You guys don't know this. We got seven kids here, but we have eight kids all together. I got an oldest son named Leviticus. He's about 17 years old. He was taken from me in the lifestyle I was living when he was five years old. I lost my parental rights, a termination of parental rights. And I don't know too many people who has their parental rights terminated and then the court turns around and try to give them more kids. But that has happened for us. The courts definitely try to give us other people kids when they're having a rough time. But to go from losing a child because of the lifestyle we lived, the lifestyle I lived, and the crimes and the drugs and the immorality, to being able to have the privileges to steward and rear seven children, I'm just honored. And then we get to serve the king of kings and the lord of lords together. Amen Oh, it's just a wonderful thought one wonderful thought If you can open up your bibles to uh, john chapter 4 john chapter 4 John chapter four, and we'll be reading verse 34 and verse 35, and then we'll pray. Jesus said unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. Dear Lord God, I pray that you would meet with us this morning. Oh Lord God, there's no point of us being here if you're not here. Oh Lord God, we ask that you would come down and meet with us, Lord, in person, oh Lord, and we understand, according to the Bible, where two or more gather, there you are. So we thank you for your presence here, Lord. Lord God, we understand that there is a formidable adversary who's walking about, seeking whom he may devour. Lord God, the flesh is worn against you. We ask that you would bind the devil, bind our flesh, oh Lord, and the influences of this world. and that you would place a mighty hedge of protection about us, Lord, that you would open up our hearts and our minds to hear from your word, oh Lord. Lord God, I quite often wonder why do we go to church, and Lord, I know I go so that I can be under conviction and that I may increase in my love, in my desire, in my relationship with you. Now Lord, draw us close to you, oh Lord God, Help us, your children, to hear from you, Lord. May we receive new marching orders today. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Our family is the Walker family and We are heading to Trenton, New Jersey. You guys might be familiar with that place, but we was not familiar with it three months ago. I never heard of Trenton, New Jersey. I didn't know anything about the Battle of Trenton. I didn't know about New Jersey or any of that. I'm from Chicago, and I'm from the Midwest. My wife is from St. Paul, Minnesota. She's from the Midwest. And that's where we've been living in the Midwest. Up until about three months ago, we had came out to Trenton, New Jersey for a crusade. We had got a call from a different evangelist, a friend of mine, Josh Lancaster, and he said, hey, you should come out here with your family and knock doors. And we love soul winning. And when you see what God is able to do in your own life as a husband, as a father, as a mother, as a wife, children, when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt how God is working in your life, how he changes your thought process through conviction, then you know the answer and the need for the rest of the world is Christ. And because I know that, I believe wholeheartedly it is a derelict of Christian's duty. We're failing if we don't go and preach and teach others this great thing we have. And so we love, as a family, soul winning. We go out all the time and just about everything we do, we find a way to use it to soul win. It could be a trip to Walmart, We'll knock out about 50, 60 tracks in Walmart alone. Go into the mall or wherever we do and we just, we want to witness to others. We want to share with them this great thing we have. So brother Josh Lancaster said, hey, you should come out here to Trenton, New Jersey and knock doors for this crusade that's coming up. And I said, okay, let me pray about it. We prayed about it. I heard from the pastor who was promoting it from Straightway Baptist Church, Pastor Lou Ganeri, and he says, listen, Brother Walker, we can't fly your whole family out here, but understand it's, Sin-hating and devil fighting. I said well we he said we can't promise you nothing But that's what we're doing out here. I said well, okay. We're on our way So we loaded up in the van and we we took the journey across the country from Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota to Trenton, New Jersey where we would go on to knock doors and Now, I'm from Chicago, and I grew up in the gangs. I grew up in the street lifestyle. My mom and dad was both a part of starting the organization, which is a gang. I grew up in, you know, the gang lifestyle. government assistant buildings and projects. It was called the Robert Taylor Homes. They condemned and they've been tore down ever since then. But that's where I was born and grew up in. And I grew up in this lifestyle where the only thing you had was the gang. And I was breeded at a young age to live my life for the gang, to give my life for the gang. In fact, it wasn't called a gang, it was called an organization, and they taught us this literature about being a brotherhood. brothers that are struggling and how we need to live for one another and protect the sisters that are struggling and so forth and so forth. And what it really is, it's 100% brainwashing, right? And that's what the streets do. The devil want to do the same thing. He want to