Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Ingredients For Miracles
The message teaches that experiencing miracles involves more than wishful thinking—it requires actively stirring up the “ingredients” of faith by remembering what God has done, believing His promises, and stepping out in boldness without relying on human effort. Drawing on the healing at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3, Sarah’s faith in Hebrews 11, and personal testimonies, it likens these spiritual prerequisites to making a proper gumbo and urges believers to cultivate them daily to see God confirm His Word with signs and wonders in 2025.
Pick them up and wave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad. It's great to have a live audience to preach to and that encourages me, and I'm just going to make out like I can hear you that are watching at home. I can hear your voices say amen. All right, let's say this together Heavenly Father, I'm so glad for midweek services. I'm here to top off my tanks. Tonight I want to get filled up with the Word and with the Spirit. The Word, working together with the Holy Ghost, is giving me victory on every side. In Jesus' name, amen, praise God. Let's look at Acts, chapter 3 tonight. Acts, chapter 3. Acts, chapter three tonight. Acts, chapter three. We'll start with verse one Hallelujah.
Speaker 1:Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, and we got the wrong. We got eight up there. Oh well, somebody's not paying attention. I'll just read out of my Bible, but the text is wrong up on the screen, being the ninth hour, and that would be 3 pm. 3 o'clock in the afternoon is when they went up to the temple in the hour of prayer and a certain man, lame, from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called a beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked, and alms and Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said look on us. And he gave heat unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said silver and gold have I, none, but such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he took him by the right hand Uh, and he's. And he leaping up, verse eight he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered with him into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and they knew that it was he which sat it for alms at the gate, beautiful. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. Amen.
Speaker 1:Tonight I wanted to share a message entitled Ingredients for Miracles. Ingredients for Miracles, ingredients for Miracles. It kind of ties into the message that I shared with you last week, the importance of signs and wonders. And just for a moment. Let's just go back last week and talk a little bit about how that message developed.
Speaker 1:It was when Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ under them. Persecution was raised against the church at Jerusalem and they had not fully obeyed God. They opened the door to Satan to bring extraordinary persecution. So they were all scattered abroad except the apostles. So believers went and preached everywhere and of course Philip later became an evangelist but at this point he's just an usher and he went to Sychar in Samaria, the same place that Jesus was with the woman at the well. He worked no miracle there.
Speaker 1:And here goes Philip, going to really a hard place, going to a place that you know would have been a challenge for any seasoned minister, much less a believer, and he preached Christ unto them. You know, he preached Jesus, the anointed one, with all of his anointing, and evidently he preached about healing. And it says that when they heard and saw the miracles which he did, and what did they hear? Well, they heard demons screaming coming out of. People were delivered and they saw people that were with a palsy and people that were lame walked. So when they heard and saw the miracles which he did, they gave heed unto the things which he said and the whole place was filled with joy and they were all baptized in water. Many people got saved because they heard the gospel. Why did they hear the gospel? Because he rang the dinner bell. Healing is God's dinner bell, you know.
Speaker 1:So we went into that. Last week we talked about the importance of signs and wonders, and this week I want to get into the ingredients. You know the ingredients for miracles. Many of us in this church and elsewhere need a miracle, and God is in the miracle business, but it's going to take some ingredients that I want to talk about tonight. They just don't happen just because. And God is in the miracle business, but it's going to take some ingredients that I want to talk about tonight. They just don't happen just because.
Speaker 1:And so, in fact, this is the first recorded miracle of the church and in Acts, chapter 4, verse 16, the temple rulers called this miracle a notable miracle. He said it's a notable miracle. Why? Well, because this man was known by everyone and everybody knew about him and the fact that he got healed nobody could deny it A notable miracle. We've seen notable miracles in this church. I believe we're going to see more and more. This is a milestone year and I believe that many of you are in line for a notable miracle.
Speaker 1:But I want to make sure you have the ingredients of those miracles. It takes some ingredients, you know, and so I noticed some. In fact, before I get very far along, I want to define what a miracle is. I looked it up in Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language and I like that dictionary because Noah Webster was a wonderful man of God, a believer, and he was close to the Bible and his definitions are taken right out of concordances and so forth. And so he defines a miracle this way in theology, a miracle is an event or an effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things.
