Easter Countdown | Personal Story | Part 3 | Pat Guerra

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You know, life is made up of moments, segments, different things that happened.

I had a scary moment a few minutes ago, and Pastor Brody got up and said, God uses the most insane things.

And I thought, oh, he's going to introduce me.

Which would have been okay because the Bible says that God uses the foolish things, the base things, the weak things.

I've always thought, yeah, I'm in, you know.

But then he went on and gave this incredible exhortation, and then I thought, well, we should just go home.

He has said enough, really, you know, like I got to follow that.

Seems kind of unfair, but we'll see.

And then I had another moment at the coffee bar.

Uh Debbie Fry said, I'm looking forward to hearing you talk and this and that.

And uh Natalie said, No matter how it goes, we will love you.

And you think that's funny.

I found it very comforting.

Uh yeah, you know, and I have to say, Christians are the most remarkable people because that's who we are.

No matter how you are, I will love you.

That's amazing.

Okay, so that aside, my time starts now.

In uh John chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus, typical to him, says an incredible statement.

John 16:33

If you follow the life of Jesus, just everything that comes out of him is absolutely profound, earth-shattering, amazing.

When Jesus speaks, there is more to it than we can ever imagine.

And sometimes he will say something so powerful in five short words.

I have overcome the world.

Anyone can say those words are just normal, but when Jesus says them, like, wow, what's he talking about?

He really is serious, he means it.

And so we know that Jesus overcame everything.

He overcame sickness.

Guy's blind, he goes away walking, guy's crippled, or he goes away walking, and you know, like it's incredible.

He overcame nature.

Imagine being in the middle of the Okanaga, and then this freak storm comes out, and you know it's going to be over.

I mean, there's no doubt about it.

Jesus gets up and says to the storm, Stop! Done.

He overcame nature.

He overcame demons.

People like demonic things that come, and it was their biggest mistake to ever try and get in his way.

Because he plowed right over them.

And so when Jesus says he overcomes, it is powerful.

The most significant time of overcoming is what we call Easter.

It talks about the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

And for, you know, I hope it never becomes comfortable or commonplace.

The death and resurrection, what we call Easter, Jesus shifted everything so profoundly it would never be the same.

Something so earth-shattering happened at that event that we are still in awe about it.

For example, sometimes talk to people and say, do you know why it's 2019 today?

Because Jesus' death and resurrection, his birth, death, and resurrection.

Stop time.

Reset the clock, and that's why we have 2019.

Let me tell you something else that Jesus did.

God is holy, righteous, and just.

So he must, because of his nature, punish sin.

It just makes sense.

If you're a judge, you punish people who break the law.

That's his nature.

After the resurrection, Jesus shifts that.

And instead of God being, let's say, obligated to punish sin, for those who are in Christ, God is actually obligated to forgive us.

It's not a choice.

It's not a, yeah, well, I like this guy, I don't like him.

And you know, he's and if if obligated is too strong a word, just look it up some theological way, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ, and God is righteous and justified by doing anyhow.

He is as obligated to forgive me as he was to punish my sin.

That is incredibly comforting.

And then another thing that Jesus did, you read in 1 Corinthians 5 17, where Paul says, You, Brian Grant, don't look at that phone.

You are a new creation.

Think about it.

Six days at the beginning of creation, God creates, creates, creates, creates, creates, creates.

And on the seventh day, he stopped.

It's over.

No more creating.

As far as I know, for the rest of history, there is nothing new that God has created.

Everything is in motion until it comes to us.

All of a sudden, because of the death, the resurrection, God says, I'm going to create again.

And he created Brian.

Everybody said, Yay! Jesus shifts everything.

And he did that.

He said, I overcome.

It's interesting that in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 11, it says that we overcome.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

It's you see, it's a oh yeah, it's right there.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of the testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

I want you to focus on the part that says the word of their testimony.

They overcame by the word of their testimony.

And I know it's sandwiched between two other very important concepts, but I only have time for one.

They overcame him by the word of their testimony.

What is the testimony?

