Leon Fontaine - His Peace, His Presence
Hey everybody, welcome. It's good to have you with us. We're in the Christmas season, and I love teaching around the Christmas story, or the story of the birth of Jesus and why and how, and what did this mean? A lot of people don't even know why Jesus came to the planet. Or why He was born. That miracles were taking place. Did you know that when Jesus was born, a large percentage of all of the prophecies, the predictions that men and women made in the Old Testament all came to pass in this 33-year period? And that's what stuns people is that of all the predictions in the Bible.
Now, Christians will call them prophecies. And you know, people are fascinated by the prophecies of Nostradamus, or they'll find the prophecies of somebody else that predicted stuff, and they're so vague and so peculiar that people you know, they go, wow. But when you get into the Bible, did you know that the predictions that are made in the books from hundreds and thousands of years before Jesus came, told the town that He was born in, how He would die. I mean, the places that He would go. I mean, scripture after scripture predicts the things that Jesus did.
You know, a person can't control where they're going to die, unless they're going to commit suicide. People say well Jesus just controlled all that. Not a chance. How do you control where you were born? And how do you control the things that go on in your life? These predictions, these prophecies, that were made all through the Old Testament, just phenomenally came to pass when Jesus was born. And then other things that He did during His life were predicted. How He died, where He died, the fact He was going to die between two thieves. I mean, the list is endless. If you're fascinated by people who can predict the future, prophesy and things happen, the Bible is the most amazing. Go pick up a great Christian book about the prophecies of the Bible that have happened.
We are far past 80 percent of the prophecies that are in the Bible have been, they've come to pass exactly the way they were predicted. There is no prophecy that was predicted that could ever be found, well that wasn't quite right. No, they happened exactly as they said. And the remainder of the predictions for the future that the Bible has, are going to happen exactly as they predicted. So, the Bible is worth studying. It's fascinating. You know, one of the things I get to do as the CEO of the MIRACLE CHANNEL, and as a talk show host, is I have had the chance to meet and interview some of the most brilliant minds in Hebrew and Greek, some of the most brilliant minds in our sciences. And, they all are in awe of the Bible.
You know, there are thousands upon thousands of the most brilliant people alive today. You'd think they'd all be atheists because they like to mock Christians. But the men and women that I've interviewed who are in their fields or in more than one field, considered brilliant. They literally will say the Bible is the most amazing, stunning book. For psychology, it will show you things that affect the human psyche. They will split up the human being into three, or actually four, parts. You're a three-part being, but then how does the heart work in there? It will show you how to handle emotions, how to handle beliefs, it will show you how to deal with things like PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders, I mean. The Bible is the most stunning book when it comes to psychiatry, psychology. Then go to the sciences.
You know, Archaeology, there's never been a dig or a find that has disproven the Bible. In fact, if you pick up some great books on Archaeology, you will find out that every discovery that has ever been made, does nothing but prove the Bible is the most accurate book you'll ever find. Where it says that city was, and how it was destroyed, etc, the Bible. And if there is something that seems to disprove the Bible, just wait a little longer and you'll find a new discovery will fix their interpretation of their find. So, it doesn't matter which direction I've gone. I have become in awe of the Bible.
Now, there's a missing piece in every person on the planet when it comes to, God's Word, when it comes to just living. Every one of us is going to deal with a sense of insecurity. A sense of being insignificant. This fearful of punishment that anything I do wrong I'm going to be punished for. My life's going to grow, go bad. And all of us deal with this all this time. This kind of sense of impending doom. This Murphy's Law that things are going so good, something's going to go wrong. And one of the things that Jesus does when you give your life to Him, is He gets you out of those beliefs. Because if you have those beliefs that my life's going to go down, bad things are going to happen to me.
