 Hey, we have a special treat this weekend. Johnny Varican, if you don't know him, it's been, we talked about how it's been a little while since he's been here, but he is one of the founding, if you will, fathers of Radiant Church. He was our very first missionary that we ever supported, and he was our first guest speaker back at the Devils Den in the Gold Lake, now middle school, but at the time high school, and has been a friend and confidant of Jane and Lee's for a very long time, and we still support him because of the work that he's gonna explain, but that he is doing in Latin American countries for Jesus is incredible. You're gonna be blessed. He is a man of horse power. He's gonna go a thousand miles an hour, so it's gonna be good. Give a warm radio welcome to Johnny Varican. Come on, put your hands together. Thank you very much. Thanks, man. Good morning. Good to be here. Are you excited to be here? All right, all right. I was fired up to be in the third service because they told me the third service, people are wild. I don't know, I don't know. We're gonna check out what's so good, exciting to be here. My lovely wife, Carla, is here with me, but I know she went in the back, she's taking, she's in the back, she's taking pictures or something like that, but we are so excited to be here at Radiant Church. How many expected me last week? That's right. I'm gonna take news. But y'all had a great, great preacher. That's what happens when you let Pastor Lee and myself coordinate, instead of letting the people that coordinate, coordinate, you get that kind of stuff, but man, we are super excited to be here, and I'm excited about what Pastor Lee spoke on last week because we jumped in our car, we live in Mexico, we had to drive up, we were driving up, I put the podcast on, listen to Pastor Lee. His first verse is kind of the key verse, the only verse that I use in my message, and I listened to his message and I thought, boy, God's got something going on. He's tying this thing together, so be ready, be ready, be ready. I'm super, super excited to be at Radiant. Like Pastor John said, years and years and years ago, when Radiant Church was just being birthed, we had the awesome privilege and honor to be part of, to be a speaker and be friends with Pastor Lee and Jane, wonderful, wonderful leaders. You have great leadership in this church and we're excited to be part of that. You all support us in Latin America, everything we do in all of Latin America, we live in Mexico, we work in all Latin countries, and I'll talk to you a little bit about Cuba, some of the things that are happening in Cuba, but we are super excited to be here. Now I need to explain what I'm forgetting that I need to explain. I speak in Spanish about 200 times a year, and so when I speak, my mind thinks in Spanish, and so I translate it to English, so sometimes something that I will say does not make sense. When they were promoting Rick coming next week and they said, Rick is a prolific theologian. Last night when I heard that my wife talked to me and said, I bet they didn't introduce you, I bet they didn't promote you as a theologian. It's very true, but so sometimes when I speak, I can't think of the word in English, so I just say in Spanish. So if you speak Spanish, you just yell out the word in English and we'll go along. And if I don't translate it, you just kind of go along, put it in context, pretend you know what I'm talking about, and we just carry on. But a funny thing, the last time I spoke here, that was a few years ago, I was upfront, it was the first service, and I saw that there was a pulpit. And so I turned a pastor, John, and I wanted to ask him for a table and a bench, but the word, well I called this a bench, it's a stool, right? But the word in Spanish is banco, so years ago I turned to him and I said, hey John, could you get me a table and a bench? Banco means two things, either a bank or a stool, but in Spanish, and so he said, really? You want a table and a bench? I said, yeah. He said, all right, I'll see what I can do. And he goes running out and so we're getting ready to, I'm getting ready to speak, I'm on a front row. And when the lights go down, they were doing the announcements, they walk out this coffee table like a church pew. Like what the world is that? He said, that's what you asked for. That's the best I could do is short notice, a table and a bench. That's not what I meant, you need to translate the thing. So we did some pre-service work and we've got a high table and a stool, I think that's called a stool whatever this is called, and we'll get on with things. But my desire today is to add value to you. My desire today is in 30 minutes when I finish up that you'll walk out the door having made a decision to up your level in your faith walk. What I mean by that is that your faith journey will have been challenged to do something and some of you today will make a decision to make a step and your faith journey will go to a new level. That's my desire. The reason we're here is to add value to your life. And the reason why is because the