We need to address the tragedy from this last week.
If you could give me control of the PowerPoint, that would be great.
It's something that has brought up a lot of questions.
It's brought up a lot of response.
And something we need to talk about a little bit and see if we can weigh through this a bit.
I'm not going to take a lot of time and talk about Charlie or his wife or his family.
There is so much online that is so much better than anything I could say.
So there's really no point in me adding anything to it. I didn't personally know him.
I saw him from a distance like most of us did.
So I'm not going to take much time there.
There's other things we need to talk about that have to deal with this.
However, I do want to stop right here and pray for his wife and children.
So if you want to agree with me in that, just stand.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have sent your spirit to comfort us
to walk alongside us, to be with us, especially in times like this.
And Lord, we come into agreement for Erica and for their children
that by your spirit you take them through this.
I know you have people around them and I know you have people there that are supporting,
but people can't reach into the deepest part of the heart.
You can.
And we're coming into agreement with, I'm sure, many, many people this morning
for her and the children.
That number one, they are able to reconcile this in their minds.
And secondly, that they are able to wrap around what you, Holy Spirit,
want them to pull out of this.
And as the children grow older, they're able to understand it
and wrap themselves around it.
And there will be no hesitancy or stumbling by any of them concerning living for you.
Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus that all her needs and the family's needs
are supplied according to your riches and glory.
We call for her to be better off financially after this than they were before.
In Jesus' name.
That is something we are asking she never has to worry about.
It is taken care of and supplied for in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen. You can be seated.
This one was costly.
Everybody...
I'm trying to word this in a way so I don't offend anybody.
Everybody who is operating in the kingdom and flowing in their gifts,
when they're taken out it's costly to the kingdom, it's costly to the church.
In his case, it's costly to this country.
And this verse addresses that,
precious in the sight of the Lord of the death of his saints,
that word precious is not...
Oh, isn't it a precious thing?
Isn't she just precious?
Isn't that a precious puppy?
That's not what that means.
It's actually a really bad translation.
I don't know why they translated it that way.
The word precious there means something that is extremely valuable.
It goes back again to the thought of a diamond in brightness.
It's a clear diamond, it's far more costly.
It comes from the root word 3365,
which it's a primitive word, which means it's a root word.
To be heavy, figuratively valuable,
something that's rare, prized.
Again, the thought going back,
you can compare it to like a diamond in your mind.
It's extremely valuable.
It's the more carrots, the heavier it is,
the more valuable it is.
That's what that word precious means.
The word yaquar, however it's pronounced,
means precious, costly, valuable, rare, or honored.
It conveys something of great worth,
whether material, moral, or spiritual.
Connotations of it, it often refers to something
highly esteemed, treasured, or expensive
due to its rarity or significance.
And I'm going to stop right there,
and it's easy to apply that to Charlie Kirk.
His rarity and significance.
But that applies to each one of us
if we get into the purpose we're on this earth for.
Because there are no two people in the kingdom of God
who are alike.
Everybody is custom built.
And everybody has a specific purpose or reason
to walk out, including all of us.
And the more we walk that out,
the more valuable we are to the kingdom
and to what Jesus is trying to do on this earth.
And when we leave, it's costly.
Because somebody else has to come in and replace that.
Or you lose it forever.
So don't just put in your mind,
well this is all about Charlie this morning.
No, this is taking something that happened
and we're going to open it up
and we're going to talk about it.
And that right there, something that is highly
esteemed, treasured, or expensive
due to its significance.
And the flags in my way, I can't read that.
Rarity, that's you.
Say that's me.
You're extremely valuable.
It can describe tangible objects like gems or metals,
see that's what I was talking about, like diamonds,
or intangible qualities like wisdom or life.
So what happened this last week
with the assassination of Charlie
was extremely costly
to the kingdom of God
and to this body.
That doesn't mean there's defeat
tied into that at all.
So we're going to open that up a bit.
I don't want to be inconsiderate
and preempt
the time to speak on this
because people are, you know,
there's a lot of sadness,
there's grief concerning this,
a lot of shock.
So I'm not trying to preempt,
you know, if you need room to work through that,
that's fine, I'm not trying to stop that.
However, I have found
people listen the best at funerals.
If you're going to give a salvation message,
do it at a funeral.
Because boy, the heart is open
because all of a sudden we're pulled out
of our fantasy life
and we're faced with, oh, yeah,
eternity is coming.
And that's kind of what happened this week.
So I want to deal with some of this stuff
because there's grief going on.
Things are happening in people's heart
and people's lives, whether saved, unsaved.
There's a lot of good things happening.
There's, if you're following online,
in fact, I'll just show a clip this morning
of some of the reaction of what's happened
and happening. There's a lot of good things happening.
Hang on to your bootstraps, honey.
This isn't going to go down unchallenged.
There's going to be some pushback on this also.
There's been a little.
And, you know, people,
you've probably heard this.
Some people, especially some commentators
opened their mouths too soon.
And one guy said,
well, when you talk like that,
this is what you get.
Which is like,
I thought we had freedom of speech in America.
And we don't have to be afraid of being shot
because we express our opinion.
Needless to say, this guy was fired
that same day.
So there's, you know, there's things going on,
but there's going to be pushback
on what God is doing right now.
The enemy's not going to just lay down
and go, oh, this is great.
There's going to be pushback.
However, as people go through their shock
and through the grieving,
this is something I've come to realize.
When grieving comes to an end,
the process the person went through
tends to produce something that lasts a long time.
There's going to be results coming out of
what just happened in individual people.
Those results can be good
or those results can be bad.
There's people who will have nothing to do
with God all their lives
because when they were little,
grandma died and they prayed and asked God
that she wouldn't and she died anyway.
And that process of grief
cemented in the fact in them,
I want nothing to do with God.
And then there's people who come through
grief situations and it's like
they almost deify the person.
That's how they come out of that grief process.
And it's like these people had no flaws.
These people were perfect.
These people did everything right.
They never did or said a bad thing in their life.
And you're going, yeah, that ain't right either.
Surprise, surprise, even Charlie had issues.
We all do.
I mean, we all got issues.
But see, when you come through the grief process,
it tends to solidify something.
It produces something in the person.
Some people turn inward.
They go to self-pity.
They go to depression.
