This morning, if you got your Bibles, go with me over to the end of the Gospel of John.
And I was going to share something else, and I just kind of felt the wind just change in here.
And so I'm like, okay, we're going to go this other direction.
So Lord help me this morning in the name of Jesus.
All right. So kind of continuing on the, on what the Holy Spirit's been speaking all weekend.
So John 21, okay. So John 21 says this, after these things, it says after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius.
And in his way, he showed himself. So in other words, Jesus rose again from the dead and then started appearing.
And there's a number of times the Scripture names them. Mark 16 names, all three times he named, he appeared.
This is another time that he appeared. And so it says, Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel, Kenan of Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and the two other the disciples were together.
Simon Peter answered and said, I'm going fishing. And they said, we are going with you also.
And they went out and immediately got into the boat.
And that night they caught nothing. And when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore.
And yet the disciples didn't know that it was Jesus. And then Jesus said to them, children, do you have any food?
And he said, they said to him, no. And he said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat.
And you'll find some. And so they cast. And now when they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish,
therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord.
And now when Simon heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he had removed it and plunged into the sea.
And the other disciples came in a little boat for they were not far from the land, about 200 cubits, dragging the net of fish.
And as soon as they came to the land, they saw a fire of coals there and fish on it. And Jesus said, bring some of the fish that you've caught.
This is also mentioned in Luke. Hold your finger here and go to go back to Luke chapter 5.
Luke chapter 5. So Luke chapter 5, I was going to say we're going to get you out this morning before the Lutherans, but they're already home.
Okay, so. Terrible joke.
So it was as a multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God.
He stood by the lake of Geneseret and he saw two boats standing by the lake and the fishermen had gone out of them and they were washing their nets.
And he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put him out a little from the land.
And he sat down and he taught the multisuits from the boat.
And when he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.
Simon answered and said, Master, we have toiled all night, right?
And we've caught, what again? Nothing, right?
Nevertheless, at your word, I'll let down the net.
When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish so that they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
And filled both the boats with fish and they began to sink, right?
So here in these two different occurrences, we see in the ministry of Jesus appearing here in John 21.
And he says to them, go to the other side of the boat.
Now, can you imagine how foolish that is? How many of you people have a boat? Anyone got a boat in here?
All right. So can you imagine, you are... now, we're not talking about rod and reel fishing.
We're talking about net fishing, okay?
So with net fishing, often in Israel, they would throw this net out and it would cover an area and then they would draw it.
And so they had been going at this a long time and they had caught nothing.
And so here this crazy preacher from the shore, they don't even know it's Jesus.
And they, he says, throw it on the other side of the boat.
Now, can you imagine how stupid does that sound? I mean, what is the width of the boat?
I mean, we're talking a matter of a few feet.
And Jesus says, no, no, just throw it on the other side.
And the Bible says it was a net breaking boat sinking catch. Is that right?
And so this is what God began to speak to my heart about for this morning is living on the other side of the boat.
Come on, push your neighbors say, live on the other side of the boat.
Jesus was pushing them out of their comfort zone as Pastor Mary was saying earlier.
And he was pushing them get on the other side, break your pattern, get over and get on the other side of the boat.
Come on, right?
And, you know, many times in Christendom, even amongst us Pentecostal Charismatics, we can get into patterns.
Even Minnesota people. Come on, talk to me, Minnesota people. Is that right?
And we can get into patterns, right?
Maybe not Princeton people, maybe the rest of Minnesota, but we can get into patterns. Is that right?
And the Lord wants to break those patterns. Come on, somebody. Amen.
And he wants to break those patterns for a purpose. There's a purpose to break those patterns.
And that's what Jesus was trying to get them to see is obviously there's hardly any distance from one side of the boat to the other side of the boat.
However, it was just the action of obedience to breaking the pattern.
And one of the things I've noticed is when I first got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit as a teenager,
one of the first things God began to speak to me about is, stop speaking in the same prayer tongue.
Let's see how quiet it is. I'll just try this church over here.
Stop speaking in the same prayer tongue you got in Bible camp in whatever year.
Come on, talk to me, somebody, right?
Some people are the same, exact same prayer, like they never stretch it, they never push beyond.
It's the same thing, you know what I mean? You know, you hear the same person.
Ticket it, ticket it, ticket it, ticket it, ticket it, ticket it.
Sounds like an old Model T Ford, you know? Ticket it, ticket it, ticket it, ticket it, ticket it, ticket it.
And they never, you know, push beyond that, amen?
And so that's why the Scripture talks about Romans chapter 12.
Even if you prophesy, you prophesy according to your faith.
Is that right? Let me just say it like this. You speak in tongues according to your faith.
