 Hello, Diga Hernandez here, and I'm here with my friend Steven Moctezuma, everybody. So we are here, and we're going to be talking to my buddy Steven, and many of you know we've been planning this for a while, to where you can log on, ask Steven questions, and where we can actually interact, because I want you to get to know the worship ministry of Steven Moctezuma. We got a lot going on today, but what we need to do right now is just get people time to log on. I got to tweet this, which is one of the things I forgot to do before the broadcast. So we have a lot of questions from many of the people here, and let me just tweet. Steve, why don't you go ahead and talk to them while I tweet? Well, hey, what's up, everybody? Thank you guys so much for tuning in. I'm really excited to see what kind of questions you guys are going to ask me. I'll be, like I said, in my promo video, I'll be transparent as possible. So whatever you guys want to ask me, go ahead and ask me, and I'll do my best to answer it. The tweet is out, and so basically what we're doing, so there's 22 of you online right now, and we're waiting for just the rest of you to get in. And as we know, the majority watch these things after they've gone live, which is why I like doing these, because they actually have what I call a residual effect in that they continue to bless people. I did one a while ago. I did one with my wife. I'm doing one with Steve. I want to do one with my brother, Michael Hernandez. I really want you guys to get to know him, and maybe even in the future we can do one with Tim Lay, who many of you knew who answers the questions on YouTube and does all the correspondence there from our channel. So what we're going to do today is very simple. I'm going to interview Steve. He's going to give you a short word, just encourage you. He ministered it at his young adult ministry where he serves at our home church, Praise Chapel Paramount. Woo-woo. Yeah, that's also where he leads worship every Sunday, Wednesday. And that's actually a really good church. Why don't you talk to the people who might live in the Paramount California area. Yeah, so if you're in Paramount California, we have our church called Praise Chapel Christchurch Fellowship in Paramount. You can actually visit our website. You can type in Praise Chapel Paramount, and our website should pop up. You can go there and find all information, like I said. It's a good church. And if you're in the Paramount area or you're looking, maybe you're in the Downey area or somewhere in that residual area, like I said, our doors are always open. You use the word. Yeah. They're very good. So anyway, Pastor Omar Lopez is the pastor there. So that's our pastor, which you'll hear in some of the questions. But I figure since Steve's here representing a ministry, the worship ministry where he leads worship most is Praise Chapel Paramount. Awesome church. So we've started an interview. Then we're going, he's going to teach that word. And then we're going to get to the viewer questions, pray with you. So again, this is just, I think this is a good time to now start. We're going to just about even out on the viewership in just a moment, as we're giving you time to log on. How are you feeling, Steve? Oh, feeling good. I got my, this is not soda. This is coffee, by the way. I like it black. It's good stuff. You like it black? Yeah. Nothing in it? A little bit sugar. You know where I got that, you know where I got that month? Restoration Life Church. They got a great hospitality ministry there. Restoration Life. Restoration Life Church is watching. Cheers. There you go. Don't spill on my laptop, man. Okay. So here we go. I'm going to go ahead and let's just, let's start off here, Steve. Why don't you go ahead and just tell us a little about yourself. Personally, we'll get into the ministry questions right now. Okay. Just who you are, where you go. You might want to get into frame a little bit. No, not too far. There you go. All right. Just go ahead and talk to our viewers. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Yeah. So, well, for those of you that don't know me, my name is Steven Makazuma. I do worship for Diga and also our church at Prey Shaffle, what we mentioned earlier. I've been doing that worship specifically for, I want to say, a good six and a half, somewhere, something like that, six, seven years now, I don't really know actually when I started just kind of. You just kind of float into it. You just kind of float into it. Yeah. I'm 25 right now for those of you that were curious, I'm 25 years old, 25 years young actually. How long have you been married? I've actually been, yes, I am married, if you guys noticed. Sometimes I don't play with my ring just because it clashes with the guitar, but I am faithfully married to my wife, Amanda. She was going to be here. Yeah. I was going to have Amanda, his wife, peek her head and my wife, she always runs whenever there's a camera around. Maybe one day. It's very hard to get those women on camera. They're very nervous. Yes, one day. So, okay. So, you go to Prey's Chapel Paramount? Yeah. Any, so I'm just kind of going based up what the community kind of sent out to me early on. So, just kind of tell us, what are some of your hobbies, man? Oh, man. Well, for those of you that are interested in my hobbies, I love fishing. Oh, that's great. I'm a really big fan of fishing. Actually, one of our friends at the church has a boat, so we sometimes go to Catalina, sometimes it's kind of rare, but we go out, you know, out of San Pedro where it's closer. You know, yeah, it's such a great hobby as you go like twice a year. Yeah, twice, actually once a year. Once a year now. No. You work at, actually, Stephen's not yet full-time minister yet. He will be there one day. I believe that with all my heart, but right now you work at Eremark. Yes, I work at Eremark. What we do, I don't know if you're curious. Make this quick, because this part's not as interesting. I do uniforms. I'm in the uniform business, so if you guys need some uniforms. No plugs. We can't. We can't. We can't mix commercial with non-profit. It's good. Okay. He's just trying to get his commission. So, if you own a business, I guess. Mm-hmm. All right. So, let's get into the ministry aspects here. Yes. First question here. What does worship mean to you? Wow. That's a good question. I get asked that not too often, but when people do ask me, I kind of just tell them the same thing. It's one of those questions I make you pause. Yeah, it's one of those questions I really have to think, because worship can mean so many different things, but to me, personally, it really means just complete surrender and in all, to God, especially, I believe one of the strongest ways we can connect with God is through worship. We can connect through him through prayer, through fasting, through all those other things, but there's something about worship, and I don't know if you guys have ever encountered God through worship specifically, but when you feel that sense of just being in awe of what you're saying and what happens a lot to me too, even when I'm driving to work or something, when I'm driving at work, I'll have my headphone in and just listening to music, and I'll be in awe, literally, like, wow, we really serve a God that's bigger than all of this. So worship, to me, personally, is just complete surrender and just being in awe of who God is and what he did for us and what he's still doing for us, and just the grace of God is just so cool. So worship, to me, means a lot. So now, a little bit of a controversial question. What do you think of that idea that worship is about us? Because you hear it said, especially in the modern church, you hear this idea that, you know, almost as if worship is just like a pep talk for someone's self, but musically, are you into that or do you think worship is all about them? To me, my goal when I lead worship is if I can get one person that isn't really believing or doesn't really have faith, if they can really just get a hold of who God is through what we do, I mean, that's all I ask. And a lot of times when I do worship, I'm always in the back of my mind saying, God, this is not about me. I'm so glad that you've given me this opportunity to do this, but this is not about me. So there's a sense of humility and being humble that all the worship leaders I believe they need to have in order to continue. Because I mean, if you do think about it, worship is like a big, you know, everyone wants to be in worship team, you know? It's just like, it's cool, you know? It's a very cool and very good honor to be on it. But I don't remember what the question was. What was it? I was, I kind of, it wasn't on the list. So I just kind of curveballed you into my fault. All right. So let's get into a little bit of lighter aspects here. Yeah. As far as music goes, what are some of the things that you do personally to improve your skill? Well, I definitely try my best now. I'm not the best at this, but I do try to do vocal warm-ups as much as possible. So if I need to do, if I'm singing for like a Wednesday or Sunday, I'll try to do vocal warm-ups. And I before just a couple of songs in my mind or the day of I'll try to do, you know, you know, the whole, that's, that's a technical stuff about it. But, you know, I do, one thing I can tell you too is I've realized now that I'm a little older, my voice is matured that I do need to have rest. So there needs to be a sense, there needs to be times where you, although you do want to worship, you want to use your voice. This is for vocalists. You want to use your voice. You do need to have a break because your voice, it's not, it's meant to, you know, do a lot of things, but extreme strain on it by singing over and over again. You can really damage your voice. So I would say just vocal lessons, a lot of hot tea. Sometimes I'll try my best, but, you know, it is just, you know, sometimes I'll have my wife hook it up with the tea because she works at the coffee house. So shout out to her. She works at the church coffee house. Yes, she works at the church coffee house. She'll hook it up for you. I never get anything for you there. No, no, no. You can just ask me. OK, I'll work with you. Don't tell Pastor Omar though. OK, who are some of your influences as far as worship ministry goes? OK, man, I have a lot. The main in the top 100, the top thousand, let's see, we'll go one by one, I'm kidding. I'm really right now, it's not my influence that I get influenced by. It's more of an inspiration who's inspiring me at the moment. OK, right now who's inspiring you at the moment? Right now I've been listening to a lot of Elevation Worship. There's a pretty good gentleman on there called his name is Chris Brown. He is a phenomenal singer. If you guys haven't listened to Elevation Worship, listen to them because that's what a lot of the songs that I do are from Elevation Worship. Also, there's a band called City Point Live. They're kind of under the radar a little bit. They have a different style, but I really like the way that they musically they do and the vocals, too, are very inspirational to me. So I tried to those are my my main inspirations as of right now. And Hillsong obviously is always cool, you know, they're always the go to. They kind of they evolved over the years. They did. They turn into more of like a dance. I mean, more of like a dance, not dance, but like poppy sound, you know, but I understand it's the changing of the time. OK, what styles of worship music do you prefer now? Kind of a perfect transition. I mean, yeah, the styles I I do. I really do enjoy just a solid worship song, something that has one core verse one chorus verse two bridge instrumental, like just the basic stuff. I I do tend to gear myself more towards what I'm listening to now, which is elevation worship. I do like their style that they have. The tone that they have is really something I really like a lot at the moment. You know, but what about someone like the classics? Because, you know, yes, classics, too. This this this brings back to me when I was sitting in my car listening to Ron Cannelli. Yes, yes. So classic, which is I can never, never go wrong with the classic worship song, especially when he said Ron Cannelli. You don't know who Ron Cannelli is. You got to look that guy up. If you're a leader, you don't know who Ron Cannelli is. Shame for shame. He is but not about him. But I'm just saying the old school style of worship has its place and it'll always be there. And I believe that it's never going to die out because you can always go back to those songs that are just so like, wow, you know, like there's a song. It goes I'm coming back to the heart of worship. Like is that old now? That's semi or some people watching might remember on that one. Yeah, I'm coming back to the heart of worship. So it's like when it's all about you, those words in the lyrics are something that you could really feel are like genuine. Sometimes you listen to a worship song. It's just kind of not like it's just OK. That's just a song that they kind of put on the record. But when you really get a hold of songs that you that really feed into you, like it's it's awesome. We call those present songs, songs with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Present grace. OK, name your favorite one, your favorite old school song and one favorite new song. OK, old school song. I don't know this is considered old school, but I've been really digging. There is none like you. I've done it. I did a cover of it. There is none like you. By the way, yes, that's on our YouTube. Yes, you should check that out. I really like that old school song new school. I have so many so many songs that I just the