Franklin Graham | First Conference 2017

Hey everyone, good evening.

How are you?

It's great to see you here.

I'm glad you're here, and I want to tell you, as your pastor, how proud I am of you that you're here, that you're giving the first of your year to the Lord.

When I look and see that it's completely full and that we're in overflow with the South Lake campus and some of the other campuses, it just excites me.

It excites me tremendously.

So I'm glad you're here.

Thank you very, very much.

Well, we have someone very special with us tonight.

Franklin Graham is the president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and also Samaritan's Purse.

You probably know about Samaritan's Purse, but you might not, but it is one of the largest missionary organizations in the world.

They do the Christmas shoebox thing.

Some of you have probably done that.

This year, over 11 million shoeboxes were given to children in 113 countries.

And this last year, Franklin went to every state capital, all 50 state capitals, and and and held a prayer meeting on the steps of all the state capitals, and they had 178,000 people in attendance, and 9,000 people accepted Christ.

So it has been a real joy for me to get to know him and to see the anointing on his life and how he has taken the heritage that God's given him and stepped into the calling that the Lord has given him and literally making a difference all over the world.

So will you please give a warm welcome to Franklin Graham?

Thank you.

This church has been a big part of our work for the last couple of years, for well, longer than that, but especially for the last two years as we went to all 50 state uh capitals.

I uh began to have a burden that something had to be done.

Our nation is in trouble, it's still in trouble.

Um but the only fix for this country is God.

It's not the Democrats or the Republicans, it's God.

And so as I began to think about what could be done, uh God just laid it on my heart that we should go to the capitals to pray.

But as I began to think about who could help me do this, there was only one person that came to my mind.

And um I've known him over the years, and he was a member of your staff.

And so the problem was um God had to lay it on his heart, and God had to lay it on the pastor's heart to give him uh to me for a year.

It's actually two years.

And Lawrence Sweischkood.

Uh I called him, I said, Lawrence, here's what God has laid on my heart.

I need somebody to to to be the quarterback of this, going to all 50 state capitals, because you have to pull the permits.

Uh it's not an easy job.

It's it's a lot of work to go and get the permits, and then to go and then actually go to all 50 state capitals.

And so when I called Lawrence, he said, Franklin, it's interesting.

He said, Um, our pastor the other day was talking that about something that needs to be done these next few years, and um let me pray about it.

He called me back, he said, Franklin, I prayed about it, um, but I need to talk to my pastor.

And he said, let's see what God does.

Well, a few um, well, about a week or so later he called me and said, Franklin, my pastor says that I can do it.

And uh so Lawrence was a huge help.

And to go to these 50 states, um, I I I I don't know if it's ever been done before, but I remember the first state uh was we went to Des Moines, Iowa, and this is January, I think it was January 5.

So it had snowed several days before.

Uh it was a clear day, about 16 degrees, I think, earlier that morning, and snow on the ground, and NBC News, uh Haley Jackson had interviewed me that morning.

She said, How many people do you think will be here?

Boy, I thought, you know, I would love to have a hundred, uh, but I'm not sure we would have that.

And I remember as we pulled up to the Capitol, there were, I don't know, 2,000 people or so standing in the snow.

But they didn't come to hear me, they came to pray.

And every capital, every capital that we went to, people came to pray.

And we were in the snow.

Uh well, I remember once uh we were in Missouri, Jefferson City, and I uh uh it rained, it rained for three days, and prior to us coming, and then the day we came, it was pouring rain.

This isn't a drizzle, it wasn't a mist.

I'm talking about just a downpour.

And I thought nobody will be out here in this rain.

About 3,000 people standing in the rain.

Many of them did not have umbrellas, they just stood there.

They came to pray.

And the way we started, we started off confessing the sins of our nation.

And I'd have people pray out loud.

As God leads you, just whatever you whatever you feel the sins of our nation, abortion, same-sex marriage, these are things we haven't done enough for the poor in this country.

