 We're in Luke chapter 10 and I'm going to be looking today at verses 1 through 20 as we continue our study here in the Gospel of Luke. And so I'll begin reading in chapter 10 at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 through 12 and we'll get into our study. Luke chapter 10, beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 12, Luke writes, After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. And then He said to them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way. Behold, I send you as lambs among wolves, carrying neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road. But whatever house you enter, first say peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. Heal the sick there and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you. But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, The very dust of your city, which clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you. But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. Now Jesus just had challenged three would-be disciples by giving to them the demands of discipleship. And as we looked at that last time we were together here in the Gospel of Luke, we saw that Jesus was in essence saying to each and every one of them that to be a follower of Jesus Christ exacts a cost. And he shared with them that they would live a life of hardship and poverty, that they would learn to put God's business first, and they could even possibly lose their family as they were gaining heaven. And so what he was actually giving to them was a challenge. And he was demanding an unrivaled love and was encouraging an unceasing bearing of the cross. And so we see these three would-be disciples challenged with the cost of discipleship, but we don't see their response. So as we begin chapter 10, it's refreshing for us to see that there are 70 men that he's about to use who are sold out to him. They offer no excuses when they are called. And without reservation we see that they answer the call and we see that God will move tremendously as they serve him. And I couldn't help but think as I was preparing this study, what a blessing it is seeing people who actually are on fire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. How refreshing that is for me. You see I came out of the Jesus movement, you know, that revival that took place that is continuing to take place in a variety of ways even into this day. And I do remember that when the Holy Spirit was moving in a very special way amongst the youth, I happened to be one of those who at that time was one of those youth. And I've seen what God can do. I've seen what God can do in a person's life when that person is sold out to Jesus Christ. And you have too. Because if you look around and you begin to consider as a Calvary Chapel movement will say, and you begin to think of some of the fellows that perhaps you're familiar with, men like Mike McIntosh and Greg Laurie and Raul Reese and Jeff Johnson and Steve Mays and others, all of them including myself are part of that movement that was called the Jesus Revolution. And everything was about Jesus Christ. And many of us were very young when we committed our hearts to Christ. You know, I was 20 years old. And Greg Laurie was 17 years old. And many of us were young individuals, young men. We heard the gospel, we heard the message, we heard the challenge and instead of shrinking from that, instead of saying, that's just too heavy for me or I've got other things to do, I want to pursue some other thing in my life, we said there's nothing else except serving the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all that matters. That's all that matters ultimately. Not just for pastors, that's all that matters, period. And so as the Lord is here ministry, and I want you to see this in chapter 10, even after he has spoken to three would-be disciples who basically we do not see any evidence that they were willing to take him up on his challenge. We are refreshed though as we enter into chapter 10 to see that some are. As a matter of fact, he speaks of these 70. And these are the ones who are abandoned. They've abandoned themselves to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, not temporarily. They are abandoned to serve him forever. And so Jesus has made a determination. We already know that he is determined that he's going to go into the city of Jerusalem. And so he's appointed 70 to go before him. It's interesting to me when you note this, in note verse 10 how it begins here by speaking of 70 others. When you look at the ministry of Jesus Christ, he has multitudes who heard him, multitudes of those who were listening to him. From those multitudes, he drew many disciples. From the group of many disciples, he drew 12 apostles. From those 12 apostles, he developed an inner circle. Sometimes that inner circle is of four people because you have Andrew, Peter, James, and John. And then at other times you see even the four is reduced to the three. And so what you have here is you have a group of people who are selected by Jesus Christ. You're going to go out and do the works of ministry. And what they're going to do is they're going to go out and make arrangements for him as he is beginning to visit many sites. Now he's done something like this already. We saw it in chapter 9 verses 1 through 6 where he had commissioned the 12 to go out and do this kind of thing. But now he is sending 70. And the reason he sends 70 is because the amount of work that is to be done is very large. And the work that is great, it requires a large number of laborers. And so he begins to send them out and every place that he himself, according to verse 1, is about to go. So verse 2, it says there, he said