Paul Juss talks about the power of thinking big, supplies for gifting, and how to spread the gospel today.
[00:00:07] Welcome back to another episode of The Vision Pod, where guests are hand-picked to bring value to your everyday life. Enjoy.
[00:00:28] Alright, welcome back. This is episode 5 with Pastor Paul Juss. Thanks for coming on.
[00:00:34] So good to be on today, Judah. Thanks for inviting me.
[00:00:37] No problem.
[00:00:39] I didn't expect it.
[00:00:41] Yeah, well, you were up top of my list to reach out to.
[00:00:46] How did you get into ministry?
[00:00:50] My answer to that would be the day I was saved, I started serving.
[00:00:54] Okay.
[00:00:55] Because the word ministry is basically serving or servant.
[00:00:58] We call political leaders ministers.
[00:01:01] And so we're ministers of God.
[00:01:04] So I just started serving right away, Judah.
[00:01:07] And wherever I could serve, I served.
[00:01:09] Ended up in an orphanage in Mexico early on in my relationship with the Lord and just served.
[00:01:16] Okay, yeah.
[00:01:16] So I started by serving.
[00:01:17] Yeah, with that Mexico, a lot of your work has been reaching out to the nations of the world.
[00:01:26] It has been.
[00:01:27] Yeah.
[00:01:27] Can you kind of speak on the importance of mission trips or what it kind of does for you or other people?
[00:01:34] Yeah.
[00:01:35] Probably one of the greatest needs of the North American church and Western church,
[00:01:39] and you've experienced that going to Thailand just recently.
[00:01:43] But I think the greatest need of the North American church is to get out of North America.
[00:01:46] We're so sheltered here in North America.
[00:01:50] And on my first trip to Mexico in 1983, I ended up in an orphanage.
[00:01:55] And out in the middle of nowhere on the Baja Peninsula of Mexico.
[00:01:59] It was the backwoods.
[00:02:02] And I kind of said to somebody once, I said, if your faith doesn't work there, it won't work anywhere.
[00:02:07] Okay.
[00:02:07] You know, faith is easy when everything's great and you've got everything you need.
[00:02:11] But what if you haven't got anything and start with nothing?
[00:02:14] So I really grew from being in Mexico and just seeing what God's doing out in these other places.
[00:02:22] I realized probably one of the greatest revelations I had was that God wasn't a Canadian.
[00:02:27] Yeah.
[00:02:27] And he didn't speak English only.
[00:02:29] Yeah.
[00:02:30] I mean, he speaks every language of the world.
[00:02:32] And he loves these people out in the middle of the desert just as much as he loves me.
[00:02:36] We were in the Crystal Cathedral in California just before I went down there.
[00:02:40] And a beautiful, you know, glass crystal cathedral.
[00:02:44] Beautiful.
[00:02:45] And then I ended up in a little shack on a dry riverbed with a woman with a little baby that had spinal bifida and two children.
[00:02:52] And she fed me soup there.
[00:02:55] And I felt the presence of God more in that fly-filled shack than I felt in the Crystal Cathedral in California.
[00:03:02] Wow.
[00:03:02] And that doesn't mean anything wrong with the Crystal Cathedral.
[00:03:05] But, you know, we often think that God just shows up in beautiful places.
[00:03:09] He doesn't.
[00:03:10] He shows up in some of the toughest places, in fact.
[00:03:12] Yeah.
[00:03:13] And it's neat to meet God in those places.
[00:03:16] Yeah, that's awesome.
[00:03:17] Yeah.
[00:03:17] Yeah, it's kind of a hard thing.
[00:03:21] The more, like, freedom we have and the more comfort we have, the more we take everything for granted.
[00:03:27] It's so true.
[00:03:28] And then that whole thing of entitlement comes where I deserve things.
[00:03:33] And the truth is, you know, without Christ, we don't deserve anything.
[00:03:38] Yeah.
[00:03:38] You know, we find that out real fast.
[00:03:41] I don't deserve a thing.
[00:03:42] I deserve death, you know.
[00:03:43] But Jesus obviously paid the price for death for me, you know, by taking care of my sins.
[00:03:49] But now I can serve because he's done that for me.
[00:03:51] That's right.
[00:03:52] And it's great.
[00:03:53] Yeah.
[00:03:53] And so I love a verse, Judah, in Proverbs as well, Proverbs 18, 16, where it says,
[00:03:59] A man or woman's gift makes room for them and places them before great and influential people.
[00:04:05] That's so awesome.
[00:04:05] And I love that because we don't have to press ourself, our gift for us.
[00:04:11] Our gift pushes us forward.
[00:04:13] Yeah.
[00:04:13] And so if we start serving the gift that God's put within us, then the gift will serve us.
[00:04:20] Yeah, that's awesome.
[00:04:22] Isn't that awesome?
[00:04:22] Yeah.
[00:04:23] And so I go to Nigeria last May and I'm invited to go there.
