Leon Fontaine - Your Assignment
My topic and my message today is your assignment should you choose to accept it. In 1 Peter 2:9, it says, "But you are a chosen generation, a chosen people, a royal priesthood with constant access to God Himself. You are a holy nation, citizens of a new kingdom. His own special people with special abilities because of Christ in us". Then, it tells you and I why. "That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light". We are very special when we give our lives to Christ because of the special one who is in us, Jesus.
And so never forget, never let the enemy make you feel like you are a loser, like you are less than normal, like the world is bigger and better. They have ways of using television and movies and news to make themselves looked so successful and to make Christianity look so dumb. But what the Word says is you, you're a chosen generation, a special people, a royal priesthood with constant access to God Himself. You are a holy nation, citizens of a new kingdom and you are a special people with special abilities. Get up and proclaim what Jesus has done in your life. Give Him glory. Give Him praise. Not just the term God that can refer to anything, but Jesus is His name.
Now, Jesus says something in Luke 6. It's very interesting. He says, "Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and don't do the things that I say"? You know, it's interesting if you run an organization. You run a team of people. Could you imagine trying to run a business, an organization, a department where everybody listens to you, but nobody does what you say. If that happens, how in the world can you produce? The organization is almost useless without the people in it doing what's being asked of them. And so I can almost hear the frustration, not frustration but exasperation of Jesus with some people when He goes, "Why are you calling Me Lord, Lord, and when you don't even do what I say"?
Then He goes on to make a profound statement that the church of Jesus Christ has forgotten as they blamed God for all of their problems. As they say, "Why did God allow this? If God's got the whole world in His hands, why am I losing on the left and losing on the right". Well, the Bible doesn't say He's got the whole world in His hands. You can give Him your world and I declare every day that Jesus has my whole world in His hands, and He can because I believe and declare that. Jesus makes a teaching here that is so profound. He says, "If you call Me, Lord, Lord, but you don't do what I'm saying". So He's saying here that there are two kinds of people. They both hear Him, only one does what He says. Then He goes on to say, "It's like a man who built a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood rose, the storm beat against that house. It could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock".
The rock is knowing Jesus and doing what He says. It's not just knowing Jesus because He goes on to say, "Then, but he who heard what Jesus says and did nothing with it is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the storm beat vehemently, vehemently, and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great". Storms come from the enemy to kill you, to destroy you, to hurt you. Storms do not come from God to grow you. And so today, I want to talk to you about this. That if you've given your life to Christ, you are special. You're a royal nation. You're a holy priesthood. You are something that God is in love with. But He's telling you, "I'm showing you how to make it in this world and not just get by. But to have dominion, to subdue, to make it through any storm".
And this is crucial the assignment has been given to us. Let's look into this at a Mark 16 about the things He's called us to do. First of all, it says, "God's Word must be preached. The Gospel must be preached". Now, when I was a young pastor, even before I was a pastor. I love the Bible and I love to debate with people to convince them that Jesus was Lord, to convince them of the Gospel. But the Bible doesn't say convince people. This is one of the great mistakes of people. It says preach the Gospel. Now, the word preach means just proclaim it. It doesn't say explain it. It says proclaim it. And as they hear the Word, faith comes and then they must make decisions. So we've got to remember that.
I remember as a young man when I first was working at a hospital. And as I was in this hospital, they had a paramedic program which we didn't have in Manitoba. And because there was no paramedic colleges or schools, they decided to use the hospital that I worked at to start training a select group of people. They asked me if I would like to be that, and I said yes. And so they began to train and equip us there in all the different skills that we moved towards becoming paramedics. I remember one time going to an accident scene and as we extricated this body, she was still alive. She was my patient as we're rushing back to the hospital. She had, she was conscious. But she had what we would call a flail chest, or a portion of her ribs had been broken off and they were going in the opposite direction as she breathe and it's a horrible painful thing.
You feel like you're going to die, and you could die. But the fear that was on her was brutal. I mean, just incredible fear in her face. And all of a sudden, I just felt an urge to share with her the Gospel. The good news. So I said to her, "Jesus is our Saviour and Lord. Have you ever invited Him into your heart? He died for you and I but we"... And I just share a simple quick Gospel message as I'm working on her. And she goes, "No". I said, "Would you like to receive Him as your Saviour and Lord"? And she goes, "Yes". But when I shared this Gospel with her, faith arose in her and she made this decision. I want you to know that God will lead you and help you to come towards people in situations where they could even be more opened to hearing the Gospel, and she gave her life to Christ.
