Be Bold! — Brother Yun

In the same way, I want to say thank you to Pastor Mark and to your whole precious family. Also the church family. Thank you for all of your love, your money, apart from you, to the mission in China, but also to another part of the world.

You know what? Give money is not just give money. This money once used maybe for drugs, maybe for pornography, maybe used for different stuff. And this money comes to you. And you decide, Lord, I give this money, sending them to the war to win souls.

Thank you so much. Thank you. And the missionary from Norway comes to China. She spoke a little bit Chinese, but she was preaching many stories. I think you hear the stories. But my grandmother came to Christ.

My father came to Christ. And today, he is traveling with Pastor Tyson through the world, different parts of the nation, preaching the gospel to see thousands and thousands of people come to Christ. It started only with one lady.

Her name is Maria. She is from a very little church in the very north part of Norway. Thank you so much for sowing money, sowing love, sowing attention to the mission. I'm not just talking about China, but sowing to the missions.

Giving to Advance the Kingdom of God

One day, if we come to the Lord, we will see how much our life, our giving in part the kingdom of God. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.

Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's give a welcome to Jesus and glory to his name. Amen.

I will use the words of Pastor Tyson to say that I am also a part of your brotherhood.

Revelation, Suffering, and Patient Endurance

I will use the words of John the Apostle to greet you as he wrote down in the book of Revelation chapter one. I am John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus.

Today is the day of the Lord. It's Sunday. And it's written in the Bible.

That on the day of the Lord, John heard the voice of the Lord saying to him, write down everything that you hear. How many of you believe like myself.

That the whole Bible including the book of Revelation are living word of God and it's the truth and it's real? Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Revelation is the book of Revelation is the most precious book for me to read.

When I became a believer of Jesus, I didn't have any clue about the book of Revelation. I had no relationship with the book of Revelation. And the reason to this that the missionaries with their limited Chinese, they were only presenting a very simple gospel to the people.

And then when the 80s communist regime came to power in China, all the missionaries were expelled. I know that my personal story, I have shared it so many times that you memorized my whole story. Now what actually really happened in China was that the missionaries disappeared but the seed of the gospel remained in the Chinese soil in the hearts of people.

And there were no Bibles in China. It was not preached anymore. But the love of Jesus and the Holy Spirit were operating all over China. And it same happened in China like in our lives. We do love the Lord because He first loved us so much.

As you remember from my story, first during the great starvation, my oldest brother starved to death. And not long after that, my father became very sick and he was told only have two weeks to live because of terminal cancer.

And my mother lost all the hope of survival. And my mother, when she had decided to suicide on the lowest point of her life, no hope and no future, once again she had an encounter. She met the resurrected Lord Jesus.

My mother heard very clearly the Lord saying to my child, don't give up. Come back home. Jesus loves you. So my mother kneeled down by the chair and reconciled her life with the Lord. And then came to us children, it was past midnight, and woke us up and said, we have to start to call upon the name of Jesus.

I never forgot what happened that night as my mother, and we surrounded our father's bed and we were kneeling and praying first time in our lives. And my first prayer of my life was, Lord Jesus, I don't have a clue who you are, but I need my father.

If you heal my father, I will serve you the rest of my life. And when we were praying this simple prayer and cry out to God, our father was moved. And first time in our lives, we saw tears running from his eyes.

And we as children, we were so moved. My older sister said, can you see father is crying? And we said, father, don't cry. Jesus will rescue you. Jesus will restore you. And God answered that prayer. Within one week, my father was not only healed, but fully restored from terminal cancer.

Hallelujah. So about a year later, when I was 16 years old, the Lord came to me and he said to me one night, Brother Yun, stand up and preach the gospel and be my witness to West and South. My understanding and knowledge about Jesus was very limited because I've only been a believer less than a year.

I knew that if you pray in the name of Jesus, the sick will be healed and the demons will run away. That was where I have seen it happen. And I was saying to everybody, if you believe in Jesus, that will be the ultimate solution for all the problems in your family.

So the first year in the ministry, I was preaching about grace of God and solution to your problems. That was my gospel. And I tell you, it was a very favorable message. Over 3 ,000 people responded and came to Jesus because of those simple messages.