[00:04:28] And I'm sitting with the governor of the state of Kwaiboum in Nigeria in a soccer stadium
[00:04:34] of over 60,000 people with his family.
[00:04:36] I'm sitting there with him and I'm looking around.
[00:04:39] It's his inauguration.
[00:04:40] He's a former bishop that was there and he's been put in as governor.
[00:04:45] And I'm looking around this place and I spent time with him in his private office
[00:04:50] and I was able to pray for him, give him a book, and then eat with him in the governor's house as well.
[00:04:56] And I'm hanging around with airline executives and all these people and I think, what is this?
[00:05:02] Yeah.
[00:05:02] But our gift will take us to these places.
[00:05:05] That's right.
[00:05:06] Yeah.
[00:05:06] It's so crazy.
[00:05:08] Like you're not going to have to, like it's a revelation.
[00:05:12] You're not going to have to drop what you love to do.
[00:05:15] It makes room for it.
[00:05:17] It makes room for it.
[00:05:18] And it takes away competition, jealousy, envy, all those things, you know, that I want to be like this person
[00:05:25] or I want what that person has, covetousness.
[00:05:28] It just took pride.
[00:05:29] It eradicates that.
[00:05:30] Yeah.
[00:05:30] Because God has given each one of us a unique gift.
[00:05:33] And if we just serve in the gift that he's given us, it's just going to take us places.
[00:05:38] Oh, yeah.
[00:05:38] So I've been all over the world.
[00:05:40] Yeah, that's awesome.
[00:05:40] Japan and Africa and Thailand and Philippines and you name it, England and different places of the world.
[00:05:47] And I haven't pushed myself there.
[00:05:50] Yeah.
[00:05:50] Crazy.
[00:05:50] So we have two more teams going to Mexico in October and missions teams.
[00:05:56] And then we have a great team going to Kenya, Africa, here in November.
[00:06:02] Ten people.
[00:06:03] And we've got a school there.
[00:06:05] 225 children.
[00:06:06] Really disadvantaged kids.
[00:06:08] And most of them can't pay their tuition.
[00:06:10] The place is a mess.
[00:06:12] And we're going to go there with a team.
[00:06:13] We're going to completely clean that place up.
[00:06:15] How did that school get started?
[00:06:17] It started from one of my students that was in the Bible school there.
[00:06:21] Her name was Pat Botwright.
[00:06:22] Another miracle.
[00:06:23] And her gift made room for her.
[00:06:25] But she was this British woman.
[00:06:28] And she had a dream.
[00:06:29] Two dreams.
[00:06:30] She had a dream to go to Africa sometime in her life.
[00:06:32] And she had a dream to go to Bible school.
[00:06:35] So she ended up coming to Africa on a missions team.
[00:06:39] And just so happens we met somewhere in the city that we were living in with this team.
[00:06:44] And she'll do Bible school and everything.
[00:06:45] She goes home to England.
[00:06:49] Basically sells everything off.
[00:06:51] Her husband had passed away.
[00:06:52] She comes back and comes to Bible school.
[00:06:55] Wow.
[00:06:55] That was her dream.
[00:06:56] Crazy.
[00:06:57] So her gift made room for her.
[00:07:00] So we would go out at lunch times after classes.
[00:07:02] And we'd preach in the streets of Kasumu.
[00:07:05] 500,000 people.
[00:07:06] We'd go to the dirtiest, foulest places of the city.
[00:07:08] At the bus park and everywhere.
[00:07:10] And we'd preach the gospel.
[00:07:11] And hundreds of people would give their lives to Christ.
[00:07:14] Wow.
[00:07:14] People would be healed.
[00:07:15] And it was just amazing.
[00:07:16] But Pat was interesting.
[00:07:18] She would always take sandwiches with her.
[00:07:21] And in the city of Kasumu, there were probably, I don't know, 500 street kids that lived on the streets.
[00:07:27] From four years old and up.
[00:07:29] Wow.
[00:07:29] Yeah.
[00:07:30] And they would sleep in the gutters.
[00:07:31] They would sleep wherever they could find a place.
[00:07:33] And it was dangerous for them.
[00:07:35] But she started bringing sandwiches to these kids every day after class.
[00:07:40] And she got one kid, showed up.
[00:07:42] She took care of one, then two, then three.
[00:07:44] She ends up with 300 children off the street.
[00:07:48] And she started the Covenant Children's Home there.
[00:07:51] And so we're going back now.
[00:07:54] It's not an orphanage anymore.
[00:07:55] We're going back there.
[00:07:56] And she's passed away since then.
[00:07:58] And it's a school now.
[00:08:00] And we're going to go there.
[00:08:01] And I know the buildings well.
[00:08:03] And I know the area well.
[00:08:04] We lived there for four years.
[00:08:06] So we're going to take a team back there.
[00:08:08] And we're just going to bless that place.
[00:08:10] That's awesome.
