Transcription
Amen. You can be seated. It's my delight to introduce our guest, Reverend Dan Mohler. I had not ever heard of Dan Mohler; I'm not even sure I'd heard of him until last year when we had him in for an event called City Quake. I sat down next to this man while we were worshiping together right here, and I saw him smile. I thought, "I like him; I like his smile." Then, when I heard him begin to talk, I said, "I love the Jesus that I hear inside of him." I took a liking to him, and I think he kind of took a liking to me. We're brothers in the Lord, and I respect that. He's a great man of God, and he gets invited—he has more invitations than he could ever possibly fill. He's traveling, I think, 42 or 40 some weeks out of the entire year. He's traveling somewhere ministering, and I’m really grateful that I said, "Hey, Dan, is there any way out of all those invitations, is there any way you could come back to Mount Hope?" He said yes, and that's why he's here today! Woo! So, we're grateful. We know you could be anywhere right now; we're really grateful you're here with us.
So, Dan is a new friend of mine. From what I know of Dan so far, everywhere he goes, there’s a trail of miracles that follow. Come on, everybody, go like this one time. Come on, what's this about? This is about getting your expectations up. Okay. Now, when Rene and I get back from Greece, you gave us a really warm greeting. Can we practice this for our new friend? Will you give our friend, my friend, Rene and I's friend, our friend, a warm Mount Hope Church welcome? Come on, Dan Mohler!
Thank you, sir. Thank you. Love you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh my goodness, thank you, thank you, thank you, Jesus. Amen.
Wow! So I’m up here this morning. I was down there earlier; I felt like a free-roaming chicken man. I was like, "Roosters don't lay eggs, but if I laid eggs, they'd be good ones," 'cause I was free-ranging. I don't know what I'm doing right now, but I got a little bit of a batter’s box, and it's a pretty big one. I’ve been in some already where they have black tape like here and here, and I'm like, "Oh, Lord Jesus," 'cause I get a little happy, and I feel like I've got to move. I was in one that was so small, I said, "You’re going to have to put one of those shock collar wires on me, 'cuz I'm going to…" Oh, 'cause I knew I was going to step out of it a couple times.
But amen, good morning! Yeah, we had a fun time this morning. I'm not going to try to repeat it. I'm going to say what God wants to say to you guys. I thought, you know, it was really clear this morning. I thought we could have just played it up there and just let everybody have the same message, but no, I'm here, and I'm going to share my heart. I know the whole focus is miracles; I'll do my best. I'm not good when people give me titles, but I'll do my best to facilitate that. But when I've got a room in front of me on a Sunday morning, and I’ve got everybody in front of me, I mean, there are a lot of you folks out there right now. The lights make it a little hard to see everybody, but I see we have people in the heavenly places. This service someday we'll get up where you are. We're coming, guys! God bless you up there!
Oh my goodness, no, it's a real thought. I was in Montana a long, long time ago. I was just saved, and I asked a lady on the street for directions to get to some kind of rodeo for my children. She gave us directions and we went to the rodeo. I said, "Thank you so much, God bless you." In the morning, before daylight, I was up on the mountain with a—it was way back—I had the little boom box, and I had my worship playing, and I was singing at the top of my lungs on that mountain to the Lord as the sky was getting light because I was saved. I was worshiping Him, and I got this sense that somebody was behind me. I just did. I thought there was somebody here, and I was thinking it was the Lord, you know? I turned, and a lady was standing on a rock right behind me.
I'm on the top of a mountain, and this lady's on a rock. It's just barely daylight. I said, "Well, hello!" She said, "Oh my goodness, it's you! I thought I heard angels!" I said, "You might have." I mean, I had barely been saved—I can get this right—two months. Two months in! And I said, "You might have." And she said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm worshiping the Lord." The Lord. I said, "Yeah!" And I said, "Hey, wait a minute! You gave me directions yesterday! Out of everybody in Montana, the lady that gave me directions is on the top of a mountain at daylight." And guess why she was on there? This is why I'm telling you this quick story, because you guys are in heavenly places. She said, "I'm on a search for God," and it made sense to me to get as high as I could and try to get as close to Him as I could if I was going to find Him.
I was thinking in my mind, "You found Him!" I poured my heart out to her. She cried and cried and said, "That's the most beautiful message I've ever heard." I was two months saved, but I understood why God saved me, and I was on a mountain worshiping Him for it at daylight in Montana. And because of it, He sent somebody to me that was seeking Him 'cause He knew if she'd find me, she'd find Him. Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s amazing! So I'm here to stir you a little bit, and I'm a little stirred, so this could be dangerous.
Now, I'm 29 years saved, and I'm far from calm down. I might be a little worse today than I was back then 'cause I know Him a little bit more. But what changed my life more than the theology of what we say is the gospel is the understanding that I got through the gospel. The angel said to the shepherds in the field, "Behold, I give you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all." I'm not being mean, and I'm not talking to you, but in 29 years, I've seen people get happy, happy, sad. I haven't seen what the Bible calls great joy. I haven't seen joy, inexpressible joy that surpasses all understanding. I really haven't seen that.
