Practical Steps for a Passionate Life

My father raised me not only as a Hindu, but there is a sect inside the Hindu religion called the Brahmins Our household had its own favorite gods and goddesses. Now in Hinduism there is a monkey god called Hanuman He's the monkey faced god. We favored that god and we favored Shehiva, who is also known as the Godd of destruction. And thirdly, we favored the god, the elephant god named Ganesh. We believed in atonement for sin. For forgiveness of sins, blood had to be shed Our sect of Hinduism allowed us to meet at a certain place once a year and this would be your atonement for the whole clan. we would meet at a forest. I remember walking into this tent. and seeing all these stones and these statues of gold and silver and terrifying deities with their tongues sticking out and eyes. My father walked me through it. He gave me a flint knife and he had me slaughter the goat And we would then sprinkle the blood of this goat over the stones and over all the statues of these deities And then we would then take the corpse of this dead goat outside the tent where we would roast this meat. Ebody would partake of the meat. I remember walking up to a priest early on and asking the priest, Do you really believe in this? What do you think? I hope I do. I crystal clear heard a voice speak to me It was the voice of death itself It says What will you do when I come for you? And I even contemplated taking my life that night, but I couldn't get myself to do it. Something was holding me, never met a Christian my whole life. No angel had to convince me that I was a sinner. I fell on my face. And I said, Father, I didn't see the physical Jesus, but my soul knew, but I couldn't move and I see an entity. Dark Dark Eity And he sits on the bed and the bed like sinks and I can hear him growling. Well the same voice that spoke to me and told me to get the Bible, spoke to me again. And it simply said this, Call upon the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. And that morning my mother was getting uncomfortable. Jesus can be one of our many gods, mother I don't think you understand what I'm saying Jesus Christ is the only true living God She snashed my Bible and she threw it away and she said, If you ever mention this name, I will kick you out of the house? It's the gospel. That's where the power is And the ward reveals himself to me. This is not a podcast. This is a deliverance ministry. God is going deliver just as many, if not more here than he does inside of church buildings., you gott to keep giving yourself over to it. It's proving it to you over and over. The wightiness of your anointing, the Lord says thousands will be delivered I am so honored to be in the room with my new brother Jasica Deady, welcome to the We need to talkalk podcast, man Thank you. It's an absolute honor to be here. Listen Y I saw or I heard a glimpse of your testimony And I said, I got to have you here because we haven't fully dug into a story of someone who came from your religious background. But what's more astounding is how God is using you now. So I definitely want to get all the way into it, but you got to take us all the way back. Yes to How is it possible that a man Um can even be this sold out for the Lord when your history, when your past, was completely opposite. In fact, most people that grow up the way you grew up never come out or they end up atheists Too many we find are sold out Planting churches are building the body And how does this happen? So could you take us back Yes, The main answer is grace But we'll get to that. I was brought up and raised in a country called Nepal, NAPAL. Most of your audience may not know where that is. It's between Bhutan and China and India. There's a small country called Nepal where people are predominantly Hindus. That is the main religion that is practiced there. So I was brought up in a culture where Yeah. statues of scary looking gods and goddesses were exalted. I came from a very religious family. My father raised me not only as a Hindu, but there is a sect inside the Hindu religion called the Brahmins And These are from your priestly so called genealogy. They descend from this priestly line And we always scorned those under us. We saw ourselves as all that. We saw ourselves as more privileged and blessed by the gods because we were born into this particular sect of Hinduism Growing up as a kid, I could not overlook one thing that my father was very passionate about His faith I remember being as young as five or six, you know, my father waking up early in the morning, as early as four or five AM Worshiping these gods with such passion and zeal and fervency You really made me question man Does he really believe this? Why is he up there for hours on singing, praising and praying all the same time? And one day I did sneak upstairs to see what would happen in that temple of his. And lo and behold, he, I think was convinced that these these gods and goddesses were real I truly believe that he was convinced Because no man could just conjure up all that passion and zeal. For something they may not fully be convinced about yet may plunge themselves into I saw that in him Now, as a child, you know, growing up in this household We never had peace You know, we never had peace. I think my father and my mother as devoted as they were to this religion One thing stuck out to me the most was where is peace amidst all this religion and praying and praise and inviting these priests and such to our household to bless our house and so on and so forth. Where is peace? Why is there always contention and strive I would see them fighting with each other. I would see them slandering each other. And even as a child, I knew deep down that if there was a God, this is not it. This is not God. This is just chaos and confusion and scary practice at best Now Each household in Hinduism has its own gods and you know goddesses that they favor the most. Our household had its own favorite gods and goddesses Now in Hinduism, there is a you know monkey god called Hanuman He's the monkey faced god. We favored that god and we favored Shiva who is also known as the Godd of destruction. Thirdly, we favored the god, the elephant god named Ganesh He was also a highly favored god in our household And these three gods were central to our faith. And you know, I used to oftentimes see my parents, you know, whenever they traveled or left town wrap these small golden idols of these gods in their baggages and suitcases because they were a sign of luck and protection for them And even as a child, I would question myself, if they are gods, why do they need to be packaged? Why do they need to fit into my lifestyle? Why do they need to be made into statues? Why can't you just call upon them? and why can't they not deliver you I was very young when I was already starting to ask these questions. One thing that was also very huge in our family was annual animal sacrifices. because we came from a so called priestly line of Hinduism. So we believed that we believed in atonement for sin We did. No We believed in atonement for sin. As tainted as that view was, nonetheless, we believed that for forgiveness of sins, blood had to be shed and spilled our sect of Hinduism allowed us to meet at a certain place once a year and this would be your atonement for the whole clan So what that would look like is we would meet at a forest. erect these tents, white tents. They have to be white to signify purity. W. They have to be white. And only the men were allowed in the tent. No women. onlyly men were allowed and instructed to go in So I I don't quite recall how old I was here, but no more than five or six I remember going into these tents I was terrified. I didn't know what to expect. but my father wanted me to follow him. He was going to train me to follow in his footsteps So I remember walking into this tent and seeing all these stones and these statues of gold and silver terrifying deities with their tongues sticking out in eyes that are huge. And I'm there thinking Why are we even in here worshiping these things? They are terrifying looking beings. Wow and I was just taken aback by that scene. So what would then happen is An animal would be brought into the tent In this case, a goat would be brought into the tent, inside the tent, and then we would have to sacrifice that goat to the deities So my father wanted me to learn this entire process. So it was my turn to sort of this particular sacrifice this time. Well you keep watching, cllick the subscribe button O wit. So my father walked me through it. He gave me a flint knife. And he had me pretty much like slaughter the goat Wow. He had me do it. He guided me through the whole pro. process and I was trembling. My hands were trembling. I couldn't get myself to do it So he put his hand over mine and he walked me through it And the whole time I'm looking away from it thinking, I don't want to look at this bloodhed.. I don't want to shed blood for my sins But I couldn't get away from that. Why is blood being shed? What is the meaning and the significance of the shed blood And we would then sprinkle the blood of this goat over the stones and over all the statues of these deities And then we would then corpse at this dead goat outside the tent where we would roast this meat Ebody would partake of the meat And that was our version of the atonement. That is how we would cleanse ourselves of all the sins that we had committed that year. Wow So this was what was taught me as an early, you know, from an early age And it stuck with me And I knew one thing bllood had to be spilled. I didn't know why But I knew that blood had to be spilled for forgiveness of sins You got the concept early They distorted The truth Oh very much so, very much so. And then later it didn't. I was still very confused though. although I had those questions kind of brewing in my heart It didn't quite answer The full question why? Wh? Why? Why was this needed? Why was this necessary And then you know,nd my grandma from my mom's side, I was very close to her. And she was very nice to me. She loved me. I loved spending time with my grandma.. She was very down to earth She loved everyveryone She was very kind. She loved the poor, She fed the orphans, She would bring in the homeless and care for them. She was a good person, a moral person And she would always encourage me to be good And to honor my father and my mother And I believe at that time, she was the only person that I really looked up to.. Because to me, she was the model of good workorks and I really wanted to be like her deep down and She was diagnosed with cancer early on. I was maybe eight this point in time, you That really hurt me because I knew that I was going to lose her soon. Wow And she passed away one day. and it stuck with me I saw her die. I saw her the day before she passed away. She was very frail. Wow. And I looked into those eyes and I saw a a person that was just hopeless I could look into those eyes and see that she was going into this eternity of hopelessness. And although I loved her to pieces, I did I gave her a hug, deep down I knew that I was not going to see her anymore. And that really hurt me because she was the only person that I truly cared for more than my parents sadly I loved her. She loves spending time with me. We've had some awesome conversations. But I made that eye contact And I knew she was as hopeless as one can be And the next day she passed away and I heard the news and I was grieving for days on I was a young kid at this point in time, but you know one thing stuck with me, Death Dath is coming Oho, death is a part of life Then I started asking these big questions What happens after you die? Th you die. What awaits you? after death, where are you going? Is this it? Is this the purpose and meaning of life? Why are we here Hint the Hindu explanation wasn't good enough. What did they say We had, since we believe we were from a priestly line of Hinduism, we had our own priests and our own teachers that we would pay for instruction And these priests would never really answer you or give you the right answers. theirir