One of the more challenging messages I have brought to the church. You will love the three great stories of men who chose to seek and follow God and how they blessed the world. Are we willing to have God reveal His will to us even if we must pay a price to follow Him? In 2015, suffering to follow Jesus is not an abstract issue. The age of martyrs is back and coming closer to the western world each year. Believers in America and Europe must be willing to live and die for Jesus or suffer great loss spiritually. May the Holy Spirit use this message to strengthen us to seek God's will and follow it no matter what happens.

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In his book “The Lost Choice”, author Andy Andrews shares a
story about George Washington Carver, an African-
American scientist best known for revolutionizing the southern
agricultural economy by showing that hundreds of products could
be derived from the peanut.
Despite an intellectual capacity that far exceeded ordinary man,
Carver found his strength not in science but in the consistent
dialogue he had each morning with God in a special place.
According to Andrews, Carver was once faced with a highly
volatile problem by his supervisor, who just happened to be
Booker T. Washington, president of the Tuskegee Institute in
Georgia where Carver worked for 47 years.
The problem involved Carver’s decision to advise local farmers to
plant peanuts rather than cotton.
Decades of growing cotton had depleted the land into a virtual
wasteland of withering weeds. His idea, which eventually became
known as crop rotation, was to alternate soil depleting cotton
crops with soil enriching crops such as peanuts.
What Carver hadn’t factored into his plan was that there was no
commercial appeal for the peanut at the time. Without a
market for their crops, farmers would be left penniless.
Washington was fearful that due to the highly volatile nature of
race relations in 1914, that the mostly white farmers would not
hesitate to retaliate on the bad advice of a black scientist.
Violence against blacks was still quite common in the South then.
White Southern people who called themselves Christians still
lynched blacks without a trial for many decades after the end of
the civil War.

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But George Washington Carver was not worried. He turned to
face his worried mentor and said,
“All my life, I have risen regularly at four in the morning to go
into the woods and talk with God. That’s where He reveals
His secrets to me. When everybody else is asleep, I hear God
best and learn my plan … This morning I asked Him why He
made the peanut.”
Washington looked at him incredulously but allowed Carver to
continue.
I asked God , “Why did you make the universe, Lord?
“Ask for something more in proportion to that little mind of yours”,
God replied.
Why did You make the earth, Lord?” I asked.
“Your mind still wants to know far too much. Ask for something
more in proportion to that little mind of yours,” God replied.
“Why did you make man, Lord?” I asked.
“Far too much. Far too much. Ask again,” replied the Lord.
“Explain to me why You made plants, Lord” I asked.
“Your little mid still wants to know too much.”
“The peanut?” I asked meekly.
“Yes! For your modest proportions, I will grant you the mystery
of the peanut. Take it inside your laboratory and separate it into
water, fats, oils, gums, resins, sugars, starches and animo acids.
Then recombine these under My laws of compatibility,

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temperature and pressure. Then you will know why I made the
peanut.”
Washington laughed nervously, obviously skeptical at Carver’s
suggestion. Finally, with much anxiety he asked the humble
scientist if God always gave him the right answers.
With a broad smile Carver replied, “Let me put it this way: The
Lord always provides me with life changing ideas. Not that I
am special. The Lord provides everyone with life changing
ideas. These ideas are quite literally a treasure from the Almighty.
It is up to each of us however, to choose and dig for the
treasure.”
Within ten days George Washington Carver had “discovered”
more than 300 uses for the peanut!
One trip to that special place in the woods to talk with God not
only enhanced race relations at the time but also
fundamentally changed the agricultural industry as we know it
today.
All because he listened to and felt the Spirit of God in his life.
To put this into better perspective, George Washington Carver
was born into slavery in 1864,and grew up in a land of American
racial oppression—- but he shook the world with his agriculture
discoveries for the use of the peanut and the sweet potato.
Why—because he had a deep and disciplined prayer life with
the Holy Spirit.
I love this quote by him:
“As I worked on projects which fulfilled a real human need forces
were working through me which amazed me. I would often go to

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sleep with an apparently insoluble problem. When I woke the
answer was there. Why, then, should we who believe in Christ
be so surprised at what God can do with a willing man in a
laboratory? Some things must be baffling to the critic who has
never been born again.”
He was a man like few others in his character: Carver believed
his ideas and inventions were gifts from God. Therefore, he never
accepted any money for them. Unlike many inventors of the time,
Carver earned nothing when he might have become a millionaire.
That man knew how to partner with God in prayer to make
agricultural history. God spoke to him in prayer and he chose to
obey the Lord’s voice.
What has God told us to do? what could God do with our Spirit-
led choices? Will we seek God to know why He made us to do
now in 2015? Will we chose to follow that leading?
________________________
Matthew Maury’s Search for the Secret of the Seas
(Show Slide)
Maury entered the US Navy in 1825, but an accident in 1839
partially disabled him, so he left active sea duty.
Three years later, still with the Navy, he was appointed
superintendent of the US Naval Observatory in Washington, and
also of the US Depot of Charts and Instruments.
Over the next 19 years Maury devoted himself to studying the
winds, clouds, weather, and ocean features ... as well as the
Bible.

