 Welcome to Hope Today. We're so glad that you've tuned in. You know, this is the day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. Well, I'm your host, Amanda Brocker, along with Tom Hollis, and we are here to bring you some hope for your every day. Absolutely. We have a great guest coming up. You know, if you were going to look for Jesus in the Bible, where would you look? Well, you look through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, right? Or maybe part of the New Testament. But one thing that's amazing is the theme of redemption and the theme of the Messiah runs all the way through Scripture. And we have a guest that has released the illuminated Messiah Bible. His name is Tim Ganyo, and he has an amazing artwork in here that he's going to show us. He's going to talk about what inspired him to exalt the Lord. We're going to be talking about that in just a minute. Amanda, it's amazing artwork, and it's an amazing story. Amen. I'm excited to hear. I love to dig deep into true meanings, you know, that oftentimes when we read the Bible, we go over it. So today, you might want to get your pen and paper out, because I have a feeling this is going to be content you're going to want to share. Well, today is Monday, and one of the best ways to start the week is with a meaningful Monday story. New York Times bestselling Christian author and founder of IF. Gathering Jenny Allen is reporting once again that the spirit of God is moving in the hearts of thousands of college students, this time in Florida, at Florida State University in Tallahassee. It's happening again. FSU baptisms, hundreds, maybe a thousand students came forward to trust Jesus. We can't explain what's happening apart from the spirit, she wrote. 4,500 Florida State University students confessed struggles and sin tonight. Hundreds came forward to trust Christ, and is them, they're singing and dancing, and they headed to spontaneous baptisms. Revival is here, and there is no explaining it when it's God. FSU reportedly is the top party school in the state, and the second biggest so-called party school in the country. According to the website Niche, that has more than a half million reviews submitted by college and university students in the U.S. One user responded, my daughter is there. She says it's been incredible. They are hungry and not in just a swept up moment way. Another user wrote, my daughter was one of the students who was baptized in the fountain that night after the conference. Praise God, and thank you to CBN News for this story. How meaningful is that? Young people getting on fire and getting right. They are having a party. They're having the best kind of party there ever could be. Well, you know, last year with what happened at Asbury Seminary, I actually was just at the National Religious Broadcasters' convention, we're going to be talking about that in a second, but I talked to some young man from the Asbury area who said he was in the area. He wasn't a student at the time, but just to see what happened is amazing. Well, it's a great meaningful Monday. I had a meaningful last week on Friday. I was able to be part of the NRB awards ceremony. They have a closing gala. I go every year to the National Religious Broadcasters. It's a great time to network and to find out what God is doing. And Amanda, God is doing some amazing things through people. And one thing that he did that was amazing is the NRB decided to give Russ Bixler a Hall of Fame Award. It's their highest award. And you all may know our founder if you've been here for a while, but Russ Bixler, he was a great man who just believed that when God called something, God was going to do it, including 45 years ago founding the station. And as I was waiting, they had a piece that they were playing about Russ, but as I was waiting at the foot of the steps to go up and accept the word Four Cornerstone and for Russ, the Lord dropped something in my spirit. And I mentioned it during my little, I had about a minute to share something and I talked about Russ and Norma and how Norma actually got the word and then they had a 10-year battle with this station on the air. But I said this, that Russ was all about raising people up and Russ saw something in me and others. And without Russ obeying the Lord, we would not see the ministry that we see at Cornerstone. I would not be here, you would not be here and the Word of God would not be going out. And I said, thank you Russ, thank you Norma and thank you NRB because that award is truly deserved. Amen. I know I'm honored just to be a part of this and to be here and to see what all God is doing in and through the people that are here at Cornerstone Television and just the heart that's behind it to truly see people know who Jesus is. Absolutely. And that was Russ' heart. So thank you Russ and thank you NRB for the award. Our next guest is an Air Force veteran and an award-winning artist who is using his gift to glorify God. Tim Gagnos' incredible work can be found in this beautifully designed, illuminated Messiah Bible. Where do you see some of these paintings? He joins us now to share how he's using his artwork to draw people to Christ. Tim, welcome to Hope Today. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here. So you're not too far from Tallahassee. Did you hear anything about this revival going on over there? We are. I'm actually an adjunct professor at our local college here, Gulf Coast State College. And we have an FSU campus right across the street, what do they call that, like an affiliate campus. And so, yeah, we're not far. We're about an hour and a half, two hours away from Tallahassee. Most of the people here, we go there a lot, especially to see the football games. Absolutely. Well, let me ask you about the illuminated Messiah Bible. We're going to be showing some of the artwork in just a moment, but in the introduction, you talk about the word exalt and how rabbis for a long time have wondered what that meant. What does it mean to exalt the Lord? Could you explain what the Lord showed you? Sure. In my research, you know, as an artist, I'm always trying to, you know, you try to relate to the Word of God. You try to relate to God. And, you know, God's a creator. I'm a creator. He's creative. I'm a creative. And so when I was doing my research, I found some very interesting things about visual artists in the Bible. And one of the biggest ones in my research was that there's this really amazing Hebrew tradition. It's still practiced today called Hidur Mitzvah. And it means the beautification of the Torah, the beautification of the Word of God. And that tradition comes from their interpretation of Exodus 15 to going all the way back to the Babylonian captivity in the Talmud. And when they were looking at that passage, the word exalt was kind of unusual to them. And they debated it. They tore it up. They looked at it. They tried to figure out what was Moses saying when he said, I will exalt God. And it turns out how they interpreted that was, is I will exalt God by creating beautiful things. Now, that takes the creative process, visual arts, as now it becomes an act of very intimate worship and a way to connect with our creator. And so I live my life by that verse. Yes, absolutely. I love that. You know what? I'm going to bring out that. We want to show the whole picture, the whole mural now and have you explain what we're looking at. Could you explain exactly what it is? Obviously it's Jesus on the cross, but there's 66 individual paintings there, one for each book of the Bible. Can you explain your process here? Absolutely. So when you are looking at this cross, this is called a polyptych image in the art world, which is basically a fancy word that means out of many one. And so you have 66 individual messianic portraits, Jesus from every book in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. But each painting combines together to form this giant 12-foot crucifix that reveals a surprise portrait of Jesus on the cross. So if you were to zoom in and look at, say, the book of Deuteronomy, you would see a portrait of Moses parting the Red Sea based on the scripture that says the Messiah would be a man like Moses. But hidden in that picture and the waves crashing behind Moses are Jesus' toes. If you go to First Chronicles, you would see the Queen of Sheba. You would see in another passage the line of the tribe of Judah. Those are his kneecaps. If you would go all the way up to the book of Jonah, you would see Jonah in the great fish. But that would be Jesus' right forearm. So all throughout those paintings are hidden little tidbits that combine together to create this incredible image of Jesus on the cross because every one of these messianic passages are leading us to Jesus and our salvation when he sacrificed himself on the cross for our sins. I love that. I know that you mentioned in the introduction that you were always interested in messianic prophecy. Yeah. It's so interesting to see this. In fact, Larry, could we put another one of those up? Maybe you could explain in detail some of the ones that we have close-ups of. Larry, if you could just put one of them up there. That's the one from John. Can you just explain to me your process and how you're thinking as you're painting these? Well, when I'm looking at any passage first of all, you know, a lot of books of the Bible have more than one messianic passage and some of them have hundreds of messianic passages in them. Which one is the one? That's what first thing I had to figure out. What would be the best representation of the messianic theme of that book? Once I have that passage, then I can go, okay, how do I interpret that with a narrative painting? And so I try to find that particular passage. Now the process of creating an illumination and the word illumination, that is a very specific type of art form. It goes back to the Middle Ages and it combines gold leaf, calligraphy, and narrative art. And so that's what an