 Short people I'm here with Corey and with Sydney on hope today. We believe today. You're gonna find some Significant hope you truly are and you know we just want to you know I don't know if you've heard about this But according to the UN for the first time India has surpassed China as the most populous country in the world with more than 1.4 billion people and coming up on hope today You're gonna hear the conversion story of a former human-do woman from India I had a chance to hear her story and how the power and love of the gospel changed her life You know Amy and Corey these are the stories that just they're so inspiring and this is what we live for It's about the gospel what Jesus has done for all of us. Yes. I love the fact that God is wrecking people Like literally like you have your life all set up like oh, I'm going to be in this country I'm going to be in this religion. I believe this is the culture and then God comes in like a wrecking ball And absolutely hammers our belief systems about ourselves Hammer's perspectives hammers the trauma that we went through that Marginalizes us into an ideology that we have to be this particular kind of person And then his love just like he did Paul it becomes a Damascus road experience And that's something we're going to get to hear about today about how God comes in Unexpectedly and just begins to pursue us like never before And and I love that about God and how he just continues to love on us and pursues us all the way through our life And I hope we never forget like that Jesus changes everything I hope we never lose our first love that we always remember how radically Changed our life is because of Jesus and maybe we are the answer for someone today, Sydney Maybe I have a part to play a responsibility in getting the gospel out. You know, what is my sphere of influence? What's my metron? Where is the land that God's called me to what what school district what city what what area What what friends am I to step out of my comfort zone and reach with the gospel? Who and I think just thinking about that is that what God has called us to if we think about a ways that God Like God found us that we were saved that we were redeemed that we were delivered And we don't go share it to other people than really how good is the gospel Because this is something that we shouldn't hoard and keep to ourselves, you know Amy and Corey something that God has just been really laying on my heart And I'm burdened because of the body of Christ How many of us is like we just want to hold the word to ourselves We want to hold it all but we don't want to spread it to people that are hurting and broken You know the church i'm going to I mean There's just such a move right now even with the young people where it's breaking my heart to hear The cries there's a lot of broken hearted people out there and we know that through Jesus that he heals the broken hearted That he sets us free and if we don't take hold of that and say like this is how I got changed This is how he you know with my trauma and all these things and we don't want to share it. Amy What are we doing? No, we need to be as as unified as we are today with our outfits in the body of christ We are we are very united with our color Patterns and in the body of christ We have to be united that one thing that binds us all together through all All denominations i'll say is that we are to go Into all the world and to preach and to tell others about Jesus. Cory. It is a great commission It is a great commission and that good news is the reality that you don't have to earn this love This love is already ready for you. Listen. God is doing some awesome things. Listen when we come back in 60 seconds The god story of a former hindu woman and how god loves It changed her life right after this Cornerstone television exists to spread the good news through bible-based programs and a fully staffed prayer line Through ctv and lies are saved hearts minds and bodies are healed and jesus is lifted high We can't do this work without you Would you consider sending a gift this month to keep the gospel moving forward with power? When you give we'll send you listen love repeat, which presents scriptural examples of those who lived alert Including jesus who noticed those who least expected to be seen Gives creative ideas for showing love to friends and family Suggest practical ways to reach out to the lonely marginalized Outcast helps you comfort the grieving and so much more Ask for your copy of listen love repeat when you give today Call 888-665-4483 or go to ctvn.org slash donate Thank you for your generosity. Hope happens here Deepa, we are so glad that you are joining us and we know it is on your heart that you want to share Your story of how you found jesus So can you tell us your story of how you converted from hinduism to christianity and found jesus? Sure said me. Thank you so much for having me here. Um, well, I was born in hindu in india And um, you know, I know this I can't compress it in all like a few minutes, but i'll try Um, I was born in you know as a hindu in india, you know, just as a regular You know person just growing up in india But there are a few events that I think gore just ordained in my life that He knew that I was you know, his from the very beginning so um To to begin with, you know, I went to a catholic school Because an indian most parents would put their children in catholic schools And so in catholic schools, I started like, you know Singing songs like jesus loves me this little light of mine. I mean, I never knew what you know The whole I mean whatever it meant that I thought, okay, everybody's singing so let me sing and And so I was like, you know, I used to kind of sit in mass and stuff like that But nothing really kind of entered my mind, you know, it wasn't like a life changing moment in catholic school And so what happened was that when I when I um And also in catholic school, like, you know, the christians had catechism classes and I had moral science classes So I thought, you know what I have my gods and you have your gods and let's just respect each other and let's just, you know You know, do what's best for each of us and What really happened is that um after catholic, I mean after school in india, you can go directly into med school From to med school. So when I went to med school I just had a feeling that almost like a covering that was over me was lost