Jesus is Lord (1st 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. You're

very kind. And might I just add a little to that

moment you gave to Memorial Day because as an

Australian, your Memorial Day isn't just about

America. It's about the entire free world. The

reality is this. Australia would not exist today

in its present form. if America had not arisen

in the Second World War and turned the tide.

We had a very close relationship. My Helen's

auntie was a radio singer in Melbourne during

the Second World War and an American Marine on

R &R in Melbourne met her. And Helen's auntie

married an American Marine who was involved in

the liberation of the Pacific. And I sat with

him on a number of occasions and heard him share

of both the horror and the sacrifice that allowed

nations like Australia to continue to exist.

We owe you a profound... debt of gratitude. And

we are grateful for this great nation. There

is a saviour and there is a devil. And the devil

would love to eradicate nations who make worship

and the ministry of the gospel one of their priorities.

He'd love to eradicate those nations and bring

the entire earth under the darkness of unbelief.

Never underestimate, you probably don't, we don't,

underestimate the significance of the existence

of the United States of America. Fight for her

because as you do, you don't just fight for your

nation, you fight for the free world and I need

you to know we are grateful. Father, I pray a

blessing upon this nation and I pray a blessing

upon... those who today are remembering, those

who gave their lives in the midst of conflict

and those who didn't give their lives in that

they returned but gave years of their life to

do what others would never have wanted to do.

I give you thanks and it is my prayer that this

nation will stand and arise in her strength and

in her power. under the gospel of Jesus Christ

and let her prosper in Jesus' name. Amen. Just

thought I'd throw that in there for free and

much appreciate the opportunity to be with you.

It's a very extraordinary thing. My life was

profoundly touched. by Frank DiMuzio and Kevin

Connor was in many ways, many of you might even

know who Kevin Connor is because Kevin was such

a significant person in the life of Frank DiMuzio,

obviously, providing him with a wife and also

being the head of the Bible College there, which

Frank graduated from. And Frank DiMuzio was on

eight different occasions our major speaker in

Melbourne. for a pastor's conference that we

called Intermen. And as a result, we knew both

Frank very well. And of course, Kevin Connor

pastored very close to the church where we were.

And Kevin, I saw Kevin Connor as a father in

my life. And to think that I have the privilege

of coming and standing here as part of the fruit

of the extended ministry of those two godly men,

it is a profound privilege. shake your pastor's

hand because this is a very precious congregation

and to be able to get up early this morning along

with Jesus and get involved in a prayer meeting

this morning. This is a house of prayer and I

want to commend you for that and think it's a

great privilege to be able to share from this

pulpit today. I want to talk to you, share with

you today a very simple message. A conversation

that changed my entire life. And if you've ever

done the Search for Life, I'll give you a little

link between that course that has been shared

here, the Search for Life, and this message,

because I would not be standing here and I would

not have ever created Careforce Life Keys if

it hadn't been for a number of things. One, the

girl that I met and married, and secondly, a

conversation with a university student that took

place many, many years ago during my... university

training and I today simply want to share in

appreciation for a conversation that changed

my life and is having an influence at least on

some of you today because all I ever wanted to

be in life was a school teacher. I never wanted

to be a pastor. I grew up in a home where my

father was a teacher and from childhood my dream

was to be a high school teacher in Australia.

I passed my year 12s and won an education department

scholarship to university that paid my way through

what you'd call college. We called it university.

And I was training to be a commerce teacher and

grew up going to church. So there was never a

time when I don't remember that I kind of believed

the Bible and was being discipled in a Lutheran

church. a believer. But I'd never actually connected

what I was hearing to a lot of the things that

were going on in my life. In my first year university,

I was arrested for siphoning petrol out of a

policeman's car. But I had always felt that it

wasn't a serious problem because I was using

the petrol to drive to choir practice on a Thursday

night. I would regularly steal my lunch from

the university cafeteria. I had simply developed

a way of getting my lunch for free. And for some

reason, that never seemed to be a severe contradiction

that I'd be in church on Sunday and stealing

stuff during the week. But I was a believer and

I thought that that was covering the bases pretty

well. I was certainly not a follower of Jesus

Christ. I was not a disciple, but I was a church

-going believer. Now, Helen and I met each other

in high school, and about the end of my first

year, I was sitting on my car in a main street

in Melbourne, and across my heart breathed a

question. I wonder what happened to Helen. I

wonder what happened to Helen Tew. That was her

name, T -E -W. When I first heard her name, I

thought she was Chinese, Helen Chu, but no, she

actually had an English background. And I drove

around to her house, and she was in a little

bit of an emotional crisis, and I presented myself

as the knight in shining armour, having come

to save her from her miserable life. And as a

result, I invited her out, and within seven days,

I knew I had found a girl with whom I could build

a future. She was a believer. She had a very

precious background. And although her family

were not believers, she had had an encounter

with Jesus in the backyard at the age of four

and had grown up being discipled by a godly Anglican

minister in her neighbourhood. And as a teenager,

she had to sneak out of the house to get to church.

