John Bevere - Driven By Eternity
- Watch
- Donate
Tonight, I want to open by reading a quote from C.S. Lewis out of «Mere Christianity». Have you ever heard of C.S. Lewis? He said, «If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.» Life is all about perspective; everybody say «perspective.»
You know, I’m actually doing something I’ve never done before. We relaunched a book called *Driven by Eternity*, and there was a reason for it. Eighteen months ago, I went to Brazil. I was asked to speak only to the pastors and leaders in a church network there. I flew to Goiânia, Brazil, which I think is the fifth-largest city in the country. They drove me to the arena, and I walked in to find 12,500 pastors and leaders in this arena, and they were incredibly excited—on your level or higher as far as passion goes tonight. I was so impacted by this meeting.
The next day, I had lunch with eight of the top pastors of this church network, and I asked, «How many people are in your church network?» They said, «Over 300,000.» Wow! I asked when this all began and who started it. I thought they would say it was 50 or 60 years ago, yet the man sitting across from me, the leader who spoke the best English, said it started 16 years ago with a man named Aluisu. I dropped my fork and said, «Wait a minute, you’re telling me you’ve built a church network of over 300,000 people in 16 years in a first-world nation?» They said, «Exactly.» I asked, «How do you do that?» I thought I was asking a rhetorical question, expecting him to say it was due to their connect groups. But without any hesitation, he looked at me and said, «Because we teach our people about eternal rewards and judgment.»
I said, «What?» He explained, «John, I speak good English, so I’m asked to come to America a lot to speak in churches and conferences. You Americans often have a 70- or 80-year mindset; our people have an eternal mindset.» I flew back, prayed, and told my team, «I’m revising *Driven by Eternity*, and I’m preaching this all over America because of what I’ve just witnessed.» For the first time in my life, I can actually say I know what will produce church growth. Life is all about perspective; everybody say «perspective.»
If I go to a wedding reception—a big wedding with a full meal—and I have a one-day perspective, what am I going to do with a table full of desserts? I’m going to eat every one of those desserts, right? But if I have a six-month perspective, I’m going to eat one or zero desserts. Why? Because I don’t want an upset stomach tomorrow, I don’t want to gain 10 pounds next week, and I don’t want to compromise my long-term health.
When you have an eternal perspective, you live differently than with a 70- or 80-year perspective. You set goals differently, do things differently, and endure things you wouldn’t necessarily endure. For this reason, John the Apostle writes in 2 John, verse 8: «Look to yourselves.» Everybody shout that—"Look to myself!» You can see immediately that John is not speaking to the person sitting next to you; he’s talking to you. He says that we do not lose the things we work for, but—everybody say «but"—that we may receive a full reward.
Now, everybody shout «reward.» How many of you know God is a rewarder? Come on! When God introduces Himself to Abraham, He appears and says, «I am your shield, your exceeding great reward.» What a way to introduce yourself to someone when you’re God! The thing that really got my attention one day is that John doesn’t just say «reward.» He specifically says «full reward.»
When I thought about this, I realized that to specifically say «full reward» implies that there is a partial reward scenario and a no-reward scenario. Isn’t it interesting that John doesn’t write, saying, «Hey, live in such a way that you’re going to get a partial reward»? Why doesn’t he do that? Because, listen to me, God wants you to receive the full reward. As a dad of four sons, I can say that. Why? Because I want my sons to receive rewards. But as a wise father, I’ve learned something: you don’t reward your sons unless they’ve earned or deserve it. Why? Because I’ve learned if you reward children without them earning or deserving it, you take away their incentive, and incentive is a good thing, not a bad thing.
Now, John is in his 90s when he pens these words. Why does he say this with such intensity in this little short book? Because he knows something that a lot of believers in America do not know and do not understand—that one day, every one of us is going to stand before Jesus Christ as our judge. You say, «Whoa, whoa, whoa! You just put a damper on this whole night; you just busted the balloons! Jesus is my Savior!» Yes, I know He’s our savior, but one day you’re going to stand before the judge—back to 2 Corinthians 5. Glad you asked! Look at this: Paul says, «We are confident, yes, very well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.»
