Lord, it is Your voice tonight. It is Your word. It is Your truth that we desire to hear. We do pray that You would open our hearts, that You would prick our ears, that we might hear the truth, that we might be obedient to the truth that You are speaking to Your people. We ask all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, the burden that the Lord has placed upon my heart tonight actually started a while back, even before the planning of the conference. By way of my own personal testimony regarding this conference, I would like to share the burden of this passing of the torch of the testimony.
I am not great with modern dates as a history teacher, but I believe the first conference that I was able to attend was in about 1986. I was in sixth grade. We were at the University of Richmond. You notice our brothers are able to share from the seventies, but I was not quite born yet, so I am going to have to stick with the eighties and the nineties.
We had just come out of a large church back in our home in Houston, Texas. All my friends were in that large church. I loved the place that we were attending. It may sound strange to some of you, but as a young person, I was able to go to Sunday school on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We had Bible study every single night, and as a young person, I actually enjoyed that. I learned quite a bit.
So I was quite shocked when my father came home one day and said, “We are going to be meeting in our home.” I had no idea what was going on, but I do know we ended up at this conference in 1986.
I was so blessed because, even though my dad could not necessarily put into words why we had left this large church and why we were at this conference, the brothers and sisters here were so sincere with the love of the Lord. I would love to meet my sixth-grade teachers. I do not know who they are. I just remember that they put their arms around me and taught the word of God in such a special way, with such love. I know they were from Canada, so if you remember, if you were one of those in 1986, please let me know.
I also remember listening to our brother Lance and how he spoke about Jacob, not in a doctrinal way, but in such a real way. I remember going down to the basement of the dorm that night, past curfew, and reading the story of Jacob over and over again because I wanted what Jacob wanted. I wanted that blessing. I wanted that inheritance.
Yes, he did not go about it the best way, nor would I in the future, but, oh, to see Jesus. Oh, to be blessed. And that was from this conference.
In seventh grade, our brother Kong gave a series of messages on men who had gone before us: Count Zinzendorf, Watchman Nee, and several others. That lit the love of history in my life. For the first time, it was not about wars. It was not about dates. It was about Jesus Christ truly controlling history. It was about men of faith who were willing to abandon all to serve the Lord. And I was hooked.
In eighth grade, I acted like a typical eighth grader. I was not happy to be here. It was called a family conference, and my parents were busy fellowshipping at the dining hall. They did not have time for me, and I think I even had the boldness to call them on it. I said, “This was a family conference. Why are you not talking to me?” Probably I did not want them to talk to me, but I had to complain about something.
That night in the commons, Dana shared with us young people. Dana has a strange way of talking directly to you, even though there are fifty others in the room. He said very clearly, “If you are riding the coattails of your parents, you have got to stop, or you are going to be miserable the rest of your days.” I could not believe he could read my mind.
In high school, my family actually went through quite a few medical crises. I was confused. But this conference and the brothers and sisters here were able to shed a little bit of light on the dealings of what the Lord was doing—taking us deeper and teaching us to trust the Lord.
At the end of high school, my mother passed away. Brother Dana had such a kind, comforting word. Brother Ernie Hile saw that I was being a little stubborn in my grieving. I refused to cry, and so Brother Ernie was able to give me a strong word. He said, “Son, until you cry, you are going to struggle.”
I could not believe that one brother could give a comforting word and another such a strong word. And guess what? I did not obey that. I was not going to cry. I was a tough eighteen-year-old. I went through one of the most miserable eight years—one year, twelve months—of my life.
I remember one day, I remembered our brother’s words, and I began to cry. The love of the Lord Jesus came in, and I have never questioned why my mom was taken so early. I am thankful that there were brothers and sisters who were praying for me.
At this conference, I learned that marriage was so much more than marriage for me and my wife. I was able to see it in the perspective of God’s eternal purpose. Oh, marriage was something that was going to be so sweet, but it was really the Lord who wanted to come for His bride. It put it in a totally different perspective.
Children were something I thought was just the biological clock ticking, something that we needed to do next in life. But then we heard words of sonship and the importance of the next generation bearing the testimony of Jesus.
All of this I received from you, brothers and sisters. Many of you do not know—even the crafts. I remember painting a carnal Christian duck with the Swackers at the same time that Brother Kong was speaking about carnal Christianity in Corinthians. It all came together.
