======================================================================== DENNY KENASTON 01 by Denny Kenaston ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon focuses on the life of the Apostle Paul, highlighting his right beginning with a powerful encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, leading to a life of continuous revival. The secret of Paul's strength was his unwavering focus on the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, counting all worldly things as loss to win Christ and be found in Him. Paul's passion for abiding in Christ and maintaining a deep, intimate relationship with Him propelled him to run well in his Christian journey. Duration: 59:48 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon focuses on the life of the Apostle Paul, highlighting his right beginning with a powerful encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, leading to a life of continuous revival. The secret of Paul's strength was his unwavering focus on the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, counting all worldly things as loss to win Christ and be found in Him. Paul's passion for abiding in Christ and maintaining a deep, intimate relationship with Him propelled him to run well in his Christian journey. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'll sing through the first verse with you, and teach it to you, and then we can sing it together. This was sung in the early Billy Graham crusades, back in the late 40s and early 50s. And it was said in some of them that they would sing it antiphonal. And with antiphonal back and forth singing, it was so loud they heard it for miles, and crying out for God to revive the people again. And so I hope that this is our prayer today. Okay. We don't have that one. Okay. What's that? That's right. And now Mary's going to come sing a solo for us, and we'll try to get this together. And we're not used to these things either. In this dear land, in days of yore, God moved in mighty power. His word he blessed, and souls compressed, when struck and was on fire. Once more, Lord, once more, Lord, I'll sing the days of yore. On this dear land, thy spirit bore, set stuck and now on fire. In this dear land, in days of yore, men loved the word of God. They preached it true and loved it too, when struck and was on fire. Once more, Lord, once more, Lord, I'll sing the days of yore. On this dear land, thy spirit bore, set stuck and now on fire. In this dear land, in days of yore, men honored Christ the Lord. They followed him, come lost again, when struck and was on fire. Once more, Lord, once more, Lord, I'll sing the days of yore. On this dear land, thy spirit bore, set stuck and now on fire. In this dear land, in days of yore, God had the chiefest place. No stake, no rack could hold them back, when struck and was on fire. Once more, Lord, once more, Lord, I'll sing the days of yore. On this dear land, thy spirit bore, set stuck and now on fire. In this dear land, in days of yore, men loved the Sabbath day. With voices raised, their God with praise, when struck and was on fire. Once more, Lord, once more, Lord, I'll sing the days of yore. On this dear land, thy spirit bore, set stuck and now on fire. I'm going to pray after that. Let's bow our heads. Dear God, we've heard this lovely song sung about a fire that was here in Scotland. And Father, we've come from many different places here this evening. We've come from different countries and different continents, Lord, and we're coming here. And there's people from all around this world praying, dear God, that you would send a fire to Scotland. And dear God, that's in fire in all the other parts of this earth, dear Lord. And we do pray. It's like we sung there, Father. Once more, Lord, once more. Oh God, could you do it again tonight? Could you do it again tonight, Lord, even tonight, Father? Bring that fire, oh Father, again tonight, Lord, to us. By anything that we have, not by anything that we've done, but by your mercy, we ask you this, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. We have Anne Kennedy now. This next song we're going to sing, I think you know it. It's called Anne Kennedy. It's a song that starts with a question, and not a lot of songs start with a question. It's not questioning the statement. It's saying as a pondering, how could this possibly be? How could this possibly be? Charles Wesley wrote this, and from what I understand, it's thought that this was the very first song that Charles Wesley wrote after he was converted. He actually came back from Georgia as a missionary. It was a terrible failure. Him and John Bolt was just laying out for days, weeks, just limping, and nothing being able to move in him. And so finally, I went up and read it before, and a young lady came to him and had a word for him and said, rise. Get up. And he got up. And the spirit of God started to move in Charles Wesley with faith, and it is thought that this is the first song that he wrote. It has some powerful words in it. Very powerful. It talks about light coming into us while we're in chains, while we're in the dungeon. It talks about the infinite grace of God, how he emptied himself, and how still today we can have that amazing love. It is a powerful, powerful song. If we could, let's all stand to our feet again, and let's sing this to the Lord. Amen. Amazing love, how grand it'd be That God, my God, should shine for me Amazing love, how grand it'd be That God, my God, should shine for me That His love has grown among so many So in my life His grace Emptied Himself of all our flaws And bled for God's helpless grace His mercy on, immense and free For oh, my God, it found the key