Testimony of Heaven, Angels and the Voice of God by Dirk Willner

[Music] and everybody said amen and amen god bless you can be seated it's passed again it's my privilege now to introduce you to the author of the 40 days of unity and let's make him very welcome pastor Edgar Meyer from living race come on up [Applause] edgar is a greatly appreciated brother in Christ and God has really been using his gifts to put these studies and this material together and we pray for a rich harvest without further ado thank you very much for the encouragement if after 40 days you have the same encouragement I feel a lot better may I just say something about the DVDs the small group studies about the six teachings are 25 minutes length each if you find that's too long or too solid whatever feel free to switch me off every now and then and do it in smaller chunks and also if you want to we study the teachings and just have it printed in front of you the transcripts of the teachings are available on the internet and in your little unity handbook it actually gives the website address so you just downloaded and studied at your leisure and hopefully still happy about it afterwards um it's my privilege now to introduce you to our guest speaker for tonight pastor Doug Bruner who is the Lutheran pastor in Bodrum yep please come up [Applause] [Music] so Dirk is a colleague of mine and a dear colleague of mine I love this man he's married to penny and has three children he is the director of the hour in our denomination Lutheran Church of the ministry and mission Department of Queensland chairman ah here we go he's very energetic and enthusiastic so whenever you have coffee with him he always says yes and so when we have a talk one crazy scheme after another and it always says yes it's just wonderful um but I would have to agree I don't know whether you've seen the in The Chronicle this weekend's Chronicle there's an article about him they call him the Lazarus man and it's a bit about his Testament that is going to share with us tonight but the lady that wrote the article from The Chronicle was a shy she actually knows him and she watched this about him about the testimony she heard about that that is not the Dirk Werner I used to know who while accepting the spiritual experiences of others maintained a conservative view on life on his faith and on the forms of expression it should take I probably would have agreed with Rosie what he's going to share with us tonight is not quite what I expected from him but then again it's going to be wonderful it's not that it contradicts the scriptures but it brings the scripture really bit close to home and I think it's all going to stray to all of us and will bless all of us and just make him feel welcome again thank you [Applause] [Music] good evening to umba before we start can I am by to do share with me in a word of Prayer gracious lord I thank you that you're full of surprises and I pray that you would surprise us here tonight lit your Holy Spirit be with each and every one of us and surround us this is your time in your space and we dedicate ourselves to you to speak into our hearts and into our lives that which comes from your word so let everything that I say be everything that you have to give and I thank you for it already in Jesus name I mean I know that well for most of you as it was for me you probably continued day after day in the same fashion in the same way not expecting that maybe this is your last day does anyone here thinking this might be my last day as it was this happened in my 40th year I turned 40 and people kept on saying well when you're 40 life begins at 40 and I decided to do it literally and what happened to me took place now just over a year ago Easter last year it was Good Friday or leading up to Good Friday on Maundy Thursday I'd finished all the work and all the preparation for a lot of services for a very intense and joyous time as we go through celebrating then Easter aren't good for on Maundy Thursday we had something very special planned a reenactment of the setting of the Lord's Supper and so we had that all set up and prepared there was only one more thing that I had to do and that is to take my daughter to the dentist on the Sunshine Coast where I am that's already then starting to build up for holiday mode and there were a lot of cars on the road as we traveled back from the dentist I came off the motorway up to our exit and as I approached the set of lights this incredible pain hit me in my chest so much so that I killed over onto the steering wheel and penny was next to me and I certainly got her attention and she said is there anything wrong with you and I'm trying to get as much energy left after being hit with his incredible pain going no as a male would there were cars all around me behind me in front of me there was no way for me just simply to stop and say um dear I think you should drive the rest of the way I thought look it's only two Kay's to a home I'll manage after all it's an automatic so on the lights turned green I continue to move on home and on the way it hit me another two or three times the last one then was when I was coming into our driveway and the pain was paralyzing I've never experienced pain like that I could not move a muscle I was there holding on to the steering wheel trying to relax my breathing and calm myself down just enough so that I could get out of the car and move inside Penny helped me inside got onto the phone to ring up all sorts of doctors that we know in our congregation we know quite a number of doctors and guess what there were all on holidays so after she came back and said I can't get anyone I said don't worry about it I've had this sort of thing happened before but not