Scotland 2009 - Evangelistic Rally - Part 2

Well, a very warm welcome from the Town Hall in Greenock, Scotland, to all of you who have ventured here tonight and to all of you who may be watching us across the world. The proceedings tonight are being streamed through Times Square website and available to anybody across the globe. But most important, we give a warm welcome to the Holy Father, God, who is with us tonight. God is here. God is here to touch every situation, every heart, every life, young, old, maimed, crippled, hearts rejected. And I've been listening to stories through today of just what's been happening, lives at the end of their days coming to faith, realizing that God loved them, perhaps for the first time in their life. We've heard of schoolchildren coming to faith already understanding that materialism isn't the answer. We've had people in care homes. We've had people off the street finding God today, 2001. God is in Greenock. God is across the world, but God is in Greenock. So a very warm welcome from the organizers who are Inverclyde Christian Initiative, Teen Challenge Strathclyde, and the Haven Kilmacomb Drug Rehabilitation Centers, and to our friends who have come a very long way to be with us tonight from Times Square Church in Manhattan in New York. We're overwhelmed. There's some 230 people have traveled 3,000 plus miles to be here because they care and because they love a God who cares. And they've joined with people in Scotland and in this local area who love God and who care and who watch around them every day, wickedness, sin, depravity, hopelessness, despair, rejection, lack of forgiveness and understanding. And the 230 people have joined hearts with those here to ask God just to love, God already loves, but to let them know that God loves them, that there is an answer to absolutely every plight of the human, man, and woman, and how this nation needs an answer to the every plight of man, woman, and children. And that answer is with us tonight. God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. So we're very glad to introduce you to Times Square Church and this wonderful choir behind me and to their senior minister, Pastor Carter Conlon, and his wife Teresa, who have come in Carter's case a second time. He was here last year to be with us and we are so grateful and we extend our arms and our words of love to you to thank you most sincerely for being with us. Let's give them a clap. Praise God. Now we're going to sing over to you, Greg. Greg is the musical director in Times Square. Greg Thomas, give him a warm welcome too. Don't you want to meet me? Meet me. Oh, meet me. If you miss me, If you miss me, come pray to God with me. Oh, when you can't find your way, find your way, come on up to my door. Come on up to my door. And that's where I'll be. When we are, when we get to heaven, what a day, how rejoicing, that's going to be. Yes, it is. Oh, we're gonna sing and shout the victory. When we are, when we get to heaven, how rejoicing, that's going to be. Yes, when we are, when we get to heaven, we're gonna sing the victory. We're gonna sing and shout the victory. Everybody will be happy. We're gonna sing and shout and tell our story Everybody will be happy all the day And I'm so glad Oh, you glad, you glad I'm so glad I'm so glad, yeah I'm so glad Everybody's gonna be happy I'm so glad Ain't you glad, yeah I'm so glad Everybody will be happy all the day Everybody Everybody I don't know about you But I'm gonna be happy Oh, I'm gonna be happy Oh, I'm gonna get over there and shout and tell my story Everybody will be happy all the day And I'm so glad Oh, you glad, you glad Oh, I'm so glad Everybody will be happy all the day And I'm so glad Oh, you glad, you glad I'm so glad, yeah I'm so glad Oh, you glad, you glad I'm so glad, yeah I'm so glad Everybody will be happy all the day Hallelujah We may be happy over there But I think there's some happy people in this place tonight Hallelujah I would just like to let you know Some of the upcoming events that are happening this week In addition to these meetings that happen every night At seven o'clock here We are having these meetings every night until Friday And then they're going to move to another location And we'll be able to have more information about that But tomorrow morning there's going to be a pastors conference It will start at 10 a.m. And it will be here in this hall So we invite all the pastors in the area And those people that are in ministry to come and join us For a very special time of ministry Tomorrow morning here at 10 a.m. There will be two sessions, then lunch And then a third session in the afternoon So we look forward to all our ministry brethren To join us for that very special time On Friday evening, after the seven o'clock service here There will be a youth meeting starting at 10 a.m. Sorry, 10 p.m. here in this place And so that's after We will meet again on Friday at 7 p.m. For our regular time of praise And hearing the word But after that, it will give time for everyone to dismiss If we can And there will be a very special youth service And I just want to encourage you If you know young people, please Invite them to this service Friday night at 10 p.m. in this place It is going to be such a powerful time Where young people are going to meet The Lord Jesus Christ There is going to be the presence of God here In a very powerful way I can say that confidently Because on Friday nights We have a youth service And the Lord comes to these services And the presence of God does what only He can do And He is reaching out to young people He is breaking through the darkness And people are, and young people especially Are being miraculously saved And so the ministry is geared for the youth of this city And the surrounding area So please, get the word out Friday night, 10 p.m. in this place God is going to do a very special work In the hearts of young people In Greenock and Greenock area And finally, Saturday There is a women's conference And that will be Saturday morning here It starts at 10 a.m. I believe we're meeting in another room And we, in these women's conferences We gather to experience the presence of God And He does not disappoint us And He comes to these meetings And ladies, I recommend you come Because the presence of God is there And He