 of the Lord go before you in everything that you do because we know through the power of the Holy Spirit there is victory and we are so glad that you're joining us on Hope Today. I am here with the pastors today, Pastor Jay and Pastor Amy and you know all this week we've been hearing all the host stories and today guess who is up? It is Pastor Jay. We are so excited to hear what God has been doing in your life. Well you know ladies and gentlemen I'm really excited about this opportunity because I'm gonna talk about the process of my life. My whole life has been about process up until this point. And you know just to kind of springboard what we talked a bit about is that this is the last day of 5, 7, 8, 3. I get a chance to talk about this. I'm believing that this is going to be a turning point for somebody that's watching even while I'm sharing my story oh something's wrong, oh they can't hear me but see the devil don't want me to tell it already. He already tells it because there's power in your testimony so I'm excited to be able to share about just the process of what it is that God is thinking through and I believe that even as this is the last day of the Jewish year and we're getting ready to step into 5, 7, 8, 4, then God's getting ready to turn the page on somebody's process and they're getting ready to come into what it is that God has to do. Yeah boy. I know I mean when you talk about the process I mean there's something in me that just twitches because you know in the process like I mean say you're planting a seed into the ground and you've got to have the right soil you've got to have the right environment for this seed. It's like a process before you see any fruit at all and so you know that there's going to be times where you're planted those times where you're growing roots you nobody sees anything kind of like the picture Sidney of that iceberg where you might see a little bit at the surface but below it is this depth of a foundation and roots and really the process but honestly we cannot skip the process. God is all about the process. He designed the process. I think some of us want to bypass the process but you know and I just even feel like when you're in the refiner's fire there is something about it that in the testing that God starts to show you things starts to reveal things to you that he starts to pull things off. You know a lot of times we talk about oh I want my fruit and all these things but sometimes God's like I got to snip some things back. I got to cut things. I got to go down deep because I have to deal with things before you move forward. So we just want to encourage you today that you would just even as you're hearing Pastor Jay share his story that you would just begin to think about the process that you're in about the refinement that you've been in and just know that God is with you every step of the way. And we just want to encourage you at any point in the show today if something Pastor Jay says because we know he is a prophetic fireball even through his story that you can give us a call on our prayer line at 888-665-4483. So I know that the enemy was trying to silence your mouth because we had, y'all didn't see it, we had all these issues with the microphone going on. So are we good with Pastor Jay's mic? Are we good? We are good. And here's a question. Is Pastor Jay going to talk and tell his story? Or is he going to preach? That is the question. Let's go Pastor Jay. Well you know I'm so like where we're going in regards to process and talking about that because life is all about the process. And I think a lot of times in our life we want the progress but we want to bypass the process. And God is always looking for a people that he can trust with charisma because the weight of their charisma or their gifting can sustain their character. And or the character can sustain their charisma. And I think it's just so important that we understand that. And I really believe to what you said Sydney that I believe there's going to be a lot of people that God is going to release today because there's been a lot of us like me that have been in the process for many years. God never wastes anything. From the time I was a little boy, I was born, the devil attacked me from the time I was in the womb. I came out immediately. They gave me some medicine. I almost died from that point. And just like he's trying to stop my voice today. He's trying to stop me from the time I was a little boy. And some of you don't understand that you can tell based upon where you're going to be based upon what you've been through your past is really prophesying your future and what God has for you. And so from the time I was two years old how it all started for me even to deal with ministry and things along that line is I set up all of my little dolls and all that stuff, my little stuffed animals on the couch. I had them all set up. And my parents said, what is he doing in there? I couldn't barely even talk. And so I grabbed my little psalm hymnal from church and had it upside down. And I was preaching to those stuffed animals. And I was going, abadah, abadah, abadah, amen. Abadah, abadah. My parents came in and said, what is he doing in there? At two years old, they saw me preaching the gospel to my stuffed animal. They said, he's going to be a preacher. And I had run from preaching pretty much my whole life. I don't want anything to do with God. And I'm going to be perfectly honest with y'all since this is my story. I got to tell it how I feel it. I didn't want to be a preacher because all the preachers that I knew were broke and had not so good looking wives. And so I didn't want to be broke and I didn't want a wife like that. I just didn't want it. And I was like, oh, that's not the life I wanted. I wanted to play basketball. I was a great athlete. I had the ability, the time I was young, any sport I could pick it up, I could just play it. My favorite sport was basketball. I had a passion for it and just