like a good covering Now I know that it was almost like a prayer covering maybe the nuns were praying for us and it was lost and so I find I found myself with honestly absolutely zero peace like no peace I mean here I was in one of the best schools, you know, in one of the best medical schools And I was doing really well in school But uh, now I know it's it's almost it's honestly its oppression, right? I mean, we don't realize it or I mean, especially if you're outside christ, you know, you you Feel down, but you don't know that it is some thought of, you know, some form of oppression and so um I would I try to read I try to do as much as I can But during that time what happened was during the third year of med school one of my You know, he was a believer in christ. I think out of 200 like medical students. He was a believer in christ the same as dominique So what happened was that dominique was um, you know, I went to ask him something And then the next day he said adipa I couldn't sleep last night because jesus kept telling me I sent my daughter to you and you did not tell me about her And I'm like, okay So the conversion starts, you know, because as a hindu I was always wary of conversion, you know, whenever Somebody spoke to me about jesus My my heart immediately was like, okay. They're trying to convert me from hinduism to christianity So I thought, okay, here we go. I mean, you can't have a conversation with a christian without just Them trying to convert you and that was how I thought I'll be honest with you. That is exactly how I thought And so what happened was that after that I was very polite and I but just I awarded him um, and then but around the same time one of my um close friends, she became a christian Her name is roheni. She lives in uh, london. So she became a christian and she was a hindu and she became a christian And um somehow I found very unconditional love from her Um, you know, for me love was always conditional. I mean you do well in certain things your folks respect you You don't do well in studies, you know, you know, everybody accepts you. Um It's almost like in every area of my life like in family relationships I always thought everything was conditional But the love that ro showed me was very different It was not like Anything that I'd seen. I mean, I honestly was like this girl doesn't need anything from me And all she wants to do is pray for me and take care of me And so ro actually did that for about two three years and um Actually, nobody told me the gospel like this is the way the truth and the life I think because I was pretty arrogant and I think I was pretty stonehearted. So I don't think I would have listened to them at all but That that unconditional love that ro was showing me was honestly kind of I don't know. I found it very refreshing and ro never told me the gospel but Anytime, you know, I was into uh, you know, kind of an emotional distress Which I think I was a lot She opened the bible and stopped reading the scriptures and praying for me. That's all You know, somebody opens the bible. I'm so comforting, you know, I when I was um So I always found the word of god very different from other books I was an avid reader when I was in midst, you know In high school and in medical school and I I found that whenever I read something from the bible It was just different. I now I know it's refreshing You know, it's the living breathing would have god and it's refreshing But I found it so Different, I didn't know how how to say and I I wanted to go back to it again and again And now I know because the word of god. He's the true living god. He was pulling me So ro was doing that for a few years and then um But then, you know, I was also struggling, you know with my own self. I was like, um, this whole thing of, you know It was the end of med school. I used to think, you know, what happens if I'm not able to Deliver, you know, do study well and you know, be a good friend and do certain things Um, what happens if I become to the point that I'm completely helpless and who's going to take care of me? I don't know why I thought that or maybe the holy spirit opened way for me to think like that I didn't really receive any answers when I thought about it. I felt nobody was going to be there for me I I'm so that pulled me almost into a spiral of just like, okay There's just no hope and so a last year of med school internship, uh, you know, it's called c r r i in december of 1997 um December of 1997 I was just lying down in my on call bed and I was like, I'm done I really feel no hope and I'm just done and I think I'm just gonna just end in my life And you know, it's the point. I mean, you know, you want to live but you don't see hope, you know I think a lot of people are like that, you know, you A lot of people who who are honestly suicidal They want to live but they just don't see any hope and so that night, you know, I don't know what happened to me I just said I didn't call on any name. I just said if there is a force in heaven Do something about my life And otherwise, you know, I'm just gonna just go And so that night I didn't sleep. Well the next day morning, um, you know, I came down the stairs I still remember it and then Rouhani was like, what's happened to you and she said, let's go and pray And so if we had the small chapel where we used to pray and Rouhani she opened the bible she was She read she usually does that she would pray and then she would open the bible And then she opened to hebrus 13 worse, you know, she read works one two three four five The fifth verse is I will never leave you. I will never forsake you And I don't know what happened when she read that worse and now I know what happened It was almost like something just leaked outside from the wood of god and just went into my heart and that spirit of hopelessness left Just just like that. I felt a release and then I wrote wrote told me years later that when she read that line and she looked at my face She knew I had an encounter with God and so I was um You know, I I remember coming down just come, you know, just just I didn't talk to her. I just post the bible. I walked out And I I okay. I felt three things The first thing was that Beyond a shadow of doubt. I knew Jesus was God. I mean before that I used to think, ah, he's a good man He's this he's that But I knew he was Lord and then the second one was I know I have felt the audible voice of God