Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader.
Of Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA.
I hope the following message challenges, encourages, and
ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us.
Paul has been a a very close friend of this church for many
years. We, he first came to us in 2009,
spiritual son of Life hat Linden came in and when he brought that
first message, it was, it was really a foundational turning
point for us as a church. And, and so we asked Paul to be
one of our external overseers. We have three external overseers
as an independent church. We don't want to be completely
independent. We need some external
accountability, external counsel.
And so Paul sits in one of those seats and has for a number of
years. We just appreciate him.
You're in for a treat. He is a one of my favorite
teachers. I tell people all the time, Paul
is a hundredfold teacher. He takes that seed of the word
and squeezes out every little drop.
So it you're in for a treat, I want you to give a good
heartland Welcome to Paul Yiddow.
Thank you very much. It's always a joy to be here in
this house. Yeah, I was reminded of that
first preaching here in the US for for me was in this House
2009. And that really marked me
something special that, you know, the things that we are
experiencing in our side of the world has significance and
blessing. It could be a blessing in this
part of the world. And today I just want to share
some of the stories of some testimonies of what's happening
in in Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia, as part of my message.
But let's welcome the presence of the Lord for the Word.
Holy Spirit, you are our guide and teacher.
You guide us, you know, into all truth, spirit of wisdom and
revelation. Speak to us Lord with life
giving word we say yes and Amen to the invitation of following
Jesus all the way be glorified today in Jesus name, Amen, Amen.
And my my topic for today is cross shaped life.
What what a topic to talk about. A lot of people will be scared,
you know, when we talk about cross, I guess it's important
that we understand that the cross shaped life is the life
that we are invited to journey into.
To be a Christian is not just to be blessed.
Period. The goal of Christianity is not
blessing. The goal of Christianity is
Christlikeness, the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
It's not just to make us powerful.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to make us Christ like, because
that's the original intent of God for us.
We were created in the image and likeness of God.
And we know during the fall, everything was in chaos,
disconnected to agape, to God himself, to love.
And we, we see all over us the humanity of orphan and we have
songs prophesying, declaring that, you know, we are now sons
and daughters of God because that's the message of the
Kingdom. It's homecoming.
It's coming back to love. It's going back to that place in
which we are truly, fully and 100% in all eternity, sons and
daughters of God. And Jesus came for that purpose,
to bring back the way he is the way we know that John 14 verse
6, He is the way, the truth and the life.
No one can come to the Father except through him, through me,
he said. But Jesus also is not.
He's not just the way, but he gave us the way to live.
And today I want to submit to you this two-part message, by
the way. So I, if I try to finish this,
this is going to be, you know, like a 2 hour thing.
So I cut it into half two parts. The way of the cross or the way
of a cross shaped life is 2 parts.
One part is devotion, the other part is surrender.
And for us to live a Christ like life, we have to embrace both.
So let me just read a little bit from my notes.
You know the meaning of the way of Jesus or the followers of the
way. Don't you know the early
Christians were not called Christians.
They were first called Christians in Antioch, Antioch.
But prior to that, they were called the followers of the way.
And Paul testified of that, that he was the persecutor of those
who followed the way. And eventually he talks about
himself as the follower of the way.
So the way is a term for those. First of all, the way is the way
of Jesus, and Jesus is the way. And those who follow him follow
the life that he lived, follow the way of Jesus.
And I want to propose to us in this day and age of too much
chaos, too much disruption, there are so many crazy news out
there, shakings and what what not.
The only way to live is the way of Jesus.
We have to go back to the cross, the way of Jesus.
And I pray that as I unpack this, we all have a revelation
that, you know, it is really when we lose our life that we
will save it. It is when we surrender it to
Him and when we yield to His love, when we yield to his
purposes, when we die for Him, that's when we live.
It is impossible to walk in the power of resurrection without
being willing to die with Christ.
So the way, the way of the cross, they were known.
The followers of Jesus were known as the followers of the
way. So it takes in it a very
profound biblical or theological foundation.
It's founded in Jesus. I am the way, but it's also
about a journey. It takes on a deeper meaning of
just being a member of a church that we know.
Are you with me? It's actually the way to live.
It's not just a Sunday thing. It is an everyday, every moment
thing. To follow Jesus is to walk in
the way of Jesus. Are you OK?
And I'll be sharing some facets of this and I'm here to.
I'm not trying to sound like I got it.
You know, I'm 100% I'm in the way.
No, even Paul would say, you know, I do not say that I have
totally comprehended all these things, but one thing I do, I
press in, I continue to to stay in my lane, pursue what Jesus
asked for me, the very purpose that he died for me.
