Radical Launch is live! Trailhawk Ministry School

Um, two. Yeah, that one's better. You got sing with sing, you sing. Diamond, I'm too nervous. I can't do it. She used to be in a band. We just, you, she was. We, we used to know this guy named Randy Holstead. He, he had like a little band get-together. Diamond was singing and he would play the guitar. That's test it. Oh, here, we need to do this for you. You need, you put on, you microphones for recording. Oh, it's different than the other. Yeah. Huh? What is one goes to YouTube, one goes to Zoom? How do I put that on? Oh, it's a magnet. And this little, that a clip. Yeah. This on the outside, the middle. Oh, yeah. It's kind of cool. Yeah. Careful when you take it off the mag. Right. Keep track of it. I got shirt on, I won't get lost in the. Another region. Yeah. Finger L. They where in the toilet? Yeah. In the toilet? Yeah. Yeah, that was funny. That's a bad day. You lose an expensive mic. They really are expensive.

All right. Hey, can you turn me up a little bit? Good evening. This is Trail Hawk School of Supernatural Ministry. How are you guys doing tonight? All the way from Collinsburg, Pennsylvania. So, um, we're gonna have Eli Keshi talk to you tonight, and he's gonna do some music. Um, he is an amazing young man of God. Um, he's gonna share a little bit about his story and teach you about evangelism and maybe light some fires under some people and get, get them out there in the streets, 'cause we need some bodies in the streets to do some evangelism. We're called to do the work of an evangelist, you know. And, um, but anyway, Eli, I've known you probably since 2019, at least. We were 18. We were at 2013. 13? Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yes. Oh my gosh, I do. I remember you before you got married. Wow. My brain needs to be geared. Guys, um, yes, I met you up, um, in Catville area, Ananya Fling, and all those guys. And then he went to Global Awakening and then he got married to Nikki Ki, and they have six kids. Uh, five, a lot, one. Okay, so six. Um, they're practicing for a basketball team, maybe football team. Oh, but anyway, he does, um, evangelism. He has a house church with him and his wife. They are really out to love the person in front of them. You, I love his heart. That's why I brought you here, is because I feel like you have an ability to teach people how to go out, and you can do it in a way that just lifts them up and nudges them, not like me where I push them. And, um, and also he is a Revival leader, leader, um, with Global Awakening. And, um, Ed and I sat underneath him as the Revival leaders, and we have to report to this guy. So I just, I, I just love you. Like, you just, you're amazing. You're like a, another brother. And, um, I just love how you love God, and I love your story, like your testimony, and how you persevere, and you don't give up, and you just continue to go after what God is doing. So God, I just thank you right now. I thank you for what you're doing. I thank, thank you Father God for pouring out mightily and powerfully in this place. I thank you Father God that you push back the darkness, so there is no interference in any devices. We thank you Father God that the airways are yours tonight. And thank you Father God that you will allow such an amazing music to come forth that will bring us into the spirit, so that we will hear through the revelation of you, God, that the spirit would speak to us through Eli, and that we would hear what you have to say. And anything that is not of you would go by the wayside. But I'm excited 'cause we're gonna get a boatload of information that's gonna become revelation, 'cause you all are gonna get activated in Jesus name. Amen. All right, can I use that table? Yes, you can. All right. All right. We do any testing or just go for it? It was a little loud, but that feels a little better. This is a small room.

So, I want to, I want to bring the different presence than, uh, we're trying to pray. So, well, thank you everybody for having me again. As Trina said, my name is Eli, and, um, it's an honor to be here. Thank you for allowing me to be here. I'm from Mechanicsburg, so drove about, I don't know, 45 to an hour. Um, maybe you guys are around here from farther away, but, uh, thanks for having me. All right, we're gonna worship. When I say worship, uh, I mean we're gonna engage with God, and I'm not entertaining you. I'm just engaging with the Lord and inviting you guys to engage with him in your own way. And I'm gonna believe that he's gonna engage back with us, because it's our way of reaching out to him, and he always comes back and reaches out to us. He says, "Draw near to the Lord, He will draw near to you." So we're gonna do that this evening. All right, we're gonna do that for a little bit, and, uh, and then we'll go into some, some teaching and stories. So feel free to stand up, walk around, whatever, whatever you feel, however you need to engage with the Lord. All right.

[Music]

[Applause]

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Oh, we are here. You, Jesus. It's all about [Music].

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[Music]

You over. I spoke word. You were singing over me. You have been so, so good to [Music] me. I've been so, so me. All the overwhelming, never-ending of God. Oh, it chases me down. Still, I'm [Applause] [Music] found. I could turn. I don't deserve. Still, you in yourself. All the [Music] overwhelming, never-ending of [Music] God. All about you, [Music] Jesus. I was your. Still, you have been so, so to me. When I felt no worth, you paid all me. You have been so, so kind. Me. All the overwhel. Never love chases me down. Still, I couldn't earn it. I told you yourself. Oh, overwhelming, never end. Good is [Music]. Oh, all the. It's all [Music] about love. And just find love. Fall. And it's just me. Came. Bless you. Love for. Oh, you love. [Music]

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[Music]

Just [Music] shadow. [Music]

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Sh. [Music] Shadow. You, you. Cl. Comon. Get down. [Applause] [Music] Down. No shadow. [Music] L coming after me. Coming after me. So you won't ki down now. You won't down. Coming. All the overwhelming [Music] never-ending. Oh, we ch down. But [Music] still. I couldn't burn it. I going serve it. Still [Music]. You overwheling. Never of God. Yeah. Jesus, we worship you. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your love. Thank you, Jesus, that you came and you set the mark for us, God. You set our value by the cross, by your great pursuit for us, God. You made it known to the heavens and the earth and the beneath the earth, just how much we mean to you, Lord. How can we not but love you? What can we do in response, God? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

[Music]

So, this next song is a song that my wife wrote, but it's still a worship song. So I'm not entertaining you. Stay engaged with the Lord. My desire is to burn with in your love. Fire can't be T. That isent from above. Is to burn with passion in your love. Be that is in my heart. There's a flame burning with your desire. With the blow of your breath. I [Music] made. Set me on [Music] fire. W't be. Yes. Go. [Music] Never runs out. Never runs out. Oh, your father is provision. Brings comfort to my soul. Yes, it flows through all my veins. Me next. Me. In my heart. There's a with your. With the flow of your breath. I [Music] wild. You set me on [Music] [Applause] fire. More people. Yes. Oh, on your fire. Never runs out. Never runs out. Set me on [Music] [Applause] fire. Your [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] His provision brings comfort to my soul. It flows all my. Makes [Music] meus. Thank you, Lord God. Your love. Your fire, God. What you've done for us. It's eternal. It changes everything. [Music] Was made by you. And I was made for you. I am un [Applause] without. I was made by you. I was made for [Music] with love. I'm a. I for. Never changes. [Applause] [Music] Hold. Hold. I'm a new cre. I'm for [Music] change. [Applause] Hold. Hold. I'm creation. I will never change. Oh, I will never change. Never want to be the in you is all [Music]. You're my breath. You're my love. You're my everything. In [Music] you is [Applause] all. You're my bre. You're my. You're my. In [Music] you is all. Love me. You're my breath. You're my love. You're [Music] [Applause] my. I was made by you. And I was made for you. For [Music] everything. Chang. It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before. [Applause] IC. I walk. IED. I. I used. I've been. Been [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] The [Applause] everything. Chang. It's getting harder to recognize the I was before. I Christ. I don't like. I used. I don't talk like. I years to. I've been wash from the ins. I've been wash from the [Music] Hallelu. [Music] Hallelu. Only been [Music] Hallelu. [Music] Hallelu. Know it was. Could have only [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Been. I cannot explain. But nothing's more real than this. In the presence of God. Oh, what my heart experience. My shame. W. My S. The high. I was wash from the [Applause] [Music] inside. [Music] Hu. [Applause] [Music] Was it. [Music] Only performance. Reflection. St. [Music] For by the blood. It's never been about for. It's a give. This fre here. Let. It's only by the blood. Anybody more me. Righteous. Puri. Let me tell you. It's only. Anybody want Bey. Forgive. Justify. [Music] [Applause] Let. Hallelu. Hallu. I know it was. Blood. Could have only [Music] been. Oh, Jesus. Could have only been. Blood. Pui. Sanctified. Only by the BL. [Music] Father, we thank you for your great, great sacrifice, God. What you've done is way, way more than what we could have earned or deserved or could ever, ever amount to, God. But you said it was, was worth it. You said we were worth it. You said, "It's time to redeem my sons and daughters back," and you did it. You paid the highest price. You paid the price it would cost for all of the earth to be redeemed, to make a way to have relationship with you in the fullness, God, that we could have relationship with you and be one with you, that we could know you, that we could have you, that we could live with you inside of us. Jesus, you paid that price. You made the way, God. We're forever, forever in your debt, God, and forever yours because you paid for us to belong to you. So, Father, we thank you. We recognize that this evening. We worship you. We praise you. We worship you now in teaching. In Jesus name. Amen.

