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Hey, welcome back to ignite. A very special guest, one of my best buddies in the whole world. I love you. You know that?
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I know 20 years. I don’t know how long we go back a long way.
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So this is the Teen Challenge director for T for Romania, okay, Catalina. We call him Catalina, and I don’t get messed up in the last name. I’ll miss Phillip mispronounce it, but Catalina is my buddy, and we have had great times together. And Mike Kennedy, who is with us in our ministry, we came over to you one time just so I just want to get away from all the glitz. I want to get her hands dirty.
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I remember that, boy you, you did that real quick. I mean, we’re down the sewers, yep. Or those four lost folk and drugs and smoking glue, not smoking, but sucking, inhaling glue, and they’re like zombies, aren’t they? 1000s and 1000s of them living in the sewages, leaving the state orphanages ending up on the streets and living in the sewages. Winters are very tough, so they they survive there. Yeah, but hey, doesn’t matter where, how dark the dark is when the light comes, God can capture our hearts Exactly. That’s what, that’s what he wants us to do. And we want to run for dark, actually, in the darkness of the greatest miracles, yes, and at a time when I just needed a reset,
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did I get a reset? And it’s lasted me. Disappointed me. Now those visions are still in my mind. And of course, what’s going on with your ministry? Give us a little quick update. It’s not about your busy but I want to promote you right quick, because it’s God’s been you live in God’s favor. You live in the favor guy, and you know that. And what’s been happening here recently is just give, give a little quick insight, a Teen Challenge. Romania, then we’ll get to the sharing phase stuff. I do believe that we all live in God’s favor. It’s how much we we treasure that. And that’s like, and I want to thank you bear for being here and for you being more than a friend to us, and thank you for what you’re doing been doing to in Romania over 22 years, man, because you are a big part of what’s happening well to all the people. Thank you. That’s very kind, but, but it’s true, and we’ve been blessed by it in so many ways.
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Give us a two minute load. We’re doing this. So 22 years ago, we started we’ve been working with street kids for seven years. And 22 years ago, we started the ministry called Teen Challenge. And
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because all these kids were living on the sewage, they started using heroin, we had no idea what to do.
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I mean, just as he makes sense, the heroine was cheap. The main route from Afghanistan to the Western world was through Romania, and it was very cheap, and they could get it. They would beg for money. They would you’d see seven, 810, years old, shooting heroine on the sewage. So we had no idea what to do. Is we heard of the ministry called Teen Challenge. We heard of the powerful fruits that God was doing. 13 challenge, sure. Long story short, the Lord orchestrated. We started it, and it’s been 22 years now we have three centers, some of those kids and two more to open very soon, some of the in the church downtown Bucha and an outreach, we’ll talk about it, but it’s like an outreach that now we go to schools all over Romania. We just reached over 100,000 kids students live, and so it’s been, like you said, We’ve been living in the grace. We’ve been watching God what he’s doing. And it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s amazing, in our feeling moved to support you right now, they could send checks for Romania Teen Challenge, just Southern California Teen Challenge, yes, and within a memo to write for Romania, yes. But still, the California teen challenges Riverside don’t have the address on Chicago Avenue, but send it to them, or call them and send money for Bucha Romanian challenge. There’s no better ministry, no better place to put your money to get the biggest bag for you. But anyway, tell us right quick, what’s going on. I mean, we’re having revival here in the world. The church is still sitting kind of flat. It’s like Trump, okay, Trump got elected. We can relax now, but the world is coming unglued. The statistics are that the the world, the 80% of it, are not Christians are are waking up and wondering where God is, and asking all kinds of questions and and really seeking God. It’s unprecedented. We never see anything like it. It’s fantastic. Bible sales are off the charts here in America now, they’re buying Bibles. They’re they’re trying to, trying to find out where God is, and we need to do a better job of responding back. But is that kind of thing happening other places like Eastern Europe? Is that, are you feeling a wave of anything that’s going on the United States taking place there? Or is God just sue.
