✝️ Anything less than this is not the true Gospel Dan Mohler.

Listen, when we sang that song, "You're a good father." If you don't have an understanding of God's goodness through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and you think His goodness is revealed just through life and circumstances, you might have a hard time understanding why He's so good. There are so many people get tricked into trying to find God's goodness through the circumstances of their life. And somehow along the way, we've turned the gospel into a beneficiary message and a "serve me, take care of me," and almost a survival gospel. There's a lot of us that are pursuing God for what we can get from Him instead of pursuing Him to be transformed by Him to become the very thing we were created to be from the beginning. Come on. Jesus did not pay the radical price He paid just to give you blessings. It was to put His life back inside of you, to put His image back inside of you, and to fill you with His Holy Spirit. It's not just about getting something from Him. It's about becoming like Him. He's the firstborn among many, brethren. Romans 8 says we're predestined to be conformed to the image of a son. Colossians 3:10 says that we're to be renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created us. That means we're putting off the old and we're putting on the new. It's new life. You can't bring something new and put it into something old. You can't have the same thinking, the same perspective, the same motivation, the same reason for being. The gospel changes everything. And if all we do is preach a gospel that takes care of us and helps us make it to the end, we'll get run over by life and circumstances, and God won't seem good. Analytically, we'll be in a quandary, and we'll only be doing as good as things are going. And life will speak louder than truth, and there's no freedom in that place. I've learned there's a lot of discouraged people that go to church, and it means we don't understand the gospel. We don't understand the why behind the Son of God. I'm on the verge of tears. I fight it back. I don't play that card with people. But I'm crying on the inside right now. And I know I'm talking to a handful of folks and maybe even families, and sometimes the traumas of life and the unsuspected things and the bad decisions of close family members. Sometimes we let all those things matter more than what really matters most because we've never really seen what matters most clear. And now we're praying to God for things to change instead of seeking God to become more like Him. So we see like He sees and respond like He responds. I don't know about you, but it didn't say in my Bible if when I read it. I don't know about your Bible, but my Bible doesn't say, "For God was so frustrated at wits end and at the end of himself, he finally said his son." For God was so disgusted with repetitive continual failure of humanity that he couldn't take anymore. And he finally mustered up the strength to release his son to the earth. My Bible says, "For God so loved..." I've heard countless Christians say, "Well, I hope He loves me. I can't imagine why He would. I don't know why He loves me." It's because they weigh their value based on the life they know. He bases your value based on the life He created you for. He knows why He made man. And even though that got skewed, God never changed. And even though we were born into Adam, we still have a destiny and a purpose with God. God so loved the world. See, love doesn't seek its own. That's why it takes no account of the wrong done toward it. We say, "I love you," a lot in life. And we're busted up by the very people we're saying that to, which proves that love becomes need in the fall of man. And what we're really saying is, "I need you. You make me what I am. You make me complete. You make me content. You keep me satisfied. You're my fulfillment." When you say, "I love you," most of the time it's, "Do you love me?" And we prove it by the way we respond to each other in trials, in misnomers, in misactions, in wrongdoing. Love doesn't take any record of the wrong done to it. It takes no account of the suffered wrong because love doesn't seek its own. That's the strength of God. He's not doing this for Him. He's doing this for created value and destiny and purpose. You can't break His heart. He loves you. You can't cause Him to frown. When the Bible says He can take no pleasure in you if you draw back, we hear displeasure, displeased. No, He can't have the joy of a father's heart watching his kids grow into fruition. He can't experience that. It doesn't mean He's frowning. He loves you so much that He would send His own Son to fulfill what man failed to model a life that we were created for. Die, raised from the dead, sit forever at the right hand of God Almighty with His blood on the mercy seat of heaven, speaking better things over our lives. And then He didn't say, "Sing to me and pray to me when you're concerned." He said, "Follow me." He said, "The things I do, you'll do if you believe." He said, "As the Father sent me, so I send you." First John 4 says, "As He is, so are we in this world." Man, that sounds a little more intense than a beneficiary message that gets me a new job, a promotion, and a full vet barn. If we're not careful, prayer's been reduced to, "I pray my boss treats me better today," instead of, "No matter how he acts, I'm going to look like Jesus." "Don't let me work beside Jimmy today. I can't stand Jimmy. What am I doing getting punished like this? God, what did I do wrong to work beside Jimmy?" Come on. That's common thinking in the church. And now instead of valuing your job, you dread your job. Instead of valuing people, you're turned inward and all you care about is how you feel and what you think. And all of a sudden, you miss the whole point of why He came. And yet, you see your need for a Savior and you're sincere and you know you've sinned and you need forgiveness and you want it, but you miss the whole point of why. He did not come to just forgive your sin. He came to put His life inside of you. His nature, His person, His motive, His love. Come on. And anything less isn't Christianity. I'm just being straight with you. We have we have changed the message to serve us instead of transform us. We have discouraged people that go to church. We have people that are hopeless. The only person hopeless is the devil. There's no chance for him. He loves when he can deceive people made in the similitude of God to look like he looks. The whole reason you have flesh isn't to sin and fail. It's to manifest and model what's inside of you. The reason God gave man flesh is to act out what's on the inside. You clean the inside of the cup and the outside shall be clean. You make a tree good and the fruit is good. Yeah. You know them by their fruit. So you and I get to live a life by His Spirit. Now not fulfill the lust of the flesh and take each other personal, 'cause we took the gospel personal. So we love not our own life unto death and we finally love one another. Why? We see ourselves clear in Him and got the best view of one another. Yay. It sounds like a happy place. Come on. But if we're not careful, the language of yesterday, the emotions of yesterday. Look, I'm just going to come out shooting straight. Is it all right? This weekend's going to be a blur. It'll just be a blur. We might as well just go after it. Okay. Listen, people say, "Well, yeah, but we have emotions. We have..." Listen, God did not give you the emotions you grew up with. Let's stop saying that, church. Are you recording this? Where's the camera? God did not give you the emotions you grew up with. Let's stop believing that Adam gave them to you. The emotions you're familiar with that we think are normal come from a self-centered foundation. You thinking for you. That's why you're angry, frustrated, put off, put down, hurt, rejected, furious. Whatever it is, it's all because you're weighing how whatever is affecting you personally. God didn't make you that way. God made you in His image. Read Genesis 1:26. He talked about it. In 27, He did it. He didn't wait long. In 26 He said, "Let us make man in our image, in our own likeness, let us make them." And in verse 27, it said, "So God created man in His image." He didn't just make man. He made man in His image. That's different. He wasn't just fumbling with some dust one day and got some breath on it and it jumped up and he said, "Cool." He made man with intention and with purpose. And if we Christians, God-fearing, believing people that believe He's the Son of God, that believe He shed His blood, that believe He raised from the dead and we have life in us, come on. This thing has to be more than going to heaven. It's heaven coming back into you and me. This is more than a blessing. It's the answer of a new life. So my days of discouragement, fighting, arguing, debating, pride, and all that stuff is over. I don't see it anymore. I'm not considering the things of the earth. I'm seeking the things that are above. Why? 'Cause I died. And my life is hidden in Christ in God. So I don't have time to have issues with my wife. I have time to love her. "Well, wonder if she love her." "Well, wonder if she love her." Oh, brother, love her. Don't you justify your flesh. Don't you say, "Well, I wouldn't be this way if so and so." Well, so and so isn't Lord. Let Jesus define you, and so and so will look different. I felt that drop in. Did you feel that? Wow. That made me happy. I thought, "Well, they ain't stoning me yet." I felt that go bloop. Seriously, you say, "Well, I'd be in a better place if it wasn't for this, this, and this." This, this, and this isn't Lord. So why is it governing and fashioning and deciding your life? Because you're weighing it through natural wisdom, through human reasoning, through the way that seemeth right to a man. And then you talk to people that understand your frustration and pain, and they become your support system, and there's never change. Yeah, I've got this amazing reason to love you. I've got this amazing reason to love my wife. I always say I'm going to read this no more, but I read it everywhere I go now. I'm so blessed by this little pink note. This note's from my wife. It's not a YouTube fan. It's somebody. I'm not against YouTube. I'm not being... What I'm saying is it's somebody that lives with me every day. Not somebody that watches my passion on YouTube and which anybody can put that on the block of presumption and judgment and decide if it's real or not. That's what people do with their minds. This is from my wife who I live with. Can I read her note to me? "Hope you have the best weekend ever. You're a true man of God. Don't take this personal. Don't get judged by this or condemned by this. This is my wife speaking out of how she knows me. I doubt God can find many men, if any, on this earth with your integrity, character, and heart." Why? Because I love her. No matter how she's doing, no matter what she's doing, I have a better vision than what's lacking. I didn't wake up to need her. I woke up to love her. I didn't wake up for her to speak my language. My language is, "I love you." Come on. Oh, I feel that rumbling a little in the room. Listen, if I woke up for her to speak my language, then she determines how I'm doing. And it's idolatry. So, I'm only doing as good as she's doing me. Nope. I'm doing as good as He is inside of me. And He's pretty free. And He's pretty wise. He's solid. I think they call Him a rock. That shall not be moved or shaken. Why? Because He's established love. He doesn't need you to love Him. He flourishes in loving you. It's how He made man from the beginning. His image is love. He made man to love. Man ate the tree and got cut off from love and was born into the desperate need of love. That's what all of us grew up with. We all grew up needing something, not knowing who we were, letting life decide how we're doing and who we are. You get laughed at at a young age. You become hard and a fighter or introverted and broken, and life's deciding you. And all of a sudden you're needing value, acceptance to fit in. You're trying to find purpose. You're trying to find a healthy esteem. You're trying to wonder even why and if it matters and if your life matters and who and if you're... And we carry this pressure that's mostly unspoken because it just comes with the package, and we think it's normal. It's called the fall of man. Every man born into Adam, and you must be born again. Somehow we turned that into a prayer to go to heaven instead of a life transformed, instead of every need swallowed up by truth and love. Somehow we've turned that into a message of blessing and provision and breakthrough instead of new life through Jesus Christ. If God made man for His image and we're not pursuing His image, then we're pursuing outside of why we're here, and we're just trying to catch a break and get a blessing and have Him move some people around for our sake. And He's not a genie in a bottle. He's your Father. And like Father, like children. Yeah. So, just to let you know with a smile on my face, my days of being mad at you ended 21 years ago. Like, really. Like the gospel changed the why behind my life. It's the power of the gospel. It says that there's in the last days there's going to be perilous times and there's going to be a whole lot of folks with the form of godliness denying the power thereof. The power of what? He's not talking about to heal the sick. The power of godliness, a life changed. You're going to have a form of godliness denying the power thereof. Here's what happens. We get deceived. We think our emotional makeup is normal when it's from the Lord. Fear is not from the Lord. "I am no longer a slave." I was a slave to fear when I thought for myself. When I think not for myself, fear doesn't have a landing strip. I'm so free from it, it's ridiculous. I'm not concerned for me. I'm concerned for His kingdom in you. That's a free place. Yay. I'm not praying to God for a better day. I'm living a new one, a transformed one. It's not about me anymore. The way you overcome isn't the blood and the word of your testimony. Amen. It's the blood, the word of your testimony, and love, not your own life unto death. Yeah. Jesus said, "If any man..." Isn't this awesome, Pastor? "If any man come after me," that means everybody's invited. It's so simple. Let's not get so heady we miss the simplicity. "If any man come after me." Why? You're all invited. "Anyone that calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." And then we try to decide who sovereignly fits that. It's just anyone. "If any man come after me," what's the first thing he said to do? He didn't say, "Pray a prayer, a sinner's prayer, and assure your names in a book called life." He said, "Deny yourself." Why? Because it's the biggest problem on the planet. Men living for themselves when they were created for God's image. It's not your life. It's His life in you. That's what He paid for. He never created man apart from who He is and Him fulfilled in man and man fulfilled in Him. It's a oneness thing. It's one plus one is a stronger one. God never made man apart from Him. He made man to live in Him and for man to live in Him. The biggest lie on the earth is suicide. It's people thinking they have a right to take something that's not even theirs. You're not killing yourself. You're killing His life in you. You're cutting off your destiny. His life in you is what you're taking. "Well, it's my life." No, it never was. It was His life in you. It's relational. It's communion. It's covenant. Don't get willful and self-centered with the gift called life. Life comes from God. Nothing was made that wasn't made through Him. Christians are supposed to believe that. We're supposed to believe our Bibles. I'm telling you, when this thing boils down, it's going to be two groups. Who believed and who didn't believe. And God's so loving and merciful, He's removing blindness. He's giving people an opportunity to understand what this thing's all about. This message is ravaging the earth, man. Like the... the purpose of God sending His Son, we think it's to forgive our sins and take us to heaven. Are you kidding me? It's to restore the truth back into us and put His person back inside of us and get the lie off of us and get truth back in us and get the image back again. As if you never sinned, as if you never walked any other way, where all of a sudden you're so humbled by the love of God and the life of God that you're just so overtaken by His goodness that brings change into your life. And all of a sudden, nobody owes you anything anymore 'cause He gave you all things. Yay. Why would I reduce that to human feelings and emotions? And you need to do me right for me to be okay. That's pretty weak. Now I'm only as strong as the weakness around me and as good as you're doing me. But holy is the [Laughter] Lamb. Come on, guys. I'm crying out right now. Don't you let something matter more that doesn't matter most. Don't you say, "Well, Pastor, you don't know what I'm going through." See, that's the thing I'm trying to talk about. That's where your eyes are. What about what He went through to change your identity so you have different eyes in the midst of what you're going through? So, you can never internalize it and feel sorry for yourself and maybe even question God. We're to be rooted and grounded in love. If circumstances keep challenging His love, how will we ever be rooted and grounded? If faith worketh through love, where's faith going to ever come from if we don't see through the cross He loves me? If I say, "Well, how's He love me? If He loved me, how come this? And why when I was five? And why did I get laid off? If God's good, how come my wife left?" None of those things should ever be able to challenge God's good. Amen. God's good 'cause while we were yet sinners, He sent His Son and never lost sight of what He made us to be and opened a door to restore all things back to our lives. And we're letting the other things, that list, matter more than the truth that makes you free. Oh, that's about as clear and solid as it's going to come. Come on. You might be saying, "I never heard this." Well, you're hearing it now. Yay. They gave me a mic. That's trouble. He gave me a mic. And all you raised your hands and said, "I never heard you preach." Well, you're just getting started. Don't walk out on me. This is too good. In fact, if you walk out on me now, you'll be exposed. We'll just intercede for you because you're trying to hold on to something probably that just needed to die a long time ago. See, here's what we do. We don't understand. It's common logic. People say, "Well, God gave us our ability to reason and human and intellect and human reasoning." And seminaries teach to not let anybody infringe on your God-given right to rationalize and reason. It's very dangerous teaching because here's the deal. The rationalization we grew up with isn't what God gave us in the beginning. It's what man became. God never gave you the ability to talk yourself out of Him. God never gave you the ability to reason so long that now you're in unbelief or rightness or self-righteousness or frustration. It's all part of the lie, guys. It's all part of being born again. You got to put off the old, put on the new. You're going to reckon yourself dead to this and step over here into the light. He called us out of darkness into the light into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Somehow we've made it a self-serving message where people put demands on God and have frustration. And if the rent's paid, you can tell on Sunday. And if it ain't paid, you can tell on Sunday. You wouldn't parent your children that way. Why would you make God that way? Amen. Are you guys all right? Come on. This is simple stuff. It's so the scriptures, if you look at the scripture through what I'm preaching, the whole New Testament will come alive. Amen. He He did not die on the cross 'cause we're a bunch of sinners. He had to die because we sinned. So, it cost Him death. But why would He die for a bunch of sinners? He died for lost sons and daughters. He died to get the image back, get the lie off of us so the truth could rest again on His people. He came to save that, not who? That which was lost. It's the thing that got lost. Your created value, your destiny, your purpose, your reason for being, it got lost through sin. So He was made to be like us on the cross so we could be restored back to being like Him. Yeah. He came to get that thing back. Come on. If He takes away the sin of the world, then what now? If if He took it away, now what? Keep on sinning so He can keep taking it away or see yourself dead to sin and alive unto God. Romans 6:1. Yeah, it's in there. I read this book. Don't get bothered and say, "Well, he didn't read out of it yet." If you're listening, I quoted half of it already. And some of them I told you right where it's at. I'm just saving time. This weekend's going to be a blur. I just got in town. I'll be on a plane before you know it. But it'll be fun. We can get this, guys. Look at Colossians 3 with me real quick. We'll just go