Spiritual Harvest: Insights and Actions

If you got a Bible, go to John chapter 4. We're going to do our offering near the end of service, and so I want to encourage you to stay till the end for several reasons. There's some important information I want to share with you at the very end that's exciting to our ministry. But also, I want you to really get your heart ready. for what God wants to do. We've been in a series called Harvest. Everybody say Harvest. Harvest. In John chapter 4, Jesus meets this woman at a well and she's there to get water from the well. She's gone to Jacob's well to draw water with her. her jar and Jesus starts asking her if he can have some water. Now Jews and Samaritans didn't really talk to each other. And, and, and especially a rabbi, a teacher of the word would never be caught alone just talking to a stranger woman by a well. And then to find out this woman's been through five marriages that haven't worked out. She's living with the sixth man now that's not her husband. And that one's not working out. And Jesus starts talking to her. He says, listen, I have water. It's not from this well. I have water that will. satisfy you. This outward jar you're holding, man, is a reflection of what's going on inside your heart. What Jesus was telling this woman, he says, you've been drawing water from all the wrong sources. That's why you have a cracked cistern. That's why you're leaking because no man can ever satisfy what only God can satisfy. You'll never find a relationship here on earth that's going to meet what only God can meet in your life. It's okay to be married. It's okay to have kids. It's okay to, it's great, but there's also always going to be a longing for something deeper. Someone who understands every part of your soul and heart. And Jesus says, I'm what you're looking for. Little did this woman know that she was the harvest that Jesus came to receive. I want to preach a message to you today called Harvest Lights. Harvest Lights. If you're taking notes, note takers are history makers. I asked at the start of this series, how many of y'all grew up on the farm? And one of the answers when I said, what is harvest season like, was harvest season is harvest. hard work. You're up early in the morning while it's still dark outside. And then you work all day. I mean, harvest is not sitting back watching Netflix and just, you know, eating chips, sitting on the couch. Harvest is hard work. You're laboring early in the morning while it's still dark. And then you're laboring deep into the evening while it gets dark again. And because it gets dark, you need lights to illuminate the harvest. These combines that will come down the fields to receive the harvest. They're shining lights early in the morning at six. a.m. because you know in the winter season it gets dark at like noon it's getting dark it's probably already getting dark right now while we're sitting in morning service but these combines they'll go out there during that harvest season and they'll illuminate these lights that shine right from those combines yeah that's a bright light that's a bright light and what are those lights doing those lights are illuminating the harvest what was Jesus doing in John chapter 4 he was illuminating the harvest that the disciples were missing. So the disciples returned in John 4 verse 27, and they were surprised to see Jesus talking to a woman. But no one asked, you know, what do you want or why are you talking to her? And then leaving her water jar. Isn't that interesting? After she met Jesus, she left her water jar. After she encountered Jesus, because once you encounter Jesus, you stop looking for the counterfeits. You found what you're looking for. How many of y'all found what you're looking for with Jesus? Come on. Like that old U2 song, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. So many people are chasing money, they're chasing fame, they're chasing significant success, and they still haven't found. You can have all the money in the world and you still haven't found what you're looking for. But once she found Jesus, she left her water jar and she went back to the town. She said to the people, could this be the Messiah? Come and see the man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the one? and so this woman comes bringing the town back to Jesus. So here comes this harvest that's walking towards Jesus. They came out of the town and they made their way towards him. Everybody say it's harvest time. You can't see the harvest when the lights are out. This is why you need the lights to illuminate. Can I tell you there's a bigger harvest than you realize right in front of you? If you're walking in the dark, I came to illuminate the harvest for you. You can be like the disciples. You know Jesus. You love Jesus. Jesus. You're in church, but you have forgotten there is a harvest all around you. See those empty seats in the back? That's harvest. Every seat has a name on it. Every person in our city that's not in church is called to sit in one of those chairs. I see a day where there's not room enough in this building to contain the crowds that are coming to Jesus at this altar call. Somebody say harvest. Harvest lights. Harvest lights. I'm illuminating the harvest. How do we do it? Well, I'm going to show you. This is what Jesus does. Meanwhile, his disciples urged him. They said, Jesus, Rabbi, Teacher, eat something. They were consumed with meeting the temporary... needs. They were focused on the meal. Jesus was focused on the mission. Don't get so distracted by the temporary meal that you miss the long picture mission that Jesus has you on. Some of us get distracted. distracted focused on meal time and jesus says this he says i have food to eat that you know nothing about he says you're trying to satisfy he says let me tell you what really satisfies me he says this he says or the disciples they say could somebody have dropped off a meal did uber eats deliver something to him did he did he order mazios and they dropped it did we miss the meal they're talking about where the food came from jesus says my food is to do the will of him who sent me my food is the mission of of God. My food, my satisfaction is not another big fat paycheck. My food is not, you know, something here on earth that can satisfy me for two weeks temporarily or 10 minutes. He says, my food has this big long-term vision. The reason I give my life, the reason I sacrifice, the reason I show up is because I am committed to a mission that's bigger than my temporary needs. And then he says this in John four, verse 35, he says, you have a saying it's still four months. So Can we turn the lights out for a second? He says, you guys have a saying that it's still four months and then it's harvest. One of these days it'll be harvest. But Jesus says, I tell you, open your eyes for the fields are already ripe for harvest. You're walking in the dark, my friends, and I'm telling you right now, the harvest is right in front of you. Jesus says, you have a saying that one of these days the harvest will be here. But he says, turn on the lights. The harvest is already here. Okay. Okay, you can turn on the lights. Everybody say the harvest is already here. The harvest is already here. What was Jesus doing? He was illuminating the harvest. He says, even now, the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life. So he's not talking about money. He's not talking about farming produce. He says, the sower and the reaper are glad together. He's talking about eternal life. But in verse 37, he says this. He says, one sows and another reaps. This is true. And then he says, I'm sending you into fields to reap what you sow. what you haven't even worked for. Can I tell you there have been labored seeds by people that were here before you got here. We're sitting in the harvest of a seed that Billy Joe and Sharon started sowing in 1981. And even before that, when they came to Tulsa from Arkansas and started sowing seed into the soil of Tulsa, Oklahoma, this building you're sitting, a debt-free, amazing worship center that the bank doesn't own any part. We're not paying any interest. on any loan. Come on, this is a harvest. You're sitting in the harvest and some of you say, I sowed seed in this harvest. And how great is that? How great is that? That you sowed seed in the heart. Every time someone comes down to this altar, guess what? One day you're going to get up to heaven and God says, when you sowed that seed into that children's building, when you sowed that seed into that athletic center, when you sowed that seed into the next generation building in the middle of COVID, when churches were closing down left and right and victory actually grew during a season when church... churches should shrink and you guys built a youth center and a college building and a children's church and all the weeks that every time a child gets saved and a teenager gets saved, if you gave one dollar into that, heaven keeps a record. Store your treasure in heaven. Come on, God is celebrating when even one child turns to Jesus. See, our seed brings a harvest. He says, I sent you to reap a harvest for seed that you didn't even work for. Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits. I stand on a stage today because of my mom and dad's sacrifice. I want to honor my mom pastor Sharon on the front row down here mom would you stand up because this woman has sacrificed time and time and time again and every time there's been a miracle offering my mom is excited to give sacrificially what are we going to give what are we going to give mom you taught me and John and Sarah and Ruth you taught us all as kids to give sacrificially David said in the bible I will not give an offering that doesn't cost cost me something. Someone tried to give David an offering. They said, all right, here's some money you can give. David says, no, no, I want to give out of my heart. See, Jesus was never against the tithe or the offering. Jesus actually watched the tithe and the offering. If you read the New Testament, Jesus paid attention. And he said, there was one time a widow that came and she gave all she could give. And there were other people that gave large sums of money. But Jesus said that, that woman gave more than everybody. And people were like, what? No, no, she gave less than everybody. Jesus said, He says, yeah, but everybody was giving from a place. of comfort and convenience. They gave their leftovers. This woman gave all she could give. See, Jesus pays attention to the heart of our generosity, not just the number. This morning, I'm going to ask you in just a little bit to give. and you go, well, why should I give, Paul? Why should I give? Who needs Jesus? Well, there's 8 billion people right now on planet Earth. 2 billion confess to knowing Jesus. Out of that 2 billion, less than 50% of them are connected to a local church. plugged in with faithful friends and people that are holding them accountable. Out of that 2 billion, very few of them have a spirit-filled encounter with Jesus Christ. There's a whole lot of people that are just stuck in a religious routine, but that leaves 6 billion more people that need Jesus. 7 billion. Am I doing my math right? 6 billion. Okay. But here's the point. In our city, if you drew just a 50-mile radius around our church, you just went out. We have people that drive here from two hours away every single week. People that drive. from Arkansas, people that drive from Texas, people that drive from Kansas. I talked on the phone this last week with a college football player in Kansas and he said, I can't wait to be at church next week. Driving five and a half hours here. He lives at the top of Kansas. He's just excited to be here. He says, I watch online every week and then I try to go when I can. Why do people come? Because people need Jesus. People need victory. People are struggling. Did you know Oklahoma ranks as the seventh highest state in the nation with depression and opioids and addictions? heart disease, obesity. People are hurting in our state. People need hope. People are not only physically sick, they're mentally sick. More people in our state are checking in for medication to deal with depression and anxiety. In the last year, I mean, there's been tens of thousands of people that have taken their life. Every single hour, someone takes their life in our nation from a place of just mental. I mean, people are searching for hope. The harvest is here. We just have to shine a light on it. People that you work with, people that you go to school with. What people need. And you go, well, when I give, how does that reach them? We can't reach people without your financial help. Like it is your financial help that is provided. The building we have, the production we do, the outreaches we do. This last week, we sent a team to the children's hospital and they went to go and pray for kids. And I want Pedro, if you're in here and Pastor Amy, if you're in here, come on up wherever they are. And yeah, give them a big hand. There's Pastor Amy, our kids pastor. And I want you to tell them real quick what happened. We got pictures of this. It was so special. And this is something that happens on a regular basis, but this one was kind of near and dear to our hearts. Tell them what happened. Yeah, so last week we had the privilege to go to St. Francis and bring 300 toys. and go room by room praying for the kids, praying for the parents. But especially one parent is thrown out. And we go into the room. She's a four-year-old. And half of her head is shaved. And I started looking at the dad and you could just feel that he was powerless, that he was