The Life and Ministry of Intercessory Prayer

I just want to say this morning it's such a wonderful privilege to be able to be back here on this boat on an island, you know, and five years ago my wife and myself were allowed to spend time here with the church and Pastor Jonathan, we've known each other probably, I don't know, it could be 15 years because I spoke in his church when he was in Eastern Canada in a place with the name of New Brunswick. You say, where is that? That's out in the boonies of Boko Boko Land amongst the sticks amongst the Canadians and then in 2009 when we had the 2009 prayer encounter in the city of Moncton and I think they brought 60 churches together and we had the joy of leading those churches through a week of prayer and, you know, Jonathan was such a great encouragement to me and I can say this now to you, but during that week he was the one before the services, because we dealt with many people, before the services he would always come to me and he said, is there anything that I can do for you? And he was so kind and after the services, is there anything I can do for you? And I nearly said to him one night before the service when he said, is there anything I can do for you? I nearly said to him, why don't you preach tonight and I just sit and listen and I was afraid to do that because then he wouldn't come back the next night. So anyway it's such a privilege to be with you and if you think I've got an accent, I don't have an accent, you've got an accent. And when I see these missionaries here this morning, you know, my wife and myself, I've had the privilege of doing some things with a fellow by the name of Ravi Zachariah and we've been in countries and I was born in Africa myself, in southern Africa and spending time in Tanzania, NASA Theological Seminary, about an hour and a half outside of the city of Wanza in Tanzania. I fell in love with the Tanzanian people. In fact, when we were flying from Nairobi in this little Calapia, the plane, if you don't know if you're going to get there or not. In fact, I felt like the man, an elderly man and his wife who went on to the first long flight to go and visit the children and as they were up 30,000 feet in the air, the plane had two engines and they were this doof sound. And so she turned to her husband and she said, what is that? And he said, I don't know. And then the captain came on and he said, the sound that you just heard is not serious. We lost one of the engines, but we have one other engine left and we should be fine. And she turned to her husband and she said, my dear, if we lose the other engine, we're going to be up here all night, you know. And I remember flying with this little plane from Nairobi to Wanza and I mean, the seats are all in a mess. And I went to the pilot and I said to him, can you tell me where the washroom is? And you know what he did? He gave me a Coke bottle. Typical Africa, you know. And we've got the joy to be in Zimbabwe and Tanzania and Botswana, just came out of Namibia and then on the border of Angola and Zambia and all these different countries. And then the Philippines. I love the Philippines. I had the joy about seven years ago to spend a week with the pastors of two and a half thousand churches in the Philippines at UP, the University of the Philippines, and really got to know the people. So thank you for allowing us. If you are not aware of that, you know, we are actually in a weekend of prayer at the most impossible time of the year, because we are heading into Christmas. And yesterday, all day, or most of the day, or quite a number of hours of the day, I had the privilege of dealing with people with this understanding. Because you see, I don't know where you are in your walk with God, but brother and sister, we only have one life to live. And we are working with students in theological schools all over the world. And I always say to the students, it will cost you more to miss the will of God for your life than it will cost you to find it. And I always say to them, we want to live a Christian life that demands a supernatural explanation. And when we talk about the Christian life and we talk about the reality of developing intimacy with God, what we are allowed to do in the countries where we go to, is we take pastors and their wives and leaders. You cannot become a great leader unless you have become a great follower. And when we deal with leadership, if you don't have a vision for the future, you're going to live in the past, and nothing is going to happen in the present. And what we are doing is we take them for four or five days of prayer, developing intimacy with God, very intense, nine to twelve in the morning, two to five in the afternoons, and if we have electricity from seven to nine or ten o'clock at night. And then take them through extended times of being exposed to the depth of Scripture as it relates to developing intimacy with God. Because my brother and sister, the problem is, we cannot take people further spiritually than we are ourselves. And we can only impart to people that which we possess. And in the first service this morning, I said to the church, I said, you know, we're not interested in churches full of people, but our burden and our passion is to have churches that will be full of people that will be full of God. My longing for this church is that this place should become a house of