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Father, I ask you to help us all to embrace what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus. I want it really means, Lord, to lay down our lives, to forsake all and to be your disciple. Lord, especially in this hour, in this time, in this season that we're in, we must awaken. We must awaken to the truth. We must awaken to the light of the hour. We must awaken to the task at hand. We must get serious. Father, I pray this today in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated this morning. You know, that song we were singing there, just thinking about it and really there's so many things stirring in my heart over this past week, but even up until coming to church this morning and even coming in here and getting ready, I still was not sure what direction the Holy Spirit wanted me to go to share with you this morning, but as we sang that song about believers wake up, stand up, take up your cross and carry it on. I was reminded of a quote from the late Leonard Ravenhill, a man of God, prophet, prayer warrior, a revivalist. Not many like him. Sad that he is Sad for us that is gone to be with the Lord, but good for him. I think he passed away in '94, '95, somewhere in that time period, but he said this, he said, "One thing you knew about a man who was carrying the cross outside the city is that he was not coming back." We Christians tend to forget something that to identify with Jesus to take up our cross is to identify with death. But I mean that in the absolute positive way, because if we're going to be Christians, real Christians and we're going to take up our cross and follow him, what we're saying is is that from this point on, I die. I die to my sinful habits.
I die to the lust of the flesh. I die to the pride of life. I die to the lust of the eyes. I die to my own plans, my own desires, my own will. I die to all that. I die to the approval of men. Go preach. I die to seeking fame. I die to seeking fortune. I die to seeking anything that is of significance in this world. I die and I completely identify with Jesus Christ in his death and the cross and everything that that means. That he is the only salvation for mankind. That he is the only forgiveness of sin. That he is the only Messiah, the only savior, the only Lord, the only God. I identify with him. And Jesus said, "If they have hated me, they will hate you. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they have killed me, they will kill you and think they're doing God a service. To embrace Jesus Christ is to identify that death to self, to sin, to the flesh, to the world, to your own will, you must embrace that fully. And let me just tell YOU, IF YOU WANT THE anointing of the Holy Ghost and the resurrection power of Jesus, you must first identify with his death. And you must be willing to take up your cross, DIE TO YOURSELF, MORTIFY or kill the deeds of the body and the lust of the flesh, and live unto God. Are you regenerated? Are you born again? You see, you cannot experience his resurrection life until you embrace his death. But so MANY CHRISTIANS WILL NOT embrace the death. They want the life. They want the blessings of his resurrection power. They want healing. They want provision and prosperity. They want everything to go well in their family and their lives. They want, you know, their jobs to be blessed, their home to be blessed. They want everything to be blessed. AND THERE'S NOTHING WRONG with wanting his blessing. But what we've got to understand is we can't get the cart before the horse. We must identify with his death and be willing to embrace that. Is that not what Paul wrote in Galatians two? Let's turn there and read this this morning.
Galatians chapter two. I could quote it, but we need to turn there. Verse 20. If we could just get a hold of this, there would be revival in the church. You want personal revival? You want to feel the anointing and presence of God in your life? You want to be filled with the Holy Ghost? You want to be used by God? Here's the key. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Can we truly say that, "I am crucified with Christ"? I know there are a lot of people who say they are crucified with Christ simply because they believe in Jesus or they have confessed Jesus at some point or said the sinner's prayer. But truly, you are not crucified with Christ unless you take up your cross and deny yourself and follow him. So many Christians want to add Jesus to their own plans. A lot of them want to add Jesus as fire insurance while they keep living in sin and rebellion and lust and perversion and everything else. BUT WHEN PAUL SAID, "I AM crucified with Christ." What he was saying was, "I am done. The old Paul is done." The old Paul who desired to be a religious leader, who desired to be admired by men, who desired to have it that had his own plans and his own agenda, who had the best education that the world could offer at the time. That was favored by the religious leaders of Israel. In fact, PAUL WAS SO identified with Jesus. His name was Saul before. Which means destroyer. And that's what he was, a destroyer of Christianity, a destroyer of of Christians. He wanted TO DESTROY THE GOSPEL, DESTROY the the apostles, destroy the church. And he thought HE WAS RIGHT. A LOT OF RELIGIOUS FOLKS, including Christian religious folks, think they're right. But when Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ." He died to all of the the agenda of Saul of Tarsus. And he even changed his name to Paul that means little man.
