Called Out of the Crowd | Pastor Gerald Brooks

Plano, Texas, which is outside of Dallas. And also he

always brings a few books with him. And so if

you leave here today and you want to get resourced

leaders are readers, then outside you'll be able to grab

a couple of Pastor Gerald's books that he brought tonight.

I know they'll bless you. I know it'll encourage you.

But would you do me a favor and give a

big patreo Welcome to our family, Paser Gerald Brooks all

the way from Plano, Texas.

I love you so much, so proud of you well,

thank you so much, Thank you so much, Heavenly Father.

As we come before you, Lord, we never take time

for granted. We know that every moment that we have

in your presence is an opportunity to begin to sell

in our hearts, lifestyles and choices and do things that

will be pleasing to you.

Father.

None of us have arrived. We all want to learn,

we all want to grow, we all want to be smarter.

Today through the Word of God and spirit of God,

help that to happen. So when it's all said and done,

you help us to be more like Jesus than ever before,

because that is our passionate prayer. We all agree together saying, well,

you can be seated. In Ephesians, chapter two and verse ten,

it says this God has created you. Let me just

start by saying that I don't know all of you

in this room, but God created you. And that's an

important place to start. That God created you. You're not

an accident, you're not an add on, You're not a

part of a support cast. God created you. You may

have been a surprise to your parents, but you were

not a surprise to God. God created you. It says

God created you to join him in his work. God

didn't just create you. God created you because there's something

that he wants you to do. He doesn't want you

to sit idly by. He doesn't want you to be

comfortable in the stands. He doesn't want you to sit

on the bench. He created you to join him in

the world. It goes on and it says the good

work that He has gotten you ready to do. You

may not realize it, but you've been in training for

this moment. That God created you to do his work,

and he's been getting you ready. And it concludes by

saying we must get busy doing it. And boy, if

there's ever a time that Christians need to get busy

doing what God wants them to do, it is right now.

I want to talk to you to night for a

few minutes about getting out of the people pile. Getting

out of the people pile. I don't know if you

realize it or not, but there are eight billion people

on this planet, give or take a few eight billion.

The reality is is that most of those eight billion

are going to just stay in the people pile. They're

never going to get out of the people pile. It's

just going to be where they're going to be. They're

going to live, they're going to die, and they will

never get out of the people pile. And the fact

of the matter is is that God wants you to

get out of the people pile. He wants you to

take a step out of it. He wants you to

step out so that you can do something. But here's

the thing. God wants to get you out of the

people pile. And if you study the Bible, here's what

you find. There is story after story of God asking

people to get out of the people pile. In each

one of the stories was God asking. So imagine that

one day you're Noah and God comes to you. What

did God do? He said, Noah, I need you to

get out of the people pile. I need you to

take a step forward. I don't want you to stay

in the people pile. But for Noah to get out

of the people pile, you know what he had to do.

He had to do something that no one else had done.

He had to do something that was different. He had

to do something that was uncomfortable. He had to do

something that was a change. No one knew what an

arc was. No one had seen an arc before. But

God says, I want you to do something. Do you

know the number one reason that people stay and the

people pile is because you don't have to do anything different.

The people pile is comfortable. You just stay right in it.

You don't have to do anything new, you don't have

to do anything different. You're never going to be ridiculed

because you're in the pile. You're like everyone else. But

to get out of the people pile, you've got to

do something different. You've got to be willing to take

a step forward. You have to do something unusual. And

can we be honest for some of you, you were

the first one to get out of the people pile.

In your family, you were the first one to say,

I'm gonna love Jesus.

You had to do something different.

You were the first one who said, I've got to

do something that's different than I've ever seen done in

my family.

I've got to do something. And God was calling you.

He said, just get out of the people pile. Just

get out of the people pile.

But the the number one reason that people stay in

the people pile is it's comfortable. You don't have to

do anything new, you don't have to do anything different,

you don't have to change anything. You just stay right

where you're at. People will live and die in that pile.

They'll never get out of it. But God was coming

to Noah and he was saying, Noah, can you get

out now? See we get to hear the edited version

one day when we get to Heaven.

