And I said, Jesus, how do I reach these people?
Speak, Lord, your servant's listening. And just
like when you see an animal get branded, that's
the only way I can describe it. I felt the branding
of God's voice on my soul. I want you to make
a large wooden cross and begin walking through
the streets of Tulsa on Good Friday. God promises
in Joel 2 .28 to pour His Spirit out on all humanity.
Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend
for that promise outpouring, we equip for that
outpouring, so that we may engage in that very
outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss.
Welcome to the podcast today. We are so delighted
to have with us a friend who is very, very dear
to our hearts. We haven't seen each other for
many years, but his name is Keith Wheeler. Perhaps
you've heard of him. Maybe you haven't. But he
is a man of God that has taken up his cross and
followed Jesus, literally. Jesus challenged him
to take up his cross, to build a 12 -foot cross
and carry it around the world. And he has been
doing that now for many years. And he's going
to share some of his testimonies on this episode.
And you're going to be really blessed with how
the Lord has led him in his work. That is Jesus'
work. Thanks so much for joining us today. We
are so encouraged with the goodness of God in
this episode. You're going to really enjoy it.
But before we get started, we want to encourage
you, if you haven't already done so, that you
go out to our website, globaloutpouring .net,
and make sure that you have subscribed to our
email lists and that you take the opportunity
to leave us some feedback or write us an email
at feedback at globaloutpouring .org. Enjoy the
things that we have out there on our website.
And I think this is one of those episodes that
you're going to want to share with others. So
share this on social media or send a text with
a link to it to your friends. This is going to
be a life changing episode. Keith Wheeler, it
is such a delight for us to have you with us
on this Global Outpouring episode. I'm so delighted.
It's been really a long time since we've been
connected, but we've been connected for many
years. Yes. So welcome. Welcome to this episode.
What a treat. Thanks for the gift of your all's
time. I really appreciate it. We appreciate the
gift of your time because we know that, well,
you're just getting ready to go on another long
walk. But we'll get to that in a minute. Let's
just go back for a moment. You were raised not
so very far from here, just in the big town nearby.
We're in the little town south of little town
of Jasper, which is population about 500. So
Harrison is. Not quite three times bigger. About
13 ,000. Anyway, we're just so delighted that
you're here. And just tell us a little bit about
how we got connected in the first place and how
long ago was that? It was a long time ago. Once
again, thank you, guys. It's such an honor to
be reconnected with you all. I grew up and went
to Harrison schools, but I grew up out in the
country more. on the north side of Harrison,
out toward Bergman and Bled Hill. My nearest
neighbor was two and a half miles away. Wow.
So I really grew up out in the country. Went
away to school. I tell people my short story,
and I hope this makes sense, is I was a Christian
for 20 years, and then I met Jesus. Okay. Or
you could say that I loved Jesus for 20 years.
And then I fell in love with him. Oh, yes. There's
a number of other ways of saying that. And out
of that, he gave me the beautiful invitation
eventually of carrying a cross, of walking together
with him and carrying a cross. And I try to always
be really clear up front. I'm often introduced
as this is a guy who's carried a cross around
the world. And I said, if that's... true, if
that's all it is, then I'm just a Christian tourist,
a spiritual adventurer. Because the cross without
Jesus is meaningless. The cross without Jesus
is, minus Jesus, it's still the greatest device
of torture, the most heinous thing that mankind
has ever come up with. But with Jesus and his
redemption of the cross, it becomes the greatest
symbol of hope and peace and unconditional love.
of faith that there ever has been. And my journey,
if I'm just a guy who's carried a cross around
the world, minus Jesus, then that's all I am
is a Christian tourist. But if he can redeem
the cross, then that means he can redeem me.
And if he can redeem me, then he can redeem others.
And I don't call it his commission or his commandment.
It's his invitation. The creator of the heavens
and the earth. The one who breathes stars and
calls them by name is the one and the one who
knows how many hairs are on my head. Right. He's
the one who has invited me to sit on the front
row center stage and watch him do what he does
best. Oh, I love that. And he blesses. He changes
people's lives forever. He touches them. He heals
them. He saves them. He delivers them. And the
world pays premium prices to sit front row center
stage, whether it's 50 -yard line at the Super
Bowl or midcourt, seventh game, NBA finals, or
whatever your favorite recording artist is or
band. But here's the creator of all, the king
of all. And he says, I want you to sit here and
I'm going to do it and I'm going to let you watch
me do it. That's beautiful. So he did. In 1985,
on Good Friday, he invited me to begin carrying
the cross and walking together with him. How
did that happen? How did that happen? Tell us
the story. Well, I'll back up just a little bit
to get to that first question. That was kind
of a long introduction. Sorry. That's a good
introduction. But it was five years into celebrating
that. I was invited by some local pastors in
the Jasper area. to come celebrate five years
of carrying the cross. And one of those pastors
was a pastor by the name of Earl Bergman. And
he pastored there in a little community church
right there at the bottom of the hill of Highway
7, just south of Jasper. It was my first time
ever speaking in a church. He had heard me. First
time ever. Now, just to give context, Earl Bergman
was Gwen Shaw's brother. Correct. They're both
in heaven now. And that's where I was going because
his sister happened to come to the service that
night and attend. And after the service, my first
sermon, she came up to me and she said, young
man, I would love for you to bring the cross
to Washington, D .C. and speak at our international
convention there in Washington, D .C. And I think
that was in... 96 or 97 when I got to do that.