I've seen people get highs and lows, but when I read it, and I see what the angel said, "Good tidings of great joy," that gives something away. The great joy isn't an emotion; it's not a feeling; it's an understanding. Understanding of the good tidings. The good—the great joy is in the message, people!
I'm concerned that we've made the message about something else. I'm concerned we've made the message about us, about what we get, about where we go when we die instead of who we are while we live. Because if that doesn't change, you're going to be so vulnerable to everything that happens in your life, and somehow you’ll still get the idea it’s still all about you when it's all about His great name.
Jesus said there’s a prerequisite for following Him, and He didn't say the sinner's prayer and go to heaven. He said, "Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me." Now I'm just going to nutshell this for the sake of time, because I can just tell I don’t have anything planned this morning! I’m just letting you know. And if I preached what I preached in the first service, it would probably pass the grade, but I’m going to preach what God wants to say to you, 'cause He knows the room.
So I'm on a journey with you. You say you’re unprepared? No, I’m not! I've been with Him, and He’s in me, and He’ll say what He wants to say. I believe that when you see me kneel in worship—if you saw me kneel—it’s not just a humble posture before the Lord 'cause He’s Lord. I’m just humbled to be here. I don’t take it lightly, Pastor, that you let me stand here in a place of authority and trust what’s in my heart with your people. I don’t take that lightly.
So when I’m kneeling, here’s what I’m saying: if Pastor Kevin would hand you a microphone in the next 10 minutes, you know exactly what you would say to this room, and would you please let that be the only words that come out of my mouth? And then when I get up here, I feel like that happens. I feel like it just happens.
So we’re going to go for it, and we’re going to believe it happens. Let me nutshell something: why did Jesus say deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me? Because man was never made for himself! If you look in your Bible, man was made in God’s image. Let us make man in our own image. God made man with intention, and God made man with purpose and with destiny in mind. And when Jesus says, "If you’re going to follow me, you’re going to have to deny yourself," well, He said, "When you see me, you already see the Father."
So He’s revealing the Father through His life. His life lived is the revelation of the Father. Now He’s telling you and me to follow Him, which means our lives are empowered to be the revelation of the Father. And He’s saying, "The only way you’re going to do that is if you deny the biggest problem of your life, and that’s you living for you and not My image." And that’s why Jesus said to deny—now we don’t preach the gospel that way today, even worldwide, nationwide for sure.
We make the gospel all about us—our blessing, provision, protection—what we get from Him and rarely what we become because of Him. It’s usually about us getting something instead of becoming something. Even our motive in salvation is going to heaven. It’s not living Christ; it’s going to heaven. It’s having enough; it’s never being in lack. That’s really a lot of people’s motives. I can talk plain. I’ve been saved 29 years and at the leadership level for a very long time. I’ve talked to countless people—countless countings—lots of tears, lots of stuff.
I’ve learned a lot; I’ve seen a lot of motives, I’ve seen a lot of perspectives, and I’ve seen tons of them that don’t bring life. The people aren’t insincere; the people aren’t hypocrites; the people aren’t evil. We just haven’t understood, and we’re destroyed for the lack of it. Isn't it something that you grew up, and I grew up here, and we heard, "What you don’t know won't hurt you?" And when you open the Bible, it’s the total opposite! Isn’t it amazing?
You and I grew up hearing, "If I were you, I wouldn't get my hopes up." And when you open your Bible, it’s the total opposite! Isn't it amazing that we heard, "What you see is what you get," and in the Bible, it’s the total opposite? Well, you made your bed; you’ve got to sleep in it. Total opposite in the Bible! I get new life through Jesus Christ, and He made a bed I’ve been sleeping in for 29 years. I haven’t gotten what I deserved or earned; I’ve gotten what He paid for.
It’s amazing how we were trained by a language that He never spoke. And then when you hear what He is speaking, He’s saying the opposite of what we were trained by. Now, that’s not an accident. We were trained by the wisdom of the world—the way that seems right to man—the whole world in the sway of the wicked one. We were taught and tutored by a lie; we were all homeschooled in the wrong home, and it’s just time to come back home.
How’s a man renewed and transformed in his life? How’s a man’s life changed? Discipline? Hard work? Studying his Bible? You’re transformed by the renewing of your mind! When I think different, I live different. When I see different, I’ll be different without effort. When I see the truth and know the truth, now the truth can make me free. Are you hearing me?
So that’s why it says, "In all your getting," He doesn’t say blessing; He doesn’t say provision; He doesn’t say favor and benefit. He said, "In all your getting, get understanding." People are being destroyed for the lack of knowledge—good people, good-hearted people. You didn’t wake up this morning thinking how you could miss God and get away with it. You didn’t come to church! I don’t believe I’m talking to a room of hypocrites. You didn’t come to church with a whole bunch of other stuff in your heart. I believe you came here sincerely. I’m not here to correct you; I’m here to cheer you on.