But I've always, you know that day I I had a nudge saying that theba You always depended on human beings for help from now on I'll take care of you And I'm going to take care of you like a queen and the third thing was it almost felt like an iron spine Which was uh, almost like God saying, you know, stand up straight from your guilt and shame So it took two years from me for me from december 1997 To like december 1999 and on december 1999 nobody gave me the, you know, Ultra call anything in my home in my living room in india. I just knelt down and said Lord, I accept you as my lord and savior. You're the way the truth and the life and that was december 1999 and you know what He's he's been faithful Always always faithful till then so that's my, you know, it's kind of sharp testimony Deepa that is just so beautiful of what you have shared of just how God met you In those moments where you just felt so hopeless But he is the god of hope that is always standing with us and he never leaves us and he never forsakes us And you know, I know our time is running out in deep But will you just take a moment to just pray and speak to that person that may be watching who Was like you or who is like you right now that is a hindu like we know There's a big hindu community here in pittsburgh and just all around the world Can you just take a moment to pray and to speak to that person? okay, so Listen, I'm not trusting jesus on you. I'm not trying to convert. It is your life. Okay, I respect your life But I want you to be honest with yourself. Are you living a rat race? Because if you're a hindu, I mean our most pressures we have to do well in everything You know, we've to either be a doctor or a lawyer You know, we have to get all A plus and you know a life has to be We're running the rat race and what really happened to me after I became a christian is that slowly I got removed from that rat race And I started enjoying my life The thing is that when when we give our life to god, he takes care of every single thing for us You know, when you give your life to jesus, you know, he he guides you in your relationships With your partner with your marriage with your children with your career It's almost like a load being lifted off I mean and then you experience this Of the heavenly father that you've never experienced. I mean imagine this I mean, I know that now you're not able to comprehend, but this is what it is I mean, we couldn't attain like good karma or anything. It's just that we we can't be without sin Jesus came down. He is the god of gods and you look at, um, you know crucifixion was real Him coming alive was real. There's real history to it and he is the lord of lord and I'm just asking you to give him a chance. You know, you've tried everything in life, right? Can you give him a chance and um, you know, just go to and ask jesus who he is and say lord Whoever you are just show me who you are And then when he reveals himself just accept him as your lord and savior It's as simple as that is. You know, it's the most simplistic but the most profound thing that you can do Deepa, thank you so much for just your heart and what you're pouring out And if that is you right now and you want to respond you can give us a call at 888-665-4483 We have prayer partners that would love to pray with you and to be with you Deepa, thank you so much for just sharing your god story It is truly beautiful even what he's doing in your life now As a wife and as a mother and just all that you're doing for the kingdom of god Hey tom, what you doing? Oh, I can't find anything good on youtube to watch the Commentaries the blogs the tier videos the gaming videos. It's all boring Oh, have you thought about subscribing to cornerstone's youtube channel cornerstone has a youtube channel? Of course it does Hold on taking a pause to remind you to subscribe to our channel Hit that like button and ring that bell for notifications. Now back to the video I'll show you how to subscribe Just search for cornerstone television network and hit the subscribe button So you can stay up to date getting filled with the holy spirit with consistent uploads every day Keep up with your favorite moments and never miss a beat Will you help us as we race to 100,000 subscribers? We can't do it without your help The content is never ending with countless hours of entertainment So subscribe to the cornerstone youtube channel today hope happens here What an amazing amazing story and testimony About the pursuing and the passionate and the fervency of god to come after us today scripture Focuses on this this comes from ax chapter 17 verse 27 and it reads his purpose Was for the nations to seek after god And perhaps feel their way Forward feel their way toward him and find him though. He is not far from any of us What in a beautiful Scripture that reflects on the fact that god is pursuing us And then we begin to lean towards him and to go after him and some people will begin. Hey, did you find god? No, you don't find he found you But there is a pursuit that begins to come out of our life And and in everything we do we want god to be a part of it. I mean, how does that speak to you? Well, a little bit of the back story of what paul is talking about He's in the city of athens and he's actually right in the middle of the leadership council He's walking through the city and he's seen i've seen your extravagant idols and and the the gods that you worship But there was one god that they had an inscription on that said to the unknown god So here is one of the most influential cities in the world Worshiping all of these gods and paul is right in the center of the leadership Right in the middle of it and he said hold up I don't wait a minute. I want to tell you about this one true god He said i have come to you to Introduce you to this god the true god that is the creator of all things And then he goes on to read what you just read He has done this so that every person would long for god To feel their way to him and to find him for he is the god Who is more than enough he is easy to discover and here's the deal people are searching for something They're searching for for a religion. They're searching for a peace. They're they're searching for unconditional love Well, where do you find that in all of the world? There is one true god There is one living word There is one place where we come to find hope and life and unconditional love