Operating From God’s Perspective | Pastor John Greiner

In this message, we explore what it truly means to operate from God’s perspective—where faith is built not just on Scripture read, but on God’s Word revealed. Through powerful biblical teaching, real-life challenges, and vivid prophetic dreams, this episode calls listeners to move beyond fear, remain confident in uncertain seasons, and recognize divine opportunities even in times of disruption. It’s a timely reminder that God leads His people forward not by sight or human systems, but by faith, humility, and bold obedience—preparing the church to move freely, see clearly, and step into the new things ahead.

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Faith Framework
• 2:10 Logos Versus Rhema Explained
• 5:15 Walking By Faith And Opportunity
• 8:20 Operating From God’s Perspective
• 12:15 Church Transitions And Trials
• 18:10 Dream One: The Kitchen Rearranged
• 23:05 Dream Two: Caboose Without Tracks
• 31:00 Lean, Agile, And Led By Spirit
• 35:20 Cleansing, Love, And Letting Go
• 39:50 Dream Three: The Mile-High First Floor
• 47:30 Killing Fear To See Clearly
• 51:40 Confidence, Boldness, And Public Witness
• 58:40 Influence, Persecution, And Perseverance

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Wave our Bibles around like we always do, make Jesus glad, the devil mad. And let's get started with something I want to share. I don't really know exactly how it's gonna go, but uh we know it'll go like the Holy Ghost wants us to go. Let's say this together. Say, Heavenly Father, thank you for this time with people of like precious faith. Thank you for this atmosphere of worship, this atmosphere of impossibility made possible, a miracle atmosphere. And Lord, we thank you for elevating our sights to see higher, to see further, see with more clarity what you have in store for us this year. In Jesus' name. Let's look at Romans 10, 17, very familiar verse. A lot of you could just quote it. And also 2 Corinthians 5, 7. Both of these are very familiar. Romans 10, 17, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And that word, word there, you know, in the Bible, there's two words. There's the logos, which is the general will of God. But this word, word, is the Greek word rhema, which means God breathes word. So faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the rhema of God. We read the logos and store the logos up. Our mind is renewed by the logos, but our spirit is built when the logos becomes Rhema. When you read your Bible, you're reading the logos. That's great. But sometimes the logos can just jump off the page, or you can read something over and over until all of a sudden now it's a Rhema. That's what your faith at. You know, faith doesn't come from logos, it comes from Rhema. You know, really, faith comes from you just having that prayer life to go along with the word life. I mean, you know, some people they've got the logos. I've seen them, they're so filled with logos, they can quote the logos all day long, but their faith is not very active. Why? Because they hadn't spent any time to let the logos become Rhema, for the Holy Ghost to breathe on that word until it, and then it comes for out of your head, which is useful. You need in your head, you need the word in your in your mind. But until it comes down in your heart, there's really no faith. So faith cometh by hearing and hearing the Rhema. And then in 2 Corinthians 5, a few pages over, verse 7, therefore, excuse me, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith, not by it seems like, looks like. Well, when you look up that word walk, which I have done and I want to share with you something interesting about the word walk. We think we know what it means. That's why it's good to have, you know, uh uh access to a concordance. So uh that word uh walk is parapeteo, which means to tread all around, to walk at large, especially as proof of ability. I prove I can prove that I can walk, I can walk by faith. We walk by faith, we walk at large by faith. It means uh to live, to deport oneself, your manner. You have a manner of faith when you're walking, to be occupied with. But here's what I wanted you to see here in Thayer's definition of walk. To make one's way. You know, we we're walking in a place where we've never walked before. You you know, we've got out of Joshua. We're walking into areas we've never been in. How are we gonna get there? By faith. There's only one way to get there by faith. Listen to this one. To make due use of opportunities. To make due use of opportunities by faith. God is going to show us some opportunities we've never seen. And when he does, we need to be keen in the spirit and quick to obey. Quick. Opportunities this year. Oh, these are unprecedented times that we're living in. I know all the negative that's going on, but just as bad as it is, that's the opportunity. The bigger the gap, the bigger the opportunity to close that gap. I see where uh Texas Senate candidate, I I don't know what uh you know, I heard her name once. Trump came out in favor of her, but she got tranced by a Democrat. But it's a short term because that's a filling uh seat, and they're gonna get there, you're gonna have another chance. But I'm just disappointed the Democrat the Democrats outspent us and out show and showed up, and the Republicans sat on their hands and didn't vote. Shame on them. They ought to be horse whipped. What do you mean, giving up a Senate seat in Texas to a Democrat? It's just un, it's horrible. Listen, folks, we got an opportunity. But that's that's just one slice of it, but it's probably the most important opportunity, is on the on on voting and on getting the right candidates and so forth. But there's all kinds of uh opportunities, and so faith makes due use of its opportunities. So we've been talking about tonight. I want this message, I guess, for want of a better title, operating from God's perspective. Operating from God's perspective. I