I’m here to stir you in loving good works and just say let’s keep on running this race, but make sure we’re the empowered army of God because we see clear and we understand! So here’s the truth of it all: God made man for His image. The image got lost through sin and separation from God. Adam made a tree called the knowledge of good and evil. He was never made to even handle and know the knowledge of good and evil; he was just made to know God.
That’s why Romans says we should be innocent of evil and excellent in what is good. That’s why we should all become like little children. That doesn’t mean childish or immature. Being like little children has to do with innocence. Little children are innocent. They’re not self-conscious. A two-year-old could walk up here and know me and love me and walk up here and bang on the thing and wave to me and want me to pick them up and not even realize all you people are sitting there and looking and giggling, and there’s no awareness of themselves—there’s just innocence in a child.
Are you with me? We’ve tended to lose our innocence along the way. There’s a lot of self-consciousness, a lot of "me, myself, and I," a lot of insecurity, a lot of low self-esteem, a lot of caring about what others think, 'cause we need that in our lives. Why? Because the image was lost. Let me tell you what the image was: the image was love! God is love. God’s a lot of things, but everything He does flows through the wellspring of love. God is love, the Bible says point-blank. He is love. Does He have glory, majesty? Is He the Ancient of Days? He’s a lot of things!
You could probably—it’s an endless list of adjectives—but one thing we know: God is love. When He makes man for His image, He’s not talking about appearance. He’s not talking about arms and legs, a face, facial features, the shape of lips, eyes, nose. He’s talking about who He is! 'Cause God doesn’t have a body; God’s a spirit. He had to give Jesus a body to become a man to pay for what man failed, so He could get man back to His image.
The whole reason we’re born-again people is to get back to the Father. It’s not to go to heaven when we die; it’s to get back to the Father and live Christ while we live. Will we go to heaven when we die? It’s called He’s eternal, and now we’re back in eternity. It’s not like a bus and we’re going; we’re not waiting for a destination. Eternity starts when you get born again because you were dead inside a second ago.
We have just turned this thing into something that serves us instead of something that changes us to touch the world. So people don’t have any conviction, being discouraged because their circumstances justify it, because the knowledge they wrap around the circumstance empowers the discouragement. But if you can get renewed and think different and see different, you might even be empowered in the midst of a situation instead of discouraged. Instead of being frustrated with someone that’s living out of conduct, you might actually find a place of mercy, realizing they’re lost and don’t know the truth, and you might understand, “Forgive them, Father; they know not what they do.”
Can I be raw with it? Rather than, “What an idiot! What a jerk! They’re always this way! They just so need attention! I wish they’d grow up!” Maybe we should grow up so we can see them through Christ! Maybe they don’t even know any better, and we ought to—maybe we have something to give, not to judge.
So there are things that we need to understand, and I’m excited about miracles. I’ve seen miracles my whole Christian life. In fact, it got me in trouble because I just function as a believer, and everybody says, "You’re gifted! You’re anointed!" We’re all anointed! They’re saying, "You got a calling!" I do have a calling, but miracles are for everybody! Healing is for everybody! It’s a sign of the believer! But because we don’t see everybody healed, because we’ve lost loved ones and we’ve prayed and we have all that stuff, we’ve got so many feelings and emotions and embroiled stuff.
But the reason it’s so difficult to tax you through is 'cause I’m concerned—and weigh this with me, Pastor; I’m in your pulpit—I’m concerned that from the beginning, we haven’t denied ourselves. We haven’t truly just lived for the kingdom and sought first the kingdom of God and lived for His great name. So all the sentiments, all the emotions, all the stuff that we’ve all known that tends to be detrimental, negative, and destructive to our lives is rampant, and we don’t have a different outlook. We don’t know how to steer it through unanswered questions. We don’t know how to handle loss. We don’t know how to grieve and still have hope.
Are you all with me? Now this is important because if we don’t get this, we will never impress the world with who He is. We’ll just talk about Him. We’ll have theology at best. We’ll have a language that’s not backed with a life. And I’m just telling you with passion, and I feel a little aggressive, and I’m not mad at anybody. You’re not hurt by my tone, right? No, this is intense. He gave His life for this! Like, Jesus put Himself in a body? That doesn’t sound fun if you’re God! Like, He hung out in a womb for nine months like we did! He didn’t shortcut this! He didn’t just pop out behind a cactus and say, "I’m here!" at 30 years old and buffed and ready for ministry! No!
Fetal position for nine months in a womb, in water, attached to an umbilical cord in a young woman. He had to come through her birth canal and suck on her breast. She had to change His swaddling clothes, whatever they really are! But they weren’t Huggies with tape! It doesn’t sound like convenience, but He’s willing to do it! So whatever He’s paying for, He must think it’s really worth it, 'cause you don’t pay unless—you come on, two for one, 45 percent off, buy one, get one free, buffet, all you can eat!
