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Well, good morning. Okay, you guys can do better than that. Good morning. Thank you. I see everybody already told me you guys were the best. So I gotta believe the 11 o' clock is gonna show off for me. I am so thrilled to be here. John sends his love. He was like, tell them. Tell them I said hi. Tell them. So John says hi, and I am so thrilled. You guys are my stuff. Sixth service this weekend. So I was in Texas, where I spoke to 5,000 people on Wednesday, and then I spoke again on Thursday. And then I flew up to Michigan, spoke to 5,000 women in Michigan, and then I flew here yesterday and took a shower. And then I'm with you guys this morning. And I'm telling you something. Something has shifted in the atmosphere. People are like, you know what? We're not letting hate, unbelief, strife win. We are children of the most High God, and we are fully awake. And so I can. I'm gonna let you guys sit down, but I'm gonna open up with Matthew, chapter 10, verse 26, 28. Oh, but I'm doing it from the message. Don't be intimidated. Intimidation will shut down the gift of God in your life. Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, even the Epstein files. And everyone will know how things really are. So don't hesitate to go public now. Don't be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There is nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life, body and soul, in his hands. You know, I want to address three things in my message. The first thing I'm going to address is the reality of our God. The second thing I'm going to address is the reality of our day. And then the third thing I'm gonna address is the reality of us. The reality of us. And you guys probably know that my husband John is Italian and I am Sicilian. Italians are known for feeding people. Sicilians are known for killing people. So I'm gonna go hard. I'm gonna go strong. But I also believe that. That this is a special ops team church. And that you are made for this moment that is at once prophetic and dangerous. You know, so many of the young people want to be heroes, but somewhere along the line, we forgot there are no heroes without battles. And we are in a battle between light and dark. Truth and lies, hope and discouragement. We are in a battle and we need to make sure we are armed and dangerous. Romans 1, verse 19 through 20. I'm going to read from the message and I'm going to talk about the basic reality of God. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes. And there it is. By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see. Eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. When you look at the stars, when you look at the ocean, when you look at the mountains, when you look at a baby, when you look at the wonder of our world, you know that it was made by something other than us. All of creation declares the existence of the Creator. And everywhere we look, he has signs for you and I in the stars, in one another. And God is saying, come on, stop making excuses. But it's not a casual glance, and it's not an occasional moment. It's a long and thoughtful look. Throughout the Psalms, you hear the term selah. That means pause and be in wonder, pause and ponder, pause and be still and know he is God. God is asking us to pause. Not to rush off on social media, not to rush off in anger or whatever. Pause. Heaven wants to speak to you more than you want to hear from heaven. But you're going to have to pause. We have gotten so used to scrolling that we forgot the wonder of the scrolls we have been entrusted with. The oracle of God's Word. And God's Word should be read until it reads us. You have to pause. You have to pause. That is the reality of our God. And then I'm jumping into the hard one. And I hope you guys just stay with me to the third one. That is the reality of our day. I don't know if you're looking around at everything and say, how did so much go so sideways so quick? How did men start thinking they could be women? How did women start thinking they could be men? How did right become wrong? Wrong become right, lies become truth? How did everything go upside down? How did we all become enemies instead of friends? What. What happened in our world? And I guess in the time of the book of Romans, this question came up as well. Romans chapter 1, verse 21 says what happened was this. People knew God perfectly well. But when they didn't treat him like God refusing to worship, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. You know, we have more access to information than ever before. And yet an Appalling lack of transformation. We have an epidemic of promiscuity, and yet we have a famine of intimacy. People do not know how to love their spouse. Well, you know, I am 65 and, you know, all the young people come to me like, thank you. Thank you for finishing. Well, I'm like, I feel like I've got a couple more years on me, but thank you so much for appreciating this moment with me. And I used to get questions from the young girls, like, how do you sermon prep? How do you get a book contract? How do