Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
Good morning, Lansdale Life. Let's give the Lord a shout out. Hallelujah. Amen.
Let's give the Lord a clap offering. Praise the Lord. All right. I'm here to pump you up. And
I'll end by one o'clock. And Pastor Chris called me and he said, man, he said, I'm going to be away
with the fam. And he said, can you substitute, sub teacher? And I, yeah, of course, I said,
but I'm really busy. I'm working on the Bronx translation of the New Testament. And he said,
really, I said, yeah, you know, that verse that says, grace and peace be you from God the Father
and Lord Jesus Christ Bronx translation. How you doing? How you doing? And that other verse,
be careful for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God that passes all understanding
will keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ Bronx translation. Forget about it. Forget about
all right. So here we are. And I'm just so thankful to be here. We are in Hebrews chapter
10, and we're going to be looking at the three lettuces. I don't know if I was going to bring in
a head of lettuce for an illustration, but I thought, no, that's really unsophisticated.
And I am just coming in from New York City. And yesterday afternoon, we had several hundred
people meeting lower Manhattan on West 14th Street, and we did seven hours of prayer and worship and
just radical shouting out to the Lord. Amen. So let's give the Lord a hand clap for that.
So I'm, I'm fired up. So please fasten your seatbelts. If you feel lightheaded,
we have oxygen that will drop down from the ceiling. And if you would turn in your
Bibles to Hebrew chapter 10 verses 19 through 26. The title of the message this morning is,
is solo Christianity a thing? Or you could also say no more solo Christianity. So let's open with
a word of prayer. Father, we pray that you would just pierce our hearts with your word this
morning. Oh God, we want to hear from you, Jesus. We don't want to hear from a preacher, a teacher.
Lord, we want to hear from you. So God, as your word says, Lord, that use your word as surgery
on our hearts and lives. Jesus, we love you today. And we're so thankful that you have changed
our lives. We are happy. We are filled with hope. And God, just fill each man and woman
and young person, teenager, Lord, the children that are being taught right now, just fill them
with your grace, your love, your mercy and your excitement about what you're doing in the world
today. And we pray this in Jesus mighty name like they pray in Nigeria. And all God's people
shouted Hebrews chapter 10. Therefore, brothers and sisters, verse 19, since we have confidence
to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, open for us
through the curtain that is his body. And since we have a great power over the house of God,
here's the first. Let us let us draw near to God with a sincere other translation says a connected
heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a
guilty conscience like we just sang about and having our bodies washed with pure water. Here's
let us number two, let us hold on swervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.
Amen. Can we get a witness on that somewhere up in here? And number three, and let us,
and this is the focus of the teaching this morning, consider how we may spur or agitate
or stimulate one another on toward agape, love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together
as summer in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day
approaching, may God add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. So I am here this morning,
saints at Lancelot. And by the way, if he came and you don't know Jesus, you're in the right place.
And if you came and you do know Jesus, you're in the right place. Amen. And now I am here to
agitate you. So I hope you're, I believe in the doctrine of agitation. So let me give you
a home-based illustration. Now you're thinking, please lock the doors. Don't anyone leave
and agitation. So how do you get your clothes clean?
Most people say soap and water. That is not how you get your rocks or banging on rocks where I
go in Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. You know, they don't have washing machines. They
only way you get your clothes clean is by agitation. Anybody here like sweet tea? I believe
in the doctrine of agitation. I believe in the doctrine of sturification. So I'm here to stir
you up. Anybody here like sweet tea? All right. I see. I see a few hands. Now, how do you make
sweet tea sweet? Wrong answer. When you want sweet tea to be sweet, you put in the sugar
and then where does it go? It settles down to the bottom. So what do you have to do,
saints? Stir it up. So the doctrine of agitation and the doctrine of sturification
will prevent you from getting spiritual constipation. Amen. Can I get a witness
on that somewhere up in here? Yeah, I can wrap that, but I won't. You know, who here likes,
by show of hands, who here likes constipation? Don't raise your hand. Come on. Don't raise your
hand. And so this morning I want to take you on a journey on the three. Let us as is
all you grammatical people can correct me on that. But I also want to take you on a quick
journey if we could have, because for those of you who don't know PB, I am a missionary pastor
of Lansdale life. I was pastor in a big church in Manhattan 12, 13 years ago and God used three
words, God, gospel, good news. And the reason I share this story is I want God to stir you up
this morning. I was hoping to hear an amen. Okay. I want God to agitate you this morning.
Amen. Because you see the word of God is useless unless it can be applied.
