Your Suffering Has A Purpose

Saints are not dead, they are praying in heaven. But look at this, the Lord is the harp and the golden ball. If the harp represents joy and happiness, then what does this golden ball represent? Where there is fire and burning pain and sorrow.

When I'm burning, I am really hurting, I am suffering, I am screaming out of agony. So therefore, harp is joy and happiness, golden balls, pain and sorrows. You want to follow Christ? You better take both.

You cannot have the harp only. You need to take the harp and the golden balls together, for the golden ball is Good Friday and the harp is Sunday resurrection. You cannot say, Lord I'm following you only on your Sunday resurrection.

I don't want to be with you on Good Friday. This is not love. This is not true love.

If you truly love a person, you love them all the time, no matter what it is and how it is. In sickness and in health, in poorness and in richness, it is always otherwise. It's a fake deceitful love and selfish love.

So the harp is the glory of Christ and the golden ball is the agony of Christ. The golden ball, he is alone in the garden of Gethsemane. He is in pain, he is in agony and he begged the disciples, remain awake with me for I am in need of your company.

They all went to sleep and Jesus was left alone and his sweat turned into blood out of pain. The burden that he was about to carry, it was too much for the Holy of Holies to enter our sin and our filth, yet he is perfect, holy. He is the light.

He was about to enter our darkness, our sin, our transgression. He could not bear carrying our sins, being the Holy of Holies. He said, Father, let this cup pass me by quickly.

He wasn't saying, I don't want to drink it, but please when I drink it, let me drink it very quickly. Don't let me stay in it, but guess what? Jesus is stuck with the cup for over 2,000 years. Do we understand how much he loves us? Can we fathom it? Never, but at least, the least we could do, appreciate it, respect it, honor it, accept it, don't be Judas Cariath.

Don't. For over 2,000 years, Jesus is still drinking the cup. That just tells you how much he loves us, because the moment Jesus says to his dad, I will no longer shed my blood, the Father's wrath will fall on the human race.

It'll be the end. Armageddon. Armageddon is coming.

So the Lord, the golden ball, it's Good Friday. I am alone. My beloved disciples deserted me.

Judah sold me with 30 pieces of silver. Everyone ran away. Simon Peter, before a woman, he denied my humanity and divinity, and he made an oath, I do not know this man.

Yet in Matthew chapter 16, he said, you are Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. You acknowledge my divinity and humanity in Matthew 16, and towards the end, you denied both of them. Before a woman, not even a man.

Do you want to follow Christ? You better follow him with the golden ball and the harp. You better follow him on Good Friday. Embrace the cross and Calvary and the pain and the sorrows and the degradation that comes with Calvary, in order to rejoice in the harp, in the glory of Christ, the resurrected Messiah, the glorified Christ, the one who reigns forever.

You want to reign with him forever? You better walk the Via Dolorosa with him. The problem with Christendom, with Christianity, is we want Jesus to always be Mr. Nice Guy to us. I will follow you when you heal my sickness.

I will follow you when you grant me my wishes. I will follow you when I pass my exam. I will follow you when you make me prosper in my business.

I will follow you when you let me marry Rachel. Poor Rachel. But if you don't grant me this, I will not accept on myself to follow you when I am being put to shame, rejected, persecuted, afflicted, and cast out.

Now, I'm not going to accept it. Sorry. Christ is a full package, is a complete package.

It is either all or nothing. You cannot have him only on Sunday Resurrection. You better have Jesus with you on Good Friday.

You better. Because this is true love. You see, Christ is the bridegroom.

He is the groom to the bride, the church. And in marriage, when this beautiful couple comes, what does the priest say to each one of them? Will you take her in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, in poorness and in richness? Yes Father. Will you take him? Yes Father.

Hurry up Father. The plane is waiting. We It's not about having fun.

It's not about traveling. It's not about eating together, dancing together, jumping together. It's not.

It's about a commitment for life together. It's a commitment. And the commitment has to be built on love.

Genuine love. Christ's love. Not any other love.

Not any other love. Christ's love. I love you for you.

Not for what you do for me. I love you. Period.

This is the way Jesus expects from his followers. This is the way. Good things, they come with a price.

They're not cheap. You want to have a mansion overlooking the Sydney harbour? You better expect to pay a big price for it. You want to be close to the Lord? There is a price to be paid.

