The theme is for these few days, maintaining
the connection.
In other words, how do we live with
our Lord 24 hours a day, 60 minutes
the hour?
How can I be, you know we have
a word that we stress and overstress now,
an authentic disciple of Jesus.
I believe one of the greatest traps that
we have fallen into in our Christian world,
at least in the Western world, I can
say so, that we have separated our spiritual
life from our so called normal life.
In other words, you see, right at the
moment, I mean we sing great songs and
we listen to the word of God and
so on, so we are spiritual.
But on Monday morning, when I'm in my
office, or on Saturday when I play hockey
or go skiing, then I'm normal.
And we kind of have separated those two
things, and very often our everyday life, very
little of the life of Christ is mirrored,
because we have separated it.
One guest now is ski camp.
We have ski camps in winter at our
place.
I have 10 ski instructor working, and they
all know the Lord Jesus, and so we
have Bible studies in the evening.
But during the day, they share Christ on
the slope.
Just tell people about Jesus while they ski
together.
And about two years ago, I was going
up on a lift with a guest, and
I told him about Jesus, what it means
for me to live with him.
And he said to me, you have an
interesting technique here at Townhof.
You don't only present Jesus from the pulpit,
you speak about Jesus on the slope.
Now for this man, it was a technique
to do that.
Well, I could tell him that my life
is not a technique, but Jesus is simply
my life.
And whether I stand on the pulpit, or
whether I ski, we have a freedom to
speak about him.
Now, if we want to maintain the connection,
we need to learn to live with him
throughout the day, throughout the month.
And this is what it will all be
about.
Now, I want to start this evening, which
is a good thing, about what the Lord
Jesus said, how to maintain the connection.
In John 12, 25, Jesus says this.
He says, The man who loves his life,
he will lose it.
While the man who hates his life in
this world, will keep it for eternal life.
And in Matthew 10, 39, Jesus says, whoever
finds his life, he will lose it.
And whoever loses his life for my sake,
he will find it.
Now, before we talk, these next days, the
theme will be, how can we hear the
voice of God?
And how do I differentiate between God's voice
and my subconscious?
We will also speak about, how do I
pray without ceasing?
This will be the theme.
But before we do so, I want to
spend tonight on the question, have we lost
our lives?
Have we died to ourselves, or am I
still in control of my own life?
The Apostle Paul said this.
He said in Romans 6, 6, For we
know that our old life is crucified.
Now, I'm crucified.
You see, we talk a lot about Christ
crucified on the cross, and we should.
But sometimes we hear little about the fact
that I'm crucified with Christ.
It says in Colossians 3, For you died,
and your life is now hidden with Christ.
So, I'm crucified, and I died.
In Romans 6, verse 4, he says, We
are buried.
We are crucified, we died, and we are
buried.
That's what the Apostle Paul says.
Now, theologically, we may all agree with these
statements, but to be very honest, they were
not helpful to me, because I didn't have
a clue.
What does that mean?
How can I live a crucified, died, buried
life?
Now, this is why I want this hour,
I want to be very practical, and I
must say, I'm sorry about that, because it
may be too practical for some of us,
to see whether we have died and surrendered
to Christ, or whether I still hold on
to my old life.
It's something that I try to remind myself
daily.
There are certain types of rights that we
Christians very often claim.
Now, one right that we claim is, and
this will show you whether you died to
yourself or not.
One right we claim is self-governance.
We believe, and I even heard messages in
churches, that we have the right to live
an autonomous life.
Autonomous comes from the Greek word, which is
auto.
You know, we say auto to a car
in Europe, and nomos is the law.
In other words, I am my own law.
I have the right to live the way
I want to live, to reach my personal
goals.
Well, the question is this, one question I
have to ask, where does it state that
we have such a right?
Who gave us that right?
And we'll find out, it's nowhere written.
We only take it, but nobody gave it
to us.
We also believe that we have a right
for relationships.
I have a right to have a husband.
I have a right for sexual fulfillment.
I have a right to be liked, and
to have relationships.