there for somebody that needs me to read out of the Bible. We'll just go. I'm telling God's loving. He's so humble, it's ridiculous. He has humbled Himself to consider the earth. His foolishness is wiser than men's wisdom. And people will sit and debate as if they know God and the truth from wrong places and speak foolishness, thinking it's wisdom. It says God's foolishness is wiser than men's wisdom. That's humbling. Don't you just assume to know and opinions and what I think? Well, I feel that's... Be careful with all this social media and everybody out there just throwing out what they feel and think. Come on. The Bible says, "Be slow to speak, slow to anger, and quick to listen." It's in James. It's there. What's most people grow up experiencing, full of feelings, don't want to hear it, got a whole lot to say. Be honest. That should get our attention. How many of us have lived at the expense of one another when love lays down its life for others? How many of us have caught an attitude to get attention? How many spouses have just played the silent treatment to send a message to get the power back and get a move out of the spouse? That control and manipulation thing that we think is normal. Come on. How many people in a family of four and then one of them gets an attitude all day and puts the other three in a position where they have to respond? Don't tell me we don't live at the expense of each other. We make it all about ourselves in the name of "I love you," and prove that we don't understand love by the way we do each other. I'm not being mean. When you just do the silent treatment of your spouse, when you just throw an attitude in a family to get the whole family to yield to what you need, and you're playing that emotional game, you're just boasting in, without even realizing it, that you don't know Him. Like we sing. I'm not being mean. You bear with me and listen. The Bible says, "If I don't love, there's one reason." First John 4:8, "It's because I don't know Him." Didn't say I don't know about Him. Didn't say I don't pastor. Didn't say I don't lead worship. It didn't say I don't go on mission trips. Said if I don't love, there's one reason. I don't know Him. Which means it's impossible to know Him and not become loved because that's the whole point. And this is eternal life, not that you pray a prayer one day at an altar, but that you know Him, the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ whom He sent. This is eternal life that you might... Whoa. You can let knowledge puff you up. Love edifies. You can be some... come so familiar with the scripture that you let your Bible knowledge take the place of knowing Him. You could speak down on men instead of lift men up. You could just be interested in being right. Feel like somebody wrapping off the scripture correcting, "Well, this is what it means." Next thing you know, there's animosity instead of edification. I've been in all those things. Some people that have known the Bible so much. I've met people that know the scriptures so much and they're some of the meanest people I have ever met. And it's tragic because it's a horrible misrepresentation of truth. You can let the things you do for God take the place of knowing God. And you can find your identity through serving Him instead of knowing Him. But I promise you in that arena, you'll live up and down and barely brush against Him along the way. It's living like an Old Testament concubine who just waited on the king and their name got called every once in a while to spend a night with them. So for a night they brushed against the glory of the king, but for a year they waited on him. Don't you be a concubine when you're His bride. [Laughter] [Music] I'm a guy talking like this and I'm totally [Laughter] [Applause] secure. It's not a weird sexual thing. It's a spiritual union thing. You don't let standing on a platform preaching introduction take the place of knowing Him. You be with Him and get to know Him so that this flows out of that place. Next thing you know, you're performing. You're trying to impress. You're always second-guessing. You're debriefing. You're wondering what people think, what they're saying. You're reading people's remarks, and you don't even realize this self-centered twist that stays alive. And it's all about you trying to thrive, trying to believe that you're somebody. You're somebody because He made you in His image and He sent His Son. That's why you're somebody. And you got to start there. And what that means is when you start there, you're made righteous right there. God sees you as if you've never sinned. He takes you back to the beginning before the tree, before the voice, before Eve, before Adam, and all of a sudden there you stand as if nothing was lost. One with Him, the blood speaking over your life. You wake up every day holy, blameless, and above reproach. It's right there in Colossians 1. It tells you that you're holy, blameless, and above reproach if indeed you keep believing it and don't let anything change your mind. It's right there in Colossians 1. Yeah, that sure beats waking up and trying not to sin. Waking up and trying to do better. Don't you wake up and just be better in your vision and understanding? Just be His. Be washed. Be clean. Be accepted. Be for sure God's love and desire. Be the apple of His eye or banana or grape or whatever she said you want to be. But you get out of bed and you be His. That's called making the tree good. You see what you've become through Him and the fruit's automatic without you trying. The gospel raises your value and you live up to what you've become. And it's never works. It's always grace. Every addictive behavior you study is is channeled through a low esteem, a crushed identity, and a low value and believing lies. The only reason a man's bound with pornography is because he doesn't see the value of himself and others. So, he's feeding something in his life that's supposed to be dead through new life. Oh, I'm just touching something. I pulled it out of a hat. I'm sorry. Don't get uncomfortable. But he doesn't need a spirit of addiction cast off of me. He needs to see who he is. Because if he begins to see who he is, he'll begin to see who all them are. And he'll begin to weep instead of lust. He'll begin to pray and cry instead of gawk and gaze, and all of a sudden things will take their right shape in the light of truth. Yeah. Wow. 'Cause when people don't believe good about themselves, they live up to the low level in which they see and it's what they believe they deserve. But that survival instinct still tries to draw attention from others, appreciation from others. Wow, you're awesome. Wow, you're really... Say what? Oh, come on. I mean, you heard him say you're awesome and you're like, "What you say?" "You're awesome." I thought that's what you said. 'Cause you need to believe it. Why? 'Cause it was lost when Adam sinned. Your created value, the image was lost. And Adam lost who he was. No identity. God unto himself. He became self-ingenuity, self-protecting, self-justified, self-defending. Started to live at the expense of Eve instead of lay down his life for Eve. Why do you say that? Because God asked, "How he's naked?" "How do you know you were naked, Adam? Did you eat the tree?" Yes or no question. "Did you eat the tree?" Yeah. Couldn't say it. "It was the woman you gave me, for she gave me to eat." What's he saying? He's going, "Hey, don't look at me." Look, I'm not sure what just went down, but I know one thing. If you wouldn't have gave me the woman, probably wouldn't ate the tree." It's in your Bible. And then God says, "Woman, what is this you've done?" And she said, "It was the serpent, for he gave me to eat." What's she saying? It was the devil. He made me do it. Can't say yes. Got to blame somebody. Who's ever lived that way in this room? "Well, I wouldn't have did it if they wouldn't." "Well, they're the one that started." "Well, how do you expect me to feel?" Because, "Well, you don't know what I've been through day in and day out and all that waiting on me." "How long can I do?" "Sooner or later, I got a break and then I break and you come down on me." "You want to go straighten them out. Get your eyes." Come on. That stuff is familiar to us. Why? 'Cause from Adam till now, every man was born into that lie. And you must be born again. It's self-centered. It's every man for himself. It's survival. It's it's it's it's survival instinct. It's survival of the fittest. It's dog eat dog. It's eat it's eye fry to you know it is, guys. We were raised that way without realizing it. And I promise you the "I love yous" or "I need yous" all along the way. "I just love you so much. Oh my goodness, you make me so..." "I don't know what I'd do without you." You just... There's only one that deserves that. And in your "I love you," you are set up to be crushed and devastated because it's really "I need you." That's why there's so much hurt in relationships, marriages. We say, "Well, we fell out of love." "Well, we lost the..." No, it was "I need you." So, why don't we get back to truth and let truth make us free so we can get a healthy look at one another again? Stop needing each other and start loving each other. Stop judging and presuming and projecting. Yeah. Because if I see weakness in somebody, I don't say, "Oh, boy. They're a... they're this. They're that." The gospel taught me different now for 21 years. You know what I see? They don't know who they are. And if they knew who they were, they'd be acting different. So, I don't get mad at them. I hurt for them. "Forgive them, Father." Do those words sound familiar? Who said that? Who told us to follow Him? Who said that? The way the Father sent Him, He sent us. And if we believe we'll be like Him on your darkest day, God didn't lose sight of who He created you to be. That astounds me. That humbles me. It causes me to want to become the strength I see in that. I want what I see in Him in me. If He made me to be in Him and Him in me, I want that. On your darkest day. He didn't lose sight of who you're created to be. There ain't one person in this room that came to Him and He rejected you, made you wait, had a meeting with the 24 elders, and got back to you later. The moment your heart found godly sorrow and grace touched you and you changed, He swept you into His love, forgiveness, and why? 'Cause He never saw you for what you did. He saw you for what He made you to be, and the blood had you covered. Yeah. So you think I get that now and I'm going to see you different? You think I'm going to want God to forgive me of everything I've ever done and I can't see you the same? That would be all the more selfish. In Matthew 18, He calls it an evil, wicked servant who's actually bound, tormented, and cast out. Meaning, they're not in... they're in another place. Don't just think hell and judgment. It's emotional bondage for you to want something from God that you're not willing to become. You want His mercy and don't want to become merciful. You want His forgiveness and you don't want to forgive. We say all the time, "Well, I'm trying to forgive." Well, if you're trying to forgive, it means you're not. Here's my question. If we're preaching the gospel clear, why do we have such a grid for unforgiveness? Why isn't it seeming strange by now? 'Cause we haven't really seen the clear, merciful gospel of God. If you're having trouble forgiving, you've never been washed and overwhelmed with the beauty of His forgiveness. He sees you as if you've never sinned. And it's time for you to wake up in the morning and believe that and declare that and with the door closed, stand and say that out loud. "God, You value me. You love me. You have washed me clean. You enjoy living in me. I didn't even know this, but I was a house fit for a king from the beginning, and You paid the highest price to live inside of me. I welcome You, Holy Spirit. Thank You for a love that'll never fail." That sounds like healthy mindset and prayer. That sure beats praying about [Applause] stuff. Are you guys all right? Nobody left. That's awesome. If you leave, I'll just call you at the door. I'm going to ask you why. And if you're a Christian, you'll have to tell me the truth. Revelation says, "If you lie, you fry." I read it. So, it's your call. You guys all right? Now you tell me this isn't good news. This... see, this brings humility back into our lives, which was missing, right? This truth of this message, it puts diligence, discipline, honor, everything, create character, everything my wife said on that note about me. Where do you think that came from? Why does she see that in my life? Because of what I'm preaching to you. I believe it. I live it. I enjoy it every day. And I don't... that'll never change. No matter what we're going through, guys. Be careful. You're... Oh, you're telling me, "Well, you don't know what I'm going through." You be careful. You might be amazed what people around you have been through and what I've been through. Stop comparing our stories amongst ourselves. Let's stop making your go through worse than your neighbor. Because then all we're doing is deciding who's going through the most hell while we're singing, "It's all about heaven." We're letting hell matter more. Yeah. Like when you see... do you see passion in me? Can you tell I'm serious? Or do you think I'm just play acting and put on a jacket for tonight just to impress you? Or do you think I'm impressed with what I'm saying? You can't tell I was touched strong as a little boy. You can't tell that my daddy never said "I love you" and was an alcoholic. You can't tell that my mother died young of early of sickness. You can't tell that she was sick for 40 years and and I lived in poverty and all that. You can't see that in me. Why? It's not my story. My story began when I saw Him and I started where He finished. And I've been running well for 21 years. So my dad got saved through my salvation. That sure beats being hurt. Never got a father's blessing. Limited, handcuffed, trying to jump through hoops that Jesus already settled. Yeah. Needing natural figures in my life to say right things. Are you kidding me? God has spoken through His Son. See, the bottom line is it just boils down to who believes and who doesn't believe the gospel. You make something else matter more in a psychological way, in a human reasoning, the way that seems right. We have a lot of good intentions, but we complicate the finished work, and it's finished. You find yourself in Him. I don't need my dad to have ever blessed me to walk in the blessing of God the Father. Matthew 23:9 says, "Call no man on earth your father. You have one. He's in heaven." It means don't limit, identify, or regulate your life for human hereditarial biological means. Your your existence goes way back to the beginning when God said, "Let us make man." Father means come forth from. I wouldn't have a natural biological dad if God would have never said, "Let us make man in our image." He's my Father. Is it good to have a daddy? Yeah. Is it good if you had a good childhood? Yeah. Does it change the gospel if you didn't? Not once you see the gospel and believe it. My dad doesn't have to make up for a thing. I am so fulfilled in Jesus. It's ridiculous. Nobody owes me anything and I owe no man anything but to love. It's the freest place I've ever been. It's what's wrong with me. I'm serious. It's what's wrong with me. Life doesn't owe me a thing. I travel through airports and busy. People say, "Oh, traveling." So, I don't know what you're talking about. I have a blast. I don't... People don't bother me. Traffic doesn't bother me. Delayed flights don't bother me. Missed connections don't bother me. Middle seats don't bother me. You say, "Yeah, brother, you got all these fly miles. You fly first class." I never fly first class. I fly all different airlines for convenience of time schedule. And I never choose my seat because somebody's got to sit in the middle. And if I end up there, praise God, I got somebody on both sides. [Laughter] You got to sit back by the jiffy John, and you're all frustrated wondering where the favor of God is. But somebody's got to sit there. Why can't it be you? It's got to be somebody. See, we have... I've been around us enough praying for best parking, green lights the whole way through town. You're not even thinking when yours is green, somebody's is red. When you're in the best park and somebody's not. Do you see what we've done with the gospel? We've preached a gospel that serves us instead of changes us. And I'm not against you getting a green light or a good parking spot, but man, shine. Walk in love and be like Jesus. And if you get red lights and you have to park in the back and you get a middle seat and got to sit by that stinky door, you go ahead and shine. If Jesus took the cross, we could carry ours and love one another. Come on, guys. That's just... man, that's about as straight as you're going to get the gospel right there. You guys with me? I mean, like, make sure right now you're born again. Like say, "Yeah, wow." Don't say, "Are you going to pray now?" I don't have to. You go, "Wow, God, this makes so much sense." Duh. Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy, not seeing clear, thinking right, making others owe me. And wow, I let other things matter. Wow, God, I'm going to let this... Yeah, this I can live this. This sounds easy. All it cost you is to die to yourself. I'm going to teach you something here in a sec. I turned you to Colossians. I didn't forget. I got the Holy Ghost. I never know what I'm doing. How can I forget? I don't have a clue. Seriously, I don't have one plan. So, I can't forget a thing. It's so awesome. Can you tell there's freedom in what I'm saying? Wouldn't it be amazing to teach yourself in prayer and in relationship with God and get it ingrained in you that when you wake up in the morning, you wake up for one reason: His image. And if you would let that become the priority of your life, you would see everything else that challenges your circumstances and your natural life different. You wouldn't see people as enemies anymore. You wouldn't see people as liars. You wouldn't guard yourself from certain individuals. Because there's nothing to defend or protect. He's your rock and defense. It's seeing through Him that makes you free. You have to guard yourself from people you're called to love. Are you kidding me? That sounds weird. You say, "But they emotionally abuse me." You can only emotionally abuse people that don't know who they are. We ought to just talk about some of this stuff in church. Emotional abuse. How can you emotionally abuse somebody that knows who they are? Jesus was as pure as they come, right? Did He ever do anything with a slant in His motives? Was He squeaky clean, crystal clear, pure? Did they appreciate Him for that or call Him a lot other things? Could you emotionally abuse Him? Could you ch... Did anybody ever read in the Bible where Jesus dropped the cross and and fussed for a little? Did you get a version that had that in or did it get cut out of yours? Where He just got a little analytical on the way to Golgotha and things overtook Him for a while? You don't have that in your Bible where He dropped the cross and said, "God, I can't take this anymore. I've done nothing but good to these people." And it's like they don't appreciate a thing I've done. Barabbas, are you kidding me? He kills a man. I raise the dead. He causes conspiracy. I bring peace. And they're putting me on the cross. I don't know. But if they hit me with one more stick, I'm telling you, God. And if they didn't change by now, I don't think they're ever going to change. I mean, I've healed their sick. I've raised their dead. I fed their hungry bellies. They came looking for me in a couple days or the next day. And you know why? 'Cause they were hungry. What are we doing? Why do we care about them? They're so selfish. They're so lost. I am not dying on that cross. I'm not... I'm not doing it. They ain't worth it. It's good I don't slumber. I'd never be able to sleep. You don't have that chapter in your Bible. Some of the missing scrolls. You say, "Well, Jesus couldn't talk like that because He's Jesus." He couldn't talk like that 'cause He's love. It's not 'cause He's Jesus. It's because He's love. And love doesn't think for itself. Says, "What credit is it when you do wrong and suffer for doing wrong, and take it patiently? You ought to. But when you suffer for doing good, it's first Peter chapter 1 verse 20. It's there. But when you suffer for doing good, take it patiently. That's commendable before God. Why? For to this you were called." Everybody wants to know their calling. Suffering for doing good and not letting sin against you produce sin in you. Could anybody change who Jesus was? Was there anything they could say or do to change who He was? To change where He came from, His motive? Was there any man that had the power? Let me ask you this. Has there been any generation that had anything on God that could manipulate and change the person of God since the beginning of time? Why? Because He's love and He created us in His image. And the goal of our instruction...

