In the name of
the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Wow, he is a living man, we will
serve him, wow, he
is a living man, wow, he is a
living man, we will serve him, we don't
want to be seated
in the name of Jesus in this place.
Let us welcome our Lord and King.
You are worthy of praise.
The servant of God, Gary Wilkerson.
We can welcome him.
It is a real privilege for me to
welcome the servant of God, the blessed God.
Many of you in this room are pastors,
and on a regular basis you share with
your congregation the Lord's Supper.
You take the cup and the bread, you
pray over it and you present it to
your congregation.
You partake of it yourself.
It is one of the most precious times
in the body of Christ.
Don't you understand that there's a real sense
of the presence of God when we have
communion?
There's very few times where I've shared in
the Lord's Supper without first knowing and feeling
God's presence.
We are always so thankful for what He's
done for us.
And Paul says this, in verse 24, when
he'd given thanks, he broke it and said,
Take, eat, this is my body which is
broken for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
And in the same manner, he also took
the cup after supper, saying, This cup is
the new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it
in remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's
death until He comes.
Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this
cup in the Lord in an unworthy manner
will be guilty of the body and the
blood of the Lord.
But let him examine himself, and so let
him eat of the bread and drink of
the cup.
For he who eats and drinks in an
unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself,
not discerning the Lord's body.
For this reason many are weak and sick
among you, and many sleep.
Now as Paul is teaching the church about
the Lord's table, it's in the context of
many chapters in this book.
He is speaking here about the body of
Christ.
He's speaking about the believers coming together.
He's talking about the unity that's in Christ
Jesus.
You don't have to turn there, but in
chapter 10, verse 17, it says, For we,
though many, are one bread and one body.
We all partake of that one bread.
When he's speaking of this body and this
bread and this cup, he's not thinking just
exclusively of the man Christ Jesus, but he's
thinking of all of us together coming into
communion with Christ.
So as you study these passages, chapter 10,
chapter 11, chapter 12, chapter 13, it's basically
one subject he's talking about, and it's the
body of Christ and how we function together.
It's the church of Jesus Christ, which the
Father loves so much, and how that body
functions together.
And Jesus begins to speak here about the
cup, and he says, This cup is the
new covenant.
Now I've done a lot of study on
what the new covenant is.
I've done a lot of study on the
new covenant.
And there's much theological doctrine about the new
covenant.
There are many schools of thought.
Some say the covenant means this.
Others say, No, it doesn't mean that, it
means this.
There are whole denominations based on certain aspects
of the new covenant.
There are various issues wrapped around the theme
of the new covenant, and it can get
very complicated at times, but Jesus makes it
very clear, it's not just a theology.
It's not just a doctrine.
It's not just a denominational issue.
It's not just for scholars.
What he does with his best friends and
his brothers is takes a cup in his
hand, and he looks at that cup, and
he tells his friends, It's not a theological
issue.
It's not just a doctrine.
It's not just a dead doctrine.
This cup is life.
This is my covenant.
It's right here in this blood.
It's the blood of Christ.
It represents life.
It's not just theology.
It's not all that complicated.
It's life.
Jesus says, Look at this cup.
You want to know what the new covenant
is all about?
You'll find it right here in this small
cup.
It's the blood of Jesus Christ.
There is power in the blood of Jesus.
There is cleansing in the blood of Jesus.
There is sanctification in the blood of Jesus.
There is peace in the blood of Jesus.
There is healing in the blood of Jesus.
When Jesus holds this cup up to his
brothers, he says, This is the centerpiece.
This is what it's all about.
This is my covenant with you.
This is my love for you.
This is what makes peace with God.
This is the greatest power on the earth.
My covenant with you.
Now, every time we take communion in church,
we come to a very dangerous moment.
I grew up in church.
Well, not literally.
I didn't really grow up in the church.
I grew up at home, but I attended
church a lot.
We were in church so much, it felt
like I grew up in church.
And every so often, our pastor would present
to us the Lord's table, the communion.
And I thought it was such a wonderful
time, except for a couple of things.
He began to speak about drinking this cup
or eating this bread in an unworthy manner.
He says we should examine ourselves.
And then he used these very strange words
that really scared me.
