A Life of Prayer by Gehard Dutoit (Hungarian) — Gerhard Du Toit

It's a wonderful privilege this morning to be with you all. I'm so sorry I can't speak this beautiful Hungarian language.

Someone in Hungary once said to me,.

If I want to go to heaven, I need to speak Hungarian. So I need a lot of prayer this morning. You know, I was born in Africa, and I became a Christian at the end of my first year when I was studying theology.

I didn't know Christ,.

And at the end of my first year when I was studying on a Sunday night, a student challenged me. And he said to me, Gerhard, if you die tonight, where will you spend eternity?

And so that night I discovered that I was not a Christian.

Encountering God's Presence Through Prayer

About three o 'clock the next morning, I asked Christ to come into my life. And so Christ came into my life. But you know, my mother and father were on a very large cattle ranch or a farm in Africa,.

And they were not Christians. So I had to go back to our farmhouse after I became a Christian,.

And I just started to live the Christian life. And I did not know that on this farm in Africa, we have lots of little small mountains. And one day when I came back from the town, I came into the farmhouse,.

And my mother said to me, there is a black African pastor that wants to see you. And I had this little cottage.

So I said to my mother, where is he? And she said, he is in your cottage. And I said, what does he want? And she said, I don't know. So I walked into the little cottage,.

And this man sat there. And I shook hands with him, just a young Christian,.

And I shook hands with him and I said to him, we are going to discuss theology. And he just turned to me and he said, no.

And I said, what are we going to do? And he looked at me and he said, we are going to pray. And before I could say a word, this black man fell on his knees on the floor, and he began to pray. And something happened.

He said, what was it? The presence of God came.

People sometimes say to me, what is the presence of God? And I often say to them, I can't explain it, but I know when it's not there. And as this man began to pray,.

The tears began to stream down my cheeks, because God was in that room.

And for an hour and a half, he was under this burden of God in prayer,.

And he was speaking to God. And I sat there, and I felt that small.

Because you see, as he was speaking to God,.

He was presenting to me.

A Christian life that demanded a supernatural explanation. It was different. It broke my heart.

And after he prayed, and he prayed for an hour and a half, it felt like five minutes. And I just sat there, didn't know what to say, because I met someone that really walked with God. And he made me hungry, and thirsty for God.

And he just turned to me, and he said to me,.

There's this little mountain on your farm. Very large farm. And he said, there are six of us, and we spend days and nights of prayer and fasting.

And I said, what do you mean?

He said, sometimes we go for 40 days.

Sometimes for 21 days. Sometimes for 14 days. He said, sometimes for 7 days.

I said, really? Yes, he said it. I said, why do you do that? He said, because we love God.

And he walked out. I didn't know if I would see him again. Do you know what happened? Friday night, you come to Africa, the nights are very dark. You can't see your hand in front of your face.

And I was sitting in my little cottage. There was a knock at the window.

When I opened the curtain, I couldn't see his face. You say, why not? He said, black as Africa. You say, how do you know it was him?

Ah, I saw the white teeth. You see, I didn't know that he would come again. I thought, maybe once in a life I see someone like this.

And he stood in front of the window. And he said to me in the African dialect.

He said, umfadisi? Try it. Come on. Muruti? Try it.

Budimukai. Ah, you did good. Do you know what he said? He said, we are going to the mountain to pray.

And I stood there. I mean, can you imagine this morning? You sit here as a young Christian.

And you meet someone who is intoxicated with God.

Saturated with the presence of God. And he comes and he stands right in front of you. And he's telling you, it's possible for you to walk with God. That's what happened. So we were walking to this mountain.

And they were going to spend the night in prayer. And I struggled, you know. How do you spend the night in prayer? What do you say to God? And I struggled in my heart. And there were six of them. And the one that came to worship me his name was Petros Malipa.

So I grabbed his arm. And he turned around. And in the darkness of the night he looked at me. And I'm so glad I couldn't see his eyes. You say, why? Because they would have pierced deep into my heart.

And I took his arm. And I said, Petros Malipa, how do you spend a night in prayer? What do you say to God? And I will never forget this.

He just turned around. And he looked at me. And he said to me, you've got a very big problem.