Now, we know right there Paul is only speaking to believers. How do I know that? Because when an unbeliever is absent from the body, they’re not in the presence of the Lord; they’re in hell. That is not a mean or harsh statement; it’s just a statement of fact. You have to remember Jesus said, «I didn’t come to condemn the world; it was condemned already. I came to save it.» He came to save us out of what we’ve condemned ourselves into.
So back to the main point: Paul is only speaking to believers. Now, look at what he goes on to say: «Therefore, we make it our aim"—or simply, «goal"—"whether present or absent to be well pleasing to Him.» You know, about 10 years ago, my sons were all sitting around the table having dinner. Addison would have been around 19, and our youngest would have been around 11. I remember this night at dinner. I had thought something through, and I thought about saying this to the boys that night. So we’re sitting there, and I looked for the right time. I said, «Guys, I want to tell you something,» and they looked at me. I said, «You can’t do anything to make your mother and me love you any more than we already do, and you can’t do anything to make us love you any less than we already do.» You could see them revel in those two statements, right?
I let it sit for a minute, and then I said, «But you are in charge of how pleased we are with you. You can never do a thing to make God love you any more than He loves you or any less than He loves you, but we are in charge of how pleased He is with us.» That’s why Paul said, «I make it my goal not just to be pleasing,» but interestingly, «well pleasing.» Why? The next statement: «For we remember—we here are only Christians—must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or"—what? «bad.»
Now, a better translation of the word «bad» is «worthless.» Every one of us is going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. At that judgment seat, listen carefully, you will not be judged for your sins; everybody say, «Thank God for that!» Rather, you will be judged on how you lived this life as a believer.
Now, we have a fundamental problem in the church, and the fundamental problem is this: When you say the word «judgment,» do you know where a person’s mind goes in church? Do you know where it goes? It goes to condemnation. Okay, now let’s eradicate that right now. The word «judgment» in the Greek—90% of the time it’s used in regard to a Christian in the New Testament—is from the Greek word «krima,» which simply is defined as «a decision.» That’s all it means: a decision resulting from an investigation.
So, when you hear the word «judgment,» don’t go to condemnation; go to a decision. Jesus is going to do an investigation upon our lives as Christians. Not only will He examine our works, but He will examine our words, our thoughts, and even our motives. You say, «Whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you get that from?» 1 Corinthians 4; you’re asking great questions! I love this tonight! Okay, Paul says, «So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of the time before the Lord returns, for He will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.» No sinner is going to get praised from God at the great white throne judgment; He cannot be talking about the sinner’s judgment. He can only be talking about the believer’s judgment.
So, Jesus is going to examine not only our works, our words, our thoughts, and our motives. He’s going to examine them, and as a result of this investigation, He’s going to make decisions. Everybody say «decisions"—judgments, decisions over our lives. Are you following me? As a result of those decisions, we’re either going to receive rewards or suffer loss. The Bible is very clear: the rewards we can receive to the losses we can suffer are anywhere from reigning beside Christ forever and ever—can you imagine being on His vision board planning out another galaxy—all the way to having everything we did burned up. The former is the full reward; the latter is the no reward. Everything in between is the partial reward.
Now, Hebrews 6 tells us that the decisions, judgments He makes at that judgment seat are called eternal judgments or eternal decisions. So, you know what that tells you and me? There will never be any changes to those decisions. They will never be amended; they will never be revised; they will stand forever because they’re eternal. So, you know what that tells me? What we do with the cross does indeed determine where we’re going to spend eternity; however, the way we live as believers determines how we’re going to spend it. Do you hear what I just said? What we do with the cross determines where we’re going to spend eternity—heaven or hell. Most of us know that. However, the way we live as believers determines how we’re going to spend it.
Now, James, in his little book in the fourth chapter, the 14th verse, makes a statement: «Life’s a vapor.» Everybody say «vapor.» If James were alive today, I don’t believe he would have written it this way; he would have said, «This life is zero.» How do I know that? Because we know something through simple mathematics that James didn’t understand, and that is this: any finite number divided by infinity is equal to exactly zero. Remember that’s junior high mathematics, right?
So if you live to be 80 years old, and you divide 80 years by eternity, what do you get? Zero. I think the oldest man on Earth right now is 146. Let’s say you live to be 146, God forbid, and you divide 146 by eternity—what do you still get? Zero. So you know what that means? What we do in this zero time determines how we’ll spend eternity.
