Jesus is Lord (2nd service) - Dr. Allan Meyer (May 24, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Thank you. Thank you

so much. You're very kind. And I just want to

add a couple of words too to the memorial moment

of this day. Because as you remember your fallen,

countries like Australia look at the United States

with profound gratitude. My wife Helen had an

auntie who was a well -known radio singer. in

Melbourne during the Second World War. One of

the American Marines who was involved in the

South Pacific conflict did some R &R in Melbourne

and met Helen's auntie, and as a result, into

our family came an American Marine in his extraordinarily

good -looking dress uniform. No wonder those

guys get the best girls, they've got the best

uniform and as a result Ed Barker who was born

I think in Queens in New York became part of

our family and I remember sitting with him on

a number of occasions when I was just beginning

to take Helen out and hearing his stories of

Guadalcanal and other deadly places throughout

the South Pacific and a appreciated realising

how much the free world owes to the fact that

this country exists. I know that of recent years

that there's been a sense of the weight of that,

that why is it that America has to bear the responsibility

of being the policeman of the world? But the

reality is for 70 years you have been. In many

ways, the policemen of the free world and I today

express to you, as an Australian, my personal

gratitude. Our nation would not exist had it

not been for yours. And so every sacrifice that

was made by your nation, we have been a recipient

of. And the Australian nation, at least the major

majority of it, is appreciative of the fact.

that America is a free nation and because you

are free, we have the opportunity to continue

to breathe free air and we pray, at least all

of those who are Christians, we pray for revival

throughout this nation, that God would preserve

this nation, that He would keep it and guard

it because your existence is one of the great

gifts of the 20th and the 21st century. And we

are grateful for you. Father, it is my prayer

over this nation and over this congregation that

Lord, as many Americans have laid down their

life and made it possible for nations like Australia

and New Zealand at the least to have continued

to exist and be places where one could worship

and live in the freedom that this earth is. Able

to give until Christ comes again. I pray for

revival over this nation. I pray, Father God,

that great and godly leadership will continue

to rise in this house. And Lord, in Jesus' name,

the blessing of the Lord that makes rich and

adds no sorrow will be their portion in Jesus'

name. Amen. Well, that's all for free. By the

grace of God. It's my privilege today to share

a little with you from the word of the Lord.

And I want to share with you a very simple message

in many ways. But I want to share with you a

conversation that changed my life. And there's

just an opportunity or just a chance that there

are people sitting here today that as I kind

of unfold the conversation that just was so significant

in my early years, it just might be significant

for you too. And it may have a similar effect

on you. as it had on me, and by the grace of

God that my presence here with you today could

mean for some people a fresh and gracious relationship

with Jesus for the rest of your life. See, I

grew up in Australia. I was born in Melbourne,

Australia. Helen, my wife, was born not far from

where I live, and both of us have been Melburnians

all the days of our life. And both of us always

wanted to be schoolteachers. My dad was a schoolteacher.

It's all I ever wanted to be. From about grade

three, that was my vision in life. When I got

through to the end of my high school years, we

call it year 12, I was able to win an education

department scholarship to university. as long

as I signed papers that I would be willing to

teach in high school for three years on my graduation,

which I was very happy to do. And the reality

is I grew up in a Lutheran church. My mum and

dad were real believers. Mum was a Lutheran.

Dad was a Methodist. When Methodists meet and

marry Lutherans, it is necessary that they become

Lutheran because no Lutheran could ever become

a Methodist. And as a result, my dad became...

and I grew up in a Lutheran church and I look

back on that with great thanksgiving. But the

reality is the kind of wonderful Christian people

they were, I always appreciated it and I grew

up knowing and kind of understanding the gospel.

I can't remember a time when I didn't believe

the Bible was true and I didn't believe the gospel

that Jesus lived, he died, he rose again. And

that the gift of God was salvation in Jesus'

name. I kind of grew up knowing that. But it

never actually connected with my behaviour patterns.

And as a result, I was in trouble all my life.

And I was just reflecting on some of that this

morning as we were in worship. Just some of the

dumb things that I did. And during university,

my first year of university, I was arrested by

the police for siphoning petrol out of a police

car. Which is not either a Christian thing or

an intelligent thing to do. But I thought it

was okay because I used to use the petrol to

get to choir practice on a Thursday night. And

that was my Christianity. I'd be in church every

Sunday. I believed it. But there were weird things

going on in my life. I would steal my lunch from

the university cafeteria every day. figured out

how to get it for free, walk away, not pay, and

then put a dollar in the offering on a Sunday.

