Can God Really Change Anyone? | Chaplain Reginald Watts

I want to thank you for joining our broadcast on the PANDO app. We love you and we're praying for you. Welcome to Purpose House. Good morning. How's everybody doing? I feel you. I feel you're very subdued. All of our football teams lost yesterday. So with those of us that have at least some sort of idol in our life, it was taken down yesterday. It's a special day. We're thrilled to have Pastor Chaplain Dion Sanders of Parchment, Mississippi, however you want to call it. He's the chaplain at Parchment Prison. His name is Reginald Watts. We call him Chaplain Watts or Reggie or our protection. The fence around us. He's going to be speaking to us in just a few moments. Out of the lobby he has a book. We have the drug king to disciple and friend Edwards' book, and today we have from crack to the cross and it's out there in the lobby, and here's why I would love for you to get it. I asked a question last night of Pastor Reggie just to take those of us that had joined together for dinner last night with him, to take us from where he was in Angola Prison in Louisiana to where he is today and how that came about. What a story, yes, it's Reggie Watts' story, but what a story of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and what it can do in a man and for a man because a man surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. This week I got a phone call from one of our staff members and he was being introduced to somebody who had been kicked out of a local church because they had tattoos, and so they

wanted us to meet them and talk to them, and the church knows I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last couple of months. More I thought about that. I don't want to say I had anger. I had a lot of righteous indignation about the fact that we can go tell people you can't attend church here because you don't look like me, and that spirit really needs to be broken in southern Illinois, and so after last night you just, Pastor Reggie, just really laid out some wonderful things last night and I went home and I was scheduled to go last and he was going to go first today, and I was going to preach to you as sermon literally where in a series called jailed, and so I thought I don't want to preach that for you today. You've had enough of that in your life, but I do think the church is in jail. I think the church in America is really in jail, and then I just want to read you a few minutes in the Pastor Reggie's going to come and he's going to preach, but Acts 17, verse 6, these that have turned the world upside down have come here also. When's the last time hell was scared that you showed up in town? I believe that America, specifically America, is at a defining moment in history, and I'm not here to tell you to go vote because it's not going to happen through the voting booth. We're at a defining moment in the history of America. Let me further define that we're at a defining moment in Christianity in America. For generations, Christianity helped shape the spiritual foundation of this nation. The something is certainly changing. In 2007, approximately 78% of Americans identified as Christian, by 2023 and 2024, that number had fallen to 62%. Other religions, including Islam and Hinduism, have become more prominent in America, and millions now identify with no religion whatsoever. And the religious landscape of America is changing. I have one question. What is the church doing about it? The church that I see in America today often looks less and less like the church we read about in the book of Acts.

had something that the American Church does not want to have. They had power. They had conviction. They had boldness, and they had the Holy Spirit, and they were unashamed of it. They had an undeniable burden for souls. And the Bible says because of that, they turned the world upside down, or we would better say it, they turned the world upside right. They entered cities that were filled with idolatry, immorality, false worship, spiritual darkness, and they preached Jesus Christ with such conviction that entire communities were shaken to their core, and they were not trying to make Christianity convenient. They were trying to make Christ known. They were not worried about what coffee they were given in their coffee bars. They were not worried about the lights, fog machines, video cameras, sound boards. They were not worried that they just went to preach Jesus. They were not worried about whether church pews were demonic or church chairs are demonic. All they wanted to do was have church. They didn't care if the preacher had a tie on. Nike's on. They just wanted to hear the message of Jesus Christ delivered to a lost and a dying world. You can just look at the region where the Apostle Paul traveled, preached, planted churches, raised up disciples. Let me give you a few of the names of those towns, Ephesus, Galatia, Colossa. Later the seven churches addressed in the book of Revelation, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodiceum, all seven of those churches were located in the modern day Turkey. That region was once a major region and center of Christianity today. Have fun trying to be a Christian in Turkey today. Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim. The Christian presence that once flourished there has been dramatically reduced through centuries of conquest, persecution, political upheaval, and population changes in a silenced

