 Tonight we have a guest with us and a couple years ago we invited Pastor Choco de Jesus to come and to speak at our Aray Shine conference that we hold in May and I've known of him for many many years from a distance. He was once upon a time he was on the cover of Time Magazine as one of the most 100 most influential leaders in America and because of what he and his church have done in Chicago over the years. He for many many years has led a growing multi-site church in Chicagoland area. A powerful powerful church and God has just blessed them incredibly. So when he came he brought a message that just stuck with. How many know you'll hear a message it'll just stick with you. And he brought a message I'll never forget the phrase it was give it up. He just walked around the room talking about how he acquired buildings and just prayed and he said give it up. And so Pastor Rick and I walked around for the next two years downtown praying give it up. And guess what downtown gave it up. So but here's the thing he's he's a man that I greatly admire and he is a leading prophetic voice really in the body of Christ and we are so honored to have him. He drove up from Chicago today to be with us and so I want you to stand on your feet radiant and welcome to the platform Pastor Choco as he comes. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Before you sit down I want you to turn to your neighbor and say you look better than last week. You may be seated tonight. It may not be true that they look better than last week you can repent later. What a joy to come back to radiant church. What a joy to be with your pastors. How many love their pastors amen. Come on give it up for Pastor Lee and his lovely wife his family and when I got the call about coming here there was no doubt I wanted to come back to Kalamazoo and and be with you all and celebrate what you guys are doing. Listen to me what you're doing is amazing. It's not happening all over the world. There are people who are playing it safe in the church world. They're playing it safe but not your pastor. He has a vision and he's taking his church through a vision. That's right and I just get excited when I see men and women of God stepping out in faith because God honors a church that operates in faith. Are you with me tonight? God honors and so I prayed during your campaign that you would step into the more that God has for you. You hear me? Don't settle for less when God has ordained more for this church. Dream and dream big. Dream big. Win over the city of Kalamazoo. Declare those things that are not though they were and see what God can do. All God needs is a man or a woman. Anybody who would have the audacity to walk by faith. And so I pray for your church. I pray for your pastor and the entire team as they're launching out in this campaign for you all to build. We started with one building and in 2019 we ended up with close to 32 buildings. Declaring buildings. Having dominion. We would pay more than what the appraisal said. People thought I was crazy in Chicago. It wasn't the building that I wanted. It was the space. It was the dominion. It was having a building that would be able to house ministries, dream centers, teen centers, shelters so that new life coming to church and radiant church would have dominion over Kalamazoo. So walk by faith and see what God can do. Amen. Now how many of you are here? The last time I was here. Raise your hand. Oh wow. Let me just see it this way. How many were not here? You don't know who I am. You've never seen me before. Raise your hand. You've never heard of... Father forgive them for they do not know my word. Where were you all at a few years ago? Well I know the church has won many people and people are coming to the Lord. I'm your pastor's friend and I was born and raised in the hood of Chicago. Was the youngest of six in my family and did not know Jesus, failed third grade because I couldn't read or write and we lived in the hood and God saved me at the age of 14 years old. I gave my life to Christ and since then, I'm 55, 41 years later, God is still amazing me. That God has no limits. Eyes have not seen. Ears have not heard. Mind cannot conceive what God has in store for you. And so Elizabeth and I, let me show you a picture of my wife Elizabeth. This is a picture of my wife Elizabeth. We have been married for 31 years. When she was when she was 12 years old, I was 14. I asked her to be my girlfriend. Come on now. I have my eyes on her when she was 12. Yes. Yes. We didn't date until she was 17 and I was 19 and Elizabeth was a worship leader, a great leader, loves the Lord, sings to the Lord and Elizabeth and I have three children. Let me show you my tribe. My tribe is your tribe now. I've got two girls and a boy. The last time I was here, I think two of my, the two girls were married and now my son is married. So all of my children, look at me. They're out of the house. Glory to God in the highest. You got to go. You got to go. And so the greatest legacy I tell people that I can leave on planet earth is not that we passed to the great church or time magazine or whatever, but that my three kids love Jesus and they're involved in ministry in Chicago. And so we're excited. Elizabeth and I listen to me church. I told your pastor today, we are living in the more of God. And so we get to see our children's involved in ministry. We're grandparents. How many grandparents we have in the house? Isn't it the greatest thing since sliced