ministers very deeply So there is something for everyone this week Please, do not miss anything And don't come to this place alone There are flyers available in the back That will keep you in remembrance Of the times and the dates So we ask you to take one when you leave this place God bless you Now, just before we come to hear Pastor Carter Just a couple of announcements I really should have made at the beginning First of all, if there is a fire Other than the fire of the Holy Spirit On your life and on mine Then you want to go that way I feel like an airline pilot or steward Or that way There are green lights that will keep you right I don't think there's a dotted line along the aisle But nevertheless, that way or that way We don't expect that, of course, tonight One other point of detail We have made provision for young children In the hall just behind this side of the arena And there is a speaker in there So parents will be able to hear the message tonight So if your child is just a little bit over exuberant And noisy Could we ask respectfully That you go into the room at the back there Where you will be able to hear As well as you'll hear in here So a very warm welcome now to Pastor Carter Conlon Senior pastor of Times Square Church As we say over here, just a little church With over 8,000 members I've been there It's like Sockee Hall Street when they come out But a man with a real message for us at this time Please welcome him Thank you again, Chris, for your kindness Bless the Lord Good to see the third tier tonight People up here You've got the best seat in the house But you've also got the longest walk to the altar too Tonight as well So keep that in mind You might want to check for the exit door How you can get down here At the end of the service tonight I was woken up this morning At 2 o'clock in the morning It was up until about 4.30 And the Lord gave me this word That I'm about to bring to you tonight It's a word for you It's from the heart of God And I'm going to only have to ask the Holy Spirit To bear witness to it If you're a Christian person And you have the Spirit of God within you He bears witness to what is coming from his heart And so you'll have to trust the witness of Scripture The text of Scripture And the witness of the Spirit in your heart To know that God has brought a word Specifically for this gathering tonight And in particular For the Christian people in this town Would you pray with me please before we begin Father, I just thank you, Lord, for the touch of the Holy Spirit I thank you for your anointing God, without your anointing I couldn't preach tonight And we couldn't hear You're the author and the finisher of our faith in all life And so, Lord, we place this gathering into your hands tonight We ask, O Jesus Christ, above all else That your name be lifted up in our hearts and glorified Your truth be understood That your kingdom come Your will be done In us, O God, on earth as it is in heaven O Jesus, I pray, God, that you do something so profound That we'll never be the same again None of us, O God, could walk away from your word ever, ever Saying that we didn't know, we didn't understand We didn't have a chance to change O Jesus, help us tonight, O God, to hear these words Help me to speak them, God Override the frailty of this human body And the frailty of my natural mind God, give me an understanding of the truths I'm about to speak And the tenderness of God to deliver it, Lord Father, I just thank you for this with all my heart tonight O God, let your kingdom come to Greenock O God, break the bondage of hell in this town And the surrounding communities, Lord O Jesus, O Jesus We hear reports today of high school young people In secular high schools so open to the gospel So hungry for truth O God, we pray, Lord, speak to us, God Help us, Lord, to understand the hour that we're living in And what is our response and what is our responsibility in this We thank you for it in Jesus' mighty name Amen If you do have your Bible with you tonight, I'm going to be speaking The text is going to be Luke chapter 24 You can possibly try to follow along with that if you want to Luke chapter 24 Our journey tonight begins on a road called Emmaus This is after the death and the resurrection of Christ Although that there were very, very few people that really understood That he was raised from the dead Other than a few women who had been at the tomb And they were on a journey It's called the road to Emmaus And it's a road that is any road It could be any road in any town It could be a road that you're on tonight Ultimately, it was a road that led away from Jerusalem And it's a type of a road that leads away from the place where I once hoped Where I once believed, where I once heard Where once there was a message that stirred my heart And I had honestly believed that on this road Or in the place that I was previously That this was all I had looked for But somehow it had eluded me and disappointed me And there were two men walking along this road And they were having a discussion And suddenly Christ Jesus himself drew near to them It says in chapter 24 and verse 15 And verse 16 says But their eyes were holden that they should not know him He was there, but they didn't know he was there And what a tragedy You know, you and I can get to a place like that Where Christ is all around us But we're not aware he's there He's speaking, but we're not aware We can't hear him speaking And he spoke to these men And he said, what kind of a communication are you having? What are you talking about? And why are you so sad? And then Cleopas, one of them, said to him Are you only a stranger here in Jerusalem? And you've not known the things which are come to pass? Are you just a stranger? Can you imagine talking to God Almighty Who created heaven and earth by the word of his mouth Who had just died on the cross to redeem fallen humanity Had all authority and all power And if you read the gospels He had very clearly revealed the pathway he was on Nothing was hidden Read John 15, 16, 17 You see it very clearly He wasn't hiding a single thing from any of his disciples Yet there was something in their hearts That had closed their ears to what he was about to accomplish For them on Calvary And they said, are you just a stranger? And you don't know what's