mean, any other perspective that we operate from is vain. Any other any other perspective that we operate from, besides God's perspective, is doomed to fail. So it's so important to find out what God's perspective and how does he look at this opportunity. Is it from him? Is it something he wants for us? And that's why we're taking time right here in the early months of this year. It might take a few, you know, it took a while for me to get this message out to you because of just whatever circumstances. So it's gonna go into March, probably in April, before we're starting to really, as a church, begin to find our our uh discover the opportunities that we need to pursue and find what stuff needs to go overboard, lighten the ship. And if you haven't been here and you haven't heard these messages, the one that I had this morning, the one last week, and the one week before that, we've had three messages on 2026, the year of new things. So this is Wednesday night, uh Jay kind of filled in some good gaps for this message, and now tonight I'm filling out some other gaps. I just, there's too much information, and I want to get it into your hands as fast as I can. Your perspectives have got to get lined up with God's perspective. So uh over the years, God has given me his perspective through dreams and visions. And that's important for the church to have the right perspective because we have mandates that come from heaven and we have things that he expects this church to accomplish. And I stand here as the one that is tasked with presenting to you what those are and mobilizing our resources to line up to get those things done. And uh, if I don't do it, who will? Nobody. If you don't receive it, who's gonna get the job done? Well, I can't do it by myself. So it becomes imperative. Then on the other side of that, then you've got to find out well, what is your place? What is your part of that? What is, well, because we're all in this together, we're we're accomplishing something that that's greater than than each of us individually. It's greater than our than our own uh part. We're all members in particular of the same body. I mean, try to accomplish something. You've got some kind of intricate, you know, some of you ladies, maybe you quilt, maybe you crochet, maybe you sew. Try sewing with missing a couple of fingers. It's not real easy when your little finger and your index finger are gone and you don't have one. I mean, I try holding something with no thumb. It's pretty hard. And uh so uh I just thought I would uh uh give you some things. I've shared them with you before in the past, but they've uh several of these tonight that I'm gonna share with you have been so many years ago, and yet right now, today in 2026, we're right on the task of what he showed me in these dreams and visions that I had all way way back when. It's amazing, really. And it gives you confirmation of God's perspective that we're healthy, that we are not sick. Yeah, there's a lot of sick churches out there. There are churches that are ill and they don't know it. They're they have terminal, they have terminal diseases and they don't even know it. They're so far off. Like the faith leaders that came out last week in Houston and coming against ice and saying we need to get rid of ice. You're an idiot. You don't even know if the same Holy Ghost I do. You ought to know from reading your Bible that people, where they invade another country without God's permission, they are under judgment. Bad things happen to them. Am I glad? No, I'm not glad, but I can't help it. You came across the border illegally, and bad things are gonna happen to you, whether you're a nice person or not. Some of them are nice people, but they were misguided. And I don't wish evil on them, but they don't belong here. They need to go back where they came from. I'm sorry. Maybe you know some people like that that you love. I I listen, it it's it's heart-wrenching. But we got to get this straight. And you are a faith leader? What faith are you of? Anyway, thank God we've got some good faith leaders in this city, in this county. So I wanted to share a couple of these with you and uh make some points about operating from God's perspective. Back, many of you might know the history of our church, but we were uh meeting in the Baptist church right down the street and and we leased it, and it was God that we leased it. But we uh were served uh, you know, notice that we had to to vacate because they had sold the property to another church. And we only had 90 days to move. And I did everything I could to extend that time because, you know, what do you how do you move a church of several hundred people? I mean, it's not the easiest thing in the world just to pick up and move, you know, move. You you know, you can move your family sometimes in a short time, but when you try moving a church, I mean it was it was absolutely God that that provided a spot for us to move to, which happened to be West Houston Seventh-day Adventist Church. You know, we don't line up at all with their doctrine, but uh they do believe in the new birth. That's about all that they can line up with about. But, you know, they wanted to rent their building out on Sunday because they're there on Saturday. They they worship on Saturday. We worshiped on Sunday. And so, right at the 11th hour, I mean, we had Wednesday night service, we had no nothing tied up yet. And I had to stand up on the platform and tell people, okay, we'll call you to let you know where we're gonna have church on Sunday. Guess what? We had church there on that Sunday. Because on Thursday it got all taken care of. And so we lost about half our members because they lost confidence in me. You know, the Bible says, you know, fling not away your confidence, which has Hebrews 10, 35. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't fling away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. Confidence has to do with not only just confidence like we think of, but it's all outspokenness, it's boldness that you know the truth. I was bold through that whole thing, and yet half the people didn't respond. And so, you know, you can, you know, I had I had to go through, I had to pray my way through that trauma of having a church at this level, and suddenly half of them are gone. And a goodly number of them. I trusted and thought that they were solid, and I found out that they'd been planning to leave for months and remeeting behind my back. So, you know, there were some issues that I had to solve. I'm not saying this because I'm need you to pray for me to get over it. I got over a long time ago. But I'm talking about what I'm talking about is that you've got to have God's perspective on that situation. Is there something I could have done better? Is there something I did that was a fatal error? Is there something that, you know, and I felt pretty confident that we were okay, that we, you know, God provided, and we just kept on going. So then that was in the November of '99, we made that move, and then you had 2,000. So here we are in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We have half the crowd we used to have, and we're making it work. We're we're, you know, I mean, when we had a visitor, it was a red letter day when people could find us in that church because nobody knew that's where we were, except our members. And it was hard to find people, but we did find some. There weren't a few that came. How many of you came during those years? See, so you found us, praise God. Anyway, let me read to you this one that I got. It was a dream on the on uh May the 30th, 2002. So we'd been a couple of years in this place, and it was tough because, you know, it was expensive. Uh the people didn't like us, the pastor didn't like us. The only person we had favor with was the chief elder, and he was the, he really managed the whole place. And he was Indian, he was an Indian man, and he knew Brother Osteen, and I had great favor with him. And he just loved me, Dr. Bogani. He was a medical doctor, fine man, and I could depend on him, and he would, whenever the pastor would gripe about us, or whether the, you know, the we were always, you know, kids would come and play with our instruments and all that kind of stuff. Our stuff was locked up behind the stage, and somehow the, you know, there was always meddling in our stuff. It's hard to be in the same space with another church. And so it it, you know, I had to, I had to, I had to know that we were in the will of God. Are y'all getting what I'm talking about here? Faith, you've got to know, your faith has got to know that your that your pathway that you're walking is God's pathway. And it's my responsibility. So here I have this dream, and I wrote it down, and and uh, you know, someone's in the kitchen with Pastor would be a good uh someone's in the kitchen with Pastor. Someone's in the kitchen, I know. Someone's in the kitchen with Pastor. And he is the Holy Ghost. Anyway, so I'm in the dream I'm in my house where I live now, and uh and I'm standing in front of the kitchen sink looking out the window of the kitchen sink, which overlooks our driveway. And there's a young man to my right between me and the door that goes out to my driveway and my garage. This is where our main entrance is in the back of the house, and it's right there between the breakfast room and the kitchen. We have an island kitchen, and there's just stuff everywhere. There's stuff out on top of the cat the cabinets, and the cabinet doors on that closest to that door are open, and there's clattering of dishes. And this young man is taking all of our stuff out of our cabinets. Under the countertop and above the countertop. All the cabinets, he's he's laying it all, and he's rearranging everything. He's rearranging all the cups and the dishes and the saucers and the plates and the glasses and everything that you in the silverware. I mean, it's it's loud, it's clattering. And about that time, you know, I'm hearing all this clattering, and here across the window comes Gladys in her car, and she pulls, you know, into the garage, and I know she's coming in, and in the dream I'm thinking, oh my God, she's gonna be upset. Someone's in her kitchen changing everything, and I know she's not gonna like it because you don't mess with a woman's kitchen. You do not move where the spoons are somewhere. I mean, if you're visiting somebody's house, do not presume to know where everything goes. I mean, you're better off just leaving it out, letting them do it. But anyway, Gladys comes walking, and oh, she's not happy. Not happy. I said, honey, honey, honey, honey. No, it's it's gonna be fine. Just wait just a minute. You're gonna love it. See, I had to sell her in the dream. I had to sell her, I had to calm her down, I had to comfort her. I said, no, honey, it's all gonna work out. Now in the dream, I didn't know this is the Holy Ghost. I mean, in the dream, it's just a guy doing it. And I don't even know why and all of that in the dream. I'm just, but I've got fear, I've got a concern that my wife is gonna fall out of agreement with me real heavy. And I'm gonna be stuck with putting everything back where it was supposed to be. So these are my notes. And uh so when she actually comes into the kitchen, she's delighted with the results. And I wrote here God has rearranged, reordered the vessels of ministry, even the cookware used to cook and receive the food for serving. It's happened since the Baptist church. We're preparing for the future. See, that was God's, with all those people leaving and us reducing by 50%. God's perspective was we haven't, we haven't failed, we haven't done anything wrong. He's rearranging the ministry, he's rearranging the vessels of ministry. Come on, lift your hands right now. I mean, I felt a lot better about things after that. I had been wrestling with this for two years. Why? Because we're stuck in a place it's hard, it's not easy