 And so when I begin to remind myself of what the Word of God says, I begin to have this boldness, this holy boldness to say, nothing can stop me. God is the one. And even if they did reject me, I'm gonna dust it off my feet. Jesus says those who reject you, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me. And the one who rejects me, rejects the one who set me so. Familiar with the things of God. Though he knew of the Lord, Matt didn't come to know the Lord himself until he had a true encounter with the Holy Spirit. However, that encounter didn't take place in the surroundings one would expect. Matt was transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit in the basement of a house. Having encountered God's power outside of a church setting himself, Matt now takes that same power beyond the boundaries of where people expect to encounter God. His street evangelism testimonies, regular legal viral, have been seen by tens of millions of people and inspire believers all around the world to share the gospel. Matt Cruz is a bold and spirit-led evangelist. Matt, my friend, thank you for joining me here. Pleasure to be here. You have an incredible ministry. I think one of the things I love about the way God uses you, and there are many things, is that boldness that you allow the Holy Spirit to really strengthen your evangelism. We're going to talk about that in a moment, but I want to hear a little bit of your story, because I know our viewers are probably interested to know a little more about you. You grew up as a pastor's kid, and you met the Lord in a very not-so-churchy setting. Tell us about how the Lord touched your life and transformed you from just a kid attending church to someone who's now taking the gospel around the world. Yeah, it was such an honor to be here. When I've learned growing up, because I was born and raised in the church, I'm the youngest of five. I have an older sister and three brothers, four including me, and we were all heavily involved in ministry growing up. My parents did a fantastic job of sowing Jesus into each and every one of our lives. And when I've learned growing up, is that a lot of Christians, they grow older, but they never really grow up, in Christ. And I saw that even in my life. I was involved in every ministry you could think of, the youth choir, even the dance, everything there was. I was rapping at a young age, making music. And my problem growing up was that I was a Christian in the church, but in school and hanging out with my friends, I wasn't a Christian. Nobody knew about the Jesus that I thought I served. It was just about the God that my parents worshiped on Sunday mornings throughout the week at home. I heard my mom praying in the middle of the night for all their kids. So I was raised in church heavily involved, but my issue was I never had a prayer life. I didn't read my Bible. I knew about God, but I didn't step into that relationship with Jesus. I didn't understand any of that. And so at a young age, I was just really kind of going through the motions involved in law enforcement since my junior in high school. There's this cadet program at a police department in my town. And this volunteer program just to learn about vehicle searches and the phonetic alphabet and all that stuff. So I did that for like four years. And once I graduated, I started working for the police department. And I really started realizing as I was maturing and growing up that, man, I don't even know God my whole life in the church. And so it really took me to have my own experience, my own encounter from my eyes to open and say, man, what have I been doing all of my life, all of my teenage years? So take me now to that moment. Yeah. You're living a double life. You've grown up in church. You know the truth. How did God intervene and transform you? So I was always all of my, the group of friends I was hanging with, atheists, you know, didn't even believe in God. You know, people were so addicted to drugs, they were drinking and going to parties, and I never would fit in. And I, and I really, I just realized myself, I wasn't born to fit in. I was born to stand out. And it was because of the prayers of my mom and my dad that none of this stuff would work out of my life. Nothing was going right. And it wasn't that God was really picking on me. It was that he picked me. He chose me and I was called and he set me apart. So it was at this moment in my basement where I started really developing a prayer life. And nothing was working out for me. You know, the military wasn't working out. The Marines wasn't working out. My friends weren't even working out. I just couldn't fit in. So one night in my basement, I was just talking to God. And I've really felt like the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit so strong, stronger than I've felt in service at church growing up, stronger than ever. Like at conferences I've attended with my family. And it was so strong that I couldn't, I can't even explain the feeling. I was in my basement and the Lord just filled me right there. And my life was never the same. I got filled with the Holy Spirit, received the language of the Spirit, the language of heaven. And from that moment I was marked. So you had been to all the conferences. Yeah. You had gone to hundreds of church services. Why do you suppose that the Holy Spirit chose to meet you in the basement of your house, as opposed to a setting one would expect to encounter him? I think he's just, his love is so personal. You know, I often tell people like, he could look at a million people, yet you're the only one he sees. And he knew that I couldn't encounter him in a public setting or at a conference. I mean, it was years growing up and I just didn't have my own encounters. So he got to hold me when I was alone. And his presence is revealing. It's the pure light of God that pierces a man. And when I encountered like the real light of God that exposed my sin in my life, the hidden sin, not to shame me, but to change me. But he knew that the only way to get a hold of me was if I was alone in my basement. And that was the moment right there. He just came and showed up. So he transforms your life there. Things start accelerating for you spiritually. Yeah. And then what begins to happen? What does that overflow from that prayer life look like? Yeah. So I was so shy growing up and they asked me to preach in the youth. A pastor would call me and say, I really feel like you need to preach to 11 o'clock servers. I come from a family of preachers. So I was like, I'm