Transcription
[Applause]
Um, my headquarters, the Russian headquarters, wanted me to relay the message that, uh, to thank you Americans for voting Trump in. Praise God! The whole world is hopeful, and Russia is so hopeful as well. We're hoping that, uh, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine will be over soon.
And we're just—it's amazing! One man and one decision, and the whole world is so hopeful. Can you say Amen?
Also, I want to just say on behalf of my dear wife, I want to thank you all for whoever knew about our situation and her health situation. So many people told us and shared their love with us, that they prayed for us and for my wife. And she's here! She is clear, uh, and we are thanking Jesus Christ for His mercy. Praise God!
Well, let's open our Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 9.
Um, Acts chapter 9. Michelangelo attempted to carve 44 statues during his lifetime, but he completed only 14. While many are familiar with his masterpieces, such as the statue of David, the 30 unfinished works are equally fascinating. One of them is a massive block of marble with only an elbow sculpted. Another depicts a leg, complete with a thigh, knee, foot, and toes, while the rest of the body remains trapped within that slab of marble.
Michelangelo once was asked what he was doing as he was chipping away at the shapeless block of stone, and he replied, "I am releasing an angel from the stone." The sculpture is already complete, he used to say, inside the marble block. Before I even start my work, it's already there, and I just have to chisel away the excessive material.
I believe this is a fine description of what we are about as a fellowship. We take slabs of marble, blocks of marble, which we chisel away, and lo and behold, we see men and women that rise up. This is such a powerful and wonderful privilege to actually participate in the disciple-making process.
I want to preach a sermon I've entitled "Diamonds in Your Church."
Let's look at Acts chapter 9, verses 10 and 11.
Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and to him the Lord said in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And so the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying."
Number one thought that I want to share with you this morning is that God is at work in man. In our text, we see that unbeknownst to the entire Christian community, the arch-enemy of the Gospel, by the name of Saul of Tarsus—a household name to scare the kids—was converted by God.
It was an experience that he met, uh, Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. And unbeknownst to the Christian community, this man has been smitten by God's power, and he is now converted, and he actually is praying.
Can I submit to you this morning, church, that God is at work in the hearts of men and women around us all the time? We don't know about it. We, uh, we just go on evangelizing day in and day out. We do our work. Sometimes we feel so unimportant, so futile, but God is at work.
Church, you got to believe in the world evangelism day or in a church planting day that God is at work for us. There's a deep craving and longing and a desire to find meaning and purpose in life—a yearning for father figures to speak truth into young men's hearts.
Think about it. God prepared a heart for Peter. Here's Jesus in the boat, and, uh, he looks at what God is doing, and he drops on his knees. Peter drops on his knees and says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." He realizes who he has in his own boat, and he's smitten by God's power.
Here is Nathaniel in the Bible. Jesus comes to Nathaniel, and Jesus looks at him and points out his finger and says, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."
God sees men and women that are calling out unto His name. When Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus and asked, "Rabbi, where are you staying? Where do you live? Where is your plan? We want to see you. We want—we're longing for this. We have a desire to be close to you. We want meaning. We want purpose. We want a dimension in life."
Can I submit to you, unless we believe that God calls men this morning, we, uh, will be very, very bored with our outreaches and evangelism.
The promise of God in Isaiah chapter 60, verse 3 and following: "The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around and see; they all gather together, they come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you. The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you."
And I submit to you, church, this morning that God is at work to bring men. Look up! He says your daughters are coming, your sons are coming from afar, and they are coming into your life and into your church.
See, this is the ultimate understanding of God at work behind our efforts. God wants to help you, Pastor. God wants to help you, church. God wants to help you, a disciple. God wants to help you, just a couple here in this place.
Uh, you're just by yourself with your little kids, and you are on the streets of the big city. What is going on? God is at work! God is helping you.
Listen, I got several stories throughout my ministry of how God prepared people everywhere, uh, at many different places because He wanted to save them more than I wanted to save them or you wanted to save them. Do you believe that this morning?
