250 Years of Freedom | Mark and Janet Brazee | World Outreach Church

Let's stand to our feet. Put our hands

together. Give God praise in this place.

He's so good. He's so faithful. Amen.

I want to clap a little louder than

before. Oh,

I want to sing a little louder than

before.

>> I want to jump higher than before.

Oh,

>> I want to shout a little louder than

before. Oh,

free

freedom

freom

freedom.

Freedom.

I want to clap a little louder than

before. Oh,

I want to sing louder than before.

I want to spin wilder than before.

Oh,

>> I want to shout a little louder.

Oh freedom

freom

fre.

There's no more shackles. No more

chains. No more bondage. I am free.

Yeah. Come on. If you know us, sing it

with us. There's no more shackles. No

more shackles. No more chains. No more

love. I am free.

No more shackles. No more chains. No

more shackles. No more chains. No more

bond. I am free.

Yeah, there's no more shackles, no more

chains. No more shackles, no more

chains, no more bodies. I am free.

With the spirit of the Lord, there's

freedom. Say freedom. Freedom

freedom

freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom. Come on. You know what's no

more. No more shackles. No more chains.

No more bonding. Come on, we're free. I

am free.

>> Hallelujah.

>> It's so good to be free. There's no more

shackles. No more shackles. No more

shame. No more bonds. I am free.

>> When the spirit of the Lord is there is

freedom. No more. No more shackles, no

more chains, no more bonds. I am free.

Yeah,

>> there's no more shackles. No more

chains. No more shackles, no more

chains, no more bies. I am free.

>> Come on, one more time. There's no more

shackles, no more shackles, no more

chains, no more bes

over yourself. No more shackles. No more

shackles, no more chains, no more bonds.

I am free.

Come on, one more time. Let's sing.

Freedom. Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom. Freedom.

Freedom.

>> Hallelujah. If you're free, just lift up

a shout of praise. It's so good to be

free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hey, let's

hear for freedom.

Hallelujah.

>> I don't know. I think Jesus set you a

little more free than that.

>> Can I hear just one just solid shout for

what Jesus did for us? Just let me hear

a good

That's right. He paid the ultimate price

so we could be free. Thank God. Thank

God. Thank God. Well, I want to thank

the first time guests as you're seated

for being here today. Take a seat real

quick. We're going to get through this.

Uh if it is your first time, welcome

you. I did meet someone for the first

time. We were getting coffee together,

but text the word welcome 918-2157066.

We want to bless you for being here.

This is your first time. If it's your

first time online, just let us know

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people watching all hours of the day,

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Outreach Church. All right. So again,

text the word welcome to 918-2157066.

If it is your first time, we want to

bless you for being here. you get a free

drink of your choice in the cafe after

service. If you'd prefer not to text,

you can fill out the form that's in the

seat back in front of you. All right,

we're going to plow right through this,

guys. We're jumping right into offering.

That's right. Praise God. Praise God.

Listen, the Bible um and it's not

incorrect, but the Bible's often called

a book of promises, but I prefer it to

call it a book of if thens. Okay? So if

we do our part, then God is allowed to

do his part, right? So often, you know,

we're taught that it's a book of

promises and and then we we treat it

like it's just going to be automatic in

our lives. But there's so many ifs

that are then followed up by his then,

right? And that is the way it works.

That is the point of access. We have to

move to allow God to move. Right? So if

we do this, then this happens.

Deuteronomy 28 is full of our little bit

of if and his lot of bit of then. Right?

We see verse after verse of all the

blessings. Luke 6:38 says that if we

Luke 6:38

give, then it's given back to us. Good

measure pressed down, shaken together,

and running over. There is an if. And

like always, his then is so much more

than our little bitty if.

>> Right? So we look in Malachi and we find

that if we bring our tithes, then he's

able to rebuke the devour and then he

opens up the windows of heaven and pours

out a blessing that we don't have room

to contain. All these are contingent

upon our ifs. Right? In Isaiah 58, we

find that if we are generous,

if we are generous, then listen to this,

you guys ready? If we're generous, then

our health springs forth speedily,

>> right? The Lord can guide us continually

and even our bones are strengthened,

right? Sometimes it pays to be generous,

>> right? I know I'm preaching to the

choir, but still I'm preaching to the

choir, right? So, there's a lot of ifs

that are followed up by his whole bunch

of thens, right? If we seek the kingdom

first,

>> then all these things are added unto us.

So as you prepare your if right now,

ready your heart to give joyfully

because he follows our ifs up with his

thens. And his thens are so much bigger

than our ifs. All right. So, Father, as

we give today, as we give of what we

have, we thank you first and foremost

that you've given seed for us to sew and

bread for us to eat. But, but as we sew,

we know that your word promises us that

you are such a faithful God. And we know

you to be a faithful God. We know you to

be a good God. And as we give, we know

that it is given back to us good

measure, pressed down, shaken together,

and running over. And we thank you for

that now. and we thank you for this day

and for this great nation in Jesus

precious name. Amen. Now, as they take

up the offering, we just ask that you

turn your attention to the screens.

This land

I love.

This land

of the free. This land of purple

mountain rivers wide wild. The soil of a

billion seeds. Land of Chesapeake and

Cherokee. Land of sojuners seekers. Land

of progress and preacher with the beat

of every burrow. And the hero of the

classroom teacher. This land of Bell

Thomas Edison. Land of Jackie Robinson,

land of bandstand and farmland, blueg

grass and graceand. This land is a

Sunday meal still warm on the kitchen

oven. The warm brilliance of Abraham

Lincoln and the bravery of Harriet

Tubman. This land is a good movie in the

making. An idea in the waking light of

liberty still blazing. A bold prayer in

the praying. Yes, this land is a land

where we never forget. Where we may

fall, but we shall rise.

Land of one small step for man. One

giant leap for mankind. Land of these

many states united, indivisible under

God. Land of dreams on every street and

hope on every block. Land of working.

Land of waiting through the water,

through our fears. Land of our father's

blood. Land of our mother's tears. Land

of 250 years of America. America, the

young and old. America, the people.

America, the beautiful.

This land

I love.

Please stand for the national anthem.

Say

you see

by the dawn early

light.

What so proudly

we held

at the twilight

last gleaming

whose broad stripes and bright stars

through the perilous

fight.