And they never shake it for the rest of their life.
They never really get over it.
So when grieving comes to an end,
the process the person went through
tends to produce something.
Right now, the question is this.
When this is passed, will something have been produced
in us for the good?
Us, I'm talking us and whoever is watching online.
Will something have been produced for the good?
Will we have been motivated for the good?
Right now it's fresh.
And everybody is like, yeah, Jesus, yeah,
we're going to live for God, yeah, because it's fresh.
And the emotion is running high.
Will that remain intact a year from now?
That's what I want to talk about.
Emotion is a motivator.
It will cause people to do things and move forward.
Why do you think at ball games,
the parents standing beside
are just screaming and going crazy?
Because they know if their child hears them,
it's going to motivate their children.
Or they know if the ref hears them
calling out a bad call.
That was horrible.
Hopefully that motivates him or her to wake up,
make a better call next time around.
Emotion motivates.
Logic is the thing that stabilizes and focuses.
Right now we're in a very emotional time.
This has to shake out into some focused decisions
that are not based on emotion.
They're based on this is what needs to be done.
This is what's right to carry this out in longevity.
Or we'll lose the emotion and we'll lose everything
that just happened and it'll all fall by the wayside.
When this has passed,
what will have been motivated in us for the good?
The emotion needs to cross over to logic.
That's what will lock in and cause us to be focused
and do something for a lifetime.
So that's what I want to talk about.
I want to dwell on that a little bit this morning,
but to do that we also have to answer some questions
as we go through.
So when you're dealing with martyrdom,
and that's how I look at this situation this last week,
that was a martyr situation.
And I'll explain why as we go on.
But when you're dealing with martyrdom,
there's some principles around martyrdom.
From God's side, that are absolutely huge.
Here is... I'm not going to dwell on a bunch of them.
I'm just pulling this one for this morning.
I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground
and dies, it remains alone.
But if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Since the fall, see, before Adam and Eve sinned,
that principle wasn't around at all.
Because there was no death.
But since the fall, that is a spiritual law.
That's a spiritual principle.
That's how the kingdom of God works.
That's how things work on this earth.
If you want a plant of some kind and you plant the seed,
corn, whatever.
That seed has to die to produce.
It's the way the system is set up,
and it's set up the same way in the kingdom of God.
The Holy Spirit was given to produce that in us.
And don't just think martyr now.
The physical death martyr.
I'm going to open that up a bit.
The Holy Spirit was given to help us die.
Because until we die to ourselves, we will abide alone.
But if we can die to ourselves,
now all of a sudden we will begin to produce.
Things that were never possible were going to be produced before.
So the Holy Spirit was given to do that.
And there's various forms of death.
You got dying to self,
which is basically dying to your own goals, your dreams,
your plans, your priorities.
This is what I always wanted to do.
This is what I always wanted to have.
This is taking all that and putting it second to God
and saying, God, what do you want first for me?
And letting this get into a position where,
well, if it never happens in my lifetime, I'm good at that.
If my plan or my priority never happens,
I'll let it die to do what he's asking me to do.
The Holy Spirit was given for that to be accomplished in us.
And then that goes all the way up to physical death.
Let me show it to you.
And you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you
and you shall be witnesses.
That word, witness, in the Greek is martyrs.
I wrote it in there.
You shall be witnesses to me and Jerusalem
and all Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth.
What does that word mean, martyrs?
The English word martyr comes from the Greek word martyrs,
which originally meant witness or one who testifies.
In the New Testament and early Christian context,
it came to refer to those who bore witness to their faith in Christ,
often through suffering or death,
leading to the modern association with someone who dies
for their beliefs they're called martyrs.
That's Acts 1-8.
And you will receive power,
or dunamis when the Holy Spirit comes upon you to make you die.
That's the main reason Jesus said the Holy Spirit was given.
To cause us to die to ourselves,
which is kind of the lowest form of death,
all the way up to physical murders.
Without His help...
I could use a saying I used in the past and you laughed at.
Without His help, we will just avoid it.
Let me say it that way.
I'm not going to go back there again.
Without the Holy Spirit help,
we're not willing to do the work in us
that will produce Jesus first,
us second, third, fifth, or last, wherever we fit.
That's the Holy Spirit's primary job.
That's why when John the Baptist announced him for, you know,
Here's Jesus.
He's the one who's going to baptize you at the Holy Spirit.
His winnowing fork is in His hand
and the fire is going to burn up the chaff.
What's He talking about?
Everything in us that because of sin shouldn't be there.
The first thing John the Baptist announced,
the Holy Spirit is here to get rid of all that stuff in us.
The first thing is not tongues.
The first thing is not the gifts of the Spirit.
The first thing is power to become a martyr, to die.
So let's open that up a little bit.
The first level of death is death to self.
The first level of death is death to self.
Every one of us has to face this and deal with this.
Not my will, thine be done.
Go back to that definition at the end there.
It says at the end of the capitalized,
through faith in Christ, often through suffering or death.
What does it say in 1 Peter 4 verse 1 through 3?
When we suffer in our body,
and it's talking about saying no to sin,
when we suffer we are done with or dead to sin.
It's another way of talking about,
yeah, you got to die to that.
You can't keep living that way.
You have to die to the desires of the flesh, the sin, that whole thing.
You got to die to it.
And there is suffering involved,
which makes us martyrs.
That's why the Holy Spirit was given,
to sanctify us, to change us, to grow us.
And there's suffering involved in that.
There's going to be some tears shed over that
if we actually follow God.
Because we all have our own plans.
We all have our own things we want to do.
We all have everything that we want to see happen.
And God says, no, I want you doing this.
You're on the earth for this.
This is my purpose for you.
Now the war is on.
Now the suffering is on.
And are we going to die to it?
Or are we going to get stubborn?
And say, well, I don't really care what God wants.
You know, I feel like God wants me to do this,
but then I have to give up all that.
And I'm going to give up all that.
Well, giving it up is what turns us into a martyr
on an everyday process of,
hey, there's some things God asks of us.
There's some things that God asks of Charlie and Erika,
which are going to be brought up later.
And you come to the point of saying,
will I choose?
And you've got to make that choice a very non-emotional choice.
Because tomorrow when you wake up
and the emotion is not there,
the choice has to stand.
The decision has to stand.
