WEBVTT 00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:06.710 As you do so, just within this global context, 00:00:07.049 --> 00:00:10.490 that we're getting to hear stories from around 00:00:10.490 --> 00:00:14.150 the world, from people who have been friends 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:17.410 of Heights for a long time, so much so that the 00:00:17.410 --> 00:00:19.710 dream that it would feel like family is there. 00:00:20.269 --> 00:00:23.609 This next gentleman. I was asking him and he's 00:00:23.609 --> 00:00:25.670 like, I was like, I think you've been here like 00:00:25.670 --> 00:00:27.870 connected to Heights as a partner longer than 00:00:27.870 --> 00:00:30.109 I've even been on staff. And he goes, yeah, it's 00:00:30.109 --> 00:00:32.890 about 20 years now, which is just beautiful, 00:00:32.990 --> 00:00:35.649 right? It's just a beautiful thing. And then 00:00:35.649 --> 00:00:39.869 just to get you ready, okay? Just so you're ready. 00:00:40.649 --> 00:00:44.210 He is also known, the legend I heard of him as, 00:00:44.350 --> 00:00:48.369 is he is the Billy Graham of Cambodia. Yeah, 00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:50.210 that's pretty good. Would you please welcome 00:00:50.210 --> 00:00:56.030 Steve Hyde. It doesn't get much better than that. 00:00:56.229 --> 00:00:58.369 I mean, that bar is pretty high now, you know 00:00:58.369 --> 00:01:06.049 what I'm saying? Hello, hello, everyone. How 00:01:06.049 --> 00:01:11.870 you doing? Ready for lunch? All right. You know, 00:01:11.890 --> 00:01:13.989 I just want to thank the worship team. They are 00:01:13.989 --> 00:01:16.209 fantastic. They're back there listening, I hope, 00:01:16.290 --> 00:01:18.849 or crashing, whatever. They've been doing this 00:01:18.849 --> 00:01:22.439 all morning long. And I want to thank them. Sound 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:25.560 crew, media team, everyone, if you don't come 00:01:25.560 --> 00:01:29.700 to church, you can see it because of them. And 00:01:29.700 --> 00:01:32.040 if you bring kids here, there's people out there. 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:35.439 I bet there's hundreds of people that are making 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:38.400 this happen today. So just thank you to everybody, 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:44.780 you know, for making that happen. So, yeah, my 00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:46.659 name is Steve Hyde. I'm a missionary in Cambodia. 00:01:47.469 --> 00:01:50.250 I've been there for 32 years. That's kind of 00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:56.989 hard to imagine. I've been in Cambodia so long 00:01:56.989 --> 00:01:59.409 that they made me a citizen of Cambodia. So I 00:01:59.409 --> 00:02:01.909 actually have a Cambodian passport. I have a 00:02:01.909 --> 00:02:05.950 Cambodian ID card. I draw Social Security, which 00:02:05.950 --> 00:02:10.229 is almost zero in Cambodia. They give you a little 00:02:10.229 --> 00:02:12.469 bit of rice every month. And so that's Social 00:02:12.469 --> 00:02:15.870 Security. So whatever you were complaining about, 00:02:16.009 --> 00:02:21.719 it's way better. Yeah. But God's been good. God 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:25.560 called me 32 years ago to go to Cambodia. I want 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:27.759 to tell you about my wife. So I met my wife there 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.020 in Cambodia. We've been married 26 years. We've 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:34.199 got four kids. Yeah, we have four kids. My wife's 00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:37.360 name is Noi. She didn't come with me. She's Cambodian. 00:02:37.379 --> 00:02:39.280 She didn't come with me on this trip because 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:42.550 for her to travel for two days to get here. And 00:02:42.550 --> 00:02:44.789 then be here for four days and then travel two 00:02:44.789 --> 00:02:47.550 days back. She's like, you can do that, Steve. 00:02:47.990 --> 00:02:51.669 But anyways, I'm happy to be here. I love it. 00:02:51.949 --> 00:02:55.250 Cambodia is always hot. So it's always like 100 00:02:55.250 --> 00:02:59.009 degrees and about 100 % humidity. And so being 00:02:59.009 --> 00:03:02.409 here, it's very, very dry for me. But I haven't 00:03:02.409 --> 00:03:06.030 sweat yet. This is amazing. Yeah. I bet I could 00:03:06.030 --> 00:03:08.129 walk around the neighborhood for hours and not 00:03:08.129 --> 00:03:11.789 sweat also. I love your. Temperature and your 00:03:11.789 --> 00:03:13.849 climate. Although it is very cold, but I know 00:03:13.849 --> 00:03:16.189 that in four more days, I'll be gone and I'll 00:03:16.189 --> 00:03:18.569 be sweating again. So I'm looking forward to 00:03:18.569 --> 00:03:22.090 that. When I first went to Cambodia, when I first 00:03:22.090 --> 00:03:24.870 went to Cambodia, there were almost no Christians 00:03:24.870 --> 00:03:27.810 in the whole country. Most people that I talked 00:03:27.810 --> 00:03:30.729 to about Jesus had no idea what I was talking 00:03:30.729 --> 00:03:35.750 about. It was 0 .01 % Christian. There were so 00:03:35.750 --> 00:03:37.949 few Christians. There were only eight churches, 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:41.419 little underground hidden churches. Eight. in 00:03:41.419 --> 00:03:44.599 the entire country of Cambodia. And most of the 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:47.000 people that were Christians in those churches 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:49.840 weren't even Cambodian. They were just like Vietnamese 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.180 or immigrants that had come there or missionaries 00:03:53.180 --> 00:03:55.659 or that kind of stuff. They weren't even Cambodian. 00:03:55.780 --> 00:03:59.319 But God had it in his way that he decided he 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:01.699 was going to change the nation of Cambodia. For 00:04:01.699 --> 00:04:05.979 those of you that heard the name Cambodia, it's 00:04:05.979 --> 00:04:10.360 not Columbia, just to clarify. Some people are 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:11.919 like, you know, come up to me and like speak 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:14.580 Spanish. And they're like, hola, you know, welcome 00:04:14.580 --> 00:04:17.459 to America. It's not the country I'm in. I'm 00:04:17.459 --> 00:04:20.699 in Cambodia, which is in Asia, borders Vietnam 00:04:20.699 --> 00:04:24.100 and Thailand. And so that's where I am. They 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:27.699 speak a language called Khmer. And their language 00:04:27.699 --> 00:04:30.079 is very, very different from Spanish. So Spanish 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.300 doesn't work with me, nor anyone in Cambodia. 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:39.110 And so, but God called me 32 years ago. I was 00:04:39.110 --> 00:04:42.189 in, I had graduated from college, and I had started 00:04:42.189 --> 00:04:45.629 to go to Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, 00:04:45.709 --> 00:04:49.769 Texas. And I was a good Southern Baptist kid. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:54.139 And I felt like God was calling me into missions 00:04:54.139 --> 00:04:57.699 kind of somehow or whatever. So I was in Southwestern 00:04:57.699 --> 00:05:01.240 Baptist Seminary. And there was about 4 ,000 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:03.620 students there at the time studying master's 00:05:03.620 --> 00:05:06.220 and doctorate degrees to become pastors and that 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:07.959 kind of stuff. And I was in a chapel service. 