Testimony?

I was standing in a street corner, this guy ran a stop sign, he had a car, I'm a witness to that.

That's it.

That's my you'd like to take your testimony statement.

We are witnesses to that.

We are testimonies to that.

And Jesus says, or God says in his word, that that's so very important.

How many of you here are born again, saved, whatever you want to call it?

How many of you are in the club?

All right.

Your testimony is absolutely powerful.

And personally, I love hearing testimonies because everyone is an intricate working of God to reach a unique individual.

Every story is so very different.

And it's just fascinating that God loves so much to work through all that.

He doesn't have a little factory cookie cutter thing.

And so if you if you've never heard Sheldon's testimony, like that's the craziest thing ever.

Or it's Shagun if he's here.

And Tom, stand up for a sec.

Yeah, sometime get a hold of Tom.

You can sit down.

Tom's got Jesus with eyes that are on fire.

This is like really something.

It's amazing.

So, testimonies, we all have one, and they are very, very powerful.

I'm gonna tell you my story in a nutshell.

I was raised in South Texas.

Part of my heritage is Mexican.

Yo sé habla español, estoy muy bendicido con eso.

I'll interpret later.

It's a very remote, isolated place.

But if you watch news, it's one of the most popular places on the news because it's remote and isolated.

The smuggling, all that that's my background.

And uh with a little tiny town, nobody else around for 90 miles in either direction, isolated, backward, etc.

My parents were upper middle class and they were decent people in a lot of ways, but not Christians, and so they did the best they could to raise me and then uh finish high school, and when I did, the whole teaching staff applauded.

They were so glad he's gone.

But anyhow, and I went to university because I didn't know what else to do, and uh I got there, and back then they uh there was a revolution, a social revolution taking place called the hippies, and it was about free everything.

And so I wandered into that with the use of drugs, and boy, was that ever fun and exciting.

I mean, sin has pleasure, let's admit it, you know.

Uh for a season.

You talk to a heroin addict, and they'll tell you, man, that first time was amazing, but now it's nothing like that.

It ends up in disaster.

Anyhow, I thought it was fun and exciting.

I jumped in, I grew long hair, I grew a beard, I looked like Charles Manson, I quit university, and then I was uh faced with the fact that you need to make a living.

You know, like you believe in free, but not everybody else does.

So I started bringing drugs from Mexico into the U.S.

because that's my bat, that's my neighborhood.

200 yards away is Mexico.

I knew this place.

So anyway, I started doing that, and it was fun and exciting, nerve-wracking.

In 1968, which is like dinosaurs were still on the earth, uh, I went to a city close to uh where I lived, and a friend of mine at midnight dropped me off, and uh I was walking across the parking lot about midnight in Texas.

It's really nice at night, and I'm just going to go and get into this car that was waiting for me.

And all of a sudden, I have to understand, you'll never understand, in 1968, stereophonic wasn't uh available.

There was nothing stereo.

This is weird.

There was nothing.

So I'm walking, and then in the middle of this parking lot, I hear in stereo this dummo, dummo, dummo from everywhere.

Like wow, I looked around, and there were these monsters that looked like Goliath with these guns that were like huge and they were pointed at me and they were shouting, Domo, dummo, move.

Man, I didn't know a person could be so scared.

I wasn't sure I could breathe, much less move.

Anyhow, a lot happened.

We got to the car, they opened the trunk, and it was full of marijuana, and I told them, well, I don't know who put that there.

It's not mine.

So they just let me go home.

Yeah, I didn't think so.

And uh, anyhow, it was very serious, uh, which I didn't realize.

I didn't have a criminal background to evaluate these things, but my lawyer said, uh, you understand that four of the charges against you, all federal, carry a minimum five years.

He said, Let me explain.

If the word guilty comes into that courtroom from anybody, you're going to prison for a minimum five years on each one of those counts.

Well, I am in trouble.

So we did a whole bunch of stuff, and oh, but yeah, I should mention that was 155 pounds of marijuana, which today is like wouldn't even make the news.