you get speaking engagements? You know, they don't ask me that anymore. You know what they ask me? How do you stay in love with your husband? How do you raise children who love God? People understand that, that we have become experts in foolishness and illiterate when it comes to wisdom. We need to be women and men of wisdom. And we only get our wisdom from God. And the truth is we have knowledge but not wisdom. And then you say, how did this happen? Well, it goes on to say, they traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside. You know, I'm going to update this version. They traded the glory of God for the phone they can hold in their hands. People are bowing to worlds they hold in their hands rather than lifting their gaze to the one who holds the world in his hands. We have to have the living word, not the dead post that people make while they're sitting on the toilet. We need to stop arguing with strangers and get into the presence of God. So God said, in effect, if that's what you want, that's what you get. And it wasn't long before they were living in a pig pen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. You know, I'm just gonna bring a practical. That kind of happened recently. And I have been immersed in this idea that the attack on gender is an attack on the image of God and that the enemy is after our children. And so we have to understand what it is. It's really more than what we understand. And so I have, like, that's been kind of what's been in my feed. That's kind of been what I've studying. And I literally watched a man, this very massive man. You know, he could have been an okay looking man, but he was a very ugly woman. And he decided he was a trans woman. He's like 6 foot 4, very overweight. And he went public and said, if anybody stops me from coming into the women's bathroom. I will shoot them. He said, and I carry. And I was like, wow, is somebody going to arrest him? Well, not too long ago, I'm in the Detroit airport, and I walk in, and who is in the Delta Sky Lounge but the man. And I was like, you're not carrying right now. You're not carrying. So I FaceTime my husband. I'm like, look who is here. It is the ugly man. It is the man threatening to shoot people if they stop him from the bathroom. My husband's like, lisa, I tell you right now, do not engage with him. I'm like, oh, but I want to engage. I. I wanna let him know I'm not scared of him. Because, see, I have four granddaughters, and I am not gonna let a scary man in the bathroom with my granddaughters when they have their pants down. There is absolutely no way that is going to happen. And that's not me being mean. That's me being a mama bear. That is me being a grandmother. And we need to stop caving, protecting our children. We gotta stop it. We gotta stop lying about what's important. We gotta stop it. And then it goes on again. Go back into scripture. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake God and worshiped the God they made instead of the God who made them. The God we bless. The God who blesses us. Oh, yes. And then Romans 1:26 says, worse followed, refusing to know God. They soon didn't know how to be human either. Women didn't know how to be women, and men didn't know how to be men. I don't know if you are looking around, but we have entered this day of the inhumane. People don't know how to be human anymore. People are not kind. People are not generous with one another. And, you know, I expect that out there, but I am not okay with it in here. The church needs to be known for its wisdom. It's kindness. It's love. And, you know, and maybe I'll get mad at me and you can, you know, I'm okay with that. Charlie Kirk and Erica Kirk were friends of John and I, and unfortunately, I saw him shot, like many of you saw him shot. And nobody deserves to be shot in front of their wife and their children, regardless of the things you think they said or didn't say. Nobody deserves to be shot for having conversations on our campus. Nobody deserves that. Nobody. There's a young pastor I really respect. His name is Josh Howerton, and He recently posed 2025. Charlie Kirk wasn't a martyr. He wasn't killed for Christ. He was killed for opposing transgenderism. Then he wrote 30 AD John the Baptist wasn't a martyr. He wasn't killed for Christ. He was killed for criticizing Herod's marriage. Why is the sexuality thing so tied to our culture? Because our sexuality is powerful. It is a union that has the power to create life. Romans 1 continues with sexually confused. They abused and defiled one another. Women with women, men with men. All lust, no love. And then they paid for it. Oh, how they paid for it. Emptied of God and love. Godless and loveless. Wretches. Now so many people love to pounce on the. Yeah, those homosexuals. That's not just talking about homosexuality. Fornication, sexually confused. Adultery, sexually confused. Furries, sexually confused. Bestiality, sexually confused. We have a lot of confusion going on right now. Robot sex, sexually confused. Virtual sex, sexually confused. Porn addicts, sexually confused. The enemy is messing with, with