What he was saying was, "I am so not what I used to be. I'm I'm dead to all that." And that's why he said in Philippians chapter 2, he said, "Hey, I am an Israelite of Israelite. I'm a Pharisee. I am the seed of Abraham. A doctor of the law." He said, "All this I count done that I may win Christ." The biggest aspect of Christianity is to identify with the crucifixion through dying to yourself. It is an embrace of knowing that if you stand for the truth and you live the truth and you preach the truth, you will be hated, you will be persecuted, you will be shunned, you will be reproached, and ultimately you very well may be killed because of your stand. You know, I I I started writing a book in 1999 that I never published. It was right after the Columbine massacre in the high school, the shooting. Since then, a lot has been revealed. I knew back then that the two young men that shot all the students and people, teachers, and different all the people who were shot and killed Columbine. I knew that the two young men that did it were Satanists. I know for a fact that the high school shooting in Pearl, Kentucky back in the '89 '88 and '9, I can't remember now. Was also a Satanist who went purposely to shoot Christians who were had a Bible club and were having prayer before school. And I wrote in the book that I started writing and I still have it. I think Nancy started editing some of it a while back. One of those works that may never be done. About 14 chapters done. But in the introduction I talked about what happened in Columbine High School there in Colorado. And I said, you know, even back then the shooters asked people if they were Christian. Some of them they knew were Christians and went after them.
Here we are 2015. What happened in Oregon the other day is just the tip of the iceberg, But I wrote in that book, I said, "Much more of this is coming." I even said in that beginning of the book, I said, "The day is coming they'll go into churches and shoot people." Well, we saw that this year, didn't we? Of course it happened back in the 2000s in in Colorado at a church there, New Life, Ted Haggard's old church. But this is just the beginning in America. But I fear too many people call themselves Christians. You know, now it's # I am a Christian. Right? Everybody seen that? # I am a Christian. I praise God for everyone who says they're Christian. That's that's wonderful. But just cuz they say it does not mean it's so. A lot of people have a belief system and they think they're Christian. But the truth be told, they've never ever ever really identified with the cross of Jesus Christ and his resurrection because they've never truly denied themselves, denied their flesh, denied their plans, denied their own will. They've never really suffered any kind of loss for for taking a stand and being crucified with Jesus Christ. You know, Paul said this in 2 Timothy chapter 3. Somebody look it up. I can't remember if it's verse 11 or 12. But it's a simple verse. He said, "Yea, and all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Verse 12. 2 Timothy 3:12. Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Did it say everyone who says #iamachristian? I'm not putting that down. I praise God for it. Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying this says right here, if you live godly in Christ Jesus, not if you just live as a Christian or say you're a Christian, but do you live a godly life that crew is crucified with Christ? Have you taken up the cross? Have you died to yourself, your selfish desires, your selfish plans, your fleshly lust and sin? Have you died to
the flesh and taken up the cross and are you living godly in Christ Jesus? If so, the promise here is not a better house or a better car. The promise here is you shall suffer persecution. If nobody talks bad about you, if nobody SHUNS YOU, IF NOBODY REPROACHES YOU, IF NOBODY hates you, if nobody comes against you because of your Christianity, then I am telling you you're not living godly in Christ Jesus. You might be hiding in Christ Jesus somewhere. But you're not living. Does your life your words Does it proclaim that you are identified with Jesus Christ in his cross and his death and his resurrection? That he is everything to you. Look, I know Christians right now. There's one in particular I've been praying for. She was raised a Christian. She believes she's a Christian. She goes to church most of the time. Not all the time, most of the time. But I know that she is as lukewarm as the day is long. Jesus is not her passion. Jesus is not her love. Jesus is not her desire. Jesus is something over here on the shelf like a book she read a long time ago that she liked, but she put it on the shelf and it's just not her passion. That's more dangerous to me than someone living wicked. She's not a wicked person. She doesn't live in wickedness or drunkenness or or lust or or these things. She's not living a a lifestyle running after ungodliness and wickedness, but she's just Jesus is is not her passion. There's no desire to pray. There's no desire to study the word. There's no desire to grow. There's no desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There's no desire to operate in the gifts of the Spirit, there's no desire to win others to Jesus. And I sit here and I go, if if if somebody put a gun to her head and said, "Are you a Christian?" She would say, "Yes." But would she die Christian? When she stood before God to give an account of her life, would she hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Or would she hear, "You are lukewarm and you make me sick and I now must vomit you out of my body." This is what TROUBLES ME. BECAUSE TRUE Christianity has not been preached in America for decades.
