Transcription
When I was 14, I got shot by my dad, and I ended up paralyzed. He shot my mom and killed my sister. And over the years, I've struggled to find my purpose, and I've just grown anger inside of me. I kind of blame everything on my mom, even though she wasn't the one that did it. I just get angry at her, and I want to learn how to forgive her.
"Yeah. Amen. You know, first and foremost, thank you for being vulnerable, and I'm sorry that that happened to you. You know, but truly, God did all of that to lead you to a position where you can accept God, right? I'm very thankful that you're here today because God, I can see, is actually working in your life. Amen."
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"It's easy to steal away like God's glory and be like, 'Oh, I did that.' You know what I'm saying? I spoke. I articulated well. My analogies are on point. God, hold on to my heart. Don't allow me to get puffed up. Don't allow me to get pharisaical. And really let them see you through me."
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"Appreciate you. What it do, guys? You guys hear me? Okay, good. So, if you guys can have your Bibles or your Bible app, please pull it up right now. We're actually going to go to Matthew chapter 19. This is a story of the rich young ruler. Anybody familiar with that? He asks Jesus how he can inherit eternal life. Because at the end of the day, guys, it doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter how much fame, how much recognition you have. You cannot take that with you. Amen."
"At the end of the day, our purpose here not only is to preach the gospel, but to get everybody here into heaven. Because everything else is temporary, right? Everything is temporary except for eternity and heaven, essentially, right? So, it's really important, and that's what God really wants to speak about to you guys in your hearts today. So, this story is of the rich young ruler. We're going to start with Matthew 19:16-17. And it says, if you guys are there, I'll read. 'And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?' Verse 17. 'And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.'"
"So, there's this man, the rich young ruler. He's very rich. He's coming up to God, the context here, and he's saying, 'What can I do to get eternal life?' Aka, what can I do to get to heaven? Right? How many of us here want to get to heaven?"
"All of us. Right? So, what he's asking is a very valid question. It's actually a very pure question. Right? And what Jesus says to him, if you look at it on the surface level, verse 17, he says, 'And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good?' Right? So, Jesus could have easily said, 'Do this, do this, do this.' Why do you guys think he led with, 'Why do you call me good?' Is Jesus not good? Is Jesus not God? Why would he speak to this person in this very simple but profound way? I want you guys to kind of ponder on that a little bit, right? It's because what did Jesus do when he came as a man on this earth? What was his number one purpose? To die for our what?"
"Sins. Amen. So, Jesus came not to be served, but to what?"
"Serve. Amen. So, what he's trying to speak about here when he says 'I'm not a good person' is not that he's saying he's not good. He's actually trying to show the posture of the person who's asking him this question. The rich young ruler, right, for example, is asking him, 'How do I get to heaven? What must I do to inherit the kingdom?' is what he's asking for. Right?"
"I want you guys to keep a bookmark here and let's go to Psalm 14:2-3. Psalm 14:2 says, 'The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men; see if there were any that did good. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.' So, what is Jesus doing here, guys? He's quoting scripture. Are you guys understanding? He's telling the rich young ruler that the Bible is saying there's nobody who does good, right? But Jesus himself, when he came down, he was 100% God, obviously. But did you guys know what else? He was 100% man as well, because he was serving, right, in the flesh. There is no good, as Romans tells us. There is no good flesh. Right? So, he's speaking to the rich young ruler and not telling him to keep the commandments, but trying to show him his posture."
"Now, I don't know about you guys, but if I was Jesus and somebody came to me and said, 'Jesus, what must I do to get to heaven?' I'd raise up my hand, right? Take out the chleta, right? That wait a minute. What must you do, guys? It doesn't matter if we keep the commandments. It doesn't matter how good we speak in tongues. It doesn't matter how much we can prophesy. But if Jesus Christ didn't die and shed his blood, can any of us get to heaven?"
"No. Absolutely not. Right? So, when you try to keep the law, what happens? Your mouth stops. Means you stop talking. You stop boasting. Because what does the law do to you? Does it save you or does it condemn you?"
