Sermon
Is there not a Cause, Why not now | Ps Dan O'Farrell
Publisher transcript
Transcript
-
Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
-
Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
-
take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
-
you and build your faith that it helps you have more of a God
-
perspective for your day. Enjoy something.
-
I do know that Anne and I, what we call the sunum bonum, it's
-
Latin for you. I know little Hebrew.
-
He owns a fish and chip shop near our place.
-
But I know a little bit of Latin.
-
The word sunum bonum means the ultimate, the supreme and the
-
cause of God in our marriage is Jesus Christ.
-
It's a, it's a sunum bonum, Jesus Christ and his cause,
-
Jesus Christ and these calls and I want to talk about the cause
-
today. This is a scripture I've got for
-
my year. I don't know if you've got a
-
script a few a year, but every year we have a, a scripture or a
-
saying. Last year it was God had to be
-
new and it had to be interesting.
-
Whatever we do, it had to be new.
-
Like as you get older, I'm 74 and as you get older, you know,
-
the same old, same old. That's not good enough for old
-
people. If you're old person the other
-
day, it's not good enough. You must Ah, Dan, I've worked 50
-
years my 2 day. No, it's not, Not while you
-
breathe, breath. You might get old, but the call
-
of God doesn't. The call of God doesn't.
-
It's a lie. You've never been more.
-
You've never been more knowledgeable.
-
You've never been had so much experience.
-
You've never had so much wisdom as what you've got now.
-
And if you're older, you should be doing bigger miracles than
-
you've ever done. You should be getting people
-
saved. It's not good enough.
-
So I'm retired. We're we're reforming what
-
retirement means. Why not?
-
We're pioneers in this area. But there's a couple here still
-
in the Kingdom of God, still still serving in the Kingdom.
-
And so today I wanna read through, I wanna read here from
-
Hebrews chapter 12, verse one to three.
Hebrews 12 chapter mention
-
And this is my scripture for the I don't know what you've got.
-
If you've read your Bible this week, say oh Amen.
-
If you didn't just say Oh my, read your Bible study the word
-
of God and says he is there for when you see.
-
Therefore in the Bible, you gotta see what is there for and
-
it's therefore because something went before and in Chapter 11,
-
it talks about all the great men and women of God who who grabbed
-
a hold of the cause of God. People like Abraham, Sarah at
-
the age of 90, he has a kid at the age of 90, full mate.
-
What a thing to think about. That's a miracle itself.
-
But then talks about Caleb talks about Joshua, he talks about
-
Isaiah, get this about Isaiah. They put him in between two
-
slabs of timber and sword him in half from top to bottom.
-
But he wouldn't let go of the cause.
-
And he talked about all these great people of God and and it
-
comes near the writer of Hebrews.
-
This is therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud
-
of witnesses. You're you're not by yourself.
-
You're never alone. You might feel alone in your
-
workplace, you might feel alone in your in your neighborhood,
-
you might feel alone in the situation you are, but you would
-
never. You are surrounded by such a
-
great cloud of witnesses. And let us lay aside every
-
weight, every sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us
-
run with endurance the race that God has set before us.
-
You've got to race, so you've got to race.
-
I'm still around at this age because God's still got to race
-
for me. He's still got something there
-
for me. And let us run the race.
-
Let us run with endurance the race that has set before us,
-
looking unto Jesus, the author, the finisher or the the master
-
architect or the designer, the author, the finisher, the
-
perfector of our faith. I don't know about you, but I'm
-
still feeling that Jesus is perfecting me.
-
I still feel he's taking me into situations.
-
I was talking to a young guy this morning.
-
He said he's going grade 12 this year and I said how do you feel
-
about going to grade 12? He said I'm a bit nervous.
-
I said, mate, if it's not nervous, it's not worth doing.
-
In some of the situations and I go into, I'm spitlessly scared,
-
but it only means I'm going to see the power of God work.
-
You might go in and you might manifest a bit like me, but I'll
-
tell you what, when you're at that edge there, you're going to
-
see great things happen because you've never walked this journey
-
before. And I don't want to go back to
-
the same journey as I went last year.
-
I want to go somewhere new. I want to see New Horizons.
-
I want to see new miracles. I want to see more salvations.
-
I can't say I did it last year or I worked for 50 years and,
-
oh, that's it for me, mate. It's time for me, you know?
-
What are you doing this year, love?
-
Nothing. But you did that all last year.
-
Yeah. I didn't finish it yet.
-
Don't want to be like that. God's got a whole world out
-
there that needs to be touched by me, by you, the author who
-
for the joy that is set before us endured the cross, despising
-
shame and sat down at the right hand of the Father, the joy, the
-
joy. Last night I got a text message
-
from a young guy who came out of our church in Atherton and and
-
I've trained up 7 senior pastors in our ministry walk and one of
-
them last night text me and he's got a church, City Bridge
-
Church, just South of Brisbane Inc Church.
-
Borndly, how you going aboard? Great, great.
