#hardcorechristianty #deliverance #mentally ill
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00:00Jesus heals broken hearts
00:26Mends the soul, gives fresh starts
00:33We cast out devils, heal the lame
00:40There is power in His name, name
00:47Jesus saves, Jesus heals
00:52Jesus loves His word reveals
00:55Jesus delivers, He sets us free
01:00Hardcore Christianity
01:03Heal the sick, make them whole
01:12Jesus' blood redeems the soul
01:16In His name we break the chains
01:20Cast out devils and heal the lame
01:24Call on Jesus this very day
01:35He will save you
01:40And lead the way
01:42And lead the way
01:44Receive eternal life
01:47Don't delay
01:51Jesus saves, Jesus heals
01:54Jesus loves His word reveals
01:58Jesus delivers and sets us free
02:02Darkcore Christianity
02:06Darkcore Christianity
02:16Darkcore Christianity
02:25All on Jesus this very day
02:29Every day, He will save you and lead the way.
02:39We'll receive eternal life, don't delay.
02:47Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus loves His word reveals.
02:53Jesus delivers, He sets us free.
02:57So I'm on the top of His head, I call Christy Emily.
03:19Good morning, friends.
03:20Hey, it's Sunday morning, podcast time.
03:22Brother Mike, thank you for tuning in.
03:25May God richly bless you.
03:26So grateful yesterday for the women's seminar.
03:28That thing was fantastic.
03:30The anointing, way up.
03:34Absolutely great.
03:35Ladies, thank you for tuning out yesterday.
03:38That was special.
03:40It looked fantastic.
03:42And thank God for all of you who got delivered and were healed.
03:46That is great.
03:47We're going to keep doing those ladies' seminars.
03:50They're just fantastic.
03:51They're off the chain.
03:55Beautiful.
03:56We have two live services every week at the Arizona Deliverance Center.
04:00Please remember to attend those services.
04:02They're highly anointed.
04:03The altar calls are fantastic.
04:06It's, we're so grateful to God that He keeps showing up left and right, helping people.
04:13And that's the purpose of our ministry.
04:14We want to try to help people.
04:16That's the purpose of your ministry.
04:19It's supposed to be helping people, right?
04:22We don't get fame or fortune off of it.
04:24We're just all servants.
04:27We're all together.
04:29All one.
04:30Nobody's better than the other person.
04:33And we just keep serving.
04:35That's how we do it until we die.
04:36And then from that point on, the good Lord takes care of the rest of it.
04:41Four Zoom services every week, including tonight.
04:45Tonight, powerful Zoom service.
04:47Please send me an email, mike at hardcorechristianity.com.
04:51I will get you connected to all of the services at the Arizona Deliverance Center.
05:00James, chapter one.
05:03Got another good one for you today.
05:05Not a pleasant one, but a good one.
05:09James, chapter one.
05:11Here it is in verse two.
05:14The great apostle says,
05:16Count it all joy when you fall into divers, divers temptations, right?
05:28Poikilas means various, different types of temptations.
05:33Now, a temptation in this verse is the Greek word parismos, and it means different types of testing related to adversity.
05:48Now, this is something that all Christians have to go through, 100% of them, and nobody gets a pass.
05:57Nobody gets a pass.
06:01And here's why.
06:01Verse three.
06:04Know this, James says.
06:08Genosko means he wants you to understand this.
06:13Understand this, that testing of your faith works patience.
06:19That's the Greek word, hupomone.
06:23It means endurance.
06:25And Paul mentioned this to the Corinthians, the Corinthians, you know.
06:29He said, look, this Christianity is not a sprint.
06:34This isn't a 100-yard dash or a 100-meter dash.
06:36This is a marathon.
06:40Christianity is a marathon.
06:43And so, the failures today are not what's important.
06:50The victories today are not the most important thing.
06:55It's the long marathon of your ministry and your life.
07:00One moment is not it.