"Condemns, right? It makes you guilty. Why? Because you try to say, 'Okay, today I'm not going to lust for the men, right? Not going to lust today. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to look at my Instagram explore page, right? My YouTube, my for you page.' All of a sudden, you get served something. Uh-oh, you lusted. Then you beat yourself up. Okay, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. But you continuously fail. And that's why we live happy, sad, sin, and repent. Up and down, up and down. Oh, just me. Okay. Amen. Right. Everyone looking at looking at me like dead fish. What you mean? Right. Everybody's like that, right, guys? Everybody's like that."
"So, he's telling the rich young ruler to keep the commandments. Why? Because the rich young ruler's posture is what? 'I'm good. I can keep the commandments. I do good things.' Amen. How many of you guys here have kept all of the commandments?"
"Somebody went, 'Oh, no.' Amen. How many of us have broken the laws? Raise your hand. That's so funny. You know what's funny? When I'm watching you guys, some of you guys are like this. Some of you guys are like this. Some of you guys are like this. And some of you guys are like this. Amen. It's okay. Sin is sin. We all fall short. It's okay. All right. But what I'm saying is God wants us to recognize that we are people who all fall short of the glory of God. But one person, this man believes, 'No, I didn't fall short, though. I've done everything correctly.' He's trying to expose the heart of this individual. Are you guys understanding? But a lot of us have this heart rooted inside of ourselves, too. Yeah. You know, I sin, but I'm not like Johnny Chang. I don't got a teardrop on my face, demon tattoo on my neck. Amen. I never went to prison. People tend to judge other people based off of their own standard. God is telling us to stand in front of the law because we all fall short. Amen. He's trying to level the playing field. He's not telling him by keeping the commandments you're going to do good. Are you guys following me here? It's very deep here, right? The rich young ruler at the core of his heart doesn't believe he's an evil, dirty sinner. But if that's the case, then that would mean God is lying when he says everybody's evil. Are you guys understanding what I'm saying? And we know that God doesn't lie. Amen."
"Amen. So, the law is not faith. And anything that's not faith is what, guys?"
"Sin. Amen. Anything that's not of God is of what?"
"Satan and flesh. Amen. So, the law, what does it do? Condemns us. I want you guys to be clear about that. Be very clear here, right? The word is telling us this. Verse 13, 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.' Who hung on the cross for us, guys?"
"Yeshua Mashiach, right? Jesus. Amen. So, Jesus died on the cross and he hung. Why? Cuz he was a dirty, evil sinner."
"He died for our sins. He paid our debt. Are you guys understanding? Do you know why he had to do that? Because if we die and we pay for our debt, where are we going to end up?"
"Amen. Eternal damnation, right? Hell, sh. However you want to say it, it's hell. Amen. So, God sent Jesus as the propitiation for our sins. Everybody knows that. But people don't understand that if you try to keep the law, what's going to what how your spiritual life is going to look is like this: happy, sad, happy, sad, sin, repent, sin, repent. Up and down, up and down until when? Until you're empty. Anybody ever felt that before? Emptiness. Feeling like, man, I can't do this, man. God, how come everybody? How come Johnny Chang lives okay? Joking around, laughing and stuff. How come I can't live like that? Right? It's because you guys are trying to keep the law and earn your salvation. Let me tell you guys something. Salvation is not something you achieve and work for. Salvation is something you believe and receive. Amen. Put that on the shirt. Amen. Salvation is not something that you achieve, work hard, earnestly for. It's something that was given to you from God as a gift. You just have to receive it. Amen."
"Trusting in yourself, worshiping self is exactly how Satan is deceiving people today. Satan never says, 'Believe in me.' Have you noticed that? Satan always says, 'Trust yourself. Believe in yourself.' Why? Because individualism is rampant in our world today. It's all about me, me, I, I, I. Well, let me ask you something. And if it's all about me, me, me and I, I, I, where's Jesus in all of this?"
"Amen."
"Amen."
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"Hi. My question is, with all the abuse, deceit, manipulation, anger, betrayal, and just pain, how do I forgive?"
"Thank you for being vulnerable, sis. It's painful. I understand. You have to look at people with the lens of the gospel and the Bible rather than your own eyes. Does that make sense? Cuz to be real with you, you'll never forgive somebody if you look at them with your eyes. I could never forgive my father who stood over me and beat on me and said, 'I wish I never had you.' Right? I had to borrow the lens of God, which is scripture, to be able to see my father."