bread? I don't know why God didn't give us a grandchildren first and then keep the kids. Amen. Well, Elizabeth and I, we're grandparents. Let me show you a picture of Charlie. This is Charlie Grace. So my mom, she's Puerto Rican, obviously. And my mother's eight years old. And I went to my mother. I said, mommy, I got my first granddaughter. She says, what's her name? I said, Charlie. And she says, Charlie, isn't that a boy's name? I said, mommy, today, you know, they're interchangeable, the culture. Let's just move on, mom. Let's just move on. And so then we got our second granddaughter. Her name is Reagan. Reagan lives extra blue eyes, white. I go to my mother. I said, mommy, I got my second granddaughter. She says, what's her name? I said, Reagan. She said, Reagan. Isn't that a president's name? I said, mommy, mommy, we gotta move. We gotta move on. Let's move on. So this is Reagan live and and she has blue eyes. She's white. I said to my wife, Elizabeth, I said, babe, I can't go with these kids to Target. They'll be like, I'll seven, I'll seven, grab them. Here's my first grandson, my first grandson, James Anthony, James Anthony. And then this, this, that's Charlie's little brother. And now here is Donovan, which is Reagan's brother. And he's got blue eyes. And I'm like, Oh, MG, I can't travel with these kids. And so we are excited. Elizabeth and I, we're excited and our season of life. And what can I tell you how God has been good to us to the glory of God? I want to congratulate all those who got baptized today. You have joined a team. When you got into the water, you exchanged uniforms. And you said, I'm joining the new team, which is the Jesus team. And so congratulations on that. And if you're new to this church and you're visiting and you came to witness, maybe a loved one, I just want to encourage you. This is a great church. I wouldn't drive close to three hours to get here if it wasn't a great church. But if you're looking for a church, stop looking. Root yourself, grow in the Lord. Amen. Well, I want to give you a word tonight and pastor has allowed me to, I've got two of my books, four, I have four books, but I only brought two tonight, which one is entitled Amazing Faith. If you're struggling in your faith, that's in the back. Amazing Faith. Only two times in the Bible where Jesus is amazed by the faith of an individual. Two times. He's amazed by their lack of faith many times. The Centurion soldier, that's one. You remember the story of the Centurion. He came to Jesus and he said, you're a man of authority. I'm a man of authority. Say the word and my serving will be healed. And Jesus said, in all of Israel, I've not seen a faith like this man. The second person is the widow. The widow. Where do we find her in scripture? We find her in church. And if you know anything about baseball, three strikes in your what? You're out. This woman has five strikes against her. But nevertheless, we find her in church. No husband. Her husband is dead. How do you know that, Pastor Choco? Because the Bible says she's a widow. He would have had the job, so she is jobless. She's illiterate. 99% of the women in the first century were illiterate. So she has all these things going against her. But irregardless, she's in church. And when it came time to offering, the Bible says she gave everything she had. Do you hear me, Radiant Church? She gave everything. You know what she was saying to you today? Abandon your faith in money and put your trust in God. That's what the Bible says. And Jesus was amazed by her faith. The second book I have out there is called Stay the Course. America may be drifting, but the Bible is not drifting. The Church of Jesus Christ is the greatest institution on planet Earth. It will not drift. I don't care what you hear on CNN or Fox News. The Church of Jesus Christ is the greatest institution on planet Earth. Your father is not dead. He's alive and well. He's on his throne. So I want to encourage you to stay the Course. Keep believing. Keep trusting. Keep giving to the Lord, to the kingdom of God. And God will bless you, I believe that. Tonight I want to talk to you about the presence of God, the presence of the Lord. Open your Bibles with me to Psalms 42, verse one through five. Psalms 42, verse one through five. If you're taking notes, it's entitled The Presence. Psalms 42. As a dear pants for the streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? This is a legit question. My tears have been my food day and night. While people say to me all day long, where is your God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the mighty one, which shouts of joy and praise among the festive throne. Verse five. Why my soul? Are you what? Together. Are you what? Downcast us. A question. Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in whom? In God, not in the United States, not in any party. Put your hope in God. For I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. A deer, a deer searches for water until his thirst is quenched. And the psalmist is comparing himself to a deer, thirsty for water. The psalmist might have been watching a wounded deer desperately seeking water and he immediately thought about his own dry heart and wounded heart. Water is life for the deer. And the psalmist thought, I need God's presence as much as the deer needs water. Did you know here tonight that when a deer is dehydrated, it goes through stages? Stages? For instance, when a deer is losing water, watch this, there is a dehydration process and there are effects that happen. Did you know here tonight that 60% of the human body, your body is composed of water? Did you know that your brain is composed of 70% water? Your blood, 83% water. You say, well, what's the deal Pastor Choco? I'm just trying to tell you that you're made out of water, that you need water to survive. And water is the only thing in your body that cannot be manufactured. Cells reproduce themselves. But the moment you lose water from your body, because you're working out or whatever you're sweating, you need to drink water. Are you with me so far? I haven't even started preaching. This is my introduction. You need water. And the psalmist says in Psalm 42, as the deer needs water, so do I need the presence of God. And the more I pull away from God's presence, there are symptoms that occur in my body. Are you with me? What happens? What happens? Let's talk about this tonight. What happens if you were to lose 2% of the water in your body? Here's some symptoms. Thirst, loss of appetite, dry skin, fatigue, chills, head rushes. If you were to lose 2% of the water in your body, these are some of the symptoms. Let's increase it tonight. What happens if you lose 5% of the water? Muscle cramp, extreme fatigue, headache, decrease sweating, heartbeat, increased heart rate. If you lose 5% of the water in your body, increase of heart rate. Let's increase at a moment. What happens if you lose 10% of the water in your body tonight? You know what would happen? You're about to have a stroke. You got to go to the hospital. Because your body cannot live without water. It needs water. And I started thinking to myself, OMG, the psalmist says, as the deer pans for the streams of cold water, so my soul long after deep, is it possible that he as a leader was going through some stages and it's possible that as Christians as men and women of God, although you come to church, you go through stages in life. Let's go through those stages. Stage number one. What happens? And is it okay if I come down here? Is that okay? Okay, do whatever. All right, great. Because I usually like to come. He said do whatever. I usually come down in Chicago and I start slapping people. No, you're good. You're safe. Don't worry about it. When a deer is dehydrated, it goes through stages and you will learn tonight that as a believer, as a man of God and a woman of God in the year 2020, if you remove yourself from the presence of God, you will go through stages. There will be side effects. There will be symptoms. So let's talk about it. What's the first thing that leaves the deer? When the deer is dehydrated physically, the animal, what's the first thing to leave is his capacity to see vision number one. You have no vision. That's why 2020 is crucial. Look at me church. 2020 is crucial because in human history, we will never have 2020 again. And 2020 means clarity. That's why it's important that you get in the presence of God and that God would give you clarity for your marriage, for your children, for your spiritual journey. But what happens to many of us is that when we walk away from the presence of God, we lose the capacity to see. You have no vision for your family. You have no vision for your marriage. You have no vision for your church. Praise God that your church has a pastor who has a vision about what's going to happen here. But across this nation, there are many churches that are existing with no vision. And the Bible says where there's no vision, the people perish. Where there's no word, the people die. So imagine the deer. Look at me. Imagine the deer. Here it is. No vision. Can't see. Helen Keller was asked, what's worse than being blind? She said, having the capacity to see and have no vision. Having the capacity to see, but you have no vision. It's important that you clearly see your life, your journey where we're at in our spiritual formation, what God is doing in our lives. You need to open your eyes and see. And the psalmist that has the deer passed through the streams of cold water, so my soul long after the or God. Is it possible that his vision was deteriorating? Because he walked away from the presence of God. Vision is imminent, is important. Number two, what's the second thing that leaves a deer? When the deer is dehydrated, did you know that a deer that a deer can run, some deers can run at around 40 miles to 45 miles per hour? And did you know that a deer can jump 10 feet? 10 feet. That's right when the lion's going after the deer and the deer's in all cylinders. The lion's like, I'm done, man. I can't follow you. I'm done. And that deer is jumping, jumping, jumping. But when the deer is dehydrated, it cannot run. And when a man of God and a woman of God is dehydrated spiritually, you can't run. I don't care what you said about Joseph, he was not dehydrated. He was a man's man. He took his dream in a towel and he says, I'm out of here. Not dealing with Potiphar's wife. And what's happening in your life is that you walk funny. You used to get to church early, and now you're hoping that worship and the offering is already done and slide in. It's not the smoke. It's not the music. It's not the lighting that is dark. It's that you have loved God's presence and that's why things are impacting you. That you don't see like you used to see. You don't run like you used to run. You don't walk like you used to walk. But because you walked away from the presence of God and somebody didn't shake