Life & Times of Jesus #04 — Jack Hibbs

I almost said Daniel's gospel, but maybe it is the gospel according to Daniel. The book of Daniel is an incredible book, Daniel chapter 9 specifically verse 24. Daniel chapter 9 verse 24, in this great book there is a prophetic layout that God has given that is so exact and so specific that when much of Daniel was fulfilled, the critics began to argue that Daniel was written after the historical fact took place.

With such accuracy did the prophet Daniel speak. Now as you know we are going through, in fact today is part 4 of a series entitled The Life and Times of Jesus Christ. But this morning we come now to his mission, the mission of Jesus Christ.

And Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 is a very powerful verse and we will look at this in a moment so I want you to hold your spot as you get there. But we look or we turn in part 4 of our series, Christ and his mission.

In our previous studies you know if you were here that we studied Christ in eternity, that Jesus never had a beginning. If you are a believer this morning you understand that the Bible teaches that Christ has always been, Jesus was never born in the spiritual realm, he has always existed.

The Bible says in fact that he is the creator of the spiritual realm, example angels and the like and also the physical realm, that Jesus Christ is the creator. In fact if we do good Bible study and thorough Bible study we come to understand that right there in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 Jesus Christ is the very one at work.

And we went through the passages of scripture, the Bible proving this very fact concerning Christ. Also we saw in the following study Christ and his first coming, that the scripture told us that Jesus would have a first advent to the nation Israel, to the city of Jerusalem and specifically as you know, as you have studied with me, the Temple Mount specifically.

And of course Jesus fulfilled that in his first coming, not necessarily being born in Bethlehem, though that is very important, but his first coming actually took place on his Passion Week on Palm Sunday when Jesus introduced himself as King to the nation fulfilling multiple scriptures.

And then finally last week we saw Christ, the Word made flesh, how we beheld the incarnation of Christ and we looked at him in his physical advent, Jesus coming into Bethlehem being born as the prophets foretold that he would.

We consider this also as we go through our study this morning, the life and times of Christ, yes, but also Christ and his mission and of course Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 where it says there, for in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form.

So when we talk about mission, what do we mean by that? Mission is extremely important. You have a mission in this life. Let's say you work for DuPont or you are a sales rep for DuPont. Believe me, DuPont wants to believe you have a mission and that mission is to go about all the area representing DuPont as their ambassador and you are paid a certain wage for doing that.

But as Christians we have a mission and by the end of the service this morning you will see what our mission has to do with Christ and his very mission in this world around us. But of course Colossians 2 verse 9 tells us for in Christ all, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form.

This word mission, Christ and his mission. The term assumes something very interesting. If you have a mission you have a task. You have a job to perform. That is built into the very word mission. The word mission also implies that there is something to be had.

Listen carefully to this. If you have a mission there is something to be gotten out of it. If you embark upon a mission, let's say it's a military venture. You are deployed on a mission. You have certain parameters.

You have certain rules. You have certain things that you want to achieve. In fact there are people, there are strategists who before you are deployed have gone through great lengths and studied various scenarios about the mission and its success.

Why? Because you are to perform a certain task and you are also to receive something out of it. You are to somehow come out of the mission having completed the objective. It's very important that that be the case.

If you don't have a goal to your mission you are never going to know if you finish or have completed the mission. This is very important. Christ Jesus had his mission and quite frankly he's got one still and it's still going now.

But let me stress this and I speak for you maybe. Obviously the mission of Jesus Christ was to come to this world. In fact the scriptures tell us plainly, clearly, Jesus said that for this cause I was born.

For this reason have I come into the world. Now let me ask you something. Have you had the week that I've had looking at the news? Now I'm a news freak. I'm pathetic with news. I have CNN. I have MSNBC.

I have ITN. I have BBC. I have news stations I don't even know how to pronounce them. I'm a news junkie. I'm hooked. Pray for me. Why? I want to know what's going on in the world. And I love watching the news with my Bible open.