prayer. Of course, if we can't get through to God, we will never be able to get through to people. The old Puritan, Ewan Bounce, used to say, it takes God 20 years to give a man a message. Of course, it takes God 20 years to make the man. He said, God is not interested in machinery, God is not interested in method, but God is interested in men. And the great Robert Murray Betrain, who lived many, many, many years ago, the man who used to say, how can the Holy Spirit in you criticize the Holy Spirit in me? I love that. And the man who used to say, so much of my time of praying is preparing myself how to pray. And Machina Scotland used to say, I love to live in the brink of eternity. And he used to say that, I want to be as holy as it is possible for a sinner saved by grace to be. And so, if you were not with us over the weekend, and in the Sunday school, and also in the first morning service, when we come together this afternoon, from four o'clock to six o'clock, my brother and my sister, we are going to have a prayer summit. And we're going to climb underneath the burden of God in prayer. You know, the Hebrew word for the word burden is the Hebrew word massa. And the word massa, in its theological, systematic explanation, is based on revelation. And when God gives us a burden, the burden of God brings brokenness upon our hearts. And you say, what is brokenness? Is brokenness tears or emotion? No, tears or emotion is the sanctified expression of an understanding of the supremacy of the life of Christ that will blow every circuit in your mind and give you a new lease on life. That put the claims upon your life that he's telling you, that he that loses his life in me shall find it. And a savior that look upon your life and my life, brother and sister, and say to us, as the Father has sent me, so do I want to send you. With an understanding that your life and my life is so important to God, that if you are the only person on the whole of this planet, as wrong as it sounds theologically speaking, that if you are the only person on the whole of this planet, God so deeply cared for you, that he still would have sent his son just to die for you. That's the kind of savior that we are serving. A savior who would leave 99 to go and look for the one. And so the reality of what we are dealing with, and I want to ask you this morning that if you contemplate to come and pray with us this afternoon, you won't be threatened because what we are going to do is to climb underneath the burden of God. We're going to break up in groups. We're going to pray for one another. The burden of God brings brokenness because God is going to break our hearts with the things that breaks his heart. Seven or eight thousand people in Honolulu who are living in the streets of the city at this moment, and when he breaks our hearts, you know what happens when God breaks our hearts? God comes to purify our lives. There's no power without purity, folks, and the way up is the way down. And so what God is going to do is going to purify us, and when God purifies us, he wants to fill us with the Holy Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit is not a thing. The Holy Spirit is a person, and in many of our lives, you know what happens? The Holy Spirit is resident, and yet he's not president, and there are areas of our lives that has never been surrendered to God the Holy Spirit. And Duncan Campbell, the man that was used in revival in the islands and the highlands of Scotland, I studied in Scotland and began to teach in a theological school, and Duncan Campbell used to say to us, if you are full to the Holy Spirit of God, you can't be full to anything else. And he used to say to us, if there is no hunger, it's quite possible that there is no life. And so if you have time this afternoon, in fact, I'm going to ask you to make time, because you see, when we climb underneath the burden of God, and the burden of God brings brokenness, and God purify us through the efficacy of the blood, and the Holy Spirit of his rightful place in our lives, and God gives us a spirit of prayer, and brother and sister, the spirit of prayer leads us to the will of God in prayer. I don't know if you know this, that Christ, whenever he spoke about prayer, hardly ever spoke about prayer that wasn't answered. He was the only one that was able to say, Father, I thank you that you always listen to me. And so what is the essence of prayer? My brother and my sister, the essence of prayer is not to receive 10,000 things from God. I mean, it's wonderful if it happens, but listen, the essence of prayer is to get to know God. I mean, if we don't know who God is, how in the world can we figure out what God is able to do? And he gives us a spirit of prayer. You say, what is the spirit of prayer do? It's saturated in the scriptures. The spirit of prayer leads us to the will of God in prayer. And my brother and my sister, the will of God in prayer, guess what? It's surrounded with the promises of God in the place of prayer. Have you heard of George Mueller of Bristol, the man who had 85,000 answers to prayer, a book written about his prayer life, 35,000 answers to prayer, and 24 hours. You know the longest that he prayed for someone? 