I want that and that's how we live as Christians.
It's not about Lord. I want my blessing and period.
I want a comfortable life. God is not calling us to have
comfortable life. He calls us to be courageous.
Feels so good to be here again. So the people in the way, those
who follow the way are rooted and grounded in Jesus, who is
love. To be followers of the way is to
live it out with one another. And we see that the first
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. How did the first believers,
Christians, 1st century Christians live it out?
Acts chapter 2. A beautiful family emerge a new
humanity. You know, they're from different
different nations speaking different language.
In one day, 3000 got saved. Just imagine and that 3000
decided, OK, let's stay here in Ankeny.
How do you manage that? You can't, you can have all the
all these things, gadgets, and you can only facilitate what the
Holy Spirit is doing in and through the hearts of people who
are filled with love. In the first image expression of
this followers of the way looks like love, looks like family.
And I believe for the church not just in Asia, Southeast Asia or
persecuted church, church here in the West, church all over the
world. To be truly salt and light of
this world, we have to go back to the way of Jesus.
Amen. You're good.
OK, so the invitation is to live like Jesus, to live to love, to
lead just like Jesus, and just a basic illustration for the life
of Jesus, everything begins in communion with the Father.
He would go up to the mountain. He would be alone.
We can never, never be able to relate to one another in that
context of love and in the way God wants the church to be in
relationship to one another apart from first being united in
Christ. Because if I try to relate to
you, to connect to you, to be part of the church without being
in communion with God, then I look for Jesus or I would say I
look for a Savior. I look for someone to help me
through an in human level. Instead of being connected to
the vine, instead of being assured of his love, I am saved.
I'm a new creation, therefore I can love, therefore I can walk
with you, therefore you are differences and disagreement
will not never destroy me From communion.
We have community. Amen.
Don't ever come to a community apart from communion with God if
you have that relationship with with with God.
And that's how Jesus did it when he was tested, was what was the
testing all about? If you are the Son of God, the
enemy wants to cut that connection because if he can cut
that connection, it's impossible for Jesus to create a culture, a
family, a community that looks like heaven.
That's why our worship comes before our fellowship.
Fellowship is the overflow of our worship.
When we're overwhelmed with love, love overflows even
through us. That's what happened to the
3000. Imagine if you and they're
living in tents, you know, suddenly there are just tents
all over, you know, and your kids playing with somebody's
kids, they're eating your, your snacks or your food.
It's a, it's a glorious chaos. You can't manage that.
You can just push your heart in love.
And when you begin to see each other through love, then we can
see the face of God in one another.
This is what God is doing all across the earth.
He's restoring back his sons and daughters.
But it doesn't look like race, color, education.
It looks like love. Are we good?
This is the Father of Jesus. Communion with the Father.
I'm all about my Father. And then he appointed and
invited those whom he wanted to be with.
He created, raised up a community.
Out of that community there is ministry.
Don't mix it. The flow is from the heart of
the Father to the heart of a son or a daughter who is love and
overflowing with that love. And out of that love he brings
others with him or with her and out of that they go to the world
and release the beautiful love of the Father.
Ministries are is the overflow of our relationship with the
Father, our relationship with one another.
Then we have a ministry, Amen. So this is where we learn how to
love, Amen. This is where we learn how to
serve. This is where we learn how to
sacrifice, share our resources, share our goods, share our
wisdom. This is where we become family
of God. And that's how Jesus did it.
He never intended to have just one himself, to have Jesus
Christ, you know, eternal, intergalactic, all powerful
ministry, forever and ever, Amen.
He chose 12, three years. He poured out his life.
My conversation with Pastor Dave yesterday, it's all about, you
know, succession, who's next? And because we're not staying
here for long, the younger generation needs, you know, not
just a platform, but they need to carry the heart of God, the
wisdom, our scars, they have to learn from our scars.
Now, you don't need to reinvent the will.
You just need to learn from the previous generation.
And the only way is to stay in a community.
That's why Christians who are isolated, they are prone to
deception. Jesus, are you OK?
I don't know why I started that way.
Pastor David's our conversation yesterday.
The pattern is communion, community.
Then you will have ministry. So go find your community.
If you're still alone, go find your family.
They're here and begin to serve and begin to be served.
Begin to learn how to love. Begin to learn the way of Jesus,
of humility, of kindness, of authentic love.
Sometimes the healing that we're looking for only happens in the
context of serving Wow. Don't wait for your
breakthrough. Be the vessel of breakthrough
for others. You will see your breakthrough.
