======================================================================== A CRY FOR FERVENT, MEANINGFUL REALITY by Daryl Nolt ======================================================================== Summary: The sermon is a cry for fervent, meaningful reality in our Christian lives, where we love God with all our heart and soul, and share the gospel with others. Duration: 1:08:49 Topics: "Personal Revival", "Evangelism" Scripture References: Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, Romans 10:14-15, Romans 12:1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of developing a deep passion for God through a personal relationship with Him. The message is titled 'A Cry for Fervent, Meaningful Reality' and aims to ignite a fire in the hearts of the listeners. The speaker encourages the church to boldly share the gospel with the world, as Jesus came to set the captive free and remove their burdens. The sermon recounts a powerful experience of a group of believers who fervently prayed and worshiped God before going out to share the gospel with college students outside busy bars. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA, PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Dear Holy Father, we come before You this morning. Lord, You're the King of kings and You're the Lord of lords. Father, we count it an honor to come to stand in awe at Your beauty. Father, to be able to sing the songs together. Lord, to be able to take Your word, Father, and study it together. Father, to spend time in prayer speaking with You as our personal friend. Father, we count it a blessing. And Lord, I pray that You would take my life, Father, this moment and sanctify it completely in the blood of Christ. Father, I want to share nothing this morning that is not straight from off of Your heart. Lord, I pray that You would set my lips on fire this morning, that You would alight the word inside the hearts of Your people. Father, I pray that both the young and the old would understand this morning. Lord, my heart burns with a passion. And Father, I pray that You would help me be able to put the passion that You have placed within my heart, Father, into human words. Lord, I beg You this morning, Father, to feed Your people. God, we don't want to go away from this service the same. Lord, we want our eyes set more clearly upon You. Father, we want to understand You in a better way. Father, we want to live our lives more dedicated to You by the end of this service. And Father, You know there are many young people here today. And God, I pray that You would set their hearts on fire. Lord, there is such incredible potential sitting here this morning. Father, potential to win the world for Christ. And Father, I pray that You would plant Your visions in their heart this morning. God, and send them across this globe. Lord, making Your name great among the nations. Father, You're a good God. And we thank You for answering prayers in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. It's been a long time since I had the opportunity to share with so many people at one time. My family and I have just returned from making a trip across the United States. Actually, we went as far as Colorado and back again. And we had probably about nine or ten speaking engagements. And so, God's message is burning on my heart. From being able to share with God's people. And I am praying today that God is going to help me to be able to take the burning fire within my own heart and break it down into simple words that you will all be able to understand. I long for God's people to catch a vision of God's heart. When Brother Emmanuel or Brother Aaron called me and asked if I would be willing to share, I went to God in prayer about it. As to what He would have for me to share with His people this morning. And as Brother Emmanuel told you, my family and I have been missionaries in Ghana, West Africa. We were there for six years. We had the joy of leading many people to Christ to watch God build His church there. And my heart is filled with a passion to see the world won for Christ. The more I get to know God, the longer I walk with Him, the deeper that passion goes. And it is my heart to be able to give you a glimpse this morning. And even deeper than a glimpse, to also set your hearts on fire. To give you a clear vision of what God's heart would be for your own personal lives. And this morning, if I was to put a title to my message, I would call it a cry for fervent, meaningful reality. It is a cry this morning for fervent, meaningful reality. I long to see a whole church that is set on fire for God. And I know there are many churches represented here this morning. And it is my prayer that as you young people go home from Bible school, that your hearts would be set on fire and not just for one week. I'm talking a fire that burns in your heart day after day, month after month, year after year. Something that does not just go out when you return home. And I remember being a student sitting in your place not long ago. And it was always the concern of every young person. When we would come to Bible school, fearing that when we would go back home, that we would lose the fire that God had ignited inside of our hearts. And I want to tell you, there is no reason it has to go out. This week, if your heart is at a dry place, this should just be the beginning of a fire that should continue for the rest of your lifetime. It is not something that should die out and be resurrected every time you come to Bible school. And so the message I would like to share with you today, it is a cry coming from my heart today for a fervent, meaningful reality in your Christian life. It is not just for the young people, it is for the men here, it is for the women. It is for those of you that are parents, training young children. God has such a desire to have His name made great in this land. After Brother Aaron had asked me to be able to share, I was delighted for the opportunity. And as I said, I was praying that God would give me a message for His people. And one of the stops that my family and I took, I was very, very blessed to spend time with them. They were a radical group of Christians. And I love being with radical Christians. I am one myself and I just enjoy being with a whole group of them. And we had spent a sweet time in fellowship together. As we sang the praises of God, our hearts were lifted up unitedly together in worship. And then I was given opportunity to share what God had done in Ghana, West Africa. And after the service closed, there was an opportunity given for all of those that were there to go out on the streets and preach the gospel. All of us had just experienced a tremendous sweetness of spending time together with God. And out of that came a passionate desire to go out and share it with others. And the city where we were located at that time, it is a college town. And the streets were filled with college young people. And so we knew that they were going to be out. It was Friday evening. And we knew that the streets would be filled with them. And so after the majority of the people had left the meeting, we got back down on our knees together again and spent time for another 20 or 30 