Welcome, brothers and sisters, to our eighteenth Northeast Christian Conference. This is the eighteenth time, and I hope you have your Bibles with you.
Would you turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26? We will read from verse 30. It is right after the Lord and His disciples had their Last Supper together.
Matthew 26:30-32
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:
‘I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.”
Now let us turn to the last chapter of Matthew, chapter 28. We will read from verse 1.
Matthew 28:1-7
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.
His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.
And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
Matthew 28:8-10
So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.
And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!”
So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
Verse 16:
Matthew 28:16-17
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him.
That is all we will read for now.
Now, I was meditating before the Lord on this passage, these few verses we read. They have such impact and importance.
Do you know that you are here not by chance? None of us is here by chance. Every one of us is here by divine appointment.
If you go into the Old Testament, particularly the first five books of Moses, you recall when they came out of Egypt. We are all very familiar with the giving of the law. Some are familiar with the giving of the pattern for the tabernacle. From Exodus 25 onward, it is all about the tabernacle.
But do you know there is one thing that the Lord instructed the Israelites to do once they entered Canaan? There were the appointed feasts of the Lord. If you read Leviticus, there are at least six festivals besides the Sabbath. They had to go to the place appointed for them to meet the Lord at the appointed time.
The purpose behind redemption is that God wants to gather a people unto Himself—His treasured possession. He wants to gain us all for Himself.
So, before the cross, before His crucifixion, He said, “I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” But He also said, “After I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.”
Since the resurrection, the one mission of the Lord Jesus on this earth is the gathering of His people, so that He can be the living Head and so that the fullness of the Head may have a vessel for expression. That is the testimony of the greatness of our God.
This weekend, the theme is very timely. It is all about what God wants for Himself: an expression of the fullness of His Son in His people. When that is secured, God’s heart is satisfied, God is glorified, and we also are satisfied.
Brothers and sisters, when the Lord said, “After I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee,” He was giving a hint of hope. That evening, at that moment, they were occupied with the uncertainty ahead of them. You recall the surroundings, the tension, and the darkness surrounding that event. But the Lord gave a ray of hope: “When I am raised, I will go before you to Galilee.”
That is the message that we need to hear. It is the regathering of God’s people today on resurrection ground.
On no other ground can we gather. On resurrection ground, He holds us together as our living Head. There is no ground for us to meet other than the ground of Christ crucified—but more than that, Christ glorified. That is the testimony of the church, and that is the ground for our gathering.
The Lord spoke this word, “When I am raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” That message was reinforced again by the angel: “Go and tell My disciples that He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him.”
The Lord also spoke to the sisters. He said, “Tell My brethren to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.” When they obeyed, they went to the place appointed for them, and the Lord was there waiting for them. They saw the Lord. They worshiped Him.
Now, brothers and sisters, we are gathering for no other reason than because the Lord somehow sees fit for us to gather this way. I believe the Lord wants to speak very much to our hearts. He wants to unveil what is in His heart to us, His people.
As we draw near to the end of this age, we need a clear word from the Lord Himself so that we can finish the last miles of our journey on earth. Every step that we take is related to what He wants, what He wants to secure for Himself.
We are very thankful that we have this privilege to be gathered here for these two days and six messages. As I finish what I will share briefly this evening, we want to devote some time to prayer.
Divine treasure requires our seeking, our knocking, and our asking. Anything of value requires some cost on our part.
So I believe our corporate prayer together is essential for the release of His word to our hearts and for us to gain what Christ wants us to gain this weekend.
I just want to share a little of our history. You remember that this is the eighteenth conference, and the first conference was in 1988. I look out to you, brothers and sisters, and I wonder how many of you were here for that first conference. May I see your hands?
Not too many hands. Thank you—not too many hands.
That first conference was, in a way, a very costly conference. That afternoon, the sky was dark, and there was torrential rain. I do not know how to describe it. When I spoke to my wife on the way down here, I said it was a very small-scale Katrina, a small-scale disaster. It looked as though it was the end of the world.
Brothers and sisters got lost. They did not know where to go or where to turn. Brothers were trying to help them find the way, using flashlights. Many of them got lost, and they came to the wrong place. The whole place was just shaken up.
But we were not deterred, because we had set in our hearts to seek the Lord, and the Lord opened His way.