one of the most intimate, powerful things that we have, and that is our sexuality. Romans 1:28 goes on to say, since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. People have lost their sense of reason. And then Paul just describes what actually looks like our culture right now. Romans 1:29. And then all hell broke loose. Rampant evil, grabbing and grasping. Vicious backstabbing. Have you seen how people talk to each other? Vicious backstabbing. People assume the worst before they ever even dare to believe the best. You know, my husband's like, why are your people so mean? Why are your people so mean? He's like, my people aren't as mean as your people are. And I was like, my people are women and they are dealing with menstruation, perimenopause and menopause. My people have hormone craziness going on. So that's what makes them mean. But we have to be careful about vicious backstabbing. Because if you read scripture, it says that you and I are going to give an account for every idle word. And you think, what's an idle word? It's a word void of utility that builds nothing. Nothing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering and cheating. Mean spirited, venomous, forked up, God bashers, bullies, swaggers, insufferable windbags. They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. You know, that's a big movement right now, cutting children, cutting off their parents. Then, you know, again, I wouldn't have chose these words, but obviously he did. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold blooded. And Romans 1:32, closing out the reality of our day says. And it is not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting on God's face and they don't care. Worse, they hand out prizes to those who. Who do the worst things best. So I've done the reality of our God, the reality of our day. Now let's talk about the reality of us. Because you can't read Romans 1 without Romans 2. Romans 2, verse 1 says, those people on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your fingers at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn't so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you've done. You didn't think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard. I know this is rough. Or did you think that because he is such a nice God he'd let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he is not soft. And in kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life change. In kindness, he takes us firmly by the hand. And I'm going to tell you a story because your church is involved in my story of God taking me firmly by the hand. Now, John was raised sweet Catholic altar boy and then he becomes a Christian. I was raised to be an exceptional heathen. My father was part of the Gambino crime family out of Chicago. My grandfather on my mother's side was on the Manhattan Project. He was also the Dean of Chemistry at Purdue, president of Great Lakes Chemical, 32nd degree Mason, decided the world needed chloridation and fluoridation. And then something happens. One generation says, no, no, I don't want to follow the pattern of my parents. I do not want to follow the pattern of iniquity and adultery and alcoholism. One generation says, no, no, I'm so disgusted by myself. I'm so disgusted with who I am. And that was me, driving home from the University of Arizona, alone in my car or alone with myself for hours. And I realized as I was alone with myself in the car for hours, nobody entertaining me, nobody distracting me, that I didn't even like me, that I had become everything I never wanted to be, that I was immoral, that I was unkind, that I was ungodly. And I'm driving home, and I'm having such a hard time staying awake. So I turn on AC DC and I'm yelling at the top of my lungs, I'm on the highway to hell. And I had a moment where I realized, yes, you are. And I had no idea how to get off that highway. And I asked God. I was like, I don't like me. I don't know you. Can you find me? Because I'm having a really hard time finding you. And at breakfast at Purdue University, and I had to go to summer school because I was majoring in sun tanning and partying at the University of Arizona. So I had to do summer school at Purdue. I come down to breakfast in a bathing suit with cutoff shorts on that I had slid up to the waistband. I don't know why I thought it was important that people knew I didn't have underwear on. But you are a heathen, and when you are a heathen, you do stupid stuff. And John met me. And John said. He prayed, said, God, I wish my wife has legs like that. I don't know if God was like, I'll take that. Somebody's praying for her. And so John invites me to a Bible study picnic. All I heard was free food. And I go to this picnic. And the Christian girls were not nice. They were not nice to me. They were coming up to me, and they're like, we're praying for you. I was like, I don't know if I want them praying for me. That seems like angry prayers. But I was like, why are they praying for me? Why is everybody praying for me? And we get in a circle afterwards, and we're singing the top 10 Christian