ONLY IN SMALL LITTLE CHURCHES LIKE THIS that dare to do it. Jesus said this. Go to Luke chapter 14. Luke 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him. Jesus, they went with Jesus and he turned and said unto them, "If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, and yea, his own life he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish? Lest happily after he hath laid the foundation is not able to finish all that behold it begin to mock him. Saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Notice it says he laid the foundation. You may be know 1 Corinthians chapter 3 says, for the believer there is no other foundation that can be laid except for Jesus Christ. So, notice it says they laid the foundation. That means they began to believe in Jesus Christ. They believed that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, rose from the dead. They believed the Bible was true. They believed in heaven and hell. They believed Jesus was the Messiah and eternal life. They they confessed and they prayed and they believed and they asked Jesus to forgive them and to save them. They laid the foundation, he says, but then it says, but they were not able to finish. AND IT IS IN THE CONTEXT OF, are you going to take up your cross and forsake everything and love Jesus more than anyone or anything in your life? And let me just say this, actions speak louder than words. You know, one day, I remember 2008, the Lord had
spoken to me. I was in a difficult difficult situation. It's right before Nancy and I got married. A difficult difficult situation. And the Lord opened one doorway to get out of that situation. And to get through that situation. And I had prayed and I had fasted and I had sought God for any other way but that way. And that part of that was he told me to go to Washington, D.C. and accept the offer of that church in Washington, D.C. to become the pastor in Washington, D.C. Can I tell you that every bone in my body, every cell of my being did not want to move to Washington, D.C. I'm sorry if you live there and it offends you, but I'm an Alabama boy. And I didn't want to go. And on top of that, you know, my two daughters were still one in high school at the time, one in junior high at the time. And I didn't want to be that far away from them. And I was just so torn up about this situation that I was in. But God revealed clearly to me after praying and fasting, I knew his voice. I knew his direction. Go to Washington, D.C. Take this position. And one day I was just praying and I was depressed and I was discouraged and I was already missing my girls and I didn't want to be that far away from them and and it was just a just a difficult time. And I remember as I'm praying there complaining to God about the pain of being away from my girls. You know what he said to me? He didn't say, "Oh, that's okay. You don't have to do it." The Lord said, "This is your cross. This is your cross. This is what you have to follow me. Trust me." You know what I said? "Okay." You know how many times in 30 years almost now of rededicating my life to the Lord truly, let him be Lord and master, and to do his will and not my will. Do you know how many times I have done things, I have said things, I have preached things, I have gone places that I did not want to go, I have spent thousands of dollars that I didn't want to spend or didn't have to spend to do
his will? Do you know how many times I've had God tell me to empty my bank account and give it everything? I had God tell me one time to give everything in my bank account and my only paid for car away to his poor family. Yeah, and after that I'm walking. I've had God tell me to go to Africa to preach when when I was brokenhearted and and knowing that I'm about to be bankrupt. But one thing I have learned, the flesh doesn't like the cross. But when you crucify it to do the will of God above your own will, it is after that that you get to experience the true joy of the Holy Spirit that comes in your soul. It's painful for a night. It was painful to take that job in Washington D.C. for me at that time especially. I mean, I remember one time, you want to talk about agony, be 20, how old was I? 21 years old and the Lord give you a prophetic word to go speak in First Baptist Church in Opelika in front of the entire congregation and on TV live. The flesh didn't want to do that, brother. But I obeyed. I could give you story after story after story, but what am I what am I saying? Am I trying to praise myself? No, I'm just saying I'm I'm I'm not preaching something to you that I haven't practiced in my own life. The days ahead, God is going to speak to each of you to do different things that are not going to be comfortable to do. He's going to speak to you and encourage you and press you to talk to people that that are going to reject you and hate you. They may even cause division and strife in your family. He's going to He's going to move you to say things that are truth that that that the churches and the denominations for the most part don't agree with. He's going to He's going to send you places