Application is the key word. And you know, the word of God is the most exciting book
in the entire world, right? I mean, it should excite us. It should inflame us. It should,
Lord, do the necessary surgery on my life. Hallelujah. So I can be a different person.
I can be, you know, and Nancy D. That's my wife. We just celebrated 45 years of marriage. Hallelujah.
You can give the Lord a hand clap for that. And she, she gave me a really nice anniversary
card and I opened it up and it was, this is a little strange. It was a get well card.
And I'm like, yo, Nance, what's up? What's up? And, and I opened it up and it said,
get better soon. And I was like, Nance, why, why the get well card? And she said,
well, I want you to get better soon. Amen. I hope you got all that. Maybe that's,
yes. So she wants me to be a better husband. So I pray as we look at the,
now you're shaking your, get better comma soon. Okay. You got it. All right. You know,
it's terrible when you have to explain a joke. So I want to be a better husband.
I want to be a better father. I want to be a better grandfather. We just had grandchild
number 13 born four weeks ago. Give the Lord a hand clap for that. Yeah. So little Jack Devlin
is now one month old, John Michael. And you know, all of you that have little kids,
if you think your lives are busy going to soccer, baseball, you know, so Nancy and I
tripled our fun. We went from five to 13 and I taught my kids, be fruitful and multiply
and replenish the earth. Amen. Hallelujah. So I want to take you on a quick journey.
Since I am your missionary pastor, I want to excite you as we look at the let us's says
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
bring some of these photos up, but we'll burn through those very, very quickly. And if not,
then we'll just go into the teaching of the word. Okay. We good. All right. Okay, good.
So here we are. And the first slide is, yeah, thank you. Lancedale life. You made it happen.
Just 11 months ago, somebody gave me, if you can believe this, 23 tons of rice.
Now who gives somebody 23 tons of rice? One guy I met one time, 23 tons of rice,
I won't go into all the details. I said, where is it? He said, it's in Bangkok, Thailand.
And I was like, well, what do you want me to do? And he said, I bought the rice $30,000.
I'm paying for the shipping from Bangkok all the way to Ashdod Israel. And pastor dev,
all you have to do is to get it from Ashdod Israel and to the two Christian churches in
Gaza. It's about 30 miles, but it's the hardest 30 miles you can ever imagine. So I called 35
organizations, Canada, Israel, us, and 52 people, friends of mine that are in those organizations.
And I said, I got 23 tons of rice. We're going to give to the starving Christians at the two
churches, Greek Orthodox and Catholic inside Gaza. They've been, the churches have been there for
like 2000 years and everybody told me, impossible. You can see this article on the Christian post.
So all these people said, yeah, well, this is impossible. And I said, well, listen to reverse
that says that which is impossible with God is possible, impossible with man is possible with
God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know the verse, but this is impossible. Well, do you know on December
19th, 2024, that ship landed in Ashdod Israel and through my partnership with Franklin Graham
at Samaritan's Purse, we got 23 tons of rice into Gaza. Give the Lord a hand clap for that.
So there it is. There it is in the middle of a war. So do you believe God can do the impossible
next slide, please? Yeah, God can do the impossible. And that's what we want him to
do in your life today. Amen. So whatever you're going through and really my,
the first lettuce talks about going boldly to the throne of God. And if you remember that,
if you're taking notes, the first lettuce talks about going to the very throne of God boldly.
And my question for you this morning, Lansdale Life, are you praying big prayers?
I mean, I can be convicted 25 years ago when I was doing ministry and the hood and filly and
raising five kids there, God gave me a word one day and he said, my son, begin praying
that I would give you a ministry like the apostle Paul. I was like, Lord, Jesus,
that is like an, you want me to have a ministry like the apostle Paul. I prayed that prayer
for 15 years every day. Lord, give me a ministry. I had no idea when I was praying, but I wanted to
go boldly. Just like the word here says, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, with
the full assurance that faith brings. Having our hearts sprinkled the cleanses from a guilty
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. This is the new and living way. We don't have
to go to a priest. We don't have to sacrifice an animal. Lansdale Life, I want you to go boldly to
the throne of God. Much as I did when I said, Lord, Jesus, we need to get this rice into these
starving Christians. In fact, I intentionally put myself in difficult positions. Now you're
thinking he really is crazy. The butter is slipped off the noodles. The elevators go to the top floor.
He's three French rice short of a happy meal and two tacos short of a combination plate, right?
But I think in this day and age and everybody's saying, wow, the Lord is coming soon.
Maranatha, we hope he comes next week because my mortgage is due. Hallelujah.