your hand or the pastor ignored you or whatever and you're out out there in the parking lot as a lost sheep, you walked away from God's presence and my friends here tonight, when you do that they will be symptoms. They will be symptoms in your life. Third, when a deer is dehydrated, the third thing that happens to the deer is capacity to talk. That a deer can talk to other deers but because they are dehydrated and they can't talk, it has been said that you can hear a deer two miles out when they're at that stage number three. Just screaming but they can't talk to their other family members. Can you imagine the lions that are around there and they're hearing this and they know that the stage of this animal where they're at dehydrated. You know what will make the difference of God? You know what will make the difference in your life in 2020? What will make the difference in your life is the presence of God in your life. That will make the difference from everyone else is God's presence in you. And when God's presence in you, you are different. You talk different. You smile different. You give differently. I'm just saying when God's presence is in you and you have your eyes and you can speak and you can walk. There's something about you that's different and other people are hating. I got it but you just stay in the presence of God. Makes the difference. What was it in John? In John remember the woman at the well and she comes to Jesus and Jesus said to his disciple, I must go to Samaria. I must listen to me church. Jesus said I must go through Samaria. Jews would never go through Samaria. They prefer to take another 30 miles but not to go through Samaria. But Jesus said I must go through Samaria. And then the Bible says that Jesus goes through to the well and there he is. He's chilling. He's chilling because he has an appointment. And the Bible gives us and I'm paraphrasing the Bible says that the woman comes she comes at noon day at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Women would normally come at 6 in the morning, 6 30 before the sun rises but this woman comes when it's the hottest time of the day. Maybe it's her lifestyle. Maybe the girls from the community don't like her because of her lifestyle. So you know what she says? I'm going in noon day. I'm going with my bucket and my cup and I'm going to go get some water. So she comes. She comes there and sure enough Jesus is there. You and I know he's the living water. I'm going to say that again and it was a good time for everybody to say amen. You and I know that he's the living water. We know that she is physically looking for water but Jesus said I must go through Samaria. I have an appointment with this woman. So he's sitting down there. She comes in her bucket and her cup and sure enough she's like who's this? And Jesus said, Jesus said woman give me something to drink and she says you're a guy. I'm a woman. You're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan. We shouldn't be talking. And Jesus is all for the love of God. I just wanted a cup of water. By the way if you're taking notes this is the longest conversation in the Bible between Jesus and anybody. It's a woman because he must go through Samaria. Give me water. You have nothing. She goes on and Jesus said to her boy if you only knew who's asking for water you would ask me and I would give you water and you would never have to come back to this as well. And she thought she was slick. She said give me some of that water so I don't have to come up here at noon day or you want water. I'll give you water and he gives her water. He says to her go get your husband. She says I don't have one. Jesus says you're right. You've had five and the guy you're sleeping with is not your guy. Now mind you you and I know that water cleanses and Jesus is giving her water. He's giving her truth that can go through the penetrate the crevices of a human heart. You want water me her? Let me give you some water. I'm going to tell you who I am and she's drinking this truth. Listen to me. She's drinking this truth no one has ever told her her life. She drops her bucket. She drops her cup. She's drinking this water that she's never tasted before because water does that to you. Come on now how many of you have ever been really thirsty and you get that cold water and you're like glug glug glug and somebody's saying like give me some nope I ain't giving you a glug glug glug and just goes right into you oh my god it feels so good. That's what truth is and we live in a culture today that doesn't want to know the truth. Now I want to tell you here this evening truth doesn't set you free. Knowing the truth sets you free. The Bible says you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. So you need to know the truth that Jesus is the living water and that he makes the difference in your life in 2020 that if you're going to grow spiritually you better stay close to the water because the moment you walk away from the water everything bothers you. My preaching bothers you right now. That's what happens when you walk away from the water God's presence. Why was it that young Samuel when he was in the temple and Eli the priest the Bible says that he was in his normal place and he was sleeping in his normal place which was not the presence but Samuel was by the ark which represented the presence. The kid knew if I'm going to be a prophet or a pastor or the youth leader or children's pastor I better stay in God's