To the book of Mark, second book of
the New Testament, the book of Mark.
And I want you to turn to Mark
chapter 9, and the name of this message
is Obstacles to Jesus and His Mission.
Obstacles to Jesus and His Mission.
And we're reading in Mark, the ninth chapter,
and we're going to start in the 30th
verse.
From there they went out and began to
go through Galilee, and he did not want
anyone to know about it.
I'm reading from the New American Standard today.
For he was teaching his disciples and telling
them, the Son of Man, Him, Jesus, is
to be delivered into the hands of men,
and they will kill Him, and when He
has been killed, He will rise three days
later.
But they did not understand this statement, and
they were afraid to ask Him.
Here's partially the reason why.
They came to Capernaum, and when He was
in the house, He began to question them,
what were you discussing on the way?
But they kept silent, for on the way
they had discussed with one another which of
them was the greatest.
Sitting down, He called the twelve, and He
said to them, if anyone wants to be
first, he shall be last of all, and
servant of all.
Taking a child, He set him before them,
and taking him in His arms, He said
to them, whoever receives one child like this
in My name, receives Me, and whoever receives
Me does not receive Me, but him who
sent Me.
John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone
casting out demons in your name, and we
tried to prevent him, because he was not
following us.
But Jesus said, do not hinder him, for
there's no one who will perform a miracle
in My name, and will be soon afterward
able to speak evil of Me.
For he who is not against us is,
what, for us.
Move ahead to chapter 10, and go to
chapter 10 verse 33.
Notice the same introductory remarks here.
They were on the road, verse 32, chapter
10 verse 32.
They were on the road going to Jerusalem.
Now they're really heading there.
And Jesus walking on ahead of them, and
they were amazed, and those who followed were
fearful, and again He took the twelve aside,
and began to tell them what was going
to happen, saying, Behold, we are going up
to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will
be delivered to the chief priests and the
scribes, and they will condemn Him to death,
and will hand Him over to the Gentiles.
They will mock Him, and spit on Him,
and scourge Him, and kill Him, and three
days later He will rise again.
James and John, the two sons of Zebedee,
came up to Jesus saying, Teacher, we want
to do, we want you to do for
us whatever we asked of you.
And He said to them, What do you
want Me to do for you?
They said to Him, Grant that we may
sit one on your right and one on
your left in your glory.
But Jesus said to them, Are you do
not know what you're asking?
Are you able to drink the cup that
I drink, or to be baptized with the
baptism which I am baptized?
That was speaking, look up here, of the
suffering.
That was an expression in those days of
what He was about to go through.
They said to Him, We are able.
And Jesus said to them, The cup that
I drink you shall drink, and you shall
be baptized with the baptism with which I
am baptized.
In other words, they would suffer for their
faith.
But to sit on My right hand or
on My left, this is not Mine to
give, but it is for those for whom
it has been prepared.
Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant
with James and John.
They started fussing.
Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them,
You know that those who are recognized as
rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and that great men exercise authority over them.
But it's not this way among you.
But whoever wishes to become great among you
shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to
be first among you shall be slave of
all.
For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and
give His life a ransom for many.
For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life a ransom for many.
Now what's interesting about the two passages that
I read, is we're getting a weird juxtaposition
of what Jesus is saying, and what the
disciples are thinking, and discussing, and preoccupied with.
In other words, you talk about not being
on the same page.
You talk about being out of sync.
Jesus here is facing obstacles among His own
disciples.
Obstacles to His mission, and to His calling,
and to the purpose for which He had
come.
Jesus in both of these passages, it's repeated.
He's in Mark 9, He's getting ready to
go to Jerusalem.
So to prepare them, He gathers them together,
and He says, men it's time for me
to go to Jerusalem, and it's not going
to be pretty.
I'm going to be delivered into the hands
of men who hate me, and I'm going
to be killed.
But on the third day, I'm going to
rise again.
In Mark 10, He's on His way, on
the road to Jerusalem, and He takes them
aside, and He tells them privately, men, the
Son of Man is about to be delivered
into the hands of other men.
He's going to be arrested.
It's going to be a mock trial.
He's going to be abused.
He's going to be struck, slapped, spit upon,
rejected.
It's going to be violence.
It's going to be blood.
It's going to be sweat.
It's going to be tears.
But of course, this was why He came.
He was the Lamb of God.
He was on a mission.
But again, He tells them, tears will only
be for the night.
Joy will come in the morning, because on
the third day, I will rise again.
So Jesus now, after three years of itinerant
ministry, Jesus now is about to seal the
deal for our salvation.
Jesus is about to go to the cross
for Jim Simla, and Carlo Volkstaff, and Charles
Hammond, and you, and me, all of us.