So much more that we could do.

I said, just confess out loud what you feel the sins of our nation.

And people would pray out loud.

And then I would say, now let's pray, but let's just pray this in our heart.

I don't want you to confess your own personal sins, but let's confess the sins, our own sins to God.

And we would do that for four or five minutes.

And then let's confess the sins of our fathers, our father's family.

Sins that go back maybe many, many years in our family that that no one knows except maybe you or a few family members.

And let's confess these to God.

And then we would take a moment and I would uh just give a three-minute gospel message.

I'd say, maybe you're here today, and you have never invited Jesus Christ into your heart.

I want you to listen to me for the next couple of minutes.

And I would give a three-minute gospel message, three minutes.

And then I gave an invitation.

If you would like to invite Christ to come into your heart, I want you to pray this prayer.

Prayed the prayer, and then if you prayed that prayer, I said, I've got some literature I'd like to give you, but I don't have it with me.

I said, but I'll send it to you electronically.

If you'll pull out your phone and text me right now, uh 21777, and then text the word decision.

We will send to you electronically this material that I'd like for you to have.

I'm not going to ask you for anything, but I just want to give you something that would help you to understand this commitment that you have just made.

And hundreds every time gave their hearts to Christ.

Uh, we had about the same percentages of people coming to Christ as we would have in normal one of our crusade meetings.

Their percentages were about the same.

And then I would encourage people to vote.

I didn't tell people who to vote for, I didn't endorse any candidates, but I encouraged people to vote.

And uh, even if they had to hold their nose, uh vote.

Um and so uh we went to all 50 state capitals.

I remember when we were in Jefferson City in the rain, where it poured rain.

Uh afterwards, I was soaking wet, and we were driving back to the airport, and there was a truck stop that had a McDonald's in it.

Boy, I said, let's go, let's go get a quarter pound of a cheese.

We pulled into McDonald's, and uh here came this lady on a walker.

She was wet.

She said, You're Mr.

Graham, aren't you?

I said, Yes, ma'am.

She said, she gave me her name.

She said, I'm 93 years old.

She said, I was there today.

My son kept saying, Mama, we gotta go back to the car.

You're getting wet, mama.

I said, I didn't come out here to go back to the car.

She said, I came to pray.

We were in Salem, Oregon.

You talk about a liberal state, Oregon.

Salem, the capital?

Thousands of believers standing there.

And I remember as we prayed, people were confessing the sins of our nation out loud.

There was somebody way in the back, couldn't even see them, but I could hear them.

In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, it gave me goosebumps.

I thought to myself, God likes that.

God likes that in the name of Jesus.

And as we went to all 50 state capitals, I thought after the convention, the Democratic and Republican convention, maybe less people would come as people would be more into the campaign.

Our numbers went up.

The crowds didn't get smaller, they were they were growing.

And sometimes people would just stare at you.

This wasn't always a Christian crowd, okay?

Um people would just glare at you.

They wouldn't say, kiss my foot, they you know, they just looked at you.

And I remember we were in Michigan, one of our last cities, and there was an area right not far from the microphone where I was speaking, that was where people were sitting in wheelchairs and chairs.

And this one lady, um, I don't know, she maybe in her late 40s, was just standing there, kind of behind where the wheelchairs were, and she so she kind of stuck out by herself and she just glared at me.

And she had her arms folded, and I thought to myself, boy, I'll probably hear from her.

Um, but she just stared at me, and I we would we went through the prayers, and um I glanced up several times, and she was just staring at me.

And then when we got to the point where I gave the gospel, she just glared at me.

And then we prayed the sinner's prayer, and when my head came back up, her head came back up.

And I asked people to text me if you prayed that prayer.

And I saw her reach down into the pocket of her jeans and she pulled out her phone and she texted the number.

People got saved this summer, but you were a part of it, okay?