Hallelujah. But there was one thing I could not understand. What it really means that to deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow Jesus, I didn't have any clue about this. So that's why my message this morning is not a message about receiving more of grace of God.

It's instead of how to respond God's calling to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. When I saw all these people were coming to Jesus, so together with my mother, they captured us and they handcuffed us for public display.

And that was kind of a reality in my ministry. For the first seven years or so, I was always a wanted criminal. They were chasing me and just about to catch me, but I was able to move away. If there's a persecution in this city, I did not stop preaching.

I just moved to another city and I started it all over there. And I was like a 24 -7 preaching machine. I was just preaching and preaching and preaching. And one day the Lord said to me something amazing.

He said, Brother, I see that you are burning out. You are really exhausted. I will bring you to a place for a vacation, for a rest. I was thinking that the Lord is going to send me to vacation, to a vacation home where all my needs are met and I'm going to have a very wonderful time together with the Lord.

I didn't have a clue that he was sending me to Chinese prison.

So, when I sent those letters to the Lord,.

Memorizing Scripture and Preparing to Suffer for the Gospel

So, I called together my closest friends and I called them together and we started to memorize the Bible together in our first attempt to have a discipleship training. And those years, in early 1980s, there was so lack of Bibles in China.

Like it is today in North Korea, in Iran, in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, many of these countries. So we only have few copies of the Bible. So somebody was reading and all the others started to memorize the Word of God.

And as we were memorizing the Bible, and you know, God started to move in my spirit through all this memorizing of the Bible. And there were songs that were birthed, and I started to sing songs according to the written Word of God.

And those of you who have read my life story, Heavenly Man, you remember that the Lord gave me a song that day, that get ready to die for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I was singing, Lord, I have made preparations, I'm ready to die for the Gospel in China.

And as I, and when I sang that song, sing that song first time, the Spirit of God was moving upon those young people, they were hugging one another in tears and said, we are also ready, if needed, to die for the victory of Gospel in this country.

Now it's one thing to sing songs like this, and it's totally different to walk through these situations in your life. So, the reality hit just next evening, and suddenly the authorities surrounded the whole place, and we started to enter into that situation in our lives.

And first time I really understood that there's a life danger for me in this situation. They've been chasing me for seven years, and now they caught me, and this is dangerous. I had been arrested thirty times before, but always been able to escape.

But now, they really solidly, they got hold of me. And I thought that Jesus does not know this, so I shouted loud, Jesus, where are you? Don't you see that they have arrested us? And as I was calling my agony and fear to the Lord, and I heard the very strong voice of the Lord saying to me, don't be afraid, I know.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I recognized it's only Lord who can speak like this, in a situation like this. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I know. I know. And it started to roll around my being, and my fear disappeared.

And the police captain who was questioning us, he said, who are you? And that's when I first time said my name, I'm Heavenly Man. Where do you live, Heavenly Man? And I said, Heavenly Man lives in the village of Gospel.

And then he asked about my father and mother. My father's name is Phil of Grace, and my mother is Hope, Faith, and Love. And then I have brothers and sisters. What are their names? And my brother's, older brother's name is the King is Coming Back.

And then I have a younger brother who have a deep desire of the returning of the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And they had never heard anybody with names like this. They said, this man is crazy man. He's dangerous for society.

We have to bring him to prison. I have shared this so many times. So a few months into my first imprisonment, my son Isaac was born outside. I was 100 certain that in this world, in this time, I'm never going to physically see my son.

I knew that the communist regime, if they announced that somebody is a contra-revolutionary guerrilla leader, that person will rest of his life be in the prison or going to be executed. There were only two options for me.

So I wrote a letter when the message came to me that my son has been born. I wrote a letter. I thought that that's the last letter to my newborn son. And I started my letter, my son, I'm in a prison for sake of the gospel and my personal beliefs.

I'm not a criminal. I have not committed any crimes. And the Lord, that's where his name came about. The Lord gave me this name. And I said, you are going to be called Isaac. And as I was on my knees in my solitary cell, and I said, Lord, I have nothing I can give to you.

And I said, Lord, I will give my son Isaac for you and for your kingdom purposes. And I'm so happy that Isaac is here as a living testimony. If you are willing to give the most precious treasure of your life, you see how that God is going to reward you.