63 years. He said, Gerard, when did that person become a Christian? Three weeks after George Mueller died. That's the way to go, you know. And so that's the beauty of what we are dealing with. Let's turn to prayer for a moment, and then I'm going to share with you something. Our time is very limited because Pastor Jonathan prayed too long, but let me just do a short, short prayer. No, he didn't do that. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful. Oh, Father God, there is nothing that is so amazing for us to be able to look at the possibility that you can give us a church that is not necessarily full of people, but Father God, a church that will be full of people, that will be full of God. And as we look upon this island, and as we contemplate this city, and as we perceive the reality of this fellowship, we are so conscious of the fact that you do not want us to be passengers in the bus, but Father God, that you want us to become mighty instruments so that we can live a Christian life that demands a supernatural explanation. And we are conscious this morning that you've got no other hands than our hands. You've got no other feet than our feet. You have no other lips than our lips. And the ministry that the angels in heaven this Sunday morning would love to be involved with, and leading people to Jesus Christ, is a ministry that they've not been allowed to be part of. Because you have said to us in your word that we have not been redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation, but you have said to us that we have been redeemed to the blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. And you have entrusted unto us the reality and the rivetedness and the real concept of being able to communicating the life of Jesus Christ to men and women this morning. And Lord, it sounds awful to say this, but men and women in our community who this Sunday morning are on their way to a lost eternity, on their way to hell in a basket, and you look upon us, and you want us to be the instruments that you can use in order to reach these people. Father, we pray as we look for these few minutes upon the beauty of Scripture. Is it possible that the Spirit of God can come? Because we do not just want to be inflamed or informed by Scripture, but Father God, we want to be inflamed. And we want to say this Augustinians of old, that when the Scripture speaks, that's when God is speaking. Minister to us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Could you give me a little bit more volume if you don't mind? Thank you so much. You know, it's quite fascinating that the Gospel of Matthew, when you and I begin to study the Gospel of Matthew, that you will come to a realization that we don't know much about Matthew and Matthew's Gospel. There are two little wonderful concepts that are coming to the surface about Matthew, and the very first one is the fact that he must have been an honest man. And the reason why I say that is because of the fact that when we read about Matthew in the other Gospels, that you will come to an understanding that they would not refer to Matthew, the tax collector, for that matter. But when Matthew comes to us and he introduces himself in his Gospel, he will make this distinction and he refers to himself as Matthew, the tax collector. And there's a level of transparency and honesty that comes to the surface, to the degree that he was willing to say, you know, that's what I was, Christ came into my life, and the consequences of Christ coming into my life is that he transformed me, and now I'm living for Christ. The other observation that I discovered in Matthew's Gospel was the fact that he was not just an honest man, but he must have been a humble man, because when you read in the other Gospels about Matthew, and you discover when Jesus sent out his disciples, and you send them out, you will discover that the other Gospels said, Jesus sent out Matthew and Thomas. But when we came to that same incident in the Gospel of Matthew, it seems that he was allowed to make a distinction, and instead of saying, Jesus sent out Matthew and Thomas, he made this observation, and he said, you know what really happened is that Jesus sent out Thomas, and I kind of just follow on, you know. Now the most beautiful thing about Matthew's Gospel, my brother and sister, is the fact that when you and I study this Gospel, that you will discover that Jesus spent most of his time in Matthew's Gospel, and what we would consider as the regions, or the region of Galilee. And if you would ask me and say, why would you say that? Then I need to say to you that in the fourth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, you will discover that Matthew made this observation, and he said, after these things, Jesus departed out of Galilee, or departed into Galilee, and then right through Matthew's Gospel, right up to the end, to the 18th chapter, because in the beginning of the 19th chapter, Matthew made a statement, and he said, after these things, Jesus departed out of Galilee. So he went into Galilee, and then he departed out of Galilee. And so from a theological perspective, we need to ask ourselves, what did Jesus do during those times in Galilee, with the emphasis upon the Jewish understanding of the Gospel of Matthew, and we came to a threefold conclusion. We discover that which Jesus taught, then we discover that which Jesus wrote, you say, what did he do? He performed 10 miracles from Matthew chapter 8 to Matthew chapter 10, and then that which Jesus taught, from Matthew chapter 11 to