minutes singing praises to God, again drawing our hearts heavenward. And as our singing came to a close, we began to spend time in fervent prayer before going out on the streets and sharing the gospel. And after our hearts were totally enveloped with the love of God, we saw the majesty of God. We set out to go and share it with those college students. And we set up our position right outside the bars. And I've never seen bars that were so busy in my entire life before. There were literally thousands of young people out there. Hundreds of them coming in at a time and others going out. And so it provided us with ministry opportunity from probably around midnight until 3 o'clock in the morning. They were there. And we continued preaching the gospel with them. And it just grieved my heart as I listened to these young people speak and to realize where they actually stand. I've worked in Ghana for a long time, but to come back and see the reality of where our people are really at, it just impressed the burden so much deeper upon my heart. They were a mad group of young people racing their way to the hellfire. But one thing I was very blessed as we began to share with those young people. As they began to approach the bar, their comment was, Oh no, there are those people again. And that simply showed me one thing, is that church was doing what God had called them to do. They were being a light in that community. And when those college students knew they were going to enter the bar, they were going to fight their way in there. They were met by five young people that were wild with excitement. And as they approached the bar, someone was bound to sit, grab them and say, let me tell you about Jesus. Don't enter that bar. You're not going to find fulfillment there. Let me tell you about Jesus. And the cry went up from those people, Oh no, here these people are again. And I was so blessed. By the time I went home at three o'clock, my heart was so full. To God, please do it. Please light that fire in the hearts of young people, in the hearts of fathers, in the hearts of mothers all over our country. But I want you to know, it didn't just come out of an obligation to go out and witness. It came out of a heart that was standing in awe before a holy God. And as that fire burned in our hearts, the desire came to go out and share the beauty of Jesus Christ with others. And that's where the heart cry is coming from my message this morning. It is my prayer that God would so set your hearts on fire, that we would be a radical group. That everywhere we go, when the ungodly are making preparation to live in sin, they are met by another Christian that says, Stop, don't go in there. Don't do what you are planning on doing. It's not going to bring fulfillment. Let me tell you about Jesus. It grieves my heart to watch the Christian world keep their mouth shut while the world continues to live in wickedness and no one confronts them. No one brings them to the reality of the sin that they're living in. And then the world keeps their mouth shut and the world makes their mad dash to hell. And it's my heart's desire this morning that God would send out of this place this morning fathers and mothers and youth and in the future young children. You're young children now, but I pray in the future that God will set your hearts on fire and that you will realize that there are millions of people around this globe who are not glorifying God. God's name is not being glorified. His name is not being worshipped that it should. And that you would realize that that reality would grip your heart and as you stand in awe at the majesty of God and His love fills your heart that you would go out and meet those people and share the love of Christ with them. I'm going to turn to the book of Mark. The verse I'm going to read you is a very familiar verse. Starting in verse 28, so we can get the context of the verse here. It says, And one of the scribes came having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well asked them, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all commandments is, This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, There is none other commandment greater than these. And this is where you will find fervent meaningful reality in your Christian life summed up in the two greatest commandments that God has ever given. Number one is loving God with all your heart. And I want you to realize this love that is being talked about here is not something that you do every Sunday. This is something that consumes your being every moment of the day. And it says, And it says after that, And it's summed up in those two verses. Life finds its fervent meaningful reality in loving God with all of your heart. And what I'm going to share with you today is not to condemn a single person. It is to encourage you in your Christian lives. I want to watch you grow. I want to see people getting converted all over the local area here. For those of you that are from Lancaster County, I want to see people getting converted from whatever church group you're from. And I want you to know it wasn't just the men that went out that night when we went out witnessing. There was a young lady that went out with us and she was on fire for God. When we were in prayer, I've seldom heard a woman pray with such authority. And she went out along with us with the same burning passion inside her heart to win those people for Christ. It's not something that just the men were concerned about. The women were also very burdened about the loss. And God wants you sisters to catch a clear vision for it. And it grieves me to watch young people getting hung up on these small issues. And you may deal with them in Bible school this weekend. God may put His finger on areas in your Christian life. And we'll talk about treasures here in a little bit. But God wants you to deal with those areas in your Christian life so that you can love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. Every part of your body is consumed with a passionate love for God. Brother Emmanuel said he didn't know if I was going to speak on missions or not. And the heart cry that is going to come this morning is the very basis for missions. If you don't get these points straight, you'll never make it as a missionary. You could go and be a missionary and fulfill your obligation. But God cannot work through a life that has not come and stood in awe at the majesty of God. He cannot work. It is as you stand in awe at the majesty of God and your worship ascends to Him that the reality, that the reasons for missions exist. And so yes, I may speak to you briefly about missions this morning. I want to encourage you that direction, but it starts at home. It starts, number one, with your walk with God. And number two, it starts with your effective testimony or your testimony among the people where you live. If you can't open up your mouth and stand in the way of the heathen and preach the gospel to them here, you'll never do it across seas. It's not that some special miracle happens when you enter an airplane and suddenly you're a missionary. It happens at home. And what I'm begging for today is for a reconsideration of the direction you're going if