Knockoff Jesus: Finding the One Who's Real

I do have a message, it's on my heart, it's a burden. I wanna make a statement here tonight that Paul made this statement. He said in Colossians, the book of Colossians, first chapter, he said, "'Jesus, we preach, warning every man "'and teaching every man, that we may present "'every man and woman in Christ perfect.'" As I have walked with the Lord for years, I've learned there are teachings that inspire us, that build us, and there are warnings that protect us. You know, as a kid, I didn't, you know, I enjoyed my parents' teachings. I didn't care much for their warnings. But when I got older, I learned that their warnings are what saved my life. So, if you wanna put this, what's in my heart tonight, under a category, it might come under more of a warning. I just, I'm carrying a burden right now, and I'll share it with you in a few minutes. And I pray that God not only gives me what he wants me to say to you tonight, but he gives me his heart to deliver it. I could be the best communicator on the planet, but if the Holy Spirit doesn't anoint these words tonight, we're just gonna get information. We don't need information, we need transformation. Can you say amen? Amen. Amen.

Amen. I might share it tonight, I have no idea what's gonna come out, but I have a little idea. I have a little idea. But one service in the Philippines changed my life forever. Changed my life forever, I'm not joking. It was in 1987, February of 1987, I'll never forget it. I believe that the Holy Spirit can change a person in one night. Is anybody else in here, I mean, really? Okay, if you do, you really do, put the other hand up. Because the Bible says we don't have because we don't ask. So I'm asking, we're asking, okay? And God will answer. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we come before you as a people tonight. We approach your throne and we come boldly. Because Lord, you said, come and ask for grace in a time of need. It is a time of need in our world. And I'm asking tonight that you would give the grace, that you would give a fresh anointing, that you would give the words, that you would move in this place tonight, that you would change our hearts forever tonight, that Lord, we will not leave this place the same as we came. Holy Spirit, the thing you love to do the most is to glorify Jesus. Do it in here tonight. May we go from strength to strength,

from glory to glory as you do. And this I decree, Lord, your kingdom has come within us. Therefore, your will shall be done in this place tonight on earth as it is in heaven. I thank you for the authority of the King being in this place tonight. May we be changed forever. And we give you all the glory, the honor, and the praise, and the thanksgiving. And it's in Jesus' mighty, wonderful, majestic, holy, awesome, magnificent name we pray. And everybody that agrees, shouts! Amen! Come on, give him praise. Amen, amen, amen, amen. You may be seated. For those of you who are not familiar with Uncle John, Lisa and I, we founded Messenger International in 1990. We have 50 team members up in Colorado Springs. Our passion is to disciple the nations. God has given us the chance, and it's amazing. By the grace of God, he's given us the ability now in the last 11 years, we've given away now over 43 million resources to pastors and leaders in 226 nations and 111 languages. In Iran alone, we've been able to give away over two million resources. And we are passionate about seeing the nations hear the word of God. Because Jesus said, make disciples of the nations.

And the last words he spoke on the earth, amen. And so we are on a quest. We are not near finished, and we are continuing. We just developed an app. The app is about a two and a half million dollar app. One of the finest app producing companies in the United States did it. Now this app is in 111 languages. So just in Iran alone, we have 24 books translated in Farsi. We have 14 courses translated in Farsi. They can go on that app, and they can watch it without having to have the physical resources anymore. So we feel like what we do is right along the lines in tandem with what Victory is doing. We all have around here a passion for the nations. But when I look at the nations of the world, my heart is so inspired. But when I look at our nation, my heart is a little concerned. And I just, I want to open up something that I, it just riveted me when I discovered this. As we all know, George Barner likes to do a lot of studying. But last year, March the 3rd, he released a finding, a study that he had been doing for, he and his company for quite a while. And what they did is they, they did a study on the state of the church. And They discovered that from the year 2000 to the year 2020, 50%, 50%, did you hear that number?

Of practicing Christians are no longer practicing. Now what is a practicing Christian? A practicing Christian is one who gathers on a regular basis and one who prays on a regular basis. Now that number, 50%, equates to 46 million people. Now this is what rivets me, 25% of the, excuse me, so yeah, 25% of that 50%, so in other words, 23 million people moved into atheist and agnostic, and et cetera. The other 25%, which is another 23 million, no longer practice, in other words, they stop attending, gathering, praying. What's going on? Okay, I'm over 60, like I said, I have kind of a father's heart, if you understand what I'm saying. I wanna see people succeed, I wanna see the church grow, I wanna see the kingdom advance. What's going on? Why are we losing so many people? Or maybe the question that we should ask is did these people ever really possess a genuine faith? Now we gotta ask some tough, tough questions, okay? In modern day evangelism, are we offering a relationship with God that is not authentic? It's not biblical. Are we presenting a Jesus who doesn't exist? You know, this has happened several times in the Bible. I think the one that's so clear is

do you remember when Moses led Israel out of Egypt and Moses went to the top of the mountain with God and Aaron was left in charge? Do you remember he built that golden calf? How many of you remember that? Do you know what's amazing? And I find that most Christians don't understand. The people and Aaron didn't call that God Ra or Baal. They called the calf Jehovah. The people called that calf Elohim, which 90% of the time in the Old Testament, that is the name for God. In Genesis chapter one, Elohim created the heavens and the earth, it appears 32 times. The people said that calf is Elohim and then Aaron looked at the calf and Aaron called it Yahweh. That is the most sacred name of God that Hebrews wouldn't even write the vows because it's only used for God all throughout the Old Testament and that's the only time it's ascribed to something that's not God Almighty. So they still said that God, Yahweh, delivered us from Egypt, Yahweh healed us, Yahweh saved us, but they changed him into a Yahweh who didn't exist. Paul makes this statement to the Corinthian church. He said, you put up with anything,

you happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preached. With Paul's words in mind, I wanna show you a little video, okay? Let me just kind of illustrate what I'm talking about here. Watch this video real quick. I am yoked, which is easy to see, and these burdens are light. Oh! Ah! So I am basically Jesus. I'm not the Jesus from 2,000 years ago because that would be weird. You know, I can make you a fisher of men. Watch this while I walk on the water. But I must be doing something right because I have all kinds of people starting to follow me now. And that's how I met Ted. Yeah, there's a lot of people following this guy so I was like, yeah, it sounds like he can do a lot of things for my life, so why not follow him? I hate to admit this, but I kind of drank quite a bit last night with some friends, so. Bro. Yeah? My first miracle, I turned water into wine. And guess who asked me to do it? Yeah?

My moms! I asked him, you know, what is, like, meaning of life. Make it rain like Noah! He said all his life so I thought that was kind of weird. What about repentance though? Shouldn't I repent of doing that? Not important. It's not important? Yeah that's that's that's pre-cross. Let's go ahead and take a look at your Instagram account. Oh yeah sure. Whoa! Okay wait wait no she started following me but I'm definitely not gonna follow her back. I mean like she's like it's like half naked in all of her photos so no. Half naked? Have you even read the Song of Solomon? Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones. No I actually heard that one was pretty raunchy. Have you even read the Old Testament? Yeah there's not that much sex in the Old Testament. Game of Thrones. Yeah no life has been kind of rough recently. It's it's been a little rough. Okay so whenever I'm reading the Bible what do I need to read? Just spending some time with him. It's been great. I feel so motivated, so encouraged. Thou shall not read the King James. None of these versions. What you're going to want to read is the millennial standard version. I took out all the correction. I took out all the warnings and I just left the positive stuff. The MSV? That was mostly full of memes and Facebook posts. Do you have any other versions that I need to be reading? Yes there is one more. This is a little bit more of a read. That is the universal standard version. So many different paths to heaven we had to include them all and make everybody happy. I thought you said there's just one way to to heaven. You. I never said that. Nothing's really changed yet at all. I still need help with what I'm going through. It doesn't. So how are things going with Ted? I have some concerns. He said he's found a different Jesus. He's starting to read the NIV which I told him not to read and he's beginning to become a new person which was my major concern is that he didn't lose himself and now he seems to be losing his life which is what I warned him about. So I started reading the actual Bible not the MSV. Don't tell him about it. I realized I was just getting a little bit of the information and not all of it. It's so much more powerful. I actually am free from the bondage now. I mean this has

been great. Okay so this Jesus healed all the sick, healed all the blind. This Jesus walked on water. I hope it works out for him. I wish nothing but the best. I don't think it will but you know. Okay now this Jesus. That's not walking on water. But in the meantime I have a whole line of people booked out to speak. I'm actually gonna be speaking at a conference. The conference is called Grace Covers All of the Sin that I Love. I'm really looking forward and helping them to find what makes them happy. Who is this that the wind and the waves even obey? Peace! All right. It's a little out there but I think you get the point right? So a knock-off Jesus, he offers forgiveness that is not real. He doesn't free people from the bondage of sin, doesn't change people's nature, doesn't keep his promises, doesn't answer prayer, doesn't manifest himself. Now I will say this. He appeals to a much wider audience. So the short-term benefits are amazing because you get a lot more people to follow him. But the long-term results are devastating because why? People aren't getting their prayers answered. Their nature is not changing. They're not getting free from sin and now they get offended with him and they fall away. And I think where that is where the 46 million have gone and now they're harder to reach because they tried him once but they really didn't try him. I believe with all my heart what has created this is our sinner's prayer. Today, we appeal to people to accept Jesus. We don't tell them that they're entering into a covenant. We don't tell them that they have to make a choice. We don't tell them that He says, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. We just say, He'll do all this for you, just pray this prayer, and you'll be a Christian. But yet, Paul makes this statement. He said, a man's gonna leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, the two become one. He said, this is a great mystery. He said, but this is actually an illustration of the way the church and Jesus are one. Excuse me, yes, the church and Jesus are one. God gives us an illustrated sermon that we look at every single day, and that is the union of a man and a wife. And God says, this union will represent the way I am