Amen. So if you, you just have faith for those five words, you got that one time at Bible camp and you never push, never.
God, there's no more words. There's only five words. That's it. The same ones I say again and again. You understand?
But when you live on the other side of the boat, you have to push out of your comfort zone.
Come on, talk to me, somebody, into a realm that it's uncharted waters. Is that right?
So, you know, whether it's praying in the spirit or whether it's where you sit or whether it's standing or I remember when I first got saved
and I went to a Holy Ghost church with my friends and got filled with the spirit and they were all lifting their hands.
And the moment they lifted their hands in worship, the freedom they had, man, it just instantly brought tears to my eyes.
I'd never seen it before. I was a good Lutheran boy. Nobody raised their hands unless you had a question.
Okay? Not in the Lutheran church, alright?
And so, when I saw them lifting hands during worship, I mean, tears began to fill my eyes. Why?
Because they were living on the other side of the boat. Come on, somebody, right?
Or even other times, the Lord began to speak to me about other times about just responding to the spirit in an altar call.
I remember in Bible school and there was a time, there was a message that was preached in chapel
and it was so powerful and so convicting and God didn't tell me to do it, I just did it.
I just responded to the spirit and I just ran to the altar. I was the only one. I didn't care.
And I was just bawling my eyes out in the altar. What was I doing?
Breaking the pattern and going to the other side of the boat.
Amen.
So whether it's spiritual gifts, whether it's outreach and evangelism, whether it's prayer, whatever it might be,
God wants to get you to the other side of the boat.
So prophesied to your neighbor, say, get on the other side of the boat.
Okay.
So there's something about moving to that other side.
And I could give you hundreds of examples.
So it was funny, Pastor Gary was here last night.
And so I started as a pastor when I was very young.
I was 20 years old and I was a youth pastor, then an associate pastor.
And by the time I was 24, I started my church, my first church in New Jersey.
And so as I did that, God was constantly speaking to me about stretching out of my comfort zone.
Be willing to fail.
In fact, God spoke to me one time.
He said, if you're going to fail, fail big.
Are you with me?
Some people are like, ooh, I almost failed.
You know, who cares?
If you're going to fail, man, do it.
You understand?
And so that's what God began to just speak to me about.
Just be willing to get to that other side of the boat.
And then when I went to the traveling ministry, I'll never forget.
I was ministering in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
And a Minnesota pastor from Marshall told me that, hey, I have a pastor friend I want you to preach for in Gettysburg.
So I went to the East Coast.
I was ministering all over New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
And so I went to Gettysburg.
But during that time, God was speaking to me about the word of knowledge.
Because I had dipped into the word of knowledge a little bit, but very, very little.
And so God started to speak to me and he said, you have to have this in your spiritual life.
And you have to be willing to fail.
Right?
And so in other words, what was he saying?
Tom, just get to the other side of the boat.
Let down your nets.
Just stretch your faith in this other way.
So I'm in this church and it's hard to describe.
But this church, it was a Wisconsin boy who went to Raymond and started a church there.
And so on the back side of the stage, it was an apartment.
They just called it a prophet's chamber.
And so instead of a hotel, it was just literally like an extra room over there for the guest speakers.
So I was back there.
I'll never forget it was late in the night and I couldn't sleep.
And so I just got up and I'm walking around the sanctuary praying in the spirit and just praying over the chairs.
And when I did, they're sitting on one of the chairs is a sermon the pastor did.
And it's called the word of knowledge.
I picked that up, man. The hair in my neck stood up.
And so I began to listen to that cassette again and again and again and again and again.
So I started stretching my faith out there in this one area of the word of knowledge.
And I just began to start to push myself and I minister down in Faribault.
And I'll never forget the Lord just spoke to me and said, there's 22 people here with arthritis.
Tell them to stand up and they'll be healed when they stand up.
And I'm like, can I just say there's people here with arthritis?
He said, no, there's 22 people. You've got to say 22 people.
So I said, there's 22 people here with arthritis. This is in Faribault.
And so 20 people stood up.
And I'm like, no, there's two more people. You still have the exact same thing.
Well, sure enough, two people stood up. It was exactly 22 people.
See, what was happening? I was moving to the other side of the boat.
Come on, amen. So I'm not telling you you got to do something that I'm not doing.
Hello. Are you with me? Amen.
And so then I ended up going to Pastor Gary's church. He was here last night.
And I was telling him at the book table this story.
And so in service, God started to speak to me and said,
now I want you to start calling out people and giving words of knowledge and prophesy and stuff like that.
And so as soon as he hands me the microphone, God spoke to me and said,
there's someone here with an infected tongue.