longer I live, the stronger my desire is to see people be the very best version of themselves they can be. That's my desire. When I say people, I wanna kinda hone that down to Christians. I wanna see Christians be the very best version of themselves they can be. Both in Richland and in Portage we're having baptisms today. And you see people being baptized and there's excitement and they come up out of the water and they're excited and their faith is at a high level. They're excited, they're passionate, it's fresh. Most all of us start out that way. Unfortunately, a lot of people end up with an old stale stalled faith. We start fresh, we start excited, we start passionate, but many people end up with an old stalled stale faith. And I want you to know that if being a Christian is boring to you, you're probably not doing it right. I don't mean that to be offensive because it just takes a few adjustments. But if you're here today and it's like, oh yeah, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead again. If that's the way you feel, you're probably not doing it right because Christianity is not boring. Christians are boring sometimes, but Christianity is not boring. Christianity should be the most exciting and challenging journey anybody could ever be on. Because it's not boring. And if your version of Christianity has become so vanilla that it just doesn't matter, then you're probably not doing it right, or there's maybe something that you don't know. So today could possibly be your day. It could be that possibly you're here and for the last two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight years, maybe 10 years, maybe you've been gone from the church for a long time and somebody invited you today. And today's the day God wants to ignite your faith once again and that you would begin a faith journey once again that's fresh, that's exciting. Because this is what I know and this is actually the title of my message. I do have a wish for you today. That's the title of my message. My wish for you. Now I'm gonna put it up on a screen right away so you can see that. My wish for you is a courageous act of obedience that costs you something. Now I'm gonna take a, I'm gonna pause here a second, don't get nervous. Didn't forget what I was gonna say. Once you look up at that screen, I want you to think about that. My wish for you today, and this possibly wouldn't be your wish for you, but my wish for you is a courageous act of obedience that costs you something. And in the next 25 minutes, I'm gonna explain to you why that's so important. I'm gonna explain to you why it's so important to live your faith journey every day doing that. And it could be big things, it could be small things, but that's the thing that keeps your faith fresh, exciting, connected. That may not be what you want for you, but that's what I want for you. I want you to respond, and I'm gonna use a word, it's a word that I'm gonna use for the rest of the message, so I want you to listen to this real closely. I want you to respond to one of those internal nudges. You know what a nudges? Nudges, if somebody's sitting next to you and I were to say, hey, nudge the person on your right, for you would be on that way. And nudge would just kind of be, you just touch them enough to where they know that you've touched them. Or take your hand and just kind of push them, that's a nudge, all right? I see some of y'all doing that. That's good, that's good, interactive message. So what I want you to do is I want you to respond to one of those internal nudges that you sometimes feel, those internal nudges that are divine in nature. And what I mean by that is that it's God nudging you. Sometimes you might call it the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit on the inside of you that's nudging you. I want you to respond to that. God nudging you to do something he wants you to do. And this is what I know. It's a decision that you don't know where it'll take you or how much it'll cost but that you know in your heart that God is nudging you to act. And I'm not talking about craziness, I'm not talking about foolishness, I'm not talking about you go to church one day and you say, okay, the next person I see walk in the door with a blue shirt, that is gonna be my future spouse. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about, that's it, I'm quitting my job and let's just see what. I'm talking about an internal nudge that is divine in nature. It's him, he is nudging you to do a courageous act in obedience to that nudge that will cost you something. That'll cost you something. Because this is what I know. You might not know where it'll take you or how much it will cost you, but it's what it'll take. It's what it takes to keep your faith journey fresh, exciting, passionate. And you don't have any idea where he could take you if you'll just obey, if you'll just take that step out and follow the nudge. I was 19 years old. I had only known Jesus for three months, didn't grow up in any religious background, had never heard of God, heard of Jesus. I'm 19 years old. I