brainwash our kids. He wanted to convert them into this sin-filled lifestyle to make them believe that it's okay to live their life however they want, dress how they want, talk how they want, act how they want, do what they want. And let me tell you this, it's not just the gangs any longer, it's gotten into the school systems, amen? Brainwashing our children, right? Trying to snatch them away. The devil is just doing a great job at what he does best and that's to pull our kids right from underneath us while we're so busy with life, you know? Taking care of the adult things. But anyways, I was brainwashed at an early age, and one of the ways my family had income was through SSI. And to be on there, you had to have mental health problems, you had to have learning disabilities, and my mom had all of her children on both. We had mental health problems and learning disabilities, and so that required I act foolish, I act bad, you know, I would act like I was paranoid or schizophrenic and bipolar, and then I would suppress my education in school. I didn't really learn much. In fact, one of my kids asked me just yesterday, was it you, Savannah? She said, Dad, what did you learn in third grade? I said, I don't really know. I failed third grade twice. So that was me, and that was my life. And by the time I was in fifth grade, I was already getting arrested for bringing guns to school, brought a gun to school, got in trouble with the police for that. And after that, by the time we moved out of Chicago, I was 13, we moved out to Minnesota, and I continued in that lifestyle. When I started rebelling against my mother, she would have me locked up and put into a psych ward, and she would just use the history that she had built up over the time, getting that social security, the SSI money, to just put me right in there as a tool to discipline me. And so I found out that I can either go to the psych ward or go to jail. And for me, I'd rather go to jail. The psych ward was a horrible, horrible, horrible place. If you've never been there, you'll never understand, but it's a horrible, horrible, horrible place. They force things upon you that you don't ever want to imagine or do. And so I preferred to go to jail So I just committed crimes. Every time I knew that my mom was gonna try to have me put in a psych ward, I would just go to jail. I would just go commit a crime out blurtingly and get locked up. I spent the most of my juvenile life locked up in a Sky Ranch for boys or some boys home, Totem Town, some out of place, out of home group home or in juvenile facilities. and the psych ward as well. By the time I turned 18 I was getting released from juvenile and just about a month later I was locked up for first degree aggravated robbery, first degree kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon where I kidnapped a man and took him to a bank and robbed him. And then after that, they locked me up again for six months and threatened me with a lot more time if I committed any other crimes. I went to the workhouse, did that time, and upon my release, less than 30 days later, I was locked up again for assault with a deadly weapon and felon in possession of a firearm for the third time in my life. And I had ended up shooting someone in the face at my house. He lived. And let me just say this too, because I forgot to mention this part, but I can't tell you why I even shot him. There was no good reason. It wasn't that he was like an enemy. It wasn't that he hurted me. I simply told him that if he moved, I was gonna do it, and then he moved and I did it. And let me just say this. People who are not saved can truly be possessed. Okay, we really need to understand that like I'm standing here a saved man in my same mind I'm a new creation in Christ Jesus and you guys just bear witness to my children singing but Can tell you with all honesty with all honesty and being Transparent as possible that I cannot tell you why I even shot him Perhaps I was possessed at the moment. I don't know but I did it and and and I felt bad a little bit, but then once I got to prison, I used that as a tool to elevate my rank in the gangs. I made it seem like I did it on purpose and I was this dude running around, willing to shoot people and stuff like that. I used it to protect myself in prison and to grow in the gangs. And so when I got to prison, I just continued to gang bang, continue to fight, continue to get in riots and things like that. I got eventually kicked out of the regular prison system and got shipped over to Oak Park Heights maximum security, where I would go and spend three years and four months of my life in solitary confinement. And they got a special unit in Oak Park Heights called ACU. They got a regular hole, a solitary confinement, but then they got this place called ACU, and I'll tell you, you can't hear nobody, talk to nobody, you're alone. And I was alone. for years. And I almost lost my mind in there to be honest with you. I can't tell you how many times I thought about just ending it all. But then they don't give you enough material to even do that. So there was no hope. No hope. Just had to sit there and do that time. Nevertheless, After I got out, I went right back to the street life, full of hatred. Went right back to the sin, went back to the robberies, went back to the drugs. Started a prostitution ring and had that going for me. That was new to my list of crimes that I was committing. And during that same time, I ended up running into my wife. She was going to school at