jack puts it this way says you know you you never fail with god you just keep retaking the test until you pass how many like to get it the first time around and then you know you move move on to the neck see there's a popular theology going around through the body of christ which says if you have enough faith if you really know the word if you're really full of prayer if you're really full of worship if you're really full of the spirit and you put it all together just right you won't have any problems you'll just breeze through now i think like i said you can minimize the problems by not making wrong choices and doing stupid things but ultimately there's a faith that hangs on even in the midst of great difficulty you know if anybody knew how to live this christian life it had to be the biblical characters wouldn't you agree so who's your favorite character in the bible shout it out david josiah [Applause] joseph john peter paul okay now give me one that had no problems [Music] did you say jesus they killed him no somebody said to me one time enoch okay let's think about him enoch there's no recorded problems and difficulty he went through all we know is he walked with god and god took it but see he lived just before noah's flood he lived in a time when god said i wish i had never created man upon the earth because every desire of his heart is only evil continually and he lived in that he had problems too but see he overcame them with an unshakable faith in god have you ever thought about paul's troubles imprisoned flogged close to death shipwrecked over and over again and you know what i appreciate about paul is that his dramatic conversion where he's on a mission to harm christians and he's struck down by the glory of god and who are you lord i am jesus who you're persecuting and the aftermath he's blinded and he's led back into the city of damascus and there he is blind he didn't eat or drink or whatever for three days he's in shock that he got up so wrong and then ananias comes to him and says brother soul receive your sight and then he says and the lord is going to show you what great things you will suffer for his name's sake see the the neat thing there is he told them on the front end now see a lot of us were told hey come to jesus and your problems will be over i mean just give your life to christ and everything will will work out now that's only partly true friends because yes god wants to rescue you and yes there's answer to prayer and yes there's deliverance but he also wants to prepare you for what's next and for what's coming see why this is important is we're about to have a wave of glory hit this world that's probably going to exceed what happened in the book of acts and the first century and what that means is there will be fierce pushback are you ready are you ready do you want to be ready [Applause] let's just make some helpful choices right here lord okay i sign up for this i want you to prepare me for what's coming in the immediate future and then for eternity for what's coming in the millennium and beyond um sometimes we think if we just get a prophetic word that paves the way for smooth sailing so i want you to think of of paul and silas in acts chapter 16 verse 23. they're trying to go here into asia the door won't open they're trying to go to bethenny the door won't open they try here they try there finally paul has a dream of a man in macedonia saying come over here and help us and he's like that's it silas and the next day they're on a boat for philippi the next day and when they get there it seems okay at first and uh you know they go down by the river they meet some uh women and others that have a prayer meeting going on and lydia invites them into her beautiful home and they have a place to stay and it's all good isn't it hallelujah thank you for prophetic leading lord but then there's this annoying little slave girl who's a fortune teller and after three or four days of her going these men are the servants are the most high god if paul had enough of him and he said come out of her you unclean spirit and the spirit came out and she was set free she's happy but now her owners are angry because she can't do it anymore and so they have paul arrested and he's convicted beaten with rods and thrown into the inner dungeon with their feet in the stocks and there they are in prison so what are they saying to each other what would you be saying i never signed up for this come on where are you god what's silas saying to paul we're locked down i can't move and i have to go to the bathroom wouldn't that be horrible you and your stupid dreams got us here i knew we should have stayed in asia but no you had to go to macedonia no he didn't say that at all what he said was i feel like singing paul said no you don't he said no it's true i don't but i just think that we we ought to sing well we can't sing it's midnight the others are trying to sleep i don't care we're just going to praise the lord anyhow so they they start singing how great is our god sing with me how great is our god and there and there and the other prisoners heard him but but heaven heard them and suddenly there's this violent earthquake and all the doors fly open all the chains fall off it wakes the jailer he's like what's going on the doors are all open oh no where's my sword i'm going to kill myself and paul hears this and he's like do yourself no harm we're all here now that's the second miracle right there can you imagine a prison full of prisoners the chains all fall off and the doors all spring open and nobody runs that's incredible why they're all frozen in the in the awe of god that just happened around them and the jailer runs in falls at their feet saying what must i do to be saved you see all things work together for good to those who love god and to those who are called according to his purpose just let that sink in a minute see god allowed that testing i don't i wouldn't think god's responsible for the beating they got and the imprisoning they got i think that's the sinful behavior of fallen man but nevertheless he allows it and he's in it so don't get confused god allows people to sin but he doesn't he doesn't set it up he doesn't organize it but he uses it when these things happen and the things that you're in the middle of right now that's not the engineering of god setting an ambush for you that's life doing what life does but in the midst of it he will use that to make you an overcomer and a better person in the aftermath because he's got big