And that actually set the stage for me many years
later. But on either that first or second Washington,
D .C. event that I got to attend and speak at,
which it just shows what an incredible lady Sister
Gwen was. But she could see things that... The
rest of us couldn't because I was definitely
a shepherd boy out in the backside of the wilderness.
And she saw something that even I had no idea.
And I still don't really see myself as a speaker.
I think that's why God called me to carry the
cross. He said, you know, he's not a great speaker.
He's not real handsome. He can't sing for sure.
But he loves me. He loves people and he can carry
wood. And he's given me that privilege. But it
was out of that that... She and I developed a
beautiful friendship, and I got to come to your
events. But on that second one, I think in Washington,
D .C., she said, I have a place for you to stay.
And I said, well, that's great. And it was the
Iranian embassy. Seriously? I mean, how many
Americans actually have gotten to sleep in the
Iranian embassy? And I thought, if I can sleep
in the Iranian embassy, I can carry the cross
in Iran. And shortly after that, maybe a year
or two later, I actually carried the cross in
the nation of Iran for 19 days. Wow. That all
goes back to my journey with her. The journey
with the cross in answering your question is,
as I said, I was Christian. I was a good Christian.
And we have a saying there in the hills that
says just because there's paint on the outside
of the barn doesn't mean there's not manure on
the inside. That was truly a story of my life.
I tell people my story and it's important to
listen closely or you miss something really important.
My parents were hippies when I was growing up.
I don't know if they were hillbilly hippies or
hippie hillbillies. But things were pretty crazy
at my house. But my parents always believed in
me and believed in my dreams. And I was an athlete.
And they sent me to a Christian athletic camp.
And there I heard about being a Christian. And
they told me about the beauty of heaven, the
horror of hell. And I think any seven -year -old
boy would say, I choose heaven. Anybody in their
right mind will. I'm going to become a Christian.
It was really quite an easy decision. They said,
next step, you need to go to church. There's
a lot of choices. And if your parents don't go
to church, where do you go? Especially if you
live in the country. Yeah. But I knew a girl
that I kind of liked, and she was Catholic. And
so I decided I would become Catholic. I went
through catechism, through confirmation classes.
And in order to be baptized, though, I had to
drive all the way over to Siloam Springs, where
the bishop was. And I was baptized in Siloam
Springs. But there was another pretty girl and
she went to the Episcopal Church. So you got
to cover your bases. And I went through their
confirmation classes and was baptized and had
communion in the Episcopal Church. I played basketball
with a friend who went to the Lutheran Church.
And so I went through their classes, met his
pastor. We've gone past priests now. And I was
baptized in a Lutheran Church. Played football
with a friend who went to the Presbyterian Church.
So those are just the ones that you have to have
confirmation classes. But I was also baptized
in the United Methodist, the Disciples of Christ,
Evangelical Free, Assemblies of God, Independent
Charismatic, American Baptist, Missionary Baptist,
and multiple times in the Southern Baptist Church.
So whatever your theology is, I'm covered. I've
been sprinkled, splashed, dunked, held under
bubbles. Either the wettest or the cleanest Christian
you've ever met. And then they said, now you
have to pray. And I've always been an overachiever.
And so I said, how much? And they said, well,
one hour. And the baptism I didn't mention. was
I was baptized before those baptisms because,
as I said, my parents were hippies, and they
did transcendental meditation. So my parents
had made us be baptized into transcendental meditation,
actually by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. And I
got sprinkled, and I got a mantra. And you're
not supposed to tell your mantra to anybody.
Mine was not om. Mine was ing, I -N -G. shared
with my sister. Well, she got the same one. So
I'm wondering if they didn't distribute ings
to everybody that day. I don't know. But we had
to go to our room for an hour. My parents wanted
us to go meditate for an hour. And I had to say
the word ing for an hour. You just come up with
different ways of inging. So when they said that
I need to pray for an hour, praying was much
easier than inging. So that was easy. They said,
now read your Bible every year from cover to
cover. And I love to read. So I did that every
year. And one year I made it through three times
in a year. And then they gave me the don'ts.
Don't smoke while I was training for the Olympics.
So that was easy. And putting fire in my mouth
never made sense anyway. And don't drink. And
I'd done it once. And I saw how silly it made
some of my. parents and their friends act. And
so no, thank you. And when I did drink one time,
it tasted like fire. So, okay. And again, I'm
training for the Olympics and don't chase the
girls. That was a little bit harder, but, but
I, I'm a rule keeper and I was a straight A student.
I was an all American athlete. And once again,
I had a beautiful coat of paint on this Christian
barn, but there was manure on the inside. And
if you listen to my story at the first, I didn't
say anything about Jesus. I said I became a Christian.
I'm sure I probably would have gone to heaven
because, I mean, I could tell you apologetics.
I mean, I met him, but I didn't know him. There's
a huge difference. And one night on a beach in
Florida, I realized, and it's a long story, I
won't go into it, but it's a beautiful story.