It says if you do this the wrong
way, if you don't examine yourself, if there's
sin in your life, it says here, if
you don't examine yourself, because of this, many
of you are weak, many of you are
sick, and many of you sleep.
Some translations say many of you are dead,
others say sleep.
Now, for a little 10-year-old boy,
that's a scary thing.
I said, wow, this communion thing is really
serious.
I better really examine my heart.
And they would start passing around the communion
elements.
And I'd start getting scared, because I remembered
at school that week that I borrowed a
pencil from my teacher's desk, and I didn't
give it back to her.
And I was thinking, oh no, I stole
the pencil.
And the cup is already in my hand.
And I don't have time to get the
pencil back.
And if I drink this cup, I'm going
to get killed.
It says here many are sleeping.
And so many times when I go to
church, I always get sleepy.
Sometimes I even fall asleep.
It must be because I'm drinking in an
unworthy manner.
I used to be so afraid to take
communion.
I would think about the pretty girl I
looked at too long in school.
And I began to get worried about communion.
I used to know what Sundays the pastor
was going to be giving communion.
And I would see them start bringing up
the cup and the bread.
And I'd turn to my mom, who I
was sitting next to.
I'd say, Mom, I have to go to
the bathroom really bad.
And I'd try to walk out of the
back of the church.
So I didn't have to take communion.
Because communion scared me.
Because I knew how sleepy I would get
in church.
And that must have meant I was a
sinner.
And so I was afraid to take the
cup.
I didn't want to die.
This sounded like such serious business.
I didn't want to bring any of my
friends to church.
Because they were worse than I was.
I knew they'd be dead for sure.
But I began to study this as I
got older.
And I realized Paul said something here.
Jesus is saying something here to us.
There is an unworthy manner to partake of
this cup.
But it's a little bit different than we
think.
Yes, Jesus is concerned whether we steal or
not.
He's concerned when our eye looks in the
wrong places.
But Paul says when we come to communion
we examine ourselves and then it says so
let him eat of the bread and drink
of the cup.
It's not a warning not to drink and
eat.
It's just a moment to look at our
hearts.
And to receive and thank God for His
cleansing.
What could be a worthy manner to drink
the cup and eat the bread?
Is it your perfection?
Have you done everything perfectly?
Do you not drink communion and eat communion
if you've done something wrong that week?
Or what if you've sinned and forgot about
it and didn't repent that week?
And the Bible preaches strong against sin.
And we need from our pulpits more strong
preaching against sin.
But Paul is speaking of something different here.
He's not talking about stealing.
He's not talking here about alcoholism totally.
That's a part of it.
But what he's saying here, look at verse
29.
Whoever eats in an unworthy manner drinks judgment
to himself and then he gives the real
reason because he's not discerning the Lord's body.
Let me say that again so I have
your attention.
The thing we really need to examine when
we come before the Lord and thank Him
for His new covenant is how we are
viewing how we are relating to the body
of Christ around us.
How we are loving our brothers and sisters.
How the Catholics are loving the Baptists.
How the Baptists are loving the Pentecostals.
How the Charismatics are loving the Pentecostals.
When we come together Paul says there's an
unworthy manner to do this.
And he's not thinking about a kid who
stole a pencil.
He's thinking of this church and this building
and how we discern the body of one
another how we love one another how we
are unified together in Christ how Jesus calls
us to love one another how He says
it's by our love for one another that
the world will know that Christ is Lord.
And when we come to take communion we
are called to examine our hearts and the
question Jesus is asking you is not how
perfect you are did you do everything right
but the question He really wants to know
is how well do you love.
Love is the centerpiece of the Gospel.
It is what Jesus gives to His bride.
His great love for us calls us to
love one another.