songs of 1981. I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart and I am an angry heathen. I'm, like, ready to slap people and run out of there. I'm thinking, I got to get drunk. But people have their hands up in the air. I'm like, do you have a question? Why would you have your hands up? I mean, the whole thing was just crazy to me. And I looked down at the song sheet, and the next song was a song called Robes of Righteousness. And when I read that, it said that when God looked at me, he would no longer see me, he would see Jesus. And I had a revelation that I was covered in sin and shame. And I turned to John, I said, is this true? That God could ever look at me and not see me? And John was like, yeah. Cause I mean, John was like, nice. But for me it was a deep revelation. And John and I go walking on the campus that night and John is preaching to me. And I finally said, hey, I wanna do this, this Christian thing. Like what do we need to do? Like what needs to happen? Candles. Like what? Let's do this right now. And John was like, I'm not done preaching. And I began to panic because I knew there was something called a rapture. I wasn't even sure what it was, but I knew if you missed it, you got your head cut off. And so I was like, what's happening? This guy's gonna disappear and I'm gonna be on the park bench at Purdue not knowing how to get saved. And so when John finally was like, okay, let's pray. I was like, okay. He was like, you gotta confess your sins. I'm like, I don't remember em all. He said, can you say you're a sinner? I said, I can totally say that. And so I got back born again. And then John said, there's something else. It's called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I said, will it bring me closer to God? Because I was already overwhelmed by the love of God. I felt like £100 came off of my shoulder. And he said, yes, it'll bring me closer to God. So I asked for the Holy Spirit. Then John started praying in tongues. I said, I can't do that. I can't do that. My sorority. That's gonna be a problem. I'll check back on that one. And then he said, now you're satisfied? I said, what does that even mean? He said, it means you're whole again. Spirit, soul and body. And he was talking to somebody who was so broken. I had an eating disorder. I had lactose intolerance. I was sexually broken. I was emotionally broken. But for some reason I just grabbed for I thought was the most important one. I said, so I can have cheese now? And he's like, what? I said, you just said that I was whole. Spirit, soul and body. I can't eat cheese. I want to eat cheese. I'm Italian. Can we. So I can have cheese now, right? That's what you're saying? And he was like, dear Jesus. So he grabs my hand and he's so nervous, he can't even remember what I even said I had. So he had me fill in a. Fill in the blank. Prayer of Jesus, thank you for healing me of. And I repeated. And he said, say it. And I said, lactose intolerance. And I felt the love of God come into my stomach and untie all the knots that had been in my stomach since I was about 13 years of age. Then I went back to my dorm room, and I was like, jesus, I need you to stay in the hall. I got some stuff in this room. I've got alcohol and pornography. Did John tell me to get rid of that? He didn't even know I had it. But you know what had happened When I got born again, God took out my heart of stone, and he put it in a heart of flesh. And when he put it in a heart of flesh, I felt things I didn't feel now. All of a sudden, I felt grieved by certain things that I used to think were okay. So I was like, jesus, stay in the hall. Stay in the hall. And then I went down the hall and I dumped it all out. And then I was like, jesus, come on in and help me find the book of Paul. Because John had said, paul said this, and Paul said that. So I spent about an hour and a half. There's no book of Paul. Paul wrote a lot of books, but there's no book of Paul, in case you were wondering. And I had a new. Like, a college New Testament thing. I finally stand it on its spine. I'm like, please, open to the Book of Paul. And it opens up to Corinthians that if any man be in Christ, they are a new creation. And I had a revelation that I was in Christ and a new creation. And I went to bed that night for the first time, not grinding my teeth with peace. I woke up, I was just overwhelmed by the love of God. I have to be honest with you. I felt loved like I had never felt loved. I felt peace like I never felt peace. I just laid in that bed in the wonder of salvation. I hadn't got to test the cheese part yet out, but I knew that I was unknotted. And I got up, climbed down from my. And as soon as my feet hit the floor, I heard. Nothing happened last night. You can't just pray. Some prayer and everything changes. You've been too bad. Your family's too bad. It's not like some magic wand. You're not a Christian. And when they said you're not a Christian, that. That's when I realized that I was a Christian because I'd been getting up for 21 years as not a Christian. And I never heard you're not a Christian. Now I'm getting