It was their non-compromised life. And the story fascinates me because the king's decree was urgent. The fire was super hot. I think the Bible says seven times hotter than normal. There's a lot of pressure in there. When they opened the door, I think Jesus said, "This is gonna be good." There's no way for them to get in.
But here's the end of the story. When they came out of the fire, the king didn't quite get the point, but he really got the point. But his decree was still a little severe. Anybody who doesn't worship the God of Shadrach is gonna go into the fire. But he was a little legalistic. But he sure changed his tune.
But here's the point. When they came out of the fire, their clothes weren't burned. Their hair wasn't even singed. You get your arm that close to a gas stove moving a pot, and you smell that funny smell if you're a man. And you're like, "Oh my goodness." And you look, and your whole side is burned, and you're like, "Ah." Their hair wasn't even singed.
The point of the story is, if you met up with them an hour later, you'd never know they were in the fire. And we wear our trouble on our countenances, on our encouragement levels. And we got our names submitted in prayer request after prayer request because the fire's the problem. And what it points to is, we don't totally understand. We're not evil. We're not hypocrites. We just don't totally understand why we're Christians.
And I know it sounds funny, but we don't understand because all we teach is heaven, blessing, protection, and provision. And everything we teach serves us and never even challenges to transform us. So you have thousands of people today in church that are actually discouraged because life could be going a whole lot better. And they're actually discouraged. They're actually hurting. They're actually broken.
And we think ministry is trying to get them to feel better about that instead of change their mind about what's breaking them and hurting them. Because my Bible shows me that I'm going to go into Nebuchadnezzar's fire, and I'm going to have trials, and I'm going to go through a lot of things as a Christian. And the joy of it is that I'm going to get to manifest what he looks like every time.
Are you following me? I'm going to make a bold statement. This is my last crack and my only crack at some of you. And I'm going to be running out of this store. You won't even have time to stone me. I will outrun your stones. I'm going to preach and leave town.
I've learned this. I've been saved a while. I've preached 45 weekends a year all over the country. I've learned that our motive in Christianity needs challenge. We need to be convicted by it. A lot of us become Christians for our own sake. If you're a Christian for you, you're not having the time of your life. You're still very self-conscious, self-focused, and all your prayers have to do with God doing what you need him to do to make your world work. And you think that's Christianity.
And I'm going to be bold with you. That has nothing to do with Christianity. Because if your life has your attention that much, then your life is the target. And even the enemy is just going to poke and prod and do things just to keep you off focus.
So when you ask a Christian how they're doing, they usually tell you the two biggest trials in their life and say, "Keep me in prayer." If you're overwhelmed by life, you're not shining as light. If you're discouraged, you're not shining. If you're in anxiety, you're not shining. You're not manifesting anything but what you're going through. That means your hairs are singed and your clothes are burned.
You are the light of the world. You're the roster of heaven. You're the best he's got. And he ain't looking for another team. You're not the B squad. You're the army of God, the body of Christ. You're the body of Christ. Look it up. The embodiment of him.
He said, "Don't just pray your list of stuff. Follow me." We follow Christ because we can. Oh, the lights are on now. Let there be light. You are the light of the world. Let your light shine.
I don't know. You're not up here, but those are bright. Nobody would ever say, "Man, can somebody help me and just turn up the darkness a little?" If the room gets dimmer, somebody, turn down the light. Christians talk about the darkness all the time. The definition of darkness is the absence of light.
You, you are the light of the world. You can't tell me how dark your workplace is. You work there. Light a match, just one match in a super dark room, and it's enough to see a long way and a lot. One match, you can probably read something on the side of your furnace.
Look, God will provide. God will protect. But if that's all you're in this for, then you'll even judge him when that doesn't look like it's happening. I know people that take seasons of layoff. I know Christians. I met a pastor who said he doesn't bother reading his Bible anymore because it doesn't happen. A pastor said that to me in the car. Wrong guy to talk that to.
I demanded that he park. He was crying his eyes out in 10 minutes. He was believing some shallow surface lie and justifying something that was hinged on nothing but the facts of his life. And now his life is true theology instead of Jesus'.
All of a sudden we just pray because we have need. All of a sudden we just pray because we're fearful. And just because we pray, we call it faith because we pray. We quote scripture. It's faith. Are you kidding? Your motive is where it's coming from. What you're driven by is why you're praying.
Rarely do I see a person decree a thing or live in true faith and actually be okay and manifest Christ in the middle of trials. My Bible says glory in your tribulations. I'm 29 years saved. I've never seen that. Your Bible says glory in your tribulations. I've never seen that.
That's tears in a counseling appointment. It proves that our motive for coming to him is self-serving. And I'm not being mean. I'm crying out to you with passion. I'm down here on your level saying, we got to get this or we're not going to shine and have an impact. And we're going to do church but not be her.
What does it benefit the world if I go to church for the next 50 years, never miss a Sunday, serve in a ministry faithfully, get thrown into crisis, and respond like a man that never went to church? Come on, this isn't too heavy. We don't want to stand before him and go, "Oops," and find out that we actually didn't believe but we were this close to him.
That we were actually this close to him. But we didn't really deny ourselves. It was really still about us and how I feel and what I need. And he said and she said, "Well, that hurt." "Well, they should have never." "Well, why did they have to?" "Well, that makes me mad." What is that? That's not him. Never learned that from him. So where'd you learn that? In the world and of the world.
We think different now. I'm not a Christian for me. I'm not a Christian for my sake. I'm a Christian for his great name. And I don't fear Nebuchadnezzar. And the fire means nothing. And I'm never going to die ever. He's the end of that.
Man, I was in Alabama. When you get to Alabama, you get around a lot of folks that don't believe a lot of, it's Bible belt and churches everywhere, but they don't believe a lot of stuff. They don't believe a lot of stuff. They don't believe a lot of stuff. They don't believe a lot of stuff. They don't believe that God does a lot of stuff. So they think I'm a heretic and heresy guy.
And they said, "If you bring him into this town, he will not make it out." Christians going to do God a favor and exterminate me. Bizarre. Well, I didn't know they said that on my last night, undercover policemen surround me. And I could tell something was up. This guy leans over and he says, "Hey, Dan, I'm officer so-and-so."
