The message is persecution, what you need to
know.
Does God have a wonderful plan for our
life?
People answer yes, people answer no.
You've seen best-selling books written on this
topic.
Does God have a wonderful plan for your
life?
And this is actually a new concept.
This is a sobering sermon this morning, but
it's one we need to hear.
This idea that God has a wonderful plan
for our life is actually a new concept.
If you go back to the early church
and New Testament writings, you'll see that it
wasn't always a wonderful plan.
What do you say to the Pakistan family
who lost their two kids in a mob
riot?
Or the disciples, 11 of them of the
12 were killed?
Or the parent who loses two sons in
the course of 10 years?
What do you tell them?
Well, God has a wonderful plan for your
life.
And we have to be careful because on
one hand, we do believe in the blessings
of God.
I pray for the blessings of God.
I hope that God has a wonderful plan.
And it's how we define that word wonderful.
But we have to get away from what
we think wonderful means.
Blessings, big house, lots of money, the cars
in the driveway, a wonderful life, carefree life,
a life, Vegas one weekend and San Diego
the next.
And we just, God wants a wonderful life.
But be very careful in this area because
God does not promise a wonderful life.
He promises that he'll be with us through
the storm.
And we have to look to God's word
for this.
Ray Comfort said, the preacher promises a bed
of roses for which who come to, I'm
sorry, the preacher promises a bed of roses
for those who come to Christ.
But those who are in Christ are evidently
sitting on a painful bed of thorns.
And Bonhoeffer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was killed in
Germany under Hitler because he would not renounce
his faith, said, when Christ calls a man,
he bids him come and die.
When Christ calls you, the call is come
and die.
Pick up your cross, follow me, deny yourself.
See, if you don't have that in order,
life will be very challenging because what you
thought was Christianity turns out to be anything
but what you thought.
And I believe this is why many people
fall away sometimes is it gets difficult, it
gets challenging.
And this is why I'm careful on the
concept of the rapture is we're telling generations
of people and our kids, don't worry, when
it gets hard, you're out of here.
And we're not preparing people for battle.
We're not preparing them for, well, what about
if Jesus delays?
Go tell the people who are being beheaded
right now that you'll be out of here
when it gets, well, that doesn't apply to
us.
It applies to us in America.
So we have to be careful.
That's the rapture and post-tribulation, mid-tribulation,
the tribulation, eschatology, amillennialism, all these big theological
words really mean we don't really know.
We know that Jesus is coming.
We know that it's going to get difficult
and we know we're called to watch and
wait.
Now, with that said, we have to be
careful when we talk to others, but also
when we understand Christianity for ourself.
What does it mean?
And I'll be the first to tell you
this sermon was not comfortable for me.
I wish it meant a carefree life.
I wish it meant my kids will never
walk away from the Lord.
I wish it meant I will never have
challenges and difficulties, and the more I love
God, the more blessings I'll have.
I wish the closer I follow Christ, the
less persecution I would have.
But what I want is not really reality.
What if promotional material for the Navy SEALs
read like this?
Limited time to be stationed on Coronado Island.
Free luau, snorkeling, and cruises, and nightly excursions,
all paid for by the United States Navy.
How many would jump at that opportunity?
And within five minutes, five minutes of meeting
their drill sergeant, they would be on a
bus back home.
They're not prepared, they're not ready.
But those who you prepare, who are ready,
who are prepared mentally, physically, are able to
get through the difficulties.
Here's the key.
Our relationship with God does not hinge on
trials, difficulties, and persecutions.
It hinges on who He is.
As you're going through, remember who He is.
That's how you get through life, is you
remember who God is.
And we all need a good reminder.
We all do, because you look at Facebook,
you look at what's going on in America,
you look at what's going on in some
of our personal lives, you wonder, this is
not what I signed up for.
Correct, but it's what Jesus died for.
I mean, if we think about this, these
songs sometimes bring me to tears, that the
cross, what it cost Him.
And then He says, because it cost me
everything, here's what you need to do.
You need to carry your cross.
You need to deny yourself and follow me.
Lose your life.
Now, and I didn't do a Greek study
on all of that, but that tells me
that's not easy.
That's not comfortable.
That's not what I signed up for.
But it's the most fulfilling life that we'll
ever know, because once you die to self,
He carries you, He guides you.
Lord, it's not my life, it's your life.
He pays the bills.
He opens doors, He closes doors.
He mends relationships, He mends marriages, as you
submit to Him.
He is our foundation in the midst of
the storm.
He is our peace in the midst of
fear.
He is our comfort in the midst of
anxiety.
And as much as I want a wonderful
place for my children, which you all do,
it would be advantageous for you to talk
to some believers in these persecuted countries and
watching their children being beat and ridiculed and
watching family members die in front of their
eyes.
And it will put things quickly in perspective.
Because why this is so important is the
storm is coming.
Somehow, if you're going through a storm right
now, you know, if you haven't, you probably
just got out of one or you're going
into one.
Storms are coming.
That's why Jesus said, the wise man, I
will liken to the man who built his
house on the rock, which built his house
on me and on what basically obedience to
his word.
When he built his house, when the rains
came, the wind beat upon that house, the
floods came, it did not fall because it
was founded upon the rock.
But when the same storm came to the
same house with the same atmosphere, that house
fell.
And great was its fall because it was
not grounded and founded.
Here's why I'm passionate in this area.
I've seen so many people, so many people,
when they think Jesus is a butler or
a genie in a bottle, as soon as
he doesn't deliver, I'm out of here.