Now, to help you understand the gravity of this, let’s say a leader walked in here tonight and said that the way you spend the next 24 hours—one day—will determine how you’ll spend the next thousand years on this Earth. Now, would you go back a thousand years for reference? If you go back a thousand years, there is no United States, there is no Christopher Columbus—he hasn’t even been born. There are no pilgrims; they haven’t been born. There is no King Louis XIV of France—he hasn’t been born either. You’re back to the times of the Crusaders—that’s a long time! Yet, the way you spend the next 24 hours is going to determine how you spend the next thousand years.
Now, think about the people you work with, the job you do, the house you live in, the neighborhood where you live, your neighbors, and the views you have from your house. Whether it’s in Siberia or Newport Beach, California, how you live the next 24 hours is going to determine all of this for the next thousand years. How would you spend the next 24 hours? Would you live it with purpose, or would you throw it to chance? You better believe you’d live with purpose! But that’s nothing compared to what we’re talking about because one day divided by 365,000 days—the number of days in a thousand years—is still a finite number. What we do in this zero time determines how we’re going to spend eternity.
Now, when God spoke to me and told me to write this book, I’ll never forget where I was. It was 5:30 in the morning; it was pitch black out, and I was in my yard, walking outside and praying. The Holy Spirit said, «I want you to write a book on the judgment seats.» I remember saying out loud, «What? I’ve preached on the judgment seats maybe for 20 minutes in my entire life! How can I write a chapter, let alone a book?» Of course, the Holy Spirit didn’t respond. So I went back home that morning and got on my computer. I searched every word in the Bible that has to do with eternity, rewards, losses, heaven, hell, and judgment from eight different translations of the Bible. You know, I ended up with a three-ring binder—this thick—full of 12-point scriptures. You don’t realize right away that God has a lot to say about eternity!
So, you know what I did? I meditated on these scriptures for one solid month. I didn’t write a thing—I just meditated—and God started showing me things. One of the first things I noticed is that whenever God speaks about our lives in regard to eternity, He calls us builders. Have you ever noticed that? «Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it.» Here’s another: «The stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone.» Here’s another: «Jesus gave the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher what? To build—to equip God’s people to build up the church.» We’re builders; everybody say «builders.»
So in meditating on these scriptures, I noticed that we’re going to be judged in two major areas at the judgment seat. Area number one: our involvement in building the kingdom. Okay, that would involve how we use our gifts and whether we cooperated with our calling to accomplish building His kingdom. Are you seeing what I’m saying? I’ll talk about that in a minute.
The second thing we’re going to be judged on is how we build individual lives. What do I mean by build? How did you influence people? How did you influence your husband, your wife, your children, the people you work with, the waiter at the restaurant, and the person ringing you up at the grocery store? How did you impact them? How did you influence them?
Now, I don’t have time to talk about number two tonight; I extensively cover it in the book. I want to talk about number one: our involvement in building—everybody say «building"—the kingdom of God. Now Paul had to speak to the Corinthian church a lot about this; it’s all through 1 Corinthians. Why? Because the Corinthian church had a 70- or 80-year mindset, a temporary perspective. Paul is constantly dealing with them about this. So in the third chapter, he says, «Okay guys, here’s the deal: you can use your gifts—what God has given you—to build however you want. You can build for the temporary, or you can build for the eternal. The choice is ours.» Are you with me?
I’m just going to make a statement just to help you understand—Whitney Houston had a tremendous gift. I believe she could have used it to lead millions into the presence of God, but she used it for other purposes. Are you tracking with me?
Let me give you another example: If you want to be on this amazing worship team—and it is amazing—because you want the people of Tulsa to see you, every practice you’ve gone to, every service you’ve gotten up early for on Sunday, and every song you’ve memorized will all be burned up right before your eyes because it’s wood, hay, and straw. But if you want to be on this amazing worship team because you want to lead people into the presence of Jesus, you’re going to be greatly rewarded.