going through a lot of pain, that feeling that he couldn't do anything because his daughter was sick. So we start praying for him. And as soon as we get in and we say, hey, we came from victory, this guy starts bawling. And he received the prayer. We were able to pray for the nurse, give toys even to the children of the nurses. And it was just a really special outreach. Yeah, we were so thankful for the opportunity to go into the hospital. And as we went, we prayed Romans 15, 13 that says, May the God of hope fill you with all peace and joy. As you trust in him that you may have overflowing hope. And the hospital let us come in. not because of our first names but because they said you're a part of victory come in and as we walked through each room we were able to give toys we were able to pray but don't you know that we experienced God's love so much through his people and so we were given that opportunity and in a room this size, I know that some of you have been in the hospital receiving the care and some of you have been there and someone that you loved was receiving care. And so it was really special for us as a kids team to partner with REACH. And I'm so thankful for our church, thankful for you, for your generosity that allowed us to go in and to bring hope and to be God's hands, Jesus'hands and feet and to give love in a place that could feel a little bit hopeless. And so to see the light in their eyes and the smile on their faces was really special. So just on behalf. of our team and reach. We're just so thankful for you allowing us to have the opportunity to do so. Come on, come on. You know, some pastor Amy said when we were talking about it, she said, when you walk through the harvest of what you see at Victory, the church, the Dream Center, the North and West, Pastor Tim, stand up. You're doing an incredible job at the Tulsa Dream Center. We just had a board meeting this last week celebrating, real quick, tell them one of the big numbers of what we celebrated this year at the Tulsa Dream Center. Tell them a couple of the stats. Yes, come to us over. Three million meals we have given out today at the Tulsa Dream Center. Three million meals. Yeah, and the big one was over 6,000 salvations. 6,000 salvations this year? This year, come on! And then how many kids through the LIFE program that we've been able to help? Tell them what the LIFE program does again. Yeah, our LIFE program is our Literacy for Everyone program. It's our after-school program. Literacy for Everyone. Yes, and we understand if they cannot read, they cannot read the Bible. So that's very, very essential. By the way, speaking of... to that right now the bible has actually started trending as the top selling book again at the end of 2024 i read an article that said bibles are on the rise y'all people are hungry for the word of god so we're teaching our boys how to read with that so without After school program, we have an impact over 450 boys and girls with that, but close to 1100 kids and all of our after school time programs that we have with sports as well as education, academic things. And one of the things you said three years ago was this is the pipeline to the prison. We're stopping the pipeline. What happens in our city and our state is when people don't have opportunity, when people don't have the same opportunities as other people, it can lead to worse things and worse decisions as time goes on. And they traced back people that are in jail and prison. They traced back how many of these boys and girls didn't have a mentor, didn't have someone teaching them to read and write, didn't have a discipleship class, didn't have a dream center. And that was one of the biggest factors that led to them making poor choices in high school, middle school, later on, didn't graduate. We celebrated last week. My friend Jose Rodriguez was back, and he's now in 29 middle schools. And he was reached through the dream center, through our bus ministry at Victory. These kids are going on to graduate college, getting good jobs, becoming dentists, doctors, nurses. Bible school teacher. Come on. That's incredible. But one of the things Amy said, she said, you can't walk through the harvest of victory and not want to plant more seeds. Because you start walking through this harvest and you're like, whether I came here last year or 20 years ago, I walked into something that was already producing the harvest. So if you started with victory, how many of y'all have been a part of victory for 40 years? You've been here since the beginning. Can we honor the legacy people that have been here? Stand up. If you've been here for 40 years. This church has been around since 1980. 81. So that would have meant you came in the first year, a couple of years of victory. Keep standing. Come on. This is incredible. You stayed in a church for 40 plus years. You could have left, but we're thankful you stayed. And we're sitting in the heart. of your seeds. We're sitting in the harvest of your seeds. We're sitting in the harvest. I see Dr. DeMuth back there. I'm a harvest on Dr. DeMuth's seeds in this church. Everybody say, this is our harvest. This is our harvest. I'll never forget, by the way, when you get ready to give, I want you to know this, God, you can never out give God. God has so much more for you. Malachi 3 says, bring the tithe and the offering in the storehouse. And watch if I will not open the windows of heaven. See, God always has a big... plan for our lives than we do. God wants to do greater. I told this story when I was in Africa about a month ago, preaching in Ghana. I remember hearing the story as a kid about the famous golfer and the king of Saudi Arabia. Some of y'all have heard this story. The king of Saudi Arabia invites this famous golfer to come and teach him a golf lesson. True story. And so the golfer flies on his private jet, the king's private jet, lands in Saudi Arabia, stays at the palace, eats the finest meals. The red carpet is rolled out for him, teaches the king how to golf. I mean, they're having a great time. And then he's like, I got to go home back to my wife and kids. And the king says, what can I do for you? And the golfer says, you've already done enough for me. You've blessed me, man. I've, I've eaten the finest meals. I've stayed in the greatest palace. I mean, you You've treated me like a king. The king says, no, no, no, I'm not done blessing you. I want to do something for you. And the golfer says, I don't really need anything. I'm fine. I got a good house. I got a good car. I got a good job. I love to golf. I'm a pro. I'm having fun. The king says, no, no, no, what can I do for you? Can I tell you in scripture, Jesus asks that same question. What can I do for you? What can I do for you? Psalms two says, ask for the nations and I will give them as your inheritance. See, God oftentimes is looking for us to. to ask with faith. Bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers. So the golfer looks at the king and he says, well, ever since I was young, I collected, you know, golf clubs. He's like, I, I have always been a fan of golf. You could give me some kind of a golf club. And the king looks at him strangely. He's like, okay. The golfer goes home and forgets about it. Two months goes by. The king calls him and says, Hey, I, I finally got your gift ready. It took me a while, but I got it prepared for you. It's coming in the mail. And the golfer is like, Oh, oh, I totally forgot about that. And the king said, just be looking for it in the mail the next day. So the golfer goes out to the mail the next day and he doesn't see a package. He just sees a letter from the king. He opens it up and he's like, where's the package? Maybe it's gonna be a letter that tells me to go to a certain mail store and get this awesome package. some golf club that's gold with diamond studs on it. He's imagining the golf club, you know, what it's going to look like. He opens the letter and the letter says, here is your 500 acre deed to your golf club on the coast of the ocean in pristine condition. You already have. golf members signed up. You will be making tons of money for the rest of your life on this golf club. It took me a while to get it ready for you, but it's yours. And the golfer is laughing. He's like, are you kidding me? Calls the king. He's like, I wasn't talking about a golf course. I was talking. about just a golf club and the king said well you should know that kings think on a higher level church can i tell you your king thinks on a higher level your king is thinking on a higher level i hear god saying it's time to ask for the nations it's time to ask for the united states of america it's harvest time in tulsa it's time to ask for the whole city it's time to ask for the whole room it's time to ask for the whole company it's time to believe for greater i hear god saying get your faith stirred up for greater but can I tell you, you won't know what to ask for if the lights are out in your heart and in your life. Today, I came to turn on the lights of faith. Today, I came to turn on the lights of hope. Today, I came to just remind you that you serve a God who is Jehovah Jireh. Charles Spurgeon told this story when he was a preacher back in the late 1800s. He said, one time I went to a poor old housemaid's house, her shack on the outskirts of London, and she told me this story. story. She said, I used to be a maid for a very rich man in London. And right as he was getting ready to die, he called me over to his deathbed and he gave me a little note and said, man, to this young housemate, he said, man, thank you for taking care of me these last five years. No one from my family ever came in the last five years. I just want you to know I really appreciate you. And then he died. This woman would keep that note on her wall for the next several years. years until Charles Spurgeon showed up to her house and he was praying with her and she tells him this story. And he says, can I see the note? Charles Spurgeon walks over and he looks at the note. His eyes get huge. He goes, ma'am, can you read? She said, no, I've never known how to read. He said, ma'am, this is not a note. This is a check. This is a check for five million pounds. What that would translate to today, back then, is insane. He said, man, you can buy the finest house in London. You can eat at the finest restaurants for the rest of your life. You can give more than enough money to your children and your children's children. You have a legacy. He said, you've had this the whole time. How many people don't realize the check that they have sitting in their house? Did I tell you? Listen, let me say something. Jesus, when he shows up, John chapter one says, the light has come into the world and the darkness cannot overpower it. So Jesus was the light. And then in Matthew five, verse 14, he says, you are the light. And this light that Jesus was and the light that comes now in us to go and bring the harvest in is the power of God. In the Old Testament, people understood who God was. In the New Testament, Jesus came as the representation of all the names of God. And then Jesus comes to live in us, which means the same. same light, the same power that Jesus brought to the world now lives in us. Everybody say it's in me. So who is that? Elohim lives in me. That's the creative power of God. That's the greatness of God. Jehovah, the living, eternally existent, who possesses life itself. God lives in me. Yahweh, the all-powerful, present God lives in me. El Shaddai, the all-sufficient, almighty God. That the God who is more than enough lives in me. Adonai, the owner of humanity. The cattle on a a thousand hills and all the oil underneath it lives in me jehovah jireh my god shall provide jehovah rafa the lord is my healer lives in me the healer of my body my soul my spirit jehovah nisi the banner of victory deliverance and salvation forget not all the benefits of god that he has forgiven you of your sins he's cast your sin as far as the east is from the west can i tell you today you have a greater god than you realize living inside of you you have a bigger check than you've cashed in on that's sitting into your house. Some of y'all need to dust off that check and go, hold on, hold on. God is not limited by the economy. God is not limited by who's in office. God is not limited by what family I grew up in, what birth order I'm in. God is able to do exceeding. Everybody say he's able. He's able. He's able. He's able. God's asking us to dream on a higher level. Who needs this light? I want to give you a couple questions to think about before we give. Who needs this light? Who needs our generosity? Who needs our compassion? Who needs our mercy? Who needs our invitation to know Jesus? Who needs our... evangelistic spirit. Who needs it? I'll tell you, everybody does. In Luke 14, verse 15 through 23, Jesus tells a parable about a wedding banquet. And he says that there were people invited and they didn't want to come because they were busy. They were doing stuff. And then Jesus says, the master said, go and invite everyone you encounter. Invite everybody. And he says, compel them to come in. Do everything you can to bring them into the house so that my father's house may be full. Can I tell you, Jesus wants to fill every church in America and around the world. Jesus doesn't want empty seats. Jesus doesn't want churches. that are shrinking. Jesus wants us to grow. And can I tell you, it's not just the pastor's job, it's all of our job. We all got to bring in the harvest. You are a harvest light. I'll never forget going to a wedding several years ago with my wife. And after the wedding, there was a reception and