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Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, this is so pro. I want us to all stand. I want to just. From Elder Vicki's song, the choir song, Judah, to your song. Let me tell you why this is such an important moment. With the permission of our general overseer. I just, I think this is so appropriate, just even starting with Judah's song. I have his permission. I know he is on holiday right now. Well deserved. Him and Dr. Conlon, who leads our Bible college, are on holiday in Canada and they're watching right now. So I'm going to try not to get emotional for these next few moments. I'm going to call us to a time of prayer here in these next. In these weeks to come, and especially we're going to take a day of prayer and fasting with Pastor Carter's permission, who has served this church for over 30 years and was the senior pastor for some 20 plus years, who was my predecessor. He is in August 26, which is. You need to put that on your calendar, look at your phone now. It is going to be a day of prayer and fasting. He is going in for heart surgery. And so that's why your song was. And all I could think about, Judah, was this. He's not finished with him yet. That's what I told him. He's not finished with him yet. And so we are going to take that day for prayer and fasting for our general overseer. I have given him strict instructions that he is. He has to stay alive as long as I'm in this role. That is his job. That is his job. Every time I see him, I just go, you have one job. Carter Conlon, what is it? And he always looks at me. He says it's like that old disco song, staying Alive. That's what he tells me all the time. So, Pastor Carter, you know what? Your job is to stay alive. The doctor said when he's done with him, by the grace of God, he said he will have to 10, 15 strong years. So that's what we are praying for. I believe for more. I believe for more. I want us to take a moment now to pray for our general overseer to pray for the president of our Bible college. Would you just start to lift your voice as we start to intercede right now? Father, we believe in healing in this church. We believe that God is able to even interrupt a surgery and say, you've been healed today. So God, while he is there in Canada right Now watching while Dr. Teresa is there, we are saying in Jesus name as a church Here in New York City and around the world, we are praying for our general overseer. We are praying for Pastor Carter right now. God, I thank you that even as we sang today, Ricardo led us in that song. Son of sufferings, your stripes speak healing. And so we pray healing now in Jesus name. God, I thank you that Father, that you will use Doctors. There is Dr. Luke in the Bible. And so God, we are praying that you would guide those surgeons right now. And we are saying you bring him back better than ever. In Jesus name. We need his voice. We need that anointing. We need him, Lord God, Father, to speak from this pulpit to the nations, to pastors and to the world. So we lift up our general overseer right now and we say miracles. And God, I believe the Sunday he stands in this pulpit, we'll sing it again movement when he comes back. And we'll begin to show pictures and say we have movement. We have our general overseer moving into a brand new season of his life. So God right now, hand of God touch him. Remove fear, remove anxiety, remove worry. Send peace, joy and comfort in the Holy Ghost in Jesus name. And everybody said amen and amen and amen. Hallelujah. We love you. Pastor Carter, would you remind the person next to you, say August 26th, tell them that. Say I better not see you eat anything. Tell them that right now. Now let me just before we pray and go into the message. Well, we did pray. We do welcome not only you here at 51st and Broadway. Welcome to Times Square Church. We welcome those watching live from the annex. We have a full annex and then our Jersey campus. We welcome all of you today. And for those that are watching around the country and around the world, I want to just read to you the nations that are with us. Some of them once again we cannot read because of their. The nations that the persecution is there. And so we keep ourselves away from that. There was some especially last week that we were so excited joined us. But we will, we will not mention them. But let me tell you who's live with us today. Kenya. We welcome Kenya. Rwanda. Now Rwanda. Listen to me, listen to me carefully. You don't want to miss this. To Rwanda. Your nation has played an important part in my life. I'm going to share it today. Namibia, South Africa. Eswatini live with us is Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ghana and the Ivory Coast. We welcome our friends from Asia. Malaysia, South Korea, Cambodia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the United Arab Emirates. We also have Israel with us. We say Shalom and we Believe for the peace of Jerusalem, Australia, New Zealand. Our friends in Europe, the uk, Wales, Scotland, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Greece, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and France. We say hello to Switzerland and Sweden. We welcome Romania, Hungary, Greenland, Portugal, Italy. We welcome Norway, Kosovo. We also have Russia and Ukraine. We pray for. We're praying an end to this war in Jesus name for those two nations. We welcome our northern neighbor, Canada. It's always a joy to see first nation people. We welcome the Navajo Nation, Mexico, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines. El Salvador, Belize, Haiti. We welcome Cuba, St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Bahamas, Suriname, Chile, Guyana, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. We welcome all of you here live with us some 66 countries and 44 states that are with us. We welcome all of you and we just say, thank God that you're with us today. Just before I pray. Our series is called One Billion Starts with One. It's a challenge for all of us to be soul winners. It's the vision and the burden of this church to see a billion souls come to Christ before Christ comes back again. Let's pray. Father, in these next few moments, may the Holy Spirit begin to speak to us, challenge us. You've been speaking to us all day. You're declaring to us the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the blood of Jesus, the power of the gospel. Now today, work miracles in this