God's Final Call

Up next, Dr. Yusef brings you a very personal episode of Leading the Way, encouraging you to be a part of God's final call. Behold, He is coming with clouds and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him.

The churches of Revelation departed from God's truth and they serve as a warning for us today. Join us now as Dr. Michael Yusef, cultural anthropologist, pastor, and author, as he unpacks God's final call to the church of our time. Hello, my friends. What a special privilege and honor for me to come to you instead of standing in the pulpit and proclaiming the Word of God as I do and I will as long as God gives me a breath.

I love those opportunities when I can come to you and talk to you one on one. And from the bottom of my heart, only God in heaven knows how grateful I am for you who constantly being partner in the ministry. You have encouraged me through the years in our partnership together for the gospel. And you know, some of you know this, that prior to birthing the church of the apostles, when God burden me 40 years ago to do that, I was heading up a parachurch ministry that literally got me traveling around the world four times a year for over 10 years. And so I saw the church of Jesus Christ in all of its shapes and forms. The Bible talks about the church that is the bride of Christ, the redeemed from every language, tribe, nation, that we will be together in heaven, the church from around the world, but also the Bible talks about churches, this local church. And I want to make that distinction early on as we talk about God's final call.

It's very, very important to understand that. And so I want to speak to you from my heart about the condition of the church. And we were doing this throughout this program, throughout this particular time that we are taking away from regular teaching and preaching to speak to you in person. I don't want you to ever forget, don't ever forget that Satan always, always working over time to destroy the church of Jesus Christ, the faithful believers, those who have put their faith in him alone. Most of the West really has a consumeristic mentality about church.

Okay, well, I'll join or I'll participate because you do some great events or you do this and that. How much of that is really helping people to connect with God? People like someone to motivate them, to encourage them, but they're not really very keen to know the truth. I think the church feels that being a loving church, that you have to accept all these different views. I personally have seen churches sadly down to what society wants to hear. The church at large has lost its moral compass.

There can be people who come alongside you and say, hey, you need to water things down a little bit. I'm being asked to say that God's truth is a lie. Doctrine and theology is not being taught. There's been this unhitching, so to speak, of the Old Testament to the New Testament.

Many messages have just become TED Talks. They're not talking about repentance and repenting. How we project Jesus, we talk about him being loved and he is, but we don't portray the fact that he's holy and he's righteous and he can't abide sin. The Bible says if you do these things, you can't enter the kingdom of heaven.

The challenging things have to be in there too. The church is not really ready for big waves of persecution. Because we're so comfortable, you just want your Christian faith to be just convenient. If you really mean you want to follow Jesus, it's going to cost you. What's going to happen when persecution does hit the church?

Will they scatter or will they come together? God, if suffering comes, help me fear you more and fear living a life that I honor you more than my own comfort. There is a call at this time to renew that first love. At this stage, we need a revival from heaven. Christianity is kind of losing its form in a nutshell. The frame that we know Christianity to be is loose. You know, I think we all sense the church is facing some unique challenges and we find ourselves in a unique predicament in this postmodern, increasingly post-Christian age. We, first of all, think of the outside pressures on the church coming from this secularizing force and all that is allied with it. And then we also know of predicaments inside the church that demand our attention.

Where will we go for help? I think one of the most important things for the faithful believers is to, if they haven't already, be knit together in close fellowship. And so they stand together. I've been studying the epistle to the Philippians.

How many times the apostle Paul, and not just Philippians, in Corinthians, in Galate, everywhere, in every passage, stand together, stand together, stand firm, together, because it's very difficult to stand alone. And I've often likened it to a roaring fire. And then you take that log out and you put it aside. What will happen? That log fire is going to die very quickly when it's all alone. You throw it back in that roaring fire and it will, fire will burn. So it is the same with us as believers.

We cannot be long rangers. We cannot live the Christian life alone. So one of the most important ways to protect the body of Christ from whatever persecution comes from, from whatever area, whether it be in society, in the schools, in the campuses, it doesn't matter.

We will be able to find a home in which we will grow in Christ together. You know, the burden of my heart from John the Revelator, who was isolated in the island of Potomac, and there the Lord privileged him to see things that we are privileged to read about. John is a very unique, was a very unique disciple. And God showed him some unique things. And that is why in the book of Revelation, in the beginning and at the end says, it is very important to read this Revelation, this prophecy loud, not to take from it or add to it. And if you imagine a mailman coming from Potomac, traveling around Asia Minor, it's almost like a circle, kind of a weird circle, but it goes around from one place to the other, starts with the church in Ephesus and ends with Laodicea.

And you will see that circle in a minute. But each church was unique. Each church was facing difficulty. But do you believe there are only two churches that Jesus commended and just was praising them for the way they're standing for the truth?

The other five, they had all kinds of problems. And so when you look at the churches, wherever you are, and you see those problems and you say, well, that's not new, but what do we learn from what Jesus said to these churches? In the late first century AD, Roman persecution of Christians swept across the empire.