This church was a part of it.

All 50 state capitals, this church, you were part of it.

And so I'm here just uh tonight to say thank you.

Uh thank you for your support.

I want to do a little Bible study with you tonight, okay?

Uh, this being the first of the year, January 1st.

Um I know we all have New Year's resolutions.

Most everybody.

Uh I'm not very good at New Year's resolutions, okay?

Uh I've tried it so many times and I break them.

Um this year I thought, well, if I'm gonna do a new New Year's resolution, I'm just gonna do a nuclear one, okay?

So my New Year's resolution this year, I thought I'm gonna be a vegan for six months.

Now you have to understand I love barbecue, I love hamburgers, and so this morning I had my first vegan breakfast.

All I had was peanuts and unsweet iced tea.

And so I tweeted that I was a vegan and I was hungry.

PETA, okay?

You know who PETA is.

All right, well, PETA tweeted me and said, we don't want you to be hungry.

We've got some tips of things that you can eat during this new year.

So pray for me that I can make it through tomorrow, okay?

But I want to, people have asked me now, is this a fast?

No, this isn't spiritual, okay?

I just would like to lose about 30 pounds, maybe 50.

That would be fun.

So I'm gonna try to be a vegan for six months.

So this is day one.

Um, and just pray that I can make it through day two.

But I thought today we'll do a little, uh, just a little Bible study.

And this is, I'm speaking to the church.

And what I'm what I mean by the church, there may be some of you here today that you feel that God has been calling you to his service and you've been wrestling with it as to what to do.

That maybe you're too young, maybe you're too old, maybe you don't have the training, maybe you don't have the background, but it's all these things are kind of going through your through your head.

Well, I want to look at some scripture, and maybe tonight uh we can answer, uh, maybe the God's word will answer some of your questions, all right?

And it's just a simple little outline.

It's a C and it's an E and it's an O.

C E O.

All right, and we're gonna just have a little simple outline.

Okay, um, C.

Uh we're gonna look at Luke chapter 14.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

And um again, this is the word of God.

I'm gonna read it to you.

Starting verse 25.

All right, Luke 14, 25.

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them, he said, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower, will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?

For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who will see it will ridicule him, saying this fellow began to build and was not able to finish?

Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king, will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with 10,000 men to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000?

If he's not able, he'll send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Okay, it's pretty tough, isn't it?

It's pretty tough.

If you don't hate your mother, father, your wife, brother, sister, your children.

What does that mean?

It's kind of hard.

Um we know that the Bible tells us to honor our mothers and fathers, doesn't it?

We're to love our wives.

What does this mean?

I believe this is my own reading of the scripture.

I believe that what Jesus is saying, if you're going to follow me, you have to give me all of it, okay?

I come first.

I don't come second.

I come first.

Your love for me has to be greater than that of your wife, your mom, your dad, your family, all of your relatives, everything else in this world.

Your love for me has to be number one.

And matter of fact, your love for me has to be so strong that it's almost like you hate your family and everybody else because you're so focused on me.

We have to consider the cost of following the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's not easy.

He said, you've got to be willing to carry your own cross.

What was the cross?

It was an instrument of death.

You've got to be willing to that point to follow me.

And then he says, you know, consider the man's, if you're going to build a building, you're going to sit down and find out how much it costs before you start so you don't lay the foundation, and then you're not able to complete it.

Or if you're getting ready to go to war, a king's going to find out if he's got the ability to defeat the enemy that's coming toward him.

If not, he's going to find some way to make a deal.

You've got to consider the cost.

And remember, Jesus warned that the world is going to hate us, going to hate you, going to hate me.

Why?

Because they hated him first, the Lord Jesus.

And if we stand for him, and if we're going to live for him, and if we're going to be his voice, if we're going to be his eyes, if we're going to be his hands and his feet in this sin-sick world in which we live, we better count the cost.

Better count the cost.

The price is steep.