you are not experiencing God's fullest blessing in your life and become a passionate, gain a passionate relationship with the God of Heaven so that in the future God can turn your sights all around the globe and send you around the globe so that He can make His name great. But unless God becomes great in your Christian life, you'll never see Him as a great God. I mean, unless He is a great God in your Christian life, you'll never be able to help others see that He's a great God. He's a prayer-answering God. And I'll just give you one little testimony. When I was out in Colorado, I was at the park with my daughter, my children. And while my children were playing, there was a woman who came down and sat beside me. And we began to speak. And soon our conversation was steered towards the spiritual. And she said to me, as we were speaking, she said, I hear you have an accent. She said, why do you speak the way you do? And I told her, well, I'm still working on my speech since I have been back from Ghana, West Africa. I said, I was a missionary. And that immediately sparked her attention. And so she began questioning my Christian life, my walk with God. And as I began to share with her, she said, have you ever seen God perform any miracles in Ghana? I said, I've seen God perform many miracles in Ghana. And I began to share with her just briefly of some of the things that I saw God do, miracles that I saw God work out in Ghana. And her next question to me is, she said, I want you to pray for me. And she said that she had just found out she was pregnant. And she had lost some babies before. And she said, I believe that your God is able to answer prayers. Will you pray for me? All that did is I began to speak with her and share about what God was doing in Ghana. And her heart rose in faith and said, if God will answer your prayers for those heathen people, God can answer the prayer for my life too. And so I was excited to be able to take the opportunity to pray for her. And God wants us to make His name great all over this place, around the globe. First where you're living now and then around the globe. And God is looking for men and women that love God with all of their heart, with all their soul, with all their strength and with all their mind. And out of that, the second commandment just comes naturally. To love your neighbor as yourself. Because when you love God with all your heart, you have no desire for anything else. He has so completely satisfied your heart, music is not a big issue to you anymore. Cars are not an issue. Sports are not an issue. Entertainment, I mean, it just loses its power. Because God has become such an incredible delight to your life. That is where all of your meaning is found. You would rather be on the streets sharing the gospel with Jesus Christ than you would being entertained somewhere else. A life of meaning comes first from being born again. And I trust that all of you that have come here for Bible school are born again. If you're not, I pray by the time you leave this place. And I hope it happens in the beginning of the week and not the end. But I pray that if you're not born again, if your heart has never been right before God and you know whether you've been born again or not. But if your heart has never been right before God, I pray that today or in the very near future you're going to repent of your sin and find that sweetness. And in Romans chapter 12, Paul when he was speaking to the Romans, he said, I beseech you, I beg you by the mercies of God that you present your body a living sacrifice. And that after you have given your life to God, it is a place of total consecration. That God, I am totally given, as we sung in that song today, my hands are yours, my feet are yours, my mouth is yours. You send me wherever you want, I will open my mouth and share the gospel with everyone I meet. Your life needs to be offered to God as a living sacrifice. And like we read in those verses, Christ must be the center. He must be the passionate. Your love for Him must come from a passion from your heart. And out of that is going to flow the desire to win the heathen for Christ. As I watch the church, I've traveled to many different church groups and there are some that I can see are on fire for God. And there are others, that it became clear very quickly, their hearts are caught up. They are caught up with many things. It can be business, it can be a lot of other little things. But God wants to be loved with all of your heart. He wants you to enjoy Him above anything else. He wants to be the most beautiful thing to you. And as you find sweetness in God, His word will be so alive to you. When you pray, He will answer your prayers. When you witness, you will find the Holy Spirit working through your life. And God has a passion to be worshipped. And we talk about missions. I spoke to some of the youth earlier about this, right after Samuel and Kate's wedding. But the only reason that missions has the existence is because worship doesn't. That's the only reason we have to travel around the world. It's the only reason why we go in to have city ministries. It's the only reason we go to the places where people hang out and share the love of God with them. It's because worship does not exist. The revelation of nature is not getting through to the people. And God says He has ordained the foolishness of preaching to win the world to Christ. That's where it lies. Tract distribution is great. Spending time on your knees for the heathen is great. But it is never a substitute for opening up your mouth and speaking directly into the heart of a man or woman and tell them you are on your way to the hellfire and you need to repent. I want to watch you be radical Christians, not just continuing to keep your mouth shut. The world here needs to be afraid of you. And more times than not, the Christians are afraid of the world. When the world is around, they keep their mouth shut. Satan has no fear of you. He knows that when you get inside the places of the world, you will keep your mouth shut. And they have absolutely no fear. But God wants your life to be so on fire that the world fears to be around you. And as those students had that sense of dread as they approached the bar, when they saw those youth standing there, that is the sense of dread that all the heathen around you should have when they see you approaching. Your life needs to be a vibrant testimony. But it comes from spending time in fellowship with God. In John, Jesus said that if you abide in the vine, that is the way your life is going to bear much fruit. And there are a lot of Christians out there that are concerned that their life is not producing the kind of fruit they are after. And they try to develop some scrawny looking fruit. But Jesus said, if you abide in me, you have sweet fellowship with me, you are connected to the vine. Jesus said, you won't have to try to produce fruit. It will come in such abundance. It will come as a natural result of being connected to the vine. And as you worship God, in Isaiah chapter 58, let's just turn there briefly. Isaiah chapter 58, it's a chapter concerning fasting. And I just want to take a note in the chapter of what God promises to those