Transcription
Thank God! I appreciate your investment. We are blessed tonight to have Pastor Richard Ruby, who always brings a word from heaven and challenges us to do the will of God. He inspires preachers to want to preach better, so we receive a double benefit. Let's welcome Pastor Richard Ruby! Hallelujah! Amen!
What a tremendous spirit and atmosphere we have in this place. We thank God. We're going to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, and I want to minister from this portion of scripture for a few minutes. I trust that God knows what He is doing.
One of my favorite illustrations for many years is about a village with a beautiful lake. Because of that lake, its main industry was tourism; people loved to go there and enjoy the lake. However, there came a season when the village faced a crisis in its budget. The leaders of the community gathered to figure out how to cut costs. As they reviewed their expenses, they noticed money allocated to a stream keeper—a man who lived upstream in the mountains. His simple job was to clean the stream so that when it flowed into their lake, the lake was maintained.
As they tried to cut costs, they thought, "I haven't been up there in years. We send money to this man, but we don't even know if he's doing his job." So, they decided to send a note saying that his services were no longer needed and enclosed his final check. They cut some costs and, for a little while, everything seemed fine.
But slowly, people began to notice more debris in the lake—leaves, small branches, and other things. Over time, they noticed an unpleasant smell coming from the lake; it no longer looked crystal clear like it once did. This decline caused the tourism industry to suffer. Word got out that it was no longer the place it once was, and soon the local economy began to decline. The city fathers gathered for an emergency meeting and realized they had made a terrible mistake. They sent a note to the stream keeper with some back pay and asked him to be rehired. Within a few weeks, the lake was pristine again.
Every one of us in our Christian life has a stream keeper. There are things that benefit us, but if we're not careful, we take them for granted. Sometimes we lose appreciation for that place in our lives—the stream keeper who is keeping us. After a while, we may not see the value of that. I want to name that stream keeper for all of us tonight: it's the church you go to.
Pastor Greg, in our meeting today, told the pastors that we are five churches away from hitting 4,000. I don't know when the 4,000th one will light up, and someone will win a new car or something like that, but I want to tell you something: we are not a denomination; we are not an organization. We are a fellowship of local churches.
So when we talk about the number 4,000, we are not patting ourselves on the back. What we're saying is that around the world right now, there will be 4,000 local churches, 4,000 pastors preaching, 4,000 disciples, 4,000 outreaches. The power of our fellowship is always going to be in the local church.
It's wonderful that we can gather here and have this massive crowd and a large online audience, but the essence of our fellowship is what's happening on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night in our local churches. If our fellowship is going to be strong, it's because our churches are going to be strong. If we are going to have strong disciples, we need to have strong churches. God wants to help us never forget that.
One of the early building blocks of our fellowship is that Pastor Mitchell felt called to bring dignity to the local church. He came from an organization that became more focused on the larger organizational movement and didn't value local pastors. They were not encouraged or helped. In our fellowship, there are many pastors and wives here because he understood that we are going to give dignity to them. We say, "You can come here, stay at a hotel, and we'll help you with some meal money."
We give dignity to these pastors in our fellowship. We back up our pastors. Not only is there dignity to the local church, but back in October of 1982, when our fellowship was still part of Foursquare, they hosted a district conference in the Prescott church. All the Foursquare leaders in the area came, and Pastor Mitchell preached a sermon called "The Indigenous Church."
Every church is like a seed, and contained within every local church is the power to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Every local church can raise up powerful disciples. How many believe that still tonight? Every local church has that potential. You might be here; you might be one of those first-year churches Pastor Stevens prayed for. You might be small, but I want to tell you that powerful men come out of small churches.
So I want to preach a sermon tonight that I've titled "Thank God for Your Church." I trust everyone here has a church. I want to minister from 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 2. The Apostle Paul says, "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit."
Father, we ask you to help us tonight. God, we thank you for our church. In Jesus' name, amen.
The first thing I want to look at with you tonight is that the church is the vehicle of salvation. Here is the Apostle Paul writing this letter to the church of Thessalonica. That city still exists today, and it is one of the many churches that the Apostle Paul started. Never forget that the Apostle Paul wrote letters to churches—not just generic letters, but letters to particular churches about specific issues. The Apostle Paul was a man of the church.