And that's the thing that affects people
is when we're willing to die to something in our life
for the sake of Christ or for the sake of the kingdom.
I read, you know, I'm going back,
just had the 50th class reunion this summer,
so I'm going back 50 some years here.
And the principal called me into the office
and he said,
so what do you plan to be once you get,
what are you going to college for?
And I said, well, I think I'm going to be a minister.
What? You're going to be a what?
A minister.
I knew you wouldn't like it.
I said, I think I'm going to be a minister.
And he didn't like it.
He said, are you sure?
He said, because you've got the capability
of doing anything you want to do in life.
Why would you waste it on that?
See, now that gets in your head as a teenager.
Just that statement will get in your head going,
well, maybe he's right.
Maybe this is stupid.
Maybe I shouldn't do this.
Maybe it wasn't God at all anyway.
Because look at all the things I could have,
life I could have.
Or if I go in ministry, this is what I'm going to have.
And it starts messing with you.
And then you know the best way to miss God
is stop getting into his presence.
Get away from your devotional life.
Get away from any services like this
where the Holy Spirit's going to tap you on the shoulder
and talk to you.
Stop getting into his presence.
Stop pushing that direction
and guaranteed you'll miss God.
But when you take all that confusion
and everything that's wrapped up in the head
and then you get back into his presence,
all that stuff you just know that you know that you know yet,
that's not right, that's not it.
That's man's opinion.
This is what God's asking me to do.
And I have to, he's asking me to sacrifice that.
Die to it. Let it go.
And do what he's asking me to do.
People, that has a real strong effect on people.
They don't always understand it.
Most time they don't understand it.
Why we would give something up for the sake of the kingdom?
For Christ, in fact, if you go to 1 Peter 4,
the first three verses deal with
he who has suffered in his body has done with sin,
no longer lives his life for his own will,
but for God's will, verse 4 says,
and people looking in won't get it.
Verse 4, right after that says,
they're not going to understand why you're doing this.
So just realize that right up front.
People are going to look at you like,
what, no world is wrong with you.
As we die to ourselves.
And of course, that can lead all the way up to
physical death, level of martyrdom,
really, really makes that type of martyrdom
really, really makes the point of bearing witness to our faith,
even through suffering or death like that definition said.
See, martyrdom can be summed up in this little phrase,
to be seen and heard at all costs,
even to the point of death.
So now, there's some people that are putting out some clips
that I'm paying far more attention to than others.
And Mark Driscoll put out a clip.
Maybe some of you saw it, maybe you didn't.
But he put out a clip where he was talking about
Charlie and Erica.
He had gotten into a type of a mentoring situation
with Charlie.
And Charlie was, because there were some shifts
in the future that Charlie was feeling that
he might need to make.
And he pulled Mark in on that,
and he was talking with him.
And he said he had just set up a half-day meeting
with me to go over some stuff on theological things
because he felt he was going to get pulled more into apologetics,
which is the defense of the gospel,
defense of the word.
And he wanted to run some things past me and so forth.
And he said, something happened.
I don't remember what the situation was.
He said, but he called me.
And he said, hey, you want to come over
and meet the vice president?
So there was something going on in town,
and J.D. Vance was in town,
and Vance had invited Charlie
to come be part of what that was.
And they were together,
and it just kind of crossed Charlie's mind.
He said, hey, can I invite somebody?
So he invited Mark Driscoll.
So he said, yeah, I'll come.
And he came, he said, I walked in the door
and Charlie greeted me.
And he said the first thing he said to me,
according to the, he was shaking his hand.
He said, according to the information I'm getting,
they're either going to try to kill me
or they're going to incarcerate me.
That was his greeting to Mark Driscoll,
which I'm sure kind of trying to read
between the lines.
He got that information from the vice president
who was standing behind him,
because the vice president has access
to everything the FBI knows and everything else.
And he said, yep, they're either going to try to kill me
or they're going to try to throw me in prison.
They're going to shut me up.
Okay, now stop and think about that.
Did that detour him whatsoever?
No.
Why?
Not because of the emotion and the excitement
of I could die.
Oh, this is going to be awesome.
No.
He knew what he was here for.
His wife had to agree with that.
They were on the same page.
In her statement, she as much as said,
hey, we were on the same page.
We knew the dangers. We knew the risks.
Well, they had been warned by the vice president.
There's people who are planning to kill you.
You're too big a problem to them.
He went home and shared that with her.
And what did she do?
She tried to talk him out of his ministry.
No.
No.
They counted the cost and said,
well, if it's death,
then it's death.
But you have to be seen and heard because
that's what God's asking you to do.
That's martyr mentality.
So both levels,
the level that you and I face
on a daily basis,
the dying to self
and choosing to do it God's way
rather than our way.
And when he says you got to let go of that
certain realm of the way you're living sin, etc.
That's martyrdom.
And it goes up from there to
losing friends,
losing family. Jesus talked about all those.
Follow me.
Your parents are going to be against you.
Your siblings are going to be against you.
It goes up to betrayal.
I mean, it just marches up
to the point of
physical death murder.
This is by God's
design.
Because
the system that he's been handed with sin
and everything else,
this is how the kingdom of God
advances.
This is how it advances.
If you and I
are not willing to die to our
self and put Jesus first,
the kingdom of God will not advance
in our lives.
It will be locked down.
It all depends on
are we willing to give
the reins, the driver's
seat over to him
and we follow?
Or are we going to hang on to it?
If we hang on to it, the kingdom of God won't advance
in us.
We have to turn it over.
Were you able to formulate your thoughts?
Would you like to read it?
You can read it.
God showed her something on the way in
and it took her praise and worship
to wrap her head around it.
So now she's going to share.
Go ahead. I trust you.
Okay.
So I had a little
vision and I
saw a black kitchen chair with blood
on it and the blood began to drip down
and then it hit the earth and as it
hit the earth it turned clear like water
and it soaked into the earth.
And then in the car
I started singing,
earth you will give birth to these seeds
of revival.
And then
this is what I believe
the Lord is trying to give a picture of
is it's the blood of the martyr that has
been sown as seed
and it will bring forth a pure fruit
of revival.
Pure and holy says the Lord of hosts.
These seeds are not
sown in vain and the blood of the martyr
is precious to the Lord.
