 Every single one of us in this room has been gifted with the gift of life. Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 says that God breathed into the dust of the ground and man became a living soul. The breath that you breathe, the time that you are given, the energy that you possess, this life is a gift from God and you don't have to answer this out loud but I want everyone in this room whether you are a Christian or not. I want you to really ponder this question. Don't respond out loud, respond within yourself. What are you doing with the life that has been given to you? What are you doing with the time that God has gifted to you? You are accountable for the choices that you make with the life that you've been given. Now this is something that our society doesn't want to preach or teach or talk about that much anymore. What a revelation, what an idea that God who gave us life has given us free will and we have the free will to make certain choices and what a revelation that God will hold you accountable according to the choices that you make. You are accountable, you are responsible for your own decisions and one day we will all give what some would refer to as the ultimate performance review. One day every single one of us will stand before God and we will have to be held accountable meaning we will have to give an account, we will have to speak on behalf of the life that we live with the time that God gave us. What are you doing with the breath of God? What are you doing with the gift of life that he bestowed upon you? The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 27 and it is appointed unto man once to die but after this comes the judgment. Now this isn't talked about that much anymore but it's true. This today is labeled as hate speech. This today is labeled as bigotry. People will accuse you of being narrow-minded if you talk about the fact that we will all die and if the past two years have taught us anything it's taught us that man doesn't like the thought of death and he will do anything he can even if it's unreasonable to live in this imaginary world pretending that he will never die but people don't talk about this. Let's say you're being narrow-minded. Well Jesus said narrow is the way that leads to life so yes we are very narrow-minded. Narrow-minded in the sense that we believe there is only one way, there is only one truth and the Bible tells us clearly in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verses 9 10 and 11 wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciousness now here the scripture is talking about the fact that everything that we have done in the body will be judged everything that we have done with our words with our thoughts with our hands with our feet with our bodies with our actions everything we've done with our influence our breath our energy our time will be judged change think about that the scripture says here knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men I believe in God's love I believe in God's grace I believe in God's compassion but we mustn't forget about God's terror he is so beautiful he's terrifying like a mighty ocean wave that's beautiful but it's terrifying like a deep abyss that's beautiful but it's terrifying like the cosmos that seems never-ending it's beautiful but it's terrifying everyone will stand before God so if you are hearing me speak now rest assured you will stand before God all of us no one is exempt from giving this review of their life before God the bible says in Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 12 and 13 and I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it the earth and the sky fled from his presence but they found no place to hide verse 12 I saw the dead both great and small standing before God's throne and the books were opened including the book of life and the dead were judged according to that what they had done as recorded in the books the sea gave up its dead and death and the grave gave up their dead and all were judged according to their deeds rich and poor famous and unknown powerful and weak young and old good citizens and criminals all will stand before God there is no status you can attain in life that will exempt you from standing before God there is no number you can have in your bank account that will exempt you from standing before God there is no trouble you've known no tragedy you face no heartache you felt that will exempt you from standing before God every single one of us will stand before God what will that day look like it will be both a great and a terrible day have you ever seen someone receiving a death sentence have you ever seen the look of shock upon a face when they find that they're going to be spending the rest of their life in prison the judge lays down the sentence the individual reacts and I've seen this many times and I've seen multiple different responses to the same thing whether it's a death sentence or a life sentence it doesn't matter the point is they are going to spend the rest of their days in prison I've seen some sit there quietly stoically just staring blankly as tears stream down their feet I've seen others react and try to fight their way out of this situation screaming and yelling and punching and kicking pushing aside the guards yelling at the judge being dragged away to serve their sentence nothing they can do I've seen others cry and beg for mercy only to be told that there's nothing that can be done because the law has been laid down my friends those are responses to a temporary sentence imagine the anguish the regret the sense of doom and hopelessness that comes with an eternal one on the other side I've seen people exonerated people who've spent years in prison unlawfully or wrongfully imprisoned and they finally are freed because of some new evidence that's been released the look of relief on their face the joy and exclamation of their family gathered with them the celebration of stepping into that new life that sentence that hung over their head that caused them so much distress that darkness that permeated their lives suddenly filled and gone because it's been filled with the light of truth that's finally set them free my friend I'm here to tell you that you don't have to have a life sentence of death you don't have to have an eternity separated from God you can know the joy and the hope and the love that comes from having your sins forgiven from having your sentence laid to the side the