But lately it's a little too close to home, don't you think? When somebody goes nuts, some possessed lunatic goes berserk on a Jewish center, that's a little close to home. Not that it was near or just not far of a driving distance from here.

But do you know your Bible? Do you understand that when there's anti-Semitic movement against the Jewish people, that is a key end time sign of satanic activity? Did you know that? Are you aware of that?

That the very act of segregation or being... Oh what's the word? It's escaping me. Very simple word. Help me. When you... Black, white, yellow. Discrimination. When you're prejudiced. Did you know Satan is an absolute lover of being prejudiced?

Did you know he loves when nations vie against nations? Remember when Jesus says that kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation will be in the last days? You think Russia against America, don't you?

When you see that word nation, that's sad because in the Greek, it's ethnos versus ethnos. Ethnic people versus ethnic people. And when you've got a psycho, like we had this week in our region, go off on killing or trying to kill these Jewish people and children.

Or as he visited the Museum of Tolerance to scope out the area to blow that up, who turns his gun on a man who's a non-white federal employee and kills him dead. A man who lives very close to here. What in the world is going on?

You can look at the news and be completely consumed with the depravity of the world or you can say it won't be long until Christ returns and until he does, Jesus said these days, this world will grow worse and worse.

I'm sorry to bum you out, people, but Jesus said there'd be days just like this and evil is increasing. But yet he said, I have come into the world for this very purpose. What purpose? That Christ has a mission to deliver us, to deliver all those who trust in him from this world's fiery end.

Jerry Dumphy. You know Jerry? He's been on the news broadcast since, I think, before I've been born, this guy. He's been around forever. From the desert to the sea. What is his little thing? He does his little spiel.

And there's been this saying about there's more to life than news, weather, and sports. Oh, that's true. It's called Jesus Christ. You can look around and form your opinion of the world and say, you know what, there's nothing worth living for.

Yeah, there is. But you can be consumed with what you're seeing around you. The fact of the matter is Jesus is real. Everything that's happening is according to the scripture. And if you don't know your Bible, you're going to get consumed in depression over such things.

Christ has come for a mission. And that mission, friend, is right on target, right on schedule, just right. God has his mission. The term implies there's something to be gained. And what might that be?

In Luke's Gospel, chapter 14, Jesus gave us an example. He said no man building a tower embarks upon the building of that tower without first counting the cost. He said that no king goes to war against another king without first taking inventory, checking to see if he has an arsenal fit for the battle.

And if he doesn't, he sends overtures of peace before he goes to that war. He said if you go into a venture unprepared, he said people will mock you and make fun of you, counting the cost and knowing what the mission will entail.

I don't know if you know this or not, but in a historical documentary, President FDR was summoned by William Churchill to meet him in the middle of the Atlantic in a clandestine meeting, a secret meeting.

As England, as Europe was getting whipped by Germany, Churchill asked FDR to get America involved. And FDR lied to Congress. Nobody knew where he was. It was a very top-secret mission. And in the middle of the night, FDR boarded a freighter and went out into the middle of the Atlantic to meet with Churchill to plan or to invite America in to the invasion of Europe against Hitler.

And nobody knew where FDR was at. And he mapped out this plan. And in one of those meetings, he said, what is in it for America? And Churchill responded, a free Europe and a free world. And of course, you know the rest is history.

The United States joined the alliance and Hitler was defeated. What's in it for America? You ought to ask the question right now. With what you're talking about, Jack, what's in it for me? You can go ahead and think that way.

If you're a non-Christian this morning, you might put your hand on your hip as a skeptic and say, what's in it for me? I want you to listen carefully because there's a lot in it for you. Jesus Christ had a mission.

And the very need of the world that is around us right now is proof positive that his mission is viable. Are you with me? Look at the world and what you see in the world, the Bible has predicted. And the Bible has predicted that scenario to tell you that there's a remedy for the world's problems.