to be there. One Easter, they asked us to move out of the main sanctuary and and meet in the youth section, which we were paying dearly for, by the way. I mean, we paid a lot of money every month. I think the total was like$16,000 rent. And we had half the crowd we had back when our payment by rent was 12. Okay, can you you start thinking about that, right? So I've got to go to God. I've got, hey, this doesn't seem right. I mean, we're paying all this money. I mean, we're not treated with well, I have faith. I've got a little favor over here with one person. He was the one to have the favor with. But in this case, I was going to make an argument, and the Holy Ghost said, give them their sanctuary. You know, God's good. We walked in love. Now they're our brothers and sisters in Christ. They're way off in duck doctrine from where we are, but they belong in the kingdom of God somewhere. Are y'all with me now? Somewhere? Over the rainbow. Anyway. If you're Seventh-day background, you know what I'm talking about. All right. So just a few days later, on June the 4th, this was 5 3002, on June 4th, just a few days later, I have another dream. I'm talking about perspective. I'm talking about receiving God's perspective. Because your faith is based on Rhema. It's based on God's perspective. If your faith is based on anything besides his way of thinking about it, it's not going to produce. It's natural faith. Faith in my fellow man. I've got faith in my doctor. I've got faith. None of that is worth nothing. It's faith in God's perspective about what his ideas are. So here a few days later, I've got this dream. And I'm going to be a little more graphic since it's just us adults. But I'm in the bathroom. And I am in the bathroom for my reasons to be in the bathroom. I won't go any further, but you can all figure it out. And it just starts rocking back and forth. I mean, it's just rocking back and forth. And I'm saying, what is going on here? And I quickly arrange myself and get out of the bathroom and come around the corner of the door going into this room. In the middle of this room is like a metal steering wheel, about like this, spokes on it, metal, and a young man with kind of blonde hair, sandy blonde hair, and it's long and it's sticking out from his railroad hat. He's got a striped black and white railroad hat that people that work on a railroad used to wear. And he's driving what looks like to be a caboose. I mean, I come out of there and it's a caboose. I mean, it's got a panoramic windows. There's no train in front of it. There's no engine. We're not following an engine. There are no tracks. We're going across a pasture with grass, and it's just rocking back and forth. And he's just, he's just steering like this. Just totally, you know, at ease, you know, and here we are swaying back and forth. And when I look out these panoramic windows, you know, little dividers, but you could see all the way around, uh, you know, over on this side was a big long train. I mean, it must have had 150 cars. It had at least six or seven or maybe even more locomotives, but those big old steam uh diesel locomotives, and they're pouring out black smoke. I mean, they are got all their power turned up. They're burning fuel to drag this gigantic train, and we're passing that train. I mean, it's almost like it's standing still. It's hardly making any progress. It's just got all these cars, end to end to end, cars as far as you can see, on my right. And on my left, there's a set of tracks, and I'm looking at those tracks. There's no train there, but then way down the way, about a half a mile, I see a train, and it's been derailed, it's off the side, it's all crumpled up and it's burning, and there's smoke coming out of it. And in the in the between, here's this young man, and he's just taking us, you know, in this caboose. I mean, in the dream, I know I'm in the caboose, and yet the caboose, where's the caboose normally? It's on the back of the train. My caboose is on the front of the train, and I'm not conscious of anything behind us. So if we're a one-car train and we are a caboose. I mean, that's kind of humbling. You know what I'm saying? And then I wake up from the dream. Y'all getting this now? God's perspective. So I was very unnerved coming out of the bathroom. What's the reason for this rough ride? What's all this swaying? But I I calmed down when I saw that it was under control. It's not out of control. And so, but when I woke up, I was still unnerved about the derailment. See, what does that mean? And and and who who did I let steer the train? Who was that steering my my car? See, I had quite questions immediately when I woke up. And finally, right away, I perceived the man that was driving the train was the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Ghost driving the train. And we don't need tracks. We we got a train that don't need tracks. You find me a train, most trains got to have tracks or it can't go where the tracks don't go. We can go any place. We don't have to have tracks. We can go anywhere the Holy Ghost steers this train to go. We don't need a lot of cars. See, that speaks of humility and meekness. I I just had to embrace humility in this in the time that we were at. We were in a we were in a caboose. We were paying for a, you know, we were paying for a Bentley, but we were in a caboose. So vulnerability in the bathroom, pulling on my clothes, fear. See, I had fear in the first dream, fear of Gladys. That's the right kind of fear to have. Yeah, fear of Gladys. I had fear here. I was fear, I was afraid. You know, I was fearful in the dream until I got God's perspective. Are you with me? They see fear is gonna keep you out of the good things God has. You've got to get his perspective and overcome any doubt and fear that's gonna hold you back. If you you start looking at your ability and your deal and how good you are and how smart you are, you're in the wrong spot. You've got to look at him. He's the one.