For the ramp parts we watched

were so gallently

streaming.

And the rockets

red.

The bombs bursting

in air

gave proof through the night.

that a flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star spangled

man

yet?

For the land

of the free

and the home

of

Pray.

You may be seated.

As we celebrate the 250th

year of this great nation, we want to

take a moment to pause and honor those

who have served and fought for our

freedoms.

And as you hear the armed medley here,

stand as you are uh sorry, I got a

little distracted by it playing. Please

stand as your Branch is recognized.

Heat. Heat.

United States Air Force.

United States Navy.

Heat. Heat.

United States Marine.

Heat. Heat.

United States Army.

Heat. Heat.

Why don't you guys all rise? We're going

to honor our country and sing a few

patriotic songs. If you know it, why

don't you join with us and sing?

Oh, beautiful

for spacious

skies, for amber

waves of grain,

for purple

mountain

majesties

above the fruited

plain.

America,

America.

God shed his grace on thee

and crown thy good with brotherhood

from sea to shining sea.

Come on, if you know it, help us sing.

Mine eyes have seen the glory.

My eyes are seeing the glory of the

coming of the Lord. He is trampling out

the vintage where the grace of wrath are

sword. He has loos the faithful

lightning of his terrible sword. His

truth is marching

on.

Glory,

glory, hallelujah.

Glory,

glory, hallelujah.

Glory,

glory, hallelujah.

His truth is maring

on.

Glory,

glory, hallelujah.

Glory,

glory, hallelujah.

Glory,

glory, hallelujah.

His truth is maring.

God bless America.

that I love.

Stand beside her

and guide her

through the night with the light from

above.

From the mountains

to the fairies

to the ocean.

I with

God

bless America,

my home sweet

home.

God bless America,

my home.

Sweet.

Oh,

Hallelujah.

My home sweet home.

I brought a hanky just in case.

You know, it's like the more we travel,

the more places God sends us,

the more thankful I am

>> for America.

>> I love America.

>> And may God always bless America.

I'm reminded of the scripture in Psalms

Psalms 33:12

33:12

that says, "Blessed is the nation

whose God is the Lord."

>> Blessed is the nation whose God is the

Lord.

>> As long as he's our Lord, our He will

pour out blessings. So, we have a

responsibility.

We have a responsibility

as people of this nation. A nation, what

is a nation? It's made up of people.

When it talks about nations in the

Bible, it's not talking about the land.

It's talking about, it's not talking

about the flags. It's talking about the

people. That's us. That's us. Blessed is

the nation. Blessed are the people whose

God is the Lord. I think one more time

we should just lift up our hands and

thank him. We thank you, Father God, for

this nation. We thank you. We thank you.

We thank you for this nation established

250 years ago.

We thank you for our nation.

Blessed, blessed, blessed is the nation

whose God is the Lord.

Thank you father. Thank you. We thank

you for it. We don't take it for granted

but we thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

You can be seated.

Hallelujah. Thanks guys. That was

awesome.

How many of you had a great fourth

>> until last night?

I'm like what is happening? What is

happening? So um yeah. So, uh, so much

for the fireworks and jinx. I don't

think that they had them, unless they

had them later. I don't know. But I

could hear them as soon as the lightning

and rain slowed down. I could hear pow

pow pow pow. I thought, "Okay, someone's

having fun." But uh we celebrated

yesterday the 250th

250th

anniversary

of our country

and the birth of a nation that was

established by our forefathers

with the principles of biblical

principles.

>> That's how it was established. That's

how we started. Our foundation is based

on biblical principles. So I started

started doing some research and um I

read where as early as 1864

1864

coins being minted

had the motto in God we trust 1864. Now

the nation was established in 1776

and this is 18964. You do the math

because I can't talk and meet do math in

my head at the same time. Not that I

can't do math. No,

I don't even know. But it wasn't that

long after we were established that they

begin to put on coins in God we trust.

And then years later, they begin putting

on our paper money. I don't know any

other country in the world that has in

God we trust on their currency. And

we've h had lot handled lots of currency

through the years. Every nation has its

own currency. At least used to. Now the

EU has the same. But for many years,

every time you changed and crossed the

border, it was a different currency. But

I've never seen in God we trust on their

currency. This was established in our

early days as a nation. In God we trust.

In fact, I found out that in 1956,

which wasn't that long ago. That was the

year I was born.

70 years ago to be exact. Not that long

ago. Congress made in God we trust the

official national motto.

>> It's not just on our money just because

someone decided to put it on our money.

It is our official national motto in God

we trust so that every time we look at

our money, which is interesting to me.

They're trying to move us to a cashless

society. And when they move us to a

cashless society, we no longer will have

that reminder. I pulled this out of my

wallet this morning. It's a quarter. It

was a minted in 1986,

which was 40 years ago. I know. I have a

quarter that's been around for 40 years.

It makes you wonder how many hands have

had their hands on this, doesn't it?

Never mind. Don't go there. I'm not even

going to think about that. Why did I

even say that? But it is true. Anyway,

it has on it, in God we trust. In God,

every coin that you have has in God we

trust. Every I pulled out a dollar bill

out of my wallet this morning. In God we

trust. It's a reminder that our trust

cannot be in man. Our trust cannot be in

government.

Our trust has to be in God.

>> In God.

Yes. Amen. Our founding fathers not only

recognized the importance of our nation

being established on biblical

principles, but it also recognized that

freedom is precious and worth

protecting.

For years and years, generations have

sacrificed their lives

to protect our freedom. For some of you,

you may have lost a loved one in in a

war in the past. Whether it was World

War II or or all the wars that have been

fought in the years past, you may have

lost a loved one, but we honor them

today. We're thankful and appreciate the

fact that they were protecting our

freedom. My dad was an army medic during

World War II in Papa New Guinea and also

the Philippines. And he took care of the

wounded who were protecting and fighting

for our freedom. We honor them today.

I'm thankful for all the men and women

who serve. This was so fun. Did you not

love seeing the different military

branches? We should do that again. I

love that. Like right now. No,

I love that. I got teeyed. I grabbed my

Kleenex. I'm like, "Oh my lord, I'm

getting teeyed during this first song.

What is this morning going to be like?"

