Bringing Joy to the Gypsies: A Missionary's Perspective

It is good to have Walter, Brother Walter Stevens with us tonight.

Our missionary to the gypsies and phenomenal missionary out of

again, a very well known church, Brother Kevin Folger. If

you remember, Brother Kevin Folger preached several of our missions

conferences. In fact, he'll preach our missions conference next

year. A longtime pastor there, Brother Roy Thompson, longtime pastor,

now brother, Brother Folger's son, pastors that church there in

Cleveland. And so excited to have brother Walter Stevens with

us tonight. You come on Brother Stevens. Thank you, pastor.

Appreciate you all get that. All right, that's scriptural tongues

and I'm going to interpret for you. May be blessed of God, my brothers

and sisters, and of his dear son, the Lord Jesus. It's a privilege

to be back here at Heritage and it's been four years as pastor

has mentioned. Last time I was here, first time I was here was 2021.

And recommendation of my pastor Kevin Folger, who's dear friends

with your pastor and of course has affinity with the church. How

many have never heard my conversion testimony? Raise your

hand if you know. Oh my preacher. Several of them. I think

I better take a moment. I am a fourth generation gypsy raised here

in the United States. My great grandparents came from different

parts of Eastern Europe. No specific country as they were the

wanderers of Eastern Europe. I was raised in a traditional gypsy

home in Ohio. Now I know the term gypsy is not politically correct.

They're the Roma people, but I'm not a politically correct type

of guy. And you call me anything you want, just don't call

me late for supper, okay? But married within the gypsy culture,

My late wife was chosen for me by my parents. I chosen for her by

her parents. I always say that her mom and dad, my mom and dad did

a great job. But I'm not sure about her folks. And we were total

strangers prior to our wedding day. We were not allowed to carry

a conversation one with another until after the wedding reception.

We weren't allowed to be in the same room together. It was taboo.

She passed of a cancer that metastasized to her lungs that brought

us from the field in 2017. Had she lived through December of that

year, we would have celebrated 46 years of marriage. And you say,

how does a marriage survive 46 years when you didn't know each other

prior to your wedding day? Well, the answer is more simple than

you realize. Love is a choice. You choose to fall in love and you

choose to stay in love. Prior to our conversion in 1980, I was

a con man in A traveling carnival around the state of Ohio.

My late wife Dolly was a fortune teller. October 4, 1980.

God reached down to the muck and mire this wretched planet saved

my wicked soul Established my feet upon the rock the Lord Jesus.

And I've never been the same since. And I love saying that I believe

in a gospel that saves a man. I believe in a gospel that keeps

a man saved. And I believe in a gospel that changes the way a man

lives. And God began. And Pastor, we're missing that third

aspect of the gospel in our churches. God began to make dramatic

changes in our life. I want to make a longer story shorter for the

sake of time. We took a chainsaw to the fortune telling sign,

parked the carnival equipment, got involved in a good, independent,

fundamental KJV Baptist Church in southwest Ohio. It was there that

we were scripturally baptized. It was there, but we got discipled.

It was there that we got plugged into the church. It was there

that I answered a call to preach God's word. And it was in

the winter of 1985 when I sensed the tugging of the Holy Spirit

to proclaim the truths of this book. From rooftops to mountaintops

if necessary. I didn't know all that God wanted from me, but

I knew he wanted me to serve him. Bible says if a man desires

the office of a bishop, he desires a good thing. And the Bible

also says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, he'll give

us the desires of our heart. And I went forward in that service

and knelt at the altar, that little church and told God if he

was calling me, that I was giving him my phone number. I was

making myself available. I was ready to go off to Bible college.

We were western Ohio, not far from Indiana, major college there,

and I only have a sixth grade formal education. I'm kind of like

Jethro the Beverly Hillbillies for those of you who can remember

the Beverly Hill. And so I went back and got my GED and was

ready to go off to Bible College. And my local church pastor

made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. He said that he

would be my Paul if I would be his Timothy. And I learned this book

at the feet of Dr. Larry M. Spencer and became his assistant

and associate. Was content to be the second man of the Crossroad

Baptist Church of New Carlisle, Ohio, the rest of my life.

I had told God so. And. But there was a problem. 40 million gypsies

scattered all over the world. According to National Geographics,

1 million gypsies in The United States, according to the United

States government. I believe those estimates are extremely low,

but it's the only documented numbers that I have to go by. And

so nightly my wife and my late wife and I would pray for the gypsy

people that God would send someone. We knew someone had to be

sent to them. And it wasn't long, while I was praying that prayer,

that the Holy Spirit began to speak to my heart. And he said, what

about you? And I said, oh no, not me, Holy Spirit, I'm second man

at the Crossroad Baptist Church. Youth department is growing.