All right, guys, you can have a seat. That was awesome. Give Nikki a big hug for that song. That's awesome. Yeah. Do I, do I still need to do this? Yes. I mean, yeah, because we have one that's not my. Okay. Okay. No problem. One of these days, we'll figure everything out. Yeah. Yeah, no problem. You can REM that M. Right. Yeah. Take. I clipped it all together. Oh, I have a, I have a tendency to step on the cords and tear the whole thing down. So, there we go. All right, friends. Yeah. Yeah. So, I picked those songs very, very intentionally. Um, and I felt like the Lord picked him, but, but it was, it was for a reason. Now, I'm here to talk to you about, about evangelism, and I'm here to talk to you about my story, share a little bit about who I am. Um, so I'll start with that. So, first of all, I was raised here in America, although my last name tells otherwise. Keshi is a Pakistani name. My father is 100% Pakistani. Um, he came here when he was about 16 years old. Met my mom, who was as American as you can get, Irish, English, a little bit of everything, right? And so, um, ended up that, uh, my mom actually is a Christian, but my dad is full Muslim. Was raised, all my family still overseas in Pakistan is still Muslim. And so, as me and my brother were raised, we were raised Muslim. Now, living in America, a lot of people raised with whatever religion don't end up staying that Rel. They just, they just live whatever they want to do, and they don't really care. They find out that there's lots of other things out there, and they just live for themselves. That was me. I lived my life how I wanted to live it. Even though my dad raised me Muslim, and my mom shared little bits of Christianity with me, but I lived however I wanted to live. Though, by time I was a teenager, I had, uh, a very strong alcohol and drug problem. I drank every day. I, I did lots of drugs, and I got people to do it because that's what I thought was a good friend. Let me share with you what I have, right? And we're gonna talk about that. Actually, that's kind of the theme. You can only give what you have. That's what I had. I had drugs and the excitement of ecstasy and, um, acid and alcohol, and all the good things that the world had to offer. I had it, and I loved it, and I wanted to give it to everybody. So, I, I was a drug dealer. And so I gave things to other people to do for money, and it was, it was terrible. But this is, this is my story. You have yours, I have mine. And so I ended up, um, you know, just, just living this way until I was about 18 years old. My best friend lived the same exact lifestyle as me. We just, we both drank, did crazy things, did not care about anything or anyone but ourselves. And one day, Easter Sunday, 2010, he left my house, and he got into a car accident, and the car flipped, and it crushed him, and he died on the. What that did to me was, it, it, it woke me up to realize that my life had no purpose. Did it, didn't matter what I did because it didn't, it was all for me. There was no bigger value for my life. Why did it show me that? Was because we both lived the same life, and if he's gone and he has nothing to show for his life, what happened? If what happens if I go? I would have nothing to say for my life. And that bothered me. I didn't know what to do about it. So I drank more, I did more drugs, I just went deeper down the hole 'cause I had no answer. And in that place, in a room, my room, by myself, Jesus met me there, and he said, "Eli, if you give your life to me, I'll give you a purpose that lasts for eternity." Now, I had no clue what that meant to give my life to him, but all I knew was everything inside me was like, "Yes." And again, I'm by myself, nobody there. I said, "Yes, I give you my life." The next day, I go and I drink with my buddies because that's what we did. But I couldn't drink anymore because when I was drinking, what I was drinking, I was like, "What's wrong with this stuff? It's nasty. It's disgusting. It's terrible. Why?" What happened? And it was God. He took the taste away from me. He removed it out of my mouth. He removed the desire to do any drugs, any alcohol. And in a matter of three months, he began to tell me, "Eli, would you give this to me and trust me that I have something better for you?" And so, one by one, all my bad things that I was doing, I gave to him, or he took it, and he replaced it with things that I actually saw were better. And he just asked me, would I trust him for that? And in a matter of three months, my friends didn't recognize me anymore. So they didn't want to be my friend anymore. So I lost all my friends. And, um, I was, I was going to a church. Uh, I start, I started going to a church. And my dad asked me around the same three-month mark. He said, "Why are you going to church?" And I was a musician. I played most of my life growing up. Um, and so I started playing for the church. He said, "You know, you could play for anywhere. You don't have to play in a church." And I knew in that moment, after three months of, of getting to know God, hearing his voice, reading the scriptures, after three months of him changing my life, I knew this is the time when Jesus says that if, and I knew I had to say what I've chosen. Because before that, he just, he knew I was Muslim. Now, it's a weird thing because if you, if you are raised Muslim, you might not look or act or believe in any of it, but as long as you don't become a Christian, you're fine. And so my life was, didn't look anything like a Muslim, but as long as I wasn't a Christian, it was all right. But so when I, when I, when he asked that question, I knew I had to say, I had to say it. So I said, "Dad, I don't go to church for music. I, I actually gave my life to Jesus, and I'm a Christian now." And I'll just, I'll, I don't only share. But a supernatural thing happened in that moment. This was an evening, um, and it, like, the next day was church, which is why it kind of, the conversation happened. Um, and he lost his voice immediately. Like, he asked me, "Don't you know you can go anywhere to play music? You don't have to play at church." And I responded how I did, and then he looked at me, and just enraged, but he lost, lost his voice in that moment, just like that. And you know how when you lose your voice, you just have a rasp? That's what happened. I don't understand what. Yeah, I don't know what you're saying. And it was kind of funny, but it wasn't. Um, he's, I, I could make out, he's like, "We're talk about this tomorrow." And so in the morning, and that gave me lots of time to pray, be ready for what was going to happen. But in the morning, he, he had his voice back, and he, he said, "If this is what you're going to choose, you're not my son anymore, and you leave everything that belongs to me here, and you can go." Um, now, I didn't say it that calmly, but that's what happened. And I, and I, and I realized that, okay, this is a big choice and I'm making, but I know God's gonna be there. He's not gonna fail me. And so I left. Um, and the church that I was going to, though they weren't perfect, they became my family. They became there for me. They helped me get a job, they helped me get a car, they helped me with everything. And, um, there's a few things that I, that I, that I highlight in my story that I believe is for everybody. One thing is that God wants a relationship with us. That he is pursuing us to for us to give our life to him so that he can speak to us. Because that's what happened. He came and he spoke to me, and he continued to speak to me. It wasn't just a religion in a book that I was coming from one to another. It was a relationship. Immediately, he began transforming me through relationship. Nobody told me what a Christian should or shouldn't do. It was all through relationship. Him saying, "Eli, would you let me have that? And would you trust me that I have something better for you?" Right? And the other thing is that God's design is family. He designed the church to be family, and we need each other. I don't know if I would have lasted very long if I didn't have the church become so close to me and help me out. Um, so, so that's a little bit of, of my beginning into, into this, into this journey. Um, and so I shared that with you guys just so you guys can get to know me a little bit before I start talking about other things. But, um, each one of you have a story, and you don't have to have a dramatic conversion or a wild history before Jesus. Like, you might have grown up a believer. You might have grown up with Christ being taught to you and, and shown and being experiencing in worship atmospheres like this, or, you know, whatever. And I wish that was my experience. I tell that to my kids all the time. I wish that was my experience, but it wasn't. But it doesn't make my testimony any less, or their testimony any less, right? So your story is your story, and it gives God glory when you share it. Amen. All right, so that's something that we're gonna talk about. What is evangelism? Evangelism, can we be interactive? Does it have to be good word? So, can you, what do you think of when you think of evangelism? I'll just repeat what you say on the mic so that people can hear. Just in, just in a, like, one word or two words, the first things that come. Evangelist. I think about Jesus. Just the word Jesus speaks to me about in my head. Yeah. It's all about the word Jesus. Jesus. Fantastic. Billy. Billy Graham. That's great. Phenomenal evangelist. Eli. Anybody else? Street Ministry. Street Ministry. Street Ministry. Okay. Sure. Sure. Do you, does anybody imagine somebody shouting with a Bible in their hand on the side of the street? Yeah. Does, does anybody imagine, uh, a sign, "Repent or go to hell"? The old man did. The old. You, that's, that's you still see it, I'm sure. But is, but my question is, is that, is that what you picture when you think of evangelizing or evangelism? No. Good. That's great. I hope not. I don't think it works. You know, God, God does use anything, and, and I don't know if we'll get to talk about that, but, but he really, he can use anything. And, and, um, um, I will say this, that was my first introduction to evangelism. Now, again, I came out of being unchurched. I didn't have a church background, and I got brought into it, and I just, I was, I was brought into a Baptist Church. And so the church that I had, the only, um, equipping that they gave me for evangelism was a book called Evangelism Explosion, which you might not have heard of it, but basically, it, it tells about, um, the Four Spiritual Laws, and basically about telling people how they're sinners and they need, their need for a savior, you know? And so you have to push sin in their face, make sure they know they're a sinner. And when you really get them riled up that they're sinners and they need a savior, then you share the good news. So that's what I did. I did that for about, about a year and a half or so. Um, and it, I, I don't, looking back, see it was, it was phenomenal. It, uh, it, it, it was what I noticed was people would, would, um, pray the prayer just to get me out of their face. They'd say, "Okay, sure. All right. Are we done? Thank you. I'm out of here." But that's not, that's not, that's not evangelism. So, evangelism, when we break it, break it down, is in essence, it is giving away what you have. Giving away what you've seen, who you've seen, who you know. It's just sharing who you know. That's really it. And it's super, super simple. If you know Him, then anything about what you know about Him, you are able and you have permission, and God wants you to give that away. And what does that look like? What was your name again? Daniel. Daniel. Daniel, what's your testimony? How did God you? Well, briefly, he pulled me out of my sin. Pulled you out of your sin. And he basically showed me that I'm loved. Showed you that you loved. Come on, that's huge. It's the love of God that draws us to repentance, right? And so, if that's, if that's your story, that's your, I mean, you, I'm sure there's details and all the other stuff, right? But to evangelize for you would mean telling people what God did for you. That's simple. And what happens? The Bible says in Revelation, it says that the, the, the testimony, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, which means that when, when you testify and you share your testimony with someone else, then it is prophesying that God will do it again. That God will do it again for that person. Every time I share my testimony, I am believing that God's gonna do it again to the person in front of me. You know, he wants to. Why did I pick these songs? Reckless Love, Cory Asbury, phenomenal, phenomenal song. The overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. It chases me down, fights till I'm found, leaves the 99. I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still you give yourself away. Jesus gave himself away as a, a wild sacrifice for people who hated Him. It says in, it says in John that, that He came to His own, and His own rejected Him. They didn't, they didn't receive Him. But to all those who do receive Him, will be called children of God, right? And so, in spite of the people who He came to rejecting them, Romans says that even while we were enemies, Christ died for us. Like, that's the wildness of His love. And that's what grabbed you, His great and mighty love. It grabbed you, and it pursues. Even when it already grabbed you, you might have already received and encountered His love, and, and maybe that was 10 years ago, and you've had times where you've forgotten or you've dismissed it, and you've walked back, back into darkness. And what does He do? He leaves the 99 and He fights till you're found. When we are faithless, He is yet faithful. Like, this is our God. This is His love. So I can know without a shadow of a doubt that I can go up to any person out there, and I know that the same way He chased me down, and He chased you down, and you down, and you down, and all of us, He is chasing them down, and He's waiting for somebody like you and me to just open our mouth and say, "Can I tell you something? Can I tell you something that happened to me? Let me, can I just share some good news with you?" People love good news, especially now when there's very little of it. But, but it's that simple. We can only give away what we have. And what do you have? You might only have your testimony, and that's enough. God is so big that He will use your fumbling and stumbling to get somebody. Now, I'll tell you, I'll tell you about some fumbling and stumbling. I was, I was, um, I was sharing, I was sharing in the mall, um, uh, and I didn't have a plan, didn't have anything that I was gonna do or say. And, you know what? Let me say it this way, not the mall, uh, but I do construction work. I'm, I'm a remodeler, handyman. And so I was at a customer's house, and it was not my plan to share anything with the customer that moment. It was my plan to get in, get out, and keep going. Sometimes we have days like that where we just, we're busy, and we're so focused on our time, our schedule, me, me, me. But God has other plans, and He does. So I'm, I'm finishing up. I finished the job. I'm, I'm just trying to be nice but get out, you know what I'm talking about? And, and so her name's Karen. Karen, um, begins to tell me about the surgery that she needs, like, soon. She needs, she's gonna have a surgery on her shoulder because she can't lift her shoulder beyond this, okay? And immediately I knew God is saying, "I need to pray for her." Why? Because I know what I have. He's given me the revelation that He's a healer, and He's healed me, and He's healed many people through the prayers that I've prayed for people. And so I know what I have, and He wants me to give away what I have in that moment, even though I'm in a hurry. Come on. Good. So I prayed a very, very, uh, unloving, unimpressive prayer. "God, would you please heal, uh, Karen? God, I know you will. So in the name of Jesus, be healed." Uh, all right, Karen, how is it? And remember, she couldn't raise her arm above this. She lifts it up way up. She's like, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I can't believe this. Wow." I'm like, "Yep. I know. It's amazing." 'Cause I wasn't in the mood. But I'm, I'm, I'm telling you, my point in telling you that story specifically is that it doesn't matter how loving you feel, how faithful you are, how generous you are, how many times you went to church that week. It doesn't matter. God is the one who's trying to pursue these people. And as long as you and I say, "Here I am," He's gonna use whatever comes out of your mouth. And you'll be surprised how, how you would be like, "Wow, that sucked. Like, I would never have gotten saved if somebody said that to me." But He'll use it. He'll use it. And He'll do wonders. I, there's been so many times where, um, I don't, I, I can't give you an exact story, but it's because it's happened so many times, I can't even tell you where I've said things to somebody, and it wasn't that great. Like, it really wasn't good. And I, I was just sharing my testimony, sharing Jesus in the best way I could. Um, and the person says, "I can't believe you knew that. I can't, can't believe you." And they tell me things that I didn't tell them. I'm like, "Well, praise God." But what was happening was God was speaking to them and translating whatever mumbling jumbling I was saying, and He was saying something else and speaking to their heart. You know what I'm saying? Has that ever happened to anybody? Like, literally, they said, "When you said this," and all I'm thinking is, "I never said that." Amen. But I didn't. I'm not gonna tell him that. Amen. But regardless, my, my, my intention to you this, this evening is to help you guys see that it's, it's so easy. It's so easy and simple because it has nothing to do with us. It has nothing to do with us. The burden and pressure that people feel in evangelism to, "Oh, you got to go out and preach to people. You got to win souls. You got to go save the lost. You got to go, go, go." That pressure and that, that burden, it's not yours. Why? Jesus said this, He said, "No man can come to the Father unless I draw him." Yes. So I can't headlock anybody in. I can't, noogie them in. I can't convince them. I can't do anything. I can't kick them in. I can't Bible hit them, man. I can't. But what I can do is I can trust the one who can, and trust that He actually wants to. And the same way He did it for me when nobody was there. I was in my room by myself, and He came to me. Like, I know that's my story, not yours, maybe. But, but that's our God. That's our God. And you could tell that to somebody else and say, "Man, I know He loves you because He reached that, uh, Muslim guy. Nobody was even there." This is our God. He wants more than you, more than me, to reach the lost. He'll give you a heart for Him if you let Him. But He wants to do it now. Why don't I sing my wife's song? I sing my wife's song because the words are, "My desire is to burn with passion in your love. A fire that can't be tamed, that is sent from above." If you see my wife, which I think you guys have, she, she lives this. This is who she is. But it's not her. Paul said in Galatians 2:20, he said, "For it is not I who live. I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives through me, in me, and through me, right?" You have nothing to worry about. You have nothing to fear. The fire and the passion, it's sent from above. It's the Holy Spirit in you who is going to go and do all the amazing things that you and I can't do on our own. Jesus said in John 14, or or 15, He said, "Abide in me, and I in you, and you will bear much fruit." He said, "Apart from me, you can do." Anybody know? No. No. Wrong. Nothing. Without Him. Nothing. Without Him. There. Go. That's right. We can do a lot of wrong without Him, but no, we can't do anything. It says, "Apart from me, you can do nothing." There is not one good thing that you and I can do in this world. That's why another part, Jesus said, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good." You know, this is something that I preached to people when I was trying to convince them that they're sinners, is that there's nobody good. Not any of us are good. But what is it? What's the core? It's not, we're not trying to convince people. They're, they already know their sins. We all know our flaws and our faults. We try to convince ourselves that we're good, but really, we already know that we are a mess, that we're broken. And most of the people out there, they know they need help. Amen. Amen. But even now, for us who know, in my heart, there's a flame burning with your desire. With the blow of your breath, I'm made a wildfire. You set me on fire. Won't be put out. Yes, Lord. You're fire. It never runs out. No, it never runs out. What's the point? The point in these, these songs, where, which I'm gonna show you, the theme is all the same, is it? God is the one who gets all the glory. He's the one who does it all. He's the one who wants to transform us. He's the one who puts His goodness, His kindness, His love, His mercy, His joy, His peace, all of it. He puts it in us. If there's any good thing you see in any person around here, from each other, it's from Him. It's amazing. Um, next song, "You Are the Light" song. I didn't sing this verse, but this is part of the song. "You Are the Light" song of my life. You always lead me. You are the voice inside. You are my love. No one before you. All that I am points to you. I was made by you. I was made for you. I am unfulfilled without communion. What does communion mean? Means co-union, together, oneness, oneness with God. We and Him together, continually in relationship, in in communication, in intimacy. That's communion. Without, I'm unfulfilled. My life isn't full unless I have communion, right? Since your love got a hold of me, I'm a new creation. I'm forever changed. And then the last song, "The Blood." Everything's changed. It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don't walk like I used to. I don't talk like I used to. I've been washed from the inside, from the inside out. Now, we're all smart people. This is, this is easy. It's God who changes us and transforms us. In three months, I was unrecognizable. All my friends said, "Who are you?" My dad said, "Who are you?" I was a different person. And I, I was only different because I was allowing God to transform me. The whole purpose of our life, I break it down in two things. This is what I genuinely believe is our entire purpose for being: it's to know Him and to make Him known. That's it. Which why am I saying that in this teaching about evangelism? Is because I can't go and evangelize if I don't first know Him. I need to know Him. I need to know what He's doing in me. I need to allow Him to do something in me. I need Him to change me. Now, don't let that be the, um, your hesitation. If you say, "I didn't have my quiet time this morning, so I can't go share Jesus with somebody today." He did something for you. He's, you've got a story. If not one, but maybe more. There's, there's nothing that can hold us back from telling somebody. I guarantee you, if you share somebody with somebody, even whatever you have, whatever it might be, maybe it's not your testimony of how Jesus saved you, but it's a testimony how Jesus healed you, or how He redeemed your situation, or how He restored a relationship that you have that was broken. Maybe it's how He, He, He brought something back to you that was lost, right? Whatever it might be, if you share that, you will find God's love put inside of you in a new degree. You will be aware of love in a, in a, in a different way. Why? Because as you give away what you have, what happens? Anybody know? Better. What is it? He gives back better. He gives back better. That's what Biden's trying to do, build back better. I trust God a lot more. Just kidding. But as you give away, He, He does, never, He never leaves us empty. If He truly lives inside of us, He's never gonna leave you empty. As you give away, He, you just made room for more, which is why you experience God in a new way when you give away whatever you've got. So when you share with somebody, whatever it is, me, your testimony, maybe you know, maybe it's your food, maybe you give away some food and you're generous, you give some. That's evangelism. When you give something, when you give what you have, that's evangelism. And you give the glory to God, you point people to Jesus, and you make Him known. We're gonna get in the Bible because I love, I, I know I've shared some scriptures, but we're gonna, we're gonna talk about, um, we go through in like an expository kind of way of 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Is this all right, Trina? Yeah, you're go for it, dude. I love it. Bring out a Bible during school. Should all have [Music] a. Okay. 2 Corinthians chapter 2, uh, verse 14 is where we're gonna start. All right. But thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. Through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. Wow. What is the fragrance? The fragrance is the knowledge of Him. When you go, wherever you go, whatever you do throughout your day, throughout your week, with your family, with your co-workers, with your church, with your, with people at, at a restaurant, wherever you happen to be, as you live your life, life making Him known, spreading the knowledge of Him, you're spreading the fragrance of Christ with people. Now, what, what is this fragrance and what is this talking about? 15, "For we are the aroma of Christ to God." This isn't about people. This is more than people. This is, this is ultimately to God. It's a, it's a worship to God. Romans 12 says, "To offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God." Right? What does that mean? It's, it's, it's a worship. It's an act of worship to make Him known. So would you evangelize by sharing about God? What He's done for you? Just, just sharing the knowledge of Him, talking to people about God, you're worshiping Him. You're sending up an aroma to God that's pleasing to Him. I know I stopped mid-sentence. Let's read that again. "For we are the aroma of Christ to God, among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." God knows, and unfortunately, we know that not everyone will be saved. There will be people who you waft this aroma around, and you share the knowledge of God with, that don't want to hear it. That's who the Bible is calling the perishing. Those who are perishing. And then you will also find those who want what you're talking about, about who need and feel the desperation of wanting this Jesus who you're talking about. I remember that I began getting phone calls and Facebook messages and just people reaching out to me from all over, from old friends, after they saw, after like two years, three years of me living a changed life. They saw that it wasn't a trend, it wasn't a fad, it wasn't some kind of new kick I was on. They said, "I saw who you were, and I see who you are now, and I want it. How do I get that? How did you change?" People will see you, and they will want what you have. They will want this. That's why it says, "Those who are being saved." They're being saved by witnessing you. Amen. "To the one of fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life." As we go from this life, and we go to a new life, new creation, new birth, right? So we're bringing people with us. We're drawing people into a new life as they see you, who you are, and, and not, not about you, but as you live the transformed life that God has done in you, you are a testimony of who He is. That's the knowledge of that's the good news. Is that make sense? The good news is that He came and He made a way that we could not just be left by ourselves in our own broken mess, but that we could be restored and brought back to a relationship with Him, brought back to what we were always meant to have in the very beginning in the garden. That all this mess and sin that has consumed us, that has entangled us, that has been what we thought is who we are and what we just, what we have to live. And He's brought us to something way better. A new life, free from all of that, free from the cares of this world, free from the worries of sin and darkness, free from the worries of money and provision, free from all the things that most people sit in bed at night and lay awake worrying and worrying and worrying. We're free. Why? This passage, many passages that we've died to that we're dead. "Whoever will lose their life for My sake will find it. Whoever will will try to save their life, they'll lose it." This is the gospel. The gospel is you die, but that's good because you don't want to live your life anymore. You want to live the life He's promised. This is the good news we want to share with people. And when they see this new life, and it's so foreign, like, "How do you, how do you go and and not care about what's happening right now? How do you, how do you have such peace when you see the news and you see all the bombings and the things that are happening and the terrible stuff that, that the left are doing to us?" Oh my gosh, how do you have peace? You should be more concerned. No, I don't, I don't think so. I'm concerned about one thing, and that's Him knowing Him and making Him known. And the more I do that, this world will experience transformation, just like He did for me. Amen. For we are 17. Oh, no, no. Um, "Who is sufficient for these things?" We are not. We're not sufficient. We can't do it. Praise God. In and of ourselves, we cannot. 17, "For we are not like so many peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ." Some say, uh, and this is a real saying, it's a real quote, and I don't want you guys to feel like it's not good, it's good, but they say, um, "to win as, as much as it's possible to win as many to the Lord." What is it? What is it? Um, but, and, and, and sometimes with words, preach as, as, as much as you can, and sometimes use words. I'm, it's my paraphrase. You guys recognize that? You know what I'm talking about? It's from Francis of Assisi. It's basically saying that, basically, live it. Don't, don't preach it. Live it. And I agree. But the Bible is clear that we have to use our words. We have to speak. We have to share. We have to open our mouth. It says, "Who, who, how will they know unless someone preaches?" Right? That's us. It's not the pastor. It's not Trina. It's everybody. All.

Of us all right. Like so many peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, you're not going to be known for what you share unless you do live it. You're not going to be known because you can't give away what you don't have.