And somehow that never connected with me, that

there was a deep inconsistency with that approach

to my Christianity. I was a believer, but I was

not a follower of Jesus. And then Helen came

into my life. We met each other in high school.

A year at the end of my first year of university,

when I decided having been arrested paraded in

the magistrate's court for the larceny of petrol

and having my pastor standing in court for me,

explaining to the judge what a good boy I was

and the judge wondering if I was such a good

boy, how come I had a can and a hose in the boot

of my car? That was a very embarrassing question.

It was not something he should ever have mentioned.

But the reality was I had decided by the end

of that year that crime was not supposed to be

my future. And then I met Helen. And so now my

entire life is fulfilled. I have a pretty girlfriend.

I have a car. I've got money because I'm on a

scholarship and the government is paying me to

go to university. I have a rifle. I have some

golf clubs. And life was absolutely wonderful.

I was doing full -time billiards and golf and

a little bit of university on the side. And every

now and then, Helen and I, one of the reasons

within seven days of connecting with Helen and

beginning to spend time with her, I realised

I'd found someone with whom I could build a future.

Within seven days, I thought, I will marry this

girl. She has faith. She's beautiful. What else

could a man ask for? And as a result, I would

go to her church and she would come to mine.

Now, Helen had an interesting background in that

none of her family were believers. All of my

side of the family were. She came to Christ because

at the age of four, Jesus visited her in the

backyard of her home. and revealed himself to

her as a child and said to her, you will have

a friend all the days of your life. And she found

her way to a local Anglican church where she

was discipled by a godly Church of England minister.

That was her background. I would go to her church

and she would come to mine. Now, her church was

a little different than ours in the sense that

her pastor believed in healing. And he liked

to have testimony nights. Now, I was a Lutheran.

We didn't have testimony nights. I'd never heard

a testimony in my life. I didn't realise that

testimonies actually existed. My opinion was,

you'll never know if the Bible's actually true

until you die. And then when you die, you'll

suddenly step out and there's, oh, there it is.

It's all true. Thank you, Jesus. But I had no

confidence that anybody was really encountering

God as far as I knew. And then we go to the Anglican

church and he's having testimony nights. And

these people would share their encounters with

God that I'd never heard before. And as I listened

to them, I realised their experience is very

different to mine. And on one of those nights...

A young man was sharing how he'd wrestled with

his sinful nature and one night at three o 'clock

in the morning, he'd got down on his knees and

yielded his life to Christ and the burden of

his sins rolled away and now he was in love with

Jesus and he wanted to share Jesus and honour

Jesus. And I'm sitting there thinking, yuck,

how embarrassing to be telling everybody about

Jesus. We don't talk about Jesus. That's a very

private thing. You just keep all that. Keep all

that to yourself. And I was deeply disturbed

because I realised if that's what a Christian

is, I'm not sure if I am one. And that night,

her minister quietly came up behind me and he

said to me, tell me, young man, where are you

with the Lord? Do you know in 18 years of going

to church, no one had ever asked me that question.

And I was shocked because already listening to

that testimony, I was realised I'm not sure if

I'm really a Christian at all. if that's what

one is. And I responded by saying, oh, I used

to have my doubts, but now I'm right in there.

But I drove home that night with my heart torn

open with all kinds of questions. How would you

ever know? Lord, what do you want from me? How

would I ever know where I am with you? And those

questions were like little worms got out and

started to bother my innermost being. I was starting

to stuff them back and get them back in their

place and kind of calm down and say, just carry

on with life, Al. Everything's good. When I came

to my own Lutheran church three weeks later and

we had a visiting preacher and he preached on

hell. He did a great job of explaining what the

scriptures had to say about hell. And I got to

tell you, he scared the hell out of me. He said

something on that day. It was 1967 that I heard

that sermon. And I will never forget some of

the things he said. And one of the things that

gripped my heart, he said this, the worst two

words that will ever be uttered in hell are the

words, if only. If only I'd believed. If only

I'd taken this seriously. If only I'd followed

Jesus. If only I'd been a disciple. And Jesus

said, in that day, there will be both weeping

and gnashing of teeth. There will be people who

weep. How could I have been so foolish? And there

will be others who gnash their teeth. How dare

you treat me like this after all that I did for

you? There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And at the end of that sermon, I promise you,

I was saying to myself, Alan, you have to find

out where you stand with God. Now, Lutherans

are wonderful people. If you were at least a

Baptist or a Pentecostal or something, they'd

tell you about hell and give you a chance to

get saved. The Lutherans preach about hell and

send you home for lunch. I left that church that

day. I could hardly walk out of that church.