Let's think for a moment about it. I know there are many Bible verse people here, many preachers. Remember that the Apostle Paul was a man of the church. In his experience as a pastor, pioneer, and leader of pastors in churches, he experienced both the best and the worst of what could happen in a church. The Apostle Paul had been betrayed by church people. He had been slandered by church people. He had suffered at the hands of people who went to church. He dealt with grievous sins and horrible immorality within the church.
Despite all that he experienced, he makes this statement I want to focus on in verse 2 when he says to the church, "We give thanks to God always for you." Paul was thankful for the church. He was thankful for what a church represented. It didn't matter what he had experienced or the bad things that had happened to him; he was thankful for the church.
This sermon came as I was preparing for Thanksgiving. I've been in San Antonio for 38 years, so I've found 38 different ways to say thank you. I thank God for your mind, thank God for your health, and it dawned on me that there are people in my church who are not thankful for the church they go to.
So I want you to consider this. First of all, the church is what reaches sinners. You became followers of us and the Lord, having received the word in much affliction. Paul had pioneered this church in Thessalonica for one single purpose: to get people saved. That is the first function of a church; that is our number one calling and priority. A church exists to be a soul-saving operation. Can you say amen?
Paul went to Thessalonica to get lost people saved. That is what he did. In Acts 17, if you want to read about it, you can do so on your own. It says that Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." The Bible says that some of them were persuaded.
You know what's exciting? Tomorrow night and Friday night, when Pastor Mitchell gets up here and announces the churches that are going to be sent out, we cheer not just because there’s another flag or another church. We cheer because we know people are going to get saved where that church is going. What causes us to be excited? I don't know what the announcements are; I don't know what's going to happen. But beloved, the joy in our hearts is that somebody in that place is going to try to get someone saved. There will be ministry that goes forth.
I was thinking about a well-known preacher who is in a bit of hot water. His name is T.D. Jakes. I remember when T.D. Jakes hit the big time by focusing on women and women's conferences. He began to gain a lot of attention. At that time, he pastored in West Virginia. His ministry grew, and then he announced that he was leaving West Virginia to go to Dallas, Texas. I thought, "What an unusual thing to imagine going to a place, having revival, seeing people saved, and then deciding you don't want to be there."
He uprooted all the key members of his church and went to Dallas, not to pioneer a church, but to establish a mega church. I've been by that church; it's a massive 5,000-seat auditorium. Most of us don't pioneer with 5,000-seat auditoriums. He had no intention of getting people saved; he intended to drain out every black church in the area.
When people think of church, they don't think like we do. We think we are sending them to get some people saved. They think, "Oh look, they put an Episcopalian church in our neighborhood," or "They put a United Methodist church in our area." No, we want stone-cold sinners! Can you say amen? That is why that church is there.
If you're a young pastor, don't make the mistake of saying, "I'm going to go here, and I'm just going to reach into the Christian community." Don't waste your time! Get some people converted! That is what the Apostle Paul said he was going to do. That is why in every single service we do, we give altar calls. Every single children's place, it doesn't matter what we do, we give altar calls. Why? Because our priority is conversion.
Getting people saved is more important and has priority over everything you do. Have a great song service, have a fantastic children's church—I'm not against those things; we have those things. But beloved, our priority is getting people saved. A church is a soul-saving operation.
He said there was much affliction. He said, "I went there; there was hostility." I want to tell you, you're not going to ever be converted because you have a slick song service. You're never going to be persecuted because you have a slick song service. You get persecuted when you get people converted. Amen?
When you are out there reaching souls, the Bible says they came after him. If you read the story, Paul left Thessalonica, and from Thessalonica, the sinners launched an invasion team to follow him and harass him because he was preaching the gospel and God was moving. Acts 17:6 says they dragged Jason and some of the brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, "Those who have turned the world upside down have come here also."
That's one of our favorite verses in the Bible! It was in Thessalonica where he pioneered a church. That is what you're there to do—to turn that city upside down! Amen?
If you say, "I don't want to offend people," then don't preach! Go home! Here's a reality for all of us tonight: if it wasn't for the church, you wouldn't be saved. I don't care how long you've been saved. You might say, "Well, the Lord just converted me all by myself." I don't believe you! Somebody was praying for you from some church somewhere. God dropped that in your life. That was the purpose of the church.