that you don't want to go. He might lead you into a job you don't want to take. The question is, are you truly going to take up your cross? To follow him. That's the big question. When you say, "I'm a Christian." You know what I would ask? Are you crucified with Christ? If you live godly, right. Are you persecuted for your faith? Are you reproached for the name of Jesus Christ? Are you hated, shunned? Are you despised? Are you forsaken? Have you lost friends? Have you lost relationships? If you haven't, maybe it's time to rise up and be the Christian that God has called us to be. He hasn't got There are no closet Christians. There are no secret agent Christians. If you are born again and people don't know it, it's time to stop hiding and truly identify with the cross and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his gospel and this book the Bible and every word that's in So many. So many are not ready. They think they're Christian. I'm I'm telling you. Well, I love that part in that movie, Fury. But I love it cuz Shia LaBeouf or LaBeouf or whatever his name is. I like to call him LaBeouf. I don't know what it is. But in the movie he plays the a true Christian, a born-again Christian, really. And when the new guy comes up to join their tank team, he asked him, "Are you saved?" And the guy said, "Well, I go to such and such church." I I don't know if he said he was Presbyterian or Methodist or Baptist or And what was so cool about that scene was that all of his tank team members, all of his buddies who weren't saved but had been preached the truth to, all of THEM WENT, "OH, NO, NO, NO, NO. THAT'S NOT WHAT HE ASKED YOU." HE DIDN'T ASK YOU IF YOU WENT TO CHURCH. He asked you if you were saved. A saved man or a woman
is a changed man. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature or creation. All things All things have passed away and all become new. You get saved, you don't go where you used to go. You don't drink some of the things you used to drink. You don't smoke some of the things you used to smoke. You don't say some of the things you used to say. You don't look at some of the things you used to look at. Pastor Dean is old-fashioned. Yeah. Old-fashioned. This is old-fashioned preaching. I had a Rhema graduate tell me one time, "People don't want to hear that. That's what they preached back in 1940." Funny, they were having revival in 1947. America was in the midst of a revival and God was pouring out healing miracles like crazy. People were getting saved by the thousands. Okay. 30 years of false teaching in the church, 30 years of secret sensitive, watered-down, weak-kneed, effeminate, gay, pansy Christianity has killed a generation. It is It is weakened a bunch of believers and the generation coming up, you guys, you don't even know what used to happen. You want to know the most powerful meeting I've ever been in? It was not a Brownsville Revival service, and some of those were the most powerful what the most powerful meeting, church meeting I ever went to. This was back in 1987 or 88, right after I came back. And I went and visited the At the time it was Auburn First Assembly of God, now it's City Church I think here now. But I remember Keith Jones, the pastor, the Well, he was the youth pastor and the college pastor. He asked me to speak to the youth and then I got involved with the college group. And they had every year, once a year, they had this big meeting of college college ministry groups. I think
it was called SALT at the time. I don't know what it stood for, but But I remember we went somewhere, I don't even remember where we went now, but it was somewhere I We may It may have been Cheaha State Park. I can't remember, it was somewhere. And college groups came from all over Alabama. I mean, there were people from We were from Auburn University, then there was people from Alabama, there was people from, you know, just all the different different areas. And you know, this guy got up to preach. And he said, "You know, he said, we've been we've been praying and fasting for weeks for these meetings." And he said, "I had all of this planned to preach." And I'm talking about there were probably 300 college age people there. But he began to preach on hell. Yes, hell. And mission and the lost and those going to hell because they don't know Jesus and they don't live He preached one of the most fiery sermons on hell I've ever heard. And let me just tell you, the longer he preached on hell, the more power and glory from God that came down in that building. And people began to weep and moan and groan and cry and fall on the floor and repent before an altar call. The power of God was so strong in that place that you could hardly breathe. People got on their face. They got on their knees. The awe of God, the reverence of God, the fear of God, but the glory of His presence was so thick and powerful. And people wept and cried and moaned. And I knew people were dealing with sin in their lives. College students were dealing with fornication and drunkenness and compromising and being lukewarm Christians. And I mean, it was like somebody threw a threw a conviction grenade in that place. And it was just mass casualties. People laying, sobbing, snot on the floor. And then, here's what's amazing. After about 2 hours of this, people repenting, people crying and weeping, a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit came in there. And this joy came in the place. And then people I'm talking about no one
went and laid hands on people at first. People who were not baptized in the Holy Spirit were filled with the Holy Spirit, began speaking with other tongues. There were other people that that after that they saw certain people get baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues, they started asking folks. I remember some people in our group said, "Come pray for us. We're not baptized. We're not baptized in the Holy Spirit." And then the meeting went on for another hour or two with people getting baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. It was one of the most anointed, powerful meetings I've ever been in my life. It's all about hell. It all started with prayer and fasting and a good old-fashioned message about hell. Notice the Bible says Jesus said Luke 15. That all heaven rejoice when one sinner repent. When one sinner repent, let's read it. Luke 15. Right next door. Verse seven, Jesus spoke this. He said, "I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over 99 just persons which need no repentance." Repent. The greatest thing the American church needs to repent over is not just the sin that that that she's been indulging. But we need to repent over our lack of passion, our lack of fire, our lack of desire, our lack of going after God, our lack of wanting God more than we want anything in this world. Our greatest sin is lukewarmness. And the lukewarm will be spewed out. Let's read that. Revelation 3. This is for the once saved, always saved believers who think they can live any way they want to still go to heaven. Jesus spoke verse 14 Revelation 3:14, "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou was cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
