Teaching A Young Radical Generation - Part 2

intense, radical, real worship. Seldom, seldom experienced. There's something very special about it because as I looked around and watched and listened, I could see fervent, fervent love for Jesus. You can have worship times and it's all just lip service, or you're listening to the beat of the band, or the lyrics, sort of kind of cool, and there's no real worship. And the devil's not in the least bit worried about that. He can say, just keep it, keep it up. But when there is an intentional, passionate, sold out, desperate love for Jesus, where you want his glory and that alone, God's impressed and the devil has a headache. I think that's what we had here this morning. I reveled in it and was right in with it with you. I noticed that the last part was an intentional, intense cry out for the glory of God, correct? Is that right? What were the rest of you doing? Napping? This group here thinks that's what it was. Was it? Were you intentional on wanting the glory of God? Do you want Jesus Christ, the living son of God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, to be glorified more than anything else? Do you? Okay, I'll tell you the price now. Okay, I'm reading from the extract of something I read some years ago, which has never left me and impacted me greatly, and so much so that I carry it around in my briefcase everywhere I go. And I did not know that this was on the program for today. Did you guys who were close to me see me right at the very last before I got up here, going into my bag and getting out these things? That was because of what was happening as you were crying out for the glory of God. And the Holy Spirit says to me, get that material out that you carry everywhere and tell them the price. And say it smiling, because the price is awesome. And above anything that you know or understand right now as to what you've prayed, you haven't a clue what you're in for. Do you still want it? Okay. This is Pastor Francis Frangipane. Who knows him? Great friend of mine. Tremendous man of God. Amen? Okay. And he's writing, the year was 1973. I was pastoring a small church in Hilo, Hawaii, and had been in a month, not a week, not two weeks, not three weeks, a month of intense prayer and fasting. It was an earnest time of drawing near to God. I think that last statement is an understatement. At the end of this time, I found myself awakened during the night by a visitation of the Lord. It was not as though I saw his features. I saw his glory and was overwhelmed by his presence. Physically, I was like a dead man. I could not so much as move a finger. Yet spiritually, the heavens stood unveiled before me, causing my state of awareness to be heightened beyond anything I have ever known. Like those strange creatures around God's throne, I felt like I too had, quote, eyes around and within. Revelation 4, 8. If you've ever wondered what all that was about, not eyes just out there, but eyes that see in here. I saw things about myself that only God could reveal, and I gained an understanding of Christ's expansive presence and the glory that will be revealed. Remember, this experience occurred after a prolonged time seeking God. How long? A month. I felt close to the Lord. If someone had asked me how I was doing, I would have replied, excellent, meaning spiritually. Yet suddenly, I became aware of my true human condition. The flaws in my life became utterly sinful. I saw sin not as something I occasionally committed, but as something I perpetually was. Looking at my heart with the eyes within, I became instantly aware of the many times I could have been more loving or kind or sensitive. I also saw how selfish nearly all of my actions were. Yet, for all that was resident within me of unrighteousness, I felt no rebuke from the Lord, nor condemnation. The only words I heard were my own in the light of his presence. I abhorred myself. As Job 42 says, I abhorred myself when he saw the Lord after all that testing he'd been through. Then he saw the one who had allowed the test, and he said, I abhor myself in repentance, dust and ashes. Without any buffer of self-justification or deceit, with no other person but God to whom to compare myself, I saw how far short of his glory I truly was. I knew why mankind needed the blood of Christ, and I knew that no amount of personal attainment in and of itself could ever make me like Jesus. In italics, I understood that only Christ could live like Christ in him. God's plan was not to improve me, but to remove me so that the Son of God could live his life through me. In his indwelling would rest my hope of becoming like him. I observed things that were intimately personal, and I also beheld events ordained for the future. In the far distant night sky, I witnessed, as it were, the most glorious heavenly procession. The blazing and holy presence I felt in my bedroom emanated from this distant passage of supernatural beings. In the forefront were pairs of magnificent angels. There were archangels, cherubim, seraphim, thrones, and dominions, angels of every class and order. Each pair was uniquely dressed in a glorious color. Each was radiant in a splendor all its own. About one-third of the way back, because he's looking right into a mass of humanity, angels and people, about one-third of the way back was the Lord. His glory was like the sun in the midst of beautiful, multicolored stars. Holy Spirit, give us revelation way beyond these words. Way beyond these words, give us revelation today that we may see you in your magnificent splendor and pristine purity, unfathomable love, and your absolute justice as a God who exercises judgment. We want to see all of you. Don't short changes and help us to be honest when we say we will pay the price, because we haven't a clue what it means until it happens. But just cause us to be honest. Put the fear of the Lord upon us. Cause us not to ask for something we're not prepared to go through with. We ask that in Jesus' name, believing. I go on reading now. Beyond Jesus were innumerable saints, but I could not clearly, could not see clearly beyond the Lord's glory. His splendor so enveloped those following him, it was as though they had become part of his being. The glory was so intense. It was obvious that the light which illuminated the entire procession emanated from him. I realized that the Lord was not just coming to judge the earth, but to fill the earth with his glory. I cannot tell you in words about this glory, but even though the Lord seemed quite distant, the radiance of his presence was like a living fire upon my consciousness. The energy was almost painful. Suddenly and without warning, the procession came closer. Not just to me. Now listen to this, because this was history being made, and it refers to this time now. Listen. Suddenly, remember this was 1971. Suddenly and without warning, the procession came closer. Not just to me, but I am convinced also to this whole world. In other words, there was a shift, and there's going to be another shift. It was as though a mark in time or a spiritual boundary had been crossed. The instant that occurred, my spiritual consciousness became so overwhelmed by the outraying glory of Christ that I could not, no, not for another second bear the intensity of his presence. He couldn't take it. He couldn't bear it. Not for one second. I felt as though my very existence, I have this underlined, would be consumed by the blast furnace of his radiance. We don't know Jesus yet. We don't understand what it means to ask for his glory. The Holy Spirit has put the cry in your heart, but don't kid yourself you know the consequences. Just be honest and tell God whether you were ready and willing to endure the consequences. This was a pastor at the end of four weeks fasting and seeking God, and he couldn't stand it. Listen to what he says. I'll read that again. I felt as though my very existence would be consumed by the blast furnace of his radiance. In the deepest prayer I have ever uttered, my entire being begged the Lord to return me to my body. Suddenly, mercifully, I was cocooned once again in the familiar world of my senses and my bedroom. Night passed into dawn, and the sunrise was quickly overrun by the full expanse of the day. I arose, dressed, and went outside. With each step I pondered the vision. I guess that's all I have recorded. Have you learned anything? There wasn't much of a response. Have you learned anything? Just get honest. Don't mutter to God. Speak out. What's the truth? You're not answering to me. I'm not in charge. I didn't have the faintest idea that I was going to read that today. No clue. And I have been in a month of intense seeking the face of God day after day for this day. He was a month, and I've been a month. And I didn't have any idea. But I'm not in charge. I don't know anything more preposterous than people who are called of God to bring the word of the Lord to do anything else but pay whatever price God says to bring that rhema word at that moment to the exact people. You can go a whole lifetime and be in church and in Christian meetings and never once hear the word of the Lord. Do you know that? I'm grateful for the pastor of this church who understands what I'm speaking about. He nodded his head. He understands what I'm saying. It's truth, right, David? Pastor David, I should say. I didn't honor him because it was the right thing to do. I honor him because I love him and know him in the Lord and wanted to honor him with that extra word. I wasn't just dotting, putting dots on I's and crossing T's. Okay, another one. You ready for another one? Do you really want another one? Good. You're going to get it, whether you wanted it or not, but it's good to hear that you wanted it. It shows you're hungry. It shows you're serious about today, which is the most encouraging thing that could happen to me, that you are taking this as seriously as God wants you to. You're getting there anyway. Okay, another quote from George