answer to life was just be good. do good. sererve the gods and you'll get a blessing in life They never answered these challenging questions So it's all about here and now. they don't prepare you for after lifeife. See, many people believe that Hinduism is just about reincarnation, but not every Hindu sect believes that. Not every Hindu or even a very devoted practicing Hindu believes that. And I'll give you an example of this When I was a kid My father was very faithful in going to his temple every week.. Saturday, early morning, he was going to the temple every week. He was very faithful.aithful, very faithful. And he made sure to take me with him. Wow. He wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. He took me And I remember walking into that temple. I was afraid. Uncertain about why am I here Temple That one specific temple that he took me to every week, I knew that there was something not right about this place. I did not want to be there, but we would go inside this cave where they have these huge statues of these deities There's one goddess in Hinduism called Kali And she's this goddess. she has this huge tongue that's sticking out and these huge eyes that stare into your soul. And we were supposed to go in and offer something to her And I recall looking into those eyes. And I was struck with fear and dread. I knew that this is not God This is not God. And you know, other worshhipppers would come into the temple, they would offer up animals for sacrifices. they would offer up tithes, their first fruits, whatever it was to appease these deities. They wanted blessings blessings in life and I would look around and see these priests, right? They would be there to just help the people offer right sacrifices. They would be guiding the masses into this Whatever you call this thing, worship session And I looked into this priest one day and I looked into his eyes I saw the same thing as I saw when I looked at my grandma taking that final breath. taking those final breaths. Helessness. Hopelessness. It was that. That day we walked outside of a temple and I was just standing there just baffled And deep down I was asking myself, why am I here? What is the purpose of life? And I see all these people flocking into these temples. Bing For something, they want to find meaning and purpose of their lives And I'm out there just asking myself, what is all this? I'm confused. I'm lost. All I see is a bunch of hopeless people looking for hope and they're desperate. And then I would see all these priests in the temple, they would deny themselves food days on, they would desire to live hllly. They would deny themselves pleasures in life All to be holy and to be acceptable to their God. Oh man But I looked at their eyes too, and there was no hope there So you're saying that they were devout Committ it They were faithful to their false God, yet and still they were void of hope It was a gamble on their part because I could tell They so desperately wanted their faith to be true. but they were not certain They were not certain. And I remember walking up to a priest early on in asking the priest Do you really believe in this And you know what he what he told me? What did he say? I hope I do It was hinging on this hope that he was not certain enough. I hope I do. And that stuck with me. And I understood that these people are not certain about their own salvation. So how can they help others How can they help others? How? Man. And one thing still stuck with me, death I'm going to have to face death. That death was part of life. Around this time, you know, our country was going through some tough stuff as some would say. communism. See, we had a king back in the day I believe it was around two thousand one is when our king was assassinated. Oh, this is recent history. Yeah, reccent history Race it King was assassinated. He was a beloved king. Everyone loved him. He was highly looked up to. He was exalted beyond measure. The people loved him. They wanted to be like him He was a good role model for so many So upon his death, the whole nation plunged into darkness because people were like holding him up to be a god or something like that And when he passed away or rather when he was killed along with the whole royal family Nation plunged into darkness. People were hopeless There was a day of mourning for this king and his kingdom. Never before. I was so young and I still recall that day. That day turned orange. I'm not even being facetious. That day literally turned orange It crazy. It is so crazy And I'm there saying, wow The light of this nation has been put out. Oh Put out We have been plunged into utter darkness now. What now Same thing, right? death has taken over. Death is raining in the land. It's raining in my life, but now it's raining in the land. Death. H You know, even my parents were so greatly affected by the king's death I recall looking at my mom just sobbing couldn't understand why she was so impacted, but I could tell why She highly honored this man. She viewed him as a god. Oh And they were really hoping in him in that sense. And after the death of the king, the country was pretty much taken over by communists with a communistic ideology. Wow At the time my father worked for the government and he had a pretty he had a high ranking job. He was a high ranking official in the government. and these communist parties were sort of taking over the country and The future wasn't too bright for us And my parents wanted to flee this ideology. They wanted a brighter future for their children They did My father, as devoted he was in his faith, understood that if he continued to live here We would no longer exist Our hopes and dreams would all be crushed. And here's why he came to that conclusion because we would turnurn on the news, right? and you'd hear news about So and so kid getting abducted, kidnapped, chopped into pieces thrown into the lake. Why? Because the communists, they wanted to prove a point. They wanted to let others know that they are here to stay They wanted their ideology too remain and to be the law of the land H My father was very certain that they were going to come after us next because he was not going to bow down to their threats. He was not. My father was bold. He definitely was a bold man. But he also knew that He could not fight for us by himself Because many people, even the high ranking officials of this time, they were cving in to the pressure of the Communist Party conform or die So my father packed up his belongings and he moved to Australia This was in two thousand eight That for two thousand eight He moved us, six months later, we migrated as well. to Sydney. Australia wholeo new world whole new place Who new culture, whole new accent. whole new English So you in Australia, is this where You were also being raised. And so you are still not out of the religion What what were those moments for you that brought about that catalyst for your life? And I kind of want to know your age range in this time Yeah, so I was about twelve when we migrated to Australia in Sydney. and my father migrated on a student visa So I believe he wanted to get his masters in business and we were just tagging along because we want to be with our father That's one thing my father did well was he took care of his family I highly commend him for that he was a hard working man Whatever he believed, he carried that with conviction He did all his life and he still does to this day. Wow So we moved there in two thousand eight I'm looking at a world of just endless opportunities I'm looking at this world and I'm thinking, I'm going to make a name for myself I'm going to do something. I'm going to use this freedom to do something. I'm gonna try everything under the sun Everything and did you thing. Yes. I did and I'll get to that. And by that, I mean I started high school in Australia two thousand eight. Sydney in a city called Cogra, Cogra, Sydney I joined high school. For some reason, I was always drawn to the bad crowd. Yeah. or rather they caught up with me. I was always attracted to that lifestyle, the rebellious. And they were attractic to you. Right. Those who sounded cool looked cool Those who offered me something. See, deep down, I was just craving to belong somewhere. There it is. I was craving acceptance I was craving to be a part of something bigger than myself And I was always drawn to these groups And as is the case, I got in with these bad group of people I found my identity in them and in what they were offering me at the time was fame popularity And do whatever you want, man Be free. Rebel, donon't hear your you know, don't pay attention to your father or mother. Look what is before you. Try it touch it, feel it, taste it. And I fell for it, hook line and sinker So I am living this rebellious lifestyle I'm out there in the world Drinking, smoking. I can't do my. Drugs? No way I was only I had just turned thirteen I was twelve when we migrated and I just turned thirteen See, but this goes back to when I was eight, that's when I first started smoking See, my cousin back in Katman Doo had introduced me two cigarettes And at first I'm like, this looks cool Let me puff and pass But I didn't pass. I kept puffing and puffing and puffing And it became an addiction, a huge addiction. So by the time I was thirteen, it really it wasn't new to me. Drinking and smoking was nothing new It was already taught to me. I was already buying into this lifestyle, w. But then one thing it did for me was I found friends who also agreed with me It's faned into flame this desire I had already brewing in my heart. Oh my God And they would just want to party with me, drink with me And all of a sudden my father has to move. He has to leave Sydney. He has to move to this other state, South Australia, Adelaide And I'm so upset. I'm like, I don't want to leave these group of people because I'm bonding with them, you know. And this whole time, my parents have no idea what I'm doing. I'm lying to them. They don't know who I am. I'm this angelic figure to them, right? I'll come home, I'll lie to them. I'll put up a face, I'll put on a mask because I want to please them, but I also want to please the world They have no idea what's going on So my father brings the news. We're moving to Adelaide because I got a new job offer there. So let's's goa Adelaide, South Australia. Okay Adelaide is the capital of South Australia. So we move to a coastal town. I was very upset, but we did make the move. From two thousand nine up until twenty twelve is Actually until twenty thirteen is when we stayed there. Again, new place, new faces, new crowd. Y But again, I was always drawn to sin Drawn. to the desires and the cravings of the flesh I'm just drawn to it. I just found myself with these people again I never knew why. You know, I could have made thousand excuses. I could have said, I'm just born this way Deep down I knew that I had A disease I was diseased becausecause I constantly found myself with these people And I found my identity with them They accepted me for who I was. They didn't judge me We need to do better, y'all. We need to do better Oh come on, keep going. And Same thing. Bad crowd, bad people, bad music. A man. Bad lifestyle Until one day, this is when things really changed. My friends and I was a Friday night, I believe, we went to a bar And I was intoxicated. I was drunk as can be And I couldn't drive myself back home. so I asked my friend to take me home and he gave me a ride back home. And I think there are about three people in this car. One was driving, one was in the front seat with my friend and I was in the back seat. And as we were driving home We were driving and I just observe the conversation in the car. My friends were talking about they wanted to achieve in life Girls B job, more houses, prosperity. They wanted to just live life to the fullest. Yes And I'm listening to them and I'm listening and I'm listening and I'm listening, but I'm thinking to myself willill you do when death comes for you? You're making all these confident assertions about what your life will be down the road, but what will you do when death