And so, you know, are you praying big prayers? Are you going boldly to the Lord Jesus Christ
and saying, Lord, I want you to do miracles. I want you to do signs and wonders and manifestations.
Hey, I was trained in a Presbyterian seminary and now I'm on my way to becoming an Anglican priest
so I can be more effective. And I believe in signs and wonders and miracles and manifestations
because I've seen God do those over in Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. You can give the
handclap for that. Amen. So are you going boldly to the throne of grace? When I got here to East
Pakat, this is the northwest section of Kenya and I was almost pranked and getting there and
going there and the Lord opened up the door and these little girls, I'm going to say a graphic
word. These little girls, once they have their first menstruation, they put beads in their hair.
I've shared this with you before because guess what? Lansdale Life had just helped me build school
number 20 for these little girls. You can give the Lord a handclap for that Lansdale Life. Amen.
And so, I was asked to go and I said, where is this? And they said, well, there hasn't been a
mizungo there in 80 years. The last mizungo, white guy in Swahili, went to this area 80 years ago
and the Pakat tribe tried to kill them. It's a tribe of 200,000. They live the same way today
that they lived 2,000 years ago and they've never heard the name of Jesus. Wouldn't you like to go
preach in a place where they've never heard the name of Jesus? It's exciting because you kind of
feel like you're in the first century. You know, Paul, you're there with Paul on the steps of the
temple and these people have never... Jesus, who's that? We went there and we said, have you ever
heard about Jesus? And one guy said through my translator, he said, what tribe is he a member of?
Is he Pakat, Simbudu, or Meragat? So, we began going there eight years ago and we discovered that
these little girls at age 11, once they have their first menstruation, they put beads in their hair
and that's signaling to the tribe that they're ready to be mutilated and ready to be married.
So, FGM, female genital mutilation, was 100% in this tribe. Bang, bang, we came in preaching
the gospel underneath trees. We came in building these schools and we have, to the glory of God,
with Lansdale Life's help, we have revolutionized this entire area and 10% of this tribe has now
come to faith in Jesus Christ. You can give the Lord a hand clap for that. So, are you...
Hebrews 10, are you going boldly to the throne of grace? What are you asking God for?
You know, now it's okay to pray for, you know, prayers like, you know, Antilles, Lumbago,
and whatever Lumbago is, I just made that up. And, or, you know, you pray these prayers, Lord,
and, but, Lansdale Life, are you praying big prayers? The first lettuce, are you coming boldly
before the throne of grace and lettuce draw near to God? Because guess what? You got an easy pass
to the throne of heaven. Amen? Isn't that a great illustration? Man, I'm going, you know,
I was on a road the other day, it said 95, so I was going 95 miles an hour. That's a joke,
I'm sorry, I didn't go... And so, I just spent through the easy pass, going to the Holland
Tunnel. You know, they just do it electronically. That's the access that you have to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen? So, you have your easy pass to the very throne of God. So, what are you praying
about? Are you going boldly? So, praise God, after these girls are mutilated, it's a ceremony,
it's a rite of passage. How do you stop that? Well, we began preaching the gospel, then we
found out this area has never had schools before, and I began raising money with the help of Land
Stale Life, and we've now just finished our 20th school, delivering hundreds of these little
East Bacot girls from FGM, and then after they're healed up a year later at age 12,
their own father sells them to the highest bidder for 30 goats or 30 head of cattle,
and we've been able to break that demonic satanic chain. Amen? Glory to God. Next slide, yeah.
And so, continue to pray. I've got a couple of other just exciting things because, you see,
this was not accomplished, unless my teams in 21 countries went boldly before the very throne of
God. So, Land Stale Life, I want you to pray big prayers. You know, it's okay to
pray small prayers, but don't we have a big God? Amen? We have a big God. We have an awesome God.
We have a God who can do the impossible. So, next slide, please. So, I just ask God to give me,
now I'm a little strange, but I ask God to give me impossible things to do.
Why? In order so God can show his strong right hand. Amen? And that's what we want to see in
our life, right? You know, the worst thing that you can have is boring faith. I mean,
who wants a boring faith? Here I am. We're dancing around with the warriors here. I'm on the guy
on the left there, and we're dancing. All these warriors, you know what men do for living there?
They kill people. They go to other tribes. The Pakad goes to the Marigot and the Sambu,
and they steal their cattle. Well, you know, we started preaching the gospel underneath trees.