And that remedy is Jesus Christ. Very, very important. Christianity is the message by which God has sent his son, Jesus Christ, into the world with a mission that he might redeem all those who put their trust in him.

It's not called religion, friend. It is Christianity. It is the following of Christ. It is the given of your life to him. We talked about this passage and we'll look at it now. They're in Daniel, Daniel chapter nine, verse 24.

It says there 490 years or your Bible might read 77. Don't let that confuse you. The words 490 years, 490 years are determined for your people. That's the Jewish people. The message is given to Daniel and for your holy city, that's Jerusalem.

And this now unveils the most significant prophetic verse in all of the Bible. One to finish the transgression, two to make an end of sin, three to make reconciliation for iniquity, four to bring in everlasting righteousness, five to seal up vision and prophecy and six to anoint the most holy.

Three of those utterances there in Daniel 924 were fulfilled at the coming of Christ. There are three remaining, three that are going to be fulfilled. To finish transgressions, that's the Messiah's introduction of himself to Israel.

We'll hear more about this later. Jesus presented himself to Israel. Why? To finish the transgressions, God's Messiah had come. Secondly, to make an end of sin, Jesus Christ, according to the prophets, in his perfect life that he lived as God in human flesh, removed sin's dominion and power over mankind by fulfilling the law.

Thirdly, to make reconciliation for iniquity is the death of Christ upon the cross whereby Israel might be saved. Well, that's how you and I are saved, to look back at the cross, to trust what Christ has done on the cross.

But the remaining three portions of scripture are still yet prophetic in Daniel 924. To bring in everlasting righteousness, that's a reference to Christ and the coming of the Messiah for the millennium.

Do you know what I mean by millennium? You mean the next couple months? No. The next couple months may or may not have any prophetic significance at all. We don't know. It's not the millennium we're talking about.

The millennium is when Jesus Christ comes at the close of the great tribulation period and the great second coming. He establishes his millennium. That is the bringing in of everlasting righteousness.

Number five is the sealing up of vision and prophecy. Christ will consummate all the prophetic passages of scripture and bring them to a conclusion. When you read the book and the prophetic books of the Bible and come to Revelation, how exciting it is to read the back, the end of the book, and it says that we win.

Jesus is triumphal. And then finally, the sixth thing of Daniel 924 is that Jesus will anoint the most holy. That is when he delivers the kingdom and all that there is into the presence of the Father and the eternal state or what is called the day of God begins.

That's gonna be a tremendous time. The first thing we want to see this morning though, regarding the mission of Jesus Christ, and again, it is wonderfully outlined for us there in Daniel chapter 9 verse 24.

What we want to see now though is our first point this morning, and it is this, it is the purpose of Christ's mission. The purpose. Somebody might ask you, when you share with people, they might say, why did Jesus come?

What is the purpose of his coming? What was his mission? That's a great question. You and I ought to be able to make that clear to them. The first thing is that Jesus Christ fulfilled all that was written.

His purpose was that he might fulfill all that was written. Now listen, this is an invitation for any of the skeptics that are here this morning. You might be sitting here saying, I don't think the Bible has the authority to rule over my life, which means I just gave a definition of a teenager.

It does have the authority to rule over your life. See, the funny thing is, you may choose not to bow to its authority or not. That's the issue, okay? That's the thing. It has nothing to do with the validity of the Bible.

It's perfect. It has no errors. Absolutely without debate. You can concoct your argument, but you'll lose. God's Word is true. Jesus came, and one of the very important things for him to perform is all that was written of him.

Many times as you read in the Bible, especially Matthew's Gospel. Why Matthew's Gospel? Because Matthew was a Jew. He was a Levite, and he's writing to his fellow Jews. That's why he says in there, and it was fulfilled as it was written by the prophet Isaiah saying, and there it is.