-
You've got a fire on your belly. Great.
-
How long you been there, boy? 26 years, 26 years preaching.
-
You didn't think that'd bring joy to us?
-
For the joy, for the joy. If you see, The thing is, is you
-
see a lot of Christians got no joy in their life.
-
They think, you know, that joy is just having this nice little
-
time with Jesus. No, the joy is when you see
-
people touched by God through your ministry.
-
And Pastor Graham Melanie's, their role here in this church
-
is to train you and I equip you and I to do the work of the
-
ministry, to lay hands on the sin, to see them recover.
-
So 2026, what's it going to look like for you?
-
Is this a year where your faith comes alive?
-
Is this a year where you go to another level in God?
-
Is this a year where I enter into the world of miracles?
-
Oh, friends, you see miracles when you see legs grow, when you
-
see broken marriages restored, when you see the lost and the
-
broken and the orphan. Find a home in church and home
-
with Jesus. The joy that it brings.
-
I feel sad to many Christians because I never, ever entered
-
into that joy. They think it's this couple's
-
job or couples like us who've got a fire in our valley.
-
But the joy is for you. So what's 2026 going to bring
-
the salvations of souls. Maybe it's your next door
-
neighbor, maybe it's meeting your next door neighbor, having
-
a BBQ with them when then I go away.
-
We used to have a cat. When we go away, we'd get our
-
neighbors would fight over who was going to look after the cat.
-
And I didn't realize why until I came back and found they said to
-
us, well, we just come, we just sit in your home because there's
-
something about your home. So you can touch the world just
-
by bringing, building a good marriage, just by building a
-
presence of God in your home and then inviting your neighbors
-
into it, having a BBQ. So you just don't know.
-
Is this a year? Maybe this is a year.
-
You might say, Dan, I just don't want another year like last
-
year. Maybe last year was a tough year
-
for you be many of us here who had a tough year last year, but
-
the Bible saying here, put it aside all those weights, put
-
them aside, put them aside and I so this year could be a year you
-
look back on like in Isaiah chapter 6, verse one where
Isaiah 6 chapter mention
-
Isaiah said it was the year that King Uzziah died that I saw the
-
Lord and maybe 2026 is going to be the year where you can sit
-
back and say 2026 was the year that I saw the Lord and I saw
-
the Lord working through my life.
-
I saw the Lord when I laid hands on someone, he actually healed
-
them. I mean, I'm still dumbfound.
-
I'm still dumbfound and and I some year ago we were in Beijing
-
and we was just doing the touristy thing.
-
We're up on the Great Wall having walking around the Great
-
Wall and, and there was this young and Italian every time we
-
travel, I said, and I'm multilingual, you know,
-
multilingual Monjourno, you know, and then I start talking
-
Italian. And Neil, is this a young
-
couple, not a young couple, a 35 year old.
-
And we got talking, you know, the Bible says out of the heart,
-
the mouth speaks within within 5 minutes.
-
This young couple, they just don't poured their heart out.
-
We didn't say who we were poured their heart out.
-
See, the world's in need. This young couple said, you
-
know, we've been trying for years to have a baby.
-
We just can't have a baby. We've tried everything.
-
We just can't have a baby. And with that whole mouthpiece
-
here says, Oh, well, we're Christians.
-
We pray for quite a few couples who can't have babies and they
-
have babies. How about we pray for you?
-
These people didn't know God. So we prayed for them, didn't we
-
love? And we gave them our e-mail
-
account and said, now what? We want you.
-
The dealer says, we'll pray for you.
-
But when you have come pregnant, we want an e-mail from you.
-
And they said, well, we've been trying for years.
-
Yeah, well, I know that just now.
-
Here's our e-mail. I want to hear from you.
-
Two months later, we got this e-mail saying, ha, ha, we're
-
having a baby. You think we weren't surprised?
-
Give it a go, you mug, you might win.
-
That's what Clark Carly used to always say to us.
-
Give it a mug. Go, you mug.
-
You never know, you might win. But see, if you don't pray for
-
them, the answer's always the same.
-
But if you do pray for them, you never know what would happen.
-
And it says, lay aside. Those weights that hold you from
-
last year, lay them aside, you might say, well, Dan, I've been
-
a Christian for 50 years, mate. I've heard it all.
-
Are you? And I would say to you, you
-
haven't been a Christian for 50 years.
-
You've been for Christian one year, but you've done it 50
-
times. Is this all right?
-
One year, 50 times. How boring.
-
How boring. Oh, have you ever prayed for
-
anybody? No, why not?
-
Oh well, you ever lifted your hands in church?
-
Oh, I could if I wanted to. Has the alcohol gone?
-
Oh, I could give it up anytime. Give it up today.
-
Then. See, this could be the year
-
where you see the Lord. This could be the year where you
-
say, I didn't realize that God could move through me, but I've
-
got this problem. We got that problem, mate.
-
You want to see the problems I've got?