If you're saved, beloved, there's a church behind your salvation. The first illustration of the church is Noah's Ark. In one way, it's the only way in. If you're going to be saved, you're inside; if you're not saved, you're on the outside. God said this is the church; it is a soul-saving operation.
This past November, Pastor Warner turned 75 years old, and Mona turned 40. I thought to myself, "You know what? I am saved because Pastor Warner and Mona, who was still a teenager, went to Tucson, Arizona, because they went there because somebody opened a church." That church became the Noah's Ark of my life, beloved. My family, many others, and you in the sets can get up here and testify about what God is doing in Namibia—all of that from a church. And that church, guess what? It came from this church right here.
I'm telling you, beloved, all conversions flow out of a local church. Why should you be thankful for your church? How many know the church has become a target? It's quite acceptable to beat up on a church. In fact, most people, if you don't believe me, Google "church." Most of what you'll get are attacks on churches.
You'll hear people talk about everything that is down on their church. Amen? They always blame the church. There are people who are not happy. I'm about to get personal here in a minute. Jesus said in Matthew 16, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." This is the first time the word "church" is mentioned in the Bible.
The revelation of Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And upon this rock, I will build my church. The revelation that Jesus gave back to them is, "You know what? I'm going to do something powerful in the earth, and it's going to be in the church."
I'm teaching a Sunday school right now called "Mountain Climbing," and I'm doing the Mount of Transfiguration. If you read the narrative of Matthew 16, forget the chapter break. Chapter 17, the Mount of Transfiguration is part of the story of the church.
I want to tell you something this evening: God is raising up churches. 110 times after Jesus introduces the church, you find the word "church" or "churches" in the New Testament. I want to make an observation tonight: if you're not part of a church, then you are involved in false doctrine. The doctrine of the church is just as true as the doctrine of the blood. It is just as true as the doctrine of the Trinity. It is just as true as the doctrine of the power of the Holy Ghost.
Beloved, you cannot say, "Oh yeah, I believe all this, but I don't go to church." Let me take it a little further. There are thousands of people watching tonight. I wonder how many people I'm preaching to who don't like their own church. There are people who say, "I'm in fellowship," but they don't even like their own church.
I've been bringing people to conferences here and in Tucson for over 40 years, and it's always humorous to me because there are people who come to Bible Conference. Some people can look pretty good here. They come here, and they're doing stuff. I remember this guy saying, "Man, that disciple of yours is powerful." He's telling me all this, and I'm thinking, "You have no idea what he's like when you get back home."
There are a lot of things happening here, but I tell you, there are a lot of curling irons at work this week! Amen! There were young men in the gym, but you know they weren't just praying and fasting; they were in the gym!
I would say to young ladies here, if you know somebody comes from another church, you might ask him, "Why is he having to go outside his own church? Why is it that the girls in his own church won't talk to him?"
I'm going to leave that one alone. I'm helping Mark Olson out right there. I'm telling you, your church is something you ought to be thankful for. It's amazing to me how people can be in church but not even like their own church. They like their own pastor, but they don't like their own church.
The Apostle says, "I thank God for you. I thank God for this church and what God has done." Genesis 28:17 talks about a revelation of the church. Jacob sees the ladder going up and down, and he gets a revelation of God. The Bible says he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
He's talking about the house of God; he's talking about the church. This is the gate of heaven. Well, pastor, you know, I know you don't see me very much, but my relationship with Jesus has never been better. He says, "This is the gate of heaven." It's the church; it's the house of God.
We are living in an age, beloved, where people are saying, "Our church has never been bigger," but nobody goes on Sunday night and Wednesday night. Churches cancel their evening services and say they're having revival. The church is the gate of heaven.
I don't know about you, but when I got saved, I wanted to be in every service. I wanted more church; I didn't want less church. Are you a blessing? Are you happy to be here, but a rebel in your own church?
Why is the church a blessing? What is it that makes a church a church? It's far more than just being okay. Remember what I said about dignity to the local church and the indigenous principle: the will of God for your life is tied to your local church. Your local pastor that God has established has a capacity in every local church.
Let me just say something: I pastor in San Antonio, Texas. That city has grown to close to two million people in the metropolitan area. I didn't do the numbers, but my guess is that we probably have maybe 17 or 18 churches right now in the metropolitan area, and every one of them is an incredible blessing. Every one of these pastors is an incredible man of God.