Consider the cost.

He warns us to consider the cost.

Now, there may be some of you who have you're here tonight and you feel God has been calling you.

I'm not here to scare you off.

Okay?

I just want you to consider what God is saying in His Word.

There's a cost, there's a price to pay.

Now, over the years, in the work of Samaritan's Curse, the Billy Graham Evangelist Association, I have met people that have given everything.

And you say, oh, Franklin, it must be wonderful.

It is wonderful to meet people like this.

But you begin to talk to them and you realize the hardships that they've gone through, what it's cost them personally.

Family members that have died on the field.

Imprisonment.

All kinds of sickness and disease.

But they never backed up.

They never ran.

They never quit.

I remember a missionary once years ago.

Well, actually, he was a pastor in Lebanon.

He told me, he said, Franklin, never send a missionary unless they're first a missionary in their own country.

They have to be soul winners.

If they're not a soul winner in America, first, they're not going to be a soul winner when they come here to Lebanon.

They have to be a soul winner.

Consider the cost.

I want to look at another passage of scripture.

We're going to do a little.

Now we're going to go backwards in scripture.

I hope that's okay.

What I mean by backwards, we're in chapter 14.

Let's go over to chapter 9 and read a passage of scripture.

And this is chapter 9 of Luke and verse 57.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I'll follow you wherever you go.

Jesus replied, Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.

He said to another man, Follow me.

But the man replied, Lord, first let me go bury my father.

Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

Still another said, I'll follow you, Lord, but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.

Jesus replied, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.

Just think about this for a second.

Here is our Lord walking along the road, and a man just voluntarily comes up to him.

I'll follow you.

You know, you'd be, wow, this is great.

Got a disciple here who wants to follow me.

But Jesus, remember, most of the times when he traveled, when you read the scriptures, there was a large crowd, right?

And I'm sure Jesus had this large crowd of people.

They were following him, and here he comes down the road, and this guy thinks, man, this is really cool.

You know, he's probably got it made.

All these people around him, man, it must be nice.

He's they're all calling his name, Jesus.

Look over here, Jesus.

Jesus, how about heal my son, Jesus?

And Jesus said, you know, foxes have holes.

A fox has a place to sleep.

Birds, they've got a nest, they've got a place to sleep.

Son of man doesn't have even a place to lay his head.

This guy just disappears.

He was there for the wrong reason.

I think he was there for the glory.

He wanted the excitement of the large crowd.

He wanted to be seen.

He wanted to kind of stand in the glow next to Jesus.

He wanted to feel important, maybe.

I don't know.

But he just disappears.

And then Jesus said to another, follow me.

This is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself pointing his finger to an individual.

I want you to follow me.

Wow, how could you how could you say no?

But Father or Lord, let me go bury my father.

Jesus said, let the dead bury their own dead.

Now you say, how insensitive could our Lord be?

This guy's dad is at the morgue, and he's laying there on the slab, and Jesus says, like he's indifferent, let the dead bury their own dead.

That's not what that means.

What this guy was saying was, you know, let me go take care of my father.

He's old, and when he dies, then I can I'll be free, and I can come serve you, and I can follow you.

I'm 64, okay?

My father's 98.

He might outlive me.

So I'm serious.

But we have these excuses, okay?

Excuses.

Let me bury my father.

I want to serve you, Lord, and I'm ready to go to the mission field.

I'm ready to go anywhere you call me, but I've got to take care of my mom and dad.

And when that day comes, then here I come.

Just count me in.

I'm on your team.

And then here was another one who said, I'll follow you, but I just want to go back and say goodbye to my family.

And Jesus says, anybody who puts their hand to the plow, there's no turning back, there's no looking back.

And I don't know how many people I've met over the years that have gone to the field or have gone into the church service, gone into the Lord's service somewhere, and all of a sudden they hit a bump in the road and they turn around and they come back.

Okay, they come back.