Stormont's book entitled Smith Wigglesworth, A Man Who Walked With God. Tulsa Harrison House were the publishers in 1989. We have the following account. If you think that was something, listen to this one. In 1922, when Smith Wigglesworth, who was an evangelist, was ministering in Wellington, New Zealand, he called for a special prayer meeting with a group of 11 spiritual elders. After each of them had prayed, Wigglesworth stood to seek the Lord and the presence of God. Did you notice they all prayed, but he sought the Lord's presence? See the difference? They just shot off their mouths, and he realized we don't know how to pray as we ought, and was seeking the Lord's presence before he did a prayer. That's a huge teaching right there. And the presence of God began to fill the room. Soon, the glory of God became terrible. I didn't write this. This is a report. The light became too bright. The heat too intense. The other men couldn't take it any longer. Every one of them left the room. Only Wigglesworth could continue in the Shekinah glory of God. Another minister heard what had happened and determined that the next gathering, no matter how strong the presence of God became, he would stay until the end. Once again, the holy presence of God filled the room, and the glory became unbearable. Everyone left except this one leader. He would not be overcome and driven out by the manifest presence of the Lord. But it was too much. Wigglesworth was caught up in the spirit, radiant with holy fire, and even the determined minister couldn't stand the intensity. Soon enough, he was gone too. Are you learning anything? Do you still want to sing passionately? You want the glory? Have you already been ruined for the ordinary then? Good for you. Did this help you? What did it do for you, honey? What was the reaction to you? Just speak out of your heart. He got a greater fear of the Lord and a greater honor of his presence. All right, what happened to you, honey? Yes? Speak out loud, please. No, no, bigger voice than that. Fear of the Lord? Yes, that's a great answer. The greater sense of the fear of the Lord. Who would say that a greater understanding of the fear of the Lord came as I read those two? It should be 100% of the hands. Otherwise, a book would have been read about you and your story, and it hasn't, so your hand should have been up. Are we getting more honest? I'll give you another go. Who of you had a far greater sense of the fear of God as I read those two, of what it means to be in the glory of God? Now we're getting more honest. God sees your heart. Don't mess around. Don't waste God's time. He sees your heart anyway. Now what she said was that she realized she couldn't will this to happen, but she could surrender. Fabulous. What's your name, sweetheart? Stephanie? Excellent answer. Two very good answers. Okay, what about you, honey? What did it do to you? Right there. You know who I'm pointing to. Yes, you. More of the fear of the Lord? Good. Great answer. Because there's no way you could all hear that, I will tell you what he said. In essence, he was saying, greater fear of the Lord, but he sees that it's a price that is high. He sees it's beyond anything that he could understand or perhaps cope with, not perhaps, cope with. But he's going to keep pursuing no matter what it costs because he wants the end result to be what God wants, the display of his glory, and he's willing to pay it. Put your hand up if that's your testimony, just what he said then, because I felt that was probably what... Okay, the leaders didn't put up their hands. What's happening to you three guys? Now these are three of my best friends, so I can speak like that. They know I love them to death. I didn't put my hand up because I didn't hear his answer, so I couldn't answer. No, I gave his answer. Did I give you a correct interpretation? I gave his answer. Can you say it again? So you missed it. Okay. All right. All right. What he was saying is that he realizes the fear of God was a great factor, increasing, but he realizes it's all beyond anything he knows now or has experienced or can understand, but he with his will has determined, with his will, to keep pursuing God and doing the next thing that God would tell him to do, right honey? So that he can get to where God wants him with this display of his glory no matter what the price, right? That's his testimony. Now, who has that testimony? Okay. Great. Okay. Now we've got the leadership on board. That's terrific. If each one of them wasn't so deeply secure in my fervent, pure love of God for them, I would never be able to do what I did. It's just a fun thing I'm doing. And you know what? That's the greatest compliment I could pay them, that I could put them on the mat like that, because I knew they'd come right through whatever it was. See? I knew. I knew. I love them to death. Don't I, boys? Okay. I think we're ready for the message of the day now. Well, it's all your fault. You had this fantastic thing of the glory of the Lord in your worship. And that's what triggered all this. Where's the girl who led it? Where is she? Yeah. Are you encouraged, sweetheart? I can't hear. You're so encouraged. Praise the Lord. So you ought to be. That's great. Wonderful. Okay. Here comes the message of the day. Jesus. It's all about Jesus. And that's why I'm excited. It's all about Jesus. Jesus, the master soul winner. Now, I've written a book called Jesus the Model. It's available today. I brought copies with me. And it is at a very reduced price, just because to make it easier for you. And I trust that you will at least seek the Lord if every one of you is to get a copy, if you don't have one. Jesus the Model. It's how we should be living our life. Could you think of anything more important? And one of the aspects is that we're going to look at him. You know, Jesus is like an incredible diamond. All the brilliant facets, all the way around. And it's only the expert who puts that diamond under some intense light that understands and sees all the different facets. I have a beautiful diamond on my ring that my precious husband gave me 65 years ago. He put that on my finger. He died this February. February the 24th, five months ago. To say I miss him is the understatement of the year. But I am not living in the past. I'm living in the future. He's exactly where he was meant to be right on time. He lived a beautiful life. We had a fabulous marriage. At his memorial service, I talked about how there was one word that described our 65 years. It was the word together. We did everything together. Everything together. We had the same interests. We had the same love for sports. We had the same love for outdoors. Everything. If two people had the same thing, we had it. It was amazing. We were put together, matched by God. Absolutely, totally matched by God. He saw all that. We had complimentary ministries. He was 90 when he died. Two people, just before he entered heaven, who were praying for him because he was in intensive care. Very, very ill with his heart. It was his heart finally that took him. But God used the heart to take him. God took him. God gave and God took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's my testimony. Right at the end, I had no idea he was going to die. I just thought he'd pull through this again like he'd done many other times with his heart. I had no previous knowledge from the Lord that he was going to die. There were signs in the hospital in intensive care that he could be going. My daughter said, I think he's slipping away. That was a shock to me. I immediately said, Darling, leaning over to the bed, would you rather that we released you to go? Would that be your preference? He nodded, yes. Oh, I said, thinking of him, not me. Then I will pray the prayer of relinquishment. I said immediately, Oh God, I relinquish my sweetheart of 65 years, my best friend, my fabulous man of God that you've given me. I relinquish him into your hands and I trust you to do whatever will bring the most glory to Jesus. That's all I wanted. Above the natural intense desire for him not to die and for me to be alone. That was an unbearable thought to my flesh. But I don't live to my flesh. I live for the glory of Jesus. And because I do, it came out at the time when I was the greatest, tested the greatest. I instinctively, that's been my whole theme. I'm living for the glory of Jesus. I did in life, why not in death? So I said, Father, the next move is yours. I've placed him in your hands for you to do whatever will bring the most glory to name. That means you can come upon him and have an absolute miracle that raises him up. No problem at all. Or if that's not what will bring the most glory, take him to be with you. I leave the decision with you. I saw him with signs slipping away more and more. So I thought, oh well, Jesus has made his decision with the Father. And I'm going to cooperate. So to show that I meant with all my heart that I only wanted the glory of God, although my flesh was screaming the opposite. Spirit wins every time. Spirit wins every time if you're living in the realm of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't a struggle. It was easy. I tell you, it was easy. And I placed him in God's hands and I could see slipping away. So I said to my daughter and son-in-law who were beside the bed, I said, okay, this is where we worship right now. Join with me. We're going to sing. Focus on Jesus. I was stroking my darling husband's head like as if he was a little baby, like this, tenderly stroking his head. And the other hand I had up here. Tears were streaming down my face, which he couldn't see because his eyes were closed. He could hear no stress or sorrow at all. And I led in singing every beautiful song that Jim and I had often sung together because we'd had hours and hours and hours in the presence of Jesus worshiping together as a way of life. So that was by life. This is now by death. You do the same thing. Jesus, we just worship. We sang. We sang and sang and sang and sang the worship songs. And the word that came out of his mouth was amen, very clear. And then the angels just ushered him into the presence of God. He had no pain. What a way to go. What a way to go. You're wide stroking your head like a baby. The three of you singing worship songs to Jesus. The very desire of his heart was to go to be with Jesus. He'd finished. He'd run his course. Peace absolutely invaded that room. The place was thick with the peace of God. Two people in different parts of America, totally unknown to each other, not even friends. One was in Ohio, the other one was in California, who were praying because they knew Jim was very desperately ill and were praying. But as they prayed, they saw visions, each of them at exactly the same moment because they reported into me at the time that he was being taken into heaven while we were singing. Both of them had exactly the same vision. A great Jim was entering into heaven and there was a great big celebration going on. Jim's coming home! And there was like a party. It was big. They were having a party in heaven. All excited, Jim's coming home. Big celebration. And then one of them saw letters like a banner in a vision. Well done. Well done. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise to Jesus. Have you heard of a better way to die? And my heart could have been broken into a million pieces because of my deep, deep love and the unity and the affinity and everything. It was just together, together, together, everything. Spiritually, naturally, everything. But every time I would think to cry, I thought, that'll only be crying for myself. He's where he's supposed to be. He's run his race. He's finished his course. God took him. I've got to live for the future. And why should I cry about the future? I have not cried. And nobody could have loved a man more than this woman here. Any of you who have heard my tapes or read my books or been anywhere near me around the world have heard me honor and speak nothing but love and affection and deep appreciation. Right? All the time, you'll hear it. Any tape you pick up, there she's raving about Jim again. That was his name. So in the natural, my heart would have been broken in a thousand pieces. It was so painful to me to even think about the day he might die that I would say to him, Darling, I can't even go there in my thoughts. I think I'll just be a basket case. Did you hear that? I'd be a basket case just thinking about it. While you're living. So what would I be like when you die? I don't know how I could live without you. I've not cried. I'll tell you what's happened. I've chosen to worship Jesus and not think about myself. I've put my mind on Jesus. Let me tell you. I think I've got something somewhere. Maybe it's in tonight's message. I make up love songs to him. Every single night before I go to sleep, I have love songs. I'm talking to Jesus. It's called pillow talk to Jesus. I sing to him, praise him, worship him. I fill the house with worship songs. My mind is centered on the Son of God. I worship him in spirit and in truth. Do you know what's happened? Absolutely miracle grace has come upon me. I live with the grace of God, which is to me, because of how I thought the agony would be if I ever lost him, to me, it's a bigger miracle as the parting of the Red Sea. Do you get it? What do you learn from that? Now, come on, I'm going to ask you. You've got to be sharp and you don't know who I'm going to ask. Pardon? Yes, make it a way of life, no matter what you're going through. The worst thing that I said all my life that could ever happen to me would be to lose my husband, Jim. I couldn't think of anything worse than that. I thought it would be a basket case. I'm not. I've learned to focus on Jesus. We can go through anything if we focus on him. But it's a choice. I remember one day feeling really lonely. I remember one day feeling the tears start to come. And my daughter says, Weep mom, it's a healing thing. And I thought to myself, If I weep now, what am I going to get? Just my nose blocked and I can't breathe. And it's going to be horrible, because if I weep I'm going to think all about myself and how devastated it is to be without him. I thought, I don't have to do that to be healed. I don't have to weep to be healed. So I go, here we go Jesus, woohoo! I sing love songs to you. So I sing to him. Are any of you old enough to ever remember the little song we used to sing? Let's talk about Jesus. The King of Kings is he. The Lord of Lords Supreme through all eternity. The way, the truth, the life, the something, the... Something or other. Let's talk about Jesus. Oh, the way, the truth, the life, the... The something, the... Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, you're in charge. Have you forgotten? Have you forgotten? Remember I'm surrendered to you. This is your show. The way, the truth, the life, the something, the life, the door. The life, the door. You're getting there. Okay. Come on. Do some more so I get the exact word. The way, the truth, the life, the... The light, the door. The life, the door. But there's one word. Where are you, Holy Spirit? Why are you not bringing that through? I hear his answer. He's my best friend. Holy Spirit's fabulous. I heard him. I'm testing you. I know what I'm doing. You just go on. And you don't have to explain me. And I can't fail. At the right time, I'll tell it. Oh, thank you. Okay. Okay, so here I've made up... I thought the other day, how many words can I substitute for... Let's talk about Jesus more and more. He's this. He's the life, the door, the way, the truth, the life. And I've got 15 more words that exactly fit that syncopation. And I sing them all out to Jesus. He's adorable. He's beautiful. He's magnificent. Fifteen. And I have it on a little piece of paper. And I think it's clipped to the notes of the message I'm going to give tonight. Anyway. Do you want to be... Do you want to be Jesus' lover? Yes. Do you want to have a relationship with him that can make an earthly relationship as deep and wonderful as mine was? Look like peanuts? Yes. Compared with what it is with Jesus? Yes. Get simple like I am. I will not be complicated. I refuse to be. Starkly honest, childlike. Did you notice that Jesus never once ever told children to be like adults? But he frequently told adults to get like the children. Have a childlike, uncluttered, unsophisticated, abandoned love relationship with Jesus. That's not in the notes. Did you learn anything? Do you want it? Bow your head right now and ask for it. Just quietly. And thank him that his grace will be sufficient for anything you're to endure as long as you keep the focus on him. If we had nothing else today at all, you've learned a whole heap, haven't you? We'll go on with the message because he wants to teach you more. We're going to see some of the reasons why Jesus Christ left heaven and came to this earth. If I asked you that, would you be able to come up with the five reasons? Someone says, what was the purpose of Jesus Christ leaving heaven and coming to earth? Could you give a reason for the hope within you? Take these five down. He put aside his function of deity as Son of God, but retained his nature of deity as coming of Son of Man. He put aside the function of deity as Son of God, but he retained his nature of deity and coming as Son of Man. Now, these are the five reasons why he came. That was how he came. That's how he operated. This is the five reasons. To show us what the Father is like. That was the first thing. Second, to die upon the cross to make atonement for the sins of the world. Third, to defeat Satan and demon powers. Fourth, to show us how to live. Jesus, the model. But five, to be our life. To be the only explanation of what comes from us. They say if you touch something, what's inside will come out. You know that saying? Well, the closer you get to anybody who is really living like this, the reaction will be Jesus. Right? Some of you have got it. Because, I'm going to go over those five very quickly again. He came to show us what the Father is like. To die upon the cross to make atonement for the sins of the world. Three, to defeat Satan and demon powers. Four, to show us how to live. And five, to be the only explanation of our life. Christ in us, the hope of glory. Because he is our role model in everything, we need to study his life more than anyone else's. Okay, put up your hand. Be starkly honest before God who knows the answer. Have you ever, because of this, because he is our role model, we need to study his life more than anyone else's. In all that you have studied in your life, have you made the study from God's word of Jesus the model? And how he operated? What were his priorities? Have you made that the main thing of your life? If you have, put up your hand. I said study. I didn't say casually. Read the Bible. Study. Handful. We need the message, don't we? Let's look at five. Let's look at the principles by which he operated as a soul winner. This is how this message is going to come out today. We're going to have, we're studying it. We're making a study, right? Now, can you see the logic of this message? If he is the role model, shouldn't we be studying the role model more than anything else? Why are we not taught in the body of Christ to study the role model? Who of you have been under a lot of teaching? I'm talking about spiritually, at any time in your life. Okay. Is this the first time that you saw that the first thing you're supposed to be doing is studying the role model? Would you say that you have heard a lot about this? Because only three people, three or four people put up their hand. Did you all hear a lot and disobey or didn't you hear it? Which is it? Did you hear a lot and disobey? Put up your hands. Did you hear that he was the role model but did nothing about it? Okay. Did the rest of you not hear that he was the role model and should study? Is that where you're coming from? So we've got a lot of disobedience in the room then. What's the other conclusion? I will not make anything complicated. Just two and two makes four. You've had wrong priorities or you've been disobedient to the right priorities. I think you need to repent, don't you? Go for it. Now real repentance includes restitution. That means you're telling God you're going. Restitution is you're going to make a study of him. You can get my book to help you or you don't need my book. You can go for it on your own. It's your choice. Okay. Repentance shouldn't take half an hour when it's sincere. We're going to look at five things that characterized every encounter that Jesus had with lost souls and we're going to look at some important strategies he used. That's the three things we're doing. Principles by which he operated as a soul winner, five things that characterized every encounter he had with the lost and some important strategies he used. All right. We're going to look at the principles. His first principle as a soul winner, we're looking at that, see, to win the lost, was to fulfill the purpose for which he came. How important could that be? Let's look at it. John 6, 38. I came not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. Okay. What was the will of him who sent me? We read it in Luke 19, verse 9. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. It was a primary principle and purpose. But why he left heaven? What's the application to us? 2 Corinthians 5, verse 15. And he died for all, 2 Corinthians 5, 15, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Does this make sense? Do you see the logic of this? If his purpose was to come to seek and save the lost, he says that's, and you, you are to, that's your purpose. Because I came to model for you. So then his priority has to become your priority. Right? Can you see the logic? I just want to read. Come let us reason together today. Get the logic of this. It's all simple but it's profound. That means that witnessing, oh no, got to give you one more verse. Oh wow, this is a blockbuster. Matthew 4, 19. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. That much fishing? Is fishing a way of life? That means that witnessing and winning people to the Lord Jesus Christ is an automatic outcome of following Jesus. What could be, that's two and two making four. Follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. What is this word of God doing? What's the spirit doing to you right now with this? Follow me and I'll make you soul winners. Are you a follower of Jesus? Do you qualify by this verse? Are you witnessing as a way of life? Now come on, let's get real. Do you know who I have found often the least able to answer this question in the affirmative? Our spiritual leaders. I've spent my life around spiritual leaders because my main calling from God is to share the character and the ways of God with spiritual leaders. That's the main calling on my life. I happen to have written eight books. I happen to have gone to 55 nations of the world and to many of those nations many times, not 55 trips. But most of the time I'm speaking at spiritual leadership conferences. I've traveled the world with spiritual leaders. Most of my life is interacting with them and I find they are the least personal soul winners. How could such a thing be? I think they're deluded by satanic suggestions and copying other leaders in front of them to think that because many times, take a pastor for instance, who's behind a pulpit or a spiritual leader of an organization or someone who just is out there as a teacher of God's Word and that's the thing that they do for the main. That's their main thing they do. They are deluded by thinking that they don't need to be a personal soul winner. It's a lie from the pit of hell. Pastors can think, I don't need to be out in the marketplace witnessing for Jesus. I'm soul winning every Sunday behind my pulpit and people get converted. People answer to gospel appeals every single Sunday in the church that I belong to. Every Sunday without fail. Their hands are up and come to the front, flock to the place to come to Jesus. I see it every week. Pastors can think, I'm witnessing. Listen to the model. Jesus was just as much in the temple or I'll put it this way, Jesus was just as much outside the temple, outside the temple, in the marketplace witnessing to the lost as he was in the temple. Is he the model or is he not? So is your Bible teaching ministry so deep that you don't open your mouth and witness because you're a Bible teacher and that's your thing. The evangelist does the other stuff. God, sear this truth into the hearts of the people who hear this message, I pray. Burn the truth. You are the model. You are the model. Nobody, nobody was more busy than you. Nobody. Multitudes hanging on you, following you. Couldn't even eat at times. But you did the Father's will. God, God, show us the excuses we make. And we're going to stand at the judgment seat and give an account. Were we fishers of men? Were we followers of Jesus? In my spirit, I feel the enormity of the need to preach this truth. But I refuse to let my human energy or flesh get in the way. Holy Spirit, you're the only one who can illuminate this truth. Please do it and make radical changes amongst spiritual leaders. Thank you that you will in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You might say, see, you're all leadership potential in this room, correct? Is that right? That's my understanding. And you've watched other spiritual leaders behind the pulpit. And you model on them, but not on him. And I'm warning you. Because you'll give an account at the judgment seat about today. You could never say you weren't warned. Don't ever think, whatever ministry God gives you, that you are not accountable for witnessing in the marketplace wherever you are at the promptings of the Holy Spirit as a way of life. I know what I'm talking about. Obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit and witnessing out in the marketplace for Jesus is one of the most exciting things I do, and I do it all the time as a way of life. I love it. That's the exciting part of the ministries God's given me. I need grace for this one. I don't need grace out there. It's just, oh boy, let me loose. Just let me loose. I was in Durban, South Africa, speaking every day. Every day. Hour after hour after hour. The whole week long. Six days. Six days without a break. Teaching, teaching, teaching spiritual leaders. I had one day off in seven. I said to God in my hotel, good, now I can get to the exciting part. So I got out in the streets on Saturday morning. The shops all closed at one o'clock, so the people were streaming like crazy everywhere to do their shopping. I'm talking about where all the big stores were, and the sidewalks were just jammed with people. Saturday morning was a great big deal of shopping because the people often couldn't get through the week because they were working. They went out on Saturday, but they knew everything closed at one o'clock. So I had the place teeming with people, and I'm walking along just by myself, and Jesus, and I see a little lady, a little elderly lady as a beggar sitting in front of one of the big department stores. I get the prompting, that one. So I go over and I say, I sit down beside her, right down on the ground with her, not talking to her like this, but down with her, like I'm a beggar with her. And I say, What's your name, darling? Amini. Oh, that's a pretty name. I haven't heard that one before. My name's Joy. I think God wants us to become friends. She's beaming like mad. She's hardly got any teeth, just one or two teeth left, and beaming. And I said, Can you understand half of my English? Because there's two languages going there, South African and English. Yes, yes, yes. So I said, I think it's probably a long time since you had a big hug. So I hug her and I kiss her on both cheeks, and she's just grinning, beaming, beaming, like I cannot believe this is happening to me. And then I said, You're probably hungry. Yes. She says, Oh, just give me a minute or two, honey. I'll go and get you a meal. I'm doing what Jesus did. Don't preach when they're hungry. Feed them. So I went and got her a meal from a place where I could get food, and handed it to her, and she's sitting down. And I says, Go for it, darling. Eat it all. Just go for it. So while she's chewing away there, with the little bit of teeth she's got, I said, God loves you. God loves you. Really loves you. And I love you. She didn't seem to have any problem with that. And I said, Did you know that God had a son called Jesus? Well, I've heard about it. Well, would you like to know more? Oh, yes. Okay. To cut the story short, now that you get this, is people are still, like thousands of people are going backwards and forwards here. And it's around about 10.30 and the shops close at one. And this is all in front of us. But that's not bothering us a bit. We're locked in, and I am, as far as anybody else is concerned, a beggar with her, because I'm with her. And she has her hands out. So it's that you become all things to all men that you may win some, as Paul said. Never preach down at them. Get alongside them and identify with them. See what I mean? You don't hand them a tract out this way unless there's no other way to do it. But you never do that with a beggar. So, I'm calling her Amina, Amina, Meanie, Meanie. And then I said, Would you like to hear more about Jesus, this beautiful son of God? Oh, yes. So I give her the simple gospel story. I tell her what you and I know so well, the whole bit, in simple language. And I said, Would you, you know, he loves you so much he died for you and to forgive you of your sins and give you eternal life. And he wants you to be, he wants to be the lord and master of your life. Would you like him to take over and give you a new life? I don't know what that's going to look like. I don't know. Because I didn't know. So, but I knew that he knows. And she received