He's about to lay down His life, pour
out His life.
Now, this was a consciousness that He must
have had since He was a little boy.
It's a mystery that He was Son of
Man and Son of God.
He was God incarnate, God in the flesh.
And I wonder when He was a young
boy, when He went to the temple, and
they were killing the animal sacrifices, and the
priest would take the lamb and slit the
lamb's throat, and turn it over, and the
blood would come out.
I wonder what was going through little Jesus's
mind, because that's what He had come for.
We didn't just need a teacher and a
miracle worker.
How many know, we needed a Savior.
We needed somebody who would go the distance
for us, and spotless and sinless human sacrifice,
divine sacrifice, lay down His life for the
sins of the world.
So this is the consciousness of Jesus now
at 33 years old.
He is now heading to something that's so
difficult, that is so excruciating, painful, that even
in the garden, He begins to struggle with
it.
You remember, Father, if it's possible, let this
cup pass from me.
We are now in the depths of the
deepest things of God, the sacrifice, the atonement
that Christ is going to make for our
sins.
And the men that are walking with Him
for three years, where is their head at?
Way out.
And we learn here from three simple things,
the three obstacles that Jesus still has for
His mission to be completed.
In other words, God sent His Son into
the world, not to condemn the world, but
that through Him, the world might be saved.
And as we're going to learn later, Jesus
said at the very end, before He went
back to heaven, as the Father has sent
me, so send I you.
So Jesus is about a mission.
Jesus is about a consciousness that I've come
down from heaven for a purpose.
Jesus is looking at mankind, seeing their needs,
seeing their lostness.
He had compassion on the multitude, for they
were like sheep without a shepherd.
He looked at Jerusalem even on the eve
of His rejection and His trial and His
arrest.
He looked at Jerusalem and He wept over
it.
Jesus is on a mission.
Jesus has a purpose to life.
Jesus isn't bouncing around day to day, not
knowing why He came.
Jesus is about helping us and saving us
and lifting us.
But as He first tries to explain this
to the disciples in Capernaum, in a house
that He lived in, it seems, and was
rented for Him, He tells them that and
they're just dumb.
They don't speak.
They don't say anything.
And then He says to them, what were
you talking about on the road when we
were heading here?
What were you discussing?
And they all just put their heads down
and Peter shifts his feet and they all
just kind of look away.
You know why they didn't answer Him?
Because while He's talking and getting ready to
go to Jerusalem, they're arguing about which one
of the twelve is the greatest.
Oh, the patience of Jesus.
Oh, the mercy of Jesus.
He's heading to the cross and He's the
Son of the Living God.
And they, frail, faulty, human, they're all about
to deny Him and run from Him and
flee and not be with Him when He
really needs them.
They're arguing.
Imagine the chutzpah.
Imagine the deception in their mind.
They're arguing who's the greatest.
And that's one of the great obstacles to
Jesus and His mission today.
That instead of being about our Father's business
and instead of thinking the way Jesus thinks,
we're wrapped up with our spirit of self
-exaltation and our egotism and who's mentioned and
who's not.
And why did they pick her to sing?
And why did they make Him an usher?
And if I do that, will I be
recognized?
Egotism and pride and wanting to be mentioned
and wanting to have been given credit and
won a little spotlight, that has always been
an obstacle to Jesus and His mission right
among His own people.
Churches splitting because somebody's pride got injured.
People leaving the church because they weren't treated
right and people don't know how to treat
someone.
You know, there's just a bunch of cliques
there and they don't accept me.
Just a preoccupation with self.
And here they are arguing about which one
is the greatest.
They don't know that in a few days
they're all going to flee and leave Him
and be total failures and flops.
And one of them is going to actually
betray Him.
They're on the road arguing.
No, no, listen.
Peter says, I walked on the water.
None of you guys ever walked on water.
And James and John says, yeah, but we're
closer to Him.
We went up there on the Mount of
Transfiguration.
All of them are arguing about just nonsense.
And Jesus has His face towards us.
They're not with the program.
He's thinking about the world.
They're thinking about themselves.
He's thinking about laying down His life.
They're thinking about, I have to be number
one.
I just talked to, a few weeks ago,
a head of a beautiful drug ministry, helping
troubled girls who get involved with drugs and
other situations.
And he told me that he was in
a certain state of the country and there
was a fairly well-known evangelist who's on
Christian television.
And he got to meet this man.
And the man had heard what this brother
does in his life and how they have
this beautiful program.
And he said, how about expanding that program
into our state?
I can get you some land.
This man has access to a lot of
money.
Drives, you know, a car as big as
this auditorium.
And we can fix you up.