just come into a relationship with him. Three months after I come into a relationship with him, God nudges me. He makes it very evident. I was born and raised just north of here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and God nudges me and says, I want you to leave this country. I want you to go to a foreign country. I want you to go to Mexico. Say what? And he made it very obvious. I had never thought of Mexico before in my life. Back then, living in Michigan, you didn't even think of the South, you didn't even think of the border. Most Americans think everybody in the world speaks English, and I did. It's like, I want you to leave your country and go to Mexico, represent me in Mexico. So I was dating my wife, God nudged me, and I said, yes, sir, I didn't know that we, you know, a nudge is just a nudge. I thought, if God nudges, you bet to row. So he nudged me, I nudged her. I said, let's get married. We're going to Mexico. Never in a million years would I have ever thought that 34, 35 years later, I'd be standing in front of you, telling a story, a story that began with a nudge. And I'll tell you a little bit about that story, and I'll just kind of intermingle it in my next 20 minutes. And the reason I'm doing that is because I want you to know it all started with a nudge, and every single thing just starts with a nudge. God has maybe possibly has been nudging you and you don't know where it'll take you or how much it'll cost you. And because of that, you think, well, I don't know. You have no idea the opportunities that are before you. You can't believe what he has for you. I didn't know where it would take me. Still did I know that I would move to a foreign country. I've learned the language and 33 years later, that language would be my principal language and my principal language, English, would be my second language. Now, I speak to people in English and I get halfway through a sentence and I think, this is crazy, that doesn't make any sense. I'll get done and my wife will tell me, well, you only spoke four sentences and he bonics this message. Did I know that that would mean that I would have children, they would be born in a foreign nation, they would be Mexican American citizens and then they would grow up and they would get married and they would have children. Now I have six little Mexican grandkids. I look around, how in the world did this Dutch boy from Grand Rapids, Michigan, come to, everybody's coming south and I'm going north, excuse me, everybody's coming north and I'm going south. But little did I know what that meant. Little did I know that we would work and I'll tell you stories about what we do but I'll just tell you about our churches that we would plan a church in Saltillo, Mexico and then from that church plan another one in Monterey, Mexico and then from that church we plan another church in Mexico City and there would be thousands and thousands of people that will do baptisms and I'll be sitting in the front row and I'll watch people being baptized and I'll turn around and I'll look at the faces. Thousands of people's lives impacted. Little did I know that when God took a little 19 year old young man and just kind of nudged him, little did I know that that was part of that. I just sat there and Carl and I just, we don't even say anything to each other anymore, we just kind of look at each other and we know what we're thinking and what if we wouldn't have come. There's a price to pay. We don't have a clue where it'll take us and we don't have a clue how much it'll cost. Little did I know that because I lived in a foreign country that we'd have our children and my third little boy Timmy would be born and five months, when he was five months old one morning my wife found him unconscious in his crib and she ran him to the hospital and I met up with her at the hospital and for days he was having brain seizures and they didn't know what it was. They thought it was a reaction to medicine so they didn't do the right thing. Little did I know he'd suffer massive brain damage and little Timmy doesn't walk, he doesn't talk, he's blind, he's our special little boy. Turn 30 this year. 30 years of changing diapers, 30 years of running a little handicap. Boy, son, back and forth around the world. Little did I know what it would cost but it's a small price compared to obeying a nudge and living the dream. God's got a dream for you, he's got a huge dream for you and you can't even imagine. You can't even imagine what he has for you. Yes there is a price to pay with it, yes there is a cost but you can't even imagine what your life would be like if you just follow those small nudges. And I'm talking to you about this huge nudge. It could be a nudge that's just okay, it's time. You and Shirley have been friends for two years. You have coffee every Tuesday. She is your neighbor, she now knows you. It's time that when you sit down you look at Shirley and tell her, Shirley I wanna talk to you about the most important relationship I have in my life. I wanna talk to you about Jesus Christ. That may be the nudge he's giving