that have their hearts right with Him. It's dealing with the issue of fasting. If we start in verse 8, God said that if your life is right with God, then your life shall break forth as a morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily. And thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. And I want you to notice what God said He's going to do when you pray. He says, then thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. And out of this passionate worship that we were talking about this morning, and like I said, I was so glad that God let me enter into it with that church group for just that evening, because it cleared my vision so much for what I wanted to share this morning. As we spend time alone with God, we watch God answer prayers. We went out onto the streets and began to share. If your heart is right with God, and remember worship, the essence of worship is not action. Today we sang songs, you're listening to me share with you today. We spent some time together in prayer, but I want you to remember the essence of worship is not action. It is not going through form. It is an issue of affection. Isn't it right? It is the thing that is the affection, the treasure of your life is what you worship. And there are a lot of Christians that are confused about it. They say, I worship God. They worship God, as they say, through action. But action is not the essence of worship. Affection is the issue. And I cannot tell where your affections lie this morning, but God wants you on your knees. If God is not the center source of your life, the greatest delight of your life, He wants you on your knees, so that you can worship Him in spirit and in truth. And it is out of that place of worship, that the passion for evangelism comes. It is just a natural overflow. And I'm going to read some verses out of Acts chapter 4 after a little bit. But as the disciples were carrying out their ministry, they said, we couldn't help but speak the words of God. Jeremiah, I believe it was, that after he was facing a lot of difficulty with his ministry, he said that he had purpose in his heart, he was going to shut his mouth. And he said it was as fire within his bones. He couldn't keep his mouth shut. It just came out as a result of walking with God. And you won't have to try to drum up a message to share with other people. When you meet the world, your heart is going to cry out as Jeremiah's heart cried out in tears, as he watched his people living in sin. Your heart must also cry out and beg God to deliver them. Because Jesus said, that was my mission. I came to set the captive free. I came to take away that heavy burden. And God is looking for the church to open up their mouth and to be bold. To be radical and get out there and share the gospel with the world, so that His Holy Spirit can do His work and bring them to Christ. But as long as the church keeps its mouth shut, everything will continue going as it has for many, many years. And so, as you worship God, your heart will number one have fellowship with God in prayer. It will be sweet. It is not something you have to try to do. It will be a sweet fellowship with God, and His word will be alive to you. You will not find it difficult to spend time alone with God. And when you sing, your heart is going to be drawn in worship to God. It is not going to be going through the mere action of singing. Because God is the passion of your life. When you sing, and your heart will just rise in affection to Him. Your heart will be drawn away to the presence of God, as you sing. And it is out of that life, if you are looking to ever be a missionary, it is out of that life that missionaries come. You can try to go without it, but it will not work. Your life will lack meaning, and your ministry will lack effectiveness. You will never help people see what you yourself have never experienced or seen. And my prayer this morning is that God will help you to see it. You may not see it. I am hoping you will see it as I share with you this morning. But if you cannot, I pray that when you get along with God in prayer, and His Holy Spirit has time to work in your heart. That He will open up your eyes, and you will see the majesty of God in a way you have never known it before. That He will come, become a big God to you. And as God became a big God to that woman that I was speaking to at the park, as I shared what God was doing. That is what needs to happen in your own Christian life. He needs to become a big, beautiful, majestic God to you. And you have a passion to live your life completely for Him. But it boils down to where your treasure lies. God wants to be your treasure. And I cannot tell where your treasure lies. There are some telltale signs that Scripture gives us if you want to figure it out. Number one, God says, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Right? If you want to know where a person's heart is, you listen to what they like to speak about. Where I went to school, it wasn't difficult to tell. We like to talk about sports. It's what we often talked about. Where I went to church before, they liked to talk about cars. It's where their heart was. I have met others that hunting is their passion. And not that there are things wrong with these things by themselves when they are a servant, but when they become a passion, when they become an affection to the heart, they become wrong. And God says, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. And if you want to know where your heart is, just pay attention to what you speak about for a little bit of time and it will tell you where your heart is. Another telltale sign that God clearly speaks about concerning affections is the issue of money. Where your treasure is, is where your heart is going to be. And most people put their money where their treasure is. If your heart is after hunting, you are going to put your money there. If your heart is after sports, you will put your money there. If your heart is after cars, you will invest your money there. You will put your money, and many people struggle with money being their treasure. And if you want to find out a real telltale sign of where your heart truly is, you look at where you put your money. Where you invest it. If God is your passion and you realize that you are living in a little dot called time. And you are desiring your whole life to be invested in what is called eternity. Everything that you do is in light of eternity. If you were to die today, you don't want to be caught investing your life in that little dot called time. You want to be pouring out your life for the things that last for an eternity. That, it will show you where your treasure is. You will think about the things where your treasure is. There is a little saying that says, You are not what you think you are, but what you think you are. Isn't that right? You are not what you think you are, but what you think you are. If you want to know who you are, look at what you think about. What does your mind naturally gravitate to in its free time? You are not what you think you are, but what you think you are. And God wants you to take a look at your affections. And I don't want this message to be a condemnation to you. I