darkness lifted your sins cleaned because of what Jesus has done for you that's the truth from the scripture that we know on that day it's not going to matter how much money you made how prestigious your career was it won't matter how many vacations that you took it won't matter how many followers you have on social media I promise you you cannot livestream your judgment before God there will be no likes there'll be no hearts there'll be no followers there'll be nobody commenting saying well this isn't right you should set them free it will just be you and God it doesn't matter how moral you were how educated you were all that matters is God's standard so what does the Bible say I mean if we're all headed toward this moment where we're going to be standing before God how do we prepare now people may say things and and I understand where they're coming from but sometimes we try to judge God through human understanding and it just doesn't work that way we say things like well if he's a good God he's not going to judge anyone and we have kind of like this hippie philosophy of Jesus where it's all love and you're going to get to heaven and there's going to be flowers and grass and everyone's accepted but think about this my friend that goodness that people rely upon that love and that justice that people rely upon will be the very thing that condemns them on the day of judgment if they haven't been forgiven of their sins because he is a good God because he is a holy God because he is just he judges sin I mean think about the hypocrisy of society as we scroll through social media feeds you'll see some incident of a robbery or someone kidnapped someone or someone commits a murder and as you scroll through the feed and you read the comments you'll find people saying things like lock them up and throw away the key put them to death they have no part in society cast them out take them away from us punish them to the fullest extent to the law they even say comments very confidently like well if that was me if that was my family member they wouldn't have made it to court and it's amazing to me that we all have this sense of justice and that when it comes to the sins of others we demand that justice yet when it comes to our own sins we cry out for mercy that is the great hypocrisy of society but the bible says in Romans 3 23 for everyone has sinned we all fall short of God's glorious standard that's me that's you that's all of us not a single one of us have kept God's standard first John 1 10 says if we claim we have not sinned we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 10 says this don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God don't fool yourselves he's almost pleading as he writes don't deceive yourself don't lie to yourself don't kid yourself the reality is that those who indulge in sexual sin or who worship idols or commit adultery or male prostitutes or practice homosexuality or our thieves or greedy people or drunkards or abusive or cheat people none of these will inherit the kingdom of God idolatry sexual sin adultery greed drunkenness abuse cheating people covetousness jealousy bitterness unforgiveness all of these things the list goes on and on and on and on and on and we can try to excuse them and society may but the bible clearly lays out for us a list of things and there's more than just what was listed there but that's a pretty comprehensive list there are standards that we have to keep and the sad thing is that the further society moves away from truth the more offended they become by truth you want to know why the world is the way it is because preachers stop preaching this and now in some warped perspective this is called evil god standard woe to that generation who calls evil good and good evil now the gospel is good news that's a fact but before i can present the cure i must give you the diagnosis no one accepts medicine unless they believe themselves sick no one would go for surgery unless they thought they needed it so i'm going to show you in a moment how the gospel is good news because right now it may not seem like it but the reality is that the bible paints a very bleak picture for man i can't tell you other than what the bible says i can't say anything other than what the bible says all i can tell you is that the bible talks about the fact that man is dead in his sins the prey broken on his way to receive the wrath of god so i might say david that doesn't sound very loving what happened to the peace and the love well someone was near death you'd warn them if someone was in danger you'd cry out the bible makes it clear in matthew 2546 and they will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous will go away into eternal life my friend it's your soul we're talking about on that day when you stand before god there will be a sentence pronounced over you it's life or death heaven or hell there is no work around hell is the constant state of highest anguish it's separation from god now on this note i understand that some might be offended by the idea of hell but i think that the reason we're so offended by the idea of hell is because we're not offended enough by the idea of sin we don't truly comprehend just how wicked it is and think about how odd it is really to say things like i don't want the light and then be angry when you find yourself in darkness i don't want love but you're angry when you find yourself with no love i don't want peace i don't want joy you say when did we say we didn't want love or peace or joy or light when you reject god you reject everything that is good and that is the worst part about an eternity without god that is what makes hell hell is the absence of the influence of the presence of god but there's good news and you say why couldn't god just let it go remember he's just well isn't he god can't he do anything yes he can do anything consistent with his nature god can't die because he's life god can't lie because he is truth and god chose to give us that free will because it's the only way you and i could truly love now the bible says in romans 3 21 and 22 but now god has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law as was promised in the writings of moses and the prophets long ago we are made right with god by placing our faith in jesus christ and this is true for everyone who believes no matter who you are so on one hand we have the the diagnosis everyone has sinned and the wages of sin is death no matter