church. Just because Christianity once flourished in America does not mean it will always flourish here. We as American Christians have thought we could do it through politics. You cannot have revival in politics. I was absolutely disgusted this week when I saw people politicking to ban Islam. You want the government to do your job. If we would step up and be the church, we are stronger than any Islamic regime. If we would stand up and be bold about our faith, like their bold for their faith, we can't get you to come into a church and pray. They'll throw a rug down on a sidewalk and pray. You feel a little subdued today. It's okay. Pastor Reggie is coming on clean up the mess here in a minute. If the American church does not examine itself, I don't know what needs to happen for us to examine ourselves. Could what's going on in Asia Minor happen in America? It's happening right now. Do you know what the fastest growing religion in Illinois is? Islam. Second, is Hinduism. And neither one of them have a living God. And while we argue about how long our services are, whether or not there are tongues of interpretation or whether or not there should be tongues of interpretation, they're not arguing about anything. They're unified in taking over and eradicating Christianity out of this nation, out of this state. We got it made in Southern Illinois. It's here too. So what is it going to take for you to wake up and stop being so consumed with maintaining

your checkbox church that you have forgotten the mission of the church of Jesus Christ? Could we be so busy arguing with each other that we fail to reach a generation that's coming behind us? We're arguing, arguing while the world is waiting. People have argued with me about why do you want to go to Parchment? I literally had a pastor call me and say, "What's wrong with the prisoners near you?" Well, there was just an open door to Parchment. If Illinois would open up the doors, we'd go in there too. So we have people arguing about church services should last an hour, 65 minutes, 75 minutes, whether or not we should have Sunday Sabbath or Saturday Sabbath. that the music is too loud, where the worship is too loud. Meanwhile, people are dying without Jesus Christ. Families are being destroyed, addictions are ruining lives, prisons are filled with men and women desperately needing hope, and we're debating whether or not we should be here for 60 minutes or 90 minutes. When did our comfort become more important than their salvation? The church was birthed in an Pentecostal experience. Acts chapter 2 wasn't a committee meeting. It was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and fire. There came from heaven a sound of a rushing mighty wind. There were cloven tongues like as a fire. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, or we might as well just be King James. They were filled with the Holy Ghost and began speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Peter then stood up and preached Jesus. And approximately 3,000 souls were added to the church that day. Let me tell you what would happen in the modern church. If 3,000 people got saved into any church, people would say, "That church is too big. I need to go find a smaller church." In other words, what you were saying is, "I want to go find a church where Jesus isn't

there." Because if Jesus shows up, people get saved, sanctified, and delivered and set free. This mindset that we all need small churches, there is not enough churches to handle the revival that God wants to bring to America. The church was born in power and it was born to reach people. We've made Christianity so comfortable, so polished, so predictable. We've watered down our expectation of the supernatural. We traded urgency for convenience, sacrificed for preference, and we've become more concerned about keeping Christians comfortable than seeing sinners transformed. So my sir that was kicked out of his church for not having tattoos, come here, sit next to me, and we'll worship together. He said in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 14, "You are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. But it seems like much of the modern church would rather be a little building hidden down a back road filled with people who look like us, talk like us, dress like us, vote like us and agree with us. We want people who won't challenge our comfort, they won't mess up our schedules, and they need to learn how to behave in church. The last time I checked when people were hungry, they didn't mind their manners. We were never commissioned to become a social club. We're called to be a lighthouse for people living in darkness, to reach the lost, to preach deliverance to the captives, to make disciples of all nations. In fact, John 12, 32, he said, "If I, if I be lifted up from the earth, would draw all men unto me." Jesus was speaking about His coming crucifixion and the messes of salvation centers on Him. And anything in the church that is lifted higher than Jesus is an idol. Our job is to lift Jesus higher, not our denomination or even the fact that we are non-denominational. Not our traditions, not our personalities, not our preferences. We are here to lift Jesus up. And when we proclaim Jesus, the invitation of the gospel goes to everybody to whosoever

