Christ Un-barred - EP 105 - The BLOOD of Jesus defeats ALL SIN

Music all right it is friday it is the last day of july i don't know how we got to july already it feels like yesterday was new year's eve and we're talking about not doing a gala and now it's the middle of the year middle of the year it's going too fast right yeah you know um how do you react guys when for two days straight yesterday and then the day before i got told this as soon as they walked into church they're like you look tired pastor like i don't know i don't know how to how do you answer that i get told that all the time i don't know how to respond to it because i wasn't even feeling tired at the moment so i'm just like man i must look like trash or something like two days in a row i mean people say it all the time but i noticed it because two days in a row i'm used to it already so guys if you guys thought it you're messed up because that would be three days in a row because you guys thought it they probably think i look tired too i mean it's okay the heat though it it drains you you guys know that i mean it's gonna be triple digits tomorrow it's gonna be triple digits sunday i believe monday wow so um okay yeah so it's friday last day of july we're about to upload this right after we finish this with the bible study from wednesday god bless you we have a new guest here mr chicken and uh he wants to say something to you he's the american chicken i have a funny story so the other day the other day he was eating a piece of chicken in the car and that chicken has happened to be laying down on on one of the uh one of the cup holders in in the car and so his elbow was there and he was eating a piece of chicken as we were right i was about to bite into he was about to bite into a drumstick and he pushed it with his elbow without knowing right when i bit it exactly right when he bit it and he got scared because he thought that his chicken that he was biting into was crying i was cracking up guys i was cracking up because i'm like what to get scared of he goes he goes i thought my chicken was crying because i bought that a week ago and i kept forgetting to bring it into the podcast so the chicken was it was it wednesday night i don't know but it hadn't made any noise at all for all that time i think and uh and out of nowhere he just pushes on it with his elbow when i bite into the chicken he goes like this and he goes i don't know what the heck it did but it quacked and everything right literally right when he bit into it and he scared himself so it was just it was just funny guys i cracked up because you guys should have seen his face like i wasn't joking i got really scared so um we got a lot of letters here well it's not the most we've ever had but it's a good stack so

we're going to get right into it guys but i pray that you guys are doing great pray that you guys are being blessed pray that you guys are in your word and uh you're continuing in the things of the lord and if you're just learning or you're just starting i pray that you continue to grow is bucky going to dance oh yeah that's right he's way over there though do you want me to grab him can you yes i can Before it was a sombrero without On my side Hey battery Yeah What does that mean road trip So you are going to be getting a road trip should be next. Yeah next right? Yeah So I'm gonna put him right here for now Where we going? Right. So I'm on my way to visit my sister in Utah, Utah, so you talk so, um, yeah guys so on our way there Kind of excited to go see my sister and Not sure yet guys, it's still up in the air, but my brother might be joining us and not sure he said he was um He was definitely gonna see if he can get Permission to go so if he does he's gonna head on over here He's gonna jump right in with us and he's gonna go with us So which would be great because you guys will get an opportunity to be able to talk to him a little bit more Which would be great so we're kind of excited and There's gonna be a lot to see yeah So a lot we're gonna go to Utah, but four hours from her up north is Wyoming, which is Yellowstone and Montana That's kind of the plan. We're gonna see what happens I'm taking my 360 camera in case you guys don't know what that is That's the camera I use on my bike on that. I showed him a little piece of a bike ride I'm a few videos back. So they're just like how do you do that? Yeah, so remember I have that stick

Yeah, so I'm gonna take the 360 camera. We have our phones. I have my glasses that record So we're gonna get some really really good footage. I've never been I've been a Utah the time I took you to well It's something that it's something that her husband really wanted to do with her and everything So she's like since you're gonna be here. I really want to do this with you guys So I'm very very honored to be able to do this with her, you know Because she never got a chance because he passed away It's going on three years now. So I'm very very honored to be able to do this with her in honor of him Yeah, so I'm excited because he had promised he was gonna take her Yeah, and so we get we get the chance to be able to do that. So I'm excited. Yes I'm anticipating seeing some beautiful scenery and So yeah road trip. Yeah Let's dive right into it The first one is Patrick and he's in Kennedy, Texas and I'm not sure how you know about us because he says he doesn't have a tablet Really? Yeah, but you know a lot of people have asked me to mentor them. I don't Know any other way how other than through these videos through these podcasts Bible studies and sermons I hope that he's watching it through somebody else. Yeah one that has to be the way but if you are Keep watching through whomever it is that you're watching and you know, I hope that you're able to you know to keep watching Yeah, but I do want to address this not specifically to to this gentleman but to anybody because I get this quite a bit is you send your like a way to text message back and forth and stuff and I never wanted to open that Not because I don't desire to but because I I would be it would be impossible for me to do it Here's the thing right, can you imagine if you write this really long text or email to me I Don't have the time to sit back and write because if you understood how many requests I get It would probably be a thousand people

Can you imagine how would I have the time? So here's what would happen. You'd pour your heart out and I would say Oh praise God. Thanks Because you know what? How am I gonna sit there and literally do that for every person? I Couldn't do it would be unfair to you. That would really be unfair to you and we don't want to do that Well, here's the thing though I know on the other end if I sent if I was it locked up and I'm in the tablet especially I'm in the hole and I write to this pastor this I pour my heart out on this letter or whatever and Then he finally gets back to me three or four days later because he's probably been doing stuff And then I get a one sentence back. I would feel disrespected. Yeah, but honestly, that's all I would be able to give. Yeah You know, so I would rather not even go down that route My phone is 95% on silent, you know, why I'll ask my wife what happens if I take my phone off off the side and right now it will Continuously ring it'll continuously go off and tenuous all day all night So that's without The securities, can you imagine that wouldn't be fair to me? It wouldn't be fair to you guys and So I don't think I'd have a husband. I Wouldn't have a church. I wouldn't be able to write a sermon. I wouldn't be able to study I wouldn't be able to have Bible studies. I wouldn't be able to sleep. I wouldn't be able to eat I wouldn't be able to do anything guys So I just think that it's better not opening that because I would just let you down Well, I will say this though, I really really do love our time because We we don't have a lot of a lot of family time. So we have to really block out our family time We really really do just a little bit of time that we do have because he is constantly working Constantly working, but I really really enjoy the time that we block out for us to read letters We we actually make it I guess you would say make it a date in a sense we we grab our coffee We'll grab our drink. We'll grab a snack or something and we'll sit down We turn off TVs we turn off everything letters here in the church No, no, we because we will never get anything done if if we read them here at the church

That we sit at home and we turn everything off and we really pay attention to Just reading the letters. I think we're very focused and when we read them and we enjoy them There's times where we're cracking up. There's times where we're crying. There's times where we're really focused in on these letters That we take our time in reading your guys struggling trying to read your writing If there really is But we enjoy it because it's our time We have made it a point to make it our special time Every single we pick a day and then we we sit down and we and it'll take hours sometimes But those are hours very well spent together. So We appreciate you guys. We really do because it also gives us time together Amen, all right. I better just why don't I have my glasses there? I think they work better on my face All right, Nelson, Bellingham, Washington Thank you so much And I appreciate it your your English is good man, yeah, it's a second language, but the letters great you did great you did great So keep writing English is not an easy language to write to spell You know, it's just it's a weird language you did you did really really good. Yeah, brother Derrick So, Indiana god bless you man completed discipleship classes, that's a double Appreciated brother. Thank you. What's the next step for him? so he's gonna be getting his certificate on here and Actually, I'm glad because there is another brother who had completed 1 2 3 and now I believe that Yeah, same one who completed 4 5 & 6. So now he completed all of them as well So 1 through 6 should be already done as well so if we have a Few of them that I want to go ahead and get their certificates up so that that we can view them That would be great if there is a family member if you completed all 1 through 6 and others a family member that you want me to send it Please let me know but also when we do the next round of graduations on Sunday morning Yeah, you'll be acknowledged you will be acknowledged and and guess what guys I'm using your stamps to send it to your family I've been saving those stamps guys the stamps that you guys have been tithing

I'm saving them and I'm actually going to use them to send them to your family. So thank you. All right Jorge Luis, Tennessee colony and Gotcha card. Thank you so much. So much. God bless you Vincent Shane in Maryland or but it's postmarked, North Carolina. So I don't know what the what's going on there Oh, those are beautiful butterflies, by the way. Yeah. Yeah, beautiful amazing butterflies Yeah, as far as you're asking about real real V that I have not reached out to Jeremy I don't know a few of you have asked like it's off of Pando He hasn't mentioned nothing to me because he did text me back I'm not sure if he's texting me back. I don't know if he's texting me back. I don't know if he's texting me back A couple weeks ago because I had text him a month ago and he goes, oh man, I'm sorry I just saw this text because I'd reached out to him, but he didn't mention nothing. So I don't know and I don't want to be nosy. Honestly, I just figure he would call and tell me Yeah, I know that there's a lot of new things going on in their lives Thank you, really really good letter brother, I bless you brother Anthony. All right in San Quentin. Thank you so much and San Bernardino, will I ever do a road trip there? Will we ever do it? Yeah, it's pretty hot right now at this time, right? Yeah, the only time I was ever San Bernardino was in County Jail one night Well, we went towards that way as well when we went to go see like a boxing fight. Oh Going that way. It's it's also going towards where you're one of your friend lives Johnny. Oh Okay, yeah, that's the area going towards that way Yeah, so when I went on Khan Valley's going that way when I got sentenced Marshall's picked me up from Sacramento County Jail took me to Travis Air Force Base and Fairfield. I flew on Conair into I Never knew that really existed. I thought it was just part of the movie But it doesn't look like the movie. It's like a regular Southwest plane. Oh, it's just that we're in shackles. That's it Mm-hmm. They just they just Hollywooded it in the movie. No, it's a good movie. That's a good movie I've seen in a while. Yeah, we got to watch it. Yeah Anyways landed in in. Oh my gosh, my mind went blank. What's the federal prison down there? I Don't know anyways ended up in San Bernardino for one night then got taken to Terminal Island But yeah, I mean if I'm ever there, I'll do a road trip Elias in Maryland, but it says El Paso. I don't know. I don't know where you're at, but