07:06It's a collection of moments over a long period of time.
07:10We are in a long marathon.
07:13It's a long race.
07:16It's a 10K, so to speak.
07:20And James is saying, look, you're going to face testings.
07:26But it's allowed by God for a purpose.
07:34What's that purpose?
07:35Well, he says it in verse 4.
07:37He says, let endurance have her perfect work.
07:44Perfect work.
07:46What does that mean?
07:47Teleos, complete work.
07:49Let endurance, over a long period of time, work itself out till you are complete in your faith.
08:00Meaning that your faith doesn't work under this circumstances, but does this one.
08:05Doesn't work under this circumstances, but does this one.
08:09Okay?
08:10This is how it works.
08:12He says it'll be complete.
08:14So, it's your faith then works here, here, here, here, here.
08:17And the only way to accomplish that is over a period of time and testings.
08:25You have to be tested over a period of time.
08:28Right?
08:28That happened to us when we went to college.
08:31You went to college.
08:33Right?
08:34You started out with introductory classes.
08:38Introduction to philosophy.
08:40Introduction to sociology.
08:44Introduction to psychology.
08:46Right?
08:47I drifted into the counseling, psychology, and rehabilitation fields when I was in college.
08:56Because that was what was natural to me to be a counselor.
09:02I just drifted over there because of my personality type.
09:06I went that way.
09:07My math skills were horrible.
09:09My science bored me.
09:11So, obviously, I drifted away from that section and drifted over to this one.
09:16But you have to take a series of classes and you have to successfully complete those classes in order to get your bachelor's degree.
09:24Then I had to do the same thing in graduate school to finish my master's degree.
09:30Now, what does a bachelor and master's degree have to do with nothing?
09:33That has nothing to do with the Holy Ghost.
09:35You can drop out of third grade and be the most powerful preacher that's anywhere in Phoenix.
09:43Okay?
09:43No problemo.
09:45But the point is, it's a process.
09:48Anything you want to do and accomplish in this world or in the spiritual world,
09:54you have to do it by overcoming a series of tests to get your degree, so to speak.
10:02And verse 4 is the degree.
10:06Your faith is now complete in multiple circumstances so that you're not winning and losing, winning and losing, winning and losing,
10:15up and down, up and down, yo, yo, yo, yo.
10:19No.
10:21No, yo, yo.
10:22No.
10:24And it says, you may be mature, complete, and entire.
10:31That Greek word means to be fully and completely complete.
10:37Wanting nothing.
10:39Lipo.
10:39Lacking nothing.
10:43Then he goes into another subject.
10:47Wisdom.
10:49That's the Greek word Sophia.
10:51My granddaughter's name is Sophia.
10:52And she's got a very high IQ.
10:56A lot higher than mine.
10:59And she's good at math and computer and IT and all that stuff.
11:02If you lack wisdom, okay, people who lack wisdom don't understand what he just said.
11:12They don't understand this is a marathon.
11:14They think it's a sprint.
11:15They get one victory and they get one victory and they want to stay there and kind of gloat over it or bask in it.
11:22They don't understand you can't do it.
11:23They don't understand you can't do that.
11:25It's a long training process.
11:28Because you've got straight A's in three classes doesn't mean you get a degree.
11:34There's a lot more classes ahead.
11:36It's a process that you're going to go through as a Christian and God in his infinite wisdom and his love takes you through this process, but he only gives you tests that you are able to bear.
11:53He never gives you tests more than you are able to bear.
12:00And he will, with all testing and temptation, make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.
12:07So then it says in verse five, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to men liberally.
12:17God is a very, very generous person.
12:20He likes to give.
12:21It makes him feel good.
12:22He likes to give.
12:24You feel good when you give, right?
12:27Sure you do.
12:29It's more blessed to give than to receive.
12:31If you're a parent, it's more fun watching your kids open gifts at Christmas than it is what, than you watching yourself open them.
12:41You like to give.