This idea that we should just have one big church and pool our resources—you don't understand. We need individual local churches that have dignity and develop ministry and disciples. Every one of these churches matters. Don't come here and say, "Well, Pastor Ruby only has 10 or 20 people. Does it really matter?" It absolutely matters because he's building his church.
Let me talk to you about three areas you get out of your church.
Number one is discipleship. The Apostle makes a very powerful statement here as he begins to speak about this church in verse 3. He says, "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." He highlights three dimensions that you get in your local church that you won't get anywhere else.
Number one is discipleship—your work of faith. I want to tell you that genuine faith is observable. Genuine faith translates into action. Faith is not just speaking hyperbole, saying, "I believe God for this." Faith is doing what you believe. There are people living for God.
We live in an age of false grace, where grace is this pie-in-the-sky thing that doesn't have any real meaning in our lives. I want to tell you, beloved, that is not truth. It is in a church where I learned how to live for God. I answered an altar call at the door in 1979. I prayed, and then I went to church. I saw faith in action. I saw how people lived for God.
A church showed me what a Christian is supposed to be. I tithed because people were tithing. I learned how to pray and go to prayer meetings because people were in that room praying. I was in a church where, yes, you don't have to go Sunday night or Wednesday night, but if you didn't, you were a flake. There was a culture that if you were a serious Christian, you went to church.
Back in those days, we were all a bunch of young people. Our Wednesday night services were bigger than our Sunday morning services. The reality, beloved, is all of that came because I went to a church. I was part of something, and they said, "This is how to live for God." There was a culture of faithfulness put in me in that local church.
I didn't get any of that by myself. I wasn't out dropping acid and God spoke to me, "Rich, you need to be faithful." It was in a culture where I said, "This is how you live for God." Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you." What He's saying is, "Start a church."
Don't just show up, do a little quick hitter, and go on. He said, "No, I want you to go to these places. I want you to live for God in front of them, and I want you to show them how to live for God." That is what a church exists to do: to make disciples.
I want to say something to young pastors here and pastors who may be pastoring a small church with less than 40 people right now. Don't think, "Oh, discipleship is in the future." No, it's right now! Start making disciples right now!
I'm running into problems where we have men in small churches, and they have some people there. Next thing you know, they are given an opportunity, and they have no disciples behind them. You talked to Pastor Stevens; he talked about Pastor Warner praying with him in the Tucson church when it was very small. Immediately, he became a disciple.
You don't wait; you start right now! Jesus said, "That is what I want you to do."
I like college football. I like to follow it, but I have to tell you, they've ruined it. I liked it better when they used to pay the players under the table. Now they have what is called "the portal." You know what the portal is? You can sign a letter of intent and go play for Arizona State. If you're not happy, if you're not starting, you can go to LSU or somewhere else.
There's no loyalty at all. God help us in our fellowship if we have disciples like that. "I don't really like this pastor; I'm not getting enough playing time. I want to go into the fellowship portal and find another fellowship church to go to."
That's not discipleship! Don't come showing up and say, "I want to be a disciple." If you're really a disciple, then you'd be back at your mother church serving God.
Secondly, your love has meaning. He says, "Your labor of love." I appreciate the Apostle Paul saying this. Love is not always easy; sometimes you have to work at love. How many can say amen?
How many of you have been married for more than 25 years? Man, some old people here! I'm joking with you. I've been married for over 40 years now, but I want to tell you something. People say, "Oh, it's so great that you're so lucky to have found someone." We're like, "Luck had nothing to do with it!" Love requires labor.
Genuine love is a long-term commitment. Imagine going to a fancy restaurant, one of these high-dollar restaurants here in Prescott, like Golden Corral. You go in, and there's this young couple on their first date. They met online, and they're excited.
How many know Christians don't meet online? Stay away from websites like "Christian Dating" or "Are You Out of Your Flaming Mind?" But this couple is there, and they're talking. There's energy and chemistry.
Then seated next to them is a couple that's been married for 30 years. They're having their meal, talking, and enjoying each other. What is the greater picture of love? To a lot of people, it's the young couple.
I want to tell you, there are people who are like that about churches. They always want to be perpetual new converts, so they go from church to church to be the new people, to get lunch. They show up and say, "I felt such a presence of the Lord. Pastor, you're such a good preacher. I feel the love of the Lord."