It's okay. I'm prepared. But I love

that. Thank you to each of you who

served. Thank you. Yes.

Last night we had on the uh Washington

DC commemoration of the 250th part of

it, some of it in and out. We were in

and out. that at one point um President

Trump honored these veterans from World

War II and one was 107 years old,

one was 104 years old and he had them

come out and salute the flag of the war

they were in or or place that they were

at. And I'm I'm like, "Oh, my land is

I'm just so

I love my nation and so appreciative."

But these guys, they fought for us. They

defended our freedom. Thank God for

those who fought for us to defended our

freedom. It's because of them that we

still have freedom today. But I'm

telling you, it's so important that we

never take our freedom for granted. Do

not take for granted what we have. Over

the last se 47 years, we have been to

many, many nations. I've never even sat

down to count them. But we started out

in traveling all over Africa and then we

moved into the Asia area. Or maybe went

to Asia first. No, we went to Africa

first, but we were in different nations

in Asia and then God moved us on over

into Europe. We've been all over Europe.

All over Europe. And I'm telling you,

there's not one country that I've been

to that I would trade this country for.

>> I'll say that again. I've been I've been

every My theme song is I've been

everywhere, man. I've been everywhere.

We've been everywhere. But there's not

one country I would trade this country

for.

>> I'll say it again. Not one.

>> Not one country, not one country I would

trade this country for. And for anyone

that that does not love being here, go

ahead. Move.

>> Go for it. I'll buy you the ticket.

Move.

Obviously,

they've never traveled and been to some

of these other countries

>> because we have something that no other

country has.

>> You're taking your privilege for

granted.

>> Okay, we're moving right along.

Is our country perfect? No.

Is do we have problems? Yes. We're not

There is no such thing as a perfect

nation. none whatsoever. But very few

countries have the freedom that we have

and we should never take it for granted.

In fact, yesterday at random I got a

WhatsApp from a friend of ours that's

French. She lives in France and she knew

that we were celebrating the 250. So she

sent a text or WhatsApp audio WhatsApp.

She said, 'I just want to congratulate

you on the 250th anniversary of of

America.

She went on to say, she says, we I'm

obviously uh you born and raised in

France. And she said, France is now a

socialist nation.

And she said this, and I'm going to

quote her. She said, "Socialism is one

step away from communism."

thought it was very interesting that she

would call or text an audio send me an

audio message saying that. I thought,

okay, this is coming from someone living

under this a socialist system. And she

says socialism is one step away from

communism. It's so important that we

know history.

>> So important we know history. Okay,

where are my high school students and my

Gen Z's? Where y'all at? Okay, let me

ask you something. I have a question.

Have y'all learned anything about the

Cold War?

Has anyone not heard anything about the

Cold War? Who knows never heard anything

about the Cold War? Anyone in here not

heard about the Cold War? How about the

Iron Curtain?

Okay, say if you haven't heard about the

Iron Curtain, raise your hand with our

with our young with our young adults,

with our high school students. So I

wonder what's being taught um sometimes

in these in classes. Obviously

not a lot

because we need to know our history. We

need to know the history of Europe. We

need to know the history of the world

basically. But um history there was a

period in time from 1945 to 1991 which

started at the very end of World War II.

My dad was in World War II when it

ended. So it 1945 to 1991 and that

period of time was known as the cold war

and it was a time of rivalry between the

United States and the Soviet Union. And

the reason it was called the cold war is

because they never actually had combat

one with another but their war was more

of a war of competition.

and they competed in the arms race,

building nuclear weapons, the space

race, espionage,

economic and political competition being

two different very two different forms

of government. And then um

with the economic and political

competition, it was basically the the

west versus the east, which would be

communism. So God began sending us to

Europe in the in the early 80s which was

still during the cold war and we

witnessed firsthand

the effects of communism.

The iron curtain

uh was referred to as it was referred to

was an invisible line from the north to

the south of Europe

dividing and marking the difference

between Eastern Europe and Western

Europe. The countries behind the Iron

Curtain were Soviet Union, East Germany,

Poland, Czechoslovakia,

Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia,

Albania.

In fact, when we first started going, we

we kept hearing about Albania. Albania

is this little tiny country, but it was

known and boasted of having the purest

form of communism and atheism. That was

their claim to fame. This little tiny

culture, no one got in and no one got

out from 1945 to 1991.

in uh in what they did they all major

industries in farmland were brought

under state control.

Opposition political parties were

banned. Freedom of speech, religion, and

the press was heavily restricted. In

fact, in 1967, the president of Albania

declared it to be the world's first

officially atheist state,

outlawing public religious practices,

closing or destroying churches,

imprisoning or executing many clergy and

religious leaders, banned religious

education and symbols. The goal was not

to separate religion from state. The

goal was to eliminate religion. totally

eliminate God. Remember, we remember

hearing stories. I mean, don't even

think about going to Albania. No, they

were so proud of the fact that God did

not exist in Albania.

Yeah, right. I remember we went into

Hungary with another missionary be

during communism.

Hungary wasn't as strict a communist

government as some of the other places,

but we went into Hungary and we were we

were scheduled to speak at a church. And

I remember he picked us up where we were

staying and we had our Bibles. And he

says, "Oh, oh, wait, wait." Because we

were going to walk. He says, "You have

to put your Bible in a in a bag of some

kind because if we're seen walking down

the street with our Bible out in the

open, they will arrest us."

So after World War II, not only was

Germany divided into two nations, East

Germany being communist

and then the West Germany being

democratic government, the decision was

made to divide the city of Berlin now in

half. Now think about that. Can you

imagine Tulsa being divided in half?

Half of it is democratic government

free. The other half is communism.

That's what happened in Berlin. Reasons,

you know, NATO or allies occupied part

of it and and Soviet Union. And so they

decided, let's let's just split it down

the middle. So they did. They they

separated it and um they began to build

a wall in 1961

and it was called the Berlin Wall. And

the purpose of it was to keep uh East

Germans from fleeing to the west

Germany. But you know, I've never heard

of any West Germans that wanted to flee

into the east.

