Amen. Thank you, Brother and Sister Duarte, for that beautiful song. I've never heard that song before. What a blessing. Thank you so very much. Well, it's good to see all of you this evening. I hope that you had a wonderful day in the Lord. God has blessed my day with much productivity and getting caught up in administrative responsibilities. Not my gift, by the way. I'm a gypsy, so I don't work real good at it. And always what you're not good at takes more effort, you know. Tell me to put a message together, tell me to preach a sermon, piece of cake. But tell me to set up the laptop and take care of responsibilities, plus being on the road all the time. People say, where do you live, Brother Steve? It's the trunk of my car. And I'm glad that you're here. Praise the Lord. There's many faces here tonight that were here last night. Some new faces. It's good to see you excited about what God is doing in our midst. I don't know if you know this, but I was in excruciating pain last night. I don't know if anybody noticed, but my back went out and I haven't had my back go out in decades. And I don't know what did it except for one thing, preacher, and that was the devil. And praise the Lord, our dear sister Linda, she got me into the dentist this morning, and she got me into the chiropractor this afternoon. Tomorrow I'm going to the hearing specialist and see what I can get done there. But praise the Lord, I'm getting all fixed up, Linda, thanks. But we're glad that you're here, and just praise the Lord. You know, I know when the devil's attacking. I know when he's attacking. I know when something good is about to happen, he really turns on the heat. But greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. And so I went into spiritual warfare last night, Brother Bidorte. I fell down on my face before the Lord, but an aching back, I fell down, got a bag of ice and put it on my back and just began to praise and worship the Lord and ask God to intervene. And he already began to intervene. And Pastor, I want to thank you for the sweet prayer time. that you gave us in your office with the missionaries. God united our hearts, and I really believe we're going to get the victory. Amen. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. And so I've been at this thing long enough to know when there's a spiritual war going on. And so souls lay in the balance. That's what this conference is all about. And Satan wants to deceive us and wants to slow us down. Some people say, Brother Stephens, how old are you? I'll be 64 in June, but I'm 80 in mileage. I've been around the block a couple times. But the Lord is blessing, giving me strength and stamina. I didn't set out to be a conference speaker, Pastor Neighbors, but I go to report to my churches, and I had not reported a long time because of Dolly's illness. I just made a commitment to the Lord that I wasn't gonna leave Dolly's side. And for three years, I parked my ministry. Pastor Neighbors knows that. For three years, I parked my ministry. No church complaint, no church, I took a sabbatical. I never wanted to look back to the time with my wife with regret, saying I shouldn't have taken that meeting, I shouldn't have been out of town, I should have been by her side. And so I thank the Lord for all my supporting churches. For those of you who don't know, Brother Barton, my wife went home to be with Jesus in July of 2017. She battled cancer on and off for 14 years. Now she's healed, amen? She's healed of cancer. I praise the Lord. There's no hospitals in heaven. There's no funeral homes in heaven. There's no doctors in heaven. It doesn't mean the doctors can't be saved. They're just not practicing medicine. Amen? And so I praise the Lord. It was a tough time for me. But I'm just glad that she's okay. And if you remember Dolly, she was only five foot tall. She was a petite little woman. And some people may think, well, she just wasn't a fighter. Let me tell you, she fought right to the very end until she said, Walter, I just can't take another test. I just can't take another needle. And the doctor, the oncologist, had thrown her hands up in the air and said, Mrs. Stevens, you're gonna be on chemotherapy the rest of your life. That's not a life, folks. not a life that we would choose. And so we allowed my sweet Dolly to go home to be with Jesus. And so we thank the Lord that she is healed now. And I have a dear friend with me tonight, Pastor Ted Ritchie. Stand up and do a twirly twirly so everybody can see you, amen. Amen, that's him. He's my Italian brother in the Lord, my paisano. And he pastors the First Baptist Church in Germantown, Ohio. And we knew each other in passing, but never got close. His precious wife, Gaila, went home to be with Jesus in August of last year. And when I saw that, I immediately called him on the phone. I don't know if I had anything encouraging to say, but I guess misery loves company. I don't know. And so I called him just to give him some encouragement. And God knit our hearts together. And there's a lot of things that came out of Gayla's home going and Dolly's home going. And one of that is this relationship. And Pastor Ritchie is resigning his church, going into evangelism, but he's also gonna be a part of our mission board, Roma Altrue Missions Association. He's gonna be one of our representatives. And maybe he can pick up on some of those miles that I'm doing, amen? It's good to have him. Then of course it's good to have my cousin Danny and his wife Susie, if you don't mind standing so everybody can see you. You can make a cute twirly twirly if you want to too. Good to have them here. Danny's my first cousin, my uncle Steve and my aunt Patsy, if you remember, they lived here in Lima. My mother and father lived here in Lima for a while too and attended here. And I had the privilege, pastor neighbors gave me the privilege of baptizing my uncle and aunt over there and the other building, and as we were, I don't think you were here, Danny. And as we were, I don't know if you know this, brother and neighbor, but as I was going down the steps into the baptistry, my uncle was going down with me, and he whispered in my ear, and he said, Walter, I'm very proud of you. While we were going down the steps into the water, and I said, Uncle Steve, God is very proud of us. And of course, he made his profession a faith. And Danny, I've never had the opportunity to, we haven't seen each other in a long, long time. But I'm very proud of you, Danny, and I'm very proud of you, Susie, for your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and your service. I know you've been serving the Lord, and I thank the Lord for it. It's not easy. The devil attacks in many, many areas, but they've showed themselves faithful to the Lord. Excuse me if I drink every now and then. I'm on several medications, and some of them dry up my mouth. I have acid reflux. Maybe if I wouldn't eat the spicy gypsy food, maybe I could get off of it. But I love that stuff. Did you bring any with you, Susie? No, you didn't? No. Maybe next time. But the doctor said that when I go to bed, I should put three pillows at my head, elevate my head to help with the acid reflux. But I also inherited from my grandfather and my father, my ankle swell. So my cardiologist said to put three pillows at my ankles. So when I go to bed, I'm like a B for victory, amen? And that's not a joke, that is the truth. Again, pastor, I wanna thank you for the accommodations. The room is very, very comfortable. I appreciate it very much. And a good office there, by the way. Good internet. Missionaries need electricity, water, and internet, amen? Because we live on that stuff. And when, matter of fact, Pastor wanted me to preach the conference 2018. And I couldn't, I was already committed. And so my executive director, you met