How To Outrun Horses | When Life Feels Impossible | Johannes Amritzer

Can we read Isaiah 40 verse 29 to 31 together and find strength in the word together? Can we do that? So let's read loud. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. So if you feel weak, he will increase your power right now. Let's continue. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. Come on, come on, come on. This is our declaration. Now you are all sons and daughters of a spiritual billionaire, aren't you? Jeff Leak has fed you well. I'm not looking over a church that has lost its purpose or know where they are going. I'm looking out over warriors, looking out over an army of people that have been fed so well from this pulpit here. And this is your time now. This is the time to stand up, take that DNA that is inside of you, and pick up that mantle and run. So I've chosen to call this sermon today, How to Outrun Horses. Tell your neighbor how to outrun. You will see me. I will outrun horses, baby. Tell your neighbor. Yeah, yeah. Please be seated. So as I've been meditating on on all of this, I really want to say that, you know, as believers, we preach heaven, we preach salvation, isn't it? And death is not scary to us. It is just a door on an unending timeline. We go from a darker room to a brighter room and heaven has gained. Hallelujah. For to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's what Paul told us in Philippians, right? So, well, I've done my crying and we will be crying from time to time. I have cried. I received the news when I was just to kickstart that boot camp with evangelists from 56 nations in Africa. And between every session that whole first week, I went out crying because I missed my best friend. Couldn't call him. So I'm not going to put a lid on that. It's healthy to cry. It's healthy to grieve. Are you getting that? But it's also good to come into the house of God and find strength, the real strength in life, which comes from the word of God and the Holy Spirit. So you will outrun horses. And I'm taking you to first Kings. And I want to talk about Elijah a little bit, because to me, my friend Jeff Leak, he was like an Elijah here in America and to the world. What do I mean by that? Well, he challenged complacency. He brought about a new church planting wave. And 114 churches has come only out of this house here. That's pretty remarkable. That's fantastic. And 13,000 baptized. We saw the stats during the Ignite conference. It's amazing. 13,000 churches have been baptized out there in these new church plants. And let me just tell you that you can be a little blind to what you have in your own house, right?

But Jeff, he impacted me and all of my friends in Europe. So there's a bunch of churches all over that continent that is your fruit too, that are there. And in Africa, he helped out our bishops with church planting schools. And there are thousands of churches that have come about in Africa because of what has been going on here in this house. So I just know deep down in my spirit that you are surrounded. You are not alone. You know, Elijah cried in the desert, I'm alone. I'm alone. No, he said, there is a remnant. There are 7,000 people that are not bowed down to be all. And I want to tell you that there has never, ever in the history of Allison Park Church, been more people praying for you right now. All over the world, they're praying all over the world. And the network here, you know, it goes generations. He was my covenant friend. And I'm here. for you. I don't know what I can be. I can never replace your shepherd, but I can be an uncle and I can speak faith. And I'm here to tell you that we are standing with you. We are together. We're going to finish our races. Can someone say amen? This is a time of new beginnings. This is not the end of an era. This is when the era is picking up. And so Elijah, he was challenging idolatry in that country. And he gathered the prophets, the false prophets, and he called down fire on the altar. You all remember. And then he butchered the prophets. And then he went up to pray on the mountain because he had shut down heaven, James tells us, for three and a half years. But then he went up on the mountain and that's where we come into the text. And he started praying for rain. And I'm reading from verse 44. The seventh time the servant reported, a cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea. So Elijah said, go tell Ahab. Who was Ahab? It was the evil king that was married to the witch, Jezebel, who was aligned with all these false prophets. Go tell that king. Go tell Ahab, he said to his servants. Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you. Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds and the wind rose and a heavy rain started falling. And Ahab rode off to Jezreel. He was in a chariot with fast horses. But the power of the Lord came on Elijah and tucking in his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. And I'm here to tell you that this is what will happen now with the next generation of APC, with the offspring of Pastor Jeff. Are you hearing me? This is not a time where we come to halt. This is a time when a supernatural power will come upon your congregation and all the church plants and the whole network. So my first point today is, you got to be on lookout