Timothy 15 is love. It's not eternal life. The goal is love, not eternal life.

Eternal life comes from being one with the eternal one. You were never created to die. So, of course, we live through Jesus. I'm not making light of it. It's not the goal. The goal is transformation and becoming love.

The Bible says you could have knowledge of every mystery, pastor. It says you could have faith to move every mountain in front of your life. You know it's there. It's right there in First Corinthians, right? It says you could have the knowledge of all mysteries. Not some, all. You could have faith to move all mountains. Not some, all. That's an icon. That's a spiritual hero. That's the closest thing to Jesus you've ever seen. We're all thronging that individual for impartation. Why? Because he's moving in the stuff.

The Bible goes extreme on purpose and says, "All faith, all mysteries, all mountains, all knowledge, and if you don't have love, you've got nothing." He says, "You could feed the poor and give all your goods to the poor and you could be burned on a steak and if you don't have love, you got nothing." Well, why would I give everything to the poor if I didn't have love? Cuz you wanted something for you, a name for yourself, feel good about yourself, spiritually qualify. I don't know. But if the motive's not pure, it won't last forever.

Do you understand that people do things to be noticed? People do things for a name. You're not supposed to let one hand know what the other hand's doing. It's symbolic. You just do things before God. To give to the poor is a commandment of the Lord. And he uses that example that if you give up all your goods to the poor and your body to be burned and don't have love, you got nothing. But Lord, I gave my goods to the poor. Nothing. But it didn't come from love. So if it wasn't love, what was it? Well, it had to be something else. You fill in the blank. It could be anything like a name for yourself, feeling good about yourself.

Do you know sometimes people go on outreach to make themselves feel better about what they say they are? Do you know there's a duty to us sometimes? Do you know some of us say, "Well, I probably ought to pray for them because we're supposed to be evangelistic." I'm just saying. God's really good, isn't he?

Let us make man in our image, and in the likeness of God, he made man. He had a lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The day you eat the tree, Adam's the day you surely you surely die. What died? Who he was? He didn't fall over dead. Who he was died. Everybody says he died spiritually. What's that mean to us? It just sounds spiritual. But what's it mean? The image was lost. He got cut off from the source of love and was reduced to the need of love. And everyone in this room, young and old, can relate to being born into that weakness. And we believe psychologically it's a normal truth. Well, everybody needs loved. Everybody needs valued. Everybody needs encouraged by each other.

There's a twist to it all. To know the love of Christ which passes is to be filled with all the fullness of God. Now we're talking. You live from that place and you see totally different. Paul's prayer was that we would know the love of Christ which passes. Yeah, but brother, we all need each other. We need each other to lock arms and be the army rising up and cover the earth with God's glory. I get that. We need to combine in all our gifts and callings and all the graces in our life and manifest the full picture of the father on the earth. I get that. But the day I need you to know who I am, I'm only as good as you're seeing me. I found myself through him. Yay. So, I'm not going to put that on you anymore. So, you can't frustrate me and I'm not going to live needy. You can't break my heart. Isn't that awesome? Like, I did not wake up for what you can do for me. Yay. I woke up to be like him. It's an amazing place. Is that a fairy tale or is that how Jesus lives? I bet he knows who he is. I bet he knows why.

Yeah. Could you see it says on the night he was betrayed? First 1 Corinthians 11, on the night he was betrayed, guess what he did? He took bread and broke it and he took the cup and passed it. Said, "This is my body." On the night he was betrayed, his idea of a response was lay down his life. On the night we're betrayed, we call a friend crying and tell him the whole story and then ask for prayer and spiritualize it. And then they pray for peace and comfort. And Holy Spirit's not even in the conversation. It's self-centered delusion. We don't even understand. At best, you're finding temporal sympathy through a friend because Jesus wants to take the right for your heart to be broken out of your life. He wants to take the ability to be betrayed out of your life. Where you don't wake up for men to do you right, you wake up to love them. Now you're talking Jesus. And it's an untouchable, amazing, powerful place.

Because on the night he was betrayed, his lip didn't tremble. He didn't drop the bread and start to cry and say, "You're my closest people in life, and I poured my life into you, and you're all going to run. You all say you're going to die for me, you bunch of liars. You're all going to run. John, get your head off of [Laughter] me. Come on. You lay that scenario out in the average pastor's life and you got hurting pastors that say, "Pastoring be great if it wasn't for the people." How many people in ministry and in churches have issues with ministry in churches? And every time it's conversed, it's an indictment against us that we do not understand the gospel. We are Christians for ourselves, not his image. And we're letting each other let each other down. You don't owe me a thing, friend. I'm going to be like this if you ever see me again. I might be worse. It's a promise. I've been this way for 21 years. Why? The truth doesn't change. Heaven and earth's passing away, but his word remains. Yeah. Yay. That's how you get those notes, man.

Yeah, but she just pushes me too far. Well, stop looking at her. You think about what's too far. You deal with that. Well, she needs to change. That's probably a wrong eye. If she really knew what she was saying and knew who Jesus was, she probably wouldn't be living that way. That ought to make you cry, not frustrate you. Why is it so easy to cry because of people instead of cry for people? Because the fall taught us to think for ourselves. So, it's easy to look at another person and decide what they need to do instead of you just deal with your own life and become more like Jesus. Because every time I look in the Bible, I love his responses. I love his responses.

On the night he was betrayed, he took bread and broke it. Said, "Here, I'm giving you my life." Knowing they're all going to run to save their own lives. Knowing that none of them would be there to defend him, just living by faith, just a sojourer passing through. This ain't my home. I'm seeking a better place. I'm just passing through. That's how every Christian scripturally is called to live. You're not a Christian for now. You're a Christian for his image and you're setting up a place for then. You're passing through. And if you call to mind that land which you were called out, oh, you'd have opportunity to return. But we don't. We don't fear the wrath of the king and we go after the gospel. It's Hebrews 11 I'm preaching out of right now. You guys getting something out of this?

Here's here's what's so awesome about what I'm saying to me as a teacher. It separates you from every other factor of life and individual. And it asks you, what are you going to do with this truth? Are you going to wait on others or are you going to say, "I'm going after this." Are you going to make somebody else your excuse? Are you going to say, "Well, yeah, but brother, yeah, it's fancy words, but the reality is it ain't that way in my home." I'm not talking about your home right now. I'm talking about your heart.

See, you have to realize tonight because I didn't speak in riddles. I'm not a very deep man. I'm pretty simple guy. If the gospel was complicated, I would not get it. If you're really listening tonight, you can hear that you're called to this apart from any other factor in your life. What are you going to do with this Jesus? What are you going to do with the truth that makes men free? You going to stay hurt and frustrated and keep the lines alive that sell out your disposition, your hopefulness, your future? You going to hold on to your story or embrace his? You going to let the trauma, the passing of a loved one, I'm not being insensitive. I know what that looks like. You going to let that decide your today or are you going to have a bigger picture than that for today? It's called living by faith.

I've watched this as a pastor. People lose a child, it affects them for the rest of their life because psychologically we say it has to. There's no way to get around physical loss. I'm not saying it's a easy thing. It's it's real. And it's challenging at times, but if you turn it into thankfulness, the gift, and you see a bigger picture than the loss, you'll run well. If not, you'll live in quandry. You'll be suppressed. And that one thing that happened will decide you for the next maybe 40 years and steal your productivity and the light that's called to shine.

I remember when I got saved and I opened up my home and people started coming to my house and calling and asking for counsel and I wasn't even saved but nine months I was preaching in churches nine months saved. Wasn't my fault. I'd get around folks, they'd say, "Are you a pastor?" Just in love with Jesus. You sound like a pastor. Whatever that sounds like. I just love Jesus. And God would do something through my life. You are a pastor. God moves through believers. I read this stuff in my Bible. It it I never read a scripture that said, "These signs shall follow the gifted and the one with a healing ministry." It says, "These signs follow those that believe." That's just me and hopefully you. That would make an army. Wow. You just believe or you let life decide what you believe. You let the losses speak into your life. You let the stuff that didn't happen speak in your life and get your eyes off of Jesus's life.

Who's the will of God revealed? Who's the father revealed? Who's the will of God revealed? When you see Jesus, you see the father. Don't keep looking at life. You'll get deceived. You'll get confused. You look at Jesus and you keep running after Jesus till your life starts looking like his. And don't change what you believe till you arrive. Yeah. He said, "When you see me, you've I only do the will of him who." So Jesus's life's the will of God revealed, not our unanswered prayers, circumstances, and lost loved ones.