Hallelujah. And then they got short of my sentence. So after four years, they released me from prison. And then I was in freedom two years. Now, when these first four years in the prison started to became to the end, and they have announced that a certain day I will be released from the prison.

And it had been a lot of suffering and a lot of hard work. And all those years, every minute of the day was filled with burdens. So when it was only 100 days left of my imprisonment, Now, it so happened that that time, Billy Graham was getting ready to come to China first time.

And he had heard that some pastors are in prison. So he had written a letter questioning how are they dealing and treating a Christian in the prison. And that letter came to Peter Hsu. And they put it inside a steamed bread and they brought it to prison for me to read.

And their purpose was very innocent. They just wanted to know so that they intellectually can pray better for those pastors who are in prison. Now, I didn't say anything difficult, dangerous in this. So very honestly, I write a reply to Billy Graham about how they are, what they are doing with me as I'm in the prison.

I didn't know that when that letter was supposed to be carried out from the prison, they got it at the security. So a few days later, close to midnight, a big number of policemen, they raided my cell.

They had a black fabric they put back. They put it on my head. They handcuffed me and put me in chains. I didn't have a clue why they are doing this to me. Because I, in my mind, three more months and I'm going to be free.

Why are they treating me like this? And then they were leading me. I was in complete darkness. I didn't know where I was. I just felt we are going down, down, down. And finally, they brought me to the very cellar, to the solitary confinement cell in the basement of the prison.

And there were 5 ,000 prisoners. And none of them were usually in that little tiny cell, like a wardrobe. And it was deep down in the cellar.

It was completely dark.

There was no light in the entire department. And I was there alone. I was shouting, friends. Is there any other human beings here? What is this place? I have no experience. I don't know. What is this ice cold place?

But there was no sound replying anything. I was all alone in my solitary cell. And the only way for me to know that a new day has come, because in the morning, according to their practice, they brought a bowl of watery rice.

And they gave it through that little opening in the door. And in the evening, they came back. And they gave the same kind of watery rice, a little bit for me to eat. I really wanted to know what is this place and why I am here.

And then after I had been there for a while, I said, Lord, I am not going to take this anymore. I'd rather die than stay alive in this situation.

I want to die for the gospel of Jesus.

And as they were bringing me to the integration, the questioning, and they were asking, you are really dangerous. You have been in contact with the foreign nations. And it's a controversy against the Communist Party.

And they said, forget your dream about four years in the prison.

And this is what they said.

This crime is really, really bad. And you are going to be executed because of this. You have reported internal matters of China to another nation. But if you tell us who brought you this information from outside, then you may be still alive and you will be in the prison for the rest of your life.

Now, that policeman, he was not so smart. He thought that by threatening me with death, it would make any difference that I will become a bird singing names of people that I'm connected with. But when he said to me, we're going to execute you, or if you behave and you confess your sins and you reveal the network of names, you will be having a life sentence, or maybe even possibly that after 20 years, we will release you.

Then I pulled away the black hood on my head and I just shouted out, it's no use for you to threaten me because I'm already ready to die for Jesus.

You want to kill me? Anyway, I don't want 20 years, I don't want to be executed. I just want to die.

Now I'm begging you to confess your sins.

The interrogators saw that there was absolutely no way. There was no way at all. Then they went through a long experiment.

And then after a long time, I was telling to them, how is it possible that I'm still alive after so many days? You say that you're going to execute me and I've been just waiting that day and I'm still alive.

What's wrong with you? And after that, they didn't have any way to get under my skin. They had an internal meeting about my impossible case. And they decided, let's keep him in that solitary confinement and he's going to self-die.

Don't give him food, no light, and he will die there and we get rid of this problem. But I had already made up my mind and made a decision. Lord Jesus, I want to really sincerely know what is this place and why I am here.

And even the location where they're questioning me, it was separated from the prison. So I didn't see anybody else except those men who were torturing me. And I wanted to know that the Lord would reveal me what is this place.

And I said to the Lord, Lord, I'm only actually missing one thing. You have to give me a Bible to this place. And I reminded the Lord that many years earlier, after 100 days of prayer and fasting, I received my first Bible supernaturally.