So to simplify, to follow Jesus, the pattern of Jesus, this is
said, be with Jesus, communion, be like Jesus, be transformed,
be formed by the Holy Spirit in the context of the relationship.
Who among you here would say I being formed and transformed as
I relate to others? Yeah.
And then when you listen to somebody's insight, like, oh
wow, that's wow, that's amazing. That's what I what I do with
Pastor Dave. He's got fresh things angles to
some of the things that I, you know, for example, yesterday I
shared about Psalm 63 and he unpacks his PSM 63 insights like
my eyes like, whoa, I can take that and I could bring I could
bring that to Asia. See this what I have received
now I can release seeds for greater harvest.
So everything happens in be with Jesus communion, become like
Jesus transformation, spiritual formation that happens in the
context of covenant relationship.
The world is not looking for the next event.
They're really great at creating events, right?
I mean, we can you compete with Super Bowl or World Series?
No, and we don't have to compete to be big.
Sometimes. And oftentimes the way the
Kingdom works, the small is big. It's in community because
greatness is not found in the measure of numbers.
Greatness is found in the context of sacrifice and
serving. Be with Jesus, become like
Jesus, do what Jesus did. Demonstration, mission.
Out of that community there is mission.
Do what Jesus did. Indeed, this is what Jesus did
to his disciples. He did not just tell them, just
watch me. No, at one point, Luke 10, you
know, he sent the 72 two by two. You guys go ahead.
I just wait here. Are you with me for for some of
us, maybe for most of us as leaders, I have to be in front
and I have to see everything working according to my we
micromanage. But for Jesus, he sees
everything from eternity, from the love of the Father.
You know, when he sent the 72, I don't know if they're like
totally confident about what they're about to do.
Maybe 2 by two. Hey, I don't know what to do
here. Are you with me?
And that's where the context of love, of greatness comes in.
Because we're weak. We're just lamb among wolves.
That's what Jesus said. I send you a lamp among wolves.
You don't have to know everything to see God's power
working in and through you. Learn to love, learn to serve,
learn to walk with one another. We have a message.
We have a beautiful message of the love of God, the power to
transform lives, and we can demonstrate a culture that looks
like heaven. Be with Jesus, become like
Jesus, do what Jesus did. Just do it.
If it's science and wonders. Go if it's kindness and
goodness. Go if it's praying for the sake,
praying for those who are broken.
Just mourn with those who mourn. Jesus wept for his friend.
Do it the Jesus way. You will be given opportunity to
do that. Last year I was here, I preached
about harvest time and who were here last year.
You know, I have my presentation as well, you know, and I, I
used, I used John Ford, the Samaritan woman for that.
And the Lord gave me that message.
I saw, you know, something really deep inside of me.
Declare this message. So last September, I was invited
to be one of the speakers in a big conference in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia. You know, 10 or 15 years ago,
it's illegal to even gather like 50 pastors together.
But that time, last September, 700 pastors packed in a room.
These are pastors from, you know, different places, towns,
poor places. Some of them are still
persecuted. Some some of them, they have
congregations in in minefields. You know, one pastor tells a
story that she he lost some members because of minefields.
Imagine going to church, you don't know if that's your day.
These are this is what's happening in the world and I'm
here to represent that portion of the body of Christ of how
much hunger, how much desperation, how how they carry
the cross beautifully, how they love in the midst of
persecution, in the midst of tread.
Anyways, I spoke in this conference and I was, you know,
they, they were planning this conference.
I had I think June, they had a gathering with spiritual
fathers. And these, these spiritual
fathers are those who've been persecuted during the time of
Pol Pot, if you know, Pol Pot, Killing Fields, Cambodia, some
of them had to move to Vietnam temporarily, stay there for a
number of years before they go back to Cambodia.
Some of them lost friends and families.
I was the only foreigner given the opportunity to be to be part
of that conference. And I thank God for that.
So cut. Long story short, they plan for
a theme. Spiritual fathers, don't you
know the theme is harvest time and the text is John chapter 4
and I was invited to be the speakers, one of the speakers
February of last year. See how God orders things.
The meeting is June, I spoke here.
April, I'm in. I don't know we do.
I call that divine set up. I was set up so I spoke that
night, first session. It was powerful.
I mean, the afternoon, by the way, I have to tell you this,
during the afternoon session, I mean, I was so moved when 700
pastors weeping and wailing with a huge map of Cambodia on the
floor. And I joined and I wept with
them crying out. And I was kneeling on one
particular town or province. You know, I, I, I prayed.
And later on I, I, I found out that's the best place for white
beaches and seafoods. You know, I was on the dot.
I heard it from the Holy Spirit, but you know, it was powerful
time we were if you could just hear their cry for donation.