I want to watch the rerun. Here's my question.

How many people did God come to and ask to

get out of the people pile before Noah said yes?

How many people.

Were there people that he asked And he said, Hey,

I need you to do something for me. I need

you to do something different. I need you to do

something that's uncomfortable. I need you to do something that

no one else for some of you, you've got to

do something different if you're going to get out the

people pile. But the easiest thing for us to do

is say, I've never seen anyone do it. I've never

seen anyone do anything like that. I've never heard of

that being done before. I've never seen anyone make that

kind of step. I've never seen anyone. Why in the

world would I do it? No one else is doing it,

and the people pile, you're always doing what everyone else

is doing. But to get out of the pile, you've

got to sit there and you have to do something different.

So God came to Noah and he said, Noah, I

need you to get out of the people pile. But

the number one reason people stay in the pile is

it's comfortable. You don't have to do anything different from

anyone else. Well, what if I do it and people

don't think good of me? See the people pile, no

one's going to criticize you. Well, what if I do

it and people don't applaud me? In the people pile,

everybody's gonna applaud you because you're just like them, you're

no different than them. You stay in the pile. The

pile is the most comfortable place to live. See, some

people think that the way you get out of the

people pile is to have more money. But the truth

of the matter is money doesn't get you out of

the people pile. It just means you're the wealthiest person

in the pile. And then some people think, well, if

I get out of the pile, maybe I can get

out through education. But education doesn't get you out of

the pile. It just means you're the smartest person in

the pile. And then people turn around and they say, Hey,

I'm gonna get out because I'm gonna work on my looks,

I'm gonna stay in shape, and you're just the best

looking in the pile. But to get out of the pile,

you're gonna have to do something for God that no

one else has done. You're gonna have to take that

first step of faith. You're gonna have to take that

first action. You're gonna have to do something that maybe

you didn't see your mama do, your daddy do. Maybe

your girlfriend's not doing it, maybe your boyfriend's not doing it.

You're gonna have to do something that someone arounds you

is not doing.

Because that's what gets you out of the pile.

You're gonna have to come to the altar when everyone's

shaking their head and making fun of the altar. You're

gonna have to raise your hands when everyone has their

hands in their pocket. You're going to have to be

the person who does something different. So what are you

doing right now that's different? God looked at Noah and

he said, no I need you to get out of

the pile. But then he came to a lady named

Esther and said, Esther, I need you to get out

of the pile. I need you to get out of

the people pile. I don't need you in there for

us to do what I need you to do. You're

gonna have to get out of the pile. And so

what happened with Esther. Esther being the queen, but she

hadn't been called on, hadn't been paying attention.

To her, and she knew what that meant.

And so what did she say. It's really not a

good time. The king hasn't been paying attention to me.

See.

The second reason that people stay in the people pile

is because it's not convenient with their schedule. It doesn't

fit in their schedule. It's just not a good time.

It's not a good time. You know, when my kids

get older, I can do this. If my kids weren't

in soccer, if my kids weren't in baseball, if my

kids weren't in this.

Then one day everybody.

Wants a perfect time to get out of the people pile.

So people just sit there, and they sit in the

people pile because it's not convenient. It's not the way

you want to do. It's not a convenient time. So

you have people that when they're young, they're thinking, Hey,

I'm gonna live my life my way, and then one

day I'm gonna get serious about God, and they stay

in the pile. But the longer you stay in the pile,

the more likely you're never getting out of the pile.

You're gonna live and die there, and you're gonna be

in the pile. But God looked at Esther and said Esther,

I need you to get out of the pile. And

she said, it's not working. It's not convenient, it doesn't

fit with my schedule. It just doesn't work with who

I am right now. The King's not interested in me.

That's just not gonna happen right now. It was inconvenience.

What's inconveniencing you right now that God's asking you to do?

What is it that you're putting off because it doesn't

fit the timing of your life? See, we have them

on both ends. Well, when my kids were young, I

was too busy.

I couldn't get out of the pile.