will. Black, white, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, rich, poor, the businessman, the homeless man, the person in the three-piece suit, clay, and the person covered in tattoos, brim. It goes to every person who's, it goes to people who've never been arrested. It goes to the person serving a life sentence. It goes to the person serving a death sentence. It goes to the Muslim, the Hindu, the atheist, the agnostic, and it needs to even go to the so-called believers. We need to hear the message of Jesus Christ and be set free from all of our traditions, all of our stuck into mudness, all of our hill-billingness, all of our racial stuff, all of our prejudices. We need to let the Holy Ghost in fire move from the front to the back, from the north to the south, the east and the west, and let God have His way right here in the heartland of America so that the heart will begin to pump again and breathe life back to this nation. So you ask me why does parchment matter? It matters. If the Christians aren't there, the Muslims will be there. And then one day those guys will get out of prison and they'll remember who went into the prison and actually performed the gospel that the church was supposed to perform because Because Jesus said when I was in prison, you visited me. you get to go out. And as ET would tell us all of you that were on the bus, the prisoners are more free than the free people. And parchment matters. Why does parchment matter? Because evangelism matters. Prison ministry matters. Because there's men behind those prison walls in women behind prison walls who have been forgotten by our society, written off by their communities and abandoned by their families. They have not been forgotten by Jesus. Somebody's father is in there. Somebody's son is in there. Somebody's daughter is in there. Somebody's husband is in there. Somebody's future testimony is being written right now in there. Jesus said, I was in prison. You came into me. So what if the next great move of God doesn't begin in a comfortable sanctuary at 124 Luan in here in Illinois? What if it actually begins behind prison walls? What if the men who have experienced the consequences of sin, they

become living epistles, living testimonies of the power of the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ in their life? What if those who have been written off by society, all of a sudden become the most powerful witnesses of Jesus Christ? What if this saw is actually behind a prison wall and then a light shines from heaven and turns that saw into a Paul? Would you read him? So the church cannot afford to overlook the harvest simply because it's growing somewhere we would rather not go. The harvest is plentiful. The laborers are few. So parchment isn't a side project here. It isn't something we do if we have extra time or extra resources. It's an opportunity to fulfill the very mission of Jesus Christ that He gave to the church. So it's time to put the sickle into the harvest. Jesus said when the fruit is brought forth immediately He put it in the sickle because the harvest is come. I believe the sickle of revival is entering into the earth right now. So it's time to stop arguing about preferences and start reaching people. Stop measuring success by how comfortable we can make you as a Christian and start asking how faithful you are in making disciples of Jesus Christ. So the same gospel that transformed Ephesus and Corinth and Philippi and Thessalonica can still transform Heron, Marian, Southern Illinois, Mississippi, parchment, and the entire world. But we had to fulfill the one word that we often miss in the great commission. Go. So we're going to reach, we're going to teach, we're going to equip, and we're going to continue to partner with communities, with prisons, who go after people who are broken, the forgotten, the addicted, the hurting, and the lost. And we're going to do it with the love of Christ, the truth of His Word, and with the power of the Holy Ghost and fire in our lives. So I want you to just see this today. I'm going to tell this kind of tongue in cheek, and I mean no disrespect behind it. It's actually one of the most respectful things I can say about Chaplain Watts. I did not know that Chaplain Watts was a prisoner at one time. I had no idea. We got there, and He has a sense of humor. It's a wicked sense of humor. Shove me through the door at Life Row to be the first guy in. One time we were getting off the bus, and He began to rehearse to me how many murders the guy that was walking towards me had done in the area in which He lived. And even last night, He even further comforted me when He said He's responsible for a lot of unalive people. And all I was doing was trying to find somebody to escort Gigi to the bathroom. But yet when we're around Chaplain Watts, there's safety there. There's protection there. It has nothing

to do with His past. It has everything to do with who He is in Christ now. If ever there was a billboard of what the transforming power of Jesus Christ can do to somebody and do with somebody, Chaplain Watts is their billboard. And He has dedicated His life after a miracle of a governor signing away His life sentence. Six hours after you got out? Is that right? Two hours after you get out. He could have went down anything with his Instead, he gets an offer to go to Parchment, Mississippi and go back into the very thing that God had just delivered him from. To change the atmosphere in a prison. And I want to say this to you because I want you to bless him today. He is not chasing money. Mississippi, probably one of the poorest states in the union, can't afford to pay their state workers. He's a state worker. He and his wife dedicated their life to changing men's lives that most people wouldn't walk across the street to even greet. My friends, there is a revival breaking out in Parchment. Let me rephrase that. There has been a revival break out in Parchment. And God is using men, a chapter on watch, to make a difference so that when these men get the miracle of their lives, they come out and they don't bow to Buddha. They don't bow to Muhammad. They bow their knee to the one name that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. They're teaching about Jesus behind prison walls. So I would love for you to make welcome to this stage, this platform, this pulpit, a tremendous mighty man of God, Chaplain pastor, Reginald D Watts, all the way from Parchment, Mississippi. Hallelujah.

