Sunday Service - 2025-10-19

Sunday Service - 2025-10-19

Episode description

Is Solo Christianity A Thing?
Hebrews 10:19-25

Pastor Bill Devlin

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0:14

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

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If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

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Thank you for joining us today.

0:34

Good morning, Lansdale Life. Let's give the Lord a shout out. Hallelujah. Amen.

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Let's give the Lord a clap offering. Praise the Lord. All right. I'm here to pump you up. And

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I'll end by one o'clock. And Pastor Chris called me and he said, man, he said, I'm going to be away

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with the fam. And he said, can you substitute, sub teacher? And I, yeah, of course, I said,

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but I'm really busy. I'm working on the Bronx translation of the New Testament. And he said,

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really, I said, yeah, you know, that verse that says, grace and peace be you from God the Father

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and Lord Jesus Christ Bronx translation. How you doing? How you doing? And that other verse,

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be careful for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

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let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God that passes all understanding

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will keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ Bronx translation. Forget about it. Forget about

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all right. So here we are. And I'm just so thankful to be here. We are in Hebrews chapter

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10, and we're going to be looking at the three lettuces. I don't know if I was going to bring in

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a head of lettuce for an illustration, but I thought, no, that's really unsophisticated.

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And I am just coming in from New York City. And yesterday afternoon, we had several hundred

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people meeting lower Manhattan on West 14th Street, and we did seven hours of prayer and worship and

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just radical shouting out to the Lord. Amen. So let's give the Lord a hand clap for that.

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So I'm, I'm fired up. So please fasten your seatbelts. If you feel lightheaded,

2:31

we have oxygen that will drop down from the ceiling. And if you would turn in your

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Bibles to Hebrew chapter 10 verses 19 through 26. The title of the message this morning is,

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is solo Christianity a thing? Or you could also say no more solo Christianity. So let's open with

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a word of prayer. Father, we pray that you would just pierce our hearts with your word this

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morning. Oh God, we want to hear from you, Jesus. We don't want to hear from a preacher, a teacher.

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Lord, we want to hear from you. So God, as your word says, Lord, that use your word as surgery

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on our hearts and lives. Jesus, we love you today. And we're so thankful that you have changed

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our lives. We are happy. We are filled with hope. And God, just fill each man and woman

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and young person, teenager, Lord, the children that are being taught right now, just fill them

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with your grace, your love, your mercy and your excitement about what you're doing in the world

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today. And we pray this in Jesus mighty name like they pray in Nigeria. And all God's people

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shouted Hebrews chapter 10. Therefore, brothers and sisters, verse 19, since we have confidence

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to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, open for us

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through the curtain that is his body. And since we have a great power over the house of God,

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here's the first. Let us let us draw near to God with a sincere other translation says a connected

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heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a

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guilty conscience like we just sang about and having our bodies washed with pure water. Here's

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let us number two, let us hold on swervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.

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Amen. Can we get a witness on that somewhere up in here? And number three, and let us,

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and this is the focus of the teaching this morning, consider how we may spur or agitate

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or stimulate one another on toward agape, love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together

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as summer in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day

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approaching, may God add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. So I am here this morning,

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saints at Lancelot. And by the way, if he came and you don't know Jesus, you're in the right place.

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And if you came and you do know Jesus, you're in the right place. Amen. And now I am here to

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agitate you. So I hope you're, I believe in the doctrine of agitation. So let me give you

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a home-based illustration. Now you're thinking, please lock the doors. Don't anyone leave

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and agitation. So how do you get your clothes clean?

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Most people say soap and water. That is not how you get your rocks or banging on rocks where I

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go in Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. You know, they don't have washing machines. They

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only way you get your clothes clean is by agitation. Anybody here like sweet tea? I believe

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in the doctrine of agitation. I believe in the doctrine of sturification. So I'm here to stir

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you up. Anybody here like sweet tea? All right. I see. I see a few hands. Now, how do you make

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sweet tea sweet? Wrong answer. When you want sweet tea to be sweet, you put in the sugar

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and then where does it go? It settles down to the bottom. So what do you have to do,

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saints? Stir it up. So the doctrine of agitation and the doctrine of sturification

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will prevent you from getting spiritual constipation. Amen. Can I get a witness

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on that somewhere up in here? Yeah, I can wrap that, but I won't. You know, who here likes,

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by show of hands, who here likes constipation? Don't raise your hand. Come on. Don't raise your

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hand. And so this morning I want to take you on a journey on the three. Let us as is

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all you grammatical people can correct me on that. But I also want to take you on a quick

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journey if we could have, because for those of you who don't know PB, I am a missionary pastor

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of Lansdale life. I was pastor in a big church in Manhattan 12, 13 years ago and God used three

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words, God, gospel, good news. And the reason I share this story is I want God to stir you up

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this morning. I was hoping to hear an amen. Okay. I want God to agitate you this morning.

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Amen. Because you see the word of God is useless unless it can be applied.