loved it. But before I go any further with that, I remember from the time I was a little boy, I always had a passion for the Word of God. Always had a passion for truth. My parents would come home and I would just be upstairs listening to worship music. I would watch stuff that most kids wouldn't watch. I'd be intrigued by Christian television. I would go in for hours and hours and hours and just watch it as a young boy. I would listen to worship music. I'd go up and shut my door and just want to be in the presence of God. Didn't even know why I was doing. I had no idea. I just had an instinctive desire that was just driven towards the things of God. Always had a passion for truth. By the time I was in eighth grade, I was preaching in my technology class. And I preached so much. I had so many kids around me doing a Bible study that the technology teacher told me, he said, I love what you're doing, but you're taking all of my students away from what they're supposed to be doing and putting it on the Word of God. And from that point, I started having panic attacks. I would get attacked by the enemy. I started getting bullied. I started having all these issues that I started having to grow through. And I sprouted late. So I was real little when I was younger. Nah, I became this strapping buck that I am today. But at that time, I was smaller and so I got bullied and I went through all these things right after I started operating in my anointing. And that was around eighth grade. From that point on, I started changing. I grew, I started developing. I had about five years of silence work. There wasn't much that happened in my world. I just became an athlete. I grew physically. A lot of things happened in my world. And then all of a sudden, I got out of high school. I had my little time in the club and I was running around. I'll never forget my father came to me. And I've shared this story several times when I've been on television and shared this, people said, how did you really come to the Lord? I'll never forget my dad came to me because he had raised me. I was raised in a Christian home. My parents, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in my parents' home. My greatest encounters with God were never, ever in church. My greatest encounters with God have always been at home, which has always taught me, your home needs to be your sanctuary. Even my wife and I now, we cultivate our home to where, listen, we fight enough stuff in everyday life, just dealing with stuff. I can't fight when I come home. I don't know about any of y'all, but I can't deal with all that. I wanna be able to be at home and say, this is where I laid my hat. That's the reason why Samson fell in love with Delilah, because he was battling everywhere else. He just needed a place to lay his head. And so men and women need a place to be able to come together. So I learned as a young man, as a young boy growing up, the importance of being able to have your home be your sanctuary. So all of a sudden, God through my father spoke me, he said, why are you out there in the world? And I said, dad, I'm just having fun. I said, I don't know why I'm out here. I'm just having a good time. I was out running around with the girls. I was like, if I could get up right now, I'd start doing my little dance. I was in the club. I'm out just doing my thing. That's just what I was doing. I was dabbling and stuff. I shouldn't have been dabbling and drank a little bit, smoked a little bit. That was my story. Started running around with these different girls and whatnot. And then my dad said, one day, you're not gonna be able to do that anymore. He never ever preached at me. He never condemned me. He never said anything else to me. He prayed. And I'll never forget I was in the club one night and the Holy Spirit came down in a supernatural way and spoke to me and said, your time here is up. And I'll never forget the power of God came down in the middle of that. I went and sat down. I was in the club and I went and sat down at this table and I put my head in my hand and I was just sitting there. My friend came and he said, Jay, what's wrong? And I said, just take me home. He said, just take me home. And I'll never forget because the whole way I had my head up against the glass, he was driving home and I knew my time there was up. And I'm saying this because part of my God story is that I had parents that prayed for me. Stop telling your kids what they're doing wrong. You've already told them that. That ain't gonna work. Your battle is not against flesh and blood. It was against the enemy that had me blinded at that time. And when my dad stepped into the fullness of his call, it brought me into mine. And from that point, I started having an encounter with God. God would wake me up in the middle of the night at two, three o'clock in the morning and I would stay up till four, five in the morning. Sometimes it started at nine o'clock at night. For weeks and months, I would shake under the power of God every single night. I mean, to the point where I would tell the Lord, say, God, I can't take anymore. I gotta go to work in two hours and then the presence of God would lift and I'd get up and I would feel the presence of God. I would start fasting. Nobody even taught me to fast. I just started fasting and seeking the Lord. And then after that, God called me to go to Bible college. I went to World Harvest Bible College. Hey, Rod Tarsley. 