But that's why it's so important to explain
the gospel, the good news.
So when they understand I'm a sinner, the
wages of sin is death, I was on
my way to hell without Christ.
I'm lost for eternity.
Can I not give him my life, but
the life of my family as well?
Like Nathan Hale, when the American Revolution took
place, he said, I only regret that I
have but one life to give to my
country.
How much more should we say that about
Christ?
So you have to have the right perspective
and I'm not up here pointing fingers.
I'm up here sitting down there because sometimes
I want, and there's nothing wrong.
Now, maybe I should throw a disclaimer in
there.
It's okay to want the blessings of God.
What do you think I pray over my
children?
To bring havoc, bring storms of destruction over
these kids?
Of course not.
Lord bless these children, but I understand the
strongest people in their faith have been through
trials.
And the hardest thing a parent will ever
realize or do is to let the child
go in that storm.
We'll cry, we'll throw a fit, we'll try
to protect them.
But once they see the storm and they
run to their Savior, they hold on tighter.
Those who have been forgiven much, love much.
And it's a very delicate balancing act because
we want to protect our children.
We want to nurture our children.
Who they hang around with.
You don't think I have a checklist?
You know, who they're dating, I have no
clue.
I'm not even thinking about that right now.
My wife says, start praying for their husbands.
What?
They're little babies.
We're building houses behind our house where they
can live.
Their marriage is not, it's not gonna happen.
I'm just being honest.
I can't pray for them yet, so pray
for me.
I'm trying, you know, and you can't let
those little, my son I can pray for
and go get married, but my little girls,
it's like, no way.
And then you look at the news.
You look at the news and you're like,
what is going on in this world?
We are calling good evil and evil good.
And I immediately thought, I don't know if
any of you saw what Ashley Judd said.
I had to turn it off.
It is so disgusting and deplorable.
And please don't let me go off on
this, but I'll come right back.
And then to remember, you know, remember her
mom and her sister singing, Grandpa, remember the
good old days where men really loved their
families and they stayed, where families marriages were
held together when they bowed their head and
prayed.
Wait, what happened?
What happened?
The enemies of our soul is coming in
and causing division.
And just because, and I don't like it,
and please Trump supporters don't get upset, but
I don't like when people say, well, now
we're gonna have peace or now everything's gonna
be okay.
You just stirred the hornet's nest.
And it's a good thing sometimes, but be
prepared.
Are you prepared?
We don't even know what persecution is.
Well, they're mean to me on Facebook.
Welcome to my world on a daily basis.
But be prepared because what we're seeing now
is the embers, the fuel.
Unless God brings revival, this won't just all
go away.
You don't have that many hundreds of thousands
of marchers just go away.
We have to be ready for these things.
And God ascribes to himself names that he
gave Israel.
Do you know that God gave Israel names
for himself?
It wasn't just Elohim, or El, or Ella
in the plural and all these different things.
It wasn't just Elohim.
He said, I am Jehovah Jireh.
I am your provider.
I am El Shaddai, all powerful.
I am Jehovah Shalom, your peace.
I am Jehovah Rapha, your shepherd.
I am Jehovah Nissi, your victory and your
strength.
I am Jehovah Sitkanu, your righteousness.
I am Jehovah Shammah, which means he is
there.
In the darkest time, he would use this,
I am Jehovah Shammah, I am there in
your darkest times.
When this boy was dying in the video
we saw, when all these things, he is
there.
See, we thumbs up, he's gone.
No, he's right there.
He's right there.
Don't hold tight to that anchor.
Hold, don't let loose on him.
He's always there.
He's an ever-present help in time of
need.
And actually, I don't realize how important he
is until I go through those things.
When everybody deserts you, and everybody wants to
persecute you, everybody's coming against you, it's Christ
I have to hold on to.
That's why I say, I don't know how
some of you get through life without Christ
at the center.
See, he's just right now, he's just in
the back room for light, for hell, what
do they call that?
Get out of hell free card.
I just grab him when I need him.
I've got a difficulty.
Now I'm through it, now go back.
I'll get you later.
But he's everything.
He has to be everything to you.
And we want God to remove the pain,
don't we?
Get rid of the pain.
God, get rid of the pain.
But pain often has a purpose.
And just this week, I wrote it down.
I wrote it down yesterday.
I was listening to the radio, and there's
a very, very, I don't know what the
right word is, peculiar disease or something, I
don't even know what they call it, where
people can actually not feel pain.
And as I'm listening, I'm going, that would
be awesome.
God, why only a few people?
Why didn't I get that disease?
Or why did, not feel pain?
I mean, think how many fights you could
win, guys.
You know, it just.
But then my joy, or just my thoughts
turned instantly when they were interviewing the mom
or talking to the mom.
She said her prayer every single day for
her daughter is, Lord, please let my daughter
feel pain.
Because as a result, she's had to have
some amputation take place.
She's had scars and fingers missing and things,
because you don't know that's a burner.
You don't know that's a knife.
You don't know that's a nail on the
ground that you're walking around with for days,
and now you've got an infection.
There's no pain.
See, it's through the pain that we experience
the power of Christ.
It's through, if I didn't experience the pain,
I wouldn't understand the joy.
If I didn't understand the pain, I wouldn't
understand the freedom.
Now, we don't wanna bring on pain, but
it's through these difficulties, often, that we know
God in all these ways.
I mean, do you truly know him as
your peace and your victory and your provider,
and he's always there?
Do you truly know him?
And I asked Alyssa if I could say
this, and she said yes, and so thank
you for allowing me to just open my
heart a little bit, but me and Morgan
were privileged to meet her many years ago.