Faith comes to an unsaved person, when a saved person shares the good news. That makes you incredibly important to God. Don't just receive Jesus. Do what He says and go into the world and share wherever you go in a Spirit Contemporary way, which means spiritually alive. But look for the opportunities. Don't ignore them. Don't you be, "Well, Leon, I just don't know what to say". Stop. You don't have to explain or handle every argument. Share what He's done for you and what He died on the cross for them for. So when you begin to share the Gospel, this is when miracles begin to happen in this person's life.
Now, Jesus said preach the Word. Then He says that we are in Mark 16:15 and on, the next thing He says, "Cast out evil spirits". Cast them out. From where? From situations, from home, from people. You know, people forget that there are two worlds that are superimposed upon each other. There is the physical world that you and I live in but there is a spirit world that is here amongst us as well. You for example are a human spirit living in a human body. But there are angels of the most high God everywhere and there are fallen angels which we called devils. But then, they're just, literally they're just angels that left God's employment, came with Satan, turn against him and we call them evil spirits because their desire now is an evil desire. They want to kill people, destroy people, and the Bible says cast them out.
Over the years, I have dealt with people who they know something's wrong with them. They know they're not normal. Something's bad going on. And the spirit of the enemy is easy to discern. The spirit of God is one of joy and peace, love, but the spirit of the enemy is an anger. It's a hatred. It's a fear. It's a confusion. That you don't want that spirit. And as you stay in God's Word, you push that all out but there are times when people who don't even know Christ are so oppressed. That when they come to you, the Bible says you get them to say, "Cast that spirit out".
I'll never forget being invited into a member of parliament, very famous person who got a hold of me because of 12-year old boy was seeing ghost. Long story short, I remember walking up to the third floor of this mansion house and just sensing when I walked in, a darkness and a yuck feeling in there. He's a 12-year old boy. All I did was share with him the Gospel of Jesus, who Jesus was, how powerful He is and that this "ghost" he's talking to which were fun. He enjoyed it. He liked it. I said, "Listen, they're here to kill you. And so you need to give your life to Jesus". He did, at 12 years of age he did. Then I just cast out all the working of the enemy out of that home, out of that house.
I was sharing this story with a youth group on a Halloween one day. They wanted some information about, is there really ghouls and ghost? And so I was sharing at 7:25 and I was talking this story about the power of God that cast out evil spirits. And here it was that day this 12-year old boy who was now 17 was there, came over to meet with me and talk with me and he said, "That's exactly what happened". And I said, "Do you have any problem since then"? And he said, "Not one". Why? Because you and I have been given power to cast out evil spirits. Don't worry about it. Then it says that we are to speak with new tongues. What is that mean speak with new tongues? Well, Jesus was very clear to His disciples. He said, "Do not go out into ministry until you are filled with power from on high. Stay in Jerusalem".
So, then we find out on the day of Pentecost they're all praying in the upper room. And it says that the sound of a mighty rushing wind that separate tongues of fire on each one, and they began to pray and to worship God with new tongues. Now, this is something the enemy is trying so hard to stump out because Romans 8 teaches you and I that there are things in your life you will not know what to pray for. There are things that are going on now in your world that you don't know what to say. The Bible says that when you pray in this heavenly language that there is a, you are praying the perfect will of God every time.
And so it's something that I received as a young teenage boy. And all through my life, I have learned that when I don't know how to pray, when I feel down, when I feel things yuck, and I don't even know why. I don't know what's going on. I just pray. We call it praying in the Spirit. And I do it by myself, in my car, in my closet. Wherever I am, just praying in the spirit. And the Bible says it burns off the chaff from the wheat. The emotions, the feelings that the enemy's trying to bring into my world. I can burn it off by praying in the Spirit. When you pray in this new tongue. It is given to the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the family of God. We are a special people with special abilities, and you'll use up. Sometimes you'll just start drying up.
And so you need to pray with this new tongues. Pray in the Spirit. Don't let anybody stop you. Someone say, "Leon, it sounds a little wacky". You ought to check out the rest of the world religion. You ought to check out all the new age teaching. You ought to check all the meditation teaching that's being taught in Hollywood. You think this sounds crazy? This is Bible all the way. Stop being embarrassed and learned to charge yourself up. Learn to pray effectively in the perfect will of God. Then it says that we can take up serpents. If we eat any poison or drink any poison, it cannot hurt us. It is telling us here that we are protected.
