Episode Transcript
We are all sunk without grace. We're all sunk without grace. Our families would be sunk without grace. The church will be sunk without grace, and our personal lives will be sunk without grace. And you know, in the Bible, there's a fellow, his name was Timothy. And Timothy was one of Paul's favorite sons. And he adopted him as though he was his own son. I don't think he led him to the Lord. But as far as Paul, he always called Timothy, my son. In fact, I wrote down several times, he says, Timothy, my dear son, that's in chapter one, verse two, you then my son, and he addresses Timothy as his son. Then it says, Timothy, my true son in the faith, that he says, as a son with his father, he has served me and Paul always took Timothy wherever he went. And Timothy was one of the bright stars. We call him a young man because he was younger than Paul and Paul deployed them to go here on there, to serve the churches to put elders in a church here or a church there. He really trusted Timothy. But something happened at the end of Timothy's life. And the second epistle of Timothy talks to us about what happened to this young guy, he was a shining star, adopted and properly baptized in water by the apostle Paul traveled with Paul for years, so he heard the best. And he saw the miracles, and he was part of the whole thing. And then at the end of his life, something's going on. Paul writes in the first epistle from JL in Rome, and it's a pretty positive letter to a younger man. The second epistle, when I studied at some time back, I thought, wow, something happened in Timothy's life. He seemed to lose the joy, he seemed to lose the power. And you know, there's fear all over the USA. When I came to the US in 1960, from Argentina, Americans were high, There was great excitement, the things are going forward. A President Eisenhower had been president, and the World War Two was still victory was still fresh. And now 50, some years later, American somehow changed. There's a fear in the country, the big depression that we had about five years ago, that's had an effect. In fact, I was reading two books, there are financial books, I wrote down the titles. One is by Neil Ferguson, an Irishman who teaches at the Harvard University, and it's called The Great degeneration that's really encouraging. It's enough to store your faith, how institutions decay, and economies die. And it's a very objective book about the USA, and its decay. Then there's another book by another Harvard guy coming apart, that's called, and I thought, Wow, no wonder a lot of us are depressed, you know, all these brilliant guys are telling you, we are disintegrating, we are falling apart. And you begin to believe it after a while, you know, but you do need the Word of God to cheer you up, and to really get going spiritually, and faith is the really counterpart to fear. And so tonight, we're going to look at the life of Timothy in the early stages, if you'd like to take your Bible. Let's look at first of all, Philippians chapter two, and verses 19 to 28. Very short reading, okay. Philippians, two, where Paul is talking about his son in the faith, and how much he loves him, and how much he he respects his own son in the faith. Look at what it says in verse 90. I hope in the Lord Jesus, he's telling the Philippians he's in jail. By the way, Paul is in jail in Rome, I hope in the Lord Jesus, to send Timothy to you soon. So that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like Timothy, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. Everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know, that Timothy has proved himself because as a son with his father, he has served with me in the work of the gospel, I hope, therefore, the send him as soon as I can, as I see how things are going with me. And I am confident in the Lord, that I myself will come to you also. So here's Timothy, Paul is writing to the Philippians and telling them I got nobody liked Timothy, he's the best I can send you. And so he's really playing him up. But then go to Second Timothy chapter two, and you will notice a certain difference in the tone of the Apostle Paul. So look at Second Timothy chapter one, and let's read verses Well, beginning with verse three.