want it to be an encouragement to you. If your affections are not right today, go and get them right. And let God be the passion of your life. And as He becomes the passion of your life, you will find yourself wishing you had never enjoyed those things of the past. You will find God sweeter than anything you have ever experienced. And there are many Christians that wrestle, and they wrestle with letting go. They stand and they look at that land of blessing and they say, The cost is so high, I'm afraid what God is going to ask. You're a fool. You are hanging on to some treasure that is going to blow up when the world comes to an end. And leaving what you could be investing for in an eternity. And my desire this morning is to draw your attention to the things of God. And God is an eternal God. And there is only but one thing that you can invest your time in, that you can invest your money in, that you can think about that is going to last for an eternity, and that is the souls of men. There is nothing else inside this world that God has given us that we are going to be able to take with us into eternity. But God has commanded us to be faithful witnesses. Not all people have the gift of evangelism. But every person who is seated here today who has been born again has a testimony. And God has called all of us to be faithful testimonies wherever we go. And so that means no matter who you meet, if you are born again and you are walking with God, you have a testimony and you say, Let me share Jesus with you. And you share what He has been doing in your life and you make God's name great. But it grieves my heart to watch the church caught up in money. If you study the scriptures, Jesus gives one severe warning after another about laying up treasures. He says when you lay up treasures, you set yourself up for incredible temptation. And so many times we like to take our culture and then interpret scriptures. Way too often. I wish we could take our culture and lay it aside and study scriptures point blank concerning this area of riches and then apply it to our culture and see how it would change our lives. There are many people that sit on a lot of wealth, investing in something that is going to perish in a little bit of time when God says don't do it. You are setting yourself up for trouble. God says invest your time, your money into things that last for an eternity and not something that perishes when Jesus comes back. You will never take it with you. And I beg you this morning, I was listening to one of Zac Poonen's tapes on the way and he said that Christians get really confused. He said if you ever study the scripture concerning riches, he said in heaven where is the gold? It's on the streets. It's under your feet. That's where it belongs. And he said so many Christians get confused and put it on their head. They like to wear it. They like to keep it with them. And God said it belongs on the streets. It makes a wonderful servant but it makes a cruel master. It will take away your time to spend with your family. It will take away your time to stand out on the streets and warn the wicked of the direction that they are going. It will rob you of everything that's dear to you. And God said don't collect wealth on the earth. He said it is dangerous. And I was amazed as I was studying just the life of Christ. How many times he warns about this. How many times he spoke parables about the issue of wealth and what happens to people who allow it to capture their hearts. And so I cannot make the decision for you what you are going to do with your finances. But I encourage you to be radical with it. I dare you if I dare is right to go home and make drastic changes with the way if you are living your life for self and investing your wealth, collecting wealth, accumulating wealth on the earth to go home and make some radical changes. And show God that He is the treasure of your life. Because there are a lot of people that can say God is the most important thing to me. I love Him more than anything else. But you think God believes it when He watches you piling wealth after wealth here on the earth. Do you think that speaks to His life and says, Yes, you are the most important thing. You won't fool God with it. He sees right through it. You can say with your mouth that He is the most important thing. But does your life prove it to Him? Does it prove it to the world that God is the most important thing to you? Or are your values the same as what the world's values are? And you sit back and relax in your comfortable seats and collect wealth when God has given such severe warnings about collecting at your own earth. I leave it with you, between you and God. But I warn you, it will create a coldness in your Christian life like few other things will. It turns your hearts and mind to things that it never should. God wants a clear display of where your treasure really lies. And if we turn to Matthew chapter 19, I'll read the account to you of that rich young man. It's a very familiar story. Matthew chapter 19. And this was one of the accounts concerning wealth that Jesus dealt with. In verse 17 it says, And He said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. And thou shalt not bear false witness. Honour thy father and mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man said unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up. What lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, And I want you to notice, Jesus goes right to the treasure. And that's how God does it. If you're going to follow Him, He goes straight to those treasure issues and puts His finger on it. Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, If you want to be perfect in your Christian life, He said, Go and sell what you have and give to the poor. That was an incredible test of this man to see where his treasure truly lay. And we measure the worth of a treasure by what we will gladly give up in order to have it. Isn't that right? We measure the worth of a treasure by what we will gladly give up in order to have it. And Jesus was testing that young man to see where his treasure lay. He wanted to see whether he was willing to give up everything to follow Jesus. And what does it say? Jesus told him, If you give to the poor, which is loving your neighbour as yourself, thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. It says, But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful. And I wonder how many of you would go away sorrowful if Jesus gave you that command. He went to the hardest shoe with him. And the young man went away sorrowful because it says he had great possession. Then Jesus said unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. How strong does Jesus have to get before it sounds a warning concerning riches? Jesus said, Verily I say unto you that a rich man will hardly make it into the kingdom of heaven. And yet the Christians are playing with money over and over and over again. They are accumulating wealth over and over again. And God has given such strict warning concerning finances and being rich. And yet we continue to joke around with it. I'll warn you, it will deaden your Christian life and make you so ineffective that Satan will have