I thank you, God, that you have put
it in my heart to glorify you.
Lord, I ask that you be glorified in
everything that is spoken, in all that is
said, everything that is understood.
Jesus, be glorified.
And I ask you, Father, tonight to take
the veil of shame off of your church
that the enemy wants to put there on
so many lives that have been bought with
the precious blood of Jesus Christ and have
been engraved with the virtual pen of God.
I ask you, Lord, to remove this veil
of shame and I ask, O God, that
there be a rekindling of joy in the
heart.
And I thank you for it.
I thank you, Lord, that you're going to
defeat the enemy powerfully, strongly tonight.
I believe it with all my heart in
Jesus' mighty name.
Now, how many tonight are suffering because of
your testimony for Jesus Christ?
Can I see your hands, please?
Raise it up nice and high.
You're suffering because you're a Christian.
Okay, I thought there would be that many
here tonight.
1 Peter 4, verse 12.
Peter says, Beloved, think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you,
as though some strange thing happened to you.
But rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers of
Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding
joy.
If you be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of
glory and of God resteth upon you.
On their part he is evil spoken of,
but on your part he is glorified.
But let none of you suffer as a
murderer or as a thief or as an
evildoer or as a busybody in other men's
matters.
Yet if any man suffers a Christian, let
him not be ashamed, but let him glorify
God on this behalf.
Now Peter is talking about suffering that has
to come, will come, to the lives of
those that are godly, those that are truly
Christ's.
If you belong to Jesus Christ tonight, God
is writing a story in you.
He's writing the story of his own life.
Actually in verse 14, it says, If you
are reproached for the name of Christ, happy
are you, for the spirit of glory and
of God rests upon you.
Now this speaks about the person who is
saved, walking in an unsaved or ungodly environment,
or even worse, an ungodly religious environment.
And there is a suddenness of anger that
comes against you.
This desire, as it is, of the enemy,
to make you feel like you are doing
some kind of a shameful thing because you
are born again and living for God.
Somehow you are substandard, foolish.
You are having to experience ridicule, false accusation,
all types of things coming against you, only
because of the name of Christ.
My wife said that when she spoke of
her mother, it was strange, when her mother
was suffering and living in darkness and on
the verge, really, of perhaps living in despair
for the rest of her life.
Everybody seemed to be okay, a very religious
family in some respects.
But when she found Christ as her Savior,
and was raised from the dead, and began
to live for God, and was clothed and
in her right mind, all of a sudden
the family became very concerned about her.
And some very not nice things, perhaps in
some quarters, began to be spoken.
He said, if you are reproached for the
name of Christ, you should be happy, because
the Spirit of glory and of God, glory,
the Greek word for that is doxa, it
means the image of God, or it means
that which causes Christ in us to be
recognized for who He is.
And the word for God is theos, which
means the name of the true God.
Remember the church of Philadelphia we spoke about
last week, where He says, if you go
through this open door, which is Christ Himself,
He says, I will write my name upon
you.
And the evidence that Christ's name is being
written upon you, or the very nature of
Christ is becoming your nature, is the unregenerate
around you, those who are lost in their
sin, be it blatant sin or religious sin,
they're lost, there's an anger that begins to
rise in them, because of the true Christ
that is being written upon you.
In other words, God has written upon you
a readable evidence to others that you are
His.
They look at you and they know that
you're different.
Not because you're trying to be different, you're
trying to be like Christ.
You want to be godly.
You no longer want to do the things
that you used to do.
You're starting to stand up for truth, even
if it may not even be verbal, it's
just something in your own heart.
You just simply want to walk an honest
walk before God.
And all of a sudden, everybody around you
seems to have a problem with this.
Isn't it strange in a society where people
just want to live honestly, speak the truth.
They don't want to cheat on their income
tax.
They don't want to get paid under the
table.
They don't want to write false invoices and
all the rest.
They don't want to backbite or gossip or
speak evil of authority and just want to
speak right and live for God.
All of a sudden find themselves in this
barrage as it is of accusation begins to
come against them.
The Reims New Testament says it the best.
He says, For that which is of the
honor and glory and power of God and
that which is His Spirit rests upon you.
If you are reproached for the name of
Christ, if people see Christ in you, and
because they see Christ, something rises in them
and they begin to falsely accuse you.
Actually, Peter said this is a time to
be happy.
Because it is evidence that God has written
His name on you.
It is evidence.
It's not necessarily even a verbal testimony.
It's just simply something that you are becoming
in Christ.
And an ungodly world has always hated Christ.
In John chapter 12, if you go there
with me, it can truly be said that
a man called Lazarus found himself in a
very strange and fiery trial.
Now up to this point, if you go
back, actually we should start a little back
in John chapter 11, he had a testimony
of association with Jesus.