Next slide, please. And here's, we invited, we went to a chief, and we said, chief,
bring in all your warriors. And so, all these guys came 31, and I said, Lord Jesus, I'm ready
to go. If I get speared to death or shot with a bow and arrow, whatever. And so, we went there,
preaching the gospel, amen, with clarity, with understanding, and all 31 warriors came to faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, now it takes 12 hours to get there. And if you want to come
with me, man, amen, who said that? And you're on tape. You're coming. Okay, I see that hand. Yes,
every head bow and every eye closed. If you come with me, bro, I'm going to make a public promise to
you. I'll pay for a one-way flight. So, here we are, brokered a meeting with 31 warriors,
and they all come to faith in Jesus Christ. It is so exciting when we go over there,
and the other 20 places I go, I just was in Cuba doing Jesus Youth Festivals. Before that,
I was in Armenia meeting with persecuted Christians. Too many stories, not enough time.
But let's have an exciting faith, amen. That's why I say, I'm here to pump you up,
Hans and Franz. And we want you to have an exciting faith, because we don't want, you know,
heaven is not going to be boring, right? People, you know, I talk with unbelievers,
well, what are we going to be doing in heaven? You know, we're going to be sitting around strumming
harps and flying around. I said, no, we're going to be with the King of kings and the Lord of
Lords. And we're going to be worshiping at his feet and just praising God for all eternity.
That's exciting stuff. So, next, and then here we go. We're baptism in East Bekat. So,
these warriors are getting saved. We've developed over 1900 farms. Hello, because what's their job?
Killing people. Hey, bro, you can't kill people anymore. Put away your bows and arrows. And so,
now we've developed 1900 farms. We have an agronomist from Nairobi who goes in there and
teaches them how to farm. And these guys are loving it. And then after they come to faith in
Christ, we baptized them in this muddy river and it has crocodiles in it. But we say, look,
bro, you're saved now. So, if you get eaten by a croc, you know, you'll be good. You'll be good.
Amen. And so, it's great just to, and that river, by the way, separates the two warring tribes.
So, when we're out there, this is exciting. When we're out there, one of the tribes is lined up
on one side of the river or the other tribe. And these are tribes that have been warring 2000
years. And we're bringing them together, seeing them get saved by the blood of the lamb slain
before the foundations of the world. We'll put down. Next slide. So, let us come boldly
and draw near to God and pray. Lansdale Life, pray big prayers. Don't be satisfied with your
Christian life now, okay? Well, what exciting things. You know, let's win Lansdale for Christ.
Let's win Hatfield, 1-9-4-4-0, 1-9-4-4-6. I memorize zip codes to stave off dementia.
And let's just win these places for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's be bold, be strong.
I was given the task in northern Nigeria to rescue 16 children that were kidnapped six years ago.
Check this out. They changed all their names from Muslim names, from Christian names to Muslim names.
And I was given the assignment to go rescue 16 kids. Yeah, wow, I heard.
I said, Lord, only you can do this, right? So, we sing songs about the power of God.
We read scriptures about the power of God and the word of God.
Have you seen the power of God operative in your life? Amen, okay. Let me say that again.
Have you seen the power of God operative in your life? Amen, amen. You know, that's why Jesus said,
Isaiah 61, I came to preach deliverance. I came to preach to get the prisoners free.
Those are in bondage, amen. How many people in Lansdale,
in Percocet, in Sellersville, in Karjakistan, how many, I just made that up, how many of those
do you think are in bondage? That's why I dress like this. You know, people think I'm a weirdo.
Well, guess what? I am a weirdo. I'm a weirdo for Jesus. I'm a Jesus freak, amen.
Like Bob Dylan said, you know, you got to say amen. Give the Lord a hand clap for Jesus freaks.
Yeah. I was, and I hope, I know, Lansdale Life, I think, has the highest percentage
of Jesus freaks in one church. Amen, okay. Here's the head Jesus freak right here. No,
Pastor Chris and First Lady Jill, you're the head Jesus freak. But let's be more weird, right?
So I dress like this in all 21 countries I go to, and people know exactly what I am and who I am.
I'm there to represent Jesus, and I'm rocking the cross, baby, okay. And wearing it in New York City
yesterday, I took a train from Penn Station to Trenton. No lie, six people came up to me on
the train. Here I am, just minding my own business. And they said, are you a pastor? I said,
it's not Halloween yet. And they're like, yeah, you know what they say? I mean, this happens.
