He Is — I Am - Pastor Denny Duron

Welcome to SC Church Podcast! We’re so glad you could join us. Today Pastor Denny Duron shared with us his message:

“He Is — I Am"

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:12

I want to speak to you on the subject this morning of he is, I am. He is, I am. Turn to the person on the right and say, He is. You could be talking at the back of somebody's head, I know. Now the person on the other side, say, I am. Everybody together, he is. I am. There's an old song that I love, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know who holds the future. I can face uncertain days because he lives. He is. I am. You know, recently I had the privilege of speaking to two young men who have international ministries. And just being with these guys and having the opportunity to sit down with them for a few minutes was a great joy. I had known both of their outreaches for years. And as we begin to talk, they began to open up about their own lives. I was very surprised, but I guess it's just the white hair and the wrinkles that give young men the courage to just pour out their hearts. And both of them basically had the same story, and they described it almost identically. They said, it's as if I'm preaching to the whole world, to millions of people around the planet. I am building a great church. We are seeing God move. We are watching the miraculous happen daily. But I only have about two days a week where I can say that I'm really happy. That crushes me. Here are these godly young men living godly lives, doing godly things for God, seeing amazing godly results, but yet there is a lack of personal contentment. First Timothy six and six says this. Godliness with contentment is great gain. Godliness with contentment is great gain. It's not automatic that living a godly life, doing godly things will pay off for you personally and emotionally. Godliness with contentment is great gain. You know, there are many things in the Bible that are described as godliness, the fruit of the spirit, uh, kindness, patience, gentleness, self-control. That's godliness. Godliness is feeding the hungry, it's helping the poor. It's forgiving, it's taking righteous stands, it's being consistent, it's loving people, it's worship, it's preaching, it's witnessing, it's teaching. Godliness is keeping our vows, godliness is serving others, it's humbling ourselves, it's saying no to temptation, it's reading and believing the Bible. Godliness. But for us as individuals, godliness must be paired with contentment to be of personal gain. And contentment begins and ends with one thing assurance. If there is one thing that is missing from the shelves of godly people's lives that is confusing, it's this thing of absolute assurance. That's why the theologians in the 17th and 18th centuries were so preoccupied with people having assurance. Assurance was the one thing they had to have because if an individual had the assurance of salvation and the assurance of relationship with God and the assurance of eternity, then they could be content in their godliness. You see, what you need to understand this morning is all discontent is fear-based. I'm afraid I won't have, I won't be, I won't get, I won't measure up, I won't accomplish, I won't do, but our contentment is rooted in one fearless resolution and revelation. Here it is.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