Back then, it was the largest bust on that border ever.

My picture was in the front page of the newspaper.

Like I was like headlining for all the wrong reasons.

So I'm in trouble.

But get through that.

I managed to get probation, kept doing the same thing, end up in front of the same judge.

And uh, if you're a criminal, you know that being in front of a judge is no fun.

You never want to see the same judge twice.

Because I already told him, I'm reformed, I changed my ways, I'm different.

And he gave me a break.

The second time he said, I'm sending you to prison.

That was like incredible.

I went to one of these places like you see in the movies, the big walls, the guard tire, everything.

It's like, whoa.

And for what it's worth, when the marshals took me in there, every cell in my body, sincerely, I want to emphasize sincerely, said, I will never come back to a place like this.

I mean, one look, not for me.

You know what?

Being sincere doesn't quite carry the weight some people think it does, because I kept on with the same thing inside, I kept on with the same thing outside.

It just went on.

I finally got out on parole.

I conned my parole officer into letting me move to Seattle or Spokane.

Really, I was coming to Canada, and so I crossed over the border illegally, breaking federal probation.

Laws didn't mean a lot to me, except that I didn't want to get arrested for them.

But breaking them was nothing.

So I came into Canada and my friend said, Whoa, I'm just growing this uh up by Nelson, this marijuana crop, you know, we drive me to Calgary.

Whatever Calgary is, sure, let's go.

So off we go.

And uh no, it's crazy.

Anyhow, uh, I ended up after a while bringing drugs from Texas across the U.S., across the Canadian border, and to Calgary to maintain my lifestyle.

Ultimately, I got arrested, and man, was I in trouble.

Immigration, the U.S., the RCP, everybody, the RC and P, they're all mad at me.

My dad, he said, What is wrong with you?

Well, nothing wrong with me.

That's all of them.

You know, I actually believe that.

So I ended up in a little uh cage that by myself, locked up for 23 hours a day by myself.

We got one hour to go have a shower and stuff like that.

Uh, it's just like you're not even good enough to be with human beings.

It's like a zoo.

It was just really bad.

And so you have a lot of time to think.

Anyhow, these uh Christians decided to come to this jail and have like a Bible study.

They called it a prayer meeting to this day.

I don't know why even Christians don't go to prayer meetings, but they didn't know any better.

They were charismatic Catholics, and I found out, and etc.

I'd been involved in all kinds of Oriental religions, Eastern religions.

So when the opportunity came and the guard yells down the row of cells, who wants to go to prayer meeting?

Me.

Me, I've been dying to go to a prayer meeting.

Like, yes, thank you for the opportunity.

I wouldn't have cared what he said if it got me out of that cage, really.

You know?

So down I go, and these people, if we had more time, uh in one sense they did everything wrong.

We would they introduce themselves, we would sing stuff like, This is my commandment, that you love one another.

They had to sing in these songs.

Like, you don't love one another in prison, you know.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

You don't have joy.

Anyhow, they broke all the norms, but a lot of things happened through that process.

I finally decided on my own that I would say to God, I believe I'm convinced everybody prays sooner or later in some way.

And uh so I said, God, like I know there's something.

I tried to be an atheist, impossible.

Uh so I know there's something.

Uh and this stuff about Jesus, I've never believed it.

I didn't.

I had a nominal Catholic background.

I didn't believe it.

I've never wanted it.

I would go to anything anywhere but Christian, no thanks.

And then I've been against it.

That was kind of funny to realize that because in the first prison I was at, some guys got born again.

They tried to talk to me, and I told them to just back off.

If they had talked to me about anything else, I would have said, tell me more.

No, but not Jesus.

So I said, I've never won it, never been involved against it.

And then I said these fateful words.

But if it's real, show me.

I just like that's it.

I wasn't desperate or emotional.

I mean, you know, like whoa.

Within the next two weeks, something begins to happen.

Something that I it was fortunately a little bit at a time, or as much as I could take, but I could feel something.

At the end of two weeks, I knew I had changed on the inside.