who you are but the great hope is that there is life eternal if you put your faith in jesus no matter who you are now we may look at this situation and try to analyze it and some are offended in their minds and in their hearts by the way god has chosen to do things but this is god standard this is the reality whether we like it or not and i don't say that to taunt you i don't say that in a condescending manner i say that because i want to plead with you to believe the truth that your soul might be saved the good news of the gospel of jesus christ is that he completed the work needed to save you now there two types of approaches to christianity and god on one side we have legalism and on the other side we have liberalism and i don't mean that in the political sense i'm talking in the philosophical sense like free and whatever goes whatever happens happens standards don't matter that's what i mean when i say liberalism and the problem is neither one of those works some people look at the grace of god and they say well god saved me god died on the cross for me he has forgiven me and washed me in his blood so i can live however i want to live that's not at all the way we ought to live but i find more people are not liberal in their view of grace more people are actually legalistic than than liberal and when you're legalistic you imagine that the more miserable you are the more god is pleased with you the more serious you are the more spiritual you are no people who are spiritual my friend are not serious and dull they're full of life and and and so we look at the approach and really there's only two options either when you when you see that you're depraved when you finally see that that your sin is insurmountable that you've broken god's holy standard there's one of two responses that the human heart usually has and one is usually well i guess i'm condemned and nothing can work for me i'm gonna go live all i want to live and i'll just go to hell later because there's no hope for me that's how one side responds the other side well i'm gonna work for it i'm gonna go to church i'm gonna pray i'm gonna fast i'm gonna attend on sunday mornings i'm gonna do charity work i'm gonna be miserable i'm not gonna enjoy anything in life you can't save yourself and by the way people who live that way i'll tell you how you know if you're living in legalism you know you're walking in legalism and not the truth if you're constantly worried about losing your salvation that's a fact i know some may not like that but that's a fact now we understand we ought not to just live as we want to live but this idea of this next action that i take could be the final one for my salvation that just shows that you think you've earned it this whole time and what it is is a form of spiritual pride but the gospel tells us that if we believe on jesus we're saved what does that mean and why does that matter well here's the picture we've all sinned law is broken and we have a court date we're gonna stand before god it's going to happen imagine that that's gonna happen 100 years from now it's not gonna matter what's going on here today what's gonna matter is your eternity we all have that court date it's fast approaching when we stand before god since we all broke the law we all have that trouble well we broke the law so he's just gonna give out the sentence right no you see the bible says in john chapter 3 verses 16 through 19 for god so loved the world he gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life god sent his son into the world not to judge the world but to save the world through him there is no judgment against anyone who believes in him but anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in god's one and only son and the judgment is based on this fact god's light came into the world but people love the darkness more than the light for their actions were evil but what does this mean why does that matter well we sinned we have a court date god has a law all of us have broken that law and therefore all of us have a punishment that's coming but the bible tells us that god sent his son jesus into the world and this is the gospel that god became a man and lived a perfect sinless life not once did he break the law he broke the law neither in word indeed nor in thought perfection from beginning to end from birth to death perfection and he chose a criminal's death on the cross that's why you see the cross and that's why the cross matters because it was on that cross that jesus took the fullness of the wrath of god his life of perfection his life of holiness completely holding to god's standards and he took your punishment the gospel is simply this jesus will give you his eternal life in exchange for your temporary one it's an exchange you're gonna trade records you're gonna trade report cards you're gonna switch scores when we were growing up my brother and i played on this gang console have you ever heard of uh most of you probably have sega genesis remember when you actually had to wire in to play a game now everything's wireless we would play this game and my brother would would would think he was playing with me because sometimes there was two players right in the game and if there was no controller plugged into player two slot the computer would just take over and play like this perfect game so i didn't want my brother messing up my game so when we were we would play i would just kind of secretly unplug him oh you should have seen him there working real hard and he couldn't believe how good he was doing i would do that sometimes and then there were times where because i wanted to help him out without him knowing i would take the controllers and switch them when that game ended i was stuck with all his mistakes but he was stuck with my good score it's as simple as that that's what jesus did on that cross when jesus bled and died for you and god looked at him the father saw your sin and it was punished there now for those who believe in jesus when god looks at you he sees christ's perfection how do i get that how do i receive that that's why i'm believing if i wrote you a check as a gift you didn't earn that it was a gift but you have to have the faith to cash it to deposit it if i were to say to you you need an operation there's a tumor we got to take it out you wouldn't say okay give me what i need i'll operate on myself you wouldn't wake up at that point no what do you do you just put yourself on the table and