Speaker 1:It is a deviation from the known laws of nature. It is a supernatural event and can be wrought only by almighty power. It can be wrought only by almighty power. It can be wrought only by almighty power. So you know, the doctor does not work miracles. In fact, the doctor is limited in the treatment and whatever medicine they give you, whatever diagnostics they have, whatever tests they run, wherever medicine I mean, it's all according to the five senses. It's in the sense realm and by virtue of the fact I mean I've seen people get treated for their disease and the disease was, you know, successfully treated.
Speaker 1:You'll rarely see a doctor say someone's healed of cancer. Almost every time they'll say they are in remission. I mean it's dangerous for them to say healed, because healed means it's done. Well, you know, in medical science you know cancer often comes back. Unfortunately, cancer often is around a lot. We've had people in this church defeat cancer like three times. Now we've got.
Speaker 1:My challenge is to get them so full of faith that they can ward off cancer successfully the rest of their lives and never have to yield to it, never have to suffer through it again. I mean, you know your faith can grow and then that gets into miracle territory, because miracle territory is what we're talking about tonight. We're talking about supernatural events. We're not talking about a wonderful, you know, treatment that somebody got. I mean we use the word miracle too loosely, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Many times people will call something a miracle when really truly it's not a miracle. What is a miracle? Well, we're talking about miracles tonight, what we saw this man get up after. He was 40 years of age and had never walked. If we keep reading about him in the next chapter Never walked and everyone knew his condition. In fact, he was a registered person who qualified for you to give alms. He was qualified. They checked out people. They didn't let people out there beg for money and then you give alms and you could fulfill your almsgiving. See the Jews part of their tithes and offerings were alms helping the poor. You had to be certified poor. You had to be certified to be worthy of alms and then they would allow you to be approved and they would give credit to the people who gave to you. So it was kind of a guaranteed income, if you will, for people that were the most needy. They, lepers, were, had had that. Here's a man permanently damaged from birth, at 40 years old, never had walked, so um, so it's um. Everybody say miracle, right, he's God miracle, so um this. This miracle was called a notable miracle by the temple rulers and I had noticed several interesting aspects of this miracle.
Speaker 1:Number one Peter and John did not pray for him. You know I still see people praying for healing. Well, jesus already healed us. If you read the Bible, it's not something we have to pray for, because really it's a simple. It's a simple proposition to just receive what Jesus already bought and paid for. So you know, when we start praying, oh God, he please heal me. See, I mean I'm not saying God won't hear that when we're a baby Christian, but at some point you need to understand what's already been paid for, what's waiting for you and will call. You know your healing is waiting for you and will call and just go by and pick it up. You don't have to pay for it again, you don't have to pray for it again. I mean it's already done.
Speaker 1:And so the second thing is they fastened their eyes, both of them. They both fastened their eyes on him. That meant that they looked at him with compassion. They did. You know, tom, you know how it is you just look at people and you just look kind of through them. You don't really pay that much attention. I mean, you know, but in their case they saw this man for what he was, what he needed, and they became aware they had that, that, that that remembrance, that Jesus said you're going to do the greater works in John, chapter 14. He said, he told them. He said you know, the works that I do shall you do also, and greater works than these shall you do, because I go to the Father and so.
Speaker 1:And then the other thing I noticed that the man's faith is not mentioned. There's no mention of him having any faith. In fact he's expecting alms. He's looking at them, expecting some money, honey, and that's not. I said, oh no, that's not why we're here. I mean, we don't have any money for you. It didn't mean that they didn't have money, it just meant that that's not the purpose that they came. They didn't come to, you know, come to alleviate his pain for a little while with a few dollars. They came to permanently get him healed and delivered out of his mess. Glory to God, god's never intimidated by a big mess. I mean, you might feel like it's a big mess, but you know, if you've got faith in God he can fix any kind of big mess. He's never intimidated by it. So the man's faith was not mentioned.