last year, Dr. Tim Clark. I always say when I grow up, I want to be like Dr. Tim Clark. He's a godly man, I know that you met him. He just got back from Europe. Matter of fact, he spends more time in Europe than I do these days. And he sends greetings, Pastor. He said, hello. Pray for his wife, Eileen, she has some Health issues, but Dr. Clark is, we pray every morning, Monday through Friday, no matter where we are in the world, we pray by telephone. Sometimes it's late in the afternoon because he's in Europe. I'm starting my day, he's ending his. But we always meet at the throne of the grace because we wanted to bathe Roma in prayer. We wanted to make sure that it's under the authority of the local church and under the authority of the blessed Holy Spirit of God. And so you say, why don't you pray Saturday and Sunday? Well, Dr. Clark wants to play around on Saturday and Sunday. I don't know. But no, we pray, of course, but not together. And so God has blessed ROMA. We're up to 12 missionary families. Brother Richie will be coming with us in September to go to candidates training. He probably could teach us some stuff, but we're going to do what we're supposed to do, protocol. And he'll be a part of our mission agency. And God is blessing ROMA. Not that I'm saying that money is a sign of success, but $680,000 went through the treasuries of Roma last year. and all designated funds, they all went to projects, but God is blessing Roma. Now, Roma Outreach Missions Association, the acrostic, spells the name of our people. We are the Roma people. We say Roma back here, but the acrostic spells the name of the ministry, Roma Outreach Missions Association, and we're not just a mission agency just reaching the Roma people. We'll reach anybody that God gives us to reach, amen? And recently, I started working in the country of Pakistan, He said, have you been there? No, I have not. And he said, how did you start working in Pakistan, Brother Stevens? Well, when Dali's health was failing, I have 3,100 friends on Facebook. So I'm a president of an admissions agency, so I get a lot of foreigners, Brother Duarte, that contact me. And some of them may be legitimate, but there's no accountability. You can't follow through. It'd be like looking for a T-bone steak at the bottom of your garbage can. You're just not gonna do it, you know? But there was one man by the name of Pastor Asif, and I just couldn't scratch him off the list, preacher. Something wouldn't let me. And I said to Pastor Asif, and he's a gypsy. These are the original gypsies from India and Pakistan. That's where our people came from. Our language is Sanskrit in origin. Of course, they left about 1000 AD, went into Eastern Europe. They were enslaved from the 14th century to the mid-1800s. And when the emancipation movement moved around the world, they got their freedom, went to Western Europe. And our families across the pond into the United States. My great-grandfather came here first. But Pastor Asif contacted me. And I said, Pastor Asif, my wife is very sick. I don't have time for this right now. I'm not called to Pakistan. So I said, you just have to contact me later. And only because I couldn't scratch him off the list. I just couldn't do it. Well, Dali passed, and he contacted again. And I said, Pastor Asif, what do you want from me? What do you want me to do? He says, I inherited this ministry from my father. He's gone home to be with the Lord. He says, I've never been trained for ministry. Therefore, I'm not trained. I can't train my people. Now, these are the original gypsies. They don't speak the same language I do. because our dialect is influenced by Europe. They're the original gypsy, so they have the original language. And so I said, well, what do you want me to do? How can I help you? And I'm being tough on this guy. I really don't want to be involved, to be honest with you. And he says, well, I want you to train me, and I want you to disciple my people. And I said, Pastor Asif, I have no intentions of coming to Pakistan. I just can't get there. I don't even know if I can go there. I don't know if I'm allowed to go there. I don't know what the State Department says. And I said, how do you want me to do this? He said, I want you to do it via the internet. And he says, I want you to do it via Skype. I said, what that's going to take? And he said, well, it's going to take a laptop, a generator, a projector, and there goes the red flags. You know, that's going to cost money. I said, OK, Pastor Steve, how much is this stuff going to cost? He says, I'll go check. He writes me back or calls me back and says, it's going to be $1,500 for everything. Well, to be honest with you, Brother Barton, that was a red flag. How do you get all that stuff for $1,500? I said, OK, Pastor Steve, I don't know if I'm allowed to send money to Pakistan. But I'll send you $1,500, but when you buy those items, I don't want pictures of them on the store shelves, I want pictures of them on your kitchen table. And so I went and I sent him $1,500. You know how I sent him $1,500? Walmart. Walmart to world, it cost $16. Did you know that, Brother Duarte? 16, Walmart to world. Now, I've sent money since then. Homeland Security may be knocking on my door someday, I don't know, but it's going over there. And so he bought all the stuff. He put it on his dining room table. When I saw his family around the kitchen table, my heart was touched. And we had our first Bible study the first Friday of October of last year. It's about a nine-hour time difference. It's evening for them, very early in the morning for me. And at the end of that Bible study, of course, they can see me, I can see them. And I said, Pastor, see if I said the holy, I use a translator because I don't, they speak English, but I don't want to take the chance of them not understanding what I'm teaching. And we're doing basic stuff. This is junior church stuff. I mean, we're that simple. There's basic doctrines. And as we closed, I said, Pastor Asif, is everybody in that room saved? And he says, no, Pastor, we have a man and a woman here that's not saved. I said, would you bring them around in front of the camera so I can see them? There was an elderly woman, probably in her 70s, a man probably in his mid-20s. And I presented the gospel to them through a translator. There, I'm watching them, Brother Duarte. I can see it on my laptop screen. They knelt and they prayed and received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Since then, I've preached at some of their outdoor services. They have no building. They were meeting outside and he asked me to preach. Now, that service is at three o'clock in the afternoon. I have to do that about five in the morning. If it was radio, I would just go in my pajamas, but because they see me, I have, I was thinking about getting that thing, you know, face in the hole where you just put your face in and there's a suit and a tie, you know, but gotta get up and get dressed. At one service, we had 12 souls receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior. And so the little room that they were meeting in for the Bible studies packed out. We couldn't get anybody in there. It's a room in his home. And I said, Pastor Asif, I want you to go look for a facility, see if there's something for sale. And he came back with a big, big house, four bedrooms, two kitchens, two bathrooms, and a large hall. I said, what are they asking for? He said, $32,000. Well, that was a good deal. And I could raise that money very easily. My supporting pastors, I could get on a few, just a few churches, and I could raise $32,000. As a matter of fact, I have $10,000 saved for a project already. But I couldn't justify raising $32,000 for a building without boots on the ground. And so I said, pastor, see, if you go back and ask