This blood will bring
revival.
And then Habakkah 2.3 at the end
it will speak and it will not lie
and though it tarries wait for it
but it will surely come and it will not tarry.
So
I know I said a black chair
and oftentimes people think that's very negative
but there's a positive meaning
so I looked them up quickly.
So black is a beautiful substance.
The kitchen
chair is a representation
of a position
of authority that also
inflicts like passion.
And then the blood I believe
represents the blood of the martyrs
but
when it's sown as a seed it's very pure
it's a very holy thing.
To God. And it will produce
and so it's not in vain.
Isn't that cool?
Just what we've been talking about
just what the Scripture says
unless a grain of wheat, kernel of wheat
fall on the ground and die.
It's that principle.
So here's a big question that's been coming up.
Was this God's will
for Charlie to be murdered?
Now
if you lean more towards Calvinism
which Calvinists say everything
on this earth that happens is God's will.
If it happened it's God's will.
Which I totally disagree with.
I don't think it's scriptural at all.
But if you're Calvinist
you're going to say yes.
That was absolutely God's will.
And I've heard people say like the phrases
well see God called him home
God took him.
No, that's garbage.
God
was not the one
who instigated his death.
He was shot. He was assassinated.
That's where it's at.
So let's unpack
martyrdom a bit here
and let's talk about martyrs
since we're all supposed to be martyrs
in our own personal life
on up to wherever this needs to go.
So let's talk
about it a little bit.
There's many martyrs in Scripture
in God's original design.
It was never God's will for death
to even exist.
Much less to be killed for our faith.
So in that way
if you go back to the original design
before Adam and Eve sinned
no, it was not God's will that this happened
because he didn't want
any of this that we're dealing with
to happen.
But now it happened.
So now because of sin
and the increase of lawlessness,
rebellion, that realm
has entered the world
following Christ
has always made Christians a target.
That's only going to increase
as we move further into the last days.
Now I'm going to talk about that a bit
and I'm puzzled
because whenever I talk about
this is going to increase
as we move into the last days.
The things that come against the church
things that come against Christianity
this stuff is going to increase.
It's like people get
weird.
Christians get weird.
It's like they
well I don't want to talk about that.
Well Jesus talked about it.
Jesus warned us about it.
Why don't we want to talk about it?
So please take that
denial hat off this morning
and say well I just don't like
to talk about those kind of things.
Well don't make any difference if you like it or not.
Jesus talked about it and what Jesus talked about
we need to talk about.
And we need to face what's real
no matter how difficult it is.
But
so in that way
since
since Christ
and you've got the devil and sin
you've got Jesus
and God and righteousness
those two are not in agreement
and we
as human beings are caught in the middle of those two.
And if you want to boil
the whole gospel down to
one real easy thought
the devil
caused Adam and Eve to sin
he caused us to sin by allowing
Adam and Eve to let the door open
by getting involved
we let the door open by getting involved
why is the devil doing that
to get us to rebel against God
and ultimately get us
to hell with him
he knows he's going there.
The lake of fire was prepared
for the devil and his angel
wasn't prepared for human beings
prepared for the devil and his angels
but in one last
spitting in God's face
he wants to take as many human beings
who are made in the image of God with him as possible
well it was our fault
that we let
his world
into us so to speak and we sinned
and we turned against God
so God sent a savior
that would pay for the whole thing
for us if we just choose him
and follow him
And right now we are caught in the middle and God is trying to save the world and turn it back to him,
and the devil is trying to deceive and take as many as he can to his eternal resting place.
There it is. The whole thing. That's what's happening. So Christians are always under attack.
And if you boil it down to the bottom line, it's demonic. Its origin is in the kingdom of
darkness. That's why our friends say things to us. That's why relatives say things to us.
You don't have to be that radical about God. Where do you think that started from? Not the throne of God.
Because he already told us how radical we need to be. Love him with all the heart, soul, mind and strength.
That's radical. So anything that washes that down or sets the bar lower isn't coming from the kingdom of God.
You say, but grandma loves me. I don't care if she loves you or not. She's talking out of her knowledge
and her inspiration from the kingdom of darkness when she says, well, you don't have to marry
a Christian girl to be happy. Well, see there she's contradicting scripture.
So it can't be from God. If you're a Christian, you better find a Christian,
you're going to be unequally yoked, and that always turns into a little bit of hell on earth.
Until that person becomes a Christian and or you backslide and go that way so you can have peace.
So no matter how much grandma loves you, she's wrong.
And it's not the kingdom of God speaking through it. It's the kingdom of darkness speaking
through her. So with that in mind, we face death because of our stand for the gospel and the
kingdom of God. Yeah, if we face death because we're choosing to take a stand in our faith,
yeah, then it is God's will. So it could go either way. So let's break it down a little further.
Does God choose certain people to be martyrs? I heard this last week. Well,
see God chose Charlie to be a martyr. This was God's will. God took him home.
This was God's idea. God wanted him martyred. It's like, well, I don't know, but the Scripture knows.
So let's talk about martyrs and what makes them a martyr. Let's talk about martyrdom some.
So there's many Scriptures. There's many examples in Scripture of people who were martyrs, many
martyrs. As we go through, I've just got a whole bunch of them listed. I'll go as quick
as I can. As we go through these, notice what caused their death. Just pay attention to that.
Abel, first recorded martyr, killed by his brother, Cain, out of jealousy over God's acceptance of Abel
sacrifice. Cain got jealous that God accepted Cain's sacrifice. So he killed him. Zachariah,
son of Jahida, stoned to death in the temple courts for rebuking the people and the king
for idolatry. Uriah, son of Shamiah, a prophet killed by King Jehoiakim for prophesying against
Jerusalem. And to desecrate a further, they didn't even honor his burial. Isaiah, tradition holds
that he was sawn in half because of his prophecies. John the Baptist was beheaded
because he condemned King Herod's marriage. Jesus was crucified. He was the ultimate martyr
to fulfill prophecy and to overcome all of this. Stephen, the first Christian martyr stoned by the
Sanhedrin for his bold testimony, accusing them of being wrong and resisting the Holy Spirit.
Antipas, a faithful witness in Pergamum, killed by Satan, likely Roman persecution did it.