illumination is. And so it's a matter of, you know, gilding the panel, figuring out what the passage is about, painting that passage, and then laying in the text. And it's quite a process, takes a little longer than a normal painting. All in all, it took five years to create all these paintings. Five years. Well, let me ask you again, it's so unique in that, as you described it, I don't think we saw it there in the John panel, but there's part, the crucifixion of Jesus is behind kind of most of the individual panels. Isn't that correct? Yeah, there are hidden little things in each painting. Like again, we'll go to the portrait of the Queen of Sheba. If you're looking at that book, you're just seeing a portrait of this beautiful African queen. But that ends up being Jesus' kneecap. Joan and the fish, you're looking at this man floating in the water and a giant fish swimming underneath them. And, but that's right here on Jesus' body. And so you don't, the trick for me was how do I hide that when you're looking at the individual portrait that you don't realize what you're seeing, but then when it all comes together, it's like, whoa, it has that wow moment. That what one pastor said, you know, we're fishing for men. So when you have your gospel presentation, you've got to have the hook. You've got to have something that can set the hook. And that's what this cross is. It's setting the hook so people can see that and they're like, oh, I get it. And that's how we try to lead people through the Word of God and into the Word of God so that they can find Jesus, the Messiah of Scripture. And in the Bible, each book begins with one of those illustrations. In fact, Larry, if you could put up the one that has the red in it. It's, I believe, a representation. Could you explain this one to us? Because I think this is one of the lower ones on the crucifix. Yes. So in this particular panel, this is below his feet. So there's no hidden image in here. But for this one, this is obviously Exodus. This is talking about the Passover and how they were told to put the blood of the Lamb on the lentils and the doorpost of their house so that God would pass over them during the final plague of Egypt. And so I was thinking about Egypt. What is the way to represent Egypt? The pyramids. And so I painted this nice landscape of the pyramids. But then I wanted to show the blood of the Lamb on their foreshadowing Jesus, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And so I did this kind of abstract splatter of red color in the sky above the landscape. And this is actually one of my favorites in the entire 66 portraits. Well, I mean, there is so much to look at and think about and be inspired by. I really encourage everyone to get this messianic of the illuminated Messiah Bible and just to meditate on these. But right now, we have some video of you painting with fire. And if you can talk over the video here of what you're doing. Okay, well, I'm known as the fire painter. This is years ago from the Woman of Faith Survival to Revival Tour. And so it was me with 20,000 women just like my house at home. I've lived with all these women in my house, you know, lots of daughters. So I felt right at home. But what I do is I paint live on stage. It used to be called speed painting. Now it's called prophetic art. And so I'm painting this giant portrait of Jesus on the cross. And I like my brushes on fire, as you can see here. That's how I separate myself from the back. It's like my shtick. And so I just like my paintbrushed on fire. I also now breathe fire during this performance. And so what I'm doing is I'm actually using this fire to kind of set something off. And I don't know if this video is long enough to see, but they're going to turn off all the lights in the entire stadium and hit it with a black light. And what's going to happen is you're going to see Jesus' body just whoosh appear on the cross. And the sound of 20,000 women all gasping at the same time is the coolest sound ever. I just have to say, you just light your brushes on fire. That's all. You said that so matter of fact, Leigh. Yeah, I know. It sounds like a big deal. Now, people want to see that in a more recent thing. I'm actually going to be on the Mike Huckabee show, March 2nd. And I'll be fire painting on his show and breathing the fire. And so, and I want to say my wife said, I got a good 12 foot flame at one of them. So I did pretty good with that fire breathing. Oh my goodness. Oh, this sounds awesome. I love that those were women that were in survival, but coming into revival in Jesus' name. I believe that's what anyone who gets a hold of your Bible will be, you know, going from survival to revival as they see Jesus revealed. But number one, I just want to thank you for your service to our country. My son is an airman. And so anytime I hear of a service man or woman, I just am so grateful for that. But can you talk to us a little bit about your own story and how did Jesus reveal himself to you in every