unknown: 28:45

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_01: 28:50

It represents the visitation in March 99 to wake up the church. Already, Glorious Way Church was rocking back and forth. Some left when they left us when we moved, some left for churches represented on the left. In fact, about 20 of them went to a church that didn't last, but a few months later, and the pastor was arrested for uh rape. And he plea bargained with one of his staff members. He plea bargained out of it, and the church dissolved. And one of the church members that left my church and gave a big figure over there, that pastor left with$260,000 of the church's money and went to Dallas and started another work. And all their tithes went bye-bye. Flew away like a bluebird. So they so that was God showing me that derailment and it was destruction. A lot of them went that way, and a lot of them went to churches that are represented by all the programs that people can dream up. They've got one program after another program after another program after another program, and they're going nowhere fast because it's just man-made programs. Man-made, you know, God's kept us lean and light, and he's kept us flexible. He's kept us to where we can make adjustments quickly. I mean, we're, you know, one time I was in Galveston and I watched these tankers out there, and I got to thinking, how much space does it take for one of those things to turn all the way around? I mean, it takes them a long time, miles to turn one of those big old tankers around and get it headed in the opposite direction. And at the same time I was looking at that, here comes a uh a kite surfer. And he was, he, he, he was, he had this kite, and the wind was blowing like galvis and always blowing. And he was hitting the surf like this and coming up and going up 20 feet and coming down and hitting. And he went out there and all of a sudden he just boop and came right back the same way he came. He he was going back and forth right out in front of my nose. I'd never saw that before. And he said, That's how I want the church. I want your church to be able to turn on a dime when I tell you to turn, you turn. Oh, come on, lift your hand right now. God's perspective, operating from God's perspective. Well, Pastor, I don't have dreams. Well, I'm not talking about spectacular guidance. You can have a witness. You've got uh you've got communication with Almighty God. He knows how to speak to you. You don't have to hear a voice, you don't have to have a dream or a vision. I'm telling you how God has led us these ways. And I take great comfort knowing right now where we are is not fly by night, it's not just last week. I mean, God has set us on this path for decades now. Are y'all with me now? The Holy Ghost has taken us faster with no limitations. These are my notes from 20 some odd years ago, 24 years, 24 years ago. The Holy Ghost has taken us faster with no limitations. Trains only go where the tracks are laid. Glory to God. We've got to cleanse ourselves. We've got to yield ourselves. That's another reason why the bathroom is in there. It's part of you cleanse yourself. You have to unload any kind of iniquity, any kind of unforgiveness, any kind of thing, any kind of a load that is not pleasing to God. That's why we're gonna teach on love coming up in Wednesday, starting Wednesday night, this first Wednesday night, all the Wednesday nights of February. Be part of that because love is not optional. And it's not that easy to love people that spit in your face. You have to make up your mind you're gonna love them anyway. I mean, I see people out in the public uh all the time, you know, and it's awkward sometimes. I feel awkward, but I'm always polite. I meet their eye, I shake their hand, or I give them a little hug and I say the nice thing. Why would you do that? That's fake. No, it's not fake. It's just I don't hold anything against anybody. I refuse. I said, I refuse. So we may not always have a smooth ride, but we will go where God wants us and in his time. Come on, lift your hands, right? God, I just I don't know, going back and looking at this, it really blesses my heart, you know. And this is what God did on June the 4th, 2002. I mean, like this is not this is not just overnight. And uh I got one more to share with you. I've got lots, but uh one more that I think is is uh proper to share with you uh tonight. And this was this came the day after Christmas in 2004. And uh in this dream, I uh was downtown in Houston with one of the big office buildings, one that had you know these high-speed elevators. You know, you go to some of these uh newer buildings that they built in the 80s. Remember, they they were building these 70-story towers and all of that, 80-story towers in Houston. And uh so something like that. I can't tell you which building it was, but we're we're in a building and there was one man that was active in our church that was with me, and we were there. Uh, I didn't know in the dream why I was there, but we went to the bank of elevators and we pushed the button, the doors open, and there was a person, a third person, just three of us. He and I and this other stranger. And so we stepped in the elevator and he said, and I said, Well, what floor, please? And he said, One. Now, you know, we're on the first floor, right? So why in the world? One. I said, Yeah, that's where we're going. One. You push one. Everybody say, I'm pushing one. All right, and then we we start going up. And when we start going up, I mean it's a high speed elevator. I mean, it's and I don't know if you about you, but I mean, I I'm not that comfortable in any elevator, but especially a high-speed elevator, because they kind of go back and forth and they kind of, you know, and you keep going and you keep going and you keep going. You keep thinking, when are we gonna get to the first floor? I mean, we have where is the first floor in this building? Why does it feel like it's on the 80th floor? And so finally, ding, and the doors open. And all of a sudden, there's nobody with me. I mean, in the dream, there's nobody with me. And that person that was from the church later left the church. I I often wonder, you know, I think you missed God because you were in a prophetic vision. You were in a prophetic vision of mine that that speaks of a great uh while in the future, and you should have been there, and now you're gone. And in the vision, in the