[00:08:11] That's awesome.
[00:08:13] And the neat thing is, you know, I was offered $2,000 to go and do all the maintenance.
[00:08:18] I said, $2,000?
[00:08:19] That's not going to do anything.
[00:08:21] I said, I want $6,000.
[00:08:24] And then I said, no, I want $10,000.
[00:08:27] And this last weekend, the last of the $10,000 came in.
[00:08:30] Wow.
[00:08:31] So visions and dreams, your calling.
[00:08:36] If you ever put finances before your obedience, you'll never do anything for God.
[00:08:41] Money is always the last factor in any equation with God.
[00:08:46] But most people put the money first.
[00:08:49] Well, I can't afford it.
[00:08:50] Well, who said you can't afford it?
[00:08:52] That's right.
[00:08:52] It's not a matter of affording it.
[00:08:55] What can God provide?
[00:08:57] That's right.
[00:08:57] Right?
[00:08:58] Yeah, it's just a trust test.
[00:09:01] It is.
[00:09:02] It is.
[00:09:02] And we just recently, Judah, we just recently built a seniors home in Mexico where we're doing work down in Ensenada there.
[00:09:10] We were finding all these old people under the bridges.
[00:09:12] And they were dying under the bridges.
[00:09:14] And so we started taking care of these people in these old shacks on the outskirts of Ensenada.
[00:09:19] And then a Mexican farmer donated some land.
[00:09:23] Long story, we've built a seniors complex there.
[00:09:27] Over $300,000 flowed in.
[00:09:31] Wow.
[00:09:31] Didn't ask anybody for it.
[00:09:33] Crazy.
[00:09:34] And we've built a beautiful center there.
[00:09:35] Yeah, when I was in Thailand, we met a group from YWAM.
[00:09:41] And their base was out of Calgary.
[00:09:44] But their entire premise of the Calgary YWAM was that we're going to trust God for all the finances and it's going to be free.
[00:09:51] We're not going to charge anything for the school.
[00:09:54] So that's just so awesome.
[00:09:56] And it comes in every year.
[00:09:58] It does.
[00:09:59] Yeah.
[00:09:59] So your gift makes room for you.
[00:10:03] And this vision is the vehicle that God gives us to fulfill the purpose of our life.
[00:10:08] Yeah.
[00:10:09] Can you tell me a little bit more about the importance of vision?
[00:10:13] Well, we know in the natural that without eyes, we know what that's going to do.
[00:10:19] And really in the spiritual world, we don't see from our eyes.
[00:10:24] That way we get light from our eyes.
[00:10:26] But our vision comes from our heart.
[00:10:30] And really, a vision is something that is birthed and incubated within us.
[00:10:35] It's interesting that incubation of a baby is about nine months.
[00:10:39] And vision is birthed out of spending time with the Lord.
[00:10:45] Wow.
[00:10:45] Yeah.
[00:10:46] Yeah.
[00:10:47] When you spend time with the Lord, you know, in John chapter 15, it says that without me, you can do nothing.
[00:10:54] And so if I can't do a thing without him, then it means that I need to spend time with him, abide in him.
[00:11:00] I need to spend time with him.
[00:11:03] And as I do, something is birthed on the inside of me.
[00:11:07] Amen.
[00:11:07] Amen.
[00:11:08] And so I believe that vision is birthed within us as we spend time with the vision giver.
[00:11:14] Yeah.
[00:11:15] Yeah, that's cool.
[00:11:16] And like a purpose, you know, a horse, a horse, the shape of a horse.
[00:11:22] Rick Warren talks about this in his book, The Purpose Driven Life.
[00:11:25] But the shape of a horse determines its purpose.
[00:11:28] The shape of a fish determines its purpose.
[00:11:31] It swims.
[00:11:31] The shape of a bird determines its purpose to fly.
[00:11:35] And the shape of a human, we are shaped in the very image and likeness of God himself.
[00:11:41] We've got arms and legs.
[00:11:42] God has arms and legs too.
[00:11:44] Yeah.
[00:11:44] The Bible talks about all the parts of God.
[00:11:46] So here we are.
[00:11:47] We're created in the image and likeness of God.
[00:11:50] Amen.
[00:11:51] Amen.
[00:11:52] And our shape determines our purpose.
[00:11:56] I've got hands.
[00:11:57] I've got feet.
[00:11:57] I've got a mouth.
[00:11:59] And I'm going to be the mouthpiece for the Lord.
[00:12:02] I'm going to be his hands.
[00:12:03] I'm going to be his feet wherever I go.
[00:12:05] Yeah.
[00:12:06] Amen.
[00:12:07] Amen.
[00:12:07] That's awesome.
[00:12:08] So our purpose is determined by our shape.
[00:12:10] Yeah.
[00:12:11] You don't have to tell a horse that they need to run.
[00:12:13] You don't have to tell a fish to swim.