And I reminded to the Lord, this is not difficult for you. You have done this before, so why don't you bring a Bible to me so I can read the Bible. So I had the golden opportunity to start to fast and pray in order to receive a new Bible to myself.

And nobody could see what was happening. The little rice came every morning. I thanked the Lord for the rice and I just pulled it down into the drainage. I didn't touch the food. I was 100 without eating and drinking in my cell.

And I said, Lord, can you see what's happening here? I'm this serious about receiving the Bible, so hurry up. And there was no light. When the day was, there was a little hole in the wall. And from that little spring, I could see, I could know when there is light somewhere far away.

And days just went by and no Bible arrived. But I was so tangled because they gave up. They didn't torture me anymore. They felt that there's nothing they can do. So I was all alone. Nobody disturbed me.

I was alone in my solitary cell. And one night, I finally met with the resurrected Lord again. He walked into my cell. And I saw a vision or a dream. And that dream was about the moment when I am released from my handcuffs and my chains and I'm completely restored from my situation.

I was so excited in that dream and I was almost flying. And later on, I shared to brothers, I said that I was so happy about that in the dream, I saw myself sharing to the Catholic bishop who was in the same prison, how God miraculously gave me a Bible as I was in the cell.

And in the dream, he was praising God for my Bible. I was praising God for my Bible. And then I woke up and I discovered I'm still alone in my solitary cell. It's impossible for you to even imagine. I mean, the hole, it was so low that I couldn't stand up straight.

And it was just four square feet where I was standing. I could not sleep. Everything happened inside that little cold, icy cold hole in the cellar. So, when I woke up from the dream, I said, no, but it's not real.

I'm still, the handcuffs are still here. And I said to the Lord, I believe that that dream was coming from you, and you showed it. And Lord, how is it possible that I'm still handcuffed and in these chains?

And I believe, and I believe, and I experience that it's true that the Bible says that the angels are serving, servants for those who are committed to the Lord. And God sent an angel to me. And I felt the angel saying to me, you are all free, just take off the handcuffs.

But you know, for a long time, I've been fasting without food and water. And, you know, I started to shrink. So, in the beginning, they were very tight, but now they have already become very loose. So, I was able just to shake off the handcuffs.

Hallelujah. And I was able to get me free from the shackles in my feet and handcuffs on my hands. I was completely free in my cell. And I was on my knees. I was crawling because I couldn't stand up in the cell.

And I was praising God, and I was always while before the Lord of that miracle. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And then after a little while, I said, Lord, but in that dream, you told me that I have a Bible in my hand.

So, where is the Bible? You know, because when you are set free from those handcuffs and shackles inside the prison, it was a nonstop praise and worship to God. My God is mighty, and I'm free. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. I was singing this old hymn, how the road is becoming wider and more glorious as we follow the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. You all know this song. Praise God. I was singing there, but I was missing.

I didn't have any audience. But I was really honest, Lord, you are wonderful. You are amazing. I said, Lord, my handcuffs, I'm free. My shackles are gone. You are amazing. And I'm so grateful to you. You have set me free.

But where is the Bible? I really am serious, but I want to have Bible. I said, Lord, if you are able to shrink me so much that I'm free from shackles, you can bring a Bible through that door. So, I decided I will continue fasting and praying.

And I give a promise to the Lord, if you just deliver a Bible, I'm ready to be rest of my life in this cell. Just send me the Word of God. And again, I heard Jesus saying, my child, I know. I really want to share with you brothers and sisters, there are certain secrets in your life nobody else knows.

But remember, Jesus knows the suffering and the pain of your soul. He knows everything. Lord knows your prayers and how you have put your trust upon the Lord and the tears of your eyes. He knows everything that's going on in your life.

Receiving the Bible and Discovering Christ’s Love in Revelation

Next morning, before dawn, I heard that there's somebody who was coming towards me in the corridor and I heard him shouting my name. And this time, they also, in the person, they called me heavenly man.

But there was something in his voice. It was different when he shouted, like he was very happy when he shouted, heavenly man. And he opened three different set of doors into my solitary cell. He said, heavenly man.