plans for you you know a few years ago five years ago we had the privilege of ministering to the persecuted church and i tell you what it changed us dan was there we we arranged to do a school of ministry in turkey for the turkish folks that were with andrew brunson but we also simultaneously did one for iranians and we raised a lot of money something like 40 50 000 to fly people from iran and you know it was it was amazing how they they went to all different places and we met up in turkey and uh about a third of them came from iran the other two thirds came from various parts of europe but the ones from iran were the persecuted church and this one girl there she was just such a pretty girl somewhere around 26 or seven she had this gigantic cut down her face and all her arms were slashed and i understood that all these slashes up and down her legs all across her back and what was happened that she was tortured in prison and they would cut her and then squeeze lemon juice into the cup over and over and over and they said listen all this can stop all you have to do is just give up this jesus of yours and return to islam and you can go home tomorrow and she would say how can i how could i even think of giving up the one who loves me like no one has ever loved me no you're gonna have to do what you do but i will never deny him so they kept doing it and miraculously she got out and now here she is in our school and i'm up there telling them about the importance of forgiveness in our context and she's faced with forgiving those torturers i tell you what those people left their mark on me i think you were there duncan and patricia was there and stuart were you there with us right out right away after that we went to india and uh we were with a thousand young people that were leaders church pastors all with jossie chaco and his ministry over there and again we're doing a leaders school with them and i noticed there's this one young woman and it seems like everything's going over her head she's just not getting it she's not getting the message of the father's love she's not getting the importance of forgiveness and healing the heart i mean she it's as though she's a stone she just can't take it in i said to the translator i want to talk to this this lady and find out like what's going on with her and i got the story when she was three years old her father sold her to a wealthy pedophile and she's married now to this guy three years old and when she's 12 he kicked her out go you're no longer part of this house so there she is 12 on the street well fortunately some christians found her and they let her to jesus and fast track she grows up and now she's in the ministry but she is so shut down emotionally how can she ever embrace something like forgiveness when every man she's ever known has betrayed her and abused her you see to me and you think god okay she wasn't saved but still this is horrible and when it came time to pray for them all we're out in the basketball court and they're all lined up in rows you know and i'm going along praying fill her get him more lord et cetera and i came to this girl and i felt like i stood there for 10 minutes saying oh god if ever you use me one more time to to be a blessing to someone could it please be this girl right here and she's just like praying for a stone nothing nothing nothing then finally boom she fell down so i'm like okay at least she's down i carried on but i kept my eye on her and i came back and i saw that she was still down and i just stretched my hand toward her and i'm praying for her lord you know what you will you come and all of a sudden she exploded and laughed her i mean from her belly she's just belly laughing and i'm thinking ah thank you lord she i know that she had never in her life laughed like that and i got her after and i said hey something good happened to you she said yes i said can i do something with you that i realize is totally against your culture but i would love to give you a father's hug and she said to me yes through the translator so i wrapped my arms around her and you know just like i would do with one of my girls and i told her how beautiful she was and how awesome she was and how full of potential and how much god loved her and hey we just bless you we're with you come on you can do it go for it young lady and all that that i just said everything i could think of and she just stood there quietly weeping and she came to me later and she said pastor when you hugged me something very dark lifted off of me and i'm like ah to you be the glory lord there used to be an old song that was sung that that said through it all through it all i've learned to trust in jesus through it all my trials only helped to make me strong you see trials come and they will either make you bitter or better now the reason i felt to preach this today is because i know that some of us are struggling and yet in christian circles we learn to cover it up pretty good so we know how to put on a plastic smile and go hallelujah everything's great when you're just dying inside don't we and a part of that's okay you know you want to you want to be positive but you also have to be real and when it's your turn thankfully carol and i were usually not down or going through something at the same time so we're there to help each other that's the reason you need to have a really good loving family church that can be there when when you need help so you don't have to become fake or artificial about some of the stuff you're going through and you don't have to be always talking about it and all the negative stuff but for your friends to pray a little more accurately for you you can tell them what you're going through rather than deny it you understand what i mean because otherwise on the inside you're saying well it seems to be working for her seems to be working for him it's not working for me and god where are you why don't you come and help me in that whole doubt and unbelief thing gets going on the inside and you're confused by it and i want to lift that confusion off of you and just say this is normal you're just being conformed to the image of his dear son you're being being prepared for the glory that's about to come both soon in this life and then in the millennial kingdom is that what you want that was weak how many want that [Applause] look at romans 8 verse 18 the suffering of this present time is not even worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in you you can't even you won't even talk about