-
If I went to confession today, we'd be in there all week.
-
Sin, that sin, that sin, that sin.
-
But God still loves you and He still works through you.
-
We're not going to get through this message.
-
Put aside every burden, young people, What are the burdens
-
you're carrying? The burden of trying to get a
-
career. We understand that.
-
What about the burden of trying to find a a wife or a husband?
-
Oh, that's that's a heavy I got I got 8 grandkids, 6 of them
-
girls pop. We just want to find ourselves a
-
good man. All of them in church except
-
one. The birds.
-
Put aside the birds. What am I going to do?
-
I'm nervous, I'm scared. They're burdens, the birds past
-
disappointments. But I prayed for people who
-
never got. I've given money away to people.
-
I've been conned. Well, get over it.
-
I've given Whitby hurt. But see, if you let the hurt
-
stop you, you never do anything for God.
-
Is that right? It says here in the Scriptures
-
that Jesus despising the shame, He despising the shame.
-
How do you think I felt going into the mining industry?
-
The Rev. The Rev. But lies were touched.
-
Lives were touched. People would laugh at me and
-
scoff at me. Well, that's all right.
-
They chuckle for how tall I am, too.
-
They always should have messed here.
-
They're gonna Chuck off you anyway.
-
Who cares? Friends, The year 2026.
-
What's it gonna mean for us? Put them aside.
-
Growing old. You might be an elderly person,
-
he said. Dear.
-
No, you know, made the sickness in my life.
-
Look, I've been the last 414 years, not with a sickness, but
-
plagued with sicknesses. Got to put them aside, not just
-
once, not twice, played with them, put them aside, put them
-
aside because there's a call and there's a cause and there's a
-
lost generation. And if you're in hospital, talk
-
to the woman doctor about Jesus. What an opportunity.
-
But Jesus, I've got to serve you.
-
You know, when I first got saved, my Christian walk was all
-
about me. Now, I don't know about you
-
guys, but I had a lot of things to fix up.
-
And if you talk to my wife, I've probably still got a few.
-
I had some addictions. Alcohol plagued my life.
-
How do I overcome that swearing, mate?
-
You know, I just took the swearing out of my day.
-
I'd save 1/2 hour out of every day in my conversations.
-
There was so much of it there. Who's been there by three of us.
-
Oh my. Through my behold.
-
I had a whole heap of issues. We had a marriage to get back.
-
Anne was walking out on me. She'd had enough of me.
-
Mate. I was a workaholic.
-
I'd built and owned my own home. By the time I was 24, I was a
-
workaholic. 80 nowadays were nothing, 6-7 day weeks, you
-
know, she was walking out. I had a marriage to get back on
-
deck. I had a life.
-
I, I had mental health issues like you'd never believed.
-
Depression plagued my life. It was all about me fixing my
-
life up, developing a prayer life, learning how to read the
-
Bible. I mean going to church, let
-
alone tithing. I mean, I was used to putting to
-
Bob at the time on the plate, you know, tithing.
-
I had all of these issues to fix up and what we did, we enjoy
-
internship to Dan and Anne. This young couple messed up
-
still trying to get his act together and look holy.
-
Couldn't string 2 words together unless a profanity come out.
-
We interned in internship, it was called Bible college.
-
You know, did two years of it. You know that two years if
-
you're in a place where I mean, you need to get your butt into
-
going to say that you need to get along to internship, you
-
need to learn the ways of God. And in that our pastor, Kevin
-
Dales, he'd sent us our door knock and he he would go and do
-
outreach meetings and he he taught us that it wasn't just
-
about me, God, church, my mum. I was a Roman Catholic, six kids
-
in our family. And one thing we learned was it
-
wasn't about me and it's not about you.
-
And you give your life to Jesus. Jesus wants to put you on a
-
journey of miracles. He wants to take you on a
-
journey that's beyond your furthest expectation.
-
We never knew what God would do with us when we weren't along
-
That time. I remember saying to my pastor,
-
pastor, I'll fix your windows up because I did 20 years of
-
engineering. I'll do this and that, but don't
-
never ask me to preach. What did he do?
-
He just didn't listen. He put us on a journey and a
-
journey was the cause of God and we grew and we developed and,
-
and, and, but the time came when I realized that if I didn't
-
embrace the call of God and the cause of Christ, my faith, the
-
one that Christ designed of saving souls and seeing miracles
-
and life transformed, If I didn't do that, my life would
-
become introverted. My faith would become stale.
-
It would become all about me. I wouldn't learn.
-
I wouldn't have had to hear the cry of the poor.
-
I have a critical heart to those who are less off.
-
Oh well, if you worked hard, you'd have a job and you'd have
-
a house. You know how we can get
-
self-righteous? I knew that would happen to me
-
very quickly, very, very quickly.
-
And today, if your faith all revolves around you, I'm sorry.
-
It's just going to get boring. And if you're happy with that,
-
we're going to have a prayer meeting later.
