 This message tonight. I'm going to minister to you It's something that I believe that will become foundational to your spiritual life We live in a time of great compromise of great deception and of a great falling away even in the church Yes, even in the church the enemy has Assaulted the body of Christ with deception and there are people Whose roots don't go deep and Because their roots don't go deep when trials come when opposition comes when the world Threatens their faith They're gone Lord, don't let that be me Paul the apostle said lest I become myself a castaway Paul wrote that What you're going to hear tonight is Something the Holy Spirit wants you to hear take very seriously the Word of God Take very seriously the Word of God Or if you are not rooted in the Word of God you are easy pray for deception And so I want to minister a word tonight in my prayer is that this message will stoke the fires of your love for Jesus That you would be so passionately in love with Jesus that you would carry with the martyrs carry That you would carry such a love That no request is too much No sacrifice too great No command is too difficult. I Pray that your love for Jesus would be a mighty force that would overcome even yourself God help us To be people who love Jesus more than anything else What does Romans 5 5 say the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost There's no one on earth who loves Jesus more than the Holy Spirit loves Jesus And it's my prayer that the same love with which the Holy Spirit loves Jesus would be our love too That everything in us Would be for him My goal today is to agitate your holy jealousy That you might say Lord, I want to know you more. I Don't want to be on the outer circle Lord. I want to be on the inner circle Jesus loves us all equally. I want you to know that believer Jesus loves each and every one of us equally But he can only trust you in Proportion to your obedience It's one thing to say Jesus loves me. It's another thing to say Jesus trusts me. You want to walk in his power You want to carry the glory on your life You want to be a mighty weapon in the hand of the Father with which he brings Destruction to the kingdom of darkness Then he has to be able to trust you with his power in life Your passion for the Lord does not have to ebb and flow. I Think all too often we buy into church culture myths Cliche's and we say things like well, I'm on my back sliding fades Saying I'm in my back sliding phase as a Christian is like saying I'm in my cheating phase as a spouse There's no such thing as the cheating phase There's no such thing as a period where you can go and do whatever you want to break that covenant No, when I'm redeemed by the blood of Jesus. I'm in covenant with him I want nothing and no one else to move me from that place I Want to know him and I see in Philippians 310 this verse and when I see it Everything in me burns to have what the writer is talking about in Philippians 310 that I may know him That I may know God That I may know him and the power of his resurrection You have to know him before you know his power and the fellowship of his sufferings being made Conformable unto his death. This is the mystery of the fellowship of his suffering You know Jesus has an inner circle Much like I pray you have an inner circle you're not going to announce on Facebook some of the things you would only tell your spouse Some of you do and we call that drama, but that's a different sermon for a different time But you're not going to announce to the world those things about you that are only known through intimacy the way you think the way You feel your insecurities your hurts your worries Those are things you reserve for those who know you intimately And let me tell you something though. We may not like to hear it. Jesus is the same way I have my inner circle There are things I will tell certain people there are things I will trust with certain people But if I were to announce it you would say, huh, he's got issues And that's true of everyone you see there are invitations that Jesus has given to the church Invitations that Jesus has given to the world really if you can just follow him He draws you deeper and deeper into his heart in John 1 39. We see that Jesus says come and see This is his first invitation come and see This is where the sinner becomes a saint This is where the one with a broken marriage the one with a broken body the one with a fractured mind can come to him and see That Jesus is the deliverer that Jesus is the healer that Jesus is the Savior But this is where many people get stuck and for the rest of their lives They go from deliverance to deliverance all the while never really surrendering to Jesus They go from experience to experience while never maturing in their faith They want to come and see and they want to get just close enough to be comforted Not close enough to be challenged. I want to come and see the miracles and that's wonderful I want him to restore my marriage and he'll do it But Jesus sends out another cry another invitation That we see in John 1 43 just a few verses later This is where Jesus says come follow me Now this is the change of direction in your life and for some of us This is actually a better situation than we had before Which is why it's so easy to follow Jesus when you're a new convert Because it's not that difficult to give up darkness for light But it is difficult to give up self for him When I first get saved you mean Jesus will take away my addiction. You bet You mean Jesus will heal my body absolutely Jesus will restore my marriage. Yes He's a miracle working God come and see