And there is no record that that testimony
seemed to bother anybody.
In John chapter 11, verses 3 to 5,
it said, Therefore his sister sent him and
said, Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick.
Verse 5, it says, Now Jesus loved Martha
and her sister and Lazarus.
And so his testimony really was Jesus loves
me.
And it seems that nobody has a problem
with that.
Many of you said that before you got
saved, didn't you?
Jesus loves me.
I can even see children throughout America in
church this morning singing these songs, Jesus loves
me.
This I know, for the Bible tells me
so, while parents and clergy who are not
in right relationship with God look upon them
with piously folded hands and condescending approval.
Oh, that's very nice, they say.
We're very happy that Jesus loves you.
When Lazarus was sick and dying, and perhaps
his testimony was, while Jesus is coming soon,
if I can just hold on long enough,
he's going to help me.
There's no evidence in the Bible that even
this brought about what he was about to
face in chapter 12.
But you and I know the story.
He died.
All hope of human or human hope of
recovery was lost.
Now Paul the Apostle speaks about this in
Romans chapter 7, verse 9.
He speaks of the fallen condition of human
flesh or human effort.
He says, when the commandment came, sin revived
and I died.
In other words, I thought I was doing
all right until I saw the holy standards
of God.
I saw the requirements of God to be
what he's called me to be.
But there was an inward working of death
in me that was stronger than any effort
I might make to change.
And so I died.
I simply gave up the grave as it
is shut its mouth upon me.
Let me read to you from Psalm 88,
the words of a man who was going
through this.
He says, My soul is full of troubles.
My life draws nigh unto the grave.
I am counted with them that go down
into the pit.
I am as a man that has no
strength.
I'm free among the dead, like the slain
that lie in the grave, whom thou remember'st
no more, and they're cut off from thy
hand.
Thou slayed me in the lowest pit, in
darkness and in the deep.
It seemed like people didn't really perhaps have
that big of a problem with Lazarus when
he was dying.
When he had no strength.
When his testimony was simply, Jesus, if I
can just hold on, Jesus will help me
someday.
And I could see the religious crowd coming
and giving him consolation and comfort.
And it tells us that after his death
they came to comfort Mary and Martha and
all of the family.
Paul talks about the cry of every true
child of God.
That cry, when we cry, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
I heard his voice, Paul says, in the
lowest depths of my despair.
And he called me out of his darkness
into his marvelous light.
And beloved, that's our testimony tonight.
Many of you who are here, you can
acknowledge that this is the testimony that God
has given you.
I had no strength.
The best I could say is Jesus loves
me.
And the best I could do was hope
to hold on until someday I might understand
or he might speak a word that brought
life into my heart.
But I had no power against this inward
dwelling or working of sin in me, so
I died.
And it seems during this whole process in
my life, everybody was alright with this.
They were alright with my little surface testimony
of Jesus and they were alright with the
fact that I was struggling and didn't seem
to have victory.
Until the day I heard his voice.
And I don't know when it happened in
your life, but there is a moment, there
is a divine moment in every life where
we begin to hear the voice of God.
And we begin to look away from human
effort.
And the testimony moves beyond that which just
simply is on the surface of the lips
of everyone who calls themselves Christian in any
society.
And we begin to hear a voice calling
us out of darkness and calling us out
of death.
We have no power other than what the
words of God are beginning to impart to
us.
We hear God speaking to us and he
rolls away the stone of unbelief.
And we get up out of our seats.
It can be in a service, it can
be at home, it can be in our
car, it is somewhere.
We begin to hear the voice of God.
And we get up and step out of
these places of darkness.
And we step into the marvelous light and
life of Almighty God through Jesus Christ.
And we are born again by the Spirit
of God.
No more striving in the flesh.
No more surface testimony.
We now have the life of God Himself
living within us.
Not just feelings and theories about God, but
God Almighty in the power of the Holy
Ghost coming to take up residence within our
physical bodies when we have trusted in the
shed blood of Jesus Christ for our salvation.
And we are new creations now in Christ
Jesus.
We are changing from image to image and
glory to glory.
As we hear God's Word and God's Spirit
within us makes this Word a reality.
We see these promises.
We know we have no power to fulfill
them.
But we turn to the One within us
who has the power.
And we let our will be entwined with
His and we begin to walk with Him.
And as we walk with Him with believing
hearts, the life of Christ becomes a reality.
And we change.
And it becomes miraculous.
Image to image and glory to glory, even
as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Now, back in John chapter 12, Lazarus, let
me just say for sake of argument, Lazarus
is in church.
He's now raised from the dead.
Just like many of you are and I
am.
You're sitting here in church tonight.
You're sitting at the table with Jesus.