you say okay i'm making myself available for the surgery and that's all salvation is salvation is simply the surgery of the soul and jesus is the surgeon of the soul you don't have to do anything else but say you know what i'm gonna take you up on that offer i know i can't save myself i know i've broken the law i know i stand condemned but i'm gonna humble myself put my faith in what jesus did on the cross and i'm just gonna bank my soul on it it's a trust fall to completely trust him to know him as savior and that's you tonight you don't need all the answers you say well don't we have to live holy lives aren't these things i have to do isn't there a whole list that i have to keep yes but you don't keep that list to be saved you keep that list as a response of thanks because he saved you we as christians don't live good so that god saves us we live good because god saved us and it's our offering back to him so you have a decision to make tonight a choice that will affect your eternity believe the bible or not it's the truth whatever you may think of jesus he was who he said he was he is who he says he is go any direction you want in life and if you truly seek after reality of what things are you will always find yourself coming back you'll never be able to deny this truth that jesus is the way so perhaps you're here tonight and you've heard this message and you know deep within you that that something is off that that that you know you've broken that law you you have no connection with your creator everything in you now knows that what is being preached here tonight is true you have a choice you can either accept this free gift of salvation or reject it there's no other way we are so filled with our excuses some lie to themselves well i don't believe in god they ask questions like if god is so good why is there evil in the world if god is not good i would say why is there so much good they can't deny it they can pretend to but the conscience is to the soul what pain is to the body deep down in your heart you can't deny the truth that god exists and he sent his son into this world to save you some of us say things like oh well i'll do it later i give my life at a later time that's ego that's pride i can't tell you how many people i've known sadly who with great arrogance and with a puffed up ego would say well i have time i have time i have time i'll do it later i'll do it later only to have met their end sooner than they expected you may also wonder if your sin is too great you may be thinking of things right now that you regret greatly and you wish you could take back and you're wondering if god's forgiveness applies to you too i'm here to tell you tonight there is no sin so filthy so dirty that the blood of jesus can't cleanse you his arm is not too short that it cannot save but it's just a matter of humbly responding we all have that sentence hanging over our heads all of us until we receive jesus it's time to surrender and running from god trying to push him out of your mind you won't be able to he loves you too much he loves you too much to leave you to yourself tonight i am literally pleading with you for the sake of your soul for your eternity i'm pleading with you turn from your sin i don't care if that's not popular to preach turn from your sin i don't care if we don't hear it anymore turn from your sin there is death at the end of it turn to jesus an experience life eternal but i want you to do if you're in this room and you know that you know that you know that you need to receive him and you'll know because the holy spirit is stirring something in you and you're fighting him off and you're fighting him off and you're trying to convince yourself that it's not you that needs to respond to this that's partly how you know there's that pool from the holy ghost only he can do it i can preach but only he can do it that's you tonight i am not going to ask people to close their eyes and bow their heads jesus said if you deny me before men i'll deny you before my father in heaven if you confess me before men i'll confess you before my father in heaven it's a public declaration there are no undercover christians it's a public declaration so you're in this place tonight and you know that's you don't wait for others to respond because then it's not a personal decision it's a group decision don't look around the room hoping that someone in your row stands next to you hiding you don't do that you need to receive jesus tonight that's you you want that free gift of salvation you want your sins forgiven and what i want you to do right now on the count of three you're going to stand up and you're going to acknowledge that you need him don't wait for others don't wait for the crowd to get bigger i'm telling you every single one of us most of us in this room i should say have made this decision already we're not going to condemn you we're not going to look down here we're going to celebrate you tonight but you say i'm ready to receive that new life i'm ready to leave my sins behind me if that's you and on the count of three i want you to stand if that's you one don't hesitate don't look the other way i'm telling you this before actually the holy spirit's leading me to say this one last thing don't leave here regretting this tonight you leave here make this decision it'll be the best decision you ever made one two three stand to your feet if that's you if you're standing up please remain standing remain standing you're standing up i want you to come out of your seat and stand right in front of me right here and i want the church to welcome them as they come in face me face me face me face them toward me thank you and there's still more coming we'll wait you're worth it church can we give the lord a hand of praise for this this is what it's about right here this is what it's about this is what it's about chris isn't this awesome this is what it's about right here this is it steve don't forget it guys this is why we do what we do this is why we do what we do don't forget it you don't forget it either this is why we do what we do man i'm looking out at this crowd of people here receiving christ and i see young and old people from all backgrounds jesus is god's gift to the world to everyone which is poor though those we consider of high status and those are the world's considers of low status mothers and fathers sons and daughters friends grandparents uncles and aunts they're all here tonight now listen to