Here is a man, one of the boys in our church. He came for the first time into our church, and he was brought by another man. He's a drug addict, and as he was being brought into the church, uh, he stopped by a bulletin board that we used to have with all the pictures.
He, uh, was shocked. He was shocked when he looked. He looked and pointed at the picture of me preaching. It was just some kind of a photo report from another place that we did, uh, some revival or whatever.
And he looked at me and he said, "Who is this guy?" to his friend. "Who is this guy?" And this Christian, this disciple, he said, "He's our pastor."
"Why?" And he says, "I—I’ve seen him in the dream several days ago. I was laying down paralyzed because of the drugs, and this man I saw in my vision, in my dream, he came up to me. He stretched his hand forth and he said, 'Come up! I'm going to help you if you follow me.'"
And this man was gloriously saved that day and married later on because God is at work!
Listen, God is at work! I could share story after story about men, and what I want to tell this morning to everybody in this place is pray for key converts. Pray for impossible people to come into your church and get saved.
Because when you pray hard and you believe God, then behind our small efforts of evangelism and outreach, we will have God at work that will bring men.
And here is a future Apostle Paul, unbeknownst to the Christian community, he's praying, and God says to this faithful disciple, He says, "Go! This man is praying."
You don't know it, but God is calling men unto yourself.
If this happens, if this is true, then the question arises: if God moves in man unbeknownst to us, then why do we lack men rising up in our churches?
I believe the reason why—there are two reasons, and I will share both of them with you.
Number one reason: there is a lack of challenging of men in our churches.
In Acts chapter 9, look at verse 17 of the same chapter. The Bible says Ananias went his way and entered the house, and laying his hands on him, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
Now, uh, later on, uh, years later, the Apostle Paul now reveals, retells the same story of how he met Ananias for the first time.
And, uh, he's actually telling us in Acts chapter 22 a little bit more of what transpired there.
In Acts 22, listen to, uh, the story retold by the Apostle Paul of the same incident.
Verse 14 of Acts 22: "Then he said, 'The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will and see the Just One and hear the voice of His mouth.'"
So, verse 15: "For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard."
And now, verse 16: "And now, why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."
See, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, he that day heard—listen to me, church—he heard three significant things that were spoken by Ananias into his life.
And I believe these three things need to be spoken into the lives of men in our churches.
Number one: I believe that God has chosen you. He said, "I believe that God has chosen you."
You know, when you see these men, this rough material come into our churches—this stumble, this, uh, rocks of marble—can you say Amen?
And unshaped in any way, though they don't look beautiful, you have to proclaim into their lives, "God has chosen you."
You have to believe this with all of your heart and proclaim it. Even if you don't believe it, fake it, but proclaim it!
"The God of your fathers has chosen you."
Number two, he said, "For you will be His witness."
He's pronouncing the future into that disciple. Do you pronounce future into your men?
Do you say from the pulpit or in a private conversation, "Oh, guys, what God is going to do through your life is unbelievable"?
Even if you have to close your eyes not to see the—but you know, you still have to pronounce the future.
And then the challenge comes: "And now, why are you waiting?"
He says, "Why are you waiting?"
Listen, church, move now! Do not hesitate! Do not linger! Do not wait!
Listen, I believe we're waiting too long before the world gets a hold of our disciples' hearts, and they're lost to the kingdom of God.
God help us! Because we look at their destiny, we look at their life, and we see how they will definitely advance.
You know, one of the side effects, church, of Christianity is the blessing of God on our finances.
One of the side effects is a beautiful marriage, beautiful family, kids—the blessing of the Lord every way possible.
But if we wait, and if we don't challenge our men, they will be bought by this world, and they will be lost to the kingdom of God.
I'm reminded when I was in Australia when Pastor Tom Pay had me preach a revival. I was there, uh, he just—I think he just took over a few, uh, short, maybe a couple of years before Pastor Mitchell, Pastor Wayman Mitchell, finished his six-month job in Perth.