place. Work miracles in Jesus name. And everyone said, amen. Look at somebody and say, buckle up and you may be seated. Thank you. Every time we are led to sing, whether it's with the choir or Ricardo or Elde Vicky, I must sing. And every time we clap, I have to clap. There is no option for me. Every time we're told to shout hallelujah, I shout hallelujah. I can't just stand there. I have no option. But I have to. Because a nation in Africa changed me. I want to share something with you that I don't share very much, but I felt so strongly to share it today. A little over 20 years ago, I had the privilege of traveling with some pastors to what is called the Switzerland of Africa. It's called Rwanda. The country was surrounded by and is still surrounded by beautiful mountainous landscape. The people were so amazing and so kind, and you never would have known that just a little over 10 years prior to our visit, the country experienced a genocide. Over a span of a hundred days, from April to July in 1994, the members of the Tutsi ethnic group were systematically being eliminated by the Hutu Militia. We went there and started to hear the stories of almost a million people that lost their lives in 100 days. Almost a million people lost. We went with the leaders from a Christian organization called Compassion International. We would visit the feeding sites where hundreds of children were executed for their ethnicity. Children just because that they were Tutsi. They took their lives and would kill them in hundreds and hundreds at these feeding centers. The Rwanda Holocaust Museum was as sobering to me as the Jewish Holocaust Museum. I heard stories from directors, families, leaders who were all affected by by this tragedy. But the experience that has burned into my soul took place at a Sunday morning church service in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. I asked one of the pastors that was traveling with our team to preach that Sunday. I just wanted to sit in the audience. And I'm so happy I didn't preach because what happened to me was more important than standing behind a pulpit. That Sunday, I watched a man in front of me who was beaming with joy. His hands was lifted at every single song. He would clap constantly in worship, and nothing mattered around him. He was so focused on Christ. And I had to know his story. For this reason, both of his hands were chopped off. And that man lifted his hands. That man clapped with those nubs on his hands like no one I've ever seen. And I had to know what happened. He was a tootsie. And the penalty for him being the wrong race. During that hundred days, they held his hands on a chopping block and cut them both off. He was a believer. And now there see a man in front of me with no hands, clapping and making no sound. It's a deadened sound with those nubs. But somehow I believe that every time that man claps in heaven, it is the loudest clap in glory. As that man begins to clap, he not only worships with no animosity, he is worshiping in a place where all the people that there's other ethnic groups there, men and women that were responsible for him losing his family, his loved ones. But he has kept his eyes on heaven. He has forgiven his enemies, and he worships God with a fervency. After church, I talked with him. I hugged him. I even took both of those nubs and I kissed them. And I said to him this. I said, I need you to pray for me. I want you to lay your hands on me and pray for me. I don't show this often, but it's the picture that I've that this man that day. This is 20 years ago. I watched that man lay his hands on me. And I said, from that day on, I was 20 years younger. Some of you are going, why is your hair so gray today? I was 20 years younger and I work at Times Square Church. I watched the man who did so little with what he did, so much with the little that he had. And at that moment, over 20 years ago, I said, if that man can worship with excitement and fervor with no hands, what am I doing with two hands? Listen to me. A man that has lost his loved ones and family in a genocide, but has forgiven and moved on, what am I doing holding on to offense? What am I doing holding on to hurt? God has given me two good hands. My pain is nowhere near this man. And here I am holding back with so much more that has been given to me. No more, not any longer. Twenty years ago, I said, at that point, I will forgive fast. I said, I will not be ashamed of this gospel. I will not be offended by petty arguments and people that have said things or have hurt me. I will not be lukewarm when it comes to worship and the word and loving God. I will not be half hearted. When the music starts and the curtain goes up, it isn't a warmup time for me to go like. Let me wait for the song that I like and then I'll worship. I will not be disobedient. I will not hold on to unforgiveness. I will be a disciple in love with Jesus Christ. I'm going to be a fervent worshiper that gives God every part of me and give him everything. I will always sing. I will always worship. I will tell my story when I don't feel like it. I remember that I had two nubs laid upon my shoulder that I asked God, don't let me fall into any trap that you have given me too much not to worship, Change me too much not to lift my. Look at me for a second. Let me just tell you something. I have no idea how someone could be in the presence of God like this or like this. Unless you're going to hell, then I get it. But let me just tell you this. If you're on your way to heaven today, our hands should be up. There should be a shout in this place and God should receive all the glory. This verse is so powerful, it takes you to a low place, the bottom, the rock bottom. In fact, it calls it the great deep where this man went through. It's Isaiah 51:10. Listen to these words. Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep. Look at this now. Who made the depths of the sea a pathway. Look at that phrase. Who made the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to cross over? Look at that verse again. Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep? Who made the depths of the sea a pathway, a road, a highway for the redeemed to cross over? Folks, I love the way that the message says it. The message says it like this. And then made the bottom of the ocean a road for the redeemed. The bottom, the depths. God telling us that he can take the worst of the worst and. And make it a path to the best and make it a path to freedom. When does the bottom become a road, a road for the redeemed? When I was in Detroit in the 1980s, we would hand out gospel booklets on the streets. Some of you don't know this word. We call them Tracks. How many remember that word, Tracks? These were. There was one of my favorite that we would hand on the streets of Detroit for many years. It was written by our founding pastor, David Wilkerson. My office, in fact, just a few months ago, found one in a library in the Midwest. And they. I mean, it's so small. They. I can't remember if they sold it to us or gave it to us. The pages are really just old. But I didn't even know that they still existed. It was called Rock Bottom. Rock Bottom, written by David Wilkerson. And this was. I used to hold onto dozens and dozens and dozens of these, and I'd hand them out on the street. It was written for those that hit the great deep. The bottom that was at the bottom of life was a term for the lowest part of life, that the next step, lower, was really hell for them. And I would ask them, have you hit rock bottom? Are you ready for a new life? Because where you are is a path to get you to the other side. It's not to hold you back, but it is a road. It's a path to bring you there. And then, like Isaiah 51:10, the lowest place became a road for their miracle, became a road for our miracle. That when you've hit your lowest point, whether you're unsaved or saved, it's amazing that God will use the depths of the sea, the path, the road of the great deep, and bring you to the other side. That road is what got you to the Lord. Those depths made you realize you need God in your life. The depths became a Pathway back to where you belong. The pathway, the road has a story. And can I tell you this? You need to tell that story. You need to tell the story of the deep. You need to tell the story of rock bottom. And saying, this is where I was, this is what was going on. But God was brought me through. Tell that story in New York City. Tell that story in Rwanda. Tell that story in Lima and in London. Tell the story in San Juan and in San Francisco, from Miami to Manila. That God brought us through. That God got us to the other side. That God brought us through the great deep. It was a road for the redeemed. It was a road to get me to the place of being born again. Listen to how Peter exalts those who have traveled the bottom to the other side. I love this verse. Peter says, but you are the ones chosen by God. Chosen for the high calling of priestly work. Chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work. And listen what he says. Speak out for him. Tell others of the night and day difference he made in you. From nothing to something. From rejected to accepted. Hallelujah. I gotta read that part again. Speak out for him. Tell others it's night and day. Thank God you didn't know me when I didn't know Jesus. From nothing to something. From rejected to accepted. Your rock bottom story is a powerful story. It will be a road for others to find God. And you need to tell others of your night and day story. The difference God has made in you. From nothing to something. From rejected to accepted. And remember these words that you always have something to say. You always can open up your mouth. That really my, my, my, my encouragement to you is just tell your story. It's the power of a testimony. When you tell your story, there are five things that I want you to remember. Jot these down when you open up your mouth and speak out to share that rock bottom. To share that path through the deeps, through the depths of the ocean that God brought you through. When you open up your mouth telling folks it's a night and day difference. I've gone from being rejected to accepted. I want to tell you there's five things that happens and you're going to see this through the Scriptures. Number one, when you tell your story, Galatians 1, we'll go through, all of these people will praise God and not you. I want you to understand a testimony. They look at God and not your life. Number two, Revelation 12 says it crushes the enemy's powerful lies. Acts 4 says testimony will silence the critics and make us get louder. Acts 22 tells us. And I'll explain this. Testimonies have no expiration date. And John 4. We're gonna learn. I'm sorry, that should say John 9. That's my problem. It's simple. Don't complicate the story. Let me tell you about this Galatians 1. People praise God and not you. Throughout the book of Acts and the letters of the New Testament, Paul would constantly tell his rock bottom depths of the ocean story. He told it for decades. Let me read to you one of those spots that he tells his story. It's Galatians, chapter one. Listen to these words. Paul says, by now you've heard stories of how I severely harassed and persecuted Christians and did my best to systematically destroy God's church, all because of my radical devotion to the Jewish religion. My zeal and passion for the doctrines of Judaism distinguished me from among my people, for I was far more advanced in my religious instruction than others of my age. But then God called me by his grace and in love. He chose me from birth to be His. God's grace unveiled his son in me so that I would proclaim him to the non Jewish people of the world. After I had an encounter, I kept it a secret for some time, sharing it with no one. And I chose not to run to Jerusalem to try to impress those who had become apostles before me. Instead, I went into the Arabian desert for a season until I returned to Damascus, where I had first encountered Jesus. I remained there for three years until I eventually went up to Jerusalem and met the apostle Peter. Stayed with him for a couple weeks so I could get to know him better. The only other apostle I met during that time was James, the Lord's brother. And everything I'm describing to you, I confess before God is the absolute truth. After my stay in Jerusalem, I went to Syria and southeast Turkey, but remained unknown to the Jewish believers in Judea. The only thing they heard about me was this. Our former enemy, who once brutally persecuted us, is now preaching the good news of the faith that he was once obsessed with destroying. I left to read that line again. Our former enemy, who is brutally pers. Brutally persecuted us, is now preaching the good news of the faith that he once was obsessed with destroying. And because of the transformation that took place in my life, they praised the God even