"Thank you."
"So, yeah. Let me give you some verses. Romans 7:15. Romans 7:15 says, um, 'For the good that I want to do, I don't do, and the evil that I do, I continuously do.' Right? That that I hate that I do. So, you don't want to be unforgiving. You don't want to be depressed. Would you agree? You don't want to have trauma. But you continuously fall into it. You hate those things. Right? Do you know why, sister? Because of Romans chapter 7, same chapter, verse 20. Let's read that carefully. 'Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.' You following me here? So, you want to let it go, but there's sin inside of you, Satan, who's not allowing that to let you go. Understand? So, don't take ownership of that. 'Oh, I did forgive. Satan is trying to make me feel like I haven't.' Understand what I'm saying? Right? When you start to see this word, not only does it apply to you, it also applies to the person who hurt you or the people who hurt you. Right? When I was when I first read this verse, I was able to see that, wow, I was struggling with all my pain. Something was dragging me. I didn't want to rob people. I ended up doing that. I didn't want to go to prison. I ended up going to prison. I didn't want to be depressed. I was depressed. Didn't want to be angry, but I was angry, right? I was able to see this force, Satan, was dragging me. Now, that doesn't just apply to you and me. It applies to your aggressors as well. Do you understand? That's how I was able to see, man, my dad is not my rival or my enemy. He's my teammate. Understand? Cuz we're the same. We're struggling with the same things. He's just expressing it in one way. I express it through gangs and violence. He expressed it through, you know, alcohol and violence, but we're the same. Understand? So, rather than feeling sad, you can draw boundaries. You don't have to be around that person. But you have to understand one thing. Oh, that person who hurt me is also struggling. That person has one common enemy with me, and that's Satan. Amen."
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"I just wanted to thank you first of all, cuz I've battled a lot mentally. And my husband sent me a video that you did about intrusive thoughts. So, I kind of got free. You used the scripture of Isaiah 55, and so I just want to thank you because that helped me a lot."
"Amen. But one of my questions was spiritual covering. Covering. We started a ministry, and we're we consider ourselves more of like evangelists because we go out, we speak, like mainly outside. We don't have a building. Um, we network with different churches. Um, but here recently, we've connected with about two or three churches, and they made us feel like we aren't really a church. And so, um, one of the things that has been heavy on my heart was spiritual covering. Like they were saying, 'Well, who, what are you under? Who are you under?' And so, I just need some insight of, do we need to be somebody under somebody? Cuz I feel like God is my spiritual covering."
"Amen. Uh, go ahead, I guess, and clap it up. It says in the Bible, 'When two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst of them.' Right? Obviously, you're gathering with more than two and three, then that's good. But at the center of everything, it's not about spiritual covering or titles. 'Oh, I'm a church because of X, Y, and Z. I was ordained and I went to seminary school.' There's a lot of people that go to seminary school who have the title pastors, but aren't preaching the true gospel. You understand what I'm saying? Right? There's also people who don't have a title and they're preaching the biblical gospel. Make sense? So, title is not about it. What's important is your message, the center line in the core of your heart. Is it the gospel or is it works? That's the difference. Understand? As long as you stay focused on that, it's the same thing. They say the same thing about using Paul and misquoting him and saying women are to keep quiet in the church. Women cannot preach and whatever. I know a lot of women who are preaching the gospel stronger than me. They don't have a title. I'm a minister. They're not ministers, but they're doing the work of the gospel. You think God is going to be like, 'Oh, no. You're not a minister. You didn't go to this worldly seminary school.' Right? Of course not. There, it's where your core message is. Please, with whatever you do, preach the gospel to the ends of the earth is what it says. Amen."
"Amen."
"Amen."
"Thank you so much."
"No worries, sis."
"I had a friend yesterday call me, uh, and confided in me. Um, it's more of a general question, I guess, but um, she's in a relationship. They are both believers. Um, but they struggle with boundaries in terms of fornication. Um, and she came to me, and I felt kind of bad cuz I didn't know what to really give her advice besides break up. But I know that relationships are more complex."
"That's why they don't like us."
"So, what would you say, you know, as a young adult and dating, and they're attracted to each other and they can't keep boundaries? Yeah."