And as a result, I now had, as a second year

university student, a beautiful girlfriend. I

had a car because I had a scholarship. I had

a little money in my pocket. I owned a rifle.

I had a set of golf clubs. And life was pretty

much wonderful. I was doing a little bit of university

and doing a lot of sport on the side. And Helen

and I began our relationship. Now, I would visit

her church, her Anglican church, and she would

come to my Lutheran church. But her Anglican

minister was a little different from the experiences

that I'd had in church. I had three godly Lutheran

pastors. And I just thank God for the influence

they had on my life. They were good and wonderful

men. And the Bible was preached faithfully in

our church. But I'd never heard a testimony in

my life. Lutherans didn't do that. You went to

church and you went home. And she had an Anglican

minister that used to invite people in to share

their experiences with God. Well, I didn't know

anybody who had had experiences with God. And

as a result, this was a new event for me. And

listening to those testimonies shook me up. Because

I realised that there was a difference between

someone who is a believer and siphons petrol

out of other people's cars and someone who's

actually walking with the Lord. And I began to

appreciate that there was a kind of Christianity

with which I was not that familiar. And one night,

one of these testimonies, a young man was sharing

how he'd had an encounter with the Lord. And

he'd woken up in the night and he was deeply

overwhelmed or distressed by his sins. And he'd

called on the name of the Lord and the Lord had

met with him. And out of that, it's a bit like,

you know, my chains fell off, my heart was free.

I rose, went forth and followed thee, as Charles

Wesley says in his hymn. And he said, now I can't

help tell everybody about Jesus and I want to

share Christ. And I was sitting there thinking,

yuck. You know, that's embarrassing, talking

about Jesus all the time. And I realised I don't

talk about Jesus ever. There's something different

about him and me and his testimony shook my cage.

And later that evening, Helen's minister sidled

up behind me quietly and he said, 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 being asked, it shook

me again. And I responded by saying, oh, well,

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

there. And I realised I haven't got a clue where

I stand with the Lord. And as I drove Helen home

that night, I was shaken. It was like all the

little worms were getting out of the box and

creating for me an emotional tension. And I didn't

know how to answer the question. And I wondered,

how would you ever know? where you stood with

the Lord. I guess I'd come to the conclusion

that the Bible's true, but you'll never really

know it until you die. And then you'll see heaven

and then you'll say, oh, it's all true. Because

that was to me, my expectation. And someone's

asking me where I stand with the Lord and I haven't

got a clue how to even answer the question. Good

Lutheran voice should have been able to answer

that question. But over the next three weeks,

that upset prepared me for an encounter. And

over the next weeks, I kept pushing the worms

back into their box. Get back in there. It's

all okay. Life is good. And I went to my own

Lutheran church three weeks later. And we had

a visiting Lutheran pastor who preached an extraordinary

message on hell. And as I sat there and he unpacked

eternity separated from the presence of God,

my heart trembled. He did a great job. In fact,

he preached that message in 1968. And I can still

remember one thing that he said as clear as a

bell. He said the worst two words that will ever

be uttered in hell are the words, if only. If

only I'd listened. If only I'd obeyed, if only

I'd received him, if only I'd followed, if only

I'd taken it seriously. Jesus said there'll be

weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some will weep

and some will be angry. How dare you do this

to me? And others will be saying, why didn't

I listen? Why didn't I take it seriously? And

as that sermon unfolded, he tore my heart open.

And I sat there that day, I was terrified because

I'd already appreciated three weeks earlier,

I don't know where I stand with the Lord. And

that sermon presented me with the recognition,

Al, you better find out. You better resolve this

because we're talking about eternal issues here.

And as a result, I found myself deeply shaken.

Now, I was working in a quarry during my university

vacation. And so the next day, the Monday, I

went off to my university job in the quarry,

driving a big Euclid truck up and down the quarry

all by myself, sitting in that truck for the

next days, thinking through what that message

had said to my heart. And saying to yourself,

Al, you've got to get it sorted out where you

stand with God. And the question I was asking,

well, how would you know where you stood with

God? So I started to prepare what I thought was

a bit of a tick list of what it would mean if

I was really a serious follower of the Lord.