me this is very important i need to make something clear to you so that there's no misunderstanding because i'm gonna stand before god myself one day and as a teacher of the word i'm gonna be held to a higher standard meaning i'm gonna have a stricter judgment there is no such thing as the sinner's prayer in the bible in the bible you will not find the sinner's prayer what you will find though our sinners who pray reach out to god now i'm gonna lead you in a prayer but you have to remember that it's not the prayer that saves you there is no magic words no list of things to say what you're doing is you're actually surrendering to god and if that's not actually happening the words are empty you can't just say well i said a prayer and i said such and such words on such a such date and now i'm good to go no prayer never saved a single soul only jesus saves prayer does not save only jesus saves so these words i'm going to guide you in it's just a guide just like jesus gave us a guide here's how you ought to pray but if there's no true surrender if you're not truly turning from your sins you're not truly turning to christ this counts for nothing but if you are truly going to repent here tonight and you're truly coming after him you'll have to know this isn't the end this is the beginning this is the starting point not the finish line you're just starting your race i'm going to reject the world reject the world do you hear me do you hear me you're rejecting the world today you're rejecting satan you're rejecting sin you're embracing that gift of salvation from christ jesus now what's going to happen tonight is beautiful that weight of sin that's been bearing you down sense of hopelessness and wandering god's going to set you free from that your sins are about to be washed away and the bible declares if any man be in christ he's a new creation there's going to be a bunch of new creations here tonight beginning a brand new life in christ this is the lord's work this is what he does well are you ready tonight are you ready to meet the one they called jesus and lift your hands like this all that means is you're saying pick me up father just like a child would want to be picked up and church just to stand in faith with them i'm going to have you repeating the prayer with me you're going to say these words you're not going to say them to me you're going to say them to god and if you truly turn from your sins today and you truly are embracing christ you're going to walk away forgiven a new creation all things will be made new so repeat after me say dear lord jesus i come to you as a sinner i admit i've broken your law say it out loud come on say jesus forgive me help me save me say i admit i cannot save myself i need you forgive me for everything that i've done wrong i put my faith in you i'm hoping in you i'm trusting in you to save me to deliver me and set me free say jesus i believe you are the son of god i believe you died on the cross for my sins i believe you rose again from the dead and i believe you sit at god's right hand today i ask you be my lord be my god my king my friend my everything my savior and i declare tonight by faith i am now and forever more born again in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name sing it softly all to thee my blessed savior make it your prayer tonight sing it again and you are in fact a new creation the bible says that god puts your sin away from his mind as far as the east is from the west today's a brand new beginning sir i see you just weeping here before the lord i want you to know this your past your sins are forgiven your past and your sins are forgiven in the past anymore about the gospel it says though it never happened god is the master and the controller of even time itself it never happened brother your clean as can be your clean as can be i want to do one more thing tonight i want all of you who just gave your life to the lord it might embarrass you a little but we we have to we love you so we want to see your faces just turn and face the people can we welcome our new brothers and sisters into the family of god come on church welcome the family not unless you go back to your seats now as we lift our hands and sing it the lord i hand the praise for this you know this never gets old this never gets old now in a few minutes the power of the holy ghost is going to flow through this room people are going to be saved and healed and some of you i want to tell you right ahead of time so you're not freaked out when it happens that electricity you fill on your body is the power of god some of you are going to feel like why am i shaking what's happening it's been happening in all our meetings i'm telling you it's tremendous and you're going to love every second of it so lord send it on down we pray in the name of Jesus and that's that's just a few minutes but i need to take care of some business you know we talk of surrender i need people of god who are surrendered to the holy ghost to stand with our ministry many of you as you walked in you received little little pamphlets or they should have been in your seats or however they did that on that pamphlet it tells you that all of our events are free and we're going to keep them that way and really our strategy is faith if we if we don't make it here god will make up for it another place and that's how we've been operating can you believe this march 22nd that's coming this coming tuesday i'm going to be turning 33 but wait wait wait wait wait don't that's my crucifixion year don't clap but then that's also resurrection so you get one with the other all joking aside i'm turning 33 but that marks believe it or not 20 years in ministry that we've been we've been seeing god doing things and i can tell you i can tell you god's been with us every step of the way it's just surrender i was talking to our our one of our production men here ben we contract this company and as some of you will read online or no no no um we don't have any family members of the board connected with his company he's just really good so we hired his company um but you know he was telling me that we were one of the only ministries or anything really that he's seen grow during the pandemic and i i i can tell you why that is not because i have some special insight or wisdom which is because i've seen god do it it's one word faith faith years ago we started the ministry i was 13 years old it was two years after i got saved i was 11 when the