the owner if he wants to rent that facility. We'll make a long story short. We rented the facility for $270 a month, utilities included. To be honest with you, I don't want to buy it anymore at $270 a month. And by the way, at renting, if something was to go wrong and it wasn't right, I could stop sending the money for the rent. In two days, on my cell phone, driving in my car, I raised two years of rent. I raised enough for chairs. Matter of fact, the donor for the chairs is sitting right here, Brother Richie, his church, paid for the chairs and all that we needed. And we've been holding the Bible studies in that new building. They had a Resurrection Sunday service in that building. The room was packed out. I posted on Facebook and Instagram. If you've ever seen it, and if you're not, you may want to be friends with me, I'll tell you, if you want to be friends. Maybe you don't want to be friends, but if you want to, I'll give you my Facebook information. But glory goes to God. I just got back from Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. God just blessed. I preached the missions conference for an American missionary in Sofia, Bulgaria. The whole country of Bulgaria is 7 million people. We got towns in America, brother, that have more people than that. And two million of the Bulgarians live in the capital city of Sofia. And 70,000 gypsies, Danny, 70,000 gypsies in one community there. Everything is run by the gypsies there except the police department and the school system. And so I preached there, and Brother Jonathan Owens, he invited me to come to preach his faith promise conference, and gave the challenge to increase their, to give the faith promise. At the invitation, he had them bring their faith promise cards to the altar, and they laid them. There was a big pile of faith promise cards. He said, Brother Stevens, we want to invest in another gypsy missionary. Do you know anyone? What do you think? Do you think I knew anyone? Of course. Our missionary, Brother Paul Raphael, that pastors our gypsy work in Hungary. and they took him on for $70 a month, preacher. Then he wanted to pay for my airline ticket. I said, I can't do it, Brother Owens. I can't take money from a missionary to pay for my airline ticket. It's taken care of. He says, well, I have $1,000 in missions money. I'd like to give it to your ministry. Where can we use it? Well, every Easter and every Christmas, we try to help our poor gypsies with Easter baskets or Christmas baskets with a meal for that holiday. And see, we do about $5,000 each time, and he gave that $1,000 towards those Easter baskets in our gypsy's head. a wonderful meal for the Resurrection Sunday celebration. Our churches in Romania are packed out. You say, but that's why, because there's small auditoriums. No, some of them are large auditoriums, and they're packed out, standing room only in many of our churches. And souls being saved, lives being changed, men being trained for the Institute. We just ordained a gypsy man as the pastor of another church. And I could stand here all night and tell you all that God is doing, but I promised you last night that I would give a brief report. Maybe we'll talk more about it as we go through the week. But that's your fruit, folks. You've invested in my ministry probably for the entirety since we've been in ministry. I've been in ministry 35 years, but five years was an assistant pastor in New Carlisle, Ohio, 30 years in ministry. And you have invested in the Stevens family, you put food on our table, clothes on our back, gas in our cars, And as a result of that, Paul said to the church at Philippi, he said, not that I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. And because of your faithful prayers and your faithful giving, gypsy souls have been placed into your account in heaven. And we give God all the praise and all the glory and honor. Go with me in your Bibles please to the book of Acts chapter eight. Whenever it's determined that I'm going to preach a conference, and usually I'm invited years in advance, and this one was two years in advance, I begin to pray and ask, and I have hundreds of missions messaged, and praise the Lord for technology, amen? As long as the battery stays charged, you're good. I used to come with the paper Outline and my device just in case but anymore I I make sure that the batteries charge I have missions of message But I just don't want to flip through there and say well preach that one So I begin to pray early and ask God to give me the messages that he wants for the conference And I put together what I call a message strategy What am I going to preach Wednesday Thursday Friday? And of course what I might preach on Sunday and of course you always give the Holy Spirit liberty to change that Amen? He's in charge, right? And that's what happened today. I had a different message for tonight, but the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart the message I'm preaching tonight. Acts chapter eight, we're gonna be reading at the fifth verse. Would you stand with me as we read the word of God in reverence of the word of God? Acts chapter eight, beginning at the fifth verse. I'll read aloud as you follow in silence. Pay close attention to the scriptures. I'm a Bible preacher. I have nothing else to say to you tonight, but what the word of God has to say. And so you'll see the points for the message, the thoughts for the message, all come from the verses that I'm using tonight. Acts chapter 8, beginning at the fifth verse. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them. And many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. We'll get the theme and the title of the message from the eighth verse. and there was great joy in that city. The title of the message tonight is Getting Great Joy into the Cities of the World. Let's pray as God to bless the reading and the preaching of the word. Gracious Heavenly Father, we bow before you tonight in utter praise and worship of who you are. We worship you, God, just because of who you are. You're deserving of worship. We praise you, Father, for what you do. You're actively involved in the lives of your people. And Father, thank you for the sweet time that you've given me with you today. Even beginning last night, throughout the day today, we've had sweet fellowship, Lord, as my mind has been upon tonight's message. And Father, thank you for the sweet prayer time that we experienced with the pastor and the missionaries. Our hearts were united, God, in the closing amen of the things that we prayed about. And God, we prayed about this service tonight. Father, we wanna hear from you. We wanna hear from your word. We've come ready, God. Our hearts are open, our empty cups are tilted towards heaven, asking you to fill them. Now Father, if I preach in the power of Walter Stevens, those words will fall to the ground, empty, vain, a waste of time. But Father, if we're faithful to preach your word, you promised it would never come back void, you'll always accomplish your purposes with it. I pray God that you would breathe upon your word with the breath of heaven, and ignite it with the fires of the Holy Ghost, and hide this preacher behind the cross. We wanna glorify you, Father. And there's needs here tonight, Father. There are those that may be hurting, discouraged. I pray that they get encouraged in the word of God. There are those who may be cold, going through the motions of their faith, but it's just not like it used to be. I pray, Lord, that you draw them unto yourself with cords of love. And maybe there's someone here tonight that doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. I pray, Lord, that tonight they would meet the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. I wanna be a blessing, Father, to the pastor and his wife. I