12:41Well, father's just like that.
12:44Only, only much greater.
12:45He liberally, he liberally gives.
12:50And it says he upbraids not.
12:53What does upbraid mean?
12:55Onedizo.
12:56He doesn't verbally castigate you when you come to him asking him for wisdom.
13:01He's happy you did it.
13:02He's happy you did it.
13:08He wants to help you.
13:11Yeah, he wants to be with you.
13:13He likes it.
13:15And so James says, look, here's how this thing works.
13:21If you want to be a mature Christian and you want to fulfill your destiny and find your giftings and your anointings and all the wonderful things that the living Christ has to give you, you've got to learn that this is a marathon, not a sprint.
13:37You've got to be able to learn that endurance is the key.
13:44You've got to learn that you have to use wisdom to walk through a minefield.
13:50You can't just run through it.
13:53Okay?
13:53It's like life is like a minefield.
13:57Okay?
13:58You're going this way, but whoa, wait a minute.
14:00I can't step there.
14:02I got to, I got to go around that.
14:04I got to go over that.
14:05I got to go under that.
14:06You have to have wisdom to manage the minefield of life.
14:13And if you don't have any wisdom, you're going to marry somebody you shouldn't have.
14:17You're going to be dating somebody you should have nothing to do with.
14:21You're going to sleep with someone you should never even have shaken hands with.
14:25You're going to get involved in a church.
14:28You should never have walked through the front door.
14:31All kinds of bad things are going to happen to you.
14:34You're going to make a series of poor judgments.
14:37And so God, in his infinite wisdom and love, trains us step by step as we go, giving us tests that we're able to bear.
14:49Okay?
14:49So when I was in college at Emporia State in Kansas, I was working on my bachelor's degree, and I didn't know what I was going to get into or what I was going to do.
15:02I was a freshman.
15:03So I took a class, general math.
15:12I thought, whoa, darn, that's going to be difficult.
15:14I'm not good at math.
15:15Well, I put a lot of extra time in that class as opposed to some of the other classes, and I got a B in it, and it was all I could do to get a B in general math.
15:28Can you believe that?
15:31Yeah, it was college math.
15:33It was the entry-lowest level math class you could take in college to fulfill a math credit to graduate and get a bachelor's degree.
15:43Okay?
15:43They did not start me out with Introduction to Trigonometry.
15:49Okay?
15:51So my next class, the next semester, they gave me Introduction to Trigonometry.
16:02I have no idea why I agreed to take it.
16:04I got it on my syllabus.
16:08I walked into the class.
16:10I can remember it to this day like it happened yesterday.
16:13I was a freshman in college.
16:15I walk into the class.
16:17I sit in the back.
16:17The class is packed, and there's more students than there is chairs.
16:22People are standing along the walls.
16:24Introduction to Trigonometry.
16:26True story.
16:28An old man comes in who looked like he had been dug up and who fell out of a museum.
16:36He looked like a fossil.
16:38No hair.
16:39Slumped over.
16:40Shuffling to the front of the class.
16:43Jesus made 60 seconds, 120 seconds of introductions and said, here's our first lesson.
16:55He said, the books are not in, in the bookstore.
17:03They don't have the books.
17:05My mouth hit the floor.
17:08My eyes bugged out like saucers.
17:10I had the, some kind of strange fear of God come over me.
17:16And this guy, I'll never forget it, shuffled up to the chalkboard and started to go through the first lesson.
17:24And he wrote, from this end of the classroom for that one, stuff on the chalkboard, trigonometry numbers, figures, formulas.
17:35I was sitting there in a state of shock.
17:39I'm looking around at the other people in the class that were sitting in the back.
17:45Many of them looked like, many of them looked like, had strange ghost-like looks on their faces.
17:53The class was finally over.
17:55I got up immediately and went to the admissions office and deleted that class off my schedule.
18:03I went right from the classroom.
18:06I did not pass go.