And in my heart, I said, I've got to find out

where I stand with the Lord. Now, the next day

I was working in a quarry during my university

vacation. I was driving a big Euclid truck all

by myself up and down the face of that quarry.

So I'm spending the entire day in solitary confinement,

just my own thoughts. And for the next days,

as I'm driving up and down there alone, I'm saying

to God, what do you want from me? And then I

started thinking, well, what would a real Christian

life look like? I mean, Lord, what would be enough

to get me across the line? Because this was my

concern. I want to be saved. I don't want to

go to hell. I want to go to heaven, but I don't

want to be a fanatic. So I don't want to overdo

it, you know. I'm not trying to be a saint. I

just want to get there. But I don't want to miss

out because I realise missing out, oh God, no,

not that. And I would like... to just suddenly

turn up in heaven and have everybody say, we

never thought we'd see you around here. And I'd

say, oh no, me and Jesus was like this. I was

a secret agent for God. I was under the radar

until I just popped up in heavenly places. And

the question is, you better not get that wrong,

Al. So what's your list? What do you need to

do to be right with God? And I started to try

to figure it out. The first thing I thought of

was money. Now, God's nearly always broke. They

tell you that in church. And as a result, I thought

if I was to give God money, that's got to count

for something. So I can up my giving and if I

give that, that's got to be a tick. I'll improve

my giving. And I began to think through, I could

cut out the swearing. That'd be a good idea.

And all week I'm trying to figure out how Christian

I'm prepared to be so that I'm pretty sure I'm

right with God, but I'm not a fanatic and nobody

else knows I'm going to heaven. On the final,

on the Thursday, I had a brilliant thought. Sunday

school, Sunday school, brilliant, brilliant.

I'm training to be a school teacher. It happens

in church on Sunday. So it's not like it disturbs

the rest of your week. And most of the people

that I know, you know, the boys, whoa, Al, what

are you doing? Oh, no, I'm going to, I'm okay.

I'm going to do my Christian stuff in church

on Sunday, teaching the widowed children about

Jesus. And if Sunday school teachers don't make

it to heaven, you tell me who does. How much

suffering does it take to get into heaven? And

so I thought, that's brilliant. Sunday school

teaching's gotta go well with the Lord. I put

that on the list because it's in church on Sunday.

I can be normal all through the week and be really

holy on Sunday for the little children. I came

home from the quarry on a Thursday afternoon.

I shower up, I'm gonna pick up Helen and we're

gonna go out somewhere. And as I got near the

front door, God spoke to me as clearly as I'm

speaking to you. not in my ears, in my chest,

right in here. And he simply said to me, I want

you to be a minister. Well, I got to tell you,

that wasn't on my list. Immediately, I saw myself

dressed like a Lutheran minister with all the

black clothes on and the colours around my neck.

And I thought, I'm trying to fly under the radar.

I'm trying to get to heaven with nobody noticing.

If I have to be a minister, they're going to

figure it out pretty quickly. And I just burst

into tears. Oh no. Oh God, shoot me now. Shoot

me now. I was horrified. I jumped in my car.

I went round to see Helen and I took her outside.

I said, I think God wants me to be a minister.

She cried. She didn't want to marry a minister.

I have a reverse testimony. You've heard people.

I was low and broken. I was down and out and

Jesus came along and lifted me up. Well, I was

doing great. I had a pretty girlfriend, a car,

a rifle, some golf clubs, some money in my pocket.

Everything in life was fantastic. And then Jesus

came along and wrecked my entire life. Suddenly,

I got this call from God on my life. I've got

to be honest and tell you, for me, it was terrifying.