Don’t you tell me you don’t pay if it ain’t worth it! You ain’t walked up to that car, Kelly Blue Book-ed it, all the facts—what do they call that? The little Fox guy—Carfax. You didn’t walk up to the car and say, "125? That’s an amazing deal, dude! 125?! Oh yeah, we’re honest, believe it or not! We’re not trying to make a month’s wage off you! We’re offering you what we paid for the car, put into the car, made a little extra on the car, and we’ll be happy! 125? We’re good to go! 125? That’s a good price!"
Now you know you ain’t even doing that! You’re trying to get him to 117! Now you already know it’s good, but you’re trying to get him to—don’t tell me I’m making this up! You’re not! But this is what I know! You ain’t doing that! I’ll tell you what, man; that’s a good—I’m going to give you 142!
Here’s the bottom line of what I’m saying: when you write that bottom line, you believe what you’re getting in return is the purchase possession is worth the price you’re putting in there! 'Cause you’re wheeling, dealing, shopping, and making a decision! And sometimes you even want it really bad, and you might just cringe a little, but you’re going to buy it 'cause you still think it’s worth that to you! Am I telling the truth?
He shed the blood of His Son and gave the life of His Son, and Jesus willingly gave it too—to obtain us and move back inside of us and get us back to the image so we can manifest Him in our lives. And we turned it into something that serves us and made it all about us getting stuff from Him instead of becoming something because of Him!
And then we’re tricked into growing weary in well-doing—discouraged! Seasons of sadness, highs and lows, dark seasons, sidelines, instead of running a race worthy of a prize. So we take account of suffer wrongs and don’t realize what we’re doing. People offend us? We’re offendable, 'cause our motive permits it! Our expectations are failed 'cause we have them on people! Our marriages are in trouble sometimes because it’s not just "I love you"; it’s "Do you love me?"
And when I read my Bible, love doesn’t seek its own, and it never fails! I’m going to challenge you now! You can call me high-minded if you want, but I’m going to believe the Bible! And we’ll find out in the end if I was high-minded! Love never fails! That means no unresolved conflicts, no fallouts, no tensions, no going to bed angry at night, no leaving for work with animosity in the air in the kitchen, no silent treatments, no "he said, she said," tit for tat. "Well, I wouldn’t if you didn’t!" Well, you’re the one that…
Somehow we’ve learned that that’s all normal and in the everyday life, and we’re just called to be man enough and woman enough to taxi through it when it doesn’t even have to exist! 'Cause I love you! And we’ve been tricked into calling it normal! But you can’t see it in Him! You can’t see it in Him! You can’t see it in the Word! You can’t see it in Jesus’s life!
You ain’t never seen a meltdown in Jesus! You ain’t never seen Him sitting on the rock in the morning on the Mount of Olives! Peter slipping up beside Him, "Lord, what’s the matter?" "Don’t Lord me, Peter! Not you, especially not you! Just give me my space!" "But, Lord, don’t!" "But Lord me! You have no idea the shoes I’m in! You don’t even understand what’s going on, Peter! You can’t possibly minister to me! But I’m just concerned, Lord! I’ve never seen Your countenance like this!"
Well, you’ve never walked in my shoes! You’ve never been so right and treated so wrong! You’ve never done things with a good motive and people judge you for a bad motive! "I fed them the other day." Yeah, it was cool, but they didn’t get "all" they wanted; all they cared less what I’m saying! I’m healing their sick, cleansing their lepers, casting out their devils! They’re trying to figure out what devils are in me! These people are crazy, man! If they didn’t change by now, I don’t even know if they’re going to change! And I’m starting to wonder, "What in the world am I even doing here?"
You don’t have one chapter of a meltdown! But if we went through Jesus and what He went through, every one of us would understand the meltdown! We’d sympathize with Him and make Him a victim and agree with His pain because that’s the world we grew up in! But that’s not the world we were created to live in! Yeah, see, I don’t need any reason to be broken! 'Cause I found a reason to be whole! And I ain’t a man loaded down with 20 different problems! I have one amazing answer, and it’s Christ in me, the hope of glory!
But the only way it works is if you deny yourself 'cause you were never made for you! And that’s why it’s been all about you from the beginning! And all about me from the beginning! From the time you were born, you didn’t know who you were! You had no identity! You needed valued, appreciated, supported—you needed to know you mattered! You needed somebody to care! You needed love! Why?
'Cause you were reduced from being love! You were cut off from the source of love! And now you’re in need of love! And everybody was born into that dilemma! And we have lived most of our lives just in the need of love, in the search for love, trying to find wholeness, completeness, trying to find where we fit, where we belong! And many of us have been tragically trashed along the way!