Morgan was one of her teachers, and she
was born blind.
Alyssa was playing the piano, and I'm just
amazed at where that anointing for worship, just
that you can tell from that pain, from
things we take for granted.
I think I'm having a bad day.
You know, it's like, but through that pain,
through that relationship, through that not being able
to see, but seeing, I wonder how many,
I have a feeling she sees God a
lot more clearly than many of us, because
it's through that dependency, it's through that brokenness,
it's through that pain that draws us closer
to the Father.
See, those who walk really close with God,
you catch it from now and then.
You'll see a tear coming down quite often.
That you'll see, because that relationship, he holds
everything together.
And that's what you have to understand.
When persecution comes, it's ironic.
People think, if you're not willing to live
for him today, how are you going to
die for him tomorrow?
I mean, sometimes we just think, I'll just
turn to Superman when it's time.
No, you won't.
You'll turn into a kryptonite, the opposite.
I mean, you'll turn into something that is
just not prepared for the persecution that is
coming.
I have told you these things, so that
in me you may have peace.
In this world, you will have trouble.
But take heart, I have overcome the world.
Jesus said that in John 10, 16, 33.
But I also believe that God has blessed
this nation.
I believe that God wants to bless.
I believe God wants to protect.
I believe he's held off many terrorist attacks.
I believe he will continue to do things,
but you will see an element rising up
that wants to silence the church.
These things that are coming out are not
pretty.
And there's persecution.
Let alone what happens in China or in
different nations.
We don't even know that here.
We haven't experienced it.
So again, I want to clarify this.
Please don't understand.
God blesses his people.
We should pray for, enjoy, and encourage his
blessings.
But a wonderful, comfortable life is not always
a blessing.
I know a lot of miserable people with
a wonderful, comfortable life.
Miserable.
Look at most of Hollywood.
Just absolutely miserable.
Why?
The presence and the power of God in
our lives is what we want.
That's what gets us through.
The Lord gives strength to his people.
The Lord blesses his people with peace.
Psalm 29.
I know many of you right now are
probably thinking of Jeremiah, where God said, I
know the plans I have for you.
Plans of peace and not of war, of
safety and of hope.
Like yeah, but you have to read scripture
in context.
He's actually writing to the nation of Israel
who were a let away captive.
Babylon just captured Israel.
And these people are now slaves in Babylon.
And Jeremiah is writing, context is 70 years.
God will release us and free you.
There will be hope and peace.
So we can't just tag that verse and
say, see God, you're letting me down.
See, nothing bad's ever supposed to happen.
Prosperity, peace, where's it at?
Where's it at?
No, he's, I'm going with you through the
storm.
But I wanna go around it.
I wanna take that road way over there
and come around the mountains and miss the
hole.
He goes, no, I'm gonna take you through
it.
That's what we have to understand about persecution.
So that was a long introduction to Acts
6.
Acts 6, 8.
Now you understand the setting that Stephen is
in.
He's the first martyr in the church.
And Stephen, full of faith and power.
Full of faith and power.
Heart check this morning.
Are you full of faith and power?
If not, you can leave here this morning.
Full of faith and full of power.
He did great wonders and signs among the
people.
Then there arose some from what is called
the synagogue of the freed men, disputing with
Stephen.
Obviously, he upset these people.
And they were not able to resist the
wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke.
Then they secretly induced, which is motivated.
They tried to come against Stephen.
So they secretly induced motivated men to say
this.
We have heard him speak blasphemous words against
Moses and God.
And they stirred up the people, the elders
and the scribes, and they came upon him
and seized him and brought him to the
council.
They also set up false witness who said,
this man who does not cease to speak
blasphemous words against the holy place and the
law.
So these witnesses came and they said, Steve
is speaking blasphemy.
For we have heard him say that Jesus
of Nazareth will destroy this place and change
the customs which Moses delivered to us.
And all who sat in the council looked
steadfastly at him and they saw his face
as the face of an angel.
Isn't that interesting?
His continents changed.
He looked like he had the face of
an angel, this glow.
But the first point I wanna pull from
here on what you need to know about
persecution is those full of faith and full
of power will be persecuted.
If you're not being persecuted, you might wanna
check your faith and power level.
Because if you're not being persecuted, it's usually
because you look just like the person next
to you.
You don't wanna offend anybody on Facebook.
Don't wanna offend anybody at work.
Don't wanna just gonna be a closet secret
Christian to not offend anybody.
But those full of faith and power will
offend people.
Now, another disclaimer.
Don't go looking for the fight, right?
Shane said, I can get rude on Facebook.
No, I didn't.
Rude at work.
I'm gonna tell that boss off tomorrow morning.
Thank God he gave me the boldness.
No, that's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying as a believer, if you
just live your life, you're just the light
that shines and people will not like it.
So when you're full of faith and full
of power, you will be persecuted.
If you're at work and you're full of
faith and full of power, hey, how about
this?
No, I don't take money under the table
and I don't cut bills like that or
cut the costs.
I gotta be honest.
Well, what?
Persecution at work.
Now, just say this, just alter the numbers,
just doctor the numbers.
No, I can't do that.
Full of faith, it will get you in
trouble.
I mean, if you look at, go back
to 2008, the big crisis and even before
that, and big crisis where banks and hedge
funds and all these went out of business,
often it was because of fudging the numbers.
Let's look at these quarter earnings, let's make
this number huge and people of integrity worked
in, they didn't wanna say anything, it's gonna
hurt my retirement and things.