It's happened. I think I'm in quadruple digits over a thousand times. And I'll say, well,
what's your name? What's your name? And they'll tell me, you know, Sam, and I say, Sam,
what can I pray for you? Oh, you know, my marriage has fallen apart. I'm out of money. And I said,
well, Sam, I'm going to pray for you. And I'm going to do something better. I'm going to anoint
you with the oil of the Lord. I have done this hundreds of times on the subway in New York City,
on the trains, overseas. And you know what? No one has ever refused me. So lands their life.
Be bold, be strong, for the Lord your God is with you. Joshua one nine boldly approached the
throne of grace. So so I went to get these children out. I went that this is a crazy story. And and
ninety nine point nine percent. So I go to the actual Islamist home and I'm there to meet a
government official. I've got a court order in my hand for the release of sixteen children.
And I waited five hours with my Nigerian team. Her van finally pulls up. Military people step out.
She had like fifteen people in the van. And she looks at me and she says, pastor,
commissioner of women's affairs. Pastor, you go to Hades. Hell, you'll never get these children.
I said, Madam, Your Excellency, I have a court order. I don't care about that court order. She
goes over and she starts yelling at the children. Sixteen children were all gathered between the ages
of seven and eighteen. I'm there to put them in our car and take them to the Christian orphanage.
She's over there, braid. If you go with that pastor, we're going to find you and we're going
to kill you and you're going to go to hell. And these kids are like they're like powering.
And I'm filming the event of her yelling at the children with my cell phone. And she turns to me
and she says, stop filming. And then they start speaking in their tribal language.
And I turn to my Nigerian team leader, Barrister Emmanuel Egebe. And I said,
what is she saying? And she's saying the people in her entourage are saying,
let us pick up the rocks here in this home and let us smash the pastor's phone.
Let us smash his car and let us smash him. They were getting ready to stone me and my Nigerian
team leader. This happened in late April of twenty twenty five and we're there and they're speaking
in their tribal language. And then I just stopped and prayed. I said, Lord, if you want me to
bear the wounds of getting stoned to death like St. Stephen, I'm ready to go. Because you know
what? For us to live as Christ's land's day of life, to die is gain. Can I get a witness on that?
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.
And the life that I now live, I live by the grace of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself.
Does that settle with you, brothers and sisters? He loved us and gave his life for us.
So what will we do for him? Will you boldly go to the throne of grace? Let us. Will you boldly
persevere in the faith? I have a very simple six word motto in my life.
And I've told Nancy, this are five kids, their spouses, and by the way, they're all serving
Jesus. I don't know how that happened, but all thirteen grandchildren are being raised in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ. And people say, well, you know, I don't have a
perfect marriage. I have a successful marriage. And how did that happen? I said, by the grace of God,
and because Nancy and I prayed every night for the last 45 years for our family, no matter how
tired we are, we're laying in bed, okay, hey, who's going to pray tonight? And all of a sudden,
you know, I'm praying all of a sudden I fall asleep and Nancy will like knock me in the
head. Hey, wake up. And there was a recent survey done by Baylor University of pastors in the United
States. This is sad. And they found out in the pastors they queried and surveyed nine out of
ten pastors don't pray with their wives. Yeah, yeah, I mean, you're groaning. Amen.
So we need a revolution of prayer to pray big prayers. Let us come boldly before the throne
of grace. Amen. And that's what I'm challenging you to. And then that motto. So the second let us
is let us persevere. Let us hold fast. You know, compare yourself to the persecuted church in
Nigeria, right? You know, we think we have problems, right? I'm going to show you just pictures of my
church that I pastor in Nigeria. Here's Nathaniel shot in the face five times by Boko Haram.
He just went to be with the Lord last week. And he had a after he got shot multiple strokes.
And yet, you know what he said? He said, I will remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ
until the day I die. This is what your Nigerian brothers and sisters are going through.
You know how many Christians Boko Haram Islamic State West Africa Province,
Fulani, Jihadists have killed so far this year, 8000. If you do the math by the end of the year,
you divide 365 and 8000. You know what you get? 22 Christians a day are martyred
in Nigeria, simply because they love Jesus. Here's my brother, Habila Abel in the house of language,
Boko Haram came to his house, they stuck a pistol, but the end of a pistol right in his nostril.
And they said, we're going to give you three opportunities to not Jesus Christ. And they
said on the third one, if you, you know, if you want to deny Christ, we'll let you live.
And first time, I'm not going to deny Christ. Second time, not going to deny Christ. Third time,
not going to deny Christ. Third time, bang. And the bullet miraculously went through his skull,
bounced off the inside of his spine and then blew the right side of his face off.