That's crazy how he said on February 25th when I got spiritually born was his dad's birthday and October 7th anniversary Marriage anniversary is his mom's birthday. So he sees us as spiritual parents awesome pirate name meadow fish And we will have you on the prayer request. Yes. God bless you. All right And so much water yeah, it gets warm up here though, it's okay right now It's it's okay right now. Yeah, it actually feels okay. Yeah, I turn the AC on before a couple hours before you got here Nagy Cumberland, I think Maryland MD. Thank you so much. God bless you All right, Darwin and a frata, Washington. I've never heard of that, but it's in Espanol. Gracias Gracias. Que Dios te bendiga Johnny Winsboro, Texas And short timing brother, amen, amen, hopefully you can find us on YouTube or Keep watching us Morgan to Hatch a pee. Oh, that must be hot right now. Really? Isn't that pass? How we 14? going That side of Bakersfield. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's hot. Yes. I see your request. Oh, thank you man He he'd I'll he'd I'd go he'd I'll go I can't read it DelVal, Texas. Yeah Yeah So we don't have any PayPal ministry at all. So at 81 you go to episode 81. Hopefully Some people said it's not there no more Not there's some people say there's a bunch of videos missing from Pando. Really? Yeah All right, so I don't know what's going on Tommy Lee in Repressa, California, I believe that's Folsom Thank you so much for your letter wonder why they would take off our resources Well, I don't think they did it to take off the resources. They're just videos missing So you guys a few of you have to let me know. There's a lot of videos missing. I don't know what's going on What's this This is the right address, oh, this is for yeah for my tails my tails that I write notes on it No, you just said we need to give this to my tails family. So we will definitely make sure to give this to my tails family

Yeah, we see them tomorrow. Yeah, actually we're seeing them tomorrow and you said the name though No, I didn't know there's no name in the front. Yeah, the names in here It's right there right You Mickey in Taylorsville, North Carolina, I think it's Mickey or says Mo Mickey or McMickey. I can't read it. Yeah, mr. Mickey Oh Mr. Mickey, all right David in Santa Barbara, California. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for sharing Appreciate it. Mr. Chris in Delano, California. Thank you for your letter. Thank Thank you so much and God bless you. Hopefully you keep watching. Destiny in Santa Fe, New Mexico, thank you also. A lot of the times, guys, in case you're wondering, like, man, that's a lot of thank yous. I don't got nothing to say. Because a lot of them are just letters saying, hey, I just want to introduce myself. God bless you, love your videos. I mean, all I can say is thank you, you know? Steven in Pendleton, Indiana, short timing, you know? And has three boys and a daughter, you know? So, I mean, every child is a blessing from God. I say that all the time from the pulpit. Yeah, and I just want you to stay encouraged, brother. Stay encouraged. I know times can feel really hard and it can feel very, of course, it can feel very lonely. But whether we be behind the walls or out here in the free world, you know, we got to remember that we're not walking this alone.

You know, Christ is with us at all times. And just keep your eyes focused on him and know that he's with you at all times, at all times. Okay, just remember that, remember that. I will say this, too, is that sometimes feeling lonely isn't just in prison. Sometimes you can be lonely in a room full of people, you know? I think we've shared that as being pastors sometimes can be a very lonely place, you know? You know, it can be. But, you know, I think that that could be by choice as well because sometimes we have to use wisdom with the circles that we choose as well. And I think it's just using wisdom and guarding our hearts, you know, I think it's important. But I think that just by choice, I think you got to use wisdom in there as well. You got to guard your heart and you got to make the wise choice of the people that you're surrounded by. And just, you know, constantly ask the Lord, Lord, you know, surround me with the right people, you know, surround me with, you know, have the right people around me because I think that's important. You know, it doesn't matter where we're at. Always ask for the right guidance on who's to be around you. Yeah, you know, some of the greatest people in the Bible felt alone.

The prophet Elijah, to the point where he was like, he just wanted to die. And one of the greatest prophets to ever live, John the Baptist, I mean, he lived out there, you know, wearing camel's hair, you know what I mean, camel's, you know, skin. And you see also Adam in the Genesis was felt alone, that where God said, man shall not be, you know. So the Bible's full of great people that felt alone. So you're in good company. That's a normal feeling, you know, so. I agree. All right, Juan Angel in Dublin, California. Man, in Rita, five years, that place was wild. I was there for a year. That's where I did solitary time before the marshals picked me up. That's right before I went to, actually I didn't go from Sacramento to, what'd I say? The Air Force Base? I went from Sacramento to Santa Rita, spent a year in solitary. And then they took me to Oakland downtown, which I call the dungeon, for about two weeks. And then marshals picked me up and took me to the Air Force Base. That's what happened. So yeah. And he also was saying he dove was missing content too. A lot of content, so.

Okay, I can't read this name. Is that Derver? Derver? Hey, if I butchered your name, it's your fault if you didn't write it clear. Oh, let's just look at the letter. While you read the notes, I'll read this. Yeah, he says he can only use Panda one hour a day every 24 hours. Thank you so much for sharing your story. We appreciate it. And instead of sending a commissary list, look, he wrote it by hand. Are you serious? Yeah, that took a lot of writing. So because of that, brother, I'm gonna read a few of these off because that's a lot of writing to do. Let's see. All right, what would I get on here? Ooh, spicy pork rinds, $1.90. Oh my gosh. What? Huh? Out of all the things, my eyes go to spicy pork rinds. And then he writes a note. And he says, I know y'all would love these when I hear pork rinds, I think of Pastor Dave. David, please take no offense, I just know you like them. Isn't that funny?

It's the first thing my eyes went to was the spicy pork rinds. Oh, the blue Doritos. Are the blue Doritos a Cool Ranch? Is that the thing that goes on the banana? It looks like it, yeah. Are blue Doritos a Cool Ranch? Is that what that is? Yeah, blue Doritos are a Cool Ranch. $2.75, that's kind of expensive. Lay's Barbecue, $2.75, Chili Cheese Fritos. Ooh, Cherry Cheese Danish, $2.10, that ain't so bad. Twinkies, $1.30, that ain't bad. I'm guessing that's two Twinkies, I hope. Right, they come in twos, don't they? Oh, that's a J. The J? Uh-huh, El Ver. Oh, okay. That's a J. Yeah. Ooh, they got Maxwell House. I almost said it the last time. They got Maxwell House Espresso. Muchas gracias, great artwork. Man, you got some decent stuff on your commissary, brother. Um, wow, you guys have pink salmon? I would've been all over that, because- Thank you for sharing your story, by the way, too. Yeah.

Look at that, he has abacor tuna, pink salmon, sardine, mackerel. What's taco rice? I don't know, just rice. Oh, with taco flavoring and stuff, maybe? Probably some kind of, like Mexican rice, probably. Man, they got pretty decent stuff, man. Yeah. Um, let's see, a couple more things. What is that? That's an ugly picture of me? There's more stuff on this, but there's a majority of everything. You can't buy noodles on there, only on regular commissary, and they only let you order 14 noodles a week and eight bags of chips. That's an ugly picture of me, but it's the only one I got. What, he sent a picture? No, I don't see one. I don't see a picture. There's no picture, brother. Yeah, we don't see no picture. Yeah, there's no picture in here. Maybe they took it out? Oh, look, Cheez-Its, you like Cheez-Its? Ritz crackers are good. No picture, brother. Oreos are good. You know what? Because of this commissary list,

boom, you get the spread cat! Oh. All right, that's just for you. There's no picture in here, brother. Just letting you know, okay? All right. Thank you for writing all that out. That was cool. Yeah, and thank you for the beautiful artwork, too. You got some decent stuff on there. Babe. What? You didn't mark off the artwork. Oh. You're in trouble. I'm gonna have to put this one separate so I can mark it off later. He's in trouble, guys. All right, Michelle, Corona, California. Loves the road trips, thank you. Good, you're gonna go on another one. Yeah, and I appreciate your words that, you appreciate these videos because they're just natural, they are. We're just us, we're just us. There's no other way to be. I don't want to be any other way. I know Sharon doesn't want to be any other way. We decided long time ago before we started this, we talked about this

because we kind of sort of looked at some of the other things on Pando before we jumped the gun to actually be part of it. Well, we used to have another, we used to have Relevant Bible Talk and oh my God. We wanted to follow the same format. Yeah, we wanted to follow the same format. That one was crazy because we would really, really do that really late at night sometimes. That was five days a week. And that was five days a week, guys, and it was tiring and we would be yawning and everything and people would be just, I think people would mimic our yawns constantly. But you know what? Praise God because once again, we were just our natural selves there. And I think people tuned in because we didn't edit anything or we just never were going to. We reached over 1,000, over 1,000 videos on Relevant Bible Talk. So when Mama Eve and Jeremy introduced us to Pando and Edovo, we were like, okay, what are we going to do? Are we going to just show the Sunday sermons? Are we going to show our Bible study? You know, we were just, and then we realized we could do eight videos a month on Pando, so I'm like, okay, there's more room there. Let's do a podcast like the RBT, you know?