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Application is the key word. And you know, the word of God is the most exciting book

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in the entire world, right? I mean, it should excite us. It should inflame us. It should,

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Lord, do the necessary surgery on my life. Hallelujah. So I can be a different person.

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I can be, you know, and Nancy D. That's my wife. We just celebrated 45 years of marriage. Hallelujah.

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You can give the Lord a hand clap for that. And she, she gave me a really nice anniversary

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card and I opened it up and it was, this is a little strange. It was a get well card.

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And I'm like, yo, Nance, what's up? What's up? And, and I opened it up and it said,

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get better soon. And I was like, Nance, why, why the get well card? And she said,

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well, I want you to get better soon. Amen. I hope you got all that. Maybe that's,

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yes. So she wants me to be a better husband. So I pray as we look at the,

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now you're shaking your, get better comma soon. Okay. You got it. All right. You know,

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it's terrible when you have to explain a joke. So I want to be a better husband.

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I want to be a better father. I want to be a better grandfather. We just had grandchild

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number 13 born four weeks ago. Give the Lord a hand clap for that. Yeah. So little Jack Devlin

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is now one month old, John Michael. And you know, all of you that have little kids,

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if you think your lives are busy going to soccer, baseball, you know, so Nancy and I

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tripled our fun. We went from five to 13 and I taught my kids, be fruitful and multiply

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and replenish the earth. Amen. Hallelujah. So I want to take you on a quick journey.

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Since I am your missionary pastor, I want to excite you as we look at the let us's says

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and the one another's of the word of God. So I'm just in from Cuba. Uh, I don't know if you can

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bring some of these photos up, but we'll burn through those very, very quickly. And if not,

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then we'll just go into the teaching of the word. Okay. We good. All right. Okay, good.

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So here we are. And the first slide is, yeah, thank you. Lancedale life. You made it happen.

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Just 11 months ago, somebody gave me, if you can believe this, 23 tons of rice.

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Now who gives somebody 23 tons of rice? One guy I met one time, 23 tons of rice,

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I won't go into all the details. I said, where is it? He said, it's in Bangkok, Thailand.

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And I was like, well, what do you want me to do? And he said, I bought the rice $30,000.

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I'm paying for the shipping from Bangkok all the way to Ashdod Israel. And pastor dev,

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all you have to do is to get it from Ashdod Israel and to the two Christian churches in

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Gaza. It's about 30 miles, but it's the hardest 30 miles you can ever imagine. So I called 35

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organizations, Canada, Israel, us, and 52 people, friends of mine that are in those organizations.

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And I said, I got 23 tons of rice. We're going to give to the starving Christians at the two

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churches, Greek Orthodox and Catholic inside Gaza. They've been, the churches have been there for

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like 2000 years and everybody told me, impossible. You can see this article on the Christian post.

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So all these people said, yeah, well, this is impossible. And I said, well, listen to reverse

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that says that which is impossible with God is possible, impossible with man is possible with

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God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know the verse, but this is impossible. Well, do you know on December

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19th, 2024, that ship landed in Ashdod Israel and through my partnership with Franklin Graham

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at Samaritan's Purse, we got 23 tons of rice into Gaza. Give the Lord a hand clap for that.

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So there it is. There it is in the middle of a war. So do you believe God can do the impossible

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next slide, please? Yeah, God can do the impossible. And that's what we want him to

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do in your life today. Amen. So whatever you're going through and really my,

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the first lettuce talks about going boldly to the throne of God. And if you remember that,

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if you're taking notes, the first lettuce talks about going to the very throne of God boldly.

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And my question for you this morning, Lansdale Life, are you praying big prayers?

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I mean, I can be convicted 25 years ago when I was doing ministry and the hood and filly and

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raising five kids there, God gave me a word one day and he said, my son, begin praying

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that I would give you a ministry like the apostle Paul. I was like, Lord, Jesus,

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that is like an, you want me to have a ministry like the apostle Paul. I prayed that prayer

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for 15 years every day. Lord, give me a ministry. I had no idea when I was praying, but I wanted to

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go boldly. Just like the word here says, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, with

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the full assurance that faith brings. Having our hearts sprinkled the cleanses from a guilty

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conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. This is the new and living way. We don't have

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to go to a priest. We don't have to sacrifice an animal. Lansdale Life, I want you to go boldly to

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the throne of God. Much as I did when I said, Lord, Jesus, we need to get this rice into these

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starving Christians. In fact, I intentionally put myself in difficult positions. Now you're

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thinking he really is crazy. The butter is slipped off the noodles. The elevators go to the top floor.

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He's three French rice short of a happy meal and two tacos short of a combination plate, right?

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But I think in this day and age and everybody's saying, wow, the Lord is coming soon.

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Maranatha, we hope he comes next week because my mortgage is due. Hallelujah.

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And so, you know, are you praying big prayers? Are you going boldly to the Lord Jesus Christ

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and saying, Lord, I want you to do miracles. I want you to do signs and wonders and manifestations.