nothing to fear about you. It says, And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And when His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? And Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. And so my plea this morning is to re-evaluate where your treasure actually lies. And if God is not the source of delight in your life, if He is not the most ultimate treasure, there is something majorly wrong. And it's why the world has nothing to fear when we walk down the streets. I mean, if we were to walk through the fair and effort when the effort of fair was there, the world should be saying, No, there those people come again. Because they know they're going to be rebuked for their life of playing. When you walk down the streets by a bar and there are people on their way to go and live their life up in foolishness and drunkenness, their heart should say, No, there come those Christians again. But I fear that so many times they do it in perfect ease and God's people keep their mouth shut. And people continue to go to the hell fire. And I'm talking about our communities right now. And I could preach to you a long time about the world, about Africa, about India, about China, to the millions that are dying there that have never heard the name of Jesus once. All because the church is so focused on investing their money into that little dot called time and forgetting that God exists in eternity. And that God has a passion for his people to live their lives for eternity. And I believe if God's people became radical Christians across our country, the world would be evangelized in a very short time. But God's people are dead. They are sleepy. They are being lazy. And the very things that God says will cause temptations in your life, we soak ourselves with it. We enjoy it. And so this morning it is a pleading with you. It is a cry coming from my heart for a re-evaluation. God wants to be worshipped and he wants his name to be made great. And unless your heart is right before him, it will not happen. And so young people, you have the opportunity this week to have your heart set on fire for the rest of your life. Fathers and mothers here, you have the same opportunity. There is no reason for a Christian life that goes up and down and up and down. God wants your life to continually be going up. And you know what, when you get out there and you face the world, there is something about the mockery, the shame that goes with it that just causes your Christian life to prosper. I mean, those college students mocked us. I mean, it was shocking to me. I haven't been out in the city streets to witness since I've been back from Ghana. And in Ghana, witnessing is very easy. Not everyone comes to Christ, but witnessing is very easy. And to watch the scorn and the mockery come from those people, it was incredible. But on the flip side of that coin, I was also very blessed. Many of the students would come back and say to us, We don't understand why you are the way you are. We don't agree with what you're saying, but there's something different about you. There's something that makes us feel good when we're with you. And that's the way it should be. The sweetness of God's love should flow from your life in such incredible ways that though you speak words to them that pierce to the heart, they should be able to sense the love of God so flowing through your life that though it hurts what you say, they still want to come back and be with you. And so I encourage you, be a radical Christian. And when I say radical, because normal Christians have so changed its definition that we can hardly no longer call it normal Christianity. It has to become a radical Christianity. God wants it to be normal, but it's a shame, but it's not normal. And I want to encourage you fathers concerning this issue of treasures. Your children are watching you. Your children are watching you. And where you invest your treasure, your children will follow in your footsteps. If you sit on money while you're here, your children are going to sit on money. If you live extravagantly, your children will follow in your footsteps. If you live your life with a passion for the lost, it's what your children are going to talk about. When they get together, it's what they imitate. I love watching my children imitate going out and preaching the word. I love watching, I mean, my daughter the other day was saying, someday God's going to send her out. She doesn't know when it's going to happen and where she's going to go, but God's going to send her out. I love that, because I want God to send her out. I want her to have a passion to be able to fulfill God's will for her life and not to just become an ordinary Christian. Your children watch your life, and they will learn from you. There's not some special miracle that happens by bringing them to church to make them turn out differently than what you've turned out. You need to re- evaluate your life, to live your life with a passion for the things that matter for eternity, and your children will follow in your footsteps. They will love it as you love it. But if you love other things, your children will also love other things. I know several fathers that their passion is football, and their little boys, their passion is football. I know some fathers who are farmers, and they love farming, and their boys' passion is tractors. They love it. And not that there's anything wrong with boys playing with tractors, but I'm talking about it's what their fathers talk about all the time. And it soon shows up. And so not only are you putting your own Christian life in jeopardy by having wrong treasures, you are putting your children in danger of making the same mistakes that you have made by continuing to live your life for that little dot called time, rather than investing it in eternity. And so I challenge you to go home and re- evaluate. Your children are watching you. In Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10, if you want to turn there, Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10, I want to warn you and remind you that we are in a battlefield. This is not a joke. This is not an option of what I'm talking to you about today. Radical Christianity is not for just a couple of people that are sitting here. It is for every one of you. And this is a battlefield. Belief always produces action. Every time. And if you believe you're in a war, you're going to act like you're in a war. If hell is a reality to you, you're going to live your life like hell is a reality to you. If heaven is a sweet reality to you, you're going to live your life like it. But if it's not a reality to you and you don't realize you're in a warfare, it will also show. Belief also always produces action. We know that Noah believed God because he built the earth. Not because he said he would, but because he did it. Isn't that true? We know that Abraham believed God because when he was told to offer up Isaac, he did it. It is because belief produced action that we know that they had faith. And belief will always produce action. And so I question, where do your beliefs lie? Is hell and heaven a reality to you? And if it's not, I encourage you to study the scriptures and to beg