And we watched a few other people, other ministries on Pando. You know, a lot of them were like church services and stuff. And I'm like, let's just follow the same format, right? The same way we did RBT, just be our. Selves and and we didn't know what we were gonna do because we didn't want to mimic anybody We don't want to copy anybody. We just wanted to be us You know and we already had the podcast The podcast room we were already doing things in this room What in the other room and we're just like let's just do it for Pando and and we still have the same stuff going on at the church You know, I think I started going to the gym guys by the way by with David I'm on my second week Going to the gym with David, which is pretty cool He's teaching me how to do some stuff with him. And then I started Cycling with him again, so I went back to getting on the bike with him He's a tough coach So I was riding every day at least five six times a week But I wanted to break it up with a gym workout because we pay a monthly gym membership and weren't going and It's like what seven minutes away from our house you know, so I decided Yeah, so I decided you know what? I'm gonna go to the gym on Mondays and on Thursdays and then ride, you know on the other days and Sharon was like I want to go to you know, and Cuz I just do full body workouts. I'm not trying to be mr. Buff I just actually honestly, I want to work muscles that are gonna have gonna help me cycle better and I just created this 11 machine Full body workout and She went with me and she liked the system that I used because it was just easy, right? It's easy

It was comfortable and I was like, you know, there'd be times other times when I'd go with him and he would go do his thing and I would just sit there and I'd be like, I don't know what I'm doing, but this time, you know, he we do it together and I really enjoy it because we're working out together and I Felt like you know, he was teaching me. So it felt nice to to be able to Be coached through it and It feels nice to know what I'm doing So he is teaching me some things and I was like, okay, I can do this You know, what's cool about it is that I'm already seeing her get comfortable with the 11 machines Yeah, 12 machines as of yesterday But what I like is now Guys, you know some people like babysitting the machine and I don't want to sit there and wait for them So now what I'm gonna start doing because now I'm seeing her get used to it is teaching her Alternatives if that machine is not available There's either another machine or a free weight thing You can do to replace that instead of sitting and waiting for people some some of the people man They're just like sitting there talking on their phone going to their phone talking to their friends. It's like get off the machine already Yeah, you know guys there was a weight pile where I was at in Terminal Island and you cannot babysit machines You're gonna get checked You know, but you know, it's civilians civilian life out here. So what do you do? You just it's good for me guys because you guys know that I need to strengthen I need to strengthen my bones and I really need to strengthen up because for me for my brain It's actually a really good thing and I've actually been feeling really really good the last two weeks So it feels it feels good. It feels nice and for us to do it together. It feels good Yeah, can you okay? continue This one. I think this is Jamie or Jaime In Tennessee calling me. I'm gonna be really honest. I Couldn't read a word. I Tried I could barely read the front um, I

Tried I don't like not look at that. I don't like not being able to read cuz I feel bad You know, I'm sorry, but I couldn't read it but thank you thank you for writing us Try again. Try again, okay Ready oh, yeah, that's that is hard. Yeah. Sorry Okay, John in Park City, Utah. Oh man. That's what we're gonna be has a question a Lot of prayer requests on the on the on the back page But here's a good question that I wanted to cover and I'm I have I already know many of you will have Differing answers to it, but let's see what happens This one is here's the question Have a few questions for you really appreciate what the thought process and approach of these questions the third commandment thou shalt not take the Lord of The Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not Hold guiltless anyone that takes his name in vain So does anyone using God's name irreverently is considered is it sinning? That's his question. He says nowadays lots of Christians use these fillers such as OMG or oh my God as part of their, I think I probably say that sometimes. I, when I write things, I'll write O-M and then G and then I fill it in by saying O-S-H, oh my gosh, and then oh my goodness, like O-M-G and then I finish it with O-S-H. O-M, oh. What's O-S-H? O-M-G. Oh. O-M-G and then I finish it with O-S-H, like oh my gosh. Oh. Like gosh. Oh, I see.

Like oh my gosh. And then oh my goodness, but then I finish it with that word. But why, do you think it's bad to say oh my God? That's his question. Sometimes I feel weird saying it because sometimes people will be like, hey, don't use the, you know, the words, you know, or something or just to not offend, just to not offend, you know, but I will, I will spell it out, you know, just to not do it. I have said that, I don't say it irreverently, like there's been times where, let's say we're driving through the mountains and I see the scenery and I said, oh my God. I don't think that's irreverent. I'm literally saying oh my God, you know what I mean? Like, you created this. Oh my God, yeah, you created that. I get it, yeah. So, if anything, that's a praise. Yeah. But let's take it back, right? So, the Hebrew people wouldn't even say the word God. Like the way we say Lord God, like even that is blasphemous to the old school Hebrew. Yeah, I think I've said it in that way too. No, they wouldn't even say God. In their Bible, it doesn't, they can't even spell God.

Really? Yeah, they wouldn't even spell it. So, technically, if you really wanna say go hardcore, your letter would be blasphemous because you literally wrote God. They would actually put three lines because God was so holy, you couldn't even write God. So, even this letter and him mentioning God many times. So, I guess my point is this. You're never, it's a slippery slope. You know? So. The same way, the same way using money, the same way doing all these other things, you know, of the world. It's a slippery slope, you know? So. You just gotta be careful. Yeah, that would be like, man, you can't even say the name of Jesus. So, I would be at church, be like, man, everybody praise the name of, and just, you know, at what extreme do you hold reverence? Now, when people cuss and they say the name of Jesus, that is blasphemous in my book. And people do that a lot. I don't like that. I don't like it at all when people do that or they'll be like, Jesus Christ, or this, like, dude, what are you, what? Say Buddha, you know what I'm saying?

Like, why are you saying it like that, you know? If I see an accident, I'm like, Jesus. But I'm not saying that blasphemous. I'm saying, Lord, protect, you know, I don't know if somebody's dead, but when people cuss and use the name of Jesus, you know, that's different, you know? So, anyways, that's my, cause he said, he goes, I just wanna know your thought process and your approach. And finally, let's see. Are we held accountable for it? Yeah, I believe, yeah, Jesus says so. So, if you're gonna use it in a derogatory way, in a way that's disrespectful to the Lord, you know? Yeah, as a Christian, should we refrain from this senseless habit? I really appreciate it if you would clarify these questions. I think if you have a conviction toward it, then I think it's the Lord telling you something, cause only you know how you use it, you know? Okay, Arthur, Iowa Park, Texas. So, I appreciate, so let me tell you a little bit of context of what happened here. The brother watched, and he has every right, because I wanna, and I get where he's coming from. On the church history class, because I had said that during that time, during a certain emperor, that you had to worship the emperor once a year to get a certificate, and without the certificate,

you could not buy, sell, or trade. Because I associated that with the book of Revelation. So, he said, you know, are you saying that that already happened, and the antichrist isn't gonna come, and he's letting me know that I'm wrong? So, just to clarify, I do believe that the antichrist is coming. I do believe in the second coming of Christ. I do believe that there's gonna be a market. the beast and all that stuff. But that doesn't take away the fact that this really happened in history. But I will say this, look at the title, Church History. It's not called End Times class. It's not a class on End Times or Revelation or the Antichrist. I'm teaching Church History because, can you imagine if I'm doing a Church History class and every little thing, I deviate and go off all over the place. Then it won't be a Church History class. It'll just be a whatever, going off on tangents. If you have ever taught a Bible study. You'd be unhinged. Yeah, if you ever taught a Bible study, I remember in the beginning of House Arrest, I would have Bible study and somebody would ask some off the wall question and maybe it was a great question, had nothing to do with the study we're doing and it would just go on a tangent

and by the end of the study, we're talking about something completely different. So I have learned to put things in compartments because Church History unto itself is so much information. Why would I wanna add in Revelations and End Times and 666 and this and that? What I'm doing is the timeline of Church History from the time of Jesus and I'm slowly going through until we reach 2026. And I'm not trying to deviate from that. So yeah, but thank you. Thank you. And I don't blame you for it. It's a great question. Because the one thing he said is if he goes, if you do believe there's an anti-crisis coming, he goes, you maybe should have made it more clear. And let me address that part, okay? I'm just a man. I cannot think, okay, I'm releasing this. What are 10,000 people gonna think and anticipate your questions? That's impossible. I can never figure out, because I guarantee you if I did a complete study where I thought it was completely exhaustive, somebody will say, how come you didn't mention this? Or how come you didn't mention, because I'm just a human, so I don't know. But thank you.

He said no disrespect, so I say no disrespect back at all. Keith, what does that say? Oh, KS, Kansas. Okay, thank you. Thank you for your letter. I've never heard that name, so I think it's the first time, right? Nasir, Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, and has a joke. He has a joke. Yeah. He's also, how many requests have we had for a zoo? No, a lot. A lot. We need to go to the zoo. Need to go to the zoo. Gotta go. Yeah, when I go to the zoo, guys, I don't go look at animals. Animals look at me! That made no sense to them, huh? He's been on one, guys. He keeps doing that with everything. Okay. Why were the fireworks jealous of the hamburgers and hot dogs? Why? Because when the fireworks are done at the cookout, everyone leaves, but when the burgers and hot dogs are done at the cookout,

everyone runs to them. Ah, the popular hot dogs and hamburgers. Yeah, and one more thing, brother, about forgiveness. I want you to understand this, because he says he doesn't believe that he can be forgiven for all the things he's done. This is a serious question, because I think a lot of people deal with this, and I might even call this video by this title, actually. You have to understand something, is when we are saying, oh, I want you to understand what you're really saying, and I don't blame you for it, because I used to feel this way, too. When we are saying that God can't forgive us for the things we've done, in essence, do you realize what you're saying is that the blood of Jesus isn't enough? That his suffering, his whippings, the nails through his hands, the nails through his beautiful, precious feet, isn't enough. That's what we're saying, and I never wanna say that, and I don't believe you wanna say that, either. Can you imagine, what if you showed up, and what if you went back in a time machine 2,000 years ago, and he's suffering on the cross, trying to breathe, and you tell him everything you're going through isn't enough?

Gosh. Can you imagine if, if I had told the man who calls himself my father, like, it's not enough for you to be forgiven. Mike is for it. You know? Yeah. If I would have told him that, like, no. it was enough for him to be forgiven for what he did to me. And I believe that. It doesn't matter, you might be saying, well, you don't know the things I've done, you don't know, you know what, you're right, I don't. But I don't know your sin, but I know his power. He died on the cross, and his blood, not only, think about this, not only supersedes your sins, but the sins of the world. The sins of the world, past, present, and future, the sins of Stalin, the sins of Hitler, the sins of, you name the worst atrocities on this earth, and his blood supersedes it, but if they don't accept it, they go to hell. His blood is that powerful that it makes the kingdom of darkness tremble. At his name, demons tremble. Why? Because his blood is so powerful that as far as east is to west, he will throw your sins into the deepest ocean and forget about them.