comes? And as I am pondering over these things, I crystal clear heard a voice speak to me. It was the voice of death itself It said something along the lines of You know, I can come for you anytime I want to And what will you do when I come for you I cannot explain to you the dread I felt at that very moment. My heart literally started palpitating. No. Racing I couldouldn't wait to get home. And I even contemplated taking my life that night. No What was the thoughts going through your mind How can I escape death If it did come for me, like what how can I be delivered from death? Like no man had the answers for me all my life so far, I've been asking that question. Death, How do you deal with death? And the afterlife, what awaits you after then I wanted to live forever God truly has put eternity in the hearts of men. That is what I was asking the whole time, Lord Now I didn't know who my God was then, but deep down I know that I was seeking and searching for the meaning and purpose of life. And I got dropped off at home and I went to my room and that's when I contemplated taking my own life But I couldn't get myself to do it Somet was holding me. back from it Something rather someone was holding me Just pause right there people don't truly believe that God is really invested in the life of someone before they get saved. It's like once I get saved, then God is looking after me. He's making a way. He's looking for means to be sovereign in my life before I know him before I'm able to have a strong relationship with him, then It's impossible for God to actually intervene on your behalf. I would like to say to such people that God truly does work in mysterious ways Even looking at my own life As a child and asking those questions, God was actually drawing me. H to himself He was He was allowing me to see the hopelessness in the world. That' good. He was allowing me to feel the darkness and sense the darkness. He was actually fishing for my soul. He was drawing me in the whole time. I don't take that away from him. He is truly that sovereign. Wow. When we say God is sovereign, He's not just transcendent, but he's also imminent. He wants to be a part of our life. He wants to be a father that parades us is wanting to be intimately involved in every little details of our lives. God was there. I know for a fact now when I look back at the time, I didn't know that. Come off. Because everything felt like it was hopeless.. All the people, my influence, my peers, they did not have the answer. But God allowed me to go through that So that when His mercy was revealed to me, I would treasure it. I would fall upon it and not abuse it I never heard it like that. You said God was working in your life, showing glimpses of His mercy, glimpses of His grace. So when you finally open your eyes, it's not, o, thank you because you've been gracious today is thank you because this is compounded mercy When I look back over my life, you were there the whole time. That just makes you want to fall to your knees and say, you were You strategized this. You cared enough to preserve me here, protect me here, to make me rebellious enough here so that you can bring me here That's powerful. Yeah. And even when I look back now this heart cry comes upon me, Why? why would you I cursed you. I rebelled against you. I spat on your face I was the one who yelled Crucify him by the way I lived And yet he patiently was waiting for me to repent. He was patiently waiting. See, God's mercy for me was not just when I came to the cross. It was in God showing me patience all those years of utter rebellion. That was actually God's mercy. He had the full right to snuff me out and he would have been just as much loving and merciful and just becausecause he doesn't owe me or any one of us anything Come on. The fact that God would have mercy isnt great Great, great news He had mercy God has mercy And not only does God have mercy, He has mercy on those who don't deserve it None of us really deserve God's mercy. That is what makes it precious and not just don't deserve it Don't even realize it That's the biggest thing. Yeah. What you just said is just mind blowing because someone will be sitting here and they're questioning and they're angry. and like you said, you spat at God, but when you When you take those eyes and really look back, it's like No, this is God's hand. right And if you're hearing My brother talk right now then what you're seeing is not a moment of one glimpse of God's mercy. It's compounded. I've never thought about it like that. Yeah O once your eyes open, if you're not able to see the strategic, gradual, consistent hand of God, then you're missing something. Yes. Oh man And I found myself in my room that night Contemplating Suicide. I couldn't get myself to do it I just couldn't I wanted to, I wanted to leave this world The feeling of hopelessness just overcame me. And I wanted to really find out how can I be delivered from death, the fear of death. What would I do? Like death was coming for me How can I escape this? And with that thought afresh in my mind, I actually fell asleep. I actually passed out. I was also intoxicated at the same time passed out that night And October, that was the month of october twenty eleven in Adelaide, Australia in a small town called South Pllyimpton Got up. between four thirty to five thirty, somewhere in between early in the morning somethingomet woke me up Something woke me up. It was a voice I got right up, I was drenched in sweat and the voice spoke and said to me, Get the Bible I heard this voice out of nowhere And this voice woke me up. Get the Bible. Oh man. And I knew that I had to obey it. This voice carried in itself authority. See, there was a sense of joy and dread at the same time. It was mingled The dread was the sense of urgency, like as though my life depended on this And the joy was knowing that everything would be okay once I read it. Come on Wha That morning, I got up and I knew that I had to get a hold of this Bible. whatever this is, the Bible Growing up as a kid, I was actually told not to believe in Christianity My mom and dad, they made sure that I was not befriending any who would call upon the name of the Lord Because their view of Christianity sadly was the health, wealth and prosperity gospel Sadly, that was the common Christianity even in Katmandu Nepal. Yes And they didn't want me to be a part of that. They didn't want me to be a part of what they called scam. Wow I was always turned off by the name Christian or, you know, Christianianity I never looked into it, did any research, no one told me about it. No preacher came knocking at my door. I'd never met a Christian my whole life. N met a Christian my whole life. No one ever came up to me and said, I am a Christian to me. Not one Not one Christian my whole life Never Not even those who said they were Christians and lived completely contrary. Never did I ever meet a Christian in my life So when I heard the voice, get the Bible, I knew that I had to obey it. I knew I knew that I had to, so I got up that early morning. and I walked up to this local bookstore. And I see the lady in the front desk and I'm just urgent I am urgent. I need the Bible right now It always blows me away because I'm American. I grew up in a Christian home. When someone says I had to leave my home and go to a bookstore to get a Bible because it almost seems like there's a Bible somewhere. There's a Bible somewhere in this house. My neighbor has a Bible. You had to go to a bookstore So it was no one you knew had a book. No, no No one, no And upon requesting for a Bible, she was taken aback. Be I was I was screaming at her. I was I was trying to shake her up like give me a Bible, please. And she's looking at me and saying, Well, why do you need a Bible? And I'm telling her because a voice spoke to me and told me to get the Bible She probably thinks I'm nuts. She's probably thinking that she probably needs to call the police But then I calm down and I cool off a bit and I tell her, please lead me to a Bible Please give me the Bible. I need the Bible. And she takes me to this side of the bookshop where there's a bunch of Bibles. And she looks at me and she says, what version Oh my good. And I her looking at her face and saying, what do you mean, what version? The b Well, we have so many versions. What do you want Lady, please just give me the Bible. I don't know Give me the Bible. I know that I have to read this Bible. My life depends on it And she finally looked at me with just eyes of compassion and she gave me a New Testament copy of the Bible. I didn't care what version it was. I held that book and I just hugged it pasured it because I knew This was going to save my life I just knew it callalling on to deep I knew it. did and I just rushed out I took that book right into my room And I'll lock the doors om dayay one, I started reading from the gospel according to Matthew And I'm reading, reading, reading. I'm introduced to this man Christ Jesus. And I get to know this man Christ Jesus. I get to hear about all the wonderful things He's doing. He's opening the eyes of the blind He's casting out demons. He's there to do good. He's there to bring salvation to lost sinner. Come on And I read and I read and It seemed like everything the Bible was telling me was true I didn't doubt anything I was reading. I was longing for this all my life. It was answering all the questions I had in my heart. L, death, salvation. It was as though I was hearing the voice of my shepherd Oh, that's deeper than People could understand You were recognizing a voice you had never heard before Yet you had already known. Yeah. And then I continued reading, reading, reading until I reached Matthew twenty seven. there I read that they crucified him. They killed him. they nailed him to a tree Why would they do that He never did any wrong. He never sinned. He did not deserve to die. Wow took me aback And I got so angry that I closed my Bible and I threw it across the room I was enraged at that I felt this blinding and raging anger I said, why would they kill him Why does every good story end the same way? This man was different He was good, He was righteous. He wanted my best Why would they kill him And I was just there hopelessly weeping and sobbing like a child. I remember reading Matthew twenty seven and closing my Bible and throwing it across the room and I sat there just weeping and howling I had lost all hope at that point. I did not want to live. I really did not kept thinking if they would treat this holy pure, righteous man in this fashion Why should I live any longer Why what worth do I have in this world And I wept just hopelessly. I cannot explain to you the hopelessness I felt. I really did. It seeped into my soul. Wow. I was weeping like a child. I was o no Why would they kill him Why would they crucify him? And I was just weeping and weeping and weeping and all of a sudden It is as though God Hself were encouraging me to continue reading And I mustered up all the strength and courage I had. Come on man. And I walked across the room and I picked up that Bible again and I sat down And I turned the Bible to Matthew twenty eight And I'm reading, reading, reading, reading, I'm sobbing, and I'm reading and all of a sudden, he is risen He's not there. The tomb is empty. Go tell others. I. I am risen. I read that one verse, he is risen My eyes literally almost popped out of its eye socket I was so aast at what I just read that Jesus Christ rose from the Dead He literally rose Who does that When has it ever been said that someone rose from the dead? And he appears to his people And I'm there and I'm like I have to read more. I want to know this Jesus who has actually defeated death.. One thing that held me captive all my life, the fear of death and Jesus Christ addressed it. W. He defeated death. He conquered death and sin, and he rose.. And I, by the grace of God, was enable to continue reading. And I'm there for three days now. I've not left my room I've not left my room. You didn't eat anything? I did not eat n or drink. anythingthing. I didn't care Honestly, it may sound facetious, but