I said, "I thought so. I didn't do nothing wrong." "No, no, no," he said, "they're with me." I said, "I thought so. I said, that's what it looked like to me." He said, "Well, listen, there's been some threats, unfortunately. And there's some people saying you're not going to make it out of the town alive."
I said, "What?" "Yeah, there's some threats concerning your life. And we're here to make sure you get out of our town safely. Get back to your hotel." And I said, "What? I said, buddy, listen, I love you, man. I can find you in the book of Romans. Like there's a place for you in society, but this is not the place. This is straight up spiritual. It's intimidation. If you don't face it, you'll run from it the rest of your life."
So here's what we're going to do. Okay. We're going to let it play out. So if they say they're going to kill me, let's see if they can. I honestly don't believe they can. I have too much burning in my heart and too much to accomplish. And I just don't think they can, but we got to let it play out and see if they can.
Because if you protect me, we won't really know. He said, "Sir, I don't agree with your view." I said, "I'm not asking for your agreement. I love not my own life unto death. I'm surrendered. I'm not driven by sentiment, emotions, and human feelings. I'm a man of faith and I'm a man of God. You can question that if you want, but you'll find out someday because you can say you'll die for him until you're faced with the chance. And then you'll know, ask Peter."
So they disarmed that thing and disbanded. And I hung out and stayed late, and I was the last one to my rental car, and I was driving all by Alabama. You know what happened on that trip? I was doing my run. I was doing my run. I do a five-mile run. I do, man. I was doing my run on the roads of Alabama, and I took my car and I mapped out a course, and this pit bull comes across the yard.
And I said, "Oh, bark and no bite, you shock collar dog, you." And I just kept running, and he comes right off the curb and wham, he's got me in a millisecond. Them big old teeth they got were deep into my leg. And then he let me go and just went. I looked down. I never seen nothing like it in my life. Blood pouring into the street in a puddle that quick.
He hit something main right here. I never seen nothing like it in my life. I'm talking my whole side of my shoe was already red. And the blood was just coming. This is the same weekend they're going to kill me.
See, when you look at me, you can't tell I've been through any of that stuff. You can't tell my dad was an alcoholic and never said, "I love you." You can't tell my mom was sick for 40 years and I changed her diapers and watched her die young. You can't see that my kids made some bad mistakes. My wife struggled for eight years in identity crisis, was in a coma and life support with severe brain damage.
You don't see any of that when you look at me because none of that has a thing to do with who I am. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going. Are you with me? This ain't our story. It's his story. It's Christ in us. It's not what we've been through. It's what he's been through.
What he's been through is where the truth starts with me. Everything before that is supposed to be dead and in a sea called forgetfulness. It's not my identity. It's not a book I'm writing, and I'm not trying to get over it. It's dead. Are you hearing me? Not because I'm mic'd up. Are you hearing me?
That pit bull bit me, and that lady heard the door. I'm not trying to get over it. I'm barking, and she came running out. He's not supposed to be out. He slipped out. He's not supposed to be out, but he was out. That's liabilities in today's world. That's serious trouble. That's a dead dog by afternoon, and that's liabilities. That's attorneys. It's things coming in your mailbox. That's you covering all the expenses and all the suffering and loss for the anxiety of do I have rabies, and you can talk an attorney into getting you a whole lot of money just for what you had to go through.
Oh, you be real with me. It's 2024, and it's all messed up. It's every man for himself and living at the expense of each other. Well, that's a problem because love lays down its life for others. Isn't it amazing how it's the total opposite?
Lady came out, and she said, "Oh my God, he bit you." She looked, oh, she sees his blood. She's the owner of the dog. Can you imagine what she's feeling? See, I think about that stuff. I don't think about the dog bit me. I think about how she's feeling. And I said, "It's okay, honey. I said, I don't know if you understand this, but if it's possible, your dog bit the right person. I said, just grab me a towel. I'll come over and explain. Just grab me a towel."
And I'm coming in, and the man comes out of the garage, and he goes, "He can't even talk. He's just froze." I said, "It's okay, buddy. Are you the husband?" He's just, "I said, it's okay. It's going to be fine. I just told your wife, your dog bit the right person. Look, Jesus is my King. He's the Lord, and it's all going to work out. It's all going to be good. You might not even believe this, but I'm going to tell you this. You can call me a liar if you want to. A lot of people have unbelief in their life and boast in it. And they only think twice about unbelief. And the Bible says unbelief is evil and wicked.
You can hardly tell a testimony of your church anymore without people being cynical and critical. Well, I don't know. How do you know that happened? I your Bible. She brought out the towel. I started talking to him about Jesus. He said, "He's not my theology. He's my friend. He's my savior. He's inside me. And he loves me with his life. He wrote me a letter on his hands and feet."
I have to love that song this morning. He's inside me. He's not my theology. He's in me. That ought to matter right now when the dog bit me. I think I read I'm in the world, but not of it. They're not things to say amen to on Sunday. They're things to believe and live.
I took the towel from her. It's true as I'm standing here. It was so beautiful. I'm bleeding so profusely. I have holes in my leg that I could stick this finger in. It's a pit bull. Big, deep. I took the towel and I wiped up over the holes. And I saw the holes. I was like, "Wow, I got bit." And I wiped up over. And when I did, no more blood came out. No more blood came out. One wipe. I just wiped one time. It should still be pouring because it obviously bit into some super main vein thing.
I looked at him and I said, "I got like I am right now." I said, "You see? My Jesus." I said, "This is the stuff he does. I said, he loves me." And I went like this. But you got to understand, I'm not mad. I'm not scared. I'm not angry at them. I can't believe you had your dog out. Your dog's biting people. You shouldn't even have a dog like that. Why do you even own a dog like that? Let alone have it out in the yard and no one has this capacity. What if it would have been a child? What if it would have been?
And I understand all those things are true. And I talked to him about this stuff, but not from anger, not from rightness, not belittling them down. They didn't even know the dog was out. So I looked at him and I said, "Guys, this is a day of mercy for you, okay? I want you to understand God's mercy has come upon you today." And they're looking at me like, "What is this guy talking about?"
I said, "You have a dog that has this capacity. Well, he's not supposed to be out. Honey, he was out. Don't say he's not supposed to be out. He was out. And he could get out again. And if you're going to keep a dog with this capacity, you have to be totally responsible. Make sure he never gets out again. Wonder if it bit a person that didn't have the heart that I have. I wonder if it bit a little child. I wonder if it bit somebody and all they think is liabilities. And now they use this as an excuse for you guys, and everything's good. And you'll never see me probably again."
