>> Well, I want to share a story with you
that really impacted my life in a huge way.
Way back in 1974
I had an opportunity to go to Israel
and I wanted to go because there was a conference there
and Katherine Kuhlman was one of the speakers
and she was one of my heroes, an amazing ministry,
mighty miracles, signs and wonders and all of that.
And there were a number of other speakers,
but I wanted to go because it was Israel,
I'd never been there before,
and then Katherine Kuhlman was there. So off we go.
I went with a dear friend of mine at the time,
and we were in the Congress hall in Jerusalem
and Katherine was amazing.
But it was a man named David Duplaci
that got through to me like
I have never been touched in my life.
Now, the back story was I was so pumped about going to Israel
that I went on a three week water fast
and I'm like, God, I so want to meet you over there,
I want to be ready to go, the Holy Land, you know.
And so I was ready spiritually,
perhaps more than I had anticipated,
but David Duplasi, he got up
and he began talking out of John 17
about the importance of loving one another,
and he began pointing out things like,
Some of you are sitting back in judgment, judging others
because they're different than you,
or in your opinion, this and that.
But my question for you is why can't you love them?
And that was me.
I was sitting there, very self-righteous,
judging the people on the platform
and around, you know, thinking, why are they up there,
they're probably not even saved, and things like that.
But he kept hammering that point home,
Why can't you love them?
And quoting those verses about loving one another from John 17,
and friends, I got undone in that meeting.
And by undone, I mean undone,
I could not hold myself together.
I lost it publicly.
And I was weeping and wailing and falling apart,
crying uncontrollably.
And I'm saying to myself, What is the matter with you?
Just get it together. But I just seemingly could not.
And I was so overwhelmed by that,
the conviction of self-righteous,
you know, my, my whole focus at that time was very
Jesus centered and, and very much full of striving
and trying to memorize
and do what the word of God said to do,
but it was lacking this stuff called love.
And I got baptized in the love of God
that day to the point of being out of control,
which is, was new to me at the time
and it's still very unusual. And yet it changed me.
I went home to the hotel after a day
of sightseeing and conference. And as I lay down to sleep,
all of a sudden these waves of his presence
would begin to come over me.
And, and it would increase and increase.
And I would just be lying awake, weeping, thinking about God,
why are you being so good to me and so kind to me?
And for that entire week, I think I slept
about three or four hours for the whole week.
I just couldn't sleep through it.
And it got more and more intense
and I remember saying one time, God,
if one more wave comes over me like that,
I don't think I'm going to live through it.
But I did live through it and I came home
from that realizing something had shifted.
But that didn't stop the busyness and the,
and the hardness of life, it came anyway.
But something was different on the inside.
Well, ten years on from that encounter, Carol and I,
who got married in 79,
started our church in her hometown in about 1981.
And long story, their mission trip to Indonesia, God
called us to start that church, and we did.
But from 74 to 84, ten years,
we had a man named Jack Winter came
and he came with the theology of the father's love.
And it was amazing how Jack put the theology
to the encounter that I had had many years before.
And wow, it just made such a difference.
And it became a foundational piece for me and for our church
and now for our Toronto church, which we started in 1987.
And we majored in the, in the Love of God.
And I just can't believe to this day that it took me
so long to figure out
what is the most important thing in Christianity.
Meeting Jesus, for sure,
but then being rooted and grounded in love
like it says in the book of Ephesians chapter three,
verse 17,
Be rooted and grounded in that love
so that you may know how big this deal is,
the length, width, breadth and height,
to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
so that you and I can be filled with all of the fullness of God.
And I realize that that encounter many years ago
prepared me to be able to receive a greater
infilling of the Holy Spirit.
I thought I was going to die, actually. It was so intense.
It was wonderful. It was so comforting.
It was so life giving, yet so intense.
I didn't see how I was going to live through it,
but I did live through it, and it changed me.
And so then we had our first church
and then we planted Toronto.
And isn't it interesting that from 74 was the encounter,
84 we got the theology to go with it,
and then in 94, the Holy Spirit poured out on our Toronto church
in an encounter with Him that I will never forget.
But I believe that we were rooted and grounded in love
from the beginning.
And so that's become one of our main core values
that we emphasize,
that we teach, that we walk in, that we live, you know,
our, our theme message is walk in God's love
and then give it away
so that it's not just a teaching about love,
but it's actually a revelation that he has given to us.
And I'm thinking now of the words of Jesus when he said,
No one really knows me except the father.
And no one knows the father except the son.
And then he said this,
and the one to whom the son chooses to reveal him.
And the Lord found me that day
and chose to reveal his love to me.
And it was life changing.
And so when revival broke out on us
and that happened all those wonderful years,
multiplied hundreds and thousands of people
would get up off the floor
talking about an encounter they had with the fathers love.
They felt loved for the first time ever.
And that's the central focus of our faith, friends.
It's the cross, yes, but what's behind the cross is John 3:16.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
That is love to the utmost.
And I would love to pray for you right now,
that God would make you hungry, first of all,
to have an encounter with him and with his loving presence
that would change you right to your foundations
like he has done with Carol and I.
And so, Father, in the name of Jesus,
I ask you to come and bless these dear viewers
that are watching right now.
I pray that you would choose to reveal the father's love
to them, Lord Jesus. Open it up.
Let us know how deeply you love the human race
that you have created, your children,
your sons and your daughters. And God,
when we discover that all consuming love of God
that fills us full and overflowing,
may it change us foundationally
so that we can then go out and love the world to life,
sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with them
and bringing them into that family in his mighty name.
So Father, come and fall upon them now.
Bring healing, bring freedom, bring deliverance
and bring that intimate relationship
that we're all longing for more of so
that everyone finds their significance in you.
I pray that in the name of Jesus.
More and more and more. Amen. God bless you.