up for the very first time as a Christian, and it's telling me I'm not a Christian. See, the thief only comes to steal what you have. He's not gonna tell you you're not a Christian when you're not a Christian. But he sure will attack you as a Christian and tell you not to use your authority in the Spirit. Try to constantly cause a blockage between you and your heavenly Father. But you've got to realize he is the Father of lies and there is no truth in him. And so I remember thinking, I am a Christian. But I also had this moment where I was like, I'm not just a Christian. I'm a threat. I'm a threat. If he's, like, first thing in the morning telling me I'm not a Christian. Something really, really happened. And John knew I was a piece of work. I mean, he knew it, like, just when I was like, you know, like when we started talking about the Holy Spirit, he tried to tell me about the Holy Spirit again, like, the next day. And I said, listen, I've read Corinthians, and I think you cashed in for tongues. And I'm holding out for one of these other ones so you can have tongues. I'm going to go. Go for miracles or prophecy or something else. But, yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You didn't know you had a choice. I'm choosing. And John was like, that is not right. Anyway, so he was like, I'm going to have to disciple her. So he made an entire suitcase of cassette tapes for me because we're that old cassette tapes. And he was like, you need to listen to these cassette tapes. And so I get on my car ride back to the University of Arizona, listening to cassette tapes. I cranked them as loud as I could, but I wasn't just listening because I had now gotten the Holy Spirit praying in tongues. I'm praying in tongues and listening because all of a sudden, at 21 years of age, I realize I have wasted 21 years of my life. And I wasn't willing to continue to. To waste my life because God had taken me firmly by the hand and was leading me into a radical life change. Not just a, you're not going to hell when you die, Rhett. That's not going to be good enough, people. That's not going to be good enough. Yeah, you're not going to go to hell when you die. But how about you live in the Authority of heaven as you walk on this earth. How about you walk in the same? How about. How about it? So you know what I did? Driving from Indiana, I stopped in Tulsa. Oh, I stopped in Christian Mecca. I was like, I am in Tulsa. John met me here. We stayed with a professor from oru's. We stayed at his house. And I remember they said, we are fully immersing you in Christian world. I'd been saved for two weeks. They take me to a women's aglow meeting. I'm like, what in the world is happening? I remember a woman had a word for me and I actually thought it was a conversation. She was like, thus saith Lord. I'm like, oh, can we talk? Is God talking to me? Can I ask him some questions? I had no idea. It was like a one way thing. I was like, is somebody writing this down? It was just crazy. So then I go from there to Rhema. And they were like, back then, you guys, in the 80s, it was obligation to fall. So they're like, preach. And then you had to fall. But now I've never been around any of this. I was just starting to get comfortable with a hand up. And so I. When they were like, everybody lined up, I did a brace position. I was like, nope, not falling, not falling. You have to. They're gonna have to pick me up and throw me. The angels are gonna have to pick me up. I'm not doing courtesy falls for anyone. John was like, I'm unbelievable. So again, we weren't married. He was just trying to work with me. Then I go and tour ORU's campus and I had pants on. And I guess that was illegal back then. So I have illegal pants on. And they were like stopping me. And they're like, she has pants on. I'm like, ann, I even have a bra and underwear on now that I'm a Christian. They're like, no, no, that's not okay. They're like, keep her. Keep her in the corners. So I'm like, in the corner of a cafeteria. I'm like, I didn't know. And she's like, I know you didn't know. I mean, I'm watching ORU and everybody's Christian. And then I come on Sunday morning to victory. And it is in a car dealership now. This little Catholic girl that's gone to church mass three times a year is now in a car dealership and people are worshiping and Sharon is dancing and singing. And I'm like, I have never. I have never been exposed to all of this, I just took it all in. It was such, like, a baptism in the goodness of God. And then I drove from Tulsa to Tucson, Arizona. My sorority sisters were like, yay, you're here. Let's go party. And I'm like, I got born again. They're like, that's not possible. That's not possible. You are the worst person in our entire sorority. There is no way you got born again. I had been elected to be the marshal. You think, what's that? Well, I'll tell you. In a sorority, there's the president, there's the vice president, then there's the marshal, and the marshal is the meanest. The reason for the marshal is we do initiation ceremonies. We haze the freshmen, we abuse them, we lock them in