Now you know what happens now now I'm taking care

of mom and daddy and I can't get out of

the pile. Tell me how many days of the week

is it convenient for you? People live and die in

the people pile. Majority of people are going to do

that because to get out of the pile, you got

to do something.

That others aren't doing.

To get out of the pile, you're going to have

to be inconvenienced when you don't think you have time

to do it. Getting out of the pile means that

I'm going to say, Hey, God, I don't know how

this is going to work with my kids. I don't

know how it works with mom and dad because right

now I'm having to care for them. But God, I'm

not going to stay in the pile. See, just because

you go to church doesn't mean you're in the pile.

It could just mean you're the churchiest person in the pile.

I've done this for forty eight years. I know a

lot of people who are in the pile who go

to church because that's a part of their pile. But

to get out of the pile, you got to do

something different. To get out of the pile, you got

to do something inconvenient. But then one day God came

to a man named Gideon, and he said, Gideon, I

need you get out of the people pile. And Gideon said, God,

I can't get out of the pile. But Gideon was

different than Noah. Noah had to do something different, different

than Esther. Esther had to be inconvenienced. But Gideon said, God,

you obviously don't know who I am. See, I'm from

the least tribe of Israel. And I'm not only from

the least tribe of Israel, but I'm from the least

family of the least tribe. And I'm not just from

the least family of the least tribe. I'm the least

person in the family of the least tribe. You know

what he was saying, he says, I'm a nobody. God,

you obviously didn't do the resume check. You obviously didn't

look at the resume here, because my resume.

Is just no good. Why do you think.

I'm not educated enough, I'm not gifted enough, I'm not

smart enough, I'm not whatever enough that you would want

me to.

Get out of the pile.

The reason there's eight billion people in the pile is

there's always a reason to be in the pile. Don't

want to do something everyone else around you isn't doing.

It's inconvenient for your schedule. It's one of those scenarios

where you just feel like you're a nobody. God, I've

messed up so many times, I felt so many times,

I've disappointed so many times. If you knew everything that

I did, and you're saying that to God who knows

everything that you did, and God's asking you to get

out of the pile. So why are you in the pile?

Why so because it's inconvenient? Is it because it's comfortable?

Is it because you just feel like you're a nobody.

You know, I'm a sports fan and I love watching

sports and I love participating as far as being able

to cheer with people and shout. But we're from Dallas

and so we have the Cowboys. They're seldom anything to

shout about. You know, another thirty forty years, I think

we can get back to the Super Bowl.

But here's the thing.

If you walked into any of the stadiums where there's

professional teams, you walked into any of the locker rooms

where there's college teams, and pretty well without fail, you

will walk in and you will see a sign on

one of the walls, and the sign says this T

and T.

T and T.

Every coach has it, Every coach talks about it, every

coach references it. CEE TNT stands for takes no talent.

What are the things that take no talent? What are

the things that literally take no talent? So a coach

will sit there showing up on time for the meetings

that takes no talent, Being in the workroom when you're

not required to be in the workroom, that takes no talent.

Making sure that you're doing everything that is just a

measurement of what the team is asking.

It takes no talent.

But see, as Christians, we fall in love with the

fact that we think that we have to be highly anointed,

highly gifted for God to use us. Well, Adam, you

know he's just gifted. And you know the mesa family,

they're gifted. But what is it that takes no talent?

Let me give you a couple of things. It takes

no talent to pray. You don't have to have talent

to pray. It takes no talent. It takes no talent

to begin to pray. I travel all the time. I

was telling Adam, this was my one hundred and twentieth

night on the road this year, speaking somewhere.

So I'm everywhere.

But in the middle of doing all of the speaking

and the communication, I interact with people. And sometimes there's

people I know. Sometimes there are people don't know. But

if they're people I don't know, I'm always listening. So

there was a couple that came up to me and

I had finished talking and we're just having those normal conversations,

and I asked them, I said, give me one thing

that I can pray for you about. They didn't ask

for prayer. I looked at them, I said give me

one thing, and they looked at me and they said,

we've been trying to have a baby. I said, well,

I'm now going to be praying that you have a baby.