Okay, he's writing to his son, his favorite son, his adopted son, Timothy. And look at what he says in verse three. I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did with a clear conscience. As night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers, recalling your tears. I longed to see you, Timothy, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois. And then your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded now lives in you also. For this reason, I remind you to find into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power of love and self discipline. Let's stop there for a second. In that paragraph. If you were able to catch on, Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, revived the fire revive the fire. Now, you know, something happened to Timothy between Philippians chapter two, which would have been only a few months earlier, not much, maybe a year maximum two from what the historians of the Bible tell us. And now in Second Timothy, he suddenly saying to him, Timothy, revive the fire man revive. When you say that to someone, it means that you're aware that the fire has kind of died down. And if it happened to Timothy, it could happen to you and to you and to me too. And no matter how long you've been in the kingdom, how much you've traveled serving the Lord. I mean, you're the adopted son of St. Paul himself, for goodness sakes. And yet Paul detects something is happened to Timothy. Timothy is in Ephesus it appears from what the historians tell us. He's in emphasis, which was a long ways away by playing it's only about an hour. But in those days by Donkin, by four there was a long time and he's saying to him, Timothy, my boy revived the fire buddy revived the fire. In other words, he's hinting Something's happened to you. The next paragraph, you will notice, Timothy is being exhorted to not be ashamed of the Lord Jesus, and to not be ashamed of the Apostle Paul. So something's really happened here. Look, look at verse where are we verse eight, look at what it says four times it says ashamed, ashamed, ashamed, ashamed. Look, so do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me, his prisoner bought Timothy, join with me in suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior, Christ Jesus who has destroyed death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel, I was appointed a Harold and an apostle and a teacher. That's why I'm suffering as I am. Yet, I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed. And I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I've been entrusted to him against that day. What you heard from me, keep as a pattern of sound teaching Timothy, with faith and loving Christ Jesus, guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including fight jealous and her Mancini's. May the Lord show mercy to the household of honestly for us, because he has often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my trains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he may find mercy from the Lord on that day. You know very well, how many ways he helped me in emphasis. So tonight, I would like to be a source of encouragement to you. And I've entitled The Message Oh, happy day. Oh, happy day. And the reason I call that A is I liked that song. It's a beautiful little simple song. Janis Joplin used to sing it when she was high on drugs, which was sort of sad, you know, because she died of an overdose many years ago. Most of you young guys don't know who she was. But she was big when we were young, you know? And she used to seeing Oh, happy day. Oh, happy day. And we were in France not long ago. And there's a black wire comes wherever we invite them. The French you know, they are very non believers at all, but they love black gospel music and they don't realize they are singing gospel truth, you know, and they love black wires and
Like soloists that everywhere embarrassed you see announcements all the time Gospel Choir gospel singer, and they hardly know what they are saying. But we were in southern France in Marseille having a campaign we call them festivals. And the choir would sing in public places in municipal auditoriums. They wouldn't let me preach because they said you preach about Christ will acquire yes and acquire, I would say, let them have it man, funny thing when they I was present with more than one of them. And the mayor who said, Please don't speak Palau. Because you have to Christian.
The black wire said to the crowd, what do you want us to sing. And it was a happy day, happy day, all the French is Oh, happy day. And it says, you know, happy day, Oh, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away that you getting the French he's getting the gospel, and they don't even realize it, you know, he, he taught me how to praise them pray and live the rejoicing every day, happy day, happy day, When Jesus washed by sins away. And you know, anybody who's had a conversion experience, and has had the opportunity to know which day they crossed the line into the kingdom of God, it's a happy day, it brings good memories and excitement to your heart. And obviously, Timothy was brought up with a Jewish mother who was a believer, x 16, one says, and a Greek father, which means he probably was an unbeliever. So he was brought up with a mother who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So when you are brought up in a Christian home, sometimes the contrast between being in the kingdom and not being in the kingdom isn't so clear, I find that people who are not brought up in a Christian home and have a conversion experience, they can think of the past and the present, the past and the future, we who are brought on sometimes you sort of like the frog in the kettle, you know, you sort of boilie away into the kingdom, and you're not sure exactly when you cross the line into the kingdom of God. But you know, it is an amazing thing, how you can know Jesus Christ the Savior, you can look back at the day of your conversion, and yet begin to lose the fire. And you know, it can happen to me. It happens to preachers, it happens to ordinary men and women, new converts, not as much. It's usually people who've been in the kingdom for a long time. Timothy, something happened. The first thing is he's lost the fire. Did you notice what it says over here? First of all, it says in verse three, he says, Timothy, I thank God whom I served with my forefathers with a clear conscience as night and day, I constantly remember you in my prayers. And obviously, Timothy had began to lose the joy. So Paul is trying to bring him back to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the fire of God. And so he really pulls out all the stops. And first of all, he makes him go back to the early days, when obviously he and Timothy used to get on their knees and pray. And it says, I remember your tears, Timothy, I'm reminded that when we used to pray together, used to cry. And then Paul says, I'm going to really shake this guy up here. I remember your grandmother, Lois, and your mother. Eunice. I remember your grandma, remember your mother, Timothy, what's happened to you? You've lost the fire. And then he says, I longed to see you, there's a threat here. I'm coming to get you the movie. You know, if you don't get the fire going against the mafia, you're gonna have to see me one of these days. And you know, the Holy Spirit of God is saying to us, I think there's a verse that I like in John, when Jesus went, that his friend Lazarus had died. And you remember he deployed is coming. And then one of the sisters came to see him outside of town, out of Bethany, the village, and the other sister stayed home. And then she went to give her sister to come and see Jesus at the edge of town. And she said this to her. The master is here. And he's calling for you. The master is here, and he's calling for you. And you know, tonight, I thought I'd use that verse. So that every man that's here tonight, and every woman would take this little meditation to heart personally. The master is here, with two or three, get together my name, I'm just in the midst of it. So he's here. And he's saying to you, the master is here, and he's calling for you. If you have lost the fire, if you have lost the joy of Jesus Christ, the master himself is here tonight. And he's calling for you by name. One of my favorite verses. There's a pile of them, but this is a favorite one. In John 10. It says, He calls his own by name. He calls his own by name. He knows your name. He knows where you are spiritually. And he says to you, too.