The Bible says that Jesus teaches us that according to your faith, or according to what you believe, right or wrong, so be it done unto you. And so it's crucial if you are believer listening to me today, that you get your beliefs corrected according to scripture. And if you're not a Christian, it's crucial that the most amazing belief is to believe on Jesus. And then let Him begin to change the deepest of your heart beliefs about you, your future, etc. And the Christmas story is where this all is powerfully took place for us. The Christmas story is for you to personalize, because the Christmas story is for you. It's about you. It's not a 2.000 year old story that's cute. That you've got the baby in the manger, and the animals etc. No, because of the Christmas story, you can find a relationship with God, through Jesus, that removes all the fear. Removes even this nature of sin.
You know, so many people know that Leon, people tell me Leon, I don't think I can give my life to Christ because if I give my life to Him, I just know that there's something deep on the inside of me. I like what I'm doing and there's no way I could change because I don't want to. But you have to understand, that when Jesus, this Jesus who was born in a manger, and 33 years later died on a cross. That when He died, and you accept Him as your Saviour, your sin nature is gone. Your, you now have the nature of Christ in your spirit.
Now, your mind and your body can continue to do sinful things. But your nature, is the nature of Christ. And Jesus is sealed in your spirit, the Bible says. And so even though you're trying to deal with things in your physical body, your mind, as you're working on stuff. You don't have two natures. You don't have a sinful nature and a nature that is righteous. You only have one nature that's in your spirit, and that's the nature of Jesus. The nature, you are righteous, you are healthy, you are whole.
Now, you do have to take and use God's Word and allow Holy Spirit to help you to get rid of some of the habits and the beliefs and as you get rid of wrong beliefs, that are subconscious. They are below your conscious thinking. And they've been placed there by your upbringing, parents, teachers, traumatic things that happened to you, have all created a belief system. I call it, it's your BS. Belief system. That control how you look at the world, how you think about yourself. That Jesus, when He comes in, He brings a peace, a joy. And His Word, it begins to change you. And you begin to live out who you are.
One of the most crippling things that the Christmas story changes, but that so many Christians have, is this sense about them that nothing's ever going to go right, that I'm just a poor sinner. You know, barely saved by grace. No you're not. Because of Jesus, you are righteous when you accept Him. Now, the Bible has got some interesting things about this because I wanted to go focus on peace. And, how that God's presence changes you. Before you give your life to Jesus, and become born again, your peace and your joy, all the positive feelings, will always be situational.
For example, you'll be happy when things are happening. You'll be at peace when your entire life is peaceful. But how long can, is everything going to be peaceful? Somebody else is going to bring horror or terror, or fear into your life, whether it's a coworker lying about you, a neighbour that steals from you, a person that blogs about you. We live in a world where you, if your peace is because you've got all the situations in your life peaceful, only heaven's going to have that. So, the peace that we can have with Jesus, isn't a peace that comes from peaceful situations, although I love those. It comes from deep inside. So that even though situations I'm walking through, there's fear, they're harsh, they're hard. Your peace comes from the presence of God within you.
Most people only have joy when their life is in a joyful season. Their life has no hurtful things going on. They are joyful. But did you know that we can learn, I've learned that in the midst of whatever's going on externally because I trust God and I know that good things will come to pass because Jesus came that I might have a life, have it more abundantly, beautifully, that I can be and have joy now. So this joy isn't from my situations. Although I can still have an increase of joy. The Bible says ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. More joy comes when things are great. But I live in joy and walk in joy, because I've learned to enjoy His joy. Jesus is within me. And if you're a believer, He's within you. And there's a joy, and I've been speaking to Christians all around the world, that we, these are foundational teachings.
Yet, how come so many Christians are so depressed, unhappy, just like the world. Where there's almost no difference than the world. But God needs you to find His peace, His joy. He needs you to begin to use faith and change your exterior world so the world can look at us as ambassadors for Jesus. And His kingdom, and go I want what you've got. You say well what have I got? You've got peace when I don't. You've got joy when I don't. You know, when I was working in a hospital as a paramedic, there would be situations like financial situations where we were, we weren't getting increases in our salary. And, people would say, you know, we're not going to get a raise and they'd all be out of sorts about this. And I'd go out, this doesn't really matter, I don't look to the unions or to the hospital for my future. I believe the blessing of the Lord is upon me, and if He can't bless me through my career, He will find other ways to bless me.