For what? For his testimony. The twelve disciples, James the just. This was the
brother of Jesus. So you got James, Peter, and then later you'll have John. These were the three
people in charge of the early Christian church in Jerusalem. They were in headquarters.
They were the ones who were calling the shots of how the church would develop. James,
thrown from the temple pinnacle and clubbed to death for his leadership in Jerusalem church.
So they threw him off the top of the temple, which was quite high, and apparently he wasn't dead yet.
So they clubbed him to death. This is one of our three supreme leaders.
Peter was crucified upside down in Rome under Nero, again for preaching the gospel. We'll get
to John a little later. Paul was beheaded in Rome again for, you know why, preaching the
gospel. Simon Peter crucified upside down. Oh, that's the second time he's there. Andrew
crucified in an X-shaped cross, now called St. Andrew's Cross. He was bound, not nailed.
And while he was dying, because he didn't die quickly, because they just tied him to the cross,
he preached for days while he was on the cross. Well, that's why he was on the cross. He
was preaching. Now, notice some things of the apostles. He died in Greece. James, son of Zebede,
beheaded under King Agrippa, Jerusalem, part of the persecution against the church.
Notice a lot of these apostles died away from Jerusalem. John the Summit, Zebede. Now,
they think this is John the Beloved. They think he died of natural causes. He was an old man
because they couldn't kill him. He was to be martyred. They boiled him in oil.
That's a rough route to go. Boiled in oil. Now, maybe God protected him like he did the
three Hebrew children in the fire, and he came out without anything. And then he could have come
out one scarred, mangled mess. We don't know. They couldn't kill him, so they threw him on the
Isle of Patmos. Get rid of him. That's where he got the revelation of the book of revelation.
So the reason they couldn't kill him is he wasn't done yet.
Let's go on where we are. Philip, crucified or stoned to death in Turkey. What's he doing in Turkey?
Preaching. He was preaching. Bartholomew. Nathaniel. That's a rough one.
Flayed alive. And then he wasn't dead, so they just took his head off.
Armenia. What's he doing in Armenia? He's preaching. Thomas speared to death in India
after preaching and converting many. Matthew likely martyred by stabbing or beheading
in Ethiopia or Persia. So now he's down the other direction. James, the son of Alpheus,
stoned or clubbed to death in Jerusalem or Persia. Some accounts suggest he was thrown
from the temple like the other guy and then beaten to death. Thaddeus, martyred in Persia or Syria,
possibly by arrows or an axe. Simon, martyred in Persia. That's Turkey, Iran, that realm.
Sawn in half are crucified. They're not sure which one.
Some traditions place his death in Britain, which again, why would he be there? Well,
he's preaching the gospel. And then you've got the unnamed. Hebrews refers to it. Old Testament
people who were tortured, stoned or sawn in two, cut in half like Isaiah and possibly the last
guy, for their faith. And in Revelation it describes the souls of martyrs under God's altar
and that is a special place because it is right before the throne. And when John saw them,
he saw them like under the altar. In other words, as he looked and they're right under
where God was right in front, right before the throne. Special place for these kind of martyrs,
for sure, those kind of martyrs. Now, did you notice how they died?
Scripture doesn't say any place that God chose them to be a martyr. You know how they became martyrs?
By doing what God asked them to do and the other side didn't care for it and killed them.
That's how we become a martyr, physical martyr.
Now with that, I agree, there comes a tremendous release of anointing and spiritual power when
that happens. It forces everything forward. But people are martyred simply for doing what God
asked them to do. I do not believe Charlie was chosen by God to be a martyr. Charlie was
chosen by God to do what he was doing. And yeah, there's probably only one person in the whole
United States who could pull off what he was doing with excellence. He did it. And that's what got him
in trouble. Now they say, well, you know, calling it a political assassination. Well, he did delve
into politics. But do you know why he delved into politics? He always came from the direction
we come from. He's attacking the sin that the political realm and the government is promoting.
That was a direction he always came from. I mean, he wasn't big into from the times I listened to
him. He wasn't big into, hey, let's just trash this certain group of people today.
No, they'd ask a question and then he'd give the answer and they'd say,
so are you pointing at them? Well, the shoe fits, put it on. What are you going to do?
But he was always coming from a scriptural moral stance. And that got him killed. Because there's
a lot of people who don't want the scriptural moral stance of God. They don't want it in this
country. And he had become too big a voice, too big a threat. And he's not the first
smarter. And guess what? He's not going to be the last.
Did you know that martyrdom is happening daily in this world? See, we have been founded in a
Christian nation. Our founding fathers put such an awesome covenant together between us and God
via the Constitution. And we have just been in safety and blessed.
But let me give you some statistics.
The open doors nonprofit, their whole focus is on persecuted Christians.
They put it out an annual watch list and they have this audited by the International
Institute of Religious Freedom. And they're defining martyrdom as someone who is killed
directly motivated by anti-Christian hostility. So in other words, the one at a times they know
that they were martyred because they wouldn't back away from their religious faith, their Christian
faith. They estimate worldwide between 4,500 and 6,000 of those people every year are murdered.
4,500 to 6,000. Now, another organization, the Center for Study of Global Christianity
at Cornwell Theological Seminary uses a little different approach. They are counting everybody
that like for instance, and you got to call it what it is, when Islam does jihad on some
country. They go in and wipe out everybody who's not going to convert to Islam.
This group counts all those. It's not the one by one that get pulled out. It's like
you wiped out half the population of that community because they refused to convert.
They count those as martyrs.
Their estimate worldwide every year is around 90,000 people.
So you've got the conservative estimate all the way up to, well, this could be top end.
So 4,500 a year, which is the lowest estimate, is 11.5 people per day are martyred.
Today, 11 people, tomorrow would be 12, that gives you the 11.5. Every day are martyred
for Christianity. The 90,000 a year, if you come from that direction, it's 246 people a day
are losing their lives as martyrs.
See, we've just been insulated and isolated from this kind of stuff in our country.
It's a huge deal here and I'm not saying it's a little deal over there. I'm just saying we see
so little of it, it becomes magnified. Other parts of the world, there's people being killed right
now for their stand for Christ, right now. Now, martyrdom, it's not something to shrink away from.
I've heard people say, I hope I'm never a martyr.