Night, the master is here. He's calling not for your mother in law, he may be calling for her. But that's none of your business. He is calling for you. And he says, I am here to call you to revive the fire of the gift of God that is in you. And you know, it's easy to lose the fire, especially in the USA, where life is pretty good, and much better than the rest of the world. Almost without exception, there's freedom, there's plenty to eat. If you really look for stuff, people may insult you, but they're not going to chop your head off for being a Christian, it's easy to lose the fire. And you know, Timothy had obviously lost the fire. And the Lord is just telling him, Look, I want you to light the fire again. And tonight, that the Holy Spirit would work in every man that's here tonight, and every woman and see when you leave on Saturday morning, I am filled with a fire of the Spirit of God again. And you know, the Bible says Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. The Bible says don't put out the Spirit's fire. So when he's saying to Timothy, revive the gift of God that is in you, by the lay on on my hands, I believe he's talking about the Holy Spirit. And you know, the Holy Spirit in the Bible is painted in many ways, but one of them is fire. When the Holy Spirit came down on the church, you remember tongues that came on everybody's head in the upper room, as tongues of fire. John the Baptist said, He will baptize you with a Holy Spirit and with fire. And you know, one of the things that God wants from us is that we be on fire on fire doesn't mean that we're loud all the time. It doesn't mean that we're clowns all the time. It does mean that there is a fire inside us. It is possible to drift away and lose the fire. And the Holy Spirit is saying to us, I encourage you to revive the flame of the fire of the gift of God that is in you. And you know, we believe in the possibility of instantaneous restoration. You don't have to spend six months beating your breast and going to conferences and trying to revive the fire. He could happen tonight. If you feel the fire has gone down. The Lord is saying to you, the master is here. He's calling for you. He wants you to go home back to wherever you live with a fire of the Holy Spirit burning again, really burning in your heart, to obey the Lord to enjoy the Lord, to sing to the Lord, to really walk in the Spirit and not allow fear to take over. It really is true. That fear the contrast of fear has faith. But also John says in his first epistle, he who fears has lost the whole idea of love, we have lost the love of God. And faith in the love of God is what gives you power to overcome our fears. We all have fears, and they come from time to time. But over here the apostle is saying to Timothy, Timothy, I want you to light the fire again. And you know it can happen in an instant. It doesn't have to be a prolonged process. I made a list of myself. I had it here of people who met the Lord Jesus. And instantly, instantly their life was revolutionized. Let me give you just a few. The thief on the cross. The thief on the cross only had a few hours to live. And yet he met Jesus Christ. And in an instant, he became a believer. He was on his way to Paradise and he had the assurance of eternal life. It didn't take a long time. He never went to church. He never was baptized in water. He never did communion. But absolutely in a moment, his life was revolutionized. The second one I wrote down is Saul of Tarsus, who then became the great saint Paul. I mean, he'd heard about Jesus hated him, wanted to destroy his followers. The Lord meets him in a moment as he's going on his donkey to persecute more Christians. And in an instant, he meets Jesus Christ. He was never the same life revolutionized one moment of encounter with the living Christ, who by then had been resurrected. And he was a new man. And then I wrote another one that Matthew, the tax collector, the IRS man that nobody liked. And the Jesus says to him, Follow me. He leaves everything, which was a very, very lucrative business and those days, he left it all and follow Jesus Christ, just one call from the Lord. And Matthew, his life was completely revolutionized. And he wrote the first gospel that we have in our Bibles, John Calvin, who is not in the Bible, though some people think he is John Calvin, about 500 years ago. He said God, by a sudden conversion changed and molded my mind. By a sudden conversion. I liked that phrase of Calvin's a sudden conversion
And you know, it happens in a minute. Then I wrote down also the Samaritan woman, he was a hot lady. I mean, five husbands are number six he's living with already. And the Lord meets her talks to her for a few minutes. She sees herself in the light of God. And she goes back to the village on says, Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. And in that moment, that woman was changed. And then half the village was changed in two days, encountering Jesus Christ. It doesn't take forever, to be revolutionized, and to be filled with Jesus Christ, and really walk in the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and then Cornelius, a military man from Rome. He sees a vision, an angel appears to him, he was a good man, he loved the Jews. Suddenly, an angel comes and says, Go call for Peter. Peter comes, He gives them the gospel, the whole family in an instant, meet Jesus Christ, and His life was revolutionized. And so we believe in the possibility of instant instant transformation and instant conversion. And you know, if you're here today, and you are not living with the joy and fullness of the Holy Spirit, we're praying that the Lord would work in such a way in your heart. And you know, quote, revolutionizes is to know the character of God. When you read Second Timothy, that character of God comes through the words of the Apostle Paul, this afternoon, I was thinking about