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Naturally doing it on his own, for for Eastern Europe. I was going to say that’s exactly what happens there right now too, because the war in Ukraine, the news of the World, what happens with the Western Europe, the European Union, then Trump gets elected, and that really stirred up, especially the Christians, like you said, it’s a moment of a wake up, and people are wondering, what is going on. In order to be honest with me, it’s we live one the best times possible for people who think Kingdom hope, for people who think this life on Earth is a vapor. Yeah, it’s a great reminder for all of us that life on Earth is a vapor, and all that matters, what we do for the king on this earth, and getting somebody closer to Jesus today, in everything and that fear, and we’ve seen that that fear should be in Romania, in particular, people don’t know, because they can fear paralyzes you, yeah, but if you realize as it’s an opportunity to do more for Christ, I think it’s fear paralyze you. It also sterilizes you. Yes, if you’re in fear, you’re not in faith. I like that. So you can’t share your faith, right? Which is, which is, so the judges is basically sterilized, afraid to do anything, not even sure their own what’s going on, or leave alone giving somebody else believe it in the Lord, or what they’ll say or their reaction. So we live in fear. God has rare earths. He he’ll let us stay there 10% of the US, and we could talk and praise God and all wonderful stuff in our own stuff, but he’ll just keep us at 10% and that number is actually going down, yes, in America, and he’s fine with that, as long as he keeps us in fear.
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That’s the problem. We got to get out of fear. We got to, got to break loose and start fear does not come from God. There’s only one fear comes from God, but it’s, it’s, we live amazing times. In my my opinion, when you have fear, what you’re saying to God is you don’t trust him. You
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can’t get away from that if you don’t when you fear, when you fear anything. I don’t care what it is you’re saying to God, I don’t trust you with this. I don’t believe you can help me. I don’t know if you could help me with this. That’s That’s serious. Go ahead. I’m sorry. It’s just a point that needs to be made. And of course, it’s, it’s all over the place. So are you? Are you sense anything in your government, any change in your government, they kind of status quo. I think what happened with Trump being elected, it really stirred up things more than I could ever imagine. Really, we’ve seen a lack of leadership in politics, in everybody, especially in politics in Romania and Eastern Europe, and, of course, in Western Europe. So with Trump being, becoming the president, and the way he started the president, I think he worked the decision being so decisive, and that’s what has been lacking, because we as a Christian, we have to be decisive. It doesn’t matter what we do if we’re not decisive, flat out, it’s terrible. So to see a man at that level, for us, you look in America, you go, Okay, it’s like it’s the best country in the world. And to see a man that decisive, that does things with and of course, not everybody likes Trump, and not everybody. I’m not even talking about politics right now. Yeah, I’m talking about principles and values and decisiveness, and I think that opened the door for our politicians to take decisions based on values principles. More than ever, really, that’s what I was hoping to hear, because we know what’s happening here. You Say whatever you say whatever you want with Trump, but you get denied the fact he’s opened the door for Christians. You know, our pastor, Tommy Barnett, preached sermon right after the right after the election, and he said, Trump just announced, President Trump just announced there’s gonna be the four the golden years for America in these next four years. He’s, I agree with him, if the church wakes up, if we don’t take advantage of this moment in time, yeah? Meaning, get off the bench and get into the game, folks, and start sharing your faith. It’s white over there’s no excuse for to share your faith anymore. If we don’t do that as a church, we’ll lose this opportunity. It will not be the golden years. It the lost years. Yes, I agree with that 100% Yeah. But I think, I think, is that the way he stirred things up, the way he woke up? It was that, you know, he woke up the politicians. You woke up the leadership. Because people were looking only at dictators of being decisive and, you know, yeah, now you have a leader that says it’s time for decisions. When he was President, before he made it okay to say Merry Christmas again, we’d gotten point where you couldn’t say Merry Christmas. Everybody say happy holidays. And because of his last ministry, He right off said, it is Merry Christmas. Folks celebrate Christmas. He’s done the same thing now with but by not being.
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Apologetic for being a Christian. I mean the prayers in the in the chamber there the prayers
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we we as Christians. We almost were afraid of playing, praying in publics or in school. And now you see a president do that and promote that. I think that really stores things up. Christian, not a Christian. You call him a rascal.