Matthew chapter 18. I'm concerned this morning, in the few minutes that I have at my disposal, to concentrate on the teachings of Christ as it relates to those early disciples. Now let me explain to you something. There's an incredible concept that comes to the surface in Matthew chapter 5, because in the opening verse of Matthew chapter 5, Matthew made the statement that he said, when Jesus saw the multitudes of people, he said, the Bible says he went into a mountain, and he sat down, and he began to call his disciples. And we need to ask ourselves, what took place here? And you know, it seems to me that the picture that took place, or the incident, or the comprehension that you and I can try to understand, is what, when Jesus saw the multitudes of people, my brother and my sister, he realized that the only way that it will be possible for him to reach these multitudes of people, is going to be through the lives of his disciples. And it seems to us that when he saw those multitudes of people, he called his disciples unto him, and the Bible says he began to teach his disciples. That's why he said to them, when he spoke to them about the coming of the Holy Spirit, in John chapter 14 to 16, and he made this observation, and he introduced to them the person of the Holy Spirit, and he said to them, when my Spirit come, my Spirit will be with you. And he said, my Spirit will be in you. And he said, when my Spirit come, my Spirit will testify of me. And he said, when my Spirit come, my Spirit will convict the world of sinning, of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin because they do not believe in me, of righteousness because I go to my Father, and of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. And then he made this staggering statement. He said, it's to your advantage that I go away from you. Because he said, if I do not go away from you, the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, will not be able to come. And then he made this statement, and he said, it is to your advantage, because when the Holy Spirit will come, he said, you will do greater things than me. He said, why did he say that? He was speaking about the omnipresence of the reality of the manifestation of God, the Holy Spirit. Now, what happened here in the Servant on the Mount? Well, you see, we've got the Beatitudes, and you say, what are they about? The Beatitudes is speaking to us about Christian character. When Christ came and he said, blessed are the poor in spirit. When he said, blessed are those that mourn. When he said, blessed are the merciful. When he said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. When he introduced to us what we call the Beatitudes, my brother and sister, he was introducing unto us the depth of Christian character. And when he introduced to us the depth of Christian character, the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, guess what happened? Because the Christian life is not a goal, the Christian life is a gateway, and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount is Christian character that flows out into Christian conduct. You say, how can you explain that? Well, what happens is that the imputed righteousness of God suddenly began to manifest itself in the imparted righteousness of God. The description of what the Christian life is all about suddenly became a prescription, and Christ looked upon his disciples, and he said to them, as my Father has sent me, he said, so do I send you. Now let me just state, because our time is so absolutely limited, and we need to have communion at the end of this, and if I'm not going to stop in a few minutes, you're going to be here until the prayer summit this afternoon, and you're going to say to me, what am I going to do for lunch? We take up an offering, and we bring you McDonald's for lunch, and we spend time in prayer, because we don't want you to be full of roast beef and unbelieve. No, we don't want that. We want to spend some time in prayer together. Now listen, let me try to explain to you what happened, and I'm just going to take this one word. You know our problem with the scriptures, my brother and sister, we know so much about the Word of God, but the Word of God knows so little about us, but so let's just stop at one little concept. You say, where are you going to stop? Well, let me tell you what happens. Jesus looked upon those early disciples, and when he looked upon those early disciples, he made this incredible, staggering statement. He looked upon them, and he said to them, bless it. I'm going to spend time on that little word in these few minutes that we have at our availability. Isn't the Savior great, you know? Isn't it marvelous? Can someone take his cell phone, and phone that guy in the helicopter, and tell him we're having a service, you know? Or dial 911, or phone to heaven, and tell God to get him to stop. Anyway, listen, the incredibleness of this little word, bless it, and I love this word, because it's the Greek word makarios, and my brother and sister, isn't Christ wonderful? I mean, the love of God, you know, we're entering into the Christmas season, and I was thinking this morning in my choir time, you know, this concept of Christ that came into the world, and I found this beautiful gospel message about the wise men that came. You remember those men that came, and why did they come? Because they received