And, uh, I was talking to young men that were there in that church, and, uh, this was years ago already.
Listen to me. This one young man, I befriended him, and he told me, he said, "Before Pastor Mitchell came, we all wanted to go to college, get an education, become rich, go into business. But now," he said, "all we want is to preach the Gospel."
And years later, this man went out to pioneer. I'm not sure of all of his life, but he's now a successful evangelist in the Australian fellowship.
Listen to this: Pastor Mitchell came, and in six months, he transformed these men from willing to wanting to go out to college and get an education and become filthy, stinking rich to becoming powerful preachers of the Gospel.
Listen, do you have that sense of urgency?
Paul heard that. He recalls it in Acts 22 years later. He's recalling his first pastor—let's stretch it—his first pastor, Ananias.
And he says this man told me, "I have a vision." This man said, "I'm chosen." This man said that I have a destiny.
And this man told me, "Don't even waste your time on anything else but preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Do you have that challenge in your heart? Is there a sense of urgency in your heart as a pastor that automatically produces that response in men?
The sense of urgency that is highly contagious and highly transferable.
"Follow me," said Jesus, "and I will make you fishers of men."
Listen, church, my pastor—oh, when I was just a disciple in a church, this Canadian missionary came, G.R., and he came to preach in Russia.
And he told me, you know, from the very go, he said, "Sergey, man, we'll be traveling places. You know, we'll go places."
And he's naming places that I never heard. You know, I'm a good communist boy. I only heard Soviet Union, you know, and, uh, you go to Cuba, you know, we will go to the Philippines, you know.
And I have no idea. I'm nodding my head. We're going to go to the Philippines. I have no idea where it was.
I went home, my heart beating rapidly in my chest—vision over the nations, reaching beyond the borders of my small, tiny little stinking world.
Do we preach vision, church? Do we exemplify vision?
You know, sometimes people say—and that complaint goes around—they say, "Well, disciples, you know, not like us. We don't—we used to talk only about vision, only about sending out churches. When we got saved in the 1970s plus, you know, we only talked about what about now? The disciples, they don't talk about vision anymore."
There's not that lingering desire, that urgency anymore.
And I look at these men, and you know, I heard this one guy, he preached, "Where are the armor bearers?" You know, Jonathan and his armor bearer.
And I came to him after. I said, "Listen, bro, I love you, but the reason there are not so many armor bearers anymore is there are very few Jonathans."
I don't know if that's deep or not, but disciples don't talk about it because you don't talk about it.
The disciples don't have that desire, that urgency, and striving because you've lost it.
Let's face it, I've been preaching for 30 years. I can say it: we can lose it.
And then the generation of the disciples that we're not happy with—do we challenge men?
And the last thought: are we protecting men?
It's very interesting, you know. I believe men's destinies need to be protected.
In Acts chapter 9, if you read, follow through the conversion experience and what transpired after, uh, they immediately wanted to kill him.
I'm talking about Saul now. This is a demonic pattern that repeats itself over and over again. They wanted to kill Moses. They wanted to kill Jesus. They wanted to kill, uh, the first church that was just born.
And it's very interesting. If you look at Acts chapter 9, you'll see in verse 25, then the disciples took him by night and led him down through the wall in a large basket.
He repeats that story, uh, later on, years later, in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 in the book. He says in verse 32, "In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes, desiring to arrest me. But I was let down in a basket."
He repeats that. It's like it's stuck in his memory. I remember that incident through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.
And you know, if you look at this, you start pondering, why not the rope?
You know, there was a situation centuries before that in Jericho. Remember, what's her name? She had the two spies from Israel, and she let them down by a rope through the window.
It looks like it's more easier to do that. Her house was in the wall, and then she just lowered the rope and off they went.
Why basket?
And my answer is for you and I this morning: they say that he probably was just too weak, not so strong, and they knew that they needed to save this man.