In that one year, I had three couples that I asked,

and all three of them said the same thing.

So you know what I did.

When I would be traveling and i'd be in a

hotel room, I would lift up and I would lift

up these couples because I had written down their names,

and I would say, God, give them a child, just

give them a child. Someone said, how long did you

pray give them a child? Do you know how labor

intensive that was? Do you know how exhausting that wash?

Do you know how many hours that took for me

to say? And I'd mentioned them by name, I just say, hey,

could you could you just give them a child?

Do you know what?

Within a year all three of them contacted me and

they had a baby.

It took no talent to pray.

See, we need to be as good at praying for

others as we are asking for our prayer request. If

I asked for prayer requests, people would run up here, Oh,

pray for this, pray for that.

But we need to be as good.

I get thrown in these business arenas that I really

don't belong in and I was talking to this individual.

He would be in the top fifty of fortune, five

hundred CEOs. He's a brilliant individual. He's far more educated

to me. He's way more wealthy than me. He has

last time, I checked about one hundred and fifty thousand

employees that work for him, so he oversees more than me.

And we were just talking and it was one of

those cordial things. But we reached a place that I

just looked at him and said.

Give me one thing to pray for now.

This is a guy that went to a school that

I could never qualify to get in. This is a

guy that had climbed the corporate ladder and you can't

climb any higher than he's climbing. But I just looked

at him and said, just give me one thing. And

he was in his power position, because whenever you talk

to people at power, they always lift their chin when

you're communicating with them. It's their tail. They're lifting their chin.

It's what they were taught in business school. They're making

eye contact, but their chin is up. But all of

a sudden, I asked him that, and his chin went down,

and he looked at me and he said Jeryl.

He said, I have something.

He said, my son's bipolar and he's off his medicines

and he's on a street somewhere in some town and

we can't find them.

Would you pray that we find.

Him because we just need to get him on his medication.

We need to get him back to where he needs

to be. And I looked at him. I said, you

have my word, I'll pray for. So I went back

to my hotel and I asked his name. I knew

what his name was, and I prayed. I said, here's

all I ask is is when you find him, you

call me, just text me, do something, let me know.

But I said, I'm going to pray.

What was prayed about the prodigal son or what was

said about him? It said there came a moment where

it says he came to himself. And I'm going to

pray that your son, despite being off medications, he's going

to come to himself.

And so I get a call within twenty.

Four hours, he said, he literally called me, just like

you said you were going to pray. We were able

to find him, We were able to get him into

a place. Said said, well, do you have anything else

for me to pray. He said, yeah, would you pray

that he stays. He's old enough that he can check

himself out. He doesn't have to stay there. He doesn't

have to be there. He can walk out. They can't

stop him from walking out. And he said, would you

just pray that he would stay the length of time

we need him to pray?

I said, okay.

I said, just let me know when it's all over

that he stayed that period of time. So I just prayed,

and i'd pray this young man's name, and I would say, Lord,

give him the stamina to stay where he needs to

be to get health. How long did that prayer was that?

How intense a prayer was that? See, it's not the

depth of your prayer.

It's the size of your God.

And so I prayed that and I get a text

and he says, hey, he's out of rehab. I said,

is there anything else? He says, well, I need him

to get a job. He says, I can give him

a job, but that won't help him. He needs to

get a job where he's not working for me, and

he needs to.

Keep that job.

And I said to him, I said okay, And I

prayed this all happened.

A year later, he texts me.

He says, I want you to know that each one

of your prayers has been answers. He's had this job

for six months. He's doing good, he's flourishing. Now here's

the interesting thing. I can text that man right now.

He will text me right back. Not because I have

the education, he has the power that he has the

influence I have, not because of anything, but because I prayed.

It took no talent to pray.

Can you imagine if we could get Christians just looking

at people occasionally and saying, hey, give me one thing. Now,

you're going to run into a few people. Well, pray

that I have a million dollars. And I just look

at him. I said, if money's your biggest problem, you

don't have one. I said, but give me something to pray.

So in the middle of that takes no talent. Takes

no talent to pray. Let me give you something else.

