Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Make Miracles Happen - 21st Century Temples: Part 2

Episode Date: October 18, 2020

WELCOME PASTOR JOAKIM LUNDQVISTPastor Joakim Lundqvist is Senior Pastor of Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden, with 3,200 members and an international network including over 700 churches. Before stepping into the ministry of Senior Pastor at Word of Life, Pastor Joakim founded the Christian cross-denominational student organization New Generation in Sweden. His 30 years of experience in youth ministry shines through in his creative sermons, aiming to relate to every generation. He is married to Maria, who serves as Music Director at Word of Life, and they have two daughters, Evelina and Julia, who are also both involved in the church and ministry. CONNECT WITH PASTOR JOAKIMInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/joakiml  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joakim.lundqvist  Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/joakimlundqvist  ABOUT 21st CENTURY TEMPLESMiracles beyond belief, truth pushing back fear and lies, answered prayers: They don’t just belong in stories from the past. They’re happening today—and they can happen through you, too. Learn more about this series: https://www.life.church/templesLIFE.CHURCH LOCATIONS ARE OPENTo ensure safety at all of our Life.Church locations, our weekend services have been redesigned to create a sanitary, touchless environment that allows for physical distancing. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more:: https://www.life.church/updatesNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIdiIO-Y20hRW9niR0CA8AFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschel Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So last week we started out speaking about 21st century temples. And if you couldn't watch back then, then please go online and check it out so you get the full story, the full coverage of that first session in this mini-series. But for those of you couldn't participate, weren't able to. Then, you know, we talked about the temple in Jerusalem, the building that was erected by King Solomon. and why that building came to pass. And we talked about how God chose that building for the first time in human history to attach his presence to a physical place for the first time.

Up until that point, you could never tell when or where God was going to appear. But for the very first time, the people of God, of the Old Testament, the Jewish people had a place they could go to and know that you would know that you would know that God would be there. Now of course the temple is gone but the temple principle remains. Second Corinthians chapter 6 says we are the temple of the living God. And we talked about whatever was true about the temple back then should be true about the temple here and now. Amen? Whatever was true about that temple should be true about the 21st century temples. We started out talking about how that temple was visible and because that temple was visible and because that temple was

visible, so should we be, amen? The problem of today is not that people are not interested in the gospel. The problem is we need more visible temples. So many people have got questions, but they don't know where to go with these questions. Secondly, we talked about how the temple was a place of prayer. It was a holy temple of prayer. And the reason being that we also, as present day, 21st century temples need to be places of prayer. God does not respond to your perfection, he responds to your prayers. Amen. Before we move into the next point here, the next thing that was true about the temple back then and therefore should be true about the temple here and now, let me just go one more round on the visible temple element because I came up, I was reminded

of a story. Again, a guy from back home in Sweden. His name is Johann. Here he is, yellow hair and all. I met with you on a couple of years ago. He came to Christ 100% during a summer camp. He was not raised to Christian, didn't know anything about Christianity, but just went full on for Jesus. He just wanted to live his life to the maximum capacity as a 21st century temple. The great thing I find with people who don't have a Christian background at all is that they don't think inside the box.

You know, they don't know how to speak Christianese. They come up with all these crazy ideas, unfiltered ideas. So when Yohan heard me speak about being a visible temple, he started thinking, how do I do that? How can I be visible? How can I speak out? How can I be a city on a hill and a light in the world? So Yon came up with this idea.

He took his own photo in a cool pose like this. And then he took this photo and made it. poster on his laptop with his own photo and underneath the photo the words, I am a Christian, ask me why. He printed this poster in 50 copies and put them up all over his high school. That's quite radical. He called me two days later saying, Pastor, this was the best thing I've ever done. In two days, 40 students have come up to me, pulled me aside. asking, Johan, why are you a Christian, man? They didn't want people to know that they had questions about God.

But they didn't know where to go with all these questions. But all of a sudden, there was a visible temple, looking down at them from posters all over the school. Johann was fantastic. He did all kinds of things. He came into the Christian world and realized there is something like praying, old ladies. There was like a Christian phenomenon called praying old ladies. So he called all the pastors in the city and asked for their phone number to their praying old ladies. And they

called the praying old ladies and put them on a prayer watch covering every single hour of the school days in his high school. Praise God for visible temples. Praise God for temples who are full of prayer. As we move on now, looking at what was true about the temple back then and therefore should be true about you and me the 21st century temples number three the temple was holy psalms 11 and 4 says the lord is in his holy temple and i do believe the concept of holiness is so misunderstood in the christian community you see that every religion aspires for holiness That's the common thread. You cannot find one religious system, one ideology that doesn't have holiness as its main goal.