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:10.939 And there was about 20 people in the entire service 00:05:10.939 --> 00:05:14.480 because it wasn't required. So nobody showed 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:17.019 up. Out of 4 ,000 students, only about 20 of 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:20.069 us showed up. And so I went. And there at this 00:05:20.069 --> 00:05:22.810 chapel service, I'm not insulting the school, 00:05:22.889 --> 00:05:24.990 by the way. I was just saying as a matter of 00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:27.329 fact. So in case that came out as an insult, 00:05:27.529 --> 00:05:31.750 sorry about that. But in that chapel service, 00:05:31.990 --> 00:05:35.790 I literally heard God speak to me. And all God 00:05:35.790 --> 00:05:40.970 said was, go to Cambodia. And then, like, the 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:43.750 service was over. But to me, it was audible. 00:05:43.910 --> 00:05:46.990 Like, I could hear it. And I knew it was God. 00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:50.899 This is very unusual for Southern Baptists to 00:05:50.899 --> 00:05:54.819 hear audible voice of God. You know, if you're 00:05:54.819 --> 00:05:58.639 from another kind of tradition, it's not so unusual. 00:05:58.779 --> 00:06:01.279 For Southern Baptists, it's quite unusual, especially 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:04.339 in a Southern Baptist seminary. It's quite unusual 00:06:04.339 --> 00:06:08.439 to hear. So we always say in the Baptist circles, 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.240 we're like, well, we've got to confirm it with 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:14.560 the word. And so I was like, well, okay. So I 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:18.019 felt like that was God. That was, there's no 00:06:18.019 --> 00:06:20.600 way to describe that. I like knew in my soul 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:23.040 that that was God that was speaking to me. But 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:25.399 I was like, well, I better confirm it in the 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:28.220 word. So I went back to my dorm room and I was 00:06:28.220 --> 00:06:30.579 like, I'm going to open up my Bible and I'm just 00:06:30.579 --> 00:06:32.699 going to, you know, crack it open and look down 00:06:32.699 --> 00:06:36.180 and read it. And then whether, whether what I 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:38.660 read is going to be whether I go to Cambodia 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:41.240 or not. And so I was like, well, if I go New 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:45.600 Testament, if I go New Testament. I'm pretty 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:47.819 much going to hit the Apostle Paul. You know, 00:06:47.860 --> 00:06:51.060 I'm going to hit the Apostle Paul. And so that's 00:06:51.060 --> 00:06:54.240 going to be go to Cambodia. If I go Old Testament, 00:06:54.579 --> 00:06:56.660 there's not, you know, it's going to be some 00:06:56.660 --> 00:06:59.439 battle or something like that. It's not going 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:01.759 to be the go to Cambodia kind of thing. And so 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.459 I was like, you know, what do I do? Do I go Old 00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:06.839 Testament? Do I go New Testament? That kind of 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:09.100 stuff. And then I felt like the Holy Spirit was 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:12.269 like, come on, dude. What are you doing? You 00:07:12.269 --> 00:07:16.329 know, just to paraphrase the Holy Spirit. You 00:07:16.329 --> 00:07:17.829 know, he's like, if you don't trust me, go to 00:07:17.829 --> 00:07:20.470 the Old Testament. And so I was like, okay. So 00:07:20.470 --> 00:07:23.529 I cracked it open to the Old Testament and popped 00:07:23.529 --> 00:07:27.069 the Bible open. And it all opened to Jeremiah 00:07:27.069 --> 00:07:29.750 chapter 1. And I looked down and I read this 00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:33.089 in verse 4. The word of the Lord came to me saying, 00:07:33.370 --> 00:07:36.750 before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. 00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:40.860 Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed 00:07:40.860 --> 00:07:47.240 you as a prophet to the nations. Who knew it? 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:50.600 There's missions in the Old Testament. Oh, my 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:52.759 goodness. And I kept reading. Alas, sovereign 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:55.040 Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak. I'm 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.759 too young. I'm just a seminary. I'm not even 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:00.819 graduated from seminary. How can you use me, 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:03.720 Lord? But the Lord said to me, do not say I'm 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:07.980 too young. You must go to every. You must go 00:08:07.980 --> 00:08:11.680 to everyone I tell you to. You must, and say 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:13.839 whatever I tell you to say. I lost my place, 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:16.860 but I've read the verse so many times. So then 00:08:16.860 --> 00:08:18.699 the Lord reached out his hand and touched my 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:21.540 mouth and said to me, I put my words in your 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:24.699 mouth. And I was just like, I knew that God had 00:08:24.699 --> 00:08:28.579 called me to Cambodia. And so then I went and 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:30.360 I was like, well, I know God's called me. So 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:33.080 I was like, this is unbelievable. I got to leave 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:36.860 right now. I know how this works out for people 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:39.360 in the Bible. I read the Bible and I know if 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:42.259 you say no to God, a bad thing's about to happen. 00:08:43.340 --> 00:08:46.940 And so I said, I got to leave right now. So I 00:08:46.940 --> 00:08:50.659 left my dorm room. So I went from my chapel service 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:54.340 to my dorm room. God used his word again to speak 00:08:54.340 --> 00:08:56.580 to me. The audible wasn't good enough. I'm sure 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:00.320 Moses was a Baptist, you know. You know, God 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:02.820 talked to Moses, and he's like, I want you to 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:05.440 follow me. And he's like, well, can you confirm 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:07.919 that? And God's like, whatever, dude, burning 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:10.720 bush, you know? And it's like, okay, then we're 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:12.519 going to do all these miracles. He got to have 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:15.700 been a Baptist, you know? Hard -headed, stubborn, 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:19.659 yeah, yeah. Sorry for you Baptists out there, 00:09:19.779 --> 00:09:23.429 not trying to insult you, just having fun. With 00:09:23.429 --> 00:09:26.370 you too. So then I went to a travel agent. This 00:09:26.370 --> 00:09:28.809 is before like internet and all these websites 00:09:28.809 --> 00:09:31.250 where you can just like book a ticket. I can 00:09:31.250 --> 00:09:33.330 book a ticket while I'm driving. I know that's 00:09:33.330 --> 00:09:36.029 illegal in Arizona, but