Amazing love, how grand it'd be That God, my God, should shine for me This next verse, listen to it. It talks about someone that for years has been imprisoned in sin, and the darkness of the night of the sin, and God in a moment looked His eye upon that sinner and it opened up His eyes. Let's sing it. For my prison spirit laid Thus found in sin and nature's night Thine I deduce the quickening rain I hope the darkened day may rise My chains fell off, my heart was free My hopes went forth and follow me My chains fell off, my heart was free My hopes went forth and follow me No consolation now I dread Jesus I know in His mind Alive in Him, I live again And Lord in righteousness divine All I have lost, eternal flow And in the crowd who cries my own All I have lost, eternal flow And in the crowd who cries my own Hallelujah. We have a different chorus there too, but amen. It's amazing love. Love is so sweet. Hallelujah. It's a blessing to sing with you all. And praise God. Is that your testimony tonight? If you're here tonight and God has never spoken to you in that way, and that light has come into your prison darkness, I pray that early in this conference that you would let His quickening, diffusing eye look into your heart. Let's sing now the Spirit of the Living God. Let's turn to that. It's next. It's a precious song. It was sung in 1926 by a Presbyterian minister who wanted more fervent and effectual and genuine Christianity amongst his people. They had a special meeting, somewhat like this, and gathered together a 4,000 seat temporary structure. He wrote this song before he preached. And the story says that after they sang this song, the idea of God breaking us, the idea of God molding us, they never even got to the sermon. They kept singing the song for 45 minutes, and they had an altar call after that where 400 people responded. May God do that again. These same words that you see here, break me, melt me, mold me, and they're also like what the Welsh Revival in 1904, and Debbie Roberts there spoke of God bend me. It's the same thing of God just taking us, all of us, out of the way and transforming us to what He wants us to be. Let's sing this to God, if we could. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Sing it again, sing it again. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. One more time, just off the pedal, let's just sing to the Lord. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Amen, Lord, we do pray that you would do that tonight, God. We pray this genuinely, Lord, and I know, God, that you love us and you care for us. And the things that you do, you do because you love us, O God. And so we pray, Father, this is our prayer to you tonight. Speak to us tonight, we pray, O God. Amen. One last little chorus here. This has been a bit of a theme when the Revival Conference was in Georgia. It's new to me. It'll be new to you, too. We're going to sing just the chorus tonight. And maybe, Brother Gareth, you can help me sing this, too. So let's sing. Great Reviver, how do we need you? We are here, O see your face. We need you, we need you, Lord, we need your reviving grace. Lord, we need your reviving grace. Great Reviver, how do we need you? We are here, O see your face. We need changing, we need breaking, Lord, we need your reviving grace. Lord, we need your reviving grace. Holy Bible. Thank you. Thank you. May he be blessed. I think I will say a word of welcome to those of you that have come in since we met this afternoon. We've already been blessed this afternoon with a time here to welcome you. I imagine we, and maybe at some point we'll identify different countries that are here. There may be some more coming in. At the end, I'm going to give some announcements that are very important, but we're going to wait until the very end, and so don't miss them. It might affect you. Now, Aileen's going to come and sing a couple songs, and before she does, I'd like to introduce the speaker. Oh, yes. Turn your phone off yourself. It's embarrassing. And we don't want to embarrass ourself, do we? Okay. Before Aileen sings a couple songs, I just want to go ahead and introduce our speaker so he can just come up without interruption. Denny Kingston is from America, lives in the state of Pennsylvania, and God has used him in a fellowship here called the Charity Fellowship in ministering to a multitude of thousands of people. And all I'm going to say, if he wants to say anything else about himself, is he's a man of God. He's a man of God here with a message from God for us, our first one this evening. So, brother Denny, you've got a nice seat. Glory to the Lamb seated on the throne so holy Glory to the Lamb that was in the world and is now in heaven Love is love with glory and resounds with joy Jesus the mighty King In the age of our time He was dead before we came Today He is the Lord Glory to the Lamb seated on the throne so holy Glory to the Lamb Glory to the Lamb seated on the throne seated on the throne so holy Glory to the Lamb so holy Glory to the Lamb Glory to the Lamb seated on the throne so holy Glory to the Lamb so mighty Glory to the Lamb for He is the Lord Amen Alleluia Alleluia for the Lord Almighty Alleluia Alleluia for the Lord Almighty Alleluia for He is the Lord for He is the Lord Alleluia Alleluia for the Lord Almighty for He is the Lord for He is the Lord Alleluia Alleluia for the Lord Almighty for He is the Lord for He is the Lord Amen Pray Pray I'm not sure what to say Do you see Him? In the eyes of your heart That's what Revival is all about It's Him And He longs to be exalted He longs to be exalted in the midst of His people He longs to be exalted in our hearts He longs to have that