wanna be a blessing to other servants in this room, pastors and missionaries. Laman, God, I wanna be a blessing to my cousin and his wife, Father. But most important of all, Father, I wanna be a blessing to the heart of my Savior, the Lord Jesus, for it's in his name we pray with thanksgiving and all God's people said amen, and you may be seated. Great joy into the cities of the world. How does it happen? How do we bring the person of joy to those who lack in inner joy? How did joy come to the people of Samaria? God outlines here to us what transpired. And for those missionaries who are on deputation and haven't been to the field in a full-time capacity yet, if you'll listen to this, God will help you in establishing your works. If it all else fails, follow the directions, amen? And sometimes we have to learn it the hard way, Brother Duarte. I know that many times we take things into our own hands, negating the sovereignty of God. God is in charge. Hello, God is in charge. And if we'll follow the plan, he'll help us. How does great joy come to the peoples, the Samaritan type people, those on the margins of society, those who have been neglected? I work with a people group who had been neglected in the presentation of the gospel. The term for gypsies in Romania is Zigan. The term for gypsies in Germany is Zigoina. The term for gypsies in Greece is Giftos. And the term in Spanish speaking countries is the Hitanos. And all those terms mean the same thing. The undesirable, the unwanted, the untouchable. Nobody wanted them. Not even the Baptist didn't want them. And when I first went to Eastern Europe, specifically Romania, I remember I was walking down the dirt roads with the national pastor there. And a Romanian woman came out of the home, began screaming at me at the top of her lungs. She was throwing stones at me. And I said to the national pastor, what's she saying? Why is she so upset with me? And of course, they very superstitious people. That's where we got Vlad the Impaler or Dracula from. They're very superstitious. Transylvania, by the way. That's where we work in Transylvania. Very superstitious people. And she said that she believes because I'm bringing the gospel to the Gypsy people, I'm casting pearl before swine, and I'm going to vex the Romanian people by taking the gospel to the Gypsy people. Because the mentality of the Romanians, Bulgarians, Slovakians, all of Europe and Eastern Europe was that the Gypsy didn't have a soul. They were like animals. They were not redeemable. Well, we proved them wrong, amen? And many, many gypsies coming to Christ and bringing the person of joy. God loves the Samaritan-type peoples all over the world. The Samaritan-type peoples are those that nobody wants to associate with, especially amongst the Jewish people. They didn't associate with the Samaritans. They were the half-breeds that have polluted the Jewish bloodline. Matter of fact, John chapter 4, verse 9 says, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. but God loves the Samaritan like peoples to the point that in John chapter 4 verse 4 it says that Jesus must needs go through Samaria and if you know anything about the geography at that time Jesus didn't have to go through Samaria to get where he was going except for the fact that there was going to be a woman at a well who needed to hear the wonderful news of Jesus Christ and we know how she got saved and many of that city got saved. Do you know that we've never coined the phrase the good Roman, nor have we coined the phrase the good Jew, but we have coined the phrase the good Samaritan, have we not? And as you study your scriptures, you'll find that those who are on the highways and the hedges of life, who come to Christ, know the debt that they owe. and they dedicate themselves to the person of Jesus Christ. And God brought joy to our Roma people all over Europe. Here in the United States, we now have ministries in Cleveland, Ohio, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and also in St. Petersburg. I started a new ministry amongst the Roma, St. Petersburg, Florida. But how does great joy come to the peoples of the world? And how do we get great joy into the hearts of the mission fields that are represented this week? And words like joy and happiness and contentment have been perverted in our materialistic culture in which we live today, especially those who are trying to live by satisfying their desires of life through materialism. And they wake up every morning empty. And just as empty as they were the night before when they went to bed, because they're trying to find their happiness in something. I want to use our text verses tonight, beginning at the fifth verse, to show a pathway, a process, a prescription, if you will, of how to get great joy into the lives of those who lack it. And of course our goal is to get to the 8th verse, but we need to go through verse 5 through verse 7 to get the verse 8. And we'll follow the pattern that God outlines for us here. And by the way, folks, this stuff is on the surface of these passages of Scripture. They're golden nuggets laying on top. God put them there just for us to grab them. And that's how wonderful they are. Here's the first thing. Look at verse 5. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria. Number one, there must be a preacher sent from God. There has to be a preacher, someone who's got the call of God upon his life to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto myself. Wow, what a cushy job. We have preachers. We get to stand behind the sacred desk for a half hour, 40 minutes, talking about Jesus Christ. If this is all there was to ministry, whoa, piece of cake, walk in the park. It's all that other stuff that goes with it, amen? And so we lift up Christ. We lift up Jesus virgin-born. We lift him with a sinless life. We lift him performing miracles. We lift him in his crucifixion. We lift him in the burial. And we lift him up in his resurrection. And Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself. We preach Christ. There needs to be a preacher. In our story, it was Philip. Who was the preacher that was sent from God to you? You say, well, it wasn't a full-time servant. Watch now, Mark 16, 15. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. Listen, church, we're all called to be preachers. We're all called to carry the Great Commission. By the way, it's not the Great Suggestion. Help me, church. It's the great commission. You and I, the church, has been commissioned by the heavenly father. The Holy Ghost has given us everything we need to be the preachers of the gospel. That word preach in Mark 16, 15 is the Greek word caruso. You know what it means? It means to proclaim and herald. What are we proclaiming? What are we heralding? That a savior was born, that he died, he was buried, and he rose the third day, and he offers the free gift of salvation to only those who will come to it and receive it. You know, I was a con man before I was saved. My wife, Dolly, was a fortune teller. We were raised to lie, steal, and cheat. If I would perform the con, my parents would reward me. If I didn't perform the con, my parents would reprimand me. That'll confuse a 10-year-old boy. But you know what? You don't forget how to steal. Hello? I still know how to steal, Danny. Yeah, it's back here. Praise God for the Holy Ghost that keeps it under control, or you'd be watching your billfolds in your purses. But you know, I'm still stealing. He said, Brother Stephens, what are you stealing? I'm stealing souls out of the hand of the devil. God says in Ezekiel, he says, behold, all souls are mine. And the Calvinist said, well, that takes care of it. We're done. They all belong to God. But some of God's souls have been kidnapped. Listen to me, church. They're being held hostage. And