And think about the length of effort that they had to go through to actually put a man—a full-grown man—in a basket.
And the length of, uh, you know, the hardship that they had to go through to actually lower him down unnoticed to the guards in that basket.
It's the first elevator in the history of mankind!
But he was weak. Perhaps he couldn't do it on his own, and the Church of God went to great lengths to protect this recently converted young man.
And then the Bible says in Acts 9 that Barnabas—they don't believe him that Saul is saved, that Saul is actually converted when he comes to Jerusalem.
In verse 26, he tries to join the disciples, but they're all afraid of him. And I understand why. You know, if you look at what he's done, they do not believe that he's a disciple, that he's a fake.
But Barnabas, God bless his heart, he took him and brought him to the apostles.
In verse 27, he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
See, we can see this is a new convert, and no one has faith in him except for a few people.
And I believe we can have the same problem, but looking at men in our churches and not seeing their potential.
Can I ask you a question? Are you overlooking someone because of his character flaws? Because of your personal preferences? You just don't like people with glasses or without the tattoos or with the tattoos or whatever?
You know, it's interesting how hazing came into the kingdom of God.
You—I preach in Russia. Russia is the—I don't know. I mean, we are so professional in hazing people. It's in our blood. It's in the military.
The older soldiers, they think it's their task to bully and haze to the point sometimes of, uh, even physical mutilation and, uh, torment.
And every next generation, so the older soldiers leave, uh, see, in the Russian army, it's obligatory to do the service for the military.
And the older soldiers leave, and the younger soldiers come on, and now these kids have their take on the younger, and the hazing continues on and on and on by generations.
Then we have another culture in Russia as a culture of a criminal world, and the same thing there: hazing and bullying.
And that dribbles into the church, unfortunately. I have to deal with this on a regular basis.
Older disciples feel that they have a task—it's they're appointed by God to make sure that these young bucks are in line.
And they have to, you know, they have to know what's going on. And I have to show you what's going on, so I'm going to do it through mocking, I'm going to do it through laughing at you, through poking you, through whatever I can do to let you know where your place is.
Because the older disciples feel threatened, and it's demonic.
If you would see me when I shadowed into the door of a church, church, you wouldn't think I'm a discipleship material, and many of us, the same story applies.
But my pastor, you know, he protected my destiny.
See, lowering down Apostle Paul—future Apostle Paul—but this young man, so in a basket, is a beautiful picture.
And Barnabas speaking up for him is a beautiful picture of men in his life that wanted to protect his destiny in the early stages of his life.
And I believe this is a task our churches is a place where men of God that God brings to us that we need to protect their destiny.
Because every one of us has a destiny.
You know, my pastor—the one that started that church—he protected me because when I got saved, I got blessed by a job.
And this was with American missionaries that were not doing what we did, but they did something, and I was good making good money.
You know, I could buy my fiancée different things. I was happy. I made $50 a month—a staggering amount of money for that time.
And one of them, one of these was a college professor's son, and they pulled on me to go to America to go to college in the United States.
And it was a Bible college, and it was in America, and I was a Russian. I was a Russian! Hello!
And I wanted to go to America! Hello! Because it's my dream, even before I got saved.
And now that I'm saved, it's a Bible college for crying out loud! It's a Bible college! I'm going to learn Greek and Hebrew and ethics and hermeneutics and other ethics, right?
So I thought this was from God, you know? I thought this was God, absolutely.
And then they paid my tuition, they found somebody a sponsorship, and so everything's like laid out for me.
And I came to my pastor so excited with the, you know, with, uh, some paperwork.
And, uh, you know, I'm thinking back, you know, here is a man that comes from Canada into Russia.
And you know how missionaries are. You know, you feel pity for the nation that you're preaching in. They have no money, they lack finances, they lack resources.
You know, here's this young boy, and he has an opportunity of a lifetime to get out of this poverty and go into this beautiful, you know, country, get rich, get fat.