I said, what is it? He said, you are in a hurry. God is not. He said, why do you share that with me? You see, we've prayed a lot about this conference. You've come from different parts of the country.

Do you know what's our greatest desire? Not that you come to this conference to have fun. Wonderful as that may be. Do you know why you have come? Because we want you to meet with God. You say, Brother Gerhard, what is that going to cost me?

It's going to cost you everything.

But you know what? It's going to cost you more to miss it than it's going to cost you to find it. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you this morning.

Surrendering Everything to God

That our hearts are so broken before God that we sit here this Saturday morning with the most beautiful group of young lives and to know very early today I wet my heart out before you because I wish I could be young again.

And we know that we have only one life to live.

And only that which is done for Christ is going to last. And here we are about a thousand of us and what will happen during this weekend if God will come to visit us and the things that we struggle with the misconceptions about God that which the blood of Jesus is able to do and how the Holy Spirit can come and not just be resident in my life but wants to be president in my life.

And Father, you know there is a longing in my heart.

Oh God that not one of these young lives.

That are here today will be able to go back to their homes without being able to say I've met with God and we ask you come and do that come to my young life and come and empty me of myself and come and fill me with Christ and intoxicate me with your presence and help me to live a Christian life that demands a supernatural explanation.

Bless your work now in Jesus' name Amen.

When I went to study theology in my homeland of Africa I will never be able not to remember the first night.

Because what happened is that the president of the school came to us as students and made a statement.

And said to us that you came to this school not just to get to know the Word of God but also to get to know the God of this world. And so in that Bible college where I studied was there an expectation from the faculty that every morning at a certain time as young people we would get up and we would spend time alone with God because we realize in our hearts that we could not take people further spiritually that we were in our own relationships with God and that we could only impart to people that which we possess.

And so every morning there was a time that we spent alone with God.

Because we were Christians and we did not want to go into the world.

Without first knowing that God has spoken to us we used to refer to that as our quiet times. I refer to that as the morning watch. It's just a time that I'm alone with God. But you know what happened, I began to study the Bible and I began to ask myself this question is it possible to be here this day and to be able to say to you if you are a Christian this is what God wants you to do so that you can live this Christian life.

And you know I discovered wonderful passages in the Bible. You know the prophecy of Isaiah in the Old Testament it's called the miniature Bible. Why was it called the miniature Bible. Because in the Old Testament there are 39 chapters or rather 39 books and in the New Testament there are 27 books and that brings us to 66 and there are 66 chapters in Isaiah.

And the first 39 chapters of Isaiah is speaking to us about Old Testament events and in chapter 40 which is the beginning of the New Testament.

Isaiah began to prophesy about the Messiah and you know what happened in the 50th chapter he's speaking about Jesus.

And as he was speaking about Jesus he made this statement about Christ.

And this is what he said.

He said morning after morning this was the Lord Jesus. Morning after morning he was awakened. He was awakened by his father. You say why was he awakened. He was awakened by his father so that Jesus could spend time with his father.

We come into the New Testament and there is a wonderful verse in Mark's Gospel and it's in the first chapter of Mark's Gospel. It's one of the busiest days in the life of Jesus and right in the middle of that chapter.

Suddenly Mark stopped and he said and he spoke about Jesus.

And this is what he said about Jesus he said early in the morning he said deep in the night he went into a secret place.

And there Jesus prayed you know what the Greek New Testament says.

Many times early in the morning many times deep in the night many times he went into a secret place and many times he prayed now listen here if that was true in the life of Christ and you sit here this morning and you come from different parts of the country and you say I'm a Christian then I want to say to you something.

You have a responsibility towards God. You say. Why do you say that.

Because you see your life is precious to God and Jesus Christ has no other hands than your hands.

Jesus Christ has no other feet than your feet. He has no other feet than your feet.

He has no other lips than your lips. Do you know what he said in the Gospel of John. I mean every time when I look at that statement do you know what he does to me. It blows every second in my mind.

It gives me a newness of life.

Because you see there was a moment.

When Jesus Christ turned to his disciples do you know what he said to them. He said ask my father sent me so sent are you. You realize this morning how important you are to God. So what is it that we want to do.