And you know what Habila before that, he's still alive. Praise God. Amen. Let's give
the Lord a hand clap for that. And, and, and now he meets with the terrorist and he says,
you know what? You tried to kill me and you failed. You want to, you want to try again?
Go ahead. And if you kill me for me to live as Christ to die as gain. Amen.
So on your worst day, you think of the church in Nigeria, the church in Gaza, the church in
Sudan, where I'll be next month, the church in Syria, the church in Jordan, the church in
Afghanistan, where I go, the church in Pakistan, where I go, the church in Sri Lanka. You see,
we need to be praying boldly. Here is, here I am in April of this year at a mass grave in
Northern Nigeria. And we're going to put a memorial for the 37 adults and 17 children
that were hacked to death with machetes. Because you see Boko Haram doesn't,
they'll say to the Christians, we're not going to waste bullets on the infidels,
which is you, you're all infidels, by the way, you're all infidels and we're not going to waste
bullets on infidels and they just hacked them to death. Here is Alice Stevens. I want you to
pray for Alice Stevens. Come boldly before the throne of grace. Let them pray for the
persecuted church that they would persevere. Amen. And think about this. On Palm Sunday night,
the Islamic terrorists come into Zika village in Basa County in Northern Nigeria in Plateau State
and they hacked to death 37 adults and 17 children. Alice Stevens, pray for Alice.
They come into Alice's mud hut. These are farming villages. They killed her husband,
machete, her mother-in-law, her father-in-law, her brother-in-law. Alice is holding her little
10-month-old Mary. They take out the machetes. They cut off this little 10-month-old ears.
And then they slit the baby's throat. And then they go to her,
Alice's three-year-old, slit his throat. They go to her 10-year-old and they cut open his
stomach and his intestines come out. And then they come after Alice and the last blow that
they do, they take their machete and then they come in on the top of the head and they split
your skull open and then your brains come out and that's how you die. So Alice went like this
and they chopped off her right hand but it saved her life. I met Alice two weeks
after in the hospital when she was still recovering and her 10-year-old son survived.
Alice had mad PTSD and she said, Dr. William, I wish I was dead.
And I said, Alice, I know that and you know what? I prophesied when I met with her. I said,
Alice, within three months we're going to get you a prosthesis. This was April, May, June,
I said at the end of July, you're going to have a prosthesis so your hand will be replaced.
And I prayed for her and I said, Alice, persevere, persevere. And I told her my life motto is start
strong. Two words, stay strong, finish strong. Amen. It's just six words so say it with me.
And this is I want you, if you don't have a life motto, please, Lansdale Life,
adopt this as your life motto. Here we go. Repeat after me. Start strong,
little louder, start strong, stay strong, finish strong. Amen. Let's give the Lord a hand clap
for finishing strong. So you think about those Christians around the world, you know, 80 percent
of all people of faith that are martyred are Christians. So remember to pray for them. So
start strong, stay strong, finish strong. And then finally, let us, this is the third, let us,
let us spur one another to love and to good works. Amen. And that's what we need to do because
that's the title of the message. If you thought I forgot it, the Christian life was never meant
to be lived alone. Can I repeat that? The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone.
You know, I tell people, hey, why did Jesus have 12 disciples divisible by two?
Amen. Why did Jesus send out the seven, 70 divisible by two, 35 teams of two? So, you know,
right now there's a phenomenon within the evangelical church, non-denominational church
is called. Have you heard of it? Deconstruction. And these are folks that have been so burned out
by, you know, fighting and politics within the church, which, praise God, it's not,
it's absent from this church. But they're finally saying, I'm fed up, you know,
pastors abusing children, pastors having sex with women who are not their wives,
pastors stealing money. And these folks are like, they're deconstructing. And they're
basically saying, I never want to be in another church anymore for the rest of my life. Well,
I say to them, God never, according to Hebrews 10 verses 24, 25, it says, let us gather together.
Let us agitate one another. Let us stir one another up. Let us spur one another to love and
to good deeds. I think that's the next slide. So the Christian life was never meant to be lived
alone. We, if you are thinking that you can live in isolation, and this is funny because I'm
talking to the people that are here, right? So you're here. You understand the nature.
You know, why do we call it communion? Yeah, community, right? We're supposed to be communing
with one another. So these are some of the bullets. And let me just say this radical
thought. If you think you can live the Christian life in isolation, you will never make progress.
That's pretty hardcore, isn't it? You know, and men, particularly men, we got a problem.