not about it. It's out of my comfort zone. But that boldness came from that encounter I had. It was that the baptism of the Holy Spirit that produces change. It changes how we walk in life. It changes our purpose, how we talk, how we carry ourselves. So it was in that moment that I got filled that I received holy boldness. It was in that moment that when the Holy Spirit came upon me, I received power and courage. And that's what this experience and this encounter involves. Courage, boldness, insight, authority, confidence. And the disciples needed all these things in order to fulfill their mission. So it was that encounter that I began to step into my destiny. And so that encounter you had with the Holy Spirit now has become encounters that people around you have with the Holy Spirit. So as I said earlier, one of the things I really love about your ministry is that boldness. I see such boldness when you evangelize. And I'm sure many of our viewers have seen your videos online. They go viral on a regular basis. Powerful testimonies of healing, people being delivered, people being saved. Just tell us, I want you to cause a holy jealousy to be incited inside those who are watching who hunger and thirst after spiritual things. Talk to us about the things you've seen the Holy Spirit do when you've stepped out on boldness. Yeah, that's such a great question. In my, and the people watching right now, that's the whole goal, David, is for them to have a godly jealousy to see like, wow, I want the light of Christ to shine through my life, the way that's shining through Matt's life. I want to live in a way where people who do not know God but know me will come to know him because they know me because I'm actually, like Isaiah was saying, my brother, bringing God home from the church, bringing him home with you, that's the same thing. Are we bringing him in the public place? I'll often tell people that that's what evangelism is. It's your relationship with God on display in the public. We can't grow our faith inside of our comfort zone. And so when you go beyond your boundaries, you begin to start a conversation that really matters. You'll start to realize, while people are waiting on what God has called me to do. If he lays something on my heart, I've got to move without hesitation because people out there, they're waiting on my immediate obedience. So when you step out of your comfort zone, you'll begin to realize, man, God can use me and speak to me in ways I've never even imagined. And I've found that myself. I've discovered that when I step out in faith, people are hurting and they say, man, you don't understand. Like I woke up this morning, like this was my last chance. I told God, like if you don't show up or if somebody doesn't do something in my life, then I'm just done. And there he goes, sends a young 23-year-old man in Walmart, coming up, walking up to somebody, saying, I don't know what you're going through, but I know a man that loves you and he can save you, he can deliver you. And he's the only one that paid a price for you to have eternal life. And so when you step out of your comfort zone, you'll realize that that person is waiting on what you carry. Do you still find yourself hesitating to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit in moments like that? Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that's just, you know, we're human, we have nerves, everybody is afraid of what can go wrong. But you know what I tell people? Stop being afraid about what can go wrong and start getting excited about what can go right. When you shift your focus about, like, what's the worst that could happen? Nothing. So when I move to, oh, this is everything that can go wrong, to man, this is everything God can do. It changes, like even the atmosphere where you are, I have a boldness now. He walks with me, he goes before me. I'm a son of the Most High God. I've got the power living in me. The Bible says the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is alive in me. Greater is he who lives in me than he who is in the world. And so when I begin to remind myself of what the Word of God says, I begin to have this boldness, this holy boldness to say, nothing can stop me. God is the one. And even if they did reject me, I'm going to dust it off my feet. Jesus says those who reject you, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me. And the one who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me. So I'm just a messenger. I'm just here to deliver the message. And this is the most powerful part, David. If they don't want to accept the truth, it's our job to just love on them. The gospel's an announcement, not an argument. I tell people, you share it, you don't shove it. The gospel's an announcement, not an argument. You share it, not shove it. So when I plant, if they reject it, I'm planting a seed in them. And you don't have to come to realize after practice, after practice of just evangelism, evangelizing to different kinds of people all over, is that if they don't accept Jesus right there, I have to remind myself, he's the one who saves. So when I plant the seed, God's going to bring somebody else to water that seed, and he's going to bring the increase on it. So I leave walking away, saying, Matt, don't even worry about it. That seed will speak louder than whatever they think, louder than their feelings, louder than their theology, or whatever they think about God. It does not matter because he thought about them, long before they ever thought about him. So you regularly encounter these types of experiences because you're walking in it. I mean, it seems every time I call you, you're saying to me, oh, David, I'll call you right back. I'm praying for so-and-so right now, or I'm praying for a woman in the market, or I'm praying for a state trooper that you had prayed for recently. I mean, tell us just a couple of stories here. Maybe a couple of the ones that really demonstrate to you how God can encounter someone right where they need him to. Yeah, so just a few days ago, it was right after you, right before you called me, I was headed to the barber shop, and I got an Uber, and in the Uber, I asked this lady, what's your history with God? And she began to tell me how she was a Christian. I started ministering to her, and before I got out of the car, I said, man, do you have any pain in your body? And she looked at me like I was crazy. She said, yes, I do. I have a torn rotator cuff, but I had two surgeries on this side of my shoulder. I said, well, you mind if I pray