the time to be a police officer, and she was just trying to get her life on track, just coming out of a very bad relationship with a guy. And we ran into each other. She came over to my house and saw the lifestyle I was living, the women that was there, and she rejected me. I asked her, you know, do you choose me? She said no, and she rejected me. She told me that I had too much going on in my life. And I do thank the Lord for her wise decision that day. I decided then to go back to jail, try to get those women out of my life, get some of the sin out of my life, so I could try to pursue this lady. And when I got out, I called her and we started dating. when we she grew up in a church my wife grew up in a church her mom and dad her dad served as a deacon her mom served in every ministry and I thank the Lord for women in a church who serve in every ministry I mean they drive the bus they clean the church they cook they do every I'm in their prayer warriors They're prayer warriors, and perhaps when her mom knew me and her was dating, she started praying for me relentlessly. Somebody was. And so my wife grew up in the church, and when we first started dating, she shared with me and continued to share with me, and we would have long nights and debates and arguments about the God of the Bible. At that time, she wasn't saved, but she knew for certain that I wasn't a god. And I was trying to convince her that we were all gods. And I had this twisted Buddhist philosophy and belief system from prison. And she knew better than that, though. She knew the word of God. And so she would share with me the God of the Bible and his love for me. And I couldn't comprehend that. And the reality is, is that there's a lot of young men in our communities, in our world, who without a father, cannot comprehend the love of THE father. Okay. And what they need is what they need is for us to stop running from religion and to actually demonstrate true religion and undefiled before God and man is to take care of the fatherless and widows. That's what they need. They really need us to step up and show them the love of the father through us. And so, um, But I couldn't comprehend that love. I couldn't comprehend his love for me. We started dating. She wasn't saved. I wasn't saved. We got a place together. She would go to school. still pursuing her desires and dreams of being a police officer, I would just go to commit crimes. And we lived that way for a couple of months, not very long. I never seemed to stay out of prison for long at all. And so I was just back in that lifestyle. And one day, on my way to commit a crime that surely would have cost me the rest of my life, all of my freedom, I was on my way to commit a crime such as that when I was arrested by the grace of God and by God's intervention. And honestly, that was the start of one of the greatest events that ever took place in my life. And so I thank the Lord for his intervention. And I was arrested. Samantha got my property. And she found out that I was unfaithful in our relationship, and she came to visit me. I believe she just got saved before she came to visit me. We don't know exactly the timing, the day of her salvation, but it was around the same time that we ended up losing our place. She was in a homeless shelter, and she ended up Realizing where she was with God positionally and that she wasn't right with him and she got down and crawled out to God and got saved But uh, she came to visit me And she confronted me, and I told her, you know, you don't need an excuse to leave, you can just go. And she looked at me, and she declared that, leave you, leave you, I'm a Christian woman, I'm not gonna leave you. It was the first time anyone has ever declared to me that they was gonna stay in my life. Amen? And it was the first time someone said, hey, I'm going to stay with you. And she built it off of the fact that she was a Christian woman. And so I sat there and listened to all that she had to say about how bad of a person I was. And after that visit, I went to have a conversation with God. It's very, it's pretty much like this, Lord, how do you love me? You know, I didn't know how to really talk to God. I didn't know he could hear my thoughts. But Lord, how do you love me when you keep letting me get locked up? How do you love me, Lord? I tried to reason with him. I said, I'm not a pedophile, and I'm not like them people, but you keep making me get locked up, and I'm loyal to the streets, I'm loyal to my homies. I really believed, I was so brainwashed, Samantha could tell you this, that I thought life was all about how it ended. And I wanted my story to be written that I was loyal. All of my gangs got loyalty tattooed on our necks or on our arms somewhere. I got it tattooed on my neck. And it was all about loyalty. I wanted it to be said at my funeral, he was loyal. He was loyal to the streets. He was loyal to the cause. I was trained that way from a kid. I was saying this to the Lord when he brought to my mind this thought that you've been loyal to the streets. You've been loyal to the gains, but you've been disloyal to me who died for you. And that crushed me. It crushed me. The one thing I had to hang on to was disloyalty and God here, the God of the universe, the God of heaven is telling me that I've already died for you and you've been disloyal to me. That crushed me. And can I tell you, I got down on my knees right there in the Ramsey County Jail and I got gloriously, magnificently saved. I repented of my sins and got saved. After