we got in line for the reception and it was taking forever. We were watching the table that was running, you know, who was coming into the reception. It was a group of teenage girls. They were on their phones laughing. And then occasionally they would look at the list and I would watch as someone would walk in and then another person would leave the line and walk away. And I was like, why are they leaving? Finally, we got up to the front of the line. The girls are kind of distracted on their phones, laughing. And they were like, who are you guys? And I was like, Paul and Ashley Doherty. And they said, well, you're not on the list. And I was like, you didn't even look. And they were like, yeah, well, you're not really on this list. And I was like, wait a minute. I'm good friends with the groom and the bride. I know them. So I start texting the groom and the bride and I start texting the bride. start calling their family. I'm like, you better let me in. Like, why'd you reject me? And they were like, Paul, Ashley, they come out there. They go, you are supposed to be in this reception. I was like, that's right. I was like, tell the girls at the table, you know? And they were like, what are you talking about? I said, the girls at the table denied his sin. And they said, what? I said, I've seen other people leave in too. And people in the line, they were like, yeah, people are leaving because those girls won't let anyone in. And the bride and groom, they were so upset. They literally removed the table and the girls. They were like, everybody's. coming in. And I was like, wait a minute. This feels like a Bible story. This reminds me of the heart of God. I wonder if God's watching Christians right now, sitting at the table on our phones, distracted while there's people in line trying to come in. And we're like, nope, you're not on the list. You got too many tattoos. Nope. You're not perfect enough. Nope. You made too many mistakes. You're not good enough here. You're a little too dirty. You're not on the list. And God's like, come on y'all we got to start bringing people into the house whether they got tattoos or whatever they look like doesn't matter everybody's invited to the party can i tell you when john 3 16 was written it didn't say for god so loved the perfect people that he sent his only son for god so loved the americans for god so loved only the israelites no for god so loved the whole world red and yellow black and white rich and poor young and old black and white native american asian hispanic whatever tribe you're from. Jesus came to save everyone so that his house may be filled. Who needs the light? Everybody needs the light. Everybody say everybody needs the light. Number two, why should we shine? Why should we shine? Not only is it a commandment, Jesus said in Mark 16, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Share it to everybody. Not only is it a commandment, but our world is hurting. Our world is broken. Our world is getting darker and darker. darker, but I'll tell you this, the harvest is ready. Every dollar represents a destiny. Every nickel represents someone's name. Every invitation that we pass out this week, every one of you that live with a mission mindset, I'm telling you on the other side of that is someone's neighborhood, someone who's impacted for eternity. Why should we shine? Because our nation and our world needs it. Our world needs it. I thought this was kind of crazy. I was looking at different stats and just in our nation, more than 600,000 children are abused every year in the United States. Children that are growing up in abusive homes. And then you start looking at just domestic violence, wives abuse. You start looking at then addictive behaviors in the families, people that are just tapping out, just done with life. Amount of people that take their own life. Why should we shine? Because our world is hurting. Our world is broken. People need Jesus. When I was sharing some of the stats with you guys, some that I left out, I wanna just hit you with real quick. As a church, every month we support missionaries in 41 different nations. 937,235 people have been reached just in this year through our global outreach and missions. Y'all, that's a million people almost. Our school and our college this year have brought in 1,400 plus students that are being discipled, being trained to go out and change. change their world. Our camp this summer raised up, we had 2,274 campers come in and these campers come down to the altar and they start opening up about their homes. They start talking about what they've walked through in their life. Kids are being exposed to pornography as early as nine years old. We have kids that are struggling with addictions at age 10 and 11. We have people that are coming and you go, well, wow, why are we reaching so many people that are broken? Because our world is broken. We're not just a church for perfect kids and perfect. people who've never had any struggle or trauma or trials. We are a church for our whole city, our whole state, our whole nation, whole world. And I think that's why you love this church, because you look around and nobody looks just like you. When you get to heaven, it's not going to be a big group of white people or a big group of black people. It's going to be every tribe, every tongue. It's going to be people that slept under a bridge the night before they died and a multimillionaire on the same row, just like victory. I'm thankful we're a church, not just for a certain demographic or a certain economic class. Because that's not the heart of God anyways. This year, we've reached 885,000 people through our late night TV shows. I've had people reach out who've gotten saved watching me sitting in the ER at St. Francis because they put my sermons on at midnight. Someone sent me a picture on social media. And they said, I don't normally go to the bar, but I was at the bar on Saturday night. And I was... was drinking and you came on the TV and they literally played your whole 30 minute sermon while we're all getting drunk at the bar. And they were like, and now we all got convicted and we wanted to leave the bar and go to church. Come on, Jesus, put me in the bar. We should be there. We should be there. This year we ministered to 218,653 people in five different States in our disaster relief. As a church, we helped rebuild homes. We helped build water wells. we helped people pick up after tsunamis and after hurricanes and after tornadoes we had people that were in the pit of poverty this year that we pulled up out of been 3 000 people that we got back up on their feet help them get a job through our benevolence ministry and then here's the greatest number 89 499 salvations through your generosity and your compassion it's harvest time church all right last last question that we're gonna give and by the way why don't you go ahead and take an envelope even if you're not gonna going to give today, take an envelope because I'm going to ask you to write on this envelope. It's on the back of your chairs and listen, it's okay. If you're not ready to give, you go, man, I need a couple of weeks to think about this, pray about this. See if God really wants me to live generous and stuff like that. I'll tell you in the Bible, he does. If you're a Bible, believe in Christian. Jesus does. Proverbs 11, 24 says the world of the generous gets larger and larger while the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. Proverbs says those who bless others will be blessed and refreshed on a continual basis. continual basis. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of their God. But I want you to write down what you're praying for on the top. It says prayer requests, praise reports. Write down what you're praying for. Maybe even write down what you're celebrating, praising God for. In just a minute, we're going to bring this down to the altar. Here's my last question I want to ask you. I got two more, but here's my next one, and that's how do we shine? How do we shine? We shine through our generosity. We shine through our actions. We shine through our words of encouragement. encouragement and kindness. What we do in this life echoes for eternity. I'll never forget hearing this story of this famous lawyer who was handling so many cases in Chicago and he was winning all these cases, but the stress of his success, which by the way, success can lead to a lot of stress, but this lawyer got so stressed in the midst of winning his cases that he started drinking at the end of the day. He would go to the bar and he would, you know, have some, have a couple beers and he would kind of just drink away the stress. stress until he could just feel peaceful and calm and then go home. Well, it started helping him so much. He started drinking in the morning too, because he was like, man, I'm stressed before I go in to handle these cases. So he would drink in the morning. He'd go to the same bar down the street. He didn't want to do it in his house. He had three little kids that were up early. So he'd go down to the local bar and drink a couple of drinks before he would handle it. Then he started taking lunch break drinks. So he was drinking in the morning, you know, but if you asked him if he was an alcoholic, he said, no, no, no, I'm not an alcoholic. I just like to drink in the morning at noontime and then in the evening. And, you know, he would laugh about it, but he was a believer. He was like, man, I love God. I just, I love drinking. And so one morning he wakes up and he's leaving his house. And it's snowing because it snows a lot in Chicago. It's snowing. So he's walking through the snow and he hears something behind him. He turns around, doesn't see anything. He's like, somebody following me? He keeps walking. He's walking towards the bar to have his regular drinks. He hears something again, turns around, doesn't see anything. And finally he gets to the door of the bar. bar. And right as he's about to open it, he hears this sound. It turns out it's a He turns around and it's his six-year-old son. Daddy! I was following your footsteps. I was following your footprints in the snow. I knew you always liked to go somewhere in the morning. Is this where you go? The dad was overwhelmed. He was shocked that his son would follow his footprints in the snow. He tells this story and he ends up sharing this in church one day in Chicago. the church he was in, he said, from that day on, something changed. I stopped wanting to leave footprints to the bar for my kids. And I started wanting to leave footprints towards the church for my kids. Footprints in the snow towards the church. the altar call for my kids. Footprints in the snow towards a discipleship class. Footprints in the snow towards living a life instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on vodka, Jack Daniels, and all the alcohol that I could buy. That I started turning that tens of thousands of dollars I spent on alcohol and putting it in the offering to help reach more people. You can change your footprints today. You can change the legacy you're leaving your kids. One day we'll all die. You're going to die someday. And when you die on your own, you're going to die. your gravestone will be a dash. That dash represents your life, the year you were born and the year you die. In that dash, people will remember you. There was a man named Don Ritchie who moved into the worst house in Australia that someone could buy. He moves into this house and it's sitting across the cliff. At first he thought it was a great house because the view was incredible. It overlooked the beautiful ocean of the Sydney coast, but it was right next to a cliff. Come to find out it was known as Suicide Cliff, the most popular... suicide spot in the world. Second most popular. First place is in Japan, the forest in Japan. But this was number two. This was the cliff in Sydney, the gap. And the first time he saw it, he was in his bedroom looking out his window when someone just jumps off the cliff and his heart sinks. And he goes, what? He runs over there and sees the body at the bottom and police come up. They go, you know, you just bought like the worst piece of real estate. You can, you can sell this house and leave. Nobody stays here. But something happened in Don's heart. He died. 2012 and on his gravestone read the angel of the gap. He ended up staying in that house for 40 years, four decades. He lived in that house. He didn't leave. He said, I felt like God strategically placed me in this spot to rescue people that were on the verge of ending their life. So he said, what I would do every week, I would walk out. He said, at least three people a week would take their life from this cliff. So he said, every time someone come out on Monday or Wednesday or Friday, he said, I would meet them at the cliff and say, Hey, excuse me. He said I had read an article from a man who jumped from the san francisco gate Golden gate bridge that if one person stops me with a smile, I won't jump and nobody did so he said I started thinking Maybe my smile can help them So he said I would start with a smile and then I would say hey come in my house for a cup of tea I'm right here. My house is 10 feet away from this cliff come inside for a cup of tea And a smile and a cup of tea would lead people away in his lifetime He stopped 400 people from ending their life and helped them get back to a better path for their life. Someone caught a picture once of Don Richie literally holding a woman who was about to jump. And he was the only thing between her and him. He said, that was one of the most dangerous days because she was going to take me with her. But