I'm not trying to be. I was not hungry nor thirsty. I the thirst I had was being satisfied. I mean, being quenched. I was Reading and reading and every word from the Bible jumped at me. I was drinking from the deepest wells of salvation My soul was finally comoming enriched and satisfied in all the promises of God. kept reading Mark and Luke and John and Acts and Romans and Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians all the way through Revelations. and that's the third day. And I gently closeed my Bible that third day. I know at this point I am a sinner. Turn I the guilt of my sin was just mounting on me I knew no angel had to convince me that I was a sinner. The Lord did not have to dispatch Gabriel or Michael to come and tell me of my sins I knew. This Jesus Christ is God. He is Savior. He is Lord and He is king Over my life. Not just over others. He's Lord of my life And this was my instant response. I closed my Bible. and this time I did not throw it across the room. I held it, I treasured it, and I fell on my face I literally fell on my face And I said, Father I don't know how to pray. There is. I don't know how to approach you So far, what I've learned is that you are holy. I feel like Peter. When he looked at you and said, Lord, depart for me for I'm sinful man It's exactly how I feel. Yes. But Lord, here I am at your mercy. That's all I can do. Thank you, Jesus. At your mercy. I was literally at his mercy right there I said, Lord, take me as I am. Wh's all I could say, Lord, take me as I am cannot bring anything to you, but this is all of me at your altar I was there just face down weeping and saying, Lord, here I am at your mercy I come just as I am. and What happened next is really hard to explain with words I think There's no right way to articulate what happened next because it was truly supernatural It's truly that a lot of people maybe may not understand. Jesus came into that room I didn't see the physical Jesus, but my soul knew The living Christ was in that room. Come on. As I'm there sobbing and weeping, I literally felt the cleansing blood w of Jesus Christ go through me. Come on it's hard to explain this with mere words. W. It's not something that can be said. It's something that has to be experienced by faith. and I felt that the very core of my being He touched me like that himy says, he touched me He touched me. He really touched me. and I felt this shock going through my body. I definitely did. And the more I felt his touch, the more I would just overflow in praise and confession. Yes. Like, Lord, forgive me Forgive me, accept me. here I am. And I knew at that point He was cleansing me. He was literally making me new. He was stamping his seal upon me. I knew it. Jesus Christ was in that room with me The living God was in that room. He was literally claiming me all for Hself all for himself and I knew I knew without a shadow of a doubt. that Jesus Christ had saved me And as soon as that happened I went to bed that day. I went to bed that day And I slept like a peaceful child for the first time in many years I slept so peacefully, so peacefully, until, until That same early morning I was awoken What seemed like a glorious salvation and yes, it was a glorious salvation I believe the powers of darkness were shaken And they wanted to confront me at that time. Wh. They did. I awoke with what some say sleep paralysis I don't particular particularly believe in that term. Sure, it's a medical term that we use, but I believe it is definitely more supernaturalute spiritual. Absolutely. I was awoken And I don't know how to describe this sensation. I was Halfway asleep and halfway away. Yeah, but I couldn't move I couldn't move And I am just paralyzed. I cannot move. And all of a sudden, I cannot see anything. It's pitch black in that room but from my purp My peripheral vision, I see an entity Dar Dark entity And I am just laying flat on my bed, but I see this ent take from my peripheral view And he sits on the bed dead like sinks, a couple of feet deep. I know whatever this thing was, whoever this thing was was evil, extremely evil. I could sense its presence. It was evil. There's no way to really describe the evil of this being can hear him growling row I cannot really describe with words It was an evil growl It almost a mockery A mocking growl. Wow that he had me exactly where he wanted me And as I'm struggling in my bed to fight this thing off, I can't move. I'm paralyzed. I'm stuck I'm feeling hopeless again And lo and behold, the same voice that spoke to me and told me to get the Bible spoke to me again And it simply said this, Call upon the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. And I'm struggling, I'm struggling to get his name out. I'm really struggling. Lord, you know, I'm really struggling and it finally pierced right through. Lord Jesus, please save me Lord, save me and this thing just vanishes disappears out of sight. Wow. And I'm finally and fully awake. I'm drenched in sweat overflowing with praise. Wow. And I recall saying, Lord I am yours I am yours. I am fully yours. And that morning I for the first time I go to my backyard and I look up at the skies and I look at the trees, I look at the birds Everything is new, everything. It's like God gave me new set of lens Everything is new. My heart had changed. It's as though God had given me a new heart and I wanted to love everything and everyone.ath N sure It's not the first time I've heard The greens look greener, the colors look more vibrant. likeike everything just my sense is heightened in. That's kind of what happened to you as well A man And I want to say this because we jump past it and I don't want to skip past that part. You said on that night, you were contemplating suicide And I feel like just hearing your testimony, it was the Lord that was calling you out of darkness. It was him calling you out, calling you out. But I believe in the same way that mercy called for you and you were able to recognize that voice That's what's calling for you too Death been calling for you. Death wanted to get you to that place. What I mean to say is Sicidal thoughts and thoughts like that don't come out of any nowhere. It's not just a random thought, that's a progressive thought, aligned with your other random thoughts. No, it is a drawing. The enemy wanted you out. And so I wanted to make that clear like if you If you're watching this and you're having those thoughts, suicidal ideation, it's not a common thing. It's not a normal thing. there's an enemy that you have that wants you out of the picture And I'll say this, the enemy never attacks what he doesn't consider a threat And so I'm gonna let you I mean, I'm gonna let you keep going. goo ahead, man. Everything was new I mean, by everything, I mean every thing was new And it made me think about that scripture in seconde Corinthians five seventeen If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. I truly was a new man. And you know, I have this newborn zeal now. I cannot wait to go and shout out the gospel from the rooftops And that morning, my mother had to be she was home She was not at work that morning, so I walked up to her. And I looked at her. I said Mom I have come to know God And she looks right back at me. And she says, Well, good. s Good I look back at her. I said, No I know the true living God She looks at me and she says, Well, we do too. goodood That's very good to hear The only living God who is the God of the Bible. Jesus Christ. She looks at me this time. I could tell. She was getting uncomfortable. She could sense where I was going with this. Well, good, Jesus can be one of our many gods. He can join our train. Oh no. Then I finally had to look at her and say, mother I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Jesus Christ is the only true living God. There are no gods besides him and none shall there be after H. He is the living God. That retort She snatched my Bible and she threw it away and she said, If you ever mention this name, if you ever mention about Jesus or the Bible, I will kick you out of the house kick you out So was okay to have Jesus along with the other gods But it was not okay to have Jesus exclusively prerecisely Jesus was a threat Jesus and other gods, no threat, Jesus and Jesus alone is a major threat Oh my And after that That was in twenty eleven And for three years, nearly three years to twenty twelve, thirteen and Half of twenty fourteen, I just stayed in South Australia. I was content to dwell my parents at one point shortly after my conversion, they kind of sort of kicked me out Be they did not want me to be vocal about my faith. Yes. It did not go down smoothly for them So I was feeling lonely. See at the time I did not know what am I supposed to do next, Lord? Who am I supposed to go to. I did not understand discipleship. I did not understand the Churched Eclesum I didn't have a concept of that I did not have a pastor come up to me and mentor me nothing For three years I was left to myself. All I had was the Bible and hisis presence in that room And you know, I could sense Gradually my faith was starting to get cold and I was even starting to feel indifferent And I was praying and I was crying out, Lord, I feel indifferent now. I feel too much of the worldly influence getting and creeping into my soul Do something, helpel me, Lord. Send me somewhere to someone. Y. I still felt like an infant in the faith And God really put it in my heart to migrate to the United States And at the time I was a personal trainer too. I loved going to the gym. I loved lifting weights. Oh ye. That was one of my Passion. Okay. I liked fitness I like staying fit. Okay. Okay. And I knew that God was calling me to move Lave South Australia and go into the unknown. This was all unknown to me to move to the states was the unknown. So I packed up my belongings September of twenty fourteen, and I traveled here Alone, by yourself, alone. That's crazy. And I landed. and I wanted to find a believer. My first thought was I want to find a believer I want to know someone that loves Jesus and I want to associate myself with them. God is already drawing me to people, the' right people. See all my life, I was always being drawn to the wrong people After my conversion, I had a yearning and a longing to be with God's people. Wow. It was given to me and I knew that it was a gift from heavens Be with Christians Wow, those who call upon the name of the Lord together. I landed in Colorado and the intention of traveling to Colorado was because I was going to continue my education as a fitness coach However, that didn't last No sir. Be I was, you know going about my day to day living. collllege friends, but I couldn't reject my calling from God. I will find myself preaching Christ to everyone, even my coaches in school And at one point they were fed up with me. They pulled me aside and they said, Hey, look You're obviously very passionate about this cause. Yeah. You might want to reconsider your, you know path, your career This may not be for you At the time I felt as though that was a bit harsh. Yeah But I knew that I had to submit to that. I knew that God was calling me to something to something. and around that same time around the end of twenty fourteen God introduced me to a certain group of people who were having house churches Wh, that's where that happened. Okay. So for the first time in my Christian Walk got to be a part of a church gathering And I got to experience what that was like. It was a Monday night I was invited to be a part of it. Wow. And I saw these individuals on their faces before God Weeping for souls, crying out for Christ and more and more of him and to be as light and salt in this world. It was genuine. It was true It was true. and the love and And the affection in that atmosphere was just genuine And I looked at that and I said, This, O Lord, is what I want to be a part of. I want this This is what I've been longing for. Interesting. Fellowship of the Saints That was my introduction to Iclaciia. Oh House search So you're literally from not knowing what discipleship was notot ever seeing a Bible, you're thrusted