that, I went off to prison. I went for a number of years. I got sentenced to four years. And me and Samantha, we grew together. We prayed and read the Bible together via visits and phone calls and letters. And we used every opportunity we could to grow spiritually and in our relationship. In fact, she came and married me while I was in prison. And so that's where we end up getting married. We've been married now for 11 years. Yes, we've been married now for 11 years just last year we did our 10-year vow renewal and I gave her a Phenomenal wedding. I finally was able to give her the wedding that she deserved many years ago but um So we've been serving in the church for 10 years. All these years I've been desperate to serve the Lord. The one thing I wanted to do more than anything was give back to God just my life. All that I could. I promised God while I was in prison that I would travel the earth and share with everyone what he's done for me. I'm not trying to withhold anything that God has changed in my life. I want you to know the sin that I come out of, the life I come out of. Because the more you know, the more you understand that He gets the glory, right? He gets the glory, not me. And so several months ago, my wife and I, we never heard of Trenton. I finally got out of prison. She had moved to Duluth, Minnesota to get us out of the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. We moved two hours away to a nice little area community. We started going to a church there called North Star Baptist Church. And I tell you, They're fundamental, independent Baptists. They don't snap their fingers or clap or none of that. And you don't even say amen in there that loud, right? Our pastor would oftentimes make a joke if your phone go off that that's 10 years in purgatory. But that's the kind of church we went to. I thank the Lord for that. Because in that church, what I found was doctrine. I found what the Bible teach, what the Bible preach, and what the Bible tell us how we ought to live our life. And I thank the Lord for that, because I could have ended up in any church. You could have ended up in any church. You could have ended up in a church where they encourage you to speak in tongues. or to dress foolishly, or to live your life foolishly, right? We could be in a cult right now, but God led me to a church that had tremendous standards, and that had tremendous boundaries, and that loved the Lord, and they had tremendous doctrine. I needed that. And let me tell you this, the church did not change for me to come in there. Eventually I changed and then the church didn't change the standard of music They didn't change the clap and in fact I think I used to clap and and then I started getting some people say seeing people say brought him to church You know from the streets they start clapping and I think our pastor got up one day and preached the message on why we don't clap So, but they still go there to that church. Amen. I Because it's the Word of God that matters. It's the Word of God that draws all men in. Right? And I thank the Lord for that. We've been burdened to serve God, and for years we've been asking God, is this the year that you'll let us step out by faith into full-time ministry? Is this the year, Lord? Is this the year, Lord? And let me say this, it is an honor and a privilege to serve God. I don't care what it is you do. Do all things as unto the Lord. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. If you get to clean this church, whoo, praise the Lord. You get to clean the house of God? What? What an honor and a privilege it is. If you get to sing or if you get to preach or read the Bible or pray in the house of God In the presence of the Lord Make a joyful noise unto the Lord Amen, it is an honor and a privilege. I Counted nothing less and for years my wife and I we've been begging God. Let us go Lord. Let us go Lord We want to see the world change. We want them to know what you're able to do Lord and We want to go out and show the communities that I come from where real power comes from. The gangs, they try to exhort this power upon the people. They try to demonstrate it with firearms and weapons. The world tries to do it. The countries try to do it with weapons of mass destruction, right? Whoever has the most nuclear weapons has the power. No, sir. Oh, no, sir. The God of heaven, the God of heaven, the God of all creation, who tells the thunder where to go, who tells the seas where to stop. He has all power. with just one whisper of his voice, he can destroy this whole entire nation. Amen. He has a power. And so we've been desperate to see that, to serve the Lord. And we've been serving them faithfully in our church through bus ministry, preaching in nursing homes, chapels, wherever we can. Whenever we can go to the hospital visit people in the hospital sing to them with our kids We we use kovat to minister to the people who was neglected in their houses We'd go door-to-door find the older people and say we got a lot of kids. Can we sing to you? And ultimately we use anything we can to minister to people the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Understand we ought to be radical. We ought to be fanatics about this thing right here called the Bible Amen if it saves your life And you understand that like pastor said death is not where in it's where it begins if you understand that Heaven is your home, and you'll be up there for all of eternity all of eternity You better be doing all you can while you here as a