I've got to tell you, I've improved since that

time. I'm doing better, I can tell you. But at

that time, it was a horrifying experience. And

I just didn't know how to cope with it. And I

was getting then into the next year. It was my

final year of training. And I was in university.

And the call of God, God was gracious to me.

He would draw near. And the call would just be,

he pressed the call on my heart. And then I'd

crumble and say, oh, no. That morning, the next

morning after he spoke to me, I was working in

the quarry. But that day I was on a jackhammer

drilling holes in big rocks to put dynamite in

and blow them up. And for four solid hours, I

stood on big rocks with a jackhammer and balled

my head off and said to God, I'm going to hate

every minute of this. And I'm trying to figure

out how do you disobey God and get to heaven

at the same time? Now, because I was a university

student and incredibly brilliant, it only took

four hours to figure that out. He said, oh, you're

not going to be able to pull that off. And so

at 11 .30 in the morning, weeping on a jackhammer,

I said to the Lord, if I have to, I will, but

I'm going to hate every minute of this. The angels

must have written that down. Did you hear that?

What a testimony. Let's write that one down.

Let's show that to him one day. And that's where

I was at that time. And the call would come.

And when it did, I would be overwhelmed. And

then God would back off and he'd leave me alone

for a little while. Then he'd come and press

the call again. And at the end of the next year,

I was about to finish my university and I'm studying

for my final exams. in the university library

and I can't study because God's pressing the

call upon my heart again. And I'm just overwhelmed

and I don't know how to handle it. And so I can't

think straight. And I said to God, you've got

to leave me alone. If I fail this exam, I'll

be stuck in university forever. You'll never

get me out of here. And Lord, give me a break.

And I noticed on the daily diary, the university

diary, there was gonna be a Lutheran. religious

service in the university religious centre at

lunchtime that day and I said to God, I'll do

something religious if you'll leave me alone.

So down I went to the lunchtime meeting hoping

to get some peace so I can study and get this

exam done. And I'm sitting there in the religious

centre and people began to come in and a young

man just came in and sat down beside me. The

service took off and went on for about 20 minutes

and it was totally meaningless to me. Didn't

touch me in one eye over. And when the service

was over, the young man who was doing it packed

up and he left and I didn't leave because I'm

devastated. I still have no peace. I don't know

what to do. I don't know how to respond to this.

The young man beside me just opened his bag,

took out his lunch and started asking me a question.

Give you a hint about sharing your faith. Don't

leave the coffee shop or the table, wherever

you are, don't leave too soon. Because you have

no idea what kind of need there is sitting right

next to you. See, I don't know what brought you

to church today. I don't know why you're sitting

in your seat today. What was it that brought

you? Some of you may do this every week. Some

of you may be here and you've never been before.

But there's one person in heaven, Jesus, who

knows every cry in your heart. And you have no

idea who it is that sat down beside you and what

it is they're carrying that may have everything

to do with your eternal destiny. Just don't leave

too soon. And he simply asked me, how's life?

The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart,

the mouth speaks and I just spilled it out. Oh,

I'm miserable. I think God's got a call on my

life and I'm just totally overwhelmed and I don't

know how to. And he said, oh, that's fantastic.

And I said, no, no, it's not fantastic. It's

awful. And he said, well, why? And I said, because

I don't want to do it. He said, are you a believer?

I said, yeah. Well, tell me, mate, what do you

believe? Well, you ask a Lutheran that. Lutherans

know a lot of stuff they believe. So I can tell

you what I believe. I believe in God, the Father

Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus

Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived

by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,

dead and buried. He descended into hell. Third

day he rose again from the dead, descended into

heaven, sits at the right hand of God, the Father

Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge

the living and the dead. Believe in the Holy

Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion

of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection

of the body and the life everlasting. Do you

think I'm saved? He said, oh, it's possible.

He said, man, that's a lot of believing you've

got going on there. That's extraordinary. But

you don't want to respond to God with thanksgiving.

No, not really. You say, well, in the midst of

all your believing, is it possible you might

have overlooked one or two of the words in there?

Like what? Well, try this one. I believe in God,

the Father, almighty maker of heaven and earth,

and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.