in Cambodia it's not 00:09:36.029 --> 00:09:39.190 illegal. So I do all kinds of stuff, driving 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:41.309 and that kind of stuff. We don't have Frank down 00:09:41.309 --> 00:09:44.970 there in Cambodia. Fridays with Frank. He gives 00:09:44.970 --> 00:09:47.070 everybody a ticket. I would never want to meet 00:09:47.070 --> 00:09:50.460 him. Everybody gets two or three tickets. And 00:09:50.460 --> 00:09:52.659 if you don't know who I'm talking about, look 00:09:52.659 --> 00:09:55.899 at Facebook every once in a while. So I went 00:09:55.899 --> 00:09:58.259 down to a travel agent and booked a ticket. I 00:09:58.259 --> 00:09:59.679 didn't even know what the capital of Cambodia 00:09:59.679 --> 00:10:02.940 was. But we figured it out. You know, there was 00:10:02.940 --> 00:10:05.179 no internet or whatever. But we figured it out, 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.679 and it was Phnom Penh, Cambodia. And so we booked 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:09.559 a ticket. And you book a ticket, and then you 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:12.159 pay for it later. So I booked a ticket. And a 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:15.759 one -way ticket was going to be $1 ,088. I was 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:20.080 a seminary student. I didn't have $88, much less 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:25.919 $1 ,088. So I went back to my dorm room, and 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:28.320 I was going to pray and ask God, what do I do 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.720 next? Because I feel like I should go. In the 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.600 middle of the semester, before I finished, I 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:36.549 just feel like I need to go. And I knew this 00:10:36.549 --> 00:10:38.909 was God. And so I went. We have a little post 00:10:38.909 --> 00:10:41.090 office down below and little boxes and that kind 00:10:41.090 --> 00:10:42.769 of stuff. Open up my post office box. There's 00:10:42.769 --> 00:10:46.649 a letter. I'm from Iowa. So I'm from a town that 00:10:46.649 --> 00:10:49.009 even Iowans have never heard of. Any Iowans here 00:10:49.009 --> 00:10:52.960 today? So I'm from Barnum, Iowa. So you've probably 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:55.639 never heard of Barnum. It's about 20 miles outside 00:10:55.639 --> 00:11:00.139 of Fort Dodge, Iowa. And so 96 people. I was 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:03.240 number 96. And if you look at the census, it's 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:07.179 now down to about 91 people. So it hasn't changed 00:11:07.179 --> 00:11:12.799 much in the last 54 years. And I don't know where 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:16.240 I was going. Barnum, Iowa kind of messed me up. 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:20.389 Oh, yeah. So there was a letter. From a church 00:11:20.389 --> 00:11:24.470 secretary from a Baptist church in Iowa. It doesn't 00:11:24.470 --> 00:11:28.169 get any crazier than that. And a secretary from 00:11:28.169 --> 00:11:31.490 a Baptist church in Iowa never wrote me before, 00:11:31.549 --> 00:11:34.250 never wrote me after. She's in heaven now enjoying. 00:11:34.940 --> 00:11:37.519 what God used her. And I've told this story again 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:39.860 and again. I opened up the letter and there was 00:11:39.860 --> 00:11:42.100 just a short note there. And she said, God spoke 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:45.940 to me, a Baptist seminary, a Baptist secretary 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:49.279 in a church in Iowa. God spoke to me and told 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:52.759 me to give you my one month salary. And it was 00:11:52.759 --> 00:12:05.440 a check for $1 ,088. Having read the book of 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:19.179 Jonah, I left immediately that week. Oh, God 00:12:19.179 --> 00:12:23.120 is good. God is good. All my professors said, 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:27.240 nobody encouraged me to go. They all said, finish 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:29.059 your degree. There's always going to be lost 00:12:29.059 --> 00:12:31.899 people out there. Get your master's degree first. 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:35.559 Get a PhD. Then you'll be able to contemplate 00:12:35.559 --> 00:12:42.639 people better. I don't know. But just keep going. 00:12:42.820 --> 00:12:47.480 Keep going. And don't leave school because your 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:50.139 calling is still going to be there. But I just 00:12:50.139 --> 00:12:52.759 knew it. The way that God had spoken to me in 00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:56.299 that 12 -hour period, I knew that I needed to 00:12:56.299 --> 00:12:59.000 go and go immediately. So I did. When I got to 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:00.519 Cambodia, I didn't know where I was going to 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:02.259 stay. I didn't know who I was going to meet with. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:03.940 I didn't know who I was going to connect with. 00:13:04.019 --> 00:13:07.360 I ended up sleeping on the balcony of an orphanage 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:13.899 in Phnom Penh for several months so I could learn 00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:16.139 the language and get to know people and make 00:13:16.139 --> 00:13:18.399 connections and that kind of stuff. And even 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:20.620 house -sitted for Baptist missionaries that were 00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:23.080 there. That was nice. So I was still being kind 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:28.049 of provided for by the Baptist church. When God 00:13:28.049 --> 00:13:30.710 got me to Cambodia, it was a difficult place. 00:13:31.049 --> 00:13:35.090 When I landed on the plane into Cambodia, the 00:13:35.090 --> 00:13:38.870 airport was kind of like a steel building. And 00:13:38.870 --> 00:13:41.070 when we landed on the plane, we're kind of bouncing 00:13:41.070 --> 00:13:44.090 on the runway. It's like, I'm looking out the 00:13:44.090 --> 00:13:46.909 window. And it's full of like bomb scars all 00:13:46.909 --> 00:13:50.370 over the runway. Because during the wars, they 00:13:50.370 --> 00:13:53.279 had... You know, artillery and that kind of stuff 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.279 had hit it. And it's a very distinct, anyways, 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:58.720 if you've ever been in war, you know what it 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:00.879 looks like. You know, it's all the shrapnel and 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:02.879 everything rips the concrete apart and that kind 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:07.039 of stuff. But there were so many bomb scars and 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:08.559 that kind of stuff were bouncing down there. 00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:11.779 We get off, and there's military police. There's 00:14:11.779 --> 00:14:14.240 military police that are kind of the security 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.320 at the airport. And we go in this steel building, 00:14:16.419 --> 00:14:18.350 and people are trying to get. get to me and like, 00:14:18.470 --> 00:14:21.009 oh, take my taxi, take my taxi. Let me take your 00:14:21.009 --> 00:14:23.049 bags and all this kind of stuff. It's chaotic. 00:14:23.370 --> 00:14:26.110 And the military police had these shock batons. 