you say, well, Brother Stevens, do you go to the kidnapper? No, I don't go to the kidnapper. I go to the hostage. And you know what I tell them? Hey, the ransom has been paid. And if the Son shall make you free, you shall be what? Free indeed. Stealing souls out of the hands of the devil. My people held by the clutches of Satan for centuries, if not millennium. But watch, church, they're now being set free through the gospel. There needs to be a preacher that goes to the lowest souls of the world. Jesus said that what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven. What we set free on earth will be set free in heaven. And we have the responsibility to preach the good news. Who was the preacher who told you about Jesus? Brother Evans and I, your missionary also working with gypsies in Fort Lauderdale, his precious wife went to be with Jesus three years ago this month, matter of fact. And that was Dolly's best friend, Susie. And after Sally passed, I could just see a change in Dolly. But Brother Evans and I were the preachers in 1995. Somewhere in 1994, a Romanian national who was in Akron, Ohio, pastoring a Romanian Baptist church, called me on the telephone. He started speaking to me in the Gypsy language. It's very rare that non-Gypsies would know our language. And he said, Brother Stevens, I was raised with your people in Tinka, Romania. And he left Romania before communism fell in 1989. He came to the United States to have the liberty to preach the gospel, because under communism, they were controlling who preached, and when they preached, and where they preached. And he was pastoring a church in Akron, Ohio. He invited Brother Evans, and myself, and our wives to his home for a meal, but showed us a homemade video of the gypsies of Finco, Romania. And our hearts were pierced. We didn't know the living conditions of our people in Eastern Europe prior to the fall of communism in 1989. Totally destitute on the margins of the margins of society. My people are so poor even to today. They'll eat the potatoes one day and the peels the next day. We have some gypsies that we call the dumpster divers. They're the ones that jump into the garbage cans to look for something to eat. That's why we have three feeding centers, where we feed over 200 hungry gypsy kids one meal a day, five days a week. And you say, Brother Stevens, God called you to feed all the hungry gypsy kids in Eastern Europe? Nope, can't be done. Jesus said, you have the poor with you always. And I don't believe in a social gospel, but I heard a Haitian missionary say one time, it's very difficult to preach the gospel to growling stomachs. And so we feed them physical food. And do you know Jesus fed them physical food in John chapter 6? And then he said, labor not for the meat that perishes. So we feed them, but we also tell them about Jesus. They get saved and their families are getting saved and one of these feeding centers is Sally's kitchen. That's brother Evans's wife's Made in memory of Sally Evans and God is blessing that but but we when we saw this homemade video of the gypsies of Eastern Europe we knew that we had to go so brother Evans and I went in June of 1995 the the Romanian National had raised his support because he was going back. He made a promise to God that if communism ever fell he was going to go back and raise churches to the gypsy people. He moved there in May of 1995. We followed him in June. But to our dismay, he moved to the big city. And we didn't want to be in the big city. We wanted to be near the gypsies that we saw on the video in Dinka, Romania. So literally, we flew from Cleveland, Ohio. There was direct flights from Cleveland to Budapest, Hungary. Took public transportation into Romania and were dropped off in the middle of nowhere. No car. There weren't restaurants in those days. My sister had sent with me two three-pound hickory farm beef sticks. You know the ones you get at Christmas time? And I had taken with me a case of Raymond noodle soup. You know the ones that are 100 for a dollar? Not really. And I took a collapsible Sterno stove. I didn't know you couldn't take Sterno on an airplane, but I did. And that's what we ate, beef stick, Raymond noodle soup, got some of the fresh baked bread out of the bakery, greatest tomatoes in all the world, Romania. But we ate that every day, but we didn't care about living conditions. We were staying in a broken down boarding house. If there was water, it was cold. We didn't have screens in our windows, so we had a lot of visitors every night. But we didn't care, because we would grab our backpacks and go out and walk into the community where the gypsies were. Now, under communism, they had given parcels of land. There's no such thing as a gypsy village. Every village or town has a gypsy part of it. It's a parcel of land given to them by the communist government. always on the outskirts of town, near the railroad tracks, near the dumps. And when we got to the town of Tinca, which was a town of 5,000 people, we couldn't find that parcel of land. I didn't speak Romanian, so I couldn't ask a national, but by the sovereignty of God... I want you to listen to this, brother. By the sovereignty of God, as we entered the town of Tinca, there was a gypsy boy, about six years old, gazing into a storefront window. He was absolutely filthy from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. And I said to him in the gypsy language, where are the gypsies? He led us by the hand clear across town and we came to a small one-room house. When I say small one-room, I'm talking 12 foot by 12 foot or 14 by 14 foot. When he came to the door, he didn't knock. He just opened our door but entered very quietly. And I said to Brother Evans, we better enter in the same way. And so we entered in quietly. As soon as we entered this one-room house, we saw why he was entering quietly. Nobody lived in this house. This was a house where gypsies would assemble for the specific purpose of prayer. And when we walked in, there were 10 or 12 gypsies on their knees in a circle. They didn't know we had entered. One gypsy man was praying out loud. Gypsies are bilingual all over the world. They speak the indigenous language of the host nation, and they speak their gypsy language. Here's the sovereignty of God again. Had he prayed in Romanian, I wouldn't have understood a word of his prayer. But the sovereign father had him pray in the gypsy language, and this was his prayer. God, send us someone. Send us someone to tell us the truth of the gospel, for we are very confused. Now, to understand that prayer, the year is 1995. Six years prior, communism fallen. And in that time, every cult and his brother was coming from the West, confusing these primitive people, telling them if they ate pork, they couldn't go to heaven. telling them that they didn't worship on Saturday, they couldn't go to heaven, or if they didn't speak in tongues, they couldn't go to heaven. And so his prayer was genuine. He said amen. He stood at his feet and opened his eyes, I standing right before him, said to him in the gypsy language, I'm four generations from Eastern Europe, separated by 5,000 miles in an ocean, and we spoke the same dialect. Tell me that's not the sovereignty of God. And when I was in a grade school in Bellefontaine, Ohio, I wondered why I was the only kid in the whole school that spoke two languages. That day I found out. And I told him, we are the answer to that prayer. How would you like to get your prayers answered that fast? And I presented to him the gospel in his language. He received the Lord Jesus Christ as a savior and several others in the room, too. He was a professional musician. He had his accordion by his side. And he would bring the accordion to play Christian songs before they prayed. Gypsies are very emotional