You still with me? Motives count! Private motives, darkest secrets—still with me? So Paul says to this church, «On judgment day, fire—everybody say fire—what is fire?» Jeremiah said, «Your word is a fire.» Remember Jesus made the statement in John 12: «I didn’t come to judge you; the words that I speak will judge you on that day.» We already know the criteria on judgment day. That’s why it’s really smart to read your Bible and come to Victory conference! Good preaching, John! Amen! Thank you.
«Fire will reveal what kind of work each builder—everybody say, 'I’m a builder'—has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder—everybody say, 'I’m a builder'—will receive a reward.» There’s that word «reward,» just like John! Hopefully, it’s a full reward! Right?
And I look at the next statement: «But if the work is burned up…» Now remember, if you build for the eternal, it’s gold, silver, and precious stones; if you build for the temporal, it’s wood, hay, and straw. Fire builds up wood, hay, and straw; fire purifies gold, silver, and precious stones. But if the work is burned up, that builder—everybody say, «a builder"—will suffer great loss—not just loss, great loss. The builder will be saved; in other words, he or she will go to heaven, but like someone barely escaping through the wall of flames.
Now, that’s pretty strong language right there! Can you imagine the day you retire in America? The day you retire, your bank closes its doors—the bank where you have all your money—and just goes out of business. You lose all your checking, savings, and cash; the same day, social security goes bankrupt. All the money you involuntarily gave to the government all those years is totally gone. The same day your house catches fire and you get out with just the shirt on your back. The same day your insurance company goes bankrupt. Now, what do you call that? A bad day!
Now, can I be honest with you? In America, we can’t even comprehend that scenario because we have some 501©(3) corporation or a government program that will help get us out of trouble; there’s a Dream Center or something. But there are nations that can understand those words that Paul just used. My wife was just in Iraq nine months ago. She was sitting with a family who, two years ago, was making $500,000 a year. Now this family lives in a shipping container and has nothing because of ISIS. They can understand the words that Paul just used!
Yet, these are the words Paul uses to describe how some believers are going to enter into eternity. You’re still with me? When I came back from Brazil, I was literally on fire! I told my team, «I’m preaching this all over America; start putting it on my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.» I probably have, I don’t know, well over a million—1.25 million followers on those platforms. You know you always get rebuttals, right? If you have a million followers, you could say Mary has a little lamb, and you can still get rebuttals!
But this particular topic, I was getting a lot of kickback. You know what the number one kickback statement was from people? «I don’t serve Jesus to get rewards; I serve Jesus because I love Him.» I’m reading all these and thinking, «Lord, I actually agree with them.» How about this? And you know what the Holy Spirit said to me immediately? This is amazing! You know what He said to me? «Tell me about the Apostle John’s life,» who wrote, «Live in such a way that you’re going to get a reward.»
I thought, «I already got it.» I was like, «Oh my gosh!» See, he’s the apostle; five times it says he was the Apostle Jesus loved. He put his head on Jesus’s chest, and Jesus divulged information He wasn’t going to do just because John loved Him so much. He’s the guy who stood at the foot of the cross while Jesus was dying, and He looks at him and says, «Mom,» and looks at His mom and says, «Mom, there’s nobody who loves me as much as this man. I’m giving him to you.» You’re not going to find anyone who loved Jesus more than John in that generation!
Yet, 70 years after Jesus called him to follow Him, he writes, «Live in such a way that you’re going to get a reward.» Paul does the same thing eight years before he gets beheaded. And then, the Lord reminded me of a vision He had given me about four years ago. I kind of forgot it; I’m embarrassed to say. In this vision, I saw the Heavenly City; I saw the New Jerusalem. It’s massive, and its streets are pure gold. In the middle of the city is this really high platform with stairs going up. Seated on this platform is Jesus, and I see these armies marching through this city—the armies of heaven—and they are bringing rewards, souls, to Jesus.
Now, wait a minute! In that vision, I saw myriads of people on the sidewalks cheering the soldiers. There were many, many more people on the sidewalks than there were soldiers. I remember in that vision, the Holy Spirit said, «Son, do you want to be one of the persons on the sidewalk, or do you want to be one of the soldiers?» I said, «I want to be one of the soldiers.» He said, «Live in such a way that you get a reward.»