But at some point he will say to you Come and follow me And this is the point where we change directions now becomes a little inconvenient But at the beginning this is much easier than it is toward the end because We still are in that infant stage Yeah, I'll give up my drug addiction for your joy Yeah, I'll give up my confusion for your peace Absolutely following him Will bless you But at some point Following him will confront your selfishness It's then that he says to you After saying come and see Lord. Thank you for touching my body. Thank you for touching my life After he says come follow There's a challenge that arises because as we follow Jesus Along that path we begin to recognize that there are things in our lives that contradict his will Too many in the church are preaching how to build your dreams how to build your life How to get everything that you want accomplished and they give you 12 steps to this and that And they're trying to teach you how to build what God told you to crucify The promise of the gospel is not come follow me and I'll make all your dreams come true It's come follow me and you're going to crucify that will He says come follow me and as he says come follow me along that path There are some things that we find as obstacles and we begin to hesitate And there comes a point where after he says come follow me he gives to you the third invitation Come and deny yourself everyone wants to hear come and see Some love the come follow me very few celebrate When he tells you to deny yourself because it's never anything that's going to be easy for you Denying yourself means just that denying yourself Your desires what you want Matthew 16 24 through 27 says Then said Jesus under his disciples if any man will come after me Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me For whosoever will save his life shall lose it And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what does it profit a man he gains the whole world? It loses his own soul Or what will the man give in exchange for his soul? For the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels And then he shall reward every man according to his works. This is the death of self So many are saying fill me holy spirit, and he's saying right back. I can't because you're full of yourself They say take my life lord by that they don't mean take my life. What they mean is make it better We talk about breakthrough and breakthrough and church lingo today is simply code for the day I never have another struggle again But those who will respond To that call to come and deny yourself We'll hear that fourth and final call Matthew 25 21 his master replied Well done Good and faithful servant You have been faithful with the few things. I will put you in charge of many things come And share your master's happiness One of these days you're going to hear those words And I want to stand before him knowing that I gave it all I'll tell you when you look in those eyes of fire Your concern will not be that you didn't make more money Your concern will not be What your academic achievements were Your concern will not be based in the things of this world You look into those eyes of fire All that will matter to you in that moment Is what you did for him You see the crowds come and see It's one group They come to see the miracles They come to hear the message There are spectators in every crowd who simply out of curiosity want to catch a glimpse of what people say is happening But amongst the crowd Are people who will never draw closer to him They hear about the miracles they want the experience, but they don't want the sacrifice John 2 24 through 25, this is what the Bible says about Jesus's thoughts about the crowds Listen to what it says But Jesus didn't trust them Because he knew all about people No one needed to tell him About human nature For he knew what was in each person's hearts Come and see That's the crowd And there's nothing wrong with that There's nothing wrong with coming to Jesus with an issue or a problem I ministered a message which will be released soon On the fact that God wants to give you signs We've been taught that it's immature Unspiritual doubtful selfish to ask God for signs Because we quote that scripture a wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign But Jesus was talking to Pharisees there and he was very specifically challenging the fact that they had hard hearts But all throughout the scripture God wants to give signs to people Come follow me Is what he says to the next group Now if you're in the crowd You're following Jesus at a distance You're there and you're close enough to get a miracle Not so close to be challenged And we follow him amongst the crowds Thank you for what you're giving to me. We eat the bread that he multiplied We receive his healing touch. We watch his power. We stand in awe and then If we follow the next Command if we respond to the next invitation we move in even closer and there we see the 72 disciples But Jesus says come follow me Now consider the fact that there was People among that group who didn't necessarily follow Jesus for Jesus Think about the fact that even among the 12 there was a betrayer among them named Judas I think it's safe to say that among the 72 not everyone was sincerely following him I'm sure there were some among the 72 who loved Jesus But if even the 12 had a betrayer among them It's safe to assume the 72 was filled also with those who were insincere These are the people who pursue the power of God with no love for the presence of God All gifts no glory they can demonstrate his power, but they don't walk in his presence What