he said, I just held her because he said, I knew I had to stop this woman. She had a destiny. She had a plan. God had a plan. He said, I used to sell life insurance before this. And he said, I felt like I was selling people real life, a purpose for life, something to live for. Friends, when we give, we're saving people's lives. As you get ready to give, I really want you to pray right now in your heart, Lord, what am I supposed to give? What's on your heart for me to give? I don't want anyone to give from a place of just feeling like, you know, Paul's telling me. I want God to be the one that instructs you. And if God says, don't give anything today, you don't have to. But if you feel like the Lord's like, man, be a part of this, be a part of this, stretch your faith. I wanna invite one more testimony up, my friend, Zach Bernatsky. Zach, come up here real quick. He runs our media and all of our behind the scenes. And he's gonna finish with. with a testimony and then we're going to give. But as that comes up here, I want to tell you this, on the other side of your generosity, God has a plan and a purpose and a blessing for you. Whether it's this week, looking for ways to invite people to church, pray with people, lead them to Christ or giving in the offering, or maybe bringing someone on Christmas Eve, God wants to use you to bring in the harvest. Zach, tell them what happened the last miracle offering. Yeah. So this is a special weekend for me because one year ago, my wife and I were out. actually in one of the darkest seasons that we had been through. We had been believing for a long time for a baby. And so from day one of being married, we were trying. We were like, let's go for it. And nothing was happening. We went to some doctors and they told us that it would be near impossible, really, really hard for us to get pregnant naturally. So we started doing a couple different procedures. One, two, nothing was happening. On the third procedure, we found out that we were pregnant with a baby girl and we were so overjoyed and we told all of our friends and our family. It just felt like a... huge answer to prayer. We've been praying for such a long time. Lord, give us this child, give us this child. But also we were praying, but Lord, even if you don't, you're good, you're faithful, we believe in you. Well, that prayer was really put to the test because at our next appointment. we found out that the baby was no longer progressing, and my wife miscarried that baby Thanksgiving weekend last year. And it was devastating. We were so broken. It hit us really hard, that third one. It might have been a piece of hope that felt crushed, like we were pregnant and then we weren't, that we were just in such a dark place. We were angry, we were confused, and honestly, we were ready to give up. But we didn't feel it, we didn't see it, but we we just kept believing that God, you're working. God, you're moving. God, you're faithful. And we continued that prayer. God, you're good. You're faithful and you're in control. And so Christmas production came and this was really busy, but we were like, we had a procedure that was scheduled for the next month over for January. So we had some time in December. We're like, let's just try it. Let's just try for it naturally. And we came into this weekend, we were trying, and even though we were depleted emotionally, physically, mentally, we're still trying. and we were also depleted financially. That procedure in January, we had to put down a $5,000 deposit and our bank account had been wiped from the past procedures. And that $5,000, we threw on a credit card and we're like, we'll figure this out later, but we needed to just lock this in and start going. And so we came into Miracle Offering Weekend and we didn't give at the service, but I remember writing down, Lord, I'm believing for a miracle in my family. I'm believing for a full family is what I wrote down. And throughout that week, we just felt led. It's like, hey, we need to give. It kind of went back and forth. Like, well, we got the mortgage, and we got this $5,000 we have to pay for, and all this and that. But we had a number that we felt like God laid on our heart. And it wasn't the biggest number, but it was something that was really hard for us. And it was going to be something that was a big sacrifice to us. And we gave it. We gave it that miracle offering weekend. And we just believed God. That was for us. That was how we were going to walk out in the natural what we believed that God could do in the supernatural. And so three weeks after miracle. offering weekend. I come home from work and my wife shows me a positive pregnancy test, completely natural, no procedures whatsoever. We were pregnant. And not only that, but we call the fertility clinic that we put down that deposit on. And they said, today is the last day that you can get that deposit back. We got all $5,000 back. Didn't have to pay any of that. And we were just, it was such a huge answer to prayer. And little did we know that God still wasn't done. He's like, I got more for you. Because seven months later, our daughter Willow, she came six weeks early. And she came with a heart condition. So we were in the NICU, we got out of the NICU, and then she got, we found out she had a second heart condition. So we got airlifted to OKC where they have specialists and we were in there for a while just trying to figure things out. But throughout that time at the hospital, we were like, this is easy. easy. We're like, God's already working a miracle story. This is our miracle baby. He's not done with her yet. She's going to get out of here and she's going to get out of here strong. And so today, Willow is home. She is the happiest little baby in the world. Her heart condition is under control. And so far this year, through insurance and through money, unexpected money and coming in, the Lord has provided for over half a million dollars worth of medical bills. And Willow is amazing. And so I... I stand here today and One year ago my heart was empty and broken and I didn't know where to go And today it is the fullest that it has ever been and every day I wake up and look at that beautiful girl with her Baby blues and i'm just reminded of the goodness of god. He's so faithful and he's so good Come on, Jesus! Stay up here, Zach. Alright, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna give. The team's gonna lead us in worship. And what I'm gonna ask you to do, instead of buckets coming down the aisle, this is gonna be a special offering. I'll never forget being in Africa and offering a service. like this and these people welled up with generosity that had very little and they just started running to the altar to drop off their offering I thought we should do that in Tulsa so today we're gonna bring our offering down to the altar you can lay it anywhere at the front of the stage on the stage on the steps you can come down any aisle when you're ready to give you just walk down and bring it and you go back to your seat we'll dismiss in about seven or eight minutes but please stay There's one last thing I want to share with you before we end. So as you're ready to give and you write it down, you just bring it down. We're going to worship God in our living room. is more than me Tonight, we're the Rockies I didn't read earlier that I think is really cool is this year we've seen almost 700 people get water baptized in our services. And one of my favorite ones happened, one of my favorite water baptisms I've ever seen in my life. And y'all, as a pastor's kid, I've been in church every, like since I was born, I was born in the church. I've seen a lot of baptisms, I've seen a lot of services, sermons, sat through my dad's messages all the time. But I think the most powerful baptism I've been a part of happened this year. In fact, I think my top three favorite I've seen in my lifetime happened this year. One was when a soccer player from ORU who had come. and was in a whole lot of strongholds, came really, came to Tulsa just to play soccer, but didn't come knowing it was really a Christian university or care for Christian university. But he found Jesus at victory and his whole soccer team came and surrounded him. the water baptism tank as he gave his life to Christ and was baptized at our church. And it was a huge celebration at their campus. And here, one of my other favorite baptisms was when a 96 year old world war II veteran came down and he's a 9am church service member, but he came down and his whole family was here as he got baptized for the first time ever in his life. It was incredible to be a part, to witness that moment. But I think one of my favorite things that we get to be a part of as a church is seeing people come to Christ. And as a whole church, we get to do this together. And so today, you know, really the last thing I want to do is give people a chance to receive Jesus in your heart. To get prayer for a miracle. Zach to stay up here because I felt like there's people in the room that are believing to get pregnant, people that are believing to have children, someone in the room who's believing just to have a miracle, maybe even in your health. And so I want to do two altar calls. If you're here today and you need to get right with God, you need to to surrender to Jesus, I'm just going to ask you to raise your hand. Today's your day. Harvest is here. And you're saying, man, I just want to get right. I want to repent, want Jesus to be Lord of my life. Can we give a hand clap for even if there's just one hand in the room that's raised, watching online. You never know who in the room is getting right with God. Secondly, you're here today and you say, I need a miracle. I need a supernatural act of God in my life. I'm praying for a breakthrough. Maybe it is for children. Maybe it is for marriage. Maybe it's for health. If that's you, would you just leave your seat, come down to the altar and just stand down here. And I'm going to have Zach pray for us. And we're going to close out with his prayer, but I want to pray for everyone who's standing for a miracle. You're believing to have children. You're believing to get married. You're believing for healing of cancer, healing of a terminal sickness or disease for your children or for your life. Maybe here today, and you're just like, man, I just need a financial turnaround. Like I'm in a financial tight place. I need God's blessing. I need that story of the King. I need God to do something exceedingly abundantly above. love more than I can ask, hope, dream, or imagine. I need like what Zach prayed, half a million dollars of medical bills paid for this year. I need God to do a supernatural thing that only he can do. I don't have the connections. I don't have the money, but God does. If that's you, come and find a place at this altar. And as you come down here, I want you to just stand by faith in Jesus name. Lord, I thank you that today harvest lights are on and there's a harvest coming for every person in this room that's standing and believing for a breakthrough. Zach. Why don't you just pray real quick for every person that's here today. Dear Lord, just thank you for every single person that's come up here, that's taken that step of faith. Lord, you love the word impossible, because that's where you can shine and show what you can do, because there is no such thing as impossible with you. It is only possible. And so I pray over every request, Lord. I pray over every belief. I pray for healing, where they've been told there is no option. I pray, Lord, for wombs that have been closed that they would open up, Lord, that you would bring babies to life in Jesus'name. I pray for business ideas, Lord, that are implanted, that are dreams that you have instilled in people, and they don't know what to do, and they don't know where to go. I pray right now, Lord, that you would be moving right now. I pray for those that are looking for breakthrough in their finances, that you would be lining things together even now that they cannot see. And I pray for a faith and a boldness for every person here. stand and believe in you, God, because you are a God of miracles. You are a God of the impossible. You are a God that can do greater than more than we could ever hope, see, and imagine. And so we pray all this, and we believe all this in church as you raise your hands and put an I'm going to ask you to finish this prayer with me strong. We're going to shout amen at the end of this prayer. Because amen isn't just a casual way to end a prayer. It's a declaration that it is true. That God is in control. We say amen. We say it is finished because God has the final say. And so on three, let's finish this off with amen. Three, two, one. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Church, there's a harvest out there. God is good. He's faithful. He's faithful. Come on, how many of y'all know he's faithful? What a powerful prayer from Zach. Powerful testimony. I encourage you today, take some of these with you. Bring them with you to your workplace. Invite somebody to one of the services this week. Let's go reach our city. Let's go bring in the harvest. In Jesus'name. Lord, I just thank you again and again. I just agree with Zach's prayer. Lord, I thank you. You are the God of miracles. And Lord, what you did back then, you can do it again. and what you did for Zach and Cass and what you did, God, for Hannah and Abraham and what you did, God, for Sarah and Elizabeth and Zachariah. You could do it today for each person that's standing for a miracle. In Jesus'name, amen. God bless you. Have a great rest of your week. Thanks for being with us today.