you. That nudge may be that for years he's been saying it's time, it's time, it's time. It's time for you to step out. It's time for you to do your own business. You as a young lady have worked inside a business structure but God's been nudging you to step out and do something on your own because he wants to bless you, he wants to use you but unless you step out you don't have a clue what he could do with you. And that's what'll keep your faith alive but this is what I know. If you go too long without responding to one of those divine nudges on the inside your faith will get old, it'll get stale, it'll get stalled. And what you'll have is just really a religion. And I'm sure you're not here this morning thinking oh I'm just a religious person, you're here this morning because you want something that's alive and exciting and passionate and that consumes you. The other side of that is when you respond in obedience to God's nudging that's what'll take you deep. So many people in the church confuse deep with confusing. It's like you hear a message and you don't understand you ain't got a clue what that cat was talking about. And you tell your husband did you understand him? And he turns back and said no, no but that was deep. We relate deep to confusing, deep to we don't have a clue what that's not deep, let me explain to you I'm just a simple guy, not a theologian I'm gonna explain to you what deep is. Deep is when you can't touch bottom. Deep is when you're over your head. That's deep. Deep isn't those profound conversations of this knowledge that I've acquired of God and I think and I think the end times and I think the day is gonna be, that's not deep. That's just information. Those things are opinions. Deep is when we're over our head. When we're over our head that's deep. That's deep, that deep is when he nudges and we look and we think well I don't know where it's gonna take me, I don't know how much it's gonna cost, but I know one thing if I jump in there I will be over my head. That is exactly where God wants you. He is, that is exactly where he wants you. Friend he wants you over your head because when you're over your head you'll look up. You know have you ever seen an adult in a kitty waiting pool? I think that's what you call it in English. A little kitty waiting pool about a foot deep. How ridiculous would it be to see an adult in a waiting pool and they're like, whoa! They're taking a walk and just flash out of the cell. We're swimming! Ah, this is awesome. No, we think the person is crazy. We think that person, that's what happens so many times us in our faith journey. We're like, you know, we're ankle deep and we're like, man! But after a while it's like, is this all there is? We want you all the way in. Deep is when you're over your head. Deep is when you say yes to God even when you don't know where yes will take you. When was the last time you responded to one of God's nudgings that you thought, I don't know where it's gonna take me. Deep is obedience without a guaranteed outcome. Deep is obedience without a guaranteed outcome. And you say, hey John, what if I think the nudge is God and I step out and it's not him? Well, welcome to the club. You think everything I've done has worked out? No! There's been times you jump in, you're deep, you're looking out there and you guys up there saying that wasn't my nudge but come on, I'm gonna help you out of it. You think he's gonna leave you in there? You think he's gonna like, all right, you're just gonna swim? It'd be like Jesus with Peter. Hey, if you call me on the boat, I'll walk out water for a while and then start sinking. You think Jesus is gonna say it now? Sorry, you're drowning, buddy. Now, take him by the hand, get back up. Deep. Deep is when you say yes and you don't know what it's gonna cost and you don't know what it means. But you know that he's nudging you and you say, I'm gonna step out and I'm gonna live over my head. You know, if you're in that little waiting pool, you got everything under control. You don't need him, you don't need God. If you got your feet on the ground and waters up to your knees or even up to your knees, you don't need God. And that's when our faith becomes old and stale and stalled. Remember, in 1989, I went to Russia with Rick Renner and a couple other guys. And that was when God spoke to Rick about moving Denise and his young boys at that time to Russia, but God nudged me in a way I never ever even imagined in my life. I'm in Russia and all of a sudden I feel this nudge from God with the nudge. He says, Cuba, Cuba, Cuba, Cuba, Cuba, Cuba. Three days straight, the only thing I can hear on the inside of me is God saying, Cuba, Cuba. And because I am super intelligent, I discern that God was speaking to me about Cuba. So I come home and God said, or I mean, and Carla says, so how was the trip and what went on in this and that? And when I'm all done, I said, you ain't gonna believe this. But it's like God is nudging me about Cuba. I didn't know where Cuba was. I knew it was in the Caribbean somewhere. Didn't know anybody from the island