first place where no other place will take That's what He longs for That's what He deserves And that's what Revival is Isn't it? We all know that The Bible says Blessed are the poor in spirit Tonight Blessed are they that mourn Blessed are the weak that give it up What else could you do but give up? To a God like that And blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness God like that is the only one that can make us righteous I'm very grateful to be here this evening To be in your midst I've read a lot about your country I've never been here But I've read a lot about your country Some pretty powerful things have happened in the past But I understand that it's not that way anymore Something went wrong And I guess that's the burden of this whole conference And I know that most of you know that you came here Because you have that burden in your own heart also That something is wrong Oh, may judgment begin at the house of God Even tonight, amen Judgment, God's judgment I've been praying very much about what I need to be sharing here this evening You know, you don't always get this But when you sense what you feel God wants you to say And then you go into the prayer room And you hear that very thing being prayed in there And then you come back out here And you hear that very thing being sung It's kind of like, okay, let's go This is what God wants you to say tonight So this evening, to open up this revival conference I want to share with you I want to challenge you this evening I mean, revival has to start here, doesn't it? You can't pray for revival out there until it comes here But I would like to share with you this evening The secret of Paul's strength We all know who the Apostle Paul is We know that he was an amazing Christian man And aside from the inspired biography of our Lord Jesus Christ Which, by the way, is the greatest gift that God could give to us Christians Is that inspired biography of the Lord Jesus Christ I mean, think about it We have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John That we can behold the Lamb of God Which was slain for the sin of the world But aside from that biography I believe the next best gift that God gave to us Christians Is the inspired biography of the Apostle Paul And it could be that his biography is even more important than the other one Because we have a tendency, you know, to look at Jesus and say Well, oh well, that was Jesus Well, you look at Paul And you see how the life also of Jesus was made manifest In that man's mortal flesh And brothers and sisters, he was made out of the same thing that you and I are made out of He was a man of life passions just like you and me All of a sudden that begins to grip our hearts in a new way Or at least it should That we would just somehow pull back the veil and begin to look in there and say God worked that way in that man And if God can work that way in that man Then he can also work in me Isn't that wonderful to know? We do not have to live in a state of believing Christianity For the God who worked in the Apostle Paul Is the same God who lives in me It seems to me that the Apostle Paul lived in a state of continuous revival And I know that's what many of us want as we're sitting here this evening We want that We're not satisfied with what we have I trust that's your heart as you're sitting here this evening You're not satisfied May God give us a holy, sanctified, dissatisfaction with where we are in the Lord Because you know you can go forward with that, amen You can go somewhere So we want to look at the Apostle Paul's heart this evening And see if we can't draw some things for our own hearts and our lives As I look at his life, and I have all my Christian life Been staggered and thrilled by watching the life of the Apostle Paul It seems to me that he started right, and he finished right And he ran well in between Brothers and sisters, that's what I want to do I started right, I want to finish right And I want to run well in between There's no way that I can do that and I come back That's going to be God's grace if it happens that way When it's all said and done, I'll just simply be crying grace, grace, grace Because that's all it is Paul was an amazing man, he was an Apostle, he was a preacher He was a church planter, he was a soul winner We look at his life, we're amazed at all the things that he did How he moved through the different communities And went through city after city And it just seemed like revival broke out wherever that man went And souls got saved wherever he went And churches sprung up wherever he went And trials and difficulties came his way And he was stoned, and you know all the things that he suffered Besides all the care that was laid upon him He goes to the churches, but somehow As you look at that man's life Whether he's shaking the stones off of his bruised body You know, where was it, I don't remember which one it was But one of those cities Or whether he's sitting in a cell somewhere Where it's told it seems like that man is in love with God And he's going forward with all his heart, mind, soul and strength And it seems to me that God would just Kind of just put a picture frame around that man here this evening And help us to maybe open up the scriptures And look in and begin to see What made this man take Because he was a man Just like you and I The Apostle Paul First of all, I'd like us to notice that The Apostle Paul had a right beginning And that's very important if you're going to finish the race right He had a right beginning He met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus And his life was never ever the same I'd have to give my own testimony I met the Lord in the