does God say to those who do this depart from me? I never knew you Now guys hear me when I say Everyone who begins in ministry that loves Jesus begins with sincerity If they love Jesus One of my greatest fears is that I would become a performer instead of god's servant And if you don't think it could happen to you You're in danger You think it's easy to stand On a platform that reaches hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people And not have a little issue with pride Let me tell you There's such a thing and I'm not saying this literally there's a phrase that We hear going around these days It's a new phrase. So it's probably from tiktok But they say some people are possessed by the clout demons People who follow Jesus not so that he can use them But so that they can use him Do you know what the message translation says? When it comes to that text in Matthew 7 depart from me Workers of lawlessness and then it says this all you did Was use me to make yourselves important God help us in this day and age of influencer culture. Hear me now servant of God Preachers are servants not celebrities We're called to go and be among the people We're called to go lay hands on the sick. We're called to go to those who are demon possessed If people can't reach you it's because you're not called you're in a career and you need a repent of your pride If people can't come to you If people can't be served by you if you care more about crowds than you do about people find something else to do Competing for likes and wanting the platform. I rebuke that spirit in the name of Jesus This generation is turning turning into Simon the sorcerer Let me buy this power that when I lay hands to the holy spirit might flow through me What did the apostle say to him they said you have you're bitter with jealousy And these preachers who get into ministry to compete instead of soul winning. They're on the wrong track Guard your heart servant of god lest you two become corrupt By this influencer culture You can't pay a registration fee go to a conference and then come out with the anointing You can't buy an online e-course on how to do this or how to do that pay that money Download the material fill it out pass the test and then walk away anointed of god The power of the holy ghost is found only in the presence of the holy ghost I've been in the back rooms the green rooms Ambitious hungry self-centered people Jockeying for position Trying to get to the top passing out their ministry cards like business cards You're not called to a new level of favor just because you took a selfie with the famous preacher You're not called of god just because you're good at marketing and can garner a following online You're not called of god just because you bought the camry equipment Can I just be real with you tonight? the problem is The internet has given the ability for anyone to have a platform And so what's happening is many preachers men and women are skipping the process Because they have immediate access to a platform. That's the 72 Come and follow. Okay. I'll follow you So long as it benefits me I'll follow it just the distance so I can carry your power, but I don't want to carry your cross I'll follow you so that my gifts can be stirred and people can be wowed at how I'm being used But I don't want to get so close as to actually be called to do something that will inconvenience me the question is Are you using the lord or is the lord using you? That's what it means to be stuck in the group Called the 72 you can do what jesus did But that doesn't mean you know him Come and see that's the crowds come and follow me. That's the 72 Come deny yourself. That's the 12 Now this is where jesus begins to really challenge the selfishness in you when I first started in ministry I remember lying on the floor for hours And I would pray this prayer with such passion I would say god There's a little selfishness in me Please don't promote me until you kill that Here's the problem You can cast out demons, but you can't cast out the flesh The flesh doesn't come and go The flesh shrinks and grows And you have to keep the flesh Subjected and weak You have to keep it there Because if you don't it will overpower you If you don't it will take from you if you don't it will pollute what god is doing in you God crucify those things I prayed lord Let my hands be your hands Heal through them Lord Let my feet be your feet Take me where you want me to go Let my ears be your ears Let me hear your voice with such clarity That if you whisper in the spirit I can hear you loud and clear Father let my eyes be your eyes I want to see things people in situations the way you see them Let my mouth be your mouth I want to speak the truth even when it offends even when it makes me when people start to dislike me Cancel culture rearing its ugly head you can't cancel the gospel And once you've denied yourself there's this point that comes Where he says come and share come and share come and share in my happiness Come and share in our reward To share in his reward You must first be willing to share in his suffering Think about the fact that it was only the three peter james and john who went with jesus to various places When jesus went to raise jairus's daughter from the dead It was peter james and john that entered the room with him and he threw everyone else out Because he trusted them to be there for that moment When jesus ascended to the mountaintop And he was transfigured in the fullness of his glory And he was seen with moses and elijah The disciples who were there caught a glimpse of him his image changed and he began to beam with light It was