of Cuba. 1992, I jumped on an airplane first time flew the island of Cuba. At that time, the Soviet Union had fallen and so Cuba had lost all its subsidy. And in Cuba, they were living in dire times. There was scarcity of food. There was no gas on the island. No cars, everything was bicycles or walking. There wasn't soap on the island. There wasn't toothpaste or toothbrushes. There was nothing for physical hygiene, nothing. The people living in very, very difficult times. I went there and I just, and while I was there, I just looked at everything and I so impacted with what they were living. And I felt God nudge me again. He got me there and he nudged me again and basically said, now I want you to do something about this. Me? God, I'm just one guy. So I went back and went back and went back and went back and served. After about the fifth, sixth, seventh time back, it become evident the biggest vacuum in Cuba was a lack of leadership. Since the Bay of Pigs, 1959 and 1960, there had been no leadership training. There had been no leadership not in a Christian world, not in the secular world, non-zero, no leadership. There was just no leadership, just a dictator. And so it became evident, we've got to help these guys. We've got to raise up some leaders. And Pastor Lee, Pastor Lee was like my cohort. I'd call him up, Pastor Lee got to come to Cuba with me. He's like, ah, you probably heard some of the stories. He'd come to Cuba, I'd drag him from one end of the island to the other end of the island, visiting towns and places and we came up with a plan. The plan was we're going to put little Bible school training, leadership training centers all across the island. We put together a plan and they're going to be illegal. It wasn't legal to do that, they'll be illegal. We're going to have to smuggle stuff in and we're going to have to do this. So we had this plan all laid out, laid out how we're going to impact Cuba and how we're going to raise up leaders in Cuba. Next time I go back to Cuba, I took six Mexicans with me. We're doing a youth camp and the state police came into the place, arrested us, took us to prison. The next day they transported us to Havana, we're in prison, wake up the next morning. I'm taking in with the generals and soldiers with machine guns and they've got me in this little room and they're like, 15 years in prison for a tourist preaching. 15 years, 15 years, I have 15 years. I said, but we're good people, we're going to let you go. We're going to deport you and you never ever come back. Do you understand? And I said, yep, I understand. What I meant when I said that was yep, I understand doesn't mean I'm going to obey. They booted us off the island and we went back to Mexico and ran into all kinds of situations. They attempted to kidnap our children in Mexico to kidnap our children. Our phone lines were tapped. We had to live separate. I had to send Carl and the kids to the States for a while. I stayed there taking care of responsibility. Once things calmed down, about five months later they moved back, we're back together again. In about eight months after we officially deported from Cuba, I'm just minding my own business. I'm just chilling one afternoon, drinking some agua and God nudges. So when you going back to Cuba? Say what? When you going back to Cuba? In case you weren't there, 15 years in prison. So when you going back to Cuba? No, I went again. So when you going back to Cuba? Time to go back to Cuba. December 8th of that same year, got caught in February, March deported, eight months later, December. When you going to Cuba, jumped on an airplane, flew from Guadalajara to Mexico City, got on an airplane in Mexico City. I could still remember the exact seat I was sitting in. And that plane starts going down the runway and everything within me wanted to say, stop the plane. That thing starts taking off, starts taking off and I can still remember that something, you're gonna figure out what that something was, screams in my ear, you're going to prison, 15 years. I had no guarantee I wasn't going to prison because they said you try to come back into this country, you will go to prison 15 years. Flew into that place and it's a long story and there's all kinds of crazy, wild stuff to tell you about but the bottom line is, I've been back and forth Cuba 100 times since then but we established 53 Bible school training, leadership training centers across that island. Thousands and thousands and thousands of pastors and leaders have been trained and you're part of that. Matter of fact, Pastor Lee was there and Lee's like we're gonna be part of this. Every month, every month, Radiant Church sends a check to help Cuban pastors. At that time it was to help pastors in the Bible schools and now it's kind of segwayed and now we're helping those pastors that were trained to plant churches. Last year, Radiant Church helped plant, you helped plant 25 churches in Cuba. That's you, that was you. No, no, I need to applaud you. That wasn't me, that's you, that's you it all began with a, nah, you fell asleep on me. And it all began