You know, you know, I'm still missing it, but anyway.
And then, and then, you know, he didn't have—he said—he told me, he said to me, "You're stupid if you do this."
[Applause]
"You will destroy your destiny forever."
Listen, he said to me, "You—you don't even understand what you have. You're going to reach this nation for Jesus."
And I'm looking at him like he's a madman. He's trying to sell me, you know?
It's like, you know, he's trying to sell me sand while I'm in a desert. What are you talking about? That is the destiny!
You know, that's the United States! That's my destiny!
No, not this!
And you know, it's very interesting. He protected my destiny by speaking directly into my life.
He could have had pity. "Oh, poor you! Yes, go to America! Get a better life!"
But he didn't want me to have a better life. He wanted me to fulfill God's will.
And that's what I mean—listen! [Applause]
Church, this is what I mean. That's what I mean by protecting your disciples' destiny.
Do you really believe some of you pastors that your choice of life task or life purpose was actually a mistake?
And you're still doing it. You're still preaching, but your men—you don't push them for the same star because it's not your star anymore.
And you are not plac—you’re not challenging them.
You need to go out! Forget about college education! I'm not against college education.
I'm just saying, you know, when I came into the fellowship and I started coming to Prescott, Pastor Mitchell—Pastor Wayman Mitchell protected me.
When he finally learned my name, he started to protect me.
It took a while, you know. He asked me, he said to me—and it's very unusual—he said, "I want you to run all of your invitations to preach in the States by me."
I thought it was awkward, but I said, "I'm obedient." You know, I learned obedience in the Communist regime. [Applause]
So, and, uh, he did say—I ran it by him, and he said several times, "No, you don't need to go there. It's all right."
And of course, I understand now when I look back that he felt I wasn't mature in my choices, and I would have made wrong choices.
And he wanted to protect my destiny until I was mature enough.
At one point, he said, "Why are you asking me?"
I said, "All right, I guess that matters."
You know, that means this is it.
Now I believe men need to be guided.
See, many times pastors overlook unlikely men in their churches.
I was talking to one of my brothers in Russia. He's a pastor of 150-plus churches, and, uh, he's working with those people that he feels like overlooking other men.
I asked him, I said, "What about this man?" I was in his church, and he's complaining.
I said, "What about this man?"
And he's focusing only on the man that he feels comfortable working with, overlooking others who could have been equally, if not more significant, in God's plan.
And how often do we, as pastors and leaders, make the same mistake, missing the ones God is already preparing because they don't fit our expectations?
I've seen all kinds of different scenarios. You know, I've seen a pastor that felt threatened by a man more gifted than himself in his church.
He unintentionally hindered his growth.
And listen, we as pastors, we are still a work in progress.
We don't send out men that have it all together, right?
We still send out men that are immature.
If we wait till all of us become mature and, uh, you know, full on, then we will never send out couples.
And sometimes we send out men, they're still lacking things.
And especially, you know, some of them have low self-esteem.
We send them out, and they have to work through, uh, God's, by the Holy Spirit's power, work through their character flaws to become better men.
But in the process, this man was unintentionally hindering the growth of someone who was more gifted than himself.
The other, uh, scenario that I met in life was a pastor that didn't see the 15-year-old young man as a disciple material.
He looked at that 15-year-old boy, and he said, "He's just stupid. He's just too young," and brushing him off.
I've seen another scenario where a pastor didn't think to use a low-profile man who had low self-esteem and did not believe in his own abilities.
Listen, all these men that I just mentioned proved to become powerful disciples.
And God's work isn't limited by our preferences or biases.
And let's not overlook those whom God may be shaping for His extraordinary purposes.
And we do need, church, we do need men out there.
We need to protect their destiny and do not hesitate. Point to the cross and point to their destiny.
I am—my task is to change men's destinies.
I had a man recently—a young man recently saved in my church.