See, with much of America, there’s life and there’s church, and the two don’t mix; they’re like oil and water. It’s because they have a 70- or 80-year mindset. I know some of you are probably thinking, «Where’s Charlotte?» I’m joking. I know it’s sometimes overwhelming. I’ll be honest with you; no book has ever shaken me like this book did when I was writing it. I always tell people my name’s on these books because I was the first guy to read them; this one rocked me.
So Paul says, «Run your race.» Everybody say «my race.» «Run your race that you may lay hold of the prize.» Everybody say «prize.» Now Paul’s calling it a prize, not just a reward. «Run your race that you may lay hold of the prize and make it yours.» See, he’s saying run with intention to get the reward so you can present it to Jesus.
Now notice he says «your race.» Everybody say «my race.» Do you remember Jesus made the statement in John 17:4, «Father, I finished the work You’ve given me to do»? Do you remember Paul made the statement, «I finished my race»? Now Paul’s telling us to run your race. How many of you know you can’t say you finished your race unless you know your route?
Think with me: Did you ever run cross-country track? Every runner is given a route. If you don’t know that route, you’ll start running when the gun goes off, and you will run and run, and the sun will go down, and you will keep running until you collapse, and they’ll carry you home. But you won’t be able to say you finished because you didn’t know your course. «Run your race.» Are you getting this?
This is why Paul says in Ephesians 2:10—now remember Ephesians 2:8–9, if you’ve been saved two weeks, you know those verses—you’re saved by grace through faith, right? Not of works, right? But look at verse 10; it continues, «for,» means «because I’m continuing the thought.» We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do—everybody say «to do"—not only were you created in Christ to be a child of God, you were equally by that same grace empowered to do something.
This is the thought. I mean, this ran through the ranks back in the 90s big time. We thought only pastors, missionaries, and worship leaders have a call of God on their lives; the rest of us just kind of survive and enjoy life. No! If you’re born again, there is a call of God upon your life, which God prepared—wait, I need that scripture back up—"which God prepared beforehand.» Everybody say «beforehand,» that we should—not that we would—there’s a big difference between should and would—walk in them.
So, now look at this: God prepared your specific work He’s called you to do beforehand. How far beforehand? David answers this in Psalm 139; he says this: «You saw me before I was born; every day,» everybody say «every day,» «of my life was recorded in Your book.» Do you understand there’s a book written about your life? There’s a book of Sharisa; there’s a book of Caleb; there’s a book of Thai; there’s a book of Iru. You know what? Every day of your life is written in that book. That’s so amazing! Famous people aren’t the only ones who have books written about their lives; every one of you has a book about your life, and the author is God.
Now look at this: «Every moment was laid out in that book before a single day of your life began.» See, that’s the way God does things. He always says, «Okay, let’s write the whole story out and then start it.» Don’t you remember He said, «I am the God that declares the end from the beginning»? I mean, the universe hadn’t even been created yet, and God the Father looks at the Son and says, «Son, I’m going to create mankind, and they’re going to mess up. Will you go die for them?» «Yeah, Dad, I’ll go die for them.» Okay, you’re the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world.
You see, that’s the way He does it. So do you understand? Remember the Book of Daniel says at the judgment, the books are going to be opened. What book? The book of Iru, the book of Caleb. Jesus is going to say, «Let me see what I wrote about your life,» and it’s compared to how you lived. Are you with me? Are you following me?
See, here’s the thing: God has given each of us gifts, and those gifts enhance our calling. Are you tracking with me? A gift is like, let’s say God gives this guy a tractor, but he wants to ride it on a NASCAR track. He’s not going to do very well. And let’s say this guy has been given an 18-wheeler, and he wants to plow the field—that’s not going to work. But that 18-wheeler can surely move somebody because if the guy with the tractor tries to move somebody, it’ll take him 20 days to go from Dallas to Tulsa and back again, because he only carries so much.
So, you see, you understand? God gives you gifts that correlate with what He’s called you to do, so you can build more effectively. Are you seeing this? And now, remember, Paul said that we should walk in them. Everybody say «should.» Where do you find that? Look at this: Ecclesiastes 3:15 says, «That which is has already been; that which is right now—it’s already been.» It’s in the book! If you go to all our books, at this very moment, we’re all in this building, listening; you got it? And «what is to be"—that’s our tomorrow—it’s already been; it’s already been written in the book, and God requires an account. Everybody say «account» of what is past. In other words, did you walk in what He wrote in that book, or did you go your own way?