into kind of the fellowship. And I love that you were your introduction was to a house church. No shade to mega churches I just feel like if you really want to see the nitty gritty bare bones what it's about because believe it or not A lot of what we call church is services and programs, services and programs But the nature of that act church where they shared amongst each other, where they yielded to the teachings, and it was just literally in equipping grounds so that they can be actively sent out on a weekly basis. Is that kind of what you are a part of Absolutely. Oh, absolutely We were a family. We cared for each other. It was not manufactured. It was authentic It was heart to heart conversation. W. We met with each other. We did life together. and one thing about the early church was it says they had everything in common. Yes. Nobody talks about that part. right about that part. We always are getting trying to get on the agenda of the empire of the church. And the church is not a family where, hey, what are the needs of this local body? Let's see how we can all come together to support those needs. I don't talk about this stuff enough, but this is what's burdened me from, you know after COVID happened coming back to the church. It's just like Alys, can we get to X like Yeah So what you experience 're so faithful God was so strategic too, because that's that was your foundation. Imagine you were thrust into the prosperity, like to transition from encounter with God to now you're in a prosperity church and they ingrain in you doctrines that would have been fleeting But God was sure to build your foundation right. God is so strategic in your life, but keep going, man. Amen. Aen. And you know, being a part of that you know, weekly gathering really helped me. I was able to bond with like minded believers and we were just immersing ourselves in the Wd of God, prayer, breaking of bread and evangelism Evangelism was central to our gathering Not only were we there to be equipped, not only were we there to be fed There was also this other purpose there. Now let's go and share this truth with others. Let's not hide it under a basket. Lamp ought to be what illuminating the entire darkness that we face in this world. So that was the heart behind our gathering was, let's be filled, let's be encouraged. Let's call upon Him and let's be empowered through the anointing of the Holy Spirit and let's G brring more people into the kingdom fire That was why, you know, I still say to this day, my primary calling has always been evangelism. Yes. I love evangelism. I do because I know more than ever before there is a greater need for Biblical the book of Acts like evangelism. That is what's sorely lacking Evangelism, God's way Man's way, God's way. What is God's way Here's what I found out when I really took a deep dive in the Book of Acts and I was really trying to get up get to what were the apostles teaching and preaching? Like just look at the life of Paul You read an Acts thirteen, Acts thir Acts thirteen, A eleven, ten on and on What was the heart of their preaching there? especially call it open air, callall it face to face callall it street evangelism. What was the meat of their preaching. The focus was not on the persons or the individual's life. The focus was on this one man, the God man, Jesus Christ The focus was on his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection and the hope that resurrection now brings. Hence, every sermon Paul, Peter, and the rest preached ended with repentance and faith towards God Mern day evangelism, I think where we've gone wrong is We try so hard. to win people to God in our attempts was somewhat compromised. The message of the gospel Paul says the gospel is the power of God uo salvation The power to save is in the gospel. We don't have to add anything to it or take anything away from it. The power is in the gospel of Jesus Christ to save sinners So when we faithfully present that to the people God's going to bring the increase. We don't have to pallet to the needs of the world. The world needs to be shown where the true power lies and it's the gospel and the gospel alone M No The gospel of Jesus Christ This This is convicting because, you know, even this podcast, right we deal even you're telling your story, we deal with a lot of people's stories. But if we ever get to a point where Jesus or the gospel of Jesus Christ is snuffed out of the testimony, where we charismatically are able to tell of our experiences void of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ Ooh, I got chillren when you said. You said then we've compromised? Yes Because everything in the Bible is really about Jesus E. L, tell me about David Tell me about how he, you know, so many times I hear even pastors. preachinghing from that story about David and Goliath Right? And many times, it's it almost sounds like they're saying I'm the David And the giant Goliath, he's my problem in life. He's that bad boss I have at work or he's this and that. Well, that almost takes away from the story because what is the author getting at there? We're not David. scared Israelites in the background We are those who wouldn't even step up to the plate.. You were the cowards behind saying, send someone, Lord. Send someone. right? David is a shadow and a type of Christ there. who actually steps up to the plate? That's good. Right. And Goliath is not so much as, you know, this giant that I have to slay as the giant Christ has already slayed. He's not someone I have to slay. Jesus Christ slayed the actual giant in my life, which is sin and death.. He slayed Goliath. So the hero of that story is not me slinging the stone. It's Jesus Christ who slung it and whose aim was just on target sin and death conquered, I have eternal life. Those scared Israelites, what did they do afterwards? They praised David. They were a shadow and a type of the church who were now praising Jesus. for hisis victory over sin and death So to me all to say the whole Bible man is a story of redemption, right? You talk about from as early as the fall of man the Garden from Abraham. They're all longing and hoping for someone great, right? Abraham as good and righteous of a man he was, he was still a man at best. He still had a sinful nature.. Talk about Noah, talk about Abraham, talkk about Lot and all these men and talk about the judges Samuel. Who was what? a judge and a priest? Was he a perfect one? No He was a shadow and a type of the great and the perfect judge to come. David, was he a perfect king? No.. He fell. He sinned. Yes. Did God restore him? Yes. was he God a man after God's heart? Yes. He absolutely was. But even then he was a shadow and a type of the Perfect One. A Jesus Christ, they're all pointing to someone great, this one high priest, this one judge, this one king to come. and it all points to Christ. Who is the perfect fulfillment of those offices? So when you make the Bible about yourself from the beginning to to the end, you actually lose the whole meaning. that when you make the whole Bible about Jesus Christ,s right That is where you can thrive as a child of God. And that is where you can read a text and say, Lord, thank you. It's all about you. It's not about me. I don't have to make it about me because when I make it about me, things go wrong. But When I make it about you, I'm comforted. I'm encouraged And the gospel can advance. Wow No Man I This is it's hard, it's convicting It's convicting because it's taking you to say it. someomeone who had not known The gospel is now it's almost like the church has to be re evvangelized in a sense. Paul did not be labor by simply tell Paul had a phenomenal story His story could have been repeated and echoed, but he said he talks about and I think Romans one sixteen four, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. That was what he spent his life risking his life for, the gospel. and he had an extraordinary story It's the gospel. That's where the power is. and maybe, maybe we're not seeing the power of the gospel because we've watered down the Jesus out of the gospel. And so now it's Gospel adjacent You were absolutely right. I think you hit something there. We've taken Jesus out of his own gospel We've made good news about us and not about him. The good news is about Jesus He is the central figure of the good news Without Jesus in the good news, it's bad news Oh my goodness. It's bad news It really is. And here's why, you know, when I say the word gospel, good news, Ivan Halion, the Greek, to get to the good news, one must get to the bad news And that is going back to modern day evangelism We're so quick to rush people into You know, salvation, grace, forgiveness. We're so quick to rush them into a prayer where they feel like, man, you have to do it right now. But what we fail to do there is we fail to warn them of why the good news is the good news. But before getting to the good news, there's this bad news. Come on. you are a sinner Until you realize your need for a saavior, the good news will not be good news And what happens to such people is they'll view Christ as a mere add on to their lives. What they will say is, well, I have a good life I have a good four hundred one K account Right? My checks are balanced My family's great Great family, great marriage All I'm missing is Christ add him to that That is not the good news. The good news is you're nothing. You are absolutely nothing and Jesus Christ is everything You need to repent and believe the gospel and Jesus will change you. He'll give you a new heart. He will change that heart in such a way so as to make you desire after H H righteousness, his holiness, hisis kingdom, his glory is the good news And we need to actually come back to the biblical teachings of what true evangelism is Present the law. You have sinned, my dear friend Then comes the good news, but here is the remedy. Jesus Christ. So back in the day our Puritan fathers, the way they would presison the gospel was they would pummel the people with the law of God until they felt hopeless and broken and they just wanted to escape that scene And all of a sudden they would bring out the treasure Well here is comfort Here is hope Jesus Christ fall upon him fall upon his mercy fall upon hisis grace. And until we do that, we're not really presenting the good news. You tell me one thing and this is my challenge to everyone. and I say this with love. I read the book of Acts the whole way through The word love is not mentioned once Not once Now we see the principle of love in those words the word itself is not there. So what were these men preaching What were they preaching on? Were they preaching? God loves you and he has a wonderful plan for your life On the contrary, I think what they were saying was God loves you, but he also has a wonderful plan for your death. Go die on that cross first and then live. That is what they were preaching. They were preaching, die to seell so that Jesus Christ may live in you and through you That was the message of the cross. See, it's one thing to survey the cross and say, how lovely, how cute, how awesome Jesus did this for me. But it's a whole new thing to go upon the cross and die on the cross. The cross is not something to be looked at It's something to be Really something for you to hang on and die so that you may live the life that Jesus wants to bless you with This new birth that John three talks about, you must be born again The life of God and the soul of a man Well, then for many, that doesn't seem like good news because Now there's something that I have to surrender It doesn't seem like good news because like what happened to the incentives like I mean, yeah, I want I want all these good things. I want Jesus to basically complete to be my cherry on top of this Sunday. So it doesn't feel like good news anymore. It sounds kind of rough. sounds kind of harsh Yes, you're you're right. That is, I think the put the pushback. Absolutely in the parable of the seed and the sower. Let's kind of dig into that for a tad bit. The seed that fell on the rocky ground. How does that seed grow It receives the word it says with