This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering everything to God, sharing personal testimonies of encountering God's presence and the transformative power of prayer. It challenges listeners to seek a deep, intimate relationship with God, highlighting the need for a hunger and thirst for God, a willingness to surrender all areas of life, and a desire for a supernatural Christian life that demands explanation.

It's a wonderful privilege this morning to be with you all. I'm so sorry I can't speak this beautiful Hungarian language. Someone in Hungary once said to me, if I want to go to heaven I need to speak Hungarian. So I need a lot of prayer this morning. You know, I was born in Africa, and I became a Christian at the end of my first year when I was studying theology. I didn't know Christ, and at the end of my first year when I was studying on a Sunday night, a student challenged me. And he said to me, Gerhard, if you die tonight, where will you spend eternity? And he said, Gerhard, if you die tonight, where will you spend eternity? That night I discovered that I am not a Christian. And then at dawn, at 3 o'clock, I called on the Lord Jesus to come into my heart. Jesus came into my heart, into my life. My parents had a cattle ranch or a farm in Africa, and they were not Christians. So I had to go back to our farmhouse after I became a Christian, and I just started to live the Christian life. And I did not know that on this farm in Africa, we have lots of little small mountains. And one day when I came back from the town, I came into the farmhouse, and my mother said to me, there is a black African pastor that wants to see you. And I had this little cottage. So I said to my mother, where is he? And she said, he is in your cottage. And I said, what does he want? And she said, I don't know. So I walked into the little cottage, and this man sat there. And I shook hands with him, just a young Christian. I shook hands with him and I said to him, we are going to discuss theology. And he just turned to me and he said, no. And I said, what are we going to do? And he looked at me and he said, we are going to pray. And before I could say a word, this black man fell on his knees, on the floor, and he began to pray. And something happened. He said, what was it? The presence of God was there. People sometimes say to me, what is the presence of God? And I often say to them, I can't explain it. But I know when it's not there. And as this man began to pray, the tears began to stream down my cheeks. Because God was in that room. And for an hour and a half, he was under this burden of God in prayer. And he was speaking to God. And I sat there, and I felt that small. Because, you see, as he was speaking to God, he was presenting to me a Christian life that demanded a supernatural explanation. It was different. It broke my heart. And after he prayed, and he prayed for an hour and a half, it felt like five minutes. And I just sat there, didn't know what to say. Because I met someone that really walked with God. And he made me hungry. And thirsty for God. And he just turned to me and he said to me, there's this little mountain on your farm, very large farm. And he said, there are six of us. And we spend days and nights of prayer and fasting. And I said, what do you mean? He said, sometimes we go for 40 days. Sometimes for 21 days. Sometimes for 14 days. He said, sometimes for 7 days. I said, really? Yes, he said. I said, why do you do that? He said, because we love God. And he walked out. I didn't know if I would see him again. Do you know what happened? Friday night, we come to Africa, the nights are very dark. You can't see your hand in front of your face. And I was sitting in my little cottage. There's a knock at the window. And I saw him. When I opened the curtain, I couldn't see his face. He said, why not? He said, black as Africa. He said, how do you know it was him? I saw the white teeth. He said, I didn't know that he would come again. I thought maybe, once in a life, I see someone like this. He stood in front of the window. And he said to me in the African dialect. He said, Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Do you know what he said? He said, we are going to the mountain to pray. And I stood there. I mean, can you imagine this morning? You sit here as a young Christian. And you meet someone who is intoxicated with God. Saturated with the presence of God. You come and he stands right in front of you. And he's telling you, it's possible for you to walk with God. That's what happened. So we were walking to this mountain. And they were going to spend the night in prayer. And I struggled, you know. How do you spend a night in prayer? What do you say to God? And I struggled in my heart. And there were six of them. And the one that came to visit me, his name was Petros Malipa. So I grabbed his arm. And he turned around. And in the darkness of the night he looked at me. And I'm so glad I couldn't see his eyes. You say, why? Because they would have pierced deep into my heart. And I took his arm. And I said, Petros Malipa. How do you spend a night in prayer? What do you say to God? And I will never forget this. He just turned around. And he looked at me. And he said to me, you've got a very big problem. I said, what is it? He said, you are in a hurry. You are in a hurry. God is not. He said, why do you share that with me? You see, we've prayed a lot about this conference. You've come from different parts of the country. Do you know what's our greatest desire? Not that you come to this conference to have fun. Wonderful as that may be. Do you know why you have come? Because we want you to meet with God. You say, Brother Gerhard, what is that going to cost me? It's going to cost you everything. But you know what? It's going to cost you more to miss it than it's going to cost you to find it. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you this morning. Our hearts are so broken before God. We sit here this Saturday morning with the most beautiful group of young lives. And you know, very early today I wet my heart out before you because I wish I could be young again. And we know that we have only one life to live. And only that which is done for Christ is going to last. And here we are, about a thousand of us. And what will happen during this weekend if God will come to visit us? And the things that we struggle with, the misconceptions about God, that which the blood of Jesus is able to do, and how the Holy Spirit can come and not just be resident in my life, but wants to be president in my life. And Father, you know there is a longing in my heart. Oh God, that not one of these young lives that are here today will be able to go back to their homes without being able to say I've met with God. We ask you, come and do that. Come to my young life. And come and empty me of myself. And come and fill me with Christ. And intoxicate me with your presence. And help me to live a Christian life. That demands a supernatural explanation. Bless your work now. In Jesus' name. Amen. When I went to study theology in my homeland of Africa, I will never be able not to remember the first night. Because what happened is that the president of the school came to us as students and made a statement and said to us that you came to this school not just to get to know the word of God, but also to get to know the God of this world. And so in that Bible college where I studied, was there an expectation from the faculty that every morning at a certain time as young people we would get up and we would spend time alone with God. Because we realize in our hearts that we could not take people further spiritually that we were in our own relationships with God. And that we could only impart to people that which we possess. And so every morning there was the time that we spent alone with God. Because we were Christians. And we did not want to go into the world without first knowing that God had spoken to us. We used to refer to that as our quiet times. I refer to that as the morning watch. It's just the time that I'm alone with God. But you know what happened? I began to study the Bible. And I began to ask myself this question. Is it possible to be here this day and to be able to say to you if you are a Christian this is what God wants you to do so that you can live this Christian life. And you know I discovered wonderful passages in the Bible. You know the prophecy of Isaiah in the Old Testament. It's called the miniature Bible. Why was it called the miniature Bible? Because in the Old Testament there are 39 chapters there are 39 books and in the New Testament there are 27 books. And that brings us to 66. And there are 66 chapters in Isaiah. And the first 39 chapters of Isaiah is speaking to us about Old Testament events. And in chapter 40 which is the beginning of the New Testament Isaiah began to prophesy about the Messiah. And you know what happened? In the 50th chapter he's speaking about Jesus. And as he was speaking about Jesus he made this statement about Christ. And this is what he said. Morning after morning this was the Lord Jesus. Morning after morning he was awakened. He was awakened by his Father. You say why was he awakened? He was awakened by his Father so that Jesus could spend time with his Father. We come into the New Testament and there is a wonderful verse in Mark's Gospel. And it's in the first chapter of Mark's Gospel. It's one of the busiest days in the life of Jesus. And right in the middle of that chapter suddenly Mark stopped. And he spoke about Jesus. And this is what he said about Jesus. He said early in the morning he said deep in the night he went into a secret place and there Jesus prayed. You know what the Greek New Testament says? Many times early in the morning many times deep in the night many times he went into a secret place and many times he prayed. Now listen here. If that was true in the life of Christ and you sit here this morning and you come from different parts of the country and you say I'm a Christian then I want to say to you something. You have a responsibility towards God. You say why do you say that? Because you see your life is precious to God. And Jesus Christ has got no other hands than your hands. He's got no other feet than your feet. He's got no other lips than your lips. Do you know what he said in the Gospel of John? I mean every time when I look at that statement you know what he does to me? It blows every second of my mind. It gives still newness of mind because you see there was a moment when Jesus Christ turned to his disciples and you know what he said to them? He said ask my father sent me so sent are you. Do you realize this morning how important you are to God? So what is it that we want to do? I want us to discuss the subject today. And I want us to look at the reasons why you and I as a Christian will sit here this morning and say brother Gerhard these are the reasons that my life needs to be fresh. These are the reasons that I want to be a Christian. And secondly if we will have time I want us to look at the requirements. You see what other things that I need to live a Christian life. And if we will have time I want us to look at the regulations. These times that I speak of God how can I make them real? So you sit here this morning you say give me the reasons. There are seven of them. Let me mention to you one or two. You see every one of us that sit here God has given us a Christian constitution. You see when God created us He created us out of His likeness and His image. You know we are involved in 26 Bible colleges and many seminaries. And today we are going