And he said, last night, the leadership of the prison have had a meeting and we have decided. And we will respect your faith. We will give you a Bible. Hallelujah. And then he said, we will give this Bible to you and you have to promise to read it every day very carefully and then repent from your sins.

And then you will reveal to us all your crimes that you have committed towards us. Hallelujah. Now, I could not read 24 -7 the Bible because it's only daytime. I had the little light coming out of the little hole in the wall.

But every light moment, I was reading and memorizing the book of God. It wasn't a lot, but I was able to read. And this was so special that I did not know whether this all is just a dream and that I'm still asleep and it's just a dream because it was so unreal.

But it was still so real for me that when I was not able to read the Bible the evening and the night, I did not lose the Bible even for the second. I was squeezing it towards my heart and I kept that Bible close to my body.

And I was just waiting a new day to dawn that the ray of light would come and I can start to memorize the Bible. And the Lord led me this way. The next morning when the light came and I opened my Bible and I opened the Bible from the book of Revelation and I started to memorize the book of Revelation.

And I was reading very carefully every character, every word in the book of Revelation. I started from chapter 1 and I continued chapter 2, 3 throughout the book of Revelation. And I started to understand that actually Revelation, the book of Revelation is in the Bible for me.

It was a personal letter to me. I would guess that for an average American believer, Revelation is the last book you would read to yourself because you don't understand it. One of the greatest lessons I learned from the book of Revelation, how much Jesus loves His church.

How much He loves me. How accepted I am because of Jesus. And I was so grateful, Lord Jesus you love me so much that you gave your own life for my salvation. And you released me from the punishment of my sins.

And as I was moving deeper into the message of Revelation, I was just getting more and more excited about Jesus. And then I was reading this passage when John said, on the day of the Lord, the Spirit of God came upon me.

And I started to say and pray to the Lord, I need that your Spirit will come upon me so that I understand my situation and my future. I'm so thankful that you took time on this Sunday, the day of the Lord, and you have come to church.

And I really pray that the same Spirit that attacked John in the book of Revelation will attack you in this meeting today. Hallelujah! Because it doesn't matter how deep is the mess in your life. If just the Spirit of God comes upon you, everything will be different and you will be changed.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And this was so real. So the coming 100 days, I was just so hungry and I wanted to receive more and more of the Word of God. I could hardly believe what happened. It was 100 days later and the policemen came back to the prison and then I thought, now they are bringing me somewhere else, to another prison.

But they actually took me to the bus station and gave me a ticket and said, go back home. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! So what did I learn during those 100 days, in the last days? What did I heard the Spirit speaking to me?

Because I received every message that there was to any of these seven churches. I received all messages to me. You have to remember that John did not write the book of Revelation when he was sitting in his fancy office with his computer.

He was on the prison island in non-stop suffering when he wrote down the book of Revelation. And there were certain things he saw, he could hardly believe. I cannot write this. And the Spirit reminded, you have to write accordingly what you hear, what you see.

This is real. You have to record everything. And the Spirit of God was really speaking in my heart. I was moved in my spirit from the chapter one and onwards. I am the holy. And now he's going to say that I'm the one who was and who is and who will become, be.

And I have the keys of Hades in my hand. Hallelujah! And when he said that I have the keys of death and Hades in my, suddenly I understood I'm not going to die because the key of death is in Jesus' hand.

Hallelujah! And I started to rejoice. The Lord is in charge of even my dying. I don't need to be filled with fear. I was rejoicing in the Lord.

Patient Endurance Through Suffering

Brothers and sisters, remember this.

As you become a believer of Jesus, it does not mean that automatically all your problems will be instantly solved. You may become sick. You may have other big problems in your life and you will have. Maybe you have experienced that your little child has died or the baby that before was born was dead.

You have experienced so many things in your life. And I started to believe and I knew that to be unified with the Lord in Jesus in this suffering and patient endurance that is in the kingdom of God. And the reason why I'm sharing this with you this morning is because I have been there.

I have experienced this myself. Now, when I met the Lord, I was 16 years old and now today I'm 58 years old. Is there anybody who is 58 years old here tonight? No. I'm so thankful that God has given me 58 years.