to them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Jesus is longing to see people saved. His desire is that people will come to know him as their Lord and their Savior. And he longs for that. But not only does the Lord Jesus Christ long for people to have relationship with him, but he also wants those who follow him, speaking of us, those who follow him, to have the same longing in your hearts. To see the lost come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. And he wants these people, this is a great, great number of people to come to a knowledge of him. And so he's training his disciples that they too might see that the world needs to be saved. There are great numbers of people who are yet unsaved. In John 4.35, Jesus said it this way, he said, do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields they are already white for harvest. And so he wants them to have a heart that is sympathetic with his own. His own is to reach out to all of the lost that he might at least give them opportunity to be saved. And I want you to see how he does this. He does this by appointing these 70 to go out and prepare the way for him. I believe very strongly that there are a variety of ways for the church to effectively take the word of God out and to reach people. I believe that crusades have tremendous impact in many ways. And some of the crusades that we've been involved with have a large, they make a large impact in many lives. The crusades that Pastor Greg has been faithfully serving in for so long. And crusades like that. And with Pastor Raul, with somebody who loves you, crusades that he does. God uses him in wonderful ways. Not to mention the most obvious, Billy Graham crusades and Franklin Graham crusades and Luis Palaus crusades and so many others like that. Crusades have tremendous impact, but that's not the only way that the Lord intends to reach people. They're good. They're good at using us. And conferences are exceptional also. Every year we speak at, I speak at the Anaheim men's conference, a conference that has seven to 10,000 men in attendance every year have been doing it for 15 years. And we've seen many people over the years get saved in these conferences. We've seen the same with women's conferences. And we see the same with breakfasts and brunches and issues of life ministries and a variety of other things. I really believe that God does wonderful things through all of that, but the key is going out and doing the work of ministry, not just remaining in the four walls, not remaining simply here in this church and having one person proclaim a message that you're all familiar with, but taking that message out and communicating it, and that's what Jesus intends for them to do. I find it interesting that when you look at the book of Acts, and especially there on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit comes upon the 120 who were there awaiting the promise from the Father, and as the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they were baptized in the Spirit, and they pour out of that upper room and God begins to move as they are speaking these unlearned languages, glorifying and magnifying God, and people begin to mock them as they see them because they think that they're drunk with wine, and the Apostle Peter begins to speak and gives this wonderful message, the Pentecost message, and 3,000 people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and now you've got 3,000 brand new converts to the Christian faith, and you begin to wonder what are we going to do, and what is interesting to me is the Bible makes it very clear what they do because in Acts chapter 2 verse 42 it says they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and in prayers, and in verse 47 of the same chapter it says the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. What would happen is they were equipped for works of service and they would go out and proclaim the message of the Gospel. You see the message is intended to be taken out of these four walls into the world, and that's what Jesus is intending his disciples to see. It's not enough that we do invite people to church. It's important that we invite people to the Savior, to Jesus Christ, that they might come to know Him, and that's what's taking place here. There's a great need. The world is in need of a Savior. What are they to do? Well, notice with me how he says in verse 2, he says the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. What are you to do? Well, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Pray that God sends out laborers into his harvest. So that reveals something to us, two basic things. It reveals God's work and it reveals man's work in ministry, because notice God sends and God equips the laborers, but man goes forth and does the work, and they actually are laboring in the work of ministry. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 9 Paul said, we are God's fellow workers, and that's how it works. God sends you, God equips you, but you're the one who's out there working alongside the Lord. And we'll see this in a minute. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I will say it this way. I know one thing about working for the Lord, and it is this. He does the work. He simply uses you alongside of Him. Never forget that. Today I was with my grandson Josiah, who's four years old, and he owns the place. I mean, that's just the way it is. He walks around like he just is his house, and you know, he has me in tow. And as we're walking out, he walks up to the back doors there, and you have to picture he's four years old. He's a little guy. He walks straight up to those double doors. He puts his little hands on them, and he starts to push, as if he's able to really open those doors. They're very heavy for a four-year-old, and the angle for him to be trying to open the door is very difficult. So he's pushing the door, but I'm standing behind him. And as I'm standing behind him, I'm pushing the door open, giving him the impression that he's the one doing all the work. And so he'll just push the door open and like, ha, you know, and he goes through it. Then he goes to the double glass doors, which are even harder to open and even heavier. And once again, he's starting to push the door, but I'm the one pushing the bar that opens up the door so the little boy can get outside. He has the impression that he's doing the work, but he's working alongside of his grandfather. I give to him an ability to do a certain amount, but he can't do it all. And in ministry, you have certain gifts and abilities that God has actually given to you. You're not doing the work. You're working alongside of him. And if you get that in your heart, you can be used mildly by the Lord. And you'll see this in just a moment. I got ahead of myself a bit. But God wants us to work alongside of him, and that's what he's doing. So he's sending them out to do the work. And now he speaks to them and says, this is what they're to do. Verse three, go your way. Behold, he says, I send you out as lambs among wolves. You're about to go out into hostile conditions. You will encounter danger. It will be hazardous, sometimes even dangerous. Be prepared. Your message will be ridiculed. You may even suffer physical persecution, but be aware that all who shall live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Remember this, I'm the one who sent you out. I will be with you. You will learn to trust and depend on me. I send you out. I send you out as lambs among wolves. It will be difficult. So verse four, carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals. Greet no one along the road. So what you're going to learn to do is trust completely in the Lord that God will provide for you. God's business is urgent. Don't waste your time greeting people. Just serve him. And remember this, that the time is short. In 2 Corinthians chapter six, verse two, Paul said it this way. In an acceptable time, I have heard you in the day of salvation. I've helped you. And then he goes on to say, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. It's not next week. It's not next month. It's not next year. It's not when you get your act together. It is now. And as we go forth, there's a certain urgency that we encourage people to get right with God and to do so immediately. Don't put it up. I've never met anybody who has ever said, I wish I would have waited longer before I got saved. I just haven't met anyone. I had a little more sinning to do. I have never met anybody who has ever said that. The people I have spoken to who sincerely love the Lord have simply said this to me. And I've heard this many times. I simply wish I had gotten saved sooner. It would have saved me so much pain and so many other people pain that I caused pain to. I wish I had gotten saved. Today is the day of salvation. Not next week and not next month. He says in verse five, whatever house you enter first, say peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. In other words, you by your presence in this message are bringing a peace to the house when someone living in that house desires that peace. But those who refuse the peace that comes from God will be left with their own anxiety. He goes on in verse seven, remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give for the laborers worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. The home that has welcomed you will be your temporary headquarters as you minister. He's going, he's saying you're going to go from place to place. When they welcome you and you bring your peace and they receive that peace, that will be your temporary headquarters as you minister there. So don't be going into the house and then begin to look around the city to find a better place to stay. Don't have that attitude like, yeah, this is nice overnight. You know, it's cool, but there's a bigger house just down the road. I'd like to stay there. Jesus says, don't be going house to house. Don't be looking for better lodging and all of that because the people who have invited you in are going to also minister to you as you minister to them. I find it interesting how he says in verse seven, the laborer is worthy of his wages. You have brought to them a message of eternal life. You are serving God and so as you are serving the Lord, he will provide and he provides very often through those who are being served. This is something that Paul refers to in 1 Timothy chapter five. You might remember it. It's found in verses 17 and 18 when Paul said, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. The scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and the laborer is worthy of his wages. So as you go and minister, you will receive the compensation that is due an individual who is serving the Lord. You'll learn to rely on the Lord to provide for you. Verse eight, whatever city you enter, they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. That can be difficult on the foreign mission field, I have to tell you. I have eaten things on the mission field that flies, say no thanks, not for me, I'm not hungry. I could go into stories, but I won't. I don't do it anymore, but I did, you know, and but the point he's making here very simply is this, and you need to know this as these are going out. They're not always entering into kosher homes. These are Jewish men going out and in some of the places that they're going to minister, they're going to