Truth and Integrity with Powerful Testimonies

We have a guest here today that has an amazing um testimony about their brother. Um I first found out about him not even a week ago and um they were asking for prayers because he was on life support and and um you know already um out and back home and just so I'll let you tell the story but this is Kelsey um Crawford and um >> Hello. >> Come over here. >> Come on up.

>> Hi guys. How is everyone? >> Good. >> I'm good.

I'm so good. Um I'm blessed to be here and when they asked me to testify this morning, I was a little nervous, but I knew I had to do it because anytime that I can tell of the Lord's faithfulness, that's what we're called to do, even when it's scary. Um and so I wanted to tell So, a lot of you may not know I have a brother named Connor. Um and he was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident about three weeks ago now.

Um, and I remember I was sitting on my couch and my mom and I got a notification on like 360. Um, it'll alert you when there's a crash and we immediately go and we're calling 911. We're like, "Hey, there's a crash at this um, place." They confirmed that there was a crash.

And we got to the hospital um, and my brother was laying there. So he um had been going almost 80 on the highway, flew 40 feet, broke 17 ribs, skull fractures, um spine fractures, um broken ribs, brain bleeding, internal bleeding. Um so it was very scary to say the least if you can imagine being in that position. Um but as a child of God, first thing we did was we grabbed hands and we prayed.

And um my brother had been very much living in the world. um drinking, partying, all of those things. And um we started to pray and we got everybody we knew to pray and um God started to work. Um he let me just put this out there.

He didn't have to have a single surgery. They did an MRI after we had been praying. They thought they would have to do surgery because he had fractured um right below his brain stem. They thought that they were going to have to do surgery.

And we prayed. the MRI came back and it was so perfectly lined up that they did not have to do surgery. Um so obviously he was still fighting. We were praying and one night um my friend from an old church said, "Hey, I feel called to all come together and pray."

And that's what we did. And I said if I wasn't at the hospital that I would try to make it. We went and we prayed. Nathan was there.

Um, and we prayed specifically for a miracle with his oxygen because they had to intubate him, which is putting a tube in because his oxygen got really low. And um, they said he'd have to be in for about 3 to 4 days. Well, we went, we prayed and that night when I got to the hospital, his oxygen hit 100 and the next morning they took the tube out. So, praise God.

>> Not only that, he is weeks ahead of where they thought he would be. Um he had got out of the ICU after about a week and a half into a regular hospital room and he's home now three weeks later. 17 broken ribs and he's walking. So that's where he was.

And I think Gabriel was going to show a video or a picture of where he is now. He wanted to come this morning. >> I didn't get the video. >> That's okay.

That's okay. >> I got a picture. >> That's totally fine. Um he wanted to come this morning.

He had a rough morning, but he's doing well. And the best part about it is that God works everything for our good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And he found God through this. God has given him visions in that hospital bed.

And um he's coherent and he said if I had to go through all of this again, I would because it led me to God and that's the most beautiful part of it. >> Um so he's a walking breathing testimony and I can't wait for him to actually come in person and share his own stories of his own. But um yeah, keep praying and God is good. Um so yeah, I just wanted to share that.

>> Awesome. >> All right. Well, good morning. So, um is this not on?

There we go. Okay. Good morning. All right.

Um so, we're thankful that the Lord answers prayer. Um, and as she mentioned, you know, one thing she didn't mention, she's focused on that side. I was on the outside and she just posted that picture that I had in the in the WhatsApp group for the outreach that um she was leader leading around. She still is.

And um we prayed um and I believe the Lord answered the prayers of hundreds of people um who were praying around the country because it wasn't just a small group of people that were praying. It was like half the country. Um that's her dad right there. He's an evangelist.

Um he's well known and I was reading the comments that were posted on his Facebook. Um, you know, there were hundreds of people praying for this young man. And I want to say love is the method that God uses to answer prayers. So, I didn't I've never met Brook Connor, but I've met them and I love them and I know that God answered my prayers.

I mean even the night one night um second night I was um at another church at a prayer meeting and just praying and I literally said Lord line up based on what what they put on on social media line up that brain and everything in his back so he doesn't need surgery and as she testified he didn't need one bit of surgery. >> Amen. So I mean from from all if you could have written read read all the posts this was a miracle miracle after miracle.

So we're thankful Lord we thank you Lord for your love your wonderworking power that you move through even just the words that your children speak and you move on behalf of us when we choose to love even those we we've never met. But we thank you Lord God. You are all powerful. You are all capable and you are our way maker.

So Lord, we thank you this morning. We just we just thank you. [Music] You are here moving in our midst. I worship you.

I worship you. You are here working in this place. I worship you. I worship you.

You are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God. That is who you are. My rain maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness.

My God, that is who you are. You are here touching every heart. I worship you. I worship you.

You are here healing every heart. I worship you. I worship you. You are here.

It's turning lives around. I worship you, Lord. I worship you. You are here every heart.

I worship you. I worship you. You are miracle work, light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are.

>> You are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are. You are a maker. You are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness.

My God, that is who you are. You are way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God. That is who you are. That is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are.

That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are. That is who you are.

Even when I don't see it. >> Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop.

You never stop working. You never stop. You never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working.

Even when I don't feel it, you're working. Never stop. You never stop working. Never stop.

Never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I feel it, you're working. Never stop.

Never stop working. Never stop. Never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working.

Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop. You never stop working. You never stop.

You never stop working. Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness. My God, that is who you are. Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness.

My God, that is who you are. [Music] Cheese. You're a miracle work. I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind cuz I know there is peace within your presence.

Oh, I speak Jesus. Oh, I just want to speak the name of Jesus. >> Every dark addiction starts to break. >> Declaring there is hope and there is freedom.

I speak Jesus. [Music] >> Your name is power. Your name is sealing. Your name is I.

Make every stronghold shine through the shadows of high. [Music] >> Oh, I just want to speak the name of Jesus. over fear and all anxiety. >> To every soul captivity Jesus, >> your name is power.

>> Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Break every stronghold.

Shine through the shadows the light. [Music] Shout Jesus from the mountains. Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the darkness over every enmy.

>> Jesus for my family. I speak the holy name. Jesus. >> Jesus from the mountain.

Jesus in the sea. Jesus in the darkness over every >> Jesus for my family I speak the holy name Jesus shout Jesus >> shout Jesus from the mountainus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over every enmy Jesus for my family. I speak the holy name. Jesus.

One more time. Shout Jesus. >> Shout Jesus from the mountains. Jesus in the streets.

Jesus in the darkness. Over every enemy. >> Jesus for my family. I speak the holy name Jesus.

[Music] >> I just want to speak the name of Jesus >> over every heart and every [Music] peace in his presence. I see Jesus. >> One more time. Your name is power.

Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is >> Make every stronghold shine through the shadows. [Music] Your name is power.

Your name is healing. Your name is >> Make every stronghold shine through the shadows. [Music] Thank you Jesus. [Music] [Music] Lord, we trust you for everything that you put in our lives.

Even the hard things. Everything that you desire to do, Lord, we just give it to you. Lord, we ask that you would do it in our lives. Open our hearts that we can trust you for more.

We can trust you for the miracles. We can trust you for the hard things. You are the giver of life. You are love.

You bring light into our darkness. We're testifying today that you have changed lives. That you have s saved and you have healed. The fact that you would wake brother Connor up.

>> Amen. >> And tell and let him know the message he gave was that you You have a purpose for him. And as we hear from Nathan, Lord God, that you also had a purpose for him. >> That's right.

>> And changed his life. >> That's right. >> Transformed him, Lord, we trust you that you are no respector of persons. If you did it for them, >> Amen.

>> You'll do it for us. >> That's right. And as we trust you more and more, Lord, you'll answer faster and faster because you love you delight. You delight to bless your children and to bring us those yeses we seek and we'll learn how to pray the prayers that you can say yes to every time.

Thank you, Jesus. Jesus name. [Music] You give life to your love. You bring light to the darkness.

You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken. Great are you Lord. >> You give light.

You give up. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. every soul, every heart that is broken.

[Music] >> Great are you. >> Sing great are you, Lord. [Music] Great are you, Lord. It's your breath.

>> It's your breath in our lungs. So we pou our praise. Pour out our praise. Your breath in our lungs.

So we pour out our praise to you. Great are you Lord. You give life. You give life.

You are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken.

Sing it out. Great are you, Lord. It's your faith. It's your praise in our mouths.

So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you.

It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It's your in our lungs.

So we pour our plates to holy. >> Great are you Lord. Sing great are you. Great are you Lord.

[Music] All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you.

All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These storms will sing. Great.

Great are you. >> All the earth will sing. All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry.

These bones will sing. Great. Great are you. One more time.

All the earth. All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing.

[Music] Are you still a breath in our lungs? So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs.

So we pour out our praise. You need your breath. in our lungs. So we pour out our praise.

Pour out our praise. Your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. >> Amen.

Glory. [Music] I know. >> Sing. It's your breath.

>> It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs.

So we pour out our praise to you. your bread in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise.

It's your bread in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you. [Music] >> Amen. Lord, thank you Lord.

[Music] Great are you. >> One more time. [Music] >> Great are you. [Music] >> Thank you God.

Give it up for Gabriel and Cassie. All right. Before I start to preach, I've got a special uh person who's going to come up and share. I I first met Nathan.

Um him and my daughter were kind of, you know, involved. And uh first time I met him, he just came and this guy's a prayer warrior. He's a young lion. He'll he'll walk into a Waffle House and just start talking to people about Jesus.

I've It's really pretty impressive when you come to meet someone that you're trying to impress and you're the one leading the prayer. It's pretty impressive. So, um, but I've never heard his testimony. So, I'm excited to hear this.

>> Awesome. >> Thank you so much. >> I'm so happy to be here. Thank you guys for coming out.

And I just I love worshiping. God has given me something to praise him for. I'll give you some context of uh just like the way I grew up. But um yeah, God had so many reasons to just like overlook my life, overlook me like but he just my story is kind of a a continuous um story of just God showing his his love to me and coming through to me even in my darkest moments.

But yeah, when I grew up, um my family, um are Christians. So they raised me in the church and I remember just being really little and just love loving singing to God, just being out in the woods where I lived with a little MP3 player and some earbuds and like singing made to love Toby Mac. Good times and yeah, God has delivered me from many things. A lot of things that um even many many Christians struggle with today.

But um Oh, did this >> think you hit your button? >> Hello. >> Test it. >> You hit the gray button.

>> I don't know. I didn't click anything. >> Uh my battery is low on that. But um just charge it.