One of my great joys in traveling over
these last few months was to be in
a country recently and the Archbishop of the
Lutheran Church was sitting down with the Bishop
of the Pentecostal Church and they didn't know
each other they had never had any fellowship
together and they spent time together at our
conference they heard each other's testimony and they
began to enjoy each other's company and it
was a great joy to hear them talk
one day over lunch the first lunch they'd
ever had together and the Archbishop of the
Lutheran Church said to the Pentecostal Bishop I'm
so glad to be with you here today
I didn't know you knew Christ like you
did I thought all you Pentecostals were crazy
I thought all you did was jump around
and spin in circles but I see Jesus
in you I see the Spirit of the
Living God in you and I'm blessed and
I'm proud to call you my brother the
Pentecostal Bishop looked to the Lutheran and said
the same for me I didn't even think
you were a Christian I thought you were
just religious I thought you were in a
dead state church and all you did was
give chants just speaking creeds but now I
know you and I've heard your testimony and
I see Jesus in your heart and I'm
glad today to call you my brother oh
what a great joy to hear these brothers
discerning the body of Christ properly now I'm
not saying everyone who calls themselves a Christian
is our brother there are wolves among us
there are false doctrines in our church there
are things we need to separate ourselves from
there are places we can't unify with I
was at a pastor's meeting one time about
30 pastors in New York City gathered together
and it just didn't feel right it was
all on the surface they were very superficial
everybody was being nice and pleasant to one
another there was fellowship taking place but it
wasn't around the true Jesus Christ and they
asked one of the elderly black pastors from
New York City to get up and share
a few words they said challenge us about
being in unity with one another and they
made a mistake by asking him to speak
because he got up and he preached a
powerful preaching he was on fire and he
said the kind of unity you're talking about
is not the kind of unity I want
because you're talking about just having a nice
lunch together putting on a show of unity
you're just talking about an ecumenical unity but
you're not talking about being brothers with one
another you're not talking about laying down your
lives for one another you're not talking about
sacrificing all for Jesus Christ he said turn
around and he turned to John 17 and
in John 17 it says Lord make them
one and all this talk about being one
says I can't do that with you because
some of you in this place aren't even
one with Jesus yet and I want to
invite you today to get right with Jesus
because if you don't get right with Jesus
I can't be right with you and we
can't be one until you're one with Him
and he said before John 17 21 calls
us into unity even before that in John
17 17 Jesus Christ sanctified them in truth
he said we have to be sanctified we
need to be the holy body of Christ
we need to know Jesus to walk in
Jesus to be holy in Jesus and until
we have John 17 17 we'll never have
John 17 21 first comes Jesus then comes
unity and there is much unity built around
a false ideal just to look good to
put on a good front but Jesus's unity
is different he holds up the cup he
says it's wrapped around this it's centered in
this my blood and that's what he's saying
here that's the worthy way to partake of
the new covenant and if we're not doing
that we're doing it in an unworthy manner
now I want to speak of two ways
that we don't take of the cup and
eat of the bread in a worthy manner
you see the communion passage doesn't stop in
Corinthians 11 it goes on into chapter 12
as well and the scripture says still speaking
about the body of Christ here about the
family of God, his church and there are
two ways the body of Christ doesn't discern
each other in a worthy manner and it's
these two ways that makes the church sick
and sleepy lethargic, lifeless the first one, chapter
12 verse 15 look there with me if
the foot should say because I am not
a hand I am not of the body
is it therefore not of the body the
first way to come in an unworthy manner
to the body of Christ is to begin
to say to yourself I'm not worthy I'm
not like other people I don't belong in
the body a man or woman who has
been bought by the blood of Jesus who
has come to the foot of the cross
who has entered through baptism who is in
love with Jesus and they come into the
body and they say I'm not worthy I'm
no good what they're doing is discerning the
cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner
Jesus told Peter don't call what I've made
clean unclean when Jesus has made you clean
when He's washed you when He cleansed you
you need to tell yourself you need to
have that godly confession I'm clean, I'm clean,
I'm holy I'm worthy by the blood of
the Lamb by the cross of Jesus Christ
I'm not worthy because of my works I'm
not worthy because I was perfect this week
I'm worthy because of Jesus but many people
come into the body and just like this
because I'm not the hand therefore I don't
belong because I'm not the beautiful part I
don't belong and we begin to compare ourselves
to others oh I don't pray as much
as that sister I don't preach like that
powerful preacher and we compare ourselves and by
doing so we begin to say to ourselves
we don't belong in the body and there
are many people in the church who are
wounded and broken because you don't feel like
you're belonging you don't feel like you're special
in God's eyes you don't feel like you
have the call of God on your life
but Jesus is saying you belong because of
the cup of His new covenant I spent
many years worrying about this issue I didn't
