This sermon by Joshua Daniel emphasizes the power of faith, perseverance, and witnessing in the face of opposition and challenges. It highlights the need for unwavering trust in God's ability to work miracles, heal the sick, and transform lives, even in the midst of societal issues like AIDS and tribal conflicts. The message encourages believers to stand firm in their faith, overcome obstacles, and continue spreading the Gospel despite persecution and tribulations, echoing the early disciples' dedication and courage.

Welcome to the Lord's Challenge with Joshua Daniel. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International is a ministry reaching people from all walks of life since 1935. After a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of 16, Joshua Daniel has been declaring the marvelous deliverance from sin, which is freely given to all those who turn to the loving Savior. From small villages to large cities, in many parts of the globe, through revival meetings, literature, radio, internet, and television, Joshua Daniel has been tirelessly laboring, trusting God to supply all that is needed. Wherever this message has gone out, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and thieves turn into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing that God has for you. When our Lord was called the man of sorrows, you know we are given to hearing all kinds of facts today. People falling into uncontrollable laughter. He has filled my mouth with laughter. It is there, but what for? Is Toronto then filled with the righteousness of God? In the workplace? In the mart and place of business? Has the Holy Spirit taken over so that men are living upright and clean lives? Suppose all of you fall into peals of laughter and I can't preach anymore. I say these fellows have gone off their rockers and they are laughing like madmen. I can't get a word to them. What good is it? That's not the word of God. The word of God has got to be preached. Some of these manifestations are very dubious. They are not resulting in actual righteousness. Now what are the people outside saying? You have got as many divorces in the church. As a matter of fact, it's almost said that the divorce in the churches is getting to be more than those in the world. I simply can't believe that though. Is it a fact? Can it be a fact? What a dreadful fact it would be. It would say the church is dead as a doornail, if that is true. My dear people, a Christianity which is unrelated to private and public righteousness and morals is no Christianity. It's some other religion. Acts 14 chapter and the third verse says, Long time therefore abode they, speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. Here in Iconium, as they preached, well you know when faith comes in, there are so many situations in everyday living where you need to apply faith. What if we had said, oh it is the thunder is spilling and this high roof may be the next place where the lightning is going to strike. Well let's scram. Let's get out of here. And this old structure will be all on fire. My dear friends, look, when situations which are adverse arise, learn to say, my heavenly father knoweth. My heavenly father knoweth. And that's enough. So whatever the adversity, learn to say, my heavenly father, and he will not forget me. So friends, we see these mighty works taking place. You know, can you see what a pathetic situation has arisen in the world today? Everybody knows this AIDS is just spreading and claiming more millions every year, wiping out sections of the population in some countries. And the medicines which are mere palliatives, which barely arrest the disease, hardly, are so expensive and inaccessible to most people. Everybody knows this. But what is it that they fight against? Abstinence. What is it they fight against? They don't want any lifestyle change. We must have our fun, they say, which is wrecking other lives and wrecking their own families. And the tragedy which is the result of this kind of living is so terrible to behold. When I see people these days come up and tell me I'm an AIDS patient, my, what can I do? I'm only a man. But we are seeing some of these AIDS patients getting healed, completely healed. The Lord is doing it. Recently a person who had no love at all for the gospel, in fact, he was a heathen man, was listening to one of our television broadcasts. How he happened upon the broadcast, I don't know. Telecast, I don't know. This stranger, that night, suddenly felt that he was well. He said, what happened to me last night? Can it be true that I am completely well? So he went out to the hospital and said, I want a complete check. Check me out. What was the result of the check? No sign of AIDS. You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ is working in this way, after all, we are not reaching healing of the body, but spirit, soul, and body. So when these things are reported, oh, I am thrilled. I am thrilled. So here were great things done in the name of Jesus. We should expect these things to happen continually. They just accompany the preaching of the word of God. And when faith rises in the hearts of people, they feel a compulsion to pray for the impossible. So I tell people, erase the word impossible out of your vocab. You know, we are always saying, that's impossible. This is impossible. That's impossible. No, there is nothing impossible with God. But you know, the multitude of that city was divided. Part of them stood with the Jews and part with the apostles. Fifth verse, and when there was an assault made, both of the Gentiles and also the Jews, with their rulers, rulers also came in, to use them despitefully and stone them. They were aware of it and fled unto Lystra and Darby. Look at this. A concerted effort was made to seize them and to stone them. My dear friends, I think faith makes us also to be steadfast. You know, how many people here are stubborn like a mule? Do you