I was just participating in the heart of God.
You know, their dream, their vision is by 2033 they'll hit
the 10% of population of Christianity.
You know, during the time of ballpark, there were only 300
believers. Now the government is a little
bit nervous. They're not saying it, but the
Christians are saying from somewhere they are around 7% of
the population. There's a revival going on in
Cambodia and I'm I'm blessed to be, you know, my little thing
put on the table my little yes. So I spoke that night and I
preach on Samaritan woman and at one point I felt the Spirit of
God speaking to me and declare it.
And I declared Cambodia is no longer a killing field.
Cambodia is a harvest field. And I declared and the whole
place exploded, crying, wailing. Pastors were jumping up and down
and it was just something broke in the spirit.
Some of those pastors living in difficult places suddenly saw
the harvest, suddenly saw it can be done.
I had my translator at one point he paused and he said, this is
so heavy. Pastor Paul, he didn't know he,
I mean, everybody heard him sing it.
I could just feel the atmosphere when the sons and daughters of
God respond to his heart. It's more than just emotional,
motivational word. It is the call of the father.
So that night it was a mark for something.
The following day, many people came to me and they said,
please. Some of the missionaries,
leaders who've worked in the fields for like more than 30
years, they speak the language. Some of them came to me tears
with tears in their eyes and they said, Pastor Paul, you have
given us a word that will take us to the next 50 years and I
don't claim anything. My own commune.
You will have a community and then you will have a ministry.
And I'm given an opportunity to be part of what God is doing in
Cambodia. So, but I know I can't go really
deep here. I know I only have until 10:00,
Pastor Dave, right? I'll be faithful.
But I tell you this story, this guy, look at his smile.
I mean, but there's a story here following day after my message
the following day, I don't have any preaching assignment.
I joined the pastors. We had lunch and snacks and I
was just kind of winding and just resting.
And this guy came and he is a pastor.
He speaks English fluently. And he came to us and the first
thing he asked me, he was there the night before, so he heard me
preach. He experienced the glory of God,
all of that. And then he asked me this
question, Do you know of Filipino missionaries here in
Cambodia? And I said, yes, I know some of
them. And then he said, I hate them.
So how do you respond in love with that?
I hate them and his eyes like, and I said, I'm really sorry if
Filipino missionaries hurt you. He said you don't understand.
I thought he will, you know, calm down now.
He went to the next level, next level of glory, not glory.
He was mad. He was in pain.
And he tells this story how Filipino missionaries belittled
him when he was just, I think, 13 years old, or he was studying
English, and he heard these words.
You don't use your brain, meaning you're stupid.
So he left that school. And The thing is, the pastor who
sitted beside me is one of the leaders of prayer movement in
Cambodia. I spoke in his church.
He knows the Filipino pastor Now I'm I'm in being the painter.
I know that pastor. And Oh my God, how do you honor
this, this, this How do you represent love?
And I spoke a message the night before.
Now Jesus, Hallelujah, Take Me Home.
He stared at me with tears and pain coming out.
And again I said please forgive, Please forgive us.
And then he went to the highest level of glory.
I hate all of them. He was screaming on me and he
tells another story. Not that Filipino missionary,
another missionary using words that hurt him like big time.
He was in pain, but I'm ambassador of love.
I'm not about my preaching last night.
It's not about my platform. It's not about how good I unpack
something. It is about a moment where love
will be demonstrated and quickly I turn my heart to the Lord.
I just felt in in a vision, I saw Jesus washing the feet of
these disciples and I drop on my knees, dirty ground, muddy
ground. I got my mind and I touch his
toes, his feet and I said please forgive, please.
And something happened in the spirit.
He touched me and he started to tremble.
He said don't, don't do that. Don't do that.
And then things shift that I just said please forgive.
Please forgive us. And he said because you did
this, I forgive all Filipinos. And that's him.
Look at his face, transformed by love.
We are given opportunities to represent love, not fear, not
anger, not retaliation, not, you know, not my agenda, not my
church. We are called to represent the
heart of God. You know what happened next.
The pastor who saw it, he said, Pastor Paul, in your next visit
here in Cambodia, I will gather the Korean missionaries and the
Cambodian pastors. Would it be good to see this
reconciliation happen? And American missionaries and
those who have wounded us to see this?
And later on, I saw this pastor the night during the session and
the news is spread out. He was asked to share his
testimony and the whole place exploded to a whole new level of
glory. Everybody screaming like oh,
this is the family of God. Amen.
Wow. Well, I, I think just quickly
only have many minutes, 4 minutes.