I have served the Lord over 40 years and I have gone through many challenges and difficulties in my life. And I have had this uphill to climb when I came to the west because the people did not really want to listen to me because I was pushing them to follow Jesus really and to become his disciples.

And then, a little while ago, I was brought to a very low point in my life. And you know, because to follow Jesus, you can never rely in the past. You just have to live with him today. In October last year, now we had our twice a year tour in the U .S. and my wife was traveling with us last October in the U .S.

And suddenly in that meeting, towards the end of the tour, suddenly my wife became extremely sick. And this sickness of lupus hit her body so that you could physically see all the marks of what is happening in her body.

Now this wasn't the first time because the first time I saw her having this was over 30 years before when I was in the prison and my wife was pregnant with Isaac and she came to the prison to see me and she had the same sickness that time.

But then after prayers and fasting for a long time, for almost 30 years, she haven't had any marks of that sickness. So suddenly after all these years, this autoimmune sickness hit with full power her body and it was starting to fall apart.

And it was, I didn't have any ways to help her because it is a sickness in your immune system and nobody knows how to deal with that. So I talked with Brother Tyson. And we decided that together that we will stop all the ministry and I will return back home and I want to be 24 -7 there for my wife who was going through this living hell.

And I knew that there are so many invitations from all over the world for us to come. But I could not give this burden to my children. I said to Brother Tyson, I have to take my responsibility as her husband.

And I was saying to my wife, I said, darling, I have not been a good husband for you. I have not been there for you when you have needed me most. And I have not been a good father for my children because I've been away or in the prison.

And my wife was in two different conditions. Either she was 24 -7 awake in pain or then she slept solid for several days and nights non-stop. I didn't know what was going on in her body. And then Brother Tyson said to me, Brother Yun, among the tens of thousands of the pastors and the husbands and fathers I know, you are the best one.

I felt that I owe so much to my children and to my wife. And I said to my wife, I love you and I always have time for you and I'm willing to carry any problems that you have. I'm there with you for this.

And when we flew back to Europe immediately from the airport, she was brought to a total solitary ward in a hospital in Frankfurt. And she was so much in this sickness, she did not recognize me anymore, who I was.

And then she started to ask me, do you know if my son Isaac has already got married? She was totally lost. It looked like her heart was completely in rest. But suddenly, I was reading the Bible in the morning.

I had decided not to be involved in any ministry, so I had the times when she was sleeping, I was always reading the Bible. And the Lord started to speak to me, for the sake of my kingdom, you have to be endurance to suffering in your life.

Enduring to suffering in your life. And the Lord said, you have to, this is the nature of my kingdom, you have to go from one difficulty, one difficulty at a time. Now, I have already built up a personal practice for myself.

Every morning before five o 'clock, I wake up and I kneel down and start to memorize, read the Bible and pray. And then one morning, I was reading from the Old Testament, from the book of Joshua, and God spoke to me about this.

Caleb’s Faith and the Mountain of Promise

And this was the chapter 14 in the book of Joshua. This happened after Moses had died and Joshua was taking the people of Israel to take possession of the land of Canaan. You know all these stories. And as I was reading, the Lord said about Joshua, you have been faithfully following me and serving me and I felt the Lord is saying the same words to me, that I have been a good faithful servant.

And one day Caleb came to see Joshua and he reminded that you know, you remember that Moses, how he promised that one day he is going to give me the hill country as the inheritance of my tribe. And suddenly I started to understand, oh, this is actually a promise that God has given to me.

As you remember, he said that I'm 85 years old today, but I'm still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out. And I'm as vigorous to go out to battle as I was then. And when I was reading Bible that he said he's 85 years old, the Holy Spirit turned around the numbers and I heard him say, 58 years old.

And the Holy Spirit said, you are now 58 years old. The Caleb went to Joshua, he wanted to take possession of that mountain that has been promised, the hill county that has been promised for him. And I started to understand that the hill county, the mountain that I have to overcome is the sickness of my wife's body.

Hallelujah. And I started to shout, Lupus, you are nothing, you have no control over my wife. You high mountain, you are nothing, you will be removed to the ocean. And I said, Jesus, you have promised, if I have faith, I can say to that high mountain and it will be removed to the ocean.