for you? I believe there's power and prayer. Prayer is what goes into situations and changes things that you cannot change. And so she said, absolutely. So I lay my hands on her shoulder, and I'm praying, because there's power in the name of Jesus. So I'm like, God, I just thank you. In Jesus' name, that every pain would leave this body right now. God, that this pain would respond to the power that's in your name. Thank you, God. And she looks at me, and she says, this is amazing. I said, what are you feeling? She's like, I feel this fire in my shoulder. This is crazy. And it kind of like threw me off, because she's a Christian lady, and she doesn't really like experiences on a daily basis. And I'm thinking, ma'am, this is normal Christianity. This should be normal. This witnessing is not showing what we can do for God, David. It's showing and telling what God has already done for us. And when you get to that place where you're like, man, when God not only wants to increase our spiritual intimacy with him, but he wants to increase our spiritual power to minister to others. So what happened to me in my basement, this encounter, this experience, it wasn't just something that happened to me, but it's something that works through me in ubers and in grocery stores and on the streets. There's someone watching who says, man, I so admire that, and I wish I could do it like that. What would you say to that Christian who is, I should say, hindered or trapped by that sense of self, by that fear of what could go wrong? I want you to minister to that person. They're watching right now. Somebody's watching who wants to be bold in their evangelism. Will you speak to them? Yeah, I would say, go beyond your boundaries. When you wake up in the morning, encourage yourself, say, this is going to be a day of divine appointments. I believe every day there's multiple different encounters and interactions we could have with people. And I would encourage you, man. Joshua 1.9 says, have it not commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you everywhere you go. So you've got to remind yourself that you carry the cure to cancer. You carry the cure to pain. You carry the cure to anxiety, depression, suicide. You have it in you, the power of God. The creator of creation lives on the inside of you. And I believe that the God of the universe wants to change your situation. And he wants to empower you and infuse you with a courage and a confidence for you to step out of your comfort zone because your call, and I believe results in evangelism is on the other side of your comfort zone. So I want to encourage you friends, so many people, they love evangelism as long as somebody else is doing it. So I want to encourage you, rise up today and allow God to empower you. Allow God to fill you with this passion and this fire just to care about souls. Let them fill you. Just say, it's so simple. Wherever you are, you can even say it right now. You just say, Holy Spirit, I'm asking that you would ignite in me a holy fire that every word that I go, you would speak through me, you would use me to pray for the sick. You would use me to lay my hands on people and see them recover because that's what the word of God says. And I believe the word of God is alive and active and when you quote it, there's power in it and all of heaven will back you up. So all you got to do is say, God, I believe in your word and I believe that your spirit lives on the inside of me and I've got the power, but I'm asking you to just give me the courage and the boldness to step out of faith. Pray for them. Lord, I just pray right now for every person viewing this, God, I pray, Lord, that wherever they are, Lord, that you would empower them, God, I pray, Father, for every pet sin in their life to be destroyed, walls to come down, that they would learn, God, to get out of every bondage of the enemy because they've got the power of the Holy Spirit living in them to proclaim the name of Jesus right where they are, over the situation, over their family, over their finances, over their marriage, over their ministry, whatever's hindering them and holding them back. Lord, I just pray, God, that you would give them the courage, give them the confidence to do what you call them to do. God, I pray, Lord, that you would reassure them who they are in you, God, that if they don't pull their identity from you, they will never have a passion for you. So, God, I pray that you would even show them who you are, who they are in you, God, and that you would allow them that even in the public place that it's okay to be unashamed of the gospel, it's okay to be bold. Lord, I pray, Father, that even now, Lord, that they would even give the devil an eviction notice that they're not giving him 30 days to leave, that he's got to leave right now, that fear has to go, anxiety has to go, every weariness has to leave off of them because you are on the throne, God. So, I just pray that you would touch them where they are right now in Jesus' name. Lord, we pray that the Holy Spirit would cause them to burn with a holy passion for the lost. Lord, let them be so consumed with their love for souls that they think not of themselves. And Lord, let us not be ashamed of you before men. Let us not deny your name before men, but help us, Lord, to rise up unashamed and to declare the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, I pray even now that you would put a spirit of boldness that righteous zeal within the heart of every believer. And I pray this anointing be in part to them today. And Lord, I pray you break off the chains of fear break off the bondages that hinder them and in the name of Jesus we declare that they would be endued with power from on high in the name of the matchless name Jesus, we pray. Amen. My friend, how can we get ahold of you? You've got a wonderful ministry. If people want to see your content, connect with you for speaking or anything like that. How do we get ahold of you? Yeah, matcruzministries.com is my website. You can connect with me on Instagram matcruz96, Facebook, matcruz YouTube, matcruz, I think Twitter. We've got to reach everybody on every social platform. Twitter leaves matcruz96 as well. And we would love to just encourage you with the videos just to rise up today, share Jesus and his power with everybody you come across. My friend, thank you so much for joining us. We so appreciate you and we love you. We honor the gift on your life. Well, that is it for this edition of ETV interviews. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.