for what God wants to do. We've been in a series called Harvest. Everybody say Harvest. Harvest. In John chapter 4, Jesus meets this woman at a well and she's there to get water from the well.

She's gone to Jacob's well to draw water with her. her jar and Jesus starts asking her if he can have some water. Now Jews and Samaritans didn't really talk to each other.

And, and, and especially a rabbi, a teacher of the word would never be caught alone just talking to a stranger woman by a well. And then to find out this woman's been through five marriages that haven't worked out. She's living with the sixth man now that's not her husband. And that one's not working out. And Jesus starts talking to her.

He says, listen, I have water. It's not from this well. I have water that will. satisfy you. This outward jar you're holding, man, is a reflection of what's going on inside your heart.

What Jesus was telling this woman, he says, you've been drawing water from all the wrong sources. That's why you have a cracked cistern. That's why you're leaking because no man can ever satisfy what only God can satisfy.

You'll never find a relationship here on earth that's going to meet what only God can meet in your life. It's okay to be married. It's okay to have kids.

It's okay to, it's great, but there's also always going to be a longing for something deeper. Someone who understands every part of your soul and heart. And Jesus says, I'm what you're looking for.

Little did this woman know that she was the harvest that Jesus came to receive. I want to preach a message to you today called Harvest Lights. Harvest Lights.

If you're taking notes, note takers are history makers. I asked at the start of this series, how many of y'all grew up on the farm? And one of the answers when I said, what is harvest season like, was harvest season is harvest.

hard work. You're up early in the morning while it's still dark outside. And then you work all day.

I mean, harvest is not sitting back watching Netflix and just, you know, eating chips, sitting on the couch. Harvest is hard work. You're laboring early in the morning while it's still dark. And then you're laboring deep into the evening while it gets dark again. And because it gets dark, you need lights to illuminate the harvest.

These combines that will come down the fields to receive the harvest. They're shining lights early in the morning at six. a.m. because you know in the winter season it gets dark at like noon it's getting dark it's probably already getting dark right now while we're sitting in morning service but these combines they'll go out there during that harvest season and they'll illuminate these lights that shine right from those combines yeah that's a bright light that's a bright light and what are those lights doing those lights are illuminating the harvest what was Jesus doing in John chapter 4 he was illuminating the harvest that the disciples were missing.

So the disciples returned in John 4 verse 27, and they were surprised to see Jesus talking to a woman. But no one asked, you know, what do you want or why are you talking to her? And then leaving her water jar.

Isn't that interesting? After she met Jesus, she left her water jar. After she encountered Jesus, because once you encounter Jesus, you stop looking for the counterfeits.

You found what you're looking for. How many of y'all found what you're looking for with Jesus? Come on. Like that old U2 song, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

So many people are chasing money, they're chasing fame, they're chasing significant success, and they still haven't found. You can have all the money in the world and you still haven't found what you're looking for. But once she found Jesus, she left her water jar and she went back to the town. She said to the people, could this be the Messiah?

Come and see the man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the one? and so this woman comes bringing the town back to Jesus. So here comes this harvest that's walking towards Jesus. They came out of the town and they made their way towards him.

Everybody say it's harvest time. You can't see the harvest when the lights are out. This is why you need the lights to illuminate. Can I tell you there's a bigger harvest than you realize right in front of you?

If you're walking in the dark, I came to illuminate the harvest for you. You can be like the disciples. You know Jesus. You love Jesus.

Jesus. You're in church, but you have forgotten there is a harvest all around you. See those empty seats in the back? That's harvest.

Every seat has a name on it. Every person in our city that's not in church is called to sit in one of those chairs. I see a day where there's not room enough in this building to contain the crowds that are coming to Jesus at this altar call. Somebody say harvest.

Harvest lights. Harvest lights. I'm illuminating the harvest. How do we do it?

Well, I'm going to show you. This is what Jesus does. Meanwhile, his disciples urged him.

They said, Jesus, Rabbi, Teacher, eat something. They were consumed with meeting the temporary... needs. They were focused on the meal.

Jesus was focused on the mission. Don't get so distracted by the temporary meal that you miss the long picture mission that Jesus has you on. Some of us get distracted. distracted focused on meal time and jesus says this he says i have food to eat that you know nothing about he says you're trying to satisfy he says let me tell you what really satisfies me he says this he says or the disciples they say could somebody have dropped off a meal did uber eats deliver something to him did he did he order mazios and they dropped it did we miss the meal they're talking about where the food came from jesus says my food is to do the will of him who sent me my food is the mission of of God.

My food, my satisfaction is not another big fat paycheck. My food is not, you know, something here on earth that can satisfy me for two weeks temporarily or 10 minutes. He says, my food has this big long-term vision. The reason I give my life, the reason I sacrifice, the reason I show up is because I am committed to a mission that's bigger than my temporary needs. And then he says this in John four, verse 35, he says, you have a saying it's still four months.

So Can we turn the lights out for a second? He says, you guys have a saying that it's still four months and then it's harvest. One of these days it'll be harvest.

But Jesus says, I tell you, open your eyes for the fields are already ripe for harvest. You're walking in the dark, my friends, and I'm telling you right now, the harvest is right in front of you. Jesus says, you have a saying that one of these days the harvest will be here. But he says, turn on the lights.

The harvest is already here. Okay. Okay, you can turn on the lights.

Everybody say the harvest is already here. The harvest is already here. What was Jesus doing?

He was illuminating the harvest. He says, even now, the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life. So he's not talking about money.

He's not talking about farming produce. He says, the sower and the reaper are glad together. He's talking about eternal life.

But in verse 37, he says this. He says, one sows and another reaps. This is true.

And then he says, I'm sending you into fields to reap what you sow. what you haven't even worked for. Can I tell you there have been labored seeds by people that were here before you got here. We're sitting in the harvest of a seed that Billy Joe and Sharon started sowing in 1981. And even before that, when they came to Tulsa from Arkansas and started sowing seed into the soil of Tulsa, Oklahoma, this building you're sitting, a debt-free, amazing worship center that the bank doesn't own any part. We're not paying any interest.

on any loan. Come on, this is a harvest. You're sitting in the harvest and some of you say, I sowed seed in this harvest.

And how great is that? How great is that? That you sowed seed in the heart. Every time someone comes down to this altar, guess what?

One day you're going to get up to heaven and God says, when you sowed that seed into that children's building, when you sowed that seed into that athletic center, when you sowed that seed into the next generation building in the middle of COVID, when churches were closing down left and right and victory actually grew during a season when church... churches should shrink and you guys built a youth center and a college building and a children's church and all the weeks that every time a child gets saved and a teenager gets saved, if you gave one dollar into that, heaven keeps a record. Store your treasure in heaven. Come on, God is celebrating when even one child turns to Jesus. See, our seed brings a harvest.

He says, I sent you to reap a harvest for seed that you didn't even work for. Others have done the hard work and you have reaped the benefits. I stand on a stage today because of my mom and dad's sacrifice. I want to honor my mom pastor Sharon on the front row down here mom would you stand up because this woman has sacrificed time and time and time again and every time there's been a miracle offering my mom is excited to give sacrificially what are we going to give what are we going to give mom you taught me and John and Sarah and Ruth you taught us all as kids to give sacrificially David said in the bible I will not give an offering that doesn't cost cost me something. Someone tried to give David an offering.

They said, all right, here's some money you can give. David says, no, no, I want to give out of my heart. See, Jesus was never against the tithe or the offering. Jesus actually watched the tithe and the offering. If you read the New Testament, Jesus paid attention.

And he said, there was one time a widow that came and she gave all she could give. And there were other people that gave large sums of money. But Jesus said that, that woman gave more than everybody.

And people were like, what? No, no, she gave less than everybody. Jesus said, He says, yeah, but everybody was giving from a place.

of comfort and convenience. They gave their leftovers. This woman gave all she could give.

See, Jesus pays attention to the heart of our generosity, not just the number. This morning, I'm going to ask you in just a little bit to give. and you go, well, why should I give, Paul? Why should I give? Who needs Jesus?

Well, there's 8 billion people right now on planet Earth. 2 billion confess to knowing Jesus. Out of that 2 billion, less than 50% of them are connected to a local church. plugged in with faithful friends and people that are holding them accountable.

Out of that 2 billion, very few of them have a spirit-filled encounter with Jesus Christ. There's a whole lot of people that are just stuck in a religious routine, but that leaves 6 billion more people that need Jesus. 7 billion. Am I doing my math right?

6 billion. Okay. But here's the point.

In our city, if you drew just a 50-mile radius around our church, you just went out. We have people that drive here from two hours away every single week. People that drive. from Arkansas, people that drive from Texas, people that drive from Kansas. I talked on the phone this last week with a college football player in Kansas and he said, I can't wait to be at church next week.

Driving five and a half hours here. He lives at the top of Kansas. He's just excited to be here.

He says, I watch online every week and then I try to go when I can. Why do people come? Because people need Jesus. People need victory. People are struggling.

Did you know Oklahoma ranks as the seventh highest state in the nation with depression and opioids and addictions? heart disease, obesity. People are hurting in our state.

People need hope. People are not only physically sick, they're mentally sick. More people in our state are checking in for medication to deal with depression and anxiety.

In the last year, I mean, there's been tens of thousands of people that have taken their life. Every single hour, someone takes their life in our nation from a place of just mental. I mean, people are searching for hope. The harvest is here. We just have to shine a light on it.

People that you work with, people that you go to school with. What people need. And you go, well, when I give, how does that reach them? We can't reach people without your financial help. Like it is your financial help that is provided.

The building we have, the production we do, the outreaches we do. This last week, we sent a team to the children's hospital and they went to go and pray for kids. And I want Pedro, if you're in here and Pastor Amy, if you're in here, come on up wherever they are.

And yeah, give them a big hand. There's Pastor Amy, our kids pastor. And I want you to tell them real quick what happened. We got pictures of this. It was so special.

And this is something that happens on a regular basis, but this one was kind of near and dear to our hearts. Tell them what happened. Yeah, so last week we had the privilege to go to St. Francis and bring 300 toys. and go room by room praying for the kids, praying for the parents. But especially one parent is thrown out.

And we go into the room. She's a four-year-old. And half of her head is shaved.

And I started looking at the dad and you could just feel that he was powerless, that he was going through a lot of pain, that feeling that he couldn't do anything because his daughter was sick. So we start praying for him. And as soon as we get in and we say, hey, we came from victory, this guy starts bawling.

And he received the prayer. We were able to pray for the nurse, give toys even to the children of the nurses. And it was just a really special outreach.

Yeah, we were so thankful for the opportunity to go into the hospital. And as we went, we prayed Romans 15, 13 that says, May the God of hope fill you with all peace and joy. As you trust in him that you may have overflowing hope.

And the hospital let us come in. not because of our first names but because they said you're a part of victory come in and as we walked through each room we were able to give toys we were able to pray but don't you know that we experienced God's love so much through his people and so we were given that opportunity and in a room this size, I know that some of you have been in the hospital receiving the care and some of you have been there and someone that you loved was receiving care. And so it was really special for us as a kids team to partner with REACH.

And I'm so thankful for our church, thankful for you, for your generosity that allowed us to go in and to bring hope and to be God's hands, Jesus'hands and feet and to give love in a place that could feel a little bit hopeless. And so to see the light in their eyes and the smile on their faces was really special. So just on behalf.

of our team and reach. We're just so thankful for you allowing us to have the opportunity to do so. Come on, come on.

You know, some pastor Amy said when we were talking about it, she said, when you walk through the harvest of what you see at Victory, the church, the Dream Center, the North and West, Pastor Tim, stand up. You're doing an incredible job at the Tulsa Dream Center. We just had a board meeting this last week celebrating, real quick, tell them one of the big numbers of what we celebrated this year at the Tulsa Dream Center. Tell them a couple of the stats. Yes, come to us over.

Three million meals we have given out today at the Tulsa Dream Center. Three million meals. Yeah, and the big one was over 6,000 salvations.

6,000 salvations this year? This year, come on! And then how many kids through the LIFE program that we've been able to help?

Tell them what the LIFE program does again. Yeah, our LIFE program is our Literacy for Everyone program. It's our after-school program. Literacy for Everyone.

Yes, and we understand if they cannot read, they cannot read the Bible. So that's very, very essential. By the way, speaking of...

to that right now the bible has actually started trending as the top selling book again at the end of 2024 i read an article that said bibles are on the rise y'all people are hungry for the word of god so we're teaching our boys how to read with that so without After school program, we have an impact over 450 boys and girls with that, but close to 1100 kids and all of our after school time programs that we have with sports as well as education, academic things. And one of the things you said three years ago was this is the pipeline to the prison. We're stopping the pipeline.

What happens in our city and our state is when people don't have opportunity, when people don't have the same opportunities as other people, it can lead to worse things and worse decisions as time goes on. And they traced back people that are in jail and prison. They traced back how many of these boys and girls didn't have a mentor, didn't have someone teaching them to read and write, didn't have a discipleship class, didn't have a dream center. And that was one of the biggest factors that led to them making poor choices in high school, middle school, later on, didn't graduate.

We celebrated last week. My friend Jose Rodriguez was back, and he's now in 29 middle schools. And he was reached through the dream center, through our bus ministry at Victory.

These kids are going on to graduate college, getting good jobs, becoming dentists, doctors, nurses. Bible school teacher. Come on.

That's incredible. But one of the things Amy said, she said, you can't walk through the harvest of victory and not want to plant more seeds. Because you start walking through this harvest and you're like, whether I came here last year or 20 years ago, I walked into something that was already producing the harvest. So if you started with victory, how many of y'all have been a part of victory for 40 years? You've been here since the beginning.

Can we honor the legacy people that have been here? Stand up. If you've been here for 40 years. This church has been around since 1980. 81. So that would have meant you came in the first year, a couple of years of victory.

Keep standing. Come on. This is incredible.

You stayed in a church for 40 plus years. You could have left, but we're thankful you stayed. And we're sitting in the heart.

of your seeds. We're sitting in the harvest of your seeds. We're sitting in the harvest.

I see Dr. DeMuth back there. I'm a harvest on Dr. DeMuth's seeds in this church. Everybody say, this is our harvest.

This is our harvest. I'll never forget, by the way, when you get ready to give, I want you to know this, God, you can never out give God. God has so much more for you. Malachi 3 says, bring the tithe and the offering in the storehouse. And watch if I will not open the windows of heaven.

See, God always has a big... plan for our lives than we do. God wants to do greater. I told this story when I was in Africa about a month ago, preaching in Ghana. I remember hearing the story as a kid about the famous golfer and the king of Saudi Arabia.

Some of y'all have heard this story. The king of Saudi Arabia invites this famous golfer to come and teach him a golf lesson. True story. And so the golfer flies on his private jet, the king's private jet, lands in Saudi Arabia, stays at the palace, eats the finest meals.

The red carpet is rolled out for him, teaches the king how to golf. I mean, they're having a great time. And then he's like, I got to go home back to my wife and kids. And the king says, what can I do for you? And the golfer says, you've already done enough for me.

You've blessed me, man. I've, I've eaten the finest meals. I've stayed in the greatest palace. I mean, you You've treated me like a king.

The king says, no, no, no, I'm not done blessing you. I want to do something for you. And the golfer says, I don't really need anything. I'm fine.

I got a good house. I got a good car. I got a good job.

I love to golf. I'm a pro. I'm having fun.

The king says, no, no, no, what can I do for you? Can I tell you in scripture, Jesus asks that same question. What can I do for you?

What can I do for you? Psalms two says, ask for the nations and I will give them as your inheritance. See, God oftentimes is looking for us to.

to ask with faith. Bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers. So the golfer looks at the king and he says, well, ever since I was young, I collected, you know, golf clubs.

He's like, I, I have always been a fan of golf. You could give me some kind of a golf club. And the king looks at him strangely. He's like, okay. The golfer goes home and forgets about it.

Two months goes by. The king calls him and says, Hey, I, I finally got your gift ready. It took me a while, but I got it prepared for you. It's coming in the mail.

And the golfer is like, Oh, oh, I totally forgot about that. And the king said, just be looking for it in the mail the next day. So the golfer goes out to the mail the next day and he doesn't see a package. He just sees a letter from the king. He opens it up and he's like, where's the package?

Maybe it's gonna be a letter that tells me to go to a certain mail store and get this awesome package. some golf club that's gold with diamond studs on it. He's imagining the golf club, you know, what it's going to look like. He opens the letter and the letter says, here is your 500 acre deed to your golf club on the coast of the ocean in pristine condition. You already have.

golf members signed up. You will be making tons of money for the rest of your life on this golf club. It took me a while to get it ready for you, but it's yours. And the golfer is laughing. He's like, are you kidding me?

Calls the king. He's like, I wasn't talking about a golf course. I was talking.

about just a golf club and the king said well you should know that kings think on a higher level church can i tell you your king thinks on a higher level your king is thinking on a higher level i hear god saying it's time to ask for the nations it's time to ask for the united states of america it's harvest time in tulsa it's time to ask for the whole city it's time to ask for the whole room it's time to ask for the whole company it's time to believe for greater i hear god saying get your faith stirred up for greater but can I tell you, you won't know what to ask for if the lights are out in your heart and in your life. Today, I came to turn on the lights of faith. Today, I came to turn on the lights of hope. Today, I came to just remind you that you serve a God who is Jehovah Jireh.

Charles Spurgeon told this story when he was a preacher back in the late 1800s. He said, one time I went to a poor old housemaid's house, her shack on the outskirts of London, and she told me this story. story. She said, I used to be a maid for a very rich man in London. And right as he was getting ready to die, he called me over to his deathbed and he gave me a little note and said, man, to this young housemate, he said, man, thank you for taking care of me these last five years.

No one from my family ever came in the last five years. I just want you to know I really appreciate you. And then he died.

This woman would keep that note on her wall for the next several years. years until Charles Spurgeon showed up to her house and he was praying with her and she tells him this story. And he says, can I see the note? Charles Spurgeon walks over and he looks at the note. His eyes get huge.

He goes, ma'am, can you read? She said, no, I've never known how to read. He said, ma'am, this is not a note. This is a check.

This is a check for five million pounds. What that would translate to today, back then, is insane. He said, man, you can buy the finest house in London. You can eat at the finest restaurants for the rest of your life.

You can give more than enough money to your children and your children's children. You have a legacy. He said, you've had this the whole time. How many people don't realize the check that they have sitting in their house?

Did I tell you? Listen, let me say something. Jesus, when he shows up, John chapter one says, the light has come into the world and the darkness cannot overpower it.

So Jesus was the light. And then in Matthew five, verse 14, he says, you are the light. And this light that Jesus was and the light that comes now in us to go and bring the harvest in is the power of God. In the Old Testament, people understood who God was.

In the New Testament, Jesus came as the representation of all the names of God. And then Jesus comes to live in us, which means the same. same light, the same power that Jesus brought to the world now lives in us. Everybody say it's in me.

So who is that? Elohim lives in me. That's the creative power of God. That's the greatness of God.

Jehovah, the living, eternally existent, who possesses life itself. God lives in me. Yahweh, the all-powerful, present God lives in me. El Shaddai, the all-sufficient, almighty God. That the God who is more than enough lives in me.

Adonai, the owner of humanity. The cattle on a a thousand hills and all the oil underneath it lives in me jehovah jireh my god shall provide jehovah rafa the lord is my healer lives in me the healer of my body my soul my spirit jehovah nisi the banner of victory deliverance and salvation forget not all the benefits of god that he has forgiven you of your sins he's cast your sin as far as the east is from the west can i tell you today you have a greater god than you realize living inside of you you have a bigger check than you've cashed in on that's sitting into your house. Some of y'all need to dust off that check and go, hold on, hold on. God is not limited by the economy.

God is not limited by who's in office. God is not limited by what family I grew up in, what birth order I'm in. God is able to do exceeding. Everybody say he's able. He's able.

He's able. He's able. God's asking us to dream on a higher level.

Who needs this light? I want to give you a couple questions to think about before we give. Who needs this light? Who needs our generosity? Who needs our compassion?

Who needs our mercy? Who needs our invitation to know Jesus? Who needs our... evangelistic spirit. Who needs it?

I'll tell you, everybody does. In Luke 14, verse 15 through 23, Jesus tells a parable about a wedding banquet. And he says that there were people invited and they didn't want to come because they were busy.

They were doing stuff. And then Jesus says, the master said, go and invite everyone you encounter. Invite everybody.

And he says, compel them to come in. Do everything you can to bring them into the house so that my father's house may be full. Can I tell you, Jesus wants to fill every church in America and around the world. Jesus doesn't want empty seats.

Jesus doesn't want churches. that are shrinking. Jesus wants us to grow. And can I tell you, it's not just the pastor's job, it's all of our job. We all got to bring in the harvest.

You are a harvest light. I'll never forget going to a wedding several years ago with my wife. And after the wedding, there was a reception and we got in line for the reception and it was taking forever.

We were watching the table that was running, you know, who was coming into the reception. It was a group of teenage girls. They were on their phones laughing.