>> Give me one of the other mics. >> There we go. >> This will work. But yeah, so um wow.

God has just been so good to me. this these past two years honestly have been the most growth like even after the things that I've been through which are more like I haven't I'm so thankful to God hearing um Connor's testimony and just like man every like the physical the physical pain that he's endured and the way God has shown up to him that way for me it's just been a lot of like strongholds in my life like since I was introduced to just very lustful things um very young.

So for like a decade of my life, I was just kind of struggling with sexual sin really. And um yeah, it was a stronghold because I knew the Lord and I knew that he he hated those things. And even though they grieved me, they just had power over my life. And um yeah, they were just It was it destroyed me a lot.

But um over those years, I just remember continuously running to God and being met with his grace. And it was only a matter of time until God freed me from that, which happened two years ago. >> I was I just it it got to a point where I was just crying out to the Lord with all of my heart, not just feeling bad, but but deeply like seeking repentance. And um I remember just going to the word like I wasn't just um saying, "Oh Lord, help me."

But I was seeking him earnestly. And there's a the ver there's a verse in first Corinthians um I think it's chapter 6 vers12 that talks about sexual sin and how we're um we're a temple of the Holy Spirit and just that that when we do those things, it doesn't just hurt affect our own bodies. But um yeah, let me actually just read the verse for you guys. Oh, my phone.

Can I grab my phone real quick? Sorry. I want to I want to just I wanted to come to you guys this right I didn't make too many preparations, but I just wanted to talk to you guys out of my heart. Um, basically before the Lord really broke down these this stronghold in my life of just sexual sin and all of that, um, he just brought me to this verse and it just became life to me and it became just a help.

So 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 16. Or do you not know that he who is joined No, no, no. It's not that one. I'm sorry.

>> 15. 1 Corinthians 6:15. Do you not know that your bodies Oh my goodness. I'm sorry.

It's not that one either. >> Okay. It's verse 18. It's all good.

It's all good. But 1 Corinthians chapter 6 18 says, "Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own, for you were bought with a you were bought with a price, a high price. So glorify God in your body. And that was just that became not only was it conviction, God was always convicting me out of his love, but this just became life and power to me. And I just continued to fall more in love with God as I ran to him and he showed me his mercy and his grace because it was it was a stronghold.

It was a fight because the devil um with anything we struggle with whether it's something lustful or just anything we put above God and we run to it to give us comfort rather than God's presence. Um the devil wants to ensnare us with shame and guilt and I think that's what he did so many years of my life and it kept me from kept me from um just going to people but um in Revelation it says we're made overcomers by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.

So uh something that became so powerful to me was just knowing that God was my defender. He was my vindicator. He loved me so I could run to other people who love the Lord. Um, not run to them like I would God, but like open up to them, be vulnerable to them because God used that and he helped me overcome in those situations.

So though I struggled with that for 10 years of my life, God helped me overcome. And also like drugs too, drugs, alcohol, I was involved in all that. I was so in the world >> and I was really I was I was a hypocritical Christian really because um you know I I loved you know I talked so much about Jesus but deep down I was struggling with these things and um I remember I remember times where you know I have I have a big family.

I have older brothers and so they've a lot of them have been through the same stuff as I did. But um I just God also just delivered me from judgment, from being an accuser because I remember there's times where I would kind of unintentionally put down my my siblings for um going through these things going through these things like what's wrong with you? Like why can't you know you change? But um I'm sure God could have said the same thing to me.

So but he came through. He's not looking down at any of you or he I know that he wasn't looking down at me with judgment or condemnation or shame or just disappointment. He was looking at me full of love and with grace every time I ran to him and uh just looked at his eyes like looked at his face. He met me with grace >> and the Bible says it's his loving kindness that leads us to repentance.

>> So I'm like sorry. >> So God changed my life. God changed my life. He delivered me from things that held me bondage.

I came to him with my broken and contrite heart and that's all he wanted. So, um, if there's ever anything that you guys might be struggling with, um, whether you're dealing with it now or you're good, but in the future, you know, you might fall into something, just know that the Lord is your helper. He's your stronghold. Don't make something else a stronghold by putting it above him.

Um, I'm just so thankful to the Lord and I love I love worshiping so much because yeah, just all those songs ring so true to my life and it's just amazing what he's done for me and I appreciate all of you guys. You guys are awesome. I love you guys. God is good.

>> I've got a question. >> Yes. real quick. >> If any of you guys have questions, by the way, >> the um so when you finally felt um freed up from the sexual temptation, um did it continue or was it just a come clean moment?

>> Okay, so I actually have a >> it works different ways. >> I have a Yeah, let me let me tell you about that. So um two years ago is really when God set me free from sexual sin. He gave me strength.

He I felt like just that I was empowered by his Holy Spirit, >> but I kind of became hotty. I wasn't humble about it. And um I remember just feeling invincible like, "Wow, God is so awesome. He did this awesome thing."

And I kind of just I stopped worrying about it. I stopped putting on my armor and um just really spending the the time with God that I should have. And then six months later, I um I fell I fell into it and I just sought the Lord hard with repentance. Like I could not believe that this happened.

I was so ashamed. Like I couldn't even like look at God for like three days. Like it was extremely humbling. But um after that the Lord really he He He had grace and he forgave me.

I felt his forgiveness more real than ever. And he helped me to get back up and he reminded me, hey, like you're not invincible. Like continue to seek me. And um that's kind of how he he delivered me.