It takes no talent. It takes no talent to encourage.

It takes no talent to high five to someone and

say good job. It takes no talent to encourage someone

and to say I'm proud of you. It takes no

talent to put your arm around somebody and say you

know what, I'm in your corner.

It takes no talent.

I was here literally two years ago, and there's a

hotel I stay at. It's not a top end hotel,

but it's the hotel brand I typically, and there was

something that I needed done and it was a little

bit unusual. So I had called down to the front desk.

And when I called down to the front desk, I said, guys,

I know this is a little bit out of reach here,

but I said, could you do this? And the GM

called because of my status with this particular hotel, and

he said, oh, we'll do everything we can. Not sure

we can do that, but they did it well. Before

I left and I was gonna come here and then

fly out like I will do tomorrow. They had a

little note card on the side, and I literally wrote

on the note card I said, I want to thank

you and your team for going the extra mile, for

being so diligent and being so patient and helping me

with this.

It means the world to me. Great job.

A year later, I'm at the same hotel. The GMS

knows that I'm coming. He runs out and he's holding

up the card, he says, I keep this on my

desk because we have so many people who criticize us,

And every time that people criticize us, I read this.

It takes no talent to encourage someone to high five,

someone to put their hand on their back and say

good job. Can you imagine if people here would do

for others what they want someone to do?

Well? No one's ever told me that I've done.

A good job. How do you expect to reap what

you've never sowed? See too many times if I were

to say, hey, we're praying for generational curses, people would

run up here. Oh, man, and our family we got this.

Can I tell you most things aren't generational curses, they're

just generational habits. You were raised in an angry family

and you perpetuated anger down to your kids. You were

raised in a family that discouraged everyone, and now you

discouraged everyone. You be the difference. You say, hey, it's

not going any further. How about this? Caring didn't take

any talent, didn't take any talent to care. But in

our world, you know what, one of the main things

we hear, I don't care. It's like the first sentence.

People learn after they learn the word no, they learn

I don't care. I'd been on the road pretty extensively.

Cody travels with me. In fact, he knows the background

of the story. And it's pretty funny because I tried

it so many times. But I'm a pretty basic eater,

you know, I like pretty plain stuff. You know, he

already threw the fried chicken at me. Yes, when we

do communion, it is fried, and so in the middle

of that, you know, I'm just a pretty basic eater. Well,

I'd been on the road, and everybody wants to feed

you things that, you know, they think are elaborate because

everyone's watched those food shows on TV and they think, oh,

we're going to take Pastor Brooks there. And the main

reason I fast is because they take me where places.

But I wanted something basic.

And because I wanted something basic, I was in this restaurant.

I walked up.

They had your order up front, and I walked up

and I looked at the young man there who is

taking the order, and I said, here's what I'd like,

but it's not.

On your menu, but all the ingredients are there.

And then I handed him twenty dollars and I said,

if you'll give this to the cook, I think he

can take these three ingredients and make this. And he

just looked at me and I said, is that all right?

And he looked at me and he said, they don't

pay me enough to care. And you know when he

said that to me, I thought, how much do you

have to get paid to care?

What is the rate for caring?

Because I'll pay some people if they'll just start caring,

if they'll just act like I'll pay some people if

they'll fake like their care.

What is the rate?

How much do you have to make before you start caring. See,

it takes no talent to pray. I love doing it.

I look at people all the time and I say,

give me one thing. It takes no talent to.

Encourage you're doing a great job.

There's never been a time that I've been around Adam

that I haven't told him he's doing a great job,

that I haven't told him that I'm proud of him.

There's never been a time. There's never been a time

that I chose not to care. See, it takes no talent.

But I can give you a list of people in

my phone right now that I shouldn't have their phone

numbers or And it was because I did one of

three things. I prayed when I didn't have to pray,

I encouraged when I didn't have to encourage, And I

cared when it would be easy not to. So I'm

asking you, when's the last time you looked at somebody?

See. I don't have a problem with church.

I just have a problem with people go to church

that don't act like Christians. Prayer should be what we do,

encouragement should be who we are. Caring should be the

gift that we give a world that could care less.