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And none of us are perfect, but what we do know is he’s raising the banner and for the freedom. It’s not persecuting Christians. Christians the most persecuted group in the world. Look what’s going on. We never talk about Christians being persecuted. I think it’s a new way of courage and a new way of courage for Christians to share their faith,
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which that should always be the case. But I think now there’s a, yeah, it’s almost like the gates have so, so do you sense, I mean, from, I mean, you’re, you’re a little, I say, unless you you talk to leaders and Teen Challenge, particularly all over the world, Are you sensing there’s this mood on a global it could be sensing a global revival right now. That’s that’s what I’m hoping for. Do you sense that that might be taking place? I totally sense that we are at the verge of a revival, but before we revival, there’s always going to be things that are stored up. The reason it is a revival is because then there was a need, there was fear, was overwhelming, it was confusion. People moved from looking at themselves and looking at the idols they’ve been building to seeing everything gone and being what’s next. And they start looking up the moment you start looking up and asking God for His will, His thoughts, His plans, his presence. Yeah, we’re gonna get ignited. We’re gonna get on fire
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wherever I and I’m, of course, I’m looking all the time, yeah, and half my life reward my half my life is secular because I’m a car guy, and most car guys, quite frankly, are not Christian. They’re better living than most Christians. They live better lives than most Christians, but they’re too busy with their cars and having fun, and they’re money and whatever. So I live very much in a world that is not Christian, per se, indeed, yes, but not saved and accepted Jesus Christ. But I hear the same question all over, what’s going on? God must be up to something that was a miracle. We don’t understand it. God is God is doing to they want to know. And he was like acquiring minds want to know. Everywhere I go, I hear this, and I’m wondering if you’re hearing the same thing, the same thing, it’s the same thing in these weeks, the secular world up, and I say, you know, the crops are white for harvest. Yes, they’re white for harvest. The labors are few. We’re living exactly that scripture. The labors are few. They’re ready for us, if we’re the one that’s holding it back at this point. See, I we, I work with the young generation we have in our in our discipleship programs we have in, you know, we called it rehabs. But really, I don’t do rehab. I just share about Christ. Yeah, every person, somebody’s in chains, if somebody’s just desperate, you just share Christ. And that is hope, that is and let me just say the universal exclamation Teen Challenge, biggest, oldest, most successful program, the word for getting people off of drugs is God has created, always with a void, a void, a God shaped void that only he can fill. It’s very simple to understand. We try to fill that void with drugs or sex or fame or money or you go on and on run, and every one of those things satisfy for a moment, and then you want more, and then you want more. That’s why there’s such recidivism. You go to non Christian rehab programs, and you get off, but the but this, but the hole is not filled, and the craving is still there. And so the recidivism rates are just incredible, like it’s never ending. But when you feel when you ask Jesus Christ to come in and fill that void, the need for drugs or money or sex, all that goes away. It’s just amazing. That’s why we have an 86% cure rate. This is Teen Challenge. Okay, so anyway, to understand where this man is coming from, what has his heart? It’s about Jesus. It is, it is rehab. But really, it’s given in the Lord, and he should know how God loves the rehab is a bonus. Yeah, I think what really meant, like, think about it, this kids that we serve, yeah? Psychiatrists, psychologists, they say, hey, they are gone. They’ve been they missed. They are not developed emotionally. They missed, you know, so many things, they’re not gonna make it. Yeah, well, some of them became businessmen today, all these hundreds. I mean, it’s changed, like business, man, I know you have great jobs, great family there. There’s no hope, and now they’re a businessman or a teacher or whatever. I mean, there’s no greater joy God can do that. The apostle Paul says, what will be my reward? What will be my crown when I get to heaven? He says, it’s you, those that we lead to the Lord will be our crown, our reward, to heaven for eternity. That’s it. If you were to die right now, when you go to heaven, how many people would be there because of your.