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Hey, I was trained in a Presbyterian seminary and now I'm on my way to becoming an Anglican priest

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so I can be more effective. And I believe in signs and wonders and miracles and manifestations

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because I've seen God do those over in Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. You can give the

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handclap for that. Amen. So are you going boldly to the throne of grace? When I got here to East

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Pakat, this is the northwest section of Kenya and I was almost pranked and getting there and

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going there and the Lord opened up the door and these little girls, I'm going to say a graphic

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word. These little girls, once they have their first menstruation, they put beads in their hair.

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I've shared this with you before because guess what? Lansdale Life had just helped me build school

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number 20 for these little girls. You can give the Lord a handclap for that Lansdale Life. Amen.

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And so, I was asked to go and I said, where is this? And they said, well, there hasn't been a

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mizungo there in 80 years. The last mizungo, white guy in Swahili, went to this area 80 years ago

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and the Pakat tribe tried to kill them. It's a tribe of 200,000. They live the same way today

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that they lived 2,000 years ago and they've never heard the name of Jesus. Wouldn't you like to go

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preach in a place where they've never heard the name of Jesus? It's exciting because you kind of

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feel like you're in the first century. You know, Paul, you're there with Paul on the steps of the

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temple and these people have never... Jesus, who's that? We went there and we said, have you ever

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heard about Jesus? And one guy said through my translator, he said, what tribe is he a member of?

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Is he Pakat, Simbudu, or Meragat? So, we began going there eight years ago and we discovered that

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these little girls at age 11, once they have their first menstruation, they put beads in their hair

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and that's signaling to the tribe that they're ready to be mutilated and ready to be married.

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So, FGM, female genital mutilation, was 100% in this tribe. Bang, bang, we came in preaching

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the gospel underneath trees. We came in building these schools and we have, to the glory of God,

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with Lansdale Life's help, we have revolutionized this entire area and 10% of this tribe has now

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come to faith in Jesus Christ. You can give the Lord a hand clap for that. So, are you...

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Hebrews 10, are you going boldly to the throne of grace? What are you asking God for?

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You know, now it's okay to pray for, you know, prayers like, you know, Antilles, Lumbago,

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and whatever Lumbago is, I just made that up. And, or, you know, you pray these prayers, Lord,

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and, but, Lansdale Life, are you praying big prayers? The first lettuce, are you coming boldly

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before the throne of grace and lettuce draw near to God? Because guess what? You got an easy pass

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to the throne of heaven. Amen? Isn't that a great illustration? Man, I'm going, you know,

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I was on a road the other day, it said 95, so I was going 95 miles an hour. That's a joke,

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I'm sorry, I didn't go... And so, I just spent through the easy pass, going to the Holland

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Tunnel. You know, they just do it electronically. That's the access that you have to the Lord Jesus

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Christ. Amen? So, you have your easy pass to the very throne of God. So, what are you praying

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about? Are you going boldly? So, praise God, after these girls are mutilated, it's a ceremony,

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it's a rite of passage. How do you stop that? Well, we began preaching the gospel, then we

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found out this area has never had schools before, and I began raising money with the help of Land

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Stale Life, and we've now just finished our 20th school, delivering hundreds of these little

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East Bacot girls from FGM, and then after they're healed up a year later at age 12,

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their own father sells them to the highest bidder for 30 goats or 30 head of cattle,

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and we've been able to break that demonic satanic chain. Amen? Glory to God. Next slide, yeah.

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And so, continue to pray. I've got a couple of other just exciting things because, you see,

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this was not accomplished, unless my teams in 21 countries went boldly before the very throne of

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God. So, Land Stale Life, I want you to pray big prayers. You know, it's okay to

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pray small prayers, but don't we have a big God? Amen? We have a big God. We have an awesome God.

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We have a God who can do the impossible. So, next slide, please. So, I just ask God to give me,

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now I'm a little strange, but I ask God to give me impossible things to do.

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Why? In order so God can show his strong right hand. Amen? And that's what we want to see in

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our life, right? You know, the worst thing that you can have is boring faith. I mean,

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who wants a boring faith? Here I am. We're dancing around with the warriors here. I'm on the guy

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on the left there, and we're dancing. All these warriors, you know what men do for living there?

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They kill people. They go to other tribes. The Pakad goes to the Marigot and the Sambu,

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and they steal their cattle. Well, you know, we started preaching the gospel underneath trees.

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Next slide, please. And here's, we invited, we went to a chief, and we said, chief,

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bring in all your warriors. And so, all these guys came 31, and I said, Lord Jesus, I'm ready

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to go. If I get speared to death or shot with a bow and arrow, whatever. And so, we went there,

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preaching the gospel, amen, with clarity, with understanding, and all 31 warriors came to faith

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in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, now it takes 12 hours to get there. And if you want to come

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with me, man, amen, who said that? And you're on tape. You're coming. Okay, I see that hand. Yes,

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every head bow and every eye closed. If you come with me, bro, I'm going to make a public promise to

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you. I'll pay for a one-way flight. So, here we are, brokered a meeting with 31 warriors,

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and they all come to faith in Jesus Christ. It is so exciting when we go over there,

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and the other 20 places I go, I just was in Cuba doing Jesus Youth Festivals. Before that,

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I was in Armenia meeting with persecuted Christians. Too many stories, not enough time.