as severe and every time I've gone to the doctor after Penny's strong insistence they all shake their heads and saying don't know what's wrong with you everything is fine anyway I said look this is just one of those times just let me relax why don't you just go to this function take the kids let me relax and I'll just be okay anyway after a bit of continuing persuasion though she's finally relented and took the kids off went to the function and finally being there we had something like 80 baby sitters ready for our kids lo and behold she comes into into the area where we had set everything up and there's one of our doctors who had just moved through the gardens the Emmanuel gardens the retirement village that we have connected to our place and she was there for the function as well penny immediately approached her and said what was been going on and said oh look we've got to go and see him so they both came back I was just sitting there and minding my own business when penny came back with a doctor and then necessary things happened then with a doctor they start to examine you and she said you look like death warmed up you have got to be in a hospital so I said no no you're not gonna get me in hospital anyway she says well I can't let you stay here because they would take my license away if I just leave so I said well for that reason then okay or you can ring the hospital anyway when the paramedics came it's amazing when these things happen how out of control you are is sitting there the paramedics come in and I was sort of saying look I don't need you to drive me an ambulance I'll Drive myself to the hospital no no they say so you just sit there anyway I was sitting there and then they asked me to lie on the stretch and I said look I can walk no no no sir you just lie on there so on they got me into the hospital as I was shown in my bed they then started to wire me up for sound they did all sorts of tests on me they went to town on all sorts of things they could prod and find out about me I spent the night there and as it was it's this part of the story is actually quite amazing on its own because as some it later unfolded what the doctor said if we had rung the doctors I would probably have gone to our normal Hospital not the private one and they would have examined me as the others doctors have done but there was nothing wrong so they would have sent me home but where I was in the private hospital they kept me overnight for more observation thanks be to God because in the morning the doctor came the specialist who'd been looking at all the things that I've been doing on me and said well you're a mystery to us we have no idea what's wrong with you and I said I know I've heard that before and said are you okay if we release you and I said this is my busiest time yes it would be good if you to release me because I've got to be back and do all these services so where my bid was was right next to the nurse's station in the cardiac ward you only have a couple of of beds because they have to look at everyone I guess and it was in the morning shift change so there were double the nurses there and the doctor was there signing out the papers they were all chatting and I was having my breakfast and then I last bites on well I had egg on toast I still remember it and afterwards I jokingly said it must have been in the hospital food and they said don't tell them they don't so no no no I was only joking I had my last bite and I was sitting at the bed watching everything going on and this tingling feeling started my toes and I thought this is a strange feeling they're starting to move up my legs moving further and further rushing up until finally he'd like a wave it just went whoosh over me and I was obviously flat on the bed and flatlining for nearly two minutes at that time but God had me at the right place at the right time with all the nurses there later on what the doctors shared with me is that I have something fairly rare called sick sinus syndrome can you actually say that sick sinus syndrome and it's the sinus node over the heart the electrical system that regulates the heart and I guess a lot of the other stuff in my body and so the doctor said when that blew a fuse you were literally dead it wasn't a process of dying everything about you was dead and as it also showed on the pages of printout that I kept to see whether you know all those beep going along and then suddenly it just flat lines and just continues for pages and pages of flat light until they zapped me back and I live to tell the story of what then happened I thank God for what happened and you might think well dying is an interesting experience and why would you say thank you to God for that I'm here to tell you that there is so much more you have no idea of how much more there is when I came back everything to me looked flat it was like everything had such a full dimension everything was so much more real than the reality of what we see here my favorite text in the Bible is John chapter 10 verse 10 where Jesus says I've come to give you life and life in all its fullness here Christ is saying I've given you life I'm here to give you life but it's not just an existence I've given it to you in all its fullness I want you to experience all this fullness well God let me have a little bit of a taste of this fullness further on in John chapter 14 in the beginning verses in that chapter he says do not let your hearts be troubled trust in God Trust also in me in my father's house are many rooms and if it was not so I would have told you I'm going there to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am you know the way to the place where I'm going Thomas said to him Lord we don't know where you were going so