When you find Jesus, it’s not so He makes you feel better! So He makes you see different! And if you see different, you will feel way better! See, when you look at me, you can’t tell my dad was an alcoholic and never said, "I love you," and passed in January, and I never heard those words come out of his mouth! What does that matter? Am I living for my dad, my physical dad, to say he loves me? No! I loved my dad right up to the end! I spent quality time with him the whole last year of his life! I’m not hurt by my dad, 'cause he was an alcoholic and robbed my childhood! Are you kidding me?
Jesus hung on a cross, and my Father said, "I love you!" So now I have the capacity to love the unlovely, not judge him, not make him my reason for who I am! He’s my reason for who I am! Why would I let one man decide who I am and how I’m doing if it ain’t Jesus? We say He’s Lord; let Him be Lord!
Don’t say, "Well, I wouldn’t be this way if it wasn’t for..." Don’t make "if it wasn’t for" the Lord! Are you okay? I’m freaking out right now. I’m sorry, I’m spazzing a little.
[Music] I’ll pull back; I’ll pull back.
[Applause] I come on this stuff. I just—you have to understand, I’ve watched so many people hurt and don’t have to! I’ve seen so many people quit and shouldn’t have! I’ve seen so many people make the reason the reason! But the reason wasn’t the reason! They were looking at the wrong thing! And I’m crying out to you this morning 'cause my job in the Lord is to stir you in loving good works. You are the light of the world—who, you!
That’s your beats! "Insecurity! I don’t fit in! My life don’t matter! Nobody cares about me!" You’re the light of the world! I think this is care about you! I think you find the real you here, not there!
"Well, you don’t know what I’ve—"You don’t know what I’ve been through! Watch, I’m not being insincere! You don’t know what I’ve been through! What has He been through that should overwhelm what you’ve been through? That’s the truth about you! What He’s been through is the real me!
Would I—my story? No, no, no, His story! I died; He lives! And I can’t live unless I die! And He won’t live in me until that’s dead! Meaning effectively—I’m not saying you can’t go to heaven. See, everybody’s all caught up in, "Well, you mean tell me I ain’t going to heaven?" Stop making going to heaven your motive!
Make living Christ your motive, and you’ll be so free! There’ll never be a doubt of your salvation! You won’t need reassurance! His Spirit will bear witness with your spirit that you’re a child of God, and your identity is settled in Him! But you look at me—you can’t tell my dad was an alcoholic and never said, "I love you." You can’t tell my mom was sick for 48 years, that I changed her diapers and carried her to bed, and that she died on me at a young age!
You can’t tell I was touched wrong when I was young! You can’t tell that! You can’t tell my wife was in an identity crisis, and I lost her for eight years, had to stand by her and believe for her, and lost her emotionally and physically and companionship! Well, you can’t see that! You can’t see that my son ran off into drugs, and my daughter made a terrible decision and hurt her life for a season! You don’t see none of that ’cause none of that has a thing to do with who I am or how I’m doing! And I will never taxi through those things and manifest Him if all I am is hurt, offended, let down, and broken! 'Cause I can’t find that in Jesus’s life!
You say, "Well, a man can only take so much!" Brother, you run that by Jesus and ask Him if that’s true! 'Cause I’m not following men; I’m following Him! I’m not following, "Yeah, but we all..." "Yeah, but everybody has their moments!" But I’m not following everybody! I’m not following "we all!" I’m following Him!
And I’m not going to let our human experience trump His grace! It's here to change my experience, and I’m not going to get trapped in human rational, psychological wisdom! 'Cause the wisdom of God is Christ Jesus! And you have no teacher but one, and He’s the Christ! That’s all Scripture! Is that all Scripture? That’s all Scripture!
I read the book, but more than reading it—'cause a lot of people are reading it, and I’m going to get you now—I believe it! And that’s why I look like I’m out of my mind to some of you! But the reality is I’m out of yours 'cause I believe it! Like I believe He loves me! I believe I’m forgiven and clean! I believe there’s no looking back! I believe I don’t have a past; I have a present and things to come!
Oh, I remember the past, but it has nothing to do with who I am and how I’m doing! It’ll never influence me except to build up God and manifest a testimony! I believe! I believe it! I believe He values me! I believe He put His kingdom in me! I believe His Spirit’s in me because He wants to be! And we’re friends! I actually believe that He made me for His image and paid the price to restore that truth!
So I never got saved to go to heaven! I got saved to become the person He paid for me to be! And that’s the journey I’ve been on, Pastor, for 29 years! I never had an inkling of a motive of praying a prayer to go to heaven. And if I die tonight, do I know where I’m going? That—that—that is—I will never, ever—I’m not against people preaching that! I’m saying you need to give people the whole truth!
I will never use that, and never use that to preach because that isn’t why we get saved! We don’t get saved to benefit us; we get saved to transform us! And because we don’t make that switch, there’s still a lot of complaining without conviction, discouragement without conviction, gripes without conviction, and unforgiveness without conviction.