I understand that, but we have to be
full of faith and full of power.
Here's what this does.
When a person gets upset, they are trying
to stop the conviction they are feeling.
God's judgment is haunting them.
So when you live with faith and with
power and you proclaim the message of the
gospel, people are convicted.
Romans 2.16 says, God will judge the
secret things of man's heart.
So if God's the judge, wouldn't it make
sense to silence the judge?
If I wanna keep on with my crime
spree, I'm gonna get rid of the judge.
So that's what we see here when you're
full of faith and full of the power
of the Holy Spirit because you know when
you're full of the Holy Spirit, you can't
be quiet all the time.
It's like, you ever make rice and just
too much water and it starts boiling, the
pot, the top?
You know, that's how I feel sometimes.
Full of, you just have to, no, that's
not right.
That's not right.
I mean, look at what's going on in
DC.
I wanted to say a lot of things.
It's bubbling over, that's not right.
That's not right.
And this thing is just bubbling over full
of faith and power, but be careful.
I wanna reiterate this.
The truth will offend people, but your attitude
should not.
I've said that about three times down this
year and I'm gonna continue saying it.
The truth will offend, but your attitude cannot.
The next point, it begins with an offense.
Persecution, what you need to know, begins with
an offense.
You offended me.
You offended me, isn't that how it begins?
What offends?
The truth offends, the nature of God offends.
And if you get more narrow, see, you
can actually talk about God and be okay
because your perception of God, but when you
try to narrow that now to a moral
law giver, to Jesus is the only way,
the only truth, to living a certain way,
now you're going to offend.
And we've read before Philippians 2.9 that
God has highly exalted Jesus Christ.
What does exalt mean?
Rank and power and status.
So God has taken Jesus, given him rank
and power of a status.
He is over everything, over all of creation.
He is in charge, he's already defeated.
So what happens is when you begin to
acknowledge that rank and that power, those who
don't want to acknowledge it, get upset, get
offended.
You upset me.
And what we do as Christians sometimes, is
we go, oh gosh, I'm sorry I should
have said that.
And it's okay to apologize when something needs
to be apologized for, but the majority of
time, we are not going to be able
to apologize for God's word.
Because here's what they want you to say,
I'm sorry, I was wrong, what was I
thinking?
I take that back.
Yeah, that's right.
And you can stop that offense real quick
if you backpedal.
Why did they say renounce Christ and embrace
communism?
Renounce Christ and embrace whatever it is, why?
They want that demonic realm, wants the Christ
in you to bow to them.
That's what it's about, removing that conviction.
This is where you'll hear the scoffing voices.
Have you ever heard the scoffing voices?
You know, you believe in this?
You guys are so foolish.
How can you believe in a Bible written
by men, put together by men with an
agenda?
And a big fish swallowed somebody?
You guys, come on.
How can you believe this?
Don't you know science proves evolution?
Haven't you grown up yet?
Haven't you figured it out?
You don't let your kids do what?
They can't watch R-rated movies at 10?
What is wrong with you parents?
These mocking voices, they have to mock and
put down and twist and continue to throw
darts at you.
That makes them feel better because Satan is
the father of lies, the accuser of the
brethren.
So he throws out these things, assaulting.
That's why when these little kids, you gotta
prepare them because, oh, they're held in daddy's
arms at two and mommy coddles them at
four and this and then they go and
oh, and all this, and Iwanas and VBS
and oh, this, maybe homeschool.
Oh my goodness, there you go.
And then now they get into the real
world like, oh my gosh, and these mocking
voices and they're like, oh, I'm not prepared
for this and oh gosh, I guess we
are stupid and I didn't know, why do
we, and they're not prepared.
So they walk into a university and a
college professor begins to chastise them and ridicule
them and they feel stupid and foolish and
they begin to walk away from Christ because
they didn't have the foundation.
You should be able to teach your 18
-year-old to walk in front of the
professor and say, no, that's ludicrous.
Here's why, and defend the faith because they're
filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
That's what we should instill and that's why
kids are walking away often is they're not
prepared.
Christianity has been painted this certain picture.
And also, many kids walk away because they
don't like the Christ they see in us.
That's the most convicting point of the day.
My concern with this whole topic is the
truth that we once cling to like a
man who clings to a life preserver who's
drowning and the God we once cling to
and the Savior we once cling to.
When things are easy, you begin to walk
away from that.
You begin to, unless you're a very disciplined
person and you can go with the highs
and lows, most people walk away from that
and it's that persecution that'll bring you back
because when the Bible talks about he who
has the love of the world doesn't have
the love of the Father in him.
The more you can love the things of
the world and get all fired up about
the things of the world, slowly the things
of God fade away and persecution can bring
us back.
The goal of persecution, which we know, but
it bears repeating here with Stephen, is to
silence the message and the messenger.
They wanna just silence, that's why they're persecuting
and it works, that's why they keep doing
it.
It works.
You know, we like to highlight these martyrs
who died, you know, burning in flames.
I can name some for you, but we
forget about all the people who rejected Christ
and were spared their life and then went
home in misery.
It works, it often works to intimidate the
messenger and the message.
So what's the fourth point?
The battle plan, when persecution comes, the battle
plan is what Stephen did.
Truth, love, and power are the battle plan
and they were not able to resist the
wisdom by which he spoke.
They said, the Bible says they were not
able to resist the wisdom by which Stephen
spoke.
Now some of you might have caught that
I forgot something in that sentence.
They were not able to resist the wisdom
and the spirit by which he spoke.