how do we know the way jesus answered I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me when I had those two minutes or however long that period was what seemed to be two minutes on earth was a lot more on what I experienced as I experienced death from that time when that last tingle rushed over me and I was flat on my back and the doctors and the nurses were working on me I was totally unaware of what was going on because the first experience that I had of death was that I was fully alive but in a vacuum of total darkness absolute darkness and and darkness also had a presence it was like I'm being looked at judged it was almost like death when Hanau had me and was wondering can death hold on to me never experienced anything like you God left me there long enough to really get a sense of this utter darkness if you like it's the ultimate individualism if you don't want God around and the first thing that you see after you're dead is just you and nothing else total emptiness I've never experienced anything like it looking around trying to see in this darkness looking left and right not knowing what where do you go because you see you need light in order to see things when everything is dark you have no idea where to go what's the point of going to the left or to the right or where do you go when you're dead and you're in total darkness I remember thinking okay God what now just at that moment and it's interesting I didn't have a sense of fear or dread just if you're like a very healthy respect that I was now dead and that I was being judged if you like by death to see whether he can hold on to me but just at that moment when I said okay god what now I felt this hand on my back and it wasn't just a hand on the back it was more like I was in God's hand being carried along through this darkness and as he was carrying me through this darkness and mind you I didn't have a sense of movement because again you need to see in order to have the sense of movement but I knew I was being taken through this darkness and as I came through this darkness I was being approached or what came before me was this incredible mansion just says what it says here in John 14 this incredible mansion started to come and become clearer to me and out of the huge windows was this golden light that was streaming out almost like fluid is nothing like that light on this side of eternity it always was fluid like it was rushing out to meet me even before I even got to the door and as it approached me and surrounded me and touched me every part of me was saturated by this golden light I was covered in a drenched in it if you're like every part of me experience this incredible intensity of joy I have never experienced joy in that kind of measure you know you might have the most fantastic experience I didn't that experienced you may think oh that was a fantastic moment I wish I could hold on to that moment but you know that was only an emotion and if it's so shortly lived and then life just goes on but this was like experiencing pure joy and it surrounded me and covered me and I was living if you like in that joy as the golden light then brought me before this huge door that then opened up and as the door opened I looked inside and it's interesting that every time I went a bit further the more intense had got I looked inside and the light inside was so intense that for some time there I was trying to see through the intensity of light until my eyes relaxed enough to see the brilliant colors inside everything is what I remember seemed to be full sparkle like chandeliers if you like like lots of colors everything looked polished and I remember a golden staircase at the back and the place was like this huge hall filled with people all dressed in white I said to penny afterwards when I came back I wonder if there's a notice board up in heaven you know when sort of like you know who's dying today odds do anyone know who doing is let's go and say hello to him it's sort of like that this huge number of people who'd all gathered into this hall as it was some approaching this door that I could see inside but you know to that if someone were to come to your door and knock on your door and you'd open up the front door and they would see inside they would only see a little glimpse of your house they would only see if you like the entryway or maybe yours your home goes straight into a living room or something like that they would only see a portion of that but you know that there is so much more so many more rooms in a backyard as well I know that what I saw was only a glimpse in the door the people inside were amazing they all had the sense of glow about them and they all dressed in white as I was saying and something was different about those people it was the only way I can describe it as seeing round do you know that most of us would have spent quite some time this morning getting ourselves ready dressing ourselves the way we want to and all that you know about the people who around you is what they want you to know and want you to see you don't really know me I don't really know any of you but over on the other side it's like seeing a person fully for who they are straight away nothing is hidden all is revealed now I know why it is so important that every time that we read scripture and Jesus is reminding us that we have a Ministry of reconciliation that we need to be walking in forgiveness that that grace that is upon us needs to be not just walking in forgiveness but walking forgiving with one another because I tell you what you don't want any of the door dirty linen hanging around when you're on the other side who would like us to really sort of show this is me warts and all I know that most of us would be