Sermon

Todd White

Gateway Church's Podcast

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  1. Right.

  2. Good morning.

  3. Good morning.

  4. Good morning.

  5. Okay, I need you guys to stand up again.

  6. So sorry.

  7. I just I have a I I just had the Lord just tell me at every service we're to pray for each other.

  8. So here's what I want you to do.

  9. I just believe that God is the God of miracles.

  10. How many of you believe that?

  11. Alright, well, if you don't believe that, you're about to find out.

  12. Because he's amazing.

  13. And I've watched him heal so many people over the years.

  14. So many people that even don't believe.

  15. Because it doesn't matter what you believe if the person beside you believes.

  16. I promise.

  17. Put your hand on somebody's shoulder beside you, please.

  18. So here's what we're gonna do.

  19. We're just gonna pray for one another.

  20. So I'm gonna take uh just a minute or two.

  21. Are you ready?

  22. Who believes that God can do this?

  23. All right, okay.

  24. So I want you to just say this.

  25. We're gonna go from the top of the head down, alright?

  26. So I want you to repeat after me.

  27. In the name of Jesus, we command every issue in the head, in the brain, the ears, the eyes, the nose, the mouth.

  28. We command complete healing now, in Jesus' name, in the neck, every issue of pain, discomfort, discs, be healed right now, in Jesus' name.

  29. Shoulders in the name of Jesus be healed right now, in Jesus' name, back, every disc, spinal cord, every nerve be healed in Jesus' name, hips, every joint in the body be made whole right now.

  30. That includes knees and ankles and fingers and elbows.

  31. In the name of Jesus, we command every organ to be healed right now, in Jesus' name, from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet, and any disease must leave us right now, in Jesus' name.

  32. Amen.

  33. Now I want you to physically check your body from head to toe right now.

  34. If it was your neck, I want you to check it.

  35. Your elbows, your shoulders, those your shoulders, just raise them up and check them.

  36. Your hips, your knees, whatever it was.

  37. If there's physical change in your body right now, I want you to wave both hands over your head.

  38. Amen.

  39. One more time.

  40. If there's physical change, this is for every campus.

  41. If there's physical change, I want you to wave both hands over your head loud and proud right now in Jesus' name.

  42. That's awesome.

  43. Amen.

  44. Amen.

  45. Awesome.

  46. All right, go ahead and have your seat, please.

  47. Good morning, good morning, good morning.

  48. Good morning, Frisco.

  49. Good morning, Grand Prairie.

  50. Good morning, North Fort Worth, good morning.

  51. North Richland Hills, good morning, Dallas, and good morning, South Lake.

  52. I am so excited.

  53. Grand Prairie, you're amazing too.

  54. I just I love you all.

  55. I'm I'm excited.

  56. This is my home.

  57. Um, we've been here um in January.

  58. We'll be here two years that I've been plugged in here.

  59. Pastor Robert is my pastor, and I'm so excited to be able to share my heart with you today and with Pastor Josh and Pastor Todd.

  60. I'm just I'm just really excited, so I hope I can get through this because I've been a mess all morning.

  61. I was a mess yesterday.

  62. I woke up with Jesus this morning at 5:30.

  63. He woke me up and he said, Good morning.

  64. I'm like, Lord, I could have another hour.

  65. He said, Nope, come on, let's go.

  66. No coffee.

  67. I don't I don't do coffee, I just do Jesus.

  68. But I did.

  69. I I went in there and I got on my knees and started weeping and just bawling because of just how good God is and how amazing He is.

  70. You know, I was a drug addict for a long time, and I'm gonna share that with you in my testimony, but but I have been alive for 13 years.

  71. I mean, I I've been alive.

  72. I've woke up in love with Jesus for 13 years straight.

  73. I haven't had one day of guilt or shame or condemnation for 13 years straight.

  74. I haven't had, I was depressed my whole life.

  75. I was suicidal.

  76. I haven't had one day of depression.

  77. I've woke up in love with Jesus.

  78. I wake up and he's there every morning.

  79. I'm in the middle of my day, he's there every day.

  80. At night when I go to sleep, he's there when I lay my head on my pillow.

  81. I have perfect peace.

  82. I go to sleep, I live in rest.

  83. I'm in love with Jesus.

  84. I just believe the simple gospel.

  85. I do.

  86. I believe the simple gospel.

  87. Jesus says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened down and weighed down to exhaustion, and I'll give you rest.