more. Hallelujah. See, a biography always ends with a person, their story, and what they did. But a testimony is different. A testimony ends with what God did. God is the star of a Testimony. A person is the star of the biography. And Paul doesn't tell a biography. Paul tells his testimony in a testimony. God. God gets all the glory. It's what happened that. It's what happened when God stepped into his life. It's nothing short of a miracle when he says our former enemy who once brutally persecuted us, now preaching the good news of the faith that he was once obsessed with destroying. It's a miracle the transformation took place. It took place that people started to praise God and look to God at that moment. Someone said it like this. God formed man. Sin deformed man. Education informed religion may reform him, but only Jesus Christ can transform him. It's the only thing that can happen. Folks. Don't stop at education. Don't stop at a PhD and a master's. Keep moving on. And by, for heaven's sake, don't stop at religion, but go all the way. Let the transformation work of Jesus take place. Paul went from, from education and then he even went into religion. But he missed the transformation that would happen by Christ. What a story that this man who, who was hitting rock bottom, this man who was obsessed with murder, that God would get a hold of him, that God would arrest him. That God would do something so powerful in his life that it was, it was transformative. I have to read to you something that came in this morning. It was sent to me from somebody who, who's now serving with our online team. Listen to the story. What she shared. Listen to her story. When I was a child, my mother died and the brokenness shaped my life. Nope, that's not the. This is another story. I've got so many stories here. No, it isn't. When I was a child, my mother died and the brokenness shaped my life and the image I had of myself. God didn't leave me behind. I was confronted with his love and plan for my life and. And a few years later, as a young child, I went to a Billy Graham crusade and heard of the love of Jesus that he would offer forgiveness. And I went to the altar at a Billy Graham crusade and gave my life. Listen to this. My decision was sincere, but I couldn't overcome what happened next to me. Listen to what she said. My decision, he said. At that point, though sincere, what happened next was catastrophic. My sister and I were sexually abused by a close member of our family. I spent the next several years spiraling into self destruction. Destructive lifestyle that included an abusive marriage, drug abuse led to a life of crime. Though I never forgot the message I heard about Jesus and God was about to intervene, just like he did for Paul on the road to Damascus. Listen to what she said. His actions led me to Times Square Church through some unexpected, unusual ways. I used to do drug deals in the streets. I used a public painting payphone on the sidewalk where I dealt so I wouldn't get caught. One day I saw something in the phone booth and picked it up. It was a David Wilkerson sermon letter, which intrigued me. So I read it and started to follow TSC online and David Wilkerson's teaching. For years, I was still struggling with personal issues and criminal lifestyle. And then in 1994, I went to jail. And this time, she said, I went to jail for something I didn't do. I've done plenty of wrong things, but this time I was really innocent. It's my favorite line of this, other than when she gets saved. I was incarcerated and in my cell I discovered a surprise under my mattress. It was the David Wilkerson book set the trumpet to your mouth. It's a newsletter in a payphone booth. It's set another David Wilkerson book under her mattress in prison was, wow, what are the chances of that? There's no doubt that God was getting my attention. One night, God came in a dream, asked me to not fight the prison sentence and to do the time I was facing. If you think this was shocking to me, you should have seen the court's reaction. Imagine a woman standing in front of a judge insisting she be given the full amount of time, time that she was facing. But God told her to do it. And that's the way it went down. I served the full sentence. But while in prison, I met a woman named Brenda who taught Bible studies. She became a spiritual mother to me. It was no coincidence that many of her teachings, she was, she was, was this man of God that I kept discovering newsletter and books by. Those messages and the Bible studies began to deal with my hard heart. I was so lost. But over time, the reality of how faithful God had been has sunk in. And in those years that I asked for full incarceration, he saved my life. He spared me some bad potential outcomes if I would have left. In 1996, I was released from prison a different woman, free from drug addiction. With the knowledge that Jesus really does love me, I stayed connected with Times Square Church, continuing to follow Brother Dave and Carter Conlon and now the new guy. The church has remained an important part of my life and that of my family as they dealt with their own struggles. I've been blessed to have served. Listen to this. This woman who's got out of prison. I've been blessed to have served. I serve with the online team right now I'm active in supporting other believers in the chats that we have for our livestream services. I'm so thankful for Times Square Church with life changing messages that are taking me deeper into my relationship with God. I am saved. I thank God for his mercy. I thank God for his grace. Folks, when I hear those kinds of stories, I don't praise her, I praise God. It's a miracle power of God that has changed her life. That's what God has done in this young lady's life. And that's why when you hear a testimony people, when a testimony from focuses on God, people will praise God for it because he is the topic. Number two, Revelation 12. It crushes the enemy's powerful eyes. There's something powerful when people tell their stories, tell their testimonies. In fact the Bible says these testimonies have devil defeating power. Listen to Revelation 12:11. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and and by the word of their what? The hymn they overcome is Satan. The apostle John is saying something profoundly powerful that he says, your testimony is just right underneath the blood of Jesus where we begin to say I plead the blood. We need the blood of Jesus. He says, don't dismiss that. The word of your testimony has power to defeats the enemy. The enemy that will make you think twice about what God has done in your life. Tell your story. The kingdom wins. People glorify God and the people and the devil is defeated. Your testimony has Satan defeating power. I've seen it especially over the number one weapon that he uses, which is lies. He uses lies. When I was 19 years old and handing these tracts out in Detroit, they put me at 19 years old in a prostitution hotel and said that's your Bible study. That's where I learned how to preach. I learned to preach in front of pimps and prostitutes. And so every Thursday night for five years I would go down there and preach. At 7:05 every Thursday night people say why 7:05? And at 7:00 no one would come until at 7:00'. Clock. They would show the lottery numbers for the city. So they would wait for the lottery numbers. Then they would all come with their stolen Gideon Bibles to this Bible study that we would have there. And you would see pimps, prostitutes, drug addicts, alcoholics. The very first night that we did this Bible study, there was a group of us there the first two People to get born again was Travis and Radio. His real name was Robert. They called him Radio because he talked too much. So there was Radio and Travis. Travis was a pimp. Radio was a drug dealer. They called him a hitman. Not because he would kill people, but because you'd pay him $25 for a bag of heroin. And then he was the hitman. He knew where to put the needle in you when your veins collapsed. And those were the first two people to get radically saved. And what was amazing for five years, eventually they moved out, got places, got jobs, and lived for Jesus. But let me just tell you this. They never missed a Bible study. They would sit in the front row. We would. Sometimes we could have five people show up or 35 people show up in this hotel. But every time, those men and women who lived in a life of bondage would have to hear me preaching. They'd have to look over the head of Travis and Radio and realize in front of them were two changed lives. That the enemy who would say, you can't change. God doesn't love you. They had to say that to themselves or the enemy had to say it while they saw Travis and Radio in front of them. Which meant, if God can change the two worst people in this place, he can change me in this place. Their testimony crushed the power of the enemy's lies. It seems God always does that. It seems God will take at the beginning of a work and save the worst of them and say, you're gonna have to deal with the enemy's lies by seeing this change life. We saw it when we took over this Triple X theater and turned it into a church. The first person God was to save was the prostitute of the theater, Kamuche. That's the first person they would save. Two months ago, we found a picture of her and me together in this theater while we were renovating. She was the first one to get saved and to show all the other prostitutes in the area. God loves, God can change, and God can set you free. What a testimony does is it crushes the lies of the enemy. That says, God doesn't love you and God can't change you. I'm here to tell you today he does love you and he can change your life today. Number three, Acts 4. Testimony silences the critics and makes us get louder. It has been said that a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument that means a profound spiritual experience. A miracle is not swayed by intellectual or even theological arguments or opinions. That when you see what God can do in people's lives. It's hard to tell me that God doesn't exist when miracles are happening in people's lives. It's hard to believe when theological arguments say that it's not God that's healing, it's just natural causes because of cessation theology which just says God doesn't work miracles. God doesn't do this, God doesn't do that. It's hard for me to believe when you have miracles in front of you. Last week, this church you prayed for, a pretty interesting scenario for a family in the Netherlands. Stephan was on the screen dedicating his boy Liam that Sunday from an Amsterdam hospital. You saw him live from the hospital in Amsterdam as the stage was full of parents with their children. And on that screen was Amsterdam from a hospital as we were dedicating Liam. And what we told you is this. You saw him in the hospital room, and that little boy was about to go under a very serious heart operation that has never been a very rare. He had a very rare case or very rare issue with his heart that the doctors were saying, this is very serious. This church prayed for him. We dedicated him. Then we prayed for him. I got this text from the family the next day where you prayed. He said he started off with this. The operation was a success. He said, we are incredibly grateful to share that Liam's surgery is complete. It went okay. Forgive me, all those watching from Holland and the Netherlands. He said it went wunder gwad. That's Dutch for miraculously well. I apologize for my accent. That was my Dutch accent. He said. We caught a brief glimpse of Liam in the hallway of the icu. They were settling him into his room. His chest is closed. The recovery journey is now beginning. He says there are no arrhythmias during the entire process. It was finished in four hours, where it can take up to six hours without complications. Thank you again for praying. Every message, every moment of support, God carried our son through, and he is alive today. God is good. God is good. Then we stopped the service because here is where it got tricky. We prayed for Stephan's boy in the hospital, but on the other side of Holland, Stephan's mom was in a different hospital. And Stephan's mom has her body full of cancer. She and her husband were the first Teen Challenge directors in Europe. They were commissioned by David Wilkerson to start the first Teen Challenge in Amsterdam. She's been diagnosed with a cancer that is aggressively going after her organs, and she's laying there in bed. We prayed for her in the back. We saw her on the screen, this precious woman. And we prayed for total healing. Let me read the next text that I got. A couple days later, my mom, Liam's grandma, began to gain strength, started eating again. Now they were even expecting her to return home. Listen to this. Mom had three full meals today, which hasn't happened for eight days. When I saw her Thursday, I thought it