Well, I want to say I have a
great privilege to have a wife.
I have a great privilege to have relationships.
But you see, if I come home now
in a few days, and for some reason
my wife, Hannelore, is killed in a car
accident or whatever, it will be very hard.
But you know what?
God has not violated any rights.
It's a great privilege, but it's not a
right to hold on to.
We also believe that we have a right
for freedom.
We have a right to go where I
want to go, to do what I want
to do, and there you make me things
do that I don't want to do.
I have a right to get angry, because
you violated the right for me to be
free.
By the way, do you notice that relationships
and freedoms are mutually exclusive?
If you want to be free, don't enter
into relationships, and if you want a relationship,
forget freedom.
That's true.
Once you're married, you can't just go where
you want to go.
But you see, the thing is, we believe
that we can have both.
We also believe we have a right for
possessions.
I have a right for a 100 square
meter apartment.
I have a right for my house, for
my car.
You see, very often the material things are
only an extension of ourselves.
Germans and Austrians are terrible, the men, when
it comes to cars.
You see, I don't know how it is
here, but cars very often are nothing else
but the extension of their own personality.
You see, if your wife steps out the
car and it's icy, and she steps out
and breaks the leg, that's not bad, but
while she falls down, she scratches your car,
that's bad.
You see, and then you hear those things,
you know, I have worked for this, I
have earned every single dollar.
Well, let me tell you, this is wrong.
You and I, we have not earned one
single dollar on our own.
It's an interesting verse in Deuteronomy chapter 8.
It says this, it's in verse 17, you
may say to yourself, my power and the
strength of my hand have produced this wealth
for me, but remember the Lord your God,
for it is He who gives you the
ability to produce wealth.
Who has made your hands?
Yourself.
Who has given you an eye?
Who has given you a mind to think?
It's all a gift of God.
We also believe that we have a right
for physical health.
I have a right to be energetic, beautiful,
and dynamic.
I have a right to have healthy children,
and if I don't get healthy children, I
have a right to be angry to God
and bitter for the rest of my life.
Of course, out of this thinking comes the
health, wealth, and prosperity movement, but I want
you to know that God is far more
concerned about our righteousness than He's about our
wellness, but we believe we have a right
for that.
We also believe we have a right for
mental and emotional health.
That's a big one.
This is why the counseling rooms are full,
because my upbringing hindered me to develop my
gift to become the personality that I could
be, but my parents, my friends, my sisters,
my boss, they are guilty for what I
am today, and this is why I have
a right to be angry towards them.
And then you hear, I was not loved,
I was mistreated, I was misused.
That's why I have a complex.
Now, of course, it is totally true that
you and I are a result of our
past.
There's no question about that, but if we
claim it as a right, the problem is
we may never move on, and we will
remain angry and bitter until we're in the
grave.
By the way, this is very subtle.
As soon as you and I, when we
start mistrusting God—now, I want to be practical.
I met lots of girls, women, 21 and
still not married, and now they get really
uptight, and I say, do you believe that
God is able to bring you the right
husband at the right time?
Is He able to do that?
They would say, yes, but then they have
one friendship that doesn't work, and you know
what they do?
They start mistrusting God, and they take it
into their own hands.
And this is when we start living a
life independent and separate from God.
We also believe that we have a right
for comfort and convenience.
We have a right for the right room
temperature.
Now, just look.
We have two secretaries at my place, but
it's interesting.
One opens the window, the next one closes
it, you know, and then after the second
time you can feel the tension, because we
all believe we have a right for the
right room temperature.
If I don't get it, I have a
right to be angry.
I have a right to worship the way
I feel good about it, and if this
church doesn't give me that, I start my
own.
Now, you see, it may be a great
privilege if your needs are met, but I
want to tell you something.
If they are not met, as far as
this is concerned, nobody has violated any rights.
We also believe that we have a right
for recognition.
That's a big one among Christians.
This is the typical that you hear, nobody
even thanked me.
You know, I work just as hard, and
my name is not in the bulletin.