He is. I am. He is.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

I am. Michael Jackson gave us one priceless piece of very powerful theology when he sang the song about the man in the mirror. How many of you know that that guy or that gal in the mirror gives us more problems than the rest of the world combined? How many of you at times look at that man or that woman in the mirror and you say, ah, something about you bothers me? You look at that individual that is in the mirror, that one that you know so well, and you say at times, I don't even know why you bother going to church on Sunday morning. You are such a hypocrite. You have made it a habit to call yourself bad names in the name of godliness. When you are so very wrong. You see, the fact is, our Christianity is based on one principle. He is, I am. Come on, practice with me, everybody. One, two, three. He is I am. One more time. He is I am. You see, he is, I am righteous. He is, I am righteous. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says that God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Now, I gotta say that again because some of you let it slip right by. Now, come on, be with us this morning. Hang on to this passage because this is really stout theology. God made him who had no sin, that's Jesus, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Say, he is, I am. In Romans 4, 6 through 8, Paul speaks of God reckoning or imputing righteousness apart from works, effectively covering the transgressions of every believer. You see, the fact is, this verse describes a double exchange. It states, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Our sins were imputed to Christ, and his righteousness is imputed to us. Ladies and gentlemen, I've got a revelation for you. If God put all of your sins on Jesus, which isn't hard for us to believe, then we have got to believe the hard part that God also put the righteousness of Jesus upon us. Yeah, but you don't know how I live. You don't know what I've done. You know, I grew up in uh an atmosphere that was everywhere at that time in our particular church and its doctrine. Every church I went to that was like ours, where I actually believed that if I sinned and I wasn't able to repent and the trumpet blew, I was gonna get left. That's right. You're gonna get left. You are not going in the rapture. If you sin and you don't get to repent about that sin, then I'm sorry. Let me just tell you something. That's a standard nobody can keep. The same people that were telling me that were little gossips. Same people that are telling me that they told little white lies sometimes. Same people telling me that were bitter. Same people telling me that wanted in pride to be noticed for their spiritual prowess. You see, the fact is, every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now, when we have righteousness imputed, we first of all get a whole new standard of living. We don't want to sin anymore. I don't want to go to those places I used to go to. I don't want to say the words that I used to say. I don't want to believe the things that I used to believe. I don't want to hang with the people I used to hang with. I want suddenly to go to the house of God where I never wanted to go before. I love praise and worship. I love getting into the Bible. I love hearing the word of God explicated. I have an entirely new standard of behavior. It's given to me with righteousness. But there is also an assurance that is given to me that many of us don't recognize. And that is, as long as we love God, as long as we are trying and making our way down that righteous pathway, sure, we're going to fall. Sure, we're going to stump our toe. Sure, we're going to sway from the path every now and then. We have something called assurance. We are sons and daughters of God, and he's not booting us out for every little thing that happens. We have righteousness because he is. I am. Because he is. I am. You see, the fact is, some of you haven't been able to do very much for God because you're paralyzed by your own imperfection. Here's what I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you two things. These are things the doctors will tell you. Number one is this your imperfection is not going to kill you. Because you are the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And number two, it's going to get better. Your behavior is going to change. I promise you. You are going to love more the things of God than you do the things of the world. You are going to get truth deep into the mare of your spirit, and it's going to begin to change you from the inside out. But, ladies and gentlemen, while that's happening, I don't want you to be miserable anymore. I want you to begin to go ahead and claim your free identity because he is I am. Hallelujah. I can tell you that there are times that I mess up. There are times I sin. There are times that I have thoughts I shouldn't have. There are times that I have attitudes that I don't want to own. But while I am in the process of becoming holy, I am already righteous because he is I am. And when you get that kind of assurance, I want to tell you, you can be happy living a godly life. Hallelujah. You ever fall out with your family? Anybody? How much fun is that, Thanksgiving, huh? Teenager wrecked the family car. Everybody's taking the trolley. Enjoy Thanksgiving that year. You do something that embarrasses everybody. And it's an I told you so embarrassing thing. Everybody in the family told you so. And you did it anyway. How much fun is it sitting down at that table? Here's the glory of the Lord's table. The Lord loved to eat with publicans and sinners. And let me tell you, when you sit down at his table, there is complete and total acceptance. In fact, you could not behave good enough to make him feel better about you than he does having applied his own holy blood to your life. You can't look better with your behavior than you can washed in the blood. Because when the Father sees you and he sees that you're washed in the blood, that's as good as it gets. That's as great as it can become. How many of you right now want to grow closer to the Lord because you know that he has made you righteous? Hallelujah. Secondly, he is love. I am love. He is, I am love. First John 419 states, we love because he first loved us. The principle is this your capacity to love others stems entirely from the fact that he first demonstrated perfect, unconditional love to you. Some of you think that you love the lost. You don't, but he does. And because he's in you, you do. Now let me just tell you, this is something you've got to get because loving people is the hard part of Christianity. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Have you ever had a really bad neighbor? I mean, everybody deserves one every now and then. I love the story of the two neighbors that hated each other, and one of them came home and his grass was mowed, and his the bushes were trimmed and his sidewalk was washed off. And he said, Man, what in the world? Who did all this? And he went to the neighbor next to him that he liked and he said, Hey, did you? He said, No, I didn't do that. He said, Well, you know who did this? He said, Yeah. He said, The guy on the other side. He said, There's no way. That guy hates me and I hate him. He said, Well, I'm I saw him doing it. I'm I'm telling you, I saw him. So he goes over, knocks on the door, and guy comes to the door and he says, Did you do all of this? He said, Yes. He said, Really? He said, Yes. He said, Why in the world? He said, Well, I was at church. And my preacher was preaching on doing good things for your enemies. And he said, This that if I would do something good for you, that it would be like heaping coals in your head. And I hope God burns your brains out. And what I can tell you is that if you've ever had a bad neighbor, you know that that verse is not to be taken lightly. But the scripture makes it clear that our neighbor is whoever we see in need. Our neighbor is whoever we have conflict with. Our neighbor is whoever we have relationship with. Our neighbor is whoever we have differences with. The Bible says, love your enemies. I mean, who can do that? I don't love my enemies. You kidding me? Bible says, love your enemies.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

How can you do that?