1998, God called me to college. In July, I went and saw, I was a big Bishop T.D. Jakes fan, still am. Love the man, love the way he preached. Wanted to preach like him, but God didn't give me that type of voice. So I knew that day was up, but I loved watching him and Bishop Jakes was at Rod Tarsley School. So a friend of mine said, hey, listen, let's go see that. I said, I'm going to see Bishop T.D. Jakes, but he wanted to go to World Harvest Bible College. I ain't going to no Bible college. I'm ready to go and do ministry. Had no idea that God was trying to process me, trying to grow me. And I think people make the huge mistake of when, when I watched this, this is very important. One of the biggest lessons of my journey is this. It is a sad day and we get tripped up when we are looking for God to grow the ministry when he's trying to grow the minister. And if we don't understand what season we are in, we will become discouraged because God is not growing you upward. He's growing you downward. And I'm just going to tell you all right now, even as I'm sharing my story, I don't believe my story has even been written yet. I believe that I'm just getting ready to come in to what God has for me. My whole 46 years as of Friday, I had a 46th birthday on Friday. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Has been a life of process. And so it started with me going to World Harvest. And during that time, the Lord began to take me to that college. And I learned a passion for truth. And I learned a passion for the anointing. Two things that I believe are going to be huge in this next season. We must return back to truth. And whenever God is processing you, you are always ahead of the current times because God prepares you for where you're going, not for where you are. And so I went through that whole process there in school, had an outstanding time, came home, and I spent about 12 years in Olean, New York before I came to Pittsburgh. And that whole series there of seasons was just about me growing as a man of God, me growing as a pastor, me growing as an individual, me learning leadership, me learning how to deal with myself, how to deal with all the stuff that's going on in the world, how to keep my mind clean, how to be clean as an attractive man and being single. I had to learn how to say, hey, I can't talk with you. I can't go here. I had to learn all that stuff. I didn't wanna be a playboy pulpit guy. I didn't wanna that. I wanted to be a man of truth. And so I learned how to be able to do those things and my whole life, leadership and learning how to lead people and how to say no and when to say yes and putting up boundaries and all these things. And so now I don't have a problem telling people no. God worked out all my insecurities. I was one of the most insecure men you'd ever met. I had to learn how to like me. And I realized how could I be a spouse if I didn't like myself? How could I pour into my wife if I wasn't complete myself? I had to give myself to her and I have to be able to give her all that expectation return. I couldn't do all that. God was preparing me in all of those seasons. And then eventually I ended up meeting my wonderful wife. I get married in 2012. Got on Christian Mingo, y'all. Telling you, it'll help you. Go ahead and get yourself some Christian Mingo. You might find Mr. and Mrs. Right instead of Mr. and Mrs. Right now. And so I hopped on there within two weeks. God opened up a door. I met my lovely wife Tiffany and didn't know that who I was married to was going to propel me to this city. And so because she went with Bishop Garlington at Covenant Church, which I know y'all know who he is, his platform got me to where I am today. And it was because of the woman that I married. So destiny was tied to the woman that I was married to. So I ended up getting married to her and then I came out here and spoke for him at one of his conferences. And I mean, God just fell. I mean, it was just one of the most powerful times I'd ever had in an industry. And then the Lord spoke to me on the way home and said, it's time for you to come to Pittsburgh. Now I just bought a six bedroom home, hallelujah. Beautiful home. I had a Lexus car. I had a beautiful, a Mercedes car. And God said, I want you to take a $50,000 year pay cut, move to Pittsburgh and live with your in-laws. And nobody promised me anything. And I came here to Pittsburgh and I had nothing. I didn't have television. I didn't have a church. Nobody knew my name. But you know what? He knew my name. And I realized the reason why God took me through that process because he said, nobody can make you and nobody can break you. He said, nobody opened a door for you. I opened up every door for your life. And because of that, nobody can shut a door. And I tell you, when I came to Pittsburgh, I can't begin to tell him. People tried to stop me, tried to say he ain't no good, lie on me, all these types of things. You know what? I'm still here by the grace of God. Not because of me, but because it is the Lord. And he processed me and realized and taught me that it's not about what I have. It's not about who I am. It's not about, it's about what doors he opens up. And so I had to learn that whole process as well. And then when I was speaking, I came and I served Bishop Gromens. And I mind you, I had a great church in New York. I had a great living, everything. I came there and started cleaning the bathrooms at Covenant Church. I served my way to the top. I exchanged a microphone for a toilet swab. I was in middle of worship. I would preach one Sunday and then I would go clean the toilets right after in the next service. And I would go through and people said, what are you doing preaching? I said, just because, or even though you're preaching, why are you cleaning? I said, because just because I preach doesn't mean I stop serving. So God stripped me of everything and said, I wanna rebuild you and brought me here. And then while I was preaching, the chairman of the board here at Cornerstone came to me and said, we need somebody like you at Cornerstone. Would you be willing to sit down with the CEO at the time? I said, by all means, God opened up the door here. And then God gave us a church, Bishop Gromens said, I have a church that's struggling. Would you be willing to take it? God opened up the door there. And then now we're at a point now where we opened up a pregnancy center. Then that God opened up the door there. And I felt all of the things that I have been through have