Now this is a Wednesday night service. Okay, so there's 50 people, they're max.
Okay. And the Lord said, this is 1997, 1997.
He says, there's someone here with an infected tongue.
And I'm like, oh God, no. How about a headache?
How about a real bad migraine or something like that?
No, there's someone here with an infected tongue.
And I'm looking around. Does anyone look like they got an infected tongue around here?
See, but I was trying to save my skin.
Come on, talk to me. Don't look so holy at me, alright?
And so I was trying to, you know, not fall on my face.
And I thought, if I miss it, I miss it.
You know, God is big enough to fix it, right?
So I said, there's someone here, you have an infected tongue and nobody moves.
I'm like, well, let's just move right along here. Praise the Lord, right?
And I just said it again. There's someone here. Come on, you have an infected tongue.
And this girl starts bawling her eyes out in the back of the church.
She runs down to the front and she was 19 years old.
Her mother told her not to get her tongue pierced and she went and got her tongue pierced.
And when she got her tongue pierced, the way that she had her tongue pierced went wrong
and she got an infection and her tongue was twice this normal size.
It looked like a cow tongue in her mouth. I'm like, how do you put all that in your mouth?
Oh my gosh, you know?
And she's bawling her eyes out.
And so she said, nobody knows about this and its pus is coming.
It was a terrible scene.
And she hadn't gone to the doctor or anything. She didn't know what to do.
And so I wasn't like, stick your tongue out here.
You know, I wasn't going to do that, but I just put my hand on her face.
And I said, in the name of Jesus, I command that thing be healed.
And God's honest truth right there in front of everybody in that church that night,
God healed her tongue and sealed that thing up and it was completely covered.
Come on, give the Lord a hand, amen.
But I had to step on the other side of the boat. Come on, amen.
I remember, you know, I shared some of my story.
When I was in high school, I broke my neck in a wrestling accident.
And from that time, gifts of healings began to operate in my life when I got saved after I got healed.
And everywhere we would go, people would get healed of back injuries.
It wouldn't matter what we were praying for.
We could call people up for marriage, healing in their marriage.
And people would be like, oh, my back just popped, you know.
And so Susie and I would kind of laugh about it and stuff.
But in 2003, we heard of an evangelist, a very controversial guy,
that had a lot of people with deafness healed in his ministry.
And so Susie and I met him and had dinner with him and stuff.
And I said, tell me the story about this.
How come you have so many deaf people here?
And he began to tear up and he said, my mother, my mother was deaf her whole life.
And he said, when we buried my mother, he said, I declared war on deafness at her grave.
Come on, somebody.
And he said it was just like an eruption of miracles for deafness.
He said ever since that time.
So Susie and I began to say, we're going to fast every Wednesday
for revival in that church and for miracles, especially for deafness.
And I think we laid hands on everyone with hearing problems in 2003
and I think they got more deaf.
And it wasn't until the latter part of 2003, 2004, whatever it was,
that boom, all of the Sunday began to erupt.
And we began to see just a flurry of people get healed of that.
What was it? Were we waiting on God for that?
Or was God waiting on us to get to the other side of the boat?
Come on, amen.
So there's something about being willing to get to the other side of the boat.
No matter what area of your spiritual life, amen.
And especially when it comes to the E-word.
The E-word, it's almost a curse word in most churches in America.
It's a word of angelism.
You know, there was just another recent study done that since 2020,
99% of American churches have not won one soul to Christ since 2020.
99% have zero outreach. Zero. Zero outreach.
99% since 2020. That's crazy. Isn't that nuts?
And, but part of it is, is because living on the other side of the boat,
it's so comfortable and dry.
It's so safe over there. Come on, somebody.
And that thing of the E-word is so scary on the other side of the boat.
Come on, talk to me, somebody, amen.
But there's something about just being willing to step on the other side of the boat
that you bring healing and salvation.
I remember we ministered in Germany. This is before we found out my wife was Ukrainian.
We thought she was German. Find out she's mostly Ukrainian.
And so we went and we were ministering in Germany a couple places, Düsseldorf and Jena.
And so we told the pastor, perfect English, he was our translator
and we said we want to take people out of angelizing on the second to last day.
Oh man, his heart, I mean you could just tell his eyes.
He was like oh my gosh, nervous. What are we going to do?
And so Susie speaks up and says we want to go to the worst part of town.
That's where we want to go.
And so we went and we found where all these skinheads hung out.
And so I'm standing next to the pastor and we're kind of getting a plan and stuff.
And Susie goes and takes a group with her like immediately.
And she goes right to the main skinhead guy.
And he's got a girl under each arm and he's got this beer and stuff.
And boom, she just starts to present the gospel.