You might have missed that word out, that word,

Lord. Have you ever kind of wondered what the

word Lord actually means? Why they call him the

Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, I guess it's part of his

title. I mean, everybody's got to have at least

three names. I mean, there's Professor John Brown

and there's Apostle George Smith. I mean, if

he only had two names, Jesus Christ, it's not

really a whole name, is it? You need another

one in there. So Lord Jesus Christ fills the

whole name right out. Well, that's a good try,

but let's... suggests that maybe there's more

to it than that. Because you've got a lot of

believing going on there, Albert. Do you realise

that the earliest church didn't make it that

complex? See, it took 150 years to develop the

Apostles' Creed. The early church had a creed

that was only four words. Jesus Christ is Lord.

Maybe we should... Think a little bit about what

that word means, because if that's a whole Christian

confession in four words, probably each of those

words counts a fair bit. What do you think the

word Lord means? Well, I'm not sure. Well, let

me tell you. See, the word Lord means the master.

It means the one who owns everything. The one

with supreme power and authority. The one who

rules. The supreme being. The one who has dominion.

The one who has authority. The one who has the

power. Put it in a single word, he's the boss.

Now, the essence of being a Christian is all

wrapped up in those three words in Jesus' name.

The whole gospel is wrapped up in his name. First

of all, the word Lord. There is someone who rules

and reigns now and forever. That's who he is.

But he has a name. The one who rules and reigns

forever is Jesus. And his name, Jehoshua, means

he will save his people from their sins. And

the word Christ means he has been anointed with

power and authority to save, to heal, and to

rule. The whole gospel is tied up in his name.

And this extraordinary person who rules and reigns,

who saves his people from their sins and is anointed

to heal, to rule and to restore, is calling you

into his service. It might be good if we responded

with a little more enthusiasm. Because the fact

is, Your saviour is your Lord. He began then

to unpack some of the insights. You see, Jesus,

perhaps of recent years, is presented at times

as saviour, and he is. But it's not the way he

was presented essentially in the New Testament.

There was another word that was presented with

preeminence above salvation. Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Peter preaching. Romans 10 verse 9. If you confess

Romans 10:9

with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in

your heart that God has raised him from the dead,

you will be saved. Salvation carries on from

his kingship. Philippians 2, 9, 11. God highly

exalted him. And bestowed on him the name which

is above every name so that at the name of Jesus

every knee shall bow. Of those who are in heaven

and on earth and under the earth and that every

tongue will confess. What are they going to confess?

Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the

Father. 1 Peter chapter 3. But sanctify Christ

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

as Lord in your hearts. 1 Corinthians 8, for

us there is but one God, the Father, from whom

are all things, and we exist for him. Hell, apart

from the living God, there is no point to your

existence. And one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom

are all things, and we exist through him. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. For we do not preach ourselves, but

Christ Jesus as Lord. And Revelation 17 puts

the bow on the package. These will wage war against

the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them because

he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. You say,

I've got a concern for you. explain this to you,

mate. I think you're trying to marry a dishwasher.

What on earth do you mean by that? Marrying a

dishwasher? Well, imagine this. You come to your

wedding day and there you are standing in front

of the altar with the minister and Helen in all

her beauty standing alongside you and the pastor

says, repeat to Helen your vows. And I start,

I, Alan, take you, Helen, to be my lawfully wedded

dishwasher. If no one from the congregation has

a word to say, someone up the front is about

to have a word to say. Excuse me? Oh, sorry.

I take you as my lawfully wedded dishwasher,

my cook, my cleaner, my romantic companion. Hold

it. Now I don't think you understand what you're

doing here. You didn't come here to marry a dishwasher.

You didn't come here to marry a cook. You didn't

come to marry a seamstress. You didn't come to

marry a baby factory. You came to marry a wife.

Now, if you receive her as your wife, there's

just a chance that might be an occasional dish

gets washed. Just a chance. But you can't come

here and marry, take a lawfully wedded dishwasher

home with you. If you come and embrace a wife,

there'll be numerous things undoubtedly she will

do. But you cannot take her as your lawfully

wedded dishwasher. I think that's what you're

trying to do with Jesus Christ. You cannot. marry

a dishwasher. You see, the gospel presents Christ

to us as Lord, Jesus, who saves his people from

their sins and anointed to heal, restore and

to rule. You can't take him as your saviour if

you will not embrace him as your Lord. You embrace

the Lord and he will wash your body, soul, and

your spirit. But you can't have Jesus as saviour

if you will not embrace him as Lord. You see,

the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a sunthiki,

it's a diathiki. What's that supposed to mean?