really feel like I belonged in leadership I
told you the other day I wanted to
build a church of 20,000 people I
had this great ambition but I noticed something
was happening in my church we had a
great start, we grew very fast within the
first few years we had 300 or 400
people many new believers but after that it
just plateaued it just stopped growing I got
worried about this I told my father in
New York City his church keeps growing Bill
Heibel's church in Chicago it keeps growing the
church in Australia called Hillsong, it keeps growing
churches all over the world are growing but
nothing is happening in my church and I
hated to go to conferences because I had
no good testimonies all my pastor friends would
come to the conference and they would say
our church grew by 100 people this year
we baptized 50 new converts we planted 6
new churches we built a 2,000 seat
auditorium our admissions budget doubled this year and
I heard all these stories and I had
no good news I lost 20 people this
year I can barely pay the bills I'm
tired of going to church it's pretty bad
news when the pastor of the church doesn't
even like the church he's attending anymore you
know something's wrong it was hard to get
up on Sunday mornings I was tired and
weary I began to wonder why God wasn't
blessing me so somebody told me about a
conference so I went to a conference in
Chicago and it was about being a seeker
sensitive church it
has a certain methodology of doing church and
I was so impressed by these methods they
did church so well the music was just
perfect and the presentations were wonderful the auditorium
was fantastic and they gave tremendous seminars on
how to do church and how to grow
your church and how to go to the
next plateau oh, and I was so excited
and I got all the notes and I
bought all the tapes they had and I
bought all the books that they had and
I had to buy an extra suitcase just
to carry everything home and I got home
to my church and I called my elders
and my staff together and I am so
excited you can't believe what I've just found
we're going to have to change our church
totally we've been doing all this Pentecostal stuff
and that's been scaring the sinners out there
in the world so we need to be
more quiet and be more presentable and do
a nice skit every Sunday a nice drama
every Sunday and so we trained all our
people how to do church like this they
got all excited and so we were going
to launch this new style of ministry so
bring all your non-Christian friends because they're
going to love the way we do church
now but there's a problem all the people
in our church have been Christians for many
years now they got so involved in the
church everybody they knew was a Christian now
so they had very few non-Christian friends
so they didn't have anybody to invite so
it was the same people now we had
an evangelistic service but it was all Christians
in the crowd and the Christians didn't want
an evangelistic service so they started leaving my
church looking for a church that was deeper
so I said this must not be the
right way for us it worked for that
church they're doing a mighty work but it
didn't work for me but I don't give
up easy I was determined to make this
church grow so I heard about another conference
and this one was even broader the one
was just talking mainly about evangelism but this
one was talking about a purpose driven church
so there's a big church in California and
they have a powerful book called The Purpose
Driven Church so I went to their conferences
and I learned about this kind of church
and I said no wonder our church isn't
growing we weren't doing it the right way
first we were doing that Pentecostal thing then
we were doing that evangelistic thing but now
we need to be purpose driven so I
took all the notes and I bought all
their tapes and I bought all their books
and I took them home in my suitcase
and I got home from that conference and
I called my elders and my staff together
I said brothers we've been doing it all
wrong we thought it was secret sensitive but
it needs to be purpose driven and here's
the books and the tapes learn how to
do church this way change everything up because
this is the way we're doing church now
and we were so excited and we changed
our whole strategy and our church didn't grow
and more people left they said we're getting
confusing so I didn't give up though I
was a determined pastor I was going to
reach my goal so I went to another
conference this one I went all the way
to England for I heard about the Alpha
Course so I went to the Alpha Course
and I took all the notes and I
bought all the books and I brought home
the tapes and when I got home I
was even trying to use an English accent
my staff and my elders I called them
together I said we need to stop our
Tuesday night prayer meeting because this is the
best thing I've ever seen we're going to
start being Alpha Church and we started our
Alpha Program and Alpha is a wonderful course
thousands and thousands of people are being saved
we started it in our church and very
few people came only a handful were saved
we kept trying it and trying it and
for our church it just didn't work so
I didn't give up I went to another
conference this one was a Holy Spirit conference
because I was getting tired of methods so
this one talked about the wind of the
Spirit and you can fall down and you
can laugh and I went back to my
church gave them all the tapes all the
books here's how we do church and our
church was so confused people were looking at
me they said we don't know what kind
of church we are are we Baptist or
are we Pentecostal are we Alpha or are
we Seeker Sensitive are we Purpose Driven or
are we Holiness just choose one anyone is
fine we don't care which one you choose
but just find one and stick with it