Now here's the thing.

If you're going to get out of the people pile,

then you're gonna have to do something. And what you're

gonna have to do is you're gonna have to decide

what version of you do you want to be? What

version of you do you want to be? Do you

want to be the version that the world tells you

you are? Do you want to be the version that

many days you wake up and you feel that you are?

What version of you are you going to be? Now?

Pretty well, I would think most everyone has something like this.

Some of you have been googling it while I've been

talking waiting for me to get finished. But what version

of you? Because here's the thing. Every now and then,

you know what this is going to ask you to do.

It's going to ask you to update.

See.

I have someone in my family that they have technology

in front of them, but they'll call me and they'll say,

my phone's not working anymore. And I love this person,

and I say, well, have you updated it? And they'll

say no, I don't like updates. I don't want to

do that stuff. I just want my phone to work.

And I'll explain to him. I said, you understand, this

is basically a computer and it has a program in it.

And I said, every now and then they update the program.

And when they update the program, they're doing it to improve.

But if you don't update, the program you have is

going to become obsolete and your phone's.

Not going to work. So let me ask you.

Last time I checked the iPhone was at eighteen point

three on updates. When's the last time you were updated?

Now, let's just.

Talk about see, if you don't update, you become obsolete.

I had this old guy at my church and you

got sing it. You know a little bit ago, you know,

if you're not dead, you're not done. It's an old

gospel phrase from decades and.

Literally one hundred years ago.

But I have a problem with two groups of people,

young people who think they've got plenty of time to

get serious about God, and old people who think they've

done enough for God that when they retire, they can

retire from God. And I get bothered by either one

because I don't think you ever retire from the will

of God. I believe that, no matter how old. But

I was talking and this guy came up to me.

He said, Pastor, I heard what you said, but you know,

I've already made my sacrifices in life. I'm not gonna

make anymore. I've already done what I need to do.

I'm not going to do anymore. You know. I'm just

really comfortable. I'm just gonna sit here. And I just

looked at and I said, when can I do your funeral?

And he looked at me stunned. I said, you said

you're over. You said you're finished. You said there's no

more sacrifice in you, there's no more faithfulness in you.

You've already used up those cards. I said, I'm available

to do your funeral. Next Tuesday, can we go ahead

and schedule it? And he says, why are you saying that?

I said, because you're acting like you're dead. So a

little too much church for some of you on a

Wednesday night. Nobody gets to act like they're done with God.

But what version are you? I hear old people say

I can remember the good old days. Do you know

why they were the good old days? It was the

last time you ever updated your life.

It was when you were current.

And so some of you remember a day and you're saying,

man's those were the good old days.

But let me just walk you through. Updates are required.

But when an update comes and you hit the update,

you know what the first thing it brings up is

it brings up an information page. And do you know

what the information page is? It tells you what needs

to be updated? And do you know what that requires?

The producer of the iPhone to be honest? Do you

know what requires from us to be updated? We've got

to be honest. We've got to be honest. Is sometimes

our attitude needs to be updated. Sometimes there's actions that

need to be updated. We just got to be honest

about it. But then you go down to the bottom

of that information page. You know the next thing it says,

it says acknowledge and agree. So what happens is is

you've got to be honest with yourself and then you

have to acknowledge it.

And agree.

But see that's not enough because some pay Oh yeah

that's me. I'm always the person with the temper. Yeah,

I'm always the one who's angry. Yeah, I never let

go of a grade. They're doing that, they got the information,

they're acknowledging in a degree. But there's still another step.

Once you acknowledge in degree, you have to hit install.

And there are people that'll come to churches and they

were like, not, oh man, you know, I'm just the

worst of the worst. I'm the baddest of the baddest.

I got a bad attitude. I don't enjoy this. I

don't know.

But they'll never hit.

Install because when you hit install, that's where you're committed.

But see, once you hit install, you know what the

next thing happens is there's always a learning curve. People

pick up their phone. See, you know, my phone doesn't

work the way it used to. Some of my apps

don't respond the way it you say, you know, I

don't like this. It's all because you got an upgrade.