[00:12:14] And you don't have to tell a bird.
[00:12:16] So I think we complicate.
[00:12:18] We actually complicate our purpose.
[00:12:20] Yeah.
[00:12:22] And so vision is what gets birthed within us as we spend intimate time with the Lord.
[00:12:28] We actually become like Dr. Youngie Cho used to say,
[00:12:30] I become pregnant with vision.
[00:12:32] Yeah.
[00:12:33] Vision from God, he said.
[00:12:36] And he says, you know, what is the language of the Holy Spirit?
[00:12:39] He says, it's visions and dreams.
[00:12:42] That's right.
[00:12:42] And Dr. Cho, of course, has passed on since then.
[00:12:45] But he launched one of the largest churches in South Korea in the whole world.
[00:12:49] Almost a million people.
[00:12:51] And he birthed it out of visions and dreams that the Lord had given him.
[00:12:55] Yeah.
[00:12:55] I was hearing about South Korea.
[00:12:57] It seems pretty...
[00:12:58] Incredible.
[00:12:59] Yeah.
[00:13:00] Incredible story.
[00:13:01] You know, the real story right now, I think, is Nigeria.
[00:13:04] In spending time there, most of the large churches in the world are in Nigeria now.
[00:13:11] Wow.
[00:13:11] 225 million people living in Nigeria.
[00:13:14] A country in Africa, out of 53 countries in Africa.
[00:13:18] And the size of just a little bigger than Texas.
[00:13:24] Almost 225 million people.
[00:13:26] But the one church there holds 100,000 people.
[00:13:30] Wow.
[00:13:31] And their plan is to have two services back-to-back, 200,000 people.
[00:13:37] A small church in Nigeria is 10,000 people.
[00:13:41] Wow.
[00:13:41] So that's why it's important that we as Christians get out of our little, little huddle.
[00:13:48] Yeah.
[00:13:49] Our quiet little place in Canada.
[00:13:51] We're so covered, so protected here.
[00:13:54] And get out to the world and see what God is doing in the world.
[00:13:57] That's right.
[00:13:58] And it bursts something on the inside of us.
[00:14:00] Yeah.
[00:14:01] And it can start right here when you go anywhere.
[00:14:06] So how would you get over that fear of trying to go up to someone and trying to evangelize in Canada?
[00:14:14] That's a good question.
[00:14:16] And, you know, I would say, you know, in these other countries that we go to, evangelism is easy.
[00:14:21] That's right.
[00:14:22] We go down the streets.
[00:14:23] We go in the highways and the byways.
[00:14:25] Just like we're commanded to do, and it just seems easy.
[00:14:27] I wonder if, you know, even Jesus in his own hometown couldn't do many miracles.
[00:14:34] He was the son of God.
[00:14:36] He goes to his hometown, and the most unbelief was there.
[00:14:40] And I think in some ways, when we are in our own country, we can be the most ineffective.
[00:14:47] Wow.
[00:14:48] Just as Jesus was ineffective in his own hometown.
[00:14:51] I take a group of people from Canada that may have never done really anything for the Lord.
[00:14:56] Take him to a foreign country, even to Mexico, like next month.
[00:15:00] And those guys are out praying for the sick.
[00:15:03] They're casting out demons.
[00:15:05] People are getting saved.
[00:15:07] So what's the difference between here and there?
[00:15:10] That's right.
[00:15:10] Yeah.
[00:15:10] Right?
[00:15:11] And I think it's the familiarity.
[00:15:15] And you've heard that quote, familiarity breeds contempt.
[00:15:18] Yeah.
[00:15:19] For some reason, when we're in our familiar surroundings, like they said with Jesus, they said, well,
[00:15:23] we know this guy.
[00:15:24] You know, he's the son of so-and-so and the son of so-and-so and the brothers of that.
[00:15:28] We know him.
[00:15:29] Who's he?
[00:15:30] Yeah.
[00:15:31] So we may not be so great in our hometown, but the moment we go 50 miles from our hometown,
[00:15:37] nobody knows us.
[00:15:38] Yeah, that's kind of funny.
[00:15:40] I interviewed my dad first for my podcast, and I find myself knowing all the answers already.
[00:15:47] Sure.
[00:15:48] And so it wasn't so revolutionary to me.
[00:15:51] But after the fact, I realized that this is a lot of good wisdom that just because I've
[00:15:56] heard it already doesn't mean that someone else won't be changed by it.
[00:16:00] Exactly.
[00:16:01] Yeah, so I kind of get how they're feeling with that.
[00:16:05] Yeah.
[00:16:05] I took a housewife, probably, I don't know if she's ever prayed for anybody or anything
[00:16:09] that Mexico in time, and I just lined up the whole team in front of the people, and
[00:16:14] I said, okay, we're going to lay hands on people and pray for them.
[00:16:17] And she kind of sheepishly put out her hand and was going to pray for the person that was
[00:16:22] in front of her.