question says name one. OK, OK, I mean to let's see. Oh, boy, I love it's a song by Elevation Worship. I actually did a cover of it. I think the last song that I just did was that song. It's Oh, goodness, I forgot what it's called. Come to the altar. Oh, come to the altar. Yes, that's the awesome song, like awesome for people that have fallen away from God. Like so cool, even people that need a refresher. That's the song that you peeped on the mic. Oh, yeah, I went a little too loud. No, that's good. That's good. So we have so we have settings on the sound board for everyone. There's a sound setting for me. There's a setting for Steve. There's a setting for my brother, Mike. There's a setting for other guests that I have that come on. And we know every guest, everyone that's ever coming on to ETV or Spirit Church, they'll have their different settings. Steve has a setting that we put on there. And obviously the sound man has to follow for different highs and lows. But I don't know, man. You can practicing or something because the way you projected in that song, it went way above the levels he's ever gone. So yeah, well, it's going to be released. That one's going to be released not tomorrow, which is went through watching this on Tuesday, September 6th. Then tomorrow it comes out through watching this after that. Then it's already out. Yeah, but forgive us for the peaking. Yeah, that song is really good. And I love seeing it because, you know, also vocal tip to find songs that are fitting for your voice. If you if you need to change a key for a song that just does not. What's the hardest song for you? Hardest song for me was actually a song by Jesus Culture. What was it called? I forgot what it's called, but there's there's the guy's voice is really high pitched and I have more of a higher voice too, but I just couldn't hit the keys. I was like, once I realized I couldn't hit it, I was like, nope, I'm not going to do it. We'll change it. We'll change it. Or change the key. Nowhere your keys are as well. That's a good vocal tip, too. OK, how do you cultivate the presence of the Holy Spirit while leading worship? Well, that's all depending on just the faith in the room, I believe. I mean, God's always there. He's always been there. But it really takes faith to really stir the presence and the Holy Spirit is the one that guides us, that directs us, that kind of if you're feeling like, oh, I have a word or have something to say, you know, and you really dig deep and say, OK, this is not just me saying it's the Holy Spirit. Let me encourage someone out there. Really, you have to really rely if you're leading worship to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you, because that's kind of like the main, main person, main dude, you know, that'll get you through it, and that will actually allow you to press in more. Because like I said, God is always with us, you know, but we're just so caught up in the world that we kind of need our eyes washed a little bit. Honestly, in worship, it's just a perfect eye wash. Takes it away. I've never heard on my channel the Holy Spirit referred to as a dude. But for you, that's a term of endearment. That's not. That says terminology. I know, yeah. OK. Sounds like that. Sorry. Biggest mistake you've ever made while leading worship. I got a great story for you guys. I'm all ears. So this was in probably about the second year I was doing worship. And I started off as background vocals. So I know all parts of worship, all parts of vocals, like the background of doing the leads and doing the harmonies and stuff like that. Obviously, still learning, because you can learn something new every day. But one of my leaders, I was leading a song for, I think it was one of the first or second times I did it. And I don't know what I did wrong, but I messed up the key or I sang something completely different out of key. And so my leader kind of just stepped in and just grabbed the mic in the middle of me singing. And the congregation was like, what is going on? But I took it and I was like, wow, all right. I probably did something wrong. But what can I learn from it? And I think that's something that you guys can take from it too. I think I remember that. Yeah, probably. It's classic, classic Steve. There's a lot of classic Steve moments at our church. OK, we've got a lot of viewer questions coming in. Before we get to the viewer questions, Steve, you had a word. Yes. You want to just, it's a real quick, just going to for a few minutes, maybe four or five minutes, you want us to encourage you. Because we wanted you to get something out of this live broadcast, other than personally connecting with us. So Steve, why don't you want to just share what's on your heart? And what is this message about? So if you guys don't know, I'm a part of the Cornerstone Ministry out of Praise Chapel Paramount. Cornerstone is a young adult ministry. At Praise Chapel, and for those who know my brother, Michael Hernandez, he's the young adult youth pastor at Praise Chapel Paramount. Shout out to Mike, lovely man. Oh, who, by the way. Yes. Yes, to right now, as we speak, she's having a baby, he's there watching the movie. I never watch when couples say we're pregnant. My sister-in-law is having Little Rylan. In fact, I just got a text, and that's kind of what I'm watching here. This is going to be my first niece. And so they're going to, anyway, she might, they're saying that it's going to be tomorrow, September 7th. Oh, wow. I said September 1st. I was way off. I'm not way off. All of us kind of guessed it, but we were off. Anyway, so that's what's happening right now. So anyway, that was what, oh, we got there, baby, arriving in Michael Cornerstone. Preach this message at Cornerstone. So yeah, so I preached this message a couple weeks back. It was called, it was entitled Jumping Ship. Our theme for that month, because we do themes at our church, we love to kind of gear, not just preach something, but put something in people's hearts that they can follow and make use. So our theme that month was called All In. And I refer to the text in Matthew 14, 22 through 33. If you guys want to read it, you can. I'm not going to read it, because it's a story we've all heard before. It's about, let's see, yeah, Peter walking on the water. It's a story we, like I said. And that was Matthew 14, 22. Matthew 14, 22 through 33. That's the classic story of Peter walking on water. Well, let's read it, because I know the viewers can hear. I'll read it, I've got it right here, man. I'll read it, save you some breath, and then we'll kind of comment on it. So Matthew 14, verse 22, and this is, the context here is where Jesus is walking on the water. The scripture says, beginning of verse 22, immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake. Well, he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray, night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from the Lord. For a strong, or far away from the land, for a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, it's a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once. Don't be afraid, he said, take courage, I am here. Then Peter called to him, Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you walking on the water. Verse 29, yes, come, Jesus said. So Peter went over to the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. Should I stop there? You're down 33. Yeah, sure, sure, yeah. So my first thought, because I like to, when I preach or speak something, I like to put thoughts in your guys' minds and just simple keys that you can kind of use for your daily life. So my first thought reading this story was found in Scripture 26, verse 26, which reads, when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and cried out in fear. Now my first thought is an influence. And I wanted to really take a different approach to this story and really focus on Peter before he even got out of the boat. So in my mind, I was thinking like, man, what can I think of that is kind of different? And I thought, okay, if all these guys were afraid, why wasn't Peter? And I was trying to really relate this to our daily walk that we do every day in life. And I came up with this little excerpt, and it was, the others on the boat were afraid and did not really follow Peter in his decision to get off the boat. But Peter focused, and he didn't focus on the negativity surrounding him because if you think about it, these guys were freaking out like, dude, go ahead, do whatever you want, go over there, we're back here, we don't know what that is. And how often do you in life feel the pressure of people around you saying, what are you doing in your Christian walk? Like, are you really saved? Are you really being a good Christian? And I believe Peter, these guys that were feeling negativity and just fear, he pushed past that. And how many realize we need to push past all that negativity in our life because if we're gonna focus our eyes on God and we're gonna continue to walk with God, we need to push past that negativity. And so it jumps down to verse 33. Let me read that, because we didn't read that. We didn't read that. Oh, go ahead, yeah. So we didn't get that far, but I wanna make sure. Forgive me if I'm not following long fast enough. Okay, so verse 33, it's not all there on his notes as well. Then the disciples worshiped him. You really are the son of God, they exclaimed. And so verse 33, you can see from them going to be being afraid and Peter stepping out and realizing who it was, Peter was the forefront in that whole movement that he was going off the boat. And once they realized that it was Jesus, they fell to their face and fell to their knees and I thought, man, if you continue to walk in God and walk in the spirit and walk in, and continue to just follow God and get off that boat, if you guys realize your family and friends, the ones that were kinda spreading that sort of negativity, they're gonna start to take notice. Just like the disciples did, in the beginning, you could say that they were afraid, they didn't wanna do this, but Peter continued. And as soon as Peter went, they seen that it was Jesus and how many guys realize Jesus is inside of us, Jesus is always with us. If you can cultivate a lifestyle of just going all in for God and continuing to walk in his presence, your friends and family are gonna realize it and they're gonna know that you're taking it serious and eventually they'll get saved. Amen? That's a really good thought you got there. One of the things you didn't get a chance to point out here, I listened to your sermon, by the way, I wish I could have been there, I think I was out of town, but I went back and I went to the podcast and I listened to, there was other speakers that night. Yeah, I didn't listen to them, I listened to you. Thanks a lot. And I was listening and you had talked about how Peter didn't even really know if it was Jesus or not. Peter recognized it was Jesus, but the other disciples didn't, I should say. I thought that was an excellent thought and I really, when you had said that one of the thoughts that inspired me was that so many people won't take a step because they don't see God in the storm. They see what's before them as impossible and because they're reluctant and they cannot identify Jesus in the storm, they stay put. And that's kind of what you've done with your worship ministry. Yeah, I think so. I think I texted you something similar. Yeah, definitely and like I said, when it comes to worship, going back on worship, if you're not all in and you're not confident and not only confident in yourself that you can do that, you can lead the people, but confident that God is directing you and guiding you. You can't see God through a lot of the negativity because sometimes when you see guys that are just like standing like this and just like... Was that during the worship service? Yeah, we all know them, okay? We all know, all right? And that's saying... Write their names in the comment section. Write their names, don't name names, but we know those people that just kind of like, all right, this is a cool show. If you can push past that and really continue, you'll see God in you and man, when God's in the room, dude, every knee bows, so every knee, people really receive him. And Steve, you really stepped out of the boat, man. Thank you. Because you share with them about that before I get into the viewer questions. Or do you have more from here? I do, but... No, no, no, go, go, go, go. Okay, all right, so... I miss reading your notes as well. Oh, no, no, no worries. So... This is not rehearsed, this is all live. Yeah, yeah. This is what live broadcasts happen. Yeah, yeah, so that was my influence, I thought one was influence, you know? Are you being influenced by those people with the negativity? Are you influencing them? And are they changing because of you, you know? So thought two was, are you playing it safe? And I was looking at Peter in verse 29 and it says, then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sing, cried out, Lord, save me. And I was thinking, man, I was really thinking like, they didn't throw Peter a life raft. Peter didn't ask to go in there with the rope on him. He went in knowing that he could completely just sink, you know? And I believe like, man, if you're holding onto something in this, in your life that doesn't, you know, line up with the word of God, that can be your hindrance. That can be your line that's sticking you on that boat. You know, you can swim as far as you can, but you're not gonna get anywhere if you're holding onto something in the past that's continually just kind of crippling your walk with God. And I believe if we can, again, be like Peter to just go all in knowing