It just wasn't what they thought it was going to be.

This is serious business.

We have to count the cost.

There's a price.

And the Lord Jesus does not want any excuses.

None of this, well, as soon as my father is buried, or let me go back and say goodbye to my family.

He doesn't want to hear any of this.

He wants you to follow him.

So we've got the cost.

We've got the excuses.

So we have the C, we have the E.

Now let's find out what the O stands for.

Alright, we're going to go backwards.

Let's go to chapter four.

No, excuse me, chapter five of Luke.

Starting in verse 1, chapter 5.

One day Jesus was standing by the Lake Genneseret.

That's the Sea of Galilee.

With the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God.

He saw at the water's edge two boats left there by fishermen who were washing their nets.

He got into one of the boats that belonged to Simon and asked him to put a little from the shore.

Then he sat down and he taught the people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch.

Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night.

We haven't caught anything.

But because you say so, I will let down the nets.

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that the nets began to break.

So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.

And they came and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and he said, Go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man.

For he and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.

And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid, for now on you'll be fishers of men or catchers of men.

So they pulled their boats up on the shore and left everything and followed the Lord Jesus.

They followed him.

And it's cold water.

And so if you try to fish right along the shore, you really don't do very well.

If you go out a little bit just where the water, it's probably about 10, maybe 15 feet deep, and then it just kind of goes off a shelf and it gets real deep.

Fisher in that area, okay?

So the Lord is there in Galilee next to the lake, and he's wanting to teach the crowd, a large crowd of people, but they're pushing up against him.

So he gets into Simon's boat and he just pushes out, maybe like from here to the first row here, just to give himself a little space.

And then he sits down in the boat and he teaches the people.

And when he's through teaching, he turns to Simon, Simon, go out to the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Lord.

We fished all night.

All night.

We haven't caught a thing.

But because you say so, we will let down the nets.

Obedience.

God wants obedience.

Okay?

Obedience.

And Simon was smart enough to understand.

When he said, let down your nets for a catch.

He didn't quite understand it all.

He didn't quite get it, but he got this.

Because you say so, okay, I'm gonna do it.

My father's 98 years old.

If he said, Franklin, I want you to do this or that, I just say yes, sir.

I mean, there's no arguing.

If that's what you say, yes, sir.

Jesus, Simon, let's go out to the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Because you say so, okay.

Now, here's what happens when you obey.

When they had a catch.

Their nets were so full that they began to break.

So now they've got a problem.

Their nets are breaking.

They now, I mean, they've got so much blessing, the nets are breaking.

Now, this blessing is not such a blessing right now.

So they call for their partners, they signal to them, we got a problem, get over here quick.

They come over with their boat.

Now they fill both boats so full with fish, now the boats begin to sink.

So much blessing, now the boats are about to sink.

And then all of a sudden, Peter understands it's God.

And he said, Get away from me, I'm a sinful person.

And they dragged these boats up on the shore.

They're so full, they've never had a catch like this.

And they are looking at these fish.

And Jesus says, You think this is cool?

You think this is great, Simon?

I'll make you fishers of men, catchers of men.

And they leave those boats full of fish and they follow him.

They follow him.

It would have been very easy for them to say, you know, wow, look at what God has done.

Look at all these fish.

We just can't leave these fish behind.

This is such a blessing.

We need to clean them.

We need to take them to the market.

And just think of all the money that we can get for the Lord's work.

You think God cared about those fish?

He wanted those men.

He wanted the hearts of the men.

He wanted these men to follow him.

He wanted these men to obey him.

He can get fish anytime he wants them.

It would have been very tempting for these guys to come up with an excuse.

Lord, we're busy right now.

You've blessed us so much, we're just too busy, right?

But no.

The Lord said something to Peter that really got his attention.

You think this is great?

You follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men.

We did a lot of work over the years at Angola State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana.

The warden down there, his name was Burl Kane.