Wonder why that was. H interesting,

isn't it? But that Berlin Wall became

the most famous section of the Iron

Curtain, symbolizing the division

between the communist governments of the

East, the democratic governments of the

West. That Berlin wall was a 12 foot

wall, concrete, made out of concrete,

solid,

and on top would be armed guards with

guns patrolling it. There were guard

towers, barbwire fences. We saw the the

Berlin Wall. We were there. We witnessed

it. The whole thing, we witnessed it.

And we were told stories from people

over in West Germany of people that they

they knew over into the East German East

Berlin that would try to escape and they

would be killed, shot. There was no

escape. Yet behind those barriers, the

gospel was moving right along in free

course. It was spreading. And believers

that were being persecuted remained

faithful.

Then God opened the door for us. I would

say it was probably uh mid 80s now to go

into a church in West Berlin

every few weeks.

And what we would do is teach in the

Bible school. We would teach subjects

like faith, healing,

praise and worship, how to be led, just

anything and everything in the Bible.

and it was being translated into German.

So we had a German translator with us.

So it was bilingual, English, German. We

did that every few weeks. We made so

many video recordings. But what they

would do with those video recordings is

they would duplicate them

and have someone smuggle them in to East

Berlin. And once they reached East

Berlin, they spread all over East

Germany.

You cannot stop the gospel.

>> The gospel will not be contained or

restrained. Those people risked their

lives to smuggle these videos in. So

over time we kept going back and over

time they began to bring other

translators, people that had come out of

some of the other countries and ended up

in East Ber West Berlin. They would use

them to translate into different

languages. I don't even know how many

languages. Lots of the Eastern European

languages were translated with these

same English into whatever language or

German into whatever language and they

duplicated them more and more and more

and they continued to smuggle them all

over not just not just East Germany but

now they're going all over the east. The

word of God shall prevail.

So um then in 88 this was all before all

before the wall came down in 88 we were

invited to speak at a government

sanctioned a government sanctioned faith

conference in East Berlin

and um this is again before the wall

came down and uh it was the first of its

kind. The government gave us permission

to come and give greetings.

So we gave greetings with scripture.

>> We greet you with you can do all things

through Christ who strengthens you. It

was our loophole just to give greetings.

And so um every morning we were every

morning we would get up. We would take

the subway. There was a checkpoint. Have

you ever heard of Checkpoint Charlie?

Well that was for cars. This was the

subway which had a Checkpoint Charlie

basically underground when we would come

up. But we didn't have a car so we were

taking the subway. We would take the

subway and we would come up and before

we came out of the subway station, we

would have to go through uh border

control and they would be sitting in and

if a man would be sitting in this little

box. I can still see it in my mind and

um you could only go up one at a time

which I'm like he's my security blanket

you know but we tried that and they you

know he said want it. So, we went up. I

went up and I was standing there and I

handed him my passport and he looks at

my passport and then he stares at me.

Stares into my eyes. Doesn't say a word.

Stares into my eyes. And I continued to

just watch. Finally, I lifted up my

bangs and I said, "It's me."

And I laughed. He didn't laugh. I didn't

think that was very funny. So, I went,

"Okay, that's fine." So, uh, but every

day and then we would come out the other

side. They would give us a 12-h hour

visa because we could not stay uh past

the 12-hour visa or we would be

arrested. So, but we would would come

out the other side. There was this young

man named Fred.

He was sitting uh outside in this

trabant. I don't know if any of you know

what a trabant is, but it's it's like a

square box of a vehicle that sounds like

a a lawn mower when you start it. And

it's not very big. It it was very very

small for three people, but we we'd get

in it with him and he would take us to

the church.

The first time we walked into church,

it was full full of people.

Three balconies full.

Three balconies full. We didn't have any

idea what to expect. You know, are we

going to like a a a small little

building that, you know, with a few

people? We didn't care. We just knew we

were supposed to get in there. And when

we walked in,

hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of

people were worshiping God freely. They

were okay to do what they wanted to do

as well. It was a government sanctioned,

so the government was aware. We weren't

hiding anything. They weren't hiding

anything. And as long as they were in

that building, they could do whatever

they wanted to do. And so we joined in

with their worship. And it was so

amazing to worship with people who

outside of that building were were They

didn't have freedom. But you know the

Bible says where the spirit of the Lord

is there is freedom and there was such

freedom in those services. Uh it was

something that we will never ever ever

ever forget. So um every night then he

would take us we would take us back drop

us off at the subway and then we would

repeat the same thing the next day. But

a few years ago, someone who attended

those meetings um was here in town and

we met up with them and they said, "Did

you know, this is just in recent years,

they said, "Did you know that we found

out that there were snipers on all the

buildings around and they were watching

who was going in and who was going out

and they were watching you like,

"No, but I have big angels."

They don't miss a thing. They knew we

were there, but because it was

government sanctioned, we could do

whatever we want in there. But he also

told us, he said they found a list of

pastors, some that were at that meeting,

Christians, and the government had plans

to uh kill them, either arrest them,

send them to prison, and put them away,

or to kill them. He said, "We found the

list after the wall came down." But the

word of the Lord began to spread

throughout East Germany down on into um

the other communist countries in Eastern

Europe. And it said that the the uh they

attribute it to the believers learning

their authority.

They learned to use and exercise their

authority. They learned to use their

faith to use their faith in prayer. And

they begin to pray for that the Berlin

Wall to come down. They begin to pray

for that communist government regime to

crumble. Crumble. And you know, we've

heard through the years, yeah, we, you

know, people in the West, yeah, we we we

we prayed that wall down. And I'm like,

no, you didn't. You might have tried to

help, which you helped, but those people

behind the wall learned of their

authority and they prayed. And I'm

telling you what, on November 9th, 1989,

that wall was no more. Was no more. And

the fall of the Berlin Wall was a

powerful reminder that no human

government can permanently stop the

purposes of God. And when that wall

fell, it didn't well, it didn't

literally fall. The government changed.

However, when that started happening, it

was like a domino effect. nation after

nation began to experience freedom.

Then in the spring of 1990 after the

wall had come down we could we could

freely travel you know freedom of

movement freedom of travel was not

allowed to the uh East Germans or to

anyone going into East Germany for that

matter. But after the wall came down

communism changed we were able to go

into uh the east former East Germany. So

we went to this city called Nordhousen

to minister and there we connected again

with our driver Fred Uve Winkler was his

name. We were so glad to see him. There

was just a God connection. We knew it

from the very beginning. He was the

kindest kindest young man. And so he we

got to be talking with him and uh he had

was getting really turned on to the word

of God. And so we talked to him about

bringing him over to America to go to a

year of Rama.