that there's danger, knowing that the wind is high, knowing that the water is deep and still pressing on to God, I mean, there's nothing that you can't do. And once you do it, man, you're saved, you know? And so, like I said, are you playing it safe? You know, are you holding onto things in your life that are safety for you? And it can be anything, school, it can be a career, it can be a job, not saying that none of that stuff is good, but if you're completely overshadowing that with your walk with God and not aligning yourself with the word of God, you can literally just be swimming in the ocean, but not being realized that you're still stuck on that boat. Amen, so. Amen, I'm sure they're saying, in fact, what does that say at the top right? To list all available, come on, okay, nevermind, forget that, forget that. Start, well, he's gonna be on a stir point right now, but I'm gonna take a quick break to tell you. Start sending in your questions. Now, if you're watching this on social media, click the link, the actual YouTube link that you're watching this on. And if you're watching this on YouTube, you can participate in the comments if you're watching this from the website. There's a button down there that says to interact. Now is the time to begin getting your questions into Steve and myself. And what we're going to do is approach those questions one by one and we might not be able to get to all of them just depends on how it all goes. And also, there's a poll that we've listed here on this video. You can go ahead and click at the top right-hand corner of this video. You're gonna see a circle. When you click that circle, a poll's gonna- On the side's right or that? I don't know. I think that would be it right there. So somewhere right over there, I think, and then the circle's, it's not that big of a circle. Oh, okay. Anyway, so then it's gonna come down and there's gonna be a poll there. And basically that poll is to vote on which song Steve is gonna do next for the Spirit Church playlist. Now, we have two songs coming out. We actually have three tomorrow we're featuring a new artist. Yep. Omar Lopez is his name. Yes, yes, super excited for that. It's gonna be great. You're gonna love them. And then you have two songs. Come to the all term. What was the other one you did? Whatever it was, it'll come out in the next couple of weeks. And then after that, the four weeks from now will be when that one airs. Okay, Steve, take it away on your third point as they get those questions in. So my third and final point, if you guys haven't been following along, we're talking about Peter walking on the water. And so my first thought, again, just to kind of recap for you guys that are just tuning in, are you being an influence? Are you influencing the people around you in your life or are you allowing them to influence you? Are you stepping off of that boat, just like Peter did, and continuing on to God? My thought too was, are you playing it safe? Are you holding onto something that you really know that is a safety in your life and you're not going all in for God? And if you continue just to hold onto that and you try to go towards Jesus, you're gonna realize you're still stuck in this stuff, so. I love that thought. Thank you. That second thought that he didn't take any safety with it, to attach it to it. I thought that was very unique, man. Doing great, keep going. So my last thought is found in verse 28, Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. And verse 29, simple, come, he said. And I was thinking about this. It clearly reads that Peter was the one that kind of called God out, although God said, hey, it is I. That could have been anyone, but Peter had faith. And if you have faith, I believe that you can literally find the voice of God through anything. And I believe, so let me read this, sorry about that. So I just wanna say that don't be afraid to show that you're going after God, okay? Like don't be afraid to call out to God because that's what Peter did. He said clearly in verse 28, Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. Jesus said, okay, it's me, Jesus. I want you to get off of that boat and come to me. So my question is, are you really asking God for things? Are you really testing God? Now, it does say that we can test God in scripture. We can go forth and ask, asking you shall receive. That's a simple scripture, you know? And so, and literally Peter said, Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water. And Jesus did say, come. So are you pursuing him? Are you really going after him? Or are you just waiting for him to do something in you? Now, there was a period in my life where I was in worship and I was just completely just waiting. I was in a waiting period, okay? Where do I do with my voice? Where do I go? What do I do? And it's not until I stepped out and started challenging God, saying, hey, look, I want you to do this in my life. I want you to really just inspire me to write songs. I want you to do so much in my life. And not before that nothing really happened, but when I really started pushing in and pressing for the spirit, pressing for God, that's when things started really shifting for my worship ministry. And that's when things kind of started taking a different turn. So if you're, so my thought three is, are you really pursuing God in faith, you know? Cause Peter did right here at clearly state. So, and then my closing thought is a quick little thought, a story that I kind of, not a story, but just a thought pretty much that I came up with in my mind just thinking, I believe there's a Holy spirit that kind of dropped it in on me. And so I really want, if you could take anything from this really pay attention to this next little closing thought that I'm gonna read real fast. And it says, when you're at the deepest point in your life, remember that in the deep parts of your walk, there is a bottom, okay? And when your feet touch that deepest point, although darkness and pressure of life surround you, just know that you can push upward. And with enough strength and enough fight, you will reach the surface faster than you descended. Don't let the deep of the ocean be your end. God is with us even in the dark places. His presence is all around us. He stands on top, hands open wide, ready, ready to grab you out of the deep. So have faith, hold on to His word, step out, and don't hold nothing back, and above all, go all in. So I thank you guys for that. That was something I really wanna share with you guys. And I really do hope that it encourages you. And if you need any encouragement, always message us on Facebook or whatever, and we'll do what we can to pray and all that. Steven, can I tell you something? Yes. That was excellent, my friend. Thank you. That was really good. I don't know about you, but I get blessed hearing the word of God, and I thought that was delivered with excellence. Now we're gonna get to the, actually, you know what? I was gonna get to the viewer comments and questions, but I actually, what I want you to do is why don't you take a moment to pray. Yeah. For that one watching who was listening to what you said, and they say, they're saying, Steve, I can identify with that. I feel like I reached the bottom. Yeah. Pray with that one watching. So Father, in Jesus' name, Father, whoever's watching God, that's at their deepest point, Father, that's ready to give up. I pray in Jesus' name that they would be encouraged by not only what we do here, Father, but by you, Father. I pray that you would just give them a hope, God, that even though they're at their deepest point in life, there's always a bottom that they can shoot up off of. And I pray, God, right now, Jesus, for the one watching, God, that you would just encourage, Father, that you would put hope back into your life where there was brokenness, God, that you would put restoration, Father, where there was mending that needed to be mended, God, that all this, all the anger and frustration that life brings, that your spirit, God, would just completely feel and overflow them. Jesus, we thank you, God, for the one that's watching, because you are important. You are important in this walk and in this race. In Jesus' name, we thank you again. And amen. Jesus, Lord, we thank you, Father, for your presence and your power. Father, I pray for that one watching. There's somebody watching as Stephen began to talk. They were saying in themselves, I feel called to do worship, and I can identify. And we're gonna, I asked you a question in the middle of your message. Might have been a misplaced question, but we're gonna talk about that in a moment about you, the feelings of inadequacy and the inability to pursue what God asked you. But there's somebody watching as he was praying, as he was talking about this. You said within your heart, I wanna do what he does. I wanna lead God's people in worship. I feel that the anointing of God on my life to write songs, to sing songs, and to lead people into the presence of the Holy Spirit. And that's you watching. I wanna encourage you, this word was for you. And don't ever let the enemy take that from you. And so, Father, we seal that now in the name of Jesus. Father, we pray that you would touch that one watching with your Holy Spirit. And I pray you place your anointing in them in your precious name, we pray. And I want you to say it out loud, even though no one's watching with you. Say it, say amen. Amen. Why don't you talk about that, Steve? Yeah. Just what are some of the things you do to stay encouraged? Because we all deal with this sense of inadequacy when it comes to pursuing the things of God. Pertaining to worship, staying encouraged, it's sometime it is difficult because if you realize, before I get into that, if you're going into, if you're thinking about becoming a worship leader, becoming something in worship, just realize that you're gonna get attacked so much. It's not that you're kind of in the line of fire, but you're pretty much the first one that gets attacked because the easiest way we can connect with God is obviously through prayer, but also through worship. And when you worship, there's so many things that can kind of hinder you, especially what you listen to on a daily basis, especially who you're listening to, and there's so many influences that can affect what comes out of your voice, what comes out of worship that you might need to kind of just tone it back. So for those of you guys that are looking to kind of kind of encourage through worship, I would say just continue to press on, even though like there's so much negativity around, even though there's so much bad stuff around you. If you feel that you're called to worship, I would definitely talk to whoever your leader is to kind of express that because we're all called to do something. There's not one person that's not called, okay? But if you do have that gift of worship and you have that gift of music, pursue it because you never know how far it could take you. I never thought I'd be in this position I am in, and not saying that it's just like, whoa, like this is so cool, but you really have to have a sense of humility and be humble every single day because when you're up there on stage, like a lot of the times it's so easy to kind of get distracted with all the lights and everything that's going on, but staying humble is really a good key and listening to things that actually encourage you, especially I mean, I go on, right now I listen to a lot of podcasts of preachers during my day at work because I do work alone, so I'm able to kind of put some headphones on and kind of meditate while I work although it can be chaotic at times that I always go home with a sense of like, oh, okay, that's something I could apply to worship, so get in your word, pray, speak to a leader if you really want to pursue worship and just above all else, remember why we do it and it's for God's glory, not for us. We're just a vessel, we're just a tool that He uses and you always have to remember that you're no bigger than God can make you, and if you want to become someone that saves the world for Jesus, you can do it, but you need to rely on the Holy Spirit and Jesus to do it, so. That's a very good word, man. Now even more specifically speaking on, and just forgive me if you hear me typing, I have to find something on here, but you're hitting on something and it doesn't even necessarily have to pertain to worship. I wanna know, say for example, just in general, what are some very, cause you're speaking, I like what you said, you listen to music at work and things such as that, is there anything else like that that you can give us to apply that's practical? When you stinkers, and did you ever struggle yourself with the sense of insecurity? Yeah, so there's so many tools now that we have the internet, there's so many ways that you can listen to worship and listen, and I would say too, listen to worship, listen to people that inspire you because that's how you kinda, although the Holy Spirit guides you and directs you, just that little extra nugget of like, oh man, this guy has seen so beautiful, so amazing and this girl seems really good, I wanna sound like them, strive to be like that, cause God has called us to be very, very good at what we do, He hasn't called us to kinda be lazy, we need to be as almost like saying perfectionist, but at the same time, just striving to be the best that you can at whatever you do, and that goes over the whole board, but listen to good music, I know sometimes you can get caught up in the radio and sometimes I'm gonna be transparent, I get caught up singing, whatever, Taylor Swift, I don't even know. Taylor Swift. Hey, I like Taylor Swift, she's cool, but she's got