immediate joy So they hear the gospel. I believe, yes, baptize me right now. There's immediate bursts of joy But it's not rooted That seed is not rooted properly. And what happens when persecution comes on account of the word? They fall away? Goodness. And you know what they say? I did not sign up for this This is not what I signed up for. This is not the Jesus I was baptized into This is not the Christ I signed up for I signed up for prosperity. Yes, peace, yes, health, yes, wealth, yes, but not suffering, not affliction not persecution And Paul says this, those who desire to live a godly life in Christ, Jesus will be persecuted willill be, not maybe will be And and you know why that's good news Persecution in and off itself is not the news or the good news Persecution is actually an evidence of you belonging to God Why? Because they rejected the holiest man that ever lived. They spat at him. they mocked him. They kicked him off his So called throne Right? So they thought It is our belonging to God. It is God weaning us from this world from all its corruption. It is God showing us that this is not your home. You belong to me. created you. I've called you by name. So come to me, this world is not a friend of yours. And in this world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world Jesus offers us two things Eeternal life and a cross to die upon Those two things are certain. Certain for every child of God So so are you saying When someone says I didn't sign up for this Jesus Are you saying that we as a church oftentimes are selling people A false Jesus? We're selling people an incomplete, a partial gospel, a partial Jesus. And if that's the case, That's not the real Jesus Then who am I living? Who have I pocketed? whoo have I added on? Who is this cherry on top if it's not the true Jesus I think you're onto something here Acts twenty in Paul's address to the Ephesian elders, right? He tells them, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole councsel of God In our preaching of the gospel, we must present God for who God is in all his fullness. We can't you know cherry pick what we like about God and what we don't like about God. God is God for all that He is. He is just. He is holy. He is loving, He is merciful He is patience. All of the attributes of God are what make God God So we can't pick and choose what we like about God and what we don't like about God. And Paul says, I did not shrink back from declaring to you the full counsel of God. So to answer your question, Paul says in Galatians one eight, if any man preaches to you a gospel, contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed, anathematized It's a very strong word. It's the worst part of hell. That's what the Greek word means So what Paul is saying, even we or an angel preaches to you another gospel or tells you about another Jesus, let that person be a curge. Those are some stern words So we have to consider that and even ask ourselves, Lord, wow, what gospel am I preaching? There's only one gospel we know that. There's only one Christ we know that. There's only one truth we know that But Lord, what are we presenting arere we telling these people Mercy right Chills because we both have kids. I gott to get to the book soon, but we both have kids and The Lord had to convict me becausecause there was a point of time where I would try to offer my children a Jesus that they could grasp, right And in my attempts to do that I would try to navigate around the things that would be difficult for them to process. So I did talk about the peace and I did talk about the joy And I did talk about identity in Christ and all of those things But I'm just like, how do I talk to my kids truly about suffering and what that looks like Um, and what it looks like to bear your cross. You're talking to children like And this is planantninging a seed, ass a foundation. And I think you gave the answer. You said Be when you're persecuted you have to be deeply rooted otherwise persecution itself, a hard day, suffering will snatch you out. And how is that possible? If you could be snatched out of the faith then you weren't in the faith. So how can you be How could you be removed or unanored except you were not rooted And I don't want I don't want to be guilty of even for my children presenting gospel that is partial because it doesn't do them a service to try to paint Jesus this particular way because later on they just won't be anchored They won't be rooted. They won't be able to face you know, antagonism, they won't be able to face true confrontation. And so for those that are listening, I think we think we're doing a service like let me not tell them the bad news. Let me just tell them, man, don't you want a lot of peace? Come on down And yes There is that side, but let us not be guilty of trying to hide the full counsel of God. So that's really powerful to me, man I think you're absolutely right. You know, the aspect of training a child in the way they should go, that includes the full counsel of God from early on You instill those truths in them from early on. You allow them to latch on to those truths And what even you know precedes that is you laying that example for them You becoming that instrument of truth in that household as the dad or as the father as that male role model. or if you're a single mom out there, this encouragement goes out to you as well Inill these truths in your children early on. Tell them about who God is. Who is this God of the Bible And who is man? See one thing, two things we have to know. God is holy and man is sinful These two things we have they're actually foundational to understand and to appreciate the cp. Come on They are foundational. Yes Right? Yes. You see, the Romans didn't put Jesus on the cross per se. It was you and me We were in the crowd yelling out, crucify Him, crucify Him. It was us. It was not so much them as it was us. It was our sins that sinless, perfect lamb of God on that rugged tree. Oh my goodness, God is holy Yeah We don't hear this. This is not theseese are not words we hear in our American churches these days. God is holy God has A standard of holiness God unleash his wrath We don't talk about these things enough. and so I almost say that This American church will never see revival until the American church gets to repentance. I think when I read the story of the prodigal son, the father said, This your brother was dead and is now alive And I'm just like, Well, isn't that revival? Well, what characterizes revival? It was the Son returning. And so until we return to the Father, weeping, mourning over our sin of what we've done. there is no coming back to life And I think we miss that. and I think we're short changing the world. We're short changing the church by trying to offer these adjacent false hopes because we want to get people hyped Man, Atlanta, purpose. purpose, purpose, purpose. get people hype business, business, godly business. Okay, yes, cool Don' donon't try to snatch Jesus out of his own gospel. I've never heard it like that That is I know that this ties into this 'cause I wantna talk about This book here no longer I. we know the scripture that that comes from What what will I find looking into this book? It no longer I living for Christ and his gospel. What does this mean Like you said, it comes from the verse in Galatians two twenty. It is no longer I but Christ who lives in me in the life that I now live. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. That is the essence of the book. It is Putting off the old self All self has died The moment I came to Calvary, that all self has been nailed to that tree talks about this new birth Is this new birth? The first of chapters of this book talks about The marvelous mystery of God's grace in my life and how He saved me from the darkness that I was in The rest of the chapters simply talk about What What does God want me to do now Now that I'm a new creation Now that I've come to know Jesus, now that I'm a child of the living God What is my purpose now? What should I be pursuing now? Well? I guess that sounds kind of crazy to hear. Because when we get saved, we're thinking God What do you want to do? what's already, you know, you know, how do I add you into my mission, right? How do I fit you into my plans instead of plans. It's like When you say that I, you know Jesus, it's no longer I live, but you know, but Christ who lives in me Everything has to come under some level of death. The way that I husband to die apart from what God is telling me. So you're saying, God, what do I do? It's not just God, what do I do with this this obscure sense of my soul, but God, now I have not just given, you know portion of my life, but every aspect of my life, the way I hb my sexuality, come on, we gott to talk about it. Sexuality, desires, wills, plan, ministry, business, money, time All of it now is subject to what God is informing me. This is not what we're learning. What we're try what we're hearing is Now I'm in faith God is we could sprinkle Jesus on everything we have going in our lives. That's what it is I think you're absolutely right. And there is this other aspect of this book is talking about the modern day crisis in the church 've lost true biblical evangelism We've completely lost the idea of being holy See, the book of Peter says Be ye holy in all your conduct. Now yes, it is true. the moment you come to Christ In your identity, you are holy as a child of God, the word saint, set apart once holy, right? You're consecrated to Christ evidence that you've come to know him in truth will also show that you are pursuing holiness. This is not just holiness in character, but also in conduct, the things you pursue, the things you put before your eyes, what you do, how you do it, what you say and how you say it. It affects everything everything su coming to Jesus Christ you truly bow to his kingship. You are really a new creation. It is no longer you, but Christ now lives in you. And the evidence of Christ living in you is that you will desire to live a holy life. Now, I'm not in no way saying you'll be sinless or perfect, sure. because I feel like A lot of people use that as an excuse not to pursue holiness. They think, you know what? I'm struggling with this sin. This is who I will always be always going to stay right here. It's just how God's made me. Like God's not gonna save me from this And they learn to make peace with their sins. Oh Jesus Jesus came to set the captives free. No sin is too hard for the blood to cleanse. The blood of Christ has that much potency to cleanse you. See in first John one nine it says If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to, forgive us from all sins, not just some all sins and all unrighteousness. So Blood of Christ is powerful to set us free from all sins But the thing is this, it all goes back to what you said. you A we, you and I, all of us are we surrendered Are we surrendering on a daily basis? Jesus said to take off your cross, not on a weekly basis, not on a monthly basis but on a daily basis. You put yourself on that cross every day and you have to learn to say, Lord, it is not I. it is you. it is about you. It is about your glory, your kingdom, your people, your church, and your gospel And this pretty much is what the book is all about It's all about Jesus Christ Can I you know, I always have to give the rebuttal as an advocate Then what about me What about my life? What about my plans? Like I want to be a dancer. I want to be an actor. I want to do things like you're making it seem like life is all about Jesus. You're making it seem like like so now I don't have a life. like, oh, it's I have my niece She at church, she said she said, her friend said Our God is so narcissistic that it's all about his glory And my response to that and I'm going to let you respond. I said, I think glory if I were to make that term simple is a lot like shine the shine that comes from the sun When the sun shines Ething in the sun's proximity is now a benefactor of the sun shining. And now the moon's reflective nature makes the moon glow because the sun shines. So when we allow God to