saying oh no don't show that all I was hoping that that wasn't going to come up do you know those things need to be forgiven because when you see people on the other side see them fully alive and fully of who they are and I'm not saying that they were like the see-through it was like you saw the full person that nothing was hidden now when I was at that door there was a gentleman on the side and I've got to let you know some people have been asking me interesting questions like did you meet anyone did you see anyone I've got to hang my head in shame and say everything was just so amazing I didn't actually stop to look at that someone's face and say now who are you anyway this gentleman was on the side and I remember a smile on his face and he was holding a crystal goblet of wine now I know that some of you is sort of thinking now that's interesting the first thing that you see when you get into heaven is a guy who meets with you and says here's a glass of wine and that certainly has put a spin on some of the people who are thinking okay well I was thinking about that one bit but when I came back I asked God about that since he reminded me well don't you remember it's interesting that when all of this happened was just around more than a Thursday Good Friday Easter all of that time he remembered he reminded me of the time when he took the disciples up into the upper room and they had the Passover meal and if you know anything about the Passover meal there are four cups and it was the third cup that then Jesus took and talked about this is my new covenant and then he took the disciples up to Gethsemane to pray and he said to them and I will not drink of that last Cup until I drink it with you we're in paradise I'd forgotten about that one so the first thing is that Jesus fulfills everything that he has done and when we celebrate the Lord's Supper it reminds us of what he has done and what he is yet to fulfill in the future and it binds us all together in that moment and there I was in heaven and maybe it was Jesus I didn't take any notice so probably USA is saying what does it look like well I remember that there was the person who was next to me was so brilliantly light where's this the Saints inside were golden light anyway um a person quickly approached him whispered into his ear he turned back to me and said oh it looks like you have to go back so um I'll just leave this here to the side so when you come back it'll be here waiting for you then I started to wake up on the table as the nurses and the doctors were saying open your eyes stay with us come back so I came back and - a lot of people surprised when they came to visit me in hospital I had this huge grin on my face but for quite some time I did not share anything of what I experienced I thought now look if I start to share anything of this I don't know whether they'll want to keep me as a pastor or whether you know funny things will be said about me what or whatever and you know goes on so I kept quiet for quite some time I just talked to God about it like okay I don't understand God so you want me to have a lesson on how you can switch me off and switch me on again I know that but why it was shortly after that that the doctors then put a pacemaker in my chest it's not the usual pacemaker it's not one that I'm reliant on it's some got a computer into it and monitors my systems so that if anything should ever go wrong again like that it'll just kick in and jumpstart me once again without me having to go to the doctor but some with that the funny thing is then I sort of said to the doctor well how much is one of these things cost and he said well a small European sports car and I said I've always wanted a portion now I've got one on my heart after all of that was settled and mind you some people say well you know what you experienced may have just been brain waves preoccupying you while you were dead or something like that the doctors afterwards said well no you were actually dead dead there was no brain function because they were very worried to get me back before three minutes were up because it wasn't like a heart attack or some of those things we just keep on pumping and even after sometime you'll come back in and you might have some difficulties with what resulted but with me that we're very worried and so when I came back a lot of the doctors and the nurses there I could see they're worried face expression and afterwards stayed told me about how worried they were I just basically were recovered was sent home and then when I was at home this was then about seven days later sitting at home my bed talking with God about what had just happened and trying to understand this trying to figure out what was his for what am I supposed to do with this anyway penny and my in-laws were there and it was four o'clock in the afternoon and so we're saying you're you okay we're going to just go out and have a cup of coffee and where I am on the Sunshine Coast there are lots of cafes and so they went down to the beach to have a cup of coffee and I was sitting up in bed I was sitting up in bed I wasn't dreaming and I wasn't lying or sleeping or sitting up in bed having this talk with God okay explain to me what is all of this about at that time it started to get even more freakier than the experience that I had that moment then five angels appeared around my bed and I could see them as plainly as I can see you and they was sparkling do you know those party sparkles they were just full of that sparkle cowered in that sparkle five of them around my bed and the one on my right what instructions have we got for us our load today man I said instructions if you want any instructions you go to God for instructions I don't give you