Fueled by the ruthless emperor Diocletian, Christians were arrested for refusing to worship Caesar as God. John, the last of the 12 apostles, was captured in Ephesus, an exile to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, where he would remain a prisoner until his death. It was a time of immense suffering for the church. While in exile, John was visited by the glorified Jesus and was instructed by Christ to write powerful letters of encouragement and warning to seven churches in Asia Minor. Two were faithful.

Five had lost their way. The letters traced a path to each city on the great Roman road in the east. Under intense pressure, the stakes were high for every church. The first letter went to Ephesus. The church in Ephesus was known for following God's law, but their motivations were not driven by love, causing their deep affection for him to fade. The letter to Smyrna was for a faithful but impoverished church, yet rich in Christ.

Jesus warned of upcoming persecutions and encouraged them to remain steadfast. Furthest north, the Pergamum Church was seduced by idolatry and false teachings, captivated by their culture and the world. East of Pergamum, the Church of Thyatira was a congregation invested in their works, each greater than the last, but they tolerated grievous sin in their midst. A day's journey from Thyatira, the letter to Sardis warned of a church alive in reputation, but their works were dead.

Their light in the world was quickly fading away. Entering through the gates of Philadelphia, the nations poured into the streets, providing great gospel opportunities. In their faithfulness to Christ, they were promised protection from persecutions to come. At the end of the road was the city of Laodicea, a church that trusted in their prosperity.

Unlike Smyrna, they were spiritually destitute in their obsession with material wealth. The churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia were encouraged by Christ to keep their eyes fixed on him, but the remaining five were admonished to turn from their sin, repent, and seek their riches in the resurrected Jesus. Only then would they receive the crown of life. Christ's words to these ancient churches cast light on the condition of their heart, but his admonitions in these letters were also written as a warning to us, because 2,000 years later, the Church is facing the same crises. When Jesus said to the Ephesian church, I can remove your lampstand, that is the light of the gospel. That is the witnessing to the world. That is the proclamation of the gospel, seeing the lost saved and coming into the church and being discipled. Now, that light is very important, but it does not come as a result of five-step program or 10-step program on evangelism or constantly guilting people to witness, witness, witness.

No. That light will shine automatically if my love for Jesus is undisputed, renewed every day. And because of that love, you're going to find that the churches that are really shining the light of Christ to the world is a church that's in love with Jesus, in addition to being truthful to his word.

But the love for Jesus is that light. And I pray to God that that would never be said of me or the church that I'm involved with, that because of my lack of love for Jesus and I'm doing things by rote, and I've done that, by the way, so I'm confessing to you that there was a time when I was just doing ministry, and I got so involved in the ministry. Everything was about the ministry, and my love for Jesus was really being affected. And I repented those many years ago, and therefore I made a decision over 35 years ago that the tithing, we talk about financial tithing, but the tithing of my time belongs to the Lord.

And not preparing sermons or writing books or preaching, no, it belongs to the Lord every early hours of every morning when I sit before him, giving the 10 percent of my 24 hours before God in intimacy with him and with his word speaking to me, and I am speaking back to him. The great thing about the Church of Philadelphia, even the church in Ephesus had one thing, and that's the love cooling off, despite of the fact they were accurate biblically and they're never compromised. But the Church of Philadelphia is the most amazing church.

In fact, if I wanted a church that I would be involved with, and I'm sure you'd feel the same way, it would be the Church of Philadelphia. Because the Lord Jesus Christ commends them in every way. There is nothing here that he wants them to do other than to hold on to what they're doing. And the assurance to that particular church, because of their faithfulness in every way, Jesus said, I open doors no one can shut, and I shut doors no one can open. It is by faith that we have a title to eternal life, because it is by faith that we have the Son of God by whom life was important. The year is 1734, and Jonathan Edwards, a pastor in Northampton, Massachusetts, is preaching a sermon at his church. Suddenly Edwards notices that his congregants are experiencing personal conversions and responding to his preaching with untold enthusiasm. The Holy Spirit's conviction of sin and life-transforming power that Edwards has been faithfully preaching for years is suddenly appearing right before his eyes. What Edwards doesn't know is that this move of God is only the very beginning of what will come to be known as the First Great Awakening. The First and Second Great Awakenings were notable times of widespread Christian evangelism, mass conversions, mission, and a return to the Word of God with a renewed sense of zeal for personal devotion and repentance. But why did there need to be an awakening?

Let's go back in time to understand. In the 17th and early 18th century, churches were in the midst of the Enlightenment, which led people to rely on themselves instead of God. German pastor Philipp Jacob Spener noticed many pastors cared more about showing off their knowledge than helping others grow in faith, and people sitting in the pews had become passive, expecting pastors to do all the spiritual work for them. Later, George Whitefield noticed the same lack of fervor in the church. Preachers talk of an unknown, unfelt Christ, and congregations have been so dead, because dead men preach to them. By the early 1700s, the passion that early American Christians had for a relationship with God had faded to a focus on wealth and success in the New World. The church had developed a passive attitude towards God, and Jonathan Edwards called it out.

Deadness, negligence, earthling-mindedness, and vanity. Ministers and people have sunk into such a deep sleep. Furthermore, churches began to tolerate sin, which John Wesley spoke against. Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God.