the lord as clearly and as definitely as any of the thousands that I've led to the lord over a lifetime. She got gloriously saved there. And then I said, Darling, I said, Where do you live? Which was the most stupid thing I could have ever said to a beggar. I was learning. She said, But I had a purpose because I was already planning to get her in to the great big theater that held 5,000 people that I was going to be speaking to the next day. And I wanted her address. So I says, Where do you live? She says, I don't have a home. A beggar. She just lives on the street. So I said, Well, where are you likely to be on Sunday morning, tomorrow morning? What street would you like to be sitting in? She gave me the name of the street that she could be sitting in as a home. I said, Would you like to come to the big theater? You know the big theater in Durban? It holds 5,000 people. I'm going to be speaking there tomorrow. Would you like to come? Oh! Would I like to come? It was like asking her, Could she go to heaven or something? She never, nobody had ever, ever thought of that. A beggar to get to the big theater? Are you kidding? I finished with her and then I looked beyond and I saw the most deep, deep penetrating brown eyes coming from another beggar a couple of yards away leaning up against one of the big department stores and those eyes, and he was crippled. He couldn't walk. And those eyes, brown eyes, looking at me were speaking volumes, Don't pass me by. He didn't say a word, but I could see, I read the eyes. So when I finished with Amini, I went down and I said, Hi. Sitting with him. Hi. What's your name? Skeety. Oh, I said, That's a cute name. Never heard that before. I'd just been talking to Amini. Oh, he said, I know her very well because they were beggars that knew each other as beggars. And she's just had a wonderful experience with the Lord, Jesus. Do you know the Lord Jesus? No, but I've heard his name. I don't know him. Would you like to know more about him? Oh, I'd love to. Long story short, I give him the whole gospel sitting down beside him. And, oh, I must have got him food too. That's just a way of life. And now here's the amazing thing. I said, Would you like to come with me tomorrow to the big theater? You know the one. Oh, yes. The big theater. Holds 5,000 people in the middle of Durban. Yes. Yeah, but how can I get there? He said, I can't walk. Oh, I said, We'll find a way for that. Someone will pick you up and put you in a car. Where would I pick you up? I'd learn to say, not where is your address. Where could I meet you? Well, I sit not far away from where Amini is, and so I can get where she is. Oh, I said, That's wonderful. So then I went to one of the, after a day, the whole day of witnessing, and I can't go into that because I'm getting to this part about these two. I go to a deacon. Remember, I'm an international speaker traveling all over the world. I haven't got a car with me or anything, so I have to get help. So I went to a deacon, and I said, There's a couple of beggars who've been converted, or one of them has been, and the other one is very interested, and I need you to get them and me, because I'm the contact person. We need to go to a street and find them. Will you help me? Sure. So we get to the place the next morning, Sunday morning, early, because I've got to speak twice at like the 9 o'clock service and the 11. So early, I'm up there in the street, find the beggars, and then there's another woman on the street corner who's seeing the amazing thing of seeing these two beggars that she knew very well, because it was all in her area, and she has a girl of about 12 with her, and she's trying to sell some used clothing to get some money, because I said to her, it was one of Skeety's friends introduced me to her, and we've got a little car, and by now we've got the woman and the daughter, Skeety, Amina, the driver and me, what's that, about seven, and we've got a little car. So I said, they've got a big guard, so I said, do you want, can I talk to you for a moment? I see you selling clothes, old clothes here. I said, if I give you more in money than you can get for selling those two clothes, would you like to come to the theater today? Because she said, go to the theater? But what about my daughter? I said, we'll make room for her. So we all jammed in. What a jam. I mean, the back seat of that little car was absolutely jammed to the uttermost jammability of its jamminess. I got the woman in the front, because she was big, the deacon with his little cars in the front, and who's in the back? Skeety, Joy, the girl, and Amina, all in the back. The smell from their bodies was absolutely like nothing I have ever smelled in my entire life. So I dug into my purse, and I got a little bit of perfume out where they weren't looking, and I turned right to the window, and I dabbed a little bit of cologne or something on my lip, just to try and cope. The stench was overwhelming. They've got no bath. They've got no home. They're beggars living on the street as a way of life. They never saw me, and God's grace came upon me. Then I got them into the church, and then I realized they'd all be hungry. They're beggars, and that woman was poor. So I said to someone when I got in the church early, oh, Joy, you're coming to speak. That's wonderful and everything. Can we usher you into some, you know, the green room or something? I said, no, no. I'm with my, I've got a lot of new friends. I'm staying with my friends, and they need food. Can you get me some food? Oh, yes, we're prepared. We've prepared a meal for you afterwards because I had to get on a plane straight after speaking and go to another city and speak there that night. It's quite a, there's never a dull or a spare minute. And I said, just food. Can you get me some food? Because they're hungry, and I don't want to preach at them until their stomachs are full. So this woman had to tear around and get some of the food they were going to give to me and put it on trays. And I said, I want the best seats in the house for them, please, right up the front where all the spiritual leaders would sit, the big heavies. You know the heavies? Heavyweight spiritually supposed to be. I says, give it to the beggars. These are our distinguished guests for today. That's what Jesus would do. They sat in the front row. They all went sound asleep while I was speaking. I watched the whole lot of them. I was thrilled. I saw the plan. I saw God's plan. Their stomachs were full. They needed rest because this is a big deal. You've got now a chair to sit on. You're in a comfortable place with a chair. This is amazing. You've got food you didn't have to beg for. What would you do? You'd sleep. When I was all through the message, because remember I've got two services, I said, now I have some very distinguished guests here today. I said to the audience, Amina, Skeety, and I had the other woman's name which I'd forgotten, and a little girl. I never said where I got them from. I just said, these are my new friends. I said, I just need to speak to them personally for a little bit. They've been through some pretty rugged stuff lately. That's all I said. I, for the next five or ten minutes, focused on the gospel and what it means and lordship and healing and the whole bit. I had a ten minute thing just for them when they were all awake. They responded totally to every single thing that I challenged them with in relation to Jesus and the gospel. Open, open, hungry, yearning. Just needed someone to love them and get them in there. Then God challenged me, Are you really going to be like my son? You see, Skeety is an absolutely, totally locked in paralytic. He cannot even stand, let alone walk. He had to be carried anywhere or shuffled. The challenge was, would I pray for his healing in front of 5,000 people all watching me. Do you want to be like Jesus? Are you going to do what he did? What would he have done? Right. So I said, One of my friends here cannot walk, can't even stand. He has opened his heart and given his life to Christ and is now a disciple of the Lord Jesus. By the way, I asked Skeety, How did you get crippled? He said, In a fight with the gangs and they beat me up and paralyzed, nerves all in, dead and he couldn't stand. In a fight. So the trauma, everything. No home, no nothing, no friends, just the street people, worst friends. Now he's got joy. So I asked the pastor of the church to come with me, like I asked for these three men to come and pray over me. I got the main pastor, the pastor who was under him and another elder and they came around and I prayed the prayer of absolute, total faith. I mean, I couldn't have been more full of faith, absolutely believing that Skeety was going to be miraculously healed. I couldn't see any reason why not. It was just what Jesus would do and that's what he did and that's what happened with him. But I've learned this. My job is to do what he tells me to do that he did and the results are his, not mine, not mine. That I'm not to be concerned about that. I'm to pray absolutely in faith. I did. And I expected to open my eyes and see Skeety. I had my arms around him, I remember, around him and loving on him. He was about 17 and kissing his face just like a mother with a grandson. And to my absolute amazement, when I opened my eyes, Skeety was still paralyzed. I just worshipped Jesus. I knew I'd been obedient. I didn't have to explain anything to the 5,000 people watching, all the pastors. I had been obedient. That's all Jesus wants at any time. It's the most important thing we can do at any time. Obey the model and leave the results with the father of the model. Jesus has never explained to me why Skeety wasn't healed. He will in heaven. He'll tell me. But I want to tell you this, that as a result of my going out into the streets and getting those precious people living on the streets, loving on them, giving them food, friendship, honor, honoring them, giving them the front row, telling the people I had these