book of the Bible? Well, when I, you know, the thing that nerds me out is the Messianic passages in the Bible. And so ever since I was born again, I just, that's what drew me in. I was like, what is going on here? And it just blows my mind. The astronomical odds of anything like that happening. And so in studying that as an artist, as a visual thinker, I don't see words, I see pictures. And so when I'm reading these passages, I'm seeing flashes of images and every artist will tell you something will happen and they say, I've got to paint that. I've got to draw that. It's going to drive me crazy if I don't. And so over time, that developed into the illuminated Messiah Bible. And you know, if people want to see the Bible, they can go to any bookstore and get it and all that. But there's another thing that's really great. We take all of the original artwork from this Bible on a traveling art exhibit and we display in churches. And so churches can have us come in and we turn your church into an art museum for a weekend. And you can see all of the original art and this giant 12 foot polyptych cross live and in person. And it is absolutely spectacular. You know, I love again the artwork. It's amazing. I love that you do this. I love a quote that I found that you said, when I'm making art, I feel my creator's pleasure. And reminded me of Eric Little in Chariots of Fire saying, he made me fast. Exactly. I totally stole that from Chariots of Fire. I'm not going to lie. He made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure. And I love that quote. Could you speak to that? Why is that so important? And maybe even for somebody watching who served the Lord for a long time, but maybe it's gotten to this place of drudgery or this place of just having to do the things, share about that pleasure aspect. Yeah. You know, I don't create art for God. I create with God. It's a collaborative effort. That for me is just as much a devotional time as when I read my Bible in the morning. I'm spending time with my father at the easel and we're painting. And it doesn't matter if I'm painting a portrait here of Martha from the Bible or a portrait of two polar bears in a snowstorm, which is absolutely hilarious. It doesn't matter. Me and God are having a great time. God made me an artist. I know he put me on the earth to paint. And when I'm painting, I'm doing exactly what he put me on the earth to do. It doesn't matter if you're an auto mechanic. It doesn't matter if you're a painter, a singer, a dancer. When you do that thing that God put you on the earth to do, you know that he's there and he's cheering you on. And that's really what one of the biggest things that I can tell people is just that find your thing and you will find a space where you and God can meet. Absolutely. I love that. Can you just tell us how does a church that wants to have your organization come or have you come with the artwork? Could you just tell us the name of your organization and how they can get in touch with you? Sure. The name of the organization is the Gagnio Atelier, which is too many French words for most people. The quickest and easiest way is to go to our website, illuminatedmessiah.com. That's an easy thing to remember. And it's a landing page that will send them to our main Gagnio Atelier site. All right, wonderful. Well, we'll have that on the ctvn.org site as well. So any of you that are familiar with our site here, you can go there and we'll have a link as well. Tim, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing your art with us. Thank you for your enthusiasm. Thank you for just being creative in the Lord. I love it. I appreciate it, guys. Thank you so much. It was a great meeting you, Tom and Amanda. Well, great to have you too. Well, we're going to take a quick break. And coming up, we have a scripture and some ministry just for you. Are you tired of just getting bills in your mailbox? Find inspiration instead by subscribing to the Cornerstone Television's Hope Today newsletter. Each month, we'll deliver good news about what God is doing in our region and world through ctvn's ministry. We'll keep you in the know about our latest special programming and our full program guide will keep you connected to all your favorites. You'll also find a new Dashing Dish recipe every month. As you read our Hope Today newsletter, stay encouraged knowing your generosity in giving to ctvn is making a difference and building God's kingdom. We can't do it without you. Sign up today to receive your inspirational, free Hope Today newsletter every month in your mailbox. Go to our website at ctvn.org slash news, or call us at 888-665-4483. Thank you for being a part of our Cornerstone Television family. Hope happens here. Did you ever wonder what's on an exact hour of the day on Cornerstone Television? Well, if you get your newsletter, it has a directory right in it. You will be able to tell exactly what's playing every day, every hour of the day. And Tom, you're a big part of