people. They laugh hard. They cry hard. They fight hard. And they celebrate hard. And he grabbed his accordion. We all went out. He began to play. And like the Pipe Piper, gypsies were coming out from all over the community. I think they thought there was a party going on. And when they assembled, brother neighbors, I preached the gospel again. There on the dirt roads of Thinker Romania, many were saved that day, and the nucleus of the Man of Baptist Church of Thinker Romania had been established. We had our first baptism in August of that year. The man who I heard praying is now our national pastor. His name is Giza Fekete. He pastors three churches, and you're ready to start his fourth. Amen? There needs to be a preacher. Where were the preachers in 1995? Who was the preacher to you? You see, the preacher must obey the call of God is life. When when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and he said, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said he, here am I send me. Why didn't God know with God asking the question? He was looking for a volunteer. And Isaiah volunteered. You see, the preacher must be sent. That's what missions conference is about. It's about sending these missionaries to the field that God has called them to do. Watch church. They're going to get to their field. Help me. They're going to get to their field. The question is this week, will Blue Lake Bible Church be a participant in helping them get to the field? That's the question. That's what the faith promise card is about. That's what the faith promise commitment is about, that you can invest into these lives of these missionaries. And what a great group of missionaries, preacher. You've done a great job. The Holy Spirit has led you. I'm thrilled about these ministries. And so there needs to be a preacher. Romans chapter 10 verse 14 and 15. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? That's what missions conference is about. Sending the preacher. They can take the gospel. Then it says, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. When I was on staff at Crossroad Baptist Church in New Carlisle, Ohio, matter of fact, Danny and Susie received the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior at a sweetheart banquet that we had. They came as sweethearts. And the gospel was presented. Yeah. And the gospel was presented. They got saved. But my pastor was six foot seven inches tall. I literally looked up to him. He wore a size 13 and a half triple E shoe. And as a faithful assistant, when he would go behind to prepare to baptize, I'd follow him. And he'd sit on a chair, and I'd untie those 13 and a half triple E shoes. And I'd pull off those socks. And I'd see those 13 and a half triple E feet. And you know what went through my mind? Romans 10, 15. How beautiful are the feet? God has brought some beautiful feet here for us to participate in their lives and ministry. At the time of the Titanic disaster, there was a man by the name of John Harper. He was 39 years old, he was a widower. He was on the Titanic with his sister and his six-year-old daughter. He was on his way to Chicago to preach at Moody Church. Of course, that terrible night, as the Titanic began to sink, John Harper got his sister and his daughter onto a lifeboat, but he stayed in the cold Atlantic waters, floating around, preaching the gospel. Howling out, are you saved? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your personal savior? And he would cry out as we float around and around. There was one man on that boat, on the waters that night. He says this, I am a survivor of the Titanic. I was one of only six people out of 1,517 to be pulled from the icy waters on that dreadful night. Like hundreds around me, I found myself struggling in the cold, dark waters of the North Atlantic. The wail of the perishing was ringing in my ears when there floated by me a man who called to me and said, is your soul saved? Then I heard him call out to others, as he and everyone around me sank beneath the waters. There alone, in the night, with two miles of water under me, I cried to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I am John Harper's last convert. There needs to be a preacher. That's the first ingredient. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria. I want you to see the second thing in the same verse. Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and what did he do? He preached Christ unto them. First, there needs to be a preacher. Secondly, there needs to be a proclamation of Christ. And you say, oh, Brother Stevens, what else is a preacher gonna preach? Really, huh? Help me, church. There's one guy who comes on television. He's got the most beautiful haircut I've ever seen. It must cost him $500 for her. His dental work, got to be $20,000. His clothes, impeccable, impeccable. And he gets on the platform, and you know what he tells me? He tells me I'm good. I have a problem with that. I have to see this mug in the mirror every morning. Bible says there's none good but God. Now, I won't tell you his name because you might like him, but his initials are Joel Olsteen. Packs out auditoriums. You want to do some googling? Google what he said on Larry King. You know what he said? That there's other ways to get to heaven besides Jesus. Not everybody preaches Jesus. One time I preached the message, will the real Jesus please stand up? Not everybody, but we're called to proclaim the finished work of Jesus Christ. It's the great commission. It's the great mandate of God. We preach him. It's a proclamation of Christ. We preach him virgin born, sinless life, working miracles, crucified, buried, risen from the dead, and returning for his children. You know what it is? It's the Christmas message. It's the message of Emmanuel. God is with us. We preach Jesus. Thirdly, and I need to move along here, I want you to look with me again to the verses. Number one, there needs to be a preacher. That's in verse five. Number two, there needs to be a proclamation of Christ. Then I want you to see verse six. And the people. Everybody see it? Say amen. And the people, with one accord, gave heed to those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. You know what I've entitled this point? It's the people, we need the people, we need to preach a proclamation to the people. But I call this point the missing link. Quiet in here. Many times we cannot, we cannot, we cannot harness God's people to unite in the cause of worldwide evangelism. It's a dilemma for me, missionaries. of why we preach from the platforms across this nation, challenging God's people, not only to give, but to pray, but also to surrender, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus told us in Matthew chapter 9 that the harvest truly is plenty, but the labor is a few. It's always been the same problem. We need manpower. We need men and women, boys and girls, who will come forward in the altar in their church and say, God, if you're calling me, I'm making myself available. One of the greatest missions pastors that I know, Dr. Charles Keane, pastor emeritus of First Baptist Milford. You know what he says? Not every man is called to preach, but every man should wrestle with the possibility. That means men should be on their faces before God saying, God, if you're calling me, I'll make myself available. How come we don't see any more Samuels? You know why we don't see any more Samuels? Because we don't have Ahannas and Elkanahs who will bring their little Samuels to the altar, saying, God, I'm taking my hands off my children and my grandchildren. You say, wait a minute, Brother Stephen. Those are my kids. Really? Really? Children are a heritage of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is his reward. You say, well, I want my kids to be safe. I don't