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But let's have an exciting faith, amen. That's why I say, I'm here to pump you up,

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Hans and Franz. And we want you to have an exciting faith, because we don't want, you know,

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heaven is not going to be boring, right? People, you know, I talk with unbelievers,

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well, what are we going to be doing in heaven? You know, we're going to be sitting around strumming

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harps and flying around. I said, no, we're going to be with the King of kings and the Lord of

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Lords. And we're going to be worshiping at his feet and just praising God for all eternity.

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That's exciting stuff. So, next, and then here we go. We're baptism in East Bekat. So,

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these warriors are getting saved. We've developed over 1900 farms. Hello, because what's their job?

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Killing people. Hey, bro, you can't kill people anymore. Put away your bows and arrows. And so,

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now we've developed 1900 farms. We have an agronomist from Nairobi who goes in there and

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teaches them how to farm. And these guys are loving it. And then after they come to faith in

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Christ, we baptized them in this muddy river and it has crocodiles in it. But we say, look,

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bro, you're saved now. So, if you get eaten by a croc, you know, you'll be good. You'll be good.

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Amen. And so, it's great just to, and that river, by the way, separates the two warring tribes.

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So, when we're out there, this is exciting. When we're out there, one of the tribes is lined up

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on one side of the river or the other tribe. And these are tribes that have been warring 2000

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years. And we're bringing them together, seeing them get saved by the blood of the lamb slain

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before the foundations of the world. We'll put down. Next slide. So, let us come boldly

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and draw near to God and pray. Lansdale Life, pray big prayers. Don't be satisfied with your

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Christian life now, okay? Well, what exciting things. You know, let's win Lansdale for Christ.

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Let's win Hatfield, 1-9-4-4-0, 1-9-4-4-6. I memorize zip codes to stave off dementia.

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And let's just win these places for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's be bold, be strong.

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I was given the task in northern Nigeria to rescue 16 children that were kidnapped six years ago.

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Check this out. They changed all their names from Muslim names, from Christian names to Muslim names.

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And I was given the assignment to go rescue 16 kids. Yeah, wow, I heard.

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I said, Lord, only you can do this, right? So, we sing songs about the power of God.

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We read scriptures about the power of God and the word of God.

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Have you seen the power of God operative in your life? Amen, okay. Let me say that again.

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Have you seen the power of God operative in your life? Amen, amen. You know, that's why Jesus said,

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Isaiah 61, I came to preach deliverance. I came to preach to get the prisoners free.

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Those are in bondage, amen. How many people in Lansdale,

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in Percocet, in Sellersville, in Karjakistan, how many, I just made that up, how many of those

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do you think are in bondage? That's why I dress like this. You know, people think I'm a weirdo.

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Well, guess what? I am a weirdo. I'm a weirdo for Jesus. I'm a Jesus freak, amen.

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Like Bob Dylan said, you know, you got to say amen. Give the Lord a hand clap for Jesus freaks.

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Yeah. I was, and I hope, I know, Lansdale Life, I think, has the highest percentage

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of Jesus freaks in one church. Amen, okay. Here's the head Jesus freak right here. No,

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Pastor Chris and First Lady Jill, you're the head Jesus freak. But let's be more weird, right?

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So I dress like this in all 21 countries I go to, and people know exactly what I am and who I am.

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I'm there to represent Jesus, and I'm rocking the cross, baby, okay. And wearing it in New York City

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yesterday, I took a train from Penn Station to Trenton. No lie, six people came up to me on

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the train. Here I am, just minding my own business. And they said, are you a pastor? I said,

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it's not Halloween yet. And they're like, yeah, you know what they say? I mean, this happens.

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It's happened. I think I'm in quadruple digits over a thousand times. And I'll say, well,

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what's your name? What's your name? And they'll tell me, you know, Sam, and I say, Sam,

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what can I pray for you? Oh, you know, my marriage has fallen apart. I'm out of money. And I said,

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well, Sam, I'm going to pray for you. And I'm going to do something better. I'm going to anoint

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you with the oil of the Lord. I have done this hundreds of times on the subway in New York City,

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on the trains, overseas. And you know what? No one has ever refused me. So lands their life.

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Be bold, be strong, for the Lord your God is with you. Joshua one nine boldly approached the

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throne of grace. So so I went to get these children out. I went that this is a crazy story. And and

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ninety nine point nine percent. So I go to the actual Islamist home and I'm there to meet a

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government official. I've got a court order in my hand for the release of sixteen children.

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And I waited five hours with my Nigerian team. Her van finally pulls up. Military people step out.