And he's got a cigarette and he's got a beer, you know.
And as soon as she starts talking to him, she says, do you understand English?
She said yes, perfectly.
And so she starts to preach the gospel boldly to this guy, you know.
And as she began to do that, he went and he was like, oh, he pushes the girls away.
And he's looking for a place to put the beer.
And so Susie said, I'll hold your beer.
And so she's like, okay, I'll hold your beer for you.
And then he's looking, what do I do with the cigarette?
And so she said, all right, I'll hold the cigarette, you know.
And the man looks at her like she's crazy.
And she goes, your sin is not going to affect me.
Come on somebody, my righteousness.
Come on, amen.
And she ended up leading that guy to Christ that day.
Come on, somebody.
Is that awesome?
But she was trying to demonstrate to the group that was with her to break out of your comfort zone, you know.
And I remember we were ministering in Modesto, California.
And we used to always do daytime evangelism, nighttime revival meetings.
And so we were in Modesto, California.
And what was that pastor's name?
He's in heaven now.
Allen, what?
Yeah, I'll think it.
Yeah, it'll hit us.
And so, great pastor.
And so back then, this is a long time ago, but we went and we used to have a, oh, what do they call it?
Like a follow-up sheet.
Susie had created these follow-up sheets.
And then everyone had a pen and everyone had a script.
And so we did different kinds of evangelism.
We did, you know, spirit-led and then we also did a script of angelism.
So just to get people going, we started them with a script of angelism.
And so as we did that, Susie and I, we drove our teams to this Walmart area.
And so I said, all right, Susie, where are you taking your group?
She said, I'm going right over here to Walmart.
And so I said, okay, I'm going to take my group to Home Depot.
So I take my group and she takes the pastor in another group.
And so as she does, the first lady she takes, Susie and the pastor come across this woman.
And it was an older gal.
She was much older.
And so Susie had no idea she just broke up a drug deal.
And so they were in the middle of a drug deal and had no idea.
And so Susie ends up leading the lady to Christ.
And the woman goes, now what do I do with this?
And she opens up her purse and it's a big bag of dope in there.
But now the pastor got so inspired because somebody moved on the other side of the boat
that the pastor said, listen, I got it. I can do this.
True story.
So the pastor is walking across the parking lot and he sees a grocery store.
And he's got in his pocket, he's got the script and he's got the pen.
And excuse me, he's got the follow-up sheet and the pen, but he's got the script in his hand.
And so he's walking across and he's like trying to memorize it.
And so he just walks up and the door is open and this Latino couple walks out.
And they're in an argument. And as they're in a husband and wife argument,
he just walks right in the middle of it.
You know, good wisdom would say, stay out of this one, brother.
You're going to lose as the husband's going to lose, okay?
So you're both going to lose, all right?
But he walks right in the midst of it and he just looks up and says,
hey, I just want to tell you something real quick.
God loves you.
Has a wonderful plan for your life.
If you were to die today, do you know for sure if you'd go to heaven?
And he just begins to go right into this thing and the couple said, no.
And so they, he just continues with the script and he ends up saying,
pray this with me, dear Jesus, come into my heart, be Lord in my life.
I'm safe born again. I'm a way to heaven because Jesus is in my heart.
And when he says, amen, the husband looks up and reaches into the pocket of the pastor,
takes his pen out and takes the paper out and starts putting his name and address and phone number on there.
And the pastor's tripping. He's like, did I tell him to do that?
How did he know I was going to have him do that? How did he know that?
And so the husband looks at the wife and said, he's probably wondering why I'm doing this.
And so the husband says to the wife, tell him why I'm doing this.
And the wife said, we've been waiting for you all morning.
She said, last night I had a dream and the Lord Jesus Christ walked right by me.
Is that awesome, huh?
And he stopped. He said, you'll see a man tomorrow at Safeway Grocery Store
and he's going to show you the way of eternal life.
When you're done, fill out his paperwork in his front pocket.
Come on, give the Lord a big hand clap. Come on, somebody.
Hallelujah!
Everyone shout, hallelujah!
Life on the other side of the boat, amen.
Look at your neighbors, they live on the other side of the boat.
Many people spend their whole lives trying to live in comfort.
Their whole lives, the whole effort is about comfort.
They always say, God would never want me uncomfortable.
Oh really? Ask Jonah.
Oh really? It's not about your comfort.
It's about you becoming like Christ.
Come on, is that right, somebody? Amen.
And so there's something about it that we have to be willing to
to stretch ourselves spiritually.
Yes, on the one side, on evangelism.
But in every area.
I said, in every area of your spiritual life. Amen.
And the more you begin to stretch, the more you begin to grow.