and that is jesus The god of abraham and isaac and jacob So I would say to you today, you know, if you're searching if you're hungry for peace You're you're missing out. You feel a lack. You you have a longing. There's there's a hole. I'm missing something I would say today stop everything Quit quit running around. Don't switch the laundry. Don't do anything else until you find the answer And when you find god You're gonna find life Sydney the answer Is right in our face It truly is right in our faces as you were talking amy that I just saw this vision of crystal That I know that there's a lot of people that are wearing crystals that they're holding crystals And that is an idol and god is calling you to put it down. There's so much witchcraft There's so many things that are permeating our culture if you go through what marshals if you go to at home I was just there the other night and literally you see budaheds I mean, there's so many things that are infiltrating our culture that we have a nation that is written with idols There's idols in our own heart if you're like maybe you watch so many sports whatever you put before god is an idol And in this season, I truly believe god is saying I am tearing down your idols I want you to lay them down If you have an idol over the government if you have an idol over your life Whatever it may be ask jesus to search your heart and to lay it down Because I think it's very interesting. We heard Deepa's story just moments ago in the hindu culture It's about idols. That's the religion and then when we were reading the passage today about what was going on in Athens There was idols all around them Guess what it's the same thing is happening in our nation and in our world that right now There's missionaries that are coming from all places around the world to america because we are so idol-ridden Because there's so much witchcraft and blasphemy that is happening in our nation It is time for us to wake up. It is time for us to surrender all And that is our heart cry for you today. Are you going to lay it all down for him? You have a choice God doesn't force any of us to do anything it is for us to decide am I going to give my life to christ Am I going to surrender at all and i'm going to lay it all down for him That's the difference. That's what god is calling us to in this season We just had the pandemic and I think a lot of us have already forgotten quarry We've gone back to our ways. We're going back to maintaining but god is not calling us to maintain in this season God is calling us to make a choice to surrender the wheat and the tares are growing up together. Which one are you going to be? Today is your day to decide Which way you're going to go quarry. What's god speaking to you right now? You know when you were saying that god really spoke to me He said i will have no other gods before me and he's coming after our gods with a small g And somebody say I don't have I don't have a god in my life Yeah, you can make your kids a god You can make your marriage a god. You can make relationships a god. You can make your image a god You can make your job a god. There's all kinds of things anything that you give your time to More than god you you want affirmation from it more than god that becomes something that we worship The word worship means to give worth to give value to the bible also says where your treasure is There will your heart be also So how can we give our heart to god and and in the treasure that he's seeking from inside of us If we're not spending that time with him, but he's coming after those different gods, you know in culture They created a lot of gods after the things that they wanted So there was gods of fertility gods of drunkenness gods of this and that and it was like you have you just put You just put a deity On something that god wants to deliver you from But if i put a deity on it if i put something that i worship on it Then it's okay and god's like no it's not okay. I am the one true god And so what god allows us to do in many times he allows us to continue and continue and continue until we have Spent ourselves until we have ran so much that it's no longer sustainable and just like Just like deep in her story you get to that point She was at a point if you heard in the story where she said god the force in heaven If you don't move i'm going to end my life i'm going to kill myself And i've been in places even in my own life of low depression Because you see no hope you're like i just can't see the light at the end of the tunnel I want to get out of here and a lot of you right now or in that position You might have just been flicking through the channels You might have just been accidentally here but there is no accident with god You are here divinely on a purpose and you're watching this right now and you might say you know what i'm about to take my life I'm going to write a letter i'm going to send out a message on facebook But tonight is going to be the night i'm going to go but god's saying to you right now as you're looking at me on this screen He says i got you i love you i see you and i heard you and the love of god is so powerful He's going to begin to permeate in your heart even if you're crying tears right now God says i heard you many times. We don't think god hears us, but god hears us He hears the secret cry Inside of us like the secret secret prayer that nobody else knows the holy spirit make its Intercession for us with groans and we can't even utter he understands and translates the groans of our souls God i can't even verbalize this The holy spirit understands and he loves you. Cory you are so right. He is a god who sees us He is a god who knows us. He is a god who loves us He is a god who's chasing us down and running us over you can't run from him You can't hide from him. He is a god who is easy to discover So just ask just all you have to say today is god I want all of you that i can get just say that reveal yourself to me Listen, we are praying for you. Jesus changes everything and he is the hope for you today On tomorrow's hope today Uplifting and inspiring the hearts of people from all walks of life Music evangelist bj ponds shares her story of finding freedom from victim mentality And offers encouragement to those who have been abused and feel dismissed by society Don't miss tomorrow's hope today Cornerstone television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible