Prevailing Church : Nuts and Bolts

Amen, amen.

We sing blessing and glory, honor and power.

Amen, amen, amen.

Mike and Karen are away somewhere, and Anne and Kamal are away somewhere, and Dano and

Blessie are the only ones who made it to Banff out of the 18 people who were supposed to

leave, and the rest are somewhere too.

So I think there are about 15 or 16 of us missing.

But you're here.

Hey, Derek, can we get rid of all the pinks?

Okay, guys, so we've been talking about the prevailing church for almost four or five

months now, four months maybe, and time to wrap it up and start making it practical,

because you can go on and on about how to build a prevailing church and then not do

anything about it.

So this is the wrap-up kind of time for this topic, and so over the next four weeks we'll

wrap it up and then we'll have to do something about it, like all the stuff that we've learned

we've got to put into practice in Jerusalem, as in, sorry, in Vancouver.

So that's why I call it nuts and bolts, as in how do we now take the gritty details we've

learned and implement them.

So that's why I'm calling it nuts and bolts.

So let's define the prevailing church again, and I do that every time we've stuck to this

topic.

A prevailing church is a church that knows how to engage the world around it or the culture

around it, and then contend with the culture or the world around it, and then overcome

the culture or the world around it.

That's the nature of a prevailing church.

Jesus said that I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against

it.

And so his intent was, hey guys, if you want to build with me, then build a church that

prevails, that prevails not by sitting within its walls and singing, which is a great thing

to do, but then going beyond that where you learn how to engage people around you, where?

In your sphere of society, in the segments of society that you occupy, in the streets

that you live in, in the status that you hold, wherever you're located, engage the people

around you.

Why? Because like Prashanth was saying, I live in you. It's the only way they're going

to meet me. So engage people around you.

And then after you engage, once you start engaging, know that there will be conflict,

there will be arguments, there will be contention, there will be pushback, there will be receiving.

And so contend. Contend is to be able to stand and endure and not back off.

And then finally it says, after you contend, you overcome. Overcome as in you prevail,

you endure. Now there are rewards. Now there's a spoil of war. And that's the nature of the

church. And so the intent is in the next three or four weeks, wrap the whole thing up and

then find something that Acts 29 can do that God says, here Betty, here, what's your name?

Rene. Sorry Rene. Here Betty, here Rene, this is what I see you guys doing. You at Richmond

Christian, you in your management thingy and your gym and in Burnaby, here's what you do.

And now each one gets things to do and the entire church begins to work together. So

that's where we are heading with this. But to begin to become a prevailing church,

when it comes to nuts and bolts, three things that we must understand is that you need to live like

Jesus. And to live like Jesus, you have to pay attention to these three things. One, a submitted

life. Two, a right standing life or a righteous life, a right standing life. And three, words and

works life. Words and works life. And we'll talk about that. And when I say church, I don't mean

a building. When I say church, I don't mean Sunday. Sunday, as I often want to say, I will

keep saying Sunday is an activity of the church. When we meet like this on a Sunday, it's just the

activity of the church. It's not church. Church is people. Church is people amongst whom God

dwells and through whom God wants to show himself. So when we say we're coming to church on Sunday,

it's completely false. We're not coming to church on Sunday. We are engaging in an activity that

the church engages in on a Sunday, which is meeting together. That's it. This is just an activity of

the church. So just remember the definition of a church so that we don't confuse it with God is

trying to build a bunch of people who meet in a building on Sunday afternoon at 1.45 and are

usually late by five minutes. That's not what his intent is. So if we want to build a prevailing

church, then we must imitate or must completely sell ourselves to the life that Jesus lived. And

to do that, there are three requirements. One, a submitted life. Two, a right standing or a

righteous life. And three, a words in words life. And we'll only take the third one today, but let

me quickly explain the first two. A submitted life. It's possible for a person to live right without

submitting. Strangely, I can live right with God without submitting to you. I can follow rules and

regulations without even submitting to God. Strange. Most religions allow you to live a life where you

can live according to the rules and regulations without submitting to anything or anybody. That's

how isms are formed. Marxism doesn't need a God, but you can submit. You can live according to the

rules and regulations of Marxism without submitting to Marx or Lenin or anybody. The point being,

the first requirement is a submitted life. And you see Jesus doing that. When he was a kid,

he had to submit to his parents. When he was growing up, he had to submit to scribes and teachers.

When he grew up, he was always submissive to his father. At the end of the day, he became a

bond servant. The moment you say you're a bond servant, you must submit. So a submitted life. We

won't talk about that today, but a submitted life is critical. Two, a righteous life. A righteous

life simply means right standing. A life that is in right standing. In right standing with who? We've

talked about this before. Right standing with God. Right standing with yourself. Right standing with

others. And right standing with your environment. This is what makes a man righteous. Crazy, eh?

And we think it's a prayer. We think righteousness is praying and confessing our sins and we become

righteous. Sure, God gives us his righteousness, but if you want to live a righteous life, then I

must pay attention to all four. That I must be in right standing with God, which is what most of us

focus on. Then I must be in right standing with myself. As in, hey Jacob, how much do you like

yourself? How well do you think of yourself? How do you honor yourself? What is the integrity that

you like carrying? How do you see yourself in the image of God? What is it to be in right standing

with oneself? One is with peace. It's not a me-focused thing. It's a God-focused thing. Then after that,

it comes on to you. This is why Jesus said that love the Lord your God and then, what does he say

next? Love your neighbor as you love yourself. So there's no question of going further into the

neighborhood if I first don't come into this place of right standing with myself. Where things become

important to you. Integrity becomes important to you. David kind of knew this when he said,

oh God, you desire truth in the where? In the inward parts. Man, it's magnificent when you

suddenly find out, oh shucks, this is how you made me and it is precious and I will hold on to it.

And the third part is right standing with others, which is critical. The Lord's Prayer talks about

it. Forgive me my sins as I forgive those that have trespassed against me. That's just one example.

Right standing with others and then the last one is right standing with the environment. God is

green. Only he doesn't go crazy about it, but he is crazy about it. Right standing with the

environment. That's what the righteousness part of it is. But today we are only looking at the

third one, which is the words in works life and that's what we focus on. Hey, is there a thingy?

No? Okay. Can you locate the thingy? No, that's a DI box. I could try using that,

but it might damage the box lot. Okay, so guys, when we look at Jesus's life,

words and works life, here's what we're trying to say. That Jesus's ministry was made up of the

words of Jesus and the works of Jesus. And if you want to be a prevailing church that actually

makes headway in the world, we must be able to do two things that Jesus did. Speak his words,

do his works. If we don't do one of these, then you can teach a church all about how to prevail,

but the church will not be effective in the world if the church doesn't learn how to do these two

things. I need to know how to announce or proclaim the words of Jesus and I need to demonstrate the

works of Jesus. And that's all we're looking at today and then we'll close. Jesus's ministry

was made up of the words of Jesus and the works of Jesus. So what were the words of the announcement?

Look at Mark 1.15. Mark 1.15. And you'll see that Jesus, Paul, Peter all had variations of Mark 1.15

happening throughout their life. Mark chapter 1, verse 15. Here's what it says. We've got to pledge

Mark 1:15

allegiance to this, guys, because it's not something that comes naturally to us. Starting

at verse 14. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of

God. And this is what Mark 15 says. The time has come, he said, the kingdom of God is here. Repent

and believe the gospel or the good news. The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and

believe the gospel. So when it comes to the words of Jesus, what are we supposed to announce? The

announcement is very simple. Guys, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent

and believe the gospel. Some variation of this must become normal for us, guys. Every time you go

out, it must become normal for us. When Chris went out for dinner yesterday, it had to be normal for

us. Dano told us about how he visited with a family last week. It became normal for him. A guy is

defending his thesis. His first page makes it obvious. It becomes normal for him. This is the

way it's supposed to be. It's very normal for you to speak about the one thing that you're excited

about. Why is it that when Christians adore someone within these walls, that they're not able to

announce him outside of these walls? It's odd because most things that we adore, we announce.

And yet when it comes to Jesus Christ, somehow we do not announce he who we adore, which is very

odd. I mean, I get excited about a burger. I've told everyone about the Baconator at Wendy's. I

adore that Baconator. Everybody knows about it. Thank you. You're very resourceful. I will...

Is Jeevan here? Oh, he's here. Okay. Thanks, Derek. You've just been promoted to associate pastor.

Sorry, Jeevan. It was yours for two weeks. Yeah. So guys, our announcement is very simple. What is

the announcement? What is the announcement? What is the announcement? Or what are the words we are

speaking? We said Jesus and ministry involve two things, words and works. What is the announcement?

It is time is near or here. Two, King Jesus and his rule is yours to enter into. And three,

turn from your present ways and beliefs and accept the good news that Jesus wants to

rescue you from sin, sickness, death, penalty, falsehood, danger, and eternal loss. Man, is that

good news or what? Guys, if you can write this down and remember it, learn it, memorize it.

Unfortunately, truth is not learned through any other method first, but through repetition. Once

you repeat it enough, it becomes so ingrained that you're able to practice it because it is

ingrained. So what is the announcement? The announcement is very simple and everybody here

can do it. You don't have to be a pastor. You don't have to go to Bible college. You don't have to

do anything like that. The announcement is very simple. The time is near or here. Two, King Jesus

and his rule is yours to enter into. As in, hey, there's a new sheriff in town. He's got a whole

town for himself and he's so willing to let you be part of this. You don't have to go through a

citizenship test. You don't have to qualify. You don't have to pledge allegiance to the Queen.

You just have to walk in because he's willing to have you walk in. And three, turn from your

present ways and beliefs and accept the good news that Jesus wants to rescue you. Rescue you

from what? From sin, from sickness, from death, from the penalty of sin, from falsehood, from danger,

from what is the last one? Eternal loss. And this whole thing is summed up with one Greek word,

sozo. Not sozo, sozo. That is what he's offering us. Any questions?

Yeah, if you don't think you're a sinner, you don't need a savior. So, it takes humility to admit that

you're a sinner. It's difficult. Pride will never allow anybody to admit that they need a savior.

And so, that's one of the things that we'll have to talk about at some point. So, this is the

announcement. If this is the announcement, let's look at what the works are. What are the works?

The strange thing is you announce this and it's invariably, I mean, it's guaranteed that when you

announce this, the works break out. You've got to understand this, guys. Every time you announce this,

the works will happen. Every time you announce this, the works will happen. We want the works

without the words because the words are hard to speak. It sounds non-hipster, non-sophisticated.

Justin Bieber probably won't go for this kind of stuff. Perhaps he will. Who am I to judge Justin

Bieber, though I just did? Nowadays he does, right? Yeah, so that's why I'm sorry I threw him into the

mix. He's a really nice guy, even though I don't like his music. Yep, so guys, here's the thing. The

moment you announce the words, yeah, I really didn't need to take that pot shot at Justin Bieber,

I apologize. The moment you speak those words, the works will exhibit themselves. The evidence of

the works will be there. Guys, we've got to show the world how this works. We've got to show the

world, not one or two people, everybody, the entire church, engaging in this thing called words,

announcing what I just erased and then watching as the works go. So let's look at scriptures to see

if it's true. Go to Luke 7, 20 to 22. Luke 7, verse 20 to 22. Luke 7, 20 to 22. And so here's what it

Luke 7:20–22

says in the message. John the Baptizer sent us to ask you. So John the Baptist was in prison and he

sends two of his disciples and says to his disciples, hey guys, can you go and find out

whether Jesus is the real deal? And so John the Baptizer sends them. They come to Jesus and they

say, John the Baptizer sent us to ask you, are you the one we've been expecting or are we still

waiting? In the next two or three hours, Jesus healed many from diseases, distress and evil

spirits. To many of the blind, he gave the gift of sight. And after doing all that, he gave them

his answer. Go back and tell John what you have just seen and heard. The blind see, the lame walk,

lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the wretched on the earth have God's

salvation hospitality extended to them. Beautiful man. Learn that verse. If anyone asks you, so

what's your job on the earth? What's your calling, brother? What's your purpose and your destiny?

And stuff like that. Say, oh, I'm here to have the blind see, the deaf hear, the lepers cleansed,

the dead raised and to proclaim the gospel of salvation and God's hospitality to people. Learn

this verse. We must expect nothing less. None of us must expect nothing less. None of us must expect

nothing less. Hey, Don. Are we good? Okay. So that's John chapter 7 verse 20 to 22. Let's look at

John 7:20–22

Matthew 10 verse 7 and 8. Sorry. Oh, it was Luke. Sorry. Matthew 10 verse 7 and 8. Matthew 10 verse

Matthew 10:7 Matthew 10:7 Matthew 10:7

7 and 8. Look at what it says. Matthew 10 verse 7 and 8. As you go, preach saying, the kingdom of

Matthew 10:7

heaven is at hand. As you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What does that mean?

As you go, preach saying, there is a king called Jesus, the king of kings, the ultimate God over

all the earth. His rule is now present and you can enter into it. And then he says, to show evidence

for that, do this too. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you

have received, freely give. We don't charge for this. We don't have an entry fee for this. We don't

even take up an offering during times like this. You go and you do exactly what he told you to do.

This church must, at least at the beginning of this year, at the end of this year, have stories

where people come and say, hey, we learned all that stuff about prevailing church. That was nice,

but we now put it into practice. And the practice looks like this. When I was out at work yesterday,

and his skin got cleansed. When I was out on Main Street, someone fell on the road and I raised him

up from the dead. When I was walking around, I saw a man whose eyes were not too good and couldn't see

well and I prayed for him and his eyes began to clear. This must become so natural that people

will come and say, show us what your God can do. I do not want us to settle for anything less than

this because this is Jesus in session. As in all of Jesus working through 30, 40, 50, 60 people,

or perhaps more as we grow. Nothing less guys. Anything less is in Jesus. This is who he wants

to be. Through whom? Through us. What a cool calling. Thank you for your excitement. Yeah,

guys, whenever you announce the nature and the power of Jesus, it will result in him displaying

his works. Whenever you announce the nature and power of Jesus, it will end up with him displaying

his works. He always did this. Always did this. Look at Luke chapter 10 verse 9. Luke chapter 10

Luke 10:9 Luke 10:9

verse 9. Luke chapter 10 verse 9. Here's what it says. Heal the sick in those towns saying to them,

Luke 10:9

the kingdom of God has come near you. Jesus is saying very clearly, guys, you go about announcing

who I am and announcing the good news that I can rescue people from sin, from death, from danger,

from physical sickness, from the penalty of sin, from eternal damnation. If you go announce it,

I guarantee you that I will evidence your announcement with works. And what works? You

will cleanse the lepers. You will heal the sick. You will cast out demons. You will raise the dead.

You will preach the good news. You will extend to people my hospitality. You will make to the world

evident a really alive God called Jesus operating through normal people like you. Guaranteed.

True. In John chapter 14 verse 12 and 13, here's what it says. John 14, 12 and 13. Jesus,

John 14:12

knowing what the world will look like, sound like in the future, says, hey, I'm saying these words

to you and perhaps you won't believe me for the words. So here's what. If you don't believe me

for the words, why don't you believe me for the works I do? If you don't believe me for the words

I speak, why don't you believe me for the works I do? But unfortunately, the church is in a condition

where we know how to say words but we don't know how to do the works. And Jesus is saying, I knew

a time like this will come, but let me show you the works I do too. And then he goes on to say,

oh, by the way, you'll do at least these works and more. Why? Because I'm going to the Father,

I'm leaving you here and I'm planning to do exactly what I did through you.

So don't keep looking back at the failures of the number of people who you prayed for and nothing

happened. If you don't have that in your life, you must be dead. Anyone who's alive has failure.

Two, don't look at the condition in your life right now and say, well, I'm not healed in this,

so how can I pray for others? Of course you can. Of course you can. It's not really about you,

it's about others. The number of people that, it's exasperating sometimes when you pray for others

and they're getting healed and you're not getting healed. I've been there so many times I can't

remember. And I go back home and I tell the Father, great, so you healed him but you can't

do this for me in a nice way and a slightly moany, complainy way. But the point is this,

that at the end of the day, God just loves turning up and giving evidence that he is alive when you

announce that he is alive. Did you hear that? Let me say that again. God loves turning up and giving

evidence that he is alive when you announce that he is alive. God wants to let people know that,

listen, I'm present. Listen, I've come to save you. Listen, I've come to set you free. Listen,

I've come to forgive you. Listen, I've come to heal you. Listen, I've come to raise the dead.