Souls are being saved. And the Spirit whispered back and said, no,

I have made you. I have molded you to reach your own people. I am

bilingual. Most gypsies are bilingual all over the world. They

hold on to their native tongue, the Roma language, wherever

you go in the world, the language is international with a

variance in dialects. And so I didn't have to learn a new language

and surrendered to the mission field. Did about 13 months of deputation,

moved from southwest Ohio to northeast Ohio, as pastor always

mentioned, to the Cleveland Baptist Church, which isn't the largest

population of gypsies in America, but it was home, it was

Ohio. And I wanted to reach the gypsies in the largest city that

populated them around me. And so we went to Cleveland in 1990 and

started that ministry into Dr. Roy Thompson. If any of you know

Dr. Roy Thompson, you know that he was a mover and a shaker

amongst the independent Baptist movement. And that ministry

now will celebrate 35 years as a ministry of the Cleveland Baptist

Church under its fourth generation gypsy preacher. And we

thank the Lord for that. Went off to eastern Europe in 1995, stayed

there for a few years and then came home to handled our stateside

ministries and didn't go full time to Eastern Europe until around

2000 and stayed there for 12 years until my wife's cancer metastasized

to her, her lungs. And it brought us back to the States. And

of course she went home to be with Jesus in 2017. She's healed

of cancer, by the way. Amen. And I tried my best to be a widower,

I really did. But there's a verse in the Bible where God says,

it's not good that the man is alone. And I began to pray for God

to bring a godly woman into my life. But I was a 60 plus year old

independent fundament KJV preacher living out of the trunk

of my car. And so the field was very narrow and so it was kind

of like a conflict of interest for me to preach. I'm going to these

churches to preach, but I'm also looking for the widows without

a wedding band on their left hand. And remember, I never dated,

so I didn't know what I was doing and I did everything wrong.

But there's a wedding band on my left hand. And it was so difficult

that I literally gave up. I like the gypsy system better. You

go to bed single, you wake up married. But I mean, we all do it

our own way. But I gave up. I really did. I was on the west coast

of Florida where we started our organization to work with marginalized

peoples all over the world. And then when my late wife passed,

I moved to the east coast of Florida where my son is an assistant

pastor. And I have three grandchildren there. And I was moved

in with them. I was getting some grandkid therapy and all the

grandparents said, and matter of fact, if I knew grandkids were

so much fun, I would have had them first anyways. And I have three

supporting churches in the Melbourne, Florida area, and my son's

an assistant at one. But I wouldn't just attend the services

where he was on staff. I would visit our other supporting churches

or my other supporting churches. And one night I was at

the Heritage Baptist Church in Melbourne, Florida with Dr. Rylan

Millett. This pastor, a dear friend of mine, and a gorgeous redhead

sang a special that night. And the title of her song was hello.

And the song is about when you get to heaven, you greet your family

that went before you and you say hello. You greet the characters

of the Bible that you read about all your life and you say hello

and you greet Jesus. And I noticed that there wasn't a wedding

band on her left hand. And after the service, I walked up to

her and said hello, and God put us together. And my precious

wife. Simone and I just celebrated six years of marriage

this past August. I apologize that she can't travel with me. She's

caretaker to her 88 year old mother with dementia. Please pray

for Simone. It's very difficult. Her mother has become

violent in her dementia and sometimes will curse Simone and accuse

her of stealing things. So please pray for her. And we, we work

together in ministry, of course, and we have ministries in

Florida, in Kissimmee, Florida and West Palm Beach. We're turning

those over to other men right now. But my wife is a gospel singer

and someday preacher. I'd love to bring her here for her to sing

to you all. And she has been working in the prison system of Florida,

singing not as an inmate, she comes from the outside, but. And

she's been doing that for 30 years. And she lost the preacher

and his wife that she was going in with. And so I volunteered

for the volunteer chaplaincy of the Florida Corrections System.

And now we go into the prisons the first Friday of every month.

I love preaching to the prisoners because it's a captivated

audience. And we held, they call it a retreat back in January.

We had, they called, I call it a revival. We, we had a four hour

service. The division of the prison that we work in, there's only

120 inmates. We had 80 show up. Now, mind you, I took 200 pieces

of fried chicken, so I'm sure that was an invitation for them to

come. But I told them, I said, you came for the chicken, but you're

going to go home with more than that or go to your cell with

more than that. And we had 14 saved in that service. Praise the

Lord. And then we're doing that again, pray about it in November.