with a, nudge. Just a nudge, just a nudge. You can't believe what he's got in store for you. Friends, faith is not that you believe something. Faith is you believing something is true to the point that you act on it. I'll say it one more time. Faith isn't that you believe something. Faith is that you believe something that you act on it. And this, I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna read this because I wrote this phrase in my notes and I'm gonna say it just like I've got it and I've got some of them in big letters. Here we go. When your faith intersects with God's faithfulness, baby, look out. You will experience God like you never ever have before. Baby, look out. When your faithfulness, when he nudges and you say, okay, you're nudging, yes, sir. And you step out, you don't know where it's gonna take you, you don't know how much it's gonna cost you, but he nudges and you say, yes, sir. When your faith intersects with God's faithfulness, look out. You wanna live a lifestyle that's exciting and that's awesome. It's like, wow. Passionate, on fire over your head every single day. That's what nobody has to ask you if you're reading your Bible or if you're seeking God. It's like, so have you been reading your Bible lately? Say what? That's all I do is read my Bible. Have you been praying? That's all I do is pray. All's I do, I am over my head. The only thing I do is connect with him because he is the only way. I'm just connected, connected. I read my Bible. Nobody will have, if somebody has to ask you if you're reading your Bible, if you have to discipline and I know that reading our Bible and seeking God begins with a discipline, but if you're living the Christian life the right way, nobody's gonna have to tell you because you're gonna be over your head because I guarantee you those nudges will take you over your head and you'll be looking up and you'll be saying, God, it's all about you, man. It's all about you. You step into this place and worship starts and it's just, you're crying. Your husband looks at you and he's like, you're like, this song is awesome. He says, we sing this song every weekend. It's so awesome. Why? Because it's you. It's not about the song. It doesn't matter if it's version one of Egypt or version two. Look, look, look, I really, I really don't know what that means because I haven't heard version one. So they were gonna play it. Somebody said, you need to look at it. They said, I don't have an opinion. The version is the version. It's like, if it's the version that moves you, you're in the wrong place. It should move you because you walk in and you're like connected, teetid. You can sing, Mary had a little lamb and I was like, oh! Maybe that wasn't a good example. Don't. I get a call from Lee, hey, your doctrine's a little off-worn. All right, I gotta finish up. This is a danger. If you put off those little God nudges, you're playing already. If you put off those little God nudges on the inside, your faith will become boring. You'll start to focus on knowing instead of doing. I'm going to church, see what they're gonna tell me today. Just keep that tone for about 15 minutes. Woo! And if you don't act on those nudges, you'll become cynical and critical and it's like, I don't know why this happens and why they do that and this and that. When you're keyed in, when God's nudging and you're grasping and you're keyed in, those things, that's why Jesus invited people to follow him. That's why Jesus' invitation was follow me. It was always follow me. It wasn't learn about me. It wasn't here, here's a flyer. Jesus going by here, this is about me. Read about me. No, his invitation was follow me. Come on, I want you to experience me. And it's the same exact thing today. He wants you to experience him. That's why he says follow me. Come on, jump in, let me nudge you and you step out and you and me together. We change the world. You can't believe what God's got in store for you. If you'll just obey, step out. He nudges, you step out. Man, you got a world changer on the inside of you. All he needs is for you to just obey. Courageous act, just a courageous act. Could be it's time for you to start that business and accept that job. You're like, oh, that job, that's way over my head. Yep, that's God nudging. Man, it's time for you to stop writing checks to help others go on mission trips and for you to buy that ticket and say, well, I'm going to Zimbabwe myself. Check it out. Maybe you're sitting here watching these people get baptized and you're gonna see, and in Portage people get baptized as soon as they get done here. And you may be sitting there thinking, and maybe what he's saying is, uh-huh, it's your turn. You've believed, come on, baby. Maybe you just need to run up and say, hey, hey, that water's still in there. Baptize me, Pastor John, baptize me. Cause you've been nudging, you've been watching it, but you're like, well, I don't know. If I do, if I get baptized, what if I sin again? You confuse yourself. Instead of just nudge, I'm doing it. Jump in, baptized, good to go. Public confession. Whatever