come to pass in these days? And he said to them, well, what things have happened? And they said, well, concerning Jesus of Nazareth Which was a prophet, mighty in deed and word Before God and all the people And how the chief priests and our rulers Delivered him to be condemned to death And have crucified him They said, don't you know? Haven't you heard that God once walked among us With such mighty words and deeds? And he himself bore witness to the truth among the people? Do any of you know here tonight That God has walked in Scotland in a powerful way? Is it only us in America that are aware of it? I hope that you're aware of it I hope you have not become a stranger To your own heritage in this country Scotland has produced some of the most powerful moves of God In the known world In our time, in our previous times To where we are today And missionaries have gone out I think of Mary Schlesinger who went out to Africa A young girl that had that Scottish DNA in her To fight That's the one thing I know about the Scottish people You've got something planted in you by God to fight Now the problem is if you're not fighting for the right thing You will fight for the wrong thing If you're not fighting for truth and righteousness And the honor of God among men And the souls of those who are captivated by sin Then you'll be in pubs and bars fighting I was speaking with a young man Recently, he told me, he said Up until just a couple of years ago He said, I used to go down to the pub And get drunk most nights And he said, I knew most of them in there From previous youth groups in church It was all the Christians getting drunk And all his age, middle twenties And fighting, but fighting the wrong fight Having lost heart, having lost hope And I do hope tonight That you can realize that God is calling you to something again That he's speaking, he's come to you He's bringing a word to your heart Saying this is a dark day This is an end time hour And I need an army again And I know where to find one There's a great fighting spirit among the Scottish people And I pray God that you rise to the occasion Every man, every woman, every young person You begin to realize that God has put something Within you as a culture But he's also put his Holy Spirit upon you If you turn to him in truth and righteousness And gives you a power much beyond anything That comes from human ability And he said, he was mighty indeed And word before God and all the people And how the chief priests and our rulers Delivered him to be condemned to death And have crucified him We had such hope in him He was the hope of our people He was the strength of our nation We turned to him, we looked to him And such mighty things were being done The dead were being raised The lepers were being cleansed The unclean were being made clean The poor were being fed The naked were being clothed People in tombs Who are just living with haunting memories of the past Were set in their right mind He had authority That we'd never seen before And we entered into that And we truly believed that this was our future And indeed for a moment of time it was our future But somehow Religion overpowered him And he was put to death by religion Because that's really what they said It was the chief priests and rulers Who delivered him to be condemned to death And have crucified him We thought he would give us power The kind of power we were looking for But somehow religion came in And swallowed him and put him to death We trusted, they said in verse 21 That it had been he which should have redeemed Israel And besides all this This is the third day since these things were done We trusted, it's past tense In other words, it's been a long time Since our hope was lost It's written, it's assigned now To the text of history It's something that happened in the past And we know about the past But today we're just on this road Of despair and hopelessness It's gone Whatever was here, it's been overpowered By something else that was in our midst It's like the house of Israel In Ezekiel chapter 37 You remember God took the prophet to a place Where the people of God Of that time, Israel Had died around some altars that they had created And their bones were laying in the dust And God spoke to this prophet And said, can these bones live again? Ezekiel said, oh God, you know You're the only one who really knows If they can live again And the Lord told Ezekiel, he said Prophesy to them, begin to speak to them Their hearts will be stirred again They'll stand on their feet An exceeding army, and they did exactly that Bone came to bone Strength came back They stood up and realized that the calling of God Was not only a high calling It was a holy calling, it was a wonderful calling It was a calling worth living for They began to be recipients In their hearts of the mercy of God And then God told Ezekiel Call out to the wind, in the Hebrew it's the Ruach of God, the breath of God, the Holy Spirit Really, call out to the breath of God That he may breathe upon these Who were once slain, and the breath of God Came and they lived again But they had said in their heart Behold they say Our bones are dried and our hope is lost And we're cut off for our parts Or that means actually from what was once Ours, we're cut off, and you know That can get in all of our hearts We can sit in church and say I know of the glorious history And I know how powerful God is And I know what he did But what happened to it all, how did we lose it And we sit here today I feel so dry I feel so empty, I feel so powerless I feel so hopeless We had really hoped that This Christ was going to make a difference In our society and in our nation But now we sit and It seems to be we're so dry We don't seem to have any power In our hands, in our feet anymore In our voices The word that we speak seems to be so lifeless And it doesn't bring anything back From the grave anymore We've lost what was once ours In verse 22 They said certain women Of our company went to the grave And made us astonished And they said that there was a vision of angels That said he was no longer there, he was alive And so they were saying there's some among us Who claim to have knowledge that he is alive But we don't believe them because we've not seen him For ourselves That's these two men walking with Christ The