would be the last time I would see her. A few days later, they released her. She got home. Mom is getting stronger. And he said, and my parents, oh, this is. This hasn't happened for months. My parents just went on a date night. I'm just telling you, God is good. Hallelujah. The first miracle that happened at the birth of the church was in Acts 2 and 3 was the healing of a lame man. He was born a cripple. He was a fixture at the temple gate, always asking for money. If you made plans to go to the 3pm Jewish prayer meeting every day, you were gonna have this man ask you for money every single day at a gate called Beautiful. But something happened. The day after the day of Pentecost, a miracle took place. He asked for money, but as usual. But this time, he asked for Peter and John, who believe in Jesus, a resurrected Jesus, a miracle working Jesus. And instead of just getting a few coins, this man got dancing and praising God instead. Listen to these words. He looked up, expecting to get something from them. Peter said, I don't have a nickel to my name, but what I do have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Get up and walk. He grabbed him by the right hand, pulled him up. In an instant, his feet and ankles became firm. He jumped to his feet and walked. The man went into the temple with them, walking back and forth. Look at this. Dancing and praising God. And everybody there saw him walking around praising God. They recognized him as the one who sat begging at the temple gate. Beautiful rubbed their eyes in astonishment, scarcely believing what they were seeing. What they saw was a miracle. All of the greatest religious minds were upset with this miracle. Not only did people see it happen, Peter preached after the miracle. And The Bible says 5,000 people got saved. Listen to it. But many who heard the message, this is after the healing believe. So the number of men who believe grew to about 5,000. What is amazing is after the day of Pentecost, 3,000 got saved. And now after the miracle, 5,000 get saved. That's the power of a testimony. And look at this. When Peter is standing before the critics, when Peter is standing before the religious people. Let me explain to you how it silences the critics. Peter says, salvation comes no other way. No other name has been or will be given to us by which men can be saved. Only this one, named Jesus. He said. They couldn't take their eyes off them. Peter and John standing there, so confident, so sure of themselves. Their fascination deepened when they realized that these two were laymen. No training in scripture or formal education, but they recognized them as companions of Jesus. Look at this. But with the man right before them, you can't miss this part. But with the man right before them, that's the crippled man. But with the man right before him, that's the healed man. Seeing him standing there, so upright, so healed, what could they say against that? It silenced them. Seeing a man who has been set free. And what do you say to the guy who's dancing and praising the. Dancing and praising man shut the mouth of the people and the critics. And it opened up the mouth of the Christians. Listen to this. They had nothing to say. And the church said, how can we be quiet? Because later on, they tell these people, they say we're gonna. They called them back, verse 18 and warned them that he said they're not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus Christ. But Peter and John spoke right back. Whether it's right in God's eyes to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. But as for us, there's no question. We can't keep quiet about what we have seen and heard. Glory to God. They couldn't speak, and the church got louder. Tell the testimony of what God has done. Tell people what he has done. Two more quick things. Acts 22. Testimonies have no expiration date. Some people don't know what to say. When you're speaking to others and you're thinking, what do I say to them? What do I tell them? What do I do? Here it is. Just tell them your story. Tell them. From darkness to light. Listen to this. Paul tells his story two times in Acts Acts 22 and Acts 26. In Acts 22, Paul is before a hostile crowd in Jerusalem, people that are intending to kill him, and he tells them his conversion story. Acts 26. He's brought before the most powerful people, the governor and the king. What do you say to them? He tells his story again. He keeps telling his story. He tells them his conversion story. Now look at these dates. Paul becomes a christian in Acts 9. That's 34 A.D. paul tells his testimony in Acts 22. That's 59 A.D. paul tells his testimony again in Acts 26. That's 62 A.D. the apostle Paul is still telling his testimony 25 and 28 years later. Don't ever think you can't keep telling your story. My goodness, folks. Here is one of his testimony speeches. He said, I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus, the Nazarene. Indeed, I did that in Jerusalem, authorized by the leading priest. I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to. Many times I was having them punished in the synagogue to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities. One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority. Now he's telling this story, folks, 28 years later, and he's still telling it with a passion. About noon. Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shone down on my companions. We all fell down. I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will. Who are you, Lord? And the Lord replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get up on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me. Tell them I will show you the future. I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I'm sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me. Folks, listen to this. I want you just to understand how important this is when you don't know what to say, when you're engaged in a talk. Just tell them your story. Just tell. Paul is telling it to an angry mob. Paul is telling it to the highest officials. As the musicians come. It was last month I told you about our time in Greece. A pastor's conference. And while we were there, we spoke to 300 pastors in Athens. But it ended with something just like this. In Athens, as a full. It was a performing arts center, was filled with people. And on that night I had the opportunity to listen. Had the opportunity to listen at this moment to a testimony that was 70 years