Orlando Gospel Truth Conference 2020: Day 1, Session 1 – Andrew Wommack

I tell you God is good and I know that

some of you this may be new to you the

things we’re talking about but we have

seen so many miracles God is alive and

well and he wants you alive and well but

it’s not the way that most people think

it’s not that we just beg God or plea it

really is the truth that sets us free

that’s what Jesus said in John chapter 8

verse 32 you shall know the truth and

the truth shall make you free and it’s

only the truth you know that makes you

free what you don’t know is killing you

and sad to say we have a lot of people

in this nation that are religious that

have been touched by God and they have a

relationship with God if they were to

die they would go to heaven but they do

not know the truth and they are being

deceived under so much religious bondage

and so that’s what my ministry is all

about is to teach the body of Christ

about who they really are and what they

really have and I believe that you are

going to be blessed this week let’s turn

over to Matthew chapter 24 and you know

what I’m gonna Minister on is how to

stay positive in a negative world that

may not ring your bell at first but if

you stop and think about it then our

world is just crazy it’s like people are

losing their mind did you know there are

things happening in this nation that 10

years ago nobody would have believed on

the positive side and on the negative

side I mean things are changing

I remember when Jamie and I first got

turned on to the Lord that we were

witnessing to everything that moved and

one of the problems that I have is I

would witness to people and I literally

had people pull coins out of their

pocket and say of course I’m a Christian

it says right here in god we trust’ and

they thought that having that on your

currency made you a Christian and people

were deceived and I remember saying this

this is like nearly 50

years ago and I didn’t realize it was

prophetic at the time but I said I’m

believing at times coming where people

won’t be deceived about whether or not

they have a relationship with guys all

of this gray area is going to go away

and it’s either going to be black or

white people will know if they’re hot or

cold and I said that for decades and you

know what we are living in that time I

mean all of the middle ground is leaving

people are hot or cold they are

conservative or liberal they are on fire

are they’re frozen but man we are seeing

the middle ground disappear which in a

way is really good because again you

don’t have to argue there’s people today

that know that they’re going to hell or

they know that they don’t have a

relationship with God and they don’t

care and in a way it’s good because that

deception is gone so anyway the reason I

wanted you to turn over here to mark

Matthew chapter 24 is because Jesus as

he was coming out of the temple I’m not

going to take time to read this whole

thing but it’s really important this

whole discourse that he gave but as he

was coming out of the temple I mean it

was magnificent it took 46 years for

Herod to build this temple and it

dwarfed Solomon’s Temple and I mean this

was a magnificent structure and the

disciples saw it and they said Lord look

at all of these structures look at all

of this and look at what men have done

and Jesus responded by saying that

there’s coming a time that there won’t

be one stone left upon another in this

place and they were shocked you know

what they were basically doing was just

being overwhelmed with what they had

accomplished with this these things the

scripture says over in 1st John chapter

2 love not the world neither the things

that are in the world if any man loves

the world the love of the father is not

in them and did you know what there’s

people today that are enamored with what

we’ve got we’ve got all of this

technology we’ve got these abilities I’m

using a wireless mic today did you know

just a few years back I can remember

when there was no such thing as a

wireless mic

I can remember when nobody had a cell

phone I actually have to teach some of

my students and talk to him about I was

talking on the phone and it was attached

to the wall and there are some people

that don’t even know what that’s like

and that you didn’t have the internet

you couldn’t go hey Siri what is this

you had to go look things up in an

encyclopedia did you know that things

have changed dramatically and there are

many people that are just enamored with

this and excited about it I’m convinced

that if Jesus was here he would sit

there and say you know what you your

your affections are misplaced now I’m

not saying that we shouldn’t use

technology I’m not saying this stuff is

evil but I’m saying that many of us are

just loving the world we are really

excited about all of the things that

we’ve got and just as Jesus told these

disciples all of this stuff is going to

pass away what good is it going to do

you then and when he said this his

disciple says what are the signs of the

end times and what are the signs of your

coming and he began to say these things

unto him I’m just going to break into

the middle of this in Matthew chapter 24

verse 10 it says and then shall many be

offended and shall betray one another

and shall hate one another in other

words he’s talking about the end times

water the signs and one of the signs is

that many people are going to be

offended and this isn’t just talking

about the unbelievers this is talking

about believers there are many believers

that are going to be offended and they

will hate one another and they will

betray one another and many false

prophets shall arise and shall deceive

many and because iniquity shall abound

the love of many shall wax cold and I

want to focus on that twelfth verse

especially it says that in the last days

that because of Nick WA T shall abound

the love of many shall wax cold you know

the word here wax it’s a word picture

the way that they made candles

those days was that they would take a

wick and they would put it in hot wax

and they’d lift it out and in just a

second that wax would would crystallize

or Harden and then they dip it in again

and it would put another layer on it and

then they dip it again and just do this

hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of

times and that’s the way they formed a

candle and so this is describing that

the love of many will wax cold in other

words it won’t be that you will just be

all out for God and serving God with

your whole heart and then the next

moment you’ll just quit and go the other

direction but no it’s describing a

progression of just little by little by

little layer after layer after layer of

indifference coming upon people and

Jesus prophesied that in the last times

which I could spend a lot of time

showing this but we are in the last

times it said on the day of Pentecost

Peter said that he was in the last times

and if two thousand years ago was the

last times we’re in the last of the

fence times I don’t know for sure when

the Lord’s coming back but I can tell

you why people say do you believe that

this is the last generation well it’s my

last generation and I’m getting with it

and I’m doing everything I can to deal

with things and so he said that in these

end times the love of many would wax

cold why because iniquity would abound

you know this word iniquity was also

translated unrighteousness a number of

times in the Bible this is just talking

about immoral ungodly things happen and

Christians are going to be affected by

this and the love of many it didn’t say

the love of all or the love of most but

the love of many would wax cold and

there is a reason why people tend to get

cold in their relationship with God most

people think that it’s up to God and

I’ve had many people come to me and they