And this is kind of related, but kind of not related.
I heard an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger one time.
And it was funny, but it was like God used it to speak to me.
And Arnold was being interviewed.
And he said, I got tired of the media making fun of me
because my upper body was so big and my legs were so scrawny.
That he said, one day I got my friends and we took a thousand pounds of weights
out into the woods.
And he said, we did squats until we vomited everywhere.
And he said, we had to contact somebody to come
and get the weights to bring them back to the gym.
And it was like, God began to speak to me out of that.
You know what he was doing?
He was wanting to strengthen his weak parts.
Come on, talk to me somebody, amen?
But many times what believers do is they see an area that's weak
and they see an area that's strong
and they just constantly work on their strong area
and they never work on that weak area,
which is living on the other side of the boat.
Amen?
Come on, everyone say, live on the other side of the boat.
Maybe your hardest thing of your life is to say the words,
I'm sorry.
Maybe that is the hardest thing for you.
I mean, it's just like, man, it's just like you choke
on those words.
You know what?
You need to start practicing.
I said, you need to start practicing, amen?
For some people, the hardest thing for them
is just to say, thank you.
You understand?
I mean, you know, most of us, we don't think that,
but for some people, they never grew up
in an environment of Thanksgiving.
And so it's a mindset that's the spirit of God.
And this is, listen, this is the nuts and bolts
of revival this morning.
You understand?
So revival is not about flopping in the floor
and laughing or crying,
but revival is about change.
Revival is about us changing into the image of Christ.
Amen?
And so there's many things that God wants to stretch you.
And it's not just about behavioral change,
but it's about a heart change.
It's about a mindset change
that God wants to break those thoughts.
Come on, somebody, amen?
And, you know, I went and I didn't grow up
in a musical family or anything like that.
And I remember in the 90s, I started to learn guitar.
I don't play near as good as you,
but I play a little bit of guitar.
And so in the early 2000s,
I was preaching a message like this,
and the Lord just turned the message around on me
and said, what about you?
Why don't you begin to stretch yourself for your week?
You know?
Why don't you begin to change
and begin to push yourself into areas
that you're uncomfortable?
And so instantly I knew the Lord was dealing with me
about, you know, playing the piano and stuff.
And so I'm like, I don't want to,
I don't even want to learn it, you know what I mean?
And so I knew I had to change it up here.
If I had to change it up here,
if you were here last night, you know what I'm saying?
You have to get on the keyboard here.
Come on, all right?
You got to change the input
if you want to change the output.
I said, you got to change the input
if you're going to change the output.
Is that right?
And so I began to start to say,
I'm a quick learner.
I love to learn the piano.
I would love to learn it.
And I began to change my mindset about it.
And so I began to start to take some lessons.
And guess what? All of a sudden I began to learn it.
Some of you in this room,
you've never thought, I need to learn the piano
or I need to learn an instrument
or I need to learn outreach
or I need those things.
It's like, just like Pastor Mary said,
you get on your cowpath
and you stay on the same cowpath.
Come on, talk to me, somebody.
Is that right?
And the Lord is pushing you off your cowpath this morning.
Is that right?
God is pushing you off of your cowpath
into all these different areas,
maybe where you feel uncomfortable.
And I think as soon as we feel uncomfortable,
God goes, score.
We scored! Hallelujah!
And why? Because He's pushing us
out of that comfort zone, right?
We were ministering out west last year.
And I have to be careful because there's kids in here.
And so while we're out west in this church,
God began to speak to me about the way I was doing service
and stuff like that.
And so we were in this service and I was just praying.
I just said, all right, Lord, how do you want to start the meeting?
And the Lord just spoke to me about
tell everybody to get their cell phones out, He said.
And if they're on social media,
get them to scroll through their social media
until somebody stands out.
And if they're not on social media,
just tell them to scroll through their contacts
until somebody just stands out.
And so I tell everybody, all right, everybody get your phones out.
And so everybody gets their phones out
and they all start scrolling through their phones
just like the Lord told me.
And I said, as soon as someone stands out,
I said, stop, send them a text right now
or send them a message on social media
and say these words.
I was just thinking about you.
I'm at church and I just prayed for you
and the Lord wants you to know it's going to be okay.
That was it, you understand?
As soon as I said, go ahead and hit send.
Everybody sent it.
I went into the sermon.
It wasn't, brother, it wasn't ten minutes
and every phone in the house.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
It sounded like a pinball machine in the church.
Ding, ding, ding.
All these phones started going off
and one of the people wrote a testimony.
I mean many of them wrote testimonies.
One said I was just packing my bags
He said, I got that message.
Another guy went and said, I had the gun in my mouth.