presence. It's my prayer all the time I say God if your presence is not with me I don't want to preach if your presence is I don't want to see you I don't want to lead worship I don't want to play an instrument if your presence is not with me I don't want to have church in Chicago shut this thing down it's your presence that makes the difference and as God is expanding this church may you always yearn presence and as you grow 3000-4005 campuses presence because we were in a high school for 10 years in Chicago we were in a high school y'all we went from a small little building of 300 people running four services and we all grew that building and from there we had to go to a high school they hold a thousand people and we went from three services to four services to five services to 17 services so you don't need a building to grow a church you need God's presence and we ultimately started building and build a building and that grew and we started opening up campus two campuses three campuses eight campuses why because God's presence and the more you see God's presence look at me the more you see God's presence there's going to be people here who are going to sit at your seat you hear me don't get upset if you come one Sunday and someone's sitting at your seat it's not yours okay you know you know how some people are not not this church other people other churches because if you're really a church that seeks God's presence he's going to send you people who don't look like you who don't walk like you who don't dress like you who don't smell like you are you okay with that because his presence will draw people and there's a world that's thirsty for the living water and you have the living water here in Kalamazoo you have the living water and there's a world out there that's drinking bitter water your family members are drinking bitter water and the woman she drank that water y'all she drank that water she dropped the bucket in the cup and you know what she did the second thing she ran to the town to the town she ran come come come now you imagine you know the girls of women who didn't want to go with her at 6 30 in the morning they're like what is she doing you know people are because she's not part of their facebook group club because of her lifestyle but i want you to know that this woman is converted to a proclamer she is now a proclamer and she's an evangelist running to the town you need to come i know you don't like me i know you don't like me i know i hang out with your husband i got it i got it i got it i got it but something happened over here at the well you need to come you need to come and meet this guy and the bible says that the town came and they're heard jesus and the town said to her we now believe not because you said so because we have heard we have seen it and this woman became a proclamer the presence of god radiant church as god is expanding your ministry and god is leading your pastor to continue reaching kalamazoo i pray that you guys will blanket this community blanket this community i lived in chicago one of the most liberal cities on in the united states i was like israel surrounded by all these 200 million muslims who didn't like me but god's presence was with us in our church and the churches grew you know why because we yearn for his presence god we need your presence if your presence is not with me stage number one you lose the capacity to see stage number two your capacity to run stage number three you lose your capacity to talk number four if you're taking notes here's what happens when you are stage number four for a deer did you know that a deer his body will open up his pores when the deer is dehydrated and has already gone through these stages the pores open and sends out an aroma of death i'm in stage number four i'm gonna die i'm dying and what happens to a man of god and a woman of god they go through these stages and some people will tell you some your children will talk to you men men your children come to you dad you don't you don't worship like you used to they are recognizing that you are in a stage mom you don't smile like you used to smile you don't sing like you used to sing in the kitchen in your car as you're taking them to school or going to work why because you are now in a stage that you've walked away from god's presence you've allowed things to get on you to stick on you to cause bitterness and hatred and so forth that now everything bothers you and you're in stage number four and you stink you stink and this is what happens to us when we walk away from god's presence we stink and no let me let me illustrate to you this is how it would look like this is how we look like if the deer is in stage number four stage number four and he is dehydrated his vision is gone his capacity to talk the run is something like this desperately i need any water i'm dying ah i'm dying and little does he know the predators are getting close to them the animals know the lions know they smell it they hear it and when a man of god and a woman of god is going through these stages the enemy knows you better get back into god's presence whatever you got to do do it your wife has been telling you your children have been telling you your husband's been telling you it's it's it's not me it's not pastor lee is that you've walked away from his presence now understand it as the deer pants for the streams of cold water so my soul long after the year where are you god i yearn for you you remember you remember when