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Come on. He is. I am. What happens when the love of God fills your heart? Then you become not only an individual that loves others, you have a redemptive love toward others. You want them to have the very best life possible. That's why the word of God says, pray. Because when you can't feel it in your heart, you need to sound it out so that you can hear it. Lord God, I just pray that you will bless Herman. I just pray that Herman and Teresa, you know the trouble that we've had. You know what they've said about us. You know how they've criticized us. Lord, you know that it's been tough to love Herman and Teresa. Lord God, I just pray in the name of Jesus that you will just judge them. No, no, no, look, look. I pray that you, and this is the way I pray for my enemies, listen to me. Number one, if I have anybody that is coming against me at any time in my life, I put their name in the back of my Bible. That's the only way your name makes the back of my Bible, is if you're coming against me, if you've, if you've said things that are false or maybe true that I don't want anybody to know about, uh, or you have been my enemy in some way, I'm then you make my Bible. Because I understand that it's going to be a process to forgive. And so if I don't do anything else, I'm going to go to the back of my Bible and I'm going to read those names and I'm going to say on a regular basis, I forgive you, I forgive you, I forgive you, I forgive you. Because I don't want anything to stand between me and being a vessel of love toward the world. And ladies and gentlemen, I have bad news for you. If you can't love your enemies, loving your friends won't matter in the kingdom of God. Because it is in the loving of your enemies that you begin to define what the love of God is inside of us. You have the capacity to love people that are unlovable, to love people that have wronged you, to love people that have taken money from you, to love people that have criticized your children. You have the capacity to love people that have divorced you, to have people that have left you in a lurch, to love people that have ruined your business, to love people that have stolen from you. You have the capacity because he is. Now, folks, let me just tell you what this is. Really good theology. This is the heart of Christianity. Because he is. He had quite a run through the church of Jesus Christ in the first generation, killing men and boys and imprisoning entire families because of Christianity. He had the license from the religious establishment of the day to do your worst. And when he began then to go to the churches where these Christians that were First believers in Jerusalem had been scattered to the four corners of the known earth at that time, and those churches began to be established even in Asia, and he would go, and there would be those Jewish brothers and sisters because all of those churches were Jewish churches. And he would walk in. Can you imagine the shop? They hadn't seen him since the day that he marched into the house. I love 'em, I just don't want to talk to 'em. I love them, I just I just don't want to run 'em. I love 'em. Believe me, I love 'em. But I don't like 'em. All right now we have to switch that because here's what the word of God says. It's just the way that we treat others, he will treat us. That's the scripture. If you the way that you forgive others, the way I will forgive you. And so then we have to return. Well, Lord, I know you love me, but you're like me. I know you love me, but you're around me. And the good news is I'm not asking you to do anything. Allow him to love you. How many of you know who Gordon Boom is? And she and her Christian family protected Jews from the Nazis. Hidden in their home. She saved so many lives along with her precious mom and dad and siblings. She became a legend because she's the only one when they were caught that survived the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Triblinka. She traveled around the world, spoke with Billy Graham, one of the funny, cute little stories that I remember about her. This little grandmother. She looked like a spinster. She was just this wonderful little old lady who was full of Jesus. Billy Graham wanted to do a movie about her life called The Hiding Place. Some of you have seen that movie because it happened. Billy called her in and said, Corey, we're not gonna be able to do this movie. We're short five million dollars. And Cory looked at him and said, Oh, Billy. The father owns the cattle on a thousand hills. We'll be fine. I'll just go ask Father to sell a few more cows. And the movie was made and became a box office hit. Never dreamed I'd meet Corey Tinboom, but there was a pastor in Brooklyn, New York that was a mentor of mine by the name of Ben Crandall. Ben was friends with Corey, and when Corey was between meetings, traveling all over the world, and she would fly into LaGuardia or JFK Airport in New York City, he would often pick her up and take her to his guest quarters where he and his wife would just pamper her and feed her and love her and let her rest. When I got in the car after he picked me up from the airport there in New York City, he said, Corey is going to be with us as well this week. And I said, Corey Tinboom? He said, Yeah. He said, Yeah, Denny, I want you to meet her. Have you ever been around somebody that was so intimidated you didn't want to meet them? I want to tell you, this was a true saint of God. I didn't know if I was going to be very comfortable. I didn't even know if I'd had enough time to repent before I met her. And sure enough, I was sitting there in the uh the house, and Corey comes in with all of her suitcases, and she has her helper with her, who is her personal secretary and also caregiver. And so they go up the stairs, and when she walked by me, she kind of patted me on the shoulder and smiled. And in a few minutes, the caregiver came back down the stairs and she said, as soon as we get Tante Kore, and Tante means aunt, I guess, in Dutch, and Tante Kore, ready, she wants to see you, Denny. And I thought, oh God, help me. I walked in and sat down. She showed me exactly where to sit in the room. She's so cute. And then she just looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and she said, Denny, what is your message? I said, Well, in that moment, folks, I didn't even know if I had a message. But I finally said, Well, John 1 and 12, for as many as received him, to them gave you the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. I believe it's great, Corey, for me to have the opportunity to preach and let people know that God can give them the power to become what they need to be. She said, That's good. And I said, Good. It's good. She said, Do you know what my message is? And I said, No. She said, My message is no matter how deep an individual has sunk, that the love of God is deeper still.