that is, whatever that is. One day Jesus turned to a man and said, follow me. Lee talked about it last week, so I just jumped through it real quick and the Bible says, but he replied, Lord, first let me go and bury my father. I want you to look at that. First, first. Yeah, yeah, okay, I know you're nudging, but first I got something I gotta do beforehand. Second guy says in verse 61, still another said, I, that guy, he's a loser, but me, I'll follow you. But first, let me go back and say goodbye to my family. The same exact thing, it doesn't matter what the excuse was, it was just there was something first. And maybe you identify with those guys and it's like, I know God's been nudging me, but I'm like, God, first let me get my kids through school, out of the house, and then I'm all yours. And he's been nudging and you say, God, I know, but man, my business upside down, and I just, first let me take care of, and you think you're gonna help him? It'll be over your head. It'll be over your head. I remember in year 2000, God inspired to start to speak to me about Latin America. And I'm like, no, I'm in Mexico, and he's like, Latin America, I want you to raise up leaders in Latin America. I want you to do that. I'm like, they don't, nobody knows me in Latin America. But he was nudging and I said, all right, so I start this leadership organization. And all of a sudden this guy, you may have heard of John Maxwell, you may have read some of his books, John Maxwell, we connect and we make friends and pretty soon John's like, hey, what you need to do is you need to be me in Latin America. Like what? Like everything I do in Latin America, you're gonna lead it. I didn't have a clue who John Maxwell was before I responded to that nudge. And I stepped out, then God said, okay, you're gonna go obey, boom, I got something for you. Now we walk into different countries and I meet with presidents and Supreme Court justices and the answer to a lot of the United States problems is we've got the answer, it's down there, it's not here, it's down there. We need to change those countries. And in a million years did I ever think that I would be part of that. You sit here today, July 2019, and God's nudging you, and you think in a million years you don't have a clue what he could do for you if you'll just say yes to that nudge. My desire for you, a courageous act of obedience that costs you something. You don't know how much it's gonna cost you, but it's gonna cost you. It's gonna cost you, but you can't even imagine what will happen. So my question for you is, what are you gonna do with his nudge? Why don't you bow your heads, close your eyes, need to finish up real quick. If you're sitting here in this auditorium or you're imported to the auditorium, and while I've been speaking, you know without a shadow of a doubt that God has been nudging you, and you've nudged back, and he's nudged you, and you've nudged back, and you haven't moved, but he's saying today, he's telling you, I've nudged you, I want you just to obey. If that's you, I wanna pray for you. I wanna pray for you, but I'm gonna ask you to do something, and in about five seconds, if that's you, I'm gonna ask you to stand up, and by standing up, I'm not gonna ask you to come forward or anything like that, I'm just gonna say stand up, and what I want is for you to say, God, I recognize that you have been nudging and I haven't been moving, but I wanna be over my head. I want you and only you to be my focus, and I believe that if I will do that courageous act of obedience, may cost me, but I'll begin to walk a faith journey totally different than what I've been walking. If you're that person, I'm gonna ask you to stand up right now, real quick, just stand up, that's me, God's speaking to me, he's been nudging me, and I haven't, and I wanna pray for you, I'm gonna wait five seconds, and if God's nudging you to stand up, stand up. Father, I thank you for every single person in this auditorium in portage that is on their feet. Some ways, somehow, Father, you've nudged them in the past. And for whatever the reasons, it could be just like the guys that we read about in the Bible, that there was just one thing, just let me take care of this, and then I'm all yours, but Father, we've come to the realization that if we're gonna live our faith, and our faith walk is gonna be pure, and it's gonna be exciting, and it's gonna be passionate, that we just need to respond to your nudges. So they're on their feet today, and I ask that you pour your grace upon them. Father, pour out your grace, a flood of your grace to obey you. It may be something, and the cost may be high. Father, give us a boldness to pay the price, to pay the price, and only you know what you will do through these awesome, courageous people. I bless them, and I declare that your nudge in their faith, in your faithfulness, will create world-changing people. And I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. God bless you, Pastor Juan. Can we all stand up? Let's give Johnny a round of applause. Thank him for being here today, challenging us.