Well, that attitude will take you all the way back to, I bet you don't do very well on following
Jesus either, because if you're not willing to die to this, you're definitely not wanting
to die to that. Martyrdom in one form or another is for everybody who's a disciple.
Remember that picture? If we're going to follow Christ, we're going to become a disciplined one.
In other words, when we make Jesus our Savior, then he starts asking us to do things and we
decide whether we're going to or not. If we decide, okay, I'm going to be a martyr.
I'm going to, he's telling me to stop cussing at my husband.
And I just accept Jesus as my Savior. And I just, I just got this inside. It's just like, I know God
wants me to stop cussing at my husband. Well, now we have a choice. Are we going to follow that
or aren't we? If we follow that, there's going to be a realm of discipline that's going to
kick in. You're going to have to discipline yourself because usually those kinds of things,
the Holy Spirit will help us change, but he doesn't just take it away. Follow me? It's not like,
okay, God, I'll do that. And tomorrow you wake up and you never have the desire to cuss at
your husband again. It's just gone. That usually doesn't work that way. Now you're
going to need his help. And you're going to need some revelation knowledge from his
scripture. And you're going to need to grow to the point where you're able to stop what he says,
I want you to stop this. So now you're following. As a follower, that turns us into a disciplined
one or a disciple. Once we have grown in something, like a disciple, we will automatically
lead others in that. When we hear our friend cussing at her husband, once we've overcome,
we will automatically speak into that. You say, how does that work? You might not say anything
at all. You just go, because you know what she's doing, God don't want. You're kind of
blank, any blank? I don't want any blank. Well, here's your opportunity to minister and lead.
Once you've conquered it yourself, God will always put you in a position to help someone else.
Always. Which ultimately flows from... you're going to witness now because you're a martyr.
You grew in this. Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny
himself, take up his cross and follow me. So he's telling his disciples, here's how the process
works. Whoever desires to save his life, yeah, I'm not going to do that dying to myself thing.
I've got plans for my life. Yeah, go ahead and try that route. You're going to lose it.
But if you're willing to lose your life, suki, there means soul. The mind will, the emotions,
it's translated life in these spots, but a little further, it's translated soul. It means soul. The
mind will, the emotions, the intellect, the reasoning. If you're not willing to give up
your mind will, the emotions, what you want, your desires, your plans for God, God says,
well, you're going to lose that anyway. But if you're willing to give it up and follow
God, for my sake, then you will find what you were really after. For what profit is to a man if he
gains the whole world and loses his own soul, suki? Or what can a man give an exchange for his soul?
Nothing. You have to do it Christ's way if you want to save your soul. The Holy Spirit was
given to turn us into martyrs from the lowest level up to the top level. Physical death type of
martyrdom is an honor. It will produce a greater harvest than would be accomplished without the
death. Why? Because the kernel fell into the ground, now the spiritual law kicks in and forces
that to multiply. Because Charlie died, there will be a multiplication for God's kingdom way greater
than would have happened had he stayed alive. That's how it works. It's like persecution.
Persecution is the same thing. The people who are persecuting others are actually, if the
person that's being persecuted can keep their head on straight, keep their attitude right. The people
are persecuting them because they want them to stop. They want to shut down what they're doing. This
is wrong. But in reality, they're actually helping that person. You say, how are they helping them?
Well, unless the seed falls into the ground and dies, have you ever been accused of
things persecuted by someone of whether they knew what they were talking about or not?
And did you ever have the feeling like, man, I want to get in that person's face and just
reap them out? Somebody needs to set them straight.
Man, do you hear all the garbage they're talking about word of life? Boy, it's time to posse
up. We're going after them. You ever have any of those feelings? Guess what? Jesus says you
get to die to those. Nope, you're not doing them. What? We have every right. You might have,
but you're not doing them. If we will keep our head on straight and handle it right and die to
those things inside of us that want to get us out of God's will, that death is actually a
planted seed which will produce much more. How did it happen through the persecution?
The best thing that happened to the early churches, they were persecuted
because it spread the gospel through the whole world. Some of them ran to all different
countries of the world for their life's sake. They tried to stay alive because people were
being killed in Rome. People were being killed in Jerusalem. John, James, that whole leadership
of the church all got crucified in Jerusalem. So people ran. That was the best thing could
happen because when they ran, they took the gospel with them. And because they were willing to die to
the desires of, well, but I got to leave my home. I got to leave my family. I mean, this is, I've
been in this area all my life. I got to leave because they were willing to die to that and
do it. Now they were supernaturally empowered to spread the gospel and it just spread that
much greater, that much more. Let's show that video. It's a video that shows the impact that
Charlie's death this last week, what's happening worldwide and the impact with that.
It's only like three minutes long. Let's show that and then we'll talk about it a little bit
afterwards. I don't know why it's like this, but it's just the way it is and the way it's
been. You don't ever know the impact of someone's life on the world until they're gone.
And then you can see the massive hole that is left when they're taken from you and the world
is experiencing that with Charlie Kirk right now. But even I am shocked at how Charlie's legacy
and dominance of culture extends to virtually every corner of the globe. They're vigils
for Charlie. They're popping up all over America and on college campuses where Charlie gave his life.
You can see some of the videos here. Often they are prayer vigils with candles and with flowers.
This is where Charlie Kirk did his work, spreading light in the darkness. But there's
something else remarkable about what's happening right now with the memory of Charlie Kirk.
We're just getting started. Around the globe there are memorials to Charlie Kirk that are popping up.
Here are just some of the memorials that we have seen, memorials in Sydney, Australia.
Look like this. Check out what they did for Charlie Kirk in the United Kingdom. Look at this.
In Madrid, Spain. Look like this. Here's the Polish parliament. Poland, of course.
Celebrating Charlie's legacy. Vienna, Austria. Here is a celebration of Charlie's life in Germany.
Here's a celebration of Charlie's life in New Zealand. Ladies and gentlemen, Charlie's life
being celebrated and his legacy being honored in Tel Aviv. Along with some of these beautiful murals
that are now being painted of Charlie and what I expect to totally be a part of, which is
the crowdfunding of a permanent memorial to Charlie Kirk that includes him with a microphone
sitting at a college campus having a conversation, an open conversation, a dialogue. I think that
the political assassination of Charlie Kirk has officially backfired.