united with my church. This is why Jesus is called the groom, and we are called the bride throughout the New Testament. Paul made a statement. He said, I promised you as a pure bride to one husband, who is Christ. Now, the key word here is bride. I am presenting you a bride. I'm going to show you one more short video, and then I want to talk to you about something really important tonight. Watch this video, one more video. Emma, these past seven months have been incredible, and honestly, when I saw you seven months ago, I knew. I knew from that moment that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. You're kind, beautiful, smart. I can't picture a more perfect woman. So, Emma, Lily, Thompson, will you marry me? Yes, yes, yes, yes. I have to see other guys on the side, but yes. Wait, what? What other guys? What are you talking about? I'm the perfect woman. Just like you said, I'm gonna have gourmet meals for us every single night. Our house is gonna be perfect. It's gonna be amazing, babe, and I mean, you don't really expect me to be a one-man-kind of woman anyway. Uh, no, that's actually like a big part of marriage, like you and me, together. Yeah, but I can't give up every guy. I mean, that's asking a little much, don't you think? A little, a little. I just asked you to marry me. If we're married, you can't see no one else. That, no, that. Babe, wait. Okay, it's okay. Listen to me, listen to me. Look at me. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You're right, I was wrong. I totally understand where you're coming from. This is our moment, and we're gonna be so happy together, every single day, except once a week. Well, once a week, okay. Just a fling, once a week. Did you not listen to anything I just said? Every other year? No. On a leap year? No, okay, Emma, I can't, I can't. Once a week, on a leap year, and you're gonna freak out? Emma, we're done. What? Babe, you were just asking me to marry you. Are you kidding me? Seriously? Okay, now that seems a little far-fetched, doesn't it? So let me ask some questions. How many of you would want to marry somebody like that? Let me see a show of hands, really quick. Nobody. Why not? Because even though she loves him more than any other guy she's gonna sleep with, even though he's her favorite, he may spend 90% of her time with him, she still has an undivided heart. A divided heart, excuse me. She's still got a place for those guys in her heart. Now, that's far-fetched to all of us. Why is it far-fetched? Because that's not gonna happen. Why is that not gonna happen? Because when we're raised, people teach us that when you get married, you make a decision. See, when a girl walks down an

aisle of a church with a white dress on, she's made a decision. Do you know what she has made? said goodbye to about 3.9 billion guys. Because we tell her from childhood, all of her friends, all of her family tells her, one day when you get married, you make a decision. I am giving my whole heart and my whole life to this one guy. Which means I'm not flirting with other guys, I'm not entertaining the ideas of seeing other guys, I am giving myself entirely to him for the rest of my life. Why don't we do this with Jesus? He is the groom, we are the bride. This is the living sermon. So we talk about accepting him. She accepted him. She wanted him, she was upset he walked away. Was he right to walk away? Absolutely. You can't enter a marriage covenant when your wife says, hey look, I'm just gonna sleep with one guy a year. Her heart's undivided. I came into the kingdom on a sinner's prayer. I don't know if I really came in, but that's how I came in, and that was my mindset. I was shown the four spiritual laws, there wasn't one word about repentance. So I accepted Jesus, but I still had all the other lovers in my life. And then I told you there was this service

in the Philippines, I actually went over to the Philippines with another guy to minister. I had actually left an engineering job to minister. I worked for a church with 450 employees. I took my own vacation time to fly over to the Philippines so I could minister in the Philippines with this guy. And this guy that I went over there with got up and preached a message of lordship and repentance. And I'm sitting in the front row, I am the visiting minister from America, and the thought goes through my heart. Is he really your Lord? And my head immediately went, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you left an engineering job, you went into ministry, but I couldn't shake it. I fly all the way back to America, and I'll never forget this as long as I live. I went into a room, and I put a chair in an empty room. And I walked around that chair for a total of two hours. And I kept justifying why I was a Christian, but my heart wouldn't let loose. My heart kept questioning me. Is he really your Lord? Do you have other things that he died for that you're tolerating, putting up with, flirting with? Are there other things that grab your attention more than him? Why do you get so excited at these things and you tolerate going to church? Why do you tolerate whenever there's a gathering?

Why don't you look forward to those? I mean, this is all good. But then I kept going in my head, I kept going. But I've left an engineering position. I took a several thousand dollar a year pay cut, and I'm in ministry. And you know what my heart said at two hours? This is what I heard. Judas left everything he had. Judas healed the sick. Judas preached repentance. Judas is in hell. I fell at that chair and collapsed. And I wept and I wept and I wept and I wept and I wept and I wept. And I got up and I walked out of the room and my life was changed forever. See, when a girl is engaged to be married, she's already gone through a process of a decision. There's a price to pay. And the price is for the rest of my life, I'm not gonna see any of my old boyfriends or for the rest of my life, I'm not gonna develop a different boyfriend. For the rest of my life, I'm gonna give myself to that one man. See, here's the thing that we've got to understand. I was out praying during COVID, and I just got overwhelmed

because these words came out of my mouth. I said, Jesus, I can't even imagine what you left. I haven't seen the throne room. I have not been to the third heaven like the Apostle Paul. I can't even imagine what you left to come here knowing that you would get abused, spit on, beat with lead, tip, whip, spikes. I can't even imagine what you left to come here A crown of thorns put on you, people punching you, knowing that you would get abused, shedding every drop of blood in your body, and you're my creator? And you know you're gonna do that. You leave what I can't even imagine where the angels are still crying holy, and you leave this, and you come down here. You gave yourself fully for me. And we think he's coming back for a bride that's given herself half-heartedly to him. See, look at Paul's full words. He says this, look at these words. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband, Christ, but I fear that somehow your pure, and now look at this, undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted. It's undivided. See, there were 11 guys that wanted to marry Lisa. She told me that, 11 guys. She walks down that aisle, and she said, no, no, her dad, even right before we got married,

tried to set her up with a bartender. But she had made up her mind. I am giving myself totally to this man. And do you know what? I have never questioned her loyalty. In 39 years of marriage, I'm telling you, I've been halfway around the world. I don't even lose a minute of sleep because I know she gave her heart to me. Now, does she make mistakes? Oh, you better believe it. Now, I made a lot more than she did, but I'm not talking about a groom right now, I'm talking about a bride. Man, she made mistakes, okay? But one thing she didn't do is she never divided her heart. She never went and flirted with a guy, said, hey, here's my number. My husband's gonna be gone, he's gonna be overseas. Her heart's been undivided. So we, you know, we have trained people in order to enter a marriage covenant, you have to make this decision of, am I going to spend the rest of my life with this man? And that decision has to be firmly made. But yet we offer a relationship with Jesus without any repentance. So if you look at the foundation of the church, I shouldn't even say that, the foundation of having a relationship of Jesus.