Every once in a while, we have these people come to our congregation. They come up, and you don't know who they are. You think they're sinners, and they come and say, "Praise the Lord! I felt the spirit of the Lord pass through today."
Here it comes, and then the soliloquy. They go on and on, and then they say, "Come here, brother." I just want to say, "Get away from me, man!" Are these phony, superficial, religious people?
Love in our church—I've got people who have been in our church for almost 40 years. Over those 40 years, they've strapped it on a few times—some of them literally. But I want to tell you, I've seen God in my church, beloved, because these are common, ordinary people with problems. But here they are, 40 years together, laboring—30 years, 25 years, 20 years, 10 years.
That's a miracle of the local church, and that's what Paul is saying: the labor of love. I've seen incredible things of people blessing other people in church. I remember a sister saying, "Pastor Ruby, I was going through something financially. I was praying, and I went to sit down in my seat, got my Bible, opened it up, and somebody had left $1,000 in an envelope anonymously."
I've seen forgiveness—deep violations, but the forgiveness. People that you have to discipline sometimes. You have to say, "We love you enough to keep you from going to hell, so you need to go out there and figure it out. We want you back."
And they come back! You ever have somebody in your church take their ball and go home? They don't get the promotion, they don't get the opportunity, or whatever. They have some conflict, and they don't get what they believe is justice, so they just throw it away.
Paul said, "You know what? I rejoice in your labor of love." Your love is not just some emotion. "I'm going to be here as long as things are easy." No, I'm here because this is where God wants me. This is my family; these are my people. I'm going to stay here because this is where God put me.
Thirdly, the common vision. He says, "Patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." This church didn't just work for God; they didn't just love each other as brethren, but they had a common hope or a common purpose. A church must have the same vision. You and I are headed somewhere. Your church better be going in the same direction as the rest of the churches.
Don't have your church come here and feel like they don't sync. Something's wrong if the people in your church don't feel in sync here this week. "Well, you know, it's just different in Prescott." No, we're not different; you're different! You and I are moving down the same stream.
This is not a multiplex theater; there's only one screen. This is what we're doing. Paul writes to the Corinthians, "I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of the Lord Jesus, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church; rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose."
You ever read these guys? You know where we took my team? We went on a retreat to Aspen or to Vail or to the Swiss Alps. I think you just wanted to go on holiday! But we could pray, and the Lord would show us what our mission statement would be.
What is our mission statement? I'm going to save you some money tonight: soul-winning, discipleship, church planting, and world evangelism. That should be all of our mission statements.
Let me quickly hurry up and close. I want to close by saying this: at the local church, we wait together. The church is there in the last days. It's interesting that this church, that he says, "I thank God for you," he also said, "The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. We will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words."
The revelation of the rapture was to a local church. I read the biography of a very well-known world evangelist. It was a very good book; I really enjoyed it. But I was a bit disappointed because he rarely spoke about local churches. If you weren't careful, you would read that and think ministry is being a world evangelist.
I want to tell you, Jesus is coming back for His church. The safest place for you and me to be in the last days is in church. There's something about the church, beloved, that holds us in place. It is in the church we are reminded, "Let us not neglect our gathering together as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near."
The Hebrew writer makes it very clear: if you really believed it was the last days, you would be in church more, not less. The church is where we wait together. Why? Because we are waiting together.
It is the parable of the foolish bridesmaids. The Bible says they were waiting together, and then a group of them had to leave. I want to tell you, beloved, it is in your local church, in our local churches, where you and I stay ready. Amen?
That is why we have a local church. That is why we have accountability. You don't have any accountability if you're not part of a local church. You don't have any accountability if you haven't spoken to your pastor in three years. You don't have any accountability if you're distant from your own headship.
James says, "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." That's the church!
The sinner in this story is not a sinner out there; it's a sinner in here. Somebody knows they're not right because they go to church together. He goes and deals with this guy, and he turns him. The Bible says this man is saved from hell in the church because he was at church.
I want to tell you, Jesus is coming, beloved. All hell is coming against us. I believe God wants to give breakout churches in our fellowship. We must have more breakout churches, but it's going to require you and me to say we are staying together; we are hanging together.
Quickly, I'm going to close, and we're going to pray. The other day, something very interesting happened. Miguel Martinez, our assistant pastor, got a phone call from his family. A member of the extended family situation—a 74-year-old man related to someone in the family—was in Mumbai and broke his leg. They put him in a hospital. He lost his phone, and they managed to get some information.