The Bible says six days before the Passover,
He came to Bethany where Lazarus, this is
Jesus, where Lazarus was, which had been dead.
That's John 12, 1.
Whom He raised from the dead.
And there they made Him a supper and
Martha served.
But Lazarus was one of them that sat
at the table with Him.
Sitting at the table with Jesus.
That's where many of us are tonight.
Raised from the dead.
You know you have new life.
You know tonight that the power of the
grave and sin cannot hold you anymore.
You have been given of God a new
mind.
You are able now to comprehend the written
word of God.
You have a heart of faith to believe
as we heard today that every promise in
this book is for me.
Not for somebody else.
Not for some other generation.
This is not a lottery draw.
This is the grand prize for everyone who
turns to Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah.
Every promise in this book is mine.
Hallelujah.
And God is making it a reality.
And this is why we sit at the
table.
This is why we open our Bibles in
the morning.
It's not just to fulfill a time.
We're not under the law anymore.
It's not just to say, to be able
to say and pacify our hearts.
Say, oh God, I spent 20 minutes in
your word today.
This is obviously going to be a good
day for me.
It's not about that.
Because we're sitting at the table.
At that table is a banquet laid before
us in the presence of our enemies.
At this table our minds are renewed.
At this table new promises are given to
us.
At this table the Holy Spirit takes what
Christ won for us on Calvary and begins
to show it to us.
And said, this is what I'm going to
do in you.
This is who I'm going to make you.
Yes, you're having trouble with your temper at
work.
But this is what I'm going to do
to you.
I'm going to give you patience.
I'm going to take this away.
I'm going to chip this away from your
life.
By faith you're going to be a different
person than you are today.
Hallelujah.
The Christian life should be an exciting life.
You should be getting up like a person
who's been left a very lengthy inheritance by
a dying relative or a dying father.
And every day just turns another page to
find out what new thing has been left
in this inheritance.
To lay hold of it and say, this
is mine.
My father gave me this.
I can take this to the bank.
This is mine.
Not only mine, but it belongs to my
children.
Not only my children, but it belongs to
my grandchildren.
And future generations in my home have been
blessed by this incredible inheritance that God has
left me through Jesus Christ.
This is why we sit at the table.
This is why we open our Bibles and
we trust the Holy Spirit to quicken our
minds to these promises and then make them
a reality as we believe and begin to
walk into them.
And God brings this newness of life into
us.
And it's an incredible life.
It's a miraculous life.
I wish I had time to tell you
everything that God has done for me.
Every area that He has touched.
All of the rough edges that He has
sanded.
All of the confused thinking He's made straight.
All of the promises that He has tucked
away and I just simply walk in them
and see them beginning to unfold.
Little by little, line by line, step by
step, the kingdom of God begins to advance
as this hand of God begins to write
a testimony in me of Christ.
Not of me, of Christ.
Jesus Christ.
Lazarus is sitting at the table with Jesus.
He's no doubt among those who are bringing
costly worship to Him.
It tells us that, verse 3, that Mary
took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very
costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and
wiped His feet with her hair.
And the house was filled with the odor
of His ointment.
And that's the way it is with many
tonight.
We're here, we're sitting at the table, and
there's costly worship in this house.
There are people who know that nothing of
this world is to be compared to the
life which Jesus gives.
I mean, incredible when you think of it.
They're sitting at the table with a living
Savior but also a dead man who's brought
back to life.
It just doesn't get any better than that.
I don't know how else to say it.
I mean, how would you feel if you're
sitting at the table at home and there's
your mother or father or your sister or
your brother who is four days dead.
And they're sitting there.
And Jesus is there.
Folks, it just doesn't get any better than
that.
And Mary obviously takes this expensive perfume that
some say perhaps was an inheritance.
It was perhaps something laid away for the
future, given to her, whatever.
She just knows there's more in Christ than
all of this or anything the world's got
to offer me.
There's more.
And Lazarus is there among them.
And this is a worship scene.
This is worship beyond worship.
There's a living Christ at the table.
There's an innumerable number of promises ahead of
those who are sitting there, listening to every
word, I'm sure, that is coming out of
his mouth.
Now they're taking a little more attention or
stock to what he's saying than perhaps they
did before Lazarus died and was raised from
the grave.
There's incredible perfume of worship that is filling
the house.
And we have experienced this.
I know it in this house time and
again when worship goes beyond singing and becomes
a perfume.
It is something sweet that is being offered
up to God because there are lives here
that are yielding.
People are yielding their futures.
They're yielding other trusts, perhaps, that the world
entrenched very deep into their heart.
And they're giving all they've got to God.
And you and I have the privilege of
being in such a company.
And I thank God for it with all
of my heart.