I remember one year chatting with some guys, and well what do you mean? I said, well, I said actually we can't afford to go on holidays this year because we picked up our own, our first home, we got a couple kids, and financially can't afford it but you know what? A friend popped by and said Leon, a guy who rented my cabin on the lake, he canceled out and he lost his money for it so it's there, would you like to spend a week at a cabin on the beach? Well, I could never afford it at that time in my life, a cabin on a lake with my own beach. But I got an entire week, and in fact that year, it happened three times. When you believe God, you stop looking at the world, the career, your career. The union, God can bless you any way you know how. When you start looking at your job, as the only way to get ahead. You're making a huge mistake.
I know so many people who needed a car, and all of a sudden they ran into a situation for a vehicle they could never afford in a situation, and God just worked a miracle. And they were able to find good deals. They thought the only way they could afford a car was to have an increase at the jobs so they put all of their focus on their boss, and on getting an increase. Listen. Believe God for increase. But when you can't be increased through your boss and your salary, God can meet your need a ton of other ways. And so just trust Him. In fact, I tell people when it comes to believing God for Him to move and bless your life, there's two things you should never focus on. When, and how.
For example, if you're believing God to meet a need, and it's going to happen by today at 2:00, and it's now 2:05, your faith goes out the window because you put a timeframe on God. Or, telling God how. God's going to meet my needs, I'm going to get a raise from my job. And when you don't get the raise from your job, you're thinking oh, God why didn't you answer? Because you don't tell God how. Nowhere in the Bible do people tell God how. You just tell Him what the need is, and what you need, and believe for the answer. And let Him supply it. In fact, it's usually going to be the way you don't understand or go wow God did it this way, I never even thought of it that way. Because He wants to show you He can bless you.
The Christmas story is about God sending His Son to restore His family. And as you come into the Christmas season, I want you to understand that there's a peace that Jesus provides. And if you have not given your life to Him, do that. Just say Jesus, forgive me. Come into my heart, and begin to find a good church and begin to serve Him. Because the Bible will teach you how to create a life that this world could never even imagine. I am building a life because of Jesus. That no one could ever imagine. Because with Jesus, He is the one that qualifies me for God's blessing. He's the one who has exchanged my life for His. He took my life when He died on the cross. He took my sins, my brokenness when He went, when he died. When he arose again, I took His life. I got His joy, His peace, His righteousness. His right to all the promises of God.
The Bible says today in the Old Testament, that the promises of God are all 'if'. If you'll be this good, you can have this promise. But the Bible teaches us in Corinthians, that all of the promises after Jesus died and rose again, are all 'yes' and 'amen'. Meaning, there is no more if. Jesus qualifies me for the promises of God. My relationship with Jesus, my study of His word and being a part of a life-giving church has helped me to build a life, and to have, and to enjoy this planet at a level I could never have enjoyed it without Jesus.
In Luke 2:8-12 in The Voice Bible, let me read this to you. And it's the Christmas, a piece of the Christmas story. It says nearby, in the fields outside of Bethlehem, a group of shepherds were guarding their flocks form predators in the darkness of night. Suddenly, a messenger of the Lord stood in front of them, and the darkness was replaced by a glorious light. The shining light of God's glory. They were terrified. Then, the messenger said don't be afraid. Listen. I bring good news. News of great joy. News that will affect all people everywhere. It says, today in the city of David, a liberator has been born to you. He is the promised one, the anointed one, the supreme authority. You will know you have found Him when you see a baby wrapped in a blanket, lying in a feeding trough.