Paul, or the writer of Hebrews makes this statement, he says, therefore, leaving the discussions of the elementary principles of Christ. This is foundational stuff, elementary stuff. Let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation. So in other words, what the writer is saying here, this is the foundation of a relationship with Jesus. What is the first foundation? Repentance from dead works. Now, if I say the word repentance today in the church, people go, ah, don't say it. Why do they say that? They're scared of the word, they recoil, they react, they manifest. You say the word repentance, why are people so petrified by that word? Because mean-spirited preachers in the past beat up people with repentance. And these mean-spirited people, preachers didn't even like people, they just wanted to control them. And so we assigned a very negative feeling to the word repentance, but I'm gonna tell you, I've studied and studied and studied this word repentance, and I personally believe it's one of the most beautiful words in the New Testament, other than the name of Jesus. So can we just kind of address this for a minute? Because this is very significant. A bride does this before she gets married.

I'm gonna show you how this is what has to happen before a person can enter into an authentic relationship, an authentic covenant with Jesus. Are you following me? Okay, so the word repentance is the Greek word metanoia. It's found over 50 times in the Bible. When you hear the word, don't think of the Old Testament where they put the sackcloth, the ashes, and the hunger strikes and all that kind of stuff. That's not repentance in the New Testament. The word metanoia simply means this, a change of mind. That's the definition of it. But now, if I leave it there, we miss the real impact of this word, okay? Baker's Encyclopedia defines this word metanoia as a change in the whole personality. Because how many of you know I can change my mind but not be fully persuaded, right? So Baker takes it deeper and says, it's a change in the whole personality. In other words, it penetrates my emotions, my will, right down to the very core of my being. It's when I'm firmly convinced about something from the core of my being. So Lisa doesn't walk down the aisle and go. No, I'll give him a try for a few weeks. Eh, if he doesn't live up to what I'm thinking he's gonna be, I'll, yeah, I got Tony's old number. I got my old boyfriend, I've got his number. No, she was convinced to the bottom of her heart

this was the man she was gonna spend the rest of her life with. So it's when we are convinced to the very core of our being about something, that is the word repentance, all right? This is why Jesus says from the heart, look at this, from the heart come evil thoughts. Murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft and lying. If repentance is just a change of mind, Jesus would have said from the mind come all these things. Are you seeing what I'm saying, all right? Now, in walking with God for years and years and years, I have learned something, that the wisdom of God is simple. So I went to the Holy Spirit and I said, you know, you call this word repentance a gift. Do you realize that? It's a gift and God never gives binding, constricting gifts, right, to his children. He gives good gifts to his children. So I said, what's the difference between a person who's really repented and a person who hasn't repented? And the Lord showed me so clearly. The unrepentant person says, I choose what is good, best and right for my life. The repentant person says, I choose what God says is good, best and right for my life. So in essence, the unrepentant person sees the word of God as optional. The repentant person sees it as final authority. He's already made the decision,

she's already made the decision. No matter what God says, I believe it and I will obey it. Now, does this line up with the way the New Testament lays out that we're supposed to lead people to Jesus? Well, let's first of all go to Jesus. Let's look at him. How does he minister? Look at this. This is the very first words that ever came out of Jesus's mouth in public ministry on this earth. Matthew 4, 17. Jesus began, everybody say began. To preach, repent of your sins and turn to God. So you know what he's actually saying right here? You cannot turn to God unless you repent of your sins. Are you seeing that? Is that the only time he mentions it? No, look at Matthew 11, 20. Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles because they hadn't repented of their sins and turned to God. Look at Luke 13. Jesus said, you will perish too unless what? You repent of your sins and turn to God. Now Jesus is training these 12 to go out and represent him, right? He trains them for about a year, year and a half, and then he sends them out. And I want you to notice what these 12 disciples go and do. So the disciples, now look at Mark 6, 12.

So the disciples went out telling everyone, everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. Everyone. How about the rich man in hell? How many of you know people in hell don't need to put on a facade? I mean, they're in hell forever, so they're gonna be honest, right? The rich man in hell says, no, Father Abraham, but if someone is sent to my five brothers from the dead, then they will, wow, what? Repent of their sins and turn to God. I mean, this guy in hell knows more than a lot of our preachers in America. Come on. How about the day of Pentecost? You got thousands of people that want to get saved. Oh, I wanna get saved, I wanna get saved. What does Peter say? He said, each of you must, notice he doesn't say, I highly recommend. Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God. How about the apostle Paul? He had the revelation of grace, isn't that correct? Look what Paul said. I preach first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all of Judea and to the Gentiles that all, look at this word, must repent of their sins and turn to God. So not only did he preach it to the Jews,

he preached it to every Gentile. The people that had never even heard of the covenant of God. He said, I preached it to everyone that they must repent of their sins. The only way they can turn to God is to repent of their sins. Now we think this is a little strange. I mean, let's just put a cap on it. Let's go to God the Father. God the Father, look at this. God overlooked people's ignorance in times past, but now he commands. He doesn't suggest, he commands everyone, everywhere, that's every city, that's every village, that's every town, that's every rural place, that's every nation, everyone, everywhere, that covers it. There's no exceptions with that, to repent of their sins and turn to God. So what's the biblical truth we're seeing here? There's no true faith in Jesus Christ without repentance. If we introduce a Jesus without people repenting, they meet a knockoff Jesus. They meet a different Jesus. Now I wanna protect you from the legalistic thinking. Let's go back to Peter on the day of Pentecost. He says you must repent of your sins and turn to God, correct? So there's a couple, they're living together, right? And they get saved on the day of Pentecost. And they keep living together.