They got a phone call from a doctor in Mumbai saying, "This man has a broken leg. He's going to need surgery." They didn't know what to do. First, I know what you're thinking: "Was it a scam?" But actually, this one wasn't a scam. They reached out to Miguel because they know he is part of a fellowship of churches.
Here's a man in a city of 20 million, and nobody even knows what hospital he's in. They have an idea of what part of town—that's all they know. Miguel calls Jeremiah Wacker because Jeremiah was a missionary in India. Jeremiah goes over to Archie Brown, who is way in southern India, thousands of miles from Mumbai. Archie knows the guy in Mumbai, who is familiar with the area.
The pastor goes to that area, finds the hotel, and asks, "Is there a white guy in your hospital?" They said yes. He goes up there, and within half a day, he was praying with this man. That's churches! That's a church!
That's why we plant churches. Our reach is so far beyond what we understand. 4,000 isn't just a number; it means there are places everywhere. Do you realize that on a given Saturday, there are thousands of outreaches going on around the world because of what God is doing? Thousands of street preachers in our fellowship.
Bridget Harris, many of you know, was in our church. She had a business—a travel agency, a visa, and a passport agency. It was a blessing, allowing workers into the nations. Bridget witnessed to her mother for many years. She would bring her mother to church. Her mother was a bit mean, and Bridget would bring her up to me and say, "Go ahead, Pastor, witness to her."
Her mother didn't want to get saved; she was a tough lady. I never forget getting a phone call from Bridget. She said, "Pastor Ruby, my mother's in Southern California. They've rushed her to the hospital; they don't think she's going to make it."
What do we do? I hung up, called Rich Cox, and said, "Rich, this sister's mother is in this hospital." Rich immediately got on the phone, called the pastor in that area, and that guy went up there. This woman had said no for 30 years to the gospel, but he led her to Jesus Christ before she stepped into eternity.
Roland Pedes—Roland is in Austin. Years ago, Roland was pastoring in San Marcos, Texas, about 50 miles north of San Antonio. He's from the Rio Grande Valley, Harlingen, Texas. Roland's family—you have to understand—Roland is the youngest child by 20 years. All of his siblings are much older than him.
He gets radically saved and tries to preach to his mother, but his older siblings shut him down. They won't even let him get to her. She's getting older; she's getting sicker. He would say, "Pastor, pray for my mom. She's getting close."
I'll never forget one night, Roland called me late at night, grieved because he said, "Pastor, they called me. They say my mom's not going to make it. She's taken to the hospital." I could feel it because Harlingen, Texas, from San Marcos, is probably near 300 miles. They said, "Your mother's on her way to the hospital, probably to die."
All I could do was say, "Roland, let's just pray. Go to bed." I called him early in the morning. "Roland, how's your mom?" "Oh, Pastor, I hung up the phone." I called Angel Chapa, who was pioneering a church in Harlingen, Texas. He and his wife jumped out of bed, raced down to the emergency room, and led Roland's mother to Jesus Christ.
She was powerfully saved! That is why we have a church, and that is why you have your church.
Let's bow our heads. No one moving around. God's dealing with people here tonight. First of all, there are people here. Listen to me: you are here, but you're not here. You're looking through a window into this service because you're not saved. You're not right with God.
You may have come to church; you might have come from another city to conference, but you're not saved, and you know you're not saved. You are not in the ark. You might be in this building, but you're not in the ark. You're not right with God. Maybe somebody brought you; you're a visitor from the local area, and you're trying to understand this.
You know where it begins? It begins when a man or woman surrenders their life to Jesus Christ by admitting their sins, recognizing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross and rose from the dead, and they are ready to turn away from their sin. That's called repentance.
You can come to Christ. He doesn't take you for what religion you are; He takes you when you admit you're a sinner. Tonight, there are people here. You are on the outside looking in. I have good news tonight: you can come in the door. You can walk right in tonight, bow your knee to Jesus Christ, and be saved.
If that's you, I want you to lift your hand right now. Put it up by holding your hand and saying, "Pastor Ruby, I'm not right with God. I want to repent. Here's my hand. I'm tired. I know that I'm not ready, but I want to get ready."