be entering into homes that are not kosher or perhaps are Gentile, meaning they don't keep Jewish dietary law. So rather than going in and selecting the place that you stay and what you eat, Jesus is basically saying this. He's saying to them, just eat the food that is set before you. And even if the food is not kosher, just receive it with thanksgiving and don't make an issue over it. This is something that Paul would refer to later on in his writings for in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 27, he said, if any of those who do not believe invite you to dinner and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience's sake. So it's the same principle, the food isn't going to bring it to God and it doesn't keep you from God, so therefore eat it and just move on. They're providing for you and just simply with gratitude, receive it. Now he says in verse 9, heal the sick there and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. So this healing of the sick is a foretaste of future glory because God's kingdom in its completeness has no illness. And so he's saying as you go and do this work, people will recognize that the kingdom of God has come near. Paul in 1 Corinthians, rather in Romans, in Romans chapter 14 verse 17 said, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And so you go there, you do works of ministry and you proclaim, this is what the kingdom of God ultimately is all about, where there is no such thing as illness. Verse 10, whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, the very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you. Some will refuse the Lord even when great things are being done in his name in their very presence. And that amazes me, but it's true. We see that to this day where God will do a remarkable work, perhaps in you and those whom you know best, friends and family members, perhaps neighbors who have known you for a long time, can be eyewitnesses and can say, yeah, that person is absolutely changed. They used to be this way and I have seen a radical transformation, but they don't always receive the message of what made you different. Oftentimes they may say, well yeah, you're different because you grew up or yeah, you're different because you know you had to change or you just decided to change and I've had friends who have said that they've said, well David, you know you tell me what you used to do and I know that because I was with you when we did those things together, but don't you think you just grew up and my answer has always been the same? No, I never grew up because you see, you don't grow out of sin, you can't grow up out of sin, you refine sin, but you don't grow up out of it. The first time that you ever stole something, the first day if perhaps I'm speaking to somebody here who might have stolen something, I'm sure none of you ever really stole anything, it's just an illustration. The first time you lied just now, the first time you stole something, you probably got caught. I got caught, I still remember what I stole, I've shared this with you before, perhaps some of you remember this, I remember what I stole, I stole bird seed and no reason I didn't have any bird at home or anything, but it had, it was a cool can and it had this yellow parakeet on it and I think it was yellow, it was really an outstanding can and I really liked it and I put it in my pocket and I went home with it, I stole it out of Lucky's Market there in Norwalk and my mom doing the wash finds this can of bird seed in my pocket and asks me how to get there and that's probably how to get there and it flew there, it's got a bird on it, but I said I put it in my pocket, I really wanted it and she marched me back to the supermarket and I had to speak to the manager and apologize for stealing, it was four years old and but you know I got pretty good at stealing later on because if you practice something long enough you can refine it, you can become pretty good, you don't outgrow sin, you repent from sin, you know the first time you lie you probably said some outlandish thing, I was playing baseball for the first time, I was about six years old, this is the first lie I remember saying and and I was just learning to play baseball, we were on a field and we lived in an area where the five free way backed up or actually went past the school that I was I used to attend and my brother and I and some kids were playing baseball and the first time I ever hit a ball I still remember that, it rolled maybe 12 feet and they said now you gotta run and I went running to first base and all but I came home and told my mom I said we played baseball and my mom says really did you did you get a hit? I said yes, I said they threw me the ball and I hit it and it hit the ground and it was rolling and my mom's eyes got big and she seemed to really think that was good so I said and then it went into the air and then it went over the man with a boy was and then it went over the freeway you know about a 600 foot drive for a little boy you know I mean I just kept embellishing and embellishing she seemed to appreciate the story you know but after a while I learned to lie pretty good because if you if you keep practicing something you get pretty good at it if you polish it you can become a smooth deceitful liar you can become a smooth thief you do not grow out of those things you forsake those things you repent from those things and and God transforms you as a result of that and and and God wants to do that work in all of us and and he wants us to see the work that he wants to do in us as he transforms us by this kingdom that works within us today and he wants us to do that work but some people may see that you have changed and they want nothing