She said, "But shouldn't take you somewhere or to the hospital?" I said, "Honey, I'm already with Jesus, and I'm fine. I'll be fine. Look, no blood. I said, I got two more miles to run yet. I got a radio thing to do. And I got to preach to 300 pastors tonight. I'm going to take off. Let me pray for you guys."
Father, I just thank you. Come here. And they're like, "What is going on?" The best evangelistic tool you ever have is the life you live. We feel pressured to evangelize. That's because we're trying to get a head nod from people and approach me. Just live Christ. It's evangelistic. Love is the most amazing tool.
So I took off running. I got back to the hotel. I came in, and the girl at the desk just looked down and saw my red bloody shoe because it stood out. I had white sneakers. One was red and one was white. You see that? You're like, "Wow, this white-haired man is styling. He's got a mix of that." And she went, "I said, yeah, it's blood."
She said, "What?" I said, "Yeah." She said, "What happened?" I said, "Big old pit bull grabbed me in the side of the leg. Look at that." When he got to understand when I left the hotel, I heard for something for this girl. And I walked over to her and I said, "Hey, sweetie, I just heard in my heart."
She goes, "I said, it's okay. This is the Lord. It's okay. Don't be embarrassed. He loves you. Listen to me. Come here." Pray with her. I had that moment with her right before I ran my five miles. Why? I'm a Christian. I live in Christ. I see people. I don't have issues. I'm not all locked up. I gave up my life subscription to issues when I got saved.
I'm not a Christian for me. I'm a Christian for his name and ultimately for you. I've laid down my life for others. I'm not here for a blessing. I'm so blessed that he lives in me that I woke up with him this morning and he's there that I can live his word. And he lets me actually live his word and live by his spirit. Like I'm so blessed. I don't need more. I got him.
So she said, "No, watch this first person I meet after getting bit." Watch what she said, but that's a dog bite. Oh, I'm going to mess with some of you all now because some of you are so like, you have so much knowledge. You read so much stuff. You want to get more knowledge of him. Here's what we do in the church.
We get a symptom. We get a little freaked out. We check out like web medic. We Google our symptom. Now we're more freaked out. And then if this is click here, and now we're totally gone. And then we call a friend for prayer after we're totally gone. And we say, "But I've been praying."
No, you've been freaking out. You have not been in any faith. Don't tell yourself you're in faith. You're in absolute fear. Fear and despair. And you're reducing the Bible to principles like a fairy tale, hoping they work. And that's why so many times things don't change. He is not a genie in your bottle. He is not a waiter at your table. He is the father over all creation. And he is in covenant with you if you'll give him all that you are.
We always want all that he is, but we don't do the other part. All that is ours is yours. We want all that is his is ours, but we don't do the other part. We don't do well. That's why we're still offended. That's why we're angry. That's why we're hurt by people. That's why we have unresolved conflicts. That's why our marriages aren't working. That's why we have problems because we're not surrendered. We haven't died. We're still alive for us.
Now we say, "I love you," but it means, "Do you love me?" And we prove it by the way we live out our lives. Come on. I'm not being mean. I'm being relatable, and I'm being real. Because if you understand what I'm talking about and you understand what love is, love doesn't seek its own. It takes no account of the wrong done to it and keeps no record of wrong.
Love is patient. Love is kind. It's not contentious and argumentative and debative and critical and unresolved and angry. You don't view a man and read a book by the cover. You see there's something greater at his potential. And he's created value in his purpose and his destiny. You're never against 2 Corinthians 5 to judge a man according to the flesh. You should see a man for what he's created for.
And whether he knows it or not, you ought to know it. Because that's how Jesus lived. "Forgive them, Father. They don't have a clue. They don't know what they're doing." But he's still hanging there. We're doing everything wrong, and he's doing everything right. And he's loving us. And he said, "If you believe."
I just think we believe the wrong things. I think we heard so many messages in our life that benefit us that we got the idea that he's here for us instead of we're here for him. And I think we got this backwards. And that's why people are disheartened, discouraged, don't want to pray anymore. And a lot of us even have a story that justifies being mad at God himself.
Well, that's a sure sign you're self-centered and you don't understand covenant. He hasn't failed you. My mom was sick and died. He didn't fail us. Come on. My mom shined his light the whole way through. She said, "I'm not, I don't believe God gave me this, but I believe I'm a daughter before I have MS. And I believe I'm called to shine."
And she shined, and her funeral people came just because of the woman she was in the condition she was. And they couldn't believe that she lived the way she lived. And they thought she was an enigma. And I had to explain she was a believer. Doctors came to my mother's funeral. Whose doctors go to the funerals? Unless they're personal family and friends.
Doctors, patients die every day, but they're at her funeral. That speaks whole nursing staff in home nurses. I can't tell you how many nurses were at my mom's funeral. And I had the microphone. I had them crying in three to five minutes, bawling their eyes out. "Oh my goodness. Hi. Hey guys. Thank you for being here and honoring mother. Oh my goodness. I know why you're here because you've never in your life met someone like that."
And they're, but the truth is they met a lot of people that go to church, they never met one like this. What's the difference? She's living Christ. She's not becoming MS. She's a daughter before she's MS. She's on the earth to shine. It doesn't say unless of course you have MS.
It says, "My single eye." Come on. If it wasn't this way, you wouldn't need a single eye. "My single eye, my whole body flooded with light." It doesn't say unless of course you're challenged with many issues. It doesn't say unless of course you're challenged with many issues. It doesn't say unless of course you're challenged with many issues at the moment.
You don't take a break in shining. It doesn't say unless you got bit by a pit bull. That girl said, "That girl said, but that's a dog bite, sir. There was so much bacteria in the mouth and the teeth of a dog. And that's going to get so infected. My mom got bit one time and thought she'd be okay. And her hand paused and paused until she felt like she wanted to cut it off. It got so infected. You need to go get checked out."
I said, "Now, there you go. The first person I see after my dog bite, and you're going to give me a natural knowledge, intellectual speech, and forget everything that happened when I left here on the way out and hugged you at your counter. And you're going to forget everything about him being so good and me hearing about your heart and what you're going through. And you don't even know me. And I'm a stranger, and you didn't tell me. And I told you, you're going to forget all that and just throw me into a medical book."