Now, I want to be very clear. I am not using this opportunity to put this conference on a pedestal. I want to be very clear that I am not trying to put any brothers or sisters on any pedestal. But what I experienced in this place, and with all of you, my family, was truth. What I experienced was reality.
You know, when we go home from this conference, often we say, “Well, back to reality.” Well, I have learned that back at home, it is not reality. Reality is actually something that we can touch here this week. We can touch the reality that it is all about Jesus. It is the testimony of Jesus.
Only when we see Jesus, only when we see His heart and His love and His vision of the church, does it really make sense what the testimony is and how to pass the torch of the testimony.
Tonight, I would like to call it more the testimony of truth. Going back to the verses that we just read, we see that in John 18, Pilate asked one of the most profound questions in the history of man: “What is truth?” But unfortunately, no one was interested in the answer to that question.
That is where we are today in history, and this is where my burden lies for this conference and this time. As individual Christians today, do we find ourselves asleep? Do we find that the church is powerless?
The term of unreality really started in Isaiah 14, and our brother mentioned that this morning. I was not here, but I believe he mentioned it, maybe even read it. In Isaiah 14:12-14, speaking of Lucifer, it says:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning!
How art thou cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations!
And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
And I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.
This was the original prideful thought. This was an ambitious goal. Lucifer—Satan—made that his reality. From that point on, Satan decided to spin his web of deceit and bring it to man.
After all of this, God did create man in His own image, a man to be a vessel of the truth. But Satan could not have that. We see in Genesis 3 the serpent, who was so subtle. I would like to read this deception because the word of God is so powerful.
In Genesis 3, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat;
And she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;
And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:
And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
From this point on, we see a world’s point of view of truth. Satan was right, because he had spun such deceit. Adam and Eve felt actually alive in the garden because they had no more restrictions. To them, that became a truth: freedom, no restrictions.
Ah, their eyes were opened to self. They were able to see how capable they were in the garden. They suddenly realized that God was truly everywhere because they were god. They went over here and god was there because they had become god in their own eyes.
They had no more questions because they felt that they knew, and they knew best. Unfortunately, they had been poisoned with the world’s point of view. But, as Dana likes to share, sometimes we have to look at the heavenly point of view.
Unfortunately, they were dead. Adam and Eve had separated themselves from the very breath of life. They were spiritually dead, and they were only one physical breath away from physical death. They were blind to God, and they were hidden from God. They became of no use to God.
They had entered into what I like to call educated ignorance. By profession, I am a teacher and a principal, and it is not very wise for me to say that our world is full of educated ignorance. If we look at man’s perspective of this story, we can justify much of it as truth. But unfortunately, we are deceived.
Looking at this word of truth, I would like to look at Webster’s definition of truth. Webster clearly says that truth is the quality or state of being true. Truth is that which is true in accordance with fact or reality: a fact or belief that is accepted as truth.
The problem with this definition is that we have a new mantra in this generation: truth is whatever you want it to be. I think we have seen that in television and at the workplace. I cannot tell you the number of times I run into, “Well, it is whatever you want it to be.”
Just recently, on a side note, I saw something on YouTube. Please do not get distracted by YouTube. This man went through an exercise asking wise college students many questions. Slowly but surely, they were coming into this realization: “Well, it is whatever you want it to be.”
Finally, they asked someone like me, “You know, Chip, are you an Asian woman?” It would be like me saying, “Well, if I want to be, then yes.” That is how subtle this world has continued to spin deception and lack of truth. We cannot even look at truth and recognize it.
Truth, from the heavenly perspective, can be worked through this way: truth is more than reality. Truth is kingdom reality. But sometimes we can even get distracted by our Lord’s kingdom because we start looking at the things of the kingdom.
So, to see true reality, to understand truth, we have to look at the King Himself. Truth is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
It is interesting if you look at the people of this world describing Jesus just before His trial and crucifixion. These are all from people who did not know Jesus.