risen Christ Away from Jerusalem And they said there are people around that are saying he's alive But I don't know if I believe it And maybe that's something that's in your heart tonight You hear this choir sing You hear the testimonies But it's just been so dry for so long And the hope you once had Seems so far in the past And you say well they say he's alive And they say he's touching lives And they say he's a miracle working God But I don't know, I just don't know I don't know if it's really true And maybe it's true in New York City But I don't know if it's true here in Greenock, Scotland It's been so long since I've experienced what they're talking about I've not seen him for myself Then Jesus begins to open his word to them And he says Oh fools and slow of heart to believe All that the prophets have spoken Ought not Christ to have suffered these things And to enter into his glory And beginning at Moses and all the prophets He expounded unto them in the scriptures All things concerning himself And he opened to them again The redemptive plan of God He said don't you understand That for something to live again Sometimes it has to die Sometimes old things have to be put away That all things might become new again Sometimes death has to come That life might be appreciated Sometimes some things do have to go into the grave Some things that we do Some ways that we live Even sometimes our perspectives that we have garnered together of God Have to go into the grave And they have to die We have to lose our hope That our hope may come back again Deeper, stronger, more powerful Than it's ever been through all time in history I believe my brothers and my sisters in Scotland And in particular Greenock, Scotland Is in for one of the greatest touches of God If you can realize it In any and all generations Sometimes hope has to be lost So that it can be appreciated You heard it from the testimony of David tonight Who stood here And had to lose hope to find it Had to lose what he thought he had to gain What God wanted to give him And Jesus opened the redemptive plan He had to be born Of a virgin He had to walk through this earth for 33 years He had to suffer And he had to die There had to be a loss of something For the gain that God was about to give To all the human race If there had not been a death, there would not have been a resurrection If there had not been a death There would be no redemption If there had not been a resurrection, there would be no power There would be no hope, there would be no future For any of us here tonight But he opened again this redemptive plan of God This understanding That something has to die That something else may live Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies It abides alone But if it dies, it will live again And it will bear much fruit Verse 29 I don't think they fully understood But something in their heart said this is right Something in their heart said this is true Yes, our hope is lost Yes, we're on this journey away from What was the place of hope But we are hearing something And somehow I just know this to be true And in verse 29 it says They constrained him The title of my message is Christ must be constrained Christ must be constrained And I want you to hear this to understand it In the King James text it says They constrained him Because it says they drew nigh to the village Where they went and he made as though He would have gone further If you and I are not willing to embrace The heart of God and the word of God He won't force himself on you or me None of us He is the ultimate gentleman of all eternity Even he stood at the door Of the church of revelation and knocked When he had every right to kick the whole thing in And demand disobedience And demand the respect in this house But he stood at the door and knocked He is the ultimate gentleman And he made as though he would have gone further But something had been spoken into their hearts And in verse 29 it says they constrained him And they said abide with us For it is towards evening and the day is far spent And he went into terror with them I think The best thing that you and I could do tonight Is say oh God Oh Christ the living son of God It's getting dark now The days are getting dark The time that is far spent History is moving rapidly To a time when this whole world is going to spiral out of control And things that we never believed That perhaps we'd even see in our generation Are going to unfold before our very eyes Abide with us It's getting dark, it's getting late And the day is far spent We need to know what you're saying We need to know your truth It's not enough just to go to church anymore That's not going to get you through, it's not going to get me through I need a living relationship with God And so do you I need to hear what he's speaking I need Christ to speak into my life I need to know why I'm on this earth as a Christian Why was I born and then why was I born again Why did you put your Holy Spirit upon me Why have you given me your word Why have you left me in the earth If it was just about salvation Why didn't you just take me home Why didn't you just let me die The day I prayed a sinner's prayer somewhere Why didn't you just take me if that's all it was about But if there's a deeper purpose If there's a further purpose why I'm in the earth I constrain you Jesus, you've got to come to me You've got to come That was the cry of my heart Many many years ago I was a Christian for at least two years And I was kind of waffling in and out Of half serving God And half stuck in the world And finally in desperation I cried out and said God you've got to show me You've got to touch me You've got to call me You've got to strengthen me You've got to guide me I don't care if it kills me But I know there's got to be a deeper purpose for my life Than just going to work and going home And going to church on Sunday and going home And just the drudgery And where reading my Bible is just a legal duty that I'm doing It's got to be more than that It has to be deeper than that And I constrained him to come in Oh God I bless the day that the Lord Jesus Put that in my heart To call out to him And you are blessed today When in spite of how long it's been And how far back your hope is And how dry your present experience might be That you say oh God