Matter of fact, next month, the 29th, we're doing it again. So

pray about that service. We've been averaging in our chapel service

about 20, which is up about 20%. I mean, like I said, we're a

small part of the prison. And so we're running almost 20% of the

entire prison population of our division. How would you like

to reach 20% of Haslam? But you pray for that service. And I'm

here tonight not only to give a report but to give a challenge

because you have been praying for our ministry and you have been

investing financially in our ministry. And I believe if we follow

the pattern of the ministry of the Apostle Paul, who I think was

the greatest evangelist missionary in the world, he reported

back to his sending church in Antioch. And so you're not my sending

church, but you're my supporting church. And so I want

to be a blessing to you all. Some of you have already approached

me saying how excited you am that I am here. That's great that

you're excited. They're not always excited when I show up, preacher,

but I'm glad that you are. And so I have a display. Please stop

by, pick up a prayer card. We covet the prayers of God's people.

We are working with the devil's own. If there's a race of

people that you can say that have been held in the clutches of

Satan for centuries, if not millennium, it's my people, the gypsy

people. And so please pray for them. You say, preacher, every time

a missionary comes, he's always soliciting prayer. Is he looking

for a lot of people to pray for him? Is God impressed when a

lot of people pray? No, God is impressed when the right people pray.

And you know who that is, The Wednesday night crowd. And so please

pray for us. We know the second closest thing to a Baptist

heart and that's why we put a recipe on the backside. Amen. And

this is Simone's recipe for gypsy cabbage rolls. They're absolutely

awesome. I could go for some right now, preacher, but the only

thing is they can be a little spicy. So should you decide to prepare

them, don't bother calling us for tums of roll age. You're on your

own. Amen. I've been challenged. I've been in ministry

a long time now, almost 40 years, and I've been challenged by

my peers and my mentors to write my life story. Now with a sixth

grade education, I'm a field man, I'm not an administrator. I

don't need an office, I don't need a desk. I need a car. That's

all I need. And a Bible. But matter of fact, four years ago when

I was here, I stayed in an apartment in Fort Worth, a missions

apartment. And I sat down at a computer and in two weeks wrote the

first 10 chapters of this little book. And it's a 12 chapter

book and it's my life story. It's about the gypsy people, where

they came from, trying to answer the question why they are

the way they are. I present the gospel in chapter two. It's a

great soul winning tool. And this book is not for sale, it's for

donations only. And I don't have a whole lot of copies. And if

we run out and you need still want a copy, see brother Stone, I'm

sure he'll get a list together so that I can get some. But any donation

of any amount and this, the funds we use, we receive from this

will go to missionary projects. This book partially paid

for 42 trips into Southern Ukraine where we take humanitarian

aid, John enrollments, gospel tracts and hold services to the gypsy

people. Now there isn't combat in southern Ukraine, but the supply

of food has been hindered because of the war in major cities

of Ukraine. And so, you know, a loaf, a gospel track goes a lot

further when it's attached to a loaf of bread. Most people are

not concerned about the things of the spirit, they're concerned

of the things, the flesh. And in John chapter six, you know what

Jesus did? He fed them and then he gave them the gospel and

Said labor not for the meat that perishes. So if you'd like a

copy, there's a little receptacle on our table. I know a

lot of people don't carry cash anymore, so we accept Zelle and Paypal

as well. So pick up a copy if the Lord leads you to Would you go

with me in your Bibles please to the Book of Acts, chapter 8? Acts

Acts 8 · chapter mention Acts 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8. I'm preaching a message tonight entitled Getting

great joy to the gypsies of the world. Getting great joy to the

gypsies of the world. Acts chapter 8. If you have the strength

Acts 8 · chapter mention

and ability to stand for the reading of God's Word with would

you please do so. It may not be your custom in your church to

stand for the reading of God's Word and that's okay. Nowhere in

the Bible does it say that we have to stand. But I work with primitive

people who don't understand the importance of this book and I

try to teach them reverence and it makes me feel at home when

you're all standing. We're just going to read a few verses in

Acts chapter 8 beginning at the fifth verse and I'll read aloud

Acts 8 · chapter mention

as you follow in silence this evening. Then Philip went down to

the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the

people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip

spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean

spirits crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed

with them, and many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed.