And so through a series of miracles, he

was able to get a visa. This is like the

next year after the wall came, not not

even a year later.

He able to get a visa. We were able to

bring him over and he attended Rama for

a solid year and then went back and he

began pastoring. We stayed connected

through the years. We actually went back

over. He invited us to come do his

wedding. So we flew over a couple years

later, did his wedding. Now he's uh

still pastoring. He's a father and he's

a grandfather. So what does that say? He

his kids must have gotten married really

young,

but we've stayed in touch through the

years.

Uh it's just, you know, when you get

connections like that, it's a God thing.

And so we've stayed in touch. And a few

weeks ago, I reached out to him because

when I knew we were going to do this

service, I just started having things

run roll over in me and roll around in

me that I needed to share because we

have to know. We have to know. We have

to be informed. And so, um, I I just

said, "Could you describe life under

communism?"

And he replied, and this is what he

sent. Dear Janet, I often think back on

those times in the 80s when you and your

wonderful husband used to come to East

Germany before the wall came down. You

were such a blessing and encouragement

to us all. You have swn so much seed

into us over the years and decades. A

lot of fruit came forth from that,

probably more than you know and even can

imagine. The level of persecution of

Christians during the rule of communism

varied between the different East

European countries. In East Germany, it

wasn't by far as brutal as in countries

like the Soviet Union and Romania. It

was not against the law to be a

Christian or gather in our church

facilities, but it was not allowed to

start new churches or be visible in any

way as a Christian or a body of

believers in public. Our government

thought that Christianity would

eventually die out if they would hedge

us in our church environment. And to a

certain degree, that plan succeeded.

As believers, we would not join the

communist youth organizations or the

communist party because they were

strictly atheist and anti-God.

But the price for that was not being

able to have any kind of career in our

society. So, a lot of Christians left

the church for the sake of a seemingly

good and more successful life. They

compromised and thought they could be

undercover Christians with no official

ties to a church and hardly ever talked

about their faith in God. They became

members of the Communist Party and came

up through the ranks in the system. But

their children and grandchildren never

heard anything about God, but were

indoctrinated with com communist

propaganda.

But thanks to you and others, a remnant

remained during those 40 years of

communism that we had in our country.

You broke the bread of life to us and

fed us good and solid teaching that was

very scarce during those years in our

part of the country. Of course, you or

other Westerners were not allowed by our

government to speak in our meetings

because you were considered enemies of

our precious socialist country. The law

required you as foreigners to submit

your messages weeks in advance to the

communist officials and have them edited

and eventually approved. And then you

also would have to apply for a special

religious visa weeks or even months in

advance. But you know, we never did that

because the law left a loophole open. If

you would visit one of our meetings

spontaneously on a tourist visa, you

were allowed to give a brief greeting

address. So that was our story towards

the government if anyone asked. Of

course, there were always spies from the

secret police in our meetings and they

knew exactly what was going on. I assume

they even had a file on you. But because

your message was never political and

your ministry never was visible in

public outside our church environment,

they did not intervene. If they would

have understood the spiritual magnitude

and effect of the message you brought to

us, they probably would have stopped you

and kicked you out of the country.

In the city of Su where we are at right

now, the percentage of atheists is still

extremely high. A lot of people don't

even know what Christmas or Easter is

all about, but this is about to change.

They are finding Jesus and it's so

beautiful to see. You don't have to deal

with a lot of religious mindsets. They

are like a blank sheet of paper.

Please say hello to your whole

congregation from us. And please warn

them.

Communism is a very evil system that

destroys whole nations. We have

firsthand experience with that.

blessings, Fred.

Pretty amazing. Pretty sobering.

So, today is not a political service.

Today is a day about freedom. This is

all about freedom, protecting our

freedoms. It's what we've done since

since the country was born. For 250

years, we've protected our freedom. And

as Fred said, called it an evil system.

This evil system seems to be trying to

stick its head up. But we must pray. We

must use our authority. We must take a

stand against whatever the devil has

tried to plan for our nation. He cannot

have our nation. Blessed is the nation

whose God is the Lord.

>> That's why we must obey what he said to

us to pray to pray for those in

authority. Pray for those that we just

the ones we like. That's easy.

No, we don't pray for just the ones we

like. He said, "Pray period. Pray for

those in authority." So, we have a

responsibility to do that. Why? So that

we will live a quiet and peaceful life.

We must always thank God for our

freedoms. We must guard and protect our

freedoms so that history does not repeat

itself in our nation.

But as wonderful as those freedoms are,

the greatest freedom of all is the

freedom Jesus came to provide.

That freedom, true freedom, comes from

Jesus. And it's a freedom that no

government can can grant and no

government can take. Jesus came to set

us free from bondage, just like we were

singing about in the very early part of

the service. And the greatest chains of

bondage

are usually invisible.

They're invisible chains like chain of

guilt,

the chain of chain of shame, the chain

of addiction,

the chain of bitterness, the chain of

fear, the chain of pride. They're not

tangible. You can't see them. You can't

touch them. But I'm telling you what,

they are very real. And they are chains

of bondage which Jesus came to set us

free from. A person can live in a free

country and still be imprisoned by

invisible chains of bondage.

But Jesus came to break the chains once

and for all.

>> At the cross. Yes. At the cross. He paid

the debt of sin. Through his

resurrection. He defeated the power of

death. And through his spirit he gives

believers the power. the power to live a

new life.

>> The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1,

Galatians 5:1

"At last, we have freedom. For Christ

has set us free. We must always cherish

this truth and firmly refuse to go back

into bondage of our past. When we

received Jesus, a complete

transformation took place. The we became

new creatures in Christ. Old thing

passed away. Behold, all was new. that

person, that former person no longer

exists. We aren't just repaired. We've

been recreated. I'll say that again. We

aren't just repaired. We are recreated

by God to live in freedom.

>> And only Jesus only Jesus

provides that freedom.

>> And that freedom that lasts.

But more importantly than anything, we

thank them for our blessings. We thank

him for our freedoms, but we must always

thank him for Jesus.