The Pharisees are quoted as saying, “This man receiveth sinners.” Caiaphas said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Pilate said, “I find no fault in Him.” Pilate also said, “He is the King of the Jews.” Pilate’s wife said, “Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man.” Judas said, “I have betrayed innocent blood.” The centurion said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
All of these are true statements, but they meant nothing to these people because they did not know who Jesus was. One of my thoughts when I was reading these quotes was that sometimes this is what our worship time sounds like:
“Oh Lord, You are righteous. You are King. You are pure.” But if we are just saying those words because of words, the question is: is it real truth? Is it seen as truth from the heavenly perspective?
What hinders us from knowing the truth? When I was regarding and meditating upon this story of Pilate, I could not help but think that this was a great opportunity to hear from the Truth what truth was. At this praetorium, so many people could have heard truth.
But if you think about it, at this trial of the ages, the richest power in the world—the Roman Empire, as seen in Pilate—had no time for the truth. All the Greeks, who wanted to learn the truth, debate the truth, and come into truth, were too busy learning, and they were not present before the Lord. The Jews had no interest in listening to the truth because they felt that they had formed the perfect religion of truth.
Oh, how humbling this is. These great empires—Rome, Greece, and one of the greatest religions of all time, Judaism—had no interest in the truth. I wonder whether today we have the same problems.
Are we like the Roman Empire? The Roman Empire could answer any problem because it was such a practical empire. Now, this is my history teacher coming out in me. The Roman Empire was known for its practicality.
If the people needed water, you built aqueducts. To this day, we can see these beautiful edifices bringing water to the towns. If you needed to control the people under your great Roman Empire, you could do so by feeding them and entertaining them. Of course, we know that is why we have the gladiatorial games.
If you needed to control your enemies, they invented one of the great weapons of all time, the double-edged sword. They knew how to conquer using their Roman turtles, where they gathered their shields together and were able to take any force.
They also knew that it was very practical for you to know your political friends. There was always political wrangling. Make sure that you are on the right side of politics in the Roman Empire. Most of all, they knew that, to be very practical, you needed to obey Caesar: one leader, one god, so to speak.
The Greeks—oh, the Greeks. We could talk all night about how great the Greeks were. They were studying geometry so that they could build great buildings and travel the world. The Greeks were busy with modern medicine so that they could cure all men from all illnesses. The Greeks were busy with philosophy so that they could educate themselves into bliss.
The Greeks invented democracy, knowing that the will of the people would always have the way. They were busy with modern science so that they could explain every natural event.
The Jews and the religion of the Jews were busy doing works because everyone knew that God was satisfied with man’s work. They set up ritual meetings so that men could be conditionally faithful worshipers. They obeyed the law to perfection because God likes the law; therefore, God loves those who abide by the law.
They practiced self-righteousness. They practiced works and service. And best of all, religious exclusivity.
Rome did not have time for the truth because they were busy conquering the world. Greece did not have time for the truth because they were busy learning the truth. The Jews did not have time for the truth because they were too busy being the truth.
Ironically, they all had the opportunity. Even Pilate put up the sign above the cross in all three languages—Latin, Hebrew, and Greek: “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.”
We look at these three empires and we kind of scoff. They had the opportunity, but they were so busy conquering and learning the world. But tonight, I would like to consider: have we been doing the same thing in this generation? Have we been doing the same thing in the church?
Have we been like Esau, who sold our birthright of truth for the deceits of the world? Let us consider how we function as the church.
Are we like the Romans? We see so many who are hungry and thirsty for living water, and our first reaction is, “We have got to buy them a book. We have got to build something, design something, have the perfect Bible study.” It is our nature. Lucifer began this deceit; we bit into it in the garden, and we continue it today.
In the church, we are so worried about our numbers. What if the people leave? Well, bread and circus—let us entertain them. Let us make sure the numbers do not dwindle.
There is a new term that came about. Maybe the older generation can tell me whether it was around before, but the number of people I hear who are church shopping: “Well, I do not know. I am going off to college, and I am going to start church shopping.” The churches know that, and so they try to be the best to win the people over. Do we do that?
Sometimes there is spiritual warfare, and like the Romans, we take our two-edged principles and start piercing our brothers and sisters. Sometimes we do not like others coming into the church and messing with some of our doctrines, so we form a turtle of exclusivity and bombard our brothers and sisters.