-
We'll pray for you because the adventures in God are far
-
greater than you could ever expect.
-
The joy that comes over your life is just amazing.
-
My boss said to me one time I when I was a chaplain, I, I work
-
for Australia's biggest logistic company.
-
We had our own aeroplanes, our own ships, our own trucks.
-
We had mining happening also. And I remember I was in Saint
-
Kilda Rd. at our head office up at level 12 in Saint Kilda Road
-
and we were doing a par, what they call APAR.
-
It's a performance review. We had to do them every six
-
months to be able to justify why we should be employed as a
-
chaplain. And my boss said to me in front
-
of everybody, oh, Dan, what do you want to do with your life?
-
Pastor Graham, this is true. What do you want to do with your
-
life? And I and I, I looked at Ruth.
-
We were talking yesterday on the phone, and I looked at Ruth.
-
I said, Ruth, I want to change the world.
-
And she looked at me, Henry. And you can see this patronizing
-
smile come on her face. And she, you want to change the
-
world? And I said, yeah, I do.
-
How are you going to do that? Then I said, easy, Ruth, just
-
one person at a time. Just one person.
-
That's all you've got to do. That's all you got to do.
-
When you go to work, say hello to someone, ask me for a cup of
-
coffee, just one person at a time.
-
So I tell this story. I, I train mental health first
-
aid people in industry and I go into workplaces and train and I
-
told a story because see, today you can pick up a lot of
-
knowledge. You can pick up revelation and
-
the training I do, the people can pick up a lot of know how.
-
But I said the most important thing you're going to pick up
-
today is not knowledge is not knowledge.
-
So I told a story. A man was walking through life
-
one day as all of us, and that man ended up falling in a rut
-
like most of us have been. And that rut could be a broken
-
marriage. It could be depression.
-
Could Do you realize, do we have 10 people sitting across here?
-
Do you realize statistics tell us today that 20%, one people in
-
five is suffering and anyone here is suffering from a form of
-
mental illness That means there's two people in every row.
-
Two people. One thing I know about mental is
-
a very lonely way to go. Do you remember 13.6% of boys,
-
young boys today in Australia are registered with the NDIS.
-
They told me there's not a need out there, it's everywhere.
-
This man was walking through life and he fell in this rut and
-
he's yelling out like most people help.
-
Can somebody please hear my voice, can help me?
-
And time would go by and you'd keep yelling out.
-
Can anyone help me? Please help me.
-
I'm in a rut. I'm stuck.
-
I'm stuck, I'm stuck. And this is what the world is
-
saying. Please help me.
-
I'm stuck, I'm stuck. And they know they're stuck.
-
They know they're stuck. But they don't know how to get
-
out of the rut. And one day this Christian guy
-
walks around and he hears his voice, Help, Please, someone
-
help me. So he jumps in the rut with this
-
guy. And the guy in the rut said,
-
well, you'd be a bright spark, wouldn't you?
-
Now both of us are in the rut. And the Christian guy said,
-
yeah, I know, but I've been in the rut and I know the way out
-
and we can walk out together. And I try to teach them in
-
industry. I tell them I'm a pastor.
-
I said you've got to get a heart for people because if you get a
-
don't have a heart for people, everything else I'm going to say
-
from here is not worth a cinch to you.
-
This is the cause of Christ in Luke chapter 4, Jesus said, for
Luke 4 chapter mention
-
the spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me
-
to preach the gospel to the poor.
-
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim
-
liberty to the captives, to open the prison to those who are
-
bound to the recovery of sight, to those who are blind, and to
-
preach that this is the acceptable year of the Lord.
-
And friends, today, 2026 is an acceptable year for you and I to
-
say, today I want to stand up with Christ.
-
Today I'm in a rut. And today I want to give my life
-
to Jesus Christ because I've tried everything else.
-
Do you realize that hell has a theme song that everyone in hell
-
sings and it's called I Did it My Way and I did it my way for
-
33 years? And man with all the hope I
-
wanted was taking me nowhere to one night full of alcohol.
-
My wife was walking out drunk, walked out the backyard of
-
Marillion Harbor and said, Jesus, come into my life, be my
-
Lord and say forgive my sins because I give my life to you.
-
I've been in the rut, been in the rut.
-
Maybe there's people here today. You're in a rut, you're stuck,
-
you're stuck. You don't know the way out,
-
you're hurting, you're broken. You've tried this, you've tried.
-
I've tried everything to counsellors.
-
My I was on medication in grade 4 at school, deep rut for a lot
-
of years to one night I said, Jesus, come into my life.
-
If that's you today, come on. If that's you today, how would
-
you just slip your head up and say, Dan, I want to accept
-
Jesus. Come on, cross this all the
-
time. How many?
-
There's one down there. Thank you.
-
Is there another one? Come on.
-
There's got to be. There's no one.
-
Come on. Is there any more?
-
You know, you need to get you're in a rut, mate.
-
You're stuck. You're stuck.