Because the greatest Declaration of

Independence was not signed in

Philadelphia. It was accomplished at

Calvary.

At Calvary.

And when the sun sets us free, we are

free indeed.

Come on, just lift up your hands.

>> We thank you, Father. We thank you for

our freedom. We thank you for this

nation. We thank you, Lord. We give you

praise. We give you glory. Hallelujah,

Pastor Mark.

Thank you, Pastor Janet.

>> Yes,

these things are so important. so

necessary.

You know, these things she's

rehearsing, reiterating, uh, you know,

it's kind of wild to look back about a

hundred years and realize that was us.

Uh, not a hundred but a few.

But to go into those countries, um, like

she said, what's the song I've been

everywhere, man? Uh, we started out,

goodness, when we got married, she she

was brave enough to what's what's the

verse? She says, "Whisoever thou goest,

I will go." You know, she she prayed

that at our uh wedding. And uh I think

there are times she thought, "What in

the world did I get myself into?"

Because we we had God has given us the

the privilege to go to a lot of places.

Uh I don't know. She We haven't really

We used to count it up. Finally just

gave up counting. Once we hit 50ome

nations after that, I have no idea how

many places we've been. Doesn't make any

difference. But um um uh before we close

this morning, uh I want us to pray. I'm

going to pray for the nation. You know,

just so many things uh you know,

goodness, talking about going into East

Germany, East Berlin. Uh

you know, uh oh, and on and on and on.

Actually, we were just in a meeting. We

just got home yesterday from uh Pastor

Sam Carr's Freedom Crusade in Shreport.

We've been going every year for many

years now, and it's always a a blessing,

a treat for us. But this year, we got to

meet uh two different couples. One um uh

one couple real close to Greg and Carol

uh from from uh Africa. Thank you. And

uh uh and then there was another couple

we met and uh we got talking to them for

a few minutes and and u uh they uh they

were from they said we said where you

from? They said we we're over here from

from uh uh

Bulgaria for and I said oh yeah I said

we we're in Sophia at one time and

that's apparently the area they're from.

and uh said, "Yeah, we we went to right

after the Berlin Wall came down, we uh

we took a trip over into, you know,

Bulgaria began to open up and we went

into Sophia, Bulgaria. We were in a

meeting. Uh it was kind of in a was in a

kind of a fairly big room, but it was

like a basement."

And uh uh I said, "Yeah, we did a

meeting over there." I can still

remember it because I remember God

people were getting healed people. I

mean, we weren't laying hands on folks.

They were getting healed, doubting the

crowd. God was just God was just moving.

These people, they had God taken away

from them for 50 years and all of a

sudden they had the freedom to meet him.

And all he did was just start preaching

the gospel and people would start

getting results. And we had these little

old Bulgarian uh women coming to the

front and one had gotten healed of back

problems and one had gotten healed of

another problem. And God was doing

amazing things. And I said, "Yeah." I

said, "We we did a meeting over there.

Had a wonderful time over there in

Sophia and had this this young amazing

young lady. She'd been put into prison

more than once. Taken, I should say,

taken to prison more than once because

she spoke English. They thought because

she spoke English, she must be a spy.

And so, she'd gone in for that. And I

said, "Yeah." I said, "This really sweet

young lady." Uh, her name was, I think,

Liji. And, uh, he said, "Oh, yeah. She's

still going strong over there." This

that was 19 1990, so we're a couple

years down the road. But uh you know

just so much to to go back over there

now and see a communist system and you

know you might might as well be honest

about it. Communism is not a doctrinal

thing. Communism is not a political

issue. Communism is a spirit.

>> Do I need to say that again?

>> You know if you don't think so, you're

talking to the wrong person. And uh

communism is it's the operation of a

spirit that gets a hold of people to run

God out and bring the devil in. And uh

you know so to go back over there and to

see uh the communist system, it was you

know right out of pretty pretty much out

of Moscow, but the communist system that

was in uh throughout primarily Eastern

Europe with of course a lot of other

places. But uh in that particular system

um going back over there to to to talk

to people now and I said oh I said you

know Sophia Bulgaria was a you know it

was a interesting place and he said he

said we we have I don't know how many

churches they have here there now he and

his wife pastor there amazing people and

he said uh you wouldn't recognize it now

it's a different place and I thought to

see what God can do from 1990

to 2026 six, he said, "You wouldn't

recognize the place now. Everything's

totally different there." And I thought

to see what the gospel will do in a

nation if we just let God have his

opportunity. Let the word do what it's

supposed to do. Just continue to preach

the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and

get people to hear it, believe it, act

on it, and do it. Uh it'll it'll change

a nation. That's why America is what

America is

>> just because of the gospel.

>> Just because of the gospel and people

that heard it, believed it, and did it.

And uh and we have we have not seen the

best yet. And so I just wanted to land

on a couple things. There's a so many

directions we could go. And uh every

time Pastor Jan every time she'd land on

something, I think, "Oh yeah, we could

we could land on that and go another

hour." But uh not at this particular

point. But anyway, um

you know, uh to go back through and just

to see uh what what God has done in the

different nations, particularly in that

part of the world, what he's done in

this nation, what he's done in America,

where we are, what we've got, um you

know, uh

you know, I talked to somebody the other

day and I said, I'd made the comment I

said, you know, it doesn't matter where

you go, you can go to the best nations

in the world, but wherever you go, you

know, if you really honest about it.

When you get get back to America, you

want to get out and kiss the ground

because there's nothing nothing like it

isn't just like being home. It's like

being in something something that has a

a presence to it. Like she said, our

money God raised up a nation where he

could put his name on everything.

>> God raised up a nation where we could

send money everywhere, send people

everywhere, send the gospel everywhere,

send the message everywhere. God raised

up a nation for one specific purpose,

and that's for the goodness of the Lord

Jesus Christ. And so, uh, so anyway, we

want to take just a moment. We want to,

uh, want to pray. Uh, you know, Paul,

Paul, the Apostle Paul made the

statement

to, uh, the Thessalonians.