You see, some Christians, when they do something
good, even the trees are supposed to clap
their hands, because we believe we have a
right to be recognized.
Now, again, it is a great privilege to
be recognized, and brothers and sisters, we should
always recognize other people, but if we don't
get it, nobody violated any rights.
You can relax.
We also believe that we have a right
for understanding, and you know, among Christians, we
believe we have a right to be understood
without communicating our problem.
I know some people that were at town
hall, and I would not be surprised if
this is in this church as well.
You meet them later, and they say, I
was a week at town hall, but nobody
understood me there.
And I say, well, did you communicate what
your problem is?
No, but nobody understood me.
You see, this is like you break your
leg, and you wait in your room until
the doctor shows up one day.
We don't do that, but you know, if
you're a pastor, you're supposed to smell the
problems, and if he doesn't, he's a bad
pastor.
You see, sometimes I come home from a
long day, and you know, I expect my
wife to recognize what I do.
So, I come in tired, and I sit
down, but you know what?
She doesn't even ask me about anything, and
I get angry, and I withdraw, because I
have a right to be understood.
It comes all from that.
We also believe that we have a right
for justice.
We think that we have a right to
be treated just and fair all the time.
I want to say just one thing to
that.
If you believe that you must always be
treated right and fair, you will live a
miserable life for the rest of your days,
because you will encounter things every single day
that are not fair and are not right.
But I want to tell you, relax, because
nobody gave us a right to be always
treated fair and justly.
Now, I say again, we should always treat
people just.
That should be our intention.
But if we don't receive it for some
time, it is okay.
We also believe we have a right for
safety and security.
We think, especially in our Western world, we
have a right to be always safe and
secure.
And if I walk through the town, and
I fall over the pedestrian thing, I sue
the city council, because I shouldn't put it
there.
And this is a problem.
I heard something the other day, which was
very eye-opening for me.
The reason why we have stress today in
our Western world is this.
We believe that everything...
See, when I drove here, I expected that
the plane is on time.
I expected that somebody picks me up at
the airport.
I expected to have a bed and a
warm shower.
And you know what?
This is what we all expect.
Everything should work 100%.
And if it doesn't, we get angry and
uptight.
But you know what?
This is unhealthy.
If you go to a third world country,
I haven't been much.
I've been a couple of times in Rio
de Janeiro, where we support a work with
street children in the favelas and the slums.
When I go there, I don't expect anything
to work.
And when 20% work, I'm very happy.
If you come to a country like Canada
or Austria, you expect everything to work.
And if 10% doesn't work, you and
I are angry.
You see, something is wrong.
It's a wrong perfectionism that we have.
We also believe that we have a right
for adventure.
I have a right for an exciting life,
for an adventurous life.
That's why the 45-year-old man takes
off with a 25-year-old girl, because
he has a right to experience something.
By the way, do you notice again that
safety and adventure don't go together?
If you want an adventurous life, don't ask
for safety.
And if you want safety, don't ask for
adventures.
And at last, we also believe that we
have a right for life itself.
We believe we have a right to have
a spouse, that we get 80 years old,
that we die together.
We have a right that we see our
children growing up and be at their wedding.
Well, if that is so, it's a great
privilege.
But again, if I come home, and one
of my children that I love dearly, for
some reason, went home to be with the
Lord earlier than I expected, I have no
right to be angry, because God gave them
to me as a gift, but they are
His.
And He didn't violate any rights.
I don't believe in untimely death, by the
way.
Death is always timely.
Now, having said this, what is the biblical
view on our rights as Christians?
The first thing, I'd like you to throw
it up on the wall, if you have
it, on the beamer, because I gave it
to him 10 minutes before the sermon, because
I believe I have a right that it
works, you know.
But the first thing is, all our rights
have been bought out at the cross.
It says in Romans chapter 14, verse 7,
I just read it to you.
Romans chapter 14, and verse 7, Paul says
this, For none of us lives to himself
alone, and none of us dies to himself
alone.