If I start sharing my story, and it's really John, right? Daniel, Daniel, I'm sorry, and it's really Daniel's story, and I start sharing Daniel's story as if it's mine, it's not going to come with the same power. It's not going to be real. Does that make sense? That's what that's what Paul's talking about. Peddlers of God's word. People were sharing about God, but they didn't know him. They didn't actually know him. And so because of that, there was no sincerity, there was no authenticity, there was no realness.

We have a lot of that out there. There's a lot of people who will share and preach and do all this stuff, and then the next thing you find out they're sleeping with somebody that they shouldn't be. They're sleeping with their a secretary or whatever. Or, you know, there's things that are happening inside of the church, and you're like, what is going on? People from the world see it and they're like, I don't want that.

But what's the difference? The difference is when you who know God, you share what you know. You have sincerity, and that sincerity speaks volumes over anything that you try to puff yourself up for. If you try to act like you know God more than you actually do, it's not going to work. Just share what you have. Amen.

Amen. There's some stories I could tell you. Um, but I, I, I've done it before. I've tried. I've tried to to think that, okay, maybe, maybe if I, if I, if I tell a story that's really wild, that it'll grab somebody. And it doesn't. It just doesn't. It falls flat. But every time I've just locked eyes with people and just shared the rawness of my heart, of what God's shown me, and I just share it with them, man, you're loved. Man, he paid a price for you. I can see it. I can see that he cares about you. Man, he doesn't want you in this place. He loves you. Man, he loves you. What he did for me, he wants to do it for you. And I can look at every person, I can say that. And other things that God shows me because I know it, and it's real to me.

I don't want you to go and try to act like Trina. Amen. There's too many of us already that'll be strange. I don't want you to act like any cool Christian or person you are inspired by or person you are in influenced by. It's not your job. It's not going to work. You've got to be you. And that's how you will be this fragrance as you as you as you are living in with a sincere, pure heart, giving away what you have in the sight of God.

Um, all right, we're going to share this. I'm going to share this one thing. I don't know how much time we've got, but we supposed to be clearing up. No, no, no. You're good. What time is it now? Until 9. What's behind? You can have however long you want. We can fill it if you're well. We're going to take a break at some point because this is that's too long to just sit here. Yeah, do activations or whatever. That's awesome. And there's people on Zoom too. We can call on them also. Okay. Okay. Okay. We'll help. We'll help you with that part. Can you do an example of your, what you were just saying just a little bit ago in your ministry, but you see? Give an example. Yeah. Have D. Have D. Sure. Put you on a spot. But no, no, no. Absolutely not. Yeah. Like, like you're coming, like you're meeting on the street or something like that. That's great. That's great. So, so we're, we're going to give some. I'm going to give some practical things. But my, my, in giving, whatever I'm about to give you, I don't want you to copy. All right? I don't want you to try to think like, okay, I'm going to do it how Eli did it. No, no, no, no, no.

So I go up and I can say, hey Derek. Hey, man. I don't know you, right? So I won't know your name. So I'll say, hey, uh, how are you doing, man? Doing good. Doing good. Awesome. That's so cool. Grab that mic. Oh, we got to let's do that. Yeah, great idea. Two mics. So there's a switch on the side. A switch on the side. There you go. Now, awesome. Awesome. Great. So, um, something very simple. We've been talking about testimony, right? So very easy. You might be sitting next to somebody on a bus or sitting next to somebody at, uh, on a plane. Anybody riding planes? Yes. So, so if you're sitting next to somebody and they, they first sit down, you say something that's really easy is just being you and just being personable. You might not be a personable person. Maybe you're not an extrovert. That's okay, right? You can do. You can do something like this. It can look like this. Hey, man, how's it going? I'm doing pretty good. Doing good. That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, you know, before, before we go on this journey, or before I go, you know, we, we start watching our movie or whatever we're going to do, I, I really, I really have something on my heart that that I have. I can't just not say it. So I have to say it. I'm sorry. And that is that I believe God loves you so much, man, and he did something about it. And, and, and something that he did for me is, I, I believe he wants to do it for you. I was in my room by myself and Jesus came to me and he spoke to me and he said, Eli, if you give your life to me, I'll give you a purpose that'll last for eternity. And as soon as he said that, I said yes, and my life changed. And I believe that he wants that with you, man. He wants a relationship with you. Does that make any sense? Yeah. Yeah. Do, do you have that? If, if you already have that, man, that's awesome. Let's just pray because that would be great. But if you don't have that, man, I just really, I can't sit here next to you without making sure I've given you the opportunity to know him. I do have that. So do you have that? That's so cool. Praise God. Do you, do you, do you feel like you, you have people around you that, that, that can help you with your journey with Jesus? Yeah, I do. You do? That's awesome. Praise God, man. Would you mind if we just prayed anyway? Sure. Awesome. Let's just pray. Father, thank you for my brother Derek. God, I bless Derek. I thank you for his life. I thank you for what you're doing in him. And Jesus, even as I pray right now, I just ask for words for him specifically from your heart to encourage him. You said in the Bible to encourage your brother as is called today. So it's today, Lord. I want to encourage my brother Derek. Derek, I just feel like your heart has been aching for, uh, for more. And I just feel like God is answering that prayer. He's giving you the more. He's giving you opportunities to to step into doors that you didn't know were available to you. You maybe have seen others take the do, take other opportunities, but God is opening up specific things that, that are places only you can go. And I felt like God is saying that there, there is, there's people around you who, who have been waiting to hear you talk boldly about your faith, and they just don't know if it's sincere. It is sincere, and you know it's sincere, but they don't know it because you haven't opened your mouth yet. And I believe God is going to show up when you just open your mouth for those people, and you just tell them what you have. Amen.

Now, of course, we started in an airplane, and, you know, we ended with genuinely me trying to hear from God for Derek. And I don't know if any of that made sense, but that wasn't an act, you know? Um, but, but that's an example, you know? And please, as I share examples, this is not, okay, I'm going to do exactly that. Let me write that down. No, no, no, no, no. The principles, the ideas, the concepts of just starting and not waiting, that's huge. I've found it much, much easier to, to not wait. So if I go to a restaurant and I, and as soon as I walk in the door, and I know God wants me to talk to somebody, I don't wait. I don't wait till I have something to say. I don't wait till I think about what's, what I'm going to do. I just go. Because in the Bible, it says in Psalm 80, I think we can look it up later, but it says, open your mouth, and I will fill it. He's going to fill it. He's going to fill your mouth with exactly what to say to that person, and a plan, and a strategy. It's not you, anyway.

MH. Right. And so I might go into a restaurant and maybe, maybe the hostess. Come on, stand up. Maybe, maybe the hostess is like, hey, how many? You know, mic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Turn it on. Move over a little closer to you. All right. Come over here. Yes. You won't. She won't bite you. So, so she might, she might be ready to take me to, to the table. Maybe I'm with some friends. Maybe I'm by myself. But regardless, if I, if I feel the unction that I'm supposed to talk to that person, I'm supposed to share what I know, right then, it could come out a hundred different ways. But something that I will just start off right away is, hey, excuse me, before we get seated, I'm supposed to tell you something. And still, I have no clue what I'm supposed to say. But I just open up. I'm supposed to tell you something. You are so valuable. And, and I just feel like God wants you to know that he's missed you. He's missed you. And, and we're, we're still acting a little bit. So I'm, I'm going to say things like, she's not saved, you know what I'm saying? So I'm not putting this on you in the, in the present, but we're acting. So you're the hostess. So I might say, I just, I feel like God values you. He misses you. He wants you. And I feel like there's been a place in your heart that's longed for him too. There's a place that, that, that's in his heart is, is wanting me to tell you, the stranger, that he longs for you. And he was wanting to pursue you, to know you, and to have you in his family, to have you in his heart. Does this make any sense? Yes. Right. And, and, and I ask that on purpose. Does this make any sense to you? So that they can tell me where they are. Are they ready for more? Are they ready to say yes to Jesus? Are they ready to be brought into the kingdom through a prayer and through coming into community and coming into the family of God? Maybe they're not. Maybe it makes sense, but they're not ready. Does that make sense? And so, um, so I'll, I'll say that. You said it makes sense, right? That's amazing. How, how is your relationship with God right now? Pretty good. Pretty good. Act with me. What if it's not? Um, I need prayer. I need prayer. That's great. Maybe you need prayer for your spouse. Maybe you need prayer for your kids. Maybe you need prayer because you feel far from God. You know, anything could could happen as you go out and you start sharing with people. But know this, that every person that you're in front of and is in front of you is a divine appointment that God has set up because he knows that you are going to be faithful to share with that person. Is that says he will put people in your path who need him. And so, so you say, you say you want prayer. Okay, great. Great. I know we're about to get seated. You're going to seat us down. But, but before that, man, it's, it's not even important to me the meal and what we're about to have. I just want you to receive what he's got for you right now. So I'm going to pray. God, come. Empower over your daughter right now. God, fill her up. Show her her need for you and show her your desire to fill that need. God, bless her and show her, God, that this is real. Sometimes I'll even pray and wait. How do I do that? I'll say, Holy Spirit, I just, that you come. And I'll tell them, look, I'm not touching you. I'm not putting my hands on you because I don't want you to think it's me. Amen. Amen. Amen. And then I'll pray. God, come. And many, many, many times, he'll come in a way that they feel him. They actually tangibly feel his presence. Um, thank you. Praise God. Did great. Um, there's a story about that specifically. There was a restaurant that I went to, um, that, that, um, it ended up the, that the host was actually our waiter. And we went in and I, I immediately, I felt like, that's the guy. That's the guy I got to share right away because I know God, you have something for him. And so he, he comes, he's like, hey, here's your, here's your table, here's your menus, whatever. I'm your waiter, so I'll be back. And I said, listen, man, before you go, um, I just, I just had a word for you. Sometimes God speaks to me. I'm a Christian. I love God. And sometimes he speaks to me. And I felt like he had a word for you right now. Can I share that with you? Oh, sure. I guess you'll get some weird responses. And it's a weird thing. People aren't used to people saying this kind of stuff. So it's no problem. But I said, okay, well, what I heard was, and let me tell you, before I tell you what I said, I didn't actually have [Music] anything. It's a setup. I say that a lot of times. I'll say, listen, man, sometimes I hear God's voice because I'm a Christian and I love God. So I'll set it up like, like I'm, I'm genuinely just trying to share something good with you, you know? I'm, I'm not trying to, you know, headlock you into something. I'm not trying to sales pitch you something. I genuinely have something that I believe is good, that is the best thing you can hear right now. Does that make sense? You have to believe that. You have to believe that this is, this is good news you're going to share. Don't, don't think with anticipation that maybe, maybe they're just, they're not going to want to hear it. Don't think. Don't let those thoughts clap. They're going to come. The thoughts come because those thoughts aren't yours or God's. That the enemy is to try to stop you from doing what you're about to do. But the thoughts are, they're not going to want to hear. They're not going to care. They're busy. They're in their own world. They're doing this. They're doing that. They might already know God. They don't want to hear from you. Uh-uh. Doesn't matter. We give the fragrance of the knowledge of of God away like candy, like the sewer scatters everywhere. Doesn't even make sense. If you're a farmer, you don't scatter all over the place. But that's what the Bible says is like the kingdom. We scatter everywhere. So I go to this guy, I share exactly what I didn't have yet, but he filled my mouth. He said, I said, man, I just, I just feel like you are, um, the kind of person that, and that's, that's a great thing that I, I encourage you to, you could take that, you could steal that. I'll start with saying, I feel like you're the kind of person that, and I'll trust that God's going to fill in the rest before I have anything. Amen. And so I started sharing with him. I started telling him that, that, um, he's, he's been, uh, he's a great, this or that. And I, I honestly don't remember otherwise, I'd tell you exactly what I said. But, um, I said about his kids and the type of father he was. And I tell, I shared about like, just very specific things that I had no way of knowing at all. But I shared these things with him, and he starts crying. He starts feeling the presence of God. And he said, this is crazy, man. This is wild. But I, I just, I, I gotta go. And so he, he went. I was like, oh, I don't know if this is good. Maybe we'll get another waiter. But, you know, he ends up going and he comes back and he says, this is crazy, but I need this. You, you, how you knew that? I don't even know. But what I do know is this, this is for me. And that I need, I need to give my life back to God. And so he, he wanted to pray right there. We didn't even order food yet. He wanted to give his life back to God. We prayed. He gave his life back to God. And the whole dinner, we're discipling him because he kept coming back as our waiter. We kept sharing with him over and over. It was amazing.

Um, which, which to me, is a testimony of, of don't wait. If you've got something, you feel like God wants you to talk to a certain person, it's very easy to hear the thought, wait for the opportune moment. But many times, that's an illusion. There is no opportune moment. The best time is now. Now, if the Holy Spirit tells you wait, you know, obviously, if they're, they're going to the bathroom, you don't want to bust in the bathroom and, you know, tell them about Jesus. But for the most part, if you feel is leading you to to speak to somebody, bam, don't wait. Just go for it. Too many times I've been out with people in the same situation, and they feel like they're supposed to talk to somebody, but they wait till after the meal, after the check, after the tip, and then they're going to talk to them. And sometimes they're gone, and it's too late. The window closed. Does that make sense? And we only have a window sometimes to obey. And we want to do it right away.