So you know what that tells me in regard to our callings? We’re not going to be judged according to what we did; we’re going to be judged in the light of what we were called to do. Watch this: This will help you understand it.
Question: What are you called to do? Ask that question because we won’t be judged according to what we did in life, but rather what we were called to do in life. Imagine with me standing before the throne of God and that a scenario like this occurs: «Evangelist Anderson, come forth and give an account of your stewardship on Earth.»
«Evangelist Anderson? I’m not an evangelist; I’m an accountant! I had an accounting firm!»
«Evangelist Anderson, where are the 347,566 souls I called you to impact in Asia?»
«Son, where are they?»
«I’m an accountant; I had an accounting firm. I helped churches with their finances.»
«Son, where are the 347,566 souls in Asia I called you to impact? Son, where are they? If you sought me, I would have revealed this to you!»
«Accountant Jones, step forth and give an account of your stewardship.»
«Accountant? I pastored for 35 years. I had a membership of 750 people.»
«Accountant Jones, I called you to the marketplace. Had you done this, you would have significantly impacted two people, and those two men would have helped churches with their finances, and those churches would have impacted 321 souls. If you would have sought me, I would have revealed this to you!»
«Sister Smith, come forth and give an account of your stewardship.»
«I only raised three children. I never preached to the nations. I never even went on a missionary trip, but I tried my hardest to raise my kids in Your way.»
«Sister Smith, I never called you to push the nations! I called you to raise three children! Let me show you the 1,541 souls those three children impacted!»
«Heard my voice. They were obedient to my call. Well done, my good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord.»
Remember, in regard to the calling on your life, you won’t be judged according to what you did; you will be judged according to what you were called to do. But I want to ask: Would you rather know this now or then? I’d rather know now.
I’ve been in ministry over 35 years. I’ve seen people miss their callings because of wrong relationships or an unhealthy love for finances—entanglements. I’ve seen pastors I knew were called to the business world, and I saw people in the business world I knew were called to ministry. I told two pastors in 35 years, «You should be in the business world.» One of them ended up calling me back years later and said this: «I’m so happy.»
Two years ago, I was in Hawaii doing a conference, and someone said to me, «John, a United States Navy SEAL instructor wants to have dinner with you.» Now, if a United States Navy SEAL instructor wants to have dinner with me, I’m going! I have so much respect for those men. So we sit down in a restaurant in Hawaii, and I just looked at him. We got to know each other, and he said, «So what’s your story?»
For the next two hours, I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit like I’ve had a few times before with anybody. He said, «John, I was raised in the church. I’ve loved Jesus almost my whole life. I loved Him deeply and wanted to serve the best way possible. So I went to Bible school for two years, and then I was interning for a large church in my third year, and I was accused of sleeping with a girl in the youth group.»
He said, «John, I never did it; but they believed the girl, not me. They kicked me out and took away all my papers, so I was devastated. Three years of work—gone. When you’re 21 years old, and you’ve lost three years of your life, that’s significant.»
He said, «But John, I started seeking God like I’ve never sought God in my entire life.» He said, «I’m seeking God, and the Lord speaks to me, saying, 'I didn’t call you to the ministry; I called you to the military.'»
He said, «So I went to the Air Force; I went to the Marines; I went to the Army—nothing.» He said, «I walked into the Navy recruiter. That’s the last one.»
He said, «The guy’s reading down a list of things I could enlist for. I had no idea what a SEAL was, but he said the word 'SEAL, ' and he said an explosion of life went off inside of me! I said, 'That’s it! That’s what I’m supposed to do! '»
The guy goes, «No, no, no, no, you don’t want to be a SEAL. Ninety percent of them flunk out! Every guy in this recruiting office, we tried; we flunked out. You don’t want to enlist to be a SEAL!»
He goes, «No, that’s what I’m going to do!» Well, neither of them understood that he didn’t know how to swim; there’s a reason he didn’t know how to swim because he was born with defective ear tubes, and they were so narrow they had to operate when he was a kid and put tubes in his ears several times.