-
I said to Jesus that day. Jesus, mate, I'm going to be a
-
liability to you. But if you ever accept me,
-
accept the consequences they accept to me, I'll do anything
-
for you. That's you today.
-
Is there another person here I get to?
-
Is there another person? Come on.
-
Oh, thank you. Thank you, man.
-
This is the best thing you've done.
-
The best thing you've done. God can change your life today.
-
You'll change your life. You'll come in and it'll be
-
slow. I tell people, they come to me.
-
The addicts come to me. I said it'll work.
-
You just got to give me 12 months.
-
You just got to give me 12 months.
-
If we walk together, 12 months. Songs, you're honest with peace.
-
Songs, you're honest with God. Doesn't matter.
-
God's seen it all. He's seen it all.
-
That's all right. He'd buy you out, lock stock and
-
barrel, pay your debts. It'll take you on.
-
So if that's you today, if you're very, how about we all
-
pray this prayer together? Come on all together as a
-
church. Let's help these new people.
-
Dear Jesus, I asked you to come into my life today.
-
I asked you to forgive my sins. I ask you to set me free and I
-
ask you to give me a new life in Jesus name.
-
Amen. Now, if you've prayed that
-
prayer, there's some people we'll see you outside.
-
I'm not finished yet. Don't.
-
Did I say something to everyone's name?
-
It's about the cause is about what you carry.
-
It's about what you carry. I carry the Kingdom of God in
-
me. The Kingdom of God is
-
righteousness, is joy, it's peace and it's power and the
-
Holy Ghost, it's what you're carrying.
-
Anne and I, we were two year ago, we were on, you know, those
-
long boats you have in Europe, you go up to the rivers.
-
We're going up one again this year.
-
But like a couple of year ago we were on one going up the up the
-
Rhine River and we're just doing our thing as a couple.
-
But always knowing, always knowing that you carry the
-
Kingdom. You are a representative of the
-
Kingdom, no matter whether you're on holidays where you
-
are. And and we were sitting at this
-
table and this Catholic couple beside us and me being an old
-
Catholic, see the it's on the cross and said grace.
-
And of course, I couldn't help myself and my hands under the
-
table cringing. Oh, you're Catholics.
-
Hey. Good.
-
Yeah. Yeah.
-
You're a Catholic. Yeah, I was, but I'm not.
-
Now. I'm a pastor.
-
Now stir it all up. Little did we know there's
-
people in the table beside us because those boats, they're
-
only 150 long. You have 150 people.
-
Everything's spirit is squashy. And we know there's people in
-
the table next to us. They heard it.
-
So we finished our meal, hopped up next with this couple next to
-
us. They come over, said, oh, we
-
heard that you're Christians, do you mind if we have a meal with
-
you? Because we would.
-
We just need to talk to someone. Oh yeah, not a problem, haven't
-
we? Then the word got around the
-
boat. The word got around the bunch.
-
The next man, Anne, Anne's a lady with the the diary.
-
She, she's my managing director. The war of the Minister of War
-
Finance isn't every good idea. And so she's almost filming
-
there. People are lining up.
-
People are lining up. Can we have a meal with you?
-
And we had a broken lady come, people come.
-
And I thought, geez, this is a good gig.
-
We could get on to say permanent.
-
As pastors travel the world with them, friend, the world is
-
crying out and the world needs you.
-
The world needs you. But not only that, the Christ in
-
you, the Christ in you needs to see miracles through you.
-
The Christ in you is crying out for you and I to take this
-
gospel message to a broken world.
-
This is the cause of Christ. The Christ in you hungers.
-
The Christ in you hungers to see revival throw through you, the
-
Christ in you and I and wants to see you and I move in the gifts
-
and the power of the Holy Ghost. Young people, you're starting
-
your life. You're starting your journey.
-
You're many years ahead of you and God's not saying don't go to
-
uni, not saying don't get a degree in medicine and actual
-
fact he's saying do that. But when you're in the operating
-
field, you pray of your hands and Lord, these hands are
-
anointed. The school teachers here, you've
-
got a whole generation. Our daughter, amazing woman of
-
God, this is how it works. She is in a school head of
-
curriculum. And they had a right in one of
-
the school rooms. A little 7 year old just went
-
ballistic, throwing chairs, tables, Everything Everywhere.
-
The teacher and the teachers help.
-
They just got out. The principal, he got out and
-
they called Renee when I went into this room, she stood in
-
front of this the classroom, this kids going ballistic and
-
she just started to sing a hum Sorry, Amazing Grace.
-
That's all she did just hummed Amazing Grace and the anointing
-
flowed from her. And next month, this kids put
-
everything down, sitting down in a chair, Quiet.
-
You carry that. Come on.
-
There's there's no you must say, Dan, I'm not smart.
-
Well, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer either.
-
But one thing I do know, you haven't got to know much.
-
You you just got to know that you carry the gift of God over
-
your life and that you are the salt of the earth.