processed me. There's a whole lot more I could share. But all of that was part of the process to bring me to where I am today. And I believe that there are many of you that your story is not over. And just like even in my world, I felt like even up until this point, my whole process has been preparing me for the time that I'm about to come into. Now God is opening up a platform for me that I've never had before. In about a month, I will be hosting an MCing the March for Life event at Harrisburg where there'll be 10,000 people there. And God is opening up doors for me in a way that he never has before. But this is the reason why, more than anything else, is that I believe that I'm in a season where God says, I've built some things in you now that you can handle the weight of what I wanna put on you. And so it takes time to get there. So for me, it's been 25 years in ministry. And all you've been doing is growing me and developing me. So that is my story and I'm sticking to it. You don't bypass the process to get to progress. Like God opened the doors when he's ready. Because when his timing is so perfect, he knows exactly what he needs to do, when he needs to do it and how he wants to use you when he gets you there. Wow, I mean, there are so many similarities in our story, you know, moving, coming with nothing, being in the process, you know, I just, I'm a little bit older than you, I'm a little bit older sister here. And I just turned 50. And I feel like right now, I've lived my whole life to get to this point. And I was teaching Sunday about, you know, being in the fiery furnace, being in fiery trials. And I have literally become, this is so sad. I'm famous for suffering. So these young pastors were like, Pastor Amy, can we talk to you? We can, we need to meet with you. And I'm like, it's because I have suffered. I have struggled, been disappointed, didn't work out. God developing a deep, deep work. Jay, I don't believe we can live the full potential and purposes of God in our life without the years, the decades of development. Because without that firm, deep foundation, nothing will stand and nothing will last. Well, the scripture says, Sydney, after you've suffered a while and David had 18 years, he was anointed first for 18 years of process. Jesus was processed for 30 years. You don't hear anything about him from the age of 12 to 30, 18 years. Joseph's life process for many years and you suffer and you develop and that's where God produces your anointing. That's where God produces your rainbow word and your message in the midst of all of your mess. I just really thought like at the whole time that as Pastor Jay was sharing that I just really feel like the Holy Spirit is moving in this moment because we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony and just what Pastor Jay was sharing about this whole idea of process that God is a consuming fire. I think a lot of times, we think we talk about it but we don't really wanna go in the fire. We don't really wanna be refined like gold but I truly believe in this season that so many people have been in this blanket, in this onslaught of warfare and just know that enemy has been coming every which way, just going like shoo, shoo, shoo. But you are getting stronger as you're pressing on, as you're persevering, as you're fasting, as you're praying, as you're worshiping God and you're saying even though you slay me, oh God, yet will I trust you in this season because I know that you are with me. That God is the God is the one that stands with you in the furnace. God is the one that is with you going through the process and you know, one thing I love about the story of Job and a lot of people don't like to talk about, the enemy had to go to God and say, can I like pretty much mess with your servant, Job, because he was trying to get him not to follow God but Job still served God. The enemy has to go to God and ask can I do this trial against you and God allows it. And you know, sometimes we hate those trials, we hate those times of suffering, but you know, there's certain things you can only learn while you're going through. There's only certain things that you learn about the character of God, the nature of God, certain things that have to die with you, certain things you might have pride issues or glutton issues. And I'm not talking about food, but the way you spend your money or the way that you do things, just embrace God in the process. Don't try to jump out early. You know, one of my spiritual moms, she always told me, pastor, she was just like, the anointing comes at a cost. And a lot of people want platforms that they want influence all this up. You have to die. You have to literally die to yourself. Dying is a good thing. You know, one of the scriptures I love is unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it won't produce a harvest. Are you willing to die for the sake of Christ? Are you willing to lay down your life for him? That is something that we all need to ask the Lord is how am I supposed to die with you? How am I supposed to lay down with you? How am I just gonna give up my life and just follow you? So we are just so grateful that you've just been with us. And thank you so much, Pastor Jay, for just sharing your story, testimony. And we know we was like, the prophetic is in you. It was gonna preach it within your story, but we know and encourage many people. And Amy, we're excited about our 21 day of prayer journey. We are excited about our 21 days of prayer. When we come up right after this break, we're gonna talk about the courage to be an ambassador of truth. That's you, we'll be right back. Every now and then life gets the best of us and we need a reminder to keep calm and trust God. Simple, but striking, the keep calm and trust God box of blessings provides messages of reassurance to help carry you through tough and challenging times. These small cards fit into the palm of your hand and will turn your focus to the one who is in