God until it becomes one. We're in a war. In Ephesians chapter 6 it says, Mark it well. If you're a radical Christian, you're going to be under fire. Satan is going to fear you. He's going to tremble when you pray. And you are going to become one of his greatest enemies. And so mark it well. God says, put on the whole armor of God. Why? So that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of peace. And above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. That is your offensive tool. The rest is defensive, to protect you from the enemy. Your sword, the word of God, is what He has given you for fighting with. It says, Praying always with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And so, I want heaven and hell to become a reality to you. They are issues of eternity. The souls that you meet day after day, are going to spend an eternity in one place or the other. And it largely depends if you are going to open up your mouth, and rebuke them for the way they are going. It needs to be abrasive to them. Number one, like I said earlier, you must, the love of God must flow from your life. But your words need to speak clearly, that there is no question mark left in their mind. Otherwise, they will have no reason to fear you. And so remember, we are in a battle, and we need to live like it. It's not time to be sitting down and relaxing, and just enjoying the sweet fellowship of church life. It's time to get active. It's time to get out, and to attack the enemy forces now. People are dying now. People are running to the hell fire now. And it's time to get busy now. It's not something that you can do once you get older. If you've been a born again Christian, you have a responsibility. It should be a delight to you. But you have a responsibility to go out there, and stand as a road block on the way to hell, as these people are making their mad dash. God wants your love, the love of Christ, to so flow from your life, that the people have a strong desire for it. I was asked by one young man, that was in school at this university. He said to me, he told me, it seems that you have found meaning in life. And I told him, you are exactly right. You are exactly right. And he said, I don't know what to do. He said, it's what I'm searching for. He said, I've been very confused, and I've been amazed at how many of them are so confused, by Christianity that is so watered down, that they don't know what direction to go anymore. But he said that, his word was, he said, I envy you. He said, I'm searching for that meaning. And I showed him so clearly, from scripture, what he needs to do. And now it is left up with him to make that choice. But they are searching. There are many of them, and the students especially, they are there to learn. And though they can argue upside and down, there are many of them that are ready to learn, if you are willing to open up your mouth, and share Christ with them. So remember, it's a battlefield, and it's time to fight now, and to keep on fighting. When you get to heaven, you can rest. But while you are alive, you need to be in battle. And as this takes place, God said that, there is going to just be natural fruit, that comes from your Christian life. As you abide in the vine, you find that sweet place of worship, you go out and preach the gospel to the ungodly. Natural fruit is going to come. You will find genuine love flowing from your life, just like you've never had it before. You will find yourself so full of exceeding joy, you won't know what to do with it. It just comes as a natural fruit, of being radical for Christ. But the churches are so filled with people, that are willing to sit back and relax. And that is where my heart cry was coming this morning. A cry for fervent meaningful reality. People that care. People that see things from God's perspective. People that treasure God, and the things that God treasures, above everything else. God wants to fill your life with His Holy Spirit. And Joel, let me turn to those verses and read it to you. So I can get the verse correct. Talking about pouring out your spirit, God promised in the book of Joel, that He was going to do it. In chapter 2 verse 28, it says, and it shall come to pass. I'm sorry, let me back up to verse 27. It says, and ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else. And my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. It says, and also upon thy servants, and upon thy handmaids, in those days will I pour out my spirit. And that is what we need so desperately. There are many Christians that pray, God send your Holy Spirit, fill me with your Holy Spirit. And if you look at the life of Christ, when He was baptized, He was filled with God's Holy Spirit. And who can tell me what happened after Jesus' baptism? He went to be tempted. And that is so often what happens when we ask for God's Holy Spirit. He says, you want God's Holy Spirit? Fine, I'll fill you. And then He takes you and gives you temptation. And did Jesus pass those temptations or did He fail? He passed them. And when Jesus came down from the mountain, does anyone know what it says? He came in the power of the Spirit. And I believe that Jesus, when Jesus was baptized, He was filled with the Spirit. And when He was tested, He passed those tests. And after He passed those tests, like He said, it says that He came down in the power of the Spirit. And there are many people that get confused. They ask for God's Holy Spirit to fill them. And God answers their prayer and He sends the testing. And they fail. And then the people sit back and say, why is the Christian life so difficult? I'm being tempted so many times. And I don't have the power in my Christian life. My friend, you need to pass the test. God so much. He said that He wants to give His Holy Spirit to you much more than you even want to have it. He wants to have His power flow through your life so that the world can be one for Christ. But you need to pass the test that He brings into your Christian life. And so when they come, don't be discouraged and don't be surprised that they're coming. They will come if you want to be filled with His Holy Spirit. And as you pass those tests, may your testimony also be that I also am now experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit filled life. God longs for it to be that way. And you can also mark it well that if you're going to be a radical Christian, you will very likely experience a lot of flack from your Christian friends. They won't understand. So many times persecution comes from Christian people. It's amazing the way it happens. There's something about everybody liking to be the same. And if everyone lives their Christian lives the same, everyone can live happily. But when there's a couple radical Christians inside a church group and they are living their lives completely for God, it makes the other ones feel uncomfortable. When they're sitting on top of their wealth, it hurts because they look and the other man is living his life for eternity. And it begins to cause friction. And so if you start getting persecution from some of your Christian friends, don't let it come as a surprise to you. If you get a lot of persecution from the world, don't let it be a