Listen, I've come to drive out demons. Listen, I've come to pour out my spirit. Listen, I've

come to intervene. Listen, I've come to restore. Therefore, in response to this wonderful truth,

turn around, repent, believe in the good news that Jacob is telling you. This is the reenactment of

Luke 4, 16 to 19, where Jesus goes into the temple, he opens a scroll and he starts reading. He says,

the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and you know the rest of the story. He has sent me to heal the

broken hearted, to give sight to the blind, to open ears of the deaf, to make the lame walk,

to restore to people beauty instead of ashes, to give them joy instead of mourning, to raise them

up as strong oaks of righteousness. This is what Jesus is still doing. But who is he doing it through

now? People like Mark and Azza and Don, flawed, defective, difficult vessels. These are the people

he's doing it through. We must not lower the bar at all. It's the only place to live. But we must

learn to announce and as soon as you announce, he will give evidence of your announcement through

the works that he does. Let me end. Why would you want to go down this route, guys? For many reasons.

One, I would just like the adventure of it. I would like the adventure of an entire church called

Acts 29 saying we will not settle for anything less. I would just do it for the sake of the

adventure. I mean this is better than bungee jumping because it's as risky. Yeah.

Yeah, because healing never takes anyone to the Lord because a whole lot of people get healed and

they can still go heal to hell. But the point is, if I announce, see here's what we do. We announce

healing before we announce him as Savior and Lord. And Jesus is saying, I'm not saying that's what

you're saying, I'm saying Jesus is saying that listen, announce me as Savior, announce me as Lord,

announce me as King and announce the fact that my rule has come and then let me do what I do.

People might still turn away. Guys, here's the thing. You remember when we said the prevailing

church, we said engage, contend. Here's the contention. Every time Jesus did a miracle

or a healing on earth, there were three reactions. One, they invited him and received him. Two,

they told him to leave. Three, they stoned him. One of three reactions. With Paul, it was the same.

Paul was in Lystra and Derby and he just healed a man who was really sick. And so they bring bulls

to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas calling one Hermes and calling the other Zeus and they say,

we want to worship you. And they said, no, no, no, don't worship us. What follows immediately after?

They stoned Paul. There's only three reactions to anything God does. This is awesome. Let me bring

the rest of my family and the rest of the Samaritan village and we want to receive you. Two, we're

going to stone you so that you are dead. Three, that was nice. Thank you for the healing, but we

would like you to leave now. Three reactions. That is the contending part. That is the contending part.

And if they did it to your master, they will do it to you too. This is why the adventure of it

excites me. Two, it will bring breakthrough into people's lives. It will bring breakthrough into

people's lives. That's another reason I would do it. That our shucks father, people who are demonized,

people who don't know how to come out of situations, you will rescue them and you'll use us to rescue

them. Three, I'd love to understand and operate in the compassion of God. God does these things. Why?

Not because he wants to show off his power, but because he wants to cause his compassion to flow.

I was in a place called Shillong and this guy comes up and he's deaf. He's got some kind of a growth in his ear that keeps

oozing pus and his left ear is deaf. His name was Wadbur and he comes up, I've got pictures of it, he comes up and as he comes up

he's in terrible pain with pus oozing from his ear and I'm standing there and I don't feel like praying, I feel like crying

because I can see the pain he's in and as I begin to cry I know that for the first time in my life I know what the

compassion of Jesus Christ is and all I'm saying to him is Wadbur you have no idea how much Jesus cares for you, no idea

how much Jesus cares for you and as I'm going to touch him he goes down on his knees and someone took all these

photographs, me standing and then he going down on his knees and crying and why is he crying? Because while I'm

saying you have no idea how much Jesus loves you his ear pops open. He's my Facebook friend now

but I didn't even pray for him but for the first time in my life, this was about four or five years ago, I knew what it means

when Jesus said I heal you because I am compassionate because I never felt the compassion of God. I knew the power of God but I never

felt his compassion. I can understand how he feels every time you hurt in your body

to know his compassion and then the last thing is I want us to be determined. I want us to make a determination that I will

announce your words and I will not stop short of expecting your works because you're the one who does the works. I can do the

announcement, you have to do the works. A determination, a daring, guys we must get this ABCD of Jesus together.