Speaker 1:And then back in chapter four. Let's look at chapter four now. In verse 13,. This is the the temple rulers that were all upset about this and upset that people got saved, and they're upset that they're using the name of Jesus. They're upset at that. And in verse 13, talking about the temple rulers Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. So Peter and John came to that man bold, and they kept their boldness. See, I mean, if you're going to do, if you're going to get in miracle territory, you're going to have to develop boldness. What is boldness? Boldness means that you're expecting God to back you up. It's not up to you. Really, you don't have any pressure on you. This is where all the pressure is, on God's word.
Speaker 1:I just remember going, you know, to one particular night. You know the nuns had picketed me. I was in Ilo, ilo city in the in the uh in uh, the Philippines, a city of 1.2 million people. When the Catholics and the nuns heard that I was in town, I mean, they were carrying signs, picketing me, you know, trying to get people not to go to the meetings. You know we held three different evangelistic meeting healing campaigns. At night we had. During the day we did pastors conferences, but at night I demonstrated to the pastors how they can have a healing ministry as a pastor. You don't have to be an evangelist, you don't have to be some special person. You just, you know, look at Philip. Philip had a great results and he's an usher.
Speaker 1:I mean, god backs up his word. And so I'm on my way the first night I'm nervous, you know, I mean just like playing football nervous before every football game. Anytime I ever played sports I was little league I was always nervous before the game started. I mean, it takes. You know, you have that down on the inside. You know you're getting ready to do something and you really want to get it over with. And you know and're getting ready to do something and you really want to get it over with. And that's kind of I was riding in this dark place, you know, it was pitch dark and not very many streetlights and I'm on my way to this meeting, you know, and you know the devil's saying what if nothing happens.
Speaker 1:And I just started thanking God. I said God, you're here to back up your word. All I'm going to do is preach your word and you're going to do the rest of it. All I'm there is. Open my mouth. You're going to perform the signs and the wonders. I'm just ringing the dinner bell and they're going to answer the bell. Praise God. I mean I started talking out loud. The driver looked back at me wondering who I was talking to. I'm talking to myself, you know.
Speaker 1:So they noticed that they had boldness and they also noted that they had been with Jesus. I mean, you know you're going to have to hang out with Jesus if you want to see miracles, and that means we can't live way over here out, way away from God, and expect to see any miracles. You know just when we need one. No, we need to live close to him, we need to be with him, we need to fellowship with him in the work, through the word and through prayer and all of those things. So they noticed that about them.
Speaker 1:And uh, and the other thing I noticed is that this, this man, there was no record of him being saved. I mean, he's a Jew and he got healed. He got healed and then he got saved. Then he got saved. Why do you know he got saved? Because all those other people got saved at the same time, when Peter started preaching and 3,000 men got saved at that very time. I mean it's an amazing thing that happened, saved at that very time. I mean it's an amazing thing that happened. So this man then was healed on Peter and John's faith, and that's the way a lot of miracles occur.
Speaker 1:I mean, a lot of times the person that you're ministering to doesn't have any faith. They don't have the background you've got, they don't have the knowledge you've got, they haven't seen what you've seen, they haven't heard what you've heard and they don't know what you know. I like to try to give people a little something before I start laying hands on them. I like to get them to believe something before I start. I think that's wise. It's wise to open up with something they can grab a hold of, maybe a testimony, maybe what Jesus did for me, what Jesus did for my wife, jesus did for my mother, jesus did for whoever. And then they've got something they can, you know, go into the situation with and perhaps they can have some faith.
Speaker 1:But that didn't happen here. I mean, they were just man. I mean they were full of zeal and boldness and they, before that guy knew it, he was getting jerked up by the hand. He didn't move fast enough for Peter. Peter jerked him up and praise God. So you know, I mean, think about Peter and John. They had seen many miracles walking with Jesus, but this is the first miracle then that the church had. Now, on the day of Pentecost, they had a miracle of people getting saved. That was a miracle Really, to me, people getting saved is the biggest miracle. When people get saved I mean, think about it they're on their way to hell and suddenly, in an instant, they're on their way to heaven. You can't get turned around any faster than that. That's a miracle when people get saved, but they hadn't had any other miracles until this happened here and so.