We can really do something, you know.
Well, praise God.
That sounds good.
So, they began to discuss things.
What they would need.
How they bring girls in and induct them
into the program.
They keep them for 18 months or so.
So, the evangelist said, now listen.
If I help you, I just want you
to know something.
I want everybody in the world to know
what I'm doing to help these girls.
So, my friend said, well, really our policy
is to keep, you know, every other name
down and just give all the glory to
Jesus.
And the man just looked at him and
that was the last word he ever said.
You can leave now.
Never gave him a dime.
In other words, so much of our life
is dominated not by seeing people the way
Jesus sees them.
I'm talking to all of you.
I'm talking to myself.
It's about what do I get out of
it?
What do I get out of it?
So, Jesus taught them, do you want to
be great?
I'll tell you what's great.
If you want to be great in my
followers, be a servant.
And if you want to be number one
of all my followers, be a slave to
everybody.
Be a doormat to everybody.
Just wait on everyone.
Wash everyone's feet.
Go get coffee for everybody and just serve
them.
Then you'll really be great.
Oh, how many know that God's ways are
not our ways?
See, the world says, if you're great, you
give orders.
Jesus said, no, if you're great, you take
orders.
The world says, in a restaurant at the
Four Seasons or some La Caravelle in the
city, a French restaurant, if you sit at
the table and you tell the waiter what
you want, you're in charge, you're better than
the waiter.
Jesus said, no, with me, the waiter's better
than you because he's doing the serving.
And this is what's holding the mission of
Jesus back today.
I want you to consider two leading denominations
in America are in zero growth for the
last two years.
They're losing members, not gaining them.
In America, even since 9-11, more kids
in the cities are turning to crack than
to Christ.
That's a fact.
Gangs are recruiting more kids than churches are.
And yet we have the Bible, we have
the power of the Holy Spirit, we have
these wonderful promises of God.
Let's be honest and not talk Bible hyperbole,
and let's not talk just faith jingles.
Let's talk honest with one another for a
moment, everybody.
If God is so great and the Bible
is true, which it is, and the power
of the Holy Spirit is great, and if
the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation, how come the body of Christ and
the church throughout the country and the world
does so little?
One of the reasons is that instead of
wanting to be servants, we want to be
the chief.
We want to be served.
We want people to cater to us.
And the church growth movement is feeding into
this by telling people, you don't have to
do anything.
Just come and we'll entertain you.
But that's not what a church is about.
Church is not about entertaining people.
It's about being a Holy Ghost hospital where
people can come in who are messed up
or born addicted to crack, and they find
someone who wants to serve.
You know how many sleepless nights Vincent and
Daphne had with that little girl when she
was born?
You know the times I've been on the
phone with them or prayed with them in
my office because she was going through convulsions,
and she would just, she's beautiful now, but
she would just jump.
You know, somebody had to walk through that.
Somebody had to not be thinking about being
exalted.
Someone had to think about being a servant.
Because the greatest Christian in this church is
probably not somebody on the platform.
The greatest Christian in the church is the
one who's the biggest servant.
That's the best Christian in the whole church.
Not the one who knows the most Bible.
You can know a lot of the Bible
and still be proud as a peacock.
It's not the one who knows the most
of the Bible.
It's the one who's the servant and the
slave of all.
So this was a real obstacle to Jesus
and his program.
He's heading to the cross, and they're arguing
about who's the greatest, who preaches better.
You've reached the end of side one.
Here's a guy with a ministry, Pastor Bird,
and in Jesus' name, he's releasing people from
the bondage of Satan, just like Jesus did.
He went about doing good and healing all
of them that were oppressed by the devil.
And here's a man somewhere that they had
run into, not one of the 12, seemingly
not one of the 70.
He just somehow had learned about Jesus, had
a relationship with Jesus, had faith in the
authority of Jesus' name, and he was setting
people free.
And John said, when we saw him and
we said, come on with us back to
the Master, he said, no, I'm not part
of your group.
I'm doing something else over here.
What?
You're not following our group?
You're not going to be with the 12?
Then stop what you're doing.
Don't set any more people free.
Let them stay demon-possessed.
I'm not making this up.
It's in the Bible.
Let them stay possessed by the devil.
But don't you do that, John said to
Jesus.
We forbid him because he wouldn't follow us.
That's the second thing.
The first thing that's an obstacle to Jesus
is our egotism and spirit of self-exaltation.
The second thing is a party spirit.
Our group, our race, our denomination, our church,
our Brooklyn Tabernacle.
It's a cursive thing.
Now, Galatians says, chapter 5, that one of
the works of the flesh is factions or
a party spirit, as the better translations have
it.