I had no grid for it, I had no idea.

So I had changed.

So I go flying down the stairs and say, Well, you won't believe the way I feel when I'm saying blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And this sweet charismatic Catholic lady says, Oh, you've been born again.

That was it.

I said, How'd you know that?

Jesus said, Well, how do you know Jesus said?

Well, the Bible is connecting all the dots for me.

And my life shifted dramatically ever since then, because Jesus overcomes everything.

And so there began a whole new life.

Let me tell you another story.

It's a true story.

If it seems a little incredulous, this is more up to date, then you can ask some of you don't know.

I have a twin brother.

He's been attending the church.

Rylan, where is he?

Stand up for a sec.

That's my twin brother.

And Rylan was present for this.

So I'm not making it up.

As they say, evangelists exaggerate.

I would avoid that like the plague because you lose credibility, really.

But I go to a sauna at the Y fairly frequently because saying a sauna sweating is like my idea of exercise.

That's how I got buffed like this.

This is really off the subject, but how many of you know when Pastor Brody talks about going to the gym and all that, there's a handful of people here that feel like that's awesome.

But for the rest of us, that's aggravating.

Anyhow, so I'm sitting in a sauna, it's a small sauna, and you walk in, and there's two bench rows all the way, and then a little bench across the way, and it was full, it varies, but it was like 10, 12 people really jammed.

I'm sitting on the bench looking at these people, and uh mostly just sweating and enjoying everything.

But these in a sauna is like an elevator, it can be awkwardly quiet, nobody wants to say anything, you just let you relax.

Or sometimes it's chatting.

And there were these two guys that were chatting, and one of them was sitting right in front of me, and the other one's over there, and they're bantering back and forth, and of course we're listening to all this, and in the middle of that, just banter, the guy in front of me, that now I know his name, Thomas, I hope you're here.

Uh he says, this other guy, for some reason, I forget the context, he says, Well, I've been banned from two dealerships, from the other health spa, I've been banned from here, I've been banned.

He's like boasting about how he gets banned from things.

I don't listen to him, that's remarkable.

So they stopped, they paused long enough for me to look across and say, you know, you've been banned from all these things.

I said, why don't you try church?

I wonder if they would ban you.

He said, uh he said, well, he told me a story when he was little, he went to church, and I missed some of it.

I wasn't sure if he got banned or what happened, but he quit going.

And I said, they ban you?

He said, no, I I created so much havoc that uh it was better if we weren't in the same place together.

So then I said, Well, that's interesting.

You've had years and years and years to improve creating havoc.

You gotta be better at it now.

Now you should try church.

He said, I'm glad you're sitting down, and I'm glad I have references.

He said, What I would be interested in, Thomas, me, our audience, there have no choice.

What I would be interested in is being born again.

I this is like on the inside, yeah, you just did like that.

On the inside, I'm like, what did he just say?

I'm just trying to get him to church, for goodness sakes.

And I just like, wow, like that's amazing.

Like, why?

Why would you want to do that?

And he said, Well, why not?

Negative.

And Osana, you have limited time, you can't stay there.

No, I mean, really, you just physically you've got to get out.

So I forget, thought, let's forget the negative.

You know, why would you want to do that?

And here is for you come into the story.

He said, It happened to a friend of mine, and it is working for him.

Wow.

I thought, man.

I hope.

Are you that friend?

Are we those friends that people know?

And I and so when he said that, after he said that.

My my twin Rylan, he says, he's sitting over in the corner, he said, You ought to hear his story.

And Thomas said, What's your story?

And I figured, well, I'm obligated, you know, like I have to tell my story, but he asked me.

And uh, regardless of all the other people, so I told him essentially what I just told you.

And uh then him and the other guy, Rob, they started joking around.

We had a good time.

I did give him a card, so give me a call sometime, come to church, whatever.

But really, the the really significant part of that, well, it all is, is a friend of mine.

Somebody he knows, somebody close to him mentioned it to him.

That's who we are.

We are that friend, or we should be that friend.

In Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, Jesus said, You're gonna receive power and you're gonna be witnesses, you're gonna give a testimony about me.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

You're just gonna basically say, I saw the car run, the stop sign hit the other car.

I was like this, and now it's changed.

That's all he talks about.

That's all he's requiring of all of us.

But let me ask you some questions.

Why is that so hard?

How many of you, I mean, some of you aren't gonna raise your hand no matter what I ask for, you know, but so I realize that.

But how many of you find it really hard to be a witness to give your testimony?

Okay, there's a bunch of you won't raise your hand because I'm told the statistics are 95 to 98 percent of Canadian Christians, so that would be a lot of hands, do not share their faith.

That's what I've been told the statistics are.

That's the majority of us do not do what Jesus told us to do.

And this is why the kingdom doesn't grow.

This is why there isn't constant people getting saved, because we're not sowing the seed.

And it's important.

The sower sows, there's a harvest.

Ask a farmer who sowed two seeds, you're not expecting a bumper crop.

You know, so it's really important.

Let me illustrate it like this.

I need a volunteer.

Sheldon, thank you for volunteering.

Yeah.

So just pretend that I'm an immensely rich person, probably in some other culture where they have more like servants and employees, you know, so a lot of pressure there.

And I call my my servant in Sheldon and say, Sheldon, yes, don't get carried away.

Uh my kids get out of school today at four o'clock.

I understand that in that area of the city there's some unrest, and I'm concerned for my kids.

So I want you to go and personally escort them home.

And sure, okay, boss.

Okay, now while on your way, there is also the best bakery in the world.

And I want you to pick up a loaf of fresh bread for dinner tonight.

Okay?

So he says, yes.

Uh in theory, he goes and then he comes back and he comes and he says.

Look at the loaf of bread I got for you.

Wow.

Wow, that's awesome.

That's great.

Thank you.

That's gonna be good for supper.

Yeah.

Where are my kids?

Look at the bread though, like smell it, smell it.

Yeah, that's great.

I know.

I'm getting hungry.

Oh wow.

I'm getting hungry already.

Yeah, yeah.

Where are the kids?

Bread?

Thank you, Sheldon.

Go to the dungeon for the rest of your life.

Here's the point.

No matter what we do as individuals, we can teach Sunday school, we can go to church, we can give money, we can help on Tuesday nights, we can help the broken heart.

Regardless of all our good works, which should be done and should be increasing, all those things have to happen.

And individually we are called to those things.

But the one thing we are all called to do, this is equal for everybody.

You are my witnesses.

Everybody, that's what we have in common.

And none of these other things will replace that.

So we're gonna get to heaven and say, Well, I taught Sunday school.

Well, good.

In fact, I think we need more Sunday school teachers, right?

Any volunteers?

Uh I gave money, that's very important.

I was on church, a Bible study, I was helping, I was, I, that's great, that's great.

Were you my witness to the people around you?

And we don't want to get there and try and keep saying the bread, the bread, the bread.

Thank you for the bread.

Doesn't go unnoticed.

But being a witness is at the very core, is not the only thing, but is the core ingredient of the gospel and the kingdom being expanded.

When we are witnesses, the gospel gets expanded.

The kingdom gets expanded.

That's the most effective method that Jesus ever came up with.

Thank God for evangelists, special crusades, Sunday school, thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God.

But the core of Christianity being effective is being a witness.

That's what spreads it.

And that's why, you're still gonna love me if you're committed to it.

That's why if mystiologists will tell us that today in other countries of the world, continents, whole continents, South America, Africa, even the Asian countries, evangelism, soul winning, and harvest is happening at an unprecedented rate.

Never in history has the church been growing at the rate it's growing today out there.

We want it to happen in here.

We want to be comfortable bringing loaves of bread.

We want to see this community transformed and core to that is this.

I was blind, but now I see.

And so, well, can you explain that to me?

No, I really can't.

Theologically, I uh well, do you know this?

You know, the qualifications are simply to give a testimony.

So, back to the question, why is it so hard to do?