That's what Jesus says. That's what the word of God says. See, I didn't come to Christ for the fear of hell. I came to Christ because when I realized his forgiveness, his love, it overwhelmed me. How could I not surrender and bow down to the king of kings? His blood covers all sin. There's nothing impossible for the Lord. Amen. Better stop or I'm gonna start preaching. You good? Preach it. You good over there? Yeah, I'm gonna meet some other women. Who are you expecting? Well, some of the women are gonna come sit up. There's nobody walking up to the camera. No, just, you know, if there was nothing. Chadwick, Ellie, Nevada. Oh, thank you for the resources, and he's really happy about the discipleship classes. All right, well, get her done. Get her done. Get her done. You know what? The chicken has something to say about that. God, why did we get that chicken? Adan, Nashville, Tennessee, then Espanol. Muchas gracias, Adan. Mucha gracias.

Gracias. Gregorio in Corcoran, California. Thank you so much, brother, for sharing everything that you shared. Man, falling from the bunk and hitting your head, brother. Ow. You are right. God saved you. God saved you for such a time as this. There's a reason God spared you. Like the correctional officer told you, you should have died, you know? But you are here. Thank God. God bless you. May the Lord always protect you, brother, and hopefully you healed. I don't know if you mentioned if that was recently done or a while back, but wow. Those bunks are high, man, and it's all concrete. Wow. I don't like falling. Said he woke up in the hospital. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Anthony, Sonora, California. Love the church history class. Thank you so much. Thank you. And what, oh yeah, I know.

You know how some of the church history classes it has the little descriptions and stuff, and he says like some of it's real little, but there's nothing I can do about that. You know, sometimes the little graphs, like it shows like an Antioch or a description of the city or whatever. Oh, the little tiny prints. Yeah. Yeah. Daniel in Pineville, Kentucky. You're welcome, brother. Absolutely. You are welcome. We love you, brother. Yeah, thank you so much for writing us and letting us know. We see your requests. Yeah, appreciate you. All right, let's keep it going. Jonathan in, see, this is what I'm talking about. So look, it says Maryland, but it's postmarked North Carolina, but it says mailed from? Connecticut. Yeah, see what I'm saying? This is why I stopped doing the math. This is why. Get that corn out of my face. Beautiful. We really enjoyed the prayer that you, I remember reading it out loud, remember?

And he says, I want to pray for you guys. Yes. Really appreciate that. And he's a road trip watcher. And I love that you like the San Andreas. A lot of you guys like the San Andreas because, you know, it's weird on my end. That's one of the more simpler ones. Like because we have Houston and we have San Francisco and, but so many people love that San Andreas. Yeah. And they mentioned that big old bull. The bull. Yeah. The bull. You know, and. It was just sitting there, laying there. No, you think it was standing. No, it was, it was laying there. It laid there. You're going to get, you're going to get corrected by the letters, yes. I remember it was laying for a while. Okay. San Andreas is when we went down a certain. Like a little tiny street. Yeah. And then after there was a bull on the side, yeah, I thought it was laying there. Oh, okay. Maybe it was standing. All right. Harvey, Mount Holly, New Jersey.

Thank you so much, bro. Oh, you got a joke. Okay. Okay. Um, and the question you asked, actually, I answered in the beginning about why I don't do personal correspondence with people. Okay. Let's see. Nice writing. A Jewish couple went to Cancun, New Mexico. There's a Cancun in New Mexico. Because I know there's a Cancun in Mexico. In Mexico. Cancun, Merida. I don't know. I'm just going to read. Hey, if there's no Cancun, New Mexico. Yeah, it's your mistake. I'm just, I'm just reading it the way you wrote it. Because I went there for a whole month. A Jewish couple went to Cancun, New Mexico to get away from the violence. While on vacation in Cancun, they felt so at peace. They had Hector servicing their every need. So the couple wanted to know, was there a Jewish community in New Mexico? So they could better decide if they could relocate to New Mexico permanently. So they decided to ask Hector if there was any Jews in Mexico. They asked, hey, Hector, do y'all have any Jews in New Mexico? In Mexico? Hector replied, sure. We have Jews.

We have grape Jews, orange Jews, pineapple Jews. That's good. I think he meant Mexico, though. I got Jews, apple Jews, grape Jews, orange Jews. See, I can make fun, guys, because I'm Mexican-American, so it's not racist if I do it. Oh, what? Because I'm not Mexican? No, I'm saying- I can't do it? Yeah, we're Latino. That's how your mom talks. I mean- Don't she? Yes, she does. She does. I used to laugh, guys, because when we first got married, well, obviously Sharon talks English, first language, but she talks really good in Spanish, right? Yeah. But Mexican-Spanish is a little different from Honduran-Spanish, and I remember after the first few months of being married, she would talk Mexican-Spanish to my parents, but then her mom would call, and her Spanish would change. I didn't even notice. She didn't notice it, and I didn't say nothing at first, remember? And then the one time I said, I'm like, why do you switch up, and you're like, what are you talking about? I'm like, you talk a different Spanish to your mom, and you talk a different Spanish to my parents, and it's weird. It's like- I never noticed. I can't even place it, but the accent changes.

I don't know, weird. He says that I do, but I don't notice it. But I think that her being here in Northern California with me, I think her Spanish has really switched more Mexican, because you hardly talk, because you're not down there next to your mom, other than when you talk on the phone, because I don't notice it now. Really? Or maybe I just got used to it. Maybe I think you got used to it. Maybe I'm talking in an accent right now, and I don't know. Like if I went to Boston, would I talk different? I'd be like, I'll meet you in the car. Let's go to the car. All right. Brian in Corcoran, thank you for the picture. Let's see, let's see, let's see. Oh, the group pictures, remember? Yeah, and then he sent this one. Yeah, I really remember we love this letter. Yes It's a cool letter. You're a cool dude, brother. Yeah, dude, and it gets a short timing December So we're about to hit August September October. Oh You're already packing up Man he wishes we had a men's home man. I when I read your letter. I wanted to go rent a house I want you here brother. I know you got probably got your family You got people to go to but man if you've got nowhere to go I Don't got nothing to offer you but man, I would I Just we just really enjoyed your letter for real. Please keep writing us, you know, write us Let's build a friendship, you know, cuz wherever you do go You know, we're an email away a text away You could get our YouTube and you know Sanfernette he

Fernando so, you know, I grew up. Yeah, I grew up in the San Fernando Valley. Did he really I don't remember that. Okay Yeah, amen. So I grew up in San Fernando Okay Daniel in Kansas Oh Yeah, I looked up your old YouTube some of your old music Yeah It's so funny because when when we're listening It it it reminded me of my one of my son's my third My second my second son's has a has the same style of rapping Same exact style of rapping and I was like, oh my god. It sounds just like my son Matthew Yeah, but yeah, good job. Good job, brother Turn it into some Christian rap. Yeah, I'd like some of the words. Yes. I had to cover my ears sometimes The chicken started screaming All right Thomas in Susanville two jokes No letter just two jokes, that was it no, it's a letter, okay Okay What did the Cholo tell the house when the house sat on top of him? Get off me homes Why do Mexicans cross the border in pairs Because a sign says no trespassing Get it one of those three See I got the accent, all right dung in Austin, New York Got your pictures and brother Really? Really? We we love we love you, brother. Yeah, really love your letter. Love your heart yes, and I know you had some questions on here, so Let's see It's very very humble. Yeah, very humble man

And and may the Lord multiply the fact that you sent half half of that, you know Wow, may the Lord multiply and Bless you abundantly in your family But you know a lot of the times you don't see like a different culture from a different country the way that You shared and you got saved by watching us and That's just amazing. I can't wait to see what the Lord's gonna do in your life I'm really really excited, but your letter really did bless me as well Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah So his question was in Psalm 82 1 I said in the Bible God standeth in the congregation I'm guessing you're reading this from the King James because it says standeth God standeth in the congregation of the mighty he judgeth among the gods He says but in your video podcast, it said God stands in the divine assembly administers judgment in the midst of the gods It's probably it I don't know where I read that from because the ESV Which I normally preach from this God has taken his place in the divine council in the midst of gods. He holds judgment I think what I don't think you're saying I said this in the podcast. I think you're talking about Michael Heiser when he when I put the Unseen realm, so I'm not sure what Translation Heisner used but let me tell you a little backdrop of it Because he says that confused me a little because you added one more word. I don't think it was added I think it was just whatever translation that Michael Heiser was using Michael Heiser passed away But at the time of his life, he was the top Hebrew scholar in the world. And actually, the people that wrote the ESV, translated the ESV from the Dead Sea Scrolls and all the older scrolls, Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic and all those, those are his peers.

Like, you know, he was part of that. So I'm not sure what version of the Bible he used. So, yeah. Second question, when God created us from the beginning, he said we were made good and he said it was very good. And after we sinned, God said the woman was made fair. What does it mean when God said we were made good or very good or fair mean in the Bible? Yeah, so God created us and he said we were good and he said, God said the woman was made fair. I'm not sure the question. I think it's, again, you're reading, if you're reading the King James, there's a lot of old words that we don't use anymore, you know, that, so for us to say like something is fair, like if I told you, can you imagine if I was trying to pick up on you and I'm like, hey, what's your name? You look very fair. You're like. Like fair skin. Yeah, you'd be like, what? You know, you wouldn't know how to take it, but if I said that to you 400 years ago, you'd be like, well, thank you, you know, because fair is beautiful or perfect or. Fair and noble. Yeah, exactly, so I think that's where he's losing it there as far as the translation, but it just means something good, something that's fair, something that's right, something that's beautiful.

And then last, he says Satan was the only angel that God made was the most beautiful angel in heaven, right? Can you please show me in the Bible where God said he created him the only one that, so the Bible doesn't say that he's the only one that's beautiful, that is not true. The Bible doesn't say that, but it does say that he was, hold on. That he was created. Yeah. It does say that. Yeah, hold on, I just wanna, instead of say it, I wanna just read it. Isaiah, wait, Isaiah 14, okay. Okay, here it is. I think this is it. I know it's getting a little late for us, so okay. Isaiah, what verse was that? 14. 14 verse 12. How you are fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn, how you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low. I'm reading it kind of fast, but I'm gonna stop if I get to the part that you're asking about. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God, I will set my throne on high, I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,

I will make myself like the most high, but you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Okay, this is not the one I wanted to find, because there's the other one, it's in Ezekiel. So that would be Ezekiel. Okay, there it is, Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel 28, ESV. All right. Here it is. Because your heart is proud and you have said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of the clouds in the heart of the seas, yet you are but a man and no God, though you make your heart like the heart of a God, you are indeed wiser than Daniel, no secret is hidden from you, but your wisdom and your understanding, you have made wealth for yourself and have gathered gold and silver into your treasure. Okay, where's the part I'm looking for here? Because I don't want to sit here and read the whole thing. Oh, here it is. You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God, every precious stone was your covering, sardis, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle, and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. And on the day that you were created, they were prepared.

You were an anointed guardian sheriff. So anointed means chosen. 2001, you were an anointed guardian sheriff. I placed you, you were on the holy mountain of God. In the midst of stones of fire you walked, you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created. So twice we see that he was created, but never did he say he was the only beautiful. Yeah, so that's in Isaiah, Ezekiel, I'm sorry, Ezekiel chapter 28, starting at verse 11. Okay. Clay, Tabor City, North Carolina. I know you got a joke. How do I feel about NLT? I have no problem with NLT. I think it's a great translation. It's not one to study from, but it's a good translation. Study from is ESV or New King James, or even King James. Appreciate your letter though, but let me get this joke right away. We gotta, I know it's getting late and we gotta get through these letters here. Okay, joke on the back. How did Moses make his coffee? He brews it, get it Hebrews? How do you make holy water? You boil the hell out of it. Who was the smartest man with his finances in the Bible? Noah, he was floating a stock

while everyone else was in liquidation. Oh, that's good. That's funny, thank you. All right, Rufus in Tallahassee, Florida. Thank you so much, brother. His favorite verse is Romans 16, 13. Nice. And he was worried about the essays because he says his writing ain't that good. We don't grade on spelling. We don't grade on grammar. We don't grade at all. We just want you to share your heart. Yeah. That's what it is. But. Ooh, that's real light. Yeah, so guys, this is a joke real quick and you have to answer it really fast, okay? So there's a cow, a horse, and a chicken and they ran up the coconut tree. Which one gets a banana first? The answer, bananas don't grow on coconut trees. Oh, that's the one that I tried to answer and I said one, yeah. Why did the man wear a watch on his belt? Because his time was low. All right, Chad in Cranston, Rhode Island, RI, right? Right? Thank you for the art and worship request.

Wrap me in your arms and I give myself away. I love that song. It's such an oldie but goodie. Yes. Oh, discipleship completed, four to six. So that's two people now. Good job. All right, give him his. Good engineer. Thank you for completing it. Yes. All right. Thomas in Scranton, Pennsylvania. We don't know of any church. We have a few actually in Southern California that are Grace actually. That are Grace. But do I know them right now? I don't. But if you ever go to the Grace International website, there's a church locator on there and that's for all of you guys. We don't have churches in every state nor in every city. But if you go to Grace International, there's a church locator. You'll find us on there. But if you're in Southern California, you're in luck because there's a lot of Grace churches there. Yeah, definitely.

Jason, Bonny, Tara, Missouri. Man, I'm proud of, we're proud of your son being an EMT. Yes. Yes, congratulations, son. Yeah, and your dad is so proud of you and we're proud of you. Yes, so shout out to you, son. All right, Chris in Spokane, Washington. Amen. Thank you for your letter. We're a church. We are not paralegals. We don't have anything to do with helping anyone in their cases. I don't even know the law. I probably broke a law coming over here at a stop sign or something. But what do they say, California stops? I don't know, but why would you even say it? What? I don't know. I'm making a point. Because he's a weirdo. Anthony in Orange. So I got into music when I was 16 years old, 15 and a half. And 1988 is when I got into music. That was his question he wanted to know of how I got into it. Dominique in McCormick, South Carolina. And what's wrong with you? It's that coffee. No, it's the chicken.

It's the coffee. It's that slick chicken. It's the coffee. It's that slick chicken. It's the coffee. Oh, art. Thank you. Oh, that's pretty. With your name. I love it. The rose of Sharon. Thank you. Thank you so much, Dominique. love it brother you need to just get in your word and pray and and thank god that you are here and god has a plan for your life and um if you want to write then write do it and you know um i want to see what it is that you're writing yeah because i need more roses okay yeah yes joseph in live oak florida um thank you so much same thing i i addressed this in the very beginning about i don't correspond with people love you brother unsecurist okay john tampa florida and um thank you for your commissary list you're hyper well look at his pirate name money buckets fish monger sparrow that's long they're still hyper i'm chill now okay all right keep going yeah uh no i just want to thank you for the commissary list uh for that resource thank you so much and god bless you all right don't get boring either jw and ellie nevada uh getting out soon and uh you want to know where modesto is between sacramento and san francisco sort of yeah yeah if you go in the map and find san francisco and find sacramento and go and that's where modesto is yeah make a v almost yeah so we're an hour from sacramento and we're an hour from san francisco we're like the little point of the v okay carlos columbia south carolina has a joke we're down to a few more um let's see what the joke is it better be funny that is playing did you hear about the fortune teller who missed her court date she was a small medium at large that was good knock knock who's there cargo cargo who no silly cargo beep beep

what do you get when you cross an angry sheep with the mad cow what a bad mood okay what is a grape say when you step on it what nothing it just whines those are good i think i hit the wrong button i don't know what happened there um how did how did them candy pickle candy pickles taste like the ones in in bucky oh i actually like them i didn't i did um did you ever go to the aquarium not yet but we want to go nope uh have you ever been on a cruise i cruise all the time thing no i've never been on a cruise before no my action oh guys guess what my daughter just came back from a cruise and she came back engaged so yeah it was beautiful she got engaged on the cruise so it was beautiful beautiful beautiful four do y'all ever go to sleep i wish i got two hours of sleep last night i think that's why i'm a little delirious yeah so that's it that's all he yeah that was all the questions so um but as far as the halfway house uh we don't have one you know i'm sorry i wish we did you know but i i have a feeling we will someday i have a feeling that somebody's just gonna come and just give us some keys and be like here here's a here's a house yeah and we got the other letter in there too brother yeah and by the way the brother that that told us about um about contacting uh his fiancee it was the wrong number so um i'm sorry but i tried to contact your fiancee and it was a wrong number yeah yeah they didn't they answered somebody answered yeah but it was a wrong number yeah uh xavier in briscoe unit texas dilly texas congratulations for the baptism i know you had a question on here and thank you for loving the road trips um that's cool they used to drive the the tour bus and he went through morrow bay and stuff um but anyways your question oh here they are when are y'all going to go back to san antonio oh what happened nothing i heard some voices oh when are y'all gonna go to san antonio don't know but it was a beautiful city yes it was i enjoyed it yeah how long does it take y'all to get our letters uh usually pretty quick um it's just that we're not quick no they're not No, because no because when they come here and I look at the dates, it's already been it's already been over a week Yeah, Oh Wow, cuz I'm looking at dates. Yeah, sometimes they've taken some time You wrote you wrote this in July 1st. Today's the last day of July, but We have a lot of renovations that we were moving the podcast. So a lot of letters got backed up So so these ones were sat for maybe about a week a week and a half We're gonna have so then three weeks is his answer then so yeah, yeah But but we didn't get it till about a week after

So in the mail about a week and probably about a week and a week and a half as well Three not sure if you've already but can you give us a tour of the church? We've done that a few times I wish I knew what episode refer you to I Wasn't too long ago. Actually remember I did with the 360 camera Yeah, like I want to say a month or two ago, so I'm not sure if you want to look for that and But that's it. Thank you Yeah Last four letters Richard and Napa noach, New York. Thank you. Thank you. We always appreciate your letters. Oh, we always thank you for sharing your heart Thank you. Thank you Robert in sing-sing. That's like a famous prison. I don't know. Yeah, New York. So appreciate your letter Unfortunately, we can't do shout outs because of prison regulations and whatnot, but thank you so much for for sharing brother Thank you Chris in Utica, Kentucky Thank you for your letter Angel Silva Blythe, California We see your letter also And another angels all same in Blythe, California also Wants us to call Scott I guess he wrote a letter to Pastor Scott in Fairfield He wants to know if he ever got the letter. We're gonna be seeing him. So maybe we can oh, yeah next week Yeah, is it in here? No, this is a letter to us Okay, but well, I'll take that name and let him know when we go down there cuz we're gonna be seeing him this coming week Yeah in 2028, he wants to be here though. Yeah, so amen guys. God bless you. Thank you so much I'm literally going to stop the recording and Render this together with the Bible study so I can upload it and you guys will have it today So god bless you and I love you. You're ready for the road trip to Utah, Wyoming Montana and Idaho if everything works out, right, but for sure, Utah Yeah, well, we're gonna be driving through some of those places. Yeah All right, see you later love you guys god bless I

All right Hello everyone god bless you. Thank you for being here on this Wednesday evening for our Worship and Bible study and prayer Real quick, there's a lot of people that are watching on YouTube. So Gerald Bainbridge, thank you so much You get the pastor cat. Thank you. Every single super chat gets a super cat appreciate it so I just want to thank everybody for being here and You know, this is a time to be interactive I know that I used to have the Bible studies in a sanctuary and It was a lot of times, you know It looks full in here. But if if all of you were in there, it'd look empty and And then I'd be on the stage and it just felt very distance and Distance and You know, I know being here and having this camera in front of me, you know doesn't help it but I mean, I know there's a lot of people that watch us online, too, so Because Bible study has always been important at house of rest Ever since for the last 15 years, we have always had a Bible study It's important first of all, it's important for us to be in the word But I think it's important for a church to establish a Bible study because even though we should be in our word sometimes life life is busy and a Day passes two day passes. We don't get in the word. So This shouldn't be Your only time you get in the word But if it happens to be then we're gonna be that and I think it's important I've always said that our Wednesdays is the meat of this church Because Sunday's a celebration to come together worship together be together, but Wednesday is the meat because When life happens, and everybody you know what that means, life happens, things happen, tragedies and letdowns

and betrayals, it's the Word of God that's going to hold you. And that's why it's important for us to learn the Word of God. And that's why we have the studies the way we do. I don't really like to do topical Bible studies because then what will happen is I'll end up doing topics that I like. And you're not here to hear what I like, you're here to hear what the Word of God says. And so we always choose a book and we walk through every single verse. And some of the verse sometimes are uncomfortable, but praise God, let conviction set in. And sometimes verses are encouraging, praise God. You know, so it forces us to see scripture for what it is and not just bouncing around to the verses that make us feel fuzzy and warm. So with that, let's bow our heads. We're going to pray, Lord God, we thank you for this opportunity for reading your Word, for your scriptures. I thank you for every person that is here and those that are watching through their screens. We pray, Lord God, for our minds to hear these scriptures, but our hearts to receive them also. Because if we just receive head knowledge, it means nothing. But if we receive it in our heart, Lord God, it changes lives. And we thank you for this opportunity. In Jesus' name, amen. All right.

So we are in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 11. That's where we left off last week. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 11. I'll give you a minute to get there. Amen. All right. So what I always do, most of you know, but in case there's one or two of you that don't, I always read out of the ESV. It's one of the most accurate English translations from the original text. You know, the Bible was written in three languages, in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. So anytime you get a Bible, Spanish, English, whatever, it's been translated from the original text. Some Bibles are closer word for word, and ESV is one of them. That's why I choose to study out of the ESV. But I also use a message Bible, which is very simplified, but I never use that as my main source. But I will read the same verse in ESV and in the message, and it helps. Okay. So starting in verse 11. It says, therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance

and not about what is in the heart. Okay. So I want to remind you, this is a letter, because if we don't know that, it throws us off. Like, who's he talking to? Who's talking? Who's saying this? So this is the Apostle Paul talking to the church in Corinth that he founded and started. And a year and a half has passed, and now he's written them this letter here. So that's what we're reading. So in the message on verse 11 and 12, it says this. It says, that keeps us vigilant. You can be sure. It's no light thing to know that we'll all one day stand in the place of judgment. That's why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. Just making sure I'm reading the right thing here. Okay. Then in verse 12, we read it, but I want to talk a little bit more about that. In the part of verse 12, I'm going to read the first part fast, and then I want to get to the second part of it, of that same verse. It says we're not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what's in the heart. I like that because ultimately guys, everything we do, there's a heart issue there. If we serve well, if we serve others, if we don't, if we're rude, if we're short with people, if whatever it is, a lot of times, um, okay, let me say this. A lot of times we'll ask like, what is sin?

And somebody will say, Oh, uh, getting drunk or doing drugs or cheating or whatever. And that's like, no, no, that's not sin. That's the fruit of sin. The real issue is something much deeper. Um, if a tree is, imagine a tree that is rooted in soil of sin, it's going to get its nourishment from sin. So that's the kind of fruit it's going to have, right? That's the fruit that's going to come out of that. So you, you, you can't be surprised when somebody does those things because you're bearing, you're producing the fruit of what you are rooted in. Does that make sense? I remember, do you guys remember as a kid, you would put like a celery stalk in Kool-Aid and after a while it feels red, it would turn red. It would, it would suck up the color that it was in. So what I'm saying is a lot of times, why am I saying this? Because it says here, it says that you may be able to answer those who boast about the outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. So a lot of times we want to put a Band-Aid on people and say, Oh, you need to quit going to liquor stores. That'll help you. Or you need to stop this. But here's the thing. If somebody was on an island and because you're an alcoholic and you can't stop, so they put you on an island with no liquor stores, no sugar, no nothing, you can't make pruno, nothing. And you're there for five years and you hadn't drank a drop. But every single one of those days for those five years, you desired it so bad. Have you been healed from alcoholism? No. Because the desire, it's the heart issue. It's the heart.

And churches, a lot of times, God bless their hearts for whatever reason, we want to teach abstinence instead of dealing with the heart issue. Guys, when I came to the Lord, I, oh, sunset free. Thank you, brother. You get the super cat, literally with the Superman suit. When I came to the Lord, I didn't know how to surrender to the Lord. I was like, I'd been to church, I grew up in church, but I didn't pay attention to the sinner's prayer. Like I'd watch Billy Graham. I watched Jimmy Swagger. I'm like, man, what are those words again? So I'm like, I don't remember Lord, I don't remember the prayer. And I was in solitary, I was by myself. So I'm like sitting there trying to remember the Lord's prayer. There's no such thing. The Bible says to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and you shall be saved. That's what it says. There's no written sinner's prayer. So I gave up and I'm like, Lord, I'm just going to talk to you the way I talk. And I don't remember word for word, but basically I said this to God. I said, Lord, I want to change. I said, but I want to be honest with you. I'm jacked up. I got all kinds of stuff in my heart, all kinds of stuff in my mind. I get violent. I get crazy. I have all these thoughts and I don't want to be fake. I'm like, when I live without you, I have a clear conscience of doing whatever I want to do.

So if I follow you, am I going to fight those desires? Because I'll be honest with you, I'm going to mess up. And then I'll be fake because now I got all these Christian people and I got to put a face mask for them, but that's not who I really am because I still want this. So that sounds like a lot of trouble, God. So I'll tell you what, I made a deal with God. Tell you what. If you can change my heart. I will serve you. But if you're asking me to change my behavior and just abstain from stuff, then I don't want you because then I would just live a fake life. So change my heart, and if you can, please, because I don't want this anymore. And the Lord changed my heart. You know, so this verse means a lot to me because we don't want to put a Band-Aid on you. We don't want you to come in a house of rest and just for a Band-Aid. You know, have you ever had an issue with your body and you go to the doctor and instead of helping you, they prescribe this and prescribe that and prescribe this and they're like, well, we're gonna give you this medicine. But what's the problem? And they don't want to answer you because they got 40 other people they gotta see and they just give you medicine. And you know what happens? You come back a month later, you're like, well, now I'm getting itchy arms.

They're like, oh, that's from the effect of that medicine. So now we're gonna give you anti-itch cream. What? Why don't we get to the issue of what's going on with me? And then they give you another medication. And three weeks down the line, you're taking two medications but now you're getting headaches. And they're like, oh, that's because those mixture of those two medicines give you headaches. So now we're gonna give you this medicine. And two years down the line, you're taking 32 bottles of medicines every single day. And honestly, none of them is cause, there's just band-aids upon band-aids. And you know what's sad is that in church, we tend to want to do that and just give you band-aids instead of healing the heart. And you went to the doctor for one issue and now you got a bunch of issues. And you came to the Lord because of your issue. And now these band-aids, now you have a lot of issues. And every Sunday, the burden feels heavier and heavier and heavier the more you serve God. Because you feel like, man, this mask, I can't hold this mask anymore. In verse 13, it says, for if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this

that one has died for all, therefore, all have died. I'm gonna read it in 2 Corinthians in the message. It says, God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care. We're not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we're on your side. And not just nice to your face, as so many people are. If I acted crazy, I did it for God. If I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything that we do. Our firm decision is to work from this focus center. One man died for everyone, and that puts everyone in the same boat. So that's what the message is saying there. I'm gonna read that 13 again in the ESV. It says, for we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. I love that because Paul is basically saying, listen, I'm sorry if I keep pushing Jesus. I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry, because you know what? He is the answer of all things. We're beside ourselves, but you know what?

It's for God. Yeah, I worship, it's for God. Yeah, I shout, it's for God. I praise for God, and I keep pushing you to get closer to the Lord, because it's for God, because he died for us all. That's why he says, for the love of Christ controls us. It is what drives us. And we have concluded that one has died for all, that Christ died for us. Verse 15 says, and he died for all, so that those who live might no longer die. live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. In the message it says this, he says, he included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. You know, if you are always offended, that is not a good sign. You know what that sign means? It means you're still alive. The Bible says, Paul says, he says, it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. How do you know, how do I, why do I say that? Over here on scenic drive, that cemetery, go over there and start offending all the people laying in it and tell me how many fights you get in. Tell me how many people rise out of their grave because you disrespected them. None of them, because they're gone. And if Paul says, it is not I who live, but Christ who lives me. If you were baptized, you have been baptized. You, you, your old self has died and you rise a new person. So if you're sitting around always offended, I'm going to question your walk in Christ because we should be dead. It is him. That's why it says here. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who, for their sake, died and was raised. See, maybe I'm the only one, but how many of you ever made a mess of your life before Christ? I'll raise both my hands. He says, I'm raised my feet. So there's one thing I, I have three felonies. It took my third felony to realize I'm a horrible criminal. You know why I keep getting caught? I'm like, Lord, I'm jacking up my life.

Clearly. I don't know what's best for me because I keep ending up in this situation. So Lord, can you take the wheel of my life? Because when I drive, I drive myself off a cliff every time. So Lord, I want you to drive. I want you to lead. Matter of fact, I want to trust you so much that I'll put a blindfold on and just follow your voice. Because I mess up all the time and I don't want to be like that, Lord. I just want to follow you. I want to blindly follow you on a trust in your word. I want to be the child that jumps off the bed into his father's arms and that child never worries that it's going to fall to the floor because dads, you will never let that child hit the floor ever. I just want to jump in your arms, Lord. I want to live. I want to have the same faith my child has in me. Dads, how many times you do that? Tell your kid to jump and you catch them. And maybe at first they hesitate, but after a few times, man, they'll jump off a tree knowing you're going to catch them because they trust you. We need that kind of trust, that kind of faith in the Lord. We need that kind of trust, that kind of faith in the Lord. Verse 16, it says, From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Here's my favorite verse I've quoted almost every Sunday. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. In the message, it says, because of this decision, we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone. A new life emerges. I love that. I love that somewhere in existence, I don't have a criminal record. I have been free for 15 years. But I guarantee you, if I got arrested for a crime tomorrow, are they going to find my old stuff?