Praise the Lamb of God. You may be seated. You may be seated. Thank you all for a wonderful, sweet welcome in this place. It's good that preachers don't have to be in competition because after that, I would not have even come up here. I got more sense than that. Reginald Watts, born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. You heard most of this story. I wish you would have met me before you about the book. But the book is transformation. Yes, I was serving a life sentence, repeat offender, robberies, drug addiction, raised good, good mother, good father, good siblings. But Satan. We always see when we get transformed, we say but God. But there's a time in our lives it was but Satan. And when we put that other T on butt, we get in trouble. And then we don't know how to get our butt out the way. And so God says, He said over here, come home. And we don't know where home is. We don't know where home is. And so we get in trouble. Well, I got in a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble. Had nothing to do with the way I was raised. Had everything to do with me stepping away from the way I was raised. And so I ended up with a life sentence. Louisiana. Life means life.

There's no parole, no probation, no suspension of sentence on a life sentence. No matter what the life sentence is for. Mine was for a series of robberies, armed robberies across three states. I was headed to the fourth state, but the third state said I was enough. And they sent me back to the first state, which is Louisiana. And all the charges there. And I ended up with a life sentence. And after 25 years of it, God saw fit to allow me to get out. But in there, in there, enough was enough. And so I surrendered. On my knees, I had just smoked a marijuana. And I was paranoid. And I hit my best friend. And it started a downward spiral of the mental. It was strange because I felt something that was akin to remorse. If you know what I mean. And here's a statement that we need to quit saying. We need to quit saying we found Jesus. Jesus ain't never been lost. And never you didn't find Jesus. What you did was you slowed down long enough. Hold on one second. I'm starting to feel like I'm at home. [ Laughter ] >> In that life sentence, I want y'all to know this too. How a sense of humor that God has. We know God made two animals that let you know that he has a sense of humor. hit my pot on us and adjourn. Stand up, baby. Yeah, I, I, I, all this time running away from police and I ran right in the wine. Miss Gigi, I ran into a police officer and fell in love. And I said to myself,

I said, boy, if this would have happened then, it wouldn't have been no this. I'd have been all right. And so she's my human Holy Spirit, earth realm. There's two more people here before I get started. Don't worry. Baby, let me know when 30 minutes is up. That way we do that everywhere we go. That way I won't. I had 35 minutes and I used up a few 30 minutes. Let me know. Brian Ward and Miranda Ward are two of the most caring people, especially for prisoners. They, they, they, they come into the prison and they just love on the guys. And they're from right here. Well, at least they live here. They're from all over, but they have a wedding venue, not far from here. And they, I talked to them and they, I told them, well, they say, hey, that's not far from us. We want to come see you. Stand up around them, Brian. Stand up. Stand up. Two of my best friends, Hallelujah. They up in a full stamp seats. Good to see you. Good to see you. Glad you made it. Hallelujah. And so here I am in prison. And I, I heard the voice of God. I told God I was tired. God said good. I've been waiting on that statement for a long time. He said, now what you want to do? I say, what you want me to do? Not long after that, my mom died. That sent me somewhere I've never been before and have not been since. And I cried for three days and, and I, I reverted to bed. I told God I said, if you don't kill me, I'm going to start killing the guys in here. I said, good, I don't have the strength to live. I don't want to live like this. I don't want to live without that woman. And it was that way, and the old man walked up to me, a man named Diamond. And he, I was teaching Bible stuff. And he told me, he said, that Bible stuff that you teach, you need to pay attention to. You need to honor the word of God that you're teaching. You need to start, I said, man, get from by me. If you don't, I'm going to slide you under that bed. And he stood there and he kept talking. He's old, man. He's swinging his hands like this. I'm sitting on the bed and I'm standing myself. I'm going to hit this old man. And he kept talking and finally he walked off. And I, I told God, sitting on the bed, I said, if you give me the strength to live, I'll live for you the rest of my life. And I don't know if it was the next second, next minute, 10 minutes, hours, I don't know. But a calm came over me, a swooping. I'm talking about just, just like, just like putting a hoodie over. And it engulfed me. And I cried a little longer. There was no more tears for that. And that was 19, I want to say 98. And the God that we serve, God that we serve. With the same intensity that I got high, with the same