you were that desperate you remember when you first fell in love with Jesus you wanted the keys to the church pastor i'll open up i'll clean the washrooms i'll get here early now after a few years you're like take the key something has happened to you something has happened to you you don't look the same you remember in john in john when when peter i'll come back here for a moment when when peter in luke chapter five the bible says that Jesus comes down to the lake lake of ganasare and luke chapter five and and that peter is there and he's he's you know he's rolling up the nuts and he's been fishing all night he didn't catch anything and john after the denial of jesus what does peter deal what does peter do let me give it to you here's what he does he goes back he goes back fishing fishing by the way when i get to heaven after i see jesus he's the second guy i want to talk to you it's peter i'm going to holler at him and say bro everywhere i saw you in the bible fishing you never caught anything why didn't you change profession become a tax collector a doctor like luke but in john after the denial of jesus he goes back to the boat and i started thinking to the boat and you automatically think well he went back he went back to what he knows hmm that's a possibility but what if he went back to where he first got called where i first got my passion maybe i can reignite it maybe if i go back to the boat i will feel what i felt 10 years ago two years ago so let me go back to my boat and hopefully something will happen and the bible says that peter is there and like normal he didn't catch anything and that jesus was at the shore and he's like you know essentially he's saying oh yeah hey friends have you caught anything now you and i know that jesus no he didn't catch anything but the question is relevant it's important the question is important for you to understand and jesus is making the question to peter have you caught anything and one of his disciples in the boat says oh this is jesus and notice what peter does after his friend tells him you know who's at the shore it's jesus peter impulsive peter put my foot in my mouth peter got his towel and he dove inside that water he dove right he got all wet this is what happens when we're so many years in the boat and we're not in the water where you swim and you feel the presence of god disturb me oh god disturb me oh god whenever i've accomplished my dreams because i dream too small take me back to the place you remember take me back to the place when i dove in when i was all in but i've been so religious now i'm on the boat i don't want to get wet it's too cold it's too cold it's too cold don't splash you remember you know that when you're that's that's why you know when i don't know how you guys are my kids are cycles when it comes to water cycle it's not from the lord they me on the other hand i need to pray about this the kids are come on pop come on hey this you when you get 55 you need time you it takes me at least a good half hour 40 minutes to get into this water but when i'm in it i'm going deep and it's in the deep church where you will see miracles you will receive your assignment from god there are millions of people in the shallow but there are only hundreds in the deep you want to see a miracle in your marriage go deep dive in get wet go all the way in with the lord 2020 it would be the year of clarity for you 2020 it would be the year that your worship will be different 2020 it would be the year where you will walk straight because you're in the presence of god come back here with me i'm finishing now watch this so here he is the deer and here's what happens here's what happens they told me it was clean water so praise the lord you already know there's a smell you already know i i can see this is the stages and he's looking looking looking and the deer finds a body of water deers are different from dogs dogs how many have dogs here we have two dogs two pit bulls well they're not really elizabeth and eyes they're our children but we raised them how many know that how that feeling i thought hey hey i thought this dog was you guys why am i walking it anyway that's all i'm gonna pray for me on that issue thank god we left to missouri dogs dogs drink water different they laugh dogs drink water that way not true with the deer not true did you know that when the deer finds the body of water it doesn't drink water doesn't drink you know what the deer does the first thing it does it jumps in the water and the deer when it jumps in the water it starts taking a bath because the deer knows i gotta get this smell off of me more important to vision more important to me talking more important about my walking i need to get the smell off my life and the only way i can get the smell off my life if i get into the presence of god and take a bath in his presence and the deer goes into that water jumps in look at me takes a bath takes a bath because it's been a long time years that i've haven't taken a bath in god's presence my walk has been impacted for the next 10 years of your life of radiant church may you always stay in the presence of god may you take a bath in his presence when you're worshiping may his presence is be what you yearn for moses knew it moses knew he said if your presence doesn't go with me i ain't going to feral he understood god's presence makes the difference and you should understand here tonight that he makes the difference in your marriage and the life