We got a problem. I always say to men, you know, it's kind of like nine out of 10 pastors
are not praying with their wives. I mean, what the heck? What is that about? And I say to men,
are you, can I have the phone number of another man that I could call right now that you're
accountable to that knows every secret that knows your walk with Jesus, whether you're
walking with Jesus or whether you're doing the for chisel. I don't know if you've ever heard of
that word before, but and so we can't live in isolation. Proverbs 2717, iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another. Men, the only way you're going to stay sharp in your faith,
because people ask me that all the time. Where do you get the energy? Because I meet with Jeff
Howe from Calvary Philly every Friday morning at the Panera Bread on Street Road in Busselton
in Feasterville, Trivos, P.A., 8 a.m., bang, bang. I got saved June 26, 1971, Hitchcock and San Diego
Freeway. Many of you know the guy from Calvary Chapel, Coach DeMesa came out, and I think God
sent me an angel to get me saved because I was such a hard case. But think about this.
Think about this. About four days later, I got invited to a Bible study on the base, the Navy
base of San Diego, and the guy teaching, it came up to me afterwards, and he put his finger in my
chest and he said, who are you? And last name, Devlin, military. And he said, when are you
leaving for Vietnam? And I said in a couple months, he said, finger in the chest. He said,
you're going to be here every Friday. You don't mind, do you? Okay, thank you for volunteering.
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
up in my grill, right? And he says, you're going to be accountable to me until the day you leave
for Vietnam. I was like, yeah, amen. I was like, whoa. And guess what? Every Friday night,
I was there learning the word of God, being discipled by this guy. I don't even remember
his name. I don't think I ever got his name, but praise God, this guy. And if you can bring up
that slide, because we're going to the end because I need to finish in nine minutes. You
know who this is? This is Smitty. So I volunteer after I got saved again, I'm a Jesus freak.
After I got saved, two weeks later, I volunteered to go fight in the Vietnam war. And a year after
that, I got shot up. Praise God. I got the Purple Heart. Keep paying your taxes because you give
me free medical care and I'll be buried in Arlington. If you never see me again, my next
location is Arlington National Cemetery. I'll be buried there. So you can come and type in
William Devlin or Rev Dev or P.B. And you can see where my grave is. Praise God. But I won't be
there. My address will have changed. Hallelujah. Let's give the Lord a hand clap for that. Hallelujah.
Amen. I can't wait. Well, yeah, I can because I got things to do for the Lord. And yet this
this verse, and so let me just back up. And so I get on this ship,
two hundred and a compliment, a battalion, a ship of 250 guys and only two Christians.
Me and Smitty, say his name, Smitty. Boson's made first class. And Smitty, as a young baby
Christian believer, we met every day for prayer on board the ship because we'd be, you know,
blown up Vietnam and we'd be out to sea for 60 days. And I was ridiculed. People would come up
to me and Smitty. We're going to stop talking about Jesus. We're going to put you in a bag and
throw you overboard. I was really why did I join the Navy because I was afraid of sharks and drowning.
Make no sense. Amen. But praise God. And so people would ridicule us. But I was accountable
to Smitty for the next two years when we were both together in Vietnam. And you know what he
did, sisters and brothers. He drilled accountability into my heart and life. And now for the last
55 years, I've always been accountable to another man. Yeah, let's give the Lord a hand clap for
that. Amen. It's not by mind or by power, but by my spirit, the saith, the Lord. So man,
are you, can you have a number of a guy that I could call and say, how is this guy's walk
with Christ? Is he a bootlegger, a scallywag, or is he really a disciple of Christ? You know,
that's the bottom line, man. And so it's been different men over the last 55 years. But guess
what? I do not want to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And that word forsake means
total abandonment. So when people are in this deconstruction movement, when look, we need every
one of you. Amen. This church needs every one of you in the kingdom of God. I want you to memorize
this. This blesses my soul in the kingdom of God. There are no little people. Every one of you is
integrally important to this church and to God. So if you're just sitting here warming the pews
on Sunday morning, Bronx translation, forget about it. You need to be engaged and say, oh,
you know, somebody at the church offended me. Oh, I just, I was offended. Well, hey,
welcome to the offense club. You know, I'm an equal opportunity offender. I want to agitate
people. I want to stir people up. I want to spur you to love and to good works, which is what he,
Hebrews says, you know, acts 242, let me parlay. And they continued devotedly, steadfastly,
continually and faithfully in the apostles teaching in fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayer.
So if you're not engaged, you need to get engaged, forsake. And if you're saying, well,
I'm never coming back to church again, that word forsake were in Hebrews 10 25 where it says,
do not forsake. There's other verses, Matthew 27 46, second, Tim 410, Hebrews 13 five.