Holiness as in being forgiven. Holiness as being invited by the deity, by the godhead. Holiness as being clean and being pure. And if you study every single religion, you see that they all have one thing in common. There is a ladder in there somewhere. There's a ladder principle and every other religion apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ is using the ladder in the same way. Man needs to climb up the ladder and eventually, hopefully find holiness up there somewhere. And you climb in different ways, you climb by maybe fasting, by meditating or by giving or by praying in a certain direction, a certain number of days.

day, but it's all basically the same thing. But then you read the gospel and you realize there is a ladder here too, but it's used in another way. It's not us climbing up, it's God climbing down. It's God looking at you and me saying, they can never make it. They will be completely unable to produce holiness through their own works. So I'm going to come down there and I'm going to take you in my arm and I'm going to climb back up again. And I'm going to seat you in Christ on the right hand side of the Father and you will be given holiness as a gift and not as a reward for a job well done. This means, my friend, that according to the gospel, holiness is not your final destination. It's your point of origin. It's not where you will end up one day. It's a

It's what you get from the very start. And I love reading about the baptism of Jesus. When he comes up out of River Jordan and the heaven splits open and the spirit of God comes down. And there's a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Please, Church, realize not only what is being said, but when it is said. It's not at the end of Jesus' ministry. reward for him preaching really good messages or healing a lot of sick people or raising a lot of dead people. It's right at the beginning. Before he has preached one single sermon, the Lord says,

I am pleased with you. You are my beloved son. It's not a reward for a job well done. It's his point of origin. And the same thing with you. Holiness is not a reward for a job well done. holiness is a gift by God in Christ to you from the very first day you start out your journey with Jesus Christ. Can we be thankful for holiness in the church of God? Thank you Lord. And you can ask me, Pastor, does that mean I don't have to work? I don't have to work on my weaknesses, that I don't have to work on my character, that I don't have to work on the way I talk. Of course you need to. But you see, what we do when we do that is not working for our holiness to be perfected, but we're working for our holiness to be reflected. And there's two different

things there. You cannot perfect your holiness, because if you could, then Jesus would not have done a very good job on the cross. Your holiness is perfect from the very beginning, but now it needs to be reflected. It needs to be shown to the world, through your lifestyle, through your priorities, through your words, what you say and what you do not say, through your attitudes and everything that is about your lifestyle. Amen? So holiness is not your point of destination. Holiness is your point of origin. Let me just say one more thing about holiness. Your circumstances will never be able to pollute your holiness unless you allow them to. Your circumstances will never be able to pollute your holiness unless you let them. Amen. You can go through really, really rough times,

but that will not have to pollute your holiness. It's like a boat. The boat will not sink because of the water that is outside the boat, but the boat can sink due to the water that is allowed inside the boat. Now you can go through tough times in life, but you can keep your heart pure. You can refuse to allow disappointment and bitterness and hatred and revenge to enter into your heart. And when you do, that holiness is preserved. And there is going to be a power inside of your heart for you to overcome whatever comes your way. We work a lot in China as a church. And some time ago I heard the story about a pastor.

This is now a few decades back. This pastor was thrown in jail alongside. thousands of other pastors in the persecutions that is facing China right now. This pastor's name was Pastor Chen. And he was thrown in prison for his faith. And as he was prisoned, they treated him really bad. They treated him worse for being a Christian and a pastor than they would treat people who were in there for stealing or killing. The inmates hated him. The guards hated him. And there was so much bullying, there was so much violence, there was so much torture going on there. He was jammed inside a cell with so many other people.