say you know I just don’t feel the same

love for God that I used to would you

please pray that God would just pour out

his love in my life I have this ask me

many times would you just please pray

that God would reveal his love to me in

poor

is love out no I won’t pray that and

some people think well why wouldn’t you

pray that because you are in saying that

you think it’s up to God how much you

love him it’s not God loves every one of

us in here passionately more than any of

you could ever understand I don’t care

what you’ve done whether you’ve failed

him I don’t care what your situation is

God loves you more than any of us have

ever understood God is love first John

chapter four verse eight he doesn’t just

have love he is loved God loves you more

than you could ever imagine and for you

to come and say God would you just pour

your love out in my life in a sense

you’re criticizing God thinking it’s up

to God whether you feel his love or not

whether you’re overwhelmed by his love

and that’s not true the Bible says that

God so loved the world that He gave His

only begotten Son

John 3:16 Romans chapter 5 verse 8 God

has commended his love toward us and

that while we were yet sinners Christ

died for us God has already shown his

love and he is constantly pouring out in

releasing his love if you aren’t

experiencing the love of God if you

aren’t just overwhelmed with how much

God loves you and if you aren’t blessed

by this it is not God that turned off

the spigot it’s you and some people

don’t like that because they say you’re

saying it’s my fault yeah it’s exactly

what I’m saying

and you know what that’s actually a

blessing because if you’re the problem

you can fix you but if God’s the problem

how do you fix God how do you get God

and this is where all religion comes up

with all of these things that well he

wouldn’t answer your prayer so we got to

get a hundred thousand people to pray

and get something to happen or this is

where the thing comes up that well God

won’t answer your prayers but maybe

he’ll answer injury’s prayer if you’ll

come and let andrew pray for you if

you’ll go to one of these people that

have a special anointing and it’s all

because you don’t understand how much

God loves you and your love has wax cold

your faith isn’t where it needs to be

and you think it’s up to God about that

and so you beg God and plead God to pour

out his spirit in your life when the

truth is it’s because iniquity is

abounding that your love is waxed cold

and I tell you in case you haven’t

noticed we live in a society that

iniquity is abounding I hate to make

these comparisons back when I was a kid

because it makes me sound old but I

guess I am I remember people saying this

when I was a kid and I always thought

you know that anyway back when I was a

kid we didn’t have a lot of this stuff

we had prayer in school and praised God

for president Trump reintroducing prayer

man that we’ve seen so much change in

case you haven’t noticed iniquity is

abounding people are flaunting sin today

and saying that it is a godly thing you

know I just read something today about

this mayor booted jag I think is the way

you say his name and if somebody was

campaigning for him and found out after

they were already on his campaign thing

that he was a homosexual and that he had

a homosexual partner and when they found

out they said well they aren’t going to

support him anymore and he was on some

talk show I’m not up on all this stuff

but he was talking about this and trying

to justify it as this is a godly thing

and he was quoting scripture and somehow

or another trying to justify

homosexuality I’m not against the guy at

all hate him but I’m saying you cannot

justify homosexuality by the Bible and

it wouldn’t have even nobody would have

even tried that just a few years ago

today it is not only being acted on but

it’s being flaunted and paraded and

iniquity is abounding you know they

legalized abortion in 73 it’s now been

47 years and there have been over 63

million children aborted in the United

States and this isn’t including all of

the abortions because New York and

California aren’t required to report all

of the abortions these are only the ones

that they report 63 million children in

the United States last year there were

40 I think it was either 42 or 48 point

six million children aborted worldwide

it was the number one cause of death in

the world is abortion that’s terrible

and now they are even passing laws so

that after the child is born and outside

of the woman how in the world can you

claim that this is a woman’s decision

about her own body after the child is

delivered and alive they can sit there

and say that they want this

maybe to die in New York and Virginia

and I think California have passed laws

where they will allow a child that is

totally healthy to just die because the

mother doesn’t want it I’ll tell you

this isn’t much different than the Nazis

did you know that the Nazis during World

War two Mengele the doctor at Auschwitz

did you know a lot of the experiments he

was doing on the Jews who is transgender

stuff trying to change their sex and

many of them thousands of them were

killed doing sex changes they were

experimenting on this all of that stuff

is Nazism and today we are passing laws

and they are giving hormone blockers to

children as young as 4th and 5th graders

affecting their development anyone I

could go on and on but if if you haven’t

recognized that iniquity is abounding

you aren’t paying attention we live in a

situation where iniquity is abounding

and according to Jesus in the last days

when iniquity of bounds it is going to

cause the love of many to wax cold look

at this passage over in 2nd Peter and

chapter 2 2nd Peter chapter 2 and in

verse 6 it says in turning the cities of

Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned

them with an overthrow making them an

example unto them that should live

ungodly man in case anybody wants to

know well what does the Bible have to

say about homosexuality look at Sodom

and Gomorrah it says that he used this

as an example of how God felt about

homosexuality he made them an example

unto those that should after live

ungodly and delivered just lot this

doesn’t mean only lot lot wasn’t the

only one

to be delivered his wife was delivered

until she turned around and was turned

into a pillar of salt but his two

daughters were delivered too so this

doesn’t mean that lot was the only one

delivered it means he delivered this

just man this righteous man named lot

and you will see that in the context so

it says and delivered just lot vexed

with the filthy conversation of the

wicked for that righteous man right

there talking about him being a just man

or a righteous man dwelling among them

in seen and hearing vexed his righteous

soul from day to day with their unlawful

deeds this says that when you live in

the midst of an ungodly culture and you

see and hear these things it vexes your

righteous soul and if you look that word

up it’s literally talking about it’s

demonic

there is a delusion that has come into

our society today and sad to say

Christians have just little by little

incremental incremental ‘i waxed

hardened and cold because all of this

ungodliness that is going on did you

know that most of us watch things on our

television you go see movies that your

parents are your grandparents would have

been appalled at they would have branded

this I mean out and out demonic how dare

you go watch somebody commit sex on

television or on in a movie and see

nudity and the cursing and the vileness

and the gratuitous violence I didn’t

watch the halftime show at the Super

Bowl but I heard about it and I saw a

little clip of one of those ladies I

don’t even know who she was sitting

there doing something with their tongue