There's the golden ball, pain, the cross. I need to carry it. I need to accept to be humiliated for his sake.

I need to accept to be rejected for his sake. I need to accept to be cast out and put down, rejected for his sake. For when you tolerate it, when you accept it, when you embrace it for the sake of your Messiah, rest assured, Jesus is faithful to his word.

Jesus is faithful to his followers. He says, he who suffers and accepts suffering for my sake, I will show them my glory. The harp.

The Lord will reveal to you secrets no one has ever dreamt of. What do you think the church fathers? Those who left the world and the treasures of the world and went and lived in the crevices of the mountains and in the wilderness, what glories were revealed to them? Only they knew and their God who art in heaven. What Christ has given him with his own glories.

Where human being like us raised the dead. Where human being like us saw the glory of heaven while they were on earth. You're telling me saints are dead? My goodness.

I'm a living witness here. All glory to Christ. No one can tell me saints are dead.

I've seen him. A saint came to this piece of filth. This saint lived 1,700 years ago on the face of this earth.

1,700 years ago. He came and spoke to me face to face. So don't tell me saints don't exist.

The Bible doesn't say that. The Bible says they are prayers of saints in heaven and only the living pray. The dead cannot.

Only the living pray. The dead cannot. We need to embrace Christ in good times and bad times.

Good Friday, Sunday resurrection. In his agony and in his glory. Verse 9. And they sang a new song.

And they sang a new song saying you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Who said you are worthy? The four creatures and the 24 elders.

All of them with one voice. They said you are worthy to open the scroll. Who is worthy? The Lamb of God.

Who is the Lamb of God? The Jesus Christ. The God revealed in humanity. He is the only one that is worthy to open the scroll.

As long as the scroll is sealed, we are all judged. We are all condemned. God's judgment has fallen upon us and when God judges anyone of us we are going to hell 100%.

Who can stand before God and say I am innocent? No one. Every one of us is a sinner. Every one of us has broken God's word.

No one is worthy. But when the Lamb of God, the only worthy one, when he opened the scroll, opening the scroll meaning we escaped judgment. For as long as the scroll is sealed, we are judged.

But if someone comes along and is worthy to open the scroll, judgment is taken away from us and put on the one who is worthy to open the scroll. That one is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He took the judgment upon himself and went up to heaven and sat at the right hand of his father where the scroll is, where the judgment of God is.

He took it upon himself to set us free. Sometimes where we go wrong is we define things our way not God's way. We look at things through our own sight, through our own vision, not God's vision and we misinterpret and misdefine the situation.

But where there was ever trouble, Jesus brought the greatest saints of all. St. George came and said, Lord, since you died for me based on love, I am coming today and I'm willing to die for you to give you that love back and say I'm gonna shed my blood for your sake my Lord the way you shed your blood for my salvation and redemption. This is true divine love.

Who was dead and came to life therefore even though they may kill you but remember just like I was buried and rose from the dead, I will raise you in me. Death will not overcome you. Death will not conquer you because I crushed death under my foot when I rose from the dead on the third day, the resurrected triumphant Messiah forever.

So therefore when you have the one who died for you and came to life for your own sake, do not be afraid of death, do not be afraid of martyrdom for death will never keep you in the pit for I, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, will raise you from the dead for I have conquered all four enemies sin, condemnation, Satan and death through my crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Whoever has Christ in his life or her life, death will never conquer you. Verse 9, the Lord talks about the church leader of Smyrna, the church leader of the martyrdom period.

He says to the leader I know your works tribulation and poverty but you are rich. I know your works tribulation and poverty but you are rich. Three things the Lord attributes to the leader of the church of Smyrna.

He says I know your works tribulation and poverty. I know your works meaning I know all the hardships you've endured. I know all the troublesome times you have tolerated for your Jesus sake.

I know you are working extremely hard for the name of Jesus Christ and I'm so appreciative of all the sacrifices, all the hard works you are enduring and you are doing for my name's sake. And I know the tribulation you are you know facing, tribulations, the trials that Satan has brought your way, that Satan has brought your way. Tribulations come from Satan and the hard works that we do and endure is for the sake of Jesus Christ.