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At one time, when Commodore Maury was very sick, he asked one of
his daughters to get his beloved Bible and read to him.
She chose Psalm 8, the eighth verse of which speaks of "whatsoever
walketh through the paths of the sea”. He repeated ‘the paths of the
sea, the paths of the sea,’ if God says the paths of the sea, they are
there, and if I ever get out of this bed I will find them.”
He did get out of that bed—and he did find them!
He studied old ships’ logs. From these he compiled charts of
ocean-wind and sea currents.
To study the speed and direction of the ocean currents Maury set
adrift weighted bottles known as ‘drift bottles’. These floated
slightly below the surface of the water, and thus were not affected
by wind. Instructions were sealed in each bottle directing anyone
who found one washed ashore to return it.
From the location and date on which the bottles were found,
Maury was able to develop his charts of the ocean currents—the
‘paths’ of the seas—which greatly aided the science of marine
navigation.
He published the Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic,
which showed sailors how to use the ocean's currents and winds
to their advantage and drastically reduced the length of ocean
voyages.
Maury's uniform system of recording oceanographic data was
adopted by navies and merchant marines around the world and
was used to develop charts for all the major trade routes.
Why? Because the Holy Spirit wrote about “ paths of the sea” in
Psalm 8 quickened that phrase to Maury’s mind—a mind that
loved the Bible and the God of the Bible. Years of walking with

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God resulted in this godly man discovering a secret system of
ocean currents that God spoke of in the Bible 3000 years earlier.
What secrets is the Holy Spirit waiting to reveal to us as we
seek to partner with Him in prayer, guided by the scriptures—
as Maury was?
Will we choose to seek God for what He wants to reveal to us?
Will we choose to follow that leading when it comes?
_______________________
Choosing to Follow Jesus in 2015
Testimony of John, a former Muslim Teacher of the Quran
(Show slide of Rev. 17:14)
“These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will
overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings,
and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and
faithful.”
Read the Story of John of Pakistan: Victor in the Holy War
Against the Lamb in 2015. (Taken from January 2015 edition of
Voice of the Martyrs Newsletter)
1. John teaches the Quran in Afghanistan. His father is a Taliban
leader.
2. Jesus reveals Himself to John in dreams while John is at
Mecca to worship Allah.
3. Jesus gives John a choice: follow Jesus and lose 7 things or
continue to follow a false god.
4. John chooses to follow Jesus and he loses the 7 things—all
very painful to him and his family—even the death of his only

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son—but he does not give up despite severe persecution and
physical pain.
5. John and his wife and new baby are now in Europe leading
other Muslims to Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
_____________________________
What if Jesus spoke to us and gave us a difficult choice:
follow His will and suffer great loss or refuse to follow Him?
What would we chose?
Are we willing to have the Holy Spirit reveal God’s will to us if
it means suffering and loss?
2015 is the year to choose again Who we will follow—Jesus
or ourselves.
Great glory and blessings await those who chose to say Yes
to Jesus no matter where He leads.
God is waiting to reveal new things to all of us for 2015.
Many things He reveals to us could bring great joy and
greater prosperity to others. Many things He reveals to us
could change the lives of others for the better.
God could give us revelations that would help bring many
into the Kingdom of God forever.
I want all that God has for me…and for us—even if there is a
price to pay as millions of Christians have had to pay over
the centuries to follow Jesus.

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“Nothing sweet comes without sweat” (Ronia Tunhira, at
Kalibu Academy 2014 Graduation in Malawai, Africa)
Jesus carried His cross for us and asks us to do the same to
follow Him.
And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he
must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life
for My sake, he is the one who will save it.…(Luke 9:23-14)
This is a very sobering sermon, I know. We live in sobering times and serve
a God who said:
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil,
prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same
experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your
[brethren who are in the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
So, Abundant Life Fellowship!
Awaken! Be alert! These are important and dangerous times.
Tremendous opportunities are here to be a witness for Jesus in
2015.
Many in Christendom are confused and frightened in 2015. We
do not have to join them in that if we are willing to say Yes to
Jesus no matter what comes our way.
As Daniel 11:32 declares: “but the people that know their God
shall be strong, and do exploits.”

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All of us have only one life to live and give back to God in
gratitude for His amazing love and grace towards us though
Jesus.
Let’s surrender all to Jesus now.
Let’s choose to follow Him no matter what.
Let’s seek God during this fast to get our marching orders for
2015 and to see what God will reveal to us that will revive us,
restore our relationships and transform our community and
world!
What is the Lord Saying to ALF in 2015?
2015 is a Year of New Things
Active year of Doing & Going
Year of Release: God opening our minds to understand the
scriptures and His personal words to us.
Releasing creative expressions of His will, ways,
personality, character and power: new songs, art, books, writing,
prophecies, visions
Year of new revelation to activate us and others
Year of glory. Fresh filling of the Spirit in us
and release of the Spirit through us
Let’s pray about all this now.

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