  88. Unfortunately, sometimes people come to him and he gives them rest and they don't learn from him, so they can't maintain it.

  89. Pastor Robert's not meant to keep you safe.

  90. Do you understand that your pastor is amazing and pastors are awesome, and but their job is not to keep you hooked up to the life source.

  91. The Holy Spirit is the one that hooks you up to the life source.

  92. Jesus is your life source.

  93. But you have to have a relationship with him.

  94. God didn't say, come and fill a building and stay inside the building.

  95. He said, No, I want you to be the building.

  96. I want you to house me.

  97. God didn't live inside of people.

  98. Then he sent Jesus to come into the world to pay the price for the sin of mankind.

  99. And when we say yes to him and become a believer, the Holy Spirit wants to completely possess you to make you a complete detriment to the devil every day, so that you can destroy the devil's works everywhere you go.

  100. It's an exciting Christian life.

  101. It's not just about getting to heaven one day, it's about heaven getting into you today, so that you can destroy hell every day of your life, everywhere you go.

  102. Christianity is exciting.

  103. Every day I get to cast out devils, every day, every day I get to see the stick guild, every day.

  104. Every day I get to prophesy over people.

  105. Why?

  106. Because the Bible says it.

  107. Every day I get to hear words for people.

  108. Why?

  109. Because God is always speaking and He has good things to say.

  110. He's not silent, he's the word of God.

  111. It's amazing.

  112. God's really excited about this, whether you are or not.

  113. I'm like this all the time because I live with me.

  114. You know what's amazing?

  115. I didn't have God and He chose me.

  116. I didn't choose Him.

  117. None of you chose God.

  118. If you said yes, it's because you just meant His yes that He said yes a long time ago.

  119. Sometimes we're so just so in trouble because of different reasons.

  120. Like sometimes we think that my mom or my dad didn't want me, and that's the reason why I'm rejected.

  121. Well, what if that's not the issue?

  122. What if your mom or your dad didn't really know who they were, so they didn't know how to accept you?

  123. What if we've lived our whole life to try to gain the acceptance of people because we don't understand the acceptance that we have in Christ?

  124. Because if you've been accepted in the beloved, you can never be rejected by man again.

  125. Ever.

  126. There's no boss, there's no wife, there's no mother, there's no father, there's no child, there's no colleague, there's nobody that can take away your acceptance if you realize that you've been accepted in the beloved.

  127. Come on.

  128. Okay.

  129. I just want to, just I wanna are you guys okay?

  130. I'm really excited, so I'm about to explode.

  131. Just bear with me, okay?

  132. Because all I have inside of me, if I do explode, is Jesus, so that's all you're gonna get.

  133. Boom.

  134. Christ in us is the hope of glory, but Christ coming out of us is that hope being made manifest.

  135. It's the mystery, it's amazing.

  136. So watch.

  137. When I was born, when I was born, my mom and my dad, they weren't thinking, let's have a boy.

  138. My mom and my dad were thinking different things.

  139. Like my dad was thinking, you look good.

  140. I know this sounds funny, but it's true.

  141. So when my mom and dad came together, they weren't thinking, let's have a baby, they were thinking this feels good.

  142. Okay, I'm gonna paint a picture for you.

  143. I want you to bear with me.

  144. Are you are you ready?

  145. Some of you are not smiling right now.

  146. Look, unless your name is Mary and you were the mother of Jesus, every one of you that are born came in this way.

  147. So on the night of my conception, are you ready?

  148. There were 80 million chances of me swimming up a birth canal.

  149. 80 million.

  150. No one's smiling.

  151. Come on.

  152. So out of 80 million chances, I'm only one.

  153. So there's 79,999,999 other chances swimming up a birth canal headed for the egg.

  154. And you know what?

  155. Unfortunately, I'm the only one without a tool.

  156. Everybody else has jackhammers, sledgehammers, trying to get in the egg.

  157. Natural instinct.

  158. So they're all up there at the egg, trying to get in, trying to get in.

  159. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

  160. And here I am, I'm last.

  161. Slower than everybody else.

  162. I'm the last one.

  163. But when I get to the egg, when I get there, they all part like the Red Sea.

  164. Something moves them out of the way.

  165. And I don't have any tool, I don't have anything.

  166. All I have is destiny, and I jump right in.

  167. And inside the egg, I'm like, oh my gosh, how to get in here?

  168. This is crazy.

  169. And everybody else is outside.

  170. And then my voice from inside the egg says, Sorry, guys, I was predestined before the foundation of the world.

  171. That's what the Bible says about each and every one of you, regardless of how life panned out, regardless of how your mom treated you or your dad treated you, regardless of that stuff, regardless of how people accept you or reject you, the only one that's been rejected is the devil.

