In this sermon, the preacher reflects on the rowdiness and objections faced by Jesus in John 7. He emphasizes the importance of praying before preaching and expecting God to move. The preacher also highlights the privilege of preaching in the street and encourages young people to serve the Lord wholeheartedly. He emphasizes that the power to change lives and bring revival lies in the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For more media content from Grace Community Church in San Antonio, Texas, go to gccsatx.com. Media used by permission of Heart Crime Missionary Society. Visit us online at heartcrimemissionary.com. Paul Walsher starts preaching about 11 minutes into this service. Dear God and Father in heaven, You are worthy to receive all praise and all glory, and all worship from now until eternity. And we call upon your name at the beginning of this gathering. And we thank you for all that you have given us. In the proclamation of the Gospel, in the meeting with each other, above all, by the meeting with yourself. We thank you that you want to be here, and that you want to make known to us the secrets of your kingdom. Lord, that you want to make known to us the treasures of the Gospel, also tonight. And when we realize who we are and what our origin is, and that you are that great holy God, who descended so low, and who gave the dearest of what you had, and revealed it to us. We thank and praise your great name for this. And we pray for you tonight. Give that our life, for the first time, will change to the image of your Son, Lord Jesus Christ. And that we may go home as people who have had a life meeting with you. Open our hearts to your Word, and open your Word to our hearts, so that we will see no one else tonight but you, Lord Jesus, alone. You know our thoughts, you know what is going on in us, to joy and to sorrow. And you want to take away everything because your Word will have its course, and you too, tonight, will receive all honor and glory. Bless our brother as he again may pass on the message that you have placed on his heart. Touch him with a call from the altar, because his words will be not of human wisdom, but in expression of spirit and strength. We pray this in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We want to think together tonight about the theme of cheap grace, the greatest threat to contemporary Christianity. I would like to read a few verses from the first letter of the Apostle Paul to the town of Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 1, we will read 8 verses. We start at verse 2 and read on to the end of the chapter. 1 Thessalonians 1, starting at verse 2. It reads as follows. We thank God always for you, your thoughtfulness in our prayers, without ceasing remembering the work of your faith and the work of your love and the tolerance of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ for our God and Father. Knowing, dear brothers, your choice of God. For our gospel has been among you not only in words, but also in strength, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much certainty, just as you know how much we have been among you for your sake. And you have become successors and have taken the word in much expression with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you have become examples to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you the word has become audible, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in all places your faith that you have gone to God, so that we do not need to speak of it. For they themselves proclaim of us how great an entrance we have to you and how you have turned to God from the abyss, to serve the living and mighty God and to expect his Son from heaven. For he has risen from the dead, namely Jesus, who will deliver us from the coming torment. If we think about the cheap grace that is the danger, the threat to contemporary Christianity, then it is very remarkable that Paul writes to the municipality of Thessalonica and that he is grateful for that municipality and for what may happen there. He is grateful. Why is he grateful? Well, the Gospel has given strength and they have accepted the word of God and it has renewed their lives. It is very clear that they have not become followers, but verse 6 says that they have become successors, and that is what it is about. The message of the Gospel has given strength in their hearts and their lives have actually changed radically. Yes, it even goes so far that they have become role models, not only for the municipalities among themselves, but even for the surrounding places. There was good news from the believers and those brothers and sisters did not remain themselves. It was not like they said, well, you have to accept Lord Jesus, then you are preserved and then it is arranged for the rest of your life. No, they were given to make, it also says that they have accepted the word, in a lot of oppression, but they remained attached to the word of the living God. It was not a rejuvenation. And they did not get it for nothing in the sense that it all went from a dead end when it came to following Lord Jesus Christ. And it is important that we also realize this tonight. We do become holy at the expense of another. The Gospel is offered to us all for nothing. And we may accept it, by grace, but when it comes to following, about discipleship, about