good stuff, but listen to worship on a daily basis. What I do, the first thing, because when I wake up in the morning, all I wanna do is fall asleep, but God has called us to pray and seek Him in the morning, and the first thing that you do is you should really pray and seek God, and worship is just one key that you can do, so I would suggest when you wake up in the morning, have a playlist ready to go, listen to it, first thing you do, cause if that's the first thing that you do and you don't jump on social media, you don't jump on texts or something like that, if you're completely giving your day to God right away, He's gonna kinda trickle through the whole day, so I would encourage you guys to really pray and worship right in the early morning, whenever you wake up, and just kinda continue it throughout the day, so. Okay, so I'm gonna get to the viewer, now we're getting to the viewer questions, and I like when the Holy Spirit takes us to certain, and you know, you hit a certain vein when you do these broadcasts, and we wanna make sure we're sensitive to what the Holy Spirit's doing. So, okay, we got several questions here, and if you got, that's the weirdest thumbs up, if you got several, we have several questions here, and if you have a question for Steve, again, personal or ministry related, go ahead and type it in, you can go ahead and start typing it out, we're gonna see it appear right up on the screen for us, but I'm also getting them here, so if you wonder why I look a little distracted, I'm basically playing moderator today, usually I do the teachings, but today I wanted to make this broadcast about Steve. So, okay, hey David Hernandez, we skipped that part, and hi, Steven Maktuzuma. Hello. I've been enjoying, this is from Michael Bush. Hey, Mike, I've been enjoying the anointing of your music. I have a question, how can I find your music? Will it be on CD and at bookstores? Yes, so easiest way to find all the music that I've done is YouTube, and also you can go to YouTube, type in either David Digger Hernandez, and you'll find all my playlist stuff there, because we're kind of linked up, or you can just type my name in, Steven Maktuzuma. You'll get better results if you type in Steven Maktuzuma. Yeah, you can type my name. You'll get purely Steven's, if you type in my name you'll get, you'll get his songs in the teachings, but if you wanna just listen to Steven's music, we've used the game. Specific playlist just for what I do, so you can type in Steven Maktuzuma, that thing's kind of long, so it's M-O-C-T-E-Z-U-M-A, and that's how you can follow all of our stuff. If you haven't followed us yet before, also we're on Instagram, we're on Twitter, or I'm on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and I am gonna get better at replying. I, you know, sometimes I know I can't lie. That's something he's working on. I'm working on that. But you know, this guy, for those of you who don't know, and Steve's a very modest human being for the most part, but that's why he had a hard time saying just look it up by his name. But for those of you who don't know, this guy wakes up as early as sometimes 3.30 in the morning, and the work he does, I've seen a lot of people go into that job, and my dad's one of the executives there. So I've seen people go into that job, and a lot of people who've worked construction, I mean, we're talking intense labor, go in there thinking, oh, it's gonna be okay, I'm gonna do fine. Most of them that I know personally have quit because it was just too tough of a job. Stephen does that work. So he'll wake up at 3.30 in the morning, go and do a full day. He'll come fight traffic, which is sometimes gonna be an hour, sometimes it'll be more, getting from his job, he'll go home, he'll change real quick, and then come straight down and do a two hour taping of Spirit Church, not leave till 10 p.m., and then he'll get up and go do it all over again. So- It's a crazy lifestyle, but go all in. But yeah, but no, I say that just so you know, and appreciate what he's doing. But also on that note, we are producing an album. Yes. Steve, tell us what your vision is for that. So the vision behind the album, we really thought really hard on it because we wanna put our best into it. And it's kind of been a little delayed just because we're really fine tuning what we want. I wouldn't even call it a delay. And we just call it, we're just taking our time. Yeah, we're really, I really wanna take my time with it because I really want this album to really inspire people to worship. And so what the album is consisting of, if you guys haven't seen our promo for it, it's gonna be a mix of old worship songs with new worship songs, and as well as like an instrumental type of set that you can use at your church for healing ministries or for something like that. Or for, you know, miracle services. So it's gonna be combined album. We're gonna have, it's gonna be all, you know, drums, bass, guitar. It's gonna be, it's gonna- It sounds expensive. It's gonna be as expensive- No. No, it's gonna be, you'll see the work that we put into it and you'll realize how hard we work because we really do wanna push something out that's not just music, but it's Holy Spirit filled and God filled. So there's a lot of prayer behind it. There's a lot of fine tuning that needs to still need to be done, but we're working very hard on it and we'll get it out to you guys as soon as possible. And once that comes out, I would really love feedback on it because I wanna know how it helped you guys and how it edified you guys, because that's pretty much what we're here to do is, we're here to encourage all of those out there that need encouragement as well as worship God, so. Excellent. Darlene Bimbay writes, Hi, David and Steven. Steven, I love your music ministry and always feel the anointing whenever you sing. I feel as though God is calling me to be a worship leader as well. My question is, can you give me some advice on things that helped you develop your ministry over time? Thank you and God bless. That's from Darlene Bimbay. Well, Darlene- Forgive me if I'm not saying the last, that sounds right, right? Yeah, I think it's the same but yeah, that sounds right. Say hello to Darlene. So, hi, Darlene. Very good question. I would say that things that you need to get prepared for is if you haven't done any type of music, get into music. There's obviously the spiritual aspect of it, but if you're not feeling yourself with types of music and types of sounds and vocal stuff, it's gonna be a little difficult if you just kind of jump in. And if you're called by it, then God's gonna automatically kind of help you out with that. And it's gonna be a smooth transition to when you start learning songs, so like that. But I would say if you're gonna pick an instrument, number one, pick whatever instrument you wanna do, if you wanna combine it with your vocals, if you're gonna be a complete singer, then focus on your vocals because that is your instrument. So like I said earlier, do warm-ups, do all that stuff you need to do. And that's just kind of like the basics of what you need to do. And obviously there's a spiritual side to it as well, which is pray, read fast, listen to worship music, get inspired by new worship music. I'm always trying to find new worship music to get inspired by because us as people, I know that sometimes we can get caught up in the same song like, all right, let's go, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's the same old thing, Jesus, Jesus. But if you find something that's new and refreshing and it kind of encourages you, latch onto it and use it to your advantage. So just those are just kind of the basic things that I kind of went through. And also be sure if you're gonna be under a leader, which I assume you are, because you do need some guidance in that as well. But if you're gonna be under a leader, don't be afraid of correction. If you don't sound good and they tell you, you sound horrible, don't let that be your end. Because there was a lot of times where in my worship ministry that people kind of put negative things like, oh, that kind of sucked, you know? But at the same time, it's like, okay, if it did, let me see what I could do to fix it. Always take the negative and turn it to a positive. That's what I would always say to those who are really trying to see what they can do in worship and really kind of just go for it, you know? You can't be afraid of criticism. Yeah, no criticism. Okay, so one from Kelsey Jay, and this is from Virginia. Hey, Kelsey. So when did you start leading worship or start to feel that God was calling you to lead worship? I started to, like I said, I started, I didn't start up front, like, you know, it was a while. I took, it was a process, I would say. I started off in background vocals for our church. Probably, you know, I'm really bad with remembering dates and years and stuff like that, but I do remember it was my, probably mid-teens. I started actually because one of our leaders that was a part of our Fresh Fire at the time, which is our youth ministry, we have, it's separate from a young adult ministry, we had a youth ministry, we still do it called Fresh Fire, and it was like a transition, I would say, that they got sent out, and so I had to kind of fill the role. So I filled the role and kind of stepped into it, not knowing what I was doing, but God, again, with God's grace, you can do anything, and He really inspired me to go forth. So I started probably when I was, like I said, 15, and I'm continuing now, so I hope that kind of answered. Well, it did, so about when you were 15, and for those of you who are looking for some context, Steve's using a lot of terminology from our local church, and I know that maybe probably none of our viewers go to Paramount, if not very few, but we go to the same church, so that's why he's using some of that terminology, but basically they're the names of the different ministries that are church, but also, what was one of the struggles you faced, if any, in being in the different phases of leading worship, the same person. Okay, well yeah, there's... Let me throw this in there. Also, if you have any tips for young youth worship leaders, I'd be happy to learn them, so I'm sure talking about the mistake you can also give a tip. Okay, yeah, so things that were kind of, what's the question again? I'm sorry, it's live, so I'm thinking of everything else. Okay, yeah, you're doing great, man. When did you start leading worship? You answered that when you were about 15. And what was one of the struggles you faced, if any, and in being in the different phases of leading worship? Yeah, there's, I mean, like I said, I said this earlier and I'll say again, you're the first line of defense when it comes to fighting the enemy, because when we proclaim worship and we start doing worship, the enemy is automatically gonna attack us a little bit more, so be prepared to just kind of not get, onslaughted by the enemy or anything like that, but just be prepared for battles that you never thought you would have to face, spiritual and in reality, so. And for the young guys out there... We are young. Yeah. Younger. Younger, younger. I think she means like new worship leaders. Yeah, so new worship leaders, yeah, if you're looking to get into that, just be prepared for, like I said, just things that you need to go through to kind of get you on that rollercoaster, because it is, once you start really pressing into the spirit and start really pressing into God, you don't know where you're gonna get taken, so it's a cool thing to really start. But the younger guys, like I was saying, what was the question? I'm sorry. Any tip for younger worship leaders? Any tip for younger worship leaders? I would say be a... Oh, young youth worship leaders. Young youth worship leaders. So leading youth, is that a different dynamic? Yeah, that's a different dynamic. Youth are crazy and wild, and I've done a lot of youth stuff in the past. I love youth stuff. It's always fun, you know? But yeah, for younger guys out there, I would definitely say really take it serious, because I know you're young, you wanna do everything, you wanna be cool, and you know what not, you know? But you really take it to heart and really look at what you have and really kind of take it as much as any ministry as you can, and worship, like I said, is something. And also to be a servant. That's how I started in my church, is just to be open with people, and if they needed something, you're the guy they go to, you know? And once you see that, God starts to put a favor on you, and once the favor starts hitting, he'll start to kind of change the way you think, and you'll start to mature. It's wisdom, you know? It's wisdom. So the young guys out there, like I said, really be open to correction, be open to serving in anything that you do in your church, so that's it. I think that point on serving is excellent, and if you've been following our channel for any amount of time, if you go back to one of the very first videos ever posted on EncounterTV, you're gonna see, I think it's Fire of God falls on youth and young adults, and it was at a conference, and you'll look and you'll see just this conference room filled with a couple hundred teens and young adults just praying in the Holy Ghost, and people will get touched and healed watching that video. If you go back and watch that footage, you're actually watching the camera work of Stephen Mock the Zoomer. Sorry. No, it did great, man, but Steve was actually one of, actually one of, if not, probably the first three in the very beginning. Steve was one of my first cameraman, and if you watch closely in some of the older clips, especially the ones where I'm preaching and praying for the sick, you'll see Steve in the background behind me holding the camera. Those are good days. Trying to keep the wire from tripping over the wire. That was before we had it. I still do that. I still do that for our church as well, but yeah, those are the good ones. I also do broadcasting at our church, so I loan my TV equipment on Sundays whenever I'm not preaching. My TV equipment travels with me. When I attend the church on Sunday, we put the camera work and Steve will run camera for my TV crew there to this day. Not too shabby. Make sure you have your head space like this right there. Yeah, see, that's why it's good with you. You kind of keep your framing here. Okay, this question's already been asked, but I have to ask it because they put their question in before. These are a couple of advanced questions here. Hannah Love is one of your most frequent viewers, and she's always commenting on you stuff, so just say hello to Hannah. She says, hi, Stephen. I love your singing on Spirit Church, and my question is how old were you when you started singing? And you were... About 15, 16. There you go. It was a little ambivalent about it at first, but now we know it's 15 or 16. 