00:14:26.110 --> 00:14:28.570 They were these batons with like electric shocks 00:14:28.570 --> 00:14:30.610 on like kind of like a cattle prod kind of thing. 00:14:30.710 --> 00:14:33.690 And they're shocking people. And like, it's like, 00:14:33.769 --> 00:14:37.250 people are like, you know, like, get back. And 00:14:37.250 --> 00:14:39.690 they're literally shocking them. And I was like, 00:14:39.789 --> 00:14:47.600 God, really? Here? You know? All the roads were 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:51.899 dirt roads, potholes everywhere, you know. You 00:14:51.899 --> 00:14:54.179 needed to be four -wheel drive in the capital 00:14:54.179 --> 00:14:57.500 city. It was horrible. There was electricity 00:14:57.500 --> 00:15:01.220 only a few hours a day, no stoplights, no, you 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:03.659 know, there would be traffic police that would 00:15:03.659 --> 00:15:07.019 sit at the intersection. This is traffic police, 00:15:07.299 --> 00:15:09.580 okay? So those are the guys with, like, a whistle 00:15:09.580 --> 00:15:12.120 and that kind of stuff with a rocket launcher 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:16.480 next to them. Traffic police with rocket launchers 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:20.720 and AK -47 strapped to them. And it's just like, 00:15:20.820 --> 00:15:25.840 Lord, really? Really? You know, couldn't we have 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.679 done the PhD or something, you know, and then 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:32.440 things clear up. But God had a plan. God had 00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:35.580 a plan. So I want to give you some examples from 00:15:35.580 --> 00:15:37.220 the Bible because I've read it and I think you 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:41.389 should too. Today I want to talk about living 00:15:41.389 --> 00:15:43.590 by faith and what that's about. And a friend 00:15:43.590 --> 00:15:45.929 of mine talked about living by faith is kind 00:15:45.929 --> 00:15:47.970 of like having a chicken line in front of you. 00:15:48.070 --> 00:15:49.909 And you need to decide whether you're going to 00:15:49.909 --> 00:15:52.029 cross that chicken line or not. And when you 00:15:52.029 --> 00:15:54.990 live by faith, you cross that chicken line, you 00:15:54.990 --> 00:15:58.549 know. And so I want to tell you about Abraham. 00:15:58.750 --> 00:16:00.429 You know about the story of Abraham. Abraham 00:16:00.429 --> 00:16:02.610 did incredible things. He's talked about the 00:16:02.610 --> 00:16:05.090 father of faith and that kind of stuff. And so 00:16:05.090 --> 00:16:06.490 you know all the stories. I'm not going to go 00:16:06.490 --> 00:16:08.889 through those stories because my timer is going 00:16:08.889 --> 00:16:14.669 down quickly. But as one of the stories really 00:16:14.669 --> 00:16:18.190 impacted me. You remember Abraham was promised 00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:20.950 to be the father of a multitude. You know, the 00:16:20.950 --> 00:16:26.129 father of his descendants would number. Greater 00:16:26.129 --> 00:16:28.629 than the stars in the sky and the sand in the 00:16:28.629 --> 00:16:32.409 seas, you know. And it's incredible. And he had 00:16:32.409 --> 00:16:36.169 no children. And then God gave him one son. God 00:16:36.169 --> 00:16:38.970 gave him one son. He tried to do his own way 00:16:38.970 --> 00:16:41.409 for a while, got Ishmael. And then he got his 00:16:41.409 --> 00:16:44.669 son, Isaac. And he got his son, Isaac. And then 00:16:44.669 --> 00:16:50.389 in Genesis chapter 22, God said this in verse 00:16:50.389 --> 00:16:55.309 1 to 3. Sometime later, God tested Abraham, and 00:16:55.309 --> 00:16:58.509 he said to Abraham, he said to him, Abraham, 00:16:58.769 --> 00:17:02.190 and he replied, here I am. Then God said, take 00:17:02.190 --> 00:17:05.890 your son, your only son, who you love, Isaac, 00:17:06.089 --> 00:17:10.789 and go to the region of Moriah, sacrifice him 00:17:10.789 --> 00:17:13.890 there as a burnt offering on the mountain that 00:17:13.890 --> 00:17:18.630 I will show you. What, God? What? How am I going 00:17:18.630 --> 00:17:21.859 to be the multitude of a great nation? Abraham 00:17:21.859 --> 00:17:25.640 is confronted with a chicken line. Is he going 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:27.980 to do it? Is he going to put his faith in God? 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:31.299 Is he going to trust God? Or is he going to say, 00:17:31.420 --> 00:17:35.980 ah, me and Isaac, we're going fishing. You know, 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:39.339 he had a choice to make. But Abraham, in verse 00:17:39.339 --> 00:17:41.960 3, here's one of my favorite verses in the Bible, 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.579 actually. In verse 3, early the next morning. 00:17:47.220 --> 00:17:50.359 Early the next morning, Abraham got up, loaded 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:53.519 his donkey. He took with him two of his servants 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:55.740 and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood 00:17:55.740 --> 00:17:58.599 for the burnt offering, he set out to the place 00:17:58.599 --> 00:18:01.859 where God had told him about. Early the next 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:04.220 morning, he left. And we know the end of the 00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:06.740 story. Abraham didn't know the end of the story. 00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:09.000 He had to make a decision. Was he going to cross 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:12.279 that chicken line and live by faith? Or was he 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:16.059 going to stay back and say, nah? That's too awkward. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.480 I'm not going to kill my own son. I'm not going 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:20.559 to do that. He didn't have the next chapter. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.859 We have the next chapter. We know the end of 00:18:23.859 --> 00:18:26.420 the story. He didn't. Do you know the end of 00:18:26.420 --> 00:18:30.720 your story? I don't think so. But God does. So 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:33.220 he's an example to us of somebody who lived by 00:18:33.220 --> 00:18:37.440 faith. Joshua is another great example. You know, 00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:40.079 he was selected to be of 12 spies to go through 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:43.519 the land of Canaan to spy it out. Remember, 10 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:45.259 of the spies said, oh, these people are going 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:48.180 to kill us here. You know, and Joshua, what did 00:18:48.180 --> 00:18:51.859 he say? Joshua said, God said we can take it, 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:55.700 so we can take it. He said, I'm taking it. You 00:18:55.700 --> 00:18:57.359 know, he stepped across the chicken line. He's 00:18:57.359 --> 00:18:59.660 like, we're going to do it. And it says about 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:01.900 Joshua, so we know the end of the story, he did 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:04.440 take it. And God used him to lead the people 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:07.460 of Israel. And it says when he was 80, so in 00:19:07.460 --> 00:19:09.480 the end of the book of Joshua, when he was 85 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:13.789 years old, he was as strong. And as vibrant as 00:19:13.789 --> 00:19:16.750 when he was young, when God called him as a spy, 00:19:17.029 --> 00:19:20.170 he could still battle like all the young people 00:19:20.170 --> 00:19:23.130 because he was still doing what God wanted him 00:19:23.130 --> 00:19:26.789 to do. He lived by faith his whole life. He lived 00:19:26.789 --> 00:19:29.369 by faith his whole life. Gideon is another great 00:19:29.369 --> 00:19:33.390 example. Gideon wasn't even a soldier, and God 00:19:33.390 --> 00:19:35.369 said, I want you to take the army and go defeat 00:19:35.369 --> 00:19:39.319 the Midianites. And Gideon's, you know, remember 00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:41.299 the testing thing, throw the fleece out, that 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:42.740 kind of stuff. He's like, I don't know, I don't 00:19:42.740 --> 00:19:43.900 know, I don't know. He must have been Baptist 00:19:43.900 --> 00:19:49.200 too. But prove it this way, God. Or how about 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:52.019 this way? Or how about this way? Oh, God has 00:19:52.019 --> 00:19:56.220 a lot of patience with us. So eventually he had 00:19:56.220 --> 00:20:00.839 10 ,000 soldiers. And they're going against the 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:03.559 Midianites, which are over 100 ,000 soldiers. 