a revelation from God, and they saw the star, and they began to follow the star, and then the star, this revelation from God, and that's what will happen if you're not a Christian. God is going to come and reveal himself to you, and when they follow this revelation of God, you remember how the star came, and sat over the community of Bethlehem, and then these men, these wise men came, and they found out where the Lord Jesus was born, and you remember when they came into where the Lord Jesus was born. What was the very first thing they did, my brother and sister? The Bible says they knelt down, and they worshipped the Lord Jesus, and that's what happened when we come to Christ, and we recognize that we are on a way to a lost eternity, and God in his mercy spoke to us through his spirit, and we responded to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then we find ourselves where we knelt, and we repent in the presence of God, and then you know what the Bible says? The Bible says that they open their gifts, you know, and what happens when you and I come to Christ, and what happens when Jesus said, he that will cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. What happens when the gospel of John said, but as many as received him, to them has he given the authority, and the power to become a child of God. You say, what happened? We open our hearts to him, and we ask him, we give him everything we have, our sin and everything, and he washed us in his sins, and we accepted him as his savior, and then guess what happened? The Bible says when anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away, they all have become new. What happened to the wise men? They took a different direction for the rest of their lives. Don't preach my message, because I want to come back and preach it. Listen here, the beauty of the life of Christ, he hates sin, but he loves us so deeply, that he wouldn't hold back one bit, and when he started the sermon in a mountain, he didn't look upon those early disciples, I mean for goodness sake, forgive me for saying this, you know they were a hopeless bunch, I mean really, there was the apostle Peter coming out of Gethsemane, with a sword in his hand, and cut the ear of the man with the name of Malchus, when they came to capture the Lord Jesus, and I look at that passage, and I say to myself, the only reason why he cut his ear off, was because he missed his head, you know. Christ looked upon those disciples, and you know what he saw? He just saw hope. I want to tell you something this morning, I mean we need to be conscious of the depth of our sin, and our need of God, but if God gives you a revelation of what he has in store for you, you will so hate the sin in your life, that you will so turn to God, because of the incredible inheritance that you have from the Lord Jesus, and you say what happened? He turned to his disciples, and he said to them, blessed, and my brother and my sister, would you allow me to explain to you something, you know this word blessed, it's a beautiful word, and the depth of his understanding of the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that we call this, and as we looked at that, and we went into the understanding of the Hebrew language, you know the word blessed, is speaking to us about two incredible possibilities, that is in store for us, you say Gerard, what is the first one? The first one is the possibility, that I can find Christ as my personal savior, you see I do not know you this Sunday morning, and we are coming into the Christmas season, and maybe you are sitting in this church this Sunday morning, and you don't know Christ as your personal savior, maybe you have made some commitment to the life of Christ, in fact maybe you have gone through the waters of baptism, but you know it's like this student that I dealt with in New Zealand, Janice and myself some time ago, and one evening after the evening lecture, this girl came to me, and she said can I talk to you, and I said yes, what is it? And she turned to me, she said you made a statement in your last session, I said what was it? I said what's your name? And she said my name is Laura, and I said what was it? And she said you made a statement, and you said there is no hunger, there is the possibility that there is no life, and I said why does it bother you? She said well you don't understand, my mother sent me to this Bible college, because my mother wanted me to study the Bible, and she said to be honest with you Gerard, my mother sent me here, because my mother is not sure that I'm a Christian, and so I turned to her, and I said Laura tell me your story, and we sat there on our knees in the front of the lecture room, and as we were on our knees, she began to talk to me, and she told me her story, as a little girl of five years, she gave her life to the Lord Jesus, and she said you know I asked him to come into my life, and then she said in fact I was baptized in this church in Western Canada, and then she said after that she said that there is a problem, and she said my life never really changed, and she said there was really no difference in my life, she said it's a problem, and then she told me everything, and after she did it, she said to me so Gerard what do you think, and I said Laura you're not going to like this, and she said what is it? I said I think your mother is right, she said are