-
You are the light unto the world.
-
You do have the answer, it's just within you.
-
And maybe your starting point today is giving your life to
-
Jesus. That was my starting point.
-
Maybe your next point is going up and seeing Pastor Graham
-
Mountain. So you know what?
-
After this morning, I need to get into internship because I
-
need to understand the Word of God.
-
I need to understand what? I need to know how to share my
-
faith. I need to know how to say my
-
testimony. I need to know how to do it so
-
that God can use me in a bigger and a greater way.
-
We didn't start off growing good.
-
We started off getting our marriage together.
-
About five years after that, we were pastoring a church.
-
After that we were pastoring. Why?
-
Because it became the sunum bonum.
-
And if I had a problem and would say to me, would you best go and
-
talk to Jesus about that mate. Jesus.
-
Ever tried to fight with Jesus? I know times.
-
Goodbye. I fought with Jesus one day.
-
I've had a couple of spouts with him, a mate.
-
I've been punched to the ground a few times in my life and I
-
know Jesus. It's harder.
-
A few year back I got quite ill and had to retire from local
-
church pastoring and I got a gig as a consultant in the mining
-
industry. And I was fighting with God and
-
I was annoyed with God because I believe that.
-
I believe that ministries were positioned.
-
I was a senior pastor and that was going to be that for life.
-
But then God wanted to move me. See, some of us, some of the
-
burdens we carry are our careers.
-
The average person today is going to have six careers in
-
their work time. Did you realize that I'm a life
-
coach, career coach, 6 careers, we hold them and.
-
And I didn't realize that God wanted to make me more effective
-
in different areas. And so I was a consultant in the
-
mining and they'd shift me around from mine to mine in New
-
South Wales and Queensland. And one day I was standing in
-
the master room where we have a toolbox before we go
-
underground, and I was all dressed up to go underground and
-
fighting with God. God, you could have your
-
ministry. I don't want to talk to you,
-
bro. And he spoke to me in my heart.
-
And there was three guys sitting on the chair across the way.
-
You need to go and talk to those three guys.
-
I said no, I can do that. Some of us today were saying no,
-
the same as I was, but the voice persisted 3 times.
-
The third times, you know? Have you ever been there?
-
Yeah. OK.
-
It's like talking to your eyes. Yeah, OK, That's what you want.
-
So I did it with a bad attitude. And if I go across with all of
-
these, walking through all these miners, I realized that miners
-
don't die. They just smell like they did,
-
you know? Oh, mate.
-
But anyway, I get to the other side and there's three guys
-
sitting on this bench and they're talking stuff and just
-
stuff. Next minute two of the guys
-
hopped up and walked away and there was one guy left there.
-
I thought, oh geez, this is going to be great, what I'm
-
going to talk about now, John. That only upped their feet and
-
went down to the drifty ready to go underground.
-
And this guy looked at me and he said, do you know who I am?
-
And with my very graceful attitude, I didn't swear, OK?
-
I said no mate, I don't really know who you are.
-
He said I'm your nephew. I'm your nephew.
-
With that, he hopped up in front of all of these miners.
-
Now, miners don't cry in front of their horse.
-
I mean, they don't do this intimate stuff.
-
With that, he just hugged me and hugged me and hugged me and
-
hugged me. See, I didn't realize just
-
before that a month before that his mother and father had
-
disowned him. He had no one but see, this is
-
the cause of Christ. And this has gone back some
-
years now. Christmas time this year.
-
He, he, he rings me up. Now we talk for hours on the
-
phone about Jesus and he lives in Mackay, teaches at the
-
university there. Smart young guy.
-
You see, he had no one. When you come across those
-
people every day of the week, they get no one.
-
You're the light, you see, You are the salt of the earth.
-
This is the cause of Christ. This is don't, Jesus said don't
-
be afraid of their faces. I've seen my face, some of the
-
photos of my face before I saved it.
-
It looked like the back of a bus.
-
I'm telling you, it didn't look real pretty because I was
-
carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.
-
And the people you meet are the same.
-
Some of them are rich, some of them have got power, some of
-
them have got authority. But they're still in a rut and
-
they're crying out for you and I.
-
You can do it. You know, Victoria, on the
-
workplace, there's men there. Every day you meet them.
-
Driving down to Brisbane, praying.
-
Father, he got open the door today.
-
Just one. That's all I want.
-
I just want one. How do you change the world?
-
Just one person. Eli, you're here today for a
-
reason. Just one.
-
Just one. Just one.
-
Don't be afraid of them. Just one.
-
Because you have the truth. You don't have a truth.
-
You have the truth. So this morning we're going to
-
stand. And if that's you today, say,
-
Dan, I want my 2026 to be the one where I see miracles.
-
I want 2026 to be the one where I embrace the cause.
-
I want 2026. I want to pay the price.
-
I'm going to cast off the burdens and I'm going to grab a
-
hold of this. I'm going to run with endurance.
-
This race. I'm going to run with endurance.