15 or 16 is somewhere around there. Okay. I'm 25 now, so not... Wasn't that long ago? I don't think. Okay, Starla, hi, Stephen and David, and everyone else. There's no one else here, but Starla, she's saying hello to everybody at Encounter TV, so... Hello, Starla. Yeah, Starla. Hello, Starla. That's the name of the channel. Hey. What sort of education did you do to prep yourself to leadership, if any? I really didn't do any educational, other than kind of YouTube. Just listening to the worship leaders on all the social media stuff, really digging into what they had to say. If there was a book out on worship, I would try my best. I'm not... I don't read too much, but I know I should accept the Bible, read the Bible. But other books like that... It's a good book, the Bible. Yeah, yeah, it's the best. But yeah, I mean, just like I said, were you pursuing something else before you started leading worship with Pastor David? I've always had my ear and my heart towards worship. So it kind of just melded together because like I said, we grew up and I've seen the ministry from the very beginning and it kind of was like just... It was a perfect fit to me, because I was doing worship there and there was an opportunity for me to kind of combine with him. And after that, it was just kind of a snowball effect. And now we're here. So yeah, it was a... It was like you had years of faithful service because you had led worshiping me on spiritual church for about a year. And then that's when the Lord put it on my heart because I was testing, you did not. I was testing you. I'm sorry to tell you, but you passed the test. I don't... If you know me, I'm very slow to push ministries. There's been very few who... I mean, it's the favor of God, man. You got the favor of God on you, which is why it happened. It was the Lord. But after a year, I watched that he came faithfully. Keep in mind, still working that job, 3.30 in the morning, that sort of thing, driving through the hours of traffic to come and play worship for me. And he did a year of that. And finally, the Lord told me that's... I want you to... God put it on my heart, really, to be that door opener. Everybody in their life to fulfill their destiny needs that person to open the door. For me, I can name maybe three people who opened major doors for me and pushed me. And God will bring someone to you like that. You don't know it yourself. God will know it in you, and God will bring you favor with men. And I can say that after years of him serving, and he wouldn't just do worship, he'd do camera for me, he would do... I'd do the wires. I love wires. If you guys don't know, wires are the best. They have memories, so if you hold them wrong, some big mess. You like doing the wires, huh? But you do like doing worship better, right? Yeah, worship better. So he would do the wire. I mean, he did everything background stuff, and the Lord told me to invest in him, and so that's what I've been doing, but you said you kind of just, it's always been that way. Okay, as a worship leader, do you find or have you found yourself in conflict with the whole dating scene, and who you should and shouldn't be dating? Like, would you say that as a worship leader, it's important to date someone who's a believer like you? Well, you're already married, so you're past that, but you can still speak to that. Yeah, definitely. If you're, and again, I'm not like some old, been married 30 years. I've been married two and a half years now, but I can tell you the dating, specifically when it goes into church, or if you're in a ministry, if you're looking to date someone, realize that someone, it has to be the one. Our church, or my philosophy as well, was you're not here to just date around, you're here to find your wife, you know? So if you're gonna be in ministry and you're dating somebody, yeah, they better be saved, and they better be on board with what you're doing in your ministry, because if they're kind of like, oh, you do what you do, I'll do what I do. If you guys don't have the same vision, and I know sometimes that doesn't happen all the time, but if you're not connected in your vision as the man or as, you know, whatever you're doing in your life, it's gonna be really difficult when you try to pursue things and you have someone that's kind of like, oh, that's crazy, you know? So going back to dating when you're in church or in ministry, again, make sure they're saved and make sure that you're saved too and that you have always, always have a chaperone. That's always key, chaperone is key. You do someone that's always there. You did the same thing, I did the same thing. When I was dating Jess, we were never alone. I think we were alone one time and I called Isaiah Lopez, who works for me too, and I said, listen, we're gonna go, I think we're on our way to a picnic. I said, we left strawberries at the house. I have to go to the house, she's gotta cut them up, our watermelon, I think it was watermelon. I said, but you just know that we're there. And so he was aware that they were there. He was right down the street and I said, we're gonna be there for 10 minutes and that was the one time. But other than that, we had people everywhere with us all the time because that's a big part of it. Because here's my philosophy. And I'm sure it's yours too. We're cut from the same cloth. So it's the same is that people say, well, Lord, give me strength when I come into temptation. Our philosophy is just don't go into temptation. Don't even go into a place where you can bleed. I forget my script today. Yeah, flee from temptation. And so yeah, your accountability is key. And you had a great wedding? Yeah, it was awesome. Man, what marriage, the wedding was awesome. Like it was so cool. And he actually filmed it. He actually kind of emcee, or you had your guys. I had my crew film it. He had guys film it, but he's kind of my emcee. He's my best man too, so. I was the best man at Steven's wedding. Yeah, yeah. So we go, we, oh, sorry about the shape. You're sharing the camera. But yeah, I mean, it's a great thing. So if you're dating, like I said. Oh, I was the emcee, you're right. Yeah, you're the emcee. I hosted, so I was the best man and then I also hosted the reception. And I embarrassed Steven. Yeah, he did it. It was, can I tell them? Go ahead. So I, during the best man speech is actually you have the footage on your YouTube. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we won't, we're never gonna show that on a camera, that's Steven's private life. But I got up there and I remember I just brought up just embarrassing memories and it was just such an awkward, intense atmosphere. But then I broke it with some laughter and some like things that maybe we'll go on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We love each other, I said that. But it was a really, a lot of fun, but one of the things that was great is I saw you and Amanda, you guys did things right and because of it, his wife supports what he does. As does my wife's when I do. And so that's very key stuff, man. I'm not sure if this is a question that's been answered, but I know that you're probably wondering how long have we known each other. That's coming up. Oh it is, okay, we'll wait on that. At least I think it is, I'm glancing. Yeah, we'll put it there, don't worry. We'll put it there, okay. Steve wants to put it there, we'll put it there. Okay, Lauren A, Lauren A. Hello, Lauren A. writes, can you share your experience on how and when you got saved? Okay, so yeah, I mean, I grew up in church ever since I could remember. I was probably about like four when I first started going to church, so I've been in church my whole life. But I really didn't get serious about God until my teenage years, my early teenage years. And that's when I really kind of, kind of not, was playing, was done playing games, because in the season in life, when you wanna experience life, you wanna have, see what's out there, but there comes a time in your life where you really have to get serious and say, are you in it or are you out? And so fortunately for me, I had a lot of good friends, a lot of good family members that encouraged me, always encouraged me, and I knew the word, so that was easier too. But yeah, I got saved officially, I wanna say probably in my early teen years. Was it like 13? Yeah, probably like 12 or 13 that I actually encountered God. Now I was an encounter, it wasn't just getting saved. I really experienced God and it was through worship. Just to clarify, what it means is some people use in church lingo, not that getting saved isn't an encounter with God, but people use that term getting saved to mean just the sinner's prayer. Yeah, just the prayer. I didn't just pray a prayer, I met the king, you know, the king, king of our God. I like that, that's a t-shirt. That's a t-shirt, bro. Yeah. Okay. And then tell us about that. Yeah, so yeah, I started singing, like I said. I got really saved probably around my early teen years. Tell us about that salvation experience though. Oh, okay, yeah, so I remember it as, but you know what, I want to go back on that too. I did encounter God when I was younger and it was actually at a healing ministry. When I was like probably like four or five, I don't think I've ever shared a story with you, but I remember it was a healing, it was one of the healer healing. Was it Steve Romain? No, no, no, it was Benny Hinn. Oh, it was Pastor Benny. Yeah, it was Pastor Benny. Yeah, and it was a Benny Hinn concert, or not concert. Benny Hinn healing, I don't know what he called it, but Healing Crusade, there you go. And my mom, she's always been a firm believer in, I'll let him laugh, but I'll be honest. I'm sorry, that's just funny to call it a Benny Hinn. It's a concert. Benny Hinn, live in concert. Live in concert, it was before orchestra. What are you doing? That's Jim Sarnero, and Jim's been on a count of, Jim used to lead worship professional, he's been on this program. But yeah, that was one of the first encounters I had with God. I remember just lifting my hand saying, God, if you're real, do something. And I felt something kind of overcome me, and I just broke down crying. And I knew it wasn't just me crying for my mom, because she went down and wanted to get a prayer, but I really felt like, wow, this is kind of real. But fast forwarding to my teen years, I really encountered God again in a really good way. I was in a worship service, and I just remember just feeling overwhelmed with just the weight of life and depression and sadness, because it was just like, I was in a dark place in my teen years, early teen years, and I just had to come to a point where I said, man, am I gonna be a man, or am I gonna be a little boy? Am I gonna finally step up to what I have to do and figure out what my calling is? Because honestly, I didn't know I could sing until my teen years. My sister always said, oh, you sing good, but I didn't really realize it until I made that choice of like, I'm gonna go all in, you know, going back to that, I'll go all in, you know. And God really inspired me through that worship ministry and that worship service. So yeah, I really had a- And this was at our church now. This was at our church, yeah, yeah. And it was actually your dad, I believe, he was praying for me. And I remember just feeling the Holy Spirit drop on me, and I kind of, I fell, I was like, what the heck? Like, I never had experienced that before. You guys were playing in the spirit? Yeah, I got to play in the spirit. And I never experienced that before. And I was like, wow, this is real. Like, this is something real. And from there, it just, it was a constant, like, all right, what else can God do, you know? So I tested God, like, you know, I asked God, what can you do? And I said, you know, good stuff. Okay, and this is someone who wrote a question on our promo where we had the bloopers. So she wrote, accepted and love writes, ha, ha, ha. I laughed at the beginning. Can't wait for the live host questions. And this is the channel, accepted and love. What advice would you give for those who are called to worship ministry if they don't have a local church where they can serve? And if you have a heart to record an album, how do you, are you sure that it's the time of God and that you're led by the Holy Spirit? Because that's two questions. Yeah, first, what would you say? Tell them to find a church? I would definitely say you need to be connected in some type of church. If you're just gonna go out there and just say, I'm a worship