Now, when I was a kid and I
heard somebody, the pastor of the church say,
you know, one of the great sins is
a party spirit.
It's listed with murder, adultery, fornication, idolatry.
Says it's a work of the flesh.
A party spirit is a work of the
flesh.
Human nature apart from God.
Listed with adultery, fornicating, having sexual activity outside
of the marriage relationship.
Right listed among them.
Cursing, wrath, doubt, all these things.
It is this party spirit.
Now, when I heard that, I thought it
meant like having a lot of parties.
You know, like a guy had a party
spirit, it meant every night he went, let's
party, come on, come on, let's, let's.
And little hats and blowing the little things
out of your mouth.
And, you know, I thought when I was
a kid, you know, drinking, getting drunk and
sensual music and sensual dancing.
And, you know, just that has nothing to
do with that.
It has to do with John.
And what he said, it has to do
with 1 Corinthians, where Paul says, you are
so carnal.
One says, I'm a Paul.
One says, no, I belong to Cephas, Peter's
party.
I'm a Peter man.
No, no, I'm Paul's man.
Another would say, no, I'm Apollos.
He can out preach both of them.
I follow Apollos.
And Paul said, are you not carnal?
Christ died for you.
You belong to Christ.
You don't belong to a party.
I'm a Baptist.
I was born a Baptist, going to die
a Baptist.
No, I'm Church of God in Christ.
No, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a Pentecostal.
I'm a charismatic.
No, no, I'm a Lutheran.
I was born a Lutheran, going to die
a Lutheran.
And none of these things exist to God.
And they make him sick when he hears
them.
Makes him sick when he hears them.
Because he's only got one body and we're
all in it.
It's made up of all the Christians in
the world.
Come on, let's affirm that.
That God only has one body and we're
in it.
But listen, listen how twisted that can get.
John, because of this party spirit.
What?
You won't join our group?
Then stop casting out demons.
Well, take the logical implications of that.
Let the people not be set free if
you're not going to do it our way.
If you're not going to walk our way,
praise God.
If you let those people stay possessed, it
sounds sick.
But it's sicker than that.
Think of all the fighting that's going on
today.
Not to see Jesus exalted.
To have some cursive denomination or church's name
lifted up.
Think about churches don't pray for other churches
because of this stinking party spirit.
I don't pray for another church.
No, it's my group.
My race.
My whiteness.
My blackness.
I want to assert my blackness.
You don't do it the way we do
it.
So, I'm not only not going to pray
for you and love you like a brother.
I'm going to root against you.
And if I hear bad things, I'll believe
it.
And if I hear good things, I'll try
to dilute it.
And it's the truth.
You don't have to say amen, it's the
truth.
You know, we're a non-denominational Christian church.
The teaching here is that we're just trying
to be biblical Christians.
If it's in the Bible, we believe it.
If it's not in the Bible, we pass.
And we're just Christians.
And everyone who's been born again and washed
in the blood is my brother and my
sister.
How many say amen?
But you know what?
I go places and I get invited places
where I speak for large groups.
And they're my brothers and sisters.
But they don't understand how hurtful it is
and how narrow it shows their thinking when
they talk to you.
And they're so used to saying that they
don't even know what the implications of it
are.
They'll say, you know what?
We're really happy to have you here with
us.
We Nazarenes, we Baptists, we Assemblies of God
or we whatever, Church of God in Christ,
National Baptist Association, whatever.
We're doing this and we're doing that.
And they don't even know that their we
doesn't even exist.
Because God doesn't recognize one party in the
whole world.
He has only one church and we're in
it.
And we have to root for each other
and pray that His name gets exalted and
not the name of our church or the
name of our party.
There's competition between churches.
There's competition between denominations.
Think of all the duplication of monies of
missionaries because the church is so divided.
Think of all the duplication of people not
working together.
Don't even talk to each other.
And I have had the you've heard me
say this.
I've had the experience of like I'll get
back to this again.
I was just out to L.A. for
two days this past week to speak for
my friend Sonny Argonzoni who has a ministry
called Victory Outreach.
It's a wonderful thing that they're doing to
their effort to reach people out of the
worst situations that gutter drug addicts, gang members,
gang bangers.
Now if I went up to somebody in
a different group and said, you know I
was just out in L.A. and I
was with my friend Sonny Argonzoni and you
should see what God is doing through his
ministry.
I've had this happen.
They'll look at me and I saw this
and God did that and they'll go, why
are you telling me?
He's not one of us.
I'd be interested in what they're doing.
They're not one of us.
It's like a lady one time said to
me, Pastor Sybil, I'd like to help you,
but I'm a Baptist.