And it was as it was written by the prophet Micah, and there it is. Why did he do this? Because Jesus Christ came to fulfill all that was written in the Bible. Muhammad didn't do that. He didn't even care.

He didn't have a book written about him in advance to fulfill. Nobody has. So my friend, if you're a skeptic, stand back right now and take a scientific look at the validity of the Bible. Wow! It says this, and behold, this event took place.

The Old Testament makes the announcements, and the New Testament is the record of its fulfillment. Isn't that ironic? That at this hour, the Jewish nation whom Jesus said, I have come to my own, but my own have not received me.

That if they would just look to the New Testament, it is the bonafide account of what was promised in the old. But this even was foretold by the Lord himself. The invitation is to consider the mission.

If you're a doubter this morning, and I hope you are, I can really relate to you. I want to see it. I want to touch it. I want to smell it before I'm going to believe it. I don't think God disparages that at all.

I just think what he does hold us accountable for is that when he does show the facts that we respond. Else we go away given information, but willfully rejecting Christ. That would not be good. Now, he was to fulfill all that was written, as the scripture says.

It says in Luke chapter 7 verse 20, when the men had come to Jesus, they said to him, John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are you the coming one, or do we look for another? And at that very hour, he cured many infirmities, and afflictions, and evil spirits, and to many he healed their sight, or opened their eyes.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, go and tell John the things that you see, and hear, that the blind see, and the lame walk, and lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Listen, he fulfilled all that was written. That was his point. John the Baptist, he was doubting. Doesn't that encourage you? John the Baptist, first of all, he was Jesus's cousin. Mary and Elizabeth were related.

John and Jesus were cousins. Six months age difference between the two of them, according to the Bible. And John was taken prison. He was in prison. And John says to his disciples, go and see how it's going with Jesus, and ask him, is he the Messiah, or what?

Why did John ask that question? Because he was expecting Jesus to bring in the deliverance from the Roman Empire, to establish Israel as the prominent governmental ruling reign of the earth. That was not the mission of Jesus.

He was first to come, as you saw in Daniel 9, 24, to give himself for the sins of the nation. That's why he came. There's a blasphemous book written, The Reluctant Messiah. It's a damnable heresy. In that book, it portrays that Jesus was caught up in the fervor of everybody laying on him titles, and he was somehow polluted by his own megalomania, and then the whole thing turned on him, and he wound up getting killed.

What a blasphemous book. What an ignorant author. When the Bible says of itself, all of these things have been decreed in advance. Jesus was to fulfill all that was written. So what does he tell John's disciples?

Go back and tell John the things that you what? Hear and see. What was John supposed to do with that information? As soon as his disciples came running back, they said, John, this is what we see. This is what we hear.

And that would have triggered immediately in John's mind, the book of Jeremiah, the book of Isaiah, the book of Micah. John would have known. Jesus came to fulfill that which was written of him. Luke chapter 24, the great passage regarding the Emmaus Road.

Jesus, after his resurrection, traveling there on the Emmaus Road, he comes up to two disciples that are very depressed. You can just see them. Read Luke 24 later. It's kind of sad at first. They're walking along.

They're so bummed, and they're saying, oh, you know, it's the third day. Nothing's happened. What a bummer. We followed Jesus in vain. And you can see them just kicking a can, going down the path. Boy, were we duped.

I thought for sure he was the Messiah. And Jesus comes alongside them. Sounds almost mysterious, and it is. And he says, hi. Why is your face so low, hanging down? And they said, what are you, a stranger in here?

Don't you know what's transpired in these regions lately? Jesus Christ, who claimed to be the Son of God, did all these wonderful works and spoke about a kingdom. But they took him and crucified him, and after all, it's the third day.

And Jesus said to them in Luke 24, verse 25, he said to you foolish ones of heart and slow to believe, spiritually retarded, which is most of the world and maybe many in here today, spiritually retarded ones.