And all these people are in this room.
But Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy
2.20, in a great house there are
different types of vessels, some to honor and
some to dishonor.
And so we go a little further down
the table.
First, we have Jesus, the Savior.
We have Lazarus raised from the dead.
We have his sister Mary who's offering up
this incredible worship.
And she's now got the revelation that it's
not just someday in the dear old by
and by that we're going to see Christ's
life manifested.
It's now.
They have the living evidence at the table
in her brother.
It causes her to go a step beyond,
perhaps, what she's ever gone before in times
of worship to the Lord.
But we also see Judas.
If there's ever a scene that talks to
me about how hard this man's heart was,
it would have to be this one.
I think of the time when Jesus dipped
the sop in the cup and offered it
to him at the Last Supper.
And some say perhaps that was the last
offer that Jesus gave to this man of
his life.
His heart was so hard, the Bible says
that Satan entered into him.
And the moment Christ was aware of that,
of course, he just said, go and do
and do quickly what you have to do.
But here's Judas sitting at the table.
Now, you'll find all of these types of
people in church.
Sad to say, but there are Judas's and
perhaps there are some here tonight.
They don't know what they are.
I know that in the body of Christ,
there are Judas's abounding now in our generation.
And the scripture says he he said, why
was not this ointment sold for 300 pence
and given to the poor?
And he said this not because he cared
for the poor, because he was a thief
and had the bag and bear what was
put therein.
So at this table, that this worship service
is a thief.
He's simply in this for what he can
get.
He's not in it for what he can
give.
He's not even moved by Mary's sacrifice.
He's not even seemingly moved by the fact
that a dead man who's brought back to
life is sitting next to him.
We have testimonies in this house of people
who are dead in sin, drug addicted, insane,
literally.
Without God, came to Christ and now you're
sitting, you're clothed, you're just as raised as
Lazarus was.
You're absolutely back alive again, but perhaps sitting
not too far from you in similar proximity
as somebody who's here.
And is not even interested in this testimony
that God has penned into your life, but
is only here for what he can get.
And covering up his greed with talk of
what he might one day do for the
poor.
But he really has no heart for the
poor.
It's all about financial gain.
And folks, let me tell you that this
gospel of using the name of Christ for
personal gain is a Judas gospel.
It is very rampant in the church of
Jesus Christ today.
Turn on Christian television and you will see
Judas preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And I make no apology for that statement.
It is an absolute fact.
Also at this table, there are true seekers.
Chapter 12 and verse 9 says many people
of the Jews, therefore, knew that he was
there.
And when they came, not only for Jesus'
sake, but they might see Lazarus also, who
he had raised from the dead.
You see, without doubt, the message of Lazarus
is that Jesus gave me life.
And there are honest seekers there.
Just as there might be in this house
tonight or the Education Annex.
Honest seekers of God.
You're looking for life.
You know that money doesn't satisfy.
You know that the fame and lust and
everything that this city says satisfies your soul
doesn't satisfy you.
That's why you're in the house tonight.
Honest seekers who are looking for reality.
And reality comes from the life that can
truly say, I used to be dead, but
now I am alive in God.
I used to think this way, but now
I think this way.
I used to be gripped by death and
unbelief, but Christ came.
I heard his voice.
He rolled away the stone.
And now the possibilities before me are unlimited.
If he can raise me from the dead,
think of what he can do in my
life while I live.
Think of where he can take me.
Think of what he can make me.
Think of how he might be glorified through
my life.
I was sharing with somebody earlier today, I
believe that the call, the cry in the
heart of the true Christian is, Father, glorify
yourself.
Just as Christ prayed, Oh God, glorify your
name in me.
I believe that's the cry of the true
Christian.
Jesus, you've saved me.
You've bought me with your blood.
You've raised me out of the death of
sin.
You've broken the chains of hell off of
my life.
Oh Jesus, be glorified in me.
Be glorified.
Be seen in me.
Be heard in me.
Touch through me.
Speak through me.
Walk through me.
Talk through me.
Oh God, I just give you my life
in its entirety, and I ask you, Lord,
to use it for your glory.
Use it for your glory.
God, speak through me.
God, don't let people go to hell on
my watch.
Don't let the people in my apartment building
die in their sin, because they haven't seen
you in me.
Jesus, be visible.
Be evident in my life.
But you see, when we pray this prayer
comes, a very, very strange trial can come
into your life.
Scripture says the chief priests were there as
well.
In verse 10, it says, But the chief
priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also
to death, because that by reason of him,
many of the Jews went away and believed
on Jesus.
Incredible.
This poor guy is just raised from the
dead, and all of a sudden people want
to kill him.
Has that been your testimony?