of your children god's presence will fix your kid let me let me finish with this my son you know my my three kids they were they were not born with halos people think kids pastors kids are you know they just came out of a conveyor belt of like angels it's not true not true at least in my case not true you know you go through stages as a father i'm a father and i'm also a husband and then i'm a i'm a pastor so my son went through a season in his life marijuana acting dumb being an idiot and he was in high school junior high school at this time the holy spirit says go look in his car i go to his car and i see smoking stuff in marijuana and i took it out obviously as a father i'm broken this is not what we taught him but i i got it i go to his room opened the door threw it on top of his bed and he knew he was caught and after like a good 30 40 minutes an hour talking to him i said to him pito i said do you think you're stronger than me i said pa you're not stronger than me boy i will pray this out of you i will be here every night you have no idea i will knock on heaven's door so you need to understand you could never get me tired you can never you know going up close the door go to my room where my wife said man babe i'm tired this is exhausting so we put oil over his door put the blood of jesus started sprinkling water we started fighting in the spirit realm we declare god's presence in his room god that he would go to sleep in the presence of god would engulf him because sometimes you gotta just force people to take a bath and you will take a bath in god's presence and you saw the picture he's now a youth pastor he's 26 years old and that was a period in our life but it was god's presence that made the difference as a father calling heaven down to intercede and to intercept my son the woman at the well knew that she was drinking some good water jesus says to you all here in kalamazoo i am the living water radiant church may you see clearly in 2020 may your worship be different may your giving be different may your walk be upright and straight any general nose any army nose before we invade a nation we need water for our troops so we're going to invade kalamazoo we need god's presence he's going to give you the keys to the city i declare those things i declare and decree that the keys of the city will be given to you but how bad do you want his presence how bad do you want god's presence in your life would you stand with me for a moment stand with me you remember the prophet elisha he went with his you have elisha and elisha and uh and he went to the prophet he said hey before you leave give me a double portion he said boy you asked for a hard thing when i leave you can pick up and he picked up the mantle and when he crossed over the jordan river you remember that and he crossed over the jordan river with the double portion with the mantle what was the first thing the people asked him from the prophet they said could you change this water because we're drinking bitter water can you change it and he's a representation of the church and there are people in this community saying can you change this water radiant church can you change it because my children are drinking bitter water the only way that would change is that we get in god's presence and we're filled with his presence whatever you had bound every eyes closed all over this place those who are watching online if you're online 2020 may vision come to you may be clear to you what god has for your life may your eyes be open tonight may the smell of death be removed from you you will not die i'm talking to somebody here tonight you will not die you will live i'm talking to somebody here tonight whoever has an ear let him hear what the spirit of god tells you you will not die how many of you here at the son of my voice would say pastor choco i'm in stage number one i have no vision for my family my life i know we're in march but i need god to give me a vision for my family pastor choco i'm in stage number two my walk has been impacted by some decisions i've made or maybe you're in stage number four there's a smell over your life tonight the water is flowing at this altar to remove this smell from your life how many of you here at the son of my voice would say i'm in stage one i'm in stage four three if that's you lift your hands quickly i want to pray for you right now hands are going up hands are going up as you lift your hands may water fall upon you the coolness of the water of god i'm going to give you 20 seconds if you raise your hand i want you to find a place at this altar i want you to leave your seat i don't care if you're in the middle i want you to leave your seat right now do that right now give you 20 seconds get out of your seat come find a place at this altar this is the well and the living water is here jesus is the living water come 15 seconds i won't stay here long 10 seconds as we sing five seconds church would you extend your hands forward come every single one of you all camera people sound people ushers amazing things are going to happen in calamazoo because there is a body of people who are calling on water for this city this community and just a few moments our pastor is going to come and he's going to lead us in a prayer but come on right now i want you for the next few seconds take a bath take a bath in his presence do that right now come on come on open your mouth open your mouth in the name of Yahweh in the name of Yahweh in the name of Jesus