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She had like fifteen people in the van. And she looks at me and she says, pastor,

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commissioner of women's affairs. Pastor, you go to Hades. Hell, you'll never get these children.

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I said, Madam, Your Excellency, I have a court order. I don't care about that court order. She

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goes over and she starts yelling at the children. Sixteen children were all gathered between the ages

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of seven and eighteen. I'm there to put them in our car and take them to the Christian orphanage.

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She's over there, braid. If you go with that pastor, we're going to find you and we're going

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to kill you and you're going to go to hell. And these kids are like they're like powering.

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And I'm filming the event of her yelling at the children with my cell phone. And she turns to me

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and she says, stop filming. And then they start speaking in their tribal language.

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And I turn to my Nigerian team leader, Barrister Emmanuel Egebe. And I said,

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what is she saying? And she's saying the people in her entourage are saying,

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let us pick up the rocks here in this home and let us smash the pastor's phone.

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Let us smash his car and let us smash him. They were getting ready to stone me and my Nigerian

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team leader. This happened in late April of twenty twenty five and we're there and they're speaking

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in their tribal language. And then I just stopped and prayed. I said, Lord, if you want me to

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bear the wounds of getting stoned to death like St. Stephen, I'm ready to go. Because you know

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what? For us to live as Christ's land's day of life, to die is gain. Can I get a witness on that?

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I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.

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And the life that I now live, I live by the grace of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself.

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Does that settle with you, brothers and sisters? He loved us and gave his life for us.

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So what will we do for him? Will you boldly go to the throne of grace? Let us. Will you boldly

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persevere in the faith? I have a very simple six word motto in my life.

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And I've told Nancy, this are five kids, their spouses, and by the way, they're all serving

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Jesus. I don't know how that happened, but all thirteen grandchildren are being raised in the

30:20

nurture and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ. And people say, well, you know, I don't have a

30:25

perfect marriage. I have a successful marriage. And how did that happen? I said, by the grace of God,

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and because Nancy and I prayed every night for the last 45 years for our family, no matter how

30:39

tired we are, we're laying in bed, okay, hey, who's going to pray tonight? And all of a sudden,

30:44

you know, I'm praying all of a sudden I fall asleep and Nancy will like knock me in the

30:49

head. Hey, wake up. And there was a recent survey done by Baylor University of pastors in the United

30:56

States. This is sad. And they found out in the pastors they queried and surveyed nine out of

31:03

ten pastors don't pray with their wives. Yeah, yeah, I mean, you're groaning. Amen.

31:09

So we need a revolution of prayer to pray big prayers. Let us come boldly before the throne

31:15

of grace. Amen. And that's what I'm challenging you to. And then that motto. So the second let us

31:22

is let us persevere. Let us hold fast. You know, compare yourself to the persecuted church in

31:31

Nigeria, right? You know, we think we have problems, right? I'm going to show you just pictures of my

31:38

church that I pastor in Nigeria. Here's Nathaniel shot in the face five times by Boko Haram.

31:50

He just went to be with the Lord last week. And he had a after he got shot multiple strokes.

32:00

And yet, you know what he said? He said, I will remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ

32:05

until the day I die. This is what your Nigerian brothers and sisters are going through.

32:13

You know how many Christians Boko Haram Islamic State West Africa Province,

32:17

Fulani, Jihadists have killed so far this year, 8000. If you do the math by the end of the year,

32:23

you divide 365 and 8000. You know what you get? 22 Christians a day are martyred

32:31

in Nigeria, simply because they love Jesus. Here's my brother, Habila Abel in the house of language,

32:41

Boko Haram came to his house, they stuck a pistol, but the end of a pistol right in his nostril.

32:49

And they said, we're going to give you three opportunities to not Jesus Christ. And they

32:55

said on the third one, if you, you know, if you want to deny Christ, we'll let you live.

33:01

And first time, I'm not going to deny Christ. Second time, not going to deny Christ. Third time,

33:06

not going to deny Christ. Third time, bang. And the bullet miraculously went through his skull,

33:12

bounced off the inside of his spine and then blew the right side of his face off.

33:18

And you know what Habila before that, he's still alive. Praise God. Amen. Let's give

33:24

the Lord a hand clap for that. And, and, and now he meets with the terrorist and he says,

33:31

you know what? You tried to kill me and you failed. You want to, you want to try again?

33:37

Go ahead. And if you kill me for me to live as Christ to die as gain. Amen.