you telling me that I'm lost, I said Laura everything that you have said to me, and I mean the tears were streaming down my cheeks you know, I don't want to see people go into a lost eternity, and I said everything that you told me, I have no sense in my heart that you've really been regenerated, and born of the Spirit of God, and her eyes you know you would, I wish you could see it, it's just this fear came upon her little face, and she looked at me, and she said I'm in a Bible college, and she said what will happen if I die tonight, I said Laura you're going to go from a Bible college into the internal flames of hell, and she wept, she said I don't want to do that, and she said will you lead me to Christ, and I began systematically to explain to her God's plan of salvation, man's condition that we are lost, God's provision that Christ came, man's responsibility which is repentance, God's promise which is eternal life, and you know what can I be honest with you this morning, it sometimes takes me three hours to lead people to Christ, you say why my brother and my sister if you lead someone to Christ, it's the most important thing that you can do in your life, the pastor asked me some time ago when you lead people to Christ, why do you need three hours if you have that you can do with it, I said I go systematically through God's plan of salvation, and he said why do you need three hours to lead people to Christ, you know what I said to him, it saved me so much time in the future, I don't need to run after them and and wonder if it's one of these situations where we're not sure if they really found Christ or not, and you know what happened, she got through to God and she said I'm going to phone my mother right now, and I said where is your mother, she said my mother is in a place called Steinbeck Manitoba, that's out there in the boonies of Canada you know, and I said oh and I said what does your mother do, she said my mother is the secretary of Emanuel Evangelical Free Church in Steinbeck Manitoba, it's a church with a thousand people, and I said oh and she went and she phoned her mother and she came back and she said my mother is overwhelmed in the middle of the night in Canada you know, I mean who cares, so and she said I woke my mother up and my mother is so glad I became a Christian and and she said and she said my mother, my mother said who led you to Christ, and she said this this missionary, this man, and he his name is Gerard de Toy, and her mother said ah I heard him 13 years ago, no wonder you got saved you know, I thought oh mercy me, and she said can you tell me something, when are you flying back, I said Wednesday, she said where are you speaking the weekend, I said in Emanuel Evangelical Church in Steinbeck, she said are you serious, I said yeah I've been scheduled for more than a year, man I tell you her mother she got the whole church together you know, I mean it was wonderful, and guess what happened, Laura is on fire for God, now let me ask you something here, this Sunday morning, because we don't know you, and you maybe are going on to Christmas, you may be just a young person that's it here, and you've never ever been saved, you don't know that your sins has been forgiven, you know little Laura when I led her to Christ, and I took the scriptures, and I said Laura I want you to read this verse, and she said which one, I said it's Psalm 103 verse 12, and she read it, you said what did it say, it says as far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your iniquities from you, and I said Laura how far is the east from the west, oh she said Gerard if I'm not mistaken the east and the west never connect, I said exactly, I said you read another little verse of scripture to me, and she said which one is it, I said it's in Micah 7 verse 18, and she grabbed the bible and find it, and Micah 7 verse 18 said God has taken our iniquities in our sins, and he has cast it in the deep of the depth of the ocean, and I said Laura I said do you know how deep the ocean is at its deepest point, she said I'm not sure, I said scientifically the ocean at its deepest point is seven miles Laura, and she said wow, she said Gerard what do you want me to do, I said well he has cast our sins in the depth of the ocean, she said what is my responsibility, you know what I said to her, put a sign on the beach that says no fishing, it's all gone, you don't know Christ today, listen there's a time we know not when, a place we know not where, and it seals the destiny of men, and the same sun that is suffering the batter, is the sun that hardens the clay, and you sit there as a young person, I was just at the funeral of a young Indian man 17 years old, graduated, he was brilliant, and I walk into this funeral home to organize a funeral for my brother-in-law who was dying of cancer, and I walked in here, and here are these Indians people, 400 of them sitting, and I walked in and this place, and here's this picture of this 17 year old lovely Indian boy from the land of India out in western Canada, and he's 17 years old, he graduated with honors, and he's dead, they're burying him, and I turned to the man at the at the at the funeral home, I said oh this is a tragic, I said what happened to this young boy, the man just looked down and said he was drunk, he crashed and killed himself, and I'll ask you something this morning, because I don't