Experiencing the Presence of God's Spirit - Francis Chan

Here right now to hear Francis Chan and we
are extremely blessed that in his busy

schedule he would take the time to be with
us.

He's leaving here immediately. His plans
have changed. Where he was flying home to

San Francisco, he'll be flying instead to
New York City to be interviewed tomorrow

by Mike Huckabee, and then he flies home
to preach Sunday morning.

So, my friend, would you come up and we'll
pray, and let you have this place.

Father in Heaven, you see this man and he
is a shell until you set right inside of

him. You know his heart desires to say
bigger things than he is and the size of

things that you are. And God, not only
does he want to say them but we want to

hear them, and you're going to have to
give all of us help to get that done.

And we can't wait to see you do it as we
thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Oh, man. Amen.

That is everything I'm praying for right
now. Everything, Terry.

I believe that was an anointed prayer.

I believe what Dusty just shared came from
God. I don't want to interrupt that.

I want to move along and say this is Part
3 to what you just heard.

I don't want to take us in a different
direction because I believe God spoke to

me through you, Dusty, through Randy. I'm
sitting there going "Lord, this is

something bigger than what I expected".
I really believe exactly what Terry was

just praying, that God wants to do bigger
things than just the message I have.

You know, and I believe sovereignly, I
left my notes over there.

You know, I just realised, I got so into
what you were saying and what the spirit

was doing that I'm just going, "You know
there's something going on here and I want

to have the courage to say what I need to
say, and what I believe the Lord has laid

on my heart". When you talk about, man,
that illustration about the swimming pool,

and jumping into the deep end. I believe
that's what God is calling me to do.

Again, by the way, amazing illustration,
I am going to steal it.

Pretend I made it up, you know. No,
because I was that same kid, you know.

I wanted to stay in the shallow end. I
wanted to be where I know I could put

my feet down. I didn't want to, you know,
yeah, I wouldn't go. I was the same kid.

I would jump off the diving board, and
yet I see in my relationship with God the

times I did. The times I just dove off the
deep end because I knew what the Word of

God promised. Despite what anyone else
said, I knew what this book said.

And it was on biblical convictions, not on
tradition, not just on stuff that I was

taught. When I was alone with the Word of
God and I would see something, there I go,

"No, God is going to come through for me,
I can seek the things of God first. I can

seek the Kingdom first, and everything
else will be taken care of. He promises me

that, so if I don't take a risk on that,
how do I even know there's a resurrection?

You know, I've got to trust every bit of
God's word". In the times, I've taken

those leaps off the diving board, off
the high dive in the deep end because of a

biblical conviction. Those, I'm not
talking about risk just to risk.

I'm talking about risk because you're so
convicted by the Word of God.

You know, a lot of times in Church, we
almost like convicting messages, and

walking away feeling convicted. I'm here
to tell tell you that is not success.

I used to, when I first started preaching,
man, I would just lay it out. I believe

I still do, but I would just teach the
Word of God and if people got angry and

walked away, you know, sad. I would be
like, "Yeah! Showed you!" You know, I had

people walking out of the sermon as I was
speaking, and there was a sense of pride.

You know, and later on I realised, man, a
lot of them were not offended by God's

Word, they were offended by me and my
lack of love and the presentation.

And I just...

there's so many thoughts running
through my head right now, again, just so much I

want to say in this brief time, but I...

The point I was getting at is, I used to
think that maybe the goal of preaching

was just saying it and letting people
walk away sad,

and it's only the last few years that God
has shown me that

the goal is not for everyone to walk away
crying.

I mean, where do you see in scripture
Jesus teaching and the people

walking away sad and that being
success?

Now, we see that, like in the rich, young
ruler, right?

Jesus speaks to the rich, young ruler,
you know, who has this

self-righteousness and you know, "I've
done all these good things," you know,

"I want to go to heaven," you know, on and
on and on, but it says

when Jesus says, "Sell all your
possessions and give it to the poor,"

it says in, I'm sorry I can't read,
verse, chapter 18 of Luke

verse 23, it says, "When he heard these
things, he became very sad,

for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing
that he had become sad, said

'How difficult it is for those who have
wealth to enter the kingdom of God.