He says I know that you are also enduring those trials which Satan is bringing your way and I know your poverty, the rejection that you are receiving from the world. I know your works, your love for me I Jesus Christ, your hard work for me I Jesus Christ. I know your tribulation that the endurance of the trials which Satan is bringing your way.

I know your poverty, the rejection that you are receiving from the world. When we follow in the footprints of the Lord Jesus, when we work extremely hard to expand and increase and multiply the kingdom of God on earth to help God manifest his kingdom on earth, when we come in unity with Christ the number one thing is going to follow that tribulation from Satan. Satan will raise all these trials, massive waves that come against us to bring us down and to drown us.

But when Jesus is with me no trials, no tribulation shall ever prosper. I will step on them in Jesus mighty name. And when I face those trials and I hold on to Jesus Christ, guess what? The world will hate me.

In the sight, in the eyes of the world I am poor, poverty. What is poverty? The Lord is not talking about financial poverty. The Lord is talking about being rejected by the world.

The world will see me as a poor man, as a homeless man, someone who has no one with him to come to his aid and rescue. A true follower of the Lord Jesus is rejected by the world, is hated by the world. Why? Simply because that loyal servant, that true leader in the church of Christ is carrying Christ who is the light of the world.

So when he is bringing this light, this divine light to this dark world, well, darkness always hates light, cannot stand light, and it will do anything and everything to stop light from coming and decimating that darkness. Therefore when we are carrying the light of the world in us, the world will hate us and they will reject us. And when we are rejected, we feel as if we are homeless, alone, very poor.

No one is with me to support me, but I have the only, the one and only Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The Lord says, in the eyes of the world they see you as poor, but in my eyes, I, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I see you rich. And that's that all matters.

As long as the Lord sees me rich, my beloved, who cares what the world thinks of me. Let them speak badly about me. Let them refuse me and reject me and put me down.

I do not really care with all love and respect because I did not come here through the grace of my Lord for the world to be, to love me and to accept me. I came here to do one thing, the will of the one who has sent me, my Lord, my Savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. All glory to his holy name.

As long as Jesus says you are rich in my eyes, that's that, that is that all matters. It does not matter, my beloved, what the world thinks of me. Absolutely matters not.

Therefore, do not be discouraged. Do not be influenced negatively by the comments you receive from the world. Ignore them as if you are deaf and you are dead to the world.

Ignore them. Focus on the Lord and see what the Lord thinks of you. And then the Lord continues and says, and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, but they're not. They are in fact a synagogue of Satan. You see, at the time there was Jewish people who received Christ as Lord and Savior and became Christians.

But they became Christians by name only, not by deed. The Lord called them a synagogue of Satan, because they are only Christians by name, not by deeds. And it is the same thing as the Christians of our time and age.

So many are called Christians, but are they all practicing Christians? Not. Not every Christian is a true Christian. Some Christians are only Christians by name, but those who are Christians by deed are the ones which the Lord recognizes and acknowledges.

But those who are fake Christians, the Lord calls them the synagogue of Satan. And then in verse 10 the Lord says to the leader of the church of Smyrna, which is the 200 years. By the way, some very nasty emperors came in those two centuries, which we'll come to.

And verse 10 says, do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. The Lord is giving a warning prior to its happening.

The Lord will always enlighten those who follow Him from the heart. Those who are faithful and loyal to the Lord, the Lord will reveal to them secrets before things take place. He will give them a warning.

There is trouble coming, be ready. Get up and be ready and face this trouble that is coming your way. The Lord will reveal it to those who love Him from the heart.

He says, do not fear. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. For the first and the last is with you.

Why are you fearing? We've said in previous occasions, fear will only come in any one of us life when faith disappears. Fear will only enter our life when faith disappears. And faith disappears when doubt overtakes us.

When we doubt, the doubt will kill the faith that is in us. And when the faith is killed, fear engulfs us. And when fear engulfs us, what happens? We will forget and lose track of every promise the Lord Jesus has said and done and given us.

We will forget. But the Lord comes to remind us, do not be afraid. Do not fear any of the things which you are about to suffer.

For I am with you. I said earlier, I am the first and the last, the one who died and came to life. Do not be afraid.

I have overcome all of your enemies. I have overcome all of your weaknesses. I have overcome all the trouble that will ever come your way.

I am the I am. I am the sovereign authority over everyone and everything that ever exists. Do not fear.