intensity that I robbed people with. With the same intensity that I ran away from the police, same intensity that I served God. I go into places and I say, you ain't scared. What is there to be afraid of when you got a full arm on? You got a whole arm on God on. That word about him that could do any damage to this body, I did enough to it. Seven different sets of stitches, bullet holes in my stomach. I'm not worried about the flesh anymore. It's that soul. When we was living, when we was living spirit, soul body before the sin and the God and everything was good, cooler than even the God walked with us. And then it was reversed by a sin, and we put the kernel in the front. The soul is still suffering right there in the middle, and the spirit is saying, well, yeah, come on back home. So God said, if you don't like the way you were born, you can be born again. They can't have it. They can't have it. We can have it our way. You say now God say self. There's not three entities It's not God self and Satan It's God and Satan self and Satan You by yourself without the Holy Ghost you Satan and so that's kind of harsh. Yes, it is Take harshness with it. It's gonna be good for you when you sit down and play this back. You're gonna be all right We because we gonna tell the truth this I do know about purpose house Because they come they have been in prison. They have been that parchment not just one time That their their name is ringing in postman prison. Let me tell you some God is up to something God is up to something And purpose house church is playing a big part in it and that's why when they call We deliver And say well when you want to come so we have we have set dates all the way over into 27 Because we believe in God That your purpose house church more men are gonna be delivered And I'm not saying women because parchment is the mother load in Angola and in Mississippi It's the penitentiary. There's only one penitentiary in the state and that's it parchment. It has the longest sentences in the state And God is up to something But he need men and women that have backbone Spiritual backbone

That can take insults and say why are you going into prison? Because that's where he is that He's bringing them out to do what I'm doing now There's nothing special about me Well, I'm special is that right there? I'm special but not the kind of special that Satan put on the table It's the fact that I died to self It's born again and in that new life in that newness of life. I Got power. I got power and I got backbone turn with me if you will To book a mark 10th chapter 46 verse mark 10th chapter 46 verse Y'all love me I feel y'all ask if you don't love me you better not die Because you won't be able to get in the kingdom First John 4 7a say God is love He that love it know it God he that love it not know it not God for God is love and Love is undefeated If you want to win just love Love covers a multitude I'm saying and it don't mean that it covers it and it's still under there That's not the type of covering that it is what it is is You have a memory bank So you're not going to forget what somebody did you but you'll forget what they did you? You won't let the trick of this those 18 inches from here to here is what's going to send a lot of people to help Believing in and believing on is not the same thing On and in both the two two lot of words, but it's not the same thing Until you start to believe on you believe in you know, there's a God the devil's trumpled I know there's a God, but my God Believing on means I can trash through it knowing that he's with me

God say I love you with a ever-lasting love Ever lasting or lasting forever love And nobody can separate you from that If I was going to title this message any preacher tell you that in these verses right here, there's about 14 sermons Just in there's 46 through 52 But this is entitled simply entitled When your many in a and why Becomes your they t h e y when your many becomes your day and I'm from New Orleans. So they if I don't use my tongue correctly they It'll sound like day D. A. Y. But I have told you what I'm saying I spelled this so don't look up here and act like you don't know what I'm saying if I need to spell it again I will t h e y they if I keep putting my tongue down with spit, so I don't want to spit on you That's a small they designed the church with a front row is way out there That's good. That's good. You good. You good. You good and y'all thought it was just a design to come to church and preach, and I don't know what the menu was the night before. And the church said, "Now they came to Jericho." Jericho, most people all they remember Jericho is being the walls. Jericho was a hotel at this time. It was just a place to lay over until they continued on to Jerusalem. And so when they came to Jericho, as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, so there's a bunch of people on the move. There's a bunch of people on the move. Brian brought the meals, the son of Tameyas, set by the roadside begging. How many of y'all have ever had to beg before? Now, watch this. First thing you think about being homeless, or you beg for your job. You might not say, "Pleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep." You might not get it that way, but you did everything you could.