He said, «John, if I got a couple drops of water in my ear, I was in excruciating pain, so I taught myself how to swim, enduring the pain and praying every day for my ears to be healed. One day, I went down two feet, five feet—no pain—ten feet. I’m healed!»
To this day he said, «Now I’m going through my SEAL training, and in the final week of SEAL training, I’m carrying a boat on top of my head with a couple of other SEALs and running on a beach in San Diego. Some kid dug a hole in the sand, and my foot goes in the hole and tears everything from knee to ankle—everything!»
He said, «Now my Navy SEAL physical was that weak, and if you flunk the Navy SEAL physical, you can never reapply again to be a Navy SEAL.»
He said, «I go into the physical, and the doctor flunks me.» I said, «Doc, you can’t do this; this is my calling. I’ve got to do this!» He said, «Are you questioning me? I’m an officer!»
«Uh, no sir, no.»
He said, «John, I left, and one of my friends saw how dejected I was and asked me to go to a Bible study he’d been going to. So I went to the Bible study for the first time.»
It just so happens the guy leading the Bible study was an officer over the doctor! It gets better! He said, «Do you know what he was teaching on? He was teaching on how to be led by the Spirit. And then he said to the guys during the Bible study, 'There was an application that came that was rejected by the doctor in the physical.' He said, 'I felt it was wrong, really wrong, so I overrode it.'»
At the end of the Bible study, he found out he was the one whose application he overrode! So now he’s a Navy SEAL! Right? He’s a Navy SEAL, and now he starts telling me about his missions—that was another hour and a half. I could spend so much time on it, but let me just tell you one quick mission, alright?
He said, «John, we got some intel about some guys in Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. It was tainted intel, so we planned—there’s 30 of us SEALs going in to get these guys, right? But it’s tampered with.»
Okay, he said, «John, we went right into an ambush. They had automatic machine gun fire set up on both sides, and I’m hearing whistles whizzing by my head. He said, 'We got in, we got every one of those guys, we got out; none of us got even injured.'»
He said, «Two weeks later, I’m on the phone with my mom. My mom says, 'Mark, your phone just called me two weeks ago.'» He said, «John, we carry our phones in our sleeves. The phone has to be off, and it can’t have pre-dialed or pre-programmed numbers on it in case we get captured!» He said, «Somehow, my phone turned itself on and called my mother, who just happened to be in her women’s prayer study. They hear the gunfire, and all the women start praying for the safety of all of us SEALs.»
Wow!
I went back to the hotel and said, «Lisa, I’ve been in the presence of a man of God!» I preached this in Australia at the Hillsong conference. There’s a woman; she’s irate! She’s so angry! She sees my office manager in Australia, and she says, «He could not have meant what he said tonight!»
My office manager said, «What?»
She said, «What John preached tonight.» She knew he was my office manager. He didn’t mean it, and he said, «Of course he meant it. Reward, of course!»
She said, «Why are you so upset?»
She said, «Because I’m the senior pastor of this church and I’ve been seeing your pastor for 35 years.» She said, «But when I was a girl, I had dreams of me ministering to Filipino people.»
He said, «Well, what are you going to do?»
She said, «Nothing!»
A year later we found out she turned her church over to her executive pastor, and she’s in the Philippines! This is what she said: «Quote: Having the time of her life!»
I have so many stories in this book. Let me just say, some of you are probably sitting there right now, feeling very upset. You know you’ve not sought God, and you know you’re in your 40s, 50s, or 60s. Can I say this? It’s not too late!
Smith Wigglesworth was one of the greatest men of God in the 20th century; he didn’t even start his calling until he was in his 50s. He was a plumber before that.
Then there’s Bill and Patricia. Nine years ago, Bill was one of our IT people at Messenger International. We had three IT people; Bill was one of the three. Every time I walked into our office and saw Bill’s cubicle, there were pictures of Africa everywhere. He talked a little too much about Africa!
So one day, I called him into my office. Now, Bill is 55 years old at the time. Nine years ago, right? I said, «Bill, I’m going to buy you and your wife a one-way ticket to Africa—to Nairobi.»
He looked at me and said, «Can I think about that?»
I said, «Sure, absolutely. Go home and talk to your wife. The offer stands.»
So the next morning, he and his wife, Patricia, who was 62 at the time, come in and say, «We’re selling everything; we’re going to Africa!»