You begin to hit the fact that you needed to

be upgraded, and you acknowledged it and you were honest

about it, and then you hit hit install and you

were committed to do it. But now there's some things

you've got to work out because you've learned that the

glory of God takes you from one place to another,

and something's going to be different. But you know, as

soon as you get that install and you get past

the learning curve, you know what's going to happen next.

You're going to pick up your phone and what is

it going to say? A new upgrade has come? When

did you last upgrade? What version of you are you?

What is it? You know?

One of the things that's so sad to me is

how many people go to church and they've never received

the ultimate upgrade of what it says in Acts chapter

two and verse four, where it says and they were

all filled with the spirit and began to speak with

other tongues.

That's the spirit gave the utterance.

They've gone to church and they have the promise of heaven,

but they haven't upgraded their life down here through the

power of the spirit of God. I tell the story

of an event that happened where Jinny and I, my

wife and I came back from being on a vacation.

I call a man and I said to him, I said, hey,

I just want to check on you. Had you on

my heart. Well, his wife had colon cancer. He said, Pastor,

I knew you were on vacation to I didn't want

to mess with you or anything on vacation, but I

think my wife's about to go to heaven. I said,

I'll hurry, I'll come as quick as I can. I

broke every speed limit that there was and I got

to the hospital. He was on one side of the bed.

It'd be like the bed's right there. He was on

this side of the bed. I walk in and I'm

on that side of the bed. I reach over, I

grab his hand. We have the hands of his wife.

He has one hand another. I pray a prayer. As

soon as I pray that prayer, she goes to heaven.

It's just silence for a while because it's just setting in.

But all of a sudden, he looks at me and

he starts moving, and I start moving because there's family

out there, and we needed to go tell him that

she's gone on to heaven. As we began to head out,

before we could get to the door, he says, Pastor,

I can't do this. I can't do this. And I

thought he was talking about the funeral. I said, don't

worry about it. I've done so many funerals. I'll take

care of everything. You don't need one thing. He said,

it's not that. See when he his wife passed away,

they had seven kids under the age of seventeen. He says,

I can't do this. She's the one that held everything together.

She's the one that made everything work. I can't be

a single dad with seven kids. I don't know how

to do this. And I looked at him and I said,

I can't give you anything other than this. You're filled

with the spirit, and you have a heavenly prayer language.

And here's the simplification. You have forty five minutes to work.

You pray in the spirit, turn off everything on your

way home, pray in the spirit. And I said, I

need you to do that every day because you're praying

the perfect prayer over your life. I don't know the

perfect prayer for you, but I know you'll be praying

it jump ahead a year. When we jump ahead a year,

I'm standing at the back door of our church. He

comes up to me and he says, do you know

what happened a year ago? And I said, yeah, I

miss her. I know you miss her. He said, do

you remember what you told me? And I recounted just

what I said. He said, I've done that every day

all the way to work. He said, I don't know

how God did it, but over this past year, I've

been a single dad with seven kids under the age

of seventeen, and God has not only held our family together,

but it has flourished. I don't know what the perfect

prayer is for you, but I know that there's the

upgrade of you accept Jesus. And Jesus said, there's one

coming after me, and he's going to change your life.

And I would encourage some of you.

You need to get the ultimate update because you've already

accepted Jesus. You need to get filled with the spirit

because it's the only way you're going to take the

next steps. Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you

Lord for being such a good God. Thank you for

being such a kind God. Thank you for doing amazing things. Lord,

right now, I pray that you would do something miraculous.

People who don't know you in this room would want

to know you. People who know you who've never been

filled with the spirit would want to be filled with

the spirit.

And I pray that that would happen.

Well, heads are a bowed and eyes are closed, no

one looking around.

Two questions. Do you have a.

Relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Do you

know that one day, like with that lady in that

hospital bed, when she closed her eyes for the last time,

she knew when she closed her eyes here, she would

open her eyes in heaven. If you don't know that

the Bible says these things are written that you might

know that you have eternal life.

If you're not certain of that, I'd love to pray

with you.