18:08I did not spend another $100.
18:10I went right to and dropped it.
18:16Well, what's the point there?
18:18Well, they were doing to me what God would not do to you.
18:21He would never do that to you.
18:23He gives you tests, and he doesn't cause the tests, but he blocks other tests from coming at you that are too much for you to handle.
18:36So when you have a trial, you've got to understand something.
18:40God allowed that trial in because he knew you could, with his help, handle it.
18:47And he wanted you, he wanted you to learn from it.
18:54So if you avoid all your trials and you run from adversity, you will never fulfill your destiny, receive your giftings, or end up in your calling.
19:07It will not work.
19:08You will fail, and you will miss everything God has for you in life.
19:13You cannot, you cannot run from adversity.
19:20You have to face what God allows you to face because he's training you.
19:28He's helping you, and every time you pass this test, your wisdom accelerates.
19:35If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men bountifully, and he doesn't verbally shame you for asking, and it shall be given him.
19:50It shall be given him.
19:53Now check this out.
19:551 Peter chapter 4.
19:58Very interesting.
19:59The great apostle says this, beloved, think it not strange, considering the fiery trial.
20:08Now this is different.
20:11Purosis is the Greek word, which means five-alarm fire, a calamity, a trauma.
20:19Now we've gone from testings and temptations and trials to fiery trials, okay?
20:33These are the tests that God allows to come into your life when he has big plans for the Christian.
20:44Big plans.
20:45The fiery trials, the trauma trials, the really tough stuff.
20:55He doesn't allow that to hit every Christian.
20:59Every Christian gets trials.
21:03Everybody gets tests.
21:06All of them.
21:08When I graduated with my bachelor's degree, I went through the ceremony.
21:11There were hundreds of other students there getting their bachelor's degree, and they all did the same thing I did.
21:21They all took classes.
21:22They all passed the tests.
21:24They got grades.
21:25They fulfilled all the requirements, and they got a degree, okay?
21:30Those are tests and trials that all of us must face, and there are no exceptions.
21:36But to the ones who God is giving special training for, they face fiery trials.
21:49And Peter says, when you get a fiery trial, don't think it's a strange, weird thing happening to you.
21:59He says, flip on it.
22:01Flip it over.
22:03Rejoice, verse 13, inasmuch as you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ, because you will be revealed with him in his glory.
22:13Now, you see a difference there.
22:17You see the difference.
22:18You see trials and tribulations.
22:20That's right.
22:22Everybody has those, and nobody can get out of them.
22:25But fiery trials, God allows those in, but only to certain types, okay?
22:33The legendary British evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth, went through a major fiery trial one time.
22:39His wife unexpectedly died.
22:43He couldn't believe it.
22:44The guy was devastated.
22:45He never recovered from it.
22:49Later on in his incredible ministry, when he was in the middle of this monstrositous anointing for healing and deliverance,
23:01the guy was off the chain, incredible.
23:05He looked like he fell out of the book of Acts.
23:06He got hit with another fiery trial.
23:10But the entire time Wigglesworth was in the ministry, he had trials and tribulations all the way through, like all of us.
23:19But Wigglesworth had to face major fiery trials that didn't happen very often.
23:28Well, the second fiery trial lasted six years.
23:34Okay, he had kidney stones, severe kidney stones for six years, and he suffered with it for six years.
23:42I mean, it was killing him, absolutely killing him.
23:49He suffered with it.
23:50He ministered with it.
23:52When he got home to the hotel at night, when he was on the road, his pants, his underwear was filled with blood.
23:59He would be up at night in agonizing pain, trying to urinate.
24:08And this went on for six years.
24:11Was that going to happen to me?
24:13No, because fiery trials come to people who God has special, special plans for.
24:25Special plans for.
24:29If you are going through a living hell, rejoice and be exceedingly glad.
24:39You have special plans brewing for you from God.
24:47Regular trials and tribulations?
24:59No.