dream, he was gone. So God knew he wasn't gonna last. The other guy represented people that would be coming. So it was tied to the church. That's what I wanted you to see. It's not just about my ministry. This dream is about glorious way, and it's about going up high. So we hear, ding, the doors open, and we get out. I get out, and I look straight down and I look through glass floors all the way down. I mean, it felt like a mile high. I mean, it was so breathtakingly frightening. I mean, I got vertigo instantly. I wanted to, man, I was trying to look for something to grab a hold of. I got fearful. See, fear, three dreams I've shared, all three of them have fear in them. Fear will take you out of God's plan. Fear of the unknown, fear of what is ahead, fear of whatever. I'm telling you, it will keep you out. You've got to kill it. Perfect love casts out fear. So I'm on this floor and I quit looking down because I couldn't stand it. I mean, it was just, it was just like I didn't have, it looked like I had no support. And I looked out the windows and you could see it was real bright, it was bright that day. But I could look and I could look through the through the windows and I could see all the way to Galveston. That's how far. I mean, you you talk about a perspective. You could look in any direction and see way away from Houston. We're right downtown, and yet I could see that far. No uh haze, no low clouds, nothing. I mean, you could see. But I'm still just so frightened. And I look over to my right, and out of the floor was this gnarled up looking bare tree-like thing, but it had no leaves on it. It just looked like a dead tree, is what it looked like. It looked like a dead tree. It had here, and then it had a here and here, and here it was crooked, it was ugly. It wasn't at all something that you would decorate with. I mean, it was really ugly. And I and I just stumbled over to it and I grabbed it with both hands, and when I did, it it just went like this. It it didn't really help me at all. I mean, but all the fear left me. All the fear left me, and I was able to enjoy that height without having fear of the height. And so I wrote this down. I was comforted when I grabbed the tree. And so the surprise was how high the first level was. Level one. I'm on level one, and yet level one affords a view that's matchless. Level one, you can see anywhere and everywhere with clarity. You can see everything all around you. And I was reminded when I woke up from the dream level one. I remember Brother Hagan one time had uh was in out, I think he was in New Mexico and he was preaching, and he had uh fallen off of the platform and broke his elbow. And uh he had to go to the hospital, and he was bummed out. I mean, he he you talk about somebody that needed encouragement because he he just didn't understand what in the world? How could this happen? What in the you know, break my elbow, preach it? And he had a lot of questions, and he's laying up in bed. I don't know if you remember this testimony, but he's laying up in the hospital and he heard footsteps coming down the hall. And through the door walks Jesus. And Jesus is about 5'11, about 175 pounds. He's wearing this, you know, robe, he's got sandals on. And he comes and sits on the side of the bed with brother Hagin, with Brother Hagin. He felt the bed go down, you know, brother, and and Jesus just sat on the on the bed and said, Yeah, I know your concern. He said, you know, this this you know, this break, you're gonna get healed up real fine, you know. The doctors have have said it, and you're gonna you're gonna have a little while in the cast, but it won't be as long as they're saying, I'm gonna speed up your healing. The reason that this happened to you is you let you gave the devil place in your ministry. He said, You know, I've called you to be a prophet and a teacher. And you have reversed the order in your ministry, and you have been more teaching than you have prophet. You ignore the prophet side because you're not comfortable with it. Now you correct that, and everything's gonna be just fine. You won't have any hindrance from this fracture, it's all gonna heal up. You will never even know you had a had a problem. But it's it's you know, uh, and so he said, uh, you know, you've entered now that now that that we've that we've sat and talked, uh, you know, I just want you to know the office of the prophet is going to become more more uh direct and you're gonna have more gifts of the spirit in operation. And you've entered the first phase of your ministry. You've entered the first phase of your ministry, see, number one. And first phase. I just love it when they tell the truth like that, you know. First phase. I I pastored for 12 years. I've been on the field now for a couple of years. First phase, he said, well, yeah, I know, but I never called it a pastor. I allowed you to pastor, but I never called it. How would you like to know that you spent 12 years as a pastor and God never called you to pastor? Aren't you glad that Brother Hagin told that, gave that testimony? You see, he had to he had to open himself up and he had to he had to show his vulnerability. I don't listen, we stand on the shoulders of men and women that are just gold. How would I dare not to tell you things that I've gone through? Doubts that I've had. Entered the first phase of his ministry. And way back in 2004, I I pressed number one on the elevator and I got elevated to a place of such height. There's, I don't know, I don't judge myself, but I know we're seeing a lot further now. I I tell you, we're seeing a lot clearer now. God had in mind some things for this church, and we've been faithful to obey and to heed his direction. Are you with me now? Glory to God. So we're challenged to rise higher and uh to rise higher and uh and catch fire. How many of you are ready to catch fire? We need to be on fire right now, glory to God. I mean, no matter what what you hear from God, let's get on fire. Let's find the flames and let the fire of God begin to take us over. Come on, lift your hands right now, Lord. We thank you for your perspective on things. Now, I wanted to share this verse with you. I mentioned it. But the result of all these and many others, I can't even count the numbers. I won't, we're not really preaching on dreams and visions. I have done that, but I wanted this kind of stuck with me about this year. Because this elevator dream I shared in