then I don’t even know what the purpose

of it was but I can guarantee you what

godly it wasn’t she wasn’t doing

something godly and dancing on a pole

and that we were doing this stuff for

entertainment seeing kids watching

I love you and I know that somebody may

take offense please don’t misunderstand

what I’m saying but those of you who

watch stuff like that and it didn’t even

affect you your love has waxed cold now

I’m not saying that you know watching a

football game is bad I watched the Super

Bowl and I don’t think that the game

itself is bad but man I just I turned it

on maybe 20 or 30 minutes maximum before

the Super Bowl started and the way that

they were hyping everything and this is

the most important thing in the world

it’s idolatry it really is idolatry the

way that they have these shows where

people sing American Idol again I know

I’m gonna hit somebody’s nerve give me

grace but the very name American Idol

turns me off and the way that they

glorify these people is if they are

somebody special it’s misplaced love and

affection and for you to embrace these

things that are denying God most of

these things people are scantily clad

their sexuality involved in it they are

promoting themselves they are making out

like they are awesome that stuff is a

stink in the nostrils of guys and for us

to embrace this and pay hundreds of

dollars a month to get all of this

ungodliness pumped into our home there’s

an indication of where our heart is and

we wonder why it is that God seems

distant iniquity you vex your righteous

soul when you live in the midst of

ungodliness and you embrace it and make

it a part of your life and you get to

where you can enjoy things that God

hates and it’ll it’ll quench the love

that you have for God Amen or oh me

I’m not even talking about you

participating I’m just talking about you

being exposed to all of this stuff and

getting to where you let your guard down

to where you actually enjoy it and you

participate in it where you normalize it

we we live in a fallen world and I’m not

believing that God wants us to live in a

monastery so I’m not preaching that you

should totally withdraw and get rid of

your televisions I’m on television I’m

not saying that television is of the

devil but a lot of the stuff that’s on

it is on the devil and so I’m not

preaching that you know there’s there’s

two ways that you can respond to this

one is that you just totally unplugged

from the world and to a degree I believe

that we should do that we shouldn’t just

let the sewage of the world flow through

our minds I guarantee you some of its

gonna stick so to a degree we have to

unplug but this is one of the problems

that our society is in the mess that

it’s in is because the church basically

has seen some of these things coming and

they’ve unplugged and they haven’t

gotten involved and they hadn’t stood up

and said that this is right and this is

wrong and we allowed things to happen I

can guarantee you if the body of Christ

the body of Christ is the largest group

of anything there is not an ethnic group

there is not some choice group there is

no group in the United States as large

as the body of Christ and if Christians

would stand up

and begin to say that we are not

allowing this kind of stuff we could

stop anything that we want in this

nation but many Christians when

television came out they saw the

potential for it taking time away from

people being in the word and taking time

away from church and stuff and now you

know I was just talking to Greg this

afternoon and he up until recently has

been ministering nearly exclusively in

churches now he’s on television and he’s

beginning to minister other ways but he

says things have changed used to you’d

have a week-long revival meeting and

then it cut down to a three-day revival

meeting and now it’s hard to have more

than one Sunday morning service or

something you know why because people

have all of this entertainment at all of

these other things in their home and

they are too busy watching television

and taking their kids to soccer practice

and man we have a culture today that is

no longer centered around the Word of

God and the sad fact is Christians have

checked out of standing up and being the

salt and the light that we are supposed

to be and because of it we have become

accustomed to this we’ve embraced it

we’ve normalized ungodliness that’s

terrible you know this is beginning to

happen all over the nation but in

Colorado they passed this sex education

bill HB 1032 and I am 600 of our

employees and students went up to the

State Capitol and protested it man we’re

getting involved and we are doing some

things but anyway it normalizes had

ungodly behavior

it teaches transgenderism homosexuality

abortion and all of these things they

actually teach sexual conduct between

homosexuals they teach the techniques to

fourth graders

and that’s not just Colorado

California’s already passed it in New

York and this is coming to wherever you

live and you know what they’re doing

that they have a special provision in

that bill that nobody who believes that

marriage is between a man and a woman

and that that is normal

you cannot speak up you can’t say

anything or you are operating in a hate

crime and you could be put in jail so

they’re not only promoting the

ungodliness but they are limiting

anybody saying anything against it you

can’t counter it and you know what

they’re doing they’re teaching this to

young kids and they’re normalizing

perversion this is terrible anyway I

could I could spend all weekend just

showing the things that are wrong I’m

going to get to how do you live positive

into negative world but before I can

make that point we got to recognize that

this is something that we need and many

of you they say well I don’t need this

let’s go on to something else you’re the

very person that needs it because your

heart has already grown cold if you

aren’t grieved seeing the ungodliness

and seeing people’s lives changed

something is wrong with you you need to

be grieved at this you know the Bible

talks about grieve not the Holy Spirit

and the Holy Spirit one third of the

Godhead he can be grieved if God is

grieved over the things that are

happening who in the world are we to not

be great I’m not saying that we should

grieve like the world grieves with no

hope but we ought to at least recognize

the problem and we need to recognize

that iniquity is bounding and it is

going to cause the hearts of many people

to wax cold and that’s already happened

to a very large degree but there is good

news you know the Lord told the pastor

of the church in Ephesus he says repent

because you’ve left your first love and

so to tell him to repent means that this

situation can be solved the first step

is

got it diagnose it you got to recognize

that it’s not God who has changed it’s

not God has grown cold it’s not God who

is letting this nation go the direction

that it’s going it’s the body of Christ

the fact that we have just incrementally

accepted these things and we haven’t

stood up and we haven’t utilized our

power you know this is a separate issue

I’m just going to say this and move on

but because of all of these things back

when they passed the Supreme Court

decision in 2015 and made homosexual

unions legal man I put out this

declaration of dependence upon God not

independence but dependence upon God and

we put it in I forget now but hundreds

of newspapers all across the nation with

80,000 signatures and said that we

aren’t going to go quietly and that we

refuse to do this and I started getting

more and more involved we’ve now formed

a truth in Liberty which is a 501 C 4

that means it’s a non-profit but it’s

not tax deductible and it means I can be

as political as I want to be I could run

for office upon

[Music]