25:00Every single Christian has to go through that.
25:07Fiery trials?
25:08Not every Christian faces a fiery trial.
25:11Are you facing a fiery trial?
25:18Well, Wigglesworth had six years of it.
25:22After that trial was over, his super anointing for healing and deliverance went from here to the stratosphere.
25:31He had all the gifts of the spirit after that, all of them.
25:40Knowledge, wisdom, prophecy, all the gifts.
25:44Healing, deliverance, you name it.
25:47And his ministry boomed.
25:49Like, nobody could believe after that.
25:53Everybody on the planet Earth wanted Wigglesworth to come to their services.
25:58But, listen to me now.
26:06Brother Mike, it seems like I'm going through a fiery trial.
26:08Well, that's probably true.
26:10A lot of Christians blow stuff out of proportion.
26:12But, trust me, when you've had kidney stones for six years or your wife dropped dead on you and she was the most important person in your life and you lost her.
26:25See, God knew that she was the preacher in the family.
26:29And God knew she had to be removed to get Wigglesworth into his destiny because he would have never taken his destiny with her there.
26:37And years later, when he was an old man, a young preacher asked him, what was the secret of his power?
26:47How the heck did he get this massive anointing?
26:50And Wigglesworth said to the preacher, this may surprise you, but I got it because I am a broken man.
26:58He was expecting to hear, he had some kind of special secret in prayer, special secret in interpreting the word.
27:12He was looking for some supernatural divine revelation.
27:16You know what he got from Wigglesworth?
27:18I am a broken, lonely man.
27:24Can you imagine that?
27:28But I am not Wigglesworth, Brother Mike.
27:33Okay, you are not.
27:33So, let's flip off from fiery trials then and go back to James.
27:38You are going to be tested.
27:40Okay.
27:42Well, Brother Mike, I am being tested.
27:45My spouse is jacked up.
27:47No, that is not a fiery trial.
27:49That is a trial.
27:51Okay, you got a jacked up spouse.
27:52Now, if you got an OJ Simpson spouse, now that is a different story.
27:56That is a fiery trial.
27:57I am not talking about that.
27:59Your husband, your wife, they are totally screwed up.
28:03They are out of it.
28:04Okay, that is a constant trial God is allowing in your life to teach you to learn to overcome.
28:13Your kids are driving you nuts.
28:16Your daughter is pregnant again.
28:17Oh, my God.
28:19Three kids.
28:19Three different guys.
28:23Fiery trials.
28:24No.
28:25Those are regular trials that everybody has to go through.
28:29God allows it to come in.
28:31Why?
28:32He is trying to get you into your destiny.
28:35He wants your faith to endure over a long marathon of spiritual events so that you can be all you're called to be to help others and to care for them and take care of them.
28:53I mean, even a little ministry like we have.
29:00I started out with one person in the ministry.
29:07It was me sitting in an office.
29:09I was sitting in my own office that I used to use for my counseling practice, secular counseling practice.
29:20After I closed it down, I didn't have another office.
29:22I owned the building, so I just used that building.
29:25I was using that office.
29:27I was doing counseling appointments in my office.
29:32There was nobody around.
29:33It was just me.
29:36And men and women came to see me, and there was nobody there.
29:44Now you see the Deliverance Center.
29:46You see all these amazing people with these anointings.
29:50You saw Julie last night at the seminar for the women.
29:54You see all these people during these counseling appointments.
29:58You see Rick.
29:58You see all these teachers.
30:00You see all these Zoom things.
30:02All of these things came from small beginnings, and that's why God told you, do not despise small beginnings because that's the way the good Lord works.
30:15He trains you to be a monster in Christ.
30:20Joshua, the great warrior for God, enormous prophet.
30:29The man was off the chain, great.
30:34And, incredibly, he did not have the failures in his life Moses had or King David had.
30:47You happen to notice that?
30:49Yeah, because Joshua was trained over decades to be the leader of Israel.