The first part is the adventure of it, the second is you'll break other people out of the prisons they are in

but Jesus loved doing. Third, to do this out of compassion because God so loved the world therefore I learn to now love you with the same

strength. Three, four, determination that I am determined to do this. I am determined to do this. If the church stops short of this, the church is a club.

We were meant to spend our lives. The only reason God is raising us up is to pour out our lives for others. Anything short of that is a club.

Go to Romans 15, 18 and 19. Romans 15, 18 and 19. Romans 15, 18 and 19.

Look at what Paul says. He says in verse 18, I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the gentiles or today we could say the rest of the world to obey God by what I have said and done.

How did he do it? So he talks about what he announced. He announced what Christ had accomplished through him.

And then what was the other part? What was the second part? How did he do it? Verse 19, by the power of signs and miracles through the power of the Spirit.

So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the good news where Christ was not known

so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation rather as it is written. Those who were not told about him will see and those who have not heard will understand. This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

So what's Paul saying there? Hey guys, go do likewise. I imitated Christ. Words, works. I've shown you how I go about it. I speak the words, God does the works. Why should you be any different?

It might take us six weeks. It might take us nine weeks. It might take us twelve weeks but just imagine twelve weeks is four blooming months. That's nothing. What if we determine that this is how I'm going to function?

The words and the works of Jesus. The words and the works of Jesus. The words and the works of Jesus. Announcing what he announced. Knowing that he will give evidence of his being alive through works.

Look forward to any opportunity where there is a moment to break someone out of something.

Volunteer to pray. Get used to rejection. Get used to rejection. Get used to humiliation. Get used to not being sophisticated. It is a hard thing to get used to because those are the very foundations of a democracy.

Equality, liberty and what's the third one? Justice for all.

Today we change that to other things but these are the very things you must lose and seek for others.

I was going to ask Jeevan to come and talk about suffering when you're righteous. Righteous suffering.

I mentioned this last Sunday. Do not look for justice but seek to give justice to everybody.

Do not look for a vindication but try your best to help others be vindicated.

Suffer humiliation but do not allow others to be humiliated and try not to humiliate others.

We don't seek justice. We thirst for justice for others and we'll do anything to give others justice but you're not the one who's seeking justice for yourself.

But we'll talk about that when we talk about one of the other ones.

Any questions guys? I'm just going to go on and on and on about this. Go ahead Emily.

What about when a healing doesn't happen? You just chalk it down as it did not happen.

So, partially it's me but I'm also the person that you're praying for.

Yeah. Yeah, nothing happens. Let's put it this way.

I never try to defend why it did not happen except when it comes to myself.

I can ask God how come I'm not healed and then come to an answer because I know me well.

The only guy I know well is me. Everybody else, there are things in your lives that I'm not sure of.

I can only ask God, Father why isn't this happening to Nick or why is this happening to Nick?

And if God chose it, I can go and talk to him about it.

But otherwise, never try to defend why healing or why something you said has not happened.

All you can do is seek it out for yourself.

And as you do that and trust not in the actual event but in the nature of God,

you will find that your batting average goes up like crazy.

I didn't mean to go baseball at all because I hate that game.

But the point is this, that as you begin to move from the actual event to the nature of God,

you find that the event throws you in a loop because you expect healing and it hasn't happened.

But then you know that he is healer and you keep trusting his nature.

And as you keep trusting his nature, you find that oh shucks, people are getting healed more often than not.

I mean, I know for the guys who've been here for a while, you know this.

But the last time I was not healed was in 1988.

And yet, does that mean that you are not supposed to take medicines or go to a doctor?

No, go to doctors. I'll drive you to the hospital and buy medicines. I won't pay for it.

But I'll drive you to the pharmacy.

But the point is this, that it is possible to trust the nature of God as healer for yourself

and for others. And when things don't work out, don't defend it.