So you can't just come at somebody with
wisdom and the truth but not the spiritual
power of it.
Or said another way, come with the wisdom
but also the fruit of the spirit.
So I can bring wisdom and also love,
joy, peace, contentment, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness, self
-control.
Self-control.
You know what that is, don't you?
Right, you're getting ready to type up something
on Facebook, delete.
Delete.
Man.
Delete.
Madonna, you're gonna do what?
I'm gonna write an article and I'm gonna
get to the New York Times.
You just, you know, self-control.
So they saw the wisdom of Stephen and
they saw being filled with the spirit, the
boldness of Stephen.
And here's the key.
Wisdom will confound them and love will soften
them.
See, if you confound them, like, okay, and
they just, okay, well he's, okay, caught us
there, he caught us there, he caught us
here.
We don't know what to say and you
also love them, that's a package.
But if you come and arrogantly argue, I
personally, I've never seen somebody go, you know
what, Shane, that's a, you've got really made
me thinking.
You're very prideful and arrogant and loud in
this discussion but now I'm really thinking.
Never.
It's always slam the door, they'll leave and
it's, but you know what?
You've got me thinking.
If you present it, now, this is hard
for all of us because the flesh wants
to rise up and really let them have
it, doesn't it?
That's why this is important.
The wisdom and the love going into this
that he had.
But the truth is not always soft.
Sometimes the truth is very difficult to hear
because this quiet little Stephen that we'll read
about in the next week or two said,
you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised at heart and
ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit as
your fathers did, you do also.
And we're like, oh, wow.
That's like saying, that's like saying, you arrogant,
unbeliever, you're denying God just like your mama
did.
Those are fighting words, aren't they?
You're just like your father.
A worthless, bum, Christ rejecter.
But he's being truthful.
Now, don't say it like that.
He probably, you know, but he's saying you
stiff-necked, you know, just stiff-necked, pride,
arrogant, uncircumcised in your heart.
Your heart hasn't been rent and torn and
broken before God and you're resisting the work
of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit's drawing you.
The Holy Spirit's convicting you.
The Holy Spirit's wooing you.
The Holy Spirit's showing you the plan of
salvation and you're rejecting the work of the
Holy Spirit just like the fathers did that
came before you.
The fathers, your fathers actually, can you believe
this?
They actually killed the prophets.
That's why I don't trust a lot of
the church.
Most of the church in America will not
like these types of sermons.
Most of the hate mail I get are
from Christians.
They don't like this.
You're challenging my lukewarm status.
You're challenging how I live.
All the marches that went on, their whole
argument was we're standing for morality.
Hmm, just absorb that for a while.
And this message isn't soft.
True preaching is not soft.
It's heartfelt, but it's convicting.
You've gotta shoot people straight.
You've gotta tell them the truth.
When God opens that door, love them and
be understanding, but also share the truth.
The fifth thing we see is lies are
used to discredit and stir up.
Lies are used to discredit and stir up.
What we say is twisted.
That's how the enemy does.
I didn't say that.
Oh my gosh, I didn't.
And the reason I'm bringing up these marches,
people might not like it, that's fine, but
God gave me a perfect application with what's
going on in the news.
This is exactly what we're seeing because everything
is a twisted.
Everything is, they're upset.
Now, I mean, I'm a racist, homophobic person
who hates women because stereotyping, and that's what
most of you are.
Where does that come from?
Twisting millions of dollars meant on false advertising
to work people up to twist the truth,
to twist everything.
It doesn't matter who you're voted for.
I'm just, there's Republicans, Democrats, Independents.
I am a pastor to all people, but
the truth is what we're seeing is not
good.
What we're seeing is an upheaval.
Something is taking place.
So lies are used to discredit and stir
up.
Isn't that what the enemy uses?
So if you're, and that's what lies are
happening even with what I do.
I mean, I told you, I shared a
few weeks ago, guy said I'm a wolf
in sheep's clothing on her Facebook post.
So I had to find delete on that
one real quick.
But Mike's going, are you?
No, here's the thing.
Here's why he said that, because when I
was talking about health and fitness, he said
that I said that you have to follow
the dietary laws in the Old Testament.
And of course I'm like, well, can you
please send me that part of the sermon
clip?
Because I didn't catch that one.
And of course they don't.
Even this week, they email, you've got to
repent, your whole congregation has to repent.
You're leading millions of people astray.
You only talk about Jesus.
You never talk about the blood of Christ.
The cross of Christ.
I'm like, oh, so you caught one sermon
for five minutes.
You know, but it's twisting.
See, everything's, it's like, no, no, no, I
didn't.
But when you stop defending also, because you're
not supposed to run around, defend, defend, defend.
You just let God be your defense.
But sometimes there comes a time and a
place where you say something.
But most things are twisted, aren't they?
That's what the enemy does.
He'll just twist it a little bit.
And also with the article I wrote, the
difference between Roman Catholicism and Christianity, that to
date is the most hate mail I've ever
received in my life without anything even coming
close.
Showing the difference.
Things are twisted.
The enemy comes in and twists things.
And people get upset.
Then they secretly induce men to say, when
we have heard him speak blasphemous words against
Moses and God.
And then they stirred up the people, the
elders and the scribes, and they came upon
him, seized him, and brought him to the
council.
They also set up the false witnesses.
So the father of lies tells lies.
So be very careful where you get your
information from.
That's just a word of encouragement for all
of you.
Because we like to put down other people,
the website says this.