Many of us have lived in fear, frustration, self-centerness, self sorrow, not godly sorrow. Many of us have stayed in the lies of selfishness. We've reduced the Bible to principles we're quoting to get help because we're desperate. We've read our promise books and confessed them and confessed them from all the wrong places. We've been working hard. be honest because there's a sincerity down inside of us, but it gets misled. So, we wave more flags and blow louder and emphasize the name of Jesus and hope something works because we're tired of losing. But we lose and then we gain more beliefs through losing instead of faith through his word. Yeah. Let's not let that happen. We'll probably talk about that this weekend a little bit if you come back if I didn't run you all off tonight.

I got to close. I'm going to close. I'm going to be gentle with you. I don't know what that means. I'm going to close when I say that. I'm just telling you. I don't know what that means. It just means I'm closer than I was. I'm just saying. Let me finish this. I was telling you a story about my home group. When people come into my home, we had a home group. I was nine months saved. I was just ready to read Colossians. I was finally going to read it. Lord said, "You never finish that story. It was really important." Okay. Isn't it amazing? Come back to that story.

It's impossible to do that. I'm like, I'm telling four stories at a time. I'm in my living room. I got people all around me. They're up my steps. They're in my dining room and chairs. I mean, we got a house packed. There's nowhere to park out in the street. People sense life in my heart. Like, my life was changed, guys. People are searching for something full of life. People I know today people want more than just a theology that takes them to heaven someday. I know it. I see it in people, man.

I We We belong to a public swimming pool. the year I got saved. We had been going there for a couple years and now I'm born again and I'm going there and I'm taking my kids and people are looking at me without one word. They're seeing how I conduct myself, how I am with my kids and they're going, "That is not the same guy." They're freaked out. In the first two days, I had people coming up saying, "Man, what's going on with you? You're like so different. You're doing amazing. Like, you're not the same guy. What happened?" They're coming to me. That's scriptural.

But I didn't pray a prayer to go to heaven the night I got saved. It had nothing to do with going to heaven. Nothing. It had to do with giving my life back to him and becoming what he created me to be. Getting right with God and having covenant with him. And all that is mine is yours. And all that is yours is mine. And fear not, little flock. It's the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So go preach saying with your life, the kingdom's here, people see it. You don't look here. You don't look there. The kingdom's in you.

I'm at the pool four weeks in. I just got saved June 9th. The pool just opened Memorial Day. I'm four weeks in. I got a crowd around me at the pool as soon as I put my towel down. It would have covered this whole area. People sitting, talking. I open my Bible, asking questions. I'm four weeks saved. Was life. It was understanding. I knew why I was saved. I wasn't saved for a blessing. I wasn't saved for a pay raise. I wasn't saved for my wife to act right. I was saved for his image. And Holy Spirit taught me that right out of the gate and sent me in the bedroom. And I cracked open my Bible and went, "Yeah."

And he taught me that Jesus didn't die on the cross cuz I was a sinner. He died on the cross cuz I was a lost son. He had to become what I was to pay the price for me to be restored back to what he created me to be. Holy Spirit taught me that Jesus got beaty description. That Isaiah said he was marred more than any more than any of the sons of men. That means when they were done beating Jesus, he looked worse at the hands of them than any man has ever looked. Whoa. Mred more than any of the sons of men. That's Bible. You burn somebody steak and tell me if you can recognize them. You boil them in oil like they did back then and drag them behind a chariot for two miles in a rocky desert. Tell me if you can identify him. He didn't just take 39 stripes, pastor. He didn't just take nails in his hands and feet. He was marred more than anyone ever. Why? Because when sin got done with man in the garden, he didn't look anything like he was created to be. So Jesus had to lose his appearance and his recognition so that you couldn't even tell who he was to pay the price to put the image back on you and me again. And we're going to turn this into some beneficiary prayer and I'm mad at you and I don't like him and not today, friend. Tomorrow ain't the right day either. No, there ain't no day good enough to go back from whence I came. I got washed to that mire and that muck. And I'm going to stay white and righteous. And I'm going to be a tree the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified. Blessings, favor, I have it. why I was yet a sinner. He said, "Stand before me and be a son." And when I said, "Yeah," he went a step further and put his life and his ways inside of me. You think I'm waiting for you to do me right? I've already been done right. [Applause] And there's a problem with me. I'm a believer. So what happens and who says what and who doesn't say what has no power over what I'm preaching because I believe it. It's first highest priority. God made me for his image. And anything less isn't why I'm here. So why would I expect him to fill the tank to drive down a road he hasn't called me to?

You don't put metal in a microwave. Try it. Why don't you put metal in your microwave? Well, there's some kind of scientific explanation, but the bottom line is it wasn't made for that. You go ahead and you keep putting metal in your microwave and tell me how it works out. You read the manufacturers's handbook on a microwave. You don't put metal in there. What would happen if you kept putting it in there? You'd explode it. You'd destroy the thing, right? You read the manufacturer's handbook. Men weren't made to live for themselves. You keep living for yourself. You can be a Christian for yourself, be deceived, and not even understand, actually be a Christian. You can hear the gospel where the motivation is becoming a Christian for your sake instead of his name. People will use your needs and exploit things and try to get you to pray that prayer to get a fish in the boat, you know, or a notch on the roster. They'll just get you to come to God for what God can do for you instead of the beauty of who God is so you become like him. You read the manufacturers's handbook. Men weren't made to live for themselves. And you keep doing it, you'll destroy the product and you'll have every excuse under the sun for it, but it won't be the truth. That's just straight preaching. That's as straight as it can come.

What are you going to do with this gospel tonight? Because I know you're not here because you're a hypocrite. I know you're you might have came just to be inquisitive. You might have came because a friend drug you. I don't know. But I know you hear what I'm saying. And I'm calling your heart to this place. Are you going to wait for your neighbor to change? Or are you going to go ahead and let the gospel change you? You going to wait for them to do you right, or you just going to let him do you right? He said to learn of him, right? His yoke is easy. His burden's light. You know why? It doesn't carry anything concerning yourself. That's why you're no longer a slave to fear. Because perfect love casts out all fear. Why? There's no thought of judgment and wrath. And when I see his first love, I love. There is no fear in the gospel. There's no fear of tomorrow. Everything is settled in him. Yay. And I don't need things to go right. I just need to be like him and it'll make it right.

See, you probably don't know because you raised your hand, never heard me preach, but bunch of years ago, my wife got into a little identity crisis because people loved who I was. And I'm in that home group and they're surrounding me. And you know what I preached that night? I popped the buttons right off my shirt. I really did. I know you can't see me getting that passionate, but it happened. Who laughed so hard? Who was that? You, man. I had my shirt and I was crying and I said, "You look at that little lady over there." And I was crying. I pointed to my wife. I said, "That's a wife of my youth." That see, for the first time in my life, I knew how to love her. I knew I loved her. I was saved. Love came into me. I wasn't hurting her anymore. I wasn't being mean and selfish. I wasn't living at her expense. I treasured and valued her. And I said, "Look at that girl over there. That's my girl." I said, "But you take her from me." And I pointed right to my children and I said, "You strip them from my life. You burn down this house and take this shirt off my back and I blew the buttons right off of it." And everybody's like, they're like, "I don't know if we came for this sermon, brother. We wanted blessings and prosperity and favor." I was down on my knees, pastor, in my living room, man. You should have seen it. Had people all around me like this. I said, you take her from me to your point. You take my precious children out of my life. You burn this house. I said, you cannot stop me now. Cuz now I understand why I'm here. and this day will take me to that day and nothing can get in the way. And they're all out. They had no clue. Seriously, they were weirded out. They were like, "That was too much, brother. That was like freaky. We just wanted a good sermon and God's going to give us a pay raise." I said, 'N no, we're going to carry our cross. We're going to love not our own life unto death, and we're going to let the let the gift of God be at the cost of God. Children are a gift, but where God's concerned, he never gave them at the expense of who he is. He gave them in light of who he is. Steward your children well, and if anything tragic has happened, understand that it was all a gift and it came from him, so shine. And if you've lost a child and you begin to cry over that and you miss them or you look at their picture and you can't get over it, you begin to thank God for the honor of bringing life into eternity and having the time spent and and and glean and draw and thank you and don't turn inward. Go this way and watch how grace changes that a week before the anniversary of the happening. Don't go into depression. go into thanksgiving and begin to honor God above the emotions and feelings of natural loss and watch how grace intervenes. When their little chair is empty at Thanksgiving and everybody's aware of it, don't stay silent and everybody act weird when we already know. You know what I'm saying? You lift your voice and say, "Look, I realize Billy's not here and grandma and mom's out in the kitchen. You're already thinking it. You can't not know it. So, what do you have to do? You got to pull people together and get a healthy perspective on the moment. And you lift your voice with tears and you say, "Man, what a little fella, Billy. Life of the party was only four. Is way too soon. We all know it. It was just too soon." But, man, God, we thank you for the life of Billy. And our hearts feel all these things because he was such a gift. And if it wasn't for the blood that you said, Lord Jesus, it would be total loss and life would come and life would go. But because of you, life is forever more. So, as much as it feels like we got a we got a some sense of loss or we don't want to move on or we just want to hang here, we're not going to, Lord. We're going to move on and we're going to shine and we're going to leave a legacy. And one day with Billy in our midst, all of us are going to rejoice that we believed and you are faithful. God, thank you for letting us be your people. Come on. That sure beats emotions, psychology, [Music] depression. Yeah. Come on, guys. I'm just being super real and relatable. And I wouldn't be talking like this if there wasn't folks in the room that could benefit from it. Don't be presumptuous and say, "Well, you don't know what I'm going through." You might be amazed what some of us understand in this room. You all good?

It's why the Bible says in everything, not for everything, in everything, give thanks. Why? So you don't turn inward and just feel sorry for yourself or what you lost. It's the loneliest place you'll ever live. just you thinking for you. You have to think first for the kingdom. You seek first the and his righteousness. Is that all safe and clear? Okay. So, I'm closer to winding up. It's a scary thought. I'm going to be easy with you guys. I'm going to be good because on open nights, I usually preach like a mad man and go forever. But I am I'm just going to wrap this up. I'm going to show you this one little thing. We're going to pray for each other. Is that all right? You all good with that? You going to help me? Is there some people willing to help me or you going to make me pray for everybody? That would be a bummer cuz I'm not going to do that. If I prayed for everybody, I'd do you a big inservice tonight? I would because somehow you get the idea if anything would happen that maybe I was anointed when his people are anointed. Or you might think he has a gift when Christ gives gifts to men. If I'm here all weekend and leave and all you think was, "Boy, that was awesome." Or, "I wish he'd come back or maybe get him back to pray for some more folks." I'd done you a great inservice. But if I leave here and you feel empowered and believe God will flow through you and do things through you, I probably did what I'm called to do.

Do you know why there's gifts in the body of Christ? I'm not saying I'm one. I'm saying, do you know why there's gifts in the body of Christ? Not so we put them on a pulpit and surround them by a thousand people so they impart to us what we need and bless us and meet all our needs and and everybody gets healed. It's so that they impart the grace on their life through teaching and impartation. So we all begin to walk in a level of what we honor in them. The reason there's gifts in the body of Christ is to train and equip the body for the work of the ministry. And that's not ushering and children's ministry. Even though those things are important, that's not what he's talking about. The work of the ministry is loving people with the expression of Christ. Yeah. Awesome. Do you know what we've done with giftings? We've recognized them and we've held giant conferences so the gift could come and minister to us instead of multiply us. You all right? I'm not asking you to agree. Just think about that.

Verse three of Colossians 3. I'm actually going to read this quick. We turned there a long time. You know what's awesome? It's still there. Isn't that just like the word, never going anywhere. I just love that. It's still here. Oh my goodness. And you know what's better yet? It's going to say the same thing it would have if I'd have read it right away. That might be better yet. You say, "Dan, that's silly." Nope. That's solid. I can put my trust in him. He's not fickle. He ain't shifting and changing. He ain't impatient. He ain't like, "Well, you didn't read it by now. You ain't going to read it." Then he blanks it out of your book. [Laughter] You turned us there 45 minutes ago and you ain't even read the thing yet. Some other things came on my mind.

That little word if. If you have a who has the word if in in Colossians 3, the very first word if in your Bible. A bunch of you. It's a little Greek word. It actually means since. He's not questioning your salvation. He's not saying if you're saved, prove it by doing this. That's how people tend to hear. Nope. It just means since you're saved. Since you're saved. Since you were raised with Christ. Seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Why? Because you died to everything that was.