five or six of the character of God, the attributes of God comes out of this passage. First, the goodness of God, Timothy knew so much about the Lord, and yet he lost the fire. But God doesn't reject him. In his goodness, he sends Paul to speak to Timothy, and express His goodness to him. Secondly, you see the grace of God. Without the grace, we are sunk, all of us are sunk. Thirdly, the mercy of God, God is very merciful. If you've had a big stumble. I talked to a person today, who has been hurting badly over certain temptations in his life. And sometimes we feel when we failed the Lord and a certain serious temptation, you might feel God has rejected me, I'm finished. I knew the Bible so well, and I did it anyway. I remember my wife and I, one day, we're talking to a lady who was telling us about her battles with certain things. And she said, God must be so disillusioned with me. And there was a singer next to us, a young woman. And she intervened in the conversation, and she said, God is never this illusion with us, because he never had any illusions to begin with. I thought that was great. You know, he has no illusions about us. He knows us, inside and out. And in His grace, and in His goodness, and in his patience. That's the other thing, the patience of God, when I think about it, I've been a believer since I was 12 years old, I got serious with the Lord at 17 and a half. And yet you know, the patience of God with me. You'd think that with all the Bible, I know, and all the places I've preached, I would be so much better than I am. And yet the Lord is so patient, you don't he waits and keeps waiting. So don't feel the Lord has rejected you because you knew a lot of Bible and you walked away. Another thing I like here is the persistence of God. You know, God will not give up on us even till our last day. And if you are a believer, and you have lost the fire, the Lord is looking for you. The master is here and he is calling for you. And he says, Man, I want you back. I want you filled with my Holy Spirit, to revive the fire of the gift of God that is in you. And the gift of God is the Holy Spirit, to think that we can squelch the Holy Spirit that we can grieve the Holy Spirit. And in first AFS, Colonials. 519, the Lord says, Don't put out the Spirit's fire. Who would have thought, but it's true. We can so grieve the Holy Spirit that the fire is gone. Timothy, obviously, whatever it was, and I think we'll catch it in the next paragraph. Timothy had grieved the Holy Spirit, and he lost the fire and his father in Christ Paul System, Timothy, revived the fire, revive the fire. If you tonight feel Luis, I need to revive the fire. You're in the right place. This week, a Holy Spirit of God will speak to you. As we expand that the word the Holy Spirit speaks, that God will revive us all that when we go home on Saturday morning, let's go back so fired up that we bless everybody we touch. So the second paragraph, which you notice we were reading a second ago, goes a little further and explaining why Paul feels that Timothy needed to revive the fire. Look at it again. Would you if you have your Bible, look at what he says. So after he says to him, God has given us this
bit of power and love and self control or self discipline. So don't be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me, his prisoner. Now let's stop there for a second. Here is Timothy. Let me repeat it again because I'm so impressed by there. He was the Apostle Paul's adopted son in the faith. He traveled with the greatest of all moral besides the Lord Jesus. He saw the miracles he saw the churches planted, he saw demon possessed people liberated. He saw healings take place, he saw the whole thing. And now something's happened. Something happened to him and he says, Don't be ashamed. That's amazing. Don't be ashamed to testify about our Lord. And you don't say that to somebody who's on fire talking about the Lord all the time. Timothy somehow at some point I began to be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Poof, you don't when you think about that, the one who died on the cross. It struck me lately, how we can be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was an old English him that used to say, ashamed of Jesus cannot be ashamed, the one who died for me, ashamed of the Humane angels praise whose glory share their endless days, ashamed of Jesus. And you know, many times we are ashamed of Jesus, because we know what people are thinking, fear, fear that people will laugh at us fear that people will reject us fear that people will look the other way when you walk in the neighborhood. And it's true people, many people will not want to talk to you if you are faithful in talking about the Lord Jesus. But imagine Timothy, getting to the place where he was ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus said, once you remember, he said, whoever is ashamed of me, in this sinful and adulterous generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. But there's a positive side to that. In John 12, Jesus says, If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him. Timothy, for some reason, was ashamed of the Lord Jesus can you imagine, but it can happen to you and to me, sometimes we don't want to miss a business deal. It doesn't mean that we become obnoxious, or that we shove the gospel in people's faces. But on the other hand, we ought to share the good news. And if we don't, and we're ashamed of the Lord, we are the losers, among other things, the Lord will use somebody else to spread the gospel, but we will lose the blessing. I love that worse. When it says in John, you know, if anyone serves me, the father will honor him. And then First Samuel to 30, those who honor me, I will honor those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. But then he goes on to say, he says, Don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner. So for some strange reason, Timothy is ashamed of Paul. I mean, imagine, but where does that come from? I think it's fear. If you follow the Lord Jesus, you could use your life. If you follow the Lord Jesus, you could end up in jail like Paul did. So you pull back and you don't talk about the Lord. And then he's ashamed of Paul, Paul is in jail. He's a troublemaker. Wherever he goes, he causes trouble. Therefore, I'm gonna pull back a little bit. And that temptation comes to us all. It's amazing how some people are never ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the Queen of England, Elizabeth the Second, she is a believer in Jesus Christ that has been from as far back as anybody knows. Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth visited with her many times when they were younger, in the Palace in London, but also in Scotland, and so on. And they told us more than once were bad. And I met with them that she truly is a believer. And whenever she invited them for the night, which was probably six or seven times in their life, she would always turn the conversation after a while, and the child was over to Jesus Christ. But the Queen does know the Lord. And every year the Queen gives a speech to the whole Commonwealth of England, of the British Isles, all over the world, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the old Commonwealth, you know, she gives a talk and people really listen, because it's just a brief talk on BBC Radio and Television nowadays. And in 2011, her husband Philip had a heart attack almost any and had to have some stents put into his, whatever, I'm not very good at medical stuff. So she gave a speech at Christmas. And I was so amazed when I got it the following week. Somebody sent it to me a buddy of mine from England. Let me read
to you what the Queen of England said, with millions and millions and millions of people listening, it's very touching. My own feeling was Philip got a heart attack, she probably figured, hey, I'm old too. He could happen to me maybe next year, I better give my testimony to the whole world. And this is what she said. Listen to this. She said, finding hope and adversity is one of the themes of Christmas. Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frighten shepherds with hope and their voices. Fear not, they urged, we bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And here's the Queen speaking the Queen of England. Although we are capable of a great acts of kindness, History teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves from our recklessness and our greed. God sent into the world, that unique person, neither a philosopher, nor a general important though they are but a savior with the power to forgive. Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships. It can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness, that we feel the power of God's love me this is the Queen of England, like she's preaching, you know. And here comes the clincher. She says in the last verse of this beautiful Carol, O little town of Bethlehem, there's a prayer, oh holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray, cast out our sin, and enter in be born in us today. It is my prayer, that on this Christmas Day, we might all find room in our lives, for the message of the angels, and for the love of God through Christ our Lord. I wish you all a very happy Christmas in that amazing, the Queen of England speaking to our subjects all over the world. Absolutely. Without any embarrassment or shame, speaking the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you know their friends, it is easy to be ashamed of the Lord. When we know that people will mock us, they will call us fundamentalists, they will call us narrow minded and hateful and all the other things that people sometimes say, but the call of God is Fear not, for I am with you beat on afraid, I am your God, I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. That's an Isaiah 40 I think. And you know, tonight, my simple goal was this in the name of the Lord, that by the Holy Spirit, you will look back on the days of your conversion. And think of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. I had a verse that is one of my favorites. I heard it when I was a kid 1000 times. And I want to close this evening with some of the lessons that came to me meditating on that verse. The verse is Second Corinthians 517, which says, If anyone is in Christ, you are a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. If anyone is in Christ, you are a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come. And when I was a little kid, they always sat me on the front row, I suppose the way to behave and really listen to the preachers. And I did I listened to them. And that was a verse that in Argentina, the missionaries on the local preachers always hammered home. If anyone is in Christ, you're a new creation. And I used to think what is the new creation? What is the old that has gone away? What is the new that has come and the face doesn't change? What hell doesn't change? What changes you at all. And one day I began to make a list and I want to give it to you, because it's really is a staggering thing. Oh, happy day. Oh, happy day. The Queen of England exhorted her subjects you know, I hope this Christmas you open your hearts and say to the Lord, come into my life come into my life. And I made this let's see what you think of it. Because when you think about it can't happen that Christ did for us is astonishing, that we should lose the fire is amazing, that we should be ashamed of the Lord is shocking, and that we should be ashamed even of our servant of God like the apostle Paul. And this is the thoughts that I had about what it means to be a new person and that the old is gone. And the new has come I wrote it down on a piece of paper. Once I was lost, now I am falling.
