Ryan Foley
Egyptian-born pastor and evangelist Michael Youssef says the world is experiencing “unprecedented turmoil” and is urging Western Christians not to “hide” in their church pews, but rather “go to the wolves’ territories” with the Good News of Jesus.
Youssef, the founding rector of the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia, spoke Saturday at AWAKE Houston at the Smart Financial Centre in Sugar Land, Texas. Former Muslim-turned-Christian evangelist Ahmed Joktan and musician Chris Tomlin also appeared at the event, which billed itself as “a powerful night of worship, prayer, and preaching calling God’s people to wholehearted faith, spiritual revival, and bold prayer for a Third Great Awakening in America.”
The bestselling author told the crowd the world is facing “an unprecedented turmoil” that has prompted many to believe “we’re really coming to the very end of time and nearness of the return of Christ.”
Youssef identified the domination of the “global scene” by “Islamists” as the primary threat facing the world, citing statistics showing that 60% of young adult Christians in America believe that “Jesus is not the only way to salvation and eternal life” as another cause for concern.
Another troubling trend he highlighted is the belief that “the Christian life is all about prosperity … here on Earth.”
“Meanwhile, true Christian believers today around the world are facing persecution, torture and death every single day,” he lamented.
He then posed a series of questions for the audience to consider: “Will we wake up in time? Will we get serious about the Great Commission? Will we boldly and fearlessly take the Gospel to our non-Christian neighbors? Will we finally become obedient to the word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and go across the street and across the world?”
“This is not a time for retreat. This is not a time for capitulation. This is not a time for hiding in the church pews,” he stressed. “This is not a time for crawling into our Christian ghettoes. This is not a time to be silent. This is a time to prove our love for the One who gave everything for love’s sake.”
“This is the time for Christians to count the cost of discipleship,” he continued. “This is the time to do all in our power to take Jesus to the ends of the earth.”
Youssef told the audience that “Jesus never promised us a rose garden” or a “life of ease.” He quoted John 16:33: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
“God, at this stage in my life … is calling me to challenge the Christian believers in the West to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the Earth,” he said. “Take it to those who live in darkness, … those who believe wrongly about Christ” and “those who are persecuting Christ by persecuting His disciples.”
Youssef encouraged Western Christians to “roll up your sleeves of obedience.”
He focused heavily on Matthew 10:16: “Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of the wolves.”
“He is calling us to go to the wolves’ territories, not hide in our church pews,” Youssef asserted. “He is telling us to invade the heart of the wolves’ domain, not to hide behind church walls.”
Explaining that “In the natural world, wolves would invade the sheep’s territories,” Youssef stressed that Christians are called to engage in “the supernatural world,” where “sheep can invade the wolves’ territories” and “go into wolves’ dens.”
Youssef addressed concerns about his efforts to minister to the Muslim world by describing himself as “invincible until Jesus calls me home” and assuring the crowd that they are too. He contrasted his “natural instinct” to see the enemies of the cross “suffer and die” with God’s vision of seeing them “be converted and become saints.”
Youssef compared the command in Matthew 10:16 with claims made by “false shepherds of today” who allege that “Christians are supposed to be fat and happy,” before outlining the consequences of that belief.
“For years, we have been seeing the Christian missions dwindle … almost to nothing,” he said. “They have taken over academia that was built by Christians and we stayed away. They have taken over media, which was built by Christians. We stayed away. They have taken institution after institution, and we stayed away.”
“For years, we have seen how political correctness has watered down the Christian message,” he added. “For years, we have shrunk from taking the Gospel to the territories of the enemies of Christ, and now they’re invading our territories. … Now, we are being taken into exile but not in Babylon, in our own land.”
Youssef said Christians have to counter these trends, expressing hope for “armies of the living God to convert the masses to Christ starting here.”
Recalling that Friedrich Engels, a co-founder of Marxism, concluded “the reason why socialism has failed in Britain back in the 1800s is because the Salvation Army [has] converted the masses to Christ,” he predicted that widespread conversion to Christianity would make “socialism and Islamism and all the other -isms that should be ‘wasms’ to be irrelevant.”
“Only the power of Jesus Christ can change the nation, the city, the country,” he concluded.