Now, the first thing I thought of was money.

You know, God's nearly always broke. They tell

you that in church, you know. And I thought,

Lord, if I was to give you more money, that's

got to count for something. And I'll up my giving

a little. I'll be happy to increase. And I put

that, that's got to be a tick. And I started

working my way through a list of things I felt

I could do that might kind of improve the quality

of my discipleship. And the last one I came up

with was brilliant. Sunday school. Sunday school.

Brilliant, Alan. Brilliant. Because, see, this

was my desire. I wanted to go to heaven, but

I didn't want to be a fanatic. My plan was to

be a secret agent for God all the days of my

life. I will fly under the radar, and when I

die, I'll end up in heaven, but I'll be just

inside. The gates will close and touch me right

on the backside. People will turn around with

a shocked look and say, we never thought we'd

see you here, mate. And I'd say, oh no, me and

Jesus was like that. I was a secret agent for

God. And I was planning, I'll live that kind

of secret. discipleship life and I'll be okay.

And then I came up with the best idea of all,

Sunday school. Sunday school, brilliant thinking,

Alan. You're training to be a teacher. And Sunday

school happens in church on Sunday. No one's

gonna know where you are, but Jesus will know.

And as a result, I can teach the widowed children

about Jesus and then be normal all through the

week. I mean, how much suffering does it take

to get into heaven? I'm prepared to be a Sunday

school teacher, man. That is dedication. I was

getting my tick list together and I was starting

to feel pretty good about it. I can be that kind

of Christian. I can pull that off. I came home

from the quarry on a Thursday afternoon. I showered.

I'm gonna pick up Helen and take her out. I got

right near the front door and as I put my hand

on the doorknob, God spoke to me in here as clear

as a bell. And he simply said to me, I want you

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

that wasn't on my list. A minister. I immediately

saw myself dressed as a Lutheran minister with

my black stuff on and the colours around my neck.

And I burst into tears. Oh God. Oh God, a minister.

Shoot me now. Shoot me now. I was horrified.

I went round to Helen's house. I took her outside

in the garden. I said, I think God wants me to

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

marry a minister. I hate to say it, but I've

got a reverse testimony. You've heard those testimonies?

I was down and I was low and broken and Jesus

came and lifted me up. Well, I was doing great.

all baby. I mean I had a scholarship and a beautiful

girlfriend and a car and a rifle and the golf

clubs and life was fantastic and Jesus came along

and wrecked my entire life. And so now I'm a

university student with a call of God on his

life and I want to tell you I was miserable.

And as a result the next day I was on a jackhammer

at the quarry and I And I got up and went to

work and I was just traumatised. A minister.

I was on a jackhammer all day drilling holes

in big rocks to pop them with dynamite. And I

cried for four hours. Oh God. And I'm trying

to figure out how to disobey God and get to heaven.

Now because I was a university student it only

took four hours to work that out. You're not

going to be able to pull that off, Al. And at

half past 11 in that morning, standing on a rock

with a jackhammer in my hand, I said to God,

I'm going to hate every minute of this, but if

I have to, I'll do it. Now the angels were probably

weeping. Somebody write that down. That's one

of the most moving testimonies of salvation I've

ever heard. But that's exactly where I was. And

as a result, over the next year, I would wrestle

with this call of God upon my life. And in the

following year, I was just at the end of my university,

about to go out into my teaching career. And

I was studying in the university library, trying

to get ready for one of my final exams. And the

call of God was weighing on my heart and I was

just overwhelmed by it. Filled with fear, filled

with apprehension, just felt like it was the

impossible. claim upon my life and it was so

distressing I just couldn't study and I said

to God you've got to leave me alone I've got

to get this exam done or else I'll never get

out of here I'll be here at university for the

rest of my life Lord give me a break and I'm

trying to find some peace so I can study and

I noticed on the university diary for the day

that there was going to be a Lutheran lunchtime

service in the religious centre at the uni on

that day. And I thought, I'm willing to do anything.

I'll go to a lunchtime service to try and get

some peace. So down I went to get some peace

and I sit down in the university religious centre

waiting for the service to start and the service

starts and it went on and it was absolutely meaningless

to me. But while I'm sitting there, a young man

just came and sat down beside me. Now there's

people sitting around us. And at the end of the

service I was distressed because I'd hoped it

would make a difference and it didn't. And the

guy who was doing the service packed up and he

was about to leave and because I was so distressed

I didn't move. I just sat there in that religious

centre. And the guy beside me didn't leave either.