30:58And to not screw up like King David did and Moses did, he learned from their mistakes.
31:13And he went through many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, fiery trials.
31:21But there wasn't any way to become the leader of Israel without facing enormous adversity.
31:29Now, I am never going to be in a position like that.
31:34I'm just a regular person.
31:37I have a small ministry here in Phoenix, hardcore Christianity.
31:42But understand and know that God treats everybody the same.
31:47He's no respecter of persons.
31:48You have to learn to pass your little tests to fulfill your destiny.
31:56If you have a special calling, some kind of special greatness in the spirit world,
32:04some like off the chain anointing for something, like Wigglesworth did,
32:09you're going to have to face fiery trials.
32:15Catherine Kuhlman did.
32:17The demons tricked her into marrying a guy she should have never married.
32:20He ruined her ministry, stole her ministry, and ruined her life.
32:25She finally got out of it.
32:28Her father died, and she was a daddy's girl.
32:32Major trauma, fiery trial.
32:36Look what happened to her.
32:39Look what happened to her.
32:43She had a special calling.
32:46Maybe you've got one, and I hope you do.
32:49But fiery trials are reserved for the superpowered saints of God.
32:57Mary Wordworth Etter was the most anointed human being that ever lived in the United States of America,
33:04male or female.
33:05There was nobody like her.
33:06She was a gasping freak.
33:10How'd she get there?
33:12How did that happen?
33:14A series of fiery trials hit that poor woman.
33:18The devil hated her with a hate you can't even conceive or believe.
33:24She buried all of her children and two husbands.
33:29Are you, is that going to happen to you?
33:37No, it is not.
33:39Fiery trials are different from trials.
33:42Everybody gets trials.
33:44The great ones get fiery trials.
33:47So if you're going through a fiery trial right now, put it in your mind.
33:53Put it in your memory.
33:55Hey, this is for something special.
33:57I've got to overcome this to reach my, if you will, super destiny.
34:06And that's what James and Peter were talking about.
34:11They bifurcated the concept of trials.
34:16And that's you.
34:18Here's the pyramid.
34:21The guys at the top are the super anointed people.
34:25And they're the ones that have overcome all these trials and the fiery trials.
34:31God doesn't allow weak Christians or beginning Christians or trainee Christians to get blasted with fiery trials.
34:45He blocks them.
34:46The devil wants to blast everybody with a fiery trial.
34:50And then he wants to burn them at the stake and kill them.
34:53And that's, that's on a good day.
34:57God doesn't allow it.
34:59He protects you.
35:00He protects you from attacks of the devil.
35:03What you don't understand is the trials you're going through now or the, or the fiery trial you're facing is only one or two or three.
35:14God blocked several thousand that never hit you.
35:21He blocked all of them.
35:25You only got hit with one fiery trial or two.
35:28You, you, you, there were 10 more he blocked, but he only let the ones through that is designed for you to fulfill your glorious destiny.
35:41Yeah.
35:43Yeah.
35:45That's how it works.
35:49That's what God wants you to do.
35:51The legendary John Lake in Seattle was a gaspily anointed human being.
35:58He had over a hundred thousand documented healings.
36:02Can you imagine that?
36:03That's just in Washington.
36:05That wasn't including way more than that.
36:08When he was a missionary to Africa.
36:10I mean, he was, he was killing it over there.
36:13There were just probably a million of people healed in Africa, but in, but here in Washington, the figure dropped way low to a hundred thousand.
36:25Lake was a terrible father and his first family was sacrificed for his ministry.
36:42And later on, when he got married again and had a second family, he modified it because he had learned from the last one.
36:58And if you neglect everything in your life for your ministry, whatever you neglected is going to suffer.
37:06It doesn't matter whether it's family or finances or what have you.
37:11Lake, great man of God.
37:13I'm not criticizing him.
37:14I'm just telling you what happened.