lord saved me i'll never forget it he set me free from from horrible demonic mental harassment you talk about encounters with demons oh i've seen demons i wish i would have seen angels but no i saw demons god set me free jesus delivered me saved me at the same time and when i was saved i just wanted to know jesus i wanted to know the lord i wanted to experience the fullness of everything he had for me fast forward 13 years old start preaching in churches and at our youth events and i would travel and i didn't even have a driver's license so i'd have to get picked up that was part of the deal you want me to preach for you you got to pick me up because i can't drive i remember i would preach three night revivals and i would be i would get in and out gift certificates and that's a burger spot if you don't know on these because you how many know in and out i don't know why i gave them a commercial but that's part of the story i suppose and i get the gift cards and the the different things would happen and we would see miracles and i'd preach and finally at the age of 14 i realized that there was a lot of questions coming to me from teenagers my age you're so young you're preaching how do you do it what's the key and so i said i'm going to put it all in a book and i'm going to make it available and that was my first book was published when i was 14 years old the second book came out when i was 16 and then when i was 18 years old we started doing local television and live stream before live streaming was a thing we used to live stream when nobody knew what live streaming was and it was hard enough even live streaming it was really difficult because people didn't know where to watch how to watch they had to download like the special app it was really complicated and cluttered and it was really difficult to do but we did it remember every monday night we would broadcast and man our audience viewership would skyrocket to 30 or 40 people that's if we were lucky remember those days steve and steve then he didn't sing he was behind the camera he was filming and uh he remember those the you would wrap the wires i would too we didn't there was no one else to do it me and steve wrapping wires and a few of the guys there and you know we we saw the lord's hand he was faithful and i remember we were believing god that time for this equipment to come in we were asking god lord please bring in just camera equipment that we can use and i'll never forget my youth pastor gave me a camera and then the lord told me to give that camera away i gave it away to one of the big ministries here in orlando if i told you who it was you'd know who it is i gave miss first ministry camera and he gave me one right back years later and so it's been that way for years just generosity going both ways but i remember the lord told me give up that camera and i said lord is that really you and it was it was a lord so i gave the camera to him i don't think he ever used it but i guess it was a prophetic word to him that he should do media and god was faithful then then we get the idea of hey why don't we why don't we do a larger television reach um let's let's let's go to the next level we realized we needed more equipment so i remember we did a fundraiser that lasted three years guys three years trying to raise fourteen thousand dollars that was three years and hardly i think like a few hundred dollars came in because you got to realize when you travel it was airfare and hotel and car rental and gas and by the time i was done every time i preached i could put ten dollars toward the cameras and so i remember we were praying and praying and praying and asking god to do it and i'll tell you what the lord had me do he had me so into another ministry and i did by faith i didn't have that kind of money told me give a hundred dollars to one of the ministries i did turns out that was the final hundred they need to go on their mission strip and they went god touched people and the lord met the need some guy comes up to me i kid you not this is this this happened i always heard these stories like where are these people and when does this happen but this happened this guy comes up to me with a stack of cash this thick and he says i didn't even like you is but the lord told me to give this to you and he gave me fourteen thousand dollars for the camera equipment that was the miracle of god just by faith level after level god has taken us so we started using it we got on some local television stations and continued with the live streams and it was all wonderful until the lord spoke again and i said lord we want to go to the next level we have an opportunity i remember you were there with me steve you're pretty much in all these stories you went with me to tvn trinity broadcasting network and i remember meeting with some of the producers there of uh at the time it was called jc tv who does anybody remember jc tv it's since then being called the juice network but it was jc tv back then i say back then like it was that long ago so don't think i'm too old i'm only 33 um but it was back then and i remember we went to go meet with the producers and they said you know what we'll give you the free air time but you have to produce better quality i said okay and they gave me like a list of things i'd need to buy is about a hundred thousand dollars worth of stuff and i said well i guess we're not gonna get now just you know i went i left that room i left that room saying god only you can do it because it took me three years to raise fourteen thousand it's gonna take me decades to raise a hundred and the lord spoke again that those cameras that i bought for fourteen thousand cameras microphones soundboard mixer lord said give that all away and again i said lord are you that really you are you sure you keep doing this to me lord and again we we gave it out i gave away everything that we had and the lord sent a man that man came wrote a check to the ministry it was not only enough to and and pastor david you actually helped me remember you you helped me raise some of the funds you were calling people and all that he helped me um at that point this is back in 2013 and he even had me come to his church let me do some fundraising there you know we got to a certain point and then we just said the rest has to be gone god sent a man from northern california he gives us a check that was enough to pay for the whole thing and several months of production god did it again