to do with it well as Jesus is saying you'll enter into a city if they have no desire for me just wipe the dust off see even the dust that's clinging to us is not worthy and and move on don't waste your time there continue to move and continue to minister now in verse 12 he says but I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day speaking of the day of judgment tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city for Sodom Sodom is a proverbially wicked city even in our secular society when somebody wants to illustrate some great evil they'll say it's Sodom and and they don't even have to be a believer in God they don't even need to know the story of Sodom they simply say it's like Sodom and and that says enough because it was wicked it was a famously wicked city a city that deserved judgment and a city that was judged by God now we normally associate the the sin of of homosexuality with the city and rightly so because that's what took place and that's part of the reason that God judged Sodom you might find it interesting though in Ezekiel chapter 16 verses 49 and 50 Ezekiel writing says this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom she and her daughter had pride fullness of food abundance of idleness neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy they were haughty and committed abomination before me therefore I took them away as I saw fit it was not a single sin but many sins that led to the destruction of this city that was very famous very powerful very rich but filled with uncaring people who also had given themselves over to sexual sin and so they're going to receive greater judgment because Sodom never had the Messiah come to the city and these people are rejecting Messiah now he goes on in verse 13 and he says what do you court scene what do you bet said for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you and you Capernaum who are exalted to heaven you'll be brought down to Hades he who hears you hears me he who rejects you rejects me and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me he names three cities these three cities that are mentioned received great attention from the Lord and because they did they stood in greater jeopardy these three cities were in the north court scene Bethsaida and Capernaum we actually when we're in northern Israel on tour have on occasion gone into the ruins or the general area that these cities at one time stood we know where Capernaum is because it continues to exist today as a tourist site but we have been to the other two sites that have some homes and all but these were the areas in the north where Jesus did many of his works they had special privileges and that's the point that he's making here you had special privileges but when you have special privileges you also have greater responsibility because the more you know the more you give an answer for somebody who's never heard the gospel is going to be judged by the Lord in a different way it'll always be fair but in a different way than a person who has grown up in church and rejected the message because the more you know the more you owe in Luke chapter 12 verses 47 and 48 Jesus said the servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes but he who did not know yet committed things deserving stripes shall be beaten with few for everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required to whom much has been committed of him they will ask the more you know it's a dangerous thing to come to church as many do and to hear a bible study that is rightly divided and to walk away unchanged and unfazed to walk away not embracing that message to walk away just apathetic nonchalant not even caring because ultimately as that person stands before the Lord they have an explanation to you of concerning why they rejected what God was saying the more you hear the more you're responsible for that's why James says let not many of you be teachers he says because you will receive a stricter judgment because as those who handle the word of God you have greater judgment because you know more of it and so we have as believers the responsibility of acting on what God gives to us and so when Jesus is speaking here concerning these three cities these are three cities that he ministered extensively in and because they rejected him he's saying these other cities that were judged by God in the past actually will stand up and condemn you in the judgment because you had Messiah come to you and you rejected him and they never had that opportunity and now notice verse 16 he who hears you hears me he who rejects you rejects me he who rejects me rejects him who sent me when people receive your words when you bring them the gospel they're not simply receiving you they're receiving Jesus and as they're receiving Jesus Jesus is bringing them to his father now when they reject they're not just rejecting you they're rejecting Jesus and in rejecting Jesus they are rejecting his father and so the one who hears him receives him now the 70 returned with joy saying Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name and he said to them i saw satan fall like lightning from heaven behold i give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions serpents and scorpions are a picture of demon spirits to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy nothing shall by any means hurt you nevertheless do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven they were so excited they were absolutely thrilled we went out we cast out demon even demons we cast them out even demons couldn't stand before the mighty name of Jesus Christ in and and the authority that you gave to us well it just gives us holy ghost bumps we have chills running