the prophetic river I mentioned this morning back on Rosh Hashanah 2019, I shared all about that dream. And this year reminds me a lot of greatest year yet. This year reminds me a lot of some surprising things that we're going to see that we've never seen. I'm telling you, we're we saw some of those things in 2020, but we're going to see even greater things. Y'all need to get ready. I'm telling you. Get ready. But Hebrews, I want to go back to Hebrews real quick, and I'll close the message. And then we'll let the Holy Ghost do whatever He wants to do. Hebrews 10. I want to go back to verse 32. But call to remembrance, Hebrews 10, 32, call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great flight fight of affliction. Partly while you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while you became companions of them that were so used. What's he talking about? He's talking about persecution. The Hebrews had great persecution when they gave their hearts to Jesus. And some of the most vehement and ugly ones to come against them are other Jews. Their parents many times will hire people to deprogram them. If you're a young person, you get happen to be Jewish and you get saved. Your parents many times will have you kidnapped against your will and put into all kinds of deprogramming and get you to deny Jesus. I met one young man that had gone through that. Tortured almost. Verse 34, for you had compassion of me in my bonds, talking about being arrested. See, he's got to be talking about Paul. Paul's not mentioned as a writer, but that's a hint right there that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, right there, this verse. And took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourself that you have in heaven a better and an everlasting and an enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, for you have need of patience, that after you've done the will of God you might receive the promise. Have need of patience. You know, these these revelations and these assurances and these perspectives came 20 some odd years ago we've had to hold and stay patient to waking up the church. It didn't seem like it was working, it didn't seem like anybody cared, didn't seem like anybody listened. But we didn't fling away our confidence. And so let me just go back to my concordance and show you something about that word. Hebrews ten thirty-five. Confidence. It means bluntness. It means uh boldness, confidence, plainness, and the Thayer's definition. Freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech, open, frank. You know, an example would be don't vote for Obama, he's a Muslim plant. 2007. That's about as frank as it gets in a church. Nobody was doing that. Nobody was warning the the Christians against that ungodly, evil man. He is that uh free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance. Now, this is the one I was going to get to. The deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity. The deportment. What does deportment mean? It's a fancy word. It just means your manner, it means your behavior, your demeanor, your bearing, how you carry yourself, how you say things. You say things sometimes that are controversial, maybe even a little bit abrasive. Sometimes the things you say can be like a knife, and people feel like they can't stand it, and they fly out the door like that morning when I said about Obama. We had a whole family get up right there and walk out. I don't care. That's my deportment. I'm not gonna fling it away. I'm not gonna cast it away, I'm gonna keep it. Why? Yeah, you know, it causes publicity. See, I'm not gonna hide my light on a under a bushel or under a mattress. I'm gonna put it on a lampstand. I want there to be boldness. See, this is the kind of bold testimony this church has got to carry in the 21st century and 2026. We can't be worried about whether we're gonna offend someone. We have to speak the truth. We need to speak it in love, but we still need to speak the truth. And you can't count, you know, you can't wrap it up in a bunch of uh bubble wrap. Religious bubble wrap is what I hear a lot. Trying to soften the no, no, I'm telling Jesus didn't do that. You're of your father the devil. See, that's the kind. Are y'all with me now? So let me say it again: the deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity. So that all gets back to having a larger footprint, more influence. This church has more influence now than it ever, ever did. I mean, we are a destination people all over this nation now know about Glorious Wade Church. Why? Because we're a megachurch? No, it's just because of this principle right here. God has a way of multiplying. I mean, I never will forget that the New York Post wrote an article about us and called us the Renegade pastors, mentioned James by name, I think. Renegade. Well, that's right. That's fine. You want to call us renegade? I guess that's what we are. We're not gonna we're not gonna mask up and we're gonna not gonna distance up. We're gonna do what we've always done. We're gonna love people and lay hands on the sick. Amen. Are y'all getting anything out of this tonight? Well, I rambled a little bit because I didn't have real close notes, but it's an unusual kind of a message, but it ties in with what we've got ahead of us. And I pray that uh that you are getting something out of this, that you will stir yourself up, not be intimidated by your personal situation that you're facing. All of us have things. Jesus said, In the world, you shall have tribulation. You're gonna have trouble. But be of good courage. Don't cast away your confidence. I mean, just go ahead and be bold to testify that God's in control, that God, the greater one, lives on the inside of me. This is fake, I'm facing this, but I'm overcoming it. Because the greater one lives in me. Come on, lift your hands right now. The greater one lives in us. He great, he lives in us corporately, he lives in us individually. Hallelujah! Glory to God. Glory to God. One more thing. I don't I didn't know if this was the time to share it, but I'm gonna share it. You probably have read Brother Hagin's little mini-book, I Went to Hell. Because before he got saved, when he's on the deathbed, he went to hell. He died one day, went to hell, and and God said, No, you you're not, you hadn't completed your work. I've called you, and he brought him back and he got saved. But uh he told recently I saw a Facebook