I said, "Honey, you look at me and you look in my eyes. I've been fine before he bit me. I've been fine since he bit me, and I'll be fine." And she's like, "Okay." Maintenance man peeks around the corner. Precious black man from Alabama. He must have had some Pentecostal in his background at any moment. I figured that out.
He came out. He said, "Hey, man, you got bit by a dog. Did I hear you say you got bit by a dog?" I said, "I did." He said, "Man, you got to listen to the girl. I got bit by a dog." I said, "Two people. I mean, two people. And they both have dog bite stories. Trauma dog bite stories. I did the same thing. I didn't get nothing done. The infection got so bad. Just like she's."
She said it was like a heartbeat in my body. And I felt like I had to amputate that piece of my body, man. Just go get checked out. And I said, "No." At least he said, "Where was the dog at, man? What are you doing today? Did you call in the dog? Did you?"
I said, "Listen, man. I said, the dog bit me. I told him, listen, the dog bit the right person if that's possible because now you learned a lesson today. You got to make sure this dog ain't never out again. I said, I loved on him. I prayed for him. They were a wreck. I told him ain't nothing ever going to come of this because I'm fine and I'm going to be fine.
I'll tell you what, when my mess, when I'm holding them accountable, that's when I got infection. How am I asking God to help me when I ain't living in his heart? How am I asking for God's favor when I ain't manifesting God in the thing? So when I call an attorney, I'm on my own.
Well, you ought to pay attention to me on this stuff because you don't have to believe me. But before I went to preach for the pastors, one of the holes was already closed. I didn't even bandage it to go preach. When I got back to my hotel, they were both closed. In the morning, I had a red spot.
Well, I don't believe that. That's your privilege. So I'm a liar, a sicko, and I shouldn't have the mic or I'm telling you the truth. You'll have to decide. But you can see I'm a madman. Do you think Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego were calm when they came out of the fire? Do you think they were like, "Whoa, dude, that was pretty awesome. Well, you know what we said? We believed. Yeah, he did it. Praise the Lord."
No, when you see passion that you can't relate to in somebody, it's because of the fire. It's because of the witchcraft I went through and the stuff that tried to kill me when I started seeing and preaching and shut down my voice. You can see it didn't do a good job. Witchcraft, serious witchcraft, no match for Jesus.
When we're believers, nobody's afraid. We don't have to chant and pray in tongues in a corner and grab a big prayer group and put your prayer request all over the internet. That's usually a sign of fear. A lot of times prayer chains are fear lines, and we won't admit it. It takes one to move a mountain. Why do we need the whole world? Because it's fear usually that motivates our prayer.
Usually we pray because of symptoms, because you see your son doing things, and it sends signals that he's into trouble, and you go to your bedroom crying and praying and fretting, and you call that faith. That's not faith. This maintenance guy said, he said, "I told him what I did," and he said, "Man, this is where the Pentecostal came out in him. He said, 'Man, you for real? You for real? Oh man, you're really for real.'"
And I said, "You know, I get that a lot. I said, people say to me, 'You know what I like about you? You're for real.' And I'm like, 'Well, what are you? Are you like half and half? Are you like somewhat in and somewhat not? Like, why is my biggest compliment the pure in heart? See God.'"
I wonder why we don't see him a lot. Come on, you can tell I'm not picking on you. I'm not, I'm cheering you on. I'm saying this thing is bigger than we've understood. There's more available than we've realized. And we're just getting our feelings hurt and praying for God to change the people that hurt our feelings. What are your feelings hurt for you?
Love, not your own life unto death. You certainly shouldn't have hurt feelings. I walk in relationship with God. People, there's nothing you could do to hurt my feelings. You could stand up and hate me. You can shoot me with a nine millimeter. You're not going to kill me. I'm alive, and I'm never going to die. Because he's eternal. I can't even lose. I already won. I already won. There's no way to lose.
So now I have something to give. So I sit on the plane today. I got something to give. They buckle their seatbelt. I go, I ain't never seen nobody get out of the window. I can't even tell you how many people cried beside me on a plane. I had an ambassador from the U.S. flying to China. Didn't know he was an ambassador.
Got totally healed word of knowledge. He was so overwhelmed. He's a Methodist Presbyterian man. He said, "I didn't get to go to church much because I'm traveling so much as an ambassador, but I go when I can, but I've never experienced this. Explain this." I said, "It's the kingdom of God, and it's here."
He said, "No one's ever taught me this." I said, "Well, I didn't teach you. I showed you." So now I can talk about it. He said, "Please, the whole flight, we talked about it." He's totally healed. He gets his stuff out. And I said, "Hey, it was fun sitting beside you. Thanks. If you open this and let me pray for you."
And I said, "Listen, don't you forget what God's done for you today, man. This is an ambassador of the U.S. for the United States educational system. And I'm sitting beside him, and I'm a madman." He leaned down, and tears flooded his eyes.
"Well, that really hurt." "Well, I feel not today, friend. Today's not a good day. Tomorrow won't work either. We'll just put that on eternal hold. We'll just go ahead and stay what we all sing. We are free. Yeah, free till somebody says something you don't prefer. Free till something happens at work that you don't believe is fair. Free to the wrong one gets elected for president only free as long as things are going this way you hope."
Come on, that's not too harsh. That's just straight. I just want you to think deeper today. I don't have a lot of time, but I have a lot of time to think about my fun day. I got bit by that dog, the lady, the maintenance man, hug him. We talk, we sat and chatted for a while. I ran off. I said, "Look, I got to go."
Had a man come. He wanted me to do a radio show with, I hardly ever do, but he was one of the pastors I was just trying to honor. And I didn't know if he'd understand. I just stay away from media. I'm not trying to be a computer. I am a caveman. I just want to walk in the woods. I just want to go fish. I wouldn't even know what to do with a computer. I've never owned one in my life. I'm 62. When I full-time pastor, they have one on my desk. They'd come in and turn it on and use it. They said, "So it didn't get dust accumulated." I didn't even want it. I don't even care. I don't, there's nothing about it that I desire.
I just read my Bible, and I want him, and I want him in me when there's need around. I want to be in a grocery store and see a need and have something to answer with instead of just feel bad. I want to discern people's struggles. I want to discern things, and I want to sit on a plane and tell them their stuff and give them an answer. And they didn't even talk to me yet. And then they're crying and undone because God's on the scene. That's what I want.