surprise to you. God said expect it. He said all that live godly in Christ Jesus, not some but all, who live godly in Christ Jesus are going to suffer persecution. You can expect it. And God said if it comes, value it and use it as bread in your Christian life. You can either use it, allow it to defeat you or it can take you higher. The world is going to hate you. It's a guarantee. Your values are so different. The things that you stand for are so different. The world is going to hate you. But let them hate you. As they see the sweetness of Jesus Christ flowing through your life and as you speak strongly into their life about repenting of their sin, God's Holy Spirit can do His work and turn the light on. And this is what missions is all about. You can take home what I shared with you and put it to practice right in the town where you're living. You can put it to practice wherever God has you right now. And I pray that as you continue to stand in all before God and as you are a faithful witness to the people that He has put you in, that He is going to turn your focus to the ungodly people who have never had a chance. It's exciting to preach the gospel to college students. It's even more incredible to share Christ with a person who's never heard about the saving grace of Jesus Christ in their life before. And to watch them get gloriously converted. It will change your life. And so I pray that God will send young people, will send families out of this place, people who have chosen to be radical. And I don't want this message to just die out and go, as we say in Africa, to fly in one ear. They talk about flying in one ear and flying out the other side. I don't want it to be something that you think about just for a week and then it's gone. I want it to be something that's going to change your life. That when I meet you 20 years from now, that your life is continuing to grow deeper and deeper in the love of Christ. That you continue to stand strong. That you are a faithful witness and standing in the way of those that are making their mad dash to the hellfire. God cares about them. He has a passion to win them. He wants to make His name great among those people. But unless the church opens up their mouth, it will never happen. In Romans, chapter 10, in closing, it says, verse 13, it says, It says, Do you believe that? It says, Can you call on someone in whom you do not believe? I've often given the illustration when I was speaking in Ghana. We worked with a lot of people who had snake bites. We were known far and wide for God answering our prayers concerning the issue of snake bites. And the message got spread far and wide within a 60 mile radius of the village where we were living. We were known to be able to pray for those snake bites and God would answer prayer. It was just one of the many miracles that we watched God work as we were there. And it says, If they didn't hear about us, how would they know where to come? If they haven't heard about Jesus and His saving power, how are they going to believe? It says, If they haven't heard of them, how can they even believe in Him? If you don't tell them, how can they believe? It says, It comes right back to us again. Right back to us. How are they going to hear unless you tell them? And then the next verse says, I don't know how much clearer of a command you need. He said, The issue is not whether you should go or not. The question is where you should go. And as you are living in the community where you are, your go is very obvious. And as you continue to seek God's will for your life, I pray that He's going to send you to some of the most needy places of the world. Where people are longing to hear the gospel. And be able to make God's name great in that place too. But it all depends on you. It depends on the decisions that you make concerning the treasures in your life. I cannot make that decision. I cannot make you be radical. If I could, I would. But I can't. I can only pray that God will take these feeble human words and set them on fire in the hearts of His people. So that it will bring change that will last for an eternity. God needs you desperately. He needs you to make His name great. He wants to be worshipped. But without you it will never happen. And I want you to remember that we measure the value of a treasure. By what we will gladly give up in order to have it. And so I urge you today. Find your greatest source of delight in Jesus Christ. And allow Him to be your treasure. I pray that God will richly bless you and give you direction in your Christian lives. I pray that He will help you fathers to make choices for your family that will encourage your children to invest in eternity. It will set the church on fire. If the whole church is walking in the sweetness of God's love, is experiencing God's richest blessing in their life. It will set the church on fire. As you go out and you share Christ with a lost and dying world. And I hope and pray that I will hear of revival fires breaking out all across the United States as you Bible students go home. There is no reason it shouldn't happen. God wants to set your hearts on fire. And win the world for Christ. So thank you for your time and I pray that God will richly bless you as you find a fervent meaningful reality in your Christian life. I was just thinking about myself. What if that's what I want? Then what is the first step? If that's what I want, I will have to begin to go that direction. If that's what I want, I must begin to take steps. Amen? I wonder what the steps are for you. Well, okay. I'll be more faithful in giving my tithe. And I'll try to make sure I give a tithe. Or maybe I should just double my tithe. Maybe that would be enough. Is that right? That's not what God is asking this morning. God is asking for everything. Everything. And what He really wants is a willing heart that says, Yes Lord, just show me the way. That's what He's asking for. And that first step needs to be, we need to be able to say, Yes Lord, I'm willing. And the next step, I believe, is to begin. You see, this is not a superficial life. This life is to be a reality. And in order for our Christian life to be reality, we must take steps of reality. If He is speaking to us about our wealth, we need to just obey. And to be radical, you'll be misunderstood by your friends, your Christian brothers and friends. You might, maybe God is asking you to sell your possessions. And to give them away. Well, but we'd like for you to keep some, just in case you have a need of some kind, right? But the important thing is that you hear from God what He wants you to do. And the steps He wants you to take. But if you're going to reach that goal, where you're going to live in the reality of the Christian life, you must begin to take steps as God leads you. You must. Or, you'll come back next year and you'll hear another good sermon. And it will just kind of go by again. ======================================================================== Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/13/SID13417.mp3 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/daryl-nolt/a-cry-for-fervent-meaningful-reality/ ========================================================================