control of everything. Inside you'll find 51 colorful double-sided cards featuring a combination of inspirational scripture verses and faith-based quotes. Add it to a get well basket or use it to encourage a teacher, family member or friend or save it for the time you need encouragement. Be sure to ask for the keep calm and trust God box of blessings when you give today. It's our way of saying thanks as you encourage others by providing life-changing Christian television through Cornerstone TV. Call us at 888-665-4483 or give at ctvn.org slash donate. I love that gift. Keep calm and trust God. That's what we do here. Let's go to our scripture for our 21 days of prayer. Aren't you loving this? Like every day we're coming together corporately as the body to pray and believe on one certain topic. Today it is the courage to be an ambassador of truth. Come on now somebody, we need ambassadors of truth in this culture that is full of deception and lies in trying to pull the people of God out of their rightful position. Let's go to the scripture in Psalm 56 verse three and four. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? We trust God. We are not afraid. That's why we can speak the truth. There is a boldness and a courage that comes in these times when you have the spirit of God living on the inside of you, you have the courage and the boldness to live truth, speak truth, act truth, believe truth in Jesus' name, the world. Sidney, there are times in Matthew it says a great deception is coming. Not for the lost or the unbelievers, but for the believers to rip them out of the, like Jay was saying, rip them out of that time of character building that the depth of your, your, I guess characters, the word we're talking about here, the process, ripping them out of the process, deceiving the elect of God, we need to be ambassadors of truth. We surely do. There is a great falling away that is happening. I think we all, it's no surprise any of us if you just see what's happening. Christians believe in all different kinds of things, but you know the one thing I remember as a young girl that it's like one of my favorite scriptures. And I was talking to this about with someone recently is you shall know the truth and the truth self set you free. The truth is not this idea. It's not this feeling. It's a person and his name is Jesus because he says I am the truth. And so when we align ourselves and we come into agreement with the truth of Jesus and who he is, we are able to walk those things out. And I pass to Jay that you said like as a young man that you always had this thirst and this hunger for truth. So can you expound on what truth is? What does it look like the power to walk in it? Well, you know, it's funny you mentioned that because when I was in my process still and it's always being processed really, but during those years I wondered, why do I have to be the one to preach uncompromised? I mean, everybody else was kind of preaching this watered down gospel and they made everybody happy and whatever. And I always had this drive where like what I had to share wasn't popular. What I was sharing wasn't like, it wasn't the end thing. I didn't get that message where I was like, hey, everything's gonna work out for you. Life is great. I got like, listen, a man is a man. A woman is a woman. Marriage is between one man and one woman. Abortion is wrong. You shouldn't sleep with somebody before you're married. Like I stood for that and it was in me when it wasn't in, but now we're in a day and hour where it's needed. I never knew back then it was preparing me to be an uncompromised gospel preacher of truth for today. And if there's ever been a time we need truth, it's right now. And so I'm thankful that God took me through everything he took me through to be able to stand. So now in a day and hour where Christian liberties are at risk and we're standing up for truth is not an end thing. And you can be persecuted for just standing for marriage. I've been processed. And I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I'm saying I've been processed. I was like, I've been doing this my whole life. I've been standing for truth my whole life past, Rami. And now I'm just doing kind of like with Joseph when he went through all those years in the pit and in the prison in Potiphar's house it all prepared him for them seven years of being in the middle of a famine. Building your life on truth is like building your life on the rock, on a firm foundation. Not building your life on the truth is like building it on sand. It's just, it's not gonna last. And I think about people's lives and maybe you're out there today and you're in the process, you're in the heat right now. The pressure's on, you're going through something. I just ask, just work through it. Like let God work on the inside of you. Let him chisel things off, let him refine things. Let him purify things and go through that to the other side because the purposes of God are so great. And you're like, God wants to use you in this time. He wants you to be an ambassador of truth. He wants you to be a person that's spreading the light going into all the world, not afraid, not timid, not backing down. And you're gonna have the deep, deep character to back up everything you say because your life is built on truth. Just stand on that and say my life is built on truth. What a power packed show y'all. Thank you, Pastor Jay for sharing your story. Thank you Amy for everything that came out of your heart. This is what we love about Hope Today. We're family. We are so glad that you are part of our family. We love these moments where we can share our stories with you. We love these moments we can dive into the word with you because it is all so that you can become all that God has called you to be. So we just admonish you today to walk in truth, to stand in truth, to seek truth, and that is only through Jesus Christ. We love you. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.