But even though he faced all these pain and the torture and the beating, the thing that got to him the most was the fact that he had such a hard time finding that place of peace in God's presence. There was so much noise and so much going on. And he just longed to see the beautiful. of the face of the Lord and seek him in his holy temple. Twelve years passed inside the prison. And Pastor Chen just try to find that peace,

encountering God's presence, although so much was going on next to him and around him. Then after 12 years, the guards came up to him and said, we've got a new assignment for you, man. And they've chosen this assignment to further humiliate him and push him down and try to break him because they hadn't had the chance to do that in these past 12 years. So they brought him down to the basement of the prison

and opened the door to the cesspool of the prison. That was a cesspool, a sewer pit serving 60,000 prisoners. And they said, from now on, your task, your assignment is to walk around in the cesspool with sewage water up to your waist from morning to evening every day. night to make sure that there's a circulation. And then they shut the door and he was left inside and the smell almost killed him. And he started walking around in the cesspool just thinking, how can I possibly fall any lower than this? Imagine this next time you face problems. Amen? There's people around that's been in far worse situations. I'll tell you that. So he walked around

in there and he just tried not to faint because of the horrible stench. Days passed and after a few days he came to realize, maybe this cesspool is actually an answer of prayer in disguise because for the first time I'm alone. For the first time I can come before the face of the Lord and experience the glory of God. So he lifted his hands and he started to walk around in the cesspool and he started to sing, I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses. And the voice I hear calling to my ear, the son of God discloses. And he walks with me and he talks with me.

And he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has. ever known. And the glory of God filled the entire room. The presence of God all of a sudden was all over. The stench couldn't be felt anymore. It was exchanged to the smell of roses. And he enjoyed the presence and the holiness of the most high God. And Pastor Chen came to the point where every day when he got out of the cesspool and brought back to his cell, he couldn't wait to get back again. Because God's presence turned this horrible dark cesspool into a beautiful garden of the Lord. For six years, he walked the cesspool every single day, morning to evening, in the presence of the Lord.

Then after that, he was released, a total of 18 years in prison. And he rushed back to his small congregation. There was a hundred people back when he was arrested outside of Shanghai. And he thought to himself, will there be a single soul left? I'm the leader. I've been away for 18 years. And he was greeted by an incredible crowd. And they said, Pastor, for the last six years exactly the time he spent in the cesspool,

the Holy Spirit had been poured out over our entire church. We that used to be 100 people in an underground church had now grown to 5,000 people outside of Shanghai. You can never hold a holy temple back. You can never hold a holy temple back. Whatever the devil tries to throw in your face, God will give you the power to endure it. And as you do, he will pour out his holiness upon you and you will come out stronger on the other side. Can we say amen? I just want to end with this final point now, the fourth point, fourth thing, fourth thing

that was true about the temple back then and therefore should be true about the temple here and now, which is you and me. That is the temple was a place of miracles. The temple was a place of miracles. Second Chronicles chapter 7, summarizes how whoever comes to the temple would have a life-changing experience time and time again verse afterwards he says if you're sick and you come to the temple

you will be healed if you're broken and you come to the temple you will be mended if you lack peace peace will be given to you as you come to the temple the temple was a place of divine exchange a place of miracles and if that was the temple back

then, that should be the temple here and now. Amen? I really want to ask you, Church, because you know, this is what I found, that when you start out walking with God, you have a natural expectancy of miracles because you have a lot of needs. Either is you're young or you're new in the game with Jesus, and there's needs all over the place. And, oh, Lord, I don't have the money I need. I need a miracle. I don't have the job I need. I need a miracle. I'm not married. I need a miracle. Whatever is your problem. There's obvious needs around you, inspiring you to ask God continuously for a miracle.

But then you might end up a bit later in life. And all of a sudden, of course, you need God all the time, but maybe you don't need a miracle for your daily survival anymore. Maybe you actually have some money. Maybe you actually have a job that is not too bad. Maybe you have a family. you know, the most immediate needs in your life are met. Then, my friend, you have two choices. Either you step back when it comes to expecting miracles. You stop asking God for miracles because

actually you can get by pretty well from your salary, from the love your family provides and so on. Or, which is the better alternative, you realize that God's miraculous power is not there, for your needs alone, but for the needs of others. The miraculous power in the temple of the 21st century is not primarily there for you, it's there for someone else. And this world is full of needs. This world is full of people who needs Jesus. And we need to break out of self-centered Christianity.

We need to be temples full of miracles, not only for ourselves, but to share Jesus. with other people. You know, I came to Christ when I was 16 years old. When I was 17, I heard a missionary preach about the revival in the Soviet Union. This was way back there. Before Petestroika and Glasnost, Soviet Union was still all communistic

and nobody was allowed to preach the gospel. Yet this missionary went in all the time preaching the gospel to the underground church. I remember I called my parents and say, you know, just get me money. because I need to come with this guy and go into the Soviet Union. And I took them into canceling my whole graduation party and instead just give me the cash.