And if we’re living in those places, we aren’t shining His lights! And it’s a paradox because you are the light of the world! So if you’re the enemy, what would you say? "Ah, let them go to church! In fact, let them find Mount Hope! 'Cause it’s a great church! Great leadership! It’s exciting! Worship’s awesome! They’ve got a lot of programs! The children’s church is amazing! Why not go there? What a beautiful community! Let them go there! Let’s just make sure they don’t shine!
And let’s let their Christian identity wrap around the church they belong to instead of the life they’re living!" Oh, I’m going to—I have the mic until he takes it! Until he takes it! I’m going to... Thank you, though, for the encouragement! Can you tell I’m not mad at anybody? I’m crying out my heart, man!
Like, this is real to me! Like, nobody ever did for me remotely what Jesus did! He put Himself in the womb of a woman! Do you realize He had to wait 30 years before He was even acknowledged and announced by John? 30 years to us is a long time when you’re young. Now when you’re 60, 70, you’re like—but when you’re 12, you don’t think you’ll ever be 30?
No, no! When you’re 12, 30 is old! Is that right? He had to wait till he was—when you’re 12, you’re like "I’m almost a teen!" Now you’re 13, and you’re like whoop! Whoop! And now you got these goals—16! 16! 16! Driving! Now you’re 16; woo! Now you got another goal—18! Adult! Don’t have to listen to my parents ever again! That’s a lie! But in their goals, then the next one’s 21 for wrong reasons, and after 21, I found there are no goals!
So now you’re afraid to say you’re 25, 27; now you’re 30! Now you’re afraid to look in mirrors! You took down the long mirror! You’re 35, "Lordy lordy, look who’s 40!" And time just ticks and rolls 'cause you got this one shot, this one life! But Jesus had to wait 30 of them just to be announced by John. That sounds like sacrifice when you’re already God from the beginning!
You know what else? He made man for His image, and it has nothing to do with what He looked like! You know how you know that’s true? Take a look around! The whole room looks different, but we can all look like Him! The whole room looks different! And haven’t we made that the focus? Outward appearance! Haven’t we made that the focus? Haven’t young girls struggled because all the magazines and the models and the tendencies—and if you don’t have that genetic blessing or curse, now you got to deal with feelings and emotions!
"You don’t fit in!" "You can’t be the cheerleader!" And come on, it’s real! And we made all the focus on outward appearance. Some people are on their third set of lips, and they still aren't happy! And you’re missing the whole point! And you’re remaining self-focused! Love somebody! Forgive somebody! Make peace with somebody!
This is how you know God didn’t make man to look like a certain thing! We all look different! And this is how you know we’re all worth the same! And you’re not sold short! And you don’t need a certain hair texture and certain eyes and ear shape and buttocks! And that’s what we’ve done! But here’s how I know we all have equal value: we all cost the same!
Everybody in this room has the same price tag! Go into Walmart and tell me that’s true! You got an hour of barcodes and scans sheets and price tags in that little thing! And you are not walking out with the big screen TV for what you bought the shampoo for! Why? Different values!
Why are we all costing the same? Because we can both—and all of us—live for His image! We can all walk in the light as He’s in the light! Come here, my brother, quick, quick, quick! I need you quick! You ain’t never mistaking us! You ain’t even happening! You ain’t getting to know us! What’s your name?
Irwin? You ain’t saying, "Hey, Dan!" "Oh, now wait, what’s you? Irwin?" "Oh yeah, I always get you two mixed up!" You ain’t coming to me and saying, "Hey, Irwin, buddy! Wait a minute! You ain’t Irwin, are you? I’m Dan! Oh, I don’t know why I get you two mixed up!" I like—I don’t know why either! Are you ever going to mix us up? We don’t look nothing alike!
We got cultural differences! We got preference differences! We got so many differences you could hardly list them! But we can both wake up and shine! We can both look like Jesus! We both got the same Father! And He made all people of one blood, and that’s why we’re one! That’s why we’re brothers! That’s why we’re an army! And we’re soldiers in that army fighting the good fight of faith! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Thank you! Woo! I told you I’d preach good in your pit! Yeah! I’m feeling this one! Woo! Are you all all right? I’m all right! I promise I’m all right! I’m just more in love with Jesus than I was about 40 minutes ago! So now I’m worse than I was 40 minutes ago! Come on, that sure beats complaining! That sure beats, "Oh, and you don’t know what I’ve been through! And you don’t know what happened to me!" Look, I’m not being insincere! We all have those stories; I’m not being insincere!
You just have to buckle up and say, "Wait a minute!" And I know sometimes people just need help; they need love—they need—I’ve done it; I’ve had to. But I’m just talking to us as believers, as a church. Look, it would do us no good to start over here with my brother in the stripes on the end and go down the line and back the rows the whole way back and find what all the hell everybody’s been through!
At the end of the time, all we do is locate who’s been through the most hell! And then what? Saying it’s all about heaven? What are we even doing? Because watch this: you won’t even have the faith to try to help them, 'cause you can’t relate to them, 'cause you’re not in their shoes! And they won’t even let you! 'Cause you don’t know what I’ve been through!