it you won't even think about it anymore why all things are working together for good now look at matthew 25 verse 21. it's it's talking about your faithfulness i'll get it here in a minute no i didn't hit it yet his lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you were faithful over a few things i will make you ruler over many things enter in to the joy of your lord in luke chapter 19 verse 17 to 19 a similar passage well done good and faithful servant you've been faithful over a few things i will make you ruler over ten cities i will make you ruler over five cities now how many want joseph's anointing you're you're you're cautious now why aren't you they're like what am i signing up for here joseph had a supernatural preparation for what he was about to enter into so the first thing is he's he's the firstborn son from his his beloved wife rachel and his father's favorite it seems and you know do your best don't choose favorites with your children it leads to problems but anyway he was and he had a coat of many colors and he was set apart why ultimately because he's a type of jesus and so joseph is anointed and he has dreams and he's and he shared his dreams with his brother hey i had this dream we were all binding sheaves and then your sheeps all started bowing down to my sheets and they had the gift of interpretation they said if you think we're going to worship you you're out of your mind and they had a similar one where even the sun and the moon and the stars are bowing down and jacob rebuked him for that so the brothers hated him they wanted to kill him they settled for selling him and there he goes to egypt and then in egypt it went okay for a for a little while but then the lady of the house went for him and he said no way and so she screamed and accused him of trying to rape her and whatever now he's in prison how long do you think he's in jail for minimum 13 years but he kept his heart sweet because the anointing is still on him and then the butcher and the baker and he tr interpreted their dreams two more years go by before the the butler not the butcher the butler told uh pharaoh about the dream and they ascend from right away and joseph unloaded what it all meant and the next thing you know he goes from prison to prime minister just like that and all the dreams came true here come the brothers and the famine years and they're bowing down to him isn't that amazing what prepared joseph to be a effective ruling prime minister over that nation all the successfully overcoming all his struggles so here's your question what city do you want to rule over i've asked him for toronto so don't ask for that one i said lord give me toronto i will sort it out for you absolutely come on ruler over five cities ruler over ten cities james 1 4 let patience have its perfect work see we don't get christianity without a cross tell your friend there's a cross for you that goes with this and it'll make you a better person first peter 4 12. don't think it's strange that a fiery trial comes upon you now here's the question how many of you want to be an overcomer wave at me heaven's watching heaven's counting hands who's who's not waving who's not you know all right we want to be an overcomer right now listen carefully if you want to be an overcomer you're going to need a couple of things for you to overcome you get it just a couple of things along the way knowing that greater is he that is in you than he is in the world now revelation 12 11 tells us that they the early christians they overcame they overcame by the blood of the lamb they knew the cleansing power the freeing miraculous power of the blood of jesus that had never been contaminated with the sins of the world and they knew the power of their testimony and they weren't worried about this present life and many of them lost their lives if you read hebrews 11 it's it's a list of the faith champions this one overcame fire this one overcame this this world came that and then it says but there were others who were sawn in half and others you know refused their deliverance so that they could obtain a better resurrection friends our goal is not to have a good life here so much so you can go easy through life and you can pay off your mortgage you can drive a nice car and have a nice pension plan that's not the goal the goal is eternity the goal is where jesus wants to take you and so there's at least 16 overcomer scriptures romans 12 21 be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good first john 4 4. they overcame because greater is he that is within you than he that's in the world first john 5 5 who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that jesus is the son of god i love this one revelation 21 7 he or she who overcomes shall inherit all things think about that friends overcome and inherit all things and i will be his god and he shall be my son god is calling you and i not to somehow dodge the bullet every time but to be an overcomer in the name of the lord don't think it's strange when you go through trial i tell you what there's things that get resolved and things that get settled in your fiery trial that just don't seem to get dealt with any other way one of the most difficult things for me was when my first marriage failed and i felt like i was doing everything in my power to try to save it and the more i tried the worse it got and finally it's absolutely over and there's nothing i can do about it you get a divorce in the mail and you think ugh there goes my hope and dream for the ministry there it is i mean now what but you know what those those things will knock the arrogance out of you those kind of things let you know that you're not the hot shot that you used to think you were you don't have all your theology all together and you don't have the word of god all figured out you don't have life all figured out and here we are lord just feeling like a failure and feeling broken and now what and there's a rebuilding that had to happen for me and has to happen for some of you and i went to just was with a former pastor mentor of mine and he said to me one day john whatever happened to your love for souls i said well i still have that and he said then you need to get going you need to get get back on board and get going with that i said pastor how can i i'm divorced now he said to me listen half of canada is divorced go minister to that half and you know what that that encouraged me to think wow someone who i know and love and trust and someone who really knows the