They keep having sex together. They're not married. But two weeks later, Pastor Peter stands up and says God says, this is Hebrews chapter 12, verse two, verse three, excuse me, that the marriage bed is undefiled, but those who have sex before marriage and those who have committed adultery will be judged by God. That's actually a scripture, Hebrews 12, three. And the couple looks at each other and goes, whoa. Wow. Babe, we repented two weeks ago. So we already made up our mind that the word of God is final authority. It's not optional. It's not outdated. It's not old fashioned. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So either I'm moving out today or we're getting married. Now, if you had a legalist mindset and you got this couple in there and they're living together and they, they can be fully repented, but they're still living together, why? Because they don't know.

See, it's a posture. A person that has repented has this posture. I will no longer live as the judge of what is best for me. That's the knowledge, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I choose what's right. I choose what's wrong. So if I want to identify as a dog, I can be a dog. Okay. I will no longer live as the judge of what is best for me. From this moment forward, this is the posture of a repentant heart. From this moment forward, I will embrace whatever God says is best for me, even if I don't get it. Because I already made the decision. But you see, we have people, they make a decision. We say, gee, we sell Jesus like a used car salesman. We tell them all the good things about God. Now, don't get me wrong. We got to talk about the good things of God because it's the goodness of God that leads men and women to repentance. But we say all these great things and we say, hey, do you want to accept Jesus? Do you want to become a child of God? Oh, sure. But then two weeks later, you tell them, hey, the word of God says that fornication will be judged. Oh, come on, man.

That was written 2,000 years ago. Man, 90% of the couples live together today. Well, what creates this? Us not properly representing Jesus. It's like my father-in-law looking at Lisa and saying, babe, hey, honey, try him out for a few weeks. I've done work out. I got a few other guys in mind for you. It's okay, we're gonna get you happy because the bottom line is I want you happy. If he doesn't make you happy, I got some guys waiting for you. Well, if a father says that to her daughter, what's she gonna do? Things get rough in the marriage, well, why? I'm gonna go find this other guy. My dad gave me permission. See, as leaders, if we don't tell people that Jesus over and over and over and over and over again says if anyone wants to follow me, you have to deny yourself. You have to take up your cross and follow me. You lose your life for him, but it's not a loss because you gain everything he's got. Yeah. Yeah. Woo. Woo. Woo. But why do these 46 million people leave the faith?

Because they meet up with hard times and they say, well, rich people are happy, I'm not happy. You know, did Lisa and I have times in our marriage where we wanted to quit? Ha, ha, ha, I'd be lying if I said no. My gosh, there were times we thought, is there any hope? Sorry, I'm just being transparent. I mean, we were in an 18-month fight one time. She took off her engagement ring. She said, I'm married, but I'm not engaged. I said, what in the world does that mean? Ha, ha, ha, ha. But we both made a decision. And we figured, both of us knew at the time, during the 18-month fight, yeah, 18 months, I'm not joking, we both knew we made a commitment. We both knew we said, this is the way we're going and there's no out. Now, does Jesus minister this way? Oh, yeah, remember the rich young ruler in the Bible? How many remember the rich young ruler? Come on, talk to me, right? Rich young ruler, come on, what's your name? Andrew, come on, stand there. Andrew is Jesus, I'm the rich young ruler in this illustration, right? How many of you could see the rich young ruler coming up to Jesus going, you know, he's got his, got his, you know, relevant, cool Zara outfit on. He's just gotten out of his Ferrari.

He's got all of his buddies around, his homies around him. He goes, so Jesus, what do I do to get saved, huh? How many of you can see that? Let me see your hands. Put them up high, put them up really high. That is so wrong. I mean, we gotta read our Bibles, people. Look, put the scripture up. Look at this. Watch this. Now, as he was going out on the road, one came running and knelt before him and cried out, good teacher, what do I do to get saved? What do I do to inherit eternal life? So the guy comes running to Jesus, gets him, gets down and he says, what do I do to get saved? What do I do to get saved? What do I do to get saved? Have you ever had anybody do that to you? Seriously, has anybody ever had someone do that to them? I haven't yet, I would like that. I mean, you know what we do, I know what I would've done before God opened my eyes to this. I would've said, huh, this guy wants to get saved. Okay, pray this prayer, Jesus, come into my life. I receive you as my Savior, forgive me of all my sins, amen. You're a Christian! No. Jesus said, what are the commandments?