Do not doubt your Lord. Do not doubt the promise of Christ for you and I. Because the moment you doubt, you are destroying your faith. And the moment you destroy your faith, fear will enter you and overtake.

And when fear enters us, we lose track. We veer off the road. We become so fragile, a slight small breeze will break us.

Do not be afraid. Jesus is always with us, my beloved. Indeed, indeed, another word for it, truly, like it is.

You cannot escape it, in other words. Definitely it's coming. Definitely it's going to happen.

Indeed, the devil, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and you will have tribulation ten days. Indeed, definitely, for sure, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested and you will have tribulation ten days. And the stage of the beloved Church of Christ, Smyrna, the first to set the the second and the third century, 200 years.

200 years of persecution. 200 years of martyrdom. 200 years of imprisonment.

Difficult, extremely difficult times. We've lost the plot and it hasn't even been two years, not 200 years. The pandemic came, the so-called coronavirus came.

It hasn't been two years and so many people have been so disorientated. They have been so afraid, so worried. What's gonna happen to me, to my family, to my loved ones? I'm dead.

Where are you Lord? How come you're not doing anything? I'm suffocating. I'm suffering. Hasn't been two years, my beloveds.

What would we have done if we had lived the stage of the beloved Church of Christ, Smyrna, the bitter stage of 200 years, not two years. What would we have done? Wow. Why did God keep Satan, the devil? Couldn't the Lord Jesus, when he was crucified, couldn't he have wiped Satan for good? Absolutely yes.

He could have. Why did he leave him? Because we need to be tested. We need to be tested.

God kept the devil, God kept Satan, so that through Satan, our faith and our love for Christ and our trust in him is to be put to the test. The Lord uses the enemy, uses the devil, so through the devil, our love, faith and trust in him gets tested. When we are born, a brand new baby, I receive baptism at my infancy stage.

This is the true apostolic teaching of the beloved Church of Christ. When I'm baptized and I begin my journey, I begin to grow and become mature, become an adult. That baptism follows through with me, grows with me.

One day, one day as a grown-up man and or woman, I go through a difficult time in my life, and then I begin to wonder, where is God? How come God has left me? How come God has deserted me? How come God is allowing me to go through this trouble? I'm crying out to him. I am screaming on the top of my voice. I'm doing everything possible within my own capacity and capability, seeking God's mercy, and yet he's still letting me go through this troublesome time, through this dark tunnel, through this hell.

Where is he? Why is he doing this to me? Well, my beloveds, the Lord Jesus, a time will come. He will test our love, our faith, and our trust in him. He will test it.

You see, love cannot be really experienced except in troublesome times. People can come in good times and say to me, we love you, we love you, we love you. That doesn't tell me that they truly love me.

That doesn't tell me that they truly love me at all, because it is good times. We are having fun together. We are free together.

We are healthy and wealthy together. So they can say it. It is easily said than done.

True love will only be tasted, will only be lived and seen tangibly in the most difficult times of my life. As a young man or a woman, and especially young men, you know, our parents come to us and say, my son, I don't want you to mix with these so-called friends of yours. I look at their faces, I'm not comfortable with them, my son.

I don't want you to mix with them. I smell trouble coming your way. The son or the daughter refuse the advice of the parents, and in fact, they look at their parents as if they are their own enemies.

So they go with those friends and ignore the warning of the parents out of love. What happens? After a little while, that son ends up in prison. When they end up in prison, I can assure you, none of those so-called friends you will ever see them coming visiting you in prison.

Who's gonna come? Poor mom and dad. Who's gonna cry for you? Poor mom and dad. Who's gonna be unable to sleep all night long? Poor mom and dad.

Who's gonna be broken-hearted? Who's gonna be destroyed for your sake? Poor mom and dad. None of those so-called friends. But when you were strong, when you were healthy, and when your pockets were full of money, all those people surrounded you, and they showed you absolute love, but that love was given to you in good times.

It is a fake love, a dangerous one. True love that comes from the heart is given to me when I have fallen and hit rock bottom. When I've reached my lowest of the lowest levels ever in my life, I've reached a level where I've lost hope and I want to kill myself.

When you see a person running to your rescue in that lowest and deepest and darkest moment of your life, rest assured that person's love for you is absolutely genuine. Absolutely genuine. The Lord is genuine love, is true love for me and you.