  172. Do you understand that he's a withering branch?

  173. He's cut off from the source of life.

  174. He has no hope and he can never be accepted.

  175. He is constantly rejected, and he is trying to plant that seed in your mind so that you can never ever get this thing on with God and always have attitude instead of live with gratitude.

  176. I promise you, the enemy is after this right here.

  177. He is trying to dominate your thoughts, your thinking, your mind, your will, and emotions to keep you from ever seeing your created value and seeing the price that heaven paid for you.

  178. Because the cross isn't just the revelation of your sin, but the cross is the revealing of your value.

  179. If you would see the cross and you would see how valuable you are, there are songs out there.

  180. There's one that says, I'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross.

  181. That's a catchy tune, but it's not true.

  182. I need to know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.

  183. Why?

  184. Because when I see how much it cost, then I can see how much it costs God to redeem my life.

  185. And that price determines my value.

  186. And if I see my value, I will never look in the mirror and say, worthless again.

  187. I will say this you are worth the blood of Jesus.

  188. It totally changes everything.

  189. This is my problem.

  190. I've woke up this way for 13 years.

  191. I've woke up in love with Jesus.

  192. I've woke up knowing that he paid a high price, knowing that God will never change his mind about me.

  193. He always thinks the same thing.

  194. I love you.

  195. I paid a high price to redeem you.

  196. When everybody else hated you, I was there.

  197. When everybody else thought you were a loser and a liar and a thief, when you were a drug addict for 22 years, I was there for you.

  198. When you didn't even think about me, I was thinking about you.

  199. As a matter of fact, Todd, I was thinking about you before the foundation of the world.

  200. Wait a minute, that's weird.

  201. You were thinking about, yep, I had my mind upon you before the foundation, before I created anything, I thought about you.

  202. But that's not just for me, that's for each individual.

  203. God has more thoughts than outnumber the sands of sea of the sea.

  204. More thoughts than every grain of sand in the whole world, and every thought that He has is for your welfare.

  205. What if you got a hold of 10 thoughts?

  206. What if you got a hold of a hundred thoughts?

  207. What if you got a hold of five hundred thoughts that God thought about you instead of all the thoughts that people think about you?

  208. See, we've allowed our minds to be manipulated and dominated by what people think instead of what our father thinks.

  209. See, God's just not God, He's just not Almighty God out there.

  210. God's our Father who art in heaven.

  211. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

  212. What is the kingdom?

  213. The kingdom's not meat or drink, but it's righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

  214. So the kingdom has come, and Jesus has preached the kingdom a hundred more times than he preached being born again.

  215. But being born again is essential to unlock your potential.

  216. But if you don't understand your created value and understand what God did for you, you will think that when you pray a prayer, that that's it, and that's not it, it's about a life that's fulfilled with promises by God that comes into your life that it's not about what you see here, it's about what He says here.

  217. And it's about what God says about you so that you can live and walk as a conduit for the glory of God to flow through to destroy hell for a living.

  218. Because the devil will no longer manipulate you and tell you who you're not, because God has told you who you are.

  219. So I was a drug addict.

  220. I started drugs at 11 years old.

  221. Mom and dad got divorced when I was a kid, and I flipped out, I freaked out.

  222. My mom couldn't handle me, so she did the best thing that she knew how.

  223. There was a man that she worked for that was a Mason, and they had a place called the Masonic Homes.

  224. It was sponsored by the Freemasons.

  225. My mom had no idea what it was because if it was that bad, she wouldn't have put me in there, but she did.

  226. And they took care of me.

  227. And by the time I was 12, I was fully addicted to drugs.

  228. I was in that place for five years, and I destroyed everyone's life.

  229. Five and a half years, and a half a year later, I get kicked out and I come home.

  230. My mom's remarried.

  231. I can't stand my stepdad, so we're fighting.

  232. I leave that house and I'm I'm just hurting people and destroying people.

  233. Drugs and alcohol and anything I can get my hands on.

  234. I was addicted to pornography from eight years old.

  235. So my whole life was a twisted lie.

  236. I didn't have Christians in my family, I didn't have people telling me about God.

  237. I knew a lot of people that went to church, but they didn't bother with me.

  238. They were too busy going to a building and praying for Jesus to rescue them out of a big bad world instead of realizing Jesus didn't pay a price for them to hide inside of four walls.