33:43

So on your worst day, you think of the church in Nigeria, the church in Gaza, the church in

33:49

Sudan, where I'll be next month, the church in Syria, the church in Jordan, the church in

33:55

Afghanistan, where I go, the church in Pakistan, where I go, the church in Sri Lanka. You see,

34:01

we need to be praying boldly. Here is, here I am in April of this year at a mass grave in

34:09

Northern Nigeria. And we're going to put a memorial for the 37 adults and 17 children

34:15

that were hacked to death with machetes. Because you see Boko Haram doesn't,

34:22

they'll say to the Christians, we're not going to waste bullets on the infidels,

34:26

which is you, you're all infidels, by the way, you're all infidels and we're not going to waste

34:31

bullets on infidels and they just hacked them to death. Here is Alice Stevens. I want you to

34:37

pray for Alice Stevens. Come boldly before the throne of grace. Let them pray for the

34:42

persecuted church that they would persevere. Amen. And think about this. On Palm Sunday night,

34:52

the Islamic terrorists come into Zika village in Basa County in Northern Nigeria in Plateau State

35:00

and they hacked to death 37 adults and 17 children. Alice Stevens, pray for Alice.

35:06

They come into Alice's mud hut. These are farming villages. They killed her husband,

35:12

machete, her mother-in-law, her father-in-law, her brother-in-law. Alice is holding her little

35:19

10-month-old Mary. They take out the machetes. They cut off this little 10-month-old ears.

35:29

And then they slit the baby's throat. And then they go to her,

35:32

Alice's three-year-old, slit his throat. They go to her 10-year-old and they cut open his

35:38

stomach and his intestines come out. And then they come after Alice and the last blow that

35:44

they do, they take their machete and then they come in on the top of the head and they split

35:49

your skull open and then your brains come out and that's how you die. So Alice went like this

35:57

and they chopped off her right hand but it saved her life. I met Alice two weeks

36:01

after in the hospital when she was still recovering and her 10-year-old son survived.

36:09

Alice had mad PTSD and she said, Dr. William, I wish I was dead.

36:19

And I said, Alice, I know that and you know what? I prophesied when I met with her. I said,

36:26

Alice, within three months we're going to get you a prosthesis. This was April, May, June,

36:30

I said at the end of July, you're going to have a prosthesis so your hand will be replaced.

36:35

And I prayed for her and I said, Alice, persevere, persevere. And I told her my life motto is start

36:42

strong. Two words, stay strong, finish strong. Amen. It's just six words so say it with me.

36:49

And this is I want you, if you don't have a life motto, please, Lansdale Life,

36:54

adopt this as your life motto. Here we go. Repeat after me. Start strong,

37:00

little louder, start strong, stay strong, finish strong. Amen. Let's give the Lord a hand clap

37:08

for finishing strong. So you think about those Christians around the world, you know, 80 percent

37:16

of all people of faith that are martyred are Christians. So remember to pray for them. So

37:22

start strong, stay strong, finish strong. And then finally, let us, this is the third, let us,

37:29

let us spur one another to love and to good works. Amen. And that's what we need to do because

37:37

that's the title of the message. If you thought I forgot it, the Christian life was never meant

37:42

to be lived alone. Can I repeat that? The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone.

37:52

You know, I tell people, hey, why did Jesus have 12 disciples divisible by two?

37:59

Amen. Why did Jesus send out the seven, 70 divisible by two, 35 teams of two? So, you know,

38:10

right now there's a phenomenon within the evangelical church, non-denominational church

38:14

is called. Have you heard of it? Deconstruction. And these are folks that have been so burned out

38:19

by, you know, fighting and politics within the church, which, praise God, it's not,

38:24

it's absent from this church. But they're finally saying, I'm fed up, you know,

38:29

pastors abusing children, pastors having sex with women who are not their wives,

38:34

pastors stealing money. And these folks are like, they're deconstructing. And they're

38:39

basically saying, I never want to be in another church anymore for the rest of my life. Well,

38:45

I say to them, God never, according to Hebrews 10 verses 24, 25, it says, let us gather together.

38:55

Let us agitate one another. Let us stir one another up. Let us spur one another to love and

39:03

to good deeds. I think that's the next slide. So the Christian life was never meant to be lived

39:09

alone. We, if you are thinking that you can live in isolation, and this is funny because I'm

39:14

talking to the people that are here, right? So you're here. You understand the nature.

39:20

You know, why do we call it communion? Yeah, community, right? We're supposed to be communing

39:27

with one another. So these are some of the bullets. And let me just say this radical

39:33

thought. If you think you can live the Christian life in isolation, you will never make progress.

39:45

That's pretty hardcore, isn't it? You know, and men, particularly men, we got a problem.

39:51

We got a problem. I always say to men, you know, it's kind of like nine out of 10 pastors

39:56

are not praying with their wives. I mean, what the heck? What is that about? And I say to men,

40:01

are you, can I have the phone number of another man that I could call right now that you're

40:06

accountable to that knows every secret that knows your walk with Jesus, whether you're

40:12

walking with Jesus or whether you're doing the for chisel. I don't know if you've ever heard of

40:17

that word before, but and so we can't live in isolation. Proverbs 2717, iron sharpens iron,

40:26

and one man sharpens another. Men, the only way you're going to stay sharp in your faith,

40:33

because people ask me that all the time. Where do you get the energy? Because I meet with Jeff

40:38

Howe from Calvary Philly every Friday morning at the Panera Bread on Street Road in Busselton

40:44

in Feasterville, Trivos, P.A., 8 a.m., bang, bang. I got saved June 26, 1971, Hitchcock and San Diego

40:57

Freeway. Many of you know the guy from Calvary Chapel, Coach DeMesa came out, and I think God

41:02

sent me an angel to get me saved because I was such a hard case. But think about this.