Really fast. None of these 15 years would count for nothing. Because you know what? They're going to say, look at this guy. He got three felonies. As if I did it yesterday. This world will not forget the stuff we do. They won't. But the Bible says that he throws our sins as far as the east is from the west into the depths of the sea. The Bible says that he nails your sins to his cross. So while I'm on this earth, I know there's a folder, a file with my name on it. But you know what? This is not my home. And where I spend eternity, there's no file because I've been washed in his blood. Because I'm a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away. All things become new. And let's be honest. We don't deserve that. We don't deserve our records wiped clean in heaven. But you know what we can do? If he died for us, how about we live for him? Because Lord, you gave me something I don't deserve. You gave me a clean slate. And I'm going to show how appreciative I am by serving you. And following you. And learning who you are. And being your hands and your feet. And being an ambassador to your kingdom.

And I will walk rightly within the church and outside of the church. Because I represent you, God. I represent who you are. Because it is not I who live, but you who live in me. Because the Bible says that I'm a new creation. You know what's awesome about being a new creation? He doesn't say he fixes you. He recreates you. Because I always thought, like, Lord, I'm all jacked up. How are you going to fix me? He says, I'm not going to fix you. I'm going to kill you. What? Yeah. I'm going to kill you in the waters and baptize you and I'm going to drown you and I'm going to make you a new man. I've used this example before that I love is the fact that a caterpillar goes into a cocoon to become a butterfly. And I always wondered, how does that happen? How does a worm grow these beautiful wings? It's just an ugly, green, fat, chubby worm. How does that become that? I don't get it. And then I learned that in the cocoon, that caterpillar liquefies. It turns into goo. And then it starts to form something new. And it turns into this butterfly and it breaks out of the cocoon and no longer lives in the dirt but flies in the air. You know what that tells me? Because remember, we can hear, we can see the gospel in everything.

That little caterpillar is God's creation. I believe that God creates messages and sermons in everything in this earth. I'm like, what's the sermon in that? And the Lord said, if that butterfly decides one day, I want to go back with my homies. Number one, they won't recognize them. Two, what is a butterfly going to start crawling in the dirt again? It no longer has what it had when it was in the dirt. It can't. It won't make sense. That's weird. So in the same way, it doesn't say he fixes us. It says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. And the old has passed away and the new has come. So I'm going to tell you right now, if you ever come to me like, hey, pastor, I need to talk to you. What's going on, man, I fell in sin, I backslid and I'm like, oh, so you're a butterfly in the dirt. Explain that one to me. You didn't backslide. You're just in rebellion because that's not who you are anymore. That is not who you are. So you need to come back to the Lord because that is not who you are anymore. That is not your character. That is not your identity. That is not who you are. So snap out of it. Because you have been made into a new creation, and the old has passed away, and all things become brand-new. What's that? I'm trying to fit into shoes that don't fit you.

Yeah. So my prayer is if you go back, whatever it is you go back to, I pray that it makes you sick. I pray it makes you sick like you ate lettuce. I pray that the alcohol makes you nauseous at the smell of it. I pray that drugs don't even do nothing to you. You want to get loaded and relaxed, it's going to do the opposite or do nothing. But it's just going to just completely make you nauseous and sick. Because that is not you anymore. Don't listen to the enemy. That's like your ex calling you and saying, you're still mine. You're like, yeah, right. That's crazy. Verse 18, all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That's good. In the message it says all of this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him. And then called us to settle our relationships with each other. Okay. So this is key and this is important, guys, to understand this. You know, after the fall of Adam and Eve, after that, it was a lot of us think that God was angry at Adam and kicked him out and says, I don't want to see you, I don't want nothing to do with you. But actually in the Bible it says that we have made God our enemy. He never made us his enemy. We made him our enemy. When Adam and Eve fell, it caused us to be separated from God. How do I word it? Let me read it again.

All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Okay. This is a good example. When you have a lot of debt, you go someplace to reconcile your debt. They get all you owe this and this and this and this and this. So they'll say, you know what? We're going to pay all of your debt off. We're going to reconcile and make it into one debt. That way you don't have all of these charging their different interest rates. We're going to reconcile your debt. So what God did because of man falling, Adam and Eve falling and caused all of us to be infected with sin, Jesus came to reconcile our debt. Here's the problem. We couldn't reconcile it ourselves because we can't afford it. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. So nobody here can afford it. So we're all destined to go to hell. And people say, man, how can God be a loving God if he's going to send us to hell? No, no. He ain't sending us to hell. We sent ourselves. He's actually came to make a way out. He loved us so much that he, he, he died on the cross because we couldn't reconcile that debt. Jesus says, I'll reconcile it in my blood. So I'm going to read 18 again. All this is from God, who through Christ, because Christ is the one that died, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. So we're his creation, we did him wrong,

but he chose to reconcile with us anyway. That'd be like somebody did you wrong and you're sitting in walmart and you run into them and they shy away from you and you go up to them they're like hey you know what let's just forget about it let's just let it go now we did something worse than that but jesus forgave us he brought reconciliation and because he brought reconciliation look what he says it's interesting because he says that is in christ god was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation i'm going to read it in the message again let me find it it says all this comes from god who settled the relationship between us and him and then called us to settle our relationships with each other oh wait a second so god you you reconciled with us even though we're full of sin yeah so now what he says now if i forgave you then you need to reconcile with people and most of us that's where we stop we're good at serving god we're good at learning songs we're good at even giving a tithe we're good on that but god whoa hit the brakes i gotta forgive people and he says i forgave you and you did me worse than anybody's done you wrong says it's a gift of reconciliation that christ god was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation thank you sharon can you talk to her somewhere else it's disrupting me thank you verse 20 therefore we are ambassadors for christ god making his appeal through us we implore you on behalf of christ to be reconciled to god verse 21 for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of god

and the message it says we're speaking for christ himself become friends with god he's already a friend with you how you ask in christ god put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong so we could be put right with god i want to talk about that for a while there because this is really important um this verse here it's an interesting word because it says we are ambassadors for christ and for some of you that know this i apologize for some of you that don't know this i just want us all on the same page an ambassador is somebody that represents a nation for instance we have ambassadors in other countries for instance we have an ambassador of united states in france of united states in france and there's an embassy in france and even though france is its own country where our embassy is doesn't apply the laws of france because it's technically considered the united states so the ambassador that lives in the united states embassy in another country doesn't abide by the rules of that land because they're not from that land they're from here and that ambassador's job is one thing to represent the nation it comes from. That ambassador, the United States ambassador in France is not there to give his or her own opinion, to make his or her laws, to do as they please, to say, I'm gonna change the flag of the United States, or I'm gonna change it. They don't have that right. They are simply a representative of the United States, and they are there to speak solely for the United States of America. Think about that. It says in verse 20, we are ambassadors for Christ. Whoa, that's a huge responsibility. Because in essence then, if I'm an ambassador, then I'm living in another place not where I belong because the ambassador's not a citizen

of where he's an ambassador. He's a citizen of another nation. The Bible says that we are citizens of heaven. So the rules of heaven apply to me, not the rules of this land. That's good news, guys. You know why? Because the Bible says that Satan is the god of this world. The Bible says that this is the kingdom of darkness. Now here's the good news. The ambassador for the United States, even though he's in France, the laws of France don't apply to him. Technically, he can murder somebody, and they can't arrest him because the laws of France don't apply to him. I mean, he'd probably get in trouble, so this is just a illustration. So if Satan is the god of this world, and he has laws in this world, and I'm an ambassador of another place, then the laws of Satan do not apply to you and me. Matter of fact, we have free reign to travel anywhere. You ever see ambassadors? They travel within France, and they have the little flags on their car, that's the ambassador. Remember when Jesus says, "'On this rock I will build my church, "'and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.'"

In other words, what Jesus is saying, he says, where my church is, they will be able to go into the depths of hell and go anywhere, and there's nothing Satan can do to stop you. Guys, if we truly understood who we are in Christ, we would walk with our head high, because we are ambassadors. We have an official title, and not only that, we have the backing. So here's the thing, right? The ambassador in another country, who's that person? A woman or a man? They got no power. But you know why nobody's gonna try to get crazy with them? Because they got the whole United States backing them up. That's why. You know what's scary? I was standing in front of a court one time, I was in court, and the judge says, "'The United States of America versus David Rocha.'" I'm like, what? I didn't do nothing to all United States of America. Think about that, though. If you're an ambassador, then all of heaven is on your side. All the heavenly beings, the Lord himself is on your side.

Do you know why a police officer has authority? It's not because they're tall or big or whatever, it's because that badge represents something. You hurt them, oh, you're gonna have the whole state come on you. The whole county, the whole city, the whole, if it's a marshal, the whole United States. You are going against everything. You're not gonna win. You fight a cop, my dad always said, don't ever fight a cop, you're never gonna win. You're gonna do something wrong, son, just let them cuff you up and arrest you. You did the crime, do the time. Because you can't fight every police officer. You're gonna lose. Well, guess what? We have something better than a badge. We have the Holy Ghost in us. And everywhere we go, anything that Satan wants to do, he's picking a fight, not with you, but the kingdom that you represent. See, when you start to get this in you and you start to understand who you are, you gotta understand that, oh, because allow me to. So many Christians, oh I don't like going here, I'll go there, demons are gonna jump on me. What are you talking about?

Demons run from you because of who you are. Because you're an ambassador of the kingdom of God. And every demon knows that where you go, it's not like you're intimidating to Satan, but that badge you hold of the spirit of God is in you. And we understand who we are. Marcello, what's up brother? I'm gonna give you the Bruce cat. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So I wanna read that again, because this is my favorite verse, and maybe it'll mean more to you now. In verse 20, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us, and we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin. So that in him we might become the righteousness of God. We're ambassadors. You're an ambassador. So many people want titles, prophet, pastor, apostle. You want a title? Be an ambassador. Use that. I'm an ambassador. I represent a bigger kingdom. Abram Rodriguez, thank you so much, brother. I'm gonna give you the Darth cat.