we are tired of changing every time you
go to a conference you come back and
give us all these tapes and we have
to change everything and it's not working you're
not growing whether it's the wind of the
Spirit or a new course that's taking place
one day my elders came to me they
said Pastor we need to speak to you
we love you so much you're a wonderful
pastor but we have one favor to ask
you we'll do anything for you we'll give
you a raise we'll buy you a new
car anything you want just promise us this
you won't go to any more conferences because
they knew they had a pastor who was
saying this very thing that Paul was saying
because I'm not like Bill Hybels because I'm
not like the leaders of that Alpha Course
because I'm not like the one who wrote
Purpose Driven Church because I'm not like them
I'm not worthy to be in the body
my church isn't valuable to God we're not
special in God's eyes and my friends I
want to tell you today that's an unworthy
manner to partake in the body of Christ
every church of Jesus Christ is special in
His eyes every church of Jesus Christ has
a divine plan and you can't borrow someone
else's plan you can't take something else from
somebody else you can't take your foot and
turn it into a hand and some churches
look more like a hand and some more
like the foot and we need to be
more thankful about where Jesus has put us
whether it's a small church in the countryside
or a large church in an urban area
whether it's a church that's reaching many lost
people or whether it's a church that is
strong in discipleship God has a special purpose
for your church a plan for you that
you can't get from anybody else you can
only get it from Jesus Amen but
it took me a while to learn that
and I was getting depressed I was getting
discouraged I wanted to quit I hated to
get up on Sunday mornings and go to
church because I wanted to pastor this ideal
church this church of 20,000 people and
here was my small church and it got
me depressed and discouraged I wanted greater testimonies
I wanted stories to tell when I went
to the conferences and I was so depressed
so ready to give up but without my
elders' permission I went to one more conference
and this conference was beautiful it was wonderful
it had this beautiful choir probably 200 voices
or maybe 300 voices in the choir some
of the most excellent preaching I've ever heard
in my life and I started to pray
and I started to get excited and I
said maybe this is the way I've got
to build a big choir and I'll work
on being the best preacher I can be
and with good music and good preaching we
can reach our city for Christ but then
I remembered nothing works I've tried everything and
I started thinking about this conference trying to
have a choir like that they had more
people in their choir than I had in
my whole church so if I wanted to
build a choir like that everybody in my
church would have to stand behind me and
have nobody to preach to I'd have to
turn around and preach to the choir and
I just said God is not going to
work it's not the different programs it's not
the different styles of doing church it's me
I'm the one who's messed up I'm the
one who's unworthy I'm not qualified I can't
do this I can't lead well I can't
preach well I'm too confused I don't know
what I'm doing it's not working and I'm
ready to give up and I went back
to my hotel room and I said God
it's these guys who know how to put
on these great shows it's these eloquent
preachers it's these gifted leaders they're the ones
you use mightily but you're not using me
you've left me alone and I started to
get not only depressed but I started to
get angry at God I was so angry
at Him you passed me by God you
poured out your blessing on others and I've
been praying and I've been weeping I've been
on my face before you and I've tried
everything but you're not blessing me and I
remembered as a child singing this beautiful song
pass me not O gentle Savior hear my
humble cry while on others thou art falling
do not pass me by and I said
to Jesus Jesus you've deceived me you tricked
me you called me into ministry and then
you didn't give me the power to do
it and I feel like you've deceived me
you passed me by my one cry to
you has been as you're falling on others
do not pass me by but you passed
me you've overlooked me and then I began
to even wonder this if you passed me
by is it because you don't really love
me maybe I'm not really loved by you
and I fell on my face on the
carpet of that hotel room and I began
to weep and I began to weep and
weep and weep the tears in my eyes
crying almost to the top of my voice
I've become an Esau to you God Jacob
you have loved other churches you have loved
but me you have hated I'm an Esau
to you what do you have to do
with me what do you want from me
why did you call me why don't you
leave me alone let me just go get
a job somewhere else because I can't go
another day doing this work without sensing your
power I said Jesus I give up and
it was at that moment that the Holy
Spirit began to speak to me He began
to do a new work in me He
said Gary it's not because I hate you
I haven't lifted my hand of blessing from
you but I have withheld the blessing I've
withheld that great outpouring because something had to
come out of your heart the selfishness the
self-ambition the pride the clever schemes of
man looking to others to get your methodology
not trusting in me not listening to me
it's not because I hate you it's because
I love you so much and because I
love you I am willing to wound you
there will be scars in your body scars
in your soul but when they heal you'll
be strong you'll be holy and you'll trust
in me and there'll be new life in
you and you won't say you're unworthy He
said I don't hate you I love you
and I felt the love of God and
I went back to my church and I
had no tapes I had no books, I