And my phone went off.
And he said, you saved my life.
Come on, somebody. Amen.
But how did it happen? You know how it happened?
I had to begin to be willing to get on the other side of the boat.
Amen. The Lord is wanting to provoke the church,
especially in this area of outreach where people are broken.
People are fractured. Their lives are a mess.
The home life is a mess. There's nothing there.
And they're looking for a community of people. Amen.
And while most of the church is huddling,
let's just all be healed by ourselves.
And the Lord bless us for no more. That's it, right here, right?
And instead of that mindset, the Lord is wanting to get us a mindset
of ministering out and to believe God for a harvest.
Come on, somebody.
What if we began to believe God for a mighty harvest right here in Princeton?
Come on, amen. Just a harvest of souls coming into Christ.
Come on, right? Well, wouldn't that be awesome, huh?
If we'd just begin to stretch ourselves.
So, in 2000, I had a revival break in Mankato.
And I was there for four months, a little over four months.
And ended up, the pastor became our best man at our wedding.
And so, just a great, great friend.
And so, we were ministering at his church.
And we went back to minister right after Susie and I were married.
And we trained the church in evangelism.
And what we used to call evangelism, we used to call it bomb squad.
Bomb squad. So, we'd say, alright, let's go bomb squad, right?
And so, we were there for, I don't know, a couple of weeks, whatever it was.
And so, every day, we would do daytime evangelism, nighttime revival.
And so, as we did this, this one young lady, I'll never forget her,
she was the most fearful of all.
Okay? And she told us that right before the training, she goes,
I am so nervous, my hands are sweating.
And I'm like, oh, that's just the anointing sister.
She's like, it is.
And I was like, just fake it till you make it.
Alright, so, anyways, so she went out with us and she just caught,
she was shocked, she so caught the spirit of evangelism.
Here she was the most timid, the quietest woman in the church.
And she went to the wildest woman I've ever seen as an evangelist.
I'm telling you what, this woman, she freaked us all out, right?
We got a phone call from the pastor one day.
He goes, this woman scares me, I'll just tell you right now.
And I said, why do you say that, brother?
And he goes, well, he said, we had in Mankato the gay parade.
And she got all the single mothers together to go to the gay parade.
And they laid hands on all the floats and everyone was either slain in the spirit
or makeup is running and crying.
And she's went into Jesus and all of this stuff.
He goes, we went on a church outing.
He said, we got on buses and we were going to this church outing
and we're all on the bus and laughing and singing and all of this stuff.
And we come to a stop light.
She ran out of the bus, jumped in the car next to us,
won the people to Christ, jumped back in the bus before the light turned green.
He goes, that woman freaks me out.
He goes, I'll tell you right now, she's a little scary.
I'll tell you right now, amen.
Do you know what it was?
Somebody who got on the other side of the boat
and had no idea of what she was carrying on the inside of her.
And the devil deceived her all those years
that said you could never do this.
Is that right?
And that's where I believe that we are even here this morning
is that many times people, they live their whole lives
on the other side of the boat instead of saying, you know what?
I'm going to just do something different.
I said, I'm going to do something different.
Right?
So in 1904, a young man of God by the name of Evans Roberts,
he did that.
And he told his pastor, he said, listen, I have a heart for revival
and I believe God wants to save all of Wales.
And the pastor said, well, he said it was a Wednesday night service.
And the pastor said, nobody's going to be interested,
but if you want to stand up after service
and give an announcement that you want to pray for revival,
I'll get you up here.
So the service was over, 40, 50 people there.
And he said, he let this young man, Evans Roberts,
get up on the stage and he gave an announcement and said,
listen, I want to pray for revival in our country.
And 30 people left and 13 teenagers stayed.
And he got with those 13 teenagers
and in 13 months the whole country of Wales was saved.
Come on, somebody.
The most introverted person you've ever heard in church history
is Evans Roberts.
There is nobody more introverted than Evans Roberts
and he led the greatest revival since the book of Acts.
The whole country was saved.
But what was he doing?
He was stepping on the other side of the boat.
He stepped on the other side of the boat.
What if we began to say, you know what, Lord?
Whether it's evangelism, whether it's prayer,
whether it's spiritual gifts,
whether it's Bible, leading a Bible study, whatever it is,
Lord, I'm going to push myself out of my comfort zone.
Amen.
So Susie and I studied this for many, many years.
There's different kinds of evangelism.
There's about ten kinds of evangelism.
There's what's called power evangelism,
which is more healing focused.
There's prophetic evangelism, which is, you know,
signs and wonders through prophetic words.
There's pre-programmed evangelism,
which is where something is written down.
So there's about ten to twelve different kinds
that we know of, crusade evangelism.