being a follower of Lord Jesus, then that costs a price and that price is your own self. And the question is, whether we, tonight, not only know Lord Jesus as our Savior, as our Redeemer, but that we also accept Him as our King, as our Lord, as the One who has authority over all areas of our lives. And it is very remarkable what we read in the last two verses, in verse 9 and in verse 10. Paul is a witness of three things in the community of Thessalonica. The first is that the community has turned from the abandoned to God. They have turned 180 degrees, their sins forgiven, the abandoned said farewell and are going to lead a new life. And that is the second thing he says, that they are going to serve the living and the mighty God. Their life was servant to the work in God's vineyard. And the third, that they expect His Son from heaven. Three things. They have turned from the abandoned, they are going to serve the Lord in the practice of every day, and their life is stamped by the expectation of the soon return of the Lord Jesus in heaven. And Paul can, for these three things, the community, he speaks his thanks to the community that God has brought it so far and that it stamps their lives. And it is also for us, as a foundation, we have only one desire, and that is that these three important things that Paul introduces in verse 9 and 10, the only reason for which we can be grateful, that if the Word, which is also brought this weekend and next week, renews our lives in such a way that we turn from the abandoned, that we show in the practice of every day that we serve the living and the mighty God, and that our life is stamped by the expectation of the Lord Jesus in heaven. And that gives, as a result, that we lead a dedicated life, and that we, no matter what it costs, want to follow in his footsteps, and want to make the image of the Lord Jesus so public in the world of every day. And then the gospel may, yes, then the gospel will also cost us something, at the moment that these three things are also practical for you and for your life. We will hear more about this tonight, but I wanted to give you these three principles from 1 Thessalonians 1 Okay, many of you. Let's go the Lord in prayer. Father, I come before you and I pray that you would that you would speak to us through your Word. Lord, there are so many needs, and yet you are able to multiply bread to feed the multitude. Father, I feel that you are able I feel like a man who goes to his neighbor's house and says, I have guests, but I have no bread to lay before them. Please give me bread. Father, there are many people here, and in my weakness I feel that I have very little to lay before them. So I pray that you would give me bread, that bread would multiply, your people would feed and be strong. Lord, bless this service and do in it what you would desire to do. In Jesus' name, Amen. As always, it is a great privilege as always, it is a great privilege for me to preach to you and share with you from God's Word. Although with those lights up there I feel like I'm preaching to a train. Diedrich Bonhoeffer talked about cheap grace. An improper or superficial response to what Christ has done for us. He looked at the church of his day and saw that they were not walking in true discipleship. He saw cheap grace. Or that people were treating it cheaply. I have read his book and I agree with a great portion of it. But I believe that Diedrich Bonhoeffer missed the point. He looked at the church of his day and saw that they were not living for Christ. But he made a wrong presumption. He assumed that the institution called church was actually a church. He did not see that just because someone professes Christ, it does not make them truly a Christian. He was not looking at Christians who were not following Christ. But he was looking at people who were professing Christ, but were not actually Christian. He was looking at people who were professing Christ, but were not actually Christian. And that brings us to the subject of regeneration. When someone is truly a Christian, they have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. They have become a new creature. And they will live a new way. Those who have believed in Christ will continue to be sanctified by Christ. They will continue to be led by Christ. They will continue to be transformed by Christ. One of the problems I have with many of the missionary statistics in Europe and the West, is that they simply assume that everyone who confesses Christ is Christian. They assume that every institution that calls itself a Christian church is actually a church. But they are wrong. If it does not act like a Christian, it is not a Christian. If it does not have the characteristics of a church, it is not a church. There have been many churches planted by people who have been baptized throughout all of the West. Some of them were planted 100 years ago. Some 200 years ago. And when they were planted, they were vibrant, living churches. But that does not mean that they are still a church. Even in Asia Minor, Jesus warned the churches. Only a few decades after his death and resurrection, he warned them that if they were not careful, he would remove his candlestick from them. And on doing that, they would stop being a church. In the United States, there are churches everywhere. But are there truly churches everywhere? Just because there