Thank you. Every single super chat gets a super cat. All right. We still got more time, so we're gonna go ahead and go into chapter six. Chapter six, verse one. It says, working together with him, then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, in a favorable time I listen to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is a favorable time. Behold, now is a day of salvation. He's talking to them, and I love the urgency of it because he's saying, man, the time to get saved is now. There is no tomorrow. Tomorrow's not promised. The time to get saved is now, right now. In the message, it says, companions, as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us. God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time. The day you needed me, I was there to help. This is key, guys. This is important. Because today's the day of salvation. It says, well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don't put it off.

Today's the day. There's a story I wanna share. When I was a kid, my mom got saved when I was five. My dad got saved when I was eight. So that pretty much meant I had to go to church. I didn't have a choice. I didn't want to, but it was okay. I didn't mind it. The music was cool. We went to Spanish churches, and I don't think in Spanish. I understand Spanish, but I don't know how you guys are, but for those of you that are bilingual, have you ever thought about this? Do you think in Spanish or you think in English? You're fluent. See, I think in English. So my mom would make me sit there and listen to this Spanish preacher, and near Pentecostal churches, sermons are, man, like an hour and a half sermon. And I had to listen and translate it all in my head for me to understand. I had to translate. I was just like, I was exhausted. And I still do that. When I hear Spanish, I understand. I probably understand 98% of Spanish. I don't speak it that good because you lose it because if you don't use it, but I understand it a lot. But man, my head, because I'm translating it.

Anyways, my mom was like, listen. If you're not going to listen, then you're going to read the Bible. I'm like, I'd rather read the Bible. It's in English. Anyways, I was at this church, and this was back in the early 80s. And some of you, if you were alive back then, oh, it was a crazy time. There was a lot of gangbanging, a lot of just the cholo lifestyle. And I, you know, I used to see these guys come into church, and I was a kid, and there was this one guy, and he just looked like a bad dude. This was a church in Stockton. This guy was trouble. And there was a service, and they had an altar call. And something in that altar call, I wasn't paying attention, moved him. And he went up to the altar. They said, anybody who wants to surrender your life to the Lord, come up to the front. And he went up, and he was kind of broken. And the pastor said, do you want to accept Jesus Christ right now? Right now. Right now. The young man said, I do, but next week. And they pleaded with him. He says, no, I promise. I promise. I promise, Holmes. Now he goes, I promise. Next week. That Friday night, no, Saturday night on Charter Way in Church's Chicken, it's still there.

He walked in there, was ordering food, and somebody walked up to him with a shotgun and shot him in the face. He didn't make it to the next Sunday. Now is the favorable time. Behold, now is a day of salvation. We don't know. We never know. Verse 3 says, we put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry. But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way, by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, and calamities, in beatings, imprisonments, and riots, and labors, and sleepless nights, and hunger, by purity, and knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, and genuine love, by truthful speech, and the power of God with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as imposters and yet are true. As unknown and yet well-known, as dying and behold, we live as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing everything. What is he saying? I'm going to read in a message. Why is he saying these things? Well, I'm going to read that whole portion. It says, well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped. Don't put it off. Don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we're doing. Our work as God's servants gets validated or not in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly,

in hard times, in tough times, in bad times, when we're beaten up, and jailed, and mobbed, and working hard, and working late, and working without eating, with a pure heart, clear head, steady hand, and gentleness, holiness, and honest love. When we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power, when we're doing our best, setting things right, when we're praised, and when we're blamed, slandered, and honored, true to our word, though distrusted, ignored by the world, but recognized by God, terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead, beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die, immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy, living on handouts, yet enriching many, and having nothing, having it all. Guys, this is ministry. Ministry and serving God is not meaning that everything's going to be perfect. You're going to be blamed for things, slandered for things. You're going to be honored and dishonored. You're going to be not trusted. You're going to be ignored by the world. You're going to work hard. You're going to be mobbed, and beaten up, and jailed, and tough times, and hard times, and bad times, and all of these things. But everything we do, because we do it through Christ, we've got to do it with a pure heart, and a clear head, and a steady hand, and gentleness, and holiness, and honest love. And guys, that is not easy. It is not easy. You know, I once heard a pastor tell me one time, and I didn't know what he meant, but I know what he meant. means now and he says David he was Modesto is full of religion you're not

gonna run into people that don't know who Jesus is you're gonna run into more people that have been in a church but now their church hurt and I said okay I mean what's wrong with that he says you're gonna have people come with so much baggage because other churches have hurt them you're gonna have people that won't tithe because some other church took advantage of them you're gonna have people come that won't serve because they served in other churches and they got disregarded you're gonna get all these people with all these different things and because of that you're going to be it's almost like have you ever had to pay for something somebody else did it's like a woman that's cheated on four times and now she gets with you and you're not a cheater but guess what you're treated like one because everything she went through or vice versa or this or that whatever so now you have to pay for something somebody else did to them and I didn't realize that that's what the pastor was telling me at the time he says David you're going to Modesto in a city where there's so much church hurt you sir are gonna have to pay for everything that's been done to everybody and I was like I just went in one ear out the other I didn't get it I didn't oh but I know now I know now that even with the pure heart a clear head a steady hand and holiness and honest love when I just want to preach the truth I have been blamed I have been slandered distrusted ignored rumored spiritually beaten within an inch of my life immersed in tears but yet he says always filled with deep joy and he says here and the message is I live on handouts yet I make others rich and I have nothing having at all I read this portion years ago and it meant nothing to me the 15 years in it means a lot and then he says this in 11 and 13 he and Paul says we have spoken freely to you Corinthians our heart is wide open you are not restricted by us but you are restricted in your own affections in return I speak as two children widen your hearts also and the message it says dear dear Corinthians I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide open spacious life we didn't fence you in the smallness you feel comes from within you your lives aren't small but you're living them in a

small way I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection open up your lives live openly and expansively there's a such thing as a poverty mentality we see ourselves as small guys because whatever cards we were dealt with in our life we see ourselves as small and we'll think we will only be small but it says the smallness you feel comes from within you he and I love the fact that he says we didn't fence you in you put the fence up and at what point are we gonna say you know what I want to live in a life of abundance I want to live in a life that I'm the head and not the tail I want to live a life that I'm blessed going in the city and blessed going out of the city I want to live a life where I'm the lender not the borrower I want to live a life where I'm boasting where people will say man what do you have that I don't have and not walk around just with their heads down it's like we are ambassadors we are representatives of the king we are representatives of the king most high the one that created all things the one that that spoke planets into existence. This is the God that we serve. And the Bible says that we can come in through his throne room boldly. That's wild. How many of you can just walk into your boss's office unannounced and just open the door and just sit in his chair and drink his coffee? Let's see how long you're gonna be there. For those of you that work, who, anybody here work at Tesla? You do? All right, do you have Elon Musk's phone number right now? You didn't bring your phone? What if you just said, yeah, hey, I wanna talk to Elon?

That ain't gonna happen. The richest man in the world. But God, who owns all the cattle on the hill. God, who all the gold and all the silver belongs to him. And we just have to whisper his name. And we enter in through his throne room boldly. Wow. Because even Elon will have to face God. This is the God that we serve. And he says, you are my ambassadors. You have all access to me. And all you gotta do is whisper my name and I am there. I don't sleep, I don't get tired, I don't take naps. I am always there. I will never leave you nor forsake you. That's incredible. And we walk around with their head down. What if Elon showed up to your, wherever it is you work at Tesla, and he's like, hey, what's up, bro? You'd be like, yeah. Yeah, I just wanna let you know, man. Here's my house address. Matter of fact, here's my key. You ever need some? I don't care when it is. Just walk in, if I'm asleep, just wake me up. Like what? Matter of fact, here's my debit card too because everything that's mine is yours.

This is what God says. He says everything belongs to me. But you know what? All my inheritance is your inheritance. All that is mine is yours. If that reality truly set in, how could we walk around broken? That is crazy. Santos Ortiz. Let's see. I'll give you the spread cap, brother. I gotta make a Cadillac one for you. Soon. So we're gonna end there and 2 Corinthians 6, 13 was the last verse. If anything, if you're gonna take anything from today's study, I want you to know who you really are. You're not a beggar. You're not a beggar in this world. You're an ambassador. You don't belong to this kingdom. You belong to a bigger kingdom. You represent Christ, so represent Christ well. If an ambassador goes and acts crazy in some other country, he's putting a bad light on the United States. You are ambassador of the kingdom of God. So live accordingly, walk accordingly, conduct yourself accordingly because you are an ambassador

and walk with your head high and don't live according to the laws of Satan or his kingdom of darkness. We walk and live according to what's in heaven. Why do you think in the Lord's prayer, it says on earth as it is in heaven, right? The Lord's prayer? Why does they say that? Because we don't live according to this world. So tell me this, is there sickness in heaven? Is there demonic possession in heaven? Is there oppression in heaven? So think about when you're saying that prayer, let it be done on earth as it is in heaven because I don't belong to this world. I belong to a world where there's no sickness. I belong to a world where there's no cancer. I belong to a world where there's no leukemia, there's no diabetes, there's no broken backs, broken bones. There's none of that stuff. Let it be on earth as it is in heaven because there's worth says something, but I'm an ambassador of a different place. I live according to that place, not according to this place. But a lot of times we forget who we are. We don't live according. to what's here. Let it be on earth as it is in heaven. A lot of times we as Christians think we we get to experience heaven when we die, but Jesus says the kingdom of God is within you. What does that mean Lord? It means you're my

ambassador and everywhere the ambassador is there's an embassy and where that embassy is is actually part of United States for a United States ambassador. Even though you're within France, the embassy is of your protection. That is that is considered United States ground. Hmm. So I'm an ambassador. Yeah. So where's my embassy? He says every place you step. Remember what he told Moses at burning bush? He goes take off your sandals because the place where you're standing is holy ground. So Lord I'm an ambassador? Yes. And everywhere I walk is my embassy? Yes. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. There is nothing a demon can do because they cannot enter your embassy. Because you belong to a greater kingdom. Can you imagine if today right now you turn that switch on that let you know who you really are in Christ? It would be incredible. It would be amazing. AB1 what's up brother? Look at that prayer crap for you because that's a lay hands on the sick brother just like that cat. Amen. I wanted to give a shout out to Anthony de la Garza I forgot to mention in the beginning.