get hisis full glory. there is no possible way that we do not now become benefactors of His glory, not in ways that are self seeking, but because we're in his proximity. the source of my life, the source of my joy, the source of my peace is the glory of God. And I begin to pursue that relationship where I'm pursuing God, getting hisis glory fills me in ways that I cannot even imagine or understand Which is why we have Mark, I mean, Matthew, chapter six thirty three, that says seek He first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added because now I no longer Things of this worldd, I've already thoughtought money didn't I didn't benefit. I've sought the sex, I've sought the people, I've sought the networks. If you have you've already tried, you've had the sex and was what was the result? You've had the relationship. What was the result? You had the friends, What was the result? Imagine seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And he says, now everything that you could consider worrying about. is in my hands and I feed you like a father does his child, like a shepherd does his sheep. And so Go ahead and deal with that idea. What about me Here is the great news. You have to know this God Who is he God is good., God is light God is true Paul says even when we are faithless, he remains true. Come on. You have to know the nature of this God. He's not a created being. He always was and always will be. And the good thing here is to know that the Father is good and perfect. and He knows us more than we know ourselves See Saint Augustine said this, ourur hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee O God So even what you think you need. Oh, even what you think you feel like, man, I must have it now. It is but fleeting It won't give you Permanent satisfaction. You were made for so much more than just earthly toys The best of your longing, the best of whatever it is that you're chasing after. It comes with an expiration date It comes with an expiration date. if it's your career, if it's your path, if it's your job or promotion, your new vehicle, your new house, whatever it is, it comes with an expiration date. God offers you as eternal. and He offers you life at the very fullest I came that you may have life and life abundantly. You were made for him That is why it is worth pursuing. the life that God offers you today in Christ That is why You said you were made for him Oh man, that makes it brings tears to my eyes a bit becausecause imagine living our lives and not getting that picture that the Lord God is saying that I was made for H, then what am I doing out here? What am I chasing? If the Lord believes that I was made for him for hisis glory What What other honor could I seek? What other privilege could I yearn to have? but Creator who knows me better than I know myself is saying that he wants me And he's saying that I'm made for him which makes the idea of man so to reject The invitation We like people can't fathom the idea of eternal punishment But when you reject the invitation to an eternal God We don't just realize it's a sin, but the perpetual nature of that sin, it's a trillion ns because it's not just saying no to your life eternal. It's saying no to every way that God could have used you to glorify Hself to draw others to him And because you rejected him, That invitation now turns into you said a curse. It turns into a curse now because that rejection of him turns into every decision that I make outside of him and apart from him, becomes a seed of destruction into the lives of my children. Now I'm a vessel of destruction for my children. I'm a vessel of destruction for the people I come in contact with. I was supposed to be a vessel of hope But now I come with a void. I was supposed to be a vessel of love, but now I come with my brokenness And then we're like, well, well, Lord, I just It was just the sin and the Lord said, because I know the end from the beginning, you're no to me was a perpetual No that had a resounding effect on the people around you Go ahead man, I'm sorry. No, I think the issue with mankind is they think they can be their own god They want to run their own lives in proroverbs fourteen verse twelve it states that there seems a way that is right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death Many times I think we think we know better We know we think we we know how to run our lives. We think we know what's best for us When the Father has already said, I know you, I created you Even before you were made in Psalm one hundred thirty nine, I already have your days written in the book. That's how much she knows us. The very hairs of our head are numbered. He knows us so intimate way. And the great thing here is that he created you for himself He's a jealous God. He wants you all to himself. He's a jealous bridegroom. He's not an adulterous bridegroom. We are the bride of Christ. How would you feel if your wife was cheating on you with some other man? You would feel that burning jealousy. rightfully so, she belongs to you, because she is stray from you. She's going after other lovers. In the same way, that's how God feels towards his bride. when we are not seeking H and H alone, when we run to others, when we run to the arm of the flesh We chase after our dreams and goals and we leave God here and say, Lord, you understand. Lord, you know what's better for me, Lord, but I can still have it my way That's not how we should pursue him. We should go to him H humbly confessing, Father, you know. I don't. I am a creature of dust and I still have this indwelling sin nature in me. I can be wrong here. so guide me. leadead me in the way everlasting teach me to number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom. One thing we have to know is that we are ust and to dust shall we return. Our days on earth are fleeting. We have to know that the things of this world will soon pass away. Everything we see, touch and fuel will pass away, we'll all burn up in the fire one day And like CT Stud said right, only one life will soon pass. what's done for Christ will last. And when I'm dying, how happy shall I be if the lamp of my life has been burnt out for thee. See, that should be the heart cry of a child of God. Lord, let me rather burn out than rust out. Let me rather die serving you than serving the world with all its empty vain promises that will not fulfill me. The book of Hebrew says this There is a pleasure that sin brings, but it's fleeting The fleeting pleasures of sin and Moses actually shunned that Seeing Christ who was invisible, Moses endured persecution He could have been the next phharaoh for all we know. He could have been the next phharaoh in line But he looked at God's glory, He looked at the treasures above. He looked at the treasure that Christ was. So he rather chose to suffer with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin The fleeting pleasures of this life The fleeting pleasures of pornography, the fleeting pleasures of greed Right? He chose to shun that and so can we the fleeting pleasures of the lustful flesh. It is all temporal Live for the eternal, live for eternity. Jonathan Edwards said this famous prayer, Lord, stamp eternity in my eyeballs That should be our prayer. If you live every day in light of eternity, things will change. Things will change. You will you know When you stand before the Lord one day, are you ever gonna regret the fact that you sought him more, you wept more, you fasted more, you prayed more, You groaned more, you evangelized more. The only regret we will have on that day is Lord, had I known I had all these riches in Christ, had I known what awaited me here, I would have done more of that So live in light of those truths. Don't let this world cloud the glory that awaits us in heaven This world is passing away and soon and very soon everything will cease to be And only Christ and Christ will endure forever. And those who do the will of God says John first John two The world will pass away along with its desires, but those who do the will of God abide forever They live with God forever, that they will reign with God forever. See, heaven is heaven because He is there. Heaven would not be heaven if he were not there. If I were to go outside and knock on all the doors and if I ask the people, do you want to go to heaven Absolutely. I want to go to a heaven, but I just want I just don't want a holy God to be there when I get there. They want their own heaven. What do people picture when you talk to them about heaven, mansions, cars, golf course? Those things aren't in and of themselves wrong, but it's the wrong idea there. Heaven is heaven because he is there. Jesus Christ is the glory of heaven He is the prince of heaven. He's the joy of heaven. He's the beloved son of heaven. We should desire heaven because He is there. We should desire him for who He is, not only because of what He gives. Come on Worthy is the lamb is the heart cry in heaven, they cry out day and night. Holy, holy, worthy, worthy. So that should be how we should live now and not then. See, Jesus says in Johns chapter seventeen, this is eternal life that they know you, the one true God Jesus Christ whom you've sented. So eternal life doesn't begin after you die. It begins the moment you come to know God. You and I have eternal life in us right now. Come on Jesus in me the hope of glory. That is the gospel Man, I got chills everywhere I want to pray, but there's one thing I got to ask because one thing I love is We have these conversations And someone's listening and say, you got a fire that I don't have What is a practical? what are practical things that I can do? What's the practical mindset that I need to have so that I can carry my cross? What are practical things that I can do so that I can live a life that is pursuing Christ and not continually defaulting to my desires. Yeah. That's a very good question. And I have been asked this before Here's what you can do. Oh struggling believer Oh, slumbering child, here is what you can do Treasure the Word of God Spend time with him, go to H. The door has been swung wide open for you. The holy of holies is wide open for you The throne of grace awaits you, O child of God, R to him, run to His mercy, practically do this. Start off your day being in his presence prayer, treasure the Word of God. Start reading H Word, meditate in His Word like Psalm one says, Wh is the man who is blessed? He who meditates in the law of God day and night. He's like a tree planted by the streams of water In all that he does, he prospers Do you want to prosper in all that you do thenen be rooted in the Word of God Be rooted in the truth, spepend time with H, pray, meditate on His Word, and cry out in prayer for a deeper manifestation of the power of the Spirit of God in your life out See, many people seek for a formula They will look at someone's passion and they think they can just wear that mantle Everybody wants the mantle of passion and thunder, but no one wants the sackcloth of prayer and fasting. No one wants that That is what's needed The sackcloth prrayer and fasting. Be alone with him Snd time with him, cry out to heaven, Go get a cabin up in the woods somewhere and learn to cry out to God until he shows up, until he becomes so real to you, more real than this very ground on which you stand Don't give him rest ry out to God. You know, we were made for so much more There is so much of God that we have not come to know yet. It's an ocean of grace out there for us to swim in Go swim Go ask and seek and knock. The door is open Why Terry? don't Terry go to him. He's a father who wants you to come, who wants you to ask of him And he will bless you. show you Reach to you with such treasures of mercy and grace and love Listen, um I mean, is this this I think people are in their cars, they're in their homes, they're in their kitchens, they're hearing this. And I don't know, I don't know about you. I want to get away from y'all so I could just go and run and do this right Now You talked about prayer and fasting and all these things. I grew up in an African home Prayer and fasting was just really