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Influence, that’s, that’s, that’s the question. It’s not a question. That’s the question. Wherever you are, you you have influence, what are you doing with your influence? And and think about what you’re doing today. Think of everything you’re doing today. What are you doing today that has eternal, secret consequences? What? What? Name it. Go through all the important things you’re stressing over, things you got to do all this. You got all this. What? What are those things? Has eternal significance. There’s only one, if you’re using those opportunities experiences to lead people to Jesus. Nothing else matters. I mean, that’s just the truth. So we’re about faith sharing, and you’re about faith sharing. Do you have any fun story you always have, and we just, we have been together. We just got together right quick. You could see for the first time in a long time, but you always have fun stories to tell me, warm my heart a little bit with some, some real life stories from from Eastern Europe, from from Romania. It’s the same story. Couple of weeks ago we had
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one minister that came visiting one of our centers. So the minister came with his entourage, came with directors of the from the minister of culture. So there were about 10 people there, and they came to the center just to see visit, no particular purpose, no interested in hearing how we doing what we’re doing, but they came to visit, so while we were sitting there. And for me, it’s always like, Lord, we all need we all need hope. We all need
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something that is beyond our Earth, like, like what you were saying earlier. And I don’t know who said it? But he said that every everybody, every time somebody opens a bottle or shoots a dose or sniffs cocaine, they’re looking for, God, they just settle for less. Yeah, they just don’t know. So in there, they get looking for they’re looking for peace. And what peace? Everybody wants peace. They want peace. And you find it something that’s so addictive that so tears you apart Exactly. So we’re sitting there in in the in the meeting,
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and one of you know we, one of our students, recalled the people who are in the program started to share. It was a girl there started to share how she was transformed, how she never had the faith, how she never heard she knew about God, yeah, but didn’t know him. She knew about she heard, she heard about Jesus, but didn’t know Jesus, and now she was glowing with watching us right now. Yes, they know. They know most of my friends are not saved. They know who Jesus is. They would swear to second Bibles. He’s the Son of God, but they never received him. They’ve never accepted as their savior and their Lord. They just keep on walking. And that’s like the greatest decision in life you can take. And this man was the director in the minister.
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He was very upset with God. He was very bitter against God and for all reasons, in his own mind, because he had a 30 year old daughter that died on overdose. Now nobody knew there. We didn’t know his colleagues. So how did this change? Real quick. So he’s sitting there, yeah, so. And then he hears all this testimony. He starts weeping from her testimony, yes, from her testimony. And then we, we start talking with him about Christ and about the hope of Christ. And then out of Nazi just like we asked him, Sir, can we pray testimony of the new believer? Yes, convicting the pastor, and it was so authentic, so real, and we all pray for him. And he just said to us, he said, I may never understand why my daughter died on overdose, but I am, I am open for the first time to know Christ, yeah, and we pray for him. So he’s like,
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you know. Hey, I don’t know why he took my daughter. Why he took Nicole. She’s 49 years old, most prolific face share I’ve ever known. And I called you to talk because I knew you loved her. And you said
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I was thinking through my mind, Boy, you really need to
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have catalyst at the funeral, and you said to me, Oh, I’m coming. I said, what? I’m coming. What do you mean? You’re coming. You said, I’m coming to Nicole’s funeral. I can’t miss her funeral. Well, then would you speak? And that was amazing. That was amazing. And we had 1000 people at the funeral for Nicole’s, Nicole McGuire’s celebration of life, and it went on YouTube. You know how many people watch that video? 20,000
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people have watched the video of a funeral. You go to YouTube and go to McGuire, Nicole McGuire, celebration of life. And so do I have any questions about God taking her we had.
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We had an opportunity to accept the Lord right then, a number of people that were hard nosed accepted the Lord at the service, and hundreds. I mean, I have no idea how many people sense, because so many people said they’ve accept the Lord from watching the video. Isn’t God good? Give me a spontaneous one, just something you meet on the street or something, because this is basically about a spontaneous ministry, not a group thing, which is how can always move everybody, every day, closer to Jesus, being of being open and watching right, watching all the time, watching for the I’d say it’s kind of like when you’re playing basketball. You watch for that opening and you drive, you see it over. You drive for the basket.