In the last nine years, they have set up 16 Bible schools in West Kenya, and they use Messenger International’s materials to teach pastors in West Africa.
Okay, now this gets better! A year ago, he’s sitting in my office, right? He looks at me and says, «John, I’ve had malaria 17 times!»
I mean, my International Director has had malaria twice and said he prayed he would go to heaven both times—it is so bad!
Yet, he’s smiling about it! He said, «You know what? Me and Patricia—you’ve got to understand, last summer he was 62, and she was 69. So he looks at me and says, 'You know, we told our kids on this trip…'»
I said, «Would you tell your kids?» He said, «If you want to see your mom and dad buried, you’ve got to come to Africa, because we’re never leaving Africa. We’re so happy!»
What about my story? Let me close with my story. Last thing—I mean it—last thing I ever wanted to do was be a minister, and I mean it. I could explain it; I could go into it, but that’s the last thing I saw myself doing.
So I get saved, filled with the Holy Spirit in my college fraternity at Purdue University, and God just starts dealing with me. I mean, there’s a gnawing going on inside, right? I’m like, «Ah, no, no, no!»
I’ve got my plans on how I’m serving God. I’m going to go to Harvard. I’d already talked to my dean at the mechanical engineering school at Purdue. I was going to go to Harvard, get an MBA, marry a pretty girl, go to a big church, tithe, and take three vacations a year—that’s the way I’m serving God!
Okay, I’ve got my plans all mapped out, and God keeps dealing with me. So finally, I’m co-oping. Do you know what co-oping is? You work a semester, then go to school for a semester, right?
I’m in my junior year, and I’m co-oping for IBM. I remember we’re in the office celebrating this guy’s 38th year with the company, okay? So there’s 14 engineers sitting in this office, and they’re all drinking coffee. I can’t drink coffee; I have too much energy!
Anyway, they’re drinking their coffee, and this guy says, «Yep, I’ve hated every day I’ve walked into this company for 38 years.» Everybody in that room except me did exactly what you just did—they laughed.
Except me! I’m horrified! And finally, nobody is saying anything, so I, Paul, said something. I said, «Why’d you do it?» He got a little mad at me because I’m this smart kid, right? He goes, «John, it’s a job; you make money so you can eat and buy clothes.»
I said, «Shut up the rear; don’t say another word!» But I made a mark in my mind right there: «I will not say this 38 years from now.»
So I go home; it’s my senior year. I call my Roman Catholic Italian mother and tell her, «Mom, I’m not coming home for Thanksgiving.» Try telling that to your Roman Catholic Italian mother! Her first question: «What are you going to eat?»
«Mom, don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine!»
All my fraternity brothers leave for four days, and I fast. I say, «God, I gotta know why you put me on this Earth.»
As a result of that fast, I just looked at the file this month. I have a file drawer that has prophetic words that have been given to me that I know are from heaven, and I have this one that was given back in 1981 as a result of that fast.
Do you know that I have not started walking in what was in that prophetic word until my 50s? But I’m walking in it now!
But you see, that’s what God always does; He gives you a little glimpse like he gave Joseph this little glimpse: «You’re going to be a leader; your brothers are going to serve you.» But He didn’t show him the pit, the dungeon, and the slavery! What do you do? You move towards it! You listen to the peace of God!
The peace of God is the umpire! Ninety-five percent of the decisions I’ve made in my life have been from the peace of God that has ruled like an umpire in my heart. Most of the time, I’m doing things that I know God has called me to do without even knowing it consciously!
I told my team yesterday, «Do I have to say to my hand: Hand, pick up this iPad?» My hand is connected to me, and it knows when my head wants to pick it up!
It’s not too late! No one wants you to fulfill what you’ve been called to do more than God! He wants you to fulfill it more than you want to fulfill it!
I need you to fulfill what you’ve been called to do! We all need you to fulfill what you’ve been called to do because you’re a part of our body!
And with every head bowed and every eye closed, Heavenly Father, I thank you so very much for what you’ve done tonight. You’ve spoken to us; You’ve answered our prayer, and I’m so grateful for Your Holy Spirit.
Now, Lord, I’m asking that you would draw men and women to the heart of Jesus, and I thank you for this in Jesus' name.