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:07.500 They were going to lose. But God kept saying, 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.960 okay, whoever's afraid. So God gave him a chicken 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:15.599 line. Who's ever afraid, go home. So what did 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.859 they do? Most of them went home. And so then 00:20:18.859 --> 00:20:21.920 they're left with a few thousand. And then God 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:24.380 told them, whoever drinks like a dog, you take 00:20:24.380 --> 00:20:29.099 them. So he's down to 300 people. 300 people. 00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:33.039 And what did God do with those 300 people? They're 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:35.420 like, chicken line, whatever. We're going with 00:20:35.420 --> 00:20:37.869 God. Wherever God tells us to go, we're going 00:20:37.869 --> 00:20:39.930 to go. They crossed every chicken line there 00:20:39.930 --> 00:20:44.890 was. And God used 300 people to defeat the entire 00:20:44.890 --> 00:20:50.950 Midianite army. Wow. Mary, to me, is a great 00:20:50.950 --> 00:20:55.109 example also. The angel Gabriel came to talk 00:20:55.109 --> 00:20:57.170 to Mary and said, Mary, you're going to have 00:20:57.170 --> 00:21:01.710 a baby. All right. Teenage girl, pregnant. Has 00:21:01.710 --> 00:21:05.789 that ever happened before? Oh, no, it wasn't 00:21:05.789 --> 00:21:08.210 my fault. Oh, yeah, what are the neighbors going 00:21:08.210 --> 00:21:10.950 to say? Yeah, they're going to say, yeah, whoops, 00:21:10.950 --> 00:21:14.809 oh, awkward, yeah. Why don't you quickly get 00:21:14.809 --> 00:21:19.089 married and, you know, wear a loose dress, you 00:21:19.089 --> 00:21:23.829 know, right? If Mary was around here today, what 00:21:23.829 --> 00:21:26.589 would be her options? I bet all her friends would 00:21:26.589 --> 00:21:31.150 say, get an abortion. Hide it. Get an abortion. 00:21:31.390 --> 00:21:35.599 Nobody will know. I want to tell you, 2 ,000 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:38.039 years ago, they had abortions too. They've had 00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:41.299 abortions since the beginning of time. There's 00:21:41.299 --> 00:21:44.019 a carving on it. So in Cambodia, there's an ancient 00:21:44.019 --> 00:21:46.440 temple there about 1 ,000 years old. And there's 00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:50.180 a carving on the back wall of the temple, which 00:21:50.180 --> 00:21:53.880 is a depiction of an abortion being done by demons. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.160 It was carved 900 years ago. It was carved 900 00:21:59.160 --> 00:22:02.849 years ago in Cambodia. Is it any wonder that 00:22:02.849 --> 00:22:06.849 death reigns over the nation of Cambodia? Is 00:22:06.849 --> 00:22:09.690 there any wonder that there's been genocide and 00:22:09.690 --> 00:22:12.750 millions of people have killed in Cambodia? They 00:22:12.750 --> 00:22:18.509 follow Satan, who not purposely follows Satan, 00:22:18.589 --> 00:22:21.230 but Satan wants to destroy everyone. He wants 00:22:21.230 --> 00:22:23.970 to destroy God's creation, and abortion is one 00:22:23.970 --> 00:22:27.450 of those ways. Mary had a choice. She kept her 00:22:27.450 --> 00:22:30.900 baby. She stepped across the chicken line. And 00:22:30.900 --> 00:22:34.440 she kept her baby. She probably endured shame 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:39.559 and insults. And she's the mother of Jesus. The 00:22:39.559 --> 00:22:42.599 mother of Jesus. She carried the Savior of the 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:47.160 entire world with her. The Bible says that Mary 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:51.940 is highly favored among God. The only one that 00:22:51.940 --> 00:22:55.660 the Bible says that, Mary's highly favored. Because 00:22:55.660 --> 00:22:58.259 she stepped across that chicken line. And then 00:22:58.259 --> 00:23:01.009 you got people like Jonah. If you've ever read 00:23:01.009 --> 00:23:02.509 the book of Jonah, you'll probably get to the 00:23:02.509 --> 00:23:03.930 end of the book of Jonah. And it's like, what 00:23:03.930 --> 00:23:07.670 on earth is that there for? It ends badly. Like 00:23:07.670 --> 00:23:11.730 God calls Jonah to go save the people, the Assyrian 00:23:11.730 --> 00:23:14.930 nation, you know. And what does Jonah do? He's 00:23:14.930 --> 00:23:17.210 like, well, I hate those people. I'm going fishing. 00:23:17.789 --> 00:23:23.170 And then God used him as bait. And so then in 00:23:23.170 --> 00:23:27.630 the stomach of the whale, he repented. Fortunately, 00:23:27.869 --> 00:23:30.619 if he didn't repent. He'd just become fish food, 00:23:30.660 --> 00:23:33.900 I guess. But he repented in the stomach of the 00:23:33.900 --> 00:23:37.539 whale. And then the whale or the big fish, whatever 00:23:37.539 --> 00:23:41.119 it is, spit him out. And then he goes to Nineveh. 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:43.680 And he shares with them the gospel. The people 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:46.440 repent. And then God doesn't destroy the city. 00:23:46.619 --> 00:23:49.519 And then it ends with Jonah sitting on the edge 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:52.900 of the city. And it's like, well, that's no fun. 00:23:52.980 --> 00:23:56.339 God didn't destroy the city. And that's how the 00:23:56.339 --> 00:24:01.970 book of Jonah ends. I think the point of Jonah 00:24:01.970 --> 00:24:05.450 is he had a chicken line. And he's like, no, 00:24:05.650 --> 00:24:08.730 no, I'm not going there. I'm not going there. 00:24:09.029 --> 00:24:14.809 He went fishing. But he repented. And then God 00:24:14.809 --> 00:24:17.750 said, I'll give you another chance. And he repented 00:24:17.750 --> 00:24:21.369 and he crossed back over. And God used him. But 00:24:21.369 --> 00:24:25.569 he still didn't learn his lesson. When God called 00:24:25.569 --> 00:24:30.480 me to Cambodia. For two years, I shared the gospel 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:34.539 and nobody came to faith in Christ. Nobody. Nowadays, 00:24:34.579 --> 00:24:36.779 I see people come to faith in Christ almost every 00:24:36.779 --> 00:24:40.920 single day. But for the first two years, yeah, 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:45.380 thank God. Thank God. The first two years, nobody 00:24:45.380 --> 00:24:47.500 came to faith in Christ. They didn't know what 00:24:47.500 --> 00:24:49.099 I was talking about when I was talking about 00:24:49.099 --> 00:24:51.299 Jesus. Nobody knew what I was talking about. 