But there's one called oikos evangelism.
And if I could get you to help me on the keyboard again,
my brother, thank you, thank you.
And so oikos evangelism, the word oikos,
comes from the word friends and family.
Friends and family.
And so the word oikos evangelism
infers leading who to Christ?
Friends and family.
So there's been a study in the U.S.
that 96% of Americans that are saved
got saved through a friend or a family member.
That's 96%. Think about that.
96%. Thank God for all the other ways.
You know, hot dogs in the park, whatever.
You're knocking on doors. Praise God.
All of it's good. You understand?
However, the lion's share.
How many of you in this room
you got saved through a friend or a family member?
Raise your hand all over the house.
Look. Okay.
So, but across the board, across America,
across the state of Minnesota,
this is the number one way that people come to Christ.
And so I studied this way back in the 90s and stuff.
And recently I read a book called
8 to 15, the world is smaller than you think,
and how the whole world is connected
through about 12 people.
You are literally connected to every single person
in the world just through 12 people.
You understand?
And so what if we did this?
What if we did this for just for the next
two and a half weeks of August,
and we prayed for five unsaved family or friends
just within a 50 mile radius of this church.
Now I'm not talking about your cousin in West Virginia
and your aunt down in Palm Beach, Florida.
I'm talking within a 50 mile radius.
Everyone say 50 miles.
Okay. So can I get you to help me to hand these out?
Get a couple people to help you.
There should be enough for everybody.
And so I want to do this.
Now the last time we did this,
we had so many testimonies of salvation.
We did this in Pennsylvania and York, Pennsylvania.
And I mean, the pastor called us one week after we started,
they started doing this.
And he said, Tom, I prayed one week for my unsaved neighbor.
And he said, seven days from the time you guys were here,
he walked into our church and got saved.
Come on, somebody. Is that awesome?
Praise God.
So I think there's enough for everybody.
All right.
I think there's enough.
Everyone grab a pen.
You talk about other side of the boat.
This is kind of another side of the boat sermon, right?
If we run out, I think we got enough.
Thanks, Abby, for your help.
Appreciate that.
Hallelujah.
Then we're going to pray for people.
We're going to pray for people in a minute.
But everyone get one.
Don't make your wife do it. You do it too.
All right. So everyone get a pen.
All right. Everyone get a pen.
Everyone in this building knows five sinners.
Even if you don't know their names,
it might be the postmaster.
It might be your next door neighbor.
It might be a relative.
It might be your cousin.
The ones that got real nasty breath or something like that.
I don't know who it is.
You understand?
Bad joke. All right.
But no matter who it is,
I just want you to pick five people,
write their names on there,
and we're going to pray for them.
So I'll just give you a few minutes here.
Just everyone take three minutes.
Write down five names.
All right. Five people.
And we're going to take a few minutes
and pray over this.
All right.
So everyone get a pen.
You got about three minutes
and then we're going to pray over these names.
So everyone get your pen out.
Start writing. Just start writing.
Don't think about it. Just write.
Okay.
Five names. Five people.
You don't even have to know their names.
Oh yeah, that lady that walks by my house
with her dog. You know, whatever.
Okay. But just write that on the paper.
I want, I want you to put pen to paper on this.
Okay.
Could be in school. You might be in school
and somebody in school.
Ah, that kid that sits next to me.
They could be a backslider. They could be unsaved.
Whatever it might be.
Okay.
Just give you a minute.
Don't miss this now.
Anyone else need just wave us down
and we'll get you on.
Praise God.
Thank you Jesus.
Five names. Five people.
Hallelujah. Five people.
Next to our neighbor.
Someone you work with.
Just one more minute. Just one more minute.
Like Pastor Mary was praying this morning,
they may have nobody in the world to pray for them.
Nobody.
You may literally be the only person on the planet
that will pray for them.
Okay. So don't take this lightly.
Don't, don't just sit there and be like,
I just, I want to get to the restaurant.
Whatever. All right.
But praise God.
All right. Put your hand right now on the paper.
Come on right now. I want you to,
not in your head. I want you to out loud
say their names and we're going to pray in the spirit.
We're going to take five minutes and we're going to pray over each.
Each one of them for one minute right now.
Come on right now. Start right now.
Father in the name of Jesus.
We lift up this person.
Lord, we lift up Don and Michelle, Lord, our neighbors.
Lord, I pray for them in the name of Jesus.
Lord, I ask that you do a great miracle in their lives.
God, do a miracle in their hearts and their family.
God, bring an opportunity for the gospel.
Open their eyes spiritually.
Lord, that they may see the light of the gospel.
Lord, I ask for a miracle.
Dream, whatever it is.