The Lord says, when I gave you my love, when I expressed and illustrated my true divine love for you on the cross, I'm gonna test your love for me in difficult times the way my love was put to the test on Calvary on the cross. The lowest moment in the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth when he was hanged naked fully on the cross. When we get put to the test, when we get thrown into prison, and I'm not talking about a literal prison.

A prison can be so many things that have chained us up, so many bad habits that have imprisoned us. When we face those imprisonments, are we gonna still have that true love and true faith and true trust in Christ or are we gonna be shaking and walking away from the Lord? Our love will be put to the test. It's very easy for me to say to the Lord, I love you, but it's so hard to express my love for the Lord through a deed and an action that is based on love.

To say things, it's easy. To do them, it's extremely hard. So the Lord kept the devil so that our love and faith and trust in the Lord gets put to the test.

And some of us, indeed, will be thrown into prison. Who's gonna throw us in prison? Satan. When the Lord Jesus said, walk through the narrow gate, for the gate is narrow and the path is very narrow, but that path leads to life eternal.

Do not go through the wide gate, because the wider gate is a very broad way, is a broad path. So many walk through that wider gate, but that path leads to absolute destruction. So many people decide and choose to walk through the wider gate and they end up in absolute trouble and destruction, but very few choose willingly to walk through the narrow gate, adhering to the calling of the Messiah.

When the Lord invites us to go through the narrow gate, He is not a harsh master. He is not a selfish master. He is not here to give us trouble and hardships.

Quite the contrary. He wants to give us healing, salvation, redemption, and life eternal, because He is love and true love. See, when you walk through the narrow gate, it can only fit you, no one else.

You're the only one that can walk through it at that particular moment. The wider gate can fit so many people with you that come along. When you are surrounded by people, you are so preoccupied with those people that are surrounding you, your ear is deaf to the voice of God, to the voice of Jesus Christ our Lord and God, because your ear is now open to the people around you, to the people in your life.

You're so busy with them, you don't have time for your beloved Jesus. But what are people gonna do for you? When you are with those people, you're enjoying it, you're enjoying that moment, you're enjoying their presence, and you're enjoying life to the fullest. You're going out and you're going downtown, brother.

You're going clubbing, Star City Casino, partying, drinking, you name it. There is no greater enjoyment than this. Finally I'm free.

But eventually, what are you gonna do to your life and to your own self? You will destroy it and you will kill yourself by yourself. The wider gate brings a lot of people with you, and if you are carrying any luggages of the past, you will bring them with you and you will carry them through with you, because the gate is extremely wide. It fits you, fits your luggages of the past, and fits the people that are bad influence in your life, all at the same time.

The narrow gate, on the other hand, when you come to go through it, it only fits you, no one else. You need to drop all the people that are nothing but bad influence for you, because they won't fit in that narrow gate. Jesus says, if you come, if you wish to be with me, if you wish to walk along with me, you need to come by yourself.

Don't bring those bad influences with you. They will drag you and pull you down, and they will separate you from your God. Drop your friends, so-called friends, the bad influences.

And if you're carrying the luggages of the past, because us as human beings, the human nature, every time we look at our past, we always tend to focus on the ugly, the dark, the miserable moments in the past. We never look at the good times in the past. We always focus first on the negative things of our past, and they come and haunt us, and make us lose hope.

And hope is the force, is the drive for you to go forth. Without hope, you will stop moving. Everything comes to a full halt.

So naturally, we focus on the negative moments of our past. The Lord says, when you're carrying the luggages of your past with you, which you do, when you come through the narrow gate, guess what? You can't take the luggages with you. You need to drop everything.

You need to come, you and you only. The Lord says, I want you. My son, give me your heart and let your eyes see my ways.

My son, give me your heart and let your eyes see my ways. I want you. I don't want your past.

I don't want your ugly past. I don't want any human influences in your life. I want you and you only.

I love you, my child. I love you, my son. Drop everything and come as you are, who you are.

You will be tested. Oh my goodness, when we go through some troublesome times, it is through those difficult times in our life, we come to this realization, who are the people that truly loved me and those who acted and faked it. It is through my difficult times, I get to know the people that genuinely love me.