He's not there anymore, but uh Burl was running this prison.

It's a 16,000-acre farm prison.

Um guys, you know, uh work the cattle, they work the farm, they grow their own food, they raise horses.

I mean, it's a it's a prison farm and it's rough, rough place.

Most of the men there are murderers.

They go there for a life sentence.

They don't get out.

And I asked Burl Kane, I said, Burl, does any do you ever have a person escape?

He said, Oh yeah.

I said, What's it like?

He said, a manhunt is for royalty.

He said, There's nothing like a manhunt.

He said, it is so exciting.

The adrenaline gets pumping.

I thought about Peter when Jesus said, You can be a catcher of men, not fish, men.

Peter probably went, Wow, that is so cool.

Catcher of men.

God wants you to count the cost.

We're here at the first of the year, and we're looking at what God may want us to do with our lives.

Count the cost.

Because he doesn't want any excuses from you.

He wants your obedience.

Obedience.

And he will bless you beyond your wildest imagination.

I promise you that.

He will bless you.

Oh, it will be tough, it can be hard, it can be exhausting, but he'll bless you.

He will absolutely bless you.

And sometimes you may just say, Oh, Lord, hold up on this blessing because we're about to sink.

We just got too much blessing coming down the road.

But he's God.

He knows what he's doing.

He wants to get our attention.

If we'll just obey him.

And you may say, Franklin, I've never, I'm not a public speaker, and I'm not this and I'm not that.

I'm not your past the pastor.

I can't do all of these things.

Well, you let him worry about that.

He told his fisherman, Peter.

Remember Peter?

Always stumbling, always saying things when he shouldn't say them, right?

Always getting in trouble.

Stood up on the day of Pentecost, right?

Peter.

I'll make you a fisher's of men, Peter.

And those guys left those boats full of fish.

Just left them.

They left their boats, they left their nets, they left their fish, they left everything.

Remember, Jesus said, if you aren't willing to leave everything, you can't be my disciple.

And what do they do?

They leave it all.

They leave it all.

And they follow the Lord Jesus.

And as we come to this new year, 2017, I don't know what God's going to have you do.

You've got a lot of young people here in the church.

And just want to encourage you to just ask, Lord, what do you want me to do?

Be willing to count the cost, but don't give him any excuses.

He doesn't want any of that.

He doesn't want any excuses.

He just wants you to obey him.

And if he's calling you, okay?

If he's calling you, obey him.

Just obey him.

And then you better hang on, okay?

Just hang on.

Let's have a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

And Father, we thank you for loving us and caring for us.

And Father, I pray for each one that's here tonight.

And if there's anyone here tonight that has been wrestling with what to do with their life, that they're wanting to be used by you but not quite sure how or where or what.

Father, I just pray that today that they'll just look at the cost and not give you any excuses, but just simply obey.

If that's what you're doing, if you're calling them.

So, Father, I thank you for the call in my life.

Thank you, Father, for allowing me to be used in just a small way.

And I thank you for the pastor here of the church and how you've used him and to touch the lives of so many people.

And Father, thank you for this great privilege to be fishers of men.

Father, whether we fish for one or whether we fish with nets, whatever.

Father, thank you.

Because every soul is precious.

Father, you've made and created each and every one of us.

And Father, I believe time is drawing near.

And I believe time is coming near where you're sending your son back to this earth.

Thank you for sending him to shed his blood for our sins.

Father, we thank you that he died on the cross and suffered on the cross for our sins and for each and every one.

And Father, we thank you that you raised him from the grave, that he's not dead, that he's alive, and that he's coming back.

And Father, until that day that he returns, may we be faithful doing the work you've called each and every one of us to do.

So, Father, I pray for those that are watching, for those that are here tonight.

If you are calling anyone to thy service, that they will hear, and that they will obey, and that they will come.

Father, we thank you, and it's in Jesus' name we pray tonight.

Amen.