This man, a few months after that, he comes up to me and he says, "Pastor, I am enlisted in a boot camp in Moscow for the most famous Russian basketball team."
This man, this young man, he's 20 years old. Before coming to Christ, he wanted to make it big in basketball.
He's playing college basketball. He wants to make it big, and they've invited him to a boot camp in Moscow.
He's going to be coached by the most, uh, the biggest Russian basketball coach of all Russia, and he's got it made, the church!
And he tells me, he tells me, "Pastor, but I want to preach the Gospel. I want to—I want to preach the Gospel now! I hate basketball! I despise basketball! I don't want to go basketball!"
Absolutely! What should I do?
And he paid money for that boot camp—a lot of money for Russians—and he drops it.
He doesn't get reimbursed. He just—everybody is shocked. His parents are shocked. His college is shocked.
And he says, "But I want to preach the Gospel!"
What did I say? You know, if you think about it, oh, poor, poor boy!
You know, he could have made it big in the basketball world, maybe even go to the United States, become an NBA player, make millions of dollars.
I don't know. I mean, who knows? Everybody's destiny is a mystery.
But no, I told him, "Listen, you got to do this! If God placed that in your heart, this is what you need to pursue! This is better than all the millions that you could make! This is better than a basketball career! You—are you joking? This is the best thing you can do in life!"
And I told him this, and I received a phone call from his [Applause] father.
"Pastor Sergey, I wonder if you could speak to my son. He's going crazy! He wants to drop out of college, get married, and become a pastor!"
And I told them, I said, "Well, I'll try to talk to him one more [Applause] time."
But what I really wanted to say, I wanted to say, "Your son is gifted! Your son is chosen by God! By God, who centuries ago, before He formed this Earth, pinpointed your son to be His minister and to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ!"
Listen, church, listen!
We got to understand, as I close, in 1990, a Brazilian farmer went down to the river to fetch some water.
While there, he picked up a dirty stone that for some reason caught his attention. Unbeknownst to him, he had just stumbled upon the largest red diamond ever discovered.
It was 13.9 carats. While all diamonds are rare, red diamonds are the rarest of them all.
This extraordinary gem had formed deep within the Earth centuries earlier, transformed from ordinary carbon under unimaginable heat and pressure.
Tectonic forces eventually hurled it down towards the surface, where it traveled through tributaries before settling on the bank of the Abino River in Brazil.
For an untold amount of time, it lay there covered in dirt and sand, appearing like an ordinary stone but harboring indescribable value.
The diamond was later purchased by the renowned jeweler Schomo Musaif, giving it the name Mif's Red Diamond.
In 2003, this remarkable gemstone, now valued at approximately $20 million, was displayed to the public at the Splendors of Diamonds Exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum.
When I read that story, I thought, this is a diamond that is laying in your church.
Every church that we have in our fellowship, you have a diamond in that church.
Saul, unbeknownst to the Christian community, was a future Apostle Paul—a man that transformed this world, that transformed Christianity.
I don't have to tell you the legacy that Apostle Paul left to us, church, but he was a diamond that was laying there and unknown to anybody.
He was picked up. He was picked up.
And I want to—I have a word for some people here. As I was preparing to preach this sermon, you know the story of Saul, that he encountered such opposition that he probably lost it at one point, and he gave up.
And he went to Tarsus, his own city, and he said, "I'm not going to do anything."
And for three years, this diamond was laying there in that city doing nothing.
And by the Holy Spirit of God, I declare there are people here in this place—you are that diamond!
I—I don't want to, uh, encourage any rebellious thoughts. You feel like you've been overlooked. You feel like you've been abandoned by your pastor or in the transformation and changeovers of pastors.
You slipped out maybe years later. I don't want to encourage any rebellious feelings.
Do you believe that God is still in control of your life? Do you still believe that?
Do you believe there is a purpose for everything?
And I can declare to you, you red diamond out there, sitting out there, watching this online, can I declare to you that your life is not over?