Seven Reasons for a Fresh Christian Life

I want us to discuss the subject today and I want us to look at the reasons why you and I as a Christian will sit here this morning and say brother Gerhard these are the reasons that my life needs to be fresh.

These are the reasons that I want to be a Christian.

And secondly if we will have time.

I want us to look at the requirements you see what are the things that I need to live a Christian life.

And if we will have time.

I want us to look at the regulations these times that I spent with God. How can I make them real. So you sit here this morning you say give me the reasons. There are seven of them.

Let me mention to you one or two.

You see every one of us that sit here God has given us a Christian constitution. You see when God created us he created us of this likeness in his image. We are involved in 26 bible colleges and many seminaries and today we are going to do a workshop this afternoon on prayer.

How can you have an intimacy with God when it is the time that you spend with God.

No no it is the time that God spends with you.

And I always say to students God is the initiator of prayer.

You see he created Adam and Eve.

And how did he create them. Body, soul and spirit. That's what we are. We are personalities. You have a mind you have emotions.

And you have a will. And when I say to students God created Adam and Eve and he put them in the garden of Eden and I say to these students they were the two most beautiful people on this planet there was no one like them.

And they say why do you say that. You know what I say to them there was no one else they were just on their own they didn't have to do any shopping so there were no malls. They were God's creation. And you know what happened they were created after this image.

And God gave them a body. Why did God give them a body. God gave them a body to make them conscious of their environment.

Through their senses God gave them a soul. It's the Greek word psyche.

You say what is my soul it makes me conscious of myself and you see when you become a Christian.

You know what happens to you.

You discover yourself in Christ and you discover that you are precious to God. And then you know what happens. God gave them a spirit. It's a wonderful word and every one of us we have a spirit. Why did God give it to them.

Because He wants to make them conscious of Himself. And you know what happened this Saturday morning. Every single one of us we sit here with a body and you know what Christ said. He said if I come into your life what has happened to your Christian life is that you have received my Holy Spirit.

He has come to live in you.

You know what the Bible is saying to us.

If any man is in Christ he is a new creature.

He said old things have passed away.

He said all things have become new. I wonder this Saturday morning because I think it is possible that there are some of us or maybe many of us. And if you are absolutely honest with yourself is there a sense in which you sit here and you say pastor I am here this weekend and I want to be here.

But deep in my heart I am not really sure if I am a Christian because you know what you say. You say I have accepted Christ into my life. You say maybe I have been baptized. I am going to a young people's group but here is the problem.

My life hasn't changed.

You say why do you say that you see there is no hunger.

There is no life.

And I have seen it through the world life after life.

And it breaks my heart.

That you and I can go through the Christian life deep in my heart. I don't really know if Christ is there. You know why you are here this weekend.

If you are not sure that you are a Christian.

I want to plead with you this morning don't you go back to your house.

Unless you have come to us and said can you help me. Deep in my heart I want to know.

I want to know that I belong to Christ and I want to know that the Holy Spirit is in my heart. So what are we speaking about. It is my spiritual constitution. But you know what and I love this. There are many of us here this morning and you say you know I really know Christ and Christ is in my heart.

My life has been changed.

You see what is God's word saying to me. You know what the Bible says. The Bible says young born babies. You see inside the sincere milk of the word.

So that you may grow thereby.

You see if you sit here and you say I am a Christian I need to ask you a question. Is there a hunger in your heart. For God you know what. We have one daughter and her name is Monica and she is a beauty.

You are not supposed to take a picture of her. She is beautiful.

And you know what happened. Can I see you afterwards.

You know what happened. Listen. You know what happened when my wife and myself got married. I was an old man.

You say how do you know that I was 35 years old and you know when Monica was born she was about three and a half years old.

And I was playing with her on the grass. And our neighbor's mother she came. Never met her before.

And she saw me playing with Monica and so she said to me how are you doing. I said I am fine.

And she said so is this your granddaughter. I think many of you understand English. She said is this your granddaughter.

I said no this is my daughter. You know what happened about an hour later. My mother in law I mean she is 80 years old and she came out.