old. I heard Nicky Cruz tell his story again. Nikki Cruz with a. With a interpreter. Tell the Story how he was regularly beaten from ages 3 1/2 years old all the way up to age 9 from Puerto Rico. His father said, you're a son of Satan. Sent him to New York at 15 years old, where he got involved with the gangs, involved with drugs, killing and gangs, until a Pennsylvania preacher showed up in Brooklyn and preached to him. And then just down the street here in Manhattan, at the St. Nicholas Arena, David Wilkerson, which we're gonna do the musical the Cross on the Switch plate on Broadway in December and retell that story. And at 17 years old in 1958, Nikki Cruz, the warlord, gave his heart to the Lord. And now at 87 years old, folks, listen to me. He is 87. And when he tells that story, it sounds like he was in the gangs last week. That's the way he tells that story. You're going like you're 87. Who are you beating up last week? And I watched the man tell that testimony with no expiration date, as fresh as it was when he told it, even decades before. And think about this. He has spoken that testimony to over 50 million people. 50 million people. And all he does is tell his story. And millions have come to Christ. I'm presently reading A biography by D.L. moody, considered the greatest American evangelist until Billy Graham came on the scene. They said that DL Moody has probably led to the Lord personally, a million people personally. And this is what Moody said. He said he just finished a meeting like this, speaking to people to give their heart to Christ. And he was telling stories, telling testimonies, and some religious woman came up to him, and this is what she said. Moody, I heard those stories before. This is what he said to her. I read this in the biography. He said, I must tell those stories over and over again. Who cares what a religious lady going like? We're preaching to you. We're preaching to the lost. I heard those stories before. Pastor Tim, Pastor Carter. I heard those stories before. I heard Nikki's testimony before. I've heard it a hundred times. And every time I hear it, my heart is challenged by the grace of God. By the grace of God. I've heard people say this to me. They go, I don't have a good testimony. I don't have a Nicky Cruz testimony. I've never been. Folks, I'm that way. As all the musicians come, we're gonna come. I've been that way. I was born and raised in a church. I was almost born during the Christmas cantata in the choir loft. I. Folks, I've never had an addiction none of those. I was born and raised in a church, and I'm thankful for that. I don't apologize for that testimony. But here's the part that you need to see. Because people think I don't have a dramatic story of going from bad to good. Okay, let me say that again. We think we don't have a story of going from bad to good. That would be true. Here it comes. If that was true. Wow, that's so profound, Pastor Tim. That's why you just wait. Man, when you speak, I really don't know what you're saying. That would be true if it was true. But that's not the gospel. Okay, let me share with you. Jesus didn't come that way. Here it comes. This is. One of my spiritual fathers said it like this. Jesus didn't come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live. So here's the thing I hate to tell you. You were all dead without Jesus, so you are a resurrected testimony of God saving your life. It's that simple. You don't have to go, like, I can't tell a bad story. Listen, I think of the story. I'm going, God, why would you put me in a prostitution hotel to preach for five years? Why would you let me pastor in a triple X theater? I was born in the church. I'm a good guy. I don't have a story like that. You should send him, but not me. You go, what did I do wrong? I think it's not me, but that's what God does. God says, it's not about what you going from bad to good. You, all, me included, went from death to life. That's the story. Stand with me. Don't make this complicated. It's simple. Don't complicate it. Here it is. You ready for this? It goes like this. Jesus heals a blind man. His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar said, isn't this the man who used to sit and beg? Someone said, another said, no, he just looks like him. The beggar goes, I'm the one. I'm the guy. I'm the one who did it. And then it says these words in John 9:25. One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see. It's that simple. I was blind, but now I see. I was blind, but now I see. This story caught my attention because my son swam for Liberty University. He was a breaststroke. Breaststroker for Liberty. When I used to go see him swim, I used to look over and see this giant Olympic platform. I think 30 meters. I could be wrong. I forgot the meters. It goes all the way up, and they have the different levels all the way to the very top where they. Where they jump and do all the diving. And so I would ask my son, I said, have you ever gone up? He said, absolutely not. I would never. And my son would. Would do something like that. But he said, I would never go that high. And that's why this story interests me, because I would watch the divers, and I'd watch my son swim at Liberty. And I was reading this, the testimony, the simple testimony of a diver from one of the D.1 universities who was training, who was hoping to become an Olympic diver. The only religious influence in his life was a roommate who kept telling him his testimony. You can get saved. I was dead, but now I'm alive. I was dead, but now I'm alive. I was dead. And he just brushed them off. Brushed them off. And then he told the story as he would just keep hearing over and over again. I was blind, but now I see. I was blind, but now I see. I was blind, but now I see. And he told the story that these guys who are just so focused on the Olympics, they are training constantly. He said, Jim was. The natatorium was closed. So I got away in there. I figured out how to get in there. Got in. All the lights were off, he said, but there was a sunroof that you could see the moonlight come in. So I can work out and do that. He said he climbed up to the top post, and he was getting ready to start his diving motion. And you've seen the divers, they just got like this. So he was doing a back dive. So he's just. And he saw with the moonlight as he did this, the shadow, and he saw the cross. And at that moment, he fell to his knees, like everything came. Came full fruition. All