37:18He learned balance, personal life balance with ministry.
37:22Actually, the second family, but the first family suffered horribly.
37:31His son said to a nurse, he had gotten a terminal illness.
37:35I forgot what it was.
37:36While he was dying, he said, I wish my dad was here to pray for me.
37:41And he died.
37:44The great John Lake, he wishes that.
37:46Trauma, fiery trials are reserved for those whom God is going to make into a spiritual super monster.
38:02Okay.
38:03It's a Godzilla King Kong showdown.
38:08The rest of us, we get fiery trials consistently on a regular basis.
38:14So we can learn endurance and we can gather wisdom to fulfill our level of ministry and destiny.
38:29And that's what God's doing with you.
38:31And he does it with every Christian.
38:33He doesn't cause the trials.
38:36He doesn't cause the fiery trials, but he manages them by his grace and mercy.
38:42So you can develop endurance.
38:44Okay.
38:47Most Christians in the United States backslide.
38:53I'll tell you one last story.
38:55Maybe I haven't gone too long.
38:56I apologize for that.
38:57But I'll tell you this one last story.
39:02Billy Graham was being interviewed many, many, many, many years ago.
39:0775 years ago, something like that.
39:09No.
39:1050 something years ago.
39:11Whatever it was.
39:12I'm sorry.
39:13He was a guy named David Frost was interviewing him on a talk show.
39:18And David Frost was one of the inventors of the talk shows.
39:23And then Barbara Walters picked it up.
39:25She took it to a stratosphere.
39:27And then after that, everybody had a talk show.
39:30But anyway, Billy Graham is on there.
39:33And David Frost, who was not saved, had great respect for Billy Graham.
39:37And he was giving him softball questions.
39:39And he was being respectful to him.
39:44Today, if somebody interviewed him, you know, they'd try to chop him up.
39:47But David Frost was asking the question about it must be wonderful to have had this ministry where you've literally been traveling the world, talking about Christ.
39:58You get these massive crowds.
40:01The success is enormous.
40:02That must be very satisfying to you.
40:05Billy Graham said, I feel like a worm crawling along the dust.
40:09Frost mouth dropped open.
40:12A completely unexpected answer.
40:18And Billy Graham went on to explain how disappointed he was in his ministry.
40:24That all these people that had gotten saved under his ministry had backslidden.
40:28These big-time evangelists, Greg Laurie, Billy Graham, Luis Palau, all these other people, they all keep statistics of converts, convert statistics, for obvious reasons.
40:44They compile this massive database, and then they send them advertisements, newsletters, requests for money, et cetera.
40:53Well, Billy Graham's research team noticed that they were losing over 80% of the converts.
41:07Remember the Crusades?
41:09They were beautiful.
41:09Billy had a great message.
41:11Great preacher.
41:14Come as you are.
41:15Remember the song?
41:17Fantastic.
41:18You go down, say a sinner's prayer, fill out a card.
41:21I'm Joe Blow from Blowville.
41:24This is my phone number.
41:26And you keep the card.
41:27There was no internet back then.
41:30And then these cards are then collected.
41:35You know, tens of thousands of them collected.
41:39And then they're given out geographically.
41:42They give them out based on the area the church is in.
41:44So if Joe Blow lived in Surprise, Arizona, that card would be given to a church who supported the Billy Graham crusade or Luis Palau or what have you.
41:57That's your reward or your evangelistic result of the crusade and for supporting the crusade.
42:04That's how they worked with system.
42:06Well, the Billy Graham system and the other ones, they do follow-ups on these people.
42:15Some of them don't even do them.
42:16For example, Benny Hinn doesn't even do it.
42:18He doesn't even keep track of anything.
42:21He doesn't even document any healings.
42:23He doesn't want to know.
42:24Okay.
42:25But back then, back in the day, 70s and 80s and so on, they would follow up on these guys and they were all, they were gone.
42:32They couldn't, they weren't at the church.