We were walking and watching the flowers. My neighbor's mother came. You know what she said to me. Is this your wife. I mean you know it was terrible.

But you know what happens to us. I hope my mother in law doesn't watch this anyway. You know what happened to us.

When Janice and myself when we were married.

We did not know if God was going to give us children.

But we prayed and you know what we said to God.

We said God if you want us to have a child.

There is one condition.

We don't want to populate hell and we wept.

Because we said if you give us a child you need to give us promises this child will live for you. And you know what happened. God began to give us promises and suddenly one day we discovered we are going to have a baby.

Oh we were so excited. I wasn't as old as Abraham I felt like that. But you know what happened.

Suddenly there was a day when our Monica was born. Oh we brought her to the house. You know what I did. Every night when I put her to bed I go and kneel at her bed.

She sees my arms and I pray until she fell asleep but you know what happened. There were times when I was so tired and I prayed to her and I fell asleep and Monica didn't and Papa woke up but you know what happened.

I get up early in the morning.

My wife doesn't.

If I wake my wife up at 6 .30 in the morning.

I say mama come the sun is coming up you know what she would say to me.

If God wants me to see the sun coming up at 6 .30 it will come up later.

She is not a morning person. You know what happened. I was responsible for Monica. Now here was the problem. When I was 17 years old I was thrown by a horse in Africa two and a half months in the hospital and you know what.

I can't smell. So guess what happened. I was responsible for the nappies when Monica made a mess go I couldn't smell no problem. So this is what happened.

Every morning very early because the night before my wife would say to me.

Do you see this bottle of milk when you hear Monica tomorrow morning. Take it out put it in the microwave 40 seconds. Give it to Monica. My wife is sleeping. Oh it was wonderful. 6 o 'clock in the morning I would be on my knees next to her room.

I would be spending time with God.

And around 6 o 'clock I hear Monica. I go into the kitchen.

Put the milk in the microwave. But you know babies are smart. When she heard she knew what was coming so I would come into her room.

And I give her that bottle of milk. Oh you see this verse as young babies.

Desire the word of God. Why do I have to do that.

So that I might grow and you know I used to watch Monica and she would search for that bottle and she would drink and she would just watch Papa and you know what I did my wife didn't know this. I go to the kitchen and I get another bottle and I put it in 40 seconds Monica was lying on her bed and she said here is number 2 and she would just drink the rest of the day.

All I did was cleaning nappies.

Hey you see why do you tell me this. Let me ask you this morning.

You see you are a Christian.

Why are you not hungry for God what is going on in your life. Because you see if you are full of the Holy Spirit you can't be full of anything else. And if you are here and you are not hungry and you are not thirsty for God you know what is the problem.

It's not that you don't have the Holy Spirit you say. How do I know that the Holy Spirit is in my heart.

But this is what the Bible is saying the Spirit of God witnesses with my Spirit. You see when I become a Christian.

The Holy Spirit comes to listen to my Spirit and the Holy Spirit witnesses with my Spirit and how does He witness with my Spirit.

He gives me the assurance.

And the assurance comes to us in Ephesians.

And do you know what He said.

He said after you believe He said you will seal to that Holy Spirit a promise.

He said it is the earnest of your inheritance.

And so the Spirit of God is in my heart but you know what is my problem. The Spirit of God is resident. Oh He is there but He is like a little bird in a cage.

He is resident but He is not president.

You see brother Gerhard. What are you speaking about. You see you sit here this morning.

And there are many areas of your life that you have never given to God. You say what does it mean. The Spirit is in my life but it is like a little bird in a cage. There are mind settings. You see what I mean by mind settings.

It's things that you are thinking about.

You see you are in a generation this morning and we are in 2012 and every single one of us we have a computer.

And every single one of us we have a cell phone.

And I don't think there is anyone here.

Except me.

That is not on Facebook and so you have got it all.

And you are exposed and your mind is exposed. And as a young fellow.

You press one wrong button.

And when you face that button you are exposed to pornography and all you see is filth.

And you want to be a Christian.

And you have got these mind settings and you know what happens. You can't live for Christ. So where is the Holy Spirit. It's in my heart it's just that small you see what does it mean. The Holy Spirit is a person.