I counsel thee to buy of me or pay the price for gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent. And and you know, this verse, next verse, is always used to talk about the unsaved, but it's not what he's talking about here. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and will sup with him and he with me. And to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Jesus the the context of I stand at the door and knock is to the lukewarm church who thinks that they have Jesus. He's outside the church knocking to get in. Is he outside of your life knocking to get in because you're too busy with everything else? He's not knocking at the door of the unsaved. He's drawing them. He's convicting them. But, he's standing outside the door waiting for the lukewarm Christians. Do you really want me in your house? Do you have time to open the door? Do you have time to pray? Do you have time to read your Bible? Do you have time to pray in tongues? Do you have time to obey my will and not your? Do you have time to change your plan? Do you have time? How about letting me in? You say you're mine. You say I am a Christian. Are you? Is Jesus on the outside of your house or is he in your house? HAVE YOU SHUT HIM OUT because movies are more important or video games are more important or your friends or time on your phone? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I CAN'T TELL. LISTEN. It's real easy. A man can say he loves his wife all that he wants. But, if he doesn't want to spend time with her, if he doesn't want to talk to her, if he wants to he he wants to spend more time around other women, if he wants to hang out with the guys all the time, it's all talk. She stands on the outside of his even though they're married.
This is American Christianity. But see, here's what God's doing. God is stepping back from the American Western lukewarm church. He's stepping back now. And what we saw in Oregon and there's reports that this guy was a Muslim, the one that is connected to ISIS. Whether that's true, some reports have said he was a Wiccan, he was an occultist. I believe the the we're we're if if they haven't buried all the information, we'll find out that he was a Muslim or at least looking at being a Muslim. But haven't I been talking about this to you now what, how many years? Of what was coming to America? You know, a few a few What was it, last year, year before? Christian woman at work gets gets beheaded by a Muslim. Now we have them going into a school, a college in Oregon. Are you a Christian? If yes, you get shot in the head. If no, you get shot in the leg. But I'm wondering, how many that said yes, I'm a Christian really were? Is it possible to die for a faith that you don't even have? Is it possible to die for Jesus and not even know him? Yes, it happens every day. I'm watching Christians You know, I know some people think this sounds mean. Or certainly somebody would would die for being a Christian, they're they're really faithful. There are a lot of people convinced they are ready to die. But they're not. What if you're a lukewarm Christian and you die? What if you're a backslider? What if you're a Christian in adultery, living in adultery? What if you're a Christian living in fornication? What if you're a Christian living in idolatry like Roman Catho- Catholics are? What if you're a Christian What if you're What if you're living, but you I'm a Christian. Again, this this right here Oh, this this is going to make some people lose their minds out there. I don't care. I got plenty of haters. I got an idea a lot of people going to die
thinking they're Christian. The moment that transition takes them they find themselves in hell. I believe they will immediately know why they're in hell. What do you say to the lukewarm Christians? What do they say? Jesus said, "You say you're rich, and grace is good, and have need of nothing." You're a Christian saying, "I got this. I'm good. I believe in Jesus. I go to church. I do this. I do that. I'm good. And Jesus said to them, "You don't even know that you're wretched, miserable." That's the scary part of it. Had the shooter in Oregon walked up to many lukewarm Christians, "Are you a Christian?" Many lukewarm Christians would say, "Yeah." So, Pastor Dean, are you saying they went to hell? I don't know. We'll only know that when we get there. Uh, do you want to take that chance with your life? Do I? Now, for the once saved, always saved folks, listen. If you are in Jesus Christ, in his body, means you had to been born again at some point. And if he vomits you out of his body, you're out. Pretty simple illustration, isn't it? Even you guys get that, don't you? Talk to the young ones. Don't be lukewarm, folks. Get in, get serious about God, or quit playing. Right? Is he not worth everything? I got people Some Some dudes argue with me on Facebook over whether the Shemitah and the blood moons mean anything or not? I'm just like, "Dude, Christians being shot in the head and beheaded in America and throughout the Middle East, and you want to argue some technical point of whether we're in the last days or not?"