Because it is the major thing that Satan, the world, the flesh, our culture will oppose.

Do not do that.

And that's the victory that they win if we don't do it.

But that's why it's so hard.

I know it's hard.

I mean, you think it's hard.

Okay, so my not gonna raise your hand.

That's all right.

Forgiveness in the house.

But that's why it's so hard.

It's that opposition.

Why is it so important?

Is because when God saved you, he uniquely knew your capabilities.

And he uniquely knew that you were well suited to go into the world of plumbing, to go into the world of landscape, to go into the world of business, that he chose you for a purpose.

Yes, he loves you.

He chose you for a purpose.

This is a person I can use.

Jesus would go on to all the world.

He really meant all the different worlds: the rich worlds, the poor worlds, the broken worlds, the plumbing worlds, the landscaping worlds, the electrician worlds.

Go into those worlds and be my witnesses.

And as we go everywhere and shine a light for Jesus, it starts to happen.

You are important because of your unique makeup and calling from God.

You are there's nobody can replace you, there's nobody can do your job for you in this regard.

You are important.

I have good news though.

As an aside, in a few weeks, organization I belong to, Gideon's International in Canada, are putting on an event to help equip people share their faith.

I hope you all flood it.

When I think that 95 to 98% don't share the faith, I hope everybody comes because you know it's hard to get people.

But you'll hear more about that.

It's called grid, but it's coming because we're not here to condemn you.

We're here to encourage you.

We're here to equip you, we're here to help you move forward.

And so that will really help with that.

In Acts chapter 8, verse 1 to 4, it says that at that time the church in Jerusalem suffered terribly.

Acts 8:1–4

All the Lord's followers, except the apostles, that's funny.

We'll get back to that.

Uh, were scattered everywhere in Judea and Samaria, so they're running for their lives.

And Paul started making a lot of trouble for the church.

He went from house to house, arresting men and women, putting them in jail.

The Lord's followers, who had been scattered, went from place to place.

They're running, telling the good news.

You know, on my way through here, I gotta tell you, Jesus changed my life.

I gotta tell you about this thing that happened to me.

They were scattered.

That's how the kingdom froze.

Now, the thing about the apostles staying home, that's like Pastor Brody being in his office, spending time studying the word, praying.

You know, the the people who work in church, etc., they have the least opportunity to do this.

But the apostles were given to prayer and the ministry of the word.

The scattering and telling, I think you said this before, that's our job.

You still think it's our job?

He still thinks it's our job.

We're stuck with it.

So, what God envisions is that all of Kelowna, all the worlds in Kelowna, auto mechanics, plumbers, landscapers, engineers, chiropractors, bank employee, etc., etc., etc., have a witness in them.

A little light shining.

I'm a Christian, and they're really, really?

Because they're not used to that.

So we need to go and be scattered everywhere.

So it tells us in uh Acts chapter 9 when Paul had his conversation with Jesus and he wasn't being very good, that when he bowed, he asked this question.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

This is the the eternal Christian question.

Lord, what do you want me to do?

Well, let me just take his place for a moment.

The first thing is to be a witness.

You can be an elder, you can be on the board, you can get money, you can help Sunday school, you can, you can.

But Lord, what do you want me to do?

Be my witness.

And when we do that, and we sow seeds, and the more we sow, over time, some of them will land, and Thomas will be in church saying, Wow, praise God, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free.

But it is all a result of the sowing that takes place because we do what God wants us to do.

Lord, what do you want me to do?

Be a witness?

That's one.

And I've sometimes had this experience that people know that a person's a Christian, but the second part of that is that I want you to be one too.

Not enough to say, I'm a Christian.

Well, good for you.

Belong to the best golf club in town, you know, good for you.

Oh, but I want you to be one too.

And there are many, many ways of doing that.

So don't get me wrong.

You can talk to me after the service.

One of the very best things you can do to accomplish that is invite them to church.

And I know it's not like church?

Yeah.

Statistics show that 85% of people, there's a massive, massive uh research that you've got done, when asked, what brought you to this church and helped you to connect with Jesus and grow in the Lord?