At any stage of my life At any place where I am If I call out to you, you will come If I say Lord I want you in my heart and house You'll come, you'll sit down You'll sup with me and you'll begin to show me What I need to know In verse 30 it says It came to pass as he said it Meet with them, he took bread and blessed it And break it and gave it to them And their eyes were opened and they knew him And he vanished out of their sight After constraining him They sat at a communion table And it's at this point Where he breaks the bread Finally their eyes are opened And they begin to understand something About the Christian life That Christ was broken from me That I might be made whole He was poured out That I might be filled With the spirit of God He was rejected that I might be received He was wounded That every wound in my heart might be healed He took upon himself Everything that I deserved That everything that I deserved Might be put away from me And I might become an adopted son Or in your case A daughter of God And as he broke the bread And the understanding came Into their heart That I am now part of the body of Christ Christ left a body in the earth And I am called Also to be given For other people I'm not called, I'm obviously And you are not the redeemer There's only one redeemer but I'm called to be broken To my pride, to my ambition To my sense of self To my agenda, I'm called to be broken And to allow The living spirit of God To bear witness in the earth Of the testimony of Christ Birth, life, death And resurrection That is the call of God on my life My agenda must become God's agenda The life If I have the life of Christ in me Then Christ is still doing the same work His work was a redemptive work Didn't come Necessarily just to give people a better life He came that all men might be saved He came to a fallen Dying world of men and women Created in the image of God whom he desperately loved He lost in the garden of Eden When he came down And you read the original text In the Hebrew language When he came down It sounds mild when he said Adam or Arta But actually the context of it is Adam It was a cry in the heart of God He had lost And you hear that same cry on the cross When he says it is finished He cried with such a loud cry I've lost Adam and I've lost That which was closest to my heart Men and women created in my image That I have determined to be my bride My church on earth and my bride for all of eternity I lost them but I've come to get them back I've come to pay the price The price in blood had to be paid for sin I've come to pay the price And when he cried out it is finished I truly believe your name was on his lips It is finished the reign of hell and sin And terror is over Hallelujah and I have now A church on the earth and a bride For eternity in heaven But he left his bride on the earth He left you here, he left me here That he and I And you and God might walk together In this earth And that the very heart of God that sent him to a cross Might be made manifest Through his church I want to read to you a passage Now in the book of 1 Corinthians Chapter 11 The apostle Paul Had a lot of problems with this church The Corinthian church was a very Metropolitan church I call them the New York City Of that generation Corinth was a central city Central town All kinds of wealth and pleasure They had a temple in the middle of the city And the temple in the middle of the city Had a thousand prostitutes in it And their worship was Based on fornication It was an atrocious place And in that place Paul the apostle Established a church But the church there never made a full break From the values of that society They had an ancestral relationship Going on in the congregation for example And they weren't troubled by it And Paul somewhat Exasperated by these things And as a father Was trying to tell them There are certain things that you've embraced That are eroding as it is The life of God from you And this church of course was in danger Of really losing its testimony But one of the most grievous Things that was going on in the church Is that the church was coming Together for the Lord's supper For communion as it is For fellowship and communion And they had fragmented into groups Inside the Corinthian church And the wealthy were Eating with the wealthy And perhaps certain people that held to certain views Now they were Clamoring to different preachers Some were saying I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos I'm of Peter, I'm of Christ And so they were dividing Along doctrinal differences Styles of preaching, etc, etc And they were feasting as it is Around that which was familiar And that which made them comfortable And they were pushing the poor To the sides of the temple And this so grieved the apostle Paul He said When you come together therefore into one place This is not the Lord's supper In eating everyone takes before somebody else His own supper, one is hungry, another is drunken Do you not have houses to eat and drink in Or do you despise the church of God And shame those who have nothing What shall I say to you, he said, shall I praise you In this, I praise you not Now Paul goes into an explanation Of what communion really is about This is not just a scripture we read When we have a communion service in the church Paul is drawing a contrast Between the selflessness of Christ And the selfishness that can get into the heart Of God's people He said for I received of the Lord That which I delivered to you That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed Took breath and when he had given thanks He broke it and said take, eat This is my body which is broken For you, do this In remembrance of me Now Paul is drawing a contrast in this scripture He's not giving us a formula for the communion service He's contrasting The selflessness of Christ With the selflessness of the Corinthian church He said you're getting together and it's all about yourself You're eating about yourself You're gathering around yourself It's all about how is fellowship And how is God and how is the church Going to give me a better life And Paul's saying it's not about you The communion service that we're going into Was initiated by Christ Who broke the bread and said this is my body Which is broken for you Do this in remembrance of me Do this