[00:16:23] Her name was Iris, and the power of God came out of her.
[00:16:28] And you couldn't physically see it, but Iris literally flew up in the air and down on
[00:16:35] the floor on her back, the power of God that came from this woman, this housewife.
[00:16:39] Wow.
[00:16:40] Her life was completely transformed.
[00:16:42] She ended up marrying the evangelist, Denny Valero, who had been on a trip with me from
[00:16:47] California.
[00:16:47] They eventually got together, and they were married, and now they have an incredible
[00:16:51] ministry in Las Vegas.
[00:16:52] Crazy.
[00:16:53] Crazy stories.
[00:16:55] Oh, yeah.
[00:16:55] So I think we don't know what we carry until we can get into a situation where it can be
[00:17:03] manifested.
[00:17:04] That's right.
[00:17:05] Yeah.
[00:17:06] And so often it's not necessarily here.
[00:17:09] It's somewhere else that that normally happens.
[00:17:14] Crazy.
[00:17:15] Familiarity again, I think.
[00:17:17] Yeah.
[00:17:17] Yeah.
[00:17:18] Like when I get around my family, you get around your family, you know, who are you?
[00:17:24] Yeah.
[00:17:24] I'm just Paul.
[00:17:25] Yeah.
[00:17:26] You know, they changed my diapers when I was a kid.
[00:17:29] Yeah.
[00:17:29] So who do you think you are, you know?
[00:17:31] That's right.
[00:17:31] So there's just a dynamic there, you know?
[00:17:34] Even Jesus' brothers, I mean, look at them.
[00:17:37] They said, you know, look at you.
[00:17:38] They just disregarded Jesus.
[00:17:40] They mocked him.
[00:17:42] Yeah.
[00:17:42] And he was the son of God.
[00:17:44] You know, what do we expect from our families and from people that know us?
[00:17:48] Yeah.
[00:17:49] Amen.
[00:17:50] Amen.
[00:17:50] Yeah, that's good.
[00:17:51] Yeah.
[00:17:53] Yeah, that's something we've got to watch out for, for sure.
[00:17:58] Yeah, so lots of Christians or lots of people would say, lots of atheists would say that even
[00:18:05] if Christianity was true, it just, they wouldn't believe it because it would cause them to have
[00:18:11] to change something about their life.
[00:18:12] That's what they feel like.
[00:18:14] So how can we make Christ more beautiful to people?
[00:18:18] Well, that's a great question.
[00:18:19] I've often said this, that even if Christianity and the Bible were not true, I would still rather
[00:18:27] live by its values and purposes than what I used to.
[00:18:34] I mean that.
[00:18:36] If I died and there was nothing on the other side of death, I would rather live by what
[00:18:41] this says.
[00:18:41] Because it's a life that has meaning and purpose and value.
[00:18:46] where you're not abusing people, hurting people, hurting yourself, where you're actually caring
[00:18:51] about people.
[00:18:52] Right?
[00:18:53] And I think the real issue there too, Judah, is the human nature which has fallen, is totally
[00:19:00] based in selfishness and self-importance or self-hatred because of sin.
[00:19:07] And the last thing that human beings want to release is the control of their life.
[00:19:14] That's it.
[00:19:15] You know, the word worship, this is interesting.
[00:19:18] We're supposed to worship God.
[00:19:20] Jesus said, worship him in spirit and in truth.
[00:19:24] And that word worship actually means to bow down.
[00:19:29] That word worship means to surrender.
[00:19:31] That word worship means to give up the control of your life.
[00:19:35] So here's an interesting thought.
[00:19:37] If we don't give up the control of our life, we've never worshipped God.
[00:19:43] And what we are giving him is worthless.
[00:19:48] So in the end, what God wants more than anything else that we have, he wants us to give ourselves
[00:19:54] to him.
[00:19:55] Living sacrifice.
[00:19:56] Totally.
[00:19:57] Yeah.
[00:19:58] I remember before I left, I was, I could never sing Have It All.
[00:20:03] I could never sing that song because I said, I just, it just doesn't seem real to me.
[00:20:09] There was a part of you that was still hanging on to the control.
[00:20:12] That's right.
[00:20:13] Yeah.
[00:20:13] Wanted the wheel still.
[00:20:14] That's it.
[00:20:15] So the last thing that most people give up in their life, in their dying breath, would
[00:20:19] be the control of their life.
[00:20:21] Unfortunately.
[00:20:23] Where the Bible says that every knee shall bow, there's worship, and every tongue will
[00:20:28] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
[00:20:30] So whether we do that now willingly, or we do it then because we have to, every human being
[00:20:38] will eventually surrender the control of their life to him.
[00:20:41] That's such a powerful verse.
[00:20:43] That's got to be like the most.
[00:20:45] The most powerful verse in the Bible.
[00:20:47] Yeah.
[00:20:49] Powerful.
[00:20:50] So control is such a big thing.