precious, beautiful friends, my new friends, by honoring them. Do you know what happened? I learned only a few years ago the head pastor of that church who is the main apostle for the whole of the city of Durban, mighty man of God, moves in the gifts of the spirit with miracles and signs and wonders, mighty man of God. He told me, Joy, as a result of you coming to our church and doing what you did with those beggars, that was the start, that was the trigger that the Holy Spirit told us we as a great big church, the biggest, most influential church in Durban, South Africa, that we were to start a whole ministry to the poor and the needy. Thousands have fed. Thousands have come to Christ. Thousands have heard the gospel. As a result of that new ministry of reaching out, he said, when we just saw what you did, the Spirit of God says, you do what you did, only you do it on a large scale. And to me, that's more rewarding and more exciting as having seen the miracle that would have taken place that day. Do you know what I mean? Because of the future, what you do that affects the future, do you want to change by your life under the influence of the Holy Spirit who alone can do what I'm going to say? Do you want to be so yielded to the Holy Spirit at any time, so passionately in love with Jesus that God can use you to shape and change culture? It's not singing about Jesus inside the building that will do it. Great as that is, wonderful as that is, but Satan couldn't care less how much you sing inside the building as long as you don't go out and be a radical soul winner for Jesus. That makes him tremble and run into a corner. He is so mad with what I'm teaching now, it's just unbearable. It's unbearable for Satan what I'm teaching now because that's what he fears the most, that they'll get radical and go out there like Jesus did and do what Jesus did, like he did, how he did it, and leave the results with God. But it's not just doing it, it's being in love with Jesus when you do it. You might say, like I've seen, and in my former earlier days, I've always had a zeal for the lost. I was converted when I was five years of age. I had such a sound conversion that it was as radical as anything you could hear. I was yielded, I was sold out for God, I knew my whole future was living for Christ at five. It wasn't just receiving Jesus in my heart, it was lordship, it was the whole thing. I could prove it to you, but there isn't time. I led my first soul to Christ when I was ten. And that young girl, it was a school in a recess. We had a 15-minute recess and I thought, good, I got 15 minutes, I got her in the corner and gave her the whole gospel. Led her to Christ, she accepted the Lord, she got radically saved and as a woman, years later, with a whole family of children, she said, that was the time. In that recess time in the courtyard of the school when we were both ten, that's, she never, she went on as a disciple of Jesus. Don't underestimate children. Remember Jesus' get like them? I've never turned down a child ever in my life that said they wanted to pray for me. God has promised me healing. I have severe, severe back problems. Getting up on this sofa was terrible. Getting up on this stage, the severity. And God has promised me healing. And I've often wondered whether it would be a three-year-old or a four-year-old. I'd love it. Do you know there's going to be a mighty outpouring of the Spirit on children? That waves of it are coming? Don't underestimate children. Children's ministry is one of the most profound most rewarding most ministries nearest to the heart of God is ministering to children. This is an interesting time. I haven't got down to more than half the page. Here's the notes. And I'm to bear. I'm yielded. It's his show, not mine. You can learn as much today in how I'm operating as what's coming through my mouth. This is not my thing. Dare I think that I must get through my next point. Dare I think. Shame on me if I think, well, she's not what you think. She's not much of a Bible teacher. She seems to ramble on on all these stories. I hadn't the faintest idea I was going to tell you all that. But I'm yielded. I'm obedient. Jesus and I are one because I'm obedient. I love you, Jesus. Keep doing your thing. Just glorify your name. Go on, Holy Spirit. You're the best one to do that. Go for it. Glorify Jesus. I don't care how you do it. Do you know there's been times at the end of a service when I haven't known how to lead the people in responding to apply the message because the Holy Spirit hadn't told me? And I've just stopped and said, like I do, well, Holy Spirit, you haven't told me how the people are to apply this message. What do you want to do with them? What do you want me to do to tell the people to do? How do you want this message to be applied? And the Holy Spirit said to me, lie on your face on the floor. So I did. Prostrate. Down on the floor, I remember. I lay there for 15 minutes and heard nothing. Then I heard, get up. So I got up. What am I to say, I said. Tell them to do the next thing I tell them to do in this service. Like you have just done the next thing I told you to do. Lie down for 15 minutes. No understanding why. On my face, I did. On my face. Because that's what he said. I've got a whole audience that can verify every word of what I'm telling you. Just tell them to do the next thing I tell them to do. And all over the room for the next hour, hour on the clock, one by one, people would get up and do whatever God told them. Some were confessing sin. A whole married couple got their marriage back into line. I remember that vividly. I remember someone here, a man, senior man, needed the healing of the memories. And I was laying hands on him and praying for all the healing of the subconscious mind and going through a long time praying over him. Then people over here were repenting of something. There was a move of God's Spirit that could only be done by the Holy Ghost for the next hour. All I had to do was be obedient. But will you lie on your face on the floor? And is it OK for you not to hear anything for 15 minutes? You see, if you still have your reputation intact, intact, intact. That's what I want. Intact. Then you will have a great problem because you'll be thinking, what on earth are they thinking of me? They're thinking, she's lost her cool. This is ridiculous. Bible teacher lying on the floor on her face. Who did you think she is? You'll go through. If you have died to your reputation, you say, I don't have one, Jesus. I'm just your bond slave. And a bond slave doesn't have a reputation. Do you know what a bond slave can only claim two things at any time? To hear what the Master wants them to do and the strength to carry it out. That's all. That's the only two rights you've got. Are you a bond slave? Are you awake? Are you a bond slave? So what have you got? Did anybody remember what I said? What are the two things a bond slave has? One at a time. This is not, I didn't ask for chaos. One person at a time, please. Get up and say one. Just one person. Get up and say it. You said what it was. Get up and say it. Didn't hear? Yes. And what's the second thing? Anybody else? Yeah, the strength to carry it out. Not to carry it out. Strength to carry it out. Okay, you got it? That's your two rights. I remember when Brian and Andy came to me to ask me to do something that was related to today. And I didn't get any witness in my spirit that what they were offering me was what God wanted. And I was going back to God. Back to God. Oh, I was praying it down on them. I felt that was their responsibility to get the vision. Mine to do this. So I was praying and praying and praying and day after day prayed that they would get it. And then the sense came to me. I'm going to give it to you. So I thought, well God, here I am. You want to give me the vision? And He did. Absolutely in detail is being carried out in this room today. Three things He told me. Clearly, Holy Spirit spoke right to me and confirmed it in the most amazing little obscure verse that this was the will of God and that He'd spoken to me. But I remember saying, look, I'm overwhelmed with the workload that's on me as a widow alone without Jim's help. I'm going from daylight to dark. I get exhausted. I'm 87 by the way. And I said, this is another heavy responsibility. But anyway, I'm a bond slave. And I said those two things. If you want to give me the vision, then you'll have to tell me and then give me the strength to carry out whatever you tell me. And that's when He spoke so clearly to combine two of the things that they were bringing to me that it was to be in this man's church here. And that there was a huge purpose that God had. Every bit as big or bigger, He showed me with what He would do in and through this man and this church if we would do what God wanted. And then He confirmed it. Are you getting what I'm saying? It works out when you're under pressure and you don't want another ounce of responsibility. Do you understand? You can come with the bond slave thing and claim it. Push God's button. Do you know what I mean? Push His button. Come on God. I'm a bond slave and I need you. He loves it. He loves it. I wish I could remember that wild scripture. Maybe I could bring it tonight. It's an amazing scripture that just said God has spoken to me. This is what you're to do. Simple. Everything's simple. Nothing's complicated. You only make it that way. Get like a kid. Have you learned anything? Yes. Maybe I could get to the next point. Have you concluded with me that if you're not a soul winner as a way of life that means everybody doesn't have to get converted every time you witness to them but are you a gossiper of the gospel? Do you gossip the gospel as a way of life? If you're not, you're not following Him. Will you see the starkness of that? You are not following Jesus. Now our major purpose in finding and following Jesus is to get others to find and follow Him. Evangelism was never and ever intended by God to be an event at any time. Never. We've got it all wrong. Oh, we're going to get all together and we're going to have an evangelistic event. Jesus is saying it's not what I modeled. I never had an event. I had a way of life. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 34. I love this and I've never once ever heard it quoted in my 87 years. Remember I was converted at 5. I've never heard this verse quoted in this context. Listen to Paul. Come to your right mind and sin no more, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. That's Paul. He didn't waste men's words, did he? Philemon chapter 1. At least Philemon is one book. Philemon 1 verse 6. Paul writes to Philemon. I pray that the sharing of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ. This is the word of God. Are we at this point convinced by what the Spirit is saying on the word, let alone what I've shared out of my life as just normal part of my living? I've got dozens of other stories of street people and all that, because that's just your way of life. Oh, in Durban, I remember, not just on the streets, it's coming back to me, I was in the hotel going up in the elevator of the hotel. And I witnessed a guy in the elevator. I mean, you can do it anywhere. And do you know what I usually say? Do you know the Lord Jesus? Just smiling. Just that. Right to the point. Smiling. Do you know the Lord Jesus? I've never, ever, ever had anybody ever rebut me or refuse me. Never once. Smiling, they see I'm not tense and relaxed, ready to laugh with them. We're going up the elevator to get to a place. Do you know the Lord Jesus? No. Would you like to know him? Personally, really. Living in your heart. I'd love it. I said, let's get off the elevator with me. I'm going into one of the bedrooms where one of the housemates that I led to the Lord the other day, she's there. And he said, oh, I know. I know the girl that does this floor. I said, are you ready? Yes. So we got off on, I remember it was level five. We got up and got in, and here was the girl I'd led to the Lord the day before. Cleaning. And I said, this guy here, do you know him? Yeah, I know him. He's one of the staff. I said, he's ready to come to Christ. Can we do it in the privacy of the bedroom? Sure, she said. So she shuts the door, and I lead him to the Lord. And he's so, he got so saved. He was so saved. I mean, it was all over him like a rash. You know what I mean? You could see the light on his face, and he just needed somebody in the elevator to ask him, do you know Jesus? They're all out there like that, longing, waiting, waiting for you to open your mouth and just say, just tell them, you know what, Jesus had three things in his ministry, that you can get them right down to three things. His whole ministry was all about what he said. Believe me, his first words, sorry, were repent. That was his first message. It was the first message he gave the disciples, told them to preach, which they did. The first message they preached was repent. It was the first message that was preached on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was outpoured. Repent, repent, repent. Has to come first. Without repentance, there's no remission of sins. The second main thing Jesus taught was believe me and obey me. It can all be condensed to as simple as this. Believe me and obey me. Now what is obedience? It means it's instant. This is God's standard of obedience. It's instant, it's joyful, and it's whole. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Obedience with murmuring is a sin. It's a sin. Murmuring is a sin. Gross sin, according to God. And then so delayed obedience is disobedience. Obedience with murmuring is a sin. And then whole, instant, joyful. It's got to be joyful, instant, and whole. That's the only thing that is Bible obedience. One young girl at 12 was when she started to first hear me in Northern California. She's now leading one of YWAM's biggest bases along with her husband. But she was 12 years old and she heard me in a church and she heard me speak on obedience, instant, joyful, and whole. And she was so shaped by those words that later in her life, years later, when she was an adult in YWAM, she was sure that was a Bible verse. She came and did five years for me as a secretary and one of the days when she said, joy, that so was seared onto my spirit and my consciousness. So seared, instant, joyful, whole, obedience. And she said, it never occurred to me that it wasn't a Bible verse. It was Bible truth. Are you being seared today? Seared. Seared. I've asked that God would brand you. Brand you. You know how they brand the animals and it's on their furry coats and it stays there and it doesn't come off until they shave it up. Talking about the sheep or cattle it can be. It's branded. It hurts. Often the truth does hurt but it'll set you free. What a rare way you're doing this Lord. You've just turned page one. I love you. The second principle of Jesus was to live in submission. Dependence and obedience to the Father's orders to fulfill his goal. Principle, live in submission, dependence and obedience. Oh, I was telling you the three things, wasn't I? And I only got to two, right? Anybody sharp enough to pick that up? You remember that, you guys? The first was he said repent. The second was believe and obey. And the third thing that sums up all that Jesus did was go tell. Three things. Repent, believe, obey, go tell. Jesus ministry. Why make it complicated? Can anybody repeat those three? Anybody. Yeah, you can? Go for it. Repent, believe me and obey me, go tell. Good for you. What's your name? Johnny. Johnny? Good name. I got a son with that name. Yeah. He was the principle of youthful mission for eight years. Don't know whether you've heard of him. He's my boy. Thank you, John. Let's all say them together. What were the three things that summed up all of Jesus' teaching in three simple words? First, repent. Second, believe and obey. Third, go tell. Has it seared into your memory? Are you branded with it? Don't make it complicated. Check your life out by them. Jesus never attempted to win the lost without the Father's specific directions and strategies. Listen to John 5 19 to 20. He never attempted to win the lost without the Father's specific direction. Oh, sorry. I tell you the truth. The Son can do nothing by himself. He can do only what he sees the Father doing because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. John 5 30. By myself, I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself, but him who sent me. Those words are the standard of your life and mine. Right there. Are you going to take that standard? Just live by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Do you know that to live by the promptings of the Holy Spirit God has required me in my life one whole month just preparing for today? I said it before, didn't I? He's telling me to tell you again. Do I understand that? No. I came in a day early yesterday thinking that I could just relax. Maybe I could pick up and read Missions Frontiers or something about missions or just no way. Every single minute in that hotel room until I got here preparing. Reading the Word, going over my notes, listening to the Holy Spirit, writing things down and then when it's all been said and done, I get out here and it's so different from anything that I prepared. But that's what he's doing with me. And I'm as relaxed as a poached egg. A fried egg is frazzled. A boiled egg is uptight. And a poached egg is relaxed. It's not my show. It's just your glory, your way. Just ruin them all for the ordinary Lord. Cause them to come out of all the stuff they're taught in seminaries about what they're to do and how they're to do it instead of teaching them to be like Jesus. Put people in the seminaries who teach the people who are going to be pastors to live like Jesus. Throw out from the seminaries those who do not teach and live to model on Jesus and replace them with radical people who will live and teach only that the model for Christian leadership, spiritual leadership is Jesus' life. Now Holy Spirit, you're the only one that can answer that radical prayer. But it came from you in the first place. I just prayed back what you prompted me to pray and I believe you. I believe you. I believe there's going to be an absolute upheaval in the seminaries. Throwing out those who were never called of God to be there. They're there to get a payroll. Teaching the ways of men and not the ways of God. And fill them with little nobodies who will dare to live like you and speak with authority and lead with authority. It comes only from utter abandonment to your will. I ask that in Jesus' mighty name and I believe. Send a tidal wave. It's going to take a tidal wave, a tsunami to make that change. You're good at making tsunamis in the Spirit? Go for it. Amen. John 20 verse 21. As the Father sent me, so I send you. So the same principles of submission, dependence and obedience are what we're supposed to be living by to the Holy Spirit. That means unhurried time daily alone with God in the Word and in prayer for others. Listening to his voice, believing he will speak and obeying what he says and we'll never be successful soul winners any other way. To live for Jesus we have to serve him on his terms according to his ways. Oh, wow. Wow. Are we in for the story of all time now? There was a bunch of YWAMers who had gotten my little card I don't know whether I've got one or not with me. The nine principles for effective intercession. Who of you have seen that one? Okay. Well, I can get this thing open. It's an act of God for me to get my zip open. No, I don't have one. I have put together a simple very, very clear little thing that stands about this high folded about that high folded over called nine principles for effective intercession. And if you will do them, yes, you've got one? Good for you. That's marvelous. Praise God. I always knew I needed you, darling. Thank you. Hearing God's voice. Yeah, there they are. And they were doing this. Praise and thanks to God first. Confess sins to him and receive forgiveness. Silence the voice of the devil, James 4, 7. Silence your own thoughts, 2 Corinthians 10, 5. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you, John 16, 3. And then wait in silent expectation and then pray out in faith what God tells you. If you obey those before you have a prayer meeting, you are going to have an absolutely ripcording, amazing, exciting, wonderful prayer meeting. Because there's no explanation but the Holy Spirit. And if you want an exciting prayer meeting, just let him be the one who tells you what to do. Believe me. The Holy Spirit can turn on the most exciting prayer meeting on planet Earth. And these bunch of YWAMers, just like you, your age, sitting a week before Christmas in Hong Kong, fully going through all this. Sin confessed, everything, dying to human reasoning and desire, everything, resisting the devil, waiting on God. And when they're all through with this, they hear the Holy Spirit start speaking to them around. About five of them. Five or six of them. And each one hears go to China. It's a week before Christmas. They have no visas. They have no money. None of them had ever had the faintest thought or reason for going to China. It's the middle of winter at the time. Freezing cold. So freezing cold in China that if you peeled an orange, you just, by the time it was peeled, it was frozen. It was that cold. Because they did. They peeled an orange and it just froze and they couldn't eat it. So what happens? They fulfill these principles. All of them hear, go to China. And then they shared around. Well, what did you get? Wow, it was wild. Totally wild. I didn't know what to think. I was to go to China. What did you get? The leader said. And all around the group, God said the same thing. Holy Spirit. It was absolute, total, exciting miracles for even to think that they could get a visa in time. Because they were to go as soon as they could get their visas and money. And they had no visas and no money. I think it was in about four or five days at the most. Oh, they went to their leader, by the way. The group went to the spiritual leader of the Hong Kong base at that time. What was Gary Stevens? And they submitted to him. He sought the Lord. The Lord said, yes, this is of me. And then the whole base got together to pray and to give and to do everything to get these guys visas. They got visas quickly and straight away. You can wait months to get a visa. They got them in days. All the money came in, in days. They had their little bags packed. They had no clue in the world why God said go to China. He didn't tell them. They landed in China, checked in at a hotel, and did the right thing again, started to wait on God for directions. They just didn't go out and say we're going to witness in the streets or anything, waiting on God. Three days, for three days and three nights, they waited on God, the little group, and the Holy Spirit finally said to them, go to the nearest university. So they had their target. They had no idea what to expect. And it was like vacation time when the schools were closed, the universities were closed, and they couldn't understand why. They didn't go by human reasoning. The Holy Spirit said the universities, so off they went to the university campus, wondering what in the world are we going to do now? Well, to their amazement, they saw signs outside that there were people in and that it wasn't closed. So they went and knocked on the door and said we're just a bunch of people from different parts of the world and we all speak English. The leader said. That's all he said. And the person who opened the door said, you all speak English? How amazing! We're having a special school for school teachers to learn the English language. We've got two classrooms packed full. About 50 in each classroom. All teachers from all over China who've never heard the gospel and here comes the YWAM team. I mean, is this spacey or what? There's no story like this that absolutely gets my juices going. It's just woo! Wow! Woo! Woo! So the main head teacher says, come right in. Come right in. You all speak English. Marvelous. And she let them loose on the first school classroom of 50. Get the influence. School teachers from all over China influence children. You get it? Woo! The ripples. And the leader of the team starts acting out. He said, well, he said, I think because it's Christmas you may be have you heard about Christmas? Yes, we've heard the word but we don't understand what Christmas means. We've heard the word. We don't have anything about it here in China but we've heard this word but we don't. We'd love to know what does Christmas mean? Ah! Soul winner's dream! Woo! He gets up in the middle of the classroom and they said, only speaking English because they're all learning English and they need to have that, they need to hear it so please all in, oh yes, we'd be delighted to speak in English. I mean what else could they speak in anyway? So the whole of the gospel story was clearly spelled out and they were listening in rapt silence. They'd never heard anything like it in their lives. Never, not one of them had ever been exposed to the gospel. Not one. Not one. And then he had the boldness come on him. He told me the story himself and when he was telling me the story, he was trembling all over. He said, I could never, it was just a week or two after it happened and he said, I'm just still overwrought with the wonder and the power of the Holy Spirit of what God gave me the privilege to do. I can't believe it. It's unbelievable to me now and yet I didn't dream it, I lived it. He said, I stood in the middle of that classroom and I gave a total bold altar call and I said, is there anybody in this classroom who was willing to stand up and acknowledge that you're a sinner and you need Jesus Christ as a saviour and you want him to make him lord of your life and you're going to live for him by the power of the Holy Spirit. Is there anyone? And he said, if one had done. And he said, the whole classroom stood. Hallelujah to Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah to Jesus. And then he said, the next day the teacher said, I let you loose to do anything you want. She said, this is amazing what you young people are bringing to us. It's so wonderful and exactly the same thing was repeated and again the whole classroom, the second one, all stood and openly declared Jesus as lord. A hundred of them. It's so wonderful. Thank you. Listen guys, you can't beat that excitement. You can't beat that. There's no adventure that you can ever tell me, including climbing Everest, that's comparable to the excitement of obeying Jesus like that and going and having that kind of a deal. Would you agree? Does this ruin you for the ordinary? What are you going to do about all this stuff that's pouring through me? Go tell? You're going to believe and obey? You're going to be like a kid? Are you going to get more childlike? More simple? Have you died to your reputations? Would you lie on your face on the floor if the Holy Spirit said so? This is quite a group, Jesus. Thank you. It's worth a month's preparation. Amazing. The clock's just screaming around. I'm listening to you. I'll stop the moment you tell me. I see the clock. They've been two and a half hours. I'll stop any time you want. I'll go on if you want. It doesn't matter what they think anyway. I don't stand at the judgment seat in front of this bunch. I stand in front of you. I love you. I fear you. I love you. I'll give you instant joyful whole obedience. Anything. Do I go on? Stop? What do I do? I haven't heard anything yet, so when I hear, I'll tell you. He has spoken to me and said stop now and give me glory. I've done the work that I intended to be done through you today. Don't worry about what's not finished in the notes, which is much. I've done my work. Stop now. That's it. Thank you. You notice thank you for your kind affirmation of the work of the Spirit of God through me. Thank you. I appreciate that very, very much. I don't take it lightly. I thank you for it. Remember the orders were stop now and give me glory. Okay, however you want to express it. I don't care. I don't care if you want to shout. I don't care if you want to dance. I don't care if you want to yell. I don't care if you want to cry. I don't care if you want to say nothing, but in your heart will you please give God the glory for today. Please. Somehow. Jesus. Give me glory. Glory, glory, glory. Glory. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus, you're worthy. You're wonderful. Holy Spirit. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The girl who gave me this, please come and take it again. Thank you. Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate you helping me. Thank you dear. Remember this, if you touch the glory at all, you tarnish it. It's a fearful thing to touch the glory of God. Just ask if you're tempted to take any glory to yourself. Now, I want to tell you, as I close, that to take any glory to yourself is insanity. It's insane, because it is God, don't worry about this, thank you, just be still, thank you. I said it's insane to touch the glory. It is, there's a scripture that proves it, it is God who works in you and through you. To him be glory forever, amen. It is God who works in you and through you, so what is the logical thing? He's the only one that gets the glory. It's insane. Are you getting it? Don't even go there, just say, I'm going into insanity. Say to yourself out loud, I'm thinking this has something to do with me. No human being could do what God has done in this room today, it's totally impossible. Only the Holy Spirit, through a vessel, totally, completely, and utterly yielded to him, with a motive only for Jesus' glory. That's the only explanation, so give it where it belongs. Don't walk out, don't walk out talking about the speaker, wake up talking about Jesus, okay?