admit that that streak is in most of us? You know, let me tell you, there is a great ray of hope for you. That stubborn streak will be turned by the Holy Spirit into a determination which never turns back. So, as some of you know, one of those areas which is so vulnerable to bloodshed and racial and tribal hatred, and as we work in those places, when I first started preaching, you know, some of them were so enraged, they wanted to stone me, as some of you know. But right there, in that just almost 150 yards, or 200 yards, or just, you know, as the crow flies, not our campus stands today, which is not able to hold the people. One of our biggest halls is hardly able to contain the people that gather. I was recently there, about five, six weeks ago, and young people being transformed. People who were tending to becoming terrorists, they were tending to become terrorists, transformed, made into disciples. So, the Gospel does it. There is the threat, there is the danger to life, it is there, you see. But God gives us a holy determination. It's not just in the easy places. Well, what do we see then? In Lystra, you see. Now, I cannot say that there was ever a situation where I had to flee. But I am not any greater, or I can't hold a candle to these men of the Bible. But to think of them having to leave a place in such haste, with such real danger around them. Yes, the Gospel can be a risky business. Say, like one of our doctors was killed, a neurosurgeon, killed in his own house. And I don't think the government pursued the killers. I did not hear that those killers were put in gold. Initially, they were imprisoned, but political powers probably got them released. Good riddance of this missionary doctor. Yes, there is that danger. We are facing it in many places. But eventually we see that it happened in Lystra. Lystra, 19th verse. There came hither just when Lystra was receiving the word of God, there came these enemies who stirred up trouble. Certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. You see friends, and when these disciples could have just abandoned him there or said, let us hurriedly enter him, put him in some grave and be done because we will be in danger. We will be targeted next. No, the disciples stood round about him and he rose up and came into the city. They didn't carry him. They exercised such tremendous faith. Just think of that. You know, there is a strange fatalism which I have seen. And when I first encountered this strange fatalism as a very young man, preaching in Pennsylvania, I said, my, how is it that when lives are lost. There was my host who said to me, here was this young fellow, he got on his car and hit one of these Amish buggies and killed him. Oh my. When I hear of strangers dying on the road, I feel terrible. And yet it is taken up as a matter of, well, that's life. So, people don't seem to expect any divine interventions. They don't seem to expect any great deliverances. You know, a woman brought to me a baby and her husband would not come. He was entirely opposed to Jesus Christ. What did they say? This baby can't move its hands, legs, nothing, no movement. My, I never encountered such a baby in my life. I said, Lord, this is something way beyond anything that I can handle. Of course, I can't do anything. With a heart which was fainting within me, I prayed for that child. Seeing the mother and the grandmother so earnest, they wanted prayer. Now, some four months after, when I went to the same place, the brother who is in charge of our work there said to me, they have brought that baby. It's been healed. It's now standing. And the father has come too. He wants you to pray for that baby. It was born completely blind. But now the sight is also coming back. All right, let God do his works. Why should I stand in the way, my own faith? Why should it hinder? See, folks, lack of faith, what a hindrance it is. So we see them overcoming, even in a situation when Paul was dead, dragged out on those rough road out of the city to be disposed off, I guess, and they overcame. So what did Paul do after he had gone to the next town? He returned back to Lystra. He didn't say, hey, that's a dangerous place. I'm never going to enter that place again. No, 21st verse, when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith. That we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. I do not know how tribulation or persecution will make its appearance in the United States, but there is so much antagonism today to truth and righteousness. It is such a tragedy. We must enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation. Let us pray. O loving Father, how my lack of faith can hinder your works. How my lack of faith can weaken so many people. How alarmed we get and how we panic over very trifling things. We don't say, our Heavenly Father knoweth. He commanded me to be a witness. He commanded me to give the gospel. He is able to take care of the rest. The safety and security concerns are in His hands. He is equal to all these things. Now Father, we see a situation so akin to those times when the early disciples had to labor in the face of so much opposition. Now today, though they cannot publicly stone us or throw us out of the city, yet there is a subtle form of repression and persecution putting its head up in various quarters. Please help us to be true to you, Lord Jesus. We can be very faithful at this time and prove you to be the living Savior. We ask in Jesus' almighty name. Amen. We are working for revival around the globe. We invite every lay person to become God's ally in changing his or her corner of the world. Please write, and if you have a problem or concern you would like to share, please do let us know. You can email us at post at lefi.org or visit our website at www.lefi.org. Our mailing address is LEFI P.O. Box 14 South Line, Michigan 48178. You can also call us at 248-486-6326. Until we meet again next week, may God bless you.