You see, it is good for us to be tested. Even though it is painful, even though it may sound negative, but believe me, it is absolutely positive if we focus on Christ in our dark tunnel moments. Because those dark tunnels reveal to me who are the ones who truly love me and who are the ones who are absolutely fake and I need to drop them off my list.

It is only through the dark moments of our life, we come to realize who truly love us. So therefore, do not be discouraged when you go through tests. When the devil throws you into prison, through the permission of your Lord Jesus Christ, who is the first and the last, who is in control.

So even though you may be in prison, you're not alone. The Lord is with you. The Lord is with you.

I'll tell you this true story. I've shared it so many times, but I'll need to say this. There was this father who had his young son with him.

The father was extremely faithful to the Lord Jesus. This is a true story, my beloved. He used to go to church every single Sunday and take his son with him without fail.

One day the father became sick and he departed from this world. This son remained alone. No parents.

The mom had already gone before. The father departed. The son is alone.

He is now a teenager, 13-14 years of age, a teenager with no parents to look after him. He ended up meeting some other boys similar to his age and he befriended them. And he stopped going to church 20 years.

That priest in that particular church, which he was very close to his dad, he kept asking about the son for 20 years. He never gave up asking of the whereabouts of this young boy with no address to this young man. After 20 years, this man walks into the church and he says, Father, I've heard that you've been asking about so-and-so.

Is that true? He said, Yes. He said, Do you want to see him? He said, Of course. He said, Here is the address, Father.

He lives at this address. Wow. Monday came.

The priest ran to that boy's address. He knocked at the door. That boy opens the door.

He is a grown-up man now. 20 years have gone by. He is a mature adult man.

When he opened the door, he recognized the priest from that childhood of his. He said, Oh my goodness, Father. Welcome, welcome.

Please come on in. What a lovely surprise this is. This priest, it's a true story.

He was illiterate. He did not know how to read nor how to write. Absolute illiterate.

He had memorized all the liturgical books of the church by heart because he didn't know how to read and write. He memorized every book, the liturgies, the baptism, the marriage. He memorized them all.

He sat down and he said, My son, Christ wants you. And this was his statement to every human being he would meet. Christ wants you.

That was a statement to every person he would meet. He'd say, Christ wants you. He said, My son, Christ wants you.

You've been missing in action for 20 years. He said, Father, I promise you, I promise you, next Sunday you will see me in the first row sitting in the church. He said, I will be waiting, my son.

Sunday came. That man did not show up. The priest goes on the following day, Monday, again to his house, knocks at the door, and he opens.

He says, Oh, Father, come on in. I'm so sorry. You know what, Father? I was definitely, I was gonna come, but something came up in the last minute and stopped me from coming.

Please forgive me, Father. Next Sunday, I promise you, I promise you, I'm coming and I'm sitting at the front row. He said, I'll be waiting.

Christ wants you. And then Sunday comes. That man does not show up.

The following day, Monday, the priest goes again, knocks at the door. That son opens the door and sees the priest. He said, Father, listen, let us not kid ourselves.

You know very well what my job is. That young boy, when he mixed with the wrong people, so-called friends, they led him to the dark path. He ended up being the ringleader of the biggest drug syndicate in that country, the biggest drug dealer in that country.

This innocent young boy, who was going to church without fail, religiously, every Sunday, ended up being the biggest leader of the drug syndicate in that particular country. You see what happens when you mix with the wrong people? He said, Father, you know very well what I do for a living. So let's not kid ourselves anymore.

Don't waste your time and definitely don't waste my time. Can your Jesus give me the money that I make every month? Can he? He said, my son, Christ's treasure is endless. He is full of riches.

He said, Father, please go and find another son for your Christ and leave me alone. Don't ever come to this house ever again. He said, my son, but Christ wants you.

He said, please go away. The priest goes. He waits for this man to come on Sunday.

Obviously he didn't come. So the priest goes on Monday the following day. He knocks at the door and apparently this drug dealer was expecting other drug dealers to come to his house and he gave them this secret knock.

That poor priest knocked at the door the exact way of those drug dealers would have done so. This man runs thinking it is the other drug dealers. So he opens the door eagerly and to his shocking surprise he sees that poor priest in front of him.

Out of anger and frustration he punches the priest in the face, knocks him to the ground and breaks one of his teeth and blood started coming out of his mouth, from his mouth. The priest was knocked for a few seconds. He got a bit dizzy.