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It’s fun to do that for the Lord. So do you have a Do you have a fun story from recent times that you could share with me right quick? We, um, I remember one after our son died, yeah, of cancer when he was 27 year old, which, again, yeah, broke our heart. We didn’t understand. But we trust in God for everything. And we I was in a place, and I met somebody that was buying some flowers, and the person
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was there and and I went to to him, and we were in line, yeah. And I said, What’s what’d you get the flowers for? And he said, it’s
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for my son, oh, I said, for your son. He say, Yeah, my son died, and I’m taking the flowers to the cemetery. Boy, that was a God moment. And he put that down. Looked at him, yeah. And we start sharing, yeah. He starts weeping. I start weeping, yeah. We start bowling. I mean, both Yeah, and then, but I had the hope of Christ. I knew where our son, you knew it was because he lived through Christ. He served Christ. He he was just an extraordinary kid. Although he was, he was rescue from the sewages, because we adopted him, remember, and we he was the Lord used him in a powerful way. So I was sharing that with a guy, and then we start praying. And we just had that moment of prayer in a public place. And the person, after we prayed looked at me, and he said, I need to talk to you more. And out of that moment, that open door tragedy, out of the tragedy God’s doing things. He really is. The whole family comes, you know, to know Christ. And in this life, the whole family came. It’s all about, yeah, that’s the in this life, it’s all about that. Wow, I didn’t miss that. You missed everything else. The Romans, eight races, all things were together for good. He didn’t necessarily, all things were together for me, for good, I like that, because for him, for good is his souls. If he can use something bad in my life to lead more people to the Lord, then you know, if I die, it’s going to be leading people to Jesus. So there’s no fear in that when you know that no matter what the bad thing is, he’s in the business of leading people closer to the Lord. And sometimes we don’t end up, you know, having a company or wife or cars, what I have sometime that are much more prolific. They shares or in tough times, but they’re using it to the glory of God. And their testimony, I said, your testimony way better than mine.
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They expect me to smile. Of course, they don’t know, I kept smiling in all the bad times. And that’s the keys. Just you never lose your joy. You never lose your joy with Christ. You never lose your joy. Anything comes to mind, something in an airport or walking the street, or something just spontaneous. They just popped around in. You were not expected. And also, there was somebody in your face that God put you together with. And you just know, that’s a God thing, I think for me personally, because every person I met, yeah, somehow we start to eat. It’s so great to know people and you’re asking a question, and from from that question, and you go into more of a talk personal, personally and just, well, I know you do that. That’s why
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the time folks just it’s they’ll know you’re my disciple. He says, they’ll know you’re my desire by your love. And quite frankly, you didn’t say by your Bible knowledge or your oratory Yes, or your big personality, or your money or your cars or anything else. They’ll know you by your love.
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And when you just love on people, I know you do it. I mean, you’re in a conversation. I have a conversation there that we never expected, but it comes out of love, and then the Holy Spirit comes. That’s, that’s, that’s not just your love, that’s the holy spirit’s love flowing through you. Do you know that you don’t have a secular conversation ever?
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Oh, there’s nothing in your life that’s secular so true. Everything in your life is spiritual.
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Everything, everything you say and do is moving everybody watch you closer or further away from God. And when you talk to people, he’s ministering them. He’s speaking through them, and the Holy Spirit will prompt them to even open up and share things with you.
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Just amazing how that happens, isn’t it? And all sudden, you hear, Oh, there’s their need. They may not even tell their best friend about that, but they’re telling a complete stranger because they sense there’s love. And then the Holy Spirit gives you the words to say, that’s God speaking through to them, and that it
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ignites your life. And I believe we, if we love people genuinely with God’s love. See, it has to be we don’t have the bill. No, we do not not enough. We will run out of it. We have to be continually filled with God’s love through the Holy Spirit. So we can love people every single day, every person we get in contact with. And out of that love will pour a lot of things, not just, not just the gifting of of, okay, just speaking, or just out of that love. Because until the most effective people in sharing the faith, they’re not even the evangelist, that’s right, people who have incredible love, just for their neighbor, for somebody else, connect you with God, His love, your his love. Over on. She goes back to that his love flows out, yes, and it’s like rivers of living water, because it brings life to us.