Do you know I can find a website
that will say John MacArthur's a false teacher,
and Billy Graham's a false teacher, and Chuck
Swindoll's a false teacher, and Charles Stanley's a
false teacher?
I can find a website that tells me
everything I want to hear about everything.
Be careful.
Be careful what you listen to.
Isn't it interesting?
We believe what we see.
And people can put things together, and it's
true.
Isn't that how the enemy works?
George Bush brought down the Twin Towers.
I mean, I get emails like that, every
other, what do you think of this?
Could it be, I'm like, oh my Lord.
People.
And people get mad.
No, no, no, come on.
Reality check here.
I promise God I'll be honest.
I'm not gonna sugarcoat these things because we
need to be called on the carpet sometimes.
We need to be, we believe so many
different things just because it's on the internet.
Do you know anybody can open up an
internet page and write a blog?
Anybody.
So be careful.
Be very careful where you get your information
up because the enemy will deceive.
I ran into a pastor at a memorial
service I've never known before, but he knows
of West Side Christian Fellowship.
And I'm so glad we talked because his
perception of what happened up here during the
churches coming together and all, just, it's mind
boggling how he gets this, you know, of
takeovers and weird things happening and people being
pushed out and you did this.
I'm like, what?
None of that is true, zero.
So what is the devil like to do?
Twist it, twist it.
Everything is twisted.
Isn't that that weird charismatic church up there
where people do weird things?
I'm like, I haven't seen too many weird
things, but.
I mean, if God, what do you mean
by charismatic?
Open for the work of the Spirit?
Well, you gotta be careful there.
Yeah, I know you gotta be.
So all these impressions that people have that
it's just interesting.
The enemy can twist things.
Physical persecution may follow.
This is the hardest part.
Physical persecution may follow.
What happens is they turn up the heat.
Don't they?
Oh, the words didn't hurt.
Now you're not being quiet.
Now, physically, we have to physically persecute you.
And if you go to some spots in
India in these temples they have, and if
they even know you're a Christian, you are
dead, you're killed on the spot.
Let alone Syria or Iraq or different.
They know that that's the thing is to
eradicate.
So it's ramped up often.
Physical persecution follows.
And then finally, this will be my closing
point, the fruit of persecution.
Is there fruit from persecution?
Yes, very good fruit.
Thank God for the fruit of persecution.
Here's what it does.
It renews our relationship with God.
It renews.
Many times when people fall away, it's because
of comfort.
So persecution, the fruit of that can renew
our relationship with God.
Now, I might need to clarify a little
bit because we see this and we're going,
we don't see that.
When was anybody that you saw beat up
and killed here in America?
It happens, there's a few.
But normally, what is our persecution?
Bullies, mocking voices.
Mocking voices.
Accusation.
It's so funny.
Every time I write an article just about
obedience to God's word, I'm called a legalistic
Pharisee.
Huh.
So obedience is legalism, really.
I mean, just the persecution, I mean, the
recent one I got recently, I shared an
article about why it's good for most people
to not drink.
And you would have thought I brought a
keg to an A meeting.
Because all these people defending their position, they're
defending it.
No, you can't.
And I know some of these people and
they've got a problem in this issue.
And when you call out the problem, they
don't want to change, they get upset.
Our persecution in America is going to be
those that you see in the streets of
Washington, those close to you, those friends that
will be mocking voices for now.
Offensive, mocking voices, mocking what you believe, trying
to put you down, twist things.
That's what we're going to deal with.
But the fruit of that, it renews our
relationship with God.
We grow spiritually.
I don't like this part, but we grow
spiritually.
What persecution does?
We remove the clutter and the distractions.
When I'm getting persecuted, I'm like, let me
get rid of the clutter, let me get
rid of the distractions, let me sit before
you God again and renew my prayer life.
You get sick and you watch how quick
your prayer life becomes very important to you.
The doctor said such and such.
Oh God, you're on every moral guide.
Oh God, why is that?
But that's what persecution and these difficult things,
we grow spiritually, we start removing, you know
what, this is not important anymore.
This is not important.
We remove the clutter, we move the distractions.
Also, it adds credibility to the gospel.
It adds credibility to the gospel.
Your God is the true God.
They see, when you go through things with
the right spirit, you add credibility to the
gospel.
And finally, we reflect God.
That's what Stephen and all who sat in
the council looking steadfastly at him saw his
face as the face of an angel.
You look like who you've been with.
If you've been on the media and you've
been here and you've been to all these
things, you will look like that.
You can tell when somebody's not looking good,
can't you?
You see what they look like.
If you're not sure, look at someone who's
on a hangover and someone leaving church.
There's a difference there.
You look like who you've been with.
So the more time you spend, have you
ever heard something, there's a glow about you
or there's a something about you.
It permeates everything about you.
So you will reflect who you spend time
with.
So two closing points.
Have you been avoiding persecution?
Are you an undercover Christian?
Do you lack boldness?
If you do, then I encourage you to
tell the Lord, I don't want that.
I want to be bold for you.
I don't wanna bring on trouble, but I
wanna be prepared for it.
I wanna be bold.
I wanna be filled with your spirit.
And obviously all this talk without talking about
salvation would be pointless, but there's people in
here, probably a church this size, that you
don't know the Lord.
You've never repented.
You've never given your life to God, fully
surrendered.
So of course you don't know persecution.
You might say, oh, that's not what I
want.
Listen, God died for you.
All you have to do is repent and
believe and then he will be with you.
The Bible says repent and believe and the
only name that saves.
And too many people are avoiding this topic.
They come to church and they don't wanna
be shaken out of their comfort zone.