leader, which is cool, you know, you could try it. But if you're not under some type of leadership and some type of correction, it's gonna be very difficult to kind of find the lines of what you can do and what you can't do. Cause there's certain things that you, you know, you need to really kind of hone and abilities that you need to do. But I would say definitely find a church that you can call home. I know us here on online, you know, you can even call this your home, you know, a spirit church. But if you're looking for a physical church, I would say do some research, go to that church, see what they're about. If they're about the Holy Spirit and you know, you're good to go. If they're about Jesus, you're good to go. So get connected with the church. And we have tons of pre-chapels soon, by the way. So anyway, also Melanie Marquez, who's another one who's constantly in, she's a faithful viewer of Stephen Moctezuma music. So she's always commenting on your videos and she really appreciates you, Michelle. And these are just notes I'm having here. Hello, Melanie. So Melanie Marquez. And she wants to know, how did you discover that you were called to sing for the Lord? I think you went over that. Was it something that God placed within you since you were a little boy? Well, yeah, I didn't know I could sing. Like you always hear these stories of people, maybe being called when they were very young. I didn't think I was called to be a singer at all when I was younger. But there was a time, like I said, where I encountered God and He really just dropped it in on me. And it wasn't until I really started really pressing for what I was supposed to do. Even though at the time I didn't think it was worship, I still pursued whatever I could do. I still tried to do my best to serve. And with that, God opened a door for me and He opened another one and another one opened. And I started really testing my vocals and God kind of did the rest. Okay, here's a comment. This will probably be our last one from a YouTube channel. Unless you're getting your comments, I don't, I think there's something wrong with the comments. If you're trying to get a comment to me, just if you're trying to get a comment to us, just quickly you can text it to that number I posted in the comments. It's 562-396-5339 because we're getting them here, but they're not showing up on there. So I know for a fact I'm missing several. This happened the last time I was on and then I got on later and there were several comments that we had missed. So if you're wanting to get us to comment 562-396-5339, don't call it, text it. It's an extra cell phone I have here. Again, 562-396-5339. And if we miss your question, we will do this again. Yeah, definitely, yeah, why not? So, yeah, let's do it. Okay, birthday wishes. Where did you grow up? All right, well, I grew up in a little town. I'm kidding. I grew up in Bethlehem. I grew up in Balfar, California. Does it? That was the best answer you've given all night. Balfar, California. There you go. How old were you when you gave your life to God and wanted to serve Him? 15, no, 12, 13, yeah. Okay. And then here's the, you saw it before I did. How and what age did you and David meet? Okay, yeah, so. I found Stephen begging in the streets. I was a beggar by day and a superhero by night and I'm kidding. Now, I met, like I said, I've been going to church pretty much my whole life since I was probably about four or five. And we kind of, we pretty much grew up together. We were in the same church. Same Sunday school. Same Sunday school, same church. His parents were my parents. I knew his family knew me, they knew us, my family. And we've been friends ever since we were younger. I mean, we used to play Pokemon cards. Some people think that's demonic. We were, we would run around the church, go to parks that I remember every Sunday after church, I'd go to Stephen's house and we'd hang out with you and your brother. And we'd just play in your backyard and then sometimes video games, sometimes. Yeah, I mean, whatever kids do, you know, whatever we did, you know. You're bad with dates. I remember though, I was 10. So that would make you, how old were you when I was 10? I'm two years old. You're eight. Yeah, I was eight. So eight and 10. And then we'd been going to the same church ever since. Yeah, ever since, yeah. It's a good buddy. Okay. I think that is it. And again, if we're missing your question, I do apologize. And so I want to quickly promote now Stephen Moctezuma's playlist, his worship playlist. You can see it here on EncounterTV. If you'd like to go directly to his music, you can go to stevenmoctezuma.com that'll take you to the part on our webpage where you can see all of Stephen's music. Also, don't forget to participate in the poll here on YouTube, this video that you're watching. You can go ahead and click on that link that's going to appear over the right-hand side of the video. And it's going to be a little dot. You can click on that. That's a circle. It's a white circle. Click on it. Scroll down. You're going to see the worship playlist. You're going to see the poll. And you're also going to see a place where you can contribute to the ministry. We ask you to become $30 a month partner, help us continue doing. Oh, well, how did we find our calling is our passion, our calling. Well, I believe so. Look, I'm going to get to these on the text. Thank you for texting us. These are all coming in now. There's quite a bit. Oh, wow. Uh-oh. Cool. What's up to you, man? Yeah, why not? I don't mean to put you on the spot. No, no, no. Live. No, like I said, that's what we're doing today. So if you guys have questions, like I said, keep sending in. Oh, they said, hello, guys. There is a lot of questions on the live chat on YouTube. Oh, you know what? Let me find that. OK, we're going to get to the bottom of whatever on Earth is going on here. What did you do, Steve? I have no idea. What did you do? OK, let me see here. Oh, yeah, there's a lot. Let me turn this on silent. I cannot see the questions. Can you see anything? Oh, oh my goodness. Oh, wow, there's a whole feed. OK, OK, let me see here. Thank you. I want to say that again. Hi, David. God, I am so glad to see you live. Steve and YouTube, God brought me to your link when I really needed help. Thank you, David. Hi, Rohina. Rohina Roya, OK. OK, here's one serious one. I've had cancer for over 15 years. I should have died years ago, but God gave me strength. So whoever is struggling, don't give up. That's from Sue Mark Gray, encouraging Starla. I especially want to know this because of the kind of position that you're in right now, plus with your ministry. She's the one. Starla's the one who asked the question on dating. Oh, OK. And so she wanted to know because of the ministry. OK, someone will agree with you, it's so true. I gave up secular music, too. It changed my life. Liza Escobar, good point there. Marilyn Boi, thanks. Steven, God bless. Clarissa Luna. Praise God, amen. Loven Sanchez. Steven, were you camera shy? Oh, wow, that's a nice, that's a new one. Yeah, at a time, I think there's every moment that kind of shy on camera, but. He's lying. I don't think there's ever been. I don't think I've ever known you to be camera shy. I think probably I really started getting breaking out when I did stuff in elementary when they had to have you speak and stuff like that. So I think that was kind of like the shyness. He was never camera shy, guys. OK. He's being modest. All right, so Sue Mark, amen. Clarissa Luna, your time is done and the Lord calls you home. That's what I know, but the context was that, OK. Awesome, Liza. I completely agree. Changed mine as well. How do you feel to? Oh, I know what that was. Clarissa was talking to, I believe, Sue, who said, OK, I get it now. I'm sorry if it came off odd. I just didn't know that I forgot the context. OK, happy family. Just put a smiley face. They're happy. Hey, we are too. OK, how do you feel doing ministry with Diga? It's awesome. It's cool. I mean, I've never thought I'd be able to meet people I've met. There's a lot of comments here, too. Yeah, it's very, very, very cool. We get to go do really cool things, film, really good music. And it's just a really, I mean, his ministry has really influenced what I do here, and we're partnering together. So it's just, it's a really awesome thing to be a part of what we do. Yeah, I think it's great being able to work with Steve, too. Blessings, huh? I hope so. Sometimes. Sometimes, yeah. OK, so Michael, what is that last name? Michael Granados. Michael Granados, blessings, Steven and David. I've always felt a desire to be a worship leader, but at the church, I go to the only, they only want female singers. That's odd. You know there was a day when they only wanted male singers. Yeah, yeah. Just keep doing what you do, man, and God will raise you. Torres Stewart. Olia, don't be afraid to, OK, he's talking to someone else. OK, Olia Juan, I know, but for, you're going to have to read it, I can't see that far. You're over there close. I know, but for, for, so they can hear it. I guess you're responding to what the comments were, yeah. OK, Olia Juan. It's so cool that you guys are talking to each other in the chat. That's pretty cool. You guys can do that. Kyle O'Reon writes, David Digo, all caps. And I'll say it right back to you. I won't yell, but I'll say, Kyle, there you go, all caps. OK, evangelists. Ha-ha, cameraman. He was, he was, Steven was, first started as a cameraman. OK, Jesus is, writes, I'm glad you were able to stop listening to it. OK, that's in response to someone else. Kyle writes, love you, man. Really appreciate all you do. Steven, and Steven, awesome stuff. I love your music. Fits the spirit church perfectly. Really, to tell you, we're coming from the same cloth. Yeah. OK, Lauren, Saiyans. Saiyans, yeah, I think so. Yes, what helps, too, was my sister made a point saying, just as a Holy Spirit can enter the room, it's the same for the dwellers. Oh, we're talking about secular music. That seems to be a hot topic. I'm going to give my thoughts on that in a moment. The Holy Spirit will bless you, someone else's soul. But yes, be wise about it. OK, you guys are having a whole class. Kyle, we got your comments. We got them. I'm sorry, it took a while, but we'll see you in a minute. Why are you yelling at Kyle? Kyle, you're my buddy, sorry about that. OK, so my internet service isn't liking this too much. Sorry, man, I apologize. Whoops. Sorry. OK, oh, cool. It's a link for the enemy to attach to your soul and flesh. OK, they're talking about the second. You know, I'm going to give my thoughts on secular music. Can I just tell you something? And I always like to start my lessons with the teaser. So if I did something on secular music, I'd probably start with something like, secular music does not exist. Right? And then we get that reaction, and they go, oh, I got to hear this whole thing. There's no such thing as secular music. There's only such thing as secular lyrics. The music itself is neutral. So you get, for example, a love song. Sometimes, Steve, at his wedding, he played a love song. I had to hold the microphone. My arm got tired. Yeah, he did that school. I held the microphone while he sang to his wife. But some might count some of the love songs he serenaded his wife with as secular. But secular is not necessarily evil. I mean, this laptop is secular. These clothes are secular. This condo is secular. It's technically of the world. So music itself, the notes, the instruments, can never really be specifically demonic, unless, of course, there's some cultic stuff going on with it, which then they can't intentionally put things on there. But what you want to watch out for is what the words are that are coming through, because music is basically something that opens you up emotionally. And the music that you play, what it does is that's why they put the lyrics in there. They open you up emotionally and then deposit the words more easily. So just be careful of the words that are being sung more important than anything. Steve, any thoughts on secular music? Yeah, I mean, honestly, I'll be honest with you guys. That's a sort of a struggle I still have and I still do, because I'll catch myself listening to radio and it's such a catchy tune. And then I'll pause and I'll be like, whoa, wait, what are they really saying? And I'm like, wow, that's not good for the spirit. So really, I mean, if you can break away from that stuff, do it. Because I've done it and it is very difficult because music is such a big influence on my life. But you guys can do it. It's not impossible. And you'll see once you start really listening to worship music, you'll start to be about what worship is and really kind of hone in on what worship is. Kyle wants us to come to Detroit. Are you done with that? Kyle, I'd be so down to that. I just have to ask for days off, but I'm pretty sure. But not for long. Watch, Steven, you mark my words on the thing right now. He'll be working for this ministry full time, I believe, within a year. And ready for that? Oh, that'd be awesome. OK, so Kyle, we're going to go to Detroit. We will. OK, hey, Steven, Love and Sanchez here. Did you battle a lot in your mind before getting ready to worship? Not so much as a battle as a constant fight. Because you're fighting. I mean, yeah, it can be considered a battle. But if you're fighting the good fight and you're really pressing in, I believe that you can win it. You just have to stay focused. Hold back these, OK, still talking to each other. OK. Yes, David. Yes, right, David, God has a plan for each one of us. That's right. OK. Ba, ba, ba, ba. Katie, or is that Kathy? Kathy Urieta? Kathy Urieta. Hey, David and Steven, how