  239. Jesus did not pay a price for us to hide inside of four walls.

  240. He paid a price for you to be a conduit to destroy hell, but nobody encountered me.

  241. So I joined the military because my stepdad said I could never be a real man, and I told him, I'll show you.

  242. So I joined the Marines with an attitude.

  243. That didn't work out well.

  244. I went to boot camp down at Paris Island and I mouthed off the whole time, and they broke me pretty good.

  245. How many of you are ex-Marines, or I guess once, temper five, once a Marine, always a Marine.

  246. I went down there to boot camp and I came out of there, and everybody thought it had changed just because I could stand at parade rest and say, Yes, ma'am, no, sir, yes, sir.

  247. That didn't change anything.

  248. I was brainwashed by the wrong substance.

  249. See, the only thing that can really wash your brain and the reality of all those dead works that are constantly going around your mind can only be washed by the blood of Jesus.

  250. See, the blood of Jesus cleanses our conscience from dead works.

  251. You can't have peace unless Jesus Christ washes you clean from all that stress, from all that trash, from all that tragedy.

  252. The only one that can clean you is the blood and mercy of God.

  253. I didn't know that.

  254. I went out of boot camp, I came home for leave, I went back to base, I started partying with the guys because they drank a lot.

  255. I couldn't handle this one drink.

  256. I had to have more and more and more and more and more.

  257. I'm addicted to more.

  258. That's why Jesus is the perfect fit for me.

  259. Because you can't, because you just you can't get enough of him.

  260. God has created us all to be addicted to Jesus.

  261. People say you have an addictive personality.

  262. I say, Yes, I'm created to be addicted to Jesus.

  263. I am.

  264. All of you are, you just don't know it yet.

  265. And if you do, then you're gonna be like, ah, what's wrong with you?

  266. No, it's wrong, it's what's been made right, Jesus.

  267. I I guys are like, ah, guys putting on a show.

  268. You're wrong.

  269. This is every day, it doesn't stop.

  270. I got issues, but my lifetime subscription to the wrong issues was canceled by the blood of Jesus.

  271. So now I'm addicted to him.

  272. So anyway, I end up just losing it.

  273. I end up, I'm saying, look, I want to go home.

  274. They said no, I said, see ya.

  275. I went AWOL, I ran away from the Marine Corps.

  276. Not good.

  277. I ended up in Colorado, hiding out there in a place called Summit County, which is like 110 miles of skiing.

  278. Like I was up above the clouds, kind of floating around, stoned every day, thought that I had it made, and then I got arrested.

  279. And then the pipe dream was over.

  280. They put me in prison, they actually extradited me across America, put me in military prison, I'm in there, shaved my head down again.

  281. I know people are looking at my hair like you were a Marine?

  282. Yes, but now I'm a fisher.

  283. It's a fishing lure.

  284. I'm not kidding you, you have no idea.

  285. I have thousands and thousands of testimonies.

  286. People are like, dude, are you a rock star?

  287. I'm like, oh.

  288. Kinda.

  289. I go through TSA.

  290. They're like, if you come through here, you have to sing.

  291. They're like, are you serious?

  292. It's 7:30 in the morning.

  293. I got my guitar with me.

  294. Yep, you're apparently you're a musician, so if you come through my line, you have to sing.

  295. I'm like, I don't know.

  296. Are you positive?

  297. TSA.

  298. Like, yep, you have to sing.

  299. And he's the boss.

  300. If he tells you you do, you said, but you have to promise me that when I start, you can't stop me until the song's over.

  301. I'm like, are you sure?

  302. Yep.

  303. Like, all right.

  304. So I sit up on their metal table right outside of the metal detector thing that's going through.

  305. All the bags are coming through.

  306. They shut it down.

  307. Just playing.

  308. Whoa, whoa, Jesus! You are all I need.

  309. Letting it rip in TSA at 7:30 in the morning.

  310. So you just don't know.

  311. See, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

  312. But if you don't know that you're right with God, you will be ashamed of the gospel.

  313. People say, How do I be bold?

  314. You understand that God has forgiven you if you've said yes to Jesus.

  315. Because today, God will wash you clean and wipe away all your junk so that you can wake up completely in love with Jesus instead of being ashamed of him.