If I had a computer, I might be on that all the time. I might be so caught up in social media, I never even have a chance to get to know God. We just talk about him all the time. Talking about him and knowing him are dramatic differences. In fact, knowing about him without knowing him is crazy dangerous because it'll puff you up in knowledge and make you a debater of scripture.
And then you'll listen in a critical ear to people for what you don't agree with. And that's all you get out of a sermon. You sit with raised eyebrow and don't even have the manifestation of Christ in your life. Knowledge will puff you up. Am I shooting it straight, my man? I don't know any other way. I'm not. I'm not here to be mean. I don't think you feel like I'm being mean. I care about you more than you understand.
I'm here because I love people, and I believe the gospel. And I've lived it for 29 years, and I'm confident in my speech. I have countless, countless history with God, testimonies and people that have been touched and changed in my hometown. There's people that should be quadriplegics. There's people that should have no children. There's people that should definitely be dead, and they're not. Because of Christ.
And I'm way too far gone for you to debate with me your theological differences. I'm way too far gone. You say, "Yeah, you look like you're out of your mind." No, I'm out of yours probably. And that's where we're trapped in the confines of our own mind. And it's not even with the head that a man believes; it's supposed to be with his heart.
And we live from our heads all the time. "Well, I'm just an analytical person." You ought to stop that yesterday. Analytical? What is that? That's not a bad. People talk like they boast. "I'm just an analytical person. I'm very analytical." That's a curse. That came through Eve and the serpent and another voice.
God never gave you the gift to think hard enough to talk yourself out of him or out of truth. God never gave you the gift to say, "I love you," and then you're analytical and come up with a reason why he might not. It's not a gift. It's the world. And it's the way that you never see it bring life.
It brings excuse. It brings excuses and alibis and justifications, but not life. People say, "Well, you don't know what I've been going through, Pastor. You're talking to incest. You don't know what I've been going through." See, that's the focus, what I've been going through. We don't pay attention to what he went through to find the new me in that truth so that I have something to give in the middle of the pressure.
See, I'm in a terrible car wreck, brand new truck. People bought me the truck. They bought me the truck. They said, "You need a new truck." I said, "No, I love my truck." My truck was 13 years old or whatever. That one was 13 or 11. It was something. And it just fit me like a glove. It was my truck. I mean, it had my behind print in the seat. It just, it's just my truck. You know what I mean?
I'm like, "I don't need a new truck. I love this truck." And they said, "No, I was, the lady said, I was in prayer, and the Lord said, you need a new truck." I said, "I don't think you heard the Lord, honey. Love my truck." I didn't know I was about to start driving at least 30,000 miles a year. And my old truck might have been tired.
She said, "Well, I called two people because they came in my heart in intercession. And they both said they were hearing the same thing." I said, "Stop, stop. You heard in prayer that I needed a new truck. And then you got the impression of two names. You called them, and they said, 'Oh my gosh, we're hearing the same thing.'"
She said, "Yes." She's spooky, man. I was like, "Don't even touch me. Just stay back." They sold finances into a fund. And when it got to enough, I bought a truck and drove off a lot. Never bought a new truck in my life. I'd buy one three years old and drive it till it dies and pray it live. Now I got a new one. I never had a new truck in my life. I got a new truck.
Well, I'm driving it for three months. I'm heading down the road to meet a bunch of guys to go preach. I come right up on an intersection, a big medical center. And it's a whole bunch of cars turning into the medical center. And the lady's trying to cross. And she sees the line with the turn signals. And she sees turn signal, turn signal. She says, "Oh, they're all turning. I'll shoot across."
She forgets it's two-way traffic. Whop, she hits the gas. And I'm right up on the intersection. I remember I'm like a little kid. You have to understand. I'm not a reactor. I don't panic. I've just been in God. I've been in prayer. I've been with him. And I sat up on my wheel and said, "Hey, Jesus."
And I'm looking. And I realized I'm going to T-bone him. And there's a man right there on the passenger side. So I said, "Oh, Jesus." And I hit my wheel as hard as I could because there's no way to hit the brakes. It was just too late. She just pulled out so in front of me. I kicked the wheel as hard as I could.
And all it was like just lights out, man. Boom. And I mean, I'm going 35. No brakes. Bam. And it was like an amusement park ride. And you don't even know where you're at. It was probably like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. And they land. So I go, boom. And I land. And I'm up in the yard facing down. Looks like my truck's sitting there for sale.
But it wasn't for sale. Everything's white. I said, "Jesus, it's my airbag." I never had an airbag. I never had a new car. I still remember when it was imploding. I actually saw it imploding. I remember going, "That's my airbag." I was like, "Airbag. I got an airbag."
So I'm in the airbag. I ripped out the airbag. And I ran to the car. Man's trembling. I looked. I went, "Oh my gosh. There are so many car parts and pieces laying. It didn't even make sense. Her windows, shields shattered. I never looked at my truck. See, there's just things that we got to get.
We're thinking, "Oh no, my truck." We're looking at our truck and not even seeing who's in the other car. We're kicking the grass, shaking her head, going, "Oh my gosh." Trying to tell them it's okay after you proved it's not. You see what we do? There's people in the car. I run over there. I said, "Sir, I have to pray for you. Jesus is amazing. And he makes things right."
I said, "Good. You feeling good?" He said, "I'm just shook up." I said, "Father, thank you." I hear a little girl in the back. She's our grandchild. She's 13. I ask. I find a lot out. She's crying and crying. I said, "It's okay, honey. It's okay. I'm going to come back. Father, I thank you. Bless him, God. Never a symptom, never a pain, never a reverb or anything or backlash from today. God, I thank you for holding us."
Probably kissed him on the head. I do that a lot. I jumped in the back of the car. I said, "Come here, baby. Come here." I'm a total stranger. She's 13. She crawls up on me like a kitten. She just lays on me. She perceives peace. I just hold her and I rock.
I'm telling her about Jesus and things happen in life, honey. Sometimes so unexpected. That's why it's so important to know Jesus. He makes everything right, sweetheart. The peace you feel right now is Jesus. He loves you. Father, thank you for this precious child. She's not even crying anymore. She's just laying to me like a baby, like she don't want me to let her go.