-
I'm going to put off disappointments.
-
I'm going to put off whatever it may be, and I'm going to grab
-
it. Going to stand.
-
And if that's you, I want you to come to the front today.
-
Come on, come on, come on, you slackos.
-
If you're a slacker, wives, if your husband's a slacker, give
-
him a kick. Tell him to come to the front.
-
No, just if. If that's you today.
-
Thank you, Sir. In fact, come on.
-
In fact, Jesus will take you on an adventure that you never,
-
ever dreamt possible. Or will you fail?
-
Yeah, you will. But you're failing now.
-
Better to fail for Jesus. Will you pray for people and
-
every one of them get healed? No, unfortunately.
-
Will everybody accept your testimony?
-
No, unfortunately they won't. But I'll tell you what, You only
-
need one. You only need one.
-
And you've changed the world. That's all you need there.
-
That's all you need. You only need the 1.
-
You only need the one. Come on.
-
Those guys down there in Melbourne and they're buffets,
-
aren't they? But they need Jesus.
-
They're good buffets. They need Jesus, don't they?
-
They need steam. He's going to carry a message.
-
God's touched your life. He's touched it for a reason,
-
not just to make you feel better about yourself.
-
He's touched it for a reason because there's a heap of people
-
out there. He wants to use you to touch.
-
That's why he's done it, Thomas. He's going to use you.
-
Pull your shoulders back. Come on.
-
Stand up straight. Pull your shoulders back.
-
Why? Because you're a representative
-
of the Kingdom of God. And your words do mean things.
-
Your words do have power. Your words do have freedom.
-
Your words do have liberty. They do.
-
They do. Come on, Gordon, you're not in
-
your job traveling over Australia and New Zealand for
-
nothing. You are a traveling evangelist
-
disguised and somebody selling medical equipment.
-
That's what you are. You are a travelling evangelist.
-
You carry the Kingdom of God within you.
-
And God wants to he. He wants you to start laying
-
hands on people. He wants you to see you start
-
seeing miracles. Come on, it's a time to fast.
-
It's a time to say come on, come on you young people, you've
-
never been up dry gullies before.
-
Isn't that a blessing? Hey, your whole life is fresh in
-
you say God today with my education, Lord, I want to be
-
able to change the world just one at a time.
-
Come on Father, today of every person out here this morning,
-
Lord, I pray you stir the gift of God within them.
-
Lord, to stir the gift of God to stir the power of God over their
-
lives. Lord, let them be a beacon.
-
Lord, let them be the light. God over.
-
Jess. Oh, Jess.
-
Jess. God wants to open your eyes to
-
what's out there. New Horizons.
-
It's got to be new. It's got to be interesting.
-
It's got to be miraculous. Father, today over this couple.
-
Come on YouTube. You've been married for a lot of
-
years. Oh jeez, a lot of years and
-
God's going to use that testimony to get around young
-
people, to be able to get around people who are broken, who don't
-
know how to do marriage, who don't know how to do
-
relationship. God today over their lives,
-
Lord, let the anointing, let the anointing and the power of God
-
rest upon them, rest upon them, rest upon them.
-
Come on, you got to start getting more radical, girl.
-
You too get too brim and proper. Get too brim and proper.
-
Start dancing on the tables. God put a song in your heart.
-
Come on, come on as you go. As a school chaplain, you got to
-
take something to those young people.
-
They're going to touch their hearts and their lives with the
-
Kingdom of Godfather. Let these hands be hands of
-
miracles today. Let it be hands of miracles
-
today. Holy Ghost over these hand
-
miracles, miracles, miracles, miracles, miracles, miracles.
-
Oh, you're going to speak a word and cease.
-
And to him who is weary and you're going to hear specific
-
words and people are going to go home after you've preached
-
Pastor Melanie and they're going to say there's something she
-
said today. And it's going to be 1 phrase.
-
It's going to be 1 phrase. And the power that God's going
-
to put on that one phrase is going to change people's whole
-
paradigm of life, to set people on new directions.
-
Father, let it rest upon a life today.
-
Come on, Henry, you're a brickie.
-
You know what it is to build a house 1 brick at a time.
-
You know what it is to lift the weight of the brick.
-
You've learned endurance. You've learned endurance.
-
You've never been as smart. You've never been as
-
knowledgeable. You've never been as wise.
-
Don't hide it. Don't hide it.
-
Speak it out. Speak it out with power.
-
Speak it out with power in Jesus name.
-
Gordon and Rachel, it's time for you to cut the past off.
-
Go on, Rachel, time to cut the past off.
-
God and Rachel, there's some relationships you need to cut.
-
You need to cut. They're not healthy for you.
-
They're going to stop you from growing up.
-
They're going to stop you from maturing.
-
You need to step out of that world.
-
You need to step into the world of maturity.
-
You need to take the load of the anointing, the load of the
-
Kingdom, the cause of God and go out with authority and power in
-
Jesus name. Come on, give me your hand.