Um, what time is it? Is that the real time? Yeah. So it's 7:45. Yeah. Okay. Let's go. Let's go, uh, till, um, 10 more minutes. And then, and then we'll, we'll take a, we'll take a 10-minute break. You guys can go to the bathroom, drink some water. Is that all right? Sounds good. Okay. Cool. So, um, some other, other ways, practical things. Very easy is, um, you came up. You came up, Daniel. Come on up. Yes. Yes. Of course. Is it on? Is it on? Hello? No, no. Now it's on. So, you know, I know a lot of people who, they're not extroverted. And so for, for a lot of reasons, I, I don't know. Sometimes I'm extroverted, sometimes I'm introverted. I don't know what I am. But regardless of whatever personality you feel like you are, you don't have to put yourself in a box when it comes to evangelism. You don't have to be the, the small talker. If that's you, man, be the small talker. Do it. Don't, don't, don't try to be something else. But one of the things that I really value when somebody comes to me, and what I believe lots of people value, is directness. And just getting straight to the point. If you want to share something with somebody, don't, don't beat around the bush. MH. Just do it. Just share something with them. You'll get better. So a lot of times I'll go up to somebody and maybe, maybe we'll be walking and I'll see them coming up and, and I'll, I'll, I'll just stop and I'll say, hey, hey, excuse me. Excuse me. I know you're, I know you're walking here and I'm walking there. But, you know, I'm a Christian. My name's Eli. And, and, and I just, I wanted to share some good news with you. Can I do that? Uh, yeah, that'd be great. Awesome. Awesome. Man, well, well, some good news. Something that happened to me that I believe is relative to you is one time in my life, I did not know God. And in my room, he met me and he changed my life. I was an alcoholic. And every day I drank alcohol. And then after I met him, he changed my life. And he gave the, he, he took the taste for alcohol out of my mouth. And it was gone, completely gone. And I believe that's what he wants for you. He wants to take, take something that you've been struggling with that's been holding you back and take it out of you. Does that make any sense? Is there anything that you're struggling with? Yeah, man. Uh, this is all fake, by the way. Well, it's kind of personal with me, but yeah. Um, I've been struggling with, uh, I get, I've been going to these gentleman's clubs and, uh, I'm married and I'm not doing well with my wife. You know, we're not seeing eye to eye. And somebody told me I should take a walk, talk to God. And I didn't know who God was. And, and this makes perfect sense to me, man. That's amazing. That's amazing. Well, thanks, Daniel, for sharing that. I know that's really tough to share. That's really, really intimate things and, and private stuff. But, you know, I, God sees that and he knows your heart. He knows you don't want to be there. And God can help take you out of that situation and break that addiction of of lust off. Is that something you want to be rid of? Man, I really do, man. That's amazing. That's amazing. I once was bound in that too, and God set me free. And I want to pray that for you. God, that, or, uh, Daniel, that he would take that from you. So, can we pray right now? Yes. Absolutely. All right, man. Well, Father, just thank you for Daniel. I pray freedom over Daniel in the name of Jesus. I speak the blood of Jesus to cover and wash and clean to cleanse his heart, to cleanse his mind, that all those memories of the terrible things and the images of women in, undressed, and all those things would be removed from his mind. And that you would fill his heart with what's clean, and what's pure, and what's holy, and what's healthy. God, that you would show him the purpose of how you designed women. And that he would be a redeemer of women, or just a, a, a man who carries, uh, justice in his heart to to save and to seek the, um, the redemption of those women who are trapped in that, that industry. Father, thank you that Daniel is one who's not, not afraid to, uh, to share the, the, the vulnerable things in his heart. So, Father, I bless him for his humility and for his vulnerability in the name of Jesus. Amen. Daniel, do you feel anything? And I'll pause. We'll do that. I'll pray and I'll ask people, do you feel anything? Do you sense anything? Because I don't want to just rush away. I don't want to leave the conversation prematurely. I want to, I want to hear what's going on. I want to see what God's doing. And I want, I want to bless what God's doing. If God touches somebody in a way that I might not have perceived it, maybe Daniel was feeling the fire of God as we were praying. Maybe he was feeling something icy in his stomach. Maybe he, maybe he was feeling some demonic stuff. Maybe he was feeling like some pain traveling in his body. I want to know that so that I can do all the things that God wants me to do in that moment. Does that make sense? So I ask, how, how are you feeling? I know we just prayed. And I'll even say that sometimes God does stuff when I pray. So did anything happen? I'm going to be myself right now, but it's also going to be acting. Uh, God reached. There was God's hand was reaching out and holding my heart. He's holding it. Come on. Come on. That's amazing. Can I just bless that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, Father, thank you for holding Daniel's heart. God, show him even more. God, increase it. Double it. God, let his whole body experience you holding him, that he is safe, he is protected, that he is caught up in your arms, that he is seated in heavenly places. There's nowhere he can go. If he makes his bed in, in, in hell, if he places himself on a mountain, that you will not be, uh, that you will be far away from him. God, you will be right there. So in the name of Jesus, right now, hold Daniel. Touch him now in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. That's awesome, Daniel. Praise God. Amen. Come on. That's awesome. So you really did feel that though? Yeah. The last, the last one was real. Yeah. That's awesome. And at the, and come on, Jesus. He, he put a crown on my head. He was, there was all these angels. Like, and, and surprisingly, there were, there were women angels, but I wasn't like attracted to them. They were just pouring oil over me. And there was, they were pouring like, and there was a crown on my head. Praise God. That's incredible. Things will happen when you pray. You know, it's not me. It's God. It's his desire to seek and save the lost. It's his desire to redeem souls and bring them back into a place that they've never imagined that they could ever be in. The wild. I didn't know I would have this life that I have now. And most of you, probably when you were redeemed and God saved you, maybe, maybe you have some wild stories. But God has taken us and brought us somewhere where it's like, wow, I don't deserve this. I should be dead, but I'm here. That's what he wants to do with everybody that we walk by, everybody that we see. He wants to take their life. No matter how hard they look on the outside, no matter how independent they seem, they all have a desire and a desperation that God is drawing them and wooing them to himself. And he's just waiting for somebody to be bold enough to open their mouth and let him do the supernatural thing and win them over. Amen. Go take a break. Take a bre. Me. Yeah, you too. I was going to say, if anybody had any questions or something. Oh, yeah. You want to do that? Yeah. It doesn't have to be on. Well, we have students on. On. Do they have questions? Anybody? Does any of the students have questions for you? Have to be on Zoom unless you can text me. If you don't have my number, you can't text me. And actually, if you don't have an iPhone, you can't reach me either. Sorry. Yeah, you can. One. Do you guys have any questions? None. Comments. Thoughts. Is any of this new? Or is this all things you've heard before? Go ahead. Well, I have a problem with being bold. I feel like I need to be more bold and speak up more. Okay. Amen. Amen. Amen. Daniel, am man, is in. That's your problem too? Or no? She needs. I agree with that. That's something confirmed. Yeah. Did you reach out? Anybody? Can you share that Ice Fest? Yeah. Ice. Can you stand there? Be with you? Yeah. Come on up here. She'll help you. Yes. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Yeah. So, so where did we go? We, we walked on Main Street during the Ice Fest. And, um, just, um, asked people, um, like if there was anything that they were dealing with. Do you get a word of knowledge though? Didn't you? Didn't you get a word of knowledge? What was it? The neck? Or what was it? Um, well, first it was stomach issues. Okay. And, um, I actually ran into somebody there that, that I knew from Overflow Church. You have? Yeah. Just, just say a friend. A friend. And, um, and I got to pray for her. Um, and she was having stomach issues. So, and that was awesome. Yeah. So, um, we walked past a guy and I asked, asked him if he had a problem in his, I think in his hip. And he said yes. And he was in the, he was in the military. And, um, I think in the Vietnam War, injured his hip. But he wouldn't let me pray for him. But I didn't force myself on him, you know? That's the key is just to know where they are and say, you know what, I just bless you. And he's like, you know, I don't want any part of your religion. And it's like, you know, you just accept it and you walk on. And just pray for him as you walk away. Like, God, touch your son. Cuz you gave me a word for him. Let his hip be healed. Like, you know, it's not just for, you know, people that we pray for. I'm believing that God can show up even when we're walking away. His hip can get healed. That's what's going to talk to his heart. Is watching his hip get healed. And he knows that I got that word. And I didn't know that he had a hip problem. And he knows that it was from God. So, you know, that's up to God. Like, he just gives me the word. And it's up to God to do the work. And, and my friend, um, came to me one Sunday, uh, and said that she's no longer having stomach issues after I prayed for her. Sweet. Come on. That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you. That's so cool. I think Tina has a testimony. Are you guys have testimonies? Yeah. Do. No. Next week. You got a testimony next week? Next week. Yeah. Yeah. Come on up. So last week, I was a little bit, kind of a little bit in the dumps. The conversation we that was having. Little y. Okay. Yeah. And, uh, so I think people here. Oh, okay. Have to set it up here. Okay. So Friday, I went to see a friend of mine who was in a real, real rehab. Rehab. There we go. And, uh, I was just talking to him and ministering to him a little bit. And we were talking about the, uh, some tattoos and stuff. And I was giving him an example, you know, a friend of mine had a him and his wife got ring tattoos. And he was telling me that, you know, what after thinking about it, you know, I don't really want the tattoo on my ring or my finger. And I said, well, how about viewing it this way? You have a permanent ring on your finger. You're the bride of Christ. You do not plan on departing from him. You don't plan on divorcing him. You put that on your finger as a statement. You are committed to Christ. And he goes, okay. So I was telling my friend this. He's pretty conservative, you know, about the tattoo ring. He goes, well, maybe I need to go get a tattoo ring on my finger. So, and, um, so on the way home, you know, I called him up and I was like, man, you just uplifted me too. Cuz I was, you know, down to the dumps a little bit. But having a conversation with you, you just lifted my spirits. Just being with you and, you know, praying for you. And, uh, and just by me giving him that statement, uplifted his spirit too. So we lifted each other up. And yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Tina, do you have one? Sure. Yeah. We were at, went out to eat for some breakfast. I think that was on Monday morning. And I kept looking over this lady who was kind of sitting like across from us. And I kept saying, all right, God, what do you have for this lady? I'm thinking, okay, she looks like a grandma. So I'm thinking, what is a grandma? She's usually like, sweet, loving, caring. I'm like, okay, all right, all right. So went over and told her that. And she's like, her, she let out the biggest smile. She's like, oh, give me a hug. So I gave her a big hug. And then I was talking to her a little bit later on. And I asked, she said, told me what her name was. Oh, my goodness. That was the same name as my grandmother also. So I was like, she got blessed. And I felt like I got blessed too. Because just we just reaching out and her, and I touched her day. And she touched mine back. Come on. Jesus. Oh, yeah. We, yeah. I'll share another one. And we went into the grocery store. And I was like, I heard God said, ask her to buy her back. Okay. All right. Um, you have a problem with your back? May some pain or something? She's like, yeah. I'm like, can I pray for you? So I just, right there, just reached out. I did touch her. I just, sometimes I touch, reached out for her hand. Sometimes I don't. So I reached out for her hand that time. And I prayed for her. And I'm leaving her back. He's going to get healed. She didn't say she felt any different after I prayed for her. But we're going to believe she was touched because God gave me that word to ask her about her back. Come on. Sweet. Yeah. So, um, we, we want to impact the community. And anyone that wants to join us, we're going to try to go out every morning. And I feel like we got a short time to make a difference before things may or may not change. And we feel like that in that process, we can dump the hell out of the enemy in the process. And we're going to go down into this neighborhood. We're, and we're, we're going to go. I think over to this other neighborhood. And whoever we can reach, we're going to reach. And I'm not one to do door-to-door. So, um, I'm going to get stretched. But I have this, I had this dream. And, and we need some people to come alongside of us and do this. Okay. So I had a dream and Randy Clark was in it. And he taps me on his shoulder. And he said, you know, and I turned around, and we knew each other in the dream. I think he actually represented God, God in it. Not just, you know, our Father figure. And he said, hey, I want you to perfect that, um, evangelistic outreach tool that you have. And I'm like, um, okay. And I have one, but I haven't really perfected it any. I haven't really used it a lot yet because you need a couple people to do it instead of just one person. You know, I guess I can walk around 12 times and write down and forget what I saw the first time or the second time. Or, but what you do, I could try that. We could do that. So what you do is you walk around the neighborhood, just prayer walk. That's non-threatening, right? You can walk. We can all go walking. Just take your phone or whatever, you know, and, and, and just jot down like, God, show me something for some of these houses. And write down the house numbers or the business numbers. And watch God give you prophetic word or a word of knowledge or something where they need healed or they need set free or God talked to them about something specific. And then if you have a group of a large group of people or you know, more than one, you know, go back and worship and actually like look at each other's notes and see if you have two, two or three of the same place. Then go back to that place and watch God show up and show off and heal those people and set them free. And I believe that that's what is going to break some things open in this area. So I'm praying that we can get some people to come around here and help us do that. So you ready to jump in again? Sure. You're good. I think this is a good one. The one that you're doing now. Oh, this is [Applause] oh, thank [Applause] you. I have a question. You do have a question? Oh, yeah. You get a mic? Or well, go up and stand beside you. So when you have this situation where you feel God prompted you to pray for someone, and then it gets really awkward because, like, I can remember one time I was sitting on a plane and I felt prompted to talk to the person that was beside me and to pray healing for him. But when I prayed in Jesus' name, and we were done, he was from a different faith. Didn't really completely buy into that. Now, he didn't get offended or anything like that, but he just, like, mentioned that. And it's really awkward because then where do you go from there? Like, whenever you, you know, it was God, you know, you were prompted by God to to pray healing over them. You feel like they got, they were getting something from it, but it's almost like they renounced it because they didn't, because you prayed in Jesus' name. Do you ever had that happen? Yes. Yes. So that's, there's, there's a few things that I want to talk about that, that, um, will answer that situation. Can I say something real quick? Um, the question first. Yes. Let's, let's answer this question first while, while it's fresh in my mind. What to say. All right. Um, so, so first of all, awkward. Awkward in general happens, whether they received Jesus's name in the prayer or not. And, and so sometimes the awkwardness comes from, from what happens after, right? So the plane, for instance, is a very common situation where, especially if you're doing like what I'm encouraging to do, which is right off the bat, don't wait, right? Some of the reasons that we wait is to avoid the awkward. We try to avoid the awkward by being, being slick and saying, oh, before we go, can I pray this real quick? Quick? And then you pray, and then you bolt, right? Um, but let me tell you, let me tell you what I feel like God told me about this, this concept, and that is, there is no such thing as awkward. Awkward is the same thing as intimacy. Let me tell you what I mean by that. So you will initially maybe feel a sense of awkwardness, but it's just the wall that you have to push past to get into the room of intimacy. An intimate moment. Let me, let me paint a picture. We were here worshiping right now. The difference between awkward and intimate is your perspective. I could be right here and I could be encountering God, and I could be going after it, and I could be wailing and curling up in a ball and just go, just going wild, experiencing God, and just letting it all out. Would you say that's awkward in my shoes? Or would you say that's intimate for me, between me and the Lord? That would be intimate. Right now, someone else next to me who's not experiencing God, not encountering him, not knowing anything about what's going on, doesn't even believe in Jesus. What would they maybe be feeling? Awkward. Same room, same atmosphere, same moment. The difference is perspective. They're not engaging with God. They're not experiencing him. They're not, they're not stepping past that, what's currently going on in the awareness. You know, we have this thing called self-awareness. And it's, it needs to die. Amen. Self-awareness is you are aware of yourself or your surroundings so much that you get self-conscious. You get self-focused. You get self-centered. What do I do? What are they going to think about me? What are they going to see me as? Well, how are they going to see me? What should I do to act like I'm still believing? To act like I still love them? To act like, now you've crossed a threshold. You've crossed the boundary where you are no longer doing it from the heart of love. You're no longer, you're no longer representing God. You're representing you. And you're trying to save face. That's ultimately what we're doing when we're trying to save the moment or leave early or get out of this situation when it's awkward. So right off the bat, I want you guys to, I want to encourage you to remove awkward from your vocabulary. To delete it. And think of every moment that, that feeling, because it's going to be the same feeling that would have been awkward, and embrace it and recognize it that this is a potential intimate moment. Right now. Does that make sense? So that's, that's the first thought in response to that question. Because awkwardness will come in many situations, not just when they don't receive the name of Jesus after you pray, but more specifically, what, what do you do when they are of a different faith, which didn't know, maybe you did know, and you pray in the name of Jesus, and then they, they try to reject it or shake it off? Okay, well, let's think about that. Did what you pray have anything to do with them believing or not believing in the name of Jesus? No. Is our prayers based on our faith or the person we're praying for, his faith? It's based on ours. It says these signs will follow those who believe. It doesn't say these signs will follow those who are getting prayed for believe. It's those who believe. So you believe in Jesus. You believe that God's going to answer your prayers. You believe that that person's going to encounter God. Why? You could say, well, the prayer of a righteous person avails much. Or you could say, God just loves them. He wants them. He wants to reach them and grab them. Which both answers are true. Because the prayer of a righteous person avails because they know God's heart and they pray God's heart. And because they pray God's heart, God follows through on their prayers. Does that make sense? So if it has nothing to do with him, if it has nothing to do with whether he receives or denies, then when he says, I don't believe in Jesus, I think that's a bunch of whoie, or I'm Muslim and I'm not, I, I believe he's a prophet, he's just a man, um, but I don't believe in God and, and that he is God, and I definitely don't pray to him. And what do you do? First of all, this is a moment for intimacy, right? Because it's not awkward. Is it? It's just someone who God is seeking, and they are genuinely trying to brush him off from his pursuit of their heart. So you have to see it for that. And so I, I would say, man, I, I am not sorry because the God that I know and the God that I love, and I know he's real and he's pursuing you, is the God I prayed to. And he's going to do it in your life. And I know you don't believe him now, but I promise you, you will see it change. You will see whatever we just prayed for happen because he loves you. And it's going to, he's going to do this to draw you to himself because that's what he says. And then I would, I would probably tell my testimony because that's what I have. And I want you guys to get as fluent in your own testimony as humanly possible. Let it be ready on your lips to share because no one can argue with your story. They might not believe in the Bible. They might not believe in someone else's story. And they can argue this, well, it was, wasn't written, you know, by who they say it was written by. It was, it was, you know, changed and this and that happened to the Bible. So I don't believe it. All right, no problem. But can I tell you what God did for me in my life in reality? I would love to tell you. He changed my life. I was an alcoholic and now I'm not. I was lost and now I'm found. I was blind and now I see. You can't argue with it. The Pharisees, when the blind man was healed, and they, they were like, well, well, maybe you're lying. Maybe you weren't born blind. Let's get your parents in here. Was this man born blind? Oh, yeah. He was born blind. Oh, yeah. Well, uh, well, what do you have to say for yourself? I told you already. I once was blind and now I see. That's all I know. And that's us. Nobody can argue with your story. And so no matter