Do this, be broken Allow this breaking of the personal agenda This breaking of cultural and language And educational and social barriers If we gather around these things We'll not go to the poor We'll do exactly what Corinth did They pushed the poor, the addicted The immoral Those that were trying to find their way Through to God They pushed them to the sides of the temple Because the way they saw it They had nothing to add to their program Or their agenda After the same men were also he took the cup And he said this cup is the new testament In my blood this do you as often as you drink it In remembrance of me For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup You do show the Lord's death till he comes In other words if this is the reason you gather In the house to fellowship to communion with God And with one another You show the reason that Christ died until he returns You become You and I become a demonstration to the world Of a God who so loved the people All men that he went to a cross for them That's the amazing thing of it That's what we're to be We're to be a people who exude The love of God for a fallen society That we become a demonstration Because we are willing to be poured out For other people Greenock will not come to Christ Just because you have the right doctrine It's not going to happen It's got to be a manifestation Yes it's important to have right doctrine But there has to be a manifestation Of the life of Christ I heard today a report from one of our team Who was in a high school in this area And allowed To speak to the entire student body And he told me he said I was overwhelmed He said there's no resistance to the gospel They're wide open to Christ We're not going to be here Beyond Friday and Saturday And wonderful that the Lord opened the door And allowed our team and is allowing people But somebody in Greenock has to go These kids are ready Their heads are lifting up again They're ready to come home Then Paul goes on he says whoever drinks Eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord Unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Let a man examine himself and so let him Eat of that bread and drink of that cup For he that eats and drinks unworthily Eats and drinks damnation to himself Not deserting the Lord's body And that means not understanding what it means To be part of the church Coming to the communion table and not realizing That my savior was broken for me And he calls me to be poured out As it is to move Towards human need That's the call of God that's upon the church Of Jesus Christ For this cause he said Because many are weak and sickly and many sleep For this cause And there are two connotations There's a physical connotation But when you study it the words In the original text also imply A spiritual weakness A spiritual sickness And a spiritual sleep Spiritual sleepiness For this cause Paul said For this cause people come together And they major On the Sacraments Of the church as it is But there's no life They're theologically weak really Practically weak Sickly In their approach to God and their fellow man And there's absolutely nothing attractive About it to those who are lost In sin In verse 35 in the text that I started with In Luke 24 It said When they came back And they said the Lord is risen indeed And has appeared to Simon But I want to go back to another verse It just struck me as I was preparing this This morning It says they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem And they found the eleven gathered together And them that were with them I thought it was kind of ironic that eleven young men Came to Christ last night Eleven first time decisions for Jesus Christ God knows exactly what he's doing They returned To the work they returned to where they were called They returned to the place of hope And they found the eleven And those that were gathered together with them And they said the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon And they told them what things were done in the way And how he was known of them In the breaking of bread In other words our eyes were opened When we knew that as Christ was We were called to be given for all people That's when our eyes were opened That's when the joy of the Lord comes back That's when the power of God returns That's when everything that was lost Do you know everything that was lost in Scotland can be regained in one hour? Did you know that? Did you know it can It's not a whole lengthy procedure It's one man It's one woman It's somebody here, it's a young person, it's an older person It's a preacher, it's a layman It's somebody that somewhere says God count me in I'm in Lord, I'm in for the long haul If it kills me I'm in I don't care if my reputation is ruined I'm in I understand this is about the souls of men And I'm just tired of passionless religion I'm tired oh God Of opening the text And it's not speaking to me I'm going to church and I can't sing And I'm tired oh God of the emptiness I'm tired of the dryness oh God I'm in, I'm in And I'm going to trust you for the power Lord I'm going to trust you for the ability To do what you've called me to do Folks I travel all over the world I've had opportunities to speak to audiences In the hundreds of thousands I've been taken into places where I could never go What a journey this is I have no skill to do these things I have no training to do these things I've never learned four steps in anything I just take one step every door that God opens I just go through it and I trust Him for the power Our eyes were opened When we understood that we're called Do you understand tonight We can't just go to a conference And say oh how marvelous that was And how awesome it was We had some new view of the diamond As it is of God's love And go home and put it in a nice little box And just go back to our life No if you've had an encounter with Christ You're going back to Jerusalem You're going back to what God used to do in Scotland You're going back into Greenock With a new bounce in your step New life in your voice New shout in your heart A new faith in your mind As God begins to speak Not getting our instructions from a seminar Getting it from God Going into the prayer closet and letting the Holy Spirit guide you And lead you where He wants you to go Young and old there's