He's getting more powerful. And that's what happens with the monument.
You know why that is? Because when a seed falls into the ground and dies, God
supernaturally multiplies it. Whether it's our seeds or like that one.
Supernaturally propelled forward.
And you know what? It's showing to me, there's a lot of people in this world who still want truth.
And he was a voice crying in the wilderness and people gravitated to that voice.
So why does this pertain to us and our children? Well, let's real quickly go through this.
Then Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed, no one deceives you for many will come in my name
saying, I am the Christ. All right, get to the right verse here. I am the Christ will deceive many.
There we go. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to
tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for my namesake.
Then many will be offended, will betray one another and will hate one another.
Huh? Really, Jesus? Do you know what he just made there? Some promises.
You want to claim some promises of God? There's Jesus promising. This is what is coming.
That's how it pertains to us, especially our children. And I know it's hard for mothers to
hear that because, you know, fathers aren't far behind. It's like, do I want my kids to go through
that? No. So then let's just ignore it, not talk about it. Hence, we don't prepare them for
what's coming. Jesus didn't bring this up as a light topic at dinner. He brought this up
to say, get ready. Here is where it's going. And you know what? Brother's going to betray brother
and a father's going to betray his child and children are going to rebel against their
parents and have their parents put to death because their parents are Christian and the
kids don't want nothing to do with that. All men will hate you because of me.
But before all this, they're going to lay hands on you and they're going to
persecute you. Well, that's where we are right now. Before it really gets ugly,
that's where we are right now. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons and you will be
brought before kings and governors, all in account of my name. That is what's beginning to play out
right now. We had a play out in this state under the administration that did not want
anything to do with Christian values. That whole thing. This will result in your being witnesses,
martyrs to them. Make up your mind not to worry beforehand. This isn't to get you all shook up
how you're going to defend yourselves. For I will give you the words and the wisdom none of
your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by
parents, brothers, relatives, and friends and they will put some of you to death.
Some people are going to be physical martyrs over this. All men will hate you because of me.
But if you stand firm, not a hair of your head has to perish. So there's some will die
and then there's others who are going to stand firm in their faith and they won't be affected at
all. That is what's coming. Are we ready, parents, young people, are we ready to be
betrayed by the people closest to us because we're choosing to be Christians? That's what's coming.
Some people will die over it in this country. Are we ready for that? Because that's where
it's going. What really needs to come out of what happened this last week is a renewed vigor
to stand for and defend righteousness and godliness even to the point of death.
So let's walk it through the levels. In our personal life, God says, I want you to stop that
or start that. Whatever you're doing, it's wrong. I want it out of your life and dealt with.
We need to come out of this week going, yeah, whatever is going on in me
that is not of God needs to end. That's the lowest level of martyrdom. It needs to die.
All of us will deal with that. Depending upon who our associates are, who our friends are,
who our parents are, who our relatives are, the next step up, not everybody's happy when
someone decides to live for Jesus. Not everybody's happy about that.
If you're the first one out, and what I mean by that is you come from a family that,
as far as you know, nobody was ever saved. You're the first one.
This whole thing of parents, brothers, relatives and friends being all over your case,
you know that one first hand. That one's that one, you know. That is a step up in martyrdom
because you're going to have to die to some of those people to stay serving Jesus.
You will lose some of those people and you have to be willing to make that choice.
And another step up is what if the people you lose are your parents? Well now your children no
longer have grandparents. That's more intense yet. See how it steps up depending upon what our
situation is? Every step is a form of martyr. We're dying to something for the sake of following
Christ. In the younger generations, which Charlie was part of, he was 31 years old,
this needs to ignite in you. And I'm going to go with Brian's division this morning,
30 on down. The older I get, 30 looks pretty young to me.
So you 30 on down to zero. What needs to take place because of what happened this last week
is there needs to be, yeah, the grief process is going to take place, the emotion is going to
take place for some of you, many of you, depending upon how much you were a follower
of what he was doing. You're going to know the loss, the emotion will be there,
but once the emotion dies down, there needs to be a focus and a vigor produced in you
that what he was willing to die for, I am willing to die for. And it's a decision, it's a choice.
The opposite of what is intended needs to take place. You know what's intended by that kind
of thing? Keep your mouth shut. You could be the next one. Be afraid. Be timid. Back up. I mean,
it's not that big a deal. Oh no, it's not that big a deal. It's eternity. Not that big a deal.
We're talking about forever here, but the thought will go through. It's not that big a deal. I
mean, I mean, I can live for God without telling everybody about it. You know, that's a really
selfish statement. Because you know why you're doing that? You don't want the death process that goes
with you speaking up. Well, I'm going to tell anybody about this because I'll lose my friend.
There you go. No matter what the application is, if we're going to love others like ourselves,
wasn't it nice that someone shared the gospel with us? Well, if we love them, we should be
sharing something with them. The exact opposite needs to take place, not the becoming silent,
not the negative impact which is going to try to produce, and there's going to be a lot of
input coming out concerning that. It needs to turn into a logical resolve. I have decided to
follow Jesus. And I'm not turning. I don't care what happens. I'm not turning. The emotion needs to
consolidate into that. Pastor Igor, you got anything you want to share?
So here's what the Lord told me during prayer. I had, on my notes I had written down,
I think at the end I want us to agree on John 12, 24 concerning Charlie. Now,
in other words, the seed fell into the ground. It's not going to buy it alone. It's going to produce
unbelievably. Agree for him and agree over us, all of us, especially the younger generations,
that it happens as they walk through the process of following and discipleship and
and martyrdom in their own lives. The seed they plant multiplies in them for the kingdom just
very quickly, very powerfully. Okay? So during prayer while Brian's talking,
just, I don't even remember what he was talking about. Just out of the blue the Holy Spirit said,
well it wasn't Holy Spirit, it was Jesus said, tell them I need them.
Tell them I need them. That would be God saying I need you.
Why would God say he needs us? Because the system he has set up is
the rulership, the evangelization, the things he wants done. Your kingdom come,
be done on earth as it is in heaven. That happens through people.
He doesn't bypass people. That happens through people. He set it up that way.
And if people refuse to cooperate with them, it doesn't happen.