You don't even know me. You claim to know me. You claim to have followed me. You've missed it. He says, didn't the Bible say about Christ how he ought to suffer and enter in to his glory? And beginning at Moses and all of the prophets, he expounded to them from the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24, verse 31 says, and when their eyes were opened, they knew him, and he vanished from their sight. And he said, and they said to one to another, did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road while he opened to us the scriptures?

Wow. What did he do? Jesus pulled alongside them, and he says, hey, let's have an Old Testament Bible study right here, right now. And from the scriptures, he opened to their understanding himself. Isn't that great?

He performed all that was written of him. Secondly, he was to ransom Israel from their sins. That's very important. The purpose of his mission, yes, was to ransom Israel from their sins. I mentioned to you earlier that in John 1, verse 10, that there it says in the scripture that Jesus came unto his own, but his own received him not.

That was the Jewish people. They are the chosen people. They're the chosen people to this hour. They will always be the chosen people, no matter what lunatic calls the world, to go against the Jewish people.

In fact, that's just a little sign of the times and proof of the pudding. Well, Jack, if there is people, why so much pain in their lives? Why so much hardship? Know this, and it's sad to say this, but it is absolutely biblically accurate.

The Old Testament told the nation that if they rejected the coming of the Messiah, that they would become a hissing and a byword and an outcast through all the nations of the world. Has that not happened?

It's just that their homes will be pillaged, their nation will be taken from them, their wives will be ravaged, and their children will be taken into slavery and captivity to all the nations of the world.

And in the last thousand years, that has been so fulfilled. But in the last 50 years, you and I have been watching the rebirth of the nation Israel and the influx of those people coming back home. Isn't that amazing?

Prophecy, Isaiah chapter 43, beginning at verse 1, happening as you and I breathe this hour. He was to come to his people. Why? The Jewish people had that same question. They began to strut around. Paul warned them.

Paul was even at one time once strutting that he was of the tribe of Benjamin, the nation of Israel, and all this stuff. And Paul goes on later to say, wait a minute, God didn't pick us because we were more noble than any other nation.

He picked us because we're a bunch of losers. God says this in the book of Isaiah and in Jeremiah in the Old Testament that he says, don't think that I've picked you because you're some spectacular thing.

He says, I've picked you because you need help. Isn't that funny? You say, well, hmm, well, glad you didn't say that about me. Oh, just wait. He said concerning you and I, that he chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

That's why your boss or your neighbor thinks you're an idiot. Well, there they go. Look, Harriet, they got their Bibles. There they go. Look at them. Every Sunday we are goofballs in the eyes of the world.

That's okay. This earth's not our home. Aren't you glad? Man, we're not home yet. God always selects the underdog. The scriptures teach us that he came to the nation Israel. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 15, there around verse 22, Jesus is trafficking through the area and a Canaanite.

Remember the book of Joshua? We studied about the Canaanites, a Canaanite woman cried out to him and said, master, son of David, what is she using that term for? She has no right to that term. Son of David have mercy on me.

Help me. My daughter's possessed. She's a Canaanite. And the disciples say, master, send her away. She's bugging us. Great men of compassion that they were. Send her away. She's bugging us. Jesus, as she cries out, it says, does not answer her a word.

And she keeps crying. And he says, and I'll paraphrase, I've come to bring food to the house of the lost sheep of Israel. And she says, yes, Lord, that's great. And I'm not rejecting that truth. Obviously you're Jewish.

I'm a Canaanite, but I recognize that you have all the power. And I do believe, though I'm not a Jew, you are the son of David, that you are the Messiah. Please have mercy on me. And he says, but woman, it wouldn't be right for me to give the food that's dedicated to the nation, to the dogs.

Now you and I, and with that statement might have said, well, you can keep your Messiahship and walk away. Or she said to him, Lord, this is true, but even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.

And Jesus got a huge, it doesn't say this in the Bible. It had to have happened though. It had to happen. Jesus got a huge smile on his face and he said, woman, I haven't seen this kind of faith anywhere.