Names the commandments off, right? The commandments five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10, all deal with your relationship with your neighbor. The guy goes, I've kept them all. Jesus said, you lack something. Okay, this guy wants to be saved, and Jesus looks at him and says, but this is what I love. Jesus looked at him and loved him. See, this is the thing, we think we put people in bondage by preaching the cross, preaching repentance, when in reality, that's really loving people, because if we offer them a knock-off Jesus, that's not loving them, because we are giving them a Jesus who will not fulfill the promises, he will not answer prayers, and they're gonna be in adultery. That's what James said, you love the world, you're an adulterer, and he's speaking to Christians. Okay, so Jesus says, okay, there's one boyfriend in your life, we gotta address. Now, with this guy, it was money, but for someone else, it might be a football team, it might be a relationship with the opposite sex, it might be a relationship with the same sex. It might be, what do people think about me on social media? So Jesus, the reason he loves this guy is he says, I wanna tell you something, you got a boyfriend, you gotta choose between this boyfriend and me. Because if I just say, come follow me, then down the road, the will of God is gonna lead us

to go this way, money's gonna dictate to go this way, and you're gonna go with your boyfriend, and you're still gonna say, I'm your savior, and you're gonna be deceived, because I'm not with you anymore, and you're gonna be following a knock-off Jesus. So Jesus looks at him and loves him and says, man, there's a boyfriend you gotta break up with, it's your money. See, for most of you, it may not be money, some of you, it may be. Maybe a house for some of you, maybe security for some of you. There's so many gods, we can't name them all. We always go to the big ones, right? Drunkenness, murder, all that stuff. No, no, no, no, no, it's anything. that you love more than Jesus. Anything that will pull you away from him. So Jesus loved him and said, go sell it, get rid of it, take up the cross and follow me. And look at this, look at this, look at the next verse. Look at this. But he was sad at this word and went away sorrowful. So now I want you to, I want you to get this. I'm gonna be Jesus now. He comes excited, wants to get saved. Yes. Yeah.

And after Jesus gets done preaching, he walks away sad and sorrowful. Look down and stay right there. Stay right there. Sad and sorrowful. Now watch what Jesus doesn't do. He doesn't run after God. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute. Proverbs 10, 17 or 19, 17 says, he who gives to the poor, remember I told you he gives to the poor, lends to the Lord and what he's given that God will repay him. Don't you understand I'm trying to set you up for a blessing. Why doesn't Jesus do that? Because he never uses the blessings or the perks or the benefits of following him to entice people to obey him. Thanks, appreciate it. So if Jesus has our mentality of ministry, we say, oh, just accept me. All you have to do is pray this prayer. What he was asking that man to do was to repent. See, we get all hung up on the word repent because we've been beat up by repent. But repent is just a change of mind. I'm not gonna date the money anymore. I'm not gonna flirt.

I'm not giving the money my number anymore. I'm not gonna let it control my life. I'm gonna follow you wholeheartedly. Does Paul minister this way? Yeah. Look at this. Paul's talking to a guy. He's a governor, he's rich. He's got influence. His name's Felix. He's married to a Jewish woman. Her name's Drusilla. A few days later, Felix came back with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, sending for Paul. They listened to him as he told them about the faith in Jesus Christ. As he raised them with them about righteousness. Look what he's talking to this guy about. About righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment. Felix became frightened. So the rich, young ruler was sad. Felix was frightened. Go away for now, he replied. When it's more convenient, I'll call for you again. All Paul had to do is just get him to pray a prayer. If Paul would have embraced our Western theology, he would have said, Felix, just pray this prayer. Gotta work out the rest. I know you got a few girlfriends on the side.

I know you're an idolatrous worshiper, but just pray this prayer. Jesus will take care of you. God spoke to me. He said, son, legalism was the problem of the church in the early days. Look at the book of Galatians. Paul had to deal with legalism in the whole book, right? It's constantly what they ran into. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, son, the issue the church is gonna have to address in the last days is not legalism, it's lawlessness. Okay, look at this. And I'm gonna wrap here in just a minute. Look what Paul says to Timothy. He said, you should know this, Timothy, that in the last days. So he's talking about our time. How many of you believe we're in the last days? Last of the last days. Let me see your hands, okay? So he's talking about our day. In the last days, there will be very difficult times. Everybody say very difficult. Very difficult. What's gonna make the time so difficult, Paul? For people will be, now I listed these out from four different translations, watch this. Self-centered, self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, braggers, arrogant,

unthankful, crude, and coarse. They will do foolish things without thinking, disobedient to parents. They'll lose in morals and conduct. They will not control themselves. They'll be addicted to lust, addicted to pornography. They will refuse to forgive. They will say evil things against others. In other words, they'll be gossipers and slanderers. They will be lovers of sensual pleasure and vain amusants more than lovers of God. Now, wait a minute, Paul. Are you telling me you didn't have people like that in your day? Come on, I mean, look at the Roman culture. I mean, I went to Pompeii. I think it was 20, 27, 27, I think I saw something like 27 sex bars. And you go in, you pick, I want a man or I want a woman. And you pick. Hey, for your sex. So, Paul, what is the deal here? In the last days, very difficult times are gonna come because people are gonna be all this. Well, you had all that in your society. What makes it difficult? Watch what he says. They will act, look at this, they will act as if they serve God, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.

Stay away from people like that. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. They don't have genuine faith. Why? They never repented. Their nature's not been changed. That's why they love pleasure more than they love God. See, in another letter, this is the way Paul said it. Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. Why? They've never repented. I'm gonna close it with these words, the words of Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 7.20, you can identify people by their actions. Can we just stop there for a moment? I'm a Christian, but I listen to songs with the crudest vulgar stuff I hang around with people that gossip, slander, shame people on social media. I'm a Christian. I received Jesus. Oh yeah, I can't even tell you the day. Well, I don't identify you as a Christian by the fact you prayed a sinner's prayer on such and such date, because Jesus told me, I identify you by your actions. Jesus said, just as a bad tree can't produce a good fruit, so you identify people by their actions, by their fruit.