A friend or neighbor invited me.

85% of church is built on that.

The others are like street evangelism, hang on tracks, special Sunday school, the holistic thing, 15%.

And so I would encourage you to do all of the above.

But one of the most powerful things you can do is just say, hey, we're having an Easter service.

Would you like to come?

I got a haircut day before yesterday.

And I said to the young girl, why don't you come church Sunday?

I worked on Sundays most of the times.

Ah, it's too bad.

She said, Well, how about Easter?

And she said, You know, I'm going to try and get that day off.

She wrote it down.

She said, You're going to try and come.

Oh, like that's awesome.

So that's why we're here.

Invite, invite, invite.

Because it is something doable for you.

Hey, you want to come to church?

I got a guy, my neighbor, I invite him to my plus 55 events almost every time, and he never shows up.

Last time I saw, I'm not going to invite him over.

I'm being obnoxious, and something happened that changed my mind.

I went over, he invited me in, he had a good chat, etc.

He knew again the invitation, first and foremost.

He doesn't think I'm being obnoxious.

He's just resisting God.

Another guy, he's on my email list for these events.

I don't want to be obnoxious.

So I phoned him and said, listen, Larrabee, hope you're here today.

You know those notices, those invitations I sent you?

And I was going to tell him, I'm not going to send them anymore because you really didn't request them.

I put you on that list.

That's what I was going to say.

But I said, you know those invitations that I send you?

And it's exactly what he said.

He said, Yes, please don't quit sending them.

One of these days I'm coming.

Oh, it's very encouraging, you know.

The end result of all this.

They overcame.

The world, Satan, the flesh, the culture, they overcame by the word of their testimony.

I love that Jesus makes it doable.

It's not just for some that can do it or close.

They overcame.

All their fears, all their apprehensions, all the obstacles.

They overcame.

They got on top of this thing and said, I am going to do it.

And because of that, Christianity is spread throughout the world.

Fortunately, got this far, and you and I are saved.

So what am I suggesting?

That we enter into God's vision, which is this 300 people going into all of Kelowna, different places, shine your light, and let people know that it's the best thing that ever happened to you, and you want it to happen to them too.

It's for them.

Whether they accept it or reject it, not my problem.

Well, you're hearing things all of a sudden.

But just keep doing it and keep doing it and keep doing it.

And we'll be all over Kelowna.

Hey, come to Easter service.

Hey, come to my Bible study.

Hey, let's get together for coffee.

I'm a Christian.

It's the best thing that ever happened to me.

I want it to happen to you too.

It's just that simple.

And so to do that though, because it is hard, somebody say amen.

It is hard.

Somebody say amen.

It is very hard.

Now everybody say amen.

We have to overcome.

We have to break through.

We have to get to the other side of whatever it is that's lying to us and holding us in bondage and get over there, overcome, and say, Christian, I'd like for you to be one too.

Yeah.

Amen?

Amen.

Would you stand to your feet?

And really, I'm just I'm with Natalie.

We're going to love people no matter what.

It's not predicated on that.

So we love everybody, regardless of who you are and where you're at.

It begins with God's love.

But beyond that, I'm going to pause and I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit to reverberate the words that Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

This was church.

You shall receive power.

And let me just say, if you have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a Pentecostal experience, etc., if you've not received the power, then go get it.

It's a gift, just like salvation.

Don't live without something super important.

So go get it.

If you have, and instead of low energy, get recharged.

Get that power.

I want God to point out to each individual and basically say, I'm talking to you.

I chose you.

You are special.

And I don't know if God could ever say this, I doubt it, but I need you.

Did he need Abraham?

I don't know, but he used Abraham.

You're special.

I chose you.

Be my witness.

God, by your Holy Spirit, remind us, re-energize us so that we can invade our city with the good news, with the kingdom, with the message of everything that Brody always says, forgiveness and reconciliation, and it's just so much.

Send us out of here and fuse to be your witness.

Speak, Holy Spirit.