is a building with a cross on top of it, just because the people sing hymns, it does not mean that it is a church. It takes much more than just a name. So when we look at the world today, and we see many, many churches going astray, and we see many, many people confessing Christ and yet not living like Christ, we need to realize that not everything that is called Christian is truly Christian. Let me give you an example. Several years ago, I was listening to an apologist. Very well known. And he said this. We've got to do something with the Christian youth. Because we have done a survey and found out that 75% of the Christian youth do not believe the resurrection of Jesus Christ is important. But the apologist made a terrible error. If those youth do not believe the resurrection of Christ is important, they're not Christian youth. Because you cannot be Christian and deny the resurrection. You cannot be Christian and deny the Bible. You cannot be Christian and fully embrace liberalism. And you cannot be Christian and live like the world. Now, why is that? This is not my principal text, but I want us to go for a moment to Ezekiel 36. Verse 26. What has happened to a person who truly believes? What happens when someone actually, truly, genuinely becomes a Christian? We see here in verse 26 of chapter 36. God says, moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. This is not empty poetry. He is not speaking an empty metaphor. God means what he says here. When someone truly becomes Christian, they have been regenerated by the Spirit of God. And what does God do to them? He takes out their heart of stone. That wicked fallen nature that hates God. That stony heart that cannot respond to God. He takes it out and replaces it with a heart of flesh. A heart that will respond to him. That will hear his call. And that will follow him. That's why you must understand that conversion is more than just a person making a decision. It's a supernatural work of the Spirit of God. Whereby the very heart of a person is changed. Let me give you an example. If Oscar was a statue of stone, I could kick him. I could punch him. I could pinch him. I could scream at him. And what would he do? Nothing. Because he's stone. Stone does not move. It does not hear. It does not respond to any stimuli whatsoever. But he's not stone. He's flesh. If I punch him, he will respond. If I pinch him, he will respond. He will respond to stimuli because he is living flesh. That's what God does when he saves someone. He takes out that unresponsive heart and puts in its place a heart that will respond to him. Not only that, in verse 27 he says that he will put his spirit within a person. He says, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. Now what's amazing here, if we combine Ezekiel's words with the words of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31, we can learn the following. In the new covenant promise of Jeremiah, God says that he will teach his people, that they will all be taught of God, that they will all know him from the least of them to the greatest. So when God saves a man, he takes out his heart of stone, that cannot respond to God, and he puts in its place a heart of flesh that will respond. And then as he says in Jeremiah, he will write his laws upon his heart of that person. He will teach each one of his children through a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. And he will put his spirit within them. And he will cause them to walk in his statutes. And they will be careful to observe his ordinances. That is why if we see a church full of people who treat grace as cheap, who treat it as superficial, who do not follow Christ, and do not care to do so, then we are seeing a church full of lost people. A church full of people that have not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. Because every true child of God will follow him. Now before we go to our main text, let me explain something very important. This does not mean that the true Christian never sins. It does not mean that the true Christian never has a dull heart. It does not mean that the true Christian will never stray. But what it does mean is this. The new, the true Christian is a new creature. And although they are susceptible to sin, and although you will see weaknesses in their life, you will see in them a person who has been changed. And a person who continues following after Christ. And a person that when they hear the voice of Christ through the preaching of the word, they desire to follow. I want us to turn to Romans chapter 1 verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Let me say this. Paul's flesh had every reason to be ashamed of the gospel. Because the true gospel of Jesus Christ contradicts every, every philosophy and thought of the present age. If you are going to identify with Jesus Christ, you are going to put yourself in a place where you are going to have to suffer shame. We live in a world that hates Christianity. That mocks the gospel of Jesus Christ. And a world that hates anyone who seriously seeks to follow Jesus Christ and proclaim his gospel. There was a time when the West was a stronghold of Christianity. But that is no more. Every year it is getting darker and darker. And the opposite of that is true now. Opposition against Christianity is getting stronger and stronger. And if you are going to follow Jesus