I don't know how else to explain it. I wish there was a more reasonable explanation.

But any other reasonable explanation will come from my head, not from his.

So have there been times when people haven't been healed? Yep.

Does that discourage me? No. So what discourages me? That not everybody is getting healed yet.

I know that sounds like catch-22, but it's true.

But then Jesus had perfect results.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and here's the other thing. The more you bat, the higher your average.

The more you bat, the higher the average. When you bat twice and you get stuck out,

I'm going into territory I've known nothing about. The last time I went for a baseball game was when

a small kid was playing and I had to say stuff like, G-O-D-E-Y-E, good eye, good eye, good eye.

That's the day I realized baseball is not for me. So the point is this, that if you

struck out the first two times, then the natural tendency is I won't step into the works of God

anymore. And yet God is saying, go bat a thousand times and see how well you will do.

I mean, you want to read out that text sent by that guy? There's this guy, the guy who,

Derek booked rooms for most of you in Banff and then canceled. He and Derek are talking a lot now.

So here's what the guy wrote. Derek began to figure out that the guy was a believer,

so he wrote to him and said, Hey, are you a believer? And the guy says, yes. And then he

writes, good call. Yes, I truly believe in Jesus and I live according to Mark 16, 17 to 18,

the authority he has given us. Being present to lay hands is definitely, being present to lay hands

definitely works in my life. Anointing with oil according to James 5 increases results.

Praying at a distance for someone is less effective, but over the years I've seen amazing

results. This is a stranger who you guys were supposed to go in, whose apartment you guys were

supposed to stay in. Recently Jesus allowed the doors to be open for me to access some of the

Bronco hockey players, the guys who died in the bus thingy. Two in ICU in Saskatoon were upgraded

from life threatening to stable two hours after I was in ICU to anoint them. I was told by several

that a trip to Saskatoon would be such a waste because there are rules and I didn't even know

their names. The impossible happened by 7 30 a.m. the next morning. I certainly do believe in Jesus.

I mean, I just saw this text yesterday and I thought to myself, what are the odds that we're

talking about this today? And here's a stranger saying, hey, this is the way I go about it.

So attempt it guys. And when it doesn't work, do not come up with an excuse. Do not offer platitudes

and statements like God wanted an angel in heaven. My God, he's got tons of them there.

Yeah. When my dad died, those were the statements God wanted. And I thought to myself, if you knew

my dad, you wouldn't call him an angel exactly. He was a nice dad, but he was no angel. At the end

of the day, the point is we got to step out and do this. Just imagine if the entire church was here.

So let's say 70 people who begin to do this once every or twice every week,

announce and works, not one or the other announced and works. Announcing is harder. Works. You don't

have to do anything. It's the Holy Spirit who does it. The reason we look foolish is because

we think we are doing it. You got nothing to do with it. And the more you realize you got nothing

to do with it, the more empty, helpless and dependent you get. The more empty, helpless and

dependent you get. I'm going to end with this story and then call Marcus and Lorianna.

Do we have chairs for them to sit? Can someone just grab two chairs?

I remember after my dad died, my sister said, well, if you believe in Jesus, go raise him

up from the dead. And I'm thinking to myself, oh shucks. So he's been dead now for three or four

days. So we go to the mortuary with a friend of mine called Roland Tan and we pull out his body.

And now going to pray for his body. I'm going to pray for his body and I'm looking at his body and

I'm thinking to myself, now what's going to happen? And as I stood there, I looked at his body and I

thought to myself, father, this is the easiest thing in the world to do because this is something so

beyond me that I'm absolutely helpless. The only person who can do this is you. A cold or a cough,

you think if you shout loud enough, it'll go. But when someone is dead, they are so dead, there's

nothing you can do. And even though my dad did not rise from the dead, as I stood over his body,

I thought to myself, there will be a day when I see this because this is so impossible that it

is absolutely possible because Jesus Christ can do it. Come Marcus, Lorianna.

No, don't worry, they're not leaving the church.

God is not interested in Christians, God is interested in people.

He never called anybody Christians. It was a derogatory term that is being used for people.

God is interested in people being rescued, so he sends Jesus. So let's just pray.

Father, after we pray, if anyone has any need for prayer, then