That there is a Barnabas slowly walking into your path?
Maybe I am that Barnabas. Maybe your pastor is that Barnabas.
Maybe one of the sermons that have been preached this week or will be preached after this sermon, maybe that will be your Barnabas.
And God—listen to me—God wants to pick you up! God wants to restore you!
Find—find you! Barnabas found Saul in Tarsus, brought him in, and you know the rest of the story.
But not only that, we read in 2 Timothy years later, uh, now Apostle Paul, seasoned warrior, uh, towards the end of his life.
Listen to what he says in 2 Timothy 1:16.
And I'm talking to the, uh, to the soldiers—seasoned soldiers of Christ.
You've been saved. You've been in ministry for 40 or more years.
Church, listen to me! If you are that stone, that red diamond, and you are kind of—you feel like you've been, uh, you've been kind of left behind, forgotten, maybe your best years already passed.
Listen to what Apostle Paul says: "The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me."
And I believe by the Spirit of God that God is searching your heart right now.
You are that man, years later, and this—God bless his heart—let me be your Onesiphorus.
Can I—can I—can you give me that privilege to be your Onesiphorus?
I sought you out in this sermon by the Holy Spirit. He's searching you out.
You've been laying out there. You don't—you think, "Well, did everybody doesn't even matter anymore?"
But God is pointing out His finger on you.
"When he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously, and he found me."
A seasoned warrior of Christ, you still have a task to do!
You still—you're not that red diamond that is forgotten, but you've been picked up even right now as I speak.
As I speak, there is still a calling of God on your life.
Let's bow our heads and close our eyes for just a second.
Well, every head bowed and every eye closed, we, uh, heard some powerful preaching this morning.
Pastor Jonathan Heimberg laid it down for us to realize that it is double or nothing, and the effort to double down on our vision and our faith will produce the results—the pull on the world of evangelism, the souls that are suffering.
If he didn't do that, if Jacob didn't do that, who knows if, uh, Joseph was—or even the nation of Israel would survive?
But he did it! He said, "I'm going to do this! I'm going to do this again and again and again!"
Pastor T.J. Mula, a leader of the Fijian Fellowship, what a powerful work of God in the Fijian islands and around it, preached so powerfully coming from a man of Fijian descent that there is a difference between the religion and the revelation of Christ.
On what rock?
And I preach tonight—before I open these altars, or this morning—before we open these altars, I wonder if you're here in this place.
You are not saved. Your heart is not right before God. You're full of bitterness and hatred and resentment to the will of God.
God is pointing you out. God is seeking you out right now in the congregation.
He loves you! He knows you! He knows who you are!
He died on that cross of Calvary to give you freedom and deliverance.
And if you're here in this place, God loves you! He wants to save your life!
He wants to save your destiny! There's a purpose! There is a dimension on your life!
But you need to respond to Christ. Your heart is right before God. You need to make it right this morning.
You need to ask God to forgive you of all of your sins and cleanse you by His precious blood and give you a new life.
If you're here in this place, front to back, left to right, throughout the whole auditorium, if this is what you need, lift up your hand and, uh, lift it up and keep it up.
I want to be saved! I want to be salvaged! I want to come to Christ! I am unsaved!
I see that hand over there. Thank you!
Someone else in this place? I want to give you an opportunity.
Someone else in this place? I need Jesus! I need—I see another hand over there. Thank you!
Hands are being lifted up. Someone else in this place? God loves you! Make that decision!
I see that hand over there at the back. Thank you!
Someone else? Someone else?
God is searching you out! God has found you!
You are—what you feel right now is a presence of God all over your life.
He's dealing with you about your past, about your sin. He wants to forgive and restore your life.
Someone else in this place?
I see that hand over there. Thank you!
I see this hand in the middle.
I want you to stand to your feet right now. If you lifted your hands, stand up to your feet and come to this altar right now quickly!
Please do it quickly! Come down to this altar quickly!