[00:20:51] So what I choose to do then every day, if I'm going to worship him, I give the control
[00:20:57] of my life to him.
[00:20:58] Lay down my life for him.
[00:20:59] He laid down his life for me.
[00:21:01] Why wouldn't I lay mine down for him?
[00:21:03] So you ask about sharing our faith with people.
[00:21:09] Jesus actually says it.
[00:21:10] He says, if you're ashamed of me before men, then I'll be ashamed of you before my father.
[00:21:15] Like that's convicting.
[00:21:18] Oh yeah.
[00:21:18] Amen.
[00:21:19] That's really convicting.
[00:21:20] And I'm as bad as anybody else at times that I've missed opportunities to share Christ
[00:21:27] with people.
[00:21:29] So it's normally fear.
[00:21:31] And you know what that fear is based in too, Judah?
[00:21:33] I think it is.
[00:21:33] Fear is based on it might make me look bad.
[00:21:37] So it's still all about me.
[00:21:39] That's right.
[00:21:40] So I'm riding my bike the other day and I just taught a couple messages on crazy faith
[00:21:45] and living crazy faith.
[00:21:48] And so I was out riding my bike about 8.30 at night and I saw this guy sitting on this
[00:21:52] cement, kind of this cement block.
[00:21:55] And I knew he was probably a street guy or whatever.
[00:21:57] And it was getting late, starting to get dark and I was going home.
[00:22:00] And I've just been teaching on crazy faith and practicing our faith.
[00:22:04] Like doctors practice medicine.
[00:22:07] That's all they do.
[00:22:08] Right.
[00:22:08] And I said, what if Christians practice their faith?
[00:22:12] Yeah.
[00:22:13] So I said, how many opportunities do we get in a day to practice our faith?
[00:22:19] So here I am riding past this guy, get down to the end of the street.
[00:22:22] And I had this, just this little unction, just this silent little voice, turn around
[00:22:27] and go and share with that guy.
[00:22:29] And I get that twinge in my heart like we always get.
[00:22:33] No, I don't want to do that.
[00:22:34] That's stupid, you know.
[00:22:36] But then the second thought, no, I'm going to do it.
[00:22:38] So I turned the bike around.
[00:22:39] I came back.
[00:22:40] Here's this guy sitting here.
[00:22:41] He's got his shoes off.
[00:22:43] He's got a backpack.
[00:22:44] And obviously he'd walked quite a distance.
[00:23:15] And introduced myself.
[00:23:17] He gave me $50.
[00:23:17] And I just pulled it out.
[00:23:19] And I said, you know, God loves you so much.
[00:23:21] And I don't know what your needs are, but I want you to have this.
[00:23:24] He said, I can't take it.
[00:23:27] I said, you have to.
[00:23:27] You make a liar out of me if I don't.
[00:23:30] And he finally took it.
[00:23:32] And I was able to just bless him, pray for him.
[00:23:36] But we miss those opportunities of crazy faith, of practicing our faith, when the Holy Spirit says one thing to us and we do the opposite.
[00:23:46] So I think it's real sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
[00:23:50] We hear the voice, but do we obey it?
[00:23:52] Yeah.
[00:23:54] Cool.
[00:23:55] And I remember driving down to Mexico one time.
[00:23:57] This is an instance that I'll never forget.
[00:23:59] I was in a restaurant in Santa Maria or somewhere in California.
[00:24:03] And I was heading down to Mexico in 1986 all by myself in a Honda Accord because I wanted to be in one Accord.
[00:24:10] And moving to Mexico.
[00:24:12] I had just sold my company in Canada.
[00:24:14] And I sold all.
[00:24:15] I gave all up.
[00:24:17] And I'm going to go serve Jesus in the mission field.
[00:24:20] And I was in a restaurant.
[00:24:21] And a woman was just off to the side talking.
[00:24:24] And I just had this strong unction to share.
[00:24:26] Just go tell her how much God loved her.
[00:24:28] And you know what?
[00:24:29] I walked out of that restaurant without saying anything to her.
[00:24:31] And I was so convicted.
[00:24:32] And I've obviously repented of that since then.
[00:24:35] But I missed an opportunity.
[00:24:37] How many opportunities do we miss when we have that inner unction to say something to someone, but fear takes over?
[00:24:46] And that's where we need to shift into crazy faith and say, you know what?
[00:24:49] I'm going to just do it.
[00:24:51] Yeah.
[00:24:52] Even if I get a horrible response, I'm going to just follow that voice.
[00:24:56] So what if I practice faith every day?
[00:24:59] What would happen to my faith?
[00:25:00] Yeah.
[00:25:00] Do you find it gets easier every time you do it?
[00:25:02] It does.
[00:25:02] But it's still, there's always that tinge there.
[00:25:05] But, you know, Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player because he practiced.
[00:25:08] That's right.
[00:25:09] Tiger Woods, you know, he practiced.