Political wrangling in the Roman Empire was ruthless, always staying ahead. Do we make sure we have enough Christian service so that we will be indispensable? “How could they ever have the love feast if I do not do the cooking? How could they ever have the meeting if I am not starting the meeting?” We get ourselves in a position in the church.
Then body life gets very frustrating and exhausting, and we come to the point where obeying Caesar is just the easiest way. We set up one leader. We have allowed the Roman deceit to enter into the church.
Greece would be no better. We have traded the tree of life for the Greek knowledge of good and evil. Instead of letting Christ build His church, we try to build it on our own.
A neat little fact is that Babylon came before Greece. Egypt came before Greece, and they built some great buildings. But when Greece came around, they discovered what pi equals. Now, they had kind of guessed in the Babylonian Empire that it was right about three-something. But the Greeks came along and said, “No, it is 3.14.” They had come into perfection.
How many of us have ever considered how to build the church? “Well, we need to build. We need to get something going here.” One brother says, “Well, we know we need to do this,” and he might as well be saying, “We are building this thing, and we are going to use 3.0 as pi.”
The next brother, who is a little wiser, says, “No, we need 3.1.” The next brother says, “No, we need 3.14.” Then the next brother says, “No, we need to change something here a little bit. It needs to be 3.141.” We could go on and on. I know some of you out there have probably memorized pi to the hundredth digit, because that is what we do.
But that is what we do in the church. We get so fixated on this perfection that we do not allow the Lord to build the church because we have the knowledge. We have the understanding of how to do this.
Remember the Greeks, who were going to cure every sickness? How many of us in the church, when someone has a sickness, the first thing we say is, “Oh, they should not have eaten that. Oh, I knew the building was too cold. It was that vent that was open that caused that cold to come through.”
All of a sudden, we do not realize it, but everything we do has entered into this knowledge stage of Greece. The Greek Empire loved philosophy. Have we ever been at a Bible study where we philosophized ourselves into doubt, into isolation, right out of vision?
One of the questions that the young people posed today at our fellowship groups was, “What do you do when there is this vision, and what happens when it gets taken away?” So often it gets taken away because someone comes up and says, “Well, I do not know if that is exactly doctrinally sound.”
Many of the young people have been scared out of fellowship because they are afraid that they are not going to say the exact right thing at the right time. We have democratically determined, like the Greeks, the will of God. Oh, how efficient that is.
We have our meetings, we have our gatherings, and would it not just be so much easier in the church to say, “Raise your hand. Okay, there is a majority. Let us go.” I like our brother Ben. He said that there was a majority. Well, he knew we were going to do it anyway, and that is what the Lord wants to do. He is going to build His church. He does not need our democracy.
The Greeks tried to explain everything scientifically. Do we do that in the church? When we wake up in the middle of the night—maybe it is 2:00 a.m. or 3:00 a.m.—do we say, “Oh, I should not have eaten that pastrami sandwich in the cafeteria”? Or do we say instead, “Lord, why did You wake me up? Do I need to pray? What are You saying to Your church?”
Oh, how we need to stop scientifically describing everything that is going on and instead see the heavenly point of view. What is the Lord trying to say?
Just like the Jews, we have tried to fix some of the religiosity. Before and during the Reformation, Martin Luther came in and said, “Works are not what is going to save man.” Well, today, do we do the same thing? We just substitute works for service.
Oh, how service has crept into the church and caused us to feel like that is the ticket to God’s eternal purpose. Do we have ritual? Do we know that every good house church starts at 9:30, and when it gets 10:30 everyone starts getting a little nervous, wondering who is going to end this? Or do we wait for the Holy Spirit and hear from Him?
Just like the Jews, do we preach all the don’ts, or are we willing to live the do’s? Do we love unconditionally? Do we forgive one another? Do we repent?
In the Jewish religion, it was very important to have a self-righteous salvation. Do we look at the rest of the world and say, “Wow, I am so glad we are not them”? Do we practice religious exclusivity? Are we the church in our own mind because everyone looks like me? Oh, how that was such a trap.
So the question that I have tonight for all of us is this: what, as the church, are we passing to the next generation? Are we passing a Roman torch? Are we passing a Greek torch? Are we passing a Jewish torch?
Or, like the good old American way, celebrating July 4, do we take the best remnants of all three, mix them all together, and have the Western church that the Lord is so happy with?