And I said, "Is these your grandparents?" She said, "Yeah." I said, "How old are you?" She said, "13." I said, "Okay." I said, "What's your name?" She said, "I'm a little girl." I said, "I'm a little girl." I said, "I'm a little girl."
This is a good learning thing for you. You can walk through anything with Jesus, honey. He'll bring peace in the middle. And so I'm evangelizing. I'm not thinking my new truck. God, why would you buy me a new truck and then let it get wrecked or sit on the curb? Lord, I don't understand. You say you're here to protect me. I'm trying to preach the gospel. This don't look like protection.
I mean, I'm going to do a good thing. I'm going to meet these guys to preach. You would think you to do. Manifest Christ. That's why I'm on the earth. I got this one little shot. I'm not here you're going to have arguments. How's that for straight?
I go over to the grandmom. I run around. I go to the car. I said, "Honey, I really have to pray for you." She's just staring out the window. I found this out through the police report. She just turned 65. Watch this. You don't know this, but you find this stuff out. That's not her car. It's her daughter's. You know why she's driving her daughters? She totaled hers a week before.
I am not anointed to put another weight on an already heavy shoulder. I don't go to church to put weight on a heavy shoulder. I'm not a Christian to put more burden on an already burdened lady. The anointing removes the burden. I said, "Honey, I must pray for you and make sure that you never have any repercussions, whiplash pains."
And she doesn't say a word. She's just staring through a shattered windshield. And in Pennsylvania, you have a temporary tag because it's a brand new truck, and you have that for about three months, and they send you your stuff. I still had the tag in the window. She said, "I said, honey, I really want to pray for you."
And she's holding the wheel and staring. She said, "Oh no, it's a brand new truck. I hit a brand new truck." I said, "Honey, it's a truck. You matter so much more than a truck. You're what matters. Let me." She looked at me, got so mad. She said, "You don't understand. That is a brand new truck."
Grandma's snapping. 13-year-old granddaughter. Guess what she's doing? She's starting to cry. That's her grandma. Grandma's upset. Now she's crying. This lady looks for human at me. She's like, "That is a brand new truck. You don't understand. That driver is going to be so mad at me."
Yeah, yeah. You see what's wrong with me. I tipped her little chin. Father, I pray this insurance company don't rip me off. We're going up to the lady. Ma'am, didn't you see the sign? If she saw the sign, we wouldn't be sitting here like this.
What an honor to be unmoved by the accident because you're so moved by him, and you're not on the earth to survive. You're on the earth to shine. You're not on the earth for a better day. You're on the earth for a day in God.
There's no such thing as a bad day when you live him because that's not a bad day. That is fruit treasures in heaven, glory to God, and a sign that I love not my own life, period. That love him and know they're called according to his purpose.
You know what we do? We quote the line in a hope to muster up faith and hope. Well, God works all things together for the good. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. God works all things together. I only ever hear it quoted the...
See, if you don't get this stuff, you quote, "He works all things together for good," and then it don't work for the good. And then you start not believing God. And then when they sing, "He never failed me," yet you have times when you think he did because it was all about you.
And you weren't even thinking of manifesting him in the moment. You were just trying to get through the moment. Are you with me? Come on, this is convicting. I'm talking in riddles, am I? You can't hear what I'm saying, can you?
There's nobody going to leave here and say, "What was he trying to say?" You know what this kind of message does? No, it's because I love you. I ask God for this grace. I said, "If I'm going to speak in front of people, would you do this for me? When a man leaves, let him only have two choices. I hear what this man's saying, and I want this. Or I hear what he's saying. I just don't want it.
But don't let him leave and say, 'What's he trying to say?'" Ain't nobody saying, "What's he trying to say?" It locates your heart. It locates if you're all in, if you understand, if you surrender. It brings conviction. The conviction is sober. It stirs us in love and good works and keeps us on point.
You can't leave here and say you didn't hear this. It was so amazing. Do you see what happened? I said, "Honey, I am the driver." You know what she did? She fell on my shoulder, burst out in tears because of all the pressure, and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.
And guess what? She didn't. She didn't. She didn't. She said, "Oh, God bless you." And I'm thinking, "Yeah, he does." Three months later, while I'm out there, I had to say, "Look, I got to go out." The police officer's out there. I go out there. The officer's there. He wants to know what happened.
And one of my version, I said, "Man, she just made a tough driving mistake. I said, you can see what, look, I'm coming down the hill. She's sitting there. She's pulling out. Big, long line. They're all turning. She thinks, 'Oh, I can get across because they're all turning.'"
He went, "Oh." I said, "Yeah. And I was right up on the intersection. Isaid, I'll be honest. I was going 35. I don't think I was going anything over that. And I said, you know, I'm not modifying that. I was just going about 35 because I was coming up on the intersection. But there was nothing I could do. I couldn't touch my brakes. It was, she just right on. I said, and you can see, I almost did it.
But said, but man, I prayed for all of them. They seem really good. And he looked at me and said, he's just listening to me talk. And I'm just calm and just me. And he said, "You really have a mace. You really have a different position, like an amazing position on all this."
And I said, "Well, I don't know what else." He said, "Oh, I could give you some options." You know what he ended up telling me? He told me I've been to hundreds and hundreds of accidents. I've never met anybody like you at an accident.
And here's what breaks my heart. You can't tell me all them hundreds of accidents. Nobody went to church. That's convicting. That little girl with mama and grandma's freaked on me. The little girl started bawling. As soon as I prayed for grandma and hugged her, I ran her back.
I crawled in the back. I said, "Hey," she crawls to me and crawls up on me like she knows me, like I'm her best friend. And I rocked her. I said, "Hey, you calm down." And that's why I said, "Look, I got to go talk to the police officer."
Three months later, a Methodist church called. They said, "Listen, we believe God heals. We just don't understand it. We got too many questions, and we don't know how to answer the questions people ask. It's a topic we want to grow in, but we're afraid of because people are not getting healed and people die. And when we pray, and I said, 'Oh, that all happens to me, but I understand how to teach it. And we're all grown in faith, guys. We're a work in progress. We're going to the fullness of Him. If we keep getting our theology from life's experience, we'll never come to the knowledge of truth. Jesus is perfect theology. He's the manifestation of the Father. I got to follow Jesus, not my head. Bill dies, and Bob lives, and we say God heals some and doesn't heal all. Your Bible doesn't teach that. Your mind teaches that. Your circumstance teaches that, but Scripture doesn't.