If we live, we live to the Lord,
and if we die, we die to the
Lord.
So, whether we live or die, we belong
to the Lord.
Our rights have been bought, because we belong
to Him.
You don't belong to yourself, it says in
1 Corinthians 6, you are bought at a
price.
Secondly, all our rights are abundant in discipleship.
The Lord Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10,
and verse 37, He says, Anyone who loves
his father or mother more than Me is
not worthy of Me.
Anyone who loves his son or daughter more
than Me is not worthy of Me.
And anyone who does not take his cross
and follow Me is not worthy of Me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and
whoever loses his life for My sake, he
will find it.
And in Luke 14, Jesus puts it even
stronger when He says in Luke 14 and
verse 26, If anyone comes to Me and
does not hate his father and mother, his
wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes,
even his own life, he cannot be My
disciple.
By the way, when it says here that
we're supposed to hate father, mother, wife, children,
it's always important for the exegesis, never explain
an easy passage with a difficult one.
Always explain a difficult with an easy one.
What is the general Bible teaching?
It's always that we should love our parents,
that we should honor father and mother.
Well, if this is so, what can this
mean?
What it simply means is this, that our
love for the Lord should be so great
that our love for our father and mother
and wife and children compared seems like hate.
That's all it means.
That's what Jesus says, Your rights are abundant
if you follow Me.
Now, you may say, until now, that doesn't
look very good, does it?
Well, let's come to point three.
All our rights, once we yield them to
God, will bring forth a blessing.
Now, a great story for that is Abraham
and Isaac.
Abraham, I think, was 75 years old when
God told him, Abraham, you will have descendants
as numerous as the stars in the sky,
the sand and the seashore.
Now, Abraham was 110 or whatever.
He had one son from his own wife,
Sarah, and now God told him, I want
you to kill your only son.
Now, if one man in all history had
a right to have one child, it was
Abraham, because God promised him so.
But you know what Abraham did?
He took his right, he put it away,
and he gave it to God.
He went to Mount Moriah, and you know
what the consequence was of that?
God gave it back to him as a
blessing, and you and I today, we are
Abraham's children.
And he truly has descendants, millions and millions,
because he gave up his right.
Another beautiful example, of course, is the Apostle
Paul.
In Philippians 3, if you want to turn
there, Paul points out all his rights that
he has, and he had lots of them.
I don't have any of those that he
had.
This is why he said, in Philippians 3,
he says, in verse 4, he says, I
myself, I have reason for confidence.
If anyone else thinks that he has reason
to put confidence in himself, I have more.
And now Paul is telling us all the
rights that he has.
He says, I am circumcised on the eighth
day, of the people of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in
regards to law, a Pharisee, as for persecuting
the church, as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
You know what he says then?
He says, you know what I do with
all those rights?
But whatever was to my prophet, I now
consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss,
compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
lost all things, and I consider them rubbish,
that I may gain Christ.
Paul gave up all his rights.
He said, all my rights, they're all rubbish.
Here you have them all, God.
And what did God do?
You and I, we are blessed this evening,
because of his letter that he wrote 2
,000 years ago.
I love Peter.
Peter, in Matthew 19, he came to the
Lord Jesus and said, Jesus, we have given
up everything.
Now what do we get for that?
I like that.
You know, he's great.
And Jesus took it, as he said it.
And he said, you know what, Peter?
Everyone who leaves, who gives up all his
rights, will receive a hundredfold in this life,
an eternal life in addition to that.
Now, how must you and I, how shall
we deal with our rights?
The first point I want to say, and
this is very personal, can only be done
between you and the Lord himself.
The first point is this, identify the rights
that you have violated.
I call this the inner turbulence.
Just sit down and say, Lord Jesus, I
want you to show me which rights I
still claim to what I'm still holding on
to.
And you don't need to exercise introspection.
The Holy Spirit will take you by your
word, and they will be right in front
of your eyes, those areas that you still
hold on to.
And by the way, don't be surprised if
that is painful.