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There’s nothing more impactful than that love that you allow God to put it through you, and out of that love, the truth comes. And the only thing that heals is the truth in anything, and the only thing that brings life is the truth. Yeah, yeah. So yes, that you love them, but then you come with the truth, and the truth will set them free. I love it. We have a lot of folks out there that follow us, who are don’t even know the word yet. I mean, a lot of folks here that are sharing their faith others haven’t yet. They’re thinking about starting or it’s got a cross section, but particularly for those that are running on the verge starting to share their faith, you have a word for them. Would you give them a little encouragement of what it would do for them personally,
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if they get off the bench and get into the game?
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I believe that everything in life starts with curiosity you have it’s people who really found God. Is the people who are who really wonder, Does God exist? I wouldn’t be here today if I wouldn’t met a girl, beautiful girl, 33 years ago. I got in love with her and in the clubs, and I was a DJ, and my life was going in the wrong direction, but for me, it was the best. I didn’t know it then so and then I met this girl. She shared her faith with me, and I tried to convince her that her faith is crazy, and she she’s and I tried so much to tell her, you’re wasting your life. And she said, hey, if I would be usually told me, I would ask. I’d be curious if God exists. And that triggered me, and they’ve triggered me the question, Does God exist? Yeah, does what? If you’re not serious about that question, you’re not gonna make a price. You really, why? You really, do you really want to know. Because if you want to know, yeah, the Lord, the Lord will make Himself known to you. There is, there is a secret in that. It’s almost like, why would the Lord choose? I have a lot of friends I’ve been chummy with. I call it chummy. I try to throw fish. I just, I’m chummy with her. Try to get her to come in and accept the Lord. And most of them are ones they don’t want to know, yet they’re satisfied.
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They have money, they have cars, they go car rallies. They have all kinds of friends. Everybody treats them like God. They’re just wonderful. Life is good. They don’t want to know the truth. They just don’t want and I can’t reach them until they get the point. And maybe when the and I have to do it, people are dying.
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I have that opportunity where finally they call me, okay, can we talk now? But seriously, folks, if you’re not there, you got to really want it. You want to just be casual. You got to be honest. God is not an add on.
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He’s He’s everything. He’s everything, and then he gives you everything back. More I Love cars and sports and boats, and we’ve been out in the boat together. We all can we have fun. We have fun. It’s not that you gotta exactly No, no, he gives you life, and life more abundantly. I had more fun with Jesus than Yes, I was afraid that if once I become a Christian, I would not have fun anymore. What a lie. What a lie. There’s people watching listeners, feel exactly the way. I don’t want to give up what I got, and you’re the ones in bondage trying to hold on to that. It’s a lie. Jesus came to give us life, and life in abundance, abundant life, so spun life I you know, I have the time my life. I never have more fun in my life.
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Every day adventure. It really is. It is because I have one goal. I just want to move everybody, every day, closer to Jesus, and then he blesses you. He He said, When you live for that purpose, when you live for his first He’ll bless you, he’ll answer your prayers, he’ll direct your steps, he’ll give you joy all. It’s all ours. Can you imagine?
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Holy God focused on on, on you. Totally focus on you. You know. He knows your every thought. He knows the words you’re going to say before you speak to he made you, and He made you for eternity, not for this world. And he’s speaking to you right now. I hope you hear this man’s heart, who does this for a living and a ministry, and his heart, you knew it if he didn’t get paid, but there’s a financial consequence to just building a ministry, and you have huge financial needs, and we want you to give money to this dear brother, but you’re driven by your heart. You’re just it’s a hard thing. It’s a hard thing. It’s a hard that God give us, yeah, because once you know God, everything changes, even the way you see things, you start thinking of others a lot. Yeah, boy, it’s all about that. Yeah, absolutely right.
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Love you Catholic Teen Challenge director Romania, send money if you want to help him over there to sell the California Teen Challenge in Riverside California. In the meantime, move everybody.
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Move everybody every day closer to Jesus to His glory. Amen on that. See you next time. Amen.