Actually, I have this on my desk. I don't know
if you can see, but it's a railroad spike. It's
about the size of the nails that must have gone
through Jesus' hands. Sharp enough to penetrate
the skin, but dull enough to cause as much tissue
damage as possible and heavy enough to hold a
man's weight. And I realized that it wasn't the
Roman soldier who put him there with those nails.
It wasn't the decision of the Jewish lawyers
and judges. If he died for my sin, I'm guilty.
of the murder of God in the flesh when he came
to this earth to show us his love. And yet he
said, Father, forgive them. But he included me
in that. Forgive him. He doesn't know what he's
doing. And then he said, it's finished. And literally
he said, it's paid in full, my price. And I fell
in love. I fell head over heels, hopelessly,
madly, crazy, twitterpated, thunkerpated, upside
down in love with the king of all. And when I
did that, I had been pursuing the Olympic medal.
I felt like he said, who is Lord, me or that
gold medal? I was training 12 to 14 hours a day
in the summertime. Would you be willing to give
me the same amount of time, energy, and training?
Blood, sweat, and tears. It's a no -brainer,
yes. So I did. I skipped nationals that year.
delivered Bibles. It was still Soviet Union.
I was arrested three times by the KGB. I didn't
have to serve it, but I did end up, it's a long,
really hilarious story, but I almost faced a
two and a half year prison sentence and almost
had to serve it in Soviet Union before there
was Russia. And so I saw what real faith was.
And then I had just graduated by now. And I had
this thirst to know the Bible better, transferred
to, came up here for graduate school in Tulsa,
Oklahoma at Oral Roberts University. If I would
have known it was seminary, I wouldn't have gone
because in my world, seminary was cemetery. That's
where preachers go to die. But God knew what
he was doing. And he had me there for a reason.
After three days, I turned to the guy next to
me. I said, bro, this is just like seminary.
And he looked at me and said. son, where do you
think you are? Honestly, I had no idea. And I
tried to leave multiple times. Again, long story,
beautiful story, but God had me there. I'm so
thankful because while I was there, I had to
write a paper on the Holy Spirit. Every student
that attends, whether you're a graduate student
or undergraduate student, you have to write this
paper, whether you're in seminary or... whether
you're in a business class or whether you're
in education, everybody at the school has to
write a paper on who is the Holy Spirit. What
is his purpose? What is the evidence of his work
in our life? And if you remember my resume of
churches, I attended a lot of different perspectives
on the Holy Spirit. Some said that dispensation
of the Holy Spirit, miraculous, the voice of
God was all past. And others say. Everybody has
to speak in tongues. And if you don't, you're
not saved. And you have to speak so loud and
so many decibels and so many syllables per second.
And I looked and said, Jesus, what do you say?
And I came across a verse in Acts chapter 1,
verse 8. And I would say this. I would add this.
I ran across this phrase. I don't know who to
attribute it to. They said, the issue is not
tongues. The issue is the tongue. And I thought,
yeah, that was really powerful. But Acts chapter
one, verse eight, Jesus speaking to the disciples
said, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you and you shall. And he didn't say
a thing about speaking in tongues or not. You
shall be witnesses. Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria,
the uttermost parts of the earth. I don't ever
want to be a cherry picker when it comes to Bible
verses, but that seemed pretty. clear. But Jesus
in Luke chapter four, when he opens the scroll
of Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth, the spirit
of the Lord is upon me for he's anointed me to,
he didn't say anything about tongues or no tongues,
preach good news. And so then as I'm following
this thread, I read Mark chapter one, verse 17,
follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
And so I would add this at this point of my life.
He didn't say we're catchers of men. He's the
catcher. We're the fishers. And I would be very
clear. I've never led anybody to Jesus if the
Bible's true. He says no one comes to the Father
unless he draws them. If he is lifted up, he
draws all men unto himself. He's the author.
He's the finisher. He who began a good work.
It's not by might. It's not by power. It's by
my spirit, says the Lord. In fact, I'm 65 now,
so I think I can say this. It's an addendum.
If somebody has to tell you how many people they've
led to Jesus, then hide your wallet because all
they're after is your money. But it's true. I
mean, because otherwise we get glory and we use
statistics and numbers to pad our ministry. I
don't have a ministry. Jesus does. And it's his
ministry. to my life, in my life, and I pray
overflowing out of my life. That's my definition
of ministry. It's true, real ministry is simply
the overflow of a life lived in love with Jesus.
And so as I'm reading these verses, I, okay,
by nature, my personality type, I am probably
the shyest, most insecure, fearful, timid person
you've ever met. Now I'm adventurous as far as...
climbing rocks and mountains and swinging off
vines and pole vaulting and all of those kind
of things. But talking to strangers, I'm a hillbilly
boy. I'm a country boy that I would just rather
be out in the woods. But God didn't call me according
to my strength. He called me according to my
weaknesses so that he might be made strong. And
so I remember reading those verses and I said,
Lord, am I even? filled with your Holy Spirit?
Am I baptized with your Holy Spirit? Am I even
following you? Because I'm not witnessing. I
was the guy that said, my life will be a witness.
Of course, when somebody tells me that today,
first of all, the Bible says, how will they know
unless they hear? And of course, a lot of people
speak with their mouth, but not with their life.