You bring the boss man of fruit basket, you came to work early, you did all that good stuff. That was begging. So you have begged before. You're not exempt from begging. I like this. You need to get some bald-haired people on this side. Everybody with all you men with a bald-haired raised hand, raised hand, oh, look at that. We got some bald-haired folk up in the air. That's what I was talking about. I know I'm in the right house. I know I'm in the right house. Y'all ready? Verse 4 to 7. And when he heard, this is a blind boy to me, the beggar. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, now hold up, he's blind, which means his sense of hearing is acute. It's on a raised level. Because he needed for his hearing and for his eyesight. And he said that he heard that it was Jesus from Nazareth. So what have he heard proud too? That day. What have he heard? I'm telling you that because you're in a society now that people are not coming through those doors to church and the only church they're going to see, the only Jesus they're going to hear about is the one that you carry in your character. Gigi had men with life sentences, in parchment prison, in the middle of the parking lot dancing. And she took Jesus with him. And I've seen some of them live with apprehensives. And Gigi, Gigi walked right up to him and said, "Uh-uh, you've got to do this.

The hokey pokey." She was talking about, she had guys that I could not even get to stand up in church. She had them in a parking lot dancing. Oh, oh, y'all must know Gigi, because some of y'all are not surprised at all. And she said, "Come on, chaplainin', come on." Let me say, "All right, Gigi, all right, I'm with you, let's do it." So he heard that Jesus was passing, this meant something to him. This is a blind man, he's a beggar, can't see, but he can hear, and he said he heard that Jesus, and he began to cry out, and he said, "Get this, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." That's what he said, but that's not how he said it. How many of y'all have an exclamation point in your Bible with that red hand? You see that? That's for grammar. That's always for the reader, it's not for the writer. The writer already knows the excitement, he already knows the exclamatory, he already didn't know that already, but it's for us, brand, it's for us. And so when we read that, we need to read it, like that school teacher told you to read it, when she had that pointer in her hand, somebody said, "Wap, yeah, whoap, whoap." You would read it right, and this is the way that he said it. He said, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." And many, there's your many, and we got a whole slew of people that want us to be quiet. Pastor just told you that, and guess what we're doing, we're being quiet. The many one, then many warn him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me." Now let me tell you about cover that. Son of David is the lineage. promise one, you're it, you're him, I need you, nobody else can't help me and they want me that many want me to be quiet. I'm not being quiet.

Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Some of y'all is time for y'all to cry out. Some of y'all is time for you to make some noise. Some of y'all is time for y'all to clap in church. Some of y'all have stood up since your been there. Some of y'all want to stand up but you're looking around and you see that the rest is not standing up so you won't stand up. And your blessing is right around your stand up. Your blessing is right behind your next clap. He give us hands to walk with. Go to war people. There's a battle, there's a fight going on for your soul. Satan is working feverishly. His time is running out. And every time that buzzer head remind you of your past, you remind him of his future. You out of here. You out of here, buddy. You're done with. And remember this. It's a monologue, not a dialogue. No whole no conversation with him. Eve made that mistake. The man and the woman sinned in the garden. I ain't going to let you leave here and say, oh, you talk about Eve. The women talk, you talk about always blaming on the woman. I actually I do sometimes. And then before I go to sleep. I make my apologies to my bride.

We've been married October 1st. We celebrated by going to work. And it was our fourth year anniversary. I've been out of prison two years. Six years, two years. Two years different from the time I got out in the time I got married. October 1st was our fourth year anniversary. [applause] Thank you. I just noticed the big clock in the back. The clock trumped you. And so the men he told him, and they warned him. The brothers said they warned him like, be quiet. What you doing? Talking to Jesus, talk up in the air. What's wrong with y'all? And the mothers on the back. And people turn from us because we quiet and they turn over here. Islam is a fad. There's only one true living God that's Yahweh. That's it. There's no other God. A couple of my good friends, what's up brother? A couple of my good friends, they're Islamic. They don't mess with me with that. And they watched my preaching on Facebook and TikTok. And they said, "Boy, you show hard on us." No, I'm not. I'm just big on Jesus. I'm not hard on you.