And of course the theme of the message comes from the eighth verse

and there was great joy in that city. Let's pray and ask God

to bless the reading and the preaching of His Word. Our gracious

Heavenly Father, it's such a privilege to be here tonight. Such

a great Wednesday night crowd when most churches can't even accommodate

a Sunday night crowd, let alone a Wednesday night crowd. It's

good to see your people assembled as you have commanded us

to do so in Hebrews 10:25. Father, I have asked many times today

Hebrews 10:25

already that you would use me to be a blessing to your people.

I want to help, encourage and if necessary bring conviction by

the Holy Spirit. Challenge your people, Lord, but most of all

to encourage them that they can see what their giving and their

prayers accomplishes in their missions program of the church. I

don't know the needs in this place, but you do. Your Word says

that man looks on the outward appearance, but you look upon the

heart. I look around, everybody looks okay to me. But what

do you see? Lord, work tonight, blessed Holy Spirit, and

we'll be very careful to give you, Lord Jesus, all the praise and

glory and honor, for we ask these things in your name. Amen.

You may be seated. How do we get great joy to the peoples of the

world? How do I get great joy to my Gypsy people? Being in ministry

for almost four decades now, how does great joy come to the Roma

people? I started establishing churches in Romania. The matter of

fact, we were just there the last two weeks of June, first week

of July, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our first church

plant. It was in 1995 when I went to Eastern Europe for the first

time. And I didn't know where the gypsies were in Tinka, Romania.

Tinka is a town of 2,500 people. And under communism, they

were given parcels of land, always on the outskirts of town or

usually by the dumps or the railroad tracks. And when I entered

the town, I didn't know where that parcel of land was, but by the

sovereignty of God, there was a little Gypsy boy there on the outskirts

of town. I didn't speak any Romanian, so I couldn't ask a national.

But of course, still being able to speak my own language, I

said to him in the Gypsy language, kale Roma, or Where are

the gypsies? And he led us clear across town to a small one

room house, maybe 14 foot by 14 foot. He didn't knock on the door.

He pushed the door open and stepped tiptoed very quietly. We

followed him in the same way. I was with another missionary. And

right away we saw why he was entering quietly. Nobody lived in

this house. This was a house that was designated as a house of

prayer, where gypsies would assemble to pray. And when I walked

in, there were 10 or 12 gypsies on their knees in a circle,

praying. They did not know we had entered. One Gypsy man was praying

out loud in the Gypsy language. Now remember, Gypsies are

bilingual all over the world. Had he prayed out loud in Romanian,

I never would have understood a word of his prayer. But the Sovereign

Father, Brother Stone, had him pray in the Gypsy language so that

I could understand that prayer. And this was his prayer.

He prayed, lord, send us someone, send us someone to tell

us the truth of the gospel. For we are very confused now to understand

that prayer. The year is 1995, six years prior communism fell. And

in those six years every cult and his brother was coming from the

west, confusing these primitive people, telling them if

they ate pork, they Couldn't go to heaven. That would be a real

problem in Texas, wouldn't it? Telling them that if they didn't

speak in tongues or if they didn't worship on Saturday, they

couldn't go to heaven. His prayer was genuine. He said his amen.

He stood to his feet. He's opened his eyes. I was 18 inches

in front of him. He didn't know we were there. When he opened

his eyes, I boldly said to him, watch now in the gypsy language.

I'm four generations away from Eastern Europe, 5,000 miles separated

by a little pond called the Atlantic Ocean. And our dialect was

exactly the same. Tell me that's not the sovereignty of God.

And I said to him in the Gypsy language, we are the answer to that

prayer. How would you like to get your prayers answered that fast?

I presented the gospel to him. Several in that room fell to their

knees and received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

Gypsies are very emotional people. They laugh hard, they cry

hard, they fight hard, and they celebrate hard. And he was a

professional accordion player and he had his accordion at his side.

He would play Christian songs before they prayed. And in his excitement,

he grabbed his accordion, stepped out of the house playing

and singing. And before you know it, Gypsies were coming from

all over the community. It was like the Pied piper, I think they

thought there was a party going on. And there on the dirt roads

of Cinco Romania, I preached the gospel again. Many were saved.

We had our first baptism in August of that year, and the nucleus

of the Manna Baptist Church at Thinker Romania had been established.

The man that I heard pray out loud is a man by the name of Giza

Feketa. He is now the national pastor of several of our churches.

And so we celebrated 30 years of ministry since that one church

was established. There are now 18 churches. Out of that one church,

we rented an old communist meeting hall for the anniversary

celebration. We stopped counting at 450 gypsies who came

from all over several counties to come to celebrate this great accomplishment.