had no staff meeting I just started praying
I started crying out to God I started
seeking His face my church began to change
people began to be added to the church
there was a new clarity of vision people
were being saved like never before when I
was a child I had a call from
God it was from Isaiah 49 He says
you'll not only minister to Jacob but you'll
also be a light to the nations and
during that depressed time I thought I was
never going to be able to speak to
anybody I thought I'd never have any real
ministry but then God broke my heart and
I no longer cared about that I no
longer cared about those things take your church
to 20,000 take your notoriety and your
fame and fortune take your success because I
no longer care about those things I want
the fullness of Jesus I don't have to
go to every conference to get some new
wind of the Spirit or some new methodology
I hear from Jesus He speaks to me
because I'm His son and He loves me
and I can learn things from many different
people but most of all I learn from
Jesus He speaks His love over you He
speaks direction for your ministry He pours out
His Spirit in your ministry and God changed
my life I was totally a new man
and it wasn't but a few months later
my father called me he said, son, what's
happened to you?
I used to get your sermon tapes and
you were always preaching different kinds of things
but I hear something different in your voice
there's something new in your preaching there's some
life now that I've never sensed before he
said, what happened to you?
I said, two things number one, God broke
me He totally broke me He took out
the ambition of my agendas and He raised
me up with one desire not to please
man but to please the Father in Heaven
to do what Jesus says to speak to
one person or ten people or ten thousand
people my goal is not success my goal
is obedience my father said, I recognize something
different in you and I want to ask
you something I'm doing pastors conferences all over
the world I'm speaking to tens of thousands
of pastors and leaders and I said, yeah,
I heard about that, I'm very excited for
you and he said, I'm looking for somebody
to travel with me I need an associate
and I thought he was calling me to
ask my assistant pastor who is a great
Bible teacher my father used to brag about
his sermons all the time so I thought
he was calling to ask my associate to
travel with him but my father said this
I see what God is doing in your
life I see a new brokenness and there
are pastors all over the world who went
through what you went through they've tried every
strategy they've been to every conference and when
it's all said and done they're depressed and
discouraged and I think you have a word
for them and I want you to travel
with me I want you to be my
associate I want you to travel around the
world with me and preach this gospel and
I said yes and I got off the
phone and I knelt down and I said,
I remember that hotel room where I cried
out I'm so unworthy do you hate me
and now I was on my face again
and this surprises me I've finally given up
I have no more desires no more ambitions
no more big schemes or dreams of my
own and finally now that I've given up
you're blessing me dreams are coming true things
that I never imagined my friends I
want to invite you today to lay down
your own agendas your own plans your own
schemes I want you to lay down all
those desires to build something for yourself Jesus'
disciples came to Him and said to Him
is this the day that you're going to
restore the Kingdom of Israel what they were
asking Him is this when you're going to
build up our ministries is this when we
get to sit on the throne is this
when we get to rule in Israel and
Jesus says to them it's not for you
that's not my plan for you this is
not the time for that but I have
something else for you brothers and sisters your
ambitions your self-made plans your striving and
your sweating in the ministry you're asking God
for big things for yourself Jesus has an
answer to your prayer He says it's not
for you that's not for you but He
says, but I have this for you that
you shall receive power to be filled with
the Holy Spirit there's a new power
coming there's a new love for the body
not just using people to meet your goals
to tell your stories but now loving them
truly loving the body of Christ and that's
the worthy way to live your life I
don't even have time to go into the
second issue I told you there were two
things you'll have to wait till we come
back for the second one because I believe
the Holy Spirit is saying we need to
close now and I want to invite you
to stand I'm not hurrying the Holy Spirit
He has all day with us but I
believe we spoke to the issue of the
heart I believe this is where many of
us are some of you in this place
today in just a minute I'm going to
ask you to come out of your seats
there's going to be no music playing and
I don't care who looks at you in
many altar calls people say bow your head
and close your eyes but I want to
speak to men and women today who are
so desperate for God so ready for a
change that if I were to say to
you every head up every eye staring at
you you might be the only one at
this altar but that you're so desperate for
God you'll say I don't care who looks
I'm going to run to this altar because
I'm ready for a change I need God
I don't need a new conference I don't
need a new strategy I need Jesus to
change my heart to break me and to
change me and to fill me and give
me a new calling that I'd obey Him
now, right now, step out of your seat
stand here in the front if you could
stand, make more room for others and come
a closer some
of you are already going to be beginning
to sense that same spirit that I had
that weeping spirit that cry in your soul
because you're wondering do you love me God?