He just opened his bag, got out his lunch and

started to eat his lunch and he asked me a question.

He said, how's life? Now that's an interesting

thing. If you want to share your faith, just

don't leave a conversation too soon. Because

the Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart,

the mouth speaks. And the moment he asked me

that question, how are you? I just began spilling

it out. Oh, I'm terrible. I'm trying to study

and I can't study because God's got a call upon

my life and he wants me to minister and I don't

want to be a minister. And I just poured it all

out. I can never tell you how much I thank God

that that guy just happened to turn up and sit

on that seat on that day. The sovereignty of

God in your life is one of the greatest gifts.

I wonder why you're here this morning. I wonder

why you're sitting in your seat and I'm standing

up here sharing my story. You think all that's

necessarily just a coincidence of circumstances?

You may well be sitting here today never expecting

to hear what I'm about to say to you. But you're

here because God passionately loves you. And

he's got you sitting in a seat today to hear

something that perhaps you deeply need to hear.

And we started a conversation together. And here

was a young man who was preparing to be a missionary.

And he asked me the question. Well, that's a

fantastic thing. You want to be a minister? I

said, no, no, it's awful. I don't want to be

a minister. He said, why not? And I said, well,

because I just don't want to. And he asked me

a question. He said, are you a believer? And

I said, well, sure. Well, tell me, mate, what

do you believe? Well, I'm a Lutheran. You ask

me that question, I can tell you. Well, 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.

He ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand

of God, the Father Almighty. From thence 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 dead 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 got

going on there, man. That's quite impressive.

And I said, yeah, well, I believe it. I believe

it all, you know. He said, well, that's wonderful,

but you don't want to be a minister. No. I said,

I'm just wondering if maybe in all that believing

you've kind of missed a little bit. Well, which

bit? You said it there, right there. I believe

in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven

and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son,

our Lord. You know, you might have missed that

bit. Lord. You know, the earliest Christian confession

didn't have that many words in it. That's a lot

of words. The Apostles' Creed's a great, great

confession of faith, but that took my 150 years

to get that one sorted out. Right there at the

beginning, it was a lot simpler than that. In

fact, the whole Christian confession came down

to four words, Jesus Christ is Lord. And maybe

I'm just wondering if perhaps you might have

just missed that a little bit. And I'm wondering,

what do you think that word means in his title,

the Lord Jesus Christ? And I said, well, I guess

it's a title, you know, like Professor James

Brown or Apostle Jim Smith. Lord Jesus Christ.

I mean, if he did have Lord in there, he'd only

have two names and it wouldn't really work that

well. I think you might've missed something there,

man. Because that word carries content. The word

Lord means that he is the owner. He's the master.

He is the one with supreme power and authority.

He's the one who rules. He's the supreme being.

He's the one with dominion. He's the one with

power and with authority. In fact, put it in

simple words, he's the boss. The essence of the

gospel is revealed in his name, the Lord Jesus

Christ. The word Lord, he is the one who has

all authority. He rules and he reigns forever.

And the one who rules and reigns forever has

a name. And his name is Jesus, Joshua, which

means he will save his people from their sins.

And he is also the Christ who has been anointed

by the Father with power and authority to save

and to heal and to rule. And this is the one

who is inviting you onto his ministry team. Could

we get a little bit excited about that? And the

answer, not yet. He said, the thing that you're

missing here, Al, is that your saviour is your

Lord. In fact, that's the only way Christ has

ever been presented to the world. Now, you might

have lost the word Lord in there somewhere. but

that's how Christ was always presented. In fact,

just listen to the way the angels presented him

to the shepherds in Luke chapter two. For they

came to say, for today in the city of David,

there has been born for you a saviour who is

Christ the Lord. The apostles proclaimed it in

Acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost. It

goes to the core of being saved because Romans

10 verse nine says to us, If you confess with

your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your

heart that God has raised him from the dead,

you will be saved. Philippians chapter two. God

has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the

name which is above every name so that the name

of Jesus... Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory

of God the Father. The Apostle Peter put it this

way, 1 Corinthians puts it this way, for us there

is but one God, the Father, from whom are all

things, and we exist for him, and one Lord, Jesus

Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist

through him. Then 2 Corinthians puts it this

way, for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ

Jesus as Lord. And Revelation puts a bow on the

whole thing when it says, and these will wage

war against the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome

them because he is Lord of Lords and King of

Kings. He said, Al, you got a problem, mate.