Are you OK? So I have the whole nation open
up, I have pastors inviting me in borders of Cambodia and
Thailand just all over. I didn't ask for it.
And I'm not about platforms. And by the way, don't be busy
building platforms. Be a pillar of faith for others.
You will live the next generation.
Abraham is not a platform. Abraham is a pillar of faith.
Paul never built his platform. He built his faith in the Lord.
And so we are able to stand on that.
Be a pillar to the next generation.
Amen. So the invitation of Jesus is
follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
That's the invitation, by the way, to follow Jesus.
I think he wants to be there. This is what love looks like.
I tell you that the night session he was wearing pink,
pink shirt, long sleeve. I did not recognize him.
He passed by me and I couldn't recognize him.
He grabbed me. He said I'm the man you talk,
you talk, talk with what happened to you.
He was transformed by love. Jesus invites us.
Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
It is His job. He will lead us where the
harvest is. He will use us mightily.
But in that invitation we also see this invitation.
He said if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me, for whoever would
save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my
sake will save it. We can never graduate from this.
It's a daily thing. To be a Christian is not just a
response to an altar call and a Baptist and and that's it.
I I've got the ticket. I've got the shirt.
It's a daily carrying of the cross.
One part of that is devotion. The other side of that is
sacrifice. One side, it's all about love.
I am love. My father loves me and becoming
a person of love. That's that's it.
Rooted, grounded in love. Amen.
That's that's the goal. That's our place.
We be love. That's Our Calling.
That's our first calling. A cross shaped love life is a
devoted life. I know I won't be able to fully
unpack this, but let me just go through this.
Just be a person of the one thing.
That's it. How it is to be devoted one
thing, live for the one thing. And in the last remaining
minutes here, I just unpacked quickly.
Jesus highlighted that there was something that Mary chose that
Martha missed. You know they are Jesus friends.
Martha was the one who invited Jesus and in the context of Luke
chapter 10, Jesus was like who full of joy, 72 cents they sent
out, they came back telling their stories.
All spirits are under us and all sicknesses.
I mean the I don't know if I can do that to everything.
Who wants that? I mean, that's transformation,
you know, transformation does not happen.
Just being here and sit down. Oh, that's amazing preaching.
Oh wow, Lord, now go, go in your weakness, go, in your
tentativeness, go. They went.
And Jesus now full of joy, He was telling the story, the one
who is, He's who. I saw Satan falling like
lightning. Let me tell you this, Jesus
never looked for demons to cast out.
He never made it a ministry. Just a thought.
Demons showed up. I don't know why I said that,
but I just feel good. And he said to them, Don't
rejoice because all spirits are under you.
This is the greatest source of rejoicing.
Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
Your confidence, the surety assurance, the sure foundation
is that you are rooted and grounded in love.
Heaven knows you. Your name is written in heaven.
The rest is just an overflow. Signs and Wonders and Miracles
is an overflow of communion, community.
Therefore you have a ministry, and so on. 2 minutes, 3 minutes.
Pastor Dave Finish. So Jesus went to his friends.
Martha was busy preparing things, but Mary chose to sit at
the feet of Jesus and to listen because it's the greatest thing,
the greatest gift we can give to him in moments when his presence
is so tangible is our undivided attention.
You know, there's nothing wrong with Martha serving.
Jesus loves servants. He calls us to serve.
And he even said, I came not to be served, but to serve.
Amen. What's wrong with Martha?
What did Martha miss? This is what Jesus said.
Martha. Martha, why are you so
distracted? That's it.
Her heart is in so many places. The word distracted in Greek
means why is your heart dragged around and pulled apart?
How many of us serving with drug around pulled apart heart?
If we don't start in devotion, it will be like Martha trying to
serve. Mary chose the best part and it
can ever be taken away from her. It remains because anything
rooted and grounded in love will remain because it is from
eternity. Our serving here on earth should
be coming from that heart. That transformation in that
person's life in that moment is a test for me.
Will I posture in love or defend myself and tell him?
How dare you correct me? I was the preacher, remember?
Or in humility, I say, this is not about my platform.
This is about the name of my father.
This is about his body. I'm not done.
I wept. Everything changed when I stood
up. I looked to his eyes, embraced
him and prophesied to him. I said you will speak with
boldness. Wisdom will flow upon you like
rivers. I'm here and I'm I'm
representing the heart of the Father.
I bless you. His face was changed and loved
one that day. That's all.
Rise up, Torphy. Thanks for listening to our
podcast. If you'd like to help more
people hear this message, you can get the word out by
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If you'd like to support the ministries of Heartland Church,
you can do so at Heartland Church online.com/give.