what happens, no matter what awkward thing happens, you have to stay locked in to who God is in your life. That the the reason you're sharing isn't to gain anything out of that person, so you're sharing unconditionally. So here's another test. I don't know if I the Lord showed me this or if I heard this from somebody else, but now it's it's stuck with me, and that is that if you pray for somebody and you leave that conversation, that prayer time, that encounter, and you end up walking in the same direction, if you feel it's awkward, something's wrong. Does that make sense? It should be good if they walk in the same direction, because then you can keep going, you can keep sharing or keep talking talking to them. It doesn't even have to be you talking; it could be you questioning, asking, "Hey, you know, you got any kids? What do you work? You've been here a long time." Because love cares about people. That's why this whole introvert extrovert thing, like I I don't like the labels because if God's love is in you, it says that it says that if you hate your brother, then the love of God's Not in you and you don't know God. But if you love your brother, then the love of God is in you and you and you know God, and we do know God, and if we know God then we will love people, and if we love people then it looks like something. It looks like, man, I get to keep walking with you, I get to keep sharing or at least learning more about you, right? Does that make sense? So we we want to another another part of that, um, just these are real practical things. Like I'm try I'm trying to share practical things because a lot of this stuff you you get taught about the love of God, you get taught about you know evangelism, but what does it really look like? To me, it would look weird if it's just another notch in your belt. When you pray for somebody, if it's just another number. I hate numbers. The numbers aren't bad. We do we do share numbers at Global Awakening and in other places because we want to give God glory for numbers, but names matter more to God than numbers, stories matter more to God than numbers. I mean numbers are in the Bible, so he cares about that too. But um when I when I engage with somebody, if they don't walk away, I don't walk away. Let me say that different way: if if Daniel and I are talking on the street and it's my job to share with them Jesus, and and I'm sharing with them because God told me to share, and and and he just stands there. Okay, I got to tell you a real real story. This is this is a few times, many times actually, but I I'll give one one in specific. I've had I've had time where a time where this guy, um, I was like, "Hey, can I can I share Jesus with you? You know, can I can I share with him you what he did for me and and just how much he loves you? Can I share with you the good news?" Like you can literally ask those questions. Those are real questions that I tell people, and you might be like, "How do you how do you ask that? You can't ask people that, that's crazy." It has nothing to do with your words. Say it again: it's God who draws all people to himself. So if that's the case, I can start however I want to start. I can start however he starts through me, right? So sometimes it's, "Hey, can I share Jesus with you?" And so I did that with this person, and this guy, big guy, tough looking guy, he's like, "No." But he didn't move. He didn't do anything. He didn't go anywhere. I was like, "Okay, well, can I pray for you for anything?" "Nope." He didn't move. He's still standing right in front of me, looking at me. Like, okay, well, I'll just prophesy to him, because I'm giving away what I have, right? I can pray for him for healing. I can pray for him for whatever he wants to pray for. I can know how to hear God's voice as you guys do or will you'll learn this, because Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice." So I said, "All right, well, I'll just tell tell him some things that I'm heing. Man, I just feel like like like you're the kind of person that..." and I shared some things, and he's like, "That's true, that's right." Like, man, this is what's up. It's not me. I don't know you. God told me that 'cause he knows you and he loves you and he wants a relationship with you. Can I pray for you now? It's like, "Yeah, yeah, you can pray for me." So Trina mentioned earlier, you if someone resists and they really don't want it and they show it by walking away, fine, let them go, pray for them, it's okay. But if someone's standing there and they don't want to leave, their their mouth might be saying no, but their spirit is saying, "Please, please give me." Does that make s? So you have to recognize when to push through, and um, and yes, that could have been awkward, but I'm I'm leaning into the intimacy that it can be God. This this guy's not moving. Lord, let's try another door, let's open, let's how about this door? And sometimes one of them will open, sometimes none of them open, and and and then they walk away, and I'm like, "Okay, well God, you you do it," and and you know what I'm saying? It's not on you, it's not about you. Um, there so many stories. I want to share some more uh specific ones that that came to my mind, but you shared that question, and that's what brought that on.

Now Daniel, you said you had something. Hold on, here you go. Um, God put on my heart uh the word water or swimming pool or um swimming. Somebody besides me, my wife in here, he told me that they find peace or maybe last summer or whatever, they found peace at the bottom of a swimming pool, like away from the chaos, whatever. And uh God told me to say that that same peace that they experienced only in a swimming pool, they can experience every single day whenever they want. Amen. Yeah, actually Daniel, can you pray into that? Yeah, um, pray for that person. Lord Jesus, I don't know who this person is, but I pray that they open their heart to you and realize that there's that your peace is more powerful than just the peace that from from the world. That the same peace they they feel at the bottom of that swimming pool, that your peace is every day and constant, it never stops, and they can get it any time they want. I pray that they come to you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Now this is Faith, and this is the life that we're called to live. It says we walk not by sight but by faith. If that's true, every single thing that we're supposed to do in God is not going to be without doubt, it's not going to be without a question mark. Like, is that true? Was is it really somebody who feels that? Is it really somebody who has that feeling of peace and they were in a swimming pool and all this stuff? We will never know until we share. You'll never find the answer to that question if what you're sensing is God or not unless you share. Amen. So you've got to be willing to share every single time, and you know what's going to happen is that God will begin to make your he it's a crazy thing. There's actually a a a verse in the Bible, I don't it's in one of the Minor Prophets, where it says that um God fulfills the words of His prophets. God fulfills the words of His prophets, which it's coming from the other perspective, it's coming from the other side. The prophets can speak something and God will fulfill it. Sometimes it's not you hearing God and then sharing what you heard. Sometimes it's you being so connected with him that even before you heard anything, before you you know it's God, you just speak it out believing that because you are you share his heart, you share his love for people. You're not asking for something weird. You're not speaking out you know a mansion on the Hills. You're not speaking out a Bentley for your your fifth car, you know that's ridiculous. You you speak out things as you're connected to him and as you know him, and your desire is to make him known. And so whatever you're speaking out is for that endeavor. Why would God not fulfill it? Why would God not show up? Ah, yes, that's why I I wanted he brought this back to my mind what I was I was going to share this. The gospel, it says these signs Will Follow The Gospel. When we preach the gospel, these signs will come, signs of Miracles and healing, you know, amazing things happening, right? Supernatural stuff. We were out, um, we were out at a uh at a bar, 'cause that was the only place that was open, um, and we were hungry, and it was me and my son and a few other friends, and we went to a bar, and it was it was a pretty pretty wild bar. They had a band playing, and they were old people dancing and going wild, and I was like, "This is great, this is a great place." Um, but because I had my son with me and there was another young boy, we didn't go inside. Well, we couldn't go inside, we weren't allowed. Um, so we waited outside, but they had food, so we got the menu, we ordered, and we lingered. And finally after like 40 minutes, the food came out, but I knew that God had something for the lady who brought us the food. So I asked her, "Hey, listen, can I can I share something with you?" And in fact I I put somebody on the spot, which you have freedom to do that to each other. I said, "My friend has something he wants to share with you." And and he he just he didn't have anything but the gospel. All he had was the Gospel. That's the first, that's the only thing he thought of in that moment to share. And so he said, "Listen, I I I don't know if you've heard this before, but I just feel like you're supposed to hear that God came and he came as a man to live a life and to die on the cross to bury your sins with him and then rise defeating them, so that you can know him and have a relationship with him, and he wants that with you, and he he's desperate to have your heart, he's desperate to be inside of you and to live in you and to live TR triumphantly." And then he started prophesying, and say, "Uh, no wa," yeah, he said, "I I feel like you you were in a church, you were raised in church that didn't talk like this, and what they taught was very hard and strict, and it didn't feel free." And and she she's like, this this is a bar, she's like tatted up, she's got like she's she's like a strong woman, I don't know how else to describe it's like independent, um, and tough looking, you know. But either way, she's she's nodding, agreeing to what as as he's sharing. Um, and then as soon as he stops, I say, "And because he shared this with you, God told me that the pain in your back is going to leave right now in the name of Jesus." And she jumps back, she's like, "How did you know that?" And it was gone just like that. I said, "Because God wants to make this gospel real to you. He's going to heal this." And I'm telling you this because we're talking about sharing a word that you may not know is real or not. I had no clue, like I I honestly I didn't. Let me say it this way: I didn't ask him for a word. I wasn't looking to find a word. I wanted the gospel to be made real to this lady so that she would believe that this is bigger than words. Amen. And so it was my desire. I knew if I just speak whatever I speak, whatever ailment, whatever issue, I can just say it and God's going to fulfill it. He's going to make it true. That might sound crazy, might sound Blasphemous, but I guar this is how it works as you gain his heart and you gain his heart for the lost. And it's not I'm not looking for any Glory or credit with this woman. She'll never see me again. I just want her to see that this is so true and real. And I know my God is a god of Miracles, so I'm going to share with her that I I'm just going to speak a random part on her body. "Your lower back is in massive pain right now, and you can't you can't bend over, and I and and God is going to heal you right now because he wants to prove to you that this gospel that he just shared with you is real." And that's exactly what happened. She got healed. She was blown away. So blown away that she walked away. She was she was in tears. So obviously something happened happened, and she was in tears, and she could she didn't have words, she didn't have words. This is at a bar at 2: in the morning, full of drunk, smoking weed people all over the place. This is the last place anybody expected something like that to happen, but it did, because God leaves the 99 for the one. If he can use you, he wants to. If he can't use you, then he'll go straight for him by himself, like he did for me. But it's better to be used by him. But she walked away crying, touched. And I want to sh I'm sharing that story with you because I want you guys to grasp the the reality of knowing him. This is you can't have that kind of faith without knowing him. You can't get that without without being alone with him, knowing his heart, knowing his desire to seek and save the Lost, knowing his desire to to make himself real to people.

In my journey, I I I told you I started out with just telling people how much of a sinner they were. I didn't know anything about healing. I didn't know anything about prophecy. I didn't know any of that stuff, but I used what I had, and God used me. He continued to grow me, he continued to share with people, and I don't doubt that any of the things that I shared with those people, 'cause it was genuine, it was sincere for me. I was sharing exactly what I have. God wasn't using it? I believe he was using it, even though I didn't see very great fruit. How do I know that my seeds weren't harvested later by somebody else? Does that make sense? Your stumbling and fumbling now might be a harvest later that you won't ever know about out until you enter those Gates and God says, "Look at this person. Remember when you thought that didn't matter? Remember even you prayed for this person and they walked away, and they said that in the name of Jesus they don't agree with that? Here they are. Thank you for being obedient." Serious. What you think isn't real or isn't happening, don't discount it. Don't dig up that seed and say, "Oh, that didn't happen, so it didn't didn't mean anything." God's word does not return void. We've heard that before. It's true. Let me share a story about that specifically. My my buddy that did the drugs with me, that did you know he got me into them actually, his name is Ben Dolby. Great um, great bad friend. Um, and he he would have been the one who you'd be like, "He'll never get saved. He's never going to know God. He would never." Because he was just bad, just super bad, always getting in trouble, getting kicked out of school, always doing just just terrible, just awful. Um, his parents didn't care. They did they let us do drugs in the house with them, and like just a terrible situation. Maybe you guys know some people like that. And I get saved. Time goes on. I'm sharing on my Facebook all the things God's doing and whatever. I I'm boasting in the Lord and just giving him glory testimonies. Um, he's he's seeing it. People see Facebook. People people see you on there. And so end up um like three four years after I'm saved, haven't talked to him in long long time. He calls me or no, he messages me on Facebook and he says, "Hey, hey, can we talk?" "Yeah, of course." I'm thinking, "You want to talk to me? You know what I'm about now? That's great. Let's talk." And so uh I call him. We we talk. And he tells me this story. He says, "Eli, I don't know if you knew this, but but uh you know I I didn't actually know what happened to my dad when when I was growing up. I was told that he got in a car accident and he died, and that was it. But I didn't know that when I was born, he he didn't want me so bad that he wanted to die himself. So he got in his car and he went and he killed himself because he didn't want me that bad." And when he when he learned that, he told me that he he found that out like not that long ago, like from that conversation, not that long ago. So he didn't know that all of his life. He just thought his dad just died. He just didn't have his dad. But when he was told that his mom finally told him that, it wrecked him. It just it just destroyed him. He broke. Um, and he was just in this terrible terrible desperate state. And he said he went to Walmart, and out of nowhere some random person came up to him at Walmart in the parking lot and said, "Excuse me, man. I I know this is weird, but I just felt like I'm supposed to tell you that Jesus loves you." And and my my friend's like, "What? What? What?" And and the guy's like, "Yeah, that's that's it. That's all. I don't know. I just felt like I was supposed to tell you that." And he's like, "Okay." And and he he walked on. The guy walked off. He has no idea what that meant to my friend. No clue. But my friend sat with that, and then he's seeing my Facebook. He says, "I need to call you." So we're on the phone. He's telling me all this. He said, "I knew you could you could tell me what that means. What is this Jesus stuff all about? What is this?" And so he I tell him the gospel. I share with him what Jesus did for me. I share with him what he did for him. I share with him the full story. And and he's like, "I want that. I need that. I want God." He gives his life to the Lord right there on the phone. And and then the next thing I know, he ends up getting into a rehab um and and his life gets turned around. And I see a picture on Facebook. It becomes his new profile picture of him getting baptized and giving his life over and being totally changed. And but the person at Walmart has no clue, probably to this day, what that meant. That that was a seed that ended up harvesting. Does that make sense? Mh. That might be you. You go out to Ice Fest, when you go out downtown, or when you go knocking on doors with Trina, or when you go to your neighborhood, or when you go wherever you go. And you might say something simple like, "I don't know why, but I just feel like I'm supposed to tell you Jesus loves you," or "Hey, can I pray for you?" We think these are simple things. Or maybe you think they're hard things. But regardless, God will use use it. Whether or not you see something in that moment, you may not see anything, and you may think, "Well, I fail. I'm not as good as Trina, or I'm not as good as Eli, or I'm not as good as Daniel, or whoever." It's not up to us. It's nothing to do with us. It's unconditional seeds that we seow. We sew these seeds believing that God is going to reach the Harvest. It says this in the Bible that some seow, some water, some reap, but who's the one who makes the increase? It's God. The parable Jesus tells about the farmer: he goes and he sews his seed at night, he waters it, he goes to sleep, and the next day it's risen, he's got crops. What did the guy do? He slept. What happened? God God made the increase. It's not about us. But God will do it if he just if we use. He he wants to just use whatever we've got. He used my Facebook for all that, and I didn't even think that was I was doing that much on Facebook, but he saw me and he reached out. And so he he'll use whatever.

Um, here we go. We're going to there's the next part of 2 Corinthians. Um, we're going to talk about here, uh, and it's going to answer the boldness, the boldness topic. We're going to go down to uh chapter 3 verse 7. It's it's talking about the letter. It it just finished talking about um Paul was talking about, well shoot, we might as well just just read. Let's read from the first part of that uh verse one: "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?" He's being factious. He doesn't need any Commendation recommendation. Doesn't need anything, because God's the one who who who brought them and and use them, right? "You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by US, Written not with ink but with the spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on T tablets of human hearts." Meaning that they're the fruit of whether their work is is is of God or not. "And such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything that's coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God." We've got to keep this. We got to stay humble. No matter what great feats you end up seeing God do through you with you, it's we've got to remain humble to say it's God, it's from God. Our sufficiency is not from ourselves to claim anything, but it comes from God who has made us sufficient to be Ministers of the New Covenant. So you might say, "Well, once I'm very knowledgeable in the Bible, then I'll be qualified to preach the gospel." Yeah, or "once I finish the flight deck school, then I'll be qualified to PR." No, it's ridiculous. God in the in that that last verse of of chapter 2 it says, "As commissioned by God." You've been commissioned. You've been called out to go. You've been sent. Jesus commissioned all of us in the Great Commission, telling us to "go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations," right? So you don't have to wait. God has said that it it not you are sufficient, but that he is sufficient. He has made us sufficient to be ministers. You might not think of yourself as a minister, but you are. Of what? Of a new covenant. Not of the letter of, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. This is what we're going to talk about. This is it's going to tell us about boldness right here.

Now if the ministry of death carved in letters of stone came with such Glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses's face because of its Glory, remember that, remember guys that that Moses went up and he encountered God regularly, and he came down and his face was so bright shiny with God's glory that that the Israelites couldn't even see him. Um, could not gaze at Moses's face because of his glory, which was being brought to an end. What was being brought to an end? The old Covenant, the law, being brought to an end. Will not the ministry of the spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, which that was what that was the ministry of righteousness. Why is this a Ministry of righteousness? Because Jesus imputed his righteousness to us. He's he took his perfectness, his Holiness, his righteousness, and he made us Justified, just as if we've never sinned, and he gave us his righteousness. So that's why Colossians says, "Clothe yourselves in righteousness." Clothe yourselves because that's what he did. He gave us his Perfection, his Holiness, his be his all the things that we could never get on our own. He gave that to us. This is why it's good news. This is all part of the great great news that Jesus did this for us, and now we can be right with God. We can be holy and righteous and do the things that we could never do apart from him. They were in the ministry of condemnation because they could never be righteous on their own. They couldn't. He had to come and clothe clothe us with his righteousness. So the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. What is it? The old Covenant indeed in this case. What once had Glory has come to have no glory at all. We Revere and honor the past Covenant. We Revere and honor the law. We rever and honor the Commandments. We rever and honor what God did, and and we we recognize that it was part of God's plan, but it was only a shadow that was going to come to an end when the real thing came, and that was Jesus perfect plan of redeeming and restoring us back to a relationship with him where we can actually house the spirit of God inside of our bodies. Does that make sense? This is this is dangerous talk because a lot of people get real upset about you know uh the law and the old Covenant, you know that that it didn't pass away and it didn't stop, and you know there is still Glory. It says right here: "What once had Glory has come to have no glory at all." All right, why are we bold? Let's keep let's keep going because of the glory that surpasses it. This is exciting. 11: "For if what was being brought to an end came with Glory, much more will what is permanent have Glory." The old Covenant was coming to an end. It had an end date, it had a stopping point, it had a finality. But what was to come, which is now what we have, is permanent. It's forever. There's not going to be anything better than what Jesus did for us. That's it. Yes, he's coming again. Yes, he's coming back, and and and he's going to you know do all the things that you might believe he will do in the end times, which there's lots of different beliefs on the end times, but he is coming back. There's going to be more to come. We're going to go into heaven where there's no weeping, no crying, no te all these good things. But what we have is permanent: the holy spirit in us, God With Us. That's it. There's nothing better than that.