41:07

Think about this. About four days later, I got invited to a Bible study on the base, the Navy

41:15

base of San Diego, and the guy teaching, it came up to me afterwards, and he put his finger in my

41:20

chest and he said, who are you? And last name, Devlin, military. And he said, when are you

41:26

leaving for Vietnam? And I said in a couple months, he said, finger in the chest. He said,

41:32

you're going to be here every Friday. You don't mind, do you? Okay, thank you for volunteering.

41:40

I said, he said to me, so you're P.B., right? I'm 18 years old and I'm like, why is this guy

41:46

up in my grill, right? And he says, you're going to be accountable to me until the day you leave

41:52

for Vietnam. I was like, yeah, amen. I was like, whoa. And guess what? Every Friday night,

42:00

I was there learning the word of God, being discipled by this guy. I don't even remember

42:05

his name. I don't think I ever got his name, but praise God, this guy. And if you can bring up

42:12

that slide, because we're going to the end because I need to finish in nine minutes. You

42:19

know who this is? This is Smitty. So I volunteer after I got saved again, I'm a Jesus freak.

42:27

After I got saved, two weeks later, I volunteered to go fight in the Vietnam war. And a year after

42:33

that, I got shot up. Praise God. I got the Purple Heart. Keep paying your taxes because you give

42:38

me free medical care and I'll be buried in Arlington. If you never see me again, my next

42:43

location is Arlington National Cemetery. I'll be buried there. So you can come and type in

42:48

William Devlin or Rev Dev or P.B. And you can see where my grave is. Praise God. But I won't be

42:54

there. My address will have changed. Hallelujah. Let's give the Lord a hand clap for that. Hallelujah.

43:02

Amen. I can't wait. Well, yeah, I can because I got things to do for the Lord. And yet this

43:11

this verse, and so let me just back up. And so I get on this ship,

43:19

two hundred and a compliment, a battalion, a ship of 250 guys and only two Christians.

43:28

Me and Smitty, say his name, Smitty. Boson's made first class. And Smitty, as a young baby

43:35

Christian believer, we met every day for prayer on board the ship because we'd be, you know,

43:41

blown up Vietnam and we'd be out to sea for 60 days. And I was ridiculed. People would come up

43:48

to me and Smitty. We're going to stop talking about Jesus. We're going to put you in a bag and

43:53

throw you overboard. I was really why did I join the Navy because I was afraid of sharks and drowning.

44:00

Make no sense. Amen. But praise God. And so people would ridicule us. But I was accountable

44:08

to Smitty for the next two years when we were both together in Vietnam. And you know what he

44:14

did, sisters and brothers. He drilled accountability into my heart and life. And now for the last

44:21

55 years, I've always been accountable to another man. Yeah, let's give the Lord a hand clap for

44:29

that. Amen. It's not by mind or by power, but by my spirit, the saith, the Lord. So man,

44:36

are you, can you have a number of a guy that I could call and say, how is this guy's walk

44:42

with Christ? Is he a bootlegger, a scallywag, or is he really a disciple of Christ? You know,

44:49

that's the bottom line, man. And so it's been different men over the last 55 years. But guess

44:55

what? I do not want to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And that word forsake means

45:03

total abandonment. So when people are in this deconstruction movement, when look, we need every

45:09

one of you. Amen. This church needs every one of you in the kingdom of God. I want you to memorize

45:17

this. This blesses my soul in the kingdom of God. There are no little people. Every one of you is

45:26

integrally important to this church and to God. So if you're just sitting here warming the pews

45:33

on Sunday morning, Bronx translation, forget about it. You need to be engaged and say, oh,

45:41

you know, somebody at the church offended me. Oh, I just, I was offended. Well, hey,

45:49

welcome to the offense club. You know, I'm an equal opportunity offender. I want to agitate

45:55

people. I want to stir people up. I want to spur you to love and to good works, which is what he,

46:00

Hebrews says, you know, acts 242, let me parlay. And they continued devotedly, steadfastly,

46:08

continually and faithfully in the apostles teaching in fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayer.

46:16

So if you're not engaged, you need to get engaged, forsake. And if you're saying, well,

46:22

I'm never coming back to church again, that word forsake were in Hebrews 10 25 where it says,

46:27

do not forsake. There's other verses, Matthew 27 46, second, Tim 410, Hebrews 13 five.

46:36

We must stay connected. So that word forsake means to leave helpless. So when you're not here

46:41

engaged in ministry, guess what? You are leaving somebody helpless because you're all needed.

46:53

When you're not here engaged at Lansdale life, you leave someone in difficult circumstances.

47:01

You know, it's such a blessing. My son-in-law just became a youth pastor at a church in Bucks County.