I'm big on Jesus. If my big on Jesus is hard on you, then hard on you is what it's going to be. Take your aspirin or something. [ Laughter ] Tyler, no, that's something. So, he's calling out to Jesus. The many want him to stop. But he cried out the morning. And the Bible says, Jesus stood still. What made Jesus stop? The same thing that makes him stop today. When Jesus hear a covenant, when he hear a trust, when he hear faith in the earth, know what he say? He tell the answer. Go down there and give that lady what she asked him for. She sound just like us. Covenant kicks in. God has to watch over his word. You prayed his word. You believe his word. It becomes yours. I hear people say, speaking into existence, I have not found that in the Bible. I've heard this say and think those things that are not as if they were. So, now what I'm doing now is I'm lifting my faith. Now, you can fake it into the earth realm, but you're not going to speak it into the earth realm. If that was the case, none of us will be here

because your animals speak you out the way. I speak him out the way. Speak me out the way. Well, nobody be alive. Nobody be here. Jesus still still and commanded him to be called. Then they, not sure many, they have turned to the they. Y'all say, I did that, they, they, they. And they called the blind man. Now, your enemy will become your first dude. God said, I will give you a favor with me and with man. He never said that they were like. We keep trying to make people like us. People don't like us. We not like them. They don't like us. But they're wondering why they pour into your ministry. They're wondering why that they gave you that parking spot. After they told the guys, and I don't care about them being moved up to manager. I'm not giving them that parking spot. I've been parking there. That's your parking spot, man. Congratulations. Then he got home and he cried. Favor. Favor. And he said, Jesus still still. He made the many into the day, and they called him. And then they-- look what they told him.

And they called the blind man saying, look how they changed. Look what they said. Saying to him, be of good cheer. Rise. He's calling you. They just told him to shut up. They was mad at him. And now, because your bandwagon have been turned right side up, they can get on that bandwagon. Now, they are right with you. But remember this? They behind you. They behind you. Stay pray it up. Stay pray it up, people. Stay pray it up. It's cheaper and better to stay pray it up. And here it is for us. And if you can't do this, you're in trouble. Be of good cheer. 50 say, in throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. That garment was the centerpiece of his life. When he sat or laid by the gate, he laid it out, and he laid on it. Sometimes he draped himself with it when he was cold. That was his tent of life. And why did he throw it aside? Why did he throw that garment aside? If he was calling for Jesus, meaning he must have been up

and ready, why did he still have that garment? Because a lot of things in life that we should not be having, we still have, because it makes us comfortable. But it also blocks our view of the king. And so God said, throw it aside. Throw your garment aside. Throw that thing that you're so comfortable with. Throw it to the side. You don't need the alcohol no more. Throw it to the side. You don't need the cigarettes anymore. Throw it to the side. You don't need the shack anymore. Get married. You don't need to be so tight-fisted with your money. If you take all you can, and put it in the can, and sit on the can, God can't give you anything. All you're going to have is what's in the can. That's tight-fisted. If you're going to hold on to everything you got, and God put you in the same way, none of it belongs to you. You've been bought with a price. If you can't open your hand, you can't receive anything. I've never seen anybody receive anything like this. If they do, they have no control of it. He drew it close to the side. He drew it to-- he didn't lead neatly and folded up, because he's going to come back and get it. Soon as God bless it, he's going to go back and get it. And we go back to it, because we think it's all right.

It's never all right. We never live in the state of our contentment yet, but not all right. Because it ain't never all right. That flesh pulls out. I keep my body under subjection. At least at any time, I become disqualified. That flesh will rise up. If anybody knew Paul knew, Paul peed in me. We all knew. Peter was bipolar. Paul thanked. Paul, God, you see, he was bipolar. I know what my wife is saying, but it's none of your business. So I ain't going to tell y'all. Throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, what do you want me to do for you? Now let me tell you how we handle that. This is what we tell God. He said, God, I want to escalate because I need to bring my kids to school. And God said, he don't say it to you. He said, you need a car. He don't make that much money, but he needs enough room. But I got a Tahoe, a guy in the church. I know how much cash he got. He can afford this and it won't hurt him. And then he go back and he tell God, God, but I ask you for an escalate.