It's easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich person

to enter the kingdom of God.'

Those who heard it said, 'Then who can be
saved?' but he says 'What's impossible

with men, is possible with God."

So the rich, young ruler walked away
sad, right? Jesus gave

him a message. It was too much for him to
take in. He's like, "I don't know if I

want to jump in the deep end. I don't
know, I've got a lot of stuff. I kind of

want to play it safe, just in case you
don't come through. I want to make

sure I can keep all these riches
and everything else.

I want to play it safe," and he walks away
sad because he couldn't walk away

from the stuff, and Jesus doesn't go,
"Yeah! Look at him. I did it. I made him

sad!" No, he just looks at him, and I
believe it was a tone of,

"(sigh) It's so hard, it's so hard for
the rich to enter the kingdom of

heaven! It's so hard for guys like that.

It would be easier for me to cram that
camel over there through the eye

of this needle than for that guy
to enter the kingdom of heaven."

It was a sad moment, but what I love
is you know, the disciples are like,

"Then how can anyone get saved?"

He goes, "Hey, it's possible with God.

You know, with men it's not possible, but
with God it is,"

and what's great is that in the very
next chapter,

in Luke chapter 19, it says he entered
Jericho, and was passing through

and there was a man named Zacchaeus.
He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

So in the very next chapter, you have this
rich man, and you know the story.

He's in the tree, sees Jesus. Jesus says,
"Come on, I want to go to your house.

I want to eat at your house."

He jumps out of that tree, gets so
excited, throws this party.

Man, I've got Jesus here. He makes
this grand announcement in front of

everyone. He goes, "Look, everything
I have , I'm going to give half of it,

I'm just going to give it away to the
poor right now.

And with the other half, I have
ripped off, I have stolen from a lot

of you. I'll give you four times
whatever I stole from you."

And what does Jesus say?

"Today, salvation has come to this house."

Why, there was a repentance right there.
See, that was the joy.

That's what God wants, is this
repentance that leads to life, right?

Godly sorrow, 2 Corinthians. You know,
godly sorrow leads to repentance,

but there's a worldly sorrow that
leads to death.

There's a godly sorrow, that leads to
repentance, which leads to life,

not walking away sad. We walk away sad
when we're not willing to change.

We walk away like Zacchaeus when we
realize the truth and we actually do

something.

We actually repent. We don't sit week
after week, year after year,

being hearers of the Word and not
doers of it, but we hear the Word

of God, and like Dusty was saying,
we look at those dreams,

we look at those biblical convictions
and go, "I'm going to change.

I'm going to do it," and we become like
Zacchaeus, or you can chose today

to walk away sad, but I'm just telling
you, look, that is not the goal

and we don't want to be hearers of
the Word and not doers.

I mean, for our own good.

I believe that Satan is thrilled with a
lot of our church services.

I believe the enemy loves it, because
Satan is the great deceiver,

and James says, "When you hear the Word
and you don't do it, you are deceiving

yourself."

And so Satan's sitting back going,
"Look at these guys! They gather on

Sunday morning to hear a message
they're not going to apply.

They're deceiving themselves. My job
is done.

Man, I hope this country is filled
with church. I hope they fill them all

up and preach the Word of God but
no one does it."

That would be Satan's dream, because
they could just deceive themselves, and

he doesn't even have to do anything.

Our God is a God of repentance, of
actual change, of turning.

It's not hearing the Word of God
and not do anything about it.

Man, Isaiah 6, you know, one of the
passages that changed my life,

Isaiah 6, that you both preach from, was
one of the passages that changed my life

because it got me thinking about, wow,
here's this prophet of God, a prophet

of God, and yet the moment he saw
God, he just says, "I am dead.

Woe is me, woe is me." Those words,
'woe is me' in the Hebrew is