Stop and think about that. Oh, he's a Christian. Oh, she's a Christian. Oh, he's a Christian. Yet they sing songs. I can't even say what they sing about on this platform. They're a Christian. What? What? Do you understand with four boys, with the last two of them we sent to public school, do you understand every single night almost, I had to look at my sons and say, how do you know if they're a Christian? Because their dad's a pastor? No, dad. Because their dad's an elder in the church? No, dad. How do you know they're Christians? By their actions. Now watch what he goes on to say. Not everyone who calls out to me, not Buddha, Muhammad, me, Jesus Christ. Now look at the word Lord, Lord. You see the word Lord is twice. Want to know why? That's the way Hebrew writers would emphasize something. See, today we boldface it, we italicize it. If you're Peter, or if you're Matthew, who actually wrote this,

you're on the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus goes, hey guys, not everyone who says to me, Lord, and he emphasizes Lord, so Matthew goes, I gotta write this twice. Jesus didn't have a stuttering problem. Not everyone who says to me, notice it's me, Lord, is going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus just annihilated our sinner's prayer because we tell people if they pray the sinner's prayer, they're gonna enter. He just absolutely destroyed our tradition of a sinner's prayer. Because not everybody who prays the sinner's prayer, is what he's saying, is going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Well then my question is, Jesus, who is entering? He tells us. Only those who actually do the will of the Father. Oh, so Jesus, you're preaching law? No, he's not preaching law. He's saying, when you repent and break up with all your old boyfriends, and you make me Lord, my Father will give you the nature and the grace to do the will of God. Law says, you gotta do the will of God to earn God's favor, but grace says, no, you repent of all your old boyfriends, then you get the real Jesus, and now you have his nature, so you do do the will of God. Okay? On judgment day, now watch this.

On judgment day, many. Do you know the Greek word many there means majority? So it means at least 51%. Many will say to me. Again, emphasis is Lord. They will not say to Buddha, they will not say to Muhammad, they will say to Jesus Christ. Lord, in your name, our church spoke God's messages, we spoke God's messages, we told people about you. We bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everybody talking. But I will reply, I don't know who you are. Who are you? We don't have an authentic relationship. Get away from me, you who break God's laws. One version says practice lawlessness. Okay, many of you have heard me say it, but there's new people here, I'm gonna say it again. In the late 1980s, I had a vision that riveted me forever. I saw so many people, I couldn't see the end of it. Millions and millions and millions of people. In this vision, I knew Jesus was standing right behind me. I knew the gates were there. I knew the city was behind me. God just let me see the people's faces. Millions. Every one of them called Jesus Christ their Lord. Every one of them were expecting him to enter into the joy of the Lord. And I heard the words from behind me in this vision,

I don't know who you are. Who are you? And I heard the words depart. And you know what God let me see? Is the excruciating look, the agony, the shock, the utter bewilderment on their faces. And I made up my mind right then. Nobody's gonna be saying this under my watch. I don't care if people hate me. I don't care if people are mad at me. I don't care if people say that I'm mean, because I'm not mean. I like people. I really like people. And one day God said to me, he said, you know why you tell people nice things? Because you're more concerned about being rejected by them. Who's the focus of your love, you or them? I said, I guess it's me. He said, if you really love people, you tell them the truth. That's why Jesus loved that man, and he told him the truth. He didn't flatter him. And if we don't stop this, we're gonna keep bleeding. We're gonna keep losing hope. We're gonna keep losing millions of people to atheism and agnosticism. I'm gonna end with Paul's words. Here they are, and then we can have the keyboards. Thanks for staying with me. Look what Paul said.

I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. I have one message for Jews and Greeks alike, the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God and having faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch what Paul says. I declare today I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it's not my fault. Wow. Another version says, I'm innocent of their blood. Why is it not my fault? Because I didn't shrink, I didn't hold back from declaring all that God wants you to know. Well, if we're not declaring the first foundation, there's gonna be a lot of blood on our hands. I submit to you tonight, I submit to you tonight that what is getting us in trouble is not what we're saying, it's what we're not saying. We're shrinking back from declaring all that God wants people to know. I want every head bowed, every eye closed. Every head bowed, every eye closed. With all my heart, I wanted to come in here tonight with a soft-spoken voice, tender, but I can't because too many lives are being lost. I hope you see past any fallacy of mine and you see the love that I have in my heart

and the love that God has put in my heart for you and more importantly, the love that he has for you. I know I'm almost preaching to the choir to preach a message like this at Victory Church. I'm gonna preach a message like this at Victory Christian Center. But I think, you know, there's so many leaders here, there's so many people watching online right now. This tide's gotta change. But I wanna give you a chance because there are some of you in here. Matter of fact, there are many of you in here. You have prayed the sinner's prayer. You even come to a Friday night conference meeting. But you know, you know that you know that you know you haven't given him your whole heart. You're a good person. You like being around godly people. But you know deep down inside, you haven't given him 100% of your heart, life, soul, body, and strength. Remember, Lisa wasn't perfect the day we got married. She made mistakes, but her heart was perfect towards me. You know who you are. And you're the most important person I came to speak to tonight. I want you to ask yourself an honest question. Have you repented? Have you made the decision to break up with anything, anything, that would be offensive to him?