have you really called me?
I feel so unworthy so unprepared so unrighteous
so useless to you but I want your
touch Jesus I want your love Jesus I
want to obey you Jesus let that cry
come up out of your soul don't hide
your feelings from Him know exactly how you
feel even let your anger out tell Him,
God I'm angry because if this is ministry
I don't want it I've got to change
I need something new ask Him, tell Him
what's in your heart right now He's not
going to pass you by while on others
thou art falling He's not going to pass
you by Jesus, we thank you Jesus for
your covenant with us you hold out that
cup you say it's for us you make
us worthy it's because of you Jesus not
because of my gifts not because of my
talents not because of how big my ministry
is but it's about how big you are
in my heart Jesus hallelujah hallelujah more Jesus
we need more of you Jesus thank you
God could you look at me for just
a moment those of you that have come
forward put your hands down just for a
moment please how many of you that have
stepped forward here coming into this conference you
were saying I was just about to give
up I felt so unworthy so discouraged, so
depressed I was just about ready to give
up let me see your hand if that's
you let me pray especially for you Jesus,
in the name of Jesus in the Father,
in the Son, in the Holy Spirit right
now we pray supernaturally that you would touch
the issue of the heart there will be
no surrender the only thing we give up
is our sense of unworthiness because we repent
of our life away from you we are
coming to you Jesus we are trusting in
you Jesus that you will touch our life
that you will touch our ministry that you
will speak to the deepest parts of our
heart and give us a refreshing a renewing
of our passion for you Jesus our new
focus is not just on what we do
for you but on who you are Jesus
Jesus there are many in this room who
have felt unworthy are broken hearted ready to
give up speak to them today tell them
Jesus they are not unclean, they are not
useless but you are called God says to
you I have plans for you to bless
you to strengthen you to multiply you to
raise you up as a man or woman
of God who has a different spirit there
will be no worldly spirit in you no
selfish ambition you will live for the glory
of Jesus bless that now Jesus bless that
work now Jesus increase it now Jesus confirm
it now Jesus make it a reality Jesus
speak to us Christ tell us that we
are special in your eyes that we have
a unique call on our life that we
don't have to be like anybody else we
are following Jesus you are leading us Jesus
we thank you give the Lord a clap
offering he is speaking hallelujah bless you Jesus
glory to your name Jesus glory to your
name Jesus hallelujah thank you Jesus bless you
God bless you God I want to ask
you to do me a favor would you
some of you are being so deeply touched
by God I want to ask you to
take the next 5 to 10 minutes you
might have to spread out a little bit
maybe a few of you might in just
a moment go back to your seats in
a moment maybe a few of you might
go back to your seats but I want
you to get in circles of 3 maybe
no more than 4 people no more than
4 please I want them to be small
groups because today we have been talking about
the body of Christ that we are one
in Christ in a worthy manner that we
love one another I want you to pray
for one another that Jesus would become our
all in all and that he would bless
our lives and our ministry even in the
sides here and in the back if you
could spread out here in the front a
little bit spread out to the sides and
towards the back get right now in a
circle of 2 or 3 or 4 you
can join hands if you would like to
and each one of you in the circle
go around the circle and pray out loud
and pray that God would do this new
work in us and that would change this
nation it would be a nation in love
with Jesus it would be a nation in
love with Jesus and a nation in love
with one another Amen