And the reason like why he delivered me and that it's not a struggle anymore. Um like he really he took every desire like I can confidently say for the rest of my life out not out of arrogance that like I don't have to go back to that. I don't want to do that because I know the Lord and I know like his peace and his refuge and his comfort that um like that could never satisfy. He really healed my heart.

So and even before that um he delivered me from smoking. I had a nicotine addiction, a vaping addiction for two years. And I remember just going to to going to God in that too like um I was on my I so for two years I I was doing this and I realized how destructive it was to my life. And I just remember one night it was the last night I ever did it.

It was um probably six years ago now. It was when I was in high school. I just remember being in my room, in my dark room at night, crying out to the Lord, asking him for help. Simply asking him for help.

Please help me overcome this. And I told him like, "God, either free me from this or like I don't know what's going to happen to me. What's going to happen to me? I'm going to die, I guess, because it was either he he delivers me from it, he helps me through it or yeah, I just I I die."

So what I did was I threw that vape in the trash can in my room, which could have been a temptation, but because God met me in that moment and healed me, I was able to go on that journey of running to him even though like he didn't take away the cravings. He gave me he he gave me the power and he's like, "I'm with you. I'm with you, Nathan. Like I'm here."

And that's always really what he's whispered to me. And so like he's my savior. He's my healer. Um, he's he's everything to me now.

So, there's power. There's power in his name. There's power in his blood. There's power over the sin that you struggle with.

There's no shame. There's no condemnation. Romans 8. We're free.

So, all I had to do was surrender to him and walk in that freedom. And here I am now. I'm not perfect. You know, I still need to see God every He's still my help, still my refuge.

>> And he's Yeah. sanctifying me, growing me every day. So, good job. [Applause] >> Hopefully this works.

Can you guys hear me? >> Oh, man. Maybe down a little. So, thank you, young.

What's neat is I knew nothing about his testimony and he was talking about um being a hypocritical Christian and and I'm launching into this message today is um about hypocrisy. So it's kind of neat how the Holy Spirit works in all these things. So um >> I wanted to share one more thing. >> You're throwing off the emperor's group man.

Yeah, >> it's actually something that God put on my heart several months ago. >> We're rolling. >> Okay. Yes, we're rolling.

So, basically, the Lord just reminded me who he was to me. And I wrote it down. And I try to read it every day, but I'll read it when I just need to remember his love. And this is basically a declaration of who I am in the Lord.

I'm a child of God. I'll just I'll talk to you guys. I'm a child of God. A close friend of Jesus Christ, the King of creation.

He knew my unformed substance before the world existed. You delight in the very thought of me. You fearfully and wonderfully formed me in your holy, perfect image. Lord Jesus, you have searched my heart.

You perceive my thoughts from afar and know the very words on my tongue even before I speak. I have become a new creation by your blood, Lord Jesus, a living sacrifice, a dwelling place of your perfect and holy spirit. I have put on the mind of Christ and walk in his love, wisdom, and authority with knowledge and all discernment. Every worry and anxious thought has no place.

For you have not given me a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, power, and a sound mind. You give peace that surpasses all understanding and perfect love that surpasses knowledge and casts out all fear. There's no fear where your love flows. You know how to live my life better than I do.

And as I seek first your glorious kingdom and your righteousness, you will make all things fall into place. Your ways are higher than my ways. And your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. You can do far more than I could ask or imagine.

You know the plans you have for me. Plans to prosper me, not to harm me. Plans for a future and a hope. So lead me and guide me my steps, Lord Jesus.

I will listen closely for your direction. I will put on the whole armor of God. Even in my weaknesses, you are strong, Lord Jesus. Every day I will delight myself in you, remembering who I am in you and seeking to glorify your name to all creation through the ability and gifts you've given me with all faith, all faith and trust in you.

So God has purpose because he knew us. He knew me before I was even born and he died for me while I was at my worst. And the same goes for all of you guys. So I just want to sh He's a cute kid.

Um, we're going to open in Galatians 2 11-14. And today we're going to talk about transparency and truth. Okay. Um, I'm going to read it.

It's Galatians 2 um chapter or verse 11-4. Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I with this is Paul speaking. I withtood him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles.

But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him. So that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. For when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you being a Jew live in the manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?"

And that's a uh what's basically happened here is Peter, some people came, you know, the early disciples were Jewish and they were the Gentiles came and and they didn't have to be circumcised or anything like the Jewish law said. And uh Peter would act one way around one group of people and then when the people that he kind of looked up to came, he would act a different way around them. And Paul called him out, which I love that Paul called him out. Um because God hates hypocrisy.

Okay? Uh he really does. Jesus called out hypocrisy constantly. In fact, he's the first person to use that word.

So a hypocrite used to be an actor. They'd have a a stick with a face and and they would act in the play and then when they played a different part, they would have that and act in a play and they were called a they were an actor. Okay. Jesus took that and used it to talk about people that are one way around some people and a different way around other people.

Okay? He's the first guy to really use it in that connotation. And of course, Paul and John and all of them picked up on it. Paul called Peter out and it's good to confront other believers.

Usually the Bible tells us to to separate and you know go onetoone to them but actually Paul called everyone out at the same time and I think that's because they had all gotten washed away in the hypocrisy even Barnabas. Okay, we need to be transparent and true. It's easy to slip up. Okay, God's the neat thing about So this is my third week, right?