to do a workshop this afternoon on prayer. And after this afternoon we are going to have a seminar on prayer. How can you have an intimacy with God when it's not the time that you spend with God no no it's the time that God spends with you. And I always say to students God is the initiator of prayer. You see He created Adam and Eve and how did He create them? Body, soul and spirit. That's what we are. We are personalities. You've got a mind you've got emotions and you have a world. And when I say to students God created Adam and Eve and He put them in the Garden of Eden. And I say to these students they were the two most beautiful people on this planet. There was no one like them. And they say why do you say that? Do you know what I say to them? There was no one else. They were just on their own. They didn't have to do any shopping you know. So they were no malls. They were God's creation. And you know what happened? They were created after this image. And God gave them a body Why did God give them a body? God gave them a body to make them conscious of their environment through their senses. God gave them a soul. It's the Greek word psyche. You say what is my soul? It makes me conscious of myself. And you see when you become a Christian you know what happens to you? You discover yourself in Christ. And you discover that you are precious to God. And then you know what happens? God gave them a spirit. It's a wonderful word. And every one of us we have a spirit. Why did God give it to them? Because he wants to make them conscious of himself. And you know what happened this Saturday morning? Every single one of us we sit here with a body. Do you know what Christ said? He said if I come into your life what has happened to your Christian life is that you have received my Holy Spirit. He has come to live in you. Do you know what the Bible is saying to us? If any man is in Christ he is a new creature. He said old things have passed away. He said all things have become new. I wonder this Saturday morning because I think it is possible that there are some of us or maybe many of us and if you are absolutely honest with yourself is there a sense in which you sit here and you say pastor I am here this weekend and I want to be here but deep in my heart I am not really sure if I am a Christian. Because you know what you are saying? You say I have accepted Christ into my life. You say maybe I have been baptized. I am going to a young people's group. But here is the problem. My life hasn't changed. You say why do you say that? You see there is no hunger. There is no life. And I have seen it through the world. Life after life and it breaks my heart that you and I can go through the Christian life deep in my heart I don't really know if Christ is there. You know why you are here this weekend? If you are not sure that you are a Christian I want to plead with you this morning don't you go back to your house unless you have come to us and said can you help me? Deep in my heart I want to know I want to know that I belong to Christ and I want to know that the Holy Spirit is in my heart and I want to know that the Holy Spirit is in my heart So what are we speaking about? It's my spiritual constitution. But you know what? And I love it. There are many of us here this morning and you say you know I really know Christ. And Christ is in my heart. My life has been changed. You see what is God's Word saying to me? You know what the Bible says? The Bible says young born babies they sit inside the sincere milk of the Word so that you may grow thereby. You see if you sit here and you say I am a Christian I need to ask you a question. Is there a hunger in your heart for God? You know we have one daughter and her name is Monica and she is a beauty. You are not supposed to take a picture of her. She is beautiful. And you know what happened? Can I see you afterwards? You know what happened? Listen, you know what happened? When my wife and myself got married I was an old man. You say how do you know that? I was 35 years old. And you know when Monica was born she was about three and a half years old and I was playing with her in the grass and our neighbor's mother she came, never met her before and she saw me playing with Monica and so she said to me how are you doing? And she said so? Is this your granddaughter? I think many of you understand English. Is this your granddaughter? I said no. No, this is my daughter. You know what happened? About an hour later my mother-in-law I mean she is 80 years old and she came out and we were walking and watching the flowers and my neighbor's mother came and you know what she said to me? Is this your wife? Oh! I mean, you know, it was terrible. So... But you know what happens to us? I hope my mother-in-law doesn't watch this. I hope my mother-in-law doesn't watch this. My wife and I when we were married we didn't know if God was going to give us children. But we prayed. And you know what we said to God? We said, God, if you want us to have a child there is one condition. We don't want to populate hell. And we wept. Because we said, if you give us a child you need to give us promises. This child will live for you. But you know what happened? God started to give us promises. And suddenly one day we discovered that we are going to have a baby. Oh, we were so excited. I wasn't as old as Abraham. I felt like that. But you know what happened? Suddenly there was a day when our Monica was born. Oh, we brought her to the house. Do you know what I did? Every night when I put her to bed I fell asleep and you see my arms and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed until she fell asleep. But you know what happened? There were tongues around her. And I was so tired and I prayed to her and I prayed to her and I fell asleep. And Monica didn't. And Papa