word of god he's he's not trying to make any special exception for me or anything else he just knows what life can do to people rt kendall said to me one time he said john have you ever been thankful for unanswered prayer i said rt i have never even had that thought in my life before but now that you mention it there's one or two things i'm really glad god didn't answer and now at 78 years old i look back and say god you have been a good good father to me and you know there's not many things i would change anymore he's undone a lot of my impulsiveness and my stupidity and given us a glorious revival to pastor and be a part of and he wants to do that with you now let's all stand together ben if you're here maybe you could come i know it may be that you have come here and you've been trying your best to keep a smile on your face and to make it through life and uh but it's hard and you're and you're looking around like god why is this not working for me and that confusion has settled on you and i'm telling you all things work together for good to those who love god now how many of you here would say john truth be told i was discouraged when i came in like i was trying to be up and i was trying to have fun and i was trying to smile but actually there was discouragement all over me because it's i can't make this work for me the way it's supposed to be working just unashamedly hold your hand up right now and and and let's let's lift that stuff off of you now i'm going to invite those of you who are who are raising your hands and those of you that should have raised your hands to come and gather around the front here for a moment come on this is a moment for you for the confusion and the discouragement and the hopelessness and all of that stuff just to get lifted off come on press in tight just gather in there's a lot of people coming friends listen what we believe here in this church and in this movement is that we want people to be real you're going to come through this you're going to come through it why because he's faithful that promised that's why and he has given you a promise that all things work together for good to those that love him those of you in your seats it's your time to be up i know you've had your own dark night of the soul as well but stretch your hands toward these who've come forward now listen this is preparation this helps you just reaffirm god i'm struggling with it right now i'm going through stuff right now but it's okay because i have faith in you and your goodness now we're going to pray collectively but first i've asked ben to sing a song over you that where the words say wherever i am wherever i go your love meets me there and you make a way for me go ahead [Music] [Music] for me seasons may change storms come and go storms come and go but your promise remains you may cry for me oh wherever i am wherever i go your love beats me then you make a way for me and seasons may change storms come and go your promise remains you make her way for me i choose to trust in you at all times for you're the one who holds my life [Music] and holding all things you will never falter [Music] your ways are higher you are faithful and wherever i am seasons may come and change but your promise remains you make away for me and he's making a way for you right now you don't see the whole picture but i'm here to remind you that we have a faithful faithful god who knows the beginning from the end and he's got you in the palm of his hand and nothing gets by him he's perfect in all his ways and i call you to lay down your discouragement and push that lie away from you that god doesn't seem to care it's absolutely not true and i lift that discouragement off of you i pull it out by the root and i remind you that jesus christ as your king and your champion he's your healer and your deliverer and your faithful friend and not only that but god the holy spirit has promised to not merely be with you but be living in you and giving you his wise counsel every moment of every day and i want to call you to double down on prayer and intercession and cry your heart out to the lord and just realize that he's got you and and let that witness of the spirit lift you up and support you so that you know that you know that you know everything is going to be all right [Music] and in the words of katherine coleman when she would say and just so long as your faith in him is still intact then everything will come out all right so the gate the name of the game that the enemy is playing is if he can just get you discouraged to where you begin to doubt the love of god and doubt the faithfulness of god he can chip away at you and hopefully take you out don't you let him [Music] wherever you are wherever you go his love meets you there he'll make a way for you father i bless all of these who have gathered right here and i just remind them of the faithfulness of god i don't know what it is you're going through it's different than what i went through no doubt but every bit is hurtful and every bit is discouraging [Music] but his love will meet you and bring you through that's his promise that's his promise now raise your hands to heaven with me and tell him lord i choose to believe [Music] i am an overcomer and i'm going through this thing into victory because with you i shall never fail [Applause] and even if it seems that i fail you turn that into a victory as well in you i am more than a conqueror in the mighty name of jesus my champion king who overcame and won the day for all of us thank you lord and those of you watching at home take it on board break that discouragement off of you rise up on the inside and say no i'm not going to succumb to that i don't care if i lose everything including my own life i'm going to die loving my savior and loving my king and that's the way it's going to be in the name of jesus let's give the lord a big shout right here we're gonna we're gonna break for lunch but i want you to go singing this song along with ben and the team his love will meet you there [Music] your ways in my ways your thoughts my mind and wherever i am wherever i go your love meets me there you make her wait for me you make her way for me seasons may seasons may change [Music] you [Music] seasons may change [Music] is you

Channel: Catch The Fire Toronto

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Rating: 4.8461537 out of 5

Keywords: Catch The Fire, Toronto

Id: PmcyWnzvDhI

Length: 153min 20sec (9200 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 19 2021