Anyone enlisted in the army God, it's in the book of Timothy, no longer entangles himself in the affairs of this life. You endure hardship as a good soldier. You've become a part of something and you want to please the will of him who enlisted you. You want to It's God working in you both to will and do for his good pleasure. Philippians 2, therefore, you do all things without grumbling or complaining. Why? So you can be seen in a perverse world as an innocent, harmless child without fault, holding, shining as a light, holding forth the word of life. It's Philippians 2. Do how many things without grumbling and complaining? Whoa. Did you know that was in the Bible? 1 Corinthians 10 says, "Don't complain like they did in the wilderness. When they complained, they were a dead giveaway. It was all about themselves. When you complain, why are you complaining? Because you're frustrated. Some ain't suiting you. So, you're letting the devil know it's all about you. Even though you're singing it's all about him. You're letting him know it's all about you. You say, "Why is all these things happen to me? Why is God letting this God ain't letting nothing? You're positioned for it. You're a dead giveaway." He said, "Don't complain. You're a Christian. Don't complain. You have them as an example so you don't follow their footsteps. You have them as an admonition so you don't do what they did. You don't go through the wilderness for yourself. You go through for his great name. Why? God select a people? So the nations of the earth would know God through them. Why does he have a body of Christ, the embodiment of Christ? So the world would know God through his people. It's not any different. They're looking for milk and honey instead of him. They're looking for the blessing. They forget where they came from. They said it'd be better if we just go back there than live in this place. God, you're terrible. Moses, you're a sad leader, too, man. This is just nasty out here. Do you even know where we're going? I don't see no milk or honey. In fact, them rocks look familiar. We've been We've been around here before. Who were they thinking of the whole time? Themselves. Forget the broken bondage over them from Pharaoh. Forget the sea splitting. Forget your clothes growing up in a cloud by day and a fire by night. Forget just bread all over the ground and water coming out of rocks. Forget that stuff, man. I ain't satisfied. What's so hard about coming out of your tent and going, "Whoa, there you are again in the middle of what seems like nowhere. We're somewhere cuz you're here." And God, your faithfulness is all over the ground every day. And I could sleep in that tent with my babies and know I'll never starve because you are faithful. God, I worship you for your goodness and I honor you for your grace. God, I'm so glad you only let me take an OMR for the day cuz I'll see you tomorrow. That sure beats coming out of your tent, Grumpy. Here we go again. Same old stuff, man. What is it? What is it anyway? I mean, what is it? Come on. It says when they lived that way, they were set up, devoured, and destroyed by the very destroyer. It says it's God working in you both to will and do for his good pleasure. You work out your own salvation because it's God working in you for his will and good pleasure. So do all things without grumbling and complaining. Why? So the world sees you for who he is. It's called shining as a light. So when they're complaining at work justly, you're not. When they're laughing at the expense of a co-orker, you're not. It's not cuz you're holier than now. You have a different view. And when they get uncomfortable by you being different and criticize you little, you don't come back. You don't slam them. You don't try to put them in their place. You just let love and conviction and your light keep shining. and you give a gentle response for a harsh one. You let mercy triumph over judgment and cover a multitude of stuff with love.

Yeah. I got to live two and a half years with my co-workers as a born again Christian when I worked with them for 13 years unsaved. I was so changed. Freaked him out. They would put comic stuff on the bulletin boards. They would mock me daily because they were so uncomfortable because my life spoke so loud without preaching. I didn't go in there with a bullhorn. I just went in there and walked love. I went and apologized to my company and told them that I stole from them for years. And when the power went out, I ran to the crab meat and ate cans. And I figured in my mind that I must have pilfledged x amount of dollars. I'd like to pay back the company and say, "Please forgive me, cuz I'm not that man anymore. That man died in the dairy box on June 9th. And this is the new man that lives. And I'm going to do a good job for you now." My co-workers freaked out. They the bosses took advantage of it. They gave me the worst jobs there cuz I wouldn't say no. My co-workers were union, so they're like, "Well, you're making it bad on us. You need to bump it down." I said, "Why does the bottom man always have to do the garbage? I don't mind." But you're making it bad on us. I'm not making it bad on you. Stop thinking for you, man. What about the bottom guy? I don't mind doing the job. So, I always had this thing, supervisors taking advantage of the yes man, co-workers coming down on me, but being a yes man. You know what happened one supervisor called my house on my day off and said, "Hey, can we talk?" I said, "What's up?" Said, "I don't understand how you live the way you do. I know you're going to say it's Jesus, but please explain." I said, "You got a minute?" He came over to my house, sat on my porch, he wept, and got born again. Why? He said, "If I was in your shoes, I'd be furious." Because I see how the bosses are taking advantage of you and how the co-workers are hammering you for all your decisions. Nobody can take advantage of me. I don't go to work for me. How can you take advantage of me? I'm not thinking for me ever. Yay. So, if that's the way I'm going to live, do you think grace will empower me? Do you think I'm going to be in a better position than I would if I was thinking for myself and trying to handle this with wisdom? Do you think I'll be more rested doing the harder jobs? I'll bet you. Do you think I leave with accountants like they can't even relate to at the end of the shift, more alive than the ones that are just coming in? Oh, it used to tick them off. They'd say, "Can't you just frown now and then? Why can't you just get frustrated now and then?" They would they would they just it just graded on them that I was so different. One day at lunch, the guy said, "You don't even swear anymore." I said, "Did you ever notice I don't even catch myself?" I said, "It's not a New Year's resolution." I didn't say, "Oh, I'm a Christian. I shouldn't swear. It's not in me." I said, "I can't. I can't." And they went, I said, "Look, if it was still in me, you'd catch me slipping. You'd see me. I'd be talking and I go, I'm a brand new creature." And then I'd explain scripture to them and they'd all go eat their lunch because I just preached to them. They started [Applause] it. Yeah. They used to say, "You freak me out. You talk to yourself all the time." He said, "I have never talked to myself." They said, "You're going up the aisles talking to yourself. We watch you through the racks. You're just talking to yourself." Said, "Never have talked to myself. He's in me. He's with me."

One day I'm walking up the aisle and this guy wouldn't let me pray for him. He had carpal tunnel. He needed surgery. Proudful. He I don't want no prayer. You know, I'm just I'm not putting him down. I'm just saying he just had he carried himself that way. So, I'm working and I'm talking to the Lord. I'm just talking and I'm having a time with the Lord and I'm just inquiring and I'm singing. Put my little headphones on. I'm working away and I'm just a talking away. I took them off and I'm quoting some scripture and talking to the Lord about it. I'm turning. I look and there's his face through the rack. He's looking right at me through the rack. Spirit of God is, you know what I mean by the spirit of God is on me? I looked right through the rack and I said, "Come on, man. I'm not talking to myself. I'm talking to him and he's on me now. You give me your hands and stop saying no. I reached real aggressive, real authorative. He never moved. He just stood there. I took that as a yes. Serious. I could tell you so many stories from the workplace. Trouble is when you tell them people try to get to you as if you're their source and their answer. I'm just trying to tell you how we can live. God instantly healed that man's hands.

I had a lady I had a lady that got out of church and wasn't doing church anymore and she got hurt and her and her husband fell apart so she felt stereotype divorcy and all that stuff. She felt down, looked down on in her congregation and she was struggling but she saw my life. She knew I was changed. It was working conviction center and stuff, right? She's leaving. She got this abscess in her tooth and they're telling her, "You better go get it fixed. It's swelled up on her gum. It's pain shooting up and they're saying gets in your bloodstream. came septic, you could die. They're telling her all this stuff, you got to go. And I'm not saying don't go. She's ready to go. She gets to the door. She goes, "Wait a minute. God is in that man. God's in that man." See, she had a Christian background. She's she's backslid, but she's challenged, convicted. She's being stirred, right? She's at the door to leave to the medical center. She said, "God's in that man. if I can get his hand on my jaw. She just come looking for me. I had no clue what was going on. Totally used. I'm just working. Here comes this lady. No offense. I love black people. I grew up in the city. I went to city school. I My best friend my whole life, black fella. I I wish I could sing, dance, all that stuff like black folks, man. She's a black lady. She's got charisma. She ain't quiet. She ain't playing. She come around the corner. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I mean, she's got a preacher on right now. You know what I mean? She's not backsliding now. She's coming after Jesus in me. And she's on a mission. She's like, "Oh, Jesus." She come around and I see her coming. She's as tall as me. She's a big girl. I'm like, "What's she doing? She's coming around. grabs my hand and slaps it on her cheek and goes, "Oh, Jesus, Jesus." And I'm standing there and I literally tangibly felt this energy and power just shoot down out of my hand into her jaw and I'm going, "I'm being used. I don't even know what's going on." She saw Jesus in me. It rose her faith. She wasn't running to a man. She was running to Jesus in a man. She realized maybe for the first time in her life. Wow, he lives in us. This is Christianity. If I could get his hand on my Wow. She she said she Oh, thank you, Jesus. She became my dear friend. We a bunch of us started doing Bible stuff together. She just got right with God. But what happened was in that moment, he took her whole abscess away. She's rubbing her tongue and her finger. She's crying so hard in the aisle. And I said, "Would somebody," I looked up and I looked at her. We said, "Would somebody please tell me what's going on?" And it was so humbling because God's teaching us all the time. And he's telling me how important my life is to others to not be a complainer and not just fit in and blend in, to not be ashamed of the gospel. Yeah. to not laugh at the expense of people and not just try to fit in at the same time, not project and try to be, you know, just be real and just be you and him and him and you and watch how far that'll go cuz I could talk to you for hours which you believe me on stories from the workplace, hours of real people, supervisors, co-workers getting transformed and saved. words, knowledge, crying on their forklift, just breaking down, crying. Mike, you know what I just saw when I walked over? What do you mean what you saw? I just saw you this and thinking this and you've been carrying this. How do you know that, man? Grown man. It's all right, man. Come here. Praying for it. I like that stuff. That sure beats just being worried about something. or being mad at somebody and praying for God to change them.

Is anybody coming back tomorrow? Seriously, you coming back tomorrow? Then we'll read this tomorrow. I'm just done, man. I can't I've got I'm so messed up right now. I am going to make so many mistakes cuz like this thing's going to flash about your kid. Yep. See, I knew I'm on it. I remembered. So, you're going to have to pick up your children. Oh, well, maybe it's good if they're in the room when we do this. Can we pray for all the sick? Would you guys be okay if we pray for all the sick and and do it a certain way? Would you be all right? Maybe we all just get the kids now. Can we? If you have children and you want to come back, it'd be good for your kids to be involved. I We just got some kids involved in this setting that we're about to do. And it's fun. If if if you let a child pray for you, it's pretty awesome. Children are amazing. That's why we're to be like little children. And do you know what the little children thing means? It doesn't mean childish. Means a restoration back to innocence. Where there's no self-consciousness, no thinking of yourself. Do you ever notice how how pure a little child is when they do something? Did you ever have like a little child run up front where an adult would be like and do something and didn't even think about what anybody thought and did it sincerely and beautifully? You know what I'm saying? Like I was teaching on little kids one time in a church and while I was teaching it was so the Lord like he inspired this little child. This little child got up and just took off running. Came did something and ran right across the front and shot up the other. And the parents were over there like, "Oh my gosh, that was mine. That was mine. But when you looked at the child wasn't disruptive, he had nothing on his mind. He wasn't trying to gain anything. He wasn't sending a hidden message. He just being a kid, it was as pure as pure can be. Unless you become like a little child, this is a little child, you'll by no means see the kingdom of heaven. Why? It's a restoration back to innocence where there's no self-consciousness and your motives are just pure. Ain't that sweet? that Colossians 3 really teaches us how to live that way. And if you want to read it tonight when you go home, you can. But we'll read it tomorrow. It's only fair. I just taught you what we're called to. We need to teach you how to get there. It's real easy. You get alone in a room and you recognize the things that you weren't

Created for and you put them off in prayer. And you begin to understand that you weren't created for anger and frustration and the need to be right. You weren't created to just need to be whatever. You were created to be like him.

So you put off the lies that used to drive us. You put off all that wisdom that seems right. And then you begin to put on his nature and his image which is listed right there in Colossians 3. His tender mercies, his loving kindness.

If you have a complaint against another, doesn't say file. It says as he forgave you, you forgive. It says above all things put on love. It's the bond of perfection.

So, a simple example, when you go home tonight, how to respond to the message. When you get alone with God tonight, take time and get alone with him and say something like this. Wow. Father, you made me for your image from the beginning. I have a created value. There's a purpose and an intent on why I'm here. I'm not just a number in a vast sea. Man, you knew me before I was known. There's a time to be born, and here I am. Life comes from you, God. I don't want to live it the way I was taught it. I want to live it the way you created it. And I just put off everything of the flesh right now. The best I understand. My rights, my own will, my own desires apart from you. I just call it all dead. I just want that all gone in my life. And I just say, I have no right to be anything less than what you've created me to be. God, I want to become love. You can start there tonight.

And then you say, Father, I just thank you that that frustration and anger and selfishness is no longer a part of my life, but that you're filling me with your loving kindness, your tender mercy. taking this why behind my life and putting it so big in my heart that it starts bearing fruit on its own, God. To where I'm not trying to not be angry, I've lost my reason for it. I'm not trying to be okay. I have a reason to be okay. Thanks for fixing my eye, God, because the eye is the lamp of my body. And if I see clear, I am clear. You see how you can do that tonight when you go home? So take me serious on that because it's important.

I want to do something quick before we pray for the sick. I want everybody just close your eyes for a second. This isn't some alter call thing. I I don't I wouldn't close our eyes. If you're in this room right now, everybody just don't be distracted. Do the best you can. Don't look around. Okay? If you have to tend to your children, I get that. But don't just look around. Everybody just be in their own comfortable place right now. And there's a reason.

If you're in a marriage and you're sitting here and this word really, really got your heart, I would hope you didn't listen for your spouse. I hope you listen for you. Don't listen to a sermon for somebody else and say, "I hope he's listening. I hope she's listening." No, I hope you listened. And if you did, and you're sitting there and you're saying, "Man, you spoke to me tonight, pastor. I've been complaining. I haven't been the best. I haven't been an example Jesus. I've been blaming it on him. and blaming it on her. But man, I don't want this anymore, but I feel like I've done damage. I feel like we ain't the same. If you'd be humble right now, man, I'm telling you, I feel God's heart on this. If you'd be humble right now and you just slide your hand over, if your spouse is here, if your spouse isn't here, then you just make peace with God and say, "Man, I'm starting this life from here on out." But if your spouse is here, you watch what happens in your marriage. If you'll do this, you slide your hand over. you get a hold of your spouse's hand. And please, if they take your hand, don't pull your hand away. I'm serious. That's not a joke. Don't pull your hand away. Just let them make this expression. Don't say a word. You don't even have to look at them. Just get their hand. And when you get their hand, here's what you're saying. Man, I heard this man tonight. And I'm done blaming you. And I'm done making excuses. And I'm sorry, man. I haven't been pursuing right things. I haven't been believing right things. and I've been making a lot of excuses. I want you to know I'm hearing this man and the best I understand I'm sorry and I'm pursuing truth. Please forgive me. And I'm telling you friend, if they took your hand tonight, please squeeze their hand back as if to say, "Ditto, honey. I'm hearing this man, too. I want to call it all dead. I want a fresh start with you. about I want to move forward. We're going to put this behind us now. Come on. You grab their hand right now and you be humble. And if you'd be humble, you squeeze your hand back.

