Pastor Kimo Walz [00:00:00]: Oh, I'm so grateful to be here with you. Aloha, Kakou. Aloha. I'll tell you a little bit little bit about my recent experience. By the way, I am so honored to be here. I I wish Glenn would be here and Rica as well, but, of course, I wouldn't be here if they were here. But, Glenn is our area pastor. You know, he has about, I think, about 20 churches that he serves. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:00:32]: We have 3 area pastors, and then I serve them as well as all 60 something churches that we have in the district. And we have a district supervisor who lives in Hilo, Sheldon Lexina. Maybe he's been here before. Yeah. So anyway, we're busy. We've got a lot going on because, everybody's working for the kingdom. Yeah. We moved back here. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:00:55]: My wife and I are both from here. We moved back here about 3 years ago on the mainland for a long time, and the battery might be going out. But, we, we lived on the mainland for a long time, and we knew we would come home. We're like 1 of those families that left, yeah, to go make their millions so that we could actually buy a house in Hawaii. We forgot the real estate prices kept going up here as well, you know. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:01:23]: Thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah. Alright. Thank you. Yeah. So the real estate prices kept going up, but my daughter called and she said, I'm hapai and, they live in Kahalu'u, my son-in-law and daughter. And, so we knew that was a time to move back and I thought it was a time to retire as well. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:01:45]: So we moved back and I was hanging out at the beach. I'm an outrigger paddler. So I paddle 6 men and I paddle 1 man and just, was just enjoying life. I thought this is so good. I like being retired. But then I started getting bored and my daughter came up. She says, dad, you got to do something besides just hang out at the beach every day. And, she said, they're hiring at Kualoa Ranch tour guides. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:02:09]: So, I actually applied it to Kualoa Ranch, You know, I'm too old. They're not gonna hire me. But the very next day, I got called, and I worked for about 8 months as a tour guide, Puka shell tour guide. It was the most fun job I ever had. Of course, everybody asks you, do you know Don Ho? Yeah. So, it was good fun. Before I get started, I wanted to, can I, the Lord gave me a word for a couple of you here? Yeah. For hail, the Lord wants you to know that your life has been a life of healing, but what you're going into now, God is moving you to a whole new level of supernatural healing. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:02:44]: The gift of healings is is on you, and the Lord wants you to know a gift of faith. And when you go to Fiji and when you do other things going forward from this point, Dolores says, be bold. Be ready to pray for people with an expectation that God's gonna touch them and heal them right before your eyes. Okay? So we're looking forward to hearing the stories when you come back. And not just there, here as well. Okay. Peter, the Lord wants you to know that in times past, you've been a little bit shy for God. Now, I don't mean I don't mean like you ran from God. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:03:15]: Maybe you did. But there were times when God was prompting your heart to do something, and you just said, oh, I'm not me. That's not me. I cannot do that. I'm not really, equipped for that. The Lord wants you to know that he has more things for you in the Lord, and he has promotion coming. I don't know what that means. I don't even know what to do. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:03:34]: Maybe you're unemployed. I don't know. But the Lord says promotion is coming. He said, continue to follow after me. Promotion is coming. Yeah? That's exciting. Exciting word. Is Linda here? Where is she? Oh, Linda, the Lord wants you to know that you need to be bold and step forward, in more ways. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:03:52]: I don't know what you do here. I just saw you sweeping. And that's important. Yeah? We don't like crud on the floor, but but the Lord wants you to know that he has anointed you with a real special anointing. You're a handmaiden before the Lord, the Lord said. And I want you to know that he's asking you to begin to be more vocal about your faith, Be willing to share. Be willing to mentor, other young ladies in the church as you go forward. God has some things for you, some great things for you. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:04:21]: Derwin, I don't know. Are you a pastor in this church? Or are you just the announcements guy? You're a pastor. The Lord wants you to know you have a pastoral calling on your life. And even though you're retired I know you're retired, but you're not retarded. Okay? So I know that you can do something for God, and God wants you to know that he's gonna move you into more mentoring and more shepherding as you go forward in the future. So be bold and be willing to do that. This couple right here, Alan, and I forget your beautiful wife's name. Ronny? Ronny. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:04:56]: Okay. You're elders in this church, and the Lord wants you to know that even I don't know if you have an established eldership. Do you have an eldership that you just say, There are elders, there are elders, there are elders? I don't know. But the Lord wants you to know, even if you don't have that here in this church, people look to you as elders. And be willing to mentor younger people. Yeah? You guys are so deep in the Lord. The Lord wants you to know he loves you, and he cares for you, and he is so grateful for the life of service that you've given to the Lord and his kingdom. Yeah. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:05:30]: Amen. It's a good thing. Okay. So, anyway, I worked at Kualoa Ranch 8 months. And then, the district called me and said, hey, what do you think about being an area pastor? And I thought, well, how many churches is that? Show. He's to we went by. I never answered him back. There's a show. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:05:58]: It's Hey, what do you think about being the regional pastor? And I said, how many churches is that? He said, that's about 60 6. I said, oh, brah. No, I don't know, man. Let me pray about that. But God just got on my case and he says, look, you're not done. When you have a calling on your life, you're never done, right, until you go home to be with the Lord. So I've been doing that. I have, I have another year after this year of suffering, for the kingdom. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:06:25]: No, it's a wonderful job and wonderful people to work with. At the same time, I also had applied to work for a defense contractor. I'm an ex naval officer, and so I was enlisted first. Any military guys here, veterans? Okay. I was enlisted first, okay? So I don't want you to look at me and say, Hey, that big snob, that guy up there. I was enlisted first. I moved up through the ranks. But anyway, I applied for a defense contractor's job. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:06:54]: So now I train Marines over at the Marine Corps base. I'm 70 years old, and they look at me and they still listen to me, so that's pretty awesome. I'm delighted about that. Anyway, so that's it. I have 2 grandkids, another 1 on the way. I have a son and daughter-in-law in LA, and then, like I said, my daughter and son-in-law are here in Kahului. And my wife, she continues to put up with me. She'll be here, not here. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:07:18]: She'll be with us tomorrow. She's actually doing a funeral. She's an ordained minister as well. So she's doing a funeral today. Anyway, okay. So how how many here need a miracle in your life? Don't we all need a miracle somewhere? If it's not for us, it's for somebody in our family. We've been praying and praying and praying and said, Lord, we need your help. We need a miracle in this person's life. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:07:43]: The title of the message is The Path to a Miracle. I love that, when you had the House of Miracles up on the up on the thing. Is that the name of the song? Okay. So it's perfect because that just kinda blends in with my message. Webster's dictionary defines miracle as an extraordinary event taken as a sign of the supernatural power of God. That's a miracle, and secular dictionary. Okay? But they but they mentioned that it is a sign of a supernatural power of God. You know, we we we know a lot of miracles in the Bible. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:08:17]: Right? Jesus did tons of miracles. It was just a common thing. He turned water into wine. Yeah? I don't know if he did the reverse, but he turned water into wine. He healed a nobleman's son. He healed the man by the pool at Siloam. He fed 5, 000 people. He walked on water. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:08:36]: He healed a boy a man born blind, and he resurrected Lazarus. Amazing stuff. Yeah? You say, well, that's Jesus. That's Jesus. That's not us. That's Jesus. Has anybody done any of these things lately? Anybody walked on water lately? Anybody got a pool? You could try it out. No? Nobody? Okay. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:08:57]: So we look at Jesus and we say, Yeah, of course, this is Jesus. Jesus can do these things. He's God and man. Yeah? He is the part of the trinity. He's a third part of the trinity. But you know, in John 14 by the way, if you have your Bibles, or your app on your phone, please follow along, because I don't have a lot of PowerPoints. I just wanted to share with you today. John 14:12, Jesus tells his disciples, I tell you the truth. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:09:27]: Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works because I am going to be with the Father. So when he was here, when he was on the earth, there wasn't a whole lot of miracles done by his apostles and his disciples. But when he left, he said, hey, greater works than these are you going to do when I go to be with my father. And then in verse 16 and verse 26 of that same chapter 14, he says these things, and I will ask the father, and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you. Verse 26. But when the father sends the advocate as my representative, that is the Holy Spirit. He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. So when didn't leave us alone, right? He left He brought the Holy Spirit. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:10:17]: Okay. Holy Spirit, you're going to stay here with everybody. You're going to help them do all the things that I told them that they would do and even greater things as these as you go forward. So this particular, series of scriptures that I'm gonna be teaching from is Acts chapter 3 verses 1 through 10. Yeah? Acts 3, 1 through 10. I think it's actually on the little handout that you have there, and there's some really easy fill in the blanks later on. So let's read this together, Acts 3, verses 1 through 10. Peter and John went to the temple 1 afternoon to take part in the 3 o'clock prayer service. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:10:52]: As they approached the temple, a man, lame from birth, was being carried in. Each day, he was put beside the temple gate, the 1 called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money. Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, look at us. The layman looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, I don't have any silver or gold for you, but I'll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk. Then Peter took a layman by the right hand, helped him up, and as he did, the man's feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:11:36]: Now if you read other versions, now this is this is Luke. He was a physician. If you read other versions, you can tell Luke was writing, because he said the bones began to set in place. Now most people, we don't think about it that way, right? But a doctor, a physician would do that, that he would talk about it from a little more technical perspective. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. Then walking, leaping, praising God, he went into the temple with them. All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God. When they realized he was a lame beggar they had seen so often at the beautiful gate, they were absolutely astounded. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:12:15]: It's amazing, yeah, to see that happen, to witness that miracle. Now we got to remember, this takes place after Jesus has risen. Right? Jesus was killed on the cross. He was in the tomb for 3 days and then he rose. And then for 40, 50 days after that, he was seen by over 500 people. And so we have enough evidence to show that that is an actual resurrection. By the way, not just, that's not just in the Bible. If you read stories by historians like Josephus and others, they'll talk about that. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:12:50]: They'll talk about that Jesus was walking and talking to different people, met different people. And so we know the resurrection is true. So as I started reading these scriptures, I'd never quite looked at it as I looked at it recently. I want to see miracles happen in my life. I want to see miracles happen in the lives of those around me. I don't want a Christian faith that is just a bunch of rules. I don't need that. I was in the military. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:13:19]: Plenty of rules there. I don't need that. But I want a faith that is filled with the intervention of God in my life, touching people's lives and seeing them healed and seeing their lives changed, their hearts changed. So I realized as I was reading this that it was a road map to a miracle. There's so much in this particular, 10 chapters. I was talking to a brother just earlier, and I was telling him that sometimes you take a few scriptures and you just read them over and over and over, and each time some nugget comes out, some amazing thing that you hadn't quite seen, because you look at it through a different facet of God. And so I read as I was going through this, I realized there's some amazing stuff happening here. Peter and John, they went into the temple 1 afternoon to take part in the 3 o'clock prayer service. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:14:11]: So I had to ask myself, when we come to church, do we take part or do we just show up and leave after service? Now this is a smaller congregation here. Yeah? I mean, you have critical mass, but it's hard to just sneak out of this group. Yeah? Maybe the other church is a little bit larger and you have it's a little bit easier to hide. Side, you find that most people are pretty well engaged. Yeah, you're taking parts. You're talking to people. You're asking them about their lives. So what have they been going through? What can you do to pray for them? What pray what things can you pray for them? So you have this interaction with people that oftentimes you don't have if you are just a person who just shows up. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:15:00]: Right? So they were going to the temple to take part in the prayer service. You had to believe that they were going in to be engaged with others around them, talking story with them. Now this is a Jewish temple they're going to. And, of course, many of the people in the Jewish temple were not believers, not not Christ like believers, Christ Christian believers. So they were going into the temple. So you've, you know, you've heard that phrase, just showing up is half the battle. You know that 1? Yeah? Yes. But half the battle doesn't guarantee a victory. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:15:34]: Right? If you went into a battle, or a fight anybody get in fights in high school? Anybody who said, am I the only 1? I've had my nose broken twice, my front teeth broken. Am I the only 1 that's violent in here? No, I know. Some of you guys are like, yeah. Okay. I remember those days. They were not good good fights. I lost most of the time. But if you go into a fight and you get halfway into the fight and then you drop your hands and you stop, what's going to happen? Punch. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:16:01]: Girls, I know you don't do this, right? Girls don't fight. Not that way. In Hawaii, girls fight that way, I should say. Yeah. You know, I grew up here, so I know. But just showing up is half the battle, but it's not enough. It's not enough. So you could just show up at church, and I can tell you it's not enough to do what God wants to do in your heart and in your life. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:16:31]: So, the first feeling, when we come to church, let's come to take part, not to just not just to show up. Yeah? To take part. And then on the second verse and that was just the first verse. Okay? We got 10 verses. Now we'll get out of here about midnight tonight. Is that okay? No. We're not. We're not gonna get out of here that late. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:16:53]: Acts, chapter 3 verse 2. And it says, as they approached the temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day, he was put beside the temple gate, the 1 called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the temple. You see, he was considered unclean, unworthy because of his infirmity. Yeah? So he wasn't permitted to go into the temple. The closest he could get was that outer gate, the the beautiful gate they called it. And of course, that was the if you look at pictures of, of that particular gate and the way artist renderings of that, it was the gate that you would expect the rich, Jews to come through because they would naturally come wandering through, kinda making as they come in through the gate. They wanna go through the magnificent gate. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:17:40]: They wanna be seen as magnificent kind of people, successful people. Yeah? And so so he wasn't permitted to go there. You know, I'm sure that his friends thought they were doing him a big favor by setting him down by the gate. I don't even know if they were friends, but just people that maybe felt sorry for him. And and and it made sense. They they they they they knew that he had the best chance to get some money. They called it alms. Right? Receiving alms, from the people. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:18:08]: But the thing is, none of them were looking for a miracle. They just knew that somebody's gonna give him money there. The probability was pretty high. You're at the main gate, all the rich people coming through. You're sitting on the ground, you're all sickly, you can't walk, people see you every week. You guys have people in your neighborhood like that? People that are homeless and stuff, and you see them? We have a guy I live in Kaneohe. We have a guy. His name is Isaac. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:18:36]: I even know his name. He has a walker. He's homeless, and, he's always on this corner by Wilmer City Shopping Center. And so you drive up, and he has this sign, you know, money. I need money. Thank God God loves you. That kind of thing. So every now and then, I'll give him something, and I'll I'll say, Isaac, how you doing, brah? And he look up, and he just put his face down. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:19:05]: He doesn't talk much. I was at Anchor Church 1 evening and they had a big banquet. He was there. He was there grabbing his plate lunch and eating by himself. But 1 day, I thought, okay, this homeless guy, you know, I feel compassion for him. And, I happened to notice he was walking to this brand new Toyota. And he's walking. He's got his walker. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:19:28]: Yeah. And I have to, oh, okay. So maybe he's gonna just kinda go behind the Toyota and go shish shish or something. I don't know what he's gonna do. He his key got the automatic key, opens the door, puts the stuff in, and then drives off in this brand new Toyota. I think the guy's driving a better car than I got. But no, that's not I'm not judging him. It just was a shock to me. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:19:48]: It was a shock to me that that was going on. But so the the friends were dropping this this guy off at the main at the beautiful gate, but they weren't looking for a miracle. They were just trying to put him in the best possible position to receive what they expected that they would get from from man. Acts chapter 3 verses 333 and 4, when he saw talking about the beggar, he says, when he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money. Peter and John looked at him intently, and that word intently in the Greek is their eyes were fixed on him. They were fixed on him, like, I see that guy. He's right there. They're fixed on him. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:20:29]: And Peter said, look at us. Look at us. You know, most of the time, we don't make eye contact with homeless people. It's a little bit why not? It's a little spooky because you don't quite know, yeah? Some people are not, they're not all there mentally just because they've been on the streets. But a lot of times, we don't make eye contact. But you gotta remember, he was sitting there. He wasn't looking at them, and I imagine he was, you know, maybe feeling shame, I don't know. I've been close to homeless in my life, and I know that you don't feel good about yourself, yeah? But he had his eyes cast down, and Peter had to yell at him, look at us. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:21:11]: I'm worse. We're our eyes are fixed on you. Look at us. Look at us. And he he looks up, and he had an expectation that they're gonna give him money. Right? Hey. Hey. These guys actually saw me, and they know I'm here begging. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:21:29]: There got to be money in this gig somewhere. Something's going to happen. Ago, my wife and I also, lead a house church network called Micro Tribe Community. And we have a a tribe out here in Ewa Beach. And our 2, our tribe and their tribe got together, and we did an outreach at the beach down in Ewa Beach. And we were bringing food to the homeless people down there. And it's amazing how many how few of them will actually look you in the eye. And and you have to take the time to Pastor Kimo Walz [00:22:01]: engage them in conversation. Of course, they don't wanna talk to you. They just want your Pastor Kimo Walz [00:22:01]: food, right, that you're providing. So Of course, they don't want to talk to you. They just want your food, right, that you're providing, so Pastor Kimo Walz [00:22:06]: many of them. And so, Pastor Kimo Walz [00:22:06]: it's kind of like that. We oftentimes see that they won't engage you in terms of looking at you because they know that they know that you know that they have needs and you can provide those needs. So when Peter and John looked upon the beggar's, condition, they must have felt compassion. They must have had a soft heart towards him, and they must have felt love. But the other thing is they must have saw potential to be able to touch that beggar's life and glorify the Lord in that. That's what they were all about, seeing potential in people. So number 2, in your fill in the fill in the blank, recognize the potential in others. You may be you may be setting the stage for a miracle. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:22:56]: Recognize the potential in others. You may be setting the stage for a miracle. See, we don't oftentimes think this way. Right? This is God thinking. This is not man thinking. When we're walking into a situation, we oftentimes are thinking about, oh, what? You start digging for quarters or whatever. Yeah. Most of us don't carry money anymore. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:23:17]: We carry plastic. Yeah. And so a lot of us don't have a lot of cash. We might be thinking, well, okay. I got some old clothes I'm taking to Goodwill. I'll give them some clothes, whatever. So we don't think this way. But this is the way the Lord looks at each 1 of us. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:23:31]: He says, I see potential in that. I see potential in that drummer over there. The guy is amazing. He's gifted. He's talented. He has an anointing on his life. And maybe you've never thought about it that way. My son is a drummer. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:23:43]: He's an anointed drummer. But that is an amazing thing. It goes all the way back to the Old Testament. They had drummers before they had guitar players. Yeah. So God sees us that way. He sees us with the I don't know if it's a battery, maybe. We okay? I'll just keep talking till something happens. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:24:09]: So God sees potential in each and every 1 of us and check check check. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, so God sees potential in each and every 1 of us, and we oftentimes don't look through that lens of God. We don't look for potential. We may think that a person has potential, but we don't look at them that way. When people come to visit your church, take the time to look at them through the eyes of potential. Because oftentimes people come. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:24:45]: They come to the Lord. And because they're baby Christians or maybe new Christians, we don't see that there's much potential there. Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, let's put him on in the parking lot. Yeah? How many did that? Parking lot ministry. Okay. So that was like my first thing. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:25:03]: And I was on staff. So they put chemo out in the parking lot because, and what we discovered was that people, when they come to visit your church, for them to stay, they have to be touched about 6 times. And I don't mean physically touching, but they have to engage a person about 6 times. And so at first, I was a little bit kinda humbugged, like, wait, you're putting me out there. What about all the stuff in here? I can, like, raise the dead and all this kind of stuff. And, no. I couldn't. But then I realized, I'm the first person they touch that gets to touch them. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:25:43]: I'm that first you know, moment that they witness a Christian. And so I thought, okay, I'll go put on my full armor, I'll go be gracious. I'll go be gentle. I'll go look at people with potential. And I was probably, in my eyes, the best parking lot attendant we had. I was the only 1, but I was the best. So, okay. So I gotta tell you a little story. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:26:10]: My sermon's kinda short, so I'm gonna throw a couple stories in. My wife and I, we pastored our 1st year of marriage. Don't ever do that. The Bible says don't do that. You need to go off and hang out with your wife or your husband for a year, and then go out and do something serious. But the Lord called us in the pastoral ministry our 1st year of marriage. Anyway, we went past that. We ended up, after that, going to her church, which was Grace Bible. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:26:37]: You remember, anybody from Grace Bible, any Grace Bible people? We used to meet at Alewa Heights. Her family is the Lee Ohana. They're charter members of Grace Bible. But so I drive, my wife and I, we drive up to the church. And Alewa Heights, the parking lot, when you go in, you have to park right behind somebody and you cannot go. You can't leave just any time. Once you're in the parking lot, you're stuck there until service is over, right? So we're going up and we're driving up the driveway, And I notice that her grandfather, ex Air Force guy, Special Forces kind of guy, just amazing guy. He's there, and he's got a walkie talkie. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:27:20]: He's the first guy you meet in the parking lot. And I watch him as I'm behind a couple cars, and he's going, you, over there. You, over there. And I'm thinking, okay, what's going on? I found out later, he get all these military guys, all retired military guys, and they all had walkie talkies, and they worked like a crack unit. And so he's going, you, over there. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:27:41]: And then Pastor Kimo Walz [00:27:41]: of course, when we drive, oh, Kimo and Lori, go park in the pastor's spot. I'll put him somewhere else. And I said, no, no, no, Moses, don't do that. And I thought to myself, this is the first person that a visitor meets in the church is my wife's angry, war beaten, mean, Christian. He loved the lord but that's how he communicated. Right? Local boy, right? Local boy and and and anyway, so anyway, I don't even know why it went that direction. Oh, potential, potential, Potential in others. Yeah? Okay. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:28:18]: So let me keep going. Verse 5. The layman looked at them eagerly expecting money, expecting some money. That's normal. Right? You're a beggar, you expect money. The man came with an expectation, but his expectation was in man's ability to help, not in God's willingness to heal. See, sometimes we look at life through our our finite lens, not our infinite lens. Not the infinite lens that we can do as we walk with the Lord through God's eyes. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:28:51]: So, Pastor Kimo Walz [00:28:52]: when we Pastor Kimo Walz [00:28:53]: do this, we oftentimes miss out on the things that God has for us. Are we satisfied with mediocrity Or do we expect to see the greatness of God's grace? Yeah. It's so easy to just give money and just go on. Yeah. You know that place that you're going up, Peekikoi? And I think it's School Street you turn on, and then you go up the ramp. You go past the post office. You know, when you're coming out of Waikiki, most of us do that. Yeah. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:29:17]: We take that road. Of course, everybody like, I run down the left side as far as I can, as fast as I can, and I cut in. Yeah. And I go, hey, Chaka. You know? Once you say Shaka, you're good. Right? You're good. So, but I always always get the homeless guys, yeah, right there by the overpass. Of course, they got their cardboard tents and everything else, and and and sometimes III think, okay, if if I'm stuck at the light, I gotta engage these guys. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:29:44]: Hey, how's it going? Hey, you like money? Yeah. You like food? And so we secure a little bag of stuff, food and water and that kind of thing in a bag and hand it off. But it's always a little scary for me because you're driving me up and you're thinking, please God, help me get through the light. Please God, help me, help me, help me. Oh no, the light's here. Okay, I'm stuck here. Hey, what's the guy? Anyway, so he expected money, And that would be the natural thing. But he wasn't expecting a move of God in the way that God moved. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:30:20]: So like the beggar, we are often ready to settle for much less than than God wants to give to us. And our low expectations often rob us of great victories. So we need to expect a lot from God. He's the God of the universe for goodness sake. He's the great physician, the great provider. I mean, he's he's our banner. And we don't expect a lot from him. Yeah? Expect a lot. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:30:48]: Begin to expect a lot from God because he's there. You know the scripture that says, if you as an earthly father, your son or daughter asks for something that you're gonna give them a snake, you're not gonna do that. How much more would God the Father give you something good if you ask? So come to Him with an expectation, yeah? Verse 20, now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work in us within, I'm sorry, Ephesians, Ephesians 3:20. Now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. He's always there. He's always ready, and we don't quite ask enough. Oh, God, give me a cup of water, please. Instead of, oh, God, give me the keys to your kingdom. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:31:43]: Help me go out and touch people's lives. Let's see people raised from the dead. Let's see healings, physical healings, mental healings. Psychological healings take place. So here's number 3. Yeah. Expect each day approach each day with an expectation that god will use you to touch someone's life. Approach each day with an expectation that god will use you. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:32:08]: Verse 6, but Peter said, I don't have any silver or gold for you, but I'll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene, get up and walk. See, Peter could not give something that he didn't possess. Right. You cannot give something you don't possess. If you're not full of faith, how are you gonna give faith to somebody? How are you gonna speak faith? How are you gonna pray faith? You have to walk in faith, and You have to continue to build that faith up. It edifies you. It builds you up as you pray. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:32:43]: I don't know where you guys are at in terms of teaching on baptism of the Holy Spirit. Do you have that teaching, baptism with the Holy Spirit, prayer language, speaking in tongues? Okay. And I don't mean, I don't want everybody to raise their hand, I do or I don't. That's not the point. But let me just encourage you. If you've never been baptized in the holy spirit, with the holy spirit, go to 1 of your pastors. Go to 1 of your leaders and ask them to lead you in that. Because when you begin to pray in the spirit on a regular basis, God would do amazing things in your life. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:33:12]: I used to pray in the spirit for an hour a day every day years ago. I don't do it as much anymore. But I do pray in the spirit every day. I pray in my prayer language that God gave me. And God used to point out things to me. I'd be watching television. And there'd be some historical event happening in Israel or Africa or someplace. And the Lord would just drop that in my heart. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:33:31]: He said, you prayed for that. And it made me feel good. I realized, okay, I wasn't thinking that. I wasn't, okay, did I pray for that? I wasn't thinking that. It just dropped it in. But God will use you in ways that you can't even imagine if you'll begin to pray in your prayer language more fervently. So Peter didn't have any money, but he did have authority from Jesus to heal the sick. You have that same authority. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:34:00]: You have that same authority to heal the sick. And now, some of you are thinking, oh, I don't like to pray for that. You know, it's kinda like, oh, God, heal him however way you wanna do it. Heal him through doctors or whatever. And so we oftentimes approach prayer that way because we feel like it's our responsibility to heal him. It's not. We're just the bringer of the message. Right? We're just the conduit for the power of God to move into a person's life. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:34:23]: We we forget that in this particular case, the beggar was not a believer. Whose faith did it rely upon? Peter's faith, right? He was the bringer. He brought his faith. He brought the words of faith. He challenged him. For some people to say silver and gold I don't have is about the worst thing that they can say. Because let's face it, we're often times concerned about appearances in church, yeah, as well as outside. We're concerned about how people view us. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:34:56]: That's the human condition, right? That's just the human condition. We all feel that way at times. You know, it's kinda like when the offering plate comes by. You guys receive an offering or do you have like a basket somewhere? It's by the door? Okay, so when you're in a church where they pass the basket, yeah? And you get it, and you pass it on, but you didn't put anything inside, and you wanna tell people, I pay online. Right? You wanna say, you wanna, I do it online. Yeah, I actually have in my phone, see it right here. You wanna do that because we are concerned about the appearance of things with people. So when we say, we don't tell people I don't have any money. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:35:39]: Right? It's not something we say. Oh, yeah, well, got some investments, 4 1 ks, 5 0 3 b. Yeah. Yeah, we're in the market, up and down. We're going long haul. You know, we do some options. We might have nothing, but we often times talk that way because we don't want people to think we're poor. Right? Remember, there's no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:36:05]: Okay? If you don't put something in that offering plate, don't worry. Nobody's condemning you. Somebody might look at you with stink eye, but don't worry about them because they don't know the truth. Right? You may be a giver online. A lot of us do that nowadays. The gift of salvation is the only gift in the world that becomes more valuable as you give it to someone else. That is the greatest gift, the gift of salvation. It is not our task in this world to simply make the present condition more bearable. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:36:35]: That's not our job, to make the present condition of a person more bearable. Our task is to release here on Earth the redemptive work of God in Christ. That's what we're supposed to be doing. I'm not opposed to social justice and charitable giving. Those are important things. But oftentimes, that's our go to rather than speaking words of faith. Right? That's our go to. In verse 7, then Peter took the lame man by his right hand and helped him up. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:37:04]: And as he did, the man's feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. You see, this wasn't something Peter just did on a whim as some kind of a promotional event. Hey, everybody, look at this. Watch what we're gonna do. This is amazing. He did it under the specific prompting of the Holy Spirit. You know, God speaks to us in different ways. Yeah? Our circumstances, maybe we recognize certain things going on in our life, and we say, oh, okay, I can see God leading us down this path. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:37:31]: Sometimes God will speak to our heart. He'll just drop something in there, into our thoughts. Sometimes somebody will have a prophetic word for you, Right? And that's God speaking something that he's put on the heart of the person speaking. Sometimes people have a word of knowledge about your life and they wanna share with you or encourage you, minister to you. So we have these different ways that God speaks to you. Sometimes it's an audible voice. How many here have had an audible voice of God? Am I the only 1? Maybe I'm the crazy 1. Okay, I know some of you. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:38:02]: You don't like raise hand, I know. Yeah. So you guys know. Sometimes God does that. I've experienced it just a few times in my life where I actually heard God's voice. And I looked around and there was nobody by me. So, number 4, listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and be ready to act upon it. Listen and act. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:38:24]: Yeah. Listen and act. I was in the music business for a lot of years. Do you remember the band Kalapana? Anybody old? Music bands? So I used to manage Kalapana and I worked I managed Audy Kimura and some other groups and stuff years ago. I was a musician. I was telling this brother I was a musician, but not a very good 1. So I ended up being in the business side of things. I realized I was okay with that. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:38:46]: But I ended up in Nashville managing imperials. I don't know if you remember that group. They were a Christian group. Russ Taft came out of that group, and a bunch of different guys. Remember them? Yeah, Us older people, we know that group. Anyway, I was managing them in Nashville, and just getting into that gig was an amazing thing of how God had spoken to the leader of the band. Anyway, I get this, I'm sitting in my office in in Brentwood, Tennessee. The band is off the road, and everybody's there. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:39:18]: And the founder of the band, Arman Morales, he yells, Kimo, there's a guy on the phone, you take this call. And, I knew that that was the signal that somebody wanted money. That's because we were pretty well known back in those days. And so people would call us. They'd come up at the they'd come up to the offices and they'd beg for money. So anyway, I get on the phone with this guy and he says, yeah, I'm I'm just struggling. I've been on the on the the road. I've been homeless for about 11 months now, and I just need to talk to somebody. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:39:47]: I said, okay, look, I'll drive into Nashville. I'll meet you at the Shoney's, which is like a Denny's. Right? And so, as I go there is this my cue to get off? Oh, okay. Alright. I don't know. Okay. Alright. And let's all praise God. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:40:04]: Hallelujah. I I'm telling the story. So anyway, so I meet this guy and we're having coffee, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and says, don't give him any money. Now, obviously, I had money to give him. I could have reached in my pocket and pulled out a couple of dollars or whatever, And he says, begin to speak to him, and I'll guide your words. So I said, you know what? If you'll I'm not gonna give you any money, but if you'll come to my car, I wanna pray for you. Of course, his eyes rolled back. He said, okay. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:40:36]: He follows me. He gets in the car, and I began to pray for him. And as I prayed for him, the Lord began to put this on my heart. I wanna share with you what God's telling me right now. God is gonna show you today how much he loves you. Now I forgot to tell you, the reason he was on the road, he was a musician, he had left Seattle, he caught his wife with his pastor in an intimate situation. Can you imagine that? That pastor's got something to answer for him 1 day. So he was hurt. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:41:09]: He was angry. I said, you're not angry at them. You're angry at God. So I prayed. I said, God's gonna show you today how much he loves you. And he okay. Yeah. Yeah. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:41:19]: Yeah. So he gets out of my car, and I see him get on his cell phone back in the day where he had the big cell phone in jail with the antennas and stuff. He had a cell phone. Yeah. So I see him talking. I drive back. And as I'm driving back about a 20 minute ride back to Brentwood, I'm repenting to God and the Holy Spirit because I just put him on the spot. God, I'm sorry that I told him that you would show him today how much you love him. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:41:41]: I repented of that, and I got back to my office. I no sooner come in the door, and Armand Morales, the leader of our group says, Kimo, the guy's on the phone again. So I get on the phone and I'm thinking, oh, what's he gonna say? He says, I gotta tell you, he says, after I got out of your car, I called a friend of mine who's with the Promise Keepers, and he's gonna come down and and counsel me for a while, and he got me 3 nights at the Stouffer's Hotel. Well, this was gospel music association week at the Stouffer's Hotel. Every room is booked because you got every Christian artist in the world staying in that hotel. Somehow, he got him a room. So I'm going, hallelujah, because I realized to me that was the miracle. I said, oh, no no no no. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:42:21]: That's not what I called about. He said, I'm walking down to the hotel to meet this friend of mine, and I walked past the alley behind the the hotel. I just happened to look down and off to my right is a white envelope. I reached down, I picked it up, and I flipped it over, and written on the outside it says, God loves you. And I opened up the envelope, and there was a $50 bill in there. Whoo. Chicken skin. That was 1 of those moments that I was prompted by the Holy Spirit. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:42:55]: I didn't know where the conversation was going. And this is not about me. This is all about God. But I saw potential, and I moved with an expectation that God was going to reach him, touch him. I never heard from him again after that. I don't know whatever happened, but clearly something changed, I'm sure, in his life. 1st Peter says, oh, you know, as Peter and John, as their ministries progressed, their faith and conviction, of God's willingness to answer their prayers grew. We see this in the words in the New Testament books that are written a little bit later. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:43:33]: 1st Peter 312, this is Peter talking. He says, the eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to all prayers. So he was, this is farther down the road. He had witnessed acts chapter 1, acts chapter 2, acts chapter 3, all the way through the book of apps, what was happening. And he was seeing these miraculous things, and his faith was strengthened as he went forward. In 1st John, remember John is here too. He's the quiet 1. He's just sitting there. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:43:58]: In 1st John, it says, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. It's amazing, yeah? Remember the scripture, John 14:12? I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works as I have, and even greater works because I am going to be with the Father. So what is this greater work? You think raising people from the dead is the greater work. Yeah? Was it healing a man so he could walk or bringing the man into the kingdom of God? What's the greater work? We think in the temporal. We don't think in the eternal. If I can fix this guy right now, that's the most important thing can happen. No. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:44:49]: Can I bring this guy into the kingdom so he lives eternally in God's kingdom and God's presence? That's the greater thing. That doesn't mean that you don't pray for healing right then and there. But the greater thing Jesus is referring to is you're gonna go out and build my kingdom. You're gonna touch people's lives. You're gonna see them change. You're gonna see them transform. You're gonna see that potential, and they're gonna develop an expectation that God is gonna move in great power. That's that's amazing. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:45:17]: It's hard for us to embrace that value, that eternal value when we're suffering right now. Right? Because all we can see is what's happening right here. Anyway, let's go ahead and dock this ship, yeah? Naval turn. The 4 things again as we close. When we come to church, let's come to take part, not to just show up. Yeah? Greet friends, family, especially those you have not met before. Talk to people. I love to meet new people. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:45:48]: Number 2, recognize the potential in others. You may be setting the stage for a miracle. See them with your eyes, see them with your eyes and with your heart. See them with your eyes and with your heart. Number 3, approach each day with an expectation that God will use you to touch someone's life. Remember the Holy Spirit is ready, willing, and able to use you. And then finally, listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and be ready to act upon it. Live daily in close relationship with the Holy Spirit through prayer, meditating on the word, and being available to be used by the Lord. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:46:28]: Amen? Is that good? Is that okay? All right. Can I bring the brother up here who's gonna close? Who's that? I think he went home. Okay, let me go ahead and pray, and then whoever else is coming up, Derwin, is it you? Okay, all right. Father, in the name of Jesus, we're so grateful for your word, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, father, that you build us up, that you increase our faith, that you give us an expectation, that you see potential in each and every 1 of us, lord. Help us to live out our faith, not, and to take part, not just to stand off to the sidelines, Lord. Help us to be engaged with the things that you want for your kingdom and the people that you want in your kingdom. Pastor Kimo Walz [00:47:09]: So we just commit this time to you. We just thank you, Father, for your love for us. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.