for rain. Can you say that? Tell your neighbor, be on lookout for rain. Because one of the last themes that Jeff had here in the house was a house of healing. And I've talked to a lot of people out here because I was here preaching one of those Sundays just a month ago. And I've heard so many healing testimonies. And I'm telling you, God is going to come with signs and wonders. It's going to rain. When Jeff started out here, I brought Fior with me, who was a member of Alison Park before Jeff and Mel came actually. 41, 42 years has been around. And Fior told me, and we can quote Jeff here today, we can say, half of the time I didn't know what I was doing. Because it was a young man, an intern, I was thrown in to be the pastor during a very chaotic time. But revivals broke out through this young man. There were visitations, powerful visitations. And I'm here to tell you that it's going to start to rain, Alison Park Church. There will be clouds, there will be rain. And listen, I want to speak to the new generation here. When Josh stands to preach and he feels like, I don't know what I'm doing. That's the perfect, perfect ingredients for the Holy Spirit to move. When we know what to do, then we don't need the Lord. But when we don't know what to do, we give room to the Holy Spirit. And I'm prophesying over Caleb here, there's going to be a youth revival in the house. There's going to be so many teenagers coming to the Lord, and young adults being baptized in the Holy Spirit. It will rain, Alison Park. It's going to be visitations, signs and wonders. In Ezekiel 34 and verse 26, it says, I will make them, and I could read, I will make APC and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. And I will send down showers in season, and there will be showers of blessing. Can I hear an amen? And Psalm 147 says, he sends his word and melts what is frozen. I'm actually quoting from my German Bible. He melts what is frozen. And when young preachers will stand up in this network, and what has been set in motion here through Jeff and Mel. When young preachers stands up and speaks the Word of God, it's going to melt whatever is frozen. And it says, he stirs up his breezes and the water flows. And this is what I want to declare over the house. Listen, you are going to catch some mighty, mighty winds of rains coming in over this house. And there's going to be powerful outpourings of the Holy Spirit very, very soon. This is going to happen because this is the foundation. And now when you are in that place of brokenness, how many of you know that there are places of brokenness in this life, right? That's life. We go through these things.

But what does the Word say? He doesn't despise a contrite spirit. He shows up in brokenness. And I remember when I lost my mother-in-law. Now you know that have heard me before that me and Marie are two first generation Christians. But she and her mom came to the Lord at the same time. And my mother-in-law, God bless her, she didn't know anything about Christianity. But she knew the Word. And she knew Jesus. And that's a good trait. And she was praying and fasting for me and Marie for 40 days before we stepped out into our ministry in Africa. And when she went to be with the Lord, we felt we have no cover. We felt broken. We felt like how are things going to go now? Because she had been such a supporter. But right after she passed and went to be with Jesus, you know, some people are like Enoch. You know that, right? They walk with God until they disappear in God. And God wants them a little sooner because He wants to hang out with them for Himself. Jeff was such a person and so was my mother-in-law. So, but right after she went to be with the Lord, we saw the mightiest outpouring we've ever seen in Europe. We were down in South East Europe in Bulgaria towards the border of Turkey. And I was being a ghetto pastor there. It's easy for an ex-ghetto rat to be a ghetto pastor, right? So, I was down there and all of a sudden, it just broke out. I didn't know what I was doing. I was in my late 20s, but God knew what He was doing. And when He uses people that are young and doesn't know what they are to do, He gets all the glory. And we baptized 5,500 people in water over one and a half year. And we were in a movie theater and we grew out of that movie theater and then into a sports center.