Christ in these next few decades, you must prepare yourself to suffer shame. You must prepare yourself for persecution. And possibly in many forms that you never dreamed. Just look around you. Look at what is going on. The noose is closing in around our neck. They are passing laws all over the place about hate crimes. Where if you say something, it is considered hateful and they put you in prison. In different places in the West Christian preachers have been thrown in jail. Just because they said homosexuality was a sin. If you faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you faithfully try to point out the sins of men who are dying without Christ, you could go to prison. If you try to evangelize other religions, you could go to prison. If you say someone else is wrong, you could go to prison and suffer great shame. That is something of the world that the Apostle Paul lived in. And that will be something of the world that we live in in just a few years. Are you truly Christian? Will you follow him? Will you proclaim his name? Will you rebuke the nations for their sin? Even though it costs you your job. Even though it costs you your family. Even though it costs you your freedom. Even though it costs you your life. Ten years ago, I never would have thought that I would deliver a message like this. But look around you. As laws are being passed to silence Christianity. Now, when they silence us, or they attempt to, realize this. There will be a whole group of people that are called Christians. Who have no problem with the world. They will continue on in their churches. And they will have a friendship with the world. Because they have denied Christ. And because they have compromised the principles and the commands of Christ. So when you are persecuted, it won't be as Christians. But as extremists. As fanatics. And even the supposed Christians will rise up against you. In order to save their own necks. I remember during the war in Peru. One pastor in Peru got up to share with the other pastors. And he said this. Brothers, it has been appointed unto us to suffer. And I'm telling you the same. And you're going to have to make a decision. Are you really going to walk with Christ? Are you really going to proclaim his name? Or will you compromise? Paul's flesh had every reason to be ashamed of the flesh, of the gospel. Because his gospel contradicted the world. And if you make a stand and preach the same gospel, your gospel will contradict the world. And because of it, the world will hate you. But fear not. For Christ has overcome the world. Now, we still have freedom. While we have freedom, we must work. We must preach the gospel. We must pray. Maybe the time of judgment will be delayed. And God will give us more time to work. Don't waste your life. If you're a young person and you know the Lord, then serve him with all your heart while you still have strength and you still have freedom to do it. As Paul said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for everyone who believes. The gospel is the power of God. What will change a man? The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What will bring revival to a nation? The gospel of Jesus Christ. What will change a man? Don't rely on something else. Don't rely on eloquent words. Don't rely on evangelistic programs and missionary strategies. Open your Bible and preach the gospel. Because only the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Now it's the power of God for salvation. What does that mean? That the gospel will justify you. That through the gospel you can be saved. That through the gospel you can miss hell. That through the gospel you can miss hell, so you don't go to hell. Yes, but it means much more than that. You see, when we talk about salvation, many times we only think in one tense. We only think of one aspect of salvation. Justification. But the gospel is not only the power of God to justify us. It is also the power of God to sanctify us. It is also the power of God to lead us on to glory. Salvation is in three tenses, past, present and future. Past tense. God saved me. He saved me from the condemnation of sin. Present tense. He is saving me from the power of sin. That is sanctification. And future tense, he will one day save me from the presence of sin. The evidence that you have truly believed the gospel unto salvation is that the God who saved you continues to save you. The God who saves you continues to transform you. The moment I believed I was justified and freed from condemnation. But the moment I believed there was the beginning of a progressive salvation, God sanctifying me, changing me, making me holy. And that work will continue in me until I go home to glory. How do you know that you have been justified? How do you know that you have been justified? It's because the one who justified you continues to sanctify you. The one who saved you from the condemnation of sin is working in your life to save you from the power of sin. That as you walk with Christ through the years of your life, he works in your life to make you more and more conformed to his image. And so we have the old principle that sanctification is proof of justification. Is that a reality in your life? Since you have professed Christ as your Lord and Savior, can you see him working in you and changing you? Is he teaching you? Leading you? Blessing you? Disciplining