The Pharisees wanted to argue with Jesus, too, didn't they? "Well, Elijah must come first. Well, he doesn't keep the Sabbath, you know, like we do. Well, he, you know, the Bible says that he comes from Bethlehem, not Nazareth. So, it can't be him." You know, the Pharisees had all their little religious arguments, and they missed the whole boat. Do you know the battle has always been over would you believe that prophecy is being fulfilled in before your eyes? There is no more time. What? I've shared this, and I'm going to close with this. Jesus Jesus appeared to me in vision form. I saw a vision of heaven. Heaven was open. I I know exactly what Stephen the martyr saw. When he said he looked up and he saw heaven open, and he saw Jesus standing beside the glory of the Father. And I saw I saw what the Trinity looks like in heaven. I saw it. The glory of that vision, it was an open vision. I was wide awake praying 2:00 3:00 in the morning, wide awake. The vision from heaven opened heaven opened the room lit up with the glory of of God's light. I saw Jesus that was at a distance. I saw him standing beside this tremendous light brighter than the sun I knew was the Father. I saw out of that light the wings of a dove out-stretched and come and hover over Jesus and I knew I was seeing the manifestation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit right in front of me. And the thing that Jesus said to me and this was in October. In fact, it was probably I'm thinking it was October 4th. I remember I know it was the first week of October and I'm thinking it's October 4th cuz I had it written down for years. 1987, he said, "Waste no time for there is little time left to spare." Well, I'm going to tell you today there is no more time to be lukewarm. There is no more time to not crucify the flesh and your own plans and your own desires and and really, let me say this for all Christians and those listening this morning and those who will listen, it's time to quit worrying about what people will think of you. YOU MUST DIE TO THAT. THAT WORRYING ABOUT what people will say or think or whether they'll like you or not or accept YOU OR NOT, ALL OF THAT IS FLESH. It's sinful wicked flesh. You must rise
up and speak the truth of the gospel and the word of God to people even if they WILL HATE YOU, REPROACH YOU, even if they will persecute you, EVEN IF YOU LOSE YOUR JOB. IF GOD IS TELLING YOU TO SPEAK, SPEAK! Thinking you're SOMEHOW GOING TO FIND A WAY TO CRAFT IT TO MAKE them like you. THAT'S THE WHOLE SEEKER SENSITIVE WATERED-DOWN EFFEMINATE gay Christianity what we have TODAY IS ALL CRAFTED AROUND THAT. LET'S FIGURE OUT A WAY TO MAKE THE gospel of Jesus and the word of God and let's craft IT IN SUCH A WAY that it'll make them all want to come to church and like us. And there is nothing beautiful in the sense about the cross. It is ugly. It is public. It is offensive. That's why when Paul said, "Has the offense of the cross ceased?" No, if you live GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS, IF YOU'RE FULLY IDENTIFIED and crucified with Christ, if you speak and live a godly Christian life, you will suffer persecution, REPROACH, REJECTION, and even even physical persecution and death. How many of you have been I I I want everybody in this room have you been punched in the face or in your body? I'll just say have you been punched, ever been hit, struck, physically persecuted for preaching the gospel? If you have, raise your hand. Two of us. Two. I'm not saying that that marks you as as the real Christian. I'm I'm illustrating something. Say that to a Pakistani Christian. Say that to a Chinese Christian. The average number of years in a Chinese prison labor camp for pastors in China is 11 years they spend on average in prison. Have you lost friends? Let's see. Has anyone lost friends for speaking the truth of the gospel of Jesus in the word of God? You lost friends. There you go. Many more hands. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 How about lost relationships with family members over All right. You get what I'm saying? I love this stuff. 1 Peter chapter 3 says, "If you were approached for the name of Christ, the the glory of God rests with
The more glory that rests upon you, the more you irritate the demons in people. The more truth you're willing to speak, the more you will cause the hatred and the stir people around. I remember when I learned this. And God gave me that verse. I was a baby Christian. And I learned it. What I'm telling you is there will be more. Jesus said, "In this world you will have tribulation." That's not a promise we like to hear, is it? But you know the good news of that? It is through the tribulation and the trials that God builds the real gold in your character. It is in the trials and the tribulation and the suffering and the persecution that God builds real glory and anointing in your life. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. And I mean the real God. I'm not talking about the watered-down God. I'm talking about the real God. Don't be ashamed of anything. Remember Jesus said this. He said if if you're ashamed of me and of my word, That's why I'm not ashamed to talk about the Nephilim, the giants, and their idolatry and the horror as the horror of Babylon. That's why I'm not ashamed to talk about demons, devils, casting demons out of people. I'm not ashamed of the word of God. Quit trying to tiptoe around religious folks. In fact, you ought to get some joy out of irritating them. I get some joy out of it. I really do. Because I look at it like this. If I tell you something that's the absolute truth of God's word, and that irritates you, your problem is not with me. It is not with me. I've had people mad at me cuz I told them they couldn't divorce their husband and marry somebody else. Well, I'll be I just laughed at that. Stomp off and get mad all you want to. Huh?