I'll tell you what your problem is. You're trying

to marry a dishwasher. It might be your problem,

not likely in a church like this where the Word

of God is preached so plainly and relentlessly.

But you see, I went to church for 18 years and

I was trying to marry a dishwasher. I had no

idea I was doing it until that young man sat

beside me and clarified for me who Jesus Christ

was. really was in the mind of a true believer.

Al, you're trying to marry a dishwasher. You

see, the gospel doesn't present Jesus as a saviour

disconnected from his lordship. Imagine this,

Al. You're going to get married. You're standing

at the altar. And the bride comes in her beauty

and stands alongside you. And the pastor says,

Alan, will you have this woman make your confession?

So I said, I, Alan, take you, Helen, to be my

legal and permanent dishwasher. Now, there's

going to be a moment where the pastor will stop

and say, excuse me, what did you just say? I

take this woman to be my, tell me, I lost the

word. Thank you. Thank you, sweetheart. When

I lose a word, that woman has it for me. I thank

you. My lawful wedded dishwasher. If the pastor

doesn't stop me, she's gonna stop me. Excuse

me, what did you say? Well, I receive you as

my lawful wedded dishwasher. I don't think you

understand what you're doing here, mate. You

can't marry a dishwasher. You marry a wife. And

if you're lucky, she might wash dishes occasionally.

But you can't marry a dishwasher. And that's

exactly what you're trying to do with the Lord

Jesus Christ. You see, here's the problem. Christ

is not presented to you as your dishwasher. He

is presented to you as your Lord and Saviour.

And the gospel is a dear thickie, not a sun thickie.

Two Greek words for covenant. Want to buy your

motorbike? You tell me how much you want for

it. $3 ,000? Oh, I'm not buying that much. No,

no, that's too much. I'll offer you two. Well,

I'm not selling it for two. How about we go for

two and a half? Oh, okay. That's a sunthiki,

a negotiated agreement. You need to understand

something, Al. A relationship with Jesus Christ

is not a negotiated agreement. It's not a sunthiki.

It's a diathiki. A diatheke is a covenant from

a superior to an inferior. You can accept it.

You can reject it, but you cannot negotiate it.

And you're trying to negotiate a covenantal relationship

with God. And that's why you're struggling so

much. And I'm thinking, why did it take this

long for somebody To say that to me, he said,

Alan, you cannot have Jesus Christ as your saviour

if you will not embrace him as your Lord. The

Bible says, be doers of the word, not hearers,

only deceiving your own self. I spent a lot of

years deceiving my own self, believing lots of

things about Jesus to take away my sins, but

never connected it to his lordship. And by the

grace of God, a boy sat beside me in a critical

moment of my life. He explained to me, you can't

marry a dishwasher. Now, Jesus will wash you

from your sins, but you have to embrace him in

a slightly different way. Listen to it in the

words of Jesus himself. Did we not prophesy in

your name and in your name drive out demons and

in your name perform many miracles? And then

I will tell them plainly, oh God, I never knew

you. Away from me, you evildoers. Jesus put it

this way in Luke 6 verse 46. Why do you call

Luke 6:46

me Lord, Lord, but you do not do the things that

I say? That was me. I'm telling you about a conversation

that changed my life. Without that conversation,

I wouldn't be here today. You know, Jesus said

to his critics, let me tell you a parable. What

do you think of this parable? He said, there

was once a man who had two sons. And the father

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

to go and work in my vineyard today. And the

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

deeply regretted what he said to his father and

he changed his mind and decided to go to the

vineyard. I am that son. The father approached

the second son and said the same 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. Now tell me which of these two

sons did the will of the father? They answered

him the first one and Jesus said, you're right.

For many sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes

are going into God's kingdom ahead of you. Sin

will not keep you out of heaven if it is accompanied

with repentance. and a cry to the King of kings

and the Lord of lords, let your name be my salvation.

Let your blood be my salvation. It's not sin

that will keep you out of heaven. It is a failure

to embrace Christ as Lord. And if you'll embrace

him as Lord, he will be your saviour and he will

wash you from your sins. Jesus said, John came

to show you the path of goodness and righteousness,

yet the despised and the outcasts believed him,

but you did not. When you saw them turn, you

neither repented of your ways nor believed his

words. I am that son. I'm here because someone

sat beside me in a university religious centre

and said to me, you can't marry a dishwasher.

And I was trying. And it's so frustrating because

you can't find the peace of God down that pathway.