you? And doing whatever it takes to make you like him? Is that a reality in your life? Or are you a person that simply one time in your life you said you believed and you prayed a prayer and then nothing happened? Are you truly Christian? Are you truly following him? Now let's talk for a moment about discipleship. Every virtue in your life is progressive. For example, in order to be saved, I repented and believed. That repentance that saved me, it was the repentance that saved It wasn't the repentance of a mature Christian. It was genuine. But it wasn't the strong repentance of a Christian of 25 years. My faith in Christ that saved me was not a mature faith. It was not a strong, mature faith of a believer of 25 years. It was not a strong, mature faith of a believer of 25 years. It was small, it was weak, but it was genuine. But over the years, as I began to walk with Christ, that repentance became deeper and that faith became stronger. Now one of the reasons I'm telling you this is because of what I've heard from you as I've been counseling you. Many of you have sat with me for hours saying, I want to be saved, but I can't be saved. You say, I'm sorry for my sin and I'm repentant, but I don't think my repentance is pure enough. I've heard you say, I believe in Jesus, but I don't think I'm saved because I don't think my faith is strong enough. Just listen to that. That's wrong. It does not take great repentance or great faith to be saved. It takes genuine repentance and genuine faith to be saved. Repent. Believe. And then as you grow in the Christian life, your repentance will become deeper and more mature. And your faith will become stronger and more dependent upon Christ. Basically, I've had people tell me in this conference the following. My repentance and my faith is not as deep and strong as the greatest Puritans who ever walked on the planet, and therefore I can't be saved. Do you see the contradiction? It's not that I'm going to be saved. If a grain, a faith the size of a mustard seed will move a mountain, what must you do to be saved? Believe. Receive. Cry out to Christ in faith, and he will begin to work in you. And your repentance will deepen and your faith will grow stronger. I repented of my sins and believed the gospel about 26 years ago. I repented, and I thought my repentance was so deep that I would be saved. But now, after 26 years, my repentance is much deeper and much stronger. My repentance back then was like the repentance of a child. I saw some of my sin. I repented of it. But now, after 26 years, my repentance is much deeper. I see it in a clearer light. And my repentance is deeper. I believed the promise of God 26 years ago. And Christ saved me. But that faith of a child, that faith of a child, over the years has grown and grown and grown, so that I have much more assurance and strength in Christ. When I first trusted Christ as my Savior, I believed that I was depending totally upon Him. But over 26 years, that dependence has grown stronger and stronger. This is what it means that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. You repent and believe, and God is the power of God unto And God continues to work, deepening that repentance, strengthening that faith, making you more holy, drawing you closer to Him, breaking off the things of the world so that they no longer hold on to you. Is that what God is doing in your life? Can you see God working in your life? Then that is a great sign that God has saved you. I want us to go to John, chapter 1. Verse 12, or verse 11. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. What does it mean to receive Christ? There's a form of evangelism here in Holland and in the United States that goes something like this. Do you know you're a sinner? Yes. Do you know Christ died for you? Yes. Do you want to go to heaven? Yes. Well, then, do you want to receive Jesus? Yes. Well, then repeat this prayer with me, and Jesus will come into your heart. I hope that you reject Jesus as a sinner. I hope that you reject that kind of evangelism. What does it mean to receive Jesus? Paul tells us in the last part of verse 12, it is to believe in His name. It is to believe in everything He says about Himself. Sorry, that you believe? It is to believe in everything He says about Himself. It is to believe in His person. Depend upon His work. And trust Him as Savior. And Lord. To open your life to Him. That He might be your Savior. That He might be the master of your life. Now, I want you to listen to an illustration. Imagine that there is a city of people, a group of people in a huge walled city. And they're all in there behind the wall. And they're all in the walls because there is an enemy coming. Who is going to destroy them all. But before the army arrives, a great king comes to the door, or the gate of the city. And the great king says, open the door. And I will save you from the approaching army. But when I come in, I will also reign over you as king. That's the way Jesus approaches the heart. That's the way Jesus approaches the heart. That's the way Jesus approaches the sinner. Destruction is coming. And He says, I can save you. And so the sinner throws open the doors of his life. But Jesus says, wait. If I come into your life, I will save you. But I come in as king. And when I come in, I take over. You come down from the throne. And I go up there. You're no longer king. I am. I want you to look at something very important about what it means to receive Jesus. Look at verse 11. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. He came to His own things, or He came to His own people. That means that the Christ came to the Jews, and He received And they did not receive Him or welcome Him. Now I want you to think about something for a moment. What was the Jewish concept of the Messiah? Did they believe that He would be a Savior? Yes. Even more important, or gave greater emphasis to it, the Messiah was the son of David. And He would not only deliver His people, but He would take the throne of David. He would be king. The Jews not only rejected Jesus as Savior, but they rejected Him as king. And that is why they said, We will have no king over us but Caesar. There is a belief today that you can believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and not Lord and still be saved. But that is a lie. The Jews rejected Him as Savior and they rejected Him as Lord. If you are going to receive Him to open your life to Him, you welcome Him as Savior and you welcome Him as Lord. He does not make any compromise. But now what does it mean to have Him as our Savior and Lord? Well, it depends where you are at in your Christian walk. When I first came to know Christ, like any other believer, I said, Jesus is my Savior. Jesus is my King. I did not have a clue what I was saying. My knowledge of what that meant was so small. Twenty-six years later, when I say Jesus is my Savior, it means a whole lot more. But also twenty-six years later, when I say Jesus is my Lord, it means a lot more. When I first became a Christian, the very next day I went out into the streets preaching. I thought I was John the Baptist. I thought I was the holiest man on the planet. I thought I was totally submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I did not know what that meant. But over twenty-six years, He began to teach me. It hurt. It was a battle. More and more coming to understand what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus. More and more, God revealing parts of my life that were not submitted to His Lordship. Little by little, having to surrender more and more of my sovereignty to Him. If I preach here to you twenty-six years from now, I will refer back to this sermon, and this is what I'll tell you. I didn't have a clue what it meant to have Jesus as my Lord and Savior. You see, some of you, you can't even begin to think that God might save you because your repentance and faith isn't as strong as the greatest Christians who ever walked on the planet. I want you to see that in salvation both repentance and faith begins very meager, very small. And as God saves you, He begins to deepen and strengthen and grow your faith and repentance so that one day you may have the faith and repentance of one of the great Puritans or one of the great Reformers. To receive Christ is to take Him in as your sustenance. Let me give you an example from the West. From Europe, from the States, and even from South America. I have seen this over and over. People take Jesus into their life as an accessory. Like when your wife buys a dress and you think to yourself, she only spent this much money. Oh, that's good. But then she tells you she also had to buy shoes to match the dress. Okay, okay. And then she tells you she had to buy a purse and a belt. Those are accessories. They add to the dress. Many people want Jesus to come into their life in order to add something to their life, to the life that they already have. I have heard preachers say this. To young, successful Americans. You have a great life. You've got a beautiful family. You've got two cars and a beautiful home. And your job is really, really wonderful. You've got a great life. You only need one thing to make it complete. You need Jesus. That's blasphemy. That's one of the most disgusting things that could ever come out of a man's mouth. Jesus is not the cherry on the top of your already wonderful life. Jesus is not something you add to your already present life to make it more wonderful. Jesus becomes your life. This is the way the preacher ought to preach. I don't care how wealthy you are. I don't care how many things you have. I don't care what your reputation is among the culture and society. Your life is rotten. Your life is vain. Now repent of all these things and trust in Jesus Christ so that you might have true life. Listen to me, Christian. Jesus isn't just a ticket to heaven. He isn't just someone who can bless your life. He is your life. He's everything. But what does that mean in the life of a new believer? When I was a new believer, I would say, Jesus is everything to me. I didn't have a clue what I was saying. But I understand it a little bit more after 26 years. Little by little, I see that this world is passing. Little by little, I see more of my sin and more of my frailty. Little by little, I see more of His kindness and power. And little by little, this vain life of this world is being replaced by His. this vain life of this world is being replaced by His. What do you think heaven is like? Streets of gold. They're there. But I mean, walk up and down them a few times, you're going to get bored. I mean, gates of pearl. What do you swing on them? What do you do? I mean, after a few thousand years of going like this, you're going