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