Lift up your hand. God bless you. Amen. Thank you. Who else? Lift up your hand. God bless you. God bless you. Hands are going up. Anyone else? Quickly, backslider, you're sitting here, and you're outside the ark. You're saying, "I'm going to quit playing games." Lift up your hand all around this building. Would you respond?
Hands are going up. I want every one of you to stand to your feet. Stand right now. Come on, come on, come on, brother, right now. Come down to the altar and find a place to pray. Come on right now. All of you are coming. Come on, brother, come. You're standing; you need to come right now down to the altar. Make your way.
Amen. These are coming. Let's make sure every one of you who lifted your hand comes. As they're coming, we'll make sure we have somebody to pray with every one of these as they come to the altar.
I just want to challenge a couple of things here. First of all, there are people here who have a bad attitude about your church. You say, "Oh, I love the fellowship, and I love all the other churches I don't go to." You spend all your time watching streaming sermons. "I can't get fed by my pastor, so I have to go watch somebody." That's totally wrong!
There are some people God is dealing with you right now. There are some people online God is dealing with you. You have a bad attitude about your local church. I'm challenging you tonight to go home and be a blessing to your church. Say, "God, I thank you for my church. I want to go home and be a blessing."
What would happen if all these people gathered in this assembly and online said, "You know what? God changed my heart towards my church. Thank you for it. I've taken it for granted, and I need to get it going."
Amen. There are young pastors here tonight. You start to feel like you're insignificant. It doesn't matter if you're in a big city or if your church is small with limited resources and people. Oh no, every single church has dignity tonight, and every church contains the potential for incredible revival.
I would ask you to come before God and say, "Oh God, give me a vision for what you're doing in this place. Help me to understand the value of my work."
Let's stand together. I'm going to open these altars. I want to invite you to come down and find a place to pray. We're going to worship God this evening.
[Music]
Let's all stand together in this place tonight. Amen. We're going to stand together in prayer. We say we want breakthrough. If there will be breakthrough in our fellowship, it will be breakthrough in our churches.
What we are, beloved, is what happens Sunday morning. That's where the energy, that's where the power is going to be manifest. Tonight, if you love your local church, then you're going to join me. We're going to pray, "God, give our church a breakthrough. God, you give our church a breakthrough. God, you help our pastor. God, you strengthen him. You bless him. You bless his wife. You bless his house."
You know what? If your pastor does good, you do good. This week, some of you—I felt very strongly in my spirit to preach this because I felt God dealing with me. There are people who claim to be great fellowship people, but they're not great people in their own church.
God said, "If you'll break that, something will break in your church." Something will break in your church! How many want that? We're going to lift our hands, lift our voices, and cry out to God tonight.
Father, I ask you right now for a supernatural breakthrough. God, every church that is represented in this building, every church of those who are watching right now on live stream. Oh God, visit us as a fellowship of churches.
God, I pray for Europe. I pray for Australia, Africa. God, I pray for you to move, Lord, in Asia and Latin America. Father, here in the United States, Canada, God, in the Caribbean, in the islands of the sea. Oh God, I pray for supernatural power.
Let the glory of God come down, Father, on these ministries. God, anoint these preachers with fire, with boldness. Let there be notable miracles of healing and deliverance that will be spoken of in the streets of these cities.
Oh God, breathe upon the pioneer church. Let's give God praise right now! Father in heaven, we worship you. Oh God, this is your work. Be glorified!
[Applause]
Oh God, I ask for supernatural answers. I ask for people to cry out and say, "I'm going to change." I will be the church, and I will bring revival. You looked at us and said over and over again, "What's with the church?"
You have consoled and you have heard our hearts. I heard you say, "I'm going to pour out my spirit again." But know this: there are many battles. There is opposition in the earth. What you have seen in this last election was supernatural.
The enemy tried to destroy the church. I came against him. I know the enemy wants to destroy the church. I said, "You will not!" Even when Donald Trump was being threatened with assassination, I said, "You will not!"
But I say to you tonight, my beloved church, I have placed you here for such a time. The fire that I'm putting in you right now, I'm lighting again in you. It will be a fire that is supernatural, and it will consume the United States and the nations of the earth.
For I am coming again for my church. I am coming again for my bride, and I need you to call nations to repentance. So stand in the gap for the church.
Let's give God praise!
[Applause]