closets. We. We do embarrassing things to them. But I'm like, I'm not doing that anymore because I'm born again. I know I'm the marshal, but I'm not going to haze the freshman. So I guess you're going to have to make me the chaplain or else you're going to have to go with my program for being the marshal. They're like, this woman is crazy. I started to walk the halls at night, laying my hands on the walls, calling my sorority sisters out of a kingdom of darkness into a kingdom of light by name. Holy Spirit starts showing me who's stealing all the stuff in this sorority. The Holy Spirit tells me, it's all in this person's room. I bring the president, I bring the vice president. I bring stanza. I said, it's in that drawer. They open it up, it's all there. Like, how'd you know that? I said, the Holy Spirit told me. They're like, what is going on? And then the president tells me, you need to calm down. I'm a Christian, too, and you are just out of control. I said, wait a minute. You're a Christian? You've got to be kidding me. You're a Christian. You used to come into my room and ask me to tell you the stories of all of my debauchery. And you never once told me about Jesus. You knew I was sabotaging my life, and you laughed and you enjoyed. And you were living vicariously through my sin and never told me about a savior. Well, when you start talking like that, you're not only in trouble with the devils, now you're in trouble with the Christians. But see, something had happened. God had taken me firmly by the hand and had led me into a radical life change. Guys, I picked a horrible major I picked International Economics. They made me take things like Fortran. I want a refund. Nobody uses computer cards anymore. Like, that was all a big mistake. I had to do super hard math called stats. All of these different courses. And for some reason our professors say, do it all at once. Give all of those finals on the same day. Let's flunk as many people out as we can of International Economics. And so one of my sorority sisters was focused on studying stats. Another one of us, I think I was focused on something with accounting, and then somebody else was doing something. We're all proctoring each other. We stayed up all night on Vibrant, and we're at the breakfast table. The three of us who had chosen bad majors were all sitting together when the person that had the major I should have chosen as a future mother of four boys, elementary education, walks into the room and she's like, wow, you guys look awful. We're like, thank you. Just keep moving. Just keep moving. Elementary Ed. Just keep moving. And then she goes, toscano, you look like you were run over by a car. And I just, this is so bad. Before I knew what happened, I just said, why are you such a beep in the morning? And the whole room froze because the born again had cussed. And everybody knew I was born again, but I had cussed. And everybody in the room didn't know what to do because I used to cuss all the time, but I hadn't cussed anymore. I was doing Praise the Lord instead of cussing. And now I did the B word. And nobody knows what to do when the born again does the B word. And except for the girl I called the Bee. She looked at me and she said, I knew it was impossible for you to be a Christian. You are just too bad. And she stormed out of the room. And my roommate grabbed my arms and she said, I was just about ready to say the same thing, but I stood up in front of everybody at breakfast and I said, I owe all of you apology. I am completely out of line. I had no right to speak to her that way. And you know what my sorority sisters said? That's when they knew I was a Christian. Because, see, they didn't see me walk in the halls and they didn't hear me praying in the spirit in the showers, but they knew who I used to be. And now, for the very first time, I was not making excuses for my behavior. I was owning my mistakes. And when you own a mistake, it no longer owns you. And as a people, and as a people who God has taken firmly by the hand. We do not have the right to make excuses. Why feel triggered. Too bad. Life is triggering. We've got to raise our children not, you know, like, you know, I've heard the quote, I'm probably going to misdo it. Like, we are going to raise our children to be dragon slayers instead of hiding them from dragons. We got to put some swords in this generation's hands. We got to stop making them soft with gentle parenting. We got to let them know there is consequences to choices. There's for, but there's consequences. Consequences. Not abuse, not punishment, discipline. We need to raise our children with clarity and wisdom and kindness. Because if not, the generation ahead of us is going to be like, you guys are the worst. Need to understand that fear is a horrible counselor. We cannot be afraid for our children. Our children were made for this day and we were made to be their parents in this day. Well, actually, I'm just the grandparent. Literally one of my grandsons who I love was at my house and they were like, oh yeah, we're allowed to have unlimited screens on the weekend. I said, not my