"What would you do? So, I would tell, again, it goes back to the gospel. If you preach the gospel to somebody, the reason why they're fornicating with each other is because they think there's love, right? They're hold on. They're like, 'I held on to drugs because I thought it was my hope. I loved it because I had no other love. I held on to my homies, my gang, because that was my hope.' Understand? Until pastor showed me true love and true hope, which was the gospel. Does that make sense? So, when you teach them the gospel, true biblical salvation, they're able to be like, 'Look, we love each other, but this man who died for all of our sins, let's get right with him.' When you place Jesus at the center of everything, your relationships heal naturally. Don't tell them to break up, bro. You know what I'm saying? Please don't do that. Instead, be like, 'Get married.' Understand, right? Say some breathe life into people. You get what I'm saying?"
"My brother, he's in a really, uh, dark place, and I want to save him, but it's really, I don't know. I want to save him and I want to take him to church for me, cuz he needs it like more than ever, but I don't know how. So, I don't know."
"I don't know how."
"I can tell you love your brother a lot, sister. You know, that's beautiful. You know, you're a better sibling than I am. Um, you know, it's truly nothing to cry about. Why? Because like I said earlier, right? Who loves your brother more than you? Jesus. Right. Do you think that Jesus only died for you and me? He died for your brother, too. Would you agree?"
"He loved him so much that he laid his life down for him. You following me here? He will definitely save him. You have to believe that, right? He doesn't have to do anything through you. He can save him on his own timing. Amen. Our job is just to trust in God's timing and also believe for him. That same Acts 16:31 is a beautiful verse for you too, sis. No, I look at my brother and he's in a dark place. But God, that's my eyes. How do you see my brother? Didn't you die for him? You made him righteous. Amen. You will save him. Different heart. Are you seeing what I'm saying? Sister, don't trust your eyes, cuz your eyes are flawed. Minds, too. Look at your hand right now. Right. Is it clean? Yeah. But if you look at it under a microscope, probably tens of thousands of germs. We cannot trust our eyes. Are you understanding what I'm saying? We must trust the word of God. Amen."
"Amen."
"Thank you."
"Amen."
"When I was 14, I got shot by my dad, and I ended up paralyzed. He shot my mom and killed my sister. And over the years, I've struggled to find my purpose, and I've just grown anger inside of me. I kind of blame everything on my mom, even though she wasn't the one that did it. I just get angry at her, and I want to learn how to forgive her."
"Yeah. Amen. You know, first and foremost, thank you for being vulnerable, and I'm sorry that that happened to you. You know, but truly, God did all of that to lead you to a position where you can accept God, right? I'm very thankful that you're here today because God, I can see, is actually working in your life. Amen."
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"The reason why relationships sour is because communication ends. Do you understand what I'm saying? Think about a swamp. There's no flow of water into it. So, what happens? It rots. Does that make sense? Everything is a medium of exchange. Your heart is the same way. The best tasting water is water that's flows and exchanges through the mountains and rocks and creeks. Are you following me here? So, likewise, your heart needs to exchange with your mother more rather than coming from a position of, 'I'm angry at you,' cuz you're going to feel the anger. Even that you should express that. You know what you should say to your mom is exactly what you said to me: 'Mom, I am angry at you, but I don't want to be.' This is a heart that shows up able to accept. Most of the time, we don't want to be. We hide that part and we just yell at them. You got with this person, he did this to us. Do you know? Do you understand what I'm saying? Open that most vulnerable part of your heart because that will allow for exchange. Right? Even if you flow water into the swamp, sooner or later it'll actually purify it. Make sense? Our hearts are like that. It's like electricity. It has to flow. Make sense, right? You look at a Samsung refrigerator, let's say. If it's not connected to the outlet, no electricity flows. It's useless. You understand? Your heart is the same. Share that part of your heart with your mom. 'Mom, I don't want to hate you. I literally read my Bible today, but there's something that just keeps coming up and dragging me to make me angry at you. Mom, I want to forgive you.' Speak to her in this way and watch her heart shift. Watch your heart shift. Are you following me here? Right? Be your most vulnerable self. Even if it's painful, speak to them about that. That's number one. Number two, also the verses that I gave other people. It wasn't your mom or even your father or anything like that. There was evil forces dragging both people. Do you understand? Just like you want to forgive, but there's something that just springs up when you see her. You get triggered, basically, right? That means it's not your heart. Make sense? Like, I came to Houston. We ate like really, really good food out here. You guys got bomb food out here, by the way. Right. Amen. And you know, we went to eat like all the places we ate, you know, was really, really good. I wanted to eat. I didn't regret it. Make sense? But when I went to go do drugs, at first I felt like I wanted to do it, but it always ended in misery and regret. Does that make sense? Proof that it wasn't my heart. I was deceived, misled by something to make me feel that way. That's what's happening with you. Make sense? You love your mom. Trust me, you do forgive her. But things rise up, and because you don't know how to distrust your thoughts, you trust that and react accordingly. That's why I said the root of everything is distrusting your thoughts. Make sense, sister? Amen. You forgave her. Trust me, you know."