You can't find relief. You can't find release.

You can't find deliverance down that pathway.

And that day I made a decision. If his lordship

is tied to salvation, here I am. Let me sing

to you a little song. I tried to get Jackie to

play this because she would do a better job than

me. The problem is Jackie's never heard this

before, which is proof that I'm older than she

is. Let me sing you a song, A Blast From The

Past. Can you hear that? Would you sing it with

me? Take a seat for just a minute. There was

a man who bought an apartment once. Thought,

you know what I'll do? I'll buy an apartment,

I'll get a tenant and I'll earn some rent. So

he bought the apartment and he installed some

tenants. At the end of the first month, he came

to the tenant's door and he knocked. The tenant

came out and saw, oh, are you the owner? Yes,

he said. Oh, fantastic, he said. 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, that's extraordinary. I'd never

seen that before in my life. He said, maybe he's

going to give me two months' rent next month.

Turns up the end of the next month, knocks on

the door. Opens the door. Sweetheart, it's the

owner. Out comes the wife and two kids, and in

four -part harmony, they begin to sing. You are

the owner. You are the owner. Give him the whole

thing, shut the door, and go inside. He says,

I don't think they understand. Maybe they'll

give me three months rent next month. He turns

up on the third month, knocks on the door, and

out comes the tenant. Oh, it's the owner. Out

from the bushes come the neighbours and a 60

-part band with choir, and they all begin to

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

are the owner. You are the owner. Give him the

entire thing. There will come a moment when he

will say, shut up and pay me the money. Jesus

is worth more than a song. Thank God for worship

and thank God for the song. But he's actually

the owner and he deserves everything. And one

day he came to me and said, I want it all. I

want your life. Somebody had to explain to me

that he really is the owner and he wanted more

from me than singing in the choir, having got

there on stolen petrol. And by the grace of God,

that young man changed my life. Now let me tell

you one final thing. I never shared that story

for 50 years. The first time I ever shared this

story, I mentioned the young man's name. His

name was Graham Willard Turton. At the end of

the service, a man came up and said to me, that

man's my uncle, 50 years down the track. He said,

I'm going to tell my uncle that you had that

impact on his life. And then we met together

and we had lunch. I discovered that he didn't

go out and become a missionary. He actually founded

the Christian Schools Movement in the state of

New South Wales in Australia and had a fantastic

impact. But what really had moved him... But

when he heard that Alan Myers, that conversation

changed his life. His wife burst into tears because

she was a Life Keys facilitator in his church.

You mean my husband had that impact on Al? I

said to him, I'm preparing a new version of The

Search for Life. He said, I've been editing other

people's material. If you'd like, I'd love to

help you with The Search for Life. 50 years down

the track, the young boy who touched my life

in that religious centre helped me edit the updated

version of The Search for Life. And if ever you

do The Search for Life, you'll be encountering

something of the heart of that young man. He

died last year. I had the privilege of honouring

him just before his death by making a video and

expressing to him something of what I've shared

with you here today. And I simply would love

to know, If you're here today and maybe this

has been helpful for you, maybe you too in some

area of your life are trying to marry a dishwasher.

Let me ask you a couple of questions. If Jesus

Christ was to really be the Lord of your life,

would you have to do something different with

your money? If Jesus Christ was really the Lord

of your life, would you have to adjust your sex

life? If Christ was truly your Lord, would you

have to take your purity more seriously? If Christ

was the Lord of your life, would you love better?

Would you love your wife, your husband, your

mother, your father better if Christ was Lord?

If Christ was Lord, would you handle your worst

enemy just a little differently? If Christ was

your Lord, would you forgive more quickly? Would

you stop driving and texting at the same time?

Would you clean up your room without your mother

having to shout at you? Would you resolve conflict?

Would you pray more passionately? Would you serve

better? If Jesus Christ was Lord, oh God, be

Lord in my life. And I pray over these people,

be Lord for them also and in them. Oh my God,

if we've been trying to marry a dishwasher, I

turn to you in repentance and say, forgive me.

You are the King. It was by your blood and your

innocent and bitter sufferings and death that

heaven opened to me. Because you are anointed,

all things are possible through you. Change my

heart, oh God. Change my heart. That your kingship

would be honoured in my life. In Jesus' name.

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. Thank you so

much for the privilege of sharing a little of

my story. And I pray it may for some of you be

a moment that will really help you for the rest

of your life. Amen. If you are in need of prayer,

send us a text message at 541 -625 -1365. We

would love to pray with you.