that. Yes, I have wondered what's playing on Cornerstone at every hour of the day quite often. But, yeah, the newsletter is a great thing to stay up with what's going on. Amen. Well, let's go to God's Word right now from Matthew 5 verse 16. And it says, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Let me tell you, we're looking at some good works when we look at this illuminated Messiah. And just, I love how he talked about that gift within and the passion that arises. And he's not doing it for God. He's doing it with God. I'm like, that is so important for each of us to recognize and to allow the Holy Spirit to move through our giftings. And I know many of our viewing audience, you have giftings. God desires you to not do them for him, but do those giftings with him. I mean, that quote that Tim mentioned, but also Eric Little mentioned in Chariots of Fire, that when I run, I feel his pleasure. When I paint, I feel his pleasure. It's not just about preaching. Praise God for preaching. I'm a preacher, okay? Praise God for preaching and teaching and all those things. It's so important, maybe the most important thing, but whatever we have been gifted by God, that needs to come out. We need to flow in that thing. For a long time, I think when someone felt a call to ministry, they were kind of funneled into being a preacher. And again, nothing wrong with that, unless that's not what you're called to do. What are you called to do? How are your good works going to shine so that all men may see it and glorify God? Maybe it's to have gifts and acts of mercy. Maybe it's to encourage someone. Maybe it's to pray for someone. Maybe that's the thing. One of those things are the things that you can flow in that God has uniquely gifted you. And you know, Amanda, a friend of mine, he's my best friend's son. He was talking about my son. And he says, I don't know anybody that's moving in their gifting more than Andrew. What's Andrew do for a ministry? He's got a bike shop, okay? But that is what he glorifies God in. And when he's talking about bikes or fixing the bike, he is working in his gifting and he's glorifying God in that. I know. I just had to flip back to our directory because I'm like, we have both Katie Farrell and Arlene with At Home. So At Home and Dashing Dish. Both of those ladies had a passion for food, like cooking and displaying and bringing the family together. And I'm like, they used their gift with a passion for God. No, they used it with God, not for God. When they're cooking, Katie's cooking, God's there with her. His pleasure is demonstrated in that. And what about our children's programming? Those people have that desire to minister to children and God is using that. That's what they're doing to just see God step out and use people in their gifting. I talked to someone at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention who does children's programming. And I always admire that because they have to raise a lot of money to put into that. But why? Because they want to see children understand who God is and to eventually come to the place of giving their lives to Christ. What could be better? What could be better than that? And I think that's what we're doing to ourselves again, gifted with. That you need to just launch into that, and you need to say, Lord, I'm here. Take this, take my hands, take my mind, take my talents, take my music, take my art, take my writing, take whatever I do, take my arms and legs and muscles. If I'm gonna dig a ditch for you, let me dig the best ditch I can for your glory and see you in it. When you serve, God does amazing things. And Amanda, I know that you and your husband, Gary, you do that very thing. You serve people that way. We do. So my passion, I couldn't wait to get back to Pittsburgh. We route in Oklahoma and do adopt a block. And y'all, that's like picking up trash in the streets. But I was so eager to get back here in the Pittsburgh area and be picking up Pittsburgh garbage. I'm like, what a passion to have. It was just that idea of it's the heart of God when we want to serve. The devil is never gonna tell you to go serve anyone. He is so self-centered and self-glorifying, but it's the heart of God that would cause us. And if you have any prayer requests, we encourage you to, you can call our prayer line or you can email those to prayeratctvn.org. We love to pray over you and to just see God's fruit be birthed in your life. Absolutely. So take advantage of that. But this is the theme for today. You are there, gifted. You know the Lord. You're serving in some way already, but God has got more. And maybe something that you've put on the shelf, that's the word for today. What have you put on the shelf that God wants you to take down, open up again and say, this thing that I gave you that you didn't think you could use for the kingdom, I want to see you use that now. Not just that people will be saved but that he will be glorified and you're going to feel his pleasure in that thing today.