And, uh, he made I, I'll read the first

couple verses, chapter 2, 2

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

Thessalonians chapter 2, verse one. Now

we beseech you, brethren, by the coming

of our Lord Jesus Christ, that by and by

our gathering together unto him, talking

about the return of Jesus, the rapture

of the church, that ye be not soon

shaken in mind or be troubled, neither

by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter,

as from us, is the as that as that the

day of Christ is at hand. Let no man

deceive you by any means for that day

the return of the Lord Jesus even up to

the you know the the the

part after the church leaves. Okay, the

tribulation period. He says for let no

man deceive you by any means for that

day shall not come except there shall

come first a great departure. One

translation says falling away but if you

go back the amplified says there's going

to come a great departure as in the

departure of the church. that day will

not come except there will come first a

great departure and then the man of sin

shall be revealed the son of predition.

And anyway, you know, the church was

getting a little confused back there.

They thought we're heading into the

tribulation period. And Paul said, don't

let that bother you because the

tribulation's not going to come till the

church is gone. And the church is going

to go and when the church goes, the

tribulation will start and it'll be the

seven years and so on. But um

they had a little issue with that. So

Paul said, "Don't let anybody don't let

anyone deceive you because there will

come a tribulation time. There will come

a there's there's going to come some

difficult times. There'll come a a

seven-year period where the Antichrist

will come into power, but he'll never be

able to step into his place, his throne.

He'll never be able to do that until the

church is gone." And you know, I was

just thinking about that a while ago. We

we sometimes forget the authority we

have. There's a lot that could, should,

would take place in America, but it

can't as long as you and I are here.

>> As long as we are on planet Earth, as

long as we are in our nation, there's

something about this place that because

the church is alive and well, there's a

lot that the devil wants to do, but he

can't do. The Antichrist would love to

step into power and take over. He can't

do anything until the church goes.

And that may not be far away, but

anyway. And then of course of Paul you

know writing to Timothy he said 1

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

Timothy chapter 2 he said uh I exhort

therefore that first of all and this is

why we're going to pray. I exhort

therefore that first of all

supplications prayers intercessions and

giving of thanks be made for all men but

especially for kings and those in

authority. Why? So that we may lead a

quiet and peaceable life in all

godliness and honesty. One translation

says and all freedom of religion and

high moral standards. for this is good

and acceptable in the sight of God who

would have all men to be saved and to

come unto the knowledge of the truth.

And you can go back through that. You

can find that 1 Timothy chapter uh two

starting in verse one. And um I was

thinking about that and as we start to

head over into prayer, we're going to

pray corporately. I'll pray and we're

all going to pray. Uh good way to finish

the this birthday service 250 years. But

I remember uh I've got it. It's It's

actually in my It's in my iPad and it's

in my iPhone and it's in my car. It goes

everywhere with me. Um uh October 10th,

1974.

October 10th, there was a service in

Longmont, Colorado. October 10th, 1974.

Brother Hagen, I didn't know what a

prophet was. I knew what a nonprofit

was. I just didn't know what a prophet

was. I had just shown up here at Rama. I

didn't know what a Rama was. I didn't

know what I was doing. I didn't know

what a Bible school was. I just knew I

needed to come to this place in Tulsa,

whatever it was. I'd been in real

estate. I just turned my license in and

packed a suitcase and flew down here.

Had a friend that had an apartment down

here. He said I could crash on his couch

for a while. And uh but I came down here

and

and I got in really in just a week or

two before that. Brother Hagen was doing

a meeting in Colorado and he stepped

over into that place, the the what we

call the office of the prophet. Okay, he

walked in that he was a prophet and a

teacher. Okay, there is that that those

gift stars are still alive and well

today. And he uh um stepped over into

that place. Okay, October 10th, 1974

evening service and stepped over into

that place. And I won't go into all of

it because it was a whole service. But

at one particular point, he he landed on

one particular thing and he made this

statement. He said, "No, America is not

finished.

America's not done. The best yet in so

many words. I'll put it this way. The

best is yet to come." This is a few

years ago, but he made this statement

and he said, "And there will be one that

will come on the scenes." All right.

Now, you can you can take things the

Holy Ghost says and you can try to

interpret it, misinterpret it,

miscalculate it, do anything. I tried

all that. So, I really don't know

exactly what all this meant. But this

was in October 10th, 1974.

And um he said, "There will come one.

There will come one on the scene who

will say, I'll walk in his way. I'll

obey Lord. I'll the Lord. I I will take

this nation in the right direction."

That's not exactly what it was. I've

still got it in my phone. And I've got

the exact wording of it. It's I still

have it on on on audio. But um you know,

I I I remember, you know, back I

remember the time when I thought he must

have been talking about uh you know,

President uh Ronald Reagan because he

did rise up and and lead the nation. You

know, he's the one that stood up and

said, you know, Mr. Gorbachev, take down

this wall. He he did lead this nation in

a great way. And I don't I know there

are people of different opinions and

different persuasions and different

ideas and all that, you know. Um but uh

right now God didn't really give he

didn't give us a pope. He gave us a

president.

>> And whether folks like him or not has

got nothing to do whether whether folks

agree with him or not has nothing to do

with it because he's been able to be

into a place and in so many words been

able to stand in a place and lead the

nation in the things of the of the

spirit of God. Some war wars have been

stopped. Some have been slowed down.

There've been a whole lot that's going

on. Whether it's in Israel, whether it's

in the Ukraine, whatever. But God raised

up a man and there are Bible studies

that are taking place in the White

House. There are things going on. There

are people that are praying there. There

are folks that are uh worshiping God.

There's there's a lot going on. And uh

the bottom line, whether we agree or

not, whether we like it or not, we have

one responsibility. The reason the

church, excuse me, the reason the

nations where it is is because of the

church,

>> good, bad, or ugly, it's going to be up

to the church. Where we go in the days

to come is going to be up to the church.

There, we've not yet seen our best days.

We've not yet seen the greatest rain.

We've not yet seen the greatest harvest.

We've not yet seen the greatest uh

ministry of the Holy Ghost bringing in

masses of souls into the kingdom of God,

not only around the world, but also in

this nation.

>> Okay. Well, when when's God going to do

it? It's not up to God anymore. He left

it up to the church.

>> That's what Paul was writing to the

church in to the Thessalonians. He's

left it up to us. Okay? We We're going

to get from God. You have not because

you

>> ask not. Ask and you shall receive that

your joy may be full. God's given the

church the responsibility and the

authority and the dominion to pray. And

if we'll do our job, God will um elevate

and cause a Holy Ghost explosion in our

nation. And uh one of the things we need

to pray is God, give us one more

opportunity to raise up a generation of

folks and send them to the nations of

the world.