unknown 30:48

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

My life was changed once again in the few minutes that I had with her as she poured into my life. Started reading her book not long after that. And the one instance in that book that touched me the most was when she was standing in the back of a sanctuary one Sunday morning after preaching in Canada, greeting all of the people of this small church as people file down the middle aisle, just kind of telling them goodbye, like a lot of pastors do. And she looked about seven or eight people back, and standing in the line was the cruel commandant at the camp there in Treblinka that had been responsible for her sister's demise and eventual death. Had beaten her, had cursed her, and she stood there and she said to God, God, I can't, I won't forgive him. Jesus began to speak turning sentences and said, Well, Corey, I want to forgive him. And if I'm in you, will you allow me to forgive him through you? And she broke and began to weep, and she said, Yes, Lord, I will allow you to forgive him through me. When the man reached her, he broke and he began to sob and to say how sorry he was. And the love of God poured out of her to forgive that man that had once been a commandant but now was a born-again washed in the blood Christian. You see, this is what you can understand. We are not doing this by ourselves. Please hear me. We're not doing this by ourselves. This is not a behavior modification place. We're not trying to get you to be good. We're not trying our very, very best to get you to think differently. What we are here for is for you to attach your understanding to what happened 2,000 years ago, when one righteous man became sin, so that we could become his righteousness. When one man loved those that cursed him and spat upon him and cried out, forgive them, for they know not what they do, so that we too could walk through life unencumbered by the deep, dark feelings of bitterness that always throw us off the path. We are here to declare He is. Yes, I am, He is, I am, I'm not going to be, I'm not trying to be, I'm not eventually going to be. I am the moment that I received the broken, beaten, crucified Savior into my heart, I became righteous, and I became his love to the world. Stand with me, please, all over this place. Hallelujah. You say, Pastor, why this hardcore theological message on the very basics of Christianity? Because we really need it. We really, really need it. Because so many of you are not content. So many of you identify with those two young pastors that I talked about. You say, honestly, I have heaviness on me most days. I struggle through all kinds of emotions. And it's because you're trying to do this thing yourself. And if you continue to try to do it yourself, it's going to continue to be difficult. That's why you've got to come into the revelation of He is I am. You need to relax in the finished work of Calvary. Bow your heads and shut yourselves away with God. We're going to have an old-fashioned altar call right now. It's going to be glorious. And God is going to do some lifting, some heavy lifting of some heavy stuff that you've allowed to come into your heart. Heaviness of depression, heaviness of not measuring up, heaviness of guilt, heaviness of frustration in relationships, heaviness of bitterness, heaviness of unforgiveness. He's going to do heavy lifting today. We're going to leave here without it because we're going to understand who we are.

unknown 36:09

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Glory to God. Glory to God.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