And I was taught Baptist money for Baptist
projects.
She didn't think that was evil and I
don't want her to give money against her
will.
But God will supply another way.
But imagine that and no picking on Baptist.
It could be any name.
Or how about the black ministers who don't
talk to you because you're white?
Or the white ministers who don't talk to
black ministers because they're black.
Or the fact that it's Sunday morning at
11 o'clock, it's the most prejudiced hour
of the whole week.
People do drugs together, go to prison together,
play ball together, ride the subways together, work
in offices together, die together at 9-11,
but not at 11 o'clock on Sunday
morning.
Everybody divides and then we tell the world
that God is love.
It's a wonder anybody gets saved.
It's so far removed from what Jesus had
in mind that it's ridiculous and we're so
used to it that we're not even shocked
by it anymore.
But this party spirit is a real obstacle
to Jesus.
Imagine, John said, we forbid that boy.
We said, son, don't you be casting out
any more demons.
Let those people just be tormented the rest
of their lives if you're not going to
follow us.
Isn't that amazing?
It's an evil thing.
A party spirit is an evil thing.
Do I get a witness here?
It's not a neutral thing.
It's an evil thing.
Downplaying what anything else, anyone else does.
I don't want that in me.
I want to be a kingdom person.
How many want to be kingdom people today
that wherever Jesus's name is being lifted up,
we can say, hallelujah, praise the Lord.
Wherever somebody's getting saved, hallelujah.
We don't agree exactly on some doctrinal matters,
but we agree on Jesus.
Praise God.
Our unity is in Jesus.
Never going to be on doctrine.
We're never going to get every detail together.
Lastly, obstacle number one, a spirit of self
-exaltation and egotism.
Instead of wanting to be a servant like
Jesus, we want to be chief.
We want to be served.
We don't want to get dirty.
We don't want to go in the ditches.
We want to stay nice and neat, clean,
and entertain me and preach for me, but
serving and that's not my piece of cake.
Number two, a party spirit, a cursed party
spirit that doesn't root for other people who
are brothers and sisters in Christ, but actually
has a wall up between them.
And you know what?
Some of you sitting here, you were raised
with that.
You were brought, you took it in with
your mother's milk.
You were raised in churches that, that, you
know, ministers, ministers feed this.
You know, God raised up our church to
take the city.
I was somewhere down south in a major
city and the pastor told me, well, praise
God.
God's raised us up, brother Jim, to take
this city for Christ.
And I wanted to say to him, but
I didn't know him well enough.
Well, that's funny because God's got all these
other pastors in the city.
What are they supposed to do if you're
going to take the city for Christ?
They're just wasting their time.
How many know today we need each other?
Come on, wave your hand at me.
We need each other.
We have to pray for every single church
in New York City, in New York City.
And if members leave our church because God
led them to another good church that preaches
the gospel, we pray for them and we
rejoice over it because it's not about Brooklyn
Tabernacle.
Let that name perish.
It's about Jesus and his kingdom.
How many say amen?
Amen.
Lastly, Jesus is now actually on the road
to Jerusalem.
So now the pressure is starting to bear
on him.
Gentlemen, you can play.
And he says to them in more detail,
it's time.
It's time.
Get ready, men.
I'm going to lay down my life now.
I'm going to lay down my life.
I want there to be a Brooklyn Tabernacle
congregation one day, people redeemed by the blood
of my life, my body.
You know, if I didn't read this in
the Bible, I couldn't believe it.
After he lays all of that out, James
and John run up to him.
Jesus, we want you to do whatever we
ask of you.
They're going to now do the third obstacle,
which is abuse prayer for selfish motives.
Jesus, would you do whatever we ask first?
We know everything's possible with you.
You're Jesus.
Look how you can believe in the power
of Jesus to be twisted in your thinking.
See, some people think if you believe in
the supernatural that God answers prayer, everything is
right.
That's wrong.
It's revealed in this little incident.
Jesus, we want you to do whatever we
ask.
What would you want me to do for
you?
When you come into your kingdom, James wants
to sit on your right, and I want
to sit on your left.
When you're in your kingdom and you're standing
there and everybody is praising you, we want
to be right there with you so we
can just wave to our parents and everybody
and say, Hi, Mom.
Hi, Dad.
Hi, Peter.
Hey, Peter, you're down there.
We're up here.
We know you can do this, Jesus, because
with you, all things are possible.
You see how you can even pray and
not be on the same page?
So instead of praying, instead of walking up
to him and saying, Jesus, are you really
going to have to do this and go
through this in Jerusalem?
Could we pray for you?
Could we pray that the Father would strengthen
you?
Could we wash your feet one last time?
You've always washed ours.