We had the local mayor there, we had law enforcement there, which

is a big deal. And we thank God for all that. We, we also have

the Eastern European Gypsy Baptist Institute. I don't call it

a Bible institute because we have a problem with what is a real

Baptist in Eastern Europe. And we have had several graduations.

Matter of fact, Pastor Kevin Folger preached our first graduation

in 2009. He's a very self contained man and I'd never seen

him weep until he came To Romania, to my gypsy people. We also

have feeding centers where we feed about 300 very hungry little

gypsy kids one meal a day, five days a week. You say, brother

Stevens, why don't you feed him seven days a week? Well, you

do the math. It's a lot of meals, but we're not there to feed

every hungry gypsy kid. I don't think you can do it. Jesus

said, you have the poor with you always. But I heard a Haitian

missionary say it's very difficult to preach the gospel to

growling stomachs. Those kids are not concerned about the things

of the spirit. They're concerned about the things of the

flesh. And we give them physical food and spiritual food.

Our feeding centers are 20 years old, and now some of those

children are adults who are serving in the ministry. That's part

of your ministry. Paul said to the church of Philippi, he said,

not that I desire a gift, he said, but I desire fruit that may

abound to your account. Now, there are gypsies in Texas. There's

a lot of them, matter of fact. But as a result of Hitler killing

600,000 of them in the Holocaust, not to forget the 6 million

Jews and the hundreds of thousands of military allied personnel

that died in that war. But more than likely, gypsies will not

attend this service because they're not antisocial, they're asocial.

They don't blend in any community anywhere in the world.

And so, more than likely, pastor, they won't sit in these chairs.

They won't listen to your preaching. They won't answer the

invitation to these altars to be saved. But I'm here to proclaim

to you, because if your prayers are because of your giving,

gypsies are going to tap you on the shoulder in heaven and say

thank you for giving to the work of the Lord. Because of you,

we are here. I began working with the gypsies of Pakistan, oh,

probably 10, 12 years ago. We were able to get their own building.

I raised $68,000, I think, in just a few weeks. Got them their

own building, got their own national pastor. I still meet with

them every Friday morning via the Internet with the Grace Bible

Institute. We just had a graduation last Friday. We had 52

graduates, four of them going into evangelism, two of them going

into the pastorate. We bought motor scooters for the pastors so

they can get to their churches. That's part of your ministry.

My executive director of our mission agency, Roma Outreach Mission

Association, Dr. Tim Clark, works with the gypsies of India.

He has had boots on the ground. They have their own building,

they have their own national pastors and he still works with them

via the Internet. That's your ministry, working with the gypsies

in Ukraine and watching God do a great work there. We are in a position

right now to establish churches amongst the Roma people

in southern Ukraine. But it's going to be determined by the outcome

of the war. So you pray that there'll be a peaceable outcome of

that war. As we read about the Samaritan's people in our story here,

they remind me a lot of my gypsy people. If you know anything

about the Samaritans, they were the outcast of that world at

that time. Matter of fact, In John chapter 4, the Bible says that

John 4 · chapter mention

the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. They were the offscouring

of the community. But in John chapter four, it also says Jesus

must needs go through Samaria. Now if you know anything about your

geography at the time of Christ, from where he was to where

he was going, he didn't have to go through Samaria. And most of

the time Jews would avoid that geographical part to avoid the Samaritans.

But he had to go there because there was a woman at a well who needed

to hear the wonderful truth of salvation. And the Samaritan people

get good religion. Matter of fact, we've never coined the phrase

good Jew and we've never coined the phrase good Roman. But

we have coined the phrase the good Samaritan, have we not? And

the Gypsy people, my Gypsy people remind me of the Samaritans.

The Gypsy people have been the offscoring of the world. In Germany

they're called the Zigoina. In Romania they're called the Tsigan.

In Greece they're called the Giftos. If any Spanish speaking people

are here, you know that they're called the Gitanos. And that

word means all those words mean all the same. The outcast, the

undesirable, the unwanted, the disposable people. And as a result

of it, they have not been reached. Can you imagine? I'm all

for reaching the countries of the world. And praise the Lord for

all the countries that are represented here. But the gospel

has just began to reach my people within the last years. Few,

40, 50 years. Think about that. And we think we're getting

the job done, preacher. But with churches like yours who invest

in worldwide evangelism, we can accomplish the job. The Gypsy

language is a limited vocabulary language. It's not updated.

We lack in spiritual terms and two words that are missing from the

gypsy language. That really, really discourages me. We don't have

a word for hope. What do you call people who don't have a word

for hope? Hopeless. We don't have a word for future. No hope.