do you know when you are filling the Holy Spirit or when it's you? OK, that's a very good question. Well, how do you know Holy Spirit? Well, where's the Holy Spirit found in the Bible? If you're not reading your word and you're not understanding who the Holy Spirit is and why he came to do what he does, I mean, you can easily get caught up in the mix of just singing songs and singing lyrics. But I think it starts with worship and prayer. And I mean, that's always what it is. It's you need to really read the Bible to understand what the Holy Spirit is about and how to find him through whatever you're doing. Because Holy Spirit's always here to guide us in our place. OK, a lot of people are saying the video is harsh, lagging. Sorry about that. Sorry. Oh, so, oh, oh. Darlene Bimbay, you are, you both are so goofy. Yeah, we are. You don't know the half of it. Oh, man. If you guys don't know this. There are so many. OK, I can do any interview flawless. I'll fly right through it. But if there's a promo, I'll give you an example. I did, I sat down with Prophet Rob for an hour. Spoo, no problems. I did a one minute promo with Steven. It took us like 40 minutes. Yeah, it was a lot of laughing. There's a lot of nonsensing with it now. No, but we have a lot of fun. But, you know, this is. It's serious. But it's, you know what? We've been, OK, here's the thing, because as kids, there was that don't laugh in church mentality. And so it's kind of carried over into our adult life. OK, Sue Mark, thank you, Torres. OK, you know, let's all pray for Sue. Let's all pray for Sue. I want everybody on the comment section. Just start writing encouragement to Sue. Write your prayers for her like you're talking to Lord. But write on there, OK? OK, I got set free from demon torment, got saved at Benny's service, not at his concert. And many of you know Pastor Benny's had a huge impact on my life. Katherine Coleman, Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts, all three of them, huge impact. In fact, I've been able to be mentored by Ralph Wilkerson, who sat down, who brought Katherine Coleman to California, who helped Pastor Benny in the early years, who helped Oral Roberts in the early years. And I've now had the privilege where I've been able to sit under Ralph Wilkerson's ministry and receive her. So the guy who has discipled them and poured into them, I've been able to sit down and receive from that impartation. And it's been tremendous. OK, so let me see here. Oh my goodness, they're loaning too fast now. Trinidad. I would love to come to Trinidad. Abigail. Come to Texas. Come to Boston. Come to Trinidad. I was just in Dallas the other day for something else. You did a vacation. You and I were on vacation. Classical music, OK? Clashmark? Absolutely. Yes, classy. You can't, like I said, with the old stuff, you can't go wrong with that. No, but he's talking like second. Oh, you can't go wrong with class. When I need to focus, I'll listen to class. So something about classical music that's just the pure music is just awesome. It's cool. OK, Diga, when will you be doing? Oh, Steven, I love your voice. And it's all caps, so you know they mean it. All caps. Thank you. Steven and Diga, see you tomorrow. Is that a threat, no? See you tomorrow. What does that mean? Oh, there's church. I'm speaking tomorrow at our church. Oh. Why don't you guys come? Come tomorrow. Steve will be singing. I will be preaching. Yes, yes, we both will be there. OK, when are you guys coming to Boston, Massachusetts? You know what? Why not? We're going to do it. We're going to go. Don't worry, we answered each other's questions. Don't worry, we answered each other's questions. LOL. You guys are awesome, because that's really good. It's so cool that you guys are talking to each other. It's really cool. You're really fascinated with that, aren't you? Yeah, I really am. OK, Steven, do you bet on your mind in case you saw that? OK, scrolling down. We're almost through it, guys. Almost to all the questions. Music is a powerful thing. It has come to Boston. Can we read that? Diga, when will you be doing another illustrated message? Very, very soon. Very soon. In fact, I might read the Guardian of the Gates during the month of October at my church. So you better come check that out. OK, I could care less about Beyonce. OK, then that's the singer. Sorry about the lag. I know that I guess you guys are getting some lag, so I apologize. OK, what should a person do if they pray and fall asleep? I have people near me asking questions. Oh, if you pray and fall asleep, just wake up and pray. Wake up again and pray. Well, Steven, with your job, I'm sure that happens quite often. Oh, man, I'm always tired. How did you get rid of nervousness? I have a new praise and worship leader and struggle with big crowds. Remember, it's not about the people. It's not about what you do. It's literally for God. So if you can focus in on God and remember why you do it, I mean, the crowd, you can be in front of millions of people. And if you're focusing on God, that's all that matters. If you're able to worship, that's all that matters. OK, I also want to answer this quickly. I mean, yeah, I don't feel you guys don't let the enemy attack you with guilt. God understands our human frailties. I mean, even Jesus, you know, he was a little hurt, but the disciples couldn't stay up and pray with him. But that just goes to show you, even the disciples had trouble with that. We're all human. OK, I'm in Asheville, North Carolina, looking forward to your event in Morganton. Yes, we're coming to Morganton in November. I have no idea where that is, but it sounds really cool. To North Carolina. Oh, OK, I would love to go to North Carolina. I'll come with me. I'll try. OK, praying for Sue, Pastor David, come to England. We're going to come. Guys, we're going to come. We're going to be going everywhere, all right? And Steve's going to be coming with me. It's just a matter of time. We're planning some big things. Had an awesome time here today. I don't have any, like, yes. Some people don't have likes, some people do. OK, guys, what is your opinion on Bill Weiss, 23 Minutes in Hell? I had Bill on my program. He's been on Encounter TV. I think he's, I believe him. I don't believe every single one of those gentlemen who tell those stories. But I believe Bill. He left a very successful real estate company to go and do what he does. David, come to Raleigh, North Carolina. Not only at Lumberton, North Carolina, then I don't need to drive two hours to meet you again. Oh, I know who Happy Family is. Now, they drove two hours to be in the service. Yeah. Hey, Happy Family, you guys are cool. That was kind of cheesy. That was very cheesy, but they'll get over it. I'm sorry you had to endure that, Happy Family. How do you find your calling? Is there a calling or a passion that's question answered? I'm going to be doing a lesson on Spirit Church soon about the call of God. Hey, dudes, you guys are rad. Much love to you both. Y'all seriously helped my walk with Christ. Thank you. Hey, you're rad. Awaken. Love Christ's like. You're rad. Now, I'm Stephen Mark, the Zoomer, and I approve this message. OK, God bless. God bless, everyone. Any tips on hearing God's voice? Yes, go look at my video. It's called Three Keys to Clearly Hearing God. Hey, my name is Lisa from El Paso, Texas. El Paso. Just came across this group. Let me tell you, it's great. Good comments. Someone asked, is it wrong to use an audio read the Bible to you as you follow along with your finger? Not at all. I don't know why that would be. That's awesome. I love listening and reading at the same time. It's cool. Just ordered the books. It said it was going to be signed. Yes, Carriers of the Glory and 25 Truths about demons and spiritual warfare are going to be signed. Clarissa says, do the text questions. We're going to get that promise. Need fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit in the hear of God clearly. Please pray that I will obey him no matter what. Yes, amen. I'm so excited about the book. Don't want it to. Don't wait to sign it to send it to me. Wait, I'm so excited about the book. Don't wait to sign it to send it to me. All right. Yes. It'll be in your reach soon. We're going to send it out. They're still printing them, and they're going to send it over. Those of you who pre-ordered are going to get it before October 4. It's my estimate. Don't hold me to that in case something goes wrong. I never like to make promises that are out of my control. OK, my question is, I know the Lord says not only will I be saved, my house will also be saved. How do I speak to them about Jesus without them responding so negatively? Well, was that directed toward me? This is your broadcast. I'm just kind of handling that. Well, you know what it is. That's kind of a very touchy subject when you're really speaking on family members. And it goes back to what I was talking about with the message I gave earlier. Once you really just be a light to them, you don't have to say anything at all. Once they see that changing you and that you're really trying, they'll kind of be following you. They'll go after you, just like I said with Peter. So just be a light. That's it. Be a light, pray, and continue to pray, and love them. Don't, don't. Remember this, it's impossible to accomplish nothing in prayer. Every moment you're praying, you are accomplishing something. OK, this person, Ian Linder, is in a hurry. We're going to get to it, I promise. I was told a year ago that I'd be in Evangelis, but I don't know how to get there since I haven't been in church long and I haven't even graduated high school. It doesn't matter. You start, if you want to preach in the pulpit, you have to start preaching first in your personal life. Your pulpit is your unsaved loved ones and friends. Start there, and promotion comes from the Lord. Also, I have a book called The Evangelis. You can get it at davidhernanisministries.com slash shop, and it walks you through all of basically what I've learned, I mean, I've been in the ministry since I was 13, so almost 15 years of ministry so far as in Evangelis. The practical and the spiritual are covered in that book. Hi, guys, from Beauty Unraveled. Hello there, hello there from the Philippines. Hey, Philippines. Good to see you, random. This is for you, Steve. Do you like for King and Country? For King and Country, what is that? Is that talking about a music, a band? Restaurant? Maybe a restaurant? I have no idea. I think it's a band. If it's a band, and maybe country, I do like country. I'm like, well, I like country. There you go, that's it. Miss the plaids. OK, Jackie Love, Pastor Diga, you are awesome, by the way. You helped me out a lot. I recently found you on YouTube and listened to you every day now. I learned so much. It's very great to hear that. Lauren Sainz, any tips on finding your calling? Hey, pursue God. Pursue God. Love Jesus, pursue God. Be a servant and pursue God. Peter from Quatar, this ministry is a blessing. Can you believe that from Quatar, man? Quatar, wow. Hey, guys, where is Hellat currently? I think the scripture does allude to some things about it being in the center of the earth. However, it could be in the center of the earth in a different dimension. I know this sounds like science fiction, but it's possible that it could still technically be in the center of the earth, while also being in a different place. You gotta remember it's extra physical. So it's a metaphysical reality, OK? Can you do a relationship marriage series? That would be great. I think we'll do that one day. How do you know when it's the right time to speak a word over sermons while you're praying for them? That's you, right? No, I'm trying to toss as many things as possible. Well, you know, if you feel like God's dropping something on your heart, don't be afraid to share it. I mean, the worst that I can do is really nothing. I mean, you can edify someone like that, and you don't know what they're going through, you know? If you don't know them, so just speak out. OK. How do we find our calling? Is our passion our calling? I believe your purpose is linked with your passion. I mean, if God put a desire in you, he's going to cause it to be fulfilled. When God gave the talents to those who are the father or the master gave the talents and the resources to his servants, he didn't tell them specifically what to do, but he wanted them to do something. God has given you talents, God has given you resources, and it's up to you to use your talents, resources, and passions to fulfill the call of God, which is always the gospel and the Great Commission. So yes, your purpose is linked with your passion. Hi, David and Stephen. Hope you can see my word. What do you think about the prosperity ministries? And he's talking like, they mean like Crefville Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, maybe some of the, and then sometimes Crefville Dollar and Kenneth Copeland, and those guys can be, or Jesse Duplantis, can be confused with the guys like at 3 a.m. who are like, here's a prayer cloth, here's a hundred dollars I'll send it to you. Look, if you don't see God in anything that they do, if God's not the focus in the center, I would just be, not weary, but I would just make sure. Yeah, just be cautious. Yeah, look, it's not about God. I'm gonna say something on here, and those of you who are watching, you're gonna hear what very few people are gonna hear, because not everyone is gonna watch this broadcast, and very few will watch all the way to this part. One of the people who really has imparted to my life from a distance, I've had my moments of personal interaction with him, but from a distance, Pastor Benny Hymn, has imparted into my