You've just been raised from the dead by
the power of God, and you're encountering this
murderous, especially this murderous religious spirit that hates
the life of Christ and comes against everything
in you that God is doing.
People who say they belong to God and
love him also.
They seem to want me dead, says Lazarus.
It seems they were happier when I was
in the grave.
When Teresa and I were young Christians and
I was so God touched in those first
years, I remember I went to a Christian
policeman's conference and cried for three days straight.
I never stopped crying for three days.
I could not stop weeping.
I was just so grateful for the touch
of God.
I was so awestruck that he loved me.
I was so dumbfounded at the possibility that
he could use my life.
I so wanted his touch on my life
and so wanted him to use me for
his glory and so believed that everybody that
spoke the name of Jesus was a Christian.
I remember coming back from this conference and
we had some friends who said, we're Christians
now.
Oh, I thought this is wonderful.
We're having a party and Christians are coming.
And I thought, this is great.
We get to go to a Christian party.
So Teresa and I headed off to a
Christian party.
And it turned out to be a whole
gathering of people who were there for other
reasons.
They claimed to be Christian, but they were
part of a multiple sales organization.
They were very concerned about dream circles and
money.
And I remember going into that and I
started speaking about what God was doing in
my life.
I was in the kitchen.
Teresa's in the living room.
The house is packed.
It's a fairly big house.
I started telling people what God was doing
in my life, only to find them getting
very annoyed with me.
They weren't concerned about resurrection life.
They were concerned about money.
They were concerned about selling me something.
I wasn't interested in buying anything.
I was talking about the life of Christ.
And they started talking about money and I
started telling them, no, that's not what it's
about at all.
1 Timothy 6, Paul says, the love of
money is the root of all evil.
Which, while some have coveted after, they have
erred from the faith and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows.
And I would go on and tell them.
And Paul said, but thou, O man of
God, flee these things and follow after righteousness
and true godliness.
And I began quoting the scripture and they
began getting very, very, very upset with me.
And I was quite surprised.
I thought these are supposed to be Christians.
And then I ended up telling them, I
don't think what you have is Christianity.
I'm just a young Christian.
But I don't think what you have is
Christianity.
The debate abated a little bit in the
kitchen, only to hear a whole bunch of
people yelling at my wife, Teresa, in the
living room.
And you see, this religious thing that they
were doing had its own priest.
They had a priest there.
He had all his clerical garb.
He was half drunk.
He was sitting in the living room.
And he was arguing with my wife.
Now, if you know Teresa, she's not really
one to back down from a confrontation.
I say that in a nice way.
And I could hear his voice raised in
anger.
She had the audacity to be talking about
this life in Christ to this group of
people that were gathered around dream circles and
money.
And I remember Teresa stopping.
And she got quiet in the living room.
And she looked this priest right in the
eye with a living room full of people
who are supposed to be Christians.
And she said, what is it about Jesus
Christ that offends you?
And it got very, very, very quiet.
And we realized that we were no longer
welcome at this Christian party.
John 15.
Jesus says it this way in verse 18.
He says that the world hate you.
You know that it hated me before it
hated you.
If you were of the world, the world
would love its own.
But because you are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hated you.
Remember the word that I said unto you,
the servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you.
If they have kept my saying, they will
keep yours also.
But these things will they do unto you
for my namesake, because they know not him
that sent me.
If I had not come, verse 22, and
spoken unto them, they had not had sin.
But now they have no cloak for their
sin.
You see, it's through you and me that
God will speak to a sin darkened generation.
It's through you and me that Christ will
write a story of life that he offers
to those who trust in him.
And people can be very content in religiousness
and sin that has a cloak of God
on it, because of some pretended charitable objective.
But the moment the true Christian walks in
and the life of Christ in them is
being manifested, they have no more cloak for
their sin.
And if you are a true Christian, if
you are walking in the life of Christ,
you don't have to look for trouble, trouble
will look for you.
You don't have to try to get into
difficult situations, they will find you.
The world cannot speak well of you because
the world hates Christ.
And the moment Christ is seen in you,
you will be brought into a spiritual confrontation
between light and darkness.
Not that you desire it to happen.
And many of you know this, you've come
to Christ, you're in your Bible, you love
God, you just want to go to work.
You just want to do your job.
And you find yourself in this strange trial.
You're not looking for a trial, you don't
want to be in a trial.
But Peter said, this is a reason for
you to rejoice.
If you find yourself in this strange trial,
it means God is speaking through you.
Christ is seen in you.
Because Christ is seen, those who have a
false religiousness or a false concept of safety
and assurance for the future, their cloak is
removed.
And the true anger that they feel against
God now begins to be manifested towards you.
Remember, he said, I have written upon you
who I really am.
Paul said everyone who will live godly in
Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
Everyone.