And then occasionally they would look at the list and I would watch as someone would walk in and then another person would leave the line and walk away. And I was like, why are they leaving? Finally, we got up to the front of the line. The girls are kind of distracted on their phones, laughing.

And they were like, who are you guys? And I was like, Paul and Ashley Doherty. And they said, well, you're not on the list.

And I was like, you didn't even look. And they were like, yeah, well, you're not really on this list. And I was like, wait a minute. I'm good friends with the groom and the bride. I know them.

So I start texting the groom and the bride and I start texting the bride. start calling their family. I'm like, you better let me in. Like, why'd you reject me?

And they were like, Paul, Ashley, they come out there. They go, you are supposed to be in this reception. I was like, that's right. I was like, tell the girls at the table, you know? And they were like, what are you talking about?

I said, the girls at the table denied his sin. And they said, what? I said, I've seen other people leave in too.

And people in the line, they were like, yeah, people are leaving because those girls won't let anyone in. And the bride and groom, they were so upset. They literally removed the table and the girls. They were like, everybody's. coming in.

And I was like, wait a minute. This feels like a Bible story. This reminds me of the heart of God.

I wonder if God's watching Christians right now, sitting at the table on our phones, distracted while there's people in line trying to come in. And we're like, nope, you're not on the list. You got too many tattoos.

Nope. You're not perfect enough. Nope.

You made too many mistakes. You're not good enough here. You're a little too dirty.

You're not on the list. And God's like, come on y'all we got to start bringing people into the house whether they got tattoos or whatever they look like doesn't matter everybody's invited to the party can i tell you when john 3 16 was written it didn't say for god so loved the perfect people that he sent his only son for god so loved the americans for god so loved only the israelites no for god so loved the whole world red and yellow black and white rich and poor young and old black and white native american asian hispanic whatever tribe you're from. Jesus came to save everyone so that his house may be filled. Who needs the light?

Everybody needs the light. Everybody say everybody needs the light. Number two, why should we shine? Why should we shine? Not only is it a commandment, Jesus said in Mark 16, go into all the world and preach the gospel.

Share it to everybody. Not only is it a commandment, but our world is hurting. Our world is broken. Our world is getting darker and darker. darker, but I'll tell you this, the harvest is ready.

Every dollar represents a destiny. Every nickel represents someone's name. Every invitation that we pass out this week, every one of you that live with a mission mindset, I'm telling you on the other side of that is someone's neighborhood, someone who's impacted for eternity.

Why should we shine? Because our nation and our world needs it. Our world needs it. I thought this was kind of crazy.

I was looking at different stats and just in our nation, more than 600,000 children are abused every year in the United States. Children that are growing up in abusive homes. And then you start looking at just domestic violence, wives abuse.

You start looking at then addictive behaviors in the families, people that are just tapping out, just done with life. Amount of people that take their own life. Why should we shine?

Because our world is hurting. Our world is broken. People need Jesus. When I was sharing some of the stats with you guys, some that I left out, I wanna just hit you with real quick. As a church, every month we support missionaries in 41 different nations.

937,235 people have been reached just in this year through our global outreach and missions. Y'all, that's a million people almost. Our school and our college this year have brought in 1,400 plus students that are being discipled, being trained to go out and change.

change their world. Our camp this summer raised up, we had 2,274 campers come in and these campers come down to the altar and they start opening up about their homes. They start talking about what they've walked through in their life. Kids are being exposed to pornography as early as nine years old. We have kids that are struggling with addictions at age 10 and 11. We have people that are coming and you go, well, wow, why are we reaching so many people that are broken?

Because our world is broken. We're not just a church for perfect kids and perfect. people who've never had any struggle or trauma or trials. We are a church for our whole city, our whole state, our whole nation, whole world.

And I think that's why you love this church, because you look around and nobody looks just like you. When you get to heaven, it's not going to be a big group of white people or a big group of black people. It's going to be every tribe, every tongue. It's going to be people that slept under a bridge the night before they died and a multimillionaire on the same row, just like victory. I'm thankful we're a church, not just for a certain demographic or a certain economic class.

Because that's not the heart of God anyways. This year, we've reached 885,000 people through our late night TV shows. I've had people reach out who've gotten saved watching me sitting in the ER at St. Francis because they put my sermons on at midnight. Someone sent me a picture on social media. And they said, I don't normally go to the bar, but I was at the bar on Saturday night.

And I was... was drinking and you came on the TV and they literally played your whole 30 minute sermon while we're all getting drunk at the bar. And they were like, and now we all got convicted and we wanted to leave the bar and go to church. Come on, Jesus, put me in the bar. We should be there.

We should be there. This year we ministered to 218,653 people in five different States in our disaster relief. As a church, we helped rebuild homes. We helped build water wells.

we helped people pick up after tsunamis and after hurricanes and after tornadoes we had people that were in the pit of poverty this year that we pulled up out of been 3 000 people that we got back up on their feet help them get a job through our benevolence ministry and then here's the greatest number 89 499 salvations through your generosity and your compassion it's harvest time church all right last last question that we're gonna give and by the way why don't you go ahead and take an envelope even if you're not gonna going to give today, take an envelope because I'm going to ask you to write on this envelope. It's on the back of your chairs and listen, it's okay. If you're not ready to give, you go, man, I need a couple of weeks to think about this, pray about this. See if God really wants me to live generous and stuff like that.

I'll tell you in the Bible, he does. If you're a Bible, believe in Christian. Jesus does. Proverbs 11, 24 says the world of the generous gets larger and larger while the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. Proverbs says those who bless others will be blessed and refreshed on a continual basis.

continual basis. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of their God. But I want you to write down what you're praying for on the top.

It says prayer requests, praise reports. Write down what you're praying for. Maybe even write down what you're celebrating, praising God for. In just a minute, we're going to bring this down to the altar.

Here's my last question I want to ask you. I got two more, but here's my next one, and that's how do we shine? How do we shine?

We shine through our generosity. We shine through our actions. We shine through our words of encouragement. encouragement and kindness.

What we do in this life echoes for eternity. I'll never forget hearing this story of this famous lawyer who was handling so many cases in Chicago and he was winning all these cases, but the stress of his success, which by the way, success can lead to a lot of stress, but this lawyer got so stressed in the midst of winning his cases that he started drinking at the end of the day. He would go to the bar and he would, you know, have some, have a couple beers and he would kind of just drink away the stress.

stress until he could just feel peaceful and calm and then go home. Well, it started helping him so much. He started drinking in the morning too, because he was like, man, I'm stressed before I go in to handle these cases. So he would drink in the morning. He'd go to the same bar down the street.

He didn't want to do it in his house. He had three little kids that were up early. So he'd go down to the local bar and drink a couple of drinks before he would handle it. Then he started taking lunch break drinks.

So he was drinking in the morning, you know, but if you asked him if he was an alcoholic, he said, no, no, no, I'm not an alcoholic. I just like to drink in the morning at noontime and then in the evening. And, you know, he would laugh about it, but he was a believer.

He was like, man, I love God. I just, I love drinking. And so one morning he wakes up and he's leaving his house.

And it's snowing because it snows a lot in Chicago. It's snowing. So he's walking through the snow and he hears something behind him.

He turns around, doesn't see anything. He's like, somebody following me? He keeps walking.

He's walking towards the bar to have his regular drinks. He hears something again, turns around, doesn't see anything. And finally he gets to the door of the bar.

bar. And right as he's about to open it, he hears this sound. It turns out it's a He turns around and it's his six-year-old son. Daddy!

I was following your footsteps. I was following your footprints in the snow. I knew you always liked to go somewhere in the morning.

Is this where you go? The dad was overwhelmed. He was shocked that his son would follow his footprints in the snow. He tells this story and he ends up sharing this in church one day in Chicago. the church he was in, he said, from that day on, something changed.

I stopped wanting to leave footprints to the bar for my kids. And I started wanting to leave footprints towards the church for my kids. Footprints in the snow towards the church.

the altar call for my kids. Footprints in the snow towards a discipleship class. Footprints in the snow towards living a life instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on vodka, Jack Daniels, and all the alcohol that I could buy.

That I started turning that tens of thousands of dollars I spent on alcohol and putting it in the offering to help reach more people. You can change your footprints today. You can change the legacy you're leaving your kids.

One day we'll all die. You're going to die someday. And when you die on your own, you're going to die.

your gravestone will be a dash. That dash represents your life, the year you were born and the year you die. In that dash, people will remember you.

There was a man named Don Ritchie who moved into the worst house in Australia that someone could buy. He moves into this house and it's sitting across the cliff. At first he thought it was a great house because the view was incredible.

It overlooked the beautiful ocean of the Sydney coast, but it was right next to a cliff. Come to find out it was known as Suicide Cliff, the most popular... suicide spot in the world.

Second most popular. First place is in Japan, the forest in Japan. But this was number two. This was the cliff in Sydney, the gap.

And the first time he saw it, he was in his bedroom looking out his window when someone just jumps off the cliff and his heart sinks. And he goes, what? He runs over there and sees the body at the bottom and police come up.

They go, you know, you just bought like the worst piece of real estate. You can, you can sell this house and leave. Nobody stays here. But something happened in Don's heart. He died.

2012 and on his gravestone read the angel of the gap. He ended up staying in that house for 40 years, four decades. He lived in that house. He didn't leave.

He said, I felt like God strategically placed me in this spot to rescue people that were on the verge of ending their life. So he said, what I would do every week, I would walk out. He said, at least three people a week would take their life from this cliff.

So he said, every time someone come out on Monday or Wednesday or Friday, he said, I would meet them at the cliff and say, Hey, excuse me. He said I had read an article from a man who jumped from the san francisco gate Golden gate bridge that if one person stops me with a smile, I won't jump and nobody did so he said I started thinking Maybe my smile can help them So he said I would start with a smile and then I would say hey come in my house for a cup of tea I'm right here. My house is 10 feet away from this cliff come inside for a cup of tea And a smile and a cup of tea would lead people away in his lifetime He stopped 400 people from ending their life and helped them get back to a better path for their life. Someone caught a picture once of Don Richie literally holding a woman who was about to jump.

And he was the only thing between her and him. He said, that was one of the most dangerous days because she was going to take me with her. But he said, I just held her because he said, I knew I had to stop this woman.

She had a destiny. She had a plan. God had a plan.