So I'm asking, do you truly know him?
Do you truly know him?
Do you truly have a relationship with him?
And then the last group I wanna encourage,
do you need encouragement?
Because many of us just need encouragement, don't
we?
We see the news.
We see what's going on.
Maybe in our own families.
Do you ever see your families apart that
are dying?
They're fighting.
They're arguing.
We need encouragement.
And I was reading about David this week.
David lost everything in one battle.
Did you know that?
He went to a small little battle.
He came back.
His wives, don't do that anymore.
It's wife today.
His wives, gotta clarify, his wives and children
were gone.
Everything he owned was gone.
So he got on his face.
The men there of war got on their
face.
They wanna kill David.
But the Bible says something interesting.
David strengthened himself in the Lord.
You've got to learn to strengthen yourself.
You've got to strengthen yourself.
Don't always rely on a sermon.
We go to YouTube, go to this, go
to this, go to radio.
Sometimes you gotta strengthen yourself.
You've gotta sit with God.
You've gotta sit and look to his word.
You've gotta pray and strengthen yourself.
Be encouraged.
Because what do you do sometimes when you
don't have something to go to?
You've gotta strengthen yourself.
So be encouraged this morning.
God is wanting to strengthen us so we're
ready to do what he's called us to
do.
A wimpy Christian without a backbone, not filled
with the Spirit of God, doesn't do anything
for God.
Wake up, call.
If we're not filled with the Spirit of
God, we will do nothing for God.
Think about this.
When was the last time you ever led
anybody to the Lord?
When was the last time you were so
full with the Spirit you could discern God's
will?
You saw somebody at a store and you
prayed with them, you helped them, you got
them to fix their car, whatever it is,
you're filled with the Spirit.
Or you're just getting through life with no
sense of the Holy Spirit working in your
life.
God wants to change that.
That's why I always talk about full surrender.
That's what it is.
It's fully surrendering your life.
We think, okay, there's a full surrender over
here for people like Shane, right?
Well, that's for you.
And then we got this side over here
that's of the world, of the devil.
I don't like this side, but I really
like this cozy, comfortable.
Cozy, comfortable.
I can watch my Broncos and pick up
the 12-pack on the way home.
I can show up for church and check
it off my calendar.
I can call on God sometimes.
I can check out Air One for an
hour every now and then.
And I'll live in this comfort zone because
God is gonna send me on the mission
field in Uganda.
And my life's gonna be miserable.
But the Bible talks about the fully surrendered
life.
How fulfilling it is to know what God
has called you to do.
And he actually fills you with your spirit
and your call to do what he wants
you to do.
There's passion, there's purpose.
You get up in the morning with a
zeal, with an eagerness, with energy.
You don't care if it's Monday or Thursday
or this center where, okay, I'm happy during
this season, but now I'm very depressed.
I don't wanna fully surrender everything because it'll
cost me.
And yes, it will cost you, but God
always calls you to do what he wants
you to do, the desires he puts in
your heart.
There's a missionary called Adonai Judson.
He died many, many years ago.
I read his biography.
Lost two wives and three children in Burma
on the mission field there.
And I start to, who in the world
would do that?
Who in the world would do that?
I mean, isn't that what you think?
Poor guy.
We have to read earlier in his life
when he just had religion and going through
the motions until he finally surrendered everything to
God and God called him.
He couldn't do anything but go there.
God might call you right here.
Do you know we need godly leaders?
Would somebody run for the mayor of Palmdale
or Lancaster?
Would somebody run for Senate?
Would somebody become the next attorney?
See, we need godly people filled with the
spirit of God so God will, we all
think, oh, all the fun is over.
Right, when marijuana's legal.
You know, it's still federally against the law,
right?
But that's what we think.
I talk to people all the time.
They think, I don't want this.
Yeah, I'm never gonna be some weird, loud
guy like you and I don't wanna pray
and read the Bible all the time.
Right, you don't want to because you don't
have the right heart.
Once you have the right heart and the
Holy Spirit is in you, the Holy Spirit
is crying, Abba, Father, you wake up hungry
for God.
You want more of God.
I need more of God.
I'm thirsty for God.
He's pouring out water on the dry and
barren land.
God, I want more of you and more
of you.
I never wanna go back to this middle
ground again.
Why was I so miserable in that middle
ground?
See, don't clap, clap for yourselves.
Clap for yourselves because that's the most important
thing we're dealing with in the church is
full surrender.
Give him everything, everything.
Didn't he give you everything?
It's the most amazing thing when I think
about this that he died for us.
He took on the penalty of death and
eternity separate from God.
And then we over here like, I'm not
gonna follow you, pick up the cross.
No way.
I mean, if you saw Calvary, if you
saw this in real life and what he
went through for you, oh, I guarantee you
would be tremendously affected.
We wouldn't even know who you are anymore.
You would have started this ministry.
You'd have been on fire for God.
You'd went through the Bible three times, read
through it a year.
You're so filled with the Spirit of God.
And see, we can't relate sometimes.
We sing about it, but we can't, we're
still thinking about Ann Alberger.
Shane's still on his health trip this week.
I can't, you know, oh, this song, what's
going on?
Oh, I've got problems here and we're not
worshiping.
Leonard Ravenhill said that the Cinderella of the
church of today is the prayer meeting.
Daniel Norris, commenting on that statement, said the
prayer meeting, if she exists at all, is
regulated to a dark corner somewhere in the
church on an off night.
So there is little expectation that anyone will
pay her any attention.