We must stay connected. So that word forsake means to leave helpless. So when you're not here
engaged in ministry, guess what? You are leaving somebody helpless because you're all needed.
When you're not here engaged at Lansdale life, you leave someone in difficult circumstances.
You know, it's such a blessing. My son-in-law just became a youth pastor at a church in Bucks County.
He works full time as a financial advisor. They tapped him, Dan Petty, bang, you're the youth
pastor. My other son is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, Zachariah, 32 years old,
got the anointing to be an elder. And I had some Presbyterian pastors call me. We said,
man, we thought we got rid of the devil ends. So are you accountable? Think about this.
Someone here today needs you. Someone out there on broad in Maine needs you.
And you need someone here. I want to give the last illustration. Go to the slide that's connective
tissue. You know, we have something in our body. This is great. I started to read about this.
You know what connective tissue is? You are filled with connective tissue. It's a type
of biological tissue that's listen, it supports, it binds together, it protects other tissues
and organs in the body. It includes various forms of connective tissue such as bone,
blood, cartilage, fat tissue, and plays, listen, essential roles application in maintaining the
structure and function of the body. So without connective tissue, you're going to fall apart.
This is you. This is, I thought about, I'm going to, I'm going to like prank somebody here
like desert saying, you know, get him on the slide. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know this guy. I just,
you know, thank God for chat GPT. So you see the point. If you're not connected,
if you're not in communion, then it's what you're just one big block. Yeah. Just like this poor
guy. And you're just a puddle on the sidewalk. Look at this poor fellow. He can't do anything.
All he's good for is like people stepping on him. Right. So be connected, be connected. And finally,
finally, and by the way, at the end, as we close in prayer,
and I do this every time I come to land still life, you just, if you got,
if the God has spoken to your heart and I'm ready to explode, I'm telling you, I,
because I am a lover of the Christian church, regardless of all the
for sizzle that goes on, we need to stay connected. Don't forsake one another. Jesus
wants you to be connected. You know, Jesus went to church.
Did you know that? He went to the synagogue. That's why they asked him. I said, Hey, you read the
scroll today, Isaiah 61. So if Jesus went to church, I'm going to church because I ain't
no better than Jesus. And so you can tell the people that, you know, Oh, you know, I'm,
I'm not, I'm not coming to church anymore. So, Oh, Oh, are you better than Jesus?
Finally, there's 59 one anothers in the New Testament. Did you know that? And I'm going to read
just 10 of that. I know I pranked you a little bit. You thought I was going to read all 59.
Be at peace with one another. Wash one another's feet. Love one another. Love one another. Love
one another. Love one another. Love one another. There's five love one anothers. Love one another
with brotherly affection. Romans 12. Outdo one another in showing honor. Live in harmony with
one another. Here, Romans 13. Love one another. Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.
Instruct one another. Greet one another with a bro's holy kiss. Come on. When you come together
to eat, wait for one another. But if it's your wife, that's fine. Have the same concern for
one another. Through love, serve one another. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out
that you were not consumed by one another. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another,
envying one another. Bear one another's burdens. And the final, the 24, with patience, bearing
one another in love. So my accountability to all these men and sisters, this is for you as well.
I do what I call the five Fs. The five Fs. I'm accountable to Jeff Howe, Friday morning,
8am. And by the way, it's non-negotiable. What does that mean? It always happens.
It always happens. Just like me and Nancy Dee praying every night. Non-negotiable. Do you
have non-negotiables in your life with your wife, Jesus? Are there things that you said,
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
community. You know, do you have those, I got to meet with another man. So iron sharpening iron.
Women, are you meeting with another woman? Iron sharpening iron. You know, when you see
just the revolution, the sad revolution of pornography in men and women in the Christian
church. It's a cancer. It's scandalous because we, you know, it's all on the phones. And so
are we getting help for these things and are we accountable to one another?
Don't forsake one another. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Let us persevere and let us
love one another and practice all 59 one and others. So thank you, Lansdale Life, for putting
rocket fuel in my engine and sending me around the world for the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we
stand together and as we sing this last song, if you have a need, I'm going to stay here, you know,
the children are going to be dismissed. You can pick up your kids in the nursery. But if you
have a need, you just come forward. Let me confidentially pray for you and let me anoint
you with the oil of the Lord as we close and as we worship the Lord. Amen. So, Lansdale Life,
did you hear the word of God this morning? Did you hear the word of God this morning?
Let's give the Lord a shout out. Let's give the Lord a clap offering. Please lead us. Amen.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His word.
Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!