You simply can't escape it.
And back again in 1 Peter 4, verse
12, he said, Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing happened to
you.
But rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers of
Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding
joy.
If you be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are you for the spirit of
glory and of God rests upon you.
On their party is evil spoken of, but
on your party is glorified.
Actually, Jesus said it this way in Matthew
chapter 5.
Let me just read it to you.
I love this verse of Scripture because he
says, if you are persecuted, Matthew chapter 5
and verse 11, he said, Blessed are you
when men shall revile you and persecute you
and say all manner of evil against you
falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is
your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they
the prophets which were before you.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad.
Now, this is the command of Christ.
When people come against you and slander you
and say false things about you and accuse
you, become angry with you, as in the
case of Lazarus, they really desire your demise.
Whether it's that you just be, in a
sense, thrown out of your position at work.
They desire to extinguish your testimony because many
are believing or at least convicted because of
Christ in your life.
I spoke today to a former construction worker.
He told me, he said, on the job,
he said, I got saved and I just
wanted to walk honestly.
But the union I was working for was
paying everybody under the table.
And I couldn't be paid that way because
it wasn't honest.
And so I went to them and said,
you know, if you're going to pay me,
you have to give me a paycheck.
You have to have a stub with it.
You have to do it honestly.
And he said the incredible anger I faced
from some workers and from those in authority
saying, why do you have to cause so
much trouble here?
If it weren't for you, everything would be
fine.
The same worker found out one day that
the company he was working for had erroneously
overpaid him and other workers as well and
could not keep the money in his pocket
because he knew it wasn't right.
They had issued checks by mistake.
He went to the foreman, the leaders and
told them.
And the incredible ire rose up from others
who tried to pocket the money, even though
they knew that it wasn't earned or deserved.
And he said the constant barrage, the constant
verbal barrage that they brought against me made
me feel ashamed.
Now, isn't that interesting?
He said, I felt ashamed.
He said, because they made me feel like
I was doing wrong.
And that's exactly what the devil will try
to do.
He tried to take the lives of those
who are truly living for Christ and cast
this veil of shame on you.
As if because you're speaking truth and you're
not backbiting and you're wanting to do things
honestly and you're doing a decent day's work.
And everything else that comes along with living
for Christ, as if that's a shameful thing.
And somehow you are the source of discontent
in your office, your apartment building, wherever it
is that you work, or your family.
Somehow it's because of you.
If it wasn't for you, everything would be
fine.
No, the reality is Christ has written his
life in you.
And because of that, they have no more
cloak for their sin.
Because of that, there's conviction in their midst.
And the Christ that they will not bow
their knee to because he is seen in
you, they begin to hate the Christ in
you.
And Jesus said, when this happens, you are
to rejoice.
You are not to be made ashamed.
You are not to come under this blanket
of shame.
You are not to allow people to put
you down and make you feel like you're
substandard, you're a troublemaker.
No, you are living for God.
And he said, great is your reward in
heaven.
In the manner they are persecuting you, they
have persecuted the prophets who have come before
you.
Jesus is saying, I have raised up in
past generations godly men and women who have
stood and confronted the evil of their generation.
And those generations rose up against them.
And yes, some of them even died for
what they believed in.
But now they are with Christ in heavenly
places.
Now they are in a place of exceeding
glory.
Now they are assured that they are going
to rule and reign with him for all
of eternity.
And Jesus said, in the manner that they
have treated them, they are treating you, which
proves that I have written my life in
you.
If the world speaks well of you, there
is something wrong in your testimony.
If people who are corrupt financially see no
wrong in their action when you are in
their midst.
If people can tell dirty jokes in the
lunchroom and you are there snickering along with
the rest of them.
If there is no testimony of Christ in
you, if there is no conviction to an
ungodly world, something is wrong.
Jesus said, you are not to allow this
blanket of shame to be put by the
ungodly on you.
You are not to allow them to take
you.
See, it is all about heaven's perspective.
If our focus is all about the here
and now, then they will succeed.
If our focus is eternity, if we are
seeking things of heaven, if we are seeking
things where Christ sits in the right hand
of God, if we are looking to glorify
God in a fallen world, then our whole
perspective changes.
We walk in knowing that we will be
slandered, knowing that there will be some difficult
days.
Folks, I knew what this is all about.
When I was a police officer, I had
people who wouldn't work with me.
I had guys get right out of the
patrol car because I told them, I said,
you manhandle anybody, I'm not lying under oath
for you.
I won't cover up for you.
You do things by the book if you
work with me.
I had guys get out of the car,
walk into the station house and tell some
lies to the supervisors.
I don't even know to this day what
they said.