god did it again but it took faith years later we see that the ministry expanding it's growing i think from that little tv studio that we built is about a hundred thousand we were able to grow an audience and god started to really prosper the youtube in faith and then suddenly there was this social media boom and i wrote this book that i submitted to a publisher and that book was carriers of the glory becoming a friend of the holy spirit and i submitted to the publisher and i didn't know this till years later that book was sitting in a rejection pile and somebody was quitting their job and somebody knew was coming in right at that time the person who got the job of the old person who left said they came in and they just said something tells me i have to check the rejection pile they went in fish stew pulled out carriers of the glory and published it watch this now published that book and it was because of the success of that book that we were able to get on a television show you may have seen us on Sid Roth it's supernatural and i started talking about the holy spirit and that clip went viral where i'm just saying all the different names of the holy spirit and the ministry again grew and grew and grew and then we came to another point where now we're saying we got to accommodate the product we need more place for our staff we need more production people are asking for more videos we have to do it in all these different languages now so the the need got bigger and we once again set out and said god we're ready to step out in faith again it was 300 000 for that new studio remember in serritos i remember it took us another couple years to raise the first half and i'll never forget we've had about 130 000 left to raise on that project steve you were there pat that's when you were there too you were there that day and i'm getting ready in the hotel about to have lunch with some pastors and the lord tells me as i'm getting ready he says i'm gonna finish off that 130 000 today and i said lord is that you and i just had this inner knowing i knew that i knew that i knew that i knew that it was gonna be finished that day i go down i have lunch i'm i'm have i'll be honest i was having lunch with all these people i'm looking around going who's gonna do it who's who's got the checkbook out and the lunch happens it was done everyone leaves in no check nothing and i was like i was scratching my head because i said i know the voice of the holy spirit the lord wouldn't have told me that if it wasn't going to be the case and this woman comes in we call her mama sophia she works with our ministry she brought a guest and she brings this guest to us in this spot she goes wait there's one more person who wants to meet with you and mama sophia is crying already and she says you won't believe what she said you won't believe what she said and i said what did you say she says i want to help you i said oh thank you i appreciate that she goes no no no no i want to help you what do you mean what do you mean by help like i'm like trying to pull it out of her because i'm like what do you mean she goes how much do you need i said we need 130 000 i thought she was going to say oh i'll help you find donors she goes okay she pulls out a checkbook and she begins to write a check for 130 000 right then in front of us wait wait wait wait but then she messed up the check and had to tear it up and start a new one and she did that like twice and i'm sitting there going oh my goodness please don't run out of checks so she she she finishes it she writes that she gives it to us we go we finish that studio and now we're on the precipice of something even bigger but you guys realize that that we went from from i'm telling i have i have pictures of me filming in my parents garage if you saw you look at the crowds here you look at the crowds that come around the world wasn't like this i remember we would do services where no more than 12 people would show up and the place would seat like 300 or 400 years and years and years and asking the lord to do it i'll tell you every step of the way it's been always faith what i've discovered is that god will always provide for your needs but it's only when you step out in faith that he funds your dreams i've never seen the righteous forsaken or the children begging for bread always god provides for your needs but if you want to see god bring the pro vision for the vision that he gave you there are dreams in you that god placed there things ready to be unlocked and i'm telling you if god can do it for me he can do it for you stop listening to the false prophets of cnn and fox and nbc a bunch of liars there are a bunch of liars i don't care what they say is happening out there there's prosperity for the people of the kingdom there's victory for god's church and i'm telling you tonight the key is stepping out in faith let me make this clear this has nothing to do with your healing tonight nothing to do with your healing you don't give for a healing miracle so don't think that's what i'm saying i'm talking about finances right now this is the vision god has given the ministry so if you look at your little papers that you got and those of you watching online you can go check it out there's links that they're putting in the comments ruben make sure they're putting the correct link in the comments marita and charoon if you can please put it in the comment section the links you're going to see a link there and on that link you're going to not only see what what we need to have come in for this entire event if you scroll all the way to the bottom i give you a breakdown of every expense that we've had for this event so you don't think we're trying to pull a fast one on you i know you trust us but i believe in accountability so we put the breakdown on the website for you but you scan that paper and i want to ask you to give you know you go to a conference of this size of this quality you've probably done it in this area there's lots of christian conferences there are always 250 300 and all these different packages they offer we did the math and we need the average giver to give about 200 if you can't do that god bless you we still love you and i know god is still going to bless you and i don't want you to feel guilt or condemnation because that's not in your power to do it but i'm talking to the one now who has the ability to do that that's what it's going to take all of us doing together to fund this conference