instructions and he said put your hand in my hand I remember him reaching out his hand and I was looking at his hand five fingers I could see everything just the way that we are except full of this sparkle I thought well I'll see where this goes and I'll put my hand into his and his moment when I touched his I started to speak in this heavenly language and was speaking to him in terms of well what he needed to hear and answer was saying what I was saying God was speaking to my 'life saying don't worry about it you should know it's scriptural I'm just giving instructions to you and all of this is about spiritual warfare and the devil has no idea what's going on so um Here I am paving my hand in his then the other one what did his hand in mind and I spoke a totally different language again and each one in turn so five different languages as I then finished they went and there was a sixth angel on the edge of my bed and I said to him and what can I do for you and he said nothing I'm just here for you I thought that's cool so they know you can imagine okay now this is getting from the Wow to the starting to go to the real Wow as in what is going on so I'm talking to God more about this saying okay the first one I'm not really sure about what you were intending with it now I'm definitely not sure what you're intending to do with me as was going on the next day so the very next day around the same time this time penny and my in-laws were in the back of our house and I was having this kind of a conversation with God and again things started to happen as was sitting in the bed talking to God this bunch of angels came in there weren't like the other ones they were all grouped together in a bunch and as they came in they filled the place with rage and anger I mean I was sitting there thinking whoa what have I done wrong and I had to say to them look I'm new to this all this spiritual stuff if I said something wrong you'll have to forgive me and as I was saying that God spoke into my life again and said this is what I want you to do with these angels and I thought do with these angels okay obviously not the same kind of angels as before I didn't realize that that bunch of angels they came in with fallen angels and as God was then speaking into my life he said do this first thing mute them shut them up you know I've read since this experience a number of things in terms of dealing with fallen angels and cetera things like that and some people have been talking about trying to engage them and talk to them I find it's interesting the first thing that God says is shut them up don't even get into a conversation with them stop their influence stop their talking shut them up mute them the first thing he said then the second thing that he pointed out to me is now bind them third thing is now forbid them to replace themselves forbid them so that what they were doing isn't been done by anyone else and I was going to jump in and then say now send them to hell and he said no don't send him to hell send him to Christ for judgment so I did that went through those four parts and they left and yes now it's going like whoa but it doesn't stop there was having these chats then with God and this is the one thing that I miss now most about this experience I feel a bit like if you've every read about Moses when he was up in the mountain he started to get really depressed afterwards because some of these experiences were fading away and I remember some of the things that I had at that time were so precious I could have these conversations with God and hear his voice having conversations with God not just prayers thinking do they bounce off the ceiling does he hear but actually conversation with God and speaking with him and there were three conversations and he started each one of them you know it was just sitting there and then he pops in and says one of the first messages says you know my people's lives are so screwed up and I said no why are people sighs so screwed up he says you know I've got a plan for every person I've created it's a wonderful plan just like a house plan but you know most people wind it up and put it in a canister put the ends to it and never look at it they never want to find out what plans have I got for them so the builders come and they build that they put the bricks down and they put the beams down and they say what do you want us to do with it we're so I don't know see what fits together build something I don't know so we build our life not on God's plan but on a Hickel typical kind of way of putting things together and then no wonder that our life it seems to be so messed up from the plan that God has for us so I said well how do we get to be closer to your plan he said don't you know it's funnier when I was talking about it I said no fast-track me so he said my word I said oh of course your word what study more your word and he said I could almost sense him going no not study more my word live my word what's the point of studying a single sentence if you don't live what you read and I thought how true how many times have we not open up read it closed it and forgotten all about it never living what he reveals to us about our life and the more we conformed to his word and live what he says the more our life becomes part of his plan and his plan is unfolding in our life I thought that was pretty cool it's a nice really was sermon there I don't have to worry about them next Sunday's sermon but um then it continued I was so into me then about says have a look at your hand okay come look at your hand just you know how to get a grip on your life and says well yeah you you need to hold on to something this is that's right you need to hold on to something and you need all of those