emphasized, but the way I used to see it was the more you prayed and fast, the more powerful, like spiritually powerful you are. But what I realize is it's less about me being powerful and it's more about me being emptied. And so when people see this passion, they're like, wow, he's passionate. instead of recognizing, no He's been emptied. That's not his passion That's not hisis fire. It's the Lord's fire. It's not hisis desires. People are like, how do you get a desire to preach the gospel? It's his desire in me. showing up, what you see is his passion, it's his desires, it's his thoughts. And I think when we We live in the practice of emptying ourselves then what people end up seeing or what you end up seeing is the filling is the desires is the will of God manifesting itself through you on a daily basis. You don't become more powerful when you fast. You become more empty of yourself so that he becomes in your life And so Man This book I think everyone needs to get it. It sounds like If you're saved, you need the Bible and you need to grab this so that we can know what it looks like and's like tangibly to walk in a life where we're carrying our cross on a daily basis to know what the born again experience should be be like for us. I don't want us to live a deceived life don't want us to preach a false gospel. I don't want us to teach our children a partial Jesus. And I think this book It's going to help us chisel away the noise of what we have come defineed as just American go forgive me for saying American, American, America but this is where we are and this is the state of America. I think we've watered this thing down so much And I believe What you've come to do is You know, you came with with with gentleness, man, but this is This is a a very stark Warning It's a it's it's a strong call for us to rise But there's beauty on the other side of that Because now if I'm not walking in my own desire and in my own ways that I'm walking in the Lords. in the Lord's way. He prepares the way for his children. He His glory, right lights up our path. His wisdom allows us to navigate the tough thing. His comfort by way of hisis Holy Spirit is going to keep us in the midst of what we consider persecution. What do we have to be afraid of There's no demon, there's no enemy that can stand against the will of God and the intention of God in our lives. There's nothing to be afraid of. And he takes care of his kids. D don't be thinking, Well, if I give up all my dreams, I'm gonna die. Now listen He's a good God, and he cares for you. He cares for your family He has Better desires, better plans. he loves you more than you love yourself. For God to be a good God and for him to love us more than we love ourselves. He knows what we need. That means that once we follow after H, He's going to take care of what we need and change our desires as we grow and incline ourselves to Him. So if there's One more thing that you want to say before we pray for those that are watching. The floor is open. I'm changed already. I just want you to know. and for everyone that's listening Don't wit. he said, don't Wait do it now. So the floor is open before you pray if you have any final words for the people. Yes. First of all, first things first You've probably heard the podcast thus far I don't want you to see anything in me that I'm truly not The fire, the words, the passion as has been emphasized here It's not me, come on It's not in me to bring these things out to you I am a needy creature I'm a creature that begs for mercy. King David in the Psalms. Now he's the king of Israel This This king, mighty king says For I'm poor and needy, bow down your ear and hear my prayers That is the hard posture. that you need to bring to God right now, Lord, I am poor in spirit and I'm needy for your mercy. I need you to fill me. I need you to clothe me with power from on high, where I have been lacking, Lord, please fill that void. Come and live afresh in me. Cate in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me Lord, if I have become indifferent, stagnant, Lord, come and breathe life, breathe fire. Lord, as you said in John fifteen, that apart from me, you can do nothing apart from abiding in the vine, the branches are nothing They are nothing but ready to be Grind But we are those who abide in Jesus Christ So help us abide in you, Lord. Help your words richly abide in our hearts. Thus we can enjoy the peace of Christ that surpasses all knowledge. that we may do the will of God and abound in the grace of God through the mercy of Christ We are sealed by the mark of the Holy Spirit until a day of redemption Lord Jesus We pray Th final words as Paul echoed from the book of Romans. Arise Awaken O sleeper that Christ may shine on you pray for all the hearers this day that they would arise. For those who are lost that they would be found, for those who are blind that they would see The truth of the glorious Gspel as these Pitiable jars of clay have proclaimed it today that yet let the message ring true the eternal truth of God. and his son Jesus Christ We thank you and we bless you. Amen. Amen Aen. L I want you guys to run to the link that's in the description. getet a hold of this book. You have a local church that's in Virginia? Marshall, Virginia. Oh o. I always say Richmond is in Marshall, Virginia Okay, so you're pastoring, you've been pastoring for For about eight months Gys he's just got got this man in different parts of the country just planting. And so now you're in Marshall So we're putting all the info there. If you see somebody pop up at the church, it's not my fault. We're putting it all in the description, all your contact information. So guys, don't bombard me. bombard him. whatever information he puts in there. we're leaving it in the description. I just want to say thank you Thank you for This is revival. Um I'm not going to forget the words that you shared. and it was like you said, everybody's looking for a formula The formula is comoming to him Thank you for sharing what you shaare for my sake and for the sake of the listeners that thought they were just gonna get a powerful story But they got so much more than your powerful story Everyone got an opportunity to reignite a waiting relationship with Jesus Christ. So thank you so much for that. Amen. Y honor. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. Blesses, brother Now you might be asking what is the gospel? The gospel is very simple that you are a sinner and that you are on your way to hell Without a shadow of a doubt, you were born in sin and the wrath of God abides on you and you do not deserve to go there by way of your sin But while you was still a sinner God sent his son Jesus. who loved you and died for you as your substitutionary sacrifice, which means he died in your place so that you could live his life. which means he died for your sin He was buried Three days later he resurrected from the dead. and if you would confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead You shall be saved. That's out here. No, no, I'm talking about the real Jesus of the Bible, the eternal Son of God that became a man. God manifested in the flesh that became a man And in thirty three years, he died on the cross provroiding redemption, buying us back translating us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son, whichich means he redeemed us back to God. He reconciled you back to God by way of his death on the cross. And so you're probably saying, how can I Be saved, veryay simple All you have to do is repent of your sin I'm not talking about three hundred and sixty.m talking about one hundred eighty. You turn. Turn from your sin. You believe in the gospel Exclusively just Jesus I'm not talking about Jesus and Mary I'm not talking about Jesus in Budda I'm not talking about Jesus and some other centralized figure. and I'm not even talking about Jesus and your spiritual father and destiny and all that st. No, no There's only one way to heaven. Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and nobody comes out to the Father except through me. Jesus is exclusively the only way. You want to know why he's the only way? Because he's not only the only way, He is the door to enter in. And the only way You could get in is by way of repentance You must repent and become Poing again Why? because only sons and daughters can become citizens in the kingdom Outsiders can't come in Jesus died on that cross And he made the way open for you And if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved I'm not talking about all this other stuff that get saved. No, no, no, just believe. Believe In him, the efficacy of Christ's work on the cross as the substitutionary sacrifice in exchange for your sin. whichich means you give up your sin You give it to him He exchanges it and takes on your sin, but he gives you H his righteousness. And then you are righteous and justified by faith. in Jesus and when you have justification because of Jesus Now you have peace with God peace with God and watch this. and now He will no longer be just your God He is now your heavenly Father through the person of the son Jesus. Why don't you pray that prayer right now? Just repeat after me say, Lord I believe that I am a sinner and that I deserve to go to hell. God he sent your son. Go ahead, Those of you are watching and repeat what I'm saying Say God, you sent your son Jesus Christ Die for my sin He was buried Three days later, he resurrected from the dead I now confess You Lord Jesus As my Lord As my Savior, come into my heart Come into my life and wash me from my sin And now say this, say, Holy Spirit I surrender my life to you Make me born again Jesus. My friend, have you said that prayer Whichever way you said that prayer long as you Believe, confess with Ima Jesus' Lord And that he died on a cross for you and three days later you resurrected him and you repented and believe that message The Bible says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You are saved, my friend. Here's what I want you to do. There's going be an email that's going to be put on the video right here and I want you to write. I want you to write this channel and tell them that you accepted Christ as your Savior And B Ezekiel and the administrative staff of this channel will help you find a local church in your area that will point you in the right direction But we need to hear from you, say, man of God in that broadcast. I know you guys are talking about demons and devils, but I ended up getting saved And I ended up renouncing all other gods. Yeah, whichich means you got to renounce all other gods and believe exclusively on the Son of God And welcome too the family of God What's going on family? It'szeki One of my greatest burdens for this channel is after the video. You've been impacted. you just got saved, you just got delivered Now what We develop something called Freedom Guide. Freedom Guide is our digital directory that gives you access to every resource that we have available. We have our video directory, and that's super useful because we have hundreds of videos across this channel, thousands of hours of powerful conversations Where do you go when you're looking for that specific thing? You're struggling with sexual sin, we have videos for that. You just got out of a church c. We have videos for that. Some of you are looking for books, courses from some of our past guests're making that available to you. and we're also populating those lists weekly. M people are seeking for in person prayer, deliverance. We're making that available to you with this link. So go ahead and click freedom guide link. It's right there in the description and you'll have access to all of this for free. All you have to do is join us, subscribe to that list and we'll be continuing to out that information on a weekly basis while you have a total directory of everything that we have to offer. And don't forget, anyt timee we have an event, anyime we're doing something special, anyt timee we're calling a fast, we want you to know about it. We'll be able to access you directly and keep you updated on the amazing things that we have to offer