Such alone will set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth. Before the Second Great Awakening, history repeated itself, as Christians fell into decline once again. Churches neglected the call to evangelism, which grieved Charles G. Finney.

You stood by and watched your friends go to hell, and it seemed you didn't care if they did. How many days have gone by when you didn't even have a burning longing for their salvation? These churches were in desperate times, but what about today? Like the times before the Great Awakenings, our current-day churches are also facing a time of spiritual slumber.

Oh, wouldn't you love to see a Third Great Awakening? Certainly, our churches have come to this very situation that we've seen prior to the First and the Second Great Awakening. There are churches preaching prosperity in this life, not eternal prosperity in heaven. There are churches preaching false gospels. There are churches who are tolerating sin.

Actually, there are churches who baptized sin into the church, and they glorify sin, and they're proud of sin. And so we are in this kind of a very abysmal situation now, and I think the world is ready for a Third Great Awakening. And I hope that you have, if you haven't joined our Awake America, Awake Australia, Awake Canada, Awake England, that you will join our campaign, because that's what we're doing. We're praying for a Third Great Awakening. And wouldn't it be amazing that God can use you and me to do this? About five years ago, God laid it on my heart to have this seven-year vision, which is for me to go and actually have an evangelistic crusades in areas of need. And we prayed, and God literally opened those doors.

And I have done at least seven, if not more. In Ireland, that is probably, it's like C.S. Lewis would say, surprised by joy. I was very surprised and joyful because of what happened in that country. So many nominal people who perhaps belong to a church, but they've never been to church in their life. And therefore, the year that took for preparation and bringing all the pastors together, bringing all the churches together in Dublin at the convention center, we saw the move of God.

I literally opened my mouth for the invitation, the first sentence, and people were running down the aisles. And I knew in my heart, God's Holy Spirit is at work. And therefore, we rejoice in what God has done there, or be in Mexico, in Egypt, in New England. But I want to share something with you from Dublin. I want you to come down wherever you are. We're going to be waiting right here. I want you to come and say, Lord, I want to be born again.

I want to surrender my life to you. I think the bigger picture of Hope Orleans is God taking charge over a room. And I think Dr. Michael Youssef gave God the room in the convention center, and we got an onslaught of people coming for salvation.

Dr. Youssef brought a spark to release a flame. Wonderful to watch the people come and give the life to the Lord, and then to see what's happened after the people that have been drawn to Trinity. Maybe the week after, two weeks later, there was maybe 20, 30 new people in the church. And a lot of them had come from the Hope Conference, and they've just been on fire for Jesus. The team from Dr. Youssef's campaign came, and they trained us up for how to engage with people. And they're coming in their droves.

I see younger people coming in, and it gives me hope for the future. My family are amazed to see the work that Jesus has done to me. We've never had so many baptisms, actually, in our church, and they're still happening. I was an atheist. I had had suicidal ideation for years and years and years. Joe prayed with me, and I repented. And I felt like that was the first time I had felt alive in years. I don't recognize myself sometimes, because I'm just a totally different person. My life has completely changed.

I have to give all props to Jesus. My whole life has just changed. I can't even explain it. I felt like I'd found my people. And by the end of the whole service, I felt like I'd found my family. I'm totally different. I've a new life, a real life. I don't know how I lived before.

Well, I was very blinded all my life to this. Well, now I see the work that God does, and I'm free from active addiction. To have them bonds broken and them chains broken through the works of Jesus, it's like, oh, thank you, Lord.

Thank you, thank you. You know, my friends, that's when you know the Holy Spirit himself has done the preparation. He's done the invitation. And he's doing the follow-up through the pastors and through the other counselors that have been trained to follow up with all of these people. And this happened in every place we've been to. And we're going to be in four different cities this year. And I hope that you're going to be praying with us.

We're going to be in Australia. We're going to be in Boston and in San Antonio, Texas, and in Washington, D.C. And I trust that you're going to join in prayer and in support and encouragement so that we see God do these things everywhere we go. What would Jesus say to the church today? As darkness rises and faith is tested, his words to the seven churches in Revelation echo through time, calling us back to him.

Earthly dictators and rulers may want to persecute the church, but don't ever, ever, ever forget that Jesus is the King of all kings. He and he alone is the holder of the title deeds of the universe, that he and he alone has a name that's above every name. In his new book, God's Final Call, Dr. Michael Youssef unveils the urgent message of Revelation, a call to reclaim our first love. Learn how to stand firm for Christ against opposition, compromise and cultural pressure. With God's Final Call, discover how to confidently walk through the open doors God places before you. Get your copy of God's Final Call for your gift of any amount today. God's Final Call is such an important book.

It is one of the most important books I've ever written, if not the most important, simply because it is the words of Jesus. It's his letter to his church. I sure hope everybody calls in and get this book. If you would like to speak with a Call Center ministry representative about how to get your copy of God's Final Call, the number is 866-626-4356 or online, ltw.org. Or you can write to us at Leading the Way, post office, Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. Again, that's post office, Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.