up and down our spine the work that you've done through us brings such joy and such wonder and we're amazed in and and that's the attitude they have and i want you to see this even the demons are subject to us in your name they're thrilled to be used by god now that's something exciting to me too but i want you to see what jesus says and i want to develop this with you for a moment and share some things that the lord has given to me he said i saw satan fall like lightning from heaven what is it do you guys remember i know you do this is a rhetorical question what was the sin of satan it was pride when you look at ezekiel 28 and isaia 14 it gives to us the historic account of the fall of satan isaia 14 contains what has been called the theologians the five i wills of satan and in essence he was saying and concludes by saying i will be like god and so the warning you find by paul to young timothy concerning laying hands on a young man is that he may fall into the sin of satan which was pride one of the things guys and and this is a real important point i want to share with you you guys he's saying are thrilled because of the works that you were able to perform through the authority i gave to you and you ought to be thrilled by that because to be used by god is thrilling there's nothing else more exciting than being used by the lord to do works that that cause people wonder and delivers them absolutely but one of the things you have to be aware of is that it is god who gives you the authority to build the kingdom and it is his kingdom not yours because your temptation can be to start a ministry and name it after yourself david rozales miracle ministries come and get your healing get your prayer class get your holy water you know and all of those things that's what happens that is a temptation that that every minister who's been used or is being used by the lord has to deal with because when god begins to use you you can get to the point of thinking well of course he uses me what a price he got when he saved me look at all the talents i have well why wouldn't he use me and that's what happens and so as they're rejoicing jesus isn't throwing a you know water on the fire he's he's redirecting their gaze so that they might know what really matters you see what really matters is what is eternal you ought to rejoice you want to rejoice rejoice that your names are written in heaven if you want to rejoice rejoice in the eternal not the momentary don't get caught up with what's taking place right now always look forward to where you're going to be ultimately and move in that direction constantly don't plant your flag in one place and remain there thinking that that's the highest you'll ever go but see that god has a way of moving from glory to glory so rather than building three tabernacles for jesus and and moses and elisha like peter had wanted to do at the mount transfiguration realize that when god doesn't work through you it's only to show you that he has more to do until you ultimately are with him in heaven and so continue serving him until you see his face you see i give you he says in verse 19 the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions you don't have this power or authority on your own you need to remain dependent on me and do not rejoice that spirits are subject to you because there's something greater your work on earth will cease when you die and you go to heaven so keep your eyes on the price all the works that you do ultimately are works for the kingdom and that's where you receive your reward lord has been teaching me that in advance i apologize for the emotion so i'm on a plane flying from los angeles to miami and as i'm flying and i'm reading a book and i'm underlining things because that's how i read i'll underline points so i can come back later on and review i'm noticing that and i'm not i'm not connecting with what i'm reading no i'm not telling my wife anything you see today there you go wake up david and that's Marie shooting me for not telling her i'm not telling her anything but i know that i'm going to lose my memory i know it you see i've lost my memory more than once my first time i lost my my memory was in the year 2000 this is an ongoing thing it's it's gone on and off over the last seven years and so as i'm on the plane i'm beginning to sense and they call it an aura i begin to sense i'm going to lose my memory i knew it as i was flying to miami and i began to pray and i'm not telling my wife i'm not telling Marie and i do remember praying god don't let me lose it while i'm teaching because i know i'm going to lose it no i don't tell Marie anything i do not remember arriving at the airport clearly don't remember the hotel we went to i do remember some things it's like if you were watching a movie and you just have stills not the whole movie just stills photographs just snapshots i do remember going to a hotel i do remember getting ready to go teach going into an office i don't remember the church that i spoke at in terms of looking at the congregation Marie brought me to cuban coffees anybody here knows what cuban coffee is it's pretty strong made my mustache stand straight out it's very good i like cuban coffee and but i i had two cups of cuban coffee before i went out and i do not remember going out i do not remember giving a bible study i do know that at a certain point in the study i went over my notes as i do here and i went back up to when i'd already read Marie knowing me and knowing what has happened in the past immediately knew i lost my memory immediately so i i knew what was happening so i started just to read my notes because i've been doing this for a long time and i just said lord just let me go into autopilot gave an