Well, that's hypocrisy. But other people speak
with their life, but not with their mouth. That's
confusion. Somebody might think, you know, you're
a vegetarian or a football player. You know,
how will they know unless they hear? And so I
laid down on the floor and I was there for hours.
And this is before Toronto Blessing made this
phrase popular. This was 1984, fall of 84. More,
Lord, more. God, give me more of you. More, Lord.
Crying and praying and repeating it over and
over, desperate for more of God so that I would
feel different so that I could go tell people
about Jesus. And after nearly four hours, I felt
like Jesus said to me, shut up and listen to
me. I felt like he said, son, I'm not a stock.
I'm not a commodity. You cannot buy or sell or
trade me. I'm not a part or a parcel or a portion.
I'm all that I ever was. I'm all that I ever
will be. I'm all that I am. And when I came to
live with you, everything I ever was, everything
I ever will be, all that I am, came to live with
you. The question is not you getting more of
me. It's me getting all of you. And I said, OK,
don't feel different. Don't look different. Probably
don't smell different. So I'm going to go tell
people about Jesus. And I got my big Ryrie study
Bible and the best tracks I could get were cartoons.
And, you know, they basically said everybody
else is going to hell except me. And I thought,
OK, where? Remember, this is 1984. The materials
we have available today weren't available then.
Where are lost? people. And I thought, has to
be bars. Everybody always told me, stay away
from bars. So remember, I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
And I know where the bars are. There's a section
of town, they tell you don't go. And in the 80s,
it was called the Restless Ribbon. And people
came from Texas and Missouri and Kansas and Arkansas
and would cruise up and down and bars all up
and down. So I've got my big Bible. Got my gospel
tracts and I show up at 8 o 'clock and nobody
was there. And I thought, you know, Tulsa really
is a Christian town. There are no sinners here.
And they all started backsliding about 9 o 'clock.
And by 10 o 'clock, they were really backsliding.
12 o 'clock is full on backslide. And the part
that I'm ashamed about is I'd been there four
hours and I didn't tell anybody about Jesus.
Because I use the excuse, I don't feel led. And
of course, now when people use that phrase, I
said, where is that in the Bible? And what does
feeling led feel like? Does it tickle? Does it
shazam? Does it gotcha? The Bible says as many
as are led by his spirit, not by feelings, will
be called sons of God. And the word of God was
written under the leadership. of the Holy Spirit.
So every word in this book, if I obey this book,
I'm obeying him. People often ask me, do you
have a word from God for me? I said, yes, read
the word and do it. And we don't have to have
a word. We've got the word. I'm thankful for
words, but we have the word. Too many of us are
looking for words and we're neglecting the word.
And so I was neglecting the word because I didn't
feel led. Here I am just wandering around with
a big Bible and gospel tracts, and my eyes are
sensitive to smoke, and I've not been awake much
past that. And I was looking higher and trippier
than everybody coming out of the bars and the
nightclubs. Two o 'clock, the bars close, and
I still hadn't talked to anybody. And three o
'clock, the cars were pretty much gone. And finally,
and I'm looking like a glazed donut by now. I've
never been awake this late in my life. And I
just said, Jesus, if you want me to talk to someone,
bring them around the corner in the next five
minutes or I'm going home. In your name I pray.
Before I said, man, someone came around the corner.
And there was an adrenaline rush. And I definitely
did not social distance. I, you know, this close
nose to nose almost. Sir, if you die right now,
you know, you're going to heaven. Jesus died
across the edge of the blood. Always again, it's
life. Praise the Lord. We're going to get saved.
And here I've got my big Bible, my gospel tracks,
and my big, glazy, glassy eyes. And the guy said,
you've got to be kidding me. And he said some
other things that weren't nice that I can't say
on a Christian podcast. And he spat on my shoes.
And I knew I missed God. That was burritos, bad
burritos. It was indigestion. Could not have
been God. So my car was one of the few left,
and I was backed up against a wall. I put the
key in the ignition. turned the car on and put
it in gear. And as I started to pull out a really
jacked up, kind of like a monster truck, not
quite, but big truck blocked my path. Tinted
window comes down and it was that same guy. And
he says, are you that guy who's trying to tell
me about Jesus? And I said, yes, sir. He said,
you really meant it, didn't you? Could we talk?
And he got down, left his car right in front
of mine. It wouldn't have mattered. I had to
talk. We sat on the curb and talked till the
sun came up. And I'd like to tell you guys and
anybody listening that his life was changed.
That's why I won't tell you how many people I've
led to the Lord. Only God knows the stories I've
prayed with lots and lots and lots and lots of
people. I just don't count. But how can I know
someone's heart? The Bible says, I don't even
know my own heart. Only God does. My heart's
deceitful above all things. But I will say my
heart was changed. My heart was changed that
night. Because I saw that those people that were
in those bars and those nightclubs, the people
that live under bridges, the people that sit
on street corners with signs, those people in
the gangs, those people around the world in terrorist
organizations, the people in mosques. And temples
that look different than me, different colors
than me. Those people in the high rises downtown,
the people on the other side of the fence in
my backyard. They're not monsters to run away
from. They're not creatures to be fearful of.