house. They're like, oh yeah, my parents let my sight. I don't care. And my youngest grandson said, hey, he's in the bathroom. He's on the toilet. He's not getting off the toilet. He's got his phone in his hand and he won't get off. He's playing a game. And so I just knock on the door, I said, hey, hey, you need to get off your phone, hand your brother the phone or I will come in there and I will take that phone from your 15 year old body sitting on the toilet. And he was like, you wouldn't do that. I said, oh yeah, no, I will. I'm going to count to three. And I walked in on the count of three and he was screaming and I took his phone. I said, you will not see this again till after church on Sunday. And I said, don't forget, I'm the one that raised your dad. So I am not afraid of making you angry about a phone. I am going to raise you to be strong. Come on. We cannot allow our children to be distracted. Entertainment is not our privilege. It is not a prerequisite. As children of God, we have been distracted and anesthetized to what is going on. And so we need to have high alerts, put down the phone, lift up our faces, cry out for prophetic anointing so that God can speak strategies into this generation and that we are not just filled up with other people's nonsense. But we are filled up with God's insight to this day and to this time. And it's always easier to be entertained. It's always easier to go back to sleep. But I'm telling you right now, you cannot afford to do that. This is a time for us to be aware. Things I thought I would never do. Quote, I think his name is. It's either Andrew or Adam Tate. I don't know. He's a championship boxer. He made a comment that there's two types of people, gladiators and spectators. But he's wrong. There's three types. There's gladiators, there's spectators, and then there's the powers that be. That is the forces of darkness that is behind everything that we are seeing going on. And we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but we are wrestling with principalities and powers and rulers of wickedness and high places. Which means you cannot afford to be dulled down. You gotta be sharp. You gotta let God take you firmly by the hand. I'm gonna close with this. Or did you think, well, actually it's Romans, you're not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when you're. It's going to blaze hot and high. God's fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake, in the end, you get what's coming to you. Real life. That's what we want. Real life for those who work on God's side, but to those who insist on getting their own way. You don't have to go devil's way, your own way, self will and take the path of least resistance. Fire. Guys, I don't want you to get up to heaven and have no reward because you took the path of least resistance, that everything you did is burnt up. I don't want that. I want to see you finish strong. And John and I have been married 43 years, October 2, and in the ministry for over 40 years. And we've seen a lot of people start smart and end up stupid. So we decided we would start stupid and try to end up smart. It isn't how you start, it is how you finish. So I'm just gonna ask, can I pray over all of you guys? I hope you hear my Sicilian grandmother heart and all of this. I want to see see you live a full life, not a partial life. I want to see you live a courageous life, not a cowardly life. I want you to live a life connected to community, not a phone I want your family to flourish because that is how the body of Christ fights. We fight by flourishing. We don't fight by dividing. We fight. We fight by flourishing. We fight by confronting to make one another clear that we could become one. 43 years of marriage. John and I are one, but that doesn't mean we're same. God wants us to be one. So can everybody stand up really quick? And I know this is a hard word. I didn't write the book of Romans. You can go into the King James, it's a little bit more confusing. You can go into the esv, nlt, NIV and you're gonna find much the same. I read the message because I feel like it is crystal, crystal clear. So I just wanna know who's ready for a radical life change. I know many of you are born again and that's beautiful and that's amazing. But you will never be satisfied living small and safe when God has called you to a radical life change. So can we put our hands up and say, heavenly Father, take me firmly by the hand. I want to walk in the fullness of everything that the death of your son purchase for me. I want to walk in signs and wonders and miracles. I want to prophesy, I want to speak under divine inspiration. I want visions, I want dreams. I'm shaking off the shackles of complacency, intimidation. Heavenly Father, baptize me in divine boldness. In Jesus name, restore the gifts of my life. Forgive me for neglecting, praying in the Spirit, reading the Word and stirring up the gift you entrusted in into my life. I want to be a sign and a wonder that points others to Jesus and everybody agrees. Say amen and amen. It's been a privilege and an honor to be with you this morning.