And then we couldn't stay in the sports center, so we had services at the soccer stadium. And there were empty wheelchairs and pile of crutches and the blind received their sight and the deaf were hearing. And it was just fantastic. And I'm here to tell you, God will send rain. God will send rain upon the next generation and the Allison Park Church. Hallelujah. But there, you know, brokenness, it does something good with us. Because we can go two ways. We can jump on the roller coaster of the soul. Or we can dig a little deeper down into our spirits, right? And I was in a car driving into a soccer stadium in Africa a few years back. When they called me and said, your dad passed. And then I received another phone call and they said, well, your father-in-law was found with a stroke on the kitchen floor. He was laying there for 24 hours before they found him. But your wife is there now, don't worry. And then another phone call, it was a church plant of ours, there were 1.3 million in the red. Well, that was about the time when I shut off my cell phone. How many of you know sometimes it's good to shut off your... Because I was going to preach to a packed soccer stadium in Masero, Lesotho. When I came in there, I said, I need a minute because I didn't feel like preaching at all. And I went down into the men's locker room underneath the stadium and came in there to the dirtiest toilet I've ever seen. But I hugged it like it was my best friend. I bowed my knees and I hugged that toilet and I prayed, Lord, I need a word. How many of you know that if you have a word from God, everything is possible? And it came from Ecclesiastics. Anyone who is among the living has hope. And the Lord said, are you alive, son? Yeah. Well, then you have hope. And then the verse continues, it's better to be a living dog than a dead lion. And I was reading it and I was wondering.

And I said, well, I don't feel like I can roar like a lion today. No, but you can bark like a ghetto pit bull, the Holy Spirit said. So I didn't go in and roar at that stadium, but I barked like a pit bull. And thousands of people gave their lives to Jesus Christ because the gospel stands for itself. The gospel never changes, but it changes people. And HIV positive became HIV negative and miracles and demons came out. And I'm here to tell you that sometimes we minister out of faith and sometimes we minister out of gapping wounds and pain. But we can still bark even if we can't roar. We can bark the gospel. It works. So I also want to tell you about my point. Number two is there is going to come a mighty spirit of faith that will pick you all up. Are you hearing me? A mighty spirit of faith. The gift of faith will kick into operation. Why do I know that? I know that because your pastor lived it. He lived it. And I know that this is the DNA and the seed that is inside of you. And if you feel like I can't do this, I don't know if I can press on. I don't have the strength. Listen, we have all gone through these things. You know, they said in Africa to me recently, oh, you really came up overnight because now we are gathering so many people and we become known. You really come. I said, yeah, but it was a very, very long night. 34 years of war. And that's what it is to be in ministry. And that is what it is sometimes to live as a Christian here on this earth.

Like it's a good fight of faith. And all right. So a few years back as a young preacher in Europe, in Stockholm, when I was pioneering one of our first churches, a media slander broke out. And I'm talking a media slander. It will be like your CNN coming after the church. So they came after me and they came all the news channels. It started with the biggest one and then the other joined in. And there was one newspaper that wrote 40 negative articles about me. Here's this working class boy, ex-ghetto rat that has been saved, trying to do something good, preach Jesus and help people. And all of a sudden I was portrayed like the dangerous sect leader. And it was bad. The radio took it up. And if I walked into a restaurant that half year when it was the worst, they would say, we are not serving you here. I became a nation known figure and I was portrayed in a way that was nothing like me. And if I would be in the streets of Stockholm, they would, strangers would stop and cuss me out, yell at me. We don't need people like you around here. Come on. And I was suffering. And, you know, those days, young people, we actually received mail, envelopes with paper inside, stamps behind. So when my wife was carrying in the mail and I opened it up, I was so excited because it was a big pile. It was just hate letters from strangers. I mean, you know, you cannot read that. You got to read something else because your spirit will be very toxic. But there were tons of hate mails and my wife didn't dare

to answer the landline phone. Youth, we had phones on the wall and on tables and she didn't dare to answer because there was always someone, a stranger that called to cuss us and speak bad. And she came home from work and she said, everyone is talking about you at work. And I have to, I can't sit with them. I have to have my lunch alone. It was terrible. And my kids came home crying because everyone was talking about their dad. And I thought, what have I dragged my family into? I complained before Jesus. I said, Jesus, this is this is not possible. That that I'm trying to do good. And here am I now, the worst face of Christianity. Well, one morning I bowed my knees in my kitchen and I'm here to tell you this because you're going to do the same. I bowed my knees and I emptied myself. I cried out to God. I said, God, I cannot do this. We are sinking in this. You know, I would walk down to my car and my neighbors had thrown eggs on my windshield. That's how bad it was. But that morning. A mighty spirit of faith filled me, the gift of faith kicked into operation. And if you don't know anything about it, I can tell you, you call. No credit goes to you when that happens. All the glory goes to Jesus because there is a wave that takes you, a wind that takes you, makes you do the impossible. And I woke my wife up that morning and I spoke faith to her and she felt it was real and it spilled on her and I squatted down and talked to my kids because they were, before they went to school and it spilled on them and it spilled on my co-workers and within three months we had tripled everything. People, finances and within