Now this is going to make sense. Verse 12: "Since we have such a hope, we are very bold." Bam! Because of all of this, the great Glory, the understanding of all that God did for us, how he's imputed righteousness on us, how he's redeemed us, how he's changed us, how he's transformed us, how he's he's bought this for us even while we were still Sinners, even while we were enemies with God and far from him and hated him, according to the Bible. He redeemed us and loved us and showered us. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love love came down, right? "Since we have such a hope, we are very bold." Not like Moses. Quoted from the Bible. That's what it says right there. Verse 13: "Not like Moses." You might say, "What? Moses was pretty bold." Not according to Paul. It says we have boldness that it makes look like he was afraid. Why? Because Moses would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. The out it's it's saying it's referencing the old Covenant Again by saying what was being brought to an end. But it's saying that Moses was Experiencing God but in a temporary way. He was meeting with God and then he was leaving God's presence. He was going going to God's presence and then he would walk away from God's presence. And the lingering effect of being with God had the glory, which was great, it had a glow that was phenomenal, but he would hide it. Now why would he hide it? Doesn't say, but he did hid it. And this is what Paul is talking about by saying that Moses wasn't bold like we should have boldness that we don't hide it. Jesus said, "You are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Do not put uh nobody puts a lamp out and puts a basket over it. In the same way, let your light so shine, not like Moses. Don't put a veil. Let It Shine. Everything God's doing in you, the fragrance of his of the knowledge of him, let it out, let it shine, let people know, let people see. It doesn't mean they're looking at you because you're something so great. No, give go. You're giving the glory to God. You're just right back to him, right? Does this make sense? We're only excited and happy because of what he's done for us. We're only full of joy because of what he did for us. So anything good that he's done for you, let it be known to those around you. Does that make sense? This is what gives us boldness.

You gonna say something, Daniel? It's real quick. Um, actually I wanted I wanted to say that uh that's why I said amen when my wife said she needed to be bold, but it wasn't just for her because God blurted that out of my mouth specifically because he wants all of us to be like that. Amen. It's like you were saying, yeah, the Bible. Well, you weren't saying that the Bible was saying. The Bible say God was saying. That's right, that's right. We um uh 14: "But their minds were hardened." Their minds? Whose Minds? The Israelites. Um, "for to this day when they read the old Covenant, that same Veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ it is taken away." There's many people who are very religious, and they have a veil over their mind that they cannot see the glory. What do I mean by Glory? They cannot see the great goodness and the Splendor and the great magnitude of of of of the weight of what God did and what he's doing. They can't see it. They might read, they might go to church, they might they might clap their hands, they might sing the songs, but it's not real to them because there's still a blockage, there's still something holding them back that only Christ through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil Lies over their hearts. Talk about their mind and their hearts. Funny that Philippians says that the peace of God would guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus, because it's still easy for the veil to come back. So we need to have that guard to guard our hearts and our minds to stay free, to stay free and unveiled and visibly seeing God all around us. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. It says, "Those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Well, let let's let's be interative. Yes, saved. Yes, "those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Other passages say, "Those who cry the name of the Lord shall be saved." Right? It's that it's that inward cry. Calling out, "God, I need you." We have to recognize our Brokenness and give it to him, and he will take it away in a moment. Our blindness. "God, I believe. Help my unbelief." Boom. That's enough. That's enough for him. He'll come in a moment. He'll free you. But we are free. Why? But when the one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the spirit. Why why is he talking about the spirit? The spirit is the is the replacement for the law. Remember it says you don't you're not you're not the letter um uh of a new covenant. Not of the letter but of the spirit. So every time it's just dichotomy. The old was a letter. The new is the spirit. The spirit is what was given to us. The spirit is what Jesus was saying, "I must go, because if I don't go, then this the one who comes after me can't come. The spirit can't come." So we need this is this is what it's all about is the spirit. Now where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freed. Freedom, Liberty depends on your translation, but yes, there's Freedom, there's liberty. Freedom and liberty comes from a life of unveiled face where you can see because God Has Lifted it off of you, and you are able to now see. And and this gives us boldness. This gives us boldness not because I'm saying it does, because it says it here, and it gives us boldness to to want to give this away. Like, how terrible would it be if you were free? Like, okay, let's make it real. Let's say let's say you were in a prison, maybe. All right, let's get real real. Let's say you were you were being sexually trafficked, human trafficked, right? And someone set you free, you got out. But you have all those people who are still enslaved. They're still trout, they can't get out. But you've been given a key and you've been given a door and you've been given a way to help get people out. How terrible would it be? Is it even possible that you you would, after experiencing all what you've experienced in in the hell of Being Human traffick, and then the freedom that you got from being set loose, how could you not go back now that you have a key and set as many people free as you possibly could? Does that make sense? You've been there. You know what they're going through. You know how it is on that side. You know that Agony and the pain and the daytoday suffering that is in that world. And now you're on this side. But you don't just have you're not just it wasn't just a one-time deal. You were saved, but I can't save everybody else, you know? It was just a one thing. We just we just got you off the hook somehow, but you know there's no way for them, so too bad, so sad. No. In this s scenario, God's like, "I'm freeing you now. Here, go free as many as you can." That's what we've been given. That's why we have boldness. That's why we want to share as much as possible, because what we've been given it's available for everybody. And the hell you used to live in and now you're free from, there's still people living in that, and you've got the answer. Amen. Amen.

What what time does that say? You got time? I mean, all right, just just yeah, you're good. We're going to wrap it up. Um, fible all right, and we all we all now we're talking about all of us with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of Glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. Okay, this is why I say our purpose is to know him and to make him known. The Knowing him part is right here. Now we are free. Now we've got an unveil face to Behold Him. I want to be with him. I want to know his ways. I want to read this thing so I know who he is. I want to get this in me so that I can be close to him. And I want to pray and get close to him in prayer. I want to get close to him in the streets by being out there with the lost, because his heart is for the lost. I want to be doing what he wants to do. And as I Behold Him, what does he do? He transforms me into to the same image. What's the same image? His Image. I become more like him as I Behold Him and want everything that he is. It ends up becoming who I am, as it will for you, as it is for you, right? And then this is it's just the whole passage is so amazing. We'll stop right there, but it ends up going into talking about how we have now been given the ministry of reconciliation, reconciling people back to the father. It's powerful. It's so good. And I encourage you to read it on your own and just ask God for that heart, to ask him for This Heart of compassion. Because ultimately, my friends, boldness is a byproduct of compassion. If you love something so much, nobody's going to have to tell you to go do something about it. If you love your kids, something's endangering them, nobody's going to have to tell you to be bold. Nobody. Love will cause something to rise up in you that you will not be able to hold back from doing something about the the one you love. So I won't I won't say you got a boldness problem. If you feel like you're scared or intimidated, you want more of his love. You need more of his love. Ask him. Pray. God, help me to see people the way you see them. Help me to have compassion. Jesus, when he had done all day Ministry, all day exhausted, he was tired, he wanted to get alone. It says that he saw the crowd and he saw them as a sheep without a shepherd, and it says that compassion welled up in him, and he was compelled to go. He couldn't not go because of compassion. Amen.

So father, we just I just pray for each of these guys. Stand up, everybody, yeah, come on. Father, I thank you for your heart for each one of them. God, the heart that you love them, you've pursued them, you've you've you've left the 99 to seek them, and they are here standing with unveiled faces, perceiving you, being in a place of absolute freedom because where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And God, this Joy, this Freedom, this amazing place that they are in now, and they can explore now that they're in you. God, I ask that you would give them a heart of desperate love and compassion to give it away, to give it away to as many people as they can. God, that whatever they encounter with you, God, that they would give it away. As they learn about healing, as they learn about prophecy, as they learn about salvation and the gospel, and they learn from you, God, that they would be willing and ready and excited to see captive set free. Jesus, I ask that your compassion would well up in them and compel them in ways that they never dreamed before. God, the neighbors who they thought were annoying, they would get compassion for them, and they would see them and pray for them and desire to share your heart with them, desire to hear them and and and even do things like generous things, giving them food or whatever. God, that they would the people who maybe on the left or the Democrats or whatever people that they were uh um Angry towards, God, that you would you would melt that with love. Love covers the multitude sins. You said to pray for those who are your enemies and to to bless them who despitefully use you. God, why? Because the kingdom loves, and love conquers it all. So father, I thank you for your love, an awareness of you that they would know you and be willing and excited to make you known. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Bless you guys. Thank you. Thank you so much, El. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Jesus, yes. Thank you, Jesus, yes. Thank you, Jesus, yes. So we're going to take a break. I thought it was over. No, no, we we're we still have class to go. We're going to just take a few minute break while we're transitioning and saying goodbye to Eli. So don't go away and don't go to sleep. You still have class. Did wow. Yeah, phenomenal. Okay. Only one time a week. It's only one time a week. We only get 12 weeks. Well, that makes sense. You got to pack it in. Yeah, we [Music] got words of knowled. You got all kind of stuff. Give you the first first part. Oh, that's we're just going to talk about book of nice. Good. We've been having a all studi book of Acts. It's a good book. Is best book ever. I got work to do. Yes. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll get in touch with you. Okay, okay. You guys are awesome. You can lay hands on them as you you want to pray for anybody privately. Go ahead. Cles. That's [Music] yours. All right, so while we're waiting for Tina to come up here, she's going to be the first one to jump in the jump out of the boat. I'm going to share. Um, I have I'm I'm really going after this with tenacity to see the enemy pay, you know, and especially after today. Um, he's going down, you know. Every time you get hit, go pray for someone. Every time the enemy tries to tick you off, go pray for someone. If someone says something negative to you, go say something awesome to someone else. You know, just go and go, go and go and like just can't say enough to you to just to um um be purposed to to sew into the kingdom of God. You know, and uh, so on Monday we purpose to get up at 7:00 and go into one of the coffee shops in town. I think we made it at 8, so that's that was good. You know, and um, so I had this like pain in my shoulder. Um, the first coffee shop wasn't open, so we walked down to another place, and we actually went to go eat breakfast at this other place. We passed this these two guys that were working for the bur, and I said, "Hey, one of you guys have a problem my shoulder?" Nothing, nothing. I'm like, you know, and I just share, you know, sometimes you hear from God, sometimes I see people get healed, and it wouldn't be right for me not to ask you if it's you because I I believe that God wanted to heal you. And so you know people, when you say that, they don't know what to do with it because most of them don't know that God wants to heal. A lot of times people in church haven't been told that God wants to heal. So I'm I'm going to, that's my mission in life is to tell people that God wants to heal you. You know, if nothing else, that's my my destiny, that's one of them. So anyway, we're walking and went to the restaurant, and the waitress, I said, "Hey, do you get a problem with your shoulders?" She's like, "Yeah, I do." I said, "Well, God wants to heal it. Let me pray for you." And I put my hand on the shoulder that was hurt. That was awesome. Come on, Jesus. So she got so rocked that she came back later and gave me a big hug, you know, and she had no more pain in her shoulder at all. So as I'm walking over to the counter to pay, and um the I said I asked the lady behind the counter, I said, "You got a problem in your in your back?" And she's like, "Just takes a few minutes," and like, "Yeah, I do." And I said, "Your lower back?" And she's like, "Yes, I do." Like she's trying to figure out how how did I know. And she's like, "Yeah, I have herniated this." I said, "Today God is healing them, and you're not going to be her herniated anymore." Just with boldness, you know. And so I don't know if how she was doing because she didn't like test it out. She wouldn't test it out. But I shared with her. I said, "I just want to let you know that the waitress that we had" and I gave her the name, I said, "You can talk to her because she just got healed and CH has and more shoulder pain." She's like, "What?" Come on, Jesus. So then it gets better. Like all day we prayed for people all day. I bet there was at least 10 people. And this so we drove drove into town and we were going to go to the mailbox and and I took a odd way and then I was going to turn this one way and there was a closed roope close sign.

And so I had turn around and go another way. Went up past the high school, and we passed this guy that was walking on the street. And so I like, do a U-turn 'cause I heard God say, "Go back and tell him I love you." I'm like, "Okay, you know." And I'm, I'm just, I get stretched too, you know. It's okay. You know, Joyce Meyer, I love what she says. She said, "If you can't get rid of the fear, you do it in spite of the fear and you make the enemy pay." Mhm. So you just do it anyway and watch God show up and then build your faith. Like, "I did it. I did it. I can do it again." Like, and then you remember, "Hey, you did it yesterday and it was amazing." And so, "God, I think you're doing it again, so I'm going to just step out in faith."

So anyway, I'm like, "Okay, God, it'd be really awesome if you give me the red light so I could, you know, talk to the guy." I get two red lights and and and we yelled out the window and said, "Hey, hey, I have a word from God for you." And he was about ready to turn the corner, and he actually came back. And I said, "I just want to let you know God loves you so much." And then God gives me the rest. So I didn't have all of it until I opened my mouth and He filled it. And then I said, um, "Something about God says there's something you are waiting for." And he said, "It is important that you wait with an expectation and you press into Him and you'll see it happen." And the guy got so rocked. He came over to the car. He let me pray for him. I mean, we're strangers, you know. We got two red lights. We didn't have no cars behind us. That was awesome. And we're probably on the traffic camera. I hope maybe my nephew was watching. That'd be awesome. But anyway, the guy got rocked and he was, he was excited and he shared a little bit about what God was actually, what he was waiting for. And he is a Christian. Like, you just never know. Like, people just need to be encouraged. So there was a lot more, but I'm going to let Tina jump in here and we're going to go over the book of Acts. So this may be interactive here. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Is this the right one? Oh, yeah. The one without. All right. You coming up to? All right. We're going to talk here a little bit about Acts 8.