Speaker 1:But think about all the miracles they saw in Jesus' ministry. Think about all that they had heard Jesus preach. They had heard what Jesus said. They heard you know. Again, like I said, john 14, 12, the works that I do shall you do also, and greater works than these shall you do, Because I'm going to my Father, I'm leaving you in charge. Well, they didn't understand that, but now they do. Now they're beginning to get the picture.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, mark, chapter 16, how you know, they went out everywhere preaching the word, the Lord working with them, the Lord working with them, confirming the word, with signs following. So they knew about that and they must have known a little bit about what they had to give, such as we have give I, they. They knew something about that. They had something. They knew. They had something. They knew. They had something. They knew they had the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1:They said what are y'all, what are y'all so amazed about? If you're thinking that we did this by our own power, let be it. No, it's by the name of Jesus. Through faith in this name, this, this man, stands before you. Oh, yeah, it's. It's. Faith in that name is the this man stands before you whole? Yeah, it's. It's. Faith in that name is the reason why he stands completely whole. He's, he's this perfect soundness. That's what. That's what Peter said the perfect sound. Oh, come on, lift your hand for perfect soundness. I'm telling you we don't have to put up with just a little bit. Jesus didn't die on the cross to help us a little bit. He died on the cross to make all the difference, hallelujah. And so, uh, they knew God would back them up. They, they had seen a lot, they had heard a lot, and that and what they had seen and what they heard meant that they knew a lot. They knew a lot, you know, because knowing is a product of what you've seen and what you've heard. That's what it takes to know, and God wants us to know some things.
Speaker 1:I'm talking about ingredients for miracles. I mean, you know, I think about ingredients. I mean, I love to make gumbo. I like my gumbo. I don't make chicken and sausage gumbo because I don't like it. I like to make gumbo. I like, and what do I like? I like shrimp in my gumbo and I like not just crab, not just some old claw meat that's in little shreds that disappears. No, I want jumbo, lump crab. I want the lump crab, you know, and I pay a premium for that If I can find it. It's hard to find but I paid as much as 50 bucks for a little thing of just a little dab a cup of crab meat. I mean, some of those lumps are big as my thumb. See, now, you can identify when you get that in your spoon along with that gumbo and that shrimp. Man, I mean tell you it'll make you slap your mama. You like it.
Speaker 1:But it's a lot of trouble to make gumbo and I hadn't made any. I'm still getting over. The last time I made it I've got all kinds of scars on my hand where the roux flashes up and burns a hole in my skin. I ought to get some gloves before I make the roux. But you know, roux is a very important ingredient for gumbo. If you're going to have gumbo and you're not going to have roux, then you're not going to have gumbo, you're going to have stew, you're going to have soup, but you ain't going to have gumbo without rue.
Speaker 1:Rue is a real important ingredient. I've been tempted to buy it at the store. I've never done that. I make my own, which means it has two other ingredients flour and oil. And I don't know whether you make rue or not, but my grandmother, I mean her rue was not dark. I mean, you see, this rue that you buy at the store, it's like man, it's black, although you know kind of tastes, burned, probably half burned anyway. But my grandmother was Cajun and she didn't make a dark rue. She made kind of a medium golden brown rue. Herx was lighter and I just grew up liking it.
Speaker 1:Even when I wouldn't eat anything, I'd eat her gumbo. I wouldn't eat hardly anything at the table, I was so picky, but her gumbo I would eat, and so I still eat her gumbo, only I have to cook it. Well, if I'm going to take the time to cook it, it takes about 45 minutes to make the roux, you know, and then by the time you make that gumbo. I've spent an hour and a half of my time and I've spent at least $100 on the ingredients. And then everybody knows that my time is worth $1,000 an hour. So that pot of gumbo no, it's not worth that much. That'd be expensive gumbo, wouldn't it? You add my cost of doing business into it. Everybody say ingredients.
Speaker 1:Let's look at Hebrews 11. How many of you are interested in having the right ingredients for your miracle? How many of you are interested in having the right ingredients for somebody else's miracle? Because sometimes you can get a miracle on your faith for somebody that doesn't know what you know and hadn't seen what you've seen and hadn't heard what you've heard. That takes in a lot of folk out there. There's a whole lot of folk that are out there wandering around that are ripe for what you've seen and heard and what you know. You can help them get their miracle. So in Hebrews 11, verse 11, we talk about Sarah.