Are you crucified with Christ? Are you willing to bear the reproach, call. Are you willing to bear the reproach of every truth that's in God's word? Listen, we get reproached over the issue of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues. We get reproached over the fact we believe that that people can have demons in them and yes, even Christians can have demons in them. We get reproached over the fact we don't believe in a pre-trib rapture. Even though that no one can find a verse in the Bible to preach that prove me that that's true. But it's such an idol, it's such a it's it's such a Listen, the pre-trib doctrine, the pre-trib rapture doctrine only pleases the flesh. I got people who won't even talk to me because I don't believe in the pre-trib rapture doctrine. Well, guess what? Big whoop. I mean really, I've got Christians who won't have anything to do with me because I don't believe in the pre-trib rapture. I got Christians who won't have anything to do with me because I believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and gift of tongues. I got people who won't have anything to do They all got their their reasons and excuses. I don't care. I think it's funny. I give you 500 scriptures to prove my point and you give me, "Well, I just think." "Well, I just feel." I mean And I'm not trying to make fun of this person. There's a There's a couple of people who will know who this is. I'm not trying to make fun of this person I'm about to say this about. I believe they're sincere Christians. But we got into a discussion about the pre-trib rapture doctrine. And the first thing they said was Well, I I just believe I just believe God's merciful and that he won't he won't allow his people to go through that. I was like, what are the people in Iraq going through? What are the Christians in Iraq and Syria going through? That's what I said, too. I said, I guess is God more merciful to Americans than Iraqis? Is God more merciful or did he not say we would suffer persecution and tribulation in this world? The very prayer of Jesus. The very prayer of Jesus, John 17:15, I pray not that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil. And what he's talking about really is not that he would keep us from all persecution, but that he would keep us from committing evil. But the prayer of Jesus IS DON'T TAKE THEM OUT OF THE WORLD, FATHER. And then we have theologians come around in the 1800s and ministers and say that Jesus going to take us out of the world.
Protect those stuff. You see, I make people mad. Now, we had a good conversation with that person, that individual. Good conversation. And they all the blood drained out of their face for a minute. And they realized the Bible didn't teach that. But you see what I'm saying? Don't be ashamed. I could have kept my mouth shut. And so so, you know, I hope I don't upset anybody. Truth is disturbing most of the time. In fact, in a world of lies, telling the truth is absolute rebellion. All right. I hope you grasp this today. Take up your cross. Daily. Cuz guess what? Tomorrow you might not feel like it. Or tomorrow something might be tempting you more than it is today. Will you take up the cross and follow him? I hope. I hope that you all will. I hope that everyone that ever hears a message like this will listen. I I know they won't. Not all of them. Let's stand. We're going to sing I want to sing that song again. I know we sang it twice already. Or three times. I can't even remember now. But before we go this morning, let's worship the Lord one more time. And listen, yeah, I could give an altar call this morning, but I don't do it. If you know you're not taking up the cross and following Jesus, and you want to, then guess what? You'll do it tomorrow, next day, next day, next day. And you'll come tell me pastor again. I'm a disciple of Jesus, not just a church member. We need We need a #iamadisciplesofjesus not just I am a Christian. Disciples are followers. Disciples are obedient. Disciples are I'm embracing the cross.
Let's do it.