I’m not going to run for office I

wouldn’t step down and lower myself to

do that what I’m doing is more important

but I’m saying that now I can say all of

these things and get around it and then

who cares what they have to say amen and

we are we’re beginning to do some things

we’ve got 27 organizations in Colorado

that are meeting together and they’ve

asked me to start being kind of the

focal point and organize everything and

and we’ve got a nationwide organization

that I just heard yesterday is kind of

coming unraveled and because of the

election year they’re looking for

leadership in this nationwide

organization is asking if I’d take that

over I’m not sure that I will but I’m

saying God is just opening up doors and

we’re beginning to start making inroads

we’ve had on jay sekulow we’ve had on

who have we had on we’ve we’ve had on

the bill Federer and David and Tim

Barton and I don’t know generals and

politicians and all kinds of things we

have a Monday night broadcast if you if

you’ve missed that it comes on at 6:00

p.m. that would be 8:00 p.m. your time

every Monday night we have a truth and

Liberty Live cast where you can

participate and call in but anyway the

reason I’m saying all of that is that

I’ve just determined that praise God I’m

not going to go quietly

we’re gonna do something about this and

we as Christians have to stand up

and we have to start getting engaged so

one way to respond to this when you see

that because iniquity is abounding the

love of many is wax and coal one way

that the church has traditionally dealt

with this is to withdraw from the public

square and to withdraw and just try to

ignore it and isolate yourself I don’t

believe that that is the right approach

I believe that there is a different way

that we can stay in the world but not be

of the world and not be tainted by it

and that you can keep your love for God

strong and that’s what I’m going to be

ministering on all of this weekend let’s

turn over to Romans chapter 1 and all of

that was introduction just to let you

know that we are having iniquity abound

now how do we deal with it how do you

stay positive in a negative world how do

you keep all of this ungodliness from

from affecting you and I’ve ministered

or talked mainly about what’s going on

you know in our culture but you could

bring this down to an individual basis

man there’s people that are having you

know diagnosis that you’ve got an

incurable disease and you’re fighting

with this how do you stay positive when

the doctor tells you you’re gonna die

there are people that are dealing with

financial situations and it looks like

nothing is working in your life how do

you stay positive when everything around

you is looking bad and it doesn’t look

like you have enough money there’s

people who have gotten marital problems

relational problems you got problems at

job and just on and on you could go so

this not only applies on a culture wide

basis but this applies on an individual

basis too we just we live in a fallen

world and there’s a lot of negative

things I’ve even said this before that

life is terminal you may not have looked

at it that way but unless Jesus comes

back every one of us is going to die we

are all in different stages of dying

don’t usually get many amens on that

people don’t like to think about this

but if you just looked at things

in the natural and didn’t factor into it

God and how he can affect our lives and

things like this man there’s reasons to

be discouraged I saw a bumper sticker

that says if you aren’t discouraged you

aren’t paying attention and you know

what without God and without the truths

of the Word of God that would be an

accurate way to look at things but

praise God we have a hope that this

world doesn’t know about and we have

things that God can use to keep you

built up and encouraged in the midst of

a negative world so over here in the

book of Romans chapter one I probably

won’t get far into this tonight but I’ll

continue it throughout the meeting on my

part but in Romans chapter 1 in verse 16

he says I am not ashamed of the gospel

of Christ for it speaking about the

gospel is the power of God unto

salvation to everyone that believeth to

the Jew first and also to the Greek for

there in talking about in the gospel is

the righteousness of God revealed from

faith to faith as it is written the just

shall live by faith man there is a lot

in those two verses I haven’t got time

to preach on all this but I have

preached on these two verses for an

entire weekend before the gospel here is

more than what most people say most

people don’t understand gospel it’s

become a religious cliche and they say

oh yeah I believe in the gospel and what

they believe in is religious doctrine

I’ve even had people come up before and

and say you’re going to hell watch some

gospel that’s not the gospel

the word gospel means good news it’s not

good news that you’re going to help it’s

good news that although we all have

sinned and come short of the glory of

God and deserve to go to hell the good

news is that Jesus paid for our sins

Jesus went to hell for us Jesus paid and

now salvation is available to you on the

basis of grace not on the basis of what

you’ve done you don’t you don’t get what

you deserve you get what you believe now

that’s the gospel the gospel is

emphasizing the way out of our problem

but it is true that people need to know

that there’s a hell they really do and

safe to say the church is quit preaching

this and this is why people go in and

and shoot up a place and then kill

themselves and thinking I avoided

getting caught I avoided persecution or

prosecution man they just ushered

themselves into a Christ Lisi turna T

where they are going to suffer for

eternity you know used to people had

guns a long time ago but you didn’t see

the same number of shootings it’s not

the guns that’s the problem it’s the

fact that they don’t fear God that they

don’t recognize they’re going to be held

accountable guns don’t kill people

anymore than Forks make you fat every

person who’s fat has used the fork but

if you took Forks away from them they’d

still be fat they’d find another way to

shovel it in

[Applause]