Only one Man ever walked this earth who could say it was not the Roman way, the Greek way, or all the ways of the empires. That is our Lord Jesus. Only He had the right to say:
I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
So we do need to look at this Man Jesus. Who was this Man?
We can learn a lot about a man or a person through what a mother says about him. I mentioned earlier that I am a teacher and a high school principal, and I get a lot of opportunity to talk to parents. I love to hear the different stories they have for their children.
For example, I will say to someone, “Well, your son graduated a couple of years—or many years—ago. How is he doing?” “Well, he just finished his Ivy League schooling. He cannot decide which of the five Ivy League graduate schools he will attend. I think he might buy a five-bedroom house because he might marry his girlfriend once she has finished getting her M.D.-Ph.D.”
Now, he does go to church on Sunday—just enough to keep the torch of the testimony flickering.
Now, I exaggerate, but do I? What message are children hearing? Are children hearing, “Yes, you can follow the Lord. Study your SAT words. Oh, love the Lord with your whole heart. We just got a letter from Harvard—open it quickly.”
“Your sister got two master’s degrees. You are our son. What are you going to do?” This is what our children are hearing. You may not think they are hearing it, but that is what they are hearing.
I am a dad. It is so hard not to mention how the boys are doing. But every time I mention what they are doing, they are remembering what is important to Dad. Or am I willing to say, “Boys, love the Lord. Love Him with your whole heart. I want to look at your spiritual report card.” That is all that is important.
What would Mary say about Jesus? Now, bear with me as we imagine a love feast, and the sisters have gathered around Mary and they are asking her, “What is up with Jesus?”
“Well, He should be studying for His AP carpenter exam, but He sure spends a lot of time reading Isaiah. He is a carpenter, but He is not doing much of that now. He does just enough so that He can be about His Father’s business.”
“You know, we used to get mail from the alumni organization, but they have stopped sending Him anything.” “Well, Mary, where does He live?” “Well, birds have nests, foxes have holes—I have no idea what His address is.”
“Have you seen Him lately?” “You know, I saw Him at a wedding, but He only goes when it is His Father’s time for Him to go.”
“I am sure He has a lot of friends, right, Mary?” “You know, most of His friends leave Him, and I suspect His closest friends may deny or betray Him sometime.”
“You know, He is greatly respected in religious circles, but He never takes any of the responsibility unless He is told to.” Mary says, “I think He may make it sometime—make it big time someday in Jerusalem. But all He ever wants is for me to forward His mail to Bethany.”
“Oh yes, He knows a lot of people. He knows professors, He knows doctors, He knows politicians. But He spends most of His time fellowshipping with prostitutes, widows, adulterers, sinners, failed fishermen, tax collectors, the lame, and the sick.”
“You know, Jesus,” says Mary, “He needs to work on His time management. He wakes up early with little to show for it except prayer and devotion. I wish He had learned more about money. He invests most of His money in the shady bank of Judas. But He always seems to have enough money to get by and to pay Caesar.”
“You know, my Son Jesus does not have a diploma, but every benchmark of His life, His Instructor says, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” Can we say that about our children? Is that the tone that we set for them?
Jesus’ friends knew Jesus as well. Philip, after the feeding of the five thousand, says, “You know what? I think He is the bread of life.” Mary Magdalene, after she had the seven demons driven out, said, “I think Jesus is the light of the world.”
Nathanael saw Him as the gate into heaven, with the angels ascending and descending upon Him. Peter, with every crack of the rod and prod of the staff, said, “I see Him as my good Shepherd.” Did Lazarus have any doubt that Jesus was the resurrection and the life?
John knew, from ministry to the cross, to the ascension, to the Revelation, that He was the way, the truth, and the life. Andrew witnessed a sustaining vine as the first disciple until his own martyrdom.
These friends knew Jesus. They knew the testimony of truth because they lived the life with Him.
Brothers and sisters, we are living in desperate times. We have no more time for setting up our children to be successful in this world. If the Lord is going to be satisfied with His church, there needs to be revival. There needs to be recovery.
There is no greater place to see this, I believe, than in Acts 5. It is a very familiar story, but I liken it to what is going on today in the church.