front seat of my car 36 years ago in Omaha, Nebraska And my life has never been the same Now it hasn't been perfect And I stumbled around a few times And God knows that I haven't always been faithful to Him But I got up and I got up and I got up And I still have to say I met Jesus Christ in the front seat of my car 36 years ago The drugs left, the immorality left The smoking left, the drinking left And I've never been the same And I realized at that time When I was 23 years old That there was a real life to live And I was behind And I've been running ever since The Apostle Paul began right We know the story We don't have the time to read all of these scriptures But we're going to end up in Philippians chapter 3 If you want to open there First thing he said when he met the Lord Jesus He didn't know who he was He said, Who art thou Lord? And the Lord Jesus spoke to him and said I am Jesus whom thou have persecuted It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks And I've thought of it many times Those must have been fearful words to the Apostle Paul To hear them come out of this heavenly being I am Jesus Paul, you were totally wrong It's exactly what that meant to the Apostle Paul I am Jesus And then Paul said what every one of us should say When we come to that glorious time in our life When we're born again by the Spirit of God He said, What will thou have me to do, Lord? Yes, it seems like the Apostle Paul He started right And oh, I think it's so beautiful You know, that day on the road to Damascus That the Apostle Paul, the great Saul The great bulwark of Judaism The great follower of the immemorial hope Of a sudden this man who seems to have everything together Is being led into Damascus like a blind man I don't even know what else to say God knows how to humble us, doesn't He? And there that man sat in a certain house for three days The Bible says He couldn't see, he didn't eat He didn't drink anything What do you suppose he was speaking about for those three days? I believe he was sitting under the conviction of the Holy Spirit For those three days And he was finding out what repentance is all about Yes, he started right, didn't he? And oh, it's so beautiful to read those accounts there again, you know And Ananias came to him and he said two things He said, Brother Saul, I've come to you That your eyes may be opened And you might be filled with the Holy Ghost What a way to start your Christian life, amen? Filled with the Holy Ghost Here's a man who met the Lord Jesus And he repented And it's so beautiful to see the repentance The beautiful example of repentance there You know, repentance, we have some mixed up ideas about repentance You know, some of us think that repentance is just Well, I just feel bad over the things that I did But that's not repentance And some people think that repentance is that You open your mouth and say what you did wrong But that's not repentance Repentance is a total change of mind Which changes actions I mean, it's 180 degrees I'm going this way and all of a sudden I turn around 180 degrees and go the other way, amen? Do you know what kind of repentance that is? Paul did, oh, so beautifully there he was But four days earlier he's going to Damascus To grab those pitchers and throw them in the prison And as soon as he got his strength back What do you think he was doing? The total opposite, 180 degrees See, brothers and sisters, it's repentance Strong, but it's also repentance too Amen? It's repentance strong, but it's also repentance too And God wants that for us I know it's beautiful, you know, you think about How the Apostle Paul was converted there And that's beautiful, but you know Brothers and sisters, that's just the beginning of his life Amen? We got a whole life ahead of us This man, not only did he start right He ran well And that's what we want to look at here this evening What made this man run well? Well, yes, he started right And that's very important But he ran well What is the secret of his strength? We must look a bit deeper If we're going to see the secret of the strength of the Apostle Paul That carried that man all the way through To the end of his life To where he could joyfully put his head down on the chopping block And allow him to cut his head off How did he do that? What was this? Did he have something special? Something more than you and I can have? No He had that exalted way that we heard some about That's what he had You see that day there when Ananias came into that house and said Saul, receive thy sight to be filled with the Holy Spirit Arise and be baptized in Washington God came to live inside of that day That day God came to live inside of him In Philippians chapter 3 When we start reading the scriptures now Just giving a little introduction We see Paul giving his testimony I'm so amazed many times as I read the Apostle Paul And the testimonies that he gave And he did it in humility You know I read some of them and I think I'm not even sure that I could talk about myself like that But he did it in pure humility Because all he wanted to do was exalt the Lord That was the motivation of his heart Talking about his credentials there in the first part of the chapter We're going to start reading in verse 7 He talks about who he was before he came to the Lord He talks about worshipping God in the Spirit And rejoicing in Christ Jesus And having no confidence in the flesh And he gives this little side note to those that he's writing to And says, if any of you think that you have better of You might have confidence in the flesh I more And then he gives his credentials And I was thinking about that today as I was preparing and praying You know it's 2008 The