a year we had sent 140 full-time missionaries to the nations. And don't ask me where the money came from because I have no idea. I can take no credit. It was a mighty spirit of faith that filled me and I'm here to say that spirit of faith will come upon you. If you bow your knees, if you cry out to the Lord, Lord this, I can't do this in a human way but give me supernatural strength then that will happen. Romans 4 and 17 speaks about father Abraham and and it says that he believed in a God who raises the dead and speaks to things that are not as if they were already there. That's what that spirit does. It creates things, speaks to things, it raises the dead. 2nd Corinthians 4 and 13 says, it is written I believed and therefore I've spoken and since we have that same spirit of faith, do you have the Holy Spirit? Of course you have the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit. You're a temple of the Holy Spirit and you know the Holy Spirit inside of you. He is the spirit of faith. If we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak. There is something deeper than emotions. There is something stronger than the roller coaster of the soul. And I want all of you to put your hoses down into the wells of salvation today and draw water from there with joy. Are you hearing me? I don't know, some of you are laughing. Is it my English? Probably my English. Second Timothy, I'm so happy I can amuse you in my third language. I saw some of you were laughing, so I'm going to give it to you. Do you know what you call a person that speaks two languages? Bilingual, right? Three languages? Okay, what do you call a person that speaks only one language? American. I just had to do it. Second Timothy, chapter one verse seven says, for the spirit God gave us does not make us timid. And I'm not looking over a timid congregation. I know, I know who pastor Jeff was. He was my best friend. You, you, listen up. You are not a timid congregation. You are not a timid people. You have a spirit inside of you that gives power and love and self-discipline. And a mighty spirit of faith will pick you up. So let's continue in the text here. When we read about Elijah, we go from 18 to to chapter 19. And then we see the human side, right? The guy who had called down fire, butchered the prophets, right? Opened up heaven. Then Jezebel speaks a word. The witch speaks a word. And he runs out into the desert afraid, full of fear. Well, those days will come. That's just part of being a broken vessel, of being a jar of clay.

And Elijah was out there. He found himself under a broom bush, suicidal. The mighty prophet was now suicidal. Take me, I don't want to live anymore. Well, I felt like that. But even there under that broom bush, God sent an angel. Told him to drink, told him to eat, sleep again, and served him drinks and food again. And I have heard this. I'm sending you as an angel to the broom bush. I'm here as your angel today. Yes, you're allowed to grieve. Yes, you can sleep. Yes, eat again, sleep. But listen, that angel also said come on now there's a long journey ahead of you and when he went on that journey he ended up at the mountain of God and I'm telling you you will end up at the mountain of God you will end up at the mountain of God and at that mountain he was in that cave and all of a sudden it says in first kings 19 verse 11 the Lord said go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by Jesus is about to pass by Jesus is about to show up then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind there was an earthquake but the Lord was not the earthquake and after the earthquake came a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire came a gentle whisper and when Elijah heard it he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave and then a voice said to him what are you doing here Elijah now listen I am the preacher that loves to meet God in violent winds and earthquakes and fires but my dearest friend Jeff Leak he was the man of the gentle whisper and you are going to meet the Lord again and you are going to be led by the gentle whisper you are a holy spirit people and out there in the desert you will come to the mountain of God and the Lord will speak to you with a gentle whisper now when I heard the gentle whisper the first time I was not even a believer some of you heard my story you know it's not the most beautiful family tree I wish I had Jeff Leaks or Melody Leaks I wish I had but I don't my granddaddy was a murderer my father was a gangster taught me to open up cars with tennis balls and yeah I won't go into all that and my mama was an alcoholic that lived with drug addicts and the first time I heard that the gentle whisper I was on a road drunk I lay down on that road and hoped that a car would come I was suicidal but then I heard a voice I love you Johannes I have a plan for your life sat up then I stood up I wondered if there was someone among the trees but then intuitively I said you know because we can call ourselves atheists