It usually does not go without tears, because
it's not a nice experience when God reveals
all the things that we actually claim and
cling on to.
Be honest with yourself, don't kid yourself.
And the Holy Spirit will show you clearly
the rights that you violated.
I really encourage you, don't avoid the process
of being wounded.
It's a wound.
It says in Hosea 6 verse 1, it
says, come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces, but he
will heal us.
He has injured us, but he will bind
up our wounds.
So the first thing we need to do
is identify those areas that we hold on
to.
Write them down on a piece of paper.
Second point, transfer all those rights over to
God.
I call it the prayer of surrender.
And that is a hard thing to do.
You know, thinking about, I want to get
married, but God, maybe he has something else.
Well, God, here you have it.
I want to have this career, but maybe
God, you have something totally different in mind.
Here you have it.
You know what that means?
To let go of all the securities that
we have, and then free fall into the
hands of God.
And you have nothing left.
Nothing.
And that is very scary.
One thing we do in Upward Bound, we
have a summer program at our place.
It's a six-week Bible school, but we
mainly do it up in the mountains.
And one thing we do among many is
rappelling, or up-sailing, as some call it.
And I explain to the students, this is
a climbing rope, and this rope holds 2
,500 kilograms.
Do you believe that?
They say, yes, we believe.
And they really believe.
They don't pretend.
They don't have little faith.
They are real believers.
So the next day, I walk up the
mountain with 60 believers, because they're all believers.
You see, if you believe something, you're a
believer.
And then we stand on the mountaintop, and
then, you know, there is a big hook
and so on, and a wall, a steep
wall, a vertical wall, or overhang, doesn't matter.
And it's maybe quite high, 40, 50 meters.
Just make sure it's not higher than the
rope is long, otherwise you have a problem.
But otherwise, it doesn't matter.
And so they stand there, and I say,
so you hook yourself in, jump down, and
enjoy your ride.
And it's very surprising, but they don't.
They stand there, you know, with the rope
and say, well, why don't you just fall
down?
I can't.
I say, how much does the rope hold?
2,500 kilograms.
How many kilograms do you have?
60.
Would it hold you?
Yes.
Fall back?
No.
And it's interesting, they try to find things
to hold on to, rocks and grass and
my hair sometimes.
And then, because I have a right that
nobody touches my hair, I get angry, and
I throw him down.
And then he's hanging there, and he says,
it really holds.
And he's totally surprised that he's not dead.
He believed it holds 2,500 kilograms.
But you know what?
He could not let go of his securities.
Another thing is this.
As long as you hold on to other
things, and you don't fall in, you never
enjoy rappelling.
It's the last thing you would do again.
Once you really do it, it's so much
fun.
Then you really enjoy it.
And they come running up again, and want
to do it again.
But it's hard to give up all the
grass, all the rocks that we hold on
to, and just fall back.
It's something I tell quite frequently, but it's
really, I only experienced that once in my
life, as I walked with my Lord.
I usually try to take a day or
two out every year, which is not very,
you know, great, just to walk with Jesus.
I just take the Bible, and I walk
through the woods, the mountains, whatever.
I wasn't successful last year, by the way,
so I try this year again.
But in 92, I wrote it down here,
that's why I remember, but in 92, I
had one of those prayer walks.
And it was, I think, only two times
I heard God that clearly in my whole
life.
And as I walked along, and prayed with
God, He asked me a couple of questions.
And the first question He asked, He said,
Hans Peter, I know you love your country,
you love Austria, the mountains, but do you
mind, I really want to use you tomorrow
in Africa, or China, or wherever.
Is that okay with you?
And it was so real, I knew if
I say yes, I'm in China tomorrow.
And so, I kept on walking, and I
thought about backing up all the stuff that
we have, shipping it over.
But I came to the point where I
said, Lord, if China is the only place
you can use me, it's okay, let's go.
He asked me a second question.
He said, Hans Peter, I also know that
you love your wife, Anne-Laure, and your
children back then.
We had two children, Lucas and Lisa.