00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:54.339 But then one day I said, you know, I think we've 00:24:54.339 --> 00:24:55.920 been doing this all wrong. I've been doing it 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:59.380 the Baptist way. where you study the demographics, 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:02.359 you look for the right people, you have a certain 00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:04.960 plan that you go through and you share with them. 00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:07.200 And it just didn't work. Not that it was bad, 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:10.079 it just didn't work. And so we said, why don't 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:12.579 we ask the Holy Spirit, what do you want us to 00:25:12.579 --> 00:25:15.359 do? Who do you want us to talk to? Because it's 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:17.980 the Holy Spirit that points people to Jesus. 00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:20.460 It's the Holy Spirit that brings salvation to 00:25:20.460 --> 00:25:22.799 people. It's not us. We're just his hands and 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.319 his feet, that's it. I'm nobody special. I can't 00:25:25.319 --> 00:25:30.339 even play guitar. Or keyboards. Yeah. Yeah. Even 00:25:30.339 --> 00:25:32.500 though I had eight years of piano lessons. Yeah. 00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:38.599 My mom is still disappointed. Yeah. But we prayed 00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:40.900 and we prayed and we worshiped for three days. 00:25:41.220 --> 00:25:44.259 And after three days, so three days we just sat 00:25:44.259 --> 00:25:46.829 there and we're like. I don't feel anything. 00:25:46.970 --> 00:25:48.990 I haven't heard anything. I haven't seen anything. 00:25:49.049 --> 00:25:50.349 I don't know what to do. And finally, one of 00:25:50.349 --> 00:25:51.609 my friends who was with me, there were three 00:25:51.609 --> 00:25:53.910 of us there, he said, I feel like God's telling 00:25:53.910 --> 00:25:56.170 us to go to this village called Rosai Sro. And 00:25:56.170 --> 00:25:58.289 we go to this village, Rosai Sro, and there you're 00:25:58.289 --> 00:26:00.769 going to meet a girl, and the Holy Spirit's working 00:26:00.769 --> 00:26:04.289 in her heart. And so we went to this little village, 00:26:04.309 --> 00:26:06.269 and we're walking on these planks. There's raw 00:26:06.269 --> 00:26:08.250 sewage everywhere. It's just a slum village. 00:26:08.809 --> 00:26:11.690 And we see down these planks, we see this little 00:26:11.690 --> 00:26:13.829 girl sitting in front of a house, just like my 00:26:13.829 --> 00:26:16.430 friend said. He saw a vision of a little girl 00:26:16.430 --> 00:26:18.650 sitting in front of this house. So we went and 00:26:18.650 --> 00:26:21.630 we talked to her, and we sat, and she offered 00:26:21.630 --> 00:26:24.250 me her chair. She'd never seen a foreigner, huge 00:26:24.250 --> 00:26:26.710 foreigner like me, come into her village. Most 00:26:26.710 --> 00:26:29.329 Cambodians are about this tall and this small, 00:26:29.490 --> 00:26:33.730 and I'm not that way. And I went and sat in her 00:26:33.730 --> 00:26:37.500 chair, her only chair, her only ass. sit in her 00:26:37.500 --> 00:26:39.920 whole house, which looks like it's made of garbage. 00:26:40.259 --> 00:26:45.819 And what happened to the chair? It broke. How 00:26:45.819 --> 00:26:47.900 is she going to come to faith in Jesus Christ? 00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:51.740 It just broke her only chair. But we shared with 00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:54.720 her about Jesus. And you know what? The Holy 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:57.000 Spirit was already working. She came to faith 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:03.279 in Jesus Christ. Her name is Mom. And then her 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:07.940 mom, her mom came to faith in Jesus Christ. And 00:27:07.940 --> 00:27:11.039 today, she's the head of Operation Mobilization 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:18.160 for Cambodia. She has led thousands upon thousands 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:20.799 upon thousands of people to faith in Jesus Christ. 00:27:21.079 --> 00:27:24.039 Because we listened and we were obedient, we 00:27:24.039 --> 00:27:26.440 crossed the chicken line to go into this little 00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:29.299 slum village and we shared with them about Jesus. 00:27:29.539 --> 00:27:32.900 And he's done that day after day after day after 00:27:32.900 --> 00:27:35.650 day. I went into an area that was controlled 00:27:35.650 --> 00:27:38.069 by the Khmer Rouge who committed genocide, killed 00:27:38.069 --> 00:27:41.950 millions of people. And I met a female commander. 00:27:42.789 --> 00:27:45.750 And the same thing. The Lord was working on her 00:27:45.750 --> 00:27:48.109 heart, so I shared with her about Jesus. And 00:27:48.109 --> 00:27:50.490 she came to faith in Christ. And then God said, 00:27:50.569 --> 00:27:53.329 well, help educate her children. Her entire family, 00:27:53.390 --> 00:27:56.210 nobody ever went to school. Nobody ever got educated. 00:27:56.430 --> 00:27:59.309 She was educated. She could tear apart an AK 00:27:59.309 --> 00:28:02.430 -47, blindfold it, and then shoot you with it. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:06.720 before you could count to 10 backwards. She was, 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:10.099 and that's all her education was. And God told 00:28:10.099 --> 00:28:13.960 us, why don't you, I want you to educate kids 00:28:13.960 --> 00:28:15.880 like her and give them a chance and give them 00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:18.819 a future. I've now sent, I've raised over 300 00:28:18.819 --> 00:28:22.660 kids like that. I've sent 86 have gone into university 00:28:22.660 --> 00:28:26.599 and graduated from college. Never, their families 00:28:26.599 --> 00:28:28.819 had never even been to elementary school before. 00:28:29.059 --> 00:28:31.200 And now they have a completely different life. 00:28:31.500 --> 00:28:34.119 They have a completely different career path 00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:37.220 and everything. God has blessed them. God called 00:28:37.220 --> 00:28:40.940 me to help mothers that want to abort their babies. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:43.180 Abortion is completely legal in Cambodia. It's 00:28:43.180 --> 00:28:45.960 a communist country. The more you abort, it seems 00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:48.160 like the more happy they are. They have over 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:51.140 4 ,000 abortion centers in the tiny nation of 00:28:51.140 --> 00:28:53.460 Cambodia, which is actually smaller than the 00:28:53.460 --> 00:28:56.099 state of Arizona. So we have more than 4 ,000 00:28:56.099 --> 00:28:59.140 abortion centers. And women are having abortions 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:01.759 constantly. And so I said, well, let's go and 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:04.539 share Christ. Let's go and share Christ and share 00:29:04.539 --> 00:29:07.480 the love of Jesus with these mothers. And in 00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:10.440 the last 10 years, we've had over 3 ,000 babies 00:29:10.440 --> 00:29:15.500 saved from abortion. It's been incredible. Thousands, 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:19.119 thousands of mothers have come to faith in Christ. 00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:22.200 And with all these babies being born, we have 00:29:22.200 --> 00:29:24.599 whole communities now that didn't exist before. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:28.160 And it's been incredible what God has done. We're 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:30.980 doing a nutrition program now. We're doing livelihood 00:29:30.980 --> 00:29:36.240 training with them, giving them jobs and careers 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.839 and that kind of stuff. God is good. We started 00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:43.819 63 churches just from our crisis pregnancy center. 00:29:43.940 --> 00:29:47.740 63 churches out of that. God is doing incredible 00:29:47.740 --> 00:29:54.839 things. Every day, every day. There's chicken 00:29:54.839 --> 00:29:57.480 lines in front of me. And I think you've got 00:29:57.480 --> 00:29:59.960 those kind of things in your mind. You know what 00:29:59.960 --> 00:30:03.980 your chicken line is. You know what it is. Your 00:30:03.980 --> 00:30:06.279 chicken line is not my chicken line. Don't sit 00:30:06.279 --> 00:30:08.220 there and think, oh, I want to do like Steve. 00:30:08.460 --> 00:30:12.819 I wouldn't do that. You don't want the difficulties. 00:30:12.839 --> 00:30:15.839 I was on the front lines of a battle zone a week 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:22.000 ago with Thai Army and tanks, F -16s flying around. 00:30:22.779 --> 00:30:26.200 And I was on the front lines with Cambodian forces 00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:30.279 here, Thai forces here, and I'm right here. Because 00:30:30.279 --> 00:30:32.359 God said, I want you to go there and I want you 00:30:32.359 --> 00:30:37.000 to help the civilians. And I had zero fear. Because 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:40.119 I've walked with Jesus so much that when Jesus 00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:43.119 says go to the front lines of a battle zone, 00:30:43.700 --> 00:30:47.680 the ground is full of landmines also. I know 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:51.099 when I walked there, I was completely safe in 00:30:51.099 --> 00:30:54.309 Jesus Christ. Because I was exactly where he 00:30:54.309 --> 00:31:00.789 wanted me to be. I'm not bragging about myself. 00:31:00.890 --> 00:31:05.109 I'm just, I want you to know that to live by 00:31:05.109 --> 00:31:09.049 faith, I've learned from the Bible what they 00:31:09.049 --> 00:31:12.029 learned. That you've got to cross that chicken 00:31:12.029 --> 00:31:16.049 line. So some of you here today, I want to challenge 00:31:16.049 --> 00:31:19.789 you on two things. Number one is. Some of you 00:31:19.789 --> 00:31:22.410 can't live by faith because you haven't even 00:31:22.410 --> 00:31:25.829 fully given your life to Jesus. We have a word 00:31:25.829 --> 00:31:27.609 in Cambodia that we say for giving your life 00:31:27.609 --> 00:31:30.349 to Jesus. It means twi klun. And twi klun means 00:31:30.349 --> 00:31:34.569 to give your entire life and body over to Jesus. 00:31:36.150 --> 00:31:39.609 And I think some of us, when we say we want to 00:31:39.609 --> 00:31:41.670 believe in Jesus, we're like, okay, Jesus, I'll 00:31:41.670 --> 00:31:46.269 give you my mind. I'll give you my heart, but 00:31:46.269 --> 00:31:51.829 not my hands. Not my feet. Not my career. Not 00:31:51.829 --> 00:31:55.170 my education. Not my boat. Don't touch my boat. 00:31:56.690 --> 00:31:59.329 Okay, Jonah. You should name your boat Jonah, 00:31:59.509 --> 00:32:03.670 just to remind you. Remind you of people on boats, 00:32:03.750 --> 00:32:09.109 what happens. I love fishing, by the way. But 00:32:09.109 --> 00:32:13.549 some of you need to make a decision that today, 00:32:13.630 --> 00:32:16.880 I'm going to walk with Jesus from today. I'm 00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:19.400 fully going to give my life to faith in Jesus 00:32:19.400 --> 00:32:23.140 Christ from today on. And then others of you 00:32:23.140 --> 00:32:27.039 said, yeah, I believe in Jesus, but I don't want 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:28.880 to cross that chicken line. What will people 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:33.200 say? And your chicken line may not be going to 00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:38.319 a war zone in Cambodia or Ukraine or wherever, 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:42.619 Gaza. But your chicken line might be talking 00:32:42.619 --> 00:32:44.579 to your neighbor that's lived next to you for 00:32:44.579 --> 00:32:46.779 12 years and you haven't ever said a word to 00:32:46.779 --> 00:32:50.059 him. Your chicken line might be talking to a 00:32:50.059 --> 00:32:52.660 cashier that there's something in your heart 00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:56.559 that jumps when you see that person. But you 00:32:56.559 --> 00:32:58.319 know, it's like, wow, it's kind of weird to say 00:32:58.319 --> 00:32:59.900 something to him. So he's just not going to do 00:32:59.900 --> 00:33:02.400 it. That's your chicken. That could be your chicken 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:06.980 line. It could be helping a mother who's. who's 00:33:06.980 --> 00:33:09.240 full of anxiety, she's pregnant, she doesn't 00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:11.519 want to do, and you want to, you're just going 00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:14.359 to come around and love her. And hey, how can 00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:17.660 I help you? Whatever your chicken line is, you'll 00:33:17.660 --> 00:33:21.500 know. Just listen. Just listen. And whatever 00:33:21.500 --> 00:33:24.759 God tells you to do, do that. Your faith will 00:33:24.759 --> 00:33:27.700 grow. Let me just end with a word of prayer for 00:33:27.700 --> 00:33:31.440 you now. Lord Jesus, I pray that you will be 00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:33.799 with everyone here, that you'll speak to them. 00:33:35.240 --> 00:33:38.059 Speak to them in an incredible way in their heart. 00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:43.740 Let them know it's you. Show them that chicken 00:33:43.740 --> 00:33:47.599 line in front of them. And Lord, give them the 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:51.660 courage to step across it and say, okay, God, 00:33:51.779 --> 00:33:54.539 I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm 00:33:54.539 --> 00:33:59.539 with you. Let's do this. Lord, I thank you for 00:33:59.539 --> 00:34:03.660 allowing me to experience incredible things. 00:34:05.450 --> 00:34:08.349 To see thousands of people come to faith in you. 00:34:09.969 --> 00:34:15.929 To see broken lives mended. To see people that 00:34:15.929 --> 00:34:22.250 the world had no hope in or interest in when 00:34:22.250 --> 00:34:25.030 you got a hold of their life. Oh, you just did 00:34:25.030 --> 00:34:31.469 incredible things. Lord, help me to cross my 00:34:31.469 --> 00:34:35.489 chicken line today and tomorrow. that I grow 00:34:35.489 --> 00:34:39.750 in faith and I lead others to do the same. Thank 00:34:39.750 --> 00:34:43.750 you, Jesus, for being my savior and my master 00:34:43.750 --> 00:34:47.590 and my leader in what I do. Thank you, in Jesus' 00:34:47.730 --> 00:35:05.840 name I pray, amen. Amazing, right? And yet, I 00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:07.420 don't want you to miss something. The way we 00:35:07.420 --> 00:35:14.019 started, we started by this being about you and 00:35:14.019 --> 00:35:19.440 God. We started that this is, you're here because 00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:24.000 you need to hear from God. And while we've got 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:29.500 to enjoy hearing stories from Jamel and Steve 00:35:29.500 --> 00:35:32.199 about them hearing from God and them stepping 00:35:32.199 --> 00:35:36.929 out by faith. I just want to encourage you that 00:35:36.929 --> 00:35:39.289 we're going to slow down and have a moment as 00:35:39.289 --> 00:35:43.929 a family. And that moment looks like you having 00:35:43.929 --> 00:35:47.289 a conversation with God and going, God, what 00:35:47.289 --> 00:35:51.809 is my chicken line today? And then collectively, 00:35:52.030 --> 00:35:56.789 together as a family, we're going to have a moment. 