The neat thing about um the pastor role is, you know, as I prepare these messages, God hits me over the head with stuff every week. You can probably you're a preacher, you probably know. Um and what's great is if if you're open to it, he he he grows you. So So I have invited everyone I know to come to this church.

Okay? I mean, there are people here from my peer group, my my networking groups, okay? um here today. But there was one group I hadn't really spoken to yet, okay?

And it was the the my friends from the yach club, okay? Um which sounds way toyed, but forgive me, that's the life I have. Um so, so I I had hesitated to invite them, I don't know, to tell them that I moved away from the lake, sold the boat, you know, moved into a little place in Lawrenville. I just hadn't shared that with them yet and recruited them.

But God got all over me about this thing, dude. that's what you did. So, you got to tell them, you know, and I don't know if I was worried they kicked me out because they don't have a boat anymore. I don't know.

But, um, they're great people. And so, this Thursday, you know, we had a men's night out. You're grilling and you're hanging out talking and I just started sharing it. It turns out one of them is actually looking for a church home.

So, he's not here today, but I'm going to keep working on him. So, um, everybody needs Jesus, right? and and and we shouldn't be ashamed to invite anybody. And I think it's good when a pastor is is is growing and isn't perfect.

I'd say beware of any pastor who is perfect. Um because that's where they could fall. Okay? And um there's a lot of pastors that end up falling.

The world is begging for truth and we have the truth. Okay? And we've got to stand on that truth. as Nathan was sharing his testimony, you got to stand on that truth, okay?

Um, and stand fir firm on it. And and AI is blurring the lines of truth at lightning speed. Okay? We're in a hypocritical kind of time anyway.

But have you ever heard of magic post or tapio? Anyone? Chris, have you ever heard of that? >> Okay.

So, I just discovered this this week. This is software that's AI generated. And what they do is they can take your voice, your pictures of you, and they create content. So influencers, you know, that are that these kids today are listening to and that are influencing their minds.

Okay, these guys can go, they could be sitting home in their underwear, but this Taplio or Magic Post is creating these things of them and and you set up the parameters. Hey, I'm a I'm a I'm an influencer. It talks about wealth. And so they'll have the guy coming out of Mercedes, Maseratis, you know, they'll have him on the beach somewhere with little things quoted on, you know, live your best life now, brother, and all that, whatever it is that they're they're trying to pitch, right?

And it's not even them. It's a robot. It's an AI robot creating the content. So, they're learning literally from robots.

Okay? Pastors are using AI to write their sermons. Okay? Not me.

All right. That's never going to happen here. Okay. I don't I don't like AI.

But um so there's people that are sitting under preaching that really is robots. Okay. Um spinning the lessons. Teachers use the lessons.

I mean the students use AI to to cheat, but that's a different thing. Okay. But still AI is slowly infiltrating and then the media spins lies, right? The government spins the data.

Okay. AI is a powerful deceptive tool. I saw a clip once where it was uh Trump and Obama sitting there and then the cops come in and throw Obama to the ground and arrest him and and all that. I'm like it looked completely real.

Like they looked the same. They had the same voice and everything and and it was a fake. It didn't really happen. But but AI can create things that are actually look so real you can't tell the difference.

So the devil's got a new tool of deception that he's got at his hands. Okay. I think of Billy Graham back in the 70s, you know, he witnessed to more people probably than anyone in history. He had the foresight to send someone because they would go to to town to town.

He would send someone into his hotel room to to make sure there was no woman in there and a and a photographer ready to catch him doing something and bring down his ministry. Today, AI can do that. they can create something that looks like him, sounds like him, bring them into a room where there's a a person who looks like a prostitute, the picture, everything. And if it goes out on one media outlet, they'll all pick it up.

So the next day, you're sitting there and Billy Graham caught in this, you know, horrible adulterous affair or whatever, and that's the end of his ministry. And it wasn't even true. Okay, that's what can happen today. That's a scary place to be.

You can take a thought, any thought, and find stuff online to support it and then be part of that group or whatever. Okay, there are flatearthers. Did you know this? There are flatearthers.

People that believe that the earth is still flat. Now, I have flown around the world. I've seen it's it's not flat. Okay, this has been proven long ago.

But they can pull up data where the moon launched. They have their facts. They found facts online. And their facts could be Timmy Two-Tone in in Norway with a tinfoil hat on because he doesn't want to be melted by aliens posting whatever he thinks because there's no filter on the internet.

Okay? Anything can be posted on the internet and then you can find whatever you need to support whatever view you have. And that's a really really scary place to be. So, what do you do in a time where it's so bad?

And social media exacerbates this, right? Because you have algorithms. Um, if you're a far-right wing Republican, all right, you get fed the far right stuff and the far left the far left stuff to the point where you really can't talk to each other anymore. And that's generally where we find ourselves, right?

But but even factchecking, if you fact check something online, but but you're the algorithms know you're a right-wing person, they're going to look for facts that are from the right and versus facts from the left. So So they could both be factchecking and come up with different facts, both from the internet, both from the thing. And I'm going to share something that I I I did in a little bit with chat GPT. It's unbelievable.

But this has been going on for a long time, okay? It's just warping speed. And today I'm going to talk about what I think is one of the biggest lies of all time that has been perpetrated and and it messes with Christians and that's the whole thing of evolution and creationism. Okay.