woke up. But you know what happened? I get up early in the morning. My wife doesn't. If I wake my wife up at 6.30 in the morning I say, Mama, come, the sun is coming up. You know what she would say to me? God wants me to see the sun coming up at 6.30. It will come up later. She's not a morning person. You know what happened? I was responsible for Monica. Now here was the problem. When I was 17 years old I was thrown by a horse in Africa. Two and a half months in the hospital and you know what? I can't smell. So guess what happened? I was responsible for the nappies. When Monica had a mishap my wife told me to go. I couldn't smell. No problem. So this is what happened. Every morning, very early because the night before my wife would say to me You see this bottle of milk? When you hear Monica tomorrow morning take it out put it in the microwave 40 seconds give it to Monica. My wife's sleeping. Oh, it was wonderful. 6 o'clock in the morning I would be on my knees next to her room and I would be spending time with God. And around 6 o'clock I hear Monica. I go, ah, she's waking up. I go into the kitchen put the milk in the microwave but you know babies, they're smart, you know. When she hears she knew what was coming. And so I would come into her room and I give her that bottle of milk. You see this verse as young babies desire the Word of God. Why do I have to do that? So that I might grow. But you know I used to watch Monica and she used to sit with that bottle and she used to drink and she just watched Papa. Do you know what I did? My wife didn't know this. I go to the kitchen and I give her another bottle. And I put it in for another 40 seconds. And Monica was lying in her bed and she said here's number two. And she would just drink. And the rest of the day all I did was cleaning nappies. Hey, you see, why do you tell me this? Let me ask you this one. You see you are a Christian. Why are you not hungry for God? What is going on in your life? Because you see if you follow the Holy Spirit you can't be full of anything else. And if you're here and you're not hungry and you're not thirsty for God you know what's the problem? It's not that you don't have the Holy Spirit. You say, how do I know that the Holy Spirit is in my heart? Well, this is what the Bible is saying. The Spirit of God witnesses with my spirit. You see, when I become a Christian the Holy Spirit comes to listen to my spirit. And the Holy Spirit witnesses with my spirit. And how does He witness with my spirit? He gives me the assurance. And yet also Paul comes to us in Ephesians. And you know what he said? He said, after you believe He said, you were sealed for that Holy Spirit of promise. He said, it's the earnest of your inheritance. And so the Spirit of God is in my heart. But you know what's my problem? The Spirit of God is resident. No, He's there. But He's like a little bird in the cage. He's resident. But He's not president. You say, Brother Gerhard, what are you speaking about? You see, you sat here this morning. And there are many areas of your life that you've never given to God. You say, what does it mean? The Spirit is in my life. But it's like a little bird in a cage. There are mind sittings. You see what I mean by mind sittings? It's things that you are thinking about. You see, you are in a generation this morning. And we are in 2012. And every single one of us, we have a computer. And every single one of us, we have a cell phone. And I don't think there is anyone here except me, that's not on Facebook. And so you've got it all. And you are exposed. And your mind is exposed. And as a young fellow, you press one wrong button. And when you press that button, you are exposed to pornography. And all you see is health. And you want to be a Christian. And you've got these mind sittings. And you know what happens? You can't live for Christ. So here is the Holy Spirit. It's in my heart. Just that small. You see what it should mean? You see, the Holy Spirit is a person. It's not an experience. It's not a feeling. It's not a manifestation. No, no, no, no. Jesus said He's a person. You know what Jesus said? The Holy Spirit will never speak of Himself. You see, what will the Holy Spirit do? He brings us to the life of Christ. He brings us to the Word of God. And He's a person. You see, we sit here this morning, and we are people. And we are personalities. And every one of us, we've got a role. And every one of us, we've got a mind. And every one of us, we have emotions. Now you go to the New Testament. And you study the Holy Spirit. And you discover that the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Jesus, He's got a mind. And He has emotions. The word in the Greek language is stannakhos. And He's got a will. And sit here as a Christian. And there are areas of your life and you've never surrendered them to God. I want to challenge you this morning. I want to challenge you as a Christian. Because you see, this is the problem. We are in this country. 