They're both Greek words for covenant in the

New Testament. But a sunthiki, is a covenant

between equals. I decide I want to buy Derek's

motorbike. I say, Derek, I'd like to buy your

motorbike. Give you $3 ,000. He says, no, I'm

interested, want five. Hold on, five, that's

far too much. Give you three and a half. Well,

I'll drop it to four and a half. You see, that's

a sunthiki, a negotiated agreement. That's exactly

what I was trying to do with my little list.

With Jesus. This is what I'm prepared to do.

Here's your problem. The gospel is not a sun

thicky. It's a dear thicky. A dear thicky is

a covenant between a superior and an inferior.

It is offered to you as a package. You can receive

it or you can reject it. But you don't get to

negotiate it. If you will embrace him as your

Lord. He will wash you and save you from your

sins. Danger for you, Al, is that you may well

deceive yourself that you have a relationship

with him because you like the idea of the forgiveness

of sins and salvation, but you don't like the

idea of being under his lordship and of yielding

your future into... The Bible says, I was on

that pathway. Listen to it in the words of Jesus.

You can't claim intimacy with Jesus and be full

of the devil at the same time. You can't be full

of sin and full of the devil. while claiming

relationship with the Saviour and pull that one

off. Jesus said it himself, away from me, you

workers of iniquity. There is a contradiction.

You're not a doer of the word. You're a hearer

only and you have deceived yourself. Oh God.

I am so glad I sat in that spot on that day and

someone sat next to me who was willing not to

just get up and walk away but sit and eat his

lunch and for two solid hours we talked this

stuff through and he told me things I'd never

been told before and by the grace of God, I heard.

Listen to what Jesus says. Why do you call me

Lord? Lord, and do not do the things that I say.

This conversation changed my life. Jesus said

to his critics in one of the parables, he said,

tell me what you think of this parable. He said,

there was once a man with two sons and the father

came to the first and he said, son, I want you

to go and work in the vineyard today. And the

son replied, I'd rather not. But afterward, he

deeply regretted what he had said to his father.

He changed his mind and decided to go to the

vineyard. I am that son. That's me in the Bible.

I don't want to do it. Until someone had the

courage to tell me, your salvation is a dear

thicky. It comes from heaven to earth. You can

accept it. You can reject it, but you can't negotiate

it. And I said to the Lord, forgive me. I'm so

grateful for that conversation. The father approached

the second son and said the same thing to him.

The son replied, father, I will go and I will

do as you said. But he never did. He didn't go

to the vineyard. Tell me now, Jesus said, which

of these two sons did the will of his father?

They answered him the first one. Jesus said,

you're right. For many sinners and tax collectors

and prostitutes are going into God's kingdom

realm ahead of you. Your sin will not keep you

out of heaven if you will turn to the Lord and

receive his lordship. No sin can keep you out

of heaven if you will turn to the amazing Lord

of life who will also save his people from John

came to show you the path of goodness and righteousness,

yet the despised and outcasts believed in him,

but you did not. And when you saw them turn,

you neither repented of your ways nor believed

in his words. I will never cease to thank God

for Graham, Willard Turton, a fellow student

who sat beside me and spent two hours to explain

to me something I desperately needed to hear.

Let me teach you a little chorus. I was wanting

Jackie to play this but when I played it to her

she'd never heard it before and that was a problem

which demonstrates that we are probably of different

generations. Just give me a little more piano

in this one here. Just a little, if you would.

Great old song from my era growing up through

the charismatic renewal touched so many people.

But let me use it as a little illustration to

conclude with today. There's a guy one day bought

an apartment and he thought, you know what I'm

going to do? I'm going to find myself a tenant

and then he'll pay me the rent and that'll be

a good deal. So he bought an apartment and installed

a tenant. And on the end of the first month,

he came to the door and knocked on it. Tenant

comes to the door, says, oh, are you the owner?

He says, yes, I am. He said, wonderful. He says,

I've got something for you. Takes a backward

step and begins to sing. You are the owner. You

are the owner. You have bought this apartment.

