This sermon by Joshua Daniel emphasizes the importance of repentance, standing firm in faith, and avoiding accommodation of worldly practices. It highlights the need to renounce sin, trust in God's protection and provision, and not be a stumbling block to others. The message warns against compromising with evil, emphasizes the significance of repentance for personal and national sins, and stresses the consequences of straying from God's truth.

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. Wherever this message has gone out, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and thieves turned into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing that God has for you. Now turn to the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, the second chapter in the twelfth verse. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos, write these things, saith he which has the sharp sword with two edges, I know your works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. So, even at the time of martyrdom, and the danger to which they were exposed likewise, they would not knuckle under. They did not say, hey, this is a lost cause, let's think of our security now. No, my dear friends, my security and your security, do you know in whom it is? Please turn to Genesis, and there you see God speaking to Abraham. And what does he say? In the fifteenth chapter, please, here was Abraham as a pilgrim in a strange, amid strange, heathen people. Abraham's ways must have appeared contrary to all their ways because Abraham had renounced idolatry and had obeyed the living God, and so he was, here's one man swimming against the current. And what do we see in the first verse, Genesis 15, after these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, fear not, Abraham, I am your shield. You want this shield? Or you're going to make some brass and shields for yourself? I have this shield, and I know that God knows that I trust this shield. I am your shield. And look here, some of you don't go with this at all. Let me point this out to you. Abraham, I am your exceeding great reward. What? No, I want dollars instead. What is going to happen to the dollar in the next three, four months? I can't tell you. Is the dollar your shield, your reward? I tell you plainly, some of you have your heart in the dollar, and the dollar is in your heart. I am your shield and your exceeding great reward. Now, this early church in Pergamos, beset with all these dangers, had this confidence. Once again, there in the 13th verse of the second chapter of Revelation, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth? What? Present continuous tense. Satan dwelleth. Now, my dear friends, are you so accommodative that Satan can dwell in your thoughts, dwell in your ambitions, dwell in your motivations? You know, it's not easy to dislodge Satan. And where Satan dwelleth, 14th verse, but I have a few things against you. Because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of balance. Balance doctrine, you know, was, oh, those big princes are coming to beg me. I have to accommodate them. You know, the bigness. If you were invited to the White House for a Diwani party, oh, you see, I am going to the White House. Why? To celebrate an idolatrous festival. I cannot well refuse or decline. You know, folks, Prime Minister Gladstone received a message from the Queen of England, saying, your immediate presence is required. I need you. And his reply was, look, at any other time, I am at my Majesty's, the Queen's beck and call, but not now, when I am going to the house of God to take Holy Communion. You see, my dear friends, that's a different kind of mindset. Balance mindset was, hey, these big people, I can't say no to them, you know. I must find a way by which they will be appeased or satisfied. And what was the way? He taught Balak and the enemies of Israel, all you need to do is to send your women amongst them or eat things offered to idols. You see, to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel. Casting a stumbling block. What did Jesus Christ say about this? 18th chapter of Matthew and the sixth verse. And the Lord said, if one of you is a hindrance or a stumbling block to one of these, my little ones, it would be better for them that a millstone were tied around their necks. My mother used to quote this to me. I don't know how she perceived that I could be a great hindrance. And my mother used to tell me this again and again. When I was a boy and a very naughty boy, it reads this way. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it will better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea to be a stumbling block. So I have somewhat against you because you're accommodating balance amongst you. Those who put a stumbling block before others. My dear friends, please come and tell me if there is something which is so contrary to Christ, which you have seen in me, which has been a hindrance to you. Come and tell me. I don't want to be a stumbling block. I don't want to accommodate Balaam in my heart. And he taught the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. So today, you know, I was amazed when a young fellow from London asked me in Dublin, Ireland. Mr. Daniel, what do you do about sex? He had just come out of prison, he told me, for homosexuality. He was only 19 or something. I was dumbfounded by that question because the Lord Jesus Christ had given me victory over my evil nature, my dear people. And here was Balaam accommodated in this church. And what are these characteristics? Oh, it's all right. Fornication? Fine. You see, nobody talks about straight living, except a few, thank God, you know. And what is really happening is that whole tribes have become extinct from AIDS in Africa. And, you know, I used to see as a boy such strong men. You see, we had two young fellows in the fellowship who were so strong that when a Model T Ford, which was there when I was a boy, was started, these people, these two young fellows would just lift up the back so that the driver wouldn't know, why is that not the car going? They were strong fellows. We have degenerated to the extent that we need this pill and that tablet and this other tablet and vitamins and this and that. Why? Down our generations, there has not been holiness, holiness unto the Lord. What a sad thing. So, dear friends, to just go back to conclude, so thou hast also, you know, various doctrines had come in. Sixteenth verse, repent or else I will come to you quickly and fight against you with the sword of my mouth. You see, repentance is a word which is scarcely heard. You know, there was a certain day. Was it the 31st of October? Booze and big tug. Repentance Day in Germany. It was a holiday for prayer and repentance. Now, my dear friends, repenting for the nation is something beyond me. Daniel prayed for his nation in captivity. And he repented for his sins and the sins of his parents, forefathers. Now, some of us have no repentance. Look here, don't you dabble with the insignias that come from hedonism. The worship of the moon was one of the ancient heathen practices. And the crescent moon. What? You want to wear some clothes with a crescent moon on it? Or and a star. So you will stand behind a prophet who had 22 women and took into his bed a girl of nine years. All right, you may call that man a prophet. But I can't see a prophet's character in that. If you want to go by some other insignia or symbol that talks of Hinduism. You know, folks. When we occupied a house, I had to have it repaired because the owners right downtown to two and a half acres, just about. Three hundred yards from the U from the U.S. consulate, a prime property was abandoned by the landlords. Because the place got haunted. And so what did these people do? Just lock the place up and left it. At a time when we badly needed housing. So we said, we'll fix the matter. We will repair the place and make it livable in spite of all the. Years of disuse. And one of the things that I did when I took over, I was just a college student, but I had to oversee certain of those things. Well, what did I do? There were plaques there with Muslim inscriptions or counter spells or spells, whatever. I said to the mason, come on, rip them out. And I wanted to show the mason how worthless they were. I stamped on them. I said, how did they go? But to me, to find that in Canada and here in the U.S., some of these symbols are to accommodate multiculturalism. What absurdity is this? Why don't you go back to barbarity? Christ is too much of a light. And makes it very inconvenient for you. So God told this church to repent. You see, friends, we have to repent for the things that are happening around us. Otherwise, God himself will fight against us. What a church to be told, I'm going to fight against you. What provocation is this? God is not going to come to terms with your compromises. Never. My dear friends, truth stands, and it can't be chiseled away or whittled away. You know, I stand for the truth. In one place, I found that a fellow whom we had not trained properly was soon in charge of a big establishment, a fellowship center. He and his wife were selling hand-weighed products. He thought, here is a captive people, and so we'll make a little money out of them. When I heard this, I said, now, now I hear from another center where which I am, of course, going to take drastic steps. That insurance policies were sold, and the person responsible has gone bankrupt. What? Making use of a fellowship for this kind of commercialism? My dear people, you don't know the subtle ways, and God has to tell this church, I am going to fight against you. Oh, certainly I don't want God to fight against me. I will humble myself. I will repent, but surely I don't want God to fight against me. Let us pray. Gracious Father, in what a great peril we are in today. Oh, Lord, have mercy on us. We want to be a humble people. Make us to follow in your footsteps, and that is enough for us. In Jesus' almighty name, Amen. Please do let us know. You can email us at post at lefi.org, or visit our website at lefi.org. Our mailing address is LEFI PO Box 1072, Armidale, WA 6992. Until we meet again next week, may God bless you. Amen.