42:34They disappeared.
42:35And it was the parable of the sower all over again.
42:38You know, the thorns came up, boom, they were gone.
42:40Everybody backslidden.
42:41So Billy Graham was telling David Frost, who was not a Christian, on live TV, that he was so disappointed in his ministry because he had all these people backsliding.
42:55And that he was starting to question whether he had any effect at all.
43:03And he may have gotten Billy Graham in a down period.
43:07I don't know.
43:07But what he said was, to me, shocking because I wasn't a Christian then.
43:14I wasn't serving God.
43:15But I was listening to that interview, you know, like you do on the news interview shows.
43:20They have two or three different interviews.
43:22Well, Billy Graham was one of them.
43:23And I was, I thought, well, that's odd.
43:27I didn't think much of it.
43:28I just went over it.
43:29But now that I remember it, now I understand what happened.
43:33That the devil brought trials to some and on a small percent got fiery trials.
43:45And they were gone.
43:46They had no endurance.
43:48You are not that person.
43:52You did not say a casual sinner's prayer.
43:56You did not fill out a card at a crusade.
43:59You are pressing in to fulfill your destiny.
44:02You're dead serious about your service to God.
44:06You have no intention of quitting.
44:07And every trial that comes your way, perismos, testing, every test you have, you are going to pass it.
44:17You're going to gain wisdom from it.
44:19And you're going to develop endurance.
44:21If you are called to something very special for God, he will allow a fiery trial to come into your life.
44:31Yeah, those are tough.
44:33Those are, man, those are bad.
44:35Okay.
44:36I've faced several of them over the years.
44:40They are really horrible.
44:43They're tough to beat.
44:46But my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness.
44:57I'm teaching on fiery trials today, and my heart is filled with joy.
45:01The paradox of the Holy Ghost.
45:05Come on now.
45:06You've been called by God, and you darn well know it.
45:11Now, you're facing trials.
45:13You're crazy kids.
45:14You're insane spouse.
45:15The kook you worked for.
45:18You go into the office.
45:19You can't believe it's run by morons.
45:21Those are trials.
45:23Some of you are facing a fiery trial.
45:26Your daughter got killed in a car wreck.
45:28Your son OD'd.
45:31Okay, something happened to your mother and died unexpectedly.
45:34Man, hey, I get it.
45:35I'm with you.
45:36I've had all that stuff happen to me.
45:40God is training you for something spectacular.
45:43And all you have to do is develop your endurance.
45:48develop your wisdom.
45:53And you, my friend, are good to go.
45:58I love you.
46:01I'll see you next week, too, right?
46:03You can call me.
46:04602-636-5800.
46:06You send me an email.
46:07Mike at hardcorechristianity.com.
46:09And we'll all work on this together.
46:12And we'll all get ready to go.
46:15Thank you, Jesus.
46:16Thank you, Jesus.
46:16Thank you, Jesus.
46:16Thank you, Jesus.
46:17Thank you, Jesus.
46:17Thank you, Jesus.
46:17Thank you, Jesus.
46:17Thank you, Jesus.
46:18Thank you, Jesus.
46:18Thank you, Jesus.
46:19Thank you, Jesus.
46:19Thank you, Jesus.
46:20Thank you, Jesus.
46:21Thank you, Jesus.
46:21Thank you, Jesus.
46:21Thank you, Jesus.
46:21Thank you, Jesus.
46:22Thank you, Jesus.
46:22Thank you, Jesus.
46:22Thank you, Jesus.
46:22Thank you, Jesus.
46:23Thank you, Jesus.
46:23Thank you, Jesus.
46:23Thank you, Jesus.
46:24Thank you, Jesus.
46:24Thank you, Jesus.
46:24Thank you, Jesus.
46:25Thank you, Jesus.
46:25Thank you, Jesus.
46:26Thank you, Jesus.
46:27Thank you, Jesus.
46:28Thank you, Jesus.