This Jesus coming to the planet, started in motion a massive restoration of every language, every skin color, every people group had their sins paid for. And now, has the right to believe on Jesus, and to be restored to God's plan. In Ephesians 1:19 in The Message Bible. Listen to what it says here. It says oh, the utter extravagance of His work, in us who trust Him. Endless energy, boundless strength. All this energy issues from Christ. God raised Him from death, set Him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe. Everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power are exempt from His rule. And not just for the time being, ha, but forever! He is in charge of it all. Has the final word on everything. At the center of all this Christ rules the church.
The church you see is not peripheral to the world, the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which He speaks and acts. By which He fills everything with His presence. Listen to me, this here is talking about Jesus. And it says that Christ rules the church. Now, the word 'church' here does not mean all the denominations, all the buildings and the organizations because you know, there's a ton of churches out there that Christ is not first. He's not alive there. So He literally means all of the people who have given their lives to Jesus, are born again, following Jesus, that is the church. The church are the called-out ones. The ones who have left this world and what they were, I mean internally. You know, their identity, their sin, who they are, and have embraced Jesus. This is the church. The called-out ones, Ecclesia in the Greek.
So here it's saying, that Christ rules the church. And I want you to know something. That regardless of what goes on, that Jesus is going to win. You're going to look at worlds and Russians and China, and all the other things going on around the world and feeling like the world's going to blow up. The world's not going to disappear. The prophecies are telling us a whole lot of great things going on in the day and age that were living in, but I want you to know this for you, that Jesus came to die in your place. And the Bible says, in Ephesians 1:19, let's go back to that. It says oh the utter extravagance of His work in us. Where's His work? In us. And we must trust Him. It says endless energy. Boundless grace.
All this energy issues from Christ. For those that are struggling with sickness, disease, depression, you know, that you, there's a tiredness, a worn-out, a lack of energy. You're not inspired, you're not excited, you're not full of God's power. You're not excited like at your marriage, your future, your life. You need to find this endless energy. You need to find this boundless strength. All of this energy issues from Christ. And when He's on the inside of you, you can learn to tap into that life. And all of a sudden, the energy to be a dad, a mom, the energy to be a business person, the energy to rise up in your church, what God's called you to.
People go, how are you so energized? How are you so passionate? Because I've learned to tap into the endless, boundless, energy of Jesus. Who's inside of me. If you're tired of the way you live, it's, nothing's going to change if you just have a newer house, pay off your bills. You feel like if things would just go better in my external world, that I would be energized and happy. You're wrong, there's always going to be problems in your external world because we live on a problem-filled planet. But you can have boundless energy, incredible strength, it all issues from Christ. You've got a choice to make. Well, that's not who I am. No. You are who you choose to be, okay?
If I want to be lethargic and pathetic, I can be that really quick. If I want to give in to everything that comes up, every flu. I can begin to get so down that everything hits me all the time. But I've got news for you. When you decide to let Christ's boundless energy, because of His extravagant work, okay? You can begin to rise up and laugh and love, because they'll say where are you getting this joy from? From Jesus. Well what does that mean? It means that as I spend time with Him every day, that His energy rises up in me.
You know, years ago, or actually any time. When you spend time around certain friends, there's a transference that takes place. If you're around really depressed, unhappy, eeeh, Eeyore, oh woe is me people. You'll find that that seems to creep into your mind and heart. If you're around somebody who's angry and just really ticked off about stuff and you're with them for coffee for two hours, you'll find that you'll go home, you've got to watch it you'll get angry about stuff because it just kind of transfers. But if you spend time with Jesus, every morning, in the Bible during the day. There's a transference of His peace, His joy, His patience.
And you can learn to ramp it up where all of a sudden, all of this energy issues from the Christ that is within you. Extravagant means more than you even need flows out of your world. Have you forgotten how amazing Jesus is? I pray that in this Christmas season, that one of the things you're going to make a decision about, I am going to have the life of Jesus. The mind, the emotions of Jesus. I want that flowing in my life, and then you can see that transferred to your marriage, your family, your home, and assist others and getting back too, if they've lost it as a Christian. Or for those that don't know Christ, wanting the Jesus, the beautiful Christmas gift, Jesus. God bless you, we'll see you next time.