parts to get a grip on life I've given you life but it's for so many people that life is just slipping through them they don't know how to get a grip on life have a look at your thumb and he says it's very unique it's not like the other ones it's specially created and seems to be a bit odd from the other ones it's like your Holy Spirit then these other Falls they need to come in under submission to the Holy Spirit and as you do that you get a grip on life and so some people may have the Holy Spirit but you know it's pretty pretty hard to hold on to something just with the spirit you need all support other things to come in line and so is revealing to me about what those four things are which is very much again back into the basics of the Bible love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strengths give those into obedience to the Holy Spirit and you will get a grip on life do you know how many times we with our will say okay there are a few things that we're going to have to negotiate Holy Spirit there are a few parts of my life you can have a go zone and these parts are a no-go zone well you know you can't get a grip with only a few things engaging with God it needs all of those together to get a grip on life to hold on in submission as we do so you can hold on to what God gives to you I thought makes sense this is good stuff then he was sharing with me this is a little bit further on was out at noosa and a park bench this was all during my recovery time when I had a bit of free time to listen to God and share with him and he says do you know what the Ten Commandments are about and I said yes a bunch of do's and don'ts about how we're supposed to live our life with you and with others he says yeah but you know what they're really about and said okay share with me what are they really about he says this spiritual laws I said okay you're gonna have to help me spiritual laws what do you mean he says even Satan has to abide by the Ten Commandments but if we decide to break one of those like okay what's a lie between friends as soon as we open up one of those we open up a door for Satan to have his foot in there and as soon as we do that he has a legal right to mess with us why do you think it's so hard to get him out because we've given him a legal right to be there because of what we've done in our life based on the Ten Commandments and it's not just one of those kind of things where we think about oh I better make sure that I've got all these Ten Commandments done properly all the time it wasn't like that because you see since baptism we are all a new creation we belong to God in Baptism he claims us fully we're under new management so now he's saying why would you be so stupid as to let the old Nick to come back inside so the Ten Commandments are really a way of us saying ok Satan there's the door you're outside because in here this is Holy Spirit territory this is where God has his right of being and you have no right to be here unless we give him that right so don't give him that right don't let him come in because he does not belong there it is no longer his rightful place to mess with you so when I thought about all of these three things I thought wow this is amazing stuff what do you want me to do with this for quite some time as I was saying before I didn't share any of this as you can imagine why hearing this for yourself I don't know what you're thinking about it all but then I came to the conclusion god this seems to be your doing you just seem to have picked on me and decided I'm gonna do something and reveal something through you so I said well my covenant with you is whoever asked I'll share this story and I'll leave that as an encouragement to others to see what it is that God does through this in your life but I remember now thinking back I'll tell you what I would not have wanted to have stayed in that darkness to have the hand of God leading you through that walking by faith and not by sight knowing that God is with you I now know when we talk about who has you are you in the hand of God or are you doing your own thing you know in the end in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed he was saying something very important that we need to take bored he said not my will but your will be done because most of their time we want to just do our own will and from God's point of view we can get away with that for quite some time but there will come a time when it's like curtain time saying okay who's will your will or my will be done and I now know for sure that I want God's will to be done in my life taking me through that darkness and revealing to me all that he has for me do you know when I came back I said to you before that I felt very flat and everything seemed to be so flat to me it's like having a bunch of balloons that you buy and when you buy them from a supermarket and they're in that plastic bag and you think if those balloons could think they'd wonder is this all there is about life is this what life is all about and that probably wouldn't have a clue that there is so much more until one of them gets pulled out blowing up maybe with helium and starts to float around and think oh wow so this is what it's all about and then then let the air out again and put him back in again that's how I felt so forth that early time I wasn't to emotions one of euphoria of joy of knowing what I had seen and wishing that I would have been back there again but also knowing that I need to be here and it was a long time before I could find the threads to get back into life and what helped me was what Paul said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain for me to live is Christ and to die is gain so when that commercial goes on and I