He said, but you know what, Hans Peter,
I would really like to use you as
a single man from tomorrow on.
Is it okay if your wife, your kids,
have an accident tonight, and I take them
home to be with me?
Because I'd like you to serve me as
a single man.
It was very hard, because I knew if
I say yes, I come home and my
house is empty.
And it's under tears, I said, Lord, it's
the last thing I want.
It's the last thing that I would wish
for my life.
But I came to the point where I
said, Lord, if this is the only way
you can use me, it's okay.
He asked me a third question.
He said, Hans Peter, I also know that
you like sports.
You're thankful for your body that I've given
you.
But I really would love to use you
in a wheelchair from tomorrow on.
He said, okay, with you.
It was very hard, because I knew if
I say yes, I'm in a wheelchair tomorrow.
And I have a couple of friends, actually
I talked with, I think Ingeborg it was
this morning, sitting in a wheelchair since many
years.
And so I know a little bit what
it involves.
And I said, God, it's the last thing
that I would ever want, that I ever
thought of my life.
But I finally came to the point where
I said, Lord, if there is no other
way for me in your kingdom, it's okay.
Then he asked me one last question.
He said, Hans Peter, what about, is it
okay if I take myself, the Lord Jesus,
out of your life?
And I'll never forget it, because it was
a physical pain, as if my heart is
tearing apart.
And I said, Lord, you can take away
everything.
But you cannot take away yourself, because you
are my life.
It was the hardest prayer in my life.
But you know what I experienced after that
prayer?
Total freedom, as I never did it before.
Because after the prayer, I knew one thing,
the world or God can take away from
me my country, my career, my family, my
health, even my physical life.
But they cannot take away my life.
And for the first time in my life,
I understood Philippians 1.21, where Paul said,
My life, that is Christ, and to die
is gain.
And this is what it means transferring our
rights over to God.
And then the third thing, first, identify your
rights.
Secondly, give them over to God.
And thirdly, purpose to thank God, whatever the
outcome of that decision will be.
So many people said to me, Hans Peter,
I will try it.
I said, Please don't try it.
Why don't you do it?
Because if people say, I tried, that means
they will never do it.
The Lord Jesus, 2000 years ago, when he
became a man, he gave up all his
legitimate rights that he had as a son
of God.
He surrendered his will to the Father.
He gave up his godly attributes.
He became the lowest of men.
And by doing so, saved the world.
That's why it says in Philippians 2.9,
Therefore, because he gave up all his rights,
God exalted him to the highest place.
And every knee should bow before him, and
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord.
And I want to tell you, if you
and I, if we are willing to surrender
our illegitimate rights, because there are no real
rights, but if we surrender them to God,
God will give you one right which you
can truly claim.
And that is this, John 1.12, To
all who received him, to those who believed
in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God.
Children born not of natural descent, nor of
human decision, nor of a husband's will, but
born of God.
And friends, this is a right we have
been given.
This is a right I can claim every
day, because God gave it to me.
That's written.
And God will never disown himself.
He will remain faithful to his promises.
I want to encourage you and me.
Why don't we pray and ask God to
show us our hidden sins, as we read
in Psalm 19.
Show me my hidden faults.
And the Holy Spirit will show them.
Write them down, the rights that we violated.
Be prepared that it hurts.
And then take those rights and hand them
over to God.
And then thank him for being his child.
And let's give him the right, whatever the
outcome will be of that decision.
Before I stop in prayer, I want to
say one last thing.
Perhaps some of you in here say, well,
I believe what we heard tonight is certainly
true, but I'm not ready for it.
I can't do that.
I'm not ready.
I want to encourage you.
God is patient.
He doesn't put anybody under pressure, because he's
a gentleman.
And God can wait.
Don't feel like God is pressing you into
something.
But I want to assure you, he will
never misuse you.
Actually, God is the only one who will
never misuse anyone.
Only people do that.
He never will.
And please also remember, he is ready.
Anytime.
Go to him and let him be your
all in all, as we sing in a
song.