Give me whatever you would have spent on a party or a present. I need money because I want to go into the Soviet Union. And I got in there with this guy and I'll never, ever forget it. From the airport, going in cars, you know, changing cars and jumping from one car to another, eventually asking our drivers, why were changing cars all the time? And they said, because the KGB is after us. That's the Soviet secret police.

And I realized, I've been watching this in action movies. And now I'm in an action movie. All I had to do was give my life to Jesus. And we ended up right in the middle of nowhere out in the woods, a small, small church jam packed with 800 people. And I was there, couldn't believe it. and my friend, my missionary friend, was preaching. He had to preach three services in a row

because people wouldn't let him go down from the stage because they had been walking for days to hear the gospel. I could see the last session. He was really, really exhausted. So he ended that by saying, okay, now we're going to pray for the sick. And my dear friend Joachim will pray for them. And then he walked offstage.

And I was completely unprepared. I've never prayed for a sick person in my life. He said, I walked up there. I thought fake it till you make it. At least I'd seen other people do this. I said, would anyone who is sick in here, please come to the front? I'm 17 years old here.

Everybody came to the front. I talked to my interpreter. I said, I didn't say everyone should come to the front. Just the sick ones. He said, everybody's sick. This is Soviet Union. There was not healthcare. Everybody had something that they needed to be healed from.

I said, what do I do? I'm going to pray for 800 people. I walked up to the first person, a little woman, like 80 years old, a little babushka. And I asked like a professional, you know, what's wrong with this sister? And she lifted up her arm and her arm was like a skeleton covered with gray skin. It was one of the most horrible things I've ever seen in my life. And I thought to myself, God, could we have started with like a headache or something that is not so obvious. This is like something out of a Japanese horror movie. But I knew that this is where Yoha commence. And this is where God has to start. I took her hand in mind. It was shivering because it was really uncomfortable. And I prayed a simple 70-year-old prayer just saying,

God, please heal her in Jesus' name, please. And I opened my eyes and I saw the first miracle I've ever seen in my life. Before my eyes, I saw the color returning. to her arm. I saw her fingers that were like gray sticks grow out to normal size. And I thought to myself, I will never, ever go back after this. This is what Christianity is all about, distributing the power of God to anyone who needed it. She cried for joy. I cried for joy. Everybody cried for joy. And I realized what the Christian life is all about. Can we give some glory to God right here and now? Praise God. I just want to share one final story with you in regards to being a temple full of miracles and sharing the miraculous power of God with our world. I want to introduce you to one final

suite. Is that okay, life church? Okay, this is Johanna 16 years old. This is, by the way, the most normal pick on her Facebook. Johanna is one of those girls who just love Jesus with all her hearts. And she heard me speak about being a 21st century temple. And she teamed up with a few girls and they decided that there will be a temple full of prayer, a temple full of power, a holy temple and a visible temple. So this very day, then Johanna was on her way from her school to a place where they would meet to pray. And as she walked to the pedestrian street of the city, she just prayed, kind of warmed up in her prayers. And all of a sudden she got really excited. Just pray. Just pray. And she got really excited. praying silently on the inside, she prayed, God, use me now.

Then she stopped to see what would happen. Then all of a sudden in the crowd, she spotted a girl, a girl about her age, but she's never seen her before coming in her direction. And this girl stood out in the crowd because she was crying. And this is Sweden. People don't cry in public in Sweden. People don't show emotion. If anyone laughs in public in Sweden, we assume it's a Norwegian.

Okay, if anyone cries in public in Sweden, we assume they're from Finland, you know, Swedes don't show emotion. So here this girl comes, coming toward her, talking in her cell phone and crying in public. And Johanna now has seconds to make up her mind what to do. The normal, the Swedish, the submarine version would be to simply kind of just ignore her, pray a secret prayer, and not intervene in any way. But Johanna thought to herself, I want to be a visible temple. I've just prayed God used me now. There must be some kind of purpose in here. This girl is now coming closer and closer.

Johanna has no time to fast and pray about the situation. It's now or never. So when she retold the story to me, she said, Pastor, I did the only thing I could think of. I threw out my arms like this. And this girl walked straight into my arms. And I held her. And I thought to myself,

what in the world do I do now? I'm hugging a complete stranger on the pedestrian street of the city. She prayed silently. Then she whispered in the girl's ear asking, would you like to come to a small prayer meeting? And the girl was crying so hard she couldn't even speak, but Johanna heard her, she felt her nod against her shoulder. So she took her back to her friends and informed the friends of what had happened. And they prayed for this girl. And they hugged her. and they said, Jesus loves you, and everything's going to be all right. Then they exchanged email addresses and the girl left, having hardly spoken throughout the whole encounter.