Anything that would replace him? That would be offensive to him? Anything that would replace him? Have you made that decision in your heart? Is it been made in the core of your being? If you say, John, as I listened to you preach tonight, I couldn't wait till you were done because I want to give him everything. If that's you, stand to your feet. Stand to your feet. No bride has ever been ashamed of her groom. Stand to your feet. I'm gonna give you a moment because some of you are deciding right now. Good, make the decision. Jesus said, count the cost. But I'm gonna warn you, if he's dealing with you right now and you stay seated, when you walk out of here, your heart will be harder than it was before you came in. That's why the Bible says today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. If he's dealing with you right now and you stay seated, that's your choice. He will never force you to follow him, never. But you will leave with a harder heart than when you came. So count the cost now. While you're in the presence of God, because you walk out of here, everything will be fine. You'll get back.

But your heart will be less sensitive to him. So I'm only asking you, if you say, I know. I've desired to follow him. I was liked a rich young ruler. I would even run to a service. I would run to anything I thought was him. But I realize, I have other lovers in my heart. I have other lovers in my heart. I have other lovers in my heart. And I'm ready to break up with him. Just stand up. If that's you. All right, if you're standing, I want you to do something. I want you to bury whatever it is that you know has stood between you and him. That you, maybe you only see that boyfriend. You have him hidden away. You don't know him. Maybe you only see that boyfriend. You have him hidden away one time a week. Maybe one time a month. Maybe one time a year. But you've tolerated it. You flirted with it. Bury it. Bury it. Bury it at your seat, right now. In your mind, I want you to see yourself burying it. Saying, I'm breaking up with you right now.

That's repentance. That is what repentance is. Does that mean you're gonna be perfect? No. Outwardly, no. It doesn't mean that. But it means you're gonna be perfect in your heart. Bury it at your feet. And I want you to step out in the aisle. And I want you to come all the way down to the front, as far as you can. There's a lot of people. But I don't care. I want you to move. And I want the rest of you to give them a hand. I want you to give them a hand. Come on. Hey, hey. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I am so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. Come on. Come on. Give them a hand. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you.

Come on. Give them a hand. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. Come on. Keep coming. Keep coming. Come close. We got a lot of people behind you. Come on. Close. Come on. Come on. Come on, come on, come on, I'm so proud of you guys, I'm so proud of you, I'm proud of you. You looking at me? See me? I'm so proud of you. You'll never regret what you're doing today. And you think, ah, how could God accept me? He does. He does. I don't care what you've done. Paul said, I'm an example. I killed Christians, and Jesus accepted me. I want you to close your eyes. I want you to forget about the guy on the platform. I want you to forget about who's around you, who's not around you.

Doesn't matter. And I want you to turn in. Close your eyes, and I want you to open the eyes of your heart. Now, I'm asking the Holy Spirit to give you a glimpse of Jesus. Lord, give us a glimpse. You see him? You notice his eyes aren't angry? You notice his eyes are dancing with joy? See the smile? It's actually authentic, and it's massive. See his arms? Reached out to embrace you? Oh my goodness, the presence of God just manifested. Okay, it's happening. There he is. He's already here. We haven't even prayed. Holy Spirit, reveal Jesus to us. Draw near. We're drawing near to you. There's his presence right there, right there, right there. People are being healed physically and emotionally even right now, and we haven't even prayed yet. All you've done is repent. There's his healing power right there, right there. You see him? See, let me give you a little image here in the Bible. The prodigal son just makes the decision to repent of his stupid thinking, and he starts on the way home, and the father comes running after him and brings gifts.

Do you realize that Jesus came running after you? Just when you started stepping out into the aisle, he came running. There's his presence right there, right there. Lift your hands up. It's going to get stronger. There he is right there. Lord, wash away the shame. Wash away the guilt. The guilt's not from him. The shame is not from him. The presence is from him. He just washed you. He just cleansed you. He just purified you by the word that has been spoken over you. Here he is. Here he is. Here's another manifestation, a little softer, please. Here's another manifestation right there. People in the audience, I want you to stand up. I want you to lift your hands up because the presence of God is in here right now. Now, Holy Spirit, manifest the presence and the power of Jesus to them. Say this out loud. Speak to the one you're looking at. It's just you and him right now. It's not a bunch of people around you. It's just you and him. Speak to him. Say this. God in heaven, thank you for speaking to me. I'm so deeply sorry that I've lived life my way apart from you, my creator.

But today that's all changing. This moment. I give you everything. My spirit, soul, and body. Everything I am, everything I have, I give it to you. From this moment forward, the rest of my life, I declare Jesus, you're my king, you're my lord, you're my groom, my lover, you're my life, I'm all yours. I repent of anything offensive to you, specifically what you personally have dealt with me about tonight, and now fill me with your nature, with your spirit. Lift your hands up one last time. Holy Spirit. No, no, no. Let me pray for you. You just received. Fall on them one more time. Manifest the presence of Jesus. There he is. I command in the name of Jesus, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, I command every sickness to go. Every disease to go. And I release healing into your lives, into your bodies. And now fill them. Fill them. Fill all of us with your spirit, in Jesus' name. Now I want you to just speak to him from your heart, just for a moment. Say, Jesus, I love you so much. And now let's give him praise.