He needs us to cooperate with the system because he gave the rulership of the world over to
man. He said, the heavens I reserve for myself. I rule the heavens. But the rulership of the
world he gave over to man. And do you know who is representing God on this world? The church.
He needs us to represent him. Without us he can't do it. We're the salt, we're the light.
We are the living epistols, read by men. Here's what gets in the way, especially when you're younger,
because believe it or not, at one time I was younger. Some of the younger ones look at me like,
I don't think I'll ever get that old. Yeah, don't hold your breath. It sneaks right up on you.
The thing that stops us from making the deaf things, there's a number of things,
that stop us from making a definite choice for Christ, young people.
We're shy. Which shyness is a form of fear. Or we're timid, timidity is a form of fear.
So as a result, we use those things as an excuse. Well, I just, I'm not, I'm not the kind of
person who can say anything. You know, when you want something, you speak up.
You ever notice shy people have a way of making it known when they want something?
It's a choice. You're going to have to choose to not let shyness or timidity run your life.
Make your choices for it. You got to choose to say, you know what, it's really, really,
really uncomfortable for me. But I have to say something. Low self-esteem. Nobody's going to
listen to me anyway. Who cares? I'm just the cast away here anyway. Low self-worth, low self-esteem.
Feel bad about yourself already. Now I'm going to open my mouth and insert my foot with
the few people that do seem to respect me and lose them too. Well, you might not lose them.
You might gain them. It doesn't always go negative. You might gain them.
See, it's those simple things that a lot of times we don't think of.
Chances are really good. You don't need demons cast out for you to take a stand for Jesus.
You just need to overcome the things in your flesh that are saying, yeah, I don't...
I really feel uncomfortable in this world. You know, I've had people tell me,
in some, you know, some of our services, the Holy Spirit shows up really, really strong.
And I've had people tell me, thinking of two people right off the top of my hat, that
they said, you know, we were there for that service. One guy said this. He said,
during that service, it was so heavy, he said, it felt like God was right there.
And he said, then he spoke to me. He was saved, but he was real nominal as a Christian.
He said, it scared me so bad. He said, I don't know if I can ever come back to word of life.
I was so uncomfortable. See now, for those of us who are on this side of it, we say, well,
you know what that is? That's flesh. Your old nature, probably for the first time in your
life, got into contact with the tangible presence of God and freaked you out.
Which is a sad story for, you know, because he went to other churches,
which is a sad story for the other churches. But when you get into the presence of God,
and occasionally he'll show up really, really heavy, that thing inside of you that goes,
eh, this really makes me uncomfortable. I wonder if I can get out the door without
him seeing me. I don't know. I don't like this. That's what you have to conquer.
That right there, that's you. That's your old nature trying to run from God.
That's what you have to conquer. And you're going to become a martyr to do it.
You're going to die in some area to yourself to do it.
What I'd like us to do the last few minutes, I'd like us as adults to pray over any of the young
people, children who are willing. This is voluntary. If you want to come, that's fine.
If you don't want to come, that's fine, too. But if you say, yeah, I want to,
I want to pick up what Charlie was carrying. That's why I watched him. That's why I followed
him. It was just so awesome. He said everything so I don't have to say anything. Well, guess what?
He's gone now. And now God's looking at you saying, I want you to talk. I want you to speak up.
I want you to educate yourself. I want you to be this light in the darkness now.
And you know, some of you know deep in your heart, yeah, I know it's me. He's working on me.
Well, I want to pray for everybody who wants prayer. And I want all the young people who want
this, all the children who want this, come gather up here and then the adults are going
to gather around you and we're just going to pray over you. So, we'll do it now.
So let's let the young people and the children come first. Young is 30 and under.
Okay, now all of us who aren't 30 and under, if you want to be part of this,
just come up behind them. We're going to pray over them. Wow, this is a solid moment.
You feel it in the air? You can just feel it in the spiritual atmosphere. This is like,
wow, what do you compare it to? It's like standing before the throne and he's right up here going,
okay, let's sign up for this. Let's do this. You can just feel the solemnness in the air.
Heavenly Father, we respect, we respect this atmosphere right now.
We give honor and precedence to it. And Lord, we want it to be more than just an experience.
We want this to change lives. We started this whole thing by talking about a man who gave his
life this last week for what he believes and he absolutely believed in Jesus as his savior
and promoting the gospel. Now you're looking into the world and saying,
all right, it was one candle. It was one fire. We planted it. I want this to spread
like wildfire through this earth. Just spread and multiply. To do that, every person it spreads
to has to make the choice. Lord, I'm not going to pray a prayer for them. I'm going to pray
over them. I pray every one of our younger generations, every person makes the choice.
And it goes beyond emotion. It goes into I am willing to be that voice. I am willing to be
that person who will step up and say what needs to be said. I am that person who is willing
to take a stand for righteousness and stand against the kingdom of darkness and sin and
that whole realm. I am the person who's willing to take a stand against culture and against society
when they're trying to promote all kinds of things that are not God. If I even have to stand alone,
I will stand up and say, I disagree. And here's why I disagree. And the gospel, the truth of the
kingdom will penetrate and will continue to penetrate. And lives will be changed.
Hearts will be saved. People will come into the kingdom because of individuals who are standing here
today. And I pray they make that choice of this is going to be more than just emotion to me.
This is going to be more than just sadness to me. This is what Charlie called it. This is a
turning point in my life where I will follow him with all my heart, with all my strength,
with all my mind, with all my soul. I will follow Jesus. I will follow the example of the Christian
leaders around me who take that stand. I will let God tailor it to how it works in me,
but I will follow their courage in taking the stand. Lord, I'm asking today you birth not only in this
church, but across this nation in this world, you birth hundreds of thousands and millions
of people who will turn on what took place and say that's it. I'm taking a stand now too.
And the end result of this will be so much greater. This is what you have designed, Father. This is
what you want. The end result of what happened this last week will be so much greater because a
little piece of who Charlie was, that anointing, is taken and spread and imparted in millions.
That looking back in years to come, they will say that was a mistake to shoot the men
because now we have way bigger problems with people taking a stand for God and righteousness.
That's what we're after. And that's what we're asking for. That's what we're agreeing on
for all of us and especially the younger ones who are going to face things in the future that
are going to be way more intense than anything many of us adults have ever faced.
We're calling it, believing for it, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.