want them going to the deepest part of Africa working with headhunters and cannibals. I want them to be safe. Listen, church, the safest place for your children is in the perfect center of God's will. To bring our children to the altar, moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas, bringing them to the Lord, saying, God, if you're calling my kid, I'm giving him to you. Faith promise. You know what my prayer is for every church preacher that I preach faith promise? I don't pray for the goal. Because I believe God will give the goal if we get 100% participation. That every member, A Blue League Bible Church, Lima, Ohio, would be involved in the faith promise somewhere, somehow. The amount is irrelevant. That's between you and God, what you put on that card. But you would say, I'm going to participate. Young people can participate. A quarter, 50 cents, dollar, whatever it is. that get involved to make sure that we're doing our part, that we can say we are a part of the faith promise in our church. Number one, there needs to be a preacher. Number two, there needs to be a proclamation of Christ. Number three, there needs to be a people who unite with the man in the message. Who unite with the man in the message. I might have mentioned this last night. There has to be a visionary. Somebody has to see. And of course, our pastor here is showing us where he wants us to go by bringing in these missionaries and then presenting their fields. Great job with the presentations, great job with the testimonies, great job with the song, brother. And he's trying to bring them before you because Jeremiah said, what my eye has seen has affected my heart. We're affected by what we see. And trying to present, and you know, these missionaries, as hard as you try, you can't express all your burden from this platform, can you? But you try through the means of a visual aid or a testimony or a song. But to see their passion, the love of their Savior, what they're willing to do for Christ, I know it's no sacrifice compared to what Jesus did, but it's a sacrifice nonetheless. And we expect these missionaries to step out by faith, don't we? Help me, church. Will we step out by faith? The faith promise card is not you putting an offering in, it's committing, just committing by faith. There's no transfer of money. You have a fiscal year, a fiscal mission year. And so Blue Lake Bible Church will determine the mission's budget based on your commitments. And the church will take a step of faith and say, hey, this is what we got committed, this is what we're going to give to missions, and the money hasn't come in yet. It's an act of faith on everybody's part. Wouldn't you love to hear that all the missionaries that are in this conference are now part of your mission's family? I'd love to hear that. And then finally, let me finish here. I want you to look at verse seven. And by the way, not just because it's numbered, not just because seven comes before eight. By the design of God, we need these three things put in. We need a preacher proclamation of Christ and a people that's united with the man and the message. We got that? Help me, church. Verse seven is not put there by coincidence or by accident. It's put there by the design of God. This is God's book, right? Help me. And by design, he put the seventh verse before the eighth verse. The eighth verse is our goal. What's our goal? Great joy in the city. Three components have to be put into the equation, right? Preacher, proclamation, and people. Three components have to be put in. Watch now. One has to be taken out. Look at verse seven. For unclean spirits crying with loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with pauses, and that were lame were healed. Let me give you the title of the point, and then I'll take just a few minutes. I've entitled this point The Pulling Down of Strongholds. There needs to be a preacher, there needs to be a proclamation of Christ, there needs to be a people who unite with the man of the message, and together, you ready? Together they pull down the strongholds of Satan. You see, Satan needs to be taken out of the equation. As you go to your mission fields, you're gonna come back, you're gonna be in spiritual warfare, brother. There's a bullseye put on your back. Don't wanna frighten you, dear sister, but there's a bull, you know that, you're big kids. You know that, you know that, brother, that there's a bullseye put on your back. God doesn't want you in that perspective field, does he? I mean, Satan doesn't want you there, does he? Or you, brother? And so it's spiritual warfare. Now watch now. We've put three components into the equation, right? The goal is verse 8, great joy in the city. That's what we want. But something needs to be taken out of the equation. It's the pulling down of strongholds. You're not going to reach a people until the strongholds are pulled down. He said it's easy for you the Stevens you work with gypsies I understand that I know it's more visible with my people my people are people of nature if you go to each you know What we say in America? We don't have demonic activity really one of these doesn't make you civilized Don't have to have a bone through your nose to be the mission field yeah with my people especially in Eastern Europe It's more obvious. They can't camouflage it. They can't hide it They're people of nature and demonic activity is visible now. I don't want you to think I'm a demon chaser chaser That's not what this is about But you know what we've done in this country? And don't anyone question my patriotism. I love this nation. It doesn't get any better than the US of A. In all its imperfection, it doesn't get any better than the US of A. And I've been around the block a couple times. But you know what we've done in America? We haven't taken Satan out of the equation. We've put Satan into the equation. We did it when we kicked him out of schools. Hello? Why is it every time there's a school shooting, someone hollers out, where's God? You ever hear that? Where's God? It's the only time they talk about God. Hello? When they feel something's going wrong, they blame Him. Right? We've taken God out of the equation, and we've put Satan into the equation, and we wonder how we end up where we're at today. I don't know about you, but I'm not surprised. Huh? Quiet in here. You're meddling, preacher. Satan needs to be taken out of the equation. You say, well, how do we do that? Well, let's see, I think God gave us some authority. And here's what we underestimate, pastor, the authority that God has given to the local church, not just to you, but to the church, the body of Christ, the church that Jesus loved, and according to Ephesians 5.25, he loved the church and gave himself for it. When people don't wanna go to church, you don't wanna tell them Jesus loved the church, he died for it, better be a part of it, hello. He's given us authority. He says in his word, what we bind on earth will be bound in heaven. What we set free on earth will be set free. You know, Jesus said, unless you bind the strong man, you can't spoil his house. Hello? Unless you bind the strong man, you can't spoil his house. Who's the strong man? Satan. We're trying to steal souls out of his hands, out of his clutches. We need to bind him. Watch this. We've been given the authority to bind him. That's what Philip did when they saw the works. that Philip did and the people uniting with the message of Christ. Watch now. The demonic world could not take it and they had to run. Here's the question, church. Is the demonic world afraid of you? Are you a threat to the devil? Are you rattling the devil's cage? Watch, church. God has called me to rattle the devil's cage. He's called us to rattle his cage. I think those faith promise cards, if they're filled out the