reel where he preached this testimony that I had never heard before. I've heard a lot of his stories. I didn't go to Rema. I tried to avail myself of his ministry whenever he was in town, especially at Lakewood. I'll drop everything and be there. Morning meetings, whatever, and whatever he was there. And he quit coming in 1990. He just never came again. So, you know, if you he just so if I was gonna hear him, I had to go someplace else besides Lakewood to hear him. But and I did a few times. But in this story, you know, he uh it was years later, and he told the story about his mother, his mother and his grandmother. They his his, I forget whether it was, he lived with his grandmother, and his mother was there too. She had mental trouble, and she was suicidal and schizophrenic, I think, for a while. She had all kind of trouble, but then she got some deliverance, but mainly she was he was living with his grandparents or grandmother when he was ill. His mother was there. But they discovered a cousin that lived in Sherman, Texas. This was in McKinney, Texas. And so they he's telling this story, and I'm listening to him, and this story probably it looked like it was in the 80s when he told the story, and the story was dated 1963. So he'd been in the ministry quite a while, uh, and he'd been in the bed of sickness back in the 30s, so it's been long years. But they discovered this cousin that lived in Sherman, and so the mother and the grandmother, oh, they were so delighted, no, they had somebody so close, and so they'd ride the bus over and visit, and then they would come back. And they call the older lady Aunt Liza. She wasn't an aunt, but that's what they called her, Aunt Liza. And then the daughter, I forgot her name, like I don't remember, Letitia or I don't know the name. Lorena, maybe. Anyway, um, I don't remember the name of the daughter of the woman, but the woman, she, he said, you know, she'd always say that she was an infidel. And she, whenever she was around Brother Hagin, and he was in his, he was paralyzed at the time. He's in his bed of sickness. And anyway, anytime she was there visiting, she'd get off on a tangent and say, you know, every pastor, every preacher ought to be shot. Every church ought to be closed. I mean, they're talking about heaven and hell. There ain't no heaven, there ain't no hell. We just die, we die like a dog. That's it. You know, and she'd just get off on a tangent. And, you know, they'd try to get her off of it, you know. Now, mama, now my daughter tried to try to calm her down. So that's the kind of woman she was. Just crazy. Got a lot of those now. But anyway, so she, so here it is all these years later, and he's in Sherman, Texas for a meeting. And his mother says, Kenneth, you're, you know, let's call her Letitia. I don't think that's her name. Letitia wants you to come see her mother. You know, Aunt Liza wants to see you while you're in town. He said, All right. So he and Oretha go over there after the meeting's over, and they go knock on the door, and his cousin comes to the door and she doesn't recognize him. Oh, hi. Uh and he said, I'm Ken. He said, Oh, you're Ken. You don't look anything. So she just started crying. Oh, I'm so glad you came. The doctor just left. Please come back and talk to Mama. I've been trying to deal with Mama, you know, since I saw you last, I got born again. I'm saved. I'm on my way to heaven, but Mama won't listen. I've tried to talk to her, and you know how she was, and she still is. And oh, please, is there any way you can talk to her? The doctor just left and she's she's not long with us. She's about to die. And I just know, uh, Brother Ken, I just know if we if we can't intervene, he said, Well, I'll I'll talk to her if I can. So they go back there and and she's laying in bed and her eyes are wide open, like marbles, no blinking. And she's got the death rattle. You know, if you've ever heard the death rattle when people are at the end of life. And uh and she had it. She's dying. And so the daughter leans down to her ear and says, Mama, mama, Ken is here. Mama, mama, and finally had to scream, Mama. And finally she kind of responded, uh, uh, oh yeah. You know who this is? Yeah, this Lillian, that's Letitia, whatever the name is. She was able to kind of talk and said, Mama, Ken is here. And then all of a sudden she came alive. Ken.

SPEAKER_00: 58:28

Oh, it's so dark. Ken. Ken, tell me. Tell me there's no hell. Tell me there's no hell, Ken. Oh, it's dark. Ken. Ken, tell me. Tell me again. Tell me.

SPEAKER_01: 58:45

And she died. She died and went to hell right there in front of him. And he said, So, listen, we're blessed. Let's enjoy the blessings of God. God's got wonderful things in store for us. But let's not forget the loss. Let's not forget why we're here. Let's not forget that people are going off into eternity like that woman. She went and went to hell. She went to hell despite me being there. I couldn't reach her. I couldn't talk to her. She was already down there. She was already in the darkness. She was speaking from the darkness, and she couldn't hear me. Oh God, I tell you. It just made all my hair stand on end. I don't regret one thing we're doing in missions. I want to do more. I want us to do more. I think we've got some classes that are coming up. What are they called? Go, grow, and do, grow, go.

unknown: 59:41

Do, grow, do.

SPEAKER_01: 59:42

Do, grow, and go. Do, grow, and go. We've been we've had faith foundations for a long time. We're shifting some gears. We're going to have a class on going. We're going to have a class on witnessing. We're going to have a class on getting people saved. I mean, we need to get people saved. That's how we're going to grow this church. We're going to grow it by getting people, lost people. We can't wait around for all the disgruntled people to show up. Besides that, when they show up, they want to talk about what their church used to do. Well, that's how we used to do it in my church. My pastor used to say, well, why didn't he stay there then? Lord, we need some fresh meat. We need some fresh people to pour our lives into. How many of you are willing to get some people saved? Well, God saw that hand. God saw that hand. Amen. Praise God. All right. Hallelujah. Thank God. I tell you, I just know we're on the right track. Hallelujah. Let's just lift our hands right now. Lord, we love you tonight. We thank you. We glorify you. Hallelujah.