you know I go over to England a lot and

over in England they confiscated all of

the guns unless you’re a hunter and you

have to have all of these permits and

yet every time I’m in England somebody’s

killed by something they stone them to

death they use knives they even had a

violent knife attack I think it was last

year and in the paper they were actually

talking about outlawing knives kitchen

knives make them so that they were all

blunt there couldn’t be any if you took

away all knives if you took away all

rocks

they’d find some way they’d strangle

them with their hands guns don’t kill

people

Forks don’t make you fat it’s what’s on

the inside of you it’s the way you

choose to act that’s the problem it says

in Psalms chapter 36 verse 1 it says the

transgression of the wicked says within

my heart that there is no fear of God

before their eyes the way you restrain

evil actions is by putting the fear of

God in people and that comes through the

word of God it comes through teaching

the truth and these people in Congress

that are sitting there and every time

something happens and they want to take

everybody’s guns away and they say we

just can’t understand what the problem

is they’re the problem they are the ones

that have taken prayer out of school

they’re the ones that are coming against

everything the Word of God says they’re

undercutting the authority of the word

of God and they have taken the fear of

God out of society and that is the

problem

amen

so I got off on all that by saying that

people need to know that there’s a hell

but that’s not the gospel they need to

know that they are going to be

accountable to God but that’s not the

gospel the gospel is specifically

talking about in view of the fact that

we are accountable to a God and some day

we are going to answer for what we’ve

done the gospel the good news is that

Jesus has provided a way for us to stand

there without any rejection without any

punishment he loved us so much that he

came and took your sin in my sin and he

died for that and paid for it and all we

have to do is make him the lord of our

life and we can stand before him and

hear him say well done thou good and

faithful servant even though we didn’t

do everything right now that’s good news

did you know that the word literally

that was used for gospel here the Greek

word was only used twice outside of the

New Testament it was a word that existed

before the New Testament was written but

it was rarely used because it literally

means nearly too good to be true news it

wasn’t just good news it was

over-the-top

it was nearly too good to be true and

there was nothing in the natural world

that was merely too good to be true

until Jesus came along and to think that

God Almighty this just amazes me that

God Almighty would limit himself and

become a man you know Jesus didn’t just

suffer when he was on the cross now he

did suffer and I’m not minimizing that

but it was suffering to become a man the

scripture says that the universe fits in

the palm of his hand

God is so used that the universe fits in

the palm of his hand and yet he limited

himself to being a human being and was

born

and became a little baby and he had to

learn how to walk and how to talk and

how to feed himself how to control his

bowels and he had to what he walked by

people that he created and they never

even noticed him the Bible says in

Isaiah chapter 52 and 53 that there was

no beauty in him that we should desire

him Jesus wasn’t a beautiful person I

don’t think he was an ugly person but he

wasn’t beautiful he wasn’t special he

wasn’t one of those that was just you

know who was at Barbie and Ken he wasn’t

one of those he was just normal looking

and he would walk by people that he

created and they would ignore him you

know what it’s amazing to me that God

Almighty would do that but he did it

because he loved us so much that for 33

years he walked on this earth he got

hungry he got tired he got sweaty he was

rejected he was ignored and then he went

through all of the death of the cross

and did all of this so that you and I

could be free every one of us deserves

to go to hell and some of you think well

not me well you just don’t understand

all I’ve sinned and come short of the

glory of God but I’m not as bad a sinner

as this person over here I don’t dip or

cuss or chew or go with those that do

I’m you know I’m better than this

publican I fast twice in the week that’s

what the that’s what the Pharisee said

you’re the very person it’s going to

split hell wide open because you’re

gonna approach God on your own goodness

thinking that you don’t need salvation

all you need is just a little bit of

help

there isn’t a hell number two or a hell

number three if you miss heaven by an

inch you miss it by a mile

if you’ve ever sinned you deserve death

Romans chapter six verse 23 the wages of

sin is

death that’s what we deserve I deserve

death

I don’t deserve God’s goodness I’ve

lived holier than most of you in here

I’ve never said a word of profanity in

all my 70 years I’ve never taken a drink

of liquor I’ve never smoked a cigarette

I’ve never tasted coffee it’s absolutely

true never tasted coffee amen but you

got a scripture to stand on for coffee

it says you can drink any deadly thing

and it shall not harm me I’m just saying

I’ve lived a holy life but you know what

I’ve sinned I’ve been selfish I haven’t

loved God I don’t love my wife the way

that Christ loves the church I don’t do

everything perfectly I’ve sinned and I

guarantee there’s no reward for being

the best Center that ever got sent to

hell I needed salvation you need

salvation that’s good news good news is

specifically talking about the salvation

I said I wasn’t going to preach on that

but I just nearly did so anyway the word

gospel here isn’t just referring to

anything religious holding up a sign

saying repent or else turn or burn

that’s not the gospel the gospel is

emphasizing the love of God and then it