And Father, I ask for grace on every marriage that's responding. And I pray that you make all things new tonight. And I pray that it's impossible to go home and have it seem the same. I pray that you work such a humility in us, such a sorrow in us that's godly, that we begin to love one another and not despise one another. that there's no animosity, there's no unresolved conflict, that you yourself by your great mercy would make our homes different tonight because you've made us different. Lord God, I thank you for your grace that fixes things. Teach us to communicate. Teach us to start in a neutral, even playing field, a level of righteousness, God, where every mountain's down, every valley's up, where yesterday has no voice. supernaturally, God, bring change into marriages. And I thank you for it and empower them to walk out these convictions and let the homes and the children reap the blessing of a lifetime. God, I pray this grace on families right now. I'm telling you, there's people responding. That's a big deal. Those of you that don't understand or don't fit that description, thanks for your patience. You have no idea how huge this is probably. Well, maybe you do, but I'm telling you, that's important. in Jesus name. Homes be healed. Amen. Amen.

Okay, we're going to pray for the sick, guys. And uh here's why we're going to pray for the sick. It's not because we're sick and it's not because we're in a church service. It's because of the forgiveness of sins, the shed blood of the cross. It's the gospel. The the gospel forgives our sins. So the blood takes away the act of sin from humanity and the body takes away the penalty and every effect that that sin created. It's just that simple. So the reason we're motivated to pray for the sick isn't because people are sick. It's because Jesus died and rose again. Our sins are forgiven. He's judged us in righteousness. So we're not ruled by the law of sin and death. He said that these things were written and must happen so that repentance and remission of sins would be preached to every nation. We've turned repentance into boohoo, I'm sorry, God, instead of a change of mind. And we've turned forgiveness of sins into we're going to keep sinning. He's going to keep forgiven instead of we're clean. And we might nail that down this weekend if you'll come back and we might just look at some things right up on the screen so nobody can ever question again because the word is powerful and I'm way past debate. Like I won't sit and debate with you, man. I'm just going to stay righteous, live free, and God's going to flow through my life. It's just simple. Most people debate are coming from the place of no experience. They have no testimony. So their no testimony is their validation for their theology. So then all you can do is call me of the devil or a liar. That's your only options. Yeah. I wouldn't want to be in that position. That's a tough position. They were kind of like in that position towards Jesus. Yeah. Just saying. Like like I haven't seen enough people healed because not everybody I'm touching is healed. Do you get it? But I've seen way too much to change my mind. So people want to come and talk about why it's not God's will to heal based on their no experience or their failed experience instead of the life of Jesus producing fruit. Because what are you going to do with me now? Call me a liar. That's the only thing you can do. I had a pastor flat out say to me, "Well, you're just a liar." I said, "Let me come and preach at your church and let's see what God does." I just preached in a place that was cessationist. They asked me to come. I said, "Now listen, I realize this has been here and I realize it's been taught, but I don't agree with it. And let's prove it." And we prayed for the sick and God's not intimidated and I wasn't being arrogant. I was gentle. I was humble and I wept. But God healed people all through the house. Why? It's just what he does. I can't produce it. I can't make it happen, but I can believe. Yay. If I had to produce it, I would have been nervous. But if you know him and all you're doing is conveying him and his nature, then I guess he kicks in. Yeah. And some key people in the congregation got healed. People that everybody knew and people that knew their character, their integrity. It was It was strategic. It was so cool to see what God did. A star athlete who couldn't compete in sports anymore. Everything left his body. Yeah. And he was like, "Woo!" And they weren't praying for him cuz if God wants him healed, he'd heal him. And maybe God did this to him because And so then I challenged him at the end and I said, "Guys, we did this. We went for it. We prayed. We're supposed to be believers and initiate and lay our hands on the sick. We're not sitting waiting for God. It's not kar s. I'm not being mean. I'm just It's not whatever will be will be. Come on. Men reap what they sow. The power of death and life is in the tongue. There's things happen. Men are being destroyed for the lack of knowledge. It doesn't It's not whatever will be will be. Let's get that out of the church. It's not scriptural. It's deceiving us. We're putting away our swords. We're we're disarming ourselves when we believe that stuff. You're taking the privilege of faith away. It doesn't say it's the choice of God to be destroyed. It says it's the lack of knowledge. Get the knowledge. Stop destruction. The power of death and life's in your tongue. God's will in life. And you keep speaking death and all of a sudden you reap what you're sowing and then we say it was the will of God sovereignly. Are you kidding me? Come on. Let's stop that. Why would he put that kind of power in your mouth if he didn't create you to subdue the earth and have that kind? It's not some hotty high-minded thing. It's the way he set it up. It's a very humble thing. It's overwhelmingly humble. You pray for somebody hurting and God comes on them and changes their situation. It doesn't make you proud. It makes you cry. I'm three months old. Three months old. And a guy gets a brand new back at my work who was needing a fusion in a disc grows that wasn't there. I'm four months old. I get a word of knowledge and didn't even know what to teach on. I didn't even know. Yeah. I get a word of knowledge. I just get an impression of a man who needs a surgery and e surgery and he needs a miracle and he how do you know? I said I just know. I didn't have any language for him. I'm four months saved. He's going in the morning for a double mesh wire cuz he's getting blowouts in his abdomen wall, big hernas. He pulls up his shirt and it looks like a water balloon hanging off his body. And I said, "Can I put my hand on that and pray? Being a man, he's okay. Put my hand on four months saved and it goes closed under my hand." Now, what are you going to do with me? Say I'm a weirdo. I'm a wacko. I'm looking to impress people temporally that I would really be demented if I'm standing here making up stories like that for the moment of whoa in your eyes that's not even true. I would be the sickest of all. And you're going to sit back and say, "Well, I don't believe that." Come on. Let's stop letting unbeliefs be such a stronghold in the body. Let's go a little deeper and be challenged cuz wonder if I'm telling the truth. I've seen so much since then. So much. But I haven't seen enough. And we haven't arrived. But I won't change my mind because we're heading somewhere. And the people that change their mind or have changed their mind aren't seeing so much. Yeah. It just seems like the people that don't believe it never get to see it. And then never seeing it validates not believing it. And then when they hear it happen, they say, "Well, it's good when God chooses to." when a believer should be laying his hands on the sick the whole time. Read your Bible. These signs follow those. They say, "Well, that was for the apostles." No, no. Go make believers of every nation, and these signs will follow those that believe. He's not talking about the apostles. He's talking about the believers that believe through the apostles. Matthew 28, Peter, James, and John, and all them guys. Go make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe everything I taught you. If he's talking to them, he's talking to me. We have sold so cheap with human reasoning and we have let no experience substantiate unbelief. And we're not meaning harm, we're just being deceived. And then we have personal loss and we've we've knuckled down and prayed for a loved one and they died and then we got hurt and turned inward. And then we build a doctrine around that. Come on, I'm just being honest. We probably ought to get back to Jesus and follow him. And if he said, "The things I do, you'll do." If you believe, then we ought to work on believing and say, "You know what? I'm done being offended and I'm done being stumbled, and I'm done with the things that didn't happen dictating my life. Listen, I've I've held some children that didn't live, and I don't like that, but I am not going to not pray for anymore. Who am I to do that? I am not alive anymore. It's not about me." and feelings and all that stuff. It's not about statistics. It's about the honor of his word and you take that next child in your hand and with everything you understand in Jesus name. Cuz what about those tumors that have disappeared and what about those children that have lived? If I already turned tell, and ran and cpped a decision and built a new theology through the one that died, I wouldn't have all those ones that lived. Yeah. Come on. Let me just talk plain to you and don't get offended. I've suffered loss too, friend. My own mother passed and mother's a close thing in family. I would say cuz I had the best mother like some of you might want to say. It's not usually the mothers that had we had a problem with. It's usually us dads. But I'll tell you mothers, I had a gift of a mama. Sick for 40 years and never saw her complain. to smile and light up when you walk in a room because she knew in her heart she had a one reason to be on the earth is to shine. And she didn't even know how to complain with tubes hanging over her body going to the bathroom in bags. All she knew how to do was be pleasant. When she passed, there were three nursing staffs at her funeral and three separate doctors. That doesn't happen. And I believe in healing. I had to do my mother's graveside. I haven't changed my mind about what that book says. I don't let the death of my mother supersede the word of God. He's magnified his word above his own name. We ought to magnify it above our feelings and rationale. I'm just talking to you a little. It's all right. I'm smiling. Okay.

We're going to pray real quick. We're going to do two things. We brought the kids in. I don't want to belabor you guys anymore. If your children are listening and you're eight, seven, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 and you want to listen, you listen up and you want to get involved, kids, you can. Okay? Now, listen. When you pray for the sick, you'll run into two different situations. You'll run into situations where you won't know if they were healed because of the situation. It it might be on an X-ray. It might be something that they can't tell immediately. They might need a day or two to tell. It might be a migraine that's been coming constantly, but it's not there at the time. You follow what I'm saying? There's two different situations you'll pray for. You'll pray for things that have an obvious awareness and things that you wouldn't be able to tell in the moment. Am I making sense? The same thing is for both of them. It's faith. Faith's not a point in time. Faith is a position of your heart to believe what he accomplished, to receive what he accomplished. The number one reason I found that Christians won't step out and pray for the sick, they're afraid nothing will happen. So because they're afraid nothing will happen, they don't step out. So they get what they're afraid of by not stepping out. So you already got what you're afraid of. I guess that's still all about us then. Come on. We say, "Yeah, yeah, but I don't want to misrepresent the gospel and I don't want them to have a bad view of God and I don't want Look, if you step out and sincerely love and care, I think people will perceive that. And if you don't turn faith into a point in time, but let it to be a position of your heart. I bet you you don't turn anything off. You turn something on. We're afraid of their pain not leaving. I'm afraid of not stepping out and loving them. Cuz if I don't sew, nothing's going to grow. And the kingdom of God is if a man would scatter seed. And I'm looking at the kingdom of God in people. So let's be great farmers and let's start sewing some seed. Amen. So, here's the deal. Whether their pain leaves or not, it doesn't change faith and it doesn't change truth. So, if you're on the street and their pain doesn't leave, or even in a church service, you say, "Listen, man. I've prayed and believed and my Bible says if I lay hands on the sick, they'll recover. Man, I have great expectation that today is going to be different than the rest. And I am so honored that you would allow me to just take these 20 seconds to pray with you. I know you got to get back to work. Thank you. It was such an honor meeting you. Thanks for being so gracious and letting me into your personal situation. God bless you." and you walk away and they're like, "Oh my gosh, they didn't even sell me anything. They didn't try to get me to pray nothing. They didn't try to invite me to a service. They didn't pass a basket." Look, sometimes till you walk away, they don't even realize their guard's not down. They don't even realize it was clean until you walk away. But when you walk away, they can't help but to see it was clean. That you actually are either out of your mind or you're sincere and you believe what you just did. And even if they say you're out of your mind, they can't deny you were weren't sincere. So what happens if their body does change? Well, I guess if you never step out, you never open that door. I guess if you turn faith into a point in time, you'll just wait till you're Superman, you can bust out of the phone booth and everybody you touch is healed. It doesn't work like that. You'll always live by faith. You'll always have to push through feelings and situations. I think of Superman. Man, do you ever think of there's no phone booths. Poor Clark Kent is running the earth trying to manifest and there's no way to manifest. Darkness everywhere. He can't. I don't. Kids don't even know what a phone booth is. I just pictured Clark Kent running the earth looking for a phone booth. Poor guy. But see, you don't have to look for one. You can manifest. And it looks like this. Hey man, how are you doing? Are you in pain? Well, yeah, I really am. Are you on your way? Work, lunch. Well, why? I'm going back to work, but why? Listen, it only it 10 seconds. I know you're in a hurry. Do you mind? Can I just see your hand for a minute? Your hand? My hand? Look, we're in the food court of the mall, honey. It's nothing weird. You're going to love this. 10 seconds. It'll be awesome. She'd probably just go like this. Just think you read her palm. I don't know. And all you do is take two fingers just real gently and lightly. You don't fire a God in Jesus name. Father [Applause] I you just Father I thank you for your amazing love for this woman. God I just thank you for what you've done through your son. Pain leave her body in Jesus name. God I thank you. Make all things new. You're gentle. You're not making a scene. You're not shouting. You're not drawing a crowd. You're just loving one lady that you saw and then you look at her and say, "What's going on, sweetheart?" Sometimes you don't even get the chance. She's already looking at you. I've had people go, "What the blank did you just do?" And it's amazing the sickness didn't jump back on them. You know, they're like, "What'd you do, man? Tore my ACL. Let Wait, hold still, man." And you kneel down. Real story. Father, I just thank you right now. He's looking. And he's probably like, "What is he doing?" He's praying. Kneel and pray. I I just didn't even say nothing. I just said, "Man, just hold still. This will be awesome. Just pray." He goes, "What the blank?" That's not what [Applause] happened. He He said, "What the blank? What in the blank did you do?" I said, "Man, listen. And I told him about Jesus and that he was in me and he wants to live in you and how you weren't thinking about him at all when I walked by if you even believe in him. But he sure is thinking about you. Come on, man. What about your knee? Yeah. See, he can't get away. So the kingdom of God is if a man scatters seed water increase. See how it works? Now, you can go ahead and pray for your city all you want. I'm not putting down prayer. But if you're going to pray for your city, you ought to sew into your city. So that you're praying over the seeds sewn, not just waiting for some mysterious thing to happen. Because the kingdom of God is if a man scatters seed. The kingdom of God is here and it's in you. So the people tonight, you wouldn't know if you were healed. You wouldn't know. So when you pray for them on the streets, at work, in church, it's a simple prayer of faith. Guys, you have to believe it's the will of God to heal through Jesus. Don't be offended by that. You have to believe God's goodness, his desire to forgive and restore. It's just simple. Don't fight over that because of unanswered prayers. Come on. His disciples prayed for a boy and he wasn't cured in the New Testament. And Jesus said it's what they failed to see, but if they see what he sees, they'll do what he does. We say it wasn't the will of God or he'd have been healed or God's doing it to teach a lesson or it's probably unforgiveness in the dad. And the list keeps going and going and going and going and going. If it happened in the Bible and Jesus responded, we probably ought to listen to Jesus. Yeah. His own disciples prayed for a boy and it didn't happen. Jesus said, "Bring the boy to me." And healed him. So, was it the will of God to heal the boy? Yeah. Was he healed when his own men prayed? Oops. And we have a whole lot to say about that. But Jesus had one thing to say. He just said, "It's what you fail to see. Things get in your mind, corrupt the way you think, and it creates unbelief." Now, come on. Let me show you this cuz I'm about to hand you the baton. You're going to be my church cuz I'm going to go sit with the father. You got to get this. You read the story. That's what he said. And it'd be like, it be like, "What's your name, man? What is it?" Josh. So it'd be like Josh just lost a friend, man. And he prayed with all his heart and he lost his friend and he's sitting on his bed and he's weeping and he's saying, "God, I'm not mad at you, but I need to understand and learn." And all of a sudden, Jesus is standing by his bed and Matthew 17's in verse 20 and he says, "Josh, buddy, it's just what you fail to see. But I tell you this, Josh, if you see what I see, Josh, you will do what I do." And Josh, ain't nothing going to be impossible for you. You get it? Now you show me a limitation for that. Not if you're taking Jesus at his word. Come on. Y.