We got to stop changing Scripture to suit our moment, or we'll never find truth. If I change when mom dies, I don't see all these things I'm seeing. If I take mom's death personal and turn on God and get angry, or I just live hurt and broken and throw away healing because mom died, then I don't see anybody else's mother healed.
But I have seen a lot of mothers healed because I'm not offended at the gospel. I love not my own life until three months later. I'm down in the Southern end of the county. I told the Methodist church, I don't believe in Jesus. I don't believe in Jesus. I don't believe in Jesus.
I was real calm on the phone, and I'm like, "Oh, I would love to do that. Yeah, I'll do that." I hung up and was like, "Because I thought it was a great opportunity." So I went down, I'm preaching my amazing sermon. And it's an old country church with two rows of pews like this right here, but they're pews all the way back.
And way back in the second row, right about where you young man, that handsome guy with the flat top. Yeah, you sitting right there where he's at, he stands up, this guy stands up, and I'm preaching, and I see him standing, and I'm like, "Oh man, he must be having really bad back trouble or something. He can't sit no more. We're going to have to pray for him first."
And I'm preaching a little bit. I felt like drawn to him. And I thought I need to address him. I said, "Sir, do you need prayer? Why are you standing? Is it your back?" What did he said? "I just like to say something." And I, I'm the, I took a risk. I'm pretty strong personality. I took a risk. I said, "Cause I don't know what he's going to say. I don't know if he's going to preach sensationalism."
I said, "I said, uh, sure. What's on your heart?" He said, "You were in an accident three months ago on such and such." I said, "I was." He said, "I don't expect you recognize me out of uniform." I'm the police. I said, "Dude, I see it. Yes, it's you."
I got this live infomercial. I got this live commercial from this police officer in the Methodist church. Guess what he said? Cause I wasn't preaching on healing. I was preaching on... He said, "People, I want you to understand that this man's for real. Cause I saw him where the rubber meets the road. He said, and everything that he's preaching, I saw him with my eyes live in a very serious accident.
And I'm telling you, I've been to hundreds of accidents, and I have never seen a man respond like he did at this accident. But here's what you don't know about me. When I was eight years old, I was touched wrong by a man that said he was a Christian. And I said in my heart, I don't want nothing to do with Christian. I will never be around Christian, and I will never be a part of Christian if this is Christian.
And he said, "I'm 40 years old, and I can't get that man out of my mind." He said, "And I said in my heart, maybe I made a rash decision at age eight in a terrible situation. And maybe that man that did that to me wasn't Christian at all. Maybe I met the wrong person."
Maybe that man that did that to me wasn't Christian at all. Maybe I met the wrong person. And I'm going, he said, "I just got diagnosed with the situation. My friend here saw the sign healing service. He said, 'Look, I don't know what it'll be. If it's a carnival or circus, I don't know what you're sick. You got nothing better to do. You're, you're, let's just go. We'll sit in the back. If it's weird, we'll leave.'
He said, "Normally I would have laughed my friend out of the car for even suggesting that. Go to a Christian thing." He said, "But as soon as he said it, I said, I want to go." And he pointed to me and said, "It's all because of meeting that man in the car wreck. I've been thinking of it ever since."
He said, "This is the first time in my 40 years of life I've walked through the doorway of a Christian church because of meeting that man." He said, "And then I walk in the church, not knowing what I'm coming to. And I look up, and it's..."
And the whole time he's saying manifest Christ, manifest Christ. You know who the Christ in you is? You know what the Bible says? The Christ in you is the hope of glory. You know what glory is? It's the hope of glory. It's the hope of glory. It's the hope of glory. It's the hope of glory.
And he manifested, made, seen, realized attribute of God, the glory of God revealed. Watch this. The time. We got to start stepping out and be in love, caring, believing God will give us discernment in words. Sometimes you just take faith and get in the conversation and believe more will come. And it's so fun, but that's not live inward.
Listen, I'm not being... The difference is it wasn't, we're so ruled by the sinner's prayer. The sinner's prayer is like a hundred years old. It was some, somebody came up with as a tool to lead people to salvation. I'm... You're not waiting to go there. It comes into you. The kingdom of God is here.
I went to church my whole life. So I was 18. I went to church and didn't even miss probably. And all I heard was you. You want to go to heaven. So keep coming to church. And I used to think, wonder if he comes when we're not having church. I was so confused as a kid.
So I didn't go to church for 14 years, and I didn't care, but I was convicted. I had seed in me. I went to work one night. I was 33 years old. And the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "You don't even know if God's really real." He didn't say you haven't read your Bible in a while. I haven't seen you in church. Sure, I haven't heard you pray.
She, you don't even know if God's really real. See, eternal life is knowing him, not praying a prayer to go there. It's knowing the one that's eternal. It's relational. And what God wanted is a relationship. And he froze me, and I got changed.
My wife and I were separated for five months, and I was celebrating. I just lost 45 pounds. I was getting myself in condition to start over. And I thought somebody's going to need me. That's what I thought. Somebody's going to need me. I'll find somebody. They'll need me.
And I was celebrating that my marriage was over, and now I'm saved. 30 minutes after the encounter with God, I thought of my wife and felt like the first time in my life, I love somebody. I would have told you, I would have given you such an awful resume of my wife five minutes before I got saved.
Pastor, 30 minutes after I'm saved, I think of my wife, and I saw that she tried hard. She was a peacemaker. She was gentle. She was kind. And I cried and cried and said, "I have never loved this woman. I've used her and needed her. I've been unthankful and self-centered for 13 years. I have never valued this woman."
And I cried and said, "I have never loved her one day, let alone in Christ." And I called her to tell her. And she hung up because she was a Christian the whole 13 years. And she tried hard, and she prayed, and she took the kids to church, and she took the kids to the little camps and the little stuff that the Assembly of God does. I forget the names of the little groups, the kids, and she'd take them to all that stuff.
And I would never go. I'd stay in bed, and I'd never go. She'd go herself. When our marriage was over and she said, "I can't do this anymore," I threw it in her face. I was so mean and evil. I said, "That's great. I've been waiting for this. I wasted enough of my time with you. I can do a whole lot better than you."
I told her terrible things. Her heart got hard. I saw her say, "I'm not going to let this man make me cry again." She goes in her bedroom and she says, "I am so done with this man. I am so done with this marriage." She looks up at the ceiling and says, "And I'm done with you. Watch what she said. I prayed to you for 13 years."