So it starts out here in Acts 8, um, about the persecution of some believers. So if we remember at the end of Acts 7, uh, that's when Stephen was, uh, stoned to death. He had been, he stood up and they arrested him and he was, he did this big speech, this big thing. He told, he told, you know, before the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees and stuff. And well, they stoned him and they did not like what he said. So, um, so that's how it starts out there. Um, it starts out with Saul comes in. He's the one that told him, pretty much approved for him to be, um, persecuted. I mean, allowed him to be stoned. Since Saul comes in here, he starts coming into the people's homes. He starts arresting believers. He, he's just going out throughout the countryside and just starts arresting people. So what do, what do you do when you feel like somebody's coming up against you? What do you want to be arrested? You want to be put into prison? What are you going to do? Well, some of them started running. They started scattering. They went different places. They went to Judea and Samaria, into the Samaritans. They started preaching the gospel there. Everybody left except, except for the apostles. The apostles stayed in Jerusalem. Hmm. I wonder why they stayed. And nobody else left. Which one would you be? Would you stay if somebody's trying to, say bad things about you? Or are you going to run? Oh, what do you think about that, Jen? Should we run? Oh, I know. I'm putting him on the spot, which is cool. I like it. And, uh, unfortunately, probably run. Yeah, I think, yeah, I probably would too. But, but should we stay? But we're called to be sent out. Mhm. Amen. So that would be, yeah. I don't know. Do we want to share a little bit of something that happened maybe briefly? Well, last week, couple, somebody came up to us, somebody I respect, I listen to, told us a few things that he didn't like a few things that we were doing. We're holding this class, we're doing these different conferences, doing these different worship nights. And I don't think he quite liked what we were doing. He told us, well, I don't, we went into one prayer walk with in his group. And well, he didn't like the way we interrupted the prayer group. Everybody else kind of walks around, they kind of talking, some of them might have been praying. Well, Trevor over there stops a guy in a car and starts praying for his back. They stopped a girl and we stop in somebody's house. They see a son, somebody's wife is needing a dial, needs a new kidney. So, "Oh, let's stop and pray for this woman." No, we jump up on the porch and knock on the door and see if anybody's home. And then next, what do we do next? Well, we pray for something. They stopped on the bridge and started praying, you know, just praying over Chambersburg, which is fine. That that needs to be done too. Chambersburg needs a lot of prayer. Well, we stopped a few people and asked if they needed prayer. Well, we kind of interrupted the group a little bit among someone. No, not. And he says some other things also. That's all I'm really going to share. But like, what, you know, that's what we are called to do. We're called to reach out to people. We're called to pray for people. He didn't like how we sometimes prayed for his people. I think, you know, Jeff's been prophesying over some people. I don't think he'd like that. I think it disrupted something. You think we'll leave it at that? I don't want to go into too many details. So, well, what was Saul doing? He was dragging men and women. In verse three, he was dragging men and women out of their homes and taking them off to prison. And that's when the people started scattering. And what did they do when they were scattered? What they were taught, they started sharing the message of Jesus with others. He went, people in Samaria were coming to Jesus. They were seeing signs and wonders and miracles wherever they went. In verse eight, it says they had uncontainable joy filling the city. So it was spreading joy. They were, everybody was happy that they found this new found freedom. They found Jesus. I like how they said in six, right there, like, "For Philip's messages were persuaded by many miracles and signs and wonders were performed." Oh, yeah. That's good. That's good there. So how do we bring other people to Jesus? Oh, signs and wonders. Amen. We show them Jesus. Sometimes we say, you know, preaching. Well, what's preaching? Preaching is just really telling people about Jesus, telling us what He's done in our lives, telling us how He, we changed us, how we come on fire for God, how much we love Him, how much He loves them. That's really what preaching is. All right. We go to the next section. They go into another place. And I believe we're in Samaria. Yeah, Samaria. Uh, Philip goes into Samaria and he encounters, he starts preaching the gospel there. He comes upon this guy named Simon the Sorcerer. It says there in verse 10, "Many of them were dazzled by his his sorcery, saying, 'This man is a great wizard of all and divine power of God walks among us.'" So many of them were in awe of what he did. He displayed many astonishing sounds, I mean, not sounds and wonders, but astonishing displays of magic arts. So that's not signs and wonders. That's magic arts. That's no, that's not of God. That's of Satan, the devil. So he was not, not a believer. That's when Philip was there preaching them. He, he was showing signs and wonders as he went and many believed and many were baptized. Even Simon the Sorcerer, he said they believed and was baptized. Hmm. That's interesting. He was, he believed and he was baptized. But he followed Philip everywhere he went. All the, he was mesmerized by all the wonders and miracles and signs and wonders that he, that he witnessed. Well, he was always beside Simon. So, maybe he wanted the attention from what he got. Oh, he seen the attention that Simon was getting. I mean, not Simon, but what Philip was getting. Maybe he wanted that attention too, because it was taken away from his parade. Hmm. Maybe. Hmm. What do you think? Anybody have any ideas? Nobody want to share any ideas? What was the question? Remember the story of Simon the Sorcerer? Yeah, yeah. Okay. After he got saved, he was always beside Simon, Philip's side. Why was he always beside Philip's side? Is it because he might have lost some of the attention that he was getting from doing his own? He liked the attention that Philip was getting. Wherever Philip was, he was right beside his side. Maybe because he believed what Philip was preaching? Maybe. Good. He said he believed and was baptized. But just read the rest of the story here a little bit more. And then, uh, got back to, um, Peter and John. Remember, they were still in Jerusalem. So they decided to come out and see what was going on and see if they could help out. I guess it must have been a lot of people were coming to Jesus. So I guess they decided to come and see what's going on and the activity. And when they came, they prayed over many of them and they received the Holy Spirit. And they, uh, they were going around laying hands on on others and many people fell. And the spirit fell, not the face fell, the spirit fell and filled each of them with the Holy Spirit power. That's verse 17. Verse 17, yeah. But what did Simon do? Simon tried to pay for it. Yeah. Can we buy God? No. Can we buy God's love? Can we buy God's power? I hear some, I see some head shaking over here next to me here. No, we can't. So was Simon's heart in the right place? No. No, it was not. Was it? He thought he could buy this power. And he was willing to pay for this anointing. We can't pay for anointing. We can't pay for the Holy, you know, Jesus, what Jesus has to offer us. They can't buy the Holy Spirit. We can't buy any, any of it. So what did Peter do? He rebuked him. He says, "Your money will go with you to destruction." This is in verse 20. "How could you even think you can purchase God's supernatural gift with money? You would never have this gift or take part in this ministry, for your heart is not in the right place with God. He told him to repent for allowing your witness to fill you. Plead to the Lord, perhaps He will forgive you for this treachery of your heart, for I discern that there is a jealous envy has poisoned you and binds you as a captive to sin." And what did Simon say? "Pray for him." You want to read that one? Yeah. Simon begged Peter, "Please pray to God for me. Plead with Him so that nothing you just said over me may come to pass." Why couldn't Simon do it himself? He had to ask Peter to pray for him. Sometimes we can ask other people to pray for us. But I believe that in this case, you know, it's your heart and you repenting. I don't believe that you can have somebody else pray for that, that situation. You can have people pray for you for healing because maybe you don't have the faith to do it yourself and they do. You can pray for people to, um, for a situation. But pray for repentance, that's kind of more of a heart issue, like a choice. Yeah, it's a choice that Simon the Sorcerer needs. Yeah, Simon the Sorcerer, he needs to make that choice and come before God to ask for that forgiveness. We should have brought some of the questions. Questions? Are you? We can move on to the next one. Move on. Maybe we just move on to the next one. Maybe I don't know if we had any questions on that one for the homework. I think you guys answered them. Did we? Oh, well, we gave them the answer. So that your homework will be easy. So you just remember what I just spoke and you can just answer it. Okay. Oh, me. What do you want me to? Here, what I'll let you look at them really quick. You want to look at them? See if you want to add any of them in there. All right. The next one is Philip and the Ethiopian. This is becoming one of my favorite stories. Do you want to start it? H Oh, go ahead. Oh, I'm supposed to start it. Okay. Philip. Okay. They started traveling back. I guess they were going, oh, they're going back to Jerusalem and back to, they left Samaria and go back to Jerusalem. And on the way, he hears the Lord. An angel came to, to, um, Philip. He says, "Now go south from Jerusalem on a desert road to Gaza." And what did he do? In verse 27, "He left immediately." He left immediately. Did he wait? No. No. Did he say, "God, is that really you? Give me a confirmation that I'm supposed to go?" No. He left immediately. And then he did tell him where he was, who he was supposed to meet. He didn't tell him where. He told him where to go, but he didn't tell him who he was supposed to meet or what he was supposed to do there. Like, he just went. Like he said, I guess he had enough experience by this time. He knew that God was going to show up. Yeah. Well, he walking along, he encounters an Ethiopian who believed in God, in the God of the Jews, who was ministering. He, he was the minister of finances for, uh, Candace, the queen of Ethiopia. So along his path, he met somebody. And as they departed, he was on his way home to worship the God of Jerusalem. The Ethiopian was. All right, go ahead. Okay. Very long up the, yeah. He was in this chariot reading. Then the Holy Spirit told, you know, they separated ways. Then the Holy Spirit told Philip, "Go walk alongside the chariot." So the angel commanded them twice to go do something. And, um, if he, so he had to meet up with this Ethiopian to know who he was. And what was he? Eunuch. Yeah. Trina? Yeah. Un- yeah. And no power. Yeah. He had no power. But he actually had power in this. I'm sure they know, you know, what a eunuch is. Well, it's a man that's been lost his manhood. So it takes away their power to reproduce. So they can't. So just let you know. Take. Oh, so they can't reproduce. They can't rise up. And they can't go against the. They're usually somebody who's been taken a prisoner, maybe from another tribe or another country, and they bring them into their country and raise them up in their culture. And their sometimes they get government positions, sometimes they get other positions. But then they say, what? Servants. Servants. Yeah. The servants. Basically similar to what, what happened to Daniel. Yeah. Daniel was also a eunuch also. So in this here, he, I mean, the queen must have seen something in that. Actually, she actually made him the minister of the finances. So. And he also rode in a chariot. So he had some authority. And so while, uh, the angel told Philip to go and walk beside a chariot to learn who he was. Then when they departed, the angel says, "Go up." As he rode along the chariot, he was reading the scroll of Isaiah. Then verse 29, "The Holy Spirit said to Philip, 'Go and walk alongside the chariot.'" So they were departed, and the Holy Spirit told him, "Go." Of course, he probably had to run a little bit to, to catch up to them because the Holy Spirit told him to go. I mean, that's like in some of our situations. We'll be, um, in, let's say, Walmart, and you see this guy walk three times past you and you caught your eye. All of a sudden, maybe he's like the Holy Spirit. All right, I give you three chances. Now, now go get them. I got a word for them. So just, yeah. I mean, this is like with Philip. Now I want you to go walk alongside the chariot. So Philip ran. He had to run to catch up to him. As he drew closer, he heard the man reading from the scroll of Isaiah. Philip asked him, "Sir, do you understand what you're reading?" He said, "No, I don't. I do not understand unless someone explains it to me." So they read from the book Isaiah. I think it's Isaiah 53. It says, starting there in verse 32, "He was led away to the slaughter like a lamb to be offered. He was a lamb that was silent before those who sheared him. He never even opened his mouth. In his loneliness, justice was stripped away from him, and he could fully express his struggles, for his life was taken from this earth." He said, "Eth, says, 'Please, could you tell me what this means?'" Of course, right there, they're talking about Jesus. Jesus going to the cross. He was considered the lamb. He was beaten. He did not complain. He did not cry out. And, you know, he didn't stop, stop them, or he could call down angels to rescue him, but he did not. He was silent before them as he was being beaten and his life was taken. So he explained that to them. And Philip, when the Ethiopian says, "I believe in Jesus." He says, "Please, can you tell me who this prophet is speaking of?" Of course, that's Jesus. Is Philip started with the pass, follow that. Look here. And he believed in what he said. He said, "Look, there's a pool of water. Why couldn't we get baptized?" But Peter, Philip asked him, "If you believe with all your heart, I'll baptize you." In the, says, "I believe that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God." So he went down and baptized them. He didn't have to say no sinner's prayer. He just, you know, when Jesus, you just confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you shall be saved. And that's exactly what happened there. You want to say what happened? While he went into the water to be baptized. So this is really cool. So the E, okay. They went out in the water. They came out of the water and suddenly, Peter, Philip was snatched up by the spirit and instantly carried away to the city of Ashdod, where he reappeared preaching the gospel to the city. So as he was being baptized, the Ethiopian was being baptized, and as soon as he's coming, the Ethiopian was coming out of water, Peter was lift, or Philip was lifted up. We, and just where did he go? Transported to Ashdod, which was what, about 15 miles away? 15. How did he get there? Just like that. But not only did he just reappear, but he reappeared preaching to the gospel to the city. It's like, you just imagine that. Where did all these people come from? I, you know, if you're Philip, one thing you remember is you're in the water lifting this guy up out of the water, then now you're preaching to somebody to the city. It just, it just, it just blows my mind how this all because Philip was obedient twice. The angel told him, the Holy Spirit told him, they do it twice. And if he didn't, if he missed his opportunities, he would have missed this miraculous miracle of being transported instantly like 15 miles. We, so I'm just falling in love with that story. It doesn't say anything in the Bible about this, but you know, he was just baptizing somebody. He was in water. Would he come out dry? Was he wet? Just, just a thought. It doesn't say, but he's probably was maybe dripping wet unless he was the transporting that 15 miles. He may have dried off, but we don't know. But I bet he felt peace. Right. Daniel, he was definitely full of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. I bet the eunuch received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the same time because the Holy Spirit was definitely there. Yeah. So the Ethiopian never saw Philip again, and he returned to Ethiopia filled with great joy. Come on. Does anybody have any questions so far on chapter 8? What do you think, Daniel? Well, God told me something when we talked that last part of chapter 8. He told me that in heaven and eternity with God, that the same thing is going to happen to us. We're going to be able to literally, the Holy Spirit will lift us up from one place and put us in another place, whether it's on the new Earth or in heaven. You're going to be going from one, one life to another instantly. It's going to be awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Forever. We close our eyes on this earth. And when we pass on, and next thing we know, we open our eyes and we'll be in heaven. I ain't going to happen before we go to heaven. I don't know. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I know. Oh, yeah. Expect. Expect. I know. I know. I know. That's another topic. No, that's a topic for now. That's a topic for now. Okay. We'll teach that a little later on. All right. All right. Go to chapter nine. Saul encounters Jesus. So, yeah. During those days, Saul was full of angry threats and rage and wanted to murder the disciples of the Lord. Jesus. So, so he went and asked the high priest and requested a letter of authorization so he could take to the Jewish leaders in Damascus, requesting their cooperation to finding and arresting anyone who were followers of the way. So, like, so he thought he was doing right, you know. There these new people were coming in and changing the way of his thinking, of Saul's thinking, and that was making him mad. And he thought he was doing, you know, right, what he thought was right by taking the people who were learning this new religion and, you know, trying to extinguish them, kill them, or throw them in prison. So, so God looking down on us, seeing what's happening, you know, Saul must have been a guy of authority. What do you think, Trina? I think so. Yeah. To be able to go to the high priest to request some information, a piece of paper to take it to another city to give to their leader so he can, uh, take out all these believers, take them to prison. So he, I mean, us, we would think that wouldn't be very good. But God's looking down on, you know, this guy named Saul and seeing, you know, people are listening to him. You know, he's got leaders listening to him. So anyway, so on his way to, uh, Damascus, a flash of light flashes from heaven and suddenly explodes all around him. Falling, Saul falling to the ground and heard a booming voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Yeah. I was flipped back. I lost my spot. And what did he say? So responded back, "Who are you, Lord?" So he already knew who Lord is because he thought he was following the Lord. So. And who answered? It was Jesus, the victorious. "I am Jesus, the Victorious One, the one you're persecuting. Now get up and go into the city where you will be told what to do." So as his light was flying around Saul, and he calls out, "Lord," and Jesus answers him. You think Jesus was right there in front of him? All the other people could see, hear what was going on, the conversation was going on, but they could not see Jesus. God had His hand upon Saul. And I think He opened his eyes to see Jesus just enough. Could be there. Just enough of glory that made him blind. Maybe. So, "I am Jesus, the Victorious One, the one you're persecuting. I get up and go into the city where I told you where to, what, what you are to do." So this is all in the planning, you know, to start turning, converting him from Saul to Paul. He is foretelling what he's going to be doing. But there's more foretelling a little bit later on here in the story. All right. And next, he, he goes into a home there and he starts, he's fasting and praying. He does that for three days. While he's in there, fasting and praying, Jesus, Jesus spoke to, um, to Ananias in a vision. And Ananias says, "Yes, Lord." He says, and he answers him and says, "Go at once to a street, need abundance." Or some places it says, "Street coach, straight." And look at for a man from Tarsus, a man named Saul. He said, "What? This, this guy who's, isn't that the guy who's persecuting fellow other Christians? Why would I want to go to him?" So he starts questioning, "Why would I go to Saul of Tarsus?" Because he knows what this man has been doing to other believers. But he, so he was speaking out of fear of what's could happen to him if he would go to him. But did God recognize the fear? No. He did not. He said, "Arise and go." Okay. All right. So what do you do when God tells you to arise and go? Just like Peter did. Just go. Just go. Just get up and go. Or like Nike, "Just do it." Just do it. Do it. And then he says, then he starts going on why he went. So he was, God was being nice here and says, "I have chosen this man to be my special messenger." So that sounds like, like a word of knowledge or being spoken here. What's going to be doing? Or the prophecy. "I will be, he will be brought before kings, before many nations, before the Jewish people to give them a revelation of who I am. And he will show, I will show him how much he has destined to suffer because of a passion for me." That last part of 16. If all right, Derek, I'm going to call you out on this one. God calls you out and He's going to show you how much He has destined for you and also for you to suffer because of your passion to love Him. Would you be up and ready to go? So the Lord has transformed Saul's heart so much. He put a burning destination, burning sensation in his heart. That Paul, Paul didn't say no. I mean, Saul, Saul did not say no because he just, this all struck love that fell upon him that he was ready to go. And he does a little bit further on down and through the verses here. So Ananias gets up and goes to Saul and lays hands on him. And when he lays hands on him and prays over him, he sees the scales that were on his eyes just fall off. So immediately he gets up after that happens. He sees perfectly. Now he gets up and he's baptized. And then he, since he was fasting, he went and ate something, a meal, and his strength returned. So just how immediately he got up, I just thought, kind of stuck out to me. He just immediately got baptized. He didn't wait. He didn't wait till a year or two later till he was ready. He immediately got baptized. I know that doesn't seem to be what we kind of do in this culture anymore. But maybe that's what we should get back to. Find another believer, just go out in just a pool or creek or pond, somewhere, bathtub. We've been, some, we've seen some baptisms being done in bathtubs. It can be done. Just put, fill it with water. So this is a radically huge change for Saul. This is what, within three days from the time the light hit to the baptism, verse 20. Within the hour after being baptized and his strength returning, within an hour, he was in his synagogue preaching about Jesus and proclaiming Jesus is the Son of God. So three days of him not seeing, you know, he probably having all these huge conversations with God. As soon as he got baptized and ate a meal, he was in preaching within the hour, which is, wow. I need to learn from that. Not three and a half years here's a seminary. Oh, he did not go to seminary. He did not go to Bible classes. Well, he was a Pharisee. So sorry. He was trained. He was trained into the word of God. He knew his Bible. He knew the Old Testament. The Old Testament. But he, this is the old, new, actually new testament of religion. The new testament wasn't around yet. It has not been written yet. So, but we do have, um, Jesus. So that is the new testament, which was written years, a few years later. I mean, how many of us after we received Christ, within three days, we were out on the streets preaching? Or just, I wasn't like that. I'm just finally, I'm 50 years old right now, and I'm just finally starting to learn how to do this. Even just when you encounter Jesus or you have a band on your vision about the other day, just going, you've been careful. Sometimes some people don't like what they hear. What you might tell them. But sharing what God has done in your life, how He's changing you, just sharing that is sharing the gospel, sharing a message about Jesus. Well, actually, I think when I started, my wife going to be witness to this, but when I was anointed with the Holy Spirit and discernment, I actually was praying for people constantly. And I was, it happened pretty quickly. Awesome. Kind of slowed down lately. But that's why I'm here at the classes because I don't want it to go away. Mhm. Sometimes it does slow. Refill back up again. We do need that. Sometimes we get a little down or just get in our way or what we're supposed to do and get a little refreshment here. Anything else you want to share? I, something, something up 22. And I forget what it was. 22. Yeah, let's read it. "Saul's power increased greatly as he became more and more proficient in proving that Jesus was the Anointed Messiah. Saul remained there several days with the disciples, even though it agitated the Jews of Damascus." You know what the thought was? I forgot. But anyway, yeah, let's move on. So, so now people are now seeing Saul preaching. Who was Saul? Well, he was going around persecuting the Christians. And now he's preaching. And like, like wondering, who is this guy that's preaching? Who is this? He's, isn't he the guy that was going around chasing Christians? Not chasing around, but arresting Christians. Yeah. Killing them. Killing them. So what, now he has, um, something on his head. And they want him because they didn't like anybody that was changing, that was speaking going against the Jewish beliefs and the Jewish culture, following Jesus. So, so he had escaped from there. And he escaped twice. He left. He had escaped. It does say escaped. Yeah, escaped the mess. And also, I think he escaped from Jerusalem. You look in verse 25, they actually escaped and they had to lower him down through an opening in the wall, be hiding him in a woven basket. Oh, what story does that sound like? Who else had to be lowered out down the wall in a basket? Mhm. Anybody remember that story from the Old Testament? Wasn't a wall. Wasn't a wall. Joshua? Well, it was, it was the two. Yeah, Joshua. It was the two. Didn't Moses get put in the basket? And Moses was put in the basket. He was hidden from the Egyptians. It was the two spies that Rahab helped. Rahab helped the two spies that Joshua and, well, I don't know if it was Joshua, but it was two spies. Two spies. Yeah, yeah. When they were scouting out the land. I think it was that, um, now I'm my memory here. Next. Mhm. Yeah. So here's another story of somebody being led over the wall. They really more going to let him go out the city gate. So with Paul being, you know, now the tides are turned. Now Paul, Saul is being persecuted. So Barnabas came to his rescue, you know, to, uh, help people realize that, you know, Saul, this, whatever Saul was preaching is correct. He did have a miraculous transformation. And, uh, and they did, you know, some of who all accepted them. The brothers accepted them. They accepted him as a brother and remained with them, joining them wherever they went in Jerusalem, freely preaching in the power and authority of Jesus. That was in verse 28. Mhm. So now in verse 29, he openly debated with some of the Jews who adopted the Greek culture. So he really transferred around. He now we catch up to the Greeks, which is, you know, the uncircumcised people in the culture. So he's really going against Jewish culture now. And so probably pretty sure the Jews probably didn't like that either. Then verse 30, "When the believers discovered there was a scheme, they smuggled him into the city." So he got smuggled out again. But what did the congregation do? The believers continued to increase. Yeah. Congregation say, "Grew larger and larger and many believers were being empowered and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. They worshiped God in signs and wonders and all, and they were all in awe and walked and they walked into fear of the Lord." I, great would that be, you know, starting to see churches grow and bigger and bigger as the, yeah, more believers, you know, being empowered, encouraged by the Holy Spirit, worship the Lord in wonder and awe. That would be, oh yes, that would be awesome. Just trying to think of how much church growth we actually see, how many people, new people come to the faith. This in this day, there's a few here, a few here and there. But I really don't see a huge outpouring where we go. Some places, you might have little places here and there, see a little revival happening and people coming back to God and people. But that's more like revival is more of people coming back to God. But that's not always necessarily to new, new converts who are coming to Christ. Some of them could be. All we got about seven minutes. Stuff you have anything you want to add before we up here? Do 10. Do 10. You got seven minutes. Yeah. Not best with things. All right. So we have, um, chapter 10. This is awesome. This is Cornelius and Peter's, um, story. He wants your, oh, yeah. So, so I love this. You know, did you realize that Cornelius was approached by God before Peter was approached by God? And he was told to send men to talk to Peter and to bring Peter to his house. Like, just like with Philip. Like, I love it. Like God, like knew there was a yes in their spirit and knew they would do what He wanted them to do. Because He already, and it wasn't that God knows all things. Yes, He does. But He knows the yes in our hearts. And I love that. Like, you know, um, but this is really cool. So, um, this is what they say about Cornelius. "He and all of his family were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly." And one day, at about 3 in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctively saw the angel of God who came to him and said, "Cornelius." So, man, that's that's awesome. Like, I've had some angel encounters and I love it. Like, I want more encounters of God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, angels, you know, the heavenly creatures. Like, because the more we encounter heaven here, the more we have boldness, confidence, and courage. Because if you notice that when they had these encounters, it changed their life. They weren't the same person. And, um, and so this, it gets really good. So the angel answered and he says, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is," and he tells him where he's staying. Like, do you realize, oh, this is cool. Do you realize that because he gave to the poor and because he was a devout man of honor, integrity, like it said he was even respected by all Jewish people back then, you know, and he was a centurion. So he gives memorial offerings before God. And it saves an entire group of people, not just his friends and his family, but they don't just become Christians, they get baptized in the Holy Spirit. They get filled with the same thing that the Jewish people had. And it changed the entire mindset because up until then, they thought it was just for the Jews. So, like, we can have that also because we never know, you know, there's so many people that judge different people or different cultures or different, different, um, different styles of of people, you know. It, I just love this. It's so. You go over here. And so Peter has his encounter. And so Cornelius has his. And he sends his men. And they arrive at the same time Peter's is ending. Perfect timing. Like, you know. And, and he's like, mulling over all that that happened in his encounter because he's like wrecked by God because he's like, "Whoa, God, I, you know," God's showing him all these animals on this white cloth and he's like, "God, I've never eaten anything impure or unclean." So, so that's law. Now God is like going to balance law and obedience. Oh, I'm not saying we have to go out there and and commit any crimes. I'm not saying that. But, and so God, God says the voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." And so he was actually calling the Gentiles impure. Who, like, you know, I'm, I'm sure in my, my, in my younger days, I probably called some people impure, just being honest. And they probably thought I was impure too. I was a heathen. So at the same time, he's done with his encounter. Cornelius's people come. And I, this love, this. He says, "We have come from Cornelius the Centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man who is respected by all the Jewish people. A Holy Angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say." And Peter invited these men into his house. And they leave the next day and they head out to, um, Caesarea. Yes, they head out to Caesarea. And, and as he, he enters the home, like Cornelius was expecting, he brought a whole bunch of people into the house. Like he wanted to make sure that it wasn't just him that was getting this blessing. He brought his friends and his family. And, and but Cornelius bows when, when Peter walks in. And Peter's like, "Huh? No, you need to get up because I am only a man." He said, "Stand up. He said, 'I am only a man myself.'" Like, he doesn't want to take the honor away from God. And I love that. Um, and then he tells them, he says, "This, you, you are well aware that it is against the law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me and I should not call any man him pure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?" And so he explains his encounter. And as, as Peter is standing there and as Peter is starting to tell them, then Peter began to speak. In 34, he said, "Then Peter began to speak. I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism. None. No, He doesn't. He said, 'Who, but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.'" You know, Cornelius wasn't a Christian. He wasn't a Jew. But he still loved God. And he still, he still gave. And that's like an amazing, you know, are we willing to give to something when we feel our heart, you know, gripping our, gripping our heartstrings? You know, and, let's see here. It gets really, really good here. And so he's talking about Jesus. And he's talking about what happens to Jesus. And then down in 38, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with Him." And so he's sharing all this. And then he goes down into 44. "While Peter was speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message." Wow. The circumcised believers. It came by Peter. Were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had just been poured out on the Gentiles. Like, man, can you imagine, you know, what you just encountered a few chapters ago? You know, it might have been a couple months or a couple years, we're not sure of the time frame. But all of a sudden, God showed up again and poured out on people who have not been baptized by water either. Like, that's what I love because God is trying to show us that it's not about a routine. It's not about a formula. And we cannot be cookie-cut or molded cookies and mold other people into cookies like us because we all have individuality. You know, and it's just like, awesome. He says, um, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water?" And they had received the Holy Spirit just as we have. So he ordered that they would be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. So they were baptized by water after they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Like, there is no rhyme or reason. So you just heard, like, when, when Philip was baptizing the eunuch, the spirit takes Philip away. Is it possible in that moment, because God didn't want these guys to miss out on the Holy Spirit, so why would that young man miss out on the Holy Spirit too? So God is, He does, He's not favoritism. What's good for one, He'll do for all. So I'm believing that that's a perfect example of how at the same time the Holy Spirit can show up. And so on our homework for next week, I want you to look up three different areas in the Bible in in the book of Acts where the Holy Spirit poured out different ways. Yeah, because there's one, there's one that's really, really good and it's got, like, a lot of good stuff in it. So I'm curious to see if anyone picks that up. So, and then we're going to read, um, Acts 11, 12, and 13 for next week. 11's not very long at all. Neither is 12. And we had a blast. We were at the Denim Coffee Shop yesterday and we did our homework to write down our questions to see what. And we just had a blast writing down the questions. I can't wait till next week because the questions were like amazing. And there's so much good stuff in this. Like, I don't want to ever read the Bible to read the Bible. I don't care if I never read it from cover to cover. I don't want to. I don't need that, you know, notch on my belt to say that I read the Bible from cover to cover. No, I want to know. I want to know the revelation. And I want to know, I want to meet God in every story. And I want, I'd rather it take me weeks and and and months to get through a scripture. It took me two years to find out some stuff that God was showing me about Matthew 22. Like, He kept me in Matthew 22 and and some of John for two years. And it was, it got in me. Like, I want this word to get in you guys so that the word gets in you and it becomes you. So I also want to encourage you that next week we have, let's see here if we're correct. Um, we have Jackie Towns next week bringing the Bible Alive. She has a doctoral degree from, uh, Dallas Theological Seminary and she's an amazing friend of ours and she loves to teach people about how to bring the Bible alive. So she's going to be teaching next week. And then the following week, we have our friend Kelly Fleming. Would you guys might have met Kelly at the conference? Um, she's coming to teach on the power of prayer. The following week, we have Karen Lot coming and she's going to teach on the fivefold ministry and the Seven Mountains. And so, um, then we have Patty Clark, who is a Global Celebration student right now, and she's going to come with a message of how to.