I just know the supervisors told them they
didn't have to work with me, and the
next guy would come out and sit down
in the car.
But I would hold to the standard that
I believed of truth that God was calling
me to live under.
I would tell every man I worked with,
I said, you've already heard things about me,
and they'd all, yeah, sure have.
I'd tell them, I'm going to tell you
one time what I believe.
It's going to take me 15 minutes if
you want to hear it, and I'll never
speak to you about it again.
Never, unless you ask me.
Because they're in the driver's seat, they'd say,
okay, tell me.
I'd tell them the whole story, how I
came to Christ, the whole thing.
And at the end, it would be over,
but they couldn't lay it down.
Isn't it amazing?
Day after day, it would be as if
the conversation never ended.
That part you said about, and what about
this part, and what about that part?
And I was able to lead quite a
few policemen to Christ by standing for truth.
I faced tremendous opposition.
I remember one of my commanders coming into
the office where I was working because a
mini revival broke out.
They stuck me way in the back department
to try to get me away from the
other.
I was a very vocal Christian.
They stuck me way in the back with
seven or eight other guys.
I forget how many it was in this
kind of remote department.
And within a few months, there was, when
I went in, there was, I think, for
sake of numbers, let's say there's eight of
us.
There's me, a Christian.
There's the seven other guys.
Within a few months, there were seven born
again, filled with the Holy Ghost Christians in
that department.
My supervisor came in, pointed at me.
He said, you are finished.
Your career is finished.
You're out of here.
We're going to get you, basically.
The Bible says you're not to allow them
to put that shame on you.
I'm standing for Christ.
I've done nothing wrong.
I worked twice as hard as everybody else.
I made a point of them never being
able to point to my work and say
it was insufficient.
I obeyed orders.
When I was told to do something, I
did it.
I worked very hard.
They could never fault me in what I
was doing.
And then one day, a huge scandal hit
the police department.
I don't want to tell you what it
was, but it was a huge scandal.
It went in the papers.
It was all over the place.
And the whole department was being dragged through
the mud.
And the police chief said, we need somebody
to represent us who's clean.
I'll never forget my supervisor calling me.
He looked like he wanted to throw up
on his desk.
He said, we know that your life is
clean.
Isn't that amazing?
God will turn it all around.
He said, we need somebody that can work
unsupervised.
We need somebody to represent us in the
public.
I knew exactly why.
The whole department was being dragged through the
mud.
I told them, I walked into this one
office and guys were doing everything but hiding
under their desks.
They said, this is going to be awful.
We're going to lose our families and everything.
I told them, I said, guys, if you
lived right for God, you wouldn't have to
live in this kind of fear.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad wasn't always easy.
But it's better to obey God.
You remember when they arrested Peter and others
and they threatened them and they said it's
better to obey God than man.
So they beat them and then sent them
out.
And the Bible says they just rejoiced in
the fact that they were counted worthy to
suffer shame for his namesake.
Counted worthy to suffer shame.
Rejoice.
It's a different way of thinking.
Now, let's finish this in first Peter, chapter
four and verse 19.
Well, verse 16 says, if any man suffers
as a Christian.
Let him not be ashamed.
But let him glorify God on this behalf
of that means because of this.
If you are suffering as a Christian, do
not be ashamed.
It means the spirit of glory and God
is resting on you.
Do not be ashamed.
Do not let the shame of this world
sit upon you.
Do not be bowed down and coward from
living for Jesus Christ.
And standing, yes, not in an obnoxious way,
but standing in the love of God and
for the truth of God.
Caring for the souls of men enough to
stand up and be counted among those who
are the bride of Jesus Christ.
In verse 19 says, wherefore, let them that
suffer according to the will of God.
Commit the keeping of their souls to him
and well doing.
As unto a faithful creator.
If you are suffering tonight, God's word tells
you.
Commit the keeping of your soul to him.
Which means, God, I'm not able to do
this.
But you are able to do it for
me and through me.
I'm sort of like Lazarus in this.
I'm in the grave and I have so
little power.
But God, I'm hearing your word tonight.
And you will give me the strength to
stand unashamed.
Unashamed before a fallen generation.
Unashamed of the God who loved them enough
to die for them.
Unashamed of the God who instead of writing
off a whole world of sinners has written
his testimony in my life.
Unashamed of those who in their own ignorance
are opposing their own salvation.
Unashamed of the fact that the spirit of
God and the glory of Christ rests on
my life.
Unashamed.
This was the marked testimony of those of
the first church in the book of Acts.
They were unashamed.
They would stand tall like the apostle Paul
even in chains before kings.
And they could be bound in a sense
in their physical body by those in authority.
But they were unashamed of the Christ who
had embraced them and whom they had embraced.