"Thank you."
"Amen. Amen. God bless you."
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"Look, I'm just going to say this. I haven't been to church since I was 12 years old. Like, I feel like if I walk in a church, everybody's just going to look at me like judge me. But here, I really seen some people who look similar to me. And it's just like, at the end of the day, we're all human beings. And we all, we all need God in our life."
"Tonight was a day that God set people free from mental strongholds. And I thank God for Johnny Chang's life and for his family and for the ministry that he's doing."
"Most people, they think of a pastor, they think of godly people like no tattoos, no nothing. You have to look proper. But Johnny, he could really reach out to youngans like me. People would think that pastors have to uphold a tight image, but no. At the end of the day, we still all fall short of the glory of God."
"I loved the event today. It was amazing. I got to ask Johnny a few questions that were on my mind. Heard about this event, uh, through Instagram. First time I actually texted the core of heart page."
"I've never seen somebody so blasted up like inked up like him talking about the Lord the way he does. I don't know. I really could just relate to him."
"Watching Johnny's soft underbelly video, it resonated with me, you know, truly, cuz, you know, he's also been incarcerated longer than I have. You know, we are all interconnected by struggle and sin, which whatever you call it, we're all interconnected by that same thing. Everything he went through in that in that cell, I went through too. You know, and at such a young age, too. You know, I was locked up at 18 with like grown-ups, men. It was different, but it cultivated me."
"Being an Asian Pacific Islander myself, um, there's not a lot of representation. There is not a lot of um Christianity talk. Um, I was born and raised Catholic. I am baptized into a Catholic church. So, my journey began with Johnny Chang. Um, and it actually started around after the pandemic. Um, I went through life and I needed answers, and Johnny Chang was there to answer them all with this Bible."
"Lesson that really stuck out with me today is, um, some, I forgot who it was. Someone asked Johnny, he was like, 'How do I stop sinning?' And then Johnny kind of boiled it down. It was like, 'You have too much time on your hands.' Recently, I mean, I have work, school, all this. My schedule's been full. I'm like, 'Lord, why is my schedule so full? Like, I don't even have time to praise you.' And then Johnny just said, like, usually when it's like that, like I have no time to sin. I have no time to scroll on my explore page and lust after women. I have no time to go out drink with the homies. My schedule's full, and it's for a reason. And I learned that."
"Getting strong in the word of God. That is the biggest takeaway. That is the answer to all of our problems, to all of our questions. There's no other thing out here in this world. Nothing else that we can do except get strong in the word of God. The Lord is the way, the truth, and the life. And everything that we need, every answer that we need as believers is in the Bible. Every answer, actually, to anything, any qu any type of questions we have is actually in the Bible. So, I would just really, really tell y'all to really just get into your word, you know, cuz it's helped me out a lot, and it'll help so many other people out a lot."
"Not all churches are that same stereotypical uptight church. Like, you really can find a church that resonates with you. Anyone who has some stereotypical bad outlook on churches and church in general, just to know that to keep searching for a church, and you'll eventually find one that suits you."
"Yeah, man."
"Wild, man."
"What you, what you think?"
"It's beautiful. I was just thankful that people were listening, thankful to the church, thankful to pastor. I mean, just you guys are amazing. You know, it's all body of Christ. So, just preaching the gospel, man. That's it."
"Text into the number. We'll see you at the next one."
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