Um Christians struggle with this. I hear all sorts of excuses as to why this book doesn't match up with the the millions of years. Okay. um they'll say intelligent design that was a thing that they they came out with.

Okay, where where there's a some intelligent design behind it all, you know, or um you know, they'll say, well, someone had to start the ball rolling with the there had to be someone behind it. Um I heard my mom when she was well a year, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day and she's trying to make excuses for why, you know, these things were millions of years. But we don't have to fit this book into that world lie. And I'm going to show you why.

It's a complete fabrication. It's a lie. Okay? And I'm going to show you what the Bible says.

And you guys choose which one you think is is more accurate and smarter. Because the reason it's important is if you believe one part of this book isn't right, then you've got your excuse to not to compromise. Okay? Because if one part of it's not right, then the rest of it's not not right.

And when you really want to do something like that, flesh is is fighting with you, you can say, well, you know, X and and you have your excuses to compromise on the word. But I believe that this word is absolute truth. I believe that every word is true. Okay?

And I'm going to hopefully try to prove that to you right here. All right. Back in um Oh, which is the best path? Ah, simply believe and live by the Bible.

It's not outdated. Okay, it works today. People think the Bible's outdated or they just want to choose the parts that they like. But this book gives you a guideline to how to live.

Okay, do you realize that it tells us that we're supposed to pray together, right? Do you know that there is no difference in the world today between the divorce rates for Christians and non-Christians? There's none. But Christians who pray together every night, the husband and the wife, and not the husband being dragged to it, but the husband who takes the lead, okay, and praise each night, okay?

Less than 1% divorce rate, okay? You can take divorce off the table by just simply praying. And the thing I want to beg the women that are out there that are hearing this is listen, affirm your guy. If your guy is going to go and fight principalities of darkness, okay?

Even if he doesn't do the best job praying, affirm him, man. Love him because he he wants to impress you. And it's scary for people to pray out loud. And it's really scary to pray in front of someone that you care about or whose opinion you respect.

Okay? But if that person's going to be a lion and is going to step in because we fight against principalities of darkness, right? So that man who steps into that role, he's fighting against the demons to protect that marriage. He's fighting for you.

And so I I I beg you to to to do that. but less than 1%. Okay, so this book works. Okay, it works today even in this time.

But this evolution thing has people questioning you know some of it may not and they try to make stories or they don't even talk about it like you don't hear people preach on evolution because they don't want to talk about it because you know hey hey you know we this doesn't stand up. Okay. So, back in 1859, Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution in his book, The Origin of Species. 166 years later, it is still a theory.

Okay? So, back in our day, a theory was something you propose. Okay? And then you try to prove it with the facts and then it becomes a law, right?

So, um, gravity was a theory, but it can be proven. It's a law. There was no way these glasses were going to rise to the ceiling. Okay, the law of gravity confirms it.

It's something we can see. In fact, they can calculate how fast things will fall. There's a formula for it. Okay, I don't know, but there's a formula for it.

So, back in the day, you had to prove things. All right. The reason it's still a theory is in all of recorded history, there is nowhere where a species morphed from a cat to a dog or a monkey to a man or anything else like that. There is no proof in recorded history of that happening.

Okay? The only way you can support it is to make up this thing that goes back millions and millions of years. So when they were digging up archae archaeological stuff, you know, bones and everything, they were they were f dating dating the stuff based on whatever, but the bones were giving roughly the same time frame, 8 10,000 years, 7,000 years. It wasn't giving them what they needed to get the data to support the theory.

Now, they should have been trying to prove the theory, but instead they took the theory as fact and then twisted and manipulated the data to fit the story just like the government does with the the the facts and figures that anyone think we're running about 2% inflation right now. Like things are only going up 2% because that's what the government's reporting. Okay? And it's just not accurate.

They're excluding now I hear hear they just excluded services. Well, I mean now you're taking away almost everything. Okay? So there's this little sliver that's not growing and everything else is expensive insurance.

And so it's not just that they created this amazing elaborate story. Okay. So you got different eras. There's the Mesopotamic era and there's, you know, Chromagnum man and Paleo man and they're getting this all from bones and they're just figuring out what the stuff is.

But a third grader could devote could could debunk this. Okay. Um, we're supposed to believe these scientists who are constantly proving themselves wrong. Right?

Every year they prove things that were a fact two years ago that they have proven two years ago was a fact they prove today. Okay? It happens all the time. The only people who are wrong more than scientists and still keep their job are the the weathermen, right?

They're about the only one. So the uh you know trust the science that worked well for us during COVID, right? So so these guys have a track record that's pretty suspect. Okay, but a third grader can debunk it.

So according to them, monkeys became men. Okay, so why are there still monkeys? Little Timmy the third grader wants to know why are there still monkeys? Think about it.

If evolution is about us evolving, okay, and supposedly because you can't prove it here in the last seven ten 7,000 years of recorded history, supposedly millions of years ago, monkeys began to become human. What monkey would sit there and say, "Nah, I want to stay a monkey. I want to stay a monkey." Right?

It's like uh remember King Louie from Jungle Book. My kids are here. I want to be like you. Of course, a monkeyy's going to want to be like a human.

But here's the bigger problem. If that happened millions of years ago, why aren't there monkeys becoming humans now? How did evolution stop a million years ago? Okay, it can't.