We got to talk about what He’s been through and why! And it’s to trump everything you and I have ever been through! Because we were thrown into this thing called the fall of man, and sin is trying to take advantage of us! And the devil's trying to crush us! He’s trying to get you so hurt, angry, and destroyed that by the time you hear the good news, there ain’t nothing good about it, 'cause you don’t know what I’ve been through!
And now you’ve internalized life! And you’ve taken the gift of life into your own personal space, and now it’s just all about you! And the best you need is God to do something for you instead of change you! Worse yet, mad at God for letting it all happen to you, not even understanding the war we’re all in!
And our war is not against flesh and blood! Then why do people rake us so strong across the coast? Your war isn’t even flesh and blood! You’re in a demon war against the kingdom of God! And it sounds bizarre! ‘Cause how can he defeat God? He said, "I’ll tell you how I can defeat God: I’ll defeat God in men! Because I’ve been doing it from the beginning! And I’ll let them go to church! And I’ll let them sing their songs! And I’ll let them do all night prayer! And I’ll let them do their worship concerts! And I’ll just make sure that they’re still all caught up in life and who said what and who didn’t say what!
And I’ll make sure there are unresolved conflicts and animosities! And I’ll cause so much confusion that by the year 2024, they’ll have the theology, but nothing will be changed! That’s the strategy of hell right there! I had a vision of it years ago; it shook me to the core! And that’s why you see me the way I am! And if He gives me a mic, I’m going to talk about it!
Even if the tone is miracles, because to me, the greatest miracle isn’t that you go to heaven when you die! The greatest miracle is that Christ can come back inside of you while you live, and that you can actually walk in the light as He’s in the light! You find that in 1 John chapter 1, starts in verse 5 and 6. I quoted that a bunch! Did you hear me quote that a bunch? It’s very powerful!
Because He doesn’t say somewhat like—it says, "Just as!" Ephesians 5:1—you know what it says? "Walk in love as dear children!" Just as Jesus loved! Do you know that we’re trained by religion to not even believe that’s possible? We’re trained to believe He’s here, we’re here! We’re just earthly; He’s spiritual! He’s the Lord! Well, that was Jesus! And He’s saying, "I seeded you in heavenly places; I’m the firstborn among many brethren! And the things I do, you’ll do if you believe! And everything is out for you, your believer, to believe!"
You can’t follow Jesus—come on, think with me! We are trained to believe you can’t love like Jesus loves, 'cause that’s another level of love! But love is love! There ain’t no level of love! Love is love! But we’re trained to believe we can’t live that!
The key is in the next half of the verse: "Walk in love, His dear children, just as Jesus loved and gave Himself a sweet fragrant offering unto God!" Who’d He give Himself?
Now, I’m not saying this to you; I’m just saying this: I have found countless, majority, way more than too many Christians that are Christians for their own sake! They come to God for what He can do for them! They’re Christians to use God to get through life instead of for Him to live life through them! And they’re coming to God for benefit, not transformation and purpose! They’re coming to God for blessing, to fix their marriage, for a new job! Hoping He brings their child home! And if those things happen, they’re happy! If they don’t happen, they’re disheartened and wondering why God doesn’t love them.
You’ve seen all this in your life, and all these mentalities and they’re all lies! And you’ve never seen life come out of them! You’ve never seen fruit come out of them! And you’ve never seen anyone want to live what they’re living! And that’s how you know it’s deception! Because when you look at the fruit of what something’s bearing, you see where it’s from! 'Cause you know them by their fruit!
So your life lived reveals what you understand, what you believe, and what you give your faith to! And in the end of time, it’s not going to be how many people you led to the Lord, how much sick did you pray for, how many healings did you see. It’s going to be why did you do what you did! And whether we believed and understood! Because the life we live reveals what we believed!
And if you’re in unforgiveness, then you believe it’s all about you, and their wrong justifies unforgiveness! If you’re discouraged, then it’s all about you, and something didn’t happen and come to pass that you were hoping, and now you’re heartsick and your hopes deferred! And now you’re taking the scripture and using it as your main verse, "Well hope deferred makes the heart sick!" It doesn’t say it has to!
It doesn’t make a heart sick to a surrendered life! See, when your hope's deferred and you're seeking first the kingdom, then there’s nothing to defer! When it’s your hope, it’s deferred! When it’s hoping for the kingdom, you just trust God and you just keep believing! I mean, if Jesus is sitting there hoping for the whole world to get saved, and they ain’t all getting saved, then He’s sick in His heart!
Come on! 1 John chapter 1! Walk in the light as He’s in the light! Chapter 2 says any man—verse 6—1 John had a revelation! 1 John 2, verse 6—I’ll just quote them 'cause they’re there! I’ve read them over and over! Any man, woman, that says he abides in Him ought to walk even as He walked!