Speaker 1:Through faith also, sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised. Judged him faithful who had promised. She received strength by what? By faith or by an act of faith. One version says by an act of faith, 20 times. In Hebrews 11, it says by an act of faith. By an act of faith? Well, that act of faith was the marital act between her and Abraham. I mean, she had. Finally, she had an old lady and an even older man, and they had to put their faith to work. And what was that? Well, she judged him faithful. Who promised? You remember when, god's you know, jesus appeared to him in a pre-incarnate form and he said about this time next year, you're going to have a child.
Speaker 1:And she laughed. And what are you laughing? Oh, I didn't laugh. Yes, you did. No, I didn't. Yes, you did no, I didn't Go through it. Read it for yourself. It's hilarious.
Speaker 1:She laughed. Why did she laugh? Because it was so prep, preposterous. It's preposterous that this guy here is going to give me any pleasure. It's preposterous that he can actually consummate the act to make me pregnant and besides that, I'm, I, my womb is dead. On top of that, he's old and dried up and I, my womb is dry.
Speaker 1:Ha ha, ha, ha. What is that? Unbelief, isn't it? She started off in unbelief. A lot of times we do. I mean. The thing we need is so far beyond possibility that we doubt until our faith until we begin to stir up what we've heard and what we've seen. And now that's a product of what we know and all of a sudden what we know comes to bear on this situation and now we can actually begin to believe for our miracle.
Speaker 1:And it's not the first day, it's not the first minute, it's not when the doctor just got through telling you you got terminal cancer. I mean, you know everybody gets upset at the word cancer. Everybody has a flesh reaction, everybody's hair stands on end when they hear that word. That's not a sign that you're a doubter. That's not a sign that you don't have faith. It's just a sign that you're going to have to switch the report. You're going to have to not believe the report of the doctor. You've got a choice. Now you're going to have to switch the report. You're going to have to not believe the report of the doctor. You've got a choice. Now You've got to choose to report this report right here.
Speaker 1:Are y'all getting this now? I'm talking about ingredients. Now. I mean you can't have gumbo without root. You know you can have soup and you can have stew, but you ain't going to have gumbo. Well, you ain't going to have a miracle without all the ingredients I'm talking about tonight, and those ingredients can be stirred up. They're down on the inside of you. Are you with me now?
Speaker 1:So she talking about Sarah. She had a lifetime of seeing God intervene. I mean, she saw God intervene so many times in her husband's life or her life. They had a lot of miracles. They had a lot. I mean, she saw God intervene so many times in her husband's life or her life. They had a lot of miracles. They had a lot of supernatural intervention by virtue of Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary. I mean, they had things that you couldn't explain any other way except it's God intervening. It's not followed. The ordinary course of events Didn't follow out. No, this was a miracle right here and uh.
Speaker 1:And so she had heard the promise directly from the Lord. He said this time next year you're going to have a baby. She first laughed, but then she, she started. She started being persuaded by it. She heard from Abraham indirectly how was that? Well, abraham started calling her. You know, princess, come over here. Princess, sit in my lap a while, let's talk. I mean, old lady, come on, give me a break. Been a long time since any terms of endearment had been spoken between them. It had long since left the house, you know.
Speaker 1:But all of a sudden, at God's word, all of a sudden, at God's word, all of a sudden, at God's word, he starts changing what he's telling her, changing how he's relating to her. He's starting to relate to her again like a wife, like he did when they were younger, starts relating to her like she's not 90 years old, kind of relating to her like she's a fruitful young bride, ready to bring forth fruit, ready to bring forth children. Are y'all with me now? So she had a lifetime of seeing God intervene.