So if you're sick in this place tonight real quick, we're not going to make you less important. We're just going to breeze through you quick cuz we're just a prayer of faith. If you have a condition in your body that if you were healed tonight, there'd be no way to tell in the moment, I need you to stand to your feet real quick. Come on, real quick. Don't not stand if you fit that description. Don't be like, "Well, I don't want to stand. Nothing ever happens anyway when I get prayed for. That might need challenged." Real quick, you have something in your life that if we prayed for you tonight and you were healed, you wouldn't be able to testify in the moment for that condition because there's no way to verify it in the moment. Am I clear? I think I'm talking plain. Right? So, that's who's standing right now because you know what the next group's going to be, right? Yeah. Because we do have a next group. We're not gonna just stop with you guys. We're gonna have fun with this thing. It's going to be awesome. So, y'all ready? Stretch your hands to somebody. If you're sitting real close, just tap them and get their fingers or something and make some contact. It's a simple prayer of faith. If you stood up, look at me. If you stood up, here's what I want you to do. I just want you to believe God loves you and he proved it through sending his son. Don't identify through the sickness. Don't identify through the challenge. Even if it's been 30 years, don't do the why and how. And they'll yell, "But just nope. Stop. I'm being simplified tonight. He's for me. He loves me. He sent his son. God, thank you. You love me. You're the redeemer. I stood in faith and I'm receiving. Thank you, God, for your great love." That's all I want you to do tonight. If you stood up, just believe his love through Jesus Christ. Fair enough. And we're just going to pray a simple prayer of faith. So, if you're if you're touching them or standing with them, real simple, guys. I don't want you to get heady. I don't want you to get long-winded. I don't want you I just pray something simple like be healed in Jesus name. You can do that over them right now. You watch the results of what happens in your lives tonight. And you testify and you tell people and as soon as you even if this weekend you it reveals this weekend, you make sure you let us know and we'll just keep sharing with the people the stuff that's going on. Okay? Because it encourages the house. But right now, Father, we thank you for wholeness in their bodies. No sickness, no disease, and no more symptoms in Jesus name. Father, we just thank you that everything less than wholeness be removed from your people tonight. That's right. Thank you, Father, for wholeness. Yeah. No more repercussions don't ever show your face again. Weakness, sickness, you be gone in the name limitation, you be gone. That's right. Death sentence, you get out in the name of Jesus. Father, I thank you. Organs are strong. Bodies are restored. I thank you, God. nothing hidden, nothing growing that's not of you in Jesus name. Yeah, we thank you for it, Father. Now, if you stood up, just thank God that he loves you and that you receive tonight by simple faith and you just believe that in Jesus name. Okay, that's a simple one. We can't testify. So, the cynical would say, "Oh, wow. Some healing service you can't even tell." No, you live by faith, guys. The cynical and unbelieving don't understand. But faithfilled people should sit down. We're going to do the last part and we'll do it as quickly as we can. You guys okay with this? It's 10:00. Are you guys all right? Okay, good. Good. Usually I'm on the like last three weeks I was on the West Coast and when it was 10:00 it was actually 1:00 to my body. So I would tease them and I'd say, "Are you guys getting tired?" And they'd be like, "No." I said, "Cuz it's 1:00 to my body. Can you tell how tired I'm getting?" And they'd be like, "No." So listen, if you can hang out, hang out. I realize some people have to go and head out, but this will be fun. I want you guys to participate. You watch and see what God does in this room in the next few minutes. I'm just telling you, he's going to because his nature and I'm just going to preach him clear. So if you preach him clear, he's got to come and he'll be like, "Yeah, that's me." You get it? That's why I'm not nervous and I'm not presumptuous. He's a healer. He's awesome. So here's the deal. If you are sick in your body tonight in any way and if you were healed and and and you were prayed for tonight, you could check your body without emotion. We're not going to play any music. I'm going to make this room as dry as I can on purpose. Nobody's going to say we were driven by emotion cuz I'm going to make it dry. You wait and see how dry I make this room because we think you got to get the room happening. The room's happening because Jesus is here. The atmosphere is the kingdom and it's in you. We don't got to whoop it up. As much as I appreciate good music and gifts and flow, you don't need none of that. It doesn't feel all rosy sometimes in a parking lot to a stranger. You stop somebody on the street, it ain't like they're back there jamming out. It's a good good father. I mean, she was tearing it up. Good. Good. Whoa. That's that was you. She tore it up wherever she is. That opened my eyes. Made me look. But you don't you don't have these guys behind you when you're walking down the sidewalk. But I'll tell you, you got him in you. So, if you were healed tonight of a condition, you would know it. I need you to stand up. And if you can't stand up, make sure you go like this so somebody knows you want prayer. Please stand up. Come on. Don't stay in your chair. The gentleman, there's a gentleman in a wheelchair right there. I don't Yeah, I don't want to exploit you, sir, but it's obvious he's in a wheelchair and he's raising his hand. He says, "I want prayer." Please don't ever be afraid of a wheelchair. The same blood and the same body was given for tendonitis, arthritis, powerless stuff. Don't Don't Don't look at the thing. Don't say, "Well, I want to start with something small. It took the same price to heal everything." We got to get that in us, guys. People say, "Well, I never saw anybody get out of a wheelchair." My question to the church is, "How many did you pray for?" You're always waiting for it to happen, and when it happens, it didn't happen through you, so it doesn't impact you because you weren't there, and it's somebody else's story. People say, "Well, I never saw blind eyes open." I say, "How many did you pray for?" I'm convinced if we start laying our hands on the sick, we're going to start seeing the sick healed. You get it? Come on. I need a couple more people. If Why didn't you stand? I still don't make me go fishing. Come on. I There's some folks that need to stand up that you didn't stand up, but you have stuff in your body. Less. There's about four people that are on a prescription med for something and you didn't stand up. Yeah. Just jump up. Come on. And if you've got arthritis stuff and it's in your joints and it's hard, who's your hips? Just get up. Come on. Don't make me go fishing. Just get up. Please don't say, "Well, I've been prayed for before." Or, "I'm standing in faith." That's why I want you to stand up. Standing in faith. Amen. See, here's the thing. We got caught in this place where we say, "Well, I don't want to claim it. I don't want to confess." The Bible says, "Is any among you sick? Let him ask." Well, if you couldn't ask without claiming it, why would he say ask? You're not claiming it. You're saying, "I got something in my life that's less than wholeness that I believe is in God, and I want prayer." You're not claiming it. You're saying, "I don't want it. It's not who God created me to be." So, let's not think we can't ask. We can ask. Okay. We all right now. Now, you might think this is strange. Thanks. I just saw two people get up. I was going to say, I'm waiting for three people, but now I need one more for sure. One more. I'll when I see you stand, we'll pray. One more. Did you stand? Gotcha. Thanks. Now watch. No, it was serious. I said I'd need three and I saw the two ladies stand and then he just stood. Watch. If the Lord wasn't into this and didn't want to heal, why is he waiting on people? Yeah. Why would I have any discernment about some of the conditions in the prescription? Be honest. When I said the prescription thing, who who did that fit and you jumped to your feet? Raise your hand if that was you. Look at that. See, God gave me these little things and I said them and you responded. Thank God. But why would he give them to me if he wasn't here to heal? If he didn't want to do anything about it, why is he calling this stuff out? Why is he waiting on three people? You think, well, if they didn't stand up by now, I guess, hey, we'll just go with the flow, man. No, that's not God. I was in a church a while back and we waited and waited and I said, listen, I know you're here and I'm not sure why you're standing. And then I finally got a glimpse of the condition and I spoke it and the guy jumped right up and I said, "Be honest, man. Tell me why it took so long to stand and why. I know you weren't holding on to God. What was going on? I just want to understand what." And he shared his feelings and emotions and how he felt froze to his chair. But God wouldn't move on until he got up. Ain't that sweet? There was a lady, she was all riddled with arthritis. I described her condition. She stood up and I she started crying and I said, "Honey, God waited for you in this crowd." I said, "Don't think you're not going to be healed." And when I said that, everything left her body. He didn't even Holy Spirit was so excited. He didn't even wait for me. I mean, I wasn't even praying for her. I was just making a declaration. And Holy Spirit said, "Good enough." Boom. Yeah. He's so excited. So, is that awesome? So, okay. Now, I got you guys standing. Now, listen. I need you to raise your hand real high. And this isn't works. This doesn't mean the higher you raise your hand, you'll get healed quicker. It's just so we don't lose you in the crowd. Cuz here's the deal. Many of you never heard me preach before, so you didn't know you're being set up. The people sitting are my prayer team. You don't have to. I'm not controlling you. But I strongly encourage you. If you're nervous, you say, "Dan, I can't pray for the sick." And you're nervous. I want you on my team. Like if you say, "I never prayed for the sick." Then I really want you on my team because you won't get up and be overconfident. You won't take all your spiritual training into this. You'll be like, "So here's what I want. Have fun with me. Have fun with one another. Have fun with this. Don't anybody pray yet. Just go claim somebody. The people sitting, go grab somebody with their hand up until we have everybody covered. One-on-one. One-on-one till everybody's covered. After everybody's covered, you can gang up on them. But let's do oneon-one. Put your hand down when they claim you. Put your hand down if you're if you're claimed. Only leave your hand up if they didn't claim you yet. Have fun with it, church. Run around. Say, "Hey, I'm claiming you. Hey, you're mine. Hey, come on. I got some ladies in a row here. They need claimed. Maybe you have to get out so they can reach you. Who didn't we claim yet? I got a gentleman with a blue shirt right here. Can somebody claim this man? I Who do I have a guy that can stand with a man and pray? Yeah. Come on, man. Go get him. He's right there in the middle. Can you make your way out? Can Can you make your way out? Yeah. So, he can reach you. He's just not able to get to you. Do we have everybody covered? If you don't have anybody to pray with you, go like this. Do you need prayer? Do you have a condition to be prayed for? Okay. I Oh, we got you covered. Man, they come jumping over the chairs for you, young lady. They were like, "Is everybody covered?" Awesome. Look up here. We're going to do this as a family together. This is going to be so fun. Okay, you watch and see what happens in this room. You got to be encouraged. Now, watch. The Lord told me to tell this to everybody everywhere I go for the last probably almost a year maybe. I don't know. Time flies. I've been saying this. It's really liberating. Watch. Your prayer never has or never will heal anybody. Isn't that awesome? So you don't have to try hard. It's not your prayer. It's it's simply what you believe about his love for them through what he did through his son. It's you're believer. You're not you're not a prayer warrior. If it's your prayer, we should all go to prayer college. It would be works. He did the work. So when you pray for this person you're praying for, all I well, you might not even know their name. All I want you to know is that their life is the will of God. Life comes from God. There's a time to be born. And he paid a price for redemption. And whatever they're going through, he did something about that through his son. And it's his will to restore and make things right. And it's his love for them. and you believing his love for them through the son and that the son paid a price to redeem their life and restore all things. That's all I want you to believe today. So, I'm only going to give you about six seconds to pray cuz nobody will get in trouble. Seriously, I'm going to be such a best friend tonight. You won't get self-conscious. You won't run out of words. And you won't try hard cuz in six seconds you can't get creative. Watch. be healed in Jesus name's probably enough when there's a revelation that it's his love and his finished work be Jesus he he said get up and walk see receive your sight be cleansed he cast out spirits with a word not a 20 questionnaire yeah he said it spiritually because of the finger of God meaning the power of God he said the finger He didn't even say the clinch fist strong arm. The finger of God, meaning the spirit of God. If demons flee because of the finger of God, then surely the kingdom's upon you. Yeah. So why would these people be healed tonight? Because the kingdom's in us. We represent that truth. We lay hands on the sick, they recover because he's amazing. Period. You get it? So I'm going to give you actually about 10 total seconds, but I'll interrupt at about six. And I'm just going to tell you, you know, hey, go for it here in a minute. And you're going to pray for about six seconds. And about the six second mark, I'm going to say, okay, guys, wrap it up. When I say that, we're going to take about four seconds. You're just simply going to acknowledge God's love for them. The people being prayed for, all I want you to do is this. Wow, you love me. You are for me. You're not against me. You proved it through your son. I believe your love for me. You just believe that. And then you just stand there and receive his love as they pray for you. Okay. And then at six seconds, I'll say wind it out. And then what I want you to do is just say something simple like this over them because I'm a big time acknowledging God's love because it draws people into relationship. But I'll be like, you know, father, I thank you so much for your love for them. It's because you love them in Jesus name. And that's how you wrap up. Who knows you can do that in four seconds. So about six seconds, you'll address the thing. For about four seconds, you're saying amen. Ain't that sweet? It's not your prayer. It's what you believe. Ask the person. Take three seconds. Ask the person what you're praying for. So you know, don't pray yet. Just ask them and look right back up here and we're going to kick this off. Just ask them, "What am I believing for? What are we praying for?" 3 second. Give them the 3se secondond version. Just give them the quick version. Yay. All right, you guys. Good. Everybody should know by now and get a good idea. Do you have it? So, watch this. So if they got arthritis in every joint right now and it's just it's just a it's just a serious thing where it's always there, it's aching, it's just pulsing, it's just bad and stiff. So you just simply arthritis, you come out of them in Jesus name. Not one pain, not one limitation in Jesus name because you love them, Father. That's all I want you to do. And you watch and see what happens in people. After we pray and we close it down, we'll have the 10-second prayer and close it down. And then I want you guys to just believe he loves you and begin to check your bodies. I don't want exaggeration. I don't want you saying you're better because it'll make the people that prayed for you feel better. It would be called lying. And once again, we're saving face and all thinking about ourselves. Okay? I want you check in your body when you know your body's healed. When you know that thing left, you make sure you let us know and you start going like this so we know who it is. I'll probably call on you. Depends how much time we seem to take. I'll just discern that. You let me You let me Are you okay with me doing it this way, pastor? So, yeah, I'm here. I am like really taking authority here. But, but I I'll decide how many people we need. But here's what I want you to do. If your body feels the same after they pray, you say, "Dan, that's unbelief." No. There's three things I see happen when I pray. I want the suddenly of Jesus all the time in my life. But I've learned that I've seen people get somewhat better when I pray. So, I just pray again. I've seen people get better when I pray again. And I've learned that better plus better plus better sooner or later is whole. There's been people on the streets I've prayed for.

And I haven't seen them change. What do I do? Get disheartened, turn tail, and run? What do, what do you do if that's you? Go home with the identity of unanswered prayer and wonder what's blocking my healing and what am I doing wrong and wow, other people got healed and there I am left out again. Come on, that sounds like that.

But that's what people do almost all the time in the church. You have one response and only ever one response. "God, you love me. You're for me and I appreciate the work you're doing in my body and I thank you." Why? Because faith is not a point in time. It's the position of your heart. You don't take on the identity of what you're going through because you already took on the identity of what He went through and you are a believer. You get it?

So, here's the deal. If you check your body and none of those symptoms left and your body feels the same, stay thankful and don't unhinge and get heady and don't let the way that seems right in the man kick in. Don't get analytical. Okay? And you check your body and go, "Wow, it still hurts." And the people go, "Does it feel any different?" Well, actually, it feels pretty much the same, but we got some people doing this and we're testifying. You listen to what God's doing. You take in what and you begin to thank God. He's a healer. You begin to thank God for what He's doing in this room. And you thank God for what He's doing in your body. And you check your body again. And you say, "Yeah, it still hurt." And you keep listening. You keep you watch and see what happens in this room. Don't anyone unhook and disconnect. You with me?

And if you're healed, make sure as soon as you're know you're changed in the beginning. As soon as you know you're changed, you go like this so we can know who you are. And we'll just go through it then. And I won't take long with this, you watch and see. This will be fun. This will encourage everybody in the room because it'll teach us. We can all do this. We can all believe for each other. Amen. I mean, six seconds. Come on, guys. And then don't let go. Are you all ready? Now, you didn't forget what you're praying for, right? I'm going to mute my mic. I'm not going to pray over top of you. Nobody's going to say, you know, "You're under the umbrella of my anointing." I've been told that. We just try to find a way of getting out of a believer priesthood. You know what I mean? We just want somebody gifted to roll into town. He's already here. He was in you when I got here. See, His name is Jesus. Amen.

Y'all ready? I I know I'm milking this out. Look at the person you go pray for and make them uncomfortable for a little bit and just just look at them and know that Jesus believes they're worth dying for and He absolutely values that individual. Amen. Go ahead, guys. Six seconds. Pray for him right now in Jesus' name. Okay, wind it down because He loves them in Jesus' name. Receive His love, guys. Wind it down. We should be done. Thank you, Father. Yeah.

Now, thank God that He loves you. Believe He loves you. You don't have to clap, but you can if you want, but believe He loves you. Now, I need you all checking your bodies. As soon as you know you're healed, go like this. As soon as you know you're healed, check your bodies. Really check them. Don't be Don't jump the gun. Test it. I want to see this right now. Some of you should know already. Okay. For sure. Who else? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Who else? You know you're healed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Whoa. [Applause] Good.

Okay, get quiet, guys. Get quiet. Let's get quiet for a minute. Let's pay attention here. Can we have 10 minutes? We stayed this long. This is like, to me, this is the funnest part. Like it's God doing things. Who knows you're healed? You know you got healed when they prayed. You already checked. Oh, we got a lot. Go like this. Lift your hands high so I can see you. Okay. Talk to me. What happened? Okay. What was wrong when they prayed? How did you know? What did you need prayer for? Uh-huh. Okay. You just feel like that's changed then. That's just just You would know that one, right? And His presence came. Sure. That Well, that's His presence. Amen. That's Jesus loving on you. Amen. Good. Who else did you say you were? Yeah. What was you What was wrong with it? What was wrong before we prayed? Let's listen, guys, just for a sec. Let's pay attention and let's just stop praying a minute. Let's just What's going on? From a car accident. How long ago? 6 months ago. Is it an everyday thing? 24/7. 24/7. Never goes away. It was there when they prayed. It's almost always detectable, right? If you wanted to find it, you could. Okay. You don't feel it at all. You can move totally all around. You don't have it at all. That's beautiful. 6 months, pretty much 24/7, completely gone. Right. No emotion. No. Rah. What's your favorite song? Who else? You know you're healed. You know you're here. What happened, man? So, it was there, easy to find. Was it some tour? Was it an ACL? Was it What was it? Okay. Just cartilage, frayed, tore, something like that. Strain, something. No evidence. It's gone. You got strength, mobility. It was there before they prayed that you you knew it was something wrong with it. It's gone. That's awesome. Who else? Real quick, just let me get a couple. We're heading somewhere with this, man. You guys got to learn to honor this stuff. It's God moving. There's There's a lot of people actually. Yeah. In the red shirt. Yell out loud, man. Arthritis. Was it easy to tell before they prayed? Was it an all the time thing? Explain to us what it was like. Pain. Stiffness. Pain. Was it always there? Always there. How long? For years? About a year and a half. What happened when they prayed, man? Do you have any trace of it? Did it just go? Okay. I'm having a hard time hearing. Did somebody holler out loud what he said? Did you hear? I I'm okay. Is there ever a time when it doesn't hurt? Or for the last year and a half, it's always been there. Yeah. And it's changed. Wow, that's beautiful. Stretch your hands to Him. Stretch your hands, guys. Stretch your hands to Him. Father, we thank You. It'll never come back. We thank You, God, that He'll sleep tonight. He'll wake tomorrow. He'll rejoice. His first thoughts will be, "Wow, You changed my body." And God, I ask Your love to settle on him, rest on him, and flood his heart in Jesus' name. Amen. Who else has something that you want to share that that seems important? Okay. Every time she touched me, it's gone. Is is and it's usually bound up. It's usually obvious something's wrong with it. Changed an hour and a half later. Oh my. Okay. But it's not it's just right right now. I can tell. That's awesome. But it's changed. Yeah. Amen. Who else? Real quick, one more. Let's take one more. Anybody else that I didn't get to talk to? Yeah. Constant pain. Right leg. Constant pain. Is it gone? Is it ever not there? Never not there. How long has it been going on? 25 years. And it's never been without pain. And you have no pain whatsoever right now. Come on, guys. That's like, don't get familiar with this stuff. We got to start somewhere, man. We got to start. You know, you say, "Well, it's leg pain." Yeah. 25 years. Let it be your leg. It's that's a reality she lived with or had to live with, right? 25 years and it's gone. You don't feel anything. Father, we thank You for wholeness.

Okay, let's do this cuz I'm running late and I know people but but well be honest with me. We didn't get to talk to everybody. If you know your body was healed when we prayed and you didn't even get a chance to talk but you did share or you didn't share but you know your body changed and you didn't leave yet. Go like this. I just want to see how many there are. Go like this. I just want want to see. Okay, good. Cuz I didn't talk to you guys. You guys Oh, I got three four right in a row right here. Something going on in the front. You were like the first one, man. What happened to you? How did you know? Uh-huh. Wow. So, the knot and the hurting, it's gone. It's awesome, man. That's just so good to me.

Who here, real quick, we'll just skip a beat. Well, actually, let me ask you this. Who here? We won't we won't prolong this, but I just want to be curious here. Who your body changed? You know, it changed. It just didn't go completely waste, so you didn't raise your hand, but it got somewhat better or noticeably better. Let me see your hands. Real high. Real high. Look around, guys. I want you to see that God is doing stuff. That's a lot of people. Go like this so they can see you. That's a lot of people. You take them and multiply them by the first group that raise your hand. That's God moving.

Okay, now here's the one and and and it's up to you. If you're still here and you have prayed for them and they're telling you, "Wow, it's better." I always when I have momentum, I always pray again. Like if somebody says, "Wow, it's like 50% better." I'm like, "Good, Father, thank you for that 50%, but You love them. You're a finished work." Ah, and I just pray another six seconds. You know what I mean? And I learned that better plus better plus better is wholeness.

Let me ask you this question because this isn't covered in most places you go when they pray for the sick. But I've learned to do this. Who when we prayed for you, you don't have any change. It seems the same as the first time they prayed right now as you're standing here. It just seems the same. Let me see your hands. Be honest. Lift your hands. Don't feel ashamed. There's nothing bad. There's no reason to Some of this stuff gets strange and people leave after a healing service and feel worse than before they stood up because they're like, "What's wrong with me? Why didn't I get healed? How come other people got healed? What? got to be something blocking and this analytical thing tries to kick in. Here's what I want you to do. There's one response ever. "God, You love me. You're doing an amazing thing in me. I so appreciate Your love for me. Thanks for what You're doing in my body." That's all you know, guys.

I drugged my leg around for 11 days and had no use of it whatsoever. Doctors told me after four days they might have to amputate it because I didn't do anything about it and all this stuff. 11 days I drug my leg around. It was 10 days. On the 11th morning I woke up. Power of God shot through me. I just woke up like any other morning. Lord God, I worship You and thank You for Your righteous oper. And the power of God just shot through me when I was going to get my keys to go to church. And boom, my leg came completely alive. I had no use of it. It was like a hunk of rubber. You see what's wrong with me? I laid on my bed one day on my couch one day. I I had a tore meniscus. My knee was like a football. They were going to do a surgery. The MRI said tore meniscus, emergency surgery, five months suggested rehabilitation. I'm working at work. I lay on the couch. I said, "Lord, this is a rubber meet the road. I'm not too big for a surgery. It's not about a surgery. It's about Your great name. And I thank You for Your love for me." And right there laying. He heals my meniscus and heals my knee. I go right back into work and never missed a day with the MRI report. Tore five months rehab surgery. I'm just completely whole. If you become a man with a tor knee instead of a son with a covenant, that's a problem. If you just become then prayed for four times, nothing happened. That's not no God, You're doing a work in me. You love me, and I just so thank You for what You're doing.

So, let me see your hands again. If we prayed for you and nothing changed, I usually pray again for you. Is the people that prayed for you still here? Are you still here? The person that prayed for them, keep your hand up. Are you still here? Let's do this. Just can you just give them six more seconds? Let's just see what happens. I just want to I just feel like God wants to prove a point here. Go ahead. Six more seconds real quick. Come on. 100,00 1,002 1,003 1004 100, 105 100,00 Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Check your bodies real quick. Don't be strange exaggerating or anything. Just check your bodies. In that group that we just prayed for, it's about 15 17 people. Anybody change or something get different that time? Let me see you if it did back there. That time we got nothing the first time. What's that? Okay. Yeah. Anybody else? Anything change that time? That group that just hazed their hand. Is there anybody that says, "You know what? Something just got different." Let me see you. Is she raising her hand? Did something just get different with her? Are you raising your hand? Something changed, but it didn't change the first time, but it changed that time. Come on, guys. It's not that we did anything wrong. Believing's believing. God's teaching us something by this. Bear with me. Is there anybody else? Something changed that time, but it didn't change the first time, but it got a little better or got whole. Anybody go like this so I can see you. There's a lot of folks back there. Right there. Something changed. It didn't the first time, but it did the second. Woo! See, that's just God saying, "Ching. You believe, keep on believing."

So, listen. If you didn't change up to now, man, I got good news for you. You leave here with one thought. "God, You're for me. You love me. Thank You for what You've done through Your Son." You crawl in bed and your hip goes a and grabs you like any other night. Don't go, "Oh man, I thought I'd get healed tonight." No, no, no, no, no. Stop. That thing goes, you say, "Father, You roll right over in your bed. Father, thank You for what You're doing in my body, and I so appreciate Your unstoppable love for me, God. You make all things new." You go to bed like that, and watch what happens in your hip. Are you hearing me?

So, Father, I bless this house. I bless these folks, and I thank You for what You've done and what You're doing. Keep growing us. keep inspiring us. And God, I just thank You for grace on our families, the nighttime, the hour, the late, the kids. Just let grace cover this weekend. Let no one be tired or feel exasperated because of scheduling. Just let grace cover it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Love you guys. I don't know if you want to say anything or what time tomorrow. They all know that stuff, right? You guys know time tomorrow. See you. Love you. Bless you. Yay. I kept you up late, young lady. I am so sorry.