love it now but wait there's more it's not just about the steak knives it's about everything that God has planned and revealed in his word is for real and waiting for us so as we are led through this life with him when you see a glimpse of the other side you have no idea how glorious and wonderful it is and to think about even this place as nice as it is a lot of this has all been created through death when you think about it all the wood trees had to fall in order for that to be created but over there everything seemed to have been alive the very buildings were like buildings but it's like everything had life in it so much so that the idea of life as I mentioned to you here and then Jesus saying saying to us I've given you life and life in all its fullness that fullness is yet to come and I'll bet you anything when you've had a glimpse of it you won't be the same again Edgar it's over to you yeah Thank You Dirk Dirk didn't want to come back for me from his experience but we are glad he did and shared with us tonight I've had Dirk's message on mp3 file and I've listened to it you know a number of times again and again just catching everything what happened with the angels and the demons and what to do and there are lots of things that make made me think and reflect and I'm sure make you think and reflect but just for instance exploring the way how God would say to a Lutheran pastor I'm sick of Bible study it's quite a challenge for I guess for a lot of us Christians that God tells us enough study it's time to do something then again the other thing I was most appreciative of the glass of wine which what waits us in heaven and as we were listening to Dirk just before the pastor next to me next to me said no Wesley uns and sure in heaven and it was actually the part of the Wesleyan made I'm sure we'll be there together question is what has Dirk's tested me to do with the 40 days of unity the campaign was starting today I guess I want to just make two points the first one was and again I was blown away by that that he said that he didn't share his experience with anyone for quite a while and why and I guess as he came there late afternoon and we were catching up I didn't prompt him he said it himself and he shared it with us here tonight is because he thought if he shared it with other Christians other pastors his congregation he would get in trouble you know what is it in our culture as Christians that we really can't be open and honest with what we're sharing with God or experiencing with God how come we can't that we have to be afraid of each other what we say what we believe why can't we be honest with each other and I don't think that Dirk was exaggerating he would have been in trouble I think by now he got over it it's pretty public now and it's very encouraging what he does but it takes a bit of courage and we thank God for the Coyotes given him but he I guess as we do the four days of unity can we reflect on centuries millenniums of Christians being at each other all the time okay can we just maybe think about that culture that is so engrossed among us and maybe pray to God that he might change that this the second thing is that I want to pick up and tie in with the four days of unity campaign is that in an instant when Dirk died he was in heaven and in heaven we will all be one it's just one place we will all end up there not heavens for you know there about thirty three thousand eight hundred different denominations but they are not three thirty three thousand eight hundred different heavens there's only one of us but one heaven but we will all be together as we're driving to the Empire Theatre tonight Dirk was remarking that how amazing it is that Christians from all different churches come and celebrate and worship together here at the Empire Theatre and you know remarking that he no - mama must be a bit of a unique place and it is remarkable that we do the 40 days of unity campaign together there more than 20 churches officially registrated more than 2000 unity handbooks have been sold and so that's a huge number in itself but then there are plenty of other churches that are you know part of our partnership of you know pastors and congregations working together in the city that's amazing it's amazing that from different denominations from all across the spectrum we are worshipping and praising God together tonight and you know what you know Christians look at other Christians and think it's amazing but in heaven we do that all the time together you know in heaven we are under the Word of God together we praise Him together we are shoulder to shoulder there are no differences among us we are all the family of God we all belong to God so I thought that's a good introduction to the whole campaign we are one is only one heaven for all of us it's one God and basically our desire isn't called church unity and city transformation is our desire is that we take as many people as we can with us to him you know we we talk about unity a fair bit but unity is not intended and in itself it's a task it's a gift and it's a task so responsibility God wants us to be one work together influence the culture spread the word of God together reach out together not spend all that energy fighting each other and doing lots of other things that we've been doing for so many years he wants us to be one so we can be a united witness and take as many people as we refers to him [Music] you can start why don't we stand together [Music] you are [Music] Jesus [Music] [Music]

Channel: Lutheran Renewal

Views: 9,906

Rating: 4.8549223 out of 5

Keywords: dirk willner, toowoomba, heaven, angels

Id: zBpHN3GNjOE

Length: 54min 3sec (3243 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 16 2019