humanists whatever we can call ourselves that but we know that there is a creator we know that there is something behind all that so I said Lord if this is you God if this is you leave me alone I don't want to know about your plan but you can run from God but you can't hide in Germany after three weeks of wild partying you know one of those three weeks where you don't remember your middle name I was up somewhere high on that train station with a hangover and I was nasty to a prostitute that wanted some change from me to make a phone call youth we have those phones on the coins in and I cussed her out I called her all kinds of names and told her to get lost and and then I stood up there and this feeling just came over me what a piece of I was and I stood there and just felt filthy empty big void already addicted already just bound by so many things and then I heard the voice again one day you will have a message to all of the people you see here and I said God if this is you I'm not going to be a messenger don't you know who I am don't you know my family if I was in the beer pub I could hear him whisper are you hearing me if I was in a poker game I could hear him whisper if you make your bed in hell he will be there too if you fly above the stars he will be there too and the gentle whisper is here for both unbelievers and for believers and if you came here today because you wanted to honor pastor Jeff or a friend brought you listen Jeff yeah he's fine with your honor but he wants you to get to know the one that is whispering because he sees his face right now he's in his presence and if you came because someone told you that well Johannes is a pretty fun speaker you should hear him well fun or not fun or crazy or not crazy it's not about me it's about someone else that is whispering behind me on stage today that has already knocked on your heart that has already pulled you here you're not here by call incidents you're not here but the Holy Spirit has been gently drawing you here and it doesn't matter who you are listen if you walked away from God you walked away from God because you met with narrow-minded mean spirited hypocritical Christians listen Jesus is is none of those things Jesus is a gentle gentle son hallelujah that whispers on behalf of the Father and he loves and it seems like it amuses God to take people from a beer pub you know

that I'm telling Jesus all the time when I'm about to speak to a crowd of a hundred thousand people what were you thinking me I was drunk through a high school what are you thinking and then he always says and he quotes John's gospel to me you did not choose me I chose you and I've determined about you to go ahead and bear fruit and fruit that will last and listen to me now God doesn't call you for what you are now but for what he's going to make of you there's a gentle whisper in the house today oh yes we will see mighty outpourings rain will fall upon Allison Park oh yes a mighty spirit of faith will pick you up but you are also the people that will be led by the gentle whisper you're a Holy Spirit people and can we stand to our feet because I feel the Holy Spirit all over this place Jesus is in this room today can we do this even if you are not in faith even if you're not there yet with me in faith could we all lift up our faces towards heaven and close our eyes because Jesus is among us he's right here and the one that called me off the road called me out of suess you know suicidal thoughts and the one that called me and broke the addictions upon my life and cleaned me up and put me as a preacher to nations that same God is here today if he could do it with me there are greater odds for you I've always feel felt inadequate that I should have another background or other another family but listen Jesus picked me and today I'm here to tell you he will pick you off your road he will fill that void inside of you he's going to cut the chains and the shackles off of you Jesus is calling you I can just see Jesus calling you whispering your name speaking to you if you are here today and you have never ever prayed a prayer of salvation you need to come to the place that I came to where I surrendered I give up I've heard you calling me now I give up when you surrender to Jesus he will cleanse you with his blood and he will fill you with his Holy Spirit and you will walk with him if you're here today you've never prayed such a prayer Jesus forgive me cleanse me fill me with your Holy Spirit if you walked away from God but you are here today there is no coincidence you are here you're here because of his gentle whisper let's lift up our faces close our eyes and just stand there because the resurrected