I want to conclude this thought by turning to Mark 2. I want to encourage you from Mark 2. It came to me in a very strong way.
You remember the account of the four men carrying the paralytic. Let us read those few verses.
Mark 2:1-5
And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.
Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
Now, what I am trying to emphasize tonight, brothers and sisters, is this: nothing is too costly if the Lord is there. Nothing is too costly to draw near to Him.
Think about that. If the Lord is there, nothing is too costly for us to fight through the obstacles to get to where He is.
This evening, I want to thank the Lord for bringing many of you to this conference. Two brothers from Quebec drove almost twelve hours straight through. A brother and two sisters from Kentucky drove almost fourteen hours. A couple and a brother from Florida drove perhaps twenty hours just to come to this conference.
When I heard that kind of news, it touched my heart deeply. It touched my heart deeply.
So, brothers and sisters, nothing is too costly if we know the Lord is there and He will be speaking to us. One brother said, “If I had to crawl, I would crawl to His presence.” You might have to crawl.
Thank God that we are brought here this weekend. Let us look in faith, with great expectation, that the Lord Himself will meet us. Each one of us will see Him personally—not just hear the words, but see Him.
There are two thoughts I want to share before we go to prayer.
The first is that God’s power is devoted, invested, and committed toward the fulfilment of His own will. That is why His power operates: it is all in relationship to His will.
At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, we find, “All authority has been given to Me.” For what purpose? To fulfil God’s will.
The fullness of Christ is God’s will for all of us. The fullness of Christ is for the church. It is not an option; it is God’s will. When God achieves and secures that, we know He will be glorified, and we also will be glorified in Him.
When we pray that prayer, we know God will surely answer. His power is committed to the fulfilment of that desire of God’s heart: the fullness of Christ expressed in His people.
So we are on solid ground. We can pray with faith, believing that His will will be done, because the theme of this conference is the fullness of Christ.
Positionally, yes, we have it. But how about experientially? Do we have it? It is promised, but do we possess it? Do we express it? That is the issue.
The second thing to pray is this. I was reminded by a brother, through reading his book, that in the Gospels those who witnessed miracles and those who asked for miracles were oftentimes unbelieving people. Do you find that true?
We are not looking for miracles. The greatest power at work is not merely God performing miracles so that we can see them and admire them.
Many people witnessed miracles and even experienced miracles, but in their spirits they were not touched. But this brother said the greatest miracle is when God, through the Holy Spirit, can soften our hearts and cause our hearts to respond to Him.
There is no greater miracle than for the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts so that we can respond to God’s heart. That is the greatest miracle.
We need to pray for this. We are not here just to hear a good message. We are here for the Lord to soften our hearts. When He speaks, we respond, so that God will have a way in us and through us for the accomplishing of His will.
These two principles are vital:
That is the greatest miracle. May the Lord help us.
Brothers and sisters, I have just opened my heart to you and cried my heart out to you. We have about ten or fifteen minutes, so let us unite our hearts together and pray.
Let us pray that His will will be done. We know that His will is that we enter fully into all that is in the Lord Jesus: fullness not merely experienced, not merely possessed, but fullness expressed. That is the testimony.
Let us also pray that the Lord will soften our hearts.
Sometimes, having heard so much, we can become doctrinally hardened because we think we know, and nothing more can touch us. Nothing more can touch us. If we get to that kind of place, Lord, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us.
So pray this prayer. Whatever condition we are in, we all need the Lord to soften our hearts and enable us to respond to Him—to respond to His heart. That is the only way His will can be done in us and through our lives.
Let us take the next few minutes to open our hearts to the Lord and pray for this. Pray for our speakers, Brother Stephen Kaung and Brother DeVern Fromke. There are many brothers and sisters coming to this conference for the very first time—over a hundred of them.
They heard about this conference, and they came. My wife and I are more or less in charge of registration, and we tried to discourage some of them. We said, “We have no other way but to put you on the waiting list.” They said, “No way. We want to be there.”
Brothers and sisters, when we heard of that kind of desire to drive, I was touched. No cost is too great for me to be there if the Lord is there speaking. I want to be there.
May the Lord meet us this weekend. We do not know whether we are going to have another one next year; we do not know. But we need to allow the Lord to secure all He wants in us this weekend.
So let us have a time of prayer.