No future. What do you do, Brother Stevens? I borrow words of

the indigenous host nation in which I'm preaching in Romania. I'll

use the word esperanza for hope. I'll use the word vitor for

future. And I give my people hope and future in the person of

Jesus Christ. God loves the Samaritan peoples of the world. But

I want you to see how do we get joy to the cities of the world?

I believe in our verses tonight is. You could call it a natural

outline, but I'd rather call it a supernatural outline. And sometimes

when you look at passages of scripture, they speak for themselves.

They just need a voice. And God gives us a formula. He gives

us a process. He gives us a pathway to get the verse 8. Now as

we get into this message, I want you to remember our goal is

to get the verse 8. But how do we get there? I want you to see the

first component in verse five. Then Philip went down to the city

of Samaria. Number one. There needs to be a preacher. Isn't that

what missions is about? Don't you have missions conference and

bringing a keynote speaker and bring in the missionaries and set

up the displays and show the videos. I don't. Maybe you have an

international banquet and I think your faith promise are you

not pastor and take up the cards and make the commitments. Why?

Because there needs to be a preacher. Someone has to go. Someone

has to tell them. Romans chapter 10, verses 14 and 15 says

Romans 10:14

how then shall they call on him in whom they have not heard,

not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have

not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how

shall they preach except they be said? Listen, if we're going to

get great joy to the cities of the world and if we're going to give

joy to the gypsy people of the world, if we're going to give joy

to the Samaritan type peoples of the world, there needs to be preachers.

And Philip was the preacher in our story. Story is told about the

time of the Titanic disaster. There was an evangelist on board

by the name of John Harper. He was a 39 year old widower and with

him was his daughter and his sister. His little daughter's name

was Annie. Brother Harper got his sister and his daughter on a

lifeboat. But brother Harper stayed in the cold waters of the

North Atlantic, floating on whatever he could float on. Pronouncing

the gospel One survivor says this. I am a survivor of the Titanic.

I was one of only six people out of 1,517 to be pulled from the

icy waters on that dreadful night. Like hundreds around me, I

found myself struggling in the cold, dark waters of the North Atlantic.

The wail of the perishing was ringing in my ears. And when there

floated by me, a man who called to me and said, sir, is your

soul saved? Then I heard him call out to others as he and everyone

around me sank beneath the waters and drowned. Watch what this

survivor says. There, alone in the night with two miles of water

under me, I cried to Christ to save me. Watch what he says. I am

John Harper's convert. There needs to be a preacher. That's the

first component, But I want you to see the second component.

You'll find it in verse five. Then Philip went down to the city

of Samaria. Watch now. And preached Christ unto them. Number

one, there needs to be a preacher. Number two, there needs

to be a proclamation of Christ. And you'd say, preacher.

What else is a preacher going to preach but Jesus? Really? I hear

him all the time. They preach everything but Jesus. There's this

one guy who packs out a stadium. His haircut's got to be

about $200. His dental work's got to be about 20 grand. His suit's

got to be about $2,000. And you know what, preacher? He tells

me I'm good. I have a problem with that because I have to look

at this mug in the mirror every morning. He doesn't preach

Christ. You could Google him in an interview with Larry King Live.

Well, he will not nail down the gospel in and say how it is that

you need to be saved. You say, are you going to tell us his name?

I won't tell you his name, but his initials are Joel Osteen. They

all don't preach Jesus. Watch now. We preach Christ. Virgin born.

We preach him with a sinless life. We preach him making the blind

see, the deaf hear the mute speaking. We preach him raising the

dead to life. Watch now. We preach him crucified. We preach him

buried. And we preach him coming back again. We lift up Christ.

You know what, preacher? We got the easiest job in the world.

We get to stand up here and talk about Jesus. It's all that other

stuff that goes with it makes it a little harder. And Jesus said,

if I be lifted up. Watch now. Want to take the Pressure off of

ministry. I'm going to take the pressure off of ministry for

you. Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto

myself. Preach Jesus. Cover to cover. Genesis to Revelation. It's

all about Jesus. Shame on the preacher who can't find Jesus in

every book, every chapter and every verse. We preach Christ. You

know, Philip was always faithful to preach Jesus. Look at

verse five. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached.

What? Help me church Christ unto them. Watch. Go down to verse

oh, verse 34. This is the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch.

And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh

the prophet this? Of himself or some other man? Watch verse 35.

Then Philip opened his mouth and began at that same scripture

and preached unto him. Who? Jesus. Every time Philip opened his

mouth, Jesus came on. Number one, there needs to be a preacher.