But God said, when I ask you, what do you want from me? You told me for your kids, and that was a lie. You wanted an escalate because you like an escalate. And I'm here to tell y'all, tell God exactly what it is because he already know. Tell him exactly what it is that you want. Why you want it? I told God, I want to be rich. I want to be rich because there's some things I want to do for my wife and for my 87 year old mother-in-law. And I want a big old Dodge Ram brand new pickup truck. Y'all laugh, and I'm serious. Insurance too high. He asked me what about the Lamborghini I was talking about insurance too high. You said, because you got a big God. I said, I know. Got some other things too. I told God, I'm not telling y'all. I want y'all to mess up my vision or what I want. And throw on the side. And so now we got God said, what do you want? And look what he said. The blind man said to him, "Raboni, teacher, beside the man." I want to receive my sight. I want to see. That's what I want. I'm not telling you that the blind man said, I want to see because I want to be at a ride a camera so I can go to the next town and tell him about Jesus.

I want to see because I want to know how to pay my ties. He didn't say that. He said, I want to see. I want to see. Let's see what the reply is. Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way, your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. Close your Bibles. The reason why I say close the Bible, because I used to do this too. When the preacher got through preaching, I would keep on reading or I'd go back up. Because it was interesting that I'd go back up and be reading. And then he'd say something, then everybody would be clapping. I'd say, "What did he say?" Not that I needed you to clap. I had enough eight men's when I was getting high. When I came in the dope house and gave everybody a hit, man, you the coolest dude. Yeah, I just put off an armed robbery. Six, seven years from now, I'm going to be spending life in Angola, and I'm giving you the dope. I guess I am cool. If you remember anything about what I'm telling you today, remember this, that God died with his arms open, patiently waiting for you to step into his embrace. So when the world kicked you to the curb, don't lay down. Get up. Fight for that which has been afforded to you.

And that's the promised land right here in the earth realm. The land is flowing with milk and honey. The grass is greener on the other side. Yeah. And in covenant, we receive favor. Favor is greater than grace. Pray God's favor. Pray His favor over your life. That's extra. That's grace plus more. See, I needed that plus more, I needed to get out of prison. I had a desire to get out of prison. And my mentor, my mentor, my number one mentor, told me, he said, quit saying that you don't have an out date. He said, from here on out, when somebody asks you when you're going home, say, any day now. And so I walked around prison saying that. And so God said, would you got something in court? What you got, man? We would always share if we get a good hold. I said, I don't have nothing in court, and I didn't. Any day now. And I didn't believe it at first. And I was a senior pastor. But then I started believing it. And I started living it. And he said, how many years later was it before you got out? About a dozen? So for a dozen years, I said it. And it felt good when I started believing it.

And it started looking good, because certain things I didn't care about anymore. Mighty God that we serve. I love y'all. And just remember this. Those that are against you, you don't have to fight them. The battle's already won. See, we're not fighting for victory. We're fighting from victory. We live in victory. Amen? I got a minute left. I want to thank those of you who donated to the parchment prison ministry and participated those bags that was given out in that prison changed a lot of things. Others are still talking about last year, bags. You say, "What's so important about a bag?" Mississippi is the poorest state in the United States and they have more indigent inmates in that prison right at about half. Never get a quarter from anywhere. That's why it's big. Plus, it was loaded with stuff. I got one too. I'm not indigent, but I enjoy a bag. At this time, we're going to have our team come up and come forward. Let's all stand right here. The worship team is going to sing one more song and if it feels like the Lord has been speaking to you today, please come forward. This team wants to agree with you in prayer. God said the same, "I'll be back, me and my wife. I bring my wife everywhere.

She'll keep me out of trouble. Sometimes my foot get a little heavy on the gas pedal and she just reaches over and touch my forearm. I already know what the signal is. She don't have to squeeze it. I know it means to slow down. Amen? I'm not big on how many people come down, but I'm huge on the people that come down that's in need. And the name of Jesus, "Come down and get your prayers." [BLANK_AUDIO]