pilgrim As you just passing by and so that that's been our heartbeat and three months ago. We came out here and visiting Trenton, New Jersey, passing out tracks, knocking on doors, reaching the people, and let me tell you something, I was disturbed in my spirit. I could not understand for the life of me how there was so many burnt down and abandoned buildings and apartments standing all around the city. I couldn't understand for the life of me how these people were that neglected. I mean, I thought the government ought to be arrested. I mean, where I'm from, if a building is not fit for habitation, you tear it down. You build something so people can live there. But door after door, it seemed like every other door in Trenton, New Jersey, it was a burnt down place, garbage being pressed all the way out to the streets as if no one cared. Seemed like the educational system didn't care for the kids. More so like they was in jail rather than at school. And when I started the bus route during the crusade and I picked the kids up, I held up some money. I love giving out money for Bible verses. Except for my kids, they cheat. They know most of the Bible. And they teach me Bible verses. And so they try to get a lot of money out of us for Bible verses. They just never get paid. But I use their participation to encourage other kids. I held up some money on this bus and I said, who can tell me a Bible verse from Genesis? The kids did not know where Genesis were in the Bible. I was baffled by this. I grew up in Chicago and when I got here, I was eager to share my testimony until I got here and I started knocking on doors and then I realized I was from the Ritz Carlton. I didn't want to tell them where I came from. I was not going to the door just trying to give them the gospel. I didn't want them to know that I came from Chicago because it was so bad here in Trenton, New Jersey. I could not believe it. I could not believe the destitute of the people. I could not believe the pearl of the people. I saw this one group on the streets, 12 of them or so in their high-visity vests, and they was out there going door to door, and they had their little clipboards asking them, you know, what can the government do? Oh man, I got stirred up. I got stirred up. I said, are you serious? Open your eyes, can't you see? Put a trash can out here or something. Tear down some of these abandoned buildings. I started telling them, how can a man lose his parental rights and then become a good father? How can a man be a womanizer and have a prostitution ring and then become a good husband? So you guys are out here asking these questions when the real answer is God alone. We left. We left Trenton, New Jersey. This was just in May of this year. We left. I had a meeting in Minnesota. We went back to our nice, big, four bedroom mansion. It wasn't a mansion, but compared to what we're living in, it was a mansion, okay? Trust me. We had two bathrooms. I had my own bathroom upstairs. We had three levels, two car garage. It was nice. I loved it. I thought my neighborhood was bad. They had a shooting every blue moon. We was living in an amazing area. Didn't walk my dog on a leash. Had a park that had trees and everything. Life, it was vibrant. We went back there and I went on with my life considering that we was gonna go to Memphis and we was gonna help with a church down there. And when I was at this other church in Elbow Lake, Minnesota, I woke up that morning crying, thinking about Trenton, New Jersey. Thinking about the people of Trenton, New Jersey and how bad off they was. How bad off it was. And that same day I got a phone call from the church we was going to go and assist and help in Memphis, Tennessee. And they told me that, plainly said, pretty much the church didn't want to take a risk with the man of my record. I giggled. I've been there multiple times. I shared my testimony. I was just as transparent as I am here today. And they was all fired up. We saw people saved while we was down there in Memphis. We started up some ministries while we was down there in Memphis. We was able to go into public schools in Memphis. I was able to share my testimony. And in one day, we saw 10 young people saved. And they said they didn't want to take a risk. I laugh because I know God is sovereign, amen? He's sovereign. I said, well, how about y'all consider just taking us on one day, you know? That same day, I got a phone call from Pastor Ganary of Straightway Baptist Church here in New Jersey, in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He said, Brother Walker, have you prayerfully considered coming here and helping with the church plant in New Jersey, Trenton, New Jersey? And I knew, I knew at that moment that I was going to say yes, but I didn't want to sound overly eager. I didn't want to be like, yes! So I was like, well, let me talk with my pastor about it. We'll consider it. We'll pray about it. Hung up the phones like, Samantha, guess what? And we all excited as a family while we was at this church and went home, talked to my pastor about it. This is about the first week of June now. Just last two months ago now, I suppose. It's August right now. So back two months ago, first week of June, we had decided that, yes, we will go and plant the church in New Jersey. I have not been to Bible college, I've never planted a church before, I'm simply a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I consider me, my wife, and our seven children to be servants of the Most High God. We don't know all, we