In Acts 5, the church was rolling along well, but there was a first crisis. We have the story of Ananias and Sapphira. These two, in a very practical way like the Romans, in a very learned way like the Greeks, and in a very religious way, chose to lie to the Holy Spirit.
It must have scared the early church when they saw the tragedy that struck these two. But this is the tragedy that we see today in the church: that we have called ourselves the church, that we have said that we follow Jesus, and yet we have put so many things of the world first.
So the question that I pose tonight is: how do we pray for revival? How do we pray for recovery? How do we pass this truth to the next generation?
I am very appreciative of what happened in the sixties and the seventies. As a history teacher, I wish I could go back and live the Jesus Movement. But more importantly, would it not be great if that happened again?
It does not have to happen the same way. We do not need to try to concoct camp meetings. We do not need to all become hippies so that we can eventually become saved. We do not have to become very, very rich and then become disillusioned and then come into all of this.
We can just pray that the Lord would reveal Himself as the way, the truth, and the life. What happened in that Jesus Movement is that our Lord recovered so much truth: God’s eternal purpose, Jesus wanting a bride—so much truth.
But what we do not think about, and what we are reaping today, is that Satan saw what was happening as well. Satan is the deceiver. He did not come out in an all-out attack. Satan knew that he was no match for the Jesus Movement. The Lord was moving.
Instead, Satan decided, “I am going to bide my time.” What did he do? He started whispering in ears like he did to Eve: “There should not be prayer in the schools any longer.” Suddenly, prayer became an offense at this time in history, and a generation of kids started not even realizing that they were missing out on prayer.
Satan started whispering and saying, “Life is not that important. If you do not want to bring life upon this earth, if it is in the way, if it is not convenient, if it is not what you want, if it is not your truth for the time, then just get rid of that life.”
We see that suddenly, what a great recovery of the truth that Christ was looking for a bride. Marriage is such a beautiful picture. We see marriage in Genesis and Revelation, in the Song of Solomon, all throughout the Scripture. Oh, how beautiful marriage is.
So in the sixties and seventies, marriage became an inconvenience, a confusion for the next generation, which totally took away this beautiful picture. Our children are being indoctrinated in the school system that, whatever is true, there has to be a different truth, another truth.
Here we are, a generation or two later, with no concept of the truth of the Lord Jesus that happened in the sixties and seventies.
So where do we go from here? How do we recover? I pose a few thoughts as I read Acts 5. One of the first things the church can do—a command—is that we must be willing to confess, to repent, and forgive.
We see the early church had to do that many times. I want to be very practical. In Acts 5, it says they were all in one accord, talking about the disciples. How can we be the church if we are not in one accord?
Brothers and sisters, if there is something in your life or my life that we need to repent of, tonight is the night—this very moment. This is not something we can wait on until right before curfew or until we get the fruit in the back right after the message. If there is something we need to repent of, we need to repent.
If we need to forgive someone, we need to forgive tonight. It may mean a long evening with a spouse. It may mean a phone call to a far-off brother or sister. It may mean that we have to say we are sorry.
But the church cannot be what it is supposed to be—a vessel of the testimony of Jesus—if we have aught against any of our brothers or sisters. We cannot allow Satan to whisper in our ear and say, “But you were right in this matter.” We cannot allow him to whisper and say, “Well, if they come to me first.”
If we are going to be ready as the church, we have to clear our accounts. It is so practical. It is so simple, and yet it is so hard. But let us look to Jesus. He forgave. He loved. His disciples saw it, and they lived it. What a testimony of the early church.
That may be all you need to hear tonight. Because if we can confess and if we can forgive—maybe it is a parent—make that phone call tonight. Make that first hand of unity tonight.
If the church is going to be made ready, if we are going to be prepared to help the next generation, we need to recover the words of life. It says in Acts that they were released from jail to speak the words of life.
May we be released from the world tonight, not so that we can do anything else, but to give and to live the words of life.
In the church, there are many people who like to read the Bible. You read the Psalms; you bask in the beauty of the Creator. But maybe the Lord wants you to do a little chewing on the word. Maybe it is time to delve into Ephesians and ask the Lord, “Reveal the mysteries of Christ and the church.”