It's time for a church age to rise
up that is unashamed of the testimony of
Jesus Christ.
Unashamed to speak the truth.
Unashamed to do what is right.
Unashamed to make a declaration.
I'm saved.
I'm going to heaven.
Unashamed to say I'm changing day to day.
God is doing the miraculous by his life
within me.
Unashamed to declare that the Bible is the
truth.
It's the word of God.
Unashamed.
If you're suffering for the testimony of Christ,
the scripture says to commit your soul to
God and trust him for the power to
keep on doing good.
The Holy Spirit told me today especially as
I was praying about this message tonight that
he was going to lift the veil of
shame off of many.
You've been made to feel bad because you're
a Christian.
You've been made to feel bad in your
own family some of you.
As if there's something wrong with you.
Because you have eternal life now.
Because you've been raised from the dead.
Because you sit at the table with Jesus.
Because you're willing to give your all for
the cause of Christ.
That somehow there's something wrong with you.
Would you stand please.
If this is speaking to your heart, education
annex, balcony, main sanctuary.
If you've been pressed down.
You're hurting.
You want the veil of shame off of
your life.
Come meet me here.
We're going to pray together.
I'm going to believe God to take this
thing off of you.
You're going to go into the workplace.
You're going to go into your family, your
neighborhood.
And you're not going to be ashamed of
the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And it's a step of faith you're taking.
You're committing your soul to the keeping power
of God.
Unashamed.
Students that are here, don't be ashamed.
Higher learning without God is simply ignorance in
another form.
Don't be ashamed of the fact that you're
a Christian.
Construction workers, don't be ashamed that you're a
Christian.
Stand up for God.
Actually, better way to put that, let God
stand up in you.
Give him the keeping of your soul.
Young people that have come to Christ and
you live in a drug infested neighborhood perhaps.
You don't have to be ashamed.
You're not substandard because you're a Christian.
The spirit of God and the glory of
God are resting on you.
You don't have to be ashamed.
Hallelujah.
Now, Father, I thank you, God, with all
my heart.
Lord, this is a spiritual transaction.
You told me that you were going to
lift this veil of shame.
You're going to take these thoughts that the
enemy has tried to superimpose on the testimony
of Christ.
On so many of these lives.
And you're going to remove them sovereignly in
a moment of time.
God, you're just going to brush them away
with your presence.
Lord, we ask you tonight for joy.
I ask you, almighty God, for the release
of joy in these lives that are counted
worthy to suffer shame for the name of
Jesus Christ.
Counted worthy.
Counted by God worthy.
Lord, you look down upon these and you
said, here's a worthy vessel.
Here's a vessel in which I can write
my name.
Here's a vessel in which I can inscribe
a testimony of my life.
Counted worthy to suffer shame.
Oh, God, we thank you from the depths
of our heart.
We praise you, God.
Not only for the good times, but for
the hard times.
Not only when we're listened to, but when
we're ignored and slandered.
Jesus, thank you that you promised to bring
everyone who trusts in you through the water
and through the fire and through the flood.
It's always been the testimony of your people.
The world will cast the Daniels into the
lion den, but you will keep us alive.
You will shut the mouth of the lion,
oh God.
You will keep us alive in you, oh
God.
You'll not let the world close its mouth
upon us.
You'll not let death, oh God, devour us.
My God, we thank you that you're establishing
in your church a testimony.
In our generation, in where we live, in
our workplace and in our homes.
And in our families, a testimony of your
grace and your glory.
God, thank you from the depths of our
heart.
We give you praise and glory tonight.
We thank you, Lord, from the very depths
of our hearts.
We give you praise.
We thank you, God.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, mighty God.
We bless your name, oh God.
We bless your name that we are counted
worthy to suffer shame.
Worthy, oh God.
Worthy, Lord Jesus.
Hallelujah.
Lord God, pray with me tonight.
Lord Jesus, into your hands I commit my
soul.
Keep me, God.
Keep the testimony that you have written in
my life and in my heart.
Protect me from those who want to take
my life, to take away from me the
testimony of my new life in Jesus Christ.
I'm not the one who should be ashamed.
They should be ashamed of their rejection of
God, their spiritual ignorance and their darkness.
Oh God, I pray you give me a
tender heart and a loving heart for every
person who opposes their own salvation by denying
the Christ that is in me.
Jesus, cause me to stand and cause me
to love them.
Love them through me.
Speak to them through me.
Bless them through me.
God, let my life be a testimony set
upon a hill that all who come into
the room may see the light and life
of Jesus Christ.
I commit my life to this.
And you commit yourself, Lord, to keeping me
until the day that you take me home
to live with you forever.
Until that day, I'm going to obey you
and I'm going to rejoice.
I'm going to rejoice.
Hallelujah.