Now, I want you to remember the story I gave you in Luke. That Jesus said, "Don't you call Me, Lord and don't do what I say". Because when people, they gave God a bad name when they say, "Well, I prayed, nothing happened". But have you been living God's Word? Have you been doing what He says? Because Jesus says you can't just hear it. You need to do it. It's in the doing of God's Word that you'll know how to raise up a family, how to raise up a marriage. You'll know how to raise up a business. You can't ignore God's Word and not do it and then just pray and that's it. I don't want to do anything Jesus says. I just want my fire insurance that gets me to heaven and not into hell when I die. But other than that, no. I don't want to be doing all this stuff. Are you crazy?
Jesus said, "If you do what I say in the situations that you're in". He says, "You'll be like a life that cannot be shaken by any storm". So you and I are protected by the angels of God. You and I. We live in this world that if we hear and do what Jesus says. Stay in the Word. Listen to His voice. Listen to the Word of God. Here's something I'll explain to you. I was never able to sense God's direction consistently. Never able to sense God's voice consistently. And the Bible says My sheep hear My voice. I couldn't, until I began to obey the written Word. Until I began to obey the written Word which is God's will. That is when I began to be so sensitive and hearing and knowing that today not only do I need to hear Him from myself, my family, my home. But for the businesses.
I mean, by that I mean, the organizations, the churches, the television stations, the school. To be able to hear and know His direction, His will even moment by moment. Don't go over there. Or you know, do this to avoid someone who was trying to kill me. The protection is for you and I. Now, the Bible says even the angels of God are here to protect you and I. One time I remember a man attacking me with a tire iron. And as he came at me, I simply looked at him and said, "In Jesus name". I didn't even move. And in flight he ran into a brick wall. Wham! And he just dropped that big tire iron and hit the ground and he turned, and he ran.
Now, I can't wait to get to heaven when and say, "Okay, Jesus could you just replay this year, this date when I went to that house and that guy came at me down the sidewalk". What in the world did you do there? And you know what, I don't know if a big angel just got stand in the way, he went boom! And ran right into him or if he just backhanded him. I had no idea. God's Word works and it says that He protects us. He protects us from physical harm. He protects us from things that poison us. And you need to know that your mind can be protected. So many people don't recognize that your mind, your heart, need to be protected.
Now, yeah, and the last thought I want to share in Mark 16. He talks here about laying your hands upon the sick and they shall recover. Did you know that you as a Christian, you are told to do these things. Not, "Oh, yeah. Pastor Leon could you come do it, phone me up"? No, no, no. The Bible says anywhere you go, you're to be doing the same as Jesus. And these signs follow them who believe. You are missing out an incredible life of the sharing Jesus, saying a beautiful prayer with a friend who's sick and watching God heal.
Now, when it comes to healing. God heals hearts. He heals minds. He heals bodies. For in the people you share Jesus with people. You just need to get them out of doubt into some hope and believing, and the miraculous power of God flows so powerfully. He says, the Bible says in Luke 4:18-20, that He heals broken hearts. There are people around us who are so brokenhearted. Their heart doesn't work. It's so destroyed, and Jesus can heal that broken heart. People whose minds are destroyed. They have eroded. They don't have an ability to keep proper emotions in their head. And so the enemy just loves to come in and just keep them in such an emotional upheaval. And yet the Bible says you, you can pray for them and He'll heal minds, hearts, bodies. Recognize that the enemy.
Well, so someone ask you one time, "Oh, do you think it's the devil or do you think it's just natural"? Here's what the devil is like. They say that if you are in a boat, in off the South African coast and you just cut your hand a little bit and put a couple drops of blood in the water, that sharks can smell it for a mile off in the water. I don't know how but they sense that blood and they come. That's like the enemy. Wherever, wherever things begin to breakdown or you're going through a rough time. The enemy will try to attach himself to that opportunity. That's why the Bible says don't give him an opportunity.
One of the things that is interesting is the Bible talks about our anger. It talks about our hatred. It says don't let the sun go down on your wrath. You know, some of you married couple, some of you people who, you know, you can get upset about something and you think you're just hotblooded. Listen to me. Don't, if he tells you, don't even let the sun go down before you get yourself back to emotionally correct. But what about people who are angry for the whole week? You can be guaranteed the enemy is going to be involved. What about people who are angry for a whole month? You can be guaranteed the enemy is going to be involved.
What about people who lived in anger for years? You need deliverance. The enemy will come to any extreme emotion and try to become involved. When it comes to you and I as believers, we need to recognize that Jesus has said that we as believers, when we go into our world, we are to be doing this thing. Share the Gospel. Cast out devil. Be speaking with new tongues in your prayer closets. It says don't worry about danger. Don't worry about dying young from poisons or situations. Angels are encamped around about you. As you go, pray for people. Bring the healing power of Jesus into their minds, their hearts, their bodies, their relationships. Don't give place to the enemy.