comes by grace and not through your

effort and that is the power of God if

you don’t have the power of God working

in your life it’s because you don’t know

the gospel you might know some religious

truths you may know that God exists but

you may think that he’s an angry God

that is holding your sins against you

and and the one who’s causing your

problems and the one who made you sick

and the one who causes these children to

be born with birth defects and stuff but

that’s not the true gospel that’s not

the real picture of God you know a lot

of people today would say well I’m not

an idol worshiper but what an idol is

you make a God out of your own hands and

you worship of God of your own making

there are many people that call

themselves Christians today who had a

God of their own making they just decide

how they want him to be

I’m not gonna worship a God that would

do this or this or this you know what

you aren’t God it’s not up to you to

pick and choose who God is you have to

take the revelation that God gave us in

his word and you have to worship him for

who he is not who you think he should be

and there are a lot of people today that

are making God in their own image

that’s idolatry thank you for that

thunderous silence and when you

understand the true gospel when you

understand the goodness and the grace of

God that is the power of God unto

salvation if you have a lack of power in

your life you have a lack of

understanding the gospel you may

understand some religious concepts but

you don’t understand the gospel or the

gospel is the power of God unto

salvation what is salvation salvation

here again the church has narrowed the

definition of salvation to just

forgiveness of sins which it includes

forgiveness of sins I’m not minimizing

that but salvation also means healing it

means deliverance from demonic things it

means prosperity

the greek word used here is so-so and

it’s used over 360 something times in

the New Testament and it literally

refers to everything that comes as a

result of getting your sins forgiven and

it includes everything joy and peace all

of the fruit of the Spirit so this is

saying that the gospel is the power of

God unto healing unto prosperity and to

joy and peace unto victory and to love

unto all of these things if you are

missing it in any of these areas if it

seems like man God is just far away and

you don’t have any power you don’t

understand the gospel if you truly

understood our relationship with God is

based solely upon what Jesus has done

and the only thing you have to

contribute to it is your sin admitting

that you’re a sinner and then your faith

in

Jesus making up the difference for your

sin that’s all you contribute it’s not

your goodness if you understood that it

would release the power of healing the

power of joy the power of peace power of

all of these things in your life and

this is awesome

and if you say things like this Paul in

his day the word gospel wasn’t a cliche

it was a word that was not hardly used

like I said they it was only twice

outside of the Bible and to say that it

was the goodness of God it was the good

news about God’s love for us to say that

that was the power of God and that this

was what was going to cause people to be

born again that was completely unheard

of the Jewish religion was just bad news

they had figured out how many steps you

could walk on a Sabbath day it was a

little over half a mile you had to count

your steps on a Sabbath day they were so

religious you couldn’t pick up your

couch and carry it remember jesus healed

the man at the Pool of Bethesda and the

religious people got on his case because

who told you you could carry your couch

he says the man who healed me did and

that you couldn’t carry your couch you

couldn’t do anything

some of you find this hard to believe

but you know the essence the group of

people that wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls

that lived around there that’s where

John the Baptist was raised he was

raised by the essence it says that after

his birth he was in the deserts until

the day of his showing unto Israel and

he lived with these people and they were

so religious that in those writings

these people who copied out the Dead Sea

Scrolls and hid those things and they

weren’t found until the 1950s those

people had it that you could not have a

bowel movement on a Sabbath day because

that was work

and they forbid you to have bowel

movements

that’s the religious day that Paul was

living in and for him to come along and

tell you that it’s the good news about

what Jesus did that’s going to cause

salvation these religious people were

incensed know you got to tell people

that they’re sinners you got to make

them feel guilty and condemned and you

drive man to salvation out of fear

instead of drawing them through love see

that’s the way that the religion of

their day was and so Paul said these

things I guarantee you it was not

acceptable to the legalistic Jewish

mindset of his day and right after he

said this he began to give some

justification for why it’s the goodness

of God the good news that it’s going to

draw man toom because he says in verse

18 he says for the wrath of God is

revealed from heaven and if you look

these words up in the Greek it’s in a

tense that means the wrath of God is

already revealed from heaven against all

ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

who hold the truth in unrighteousness

what are you saying is you don’t have to

tell people what a rich they are because

on a heart level they know it now they

may not believe that and today there are

people professing all kinds of

immorality and boasting and saying I’m

just fine there’s nothing wrong with me

but it’s not the truth these verses are

really critical I use these verses all

of the time but this says the wrath of

God is already revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of men who hold the