Don't hesitate! Slip up from your seat and just come down to this altar!
Well, I'm going to give you a time. I'm going to give you a chance to come and pray a sinner's prayer of salvation and make it right with God.
Oh, what a glorious thing!
While these people are coming, I—I preached a sermon on diamonds in your church.
There are men and, uh, the pastors we are dealing with, and I'm going to pull an altar call specifically for men that have laid down their sword.
You have put that rifle of yours on the wall. You made that decision in your life.
You said, "I am going to just cruise. I'm going to just stay the way I am for the rest of my life. I am not going to be changed. I've been overlooked."
I've been—you know, and I, again, I don't want to encourage any rebellious attitudes.
I don't want to encourage any, any—but, but, but God is still in control of your life!
God has been always in control of your life!
Don't look back with regret! Don't look back with an attitude of finding fault—finding whose fault this is!
Whose fault this is? This is your wife or your pastor or, or, or some other situation?
Please don't! But look forward!
Can you? Don't look back at your mistakes, at the wrong turns of your life!
Apostle Paul, you know, he could have been filled with regret, and no doubt this was, uh, going on in his mind as he moved and made his way to Tarsus.
Perhaps he was filled with regret. "Well, these people don't trust me because of what I've done."
But listen, listen! God had a plan for his life!
And I want to pull on people—pastors and Christians and former missionaries and disciples—you laid down your sword!
You took off your armor! You hid it! You buried it!
You said, "No more! I'm not going to do this! This is it!"
I encourage you not to look backwards! Not to look and not to, uh, dwell in misery of your past failures or somebody else's failures!
There's nothing but God who is in control of your life!
And I want these men—I want to pray for you specifically and pray with you.
While everybody's sitting down or kneeling down, I want you to stand to your feet all throughout the auditorium.
I'm picking up my weapon! I am—this is not late yet!
This is a—you know, you got a few hours till the world evangelism night!
You got a few hours till tomorrow night!
But, uh, even if not tonight and not tomorrow, but you are picking up your weapon all over this place!
Seasoned warriors feel like you are trapped, you are forgotten.
I can—I can be your Barnabas!
Can I be your Barnabas?
Can the Holy Spirit tonight deal with you?
This morning, rather, deal with your life!
People—men are standing up all over this place.
I want to pray for you and with you right now.
I want you to repeat this with me. Say this with me, but mean it with all of your heart.
Say, "Father God, I ask you right now to forgive me for looking back, for fault-finding.
I declare to you this morning that no matter what the reasons were, I believe that I am in your hands, that I am still in your plan.
I am still—and you still have that destiny for me.
And I declare with all of my heart that I'm picking up my weapons!
I am picking up my armor!
And I am going to pursue my destiny!
Help me, God, by the Holy Spirit of God!
In the name of Jesus, I declare that I close the door to the past hurts and failures, and I'm looking up and I'm looking forward.
Thank you!
And in Jesus' name, Amen!"
Let's all stand!
Let's give God praise right now!
Father, we thank you!
Oh, God Almighty, move upon this place in the name of Jesus!
I declare, Father, the richness of your blessing over our lives, and I pray that you single them out and that you touch them, Father, in the name of Jesus!
I praise your name!
I declare your works and your wonder in the name of Jesus Christ!
Uh, Father, by the blood of the Lamb!
Hallelujah!
Father, thank you!
Let's [Music]
For I, the Lord your God, am the one that fashions stones.
I am the God that creates each and every diamond, and every chapter of your life is a facet that I am honing and shaping for an effed brilliance through a man of God that would step out of darkness, that would stand in my creative and marvelous light.
For my light is the light that reflects through the facets of the diamond that shows the brilliance of the power of my majestic ability to cast light into the darkness in the four corners of the earth.
And I challenge men that you would step out and allow my light to shine through you, says God.
And I will use the chisel of your life to cause you to be a beautiful thing created in my hand for my purpose, thus says the Lord your God.