Could we wash your feet once?
Would you like a little something to eat?
Could we get you a glass of water?
You think at this critical hour, they're thinking
about what Jesus needs.
Jesus, would you unveil what you're going to
do on the cross so that we'll be
ready to be what you want us to
be?
No.
They're abusing prayer for selfish motives.
Think how many times we pray and it's
just about, I need this, Lord, and I
need that with no thought of his mission,
no thought of the work that God is
doing on the earth, no thought of what
people are going through, no thought of sacrifice,
no thought of the power of the Holy
Spirit that we need to do what the
Lord wants us to do.
Just give me, give me, give me.
Help me, help me, help me.
Signing off now, Lord.
Good night.
Bye.
Even abusing prayer, this is a real obstacle
to the work of the kingdom on the
earth right now.
People who even pray.
See, the first one is way out there,
arguing who's the greatest.
Then the second one is that party spirit.
But here, they even believe and know that
Jesus can do anything, but they're doing what
James says not to do.
You ask and don't receive because you ask
amiss, wanting to consume it on your own
selfish desire.
Jesus will not give you whatever you ask.
You have to ask according to God's will.
But trust me, He's got so many great
things according to His will that it would
blow our minds if we would submit ourselves
and say, Lord, I want to ask on
the same page with you.
I don't want to ask for myself.
I want to ask to be used.
Now, Jesus went to the cross and Jesus
died.
And Jesus was mocked and Jesus was spit
upon.
And Jesus had every obscenity yelled at Him.
And Jesus had every embarrassing thing that you
could imagine happened to Him on that cross
for you and I.
And then He rose from the dead.
And when it was evening on that day,
the first day of the week, and when
the doors were shut, where the disciples were
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood in their midst and said to them,
Peace be with you.
And when He had said this, He showed
them both His hands and His side.
And the disciples then rejoiced when they saw
the Lord.
So Jesus said to them, Peace be with
you.
As the Father has sent me, I also
send you.
And when He had said this, He breathed
on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.
That was John 20.
When Jesus went through what He had told
them, they didn't understand it the first pass.
They didn't understand it the second time around
on the road to Jerusalem.
But after He rose from the dead and
had gone through all of that, so much
so that He could show them the nail
prints in His beautiful blessed hands and the
spear mark in His side.
He said to them, like He says to
us today, Just like the Father sent me,
I'm sending you on a mission.
Brothers and sisters, listen.
Christians are supposed to be on a mission.
I know this is strange to some of
your ears, but according to the Bible, the
churches are on a mission.
We as individuals are on a mission.
Jesus said, as the Father sent me into
the world to bring salvation and blessing, of
course, in a unique way that only He
could do.
He gave His life.
But He said, in the same way, I
send you.
You're going to have a short period of
time.
You're only going to live 70, 80, if
you're fortunate, 90 years.
You're only going to have a short period
of time.
But while you're there, you're on a mission.
And just like I was conscious that the
Father has sent me to accomplish certain things,
I'm sending you so that you'll be conscious
that you're there for a reason.
You're representing me.
And if you're a servant like I am,
and if you trust me, I'll use your
life so that you can be a blessing
to people and set them free from darkness
and sin and every kind of filthy thing.
So don't think of yourself because I haven't
thought of myself.
I laid down my life.
The mission can only be accomplished by two
things, serving and giving.
For the Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve others and
to give His life.
The mission that God has for us, brothers
and sisters, is not going to happen while
we're sitting watching television.
It's going to happen as we serve others
and as we give of ourselves, give of
our money, give of our time, give of
our prayers, give, give, give, serve, serve, serve.
And God will take it and do something
tremendous.
And at the end of our lives, listen,
at the end of our lives, we're going
to hear, well done, my good and faithful
servant.
Because as the Father sent me, I sent
you and you obeyed it.
And brothers and sisters, listen, forget all the
talk that you hear.
Well, Pastor, God's got to do it.
You know, what's the sense of getting worked
up, Pastor Cimbala?
God's got to do it.
I totally agree with you, but I disagree
with you.
You're saying a false statement there.
You're saying an incomplete sentence.
I was just in Los Angeles telling Pastor
Bookstaff and Ingrid last night, we had dinner
together with my mother-in-law and Carol.
I was out in Los Angeles with my
friend, Sonny Argonzonis.
I was preaching last Tuesday night and I
know the church prayed here and I was
three hours behind time.
But boy, when I got up to preach,
I could feel God helping me.
I was the right person at the right
time.
God gave me the right message.
And I'm telling you, God did some things.
No one I know is being used more
by God to help people than Sonny Argonzoni
right now.
No one in the world that I know
of, no one that I know of is
being used more by God.