[00:25:11] And he didn't stop practicing either.
[00:25:12] Never.
[00:25:13] Never.
[00:25:13] Never.
[00:25:14] He practiced more than any other golfer.
[00:25:16] He became the best in the world.
[00:25:18] What if we did that as Christians?
[00:25:20] I'm going to go out today and I'm looking for opportunities to practice my faith wherever I go.
[00:25:25] Whether I give somebody money or whether I tell them how much God loves them or pray for them.
[00:25:29] If they're sick, I pray for them.
[00:25:30] Whatever it is, I'm going to practice my faith wherever I go today.
[00:25:33] Yeah.
[00:25:34] See that?
[00:25:35] And it just breaks off that stupidity that we get stuck in sometimes with the fear issue.
[00:25:40] Fear is the opposite of faith.
[00:25:42] Fear always takes you backwards.
[00:25:44] Faith always takes you forward.
[00:25:45] Fear takes you to your past.
[00:25:48] Faith takes you to your future and your destiny.
[00:25:50] So if we follow faith and we operate in love, we'll do what God wants us to do.
[00:25:57] Yeah.
[00:25:59] Yeah.
[00:25:59] Cool.
[00:26:00] Yeah.
[00:26:01] It's not complicated.
[00:26:02] I think we complicate it.
[00:26:04] It's simple.
[00:26:06] It's just simple.
[00:26:07] And I like simple.
[00:26:09] Yeah.
[00:26:10] Yeah.
[00:26:11] Yeah.
[00:26:11] We probably do overcomplicate it.
[00:26:14] Maybe overthink it, huh?
[00:26:15] Yeah.
[00:26:15] Yeah.
[00:26:18] I have a fun question for you here.
[00:26:21] I know you're a big car guy.
[00:26:23] So you have a three-car garage.
[00:26:25] What cars are you putting in it?
[00:26:27] I'd probably have a 69 Shelby.
[00:26:31] Shelby is my favorite.
[00:26:32] I've had three 69 Mach 1s, but they weren't Shelbys.
[00:26:36] Okay.
[00:26:37] Back in my racing days.
[00:26:39] Yeah.
[00:26:39] So I think probably a Mach 1, or not a Mach 1, but a, you know, probably a 69 Mach 1 too,
[00:26:46] just so I could have it again.
[00:26:47] Yeah.
[00:26:47] And then I would have a 69 Shelby.
[00:26:52] I mean, a 67, 68, 69, anywhere in there, 70.
[00:26:56] Okay.
[00:26:58] That's the beautiful car.
[00:26:59] Really?
[00:27:00] Okay.
[00:27:00] And then, gosh, what would the other one be?
[00:27:04] You know, I really, I think a really sharp BMW.
[00:27:08] Okay.
[00:27:09] Yeah.
[00:27:10] I've had an SUV, and I really liked it.
[00:27:13] Probably a, you know what, another one, I'll just slip that into the fourth garage, is
[00:27:17] the Volvo SUV.
[00:27:19] I really like the Volvo SUV.
[00:27:22] Yeah.
[00:27:22] Yeah.
[00:27:23] I'm a big fan of hatchbacks, station wagons.
[00:27:27] They make it pretty cool.
[00:27:28] I see you got one outside.
[00:27:29] Yeah.
[00:27:29] That's awesome.
[00:27:31] The best.
[00:27:32] Yeah.
[00:27:33] Well, that's great.
[00:27:34] Yeah.
[00:27:34] Yeah.
[00:27:34] So I've got a 2014 Mustang convertible now, beautiful car.
[00:27:42] And it was interesting.
[00:27:44] It was given to me.
[00:27:45] It's interesting.
[00:27:46] When we serve the Lord and we give away the things that we enjoy, God just somehow gives
[00:27:52] them back.
[00:27:53] I was offered a 67 Mustang one time when I was in Mexico by some people that come down
[00:27:58] visiting.
[00:27:58] They said, we've got a 67.
[00:28:00] You used to have Mustangs.
[00:28:01] We want to give you the 67.
[00:28:03] And I just thought it through, and I thought, you know what?
[00:28:06] It would be a diversion in my life right now.
[00:28:08] And so I didn't take it.
[00:28:10] So few, last year, somebody came up to me and said, I've got a Looney here.
[00:28:17] If you take this Looney and give it back to me, I'll give you the keys to this 214 Mustang.
[00:28:21] Beautiful car.
[00:28:22] Wow.
[00:28:24] That's the way God operates.
[00:28:26] I've got a 69 Fairlane as well that I fixed up recently.
[00:28:32] Actually, the church on our 20th anniversary, a bunch of guys in the church fixed it up for
[00:28:36] me and gave me the keys for it.
[00:28:39] Yeah.
[00:28:40] So it's interesting.
[00:28:41] The things that we're willing to give away, and I've stopped saying I love things because
[00:28:46] I don't.
[00:28:46] I enjoy them.