what you saw these souls being saved you can't put a price on that you can't put a price on that but do you think the unbelievers would have paid a registration fee to be here no way so i'm telling you the need i'm being upfront and honest with you the people of god and now i need you to hear the holy spirit so you're going to scan the qr code on that little image and you're going to get the you're going to get the little link that comes up and then you're going to see the progress bar that shows you how far we've gone maybe you can check it throughout the weekend and see how we're doing and help it along as it goes we don't do these events to bring in finances we bring in finances so we can continue to do these events and this is a part of worship this is our responsibility as believers so i'm saying this to you tonight ask the holy spirit what to do and he's going to give you a number he's going to speak to you specifically and i'm asking you to respond to what he says and i believe that as you do respond god's going to bring provision for the vision he gave you i'm not asking you to do anything i haven't lived by i've lived by this i've been there i know what it is to hear the number god says and go oh god is that really you i know what it is to to be on the verge of giving back and forth and hoping that maybe the moment will just pass by i know what that is but you cannot go to the next place until you've passed the test for where you are now so i'm challenging you to give as the holy spirit leads you you online again use the link that's available on the screen or in the comment section and the rest of you we're going to have the offering envelopes come forward now if you are not giving by that maybe you want to give by check or cash we have envelopes for that i'm going to ask the ushers to come forward this is why we do it guys it's to expand the kingdom to continue that that we might see more soul saved more sick healed more bound and delivered more believers empowered and by the way the fundraiser for the new studio is coming along great the one we're doing in austin but i'll tell you this if we whatever we bring in tonight if we break even tonight or if even there's a surplus we're going to take that surplus and put it right into the studio so you can't you can't out give god tonight there's there's faith in the room i just know and i see many of the gifts coming in so as i said this isn't a magic number the holy spirit's not telling me this is what you have to give you online i'm challenging you to but i would need every individual to consider a gift of 200 if you can't try 25 50 and maybe there's some of you who can give more to help make up for those who cannot do that it's all of us pulling our resources together that's what's going to make the difference for this event that's what's going to meet the need as i said in a moment we're going to pray for the sick and we're going to ask god to heal you and deliver you and this has nothing to do with that so don't give for your healing that doesn't work that way nor nor should you feel pressure to do that but this is something we do because we love jesus because we love souls because we love the ministry and as soon as we're done with this i'm going to get right to ministering as the holy spirit leads but we have to take care of god's house first so those of you getting envelopes go ahead and fill out the information please write your name your address phone number email if you're giving by debit card on the envelope this way we can process it correctly also if you leave your email address you'll be getting emails from our ministry to keep you updated on the everything that's happening i would ask that you just give as you're led by the holy spirit and you can actually see the progress so as they pass out those envelopes i want to thank you for your giving and do remember that you can check the progress throughout the weekend so you can lend a helping hand maybe you see it you want to help nudge it along please do that there are people in here who god is speaking to to do something significant i would tell you that you're giving in good soil i make no apologies for taking offerings for this ministry because a i know where the money goes and b souls are worth it we should be funding the kingdom the kingdom should be the most well funded organization in the world and we the people of god are giving because we love him because we love souls so thank you for your giving you online i see you're giving thank you so much as i said in a moment for those of you just logging on we're going to minister to those who need healing and so forth in just a moment but but right now we're giving this is an act of worship that i challenge you to participate in be a part of what god is doing thanks to all of those given by super chat and those you logged around the world we're going to give you just a couple more minutes and then we're going to pass the baskets or the buckets whatever they're using i think it's buckets baskets i'm thinking like church in the late 90s now we're we got this is the late 2000s so we're we're doing buckets now look how modern we are i want to thank you again for your giving your generosity it's uh i'm seeing it come in from all around the world and i can't tell you how moved i am by your support it really does mean the world to us to know that the people of god are standing with us helping us to take this message around the world so thank you we don't take that lightly so as you're continuing to prepare your gift i'm going to pray over it i'm going to ask god to bless you ask god to use these resources and then we're going to move right into worship and we're going to believe god for your healing miracle father in the name of jesus i pray for each one who's giving tonight and i ask you lord to begin to open doors that they thought impossible for you make a way where there seems to be no way you open up rivers in high places create paths through the seas and lord though they may be facing an impossible situation i pray that the god of the impossible would show up strong for them lord as they've stepped out in faith according to how you've instructed them i pray you would make they're giving a weapon that would go against the kingdom of hell and i pray that every dollar would become a weapon in your hand against the kingdom of hell and i pray lord we would see a great harvest of souls together in the mighty name of jesus we pray