13 years. I prayed to you, and you've done nothing. You've allowed me and these children to suffer through hell, and you've done nothing. I don't need you either. See, pain understands her language. Covenant doesn't. She takes off out of the room and walks into places in darkness that she knew she'd never travel and did things she knew she'd never do because of pain, unresolved conflict, and unforgiveness.
You and mold you and shape you to do things you would never do if you were okay. For seven weeks, she fought me and tried to break me and prove that I was a phony. She said, "You're only trying to get the family on your side and make them think this is all my fault. I know you."
She said, "You're a fool, Dan Muller, and this isn't going to work." That's what she was doing. And then she'd come at me with stuff and do stuff. She tried to hurt me and break me over and over seven weeks. Why? Because if I would break, she would go, "Aha, see," and relieve her guilty conscience she's not walking with Jesus, and there's not a day goes by she doesn't think about that.
So if she can get me to seem like I'm not sincere, then it gives her a temporary out. So one day we were trying to live in the same house, different rooms. It was terrible before I was saved. Now it's fine. The kids are, my daughter said to my wife one morning, she said, "Mommy, how come you used to get up and take me and Daniel to church all the time? And daddy would never go. And now daddy takes us to church, and you never go."
My gosh. Six weeks in, she left for her sister's house and was going to leave for two, three days. Six hours later, she sneaks in the back door unannounced, tries to catch me in something inappropriate. Well, she caught me. All right. She turned the corner, and I see her face. I said, "Hey." She said, "Just never mind. Don't worry about it."
I said, "What's the matter?" She said, "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know." What? Nothing. Never mind. She didn't need nothing out the back door. And she's going, I'm like, "What was that?" She said, she yelled at God at the top of her lungs the whole way to her sister.
Why'd she come home? She tried to sneak in unannounced where I was unaware and catch me watching garbage, screaming at the kids. Just anything that looked like she remembered. Guess what she caught me doing. I'm sitting Indian style with my children, 10 and 5. I got the Psalms open, and I'm showing them what it means to worship the Lord.
And she walked in on that and caught me. Ah, one week later, she's doing herself up to go out. She goes in the bathroom with a curling brush in her hand. And the Lord walks in the bathroom. Oh, it's overwhelming. He just walks in the bathroom, and she goes and knows he's standing there.
Why? Because I'm not trying to play Holy Spirit. I'm not pleading, begging. "Hey, I'm changed. Give me a chance." You know, people change. No, just live in Jesus. He's like, "Oh, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. Oh my God, I'm not going to do it."
She said, "Kim, why are you so angry with that man?" She said, "It was like somebody tore something off. Not even the man you married. I have made him a brand new man." So guess what? I am brand new. She crashes to the floor, crashes to the floor.
Fetal position. She is crossing lines. Her conscience is so violated. She's in the middle of things she knew she'd never be in the middle of. And now she's in the presence of God, broken in a ball. And he hovers over her and makes peace from all those months ago and says, "You know, it's true. You prayed to me for 13 years. It's true. You did pray for me to 30, but you don't understand how you tied my hands and kept me from ever answering any of your prayers.
Cause Kim never wants, did you pray because of love? You only prayed because of pain. And you knew if I changed him, your day would go better. Kim, you've been reduced to another hurting wife at praise. You didn't pray because of mercy. You didn't pray because he was lost. You prayed because you were in pain, and Kim, I can't change him and leave you there. I love you way too much.
And she went, so I'm out in the garden working beans, and I'm doing the second round of beans. And I hear the door slam, and she's running at me. She's a little unassuming. She's a non-threatening little thing, but I'm looking for knives, guns. She's running hard right at me.
And I'm thinking, "Cause she wouldn't come to me. She would ignore me. She's running." And she just wraps around me and plants her head in my chest. It was so dramatic. Now I'm bawling because I haven't held her for six and a half months.
She made it 13 years with the revelation, the lack of revelation she had, but she did because she's that kind of girl. But now she's saying she's sorry to me. It's bothering me. What are I wanted to tell her all these weeks, right? And she says, "No, I'm so sorry."
I said, "What could you possibly be sorry for?" She looked me right in the eyes and said, "Never loving you in prayer. I only prayed because I was hurt. And I knew if God changed you, my day would go better. It had nothing to do with mercy towards you. It had to do with pain because of you."
And what a revelation to get right out of the gate. And I went, "So said, honey, can I renew my wedding vow to you?" See, I was four weeks saved, and she was into stuff, and I was getting visions of my wife and where she was and what she was doing in detail. Vision. Third night, maybe I got the visions.
I would say, "Oh my goodness. No father, she's got to be hurt. Lord." The visions were like, "What? Where? What?" It was, "Oh no." The Lord on the third day said, "Dan, do you know why I'm showing you these visions?" I said, "So I can pray for her."
He said, "Dan, I'm showing you the visions because I can. And you only respond like me." He said, "Many things I want to show my kids, but they won't respond like me." He said, "When you're one with me, I can tell myself anything. When you're one with me, you're in. Show me where my wife was and what she was doing. Cause I'd only respond like him. Not cause I'm gifted and anointed in a seer. Cause I'm one with his heart, and he can trust me with the info cause I won't mishandle it."
So now I'm holding my wife, and I said, "I've realized what's been happening." And I know some things you can't know things. What do you mean? Boom. I lay it all out. And she goes, "There's no way you know that." I said, "I've been getting visions, and I know it, and I love you. And I'm so sorry I hurt you. None of that was you. Welcome home. It's over. We don't even have to talk about it. I love you."
I said, "Can I renew my wedding vow to you?" She said, "What?" See, I'm a spontaneous fella. I said, "You owe me nothing on this earth but to receive the love of God for me. And as long as I draw breath on this earth, I will serve you in his unfailing love."
And she said, "Okay." And I held her, and we just celebrated 42 years, and she's precious. And I love her. She's not a bad girl because of that season. She was hurt. She's an amazing woman of God. And I'm honored to be her husband. God transformed me so I could see her value. He touched her so she could address her own heart. And then he brought us back together.
And that dynamic truth. And now we're living in him. Are you with me? This is your lives. This is what you're called to. I'm at 1201, so I'm a little late, but it was worth it. But I'm not.
on Aug 24, 2024