Number two, there needs to be a proclamation of Christ. I want

you to see the third component. You'll find it in verse

six. And give me the Word. And the people with one accord gave heed

to those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles

which he did. There needs to be a people he unite with the preacher

in the proclamation. You see, preacher can't do it alone. But these

people united with the man of God and his message. And what happened?

And there was great joy in that city. You see, when the people

of God unite with the man of God and the message of God, they

become a power. They become an entity. Watch now that the satanic

world cannot take. You cannot get the verse eight until you take

care of verse seven. And, and by the design of God, not just because

it's numerical, 7 comes before 8. What does it say? First we have

a preacher who's proclaiming Christ. That's verse five, verse

six. There's a people who's uniting with the man of God and his

message. Watch now, verse seven. Here's what happens. For unclean

spirits crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed

with him. And many taken with palsies in that relay were healed.

And there was great joy in that city. Number one, we need a

preacher. Number two, we need a preacher who proclaims Christ.

Number three, we need a people who unite with the man and the message.

And watch now together they pull down the strongholds of Satan.

I've worked with gypsies in Vadim, Bulgaria. We took over the

street. We were on one side with our team, Pastor Gitze Feketa,

the man who got saved in that One little room. And we had our team

there and musicians across the street where all the gypsies lined

up. 80,000 gypsies in this one town in Bulgaria. We established

a church there. And this was evangelistic work. This was groundbreaking

work. Lost people deep rooted in all different kinds of Satan worship

and demonism. And as I was preaching, right in front of me was

a woman, probably in her early 20s. I gave the invitation for salvation.

She got up from her chair, walked halfway into the street, and

I watched her eyes roll back into her head. She fell to the ground

with her arms to her side and began rolling. You couldn't duplicate

the way she was rolling. Pastor Gitzer went to deal with her

later. He told me that when he approached her, there was a masculine

voice coming from within her. And no matter how much a woman tries

to talk like a man, she still sounds like a woman. We prayed on

our side of the street. Pastor Gitzer says she came to her senses.

He presented the gospel to her. She jumped up and got saved.

Got saved, jumped up, threw her arms up in the air and said,

I'm free. I'm finally free. She was known as a demon, possession,

possessed woman in that town. I preached in Timisoar, Romania,

with my dear friend Pete Heise. It was a small church, and

in the back of the auditorium, there was a woman all dressed in

black. Now, if you know anything about Europe, many times

widows will wear black the rest of their lives in mourning of

their husbands. And so there was this woman all dressed in black.

I thought she was mourning her husband. I thought she was a widow.

I preached the gospel. I was so close to her, I could see what

she was doing. She was shaking. The chair in front of her

at the invitation, she came forward, to my left. Someone went

to deal with her. That person who dealt with her later told me

that when she. When they approached her, she was just shivering,

just shaking. They presented the gospel to her and she got saved.

Maria Bogdan was the first person. It was a week to revival.

She was the first person at the church door every night and became

a faithful member. She was dressed in black, or she was known

as the local witch. You say preacher, that's because you work

with gypsies. We don't have problems with demons in America.

Really? One of these don't make you civilized. And you don't

have to have a bone in your nose to be the mission field. But

watch now. God has given the church power and authority. Did he

not say that he gave us the keys to the kingdom, huh? Didn't

he not say, what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven. What

we set free on earth will be set free in heaven. Did he not say,

did he not give us authority to bind the strong man that we could

spoil his house? I was raised as a thief since I was a small boy.

My dad was a thief, my grandpa was a thief. All the way down the

line they trained me how to be a thief. If I performed the Khan,

my parents would reward me. If I didn't perform the con, my parents

would reprimand me. That'll confuse a 10 year old boy. But you

know what? You don't forget how to steal. And I'm still stealing.