She goes about unnoticed, unloved, and uncelebrated, yet
she is the one who keeps the house
clean.
She prepares the food in secret and makes
the house ready for her guests.
Day after day, she kneels in humility and
yet goes unappreciated.
However, when the true prince comes, she is
the one he is looking for.
And I think when we did the first
service, it's time for Cinderella to go to
the ball.
It's time to focus on prayer.
That's why this is so hard.
This is why it's the most difficult thing
for me to get people to do, and
myself.
The most difficult thing is because it's the
most important.
The weapons of your warfare are not carnal.
You're not gonna win with an email or
a Facebook post.
You're not gonna preach your children into the
kingdom of God.
You're not gonna force anybody.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but they're mighty, how?
Through God, for the pulling down of strongholds.
When you pray heaven down, you are pulling
down strongholds.
I don't know about you, but I'm praying
down strongholds.
Whatever strongholds you have over this church or
over families, Lord, we are wanting that to
be broken.
Pulling down strongholds, casting down every argument.
What is an argument?
What you're seeing on the streets many times.
Argument, a self-exalted, arrogant stance against God.
You are calling down every arrogance, every high
thing that acknowledge and exalts itself above God.
So when you go into prayer, you go
into warfare, how do you know what heart
you're not turning?
How do you know what prodigal you're not
bringing back to the Lord?
How do you know what healing is not
gonna take place?
How do you know that God is in
heaven saying, if you just pray and seek
my face and humble yourself and turn, I
will hear your prayers.
Listen, either God is who he says he
is or it's a myth.
It's a phony, it's a fantasy, so let's
all go home.
But if it's true, if this is the
words of the living God and God says,
you just stand, you just pray, you just
contend, and you pull down strongholds because now
not only am I letting loose Michael the
archangel, but Jesus Christ himself is interceding and
pulling down the strongholds.
The enemy has no rule, no reign, and
no power in a church that is praying.
He gets a church off focus and praying
and all havoc breaks loose.
Everything breaks loose when you miss prayer.
Why, because prayer will humble me.
Everything I was so mad and bitter about
humbled.
I'm humbled in his presence.
When I pray, it's like, God, that doesn't
even matter anymore when I was so upset,
God, just change my heart.
Like, oh, my kids are growing up.
What about your grandkids?
Look at what we're leaving them.
I had to do a heart check this
week and just see, what about if our
kids were interviewed and they said, is your
mom, is your dad a praying Christian?
Do they really pray and seek God?
What do our children see in us?
Are we too busy?
Are we on the phone all the time?
Because there's no way on planet Earth that
your children can't watch you praying as they're
growing up and that not affect them deeply.
It does.
My mom's here this morning.
I still remember putting that Bible on the
ACDC albums and Judas Priest and all that
Motley Crue and Metallica and praying.
I would get so mad, you stop praying.
Go on, we're gonna have fun tonight.
Stop it.
But guess what I ran to when I
needed God?
I ran to the prayer closet.
Folks, what you're hearing in these sermons is
just a result of God breaking me in
the prayer closet.
Crying out to God, God, humble me, fill
me with your spirit.
And the passion that took place, the word
of God came alive, the prayer, the focus
of my prayer was targeted.
And you come out there, you're powerful because
you prayed up.
The problem is we're too bored.
We're too bored with the things of God.
So as the worship team comes up, I'm
gonna pray that we break that this morning,
that we re-again focus on prayer.
What I wanna do, two things really, is
when we focus on prayer, we're gonna focus
on our nation, for one.
The Bible says pray for your leaders.
Pray for Obama's transition, if that's your guy.
Pray for Trump, if that's your guy.
Pray for our nation, pray for our leaders.
I'm wondering how many people didn't pray for
our nation the last eight years or 10
years or whenever it's convenient, five years.
The Bible says pray for your leaders.
Pray that God would fill them up.
Pray for your families.
Do you have anybody that's walking away from
the Lord?
Here's all you have to do, do a
quick study.
Look up all the verses on hell and
you'll be rocked to your core.
You will be brought to tears.
And you look at family members or people
you know who are on the broad road
to destruction, weeping and gnashing of teeth, eternity
of outer darkness, and yet we're gonna go
home and click on the NFL.
God help us.
No wonder we don't see God moving.
Shane, this is hurting, good, good.
It's time to hurt.
I'm tired of the little, oh, go, go,
do a 20-minute sermon, just go, and
let's not upset anybody.
You gotta stir that ground.
You gotta break up the follow ground.
You know what follow ground is?
When a farmer just lets the ground go
and it becomes hard.
You can't plan anything.
You've gotta go and bring in the plow
and stir up that follow ground.
Even my heart this morning, Shane, you, yeah.
Even my heart this morning is even opening
up more, saying, God, pour into me all
of your spirit.
Bend us in this place.
Break us in this place.
Let us be men and women of prayer,
petitioning the Father to move on behalf because
you ask not, you have not.
You ask not, you have not.
Do you believe that verse?
Yeah, then why don't we do it?
I mean, if you read the Bible and
you understand, prayer should be the focus, really.
Prayer should be the focus of your day.
You know how much time Dr. Wong spends
in prayer every morning?
Three hours.
And we asked him at this pastor's meeting,
oh, how do you find time for that?
Guess what his answer was.
No TV.
No, really, how do you?
No, no TV, no media, no things that
you Americans like to watch.
No, really, how do you find three hours?
I mean, think about it.
It's all about prioritizing.
I left there with tears in my eyes,
convicted.
Convicted.
He said, I just want time with God.
And three hours goes by quick.