Glory to God.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

How many of you right here will say, Pastor Denny? I'm like those two young pastors. They say, I have not put my finger on it, but I'm not whole emotionally because I don't go from glory to glory. It seems like I go from downer to downer and say, I want God to do something new in me. I want you to raise your hand. One, two, three. Everybody, raise your hand in this place. Raise your hand, raise your hand, raise your hand. I need you to come, I need you to come right to this altar because I'm going to pray. It's going to be very brief today, but I'm going to pray. And when I pray for you, something's going to happen. So if you raise your hand, come to this altar and stand right now. There is no shame in God's presence. We have all been there. We have all been there. We have all been there. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now, I want those of you, listen to me. And this is the surprising one. But you'll say, most of my Christianity, I've gone in and out of being paralyzed by guilt. And you'll say, I don't want to have it anymore. I want to believe the too good to be true gospel because He is righteous.

unknown 37:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

I am righteous. Raise your hand. One, two, three, all over this place. You'll say, I have had guilt my whole life. Guilt, guilt, guilt. You'll say, I've labored with it. Some of the most righteous people here have labored with it. I want you right now to step out and come to the front, please. Come to the front. God's going to do a work in you. God's going to do a work in you. He's not going to ever leave you. He's not going to ever forsake you. You're a son. You're a daughter. You're always going to be a son and a daughter. You're not going to forsake him. You're not going to deny him. And I'm going to tell you, God is going to help you through everything that you are experiencing. Come right now. Now, here's the last one. You say, why these three? Because these are the three things that believers deal with the most. How many of you right now you're having trouble loving one person? Maybe more, but at least one. You're saying, I'm having, there's somebody I'm having trouble loving, Pastor. You'll say, I need this revelation today. You say, I'm jumping, I'm grabbing onto it as my own personal revelation. If you're having trouble loving somebody, I want you to step out. Come to the front right now, please. Come to the front. You'll say somebody I'm having trouble loving right now in my life. Like I said, it's not me today, but check with me in a couple of weeks, you know, because I'm going to tell you, this is a constant, ongoing challenge for believers of all descriptions. Come right now. Come right now. Come right now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now I need some people to come and pray with these people. Come on. I want you to move into the altars right now. I want you to come and pray with them right now. Come and pray with them. Come pray with them. Hallelujah. Bless the name of Jesus. Bless the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Now, right now, just receive what I'm about to pray. I want you to say this with me. Father God, I'll receive this. Tell him, Father God, I'll receive this. I'm going to receive this prayer from Pastor Denny as your will and your purpose for me. Hallelujah. First of all, in the name of Jesus, I declare that you are the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Right now, everybody in this place, say this with me. I am the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus. I am, say son or daughter, either one. I am of God. And I know who I am because the word tells me who I am. I am not outside the family. I am not a reject. I belong to you, Lord. Now, some of you have not committed your life to the Lord yet, and I want you to pray this with me. Jesus, today I commit my heart to you. Every part of me I give to you. Every part of me I give you. I will be changed from this moment on by your power. Hallelujah. And now I want you to lift your hands and I want you to pray for somebody. Whoever it is, don't say their name out loud where people can hear it at the altar. It might be their cousin. You never know. But I want you right now to just lift your hands and I want you to lift your voice and I want you to begin to pray for that individual. Here's the way I want you to pray. Everybody, pray this way. I didn't give you how I prayed for my enemies. I'm going to give it to you now. Say, Father God, I pray that you will get them where they need to be with you so that you can bless them and prosper them and bless and prosper their families. Let them get right with you, because I forgive them and I love them with the love of the Lord. You flow through me. Thank you. That I don't have the right to not love somebody. Lord, I love them because I am because you are. Hallelujah. Lord, I give you glory. I give you glory and I give you honor for that. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Glory to God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Now, Father, this is what I pray. Everybody lift your hands and receive this. I pray for supernatural contentment in these people's lives. I know them. I can recommend them to you. I thank you for them. Give them supernatural contentment in their lives. Lord, I know that all of us in these troubled times know how real eternity is. Lord God, give us assurance of eternity. Give these men and women assurance that love you. They love you. Lord, give them assurance of heaven. Give them assurance that they don't have to be afraid on any given day. Lord, give them assurance that you want to bless them and prosper them and use them, that you want to fulfill them. Lord God, to the uttermost. In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. We pray. Oh, we give you glory, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Bless the name of the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

Thank you for connecting with us today. The first step to a new life in Christ is receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, repeat this prayer after me. Jesus, I believe you died on a cross and rose again for me. I ask that you come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Whether you committed your life to Jesus for the first time today or are already on your journey of faith, we would love to stay connected with you. Please visit scchurch dot com and follow SC Church on all social media platforms. And remember, the best is yet to come.