I'm stealing gypsy souls out of the clutches of the devil because

he has given me the power and authority through the local church

to bind the strong man that I could spoil his house. You say, preacher,

who do you go to? The hostage or the hostage taker? I go to the

hostage. And what do I tell the hostage? If the son shall make

you free, you shall be free indeed. And where the spirit of the

Lord is, there is liberty. And I'm watching my gypsy people being

set free from the clutches of that. I wish I could just tell you

testimony after. Let me just give one. Pastor Giza Feketa. Now,

this is unheard of. Pastor Giza Feketa now sits on city council

in Tinko, Romania. Now that may not sound like a big deal to

you, but I'm talking about the tzigan, the outcast. There was one

dentist in Tinka who thought it was an honor to run over gypsy

kids with his Mercedes. Hello. And the police wouldn't do nothing

to him. That's all changed now. Because watch now. The Gospel

doesn't just save your soul. That's the most important part. It

changes your social status. I got a. That's right. And a head shaking

over here. Now let me say it again. The Gospel doesn't just save

your soul. That's the most important part. It changes your social

status. Chapter and verse, preacher. The woman with the issue

of blood, she couldn't be in public until she touched the hem

of his garment. And then he forced her into public. Did he not

change their social status? That's what the Gospel does. That's

the power of the Gospel. If we'll only be faithful to preach

it. Let me close with these with a couple of questions. Are you

a threat to the devil? Are you rattling the devil's cage? That's

what God's called me to do. Now it's a Wednesday night crowd.

I know who's here. And the faith promise givers are here and

the prayers are here. You'll all run and grab a prayer card because

that's the Wednesday night crowd. And you'll pray for us. Maybe

you're here tonight and you don't. You're not a threat to the

devil. You're not rattling the devil's cage. I read a bookmarker

that said this. Live your life in such a way that when you get up

in the morning and your feet hits the ground, Satan shudders and

says, oh no, he's awake. What To God, that would describe my life.

In Acts, chapter 19, the sons of Sceva decide they're going to

Acts 19 · chapter mention

cast out demons without authority. How many know the story?

And so the sons of Sceva go to the demon possessed. Now, watch now.

And they say, let's get into the brain of a demon. You want to

get into the mind of a demon? I think you're all scared to. And

watch now. The sons of Sceva, Satan, the demon possessed. In the

name of Jesus, who Paul preaches, we cast you out. Now watch

what the demon said. Jesus, we know. Well, of course they know.

Jesus, he made them. He didn't make them fallen, he didn't make

them demons, but he made them. They knew who he was. But watch what

the demons say now. Jesus, we know. Ready, Paul, we know. Well,

wasn't Paul made of the same stuff that you and I are made of?

But yet to the demonic world, they were both threats. Here's the

question. Does the demonic world know your name? Because if

they know your name, you're rattling their cage. You're a threat

to Satan and his world. Let me give you a verse to go with. The

Last point is Second Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 4

2 Corinthians 10:4

and 5. It says this. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,

but mighty through God. To the pulling down of strongholds, casting

down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against

the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought

to the obedience of Christ. That's what God has called us to

do. When we have preachers who proclaim Christ and a people who

unite with the man and the message, we become a power and an

entity that pulled down the strongholds of Satan, even right

here in Hazlitt. And then what happens? Verse eight happens. That's

the formula. I told you, it's a supernatural outline. Just needs

a voice. What happens? Verse 8. And there was great joy in that

city. Thank you. For helping me to bring great joy to the cities

of my precious people, the Roma. Heads about and eyes are closed

and no one's looking around. Who tonight by an uplifted hand,

would say, brother Stevens, I'm saved. I'm on my way to heaven

and I thank God for it. As a testimony, would you put your hand

way up high? Way up high. It's your testimony. Let the redeemed

of the Lord say so. Whom he's redeemed out of the hand of the enemy.

Yes. God bless you. Many, many hands. As far as I could scan the

auditorium, it looked like most hands were raised. You may put

your hands down. I never underestimate the audience. I never

know who's here. But maybe you couldn't join these and say that

you're saved and on your way to heaven. The gospel's been preached.

We talked about Christ, his death, burial and resurrection. He's

been lifted up. And tonight you recognize your need of a savior.

You say, preacher, I'm lost. I need Jesus. Would you put your hand

up? Is there one? Preacher, I'm lost. I need Jesus. Is there

one? How about a church? Want to be a threat to the devil? Want

to rattle the devil's cage? Want to be recognized by the demonic

world like Paul was recognized? And preachers. You say

preacher, I want to be a threat to the devil. Would you put

your hand up tonight? I want to be a threat to the devil. Yes.

Many, many hands raised. You may put your hands down. Let's stand

with our heads bowed and eyes closed. I'll pray and the pastor

will come. Father, in heaven, your word makes it so clear. We get

in trouble when we don't preach the word, when we talk about

philosophy and opinion. But it's all right here in these few

verses you've outlined for us. How to get great joy to the cities

of the world. It's what you had called me to do. To bring great

joy to my precious Roma. Many preachers who proclaim Christ. People

who unite with the man and the message. And together, together,

Lord, we become a power and an entity that Satan and his demonic

world just can't take. We pull down the strongholds and there's

great joy in the cities of the world. Bless this invitation. We

pray in Jesus name. Amen. Preacher, you come.