But one week later, this girl emailed Johanna to tell the true story of what happened that day. She was on her way home to commit suicide. Weeks in advance, she had chosen that special day as the day that she would end her life by her own hand. And she had made everything ready back home. Everything was there. She had counted it out. She had all the plans ready, all the letters written.

And according to her plan, she was now on her way home, just maybe a half a mile away from her home. And she called her very last phone call to her aunt, who was the only person who had ever loved her and appreciated her, saying a final goodbye. She had even calculated that her aunt would not be able to get there in order to stop her from, killing herself. And as she talked to her aunt, her feelings overwhelmed her and she started to cry.

But still, she was committed to completing this horrible plan of hers. But then she wrote in the email, but then I looked up and I saw you and I don't know why, but I walked straight into your arms. And when you held me, I felt hope for the first time in years. And then you took me back home and you told me about this Jesus person. Four times in the email she refers to Jesus as the Jesus person. And she ended the email by saying, Johanna, I think I need to get to know this Jesus person. She gave her life to Jesus Christ.

And if you would meet that girl today, she will be the happiest girl you've ever seen. She wouldn't even be alive if it hadn't been for a time. 21st century temple standing right there throwing out its arms to embrace yet another person and welcoming them into the kingdom of God. And when Johanna told me the story, he tears were running down my face and I told you, Johanna, when you stood there that day, throughout your arms, you represented someone else who threw out his arms. Two thousand years ago, so that anyone that needs forgiveness, anyone that needs peace, will have an open arm to fall into.

There is no greater miracle that we can give this world as temples as the miracle of salvation. Out of all the miracles in the world, there is no greater miracle that when a human heart is opened up and Christ moves in with eternal life. and forgiveness and peace. Friends, Life Church, let's commit our lives to be visible temples, to be temples full of prayer, to live our lives as holy temples, and make sure to be temples full of miracles. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you that you call us to be 21st century temples in this world. And Father, we pray for the grace to follow you wherever you go.

Lead us out, Father, to be witnesses, to be visible temples, to pray constantly for your glory to be seen and reflected in our lives, to be holy temples and see that holiness reflected, and to expect miracles and especially the miracle of salvation everywhere we go. This we pray in the mighty, wonderful, beautiful name of Jesus Christ. And all people said, amen. Amen. Thank you guys so much. What a powerful message we just heard from Pastor Yoakim. I know that I want to be a 21st century temple for God's glory. So if that's you, if that's your prayer, I'd love for you to raise your hand right now,

and let's pray together. God, I just thank you for your word, and I thank you for allowing us to be carriers of your presence. I pray that in every area of our lives, that we would align ourselves with your word, and I pray that you would use us to bring glory to your name. As we continue in an attitude of prayer,

I know that there are some of you who are listening right now to me, and you heard Pastor Yoakam speak, and you're stirred inside your heart. You don't know what's going on, but you know that you're being drawn closer to God. I love how God works. I love how he can speak to us in the middle of a church service that's online. You see, I believe that God brought you here

so that you would know how much he loves you and he cares for you. The gospel is so simple. We were born into this world as sinners, and God knew that there was only one way for us to restore our relationship with him. And that's for Jesus Christ to come to this world and die on a cross. And he didn't stay dead, but on the third day, he rose up again so that you and I, if we believe in him, we would have eternal life. I know for years I fought off God's love because I thought I didn't need it. And I could do life without him, but I realized every step that I took further from God, I realized that God was still there pulling me closer to him. So your past, whatever you did even yesterday, that doesn't matter. What matters is this moment right now. All you have to do is say yes to Jesus, and he will come and live in your heart. So we're going to do things a little bit different today. I'm going to count to three. And I want you, those of you who know this is the decision that you need to make at the count of three, I want you to say yes. All right? Are you ready? One, remember, God loves you. He cares so

much about you. Two, all we have to do is say yes to him. Just say yes to him and we have the opportunity to be his children. Three, I want you to raise your hand right now. Just click the button on the screen or just let us know in chat and pray this prayer with me. Dear Jesus, I know that I'm a I need you to be the Lord and Savior of my life. Lord, change my heart. Make me new. I know that I can't do this on my own. I need you in my life.

From this moment on, I choose to live for you. And it's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.