It's not an experience. It's not a feeling it's not a manifestation. No, no, no, Jesus said He is a person.

Do you know what Jesus said. The Holy Spirit will never speak of Himself. You see what will the Holy Spirit do. He brings us to the life of Christ He brings us to the Word of God and He is a person. You see we sit here this morning and we are people and we are personalities and every one of us we have got a role.

And every one of us we have got a mind.

And every one of us we have emotions. Now you go to the New Testament.

And you study the Holy Spirit and you discover that the Holy Spirit.

Who is the Spirit of Jesus.

He's got a mind and He has emotions.

The word in the Greek language is Sanahmos.

And He's got a will.

You sit here as a Christian and there are areas of your life and you have never surrendered them to God.

The Holy Spirit's Lordship Over Every Area of Life

I want to challenge you this morning. I want to challenge you as a Christian because you see this is the problem we are in this country 1 .5 million Hungarian people.

Probably a third of them are young people.

If not more.

Very few of them are Christians. You and I sit here as a Christian. Do you know what Jesus is saying to us?

Do you know what Jesus is saying to us? I want everything. I don't just want to be in your heart. No, He says I want everything of your life.

Do you find it difficult to say that? No.

Because it costs a lot. What does it mean? It means that as a Christian this morning if there is sin in your life if there is something that happened to you you will need to ask God to forgive you.

You will need to ask God to break your heart.

You will need to ask God to break your heart. Maybe you need to go to someone. Maybe you have done something to someone and God convicted you and said you should not have done that.

Maybe you said something to someone and God comes and speaks to your heart.

And you say I need to ask God forgiveness. I am speaking to you as a Christian.

And so you say what do I have to do? This is it. Listen to the apostle Paul Romans chapter 12. He says I beseech you by the mercy of God that you present your body as a living sacrifice to God.

As a living sacrifice to God that is what He wants. And I wonder this morning if I can ask you because you see I don't know there could be someone here.

And you are going to become the next Billy Graham.

There could be someone here. And you are going to become one of the greatest missionaries in this world. There could be someone here.

And you could become one of the greatest leaders in this country.

And God is saying to you I want absolutely everything.

You know what this means? It's your life and it's relationships. You know my daughter Monica she is a character and you know when she was 15 or 16 years old they go through these times in their lives.

I call it Mormons or it's Hormons I call it the years of insanity. Oh brother.

She will come to me and she says Papa.

Give me a big hug.

I give her a big hug.

Next day I come. Monica give me a big hug. Don't touch me. I mean you know.

But you know what happened.

God called her to go to Bible college.

And in our house every morning my wife and myself.

We spend time alone with God and Monica has been watching us for years. I'm in a corner there and that's where I'm busy with God.

And in the mornings she comes down the stairs so I look at her and I say my darling.

I see 3 out of 4 brain cells that just came alive.

She is just waking up but you know what happened. She was in Bible college in New Zealand. One day she phoned me and she was crying. I said what is it she said. I found it. I said what did you find she said.

I found this thing. I said what thing I mean. I was scared to death. I said what thing she said. I've been watching you for years and this thing. In the mornings you are alone with God and you come out of that place.

There is something she said I found it.

I said what do you mean.

She said papa my Christian life belongs totally to Jesus can you not ask God in spite of what you struggle with.

Can you not ask God to come to your precious young heart.

And say to Jesus I come just as I am and I want you to break my heart. I want you to come and visit me. I came to this conference.

With massive secret agendas. I came to this conference with a secret plan. I want everything to stop.

And I want you to come and break my heart she said. What is it going to cost everything. Absolutely everything.

Prayer for Holiness, Hunger, and Spiritual Renewal

It's part of praying our father Lord Jesus. We really want to love you and we really want to live for you. But you know the struggle in our hearts and the society in which we live.

And it's so difficult to be clean.

And it's so difficult to walk with you and yet you have promised in your word I can live a Christian life that demands a supernatural explanation and that's what we long for. I wonder this morning just as we sit here in the presence of God I'm not going to ask you to come to the front of the church but you sit here this morning and in your heart you are saying I really want the best of God for my life.