And he healed her daughter. What's the point? The Jews believed and believe today that Gentiles are fodder for hell. Did you know that? They believe that we Gentiles are fuel for the pit, for the flames of hell.

That's why they believe, this is not in the Bible, this is in their traditions, that God made Gentiles to stoke the flames of hell and to pay retail. But, but, but this is what the traditions teach. When Jesus says, it's not right that I give the food that's intended to be for the house, for the children, to the dogs, every Orthodox Jew would have said, boy, you sure told her off.

Well, the word that he used, and you and I don't get it in the English, go to it in the Greek. He says, woman, those cuddly little puppies that hang around the table, they shouldn't get it first. I've come to the nation first.

A cuddly, cute little puppy. Everybody loves a cuddly, cute little puppy. Jesus elevates this woman and then not only elevates by statement, but turns and blesses her with a miracle. He's come to the nation Israel first.

Yes, true, but watch this, consider this. He's also come to liberate the Gentile nations. Hey, look at this. You and I, most of us are Gentiles right now. I am 25 Irish, 25 German, and 50 Portuguese.

My mother was pure Portuguese. I am definitely a Gentile. I don't have a Jewish bone in my body. God has saved me. You may not be a Jew, but what has he done with you? He has saved you. Is it biblical?

Oh yeah, Isaiah chapter 11, God says, I will go to a nation, the nation of Gentiles, and they'll seek after me. Do you seek after Christ? His mission is to bring all the world to himself, even you and I.

Isn't that awesome? Isn't it great that God is not exclusionary in his mission? Only those who have an income of a hundred thousand and over. Aren't you glad he didn't lay that as a requirement? All those who live in certain zip codes, aren't you glad he didn't have that requirement?

All those who will look unto me, he says, I will no wise cast out to liberate the Gentile nations. Peter, God had to just drive this into his head. Peter was in the town of Joppa, remember there, and he was hungry.

And it says that he went on top of the roof and he fell asleep. Now that's something. I cannot sleep when I'm hungry. But Peter goes up on the roof and he falls asleep. He's starving. And they're downstairs, they're cooking the meals being done.

The fish tacos smell is coming up through the roof. Joppa's right on the beach. It's a great place. Peter's there sleeping. And it says while he's in the trance, and he's so hungry, the sheet comes down in his head.

He's dreaming. He sees this sheet come down. And he says he looks into the sheet and all kinds of four footed beast and unclean things are running around in the sheet. Can you imagine? So you look over there, man, and there goes a lobster.

You know, and there goes a pig. Peter's going, yes, unclean. And the Lord says, Peter, get up and kill and eat. Peter says, No way, Lord, which is an impossible thing to say. I'm a good Jewish boy. None of this stuff has ever touched my lips.

Guts is Peter, stand up and eat. Go after it. Get it. No, Lord. Three times. Ladies, be encouraged. Three times God had to tell Peter. Three times. It takes a while for us to get it. And Peter later in Acts, and the book of Acts, Peter later goes on to say, I have concluded from this that God has even provided salvation to the Gentiles.

How is that? Because it all started with a bunch of little pigs running around in the sheet. And in the Jewish mind, God wants them to. Yeah. To deliver a Gentile nation, us, all of us. This is wonderful.

This is liberating. Jesus, the Bible tells us in a parable, two of them, actually, Matthew 13. He says this, that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. Get it carefully. Watch this.

A treasure hidden in a field who, when a man comes, buys the whole field so he can extract the treasure. Very simply understood, the field is the world. The man who buys the earth is who? Jesus. What is the treasure in the field?

You are. He buys the whole field for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever puts your name in there, there you go. Another parable, Matthew 13 again, verse 45. Jesus is again the kingdom of heaven is like this.

A merchant seeking beautiful pearls who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold everything that he had and bought it. Who's the merchant? Jesus. Who's the pearl of great price? You are.