God, let there be just like a Holy Ghost revival in their home.
Lord, we ask right now for them and their children
in the name of Jesus.
Father, we ask for each and every one of them in Jesus' name.
Lord, even the guy that we always see at the post office.
Lord, I pray for him right now in Jesus' name.
Come on, lift your voice, church.
Come on, lift your voice.
Get on the other side of the boat. This is your chance.
God, right now we just lift up.
I lift up that guy right now.
Lord, that we see all the time at the post office.
Lord, somehow, some way,
caused an opportunity for the gospel to break forth into his life.
If it's a dream or if it's an opportunity for us
or whatever it might be, Lord, we ask right now.
Sign in a wonder, whatever it might be,
Lord, right now, open his spiritual eyes.
He'll not be blind anymore in the name of Jesus.
In the name of Jesus.
The third person right now.
Father, I pray right now for my cousin as well.
In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray for her right now.
Lord, you get a hold of her heart.
God, I ask that you just minister to her
and open her eyes that she could see
in the name of Jesus.
Lord, we lift her up right now to you
in the name of Jesus.
Lord, open her spiritual hearing.
Open her spiritual eyes.
Open her heart to receive
the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
Lord, the gospel of grace,
the gospel of goodness, the gospel of Jesus.
Not a humanistic gospel,
but Lord, the gospel of grace
that will change her in the name of Jesus.
Lord, I pray right now for her
for that in the name of Jesus.
Lord, I give you thanks, Lord, right now
for that in the name of Jesus.
God, speak to her right now
in the name of Jesus.
Alright, pray for your fourth one right now.
Father, we pray right now in Jesus' name
for that fourth one. Lord, I pray for
my cousin, Lord, I pray for Chris.
In Jesus' name, spirit of God
minister to his heart.
Right now, we ask in Jesus' name
bring the light of the gospel to his eyes.
Open his heart, Lord, that he can
see, that he can see Jesus.
Lord, I pray right now for a real
awakening in his heart, a real
experience with Christ.
A real experience with Christ.
A transforming experience
that will completely transform
his life. Lord, we ask this
right now in the name of Jesus.
Lord, whatever you
do, God do it. Just bring
preachers on TV, whatever it is,
Lord, that he may hear the gospel.
He may hear the gospel. The gospel
may penetrate that heart and heart
in the name of Jesus.
In the name of Jesus. Alright, pray
for the fifth one right now. Father, we
give you thanks right now in the name of Jesus.
Pray for my brother right now
in Jesus' name. Lord, I pray
right now that you open his heart right now
in the name of Jesus. God, get a hold
of his heart.
Begin to show him Jesus. Begin to show
him a demonstration. Show him
the love of God.
Show him there's a heaven to gain and a hell
to shun. Lord, show him
eternity. Show him
eternity. Lord, I ask for
eternity to be revealed
in his heart right now in the name of
Jesus.
In the name of Jesus.
In the name of Jesus. In the name
of Jesus. Amen.
Amen. Praise God. Come on, give the
Lord a hand clap. Amen. Hallelujah.
What if you just did that for one minute
a day? Just literally just one minute
is all and you just put that up right
above where you brush your teeth in your
bathroom. You're brushing your teeth
toothpaste running out and everything
right and just touch that
on your bathroom wall and you did it
for two weeks. And what if
at the end of two weeks you just, you know
invited him and just see what happens.
Come on somebody. Amen.
Listen, I was the least
likely to get saved. Trust me.
Okay. The least likely
to get saved. Me and my friends
we used to destroy Bibles
when I was in high school. I was 16.
I ripped Bibles to pieces.
I put demonic music
over worship
albums. God's honest
truth. I really did that with my friends.
That's how far I was away
from the gospel. But
a youth pastor challenged these
kids, these 14 kids
to pray for me
for seven days.
And one of the kids couldn't wait
seven days. So he, on the fifth
day he saw me and he just said, Tom, you're going
to hell. Pray this prayer.
And I got saved
in Morris, Minnesota
in August of 1982.
Come on. Is that awesome, huh?
How did it
happen? They started praying for me
and afterwards he just
gave me the simple gospel the best he knew.
Tom, you're going to hell. Pray this prayer.
I don't
advise that one there.
Okay. But it worked.
It's kind of the ball peen hammer, the Holy
Spirit method, right?
So praise God. So I want you...
Don't leave those in the church. They do no good
to the church. You understand? And they do
no good to those people. So I want you to take
those home and I just double
dare you to pray for them each day
30 seconds to a minute
and just pray for them for God to get
a hold of their hearts for the next two
and a half weeks and see what God does.
Amen. Amen.
Amen. So praise God.