-
Come on this week you need to lay start laying hands on
-
people. It's going to sound stupid and
-
there's some are not going to get touched, but by G you get
-
one in every 50. That's worth it, worth it.
-
Endurance father over these hands.
-
Let them be healing hands, healing hands today thought in
-
the name of Jesus, Jesus name. Well, we better close this
-
meeting. We've gone over time Victoria of
-
you. And so as you're looking at
-
retirement, don't get the definition from the Oxford
-
dictionary. Get it from Hebrews 11.
-
What does, what does retirement mean?
-
People say to me, oh, you're retired?
-
And everyone laughs. Oh what?
-
No, it still starts his day. It's 3:00 in the morning.
-
Wait, you're retired? Why?
-
Because I've got things to do, place to go, people.
-
See. So he's going to read, he's
-
going to be re firing you. Re firing you.
-
He's going to be re firing you. So put the old off.
-
He's kept you alive this long for a reason.
-
The days ahead of you are far greater than the days have past
-
you that have gone past. They've gone past past John.
-
Forget the dyslexia. Forget it.
-
I got it too. It's been my power, mate.
-
It's been my power. I may not read a lot of the
-
Bible, but I tell you what, I might read one verse a month,
-
but that one verse a month changes the world.
-
Don't get hung up on it. Don't get hung up on it.
-
Get hung up on the call and the purposes and the power of God.
-
Come on, there's a whole new world waiting for you.
-
But you got to be prepared to change, and it takes energy to
-
change. I'm an engineer, I know takes
-
energy to change water into steam takes energy.
-
It's going to take you energy, but you got to prepare to do
-
some things differently. Oh no, the old.
-
No, the old thing's got you where you are today, and that's
-
good. That's not going to work for
-
tomorrow. Some new ideas, new stuff, new
-
stuff, new stuff, new stuff. Father, touch their lives, touch
-
their lives, touch their lives. Touch the schools.
-
I see you guys starting Bible studies in your schools.
-
I see you guys starting Bible studies.
-
I see you guys starting in the universe.
-
I see you starting stuff in university, the strawberry
-
grower. Your days are growing
-
strawberries are over, but your days for growing people are not.
-
Make your voice heard. There's some good stuff in
-
there. You need to open up that voice
-
and let it out. You need to let it out.
-
You need to have confidence in yourself.
-
You're more than a strawberry grower.
-
Jesus said to the disciples, Come follow me and I'll make you
-
fishermen of men. And that's what he wants to make
-
you, a fisherman of bed. Got good stuff in you, but don't
-
put it under a bushel, don't hide it, don't hide it, Don't
-
hide it, don't hide it, don't hide it.
-
And those guys in that government job, they need a move
-
of God. They're style, they're boring
-
and they're stuck. And he's got you in that job for
-
a reason. Don't get him cranky with you
-
because you're not doing your job.
-
You've got to take the call of God into that workplace.
-
Father, today we thank you for this meeting.
-
We pray this great awakening Lord would brood in our hearts
-
tonight. It would brood in every soul
-
that would wake us up during the night and stir our hearts afresh
-
to see a greater move. A greater move.
-
Father Day, let this message, let it be your word that births
-
as in the day of creation. Lord it be the author and the
-
finisher of our year, our perfector of our year, this year
-
in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
-
Amen. Amen.
-
Can you come down here for a moment, Holy Ghost?
-
I just want to do this quickly before we close, and I want to
-
do it here and now because it's important for the whole church
-
to hear. So Graham Mountain, you can just
-
stand really close together and hold your hands.
-
I want us as a church to just extend your hand towards this
-
couple. Now I know somewhere on your
-
calendar you have a commissioning somewhere there,
-
whatever that is. As I was praying this morning,
-
God said to me that it's not a matter of commissioning people,
-
but He's decided to recommission this church and He's putting His
-
stamp upon it like He's never put it on before.
-
It's a corporate recommissioning of this place.
-
He's putting His grace upon this place in a greater measure than
-
it's ever been before. And I don't feel to share too
-
much more. And then I I just want God to
-
unfold that as time goes forward.
-
But he says prepare your hearts because over this house is going
-
to come an outpouring of grace because of his cause and his
-
commissioning. So let us all pray for what God
-
wants to do in 2026, because He's begun a good work.
-
Father, Father, let the anointing the Eunice the grace.
-
Lord another level in the spirit.
-
Father, over their lives, over the ministry of this church,
-
over Pastor Graham, over Pastor Melanie.
-
Lord, today a new authority. Lord, a new authority, a new
-
word. Father, today as we team beside
-
them and come alongside, Father, Lord over this church.
-
Lord, today we pray, let that grace a grace for growth and
-
grace for enlargement, a grace for maturity.
-
Father, today let a new level of the Holy Ghost rest upon them
-
and upon their church. Today in this church.
-
Lord in this church and bribey Lord, in the name of Jesus let
-
it rest growth increase Jesus name.