invitation people got saved i went down i'm told this i don't remember this i do remember stepping off the platform and ministering to people and reaching out and taking Marie by the arm and drawing her to myself and she's looking at me and i said i don't know where i am i've lost my memory and she knows she takes me into a room they have emergency medical technicians there they took my blood pressure it was 200 over 115 they said he's going to suffer a stroke i didn't hear that Marie told me that they put me in a an ambulance i was told that the lights were on and the siren was going that would have been cool but i don't remember that don't remember going to the hospital they threw an ivy on me took bloods put me in a bedroom doctor and nurse came in don't remember talking to them though i do kind of vaguely and the next thing i remember is waking up and looking to my left and there's a little cot that they brought in and there's my wife laying next to me i started to cry started to cry memories began to come but only the hurtful ones no good ones just painful ones disappointments and hurts and i started to weep and i began to say god i i don't know don't remember much i was in the hospital three days they gave me a MRI and they put me inside of the the little tube that they put you in they threw some earphones on me and they said what music do you want to hear i'm in miami so i'm a little concerned that they might put some goofy music if i say spiritual they might throw something on me from somebody i don't care for and have a heart attack so i said throw some oldies on so they put on 60s music the first song they came on was my song to marie our song and i lost it just lost it and i prayed and i said god i'm in hell i'm in hell i really was so overwhelmed that they had to pull me out of the tube they said mr rozales your your vitals your you're really reacting and i said yeah do you want us to remove you for a moment i said would you please caught my breath they threw me back in and kept me there for two or three days three days it was very difficult it's difficult in many ways and you begin to say lord is is is this it is this it i um i'm speaking to you as my church family and perhaps maybe this is something you didn't come for forgive me others perhaps want to know what was happening and therefore i share with you i can tell you this it was very very difficult in the midst of it i started asking god all right what is it that you want me to know what is it that you want to do what is most important what is most important is my name is written in the lambs book of life what is most important is the work that i do for the lord as much as i love it isn't my reason for existence my reason for existence is to love and serve jesus christ and uh if the lord sees fit to remove me from my ministry it's his ministry he can do what he wants with me i am now having to go have tests i have to have something called a pet scan and eegs and a variety of things i go on friday and then i have to go in two weeks and marie you have to pray for her because i'm not a good patient i'm not one of these who goes to the doctor not because i don't believe in them god knows that i'm thankful for them it's just this kind of thing that i have is they don't know what it is and i'm not one wants to waste my time so i will go because if i don't marie will kill me she's pretty upset my girl and so because of her i have to start going to the doctor i was driving to the office as i was praying just on tuesday listening to a song where mercy me sings a song called bring the rain some of you know this song i can count a million times people asking me how i can praise you with all that i've gone through the question just amazes me can circumstances possibly change who i forever am in you maybe since my life was changed long before these rainy days it's never it's never really ever crossed my mind to turn my back on you oh lord my only shelter from the storm but instead i draw closer through these times so i pray bring me joy bring me peace bring the chance to be free bring me anything that brings you glory and i know there will be days when this life brings me pain but if that's what it takes to praise you jesus bring the rain i'm yours regardless of the dark clouds that me loom above because you are much greater than my pain you who made away for me by suffering your destiny so tell me what's a little rain so i pray holy holy holy is the lord god almighty that's my prayer what's a little rain what's a little rain i'm uh i'm in peace with the lord i don't know what's going on with my memory i'm not going to burden you with anything you certainly won't know because i'm not going to tell you anything you don't need to know but i will tell you that it is serious in some ways i'm willing to do whatever the lord has me to do and uh do not expect that i'm going to be out of this pulpit i plan on staying here until he takes me home and i'm not going anywhere i'm not i'm not discouraged i'm not afraid like i told marie what's the worst thing that can happen i go to heaven that's not a bad thing that's what my life is built on the desire to be with him and so they don't know what's wrong with me guys i'm going to a good neurologist i'm going to need to start taking some time to rest i'm looking to have to reduce the amount of time i'm in the pulpit which means on sunday nights i'm going to need to bring people in for a while so i can rest they don't know why i'm so tired but i am and i'm going to do what i need to do to remain with my wife to remain with my babies to remain with my josiah and to remain with my granddaughter who's coming on november 27th and uh to remain with you if you'll have me as your pastor