to get pretty bored of just swinging on gates. You mean you swing the doors or you swing yourself? No, you swing the gate. You get on the gate and you ride it back and forth. This is what happens when an intellectual European tries to translate for a cowboy. You get on the gate and you ride it like it was a horse. What do they teach you people in school? I mean, what do you think heaven's all about? It's about Christ. The place is just filled with Him. Everything is about Him. And that's one of the great differences between a brand new believer and a mature believer. Do you know what the new believer does? What some of you are doing. Talked to so many of you in the last two days. And you're looking inward at yourself. My repentance isn't big enough. My faith isn't strong enough. I have so many failures here. And so many failures there. But you know what happens as you grow in Christ? You begin to stop looking at yourself. And you just look at Him. You know what you are. You know your failures. You know your sin and your weakness. But you just look to Him. Look to Him. Let me finish by giving you a little story that happened a few years ago. A seminary student wrote me an email. And he said, Brother Paul, I am just wicked and ignorant and I can't follow Christ. And so I wrote him back. I said, dear brother, you are much more wicked and ignorant than you now know. I have the gift of encouragement. So he called me on the phone and said, Brother Paul, thanks. I said, listen to me. You are one of the finest young men I know. And I can see that you are seeking hard after Christ. Sometimes your life convicts me. You are probably holier than I am. But I am happier than you are. And he said, why? You are looking at yourself. You are looking at your own virtue to find peace. You are looking at the strength of your own commitment to find rest. You are looking at your performance to find joy. I stopped doing that a long time ago. I look inside, I can't find anything that would make me strong or joyful or secure. So I look to Him. You are trusting in your works. I am trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ on my behalf. Your works are constantly changing. So therefore your peace and your assurance are constantly changing. But I am looking to the person and works of Christ. He never changes. So my joy is always constant. And my peace is always a reality. Because it comes from Him. If I could want anything for you, it would be that. That you would stop looking inside because you are not going to find anything there. And that you would look to Christ. And that His glory and His salvation would motivate you to serve Him with everything you have. Let's pray. Father, I come before You in the name of Your Son. And I pray, Lord, that in our weakness, in our great weakness, that You would use these words to help Your people. In Jesus' name. Amen. And sometimes you think, are there still such people who are really going to stand on the street and give a message. This weekend we have someone in the middle of us, a street preacher from England, from Manchester, who is even going to stand on his stairs, on a household staircase, and in the middle of the street proclaims the Gospel. And I would like to give the floor to Mr. Kelvin Williams and that he tells his testimony and also his work in that big city in England. And I want to give you some background information about the life in which I grew up. In England 80-90% of the people they undergo child abortion. Even atheists. The minister sprinkles water over a baby and then everybody goes to the pub and gets drunk. And then they never go to church again until their funeral. And then the pastor then says this person is now in heaven. And that was the type of Christianity I grew up with. When I went into secondary school I learned about evolution and I professed to be an atheist. I then left school and I drank up as much sin as I could in various ways. I did things shameful to speak about. And then in my mid-twenties I started asking those questions we all ask at some stage. Why are we here? And what happens when this life is over? And I looked at the creation and I knew there was a God. I left my atheism. And I at first looked at other religions. I wanted to become anything but a Christian. But I couldn't buy any of them. They were just like fairy tales. And then I started to read the Bible as a history book. And around the same time I went to a high Anglican church, very Catholic. And after a long time searching I knew this was all true. I was very impressed with the Bible's prophecy. The Bible could predict the future and was always accurate. In Psalm 22 written 1000 B.C. In verse 16 it says they pierced my hands and my feet. Yet that prophecy was written 1000 B.C. And crucifixion in all its forms was not even invented until another 400 years in 600 B.C. So I knew this book was all true. I knew it was supernatural. I knew there was a heaven and there was a hell. But I still wasn't a Christian. I believed Jesus. I could tick all the essential doctrines on paper. But so could the devil. And I was going to church on a Sunday. And on the Saturday night before I was in nightclubs doing all sorts of things. But I cleaned my life up to some extent but I still wasn't a Christian. I didn't know Jesus. He was a distant deity to me. And then one day I was listening to a sermon in the garden. It was on the internet. And I heard the words of Jesus. And he said, You have heard that it was said of old you shall not commit adultery. But I say unto you that if you so ever look at a woman to lust after her you have already committed adultery with her in your hearts. And then Jesus went on to say that lusting after people you're not married to will take you all the way to hell. Now, I'd heard that scripture many times before. Now, I'd heard that scripture many times before. And I always tried to explain it away saying it doesn't really mean what it says. But that day was different. The Spirit of God blew on me and I was shook with fear. And I wasn't just grateful for the cross And I wasn't just grateful for the cross But at that moment I had the feeling that I was on my way to a ravine and that I was stopped at the very last moment. But at that moment I was extremely grateful that I hadn't died the week before or the week before. And that sin was gone. Because Jesus Christ He took all of it on that cross. As brother Paul said yesterday there wasn't a moment in Jesus' life when he didn't love God perfectly. Yet on that cross God looked at Jesus as if he was me. But then he looks at me. No matter what day I am having Jesus looks at God and God looks at me as if I have always perfectly loved God with my heart, soul, mind and strength. Isn't that just wonderful? And that is wonderful. And since then I have become a pastor and we do a lot of open air preaching. I am one of those crazy people who is going to stand on a chair and you get people around you and I was beaten kicked and bottles were thrown at me and I was knocked off my chair. But I have also seen wonderful things and been able to draw closer to Christ through it all. Before I started preaching when I used to read when Jesus taught in the temple I used to imagine when Jesus preached it was a bit like this where everybody sat down nice and put their hand up one at a time and everybody was pleasant. But now I realize if you read chapters like John 7 the crowd is very rowdy and excited and questions and objections come from all directions and some are angry some are raging some believe some are indifferent some say we will hear you again on this. Some say what? We will come and hear you again. In Manchester when we open our preach what I normally do is I start preaching 1, 2, 1, 2 minute gospels just repeating. You mean you repeat things? Yes, I repeat the gospels one minute because that's all the crowd has gone. And then I always pray God would send a good heckler someone who argues with me. And it can happen at any time I could be preaching for 1 minute sometimes 20 or 30 minutes and someone will come along and will start arguing in the streets and then other people will stop to watch and a good heckler can get you a crowd of 100 in a few minutes. But sometimes the hecklers can be violent the atheists are the most violent the muslims can get aggressive too but I've never been hit by a muslim sometimes the muslims will threaten to beat me up but I always remind them that they've just told me Islam is a religion of love and they go oh yeah and then they are ready with their fist and then they say oh yeah, you're right. One time when I was preaching there were a lot of muslims around me and I don't suggest you copy this and I asked the question how many wives is a muslim allowed? some said 9, some said 10 so then I asked them how many 3 or 4 I think it is you lose count so I asked them how many wives did Mohammed have? and that was the 9 or 10 and then my next question was how young was Mohammed's youngest wife? and this big crowd maybe 40, 50 muslims shouted 6 years old so I then shouted what do you call a man who has sex with a 6 year old girl? and at that point I got very close to being knocked off my ladder and at that moment I got very close to being knocked off my ladder and I was almost dragged through the streets but when I got to that point I switched to the love of Christ and one of the most important things in open air preaching is to pray for a voice of compassion because even if you preach in love when people are punching you, sometimes that doesn't always happen but are hitting you you get a lot of hate hurled at you and it's very easy to become hard hearted to that but it's also a chance to show the love of Christ but it's also a chance to show the love of Christ and we had conversations with homosexuals homeless people and when it comes to homeless people we don't just want to witness for them brothers in our fellowship have took them into their home and we've fed them and the love of Christ wins people with our lives as well as our preaching there's no point in preaching Christ unless we live Christ so not everybody is called to preach in the streets but you all have family and friends who you can share the gospel with if you look people say you can't witness to family members today yet if you look at the disciples they went straight away and called their brothers so we must one more thing when we're witnessing to people don't expect God to move if we don't pray many open air preaching groups I've seen will pray for five minutes before they preach I think it's worth praying for an hour even if it means cutting the preaching time down then expect God to do great things even when we're preaching in the street it is a great privilege okay thank you