life. Now, anytime you receive impartation, I like to say that I'm receiving from the Jesus inside of fellow believers. I do my best to receive from people and not also receive the things that people would perceive as negative, or even the Bible would. No man is perfect, no woman is perfect, but we're all doing what we believe to be right. In the case of the prosperity preachers you're talking about, I don't think Pastor Benny, or Kenneth Copeland, or Creflo Dollar can be thrown as a lump sum into those 3 a.m. guys who are, you're sending me $100 to send you this prayer cloth. Because it's almost like a Ponzi scheme with some guys. I mean, the 3 a.m. guys, it's really just, all they're doing is saying, hey, send me some money, why? So I can stay on the air, why? So I can ask people for money. So it's like a cycle that's all about them. And you gotta ask yourself, what are they actually doing with the resources? If it's going toward the gospel, give to them. Yes, God will bless you. Yes, God will prosper you. Yes, God wants to increase your finances. I believe that, I know you believe that. God wants to bless you. But when that becomes the centralized message of the gospel, we've missed it. That is not the gospel. That's just a teaching of scripture. So I hope that answers your question. Okay, hey, it's Kyle from YouTube. David, what's the difference when I do my tithing donation to Spirit Church or General? Well, tithing is that 10%. If Spirit Church is your primary church, you're gonna tithe the Spirit Church. We encourage you to sign up for the automatic gift. If you go to another church, and Spirit Church is just supplemental in your discipleship, then do not send your tithe to Spirit Church. Your tithe belongs at your local church. I don't tithe into my ministry. I tithe from my paycheck into the church I attend. And so does Steve. And now, do I give to other ministries? Yes. Okay, how can I get your book, Carriers of the Glory? I didn't want to seem like a freeloader posting it on the prayer request box. Also, come to Detroit. You can get the book. If you're a partner with the ministry, just write to the ministry, and they will send you one for free. And you're not a freeloader because you're supporting the work. Okay, also, Steven Moctezuma, I absolutely love your music. If it's David's teaching perfectly, I'm looking forward to your album, and maybe on Spotify. Hey. Absolutely. Whatever we can do to get out there, we'll do that. Look, I'm gonna get it on Spotify. He's working on the music parts. I'm working with my connections on the business end. He'll be on Spotify. He'll be on iTunes. He will be everywhere you can get music. Also, I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of my generation. Well, thank you so much, Kyle. We love you, man. And okay, we got more coming in here. Steve, you just let me know when you're done, okay? Oh, yeah. God-confirmed that my spiritual gift is mercy. Can you give me some ideas on how to develop it? Yeah, put yourself in situations where you need to show mercy, as with any gift. Steve, any thoughts? Yeah, I mean, pretty much piggybacking on what Dika said. That's all, folks. I'll see you later, but okay. No, yeah, definitely. If your spiritual gift is mercy like you're saying, show mercy, you know? Be that, be what you want. Peace, when you're better, but just, yeah. No, Steve, you explain it great. Thanks. Someone texted me from Praise Chapel in Paramount. What's PCBC? Praise Chapel Bible. Bilingual Church? Oh, maybe bilingual church. If you're talking about the bilingual church, do both churches join each other on a night when you visit your home church or do... No, we still keep the services separate. You're welcome to come, though. I'm sure that you're buying the same church. How do you tell the difference between what your heart desires and what God desires for you? The word of God? Yeah, that's it. Carry on as normal. Okay, beauty unravel. When is it okay to leave a church? I have been at the same church for 14 years and feel like God wants me to leave. Stephen, it's all yours. Oh, okay. Oh, wow. I mean... Look, that's a heavy question. We're probably not gonna be able to get it all in this one. I will say this. Don't leave because, A, I'm not being fed. Being fed is your responsibility. The only people who need to be fed are babies. And so we go to church to serve, not to be fed. So I go to my church because, well, I do get great discipleship ministry from my pastor and I got that personal accountability. I go to my church. I go to serve. I go to say, what can I do to be a part of what God is doing? We've kind of made church this thing where it's about only building the believers. That's part of it. We have to remember the church's mission is to win the loss. And so if your church is... There are some people who go from church to church and they're really weird people and they want everyone to acknowledge their gifts right when they get there and they wanna be weird and still be able to flow in ministry. It's just not gonna work that way. But if you go and you connect and you're faithful, you're giving, you're living a clean life and you're submitting to the vision of the house. And that doesn't mean the pastor controls your life. Beware of controlling pastors. We were blessed where we don't, our pastor just releases. And, but you know, you gotta just pray that. You gotta put a lot of prayer into it. And in principle, if the church is not being biblical in practice and if you feel that God's calling you elsewhere, then you need to go. But don't allow manipulation to keep you somewhere. Like, oh, you know, if you leave, you're leaving the will of God. A lot of pastors use that technique and that's just, that's manipulative. It's not good. They'll make you afraid to leave and they'll make you feel like they're the voice of God for your life. Well, I understand that leaders are the voice of God. If they have complete control over the aspects of your life, you might wanna reconsider where you put them as a wish. And like what they'll do is to say, you leave my church, you're leaving God's will. And that's not always the case. If they use that, most of the time, it's just a church retention mechanism that they put in place. I can say this as a PK, I've watched it. Luckily, my dad and my pastor never implement those things. But be careful of those kinds of things. And also be careful of the other extreme to where you're just being, you know, weird or hurt or bitter and, you know, critical. You gotta find a good balance. So that's a great question. Guys, what is your opinion of the King James only position? I used to believe it. I don't believe it anymore. I went to an old Baptist school. I was, that's where I learned the word. That's where I received a lot of training in the Bible. I was the private Baptist school where I received my education. But I used to believe it, but honestly, it's just, it doesn't make any logical sense. And I, it's even to the point where there's no doubt in my mind that I can tell you without having any fear of being judged by God later for this, it is not the only word of God. I don't believe in the King James only. I don't think it's a beautiful translation. I'm gonna try to find some for Steve's instances here. I'm sorry, I feel like I'm taking over. No, no, no worries, yeah. Okay, what do you, do I know Brian Karn? I met Brian Karn a couple of times. Nice guy, I don't know him though. Why do people call Joel Osteen false? Cause some of them are jealous and people don't really, people don't understand the separation between church and bait. Joel Osteen is reaching a part of the world that nobody ever will. And what he's doing is he's reaching into the secular world to bring them into the church. A lot of people don't know what Joel Osteen does behind the scenes and that he takes his secular viewing audience and funnels them into local churches. So he's a great evangelist. Now you go to his church, he's gonna give a salvation altar call. What the TV program is, is just to get people interested and then they pull them in and get them funneled into churches. I'm telling you, that's how they do it. You criticize Joel Osteen, you don't know enough about his ministry. And by the way, when he talks about the gay thing, Joel Osteen does not believe in gay marriage, nor does he believe that homosexuality is not a sin. What he avoids saying, what he avoids doing is using lingo that the world associates with judgmental people such as the West World Baptist Church. So he may say it a different way, but if you listen very carefully, and again, you gotta watch what you see on the internet and Facebook. I've seen on Facebook, Brian Houston endorses gays, TD Jakes endorses the gays. It's not happened. I don't believe it's going to happen. And if it does, it'll be a much bigger story than just maybe on your feet on Facebook. But these guys, they have to be very careful. Not that they're compromising the word, they're just tactful in the way they say something. And they're right to not focus that as the main issue. My pastor is my brother-in-law who I live with, but he believes in gay marriage. What do I do? If you live with them and it's his house, I mean, what can you do? Pray for him, because gay marriage is not of God. I'm here in San Diego, I wanna go to church here. Can you recommend me a church that's to go to? Yes, there's a church. His name is Pastor Tommy Miller. I'll be there in November. And it's World of Life Worship Center. Okay, Steve, do you see anything on here? Singing in tongues, do you do that? I don't sing in tongues, but I mean, if there's a moment where the Holy Spirit's directing us to start speaking in tongues, then I'll be sure to tell him, hey, if you have tongues or interpretation, go ahead. I see what I like. Steven said he is taking personal questions, but I haven't heard many yet. So here it is. Are you planning for many children soon? Yeah, I mean, that's something that we have to definitely go about. I like to say this. I'm living my life, loving my wife right now, so. Living your life, loving your wife. Yeah. That's another T-shirt. Yeah, I came up with that one to a couple of years ago. Okay, so no children soon? Not anytime soon. I'm kind of in the same phase. Okay, yeah, other translations can be very beautiful. That's correct. David, I love you, but I think Joel Osteen is horrible. He's a Wolf and Sheep's clothing. Justin, I love you too, and we can agree to disagree. That's what it means to be united in the love of Christ. So we love you still, Justin, and we will agree to disagree. Okay, thank you because I watch him every morning. I just wanted to know. Yeah, Justin, I agree. And you know what, guys? Hey, you're smart, intelligent, Holy Spirit-filled believers, and you got to do what you believe the Holy Spirit's leading, and we can all agree to disagree. As long as we preach Jesus and continue to make him the central message, I think we'll be fine. Yup. Okay, leave that for God. I love Joel Osteen. Oh, we got a Joel Osteen. Steven, can you name your first daughter Abigail? It's from Abigail Barclay. Oh, wow. I do like the name Abby though. Abby's cool name, but I mean, that's just cool name. Will you commit right now here online? No. No, you won't commit. Sorry, you can't do it. He's got to talk it over with Amanda. Yeah, that's a joint. Greetings from Argentina. Well, hello there. Greetings to you too. Argentina. How do I overcome my serious identity crisis? Read the word, read the word, read the word. Get it in ya. Ken, you pray that I will be on fire for God and zealous, absolutely move on. Abigail's having a good laugh. I love you guys. We love you too. Well, okay, I think we're reaching the end. Let me check the text. Oh, guys, can you believe we've been going for an hour and 45 minutes? Wow. This has been fun. You guys want to do this again sometime? Yeah, leave your comments. If you want to see us do something like this again, feel free to leave your comments with a yes or amen or whatever. I would love to see what our response is. All right, guys, we're going to, no, don't finish. We have to. We got to go. Actually, my niece is going to be born in just a couple hours. So we got to get going. And then we got to feed Steven before he leaves. That was the promise. He's got to eat. My wife's going to make you, Jessica, she might be asleep. Oh, she's making you Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. All right. She's got all this stuff right over there. Sounds great. So that's what we got waiting for us. We love you guys. We are praying for you. Steven, any last words before we go? I love you guys with all my heart. You guys are such an inspiration to me to continue to write music and to continue to impress in my worship. But I'll encourage each and every one of you guys who are looking to do worship. Really, like I said, look back at what we talked about. I mean, there's so many good things that we talked about on this podcast, live broadcast. Podcast. I don't know. I'm not good with all this information. But I love you guys. You guys are such, like I said, such inspiration and continue to comment and leave me comments. And even if you want, leave comments of songs that you think I should do. Like I'm totally down to do whatever songs. I mean, we'll do old school, new school, whatever you guys want us to do. We're here for you guys and we're in this together. You're part of what we do here. So thank you guys. The spirit family. The spirit family. Steve, yes. Proud of you, man. You do good. You do good worship. I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else, man. So love you guys. Until next time, remember, do you know the phrase? I forget. Nothing is impossible with God.