Not talking about miracles! I know it’s a weak miracle, but He’s not talking about miracles! He’s talking about the way He walked—heart, attitude, perspective, motive! We always hear miracles! I always hear heart! Anyone that says they abide in Him ought to walk even as He walked! Come on! He’s done wrong every day! Every day, they’re doing Him wrong! Every day, they’re judging Him!
If you went to work like that for two weeks, you’d be wondering why you started—why you even worked there! And why God let you get that job! And you’re already in prayer for another job! No! When people don’t like their boss, they look for another job! These are Christians! I’ve heard it over and over in 29 years! They look for another job! They ask for prayer for a Christian environment! And I go, "No! Don’t ask me to pray that stuff! I will pray God balls and chain you at that place! Till you get a revelation you got to change!"
A drug-addicted person has to face it and get victory! You can’t move to another town! You’ll move in beside a drug dealer! You can’t run from anything. You have to become changed! Instead of being perturbed with your coworkers, you should have compassion 'cause they’re lost! You should know better! You should be praying and weeping for them, not angry!
It’s a sign that it’s still all about us and how we feel, and our preferences! And next thing you know, your preferences are Lord! And you don’t even realize it! And they’re getting violated every day, and that’s your disposition! So how life is going is how you’re doing! Who He is is how we’re doing!
When we understand, any man that abides ought to walk even as He walked, come on! He was done wrong every day! They were judging Him! If you went to work two weeks like that, you’d think, "Why did I even come here?" But see what He said? What a testimony that is! If He didn’t sit down and lose it in the middle of it, I’m not following everyone. I’m not!
I’m following Him!
And I’m not going to let human experience trump His grace! It’s here to change my experience! I’m not going to let my human rational psychological wisdom tell me more than the wisdom of God! The wisdom of God is Christ Jesus! And you have no teacher but one! And He’s the Christ! That’s all Scripture! Is that all Scripture? That’s all Scripture!
Now, let’s wrap this thing up.
1 John 4 is a powerful chapter! You ought to take the time to read it line by line! Yes, sir! 47 and 48 say, "Beloved, let us love one another!"
Love doesn’t take into account of a suffered wrong! Bears up under all things! Hopes all things! Believes all things! Love doesn’t seek its own! Thinks no evil! Love never fails! Beloved, let us love one another! That’s not fallouts! That’s not unresolved conflicts! That’s not judgments! That’s not criticisms!
That's not mad at your leadership, finding another church, and three churches later you don’t even want to do church 'cause people are control freaks! And so now you’re doing your own church? You are not fit to do your own church! You’re not even being her! How can you do her?
Beloved, let us love one another! Why? 'Cause love is of God! And everyone—not most—everyone who loves, there’s only one reason you can: because it’s agape! It’s from Him! Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God! He who loves not—didn’t say you don’t go to church! Didn’t say you don’t pastor! Didn’t say you don’t feed the poor! Didn’t say you don’t lead worship! Didn’t say you don’t travel and preach!
Anyone who loves not knows not God! Didn’t say you don’t know about Him! Can’t quote Scripture and can’t preach for an hour! But it did say if you don’t love, there’s one reason— not one of two. You don’t know Him like you could! Which is such an invite! 'Cause it means I can’t know Him intimately without becoming like Him!
What an invite! See why Jesus said no one comes to the Father except through Me? So Jesus said, "When you see Me, you see the Father! The things I do, you’ll do!" Follow Me! What’s He saying? I want your life to look like the Father too!
You about ready to come up? Verse 17 says this—I missed a lot in the chapter—but it says He is love! He is love! He is love! It’s almost redundant! 1 John 4 is almost redundant, saying He is love! He is love!
In verse 17, here’s what it says: "This is how we know love’s been perfected among us in this one thing!" This is how we know we’ve matured and grown in love! We have boldness in the day of judgment! I know countless Christians that are nervous about the day of judgment! They’re unsure about their salvation! You become loved; that's impossible! Because you're one with Him!
And you’ll see through His eyes! Watch this! It’s the great and terrible day of the Lord. It’s a day of darkness, gloom, terror, and fear! I can find all those adjectives in my Bible describing the day of judgment! And the Bible says for you and me, it should be a day of boldness!
How’s that possible? Why would it be a day of boldness if it’s a great and terrible day? 'Cause as He is right now, so are we right now! You get it?
So the whole goal of our instruction is love—not going to heaven! Transforming from needing it to becoming it! And that’s freedom! God bless you! Thanks for having me!
[Music]
I want to encourage you: you need to take some time today to let that sink in! I mean it! I mean, if some of you want to do it before you leave, fine, then do that! But do not let this day pass without you saying, "Lord, let that sink deep into me!" Y’all do that with me today?
Thank you! Listen, if you need prayer and you want someone to pray with you, there’ll be a team here that would love to pray with you! God bless you! Can’t wait to see you at one of our prayer times this week, and then throughout the week of miracles! God bless! Have a great day!