haven't done all, but that's what we are, we're servants. We'll serve you in any way we can. And we know this, we just desire to serve after all God has done for us. And so the first week of June, we agreed that we'll go to Trenton, New Jersey and do this church plant under God's leadership. And so immediately we started getting rid of our stuff. We had to shed some weight in order to be able to go. And we started giving away our belongings, we started selling our belongings, we started throwing away a lot of our belongings. I gave away a motorcycle, sold one of my motorcycles, started giving away good stuff, started throwing away good stuff, taking load after load to the dumpster. We figured out how we can get a U-Haul truck, we got one, and we started loading up our stuff on June the 30th without having a destination to go to, without having a place to stay in New Jersey, without having to pull behind camper. without having anything, barely having any money. Pastor said we sold our house. Well, actually, we was renting. So I'm just hoping they will give me back my deposit. Y'all understand what I'm saying? Lord, will that deposit come in a time of need? The Lord know how to work it out. And we left June the 30th. Nowhere to go. I called the pastor of Straightway Baptist Church and I said, Pastor, if you can just get some air mattresses, put them in the church, we'll be content with sleeping there. And I'm going to tell you the truth, we was all excited about it. My kids and me and my wife, we was all excited. You wasn't? I was. We was excited about camping in the house of God. I was excited about it, right? Amen. I mean, I had ways, I was trying to figure out ways to put sheets in the back of the car if we had to just on our way here stay and sleep in the car, you know, put some sheets up. It's camping night, you know, under the sun. And I was excited. And on our way, we stopped in Minneapolis to see my wife, family. While we was there, we got good news that the church was gonna help us buy a camper, if we could find one. And by the grace of God, we found a pastor, didn't know he was a pastor, who was selling his camper. And we shared with him, without knowing he was a pastor, what we was doing. And he allowed us to purchase it at the price he owed on the camper. And so by the grace of God, we was able to get a 36-foot-long pull-behind camper with three bump-outs. And we hooked that thing up to our van. And I'm pretty confident some of y'all got to know about camping life. A van. We hooked a 36-foot-long pull-behind camper up to our van. And we drug that thing from Minnesota all the way out here to New Jersey. And we placed it on the property of the church, our sending church, Straightway Baptist Church. And that's where we've been living since July the 4th, July the 4th. Yeah, July the 4th is when we finally got here. We've been living there, we've been traveling, we've been going from church to church to church to church, asking for them to get behind us, to help us, to have what we need financially. I quit my job as a union iron worker. I was making close to $100,000 a year in Minnesota. I was also elected as a Duluth Seaway Port Authority Commissioner. I resigned on my birthday, June the 26th, from the Port Authority. So we took a step of faith because God said go. And really, what motivated us to do such a crazy thing with seven children, listen, if I could choose to go somewhere, I surely wouldn't choose to go to Trenton. I'm gonna tell you that right now. I'm gonna just be transparent. Florida. Hawaii, you know, maybe even California. I heard it's always sunny there. But Trenton, I mean, out of all the places in the world, good night. You guys see my children, beautiful, beautiful children. I thank the Lord for them. Got five beautiful girls. If it was up to me, I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever choose to bring my five beautiful girls to Trenton, New Jersey. but God knows what he's doing. And I trust that he does. And I want to be obedient to his call and his leadership in my life after all he's done for me. Amen. I have no, how can I say no? When I'm a bond servant, when I'm indebted, I'm indebted to him. Not only am I indebted to him for my salvation, but then all that he's done since then. How he's kept and preserved me in that life of sin that I was living in. How he's blessed me on this side of salvation. Where I lost my parental rights, he's given me rights to kids again and given me seven beautiful kids and allowed me to be able to influence them for the cause of Christ. How he's allowed me to steward the relationship of a wife and a husband. I'm indebted to him. How can I say no? Too often we say no to God. But understand, this is what motivated us here in John 4, 34, 35. It's this. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say not. We cannot say this. There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest. We can't delay when God is speaking to us. When we read our Bibles and we pray and the Bible teaches us that we ought to be faithful in the house of God, forsake not the assembly, we can't say in four months I'll start listening to that. When we read our Bibles and a Bible teaches us that we ought to be tithing and giving, we can't say, well, after the end of the year and I get my income taxes and I go ahead and squander that, then I'll start tithing because it's going to be too much from the income taxes to be tithing on that much. I mean, that's a lot of money, Pastor. When we hear from God and the Word of God and He teaches us that we ought to be serving Him, We can't put it off. And let me say this more importantly, when we hear a Bible message about salvation, and we understand that we're sinners, and we understand that we will die and go to hell, we cannot sit there and say that we can wait for four months. We can put it off. The Bible teaches us that no man knows the day nor the hour of the return of Christ. But when I go out sewing, I like to tell them this, just like no one knows when Christ will return, you don't know when you're gonna die. Tell me now. Tell me now if you know when you're gonna die. Brother Sean didn't know that that time he flipped that switch, what would happen to him. I was a union iron worker, I was a welder, phenomenal welder, and I spent a lot of time around high-powered any time inside of the minds. Many, many times I almost lost my life. I cannot tell you, you cannot tell me when you will take your last breath. Don't tell me before you die you will get right with God. You will be so consumed with the pain you're in on your deathbed that you will forget to pray and get right with God. We cannot put it off for four months. Say not ye, there are yet four months. I couldn't put it off and say, well, Lord, let me go ahead and build up an income. Let me build up a nest egg, a savings here, Lord, before I go to Trenton, New Jersey. Let me do some research about Trenton, New Jersey and how I can properly build a church. Let me go to school for a few years, Lord, and let me figure this thing out first before Go out there in the step of faith, Lord God, let my kids get a little bit of older in there, a little bit of wiser so that they don't get so easily influenced by the world of Trenton, New Jersey. Before I go to Trenton, I couldn't wait and I couldn't delay. And today I stand here, my wife and my children, we stand here and we're all eager to start the work. We're not, we're not, I don't want to dodge or duck or run or hide. I'm eager to stand in Trenton and declared a gospel. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes. In other words, it said, open your eyes, my people, open your eyes. and look on the field, for they are white already to harvest. And the reality is this, I realize that Trenton, New Jersey was extremely neglected. And I hate to say this, but the reality is that they was extremely neglected also by the church. Now there are many places that consider themselves churches in Trenton, New Jersey. But there are churches that are, there are places that call themselves churches, but there are not New Testament, Bible believing, practicing, following Jesus Christ type churches. There are places that call themselves Baptists, but they ain't Baptists. They're not teaching what the Bible says. And unfortunately, just as you said, Pastor, you went down to Trenton to a so-called church, Pentecostal, with a woman up there preaching. Teach me that out the Bible. I knew they was neglected. I knew, I knew in my heart, I knew in my heart that if they, not that they deserve God, I understand no man deserve God and His grace. I knew in my heart that I wasn't going to Trenton to go and give them what they deserve. They deserve Jesus too. No, they don't deserve Jesus too. They deserve to die and go to hell just like me and you. But Jesus Christ deserves every man, woman, boy, and girl whom He died for. Amen? He deserves every single soul he paid outright for. He paid outright on the cross for the sins of every man, woman, boy, and girl in Trenton, New Jersey, and rightfully so, he deserves all of them. But how would they know without them hearing from a preacher? How would they know? This is what moved my wife and I. the reality that there is a harvest in Trenton, New Jersey. And I wanna share with you two last thoughts on why we must send and why we must go. Why we must send and why we must go, because there is a harvest in Trenton, New Jersey. And a lot of people say, you know, I've heard this, You know, they're just, I mean, he's not receptive, they're not receptive, they're not gonna receive Christ. I just thank the Lord that my wife didn't give up on me. After I got saved, many of the people tried to discourage her saying that that was just a jail conversion. It's not real, he's gonna get out and do the same thing to you again and again. And I thank the Lord that she stood by my side and she was faithful. And so, here we see, we must send and we must go because there is a harvest. We must send and we must go because there is an hour. The Bible teaches that it's appointed unto man once to die. Once to die. There is an hour upon us where every man will die. And us who are Christians, we will not be able to labor any longer for the souls of those whom we love. It'll be too late to witness to our mothers and fathers and our sons and daughters. And some of us who hold out in pride, refusing to receive Christ, it'll be too late to receive Christ. There is an hour upon us. We'll be just as the men in hell begging Begging for someone to go back and tell our loved ones Please don't don't let them go without knowing Well, we have the time now We have the time now Jesus says in John 9 for I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work I That's the reality that we must serve today while we have today, while we have breath in our lungs today, but we do not know what tomorrow will bring. We must send and we must go because the hour is upon us. And then lastly, I'm hurrying up now, we must send and we must go because