Once I was blind, now I can see once I was dead, now I am alive. Once I was a slave. Now I am free. Is that amazing? A whole lot. And that happens when you're converted. Even though we don't understand at all. When we first give all
After Christ, but there's more, once I was empty, named the temple of God, once I lived in two dimensions, body and soul. Now I live in three dimensions, body, soul and spirit. Once I was in the kingdom of Satan, now I'm in the kingdom of God, once I was guilty, now I'm forgiven. Once I was in a slimy bit, now my feet are on the rock, is that astonishing? A whole lot. And that happens when we are converted. That's why we say Oh, happy day. Oh, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away. But there's more in my little list, and it isn't complete. Once I was condemned, now I'm exonerated. Once I was a loser. Now I am a winner at the game of life. Once I was hopeless, now I'm filled with expectation. Once I was on my way to hell, now I'm on my way to heaven. Once I was under the curse, now I've been rescued from the curse. Is that a happy day or what? Pretty happy. But there's more. Listen to this. Once I was in rebellion, NIGMS surrendered. Once I was on my own. Now God answers my prayers. Once I was dirty. Now I love holiness. Once I was a beggar, now I'm a child of the King. Once I was a loner, now I'm baptized into the church of God. That's pretty staggering. No wonder we call it Oh, happy day. Oh, happy day. And I'll give you the last bunch. Once there was an enemy of God. Now I'm a friend of Jesus Christ. Once I was a selfish, rich, now I have a purpose in life. Once I was stingy. Now I've learned generosity. Once I feared death. Now I'm waiting for the Second Coming. Once I thought it was good works. Now I know. It's the free gift of God. Happy Day, happy day. Yeah, it's a happy day When we know Jesus Christ. And my prayer has been in the simplicity of our thought tonight, that this week, when you go home, you'll say, oh, man, I was glad to be reminded of that happy day When Christ came into my life and took my sins away. And I want by God's grace, to not be afraid of people to be open about sharing my faith, to not be ashamed of the Lord Jesus, to not be ashamed of his servants who are suffering, to not be ashamed of the good news, which changed my life. So I pray that the simple meditation will really bless you. And that from this week on, you'll say, the fire is burning again. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And I'm going to be used of God again, to tell people about the happy day When Jesus washed my sins away. Amen. Okay, let's bow our heads in prayer shall we?
Father in heaven. I pray that the simple meditation based on your holy revelation would have an impact on all the men who are here, all the sisters, all of us, Lord, we thank you that you are a patient God, a good God, a merciful God, a God of grace. Thank You, Lord, that You love us with an everlasting love. Thank you that you're a persistent God, that you don't give up on us. And Lord, tonight, we humble ourselves before you. We want to be filled with the Holy Spirit again, we want the fire to burn. And oh, Lord, forgive us. When we been ashamed of you, when we've kept the light under a bushel, when we hid your gospel. Forgive us. Oh, Lord, have mercy on us. Restore us. Send us home so filled with a fire that will never go out. Thank you, Lord, for speaking to us. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
This is Kevin Palau, one of loose Palau sons. Toward the end of Dad's life. He had zero regrets about spending his years sharing the good news. He was convinced that an even greater harvest was waiting in the generations to come. We agree and we're continuing the work dad started. We are passionate about bringing the Gospel to every person on the planet. Millions still don't know the hope that's found only in Jesus Christ. If dad was here today, I think he would say don't wait. share Jesus today, wherever you go. If you'd like to join with us in spreading the good news around the world, you can visit luispalau.org to give a God honoring gift today. How beautiful are the feed of those who bring good news. Thank you for being with us today. God bless you.