Or maybe the Lord is saying, “It is time to be doers of the word.” Read the book of James and see that we need to be doers. Let us gather together in unity so that the chewers, the readers, and the doers can be one and go out into the world to encourage one another with the words of life.
Thirdly, can we tonight recover the headship of Christ? This is an anathema. This is something that the world does not like. Headship sounds so restrictive. But it says in Acts, “We must obey God rather than men.”
This is not utilitarian. This is painful to the soul. This is going to restrict our religious freedom. But we need to look for every opportunity to obey the headship of Christ.
Unfortunately, we have all been conditioned to look for the loopholes. We read something in the word and say, “Oh, the Lord is telling me to do this, but if I read a little bit further, maybe I can escape that command.” “Well, yes, the Lord is Head of the church, but we just had a brothers’ meeting, and we decided to do this. It is much more convenient.”
This is something we see lost in the seventies and in the eighties, and we are unfortunately experiencing it today. In the Old Testament, when we see the prophets, we see much judgment upon the nations. But if you look carefully, the Lord is speaking to Israel.
Have we considered that today? When we see what is happening in the world, is the Lord speaking to us? All this presidential fiasco that is coming up—everyone is wondering, “What has happened to our political system?” Well, we have lost all authority. We have lost all headship.
When all the videos started coming out with ISIS killing its enemies, what were they doing? They were beheading. I believe the Lord was saying to the church, “You have cut Me off from you.” We need to take these events in history seriously. The church has lost the headship of Christ.
We need to recover the working of the Holy Spirit. Oh, this again is not practical, and you cannot learn the Spirit. Creeds and patterns are so much simpler.
But would the next generation not love to hear a mom and dad say at the dinner table, “We are going to do this”? “Why, Mom? Why, Dad?” “Because the Holy Spirit told us.”
In the church, when we pray for something in the prayer meetings, do we come back and say, “You know, we thought we were going to do something else, but the Holy Spirit came in like a whirlwind and said, ‘This is what needs to be done’”?
When we start functioning this way, the next generation is going to get excited. “What? There is joy in headship. There is joy in being led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does work.” Oh, we have gone so long without being able to hear that clearly.
It says in Acts as well that the disciples rejoiced in being counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. Are we willing to take up the cross?
We can talk about it tonight. It sounds so good tonight: “Oh, I am going to take up the cross. Oh, I want to serve the Lord, and I want to rejoice in the suffering of Christ.” But when we step out, do we suddenly get focused on the world?
The cross is foolish to the world. We have all experienced it. Consider it tonight: have you ever looked like a fool in the eyes of the world? Then amen. Have you told your children that you want them to be fools in the eyes of the world? I hope so.
It is foolish to suffer when you can avoid it. That is the wisdom of the world. That is the world’s reality.
There also needs to be a recovery of living faith in the church. We say that we live by faith, but do we?
In Habakkuk 2, we see how foolish it is to trust in your own creation, a god that cannot even talk. We scoff: “Oh, how foolish for these people to look at these idols that they made themselves and worship them.”
But when we look at the news, do we start becoming fearful with the European Union coming apart? We do. It causes our stock market to waver. “What is going to happen to Social Security?” These are all idols made by man. We made the European Union. We made the stock market. We made Social Security, and yet we are dictated by it.
One of the great tragedies that occurred in this century was the invention of retirement. I know this may be offensive to many in here, but somehow Satan whispered, “You deserve to retire. You deserve a rest. You deserve not to have a care in the world anymore.”
That is good. But the question is: what are we doing with our retirement? Suddenly, we retire spiritually as well. In retirement, that is when we should be busier than ever. There are grandchildren that need to be prayed for. There are children that need to be prayed for. There need to be testimonies told.
Oh, how these young people who are out playing right now could benefit from hearing your testimony. Take up that opportunity. If the Lord does grant you retirement, that is what it is for.
There are two real difficulties in my family’s life that I remember very clearly. Even as a young person, I was wondering, “Why is our family falling apart? Why are there suddenly so many messes? Why has it become so confusing?” Now I understand.
My grandmother, who suffered lupus most of her life, was a prayer warrior. She could not, quote-unquote, go to church. She could not go to the meetings. Everyone else had service. Everyone else was busy and working for the Lord. She stayed at home. She had to.