[00:28:48] And remember the second brother in the prodigal son story, the father told him, he says, I'll
[00:28:56] be with you always.
[00:28:57] I'm with you always.
[00:28:58] And then the second thing he says, all that I have is yours to enjoy.
[00:29:03] So everything that God's given us here on this good earth is for us to enjoy it but not
[00:29:08] love it.
[00:29:10] Wow.
[00:29:11] See the difference there?
[00:29:12] I enjoy things here.
[00:29:14] I enjoy a meal.
[00:29:16] But I don't love it.
[00:29:18] Yeah.
[00:29:18] And that's where it gets taken too far.
[00:29:20] It goes too far.
[00:29:21] And then I end up loving these things.
[00:29:23] And if you can't give away anything that you have, then you've gone too far already.
[00:29:31] Wow.
[00:29:32] Yeah.
[00:29:33] That's awesome.
[00:29:34] Is there any last thing you want to say before we shut it down?
[00:29:39] Wow.
[00:29:42] I just think we're coming into some incredible days, Judah.
[00:29:47] You know, the Bible talks about great and terrible days.
[00:29:50] They'll be great for some and they'll be terrible for others.
[00:29:53] And I think we need to cross the line where we give the control of our lives back to God.
[00:29:59] We didn't create ourselves.
[00:30:01] He created us.
[00:30:02] We didn't ask to be born.
[00:30:03] We were born for a purpose.
[00:30:05] Yes.
[00:30:06] Not anybody on this earth was born without a purpose that God had for them.
[00:30:11] Yeah.
[00:30:12] Every man, woman, and child.
[00:30:14] And God doesn't hate people, sinners.
[00:30:16] He loves sinners.
[00:30:18] He hates sin, but he loves people.
[00:30:20] He loves sinners.
[00:30:21] He loves people.
[00:30:23] And I think if we could get past that for ourselves, we can look anybody in the eye and know that God loves that person.
[00:30:31] Mother Teresa used to say this when she was helping the people in the streets of Calcutta in India, the dying on the streets.
[00:30:37] People asked, well, how can you do that?
[00:30:39] She said, when I look into their eyes, I see Jesus.
[00:30:44] God loves people.
[00:30:47] There's a lot of judgment out there.
[00:30:48] I find with a lot of Calvinist teaching and theology and different theologies, it's a judgment theology.
[00:30:57] The theology of the New Testament is a grace and love theology.
[00:31:02] He didn't come to condemn sinners.
[00:31:04] He came to save them.
[00:31:06] And I think that's one of the most important messages of this hour.
[00:31:10] Okay.
[00:31:10] Yeah.
[00:31:11] Let's stop deciding who's going to go to heaven.
[00:31:13] Let God do that.
[00:31:14] And let's decide to love people and show them the love.
[00:31:18] And this is an answer to your question about evangelism.
[00:31:21] How much do you love them?
[00:31:23] Yeah.
[00:31:24] You know, when we came to Grand Prairie, I didn't like Grand Prairie.
[00:31:27] We'd come from Africa.
[00:31:28] I want to go back to Africa.
[00:31:30] And God says, would you love Grand Prairie if I asked you to?
[00:31:34] I said, yeah, I would.
[00:31:36] Well, then ask me to put a love in your heart for Grand Prairie.
[00:31:40] We don't always have a love for the thing that God asks us to go after.
[00:31:44] And I asked him, Father, will you give me a love for this city?
[00:31:46] Because I don't have one.
[00:31:50] And he did.
[00:31:52] And faith works through love.
[00:31:54] We read that in Galatians.
[00:31:55] If you have faith, you can move mountains.
[00:31:57] You can cast out demons.
[00:31:59] You can do all kinds of great things.
[00:32:00] But if you don't have love, you have nothing.
[00:32:03] And so having that love intimate relationship with the Lord, I think, is the most critical thing that we have.
[00:32:09] If we are saturated in his love every day, when you go out into the highways and byways, guess what's going to happen?
[00:32:14] That love's going to squeeze out of you.
[00:32:18] And in Tim Hortons, in Denny's, wherever you're at, you're going to be just overflow of love.
[00:32:24] And people are going to, people will know there's something different about you.
[00:32:27] When you walk in the room, you change the atmosphere.
[00:32:30] And that's what Jesus used to do.
[00:32:32] And that's what I hope my life does, is that the love of God would so shine out of my life that I could be that light and that salt that he's asked me to be.
[00:32:41] And I think that's what God's asking us to be.
[00:32:43] That's awesome.
[00:32:44] Yeah.
[00:32:45] Well, I thank you for coming on my podcast.
[00:32:47] Wow.
[00:32:48] Such an honor.
[00:32:49] Thank you.
[00:32:50] I appreciate it.
[00:32:53] Perfect.
[00:32:54] That's exactly what I'm looking for.
[00:32:56] Thank you.
[00:32:56] Thank you.