no limitation To what God can do Don't let anybody tell you you can't If God calls you you can If God calls you you will If God calls you every wall will come down Every prison door will open Every blinded eye will see Hallelujah to the Lamb of God Hallelujah I wonder sometimes Is there a grandmother here tonight Who would just have the courage to say I believe God I'm going into the high schools I'm going to tell them about the love of God Oh folks don't look for somebody else to do anything You go into the prayer closet And find out what God would have you to do And you head out and trust Him And when this became their testimony Jesus Christ Himself came into their midst He said We saw Him And He revealed Him to us In the breaking of bread And when they had speak to us Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them And said to them Peace be unto you Peace, peace That's the most incredible thing The Lord just comes in a moment of time And says okay we're going to put the past away right now We're not going to talk about it, it's gone That's not even an issue anymore, peace Don't be troubled by what you lost Don't be troubled by the journey that you may have had Of unbelief for a season Put it all away I speak peace to you Hallelujah to the Lamb of God I don't know about you but I am so glad about that I am so glad Hallelujah Glory to God that He speaks peace He doesn't drag our faces Through our failure Bless God, when we turn to Him He comes to us and says peace And then He came in in verses 41 to 43 Of Luke 24 He said to them Have you any meat? It says for a while they believed not for joy And wondered and He said do you have any meat? And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish And a honeycomb, this is the risen Christ folks Sits down and He took it and did eat before them Now what did He say to the church in Revelation Now the scripture says They were neither hot nor cold He stood at the door and He knocked At this church's door, He said if you open I'll come in, I'll sit down with you I'll sup with you, I'll fellowship with you I'll bet your table I'll talk to you I'll tell you things I mean here they have the risen Christ with them And He's sitting down and He's eating fish and honeycomb They're just standing there, this is the risen Christ He hasn't come in through any door He's walked through the wall, He just appeared somewhere And He's sitting down and He's just eating fish Amazing, He said no I'll come And I'll just, it'll be a very normal thing It won't, folks don't look for the paranormal Just be normal as a Christian Just be normal Sit down, talk to God I got up a few weeks ago Maybe a couple months ago One morning About three o'clock in the morning I got up I knew God was waking me up And there was just this sense of His presence in the room So deep, so powerful I got up out of bed and you know You expect this every time God calls you You expect this barrage of revelation To come to you And I went into my living room And I sat down, I honestly heard Him speak to me And He said hi I just wanted to spend time with you And in the room His presence was as thick as oil It was amazing, it was like the high point Of any service where the glory of God's ever come in That I've ever been in He said I just wanted to spend time with you So for one hour I sat there He didn't speak to me and I didn't speak to Him Isn't it nice That we can be normal And we sat there I don't know where He, I don't know if He was sitting He was there, I was sitting And then at the end of the hour He said to me this is what I want you to speak on Sunday And just unfolded An entire message that I hadn't even really considered before From the scriptures, He just unfolded it I saw it, the whole thing And He said now go back to bed and rest And that was the end of a time of fellowship He comes And sits with you And saps with you, and talks with you We had an old hymn we used to like to sing Maybe you do it, and He walks with me And talks to me, and tells me I'm His own And the joy we share As we tarry there none other has ever known He speaks And the sound of His voice is so sweet The birds hush their singing Praise be to God Praise be to God I thank God for the practicality Of a living relationship with the living Christ It's not spiritually spooky It's very very normal And very very real Thank God for that with all of my heart He said I'll sap with you So He came in and He sapped with them And then in verse 45 it says He opened their understanding That they might understand the scriptures When Christ comes, when we're in right relationship When our lives are willing At least to line up with His purposes for us He opens this book This is not a book that you can study and ever fully understand This is a living book This is a spiritual book God has to make it alive in our hearts And in Amos 3:3 The Lord said how can two walk together Except they be agreed So if my plans, my view are different than God's view I'll read this and it'll just be a letter It'll be a text But it will never ever cause my heart to burn It will never ever come so alive That I'm so excited about a verse of scripture I've gotten to the point now Folks It's just something God has done in my heart I believe I can preach on John 3:16 for the rest of my life And never get to the bottom of that verse The first word in John 3:16 Is God tell me I could ever preach that and get to the bottom of that one word Hallelujah Hallelujah He opened their understanding That they might understand the scriptures And then verse 46 to 48 He said to them thus it is written And thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead The third day And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached In His name among all nations Beginning at Jerusalem And you are witnesses of these things You see He opened not only the The understanding of the scriptures But showed them the purpose of their lives That's the purpose of my life I'm to be a witness of the fact that Christ Is raised from the dead I'm the guy in the back of the room now That whenever the talent is taken away from a man that won't use it I'm the guy that's waving his hand And jumping up and down saying give it to me Give it to me I'll take it Somewhere that you want somebody to go I'll go And folks it's just something that