That's not the theory. The theory is that people continue to evolve. And evolving is true. Like if you live if you move to the south, you'll begin to your hair will get lighter over time and and because you don't need as much hair as the Eskimos would in the frozen country.

That's evolving. Huh? >> Adaptation. >> Adaptation.

Okay. Thank you, my smart child. >> Um, according to the scientists, there was an ice age. The Oh, there's now they've got, you know, three ice ages is how they've pinned it now.

Um, the dinosaurs disappeared because of uh a meteor. Um, they've got this, I mean, it's a kids story book on steroids. Okay. The last ice age, according to them, lasted 2 million years and ended around 12,000 years ago.

Okay. Um, the Bible says we're in that, you know, roughly that time frame is is all the earth has been around. Okay. So my question is this and and they have to say that because you can prove that there was water that once covered the entire earth.

Okay? It's in the sediment and the density of the labor um or ice if you believe the scientists, right? But think about this. The scientists again, Timmy the third grader are sitting here saying the scientists say we there was the whole world was covered in ice for two million years.

Well, how did we survive? What? We have some giant cave somewhere with a bunch of uh trees and us and the monkeys and everybody hung out for a couple million years trying to burn up the thing. Where's that cave?

I want to see that cave. Okay, it's a ludicrous thought. If you start just asking basic questions, it's a ludicrous thought. If the world Earth is billions of years old, how does the Mississippi River, the strong great Mississippi River, only have about a 20ft bank?

Okay, over millions of years of going over that, it should be deeper than the Grand Canyon. Okay, you can look with your eyes today and see facts that discount evolution. Yet, we're supposed to be apologetic and believing that this millionofear theory is true. So, so we got this ridiculous story over here with with its suspect proof.

So, let's talk about the Bible. The Bible says about this gig in the beginning chapter 1 verse 6 this is this becomes the second day God says let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so.

And God called the firmament heaven. So the evening and the morning the second day. So God once had this whole earth encased in water. Okay?

According to the Bible, when did that end? The flood. Okay? Popped it.

Whatever he did to it, bring it down. That's what caused the flood. Okay? But we know from the historical records here that the people back then lived a thousand years.

Okay? It's documented. You say, "Well, you can the thing about this, you can f follow the genealogy all the way back the genealogy all the way to to to uh Jesus." I mean, it's all in here, right?

How do you know that your great great grandfather was a brickmason? Okay, because the story is passed down from the generations. There's something to that with the sciences. Scientists deal with evolution.

You got to look past these times and believe this story they made up about millions of years ago. That doesn't make any sense. There's no there's nothing to factch checkck it. Okay?

It's just it's just a lie. You don't have to make apologies for this book and you don't have to take this book and try to make it fit into the world. The way to handle it is to reject the world's lie and live by this thing. Okay?

This is the best path for you. So the ark. All right. Oh, so the people were living 10 10 times longer.

They're living a thousand years. Okay, 10 times longer than normal. Lizards grow until they die. So the Komodo dragon which grows to 7 8 10 feet.

It's going to keep growing. Okay, until it dies. So it's its biggest on its day of death. If everything's living 10 times longer, then that Komodo dragon that lives seven or eight 10 feet will become 70 80 100 feet.

There's your big bones that they found, you know, that that are dinosaur bones. No, they're just big reptiles. Okay. And the God who sent ravens to feed Elijah at the brook Cheriff, he literally sent ravens bringing food to feed him.

Okay? He can easily say, "All right, you two little Komodo dragons." Because he's not going to pick the big, you know, almost dead one. He's going to bring the little ones.

He could definitely have two by two come into the ark. Okay. So, you got to decide which is more more realistic. Okay.

And here's the piece. They have found pieces of the ark on the mountain. Okay. So, now we got an archaeological validated thing.

And this book cross references itself better than any book in all of history. Okay. So, you've got genealogy, you've got actual archaeology archaeology. And which is easier to believe?

that we all hung out in a cave for millions of years with wood that would have definitely run out in millions of years. Okay? That that monkeys decided to stop becoming monkeys and evolution stopped a million years. What's easier to believe?

Or that God, the creator of the universe, you know, sent rain, popped the bubble, sent rain, had them all survive in an arc, which has now been proven that it did exist, right? That's that's a more logical thing. You don't have to take your intelligence and put it on a shelf to believe this book. You have to take your intelligence and put it on a shelf to believe what the scientists say.

This book makes way more sense. Okay, that story makes way more sense. And now here's the the nail in the coffin for me of this. You know what?

Which one is right? Okay. In a case, detective case, court of law, eyewitness accounts will trump anything circumstantial. Okay?

So, if one person and especially if two or three people see the actual murder, it's basically case closed, right? Doesn't matter if the glove doesn't fit. It's case closed if they actually see the murder. Okay?

So no one was around at the start of creation except God. All right? Even atheists have to acknowledge that somewhere, even if you believe in the big bang, who put the ball there? Someone had to be above time, above space, and above matter.

Because if he's part of matter, he can't create the start of matter. Right? So, so there's only one creature. But it wasn't just one person.

It was three. Okay? In Genesis 1:26, we see the first um arrival of the Trinity. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish, etc."

God made us in his image. Okay? He that wasn't the angels he was saying us to because the angels weren't made in God's image. It was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Okay? The eyewitness to the account says this. He made it in six days and he rested on the seventh. Okay.