Speaker 1:She heard the promise directly from God himself and she heard from Abraham indirectly and she knew that she could depend on God's word. She judged him faithful. Who promised? When you look up that word faithful, he's reliable, trustworthy, true to his word. That word faithful, he's reliable, trustworthy, true to his word. Here's a woman that's 90 years old who had a lifetime of that proving out. And so is she going to hold out at the end and say he's not going to be that way? About the baby that I've been wanting all my life, about the firstborn that he's prophesied for decades? Am I going to just say, all of a sudden, he's no longer reliable, he's no longer trustworthy, he's no longer true to his word. No, there's no way she moved into faith. Come on, let's move into faith for our miracle. Glory to God, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:So she knew she could depend on God's word. See what she heard, what she saw. It influenced what she knew, she knew. She knew that that word was inviolate, that word had to come to pass, subject to her acting on it. Oh, come on, lift your hand right now. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:This is so simple and people make it so complex and so hard to deal with. Listen, I want to get you in your miracle place so you can get your milestones lined up, just like the mile markers are lined up on I-4545, zero mile marker in galveston and all the way. You know wherever i-45 goes, it goes huh, downtown dallas. It doesn't go far enough. Change it back and make it go all the way to city, all right. So she knew she could depend on God's word and she and Abraham had the ingredients for their miracles because of what she had seen and heard and what she knew. So ingredients for miracles for you and for a lost world. Maybe some of this will help you get your relatives with their miracle. Maybe it'll help you get your spouse with their miracle. Maybe it'll help you get your kids or your grandkids for their miracle. Maybe it'll help you get your miracle.
Speaker 1:We all need miracles from time to time. Some of them happen just like that and some of them take a while. One preacher said you know, it's really better for us if they don't happen instantly. You know, back in the days of the voice of healing, there was such an outpouring of healing. People would go into a healing meeting with all these wonderful evangelists, you know, and Brother Hagin was of that group, but he didn't have a tent. He went in into a healing meeting with all these wonderful evangelists, you know, and brother Hagen was was of that group, but he didn't have a tent. He went in local churches. That's where God told him to go. But a lot of these guys had 10,000 seat, 10 tents. Oral Roberts had a 10,000 seat tent.
Speaker 1:People came and I mean they would leave that meeting and they would be healed instantly. Well, they'd go back to their old, unbelieving church and they'd lose their healing. They didn't have the, they didn't have the teaching, they didn't have the surrounding to keep what God gave them in that meeting. So really it didn't turn out to be so good really, and a lot of people in that in those years, I mean there was not the maturity of the, of the teaching of the word of faith and how to how to keep what God gives you. And so that's why that preacher said you know, it's really better if you don't get healed instantly. It's better than when you contend, it's better when you take the word of God and you beat the devil in the head with it every day, every day, every day, until you've got the victory, and then he can't take it from you ever. Yeah, glory to God, all right, so ingredients for miracles for you and for a lost world.
Speaker 1:Don't forget number one don't forget what you've seen God teaching you directly Revelation Ramah, god moving in your life, your testimony, what God has done for you, and God moving in others that you have known and you saw God move in their lives, their testimony. Don't forget, stir it up. When do I stir it up? When you need a miracle, you ought to keep it stirred up all the time, but unfortunately, a lot of times we wait until we have an emergency. But I'm just telling you, man, I mean, you know, let's stir up what we have seen. I mean we've all seen a lot. I just think back 30 years of this church, just in this church alone. I saw a lot at Lakewood man. I saw a lot at Lakewood. I saw a lot at Full Gospel Businessmen. I saw a lot in my life, just traveling around in my ministry, just in my world and where I went, I saw a lot of things. And sometimes I'll just sit and think about all the things I've seen. Well, what does that do? That's stirring up the ingredients for miracle. I need to stir up what I've seen. I need not forget it. The children of Israel forgot what they saw and they didn't go into the promised land. They died in the wilderness. Everybody say I've seen a lot. Say directly, I mean you, directly, know, you've seen so many things, you, you know.
Speaker 1:And then the second thing is what you've heard. Say that's a little indirect, say that you heard something. You heard somebody else's testimony. You didn't see it yourself, you're taking their word for it, but you heard about it. You heard a lot of things. You've heard. I mean I've heard so many things. I've heard so many testimonies. I was in full gospel business men's fellowship international. I'm a lifetime member. I gave them $1,000 back in 1980. And I'm still a lifetime member. I don't go to any meetings but if I wanted to, I'm a lifetime member.
Speaker 1:And you talk about testimonies. I've heard every kind of testimony you can hear. I mean, I've heard some wild ones, I've heard some ones that just make you weep at how wonderful God is, how awesome he is. And then, of course, then there's the church experience and my ministry experience. I've seen a lot, I've heard a lot. What do I do with it? I stir it up. I said I stir it up. I said I stir it up. Don't forget it. It's indirect, but it's still valid, it impacts.