gets into your heart I can't explain it You just become addicted to God glorifying His own name God doing what God only can do It's not something I can do We can't do it with our songs Nice songs and everything But if something's going to advance in your heart It's got to be the Holy Spirit that does it tonight We're not going to be able to do it Then verse 49 He said And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you But tarry in the city of Jerusalem Until you be endued with power from on high Now let me He said peace He sucked with them He opened their understanding He showed them the purpose of their lives And then led them to the power to complete it It's not by might It's not by power It's not by our own understanding or our own effort It's by my spirit saith the Lord That's how this is accomplished Now I know a lot of people are getting nervous Because of all the viewpoints of how the Holy Spirit comes And to whom He comes Suffice to say Just get the Holy Spirit I don't care how you get it theologically If you believe you got Him 50 years ago Then stir Him up or do something Just get Him Just get the power of God I don't care how you do it God doesn't care either If you call out and say It doesn't matter about the theological perspective Of how the Holy Spirit came to you Just call out to Him Say I believe there's a Holy Spirit I believe you're in my life I believe you're the power of God To live the Christian life And to do the things that you call me to do So Holy Spirit would you empower me It's as simple as that And God is big enough to work within the confines Or context of your theological understanding Of these things The issue is Get the Holy Spirit That's the power of God That's God Inside of you folks Don't try to do this Christian walk on your own It's pointless You're not going to be able to do it It's the life of Christ in you It's Christ in you Paul said That is the hope of glory I could never do anything in my own strength I wouldn't even try it It's Christ in me that is the hope of glory It's the power of God That comes into a surrendered human vessel That changes us from image To image and glory to glory Even as by the Spirit of the Lord We have changed From one Matter of thinking One matter of living and doing From weakness to strength From confusion to understanding From inability to ability I suffered from panic attacks from the time That I was 15 years of age Until I was 24 Panic attacks so severe That they put me twice in the hospital One time With blood pressure so high That the nurse thought I was going to have a heart attack Or a stroke right on the table And I was just a young man If I was singled out in a room of five people And their attention suddenly all turned towards me I would panic I had two choices, I could run out of the room Or collapse on the floor I went through university, I have an undergraduate law degree And in university I had to take volume I had to take so much volume to go to class That I was under water almost the whole time I went through university I was so drugged I lived in a bubble Felt like there was this helmet around me But it was the only way I could go to class It was the only way I could face people And the fear When I came to Christ I was just a brand new Christian I was reading the bible I read one verse of scripture And it was only actually a part of a verse Where Paul said If God be for us, who can be against us And one night I went home And when I Before these things, whenever one of these panic attacks Would want to come upon me I would fill my face with volume And then I would take a straight glass of whiskey That was the only thing folks That sometimes would get me through it But I knew after I became a Christian In my heart that these things were no longer An option for me I wasn't going to live there personally any longer I went down into my living room It was about 1978 Or so that I came to Christ I went down in my living room I said these words I said Satan All you can do is kill me And if you And you can only do it if God allows you to do it And if he allows you to do it I'm going to heaven so it's win win for me Either way So I said you throw everything you've got at me But I throw back at what I have now been given of God I said in the name of Jesus Christ The son of God I resist you And that very moment I was set free From nine years of hell I've been free ever since And God has taken me and I've stood in front of audiences Of 500,000 people in Africa And preached the gospel of Jesus Christ Scripture says that he led them to power And at that point I knew that nothing is impossible with God The very words that Christ once spoke Nothing is impossible I don't stand here tonight None of us do on this platform because of merit I don't stand here because of anything I've studied or learned I appreciate studying I appreciate learning But I stand here because of the mercy And the power of almighty God And my story is That what God did for me he can do for you I believe him That he can change nations I believe he can change entire towns I believe he can send revival in a moment of time As a matter of fact we've all lived in this choir to see this We've lived to see God come down We've been in places Where entire communities Were under the conviction of the Holy Spirit Everyone you spoke to started to weep We've gone into war zones And seen thousands of people come to Christ And the Holy Spirit brought peace Where there was only war In verse 52 to 53 At the end of the chapter it said They worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem I wrote in my notes Greenock They worshipped him and returned to Greenock with great joy And they were continually in the temple Praising and blessing God Now it's wonderful That you've been able to clap your hands tonight And stand and shout In the presence of God But you've got to get it for yourself Because we're going back to New York And if you're just a one man or one woman worship team Then be that If the only place you can do it is in your own apartment Then do it there But learn to worship God Walk in the supernatural Let your life be poured out for other people Live for the purposes of God And everything that's been lost In this society will come back again In my heart I believe That I will live to hear a report