1.5 million Hungarian people. Probably a third of them are young people, if not more. Very few of them are Christians. And you and I sit here as a Christian. Do you know what Jesus is saying to us? He said, I want everything. He said, I just don't want to be in your heart. He said, I just don't want to be in your heart. No. He said, I want everything of your life. He said, do you find it difficult to say that? No. Because it costs. You say, Brother Gerhard, what does that mean? It means that as a Christian this morning, it means that as a believer, if there is a sin in your life, if there is something that happened to you, will you need to ask God to forgive you? Will you need to ask God to break your heart? Maybe you need to go to someone. Maybe you tell something to someone. And God convicted you and said you should not have done that. Maybe you said something to someone. And God comes and He speaks to your heart. He said, I need to ask God forgiveness. I'm speaking to you as a Christian. And so you say, what do I have to do? This is it. Listen to the Apostle Paul. You know what he said? Romans chapter 12. He said, I beseech you by the mercies of God. That you present your body as a living sacrifice to God. That's what He wants. And I wondered this morning if I could ask you. Because, you see, I don't know. There could be someone here and you're going to become the next Billy Graham. There could be someone here and you're going to become one of the greatest missionaries in this world. There could be someone here and you could become one of the greatest leaders in this country. And God is saying to you, I want absolutely everything. You know what this means? It's your life and its relationships. You know my daughter Monica? Ah, she's a character. And you know when she was 15 or 16 years old they go through these sounds in their lives, you know. I call it Mormons or it's Hormones. Oh! I call it the years of insanity. Oh, brother! She would come to me and she says, Papa! Give me a big hug! I give her a big hug. Next day I come Monica! Give me a big hug! Don't touch me. I mean, you know. So, you know, these years. But you know what happened? God called her to go to Bible college. And in our house every morning my wife and myself we spend time alone with God. And Monica has been watching us from here. I'm in a corner there and that's where I'm busy with God. And in the morning she wakes up. She comes down the stairs. So I look at her and I say, my darling! Yeah, Papa! I see three of the four brain cells have just come alive. She's just waking up. But you know what happened? She was in Bible college in New Zealand. One day she phoned me. And she was crying. I said, what is it? She said, I found it. I said, what did you find? She said, I found it. She said, I found this thing. I said, what thing? I mean, how stupid is she? She said, I found a boy. I said, what thing? She said, I've been watching you for years. This thing in the mornings. You're alone with God. You're coming out of that place. There's something. She said, I found it. I said, what do you mean? She said, Papa! My personal life belongs totally to Jesus. Can you not ask God in spite of what you're struggling with? Can you not ask God to come to your precious, darling heart and say to Jesus, I come just as I am and I want you to bless my heart. I want you to come and worship me. I came to this conference with massive secret agendas. I want everything to stop now and I want you to come. I want you to bless my heart. What is it going to cost? Everything. Absolutely everything. It's part of me. Our Father, Lord Jesus, we really want to love you. And we really want to live for you. But you know the struggle in our hearts and the society in which we live and it's so difficult to be clean and it's so difficult to walk with you. And yet you have promised me your word. I can live a Christian life that demands a supernatural explanation. And that's what we long for. I wonder this morning, just as we sit here in the presence of God, I'm not going to ask you to come to the front of the church, but you sit here this morning and in your heart you are saying, I really want the best of God for my life. I don't know what it's going to cost. But I want to love. I want a broken heart. And I want to be hungry for God. I want to be thirsty. And I want to be free from sin in my life. And I want the blood of Jesus to come to touch my life today. I know that I'm a Christian. If that's what you are saying this morning, right in the beginning of our weekend, we want to pray for you. And all I'm going to ask you while all our eyes are closed, you're going to say, Brother Gerhard, I just want you to pray for me. And if this is you and you say, I want that, I'm going to ask you just to stand up and just keep standing. Is there anyone? Stand up. Please pray for me. Thank you so much. Thank you. I want God to break my heart this weekend. Thank you. I really want to be serious with God. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So I've come because I really want to meet with God. Anyone else? Thank you. Many of us standing. Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you. Those that are standing, I want you to stay standing. I have one other question. You are here this morning, and you're not sure that Christ is in your heart. You're not sure that you are born of the Spirit of God. You really want to make sure. You say, I want to be saved. You say, please pray for me. Would you stand up please? I know it's going to cost something. You say, I'm not a Christian. Anyone like that? Thank you. I see that. Anyone else? Thank you. I'm not a Christian. Those of us that are standing, I just want you to keep standing. Those of us that are sitting, I'm going to ask you to do something. I'm going to ask you if you could turn around and try to go on your knees. If you can't turn around, just kneel. That's how we're going to close. Can we do that? Those of us that are standing, I want you to pray this prayer. You don't need to pray it out loud. But if you want to, you can do that. This is what I want you to say. Lord Jesus, I come to you this morning just as I am. I thank you that I'm precious to you. I long for a broken heart. I want to surrender my life to you. I want to ask you to forgive me my sins. And I ask you to cleanse my heart. In the precious blood. And I ask you to take my life and fill me with your Holy Spirit. And I ask it in Jesus' name. Those of us standing, we want you to sit. This is how we're going to close. I want you to turn to the person next to you. We're just going to spend a minute or so in prayer. Then our time is over. Let's pray.