way that God tells them to fill out, that'll rattle the devil's cage. Help me now. He doesn't want you to fill out a card. You say, preacher, I'm not sure about the faith promise plan. Tomorrow night I'm gonna be talking about the faith promise plan. Are we rattling the devil's cage? Let me close with this one thought. Does Satan and the demonic world know your name? In Acts chapter 19, There's a guy by the name of Sceva, if that's the correct pronunciation of his name. It's spelled S-C-E-V-A. I only have a sixth grade education. They taught Sceva in the seventh grade. I'm serious about being sixth grade, not Sceva in the seventh grade. And Sceva decides he's going to a demonic individual, a person who's possessed with demons. And watch what Sceva says. He says, in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I cast you out. You know what the demon said? Jesus, I know. Paul, I know. Who are you? And the demon went on him. Two things are taught there. He didn't have the authority. Hello. And he wasn't known by the demonic world. Now, I want you to look through the mind of the demons now. Jesus, I know. Paul, I know. Well, of course they know Jesus. Hello, he made them. He didn't make them fall, but he made them. Huh? What did the Gadarene Demaniac and the demons say to Jesus when he came to them? He says, have you come to torment us? We know who you are. That's what they said to Jesus. So it only makes sense that they would know Jesus. Help me now, church. But watch now. Paul was made out of the same stuff that you and I are made of. He's no angel. Hello? So watch the mind of the demonic world. Jesus I know. Paul I know. To the demonic world, Jesus and Paul were on the same level. What do you mean by that, preacher? They both were a threat to them. So here's the question. Are you a threat to the devil? Does the demonic world know your name? They know my name. Hello. They know these missionaries' name. They know your pastor's name. Do they know your name? How do I do it, preacher? How do I make sure the demonic world knows my name? By claiming the authority that he's given to you as the local church. The Bible says he gave us the keys to the kingdom. And you know what he loves? He loves discord. He loves when the body's not united. One of his best tools, preacher, right? If he can divide, then he can conquer. Faith Promise Sunday's an important Sunday. I think it's the most important Sunday in the church's calendar. And it'll only be successful if the members of Blue Lake Bible Church unite and become a threat to the demonic world. Needs to be a preacher. We got some here this week, praise the Lord. Needs to be a proclamation to Christ. We're doing it, they're gonna do it. But there needs to be a people. And when the people unite with the preacher and the message, watch now, they become a threat to the devil and his kingdom. They pull down strongholds, and you know what happens? Verse eight, and there was great joy in that city. Heads about and eyes are closed, no one's looking around. With every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around. I never take the audience for granted. There's some of you I know, of most of you I don't know. The Bible says that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looketh upon the heart. I look around, everybody looks okay to me. But what does Jesus say? Is he in your heart? He's not going to get in there unless you invite him. He's a gentleman, Jesus doesn't come where he's not invited. Revelation says he stands at the door and knocks. It's the door of your heart. If any man hears his voice and opens that door, he will come into him. It's up to us to open the door. He doesn't force it open. You're here tonight, and there was a day when you trusted Jesus as your personal Savior. You know that you belong to God, not based upon your merit, but based upon the finished work of Jesus. You raise your hand as your testimony. I'm a believer preacher. He has all over the auditorium. Raise your hand way up high. This is your testimony. I've trusted Jesus as my Savior. The Bible says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. You may put your hands down. Some didn't raise their hands. Maybe you just didn't want to raise your hand. That's okay. Maybe some didn't raise their hand because they don't know Jesus as their personal savior. And you say, preacher, that's me. I need Christ. I need to be born again. Would you just slip your hand up and put it right back down that I could pray for you? I can't pray for you into heaven, but I can pray that you'll do the right thing. I'm here tonight without Jesus. Pray for me. Is there one? Is there one? Taking for granted then that we're all God's people. Taking it for granted that we're all part of the church. I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, but are you a threat to the devil? Will you send forth the preachers who will proclaim Christ? Will you be with the people who are united with the man in the message? And together, we'll pull down the strongholds of Satan so there could be great joy in the city. Maybe you're here tonight, God's dealing with you about full-time service. Not every man is called to preach, but every man should wrestle with the possibility. Grandmas and grandpas should be on their faces before the Lord. Moms and dads should be on their faces before the Lord saying, God, I'm taking hands off. Johnny, sissy belongs to you. Do what you want with them. It's not that you're making a call for them. You're just telling God you're going to get out of the way. Or maybe you'd be on your face tonight at the altar asking God to reveal the number that he wants you to put on the faith promise card. Let's stand with our heads bowed and eyes closed. Father in heaven, thank you for these wonderful truths that are so easy to find. They're right on the surface, Lord. Don't have to dig too deep. They're nuggets of gold just lying on top that we can just collect. And we've collect these beautiful truths, Lord. that there needs to be a preacher and a proclamation of Christ and a people who are united with the man and the message so we can pull down the strongholds of Satan so that there could be joy in the city of Ecuador, of Brazil, of Puerto Rico, of other missionaries that are here this week, Lord, in their perspective fields. who want to take the message of joy, but they need some help to get there. And what a joy, what a privilege it is that we can participate in that. To help these missionaries get their needed support, that they can go there knowing that they'll be taken care of and their families taken care of as they represent the church on the field that you've called them to go. And I pray that you give them great fruit, Lord, and that they'll be able to bring great joy to the cities of their countries that they're going to. Father, I know these are listening into my prayer, but it's not for their ears, it's for your ears, and more importantly, it's for your heart. I'm appealing to your heart, God, tonight. Heavenly Father, I ask that you do something special in this place. We just don't wanna scratch a meeting off the calendar and say we did what we're supposed to do. We want a movement of the Holy Spirit. This meeting, this week, would become a point of reference. and the lives of those that are before me, that they'll look back to Missions Conference 2019 and say, that's when it happened, that's when it changed, that's when I became a people uniting with the message and the man, that's when I answered the call. There are many points of reference in my life, Father, of dates and places and ministries that I look back to when everything changed for your glory, for your honor. Bless this invitation, Father. We'll give you praise, we'll give you glory, we'll give you honor. In Jesus' name we ask it.