truth in unrighteousness because that

which may be known of God is manifest in

them for God has shown it unto them for

the invisible things of him from the

creation of the world are clearly seen

it didn’t say vaguely seen they are

clearly seen being understood by the

things which are made so even

eternal power and Godhead so that they

are without excuse this is saying that

inside of every person there is a

knowledge of right and wrong and the

Bible says this again over in Romans

chapter 2 it says their conscience

either accusing or excusing themselves

in bearing witness every person has this

intuitive knowledge of right and wrong

on the inside and it even says in verse

20 that they have an intuitive knowledge

of the existence of God his eternal

power and Godhead talking about the

Trinity you know most people that say

well I don’t believe that’s true

this is Scripture I’m reading to you if

you believe most people don’t let the

Bible get in the way of what they

believe but if you let the Bible get in

the way of what you believe this says

every person has an intuitive knowledge

of the Godhead in them so that they are

without excuse did you know I was in

Vietnam

and there was a place outside of my

Division Headquarters that had these

three temples that were taller than this

building they were probably five stories

tall and they were built right next to

each other and they were so close

together I never got off and and went

out there and walked among them but it

you know it was like a quarter of a mile

away and it looked to me like that it

was if they were so close together that

you couldn’t even walk in between them

three temples together and they were

falling down they had the bricks had

turned back to dirt trees were growing

out of the jungle was taking him over

and I stopped and asked about it and

they said that those were three temples

to one God who manifested himself in

three parts and it was built five

hundred years before Christianity came

to Vietnam now I’m not saying that they

it was correct worship I’m not saying it

was a true worship of our God Father and

Son and Holy Spirit but it revealed that

they had that knowledge on the inside of

them and did you know when Jamie and I

were in Cancun we went over to chips and

Nitza where the Mayans built things and

they had a God with three parts that

manifested themself the Thunderbird was

one of those and they talked about that

they worship the god that manifested

himself in three parts now I know that

that wasn’t a true worship because they

were doing human sacrifices and cutting

people’s hearts out and that’s

definitely not God but it does reflect

the fact that there was an intuitive

knowledge of not only God’s existence

but even his eternal power and Godhead

at one time every person who has ever

breathed on this planet had the wrath of

God revealed against their sin they knew

what they were doing was wrong there are

some of you that were raised outside of

religion but you when you started doing

dope when you started having sex outside

of marriage you knew in your heart that

it was not right that’s the reason that

you hid it that’s the reason you didn’t

want everybody to know about it you may

not have had it from a religious

standpoint but you knew in your heart

that it was wrong and this it’s

basically saying that there’s this

homing device there’s a god-given

revelation on the inside of every person

and the reason Paul was saying this is

to justify why he’s saying you don’t

have to tell everybody what a terrible

sinner they are because they already

know it if they would be honest on a

heart level they know that their life

isn’t right they know that they’ve done

things wrong they know if they were to

stand before God

nobody’s gonna stand there in boldness

man I guarantee you when you see the

glory of God you and you see the

awesomeness of God man you are gonna

fall on your faces

those who say men when I see God I’m

gonna ask him about this you will not

you’re gonna fall on your face and say

oh thank you Jesus that I didn’t ask

that stupid question everybody has had

God reveal himself to them now it goes

on to say in this first chapter that you

can deny that and just like we read you

can you can wax cold you can harden your

heart and over a period of time you can

become where it says down here that you

become reprobate where there is no

knowledge of God in your heart

whatsoever and if you follow all this

progression I won’t be able to get

through all of these scriptures this

week homosexuality is the last step in

that progression towards being reprobate

where there is no knowledge of God

homosexuality is the last stop on this

train and that’s right where we are

today but at one time every person who’s

ever lived on this planet knew that

there was only one God and that you are

not him and that you are going to have

to answer for the things done in your

flesh and I know that there’s some of

you that disagree with that but that’s

what the word says and I believe it I

believe it’s true I had a man who worked

for me and he was raised in California

and he was raised by atheist parents and

he was taught his whole life that there

was no God and he heard me teach on this

this has been 15 years ago or so and he

heard me teach on this and he says look

I respect you and God used you in my

life and he says I don’t mean to be

contentious but what you’re saying is

not true he says I was brought up in an

ungodly home and I never had any

knowledge of God until he was twenty

somethings when he got born again and he

said that’s just not true and I said

well the Bible says it I believe the

Bible more than I believe what you say

and so he anyway we just parted and he

was praying about this and saying God

what is what’s the answer here and all

of a sudden the Lord reminded him when

he was just 11 or 12 years old he

climbed up on a hill overlooking Los

Angeles and he was watching the sunset

and as the son said all of these lights

begin to come on all over Los Angeles

millions of lives and he was up there

looking at these lights coming on in

thinking how much effort it took to put

in millions and millions of lights and

the wires and the poles and he was just

thinking about that look at all of this

effort and he was overwhelmed and he

says as it got dark he just lifted his

eyes towards heaven and when he saw all

of the millions of stars he had that

exact thought come to him if these

things had to be put there

they didn’t just happen who put all of

these there and he instantly got to

thinking about God went and talked to

his parents and his parents said oh no

there is no God all of this just evolved

and happened and he shoved that thought

aside but he came back to me and he says

you know I had forgotten that but when I

was a kid I knew that there had to be a

God every person that has ever lived on

this planet knows this and I’ve just

learned now that I don’t argue with

people over the existence of God I had a

guy who was an atheist come in to my

Bible study when I was in Vietnam and I

had a Bible study with about 6 or 7 guys

and I was teaching and he sat there for

a while and listened but then he got to

asking me questions and I couldn’t

answer his question I was a brand new

believer I wasn’t strong in the word and

I couldn’t answer his questions and he

made a fool of me mocked me and says

there is no God and all of my Bible

study left with him he converted them to

atheism

and they left with him and I was just

sitting there praying and saying oh god

what could I have done differently and I

was praying and asking for another

opportunity and all of a sudden this guy

walks back in we were in a chapel thing

we had some books and things in there

and he was looking at a book for a while

and I was just praying oh god give me

another opportunity and when all the

other people finally left he walked over

and he says I want what you got and I

said you do I was surprised I said you

want what I’ve got and he said yeah and

I said why and he says because I’m an

intellectual he said I’m a Princeton

graduate my whole life is based on

intellectual arguments and he said I out

argued you I made a fool out of you and

I ridiculed you in front of all of your

Bible study and he says and yet you’ve

still got something you’ve got something

that’s more than just intellectual you

have a relationship with God I want what

you’ve got and I got to leave the man to

the Lord got to pray with him some day

I’ll get to visit with him in heaven but

you know what since that time I’ve just

learned that people can sit there and

they’ll tell you they don’t believe in

God but it’s all a mind game you stick a

gun to their head they’ll go god

[Applause]