  316. And if you've never said yes to Jesus, it's an amazing time because God is awesome and he loves you.

  317. So my life was totally twisted.

  318. I get arrested, extradited, I get out of the brig after a while.

  319. They told me I had to wait for my discharge.

  320. I told them I'm not waiting.

  321. I gotta go.

  322. I said, I gotta go.

  323. They said you can't.

  324. I said, see ya.

  325. I went A-WOL again.

  326. I did.

  327. And I went to the same place I got busted the last time.

  328. I was very, very, very wrong upstairs.

  329. I was totally wrong.

  330. See, the problem is a lot of you think that you're okay.

  331. See, people think that if you have a testimony like mine, it's amazing.

  332. And if you grew up in church, you're not that bad.

  333. I've got news for you.

  334. That's called self-righteousness, and it's a more dangerous sin than anything.

  335. Because if you think that you're right because of your good works, you're gonna stand before God and answer for your life and find out that Jesus is what you needed, and he's the missing ingredient.

  336. So whether you were horribly twisted for 22 years, or whether you grew up in church and only missed one, if you missed one commandment, the Bible says you've transgressed all of them and not just one of them.

  337. So all of us are equally as twisted.

  338. And without Jesus and without repentance and without the blood of Jesus washing you clean, you stand before God, you will answer for your life.

  339. And I'm not being mean, I'm being real.

  340. I promise you.

  341. It's like that's a heavy duty thing.

  342. We don't think that way.

  343. See, we compare each other one to another and say, Well, I'm not as bad as you.

  344. Oh, you're you you are in for it.

  345. Because if you see the mercy of God, you realize that God loved you so much that he washed away everything.

  346. And all he's asking you to do is to give him you.

  347. I mean, what kind of a trait is that?

  348. You for him?

  349. We give him this life so that he could give him his.

  350. Jesus, who knew no sin, hung on a tree and became sin so that I might become something.

  351. But if I don't understand what I've become, if I don't understand that I have become the righteousness of God, I will still think that I'm gonna make it in by my good works because we are terribly defeated.

  352. Because no one comes by their own good works, I promise you.

  353. No one.

  354. Nobody.

  355. Don't think that way.

  356. That's a hard thing.

  357. It's gonna be a terrible day to stand before God and try to think you get in by being good.

  358. That's not how it is.

  359. But he doesn't just want you to get to heaven, he wants to get heaven into you to possess you.

  360. He wants to take depression, anxiety, fear.

  361. See, fear is crushed with the perfect love of God.

  362. See, I am loved perfectly by God, so I've lived for 13 years without a day of fear.

  363. I don't have fear, you can't give it to me.

  364. Fear is under the curse.

  365. Fear and anxiousness, and all that is under the curse of the law.

  366. See, with Christ, all that thing is crushed because Jesus hung on a tree and cursed is anyone that hangeth on a tree.

  367. So God cursed everything in that tree, and because of Jesus, we can stand in freedom without any kind of fear, and we can come boldly to the throne room because when he was on that cross and he said it was finished, God tore the veil that separated man from God, and he opened it up so that we could come into the presence of God, not just that day, but forever.

  368. See, the blood of Jesus, he creates a way that forever I can come straight to God and I can go right to him.

  369. It's not about growing up as in a denomination where you just go to church.

  370. No, it's about being born again, and even people that are backslidden, they're slidden away from God.

  371. It's not about sliding back, slide home.

  372. Don't slide away, slide home.

  373. Don't run away from God, run into him.

  374. He's a good, good father.

  375. He's an amazing dad.

  376. If people hurt you, it's because if they were Christians and they hurt you, it's because they didn't know who they were when they did it.

  377. But if you got hurt by it, it's because you didn't know who you were when it came.

  378. So either way, none of them are gonna be excuses that you stand before God and say, Well, if they wouldn't have done this, then maybe I could have.

  379. No, you're the issue.

  380. You people hate that.

  381. Oh don't you tell me it's me.

  382. There's a key right there.

  383. You got a problem with this person and this person and this person, it's not them, it's you.

  384. You're the issue.

  385. Give up, get out of the way, get out of the way, say God.

  386. I'm done, I'm running, I'm finished.

  387. I just want you, Jesus.

  388. If you're this good, you're this real.

  389. I just want you.

  390. I just want you.

  391. I just want you.

  392. He's real, and he's a lover, he's not angry, he's not bitter, he just loves you so much.

  393. Man, so in the Marine Corps, I went two bouts in the brig, and then I got ended up getting kicked out, and they kicked me out of the military.