He said, I used to sell life insurance before this. And he said, I felt like I was selling people real life, a purpose for life, something to live for. Friends, when we give, we're saving people's lives. As you get ready to give, I really want you to pray right now in your heart, Lord, what am I supposed to give?

What's on your heart for me to give? I don't want anyone to give from a place of just feeling like, you know, Paul's telling me. I want God to be the one that instructs you.

And if God says, don't give anything today, you don't have to. But if you feel like the Lord's like, man, be a part of this, be a part of this, stretch your faith. I wanna invite one more testimony up, my friend, Zach Bernatsky.

Zach, come up here real quick. He runs our media and all of our behind the scenes. And he's gonna finish with.

with a testimony and then we're going to give. But as that comes up here, I want to tell you this, on the other side of your generosity, God has a plan and a purpose and a blessing for you. Whether it's this week, looking for ways to invite people to church, pray with people, lead them to Christ or giving in the offering, or maybe bringing someone on Christmas Eve, God wants to use you to bring in the harvest.

Zach, tell them what happened the last miracle offering. Yeah. So this is a special weekend for me because one year ago, my wife and I were out. actually in one of the darkest seasons that we had been through.

We had been believing for a long time for a baby. And so from day one of being married, we were trying. We were like, let's go for it. And nothing was happening. We went to some doctors and they told us that it would be near impossible, really, really hard for us to get pregnant naturally.

So we started doing a couple different procedures. One, two, nothing was happening. On the third procedure, we found out that we were pregnant with a baby girl and we were so overjoyed and we told all of our friends and our family.

It just felt like a... huge answer to prayer. We've been praying for such a long time. Lord, give us this child, give us this child. But also we were praying, but Lord, even if you don't, you're good, you're faithful, we believe in you.

Well, that prayer was really put to the test because at our next appointment. we found out that the baby was no longer progressing, and my wife miscarried that baby Thanksgiving weekend last year. And it was devastating.

We were so broken. It hit us really hard, that third one. It might have been a piece of hope that felt crushed, like we were pregnant and then we weren't, that we were just in such a dark place.

We were angry, we were confused, and honestly, we were ready to give up. But we didn't feel it, we didn't see it, but we we just kept believing that God, you're working. God, you're moving.

God, you're faithful. And we continued that prayer. God, you're good.

You're faithful and you're in control. And so Christmas production came and this was really busy, but we were like, we had a procedure that was scheduled for the next month over for January. So we had some time in December.

We're like, let's just try it. Let's just try for it naturally. And we came into this weekend, we were trying, and even though we were depleted emotionally, physically, mentally, we're still trying.

and we were also depleted financially. That procedure in January, we had to put down a $5,000 deposit and our bank account had been wiped from the past procedures. And that $5,000, we threw on a credit card and we're like, we'll figure this out later, but we needed to just lock this in and start going.

And so we came into Miracle Offering Weekend and we didn't give at the service, but I remember writing down, Lord, I'm believing for a miracle in my family. I'm believing for a full family is what I wrote down. And throughout that week, we just felt led.

It's like, hey, we need to give. It kind of went back and forth. Like, well, we got the mortgage, and we got this $5,000 we have to pay for, and all this and that.

But we had a number that we felt like God laid on our heart. And it wasn't the biggest number, but it was something that was really hard for us. And it was going to be something that was a big sacrifice to us.

And we gave it. We gave it that miracle offering weekend. And we just believed God. That was for us.

That was how we were going to walk out in the natural what we believed that God could do in the supernatural. And so three weeks after miracle. offering weekend. I come home from work and my wife shows me a positive pregnancy test, completely natural, no procedures whatsoever. We were pregnant.

And not only that, but we call the fertility clinic that we put down that deposit on. And they said, today is the last day that you can get that deposit back. We got all $5,000 back. Didn't have to pay any of that. And we were just, it was such a huge answer to prayer.

And little did we know that God still wasn't done. He's like, I got more for you. Because seven months later, our daughter Willow, she came six weeks early.

And she came with a heart condition. So we were in the NICU, we got out of the NICU, and then she got, we found out she had a second heart condition. So we got airlifted to OKC where they have specialists and we were in there for a while just trying to figure things out.

But throughout that time at the hospital, we were like, this is easy. easy. We're like, God's already working a miracle story. This is our miracle baby.

He's not done with her yet. She's going to get out of here and she's going to get out of here strong. And so today, Willow is home.

She is the happiest little baby in the world. Her heart condition is under control. And so far this year, through insurance and through money, unexpected money and coming in, the Lord has provided for over half a million dollars worth of medical bills.

And Willow is amazing. And so I... I stand here today and One year ago my heart was empty and broken and I didn't know where to go And today it is the fullest that it has ever been and every day I wake up and look at that beautiful girl with her Baby blues and i'm just reminded of the goodness of god.

He's so faithful and he's so good Come on, Jesus! Stay up here, Zach. Alright, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna give.

The team's gonna lead us in worship. And what I'm gonna ask you to do, instead of buckets coming down the aisle, this is gonna be a special offering. I'll never forget being in Africa and offering a service.

like this and these people welled up with generosity that had very little and they just started running to the altar to drop off their offering I thought we should do that in Tulsa so today we're gonna bring our offering down to the altar you can lay it anywhere at the front of the stage on the stage on the steps you can come down any aisle when you're ready to give you just walk down and bring it and you go back to your seat we'll dismiss in about seven or eight minutes but please stay There's one last thing I want to share with you before we end. So as you're ready to give and you write it down, you just bring it down. We're going to worship God in our living room. is more than me Tonight, we're the Rockies I didn't read earlier that I think is really cool is this year we've seen almost 700 people get water baptized in our services.

And one of my favorite ones happened, one of my favorite water baptisms I've ever seen in my life. And y'all, as a pastor's kid, I've been in church every, like since I was born, I was born in the church. I've seen a lot of baptisms, I've seen a lot of services, sermons, sat through my dad's messages all the time.

But I think the most powerful baptism I've been a part of happened this year. In fact, I think my top three favorite I've seen in my lifetime happened this year. One was when a soccer player from ORU who had come. and was in a whole lot of strongholds, came really, came to Tulsa just to play soccer, but didn't come knowing it was really a Christian university or care for Christian university.

But he found Jesus at victory and his whole soccer team came and surrounded him. the water baptism tank as he gave his life to Christ and was baptized at our church. And it was a huge celebration at their campus. And here, one of my other favorite baptisms was when a 96 year old world war II veteran came down and he's a 9am church service member, but he came down and his whole family was here as he got baptized for the first time ever in his life.

It was incredible to be a part, to witness that moment. But I think one of my favorite things that we get to be a part of as a church is seeing people come to Christ. And as a whole church, we get to do this together.

And so today, you know, really the last thing I want to do is give people a chance to receive Jesus in your heart. To get prayer for a miracle. Zach to stay up here because I felt like there's people in the room that are believing to get pregnant, people that are believing to have children, someone in the room who's believing just to have a miracle, maybe even in your health. And so I want to do two altar calls. If you're here today and you need to get right with God, you need to to surrender to Jesus, I'm just going to ask you to raise your hand.

Today's your day. Harvest is here. And you're saying, man, I just want to get right.

I want to repent, want Jesus to be Lord of my life. Can we give a hand clap for even if there's just one hand in the room that's raised, watching online. You never know who in the room is getting right with God. Secondly, you're here today and you say, I need a miracle.

I need a supernatural act of God in my life. I'm praying for a breakthrough. Maybe it is for children. Maybe it is for marriage. Maybe it's for health.

If that's you, would you just leave your seat, come down to the altar and just stand down here. And I'm going to have Zach pray for us. And we're going to close out with his prayer, but I want to pray for everyone who's standing for a miracle. You're believing to have children.

You're believing to get married. You're believing for healing of cancer, healing of a terminal sickness or disease for your children or for your life. Maybe here today, and you're just like, man, I just need a financial turnaround.

Like I'm in a financial tight place. I need God's blessing. I need that story of the King.

I need God to do something exceedingly abundantly above. love more than I can ask, hope, dream, or imagine. I need like what Zach prayed, half a million dollars of medical bills paid for this year. I need God to do a supernatural thing that only he can do. I don't have the connections.

I don't have the money, but God does. If that's you, come and find a place at this altar. And as you come down here, I want you to just stand by faith in Jesus name.

Lord, I thank you that today harvest lights are on and there's a harvest coming for every person in this room that's standing and believing for a breakthrough. Zach. Why don't you just pray real quick for every person that's here today. Dear Lord, just thank you for every single person that's come up here, that's taken that step of faith.

Lord, you love the word impossible, because that's where you can shine and show what you can do, because there is no such thing as impossible with you. It is only possible. And so I pray over every request, Lord. I pray over every belief. I pray for healing, where they've been told there is no option.

I pray, Lord, for wombs that have been closed that they would open up, Lord, that you would bring babies to life in Jesus'name. I pray for business ideas, Lord, that are implanted, that are dreams that you have instilled in people, and they don't know what to do, and they don't know where to go. I pray right now, Lord, that you would be moving right now. I pray for those that are looking for breakthrough in their finances, that you would be lining things together even now that they cannot see.

And I pray for a faith and a boldness for every person here. stand and believe in you, God, because you are a God of miracles. You are a God of the impossible. You are a God that can do greater than more than we could ever hope, see, and imagine. And so we pray all this, and we believe all this in church as you raise your hands and put an I'm going to ask you to finish this prayer with me strong.

We're going to shout amen at the end of this prayer. Because amen isn't just a casual way to end a prayer. It's a declaration that it is true.

That God is in control. We say amen. We say it is finished because God has the final say.

And so on three, let's finish this off with amen. Three, two, one. Amen. Thank you, Jesus.

Church, there's a harvest out there. God is good. He's faithful. He's faithful. Come on, how many of y'all know he's faithful?

What a powerful prayer from Zach. Powerful testimony. I encourage you today, take some of these with you. Bring them with you to your workplace.

Invite somebody to one of the services this week. Let's go reach our city. Let's go bring in the harvest.

In Jesus'name. Lord, I just thank you again and again. I just agree with Zach's prayer. Lord, I thank you. You are the God of miracles.

And Lord, what you did back then, you can do it again. and what you did for Zach and Cass and what you did, God, for Hannah and Abraham and what you did, God, for Sarah and Elizabeth and Zachariah. You could do it today for each person that's standing for a miracle. In Jesus'name, amen.

God bless you. Have a great rest of your week. Thanks for being with us today.

Transcript for:Spiritual Harvest: Insights and Actions

Transcript for:
Spiritual Harvest: Insights and Actions