Looks like it was a big big punch. He wakes up, dusts himself off with blood coming out of his mouth, one tooth missing. He says, my son, listen.

Before I go, I'm telling you this is the last time I will ever come to your house ever again. But the last thing I'm gonna say before I leave, Christ wants you. And he walks away.

That very night the police in that country get that guy, the biggest drug dealer in that country. They grab him and then he was sentenced into imprisonment for nine, nine years. He was thrown in a dungeon, not even two meters by two meters underground, absolutely dark, no windows, no light, no nothing.

True story. Nine years he was gonna spend in that little dungeon underground. When he looked from a citadel, from a mansion into a dungeon, he said, I can't last nine seconds.

Impossible I'm gonna last nine years. I'll kill myself. He started bashing on those bars, screaming on top of his voice, get me out of here, get me out of here, I can't do it.

That prison warden came laughing at him. He said, outside you were like a lion. Look at you now, you little mouse.

You can scream for as long as you want and as much as you want. You are underground. No one will ever hear you.

No one will ever come to your rescue. You will rot like a little mouse in this dungeon. He said, this guy is telling the story himself.

True story. He said, when I sat in that dungeon, absolutely destroyed. He said, I heard a noise in that dark dungeon.

I became frightened. I said, oh no, there is another person in the dungeon. Maybe he's a serial killer.

He's gonna rip me apart. He said, and I saw a small bright light coming in that dungeon. I became afraid.

He said, the light started to become bigger and stronger, bigger and stronger. He said, until it became so bright, the entire dungeon was lit up with a light that is stronger a million zillion times than the sun we see in heaven. And in the midst of that light, I see Jesus Christ of Nazareth sitting on that ground in that dungeon with both hands and feet chained to the ground.

I said, Lord, what are you doing here? What are these chains in your hand? And why are you in this dungeon? And then he said, the Lord spoke to me. And when he spoke, he opened his mouth and I saw blood coming out of his mouth. And I realized one tooth was missing in his mouth.

He said, Lord, what happened to you? Who did this to you? And then he said, my son, you did this to me. You. He said, I threw myself at his feet, crying like a baby.

I said, Lord, how could I have done that to you? Impossible. When? How? He said, my son, do you think I am a harsh master? It was me, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who sent that priest your way. He is my servant.

I sent him to you. I was searching for you through this priest. And I begged you to come to my house.

You refused my calling. When you punched that priest in the face and you broke his tooth and made blood come out of his mouth, you did not punch the priest. You punched your Jesus.

For I am that priest. He said, as I was crying, shedding tears like a baby, I said, Lord, forgive me. Lord, forgive me.

Lord, forgive me. For I have done all this to you. I, the blind, the miserable person I am, I beg you to forgive me, Lord.

He said, as I was asking for forgiveness, I saw the chains coming out of both hands and feet. And he said, he started rising up and going up and up. And as he was going up, I was saying to him, Lord, I promise you, I promise you, when I come out of this dungeon, I am all yours for the rest of my life.

Give me that chance, Lord. Give me that opportunity to come back and compensate for every time and moment I have damaged and hurt you, my Lord. Let me heal your wounds.

He said, as he was going up, I saw a big smile on his face. He was looking down at me with a huge smile. And he said to me, I, Christ, want you.

The exact words which the priest says to everyone, it was the Lord speaking through him. That man asked for the Holy Bible. He was given a Holy Bible.

He lived in a country that was ruled by a different religion. But they brought him the Holy Bible because when Jesus is with you, no one can stop you. So they brought him the Holy Bible.

He spent the nine years in that dungeon, came out of the dungeon, memorizing the Holy Bible from cover to cover by heart. He memorized the entire Bible by heart. And he became one of the most famous, famous preacher ever to exist of his time in that particular country.

From the biggest drug dealer to the biggest preacher of the Gospel of Christ. How did that happen? Because he went into the prison, he was put to the test. Who threw him in prison? The devil.

Who allowed the devil to throw him in prison? The Lord Jesus. When we go through hard times, they can soothe a lot of wounds. They can be a healing to so many, to so many issues that we had in our life before.

Troublesome times are good if we focus on Christ. Troublesome times are good. I need to finish it off.

Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. The word death here, it doesn't really mean death.

Why? Because in Christianity there is no death. There is something called departure. When the Lord Jesus came, he was crucified, buried, and rose.

The moment he rose from the dead, there is no more death. He crushed death underfoot by rising from the dead. So whoever has the Lord as Lord and Savior to his own life, there is no death.

But what kind of a death is the Lord talking about? The Lord says, if it takes you to end up being with me, and for you to end up being with me, it takes that you must die, you must be killed, then embrace it. Be killed in order to be with me. Don't ever lose this precious gift, being with your Messiah forever, even if it takes you being killed by the world.

Welcome death to gain Jesus Christ forever. And this is exactly what St. Paul said in Philippians 121. But as for me, as to me, to me, life, life is Christ, and death is gain.

To me, life is Christ, and death is gain. It's not a loss. You, you talk to anyone, you ask any person of the world, what is death to you? They will say death is the greatest loss ever.

Why? Because death came and took everything I had. I worked so hard all my life. I built an empire for myself.

I have my millions in the bank account. I have my mansions. I have my Lamborghini and Ferrari.

I have my clothes. I have my gold, my linen, my diamonds. And death came in a single moment.

Everything was taken away from me. Death is the greatest loss of the person of the world. But the person who belongs to Christ, death is the greatest gain of all.

Why? Because don't you want to be with the one you love the most? Don't you want to be with that person? Of course you do. If Jesus Christ is the love of your life, don't you want to be with him? Yes. How are you going to end up being with the love of your life, Jesus? Through death.

When death comes, I'm going to see my Jesus for the first time ever face to face. No more visions, no more, you know, no more dreams, no more thinking. It's going to be real.

The love of my life is standing right before me, and I'm standing right before him. Therefore, death is the greatest gain. Because death took me to the one who is the love of my life, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Very quickly. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

Again. He who has an ear, let the Spirit says to the churches, an ear being one. The Lord here wants you to have one ear, meaning there is no way out.

You want to hear my word. There is no way out for it to go. If you have two ears, it is a problem because the word can go through this one and leave through the other.

When it comes to hearing the voice of Christ, make sure you have one ear. So it comes in. There is no way out.

It comes in and stays in you forever because the word gives you eternal life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

Very quickly. Every church, at the end, the Lord says a different thing. To Ephesus, he who overcomes, I will let him eat from the tree of life.

Because it's Ephesus. Ephesus is beloved. Ephesus is to do with love.

When it's to do with love, I'll let you eat from the tree of life. Who is the tree of life? Jesus Christ himself. Jesus says, when you walk in love, I will give you myself.

But when it comes to Smyrna, the bitter one, the martyrdom era, the tribulation, second and third century eras, when it comes to martyrdom and tribulation, the second death will not harm you. If you overcome all the tribulations that are coming your way and you stand firm in your Messiah Jesus Christ, then you will not be hurt by the second death. What is the second death? In a nutshell, ten hours, just kidding.

In a nutshell, the second death is when the Spirit departs from the Creator God. That is the second death. Every Christian, every Christian, true Christian, those who are seeking the Lord from the heart, every Christian is born twice, dies once.

Every non-believer is born once, dies twice. I'll say it again. Every true believer in Christ is born twice, dies only once.

Every non-believer is born once, dies twice. Every single one of us is born from our earthly parents. Mom and Dad gave birth to me.

That is the first birth. If I do not have Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior, I will die twice. One, the biological death.

Second, the spiritual death. When my spirit departs from God forever. And the spiritual death is the true death.

The biological one, everybody goes through that. It is only temporary. It is not death.

I am being transferred from one dimension to another. That is not death. But the true death, when my spirit separates from the Almighty God, then I am dead forever.

The Lord says, you overcome the tribulations. You withstand the bittersome times that come your way. For the sake of your Jesus, I'll make sure the second death is not going to harm you.

Meaning, you will not die spiritually. You will only die physically. Because you were born twice.

One from your earthly parents, second from your Heavenly Father. Through holy baptism is the second birth. The born again, the holy baptism.

Through that holy baptism, you were raised in the love of Christ. And you held on to Jesus till the end. When you hold on to Christ till the end of that journey, you will only die once, the physical death.

And you will live with Christ happily ever after, forever and ever and evermore. Amen.