He gave up everything on his mission to get you. That ought to clear up your self-esteem problem, don't you think? You are valuable to him. The second thing we see this morning is this, the scope of Christ's mission, and that is to provide a temporal liberation for mankind.

The scope of his mission is this. When we say scope, we're talking about his far-reaching grasp of all that concerns us. In Matthew 9, 36, where there it says in the Bible, and when Jesus saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered, and they were like sheep having no shepherd.

Are you lonely? Is your life just, are you hurting right now? It's not important. I know your problem. I probably can't do anything about it anyway. I can pray for you. But the very situation that you find yourself in right now, Christ knows about it, and he is saying this to you this morning, I see you weary, scattered, like a little lamb that has no shepherd.

Maybe you're even a Christian, you wandered away from his wonderful pastoral care, which means shepherding care. The fact of the matter is, he has provided temporal liberation. When I say temporal, I mean on this earth now.

Maybe you're sitting here as a non-Christian, you're saying, why should I come to Christ? Well, the first thing is, is because he offers to you temporal liberation. That means right now he can give you the peace of God and peace with God.

All your life you've been kicking against God, knowingly or unknowingly, and Jesus immediately offers temporal liberation. Peace now in the midst of a storm. He provides that. The scope of his mission is certainly to help us now.

I love when people give their hearts to Jesus Christ. It's spectacular to watch. We'll pray together, and they'll pray, Lord come into my life, and we pray. They come to the conclusion of their prayer, and you can almost put a stopwatch to it.

They'll say, in Jesus' name, amen, and I'll say, welcome to the family. It's great to have you in the house. And you'll see them go, there's just peace, just peace. You see it happen in lives of people.

I've seen it happen to people here quite a long time ago. There was a man that used to always sit back in that area, right there against that wall over there, and he wasn't a Christian. And his wife would drag him here.

She didn't drug him to get him here, but he was dragged. And finally, he gave his heart to Christ. It was a very exciting day. It was actually Sunday after a third service, and after third service, I ran home.

I was mowing my lawn, or getting ready to mow my lawn. And so this guy pulls up to beat me up. I didn't know that. He had a mission all of his own. And it was to beat me up. He was fit up with the messages, and why should I come to Christ, and all this stuff.

And so by the time he got to me, God had just kind of touched him a little bit, and God began to do one thing and the other. And to make a long story short, right in the front lawn underneath the trees there in my house, he accepts the Lord.

And the first thing, we get done praying, in Jesus' name, amen. You know what he said first thing? Talk about peace. This may seem funny to you. But he went, now I can go to the church picnic. I said, what?

He'd been fighting the church picnic. Oh no, I gotta go. My wife's gonna drug me or drag me to get there. All these Christians, I can't stand them. Freedom. Jesus would have said, truly salvation has come to this man's home today.

He gets to go to the picnic. Liberation, freedom. God does that. Jesus also provided physical relief. He went around healing all those who were sick, all those who were in pain. He offers that help now.

He comforts your life. He will either do it miraculously or he'll do it, what I like to just say, naturally, supernaturally. Sometimes Jesus heals. We reported some tremendous news last Wednesday night, didn't we?

About God's wonderful, incredible works this week. But sometimes God chooses natural means supernaturally. Maybe the storm that you're in stays with you, but there's a peace. And haven't you had this happen in your life?

There's a peace that comes into your life and you almost feel guilty that you have so much peace in the midst of this problem. It's the strangest thing. Why aren't you worrying? I don't know. It's the Lord.

Don't you realize what's gonna happen? Yes. Panic with us. Make us feel better. I just don't know. I think God's gonna do something. I'm getting this right now. I'm preaching to myself right now on this.

We've got to break ground on the property. We've got to get going. It's gonna take years to build this building and we're gonna be out of a building. Our lease expires in the city, won't renew our lease, and we're gonna be on the street.