And their people come from the gang gangs
and the drug addicts and mostly, you know,
predominantly Chicanos, some black, some white.
But they're facing this whole LA, this whole
California thing, this whole LA thing with gangs.
The other day, a guy went into a
supermarket, Joey, bald guy.
He had shaved off his hair and he
went in, young guy, with his wife.
And two gang guys were there and he
didn't know he was on their turf.
And they looked at him and he didn't
flash a certain sign to them and they
didn't like the way he looked at them.
They went outside, got a gun when he
came out.
They shot him to death.
That's all it takes.
Not only the Crips and the Bloods, but
the 19th Street Gang and all these other
gangs.
Just insanity.
And Sonny and his people go in and
have churches in the middle of these barrios
and places where nobody else would even go.
And most of the Church of Jesus Christ
says, let somebody else talk to them.
You know, we're not interested.
It's too dangerous.
And you see some sites out there with
these victory outreach passes.
I was in the elevator going up after
I checked into my hotel room.
The convention had already begun, but I was
jet lagged.
So I wanted to just go and rest.
A guy walked in with a cowboy hat
on, right?
Tattoos all up and down both his arms.
And I thought, this guy looks like, this
guy looks hard.
This guy looks like he's just been out
of prison.
Like yesterday.
And I'm standing next to him, just have
my head down.
We didn't say anything.
Another guy with him.
And right before the door is closed to
go up, two other guys get on and
they look at this guy next to me
with the cowboy hat on, the tattoos.
And they go, Pastor Albert, how are you,
Pastor?
How are you?
And I went, he's a pastor?
What's up with this?
He's a pastor?
Looks like he just got out of the
slammer.
And he had been in the slammer, but
that's the way they do it.
Just get a hold of Jesus and go.
So that night, next night, Tuesday night, I
got in on Monday.
The place has nine, 10,000 people, whatever.
His son and his lovely wife.
We hugged, we met.
He's from Brooklyn, Sonny.
They have centers all over the world.
Amsterdam, Germany, Italy, foreign Australia.
I mean, but down where it's the worst.
So Sonny says to me, we got a
treat before you preach.
I hope you don't mind this.
We're going to do one of your wife's
song.
I said, who said we put together, we
don't have choirs very much, but we put
together a special choir because we, because she
wrote the song.
So right before they introduced me, after the
announcements and the offering, they, Sonny and I
come off the stage in this arena and
we sit in the front and they start
playing some music and 400 women walk up
on the platform.
Ranging from 18 years old to 50.
Neither a gangbanger.
They made them all wear some black outfit
that they could throw together.
They didn't have much money.
They had, they must've given them 400 kerchiefs
that they got.
So they all, that was their uniform, black,
whatever.
And then this kerchief, some of them were
cards, tattoos everywhere, muscles rippling in some of
their arms.
I wouldn't want to arm wrestle about a
hundred of them.
And the music began and they began to
sing, go forth, go forth his name to
proclaim.
It's a song that my wife wrote because
a certain denomination had asked her for their
end of their convention a couple of years
ago.
They said, we want a mission song for
our missionaries.
Would you write a missionary song?
And I happened to be there when she
said, Jim, what does this sound like to
you?
Does this bear witness with you?
And I said, Carol, that's a beautiful song.
And they, they, they sang at some choir
of a couple of hundred voices.
I understand in Indianapolis, in the Hoosier Dome,
but I'll tell you why God gave Carol
that song.
He gave it for those girls to sing
because when they lifted their hands, I saw
the tears.
I was in the front row.
I saw the tears rolling out of them
and they took a little break in the
song.
And three of them gave a 30 second
testimony of where God, one was had been
a hooker.
The other one was just messed up on
heroin.
Could see the scars still in her arm.
Well, you could, you could, you could look
at this and say, look what Jesus did.
I mean, I, when they started singing it
and they got to the finale and lifted
their hands, I totally lost it.
I said, God, how am I going to
preach tonight?
I just started to weep convulsively for joy
of the grace of God.
How many know God can change anybody, the
worst, the lowest.
And listen, if you're visiting here today and
you're saying, oh, this is something just for
the inner city, inner city, my foot, there's
problems everywhere.
There's messed up people everywhere.
Love these child, horrible things that are happening.
They're not happening in the inner city.
They're happening in suburbia and salt Lake city,
Colorado Springs.
So you could say, and look at those
girls and you could say, my, what did
God do?
But did God do that?
Yes, he did.
But guess what?
Every one of those girls, someone had to
talk to them.
Someone had a risk going up to them.
Someone had to have a street meeting.
Somebody had to pray for them.
Somebody had to tell them about Jesus.