day that we live in It seems to me like we have way more That we might put our confidence in the flesh Than even Paul did With all of our education and all of our wealth And all the things that we have Somehow Paul had such a clear vision of Christ That he was able to push those things aside Not watch them over and over again And simply lean on the Lord Jesus Christ And Christ was able to live his life out through the Apostle Paul Isn't that what we want brothers and sisters? You know yeah we can go to church And we can read our Bibles And we can do all those things We know that Those are real clear to all of us We've been going to church for many years But oh the Lord Jesus Christ would have such a vessel That he could live his life out through me And that's revival isn't it? That's revival But Paul says these words in his testimony But what things were gained to me Those I counted lost for Christ He didn't care about anything else All he cared about was Christ Yea doubtless And I count all things but lost And I want you to notice that these two verses The first verse is talking about that there The next verse is talking about that Right here You know brothers and sisters That's how you have contiguous revival Yes there is a back there Maybe it's a trip to an altar Where everything gets dealt with But then there is a right here Yea doubtless I do count present tense All things but lost For what Paul? For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord It seems to me that Paul Had such a beautiful revelation Such a beautiful intimate relationship With the Lord Jesus Christ That he saw that relationship And his fresh revelation of Jesus Christ That the beautiful king That we heard some about here And that we sung about He saw that on one side And he saw all the other things in his life over here And he just There wasn't any comparison to him And I wonder if we I wonder if we see Jesus that way Or if all these things over here Whatever you want to put in your little pile You know on your stool If all of these things are more important And Jesus Nah we don't see very much there He's not very valuable He's not the king in his beauty He's not the exalted one in our heart He's not the one that captivates our hearts attention All these other things over here They're there Taking us Putting us away Putting us back Then come to meetings like this Kind of put Christ back up here You know Deal with these things over here And put him back over here You know A few weeks time All these things over here They're there Vying for attention aren't they It seems to me that it wasn't that way with the Apostle Paul He met Jesus on the road to Damascus And his life was never the same The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord That's what Paul was talking about Paul looked at all these things and said Yea I count all those things but loss But loss He goes on to say For whom I have suffered the loss of all things And you count them but done that I may win Christ I count them but done I count my money but done I count my reputation but done I count my job but done Everything I count it but done That I may win Christ That was Paul's desire I want you to notice something here brothers and sisters This is a man who has Christ We know he has Christ But yet he's saying that I may win Christ Is he talking about where back there in the beginning No he's not He's talking about that onward continual That beautiful relationship That vital reality that he had with Jesus Christ And that was the longing of his heart And it moved him forward continually And it was continually saying I want my relationship with Christ more Than I want all these things over here And brothers and sisters I'm not sure if we can say that That is the secret to Paul's strength Christ was living in him In reality Not just theology Oh yea that makes good theology And I believe in theology But brothers and sisters Theology doesn't mean anything If we don't have reality We're gonna be a fool on judgment day If all we have is the theology That we don't have the reality We'll be a fool Paul knew Christ is living in me And that's all I want This is what made his heart beat This is what made him tick This was his passion That's becoming a famous word these days Isn't it? Passion You know it's another one of those words That you really shouldn't even use Unless you're talking about holy things Passion Yes Paul was a passionate man He loved Lord Jesus What did Paul say? He says that I count all things but lost And I count them but dumb That I may in Christ And he goes on to say And be found in Him Be found in Him Paul? Now wait a minute You are in Him Paul What do you mean you? You're letting everything aside That you may be found in Him You're in Him Paul What was Paul saying then? Paul was saying the same thing That Jesus was saying in John chapter 15 Abide in me Jesus said I am the vine and the other branches Abide in me As the branch cannot bear fruit itself So also neither can the vine Nor can you bear fruit Except the abiding in me That's what Paul was talking about My whole life is wrapped up in maintaining that Abiding relationship With Jesus Christ I want to be found in Him You see Paul never knew when he was going to die And we don't know when we're going to die either But we just kind of take it for granted That Paul lived on the edge all the time He never, he truly never knew When he was going to die Therefore his life was constant ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/dNkSG4Uf42Y.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/denny-kenaston/denny-kenaston-01/ ========================================================================