47:07

He works full time as a financial advisor. They tapped him, Dan Petty, bang, you're the youth

47:12

pastor. My other son is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, Zachariah, 32 years old,

47:18

got the anointing to be an elder. And I had some Presbyterian pastors call me. We said,

47:23

man, we thought we got rid of the devil ends. So are you accountable? Think about this.

47:32

Someone here today needs you. Someone out there on broad in Maine needs you.

47:42

And you need someone here. I want to give the last illustration. Go to the slide that's connective

47:49

tissue. You know, we have something in our body. This is great. I started to read about this.

47:54

You know what connective tissue is? You are filled with connective tissue. It's a type

47:59

of biological tissue that's listen, it supports, it binds together, it protects other tissues

48:06

and organs in the body. It includes various forms of connective tissue such as bone,

48:12

blood, cartilage, fat tissue, and plays, listen, essential roles application in maintaining the

48:22

structure and function of the body. So without connective tissue, you're going to fall apart.

48:30

This is you. This is, I thought about, I'm going to, I'm going to like prank somebody here

48:38

like desert saying, you know, get him on the slide. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know this guy. I just,

48:43

you know, thank God for chat GPT. So you see the point. If you're not connected,

48:49

if you're not in communion, then it's what you're just one big block. Yeah. Just like this poor

48:57

guy. And you're just a puddle on the sidewalk. Look at this poor fellow. He can't do anything.

49:03

All he's good for is like people stepping on him. Right. So be connected, be connected. And finally,

49:12

finally, and by the way, at the end, as we close in prayer,

49:19

and I do this every time I come to land still life, you just, if you got,

49:23

if the God has spoken to your heart and I'm ready to explode, I'm telling you, I,

49:31

because I am a lover of the Christian church, regardless of all the

49:36

for sizzle that goes on, we need to stay connected. Don't forsake one another. Jesus

49:44

wants you to be connected. You know, Jesus went to church.

49:50

Did you know that? He went to the synagogue. That's why they asked him. I said, Hey, you read the

49:56

scroll today, Isaiah 61. So if Jesus went to church, I'm going to church because I ain't

50:02

no better than Jesus. And so you can tell the people that, you know, Oh, you know, I'm,

50:07

I'm not, I'm not coming to church anymore. So, Oh, Oh, are you better than Jesus?

50:11

Finally, there's 59 one anothers in the New Testament. Did you know that? And I'm going to read

50:21

just 10 of that. I know I pranked you a little bit. You thought I was going to read all 59.

50:25

Be at peace with one another. Wash one another's feet. Love one another. Love one another. Love

50:32

one another. Love one another. Love one another. There's five love one anothers. Love one another

50:38

with brotherly affection. Romans 12. Outdo one another in showing honor. Live in harmony with

50:46

one another. Here, Romans 13. Love one another. Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.

50:54

Instruct one another. Greet one another with a bro's holy kiss. Come on. When you come together

51:01

to eat, wait for one another. But if it's your wife, that's fine. Have the same concern for

51:07

one another. Through love, serve one another. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out

51:12

that you were not consumed by one another. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another,

51:18

envying one another. Bear one another's burdens. And the final, the 24, with patience, bearing

51:26

one another in love. So my accountability to all these men and sisters, this is for you as well.

51:34

I do what I call the five Fs. The five Fs. I'm accountable to Jeff Howe, Friday morning,

51:42

8am. And by the way, it's non-negotiable. What does that mean? It always happens.

51:48

It always happens. Just like me and Nancy Dee praying every night. Non-negotiable. Do you

51:53

have non-negotiables in your life with your wife, Jesus? Are there things that you said,

51:58

I got to do, I got to read the Word. I got to pray. I got to do deeds of love and mercy to the

52:05

community. You know, do you have those, I got to meet with another man. So iron sharpening iron.

52:10

Women, are you meeting with another woman? Iron sharpening iron. You know, when you see

52:15

just the revolution, the sad revolution of pornography in men and women in the Christian

52:22

church. It's a cancer. It's scandalous because we, you know, it's all on the phones. And so

52:29

are we getting help for these things and are we accountable to one another?

52:34

Don't forsake one another. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Let us persevere and let us

52:43

love one another and practice all 59 one and others. So thank you, Lansdale Life, for putting

52:51

rocket fuel in my engine and sending me around the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we

52:57

stand together and as we sing this last song, if you have a need, I'm going to stay here, you know,

53:05

the children are going to be dismissed. You can pick up your kids in the nursery. But if you

53:09

have a need, you just come forward. Let me confidentially pray for you and let me anoint

53:15

you with the oil of the Lord as we close and as we worship the Lord. Amen. So, Lansdale Life,

53:24

did you hear the word of God this morning? Did you hear the word of God this morning?

53:29

Let's give the Lord a shout out. Let's give the Lord a clap offering. Please lead us. Amen.

53:40

Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word.

53:46

Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

53:52

Be blessed and have a great day!