They're kidnapped royalty. Exactly. Men and women
created to be sons and daughters of a king. And
they've just been trapped. So I started going
on a regular basis. And then I got an idea and
I'm almost to the cross -carrying calling. I
made business cards. I should have incorporated
the idea, patented the idea, because I was the
first Uber service. Too drunk to drive home?
Call me. And it was great. I handed them out
at all the bars, and I was a friend of all the
bouncers because I'm getting rid of a problem.
And it's good because I need practice in sharing
about Jesus, and these guys need to hear what
I have to say. Of course, some of them were too...
drunk to tell us where to take them. So I can't
tell you how many we smuggled into ORU for a
night or two. So it's a different administration.
I think I've got amnesty now. But now I'm making
friends and I've got the front door. But then
I came up with another idea. And that other idea
was I met owners and managers. And I said, hey,
tell you what, Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon,
I'll come in and I'll clean your bathrooms, your
toilets. I'll clean your toilets so clean that
you can eat soup out of them. And they said,
why? I said, well, Jesus washed people's feet.
And I'm just here to tell you that the restrooms
at bars and nightclubs are pretty nasty the next
day. I can imagine. But God used that. And now
I had friends. that were owners and managers
and bartenders and bouncers. And they started
having me come in and speak to people table to
table. They would say, Hey, this person's going
through this. Can you talk to them? Can you pray
with them? And that led to even some nights when
they had live music, they would close. And then
they would ask me to pray, especially on Saturday
night, which wasn't by now Sunday morning, because
that was the only service some people would come.
And I'm sure. Jesus forgave me. But I just basically,
God, thank you so much that you love the world
so much that you gave your only begotten son
that whoever believes in him, that even though
the wages of sin is death. And I was just praying
scripture. And there was one little, it was a
little dive bar and there was a little old lady.
And I'll never forget her. It was right across
the street from the dirty movie theater. We would
go to her place and she would say, oh, you're
here. And she would unplug the guy in the corner
playing the guitar. She would lock the door.
Nobody else could leave. And she would stand
in front of the door or unplug the jukebox if
it was playing. And I had these little red stickers
that say, God loves you. And she goes, do you
have any of your red buttons? And she put them
on everybody. She goes, he's going to preach
to you now. And then at the end, she goes, don't
forget to pray that special little prayer. And
if I preach too long, she goes, it's time for
you to pray now. Or sometimes she'd say, keep
going. This is good. This is good. But right
across the street was the dirty movie theater.
And next door to it was the dirty bookstore.
I made an agreement. It was a Jewish man that
owned it. And he let us come in in the lobby
and talk with people about Jesus. And so by now,
as you can imagine, my friends are starting to
be. Homeless people. They're starting to be gang
members, people involved in prostitution, people
involved in drug use, drug dealers. This is my
flock. And it's beautiful. And I'll never forget
that it's been torn down since then. But near
Denver and 15th Street here, there was a bar,
a little dive, and I was there one night. And
two of my friends, Homer and Harold, they were
both homeless. They'd been drinking too much.
They weren't. Drunk, drunk, but they were drunk.
And they went outside and I went outside with
them, still talking with them. And Homer, he
was staggering and he broke his bottle. He was
holding it by the top. And he's joking with his
friend, Harold, I'm going to kill you. I could
kill you. I could cut you up. And in his instability,
he stumbles. And I'm standing 15, 20 feet from
what happened. The jagged edge of that bottle
went into Harold's chest and Harold was gone
just like that. I never had seen somebody die.
I'd seen bodies prepared at funeral homes, but
I'd never had seen life leave somebody, let alone
somebody be killed. And it shook me. And I just,
I went home and I said, Jesus, how do I reach
these people? Speak, Lord, your servants listening.
And just like. Like when you see an animal get
branded, that's the only way I can describe it.
I felt the branding of God's voice on my soul.
I want you to make a large wooden cross and begin
walking through the streets of Tulsa on Good
Friday. I got up and I said, Lord, I rebuke the
devil in the name of Jesus. That cannot be you.
And I opened the window to get some fresh air.
Again, Lord, I'm so sorry I was distracted. I
don't know where that thought came from, but
speak. Your servant is listening. And once again,
like fire, I want you to make a large wooden
cross and begin walking through the streets of
Tulsa on Good Friday. Okay, Lord, that's the
last time I'm eating fruity pebbles and pizza.
That is indigestion. I am not going to fall for
that one. And so, Lord, I love you. I love you.
I adore you. I worship you. Speak. Your servant
is listening. And a third time. And this time,
my prayer was, Lord, there was a guy at our local
Walmart. And this fella carried a cross and he
had a bullhorn and he wore a toga and pretend
crown of thorns. He yelled at people coming in
and out. He had hand -painted scripture verses
and slogans on the side of his van. Repent! The
kingdom of God is at hand! I said, Lord, you
got somebody. You don't need another guy. And
I felt like he said, son, that's the most religious
excuse you could ever give me. I felt like he
said, if I called you to preach, you wouldn't
say, but Lord, you got Billy Graham. You've got
all those pastors and all those people you look
up to. You'd be honored and you'd be really happy.