know if I would ever have the privilege to speak to you again, life is very brief you know, like the falling of a leaf, if you are here this Sunday morning and you're not saved, is there not a way that you can come and say I want to give my life to Jesus Christ, let me close, my wife often say you know you're just like a 747 jumbo jet, you never have a problem to take off, but you always struggle to land, and we've been turning over Honolulu now long enough, let's try and bring this plane down, let me ask you a question, you sit here this morning as a Christian, and you've been knowing Christ for many many years, and please don't misunderstand me, but you sit here this morning as a Christian, and you've been grieving the Holy Spirit of God, for many years of your Christian relationship with God, can I ask you this morning as the father of your children, my brother, are you living a Christian life that creates in the hearts of your children a hunger and a thirst for God, can I ask you a question this morning, because here is the reality, you know we deal with theological students and 90% of students in theological schools in North America, and in fact in the western world, you know what I discovered, 90% of the main students are struggling with a thing that is called pornography, and you go and ask my wife, 80% of girls students who are studying in Bible colleges all over the world, they have been caught up in aspects of pornography, because they do not realize the brutality of something that they visualize, and they see, and when they see something that they visualize, it becomes such a reality, and they carry this baggage with them, we saw a break in a Bible college in New Zealand, some time ago, when the Spirit of God came, and God came to church, and we were thrown in three days of prayer, where hour after hour after hour, student after student was meeting with God, and some of them were gloriously saved, and we just came out of Germany, where we sat with 110 students, and the Bible college in the border of Germany and Switzerland, and we discovered that 15 of those students were never even born of the Spirit of God, and let me ask you this morning, because here's the problem my brother and sister, and I'm speaking to my own heart, everything that you and I read, we are forcing the Holy Spirit to be exposed to that, everything that you and I think, we are forcing the Holy Spirit to process what we are thinking, and you say, how do I live a Christian life? Well, let me tell you something this morning, the only way that you're going to survive, because I need to tell you, the Western society, if it has been corrupt and evil, and if our country is far from God, I tell you, it's possible that it's going to get worse before it will come better, and if you and I are not going to walk with God, we're going to be swallowed up in this society, and my Christian life will have no impact upon the lives of people. You say, what does it mean? Jesus came and he said, listen, I have a massive virgin for this church, and I'm not one of these people that blow in, and blow out, and blow up. I don't need to be in touch with your pastor, on a monthly basis, to find out what's happening. I don't do that, and I don't want to do it. You say, what do you want to do? I just want to be in touch with God, and I've got a deep concern upon my heart for this church, you know. You see, if you and I walk through this parking lot this morning, there's some beautiful vehicles standing all over the place. There are many of us who sit here in this morning service, and financially you're doing fine. I mean, my wife and myself, we've been so impressed with the campus here, and we walk through, and potential of, you know, doing some adjustments, and as it relates to the sanctuary, and we live in this beautiful little apartment there, and the people are so kind, you know. Oh man, I tell you, we've got so much food there. We're digging our graves with our teeth, you know. I mean, it's just brutal, you know, and then Pastor Jonathan took us in the little apartment there, and you know, the only place where there's not an air conditioner is the washroom. I mean, I said to my wife, there's so many air conditioners here, they can freeze us up and send us back to Canada, you know. Listen, you've got absolutely everything, and we can have absolutely everything, but we don't have the presence of God, and if we don't know the presence of God, you say, how do you define the presence of God? I can't define it, but I always know when it's not there. Jesus Christ came, and He said, he that loses his life in me is going to find it. Let me challenge you this Sunday morning, and I'm doing it because my heart is smashed up for this place. We don't want the church, it's full of people that want to, does not want to be full of God. You say, Gerard Eto'o, if I surrender my life this morning, I'm speaking to you as a Christian, if I put my life this morning on the altar for God, and I say to God, as the mother of my children, I don't want to lose the spirit of motherhood. If I want to see God as the husband of my wife, I want to fulfill my prayer, duty in the house, I want to be the leader. If I say, God, I want you to break my heart for the things that breaks my heart, and I want to surrender myself to you, and you sit here this Sunday morning, and you say, what is it going to cost me? I