peter james and john who saw him on the mountaintop transfigured They come back down from the mountain and what did they find? They find other disciples trying to cast the devil out of a boy You're ever having trouble casting out devils It's one of two things either it's the kind that only comes out through prayer and fasting Or you yourself are not being a person of prayer If it takes you hours to cast out demons, it's likely because you're only spending minutes in prayer When you should be spending just seconds casting out devils because you're spending hours in prayer No one can fight the holy spirit like that So these disciples are trying we can't get it out of them And then jesus comes down from the mountain and drives that spirit right out Only those who have been with jesus on the mountaintop Can cast out devils in the valley? Valley problems require mountaintop solutions But who was welcomed up there it was peter james and john Peter james and john were the ones who were welcome to the mountaintop Do you know where else peter james and john were welcomed in the garden? Moments before jesus would be taken away to experience the anguish of the cross Do you realize friend That jesus was sweating drops of blood Saying to his father if it's possible Let this cup pass from me It wasn't just the physical pain of the cross It wasn't just the fact that they were going to drive nails through his hands It wasn't just the fact that they were going to put nails in his feet It wasn't just the whipping And the beating The crown of thorns. It wasn't just the sense of suffocating that he feared It was more than physical pain That anguished him Do you realize that when he was on that cross he said two startling things that people often overlook My god, my god, why have you forsaken me? god the father Turning his all-knowing eyes away from the sun And father into your hands. I commit my spirit the holy ghost left him too And there on that cross in the anguish of that physical pain He experienced the culmination of all of our guilt All of our shame All of the mental torment that comes about as a result of sin all of our sickness All of the darkness All of the loneliness He felt it all in one moment But he carried it not just for you but for every man and woman who had lived or ever would live in a single moment Forsaken by god He received the fullness of the wrath of god that cup Was the cup of god's wrath poured out onto his son A wonder he sweat drops of blood And who did he bring? Peter James And john and he says to them Could you pray with me? Think about the fact Jesus the son of god asked them be with me in this moment You want you want me? I saw you on the mountain You're the son of the living god I saw your glory I saw you open the eyes of the blind Jesus you raised the dead And you are asking me Wait with me Watch me may know him the fellowship of his suffering There comes a point And he will call you to these places In luke 8 18 jesus says that If you use well what he's told you More will be given and he was speaking specifically in luke 8 18 you look at the context He's talking about revelation of who he is he reveals himself Jesus The son of god invites you to know him when I first started in ministry and believe it or not It's almost been 20 years I started young when I was 13 preaching all over the world I was only released to share this a few years ago back when we first started these meetings The lord called me And I remember one night I'm seeking him in prayer You know when you have those moments where You could the only word I can use is his presence. There's just a sweetness to it You know what I'm talking about that you you you can't explain that there's just a sweetness to him You don't want to be anywhere else You don't want to be with anyone else You just want to abide And I'm praying and suddenly I'm caught up in something whether it was a dream or a vision. I don't know and I don't say that to sound like paul the apostle I admit I say that because I don't know if I fell asleep or not A dream or a vision. I don't know All I know is I saw room Filled with light So much light it was difficult to make out the details. I saw only outlines of things As I walked into this room filled with light I saw before me an enormous throne and sitting on that throne I saw the outline Of a man Now you've heard people tell you you know a vision is from god when you sense nothing but peace. That's not true It's a nice church cliche, but it's not true Approaching this throne I began to feel a heaviness A weight and the closer I got to this figure The more I could hear This man was weeping to hear him weeping and the holy spirit allowed me to feel Just a slight heaviness Just a small sample Of what he was feeling And I began to weep And I began to shake A heavy burden I can't explain it and I asked the lord What is this? What am I feeling? Why do I feel such sorrow such anguish? And the holy spirit told me He's weeping For his children You want to know why I preach the gospel with such passion? You want to know where this fire comes from? It's because for every soul that is one to him It's a tear being wiped from his face A little ship of his suffering You want to know why I come alive when we see souls being one? It's because I know that my heavenly father is rejoicing You share in his suffering and he'll say to you Come and share in your master's happiness Thank you for watching Encounter TV. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell Also, help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the holy spirit Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now