You just don't want people to think that you're
weird. The truth. I felt like he said, son, anyone
can carry a cross. Simon carried mine. Anyone
can die on a cross. Two thieves died beside me.
Thousands have died through the centuries. But
only I could die. for the sins of the world,
and I did it for love. And I want you to take
that cross and identify my message of love in
the highways and the roadsides of this world.
And I said, Lord, that sounds like you, but I
really need a sign. And almost immediately, the
phone on the wall rang. It was a friend. Keith,
this is crazy, but I just need to tell you, last
year on Good Friday, my best friend and my pastor
carried a cross. And I think God wants you and
me to make a large wooden cross and start walking
through the streets of Tulsa on Good Friday.
Wow. And I said, okay, Lord, that was pretty
good. But could you give me one more sign? Seriously?
I know. My walk, I'm telling you, my walk has
not been one of great faith. A lot of people
look at me and say, oh, you've got so much faith.
I said, no, it's been a walk of God's grace and
mercy. It's been a walk of love. I'm in love
with him. And I'm choosing to follow him. No
matter how hard it is or how weird it feels,
no matter what people think now. But my first
prayer when I picked up the cross was, Lord,
don't let anybody see me. But in between picking
up the cross the first time, I go to class the
next day and a professor who's going alphabetical.
My last name is Wheeler W. We were in the M's
like the Miller, Martin, Martinez. And he said.
Keith, for some reason, I think you're supposed
to speak next week. And normally we would select
the text. But he said, no. He said, I want to
select the text. And I think you're supposed
to speak on Mark chapter 8, verse 34. I look
it up. If anyone wishes to come after me, let
him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow
me. Okay, I'll do it. And we started walking,
prayed that prayer. And then later that day as
we're finishing. And the deal was. John was going
to walk a mile. I'd walk a mile and we were going
to alternate. John walked six miles and I walked
about 30 miles with the carrying the cross. But
at the end of the day, there was an elderly couple
walking, beautiful couple and had a perfectly
coiffed beard. She had perfectly coiffed red
hair and they were just stately. And they asked
if they could pray for us. And when they finished,
my friend said, you guys look familiar. Are you?
And he goes, T .L. Osborne, I am. And she goes,
and I'm Daisy, too. And his prayer was, and Lord,
send this man to the nations. And I'm praying,
no, no, no, no, no. And so I walked maybe three
times. And then the end of the story comes now.
This is the last part. Sorry to drag it all out.
No, it's beautiful. But I was visiting my mother
and father in Harrison. And for a weekend, I
was driving back. And as I got near, the highway
wasn't like it is now. It was two lanes, Highway
62. And as I came through a little town called
Choteau, I was approaching it, coming down a
windy road. Sun was setting through the forest.
And I don't know how to describe it, but in front
of my eyes, I could still see the road, but I
saw a Newsweek magazine. And the magazine had
my picture on the cover carrying the cross. And
it said, take the cross to Cape Town, Durban
and Johannesburg. Oh, wow. And South Africa.
And I like pull over, rub my eyes. I could still
see it. And I woke up my friend and do you see
anything? No, I don't see anything. I prayed
for them like Elijah did the servant that, you
know, open their eyes. There's more with us than
there are against us. Nothing. And then I look
and it was normal. But it was like that fire
that I described earlier, just burning in my
heart for two weeks. But I'm making every excuse.
I'm making the excuses like, I don't have enough
money to go. It's dangerous there. I've got a
great job. I'm in school. What about my family?
How do you get a 12 feet long cross on an airplane?
God makes more sense than that, right? So it
can't be God. God is logical. And so, no, I'm
not going to go. And I didn't. And once I said
no, that intensity of fire was gone immediately.
It was normal. Two more weeks pass. And I was
in part two of that class, the professor who
gave me Mark chapter 8, verse 34. And our assignment
was, and you have to remember, this is 1985.
And there's no... internet. There's no computers.
There's no cell phones. There's no YouTube. I
didn't have cable. I didn't have satellite. But
he wanted us to watch a Christian TV show. Christian
television was new in the area. And TBN had a
channel nearby. It was channel 17. And I don't
remember if it was UHF or VHF. And you guys remember
this, but some of the listeners may not. So I
had antenna. And you put Right. Tinfoil on the
top and you move it a certain way. You could
almost move your mouth a certain way and read
through what we called the snow. And I got to
the channel and the first words I ever heard
on Christian television. Yeah. It was, I later
found out it was a Kenneth Copeland convention
in Anaheim, California, Believers West Coast
Convention. And Paul and Jen Crouch of TBN who
owned the station that was airing this. had a
guest and that guest came up and the only other
guy I knew who carried a cross was the guy in
my Walmart parking lot. And this guy comes up
and he said, Kenneth Copeland says, what is God
saying to you? And he didn't introduce him or
anything. He said, well, brother Ken, God has
been calling someone to take a cross to Cape
Town, Durban and Johannesburg, South Africa.
And they didn't go. He said, I've always asked
God to call someone first. And if they didn't
go, I volunteer. I'm really tired. I just got
back, but I'm leaving next week to go to South
Africa. The man's name was Arthur Blessed. I
knew nothing about him, but he went in my place
and I made a commitment. Lord Jesus, I would
rather miss your will trying to obey than not
do anything at all. So I may get to heaven and
Jesus may laugh at me and say, son. He may scratch
his head. I didn't mean for you to actually carry
a wooden cross. I meant for you to preach the
cross around the world. But thanks for trying.
So it's been that journey of walking together
with Jesus, carrying a cross and getting to be
front row center stages as he does bless, touch,
save, deliver, change people's lives forever.
And that's what it's all about. Yeah. And that's
why we do this podcast. We want to see people's
lives changed. And we don't always hear any feedback
that anybody's was. Once in a while, we get a
tremendous piece of feedback about that. So does
the Lord allow you once in a while to get some
feedback to kind of encourage you? Well, yes,
yes. But he knows I don't need it. He is my encouragement.
He is my great reward. I hear people sometimes
say, oh, you're going to get to heaven and you're
going to see how God used you. No, I'm going
to get to heaven and I'm going to get to watch
how he worked. Heaven is about him. Yeah. And
it's not about me getting, I mean, the reward
in heaven is him. He fills heaven. True. And
heaven is about him. And the only reason we get
crowns is so that we can throw them at his feet.
Yeah. He's the worthy one. And so he is my encouragement.
One of my mottos has been, Lord, blind me to
what happens behind me. That way I don't, the
responsibility for the success or failure, that's
not mine. It's him. That's why I say it's his
ministry. My role, my calling has been to be
faithful. If I'm here and I've got another friend
that comes in the room and you guys have never
met the friend. I actually have a young man staying
with us. His name is Nate. He's from Norway.
But you've never met him. He's not here right
now. But if he comes in the room, and I would
say to you guys, I'd say, Philip and Sharon,
you guys have been friends for a long time. This
is Nate. He's my new friend. I would tell him
a little bit about you guys. I would tell him
about you all. And that's what I'd get to do
with Jesus. And you can't unmeet Nate after you've
met him. You can't. But it's how are you going
to choose to pursue that friendship? And it's
only a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart.
And so that's what I love is I get to watch.
I'll tell you a funny story that I heard years
later. I was carrying the cross from Panama to
Mexico. That's a long walk. And in the 1980s,
there was war in every country except Costa Rica.
I actually was in jail in Panama when Noriega
was leading there. But the war, obviously, the
big one we all knew about was in Nicaragua. You
know, the drug wars were in Panama. But El Salvador
had a horrible war. Honduras had spillover war.
Guatemala had the longest running civil war.
And eventually Chiapas. And that's where I faced
the firing squad was in Chiapas State in southern
Mexico. As I walked through, I don't know if
it was northern Costa Rica, southern Nicaragua.
This guy approaches me and he said, I'm a bad
man, but I need to carry your cross. And I said,
why are you a bad man? He said, I'll tell you,
but I'm a bad, bad, bad man. He's crying. And
anybody who wants to walk with me, I'll let them
because I get that time together with them. And
I knew what was happening. There's a tradition
in the church there and it's called penitentia,
penance. There's one called promise, and you
do something to get something. I'll carry the
cross so far if God will answer my prayer, or
God answered my prayer, so I'm going to do this.
Penitencia is the other way around. It's I've
done something really bad. I need to be forgiven,
so I need to suffer for a while. And so he has
no socks, but he takes off his shoes, and he
rolls up his pants above his leg, and he starts
carrying my cross. And he's crying the whole
time. I'm a bad man. And he told me he was a
bad man. He had beaten people up. He had shot
people. He had stabbed people. He'd used drugs,
sold drugs, misused drugs. He cheated on his
wife. He'd raped other women. He was a bad man.
And every time he would see sharp rocks, he's
carrying the cross. And the cross isn't... I
tell people when they say, how heavy is it? It's
heavy enough to remember. It's light enough not
to be a sacrifice. The goal is not to sacrifice.
Number one comment around the world, you're cheating.
Jesus didn't have a wheel. I said, you're right.
He didn't have a wheel, but my name's Keith.
And I'm not planning on dying on this cross.
But even if I die on this cross, I could shed
all my blood and it wouldn't take away one of
my sins, let alone the sins of the world. And
I couldn't come out of the grave on my own. I'm
walking to remind people of that. But the cross,
I don't know, you probably can't see on the screen,
but my collarbone has a lump there, an inch and
a half of the years of the weight of the wood
bearing down on my shoulder. The wood of the
cross has shaped my body. And so that's what
Jesus does with us. So this guy was trying to
be forgiven. by carrying this cross and stepping
on sharp stones. And if he'd see thorn bushes
or sticker bushes, he would step on those thorns
and sticker bushes. And he was just, I'm a bad
man crying. And the whole time I'm telling him,
you don't have to carry the cross. Jesus already
carried the cross for you. He didn't just carry
the cross. He died on the cross. You don't have
to bleed. Jesus bled for you. You don't have
to suffer. He paid the price. He suffered for
you. And I mean, there was even one point there
was broken glass. I mean, he stepped on twisted
metal, rusty metal. There was some broken glass
and he got down on his knees and he's walking
across his knees on that broken glass. Blood
just pouring down and he's sweating. And it's
like after 12 kilometers, which is about seven
and a half miles, we're on the top of, it's not
a mountain, but it's a high hill that he's walked
up. And it's like the light bulb went off. And
he says, you mean? I didn't have to walk with
you this whole way. That's what I've been telling
you. And I didn't have to carry this. No, sir.