Jesus is standing right in front of you calling your name I'm going to count to three when I've counted the three you're going to shoot up your hand to Jesus and to me so that I can help you you will shoot up your hand and you will say here I am I surrender now I've heard your whisper and I'm coming to you Jesus this is my time so this is an invitation for you that I've never prayed a salvation prayer but also for you that needs to rededicate your life to Jesus I can see Pastor Jeff standing on the bleachers now I can see Jesus up there and I can see they're calling your name they're calling your name together let's lift up our faces close our eyes father I pray for every man and woman in this room I pray that there will be no demon jackal too powerful to be broken this morning father I thank you for what you are doing in this room right now for the undercurrent of the wonderful Holy Spirit if you are in this room and you need to surrender and you need to cry out to Jesus you will shoot up your hand on three I'm counting quick and then there is no hesitation in this room one two three come on shoot that hand up yes yes yes hands everywhere come on hold them up hold them up wave them to Jesus wave them to Jesus where you stand and don't take them down I will count one more time because there are some hesitant people with beating hearts one two three yes there you are there you are hold up those hands don't take them down there's no shame in this room you are the bold you are the brave you are the free come on somebody you are Americans there's nothing that you are afraid of I partied with Americans before I came to the Lord and you were always the loudest in the room so don't don't try to play it you know otherwise now hold that hand up hold it up and I want all of you that is holding your hands high to Jesus and to me leave your places where you are come up here because I want to shake your hand and pray with you right here come come you just get out what's the matter with you come on yes come on hi good to see you stay here with me stay here with me come come hello brother what's your name Derek Derek that's a solid American name right there yeah hi was Taylor and this is Dick so nice to meet you come come come come come come come a little closer

come a little isn't that what he's singing the country singer coming here what's your name Chelsea come come come come come I need to I need to see you stay here with me Chelsea let me see over here Roy and this is you you get help out yeah yeah good to hear hey hey hey hey this is so wonderful Jeff is smiling from ear to ear right now he's standing next to Jesus just smiling he's just beaming hey I'm a very annoying preacher you know that I'm fun to listen to but then I demand things of you you bold to come up here haven't I great nice to meet you hi wow yeah he needs to be here too yeah so this is what we're going to do turn around to your neighbor without laughing look them in their eyes and say hey friend if you need to walk up there but you don't dare to I will walk with you can you do that because someone needs that right now someone needs that right now yeah just come on we'll walk up together I'll be your support let's walk up there come come I'm still waiting for a few don't hesitate come yeah just come take them by the hand leave them up here some of you saying I'm standing next to my hallelujah wife it's okay turn around greet someone I saw more hands up and I don't want you to stay out there yeah so good we couldn't start this without you we couldn't start no stick yeah okay okay you want to come up and give me a hug come up come it's okay there's someone else right here hi you also want to jump up on stage this is the most wonderful thing we do in the kingdom of God isn't it have I missed someone over here look at you how could I miss a pretty face like you good to see you all right lift up lift up your hands like this going to receive a gift it's called the gift of salvation a gift for eternity lift up your faces close your eyes and just see Jesus I'm disappearing and Jesus is standing in front of you calling your name whispering your name telling you how much he loves you plan yes for your life and the whole allison park church stretch out your hands to the beautiful people that are standing up here because a miracle is going to happen in this moment can we pray loud

and give them support can we pray as an entire church let's pray this prayer out loud you that are in the front shout it with me and the rest too let's say dear lord jesus i come to you and i surrender i can't do this anymore i need you i've heard you and i'm coming now lift up your faces and i want you to help me with a little bit of louder voices in here let's say to jesus right now jesus i believe you died for me i believe in your blood in your tears in your sweat in that agony you had it was for me now cleanse me forgive me help me save me look to jesus and say fill me with your holy spirit yeah i want to be one of your disciples i want to follow you yeah i'm surrendering here i am it's happening now now say now say i declare i confess i want you to be my savior my lord yeah now put your hands in your chest your hands in your chest and lift up your faces to jesus because right now the miracle is happening the blood of jesus is cleansing you and the holy spirit fills you the blood of jesus cleanses you the holy spirit fills you this is your spiritual birthday this is your new beginning now start to pray your own prayers where you stand just open up your mouth and pray with your own words to jesus just pour out to him tell him like it is you know he listens more to honest cussings than honest cussings than hypocritical hallelujahs so just you speak to him speak to him pour out your heart to him because he does it right now oh i'm so happy for this march the 1st 2026 which is a new beginning for all of you father i pray for these men and women that are standing around me here fill their hearts cleanse their inside they are temples of your spirits from this day on they'll be walking with you and therefore i thank you and i praise you could we applaud them could we welcome them into the come on yes yes