Speaker 1:The third thing is what you know, see, because what you've seen and what you've heard, what you know, is a product of those first two. It's a product you can't know much if you haven't seen or heard anything. I mean you know faith cometh by hearing and hearing. So there you go, you've got to hear something. If all you hear is a bunch of bunk and a bunch of theories, you ain't going to have any ingredient for miracle. But when you hear the word and when I mean hear, I don't mean hear here, I mean I'm saying hear, this Revelation comes in you, supernatural, and you become persuaded that what he has promised he's able also to perform, just like Abraham or the God it. It goes against logic. It goes against reason. It goes against what the doctor says. It goes against what the CPA says. It goes against what the government says. It goes against reason. It goes against what the doctor says. It goes against what the CPA says. It goes against what the government says. It goes against what anybody's opinion is.
Speaker 1:What you've seen and what you've heard impacts what you know, and you know a lot. I've traveled all over the world and I'm still shocked at how little people know in other countries about God. They know very little about the Word. They know little about and all of them have apostles, prophets, evangelists. They all have five-fold ministry now, because I've met bona fide ministers in other countries, but when we get to talking, they don't have a level of revelation of God's word that we do in this country. Because this is, I'm telling you something it makes a difference to live in the USA. This nation has a covenant with God about one nation under God. That's why there's light here and light's off in Haiti. I mean, when you're in Haiti. You got to overcome the darkness to get anything. I mean, when you're in Haiti, you've got to overcome the darkness to get anything. They know a little bit, but they don't know near enough to change their situation in Haiti. Are you all with me now? What you know is a product of what you've seen and heard directly and indirectly, so don't forget it, stir it up. You know a lot.
Speaker 1:Back in the 80s, I had a business reversal and I found myself unable to pay my interest on my construction loans. I had about $1.4 million worth of houses, you know, under construction and I couldn't pay the bills, couldn't pay it out, just didn't have enough money. Interest rates. I had to move into one of my houses and it wouldn't sell as a beautiful house, but in the corner lot it was built in a pecan grove. I mean it's gorgeous, one of the prettiest houses, really a good floor plan, but there just weren't any buyers. It's kind of scarce right now. It's tough with the interest rates as high as they are right now. There's a lot of uncertainty. Very similar situation back in the 80s, and so I had a 14 and three quarter percent mortgage. You ought to try making those payments every month and of course my interest on my houses was two points above prime, and prime was, you know, 13.
Speaker 1:They had to pass a law in the state of Texas to raise the usury law. The usury law had been 12%. Banks couldn't charge over 12 where the market was higher than 12, and so they wouldn't lend anything. I couldn't even over 12 where the market was higher than 12, and so they wouldn't lend anything. I couldn't even get a loan. My people were trying to buy a house. They couldn't get a mortgage loan because they couldn't charge enough interest. You talk about messed up.
Speaker 1:So anyway, I was praying and god moved me to corpus. He gave me a way of escape. You know, I guess you could say my brook dried up, you know, like elijah's brook dried up, and he moved him to Zarephath. I've commanded a widow woman to feed you there. Well, he had commanded a rich guy that owned a real estate company to feed me there, feed my family, and I signed a six-figure contract to take over his residential part of his development company. He was a commercial developer, didn't know much about houses and residences and they had bought some land that was a subdivision. They owned a subdivision. It had 60, some odd acres 75 acres in the back that was vacant, that needed to be developed into lots that they could sell to builders, and they had about 15 vacant lots in the rest of the subdivision. Some of them had been sitting vacant for like six, five, six, seven years. Finished houses on either side and across the street and here's a vacant lot. They've got to mow it every month in the summertime, keep it from growing up and it's a mess. They hired me to solve that problem, which I did. I solved that problem and they paid me for it. And then the depression hit them and that company went broke not because of me, actually, I'm the only thing that made them money. Their commercial division went down the tubes in flames and they went broke and owed me I don't know $6,000 or $8,000. And they went broke and owed me I don't know six or eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 1:But during that time when we moved, we moved into a rent house in Portland, texas. We lived across the street from a park, beautiful little park, no trees in it, but it was nicely mowed, nice grass, and beyond the park you look over the top of the park, kind of sitting up on a hill, and you look over New Asis Bay and you see the skyline of Corpus Christi behind it. It's beautiful. I go to my front living room, open the grapes and look right out to Corpus Christi. Look at the bay. I mean it's a beautiful, beautiful place. We rented it and I'd get up in the morning the whole time I was there.