Jesus already carried it for you. And I didn't
have to suffer and bleed. No, sir. Jesus' blood
was enough. And he's alive and I can know him.
Yes, sir. That's what I've been trying to tell
you. And he'll forgive even me and make me new
and make me clean. You got it, sir. And I've
never seen somebody get more saved. It was just
beautiful. Because it takes, by now, the cross
is off his shoulder. It's on his side, kind of
like it's leaning. Listeners can't see it, but
it's leaning on his side, almost like a pulpit.
And that guy, he doesn't bow his head, close
his eyes, nobody looking around, raise his hand,
none of that. He didn't sign an altar card. This
guy gives me the cross, jumps in the air like
the old Toyota LEAP, kicks both of his heels
together, hands up in the air, and he goes, Yahoo!
Yahoo! At last I saw him running down a hill,
both hands up. I'm free! I'm free! I'm free!
Wow. That's a pretty cool story right there.
First of all, how many of us got that saved when
we got saved? Really? Yeah. 20 years later, I
was speaking at a missions conference in Waco,
Texas. And I was one of the general session speakers,
but they had breakout sessions on specific areas
of the world. And the speaker for Latin America
wasn't able to arrive because of bad weather.
And they said, well, Keith, you've walked through
Latin America. How about you be our speaker?
And in my talk, I included that story because
of the whole idea of penance, penitentia. And
how we go about reaching people in that part
of the world. And afterwards, a man, obviously
from Latin America, came up to me. And ear to
ear, beaming, grinning. And he pokes me in the
chest. He goes, you're that man. And I said,
I'm sorry. He goes, that story you told, that's
my pastor. Wow. And I said, I'm sorry, what?
He goes, our pastor has told us that story over
and over again. And he goes, and I get to meet
you today. He said, I can't wait to tell that
story to my pastor. So sometimes, you know, you
don't know. But I don't care. I don't care. I'm
free. I really am free from whether you're threatening
to kill me because that's obviously happened
many times. People put guns in my mouth, in my
ears. One particular group had a sword to my
neck. threatening to cut off my head that urinated
on me, or whether you're bribing me with money
or not money, or life or death, prosperity or
poverty, I'm free. Praise or rejection, I'm free.
My Savior loves me, and my fairy tale princess
adores me, and I'm free. Beautiful. Beautiful.
Well, would you pray for our listeners? Yeah.
First of all, thanks again for the honor of being
together with you guys. It's really a treat.
Holy, holy, holy. You're so holy and beautiful,
beautiful. And we adore you. You take our breath
away and our hearts beat for you. I pray in this
talk and this time together that... That you've
allowed me to honor you and that I've lifted
you up. You could be seen. I pray for those who
have been hurt along the way. Maybe have gotten
their eyes on other things. Their eyesight's
been wounded and they can't see you as clearly.
Maybe they've just gotten tired and they've let
their eyes fall. But you give everybody who's
listening the grace to lay aside everything.
Just keeping them from running to race and fixing
their eyes on you. And would you allow them to
fix their eyes on you? Would you give them the
love for you that they'll never, ever recover
from? Yes. Would you burn the image of your face,
your beautiful face, your glorious face in our
hearts so that you are always before us? Would
you put in us hearts that want to lean on your
chest, lean our heads on your chest and hear
your heartbeat? Hearts that want to wipe away
the tears from your eyes today as you weep over
this broken world. May we bring a smile to that
beautiful face. And may our hearts be with your
heart. Would you not only lead each of us, everyone
listening, as well as Philip and Sharon and me.
Not only lead us by your voice, but by your whispers
and by your heartbeat. But you promised to lead
us with a glance of your eyes. May we become
so intimately acquainted with you and your face.
We just look to you and we're led by a glance
of your eyes, as the psalmist said. So we adore
you. We honor you. And we bless you. And our
hearts sing. Thanks for inviting us to follow
you. Thanks for inviting us to work together
with you. You can do it so much better without
us. And you invite us to do it with you. And
even though we're weak, help us to remember it's
not by might. It's not by power. It's by your
spirit. It's not only your wisdom. You are wisdom.
Yes. We come to you. It's the first point in
your sermon where you said blessed are the poor
in spirit. And we say we're poor in spirit. We
need you. Would you fill us? And as you said
to me so many years ago, you're more interested
in reaching all of our heart than you are in
all the world. Yes. Because when you get someone
whose heart is completely yours, you've got someone
you can reach all the world through. So we give
you all of us. We don't need more of you. You
need all of us. And we give you all of us, our
dreams. We give you our sin and our wretchedness.
We give you our problems. We give you our hangups.
But we give you our dreams. We give you our vision.
We give you our goals. We give you our callings.
We give you everything that you've given to us,
our strengths and our abilities. We give you
everything. And we pray that you'd find this
living sacrifice as holy and acceptable in your
eyes. And we just say, we love you. We love you.
In the name above all names. In the name, it's
the most beautiful name. Thank you for allowing
us to say it in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
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Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm
Philip Buss. God bless you with His overwhelming,
loving presence.