You are the owner. Every knee shall bow. Every

tongue confess that you are the owner. Shut the

door and went inside. The guy said, well, that's

interesting. I've never seen that before. Maybe

you're going to pay two months rent. Next month

comes back. The end of the second month knocks

on the door. Man comes out. Oh, sweetheart, it's

the owner. Out come the wife and two children.

And in four -part harmony, they begin. You are

the owner. You are the owner. You are the owner.

You are the owner. They give him the whole thing.

Shut the door and go inside. Extraordinary. I'll

try for three months' rent next month. Comes

back at the end of the third month, knocks on

the door. Oh, it's the owner. Neighbours start

appearing from everywhere. 60 piece band and

120 in the orchestra and all together they begin.

You are the owner, you are the owner. Give him

the entire thing. There will come a moment when

he'll say, shut up and show me the money. He

is Lord, He is risen from the dead and He is

Lord. And He's worth more than a song. Thank

God for worship. It's not a substitute for obedience.

It is not a substitute for consecration. It is

not a substitute for a walk with God in the midst

of a broken world. And sooner or later He will

come and say, show me your Lordship. Let me ask

you a couple of questions as I finish today.

If Jesus Christ really was your Lord, would you

have to treat your money in a different way?

If Christ really was your Lord, would you have

to make some adjustment to your sex life? If

Jesus was Lord, would you need to take your purity

more seriously? If Jesus Christ was Lord, would

you need to love your husband, your wife, your

father, your mother better than you do right

now? If Jesus Christ was really your Lord, would

you turn up at work next Tuesday and do a better

day's work because he is Lord? If Jesus Christ

was really Lord, would you forgive your worst

enemy more quickly? If Christ was really Lord,

would you stop driving and texting at the same

time? If Jesus was really Lord, could you clean

up your room without your mother having to shout

at you? If Jesus was really Lord, would you resolve

conflict more quickly? Would you pray more passionately?

Would you just serve better? I thank God for

a young man who sat alongside me and changed

the direction of my life because he helped me

to understand I was trying to marry a dishwasher.

Now let me give you the final bit of this little

story. It's extraordinary. I never spoke about

this for 50 years. A few years ago, I remembered

the guy and was so grateful I preached this message

for the very first time. But I mentioned in the

message his name, Graham Willard Turton. At the

end of that message, a man came out of the congregation

to say, that's incredible, that man's my uncle.

I'm going to ring him up and tell him about that.

So he rang up his uncle, Graham, who by now had

been used by God to establish the Christian school

movement right across. New South Wales, the big

state in Australia. And not only that, when his

wife heard that I had mentioned her husband as

the most significant moment in my life, she burst

into tears because she was a facilitator of the

Life Keys courses in their church. And she realised

my husband influenced Alan Meyer and we do his

courses and I'm one of his facilitators. He died

last year. I had the privilege, by the way, he

came and had lunch with me and I told him I was

about to rewrite the Search for Life course that's

currently being run in this church. He said,

Alan, I'll help you edit it because that's one

of the skills God's given me. I often edit for

people who are writing stuff. And so Graham,

who touched my life back in 1968, 69, edited

with me the new Search for Life. And then a few

months later, contracted. He took his life. I

had the privilege of making a 15 -minute video

for him in which I just laid it out again. I

will never cease to thank God that a boy sat

next to me in the religious centre. and helped

me to understand I was trying to marry a dishwasher.

Changed the direction of my life. I'll meet you

again in heaven, Graham. But until then, I'll

do my best to see how many else we can get there.

I thank you for what you did. I thank God for

what you did. And today is my prayer. If you've

been struggling with the call of God on your

life, you're afraid to respond. You feel like

it'll kill your life. I cannot tell you how grateful

I am. that He changed my perspective and I have

walked with the Lord from that day through to

this. And may God today take whoever you are,

touch you with His story and this one and encourage

you to yield to the divine and gracious kingship

of Jesus. Just let Him love you and things will

go so well. May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make His face to shine upon you

and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up

His countenance upon you and give you His peace

now and forever. In Jesus' name. God bless you.

Thank you for being with us today. Thank you

for taking the time to listen to this week's

message. We are so grateful for those who tune

in each week and have given generously to this

ministry. If you would like to give click the

link in the episode description below. You can

also help us by subscribing to this podcast and

sharing it with your friends and family. Lastly,

if you are in need of prayer send us a text message

at 541 -625 -1365. We would love to pray with

you.