But she lay down and prayed for every single one of the family. When she passed, we fell apart. I do not know if anyone knew it. “Why is this happening suddenly?” In my own life, when my mom passed away, I realized that was one less saint praying.
Oh, how important it is for us to be a church, a body, that prays. It is real.
One of the greatest privileges I had this week was the number of people who came up to me and said, “Brother, we are praying for you.” I appreciate that. You saw my name on the speaking schedule, and so many of you came up and said, “I am praying for you.”
What a privilege. What an uplifting sense. I almost wish every one of you could be on the speaking schedule next year so that we would all pray for one another in such a passionate way.
We have no right to retire.
At the end of Acts 5, it says that they continued their ministry in the temple and from house to house. One of the things I would like for us all to consider tonight is this: do we have a house-to-house ministry?
Are we washing our spouse’s feet? Are we showing love to our children by bathing them in the word, by encouraging them? Do we do the unseen, visiting from house to house? Do we shepherd and pastor, even though we are not on the service schedule, even though it is not our turn? Do we say we are sorry?
Oh, the Lord would love to look upon His church that has finally stopped looking at the outward experience, the outward look, but instead has the love of Christ—the hidden love of Christ.
There was one group I did not mention that was not at the praetorium, that was not at that trial of the ages. I mentioned the Greeks. I mentioned the Romans. I mentioned the Jews. I left one group out. Where were the disciples?
They were afraid. They were not very practical. They had left their nets. They had left their jobs. They were not Roman. I doubt they were brilliant like the Greeks. They had already left Judaism. But they were fearful. They were probably disappointed. They were probably hopeless.
Can we ask ourselves tonight whether that is the condition we are in? Do we have a little bit of fear? Do I dare go up to my son tonight before bedtime and say to him, “You do not have to study for the SAT anymore”?
Are we willing to look at our daughter and say, “Look, it would be great if you could take care of me when I am old, but if the Lord has something else for you, please take care of His business and do not worry about me”?
Do we have any disappointment in our lives? Have we already messed up? Have we already offended too many people? Is it too late for us? Have we already made the wrong move to the wrong town? Do not be disappointed. The Lord will recover. Be faithful to Him.
This is not the time to be hopeless. As our brother said, the Lord could return before I pray tonight. This is no time to be hopeless. I want the Lord to return. You want the Lord to return. Oh, may He return this evening.
I would love to see my boys again. They are off playing capture the flag, I am sure. One is probably marching in the four-year-old room. But I do not need to see them again—not in this life.
It is one of the greatest gifts you could give your children: to say to them, “I do not care what you do in this life. I do not care what you do in this world. I ask only one thing of you: love the Lord with your whole heart.”
If we can pass this to our children, I think the Lord would have to return. I think He would be so pleased with His church that is so consumed with Him that we were able to abandon all.
We see at the very beginning of Acts that the church was born because the disciples obeyed. Jesus said, “Go, wait.” As ridiculous as it sounds, they went, they waited, and they prayed.
It is my firm belief that, just as the obedience of the disciples birthed the true church, it is the church’s obedience tonight that will usher in the return of the true King.
He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. By His grace, may we see. May we be like Peter. He saw the Lord. He heard the Lord. He obeyed the Lord. When he walked on that water, he did the impossible.
May we do the impossible tonight. Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that You have such love for us. We are so thankful, Lord, that You were the way, the truth, and the life. Tonight, we are thankful that You are the way, the truth, and the life.
May it be our heart’s desire to pass this on to one another. Lord, we have a generation in this room that is willing, waiting, and wanting. You show us the way.
Lord, it may be a very practical thing that we need to do tonight. It may seem so simple, but by Your grace may we do it.
We want to be that church that no longer eyes its own garment, but instead looks to the Groom. Look unto Jesus. May we find ourselves looking into the heavens tonight, saying, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
We do pray that You would cause us to be strong and courageous, that we would be those that see You, hear You, and obey. Thank You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Let us just take a few minutes and commit the word back to the Lord. How can we each take up our responsibility to pass on the torch, keep running, and keep growing?
At the same time, let us be sensitive to how we can pass the torch and also how we can be receivers of the testimony of Jesus—how we can put Him first and make Him the most important thing. So let us just have a few prayers.