00:35:56.829 --> 00:35:58.769 Because sometimes these moments get caught up 00:35:58.769 --> 00:36:01.590 in the personal, right? Like you sit and you 00:36:01.590 --> 00:36:04.059 have a really... in -depth conversation with 00:36:04.059 --> 00:36:07.699 God and then you feel really moved but you don't 00:36:07.699 --> 00:36:09.340 really act on it and then you get up and leave 00:36:09.340 --> 00:36:11.480 and you get into the parking lot or out on the 00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:13.980 road and something happens and then you completely 00:36:13.980 --> 00:36:15.960 lose what you were thinking about because now 00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:17.659 you're worked up about that and then you're on 00:36:17.659 --> 00:36:22.260 into football and whatever else, right? But today 00:36:22.260 --> 00:36:25.199 we're going to slow down and go, God, what's 00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:29.019 my chicken line? Where are you calling me to 00:36:29.019 --> 00:36:33.030 live by faith? And then we're gonna have a declaration 00:36:33.030 --> 00:36:38.809 of faith, a declaration of faith in action. That 00:36:38.809 --> 00:36:41.570 as you go, God, you are calling me to that. And 00:36:41.570 --> 00:36:45.369 today I choose to say yes. I'm gonna, I'm going 00:36:45.369 --> 00:36:47.570 to step across that chicken line, whatever it 00:36:47.570 --> 00:36:50.309 happens to be. And I wanna be really clear. There's 00:36:50.309 --> 00:36:54.150 some of you in the room that your yes is you 00:36:54.150 --> 00:36:56.449 have not said yes to Jesus yet as your savior. 00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:00.480 And so your chicken line is, is today for the 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:03.760 first time, I am declaring, Jesus, I need you 00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:06.099 to save me and I'm gonna cross that chicken line. 00:37:07.480 --> 00:37:10.239 But there's a lot of you because I know some 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:14.039 of you, I see you, I hear about you, what you're 00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:16.980 doing, how you walk with God. Some of you just 00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:20.739 need a fresh call to faith today. Some of you 00:37:20.739 --> 00:37:23.280 need a fresh call to your families and the things 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:27.619 that Steve mentioned. And for some of you, it's 00:37:27.619 --> 00:37:31.780 a fresh hearing from the Lord to go, God is calling 00:37:31.780 --> 00:37:36.179 me forward. And can I help you? It doesn't have 00:37:36.179 --> 00:37:39.840 to be going to Cambodia. It could just be to 00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:42.539 be faithful to what he told you in this moment 00:37:42.539 --> 00:37:46.199 about today. But the declaration is that we're 00:37:46.199 --> 00:37:48.360 going to stand and we're going to gather at the 00:37:48.360 --> 00:37:52.159 front. The people that go today, I am crossing 00:37:52.159 --> 00:37:58.380 that line and I am. visibly in a community of 00:37:58.380 --> 00:38:02.880 faith, gonna say, I am crossing that line. It's 00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:05.559 just a visible representation of crossing the 00:38:05.559 --> 00:38:10.519 line. It's a step of faith. Why? Because it matters 00:38:10.519 --> 00:38:15.139 that much that your faith is in action. So here's 00:38:15.139 --> 00:38:17.619 what we're gonna do. I'm gonna give you a minute 00:38:17.619 --> 00:38:22.099 for you to just talk to God and go, God, what 00:38:22.099 --> 00:38:26.909 is my, what is my, Step of faith today. And then 00:38:26.909 --> 00:38:29.250 after that, we're going to have a moment where 00:38:29.250 --> 00:38:33.070 you're invited to go, I will say yes today to 00:38:33.070 --> 00:38:38.230 what God is asking me. And I will walk with others 00:38:38.230 --> 00:38:40.690 to go, we're going to stand together as a declaration 00:38:40.690 --> 00:38:43.269 of what God's doing. So the next moments are 00:38:43.269 --> 00:38:45.610 yours to ask God, what are you calling me to 00:38:45.610 --> 00:40:02.809 do? of taking our faith from private to going, 00:40:02.909 --> 00:40:06.409 today I stand by faith and I will put my faith 00:40:06.409 --> 00:40:12.030 in action. If that's you today going, I am stepping 00:40:12.030 --> 00:40:14.570 in, I am saying, yes, I see the chicken line 00:40:14.570 --> 00:40:19.110 and I am crossing it by faith. Now I'm gonna 00:40:19.110 --> 00:40:22.730 count to three and then we're just gonna move 00:40:22.730 --> 00:40:26.170 to the front and we're just gonna gather with, 00:40:26.960 --> 00:40:31.539 each other and encourage each other. And so one, 00:40:31.619 --> 00:40:38.760 don't be a chicken. Two, it's by faith that you 00:40:38.760 --> 00:40:41.960 say yes to what God is calling you. Three, if 00:40:41.960 --> 00:40:44.000 you are here and you go, I am stepping forward 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:47.300 by faith into what God is calling me, come on 00:40:47.300 --> 00:40:50.559 down. Right where you are, get up and come on 00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:52.559 down. Don't let the enemy keep you in your seat. 00:40:54.539 --> 00:40:59.349 Come on down. We're going to pack the front. 00:41:01.250 --> 00:41:03.030 Come on down. Don't stop clapping. They're still 00:41:03.030 --> 00:41:07.650 coming. Don't stop clapping. God is working. 00:41:09.190 --> 00:41:11.570 I would ask this, that if you're a leader in 00:41:11.570 --> 00:41:13.670 the room, you come on down and put a hand on 00:41:13.670 --> 00:41:16.989 somebody. If you're a pastor or you're one of 00:41:16.989 --> 00:41:18.650 our life group leaders, come down, put a hand 00:41:18.650 --> 00:41:22.110 on somebody and just pray for them. You guys, 00:41:22.110 --> 00:41:24.869 this right here, I just need you to know from 00:41:24.869 --> 00:41:28.130 the inside. The enemy has not wanted this weekend, 00:41:28.429 --> 00:41:31.570 okay? So your step of faith, don't let the enemy 00:41:31.570 --> 00:41:35.809 try and slow it down. The enemy has been active. 00:41:35.929 --> 00:41:37.769 I could give you eight things that the enemy 00:41:37.769 --> 00:41:41.489 has not wanted you to be here and go, by faith, 00:41:41.489 --> 00:41:43.349 I will stand. Keep coming down. We can pack this, 00:41:43.389 --> 00:41:46.050 come down. Because we're gonna worship together. 00:41:51.489 --> 00:41:58.590 The courage to say yes. To go, I will walk by 00:41:58.590 --> 00:42:06.429 faith. It's amazing. It's amazing. Don't let 00:42:06.429 --> 00:42:10.130 the enemy, don't let the enemy take this moment. 00:42:10.170 --> 00:42:12.710 This moment is your plan. You plant your flag. 00:42:15.550 --> 00:42:17.250 So what we're going to do is we're going to sing 00:42:17.250 --> 00:42:19.269 gathered like this because it's uncomfortable 00:42:19.269 --> 00:42:23.769 and it's awesome, right? But by faith, we're 00:42:23.769 --> 00:42:27.730 just going to go, God, I am available. And then 00:42:27.730 --> 00:42:31.690 we'll pray, you know, whatever God does, he does, 00:42:31.889 --> 00:42:35.570 okay? So let me pray over you and then we're 00:42:35.570 --> 00:42:37.150 gonna worship together. God, I thank you for 00:42:37.150 --> 00:42:40.230 the faith of the people that you have stirred 00:42:40.230 --> 00:42:43.610 that are willing to cross that line of faith, 00:42:43.710 --> 00:42:46.170 of the chicken line today by faith to go, God, 00:42:46.250 --> 00:42:49.650 what you've called us to do, we will do. And 00:42:49.650 --> 00:42:52.889 so God, in one voice as a family declarative, 00:42:52.929 --> 00:42:58.949 we lift to you. that we are available. God, would 00:42:58.949 --> 00:43:01.809 you use us for your kingdom mission, we pray. 00:43:02.489 --> 00:43:06.789 We ask, hear our voices as we sing.