Speaker 1:It was like Brother Hagin talks about when you're not in the will of God. It's like taking a bath with your socks on. Something's not right, something is out of whack, something doesn't, and I just couldn't get peace like I was used to having. I just could not get something out of my spirit that was weighing on me. It was like a claw. I don't know how to describe it. Honestly, it wasn't fear, but it was just a lack of ease, maybe a best way to say it. I was going to say dis-ease, but that wasn't disease, it was just a lack of ease.
Speaker 1:And so, in order to pray and have any kind of, I would walk across the street early in the morning with a cup of coffee, get on a concrete picnic table and lay on that picnic table at 430 in the morning. Look up at the stars, look and glance over and look at the moon coming off the water, look at the skyline and just pray in tongues and just try to get the peace of God to come upon me. Enough to where I could hear from God, where I could function, where I could know how to order my day, how to solve the issues that I was hired to solve. And what did I do? I did just these three things. I would go back over my life and I would think about all the things that I had seen. I'd just meditate on what I'd seen. I'd meditate on what God had spoken to me. I'd meditate on what Brother Osteen had preached, what I had heard. I'd meditate on what Brother Osteen had preached, what I had heard. I'd meditate on that. And then I would shift down and I would meditate on, well, what do I know? Well, I know God sent me here. I might not be in the perfect will of God, but I know he opened this door. The devil sure didn't open this door to pay me six-figure contract and give me honor in my church.
Speaker 1:I was man, I was going to church almost every night of the week. I was in charge of everything. It seemed like I was on the worship team. For a while. They had me being the youth pastor. Oh man you're talking about holy. I couldn't wait to get rid of that. I was doing everything that could be done.
Speaker 1:Cell group leader Sunday night. I've got a service in my house, in my living room. Are y'all with me now? I've lived this and it works. Come on, lift your hands right now. Lord, I thank you.
Speaker 1:We've seen a lot, we've heard a lot, we know a lot. We are not going to depreciate those things, we're going to stir those things up. Everybody say I'm stirring them up. Say, how do you stir things up? By putting them in remembrance. You remember them. That's how you stir them up. I stir you up, son Timothy, by putting you in remembrance of what I've said, putting you in remembrance of what you've seen. Why don't you remember about your grandma? Why don't you remember about your mama? Why don't you remember about me? Stir it up, don't forget it. Don't forget it. Don't forget what you've seen and heard and what you know.
Speaker 1:Glory to God. You judge God reliable, trustworthy and true to his word, don't you? You're just like Sarah in that regard. You know God cannot lie. You know God wouldn't lead you down the wrong path, and you've got the same name that the apostles had when they brought that healing forth on that lame man. You've got the same Holy Ghost that they had in them when he lifted him up off of his feet by the right hand. You've got the same word of God that God spoke to the apostles. He spoke it to us. He will back you up. He will confirm his word with signs following.
Speaker 1:You have the ingredients for miracles. Come on, lift your hand tonight. Praise God, hallelujah. Come on, lift your hand tonight. Praise God, hallelujah. Thank you, lord. Thank God for the ingredients that we have. We're not lacking any rue. We're not lacking our lump crab meat, not lacking our shrimp. Don't forget the trinity. Now you've got to have the trinity in your gumbo. What's the trinity? It's not the holy trinity, but it's close. It's bell, pepper, onion and celery. That's what you put in your roux and cook it down. If you don't have that in your gumbo, it ain't gumbo. Call it something else. I'm hungry for gumbo right now. Anybody got any gumbo with them? Praise God. Come on, let's lift our hands. Father, we thank you tonight for the word. Thank you, father, that this is a year of miracles, the milestone year. We're going to have to have miracles, no-transcript.