  394. I got a bad conduct discharge.

  395. I came out, I met a girl in a bar about a year and a half later.

  396. I tricked her into thinking I was amazing.

  397. And just like life goes, just like it did for my mom and my dad, my girl got pregnant, and I had no idea what it meant to be a father.

  398. And she she was very dependent, a very independent woman, and I thought, man, I'm gonna mooch off of her and steal from her and all that stuff.

  399. Well, my baby grew up with a father that didn't have any idea who he was, and then my girl was gonna leave me, and I told her if she did, I'd kill myself.

  400. And I thought about suicide every day of my life because I didn't know why I was alive.

  401. I don't care how much money you have, I don't care how much money you don't have.

  402. Suicide knows no money.

  403. Suicide doesn't, it doesn't matter.

  404. See, the devil hates his life and he wants you to take yours.

  405. The devil hates everything, he can never repent.

  406. He's hopeless, depressed, angry, defeated, and bitter, and he wants you to think just like him.

  407. He doesn't want you to understand that God is good and he's for you.

  408. He wants you to think you've messed up and you're hopeless and it's over.

  409. The devil wishes that he could kill himself, he can't.

  410. He's gonna be chained in a pit forever.

  411. He wants you to think that way, and that's not you.

  412. So this girl grew up, this daughter of mine, for seven and a half years with a dad that acted just like I'm telling you.

  413. Except a little while after I thought that I was gonna kill myself, she told me she was gonna find somebody else.

  414. And I told her if she did, I would kill them, kill her, and kill myself, and leave our daughter with nobody.

  415. So she stayed with me in fear.

  416. So seven and a half years down the road, she ends up saying, I'm out of here, but I don't hear her say that.

  417. I just come home and she's gone.

  418. So I drive over to her stepdad's house to get a rifle because I knew that he had a bunch of guns in the cabinet.

  419. And when I walked to the gun cabinet, I passed by a phone book and I flipped it open by chance, and it opened to churches.

  420. And it's the last thing that I'm looking for, but it's the very thing that I need, but I don't understand.

  421. But I made a check at one of these churches and I drove there and I said, I need to talk to somebody now.

  422. This real happy guy.

  423. Kind of like some of the pastors that I see and hear.

  424. But I didn't know because I was angry and they were happy, and I'm man.

  425. And he told me, he said, uh-huh.

  426. He said, Well, let me tell you about Jesus.

  427. I didn't come here to hear about Jesus.

  428. He said, This is a church.

  429. But in my life, I didn't know that Jesus was at a church.

  430. Keep in mind I wasn't a Christian, I had no idea that Jesus existed in a building.

  431. I thought that it was just a place where people that wanted like this Jesus to be some kind of a crutch hung out.

  432. I didn't know that he was an anchor.

  433. I didn't have any idea about any of that stuff.

  434. So he told me, Since I don't want my life, why don't I give it to somebody that does?

  435. I said, Who would want my life?

  436. He said, Jesus.

  437. I said, Come on, man.

  438. I said, Whatever, he can have it.

  439. There, I did it.

  440. That was my prayer.

  441. That's not good.

  442. I went home, I called my daughter, and I said, Hey, you need to tell mommy that daddy found God.

  443. She said, What's he like, Dad?

  444. I said, I don't know.

  445. But I met somebody today, there's something different in his eyes.

  446. You know, the eyes are the lamp of the body, and if your eye is single, your whole body's full of light.

  447. What is in your eye?

  448. And when people look in your eyes, what do they see?

  449. And how are you thinking?

  450. Are you thinking with his mind?

  451. Because if you're not, you don't know biblically who you're created to be, because you are meant to have your mind renewed so that you can know how God thinks, and you can have his heart, and you can have his eyes for people and his ears.

  452. So mom came home as angry as could be, and that first night I put my daughter to bed, told her everything was gonna change.

  453. I'm out on a cocaine bench.

  454. Same thing, nothing changed except I had this confession, but Jesus didn't say go make confessing Christians, He said, Go make disciples.