Somebody had to take a step of faith
and say, you know what?
God can change you.
You can say God did it, but God
had to use somebody to do it.
You don't have a 400 voice choir by
just saying, Presto.
No, somebody had to say, it doesn't matter
about me.
It matters about Jesus.
Somebody had to say, it doesn't matter what
party.
I'm not coming in the name of a
party.
I'm coming in the name of the Lord
to you.
And someone had to pray, not asking for
selfish things.
Someone had to pray and say, oh, Jesus
changed her.
And you know what?
God affirmed to me, just so you that
come here regularly, you know, God affirmed to
me a couple of things during that meeting.
I think he made me a blessing later
on, but I got a blessing from that
service.
You know what?
That's what I want to be around all
my life.
I don't want to be around fancy people.
If God sends them, that's fine.
I don't want to meet President Bush.
In a few weeks, Attorney General Ashcroft is
going to be here for one of the
services.
That's wonderful.
He's a believer.
I pray for him.
He's a good brother in the Lord.
I thank God that I can meet the
Attorney General, but that's not what gives me
joy.
I want to be around people that are
hopeless so that I can tell them Jesus
loves you.
Jesus loves you.
Listen, how many feel the same way?
How many want to invest your life doing
something different than just the same old, same
old?
Let's lift up our hands.
God, we ask you today to take away
the obstacles that keep us on a different
page from you.
We understand what you're about today.
You're about saving.
You're about serving.
You're about giving.
You're about seeing lives transformed.
And Lord, we ask you to forgive us
for our egotism and self-exaltation and bloated
egos, Lord, and self-concepts that we have.
Always thinking about me.
How do I look?
Are they honoring me?
Oh, God, take that out of our lives.
Rip it out like weeds out of our
heart, Lord.
We ask you to keep us from a
party spirit.
Save us from any denomination or church spirit
or any racial spirit or ethnic spirit or
island spirit.
We don't care what we are.
We only want the name of Jesus to
be proclaimed and honored and glorified.
And Lord, when we pray, help us to
graduate beyond just praying for what I need
and what I want and what will make
me feel better.
Help me to pray for others and lay
down my life, Lord.
Let me lay down my life so somebody
could be changed because of me.
So that when I die and I see
you, I won't come empty-handed, but there'll
be somebody with me, Lord, that I love,
that I prayed for, the money I gave
or something, Lord.
Use something in my limited little life.
Use something, Lord, and make it great for
you with every eye closed.
How long is it going to be for
some of you?
Same old, same old, week after week.
Don't witness to anyone.
Don't invite anyone to church.
Don't hardly talk to anyone.
Don't give very much.
Just live in the circle of your own
self-existence.
Always thinking about you and your family.
When in the world can God shake you
and get us beyond that little circle?
He's got a whole big world that you
can touch.
Yes, you can.
Don't say you haven't been to Bible school.
Don't say you're 70 years old.
God can do anything when somebody yields to
him.
When somebody sings, Lord, have your way.
Lord, have your way.
With all my heart, I will obey.
That's all God needs.
Doesn't need a master.
You don't need a master's in divinity.
You don't need a degree.
Jesus used fishermen and weak ones at that.
Flops and failures.
But he got them to a place where
they stopped thinking about themselves.
Got free of a party spirit.
They started praying for something bigger than their
own lives.
Oh God, let this sermon get in my
heart, Lord.
I'm preaching it, but God, I want to
live it.
I want to live it, Lord.
I want to live it.
As long as you give me breath, I
want to live it, Lord.
If you're here today and say, Pastor Cimbala,
God's talking to me.
I want a new kind of existence to
begin for me today.
And some of you who are visiting today,
God wants you to go back to your
area and go against, go against the grain,
go against the flow.
The flow is me, myself, and I.
Go against it for the glory of God.
God could use you in a great way.
But if you're here today and say, Pastor,
I'm with you.
I am with you.
I feel the way you feel.
I have the same hunger, same thirst.
I want God to use me for his
glory.
I don't want to live for myself.
I want to live for others.
I want to lay down my life.
I can't lay it down like Jesus on
a cross, but I want to lay down
my time, myself, what I am, so that
God can do great things through me for
others.
Someone's got to do it.
The fields are ripe to harvest, but the
labors are few.
Everyone's just worried about their own selves, but
there are so few who want to go
out into the fields.
If you're here today, whether you're a brand
new Christian or someone who feels called to
a ministry that you're not fulfilling yet, would
you get up from out of your seat?
And we'll just close with a word of
prayer up here in the front.
I don't care if five of you come
or 500 of you come.
Just come as we sing.
Come on, let's sing.
Everyone else.