he did was this. He's standing on the tip, looking. He goes, oh, my goodness. He died for me. He died for me. And that man, but didn't dive. He knelt on that top ledge and gave his heart to Christ right there. And all of a sudden, a yell comes from the bottom. And this is what it said. What are you doing? We've drained all the pools. You need to come down. God saved him twice. God saved him twice. He never looked in to see if there was water there. There was no water. God not only saved him spiritually, God saved him physically. And it's this simple. I was blind, but now I See, I was dead, but now I'm alive. And that's what God has come to do. He's come to set us free. To set us free. So why. So why play around? You've heard the testimonies. He's not trying to make bad people good. Because some of you are here going, like, I'm not that bad of a person. I can't argue with that. I give money to charity. Wonderful. I don't hurt puppies. Great. But doesn't it change everything when the issue is not going from bad to good? Because that's what people hold on to. You know why people don't give their heart to God? Because they're relying upon their own good works. And the problem is, here it comes. Newsflash. You're dead. So you. Your good works mean nothing. You have to go from death to life. That's what God comes to do. I just told you stories. Nikki Cruz, Olympic diver, our online worker who God saves through in prison. These stories are powerful. So here, the lies are all done. You can be changed. I'm just shouting it loud. You can go from rejected to accepted, from unloved to loved. And today you can go from darkness to light. Let him change you today. If you're in this place, I'm not inviting you to religion. I'm inviting you to a relationship with Jesus today. That's all it is. I'm not inviting you to a church, a denomination. I'm saying to give your heart to the most exciting, the scariest, the most powerful being in the universe, Jesus Christ, who has conquered hell and the grave and has come to set you free today. It's a testimony that God, before you leave this place, some of you are in this place and some of you are at the edge, like that diver. And I'm telling you, bow before him today. Get right before him. You don't know what tomorrow holds. You don't know how many empty pools are gonna be. Get right with God today. Balcony, main floor, annex, Jersey campus. Those that are watching around the world, from Lima to London, from San Juan to San Francisco. Get right with God today Today, today. If you're here in this place and say, pastor Tim, I need God in my life. I need my life changed by God today. I need a miracle. Balcony with everybody looking, everybody's head is up. Everybody, even the person that you're sitting next to going, oh, I hope he close our eyes. Keep your eyes wide open. If you're here today and say, I need God in my life. I need him to change Me. Hold your hand up right now. Just say I need him in my life. Hold it up as high as you can. I want to see every hand that's up. Keep them up. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Balcony. Keep them up high. Keep them up high. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, here's what I want you to do. If you raised your hand, I want you to meet me right down here. Get out of your seat. Meet me right here. Come on, quickly. Balcony. Get out. Get down here as fast as you can. I'm going to walk down here, we're going to sing a song and then you're going to meet me right here. I want to just pray with you right here. Quickly get out of your seat and get down here and meet me. I'm going to meet you right here. Come on. As we sing this song, lift your voice and sing how great, how great is our God. The you're the name that's above all name. You're the name and you're the name. My heart will see how My heart will see how great. I wonder if you can lift your hands, lift your voice and say the name of my wor. Will see how great, how great, how great, how great, great. Come on, let's just lift our hands and sing this. Hallelujah. How great thou art. Hallelujah. To look at all these people that are giving their heart to Christ, I'm just telling you this is where it all changes. This is where God changes everything. From meeting friends from nice all the way from grandmothers that have told you about the church, to friends telling my friend from the Philippines about it, to my 15 year old new friend whose, whose family brought them down here and to see. And there's so many other stories I just couldn't get to all of you because we're. Even though we're running out of time, I do want to take the time to make sure that this is the most important moment of your life. This is the moment that while you're standing on an edge of a diving board that you're going to see the cross. That you're going to see the cross, that Christ loves you. Here's the story. Here's the story. Two thousand years ago, God realized that there was a global pandemic and it was sin that was running. There was not a vaccine that man can do. There wasn't anything that man can do to fix the sinful condition. You can make promises, you can go to programs, you can have prescriptions. There's religion, all those things. It doesn't fix what the condition of all of us had. And the condition was sin. And sin brings death. But here's the good news. God sent his son who defeated death, hell and the grave. And today you're not going to be bad people becoming good people. Here's the good news. You're dead people that are coming alive today. This is Resurrection Sunday. So I look at all these faces, young and old, from teenagers to senior citizens, from people that are here that you've come here. Some people have been here one time, three times. Some people that someone just invited you today. But this is the day that God is going to resurrect you. He's going to change you from the inside out. I want everybody to pray this with me today. Say, dear Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God. I believe that on the cross you took my sin, my shame and my guilt and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn't have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your father. Today, Lord Jesus, I turn from my sin to be born again. Come on, say this loud. God is my father, Jesus is my Savior, the Holy Spirit is my helper, and Heaven is my home in Jesus name. And everybody said Amen and Amen and Amen. 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