Keep your love, joy, and peace on. And um, and then we're going to follow up for the last two weeks on Destiny and your call, and then Faith and your graduation. So we've got six more weeks to go. Wow, this time is really flying. I'm really excited, and you're welcome to come back next week and whatever, you know. And you can do the homework with your wife. Yeah, yeah. MH. Or do it separate, and then, you know, yeah, come together. Yeah. Um, God wants me to keep coming back here. Good.

So, um, I'm a couple minutes over, so I'm going to pray you out. Father God, I thank you for what you've done with us this week. I thank you, Father God, for, actually, I thank you, Father God, for all the attacks of the enemy because you just helped us understand that we're in the right place at the right time, where the enemy wouldn't touch us. I thank you, Father God, that you are flipping everything and turning it into something great because you said where the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, you come and give life and abundance. Woah! I'm excited for what you're coming because everywhere the enemy hits us, you, if we allow you, you will make something great out of it. So, Father God, even the attacks of our friends here in the class, everyone who has had an attack this week, God, I thank you for the greater. I thank you for you pouring out your spirit and lifting them all to their feet and helping them to get rid of the offenses, helping them to move forward, helping them not to look at those people as evil-minded, but to look at them as love. Just allow us to love the hell out of the people that hurt us, God. Allow us to remove all the buttons and all the anger and all the frustration and all the, um, negative thoughts. God, turn us into a love machine that is so full of your love that every time the enemy pokes us, he, we leak Jesus and he gets touched and he can't handle it anymore and he runs away. So, Father God, I thank you that this town is going to change. I thank you, Father God, that everywhere our students are, that their feet will claim the territory for Jesus Christ, and we will see fire start, spiritual fire start, and you will pour out your spirit. God, I thank you for as we read the book of Revelation, you pour out such a revelation in our heart. Well, Revelation. Okay, if you guys are reading Revelation, the book of Acts, and as you read it, that you would pour out on your people and mightily and powerfully in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right, sorry to keep you so late. Oh, it was very important. Yeah, I love it. Thank you guys so much. Yeah. So we're, um, what are your work hours? Yes, I usually work during the week. Uh-huh. I'm off Thursday. Um, I'm off Sunday 'cause I told them I wouldn't work on Sunday. You're Friday, you're working on Sundays. I don't work on Sundays. Oh, okay. I told them I, I wouldn't work on Sunday. Okay, that's cool. Um, because of church. Yeah, you know, it's important to go to church. Yeah. And I normally work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, but I'm usually in the morning. Like the last time I came here, I was right after, I was there at work until 6:00 p.m. and then this class started right afterward, which I'm very glad I came to that one. I think I missed how many did I miss so far? Um, probably four or five. Well, this is the sixth one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Actually, um, your friend's still out there. Oh, I mean, if she's not, I'm pretty sure. Oh, I'm sure she, somebody will help us get home. I'm not worried about that. God's not going to leave me high and dry. She come in and join us too. She did, but I, I guess she went back out to her, her vehicle, I guess. Yeah, that's our neighbor. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Um, our other neighbor, that it's so cool to have an amazing neighbor. We have another neighbor named Jack who helps transportation. Hey, can I give you some wisdom on on your post? Can I? I used to be one that would, oh, the bad one that I said. Yeah, I used to be like that. I used to send out that wasn't in me tonight. No, no, listen, just listen. Um, I used to speak before I would, um, have time to process what happens. Yeah. And so write it down, okay? And either send it to yourself or just write it in a note somewhere where you're not going to send it until you have time to process because we represent the kingdom, and so many people are seeing what we're writing that we, we lose our witness. Yeah. I, I actually, God told me to pray about it before I put something. Amen. That was a word from somebody that I met today that was a fellow believer. Yes, he had a cross necklace that was nails, but it was a cross. Um, and he told me, you know, I should pray. God was telling me the same thing, you know, you to pray about things you get upset. Yes, because I wasn't, that was the problem. I was getting upset. I was literally had all this anger in my heart. But the funny thing is, tonight I actually had encounter another encounter with God. Um, he basically, the whole thing, he, he anointed me again. He was pouring oil over me. And again, he literally, this is, this is, this is the crazy part. M. He took me and he put me on the back of a giant eagle, and I was soaring through the clouds. Oh, wow. That's cool. And if, if you have ever, no, I'm not.