they’ll call out to the God that they

say they don’t believe in I’m telling

you so it’s a mind game people are you

know it talks about in 1st Corinthians

chapter 1 people through intellect have

become foolish that they profess

themselves to be wise and they become

foolish the Bible says in Psalms 14:1 in

Psalms 53 1 they’re both identical

Psalms it says The Fool has said in his

heart there is no God and we’ve got a

lot of fools today that are sitting here

claiming to be intellectuals and stuff

and they can’t even figure out that God

created us they think that we evolved

from slime and I know there’s people

sitting right here in this room say well

boy you were way outside the Bible now

and you’re talking about things you

don’t know no evolution does not square

with the Bible it does not fit the Bible

and I guarantee you could take all the

cumulative knowledge and power and

wisdom and and money of the world and

put everybody’s resources to making one

blade of grass and they couldn’t do it

if 7 billion people collectively

couldn’t own purpose create one blade of

grass you could create something that

looks like it maybe tastes like it feels

like it but it’ll never grow another

blade of grass and if you can’t produce

a blade of grass on purpose how in the

world can all of this complexity happen

accidentally you have to be an absolute

fool to believe it you have to have more

faith than I got to believe that a man

well Greg I hope I hadn’t run everybody

off I hope you come back to here Greg

tomorrow he will be he’ll be positive

hey man

and I’m going to get into verse 21

tomorrow and that’s how you stay

positive in a negative world but all

I’ve done is build up to it and lay the

foundation but I’m telling you in your

heart everybody knows that you need God

you can talk yourself out of it you can

harden your heart you can sear your

conscience with a hot iron but at one

time you knew that you needed God and I

would suspect that those of you that are

here on a Thursday night

this isn’t your nod to God crowd it

comes out on Sunday morning this is your

Thursday night fanatics I suspect all of

you realize your need for God and that’s

the reason you come out is because you

love God you’re wanting to develop and

grow and Greg is going to be talking

about how to grow up I’m going to be

talking about how you can stay positive

in a negative world and I believe that

gods are going to minister to you I

believe that this is going to be a

life-changing experience for you and so

you know I there’s other things that I

preach on that are more exciting than

this but I just feel that this is timely

we have so much ungodliness going on in

this world that we need to understand

the times that we live in we need to

understand how to deal with it and we

need to take heed to the warning that

Jesus gave us about the love of many

people’s hearts is going to whack cold

because of iniquity abounding and Men we

are in that situation and so I just want

to share things with you about how to do

this and I’m saying this out of nothing

but thankfulness I’m not saying it out

of pride but it’s now been 52 years come

March the 23rd will be 52 years since I

got my life transformed I’ve been

born-again for 63 years

but 52 years ago I had a miraculous

encounter with the Lord and he lit a

fire on the inside of me and it has

never gone out it’s stronger today than

it’s ever been

[Applause]

and again there’s people that will

describe had people criticize me and say

this is doing damage for you to say this

but it’s my testimony and I’m sticking

with it

and I haven’t been depressed

it was probably it’s probably been 48 or

49 years right after I had this

experience with the Lord I didn’t know

much of the word and it took me a little

while but I’d say it’s been 48 49 years

since I’ve been depressed it’s been that

long since I’ve been discouraged I know

how to keep myself encouraged in the

Lord you do not have to be like a yo-yo

that goes up and down and you don’t have

to have mountaintops and valleys you can

rejoice in the Lord always is what Paul

said and again I say rejoice we can

bless the Lord at all times his praise

shall continually be in my mouth you do

not have to be emotionally unstable

where you let your emotions rule and

control you and by the grace of God

again I’m giving the glory to God but I

have not been up and down and I’ve had a

lot of really bad things happen to me

I’ve got things going on right now that

if I told you some of my problems I

could make you all feel sorry for me and

yet I am just one happy camper I have

learned how to operate in joy and peace

even when things don’t look good and

praise God I’m saying it’s working for

me and so if that is not your testimony

and if you struggle to maintain your joy

and your peace and your focus with God

I’m going to be sharing with you the

things that God has done in my life that

have allowed me to stay steady and not

fall apart like a $2.00 suitcase every

time something happens and I believe

that this will really really be a

blessing to you so I encourage you to

come back tonight they’re going to have

tonight’s message already duplicated out

there within 5 minutes of this service

and you can pick this up but I encourage

you to come back because again all I’ve

done is introduce it I haven’t given you

the answer yet so you need to come back

father we love you and we thank you for

these truths thank you for the warning

thank you for showing us in your word

what it takes

to maintain a positive attitude when

everything around us is falling apart

thank you for the examples that you’ve

given us in Scripture thank you for the

way I know it’s working in my life I

know it’ll work for anybody who will do

it and I just pray that father this be

an encouragement to all of the people

that are here this week father I pray

that this will make a difference it’ll

give stability to people’s life help us

to quit being immature and driven around

with every wave of doctrine thank you

Jesus father we receive it I pray for

any person in here tonight who doesn’t

know Jesus father I’ve shared enough of

the gospel about what you’ve done that

people could give their life to you and

receive salvation father for any person

that doesn’t receive the baptism has not

received this power from on high and

this gift of speaking in tongues and the

other gifts father I pray that you would

just open up their heart tonight and

help them to receive and we think and we

agree and receive that in Jesus name

Amen