So, the one eyewitness account, I'm going with that because to go with that means I have to believe so many lies and so many ridiculous things that don't make sense that it that I'd be a fool to believe that. Okay? And Christians shy away from this. Okay?

The world is telling us one thing. the Bible's telling you another. And I say reject the world's stuff and cling to this because your life will be better. I uh don't ever want to take one side of a deal though.

So I went to chat GPT. All right. To ask it, is evolution true? Okay.

So this is this is AI now answering my simple question. Yes, evolution is true in the scientific sense that it's the best supported explanation for the diversity of life on Earth. Basically, it's saying yes, it's true because we have all this data. Now, all that data is flawed data that they made up.

It's all manipulated data, but it's still data. Okay? And so, wherever the most data is, that's where it's going to feed up and and and then it goes in to write some stuff. So, then I go okay chat why is this still a theory?

Okay. Why is it still a theory? You ready for this? So, I thought it was the law of gravity.

It's called the theory of evolution for the same reason they say the theory of gravity. Thought it was the law of gravity. Now, it's the theory of gravity. And they go on to explain that theory is more comprehensive, can allow more diverse ideas.

And so, that and this is a quote unquote theory is actually stronger than the law in terms of explanatory power. So they couldn't prove the theory of evolution. So they now changed the definition. So now theory is more than law.

So now as long as you believe something and you can get enough other people to believe it is stronger than the law. What does that open us up to? I mean we are hosed. Okay.

It's up. It's it and so there is only one way. Okay. And here's the thing, God is working in this.

As bad as it sounds, there's a revival happening. Okay? God always works good. Okay?

We found that out about Connor's situation, right? This this How old are you? >> 23. The fastest growing group of Christians in America are 18 to 24 year old men.

There's one of them. Okay. Kids a young line. And that's what's happening because they've heard lies their whole life and they just want truth.

Okay. People just want the truth and we have the truth and we can't cower back and be afraid to let people know about the truth because I think Jesus is coming soon. Okay? And this Bible works and everyone needs it.

So, we need to get out there and we need to be serious about it. Over the next eight weeks, I'm going to be starting a series called The Last Introduction, the last instructions of Jesus. It's coming from a book that's going to be coming out here in the next month or so. You know, Paul wrote letters to seven churches, two of them twice.

Corinthians and Thessalonians. Jesus al and we quote those. I mean, they're at marriages. We quote them.

We constantly study them. Paul, Paul, Paul, and and there's not a week that comes up here that I'm not quoting Paul somewhere. You know, you were quoting Romans a minute ago. Okay, that's book the book he the letter he wrote to the church at Rome.

the uh Jesus Christ wrote seven letters to seven churches, okay? And he wrote them 60 years after he got read raised up. And he and he tucked them into Revelation, which is the end times chapter okay? And it's just not talked about.

It's been kind of blown off. But if you actually take my thesis is this, this book is true. Every word in this book is true. If you take that and you start looking at what Jesus wrote there through the uh apostle disciple John, okay, he dictated to him and John wrote it down.

If you look at it, it has unbelievable lessons for us, okay? It will challenge some of your core beliefs. Even Christians that have been Baptist or whatever for it's going to challenge some of your core beliefs, but it's also going to challenge um you and your growth. Okay.

But a lot of times when people talk about the end times, they do it with fear. They do it with anger. This is a love book. Okay.

Jesus, those seven letters are love letters. He's telling us, "Hey, I see you doing this. Don't do this. Do this instead."

And he gives us a game plan depending on where you're at. Whether you're a compromising Christian, whether you're a corrupt Christian, whether you're you're a faithful Christian, lukewarm Christian, he's got specific things to do for each person. And we're going to study each one each week, and it's going to be very powerful, and we'll be growing together, okay? And so, I really want to encourage you to um come on back, tell people about it.

Come and let's get ready to be stretched as we read Jesus's words. They're the last words recorded, the red letters. Okay, so here they are in Revelation, the red letters. There's nothing else after that, the red letters until after he comes back up, after he raptures up some of the church.

Um, and so, okay, I want to encourage you to come because we're going to grow and we're going to learn, okay? And it's going to be exciting because you you can argue Brian's this or that, but these are just Jesus's words. I'm not adding anything to them and I'm not going to take anything away from him. I'm just going to say this is what Jesus says.

Here's what that means, you know, and and and it's going to be really fun, really exciting. It's the reason I started this church was God put this message in my heart. And uh the last few weeks I've been just sharing, you know, testimonies of things with me. But um it's going to be a fun time and I want to encourage you all to come back.

Um let's wrap this with prayer and then uh Gabriel's going to do a we we end with a song where we're all arm in- arm. It's uh it's a lot of fun. So we'll we'll end with that. But let's pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord, I love you. I am so thankful for the way you move in the hearts of your people. Lord, the way you moved in Nathan's heart, the way you've you've moved in my heart and and and other people here, the way you healed Connor miraculously. Lord, I just thank you for your amazing answers to prayer.

Um the way you you somehow know about each one of us and know what each one of us need. And and it's it's mindblowing to me that that you're that but you're beyond space, time, and matter. And that's why you're worthy of of worship. And so Lord, I just ask now that you um pour out your spirit on these people here, that you um be with them as they go into their week, that you challenge them and grow them and give them encouragement to to speak about you.

And Lord, I just thank you for um everything you've done in my life and everything you're doing in their lives. And I praise you and I worship you in Jesus name. Amen.