  455. But I couldn't read, so I didn't know how to read this Bible because I never read a book before my whole life.

  456. So five and a half months go by, and and then the same thing every day, same thing.

  457. And then I pick up his kid this night.

  458. I'm ripping off a drug dealer.

  459. It should have been my last night alive.

  460. And I ripped him off and I told him I was a cop.

  461. I said, You have the right to remain silent.

  462. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

  463. You have a right to an attorney.

  464. If you can't afford one, the court will appoint one for you.

  465. I've been read my rights so many times that I've memorized him.

  466. I'm talking hardcore.

  467. I'm just telling you the tip of it.

  468. And I told the kid to get out of the car and put his hands on the hood.

  469. And when he did, I hit the gas, and the kid pulled out a nine millimeter and unloaded.

  470. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

  471. And a voice shook my vehicle, and that voice said, I took those bullets for you.

  472. Are you ready to live for me yet?

  473. And I had no idea what it was.

  474. I thought I got shot.

  475. I said, I'm going to meet this, whoever this pastor's God is, because I didn't even know him.

  476. I come home that night and I look at my car and I had no bullets in my car from 10 feet away, and the fear of God hit me.

  477. I went to the door and she said, Get out of my life, I hate you.

  478. And I left.

  479. I went to a place called Teen Challenge.

  480. And I went into this rehab.

  481. I went in there with nothing.

  482. I lost my girl, I lost my daughter, I lost everything.

  483. And I'm there for two months, and every morning I'd get up early and I'd open the Bible that I didn't even know how to read.

  484. And then God opened my eyes, and he told me that he forgave me, and he told me that he washed away all my stuff.

  485. He told me that I'll never revisit it again.

  486. He said, I've washed it away, never look back, only look forward.

  487. And he washed it away.

  488. And then I had three nights where I had encounters with Jesus.

  489. And the third night he told me to go home.

  490. I packed my stuff.

  491. That pastor came and picked me up.

  492. I went to the house and I realized that I was a dad for the first time in my life.

  493. And I helped my little daughter at seven and a half years old as a father.

  494. And I said, I'm so sorry for what I've done.

  495. And she said, I know, Daddy, you're home.

  496. I said, Honey, Daddy, can't live here.

  497. I hurt mommy so bad.

  498. And mommy comes out of the house and I told her how sorry I was, and she looked at me.

  499. She said, I know you are.

  500. When you went away, I had an encounter with Jesus.

  501. And four days later, we get married in between first and second service, and that was 13 years ago.

  502. And right now we have that little girl, she's 20.

  503. Then we have an 11-year-old, then we have a six-year-old, and we just adopted a little boy that was born addicted to heroin 14 months ago.

  504. I have four kids that Jesus gave me.

  505. I need everybody at every campus to stand up right now, please.

  506. I want everybody to do me a favor and just bow your head, please.

  507. If you would be here, this is every campus.

  508. If you would be here and you would say, I do not have that relationship with Jesus, I would like to have this relationship with Jesus.

  509. I just want you to shoot your hand up, please.

  510. All over the place.

  511. I want you to shoot your hand up right now.

  512. All over every campus.

  513. See, I do not have that relationship, and I would like it.

  514. All right.

  515. I need everybody right now that has their hands up.

  516. I want you all to come forward.

  517. Every campus.

  518. I want you all to come forward right now.

  519. Come on.

  520. Come to Jesus right now.

  521. Every campus, right now.

  522. Up top, I want you to come down.

  523. South Lake, every campus.

  524. Come on, you guys.

  525. Come to Jesus.

  526. I want to pray with you.

  527. Every campus, I want you to come forward.

  528. I'm gonna pray with you right now.

  529. And then your local pastors are gonna take up.

  530. Come on, everybody.

  531. Don't be afraid.

  532. There is room at the cross for everybody.

  533. Don't sit on the outside looking in.

  534. Come to Jesus.

  535. Give your life to him.

  536. He will change your life.

  537. He will give you your family back.

  538. He will wash away your sin.

  539. Every campus, I want everybody to come forward right now.

  540. I want to pray with everybody.

  541. I'm so proud of y'all.

  542. So proud of y'all.

  543. I'm gonna pray with you right now.

  544. Are you ready?

  545. I just want you to say this with me, every campus.

  546. Lord Jesus, I want everybody in here to pray, just in case you didn't come down.

  547. Lord Jesus, I give my life to you.

  548. I'm asking you to wash away my sin.

  549. Give me that new life, make me that new creation where old things pass away and all things become new.

  550. Today, my life is yours, and you are mine in Jesus' name.

  551. And everybody said, Amen.