need to tell you, my brother and sister, it's going to cost us absolutely everything, and every single thing that God has entrusted unto us is going to need to be surrendered to Him. And watchman, he said, whatever you surrender, whatever you give, he's going to break it. Like the five rows and the two fishes, you say, why is he going to break it? Because he's going to feed the multitudes of people. Let's bow in prayer, shall we? Our Heavenly Father, it's been an amazing weekend, and you know my heart, and you know Janice's heart, and we didn't come to this amazing, beautiful place, and this most impossible weekend, heading up into Christmas, because there was no other time to do this, but you allowed us to come, and yet we didn't come because we had nothing else to do. We simply came because we want to meet with God. And Father, there is an immense burden upon my heart for this church. This church has got a heritage. This church has got a testimony. But there are some of us, probably even some of our elders, and some of our leaders, and God, it's quite possible some of our pastors, and some of our Sunday school teachers, and we've never asked God to give us a broken heart. And we are playing around in the shallow waters of your love. And God, in the beginning of this Christmas season, you need to help us to see the Christ of Christmas, so that he can break our hearts, and every aspect of our relationships with him. My brother and my sister, as we just sit here, our eyes are closed, I don't want you to look around, because we're dealing with God. Our heads are bowed, but you sit here this morning. Now, I'm not going to ask you to come to the front, but you sit here this morning and you say, you know what, I really want God to break my heart, for the things that breaks his heart. I want God to make me willing to become willing. And you sit here this morning and say, you know, is it possible that you can just pray for me, that God will bring me to this place where I become absolutely abandoned to him, and that I would see people the way that God sees them, and that observation will affect intercession, and that I can say with the prophet of old, my eyes has affected my heart. And you sit here this morning and you say, pastor, will you just pray for me, I'm just going to ask you, our heads are closed, heads are bowed, our eyes are closed, and you sit here and you say, will you please pray for me, can you just put up your hand and say, I need prayer, thank you, thank you so much, thank you, thank you so much, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, thank you, thank you, I see to the left, thank you. You put up your hand, would you forgive me if I ask you to stand up, because at least we want to see you so that we can pray for you, could you stand up please if you put up your hand, just stand up, I don't know if you see anyone else and you say, you know, I really want God to come to my heart, just stand up wherever you are, thank you, thank you so much, thank you, thank you, thank you. As you are standing here, before we pray, is there anyone here this morning and you say Gerard, I don't know Christ as my personal savior, and I would like pastor this week to lead me to Christ, and you said I'm one of those people and would you pray for me, could you just stand up or could you put up your hand please and say, I'm not sure that I'm a Christian, anyone like that? Heavenly Father, you saw these hands this morning, thank you for the mercy that we were willing even to stand up and say, I really want God to come to my heart and my life. Father God, we pray this morning, that as we pray a little prayer with these incredible people that are stood up, just help us to give ourselves to you. Those of you that are standing, I just want to pray a little prayer with you, you're going to give yourself totally to God this Sunday morning, right at the end of this year, the beginning of the Christmas season, and this is what I want you to pray. Now, maybe you want to pray this out loud, sometimes it's good to hear ourselves praying, you know, you don't have to do it, but I want you just to say these words, Lord Jesus, I come to you just as I am, I thank you that you are precious to me, but I come to ask for forgiveness. If I do not know you, I want you to forgive me my sin, and I want to ask you to come into my life, but if I know you, I want to surrender my life to you. My life and its relationships, my heart and its affections, my body and its instincts, my mind and its thoughts, I surrender it to you. I surrender my family to you. I put my children on the altar for you. I ask that you would cleanse me from my sin through the precious blood of Jesus, and I ask that you would fill me with the Holy Spirit. Give me a broken heart. Give me a spirit of prayer. Give me a pure heart, and give me a passion for souls, and make my church a praying church. In Jesus' name. Our eyes are closed. I want you to sit down. Just sit, please. Father, you heard the cry of our hearts. This prayer that we prayed this morning, I prayed it afresh in my own heart. In Jesus' name. Amen. Aloha. My name is Jonathan Steeper. I'm the Senior Pastor at Calahunian Church. I'd like to welcome you to come and visit us. We are a family where we hope you'll know us. We look forward to meeting you and growing in faith, hope, and love together. Mahalo, and may God bless you.