>> Okay? We need

>> and I I don't need to go any further

with this, but we need we need another

we need another outpouring of a group of

people with a pioneer spirit about them.

>> I don't know about you. I don't know if

any of you remember that from the, you

know, from the 70s and the 80s and over

into the early 90s, but there was an

outpouring of folks coming from

everywhere that just had a pioneer

spirit about them. Just get out of my

way. I don't need money. I don't need

stuff. I don't need I don't need

equipment. I don't I don't need visas.

Just Just give me an opportunity. I'll

go change a nation. And today, they're

all over the world. People that had a

pioneer spirit. We need one more

outpouring of the Holy Ghost, God, to

raise up, you know, the Gen Z's are

going to be the best people in the world

to touch the nations of the world,

>> but they're not taking our spot.

Hallelujah. Anyway, let's go ahead and

let's just stand to our feet and let's

take a moment to pray.

>> Let's pray for this nation, for divine

protection. I don't know about you, I I

I know I know I can I can I can, for

lack of a better term, I can smell that

that communist spirit. I can get into a

nation and know what the I we can get in

there and basically tell you what the

government system is because it's not

just a government system. It's a spirit.

You can get into a country and you can

almost smell that thing. And it's not

coming in this nation.

>> It's trying in New York. It's trying in

Colorado. It's trying in Chicago. It's

trying in California. It's trying. It's

trying anywhere some folks will yield to

that. We're not blaming the people

who has the authority.

>> It's up to us. Let's pray. Father, in

the wonderful name of Jesus. Thank we

thank you. We thank you. We thank you

Lord. We are eternally eternally

permanently grateful. Eternally grateful

for the gospel, for the good news, for

redemption,

for the price you've already paid. We're

we're we're already so grateful, so

thankful. If that's all there was, that

would be great. But that's not all there

is. And we're eternally grateful for

what you've done for us and in us and to

us and through us. But for we've not yet

seen our best days. We've not yet seen

your best ways, Father. There's the best

that's yet to come. The church is about

to rise up and run. Great things are

going to take place. But you left that

authority up to the church. The the

Antichrist can't even take his place

until we're gone. And you said what

we're supposed to do is pray for kings

and those that are in authority. So we

take time right now. We pray first of

all for our leadership, our president.

We pray for President Trump, dear

Father. We pray for his health, his

protection, his wisdom, his energy. We

pray for the for him to do exactly what

he needs to do by your direction. We

trust you to lead and guide what he

needs to do for the uh for the health

and well-being of the church so we can

do our job. So we pray for our

president, our vice president. We pray

for the Supreme Court. We pray for

Congress. We pray for the governors. We

pray for the mayors. Father, all those

in authority. We pray, Father, for kings

and those that are in authority that we

may lead a quiet and peaceable life in

all godliness and honesty. We pray for

them, dear father, in the name of Jesus.

>> Hallelujah.

>> We thank you for that, dear father. Our

prayers avail much. Our prayers avail

much. Much can't be done by the devil

because the church is still here. Much

will never take place from the kingdom

of darkness because the kingdom of light

is in full force down here. So we thank

you for that, Father. And we pray. We

pray in the name of Jesus. We pray,

Father. Hallelujah. And we we lift up

the church now.

>> We lift up the church. May there come a

a great explosion of your power, your

presence in the church world. May we

come into a place we haven't been to in

years. May there be a an outpouring of a

a pioneer spirit. I know, dear Lord,

there's a stirring on the inside.

There's a dimension of a pioneer spirit

if we just Lord, give us one more shot

at that. Give us one more opportunity to

take the good news of Jesus to the

nations of the world. Give us one more

opportunity to send the Gen Z's to send

uh send every generation.

Send groups from every gen. Give us

Lord, give us one more opportunity.

the money will come, the doors will

come, the visas will come. What we need

is for the people to come. We thank you,

dear Father, and we trust you for that.

Thank you, Father. We pray over this

nation. We We are so grateful for 250

years, but thank you, Father. Maybe

we've got 50 left. I don't know what

we've got left, but in the time we got

left, I pray that you'll give us the

opportunity to do what you raised this

nation up to do. You put your name on

everything. You put your presence on

everything. You raised it up. You've

given us the freedom to go all over the

world with the good news of Jesus. We

have the privilege. We have the ability.

We have the authority. Now all we need

is the people

and we thank you for it in the wonderful

name of Jesus. Hallelujah.

>> Glory to God. Hallelujah. Before we

leave,

there will be a great demonstration of

your power, your wisdom, your authority,

your dominion. And we thank you for it

in Jesus name. Father. Hallelujah. Well,

let's lift our hands and give him

thanks.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord.

Great is the Lord and greatly to be

praised. Thank you, Father. We thank you

for a demonstration of your power, your

presence, your dominion. We We thank you

for a great demonstration of what you

can do in and to and for through the

church.

We trust you for that and we thank you

in Jesus name, Father. Hallelujah. Glory

to God. Amen. Amen. If you just bow your

heads, close your eyes just for a

moment.

Just a good time. What what it's all

about is God raised up a nation with the

ability to take the gospel of Jesus

Christ all over the world. But it just

starts at home. If you're here this

morning and you've never made Jesus Lord

of your life, things aren't right

between you and God. If they're not, you

know it. I knew it when it wasn't things

weren't right between God and me and it

wasn't his fault.

And it all got changed when I made a

decision to change it. Went to a

meeting, walked an aisle, prayed a

prayer. Here I am 50 years later. If

you've never made Jesus Lord of your

life, if things aren't in place where

they should be between you and God, I

want to pray for you. Would you just

raise your just wave your hand at me? If

you say, "Pastor, pray for me. I want to

I want to get my life right with God

today. I want to get things where they

need to be. I want to I want to know

when I leave this building this morning

that if I left this earth, I know where

I would go. I I want that as an

assurance that I know where my life's

headed. If that's you, wave your hand at

me. Anybody here say, "Pastor, pray for

me. I want to make Jesus Lord of my

life. I want to know I'm going to

heaven. I want to know where my life is