it is the heartbeat of Jesus Christ. What gave Christ a heartbeat in the beginning? It was the fact that there were sinners on earth that needed to be saved. If there was no sinners that needed to be saved, Jesus Christ wouldn't have had to come down and be born of a virgin. He would have had no heartbeat. in the form that he had, he wouldn't have taken on a person of men as he did, and he wouldn't have came and died if there was no sin, if there was no sinners. Amen. It is the heartbeat of Jesus Christ in 2 Peter 3, verse 9. It says this, The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some man counts slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The reality is that Jesus Christ's heartbeat is that every man, woman, boy, and girl will come to a place of repentance where they will personally receive Christ as their Savior. This is his heartbeat. If this is the heartbeat of our Father, it ought to be our heartbeat. And frankly, I think churches are suffering from lazy Christians. They're suffering from lazy Christians. We're suffering from lazy Christians and then unfaithful Christians. I was doing some research last night and I found out that only 5% of professing American Christians, there's 240 some million professing American Christians, and out of that 240 some million, it's recorded that only 5% of them give to tithe. Only 5% of them tithe. And what you find out when you keep digging into that research, you can look this up for yourself. I looked it up on multiple avenues, because I couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. And they said that if every person who professed to be a Christian actually tithed, there would be a surplus of $1.3 billion amongst the church. The church wouldn't have to be in shambles. The carpets wouldn't have to go unclean. The lights wouldn't be cut out. The shack, the shingles on the roof wouldn't be falling off. If we would simply be obedient to God's word, be faithful to it. I was appalled. I couldn't believe this also that when I read Research it said only about 10% of professing American Christians Read their Bibles once or twice a week. I said no that can't be accurate that cannot be accurate That means sitting amongst us are Christians right now who don't pray and read their Bible on a daily basis That's what that means According to those statistics, either those statistics are liars, or there are those sitting amongst us who don't tithe, and there's those who sit amongst us who don't pray and read their Bible. It says, statistically speaking, that the Mormons read their Bible, 77% of the Mormons read their Bible. That's why they're able to preach that false doctrine, that false Christ. That's why we don't know how to argue with them or debate with them or talk to them about what the Word of God says. Because in fact, statistically speaking, they read their Bible and pray to their false gods more than we do. They're more faithful. So statistically speaking, only about 20% of professing American Christians go to church. I'm probably fairly accurate when I say this, that this probably a smaller portion of the members here today. People who are actually members of this local New Testament church out of the house of God. Did you know that the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church? It's the only place it can't prevail against. If you think in your home you safe, you not. You think when you with your girlfriend, but you're not in the house of God the gates of hell should not prevail I Imagine that the devil never comes into this place, but he stands outside waiting on you to come out He sits in your car waiting on you to get in He's inside your house waiting on you to walk in and he's all over you like a ravage a ravaging lying Seeking how he can devour you Sadly, the church in America is suffering because we won't be faithful to God after all he's done for us. We must send and we must go because it is the heartbeat of God, because the hour is upon us and because there is a harvest. And I just want to say this, love your pastor. Love your pastor. I've not been in a lot of places where I've seen a pastor who's sincere, where you can feel the connection of God. Our spirits identify with one another. I'm almost willing to bet that this man sacrifices sleep to pray for y'all. I remember when I was a young Christian in my church, I wondered to myself, with all of the trouble I was going through with my wife and my home, how I didn't have real control over myself. I wondered one night to myself, do my pastor even pray for me? And I remember I was too afraid to ask him that he'll say no. So I just said to myself in my head, well, he must pray for every one of his members daily. And I choose to believe that rather than the obvious about how many men stand in a pulpit not even praying that day or reading their Bibles. But when you got a man of God who's willing to sacrifice for your soul, you love that man. You hold him up. You cherish him. He won't always be here. And let me tell you, if the people of God is encouraging him, He'll keep drawing breath out of his lungs to fight the devil day and night. The moment you guys start to put him down because he's preaching too hard or too radical, it's the moment he'll start to wonder, is he in the wrong business? Love your pastor. We must send and we must go because there is a harvest. We must send, we must go. Because there is an hour and we must send and we must go because it is the heartbeat of God. Let's close our eyes and bow our head.